Weekly status

Well, it has been a week. Stuff I observed, learned, was told, stumbled upon, ...

1. Blogging gives me a better control over what I eat. I stopped myself short several times on several memorable occasions during previous week. These occasions could have turned into an ugly food orgy but didn't because I thought: "Shit, I'll have to admit to this atrocity on my blog". So instead of gobbling up a half a pound of carrot cake, I just had a little piece.
2. This is pretty convenient way of keeping track of my workouts.
3. I have to keep this simple. You may have noticed that I dropped the calorie count. It just takes too much time to figure it out and I just don't have the patience. Still, I learned that I can kind of eyeball it and come to a meaningful (to me, anyway) conclusion about a good vs. a bad day.
4. I'll try to do this for a month. We'll see what happens then.
5. I like rolfing. Episode one made me much more aware of my body and what it's made out of. I thought that while very gentle, Shea went pretty deep. When I came home I read the stuff on the rolf institute web site that says that the first three sessions prepare your body for the really deep stuff. This will be interesting, I didn't think it was possible to go any deeper. I think it also has an effect on my mental state - positive from where I stand, your opinions may vary. I feel I have an obligation to take better care of myself now. See below.
   
6. I am learning to drink more water.
7. On my very first day I said that "I do not plan to do (eat, exercise) any different from what I do today". Well, guess what? It's already happening. I am acutely aware of my food addiction and it is becoming increasingly harder to 'conveniently' skip the workout because I 'will make up for it tomorrow'. These kind of thoughts do come, but I'd feel like an ungrateful slimeball if I gave in. I think this came out of the rolfing session.
8. My weight fluctuated from the low of 201.8 to the high of 208.2 lbs during this week. I would like it to fluctuate between 191.8 to 198.2 at the end of this experiment. Wishful thinking?
   
9. My thanks go to those of you supporting me in this. Thanks for your comments. Keep them coming. Stay tooned (sic) ...
10. Browsing through my previous posts, I got a briliant idea. A thought came to me (yes, it does happen at times) that it would be really nice to have a glass of wine after I finish this. But I dismissed the idea because I'd have to modify today's blog. Bingo! If I write the daily status as soon as I come home from work and basically close the books for the day, I'll have an incentive not to eat in the evening because I'd have to edit the blog. You just have to love the human mind. Here is to 'How to make your laziness working for you'. Hmmm, does this mean that now I'll have to drink wine as soon as I wake up for fear of missing it?
    

Status

Back to normal work day. Woke up early but didn't really want to get up. Well, I had to because today was the trash day.
Breakfast: morning mush
Lunch: Ham sandwich. Two slices of bread, 1/4 onion, mustard, 2 slices of ham, about a cup of potato salad, half a cup of baked beans. All this over a period of about 2 hours. Working lunch.
During the day snacks: Had about 6 red chili tortilla snacks (cream cheese, black olives) - these are a bite size snacks - you take a tortilla, spread your favorite goo on it, roll it up and cut it up in about 1/2 inch wide cakes. Also had 2 deviled eggs (2 halves of an egg).
Before workout: About 1/2 cup of nuts and fruit mix
Dinner: Hmmm, oops. Had about a tablespoon of potato salad, handful of chips and salsa (hey, somebody has to consume this stuff and I didn't even have the brownie), and then, me bad, had about a cup of pistachio ice cream. With my chocolate nibs. Yummy. Bad, but tasty.
Exercise: ran 2.3 miles in about 22 minutes. Not too bad considering I had to make a vaste water drop off stop two times. I need to figure out when to stop drinking water before I run so I can actually not go to the bathroom every 10 minutes.
Alcohol: none

The day overall: Very good. I drank a gallon of water with lime (about 3 slices per gallon).

Status

Aaah, the day of the pingpong party. I know, I know, it's table tennis. Whatever. Well, very interesting day. It started with
The breakfast: very exciting, had my morning mush in anticipation of bad things coming my way. And I was right, there was no dinner, no lunch, no snacking. It was one continuous stream of food. Well, due to this blog, I may call it more of a trickle with an occasional burst. Here we go:
The food: I started snacking at about noon on (of all the foods) potato chips. Had a chip here and there, once in a while a tortilla chip. Then came the first shot of rum. Being the keen observer I am, it is becoming clear to me that alcohol totally inhibits my will not to eat. On one side I think it kind of depresses the appetite, on the other side it just puts me in this 'Oh, I don't care, I'll work it off later' mood. Needless to say, you never work it off later. BTW, I am a happy drunk - I don't get moody nor violent, nor violet. I just get happy go lucky. I started cooking at about 2 o'clock, jammed about 6 packages of Boulder Sausage in the smoker. It would normally take about 2 hours to smoke them nicely, however, it started raining. I had to go and turbocharge the smoker with an air compressor since the rain proceeded to pretty much kill my flames. That kind of sucked. I have never forced air into the smoker before, but it worked pretty well. Anyway, here is the list of what I consumed.
4 sausages
2 helpings of potato salad
1 helping of baked beans
5 shots of rum
2 beers
Numerous potato, corn and tortilla chips with salsa and some kind of sour cream stuff
Also had about 2 teaspoons worth of chocolate nibs

Exercise: very little, played a bit of table tennis in the basement (after all, that's what this get together was all about). Very weak workout.

Overall impressions: It was good to have people over, we ate, we drank, we played, we had fun. At about 6 o'clock I realized that the only fluids I consumed on this glorious day were 2 cups of coffee, 5 shots of rum and 2 beers. No good - I did feel a slight headache. Started drinking water and managed to drink a little over 2 liters before I went to bed at about 11:30. Surprisingly enough, I didn't have to go to the bathroom once. I guess once you starve your body of water, it tends to keep it. Spent quite a bit of time in the hut tub. It was a good day and afterall, I really didn't overfeed myself. Ate a bit too much but was not hurting.

Status

Breakfast: Got up late (10:30), was really stiff from yesterday's work, felt sorry for myself. Voila, 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, one tortilla, one slice of bread with butter, about 1/2 of onion and a touch of spinach mixed with pepper jack and feta cheese. What a wonderful breakfast. Instantly improved my view of the world. BTW, if I didn't mention this before, I make a bucket of coffee every day in the morning. Good, strong, turkish coffee - about 4 cups. I normally drink a cup or two for breakfast, finish the rest during the day.
Lunch: due to the late and very satisfying breakfast, didn't have any lunch
Snacks: snacked on about a cup of my nuts and dried fruit mix. Had about a teaspoon of chocolate nibs.
Dinner: one turkey, one ham sandwich. No mayo, no butter, just bread, ham/turkey, onion. Drank a glass of milk before bedtime.
Alcohol: none
Exercise: played table tennis in the afternoon for about 3+ hours straight. Focused on control and perfecting certain shots, it was not as physically demanding as usual (well, chopping is normally pretty demanding on my legs). Spent some quality time in the hot tub in the evening.
The day overall: I did a little bit of work on the yard, not much, basically just bolted a few boards to the step on the deck and cleaned up a few square yards of the deck. Need to stain it as soon as it dries up. I was a bit stiff from Saturday, stretching and drinking a gallon of water helped. I am beginning to like this water thingy. Not eating lunch is probably not too bright of an idea, however, I snacked frequently during the playtime. I think it was OK, I never felt really hungry.

Status

Well, I have been slacking off over the long weekend, but I still kept track of all the goodies I managed to gobble up. So I am posting this on Tuesday, May 31st, but I am faking the date, so we can see things in relatively nice order. I just got to copy 3 days worth from my scratch paper. Here we go.
Breakfast: nothing special, morning mush
Lunch: 2 ham sandwiches. Total of 4 slices of bread, 4 slices of lean ham, no mayo, no butter, fistful of raw spinach (I could not fit the spinach on the sandwich, so I just grabbed a handful and chomped it down).
Dinner: took a cup of pasta, cooked it, fried it lightly on olive oil (yummy), consumed with spaghetti sauce and meat chunks. Not too bad.
Snacks: I nibbled on my raw chocolate nibs, probably about a tablespoon during the day.
After dinner: me stupid. About 2 cups of sesame seed crunchy snacks. Although pretty clean food, it's pretty fatty. And at 9 PM - real smart. Had a cup of milk before I went to bed (fat free, organic).
Alcohol: a shot of rum early evening to relax. BTW, if you ever try Pyrat Rum, let me know if you like it. This is the best rum I found it this country (comes from BVI) and believe me, it took years of searching. :)
Exercise: see below
The day as a whole: Worked on the backyard all day long. Nice, sunny day, burned the crap out of my back, not good. Applied ample quantities of pure Aloe Vera gel (clean, organic) and hoping for speedy recovery. The work was not heavy, but I was moving enough to consider this as a mild workout. My back was hurting at the end of the day, drank a whole gallon of water, didn't even realize it. That's a Good Thing (TM).

Status

Today was rather interesting ...

Breakfast: normal mush, so far so good
Lunch: aaaah, the chinese all you can eat buffet. Damn the electric fence! Well, surprise, surprise, I was actually good. I got a plateful of raw vegetables (broccoli, onion, cabbage, etc), topped it with a little bit of chicken and had it done Mongolian style (stir fry). Plate number 2 was string beans, seaweed and a bit of squid. Top it with dessert of an almond cookie, small piece of sweet stuff (cake, pie, ...), slice of banana and slice of watermelon. Wow, I actually ate healthy at All you can eat chinese buffet. I did not overeat. I did not eat the whole buffet and still walked away satisfied. I am winning this game!
Afternoon snack: Before I went running I had a half of cup of my mixed nuts
Dinner: Today I went to the bar to have a couple of beers with an old friend of mine. Tough choice but I went with a buffalo burger, no cheese, got pasta salad instead of fries. Score!
Alcohol: 2 beers - had about 4 glasses of water on top of these, walking from the bar perfectly straight and sober. Now, that is cool.
Today's mood: pretty happy
Exercise: 2.3 miles running in about 24 minutes. I lost a bit of time trying to explain to the lost tourists how to get to the mall.
Comments: One of the tourists was French and I almost asked him: "Parlez vous Francais?". Well, that would have been obviously a very stupid question. Kind of like telling Dennis Ritchie "I read your book". I stopped myself just in time to just blab: "Je ne parle pas Francais tres bien, mais j'etudie" (I don't speak French very well but I am studying). He was seemingly much happier to use his flawless English.

Had a great time in the bar with my friend.

Came home and had a package waiting for me with raw organic chocolate nibs and chocolate butter. Neat stuff. No sugar, no junk, totally raw, unprocessed. Wow, the chocolate nibs actually do not melt either in your hand, nor in your mouth. The butter is kind of whitish, almost beige, pure cacao bean fat - almost kind of like white chocolate, which, as we know, has no cacao beans in it whatsoever. They both have a distinct chocolate taste, very bitter - that's the way it's supposed to be. BTW, if you want to know more about this, see the raw foods people.

Status

Breakfast: Ooooh, Aaaah, had a breakfast bagel with bacon, egg and swiss cheese. Cholesterol pill.
Mid morning snack: None
Lunch: Morning mush - still don't know what the exact calorie content is. Estimate at 400
Mid afternoon snack: Snacked on a cup of dried fruit mix during the day
Dinner: 2 x tortilla roll with turkey and load of spinach
Before exercise snack: See above
Other:
Alcohol: None
Exercise: 2.3 miles walk early afternoon
Mood: energetic, pretty happy
Comments: Rode my big bike to work (the one with motor), went for a ride at lunch time, life is good. A snake urinated and expelled feces on me while I was removing him/her from our front yard. Good thing I still had my leather biking gloves on. I guess I spooked the living feces out of him. Poor thing now lives at our local pond.

Also, I had a craving for a smoke today. Hmmm, get your body detoxed by rolfing and then put some of the crap back? I think not. Resisted easily and went for a walk instead. Come to think of it, I decided to keep track of my smoking addiction, too. So, for the record, last time I smoked was on Saturday May 21st in Albuquerque, NM. I had a victory cigar(ette) after a table tennis tournament. There you have it - you work your ass off all day long playing table tennis and then you reward your body by a smoke. Not very bright, may I say.

Rolfing

It was rather interesting. So, my rolfer Shea started with the 'rolfers 3'. That's the 3rd rolfing session, focused on breathing. The rolfer's 10 is split into 3 groups. The first 3 sessions focus on preparing the body to handle the deep core work in sessions 4-7 and then you finish with overall alignment and assembly in sessions 8-10. Mind you, I don't know much about rolfing, only the things I found on the web. Apparently, the rolfer can do the group in any order he/she feels is appropriate. At least the first group. Google it if you want to know more.

I am quite familiar with getting a massage, but this was quite a different experience.

1. Rolfing goes deeper, however, the rolfer's movement is much slower and seems to be more focused. It took her about 5 minutes to traverse just one side of my back.
2. If you have ever gotten a massage, you know that there is a level of trust that develops between you and the masseur. It may take a while, it may never happen. I, for once, am a ticklish chicken and it normally takes a while for the masseur to figure out that they need to be ruthless. If they handle me in white gloves, I squirm like a worm. Well, it took about 5 minutes with Shea. You quickly realize that there are no white gloves and the best thing you can do is to consciously relax, which is pretty damn hard. Once you relax, you're in for a different experience.
3. She made me work with her. You don't just lay there and have someone work on you, you are actively involved in the process. She made me breathe really deep at a frequency of about 8-10 breaths per minute (I think) as she worked at loosening away the fascia (again, I think this is the proper term). I got kind of high on that and almost fell asleep several times. Who would have thought? You have someone ripping your muscles apart from each other and you fall asleep? Yup, it's the focus on breathing and trying to cooperate, while you give up control. Several times I caught myself with half of my lungs full of air and I didn't know whether I was inhaling or exhaling. Pretty cool.
4. She never skipped a muscle or a knot. You know, when the masseur finds a knot, he applies pressure and all of a sudden his thumb just slips off the knot and digs into the surrounding tissue? She found quite a few knots, however, rolfing is not really about breaking knots, it's about loosening up the tissue that holds the muscle in place. Which is not to say that you don't apply pressure to the muscle itself. Still, she never slipped. Really cool - the trust was established really quickly there.
5. Sometimes you may feel pressure on contact (or a slight pain) at first, it seems to dissolve into a heat sensation very quickly. On several occasions, my arm or leg would just shiver, although Shea was working elsewhere.
   

To summarize, it was a really cool experience. Once I came home I drank about 3-4 glasses of water (apparently water is important to flush your body) and a glass of wine (important to flush my brain). Also, I spent about 30 minutes in the hot tub and went to bed early.

I woke up several times during night for the inevitable bathroom break and realized that I am sleeping on my back. This did not happen for a very very long time, I normally sleep on my stomach or side (I know, me bad). I woke up in the morning feeling really good and I stretched while still in bed. My upper back was happily cracking while stretching - this normally means that I am loose as a noodle - a Good Thing (TM). I found a couple of tender spots - under my ribs, my left shoulder, but contrary to the popular urban legends - no bruising.

I am looking forward to the next session in 2 weeks. As I said, this is a brand new experience to me and so far I can say I love it. I felt really good today at work. It also has a mental effect on me. Since I'd like to get the most out of this experiment, I was consciously trying to walk and sit straight.

Status

Breakfast: Morning mush - still don't know what the exact calorie content is. Estimate at 400
Mid morning snack: 1/2 cup of dried fruit mix
Lunch: Medium size Vietnamese noodle soup - again, wild estimate, I'd say about 600 - 700 Cal
Mid afternoon snack: 1/2 cup of dried fruit mix
Dinner: 2 x tortilla roll
Before exercise snack: See above
Other: 100 Cal of chocolate
Alcohol: glass of wine
Exercise: 2.3 miles walk
Mood: not too bad, pretty happy
Comment: Getting rolfed tonight

The fat boy experiment

This blog is about keeping track of the foods I eat and the exercises I do. I do not intend to do a whole lot of things any different from the way I live, work, eat and workout today, I just want to keep track of stuff. The idea is to have a psychological incentive to avoid 'All you can eat buffet' and have a better control of my food intake. I'd like to do this for next 20 - 30 days.
There is a little twist. I am going to get rolfed tomorrow for the first time and the plan is to do the rolfing ten. I have never been rolfed before, so I am rather curious about its effects on my physical and emotional well-being. Obviously I expect a Good Thing (TM).

Today Status

Breakfast: oat bran mush 400??? Cal
Mid morning snack: dried fruit mix: 150 Cal
Lunch: Chinese fast food. Panda Express, noodles & fried rice, garlic chicken and chicken with mushrooms. Crap, me bad, me thinks. At least a 1000 Cal
Mid afternoon snack: small piece of carrot cake: 100 Cal?
Snack before running: dried fruit mix: 150 Cal
Dinner: tortilla (100), 1 1/2 egg (130), meat (100), onion, olive oil (100): 430 Cal
Alcohol: glass of red wine (large glass, 240 ml), 200 Cal
Exercise: 2.3 miles (3.7 km) run, 22:45 minutes (~6mph, 9.75 km/h)
Total intake: 2430
Overall mood: a bit depressing, work related, vastly improved after running.
Comment: Holy crap, 2430??? - and I thought this was one of my better days. Hmmm, the blog is already putting a mirror in front of my face.

Why am I doing this?

Last time I had my cholesterol checked (about 9 months ago), my doctor told me that she'll put me on the pill if the levels don't improve by my next visit. So I had no choice but to look straight into her eyes and say: "I am not taking a pill!". I decided to change my diet a bit instead. My friend suggested a bowl of oat bran every morning so I started consuming this food of Gods (otherwise known as shredded cardboard). Despite my good intentions, I occasionally stumble upon the 'All you can eat buffet' or get late night cravings and all hell breaks loose. Which is probably a good reason for not dropping my weight while I am fairly active. And I am really curious about my cholesterol levels after consuming quite large quantities of organic oat bran in past 9 moths. However, oat bran isn't everything as my waist line tells me. How am I really doing on the calorie intake vs. spending? This blog should tell me.

Fat boy vitals and habits

Name: undisclosed, just call me fat boy for now. Not really that fat. Really.
Gender: male
Age: 44 1/2
Weight: ~205 lbs (~93 kg)
Height: ~5' 11 1/2" (180 cm)

Occupation: engineer (sit on my ass most of the time)

Shape: Round is also a shape! Reasonably muscular in other areas. Capable of running 4.5 miles in under 50 minutes in Denver area - altitude of 5280 ft (1609 meters). A bit'o spare tire, some love handles, chunky ass?? (my description).

Activities: I run, walk, rollerblade, ski, swim, table tennis, occasionally ride a bike. I am not too serious about working out, but I am not a couch potato either. I normally walk or run ~2.3 miles about 3 times per week, play table tennis (competition level) 1-3 times per week (2-3 hours on average), when in mood I do crunches (100-200) on the exercise ball 2-3 times per week.

Foods I avoid:
I tend to eat just about everything, but there are foods I prefer to stay away from.

1. I avoid anything that has Nutrasweet, Aspartame, Splenda, ..., any of the artificial sweetener crap. Basically I am of the opinion that while sugar may contain a lot of energy (calories count), it's better than pickling my brain in man-made synthetics. This is #1 in Dr. Kevorkian food group pyramide.
   
2. I avoid soft drinks most of the time. Rum and Coke (not Diet) or gin and tonic is an acceptable treat.
3. I prefer to consume bacon grease or butter instead of margarine. See my comment on synthetic foods above. That is not to say that I have bacon grease for breakfast. Well, not everyday. Margarin is #2 in Dr. Kevorkian food group.
   
4. If the potential food is trying to escape from my plate using its own extremities, I tend to forgive it and let it go. On the other hand, I have eaten steak tartar and I am quite willing to do that again.
5. I avoid junk food most of the time. However, when the cravings come, I am quite willing to consume a cheeseburger with a load of fries. A good slice of pizza qualifies as the best of the junk foods. See my comment on homeopathy below.
6. I normally avoid MSG and other things I can't pronounce if I can read the label.
7. I don't drink beer without alcohol, coffee without caffeine, don't eat fat free bacon or synthetic eggs. I don't smoke cigarettes without nicotine. See below.

Bad habits:

1. Alcohol. I like wine (mostly reds), beer, rum, basically all forms of alcohol, maybe with the exception of sake. Moderation is the key.
2. It is likely that I am addicted to food. All you can eat buffet places just kill me.
3. Occasional smoke (2-3 times per month). I started smoking when I was about 16 (young and stupid), I quit at the ripe age of 37 (still young). With the exception of my 2 years in the army, I never smoked too heavy, I was down to about 3-4 smokes a day when I quit. However, I still light up once in a while. I do recognize this to be an addiction and will likely remain so for the rest of my life. And as such, it is a matter of controlling it. I call it homeopathic treatment - introducing myself to small quantities of poison makes me stronger. Yes, you got it, I am a male - I can justify stuff. However, for all practical purposes, I call myself a non-smoker anymore. I don't think I inhale any more poison than an average Denver motorist during rush hour. And unlike Denver traffic, I can control my addiction.
4. Coffee. I like to have my bucket of coffee daily. I drink strong, Turkish style, black, no sugar. Occasionally I replace coffee with yerba mate or green tea.

Terminology, energy count

Morning mush, oat bran:
My own blend of 3/4 cup of organic oat bran, table spoon of raisins and sprinkle of cinnamon.
Energy:

Morning cholesterol pill:
2 eggs (2 x 85), 2 slices of bacon (2 x 125), either fried potatoes (300) or toast (100) with butter (50), variation with either homemade or Stokes green chili (410 per can, use 1/2 can = 205).
Energy:
Eggs, bacon and toast: 470
Potatoes instead of toast: 620
With potatoes and green chili: 825 Cal

Dried fruit mix:
About 1/2 cup of the following mix (normally all foods are organic): almonds (50), dried fruit (usually bananas, dried turkish apricots (20) and raisins (50)).
Energy: 120 - 150 Cal

Glass of red wine (4 fl oz, 1/2 cup, 120 ml): ~100 Cal