One man's voice Thoughts, rants and commentary of a simple man

My Diet for May 15, 2010

Click here to go to my diet
Today was a whacked out day of eating for me. It started out rough because of the incredibly intense exercise that I did as my final real workout for Insanity. It moved quickly from there into having to take care of some errands before getting my day started. The way it all played out, I didn't eat anything until almost 10:00 AM, and at that it was only a couple of protein bars. Quick note: Carrot cake Clif Bars are incedibly delicious. I could see making these part of my every day diet.

Lunch was Jamba Juice. I had to get some more shopping done for the play my kids were in and we were pressed for time, so I thought it would be a nice treat and lunch to have Jamba Juice. Of course, that didn't fill me up at all, so before we left for the play I ended up cooking myself a couple of eggs to curb my hunger a little bit.

Dinner was just as haphazard as the last few days. Actually, it was worse because we had to be at the play venue earlier than before. So I ended up grabbing a box of fiber bars to eat throughout the night to keep me somewhat satisfied. Which they didn't. And because of that, when the appetizers were served at the end of the play, I stuffed my face full of 7 layer dip and tortilla chips. It was a huge mistake, but I was freaking hungry.

My Diet

My Diet for May 14, 2010

Click here to go to my diet
In preparation for my next round of Insanity I decided that I would begin testing out some stuff for my diet in the coming weeks. I am going to be changing my focus from low salt, low sugar, high fiber and high protein to high protein, good fat, good calories, low sugar and low salt. Since today was as good a day as any to start playing around with that, I chose to use today as a test bed for various protein bars to augment my protein intake. Because of that you will see a truck load of protein bar entries for today.

Breakfast was a couple of thin buns, toasted, with some no salt added peanut butter from Trader Joe's. To add a little protein and calories to my breakfast I stopped at the gas station and picked up a Met-Rx protein bar to start testing out how those tasted and how my body reacted to them. I'm happy to say that they are not that bad tasting and actually kept me full for several hours today.

Lunch was another experiment of sorts. I went to the store to pick up fixins for a simple chicken salad. While I was there I bought a Clif Bar as well as a packet of mixed veggies. I started snacking on the veggies as soon as I got in the car and by the time I got back to the office I wasn't really hungry for my salad anymore so I ate the Clif Bar and was pretty satisfied until dinner time.

Dinner time was a bit thrown out of whack again tonight since my daughters' play was on the second of three nights of performance. Rather than starving myself until 10:00 PM then stuffing my face with appetizers I decided to hit up Rite Aid and pick up a couple more protein bars to test. So for dinner I had three different types of protein bars that were all very tasty, one was very fiber rich and all of them kept me very full for the entire night.

Of course since I was pretty full all day I didn't eat as much as I normally would. Which meant that my calories were very low today. I am planning on increasing my calories in the upcoming weeks as well, shooting for about 2000 to 2100 a day. I think that is an adequate amount of intake for me and, if coupled with the right amounts of proteins and fats, should work to keep me full and nourished throughout the day.

My Diet

My Diet for May 13, 2010

Click here to go to my diet
Today was an alright eating day for me. It was actually a good day until dinner came around. Well, it wasn't really a dinner so much as it was a mad scramble to find something healthy to feed on.

Starting with breakfast, I cooked up two eggs and served them on corn tortillas with some salsa as a topper. While they were delicious, they were not that filling and by about 10:00 or so this morning I was ready for more food. So I ended up eating a serving of baby carrots and about a half cup of seedless red grapes.

For lunch I made myself some peanut butter and banana sandwiches on thin buns. I added two servings of Snyder's of Hanover Salt-Free mini pretzels as a side.

Since tonight was my daughters' performance of It's a Wonderful Life, I left work and went straight to the venue where I started my dinner of a banana and salt free pretzels. After the show I totally stuffed my face with fresh veggies - carrots, peppers, cucumber, broccoli and tomatoes- while indulging myself in two servings of Kirkland brand tortilla chips topped with about a tablespoon of some unknown brand salsa and a tablespoon of seven layer dip with no olives. I wouldn't even know where to start estimating the seven layer dip so I left that off my diet table for today. I am also totally estimating the values of the veggies. For the salsa I am using the same nutrition info as I did for my morning salsa. This is, of course, just a guess.

My Diet

My Diet for May 12, 2010

Click here to go to my diet
I wish this little bug I'm fighting would just make it's way out of my system. I seem to have enough energy, stamina and motivation to last me until about 6:00 PM and then I fade out pretty quick.

This affects my diet because, while I handle my eating properly throughout the day, at night I lose even the motivation to make myself something to eat. So today I did very well up until dinner.

Breakfast was something my daughter Rebekah conceived of. She took some chicken from dinner the night before and cut it up, added some chopped white onions, green onions and mushrooms to it, then grilled the whole mixture and made tacos out of it. I was so inspired by this that I did the same thing and I have to say, my daughter was spot on with these things.

I got a little hungry at about 10:00 AM and my coworker conveniently had some GoLean Crunch cereal at his desk, so I killed about a cup of it for a snack.

For lunch I made myself so more chicken tacos, just done up different. This time I cut up about half a grilled chicken breast, made three tacos with it and covered them with chopped onion and cilantro and topped them with Trader Joe's Cilantro dressing. I finished off lunch with a banana.

When I got home I had completely lost all energy and motivation to do anything, including eat. Throw in the fact that my wife and two older daughters had to bounce as soon as I got home and they left me a list of chores to do and eating became a second thought. To that end, I ate a small bowl of bean and noodle soup my wife had made for dinner and a couple of bananas and I was good to go.

My Diet

My Diet for May 11, 2010

Click here to go to my diet
Today was as good a day of dieting as I could have asked for. Three meals across the board, all nutritionally balanced and within my ranges of nutrients for the day.

Breakfast was a little bigger than I usually go, but I wasn't feeling well when I woke up and felt eating more would help with that. So I put together two egg tacos and complimented it with a toasted thin bun with some no sodium peanut butter.

Lunch was supposed to be shredded wheat cereal and peanut butter and banana sandwiches, but the milk I bought at 7-11 was sour so I ended up having the peanut butter and banana sandwiches with a single serving of dry shredded wheat.

Dinner was simple... chicken breast and steamed veggies. And though I only ate one chicken breast, I was oddly full after my dinner.

That's it. No snacking, no sweets... nothing but three squares for the day. And a whole lot of good nutrition.

My Diet

My Diet for May 10, 2010

Click here to go to my diet
Today was sort of rough for me in all areas. Mostly because I was not feeling well at all for the entire day. I woke up, worked out then hit the ground running from there.

I started my day's diet off simple, making two eggs cooked over hard on corn tortillas topped with Chipotle Salsa. Lunch was equally simple except I didn't have to make it myself. A coworker invited me to lunch where I had a vegetable omelet cooked dry, hash browned potatoes and two pieces of wheat toast.

Dinner was sort of an odd duck. I got home later than normal and really had no appetite so I basically grazed for the evening. I stopped off at the store on the way home
and picked up some more salt-free spice. While I was there I bought a large red delicious apple that I promptly scarfed down. When I got home I ate a handful of cashews and after a little while made me a couple of pieces of toast (thin buns) with some no salt peanut butter. That was my dinner and the completion of my evening as it related to my diet.

SIDE NOTE: This is personal opinion speaking here, but Safeway has the absolute worse produce I've ever eaten and some of the highest prices I've seen on fruits and vegetables. The apple I bought was brown and grainy on the inside and it cost me $2.00. Seriously Safeway, get your act together. That is crap.

My Diet

My Diet for May 9, 2010

Click here to skip to my diet
Holidays have historically been a struggle for me when it comes to dieting. Today was not that big of a struggle I'm happy to report.

It started off normal enough. It was a late morning because of all the activity from the night before. So after I woke up and acclimated myself to the day, and made coffee for Sandi for Mothers Day, I decided to handle breakfast for her. So I cooked her breakfast and when I was done, I made mine. It was simply two whole eggs cooked over hard on corn tortillas. I topped each taco with Trader Joe's Chipotle Salsa.

Lunch was another simple meal. I took a chicken breast from last night's dinner and sliced it up. I toasted a whole wheat tortilla then added romaine lettuce to it. Then I topped that with grilled onions, Crimini mushrooms, some of the sliced grilled chicken breast and some more Trader Joe's Chipotle Salsa. It was delicious.

Dinner was a bit hard to keep track of tonight, primarily because it was BBQ style and I was running around the kitchen most of the evening helping cook dinner for the moms. I'm pretty sure I nailed down everything I ate for dinner, but needless to say, I consumed a lot of food, but in small amounts.

My Diet

My Diet for May 8, 2010

Click to go to my diet
Today was an indescribably busy day today. Which actually sort of helped my diet. I was able to get up early enough to workout and rest. That left me a little time to prepare my breakfast which honestly required no preparation at all since it was only cereal. After breakfast we left the house to take care of some things that needed to be done for the play my children are going to be performing next weekend.

We were on a time budget today since my kids also had a dress rehearsal today for their play. They had to be in Hayward by 1:30 PM so we had to get home from our morning errands, get them fed, get snacks packed and get moving out the door. Because we pushed our time boundaries pretty far for the morning errands this left little time to do all of this stuff and eat a proper lunch. So I put together two eggs on corn tortillas and topped them with Trader Joe's Chipotle Salsa. They were filling and delicious, and most of all very nutritious.

Dinner was all mine tonight. I left the dress rehearsal early so I could pick up some groceries, come home, wash some dishes that were piling up and get to cooking dinner. I made pan grilled chicken seasoned with no-salt all purpose seasoning, white potatoes with caramelized white onion and mixed veggies for dinner. In total, for any serving of dinner, there was less than 100 mg of sodium and less than 350 calories. Plus it was tasty. It was so delicious in fact that there were no leftovers at all, save for one chicken breast.

As soon as dinner was done I was out the door to head to San Jose with Rebekah to help pick up props and set items for the play. We had to load them up and drive them to Hayward where they had to be unloaded, inventoried and stored at the church where the play is being performed. In all I was out of the house from 8:00 tonight until a little after 11:00. Needless to say, when I got home, I was a little hungry so I snacked on some more Trader Joe's No Salt Tortilla chips before calling it a night.

My Diet

My Diet for May 7, 2010

Click here to jump to my diet
Today was a very good day for my diet. Except for me eating way few calories than I should have. Breakfast was simply two bowls of cereal. I ate shredded wheat, unsweetened, which filled me up and held me over for the entire morning. I think the combination of fiber and protein did really well to give me a great morning of being satisfied. Also, it has no sodium and no sugar, so for me it is pretty much the perfect food.

Lunch was leftover whole wheat pasta from the other day. It was good then, it was just as good today.

Dinner was shredded chicken tacos. I only ate four instead of my usual six because I really didn't feel that hungry tonight. In the end it was the best decision because I didn't feel overly full but well satisfied. Plus the calories were low, the fiber and protein were good and it still had enough fat to make me feel full for the night.

My Diet

My Diet for May 6, 2010

Click here to go to my diet
Today was a great eating day for me. I had three square meals, minimal snacks and absolutely no grazing.

Breakfast was simply two servings of GoLean Crunch cereal with a cup of nonfat milk. Lunch was a very large green salad with a few extras.

My coworker took me to Fresh Choice for lunch so I attacked their salad bar with vigor. I had about a cup of Green Leaf lettuce, a cup of Red Leaf lettuce, a cup of Romaine Hearts and about a half cup of spinach leaves. I topped it with some spiral pasta, peas, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, tomato and broccoli. I also added about two tablespoons of Chipotle Humus, a whole Whole Wheat Pita and about three hard boiled eggs. To finish off my lunch I ate about a half cup of vanilla chocolate swirl soft serve. As you can imagine, lunch did well to tide me over for the day.

Dinner was my old stand by, scrambled egg white tacos. This time I added onions and mushrooms to the mix to spice things up a bit. And once again I was totally stricken with a late night sweet tooth, so I indulged in a single serving of no sugar added gourmet chocolate. It was freaking awesome.

My Diet