REDISCOVERING SALAD

When I was successful losing weight two years ago, I am fairly certain that I was eating a lot more salad. I used to eat only salad at 'Subways'. It wasn't too long before I decided that I preferred a footlong sandwich. I need to rediscover salads. My latest addition is the prepackaged ready-to-eat salads that one can buy at virtually any good grocery store. I am (re)learning that salad tastes very good when one is genuinely hungry.

Your Food Diary For:

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Safeway Kitchens Apples Cinnamon Oatmeal	390	81	5	9	510	36
	390	81	5	9	510	36
L U N C H
Sprouts - Organic Brown Rice Cake	750	150	0	30	0	0
Purity - Organic Coconut Water	90	22	0	0	160	22
	840	172	0	30	160	22
D I N N E R
Aldi Asian Crunch Sesam Chopped Salad	600	52	44	12	1,520	24
Chunky Sirloin Burger country vegetables	260	36	8	12	1,580	8
	860	88	52	24	3,100	32
S N A C K S
General Mills  Bugles Original Flavor	220	25	13	2	450	2
	220	25	13	2	450	2
Totals	2,310	366	70	65	4,220	92
Your Daily Goal	3,147	393	105	158	2,300	118
Remaining	837	27	35	93	-1,920	26
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,217 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 226.3 lbs in 5 weeks.

       Your Exercise Diary for:

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
MATRIX TREADMILL	60	600
TREADMILL WALKING	60	617
Daily Total / Goal	120 / 30	1,217 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	181 / 210	1,539 / 4,130

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I think I have settled on the proper settings for my workouts on my home treadmill. The incline was set to 4 and the speed was set to 4.1mph.  The workout is invigorating and not easy.

evening treadmill workout at Baymont Hotel, Waukesha, Wisconsin

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.

RAW CHOCOLATE LOVE

At a party last week to honor the 80th Birthday of our Mom, my youngest brother made sure that everyone had the opportunity to sample his favorite chocolate.   RAW CHOCOLATE LOVE.   This description of the product comes from their website: rawchoclolatelovenyc.com.

Raw Chocolate Love LOGO

At Raw Chocolate Love we carefully choose the highest quality raw and organic ingredients to create an insanely healthy dark chocolate that is chock full of super foods and essential vitamins and minerals, including tocotrienols, a highly potent source of vitamin E that contains nutrients to properly fuel a healthy body.  Each bar of  Chocolate is free of preservatives, coloring and flavor extracts and is handmade with love and care over very low heat in order to retain maximum nourishment. Raw Chocolate Love is available in 17 all-natural, vegan flavors, each offering unique nourishing properties. Raw Chocolate Love is…  Raw • Organic • Kosher • Gluten Free •Preservative-Free • Free of Processed Ingredients • Non-Dairy• Vegan • Low Glycemic • Nutritious • Premier Quality • Soy Free • Full of Antioxidants • 100% Pure • An Aphrodisiac• Guilt Free 

I was able to resist the temptation to try this healthy treat.  I did bring home a bar and stick it in my refrigerator.   The website claims that the bar has a shelf life of 8 months while refrigerated.   I will have to pick the right time, to try this confection.   Perhaps, when I cross the boundary out of obesity. Perhaps when I get below 220 lbs - a weight that my body has not seen since the mid 1980's.   I don't know precisely when I will get the urge to try this chocolate.   For the time being, I will wait.

MONDAY MENU

breakfast   SHMURAH MATZO two scrambled eggs, two slices turkey 'bacon'    310 calories
lunch         Panera Bread TURKEY CHILI BOWL                                                  280 calories
dinner        Panera Bread Soba Noodle Bowl with Chicken                                     390 calories

total calories consumed 980 calories

CALORIES BURNED
4:45AM elliptical 32 minutes 465 calories

MONDAY NET CALORIES   515 CALORIES

EXERCISING EPIPHANY

My first road trip of the year will begin today.  I am driving to Cincinnati.   I did something different in booking my hotel.   I usually opt for the lowest price lodging I can find.   This time I cancelled my reservation with the national chain that I usually use and booked at a LaQuinta Hotel since they have an exercise room.    My almost daily exercise regiment, thus far, has only been walking at 4 mph for 20 minutes.  This week I plan to increase that to 30 minutes.     I have recently had an epiphany.  A long, long time ago (December 24, 2014) I thought that exercise was not critically important to weight loss.   I never doubted that it was healthy for a myriad of reasons.   An exercise that consumes 100 calories is not really going to make a significant dent when one is consuming 3000-5000 calories per day.   When one is consuming 1000 calories per day, a 100 calorie per day exercise program becomes huge.    Last evening, I enjoyed the last home-cooked meal that I will have until next weekend.   This 7oz Salmon Filet with Organic Mixed Vegetables was delicious.   This morning I weighed myself and I checked in at 294.5 lbs.   I have lost nearly 15 lbs in 12 days.

7 oz. Salmon Filet with Mixed Vegetables - 415 calories