Weighing In - Day 51

Today's Diet Tip: Remember, when you're counting calories, they're not all equal. The time at which you consume the calories is important, as it also defines how much time you have to burn them off.

As an example, I am currently trying to reach a goal of 1200 or less calories a day. If I were to eat all 1200 at the beginning of the day (about 8 AM), I would have approximately 14 hours to burn it off, meaning I'd only have to burn about 86 calories an hour. However, if I were to eat the same amount at dinner (6 PM), I would have approximately 4 hours to burn it off, meaning I'd have to burn a whopping 300 calories an hour to burn off just the amount I ate today, not even including the amount I wish to lose in fat.

Because of that, always try to eat the most calories early, and then have each meal get successively smaller throughout the day. This will reduce the amount of calories you have to burn in the average hour and assist you in losing weight.

Current Goal Weight: 194.2#
Current Goal BMI: 26.31
Current Goal Deadline: July 20, 2008

Today's Weight: 198.0 (+1.3)
Today's BMI: 26.64 (+0.11)

Yesterday's Caloric Intake: 1270
Breakfast: 280 calories - Einstein Bros

• Yogurt with Granola - 180 calories
• SpontaneiTea - 100 calories

Lunch: 590 calories - Woody's Pizza

• Spaghetti - 480 calories
• Salad w/ Cottage Cheese - 110 calories
• Iced Tea - 0 calories

Dinner: 320 calories - Wendy's

• Homestyle Chicken Go Wrap- 320 calories
• Mandarin Oranges - 40 calories
• Iced Tea - 0 calories

Yesterday's Exercise Time: 60 minutes (50 minutes aerobics, 4 minutes strength training, 6 minutes yoga)

Yesterday Post-Assessment:
Yesterday overall should have worked out very well. However, I unfortunately ate significantly more than I should have at lunch, and I believe that is contributing to this weight gain. I could feel at the time that I had eaten too much, but continued anyway. The result, an increase in weight and some rather strong cramps.

Breakfast was a fantastic selection. I had yogurt with fruit and granola. The total for the yogurt alone came out to 180 calories. Unfortunately, they don't have unsweetened iced tea available at Einstein's, so I did pack on another 100 calories from the SpontaneiTea, which is the best selection next to water. The total, however, was still only 280 calories, which is fantastically done for breakfast.

Lunch, as mentioned above, was not so good. I did choose salad and pasta over pizza, which contributed to a lower calorie count. However, they brought a more than generous portion of pasta, and I chose to eat it all. The result, about 2 lbs of pasta in my stomach, increased my weight for today's measuring and my physical discomfort. Needless to say, I don't intend to do that again.

For dinner I intended to have a Grilled Chicken Go Wrap and mandarin oranges from Wendy's. Unfortunately, I was delivered a Homestyle Chicken Go Wrap instead of Grilled, which added 80 calories to the meal. The total on that meal, however, was still quite reasonable.

In summary, I have gained 1.3 pounds since yesterday, which caused a BMI increase of 0.17. This means I would have to lose 3.8 pounds amounting to a BMI decrease of 0.33 in order to meet my goal in 9 days. I'm hoping that the weight gained from the spaghetti meal is only temporary and that, as it passes, I see a greater decrease in weight over the next couple days in order to meet my goal.

8 Healthy Foods for Everyday Living

Hey everyone,

In my daily ramblings through the web, I've come across a wonderful slideshow on MSN health that lists 8 foods that should/could be eaten every day to improve your health.


http://health.msn.com/nutrition/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=100169914&imageindex=1

I'm happy to say that I've eaten about half of them already in my breakfast, and look to be on a good start. Most of these foods are described in their terms for muscle and brain building, as well as immunity. They do not really discuss dietary suggestions for weight loss.

Nevertheless, bon apetit.

Long-Term Status Update

Just a quick update to say that, as of yesterday, I have found out that I have lost more than 10 pounds since I began tracking it on Wii Fit. I consider this a great accomplishment to achieve in less than two months and really have seen an improvement in the way I feel daily.

Weighing In - Day 51

Today's Fitness Tip: Trying to lose weight? Consider doing more aerobic exercise.

While all exercise will benefit you in the long run, the best exercise for shedding those pounds is simply aerobic. Of course, if you are a bit larger, running could be difficult on your joints. In such cases, you might consider swimming as a reasonable alternative. Because it reduces joint strain, it will be easier on your body, and works more muscles than running normally would.

Remember that if you haven't been working out regularly, you will need to give your body time to adjust. It's recommended that you start with 10-15 minutes a day, and work your way up to 30 minutes. Once you are comfortable at that level, you can then increase activity at your own pace.

Current Goal Weight: 194.2#
Current Goal BMI: 26.31
Current Goal Deadline: July 20, 2008

Today's Weight: 196.7 (-0.8)
Today's BMI: 26.64 (-0.12)

Yesterday's Caloric Intake: 1128
Breakfast: 418 calories - Mimi's Cafe

• Fruit Plate - 418 calories
• Iced Tea - 0 calories

Lunch: 300 calories - Souper Salad

• Salad Plate - 70 calories
• Spaghetti - 140 calories
• Cottage Cheese - 90 calories
• Iced Tea - 0 calories

Dinner: 410 calories - Quizno's

• Steakhouse Beef Dip - 410 calories
• Iced Tea - 0 calories

Yesterday's Exercise Time: 60 minutes (48 minutes aerobics, 6 minutes strength training, 6 minutes yoga)

Yesterday Post-Assessment:
Yesterday I believe I did a great job. I managed to keep myself under 1200 calories, which should really assist in losing weight. I also drastically increased the amount of aerobics I did in my exercise routine. I'm really thinking this sort of thing could work.

Breakfast couldn't really have been improved from the selection I had, but I do believe that 418 calories is very reasonable. Lunch I could say the same, though perhaps removing the dressing would have improved it a little bit. Not much to be honest. Dinner, again, was quite good still coming in under 500 calories. My total diet, I feel, was quite successful.

In summary, I have lost 0.8 pounds since yesterday, which caused a BMI decrease of 0.12. This means I would have to lose 2.5 pounds amounting to a BMI decrease of 0.33 in order to meet my goal in 10 days. If I keep up my current rate, I would meet my goal in approximately 4-5 days, well within the goal deadline I set myself. I'm very pleased with this progress.

Weighing In - Day 50

Today's Fitness Tip: When exercising, a good target for the average person is 30 minutes per day. However, it is definitely possible that dedicating an entire 30 minute block during your day may be more than your schedule can handle. If that is the case, it can be broken up. Exercise is most efficient when done for at least 10 minutes at a time. That means that, if you can't do all your work out at one time, try to break it into three 10 minute blocks of time throughout the day. This will allow you more flexibility in your schedule while still maintaining the exercise you require.

Current Goal Weight: 194.2#
Current Goal BMI: 26.31
Current Goal Deadline: July 20, 2008

Today's Weight: 197.5 # (-1.4 #)
Today's BMI: 26.76 (-0.17)

Yesterday's Caloric Intake: 1388.65
Breakfast: 549.4 calories - Jack in the Box

• Breakfast Jack - 290.4 calories
• Hash Browns - 228.8 calories
• Ketchup Packet (x2) - 20.2 calories
• Small Tea (x2) - 10 calories

Lunch: 420 calories - KFC

• Oven Roasted Twister - 420 calories
• Water - 0 calories

Dinner: 419.25 - Jason's Deli Leftovers

• 1/2 Chicken Panini - 419.25 calories
• Iced Tea - 0 calories

Yesterday's Exercise Time: 46 minutes (38 minutes aerobics, 6 minutes yoga, 2 minutes strength training)

Yesterday Post-Assessment:
Yesterday my performance was much better both in terms of diet and exercise. However, I do believe it could have been improved slightly.

I feel that I could have improved my breakfast by having a cup of fresh fruit instead of hash browns. While it costs an extra $1.30, it would have cut 164 calories from my breakfast, making it only 385.4. The sandwich, at only 290.4 calories, is a perfectly reasonable breakfast option.

Lunch could also have been improved, though in itself it was still quite a reasonable number of calories. However, if I had had my Oven Roasted Twister without sauce, the calories could have decreased substantially. I also could have opted for either the Tender Roast Sandwich without sauce or the Roasted Caesar salad without dressing and croutons, both of which would have decreased calorie intake by at least 90 calories.

Dinner, I believe I did rather well. It was the lowest calorie count of the day, as dinner should be. In the future, however, I could probably remove some calories from that sandwich be having the provolone removed. Unfortunately, I could not find calorie values for the components of this product and cannot say exactly how much of a decrease I would ultimately receive.

My exercise regime went rather well. Doing a little more than a half hour of aerobic exercise should be quite good for assisting me to lose weight. The yoga ultimately made a good warm-up, helping me mentally and physically prepare for running and other more strenuous aerobic exercise.

In summary, I have lost 1.4 pounds since yesterday, which caused a BMI decrease of .17 relative to yesterday's results. This means I would have to lose 3.3 pounds amounting to a decrease of .45 BMI in order to meet my goal by the deadline. Today's results have made me think that it could be possible, if I can stick to a good diet and exercise, to meet my goal within the next 11 days. It will be hard, especially knowing that I will also have class beginning this week, but I am optimistic regarding my potential.

Shedding Pounds With Words

Today I've found an additional diet tip which also explains the importance of this journal in my overall struggle, and may encourage you to do the same.

According to an article on 9News.com written by Kim Christiansen, keeping a food diary can increase the rate of weight loss from diet and exercise. According to the study cited in the article "those who kept a food diary, tracking everything they ate, lost twice as much weight as those who didn't keep track."

I believe that figure may be slightly inflated, however they do note that "[most] of those who kept a food journal, lost an average 18 pounds in six months." That would equate to approximately three pounds per month. That target is slightly below mine, but I do hope that this activity log will increase my awareness of my behaviors.

If you are reading this, and would like to also create a blog, please feel free to do so here and post a link to it in my comments. I would be happy to add references on my page and visit yours as well.

Weighing In - Day 49

Today's Diet Tip:One of the biggest keys to sustainable weight loss is portion control. Unfortunately, if you are like me, it may not be a pleasant idea to think about attempting to decrease your portion sizes. American restaurants don't make this particularly easy as even their smaller portions can be larger than a person should normally consume of a given type.

I find that an easier way to decrease portion sizes is to increase the amount of non-caloric beverages you have during the day. The primary beverages I'm aware of are water and unsweetened iced tea. You could add non-caloric sweeteners if you feel the need to do so. By doing this you will not feel as hungry when it comes time to eat, and therefore will not desire to eat as much. This will result in a possible significant decrease in caloric intake on a single day.

Current Goal Weight: 194.2#
Current Goal BMI: 26.31
Current Goal Deadline: July 20, 2008

Today's Weight: 198.9# (+0.7 from yesterday)
Today's BMI: 26.93 (+.09 from yesterday)

Yesterday's Caloric Intake: 2249.25
Breakfast: 1110 calories - Einstein's

• Egg and Bacon Sandwich - 610 calories
• Chocolate Milk - 500 calories

Lunch: 419.25 calories - Jason's Deli

• 1/2 Chicken Panini - 419.25 calories
• Unsweetened Iced Tea - 0 calories

Dinner: 600 calories - Wendy's

• Grilled Chicken Go Wrap - 260 calories
• Small Fries - 340 calories
• Unsweetened Iced Tea - 0 calories

Yesterday's Exercise Time: 35 minutes (28 minutes aerobics, 2 minutes strength training, 4 minutes yoga, 1 minute balance)

Yesterday Post-Assessment:
Unfortunately, I ran quite over yesterday. I believe this is the result of suffering from a mild depression in the morning, and generally not tracking the calories that I was eating throughout the day. As it noted above, I had more than 1000 calories in breakfast alone. While I know that breakfast should be the highest caloric intake of the day, I do believe that I went over the amount I should have. In the future, I would replace the chocolate milk (which was 2% at this time) with water or tea, possibly even a juice. The sandwich, overall, was relatively low on calories, but I do believe I can decrease it further in order to better fit my dietary requirements.

Lunch, I believe, I did a reasonably good job. I had actually purchased an entire panini, but found it far too much to eat in one sitting. I've been learning lately to eat less than the entire meal, then wait to see if I'm hungry again. In this case, I wasn't and still have another half left to be eaten as a later meal. Drinking tea again instead of soda still provided me a flavorful beverage that is completely lacking in calories. At one point during the day I also purchased a can of iced tea from a vending machine at work, and was sad to learn that in one 12 oz can of that tea there was 120 calories, far more than I feel it should have.

Dinner would have been better for me without the fries. Coming in at 340 calories made them more than my meal, and was enough to push me over 2000 calories. Since my goal is to maintain regularly under 2000, preferably by a large margin, yesterday was a particular failure in the diet portion of my plan. It will take a fair amount of work to make up for this, and with my deadline coming up I'm not certain I'll be able to get clear down to my target by that time. I may have to decrease my caloric intake even further and up the amount of exercise I do on days when I can.

In summary, I have gained 0.7 pounds since yesterday, which caused a BMI increase of .09 relative to yesterday's results. This means that I would have to lose 4.7 pounds amounting to a decrease of .62 BMI in order to meet my goal by the deadline. I am not certain that it can be done, and I have known this entire time I'd be pushing it, but I will be doing my best over the next 12 days to achieve this goal.

Weighing In - Day 48

Okay, so I started this blog a little later than I intended to.

The goal here is to keep track of my successes and failures day to day in my goal to get down to my ideal weight, and to become more physically fit in general. Each day I intend to post information regarding my habits and caloric intake for the day before, combined with today's weight. The goal will be to create a detailed record of my progress.

Exercise, unless explicitly stated elsewhere, is performed entirely using WiiFit.

Today's Weight: 198 # (-0.7 from day before) (+4.0 relative to goal)
Today's BMI: 26.85 (-.10 from day before) (+0.55 relative to goal)

Yesterday's Caloric Intake: ~1940
Breakfast: None
Lunch: 1270 (Buttered Noodles and Parmesan and Nantucket Nectars Lemonade, Noodles & Co.)
Dinner: ~670 (Fettucini Alfredo and Iced Tea)

Yesterday's Exercise Time: 32 min (26 min aerobic, 6 mins yoga, 1 strength training, 1 balance)

Yesterday Post-Assessment:
My caloric intake was clearly much higher than it should have been. As much as I enjoy noodle dishes, the ones picked in particular were heavy in cream and butter, contributing to a considerable amount of calories. I've read that a good alternative would have been noodles with no sauce, or even a red sauce without meat. I will have to attempt to make that adjustment. At the end, I did end up close to 2000 calories, which is higher than I would like, and I certainly would have exceeded it if I had breakfast or even a snack.

In exercise I believe I did rather well. I think I should continue to focus primarily on aerobic exercise for now because it does promote the most significant loss of weight. Balance games in general are good for wasting a bit of time, but I'm not convinced of their ability to assist in weight loss as they generally do not require large movements or sustained repetitive motion.

In this case, I managed to lose 0.7 pounds, which leaves me 4.0 pounds away from my goal with a deadline of Sunday, July 20th, 2008. I believe I still have a reasonable chance of achieving my goal at this point, but will need to perform better daily in order to do so.