Weight Log

Day 0 May 28, 2015...258 lb.
Day 1 May 29, 2015...254 lb.
Day 2 May 30, 2015...252 lb.
Day 3 May 31, 2015...251 lb.
Day 4 June 1,   2015...250 lb.
Day 5 June 2,   2015...248 lb.

Food Log: May 31, 2015

Black coffee, orange

Approximately 10 oz. 93% ground beef smothered in jalapenos, spring mix with Kimchi fermented cabbage, a few pepperocini.

Approximatelt 10 oz. bing cherries (pits included in weight but not consumed.)

Approximately 10 oz. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, serving of collared greens sprinkled with tomato sauce, malt vinegar.

Food Log May 30, 2015

Black coffee
orange

10 oz. 93% lean ground beef smothered in jalapenos, spring mix with Kimchi spiced cabbage

orange, 1 oz. pretzels

10 oz. tuna

3 cups plain, non-fat yogurt, two oranges.

Weight Log

Day 0 May 28, 2015...258 lb.
Day 1 May 29, 2015...254 lb.

Food Log

First, Weight Log:

Day 0 May 28, 2015....258 lb.

Put on twelve pounds in just a matter of days. Yipes


FOOD LOG:

Day 1 May 29, 2015

Orange, black coffee

Approximately 9 oz. 93% ground beef with jalapenos, spring mix with Kimchi spiced cabbage, One tomato, 1 oz.whole sunflower seeds.

More black coffee

10 oz. tuna, 1 oz. pretzels

orange

1 oz. pretzels

2 cups plain non-fat yogurt, approximately 10 oz. Bing cherries (with pits) 2 oz. gin

The Icebox Repairman Cometh

Here is the condensed version of the thrilling refrigerator repair saga.

1. Refrigerator stopped working. I threw out about a hundred dollars worth of food.

2. Repairman summoned on a Tuesday. He arrives pronounces the circuit board in need of replacement. He defrosts the freezer and states that the fridge will work but will work erratically until circuit board is replaced. It will take two weeks to receive circuit board that is ordered.

Of course I went off diet, eating only food from can, bag or freezer.

3. Repairman called out again two days later because the refrigerator was not working at all. Repairman delivers good news and bad news. Bad news is that it is not circuit board that is defective. It is the fan. Good news is that it can be replaced the next day.

4. Friday, third visit. Fan replaced.

5. Refrigerator works for about ten days. I start diet but then have to stop again. Nothing low-calorie comes out of the freezer. Nothing.

6. Repairman calls to say he is running late for what will be his fourth visit. I ask him to return the next day.

7. Repairman is to arrive between 11 AM and 1 PM. At 12:50 I leave for the store to purchase can goods and chips and freezer foods. Shortly after 1 PM I am notified that repairman has arrived and I ultimately approve the replacement of the circuit board. Fortunately or otherwise, two components stop functioning at about the same time. I hedge my bets and buy canned chili, canned tamales, corn chips, potato chips, and microwave meals that can be stored in the freezer.

8. Total cost of repairs: $450 not counting discarded foods.

9. Still eating the high-calorie foods I purchased last week.

10. I hope to restart diet tomorrow.

11. Net weigh gain: About ten pounds.

More Refrigerator Trouble

The refrigerator repairman will arrive tomorrow for the fourth time in a twelve day period. Minimum of food disposal this time but there will be some waste. I am again off-diet, eating things from a can and from the freezer.

BTW, weight is 246 lb.

Weight Log

Day 0, May 9 (Also May 10 AM) 254 lb.
Day 1: May 10 circa 11 PM: 250 lb.
Day 2: May 11 PM: 246 lb.
Day 3: May 12 PM: 246 lb.
Day 4: May 13 PM: 247 lb.

Food Log: Wednesday May 13, 2015

Wednesday May 15 I pulled out all the stops, did everything right and fell off diet...Hoodia, cocoa and cinnamon as appetite suppressants....yes I am vulnerable to free food when I am hungry. I am even more vulnerable when the free food happens to be of upscale restaurant quality. Try, try again.

Food Log

Black Coffee

8 0z shrimp, large serving clery, small serving Kimchi

Black coffee

Small serving pulled pork
1/2 ear of corn

2 oz. pretzels

4 oat meal cookies (Doh!)

1 cup of plain, non-fat yogurt with 6 oz. blackberries Encore: Another cup of plain, non-fat yogurt with 6 oz. blackberries

Food Log

Black coffee.
Orange.

Black coffee.
Orange.

At 10 PM, 12 oz. 93% lean ground beef smothered in jalapenos, one tomato.

Restarting Diet

Day 1, May 10, 2015: 254 lb.
Day 2, May 11, 2015: 246 lb.
Revision. The weigh-ins are about 36 hours apart. It is impossible to burn fat that fast. Weight loss is primarily due to water loss but also to elimination. If you eat a lot and have several pounds of undigested food inside you and then suddenly decrease caloric intake...

That accounts for the rapid weigh loss and rapid regain of most diets. We can return to that later.

Revision:

Day 0, May 9 (Also May 10 AM) 254 lb.
Day 1: May 10 circa 11 PM: 250 lb.
Day 2: May 11 PM: 246 lb.

How Many Hours, How Many Miles....?

I am pleased that the good people at Fitness for Weight Loss have compiled easy to follow guides telling us how many hours a person must endure a given exercise to lose one pound. While helpful, the tables should be thought of more as rules of thumb than scientific cannon.

I considered compiling a table similar to the aforementioned lists. But then I reconsidered. The aforementioned rule of thumb is that a pound of flesh equals 3500 calories. So if you burn 3500 calories, you shed a pound. Hold on a second. Should we not figure the marginal calorie burn? The difference between say, walking and sitting?

Let's borrow a few numbers from the Harvard eggheads.
Note: For simplicity sake, only estimated calories for a 155 person are included.

Note: The calories burned are figured for one half hour. So we have to get out our calculators and multiply by two to get hourly rates. 

Note: 3.5 mph is a fast, non-leisurely pace. It's more of a power walk pace.

Observation: Do you really burn 28 more calories per hour by reading vs. watching TV? Well this is Harvard and when they read, they really read, man. Plus, their TV viewing only includes C-SPAN and PBS, material that does not necessarily induce laughter or bodily movement or changes in facial expression.

Walk: 3.5 mph (17 min/mi)

149

Sleeping		23
Watching TV		28
Reading: sitting		42
Standing in line		47

So, should we not subtract the calorie burn of say, watching TV, from the calorie burn of walking? Instead of counting total calories burned, should we not count net calories burned? Walking at 3.5 mph burns 149 calories per half hour but only 121 net calories (or 107 calories per half hour should one indulge in Harvard-style reading.)

The point of all of this is: It takes longer to burn off a pound than even the dismal tables suggest. If the dismal table tells us it takes twenty hours of said activity to lose a pound, it might actually require thirty hours of said activity. Bummer.

How Many Hours Of Walking Does It Take To Lose One Pound?

2.0 mile per hour (mph) pace (30 minute mile)

• If you weigh 150 lbs, you’ll have to walk for approximately 20 hours to lose 1 lb.
• If you weigh 200 lbs, you’ll have to walk for approximately 15 hours to lose 1 lb.
• If you weigh 250 lbs, you’ll have to walk for approximately 12 hours to lose 1 lb.
• If you weigh 300 lbs, you’ll have to walk for approximately 10 hours to lose 1 lb.
• If you weigh 350 lbs, you’ll have to walk for approximately 9 hours to lose 1 lb.
• If you weigh 400 lbs, you’ll have to walk for approximately 8 hours to lose 1 lb.

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What Threw Me Off-Diet

Last year in late April and early May I was thrown off my diet by a bowel obstruction. This year I am thrown off by a malfunctioning refrigerator.

It sounds like a lame excuse but it has been disruptive. The refrigerator was not keeping food cold and I kept throwing food away because it was spoiling quickly. Then it stopped working altogether but the freezer worked fine.

I tried troubleshooting the problem online. Freezer works, refrigerator does not brought more than a half dozen possibilities. I did not have time to do diagnostics so I called an appliance repairman. He came out and did a bad diagnosis. He defrosted the freezer and proclaimed the board defective. The refrigerator would be cold within 24 hours. It would freeze again in two weeks but in that time we would have a new circuit board.

The fridge would not make a comeback in 24 hours. The repairman made a return visit and declared the fan dead and the circuit board OK. The good news is that a fan is cheaper and easier to obtain than a circuit board. 2-3 days. The bad news is that in that time we would have no refrigeration.

So I have been eating a lot of freezer to microwave foods as well as things like canned tamales. I had to throw away about a $100 worth of food. The diet would be impossible to practice without a refrigerator so I am taking a respite. As soon as the refrigerator starts working I will be back on diet.

YEA!