4/13

-cup of coffee

Breakfast:
-myloplex light protein shake (car breakfast, wooo)
-12 almonds

Lunch:

-4.5oz ground turkey
-1 cup romaine/spinach mix
-1/4 cup roasted tomatoes
-12 almonds
-1 slice dried peach (no sugar/sulfates)

Supplements (multi, fish oil, vitamin D)
1 L of H2O so far.

4/12

Man, I never remember to do this. Geez.

Bfast:
-1 chicken sausage
-1 sm granny smith apple
-12 almonds

Supplements:
-multi
-850 mg fish oil
-2000 IU vitamin D

Lunch:
-4.5 oz taco-y ground turkey
-2 cups romaine/lettuce blend
-tsp feta
-1 red pepper
-tsp italian dressing

-cup of coffee

Snack:
-sm granny smith apple
-2 tsp almond butter

Dinner:
(FAIL)
-small block of aged gouda
-15-20 grapes
-15-20 almonds
-1 cup mint chocolate chip ice cream
-1 cup trail mix

*sigh*... find I really fall apart on diet at night when I work out in the morning. Trying to figure out how to fix that.

*sigh*

I’m having serious issues not just eating peanut butter for dinner.

Why is this all my body wants? Body…what’s your deal? It’s treadmill duty for you, buddy.

4/5/10

Got around to prepping food for the week!

Bfast:
1 chicken sausage cooked with roasted cherry tomatoes (2-3)
10 almonds
Apple

Lunch:
1 1/2 cups salad (romaine, spinach, 1 red bell pepper, tbsp feta)
1 tbsp greek vinagrette
3/4 cup beef stir fry (beef, dash soy stir-fry sauce, diced red pepper)

Snack:
Regular coffee with 1/4 cup regular milk

I suppose I should change the title to this log, as I’m not strict zoning at the moment while I experiment with ridding my diet of HFCS and cutting way back on fructose in general, but…the concept is still there.

Wednesday, 7/30
10AM
-2 egg/1 cup spinach/1/2 cup diced bell pepper/1 sausage link omelet
-6 almonds
-cup of coffee (with dash non-HFCS half n half)

1PM
1/2 of a tortilla wrap made with:
-3oz turkey
-1/2 cup lettuce
-2oz fresh mozzarella
-1/2 roasted red pepper
-dab of pesto mayo (yes HFCS free)
-1 pickle spear

4PM
-almond destruction (~15 or so)
-cup of coffee w/dash half and half

7:30PM
-did not order the $30 of sushi I wanted to order. YES.

9:30PM
-About to destroy the other half of the lunch wrap
-And maybe a half cup of salad

Of note: energy and endurance on my run tonight was about 1.5x better than the last time I ran that route. While I’m sure this is due to a variety of factors (lots of endurance sprinting in the last week, minimal drinking last weekend, good tunes on the Shuffle, the Claritin I took when I got home), I’m sure that diet was at least 50% of the reason.

So, I (and I’m guessing everyone else here) know that high-fructose corn syrup is the devil, but I guess I never knew until last week exactly why. Well after reading the study quoted in this article: http://www.fountia.com/high-fructose-gain-weight all over the internet in the last week, I’m officially on the wagon.

This was then compounded by this article: http://www.lewrockwell.com/alston/alston13.html fueling my government-conspiracy-to-keep-me-fat-and-slow paranoia.

Did I mention that since I’ve been avoiding HFCS the last four days my skin has cleared up considerably? Yeah. Scary.

So, onward with my adventures in a non-HFCS world:

10am
-2 egg omelet with fresh spinach, 1 link sausage (small, not a kielbasa), 1/2 cup bell pepper
-coffee (both types of creamer have HFCS in it…RAAR! So no cream.)

12:45 pm
-Small (organic) Chicken Tikka Masala meal with brown rice

...more later as my adventure continues.

I’ve been eating like a normal human being again too…imagine that!

Monday 1/21

-fake chk’n patty, apple, tbsp of pb (2 blocks)

-1/2 a lara bar (~1 block)

-salad w/peppers, chicken tikka masala frozen entree, cup of strawberries (3 blocks)

-other 1/2 of lara bar (~1 block)

-...I think I had cheese and pita chips for dinner (around 3 blocks)

=10 blocks

Tuesday 1/22

-small cup of greek yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup strawberries, 6 almonds (2 blocks)

-1/2 lara bar (1 block)

-Chicken curry frozen thing w/ rice and veggies, 1 cup of raspberries (3 blocks)

-1/2 cup strawberries, 3oz of ricotta, 3 almonds (1 block)

-1 chkn patty and 1 cheese stick (I wasn’t feeling anything non-protein) = uhh…3 incomplete blocks

=10ish blocks

Wednesday 1/23

-small cup of greek yogurt mixed with 6 almonds, 1 small pear (2ish blocks)

-1 cheese stick (all I had…HUNGRAY!) (1 protein block)

-1 slice meatloaf, salad w/peppers and balsamic vinagrette (3 blocks)

For a snack around 4pm I’ll have:
-1 cheese stick, 1 small apple, 3 almonds (1 block)

For dinner, I’ll have this spinach and feta pockety thing for 2-3 blocks

=10ish blocks

Sunday, January 13

Alright, back down to business. While I didn’t go overboard through December, I did abandon strict zone-ing…I just got really burnt out on all the planning and measuring. When you’re broke and stupidcrazybusy, the last thing you want to do is spend 800 dollars on strawberries and then have to cut them all up at midnight to make sure you eat them. Anyway. Excuses are like…well, you know.

Got all the ingredients for a good zone week tonight, so I eased back into it today in the meantime.

10am
-Cup of strong coffee with a little sugar and milk
(was headed to the gym so held off on the solids)

2-3pm
-baby spinach salad with walnuts, dried cherries and blue cheese
-1 tbs of PB

8pm
- 10-12 pieces of california roll and tuna/avocado roll
(I crave sushi on Sunday nights like clockwork. It’s…a little strange.)
-a few small chunks/slices of this amazing aged gouda
-2 tbs PB
-1/2 cup of strawberries

I discovered that the berries at Whole Foods are still sweet! I stopped buying them at Ralphs in November or so because they got so bitter….so this is a major find. I’ve also drastically cut back my diet soda habit. I never bothered before because it was the one vice I allowed myself. I’ve never been that person that NEEDS diet soda in the afternoon or anything, I just prefer it over water with meals. But, I’m curious. We’ll see. Unfortunately it makes me go for things like Vitamin Water which defeats the purpose. Like I said…we’ll see.

Viva la Revolucion!

Ok, I admit at this point that I’m not motivated to post food journal stuff simply because I literally eat almost identically every day. It looks something like this:

6am - 1 block
1/2 apple, 1oz deli chicken, 3 almonds (or half a zone bar if I’m late)

10am - 2 blocks
2oz ricotta, 2 cups strawberries, 6 almonds

1pm - 3 blocks
3oz chicken (or 1 fake chkn patty and 1oz cheese stick), 2 cups green beans, 1 other block carby thing (peppers or dried cherries or….kettle corn), 9 almonds

4pm - 1 block
1oz cheese stick, 1/2 apple, 3 almonds

9pm - 3 blocks
3oz deli chicken, 1 cup red peppers, 1 apple, 9 almonds

Weekends tend to just be Zone-plus…I allow myself two cheat meals on the weekend and try to keep the same balance of protein/carbs/fats, but I lift restrictions somewhat on refined starch. Dude, I can easily live without donuts and breadsticks, but I really miss tortilla chips and crackers. Oooh and pita chips. Mmm.

There are some days where I just have like 5 blocks of PB for dinner, I admit…but I’ve stayed on track and have lost 5.5lbs since Diet Wars started at work, and an inch and a half off my waist and hips since the beginning of August. Woohoo! My jeans fit normally/comfortably again, which RULES.

So burch, there’s your update.

ARGH…I typed this whole update and it disappeared again, so all you get is a summary.

I have been on track all week, have lost three pounds since Monday, am sick of salad and looking for better choices at work, and I could eat fake chicken pattys until I exploded. The end.

I’ll try to resume normal posts tomorrow when maybe the site will hate me less and stop eating my posts. :(

I haven’t posted since Wednesday?! yikes. Well, wed-thu-fri was on track, I took a cheat meal saturday, and Sunday was just kind of zone+...probably 2-3 blocks more than normal.

Anyway, DIET WARS kicked off at the office today, so it is ON. I’m in the Zone baby. Nobody gots nothin’ on me. The stakes are steeeeeeep though. 5 people, 2 months to reach goal (10lbs for women, 15lbs for men). If you don’t reach goal, you have to pay 5 dollars to *each* person involved for every pound not lost. I.e. If I only lose 8 pounds by Nov 21, I owe ten dollars to four people… = $40. ...You do the math.

The kicker is that, Dec 21 there’s a third weigh-in. If you’ve gained any of the weight back, the same rule applies (you owe each person 5/lb), but if you’ve lost more (i.e. I lose 10 by 11/21 and then 4 more by 12/21) you earn 2.50 per pound from each person. Talk about keeping you honest through the holidays. I’m stoked.

So…so far today:

Monday, 9/24:

6:30am, 1 block
1oz deli chicken, 1/2 apple, 3 almonds

9:30am, 2 blocks
4oz ricotta, 2 cups strawberries/raspberries, 6 almonds (actually forgot the almonds so I ate them at lunch)

2pm, 3 blocks
veggie riblet, 3 cups lettuce, 1 red bell pepper, 9 almonds ...lacking on carb blocks, guess I’ll eat the whole apple when I get to my snack this afternoon.

I will win the Diet War!!! Where’s my bandana and black eye paint…

Wednesday, 9/19:

I encountered an unsactioned cookie breakdown yesterday. It’s funny how you start to note the things that really steer you into the wrong after a few weeks on this—my main trigger is being too busy at my desk to go to the kitchen and then having crappy food show up right next to my desk. I always have all my food for the day just down the hall, yet….cookies and bagels that require no time/no prep… happen. Dammit!

6:30am, 1 block
1oz deli chicken, 1/2 apple, 3 almonds

10-12:30pm, a good…5 blocks of carbs/fat? One block protein
2 snickerdoodles and half a chocolate chip cookie, 1 string cheese to try and minimize sugar meltdown. Didn’t work.

1:30pm, 3 blocks
4.5oz taco turkey, 1/8 cup black beans, 3 cups romaine, 1 red bell pepper, 1 plum, 9 almonds

3:00pm, ? blocks
Another snickerdoodle. I can’t help it. They’re my favorite. My boss opened a fresh second box…I…I was weak. I…I couldn’t see straight…mom is that you? *CHOMP*

10:30pm, 3 blocks
3oz heated chicken breast (warm food! what a concept), dash of teriyaki glaze, 1/4 cup bell pepper, 1 cup pineapple, 9 almonds…I think i had more than enough blocks of carbs earlier to make up for the missing block or so.

So I come into work today and I’m told that one of the art directors and one of the production artists are starting a Diet War on monday, with money on the table. I’m buying in. No more cookies, it is ON.

I think if FGB and office diet wars were going on all the time, I’d probably look like a supermodel. Well, maybe if cookies were kept in locked safes.

Tuesday, 9/18:
6:45am, 1 block
1oz deli chicken, 1/2 apple, 3 almonds

10am, 2 blocks
4oz ricotta, 2 cups strawberries, 6 almonds

1:00pm, 3 blocks
4.5oz taco-y ground turkey, 1/8 cup black beans, 1 red pepper, 3 cups romaine, 3/4s plum, 9 almonds

4:30pm, 1 block
string cheese, 1/2 apple, 3 almonds

5pm…cup of strange sugar-y korean coffee concoction, probably one block of carbs.

Monday, 9/17:

6:45am, 1 block
1oz deli chicken, 1/2 apple, 3 almonds

9:30am, 2 blocks (not at 11:30am, yay!)
4oz ricotta, 2 cups strawberries, 6 almonds

2:30pm, 3 blocks (doh)
4.5oz taco-y ground turkey, 1/8 cup black beans, 1 red pepper, 3 cups romaine, 1 plum, 9 almonds
(people who don’t know I’m secretly in ninja training have caught me counting almonds twice now…it’s kind of funny)

Wasn’t hungry for my snack before the gym…seems to be a Monday theme…I did have pasta cheat meal last night, which is probably why. Amazing how I’m just not used to eating stuff like that now even with cheat meals. Fills me up much longer.

10pm, 3 blocks
3oz deli chicken, 1 apple, 9 almonds…I can live without the last carb block (see: pasta dinner).

Whoa…only 9 blocks. Hmm…let’s see how I feel tomorrow. Should be interesting.

Hmm I missed Thurs AND Friday? Doh.

Thursday was on target (I think I had 2oz ham/1 oz cheese roll and PB with no carbs for breakfast though…rest was the same as mon-tue-wed, plus some handfuls of kettlecorn well…because Thursday is the farmers’ market and that’s how the Creative department rolls.)

Friday was on track, then I took a cheat meal of chips/salsa/mashed avocado and some string cheese sticks and whiskey for dinner last night. Ooooh it was good.

Today, so far..

Saturday, 9/15:

9:30am, 1 block
1oz ham, 1 cup strawberries, 1/2 tsp pb

1-ishpm? 3 blocks
2 eggs scrambled with 2oz ricotta and one red bell pepper, 1 cup strawberries, only six almonds because I used some butter to scramble the eggs…still need a block of carbs. This is what happens when I run out of apples and lettuce. Think I’ll just make some coffee and put a good helping of sugar in it.