The Food I Don't Need

Herro, 3-hunnert pounds!

2011-06-11T07:14:00.001-07:00

Gah! I've known I had been gaining weight, but hadn't realized how much until this morning. Early morning walks are now mandatory. I wonder if I can set up my oak desk at work to be a standing workstation. :^D

Falafel

2010-04-20T11:51:00.001-07:00

I still haven't figured out why it sounds like "Fall Awful."

Because She told me to

2010-03-30T09:43:00.001-07:00

After becoming a member of FatSecret at the recommendation of my friend, Bill, I have finally begun using it to record my intake. Unlike Bill, I don't have one of the favored smartphone platforms (iPhone, Android, or Blackberry), so I had to come up with my own method of keeping track of my food when I'm away from my computer.

Back when I was on Crate Watchers, I was emailing my food to my own Gmail inbox with an alias added, whose filter would see the alias and sort the message accordingly as well as forward the message to my wife who would tell me approximately how many Weight Watchers points my meal was worth. After that I could fill in my Crate Watchers Tracking Sheet (a Google Docs spreadsheet) with the appropriate information.

Unfortunately for me, I have to do it on my own now, as Allison's diet has it's own website, science, and food. While I've been trying to similarly cut back and eat healthier, she was concerned that I might not be getting enough of a balanced diet at the same time. She asked me to record my intake for at least a few days so we could take a look at the results. This left me with the question of where to go to do this. There are a number of places to do this, but I was already a member of FatSecret and was suitably impressed with their options, so I decided to give them a try, and I like it now that I don't need to worry about forgetting to enter my food if I don't want to run back and forth between my computer and the kitchen as I build my meal.

My solution consists of using Remember The Milk (AKA RTM, my favoritest reminder service), and a message template stored on my phone. I only use this message in MMS form, so that a particularly long list of ingredients isn't cut into smaller messages by SMS character length limitations. The message is customized to tell RTM everything it needs to make a new task. I'll explain what each part does. Here's what it looks like:

T: Log Meal
P: 3
D: Now
S: Dieting
U: http://www.fatsecret.com/
---

The "T" tells RTM what the name of the task is. When emailing a new task to RTM, you can usually just name the task in the subject line of the message, but sending the message from my phone without this specified in the message body was somehow throwing off all the rest of the settings, so I have to specify it in the message body.
The "P" sets the priority of the task. You can choose 1, 2, 3, or not specify a priority. Most of my RTM usage does not involve priorities, so even a priority of 3 sends this straight to the top.
The "D" sets the due date/time.
The "S" specifies what tags are applied to the task
I bet you can guess what the "U" does. Ha!
The 3 hyphens designate the area for notes to attach to the task.

When I start assembling my meal, I open this template and my cursor pops down to the end of the message. This is exactly where I need it to be when I start listing the foods I'm about to consume. For items not taken directly from single serving packages, I weigh them on the scale (usually in grams), then make note of the weight and item in the message. I can end up with a big list if I'm having a bowl of salad, or just a couple of items. Either way, I've got a task recorded on the web to remind me what I need to do later on, along with a way to keep track of when it was done and what I ate. Woohoo!!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

From within sight of The Cheesecake Factory

2010-03-26T12:23:00.001-07:00

I packed a chicken and red pepper sandwich. Yum!

Because I have a cold

2010-03-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

I thought a big bowl of fake pho would do the trick. I think it's working.

Beginning again... again...

2010-03-16T09:16:00.001-07:00

After taking a Winter break from paying much attention to my weight, I'm hopping back on the (seemingly smaller) wagon. I'm no longer using my GPS equipped flip phone to keep track of my "exercising," but have a new solution instead. After our family has tentatively taken up Geocache hunting, we bought a bluetooth GPS to use with my phone to look for caches. I can also use these same tools as a pedometer to track my walking and other imitations of exercise. Using the Map My Fitness family of websites (different titles for different activities, but the same underneath), I can upload my adventures and let the website calculate the results of what I've done. I've added two widgets to my sidebar (did you notice the all-new layout?) to show my latest activites and my cumulative results. Pretty cool!

My wife is on her second week of Medi-Fast, which I'm vaguely shadowing her on. I'm trying to eat little healthy bits every couple of hours, and eating much less of the foods we've been giving the kids (pasta, nuggets, cheddar cheese).

Also of note, my daughter's formerly latent interest in Basketball has nearly become an obsession. I LOVE basketball, so I'm only too happy to hit the court with her and rebound as much as she wants to shoot the ball.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Scaling Back

2010-01-08T16:16:00.001-08:00

After a brief respite that included losing my job, then enjoying Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and not much good weather for enjoying the outdoors, we've reengaged with South Beach. We stocked up the pantry, fridge, and freezer with good stuff and are ready to strike out for slimmer clothes.

I have regained about 12lbs. from sitting about looking for work, despite all the yummy food I was enjoying along the way. I'm currently just under 265, and only managed to fit into my old button-fly Levi's for one day (less if you account for how tight they were) at my slightest weight, but I'm determined to continue the trip down to 240. I still don't know how far I'll have to go after that. We'll see.

The one thing I can say is that this time, it seems much easier to jump into the diet. I'm feeling good about it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Woohoo!

2009-09-16T23:58:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to say that two weeks after my delicious birthday meal, and less than a week after visiting the Puyallup Fair unencumbered with children, I am back on a downward trend. At 253.2, I weigh less than my previous low of 254 on my birthday. This makes me quite glad, as I was just speaking with my friend earlier today about running some baselines on the basketball court next summer. At least I'll have plenty of time to look for shoes. Hahaha!

30 pounds in 3 months!

2009-09-03T11:13:00.001-07:00

On a whim, I weighed myself this morning, and it read 254. I was heartened by it, but I hadn't put it all together yet, as I had other things on my mind. I knew it was somewhere about thirty pounds, but I let it pass. while I showered and took the garbage out before departing for work.

I just went back and looked at the spreadsheet (Thanks Google Docs!), and there it was, clear as day. My first weigh-in was June 3rd, and I was 284 pounds. Today, September 3rd (Happy Birthday, kEnny!), I am 30 pounds lighter. I am truly surprised and pleased at how much progress has been made. I have another 14 until I reach my first goal of 240.

As the continuous streak of good weather is quickly fading from view, I'm looking forward to revisiting some of the places we went walking when we first started this. I think we'll have a lot more fun at some of those extremely steep-hilled parks.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Woohoo!!

2009-08-15T14:33:00.001-07:00

I gotta do a little dance about now. I'm down to 260.5 today. Only twenty more to my first target of 240. I'm wearing clothes that haven't fit since Allison and I were married. Speaking of which, she's doing great, too!! I'm proud of us both. Time for another walk?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Checking my "Health" at work, and being rewarded for it!

2009-07-14T10:25:00.001-07:00

I just finished the first part of my "Health For Life" health check, where my height, weight, and blood pressure were measured, and then my blood was drawn for testing. I'm 6'3", and weighed in at 264 pounds (with clothes, and less than I measured on Saturday). My blood pressure was 128/70, and my body fat was measured at 32%. Blood pressure is a little high, but I'm happy to see that I'm officially in the "Healthy" category for body fat. One percent more and I would be "Overfat," which I probably was before.

I was presented with an AmEx gift card for $25, and will get another after I meet with the local health coach. I won't get to do that for a few days, though. After my blood test results are done, I'll answer some survey questions, then I get to meet the health coach. This is kinda fun!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Visiting Oh-Hi-There!

2009-07-04T13:21:00.001-07:00

We're visiting Allison's family and friends for a week and a half, and Allie & I have gone for walks each day we've been here. Miamisburg is a quaint little place to hoof around in, and it has been fun taking in the sights on foot, being able to stop and gaze whenever we want. Eating-wise, we have pretty much stayed on track, but there have been a few excursions for social occasions.

This morning we made a shorter walk to the grocery store, but came back with a couple arm loads of groceries, which I used to give myself a slight bit of an upper body workout. We picked up an apple-cinnamon coffee cake to take to visit Allie's grandparents, and once it got broken out, neither one of us had any to eat. It was very tempting, but we got past it. We have a number of appointments with naughty foods to keep still, so it was just as well that we could side step this particular temptation.

If you want to see our most exciting walk yet, click here. We got some major hill time in on this one.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Still dropping!

2009-06-27T10:14:00.001-07:00

According to the faulty scale of terror, I was four pounds less last night before dinner, which almost makes sense because I ate a lot and drank a lot, but haven't gotten rid of a lot in the mean time. Oh well. I'll take my 273.7 and run with it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

It seems to be time for the burn

2009-06-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm still losing inches and pounds (well on my way to 270), I'm finding that I notice more of the food I've given up. There will be some struggle to keep my head pointed in the right direction, but I think I'm up for the challenge. :-)

Additional notes

2009-06-22T23:02:00.001-07:00

I don't know which helps more, raising my bicycle seat closer to the proper height or losing a little weight, but riding my bike to and from the vanpool was much easier today. It took considerably less time and effort to get up to cruising speed. That makes me happy!

Quick updates

2009-06-20T07:05:00.001-07:00

No weigh-in today, as I was at work before the sun was thinking about showing up. I did weigh myself last night after dinner, and came in at 277.4. I don't consider that too bad since I ate a lot of food. Hahaha!

I have officially dropped Map My Hike/Run/Walk/Spasm/Sloth from my regimen for now, as Nokia Sports Tracker is doing a great job for me. I keep reading that there used to be a variety of sidebar widgets that either didn't work, or are no longer available for some other reason. This may indicate a problem on the horizon, but while I can still upload the information, I'll keep using it. I am looking forward to further use of it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Lunch time!

2009-06-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

A lovely not-quite taco salad.

Doing the new/old clothes dance

2009-06-16T20:12:00.001-07:00

After wearing shorts to work for the last few days to better facilitate riding my bike, I thought I'd see how some of my smaller wardrobe residents were faring and tried on some of my old pants. My current Jeans supply has been getting a little trodden upon, and I have been wondering if I would need to buy new pants.

Here's the good news: I don't need to! I can fit into all my size 42 waisted pants now!

The interesting part is that I haven't worn them for a long time. Allison and I talked about it for a bit, and it has been at least since Elias was born if not longer, since I was wearing these new/old clothes. This is a nice little confidence booster, as I hadn't really given too much thought about smaller clothes so much as just making it easier to get around, and maybe go running and play basketball again.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

That was fun!

2009-06-15T13:12:00.001-07:00

In looking for an easier way to map my meanderings, I happened across a service still in beta from the maker of my phone, Nokia. The service is called Nokia Sports Tracker, and I tried it for the first time today. I started the Tracker when my walk began, and ended it when we got back to work. I left it to run in my pocket during most of the walk.

When I got back to my desk, I registered with the service (because I had only installed it on my phone up to that point), then proceded to upload the route to the service. You can see where I went here. This was both simple and painless. I might be dropping Map My Hike soon.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

A moment of realization

2009-06-14T23:50:00.001-07:00

Allison and I spoke about our diet progress so far, our hurdles, and those faced by our friends. After visiting a restaurant that once catered to alternative diets and now does not, I was confronted with my own "Menu-Mortality." I wonder how well I'll be able to stay on plan in a year. We are planning on eventually transitioning to having a weekly naughty night, but after looking over the menu this evening, I have to question the strength of my own will down the road.

Breakfast

2009-06-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

Home made hummus, celery, and non-fat milk combined with V8!

Another check in the red column!

2009-06-13T06:19:00.001-07:00

Yes, that means I'm posting a loss. This morning's scale reading was 277.1. Very nice.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

One more step

2009-06-10T10:54:00.001-07:00

In an effort to collect more data about what I'm doing to lose weight, make myself smaller, and generally be more fit, I have become a member of Map My Hike, which allows you to log about any kind of geographical exercise activity and provides some estimation of how many calories were burned. It should be fun!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

A first

2009-06-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished my first full half mile on the elliptical, in I don't know how long. I think I'll go collapse in the shower after my legs cool down. :^)>=

The funny thing about losing weight

2009-06-06T09:16:00.001-07:00

You know how the most useful thing for tracking your weight is something to accurately weigh yourself? Guess what: Our scale is proving itself quite variable in performance. I weighed myself this morning and logged the results, then Allison told me that it weighed her about five pounds heavier than her visit to the clinic.

We gave it the old 5 gallons of water test (a gallon weighs about 8.35 lbs.), to see how well it did, and it measured 43.7, which leaves almost 2 pounds for the container. I took a gallon out and it measured 35.3, which is pretty much in line, considering the assumed 1/10th pound of accuracy. I also weighed myself 5 more times, putting my weight on different parts of the scale, and measured between 278.5 and 281.9. I'm still logging my original 281.5, just to be consistent.

Until we can find something to buy that we can trust, I'll be continuing to use our "Weight Watchers" branded scale.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

On a walk

2009-06-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it is going to rain or not, but I have to warm up for my stint on the elliptical trainer this afternoon. Woohoo!!

Time for little snack!

2009-06-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing exciting, just an uber-yummy hard boiled egg. :^)

Another new beginning

2009-06-04T20:13:00.001-07:00

We're gonna do it this time, and I'm going to track it here. I'm joining my wife, and a bunch of our friends, on a quest to lighten each of our respective loads by a considerable margin. I will be blogging about our trials, and I hope you won't mind following along for the ride.

I'll be blogging mobile-ly and in stationary format, and I'll take any feedback you have for me. Google will be my companion of choice, supplying not only the blog, but the method for entering and storing my weigh-in statistics, and then generating the pretty graphs you will see in the lower sidebar. The graphs have been pre-loaded with some of my previous scalar readings, just so there is something there to look at.

I'm thinking about adding other measurements to make the data more interesting, so I'm happy to entertain any suggestions you might have. I'm all about making the tracking process as easy to maintain as possible, so if you would like any help with it, I would be happy to help.

Thanks for reading!

Blogged with the Flock Browser