Category: Phase 7

Switching gears back to DC. Turks and Caicos still sounds nice.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 28
I was worried last night that I had eaten too much and then around 9:30 I started to get hungry. I was happy to have the feeling of hunger. That’s a departure from the norm for me.

I have to see the doctor tomorrow to sort of the sleep apnea crap. I hope I can try out a device fast. Of course, I’m being optimistic.

Then on Tuesday is the first weigh in in months. I have to keep talking about this as a scientific thing so that I don’t feel all hung up on what the number means. It is a marking on a page and a number other people (like the medical profession) find interesting for their purposes.

I just thought of the technique of talking to the inner child who was originally traumatized with the scale and tell that little guy that it’s all going to be OK. I won’t let any mean people make fun of you little guy.

Childhood trauma: the neurological damage that keeps on giving!

I found this old cover. I ended up finding an escape in North Vancouver.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 27
I had an OMG moment while reading the label of a Burnt Almond chocolate bar. On Friday afternoon, I was feeling really in need of a chocolate fix and I wondered just what I was up against. They were on sale, which made the cost was OK but, I read that there were 200 calories in 38 grams. The bar itself weighed 100 grams. On the front of the package was a big 200 calories label.

I’m standing there trying to figure out 100/38 * 200. I guessed 500, but I just realized that I could have simplified to 50/19 which is almost 50/20, which is 5/2 which is 2.5 calories per gram which works out to 500 calories for the whole candy bar. My calculator says 526.3157895.

My snack calorie limit is 250 and there’s not a chance in hell I could have held off from eating the whole hundred grams.

I left the store without buying anything.

Who knew that reading nutrition labels could put you off your food?

My last Avengers image for the week. If anyone talks to be about Infinity Wars I will smack them. I’ve been looking at Tsawwassen.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 26
I’m coming up to the first month of Phase 7, which I’m hoping is a turning-point phase. The funny part is I don’t know in what direction this is turning.

I had a tough conversation yesterday where I found myself stressing out over the diet and the workouts. I was basically saying that I was failing. But how can anyone be failing on a voyage when they don’t know where they are going? The old diet traumas lead me to always pretty much hate myself no matter what. There is always room for improvement and there’s always room for self abuse.

Since this pattern of behaviour is spectacularly wasteful I am looking to achieve the following:

• Improve my own self-image. This means when I look in the mirror I try to be neutral or look for a simple positive statement. I think neutral will be a good start. Fair? Compassionate? Reasonable?
• Determine what results from diet fitness I am trying to achieve. My key point where I offend myself is the gut-overhanging-the-belt-thing. If I can lose that, I think I can live with myself.
• Accept and try to be happy with yourself that the diet/fitness management processes are permanent. Maybe one day I won’t have to be in these painful correction phases. That’s a nice goal to think about.

On Tuesday next week I’m doing a weigh in and measure because I’ll need it for medical history but also I want to see if I can just see it as a mark in path. I’d like to see if there’s a way to correlate that number to the visual goal. It may not work, but it will be interesting to see if I can make a healthier connection with pounds and inches and my perception of self.

Another Avengers image. I’m looking at Ladner.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 25
I saw the Registered Massage Therapist (RMT) for my lower back today and apparently my transverse abdominal muscle needs to strengthen. Joy. I was also late for the appointment (on time, according to what I’d written down) and now really pissed off with myself.

I rode for the first time yesterday and my strength was pretty good but my backside whined a lot this morning. I was kind of hoping this would make me feel like I was somehow even MORE on a diet, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’m no more or less miserable than I was yesterday.

Having written, that I am enjoying the sunny weather that finally allowing riding.

OK. Back to the mines.

Another Avengers image. My thoughts turn to hiding on Bowen Island.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 24
Yesterday was annoying because I got hungry at 10 AM in a bad way. This is not normal for Phase 7; I tend not to have the deadly munchies until after lunch and almost always after dinner.

Knowing that today was my first day back on the bike, I added half-a-slice of bacon to the morning eggs-and-bacon to try to see if I can offset the cravings.

Another special condition was being stuck in traffic. I was coming back from North Vancouver and there were problems with both bridges. Nothing like being hungry and having a sore lower back in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

I’m curious to see how riding the bike will affect the cravings, if at all.

My second Avengers image. A lot of people are thinking about Toronto today.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 23
I can handle fairly easily the hunger during the day. I lapsed last week into the chocolate snacks but that madness seems to have passed. Fingers crossed.

What I have to figure out is the evening. Because I like dining with my family, on Mondays, we aren’t all home until 7:30. So I delay. A coffee helps suppress the appetite and I’m doing chores and so forth.

However, last night, I felt hungry about 11 ms after finishing dinner. Then until I got to bed I was dealing with the cravings and I knew I was out of calories for the day.

I’m going to have to find a better strategy or the risk of derailment will increase.

I am doing an Avengers series this week. Huh. It’s warmer in Halifax.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 22
Monday. A fresh start. Sunday is the official cheat day but I found myself trying a little harder not to overdo it. One thing from the Diet Fix book was a description of how a weekend can turn easily into a three day cheat with the following weekdays all being used to correct the course. I really want to avoid one-step-forward-two-steps-back.

At least I have supplies at home and the office to make it easier to keep on track.

This is a cool cover I never saw before. Just go to Niagara Falls and click on something will you?

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 21
Sunday. The Vancouver Sun Run is on and that makes for traffic hell until well into the afternoon. Lucky for them it’s sunny, but I hope the runners are wearing an extra layer. 5° C.

Due to a supply problem, and the fact I was really hungry this morning, I took a Double Smoked Bacon sandwich at Starbucks. It has a bun so that’s a carbohydrate no-no on the Mutant Diet, but Starbucks had the calorie count online of 490.

Yesterday was more or less back on track after the Friday evening blow out.

The challenge here is the intensity of the correction phase. The Diet Fix book talks about enjoyment but enjoying a weight loss regime is as sensible to me as enjoying a forensic tax audit or un-anaesthetized dental surgery.

The weight correction phase reminds me of physical training where you need to strain the muscle the right amount to cause growth without causing injury.

You want to strangle the calorie and refined carb flow to as low an extent without

• inducing a starvation response in your metabolism or,
• ending up being arrested in a grocery store’s baked goods section after a psychotic break.

I never did like the look of tightropes.

Apparently in the comics Catwoman and Batman marry. I’ve always wanted to go to Osoyoos.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 20
Yesterday was a classic time where I threw the diet away. The normal sensation is to feel guilty and beat myself up, but it occurred to me that it might be instructive to compare plan to actual and see what went off course.

The plan was indeed to see a movie with a friend and go out to dinner. At dinner I was going to ask them to hold whatever carbs were coming and double the vegetables.

Long before dinner, I was ravenous to the point of being uncomfortable. A meeting ran longer than I thought and went into the lunch hour. I was so hungry I felt I could not go to the gym. So I had the regular. Then not long after I was craving again. I medicated with chocolate almonds.

Then we had trouble finding a restaurant that wasn’t full. After all that kafuffle we ended up at The Keg. And I was too hungry to be smart. Nachos were shared. Then when it came to mains, the healthy option that I had to modify anyway was $13 more than a burger and fries.

This makes me remember a hack from the Diet Fix book in which you pre-eat something before going to a restaurant. I’ll have to remember that for next time.

The good news is that I enjoyed myself. The better news will be if I manage to reset to the diet plan today.

I needed a retro Spider-man today. I must be hungry if I’m thinking of Nanaimo.

Mutant Diet Phase 7 Day 19
It seems a stricter diet simply gives you more chances to feel guilty and beat yourself up.

I was really stressing over being super hungry last night. I did find myself grabbing scraps of food while working in the kitchen. Even though I applied a bit of a penalty in the calorie count, I was still within the boundaries.

However, if I start slagging myself for every single gram of food that’s off the plan, I’m going to be even more miserable than I normally am.

The solution may be as simple as, “try not to think about food and how hungry you are.”