Day 32 - The Broccoli in a Salad

Hello blog.

This day was pretty familiar ground. I had bacon and eggs with lightly buttered rye toast in the morning. They gave me potatoes even though I asked them not to, and I expertly did not eat a single bite of them.

Then for dinner I had one of these:

The grilled chicken garden salad from Chick-Fil-A. Somebody mentioned Chick-Fil-A salads in the comments and I thought I'd give it a try.

They were right. This has been one of my favorite salads. I especially liked the presence of broccoli, which I love and which is something you don't often find. And it even came with roasted sunflower kernels (wow).

I had it with reduced fat berry vinaigrette dressing. Less than 500 for the whole salad, and a little over 700 for the breakfast. I had about 200 worth of chocolate pocky as a snack in the evening, so about 1400 calories for the day.

This is pretty amazing that I've been able to eat meals of less than 1500 calories without being dominated by a desire to eat more. My binge eating disorder really is in check right now.

I think the worst meal I've done in the past 32 days was below 1500 calories, and it hasn't happened all that often. Coming from eating 2,000+ calorie meals 2 - 4 times a day, I feel like I'm making real progress.

And I'm eating salads. I think I've eaten more salads in 2010 so far than I've eaten in all of 2009.

Until tomorrow,
Eric

Day 31 - The Theatre

Hello blog.

I went to the movie theatre and caught a matinee of Sherlock Holmes during my apartment inspection. I had some popcorn and some M&Ms, with a diet coke, about 700 calories. I don't think I could ever give up movie theatre popcorn. It's not an everyday thing, anyway.



I'm always reminded of this video whenever I go to a theatre these days. The really old footage and Zooey's 1950s style vocals, I just love it.

Other than that, I just had a salad with grilled chicken and honey dijon dressing. Less than 1400 calories on the day.

I've booked a trip to New York. January 19th - 22nd I'll be at The Ritz-Carlton on Battery Park. While I'm there, there are a few things I'm definitely eating. Pizza, a street vendor hot dog, a bagel, probably a frivolous room service meal, and probably 2 in-flight meals. I'll be writing everything down with calorie estimations, and those 4 days will all be posted about in 1 blog entry after I get home.

Also I'll probably be walking a lot more.

I'm not giving myself a free pass to eat unlimited quantities of food on my trip, but those certain things New York is known the world over for, I think I'd regret not having them more than I'd regret the cholesterol. I'll be trying to keep it below 2500/day at the most.

I don't know if I'll have much time for photos, but we'll see.

Until tomorrow,
Eric

Day 30 - The Bad Decision

Hello blog.

The other day's ribs were enjoyed so much that they made an encore. Had a meal identical to the previous one, probably about 1400 calories.

Then on my way out of a Walmart, I made the poor decision to get Wienerschnitzel for some stupid reason. About 1400 calories of chili cheese garbage there.

This is what you order:

And this is what you get:

I again had a small fruit and walnut salad in the evening, pushing the calorie total to just over 3,000. Which in terms of thermodynamics, is about par for the course. If I gained, it was less than 3 ounces. So I don't feel like this is a failure that has to completely derail me.

Immediately after eating the second bad meal I felt regret, and was briefly tempted to just omit it from my blog entirely out of embarrassment. But this blog would be totally pointless if I'm going to be dishonest with it, so there you go. You get to see all my weaknesses.

Until tomorrow,
Eric

Day 29 - The St. Louis Ribs

Hello blog.

This time I worked through the whole day without eating, basically. By the end my appetite was pretty crazy, I had a craving for some ribs and I knew a place. They also make homemade potato chips fresh out of the frier. I had both, with a bit of garlic bread they came with, and a diet coke.

I actually felt guilty so I brought home one of these to eat later in the evening.

The fruit & walnut salad they make for McDonald's. It's basically apples, grapes, a small amount of candied walnuts, and some low fat yogurt. I couldn't really imagine how that could possibly be so bad for me so I didn't care that it was coming from McDonald's.

Things are really busy right now because on top of work I've got an apartment inspection tomorrow. Having to do a lot of cleaning to make the place sparkle, and a lot of extra work to make up for the time lost spent cleaning and etc.

I'm also planning and preparing for a trip to New York, which will be more lost time, which is more time that I need to make up for with work. Very busy!

Same old graph.

Until tomorrow,
Eric

Day 28 - The Cranberry Walnut Salad

Hello blog.

Quick post because I feel horrible right now and I still have to work at least 6 hours through it.

I had ice cream in the morning (my sore throat is the worst in the mornings), ramen noodles and a bit of candy over lunch, and dinner was an apple cranberry walnut salad.

This with I think a raspberry vinaigrette. That's feta cheese, by the way, which I'm a huge fan of.

About 1800 calories for the day. So I was at a calorie deficit and I ate some vegetables. Good enough for now.

Still 20 pounds to updated progress photos.

Until tomorrow,
Eric

Day 27 - The First Twenty

Hello blog.

I had a cheese enchilada plate with beans and rice over lunch. I brought home a salad to eat, but whatever sickness I have got a little worse and I didn't feel much like eating. The worst symptom is the sore throat, so I just had a bowl of ice cream.

In the past, whenever I've faced any kind of hardship, I'd always give myself a free pass to eat whatever I wanted. I'd actually find myself thinking during a bad day at work, "I'm going to order the whole menu when I'm done here." It's like a way of blaming external forces for my own bad decisions. Basically a rationalization for my bad behavior, along the same lines of what you see from alcoholics and drug addicts.

There might've been a little of that in play for the ice cream. Just a little.

I still have the salad in my fridge though, and I'm feeling a little bit better. I'll eat it today (all my posts cover the previous day).

Anyway, as the title of the post mentions, I've dropped my first 20 pounds, and I've got update photos. And here they are.




First the original front, then the current front. Then the original side, then the current side.

I have a standardized foot placement and posture and everything, and I tried to replicate it all as best I could.

So that's what it looks like when somebody goes from 286 to 266 (6.993% body weight reduction). 20lbs would look like night and day for normal people, but when you're huge, 20lbs doesn't make a big difference in how you look.

20lbs to updated progress photos.

Until tomorrow,
Eric

Day 26 - The Ham & Cheese Omelette

Hello blog.

For some reason I woke up and wanted a ham and cheese omelet, so I made it happen.

I ate this with a side of 3 or 4 strips of bacon. It was more food than I anticipated, but it was really good so obviously I had to eat it all. I think about 1200 calories total.

Then my dinner salad came with shredded cheddar, crispy chicken, and ranch dressing. Probably the least healthy and most delicious salad I've had so far. About 700 calories.

Finished the day with some candies. A little over 2,000 for the whole day.

I actually woke up with a sore throat. I thought it was because I slept without the heat on for the first time all winter, but now I'm thinking I may actually be sick. I still feel sick at the time I'm writing this (the next day). But it hasn't gotten much worse.

Still haven't had a proper binge in a pretty long time. Still 2 pounds away from photos...

Until tomorrow,
Eric