The three choices

I'm been contemplating what type of eating pattern to adopt during this transformation. The three choices I am most interested in are:

Pescatarian- Basically a vegetarian lifestyle, plus fish. Jack LaLane is advocate of this. Basically, it would be lots of raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, egg whites, plus grilled or baked fish. I have done this before, but I have had a hard time making past a month or two.

South Beach- The last time I got in shape, I did so using South Beach. I like South Beach, but after 4 or 5 months, it gets old.

Reduced Calorie- I hate counting calories. Gyminee (now Daily Burn) has a great application that allows the smart phone user to easily record calories consumed over the course of the day. It worked great when I had an iPhone. I may be getting a BlackBerry soon, and I read that Daily Burn is working on an BlackBerry app. For now, watching calories is out of the question.

My plan for now start off with pure South Beach as soon as next week is done. I will be eating every meal at conference center, starting with dinner tomorrow night. I am going to focus on portion control during this upcoming week.

Over the course of the remaining 31 weeks after that, I intend to slowly transition from South Beach to Pescatarian in hopes of making the latter the backbone of my long term eating habits.

Whenever I get a Blackberry or another iPhone, I will start recording calories using Daily Burn or other similar service with a decent input app.

Week 1 Day 5, BMI: 37.37

Day 5 was rough. My BMI slipped up again and not only did I commute to Richmond, but I spent the day moving equipment around in preparation for our big upcoming teacher orientation next week.

I ate:

• McSkillet Burrito, Iced Tea
• Turkey Sub Sandwich and Snapple Fruit Punch (which was nasty)
• Chipotle Carnitas Burrito (with sour cream and cheese), Iced Tea
• Way too many corn chips

No significant exercise other than the moving. I sweat the entire day. :-(

Week 1 Day 4, BMI: 37.22

After I wrote my update yesterday, I gave in to urges and had a bunch of crackers and cream cheese, and I finished off the chocolate covered raisins.

Typically, when I wake up the next day after this type of set back, I have lost my motivation to drive forward. This time, I awoke determined to get right back into the plan. This blog helps.

Today, I commuted to Richmond and had a fairly stressful and busy day. My lunch was delayed until 3, which I had to grab on the road. On the plus side, I did manage to get to the gym and do 15 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Today, I ate

• McSkillet Burrito, Unsweetened Iced Tea
• Pack of peanuts, PowerBar, and Sweetened Green Tea
• Wegmen's Tofu and Black Bean Burrito and Chesapeake Sushi Roll (Crabmeat, Avocado, and old bay), Some Tortilla Chips, Unsweetened Green Tea
• Two small slices of dark chocolate

My portly Nintendo Wii Mii

I really don't like hearing that I am obese from the Nintendo
corporation.

Week 1 Day 3 BMI: 37.11

I gave in to the temptation for a midnight snack of crackers and chocolate covered raisins again last night.

Today I ate:

• 4 hard boiled egg whites, nuts and seeds, peppers, spinach, and water

• Bowl of black beans and rice, and nori burrito with avocado, spinach, peppers, onions, and sprouts. Water

• Afternoon snack of nuts, crackers and cream cheese, and chocolate covered raisins

• Baked lemon pepper trout and a nori burrito with spinach, peppers, onions, sprouts, and smoked salmon. Chocolate covered raisins and water.

Did I mention that I really like the chocolate covered raisin from Wegmen's? They are 70% cocoa dark chocolate. I probably should just stick to buying small bars of dark chocolate at a time.

I rode my stationary bike twice today for 15 minutes each time.

I decided to stay home today instead of heading into Richmond. Ben has been very, very fussy at night and I am operating with limited sleep. I will have to be in Richmond for the next two days and then every day next week. This will be the first big test of how well I can stay committed to this transformation.

Nori Burrito with nori roll, onion, peppers, smoked salmon, sprouts, and spinach

Zeo Sleep Monitor

This looks awesome.