Tag: diet

November 22, 2012

Revisiting a cooking disaster

Well, disaster is not quite accurate – back in September, I mentioned that I had been disappointed by some pulled pork I’d cooked, which turned out too salty. I froze it in 3 pouches, and decided to leave it for another day to worry about.

On Tuesday night, I took a pouch out to defrost overnight in the fridge, planning to do something with it for Wednesday tea. However, Wednesday lunchtime found me with nothing else in the fridge, and it was pouring outside, so a trip to the shops was out of the question.

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May 5, 2011

The Incredible Shrinking Man

I had a routine health checkup yesterday; more blood drawn to followup some previous tests, and general checking of blood pressure/weight and chat about diet.

The nurse asked me if anyone at the surgery had ever measured my height. I have been going there 10 years, but thought about it, and answered “no”. The nurse tutted, and muttered words to the effect of “of course, they find it easier just to ask you, don’t they”.

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July 4, 2010

More on cold teas and tisanes

Last week I posted about sun tea, and then learned of the possible health issues with leaving flavoured water in the sun all day.

Subsequently, I tried ‘s suggestion of the fridge method, simply putting a jug of cold water with a few teabags in the fridge overnight. I found that this method worked well with both tea and roibus, and the resulting drink was nice and clear, and clean tasting.

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September 28, 2009

Jogging along

Over the past few weeks, I have been playing with a Wii, and have been quite impressed with what it does.

However, I’ve just received an eBay purchase of a little device that has blown me away.

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September 11, 2009

A Walk In The Park

My plans, on returning to Market Deeping, to get back into a routine – particularly regarding my diet – was scuppered this week, when I came down with a rotten cold. The sniffles began on Monday, and I worked through them Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday, it had become a full blown cold with headache and chills. In such times, I forget about any good intentions, and just indulge myself with whatever makes me feel better, including lots of orange juice, which I always have a craving for when I am ill.

Anyway, today was the first time since Tuesday night that I haven’t been collapsed on either my bed or sofa. I spent the morning tidying up the bathroom and kitchen (the lounge is still a bombsite, but that’s for another day), but at lunchtime I decided I needed some fresh air. So I took a trip down to Ferry Meadows, part of Nene Park.

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February 10, 2009

Two steps forward, one step back

Eating Well – A Diet Blog
February 10, 2009 8:52 A.M. Weight: 357.6 lbs.

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January 6, 2009

Drumming up some exercise

Eating Well – A Diet Blog:
January 6, 2009 6:50 P.M. Weight: 359.6 lbs.

I’ve been asked to help out on percussion for some friends who are playing a gig in February. Thinking back, it has been over a year since I last played the drums. Anyway, the kit has been retrieved from the garage and is now set up in the lounge, and I need to build up with some practice every day.

Then it occurred to me – this is exercise, no? Doing a web search came up with various calorific values for drumming, but for now I am going to take a very conservative view and record it as 4 kcals per minute.

Every little helps.

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January 6, 2009

I’m Back Again

Eating Well – A Diet Blog:
January 6, 2009 12:08 P.M. Weight: 359.6 lbs.

Things were going fairly well in 2008, until I went on holiday in September. I was not net-connected while away, so just decided to ‘eat sensibly’, and not worry about SYD.

However, when I got back, I didn’t get straight back into SYD again. Up until the holiday, I had been pretty good at keeping my meals logged, but on my return… well, a week went by, then two weeks, with me always thinking ‘I’ll start again next week’.

Around December, I think, I rebooted, but after a couple of days stopped again.

So now I am back with a vengeance, and determined to keep it up.Unfortunately, all the good work I did last year has been undone, and I am heavier than I have been for a while – although I seem to have hungonto my general fitness, which is something. However, from last year, I now know I can lose weight, so it is just a case of getting back up on that (figurative) horse again.

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August 14, 2008

Make Mine a Half Pounder!

Eating Well – A Diet Blog:
August 14, 2008 6:05 P.M. Weight: 345.0 lbs.

Probably not the best move, when you are on a diet, but I have just bought myself a barbecue.

When I moved into this house, a few years ago, it had an old brick barbecue. For some time I have been planning to get the parts – tray, grill etc – to get it working again. However, it is in a bit on an inconvenient place, down the bottom of my garden.

So instead, the brick barbecue has been transformed into a potting table, and I have just bought a Weber charcoal kettle. I’ve been reading up on it, and shopping around for a month or so, and it did seem to do everything I wanted – easy to use, easy to clean, and big enough to handle things like beef joints, whole chickens, and even pizza stones. Although it’s a big barbecue, it’s easy enough to create a small cooking area for just just one or two people.

I have some friends coming over in a few weeks time, who I’ve promised barbecue. So I am about to go out there and do some experimentation.

Wish me luck!

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July 31, 2008

Clothes really can be slimming

Eating Well – A Diet Blog
July 31, 2008 9:15 A.M. Weight: 345.0 lbs.

Yesterday, it looked like I was going to miss my monthly goal by just 0.6lb, even allowing for my normal weight loss.

So last night, I was going to just have a salad or something, but when I got to the kitchen, I was actually quite hungry.

‘Oh well, its only a target,’ I thought, and ended up having a pretty good dinner – grilled chicken, and steamed potatoes and peas, a low-fat desert, and lots of fruit.

So today was the moment of judgement., I got up, pulled on my joggers, and, picking up the polo shirt I wore last night, stepped on the scales. I was 0.2lb over!

Then I thought – ‘this polo is actually quite a thick one’, so dumped it in the laundry basket, put on a light Cotton Traders T-shirt, and stepped on the scales again.

The scales were alternating between 344.8 and 345, so I made my goal weight! It’s a bit cheeky that my success depended on what shirt I wore, but, to be fair, the Cotton Trader shirts are what I normally wear, day to day, so it’s no foul.

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July 30, 2008

The goodness of pure blackcurrants!

Eating Well – A Diet Blog:
July 30, 2008 2:48 P.M. Weight: 345.6 lbs.

I’ve just had a bit of a shock. I can’t stand artificial sweeteners of any sort, so if I buy squash or cordial, I buy something fruit-based. Lately, I have been drinking Ribena, a popular blackcurrant drink in the UK.

However, logging my calories for lunch, I discovered – according to the Ribena figures, that 100ml diluted is 45 calories. That means the pint of Ribena I have just drunk is over 250 calories – more than the prawn and mayonnaise sandwich I ate.

Thinking about this further, a good British ale is only 180-200 calories per pint, so it would be better for my diet to replace my fruit drinks with beer. I like the sound of that!

Of course, on looking into this, I discover that it is not all as it seems. Checking the side of the bottle shows that the manufacturer’s figures are based on a dilution of 1 part Ribena to 4 parts water – essentially a syrupy kid’s drink. I reckon I dilute it 1 part to 10 of water, at least – just enough to flavour it. So it isn’t as bad as I thought.

I still like that beer idea, though!

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July 11, 2008

Woo-hoo!

Eating Well – A Diet Blog

July 10, 2008 7:44 P.M. Weight: 345.6 lbs.

Well, I am back; and although I haven’t been tracking these last few days, I seem to have dropped 3.5lbs.

I haven’t tracked so far today, and it’s pizza for tea, so I think I will start logging again tomorrow.

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