It is like going to rehab for heroin

When I mentioned on Facebook a couple of weeks back about the lose weight plan I have I got an out pouring of support from friends and family.  The words of encouragement were great and welcome.  But I joked to my brother it was like I was going to rehab for heroin.  I suppose I could find articles on the interwebs on how high fat foods and refined sugars are like heroin or something, but that would take too much time and you all can find them yourselves.

So the real diet (the one after the detox) has been one week strong.  I have followed my stated plan ok, not to the letter and not in reality.  But thing I have been doing is making choices about what I eat and I really think that is the key.  I am not eating as much food as before and stoping before I feel full.  Case and point I went out with my wife and couple of friends at a Pizza place (S2pizza bar which is unfortunately closing) with wood fired pizza.  I got a prosciutto and basil pizza and my dinner companions all got different pizza's.  I totally could have eaten all of mine and "tried" a slice of the other, which would have been close to a pizza and half.  Now what I did was drink a ton of water, and ate just over a third of mine and did try the others.  So not nearly as much pizza as I would have normally eaten.  Also I went to two bars where I found actually club soda and a slice of lime is my drink of choice.  It not only looks like mixed drink but it quite tasty.  Though for my weekly alcoholic beverage I did have a Templeton Rye on the rocks and it was awesome.

I am also making changes in my daily routine, I am drinking a metric ton of water (about 150 oz a day), eating breakfast no later than 60 minutes after I get up.  Today I am drinking a fabulous fruit smoothy.  Also eating lunch is a must, and good dinner with lean protein helps.  Also as I have been tracking my calories on LoseIt.com, I have noticed I am more careful with what I eat as well.  My daily caloric  intake is set at 2112 (which is actually down from last week of 2146), but I have been eating about half of that or less in a day.  Anywhere form 800 to a max of 1900 last week.  So that has paid off, I am down another 5.5 pounds and now weigh 254.5.  I got that going for me which is nice.  After week even with my low calorie I am not feeling hungry and I feel full a bit quicker.  I guess this is a good thing.

Other fun thing I learned is a I like almonds.  I made the Ginger Spiced Almonds from Alton Brown and at 173 calories for a one ounce serving it is a it is a pretty good snack.

Tonight I am going to make a vegetarian minestrone soup, because it is snowing again.  That should be fun.  I might splurge a bit and put a crust baguette on top.

One thing I have not done is exercise (other than curling) I know that needs to be done, but it is cold and snowing and I don't want to.  I am making excuses and I can't do that.  So this week my goal is exercise at least three times a week.

It has been a week

and really what a week.

The detox thing was over Friday and with it I learned a bunch.  Mostly how I can deal with being hungry.  Also that I can eat vegan/vegetarian food and still enjoy it.  I still do not like mushrooms. Also the one thing I don't miss is refined sugars.

So I stepped on the scale today and was actually quite surprised.  I weighed 260.  Which means that was a whooping 12 pound drop in a week.  So either my initial weight was off or the detox did wonders.  In my defense the weekend before the detox was spent drinking heavily and offering my services as a professional killer to people I did not know.  BTW any government officials monitoring this I am not actually a professional killer nor will I kill anyone for money.

So what comes next?  Well my diet will consist of a modified Alton Brown diet.  If you don't know AB, his FoodTV show Good Eats is one that really taught me how to cook.  And I am not trying to brag here I am no slouch in the kitchen.  Sadly AB is not making any new shows but still has a website, is the commentator on Iron Chef America and the resident jerk on Next Food Network Star.  Anyway Alton lost 50 pounds with his diet.  At the end of this post you can watch the whole episode.  The "diet" is basically a list of foods that Alton eats or doesn't eat.  It seems relatively simple and a plan I am going to follow.  Now not closely, but close.  This is my general plan.

1. Eat the following every day

• Whole grains
• Nuts
• Carrots
• Dark leafy greens
• Fruits

2. Eat the following three times a week

• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Sweet potato
• Lean Proteins
• At minimum 3 dinner time meals must be vegetarian and one of those vegan.

3. Eat no more than once a week

• Red meat
• White starch
• Desserts
• Alcohol

4. Never eat the follow

• Soda of any kind
• processed food

Also I am going to count my calories.  This I think has been my biggest problem in the past.  I cook elaborate meals eat while I am cooking and have portion sizes that are way to huge for me.  The way I am going to this by using my phone and an App called Lose-It.  It is kind fun to track your calories and exercise.  If you are thinking about losing weight join up and become my friend and we can do this together.  If anyone else knows of something better I am all for it.  Also another thing I am going to do is exercise daily.  Minimum amount of 30 minutes daily.  Mostly biking and running.  With some swimming and other stuff.   

Other things I have to remember is to eat breakfast before 9 am and do not eat 90 minutes prior to bed time.  Case and point last night before bed I was hungry.  I really wanted something quick and easy.  I thought a peanut butter sandwich wouldn't be to bad for me.  But no I resisted had a huge class of water and went to bed.  I woke up not feeling hungry.  I did have to pee, which had an added benefit of waking up me up early enough to deal with the time change.  

This next week is going to be a huge challenge for me.  Putting into place what I learned last week and sticking to it.  Also not resting on the laurels of the dramatic weight drop.  Also it is St. Patty's Day week.  And to quote my friend Jason if I can't punch it or drink it, it is not St. Patricks Day.  Which means I am going to save my Alcohol for my corned beef and cabbage and there is no way to make corned beef and cabbage healthy, it will be about portion control. Also I am going to go out Friday night, which will have its own challenges.  

That is all for now.

    

And so it goes.

Well it has been awhile, I have wanted to add to this more frequently, but hey you get what you pay for right.

Anyway it is day 4 of the detox.  Really I have been eating a vegan and gluten free diet for all of those days. Basically for your info, I have cut out all animal products, sugar (less a few tablespoons of honey and maple syrup for a recipe or two), and most of my carbs.  It has been harder than I thought.  I think what I miss most is the carbs.  I love bread and miss it terribly.  I don't miss meat as much as I thought.  The problem is I don't think I am getting enough calories.  I generally feel lightheaded and tough to concentrate.  But the actual hunger is not as bad as I thought.  And the good thing after a minor freakout last night I am still sticking with it.

I have tried some new food, one with actual mushrooms and I ate it.  It was an root vegetable "shepherd's pie"  It had parsnips, carrots, turnips, mushrooms, celery covered with mashed sweat potatoes.  I added some homemade chipotle seasoning to the sweet potatoes and it wasn't bad.  Was it better then actual shepherd's pie, not in the slightest.  Was ok and something I would eat in the future.  Yes.  I couldn't help thinking that it would be good with a nice roast turkey, or a crusty loaf of bread.  Unfortunately I do not have the recipe as it was in actual cook book, if you remember what that is.

Anyway tonight I am going to make one of my favorite dishes from one of my favorite restaurants  in the world.   The famous Momofuku's Ginger Scallion Noodles.   The recipe is form one of my favorite food blogs The Amateur Gourmet.  My only change is that I will be using rice noodles (no gluten see) instead of ramen or soba noodles.

The detox thing is ending Saturday morning and then begins the real diet.  I have plans, I will explain those plans to you all in the future.

If anyone has some more recipes or clever thoughts let me know!

Until then I want to leave you with this clip from Portlandia.  It is how I feel in regards to my detox thing here.

The journey of a thousand miles

Apparently begins with one step.

Well I came to the realization the other day when I looked around at a party with my friends, that I was the fattest guy in the room.  A title which sounds cool, but unfortunately is not.  And also coming to the realization that all my clothes shrunk and clothes manufactures 38 inch waist has gotten smaller I need do something. So with encouragement from my wife (well encouragement is not a strong enough word, let's say drag by force kicking and screaming), I have started a diet.  And with this diet I have started a blog (my wife does not know about this BTW).  This blog mostly for me, to keep me honest, write down my goals and my trials.  Maybe someone might read it and find it funny, or annoying, or give me a TV show (they still do that right?)

If you are looking for well reasoned diet and exercise advice that uses correct grammar and makes sense most of the time you have come to the wrong place.  If you are looking for a stream of conciseness writing that is nothing more then random words on the page, then I guess this for you.

I weighed myself and it was a horrible 272.  I guess the Don Draper Madision Avenue types say I either should be 8 and half feet tall or 192 lbs.  I can tell yeah I weighed 192 once and it was incredibly skinny.  So right now my obtainable goal is 225, by the end of summer (September 1st).  So 50 pounds in roughly 6 months.

Anyway today is my first day of my diet.  I guess according to my wife's doctor I like most people are addicted to sugars, carbs and all kind of bad stuff.  So I guess that means a detox is in order to reset myself.  The detox is comprised of eating only fruits and veggies for a couple of days, no carbs, no refined sugar everything that makes life worth living.  And then one day of eating nothing.  I am not looking forward to this, but it has to be done I guess.

Oh yeah, also I am going to work out as well.  Right now in Wisconsin it is going to snow, and snow a lot, so I don't know what working out is going to look like.  I guess I am going to bring up my bike and put it on the training and try to do 30 mins a day, until the weather breaks and then it will be outside activities with my family.

That is all for now, tomorrow I will tell yeah how the first day went.