I think I mentioned this before that I believe I’m ready to get back exercising. Well, to ensure I actually did that, and to stay motivated, I set myself a pretty big goal – I registered for a 62 mile bike ride in June. They had 25/50/62/100 distances, and I was initially thinking a 50 miles but then said, what the hell is another 12 miles. So there it is. I now have 4 months to prep for this. I would like to be able to do a century for the end of summer. We’ll see about that. What goals did you set today?
Rough Weekend!
So I learned a very valuable lesson this past weekend about myself and healthy eating in general. It has been 21 days since I started on this journey to a healthier lifestyle. I mentioned in a post a while back that I really have to give a significant amount of credit for my success so far to my wife who ends up preparing a vast majority of what I eat. She packs me all of the things I eat and snack on throughout the course of the day. Breakfast, lunch, and a bunch of small snacks in between. This not only allows me to “graze” all day and keep my metabolism up, but also provides me which food structure so I don’t go hungry for even a few minutes. This leads me to this weekend and what I learned.
Well, my daughter had pneumonia last week so my wife was taking care of her and my son and didn’t get a chance to get out to shop. We had food in the refrigerator, but I inadvertently went too long in between meals which made my stomach take over as the leader. This unfortunately caused some seriously poor choices with food. Both Saturday and Sunday, I ate a barrage of bad things including seafood paella (tons of butter and oil), pizza, and pasta gorged in cheese. Now the fortunate thing is that over the course of the last few weeks, my stomach shrunk considerably so I didn’t eat all that much of the bad food, and didn’t gain any weight because I was running all over the place and doing some garage cleaning so I was burning calories. But eating that food did make me feel awful. So here are my two pointers of the day:
- The food you eat DOES have an effect on you. Eating bad choice food even for a day leaves you feeling sluggish and low on energy. Havent felt that even once for the last few weeks while eating fresh veggies and fish.
- Without proper structure, and eating small meals every so often and grazing in between the meals, you are very likely to fall of the wagon and make a bad choice you will regret. Not work it, so keep things organized and plan ahead.
How did your weekend go?
The Road to Pescetarianism – Day 8
Created by MyFitnessPal – Free Calorie Counter
My Goals:
- Lose 25 lbs by March 31st – Down 6 (19 to go)
- Cycle for 25 miles by June 30 – Not Started
- Run a 5k by September 30 – Not Started
- **Play 3 full songs on guitar by Memorial Day- In Progress
**not health related but a goal of mine
Update:
So I’m down another 2 lbs, making it a total of 6 lbs so far. Although it feels like I am way ahead of schedule, I have a feeling it is mostly water weight and I will plateau soon. Yesterday on the advice of several people, I started logging calories in myfitnesspal.com. Although the tracking is going to take a bit to get used to, I can immediately see the value it adds in keeping yourself in check. I have also integrated in my Fitbit force to reflect in any exercise (which for now is only my 1 mile walk back and forth from Penn Station to work). I’m hoping to connect with a few people on the community page to help face the challenges with me.
Today’s food contained:
- Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs (Only 1 egg yolk).
- Snack 1: A non-fat cheese stick and a couple plain almonds
- Snack 2: Chobani non-fat yogurt with Kashii Go-Lean mixed in
- Lunch: Homemade Greek Salad (I accidentally left the dressing home though)
- Snack 3: An apple and almonds
- Snack 4: Small snack bag of sliced fresh peppers and carrots, and a snack size hummus
- Snack 5: One clementine
- Snack 6: A couple dried apricots (3 pieces)
- Dinner: Sautéed Tilapia over a mixed bed of sautéed escarole, mushrooms, zucchini, and eggplant. I also had about 3 chunks of red beats from a beat salad and a small portion of corn and onion salad (kind of like a corn salsa).
What did you eat today? Drop a comment and tell me how your journey is going. I would be interested in any challenges or successes you have had as well.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Always chew your food and drink tons of tea and water.
The Road to Pescetarianism – Day 7
My Goals:
- Lose 25 lbs by March 31st – Down 4 (21 to go)
- Cycle for 25 miles by June 30 – Not Started
- Run a 5k by September 30 – Not Started
- **Play 3 full songs on guitar by Memorial Day- In Progress
**not health related but a goal of mine
I plan to track ongoing progress of these.
Well lets start with the good news. I’m down 4 lbs my first week. I have to completely attribute the loss to smarter choices with my food than anything else. I haven’t started exercising yet, and I am not eating less, only better. I also want to add that with the exception of one day where I didnt eat enough protein for a meal, I have not felt hungry at all. On to the exercise – I think I am just about ready to start. I think I am going to start my journey to run a 5k by the end of summer. I’ve decided to use an app that has come highly recommended to he called C25k which can be found here. In short, it is an 8 week training plan from “couch to 5k”. I have given myself about 3x that amount of time, so there should not be any excuses.
Today’s food contained:
- Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs (Only 1 egg yolk).
- Snack 1: A non-fat cheese stick and a couple plain almonds
- Snack 2: Chobani non-fat yogurt with Kashii Go-Lean mixed in
- Lunch: About a pint of lentil soup
- Snack 3: An apple and almonds
- Snack 4: Small snack bag of sliced fresh peppers and carrots, and a snack size hummus
- Snack 5: One clementine
- Snack 6: A couple dried apricots (3 pieces)
- Dinner: Ma Bo Tofu (Kinda like Chinese Chili)
Ma Bo Tofu. This is a Chinese dish that is like a chili with tofu and ground pork. I substituted the pork with my meat substitute from Morningstar
What did you eat today?
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Always chew your food and drink tons of tea and water.
The Road to Pescetarianism – Day 4
My Goals:
- Lose 25 lbs by March 31st – In Progress
- Cycle for 25 miles by June 30 – Not Started
- Run a 5k by September 30 – Not Started
- Play 3 full songs on guitar by Memorial Day- In Progress
**not health related but a goa of mine
I plan to track ongoing progress of these.
Today I went out to lunch with some of my old colleagues from a department in my firm I used to work in. Originally we were planning on Thai food, but ultimately decided on Indian food. Not only do I love Indian food, but it is really simple to order vegetarian at an Indian restaurant. I wish I remembered to take a picture because my plate came with about 8 small dishes with a variety of different foods from cauliflower to lentils to okra to spinach to kofka which is a delicious vegetable meatball (for lack of a better word). All in different sauces, spices, and currys. If you’ve never tried Indian food you should venture out.
Today’s food contained:
- Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs (Only 1 egg yolk).
- Snack 1: A clementine, a handful of plain almonds, and a handful of blueberries
- Snack 2: Chobani non-fat yogurt with Kashii Go-Lean mixed in (I like the Go-Lean because it is healthier than granola)
- Snack 3: An apple
- Lunch: Indian food
- Snack 4: one clementine and half of a snacksize bag of blueberries
- Snack 5: A couple dried apricots (3 pieces)
- Dinner:
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Always chew your food and drink tons of tea and water.
What did you eat today?
The Road to Pescetarianism – Day 3
Wow, one thing I noticed about putting better things into my body is that not only do I have quite a bit of energy throughout the day, but I am also sleeping a lot better at night. Sometimes I eat dinner fairly late which is not ideal (I don’t get home from work until after 7:30 at times). Whenever I eat a heavy meal at that time, I feel like my body is digesting all night and I have a hard time getting to sleep and staying there. The past couple days I’m out like a light and up with the alarm ready to go. I think that I may plan on starting the gym this week and building a workout into my lifestyle. I think I’ll keep it light at first, with some cycling or elliptical, but I would like to start working something in. Plus, I just got my Fitbit Force to let me start tracking my movement and sleep patterns. I recently traded up from the Fitbit Flex and regret it. Happy to do a personal review of that one if wanted.
I have to give my wife a lot of credit for my progress, she not only does all the grocery shopping, but also prepares everything I take to work for the day as well as the dinner I come home to at night. Maybe it is easier to shop and cook now since we’re both working on our health, but I don’t know I still owe her a tremendous amount of credit. She has been amazing in ideas and ensuring my meals keep on track with the BIG PLAN. The one thing I can say (so far at least) with what I am doing now as opposed to diets I have tried in the past is that many diets rely on your stomach shrinking before the diet becomes reasonable. This could take many days of discomfort. I actually feel like I am eating plenty of food, although the choices I am making are much much much better. Not sure if this is the right move or not, but my approach so far is – If I am hungry after a meal, I feel free to eat more veggies. I think an important point that I may have noted in an earlier entry though is pace yourself when chewing. I tend to chew my food a lot more now and take longer to eat. I’m no longer the first person to finish dinner.
Today’s food contained:
- Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs (Only 1 egg yolk). The yolks have all the vitamins and have healthy fats but I am not sure I need both right now
- Snack 1: Non-fat cheese-stick and a handful of plain almonds
- Snack 2: Chobani non-fat yogurt with Kashii Go-Lean mixed in (I like the Go-Lean because it is healthier than granola)
- Snack 3: A cup of blueberries that I snacked on throughout the entire afternoon (I LOVE blueberries)
- Lunch: A salad with raw spinach, one hard-boiled egg, a whole carrot sliced up, a half a can of drained and rinsed cannelloni beans, a half cup of grape tomatoes, two nice sized slices of grilled eggplant chopped into pieces , and an ounce of Greek dressing.
- Snack 4: one clementine and a small snacksize bag of baby carrots (please note I had eaten two by time I took the picture)
- Snack 6: A couple dried apricots (3 pieces)
- Dinner: A veggie burger (Morning Star) and sautéed mushrooms
Remember – Chew your food and drink tons of tea and water. This has been fundamental advice for me so far that I want to share!
Tomorrow I’ll try and take pictures of all the meals to be more accurate.
What did you eat today?
The Road to Pescetarianism – Day 2
So I noticed something interesting last night after dinner. I tried portion control for dinner and ate about half of what I would normally eat regarding the fish and noodles. I like to fill the plate, but this time I wanted to cut the carbs and increase the veggies. I probably should add that I also eat very quickly which cause problem number 2 – My body doesnt even recognize it is eating so I tend to over eat. I tried to eat a little more slowly this time. After I finished dinner, I thought, Oh Boy – I’m still hungry. So I grabbed a cup of green tea and typed up my blog entry. Believe it or not, about 20 minutes later, I no longer had that hunger feeling. I topped off the cup with hot water and went to bed. It was a good first day.
By the way, I eat very much the same thing while at work Mondays through Fridays
- Breakfast (9:00am): 2 hard boiled eggs (Only 1 egg yolk). I had a meeting so had a bit of a late start with breakfast.
- Snack 1 (10:30am): Chobani non-fat yogurt with Kashii Go-Lean mixed in and about 5 almonds
- Snack 2 (11:30am): A handful of plain almonds and 3 dried appricots and a cup of grapes that I snacked on throughout the entire afternoon
- Lunch (12:15pm): A salad with raw spinach, one hard boiled egg, a whole carrot sliced up, a half a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, a half cup of grape tomatoes, and a quarter cup of peas, and an ounce of Blueberry vinagrette dressing.
- Snack 3 (1:00pm): one clementine
- Snack 4 (2:30pm): Non-fat cheese stick
- Snack 5 (3:15pm): Dried apricots (3 pieces) and one clementine
- Dinner (8:00pm): 2 bowls of hearty lentil soup with kale and a small bread roll
I got home from work a little late due to the -5 degree temps here in NJ, and had way too much of a gap between meals, but the soup was filling
The Road to Pescetarianism – Day 1
So here are the details of my first day. I’m starting this journey at a whopping weight of 305. Again, on top of my desire to start eating a more healthy and balanced diet, my first weight loss goal is 25 lbs by the end of March. Although I plan to journal my diet as close to daily as possible, I will only be updating my stats weekly. Here what I ate throughout my first day:
Breakfast (8:30am): 2 hard boiled eggs (I ate the yolk of one)
Snack 1 (10:00am): Chobani non-fat yogurt with Kashii Go-Lean mixed in
Snack 2 (11:00am): A handful of plain almonds and a non-fat cheese stick
Lunch (12:15pm): a salad with raw spinach, two hard boiled eggs, a whole carrot sliced up, a half a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, a half cup of grape tomatoes, and a quarter cup of peas, and an ounce of Italian dressing.
Snack 3 (3:00pm): Dried apricots (3 pieces) and one clementine
Snack 4 (4:00pm): Chocolate protein shake
Dinner (7:00pm): Baked Tilapia (a piece a little bigger than the palm of my hand) a half a cup of egg noodles, and a healthy serving of mixed veggies.
Also it is important to note that I drank about about 32oz of water and 8 glasses of lemon zest tea. I actually used the same tea bag but kept refilling with hot water. Not sure why but lemon and water makes me feel good.
The Road To Pescetarianism
Well, it has been something I have been thinking about for quite some time now. The more I read about GMO’s the more worried I become about what exactly I’m putting into my body. Now lets be clear, I am by no means whatsoever the poster boy of health. I eat crap foods, don’t exercise nearly enough, and am very much overweight. I really need to focus on my health and change my lifestyle. With what I have been reading about the garbage going into commercial foods, coupled with recent information I have been reading on the cancer causing pollutants in non-organic chicken (I can’t even look at chicken right now) I have decided to take more action than just reading, and actually do something about my diet. I have never been too successful with big bang diets or the such, so this time I am going to try a very different approach. On top of that, a good friend of mine (both a trainer and nutritional guru) suggested that I log my experience.
Now I have read a bunch of blogs on different aspects of “Going Vegetarian”, or “Losing Weight”, and me being the type of person that needs every little detail, I always thought they were all missing key info like the what was their starting weight, food intake, etc. I’ll try to be as detailed as possible to address that.
To start, I am 40 years old, married to a beautiful wife, and have two amazing kids. We have been very successful in ensuring our kid’s diets are nutritionally balanced. They love fruit and nuts, thrive on veggies, and honestly have little interest in junk food. When you have a 5 year old ask you if something is “healthy” before he eats it, it’s quite funny. I on the other hand am not so conscious about what I put in my body. I grew up in an Italian household and with that comes MEGA CARBS in breads and pasta, as well as tons of cookies. If you left food on your plate, you were reminded of the starving children all over the world, so you had to eat everything on the plate. I’m 5’9 and a few pounds over 300, although as an ex rugby player, and beyond the big belly, I hide most of the weight fairly well.
Why Pescetarian? Well, again, I’ve been reading a bit about the pros and cons of all varieties of options, and what it came down to was that: 1)Veganism was just not an option; 2)Vegetarianism was a contender, but in the end I chose Pescetarianism because studies have found that with the healthy oils (Omega 3’s) found in Fish, the risks of hear disease and such were lower than vegetarians. Plus I love seafood.
As far as goals are concerned, here is what I am looking to accomplish.
- Stick as closely to Pescetarian guidelines as possible between now and March 31st.
- Start to exercise two times a week
- Lose 25 pounds
As a byproduct, I am looking forward to learning to live a healthier lifestyle and reap the benefits of good food choices. I plan to blog a daily diary of what I ate for that day (at least the best I can, knowing there will be missed days), and on a weekly basis, log my latest weight statistics. Hopefully I’ll be able to show some good results. Not sure if anyone will ever read this, but if you do, I’m open for feedback and questions/comments.
Rich
Music and Me
Anyone who knows me, knows how important music is to me. There are times when I listen to simple songs that have catchy rhythm, but most of the time I get absorbed in good lyrics and great musicians. Even when I was a kid, I would find myself listening to songs over and over and over again. I would memorize every note of every voice and musical instrument. As a young boy, I remember sitting on my front porch listening to “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers or “Peaceful, Easy Feeling” by The Eagles. At the time, I played everything on my one speaker cassette player. That was until I got my very own Sony Walkman which was the size of modern day laptops. Music to me always had a way of defining a moment. The lyrics of a good song were often enough to paint a clear picture and I could put myself in that moment in a similar way that a good book does. Listening to “The Gambler” as a six year old boy, I could see myself on a train playing cards with an old guy smoking a cigarette and drinking whiskey. Even better, Hearing older music now, I think of specific times when I listened to that same song as a kid, like sitting in my front room with my friend Bernie listening to “Teddy Bear” by Elvis, or The Doors’ “Light My Fire” driving down Mohawk Street to collect rent with my Dad. Music has always been an inspiration for me. I have used it in so many ways over the years. Whether it is to explain my mood by listening to music that I felt was consistent with how I was feeling at the moment, music to alter my feelings either with energy or enthusiasm, for nostalgic purposes where I use it to take me back to another time or to simply escape. My wife doesn’t get it when the first thing I do when I get in the car is turn on the radio. She usually tries to turn the radio down, and when I turn it back up, she tells me I’m deaf. She doesn’t get that it just isn’t background noise to me. I need to hear every instrument play and every background vocal. I know a few of my friends that have a similar love for music, but I find that most people just listen to music as background. To me, I love a good four or five piece band. The synchronization of different instruments to create a melody complimented with voice to create a song. There are not many material things that I can say I cannot live without. Music is definitely one of them.
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