Little John's Penultimate Goal

Considering he proceeded to then sit down 2 feet away and watch me, I'm prone to agree.


Yesterday was OK, except for my post-work snack attack. Always happens when I come home to an empty house, especially when I stop to go grocery shopping. On the plus side, I didn't buy anything really unhealthy.


Operation Sausage Detox is going well so far. Replacing with oatmeal with lots of goodies in it. Can't say the protein shake mix was the best idea, flavor-wise, but it's not terrible - maybe a different flavor would work, but I just have been adding a little maple syrup or brown sugar, and it's been fine.


Operation New Rowing regime is tough - not so much for the exercise, but for the commercials! I can only handle so many ads before I lose it, and then I have to break my stride* to skip through them. Don't get me wrong, the rowing workout is challenging, too, but I still need something to distract my ADHD-addled brain. Asking for a Netflix membership (and DVD player that can handle it) for Xmas, which will tie in nicely with the beginning of CRASH-B Training.


Rest night tonight, and I get to modify my lawn tractor to bag some major quantities. A yard as small as mine shouldn't be able to generate that many leaves, and yet...



*Matthew Wilder is disappointed in me, I know.
 
What flavor of protein mix are you using with the oatmeal? Out of the flavors I tried I think vanilla was about the best although I seem to remember that I found a banana flavor at one point that was actually decent as well. Could never get past it tasting a little too sweet with the flavors though but all natural peanut butter has been good.
 
Right now I have Syntha 6 chocolate - good as a drink. I do plan on trying some different flavors, but you know the size of those tubs can be a little silly. Vanilla might be next on the list.


So I forgot my oatmeal this morning, and had to get breakfast in the cafeteria. I had fantasies of that greasy sausage running through my head... but I overcame it! Got some eggs instead, with some dry rye toast and skim milk.


That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.


This weekend could prove trying - my wife is going away on a girls' weekend after we go to a funeral on Saturday morning, which means me and the little girl. Weather's supposed to be nice, so maybe we'll go for a hike. She's a good hiker, and a good shoulder passenger. But the challenge, as usual, is in the meals - when I'm in bachelor mode, I tend to want bachelor chow. Gotta stay focused.
 
I survived the weekend. Not the best cuisine, but not the worst. Wife and I agreed that we should hire some professional chefs for Friday night, so I got sushi takeout - laws it was tasty!


Saturday was kind of snacky, no real meals.


Yesterday was oatmeal, canned soup and pizza for dinner.


I got my rows in, as well as a hike (which, when done with a 2-yr-old, doesn't have the real cardio benefits I'd like, but it was still fun to take her). Bumped up the distance row to 11K from 10K. I can do it in the same span of time by watching a movie instead of DVRing something (read: FF thru the ads). Last night was the first hour of Mad Max, which I've seen many many times -- time to get Netflix!!!


I don't think I have any big diet hurdles this week, other than fight the afternoon hunger, but with limited daylight, I think I'll be tackling leaves as soon as I get home any night it's dry.


Changing up my lifting routine a little bit - I lift twice a week, and was doing Monday nights for the chest/tris, Thursday night for the back/bis. But I think I'll do full body both nights, just seem to see better results that way, especially since my basement gym is no more than a Total Gym and a Gold's Gym rubber band set. I can hit all the muscles, but there's not a lot of diversity there.


Weigh-in on Weds. I'd like to see a drop, wish me luck!
 
AI admire the workout schedule. Getting quite the distance on the rowing these days!

One of the fun things to do now is to step on the scale with your two year old in your arms. I do that with the daughter from time to time and it's fun to see that two of us now weigh less than I did earlier this year and surprising to think you of carrying around that much extra weight for so long.
 
Grumble grumble, I'm stuck in this 309-312 range for far too long. Working in an office is brutal, tell you that much, I do nothing all day but sit and get hungry. And the food options in the afternoon come out of a vending machine.


I'm open to any suggestions for quelling my afternoon hunger, it's going to be the death of me!


On the plus side, I had a good lift last night, and my fitness test has me rowing 1087m in 4 minutes (1037 is average, 1117 is above average).


Sigh, gotta figure something out!
 
Hey John,


How many meals a day are you on right now? I've found that eating smaller meals more often really helps especially with the afternoons. Here's my likely day:


5:30 -> coffee 'cause it's way early and something quick like a banana

8:00 -> oatmeal with natural peanut butter and raisins

10:30 -> lunch #1

12:30 -> lunch #2

2:30-3:00 -> lunch #3

6:30 -> final meal


My guess is that other than the quick bite to eat first thing in the morning, the rest of the meals fall in around 4-500 calories. All meals post breakfast consist of a mixture of meat, veggies and potatoes. I try to keep each meal small and since I know I'll be eating again within a few hours so the hunger never builds too far.


It does mean I get a bit of a workout on days I walk to work due to the weight of the meals I have to carry.


Cheers,

FG
 
The first half of the day is pretty normal:


~7:30 - oatmeal, or a couple eggs and toast. And coffee.

~10 - fat-free yogurt and some fruit or crackers

~11:30 - Healthy choice frozen entree, granola bar, and fruit or crackers. Maybe a Coke Zero.


Then the afternoon comes...


~1:30 - Crackers and fruit

~2:30 - Spread my vulture wings and look for carrion (aka- vendor machine, leftovers outside of meetings, whatever looks like it's up for grabs at anyone's desk)

~5:00 - Get home and raid the pantry - that alone can be anywhere between 400-700 calories

~7 or 8:00 - Dinner (anything from cereal to spaghetti to tacos)

~9:00 - Low-fat ice cream


Obviously my problem lies in the afternoon and evening. I'm thinking I'll start dedicating a protein shake and some veggies for my later-afternoon snack, before I drive home. Hoping that can quell the get-home hunger.


Dinner is tricky, neither of us really cook too much, and we eat so late because that's when we put our daughter to sleep. We've talked about having dinner with her now that she's a little more autonomous, maybe that's the next step. I can't eat before I row, but that would only be on Tuesday nights. Guess it's time to talk to my wife about this one, eh?


Then I can have dessert around 7 instead of 9 on most nights.
 
Hey John,


The protein shake and bring the wife on board both sound like excellent ideas.


One thing I've found that really works for me is to make sure there's an ample supply of real protein for my body to break down with every snack/meal. I've taken to buying large packs of steaks/chicken/pork chops and cooking them a couple days a week with batches big enough to fill the oven and/or the top of the barbecue. On days I cook in the oven, I fill any residual space next to the pans with baked potatoes.


I'm not much of a chef either and had a lot of trouble with the great pantry raids where I'd immediately go for whatever is quickest to prepare so having a massive amount of leftovers in the fridge makes it quickest to eat something reasonably healthy. If you ask my wife, I think she worries about how long I consider leftovers safe for human consumption but so far I've avoid food poisioning myself by implementing a LIFO Last in First out stack when it comes to leftover management. When it comes to snacks, peanut butter on a slice of bread or on a rice cake seems to do the trick as a stop gap measure for me.


I've tried really hard to avoid processed foods and any form of soda including the diet variety over the past 9 months so for the most part anything I eat has one ingredient. It really helped cut down on the amount of sodium I was taking in and cut down on the processed carbs. I've also listened to the Nutrition Diva podcasts that are all fairly short and include a lot of great tips that really help.
 
Thanks FG, I'll keep those ideas in mind. I've also found that if I make a snack tray when I get home (instead of simultaneously raiding and eating), I'm in a little better control.


Good call on keeping some chicken chunks around, I'll look into doing something like that, and then I can make my own microwave meals - dump some frozen veggies, chicken and pre-cooked pasta into some food storage, toss in the freezer, and I'll be good to go.


As for soda, I don't worry about it, I really don't hit it that hard, I actually prefer water. Maybe a little lemonade mix or something if I need that end-of-day boost for exercise or yardwork. But I agree about the sodium in meals, it's pretty stunning how much is in a frozen meal.


Anyway, thanks again for the pointers, I already mentioned the idea to my wife, I think it'll be good for a variety of reasons to eat with the little one, in spite of the headaches included in it.
 
How about you take whatever fruit you like best. I got a big ol pear that my mom grew on her tree today. It fiights off the hunger fairly well. Im gonna eat it when my turkey sanwich wears off about 2 today. doest take much prep to just grab it on the way out the door.
 
Yup, I always have fruit on-hand - an orange, banana, grapes, and even a pear. It's just a matter of fighting the junkfood cravings. I've been stumbling too much for too long, I just needed to whine about it. I'm cutting the grains (crackers, pretzels) out of my AM snack to have fruit instead so I'll have some grains on-hand for the afternoon, and I'll have that snack later in the afternoon (say 2:30 instead of 1:30).


Also, I talked to my wife about the dinner schedule plan, she's totally on-board with it. Added bonus: our daughter gets better meals since we'll be resorting less to zapping chicken nuggets.


On Tuesdays, a rowing day, I'll row as soon as I get home, so I'm not hungry all evening waiting to have dinner after I row, which would be after our daughter goes to sleep (makes for a long Tuesday, tell you what!). My other rowing days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and those are a lot more flexible in terms of when I can do it.


Got some chicken thawing in the fridge at home so I can bake it up tonight to have some bits of chicken in the fridge, and I'll be cutting up some vegetables so I can keep them on hand for grazing.


Looked up pointers on making my own frozen lunches. Looks pretty easy, just gotta cool it in the fridge prior to putting it in the freezer - something about ice crystals or something. Figure I can make up a generic mix of rice (or pasta), fr. veggies and chunks of chicken/pork, and add a sauce to make it seem like there's variety (be it BBQ sauce, pasta sauce, teriyaki, etc). Actually kind of looking forward to it.
 
Prep and planning will do the trick and get that scale moving down. Just dont listen to that fat guy in your head when he starts to hanker for junk. I know that guy all too well.
 
Originally Posted by brawny77


Prep and planning will do the trick and get that scale moving down. Just dont listen to that fat guy in your head when he starts to hanker for junk. I know that guy all too well.
Click to expand...



Too true. And I'm stealing some of that for my sig line!
 
Great job on taking proactive steps on the lunches and such, and it's excellent that your wife is on board! It definitely helps I think when others in the household are eating close to the same as you even if they don't have the weight to lose as you don't feel jealous of what they are eating and you really feel like they support you in what you are trying to do! Good luck!
 
They're selling nifty little gadgets at the grocery store now where you take a little plastic pump and a special ziploc bag and suck all the air out of the bag surrounding your food (theoretically protecting it in the freezer). It's mostly for long term freezing (I use it when I can get a deal on a bunch of steaks), but it would fix the ice crystals problem. The bags are a little pricey for ziploc bags though.
 
The crystals have to do with the shock of going from just-cooked hot down to freezing, from what I've read - By chilling them in the fridge, the ice crystals that form (not freezer burn) are much smaller. I wasn't able to make them this week, due to getting ready for Sandy - we were lucky in that nothing happened other than a couple of dead trees falling over - that I wanted to take down anyway.


So hopefully tonight Operation Eat Earlier will begin, complete with me rowing as soon as I get home. I don't remember what the workout is, other than it's an endurance row (45 minutes, usually, of heavy breathing and pouring sweat. Yee haw!).
 
ATime to hit the gauntlet. I put a challenge up, hope y'all can join me. November and December are tough months, we know, so maybe a challenge will help. Mine's no small task, but it's doable.

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/t/56063/moslimmer-november
 
So begins the toughest day of the week: the day I work from home so I can take care of my daughter. She's starting to get too old for good, long naps. Added bonus: we're going out tonight with my sister. What does all this mean? I don't know if I'll be able to get in my Friday row! If I was smart, I would have rowed last night instead of lifting, and then I could have done my lifting with Cora watching TV or something.... Wow, that's what I'll do next time.


OK, well wish me luck, and don't let me snack too much!
 
So I survived "the toughest day" - ate healthy all day, in spite of the bag of trick-or-treat candy in the living room, daughter took a good nap, so I got in a good row (650 calories worth), I did have a couple beers and a steak sammich for dinner, but I was under for the day.


Saturday was OK, I got in my intensity row, but had pancakes for breakfast and pizza/wings for dinner. I was a little over, but not bad.


Yesterday was a good'un, bowl of cereal, Caesar salad for lunch, leftover pizza for dinner - but I had another 650cal row, and did a good amount of raking. Under for the day, though my hamstrings are as tight as bridge cables this morning!


Got my prepared meals made, we'll see how that works, but they come in at around 360 calories before sauces (salsa, pasta, teriyaki, for example), but there's a lot more volume to them than the frozen entrees. Today's is chicken & rice with veggie medley and chipotle salsa. And the salsa is awesome (Mrs. Renfroe's, if you're looking for something a little different, but don't make your own).


Also will be doing salads most of this week for dinner - I'm Bachelor Dad, so it'll be about batch prepping - lots of lettuce takes the same time to prep as a little lettuce, etc. And I think I'll try to see if Cora wants to make her own salad tonight. She does like salad, so it's worth a shot.
 
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