Ah, the joy of each day. Everyday a new opportunity to improve oneself and do something of value, not to mention have a great time. Or at least eat all of this:

• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - One of my two near daily standbys.
• Hill Country Fare Quick Oatmeal - The other of my two near daily standbys.
• Chocolate Milk - The milk was Central Market Organics Fat Free Milk and the chocolate was Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. I really enjoy a nice glass of chocolate milk from time to time.
• Thai Spice - Lemongrass Chicken, spicy vegetable soup, mixed salad with Italian dressing, Dr. Pepper - This was a lunch trip to our (most of my family) favorite Thai restaurant for my Grandmother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandma. Everything was great, as usual.
• Maruchan Ramen Noodle Soup Chili Flavor - I do so love ramen, but I prefer it without the soup. Only noodles for me. I wonder if that reduces the calories I consume when I eat it? Probably not.
• Central Market Organics Mixed Vegetables (carrots, corn, peas and green beans) - Man cannot live on ramen alone, or at least that's what I think. I think most of us have tried to at some point though. All that said, the veggies were great.

This was one of those special occasion days that sometimes get out of hand. The calorie count ended up at roughly 2,899, but that is just a estimation based on the makeup of the foods since there was no nutritional information available for some of the food. I estimate the calories from fat at 29%. I hate to do the estimating thing, but sometimes that's the way things go.

captainzoli

Tags: ramen, noodle, pasta, lunch, dinner, breakfast, fun, food, eating, out, restaurant, soup, vegetable, organic, milk, chocolate, oatmeal, vitamin

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Posted by the Captain at 2:08 PM CDT

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So, another day, another diet, or so I'm told. Or maybe I just made that up. You don't know. Here it is:

• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - I think we all know where I stand on this one by now.
• Hill Country Fare Quick Oatmeal - This one is getting to be like the daily vitamin, but I guess that's not too bad a thing, really.
• Healthy Choice Fiesta Chicken - The flavor of this one was ok, but the chicken was really dry. Hard to believe, I'm sure, but true enough. I will probably try this one again to see if the chicken thing was a fluke.
• A & W - Papa Burger, Regular Root Beer (large), Chili Cheese Fries, and Coney Chili Cheese Dog - This trip to A & W was probably not one of my better ideas. Likewise, getting more than one main course was probably not one of my greatest ideas either. Needless to say, this little indulgence really set back the day's counts. I do really like the food at A & W which makes it difficult to say no sometimes.

Ok, at 2,635 the calorie count doesn't look that bad, but the fat percentage is way too high at 32%. Overall, I would have to consider this a good day, if only because I managed to keep my calories low, but in the grand scheme of things, I need to make better food choices.

captainzoli

Tags: A & W, restaurant, dinner, lunch, breakfast, snack, food, vegetable, papa, buger, chili, cheese, fries, french fries, hot dog, dog, fun, chicken fiesta, root beer, A&W, drive-in, drive, in, fast food, fast, quickserve, out

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Posted by the Captain at 1:54 PM CDT

Updated: Wednesday, 6 September 2006 2:08 PM CDT

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Looks like I fell a bit behind on these posts, so I have a lot of catching up to do. The diet continues, somewhat successfully, but anyway, Monday looked like this:

• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - Yea, still taking them almost everyday.
• Hill Country Fare Quick Oatmeal - Good for you, good for me. Another almost daily occurrence nowdays.
• Healthy Choice Complete Selections Blackened Chicken with Fire Roasted Red Pepper Sauce - The flavor on this one isn't bad, the only real problem I have with it is that blackened chicken with red pepper sauce should be spicy and this meal just isn't.
• Dr. Pepper - I still haven't been able to give these up completely.
• Whataburger - Dr. Pepper Medium (32 oz.), Low Fat Vinaigrette, Grilled Chicken Salad no cheese - Yep, back at the local Whataburger getting my usual salad. This time I stepped out of bounds with the Dr. Pepper, but it didn't do too much damage to my overall diet.

This was a good day with only 1,288 calories, of which only 16% came from fat. I felt good about this day, too bad it didn't last.

captainzoli

Tags: diet, lunch, dinner, breakfast, menu, vitamin, vegetable, meat, salad, oatmeal, chicken, grilled, dressing, red, pepper, blackened, sauce, weight-loss, weight, loss, fun, eating, dining, fun

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Posted by the Captain at 1:25 PM CDT

Updated: Wednesday, 6 September 2006 1:46 PM CDT

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Sunday found the LAN party over, and the wife and I relaxing around the house and trying to get ready for the work week ahead. Overall, it was quiet, and not too bad on the calorie front. Things went like this:

• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - As some of you may have noticed, I did, indeed, forget to take my daily yesterday. Them's the breaks, somedays. As of Sunday though, I was back on track.
• Whataburger - Grilled Chicken Salad with Low Fat Vinaigrette. The wife went to my parents' house for breakfast sometime before I woke up, but was nice enough to stop by Whataburger on her way home and grab me my usual favorite diet fast food. She also brought me a small hash brown that my father had made. Thanks Dad.
• Hunan Express - Veggie Delight, steamed white rice and two egg rolls. Round about dinner, the wife and I were getting hungry and so we settled on delivery Chinese food from Hunan Express. They are actually the only Chinese place near our home that delivers, and since we were being lazy around the house, the only choice. The Veggie Delight I had is basically a stir fry of your typical vegetable found in take out Chinese food in a white or clear sauce. It was good, especially since I asked for it spicy. It almost was. I should have skipped the egg rolls, but I didn't.
• Dr. Pepper - There were a few Dr. Peppers left over from the LAN party, so I finished them up.

So the fast food binge I've been on the last week really didn't subside, but at least the choice improved and my calorie numbers went down. The numbers for Sunday were 2,420, so that was right in between my goal numbers of 2,000 to 3,000 calories.

captainzoli

Tags: breakfast, dinner, lunch, Chinese, food, meal, vegetable, chicken, salad, fun, fast food, quick serve, fast, taste, vitamin, hash brown, potato

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Posted by the Captain at 12:21 PM CDT

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The LAN party continued on Saturday, and so did my poor food choices. There are no excuses, they were my choices, after all. They do need to improve though, if I hope to reach my weight goals. It looked like this:

• Quiznos - I started off the day at lunch, with a Cabo Chicken Sub, small Dr. Pepper and bag of Miss Vicki's Lime and Black Pepper chips. The Cabo Chicken Sub is one of my favorite fast food items of all time, and I really enjoyed this one. It's not very good for a diet though. I ate the chips as a midnight snack, some hours later.
• Whataburger - Grilled Chicken Salad with Low Fat Vinaigrette Dressing. With everyone buzzing around the house, it is difficult to cook and such, not to mention I wanted to spend as much time gaming as possible, so the wife and I looked for quick ways to eat. This time I made what I consider to be a good choice. It's also quite tasty. All told this meal had less than 300 calories.
• Dr. Pepper - Various and sundry Dr. Peppers were drunk by myself (and others, but I am not responsible for their calorie counts) during the long session of gaming. Not a good choice.
• Bud Lite - Again of beverage that should be avoided while dieting, but a good beverage for long gaming sessions.

As much as I complain about my lack of keeping my calories under control, my daily total for Saturday was only 3,344 calories, which while over my goal of 3,000, is still not that bad all things considered. I'm not going to be too hard on myself about it, especially considering all the hubbub around the house this past weekend. Besides, I'm sure this week will be better.

captainzoli

Tags: diet, menu, calorie, frozen, meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, beer, bud lite, dr. pepper, chicken, salad, dressing, sub, sandwich, cabo, quiznos, whataburger, gaming, lan, party, fun, eating, food

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Posted by the Captain at 11:48 AM CDT

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Friday was the first day of a two day LAN Party and I knew things were going to be tough, diet-wise. Beer is never good for the diet, even light beer, and soda is no different, at least not full sugar soda, but I had both starting on Friday. It went like this:

• Breakfast Tacos - Two Potato and Bacon (no egg, and on a side note, I had them with bacon because the taco place got my order wrong. I had ordered them with cheese) tacos with hot sauce. A poor way to diet but a great way to start off the morning.
• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - You should have seen this one coming by now.
• Hill Country Fare Quick Oatmeal - Oatmeal is tasty and healthy. High in fiber.
• Healthy Choice Flavor Adventures Roasted Chicken Marsala - This one wasn't bad. I've actually had it a couple of times in the past.
• Bud Light - It's not bad, but not my favorite. It was, however, what was on sale.
• Dr. Pepper - I do so love regular Dr. Pepper. It has always been one of the biggest obstacles to my weight loss plans.
• Burger King - I once again had the king size Extreme Spicy Tendercrisp Sandwich with french fries and a Dr. Pepper. Not good at all for the diet, but after I had one on Thursday, I wanted another. At least I waited until the next day.

The calorie total isn't pretty: 4,079. Not good at all. My poor eating choices really came back to haunt me on Friday, and it shows that I still have a long way to go before I am able to make consistent, good food choices. Something to work on I suppose.

captainzoli

Tags: burger king, bk, tendercrisp, dr. pepper, bud light, budweiser, beer, lite, light, healthy choice, dinner, breakfast, lunch, frozen, food, meal, chicken, marsala, oatmeal, soda, french fries, potato, vitamin, heb, grocery, store, supermarket

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Posted by the Captain at 4:06 PM CDT

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Ok, so today didn't go as well as it could have either, but at least it wasn't as bad as yesterday, or at least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself. Actually, it wasn't too bad a day, calorie wise, but their is really no good excuse to go to Burger King and order what I did. I could have gotten a salad or something, but no. This is one of those times when I need to make better food decisions, even when eating under than less than ideal situations. Life is filled with less than ideal situations and we all have to learn how to deal with them if we hope to achieve our goals.

• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - See, I told you. Every day. That's why they call them daily.
• Hill Country Fare Quick Oatmeal - I'm really not a huge oatmeal fan, despite the fact that I eat it almost everyday.
• Healthy Choice Flavor Adventures Garlic Parmesan Chicken - I really liked this meal.
• Burger King - King size Dr. Pepper, Extreme Spicy Tendercrisp Sandwich, King size French Fries and Chicken Fries (9 Pieces). This was where things went down the road of non-healthy food, but it was still tasty, except for the fries, which were bad. Actually, I just don't like Burger King's fries period. Your mileage may vary.

So that's that. I have owned up to my own poor choices. It ended up being 2,855 calories for the day, but a whopping 37% from fat. That's not particularly good. I will have to try harder to tame my wild fast food urges.

captainzoli

Tags: diet, daily, vitamin, health choice, frozen meal, lunch, breakfast, dinner, burger king, chicken, fries, sandwich, oatmeal

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Posted by the Captain at 2:32 PM CDT

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This was my lunch on Tuesday, Healthy Choice's Chicken Margherita from their Flavor Adventures line of meals, and I have to say, I was somewhat disappointed in this one. Now, that's not to say it isn't good; I don't really have any complaints other than it didn't suite my tastes exactly as I would have liked. It had three nice size pieces of chicken, and a serving of pasta, these were complimented by a balsamic vinegar sauce. Overall, everything was fine, except for the pasta, which was softer than I like pasta. My only complaint is that it just didn't taste like I thought it should, but that may be more my own problem than any real problem with the meal itself. I should try this one again, just to be on the safe side.

captainzoli

Tags: healthy choice, frozen meal, tv dinner, frozen, meal, dinner, lunch, chicken, balsamic vinegar, vinegar, fun

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Posted by the Captain at 2:20 PM CDT

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Well, after Tuesday's triumph, I followed up Wednesday with a complete, Chinese buffet style meltdown. Actually, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but still it wasn't as good as it could have been, and I'm not talking about the taste of the food, for those of you confused. The day's menu went like this:

• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - My one a day vitamin, and yes, I do try to take it everyday. Ok, ok, sometimes I forget on the weekends.
• Central Market Organic Fat Free Milk - Always fat free organic milk with my protein powder.
• ON 100% Instantized Whey Protein, Double Rich Chocolate - The best tasting protein powder I've tried, and I've tried a few in my time.
• Healthy Choice Flavor Adventures Chicken Margherita - Not bad for a frozen meal, although I do have a few complaints, like the softness of the pasta. Al dente, folks, al dente.
• Chinese Buffet - Here is where things went wrong for me. Broccoli Chicken, Spicy Chicken, fried potatoes, white rice, pot stickers, spring rolls, and Dr. Pepper. All that food can't be good for one's diet.

There are inherit difficulties in counting calories on a Chinese buffet, but it is necessary to give it my best shot, and even try to err on the side of too many, so for the day, I will stick with the number 3,859. It may be too many, it may be too few, but I think it is pretty close to the truth of the matter. Oh, I forgot to mention that fortune cookie. Which the wife touched before me and ruined. Again. :p

captainzoli

Tags: diet, dinner, lunch, chinese, food, meal, healthy choice, frozen, chicken, oatmeal, organic, milk, no, fat, powder, protein, vitamin, calorie

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Posted by the Captain at 3:36 PM CDT

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My interest in meatless products and recipes has been increased in recent weeks by my wife's expressed desire to begin transitioning to a vegetarian style of eating, or at least a more vegetarian style of eating, and as the main chef in the household, I thought it prudent to learn a little more about such things. I've never really considered such a change in my own eating patterns, and so turned to the Internet for some information. After much research, it seems to me that including more vegetables in one's diet can't be too bad of thing, although I don't think pure vegetarianism will ever be the choice for me. Anyway, the point of all this rambling is that I have started looking for recipes and products that will bring about this more healthy style of eating, and while wondering through the local grocery store, I came across the Meatless Ground Burger by Boca. When I saw it, I immediately thought it might make a suitable replacement for actual meat in spaghetti, which we tend to eat quite often, and turns out it does a good job at that, although I think the folks at Boca are a bit optimistic when they say two pouches of their product equal one pound of meat (each box comes with three pouches). I think if I had added the third pouch of meatless ground, the sauce would have come much closer to the consistency of my sauce when I add a pound of turkey or beef. As for taste, I found it to be as good as turkey in the sauce, and the texture was also satisfying.

captainzoli

Tags: meatless, meat, less, analog, boca, burger, ground, food, frozen, spaghetti, fun, dinner, meal

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Posted by the Captain at 2:22 PM CDT

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