Unhappy Meals - Michael Pollan - New York Times By the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma this article suggests that eating "food" as opposed to "nutrition" makes sense. Not a revolutionary concept perhaps but something that I take to heart. It is too easy to get caught up in making sure I eat protein for instance. I know that my body does best when I increase the level of protein I eat and lay off some other areas. But that doesn't mean my body handles all good protein sources equally. For some trouble I have some trouble with eggs if they are cooked wrong; my body just doesn't like it. But yogurt? Yogurt is something that usually calms down my stomach if it's upset and gives me a decent boost of energy (of course there is a lot of sugar buried in most yogurt). Since I am running a weight loss bet with my brother, sisters, and mom I plan on spending some time experimenting with food that makes me feel good, helps me train, and sheds the pounds. I recommend the book by the way. I don't know if there is anything new in it but it puts the entire package together nicely and suggests the right outcome for food-goodness; eat vegetables. Thankfully I like a lot of vegetables but somehow they are not always convenient so I skip them in favor of a piece of bread or a cracker or a hunk of meat. But read the book. If it has caused one change in me it's that I am paying slightly more for grass-feed organic meat these days. No more grain-fed stuff if I can avoid it.

I've been eating a lot of yogurt lately. Somewhere along the line I read something about it being a good source of protein. Frankly I find it very tasty and usually filling. At the very least I figured it must be better than a donut or a bag of chips. Then reading another article this morning got me thinking... what was in the yogurt really? I eat organic nonfat stuff so the chemical content is relatively low and the fat is zero. So what else is in there? I am eating Trader Joe's Strawberry nonfat yogurt (fruit on the bottom). Total carb = 26g, 24 of which are sugar! Wow, no wonder the stuff tastes good. But I wasn't trying to eat sugar. Oops. I also wonder what those extra 2 grams of carbohydrates are, the label doesn't say. 6 grams of protein, that's good right? Well... it has four times the sugar as protein so already I am suspicious. I pulled out a nonfat vanilla yogurt and found similar sugary numbers. How about an egg for comparison? 6g protein, 1g carb so it seems like a clear winner, but uh oh it has 1.5g of saturated fat. I think that is from the yolk so egg whites are okay but no, they have no flavor so what's the point of that. Next up will be an investigation of butter. I like butter. I don't butter my bread but I do enjoy a smear of butter on my toast in the morning. I tend not to cook with butter much but from time to time sauteeing onions in butter is a good recipe starter. I need to look into something else to smear on toast. Peanut butter? I should note that the yogurt in question has 130 calories per serving. The egg has 70 so to be fair I could eat two of the eggs for double the protein of the yogurt. I just checked on peanut butter and for 140 calories of that I can get 15g of protein, very few carbs, but sadly 3g of saturated fat. Still better than the yogurt in that sense but I know from the past that skipping the yogurt for a light smear of peanut butter will do nothing to stave off hunger down the road.

Back to the weight-related posting. Today was a pleasant surprise. I have worked out quite a bit lately but my diet has not been particularly good. Nevertheless this is the lowest weight I have seen in well over a year. I will check back through the training logs but I won't be surprised if this is the lowest since we did the charity ride two years ago. Of course tomorrow I will wake up and find my weight is 212 or something. Update The last time I was this light was August 8th 2005, so for over a year-and-a-half I have really been about this heavy. I recall slipping down to 203 at the charity ride in March, then gradually adding pounds and sticking around 208 for a while. Then by November 2005 I was 211 and essentially have fluctuated in that ballpark for a year+ now. We'll see if I can stick this 207.5 for a few days before popping the champagne, but I like the overall trend this year.

Kokopelli Trail Info Okay, maybe this is another good event to tackle this year.

Winter Triathlon this might qualify for an event... march 4th is definitely within reach of me doing this one event. Might be a fun weekend getaway.

One thing is for sure... I need to lose weight. Losing weight would help me ski better. It would improve my running speed. It would allow me to climb better on the bike. Oh yeah, it would also make me a healthier person. My first New Year's Resolution then is to lose weight. This morning I am 212.5 pounds. By the end of the year I want to hit 190. I haven't seen 190 pounds for a very long time. Losing 22.5 pounds at this stage in my life will not be easy. I have added an extra pounds every year or so since high school. That's sad given that I have run a few marathons and did Ironman in that time too. Specific mini-goals in order to lose weight:

1. Have a weigh-in chart in the bathroom. This reminds me to step on the scale daily.
2. Limit or reduce alcohol consumption during the week. I will give myself a grace period on the weekends but I pour too many empty calories into my body.
3. Reduce the amount of time I spend online. When I am not online I move around the house, I fiddle with things, I play with the kids. That keeps me happy and burning more calories than I otherwise would. It is amazing how, outside of my daily workouts, sedentary I am.
4. Two hours of exercise per day, five days per week. I may wind up doing more than that with especially active weekends, but 10 hours each week is a solid goal. Depending on the exercise that burns 8000-10000 calories which would cause my weight to drop if I just kept the calories coming in in check.
5. By January 10th I will have a training schedule together which includes one marathon and one ridiculous, you-must-be-kidding me event.

That's it for now, but I will post from time to time on this subject and report my progress. For now I am off to the gym.