| TechnoGeek
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Hi everybody!
My name's Ryan, and I live in Southern Manitoba, Canada. I'm a 29 year-old gentleman living out in the country. Getting married in June!
Here's the story about how I arrived here...
For the longest time I didn't have a good family doctor. I figured it was about time I found one, because I want to see if there is anything health-wise I should be concerned about, and I also want to get into better shape. Last month I found an excellent doctor in my area, and went for a physical. Going in I figured that I'm not in bad health, but I wish I had more energy. I could also stand to lose some weight.
Anyway, the doctor weighed me (231 lbs) and measured me (6'1") and pulled out his body mass index wheel, and twiddled with it for a minute. He said that according to his BMI calculator, I am borderline type 1 obese. Type 1 obese?! Wow, I've never been called obese before. Sure I'm getting a little soft around the middle -- I just attributed it to growing up. But it is a problem. Being overweight is terrible for one's long-term health, I know. Time to go on my first ever diet -- the South Beach Diet! Recommended by my doctor.
So that evening I hopped onto the Internet and found a few sites, including this one. Reading how it works, it makes a lot of sense to me. Wow, a diet where I don't have to starve myself! I can eat meat! Yess!
Soon after my physical I picked up a few items from the grocery store -- a box of Splenda (tastes identical to sugar!), several cans of diet pop, a few packets of Crystal Light, and a couple jugs of V8 (original and V-Go). I also bought a digital scale. It is now about a month after the checkup, and I am now averaging about 226 lbs. Not bad for just having cut out most of the sugar in my diet. Time to take the plunge!
Realizing that I had no idea what to make for meals, I ran out and bought the new South Beach Diet Cookbook. I also bought the new edition of the Good Fats Good Carbs Guide. Both excellent books, but with all the recipes on the Internet I could probably have done without the cookbook. It did get me excited about this diet though.
Yesterday evening I went shopping for SBD groceries. It was a very unusual shopping trip for me because prior to that you would never find me in the produce section. I was so accustomed to frozen prepared foods, frozen corn and oven fries. No wonder I'm overweight!
So here I am, at what I call "Day zero". I'm calling it as such because I have yet to complete a proper SBD menu. I am trying some of the SBD dishes, but I'm having trouble finding anything that qualifies for a phase 1 lunch. You see, I hate salad. I can't stand any type of lettuice, nor raw veggies. I don't mind cooked veggies, but raw is not for me -- makes me gag. I'll have to see about making some soup perhaps. I welcome your suggestions!
"Day zero" might last a few days while I get my diet in order. The first day that I manage a full SBD menu will become Day 1. I expect that my Day 1 will happen by Monday at the latest.
So here's a summary of my situation:
I weigh 226 lbs
I'm 6'1" tall
I don't exercise (yet)
My work is in computers, very little physical activity
I hate salad -- lettuice and other leafies makes me gag
The only veggies I like are cooked veggies
I love meat and fish
I love my morning coffee (with Splenda and powered milk)
I find that diet pop (except for cola) actually tastes quite good!
Short term goal: Lose a few inches off the spare tire in time for my wedding in June
Long term goal: Reach a target weight of 200
Time to lose the spare tire! I'll keep you posted. :) |
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Wed May 05, 2004 9:25 pm |
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| TechnoGeek
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So like I mentioned, I'm on Day zero until I have a proper SBD menu. Here's how it's going so far...
Breakfast: Vegetable Quiche Cups from www.mizfrogspad.com
These were very good. Instead of Red Bell Pepper and Onion, I used Broccoli and Cauliflower. I don't have much cooking experience, and it took me a while to figure out that I could microwave the spinach leaves to pre-cook them. Once I learned that it became very quick and easy to prep this dish. My muffin-pan yielded nine quiche cups. I ate two for breakfast and froze the rest for future.
Unfortunately I didn't have time for a mid-morning snack. Once I have a few quick treat recipes down I'll be able to fill this in.
Lunch: Can of Chunky chicken vegetable soup
For those who don't have their head around this South Beach Diet yet -- Canned Chunky Soup is NOT a Phase 1 dish! ;) This is why I'm on Day zero -- I don't have any good lunch recipes for my tastes. What's worse is that I forgot the soup on the stove for a little too long, so it was more like a stew when I ate it. That's the first time I've ever over-done canned soup! Well, at least I got to use the thing up so it wouldn't be staring at me every time I open the pantry. :)
Mid-afternoon Snack: Roasted Chickpeas from www.mizfrogspad.com
Most of these turned out well -- Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside! Some of the ones toward the outside of the pan were burnt though. I think next time I'll use the convection fan on my oven -- should cook faster and more evenly. I'll also add the spices later in the cooking process, or even just sprinkle them after they come out of the oven so the spices retain their flavour.
Dinner: (to be determined)
My future inlaws invited me to dinner tonight. They usually serve meat, potatoes and some cooked veggies. I'm going to steer clear of the potatoes if possible, and maybe go for the peas if they're served. They know I'm starting a diet, so they'll understand. :)
Evening Snack: Gonna have a no-sugar-added fudgscicle
Cheers! |
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Wed May 05, 2004 9:50 pm |
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| LadyBugzz
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Hello there Technogeek!
I'm so glad you have come to join us here at the beach! You might want to check out the recipe forum here to see if there is anything that looks good to try while you're at it. I've noticed alot of people post good recipies in their journals as well. Good thing I'm getting much better at copy and paste eh??? lol :lol:
Anyway I'm sure you will find that everyone here is very supportive and informative as well. Be sure to post things you find that work for you just in case someone else is struggling with the same things.
I'm only on day 5 on phase 1 but I have 250 lbs to lose. Talk about carrying around two extra people!!! I weigh 3 x my normal body weight!!!
Just be glad you haven't had to try all those other diets that everyone else has tried and failed. (encluding phen phen *cringe*) I'll be rooting for you!!!
*hugzz from LadyBugzz*
~Shelly~
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Wed May 05, 2004 10:14 pm |
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| Cuppacoffey
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Welcome to the beach! you will find lots of wisdom and encouragement here.....You sound like you are headed in the righ direction; :lol:
June wedding? Congratulations!
Cuppa |
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Wed May 05, 2004 10:44 pm |
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| TechnoGeek
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Thanks for that awesome welcome both of you! :D
The theory behind South Beach appears quite sound. I'm excited to see what the next few weeks will bring. I'll have to dig deeper into these forums next time I'm on. Gotta get me fixed up with some lunches!
Cheers! |
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Wed May 05, 2004 10:55 pm |
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| TechnoGeek
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Hi again!
So here I am at day my second day zero. Here's what I ate today:
Breakfast: Vegetable Quiche Cups - leftovers from yesterday.
These don't taste as good microwaved out of the freezer -- they were a bit dry. I might try including some water in the bottom of the bowl and covering them tomorrow when I reheat some more.
Snack: Roasted chickpeas (from yesterday)
Lunch: One bowl of Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup with part skim cheese cubes
I'm still stuck on what to eat for lunches, and was in a rush to get out of the house today for a meeting in the city. Canned soup was quick. I figured I'd go without crackers since they are blatantly illegal in step 1. I'm used to having lots of crackers with my soup, sometimes so much that it becomes more like a cracker stew. Excluding the crackers is definitely a step forward here. I felt some guilt over the noodles, but there weren't many.
Sncak: Roasted chickpeas (the rest of the ones I made yesterday)
Dinner: Large Sirloin Steak with Mashed Cauliflower
There isn't much I love more than a nice big juicy steak. Previously I would have it with fries and corn. Tonight it is cauliflower. I attempted to make a hack of the mashed "potato" cauliflower recipe, but I don't have any half and half, nor do I have a blender or food processor. I used a hand mixer, and that got me part way, but I had to finish mashing it with a fork. It still tastes like cauliflower. I should get a potato masher -- That would probably help. The cream is probably the secret to the official mashed "potato" recipe. :)
I was working in the city today, so dinner was late for me tonight. I was so hungry. Hopefully once I have a proper menu and routine down I'll be distributing my nourishment more evenly throughout the day. I probably won't need a snack tonght -- only 2 hours till bedtime.
'Night all! |
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Fri May 07, 2004 3:27 am |
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| angelina_marie
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| i found that if i keep a bag of salad in the house at all time i can base QUICK MEALS and QUICK SIDE DISHES around the salad...like today for lunch i had some of the bagged salad, tuna, reduced fat cheese and some dressing. i topped it off with my own little creation: "Salmon Roll-Ups" (romaine lettuce stuffed with a piece of low fat cheese and left over baked salmon...this was instead of the sbd "ham roll-ups"). my quick lunch turned out better than i imagined! |
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Fri May 07, 2004 4:44 am |
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| TechnoGeek
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Thanks for the tip Angelina. While salad doesn't work for me, I will try to find a good staple that I can fix in a hurry, just for times like that.
Here's my update... You know what? I'm going to call yesterday Day 1. I stuck to legal foods for the most part. Looks like today is Day 2! I still need a routine menu, but I'm making do, and I am losing weight! I'm down 3 lbs since Tuesday! This is exciting!
Breakfast: Quiche Cups
I included some water with the quiche cups in a covered bowl when reheating them today. They turned out much better than yesterday. In fact, lots of the water got infused into the quiche, making each bite a juicy one. Only two of these left now. Soon will be time to try other breakfasts.
Lunch: Cocoa Ricotta Creme
I forgot about my leftover soup from yesterday and was itching to try the Ricotta Creme. To the ricotta I added vanilla extract, Splenda and cocoa powder. It was divine! I'm going to share my other bowl with my fiancee this evening -- I think she'll like it too. She isn't on the diet, but she does want to eat healthier, because she feels the same lack of energy that I had been feeling.
Dinner: To be determined. Hmmmmm...I need some meat. Maybe I'll make something with chicken breast tonight with a side of leftover mashed cauliflower. I'll sprinkle some parsley garnish on the cauliflower to make it look pretty. 8)
Evening: We're going to a friend's place for "games night" this evening. I'll have to bring a few legal snacks and diet drinks, because the usual fare is pretzels, cereal snack mix, chips, etc...That would be a diet buster. I don't even feel tempted though. Just as long as I have something to munch on, like unsalted cashews.
Till next time! |
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Fri May 07, 2004 7:49 pm |
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| TechnoGeek
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Hey folks... Sorry I've been away from the forums for a few days. It's been crazy busy all over the place. Weekends are a very difficult time for me to stick to South Beach. Here's how I've been doing with my meals:
Saturday - Day 3:
On Saturday I was in a rush for most of the day. I attended a funeral first thing in the morning. I was in a rush to get out of the house, and much of the day was spent in the city.
Breakfast - Coco Ricotta Creme (Grabbed just before rushing out of the house)
Lunch - Veggie soup and half a bun, with V8 juice
After the funeral my fiancee and I were meeting my mom to do some wedding decoration shopping. We had some time to kill so we stopped in at the mall. Not much good legal food there! A man cannot live on soup alone. I had to have the bun. I only had half though.
Dinner - Salmon steaks with a side of cooked broccoli and cauliflower, and tomato slices
After the day in the city was done, I decided to stop in and pick up some salmon steaks. I did up this wonderful dish and totally impressed my fiancee. ;)
Sunday - Day 4:
For Mother's Day I went for a drive with my inlaws-to-be. We went to a tea house in a small town about an hour away. The options were limited, and I couldn't stick to Phase 1 for that day.
Breakfast - Blueberry bran muffin (offered to me on the way there)
Lunch - Turkey vegetable soup, turkey sandwich on whole grain bread
Dessert - half slice of apple pie with tiny bit of ice cream
Dinner - Refried bean burrito with cheddar (made at my fiancee's non-SBD home)
Monday - Day 5:
Another crazy day. My main car needs repairs and can't be driven very far. I had to insure my beater for a few weeks until it can be fixed. I went to town to get new plates. Got home and realized I left them at the insurance office! Zipped back to retrieve them, and then had to rush to make a dentist appointment. I was in the city for the rest of the day, first doing some work, then visiting a friend.
Lunch: Peanut Butter Cookies (2), chicken noodle soup with mozza cubes (leftovers from last week)
Dinner: Thin-crust Chicken Pizza at my friend's place.
Snack: Air-popped popcorn with garlic powder seasoning
Later Snack: Peanut Butter Cookies (2)
That was not a good day to be on a diet. Still a lot tamer than my pre-SBD tastes.
Tuesday - Day 6 (today!)
Finally, a full work day at home again!
Brunch - Reheated quiche cups with back bacon on top
In Canada we call Canadian bacon "Back bacon". Are we strange or what? :P
Lunch - Super omlet -- onion, garlic, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cheese!
This omlet was awesome. I never made an omlet before, and this one was a little thick. Very difficult to flip. Hey, are you supposed to flip omlettes? :?
Dinner snack - Peanut Butter Cookies (2)
I had to run into the city to reboot a server (I'm a computer guy). No time for dinner!
Super-late evening dinner - Leftover super omlet
The Weign In:
Starting weight: 226 lbs
Today's weight (after 6 days): 221.2 lbs
Not bad... Cheers! |
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Wed May 12, 2004 3:39 am |
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| TechnoGeek
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Howdy doo! Just checking in again. :)
Wednesday - Day 7
Wednesday was a bad diet day for me. Breakfast and lunch were puny, and I was sooooo hungry come dinner time, which happened to be around 8:30pm. I was at a pool hall visiting my father and some family friends while my mother was putting on a surprise wedding shower for my fiancee -- She was totally surprised. :mrgreen:
Breakfast - Coco Ricotta Creme and a cup of coffee
Lunch - Peanut Butter Cookie
Dinner - Ribeye Steak on Garlic Toast, a bit of mediteranian salad, pint of beer
As I mentioned before, I hate salad. The alternative was a large pile of fries with gravy, so I went with the less guilty one. :) Being a hater of salads, I only had four leaves of the stuff. But I managed to eat all the tomato pieces and the feta cheese. The steak was one of the best steaks I've had in a while -- very well seasoned. I couldn't steer clear of the garlic toast upon which it was placed -- it was just too good. And I don't drink beer often. I'll have a pint maybe once or twice a month.
This morning ( now Day 8 ) after breakfast I'm now weighing in at an even 220 lbs! Some of that yesterday was probably due to starvation, but it is coming off, even with the occasional slip-up. I suppose I could attribute this partly to the way I used to eat before starting SBD. I never ate green veggies, and rarely fruits. Dinners were usually some form of frozen chicken fingers or two hamburgers, with fries and corn on the side. Breakfasts were usually Honey Nut Cheerios, or Red River hot cereal with mounds of brown sugar. Just cutting down on the sugar was already losing me some weight even before I started SBD. The weight loss has certainly accelerated since I started SBD though. Good stuff! |
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Thu May 13, 2004 3:00 pm |
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| TechnoGeek
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Thursday - Day 8
Breakfast - Spinach Scrambled Eggs, few slices of back bacon and glass of V8
Snack - some Coco Ricotta Creme
Lunch - Chicken Noodle Soup (restaurant)
Snack - Peanut Butter Cookie
Dinner - Spinach Garlic Onion stuffed chicken breast with side of cauliflower mash
This was a decent day. :) |
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Fri May 14, 2004 5:26 pm |
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| lilgemini620
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hey there!
i havent tried any of the ricotta desserts yet, i want to tho, they sound so yummy...
your doing great, congrats on the weight loss!!!
my family are non sbd
and its rough. i make 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners and to make it worse
they want my food too, my diet soda, crystal light and sf goodies...LOL
I THINK I SHOULD MAKE THEM GO TO THE BEACH WITH ME!
by the way welcome...lol |
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Fri May 14, 2004 5:48 pm |
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| TechnoGeek
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Yeah, take 'em to the beach! Start replacing their regular groceries with SBD compliant ones. If you do it gradually, they'll never notice. Tee hee hee! :lol:
Friday - Day 9
I misplaced the paper which I wrote my meals on for Friday, but I think I remember the highlights. I seem to remember that it was a very good SBD day anyway.
Breakfast - Eggs, sunny side up, with side of back bacon and grated part-skim Mozza cheese. Coffee as well.
Lunch - I totally forget what I had.
Dinner - Spinach chicken breast with side of broccoli and cauliflower. Oh, and one cracker. My fiancee offered it to me. Baaad! :)
Not sure what I had for snacks.
Saturday - Day 10
First half of the day wasn't very strict. It's probably slowing my progress. Weekends are hard for sticking to the diet because I'm out most of the time. It's so much easier during the week when I'm working at home. I need some more portable SBD meals! And not salads either.
Breakfast - Eggs Benedict on english muffin.
I was at a restaurant with a friend for breakfast. Totally cheated there.
Lunch - Chicken Noodle Soup with an egg and mozza cheese stirred in.
Snack - some Pistachios. Yummy.
Dinner - Steak with side of Broccoli and Cauliflower
Evening Snack - No sugar added Fudgscicle
Today's Sunday now, and I have to rush out. I'll try to be good![/b] |
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Sun May 16, 2004 1:44 pm |
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| TechnoGeek
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Sunday - Day 11
Terrible day to be on a diet. My fiancee and I were in a rush first thing to go to an town 2 hours away to visit some friends at their church. We didn't have time to make anything for the trip. We didn't eat until after church, at which point we went to a buffet place. I declared a one-day hiatus from my diet due to poor selection at the restaurant.
Lunch - Scrambled Eggs, some bacon, lots of ham, 1/2 of a Danish, 1/2 of a croissant, some bits of fruit.
Dinner time Snack - Strawberries, and three Ritz crackers
We went home in time for a late dinner...
Late Dinner - Spinach & Onion Chicken Breast with side of broccoli
Dessert - 2 scoops of ice cream
I probably didn't lose any weight that day. Back to work!
Monday - Day 12
Morning Snack - Peanut Butter Cookie (my last one!)
Lunch - Pistachios
Dinner - I'll be making a Halibut Steak Dinner, and use up some of my remaining veggies before I go shopping tomorrow.
Snack - Going to probably have a no-sugar-added Fudgscicle.
I find that if I dive into my work first thing in the morning then I won't eat. That's not good. I really should practice getting up earlier in the morning so I don't feel bad taking time to eat. |
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Mon May 17, 2004 8:02 pm |
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| TechnoGeek
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Hi all...
Well, it's been a few days and I haven't been keeping track of what I've been eating. I really have to get back into the swing of things, because I'm not losing as quickly as I was in the first week. One problem is that I'm not eating as many meals in a day as I should be. Other problem is that there have been a few occasions where I've bent the rules a bit.
The Weign In:
Starting weight: 226 lbs
After 6 days: 221.2 lbs
After 16 days: 217.8 lbs
Hopefully I'll have better to report next time. :oops: |
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Sat May 22, 2004 7:08 am |
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