Iceland

After flying all night on the red-eye to Iceland, times are a bit mixed up for me. I'm on the road this week, so it will Be harder to stay on the regular plan. My intention is to stay with the spirit of the plan. #1 is avoid refined sugar. Another goal while traveling is to try to be sure to keep a mix of foods.

No scale here, so I won't be able to update weight for a bit.

The airport is in Keflavik, so we road the bus to Reykjavik. Anita had arraged an afternoon bus tour to some of the more intersting parts of the island. We arrived early in the morning, and walked around the town looking for some breakfast. We didn't know it, but we had arrived on the day of the Iceland marathon, and a special day of celebration in Reykjavik.

Food today 

time unknown.

• Split a Thai green chicken curry, and a Caesar salad with Anita, at some point in the night.

8am local

• Today's special, herring and mashed fish, at a local Cafe called "Look."
• A bottle of the local beer

lunch (time uncertain)

• Cheeseburger and fries at a restaurant near the finish line of the race.

8pm

• "Smoked lamb and salad" sandwich
• 1/3c radish sprouts
• 2oz (approx) cheddar
• Some raw mushrooms

Off to Iceland

I'm very excited about our upcoming trip to Europe. The first stop is In Iceland, where the whole country has been kind enough to arrange a potential eruption at Bárðarbunga volcano, or as we call it around here, "Badabing-badaboom!" It promises to be a really great show.

Food today 

8:30

• double espresso

9:15am

• double espresso
• 6 walnut halves

1pm

• 6in sub turkey ham spinach
• 3pm chicken udon

Ahead of the Curve

In my post from the 16th, I included a chart showing my weekly average weight dropping at a very steady pace, and wondered whether my pace would continue. I am happy to see that this week my weight is significantly ahead of the earlier trend.
I'm thinking about adding a recipes section to the website, where I can post some of the more successful bread recipes, as well as other kinds of recipes.

Bread talk

So, today's bread was half 7 grain cereal, half flour, and came our looking pretty good. It rose a bit less than some of the earlier loaves. I'll report on the crumb and texture once it cools enough to cut into it. Update: the crumb and texture are pretty good. I won't be able to bake any bread over the next few days. ingredients today

• 1c Bob's 7grain cereal
• 1/4c white flour
• 3/4c whole wheat flour
• 1T olive oil
• 1/2T yeast
• 1c water
• ~1/8t salt (2 twists on my salt grinder)

Food today 

5:30am

• double espresso
• 1c cottage cheese
• 12oz V8
• 1 slice bread: ingredients

10:30am

• 2 slices bread
• 2.5oz deli turkey
• 1.5oz brie
• 1fig
• 12oz V8

2pm

• 3/4c tapioca pudding
• 1-1/2c plain non-fat yogurt

6pm

• 2 slices bread
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1 medium cucumber

8pm

• 1 string cheese
• 1c plain non-fat yogurt

Not a Fluke!

So I was a bit concerned that yesterday's weight was a fluke, since it was almost three pounds less than the previous low. However, today's weight is about the same.

Bread talk

No new bread today, as there is plenty left over from yesterday and Monday. Tonight, I'm planning to try half 7 Grain cereal, half flour.

Food today 

5:30am

• double espresso
• 3/4c cottage cheese
• 2 slices of Monday's bread
• 12oz V8

9:30am

• 3/4c tapioca pudding (skim milk, tapioca)
• 1 banana

noon

• 12oz V8
• double espresso
• 3/4c blueberries

3pm

• Kidney beans and tomato sauce
• 8 multigrain crackers
• 1 apple
• slice of yesterday's bread

4pm

• double espresso

9pm

• 8 muligrain crackers
• slice of yesterday's bread,
• 1c Yogurt

Starting to Feel It

I think I'm starting to feel some of the benefits of losing the weight. It's a bit easier to bend when I'm picking something up from the floor, or accessing a low cabinet, and my feet seem to be less sore in the evening.
Bread talk
Starting today, I'm putting the bread discussions under their own header. That way, folks who are interested can find it more easily, and folks who are not interested can more easily avoid it.

Last night I increased the 7 grain mix and decreased the flour in the bread recipe. It's now 3/4c 7 grain mix to 1-1/4c of flour. It seems to have come out fine. I'll update this once it has cooled enough to be sliced. Update: It's good. It has a nice even crumb and is very moist.

I added the water and salt to the ingredients list for my bread, in case anyone wants to try creating some themselves. I'm baking this in a Breadman Ultimate using the 1 pound whole wheat setting.

Food today 

5:30am

• double espresso
• 3/4c cottage cheese
• 12oz V8
• 1 slice home-made bread: ingredients
• 3/4c Bob's 7grain cereal
• 1/4c white flour
• 1c whole wheat flour
• 1T olive oil
• 1/2T yeast
• 1c water
• ~1/8t salt (2 twists on my salt grinder)

9am

• double espresso
• 2 slices of yesterday's bread
• 1.5oz sliced turkey
• 1.5 oz brie
• 3/4c blueberries

noon

• 2 small tomatoes
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1 fig
• 1/2c tapioca pudding (skim milk, tapioca)

The Cheese Seems to Help

Last night at about 8, I ate about an ounce of cheese. Later, I was unable to sleep and got back up, but did not feel the powerful urge to eat. The late night binging has been my greatest obstacle to losing weight. Getting that under control is critical.

Food today

5:30am

• double espresso 
• 1c cottage cheese 
• 1 large tomato (~12oz) 
• 2 figs 
• Slice of Saturday's bread 

6:30

• 6 walnut halves 

10am

• Sandwich: 
• 2 slices Saturday's Bread 
• 1oz swiss 
• 1oz ham 
• Tomato from garden 
• 2 figs from the garden 

12:30

• double espresso 
• 6oz Tapioca pudding (skim milk, tapioca, sucralose) 

2:30pm

• banana 
• fig 

5:30pm

• 1 large tomato 
• 1/2c cottage cheese 
• steamed carrots and broccoli 
• grilled green beans 
• slice of yesterday's bread 
• 1/2 nectarine 
• fig 

8pm

• 1/2c tapioca pudding 
• 1oz brie

A Bad Night

Last night I had another bout of insatiable hunger, and binging. It started about 10pm. didn't keep track of what I ate, but it was way too much. Before I started seeing Carol, these were happening almost every night. This was the first one in two or three weeks. I'm glad they are coming less freqeuntly now, but would prefer they just didn't happen.

Last night's bread was a disaster as well. It looks like the ingrdients, instead of mixing, were plastered to the walls of the pan. This is one of the risks when making very small (1 pound) loaves in a bread maker with a 2 pound capacity.

Food today

9am

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

noon

• double espresso 
• 1/2 cup of home-made tapoica pudding (milk, tapioca, sucralose) 
• 1 nectarine 
• cup of baby carrots 

5:30p (Sweet Tomatoes)

• Greek Salad with added spinach 
• 3 pepperoncinis 
• 1/2c "ratatouille" soup 
• slice of sourdough 

8p

• 1oz cheese