20 Pound Bet: Week 4 Weigh In and Food Journal

For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet.

Week #4 Weigh-in: -1. Total loss: -5.

Slow and steady appears to be how my body wants to drop the weight. The good news is I’ve already dropped over 1/2 inch on my widest point, which tells me I’m losing fat and not muscle.

Sunday March 16

  • Gluten Free Waffles
  • Bacon
  • Orange Juice
  • Corned Beef + Cabbage + Potatoes + Carrots
  • cheddar (3 oz)
  • apple

Monday March 17

  • apple
  • beef kidney + mushrooms
  • tuna + EVOO + mustard
  • popcorn w/butter
  • beef stew w/ potatoes (2 bowls)
  • cheddar (2 oz)

Tuesday March 18

  • apple
  • tuna + EVOO + mustard
  • olives
  • asparagus
  • 3 eggs
  • apple
  • cheddar (2 oz)
  • beef stew w/ potatoes (2 bowls)
  • cheddar (2 oz)

Wednesday March 19

  • coconut oil (1 T)
  • tuna + EVOO + mustard
  • beef stew w/ potatoes (1 bowl)
  • 2 carrots
  • cheddar (2 oz)
  • 3 eggs
  • refined beans w/ corn tortillas
  • apple
  • cheddar (3 oz)

Thursday March 20

  • cheddar (2 oz)
  • apple
  • Viet Dish: hu tieu thap cam (see photos below)
  • cheddar (3 oz)
  • apple
  • 2 carrots
  • 4 Korean beef bulgogi tacos w/ corn tortillas + kimchi
  • pear
  • cheddar (3 oz)

Friday March 21

  • coconut oil (1 T)
  • tuna + EVOO + mustard
  • apple
  • IKEA smoked salmon
  • IKEA chocolate bar
  • cheddar (5 oz)
  • apple
  • strawberries and cream
  • potatoes
  • Vietnamese chicken legs
  • cheddar (1 oz)
  • apple

Saturday March 22

  • tuna + fish sauce + mustard
  • apple
  • 3 types of kimchi
  • kimchi fried rice
  • Korea yam noodle dish with pork and broccoli
  • cheddar (2 oz)
  • 2 carrots
  • kimchi soup w/ shrimp (3 bowls)
  • cheddar (2 oz)
  • apple

vietnamese-menu

HuTieuThapCam

H3 –  Hu Tieu Thap Cam

If you want to know why I personally object to counting calories look at the photo above and tell me how many calories it is. This is how I eat. I am a food explorer. This year I have really been into Vietnamese food and I’m always trying new dishes at different restaurants in Seattle’s Little Saigon. If I ate boxes of Lean Cuisine®, I wouldn’t have an excuse for not counting calories, but I don’t.

Notes:

  1. After reviewing my food journal I realized that carrots are a great food for reducing appetite.
  2. On Saturday I swapped out the Extra Virgin Olive Oil for fish sauce in my tuna. Did I mention I like the flavors of Vietnamese cooking? I’ll probably add crushed thai peppers and garlic soon.
  3. My Week #3 rule of not eating processed meat started after my Sunday bacon. A friend of mine hosted the Waffle and bacon party. Couldn’t pass on that. I used the rest of the week to create the calorie deficit.

5 Comments

Add yours

  1. Slow & steady is the way to go. If everyone only lost weight that way, it would be a lot more sustainable with less jojo dieting.

    They never tell you how many pounds people gained back in the long term after losing some crazy amount of weight (70+ lbs) in an absurdly short period of time.

  2. That bowl of noodles looks exactly like my bowl of dried noodles with lots of sweet soya sauce, mince meat, processed fish and meatballs, topped with lots and lots of lard. Lots of yumminess to be had!

    I often get this wide-eyed look followed by “… but aren’t you on a diet?” Whenever I order something like that on my weekends. I’m getting tired of explaining that I don’t diet, I just make my food part of my lifestyle, and that weekends are days I allow myself a little more leeway so I can balance a healthy lifestyle with yummy food.

    I’m still perplexed by people going “… but… but” followed by the inevitable mental meltdown and disbelief that I don’t subsist on carrots and celery. Good luck maintaining that figure and a rabbit diet for anything past a few months. I personally prefer to balance being able to eat what I want, with eating what I need.

  3. @Alexi – Your comment reminded me of a post I did in 2012.
    https://criticalmas.org/2012/06/i-thought-you-didnt-eat/

  4. do you think dairy/cheddar cheese inhibits your ability to lose weight to some extent?

  5. @Thomas – Great question. I don’t know the answer. I wish I could come up with an alternate food that is easy to prepare, not expensive and has the same high level of satiety as cheese. Since I gave up nuts, cheese is the best idea I have. But it is calorie dense.

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