Cooking Thursday for 03.22.12

Thursdays are the days when we turn our thoughts to healthy cooking, here at TDT195.  I believe that in order to truly be healthy and lose weight, you need to eat the majority of your meals at home.  No, that doesn't mean you bring home a bag of burgers or a pizza and chow in front of your TV.  It's home cookin' folks, with fresh ingredients and a little love.  Enjoy it around a table with those you care about most.

I've often used a line that I stole from my tree hugging, health food loving, vegan wife, Tabitha, "Salads are traps."  They are if you eat the fat-laden dressings while dining out, but made at home, salads are a great way to get uber-healthy fresh vegetables, beans and nuts into your diet, in an easy and delicious fashion.  You don't need to be a good cook to make a good salad.  I prefer mixed field greens or mesclun greens and Tabitha likes the more bitter varieties, such as frisee, radicchio or a nice 'peppery' arugula. 

Below are three of my favorite recipes with three different styles.  We have a traditional Italian vinaigrette, a spicy chipotle honey-lime and an Asian orange-sesame, which my sister loves.  I usually use my Magic Bullet to make my salad dressings, but you can finely dice your solid ingredients and vigorously shake them in a jelly jar or similar vessel.

Use these dressings sparingly, otherwise you might as well go to the Olive Garden or T.G.I. Fridays.  Toss your salads until the leaves glisten, but you see no residual dressing on the bottom of the bowl. 

If you like your salad slightly more or less acidic, adjust the vinegar levels to your liking.  If you blend your dressing and it seems too thick, just add a little water and blend again.  In case you aren't aware of current food parlance, EVOO = Extra Virgin Olive Oil. 

Cya tomorrow for Part 6 of "How Did I Get Here",
M

Mike's Italian Vinaigrette

Serve this with any salad, roasted vegetables or even on a sandwich.  Add toasted pine nuts for some extra crunch and great flavor.  I also enjoy it tossed with artichoke hearts.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup EVOO
1.5 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
4-5 basil leaves (finely chopped, unless using a blender)
1 small shallot (finely chopped, unless using a blender)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Blend or shake vigorously in a jar, until emulsified.


Spicy Chipotle-Lime Dressing

This is great over Butter or Bibb lettuce with sliced steak or grilled chicken.  Another great use is over sliced avocado and fresh tomato.  Add toasted pepitas, a.k.a. pumpkin seeds for the perfect accent.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup canola oil
zest of 1/2 a lime
Juice of 1 lime (If the limes aren't particularly juicy, be sure to have a back up lime on hand.)
1 tsp unseasoned rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs Dijon mustard
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs cilantro, finely chopped
1.5 tsp chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, finely chopped (more or less to taste)
1/4 tsp salt

Blend or shake vigorously in a jar, until emulsified.


Connie's Favorite Dressing

I whipped this up years ago for a nice summery salad with canned mandarin oranges.  My sister couldn't get enough.  Back then, I used the juice from the canned Mandarin oranges but they are loaded with sugar or, even worse, high fructose corn syrup.  These days I use orange juice, instead.  Served with shredded Napa cabbage, prepared slaw mix or any soft, mild lettuce.  I add toasted, sliced almonds or pecans and orange segments and/or craisins.  Any grilled meat would also go great with this flavorful dressing.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup canola oil
1.5 Tbs rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs orange juice
1 Tbs honey
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce
2 Tsp cilantro (finely chopped, unless using a blender)
2 tsp orange zest (optional)

Blend or shake vigorously in a jar, until emulsified.


What I ate today and how I exercised:

Breakfast ~ Pumpkin Flax Raisin Bran w/unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Lunch ~ Un-turkey pita sandwich and sweet potato hash (recipe in the future)

Dinner ~ Boca burger on a whole grain sandwich round

Dessert ~ 2, 50 calorie pieces of dark chocolate w/cranberry and almonds

Exercise ~ I am embarrassed to admit that I feel asleep on the couch and did not walk.  I shall now hang my head in shame.

What's In My Head Wednesday 03.21.12

Hello again.  It's WIMHW for a pleasantly warm spring day and I have a few things running around between my ears I'd like to share.  Wednesday at TDT195 is a 'feelings' kind of day.  Great...now I am going to have that freaking awful 1974 Morris Albert song in my head.  I only mention it so you can share my pain and curse me later on tonight when he is singing in your brain, too.  "Feelings.  Nothing more than, feelings..."

How Much is That Fat Doggy in the Window?

I was walking through a shopping center today and caught a glimpse of myself in a storefront window.  I've never been comfortable with looking at pictures of myself.  Seeing my fat ass in a picture window ain't any different.  I was already coming off a ding to the ego from an hour earlier, when a store clerk at Batteries Plus offered to help me.  As he was coming around the counter, I saw that telltale shift of the eyes toward my beltline expanse that said "Woe! He's a biggun'!"  Now, as I walked over to the Health Shoppe to pick up a few items I can't always find in my local grocery, I saw that huge guy that looks eerily like me, mirroring my moves.  We obese people often have a distorted view of ourselves.  The movies in my head usually have me played by someone more like John Travolta than John Candy.  Seeing different and being shocked back into reality stings.  Even at my heaviest, ten years ago, I was in denial when I saw a picture I got caught in.  I say 'caught' because I would seldom, if ever, subject myself to the honesty of the camera lens.  They say the camera adds ten pounds but how did they get those ten cameras to take that one picture of me?  Things like this motivate me even more to get healthy and hopefully easier on the eyes.  If no one else's eyes, at least my own.

I Want More Sir...

Actually, I don't want more.  I feel very content with the amount that I am eating and the quality of the nutrition in my repertoire.  I have gotten some comments that I am not eating enough or not getting enough protein.  Let me assure you, I am keeping a keen eye on my health and trying to have a balanced, nutritious way of life.  I feel good.  Not bouncing off the walls with energy good, but certainly better than I felt when I was scarfing down over 3000 calories a day.  I will be scheduling a physical for myself in June, I think.  Have the oil checked and stay on top of things.  So, please don't worry about me.  I'm doing my body good.

Call me a Twit...ter

I have been considering for a while now finding a way to expand our audience and spread the message I feel the blog represents.  There was a time when I was an 'Anti-Twittite'.  I thought Twitter was kind of stupid, actually.  I don't need to know that someone just now found a pimple on their butt shaped like Lincoln or the lady at the bank had her skirt tucked in her cheeks.  Using Twitter would be TMI.  Another side of me thought that since this process of becoming half the man I used to be (less than half actually) was an everyday, all day struggle, perhaps those who read my blog might be interested in my thoughts or moments like the ones noted above.  For that reason, today I established a Twitter account for The Drive to 195 and it is called...wait for it... @TheDriveto195.  Clever huh?  If you would like, subscribe to the feed and I will occasionally let you know what's in my head or things I've experienced, relevant to the process.  I promise it will be only occasionally.  I'm not that into myself, trust me.  On a similar note, the blog now has its own email address.  You can contact me at: thedriveto195@gmail.com

Here is what I ate today and how I exercised:

Breakfast ~ Kashi Island Vanilla cereal w/1 banana and unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Lunch ~ Like on Seinfeld, the big salad.  Mixed greens with tuna, white beans and other goodies.  Tomorrow, in Cooking Thursday, I will list a few recipes for homemade salad dressings.

Mid-afternoon treat ~ Iced decaf skinny Mocha

Dinner ~ A Boca Burger on a whole grain sandwich round and some steamed sweet tater.

Exercise ~ Another day off to rest my weary legs.  I'll log 2 miles tomorrow.

Calories Schmalories

I've stated before that my theory is that if we eat the right things, then calories are sort of irrelevant.  Not irrelevant in the sense that we'd be able to lose weight by throwing down all the junk food we want down our piehole, but in the sense that if we eat healthily, we won't wind up consuming too many calories.  How many is too many you ask?  Well, that all depends on your age, weight, height, sex, and activity level.  I, for instance, weighing 336 lbs. at 5'8" or so, obviously male (or at least I hope it is obvious) and as of late, moderately exercising, need approximately 3400 calories a day just to maintain my globelike figure.  See here to find your daily caloric needs.  http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
Understand, this is not my calculator, just one I found on the internet.  Don't take it as an absolute number.  There is no such thing.  Take it as an estimate to, perhaps, satisfy your curiosity, if nothing else.

My research tells me it is widely understood that it takes approximately negative 3500 calories lose 1 lb. of body fat.  That means by eating 3500 calories less, or burning 3500 during exercise, or a combination of both, you would presumably lose 1 lb of body fat.  This is no exact science, by any stretch of the imagination.  I do not count calories per se, but I am aware of the rough amount of the little buggers I swallow every day.  By my estimates, it is 1200 to 1500.  I don't normally figure these things out, but for illustrative purposes, here we go. Yesterday, for instance, my breakfast was a fresh fruit salad which came in at approximately 300 calories.  Lunch was a pre-packaged veggie burger and sandwich thin with a hint of Dijon, 295 calories.  For dinner, I enjoyed a pasta dish which I made myself and I estimate, given the modifications I made to the recipe, totalled about 630 calories.  Add in a 50 calorie piece of dark chocolate I ate after writing my blog and we get 1275 calories for the day.  A fairly typical day in the life of moi. 

By the math listed above, let's say that I consume about 1350 calories on average per day, 7 days a week, for a total of about 9450 calories per week.  By the calculator linked above, I need some 23,800 calories per week to maintain my weight.  A difference of 14,350 calories.  Divide that by 3500 and you would get 4.1 lbs per week in body fat lost. 

Yes, I am averaging 4.7 calories/week, thus far, but in the last 4 weeks it has only been 10.8 lbs.  What does this tell us?  A: I have been estimating my calories wrong, B: I cheat and don't report to you all exactly what I eat, or C: Metabolism and weight loss are not an exact science and these calculators and theories are, largely, a bunch of B.S.

I am going with C.  Which is exactly why I do not make myself crazy over every calorie I consume...and neither should you.  Be sensible and live your life.  Obsessing over every unit of energy your body uses as fuel will make you crazy and it is a recipe for failure. 

Cya tomorrow for WIMHW,
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:

Breakfast ~ What should have been a 2 egg, veggie omelet, turned into a veggie scramble.  I need new non-stick pans.  :(

Lunch ~ On the road and ate 1 Burger King small hamburger

Dinner ~ Left over pasta con sarde from last night.

Snack while writing this ~ 1 honeycrisp apple

Exercise ~ After walking over 8 miles in the last 3 days, I am kinda sore.  I took the day off.

Week 6 Weigh-in

I got through what I thought would be a difficult week.  A client dinner, several other meals out and a Saint Patty's Day party.  In each situation I made good choices, despite great temptation.  Bread and butter on a table is another one of my triggers.  I tasted some bread, but ate no butter.  I did indulge in a few non-alcoholic beers more than what might be prudent, but all in all, a good week.

I felt like I didn't walk as much this week, though when I went back and totalled everything up, it looks like 8 miles so far.  I will likely take advantage of this gorgeous weather and walk another 2 after dinner, bringing the week's total to 10 miles.  Not bad for a big man.

So, now for the numbers.   I assume that is why most of you come here on a Monday.  The blog hits seem to jump a bit on weigh-in days.  This week I stood atop the scale without the normal ceremonial shedding of possible excess weight.  I could've shaved or clipped my toe nails, but I jumped up there all scruffy, my toe's boxcutters intact, with a devil-may-care attitude.  Week #6 yielded a 1.8lb. loss, bringing the total to 26.8lbs.  I will list below the progress thus far ,week-by-week.  For you digitheads out there, I am around 16% of goal.

Week 1  13 lbs.
Week 2  2.6 lbs.
Week 3  4.6 lbs
Week 4  2.4 lbs
Week 5  2.4 lbs
Week 6  1.8 lbs

Cya tomorrow,
M

Here is what I ate today and how I exercised:

Breakfast ~ Fresh fruit salad of 1 Honeycrisp apple, 1 banana and 1 pink grapefruit

Lunch ~ 1 chickpea and onion veggie burger on a whole grain sandwich thin, a small salad lightly dressed

Dinner ~ An Italian tradition made lighter on this St. Joseph's Day.  Pasta con Sarde is sardines, fennel and tomatoes with pasta, dusted with "mudica", aka St. Joseph's sawdust.  It's toasted bread crumbs that add a nice flavor and texture to the dish instead of the regular grated cheese we all know and love.  I am using this recipe form cooking light and adding the mudica, a few raisins and subbing 100% whole grain pasta.  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fennel-sardine-spaghetti-10000001932629/

Exercise ~ 2 miles around the lake

A.L.O.E. Sunday ( A Little Of Everything) 03.18.12

Sunday is clean up time.  Time for me to put down short thoughts that occur to me during the week, address questions I’ve had from the reading audience or just plain ramble. Mostly ramblings tonight, so welcome to A.L.O.E for Sunday, March 18, 2012.

Hey, Stranger…

While at a party on Saturday, I had two very nice women come up to me and tell me that they were reading the blog and they admired what I was doing.  One told me of her battles and successes with her own weight issues and how she related to my struggle.  I am moved by my family and friends that been keeping up with my daily diatribes, but I have to tell you, when practical strangers come up to you and tell you they read your stuff every day, it is quite a rush.  It’s not at all an ego thing.  It’s that people I don’t know can relate to my journey and are rooting for me.  It’s humbling, actually and very encouraging.  This is one reason I always urge people to share the blog.  Bloggergirl45 has done a great job of spreading the word, hence the two compliments yesterday.  I have always truly known that I wasn’t alone, but we that suffer in silence never grasp that until someone taps you shoulder and says, “I empathize with your situation.  Keep up the good work.”

Battle of Wounded Knee

My knee has bothered me these past few days, just a little.  My left knee has some pain when going up stairs, but not when walking.  The wife thinks I am doing too much and that I should listen to my body  and go easier.  It would seem my back is hurting less when I walk and I pushed through that intial discomfort of exercise.  I think the body is going to push back a tad while I get used to this.  I’ll keep an eye on this and keep you posted. 

Burn, Baby, Burn

Did you know that you never really burn fat cells?  When you exercise or reduce caloric intake, you don’t actually burn the fat cells themselves.  What you are doing is shrinking the fat cells.  Emptying the sack as it were.  Even when shrunk, those cells have the potential to grow in size again.  The only way to get rid of the fat cells is through medical procedures such as liposuction. The same is true for muscle.  You don’t lose or gain muscle.  It’s all about density of muscle tissue.  As you exercise, muscles get more dense.  If you remain sedentary for prolonged periods of time, the muscle will lose density and the fat cells will regain their mass.  So, it is a fallacy that muscle turns to fat when we stop working out.  Stay fit.  A fit body burns fat (not fat cells) more efficiently than an unfit one.

Tomorrow is weigh-in #6.  Will the scales move?  We’ll see.

Cya then,

M

What I ate today and how I exercised:

Breakfast ~ 2 delicious leftover Multigrain banana nut pancakes.

Lunch ~ Salmon cake sandwich on a whole grain sandwich thin. (See recipe from Thursday’s blog)

Dinner ~ A bowl of spicy Thai soup with chicken and 2 sushi rolls, 1 tuna and 1 vegetarian

Exercise ~ I rocked it out in the exercise department today.  I walked 2.52 miles on a wooded rocky path and then another 1.5 around the lake later today.  Over 4 miles today.  Yay me J

So Much For The Pleasure-Pain Principle

I was having brunch today with my wife and niece at the Rutherford Pancake House in Rutherford, NJ.  If you are a vegan, or know one, this is a great place to feed your gustatory soul.  Even if you are an omnivore, such as myself, the food is delicious, but it is their vegan fare that sets them apart.  I was proud of myself for skipping the fat-laden options that normally would have been hefted on my fork.  They serve those, too.  Instead, I decided to 'treat' myself to some whole grain pancakes made with bananas and pecans.  The wife had a vegan version of the same and ordered some real Vermont maple syrup to go with them.  They arrived all steaming and aromatic, with the fruit and nuts baked right in.  Just the way I like them.  Before me was a stack of four decent size flapjacks and a dilemma.  If I ate all of this, albeit healthier version of one of my favorites, I would've shot a whole day's worth of fat and calories in one meal.  I drizzled just a smidgen of syrup, scraped on perhaps a teaspoon of vegan 'butter' and dug in.  By the time I was through just one cake I was starting to feel satisfied.  I ate another half and I felt like I was through.  I have two waiting in my fridge for Sunday breakfast.  With my two cups of decaf, I stayed perfectly within the bounds of reason and felt pretty good about myself.

My niece had ordered buttermilk pancakes and bacon.  Now, understand something.  There is no greater temptation for me than bacon.  The taste, the smell, the mouth feel, it all does it for me like nothing else in the food world.  For the record, I like mine 'crunchewy'.  That sweet spot between limp and crunchy.  I said to Tabitha, "That's one thing I miss is bacon."  She said, "Perhaps after you've been without it for a while, you're body will rebel and let you know you are eating something unhealthy.  You just won't want it anymore."  Heresy!  Like that would ever happen!  I love bacon!  Just like the dog in the Beggin' Strips commercials.  Bacon, Bacon, BACON!!!  I'll spare you the conversation that ensued, but the premise for today's blog entry was born.  It got me thinking, what is wrong with my pleasure-pain mechanism?

If you have been reading regularly (I know some of you just check in on the weigh-in days, which is perfectly cool), then you know I have written about just dozens of the thousands of negative reinforcements I have experienced in my life.  Yet all of those embarrassments and pain, both mentally and physically, did not deter me from inflicting further damage on myself.  I developed into a food masochist.  The mechanisms of addictions are far greater than the mechanisms that Mother Nature put in place to keep us safe.  I have had lengthy discussions with people about whether we are deluded when we make poor choices, that they are actually worth the outcome, or do we just lie to ourselves, knowing deep down that the despite our knowledge of the consequences, we act in a counterintuitive fashion?  I have arrived at the conclusion that I just became plain apathetic, resigned to the fact that I was powerless over food.  So regardless of my understanding that what I was about to put in my mouth was harmful to me, I indulged time after time.  My pleasure-pain mechanism was, indeed, faulty.  It will be interesting to see if this priciple is suppressed or if it manifests itself in version Mike.2.  I certainly do not want some other self-destructive habit to take over where food left off.

Someday I will eat bacon again.  I'll eat other less than healthy foods, I am sure.  It won't be any time soon, but I do expect when the moment comes, I will do so in moderation and use the smarts I was given to override the faulty switch.  I am no longer powerless over food, but I am wise enough to know that it is waiting to make a comeback.  The former champion always wants another title shot.  But from now on, the ever-shrinking championship belt is mine.  Sorry, devil.

Cya tomorrow for A.L.O.E Sunday,
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:

Brunch ~ 1.5 delicious whole grain banana nut pancakes with decaf
Dinner ~ Bloggergirl45 whipped up a scrumptious alternative for us non corned beef folks, with a Tofu Curry.  Don't judge!  Here is a link to an excellent blog and the recipe in her post "Currying Flavor"  http://mrose414.blogspot.com/?spref=fb  I also did celebrate St. Patty's Day with 3 O'Doul's (70 calories each, btw)
Exercise ~ Today I worked outside for while, redoing the lighting in my front yard and doing some spring cleaning.  I will try to get in 4 miles on Sunday.  Tune in and find out how successful I was.

How Did I Get Here?: Part 5

In Part 4, I left us at the tail end of the 90’s.  I had newfound friends that are still a very big part of my life and was getting out more.  I was also increasing the amount of water I could displace in a swimming pool, at record speed.  I had gone from big to huge.  One of my new friends, “T”, was so much like me that we instantly clicked. 

“T” and I shared a love of food, wine, music, poker and much, much more.  We were practically inseparable.  The problem was that what we did mostly was eat.  We would look for new and interesting places to stuff ourselves silly.  If “T” found a new place he liked, we were there in double-time.  I remember one such outing was at an all-you-can-eat sushi place in the city.  I was gorged on every kind of sashimi, hand roll, maki roll, drum roll, whatever. I then waited for my two pals, “T1”&”T2”, to finish their gluttony.  It was an additional hour before they were done.  Oofah!  Those boys could eat!  But that wasn’t the end.  We had to go to the new Krispy Kreme that opened up, as well.  “Make sure you get them as soon as they go through the waterfall of icing, so they’re hot.”, “T” instructed the paper-hatted lackey behind the counter.  We got 2 dozen airy sugar bombs and a container of milk and plopped ourselves down to induce the glycemic coma.  If it wasn’t outings like that, it was The Manor for the Grand Seafood Buffet, or a favorite pizza place, or a hot dog cart in Newark at 1AM.  It got totally out of hand.  On a happier note, “T”’s family took me in as one of their own.  I was dining at their house four to five nights a week and it was for their company above all.  I love them all dearly and consider them my family to this day.  I recall being at “T”’s house to ring in the new year of 2000.  I wasn’t aware then that I would continue to spiral downward toward rock bottom and my life would have significant challenges ahead.

My weight was skyrocketing.  My self-esteem was plummeting.  I went out less because I was ashamed of the way I looked.  One of “T”’s friends asked me to be in his wedding in May of 2000.  I knew and had hung out with “C” a good deal, but I wouldn’t consider us close friends.  To be asked to be in his wedding took me off guard.  Hell, I wouldn’t have been offended not to be invited to the wedding, let alone be in it.  I thought that he must’ve needed to fill out the groom’s side to match the bridesmaids, so I accepted.  I was honored to be asked.  Tuxedo fitting was the first thing I dreaded.  “T” was a big man, but I was wondering if they could even find something in my size.  Well, they could special order something, they told me and they could add a panel to the back of a shirt to shroud my considerable waist.  The tux was a size 72.  Oh my God!  What the hell was I doing to myself!?!

The other thing I was concerned about was standing during the ceremony.  I didn’t do too well on my feet for anything more than a few minutes.  The ceremony came and I was in agony.  Even standing ten minutes at a clip was torturous for me, not to mention kneeling at church.  My best guess was that I was approaching 400lbs. back then.  My best guess would have been wrong too.  I must’ve been much more.  I wouldn’t know how much more until ten months later when I could finally get on a scale that could accommodate me.  I supposed I could’ve gone to a truck stop to tip their scales.  I had it worked out in my head.  Drive up to the scale and weigh it.  Get out of the car.  Weigh it again.  Subtract the difference.  Of course I was only kidding when I would say this in a self-deprecating manner.  I really didn’t want to know.  I am sure the food addiction convinced me I was better off that way.

During this time of my life there was so much going on.  I had developed sleep apnea and was in severe crisis from lack of sleep.  So much so that would fall asleep at the wheel frequently, fall asleep at my desk constantly, and even get delusional during conversations as if I was narrating a dream that had crossed over into the semi-waking hours. The shit that would come out of my mouth sometimes scared me.  It was nonsensical at best.  I was always half asleep and incoherent.  It almost cost me my job and worse, I could have killed someone on the road, if not myself.  I finally had a sleep study done and was formally diagnosed.  This was the small first step toward the much improved life I would make for myself in the new millennium.

In February of 2000 my father was suddenly very ill.  Out of nowhere, this hale and hearty man was stricken with renal carcinoma... kidney cancer.  I moved back home with my parents to help care for him during this time, always hopeful he could recover and lead a normal life.  Alas, that wasn't to be.  It was quite trying and hard to watch.  Just trying to pitch in around the house, do yard work and go to doctor’s appointments was very difficult given my limited mobility.  But I soldiered on for Dad’s sake.  For Mom’s sake as well.  Despite the best doctors and aggressive treatment, he was taken from us on September 9^th of that year in the makeshift hospital room of our dining room.  I think of him every day and miss him dearly.  I am actually welling up a bit just writing about this.  This course of events would send me deeper into a self-abusive relationship with food.  I would hide myself away in my apartment for the next four to five months, just me and my poison. I think I put on at least fifty pounds that year.  It must’ve been hard for my loved ones to watch a bad situation get worse.

Join me next time for the biggest (pun not intended) revelation up to that point in my life.  It was brought to me by an unlikely savior…Carnie Wilson.

Cya next time,

M

What I ate and how I exercised:

Breakfast ~ Amy’s breakfast burrito

Lunch ~ A big salad of baby romaine, red onion, carrots, sliced filet mignon (left over from last night) and toasted pumpkin seeds in a homemade chipotle lime dressing.  I’ll post the recipe to this delicious salad dressing next week.

Dinner ~ Whole wheat pasta in a light broth w/veggies

Exercise ~ 2 miles around the lake.

*Update ~ Last night’s dinner was a huge success for me.  At a fine steakhouse, I managed to eat well and sensibly.  I had a lightly dressed Caesar salad (after all, it was the ides of March), a petite filet mignon (10oz, of which I ate around half) and grilled asparagus.  Decaf, in lieu of dessert.  I was intending on walking 1 mile when I got home and didn’t count on rain.