First week of my diet

First things first. My scale is very inaccurate (it's digital, wonder if that matters) but I'm definitely under 320. Last Thursday when I started this, I said I weighed 330 pounds, but I had also just consumed an entire stuffed crust supreme DiGiorno. Still kicking myself for that. On Tuesday I met with the "Healthy Weigh" group at my gym and was weighed and recorded at 327. I don't think I lost 7 pounds in 2 days, but I was also fully dressed at that point. Today I weighed in in my underwear. But I've still lost weight.

I have actually cheated on my diet twice, both at Jen's encouraging, although I did order my own food and could have, both times, made better choices. Sunday we ate at Chico's, our favorite Mexican restaurant, and I got my nachos. To be fair, I didn't get the sour cream, but they did have a lot of Cheddar cheese and they had ground beef. And I ate the whole plate. Tuesday we went to Chinese, and I got General Tso's Chicken, which was mostly chicken - and fried rice. Ate most of that. However on both days, that was most of what I ate all day, so it kind of balances out.

In better news, Monday night I made some awesome "spaghetti". Last year Jen discovered spaghetti squash, which when cooked, you scoop out strands like spaghetti noodles. Fat free. Over that we poured Prego spaghetti sauce with zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, and mushrooms chopped up, and garlic. It was certainly vegetarian, and would have been vegan (no animal by-products, e.g. eggs) if not for the cheese in the Prego. And it was at least as good as my non-vegetarian dishes I've prepared. I was very pleased with myself and this meal.

Other winners for me include the following:

• Bagels. I have mini bagels which are only 1gram/fat apiece and they're a good snack.
• Fruit. I prefer the oranges but I'll eat the apples, too.
• Applesauce. Loved it since day one and it's fat free.
• Del Monte Chunky Mixed Fruit in 100% Juice. Easy winner.
• Michelina's Lean Gourmet meals - every one I've tried (which is like 3 so far) are delicious.

However there is one honorable mention I would like to point out that pretty much wins over all, at least for meals. Tai Pei Chinese dinners, they're delicious, low in fat, and filling! Look at the picture below; click it to see it bigger. That's a standard cereal bowl, and it's holding 14oz. of chinese food. About 500 calories and under 10g/f (I think that one was 7.5g/f) and it was pretty good. Not perfect - too much sauce and not quite enough meat - but tasty and healthy.



So far I've had two of those: Bourbon Street Chicken (above) and Broccoli, Chicken, and Rice, I think it was called. The latter got its broccoli a little too soft, and that's coming from a guy who needs broccoli steamed soft so his teeth can handle it. But, you know, overall these are pretty good. I can't have them every night, but they're helping me a lot. $2 at Walmart; Harris-Teeter has them for $3, so they're probably in between everywhere else.

As far as exercise, I've been going to the gym every day save for yesterday. I didn't feel like it, but I went this morning. I learned in my weight loss class that the most fat/calories burned will be doing aerobic type stuff. The treadmill, the stairmaster, the bike, etc. So I am now focusing 95% of my workout there. I start on the treadmill and try to put in at least 15 minutes, and then about 5 on the bike. My workout goal now is to get up to 30 minutes of such exercise, say 20 on the treadmill and 10 on the bike. And I'm trying to stand/walk more at work, but my mobility is limited as I have to stay in a small area, but I'm working with what I got. And I'm going again tomorrow morning, when I get off work.

So even though I didn't really lose 10 pounds, the fact that it appears that I did is great incentive to continue. I have a long way to go - my healthy weight for my height is about 180, so I'm about 140 pounds over that. 250 is my first "major" goal (with smaller increments as stepping stones) because I weighed about that when I first started talking to Jen. But I don't feel as though I'm much bigger than I was back in '03, though I guess the numbers say otherwise. But once I hit 250, you can be sure I won't be taking it easy - from there the goal is 175, another loss of 75 pounds. I know I can do it, it'll just take time. I just hope I can do it by Sept. 2009, when I next visit California, to shock the hell out of everyone.