Entry 2/11/09

Weight: 235.5 Lbs

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, slice of whole wheat toast, cup of coffee with creamer, sweetener, cocoa. Breakfast is usually the only time I eat bread.

While I'm not on a low carb "diet" I've learned that I can't consume a lot of carbs and keep off the weight. We need to eat something from each food group each day. I try to consume most of my carbs in the morning. Eating simple carbs will cause a rapid increase in blood sugar levels which in turn causes insulin spikes. Excess insulin promotes fat storage and this is something you want to avoid. It’s important that when eating carbohydrates they are of the complex kind like whole wheat.



Lunch: Chicken breast sandwich, 6 oz skim milk.

Dinner: Taco Bueno taco salad. Diet coke. It's close to office and I was in a rush ....losing weight has to be high priority for me to be effective.. It has been slipping in priority for me...a bad habit. At times like this it's good to think about the "better bad choices" eating.

Entry 2/10/09

Weight: 235.5 lbs It's just so hard for me to lose now without exercising. It's not that I can't. It's just that I'm not motivated enough to eat like I should to compensate for inactivity. Exercise in addition to burning extra calories produces the chemical condition, physically and mentally, that helps us eat right to lose.

I just found out that a High School Classmate of mine is the head of Physical Education at Auburn University-Montgomery. I'll have to buy some of his DVD's. Here is his bio:

Henry N. Williford, Ph.D., FACSM, is the head of the Department of Foundations, Secondary, and Physical Education at Auburn University-Montgomery. A faculty member at Auburn since 1982, Dr. Williford has been designated as a distinguished research professor by his institution. His active professional involvement includes serving as a reviewer for the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise editorial board, The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, and ACSM뭆 Health and Fitness Journal.

Atta boy Hank!

Breakfast: Two poached eggs (1 exploded..need to tweak the power a little), 2 slices of whole wheat with a hint of strawberry preserves and margarine...bet Hank would get on to me about the preserves and margarine. Cup of coffee with cocoa, creamer and sweetener. 2 fish oil capsules, vitamin, 1 DHEA Tablet.

Snack: 3 waluts

Lunch: Grilled Chicken salad at Country Burger. Diet coke. Haven't been to CB in a while. I missed seeing my little friend Gordon who works there. He went to school with my son-in-law. My son-in-law took up time with Gordon in school so Gordon really liked him. Gordon is a swimmer in the Special Olympics. He's trying to raise money to go to Greece to be in the SO games there.He wasn't his cheerful self today...his mom is back in the hospital with heart troubled. I managed to get a smile out of him before I had to leave. Hadn't been to CB in while...wanted to go by and see Gordon today...wonderful how God moves us.

Dinner: Double cheese burger at Wendy's ....Diet coke. Lot on my mind ....I'll eat better tomorrow.

Entry 2/6/09

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, 2 slices of toast, 2cups of coffee with cocoa,creamer and sweetener. 2 fish oil capsules, 1 vitamin,1 Dhea tablet.

Lunch: Grilled chicken breast,vegetables and salad with ranch dressing. Iced Tea. This was at Spaghetti Warehouse where another business networking Meetup occurred The guest speaker was Jeff Crilley a former Channel 4 News reporter in Dallas, who now owns a PR company. His speech was about how to get free advertising. His 16 yr old just wrote a book about how to pay your way through college. He has sold 1100 so far at $20 a piece. I just Googled Jeff and went to his My Space. www.myspace.com/jeffcrilley

Stumbled on this while on Jeff's Space (amazing how we the internet expands our information exponentially, wish it was all good):

The Cross Movie - Arthur Blessitt Movie Trailer


Wow, I just realized that I gave two entities, free advertising! So, that's how it works.

Dinner: Blackened Salmon steak on bed of rice (only ate couple bites of rice), green beans, Broccoli, three mushrooms off wife's plate (perturbed her because I didn't ask. I'll do better next time. Remember honey, pick your battles carefully :)) and iced tea.

Snack: teaspoonful of crunchy peanut butter. I understand that the Salmonella is not in peanut butter itself but in other products that contain it.

I've been invited to Annual Wild Game dinner tomorrow night. It's at a Baptist Church so I'm not sure if that means there will be wild game to eat or if they'll be playing wild games while we eat!

Exercise: None today... will probably walk tomorrow since it is going to be 72 degrees. Sorry if any Kentuckians are reading this. I'll say a prayer for you.. hope you thaw out soon.

Entry 2/5/09

Breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal, slice of whole wheat toast, 2 cups of coffee with cocoa, sweetener, creamer.

I usually cook the oatmeal, but since my wife just returned to town, I let her do it this morning. I am a very considerate husband. My 5 yr old granddaughter came back to ask for "Meme" how to prepare the oatmeal. I told her 2 cups of oatmeal and 4 cups of water (I add a 1/2 cup of skim milk while cooking also, but thought that might overload Kylie's memory). My instructions were translated to 4 cups of oatmeal. Would you like to come over for a bowl of oatmeal? We have plenty.

I try to eat oatmeal a couple of times a week. It helps lower cholesterol and the chance of colon cancer.

Snack: 3 walnuts

Lunch: 6 oz. Salmon steak fried in tablespoon of Canola oil, steamed broccoli and 7 oz. skim milk.

Exercise: 2 miles in 30 min, 17 sec. 2.22 miles total in 35.22 min. (cool down and part of the time I forgot to stop time after I stopped walking) Peak Heart Rate 147 bpm., Avg HR 118 bpm. My total ascent was 539 ft. and my total descent was 550 ft. That means I am now underground 11 ft.! Guess I over did it. All measurements by the Garmin Forerunner 405. It's really a good idea to have a pulse monitor when exercising especially as we age. While those with a chest band are better you can purchase a wristwatch type that will do the job. Here's one from Body by Jake for $40:


The Forerunner 405 was a gift from my wife and kids. It is 80 percent useful and 20% toy. I love the toy part. Here's a description from the Garmin web site:

Long runs, tempo runs, speed drills. You expect a lot from your body…and from your training gear. Meet Forerunner 405. This GPS-enabled sport watch tracks your training, then wirelessly sends your data to your computer. The ultimate in training technology, its sleek design features a touch bezel that lets you quickly scroll and select features on the run.

Heart Monitor Chest strapWrist Device

Dinner: 2 Pork Chops, 2 bites of hash browns, salad with Ranch dressing, 2 bites of toast, small bite of grits. The wife and I ended up at Waffle House after driving around town for 20 minutes. She went to exercise class and called me on the way home - "I don't want to come in so come out when I blow the horn". Yes ma'am. She was wound up about exercise class and office politics and I thought she had a place in mind as she was driving. As we made different turns I was trying to guess where we were going to eat. When we drove past the turn I thought she would take I eliminated the last place on my list. After driving another 2 blocks, she exclaimed:"Where am I going?" That's when she asked the dreaded question; "Where do you want to go?" Dreaded, because as I go through the 100 places she either rejects them outright or by the inflection of her voice signals that she doesn't want to go there. We finally agreed on a place - Big Easy's, a New Orleans style Bistro. As we walk up to the counter, they announced they closed at 8 o'clock. It was 8:00 and 1 microsecond. In fairness it was 8:05. After agreeing on another place, I was informed that we had just driven by it. Being on a service road, we would have to drive 20 miles to get back to it. We passed by our favorite Mexican place, but I knew I couldn't resist eating two bowls of chips. To shorten the story we ended up at Waffle House.

Entry 2/4/09

Breakfast: 2 poached egg, 2 slices whole wheat toast, 2 cups of coffee with cocoa, creamer, sweetener. I prefer to drink coffee without the cocoa, but cocoa is a good antioxidant and it dilates the blood vessels thereby lowering heart rate. I poach the eggs in the microwave, a tricky proposition without the contraption by wife bought. It has to cups with a top that snaps closed like a waffle iron. If the egg explodes it is contained. I microwave it at 60% power for 1 min 50 sec.. They don't explode. Your microwave will be different. I found that setting by trial and error.

In 1995 I worked at a company that did engineering work for Turbo Chef. Turbo Chef was an oven that used high speed heated air and microwaves to cook food-such as a perfect pizza in 50 seconds. I had trouble controlling my weight there because the food testers where constantly performing cooking test and coming up with the perfect setting for each food. They cooked scrimp, steak, lobster, cakes, pastries, pies, chicken ....every kind of food. The entire facility was filled with the aroma of good food and it had to be eaten or thrown away. I can't stand to see food go to waste.

While writing this I Googled Turbo Chef. Wow they have really grown. I designed microwave feeds and waveguides for them. The guy that invented the oven was a friend of mine, Earl Winkelman, one of the smartest men I know. He, 3 other guys and I co-founded another company in 1973. TC is making residential ovens now. It use only high speed heated air to cook. Looks like they had to take the microwaves out to control the cost. The problem is that while a convectional oven and microwave oven are cheap, the engineering issues make combining the two very expensive, only affordable in a commercial environment. I copied a picture off their web site. 3 is the heated air moving at about 88 ft. per second and 5 is the microwave burst.



Lunch: Ham & cheese on wheat with mayo & mustard and 8 oz. Soy milk.

Snack: 2 walnuts, Medium apple

Dinner: Boston Market 5 oz. turkey breast, creamed spinach, green beans and the top crust off the cornbread. Water with lemon to drink. My bride is home!

Entry 2/3/09

Breakfast: Bowl of Kellogs Special K with 4 oz. of skim milk, 2 cups of coffee with cocoa, creamer and sweetener.

Snacks: 3 walnuts Cup of coffee with cocoa, creamer and sweetner

Lunch: 6 oz. of Salmon....directly out of the can. Cup of coffee with cocoa, creamer,sweetener.

Snack: 10 walnuts. I was experimenting with roasting them. I eat too many Walnuts. Even though they contain the good fat, Omega 3, it's still fat and represents calories. I could do worse. I could eat a Twinkie.

Dinner: Wanted KFC Chicken but decided to be good and go to Golden Chick and get roasted chicken. After I placed my order the lady informed me that they didn't have roasted thighs. One of my pet peeves is a for a business of any kind to run out of a product. I told her just to give me a refund. I decided to go to KFC after all. That would teach Golden Chick to run out of my food.

Had 2 Original thighs, Cole slaw and just the top crust off a biscuit. Diet Pepsi to drink. That will teach them. I'll gain 5 lbs, go back to GC and tell them it's all their fault.

Saw a man in KFC that looked just like Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor, forgot the characters name. A lady with one arm came in. Wanted to ask her how she lost her arm but I worry how it makes people feel in those situations.

The reason I'm eating alone is because my bride is in North Carolina, getting my mom situated in her new place. She'll be back tomorrow...yippee...I miss her.

Entry 02/2/09

Losing weight is all about motivation. We can have all knowledge about food and exercise but without motivation we're not going to lose weight. The only good thing that can be said about the different "diets" is they may give us temporary motivation. If we think it is an easy way to lose weight, we are excited about doing it. If the diet works it is because it reduces calories to the necessary level to cause the body to burn fat for energy. It is not because it is some miracle discovery. Some foods may tweak our digestive system or our metabolism to slightly increase calories burned but never enough to make a significant difference. In the end it is the amount of calories we consume.

Fat is stored fuel. When we eat, some food is converted into fuel throughout the day for immediate use. If there is more fuel than the body needs for that day, the excess is stored as fat. The reverse happens if there is not enough food consumed. Our body will convert the stored fat into the needed fuel. The unit of measure for the amount of fuel is calories. A pound of fat contains 3500 calories. If we store 3500 calories we gain a pound. If we convert stored fat into 3500 calories we lose a pound. It is that simple. No diet is going to change that. All the diet does is motivate us to consume less calories than we need for fuel each day.

Starvation diets or diets that allow only one food are counter productive. If the diet has less than approximately 1800 calories a day for males or 1200 for females, there may be a quick initial weight loss but then the body starts to consume muscle for energy. Muscle is the fat burning engine. If the diet is continued, the person will finally get discouraged because of low energy or some health issue and discontinue the diet. The weight will come back rapidly because the fat burning engine is smaller. I'm not talking about anorexia here. That is a whole other issue. I'm talking about the normal struggle that most people have with managing their weight.

Breakfast: Boiled egg, slice of whole wheat toast, coffee with cocoa,creamer and sweetener.

Lunch: Ham sandwich with slice of cheese, 8 oz. skim milk

Snack: 3 walnuts.

Dinner: Taco Bueno Nacho Salad and Taco , Diet coke. Not enough motivation to resist the ease and temptation.