Diet, Day 20

I've found the turkey bacon to be a little tricky to cook. First, tried nuking it. Cooked it OK, but it seemed like it was never getting "Done." So tonight, I tried pan frying it. Since there's hardly any fat in it, it doesn't fry in fat, and it really doesn't get crispy. But somewhere between when it shrinks down just a tad in size & where it starts to blacken, it's gotta be done. Only it's hard to tell when that is. Seems like it just gets kind of stiff.

Still tastes fine, though. It's not as yummy as greasy, crispy porkfat-riddled bacon, but it does have a slightly salty, smoky flavor. Actually, I would imagine that turkey jerky would be not entirely dissimilar to turkey bacon. I wonder if I could make turkey jerky with one of those countertop food dehydrators. Bet I could. Might look into it.

Tomorrow morning, I go for my next doctor's visit. Hoping to see continued progress.

Today, 3/15/09:

All supplements taken as directed

Water: 1 gallon +

Cardio: 30 minutes

Meal 1- 4 oz sirloin (4 lp) with 1 cup each: green bell pepper & mushrooms, measured raw (2 veg)
Meal 2- 4 oz turkey bacon (4 vlp) and 2 cups raw broccoli (2 veg)
Meal 3- 8 oz shrimp (8 vlp) with 1 cup cooked spinach (2 veg)
Freebie: 1 dill pickle spear & 1 sugar free cup-o-Jell-O (No, not at the same time. Ick!)

Totals: 12 servings very lean protein, 4 servings lean protein, 6 servings veg. Exactamundo.

Diet, Day 19

I bought some turkey bacon the other day, Jennie-O brand, because it had the least fat. The nutritional info on the package stated 1 serving = 1 slice = 15 grams. So 2 slices = 30 grams, which is just a little more than 1 ounce, which = 28.4 grams.

So the math was easy. 1 gram f fat in 30 grams of the product. If 1 gram per ounce (28.4g) is acceptable as "very lean protein," then 1 gram per 30 ounces is even less. YAY! Turkey Bacon is VLP!

But wait. The front of the package says "95% fat free." Lemme review... 1 gram out of 28.4 = 96.5% fat free. 1 gram out of 30 = 96.7% fat free. Why would they only list it as 95% fat free on the label if the math actually works out to nearly 97%? If it really is only 95%, that means it would be on this diet's "lean protein" list, and not the "very lean protein" list. Makes a difference when planning your meals.

After some thought, I decided that the info on the nutrition label is probably held to a higher standard of accuracy than the big splash graphic on the front that declares "95% fat free!" So I am going to count turkey bacon (at least this brand) as very lean protein from now on. Tonight, however, I avoided having beef for my final meal, as beef is definitely not on the "very lean" list, and would have put me over my 4 oz. of "lean."

Today, 3/14/09:

Due to bad timing, I did not take my final appetite suppressant & fat burner today. All other supplements taken as directed.

Water: 1 gallon +

Cardio: 30 minutes

Meal 1- 8 oz chicken (8 vlp) w/ 1 cup each red bell peppers & mushrooms, measured raw (2 veg)
Meal 2- 12 strawberries (2 fruit)
Meal 3- 4 oz turkey bacon (4 vlp)
Meal 4- 1 cup cottage cheese 4 vlp), 2 cupe red/green bell peppers, raw (2 veg)
Freebie: 2 dill pickle spears

Totals: 16 servings very lean protein, 4 servings veg, 2 servings fruit. Surgical strike.

Diet, Day 18

I've decided that when the 2 optional supplements I bought run out in about a week, I'm just going to get them OTC or online. The doctor's office charges a bit much. (Omega 3 & Polyphenol/veggie capsules)

The last 2 days, when I got on my exercise nike, my knees & calves ached at first. I'm fine walking around, but for some reason, they stiffen up when I start to pedal. Not unbearable, but noticeable. I'm trying to do my cardio 7 days a week if I can. And at least once or twice a week, I'd like to go for 40 minutes instead of the minimum 30. Eventually, when I can get off the bike after 30 minutes & my legs don't feel like Jell-O, I'd like to make 45 minutes the routine, with hour long workouts once or twice a week.

Something that never srtruck me before, but I have noticed while trying to calculate fat content in meat products: most diets give you limits of "x" grams of fat per ounce, or express the fat content as a percentage of total weight. This is odd, because grams are a metric measurement, while ounces are the old English standard. We're getting our ratios in mixed formats!

And then, when you read the package, you get even more confused. Because the labels list fat per serving. And a serving can be defined in terms of grams, ounces or other random units like "1 hot dog." So, I see the label says the package net weight is 12 ounces, but there are 7 hot dogs, and there are 1.5 grams of fat per serving- or hot dog. But how much fat is that per ounce? Luckily, I'm pretty good with doing simple arithmetic in my head, and I can at least get a good ballpark figure, but I would imagine most folks don't have the patience to figure it all out.

In this case, 12 ounces, divided by 7 hot dogs means each hot dog is 1 & 5/7 ounces, or about 1.7 ounces. So 1.5 grams of fat is less than 1 gram per ounce, which is why the hot dogs I am buying are on the "very lean protein" list. (Made by Hebrew National, all beef, and actually very tasty!)

Oh, and an ounce is about 28 grams, so 1 gram of fat per ounce means the meat needs to be about 97% fat free to qualify as very lean, or 90% fat free to qualify as lean, according to this diet's plan.

OK, enough geekery. I need to get some sleep.

Today, 3/13/09:

All supplements taken as directed

Water: 1 gallon +

Cardio: 40 minutes

Meal 1- 8 oz chicken (8 vlp), 2 cups raw cucumber (2 veg)
Meal 2- 1 cup fat free cottage cheese (4 vlp)
Meal 3- 24 grapes (2 fruit)
Meal 4- 4 oz sirloin (4 lp) w/ 1 cup each: red bell pepper & mushrooms (measured raw) (2 veg)
Freebie- 1 sugar free cup-o-Jell-O

Totals: 12 servings very lean protein, 4 servings lean protein, 4 servings veg, 2 servings fruit. WWwwwwwwEEEEEEEEE are the cham'pyuns, my frie-hend!

Diet, Day 17

I got an e-mail from Old Navy tonight because I buy jeans & shirts online from them frequently. I am thoroughly convinced that online shopping was invented by men for men, so we can avoid all that hassle of fighting thru the crowds of slow-moving browsers & window shoppers at brick & mortar stores. But that's a subject for a different blog.

I figured maybe I would buy a couple of pairs of 44" jeans, which will be my next step down, as motivation. Of course, when I get to their web site, the color choices are limited in the larger sizes. Tonight, they also had one color of the loose fit painter's jeans on sale- the DARK ones. I don't like dark jeans, and the lighter ones weren't available in my size.

So I looked for Bugle Boy & Lee Jeans online. I had worn both in the past, for years each. I stopped wearing Lee jeans when I could no longer find them in the usual stores, probably over 15 years ago. Switched to Bugle Boy because they were cheap & fit well, and they had an outlet store not far from my home. Which closed, and I started ordering them online, until Bugle Boy shut down their online store. Looks like it is still closed. So, Lee jeans it is!

Lee had their carpenter jeans on sale for $23, and offered new online accounts a one-time 20% discount, so I signed up & got 2 pair of 44/30's sent my way for under $40, total. Now I have to make sure I find my way into them. Hehheh.

Today, 3/12/09:

All supplements taken as directed

Water: 1 gallon+

Cardio: 30 minutes

Meal 1- 4 nearly fat-free hot dogs (6 oz total) (6 vlp), 2 cups raw celery (2 veg)

Meal 2- 24 grapes (2 fruit)

Meal 3- 8 oz chicken (8 vlp), 1 cup each mushrooms & red bell peppers (measured raw) (2 veg)

Meal 4-2 hard boiled eggs (2 vlp)

Totals: 16 servings very lean protein, 4 servings veg, 2 servings fruit. Targt acquired, target eliminated.

Diet, Day 16

Today was mostly uneventful. I keep forgetting that I can eat lettuce as a freebie, and I'm eating all of my raw veggies on their own, when I could be making salads. I need to add that to my repertoire. Just need to make sure I have allowable salad dressings, or that I get some.

I'm also starting to miss starches a little. Bread, potatoes, pasta, rice. All among my favorites. Which is probably part of my original problem, I suppose. I know that as I get down to being just "overweight," as opposed to "obese," I will be able to add them back into my diet in moderation. But right now, that seems light years away.

Today, 3-11-09:

All supplements taken as directed

Water: 1 gallon+

Cardio: 40 minutes

Meal 1- 8 oz shrimp (8 vlp)

Meal 2- 2 cups raw red bell peppers (2 veg)

Meal 3- 1 cup fat free cottage cheese (4 vlp)

Meal 4- 1 Granny Smith apple (1 fruit)

Meal 5- 4 oz zero-trim sirloin (4 lp), 1/2 cup cooked spinach (1 veg), 1 cup (measured raw) mushrooms (1 veg)

Freebie: 1 pre-packaged cup-o-Jell-O (sugar free)

Totals: 12 servings very lean protein, 4 servings lean protein, 4 servings veg, 1 serving fruit. AWOL: 1 serving fruit/veg.

Diet, Day 15

Last night, in a flurry of activity, I goofed. I was trying to watch TV, cook dinner, pack lunch, eat dinner, count servings, get ready for work, perfect cold fusion, force toothpaste back into the tube, and a million other things, and I completely forgot my supplements. Normally, I take most of them with my first meal, around 8-9pm, and pack my last 2 doses of appetite suppressant & fat burner in my lunch container. Oops. I did discover that yesterday, I packed both of my supplement doses into my lunch container, and since I was only supposed to take one dose, I had one left tonight. So that's all I took tonight.

Today, 3/10/09:

Missed most supplements, took one dose of appetite suppressant & fat burner.

Water: 1 gallon +

Cardio: 30 minutes

Meal 1- 8 oz chicken (8 vlp), w/ 1 cup cooked spinach (2 veg)

Meal 2- 2 cups raw cucumber (2 veg)

Meal 3- 2 oz low-fat string cheese (2 lp)

Meal 4- 1 grapefruit (2 fruit)

Meal 5- 2 hard boiled eggs (2 vlp)

Meal 6- 1 cup fat free cottage cheese (4 vlp)

Totals: 14 servings very lean protein, 2 servings lean protein, 4 servings veg, 2 servings fruit. Bingo.

Doctor's visit #3 and Diet, Day 14

Once again, before today's doctor visit, I weighed myself at home. My scale said 284. If that held up, it would mean I had lost another 8-10 pounds, and I was skeptical. For this visit, I was back in the same room where I was initially weighed in at 306, which seemed significantly higher than my home scale. And I weight in today at 290. Only 4 pounds less than last week (only?), but a large difference between home & office scales.

I told the girl that I was pretty sure there was a significant difference between the scales in their office, since one nearly matches my home scale & one is higher by 5-6 pounds. So, from now on, since I cannot guarantee that I will be on the same scale at every office visit, I'm going to track my weight by my home scale. Even if it's not all that accurate, I just want consistency.

But at least judging from visit #1 to visit #3, there was a 15+ pound difference on that same scale, so that gives me a good idea where I stand. 15 pounds in 2 weeks is fantastic, if I do say so myself. Doesn't really matter if it was 11+4 or 8+7, as long as the trend continues in the same direction.

My blood pressure checked in at 120/76, and I'll take that any day & be happy. 2 weeks in a row of good results there.

Body fat measured at 55.3%, but again, I just don't put any stock in the method used and I basically count that as unchanged until/unless I see a change of 10% or more and it is sustained over several visits.

I have already noted my cardio for today below, so I had better get up off my posterior & get to it. 30 minutes, coming up!

Today, 3-09-09:

Weight: 290.5 (Total 15.5 lbs lost)

Body fat: 55.3%

BP: 120/76

Skipped one dose of appetite suppressant, so as not to break the "3 doses in 24 hours" rule. All other supplements taken as directed.

Water: 1 gallon+

Cardio: 30 minutes

Meal 1- 8 oz chicken (8 vlp), 1 cup peppers & mushrooms, measured raw (1 veg)

Meal 2- 2 cups raw cauliflower (2 veg)

Meal 3- 2 hard boiled eggs (2 vlp)

Meal 4- 24 black raspberries (2 fruit)

Meal 5- 1.5 cups fat free cottage cheese (6 vlp)

Freebie: 1 pre-packaged sugar free Jell-O cup

Totals: 16 servings very lean protein, 4 servings veg, 2 servings fruit. I did it, I did it!!!