LONG BEACH

In the spirit of Homer Simpson, it has been my 'lifelong dream' for the past two years to walk to Long Beach from my Mom's house in Lynbrook where I grew up. My Mom still lives in the house that I grew up in and I got it into my head that it would be a interesting to walk to the beach sometime during a visit. During my last visit to Lynbrook, a family crisis interfered with my plans.  When my Mom shattered her ankle in three places during my last visit, my enthusiasm for taking such a walk and the opportunity to do so disappeared. Fast forward, fourteen months, and my Mom is back on her feet and while the ankle is not 100%, it still qualifies as a wonderful miracle that she can walk again, and while my Mom humorously says the ankle is not painful, but gives her discomfort. Me? I consider pain and discomfort to be synonyms - but I digress.

I woke up early on Wednesday morning in the same bed that I used to wake up in when I was going to high school nearly, but not quite 50 years ago.  I made myself two bowls of instant oatmeal and set out for my suburban hike. I bundled up quite well, and checked the temperature. The temperature when I set out was 20°F. I was able to easily convince myself that it was not so cold, because back at my home in Chicago at the very same moment, it was -1°F.

The trek to the beach, the the Atlantic Ocean was just 6.5 miles and it took just over an hour and a half. Had I just turned around and returned the way I came, I would have taken a 13 mile trek. I did not do that. I continued west along the boardwalk which was recently re-built after 'Super Storm Sandy' five years ago to the very end, and then I continued on the main road to the Atlantic Beach Bridge. I don't think that I crossed this bridge even a dozen times in my entire life growing up. In fact, I wasn't sure that I could cross it as a pedestrian until I googled it during my hike and confirmed that it did have a pedestrian sidewalk. Using my MapMyWalk App, I saw that the way back to Lynbrook was very uncomplicated. I made a right turn shortly after crossing this bridge and walked a few miles on Broadway right back to my neighborhood. I made a short detour to walk past the elementary school that I started attending as a kindergartner likely in 1962.

My hike was 17 miles. I came home, had some lunch with my Mom and then I had to go back outside to do my chores. My Mom had asked me to clear some leaves in her front yard and yesterday seemed like a good day to do that.

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Your Food Diary For:

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Trader Joe's - Maple and Brown Instant Oatmeal	320	64	4	8	480	26
	320	64	4	8	480	26
L U N C H
Oven Broiled Chicken	200	0	13	20	146	0
	200	0	13	20	146	0
D I N N E R
Garden Salad	100	6	0	4	400	4
Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti	600	99	21	79	858	0
French Baguette	300	60	2	10	740	2
Rataouille	200	44	3	8	216	44
	1,200	209	26	101	2,214	50
S N A C K S
Cookies, Brownie	300	47	12	4	231	27
	300	47	12	4	231	27
Totals	2,020	320	55	133	3,071	103
Your Daily Goal	4,560	570	152	229	2,300	171
Remaining	2,540	250	97	96	-771	68
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 2,630 extra calories from exercise today

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This was just the beginning of my hike, when I arrived at the boardwalk for my view of the Atlantic Ocean.

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I am facing east, but the camera is facing west while standing on the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

I am facing west, but the camera is facing east while standing on the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

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GOOSE ISLAND

Goose Island is the only island within Chicago. One will never see a sign welcoming you to the island or a sign thanking you for visiting and asking you to visit again. It seems to only be identified on Chicago maps. There are no residential units on this island. The theme of my urban hike today was to walk every street, every nook and cranny that was not private property on Goose Island. Once I finished that, which was about five miles, I circumnavigated the island as best I could. My hike ended up back on Lake Michigan. When I was done, I had logged fifteen miles. 

Fifteen Mile Urban Hike which focused on 'exploring' Goose Island.

This shows that I walked every street possible in Goose Island and that I took a hike around the island as well.

It was a 'grey' day in Chicago and this black and white photograph captured the mood better than a full color photo.

Your Food Diary For:

Thursday, September 8, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Quaker - Grits - Instant - Original	300	66	0	6	930	0
Bacon Slices	400	0	25	8	525	0
Quaker - Chewy Granola 90 Calories	270	57	6	3	240	21
	970	123	31	17	1,695	21
L U N C H
Campbell's Chunky Manhattan Clam Chowder	120	18	3	5	800	3
Earthbound Farm - Baby Spinach, Organic	40	6	0	4	130	0
Made Good - Choc chip granola minis	200	28	9	4	0	10
	360	52	12	13	930	13
D I N N E R
Couscous, cooked, 1 cup, cooked	176	36	0	6	8	0
Pork Chops, 4 oz	170	0	8	24	55	0
Home Made - Garden Salad, 1 bowl	100	6	0	4	400	4
	446	42	8	34	463	4
S N A C K S
FRENCH VANILLA ALMOND GRANOLA	500	92	16	10	120	28
	500	92	16	10	120	28
Totals	2,276	309	67	74	3,208	66
Your Daily Goal	4,640	580	154	233	2,300	174
Remaining	2,364	271	87	159	-908	108
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 2,710 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 179.1 lbs in 5 weeks     

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Your Exercise Diary for:

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
15 MILE URBAN HIKE	208	2,779
Daily Total / Goal	209 / 30	2,710 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	660 / 210	8,264 / 4,130

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from wikipedia.com

Goose Island is the only island on the Chicago River in Illinois. It is an artificial island, formed by the North Branch of the Chicago River on the west and the North Branch Canal on the east. It covers 160 acres (0.65 km²), and is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) across at its widest point.

The land that was to become the present-day Goose Island lies on a bend in the Chicago River between North Avenue on the north and Chicago Avenue on the south. In 1853 William B. Ogden, who had been Chicago's first mayor, formed the Chicago Land Company, which purchased land on the east side of the river to excavate clay for brick-making. Starting from the south, workers excavated a channel northwards, and by 1857 the channel had rejoined the river forming a shortcut past the bend in the river. The channel was eventually dredged to 50 feet (15 m) wide and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep to make it navigable, and it became known as the North Branch Canal, or Ogden's Canal. The island thus created was also sometimes nicknamed Ogden's Island, a name that some Chicago aldermen proposed to make the official name of the island in 1891.

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VARIETY'S THE VERY SPICE OF LIFE, THAT GIVES IT ALL ITS FLAVOR

William Cowper (26 November 1731 - 25 April 1800) was an English poet.  And I obviously only just learned this as I prepared my blog entry as he is credited with the expression:

Variety's the very Spice of Life, 

That gives it all its Flavor

If this is true, and we all know that it is... I had a lot of spices for my expenditure of $4.65 last evening at Whole Foods.  I am 'mastering' the bulk foods section.  That the bulk section is self-serve makes it absolutely no problem to bulk up on variety - without actually having to request of another human being to prepare a food item with .05 pounds of anything!  

Last evening, I purchased ten (10) different items... The grand total invoice was $4.65.  The grand total in calories was much more - 1002 calories

Here is how I, your loyal weight loss blogger and part time food psychopath nut job did it....

MEDJOOL DATES                120 calories        .84

WASABI GREEN PEAS          91 calories       .40

YOGURT ALMONDS            110 calories       .30

ORIGINAL CORN SNACK     14 calories        .24

SUN DRIED FIG                       56 calories       .27

TAMARI PUMPKIN SEEDS    90 calories       .31

 DATE COCONUT ROLLS       58 calories        .19

 Strawberry Hemp GRANOLA 238 calories        .46

DRIED MANGO SLICES        100 calories      1.20

 BLACK MISSION FIGS            56 calories        .40

 SALES TAX                   ZERO CALORIES       .14

  DIME REBATE (NOT USING PAPER BAG)   -.10

  GRAND TOTAL                1002 CALORIES   $4.65

There are easier ways of spending $4.65 and consuming 1002 calories for dinner.  But, as William Cowper said apparently sometime in the 1700's - VARIETY'S THE VERY SPICE OF LIFE, THAT GIVES IT ALL ITS FLAVOR.

OK, This was two days in a row that I reported in great detail how I spent my money at WHOLE FOODS.   I plan on continuing to eat this way as I really enjoy it - but perhaps not spending so much time recording it here in quite this detail.

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 THURSDAY MENU

breakfast  STEEL CUT OATS, TWO RED DELICIOUS APPLES     640 calories

lunch        granola, chewy ginger, ginger harvest mix, choc cherries    858 calories

dinner       WHOLE FOODS 10 DIFFERENT ITEMS (see above)    1002 calories

SNACK    THREE (3) MILK CHOCOLATE CHERRIES                    120 calories

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 2620 CALORIES

calories burned

CHICAGO YMCA 125 MINUTES PRECOR EFX ELLIPTICAL MACHINE
                   9.94 MILES ('ONLY')                  1568 CALORIES

WEDNESDAY NET CALORIES  1052 CALORIES

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A couple of things have been happening lately... First I have been having extremely productive, high calorie burning workouts for the past couple of weeks.  Secondly, I have been shying away from having these ridiculous (and wildly tasty and satisfying) 'salads' with everything (except the kitchen sink) thrown in (sans dressing) with the assumption (likely a poor one) that it was only 750 calories.   I believe that I have in recent weeks been greatly under-reporting my calorie consumption... which even under-reported has been reported at near 3000 per day.  In recent days, I have reported nearly 3000 calories - but I think that it is way, way more accurate.  I am anticipating a good weigh-in on Saturday morning.

Question:  It is clear from the above paragraph that I have forgotten how to write a coherent English sentence.  Hopefully you still managed to get the gist of what I was trying to say?