2018

On the last day of 2017 I thought I might take an urban hike. When I woke up, the temperature was about 3°F so I chose to wait awhile before venturing outdoors. It would have been crazy to go outside when it was so cold, right? So I waited until around noon when the temperature had soared to 10°F. My hike took me to the beautiful Chicago lakefront. Although the skies were a deep blue in every direction, oddly enough the lakefront was not very crowded. I thought that I would see signs of the lake beginning to freeze near the shoreline, but it has not (yet). As the temperatures will not exceed freezing (32°F) for the ten days (at least) the lake may look a bit different next weekend. The new year is going help dispel the notion of global warming. We could use a little global warming right about now. Happy New Year.

Your Food Diary For:

Sunday, December 31, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Special K Chewy Nut Bars (Cranberry Almond)	450	60	18	9	180	36
Essential Everyday Butter Flavored Grits	500	105	5	10	1,700	5
Kirkland Bacon	200	0	15	15	875	0
	1,150	165	38	34	2,755	41
L U N C H
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich	700	55	31	17	286	31
	700	55	31	17	286	31
D I N N E R
Rotisserie Chicken	510	3	33	45	1,860	3
Baked Beans	250	43	1	3	313	6
	760	46	34	48	2,173	9
French Baguette	450	90	3	15	1,110	3
Brie Cheese	300	0	27	12	360	0
	750	90	30	27	1,470	3
Totals	3,360	356	133	126	6,684	84
Your Daily Goal	2,968	371	99	149	2,300	111
Remaining	-392	15	-34	23	-4,384	27
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,038 extra calories from exercise today

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EXERCISE IS 1 STEP FORWARD

As I have tried to remind myself often, the secret to weight loss is alleged to be diet and exercise.  Less food in the diet combined with more time with exercise. Although I have falling short in the diet part of the equation lately, I had remained steadfast in my adherence to daily exercise. And then I skipped two days in a row on Monday and Tuesday. My fitbit step counter showed a grand total of 3842 steps on Tuesday. That anemic number is hard to achieve.  Assuming that one can move about and find the refrigerator or bathroom a few times over the course of a day, it is truly hard to accumulate such a small number of steps. I did much better yesterday.  My eating improved. My exercise recovered. Although it was 17°F when I set out for my urban hike with the idea of logging 10 miles, its as not until that I had logged 20 miles that I finished. My daughter who knows that I will never say 'no' to a request to 'take a walk' asked to walk to the store once I returned home from my twenty mile jaunt. By this time at night the temperature had fallen to about 14°F and we managed a late evening 3 mile hike. Sure, my legs felt like jelly at the end of the day. The feeling of accomplishment, no matter how dubious, is a good feeling indeed. I am on my way back from my short-lived despair. Exercise is 1 step forward...BUT a poor diet is 2 steps Back! If you are going to be eating poorly, you better at least be exercising. Everyone knows what to do. It's the 'doing' part that is so challenging.

This is what a 20 Mile Urban hike in Chicago looks like.

Your Food Diary For:

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Kirkland - Pre-Cooked Bacon	200	0	15	15	875	0
Quaker - Grits - Instant - Original	600	132	0	12	1,860	0
	800	132	15	27	2,735	0
L U N C H
Medium - Anjou Pear, 2 pear	200	50	0	2	0	34
Kind - Blueberry Vanilla and Cashew Bar, 2	380	46	20	8	50	22
Sushi Spicy Shrimp With Brown Rice	400	46	18	19	640	6
	980	142	38	29	690	62
D I N N E R
Cream corn	120	28	0	0	0	0
Turkey Bolognese	300	15	15	23	1,550	8
Polish Kielbasa Smoked Sausage	400	5	35	16	1,342	2
	820	48	50	39	2,892	10
S N A C K S
Vita Coco - Pure Coconut Water, 32 oz	180	44	0	0	300	44
	180	44	0	0	300	44
Totals	2,780	366	103	95	6,617	116
Your Daily Goal	5,972	746	199	299	2,300	224
Remaining	3,192	380	96	204	-4,317	108
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 4,042 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 188 lbs in 5 weeks     

       Your Exercise Diary for:

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Twenty Mile Urban Hike	289	3,571
Three Mile Urban Hike	50	471
Daily Total / Goal	339 / 30	4,042 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	340 / 210	4,092 / 4,130

Don't let the sunny blue skies fool you. It was bitter cold in Chicago on Wednesday.

That is not a flying saucer behind me. It is the Adler Planetarium.

It's not everyday that I go outside wearing two hats. Yesterday I wore my  balaclava under my ski cap.