Delayed because of equipment failure

Well, that the excuse the airlines use when their planes don't work.  My computer died, and I have finally got it and my data more or less back.  Losing the PC is like losing a vital sense. 

Christmas was good and I was bad on the diet. 

So, let's get on with the important numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose:  107 mg/dl.  Good, real good.
• Weight:  189 lbs.  Did creep up a couple of pounds, but those are now gone.  So I am pretty much back to what I was before the holidays, which is too high, but it could be worse.
• Exercise:  45 minutes riding the bike.  Baby, it's cold out there, even for Houston.
• Mood:  7.5.  Okay, could be better. 

Menu:

• Breakfast:  Banana, Texas ruby red grapefruit, the finest in the world, oatmeal with chopped prunes and apricots. 
• Lunch:  Leftover meatloaf and an apple.
• Dinner:  Pizza, homemade.  It's clean night.
• Snacks:  Leftover Christmas candy.  The BG is going to be miserable tomorrow.

Daily Beast's Most Effective Diets for 2011.
As Captain Renault said in Casablanca,  "...round up the usual suspects."  Mostly, it's the popular diet plans that get recycled year after year. 

In increasing order of effectiveness as measured by the Daily Beast:  the Slim Fast Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, the low-fat diet and the number one diet, the one I had not heard of, the Volumetrics diet.  That is a diet that from what I have read could also be the Soup diet.  It seems to be eating a lot of watery stuff, like soups.  As one who dies like soups, I can see why it would work.  Eating a lot of soups will fill you up, will be relatively light on calories and nutritionally sound. Just avoid the heavy cream stuff, I would imagine.  It says to also avoid calorie dense foods like chips and cookies.  No kidding.

As with all the diet plans, it a matter of just cutting calories.  How you do it and how you stick to is up to you.

No mention was made of the Drinking Man's Diet, Paleo Diet or the Twinkie Diet. 

Friday Eve, Clean Night

The weekend starts in about 36 hours from now.  I can not wait, and tomorrow is splurge Friday, Tex-Mex and margarita night.

The numbers for today

1. Blood Glucose:  122 mg/dl.  Disappointing.  106 yesterday, 122 today.  Well, the over all trend is down so that is good.  Look on the bright side, right?
2. Weight:  199 lbs.   At least that was not up. Not down, but not up. 
3. Exercise:  30 minutes on trainer, 15 minutes less than I usually do, but I could not get myself in gear this morning.  I have no idea why I have been so tired.  Well, yes I do.  My wife has been tossing and turning and the general rule at our house is that if she does not sleep well, I don't sleep well.  Love, ain't it grand?  
4. Mood:  Determined. 

Menu

1. Breakfast:  Oatmeal infused (I love that phrase; really it just means added) with blackberry herbal tea, a banana and an orange. 
2. Lunch:  Not sure.  Whatever I can rustle up in the fridge, I guess.
3. Dinner:  Pizza, topped with low fat mozzarella, turkey pepperoni, green pepper, onion, artichokes and/or olives.  Mary likes the kitchen sink pizza, I prefer something a spare in toppings. 
4. Snacks:  Soy yogurt

Looking to add a weight band type of exercise for resistance.  

All of this change in eating habits (OK, dieting) and exercise is paying off.

For St. Pat's Day the numbers were:

1. Blood Glucose: 101 mg/dl. I wonder when it last that low. That is now on the slightly high side of normal.
   
2. Weight: 204 lbs. Haven't been there in a long while.
3. Exercise: 40+ minutes on the trainer.
   
4. Mood. Excited!

The menu:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal, banana and craisins. The usual.
• Lunch: Leftover Pasta Rustica, which is ground turkey, tomato sauce (sorry, marinara sauce, sounds fancier) and an apple. This came from a dish served a fave restaurant of our called the Empire Cafe here in Houston. Tasty, filling, cheap and easy to make after a long day.
• Dinner: Paula Dean's Taco Soup and corn bread. I am so proud of myself. One slice of Mary's delicious cornbread. No butter even.
• Snacks: Soy yogurt when I got home from work and a few raisins, and I had a handful of multi-grain Triscuits at work.

The numbers for today, March 18, 2010

1. Blood Glucose: 107 mg/dl.
   
2. Weight: 204 lbs.
3. Exercise: 45 minutes on the trainer
4. Mood. Happy.
   

The menu:

• Breakfast: Surprise! Oatmeal, a banana and craisins.
  
• Lunch: Not sure yet.
• Dinner, the clean night special: Homemade pizza, toppings to be decided, and watching Heidi Klum on Project Runway. And I am going to have some wine because I want to.
  

A Few Days Off

Got up late, tested late, rode the bike late and had breakfast for lunch. Hey, I don't care, I am off of work for a long anniversary weekend with my incredible sweeeeeeeeetie. Happily, she is also my wife.

The numbers:

1. Blood Glucose: 153 mg/dl. Better then yesterday
2. Weight: 214 lbs.
3. Exercise: 40+ minutes on the trainer
4. Mood: Darned good.
   

Weird thing is that I on my last cold call of the day, I actually got a decent lead from a construction company looking to by a plotter. The good thing is that the guy who makes the decisions will not be back in the office until next week. I sent the lady I have to deal with on this some PDF brochures and proposal on a used system we have. Xerox has some promotions that run out at the end of this month and I don't know if they are going to renew them. I am also up against a company that will a cheap machine very cheap. On the plus side, one of the prospects vendors really likes us, so I am going to use that to the hilt.

On to food. Breakfast and lunch have been rolled into one because I was lazy and slept in. That would be two pieces of week old pizza, natures most perfect food. I just don't get tired of the stuff. Also I had a banana before I peddled. I will have an orange later on today and for dinner we are having stuff and stuff. Stuff and stuff is our phrase for eating the leftovers.

Tomorrow we are heading to San Antonio for a weekend anniversary get away. San Antone is one of our favorite places visit. Other than to get there we have no real plans, but we always say the time went too quickly.

I don't know where we are going to eat, but finding some places that can serve food good for us will be a challenge. Tomorrow is Friday, no meat, and I think I am going to forgo my usual Friday margaritas. We have even made some plans to bring some food with us.

I should note here that my lovely wife is also eating to lose weight and she is down about six pounds. Together, we can't fail!

Weather note: It's still cold by Houston standards. Even peddling in the garage with the bike mounted on the trainer, is was cold, like see my breath cold. We are course to go have a near record cold February for Houston. Never mind I grew up in Michigan, I have become a cold weather wimp. I can't wait for the weather to get hot and humid, 'cause I am going to look great!

Friday, Tony's Night

First, the vitals:

1. 144 on the meter. Reading done at 5:11 am. Better than yesterday
2. 212 lbs. on the scale. Woohoo.
   
3. 40 minutes on the bike.
   
4. Mood: Happy.
   

I would never have guessed I would ever cheer weighing 212 lbs. Just a matter of perspective, really.

I guess I managed to survive the half a meat loaf sandwich I had for lunch yesterday. It came from the Petrol Station, a neighborhood bar Mary and I find all sorts of excuses to go to. Good crusty roll, thick slab of meat loaf and cheese melted on the top. They may make the best meatloaf in town (the secret we were told is adding fresh rosemary) and I don't think they have any competition when it comes to burgers. The beer selection is eclectic to say the least. They get kegs of micro brewery beer from all over the country. Always something new to try and it's always good. Last time I had a pecan porter. Delicious.

Dinner was homemade pizza, topped with turkey sausage, onions and red peppers. One slice. It is a decent sized slice, admittedly, one eight of a round pie formed in a 16" pan. I usually have two and sometimes three and occasionally four. I prefer to stop at two, did prefer to stop at two, because my all time favorite breakfast is cold pizza, coffee and orange juice. The orange juice is out for now, and I should stick with the oatmeal for now as well.

This weekend I have to work on decent snacks. No more Butterfingers, so I have to start coming up with safe alternatives.

Today's menu will be appropriate for a Catholic boy on Friday in Lent

1. Breakfast: oatmeal, crasins and a banana before I rode
2. Lunch: Vegetarian chili
3. Dinner: Haven't decided.
   

This is Friday, our Tony's night. Our night to go out to dinner and just unwind, talk about the week, plan the weekend. It the "us night." Nothing to do but relax and enjoy.

Tony's Mexican Restaurant and Cantina is a local Tex-Mex place, one of the best in Houston. The margaritas are steller and chock full of tequila. Probably the worst drink I can have is a margarita. Probably I will choose from the vegetarian fajitas (whatever that is), the spinach enchiladas with tormatillo sauce , the fish tacos or the grilled fish and vegetables. Easy on the salty hot fresh from the fryer chips with a hot, flavorful salsa. Man, I love that part, bad as it is for me. How many times have we gone to Tex-Mex place and filled up on just chips and salsa, never mind dinner. Thus my current dilemma.

Pizza Night

Up this morning at 5:00 am and tested at 5:11am. Results:
Meter reading: 169
Weight: 213
Mood: Frustrated

Up on glucose, down on the weight. Sigh.

Only used one test strip this morning, so that is encouraging .

I was more careful on my proportions yesterday. Breakfast and lunch were the same as before. Dinner was salmon, a piece the length of my hand with a barley vegetable pilaf and rice. I Instead of broiling or sauteing salmon, a poached it with balsamic vinegar and honey. Maybe it was the honey, although I didn't use that much of it. The pilaf was excellent, a McDougall recipe made with with no fats. Under a McDougall plan, this is a main dish. I served it as a side. I had a cup's worth and filled up the plate with green beans. Mary loves green beans, so dinner went over well yesterday.

Did do a full fat burning 45 minutes on the bike this morning. Felt fine, if a little wobbly in the legs at the end. I also cranked the resistance up a bit.

Tonight is clean/pizza night. I will have a slice of pizza topped with turkey pepperoni, green peppers and onions. Typically, I also have a glass of wine. We usually clean the house on Thursday night during the winter months so we don't have to do it on the weekends. More good goof off time that way. The treat for our efforts is pizza, nature's most perfect food. We usually make our own. I make the dough. We like better than most pizzeria stuff, at least the pies from Domino's and Pizza Hut and it is serious competition from places like Star Pizza and Collina's, two of our favorite pizza places in Houston. We only get some take out when I don't make the dough.

Mini pizza review: We had some Domino's a few weeks ago. It's better than Pizza Hut's now, not as salty. If I had to make a choice and I am not too lazy to get it myself, we go to either Star or Collina's Joe's spinach/garlic pizza from Star is the best in town, I think. I could eat that everyday and not get tired of it. Same for pizza rustica at Collina's. It has Italian sausage, roasted red peppers and roasted eggplant.

Man I am getting hungry and I just finished my oatmeal. Lunch will be either half a leftover meatloaf sandwich brought home from The Petrol Station, a fave hangout of ours, or the left over barley/vegetable pilaf.