Eating Habits

I'm still trying to eat when hungry, where hunger has physical manifestation (nausea, headache, etc). I'm usually able to skip breakfast and get though most of the work day with out eating anything substantial other than chewing gum and coffee. If I do that, then by the time I get home I'm ready to eat dinner (or anything I can get my hands on). And I will eat. I don't know that I eat any less, but if feels better knowing that I haven't consumed the calories for breakfast and lunch.

Dinner is a social thing. Family time to some extent, where as breakfast and lunch are more solitary pursuits. Also dinner is a creative outlet - I like to cook, bake, etc. If I'm extremely hungry after skipping breakfast and lunch I may snack on peanuts while I'm preparing dinner - not all the time, but in the first 15-30 minutes.

If I've eaten a lot the night before, I may be able to go all of the work day without feeling physically hungry. If not, I've noticed that a light lunch, cup of soup, or a small serving of left-overs, helps get me to dinner. This is instead of a large lunch.

All in all my eating largely revolves around what I eat at home as opposed to being at work or out and about. I've noticed that my late evening snacking has crept back into my routine despite my "desire" to eliminate it. I've started eating breakfast on the weekend, but usually only on 1 of the 2 days.

I still can't see myself on the scale but I have noticed that my pants no longer feel as tight as they did, I have a bit more energy and my belly area isn't protruding so much. I feel better about this route since it matches more of how my life actually is and not how it should be. Trying to stop eating when physically full (basically learning what "full" is) and snacking when not physically hungry (why am I eating then?) are the items I feel I need to work on next.

What's Hunger?

I've been fasting for good chunks of the last several days to better understand hunger, both mentally and physiologically. I found the following to be true for me:

• I can go more than 24 hours between eating solid foods without hunger becoming physically painful (a "stage 2" full)
• Being busy, physically and/or mentally, keeps me from thinking about being hungry/eating
• I'm amazed by how conditioned I am to eat at certain times (8, noon, 6)
• Feeling the need to eat is driven more by a state of being, e.g. boredom, anticipation, than actual physical hunger.
• I get to a point of being physically uncomfortable from being hungry after about 13 hours.
• Taking in fluids produces a full feeling that can last several hours
• Chewing gum has a hunger abating effect
• Extreme hunger involves feelings of nausea, a tightness in the throat area and a slight headache.

I'm trying to continue this experiment for a couple more days to see what happens.

Getting Hungry

I've learned a few things lately that I'd like to put down so I don't forget:

• At best, I can sustain about 4 months of the same weight loss activity/diet/program. After that, I give up and I can't get motivated to continue with the same activity
• Eating when hungry assumes that one knows what hunger actually feels like
• Exercising and eating more doesn't help with weight loss
• Weight gain may be the hardest habit I've tried to break - I've always though it was smoking

I'm sure there are more pearls I've learned over the summer but those are the ones that come to mind. I've managed to get away from my 10,000 steps a day, my food log, calorie counting and all the other activities I've been trying to do in order to keep the pounds at bay. As a result I'm sure I've gained back whatever progress I made (if I made any at all - I'm still on "E").

In reviewing my initial posts from when I started this last round of weigh loss I see I had an initial focus - understand hunger. Somewhere along the way I seem to have gotten off track amid the technique/activity distractions. All that activity (walking, counting, logging, etc) didn't help me understand why I eat what and when I do. If weigh fluctuation is a factor of calorie intake and exercise, then it stands to reason that understanding why I eat and in response to what makes the most sense. After all, limiting what I eat in the extreme (i.e. fasting) with no activity will result in weight loss - although that's not the most attractive way to go about it.

With that in mind I returned to a book I purchased on emotional eating. Since I never actually finished reading it, I decided to start over. In my (re)reading, it's obvious that I didn't take the critical step of understanding my (*gasp*) hunger. Right there in the first chapter is an entire discussion on why we eat when we do and what drives it.

Turns out that I eat because I'm board, restless, wanting a break from what I'm doing, socializing, and many other reasons that I've not discovered yet. At some point I guess I eat because I'm physically hungry, but I don't know that I have a good idea of what that feels like mentally and physiologically.

So, in the nature of experimenting, I'll find out what hunger feels like by not eating until I reach a point of physical uncomfortableness. Let my mind scream at me, but I'll eat only when I get, well hungry.

Measurable Progress

Yesterday I had a meeting to attend so rather than wear my normal jeans attire I grabbed a pair of khakis. After pressing I put them on. They felt different; snug, but comfortable. I have a pair of 46's that I usually wear but they are more loose fitting. Checking the size of what I had on I saw that they were my old 44's! That made my day.

This AM when I threw on my jeans I noticed that I'm almost to the point of using the third hole on my belt. When I started this, the first hole was about all that felt good. I've been in the 2nd one for a month or so. While the 3rd one feels a little tight, I can tell that I'm getting close!

Even if I'm not off "E" yet on the scale, my existing clothes are fitting better and that's measurable progress!

I Ate How Many Calories?

For the last couple of years I've taken over the task of weekly menu planning and grocery shopping. In theory this should allow me to better control the food that enters the house and what/how meals are prepared. In theory I should be able to control the family calorie intake to some degree.

Theory works better than practice. Last night I planned baby-back ribs and ate 4 - 2 rib sections; 8 ribs in all. After eating I added up what I ate and posted it to TWYE. Since I'm just starting there, I wanted to see how good their crowd-sourced calorie counts were. So I did a little estimating on 8 ribs - gack over 1000 calories when the BBQ sauce was included!. That put me over the 2500 mark for the day.

It also got me thinking about how I've been going about this meal planning process. I make out a menu, shop, make, eat and only then calculate the calories. Seems backwards now that I think about it.

So starting today I'll "pre-plan" my calorie intake as much as possible. If I don't know how many calories something has in it, I'll find out before I plan/make/eat it. I don't want to be a slave to calorie counting but I do need to have some idea of how much something has in it before I eat it. Especially if I'm going to eat something with a lot of calories in it. That way I can do some creative planning on how to eat for the day.

Side Tracks

I'm experimenting with some tracking widgets so I don't have to enter walking distances or food logs in a blog post.

Since the walking program at work is over, I'm trying out Walker Tracker. Looks nice and easy. The widget shows graphs, posts, and stats.

For food tracking, Tweet What You Eat (TWYE) looks interesting. It leverages twitter posts on food items to crowd-sourced calorie counts. Don't know how accurate the calorie counts are but it's better than having to calculate them all by hand.

Summer Update

I've not posted in some time since I got discouraged over my lack of weight progress and that posting food intake was getting, well boring.

However, that doesn't mean the project is done. Instead I've been focusing on other aspects of loosing weight, mainly exercise. The place where I work started a walking program via the American Heart Association. The goal is to hit 10K steps per day. Everyone that participated received a pedometer and promised to record their total steps every day for a twelve week period.

Well, I'm closing in on the end of the 12 week period and except for a few rainy days, I've been pretty good at hitting 10K per day. I turned my evening walks into a routine and cover about 3-3.5 miles in an hour time frame. That usually puts me over the top of whatever I've manged to walk around the office and home.

In addition, I've started taking the stairs at work every time I need to exit our office area. We're on the 3rd floor so that's good exercise up and down the stairs 6 or so times per day. I allow myself 1 elevator ride per day. I usually take that when I first arrive.

I've also kept busy doing home improvement on the weekends. Home repair and wood working can produce a lot of steps. So much so that on most weekends I'm at 10K steps by the end of the day without going on my walkabout.

So what has all this done do my weight? Hard to tell. The scale still says "E" so I guess I'm still above 340. However, my spouse told me my stomach looked smaller and that I looked like I've lost weight. I've also noticed the following:

• I'm one size smaller on my belt
• My pants are looser
• Bending over at the waist is a litter easier (hey, at 6'5" bending over is a chore no matter how heavy I am)
• My face and neck area seem less "full", i.e. my double chin isn't so pronounced.

All this has me feeling better about myself despite not being able to crack "E" on the scale. I'm inclined re-start the eating side of the program now that I feel the exercise is something sustainable.

Food Log

Breakfast (9:40 AM 4/6)

• sausage, egg & swiss on a garlic bagel
• coffee (x2)

Lunch (1:40 PM 5/6)

• French onion soup
• small ceaser salad

Dinner (6 PM 4/5)

• 1 roll ritz and peanut butter crackers
• 2 BLT's
• Nutty Bar
• Water
• Coffee

Snack (8:30 PM 6/6)

• milk
• honey gram crackers w/peanut butter

On Breakfast and other items

I didn't purposely stop writing I just, well got a little off track since my return from vacation. For some reason I just didn't feel like writing and logging food consumption.

I did however notice something. During that interval I got away from eating breakfast - skipping it in fact. As a result my late afternoon and evening snacking picked up. Not horribly so, but it was decidedly different from where I was in the prior weeks. So this week I've made an attempt to return to having something for breakfast besides just gum and coffee.

Another item that's beginning to frustrate me is not being able to see myself on the scale - my weight that is. I had a Dr's apt before I left to go on vacation and asked to weigh myself while I was there. 342 was what the scale read which was a loss of 8 lbs - which is in the right direction. I think my scale at home starts a 339 so I was hoping after my return that I would have lost 3 lbs. No so. That may have contributed to not wanting to write - i.e. lack of measurable progress which always throws me off diets. However, I'll keep plugging away at this.

I do notice that my pants/shirts and other apparel are fitting less snug and that I have better freedom of movement when bending/squatting/etc. So anecdotal evidence says I'm making some progress.

I'm still walking and trying to do 10,000 steps per day. So far, I'm averaging a little over that on a per week basis.

Break Time

As you can tell by the lack of posts I've been away. Took a trip down to see my mom. I felt I did OK while I was away, although it's hard to resist her cooking, especially the pies. Only once or twice during the week did I really eat a lot - once when we had a pork roast and the other when we went out to eat. Other than that I ate 3 times per day and then only when I was at a full level of 4 or less.

I drove and usually that means snacking. This time, however, I didn't bring many snacks in the car. 1 single can of pringles and a 6 pack of cheese doodles. The cheese doodles were the individual service sizes and it took me 4 travel days to eat all of them. Not bad.

We worked outside in the yard a lot getting her flower beds ready for spring. Lots of mulching, planting and moving thing around. I probably got more exercise that I usually do.

I'll be back to the food logging and reading going forward.

Food Log

Breakfast (9:30 AM 4/5)

• very berry yogurt
• coffee

Lunch (12:45 PM 3/6)

• french onion soup
• crusty bread w/pimento & cheese spread

Food Log

Breakfast (8:45 AM 4/5)

• Cabot rasberry yugort
• coffee

Lunch (12 PM 4/6)

• Panera french onion soup
• bread w/pimento and cheese spread (H7)

Snack (3:30 P 5/5)

• 2/3rds of greek salad
  

Dinner (7 PM 5/7)

• Steak & Cheese sandwich w/mayo & mustard

Snack (11 PM 6/7)

• Smartfood Popcorn ~ 3 handfuls
• bowl of lucky charms cereal

Stopping

Next challenge is to stop when full, or better yet recognizing what being full feels like.

Last night I know I ate too much. I was uncomfortably full. I'm a sucker for fried chicken and even after saying I need to stop, I went ahead and ate another piece. At least I was honest with myself about it.

Today I opted to once again have Panera soup and salad (full sizes of each). I ended up dunking the bread in Pimento and Cheese spread (yum, that's a hummer). After finishing off the soup and bread with Pimento and Cheese, I decided to call a halt to eating. Normally I would have eaten the salad because I had ordered it and didn't want it to go to waste. Instead I'll call myself full and store the salad for this evening or even tomorrow.

Food Log

Breakfast (10:40 AM, 3/4)

• Cabot non-fat lemon yougart
• coffee

Lunch (1 PM, 3/6)

• Panera french onion soup
• Panera Caesar salad

Dinner (7:3o PM, 4/7)

• fried chicken ~ 2 tenderloins and 1 thigh
• mashed potatos w/gravy - 2 helpings
• corn ~ 2 helpings
• 1 cup milk
• 1 nutty bar

Snack (10 P 6/6)

• coffee
• cheezits ~ 20 or so pcs
  
• smartfood popcorn ~ 10 pcs
  

Food Log

Breakfast

• none

Lunch (1:30 PM, 3)

• baked potato w/cheese, sour cream, butter & bacon
• water

Dinner (6:30 PM, 5)

• schwan's beef tips ~ 2 helpings
  
• rice ~ 2 helpings
  
• cup of 1% milk
• nutty bar

Bedtime (11:30 PM, 5)

• small glass of OJ
• NOTE: I really wanted to eat here but other than the OJ I didn't. I suspect it was related to some home network problem solving I was doing (lots of thinking) and food is a mindless outlet when I'm pondering a problem. The urge was quite strong.
  

Even When You Don't Feel Like It

I haven't written much lately other than food logs. I've been kinda down in the dumps wondering when I'll be able to see myself (my weigh rather) on the scale. My scale only shows up to 339 lbs. I've got to loose about 10 lbs before it'll show up. I'm awaiting that moment as I try to put on this new process. I've had my successes and slides (it's not failure, it is what it is) but I feel as if I am making progress despite what the scale doesn't say.

I've not been eating breakfast because frankly I'm not a breakfast person. If I'm going to be honest about my eating, I'm just not able to eat much in the morning. However, I do know that a little breakfast is a good thing so I'll wait until I get to a stage 3 or 4 hunger level (where I start to get a little queasy) before attempting to eat and then regardless of time, eat what I feel like eating - today (well yesterday actually but I couldn't find it) was lemon yogurt. I purchased a few more in case I wanted them later in the week.

And walking - I was doing really good there for a while, then we had rain and I got out of the habit. Last night I didn't really feel like walking but I did it anyway and felt the better for it. It's 50 minutes and the exercise is good for me given that I sit most of the day.

On my reading, I'm up to the part about being full and what that feels like. Similar to the hungry angle, it's an experiment to figure out what being full feels like and then what to do about it. The reading also talks about eating just for the heck of it. It's not wrong, just realize that your doing it and perhaps why. I haven't felt successful with the Hummer vs Beckoner aspect. There's too fine a line for me there. Being hungry and full is more directly measurable for me so I'll continue to do that and start rating my fullness before and after meals trying to find that sweet spot (so to speak) where I feel the need to start eating and then stop without overeating.

Food Log

Breakfast

• None

Lunch (1 PM, 5)

• 2 pcs ham
• 1 pc turkey breast
• spoonful green bean casserole
  
• spoonful au gratin potatoes
  
• dinner roll w/margerine
• broccoli cole slaw

Snack (4 PM, 6)

• P & P loaf sandwich w/american cheese, mayo/mustard
• 2 lemon squares

Dinner (9 PM, 6)

• Big Mac
• fries w/ketchup
• diet coke

Food Log

Breakfast (9 AM, 4)

• 2 eggs over light
• 2 hash browns from 1 potato
• 4 strips of bacon
• 2 pieces of toast w/margarine & strawberry spread
• coffee

Lunch (3:30 PM, 5)

• peanut butter & jelly sandwich
• 2 large glasses of lemon aid

Dinner (8 PM, 4)

• 15-20 pcs of popcorn chicken
• 6 pcs chicken nuggets
• lemon aid
• milk
• nutty bar (H7)

Snack (late, late night)

• 3 rum and cokes over a 4 hr period
• coconut dream bar
• chips & salsa
  

Food Log

Breakfast (10:20 AM, 5)

• Reese's Mini Peanut Butter cups (H6)
  
• coffee

Lunch (3:10 PM, 4)

• large toasted chicken grinder, lettuce, pickles, mayo/mustard (H5 - good but not the original I could get 45 minutes to the north)

Dinner (10 PM, 4)

• 2 Nathan's hot dogs w/onions, mustard & catchup
• handful of corn chips
• 2 Sam Adam's light beers
• 2 scotch & sodas
  

Binging

From the last several food logs I can see (and perhaps feel) myself building up to an eating binge. My body's wanting something sweet. I've been dreaming about Resee's Peanut Butter Cups - the mini ones.

Interestingly enough, I'm at a point in the book I'm reading where there's a discussion on eating what your body tells you to eat vs. denying it. According to the book, the denial aspect is a root cause of binging. So along with understanding hunger is what to eat when you are hungry.

My "diet" has been to try and make healthy choices when hungry. The book's suggesting that when you are hungry, eat what your body wants. Failure to do so does two things in their opinion:

• even though you're now full, you're body's still demanding what it wanted
• you'll eat it eventually even if you are full

In some examples the book gave, people ate ice cream instead of salad for a meal, even going to the point of putting away a prepared meal in order to eat what the body desired.

The key in all of this from my vantage point is not simply to eat what you want whenever, but that by feeding the body what it's hungry for when it's hungry (and not just what's convenient) you don't develop diet killing binges. In effect, there are no forbidden foods in loosing weight.

The idea of forbidden foods is a key point in diets from my vantage point. Every diet I've ever tried says in effect: "these are OK, those are not". Naturally I always want what I can't have - high fat meals, sweets, high-carb bread, etc. and in the end that's my downfall - eating the forbidden fruit as it were.

One suggestion was to record what's eaten as either a hummer or a beckoner. A Hummer is an extremely satisfying food that you crave even when you don’t see the food. Nothing will satisfy you besides that food. A Beckoner is something eaten only because it is there and not because it satisfies. You'll eat lots of beckoner while in search of a hummer.

Last night I was grumpy when I came home. I didn't want to cook dinner, which is unusual since I like to cook. I ended up snacking though the meal prep and then after dinner and on into the evening. I think my mood and my food grazing was because what I really wanted was peanut butter w/cold milk and not pork chops w/potatoes and gravy. I did eat the peanut butter but late in the evening before I went to bed. Consequently this AM I feel sluggish, full, etc.

I'll have to do some serious thinking about hummers and beckoners and separating one from the other. Also, how do hummers and beckoners work with family meal planning?

Food Log

Breakfast

• NONE (busy meeting morning)

Lunch (1 PM, 4)

• Left over sausage, onion and peppers
• rice

Snack (4:50 PM, 4)

• handful of chips w/salsa
  

Dinner (6:30 PM, 5)

• Pork chop
• roasted red potatoes
• mixed veggies
• water
• individual ice cream

Late Night (11:30 PM, 6)

• 1 small roll of ritz crakers w/peanut butter
• 2 glasses of 1% milk
  

Old Habits

Hank Williams Jr has a song about "Old Habits" that says they are hard to break. Late night snacking is mine. I opted not to walk last night since I participated in National Start Walking Day yesterday at work and figured I walked enough. As previously posted my late night walking trend (I hate to call it a habit since I have to remind myself to do it) keeps me away from the danger zone of late night snacking.

True to form I didn't walk and therefor I ate. The compulsion to eat when I wasn't that hungry was strong. I wanted something sweet. I did try some fruit w/cottage cheese but that didn't hold it. Eventually I got to what I really wanted which was sugary cereal - honey smacks in this case.

Late night cereal eating is a habit I picked up from my father. Just about every night at 11 PM or so he'd have a bowl (or sometimes 2) of cold cereal with milk before heading off to bed. He'd cut down every once and a while but more often that not he had one. That habit caught on with me and I tend to use that food avenue when I'm hungry late at night.

Despite the late night binge, I did have a light eating day that proceeded it. While not trying to excuse the binging perhaps I was a we bit hungry since I didn't eat a lot during the day.

Food Log

Breakfast (9:45 AM, 4)

• breakfast buritto
• coffee

Lunch (2:40 PM, 5)

• P & P loaf sandwich w/cheese & mustard/mayo
• coconut dream bar

Dinner (6:30 PM, 5)

• grilled teryaki chicken breast
• rice
• Caesar salad
• water

Snack (11 PM, 6)

• coffee
• cottage cheese w/tropical fruit
• handful of chips w/salsa
• sugar smacks - 2 bowls
  

Small Changes

I've been going at this regimen about 2 weeks now and although I still can't see my weight on my home scale I do notice a few things:

• those new pants I purchased feel a little looser on my waist/hip area
• I have a better range of motion when bending over
• my stomach area doesn't protrude as much
• I find it a little easier to not snack in the evening
• I've quit snacking between arriving home and eating dinner
  

I've tried to stick with eating breakfast. I can't say that I've notice a difference in my hunger level over the course of the day, but I'm certainly not ravenous at dinner. I've also tried to pay attention to a hunger level and am starting to get a feel for when I'm really hungry vs just using eating as an excuse for not having anything else to do.

My evening walks are serving a dual purpose, exercise and avoiding the danger zone - that period of the evening when I'm most likely to snack. At first the walks were only about 20 minutes, but I stretched them to 40 minutes and then just within the last couple of days, to 50 minutes. Unfortunately it's been a tad rainy so I can't get out as often as I did the first week. I can really tell the difference in the morning if I didn't walk the prior evening.

Food Log

Breakfast (9:40 AM, 4)

• Bacon, egg & cheese on english muffin
• coffee

Lunch (12:40 PM, 5)

• BLT wrap on wheat
• potato chips
• pickle
• Dr Pepper

Dinner (6:30 PM, 4)

• Spaghetti with meat sauce ~ 2 helpings
• cheesy garlic bread - 5 pieces
• asparagus - 1 helping

Snack (10 PM, 6)

• decaf coffee
  

Food Log

Breakfast (7:30 AM, 4)

• toasted bagel w/cream cheese

Mid-Morning (9 AM, 5)

• Coffee

Lunch (12:45 PM, 4)

• grilled cheese on wheat bread
• chicken noodle soup ~ 1/2 - 2/3rds cup
• Dr Pepper
• handful of potato chips

Dinner (6:30 PM, 4)

• kielbasa sausage w/peppers & onions ~ 2 helpings
• red rice
• lemon aid

Weekend Reflections

Weekends pose the biggest risk for over-indulging as far as I'm concerned. From Friday through Sunday evening I'm extremely tempted to snack my way through those hours instead of eating foods that are better for me, in particular corn chips with salsa.

Part of that is alcohol consumption. I tend to binge drink on the weekend, especially Friday and Saturday evenings. The rest of the week I'm dry, but I let it hang out on those 2 evenings. Sometimes that's with friends at my favorite watering hole, other times it's at home with friends just relaxing. If I'm out I do not drive - that's firm. My mainstays are scotch & soda and rum & diet coke. Occasionally I may have a beer evening, but that's rare.

This past weekend was unusual in that Friday and Saturday evening meals were eaten out. Friday at a steak house with my wife and son and Saturday out with friends at a fundraiser. As I indicated earlier, my unconscious eating was after I returned home with the drinks helping me right along.

The weekend was also rainy which kept me from walking. I think I would have felt better about it had I been able to have my evening walk (or mid day since I was out Saturday evening). I did manage to get a 50 minute one in on Sunday and was predictably hungry this AM. I had to find a new walk route since road and sidewalk construction has started again on the main route I'm used to taking.

Food Log

Breakfast (9:30 AM, 4)

• 2 over medium eggs
• 4 strips bacon
• 2 hash browns ~ 1 potato
• 2 pieces of toast w/strawberry spread
• coffee

Snack (2 PM, 6)

• 2 oz tuna fish w/mayo & mustard

Dinner (6:30 PM, 4)

• French bread pizza
• Caesar salad - 2 helpings
• lemon aid

Late Night Snack (9:15 PM, 6)

• medium decaf coffee
  

Food Log

Lunch (12:40 PM, 6)

• Peanut butter & jelly sandwich
• chicken noodle soup

Snack (4 PM, 6)

• 2 handfuls corn chips & salsa

Dinner (6:30 PM, 6)

• Lasagna
• Tossed Salad w/italian dressing ~ 2 helpings
• dinner roll
• 2 cookies
• 6 beers over 5 hr period

Late Night Snack (12 PM, 6)

• 2 handfuls corn chips & salsa

Playing with Hunger

I read a little more in Breaking Free from Emotional Eating on hunger. Turns out I wasn't far off. You can't really say exactly what it feels like for a person to be hungry. It's something each person has to experience for themselves. Likewise for fullness. Everyone is going to feel different things when they are hungry or full.

Her suggestion was to rate the hunger/fullness experience when you decide to eat. When you decide it's time to consume, figure out on a scale of 1-10 how hungry/full you are and keep that along side the food log. While I had a hard time understanding her hunger rating system (1 being most hungry, 10 being least), I did buy into the concept. I decided a 1 to 10 rating based on fullness fit my mental model better. I know what it feels like to be stuffed and uncomfortablly full, i.e. a "10". I don't know that it makes much difference how the ratings expressed. So going forward my food logs will have a "fullness" factor, 10 being most full.

The author also suggested experimenting with hunger. What happens if you feel really hungry and don't eat? What feelings arise both mentally and physiologically? She describes her body feeling queasy and getting headaches when she's most hungry. I don't know that I've ever experienced that level although I do get a touch queasy when I believe myself to be more hungry than usual along with that pinched sensation. My guess is that I typically eat when I'm about a 5 on the fullness scale.

Food Log

Breakfast (7:20 AM, 5)

• Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese

Mid-morning (9:30 AM, 6)

• coffee

Lunch (1:40 PM, 4)

• Ham & Turkey club, lettuce, tomato, mayo/mustard
• diet Coke
• bbq potato chips

Dinner (7 PM, 5)

• 12 oz T Bone steak
• Baked Potato, sour cream and butter
• green salad, balsamic dressing
• fried onion pieces
• scotch and soda water - 2

Snack (9 PM - 2 AM, 6-4)

• scotch and soda water - 4
• Reeses Puffs Cereal - 2 bowls
• left over egg roll
• 2 handfuls corn chips with salsa
  

On Being Hungry

Last night I started reading Breaking Free from Emotional Eating and although I didn't get too deep into it (I was tired and fell asleep) one of my first take always was this: eat when you are hungry. The assumption behind that statement is that we eat when we're not hungry primary out of habit or of something mascaraing as hunger, e.g. depressions, boredom, schedule.

Perhaps it's explained later but my first thought was what's it supposed to feel like to be hungry? Is it this pinching feeling in my GI track that I've described? Is it when my stomach growls? Is it when my head says it's time to eat? My immediate next thought was what is being full supposed to feel like? I know what I feel like when I'm over full, but what's that stoppage point feel like?

Those are some really basic questions that get to the heart of eating and stopping the eating process. It's one thing to know what can help trigger and stop the hunger in terms of hormones and higher order processes, but if I'm to eat when hungry and stop when full it'll have to be based on body feelings that I'm not paying attention to right now.

Some other items she mentioned doing I'm doing in this blog: keeping a food log with dates and times. She suggested adding a hunger level along with that and writing down feelings and observations. Honesty in reporting is important also. I have to be honest with myself and others about what I'm doing with my eating.

The book had great reviews, which had a lot to do with why I purchased it. I'm interested in reading more.

Food Log

Breakfast (8 AM, hungry)

• mixed fruit ~ 1.25 cups
• coffee cake
• coffee - 2 cups

Lunch (12:20 PM, hungry)

• Turkey & sandwich on sourdough w/mayo and mustard
• salad with Asian dressing
• diet pepsi

Dinner (6:30 PM, very hungry)

• Teriyaki Chicken Lo Mein - 2 helpings
• pork egg roll - 2
• lemon aid
• 3 tsp peanut butter
• 3 tsp strawberry spread

Snack (10 PM)

• decaf coffee
  

Trying to be Good

This evening was challenging. We had a favorite family meal this time: meat loaf, mashed potatoes, gravy and mixed veggies. I usually end up stuffing myself until I feel uncomfortable. This evening we ended up eating later than usual, almost 7:30 PM so I was hungry despite my late lunch.

Problem was I was hungry in my head when I hit the door. Normally I would have had chips & salsa or peanut butter & crackers but I didn't. I did have 2 oz of tuna in 1 oz of olive oil in an attempt to provide a pre-meal, high satiety appetizer. I read about this while investigating where hunger comes from. Figured no time like the present to give it a try.

Well I certainly didn't snack any more until dinner, which was about 2.5 hours after I came home. I did eat 2 helping of everything for dinner, however, but I did stop then even though my head wanted more. I was going to have some carrot cake, but I decided to wait to see if I felt hungry later.

Since it's rainy tonight I can't walk outside and now at a bit passed 10 PM, I'm not really hungry for that piece of carrot cake. I want it, but I'm not hungry for it. I'm not sure this is an "atta boy" since I did eat a bit more at dinner that I really needed but it is a step in the right direction.

Food Log

Breakfast (10 AM)

• Breakfast burito - wheat wrap, eggs, salsa, rice, beans, cheese and some green squisy stuff
• coffee

Lunch (2:40 PM)

• P&P Loaf sandwich - 3 slices, w/lettuce, cheese, pickles, mayo/mustard
• 1 handful corn chips
• salsa
• lemon aid

Appetizer (5 PM)

• 2 oz tuna in 1 oz olive oil
  

Dinner (7:15 PM)

• Meat loaf w/catchup - 1.5 helpings
• Mashed Potatoes w/gravy - 2 helpings
• Mixed veggies - 2 helping
• cup of 1% milk

Snack (10:20 PM)

• Coffee
  

Eating Schedule Myth

Trying to maintain an eating schedule, e.g. breakfast by X time, lunch by Y time, etc. is a myth, well at least for my life anyway. Where as yesterday I was hungry before 7 AM, this morning I didn't feel like eating until almost 10 and even then I had to force myself to eat (LOL, what a hardship) so I wouldn't skip it entirely.

I had hoped that by eating breakfast I would establish a more predictable eating pattern that eliminated the hi/lows of being hungry at any one point. So much for that wish. On balance I think eating breakfast has helped - I certainly feel I have more energy in the early parts of the AM (provided I eat then) than when I was not eating breakfast. I've tried several different types of foods and although I haven't settled on a favorite the experimentation has been fun!

All that said, I do think it's important to eat when I feel hungry rather than waiting until an appointed time and consuming an appropriate amount of food rather than binging until I get that full feeling. By that time I'll have eaten too much and it's too late to give it back.

Slow Bloat

I was extremely hungry when I hit the door at 6:15 PM this evening. My big breakfast had long worn off as had lunch and I wasn't being patient about eating. My wife had the pasta chicken dish ready when I got home. I had 2 helpings and really had to force myself not to have a third. Since I was still hungry I decided to wait a bit before eating more. After an hour, I had some milk and a piece of that carrot cake. My GI track still felt empty but I didn't eat anything else.

I had some errands to run in town with my daughter and while I was out started to feel full. As the evening wore on and I went on my walk, I really felt like I'd had too much to eat. I was definitely not hungry any more. I felt really bloated. I'm wondering if pasta or the sauce on it has some delayed dietary effect or if I really ate more than I needed to. I felt great for not having that 3rd bowl, but should I have had less, perhaps just 1 despite how hungry I still felt?

Food Log

Breakfast (7 AM)

• 2 eggs over medium
• 3 strips of bacon
• 1 slice toast, margarine and strawberry spread
  
• 1 cup coffee

Lunch (11:30 AM)

• Medium toasted tuna melt from D'Angelos
• Small bag BBQ Potato chips
• medium diet Coke

Dinner (6:30 PM)

• Tuscan Garlic Chicken Pasta - 2 servings
• water

Dessert (7:30 PM)

• cup of 1% milk
• low fat carrot cake
  

Out of the Chute

While it doesn't happen too often, there are nights where I have problems going back to sleep. Last night, or rather this morning was one of them. I awoke about 4:30 AM and just could not go back to sleep. At 5 I decided to get up and try to read a bit, perhaps get sleepy. No dice. My son got called into work about 5:30 AM so I took him. By 6 AM my daughter was up. I tried to lay back down from 6-7 AM but I gave up at 6:40.

I was hungry however. That pinching feeling had been there since about 5 AM, so I decided to use my extra time this AM to make a big breakfast like I make on Sunday - eggs, bacon, toast and coffee - no hash browns. I was eating a little before 7 AM and still had plenty of time to do my 3 S's and get my daughter to school on time. And I was seriously awake by the time I hit work. Usually it takes my first cup of coffee at 8:30 AM to come fully awake. Not this AM - I felt like a bull out of the chute. Got a lot of stuff cleared off my work plate before 9 AM rolled around.

I'm certainly not going to guess at what the rest of the day will bring in terms of energy levels and hunger, although I can say I'm starting to get a little hungry now. Typically I get more tired that usual if I have trouble sleeping. I have a 1 PM meeting at our main office this afternoon which means about a 45 minute drive up and back today. It's a nice day for it, however and perhaps the fresh air will keep me perked up.

Little Victories

There's that saying about the journey of 1000 miles beginning with a single step - in my case it's more like the journey of weight loss beginning with little victories. If I don't celebrate them no matter how small I'm likely to forget that this is a journey and not an instantaneous event.

I'll celebrate resisting hot dogs. I know, seems silly but I love Nathan's hot dogs. I know they are not the best for me, but darn they are good on a New England roll with mustard, onions, relish, and sauce. Mmmmmm.. I can usually eat 4-5 of the long ones for dinner along with baked beans and some fries. I try to limit that meal to once a month or so since I can just wolf them down. Well, this evening was the meal and I'm proud of myself for only eating 3 plus the beans and no fries and a diet Pepsi.

Over the course of my readings about weight loss I've encountered articles about waiting 20 minutes in between courses. Ya, right! How about waiting a little bit - say 5 or 10 minutes. So I tried that - taking a break between courses for a few minutes and then resumed. At the time I stopped I wanted another couple of hot dogs. When I resumed I ate one but then started to feel full so I stopped, finished my Pepsi and then cleaned up. I did peek at the carrot cake I made yesterday but didn't have a piece - yet.

So, I'll give myself another atta boy for pausing between courses, eating 1-2 less hot dog than usual and not eating dessert right away - and I walked for 40 minutes even though it was threatening rain outside.

Waited on the Pinch

I intentionally wanted to wait until I felt that pinching feeling in my GI track today to see how long it would take. About 1 PM or so I felt it. That was about 5 hours after eating a light breakfast. I took my time eating lunch, 20 minutes or so. Since I'm not a big broccoli fan, eating a small amount of the leftovers wasn't a huge problem. The corn biscuits and water were good for rounding it off.

Now, however, it's a bit after 2 PM and that pinching feeling is back, although I still feel somewhat full. The GI acidity from early in the day is gone but it still feels a bit rumbly down there so I'm not too sure what to make of my current situation.

With my daughter at home today (she's not feeling well), I won't have the opportunity to grab an afternoon snack at home. If I get feeling too hungry I'll have to find a snack to tied me over until dinner since I don't want to arrive home ravenous.

Food Log

Breakfast (8:15 AM)

• pears and cottage cheese
• corn biscuit
• coffee

Lunch (1:00 PM)

• left over broccoli cheese and rice casserole ~ 1.5 servings
• 2 corn biscuit
• water

Dinner (6:30 PM)

• 3 Nathan's hot dogs - mustard, onions, relish, coney sauce
• baked beans ~ 1.75 servings
• diet Pepsi

Dessert (9 PM)

• Coffee
• Carrot Cake
  

Breakfast Struggles

I can just tell that finding an appropriate breakfast food selection is going to be hard. Since I had some leftover pears and cottage cheese I opted for that this AM along with a left over corn biscuit. While I'm not feeling heavy or bloated, I'm getting lots of acid push-back. Yuck. I'm tempted to wash it down with coffee, but at times that kicks back more stomach juices than just leaving it alone. At least I'm not hungry at this point.

I do wonder if there is some relationship between my unappetizing breakfast feelings and taking my cholesterol medicine in the AM rather than at night. I missed last nights, so I took it this morning instead. I'll have to read the bottle on that. Perhaps it needs to be eaten with food.

Something to a Big Breakfast?

I'm glad I had that big breakfast today. It gave me a chance to compare my eating habits today vs. usual days of little to no breakfast. While it's not conclusive, perhaps there's something to it since I don't feel like I at that much today by comparison.

I didn't really start to get hungry again until 2:30 PM after I got back from grocery shopping. Normally I would have opened a bag of chips and had salsa while I stowed the groceries. Instead I made myself a bowl of cottage cheese and pears and nibbled on that while putting things away. By the time I was done, I had a glass of lemon aid and feel comfortable. No gnawing pinched feeling. An hour or so later I did have chips and salsa but not a whole bag as usual. I grabbed 2 handfuls of chips, put them in a bowl and ate just those. I did want more when I was done but didn't.

I did make a low fat carrot cake (200 calories per slice vs 500+) for dessert this week and then a broccoli cheese-n-rice casserole for dinner, including some homemade corn biscuits. Yumm!! Ate about 1.5 helping of the casserole and 2 biscuits. Not bad. Went for my 40 minute walk after and had a medium decaf coffee and 1 small square of the carrot cake when I got back.

I feel like I did a good job managing my eating today and felt like I ate less than I normally do on a Sunday. I'll have to try the "larger breakfast" idea during the week and see how it goes.

Food Log

Breakfast (9:30 AM)

• 5 slices of bacon
• 2 eggs over medium
• 1 piece of toast, margarine and strawberry jam
• 1 cup coffee
• hash browns from 2 potatos
  
• water

Lunch (2:30 PM)

• cottage cheese with pears
• 2 handfuls of corn chips and salsa
• lemon aid

Dinner (7:45 PM)

• Broccoli cheese-n-rice casserole ~ 1.5 helpings
• 2 corn meal biscuits
  
• water

Dessert (8:45 PM)

• medium coffee
• 1 slice of carrot cake
  

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Although I've previously posted about not being a breakfast eater, there is one exception - Sunday morning is big breakfast time. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee are the usual fare. I make it then eat it while reading the Sunday paper.

This morning was no exception. I started making it about 9 AM and by 9:30 ish I was ready to eat. Yumm!! Ya, the bacon probably isn't the best for me and I cook the eggs in part of the bacon grease but man is it good. Normally I eat about 8 slices of bacon and 2 slices of toast. I'll give my self an "atta boy" for only consuming 5 slices of bacon and 1 piece of toast. When my stomach felt full I stopped. My head kept telling me to eat, but I had a glass of water to wash the salty taste down and finished my cup of coffee.

Last night I managed to have a small late night snack with friends over drinks. 1 bag of popcorn and a few handfuls of potato chips helped by 4 scotches. I still want that PBJ but I ate only a spoonful of peanut butter and jelly. Better than eating a whole sandwich. I did get in a 45 minute walk between 7:30 and 8:30 PM. Most weekends are much worse on the consumption front so I feel like I'm doing a better job.

Getting The Full Feeling

After finishing my evening meal I again immediately wanted a PBJ. Like last time I talked myself out of it. I even stared down a jar of jelly in the fridge before I gave it up. It did get me thinking about the subject of fullness again, however.

What makes the body give off the fullness signal that it's time to stop eating? Is is a physical reaction from GI track to brain that says - whoa, hold on, that's enough - or is it something else?

I did manage to find an interesting study about the subject of feeling full or satiated. What was curious about the study was that it pointed to both neurological and hormonal triggers. Basically the area of the brain called the left posterior amygdala switches on when people feel full. The study found that area switches on less in more overweight/obese people than it does in thinner folks. To go along with that, the hormone ghrelin also show up when people feel full. The larger the increase in ghrelin levels, the more active the left posterior amygdala. Here's the link to the study.

ABC also had an interesting article on ghrelin. No new ground plowed as far as research - reiterates waiting 20 minutes between servings, but it had some suggestions on what foods suppress ghrelin production more than others:

Nicole Beland, a senior contributor at Women's Health magazine, says you can suppress ghrelin by eating certain foods, so you will then feel full. Carbohydrates and lean protein have been found to slow the production of ghrelin, while foods that are high in fat do not.

Hang on now. One study talks about increasing levels of ghrelin being linked to the amygdala and the other talks about slowing the production of ghrelin. Which is it, or am I misunderstanding? The Wikipedia article on ghrelin also talks about decreasing ghrelin production as being good for weight loss/hunger suppression. So can there be an increase in levels with a decrease in production? I'm really stumped by the relationship. From my googling around it would appear that there really isn't a clear definition on what causes the full feeling.

Just as I was about to close this entry down, I ran across an article on Healthy Satiety. Explains thing pretty well and has some interesting suggestions.

Food Log

Brunch (11 AM)

• Leftover Enchilada Casserole - 2.5 helpings
• water

Lunner (4 PM)

• Large Caesar salad
• Left over pork chop
• Cool Ranch Doritos - 3-4 handfuls

Evening (9 PM on)

• bag of microwave popcorn
• 3-4 handfuls of Lays potato chips
• 4 scotches over a 4 hr period
• 2 tsp peanut butter and 1 tsp strawbery spread

Saturday Confession

Friday is my stress release valve. I let it all hang out on Friday evenings and last night, while not exactly typical certainly wasn't that far off. Before stepping into the confessional booth, I did manage to walk for almost an hour from my house down the to college and back. It was a great spring evening and I didn't want to waste it.

From there, it went down hill as far as watching what I eat goes. I had quite a number of Rum & Diet Pepsi's and eventually some SmartFood popcorn, Lays Potato Chips and about 2/3rds of a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. From a perspective standpoint, there have been worse Friday night binges on the drink and food front, but given that I'm trying to watch what I eat I felt like a failure this AM.

But it's not failure, it's learning. Learning about what leads to bad choices. Certainly the early evenings alcohol consumption led to the late night food consumption. Being up at 2 AM didn't help matters either - heck, at 2 AM I'm usually asleep and not thinking about food or drink.

So today I'll get back on the horse again and continue the journey. BTW, what is it about eating crunchy food that's so appealing?

Dinner for One

With my daughter off to her boyfriend's house for the evening and my son sleeping (he works nights), I figured I'd do something for my marriage today and see if my wife wanted to go out to dinner. Nope. She was ready to relax and not go anywhere. She already changed out of her work clothes. So I'm left to my own devices for dinner.

I contemplated a set of finger foods from the freezer: french fries, couple of egg rolls and a mini frozen pizza. After some serious talking to myself about food choices, I elected to have a large Caesar Salad - home made of course. One romaine heart, some Parmesan cheese, croutons and dressing later I was in business. Read the on-line news for about 20 minutes while eating.

Just as soon as I was done eating, I needed a PBJ. Don't know why I needed one, but I talked myself out of it. Instead I tried something to drink, thinking that maybe I was just thirsty instead of hungry. Had a small glass of diet Pepsi, waited about 10 minutes and wham - I'm reasonably full and I while I still would like to have a PBJ, I don't need one.

And yes, I did eat a bit after 6 PM if you're playing along at home...

Lunch Window

Due to the later breakfast this AM, I wasn't really hungry until close to 2 PM. Usually I eat around 12-1 PM. Sure enough at 12 I was thinking I needed to eat. But I wasn't hungry after eating only 2.5 hours before. Why was I thinking about eating then?

My lunch window is centered around eating dinner with my family in the 6 PM time frame. If I eat at 12-1 that's a good 5-6 hours before I eat dinner so I'm hungry for my main daily meal. If I eat later than that, I'm still not quite hungry going into dinner, which will be the case this evening I think. Still, do I really need to be hungry at 6 PM? Wouldn't I just, well, eat less if I wasn't that hungry? Do I really have to wait until I'm completely hungry before eating dinner? Wouldn't I not "snack" even if dinner took longer to make than usual?

If the goal is fewer calories per day while still feeling adequately nourished and well fed, then would eating later be better? Perhaps a way to phrase that would be to eat off from of my normal meal schedule - skip breakfast, eat lunch around noon and dinner around 6. A better schedule may be: eat breakfast and lunch when I feel hungry and then dinner on time with family (and hopefully less since I'm not likely to be as hungry).

Humm....

Food Log

Breakfast

• Toasted 7-Grain bagel with plain cream cheese
• small coffee - black

Lunch

• Leftover enchilada casserole - 2 servings

Snack

• gum
• Rum & Diet Pepsi - 6-7 over a 6 hr period
• Cool Ranch Doritos - 2/3rds of a bag
• SmartFood Popcorn - 8 handfuls
  
• Lays Potato Chips - 6 handfuls
  

Dinner

• Large Caesar Salad
• small glass diet Pepsi
  

Breakfast Delayed

This AM started SLOW. I just could not get moving and as a result didn't have time for breakfast at home like I did yesterday. Besides I wasn't really in the mood for it and after yesterday's heavy feeling from the cereal I wasn't anxious to repeat that. So, per some of the breakfast advice reading from the other day, I just decided to delay eating until I felt like it.

Long about 9 AM, I need coffee and I'm a bit hungry - just starting to get that pinched feeling in my stomach. I'm extremely lucky from a choice standpoint as I have a Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, a local bagel shop and a local coffee stop all within a short walk from my office. Choices, choices - why not make an experiment out of it and try their breakfast offerings until I hit on some things I like.

From the local bagel shop I have a toasted 7-Grain with plain cream cheese and a small coffee - which I end up spilling while I'm filling the cup. Feels more like a Monday than a Friday at this point. The 7-Grain is OK - I'm a toasted garlic person usually but I'm trying to appear healthy (ya, like all that cream cheese is healthy). Wonder if all their bagels are from whole grain or only some?

At any rate the bagel is gone within 10 minutes of my return and my GI track is making a lot of noise. I'm still working on the coffee.

Update from last night: No snacking after the enchiladas - well OK I licked the spoon after storing the left overs. That and a medium decaf coffee. No walking last night due to the rain.

The Pace of Eating

In a prior post I raised a question to myself about the rate of consumption and feeling satiated. What I was trying to understand was this: If I eat quickly will I end up eating more because my body needs time to kick in the full feeling (humm.. what causes the "full feeling" anyhow) and if so, will slowing down my intake cause me to eat less?

Googling "eating slowly" almost universally shows posts, studies, etc. attempting to convince the reader that eating slowly and taking ones time with meals is a good weight management technique. Forum reading suggests that for some people it works and some it doesn't. Even those who do find it useful seem unclear as to why. One study I ran across suggested that taking longer to eat also allows more time for fluid consumption, e.g. water and that the extra fluid consumption is driving, at least in part, the reduction in actual calories ingested.

On the opposite front is this MSNBC post from Barbara Rolls of Volumetrics fame. While Barbara's article suggests that eating pace doesn't influence caloric intake, she does end with this sage advice:

You don’t have to consciously pause between bites, but eat at a pace that maximizes your enjoyment of the food. If savoring the flavors and textures makes dining a more pleasurable experience, then go for it.

In the end, it’s more important that you choose foods that are low in calorie density, meaning they give you fewer calories per bite. That way no matter what your eating rate, you won’t take in too many calories.

My take on it is this: If eating slowly works for you then go for it, but it's what you eat not the pace at which you eat that matters most.

Patiently Waiting on Dinner

I made a complex dinner this evening that took FOREVER to finish. Probably 1.5 hrs all together. Normally I would have snacked my way through making it, but I didn't tonight. I waited. Oh, I had a carrot and part of a toasted corn tortilla that was left over from the recipe, but I didn't really eat anything despite having that pinched feeling. I patiently waited on the casserole to be done.

When it was finished I tried my best not rush through it. Between my wife, daughter and myself we finished a little over half of it. The dish serves 8-10, so I figure I ate 2.5 helpings. I did give into the sweetness craving with a bit of ice cream, but I'll need that to cool down the spice of the dish later on, if you know what I mean...

All in all, I'm rather proud of my eating behavior this evening. I didn't snack, didn't stuff myself to an extreme despite my hunger level and had a small treat. I found other things to do while waiting that got me out of the kitchen and got food off my mind.

Perhaps I can go the rest of the evening with out eating and work in a walk if it stops raining.

Unconscious Snacking

2-4 meeting was exactly 15 minutes long - most of the key participants in the meeting were out attending to other things. Usually I pick my daughter up from middle school at 2:20 PM and take her home, except Thursday's when I have that standing meeting. Since I was done early I figured I'd try and pick her up. No luck, she's already started home by the time I got over to the pickup spot.

Instead of heading back to work I went home and.. well grabbed a 6-pack of peanut butter-n-crackers. I don't know if I was hungry or not. I didn't really think about it. I just wanted something to snack on and grabbed something handy. I have no idea why I feel that way - the "just wanting something to snack on" feeling. I've got to get some sort of handle on that and, without a lengthy internal debate, understand the urge and be able to quantify it into a hunger level - real or imagined.

Even with that snack I'm feeling the pinch again at 3:20 PM. Trying gum and water.

The Pinch

It's now noon and I've been feeling what I call "the pinch" in my stomach for the last 45 minutes. Despite eating breakfast and the earlier heavy feeling I feel ravenous for lunch. I have some left over tortilla soup from yesterday and an onion bagel. Since my hunger is great, I'll probably "wolf" this down and still want more.

Is there a relationship between the time taken to eat a meal and a satiated full feeling? I've taken over 30 minutes to eat the soup and bagel and while still feeling a little hungry, I no longer have that ravenous feeling. I'll chew some gum and perhaps have some water as the lunch made me thirsty.

We'll see how this last until I go home for dinner. I have a 2-4 PM meeting today so I won't be in a position to grab a mid-day snack, but I have a feeling I'll be snacking in-between the time I get home and dinner.

Food Log

Breakfast (Ya!)

• Special K w/Blueberry flakes in 1% milk with Splenda
• Coffee (black)

Lunch

• Remainder of Tortilla soup from yesterday's lunch ~ 1 cup
  
• Buttered onion bagel
• water

Snack

• peanut butter crackers - 6 pack
• gum (x2)
• water
• medium decaf coffee - black
  

Dinner

• Southwest Enchilada Casserole ~ 2.5 servings
  
• water
• single serving of ice cream
  

Heavy Morning

I actually got up earlier so I'd have time to eat breakfast this morning - a bowl of "Special K" that my daughter requested a couple of weeks ago. It has "blueberry" stuff in the flakes. Still, the second ingredient was "whole grain" (something) so I figured it must be good - at least that's what I've read. It had it with a Splenda packet and 1% milk.

I felt OK after eating it, but as my morning is getting on I feel a heaviness setting in - a "bloated" feeling almost. Yuck.

I did manage to eat only 2 fat free fig bars after dinner last night and a large decaf coffee so I was "hungry" this AM. I also walked for the better part of an hour last night. The "spring" feel to the New England air is calling me outside.

Water, Water

I just finished dinner and my wife and I cleaned the kitchen. I stopped eating before I "felt" uncomfortably full, but probably should have stopped earlier. Usually right after dinner I want something sweet - cookies, candy, something. Figured I try water instead since I didn't have anything to drink with dinner.

It's not uncommon for me not to drink anything with a meal, be it lunch or dinner. Is that odd? Googling the subject leads to a variety of answers none of which sounds definitive. Some opinions are that it dilutes the digestive juices and can lead to digestive problems. Other opinions say a little water with a meal isn't a problem, but that substituting water for food doesn't help. Your body knows when it's thirsty so drink if you feel thirsty during a meal.

One item I ran across was that sometimes when you "feel" hungry, you're actually thirsty and that it's not uncommon to substitute food for water. I've often wondered about that.

So just how much water is recommended per day for the average adult? Is it 8 - 8 oz glasses as I've always heard? I turned to my favorite "myth busters" site Snopes:

The best general advice (keeping in mind that there are always exceptions) is to rely upon your normal senses. If you feel thirsty, drink; if you don't feel thirsty, don't drink unless you want to.

A good read. Basically the "8x8" rule is overblown. The food you take in has "fluid" in it that helps to replace what you're loosing. At "most" your kidneys need 1 liter of water per day to function normally, which is about 4 - 8 oz glasses of water, which coincidentally is about what you get from food per day. So if you're overeating, like I am, you're probably getting more fluid than you actually need. If I eat at a normal level, I may need "some" fluid and if I under-eat (ya, like that'll happen), I'll defiantly need fluid.

So I was a bit thirsty after dinner, but what I really wanted was something sweet. As I've written this I no longer crave sweetness and actually feel, well.. full.

I still need to investigate this "sweetness" craving and perhaps how overeating might increase foot/ankle swelling (from all that excess fluid)... humm..

Food Log

Lunch

• Tuna melt sandwich on sourdough with lettuce and tomato
• 1/4 cup tortilla soup
• water

Snacks

• Peanut butter crackers - most of a "six pack"
• Fat Free Fig Bars - 2
  

Dinner

• Asparagus
  
• Fried Pork Chops - 2.5 4 oz chops
• water

Breakfast?

I'm not a breakfast eater, never have been. I'm never really hungry when I get up and coffee is about all I have until I eat lunch. If I don't eat breakfast I start getting hungry (or I think I am) 10:30 - 11 AM. If I do, I'm not hungry until after 1:30 PM.

My schedule is such that I need to eat by 12:30-1:30 PM at the latest because my afternoon is full and if I wait until later in the PM to eat (after 2 PM) then I won't be hungry when the family sits down to eat dinner in the 6 PM time frame.

Is eating breakfast that important to loosing weight? My dietitian says that it's important. Googling the subject seems to verify it:

• Eating Breakfast Helps Weight Loss
• Breakfast: Why is it so important?

Attempting to look up "don't feel like eating breakfast" gives posts on the same advice - learn to eat it even if you don't feel like it. This is just the opposite of what I do: I eat when I feel like it and don't when I should.

I'll try eating something for breakfast, even if it's just a cereal bar.

Can't Take It Any More

I'm 6'5" and 351 lbs. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and sleep apnea. I love to cook and eat and have very little in the way of self control when it comes to food. If I feel like I want to eat it, I usually do.

Over the course of years I've tried diets (Atkins, South Beach, Volumetrics), seen dietitians and doctors and I've lost weight only to gain it all back and more. I'm about to go beyond the largest cloths size I've ever been both in shirts and pants and I really can't stand it and don't really know what to do.

My Dr has suggested "banding" which I'm willing to try but I'm afraid that my insurance won't cover it unless I jump through a ton of hoops. My feeling is that I have to take responsibility for what I eat and manage it. I'm not really learning anything if I just "do banding" - although I'm sure there's an educational component that goes along with the treatment. Still...

I know I'm not a "gym" guy - I don't have the discipline. I don't mind walking and I have been doing that in the evenings for about 20 minutes. I feel my greatest problem is just stopping the eating process. If I could stop after one helping and not snack I know I'd loose it. I just can't seem to get started.

So far my height and build have helped me from looking as heavy as I am, but it's not going to work for much longer.