Five Weeks

Today was the end of the fifth week since I started trackng my weight. My day to day values have been all over the place, but so far the weekly average has been amazingly cosistent:

I wonder whether it will continue.
I was right about having added too little flour in yesterday's bread.

Food today

7am

• double espresso
• 1c cottage cheese
• 12oz V8
• slice of yesterday's bread

11am

• 3oz ham
• cup of blueberries
• 2 slices home-made bread: ingredients
• 1/4c white flour
• 1-1/4c whole wheat flour
• 1/2c Bob's 7 grain cereal
• 1T olive oil
• 1t yeast

1pm

• fig
• banana
• 1oz brie

6pm

• grilled asperagus
• about a cup of steamed broccoli and carrots
• 4 fresh medium tomato
• 1/2c cottage cheese

10pm, the horror

• crackers
• an apple
• cottage cheese

Adding an Ad Link to Help Defray Costs.

This morning I added an ad link to the site. It's not active yet, so just a small blank square shows up.

More on my visit with Carol: We've been trying to find a way to help stop my late night binging. Carol suspects that I am perhaps having a blood sugar level crash. So, as an experiment we have added a single "string cheese" (1oz of cheese) right at bedtime. Tried it the first time last night, and the cravings seemed less. Of course it could be a placebo affect. I will continue with the experiment for a few days.

During my visit yesterday, I was able to show Carol this site. I think she liked it. I hope she lets her other clients know about it. It would be good to have more people using it.

Last night was another variation on the bread recipe. Not so successful this time. I reduced the while flour to 1/4 cup. The result was a partially risen loaf. So I think I have found the sweet spot at 1/2 cup.

Update: While entering the recipe below, I started thinking that I had only put in 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour. So...I'm going to try again tomorrow.

Update 2: I was right about the missing flour. I have upated the recipe to reflect the real values.

Food today

6am

• double espresso 
• 1c cottage cheese 
• 12oz V8 
• 2 slices home-made bread: ingredients 
• 1/4c white flour 
• 3/4c whole wheat flour 
• 1/2c Bob's 7 grain cereal 
• 1T olive oil 
• 1t yeast 

8am

• double espresso 
• 11:30am 
• 2 medium tomatoes 
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese 
• 1-1/2 fig 
• 2 slices of today's bread 

4pm

• apple 
• 1/2 cup fish crackers 

6:30pm

• corn on the cob 
• steamed broccoli and carrots 
• 1 slice of yesterday's bread 
• 1-1/2oz Brie 
• green beans 

10pm

• cup of fish cracters

Check in with Carol

Today is when I check in with Carol. I still need to get my magnesium research done.

Another variation on the bread recipe today. More whole wheat and less white flour.

More good advice from Carol. I'll report in more detail tomorrow.

Food today

5:30am

• double espresso 
• 7:30am 
• 1c cottage cheese 
• 12oz V8 
• 1 slice home-made bread: ingredients 
• 1/2c white flour 
• 1c whole wheat flour 
• 1/2c Bob's 7 grain cereal 
• 1T olive oil 
• 1t yeast 

11am

• 1oz brie 
• 2oz ham 
• 1 slice of today's bread 
• 1c blueberries 
• 1c baby carots 

noon

• double espresso 

5pm

• 1c cottage cheese 
• 2 slices of the bread 

8:30pm

• 1oz brie

Fresh Figs

Yesterday, the first of our figs were ready to eat. They are quite good.

My weight was down fractionally again this morning. Yes, yes, I know that weight can vary a pound or more just by drinking a glass of water or, well, un-drinking a glass of water. One thing Carol stressed with me was that it helps to keep a positive attitude. Celebrate the gains, no matter how small, and don't dwell on the setbacks.

I varied the bread recipe, increasing the ratio of whole-wheat flour to white flour.

I'm behind on my homework from Carol. I'm supposed to be researching which foods are rich in magnesium. I see her again tomorrow, so I'd better get busy.

Food today

5:30am

• double espresso 
• 1c cottage cheese 
• 12oz V8 
• fig from the tree. 
• 1 slice home-made bread: ingredients 
• 3/4c white flour 
• 3/4c whole wheat flour 
• 1/2c Bob's 7 grain cereal 
• 1T olive oil 
• 1t yeast 

10:30am

• Sandwich (2oz Ham, 1 oz swiss cheese on 2 slices of yesterday's bread) 
• 1c of blueberries 
• handfull of baby carrots. 

12:30pm

• double espresso 
• 2:30pm 
• cup of non-fat yogurt 
• small bunch of grapes 
• about a dozen broccoli flourettes 
• slice of home-made bread (today's) 

7pm

• steamed kale 
• 1/2 fig 
• small cucumber 
• four medium tomatoes 
• 1/2c cottage cheese 
• 1/2 nectarine 
• 2 slices of today's bread. 

9:30pm

• handful of fish crackers 
• apple

WooHoo! Under 280

This morning when I got on the scale it read 279.8, under 280! That felt pretty good.

Food today

5:30am

• double espresso 
• 1c cottage cheese 
• 12oz V8 
• 1 slice home-made bread (see yesterday for ingredients) 

9:30am

• double espresso 
• ~2oz swiss cheese 
• 1 slice home-made bread 
• 2 fresh figs (from our tree just in the back yard) 
• ~1c baby carots 

2pm

• double expresso 
• 4:30pm (Sweet Tomatos) 
• greek salad 
• 4 medium-sized cauliflower flourettes 
• tomato basil soup 
• greek brushetta 

10pm

• 1c yogurt 
• an Apple 
• Handful of goldfish crackers

First Entry

A little over a month ago, I finally decided to get serious about losing weight. So, I went to see a nutritionist. It was not what I expected. She looked at my overall eating habits and preferred foods, then provided me with some information about what I should be eating and how much. She mostly chose from the foods I had identified as my favorites. She also told me I needed to keep good records. She told me that of people who attempt to lose weight, the ones who keep a daily record of what they eat and what they weigh are far more successful.

Since I'm a bit of a nerd, I decided to create an application to help me keep those daily records, and here it is. Since my wife decided to join me in this endeavor, I set the site up with different users, so that we could each keep our own set of records.

In addition, I have decided to share this tool with anyone that wants to use it. If you would like to use this site to track your progress, or just to play around, please feel free to click to sign in (requires Javascript) and create a free account. I won't share your information with anyone. And I plan to do my best to keep the sight free. With that in mind, I have added an ad space. Currently, I don't have any ads to show, so I'll just put a photo of something I find interesting over there for now.

I started having fun and decided to use this site to learn AngularJS and to polish my skills working with PHP and PostgreSQL . So, you can expect that I will be adding improvements (well, what I think of as improvements) all the time. That said, I am very aware of the SAF (spousal approval factor), so you can expect that I won't be making too many changes at a time.

Another thing my nutritionist told me was that when one let's other people see the record of what they eat and what they weight, it is easier to stick with the plan. So, below is my weight chart for the last four weeks.

You likely noticed there are some gaps in the records. That's okay, because another very important thing that my nutritionist told me is that it's okay to have off days. Don't treat them as failures. Just get back to it the next day. Good nutrition is a journey, not a destination.

Food today

5:30am

• double espresso 
• 1c cottage cheese 
• 12oz V8 
• 1 slice home-made bread: ingredients 
• 1c white flour 
• 1/2c whole wheat flour 
• 1/2c Bob's 7 grain cereal 
• 1T olive oil 
• 1t yeast 

10:30am

• ham+swiss sandwich on 2 slices of bread (ingredients above) 
• dozen baby carrots 
• 6 large broccoli fleurettes 
• 1c blueberries 

3pm

• double espresso 
• 1 thick slice of home-made bread 
• 1-1/2 t vinegar 
• 1/2 t olive oil 
• 1 apple 

6pm

• 1 small cucumber 
• 4 medium tomatoes 
• ~1c cottage cheese 
• 2 slices of home-made bread 

8pm

• 1/2 c Tapioca pudding (no sugar)