Exercise - 90 mins on the treadmill (3 x 30), 15 mins weights

Water - 12 cups

Food - 1908 calories (22% fat, 47% carbs, 27% protein)

Breakfast - protein shake, 3 clementines (159)

Lunch - onion soup with baguette and cheese, apple, fruit salad (574)

Dinner - balsamic pork tenderloin, corn, snow peas, butter, salad, balsamic dressing (577)

Snacks - protein shake (x2), apple, fruit salad, dill pickle crispers (599)

Well, it actually warmed up today and it’s just below zero mark right now (it’s 29F if 0C doesn’t mean much). I actually have the fire going at the moment, so it’s nice and cozy. The day went well. I even managed to pick up the weights for a while. I’m actually a little hungry at the moment, but not so much that I need to do anything about it. Oh, hang on, I just realized that I didn’t have my last protein shake, so that could be the problem. Oh well, that’s easy to fix.

justdeb - you’re right, diets don’t work. It’s funny but I usually watch tv when I’m on the treadmill and that’s the line the weight watchers commercials use. They’ve got the right idea, but I’ll do it without paying someone to try and keep me in line. I’m assuming that’s what the weekly weigh-ins are for - to try and up the accountability.

leanmoomercows - I saw a post from someone tonight on the boards. She’d lost a huge amount of weight in three or four days, then gained some of it back. She was still down probably four pounds from the start, which is fantastic. I do think we all love to see the big results, but they’re very often followed by either small regains, or a complete stop for a while. In the end all you need to do is lose a pound a week, for however many weeks it takes. The sad thing is I like to see those 2 or 3 pound losses in a week. I’m heavy enough now that it should be possible, but I’m trying to be realistic and will be happy with whatever I see. The last time I was doing this much organized exercise I saw weeks when I didn’t lose weight (I was lighter, but eating less as well). I should actually take some measurements as well, since I would suspect that all the walking will affect some of those as well.

mizu - the funny thing is, when I put your height, and projected weight into FitDay it says that your BMR is 1629 calories per day. That’s 8 hours sleeping, 4 hours inactivity or rest, and 12 hours light seated activity. Even if you were 8/8/8 you would burn 1588 a day. So if you do any more activity than either of those eventually you should easily be able to find a balance that allows you to eat a fairly healthy amount of food. Going with a rough estimation of what I used to do while working, if I were your weight, I’d burn just over 2000 calories a day. And that’s without doing any working out. It’s just about finding the balance that works for you. Funny, but when I was at my top weight that number was close to 4000 calories. Of course I’m not even remotely as active as I was back then. That’s probably why I don’t find the 90 minutes on the treadmill a huge deal. Sometimes it’s more about finding time to do it in my lazy days.

tiny2b - I’m kind of lucky (although not really) in the fact that I’m not employed at the moment. It gives me plenty of time to do it, although it took me about a month to start doing so regularly. Things may change next week as I have a job interview. I’m also thinking about going back to school. If the job was fantastic (which I know it’s not) I’d be looking forward to it. As it is though, it’s short-term and would allow me to save some money. It’s a desk job though and I’ll admit that I’m pretty sure the exercising will go down a fair bit.

Well, I’m done with my 90 mins on the treadmill today.  I haven’t taken the running shoes off yet as I’m considering a little work with the weights once I cool down a touch.  I was just browsing some of the posts on the boards and I was thinking about goals.  My goals are considerably short-lived in nature.  They are extremely simple:

• eat 1800-2000 calories today
• exercise (min 60 mins) today

In the end, I think that’s it.  I don’t think I set longer ones and they are too overwhelming (for me).  I mean, my god, if I look at my ticker I’ve lost 66 pounds, with 216 to go.  How daunting is that.  I also think about the fact that after my illness I slipped back into poor habits and gained some of it back.  I could look at my FitDay and see that I’ve set April 15, 2010 as the date I’m supposed to be 125 pounds.  Of course, those goals were because I had to use something.  I figure as long as I do each day what I’ve set out to do that I’m ahead.  And that sometime, in the future, I’ll get there.

I do see, far too often, people setting unrealistically aggressive short-term goals.  I feel it’s not my place to say anything, but I wonder how many of them get depressed (and off track) when they don’t meet them.  The thing is if you eat well, and exercise, I do think it will all fall into place.  It’s been said so many times but you didn’t gain all the weight at once, so it’s not going to come off the same way.

Yes, it’s just one day at a time.  

round - I’m just glad he didn’t get it all.  As much as he was enjoying it, I’d be concerned about an upset stomach.  I’ve made cheese spreads in the past myself, but I cheated and bought these at Costco (ha ha - in a 3 bowl package).  I should go back to making them myself once these are done.

mizu - they really are quite cute, when they aren’t trying to kill each other.  They rarely will pose for pictures.  After the first one is taken they usually stop what they’re doing.  They usually take turns in the basket.  The other picture was taken just after we came back from our long trip.  I suspect they were reacting to the change (ie. comforting each other).  Only one (Gus) will sleep by the fire.  The other one (Shadow) will creep around watching the fire, but doesn’t sleep beside it.  We have a fire screen at the fire, but I don’t think I’d trust putting a basket beside it.