Day 8 - May 11, 2013

Weight: 247.4 lbs.


I didn't do much today on Mother's Day Eve.  My wife mostly entertained the boy in the morning and again in the afternoon.  I whipped breakfast together though.  Kept it simple and tried to use up food that's been in the fridge for a while.  The biggest lesson learned today was to cook eggs in a non-stick pan, not the cast iron skillet (leaves a stuck on mess).  Cantaloupe is not quite in season, but I guess I already knew that.  The cantaloupe I opened today was definitely "under ripe." My wife got back late (for having lunch), so we just grabbed a convenience salad from Wendy's.  Salad tasted good, no gastro-instestinal issues like last time at Wendy's.

For dinner I tried to recreate one of my favorite meals out:  the 777 Gambler Special at Mr. Lucky's in the Hard Rock Casino.  First course: you get a plate full of salad (spring mix) with croutons and your choice of dressing.  I love it when my salad comes dressed, I don't like trying to toss it at the table.  After you finish your salad, they bring you a a flat iron steak with some mashed potatoes and 3 juicy grilled shrimp.  It's really hard to replicate the experience, when you're also trying to eat at the same time.  Grilling the steak, grilling the shrimp, eating the salad and scooping the mock mashed 'tatoes is like culinary juggling.  Throw a 2 year old into the mix and everything else falls out of place.  The food turned out delicious even if not perfectly timed. Two courses, this has to be the biggest meal I've eaten since I've started. We'll see what the scale says tomorrow.



 Breakfast:
2 pork breakfast sausages
2 eggs fried
1/16 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cantaloupe

16 oz. water

Lunch:
Wendy's Full-size Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
16 oz water w/ lemon juice
16 oz water

Dinner:
dinner salad: spring mix, blue cheese, homemade blue cheese dressing, and croutons.
6 oz rib eye
10 grilled shrimp
3 ladles of  "mock" garlic mash potatoes
16 oz. water w/ lime juice
16 oz water


Dessert:
1 pear
16 oz. water

 we'll see what the scale says tomorrow ...

Day 7 - May 10, 2013

Weight: 247.6 lbs

Thoughts:  maybe I need to start off the day with mostly protein, thus eliminate the fruit in the morning.

Hmmm.  Anyway, I had a shake or smoothie this morning, didn't taste like much at all.  I'm not sure if its was the almond milk or not.  Maybe I'll try yogurt next time.  No time or chicken to make lunch, so the wife brought lunch home today.  EPL is always a hit.  Dinner was wonderful.  I hope it doesn't negatively affect the scale tomorrow.  Steak was great.  Potatoes were awesome. Had I not made them, I would never have known it was actually cauliflower and not actual spuds.  The recipe is from George Stella.  You might remember him from his Food Network show "Low Carb and Loving It." Thanks, George. 

Now what to do for my wife for Mother's Day?  Should we go out to dinner?


Breakfast:
2 pork sausages
shake/smoothie - 1 Cup almond milk, 1/2 large banana, 1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 large banana

Lunch:
El Pollo Loco Grilled Chicken Salad with creamy cilantro dressing
16 oz. water w/ lemon juice
16 oz water

Dinner:
Thin T-bone steak
Mock Mash Potatoes (cauliflower) - recipe from Food Network
 
Dessert:
1 Tangelo
16 oz water

we'll see what the scale says tomorrow ...

Day 6 - May 9, 2013

Weight: 248 lbs

Today did not start well.  The scale put me a pound up.  I know these things fluctuate, but I know I ate less yesterday than on any given day before I started, yet the scale moved in the wrong direction.  By far the most frustrating part of dieting or eating healthy.  It has been the cause of many a fast food-junk food binge and relapse in the past.  This time I'm taking it all in stride.  I was up late night and ate some banana late as well.  I don't know the true cause of the scale moving in the wrong direction, but I'm not going to worry about it.  Perhaps, I'll have some breakfast sausage or have a smoothie (made with Almond milk instead of the Moo stuff) tomorrow for variety.

Breakfast was surprisingly enough eggs again.  Lunch was leftovers.  Non sequitur: it's getting hot in Vegas.

The white bean soup for dinner was tasty.  I strongly suggest using a blender or food processor, not an immersion blender for better consistency.   I think I could use a break from chicken.  Tomorrow = steak.


Breakfast:
2 boiled eggs
Yogurt (2 tbsp left over from feeding my son)
1 Tangelo


Lunch:
1.5 cups Roasted Tomato Basil Soup (leftover)
1 El Pollo Loco drumstick
16 oz water w/ lime juice

Dinner:
Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup (recipe from Food Network)
1 El Pollo Loco thigh
16 oz water w/ lime juice
16 oz water


Dessert:
1 pair
1 banana
16 oz. water

we'll see what the scale says tomorrow ...

Day 5 - May 8, 2013

Weight: 247 lbs


Scale still showing progress.  I also noticed that I haven't had any milk since I started.  I don't know if that's purely coincidence or not.  I have had plenty of dairy (cheese, cream, butter).  It's something I'll keep in the back of my mind.  Heck, why mess up a good thing.  I'm not intentionally throwing milk in the equation until the weight loss slow down on it's own, just in case.

Perhaps I shouldn't start the day off with garlic.  Sorry anyone that had to talk with me this morning.  Lunch went well, I shredded the remaining chicken (thigh, plus carcass remnants) from the rotisserie chicken that had been part of 4 previous meals this week.  Dinner, consisted of chicken from El Pollo Loco and the leftover soup from last night.  Very tasty.  Had to run out to the grocery store to get some fruit for dessert.

Thought: I noticed that I can only drink a single 16 oz glass of water, but if I add lemon or lime to the water I can consume twice as much.



Breakfast:
2 egg omelet with a garlic, onion, and spinach.  Sprinkle a few pinches of shredded cheddar on top.
16 oz. water


Lunch:
Romaine salad w/ shredded chicken, sprinkle of blue cheese, a few pecans, a hand full of croutons, 1/2 diced apple and homemade blue cheese dressing
16 oz. water

Dinner:
Broccoli cheese soup (leftover)
1 chicken thigh from El Pollo Loco
16 oz water

Dessert:
Apple (peeled)
1/4 cantaloupe
16 oz. water with lime juice
16 oz water

we'll see what the scale says tomorrow ...

Day 4 - May 7, 2013

No weigh-in today.

Today was a crazy day.  My son (now 2) has a tooth coming in (I think).  Anyway he didn't sleep much last night, keeping mommy and daddy up.  I woke up late to the sound of him calling out.  I had to rush to feed and dress him and myself, then get out of the house.  Consequently, no time for weighing in.  Breakfast turned out OK. Lunch sucked. I did not enjoy Wendy's new Strawberry Fields Salad.  I should have gone with the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad, but I didn't.  The flavors (of what little there was) didn't meld well.

For dinner I made a broccoli cheese soup from Emiril.  Because I had leeks in the fridge, I made the salad with leeks instead of onion.  Not bad. I used an immersion blender. I would use the food processor, if I had to do it again, to eviscerate the broccoli a bit better.  Lots of butter in this soup (5 Tbsp for 4 servings).  I bought cantaloupe a week ago, I don't think they're quite in season yet.

Hopefully, tomorrow is less hectic.

Thoughts: I should make some hummus this week.  I have a bag of chick peas (garbanzos) in the cupboard. They would go well with some baby carrots. I forgot to mention earlier that the chicken salad made a hasty exit through my digestive system not long after I ate it.  Another reason lunch sucked.


Breakfast:
2 egg omelet with spinach and diced onion and shredded cheddar
16 oz water

Lunch:
Wendy's Strawberry Fields Salad with Chicken w/ Apple Vinegar dressing
16 oz water

Dinner:
1.5 Cups Broccoli and Cheese Soup (recipe from Food Network)
16 oz. water

Dessert:
1 banana
1/4 Cantaloupe

we'll see what the scales says tomorrow ...

Day 3 - May 6, 2013

Weight:          251 lbs

I got a good night's sleep.

Today was a good day food wise.  No wasting any food around here.  I finished off yesterday's frittata for breakfast.  I used the leftover chicken in two different ways for lunch and dinner.  The fresh homemade blue cheese dressing was delightful on the salad.

The scale showed some progress.  It's possibly just water peeing out or just regression to homeostasis after  I stopped eating like crap. Hopefully, the progress will continue.  I thought about going for the full-fledge analysis (body fat and H2O), but chose not to.  I didn't want to get too caught up in the numbers and analysis there of over short periods of time.  After all this is a long journey, possibly a lifetime of change. 

 

Breakfast:
Leftover Spinach Frittata from yesterday
16 oz water w/ lemons juice

Lunch:
1 large Apple Walnut salad w/ Blue Cheese dressing:
Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing (recipe from Food Network)
   made with homemade mayo (recipe from Food Network)
Homemade rosemary croutons (saute cubed slice of bread with olive oil (2 Tbsp) and a sprinkle of rosemary
1/2 apple
1/8 C pecans
1/2 (leftover) shredded rotisserie chicken thigh (skin and bones removed)
1/4 large head of romaine lettuce

16 oz water w/ lemons juice
16 oz water

Dinner:
 1 (left over) rotisserie drumstick
1 cup Roasted Tomato soup
16 oz water w/ lemons juice

Dessert:
1 pear
1 orange
16 oz water

we'll see what the scale says tomorrow ...

Day 2 - May 5, 2013

Weight:         253 lbs (115 kg or 18 Stones for our British friends)
Body Fat %:  36%
Fat:                91 lbs
Lean Mass:    162 lbs
H20%:           47%

Today started out much better than yesterday. I decided to make a frittata for breakfast.  I bought fresh spinach yesterday, so I could add some different flavors to the inevitable omelets and frittatas I will be having for breakfast.  For some reason the recipe called for crouton.  I dropped those from the recipe.  I replaced half the feta cheese with cheddar, just because feta's kind of expensive to use the whole container for one dish. Not a bad breakfast. Lunch was a little hectic.  I had planned on making a salad, but I wanted to make it with homemade dressing.  To make the homemade dressing I needed to make homemade mayo. According to the recipe the mayo has to sit for an hour.  So that threw off lunch.

I wound up grabbing a chili from Wendy's.  It was kind of bland (even with the pepper sauce).  I've had it on previous occasions and found it quite good. Dinner was good, had some leftover chicken with roasted tomato soup. I added a a hand full of croutons that I made.  It being my first time making croutons, perhaps I was off.  They may not have been crunchy/toasted enough. They became really soggy in the soup almost immediately.  The soup was expensive, it called for 4 cups of fresh basil.  Fresh herb get pretty expensive at the grocery story.



Breakfast:
Spinach Frittata (recipe from Food Network)
16 oz water w/ lemons juice

Lunch:
1 large Wendy's chili w/ 1/8 C of cheddar on top
16 oz water w/ lemons juice
16 oz water

Dinner:
1/2 large rotisserie chicken breast
1 cup Roasted Tomato Soup (recipe from Food Network)
1/2 cup homemade croutons
16 oz water w/ lemons juice
16 oz water

Dessert:
1 large banana
1 apple (peeled)
16 oz water w/ lemons juice
16 oz water

we'll see what the scale says tomorrow ...