A WALK IN THE WOODS

I was really knocked out on Sunday. I could barely move. I could barely speak. And breathing wasn't working too well either. I did wake up yesterday, Monday, feeling infinitely better, although nowhere near 100%. Nevertheless, in the afternoon, I was able to take an urban hike. After my complete system-wide malfunction on the previous day, it felt really good to stretch my legs. I plan on being completely cured by Wednesday. I know that things don't really work that way, but it is important to have the mindset of health in order to be healthy. And even if that is completely ridiculous, I can't see what harm can come of it.

I have started reading my next Bill Bryson book. As anyone can attest, it is very easy to get hooked on a Netflix TV show. It certainly takes a bit more effort to get hooked on a series of books by the same author. Naturally, the payout of reading a good book far exceeds the payout from watching hours and hours of a TV show or movie.  The next Bryson book that I have just started is A WALK IN THE WOODS.   This book details the travels of Bill and a 'friend' of his as they hiked the entire 2000+ miles of the Appalachian Trail. Although I only started the book today, I can tell that I am going to enjoy this journey. Although thus far, my hiking expeditions do not include overnight camping, still there is much about this experience which I am going to vicariously enjoy.  Bill Bryson is a great storyteller. Each page of each of his books is enjoyable. The reader eagerly reads each page with the anticipation of the best of any Stephen King thriller. The Bryson books appear to keep the horror in much smaller doses. Still there are some minor horrors and many more bits of humor.  This book was actually made into a major Hollywood Movie - which until about 5 minutes ago - I had never heard of. The movie stars Nick Nolte and Robert Redford.

A quick check of Netflix has confirmed that A WALK IN THE WOODS is not available for streaming. But Cape Fear starring Nick Nolte is... and that sure is a great movie and in this specific case, a non-sequitur. The thing with blogging and bloggers - we don't have editors. Of course, that is obviously obvious. (An editor would surely have ripped apart that last sentence!)

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Your Food Diary For:

Monday, September 19, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal	600	108	10	16	0	4
Quaker - Chewy Granola 90 Calories	270	57	6	3	240	21
	870	165	16	19	240	25
L U N C H
Read - 3 Bean Salad, 1.67 Cup (85g)	300	65	0	5	1,500	40
Cabbage Soup	200	20	0	5	157	11
Fried Chicken Tenders	300	17	20	14	766	2
Home Made - Garden Salad, 1 bowl	100	6	0	4	400	4
	900	108	20	28	2,823	57
D I N N E R
Fried Chicken Tenders	300	17	20	14	766	2
Home Made - Garden Salad, 1 bowl	100	6	0	4	400	4
	400	23	20	18	1,166	6
S N A C K S
Hersheys Dark Chocolate Bar	500	28	38	9	100	11
Oreos	200	31	9	1	175	18
Hostess - Banana Twinkie, 3 cakes	405	69	14	3	540	50
	1,105	128	61	13	815	79
Totals	3,275	424	117	78	5,044	167
Your Daily Goal	4,179	522	139	209	2,300	156
Remaining	904	98	22	131	-2,744	-11
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 2,249 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Monday, September 19, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
11 Mile Urban Hike	134	2,377
Daily Total / Goal	134 / 30	2,377 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	134 / 210	2,377 / 4,130

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I guess this step count for Monday makes it easy for me to quantify how much better I felt yesterday compared to Sunday.  On Sunday I managed to 'accumulate' a grand total of 2031 steps for the entire day. On Monday my step count was 20103. This is nearly a 1000% improvement (989.8% for all the 'rainman types' out there)  Yep, I definitely felt better on Monday. 

and one more thing of some note...
a few weeks ago, a wished myself a Happy Anniversary which commemorated the important day that purchased my fitbit. It will probably be a good idea today, to wish myself and my wife a Happy Anniversary which commemorates the day we were married 19 years ago. So I will.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, JENNIFER
I considered adding something sardonic and/or sarcastic and/or humorous here... but I think I will just stick with the basic good wishes.  Why risk the delicious fondue dinner that we have planned for this evening? 

TRUE GRIT(S)

Everyone everywhere is familiar with True Grit. True Grit was a first a popular book written by Charles Portis in 1968, then a movie starring John Wayne released in 1969 and four decades later, another movie starring Jeff Bridges released in 2010. As I said everyone everywhere is familiar with True Grit.

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Likewise, everyone in the Southern United States is familiar with (true) grits. However, I am not from the south. I was not familiar with grits. I have recently had grits for breakfast a few times - I did not know anything about grits, other than the fact that when served, they look like oatmeal.

This definition of grits comes from www.grits.com

What are grits? To say it simply, crushed corn. Grits are small broken grains of corn that are often mashed apart by stone mills. There are hundreds of farms that grow corn and dry it out, and then grind the corn into grits and cornmeal (the finer ground corn).

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 Packet (28g) 

Amount per Serving

Calories 100

%Daily Value*

Total Fat 0g

0%

Sodium 310mg

13%

Total Carbohydrate 22g

7%

Dietary Fiber 1g

5%

Protein 2g

Calcium

10%

Iron

45%

Thiamin

10%

Riboflavin

10%

Niacin

10%

Folic Acid

10%

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It does appear that grits can be a good source of iron, which is something I always need to add to my daily diet.  I think I may start to eat grits more often.
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Your Food Diary For:

Saturday, February 27, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Quaker - Grits - Instant - Original, 6 packet	600	132	0	12	1,860	0
Malt O Meal - Honey Nut Scooters, 90 g	360	72	5	9	630	27
	960	204	5	21	2,490	27
L U N C H
Jamwich - Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich	260	35	15	9	350	13
	260	35	15	9	350	13
D I N N E R
Homemade - Baked Macaroni and Cheese, 0.75 cup	420	51	7	9	141	7
Schwan's - Southwest Roasted Corn, 1.33 c	320	34	18	6	520	6
Generic - Teriyaki Salmon Steaks, 9 oz	405	5	12	70	548	8
WHOLE FOODS YOGURT ALMONDS	330	33	21	6	30	29
	1,475	123	58	91	1,239	49
S N A C K S
Nature Valley - Crunchy Oats & Honey, 4 bars (46g)	380	58	12	8	320	24
	380	58	12	8	320	24
Totals	3,075	420	90	129	4,399	113
Your Daily Goal	4,463	558	148	224	2,300	167
Remaining	1,388	138	58	95	-2,098	54
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 2,533 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
PRECOR AMT (ADAPTIVE MOTION TRAINER)	125	1,659
PRECOR AMT (ADAPTIVE MOTION TRAINER)	65	1,154
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-280
Daily Total / Goal	191 / 30	2,533 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	1074 / 210	15,817 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 3075 calories

total calories burned (elliptical-3 HOURS) 2813 calories

total net 262 calories

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fitbit day 178

22073 steps  

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session 1 YMCA AMT ELLIPTICAL MACHINE 125 MINUTES: 1659 CALORIES

session 2 YMCA AMT ELLIPTICAL MACHINE 65 MINUTES: 1154 CALORIES

IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is an extremely popular and clever children's book written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond.  The book tells a story about what will happen if a  mouse is given a cookie. The story leads to a chain of events that eventually leads him back to requesting a cookie.  For example, If you give a mouse a cookie, he will probably ask for a glass of milk.  If you give a mouse a glass of milk he will probably ask for a straw and so it goes....

I experienced a chain of events today which made me think about this book.

If a salesman calls on a customer, he will probably get a local recommendation about where to eat lunch.
If a salesman acts on the suggestion on where to eat lunch, he might discover a nearby bike shop to browse in.
If a salesman accidentally discovers a bike shop, he might discover a booklet highlighting all the trails (bicycle/hiking) in the state.
If a salesman learns about a nearby trail, he might walk 5 miles to get to that trail from his hotel.
If a salesman walks 5 miles to the trail, he might just stretch out that walk to twenty miles throughout the Kalamazoo area.
If a salesman walks twenty miles at a brisk pace, he just might burn more than 3000 calories.
If a salesman burns 3000+ calories on a Wednesday afternoon, he just might find a very promising weigh-in awaits him on Saturday.

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It seems like each day brings a new discovery about the type of information recorded by MayMyWalk Application.  Just before I published this blog entry, I discovered that the application records the relative elevation during the entire workout.  If I understand this chart correctly, the minimum elevation that I travelled yesterday was 755 feet above sea level and the maximum was 971 feet.  I am guessing that the 663 feet gain is meant to be the aggregate amount that I walked 'uphill' over the course of 20 miles.

beautiful paved trail discovered in Kalamazoo, Michigan

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 Wednesday MENU

breakfast   Quaker Instant Oatmeal Apple & Cinnamon                     800 calories
lunch         Trail Head Restaurant BLT half sandwich, chicken soup  660 calories
dinner        SUBWAY 9-Grain Wheat Bread Roast Beef Foot Long   640 calories
SNACK     QUAKER OATS chocolate chip granola bars (five)         500 calories

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 2600 CALORIES
                        

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CALORIES BURNED

20 MILE WALK, KALAMAZOO, 284 minutes
VERY BRISK PACE                                         3607 CALORIES


Wednesday NET CALORIES 1007 DEFECIT

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fitbit day 35

 40247 STEPS

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A final word

Today, Thursday, October 8,  marks just seven days since I completed the epic day hike to the top of Half Dome.  That I successfully completed this hike has affected me in ways that I cannot quite express completely.  One thing is has done, is given me confidence in my physical abilities. Yesterday when I wanted to check out a local trail in Kalamazoo - I discovered the the trail head was five miles from my hotel.  So, naturally, I walked there.  This would not have been my idea just a few weeks ago. One climb up and down Half Dome can add a lot of confidence to a person - it sure did for me. 

PIZZA PARTY

I accomplished two BIG things yesterday.

1. I managed to satisfy my craving to enjoy some pizza
2. I managed to string together one consecutive day of under 1000 calories!

For the past few weeks and months - I have let my appetite and my food cravings swerve out of control.  It was not a total abdication of the program but I was starting to really turn in the wrong direction.  I absolutely needed to prove to myself that I could summon the willpower necessary to get through the day without consuming 3000+ calories.  The funny thing about this was that since I woke up yesterday morning with this goal - it was not so difficult.   Please remember, IT IS ALWAYS EASIER TO EAT WHATEVER ONE WANTS - but it is likewise NOT SO difficult to cut back if one desires.

Since December 24th, 2014 I have not had a hamburger.  Considering that I used to average eating 6 or 7 hamburgers per day - this was no small lifestyle change.  I also have refrained from eating pizza. That particular itch needed to be scratched.  While shopping in Mariano's Market, one of the sample stations had a tasty low calorie boxed pizza for their customers to try.  I tasted it and it was quite good.  And with that one taste, my dinner was decided.   I ate only enough to maintain my extreme low calorie consumption for the day.

I am not sure if having 1/2 of a boxed pizza qualifies as a Pizza Party - but from my perspective, it did!

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 Wednesday MENU

breakfast   John McCann Steel Cut Oat Meal                                   300 calories
lunch         Organic Baby Spinach Salad w/hearts of palm, tomato    80 calories
dinner        1/2 Roundy's Organic four cheese pizza, chicken broth  470 calories
SNACK     one apple, corn thin                                                          123 calories

total calories consumed  973 calories

calories burned

HOME STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL 92 minutes, level 20                     2260 calories

CALORIES BURNED 2260 CALORIES

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Tuesday net calories NEGATIVE 1287 calories

Yesterday, my net calories consumed was MINUS 1287

AND WHILE WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE NUMBER 1287....HERE IS A COMPLETELY USELESS FACT:

A famously long sentence in Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner contains 1,287 words.

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It has been so long since I have had an actual LOW CALORIE salad - THIS SALAD WAS ONLY 80 CALORIES!
This salad was simple, spinach with hearts of palm and tomato - NOTHING ELSE!

one half pizza is only 450 calories - and that was my dinner (although I did add a chicken broth soup as well)

from wikipedia:

The 1983 Guinness Book of World Records claims the "Longest Sentence in Literature" is a sentence from Absalom, Absalom! containing 1,288 words. The sentence can be found in Chapter 6; it begins with the words "Just exactly like father", and ends with "the eye could not see from any point". The passage is entirely italicized and incomplete. Some claim that the Guinness Book of World Records is wrong about the longest sentence. The Molly Bloom soliloquy at the end of James Joyce's "Ulysses," is 4,391 words, not to mention dozens of stream of consciousness novels such as Bohumil Hrabal's Dancing Lessons for the Advanced Age which is an entire novel written in one 13000 word sentence. However, it should be understood that Absalom, Absalom! has the longest grammatically correct sentence in literature, whereas a sentence like Molly Bloom's soliloquy is really just many sentences with no punctuation.