Monday Morning Weigh in: 238.4
My lowest weight was Saturday morning (pre breakfast) at 236.0. My diet is looking good for the week. I got two containers of spinach so I don’t run out like usual. I bought extra chicken breasts for the same reason. I have replaced the two eggs I was experimenting with last week with Miso Soup. I think it will be good. Here is a rough cut of how I eat:
0515
1/4 cup steel cut oats
1/4 cup flax seed
coffee with milk and sugar
0715
8oz Miso soup
plain coffee
1000
Spinach Salad with 1/3 – 1/2 chicken breast
plain coffee
1200
Spinach Salad with 1/3 – 1/2 chicken breast
plain coffee
1430
1 yoplait yogurt
1700
coffee with milk and sugar
1900
supper – whatever it is for that day, I normally for supper
milk
It’s the same basic model I have been tinkering with for months.
Anvil or Hammer 
on October 8, 2007 on 10:53 am
Looks pretty good.
I did the steel cut oats for awhile but never learned to enjoy eating them. I would make a batch on the stove on Sunday and heat portions in the microwave every morning. Even with honey and cinnamon I still got tired of eating the oats. How are you cooking them?
on October 8, 2007 on 3:13 pm
Mike: Are you sure you’re eating enough? (I say that because think I might be eating more than you.)
I would recommend more protein and replace the grains and dairy with nuts, seeds, fruits and vegs. But, the biggest thing I would change is your intake of caffeine – WOW! You’re young, and might not perceive it yet – but it’s affecting your sleep, which affects growth hormone production and recovery.
on October 8, 2007 on 9:09 pm
Scott,
I boil the water in a kettle. I put a quarter cup of the oats and the flax in a bowl, apply water. Then I pour in just a bit of maple syrup, tablespoon or two. I mix it up a bit then add some milk to cool it down. I mit it again and do my best to drink it scrapping whatever didn’t go down drinking, in with a spoon and off I go. I call it the postmaster general cause I started it after Chris Rice and I went to Seneca a year ago and he told me he drank oatmeal everyday that he worked when I whined about how I couldn’t down plain oatmeal .
Stephen,
For your first question, I don’t know. I’ve worked with roughly this diet since May playing around with different amount and orders of food. This form I’m on right now is the lowest in calorie I take it I have used it before but I can only do it for a month at most before my will breaks. Then it’s all I can do to not binge.
At one time, about July, I had some success with adding calories to lose weight. In August I cut back again but had a couple weeks were I really didn’t stay on very well. In September I experimented with some higher calorie, higher protein models that included having beans and veggies or eggs at 0700. I also experimented with some carb rich meals at 1400ish. I seemed to hold steady or gain on that. I found that incredibly frustrating considering my success a few months back. So now I am pushing the calories down again. That’s how I got here.
I don’t eat much in the way of grains. Those oats and flax in the am are supposed to be pretty good for me. I find when I jsut have protein that it is an incredibly slow start to the day. I did like my eggs at 7 but gave them up in an effort to point this roller coaster down hill. I picked miso as a new variation because I found the dried packets in the story and even though it’s basically soybean soup it give me a very fulfilling feeling. I figure I hit my veggies with my spinach, although I’d like to get some more variety in my salads, past attempts have been mixed at best. Nuts are good, I keep some almonds at work but I find them hard to portion control. They are small and very unsatisfying. Mixed in with something else they might be more helpful, like slivered almonds on a salad.
Last, caffiene. What can I say, you are right. I thought of excuses, I thought of the history, but, when you’re right, you’re right. In that vien I skipped my post work coffee today. I’m not going cold turkey by any means but I decided to cut it back to three a day for starters. Maybe two after that. I don’t think I’ll totally cut it out but, less is more.
Now, I must confess that those long cycles got me starving this evening. So I am warming up a couple pot stickers at 2100 just to get through the night. So it looks like my calories came up short today. I may have to bring some protein in tomorrow. I have some left over, loose, lean, ground beef from the weekend.
on October 8, 2007 on 11:26 pm
I didn’t think you were paying attention – hehe.
on October 9, 2007 on 5:04 am
Yeah, I get that a lot 🙂
Actually I came home and told my wife about it. She said “It must be an Ohio thing.” Her dad is from Archibold and he used to eat a very similar breakfast. Anyway, Five days a week for a year now. I actually find myself looking forward to it after the weekend of making other breakfasts….In fact, my water is about to boil now.
on October 9, 2007 on 10:41 am
Are these what you are talking about with steel cut oats?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel-cut_oats
When I have cooked them in the past, it required simmering for 15-20 minutes to get them soft. It was a pain in the butt, which was one of the reasons I stopped eating them. Are you just eating them hard without chewing?
It could be an interesting experiment for you to take a picture of everything you eat for a week. My diet isn’t nearly so strict. Yesterday I had coco puffs with breakfast and dinner, for instance.
on October 9, 2007 on 12:09 pm
Mike: Poliquin has something to say about oats and fat storage in a recent “T-Nation” article. Scroll down to “Carbs, Hot Asians, and Oatmeal.”
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do;jsessionid=DD0BA74E5F32D98B2E9F3C2B824D4734.hydra?id=1754646
on October 9, 2007 on 1:05 pm
Scott,
Yep, same stuff. I use Red Mill. I normally use the same brand of flax seed although I’m experimenting with something called forta-flax this week. Seems pretty good too. With a couple minutes in steaming hot water they are a tad chewy but not hard. I don’t chewy the first half of them, just suck ’em down. The second half get chewed. Not too bad.
I’m not saying I have committed to your experiment but I did figure out how to email directly from my cameraphone to flickr. So it would be easy. It might make for an interesting reality check, but it seems kinda…anal, I guess. Coco puffs? I have been known to have a small juice glass of puffins once a week or so, usually on Sunday, as a snack but that’s about all the processed cereal I eat.
Stephen,
I read that little bit, very interesting. I’m trying to decide if I want to start making changes or if I want to do Scott’s experiment with no changes first. I disagree with him on one point. He pointed out that oats were grasses and that made them bad. All grains, whole, processed, flax, oat and wheat are all grasses. I don’t believe for a second that ll grains are inherently bad.
This is probably my biggest pet peeve about diet info. You can have a supposedly perfect diet, then a different nutritionist comes by and destroys it. I’m not saying mine is perfect but it’s far better than what I was raised on, yet it seems like every time I turn around, half of it is wrong.
I’ll get back to you on the oats thing.
on October 9, 2007 on 5:05 pm
Mike: I used to eat oatmeal or rice every morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. What I’ve learned is that an hour after I eat rice or oats, I get a ravenous appetite and have to eat again. I don’t experience that when I eat fruit, berries, nuts and seeds.
on October 9, 2007 on 5:44 pm
I have found that I need to eat a meal 2 hours after breakfast.
What are you eating, specifically, for breakfast these days?
on October 9, 2007 on 7:05 pm
Mike: I’ve been alternating between three breakfast meals 1) fruit (berries, banana, pineapple), almond milk, almonds and flax seed 2) 3 whole eggs, spinach, bacon (or steak); and 3) shakes with chocolate Muscle Milk protein + scoop of another zero carb micellar protein powder. Sunday I had steak & eggs, Monday I had fruit, today I had protein shake. I’m also a coffee drinker. I drink as much as I want (usually three or four cups) all before 9:00AM.
A couple years ago I quit coffee for about 6 months. I experienced more soreness, irregularity and my metabolism seemed slower.
on October 9, 2007 on 8:03 pm
Thanks for the info. I may kill some eggs tomorrow morning then follow them with some almonds. I did consider the idea of a fruit smoothie, although I’ve always been a little uncomfortable with the calorie content of those.