Diet & Exercise Log - March 31st, 2009

Breakfast
2 cups sugar-free jello
1 oz. salted peanuts

Lunch
Chicken Caesar salad

Dinner
1/2 T-bone steak
1 stick of string cheese

Snacks
2 oz. salted peanuts
1 oz. salted cashews
1 oz. beef jerky
1 tbsp. sugar free peach preserves

Exercise
15 minutes weightlifting (chest, triceps)
15 minutes stationary bike

Thoughts
All these nuts are taking a toll. Better buy some more cottage cheese as well as some vegetables to keep things in balance. Technically, you're only supposed to have like 1 serving of nuts per day on the South Beach diet. Obviously I'm not holding to the prescribed diet strictly, but I understand why nuts shouldn't constitute that large a part of your daily food. They're fairly high in fat and also contain some carbohydrates, not to mention all the sodium. Another trip to the grocery store is in order for tomorrow.

Day 10 weight: 325.8

Diet & Exercise Log - March 30th, 2009

Breakfast
3 eggs, hard-boiled

Lunch
Chipotle salad with barbacoa
Diet Coke

Dinner
Chipotle salad with steak
1 chicken breast
1 cup mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)
Coke Zero

Snacks
1 oz. salted peanuts
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Exercise
20 minutes walking
20 minutes Rock Band drumming

Thoughts
If I'm going to have two salads in one day, I probably shouldn't have them both be with red meat. The barbacoa was very spicy, but pretty good. Also, I think I'm ready to start integrating a regular walk or stationary bike ride into my daily routine. The lifting is okay, and playing the drums is fun, but I want to work on my stamina, and the only way to do that is to focus on some cardio work. Today was a start.

Day 9 weight: 325.8

Diet & Exercise Log - March 28th/29th, 2009

Saturday
Breakfast
4 slices of bacon
3 eggs, fried

Lunch/Dinner
Chinese buffet: beef & broccoli, chicken & broccoli, scallops, egg drop soup

Snacks
1 hard-boiled egg
3 Pop-Tarts
4 shots Everclear

Exercise
20 minutes Rock Band drumming


Sunday
Breakfast
3 eggs, scrambled
Diet Mountain Dew

Lunch
Diet Sierra Mist
1 oz. beef jerky
1 oz. cashews

Dinner
2 grilled chicken breasts
2 cups steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots
1 cup sugar-free pudding

Snacks
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
2 oz. cashews

Exercise
20 minutes weightlifting (back, biceps)

Thoughts
I decided to group Saturday and Sunday together, and I think I'll group Friday, Saturday, and Sunday together from now on. It keeps it so I don't have to do one of these on a weekend night, which is preferable. I bought some new shoes Sunday, mostly because I got tired of the tattered insoles of my current shoes, courtesy of the puppy Franklin. I still have two other outdated pairs of shoes to replace, but I can assure you that these will be put to use immediately.

As you can see, I strayed on Saturday. We went over to BizJoe's place, had a few drinks, a few laughs, and that was that. I'm actually feeling good about getting back on track, though, which is different from before.

I do owe Joe a box of Pop-Tarts, though.

Day 8 weight: 328.6

Diet & Exercise Log - March 27th, 2009

Breakfast
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
Coke Zero

Lunch
Chipotle salad with carnitas (eh)
Diet Coke

Dinner
Shrimp and vegetables in garlic sauce
Coke Zero

Snacks
2 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts
1 oz. almonds
1 oz. cashews
1 oz. beef jerky

Exercise
(none)

Thoughts
The end of the first work week, and it went alright. Three trips to Chipotle and I'm managing to lose weight, who'd have thought? Though, I don't think I'll have carnitas again. They're very bland, and generally I like the taste of chicken and beef better than pork anyways, so I'll stick with the others.

This weekend will be an interesting experiment on how I do without having the framework of a workday. I cooked up a bunch of eggs (both scrambled and hard-boiled), hopefully that'll give me enough to work with for snacks and meals over the weekend. And give me lots of gas.

Day 6 weight: 329.0

Diet & Exercise Log - March 26th, 2009

Breakfast
4 slices of bacon

Lunch
Chipotle salad with chicken
Diet Coke

Dinner
Chicken fajitas (without tortillas)

Snacks
2 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts

Exercise
20 minutes weightlifting (chest, triceps)

Thoughts
For whatever reason, I felt pretty good about my diet execution today. Sure, the bacon is a high-fat item, but just physically I feel like I had a good day, and the slightly higher drop in weight seems to coincide with that. Fewer snacks today, which is certainly part of it, but also I didn't really feel like I needed as many snacks. I was just not hungry. Good stuff.

Day 5 weight: 329.2

Diet & Exercise Log - March 25th, 2009

Breakfast
5 eggs, scrambled
Fuze Slenderize - strawberry melon (it's 20 calories and I needed the Vitamin C)

Lunch
1 large turkey breast
1 cup green beans
1 oz. salted almonds

Dinner
2 oz. salted cashews
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1 oz. beef jerky
Minute Maid Light Lemonade

Snacks
1/2 cup ranch sunflower seeds
2 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts

Exercise
(none)

Thoughts
Gotta work a little harder on getting vegetables into my meals, and I should probably have a contingency plan for evenings (like this one) when my mom's dinner plan doesn't work with the diet. I ended up defaulting on assorted snacks as a meal, but I worry about this tactic giving me too much fat. I'm thinking I'll go pick up a couple salad bags and some pre-cooked chicken cutlets, and hope that my family won't eat them out from under me. Dare to dream.

Day 4 weight: 332.0

Achievements Mentality

As these past few weeks have passed, I've kept an eye on Patrick's gamerscore, and frankly, it's been discouraging. He just keeps racking up achievements, while I pick up 10 or 20 here and there, but keep getting outdistanced. I'm not mad at him; we're both doing the same thing, trying to pick up points. But to maintain my mental health, it might be better for me to change my mentality with regards to the leaderboard.

First, I probably need to accept that I won't be catching Patrick. Patrick, you are a worthy adversary, and an achiever. That doesn't mean I'll stop chasing you, or stop trying to expand my fresh new lead on Marcus. But it'll be more of a point of interest than a goal.

Second, and both more interesting and more fun, I want to watch our leaderboard on www.mygamercard.net. You can see our leaderboard on the right side of this page; we've got 11 users and over 50,000 gamer points. I'd like to find other small groups like ourselves who have players of varying skills and playtime, and compete against them for leaderboard dominance. Our entire leaderboard can work together to accumulate points, both competing against the other leaderboards and against various milestones. We're currently just under 51,000 points; our next milestone can be 60,000. That would require less than 1,000 more points per user on average, and I know Patrick, Nick, and I will all be rolling forward at breakneck speeds.

I do have a personal goal as well: 10,000 points. It's still 2,645 points away, but it's within striking distance. The objective is to get to 10,000 by my birthday, August 1st.

Game on.

Diet & Exercise Log - March 24rd, 2009

Breakfast
4 slices of bacon

Lunch
Chipotle salad with chicken, no dressing
Chipotle salad with steak, no dressing (yes, a second salad)
Diet Coke

Dinner
2 large turkey breasts
2 cups green beans
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
Coke Zero

Snacks
2 oz. salted peanuts
1 stick string cheese
1 tbsp. sugar-free peach preserves
Minute Maid Light Lemonade

Exercise
25 minutes weight-lifting (back, biceps)

Thoughts
No big thoughts on day two, except that the Chipotle salads kick the shit out of the salad I made at the Westat cafeteria. It's also worth noting that bacon isn't exactly a South Beach friendly food. It's essentially sugar-free, but has very high fat content, which the diet tries to steer you away from. Still, it's consistent with the ideals of Phase 1 (no carbs), so it's an exception I make for myself.

Day 3 weight: 332.6

Diet & Exercise Log - Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Breakfast
3 eggs, scrambled
1 cup hot tea with Splenda

Lunch
1 salad (lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, lite ranch dressing)
20 oz. Diet Mountain Dew

Dinner
2 medium hamburger patties
20 oz. Diet Coke
1 tbsp. sugar-free peach preserves

Snacks
2 oz. salted peanuts
2 oz. salted almonds

Exercise
30 minute walk
45 minutes Rock Band drumming

Thoughts
Well, the first day is usually the hardest, and if this is as hard as it gets, I should be alright. I cooked up the eggs last night so that this morning all I had to do was pop them in the microwave and go. That's something I think I'll want to do fairly regularly, as one of my biggest problems was grabbing something fast on my way to work, usually a donut, a danish, or some other sweet snack. I went to the grocery store today and bought eggs and microwavable bacon, so between those two I should be able to keep my breakfasts diet-friendly.

Depending on the quality of the entrees at Westat's cafeteria, I may end up going out for lunch more frequently. The salad I had today was fine, but I doubt I could keep getting salads there without getting bored of them...fast. Even if you keep the dressing off, Chipotle can make a pretty mean salad, and the crucial part would be the well-seasoned meats they offer.

The first post-diet weight is in the books, though obviously it's not going to be a tremendous gainer. I just want to have a day-by-day tracking of this, for kicks.

Day 2 Weight: 333.2 lbs.

Fitness

Alright, after various other failed attempts, I'm going to once again attempt to lose weight and get strong. The general basis for the fitness will be a rough interpretation of the South Beach Diet and increasing my overall daily activity.

I say a "rough interpretation" because I haven't read the book, and am only going off of the information I've gleaned from various websites. Luckily, the first phase of the diet is fairly straightforward: no grains, no sugar. It's essentially an Atkins diet for the first two weeks. I'll be eating far more than my share of eggs, as well as plenty of chicken, seafood, and salads. While it's the most strict and most difficult part of the diet, it's also the most rewarding. Many dieters have lost ten or more pounds in the first two weeks of the South Beach diet, and that instant gratification is a useful psychological boost to help you stick with it.

I know this because I've done this diet before. I lost thirty pounds the first time, but gained it all back (after completely disintegrating my diet plans). I went on it a second time and lost eight pounds in one week, but lost my way quickly, and once again am back at an unreasonably high weight. Third time's a charm.

With regards to "increasing my overall daily activity," this will come in three forms; two standard, and one that you'll find ridiculous but I swear to you actually does have some impact.

1. Cardiovascular exercise - This will mostly be walking and swimming, with whatever else I can mix in. Taking a walk is as good a reason as any to get away from my desk at work, and with spring coming, the weather should be perfect for regular walks. Come summertime, my mom's pool will be convenient and fun (more so if some of you female readers want to stop by, wink wink).
2. Weight training - While I don't have a whole Bowflex gym in my basement, I have a bench, a barbell, and some dumbbells. I should be able to work my chest, arms, back, and legs with the equipment I have available, and I've actually already started this a little bit. Someday, I hope to be able to lift an entire Dodge Neon over my head, but baby steps.
3. Rock Band (drumming) - This, obviously, is the ridiculous one. But while it's mostly a form of recreation, I find that I work up a decent sweat playing Rock Band, especially if it's right after weight training. So my tentative plan is to couple lifting and drumming in order to maximize the effect of the drumming. The fun part of this plan is trying to figure out which songs are the most difficult while not being songs I can't beat (I'm a fat man; I don't need to be beaten down any more, especially by some impossible metal song).

One of the keys to this whole system is so simple, it covers over 70% of the Earth's surface. I've got to drink much, much more water. It will help my muscles heal after weightlifting. It will fill my stomach and reduce cravings. Water is free at work and free to me at home. And water is just good for you. I've improved on this a little, but I've got a long way to go.

I'll be posting daily (yes, daily) reports every evening, listing everything I ate and the exercise I did that day. You're all welcome to provide input that you think I might find helpful, food ideas to mix it up, encouragement, insults (try to keep them PG-13, Nick). And even though it's recommended that you don't weigh yourself daily, I'll be posting my weight every day as well in the same posts. No forgetting, no lies, no qualifications. This thing is only going to work if I'm completely honest.

Wish me luck.

EDIT

Initial weigh-in: 334 pounds.

Way to Go, February! (and a deal on Xbox 360s and PS3s)

What was so great about February, you ask? Well, February was the most prolific month in The Housington Blog's history, a daunting eleven posts spanning twenty-eight days. That's less than three days per post, a far better rate than I've ever attained.

The most important part of this accomplishment is that it was achieved with only a minimal contribution of "bogus" posts. Between the Disney World trip, the Rock Band RPG, and my article about driving, I actually posted my own ideas and experiences. Sure, only two people actually read the blog, but I'm headed in the right direction.

I'm hoping to continue to write about my own thoughts at a decent rate, but I'm still going to post any particularly good deals or coupons that I find. For example, if you use coupon code Z0WPL1J0CC3W47 on www.dell.com, you can take 20% off of many pieces of gaming hardware. The coupon is valid through Thursday, March 26th. You can get a 60GB Xbox 360 Pro for $239.20, or an 80 GB PS3 for $320. Plus, you'll get free shipping. Enjoy.