The Diet

At the first of the year I decided to change.  I was tired of being a fat ass.  It sucked, and still does suck.  So I started Googling diets.   I browsed through all the latest fad diets and are you f’n kidding me?  Cabbage soup? WTF come on people.  That’s not sustainable, or healthy.   I needed something that was both.  I’m cooking for 2 adults and 2 kids, and I’m not going to cook separate meals.  I need to keep the kids full, healthy, and interested.  A good friend I work with suggested the Hacker’s Diet.  We’re both geeks, even though his geekiness trumps my own (and most CONUS), I was immediately interested.  It’s simple, makes sense, and it doesn’t restrict the food you eat.  Boiled down it’s just watching calorie intake.  Food in, waste out.  CNN had a story, and it seems to fall in line with the authors findings. It’s not rocket science, it’s calories.  So I downloaded some apps for the iPhone to track calories.  The first few days I was shocked at what my calorie intake was.  My calculated intake to maintain my weight was 2400 calories or so.  I was exceeding that thinking I was eating better than I ever had.  And I was..  Those gigantic caesar salads are still loaded with calories.  It’s insane.  I put myself on a 1500 calorie per day diet.  No, I didn’ t consult a doctor.   I’m sure he would have told me, “lose weight fat ass”, while wearing a chef’s hat and a bow tie.  My imaginary doctor is way funnier than my actual doctor.

As of 2/28/09, it’s been 2 months of this diet.   It was hard at first.  It took about 3 weeks for my stomach to finally give up the growling fight and accept that was all I was going to feed it.  Weight loss has been going good. The more I lose the more focused I get.   Most all of the initial weight loss was done without exercise.  Just watching what I eat, and really focusing on calories.  I kind of hit a plateau at 223.  This totally pissed me off, and was motivation for another change…

There’s a gym in my office building on the first floor.  I’ve walked by it almost every work day with out going in once, for over 5  years.  I finally woke up and joined last Friday, 2/20/09.  They are not open on the weekends, but that’s ok.  I plan on taking those days off from structured exercise.  Spring is coming soon and there’s plenty of work to do outside.   The goal is workout 30-45 minutes every day except Wednesday.  I usually try to work at home one day a week or more, but I’ll need to get into work to do the gym.  4 days a week should help motor the weight off.  My goal weight is 175lbs.  I haven’t been that weight since high school.  Hopefully I can get most of the way there by my birthday at the end of July.  The wife’s goal weight is 180, and I think she’ll look great there.  Kids just need to have good food intake at this stage, they grow so fast you can feed them almost anything.

So specifically what do I eat, and what do I avoid?

Eat : Vegetables until you puke!  Cauliflower is awesome, and steamed LO’s are great to pack as a lunch the next day.  Carrots, lots and lots of carrots.  Broccoli,spinach, lots of lean meats like chicken, turkey, pork, tuna, and my favorite, salmon.  Water, lots and lots of water to flush out your system.  Sunflower seeds and raisins for snacks.  All the major fruits: apples, oranges, pears, grapes, bananas, and kumquats (my current favorite snack).  I eat a lot of beef jerky as well, which is probably bad for my sodium intake.  Eggs!  I eat lots of homemade egg drop soup.  I’m trying to eat more vegetables in season this year, should taste better.

Eat carefully : Potatoes (I could eat pounds of roasted or mashed potatoes), pasta, rice, and lentils.  OJ and fruit juices, red meat, salty snacks, bacon (I live for bacon), cheese, milk, butter, and another favorite, olive oil.

Avoid : Breads (not worth the calories to me), sugars, HFCS , sodas, vitamin water (this fooled me into thinking I was drinking healthy), ice cream (sob!), pastries of all kinds including cakes, cookies and such.  Pretty much anything that comes in a box.   Biscuits and gravy… oh lord that makes me hungry.

That’s my diet in detail.  You can see exactly what I eat on my weekly menu. It’s nothing sophisticated, or complicated.   Just watch the f’n calories, get a little sweat from exercise, and drink water.  My obvious exceptions are the days we celebrate some Bacon Fun, but for the most part we’ve been following the diet pretty strict.  I need a new belt, and that makes me super happy.

Thanks,

N.

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