Chat Patti (Day 137)

Today (Wednesday) Kim and I were on the move most of the day. We trained back, got in our cardio, returned gifts, bought the essential veggie "Better Than Pig Ears" for the dogs, and met our friend A. for some Vegetarian Indian Food in the big city.

This is Kim's Chat Patti Special Chaat

Our workout nearly wiped us both out. Cardio on the treadmill for 30 minutes, incline 14.3, speed 4.2 to start out with. Next we began the resistance training with me doing 2 sets of pull-ups (Kim did spot me a little) before our first real word sets of lat pull downs, for 3 sets. Following the pull downs we did 3 sets of t-bar rows, 3 sets of y-bar rows, and 3 sets of straight arm press downs to finish up with. Back to the treadmill for 25 minutes of the same as before. By the end we were both running on fumes.

My Cheese Masala Dosa (Rice and lentil crepe filled with cheese and spiced potatoes and onions). Notice how it's larger than Kim's arm.

Once we returned home we rested a minute, changed clothes, and were off headed South towards Atlanta. We returned some of Kim's gifts from me, hit up Pet Smart for the hounds, and then began the long slow drive in the rain/sleet to get to Chat Patti, located somewhere Inside The Perimeter" near Druid Hills. Keep in mind that if the temp drops below 40 degrees and there is any precipitation, most drivers in the South freak. We saw no fewer than 4 wrecks on the interstate on the way into Atlanta, outbound was not so bad. Anyway, we got there a little early, walked around a very interesting Indian Import store, looked in the window of an Ethiopian restaurant we're gonna have to try one day, and then met A. for dinner. We really didn't know what to order, so we just ordered a lot. A. had an appetizer plate and some type of veggie pancake, Kim had a chat special (which was unbelievable), and some kinda pepper potato rice-ish bread thing and deep fried doughnut-like pepper. I had a Cheese Masala Dosa (HUGE crepe filled with cheese, potatoes, onions and spices, it was as long as Kim's arm) and an order do Dahi Sev Puri (fried flour crisp filled with fried flour noodles, potato, onions, split beans, spicy sauces and yogurt). Everything was delicious (Kim's pepper thing was the hottest pepper I've had in a while), but my favorite was Kim's chat special (spicy flour crisps topped w/deep fried rice and lentil doughnut & special ingredients). It had crazy flavor going on. Sweet, fruity, tangy, just things that should not work together, but through some kinda Indian cooking magic work perfectly. By the way, chat (or chaat) refers to a savory snack plate, typically served at road/rail side stalls and carts in India. Basically street food. I have a thing for street food. I love it. So of course I loved this place. Best Indian meal I've ever had? No. Really good? Yes.

My Dahi Sev Puri (Fried flour crisp filled with fried flour noodles, potato, onions, split beans, spicy sauces and yogurt). And no, I didn't eat it alone, we all shared.

Luckily I didn't eat much the rest of the day. Breakfast was maple brown sugar oatmeal, morning star sausage pattie, a banana, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was a small protein bar with peanut butter. Lunch was a NS chicken salad sandwich. Afternoon snack was the rest of the protein bar from earlier. Dinner was at Chat Patti (and did I mention how good it was?). Finally when we arrived back home last night I had one more bite of PB before heading to bed.

Kim's Deep Fried Hot Fingers. The hottest thing I've had in a while.

I had 1018 calories of NS food and protein bars before dinner yesterday. I'm gonna overestimate (I hope) and say I had a 2000 calorie Veggie Indian Extravaganza for dinner. So hopefully I didn't go over 3018 on the day.

BodyBugg Results For The Day
Calories Burned = 3675
Calories In =3018
Deficit =657

No where near my norm, but not bad for all of the veggie Indian goodness. All of this is based on me guessing the calories though, so who knows what I really took in.

Back to the gym tomorrow early and then off to a friend's house for NYE. Be safe everyone.

StairMaster(ed) (Day 136)

Today (Tuesday) we trained shoulders at the gym. Before the workout we got in 30 minutes on the treadmill at incline 14.2, speed 4.2. The weight training began with 3 sets of dumbbell military presses, then 3 sets of side lateral raises, followed by 3 sets of up right cable rows, and finally 3 sets of rear delts. We next tried something a little different for cardio. We jumped onto a StairMaster each and went to stepping for 15 minutes. It sucked, but not as bad as what I thought. Afterward we rode the stationary bikes for 15 more minutes to finish up our workout. Much later in the afternoon we took Jumping Jack Flash on a 2 mile walk. We were both exhausted late in the afternoon, with me taking a nap before the walk and Kim taking one after. I think the change in cardio wiped us both out.



Tomorrow we train early so Kim can attend our gym's version of a yoga class. We've got dinner in Atlanta with a high school classmate of Kim's. We're trying a small Indian vegetarian restaurant we've read a lot about. I think we have to return some Xmas gifts while we're in the city so we probably won't get in a dog walk tomorrow. I'll have to do all treadmill work tomorrow and hope I get some extra exercise walking around the mall with Kim.




I decided to add a few more calories to my meals today because I've felt so exhausted this evening. Most of the calories were in the form of peanut butter added to my snacks. Breakfast this morning was an apple strudel scone, facon, a banana, and a slice of bread. Lunch was a bowl of chili and a veggie chick'n patty. My afternoon snack was a fudge brownie with peanut butter. Dinner was veggie fajitas, veggie chorizo, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a few olives. Dessert this evening was a chocolate chip cookie with peanut butter. My morning snack which I now eat at night was a little blue cheese. I think with the extra PB and cheese (ate a little more than the oz I should have) my calories for the day were just under 2000. A lot more than usual, but I'm trying to vary the amount each day. Some days staying right at 1500, some at 2000, and some days in between.

Tuesday's BodyBugg Info
Burn = 3810
Calories in =2001
Deficit =1809

1st Workout With The BodyBugg

This morning after breakfast Kim and I walked JJF around the lake. We got in abou 2.3 miles in about 39 minutes, averaging about 3.5 mph. We were slowed by my stupid boot laces coming untied about 4 times, otherwise we would have finished a little quicker. It was frigid cold (well, cold to us here in the South). I think we're gonna try to walk the hounds a little later in the day for a while and see if it's more pleasant temperature wise.

After the walk we headed to our gym. 30 minutes of cardio to begin with. Incline 14.2, speed 4.2. Next we trained chest. We began with 3 sets of seated chest presses, followed by 3 sets of incline chest presses, then on to 3 sets of incline dumbbell presses, and finally Kim picked our last exercise of the workout to be cable flies for 3 sets (her other choice was push ups). Back to the treadmill for 10 minutes of jogging, then the elliptical for about 10 minutes. Ended up with about 89 minutes of cardio on the day. The BodyBugg reported 4090 calories burned on the day. I took in just under 1800 calories on the day. So I had a good deficit on the day. Maybe I can break today's burn record tomorrow!

I had a good food day. Double chocolate muffing, morning star sausage (yum), a banana, and a slice of bread for breakfast. Lunch was Mexican style tortilla soup and a morning star orgional chick patty. My afternoon snack was a white chocolate chunk cookie. Dinner was a thick crust pizza with chorizo and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Dessert was a chocolate crunch bar with peanut butter. My morning snack (now my after dessert, dessert) was about an ounce of St. Andre' cheese.



We train shoulders at the gym tomorrow. I think we're also gonna find a new game or two for our Wii. We need a better tennis game we can do battle in, and one additional controller so we can box against each other.

Cardio Sunday

First a little house keeping for the blog. All of my posts from here on out will be one day behind. So Sunday's post will go up on Monday, etc. The exception will be a brief Weigh In post each Monday Morning. This way I can add the data from the BodyBugg to each post (I plug it in each morning after I wake up).

Sunday was a cardio filled afternoon for me. Jumping Jack Flash and I took a 2+ mile walk just after lunch. I met my old training partner at the gym for some cardio work a little later. I began with 5 minutes of warm up walking before starting his 5's program. I started my portion of the 5's running at 5mph for 5 minutes, then 6mph for 5 minutes, then as I hit the 7mph increase I accidentally hit the kill switch on the treadmill and had to reset the damn thing. Once I had it running again I did 7mph for 2.5 minutes, then backed it off for 2 minutes before pushing back to 7 for 2.5 more minutes. By this point DJ was going around 8mph (he started @ 6mph) and nearly finished. I continued my interval work bouncing between 7 and 4mph until I had a total of 30 minutes knocked out. DJ split at this point and I reset the treadmill for an incline of 14.2 and speed of 4.2. 30 minutes at this intensity and then I moved on to the elliptical trainer for 15 minutes, and then finally 15 minutes on the bike. On the day I had around 2 hours of good cardio. The BB reported that I had burned 3996 calories during the day and taken around 17,000+ steps. I'm excited to see what it picks up during my workouts this week.

It was wonderful to be back fully on NS foods after the debauchery that was the last few days. Breakfast was a cinnamon bun, a banana, facon, and a slice of bread. Lunch was pasta with beef and a fake chicken patty. My afternoon snack was a fudge brownie. Dinner was an open faced sloppy joe, another fake chicken patty, broccoli with cheese sauce, & a couple of olives. Dessert was a double chocolate almond cookie. My morning dairy/protein I have started pushing until later in the day was some blue & brie cheese. On the day I took in just under 1500 calories (and didn't get hungry!)

I ended up with quite a calorie deficit on the day. Roughly 2500 calories. I had estimated something close to that, but I'm loving the feedback from the BB so far. I've ordered a digital display, watch looking thing to wear so that I'll have instant feedback & not have to wait until the next time I download to the computer to see how many calories I've burned. Still haven't made up my mind on a spinning bike. Part of the time I think I'd love having one so I could do an extra 30 minutes in the morning or in the evenings, and part of the time I think it's stupid to consider getting one. I only live about 2 miles from the gym. Who knows what I'll do. Maybe Kim will talk some sense into me & I won't buy one.

I did weigh in this morning (Monday). I'm hovering right around where I was last week. So I might have gained .3 pounds or so over Xmas. Outstanding. I was expecting something like a 10 pound increase!

Hopefully pics will return to the blog tomorrow. Some of my gear is still in the car from shooting Xmas dinners. Maybe I'll get it out and get setup sometime today (not looking good for breakfast though!).

4 Feasts In 3 Days & Any Recommendations On A Spinning Bike

Since Xmas eve Kim and I have attended 4 feasts in 3 days. I did begin my return to NS and the gym yesterday. I had NS breakfast and lunch yesterday along with about an hour and a half of treadmill work before our final Xmas dinner. So I've had a break from NS and now I feel recharged, stuffed, bloated, and ready to return to the lovely normality of NS foods. Here is a photo of our Turducken. It was a hit.



Kim and I got a Wii for Xmas and it's been kicking our asses. We're both sore in stupid places (fore arms, shoulders, back) from playing tennis, boxing, bowling, baseball, and golf. We also got the Wii Fit game and we've both discovered we have TERRIBLE balance. the fit game uses BMI to help determine your health and unfortunately makes your avatar (Mii) look like the BMI determination. So my Mii went from a nice looking avatar of me to a hugely bloated, swelled, fat, short, former version of me. Funny. BMI is a useless number, IMHO.

I also got a bodybugg for Xmas. I've been wearing it for about a day and a half now. I can't wait to see the results after a couple of my workouts and cardio sessions. It'll be great to have a better, more accurate idea of how many calories I'm burning daily. I'll post more info on it as I use it some more.

We're considering getting a spinning bike for the house. Lots of evening (or mornings) I would like to do some cardio before hitting the gym, or after dinner, or whatever. Anyone have any recommendations as to a particular brand or model. Our local gym doesn't offer spinning classes, so I'm really unfamiliar with what to look for in a model.

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Below is a slide show of pics from some of our Xmas feasts.

Beautiful Sunset Pic & Vid (Day 129)

This post is for Wednesday, Dec. 23rd, 2009.

I had an off schedule, screwed up kinda day. I got up early and planned on hitting the gym early, but I lost track of time while working on the computer and had to go to one of our properties before the gym. I switched cars with my dad (so he wouldn't have to drive the work truck to the golf course) and then was off. Once I returned to the farm to drop off Robein to bush hog, we had an unfortunate experience. As I put the truck in park (in the middle of a field) smoke began to pour out from under the hood. I made sure it wasn't running hot, left a message for my dad that I'd killed (or wounded) his truck, and hiked about a mile or so through our property back to my house. At least I got some cardio. I finally made it to the gym at about 3PM and got in a little over an hour of cardio. Afterward I had to drive dad and Robein home (once dad made it home with the Denali). I finally got back to the lake around dark and Kim and I walked the Pug for about a mile. We didn't have time to do much more as the great cooking/bake fest is in full swing now. Beautiful sunset last night. All I had was my iPhone, but here's a pic and a shot video.

By the way, the truck had some sort of problem with the water pump and will be running again tomorrow.








Pretty good day food wise. No hunger late in the day either. The pushing of the morning snack is working so far. Breakfast was a chocolate chip scone, facon, banana, and bread. Lunch was bean and ham soup and a veggie burger. My afternoon snack was a pack of chocolate rainbow delights. Dinner was macaroni and cheese with beef, cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce, and a slice of bread. Dessert was a fudge brownie. I also had a little bit of a late' as my morning snack. I think the calories were somewhere around 1750 for the day. I burned around 1350 at the gym. So I was somewhere around a 1750 calorie deficit for the day.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Back At It (Day 128)

Back to good old NS after the day off yesterday. I'm trying my new plan of shifting my morning snack until after dinner.

Breakfast was lowfat granola cereal, facon, a banana, and a slice of bread. Lunch was cheese tortellini and a veggie burger. My afternoon snack was a peanut butter cookie. Dinner was a new item for me, BBQ sauce over beef, beans and rice. It was pretty good. Reminded me of the mixture of tuna, rice, and bbq sauce I used to live on in college. Along with it I had another veggie burger and broccoli with cheese sauce. Dessert this evening was a chocolate chip cookie. My other dessert (morning snack I moved) was a little cheese. I finished the day just over 1500 calories and had no issues with hunger this evening.

I only did cardio at the gym today because I had to hurry home and WAIT all day on a furniture delivery. They narrowed the window of delivery between 7AM and 10PM. Thanks. For cardio I did 60 minutes on the treadmill, incline 14.1, speed 4.2. Then I moved to the bike for 10 minutes on the interval training program. I burned around 1300 calories. Not to bad. I may only train cardio the rest of this week and give myself a little rest on the weights. Not sure yet though.

I spent the rest of my day doing bookwork and returning phone calls since I could not leave the house. The furniture was finally delivered around 5:30 this evening. It was the final pieces of our sofa we bought months ago. So we finally have a full sofa now.

More Shopping, a Day Off From NS & Two Cute Videos (Day 127)

Kim and I spent Monday finishing up most of our Xmas shopping. I decided to take a day off from NS. I still did an hour plus of cardio before we left, but no weight training.

We had lunch at one of our favorite Indian restaurants. We've never been during the lunch buffet so we took advantage and tried several different dishes we'd never ordered before. Afterward we completed our shopping for the day. We had tickets to see Avatar at 3:30 and needed to kill some time so we went to the Yellow Deli in Chattanooga for some tea. I had a cup of Eggnog Chai Late' and we split a slice of pumpkin pie. Delicious.



Avatar was amazing. A visually stunning movie. We saw it in 3D and if you have the opportunity, go see it. Kim's not really a fan of scifi type movies but she loved it. We talked about it all night and every hour or so she would just say, "Wow, that was great."



After the movie we went to a going away party for a monk Kim volunteers with. Brother Ron is off to Puerto Rico and then to Hawaii until March. At the dinner I had what I consider to be the best burger in Chattanooga at the Terminal, just beside the Chattanooga Choo Choo.



Kim with Brother Ron



We had a wonderful day and not fretting over calories and the ongoing battle between me and the perpetual Monday WI was nice. No worries, no regrets. Back at it tomorrow and Wednesday. Thursday I'm still gonna train and do NS for breakfast and lunch but then have a nice meal with the family (my TURDUCKEN!).

Finally, below is a video or two we love to do each year. Enjoy! (the videos will play better if you press play, then pause and let the video load fully, then press play again - it should eliminate the choppiness in the feed)

Hip Hop Elf Yourself from Zane Hollingsworth on Vimeo.

Elf Yourself from Zane Hollingsworth on Vimeo.

Bounce, Bounce (Weigh In)

I weighed in this morning about 6AM. I weighed 209.6. I got the bounce I was afraid of. Next week will be a hard week to post a loss, but I'll have at least 5 "normal" days to train and eat well. I'm gonna try moving my snack to later in the day to help with the late evening hunger. We'll see how that goes.

Worried About Tomorrow's WI & a Bokeh Xmas Photo (Day 126)

After our feast yesterday I had an "on" plan day today. Oddly enough I wasn't hungry at all today. I don't know if it was from eating real food last night, or maybe because I finally satisfied the cravings I was suffering from, or if it was due to moving my morning snack until after dinner this evening. Either way, I am very pleased that I'm not sitting around driving my self crazy fighting the nightly evening hunger.

It was quite cold for North Georgia today, but Kim, the Pug, and I managed to get in a 2 mile walk after lunch. We also made our way to the gym and got in another 50+ minutes of cardio and trained chest. We are headed North tomorrow to Chattanooga for some shopping and we decided to get our weight training in today. We did 3 sets of bench presses, 3 sets of incline presses, 3 sets of decline presses, and 3 sets of machine flies. Good workout for a Sunday.

For breakfast today I had an apple strudel scone, facon, bread, and a banana. Lunch was a grilled chicken patty and cheesy home-style potatoes. My afternoon snack was a NS peppermint cookie, which by the way was delicious. Dinner was another new item, mashed potatoes with home-style beef and gravy. Pretty good too. Dessert this evening was a double chocolate almond cookie. And my morning snack (post dessert today) was a little blue cheese.

I have a feeling my WI will be up a little tomorrow. Between eating the real food yesterday and battling the hunger all week I'm sure I'll have a little bounce. I did train well all week and got in plenty of cardio so I know I had a good week overall. Hopefully I'm through with the cravings for a bit and can have a good week (Xmas and all) next week and keep the overall moving average for the past four weeks headed downward.

Finally here's a pic of Kim from a shoot tonight using my parent's Xmas Tree. Check out the cool little effect I made on the lights in the background. It's my custom Christmas Tree Bokeh effect. If you're interested in some boring photography info on how I shot this check out my personal/photo blog here.

No Hunger or Cravings Tonight (Day 125)

Good news. Tonight I experienced no wild cravings or late evening hunger. Why? What did I do differently? Tonight we ate our first Xmas dinner of the holiday season. I had a plate of real food and tried small amounts of a couple of desserts. I was also Kim's official croissant/food taster during the day as she finished cooking. The only other foods I had today were my NS breakfast of Blueberry Muffins, facon, bread, and a banana. Lunch was a croissant and cheesy home style potatoes. I rolled afternoon snack, morning snack, dinner, and dessert into my big holiday meal and desserts. Not ideal, but much better than any other year. Typically I'd have had at least 3 large plates of food, plus multiple large desserts. Tonight was one plate of food and then the very small desserts.

I did train today even though my legs are wrecked from yesterday's workout. I did over an hour of cardio on the treadmill, incline 14.2, speed 4.1. I also trained calves. 3 sets seated and 3 sets standing. Tomorrow we'll get in some cardio at the gym and maybe walk some dogs (weather permitting).

Below is a set of photos of Kim's baking and some of the food from tonight's feast. Enjoy. (PS - These photos were not shot with my usual gear. I didn't feel like carrying a big dslr with me, so we took the Canon G11 and let it shoot shoot everything with a high ISO).

The Great Turkey Hot Dog Farce & Our Altered Leg Work Out (Day 124)

I consider myself to be somewhat of a hot dog enthusiast. I've loved hot dogs since I was a child. Terrible red hot dogs from the old Super D in town. Nasty foot longs form the local Sonic Drive In. Even nastier Polish Sausages from any hot dog cart I can find. Some of the best were from the Hot Dog Man in Athens while I was at UGA (he was open almost all night). I used to frequent a local place that had hot dogs (how ever you wanted them, chili, slaw, onions, whatever) for a quarter each. I ate hot dogs from that place every day (they finally raised their price to 75 cents each, damn inflation). So what I'm trying to say is I've eaten lots of hot dogs and I really like them. Today I tried the new NS "Turkey Hot Dog". It was not a hot dog. The consistency was all wrong. Think mushy, non solid, not even firm, tube of warm meat-ish material. It smelled and tasted very similar to a vienna sausage. That's all well in good if you wanted a vienna sausage. But if you had it in your head that you were gonna get a "hot dog", well you're gonna be greatly disappointed. The overall experience wasn't terrible, but they should have called it a jumbo vienna sausage. The worst part of the entire meal is now I'm FIENDING for a real hot dog. Like my mouth is watering while I sit here dreaming of a juicy, well grilled hot dog. Maybe a stadium dog from any MLB ball park would do. How long is it until opening day?

Friday is our leg day at the gym. It is sorta like a religious experience for me. Over the years the workout has mellowed somewhat, but it would still bury most folks. I usually don't get to fancy, I stick to a good bread and butter type workout of squats, presses, extensions, etc. I also follow a very regimented routine (as I do most days, but especially on leg days) concerning my pre-workout meals, rest, activities, etc. I love my routine. It keeps me comfortable, focused, and all in all a happy camper. If my routine gets altered (which is unavoidable sometimes, I understand) I'm upset. My timing is thrown, my meals are off, my rest is gone, my day becomes a mass of confusion. Today, just before I was about to prepare to leave for the gym my father calls and I have to head to meet him in at one of our properties. So Kim and I go meet, check out what we needed to see, and then head back to the gym. Ordinarily this would have just pushed us back by about 45 minutes or so, but today we had to be home in time to meet an appliance repair person (who is still a no show at this point) to fix one of our two ovens (Kim is about to begin the great cooking fest of 2009). So we have to really alter our workout. The usual workout begins with 30 minutes of cardio, then we train legs for about an hour, followed by 30 more very pitiful minutes of cardio. Today we had exactly 1 hour to train and get home. I decided we'd train hard and fast for an hour. No cardio at all. We'd changed up the exercises, # of reps, order of exercises, and go hard. Instead of 4 exercises with 3 sets each, today we did 3 exercises with 4 sets each. We began with leg extensions (which we usually finish with). Kim asked after the 2nd set, "Are we doing 4 of these bitches?" That would be yes. Then we did 4 sets of lunges, fun. Finally we jumped (no we didn't, we did good not to fall out of it) on the horizontal leg press for 4 sets. We kept our reps reasonably high and knocked out all 12 sets (for each person) in less than 25 minutes. Hamstrings came next. We kinda fell back towards the old routine for 'hams doing 3 sets of leg curls, then 3 sets of standing leg curls, and finally 3 sets of hyper-extensions. I nearly blacked out after each set of hyper-extensions. Some might think this is a little strange, I think it's a sign of a decent workout. Vomiting is a sign of a great workout.

I've had a relatively good food day. Breakfast was lowfat granola cereal, facon, a banana, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was a chocolate crunch bar. Lunch was the aforementioned "hot dog" along with a spinach pancake. I also had about 4 steamed shrimp as a snack. My afternoon snack was a chocolate peanut butter bar with a little real peanut butter. Dinner was lasagna, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a curry veggie burger. Dessert tonight was a white chocolate chunk cookie with peanut butter. During the evening I also had a little cheese and a few shrimp.

Kim has started the great bake/cooking fest '09 today. Made from scratch croissants, bacon/liver pate', and cream puffs all for the dinner we are going to tomorrow evening. I got to taste the pate' and have a bite of bacon. BACON TASTES GOOD.

Tomorrow I'm gonna get to the gym rather early to get in plenty of cardio (since I missed all of it today). I'm already a little sore from the workout this morning, so cardio might be an adventure.

SW Chicken Wrap Review & Kim's 1st Arm Workout (Day 123)

Our day began with with us headed to the gym. Kim is back to 100% so she was on the treadmill beside me for 30 minutes, incline 14.1, speed 4.1 to begin our workout. We began the lifting with triceps. 3 sets of press downs, 3 sets of overhead presses, and 3 sets of rope press downs. For biceps we began with 3 sets of seated incline curls, then 3 sets of standing dumbbell curls, and finished with 3 sets of 21's (7 reps from start to midpoint, 7 from midpoint to top, and 7 full reps) with a straight bar. Back to the treadmill for 30 more minutes before heading home.

Pretty good food day. I began with a chocolate chip scone, facon, a slice of bread, and a banana for breakfast. My morning snack was a cup of yogurt. Lunch was cheese tortellini and a chicken patty. My afternoon snack was a fudge brownie with a small amount of peanut butter. Dinner was the new SW chicken wrap. Pretty good. I thought it might be more like the veggie fajita, but it had more of the zesty cajun chicken and rice taste. I added some cholula (hot sauce) and a little low fat cheese and it went down quite well. I actually like the bbq and buffalo wraps a little better (I know others have not liked those, but what can I say, I'm gross and I like gross stuff?). Dessert was a chocolate chip cookie with a little peanut butter. I still was hungry after my dessert (continuing a recent theme) so I had bite of Kim's crab legs (no butter, just crab) and then a little (less than an oz) of blue cheese. I still kept my calories below 1750-ish for the day.

Leg. Day. Tomorrow. This will be Kim's 2nd leg workout. We'll increase the intensity a little and vary the routine a bit. She didn't get to sore last week, just a little weak/tired after the workout.

Turducken & Late Night Hunger (Day 122)

I'm still battling my late evening hunger issues. I did much better tonight. I didn't have my NS dessert because I'd had a protein bar earlier in the day and I wanted to stay under 1700-ish calories on the day. Late this evening I had a few strawberries and about an oz of blue cheese. 150-200 calories at most so I think I stayed around my mark on the day. I was hungry though. I just handled it better today.

My TURDUCKEN arrived today. We placed it into the freezer and re-read the cooking instructions. It doesn't appear to be very difficult to prepare. I'll shoot lots of photos during the prep and consumption of this monster.

Kim didn't feel well again this morning, but decided to go to the gym anyway. She pedaled slowly on the bike as I did my first 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill. Then we began our back workout. I started with TWO SETS of pull-ups. This is the first time since I was in college that I've done multiple sets of pull-ups. 9 reps the first set and 6 horrible reps the second set. We moved on to the y-bar for 3 sets, then the t-bar for 3, next onto the seated row machine for 3 sets, and finally finished with 3 sets of lat pull-downs. Back to the treadmill for me (and the bike for Kim) for 30 minutes. After returning home and having lunch, I had to take a brief nap I was so exhausted.

I've had a decent food day. For breakfast I had an apple strudel scone, facon, a banana, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was a cup of yogurt. Lunch was vegetable beef soup and a veggie burger. My afternoon snack was a tiny bag of chocolate rainbow delights. Somewhere between the snack and dinner I had the remainder of a protein bar and a few bites of peanut butter. Dinner was veggie fajitas, fake veggie chorizo, bread, and cauliflower with cheese sauce. No dessert, but I did have the strawberries and blue cheese late.

Tomorrow we hit the gym to train arms along with our cardio, then I have a feeling I may have to take another nap.....

Training Alone & Staying Hungry (Day 121)

Kim wasn't feeling well, my mom was a no show, and DJ has been out of town so I trained alone today. 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill before starting my workout. I trained shoulders today, which if I had to pick a body part to train alone, shoulders would be it. I began with 3 sets of military presses, followed by 3 sets of side lateral raises, then on to 3 sets of upright rows, and finished up with 3 sets of rear delts. Back to the treadmill for 30 more minutes to finish up my exercise for the day.

Easy, good food day. I began with a double chocolate muffin, facon, a banana, and a slice of bread for breakfast. I forgot my morning snack (d'oh). Lunch was a veggie burger with a cup of NS chili with beans. My afternoon snack was a coconut almond bar. Dinner this evening was a new item, the buffalo chicken wrap. It looks really orange. Tasted ok. I added some cheese and a little cholula and it was pretty good. Along with wrap I had a sweet potato pancake, and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Dessert this evening was a double chocolate almond cookie with a little peanut butter added on top. Since I forgot my morning snack I decided to have a little cheese after dinner, so I cut a few bites of my newest cheese, Blue Hill. Very nice raw milk blue cheese. I also had a little bit of a protein bar throughout the day.

Since increasing my cardio to a full hour at the gym I'm still having cravings/being hungry after dinner-dessert. I don't have any issues with hunger during the day at all, only after my last meal. I haven't really noticed the hunger on the weekends though. Maybe it's just because I'm eating later on the weekends, or maybe because I typically don't train as long those days. Not sure. I think I'm still burning ~1500 calories during my workouts, so adding a little more protein/calories doesn't bother me. Add that to what I think is about a 500-700 calorie deficit from the NS diet, and I'm still pulling ~2000 calorie deficit totals at least 5 days a week. See, I'm trying to convince myself the cheese/protein/peanut butter is OK on occasion.

Kim plans to be back at the gym tomorrow for our back workout. Maybe I'll remember to snap a pick of us as we train one day to post....

Went Shopping & Now I'm Beat (Day 120)

Today Kim and I trained chest at the gym. Of course we began with 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, incline 13.5, speed 4.0. The workout was all machines today. 3 sets of seated chest press, then 3 sets of reclined chest press, followed by 3 sets of incline chest press, and finally 3 sets of machine flies. Back to the treadmill for me, incline 14, speed 4.0 for 30 minutes. Kim rode a little on the bike and then walked around a neighborhood while I finished up on the treadmill (she couldn't stand the boredom of the cardio any longer.

I've had a good, not necessarily "on" plan day. Breakfast was a banana nut muffin, veggie canadian bacon (not so good, I'll have to try cooking it differently), a banana, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was a cup of yogurt. Lunch was a curry veggie burger and cheesy homestyle potatoes. My afternoon snack was a double fudge bar. Dinner was Indian Masala Tofu, a bite of left over crab cakes, and a salad. My dessert was a chocolate crunch bar. I also had 1/2 a smoothie while shopping with my mother at a mall this afternoon.

Shopping today nearly did me in. Today was probably the first time I've been in a mall in 6 months. The good news is that I more or less finished my Xmas shopping. I realized I know nothing about clothes, or fashion. I looked at a few items of clothing, gave up and asked where the old people clothes were located. They pointed me in the direction of the golf apparel. Much better.

Weigh In & How I Spent Sunday (Day 119)

First off, my Monday morning weigh in, then on to the adventures of yesterday.

I weighed this morning and was pleased (thrilled) to see the readout of 206.1. That's down 4.6 pounds from last week! Total lost on NS is now 68.9 pounds! Total lost since my heaviest (which was ~288) is 81.9 pounds! On NS I've averaged losing .57 pounds per day. Not. Too. Shabby. I'm now with sight of my first goal weight of 200, but I'm gonna go down to at least 190. So I'm very happy and ready to get to the gym to start another productive week on plan!

How I spent my Sunday.

Sunday was the day my sister scheduled her son's first birthday party. Kim and I loaded some of my photography gear into the Denali, picked up my grandmother, and drove in the nasty, foggy, icky weather to my sister's place for the party. We were greeted by the Amazing Screaming Oliver, who did not like how things were going as we were setting up for the party. He soon calmed down and everyone had a very nice time. I shot a couple of hundred frames and spent all night selecting and editing the photos. If your interested, here's a set from the day.




I was very well behaved, food wise at the party. Among the items I saw laid out to feed upon were little sausages wrapped in bacon, chicken salad, BIRTHDAY CAKE, fudge, etc. I had exactly 1 bacon wrapped sausage, a bite (not a piece, but a bite) of fudge, a taste (which is less than a bite) of chicken salad, and 1/2 a slice of birthday cake. The cake was amazing. Cream cheese icing! Before NS I'd have eaten no fewer than 4 huge slices. I'm impressed with my new self control and mindset concerning food.

After the party wrapped up Kim and I headed to Pappadeux for a little meal. We had some oysters (raw), large shrimp, and crab claws. We also split a lobster salad. We managed to eat less than 1/2 the salad and brought the rest home. After our meal we drove to the Whole Foods market to grab a few items needed for Kim's upcoming cooking extravaganza. The main things I found were a wedge of mushroom infused cheese that I love, a little Brie to try, and a Blue Hill blue cheese. Unfortunately, I loved all of the new cheeses. Now to exercise moderation and self control. We also had to find some chocolate covered espresso beans and we were shocked to find bags and bags of them in the chocolate covered nut area of the store. I sampled a couple once we were home and they are delicious. 7.2 calories each! I also found a new peanut butter. It is an organic peanut butter with white chocolate. Less calories than normal peanut butter (only by 10, but that IS less) and delicious! I'm a hot tea drinker and I was delighted to find a chocolate tea. It is caffeinated (which is fine with me) and when served with a little fat free 1/2 & 1/2 and some zero calorie sweetener, it's just magical. It is called Double Dark Chocolate Mate'. I also grabbed some new 7 spice chai and a sampling of Darjeeling.

One final note. If you're in the Atlanta area, or just love reading about good food (I assume all of us do) I want to point you in the direction of The Blissful Glutton. She's a great food blogger, trained chef, and has NEVER disappointed when I try one of her reviewed restaurants. She just returned from her honeymoon in Paris and is detailing the meals from the trip. Enjoy.

More New Foods (Day 118)

This post is for Saturday, December 12th, 2009.

I had a very slow, lazy kinda day. My exercise for the day was a 2 mile walk with Kim and JJF in the near freezing cold during the afternoon. Jack began the walk wearing a little fleece sweater, but by about half way, he had managed to run through a mud puddle and tear the sweater mostly off. He finally refused to take another step until we removed it. Then he was off to the races. I felt very good, but Kim was experiencing some leg soreness from our Friday workout. She did very well and we finished our walk averaging about .2 mph less than usual. Leg soreness, combined with very cold air (for North Ga., anyway) and a dog wardrobe malfunction, I thought we did very well.

Good food day. Not perfect, but good. Breakfast was a new item for me, the cinnamon bun. I nuked it a little to much, but it was still good. It is a little on the small side, but by the time I added a banana, yogurt, and a slice of bread I was very full. My morning snack was a little strange. I think I had to much banana (I know I did) with my yogurt smoothie at breakfast, so I didn't have a fruit with my snack. I did have my dinner portion of bread and added a Morning Star Chick'n Patty as a protein and made a little sandwich. The sandwich had both protein and veggie servings (to many for a morning snack) so for lunch I only had a chocolate caramel bar. First time I'd tried it and I liked it as well. My afternoon snack was a chocolate chip cookie with a little peanut butter added. Dinner was another new item for me. BBQ Pork Wrap & it was good! The pork reminded me of the same taste as an old Pizza Hut BBQ Pizza, or maybe a Sonic BBQ sandwich (both of which are no longer available). Maybe it reminded me of the BBQ sandwiches we were served in high school, I'm not sure. Anyway, it reminded me of something and I liked it (took me a lot of typing to say that!). Along with the wrap I had 2 servings of cauliflower with cheese sauce. Dessert was a coconut almond bar. Kim went out to dinner with an old classmate and brought me home a small cream cheese brownie. I cut a small piece (about 1/4) and it was delicious. I'm gonna have a little more for breakfast and let Kim have the rest.

Sunday we're headed to my sister's place in Atlanta to celebrate her son's first birthday. I've got photo duty so expect a few pics soon. I'm gonna limit my food at the party to just a taste of a few things. I may have to stop at my favorite Indian place for some palak peneer on the way home (don't worry, it's not goat brains, it's spinach with Indian cheese).






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Sloppy Joe, Chocolate Rainbow Delights Review & Kim's First Leg Workout (Day 117)

So far I've read nothing good about the new Sloppy Joe Meal. This is concerning to me because I loved it. Have my taste buds become so acclimated (jaded?) to NS that I now PREFER NS foods? First off, the Sloppy Joe meal is a vegetarian meal (soy protein, according to Kim, I didn't take the time to read the label, I just ate it). Of course this NS version doesn't taste like a real sloppy joe, but it's somewhat similar. Add some mustard and you're really close. I'll definitely add more of these to my next order.

I tried the Chocolate Rainbow Delights for my afternoon snack. Big surprise, I liked these too. The only drawback is the serving size. Miniature food. Tasty, but small. I'll add more of these next month too.

Today was Kim's first leg workout since her return to the gym. We began with 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, speed 4.0, incline 13.5. We began the workout with Kim on the leg press machine as I was on the true squat machine for 3 sets. Next Kim moved to squats and I moved to the hack squat machine for 3 sets. Our next exercise Kim did 3 sets of lunges as I did 3 sets on the leg press. We both moved to the leg extension machine for 3 sets next. Hamstrings followed. We began with 3 sets of standing leg curls, followed b 3 sets of seated leg curls, and finished with 3 sets of hyper-extensions. We returned to the treadmill for 10 more minutes before calling it a day.

Good food day today. Breakfast was another new item, the Double Chocolate Muffins. Nuked them for a few seconds and they were lovely. Along with the muffins I had a yogurt banana smoothie and a slice of bread. My morning snack was a cup of yogurt. Lunch was a veggie burger with cheesy homestyle mashed potatoes. My afternoon snack was the new chocolate rainbow delights. Dinner was the new sloppy joe, with 3 servings of broccoli and cheese sauce. Dessert this evening was a caramel chocolate bar. I heated it up a bit and it was yummy!

Two more pics for you. The first is just silly. It's my stash of NS food. I not only have all of my food, but I have a lot of Kim's food too. Once I reach my goal and begin to transition back to non NS food, I will have plenty of meals to use during the process. The second pic is of Kim, Belle, Santa, Jumping Jack Flash & I. This photo is this year's Xmas card. It was taken at a local pet rescue during their annual fund raiser



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A Couple of New NS Foods, & Kim Can Still Cook (Day 116)

This post is for Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Kim had various errands to run so I was off to the gym alone today. I began with 30 minutes on the treadmill, incline 13.5, speed 4. My workout today was biceps and triceps. Triceps were first up. 3 sets of press downs, 3 sets of overhead presses, and finishing up with 3 sets of rope press downs. Biceps began with 3 sets of standing dumbbell curls, followed by 3 sets of seated incline curls, and finally 3 sets of straight bar pulley curls (I did what we call 21's for the final 3 sets, 7 from the bottom to the mid-point, 7 from mid-point to top, and 7 full reps). Back to the treadmill for 30 more minutes of the same before heading home.

I had a very good food day, until about 10PM. Breakfast was a chocolate chip scone, facon, a banana, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was yogurt. Lunch was vegetarian chili with a Morning Star Original Chick'n Patty. My afternoon snack was a chocolate chip cookie with a tiny about of peanut butter. For dinner I tried one of the new meals. Swedish Style Meatballs with Pasta. Not to bad. Not really Swedish Meatballs, but not to bad. Along with the NS meal I had corn, peas, and cauliflower in cheese sauce. My dessert was a coconut almond bar, with a little peanut butter. I really like the new bar. Kinda creamy on the inside. I'll most definitely order more. Kim got home late from a meeting in Chattanooga and brought home 1/2 a slice of pizza. It had pesto, spinach, black olives, and onions. It was delicious. I think this is the first taste of real pizza I've had in months. 1/2 a slice is so much better than the WHOLE pizza I used to get her to bring home to me. Not to mention this had no meat, before it would have been no veggie!









Kim had a practice run with some items she is going to cook for Xmas yesterday. One was a tart which had olives, smoked cheese, and other savory goodies. Another was zucchini rolls stuffed with a cream cheese. The final (my favorite) was a cheese pastry stuffed with an olive. Delicious. Thankfully she took all of the with her to her meeting in Chattanooga and everything was consumed there. I did snap a few pics though.

Leg day tomorrow. Get ready Kim.