Cord's Quest

ymcachick said:
Anyway, I think you're doing a great job. Getting below 300 is no easy feat, but you did it. There's really no stopping you now. If you want it, it's yours! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm actually quite pleased with my rate of progress so far.

As for the stress eating, yeah, the first trick is to recognise it is happening. The second trick is to take control of it and not let it control you. I stil stress eat, and I understand what I am doing as I do it, but I take control of it by choosing what to eat. Instead of heading for the KFC or pizza, bag of chips and a slurpee, it is something less dangerous, like eggs and hash browns, and chocolate milk. White bread. The more control I exert over it, the less control it has over me. Eventually I will get to the point where my stress eating choices are things like salads, at which point it isn't really stress eating anymore and I will have kicked that habit.

Here's my entry for:

May 9

Because of my short change form an evening to a morning shift, I was tired, slept in and didn't have time to have breakfast before work. I came so close to taking a frozen medium pizza to work and cooking it there for breakfast and lunch (that would have been a bad thing - something like 2300 kcal for the pizza), I even pulled it out of the freezer before putting it back in. I hastily grabbed the rice cooker, steel-cut oats and hemp seeds, and ran off to work. I was a couple of minutes late but it was worth it to have better food.

Breakfast - steel-cut oats with hemp seeds and agave nectar

Morning snack - 1 banana

Lunch - (no time to pack lunch, either, so...) more steel-cut oats with hemp seeds and agave nectar

Afternoon snacks - 1 orange, 1/4 blueberry/chocolate/hemp energy bar

Supper - 2 wraps (whole grain tortillas, 4oz chicken strips, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, caesar dressing), and the rest of the veggies as a salad

Dessert - 2 tbs chocolate ice cream

Exercise - was wayyyy too tired to do any exercise at work, and it was way too busy at work to get any real exercise even if I had wanted to. I had planned on taking a day off, but when I got home the weather was just too nice. So after spending time with my family and getting some errands done, I grabbed my poles and headed off for a walk.
I did 30 minutes of nordic walking, then saw the stairs that go up the side of the local high school. It is four flights fo stairs with a small landing between each. I set down my poles and started up and down those stairs. I guess you can't really call it running, but I went as fast as I could. I went up and down those stairs for 15 minutes, which nearly killed me. I didn't count the number of time I went up, but I did time myself on a number of them and figured out later that I probably went up (and down) at least 68 flights of stairs. Whew!
Then to cool down I did another 15 minutes of nordic walking.

I think I overdid it a little. I have a small blister on my heel and I was exhausted for the rest of the night. My back was sore and for some reason so was my right shoulder and side.

One thing is clear, though - I really have to buy some quality shoes. My crappy cheap bargain-bin shoes are not helping matters.
 
hey cord!
just wanted to say thanks for all the support you've been giving me in my diary, it's much appreciated. you know what if it wasn't for this WLforum i think i'd have fallen off the wagon a looong time ago. knowing that i'm in the same battle with everyone else on here makes me want to keep going everyday. one day we'll all look back on these days and say we did it!

oh and thanks for the steel-cut oats tip, it's the first thing i'll look for in the store next time i'm there!
 
You usually have to look in the health food section to find them.
They are also sometimes called pinhead oats or irish oats (not sure about the last one).
 
Argh. Very frustrated today. It has taken me FOUR hours to input two days data into FitDay. Not FitDay's fault - we only have a (shared) T-1 line at work and it can take 5-10 minutes for a FitDay page to load sometimes. It gets hung up a lot. I guess it is FitDay's fault to some degree, as nothing else I ever go to online takes that long to load.

Anyhoo...
I'm taking up Feenix's advice and trying to catch up on my FitDay entries to see how I have been doing with the not counting thing.
April 28 - 2129 kcal (good)
April 29 - 2511 kcal (not good)

On to yesterday:

May 10

Breakfast - 4 oz lean pork (fat trimmed off), 3/4 cup Heritage O's, 1/2 cup milk

Lunch - 1.5 cups ww pasta, 3/4 cup tomato sauce, 4 oz chicken strips

Snacks throughout workday - 1 banana, 1 orange, 1 cup dry cereal

Supper - my wife's choice for Mother's Day supper was homemade pizza. I used partly skimmed mozza for my cheese, and very lean ham for meat. I had half of a 9-10" pizza (hard to make them perfectly round), and a bowl of salad.


Exercise: none, took the day off.
 
i have this recipe thing for some pizza. like low fat and low cal with high protein. they come out to be like 7 inches around. pretty damn good too.
 
Mikez0rr said:
i have this recipe thing for some pizza. like low fat and low cal with high protein. they come out to be like 7 inches around. pretty damn good too.
Click to expand...

Do tell.

I used to make little pizzas out of whole wheat pitas, with tomato sauce and a little bit of skim mozza and whathaveyou for other toppings. They weren't bad, I should start making them again.
 
ha, yeah thats exactly what the base was. whole wheat pitas. I would do them but im staying away from bread and pasta right now.
 
Dammitt!

One little error can mess up your whole day.

My wife wanted to get subs for supper (didn't want to cook or clean the kitchen), so we went to Subway. I got a teriyaki chicken, which is all good.

The slip came when she said "do you want a cookie?" and I said "sure".

I ate the cookie and it really tasted good. But the damn thing had like 220 calories!!!!!

It's only 7:30 and I have used up my food budget for the day. Unless I just eat some lettuce or something.

:banghead:
 
Cord the Seeker said:
Dammitt!

One little error can mess up your whole day.

My wife wanted to get subs for supper (didn't want to cook or clean the kitchen), so we went to Subway. I got a teriyaki chicken, which is all good.

The slip came when she said "do you want a cookie?" and I said "sure".

I ate the cookie and it really tasted good. But the damn thing had like 220 calories!!!!!

It's only 7:30 and I have used up my food budget for the day. Unless I just eat some lettuce or something.

:banghead:
Click to expand...

Why is that an error? You ate a damn cookie. Let's look at this and forgive me if i am way off here.

The new cord: Chicken teri sub. What would the old Cord eat?

The new cord: ONE cookie. What would the old Cord eat?

New: Food budget used up at 7:30 Old: Probably 3:00 in the afternoon.

Dude you are kicking ass and taking names. Dont look at it as an error. The glass in half full dammit!!!!
 
I know it is not a big deal, but it was the simple, unthinking slip that bugged me. I was offered a cookie and I ate it, without considering.

It sounds silly, but it seemed like 'old' thinking, where I reflexively went 'mmm - cookie' instead of saying 'do I really need a cookie?'

It's not going to hurt me, no. But I thought I was, I don't know, past unconscious cookie consumption.

And it was tasty.

Edit: Old Cord - footlong teri chicken sub, with full-fat caesar or asiago dressing, or maybe a footlong meatball, with extra sauce.
Old Cord - 3 cookies.
I never said your point wasn't valid. :)
 
Last edited:
May 11

Nothing insightful to say about the day, just another day of trying to eat well and be at least slightly active.
I went over my food budget by one cookie - see above posts for details. One cookie is not a huge deal...unless I let that sort of thing become a habit.

Breakfast - 4oz lean, trimmed pork, 3/4 cup heritage O's, 1/2 cup milk

Morning snack - 1 banana, 1/2 cup dry cereal

Lunch - 1.5 cups whole wheat pasta, 4oz chicken strips, 3/4 cup tomato sauce

Afternoon snacks - 1 orange, 1/2 cup dry cereal, 2 graham wafers

Supper - 6" Subway chicken teriyaki sub, w/cheese, 1 chocolate chunk cookie

Late evening - 1 slice whole wheat bread w/margarine.

Total kcal - 2403 (200 over budget)

On the up side, this was the best day I have had yet for balancing my fat vs protein intake. 25% of my calories were from fat, and 20% from protein. Not bad.

Exercise - didn't exercise until late in the evening, after daughter was in bed. We did all go to the nature preserve for an afternoon family walk - about 40 minutes.

Later that evening, I pulled out and dusted off the ol' Total Gym that has been mouldering in the corner for years. I used it for an hour, but between remembering how to switch bits around, and changing settings while finding the right ones for each exercise, I maybe got 30 minutes of actual work done.

Then followed that with 45 minutes on the bike.

Edit: been catching up on FitDay entries. Here's May 2/3/4:
May 2: 1692 kcal
May 3: 2112 kcal
May 4: 1879 kcal

And for reference, my daily caloric target is 2190 right now.
 
Last edited:
Yeah. those damn macadamia nut cookies are tasty. I always yell NO at the girl when she asks me if i want one. I always eat the chicken breast or the club, so tasty.
 
I think you're doing amazingly well, mostly because you DID have the cookie and you were able to stay on track. You have a lot to be proud of, Cord. :)

I worry about that sometimes, if I have one, will one turn into the whole tray? I guess my not knowing, or still having those fears just means I still have a long way to go in finding the right balance.
 
Been off-balance the last couple of days, and consequently not posting much.
And, I've switched back to midnight shifts again, this time for only three nights, and you know how that always messes me up a little.

So, catching up:

May 12
We had company over for the evening, and it kind of threw me off a bit. Not that I ate particularly badly or anything; just felt off-balance food-wise. Does that make any sense?

Breakfast - 1 slice ww toast w/margarine, 1/4 cup milk

Morning snack - 1 slice homemade pizza (see previous day)

Lunch - 6" chicken teriyaki sub w/cheese (Bought a footlong yesterday and ate half. Ate the rest today)

Supper - Got a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store (they are so good), ate the wings, a chunk of breast meat, and a little bit off one thigh. Didn't weigh it or anything. Also had some oven fries.

Throughout the evening - a bunch of mixed raw veggies (we laid out platters of stuff for out guests), 1 slice of frozen meat pizza, 2 slices white bread w/margarine, 1 chocolate cake doughnut, 1/2 cup milk.

Exercise - only exercise today was a 40 minute walk in the park with my wife. Felt like I should have done more, but with company over and such it was too late by the time they were gone.

May 13
I didn't work during the day, but went in that night to start my midnight shifts. I was also quite unhappy due to the extremely depressing BC election results from the previous day.

Breakfast - 1 banana, 1/2 oz lean ham

Lunch - 1/2 cup regular pasta, whole bunch of rotisserie chicken (2 legs, 2 things)

Afternoon snacks - 1 cup dry cereal, 1 doughnut, 3 timbits

Supper - 1/2 cup regular pasta, 3oz lean ham, 1/2 cup corn, 1/2 cup green beans, 1/2 cup peas

Midnight shift food - 1 cup dry cereal, raw veggies (tomato/carrot/celery/cucumber/lettuce/snap peas), a little extremely fatty cheese dip

Exercise:
Morning - 30 minutes really hard on the heavy bag (did I mention being ticked off about the election results?), followed by 45 minutes on the stationary bike.
Midnight shift - set 1:
30 pushups
40 squats
30 pushups
60 crunches
20 pushups
50 back raises
20 pushups
50 calf raises
20 pushups
20 toe touches
20 pushups

set 2 (an hour later, with 20lb DB's):
3x10 curls
3x10 arnold presses
3x10 tricep extensions
3x10 scarecrows
30 shrugs
3x10 front raises
3x10 woodchoppers
3x10 hammer curls
1x10 lateral raises (my left shoulder was hurting with these so I stopped)
3x10 shoulder presses
3x10 tricep kickbacks
2x10 punches (too tired to do 3rd set of 10)

Also, today is my weigh-in day. Stepped on the scale at the doctor's and....

292! Three down from last week.

I'm pretty happy with that. Not bad for six weeks work.
 
Last edited:
May 14

Breakfast - 2 corn muffins w/margarine, 2.5 oz lean ham

Lunch - 3 ryvita crackers w/lt cream cheese

Supper - brown rice, rice noodles, steamed and stir-fried (in water) veggies, 2oz chicken breast, soy and teriyaki sauce

Midnight shift - coated fried chicken ( 2wings, 1 thigh), 1 pear, 1 orange, 1 cup dry cereal

Exercise - 50 min walk. (found a nice new part of the river trail where I start by going downhill, go on the relative flat for a while, and end by climbing back uphill - gives me a good push at the end)

20lb DB's on midnight shift:
3x10 curls
3x10 tricep extensions
3x10 lunges
3x10 shoulder presses
3x10 scarecrows
1x10 lateral raises (left shoulder hurt so stopped)
3x10 flat flys
3x20 bench presses
3x10 hammer curls
3x10 squats
3x10 arnold presses
30 shrugs
3x10 tricep kickbacks
3x10 hammer-grip front raises
3x10 curls
 
Ugh.

I think I'm in some kind of slump/crisis.

Motivation fading. Want to eat a lot of crap. Don't feel like working out.

Ate a huge massive load of pasta (whole wheat at least) and meat sauce yesterday.
Just too tired to workout last night.
Finding myself thinking about fast food (and especially chinese food).
Can't get motivated to go walk or bike today.
Just want to get a slurpee and a bag of chips and sit at the computer and play games.

It may be that I just finished three midnight shifts, and am thus kinda messed up, but I don't know. It really feels like I am in some sort of motivational slump.

Does this happen to anyone else? I guess I just have to push my way through it. Ugh.
 
you hit the wall. I do that sometimes. I usually wait a day or so. then its like nothing happened. usually after my first set or about ten minutes on cardio then im good to go
 
Catching up again:

May 15

This was my last midnight shift for this set (ending at 7:00 AM on the 16th), and I was pretty tired. Way too tired to do any kind of midnight workout. I think I may indeed be slipping.
Also, at dinnertime I just went way overboard on the pasta. Couldn't stop eating the stuff. Didn't want to stop eating the stuff. I put my old serving size on my plate and ate the whole damn thing. Sigh.

Breakfast - 1.5 cups Heritage O's, 1 cup milk

Lunch - 2 scrambled eggs, 1.5 oz lean ham

Snack - 1 banana

Supper - 2 cups ww pasta, 1 cup tomato sauce, 6 oz ground beef, salad, 1 cup milk

Midnight shift - 2 coated fried chicken thighs, 1 orange, 1 pear, 1 cup dry cereal

Exercise - 50 minutes nordic walking

May 16

Felt like crap today. Totally sluggish and unmotivated. Yes, I had just finished midnights. Yes, I only had four hours of sleep. Felt like crap. I made myself go walking anyway and felt like crap until over halfway through, then I began to perk up a little. But still, I felt unusually heavy and sluggish, and actually had a tiny stitch in my side near the end. Felt pretty much okay after the walk. Grabbed a charity hot dog on the way home. Still had very little energy for the rest of the night, though.

Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs, 2 oz lean ham.

Snacks - 1 banana, 1/2 cup cranberry cocktail, 1 hot dog

Lunch? Supper? - 1 pepperoni calzone (8oz)

Intermittent eating through the rest of the evening - 1/2 cup ww pasta, 1/2 cup salad, 8 perogies w/butter, 2 cups milk.

Been drinkning a lot of milk lately. Don't know why, body just seems to want milk.

Exercise - 1 hour nordic walking

Feeling kinda lousy this morning again, but not as bad as yesterday. Working the day shift today.
I really hope I can bust through this wall of unmotivation. I don't want to quit.
 
hey cord,
so sorry to hear about the rough time your having, and definitely the shift switching wouldn't help with things (i remember my similar shift situation when i was working in the call centre and shudder even just thinking about it). Life sometimes doesn't always go as we plan and we're all allowed to feel a little low now and then but what matters is that you get back up and kick butt like you've been doing these past weeks. just remind yourself what great progress you've made and the last thing you'd want to do is go back to square one. wishing you strength during the rough patch...will check in on you regularly...i know you'll break through. xoxo:grouphug:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top