Weigh In: Stastically insignificant

192.8-->191.6-->191.2

Well, the bad news is my weight loss for September is statistically insignificant. The good news is I didn't gain any weight! I think there may be three reasons for the tapering off of my weight loss these past few months.

1. My body may be reaching it's set point for the amount of food and activities I give it.
2. Lack of sleep has caused my hormones to make me eat more during the week, binge a few times on mid-week ride days, and eat heavier on weekends.
3. Due to the 300 mile week early on, I had to taper off the weights and bike rides to help recover.

Perhaps all three. So, Norby, whatchugonna do? I think my diet is relatively tight, really enjoying the daily cold brew green tea and green juice, really works for me. Swapped out weekly McD's with a veggie-soy sub from Subway, makes me feel less icky.

• Treat sleep like food, start recording how much I get and adjust accordingly. (Next week, a full post just about sleep and diet.)
• Vary my salad game. Momma & poppa salads are starting to grind, gotta either vary the veg, the dressings, or the concepts.
• Start soupin'! It's fall. Gonna try to find the time to make my first workaday soup this weekend: chicken & porcini with whole wheat matzo balls
• Rededicate myself to normalized eating on the weekends, invest a little more effort in writing the weekend report.

I've noticed in the past month the weekly readership of this blog has grown for 5-10 of my most bored friends to regularly over 50 people (& bots?) who clearly care too much about what time I ate poppa salad on Thursdays. Thank you for reading, and if you have any criticism, constructive or otherwise, please feel free to post or email me direct!

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Destroyer of Hopes & Dreams

I'm slowly making my way through "Sugar Salt Fat", a quite in depth look at how the Food Industry manipulates the three ingredients of the title to sell more of their product, regardless of the health and welfare of society or individual. One thread running in defense of Big Food is companies like McDonalds & Dannon are actually revising and rolling out incrementally healthier recipes, not just because its the right thing but because doing it stealthily will prevent the common and proven reaction from the public that if something is presented as "healthier", people will reject it. (McLean Deluxe, anyone?) Not to mention when the obesity epidemic gets so bad that the government will have no choice but enact legislation to hang the bastards, they'll have this track record of stealth health to defend themselves with.

I guess stealth was too subtle for a 3rd rate fast food executive at Burger King this week. After the facts and figures of the reduced calories and special oil-repelling coating of their new and more expensive "Satisfries" got trumpeted all over the Internet, on TV with a hash tag marketing blitz, and billboards and the like, one industry strategist had the cojones to write:

 “Burger King's new fries are totally in tune with the concept of stealth health, which offers patrons guilt-free indulgence. If the fries truly deliver on taste, they could be a real game changer.”

If they swapped out their full fat fries for this new thing silently and waited to see if anyone noticed, that could potentially be a real game changer for the public health. But due to some executives being too cowardly to bravely try to stay in front of the storm that's going to burn them down to the ground, it's just an awkward new product bound to fail because it'll be seen as sucky health food to fat slobs, and ridiculously lame marketing to anyone who doesn't eat that kinda crap because c'mon, a little less oil in a french fry is still a pretty unhealthy thing. Burger King sucks multidimensionally.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2292

Woah! First average to fall in budget in a while! No binges, either! I fully credit getting my arm around the neck of my sleep routine and choking it out a little.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2440
SLEPT: 8pm-4am, 8 hours

Stayed up until the late hour of 9:30 so I could watch the latest episode of Breaking Bad while eating dinner and an extra-large snack. This is middle-aged fun at it's best!

AM SNACK: 4:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, Steel cut oatmeal  415 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, falafel, lentil soup, health salad, 590 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, shirataki noodles with shrimp, mushrooms, in black bean sauce, 375 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, Cheetos's, 600 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2240
SLEPT: 9:45pm-5am, 7.25 hours

First time I've come in under budget in months -- I give credit to the new sleeping regime, and getting the hormones affected by sleep under control.

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla and almonds,  310 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, chicken meatballs, madras lentils, steamed string beans, 610 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, hummus, 100 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:15pm, mahi mahi, asparagus, 560 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, fritos, 300

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BIKE CREDIT: 730 cal
WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2405
SLEPT: 8pm-3am, 7 hours

Early rise to hammer out a ride to Coney. A little challenging putting myself down with my baby son at 8pm, but with some meditation tools, was out sometime between 8:05 and 8:10. Ride felt great but a little underpowered because of the slim caloric intake yesterday. Was planning on a more involved dinner, but got home really hungry and B was out with the girls, so I needed convenience. First non-binge midweek ride day in a while, AND almost stayed in budget. Sleep, how could I have doubted you?

AM SNACK: 3:15am, caffeinated granola bar, iced green tea, 385 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage yogurt with almonds, agave and vanilla, 310

LUNCH: 1pm, chicken sausage, sofrito black beans, roasted broccoli, 570 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, 100 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 6:45pm, Fritos, 300 cal

DINNER: 7:15pm, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 860 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, Cheetos, 300 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2055
SLEPT: 8pm-4am, 8 hours

Sleep, oh! First weight lift in almost a month at 100%. Got a lot done in the morning, made food for the day, assembled laundry, the weights, steel cut oatmeal for me n' Mili for the week, ran out for groceries, moved a buggy board from one stroller to another, blah blah blah. Didn't get home until late, straight to bed. Under budget (!) but I just ran out of time to eat, he he. I guess if the choice is eat or sleep, the right choice is always sleep.

AM SNACK: 4:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal,  350 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sauteed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, kimchi, 485 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad with hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, Subway 6" veggie burger sub, chips, diet coke, 760

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2370
SLEPT: 10:30pm-5am, 6.5 hours

Not as much sleep as I would have liked, but woke up feeling good due to previous nights. Won't be getting much tonight either -- I'll be setting down with the kids at 8, but will be up at 2am to set off on an all-day megaride.

Had a heavy but healthy lunch, and treated myself to a restaurant meal on the way home -- need to top off the tank for the ride tomorrow.

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage yogurt with almonds, agave and vanilla, 310

LUNCH: 12:30pm, almond butter & jelly on whole wheat, health salad, brussel sprouts, 800 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad with hummus, 150 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, poppa salad with homemade Italian, 150 cal

DINNER: 5:45pm, Ramen soup, fried rice appetizer, +/- 800 cal

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WEEKEND REPORT:
Spent Saturday on the bike, 135 miles, 6 hours of sleep the night before. Sunday was a family & friends ride to Coney for L&B pizza, my legs were groaning but it was a good vibe, 8 deep hours when I hit the bed at 10pm on Saturday evening. Both days ate way too much, but the damage was minimized. As the weather gets colder, this certainly will not be a model for eating on weekends going forward.