Day 20 - May 23, 2013

Weight: 247 lbs.

 
Today was a challenge.  A challenge that I had hoped to avoid.  During my last pizza binge, I asked my wife to only bring the leftover pizza home if she was going to eat it for breakfast. I didn't want the temptation sitting in the fridge every time I open the door.  Oh course she said, "sure, honey!"

Breakfast was simple, just like yesterday with some oatmeal, sausage and tomato juice, then came lunch.  I had another round of indecision paralysis.  What was I going to have for lunch and where was I gonna get it?  I almost broke down and ate the pizza that was still sitting in the fridge. I figured that if I chucked the crust, the pizza was mostly tomato sauce, cheese and meat.  Then I looked at the white bread that was the foundation of the pizza and I had to say no. I had a shake from the Abs Diet book instead.

I went to the gym again today to give the little guy something to do in the afternoon.  In the cardio theatre at my Gold's, I watched most of Adam Sandler's Wedding Singer while walking and biking.  Dinner was brown rice and jambalaya again and probably will be for a while (keeping it simple).


Breakfast:
2 Farmer John's pork breakfast sausages
1/2 serving of Old Fashion Quaker Oats
8 oz VB Spicy Tomato Juice
16 oz water

Mid-morning Snack:
1/2 serving salted peanuts

Lunch:
Chocolate Factory Smoothie: chocolate milk, yogurt, peanut butter, whey and flaxseed.
    
Dinner:
1 scoop brown rice
2.5 scoops jambalaya w/ shrimp, chicken and smoke sausage


Dessert:
Several slices of watermelon
15 (unsalted) almonds

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

Day 18 - May 21, 2013 - a Bad Day

Weight: 247.2 lbs

Today was a real off day.  Things never seemed to click at any point.  I mentally could not get things on track. Looking at the scale tick up another .2 lbs in the wrong direction was a frustrating way to start the day.

Breakfast was ho-hum.  I started thinking about pizza by 9 am and feeling bad about it.  I called my wife around lunch time and explained how my day was going.  She, oddly enough, was feeling the same way.  So, up went the white flag. Dinner would be pizza at Brewer's Cafe (Barley's Casino and Brew Co.) tonight. We also had a Groupon that was expiring soon.  I skipped lunch, partly due to food indecision paralysis (where to eat, what to eat, when to eat, etc.) and partly to save the calories for dinner.  Tonight was my first binge.  It's the worst day on the diet since I started, and I felt bad about it from the start.  I knew I had to get back on the rails the next day and not let this thing spiral.

Overall, I didn't get too far out of line (who am I kidding?).  I skipped lunch, not a good thing for metabolism, but I saved calories there.  I only ate two slices of pizza (far less than I used to eat on a regular basis.)  I didn't want to order the onion rings, but my wife wanted to order them ("for our son" ).  So I wound up eating half of those.  I only drank water, but finished the meal with bread puddling and a scoop of ice cream on top. I really fell off the wagon.  I felt out of control.


Breakfast:
 2 egg omelet with chorizo, spinach and onion
 16 oz water

Lunch:
No lunch

Dinner:
1/2 an order of onion rings
2 slices of meat lover's thin crust pizza
32 oz water
2 oz sample of blue berry hefeweizen

Dessert:
Slice of bread pudding with vanilla sauce and a scoop of ice cream

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

Day 9 - May 12, 2013: Battling the Buffet

Weight:           246.8 lbs.
Body Fat %:     34%
Composition:    84 lbs fat  / 162.8 lbs. lean body mass
H20 %:            47.5%  (117 lbs )


Good news from the scale, especially after a healthy but large dinner last night.

Today is Mother's Day.  I'm also going to face the biggest challenge since I started: The Vegas Buffet. My lack of foresight has me waiting in line for 40 minutes to eat brunch, but I'm here.   There is a massive variety of food.  What am I going to do? Sunday brunch at the buffet in the Sunset Station Casino includes complimentary champagne or mimosas.  So the first decision is do I drink free alcohol?  Alas, the answer was no.  Instead I ordered a cranberry juice and a water.  What about all the food.  There's an Italian section full of pasta and pizza.  The Asian section has fried and steamed rice.  The International (South of the Border) section has empenadas, tortillas, taco shells, churros and plantains.  Of course there is also my arch nemesis the dessert section.  Temptation is near and far.

Well, my strategy was to fill up on meat and vegetable dishes, avoiding  the pasta, noodles, mashed potatoes, bread, pizza, stuffing and rice.  For dessert I stuck to the NSA (no sugar added, not no strings attached) desserts, yes plural.  The NSA caramel ice cream was the biggest standout. I had a spoonful or two of non-NSA "peach cobbler" and bread pudding.  Neither was very good coincidentally.  Overall, quite a bit of food for one meal (2 meals really, it was brunch).  For me at a buffet it was impressively healthy and half of the usual amount of food I eat at a buffet.  I normally shun the veggie dishes, so that they don't take up too much tummy real estate that I could fill with other foods.  I had a total of two plates of meat and veg (with plenty of space left on the plate), plus one for desserts of mostly NSA items.  I didn't get too far out of pocket at the buffet. We'll see the affect on the scale tomorrow.

So full from brunch, wasn't really hungry the rest of the day.  Grabbed a couple of pieces of fruit for dessert.  My wife also decided to share here chocolate covered strawberries with me.  I had one, plus a couple of pecans.


Brunch:
buffet:  including prime rib, turkey, sweet potato, chicken, salmon, meatball (just one), fruit and probably something else I've forgotten.  Dessert included a scoop of NSA -vanilla and caramel ice cream, a 2 square inches of NSA carrot cake, and  a couple of spoonfuls of NSA coconut cream pie, non NSA "peach cobbler" and bread pudding.


Dinner/Dessert:
1 banana
1 orange
1 chocolate covered strawberry
1/8 cup pecans

16 oz water

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