Skurgeon’s Diary

2nd week of July is done and I averaged about the same amount of calories as the first week (just under 2400)

Result is I’m down 1.4 pounds this week. 2 pounds total so far in July which is perfect for my goal of 4 to 5 pounds for the month. Still struggling to get that average up to 2600 but things seem pretty good at 2400 so I’m not too concerned by it.

The gyms open up in a couple of days and I am excited. I’m about 50 hours away from being back in the gym after a 4 month hiatus. I just have to try to keep myself in control. It’s going to take a couple of weeks to get back into the swing of it and I don’t want to go too hard too fast and injure myself.

July 22nd will be the 18 month mark since I started this weight loss adventure. I’m down 171 pounds so far going from 402 to 231 this morning.

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Incredible work, congratulations!
 
Put together something to take to work today that came out really delicious.

Garlic naan bread with my broiled Cajun salmon, cheddar cheese, spinach, roasted peppers and a side of tzatziki.

502 calories
57 carbs
15 fat
34 protein
 

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Had a great complete day today.

Gyms have opened up again after 4 months and without time restrictions. I hated trying to rush through a workout in 50 minutes. So it’s probably been a year since I could walk into the gym without an appointment and without a time limit.

I was able to go pretty hard. Today was my back and biceps day. I was in the gym for 100 minutes but I would estimate only 30 minutes of that was I actually actively lifting weights. I take 3 to 4 minute rests between sets for maximum recovery. This isn’t cardio, these gym sessions are for increasing muscle. It felt great, I was missing it so much.

Before I got to the gym I had already accumulated 12k steps on the day walking.(purposely for exercise and just being active)

Food wise I had a great day as well. Trying to eat 2600 calories and I just about hit it bang on at 2582. I cooked a big piece of salmon the other day so I needed to make an effort to eat it so it doesn’t go to waste.

Meal 1…Pre Breakfast
Whey protein shake with water. (Just to get me started while I make breakfast.) 110 calories , 27 protein.

Meal 2
French toast, blackberries and kiwi

Meal 3
The picture in the post above of the salmon naan and tzatziki. I ate it with sparkling water.

Meal 4
Salmon soup. Which is my vegetable soup with added salmon and some added rice

Meal 5 …Snack (before gym)
Chocolate chip cookie dough protein bar and a small monster energy drink.

Meal 6
Rotisserie chicken leg and thigh (skin removed) A salmon sandwich with spinach and roasted peppers and Swiss cheese on regular white sliced bread with a side of tzatziki.

Meal 7
Pre bed protein shake. I use a casein protein with milk. 250 calories and 35 grams of protein.

Totals for the day

2582 calories
278 grams of crabs
68 grams of fat
228 grams of protein

I will sleep good tonight.
 
Food for thought.

I’ve wanted to make this comparison for some time in picture form.

Pictures are of my vegetable soup (190 calories) with Turkey breast on top (110 calories)

So the whole container is 300 calories with over 30 grams of protein.Awesome!

Beside it is a small bowl of rice which is actually 2.5 servings of rice. Isn’t that gross? 3 spoon fulls of rice is 2 and a half servings? #$&@$#! That little bowl has 275 calories in it! I’ll add that to my soup and now that same container is 575 calories.

I put a can of water beside them to give a sense of size.
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This one is eye opening.

Popcorn vs Rice.

More calories in the rice (275 vs (240)
More carbs in the rice (58 vs 50)
More fiber in the popcorn (8 vs 0)
Same protein in both (8)
More fat in the popcorn (4 vs 1)
And rice wins on sodium (480 vs 0)

I could eat that rice in 15 seconds but the popcorn will take 10 minutes… maybe 5 if you smash it into your face like an animal. Way more satisfying to eat the popcorn.

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I should have mentioned. That’s “smart pop popcorn” from Orville vs uncle bens basmati rice.

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I’ve made a mistake! I was using the dry rice measurement of 30 grams as a single serving but the prepared serving is listed as 125ml.

So here I took another picture. Single serving 110 calories. My wrong measurement on the left, corrected on the right but I didn’t pop another bag of popcorn.

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It just goes to show how easy it is to make mistakes and be inaccurate when calorie counting. I’m sure it happens the other way as well when I’m actually eating more than I think I am.

Meat is the hardest. They’re all going to have different fat percentages so two similar weighted steaks could be very different.

I always knew that I couldn’t be 100% accurate in my calorie counting but I try to be as close and consistent as I can be. What else can we do but try our best?

This is why I avoided rice. It seemed like so little volume for the calories. It actually still is…I still think the popcorn is better than what is now 6 or 7 spoon fulls of rice.
 
I'm new here and just read your last few posts. I totally agree it's frustrating how small a serving of rice is. I always imagine the rice industry lobby must have done pretty well to get the serving size listed at 1/2 cup. Would any adult naturally eat that small amount? I don't know. I think a serving of pasta or noodles is a whole cup, which seems more reasonable to me. I do eat just the 1/2 cup of rice sometimes, but I tend to avoid rice because the serving size is so small, and the calories in 2 servings sometimes seems like a lot.
 
Dandelioness said:
I'm new here and just read your last few posts. I totally agree it's frustrating how small a serving of rice is. I always imagine the rice industry lobby must have done pretty well to get the serving size listed at 1/2 cup. Would any adult naturally eat that small amount? I don't know. I think a serving of pasta or noodles is a whole cup, which seems more reasonable to me. I do eat just the 1/2 cup of rice sometimes, but I tend to avoid rice because the serving size is so small, and the calories in 2 servings sometimes seems like a lot.
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It is a lot for the volume. The only reason I put back in my diet is because I was having trouble eating enough calories.
 
Gym has been opened up now for 7 days and I’ve been there everyday. Absolutely loving it! Doing my classic bro split. My body responds well to resistance training and I’ve experienced an awesome side effect: Better sleep!

I don’t know what it is but I just couldn’t achieve the same results working out at home and I felt like I was really trying. But I never felt what I feel right now. Just that slight bit of soreness all over that gives you that encouraging feedback that “I did something.”

Finally starting to consistently get my calories up to 2600 a day with the help of adding rice and tzatziki and guacamole to meals. The consistent hardish level of training is helping with that as well.

3 weeks into July and I’m right around 3 pounds lost so the math seems to be right. Adding the 350 calories a day has slowed the weight loss to about a pound a week.

I’m thinking if the weather is nice tomorrow I’ll skip the gym and go for a bike ride… and if the weather is crap I’ll go to the gym but I won’t lift weights. I’ll just do some easy cardio. Then I can come back guns blazing on Saturday well rested and ready.
 
Having a bit of a rest day is rarely a bad idea. Training at the gym is definitely another beast than home workouts!
 
Reached another milestone today getting to 229 pounds!

It took me 41 days to lose the 10 pounds from 239 to 229.

With the attempt of slower weight loss the next 10 pounds and the 219 milestone should take about 60 days.

Current weight loss 173 pounds.
 
Skurgeon you are doing wonderfully well & are a great example for everyone. Congratulations.
 
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