Food Hangover

I just woke up about an hour ago, and I have that sinking feeling in my stomach because I'm hungover and totally regretting what I did yesterday.

No, no, not THAT kind of hangover and regret...it's a food hangover, and that sinking feeling in my stomach is the literal result of eating much too much yesterday. Half of a large buffalo chicken pizzz (with blue cheese dipping sauce), chips and salsa, lobster, the other half of the buffalo chicken pizza (and dipping sauce), and, of course, libations. It's just been one of those weeks...I can't fully explain my thought process during this week...I'm guessing it's just been a general feeling of laziness. A common thought this week has been, "I simply do not care about eating healthy." I'm still trying to figure out exactly why I don't care this week, and why this week in particular. I can't seem to keep my emotions in check...

I guess I'm fully in a rut...here's to hoping that I can salvage today and Sunday. Unfortunately, my goal this week is not to gain more than a pound. Obviously, this isn't a very good goal, but this is just temporary until I can end this week and move on to the next week.

So Far So Good

The back-on-track day is going well thus far. Healthy breakfast. Healthy lunch. Sucking down water like it's my job. Keeping myself busy. Dinner is already planned for tonight, and it sounds like it will be healthy, so I anticipate a good food day.

Since I'm away from home during the day today, I have to exercise this evening, probably around 8:30pm. I'm not a huge fan of working out at this time, but if I have to exercise late in the day in order to get my activity points, then so be it. I've heard that exercising late in the day can cause you to have bad sleep...personally, I haven't had that problem yet. Also, if I had to choose morning or night for working out, I would choose night, because I am definitely not a morning person. But...I really like working out in the morning after I've been awake for an hour or two...but that doesn't really work out with a work schedule.

A new study says that meal replacements aid weight loss. Good to know, actually. During previous diets, I used to eat just Slim-Fast bars and shakes for breakfast and lunch, and it seemed to work. In fact, I think I did this when I lost a lot of weight in 2001. I've thought about buying these again, because they are major time-savers, but I will probably lose out on some nutrition. Tough choice...save time or maintain nutrition?

Chugging on toward dinner time...I have good vibes that this will be a good day.

Another Bad Day

Another healthy breakfast and lunch, but a terrible dinner. I don't know if it was stress this time...I think it was more "I'm lazy, I don't want to be healthy today" sort of thing. Argh...I'm totally battling my old self these past two weeks. I'm totally fighting the diet thing this week, and I know I shouldn't be. I'm stuck in a major funk right now. I'm funkdafied, and I want to be de-funkdafied. At least I worked out on the elliptical today...

I gotta have a good rest of the week and weekend, or else I'm predicting a bad, bad weigh-in on Monday. Gotta brainstorm about how I can fight the funk.

Weigh-In Day #4: Small But Sweet

Yikes, I've been on my longest hiatus yet...I haven't updated since Friday, when I promised all of you that I would update this weekend. And I totally broke my promise. I had one of those really really lazy weekends, where I didn't really want to do anything except relax and enjoy a quiet weekend. I think it is because law school starts again for me in a few weeks, and I'm trying to enjoy my free time while I still can.

Unfortunately, that laziness resulted in some hiccups this weekend with food and exercise. I didn't exercise the entire weekend, and I ate slightly larger dinners. But things are OK...I lost 1.3 pounds this week, coming in at a weight of 294.7 pounds. Honestly, I think I would have lost more if it wasn't for this weekend. But it's OK...I remain fully on the weight loss bandwagon, and I'm still very much energized and excited about exercising and eating healthy.

I'm still trying to enjoy these last few days of freedom, so I probably will not exercise today. However, I am getting back on track tomorrow. I will be away from home, but I have decided to find a way to exercise at the hotel I am staying at, either at the on-site gym or by walking around the premises for an extended period of time. I would be content with doing either option.

I want to thank everyone again for your continued support...you guys are the best!

My Inadvertent Detox

Unsuspectingly, my alcohol intake has reached lows not seen since before college. I haven't limited my drinking on purpose...sort of. It is sort of an indirect result of being on Weight Watchers, since it preaches and demands that I track EVERYTHING that enters my body, including any kind of beverage and any small bite of food.

I love all sorts of beers...Sam Adams, Sam Summer, Heineken, Guinness, most of the beers at the BBC, and of course the occasional hard liquor. But 12 oz. of regular beer is 3 points, and that can add up during a night of shenanigans. Even a beer at a restaurant during dinner can be costly...a lot of those restaurant beers on tap are 16 oz., so it would be 4 points per beer. Some have "super-sized" servings of 22-24 oz., so one of those can be 6 points...just for drinking a frosty beverage. Some of those malt beverages or pre-mixed drinks, like Smirnoff Ice or Mike's Hard Lemonade, are between 4-6 points for 12 oz. But the worst drink is a margarita in a pint glass...11 points! Mudslides come in second with 8.5 points, and long island ice teas take third with 8 points. Surprisingly, hard liquor is not that bad...usually around 2-3 points per shot. In addition, the best alcoholic drinks have hard liquor in them: rum and diet coke, and vodka and soda each cost 1.5 points. White wine spritzers and bloody marys are only 2 points.

Since I would rather spend my points on food, I have been drinking either light beer or just water. Although light beer is only 2 points per 12 oz., it can add up, and I REALLY like spending my points on food. Therefore, I have really only been drinking water over the past couple weeks. I've probably been pretty lame lately because of this, but it's been kind of nice...sort of like a detox or a cleanse, I guess. Maybe it's the exercise and the dieting, but I feel healthier by just drinking water...I feel more in control of my body.

Concerned readers: I haven't eliminated alcohol completely from my life...that would just be tragic. Beer will always have a special place in my heart.

Ore-Oh No

I splurged on some Oreos when I got home from dinner. Argh, I couldn't resist!

I had a healthy day with food. Low-fat strawberry smoothie from Panera Bread in the morning. Lean Cuisine panini sandwich for lunch. Grilled chicken sandwich for dinner. All was right in the world...until I came home.

I had around 4.5 Weight Watchers points left for the day (I am currently allowed 43 points per day, with 35 extra points per week and activity points earned through exercise). 3 Oreos are 4 points, so I decided to have 3. But 3 turned into more than expected...I think I ended up eating 12 Oreos total, so I ate 16 points worth of Oreos. 12 points over for the day.

Now I know that I'm still not over my allowed points for the week, but past experience has shown me that eating at or below my daily points target results in greater weight loss on my weigh-in day. This goes against everything that Weight Watchers preaches: they tell you to eat at least your points target every day AND some of your weekly and activity points. According to WW, if you follow their suggestions, you will lose weight at a healthy rate. But that can mean weeks where you only lose one-tenth of a pound. I'm not sure that is gonna work for me...I need to lose a consistent 1-2 pounds per week to keep my spirits high. It's not a sprint to the finish line...but I don't want to come in last, either.

Since the Oreo guilt is now upon me, I must get through Sunday without going food nutso. Clearly, I can't be tempted at all by ANYTHING remotely bad for me, so I might have to wear a straitjacket and lock myself in a padded room for a day.

Dogs Can Help With Weight Loss? Blasphemy!

This is Ted. Ted the dog. See Ted run. And run and run and run. And play with his ducky.

Ted is visiting for a couple days, so I might take the opportunity to go for a walk or a brief run with him. Just a 15 to 30-minute walk, and perhaps I'll try running for a minute just to see what it is like. Humans and dogs need regular exercise to fight off fat and regulate their moods, so why not exercise together? The wifey and I have been considering getting a dog of our own in the future, and I'd like to be able to walk and run with him/her on a regular basis, so I hope I can be somewhat in shape by the time we get one.

Wifey: yes, we will get one soon.

FOLLOW UP FROM YESTERDAY: My friend Michelle sent me a great link to a listing of restaurant foods at Dotti's Weight Loss Zone. Wow...I never knew this site existed. This site has a gigantic listing of restaurants, coffee shops, cafes, and the like, along with meals and drinks served at each place with nutritional information and Weight Watchers points. This is absolutely a must-see for people that like to eat out a lot, like me! The rest of the website is pretty cool and inspirational, as well.

T.G.I. Wednesday

No, I'm not serious when I say that, but I did eat with the wifey at T.G.I. Friday's this evening. Even though I eat out 2-3 times a week, I still forget how hard it is to eat healthy at restaurants. Sure, a lot more places offer "healthy options" or "low-carb options." Applebee's even offers Weight Watchers meals with points listed right on the menu.

But I can't live without the classic, fatty meals! I've tried those healthy options on the menu...and they just don't satisfy me. For me, I am happy eating smaller portions of the regular menu items than eating the healthy options. I will also try to eat a healthier version of the classics, like grilled chicken instead of fried chicken, or turkey tips instead of steak tips. Tonight, I went with the sizzling chicken and cheese...OK, it wasn't the healthiest thing on the menu, but it is simply grilled chicken with some cheese, peppers, onions, and mashed potatoes. This is a lot better than my favorite meal there, the cheesy bacon cheeseburger, which is basically a bacon cheeseburger with a mozzarella cheese patty on top. Plus fries, of course. I probably ate around 1,500 calories just by eating that atrocious thing.

My friend Becky sent along a great link to the Healthiest Restaurant Meals in America at the Eat This, Not That website. As this site shows, eating healthy at restaurants can be as easy as choosing sirloin steak. I'm quite sure that I can live with eating sirloin steak on a regular basis. I'm going to have to try as many of these choices as I can...I just can't resist a good meal prepared by someone else.

The wifey sent along a link to a CNN.com article about plus-sized TV shows gaining a large viewing audience. I haven't seen any of these shows, except for The Biggest Loser. And I think I've seen Dance Your Ass Off mocked by The Soup. It sounds to me, however, that all these shows are really catching on. I like the realism of them all...real stories, real struggles, real life. I wish shows in general were more realistic, you know? I'm intrigued by Fox's new show More to Love, which is essentially The Bachelor for overweight people. The brief preview I saw looked both touching and entertaining.

Guess what? A new diet pill is on the way. This one sounds promising, but it's still too early to tell. It seems to be different from diet pills that attacks food cravings head on, but I'm more interested in the side effects. Alli is well known for having...ahem...sticky side effects. Remember olestra, which were in those Lays Wow! potato chips? I guess the best way I can phrase it is...waxy discharge from the rear. There are plenty of websites that describe the side effects in more detail, so I'll leave you to find those on your own.

My opinion: don't go the easy way and take a pill. Work hard, eat healthy, and exercise. You and your rear won't regret it.

I Dreamed a Dream

I had a horrifying nightmare last night. I dreamt that I decided to "let loose" and eat like a mofo for one night. I think I wolfed down an entire pack of Girl Scouts' Thin Mints. I woke up early this morning and had of those moments like, oh my god...I actually did that last night...what am I going to do?!?! Panic set in. And then reality set in, and I realized that my Thin Mints binge did NOT happen last night.

Now that I think about it, I have been dreaming a lot about food since I started the diet and exercise. And of course, I'm not dreaming about fruits and vegetables. I'm dreaming about the hardcore stuff: pizza, burgers, buffalo chicken, pizza, brownie sundaes, sausage egg and cheese sandwiches, and pizza. Too many times, I have woken up and thought that I ate those things in large quantities at some point during the previous day. Luckily, it's just been my brain being overly active. I don't blame it...the poor thing is probably still in shock.

I completed the 30-Day Challenge in the Wii EA Sports Active recently, so I have decided to do another 30-Day Challenge. I changed the intensity from easy to medium, and today was my first medium-intensity workout. My body is screaming ouch right now...the first workout involved lots of running. It wasn't so bad...a month ago, there's no way I could have done a medium-intensity workout. But now, I definitely feel like I could keep going without quitting.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day number two, but I gotta get through today first. Hopefully I won't eat too much, both in the real world and the dream world.

Bad Sleep = Bad Decisions

For me, there’s nothing worse than a bad night’s sleep.

You wake up 20 times in the middle of the night and shift around in bed, hoping to find a position that will keep you stationary for more than a half hour. Your alarm goes off and you want to chuck it against the wall, but it’s OK because you have a couple backup clocks in your nightstand. While lying in bed, you think of all the possible lies you can say to your boss for not going to work. You decide it’s not worth missing work, so you get up and almost fall over because you are so tired. You basically just stand in the shower and let the water hit you while you think of how you can nap while standing up. Conveniently, your commute especially sucks today, so you arrive to work pissed off, and of course you proceed to have a bad day at work because a client is super annoying, or a customer yells at you, or your boss finds multiple ways to criticize you. You come home and your head finally hits the pillow, where you proceed to have a great night’s sleep. It’s a brutal, vicious cycle.

Today, I have not had one of those drastic bad sleep days, but I definitely did not get good sleep. Bad sleep can really mess up your weight loss plans. On bad sleep days, I don’t really look forward to working out later that evening, because all I want to do is sleep when I get home. I also dread the 30 minutes that I have to put in toward exercise…I wish I could just do 5 minutes and get the benefits of a 30-minute workout. On good sleep days, I feel a lot more energized and psyched up for workouts, and I feel like I can go for 45 minutes or longer, even if the workout itself is particularly exhausting. On bad sleep days, I don’t really feel like cooking anything for dinner because of my tiredness, so I just want to get something fast and easy. Unfortunately, food that is fast and easy is generally super fattening. On good sleep days, I can cook a Thanksgiving turkey with all the fixins. Bad sleep can also be a huge downer for your psychological health. You just feel more rundown, depressed, blue, angry, and frustrated.

However, I have generally found that exercise and eating healthy during the bad sleep day remedy the harmful effects of a bad night’s sleep. As much as I don’t want to do that 30-minute workout or eat a healthy, home-cooked meal, I’m usually glad that I did those things, because I become alert, refreshed, and generally happy. If I have a bad night’s sleep, but I eat a healthy breakfast and lunch or find some sort of activity to do in the morning or at lunch, then I usually get lifted out of the doldrums of bad sleep and proceed to have a great day and night. Granted, this can be a very hard thing to convince yourself to do, and exercise can be particularly tough when not fully rested…but sometimes you have to silence your own negative thoughts, and if you can win the psychological battle, then you can usually win the physical battle too.

As of this afternoon, I’m winning the psychological battle, so tonight’s schedule of a healthy dinner followed by exercise doesn’t look so daunting at the moment.

Weigh-In Day #1: That Was a Close Call

In the words of the immortal Johnny Drama...Victory!

I was a little nervous about this morning's weigh-in, because I did a stupid thing and checked my weight last night. Whoo boy, that was not good. It was basically the same weight as last week. I was flabbergasted...I ate under my points target the entire week, I worked out 6 out of 7 days, and I didn't lose?

But this is why I need to weigh myself at the same time every week. The morning came, and all was right in the world...I was down 3.9 lbs. to be at a weight of 301.3 lbs. Good thing too...I probably would have gathered all the fat people in the world and started an uprising against God to demand an answer to why I didn't lose any weight. I'm glad it didn't come to that.

I had a little mini-celebration by going to the British Beer Company for dinner with the wifey. I ate less than I normally do there, but it was a lot compared to my dinners over the past couple weeks, and I felt so full that my stomach almost went Boom Boom Pow. It's OK though...I needed some sort of mini-reward. Besides, I basically ate a cardboard sandwich for lunch.

My friend Rich sent me a great link to the Couch-to-5K Running Plan at the Cool Running website. This is exactly the plan that I'm going to follow once I'm ready to run on a regular basis. Cool Running has lots of other great articles and a gigantic amount of race listings, so I'm sure I'll be checking there regularly in the future.

Onward to Weigh-In Day #2...hopefully next week, my weight scale and I will hug it out.

Monday Looms Large

Mondays are my weigh-in days for Weight Watchers Online. It just kind of naturally happened that way; I signed up for WW on a Monday. Mondays can be a tough weigh-in day: if you have a bad weekend, then your Monday weigh-in might be bad. You can change your weigh-in day, and many have suggested that I change it to Wednesday or Thursday, so that I can recover from a bad weekend by having a couple days to get back on track. But I have found that a Monday weigh-in allows me to stay focused on the weekend, so that I don't go on points overload.

I expect to be down around two pounds. For the first two weeks, I lost a lot, but I expect that to slow down. The beginning always starts off well, but reality eventually sets in, which means a more normal weight loss pace of 1-2 pounds per week, or those wonderful things they call weight plateaus. However, if you know the possibilities of what could happen, then you can better prepare yourself for when it happens...and then move on and work hard for next week's weigh-in.

To get ready for Monday, I had a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday. Had some breakfast at the best breakfast place in town, but it was tough picking out a healthy option. I went with two eggs scrambled and some wheat toast...not so bad, I guess. Worked out on the Wii Fit for around 30 minutes. I got paranoid about my weigh-in day being tomorrow, so I only had yogurt for lunch. Attended a wonderful birthday party for my three-year-old niece, Lyla. MAN it was tempting to eat the cheese, the chips, and the cake (aka the Three C's of Food Doom), but I held off the hunger pains by repeatedly filling up and sucking down tap water in my giganta-SmartWater bottle. Made a nice dinner with my wife, Laura. Chicken and pasta with peppers and onions in a pesto sauce...yummay.

I want to pass along a couple of interesting sites. Wii Fit Routine provides workout routines of various difficulty and length for the Wii Fit. The website also lets you generate your own routines depending on your goals, and there are some good fitness articles. I use this site regularly, since Wii Fit doesn't have any preset routines. My friend Jackie recommended an iTunes podcast called Fat 2 Fit Radio. The description of the show says that it advocates "weight loss through lifestyle change, not quick fixes - they simply do not exist." Couldn't agree more with that statement. I have not yet listened to it, but I plan to during my weekly trips to Connecticut.

Bring it on, Monday. I'm ready for ya.

Can You Eat Healthy at a Red Sox Game?

I'm not entirely sure. I haven't been to Fenway Park to see a Red Sox game for a few years. Tonight's game will be the first time where I have to be conscious of my eating habits. I used to get a couple hot dogs, a small pizza, popcorn with lots of butter, multiple beverages, and some sort of dessert, but clearly I can't do that this time around.

So are there any healthy options there? I'm guessing you can't buy a salad at a concession stand...nor would I want to, since it probably wouldn't be that fresh. Also, I can only imagine the laughs I would get as I sit in the stands and eat my dainty salad. Popcorn is probably a reasonably alternative, as long as I don't get it slathered with butter. One hot dog is decent...but will that suppress hunger? Maybe if I eat it slow.

Surprisingly, the Red Sox website has a list of its concessions and where you can find them throughout Fenway (Fenway Park Concessions). One of the food products is rather ambiguous: "Healthy Options." What does that mean? That could be anything...a piece of lettuce, a veggie burger, a fruit cup, couscous. I'll have to investigate that if I can. Besides "Healthy Options," the only other semi-healthy foods on the list are a chicken sandwich (don't know if it is grilled or fried), kettle corn, and water. We'll see how it goes...I can't afford a recovery day tomorrow.

Question for the reading audience: I woke up and weighed myself this morning and I was UP nearly a pound, and then I weighed myself about 90 minutes later, and I was DOWN around two pounds. I've eaten healthy all week...can someone explain to me what is going on here?!

UPDATE AT 2:24 PM: A friend sent me a link of a great Weight Watchers article regarding how to eat healthy at the ball park. Thank you Meghan!

The Weekend Is Here...I'm Happy and Scared

The weekend is usually a time for celebration and relaxation. The work week is over for most people, the weather usually cooperates and brings the most sun, and people are generally in better moods and more willing to participate in various shenanigans.

But for me, and perhaps others venturing out on the diet journey, it can be a scary couple of days. The weekend can bring out some seriously tempting foods, especially in the summer. Lots of grilling outdoors, lots of parties with food, lots of late-night fourth meals. It can be extremely intimidating to dieters...one bad weekend, and you might fall off the diet wagon.

During previous dieting escapades, I would have a great week of eating healthy. But then there would be some sort of party or spontaneous get together on a Saturday. I would arrive and see the appetizers all neatly laid out, and I'd stare longingly for a few minutes, but I would eventually snap out of it and try to distract myself by talking or drinking water. Then the pizza arrived, or the lasagna/stuffed shells were done cooking, or the burgers were done grilling. I would tell myself, I gotta eat something...so why not one small piece?

Bad idea. I turned into Food Hulk, or Frankenfood, or Foodenstein, or Foodzilla, or [insert scary food-eating monster here]. I would eat that small piece, but then I would follow it up with a large piece, which would be followed by four more large pieces, which would be followed by all those appetizers that I didn't eat earlier, which would be followed by multiple desserts. I would eat as much as I could possibly fit, without looking stupid or weird.

The recovery day (usually Sunday) would be a wash. I would feel so bad about my food craziness that I would eat terribly all day. All that hard work during the week was wasted: I'd go to weigh myself on Monday morning for Weight Watchers, and I wouldn't lose any weight, or worse, I would have gained some. All because of that Saturday. One day.

So, as the weekend approaches, I'm trying to remind myself of my past food craziness, and I'll hopefully keep things in check. I have a weekend that includes a birthday party and a Red Sox game. Sounds like a daunting task...but I believe I'll make it through, hopefully avoiding that dreaded recovery day.