SNACK ATTACK

My four month streak of refraining from snacking has ended.  Last evening I still had not checked into my hotel by 11PM.  After a late workout at the YMCA in New Hope, Minnesota I drove to where I thought my reservation was being kept.  I had made a reservation at this hotel, but I did subsequently cancel it when I learned that the elevators were out of order.  But I forgot that I had cancelled it.  I had had a late workout and now I was getting a bit frustrated and I gave into my desire to eat a snack.  I stopped at a CUB FOODS MARKET and purchased 4 RED DELICIOUS APPLES and 60 GRAMS of RAW WHOLE ALMONDS.   I had been wanting to add nuts to my diet for a couple of weeks now - I just have to remember to really monitor the portions.  I did purchase .12 lbs of these nuts and divided the bounty into two equal halves so that I could enjoy some last evening, and enjoy some today, 28 almonds is 170 calories.  I believe this to be a healthy food - It would be easy to have 300 almonds at one seating if one was not careful - therefore portion control is of great importance.

28 raw whole almonds is 170 calories.
A good healthy snack choice - as long as portion control is followed.

Thursday.  My total SNACK was 522 calories.  While this was quite a bit - considering what I have been eating recently - I think that I still made some good choices.  My total caloric consumption for the day was still 'only' 1532 calories.  This is the most amount of calories that I have consumed in four months - and yet, the time is nearing when I should start ratcheting up my calories consumed per day. Recently, I have felt a bit sluggish and I do think it is time to increase my calories per day up from 1000.   I have no intention of returning to my previous habit of consuming 5000+ calories per day - but I am under the impression that anything under 1900 calories per day should still result in slow steady weight loss of 1 or 2 pounds per week.   Still, I am not ready to bring my calories up to 1900 so quickly.  I am not going to fret about this one day when my calories exceeded 1500.  I am still very proud of all that I have accomplished.  One day of eating 1500 calories only seems outsized compared to what I have been doing - but it is still a very low caloric total - even for a man who would weigh 200 lbs and wanted to shed a pound or two per week - which does not describe me just yet - my last weight was 214 lbs.

The conclusion that I am drawing from yesterdays 'binge' was that a 522 late night calorie snack (fruits and nuts) will not derail my efforts for the week and that I should just continue doing what I am doing.  And this is precisely what I intend to do! 

WEDNESDAY MENU

breakfast  cup Quakert Oats Instant, Apple, two eggs scrambled                                 380 calories
lunch       JIMMY JOHNS BOOTLEGGER UNWICH, PICKLE, orange                   315 calories
dinner     JIMMY JOHNS BOOTLEGGER UNWICH, PICKLE, orange                    315 calories
SNACK   four RED DELICIOUS APPLES, 28 ALMONDS (approx 30grams)   522 calories

TOTAL CALORIC CONSUMPTION 1532 CALORIES

CALORIES BURNED
New Hope, Minnesota YMCA elliptical machine set to "HILL CLIMB" 40 minutes 485 CALORIES

WEDNESDAY NET CALORIES   1047 CALORIES

'HILL CLIMB' WORKOUT - 40 MINUTES

One thing that I have read over and over again is that it is not desireable to do the EXACT SAME workout each day. I have almost always set the various elliptical machines to CALORIE BURN or something similar. Today, I selected HILL CLIMB which meant that the first half of the workout continued to get progressively more challenging.  There certainly was the sensation of not stepping quite as quickly as I have become accustomed to - but I was able to tell by the calories burned and my own level of sweating that I was working plenty hard.  My intention is to continue trying different workouts instead of selecting the same type of workout each time.

I know perfectly well why I selected HILL CLIMB.  There is a little hill in my future which I find myself thinking about every day - It can be found in Yosemite Park and it is called HALF DOME.  I know that referring to HALF DOME as a hill is like calling an ocean liner a boat.