Tabitha has forever been after me about my use of artificial sweeteners. Splenda has long been my poison of choice... and therein lies the rub. Apparently, it could be my poison. The more I read on the science of artificial sweeteners and how they are metabolized, the more I think I should walk away. Studies have shown that a key ingredient in Splenda, sucralose, supposedly turns to something quite different when it reaches 88ºF... formaldehyde. Well at least if it kills me, I will be well preserved.
Entire books have been written on the subject of the whole Splenda/FDA "cover up". Formaldehyde poisoning expresses itself in Multiple Sclerosis-like symptoms and muscle deterioration. Symptoms that seem to reverse somewhat upon exclusion of the artificial sweeter.
I take my coffee sweet, love my Snapple Diet Peach Iced Tea and turning to actual sugar doesn't seem like a viable alternative, given its caloric impact. And before you suggest it in the comments section, I flat out do not like Stevia. It leaves an odd aftertaste.
My take on this was always that I didn't consume enough of it to make a difference. I'm still not sure I do, but it's on my radar. It would be a pity to morph myself into a fit corpse or, ironically, a fit disabled person. What to do? What to do?
Cya tomorrow,
M
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Cereal with almond milk
Lunch ~ Starbucks Protein Bistro Box and a Skinny Decaf Caramel Macchiato
Dinner ~ Thai Shrimp Bisque and some brown rice. This recipe ROCKED. Click the link and make it for your family. The brown rice was a very good addition.
Exercise ~ 2 mile Sansone walking video
Just firing off a quick report so you can get back to your Monday Night Football or 2 Broke Girls or whatever you kids watch these days. Today was uneventful. I managed to get in everything that I needed to, despite being hugely busy with work and chores around the house.
One thing of note, though. I had two meals today in sandwich form. This was the result of poor planning. I knew how busy I would be and didn't have on hand what I needed to steer clear of bread. I managed to eat well and stay well within my caloric guidelines, as fuzzy as they may be, but this is how things start to fall apart. Fail to plan and you plan to fail, the old saying goes. I'm mindful of this and will act accordingly.
Cya Tuesday,
M
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ One egg and avocado on a whole grain sandwich round. My coffee
Lunch ~ A salad w/peppers, celery, avocado and mustard roasted garlic vinaigrette
Snack ~ One super delicious Jazz apple
Dinner ~ Garden Burger on a whole grain roll and a cup of last night's crab soup
Exercise ~ 2 mile Sansone walking video
When the weather starts to get cooler my thoughts turn to soups. I love soup. If I had a kid, I'd name him or her Bacon Soup Accardi. Maybe Soup Bacon instead to avoid confusion over whether it was bacon soup as opposed to bacon AND soup... plus having the initials BS would kinda suck.
Pictured here is tonight's dinner. Tab and I love crab, so it was worth getting some good stuff. Above is a Savannah-Style Crab Soup and this extremely satisfying, creamy bowlful you see before you has only 135 calories per bowl. That's not a typo. 135. It's loaded with lump crab meat and is chock full of vegetables. If you click the link above you will be told it has 151 calories and 5g fat per serving. I made some minor mods and it had 135 calories and less than 4g of fat. I had two bowls without any guilt.
This week also look for these gems in my meal log, all courtesy of Cooking Light and MyRecipes.com.
Thai Shrimp Bisque
Savory Beet Soup
And a non-soup dish, if my cherry tomatoes decide to ripen: Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes.
Cya tomorrow,
M
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Ancient Grains Granola w/almond milk and my morning coffee
Lunch ~ A large salad w/butter lettuce, carrots, roasted red pepper, celery, a can of solid white albacore and a great new dressing I concocted: Dijon Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette. Look for the recipe soon.
Snack ~ Smoothie with frozen banana, PB2 and almond milk.
Dinner ~ See above
Exercise ~ Even though it was not as easy as it was just a couple months ago, I walked around our lake: 2.5 miles
My dad used to be in the National Guard. We would often see military trucks on the highways on the weekends and Dad would say "There go the Weekend Warriors!" I'd never get it right and if I saw them first I'd say "There go the Sunday Sawyers!" This weekend I realized I may be enlisted as a Weekend Worrier. Weekends are treacherous in the weight loss realm. Free time on your hands and parties around every corner.
Our neighbors, Noah and Kim, sprung a nice invitation on us to come over for a small BBQ today. I started to worry. Could I resist the beer, the chips, the cheese, the salads perhaps laden with mayo? I did fairly well. Let's give me a B+. As it turned out, it was pretty much the four of us for dinner and they did a fine job of providing as hosts. Just as I would have done, I was offered beer, chips and dip, soda and even some fruit before the grill would be fired up. I politely declined and explained my final push toward my 50th. I had water, some melon and two wings that I brought over in the interest of being a good guest. These were roasted, not fried.
Then when offered the options for the grill, it was Italian sausage or a burger. Despite my red meat ban, I opted for a plain, bunless burger and VERY small amount of pasta salad that Kim whipped up. Minus 5 points from the judges on main course choice I made. Given the options, it was the lesser of evils. Afterward, Noah brought out jalapeño poppers wrapped in bacon, explaining his bumper crop of peppers from the garden and limited options for using them. Now you could wrap bacon around a turd and I would turn into Pavlov's dog. It's my kryptonite. I ate one. It was divine. I then moved the platter they were on out of reach. Minus 10 points from the judges. Overall, an 85 score in performance.
I needn't have been too worried, I supposed. The angst, albeit minor, was on the front end of the soiree. It was an enjoyable evening and they are such nice and gracious people. I excused myself before the cake would be served and thanked them for a lovely time. I explained that I had some walking to do and did just that. I immediately went for a brisk walk. Resolve tastes like victory, but it doesn't taste as good as bacon. Sigh...
Cya tomorrow,
M
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast~ A two-egg omelet w/broccoli, onion and garlic. One piece of whole grain toast and my morning coffee.
Lunch~ A can of Progresso Lite Beef Soup. Crap! Red meat again. Didn't realize until I wrote this.
Shopping~ I often get a coffee when I grocery shop. Iced decaf Skinny Caramel Macchiato today. 90 calories.
Dinner ~ see above
Exercise~ 35 minute brisk walk.
It's been two and a half months since I did the 5k Foamfest thing. Did I mention that I did completed that? We've been apart. Forgive me. Yes. I completed the 5k obstacle course back in June and I will fill you in on that one day soon. I'll even throw in some video from the camera I wore. The point is that since then I slipped back into bad habits and that includes not exercising. So now when I do exercise it royally kicks my ass. I guess we need to ease back into it. I will keep my bravado in check and still do at least 300 calories a day worth of exercise, but it will just take a little longer than I like.
The other night I planned on doing a 3-mile walking video. I got through 2 miles before I needed to stop. Tonight I jumped on the dreadmill and, while I did manage to do over 2 miles and burn over 300 calories, it also was also 35 minutes of suckdom. Slow your roll, Michael. You ain't in great shape yet. Hell! You aren't in fair shape.
Cya tomorrow,
M
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Cereal w/almond milk and coffee with fat-free 1/2 & 1/2
Lunch ~ Leftover eggplant and kale from last night's dinner
Snack ~ I was jonesing for something sweet and opted for a FiberOne bar
Dinner ~ A monster spinach salad w/a can of solid white albacore, carrots, peppers and homemade roasted garlic vinaigrette.
Exercise ~ The above mentioned 35 minutes of dreadmill suckdom.
Let's see if we can make this the first exercise in brevity. Here's a snapshot of my day and how I fared in my quest for clean living. All in all it was a pretty good day. Admittedly, I felt like shite yesterday morning and I am thinking it might have been a touch of detox from all of the crap I have been taking in. Today I felt real good. For the past few weeks I have felt like I was tightly packed into the newer clothes I purchased over the last few months. Today I finally didn't feel like the Michelin Man.
I ate very well today, got my exercise in and I'm feeling good about myself. Who could ask for anything more?
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Nature's Path Ancient Grains w/almond milk and coffee with fat-free 1/2 & 1/2.
Lunch ~ Garden Burger Chipotle Black Bean burger on a multi-grain sandwich round w/ketchup.
Mid-Afternoon ~ Coffee with a milk and a touch of cinnamon.
Dinner ~ Pictured here is my dinner that came in just a hair over 300 calories. Made with several ingredients from my fridge that I classified as "Use or Lose", it is grilled eggplant w/a smattering of fat-free feta and marinara sauce. Accompanying the eggplant was kale sauteed with onion, garlic and red pepper flakes, mixed with the same marinara. Overall, not a bad effort for a fridge raid dinner. Certainly healthy and there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Exercise ~ About a 35-minute brisk walk with The Wife.
*Note from yesterday's blog ~ I didn't make it through the whole 3 mile walking video. I did over two miles and, by my estimate, burned over 450 calories, far exceeding my 300-per-day goal.
Yesterday, I sort of thumb-nailed the upcoming four month's expectations. Today I will go a little more in depth as to what I expect from myself in the final days for the drive. What will I eat? What exercise will be involved? What will you read about here?
One of the pieces of the puzzle that I laid out in the "Home Stretch Reboot" post was that the daily offerings would be shorter. Somehow I will need to have a brevity gene implanted into me sometime soon. If you know me, or anyone else in my family, brevity is not our strong suit. Ask us the time and we'll tell you about a distant, long-dead relative that made watches for a Czar. The daily posts will gradually ease into a recap of what I did that day, how I felt, any angst I may have faced staring down my demons and, hopefully, the good-humored information you have come to expect. Yes, the first couple of days where I explain the framework will take up more space, but I promise you, if you show up here daily, you should be in and out quickly. Think somewhere between a Post-It®
note and an index card's worth of info.
Exercise is more critical now than ever. I calculate that if I can exercise daily, enough to burn at least 300 calories, I can add more than 11 lbs. to the weight loss tally. Currently my countdown ticker says there are 129 days left until I turn the big Five-O (Great...now we will all have 70's TV theme music stuck in our heads for a while. Sorry! Book'em, Dano.) 129 days times 300 calories equals 38,700 calories burned. At 3500 calories per pound, it works out to about 11 lbs. What is 300 calories worth of exercise? For me, it's about 35 minutes of walking at a 3 MPH pace. That will change as I lighten the load, of course, but all I need is a rough idea to execute this well.
Gotta eat, right? One of the unfortunate draw backs of being a food addict and attempting great weight loss is the need to eat. I've researched the viable alternatives and while decomposition is certainly effective at shedding pounds, death isn't an option. So, eat I will. In the next month or so until my weigh-in I will limit meat of all kinds. Chicken and turkey will be my very occasional indulgence. Mostly I plan on a vegetable based diet that is supplemented with fish, minimal, but some dairy, no alcohol and little, or no bread. A few of these tenets were devices that made me successful early on. Once allowances were made for drinking, dairy and meat, they became more and more pervasive in my daily routine and I faltered. Back to basics, as they say. Back to what gave me success before.
That about sums up what my life "should" look like for the next 129 days. If life was a compilation of realized "shoulds" we'd all be rich, thin and brilliant, right? I'll do my best reach for these expectations and roll with the punches that life throws my way.
Cya next time,
M
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ A much more successful smoothie concoction today. 1 small cooked beet, 1 carrot, 1/2 frozen banana, 1/4 red bell pepper, 3/4 cup spinach leaves and about 3/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. A very tasty accompaniment to reading my work emails on the patio.
Lunch ~ Health Magazine voted this the #2 best fast food lunch and I have to agree. It's Starbucks Protein Bistro Box: 370 calories, a little high in fat but tolerable. I also enjoyed a Skinny Iced Decaf Caramel Macchiato for 90 calories.
Dinner ~ Pan-seared Mahi Mahi over sauteed spinach and pan-roasted broccoli. Deeeeelicious.
Exercise ~ A 3 mile Leslie Sansone walking video.
Find it here ----> YouTube Walking Video
