HOUSE OF CARDS

Lately I have been binging on the elliptical machine. (bingercising?) I have been mindlessly pedaling while my attention has been focused on my ipad screen. Many people can sit in front of a TV and binge watch for a few hours. Recently, I have decided that the very best way to watch a movie or TV show on Netflix is to be on an elliptical machine while doing it.  And lucky me, I have not even started Season 4 of House of Cards yet.  Of course, House of Cards seems like a ridiculous way to seek out escapism from the current political climate - only to immerse oneself in this fictional political climate.  Nevertheless, I think that is what I am going to watch this weekend.

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Your Food Diary For:

Thursday, March 17, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
2 Egg Omelette With Ham & Cheese	383	2	21	32	810	2
CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA	480	80	14	10	120	30
	863	82	35	42	930	32
L U N C H
Cranberry Walnut Cabbage Slaw	124	12	9	2	104	0
Orechiette Pasta	280	59	1	9	0	3
Teriyaki Salmon Steaks, 6 oz	270	3	8	47	365	5
Natural Dark Chocolate With Cherries	500	44	32	6	0	22
	1,174	118	50	64	469	30
D I N N E R
Bbq Beef Brisket Sandwich	610	20	33	28	1,630	40
Quaker - Rice Cakes - Butter Flavor	490	98	3	14	630	0
	1,100	118	36	42	2,260	40
Totals	3,137	318	121	148	3,659	102
Your Daily Goal	7,900	987	263	396	2,300	296
Remaining	4,763	669	141	248	-1,358	194
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 5,970 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
PRECOR AMT (ADAPTIVE MOTION TRAINER)	125	2,322
PRECOR AMT (ADAPTIVE MOTION TRAINER)	65	1,164
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	92	1,515
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	92	1,493
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-524
Daily Total / Goal	375 / 30	5,970 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	996 / 210	15,799 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 3137 calories

total calories burned (elliptical) 6494 calories

total net 3357 calorie deficit

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fitbit day 197

40066 steps  

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BACK ON TRACK

Last week I had my first snack when I was bingeing on apples.   This morning, instead of having my regular breakfast I again was bingeing on apples.  That's enough.  An apple a couple of times per week would be fine - but eating 4 of them within an hour or so is simply not a great idea.

For dinner, my family went on a shopping excursion to Mariano's Supermarket and I returned home with scallops and shrimp among a couple of other new treats.  My wife prepared a delicious feast for me - lots of food - great variety - great taste - and low calorie!

I started with my SPINACH SALAD and added to it were 8 cherry tomatoes, hearts of palm, and mushrooms.  In order to give the salad another fresh taste we added some sliced beets.  Even with all these ingredients the entire salad was still only about 90 calories.   My dinner included two cups of MISO SOUP and that is only 90 calories.

I tried something else that looked interesting when I saw it on the supermarket shelf - CRACOVIA CUCUMBER SALAD (imported from Poland)   100 grams of this cucumber salad is a grand total of 10 calories and it was tasty too!

Although I actually enjoy canned asparagus - fresh asparagus is much better.  These are foods that I can enjoy without guilt.

My entre' was a delectable mixture of bay scallops, shrimp and one giant sea scallop.  This type of seafood is low calorie.   My wife prepared it with some garlic seasoning.  The seafood portion of my meal was only 220 calories.

THIS ENTIRE FEAST WAS 459 CALORIES.  My wife worked hard to prepare this meal and it was healthy, delicious and low calorie!   Tomorrow night I will have practically the same meal as only half of what we purchased was consumed - but it has already all been cooked.  

AMAZINGLY HEALTHY, BIG, TASTY and LOW CALORIE DINNER - 459 CALORIES!

I have felt a bit down the last two days - I was really ticked off at the unreliability of my scale (or is it the unreliability of my body?) that somehow showed my weight 8 lbs more from one week to the next.  I still cannot explain it.  At least one day later, my weight retreated another two pounds.  So although I have had this setback - and although I have been ticked off - I think I should remember that even after this - MY WEIGHT LOSS SINCE DECEMBER 24th 2014 is 90 pounds.  SOMETHING I SHOULD BE PROUD OF and SOMETHING THAT I AM PROUD OF!  

Apple bingeing is no longer on my itinerary - and I am back on track!

SUNDAY MENU

breakfast  4 GALA apples                                                                             320 calories

lunch         Chicken with Rice Soup, canned asparagus spears

                  spinach salad w/albacore tuna, tomato                                      545 calories

dinner      spinach salad, w/hearts of palm, tomato, mushrooms, beets

                  Miso soup, cucumber salad, asparagus spears

                 3 ounces shrimp, 3 ounces bay scallops, one giant sea scallop   459 calories

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 1324 CALORIES

calories burned

7PM elliptical 32 minutes 455 calories

SUNDAY NET CALORIES 869 CALORIES

CRACOVIA CUCUMBER SALAD in Vinegar Brine
100 grams are only 10 calories

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.