Ate like a pig and paid for it

My last blog discussed some upcoming meals that would be detrimental to my diet if I made bad decisions. Well, some of those meals have passed, and I paid no attention to my diet this week, aside from the single piece of chocolate pie that I decided not to eat.

Friday at the fondue restaurant was fine. I ate very little earlier in the day, and ate everything at the restaurant, at a total of 2800 calories for the day. Since I burn 3500 a day, no big deal.

Saturday was a different story. I ate a chicken salad sandwich and tortilla strips at my favorite local bakery, and then we hit the casino buffet. I had two full plates of food that included crabs, fried catfish/shrimp, cornbread, prime rib, mashed potatoes, among other things. Then I had a salad with ranch dressing. Then I had a peanut-butter pie slice for dessert. Worth every calorie.

Sunday morning, we went downstairs to the casino again to eat breakfast. They had a wonderful breakfast buffet that I was told I had to try. So I ended up eating two plates of breakfast food that included eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, pancakes with syrup, and strawberries. Agan, worth every calorie.

On the way home, I had a frozen mocha drink. Probably another 500 calories.

That night, we ate at Longhorn steakhouse with her parents. I went fairly light and had an 8-ounce sirloin with mashed potatoes. Unfortunately, the ceasar salad and fried onion pieces beforehand were not so light.

I weighed myself this morning: 378. Last Wednesday I weighed 375. I’m hoping I only really gained a pound and the rest is just a bunch of water and food that has yet to come out. I ate a lot of food, drank a lot of coffee, but did not drink enough water. I figure I’m retaining a lot of fluid. We’ll see on Wednesday morning when it’s the official weigh-in time.

Week 9 of weight loss, still going strong

Well, kind of strong. I didn’t work out today — made excuses for myself, such as the slight soreness from golf yesterday.

My mother-in-law had a 15-year-old treadmill that she gave to us yesterday. I was excited to be able to have a treadmill at home. It would make me feel less awkward to try jogging if I’m by myself. Unfortunately, the treadmill doesn’t like how much I weigh. It stops and jolts intermittently because the motor isn’t strong enough. My wife can use it, though. I’ll have to stick to the gym for the next 100 pounds or so.

My diet is going well. I have cheat meals on the weekends and eat well during the week. I still hover around 1700-1800 calories a week, sometimes lower. When I cheat on Saturdays, I might consume about 3,000 calories. This is actually less calories than I burn in a day because of how big I am, so it’s not even hindering my weight loss that much.  I worry, though, that when/if my weight drops significantly (say another 80 pounds) those cheat meals will mean a whole lot more in terms of potential weight gain.

My diet is very carb-friendly, so I have to make sure I’m cutting calories. This week I planned for a lot of diet frozen dinners, frozen vegetables, yogurt, and Kashi GoLean crunch.

The next two weeks are going to be a game of “let’s hope I don’t gain weight.” For starters, I’m juggling two stressful projects at work until Wednesday of next week. With such a short turnaround, I foresee a lot of late evenings and the lack of motivation to go to the gym.

Add that on top of the following things:

1. Friday is my wife’s birthday – reservations at a fondue restaurant.

2. It’s her 21st birthday – my parents are accompanying us to a casino Saturday and treating us to the fabulous $30 buffet.

3. Her parents, of course, want in on the birthday festivities, too. They are taking us out to eat on Sunday.

4. Thanksgiving day is next week, and it’s being held at our house for lunch, then we have to go to our parents’ house for dinner.

5. We will have leftovers forced upon us.

I still have not succeeded in rejecting food, so I don’t know how I’m gonna get through this.

Week 8 of weight loss

I’m doing OK, but I did a really stupid thing this week: I decided to cut carbs.

The only real carbs I’ve had today was my smoothie this morning. After that, it’s been meat, green veggies, meat, and more meat. It’s 6:48 p.m. and I don’t have the energy to go to the gym, I feel lightheaded, and my body seems very confused.

Unfortunately, I bought 8+ pounds of lean ground turkey and beef yesterday and pre-cooked it into 20 patties, four for each day. The plan was to eat something with carbs in the morning, then four pieces of meat, 4 servings of vegetables, and 1 can of tuna or turkey throughout the day. It’s a good amount of food, slightly above the calories I’ve been regularly consuming, but I had no idea how I would feel without the carbs throughout the day.

It’s kind of a stupid idea, especially since my other way of weight loss was working just fine. I’ve been on the diet for 7 solid weeks, and I’m 20 pounds down with a noticeable gain in muscle and overall well-being. And I had to screw it up with another alteration.

Tomorrow, I’ll buy some hamburger buns, lettuce, and BBQ sauce to get me through this bad decision.

In other news, I’m starting to get into that comfort level at work where you realize you are or could be better at your job than some of the more experienced people there.

Also, I really, really want to get back to writing my novel. Why can’t I?

Love advice with smacksfrog part III

Dear Smacksfrog,

My boyfriend feels I have things to hide. So he snoops, and snoops and snoops until he uncovers something, anything. He still says I am secretive. Of what, I don’t know, and he can’t answer it for me because it’s obviously a secret. Nothing is private, my phone, my laptop, my posts on message boards, not even my room when I am downstairs. He says this is normal behavior for men, as they feel territorial.
Now, I have left out a lot of background about him and me because I feel it’s a simple question. But I will say, I have not cheated on him. I’ve never cheated on anyone and am in general an honest person. I don’t have time to deal with his trust issues. How can I get him to stop?

- Invaded

Dear Invaded,

The problem with snooping is that people can easily get addicted to it. They’ll develop paranoia without a cause and become increasingly frustrated and paranoid as they continue to come up empty-handed in their quest to justify their distrust.

If you tell him to quit, he’ll probably just become more efficient with snooping without your knowledge. Your boyfriend will assume you have even more to hide or that he’s getting closer to finding a big secret about you.

No, this isn’t normal for anyone. A lot of men might say it’s the exact opposite; women are supposed to be the obsessive snoops. Regardless of who does it, snooping can and will destroy a relationship. It’s sabotage, and that sort of behavior isn’t “normal.”

You could do the noble thing and try to figure out the trigger for his paranoia – a past relationship, abandonment, childhood issues, etc. – or you could do what’s best for yourself and end the relationship. I’d choose the latter, but I won’t say that’s the right decision. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

I would end the relationship simply because I don’t believe he can stop. Your boyfriend might be able to cut back on his snooping, and you can control it by changing your passwords, securing the files on your laptop, changing your usernames online and locking up other personal items. But why would you want to live like that? This is your boyfriend, not a stranger.

The more you hide your personals, the stronger his suspicions will become. On top of that, you probably understand that his number one reason for snooping is to find evidence of infidelity. Generally, people end relationships on the basis of infidelity. Is he looking for a reason to break up with you? I’d save him the trouble.

Breaking up with him will probably lead him to believe you were indeed hiding something and the guilt got to you, but that’s not your problem. You don’t have time to deal with his trust issues, and you shouldn’t have to make time.