Fresh Pond, felt decent. Followed by 30 min on the bike (what they call 9 miles). Hit the first weight target and well on way to the second. It would be good to get more conscious of what I'm eating, even plan meals a bit in advance. I know that since Fall semester my diet has been random, including - for the first time in five or six years - empty calories like m&ms and chocolate covered almonds, copious bad fats like Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwiches (yum!), and undisciplined consumption of rich foods like Greek 10% fat yogurt (totally awesome!) stinky cheeses (yes!) and too much gnocchi in cream sauce and linguine carbonara (wow!). Worse yet eating was irregular: periods of hunger when I was trying to get work done-- actually 'starvation' is probably more apt since I didn't really notice being hungry-- interspersed with rapid consumption of fats, sugars and processed starchy foods. On one late working evening I ate three 10 oz tubs of chocolate covered almonds. Because of the ups and downs it is hard to peg my average daily intake intake, but given the amount of fat, sugar and processed food I don't think 3,500 calories is a crazy estimate. So that means if I take it down to 2,500 or so, run 5 mi/45 min (600 calories burned over baseline) at least 5 days a week and do low impact cardio for 30 min (250 calories) at least 2 days a week I'll be at 7,000 + 3,500 = 3 pounds. Slightly more food or less exercise hits the 2.5 lb weekly target exactly. I hate counting calories but I'll try to record my food consumption and then maybe go back each week and make a back of the envelope calculation to see how it lines up with the weight loss. Today's eating was ok but not well planned. Breakfast: 3 bowls of raisin bran with whole milk Lunch: None. 5 mi run and cardio workout in the pm, then Dinner: Lightly spiced white basmati rice and chicken breast sauteed in olive oil with sweet pepper sauce; ~1 qt vegetable juice; ~1 qt orange juice; 3 apples; romaine lettuce salad with oil and vinegar. |