Kramday’s Blog

Day 8

Another late post for the eighth day. It was a decent day, but not great. I did finally up the milk I bought and had the cereal. I give the Kashi Heart to Heart a thumbs up. I was originally hoping to get on my bike at lunch or on the elliptical after gaming. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate for the bike and I got home from gaming pretty late. Since I am trying to improve my sleep habits I decided to not do the elliptical after all. So on the first day of the program that says to do cardio, I didn’t do anything.

Here are the goals for the eighth day:

1. Do 12 Minutes of Fat Burning Cardio Exercise.
2. Start Paying Attention to How You Feel.
3. Listen to the Day 8 Audio Program.

And here are the results:

1. As I mentioned above, the cardio didn’t happen.

2. I felt pretty good yesterday. I didn’t hit the snooze button excessively, and didn’t feel tired at any point in the day. Gaming probably helped with that in the evening, as that keeps helps my mind focused.

3. Lots of basic information on doing cardio and the benefits. Sometimes it is nice just to hear the basics though.

Food Log

Breakfast: 9:50am, 10 minutes after getting up
Kashi Heart to Heart cereal, 2% milk, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop

Snack: 12:45pm, 2:55 after breakfast
Chocolate Chip Clif Bar

Lunch: 3:15pm, 2:30 after snack
Hillshire Farms Roasted Chicken Breast on 2 buns, broccoli with cheese sauce, 2 strawberries, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime pop

Dinner: 7:15pm, 4:00 after lunch
Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad (with almonds, but no dressing or crispy noodles), 12 oz. Grape Fanta

Snack: 9:30pm, 2:15 after dinner
apple crisp

Snack: 11:45pm, 2:15 after snack
Twizzler (2 foot long)

Snack: 12:50pm, 1:05 after snack
Apple Fiber One bar

Sleep Log

I did manage to get in bed by 2:10am last night. However, it was well after 3am before I finally fell asleep. I got up around 9:40am.

Exercise Log

took the day off

Day 7

Day 7 was a lazy day. I stayed home and pretty much did nothing except some laundry and some reading. It was a good day.

Here are the goals for the seventh day:

1. Get 7 to 8 Hours of Sleep Tonight.
2. Start Journaling How Many Hours of Sleep You Get Each Day.
3. Reward Yourself and Set a New Weekly Goal.
4. Listen to the Day 7 Audio Program.

And here are the results:

1. I’ll need to go to bed by 2am to hit seven hours for tomorrow. That is a good hour earlier than I have been getting to bed lately. I need to work on my sleep hygenie, so that my body knows that it is time to go to sleep.

2. I’ll start this officially tomorrow, but I slept from around 3am to 11:15am or so last night.

3. I’ll confess that I struggle big time with the whole with the rewards thing. I guess I need to change my perception as to what actually constitutes a reward.

4. Lots of talk about sleep studies that demonstrate the benefits of hitting the 7-8 hour range, but no real references. While I would be extremely unlikely to read a medical journal as follow-up, it is always nice to see actual sources listed.

Food Log

Breakfast: 11:30am, 10 minutes after waking up
Chocolate Chip Clif Bar, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop

Lunch: 2pm, 2:30 after breakfast
2 hot dogs and buns, 2 strawberries, handful of celery, handful of grape tomatoes

Dinner: 6pm, 4:00 after lunch
2 Morningstar Farms Original Grillers and buns, 2 strawberries, handful of celery

Snack: 9pm, 3:00 after dinner
Apple Fiber One bar

Snack: 11:45pm, 2:45 after snack
Peanut Butter and slice of bread

Water Log
16 oz. w/lunch
16 oz. w/dinner
16 oz. w/first snack
16 oz. w/second snack

Exercise Log
took the day off

Day 6

Another late write-up for the previous day. Too much socializing (lots of fun though) and then sleeping (no regrets).

Day 6 was pretty good. I did miss one snack in the middle of the day, as I went for my bike ride at about the time I would have had the snack. I wasn’t really hungry after that until I made it to Jen’s birthday party.

Here are the goals for the sixth day:

1. Choose More Good Fat and Less Bad Fat.
2. Try Cooking with Less Fat.
3. Upgrade to Accelerator Snacks.
4. Listen to the Day 6 Audio Program.

And here are the results:

1. Cutting back on deep fried foods is always a good idea, and something that I needed to do in a big way. Also, I’ll need to keep an eye on sauces for pasta and toppings for sandwiches.

2. Ha, maybe I should try cooking at all. When I do cook I usually use my Griddler, which is basically a big Foreman type grill. I guess that means I should check out that can of Pam spray to see how it fits into the program.

3. The Clif Bars are already on this list, so there isn’t a huge adjustment there. The Fiber One bars aren’t on the list, but I’ll probably continue to have one a day. I have been making a big effort to get more fruits and veggies as snacks as well.

4. The audio programs have settled into a nice routine. A lot of it the same information in the booklet, which is a nice repetitive technique so that hopefully things stick between the two.

Food Log

Breakfast: 11:25am, 10 minutes after waking up
Chocolate Chip Clif Bar, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop

Lunch: 2:30pm, 3:05 after breakfast
2 Chik Patties and buns, handful of celery

Dinner: 7:45pm, 5:15 after lunch
2 waffles, yoplait light white chocolate strawberry yogurt

Snack: 9:00pm, 1:15 after dinner
lemon cupcake

Snack: 11:45pm, 2:45 after snack
Apple Fiber One bar

Water Log

16 oz. in the afternoon
20 oz. on the bike ride
16 oz. driving to party
12 oz. at party
16 oz. after party

Exercise Log

Bike: 5:50pm
Time: 23 Mins 08 Secs, Distance: 5.86 Miles, Avg Speed: 15.2 MPH, Max Speed: 25.9 MPH, only second ride on the road bike, felt good but I think the seat needs raised a little bit

Day 5

Busy day yesterday, so the write-up is later than I had originally intended.

Woke up today with a seriously stiff neck after volleyball last night. I think tweaked it on the last dive last night. It is a good thing I was already planning on taking today off from exercise. On the eating front, I was a little nervous about today. I was watching the OSU game with Jeffrey and then heading to a birthday party at the Kludys. The football game meant wings, and the birthday party meant cake and possibly other sweets. Other than the cake at the end of night, I didn’t think I did too bad. Not great by any stretch, but it could have been worse I think. I mainly tried to snack on fruit and veggies. But did succumb to an extra slice of cake (or two) at the end of night. Also, I should have eaten a larger snack at 5pm, because when I got to the Kludys I was really hungry.

Here are the goals for the fifth day:

1. Drink More Water.
2. Begin Journaling Your Water Consumption.
3. For the Next 16 Days, Avoid Alcohol.
4. Keep Away from the Scale for the rest of the 21 Days.
5. Listen to the Day 5 Audio Program.
6. Choose only Healthy Breads and Sweets.

And here are the results:

1. I definitely could/should have drank more water yesterday, though I did get to 64 oz.

2. I had two 16 oz. bottles at Jeff’s, a large glass at the Kludys, and a 16 oz. bottle when I got home. I should have had a second glass at the Kludys at a minimum.

3. What?!?! Just kidding. I’m actually on a new medication that says no alcohol anyway, so this isn’t a big deal.

4. I’ll have to give some serious thought to this. Back in 2007 when I was doing well with my weight loss, regular visits to the scale were a BIG motivating factor for me. Also, when I don’t get on the scale regularly, the weight just creeps on.

5. I had planned on listening to the program on the drive out to the party. But since I stayed later at Jeff’s, I didn’t have it with me. I’ll listen to Days 5 and 6 today.

6. I’m totally sure that cake was fat free, with 100% whole wheat flour and soy milk and margarine. Or not. I knew it was going to be a tricky day before it started.

Food Log

Breakfast: 11:15am, 5 minutes after waking up
Chocolate Chip Clif Bar

Lunch: 2pm, 2:45 after breakfast
5 hot wings, 5 bite size pizza bagels, 3 pieces of cantaloupe, 2 slices of watermelon

Snack: 5pm, 3:00 after lunch
2 pieces of cantaloupe

Dinner: 8:45pm, 3:45 after snack
hamburger and bun, hot dog and bun, cheesy potatoes, handful baby carrots, 2 pickles, 1 slice of chocolate cake

Snack: 9:30pm, 0:45 after dinner
1 slice of white cake, 2 pickles

Snack: rest of the night
1 slice of chocolate cake, pickles, grape tomatoes, baby carrots

Exercise Log

Walk: 4pm
walked Jeff’s dog at a leisurely pace

Day 4

This is why the milk in my fridge went bad. Even though I told myself a couple of times that I should drink it today, it just never happened. Otherwise I felt like it was a pretty good day. The cream sauce in the penne pasta, might not have been a great choice. But there was also chicken and some veggies there. And there wasn’t a ruben with fries in front of me.

Here are the goals for the fourth day:

1. Eat More Healthy Breads and Sweets
2. Make All 3 Meals Fat Loss Plates
3. Upgrade your pantry.
4. Listen to the Day 4 Audio Program.

And here are the results:

1. The Clif Bars and Fiber One bars are doing a decent job with the sweets. The next time I go to the grocery store, I need to find a decent brand of bread to buy. I normally buy Country Pride (or whatever it is called), but I’m going to look for a good Whole Grain bread.

2. I think I did pretty good with this. I stuck to the schedule I laid out yesterday fairly closely, only changing it around a bit when it turned out we were actually playing volleyball.

3. Given that I haven’t been cooking very much lately, I didn’t really have a ton of crap in the pantry. The main upgrade was making sure I had the Clif Bars.

4. I listened to the program really late tonight, well after volleyball. It was a good summary of the info in the book, which was nice since I was too tired to read.

Food Log

Breakfast: 10:15am, 10 minutes after waking up
2 waffles w/syrup, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop

Snack: 12:35pm, 2:25 after breakfast
Chocolate Chip Clif Bar

Lunch: 3:10pm, 2:35 after snack
grilled chicken, broccoli w/cheese sauce, and corn, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime (leftovers)

Snack: 5:05pm, 1:55 after lunch
Chocolate Chip Clif Bar

Dinner: 8:30pm, 3:25 after snack
Rusty Bucket Chicken Penne Pasta, water

Snack: 11:30pm, 3:00 after dinner
Apple Fiber One Bar

Exercise Log

Sand Volleyball: 7pm
about an hour and a half, with decent movement and a couple of dives

Day 3

Pretty decent day today. Got off to a slight snag this morning, when I found out the milk in my fridge was bad. There went the idea of having cereal. Also, old habits die hard as my intention for lunch was to have 1 chik pattie and broccoli, instead of my normal 2 chik patties. But when it came time for lunch, I didn’t even think about it and two patties went into the microwave. Still, I don’t think either was a huge deal.

Here are the goals for the third day:

1. Eat a Fat Loss Breakfast as Soon as You Get Up.
2. Plan Tomorrow’s Eating Schedule.
3. Get Ready for Tomorrow.
4. Listen to the Day 3 Audio Program.
5. Make either Lunch or Dinner a Fat Loss Plate.

And here are the results:

1. Whoops. As I mentioned above, the plan to get the protein from the milk went down the drain this morning. Since my sister gave me some homemade waffles last weekend, I decided to go with those instead. Pretty tasty.

2. This is what I am currently thinking for tomorrow:
Breakfast: 10am, waffles w/syrup and glass of milk (probably have the pop as well for the caffeine)
Snack: 12:30pm, Clif Bar
Lunch: 3pm, grilled chicken and broccoli with cheese sauce (leftovers)
Dinner: 6-7pm, I’ll probably end up looking through his dining out options
Snack: 10-11pm, Apple Fiber One Bar

3. I have everything listed above already, so I’m good to go there.

4. I had a doctor’s appointment today, so I listened to the program on the way there. He has definitely moved into “program” mode from “infomercial” mode. The programs are fairly short, which helps.

5. I went with dinner as the Fat Loss plate tonight. The chicken breast that I pulled out of the freezer was pretty large, so there are leftovers for tomorrow.

Food Log

Breakfast: 10:05am, 5 minutes after waking up
2 waffles w/syrup, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop

Lunch: 12:30pm, 2:25 after breakfast
2 Morningstar Farms Chik patties, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime

Snack: 4:30pm, 4:00 after lunch
Chocolate Chip Clif Bar

Dinner: 7:30pm, 3:00 after snack
grilled chicken, broccoli w/cheese sauce, and corn, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime

Snack: 10:55pm, 3:25 after dinner
Apple Fiber One bar

Snack: 1:10am, 2:15 after snack
3 baby carrots and 1 grape tomato

Exercise Log

Elliptical Machine: 11:45pm
20 minutes with fairly low resistance, but worked up a good sweat

Day 2

Day two and no real snags. I did miss a snack at 5:30p, as I was wrapping thing up at work and was heading out to the Kludys to ride. I did 5 miles with Jen and then hit the bow flex with Chris. Both felt really good and I am feeling it as I am typing this up.

Here are the goals for the second day:

1. Learn to Make a Fat Loss Plate.
2. Choose 3 Fat Loss Plates You Love.
3. Upgrade Your Snacks.
4. Get Ready to make a Fast Loss Breakfast for Tomorrow.
5. Listen to the Day 1 Audio Program.

And here are the results:

1. I kind of, but not really, cheated here. Instead of preparing the meal myself, I looked in the Dining Out section and picked something I knew I liked and would be easy to get. The results was Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad, which is quite tasty. I has the combination of chicken, mandarin oranges, and lettuce.

2. I actually need to spend some more time looking at this. But if I had to choose 3 right now it would be the salad already mentioned, grilled chicken w/broccoli and corn, and grilled salmon w/green beans and baked potato.

3. My go to snack will probably be Clif Bars, however I did pick up some Almond butter at the store the other night. I could see a slice of bread and almond butter being a regular thing as well.

4. Now that I am out of the Breakfast Croissants, I think I am going to take up eating cereal in the morning for the rest of the week. I’m nothing if not lazy.

5. Today’s program was better. I have been listening at night and should probably try to listen to them during the day. Try to keep up the motivation.

Food Log

Breakfast: 9:35am, 10 minutes after waking up
Jimmy Dean Breakfast Croissant, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop

Snack: 12:30pm, 1:55 after breakfast
Apple Fiber One bar

Lunch: 2:50pm, 2:20 after snack
2 Morning Star Farms Grillers Original on buns, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime

Dinner: 10:45pm, 7:55 after lunch
Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad (with Almonds, no dressing or crispy noddles), 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime

Exercise Log

Walk: 2:15pm
one mile around the neighborhood

Bike: 7pm
Time: 26 Mins 42 Secs, Distance: 5.12 Miles, Avg Speed: 11.4 MPH, Max Speed: 21.5 MPH, the last leg of the loop was pretty slow and dropped the average speed down from almost 12 MPH.

Bowflex: 8:40pm
We did bench press, rows, military press, lat pull down, biceps, triceps, abs, and obliques. I skipped the legs after the bike ride.

Day 1

Recently the scale hit 266.5, which was pretty annoying. I can’t remember the last time I was this heavy, if ever. Thanks to the Kludys, I have been getting in some exercise over the last few weeks. But my eating habits have been horrible, with way too much fast food and sweets. I was talking to my mom and sister and they mentioned that they had picked up The Food Lovers Fat Loss System. They weren’t sure when they were going to start it though, so I borrowed and started it today.

While there is more to it than this, it basically comes to a couple of basic ideas. First, eat every two or three hours to ramp up your metabolism. Second, when you eat try to get one protein, one fast carb, and one slow carb. A fast carb is one that turns to sugar quickly and a slow carb typically has more fiber. I have heard the first idea, in a couple of different variations, for a while but have never tried it.

The main appeal to me is that there is a 21 Day quick start guide that gradually introduces the changes. While some days will incorporate more changes than others, I won’t be feeling that I am making drastic changes all at once.

For the first day, here are the goals.

1. Start eating every two or three hours.
2. Write down everything that you eat.
3. Listen to the Day 1 Audio Program.
4. Read about what he calls the Fat Loss Plate.

I think I got off to a decent start.

1. I already snack way to much, so this was a nice way of looking at the clock and saying yes or now. One thing that worked well for me back in 2007 was to eat a later lunch. This will be a nice way to get back into that habit.

2. See below.

3. The audio program was very much in the infomercial category. That isn’t too surprising since it is day one, but hopefully they will get better.

4. I had already read about the fat loss plate before today, but I am guessing that those pages will be something that I refer to frequently during the 21 days. And possibly beyond.

Food Log

Breakfast: 10:25am, 5 mins after waking up
Jimmy Dean Breakfast Croissant, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop

Lunch: 12:35pm, 2:10 after breakfast
Ham and Swiss sandwich, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime Pop

Snack: 2:30pm, 1:55 after lunch
half slice of lemon cake

Snack: 4:45pm, 2:45 after snack
half slice of lemon cake

Dinner: 7:45pm, 3:00 after snack
2 Wendy’s Double Stack, small fry, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime Pop, double-chocolate cookie

Snack: 10:30pm, 2:15 after dinner
Apple Fiber One bar

To Wii or Not To Wii

For my nephew’s 10th birthday, I got him a Wii Fit.  I actually went around to a few stores before I decided to just order it online.  I’ll confess the temptation was pretty strong to pick up a Wii myself.  Then after the Fit arrived in the mail, I spent all day Saturday with the family playing video games.  It was a lot of fun.

Not part of that is obviously just hanging out with family.  But some it was just enjoying playing video games.  The last system that I actually owned was a ColecoVision.  The last system I played with any regularity was the old Nintendo NES back in college.  I’ve pretty much resisted the call of video games since then.  But the Wii, and especially the Fit, have me re-thinking that decision.

I just got a nice bonus at work and there is the itch to spend some of it.  Most of it is simply going to savings, but that’s not really “fun”.  So, I’ve decided that on Thursday I’ll make the drive over to Best Buy.  If it is in-stock, then I’ll buy it.  If not, then I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

Mar 2nd Health Update

My weight this morning was 251, again. I already addressed a lot of the issues in the post yesterday, so I won’t go over everything again.

Workout goals for the week

03/02 — 10 Minute Trainer:  Yoga Flex
03/03 — Elliptical Machine
03/04 — Elliptical Machine
03/05 — 10 Minute Trainer:  Yoga Flex
03/06 — day off (no volleyball)
03/07 — Elliptical Machine
03/08 — 10 Minute Trainer:  Yoga Flex

Actual workouts from last week

02/27 — Volleyball: 2 hours.  The night kind of started slow. Was having trouble getting into the first set of games. But then I played again during the second how and that was a lot of fun. Of course, we were playing with the Trainer ball that hour. It is really, really soft and does some crazy things in flight. That might have helped. Regardless, my back didn’t feel too bad afterward. Not great, but after two weeks off it felt better than I thought it would.
02/28 — Wii Fit: 00:35:00. It was a lot of fun, but also showed how far I had let myself go. It said my Wii Fit age was 54. I knew my BMI would be high, and it came in at 35.3.
03/01 — Elliptical Machine: 00:30:00. Program 4. Felt good. Noticed my left hip and back a little bit, but nothing like before. Definitely need to do more stretching though.