Tasty Food Diet

71.4 kg

2006-12-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

Hit it a few days ago.

72.0 kg

2006-12-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Getting down there. Wonder where I'll end up.

73.7 kg

2006-11-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Just stopping in to steal an icon.

74.5 kg

2006-11-15T06:31:00.000-08:00

75.0 kg

2006-11-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

75.3 kg

2006-11-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

75.3 kg

2006-11-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

75.8 kg

2006-11-06T04:55:00.000-08:00

76.1 kg

2006-11-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

76.2 kg

2006-11-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

76.3 kg

2006-11-03T06:27:00.000-08:00

76.7 kg

2006-11-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

77.0 kg

2006-11-01T07:29:00.000-08:00

76.8 kg

2006-10-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

77.0 kg

2006-10-30T08:04:00.000-08:00

77.4 kg

2006-10-29T08:39:00.000-08:00

78.2 kg

2006-10-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Future Titles Will Be Weights

2006-10-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

Food Blogging

2006-10-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

Fitness State Of Grace

2006-10-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back in a good state now, after working out 7 days in a row since my last big binge. 10 days ago, I was in a similar good state, when I decided Saturday morning I was feeling sick, and I that wasn't going to work out, and was going instead to order the pizzas. That led to a multi-day binge, laying on the couch, watching tv, and staying at home sick. After 4 days of being a shut-in, I finally got out of the house, and eased myself back into my workouts. Now, it's a week later, and I'm back in a fitness state of grace. In this state, everyday I'll lose weight. Usually, this lasts for another week before I end up hungry, tired, and binging. Well, I'll do something to prevent that the next time. So far, I've termed "Fitness State of Grace". Now, I need another analogy other than Confession to help me avoid the next binge.

Didn't Binge Last Night

2006-10-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was five straight days of workouts, and I went home after the gym to eat dinner (brown rice & stew). I probably hadn't binged in about 10 days as well. I was feeling the ususal conditions that trigger a binge, but I didn't succumb to the 6-pack of Klondike bars, or the can of Almond Rocha. Instead, I went to my local drug store to pick up some precriptions, and I took my time to select a small treat, instead of impulse buying a bag/box of junk. I settled on a Nestle Crunch Ice Cream bar, and I took it home, and enjoyed about half of it. Then, I threw the remaining half away. God, if I can keep this up, who knows how much weight I might lose.

Get Yourself A Massage

2006-09-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

It took a while, but I think I've finally found the answers to all my problems: a weekly massage. Ok, I've had them before, but at day-spa prices ($!00 USD), they were good, but hardly indispensible. Now that Pat from OFC gave me a referral to his masseuse, who's has a studio right in town, and charges only $60, I'm set. I was having a lot of muscle and joint soreness from constantly overdoing it, while not taking the time to stretch properly. That, and other things make my body very wound up, to the point I had to skip some strength training last week. Anyways, by the end of the week, when I've done 5 or more workouts in a row, my body usually rebels, and I end up eating the pizzas or the Klondike bars. From now on, they're going to be treated to a weekly massage instead. If you haven't had one lately, they've incorporated several New Age elements to make a very soothing ambiance -- candles, hot oils, linaments, enviromental music, etc. And of course there's the hour of pure luxury at the hands of a professional masseuse. Plus, I got a new perspective on health and nutrition from a massuese's view. They emphasize the role of toxins in the body, which for me would supposedly be lactic acid build up from all the workouts, and external toxins from the 2 litres of Coke Zero, coffee, and other sodas I drink every day. So, finally, I'm going to cut that stuff out. She also said the massage was going to flush alot of toxins out, and that I definitely should drink a lot of water afterwards. Normally, I don't drink a lot after I get home, because I drink 2 litres at the gym. But while I drank 2 litres before the massage (I went spinning), after I got home, I ended up drinking over 3 litres. I woke up twice during the night to drink 1 litre. Either the stuff she said was true, or I was open to suggestion under all that New Age paraphernalia. Anyways, a good massage is a wonderful luxury, and it seems to fit in perfectly with a diet and exercise plan.

The Biggest Loser (Season 3, Week 2)

2006-09-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

It's back on, bitches. I think I'm getting hooked again, after a second two-hour special episode in a row. Next week they're going back to 1 hour shows. It sounds like they're (semi-)chartering a cruise ship for next week's show. The Losers will work as staff, and their families will be the guests. I saw the previews, and it looked just like the ship I was on this summer in Hawaii, and it looked pretty empty. Usually, there's probably over 1500 guests (x $1000+/week), so does that mean they're paying $2 million to tape an episode? Probably not, there'll probably be regular passengers as well.

Anyway, I'm inspired by their weightloss. They're dropping over 3% of their weight per week, and if I could do that for two or three weeks, I'd finally make my ultimate goal that'll change my life :) If I could lose 6% of my current weight, I'd get down to about 74kg. That'd be a transformation that'd change my outlook as much as the contestants on the show. Well, as soon as Trainer Jason gets his new site up, I'll take on that 3 week transformation, online.

A Week Since My Last Binge

2006-09-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

Whew, I made it past last night without driving thru KFC, or Carl's Jr., or picking up the phone and calling Pizza Hut for another two pizzas. But it was close. I was headed out from work, with the vague idea of going to OFC, or the gym. But as I was driving, I could feel this idea morphing into finding a fast food drive-thru instead. Then I got a call from Trainer Jason, and I committed to joining Camp. That saved me from a night on the couch watching the Lifetime Movie Network, and eating a bucket of chicken. Instead, the only thing I did "bad" was to have a plate of bowtie pasta with salt, pepper, and butter. Could have been much worse.

Ok, How Do I Stop Binging?

2006-09-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

I've eaten 4 pizzas since last Thursday, and one night I had the 7 piece bucket of KFC Original Recipe. I've also had a few Carl's Jr. large combo meals. Sure, I've been working out hard as usual, but I'm not going to make any progress like this.

I'm trying to tell myself that every "meal" is an opportunity to starve myself. What I mean is that I can accelerate weight loss at every "meal". I need to get back to cooking all meals, and eating only what I need. No more processed food.

I'm either going spinning tonight, or running Torrey Pines. And I have a $50 USD bet on Pittsburg (-1) vs. Miami.

Workout On The Lake

2006-09-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

Went to Lake Poway today, and rented a paddle boat for an hour. I did three laps, and worked out about as hard as a spinning workout. The pedal stroke is a lot less comfortable on the boat, because they're made in large part for kids. I drank about 4 cans (1.4 litres) of liquids during this part of the workout. Then I rented a row boat, and did another 3 laps in an hour. Suprisingly, they're about the same speed, though the rowboat is faster. I tried to count the stokes in a lap around the lake. I think it's like 1000 or so. So three laps is like 3000 strokes. That's a lot of rows in the gym.

Got the pizzas, but ...

2006-08-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

I didn't eat them all at once. Yes, the Pizza Hut "special" is two medium two topping pizzas, a side of Buffalo wings, and potato poppers for $21.95 USD. I already had dinner (chicken burrito and chips and guacamole), but I still felt hungry. Could have been because I've worked out 8 days in a row. But when the pizzas came around 10pm, I only ate one small slice, a few wings, and a few poppers. The food might actually last a few days. I consider this a victory.

SDTC Workout

2006-08-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

I joined the San Diego Track Club for their Tuesday Night Workout. I'd never run with them before, so I didn't know what to expect. We met at 5:30 at Balboa Park, and I was suprised to see over 50 people ready to go. We did hill work for about half an hour, then some strides (half a sprint), and finally 3 sets of 50 crunches. The group looked liked a bunch of professionals, and the average age was probably over 30. I didn't have any problem keeping up in the middle of the pack. Looks like a good workout for Tuesday.

Rowing Workout (77.4 kg)

2006-08-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

I was driving by Lake Hodges before having dinner at Denise's, and I went to check it out. It was a very "mix it up" kind of workout, somewhere I haven't been before, and something I haven't done in a few years. Almost no one rents a rowboat on a big lake. The city provides them, but most people spend the few extra dollars for a motor. I rowed around the lake for about 50 minutes, which was a very good workout. I'd do it again, but probably back at Poway Lake, which is alot smaller, and has much less wind.

Salmon Burger (77.5 kg)

2006-08-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

I'm really dropping weight quickly now, and the 34" board shorts I wore on last week's Hawaii trip fit a little big now. I'm still benefitting from the three realisations I made on the trip: 1) I don't need to eat two burrito (1200 cal) dinners, 2) mixing it up always helps, and 3) I'm going to look better thinner. I'm also plesantly suprised that I don't need to count calories to lose weight, and that eating small amounts of treats doesn't hurt my progress.

Last night I whipped up some chicken, proscuitto, half a tortilla, and some greek salad (with oil!) before heading out. Then, I was still hungry, so I had a fish taco as soon as I got to the casino. After the taco, I had half a Payday candy bar. When I got home at 4 am, I had some more greek salad. If only poker went as well as my diet last night.

Anyways, I should get back down to my 75.3 kg low weight within a few weeks at this rate. Today is a rest day, and I'm going to hang out by the pool at the casino hotel, and try to maintain this tan. I'll probably eat light today, just taking what I need over 6 mini-meals or so during the day. I plan to burn off more than I eat just moving around. I'd be ecstatic if I move the scales down tomorrow morning.

Chicken Noodle Salad (78.1 kg)

2006-08-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

I've been cooking a lot of this lately -- chicken thighs, whole wheat spaghetti, mini-tomatoes, cuccumber, onions, red peppers, olive oil, vinegrette. When I'm at home, I toss it with mixed spring greens. But it packs well without the greens, tastes great, and saves at least $5/day in overpriced deli food.

I'm losing weight every day, by keeping the eating under control. Yesterday, I ran Torrey Pines after work (about 7km loop with 6%+ grade). I ate several servings of potato chips during the day, but I didn't completely lose it, and had an apple instead of other bad snacks. I had a large veggie omlete (probably 4 eggs), 1 1/2 slices whole wheat toast, and an orange for dinner. It was plenty of food. Maybe some people would consider that dieting, and restricting calories, but it's more about eating only what you need. I think about starving people in this world, and then I realise I'm eating like a king (on a diet).

Verna's Too (78.2 kg)

2006-08-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

I didn't take many pictures on my Hawaiian vacation. In fact, the only ones I took were of food. Figure that one out. Anyway, I saw this "drive-in" on the way back from the Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii, off Hwy 11, near Hilo. I didn't know what a "Drive-In" was, and I figured it was a Drive-Thru. It's just a fast-food stand, with parking just in front, but no facility for taking/filling orders from cars.

The menu had some strange things I was afraid to try, so I stuck to the Deluxe Ono Burger, not knowing what Ono was, but admittedly being enticed by the "Deluxe" part. It took forever for them to make it, because they were filling a big call-in order. There were a couple of rough-looking locals watching me with vague but justified suspicion. I was starting to have second thoughts about the whole thing. While I was waiting around, I couldn't help from conducting a mental health inspection of the place. I lucked out that my order turned out to be a fish burger, with some real fresh veggies. It had quite a bit of white sauce, but that makes it good. I ate about 2/3'rds of it, since we were going to be eating again on board the ship in a few hours. All in all, it was a good stop and a good burger, all for $3.50. I'd make it a staple of my diet, if I lived closer.

Still On Track (78.3 kg)

2006-08-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

I'm still in the right frame of mind, coming back from vacation. I made Outdoor Fitness Camps last night, and ran two miles beforehand. And, instead of eating the two burrito dinner, I made a salad with whole wheat spaghetti noodles, chicken thighs, spring mix (greens), onions, mini cherry tomatoes, cuccumbers and red peppers. I was still hungry, so I had an apple, then a banana, and a little bit of yoghurt. We'll see if this new diet is working after a few more days.

Lost Weight On Vacation (78.7 kg)

2006-08-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

I had a great time in Hawaii last week, on a cruise touring the islands with my family. I was really skeptical at first, but by the 5th day on vacation, I didn't want to go home. I really experienced a change in perspective, after trying new things, and enjoying the warm weather and the beaches. I also received new inspiration to set a new target weight of 73 kg, and I learned a lot about how to get there.

The Norweigan Cruise Line ship had everything I needed to stay busy and to lose weight. They had satellite-based internet access, and I got a lot of work done during my downtime. (I woke up between 4:00 and 5:00 every morning.) They also had a pretty good gym, along with a aerobics room with spinning bikes. I worked out every day, and did outdoors things like kayaking and snorkelling. I lost 1.7 kg on the trip. This doesn't mean I starved myself; I had the chocolate tort desserts, and the cholocate croissants in the morning. I often had two breakfasts. It's just that I watched portions, and chose the high-fibre, low-starch items. But mostly, it was because I wasn't eating my usual two burrito dinners. I had the realisation that I didn't need two dinners satisfy my hunger.

Anyways, the trip helped me rededicate myself to the goal of getting down to 73kg. I realised I've been working out plenty, but that my eating habbits were very poor. (I attended a couple of seminars on board about health and fitness, which turned out to be sales pitches for some bogus $300 herbal detox products.)

The picture above is from an L&L Drive-In in Pearl City, HI. This is traditional Hawaiian fast food, aka junk food. I pretty much stopped eating after I took the picture. Don't worry, I ran about 6km (14 times around the ship) that morning.

Thinspiration

2006-07-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

Just some more reasons not to eat junk from the vending machine just because it's 3pm.

Stopped After Two Pop-Tarts

2006-07-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Almost lost it today, but after two Pop-Tarts for breakfast (420 cal), I just slowed down and had soup and crackers for lunch. I'll make Outdoor Fitness Camps tonight, and it'll probably be a usual day --- about 1000 calories before working out for an hour. I'll try to cook, eat a smaller-than-usual dinner, and keep moving tonight.

Day 7: -0,3kg

2006-07-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

The reason I jumped back up to only -0,3kg loss (for the week), is because I sat around after spinning on Sunday, and cooked and ate and watched old movies and UFO "documentaries". What I should have done is just headed out to the casino, or gone for a hike. Either would have been a nice, slow-burn of calories, and I probably would have been -0,7kg today. Oh well. I tried to make up for it yesterday, and went to the gym for spinning and strength. I didn't cook great yesterday, and made rice and carne asada, and baked some sweet potatoes. I'll try to keep it together today. Maybe I'll do some walking tonight. It'd be a good use of time.

Day 5: -0,5kg

2006-07-23T06:58:00.000-07:00

See what happens when you're good? Yesterday I got up just in time to watch most of the time trial (Stage 18), and figure out Landis won the tour, then I made Outdoor Fitness Camp. After camp, I went to the gym, and caught the last 20 minutes of spinning, then did some strength training. And even after I got home and made lunch, I worked on the project. I figured out how to use hidden form fields with RoR and AJAX. Woohoo.

Angie and I saw Kathy Griffin last night. She was great, and the crowd loved her. I'm amazed that I caught almost all of her celeb-culture references. Well, okay, it took me a little while to remember who exactly John Paulus was (google: +"Clay Aiken" +"John Paulus"), but I caught the TomKat/Suri joke about "with the fringe on top". (Who wouldn't? Well, the gays next to me didn't get it. BTW, I caught Shirley Jones in Elmer Gantry today. She was amazing back-in-the-day.) The gays really love her. Sure, there are gay-friendly celebs, and gay-icon celebs, but Kathy is beyond getting it, they get her, and they want her approval. Anyway, it was a fun night out. They need to keep ice cream places open after 11pm.

Day 3: -0,3 kg

2006-07-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

I'm moving along according to plan. Last night after spinning, I was tempted to pick up a burrito from the drive-thru, and figured it wouldn't be that bad, but I decided to just get home and make something fresh. I barely had any rice left (probably < 80g cooked), but I fried it up with some ground beef and vegetables. I had some yoghurt and baked some sweet potato fries. I had a salad, and it all satisfied my hunger. I didn't wake up hungry, but I'm going to cook the day's rice, etc. and watch the Tour. Floyd Landis is amazing.

Oh, I was watching Celebrity Diet Secrets on VH-1, and I saw an "expert" interview, and thought I recognised him from over 10 years ago at school. I looked him up, and sure enough, it was David Wolfe, author of a bunch of books on the Raw Food Diet. Very cool to see that he's following his passion. He was pretty motivational back then, and got me to try an exclusive raw food diet for about a day.

Day 2: Still at -0,1kg

2006-07-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a half-rest day, because I went to Outdoor Fitness Camps, but there was a huge traffic jam downtown due to ComicCon 2006 at the Convention Centre. Which is fine with me, because I was pretty tired since working out 5 days straight.

I fried up some brown rice with vegetables for dinner, and re-watched parts of the Tour. Such drama. Landis bonked and dropped 8 minutes behind the new yellow jersey, and he's 6 minutes behind 2nd place. I watched part of today's stage this morning. More drama as Landis made an insane early break away (>120 km from the finish). I can't wait to watch the rest tonight after spinning with the gays.

Day 1: -0.1 kg

2006-07-19T07:40:00.000-07:00

It's the second day getting on the scale in the morning, and I'm down by 100g as expected. I cooked all my meals yesterday, and will try again today. I make 280g (dry) of brown rice in the morning, then stir-frying up some veggies and meat. The difference with real food is that I don't get the cravings to binge. Processed food has something that makes you want to eat more and more of it (probably the "natural" flavouring additives). It's also the texture, it's so smooth and easy to go down. The combination of sugar and fat in an easy-to-eat form is a pure endorphin fix. Real food has more bulk and fibre, and you realise you're eating something from the ground or off an animal. It's harder to abuse food in this form.

Sure, I'll forget about all this eventually, and go back to eating two pizzas, a side order of wings, and a side of tater tots in front of the tv, watching some bad Lifetime movie, and falling asleep. But for now, I want to get to into Tour de France shape :)

Ok, I'm Back

2006-07-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

And, ahem, I have to lose a few kgs. I've been way too distracted developing my RoR-based web application, and I went a little crazy with the pizzas and Klondike bars. BTW, they don't just deliver one pizza anymore. The "Manager's Special" is either two large pizzas with one topping each, a side order of wings, and a side of potato poppers for $24.99, or one large deep dish pizza with two toppings and a medium with one topping for $15.99.

And I went crazy on the 4th of July weekend, eating like four hamburgers and a big bag of Lay's Potato Chips, and a bunch of Klondike Bars in front of the tv. I was describing one of these binges to the poker table (Anna was dealing), and these two young Marines at the table knew all about ordering a few pizzas and putting themselves (their quote) into a "food coma".

But I'm back now. I've been working out the whole time, but I've decided to eat better and get back down to 75kg, and then down to 70kg. My inspiration? The Tour de France. These guys are exactly my height (174cm), but they typically weigh about 65kg. Amazing. One of the guys I was watching today weighed 62kg. I'm sure I'd be a lot faster dropping 15kg. I'd probably feel a lot better too.

Well, I'm going to get there by cooking my own food again. I finally made my brown rice, lamb, and veggies stir-fry, and it was good. (Lately, dinner has been two huge burritos from the local Mexican take-aways.) It's the vegetables, whole grains, and clean proteins that are going to get me to my goal.

Sitting On The Couch, Writing Movie Reviews

2006-04-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

And eating candy and junk. I call it my coding break. Anyway, I've gotten pretty good feedback on the movies I've reviewed. My reviews get voted to the top of the IMDB comment list, for whatever that's worth. I'm probably losing it.

Marathon Man

The Goodbye Girl (2004)

And today's submitted review on The Day Regan Was Shot:

Read my review.

Trying To Stay Fit

2006-04-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

It's probably been about two weeks since I posted, and a month since I've been to Outdoor Fitness Camps. I'm still trying to stay in shape, and I've only taken a few breaks from the gym, before I head back to my 90 minute workouts, and overly intense spinning classes. I ran Torrey Pines the other day, but I've also eaten a half-gallon of ice cream, and the bag of chocolates, and such. I'm making a lot of progress on my project, but it'll still be a while till I deploy :(

BTW, I just learned today that DJ AM (Mr. Nicole Ritchie) used to be really overweight, and had gastric bypass surgery. Read the story over at Perez Hilton.

Crazy Burger

2006-04-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is a Morrocan Burger from Crazy Burger on 30th between University Ave and El Cajon Blvd. It's a lamb burger with tahini sauce. This is a top-notch restaurant, with a very European bar. My new favourite place. I hope they do well.

$6 Chicken Pie Dinner

2006-04-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

No tax, and comes with a roll, butter, and rubarb pie (not shown). Hits the spot after an hour and a half in the gym, and the 1000 calorie spinning workout. This place has been around since sometime after the war. And I'm talking about the war that was about 5 wars ago.

Dy-Nasty

2006-04-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

I haven't made Outdoor Fitness Camps in a while (like two weeks), but I've made the gym each night this week, and I haven't eaten a pound of anything bad in one sitting in the last 4 days. I got the two item combo for $3.99, including a drink. I got beef broccoli for one of my choices, and I selected something else I couldn't identify.

Back In The Gym

2006-04-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

After four days of coding, binging, and not woking out, I finally returned to the gym and spinning last night. It's good to get back into a healthy routine, because I was seriously losing it over the last four days. I felt out of it during spinning, and I felt rusty during strength, but I got it done. When I got home, I still put in about 2.5 hours into the project. I'm focusing on balance.

Being A Coding Recluse (Again)

2006-04-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

I'm really into my project now, which means I didn't even leave the house this weekend, except for food runs. When I get like this, I don't want to do anything but think about the project. Then I start getting anxious about completing it. On the positive side, everything is going smooth, I think I have all of it planned out. It's running pretty quick on my Mac Mini, and I'm really impressed with the performance of MySQL. Breath. Sleep. Workout.

April Fool's Day

2006-04-01T11:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here coding away and the phone rings just a minute ago. I get connected to some boiler room, and the con artist on the other end starts his introduction about some police and fire department charity. I remember when I first got these calls, I used to feel the cops were asking me for money, and I' be declining at my own risk. As irrational as it is, it's invoked in about everyone they call, so they've been at it for years. Maybe I was emboldened by April Fool's day, or maybe I was pissed off for being distracted from my project, but this time I told them curtly, "Look, I have a warrant out for my arrest, so I don't want to donate to any police charity." The guy was stunned, and couldn't even say anything. After a long silence, I just hung up.

For a special April Fool's Day, check out the original version of "Stairway To Heaven" by the Silver Beatles, during their Hamburg days. Coverville Show #164

Good News! Chocolate Rations Are Up.

2006-03-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

The 625g of chocolate I bought Sunday has some chance of lasting the whole week. And by "some chance", I mean that there's about 50g left, and 3 more days until Sunday. Compare this to back in 1984 when doubleplusgood rations would have been 40g. And I'm not even counting the Dove Bar and Riesen I had at the Palomar, or the daily chocolate I eat at work. I probably eat over 1kg of chocolate per week. Find the newspeak adjective for that.

Strawberry Shortcake

2006-03-29T08:13:00.000-08:00

My mom made this for our birthdays, which are a few days apart. It's made from scratch, and was really yummy.

75.7 kg

2006-03-28T08:21:00.000-08:00

Though not my lowest weigh-in so far (I hit 75.3 kg one time last month), it's my second lowest, and pretty good news since I've bought 3 bags (>400g each) of chocolate Easter candy. Since Easter is still two weeks away, I'll probably have another bag or two along the way. I also bought a six-pack of Klondike bars cross-branded with Reece's Sunday night, and I've only eaten two of them so far.

Sunday was one of those days where I was tired and hungry, and nothing was going to make me feel better until I binged out. I was pretty tired from Saturday's spinning and Outdoor Fitness Camp workouts, and I didn't really eat a lot that day. (I made rice and falafel for breakfast, then I had brunch with Angie, Kristen and Anna, and only had a personal pizza and a piece of strawberry cake. I had a bowl of popcorn for a snack. For dinner, I had a Rubio's chopped chicken salad, then Won Ton soup.)

So Sunday, I was pretty hungry. I ended up having 3 turkey burgers (115g patties, 42g bun), along with 1kg (2.2 lbs) of sweet potato fries with gravy. But still, around 7pm, I really just wanted to eat a pound of chocolate. My body was telling me it really needed it, so eventually, I got in the car to head towards the store. Then, while driving, I figured I'd head to the poker room instead, which would probably be a better thing. Of course once I got to the Palomar Club, the first thing I did was buy a Dove chocolate bar. Funny thing is that the vending machine then spit out $2.50 of quarters. I took this jackpot to the cage, where they counted out the quarters, and cashed me out for two $1 bills, and a JFK $.50. Just like Vegas. Then, one of the dealers bought something from the machine, and she hit a jackpot. I should have quit then and there, but I got greedy, and bought a pack of Riesen chocolate caramels. No payout. Two candy bars. Then I lost $70, offsetting the $65 I won the night before with Denise at Barona.So, I'm driving home half on tilt, and I hit the grocery store to get the Klondikes and a bag of Easter chocolates. Nothing else. Just a binge run. The Hershey's Eggs are actually a 1 lb 6 oz bag (625g). I had two of the Klondikes, and a bunch of the eggs.

I'm not sure what the moral of the story is. Probably, it's not too bad to eat some of the junk out there. Or several bags of it.

The Physics Of Spinning

2006-03-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

If you've ever wondered how many calories you burn in an hour of activity, go find a piece of exercise equipment with a power meter. Most Stairmaster and Lifecycles have power meters, or are calibrated to estimate power, and they're probably fairly accurate. Then get on it, warm up, and set it to a manual mode, and watch the power meter to see how much you can output for your workout. I found I can do about 300 Watts for an hour, or 300 Watt*Hours, or 0.3 kWH of energy.

Now, to figure out how many calories your workout burns, you need to convert the kWH energy into kCal (food calories), taking into account the metabolic efficiency of the human body.

So, lets say in spinning I average 300 Watts for an hour, so I burn a 0.3 kWH. (This is equivalent to powering a 100W light bulb for 3 hours, given a 100% generator efficiency.) We'll use the unit conversion factor of 860 kCal/kWH, which you can find on the web. But, since the body isn't 100% efficient in coverting calories to work, we have to apply a metabolic efficiency factor. For an well-trained athelete using the proper equipment, the efficiency factor is about 22-26%. That means for every 1 calorie delivered, he requires 4 calories of food.

So, finally:

calories required = 0.3 kWH * 860 kCal/kWH * (4 food calories / 1 delivered cycling calorie) = 1032

That's why I end up eating 4 turkey burgers, 1 Dryer's Lite ice cream bar, and 14 oz (400g) of Reece's Peanut Butter Easter Eggs.

Southern California Lunch

2006-03-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

I was passing through San Clemente this afternoon, and I had to stop at this place for lunch. I picked up a fish burrito, which has been popular around here for the last 10 years or so. When I first heard of a fish burrito, it didn't sound very appetizing. But years later, it's my favourite thing on the menu. It's made with a piece of fried fish, cabbage, and a white sauce. It's really good, and healthy.

Playing Less Poker

2006-03-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

I've been good lately, and have avoided playing at the ever-so-convenient Palomar Club by the gym. Yes, I did go on Monday night, lost $23 USD, and left by 21:30. When I got home, I read up on some stuff for my web project. I'm pretty sure you don't want to know about Ruby On Rails, but it's pretty cool. Doing constructive things beats grinding out a little poker profit anytime. I'll try to save the poker sessions only when I need a break.

If you think Ester (the hack formerly known as Madonna) was a meshuganah yenta, someone else was doing a photo-op in front of the Wailing Wall and holding a press conference with Shimon Peres. (watch video <<)

My Kind Of Shoe Shopping

2006-03-12T02:28:00.000-08:00

I needed to replace my old Diadora shoes, since the adapter for the SPD cleats are kind of misaligned, and it's been hurting my left knee for a while now. I just ordered these Sidi's from Amazon @ 2am. After getting about +$100 ahead at the Palomar this afternoon, I promised myself to get some new shoes. It was raining this morning, and OFC was called off, so I went to the gym to do some weights, followed by spinning. Then I timed the trip from the gym to the Palomar Club, and it was only 3 minutes, even catching a few red lights. It took a lot longer to get my breakfast burrito from the Roberto's drive-thru next door. I was behind two elaborate walk-up orders, and a stream of cars making the efficient trip up and around the tiny stand. I stood in front and watched them make a dozen orders through the window. When you have a food obsession, you get a certain voyeristic thrill watching the inside view of the process. It probably takes the guy at the grill about 20 seconds to make a burrito. It was better than FoodTv, which I watched inside the casino, after asking John (the floorman) for the remote control. Food porn and poker, can't beat it. Except for walking out while it's still light outside, and/or with some profit.

Sweet Potato Poutine

2006-03-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

Just had an idea to make poutine tonite. Gotta luv instant gravy and Canadians, eh? .

Add Soylent To The List of "Bad Manic Ideas"

2006-03-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, there's nothing like real food. Especially a pollo asado burrito from the Roberto's Taco stand right next to the Palomar club, right after spinning, and before sitting down in a "free money" $1/$2-blinds, $100 max buy-in No-Limit Hold'Em game. The Palomar sits in the golden triangle of take-away food, just metres from Roberto's, and two other Mexican take-aways, a Coco's, and a Wendy's (?). They have their own Chinese kitchen somewhere in the back, but it looks like everyone orders from these other places. The waitress (Foo-Foo) just runs orders to these restaurants. She'll hand you the actual menu from Coco's, the full 3-fold plastic laminated one with pictures and prices, and ask what you want. The other night I asked to order from the (in-house) Chinese menu, and she looked suprised. Last night when she handed the Coco's menu to a player at the poker table, I asked, "Foo-Foo, did you steal that from Coco's?". She only understood the "Coco's" part of my question, and asked if I wanted to order something from there.

Ok, I've been playing too much. Since the last time I posted (the +$335 USD night), I've only won another +$35. On the positive side, I've been doing constructive things at home, and I'm working my other web project. All I need to do now is to go clothes shopping :(

Palomar Club

2006-03-04T01:24:00.000-08:00

I used to exclude myself from the (long) list of degenerate poker players I know, mainly because there was still one club in San Diego County that I had yet to play in. Honestly, that was a serious badge of honour for me, because I've played a lot of poker over the years, waaaay before even the start of the poker craze on tv. Even by Gambler's Anonymous standards, I've played a lot of poker. Trust me. It's too much to admit.

But still, I could hold my head up high, and truthfully say I'd never been to the Palomar Club. It's just 5 minutes away from the gym in Hillcrest where I work out at 4 times a week. But it's in a dodgy neighbourhood, and it's a tiny room with three tables, so I left the Palomar was for the real degenerates. It was the club of last resort. It was a even a few steps down from the Lucky Lady down the street, which is my club of last resort. But, a few weeks ago, I heard it was getting renovated, from a guy that worked the floor over there. We were playing at the Village Club, sitting around, joking, and having fun in the no-limit game. At first when he said he worked at the Palomar, I gave him some crap about it. But I said no matter how much crap people give him about his club, don't worry, the Village takes the cake. Actually I just started the sentence, and he completed it. He looked around the dump, rolled his eyes, and repeated a few times, "takes the cake".

Anyway, I ended up there tonight, after I sat around the Village Club for 40 minutes waiting for a seat. It's true what they say -- it's crowded right after the first of the month, when everyone receives their check. When I rolled in at 6:30pm, it was already crazy at the Valet, and I talked with the guy parking cars, who just shook his head and talked about these people living month-to-month. Well, check day almost coincided with Friday, so it was something of a witching hour at the Village, and I ended up taking off without playing a hand. The lists on all the games were like 15 people deep when I left.

So I end up looking for the Palomar, just to see what it was really like. I was actually impressed with the renovation. The action was still slow, probably because the word hadn't spread yet, or probably because the place closes at 2am (by ordinance), and the diehards usually want to play all night, so they go to the bigger casinos.

I play in the $1/$2 blind, $100 max buy-in, no-limit game. It's full of these wanna be wise kids wearing hats and sunglasses. It's amazing how they mint these kids at the stereotype factory. Newbies are playing poorly, bad bets and bad calls are made. No one plays impressive poker. Actually, the best guy is an older guy named Irish, who talks in a presumedly Irish, though vaguely suspicious, brogue. He's pretending that he's not looking at his cards, and the kids kind of fall for it. He was winning a lot, and actually had my $500 stake covered. I stayed out of his way, and visa versa. We sat next to each other, and lightly joked, even though we both knew each other's story. I was playing my normal act-loose, trap with the nuts game, and he was gambling a bit more, but often had the best hand. Anyways, I end up +$336, and call it a night. Irish started to lose some of his stack before I left, mixing it up without the best hand. Still, I'm pretty sure he knew what he was doing.

Soylent Enchiladas

2006-03-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

Soylent is perfect for the Hamburger Helper type recipes that call for one pound of ground meat and one packet of (enchilada|chili|sloppyjoe) mix. I made a batch of enchiladas tonight, and they were fine. I just followed the recipe on the back of the package, and it all worked out. I also used fat-free mozzarella, which is probably a soy product as well. The recipe made 8 enchiladas, and I ate two for dinner. It'll probably make another 3-4 meals.

Now You're Cooking With Soylent

2006-03-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

I found the textured vegetable protein in the bulk section of my produce store, and I couldn't resist picking up a kilo for a few D's. I wasn't sure how to cook it, but I figured I could find out about it on the web. Sure enough, this stuff is affectionately called TVP. And yes, it is an extruded food product. It looks like all you do is rehydrate it 2:1 or so, and use it as a meat substitute. I found some recipes, and will probably try the burger first.

75.3 kg

2006-02-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

Made another new low this morning. It looks like limiting the junk, and eating slower after workouts is the key. Last weekend I ate three chocolate bars and a large Carl's Jr. Famous Star Combo, and that slowed my weightloss down to only 100g this week. Since it's impossible to be perfect, it's good to know that junk won't ruin me. I'm not really in any rush to lose the last few kilos, but I do wonder how low I can get.

Wheat Berries

2006-02-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

I saw these in the bulk section of my natural food store, and I wondered if they were any good. Well, actually I wondered what they were at first, since I'd never seen them before. I figured it was something like unmilled wheat, which it is, but I was suprised it takes over an hour to cook.

I've made a few batches so far, and I like them. They have a nutty flavour, and are quite filling. They're probably better for you than brown rice, and probably have less calories. Anyway, I prepare them by soaking them overnight, then boiling them in beef broth for a little over an hour. Finally, I fry them up in the skillet after I make chicken or beef. They seem to go a long way. One batch will last the whole week.

Responsible Poker Addiction

2006-02-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's Sunday morning, and so far I've spent most of the weekend in a poker room. But it's not like I'm abusing poker like Tobey Magwire or anything. At least I took time out Saturday morning for an OFC workout, and I'll probably workout later today. So often, when people sink into the poker subculture, they also inflate on the casino food that's wheeled up to their seat. It's a nice and convenient break from the monotony of folding hand after hand, as you grind away your life waiting for good starting hands. I've seen a lot of players quickly baloon up from pristinely thin to poker obese, then stay that way for good. It's the inactivity, the food, and the lifestlye. When you spend all your waking hours at the inactivity of sitting down and noshing on casino food, the result is pretty simple. And when you're new to the game, and completely taken over by it, it's the only thing you want to do. Poor Tobey.

I actually had fun in the casino this weekend. On Friday, I saw Anna, played for a few hours, and lost -$29. I had a bad beat (2-outer on the river), but really didn't care about the loss. Then I was bad, and had a Carl's Jr. Famous Star Combo with large fries. That's 1200 calories I didn't need.

The next day I didn't need breakfast before OFC, and I only needed a grilled chicken sandwich for lunch. I played a few hours at the Village Club, eating my sandwich at the $3/$6 Hold'Em table, and won +$140. I went home, did a few things, and took an hour nap before heading off to Denise's for dinner. She made steaks, then I had cookies and chocolates for dessert.

Of course at about 8:30pm, we head off to the dive known as the Village Club, because Denise had never been there, and it's actually closer than the other rooms, and the idea was to get back early that night. When we get there, it was actually slow, and they were really happy to see us, since a short-handed $3/$6 Hold'Em was about to break. So we prop the game for about 30 minutes at the overflow table in the Pai-Gow room, and even the Pai-Gow is dead. But after 9:30pm, it starts picking up, and our must-move game fills up, and builds into a long waiting list with people standing around. Pai-Gow overflows too, and what I figure out is that these people play all night, and sometimes they get a late start. Anyways, I start winning early, but by 1:30am, I'm only up +$105, and decide to just quit and wait for Denise.

It's a little strange to mill around a poker room in the middle of the night for an hour, walking aimlessly, watching games. I'm not the only one standing, I'm just the only one not playing. Make that I'm the only one not playing who has money. What's worse is everyone knows I'm a piker, and that I'm sitting out on winnings. Or at least they know I've decided to stop playing, which is an indirect insult in itself. To make things worse, I gravitate to the other relatively reasonable guys in the room, and we make loud esoteric jokes, like about the floorman Warren, who I learned today actually went to Yeshiva Driving School back east. Seriously. Then Jeff said he got kicked out of Yeshiva too (the real kind), and of course I had to ask, "For what, idolatry?" Then we start talking about Jesuits, Franciscans, and Benedictines. When we get around to Robert Noyce and Eniac, I start walking away, because I sense the conversation is hurting the $200 max and $1000 max No-Limit Holdem games they're in. It's just a matter of time before someone spekas for everyone and yells at us to stop talking. Denise finally finishes, and we get home by about 4am.

It Had To Happen

2006-02-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

I binged today. I stayed up too late watching the Olympics, since I got suckered into caring about the women's ice skating final, and thought there'd be some dramatic finish. It was kind of a let down, and almost all the girls made mistakes, and the winner was the finalist who didn't fall down.

So I woke up tired and on tilt today (not to mention I was already eating too much popcorn last night). I went to the supermarket and bought a bag of tortilla chips and a tray of 7-layer bean dip, where 3 of the layers are just sour cream. I basically ate all of this during the day, and ordered a $1.50 lunch consisting of a Hershey's bar and Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. By the end of "lunch", I just wanted to go to sleep.

To finish off my tilt day, I'm going to go to the casino to see Anna, and I'm going to tilt off some chips. Well, I might hold it together. I'm probably too tired to play well, and I'm getting a late start, but I'm in a better mood now, so who knows. I'll post again after I crawl back in this AM.

The Charles Lindbergh Of Our Generation (Pt 2)

2006-02-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

I posted a while back about Steve Vaught about being the Charles Lindbergh of Our Generation, capturing the rapt attention of an overweight country as he solo walks across the country in a heroic attempt to lose the last few hundred pounds. I occasionally followed his progress, but I could tell while he was crossing the country, he wasn't really losing the weight. He's picked up tv coverage, book deals, and 700,000 hits/month on his website, but I kept thinking he'd have been better off keeping his life together, and coming to Outdoor Fitness Camps with us. Well, it looks like he stopped walking to get into the gym to lose the weight, and to learn about nutrition. It turns out keeping his life together might have been difficult anyways.

Actually, I think his book will end up being very powerful. The lesson won't be that you need to do anything drastic like stop everything and walk across the country to lose weight. In fact, he'll tell us that won't work unless you stop eating drive-thru food. And losing weight is a lot easier through simple exercise.

Still Haven't Binged Yet

2006-02-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

It's been like 12 days since I've last binged, and what do you know, I'm hitting new lows. I've been under 76 kg the last four mornings, so I've definitely lost over a kilogram in these 12 days. So I guess that means I can lose another kg in the next two weeks if I don't binge. Well, I also need to eat right over the next two weeks, like limiting my candy and chocolate. Since, the rule is don't do anything you can't maintain, it's all about moderation. We'll see.

75.4 kg

2006-02-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hit a new low this morning, as I didn't overeat last night after spinning. I ended up getting hungry at spinning, so I ate a PowerBar while on the bike. When I got home, I had 180g chicken tenders, a large cole slaw from KFC, about 50g popcorn, and some of the sweet potato fries.

Sweet Potato Fries, 2nd Attempt

2006-02-20T22:19:00.000-08:00

Much better this time, thanks Cat. That ziplock bag trick was really cool. I figured out how to clean it too -- just pour a little dishwashing liquid into it, fill it with hot water, and shake. But back to the fries. I added garlic, cumin, rosemary, a little bit of olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Tasted great, and pretty simple to make. And, sweet potatoes are pretty nutritious. For each 100g (uncooked), there's 86 calories, 3g of fibre, and 1.6g of protein. I used a 550g potato, so I figured I had about 500 calories, spread over lunch, snack, and dinner.

75.8 kg

2006-02-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

Hit a new low this morning, even following yesterday's rest day, probably because I didn't binge this weekend. In fact, I only worked out once in the last three days. But, I didn't eat any pizzas, and I only had a couple of handfuls of candy. Also, I only ate as much as my body needed, and not for pleasure, or out of boredom, or out of custom. Last night at the Village Club, they served a foot-long hot dog and fries for the "free" meal. I had the two handfuls of candy, but was still hungry. So I ordered the hot dog, which was really good, because the bun was toasted, and the fries were done well. I ate about half the hot dog, and about a quarter of the fries. I didn't need any more, and I just left the rest. Now, were it a healthy meal, I probably would have eaten all of it, because I had to eat some more when I got home. But, I just needed something to tide me over at the tables, so I took advantage of the comp'ed meal.

It'll be spinning tonight, and we'll see how much I really need to eat for dinner.

Good Rest Day, Good Poker Night

2006-02-20T00:17:00.000-08:00

I followed Anna's advice for Saturday, and went home after camp and rested. No poker at Barona. No internet poker. Just relaxed and got myself back together. I woke up early on Sunday, and went through all my backed up mail, and started preparing my taxes. It felt great to get something accomplished, instead of limping in the night before, getting half a night's sleep, eating poorly, and trying to work it off. Instead, I only ate when I was hungry today, and took another rest day.

When the evening came, I had my fill of taxes, and I took off to The Village Club to relax. I had a good time playing with the other degenerates in a $200 max buy-in, $1/$3 blind no-limit game. Jeff showed up carrying a laptop. I asked if he was doing taxes, but it turns out nowdays there's a few people that play online poker over cellular broadband. So, he plays online while he's waiting to get into a live game. It's not as bad as you think. He puts it down once he gets into a real game. And at least he's not like floorman Cowboy, who plays the Sunday tournament while he's driving home from his morning shift.

Anyways, I win $70, and had a good time. But doing my taxes and mail, and eating reasonably felt even better.

Still Haven't Binged

2006-02-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

Someone give me a medal. No tacos today. No pizza. Instead, I made a roast, tofu, and baked sweet potato fries. And I've only eaten some of the roast so far. When I was at Whole Foods, and asked for a roast, the butcher asked how many people I was serving. I told him I was eating the whole thing. He looked at me, but didn't say anything. Geez, they never ask you at the drive-thru who the 12-piece extra crispy meal is for. Can you imagine this conversation at Krispy Kreme?

"Hi, I'd like some donuts."
"How many people are you serving?"
"Ummm ... Well the 6 raised chocolate are for the Jones', and the Smiths like the 6 custard filled ..."

I'm pretty sure the last time I went thru the Krispy Kreme drive thru at 10pm, they knew who the donuts were for. And they expect everyone to buy a dozen. I think if you try to buy six donuts a la carte, it's more expensive than a dozen to go.

Good Rest Day, Bad Poker Night

2006-02-18T07:35:00.000-08:00

I made it through my rest day without binging, and not eating chocolate. After working out for the last six days, I finally took a rest day on Friday. Usually, I'd end up eating something bad on rest day, then I'd feel guilty, and figure I'd have to make up for it at the next workout. Well, I avoided that part of the vicious cycle so far, so I can take it easy today, and only do one workout. I'm not sure if there'll be an OFC today, since it was raining last night. There probably will be camp, since it's not raining now.

I had a bad poker session last night, and dumped -$200 USD. I ran into pocket aces twice. I didn't make any hands, which would have been alright, but I made a blunder holding QQ on the big blind. Pocket aces (AA) opened for a mini-raise of $6. There were about 4 callers, and I looked down and saw pocket Queens (QQ) in my big blind. I raised to $70, which was way too much. Pocket aces went all in, and I knew I was beat. I should have folded, but called another $80, hoping to hit a Queen on the flop. Sure enough, he turns up AA, and I go home now. I probably would have lost the same with them, because the flop was all undercards, and I was in early position. It might have worked out the same. So actually, my raise was good, I just didn't make the correct laydown for $80. It's a hard play to make. And it'd put me on tilt, unless he showed after I folded.

I dumped off half of what I won last week. It sucks enough to make me not want to play poker tonight :) Well, at least there's a new Full Tilt Poker client for the Mac. Now I can play anywhere on my PowerBook. That's the good poker news.

The other good news is that I didn't add injury to insult by getting a carne asada burrito or Super Star combo with large fries at the drive-thru. I just ate my loss instead.

Taco Fried Rice

2006-02-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

I thought I was inventing a new dish tonite, but after tasting it, I realised I'd already had it before. I took a pound of ground beef, and browned it with an onion, a green bell pepper, cilantro, and a package of taco seasoning. Then I fried it in a skillet with some brown rice and roma tomatoes. It tasted pretty good, but in the end, it was very close to Rice-A-Roni, or Hamburger Helper. It didn't take long to finish all of it, which probably had about (400g ground beef)(1.8 cal/g) + (100g rice)(4 cal/g) = 1120 calories.

Outdoor Fitness Camp was good tonight, Angie and Anna were there, and Jason not only brought the 10 lb vest for me, he also brought sandbags for all of us to carry and press. Mine weighed 45 lbs. Ahhh, nothing like stairs, sprints, and weights all together at the same time. But we're all addicted to it by now. Before, my Wednesday night OFC workout was a 'lite' day. I think those days are over.

Another Valentine's Day, Another TV Dinner

2006-02-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

Well, at least the usual crowd will probably be in the gym tonight as always. Last night one of the girls in spinning said Valentine's day was a bad idea, since what was wrong with the other 364 days of the year to treat someone right? I guess some people find it as dissapointing as New Year's Eve. To me, they're all the same, except on Thanksgiving, I buy a frozen turkey dinner. Denise told me yesterday that John doesn't even recognize anything about the day. I brought her a Valentine's gift last weekend, but I had to give it to her daughter's little friend, who I didn't expect to be there. Denise thought I only brought valentines for the two girls, but of course one was for her. How could she think otherwise? Well, one day I'll bring over a pound of Godiva chocolate, and we can eat it while watching a movie on Lifetime.

Grilled Chicken Burrito @ Papacito's

2006-02-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

The guy after me ordered a breakfast burrito with carne asada. It's off the menu, but they'll make it for you. I might have to start eating dinner here again.

Now If I Only Liked To Shop

2006-02-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a productive day, if you call working out twice, eating a pizza, napping, then playing 6 hours of poker productive. There's probably a better adjective to describe the nature of these activities. After spinning, Outdoor Fitness Camp was especially fun, because Jason brought a 10 lb weighted vest for me to work out in. You know you're addicted to exercise when you can't wait to try out the 20 lb vest. Afterwards we went to Indulgence for brunch with Anna, her cousin, and two other dealers from Barona. I learned about facials. No, not that kind.

There's nothing like wasting a Saturday afternoon watching a two-part made-for-tv movie like And The Sea Will Tell, ordering a large veggie thin crust pizza, and taking a nap. George called at about 5pm to see if I wanted to play poker. There's nothing like a co-dependent to make you feel better about committing your sins.

I got to Barona around 6:30 pm, and sat down in a $200 max buy-in No-Limit game, with $1/$3 blinds. I bought in for $100, and my first hand is QQ. I raise to $12 in late position, and flop a set. I make about $75 on this hand. Very soon after, I have AQh in the big blind. I flop top pair with the nut flush draw. I bet out $8, get a call, and a minimum raise to $16. I just call, and hit my flush on the turn. I slow play, and make $50 more on the river. Turns out some guy flopped a set of 5's, and he slowed down on the turn. I probably should have made a lot more on that hand. I probably should have made a lot more on the night. I made 2 or 3 mistakes where I either folded the best hand, or didn't maximize my profits with the best hand. Anyways, I ended up +$400 USD ahead, and finally got out of there at about 2:30am.

George sat down at a $4/$8 limit game for some bad reason, even though I tried to get him to sit down at NL. I knew he was in for a night of frustration in that game, and he'd lose money, and blame bad callers. In my game, you mostly thank bad callers. I looked around his table, and saw the usual loose callers that you can identify just by looking.

Now, I need to get off my reclusive *ss, and go shopping some time.

Send It

2006-02-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

That was nerve-wracking. I though Pittsburg was trying to lose (against the spread). They had Seattle down to 1:00 and no time-outs, but they gave up a long pass, and then a fourth down conversion that would have otherwise ended the game. And then the last second incompletion at the goal line that would have killed me (Steelers -4.5 points). Too much drama. But it's over now. Hotdog time.

6:15 Left In 4th Quarter

2006-02-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

My -4.5 Steeler bet is doing okay now, thanks to a lot of miracle calls we've been getting all game. Please kill the clock and send me my money.

Super Bowl Sunday

2006-02-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm at John & Denise's, and John just won $10 on "tails" on the coin toss. So he's almost free-rolling for the day :)

I took the Steelers -4 1/2, for $120. Then I find out Anna took the opposite bet for $200. So, if I lose, I'll be happy for her, and visa versa. (What I really need is a quick score from Pittsburgh, then I might enjoy watching the game.) Denise made some real lemonade, guacamole, and other treats. I brought the chocolate.

Last night I lost -$14 playing no-limit at Barona. I was up $70, but by the time Anna hit my table in the rotation, I was barely ahead. It was another Amateur Night at Barona. Guys making bad bets and bad calls. People handing over all their chips on one hand. One time, a guy raises preflop with an obvious high pair. He gets two preflop callers. There's nothing on the flop, and his overpair is good, so he bets like $60, and gets two callers again. The turn pairs the high card on the board, and it's obvious one of the callers makes trips. Trips bets like $30, thinking he's making a value bet. A King hits on the river, and the preflop raiser checks again to the trip 8's, who makes a really stupid $15 "value" bet. He gets check-raised by the overpair guy for over $300. It's pretty clear this guy made the miracle 2-out nut full house on the river, but the trip 8's guy makes a horrible call, and pays him off. He blames the river, the players, etc. Never thinks his $15 bet on the river was a worthless risk.

The Biggest Loser, Special Edition: Families

2006-02-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

Blue Team wins! Blue Team wins! For the first time, trainer Bob's team won The Biggest Loser, and trainer Jillian's Red Team finally lost. And, as I predicted, the losing team barely lost 20% of their initial weight. I'm sure others saw this coming as well. In the original format contestants lost 50% of their weight, then the couples lost 30%, and now the slacking, arguing family loses only 20%. It was pretty clear who won in last night's finale, just by looking. I don't know what NBC is thinking, but they're damaging the show with these non-inspirational competitors. People are going to stop believing.

Meanwhile, our local NBC affiliate was running a scroll on the bottom of the screen for a rescheduled open call for contestants this Saturday. If you haven't heard, the last open call here attracted so many (unruly) people, that the sponsors (Dave & Buster's) were afraid to open the doors, leaving about 1500 people bitterly disappointed.

This woman sums up the attitude of many TBL hopefuls

"I traveled 1,200 miles, took time off to come down here, and [it was] canceled for no reason, no good explanation, no nothing," said Dina Garcia. "Where's our chance to be skinny?"

You'll find more of the same on The Biggest Loser message boards. All they talk about is getting on the show. And not in some hypothetical "what if" kind of way. More like, "why weren't they nicer to me at the open call?", or "do you think I'll get a callback?".

At first, they told people to go to a make-up casting call in LA. But they probably received so many desperate, angry pleas from overweight San Diegans that they rescheduled for this Saturday at the Mission Valley 24 Hour Fitness parking lot, from 10am to 6pm. In the scroll, they made it clear that people won't be allowed to queue up until 6am. I think it's funny that the sponsor 24 Hour Fitness is probably just trying to sign up new members. I noticed that that gym cancelled all of it's Saturday classes. Maybe they're making the instructors work the sales floor.

From the boards, it sounds like the problems with last week's aborted open call was due to a few people who urinated on the side of Dave & Buster's, and others pounding on the doors to get in, probably because there weren't any available bathrooms. Now that they're hosting the call at 24 Hour Fitness, there'll be bathrooms available even at 4am. And while you're relieving yourself, why not take a look at our attractively priced membership plans?

Zone-ish Diet Day 1, + 0,4 kg

2006-02-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

On the first day of my zone-ish diet, I ate more fruits and vegetables, no chocolate, and less crisps than usual. I didn't completely eliminate the "white carbs", and will probably not be able to either. But, the idea is I'm near maintainence, and I'm only looking for a plan I can live with forever.

I made some kind of stir-fry with ground turkey and brown rice. It was better than it sounds.

The +0,4 kg weight increase from yesterday doesn't mean anything. It'll come back down in the next few days. The first goal is to get down to 76,0 kg again, then to get below that.

The Last 2 Kilograms (Starting The Zone Diet)

2006-01-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

In America, we used to say it was hard to lose the last 5 lbs. You don't hear that anymore, since we've adopted "Super-Size Me", or "large fries" as our motto. Nevertheless, it's pretty true. I've been stuck at my current weight for the last month, mostly because I've been eating chocolate and crisps every day, occasionally binging on ice cream or pizza, and otherwise not being optimal with my diet. I've been working out as usual, and always look forward to it. But, I'm not really conscious about the refined sugar and "white" carbs I've been eating. Needless to say, I'm not counting calories anymore.

Last night I was watching the Diet Doctor on FitTV, and they were putting a guy on the Zone Diet. The host is an MD, and she agreed with the value of the Zone, since it's all about eating clean proteins, and whole grains, vegetables, and fruit, and eliminating processed carbs. It's a great way to live, and for losing weight, but it's hard to adhere to in our comfort-food society. It got me motivated to try to lose the last few kilos, and otherwise see how low I can get my weight down to.

Can I stick to such a plan? If I can, it's because I'm interested in the experiment. I figure there's two ways for me to get down to an ideal weight -- either counting calories, or adopting the Zone philosophy.

So here's my plan for my Modified Zone Diet:

Replace "white" carbs with complex carbs (fruits, vegetables, whole grains)
No calorie counting

That's it. Just getting back to a more natural diet, before all the temptations of processed food. As simple as it is, it'll be hard to do, so I'll probably post everyday about it. And since my daily weight should quickly reflect this good diet, we'll see if it works.

Recovered From The Klondike Bars

2006-01-29T11:45:00.000-08:00

My weight settled back down to 76.6 kg this morning, which isn't bad considering I binged on Thursday, eating a Carls' Jr. Super Star w/ cheese and large fries combo, then half an hour later, 6 Klondike Bars in quick succession. People ask me, "Why 6 of them?" If you can't figure out the obvious answer, take a look at the package <<--.

People also ask why I order the Super Star. Probably because I remember it as the biggest burger (it has two patties), even though the Six-Dollar burger is bigger these days. But I never really liked the Six-Dollar burger. It's supposed to be a premium restaurant-quality burger, but it just tastes like two $3 burgers. And of course, there's the double Six-Dollar burger, which for some reason is listed in the nutritional info, but without any data. So, my binge had a listed calorie total = 920 + 620 + 6*250 = 3040 calories. But of course, we know there's more calories than they list in their nutritional table, as Morgan Spurlock showed (analysis showed 10-20% more calories than stated).

What did I really want on this binge? I thought about it as I was driving home, considering a medium thin crust veggie from Round Table Pizza, a carne asada burrito and three rolled tacos from Robertos, or an entire french roll pre-made sub sandwich from the grocery store. I also briefly considered cooking, but I was feeling out-of-sorts, and just wanted immediate comfort food. It was too much trouble to take an extra freeway exit to get the burritos, or order the pizza, so I just went with the Carl's Jr. drive-thru near my house, the most convenient option.

Ultimately, the binge wasn't really satisfying, and I could have eaten more after the Klondike Bars. It did settle my stomach though, and I didn't even feel bloated after eating all of it.

I don't consider myself to have an eating disorder. I think it's pretty much natural to occassionally "pig out". Remember when we used this simple language, instead of the victim-oriented terms like "eating disorder", "binge", and "filling the void"? Come on, I'm not the one packaging the Klondikes into Multi-Packs, dammit.

Another Graveyard Poker Session

2006-01-28T04:25:00.000-08:00

It's late. It's early. Workouts again in a few hours. I went to 24 Hour Fitness after work, and did 50 min Stairmaster and strength training, before heading off to The Village Club to play no-limit. I was going to play at Barona, but Anna called to say she was off that night, so I went to Chula Vista instead.

I played about 8 hours, and ended up +$196 USD. I almost busted out, but made Aces full of 9's on the river on a $450 pot. I was in the big blind with A9o, and the flop was AA2. The little blind checks to me, I bet $20, the guy on my immediate left calls, everyone else folds but the little blind, who calls. Everyone is wondering what's going on, with such a dangerous board. The turn is a King, little blind checks to me, I make it $40, guy on my left calls, and the little blind raises to $80, we both call. Now the pot is about $330. I'm afraid I don't have the best hand, but I'm committed now. I just pray the little blind has Ax, i.e., has no kicker. Or, a high card comes on the river, and neutralises his kicker. Miraoulously. I river is a 9, which gives me the 2nd best hand possible (I can only lose to AK). The little blind bets me all in for about $60, we both call. I turn over the best hand. The pot is over $450, and I'm now up about $250. Turns out the little blind had 22, and flopped a full house. Woohoo. Another hour passes, and I bleed of $50, and finally head back home. Now to get some sleep before Outdoor Fitness Camp in a few hours.

I probably left the only winner at the table. Since about $120/hour is taken off the table due to the $4/hand drop, and about $1/hand toke, probabaly $1000 USD came off the game in the 8 hours I played. Gotta love the house edge. The rake is always the biggest winner.

The Biggest Loser, Special Edition: Families

2006-01-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

NBC is airing another Special Edition on the Biggest Loser tonight, this time it's families who run restaurants. It looks like another two part show, but I'm worried that these contestants are going to have problems losing weight. On the main show, the winners have dropped around 50% of their weight. I think the last two special editions saw about 30% weightloss. But given restaurant families, who are probably pretty busy, and may not have the right attitude, I'm betting the weightloss will be under 25%. If the contestants are less than spectacular, the show will start to lose it's inspirational draw. If you don't believe me, check out Celeb Fit Club 3. No one there is even commited to losing weight, except for Kelly LeBrock, and the late-addition Gunner Nelson. There, it's more about getting drug-addicted D-listers to scream at the drill saregent trainer, and visa versa.

Now That Was A Fun Poker Night

2006-01-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday night at Angie's party was definitely much better than hanging out at the casino all those countless weekends. And to think I've been missing out on alcohol, music, and cool people. And more human interaction than check raising on the turn with the nuts. And no, I won't leave any blind items about what went on. Especially since there are people out there that can throw stones back at this glass house. This isn't Perez Hilton.

I got my a** up the next morning, and made it to the gym for cardio and strength. I did okay for the day, but then ate Pick-Up-Stix with Denise & John, and no one ordered vegetables, for which I substituted beef chow mein. Then I had a chocolate bar for dessert. Oh, and I had a bunch of Denise's brownies and cookies in the day.

I'm still at 76.6 kg, which means I won't be able to make my goal of 75 kg any time soon. I'm just maintaining, probably because I'm not restricting myself from the goodies that float around everywhere. It's not really important, I guess, since I'm pretty happy with where I'm at now. Bruce Lee can rest easier.

Will Miss Outdoor Fitness Camp Today

2006-01-21T05:53:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday morning, and I just got back in from last night's poker session. I stayed later than planned, because I hadn't been to this casino before, and it was first class. The game was also very good, and I netted +$350 USD in a $100 buy-in $3/$2 blind No-Limit Hold'Em game. There were some very bad players there who didn't know me. Anyway, time to sleep, and I should be able to get some workouts in tomorrow before going to Angie's game tonight :)

Xenical Reviewed For Over-the-Counter Sales

2006-01-20T18:04:00.000-08:00

I saw an article today about the prescription fat-blocking drug Xenical being up for review as an over-the-counter drug. I wondered how effective this drug was, since I know a lot of people have trouble losing weight, and far be it for me to criticise how people manage their weightloss. I was suprised to see that the studies showed an average of 12.4 lbs loss in six months, compared to half of that for the placebo group, when combined with an exercise plan. I can see why US sales of Xenical are only $102 million, and worldwide sales are $500 million for 2004. Plus the drug costs about $100/month, and is generally not covered by insurance plans. And you have to take 6 pills a day.

On the other hand, I lost my weight at a rate 5 times faster than the patients on Xenical. Would people really go through the hassle and expense to lose only a little amount of weight? Probably, when they start advertising it on television. I guess that's why analysts are projecting $5 billion in annual sales by the end of the decade.

The Biggest Loser, Special Edition: Couples

2006-01-19T09:10:00.000-08:00

I knew the Red team would win. They showed the first two weeks of the competition last week, then they compressed the next 6 months on last night's show. After the first two weeks, I knew the Red Team would win, based on a few things. First, Rasha on the Blue Team had that whole spoiled girl attitude, that doesn't work for this kind of challenge. Then, when they showed teasers of the finale, I could tell by a single frame that the Red Team looked smaller. Also the Red Team couple averaged 22 years old, while the Blue Team averaged 26. And Sarah from the Red Team was really heavy, but her body type looked like it'd lose more weight.

So the Blue Team lost about 28% of their body weight. From my highest weight (105 kg), I've lost 28.5% myself. And, the majority of it came off in 6 months. Too bad I didn't have all the people cheering for me, and giving me prizes.

Dragging, But Worked Out

2006-01-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

I felt a little better today, but was tired, and ate plenty of chocolate again. I made it out to Outdoor Fitness Camp tonight, and worked out with Angie and Anna. (Traffic was really light tonight, so I got there 30 minutes early, and ran almost all of them.)

Someone at Camp is losing a lot of weight quickly, but might not be eating enough. I told her to expect my whole lecture on the matter, but she's really motivated now, and getting quick, dramatic results, so I actually don't want to do anything to slow her down. Even though her approach is completely opposite to my evangelical beliefs, I understand the enthusiasm, so I figure I'll tell her what she already knows, and let her learn for herself. Anyways, it's exciting to see someone start off with a bang, so I'll go with it.

This is what I picked up at Indulgence tonight. Their reduced-carb pizzas are only 600 calories. I definitely each much more than that for dinner, but it's a good start. This one has pesto, chicken, and fresh tomatoes. It's less than $8 USD, with a salad. I'm putting their number into my phone, and calling it in when I'm done at the gym. It beats (my) cooking.

Tired, But Won't Binge

2006-01-17T18:23:00.000-08:00

I'm really worn out today. Yesterday was spinning with Lynn, and I'm pretty good shape now, and can really output power, speed, and endurance. Going fast in spinning feels almost as good as going fast on the road, which I can barely remember these days.

I'm skipping the workouts tonight. I figured it'd be counter-productive at this point, and the body might not like it. So, I'm feeling that kind of tired that I mentioned before, when I'm just dragging, and nothing really will make me feel better other than a day off, reasonable food, and sleep.

On the scale tonight, I hit 19.0% body fat, so I'm definitely making progress. The morning body fat readings are now in the 19's as well. Slowly, but surely, I'm getting down to my ideal body shape.

Still On Target

2006-01-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

I stayed on plan with no problem yesterday, and I got out of the house most of the day. In the morning, I went running at Torrey Pines, and the course pretty quickly. There were quite a few bikers on the road, and I got in a few sprints trying to keep up with them on the big 3km hill. When we got to the top, I chatted with a few of them, and they said I was really moving. All the sprint work in spinning class, and the abs work at OFC really helps my speed up the hill. I wasn't exhausted at any point in the run.

My friend John is an amazing tournament player. Starting with over 80 players, he essentially took 2nd place, winning about $1300 in a $65/50 rebuy tournament. I bought 10% of his action, so while I lost $3 playing Omaha8 for a few hours, I ended up $100 or so for the trip.

I ate a bunch of times yesterday, but still kept my calories to under 2100 (I think). I'm on track to hit 76.0 kg tomorrow, and 75.0 kg by the end of the month.

The Instant Results Are In

2006-01-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, I weighed-in at 76.2 kg this morning, and the calorie counting and fitness plan are working well. This is only 0.2 kg off my lowest mark before the holidays, and before all the chocolate and pizza. I'm dedicated to hitting my 75 kg goal by the end of the month, and then I'll set a new goal around 72 kg (23.5 BMI). I'll probably stay around the house today, so I better re-hydrate, and get my butt out to Torrey Pines to run.

Drank My Calories Last Night

2006-01-14T15:52:00.000-08:00

Went out with the OFC group to a cool bar in the neighbourhood where my gym is. I'd always seen the place, but this was the first time I'd been in there. I had a really good time, and now I wonder if people have this much fun every weekend. It'd probably take a toll on you if you did, or I'd learn to slow down some. Anyway, I learned about a few new drinks, and I was really impressed with how good they taste :)

I planned my workouts around the outing. I only ate 990 calories before the night, and I substituted drinks for dinner. I finished up at midnight, and made spinning and OFC the next morning as usual. I felt a little off-balance in the shower this morning, but I made a point to re-hydrate as soon as I got home last night. So, after I got moving and drinking in spinning, I felt much better.

I can tell by my intermediate weigh-ins that the calorie counting is working as usual. 100g/day, that's all I ask.

Where Are My Instant Results?

2006-01-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

I limited myself to 2000 healthy calories yesterday, did a hard turn at spinning, and I'm not really any lighter this morning. Argh. Well, the body fat reading hit 20.0%, which is lower than yesterday, so if I don't lose it today, I should get a weigh-in 0.2kg lighter tomorrow morning. Or, maybe by Sunday, I'll hit 76.4 kg again. Ok, that's my goal.

This is breakfast, two scrambled eggs, and a cracker with humus. I'm a little hungry, but I'll have about 1000 calories before dinner today. I'll probably have a few drinks tonight, which won't really help me hit my Sunday goal. Maybe I'll do a strength session at lunch today.

I talked to Ryan the spinning instructor after class last night (again). We're always the last two out of the room. It's scary how much I have in common with these gay guys. We talked about the Biggest Loser: Special Edition, down to the interpretations of reaction shots, TiVo freeze frames from next week's previews, the difference between the trainer's (Jillian and Bob) styles and results, and Kathy Griffin. He's probably thinking my straight act isn't holding up so well. What can I say, I like celebrity gossip and showtunes. But I've also watched World War II a couple of times by now on the History Channel. So there.

Krash Diet

2006-01-12T21:32:00.000-08:00

I'm watching a bunch of weightloss shows on the Discovery Channel, and there's a bunch of Kellogg's Special-K commercials telling people they can lose 6 lbs in two weeks by replacing two meals a day with a bowl of Special-K cereal. They don't tell you about the details which includes changing your lifestyle, eating fruits and vegetables, and exercising. In their study, they tell you that participants ate an average of 575 calories/day less (27% less). Without exercise, this would amount to only (14 days * 575 calories/day) / (3500 cal/lb-of-fat) = 2.3 lbs of fat lost in two weeks. So these people must have exercised another 3.7 lbs off, requiring (3.7 lbs)(3500 cal/lb-of-fat) / 14 days = 925 calories of exercise per day. That's about 2 hours of exercise each day. Personally, I couldn't lose 6 lbs in two weeks without resorting to starvation. Maybe I could have when I was really overweight, but not now.

Oh, and the average weight loss was only 5 lbs. I guess someone lost 6 lbs; that was "up to" person.

So the Kellogg's Special-K Challenge is really simple -- calorie restriction, intense exercise, instant lifestyle change, and disappointing results. Congratulations, you've been sold out for a box of cereal.

Didn't Count Calories Last Night

2006-01-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

I didn't eat crazy, but I didn't weigh food either. It's been so long since I've done that, and I've been losing weight without it, that I forgot to do it. But, when I got on the scale this morning, and was a 0.2 kg higher than yesterday, I figured maybe I better count calories until I hit my 75kg goal.

For dinner, I had a salmon burger, probably 100g humus, 40g crackers, 40g muselix, 30g banana, 200g tofu salad, 100g tabouli salad. I guess that's a lot. Let me take a stab at the calories = 450 + 120 + 160 + 120 + 60 + 320 + 120 =~ 1350 calories. Okay, that's a little too much. The day's total was probably about 2350, so I was only about 350 over.

I'll try to weight everything today.

Goal: 75kg By End Of January

2006-01-11T09:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, instead of finding out how much pizza and chocolate I can eat, I'm going to reach my initial goal of 75 kg by the end of the month. This probably means that I can't eat a daily chocolate bar anymore, or screw around eating bags of popcorn. When I eat 100% "correctly", I'll end up getting really hungry in a few days, and crave either fat or sugar. It's pretty hard to ignore these cravings, since it's probably the body's reaction to losing weight, and it's homostasis mechanism trying to make me eat more. I'll just tell myself then, I'm sacrificing for this experiment, to see what happens when I stick to a calorie limitation.

All this while I've been losing weight, when the cravings hit, I end up eating like 3000 calories for the day to satisfy them. At first, I just ate more good food. Lately, I've turned to junky, satisfying food. And now, I'll try to resist the urges to catch up on calories, and just see what happens on a strict limit.

It's going to hurt, but it's just 3 weeks.