Look At The E-Lungs On Me

Explanation for the title – I am known at work for my pipes.  The first person to be recorded for voice over was me, and the first thing they asked me to do was scream.  Note that this was back in the day to get some test sounds (although, I think it got worked into a monster in game), and this was just in an office.  I opened up and screamed as loud as I could and they could hear it the next floor down.  So I have a reputation.  I have been asked to summon everyone in the office and have just done it yelling from the back corner.  Hey, what can I say, I was a theatre minor, I was educated to PROJECT to a whole auditorium.  So I have some pipes on me.  I can be very long and loud.  I also have some e-pipes, because this is a looooooong post.  Standard-ish disclaimer:

What follows is a long and detail-oriented numbers orgy of everything I did last week.  Abandon all hope, ye who enter here…

So this week has been an interesting ride.  Definitely an enlightening experience – it’s been a while since I’ve been this stringent with my intake and this analytical with my bad self.  It was weird being hungry, and not fulfilling my hunger.  It was weird worrying about the calorie count of everything.  It was strange equating exercise to how much I could eat each day.  It’s been a while since I really considered alcohol calories as part of my day’s calories instead of letting it be an acceptable overage.  So how did it unfold?

Some notes:

I am undercutting what Daily Burn is telling me is my goal by 100 calories (they are saying 1300-1550, I’m going for 1200).  Daily Burn is telling me I will lose about .75 lb per week on their plan, and I’d rather try for 1 – 1.25.  I haven’t shorted myself calories for a while and feeling pretty strong, I’m not training for anything specific, and I’d like to shed this fluffy sooner than later (as long as it’s healthy) so I can go back to not worrying about it so much.

I am trying to use very conservative workout estimates of calories expended.  I’m getting most sources saying that a mile run for me is about 125 calories burned, and the effort feels like about a 6 on the 1-10 scale if I do it in 10 minutes.  So I’ve been comparing what I’m doing to running.  30 mins arc trainer going hard is honestly about equal to about 30 mins easy running (so about 375 – 400 calories is valid).  600 calories for a 30 minute DDR course is NOT equal to 1.5 times as hard as 3 mile run, so I’m setting that more like 300 every 30 minutes.  If I really bust ass at my weights I’ll set them as circuit training (250 calories) but most times I’ll count them as pilates (150).

Hold on to your hats.  Time for a day by day…

Monday:

Mood: Excited to get this party started.  Felt sorta bloated and icky from lots of salt and food the day before so I was definitely ready for a little regulation.

Exercise thoughts: still a little tired/sore from the duathlon, so I decided to do 30 mins on the arc trainer and weights at the gym instead of running. Burned approximately 600 calories.

Food thoughts: got a foot long turkey (no cheese, no mayo) for lunch, and could have probably been ok with just a 6 inch and maybe some soup.  However, eating a bit more later in the day (around 4) helped me feel more satiated.  Definitely felt the post workout munchies but since I was not as hungry as normal, I resisted until dinner.  Trying to eat 1800 calories was actually pretty challenging – but I made it to 1791.  Fruit bar (natural fruit popsicles) for desert – very satisfying.

Rating: A

Tuesday:

Mood: pretty happy – it was a short workday because we had lunch and a movie outing (to see Clash of the Titans).   A little nervous about making good choices but optimistic.

Exercise: got up in the morning and did 30 mins DDR before work.  Burned about 300 calories.

Food: was an angel at the movie – got an asian chicken salad, no wontons, and only used about half the dressing.  There may have been one glass of wine though.. At around 3pm, I dug into my fridge and ate a greek yogurt.  I realized it was because I felt a little grumpy about so much junk food being consumed around me – and I felt entitled to a reward.  Not thrilled with the motivation, but the actual food consumed – bueno.  At dinner, I went back for a little bit of seconds after I was decently satiated (oops), and ended up 68 calories over (1568).  No desert or snackies though!

Rating: B+

Wednesday:

Mood: was up EXTREMELY early to get my run in, work a 10 hour day, then go to this event after work.  So a little tired and crunchy.

Exercise: got up at 7:30 (middle of the night for me now but working my way back to it) and ran 3.5 miles before work.  Burned 400 calories.

Food: specifically ordered a low cal lunch (small quiznos sammich with no dressing and bowl of chicken noodle), but it was about an hour and a half late and I was STARVING.  To the point where I could barely concentrate on work.  Then, when the food got there, it was only a cup of soup.  Y’know what though?  It was enough.  I was JUST satisfied and ended up making it through without dying.  I ate a strange early dinner of leftover turkey breast from a bag (bag-o-meat) and blackberries, and then headed to the event.  I was never so glad that the food was just discounted, not free, so I just had 2 drinks and shared a slider plate with 2 other people.  This was a big breakthrough day.  I can handle this without shutting myself in a locked room, I just have to ditch the “oh, it’s a special occasion” mindset when stuff like this happens every week, and such I did.  Ended the day at 1622 calories (goal was 1600).

Rating: A-.  Gotta be honest.  There was alcohol.  There was a slider.  But I stayed within my calories and got my workout in.

Thursday:

Mood: Had to take the leezard in to be spayed today.  Nervous and feeling anxious all day.  Not the finest day for me.

Exercise: None.  I had planned on a resistance band workout at least, but it just wasn’t in the cards.

Food: It was pizza day at work.  On a day that was stressful and was a lo cal limit AND I was hungry… this was not optimal.  I had 2 slices and a salad and it JUST got me to barely not being hungry (pizza is yummy, but is horribly unsatisfying – left to my own devices and oblivion, I could probably take down a whole one myself).  It’s a good thing the day was very busy or I would have been struggling.  I headed home and we took care of the leezard and then I cooked up a nice, filling, healthy stir fry and pork noodle soup.  I ended the day at just under 1300 calories (1295).  The goal was 1200 but I just think that little is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for me without a lot of pain and discomfort.

Rating: B

Friday:

Mood: A little crispy crunchy but definitely happy it’s Friday (especially once I found out we weren’t working the weekend).

Exercise: it was too pretty.  I had to skip the gym and I went for a 6.5 mile run outside instead.  Planned about 4 miles but just couldn’t stop myself.  Burned about 700 calories.

Food: Got an opportunity to have a wonderful, tasty, filling, huge, and 450 calorie lunch (I <3 Jason’s Deli mediteranian wraps + veggies + veggie soup) so I had a great start.  I had planned on dinner at the bar (out for a friend’s birthday), and got a veggie burger and a salad (neither were the greatest, but they worked for fillingness).  I had exactly TWO fries from someone’s plate and TWO chips with queso.  I sat next to the cupcakes for a while and shot them enough evil death stares that they stopped bugging me eventually.  Ended the day (even with a good dose of whiskey) at 1817 (goal was 1800).

Rating: B+

Saturday:

Mood: Happy, relaxed, but somewhat hung over (oops).

Exercise: Rallied later in the day to do about 60 mins story mode DDR and a 30 minute ab and arm workout.  Burned about 500 calories.

Food: Started the day with Zliten just begging for food.  It was 10am.  The choices were brunch buffet, and breakfast food place (ihop, etc).  Chose brunch buffet because I knew I could get a gigantic, yummy salad with mostly salsa dressing (dash o ranch) and tortilla soup and that would mostly do me.  I picked at a few additional things but ended up with about 750 calories – better than I expected.  Later, we made the leftover udon noodles and stir fry for a late light lunch, and then for dinner had grilled fish, rice, and veggies.  I went 53 over my goal (1700), but for a weekend day I feel like it was a mad success.  I usually lose it and am done giving a shit by Saturday night if not before.

Rating: A-

Sunday:

Mood: Happy and productive.  A little cabin fever-y since we stayed home most of Saturday.

Exercise: Beyond a LOT of shopping, nada.

Food: I found bagel thins at the grocery store and JUST HAD to try them.  Pretty yummy for a bagel craving with some fat free cream cheese and some bacon (oddly enough, this was my lunch sandwich packed throughout late elementary, middle, and the first two years of high school, alternated with PBJ or PBH (honey) – I could not STAND lunchmeat until I was about 16).  I got a mango at the store and it was like candy.  Yum!  I’ll have to remember to get them once in a while.  Tried a black bean burger with some manwhich sauce (worked as a stand in for beef, but wasn’t nearly as good) for lunch.  Had some delicious homemade tandoori chicken for dinner.  I found sadly that I was way over my calories (1489, goal was 1200), but I just had no umph to workout by then.  I’d say that I just fell apart, but under 1500 calories on a weekend day?  I’ll call that a win.

Rating: C

Weekly Stats:

Rating: B+ average

Ate 11335 calories (1619 per day)

Burned 2500 calories (357 per day)

Average cals/day = 1262

Considering the sit-on-your-ass-all-day sedentary BMR for my weight and age is 1812, that’s about a 550 calorie deficit per day, or just over 1 lb lost.

Weight: Well, I screwed up here.  I was so embarassed by day 1, that I forgot to write down a weight.  Fuck it.  So I gained a bunch of weight.  Let’s just quantify it here and now.  Last Monday, I weighed in at 163.0.  Today, I weighed in at 161.2.  Net loss: 1.8 lbs. Even though I’m way above my maintenance weight I’m pretty sure y’all will still be my friends.

I still have a bunch of learning experience stuffs to cover and what’s on tap this week, but I think you’ve sat still for long enough today and I’ll continue on this train of thought tomorrow.

If you’ve still stuck around (you must be a saint, or incredibly bored), hit me up.  Too many calories?  Too few?  Where is your sweet spot of calories burnt vs eaten?  Do you ever intentionally go beyond that, or do less and eat less?