What's In My Head 01.17.13

I don't ever seem to fire these things off on time, so I've changed up the titles to compensate for the inconsistencies of the posts.  This is the first 'head" post in a while and you might suspect that there is a lot of build up that would lead to an outpouring of  material.  If you thought that, you would be wrong.  Thanks for playing, though.  Just a few tidbits to touch upon this evening.  I'm sitting here quite sated after a Iron Cheffy dinner and trying to gather my thoughts for dissemination to you good folks.  Here goes nuttin'.

Rule of Thumbs Up
I'm a rule of thumb kinda guy.  I tend not to analyze things too much and just go by what I have found to be empirically true.  One such rule of thumb for me is that ten pounds equals about an inch in the waist.  Lose then, lose an inch.  Gain ten, leave that last button on the shirt undone.  You know the one no one sees under the belt-line.  That's why it should have been no surprise to me today when I went to use a coupon for the big man's store and tried on a pair of pants one size smaller than the ones in my current wardrobe.  They fit well enough.  A little give in the elastic waist helped, so I am sort of in between sizes.  Makes sense since I started this around a size 62 waist at 363 lbs. and now, almost 90 lbs. down, I am wearing a 52.  When I was at my most rotund (483) and about 200 lbs. more than I currently weigh, I was sporting size 72 pants.  Yeah, they do make them that big.  I gave a pair to a homeless guy.  He managed to make a corduroy tepee and lived quite comfortably that summer.   Two thumbs up to me for dropping another size.

Who's Coming Along
No shock in the limited amount of bandwagon passengers that answered my invitation to join in on my quest earlier this week.  In the past when I have asked folks to interact on these pages, response has been close to zero.  I'm not bemoaning the fact.  Just an observation.  This is a passive activity for the faithful readers of TDT195.  But one person did rise to the occasion.  Kudos to SB of Cranford for taking control and making changes in her life.  SB has been messaging me what she is eating each day, which gives her some sense of accountability and reflection on her food intake.  Studies have proven that those who keep a food log lose more weight than those who don't and those who do it electronically, lose the most.  Way to go, SB!

Autopilot
I feel that since the holidays I am back in the swing of things and pretty much on autopilot.  I really thought it would be difficult getting back on the ball and taking command of my desire to stuff my face, but it's been pretty decent transition this last week.  Just after the new year it was challenging, but now I'm in a groove and eating well.  I am able to quiet the devil on my shoulder much easier, especially when in the car.  Several times this recent past, while on the road for work, I was tempted to pull into a drive-through to just get the least offensive crap on the value menu, but I drove past that plastic ENTER sign onto my next destination.  The simple question "Is it worth it?" and the inevitable "No." does the trick.  I am looking forward to weigh-in this coming Monday.

I guess there are a few more things I could cover today, but why bore you with my rantings.  I'll save them for the Sunday post.

Cya next time for the weekly food blog that includes some very good and healthy Italian food.
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ On the road between meetings I grabbed an Egg McMuffin and a coffee.
Lunch ~  I had one of those "Just keeping driving past the fast food joint." moments today and went home for lunch.  I ate a Boca burger on whole grain bread with mixed greens and lite mayo and had some homemade chicken soup.

Dinner ~ Pictured here is my first foray into Swiss Chard.  A successful endeavor  I must say.  What you see is pan seared tilapia over chard and sweet potatoes, with some toasted pine nuts.  The ladies in the house seemed to like it too.  I'll post the recipe sometime soon.
Exercise ~ Finding very hard to unfold The Dreadmill in the corner and use it.  Just laziness I know.  Today, nothing.