Day 7 Blog -- Eek! Hamburgers are EVIL

It's sooooo innocent looking.

Sitting there, beckoning you. It's almost as if you can hear its sweet, sultry voice, calling your name.

Of course you say no, how could you? You've made a commitment, a promise to change your life, to be different.

Still, it calls.

You step over, examining it. Oh, look, you think, it's lower fat. Surely that's okay, right? And you can grill it, cook away a quarter, or more, of the fat that's there, right?

What his this siren of temptation?

The plain old, juicy American hamburger.

And it is evil, I tell you, evil. 

But first, let's take a look at my Day 7.

Sunday, of course was another weekend day, which meant the schedule of eating and working and all of that was off a bit. What that means is that earlier in the day, I was a little off in my eating, not taking in nearly enough, and I probably more than made up for it later in the day.

Today was also cardio day.

So, here was the line-up

Breakfast
Greek yogurt

Lunch
Last of the grilled chicken -- 4 ounces
Salad of mixed greens and lettuce
Edamame 1/2 cup

Latte (K-cup kind, not tooo many calories)

Hamburger (6 ounces, lower fat beef)
Bun
Cheese
Ketchup/onion/tomato
Mashed potatoes (instant, 3/4 cup)

Snack
Lean pork  -- 2.5 ounces
Mashed potatoes (instant, 1/2 cup

Totals for the day:
Calories: 1,430
Fat: 54 grams
Protein: 104 grams
Diet soda: 36 ounces
Water: 80 ounces

Wow, when totaling that up, I'm really surprise how low I was on protein. My goal is to be in the range of 160 to 200 grams each day. Part of what threw me off today was the weekend schedule thing and not eating every three or so hours.

The other thing was the aforementioned hamburger, that little grilled vixen. Even with low-fat beef, ground beef is a relative high-fat, moderate-protein meat. That hamburger, with the cheese (but it's LOW FAT cheese, so it's okay, right?) and bun, accounted for more than half the fat I had today.A whopping 29.5 grams of fat in one food -- 545 total calories, once  you count the ketchup, onion and tomato (heaven help us if I'd included mayonnaise. But I resisted, even turning away the low-fat mayo).

See, even one meal -- one part of a meal -- can wreak havoc on your weight loss if you're not careful. Of course, because I had been fairly strict all week, it's not like it destroyed my efforts, but it sure didn't help! Good thing I did a little longer cardio today...

For cardio, I did stationary bike.
48 minutes
16 miles
585 calories burned

Day 6 of 60 in 60

Today was Saturday, the first weekend day I've had since starting this little diet and exercise program, which means my whole eating schedule is off from what I'm used to. Still, wasn't a bad day, really.

We also did the weight workout that was scheduled for Friday.

Food
Breakfast
Eggs - 2 whole
Turkey bacon -- 2 slices

Lunch
Protein Drink (made from protein powder, skim milk and a banana)

First Dinner
Chicken breast -- 6 ounces
BBQ dry rub

Second Dinber
Chicken shish kabobs (chicken breast, peppers, squash, onions, marinated in Italian seasoning)
I had a lot of shish kabobs, but there was very, very little on each one. So, overall the breakdown comes out about like this
Chicken breast - 6 ounces
Veggies -- 1 cup
Corn on the cob -- 1 ear
Low-cal butter -- 1 tablespoon

Snack
Latte (one of those k-cup kinds, with no added sugar, cream, none of that stuff)

Snack again
Popcorn (that diet popcorn!) -- 2 bags

Total for the day
Calories: 1,655
Fat: 55 grams
Protein: 135 calories

Well, way too high on the fat, mostly because of the oil used to marinate the kaboobs. Next time, need to go with reduced fat.

Workout
Weights

Bench press
135 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
185 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
225 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
205 pounds -- 1 set, 20 reps

Incline bench press
115 pounds -- 1 set, 12 reps
115 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Machine, seated chest flyes
100 pounds -- 2 sets, 12 reps each

Shoulders
Seated barbell press
65 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
95 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Front dumbbell raise
30/25 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps, split 5 and 5 with the weights
25 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Standing dumbbell side raises
15 pounds -- 1 set, 15 reps (I have to use light weights here because of my forearm/grip. that's why I often do these with the machine, so my grip doesn't come into play)

Shoulder shrugs
90 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Triceps
Seated overhead dumbbell extension
60 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps

Seated triceps machine pressdown
245 pounds -- 2 sets, 115 reps each

Abs
Machine crunch
100 pounds -- 2 sets, 15 reps each

Day 5 of 60 in 60: Coordinating workouts

I've been doing my weight workouts with my sons, which has taken some coordination since my oldest works nights and goes to school, while my youngest is working mornings. I, of course, work all the time.

Because my oldest son, who shall be known in this blog as Son No. 1, had to work on Friday night, I was under the impression from Son No. 1 that he and Son No. 2 would head to the gym early Friday and work out on their own, and I'd go down by myself when I got off work. I was under that impression because Son No. 1 told me that's what they'd do.

I ended up working late, but still would have time to get to the gym and do a quick workout with the weight machines, only to learn the boys hadn't gone to the gym, either. And given that my legs were pretty dead from the previous night's stationary bike ride, I figured there was no way I was going to do cardio tonight.

So, Friday ended up being an off day regarding workouts.

But not for the food!

So, here's my diet for the day.

Breakfast
Skipped it -- got up late

Lunch
Some of that taco meat mixture from last night:
5 ounces meat
1/2 cup kidney beans
Salsa and the greens/lettuce salad
Mozzarella cheese (1/4 cup)

Snack
Yogurt (regular, light, fat free)

First dinner
Chicken breast -- 6 ounces
Fire roasted tomatoes -- 1/2 cup

Second dinner
Taco meat (low-fat ground beef) -- 4 ounces
Salsa and lettuce/greens
Mozzarella -- 1/8 cup

Third dinner
Taco meat -- 3.5 ounces
Mozzarella -- 1/4 cup
Salsa -- 2 tablespoons

Snack (okay, I stayed up really late and got hungry)
Popcorn (that diet popcorn, that's only 110 calories per bag) -- 2 bags

Totals for day
Calories: 1,270
Fat: 37 grams
Protein: 139 grams
Diet soda -- 48 ounces
Water - 60 ounces

A little low on protein, but as you can see the whole day was off eating-wise. Woke up late, missed breakfast, didn't have time to properly pack food...

Day 4 of 60 in 60: Still at it, even if my blogging is waaaay behind...

Yep, I'm still hard at it, trying to drop that fat weight, I'm just running waaaaaay short on blogging time. So, here's the scoop, I'm going to post three quickie blogs, not making any comments or sharing any of my witty jokes or life observations (well, maybe a few), just to catch you up to what's been going on.

So, without further adieu, here's Day 4, Thursday, April 6.

Today was cardio day. So here's my food, followed by my exercise.

Breakfast
Eggs -- 2 whole ones
Lean ham -- 1.5 ounces

Lunch
Some of that taco-style mix my wife made last night, which consists of:
Lean ground beef - 5 ounces
Kidney beans -- 1/2 cup
Salsa, salad (mixed greens and lettuce)
Mozzarella cheese - 1/8 cup

Snack
Low fat cottage cheese -- 2/3 cup
Pineapple -- 2/3 cup

First dinner/Lean pork -- 7.5 ounces
Carrots -- raw baby carrots

Second dinner
Grilled chicken
Salad (mixed greens, lettuce, tomato)
Black beans -- 1/4 cup
Mozzarella cheese -- 1/8 cup

Snack
Baked baby red potatoes cooked in olive oil

Totals for the day
1,535 calories
48 grams of fat
163 grams protein

Diet soda -- 48 ounces
Water -- 70 ounces

Workout -- Cardio
Stationary bike
38 minutes
12.5 miles
460 calories

Day 2 of 60 in 60

Okay, the not-quite-as-late Day 2 blog is here!

As you know, if you've read any of my other blogs, I have a history of being able to lose weight relatively easily, once I get started on a healthy eating and exercising plan. The main problem, of course, has always been I never finish the program out to my goal, and then I gain so much back.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me, however, is how fast eating clean can make a difference in how I feel. Counting last week's false start, I've had two pretty clean days (Thursday and Friday), followed by two regular days (Saturday and Sunday) followed by two more clean days (yesterday and today).

Already I feel the difference. I don't mean I'm ready to go out and run a marathon, but just the simple act of eating clean makes such a difference in how your body works, which in turns controls how you feel.

How in the world do I ever let myself get into those little streaks of eating bad, overeating? And how did I let that go on for so many years? Of course, next month when two of my kids have birthdays, I may be looking at that cake and ice cream and say "heck with how I feel, I WANT SOME."

We'll see.

For now, things are going well. Today was one of my busier days at work -- Tuesday always is. We have a weekly then two sections for the daily stacked on top of each other during the day, so it's truly run as hard as you can go from the moment I arrive until I leave. Actually, more than that -- I usually log on early early morning and get a few things done from the house before heading in.

But, I did manage to stay on the eating plan and get 32 minutes of cardio tonight. Here's the breakdown of what I've had today:

Breakfast
Eggs -- two whole
Lean ham -- 1-1/2 ounce

Lunch
Grilled chicken breast (olive oil marinade) -- 6 ounces
Black beans (1/8 cup)
Mozzarella cheese (1/4 cup)
1-1/2 cup of mixed lettuce and greens

Fat free Greek Yogurt

Snack
1/2 stuff zuchinni from last night's dinner
Banana

First Dinner
Lean roast pork -- 5 ounces
Baked sweet potato -- 5 ounces

Second dinner
Chicken breast with BBQ rub -- 6 ounces
Regular baked potato-- 6 ounces
that lower-calorie so called diet butter -- 1-1/2 tablespoon

Snack
Chicken breast with BBQ -- 3 ounces
Instant mashed potatoes (1/2 cup)


Totals for the day
1,820 calories
48 grams fat
187 grams protein
Water -- 75 ounces
Diet soda -- 60 ounces (yeah, that's bad)

Okay, I was a little high on the fat today, primarily because of the lower-calorie "diet" butter. That alone was 8 grams of fat and 72 total calories. I probably should have skipped the mashed potatoes as a snack, too, which was a whopping 120 calories. I could have traded the potatoes for another 3 ounces of the chicken, gotten better nutrition and saved 30 calories. That and the butter-thing are two small poor choices that really add up!

Exercise:
Cardio, stationary bike.
32 minutes, levels 3-4 at various times, 11 miles covered, 385 calories burned.

Well, thanks for stopping by. Come on back for my next blog, I'll tell you how much I weighed on Wednesday morning, after two days (I know, you're not supposed to weigh-in like that, but I did!)..