What I ate: May 31

Daily Report for May 31, 2013

Daily Log
Breakfast		445
Egg, Scrambled, Large	2 Each	204
Sausage, Patty, Original, Vgtrn, Morningstar Farms	3 Each	240
Coffee, Brewed	5 Fluid ounces	1
Lunch		340
Dressing, Fat-Free Plicate Ranch, Qdoba	1 Each	45
Chicken, Grilled, Taco Salad Add On, Qdoba	1 Each	190
Lettuce, Taco Salad Add On, Qdoba	1 Each	15
Salsa, Corn & Black Bean, Taco Salad Add On, Qdoba	1 Each	80
Salsa, Pico De Gallo, Taco Salad Add On, Qdoba	1 Each	10
Dinner		684
Lettuce, Romaine, Shredded	3 Cups	24
Chicken Breast, Skinless, Cooked	1 Each	142
Cheese, Parmesan, Grated	1 Tablespoon	22
Dressing, Caesar, Newman's Own	3 Tablespoons	225
Pizza, Cheese, 14", Fast Food	1 Slice	272
Snacks		783
Strawberry banana Smoothie, Saxbys	1 Serving	250
No nutrient data for: Protein
Pear, Large	1 Each	133
Yuenling Lager	16 Ounces	180
No nutrient data for: Fat, Carbs, Protein
Popcorn, White, Oil Popped	4 Cups	220
Exercise		186
Walking	15 min	62
Walking	10 min	41
Walking	10 min	41
Walking	10 min	41

Nutrients
Fat	86g	29%
Carbohydrates	351g	53%
Protein	124g	18%

Summary
Food Calories	2,253
Exercise Calories	186
Net Calories	2,066

Believe it or not, this is well below the number of calories my app says I need to limit myself to to lose a pound a day. That's what happens when A) you fat and B) you have salad as two of your three main meals. (That's a chicken salad, actually, for both meals.

Here's what I ate today, May 26:

Here's what I ate today, May 26:

• Tofu scramble (peppers and onions), two pieces of Morningstar Farms veggie sausage, two cups of black coffee.
• Grilled chimichanga (black beans, jasmine rice, salsa and soy cheese in a vegan wrap).
• Large iced tea and a banana.
• Chicken, onion, garic, bell pepper, tomato, asparagus, mixed with pasta.

Here's what I physically did today:

• Walked two miles, to Broad Street and back.
• Played my way through a tournament of Real Boxing. My arms, at least, should get more toned.

Thoughts.?

Here's what I ate today: May 25

• Scrambled eggs and Swiss cheese on whole grain toast
• Black coffee
• Quinoa salad
• Ribeye steak, roasted broccoli, mac n'cheese
• Fresh strawberries and ice cream.

Given that I'm trying to go "Vegan Before 6"—which allows some latitude for dinner—this doesn't look like a bad day. I don't need to do ice cream every night, clearly. And I'd like to get to vegan at breakfast soon; something I can make that satisfies my salty craving. Oatmeal doesn't quite do that.

EXERCISE: I spent a chunk of my evening playing "Real Boxing" on my iPad. It captures your motions, like Wii or Kinect, though probably not quite as efficiently. I went 1-4 in my evening boxing career. But I worked up a hell of a sweat doing it. We'll see how my arms feel Sunday to see if this can become an everyday thing right away.

Here's what I ate today: May 24

• Veggie egg whites scramble on whole grain toast
• Iced latte
• Kati roll (peas and carrots with heavy Indian spices, wrapped in naan) 
• Latte, brownie
• Spicy pork kimchi rice bowl   

I'm imperfect, obviously. Wish I hadn't had the brownie. Trying to figure out how to have coffee that I enjoy tasting that isn't loaded down with milk. Still: The represents progress from a couple of weeks ago. It's more whole-grain and plant-based than I was eating a month ago, much less meat-oriented. Though I haven't been updating here, the truth is we're even eating salads in the evening a couple of nights a week now. And not to repeat this point too often: I haven't had a soda since my talk with the doctor.  I'm turning around, slowly but surely.

Things to work on:

• Regular exercise.
• Consistently documenting my food/exercise efforts.

Starting Over: Vegan Before 6

I want to thank everybody who has emailed me in recent days to share their own stories of weight loss, advice, or encouragement. I haven't had time to respond individually to everybody, but my plan is to do so.

One thing I've been spending this first week doing is trying to find a plan that makes sense to me, so that I can apply a bit of rigor to the process instead of "merely" documenting everything I eat and hoping that will magically deliver me. I'm going to start with Mark Bittman's new book, Vegan By 6. Bittman writes about food for the New York Times, has inspired me to get creative in the kitchen, and his approach seems flexible to me. I think I need flexible.

The title suggests the essential plan: Part-time veganism. Before 6, Bittman eats a "super-strict" vegan diet, also getting rid of processed foods and "white" starches in bread and pasta—no alcohol either—and after 6, he eats pretty much whatever he wants, usually but not always in moderation. The result? He lost weight and maintained that loss, dramatically improving his health in the process.

He describes the benefits of "part-time veganism" thusly:

Same here. Veganism isn't an "ethical" choice for me—I grew up among ranchers; I've worked around butcher shops—so this approach seems, well, welcoming. I want to take a positive attitude and approach into this effort. I can maintain that positivity by changing my habits while preserving my freedom of choice.

I worry that I'll offend some friends with this choice: Everybody has an opinion about how to lose weight. My promise to you: I'll try this for a month, maybe longer. But if it doesn't appear to be producing results within a short period of time, I'll stop and try another approach.

It'll be a few days before I officially declare myself a Vegan Before 6. I want to read more deeply into Bittman's book, and in particular get some handy ideas for how to eat at breakfast without, you know, using milk or eggs.

In the meantime, you may notice I've been attempting essentially a "Vegetarian Before 6" routine—not completely rigorously—in order to get a head start. Thus, my meals for today:

May 8

Snack: 2 apples

Breakfast: Veggies and egg whites on ciabatta
Large iced latte with 2 percent milk

Snack: Peanut butter and oats bar from Trader Joe's

Lunch: Salad with goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, onion, pecans, mushrooms, and vinagrette.

Dinner: Steak salad. (Includes peas, corn, cherry tomatoes, cheddar cheese, hard boiled egg, lettuce, and steak. Italian dressing.)

Snack: PB&J  on extremely whole-grain bread.

I've been consciously altering my eating habits. I don't feel deprived. I sure hope this works.

Starting Over: Still Starting

At the same time (and for the same reasons) I've embarked on a mission to lose weight, I've been getting started on medicine to bring my blood pressure down. With it remaining persistently but moderately high, the doctor this week ordered me to double up on the prescription. Today? I was wiped out by a combination of bad headaches, light fever, and unsettled stomach that I understand to be side effects. I took a two-hour nap after work, and woke only because my son was sent to rouse me.

I feel like I'm starting this journey with a series of mistakes and excuses.

But my body really is doing the thing it's doing today. So I'm going to celebrate one thing: Consistency of effort is not going to be easy to come by. But I haven't had a soda in a week. So. That's something. Just gotta string a few more somethings together.

May 7

Weigh-in: --

Exercise: --

Breakfast: Bacon, egg and cheese on croissant

Large iced coffee with skim milk

Banana

Snack: Strawberry protein smoothie

Lunch: Qdoba veggie grilled burrito (brown rice, wheat tortilla, black beans, grilled squash, pico sauce, cheese, lettuce, guac.)

Snack: Trail mix (peanuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, carob chips)

Dinner: Two bowls of "Tex Mex mix"—beef, beans, Rotel, and spice—over corn chips.

Starting Over: Day Three

If am to be successful, I need to figure out how to deal with stress, anger, rage, and general grumpiness without eating a large bag of potato chips.

I don't wanna talk about it.


May 6, 2013

Weigh-in (doc's office): 279 lbs

Exercise: 1.48 miles of around-town walking.

Breakfast: Veggie sausage, egg, cheese on toast
Iced coffee with skim milk

Um...Breakfast two:
Iced latte with 2 percent milk
Egg white and cheese sandwich on whole grain

Lunch: Small bowl leftover chicken brown/wildrice

Snack: Cup of trail mix.

Snack: Greek yogurt

Snack: Salt-n-vinegar chips (ooooooh no!)

Dinner: Three bowls of salad (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheddar, hard-boiled egg, Italian dressing)