How I'm gonna do it

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then what's YOUR deal, lady?

Last week I wrung my hands and ground my teeth a little about gaining a pound, after more than a year of steady losses. I now know better than get into a tizzy and a self-defeating cycle of doubt and indulgences to make myself feel better, so I did what I did about a year and half ago when I started this blog -- I went to visit the nutritionist.

I'm generally pro-science and anti-mumbojumbo, but I'm educated enough to know what, "there are lies, damn lies and statistics" means. Nutrition is considered a relatively young science, and whenever a study comes out that reports on the slight health effect of some component of food, all of a sudden eggs go from evil to good, vitamin E13 goes from unknown to the supplement everyone must gobble, and a new cycle of people offering the solution to all your problems based on this slim study gets refreshed.

PPT humor

When I visited the nutritionist in June '12 for a consultation, the main thing that made me decide that I would not consult her regularly was the sample food plan she offered. Reduced fat foods? Egg white scramble? Salmon? More than half the foods either made me gag or want to drive a nail into my ear and end the horribleness. However, there was some things in that brief, 30 minute meeting that guided me for the last 18 months.

Based on my age, gender, height and frame, she recommended a calorie budget of 2,200-2350 a day. The FDA uselessly recommends 2000 calories a day for all people, and while I would have eventually come to her recommendation, it was comforting to to be told that this was what it would take for me to lose weight. I remember her stifling a laugh when I told her I didn't want to lose too much weight too fast so it could be sustainable, but looking back and to give her credit, I think she laughed only because she rarely heard that from a client, and wished she heard it more.  She thought I was protein deficient and ate too many carbs, which I thought was interesting and was worth exploring (looking back, she was right.) She felt I shouldn't really worry about fat outside of keeping to a calorie budget, because if I balance my protein to carbs, fat will take care of itself. (Funny, as she also recommends low-fat reduced foods, shudder...) She also told me to increase the fruit & veg and decrease the sweets and refined carbs, but I kinda already knew that.

I'll just eat 44 VitaCakes a day, and I'll be all good. They're all natural, after all!

So my questions for her this time was basically: should I be worried about the 1 pound gain? What would be a reasonable weight-loss goal, as getting to 168 for a BMI of "normal" doesn't seem reasonable. She recommended a goal of 180, with the idea of taking a little longer to get there. (It took 18 months to lose about 40 lbs, perhaps the next 12 will take 12 months. And that's fine.

She now recommends 2000-2200 calories a week, down from the initial 2200-2350. Now that I'm literally pushing less weight around when I walk, bike, sleep and sit, it follows that I need fewer calories to maintain a steady weight. A while ago, I reprogrammed my cyclometer's calorimeter to reflect a 30 lbs weight loss, and damn if the same long rides were coming out with lighter numbers of calories burned.

So how the hell am I gonna cut 200-350 calories out of my daily budget? Looking back, the first few months of keeping to budget was difficult, but with occasional exceptions, I've been pretty full and satisfied on 2200-2350. I didn't have to look at my food diaries to figure out exactly the only thing I could cut out simply and directly to minimize change to my diet, it was obvious. The evening snack of Frito's and Cheetos has to go.

I'm hanging up my gun belts.

I have a life-long relationship with Frito's, and my 4 year old daughter loves them, too. But, I'm an adult, maybe its time to say goodbye to childish things. Plus, I can shift them into the two weekend days and make a "salad" of Frito's, Cheetos and peanut M&Ms. Sounds delicious/disgusting (delusting? disgicious?) but thinking about it clearly, it'll actually lower the glycemic index of some of those thoughtless snacking ruts I get into on the weekends.

The final thought the nutritionist left me was a concern over my exercise regime. I see myself determinedly continuing and increasing in strength for my 2x a week weight lifts, but my weekly early morning 30 miles and my bimonthly long rides will probably go by the way side when the temps go below 40.  Years ago when I started riding, I thought I'd use a resistance trainer to ride through the winter. Basically it clamps to your rear wheel and turns your bike into a stationary bike. I used it part of one season, but it was too boring to get in to. I also had a heart rate monitor that I briefly used, but I found it encouraged me to ride harder than I liked....

I think for Hanukkah I'm going to treat myself to a new heart rate monitor and a set of rollers. Unlike a resistance trainer, on rollers you ride freely, unclamped, and you need to use the same sense of balance, core strength and related musculature to stay upright and a straight line. Not staying on a straight line on rollers in your living room means leaving burnt rubber on the carpet and going crashing into the TV, he he.

So that's that. Reduce calories, set a new goal, implement some indoor bike cardio to make up for less rides, accept a Frito-less week. Two weeks to weigh in, maybe I'll see a stabilization or -gasp- claw that pound back offa me?
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It's juice....for yo noni.

Last week's entry got 200% more hits than the week before in the first hour it was posted, I assume because I sarcastically loaded it with terms related to "losing weight," "easily." I got the rare comment on it from a stranger, asking if my plan worked for me because he'd like to try it. My first thought was, wow, did this idjit  actually read my post? Then I noticed his signature was "Mangosteen Juice", and linked to a European juice company that sold such wonderful things like "Noni Juice" for women and extracts and elixirs that made specific health problems, despite all being made from various fruit juices...that have been cooked, processed, homogenized, bottled and put on a shelf for months (if not years) at a time. The beast must be fed. Do you want to be chow for the weight-loss industry?

If you want to embrace the juice, screw any bottled juice, whether its Noni or Blueprint. Buy a proper masticating juicer and invest in some damn produce. Next week, my experience with juicing this past year and why Blueprint and all bottled juices are a rip off of ridunkulous proportions.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2075

No time to lift weights or do a proper ride this week, but it's all good because I was really busy with life, work and family, not slacking. Aiming to ride on the weekend, and resume lifting once the early morning knishing steps back a little.

Fell off on Friday due to lack of sleep and opportunity, so it's not included in this week's average -- this was the first week on a reduced budget, so I think I should be gentle to myself. That's not to say I hope to get enough sleep to allow better control over those slip ups next week....

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MONDAY COUNT: 1940

SLEPT: 8pm-4am, 8 hr
Got between 7-8 hours of sleep both Friday and Saturday nights, feeling pretty good. Enjoying the butternut squash soup with it's chickenstocky goodness, despite the relative high calorie content of a pint of soup. Hake loins came out unusually good, made the foil envelope bigger which made a bigger, hotter pocket of steam, and on top of the butter and salt, I had red wine on hand which I spiked with the umami goodness of some Worcestershire sauce.

First official day of no evening snack, so I was careful to serve myself foods I like, prepared in a slightly novel, improved way. Might have to focus on that  to get me over this hump. Also helped that I got to bed early to avoid any pangs.

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla, almonds, 310

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, butternut squash soup, health salad, 770

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

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

DINNER: 7:30pm, hake loins, asparagus, kimchi, 400 cal
Kimchi kicked this meal up a notch. Also used a little Worcestershire on the asparagus, definitely an improvement.

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2065

SLEPT: 7:45pm - 3:30am, 7.75
Good sleep, woke up early to bake knishes. Glad I tasted 2, as a batch came out too dark on the bottom but upon taste, it was just deeply browned, not burnt. Also, I thought the raw mix was too salty but after sitting for a few days and expanding in the baking process, the salt level went from the edge of too salty right into a flavorful sweet spot. Uh, salty spot. Well worth the 50 calories for the peace of mind.

AM SNACK: 3:45 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

AM SNACK: 5:30am, 2 mini potato knishes, +/-50 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 415 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm,chicken meatballs, string beans, jodpur lentils, 2 pickles, 600 cal
Pickles made the meal pop, made it less samey. Salty fermented goodness.

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

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

DINNER: 7:30pm, chicken breast, brussel sprouts, 540 cal
Kicked the brussels up a notch with some Worcestershire. 

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2075

SLEPT: 8:30pm-3am, 6.5 hours
Not quite enough sleep but acceptable. Woke up hungry, undoubtedly due to my new Fritoless existence. Unlike a year and a half ago, I know a) this discomfort will fade in a few weeks, and b) Fritos are on the menu for the weekend that starts Friday night. That knowledge really helps in these moments.

Not a usual day, as I didn't go to work -- I baked in the morning, vended knishes at the WTC ribbon cutting through noon, went home for lunch, then to Costco for more knish supplies. Got home by 5 to eat salad (ate my momma salad at Costco!) but found myself hungry and running out of steam, and I still had to go back out and do some chores. So I wolfed down 2 bowls of Fritos and Cheetos, it powered me up and I was able to focus until I got home at 8. At 8, though, I found I just wasn't hungry for the brisket I had in the oven for the last 6 hours, so I just went to bed, feeling happy that I was gong to stay in budget without too much craziness. 

AM SNACK: 3:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

AM SNACK: 5:15am, 1 mini knish, +/- 25 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 8:45am, fage whole yogurt with agave, vanilla, almonds, 310

PM SNACK:  noon, cornbread, +/- 100 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, sardine & avocado on wholewheat, pickle, 480 cal cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, small portion of Fritos, 250 cal

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

SNINNER: 5:15, bowl of fritos, bowl of cheetos, +/- 600 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2220

SLEPT: 8:30pm - 3:30am, 7 hours
Woke up hungry but happy. Knish duties in the morning, chores and an early morning out.

AM SNACK: 3:45 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

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

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, steel cut oatmeal, 415 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, brisket with jus, roasted brussel sprouts, 585 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, babaganoush, 150 cal

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

DINNER: 7:30pm, Subway 6" veggie burger sub, chips, diet coke, 760
BBQ potato chips taste weirdly sweet. Why did I think it would be more smokey and spicy? These are candied. Yuck.
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FRIDAY COUNT: x

SLEPT: 10:30pm - 4am, 5.5 hours
Alarm set for 5:30am, but woke up on my own. Probably contributed to my lack of control when the office wheeled out free pizza for everyone and my hunger overcame my rational thought, despite having just eaten lunch. It's Friday, I did ok considering my new budget, I'll get back to it Monday...

AM SNACK: 4:15 am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/ginger/cayenne/cucumber juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, fruit smoothie, 410 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, brisket with jus, roasted broccoli, 575 cal

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, 5 slices of pizza

DINNER: 7pm, half an order of onion rings, 2 gin & tonics
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WEEKEND REPORT

Busy with knishes Saturday, over ate. Sunday morning took myself out for a 60 mile ride after being cooped up all week, felt good by my knee had weird pain that kept the ride slow. Made baked potatoes for dinner Sunday night, reminded me of the many bad meals my mom made for me, but also reminded me of the love and hope for my health in those meals, too. Weird.