Food and exercise 12/7/2007

So I still have a little battle with what I want to post and what I don't. I mean, who other than me really CARES what I eat or anything? I suspect that if I eat something I shouldn't I will wimp out and not post it, but maybe not. Over the last year I've learned that little things make a huge difference in weight loss because they all add up, collectively and over time. If it makes me hesitate even a little bit more when I want to eat something, it's worthwhile. If I say something in passing that helps someone else on a similar journey, that's even better. I'm still not at a place where I can be comfortable posting my actual weight, but I might do it in a total pounds to go tally or something.

I haven't logged my food or exercise in a month and a half. I hit my first big goal, the lowest weight I've seen in at least 15 years, and decided to maintain for a month or so. For tracking my nutrition and exercise, I use a software called ProTrack from Global Health and Fitness. I think it was worth the price of the membership all by itself!

My last weigh-in was on 26 Oct and I'm the same weight today. Woot! I usually try to over-estimate how much my portions are because I know most people tend to underestimate. I have a food scale which I use for portioning, but unless I'm feeling the need to be really strict for a goal or to break a plateau, it's just too much trouble. It was great for learning what portion sizes really look like, though.

Got up late, did about 30-40 minutes of hard cycling, so I started out the day with a calorie deficit. Yay me! I worked it pretty hard, ProTrack says about 600 calories negative.

Coffee with about 6oz unsweetened soy milk, 1tbsp cocoa powder and 1tbsp cocoa mix plus 1 cube lo han quo. Call that about 240 calories. It was a very late breakfast.

Vegan boyfriend came over and we made vietnamese sandwiches. 3oz vienna roll, 2oz tofu, 1tsp seasoned vegan mayo, about 1 cup various sprouts and pickles. Crisped the rolls in the oven, it was glorious!! Call it... wow, 420 calories! Wouldn't have expected it to be so much, but that's the benefit of looking at this stuff! That was really my breakfast even though it was almost 2. That's kinda bad but I don't often skip breakfast and I got a little crazy with the walnuts last night so I wasn't in any danger of starvation mode.

I really wasn't very hungry all day, I've noticed that happens sometimes when I work out hard in the morning. I sorta forgot to eat. I made some hardboiled eggs, ate three of them mashed with some fat free butter. 245 calories.

Watched an episode of Firefly on the exercise bike, burned another 400 calories.

The next time I remembered to eat, was a few minutes ago. Vegan boyfriend was sweet and left me the rolls and sprouts and such for more yummy sandwiches. This time I used some leftover lemon pepper turkey breast instead of tofu. The turkey breast came from Celebrity Foods, it was absolutely lovely. Pre-seasoned, just throw it in the oven for 45 minutes and you've got lunch meat with no nitrates! Since the turkey is lower in calories than the tofu, that came in closer to 350 calories.

So ProTrack is set up for a goal of 1662 calories, a 500 calorie per day deficit, theoretically enough to lose 1 pound a week. It calculates calorie balance when you enter your food and exercise for the day. My balance is currently at 246 so I have 1400 calories left for the day! Sweetheart wants to spend them on an Outback Bloomin' Onion but I'm inclined to hoard them.