[UPDATE] My Diet Log has been updated to accept comments from all 3 of you reading it. So if you have something to say, go ahead and say it. It's completely anonymous, you lucky dog, you. Please comment on whatever you like. [/UPTDATE]

Oh my god it's an update! HOLY SHITBALLS! Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time right now, so just a few things I haven't gotten around to telling anybody. First off, I'll be getting my bonus in a couple days, huzzah! It's not alot, but enough to pay for my trip to the Classic Gaming Expo, which is also coming up shortly, huzzah2!

In other news, I started my diet today, which means I have a new weblog to track my progress. for you nate fetishists (and those of you who like to make fun of people) you can find it at anotherfluke.blogspot.com. There's a link to your right as well, underneath the E3 picture link.

Also of note is the new Reel Big Fish album, Cheer Up!, that just came out. It's a very good album (IMO), but probably isn't going to rocket RBF back up the charts any time soon. Let's see, what else.
Actually, I think that's about it, for now. Check out my weblog for more frequent updates, however those will likely focus on the diet.
PS I updated the game list also.

Stranger Out
07/11/02 10:42 am

Weight Check: 255
Current eating habits: 1 power bar 8 oz. chicken, 2 slices bread,
Date started: 07/09/02
Exercise: Jogging 1 mile (2 down, 2 back: 20:15)
Mistakes: None

While it is true that I really shouldn't be eating all this food, I don't think it is all that detrimental to my diet. Today, however, marks the end of my weekend so I'll be going back to power bars and fruit while I'm working. All I can say is I hope I've built a lot of muscle this weekend.

Actually, I'm sure I've built a lot of muscle this weekend. My thighs are bulging with muscle. Ok, so it's just a mosquito bite, but it is getting a lot easier to jog. Yesterday marks my first real time, and it's pretty close to my estimate, but I'm actually of the opinion that I was slower than usual. Maybe I can improve on that time today. I remember this point when I was jogging earlier in the year: instead of stopping because my legs get too tired, I stop jogging because I am too winded. I suppose now would be a good time to quit smoking. Hmmm.

Today also marks the day that I officially consider putting a little variation into my routine. By variation I mean I'm considering an upper body workout now as well as jogging. I haven't decided if I'll be doing it in addition to jogging, or if I'll be alternating between the two. I like the idea of doing both, but I'm worried about whether that will cause me to quit doing both. Well, whatever happens I'm going to keep on jogging.

As for the food portion of my diet, well I'd like to think that I'm not losing weight because I'm gaining muscle, but it's hard to think that. I have been eating pretty fattening foods, but I think for the most part that it is staying within "parameters." In other words I think if I was eating like this normally, I wouldn't be gaining weight. But it's not exactly diet faire. Well maybe things will speed up with the coming work week (They'd better. Or else).

Weight check: 254
Current eating habits: 1 power bar, 1 hot dog, 1 slice pizza, 1 piece cake
Date started: 07/09/02
Exercise: Jogging 1 mile (2 down 3 back: 20 min)
Mistakes: See above

Boy I sure suck at dieting when I'm hanging out with friends. What are they doing leaving out free pizza and cake for me anyways? Jeez! What happened was I went over to Kelcey's house and found out that his mom brought home some food from a party, and it all smelled so good. So I ate some food there since I didn't have any of my food with me. That was the main reason I chose a diet like this, too, so I could bring this stuff with me anywhere. Then we stopped at this meat market thing, and I got a polish sausage. Bad me! and yet somehow I managed to lose a pound. I guess when I get right down to it, I only ate about 2000 calories, it's just that it was mostly fat, and that's what bugs me.

I'm doing better and better with jogging. My legs don't hurt any more, and yesterday I jogged further and stopped less than before. The way the routine goes is I go half a mile down the trail and then turn around. Yesterday I stopped twice down, and 3 times on the way back. I should probably keep track of this at the top as well. When I first started jogging, I stopped like 4 times each way at least. I think I'll add that today to the Exercise section...

Whatever it was I ate last night really played hell with my system. I'm inclined to think it was the pizza slice I ate, because it has cheese on it (I'm lactose intolerant, you uncaring bastard). But it got me thinking about what I eat. At first I thought maybe it was the Polish Sausage, because it was meat, and I haven't eaten meat (at least not red meat) in awhile. This diet effectively makes me a vegetarian, hell it makes me a vegan. Hahahaha I find that really funny for some reason! I am sooo not a vegan in any way at all, yet here I am not eating red meat or dairy products. I guess what this really means is that when I do go off my diet (whether by design or by accident) I'll have to take this as one more factor in deciding what to eat. Not because I have an "image" to uphold, but because it just wouldn't be worth the pain.

Well, it's time to go jogging, hopefully I can increase my time, and decrease my stops. Hmm I think I'll add time to that section, too. today will be a generic time, but hey, it's a start...

Weight check: 255
Current eating habits: 1 fruit, 1 chili dog, 1 bag chips, 1 potato
Date started: 07/09/02
Exercise: None
Mistakes: See above

As you can see, last night was a lot like last saturday. A lot worse, actually. I'm just guessing, but I think I ate around 1700 calories yesterday. Not a terrible number, but look at my choices in food. Cursed German hot dogs, grrr. Oh well.

I also didn't go jogging yesterday, but my legs are still thanking me for that. they feel a lot better today, but won't in about an hour, because I'm going jogging again right after this. I seem to recall hearing somewhere that jogging everyday isn't good for you because you don't give your body time to build the muscles. Too bad. I think the best way keep myself jogging is to do it every day I can. Otherwise I might stop.

Speaking of stopping, it looks like I've stopped losing weight again. Obviously, there's a reason I didn't lose any weight yesterday, but it is still dissapointing nonetheless. Oh well, I'm still confident that I will overcome. After all, the numbers bear me out. I'm eating about 1000 calories a day, my body needs about 2600 (3200 if the numbers are to be believed, but I want to stay conservative. Ha, not many times you'll hear me say that!), so I should be losing a pound every other day or so. Not a world record, but a good speed nonetheless.

Bear with me as I run through some numbers here real quick. I'm 255, I'd like to get down to 195, so that means sixty pounds, which is (3500x60) 210,000 calories (that's hot). so if I'm doing this at a 1600 calorie/day loss, losing 6 days a week, then it's going to take me 131 "diet" days to lose all that weight, which is 21 3/4weeks. Ouch! if I go by the 2200 calorie/day loss losing 6 days a week, then it's 17 1/2 weeks. hmm that's not much better. lets see that works out to over 5 1/2 and 4 months respectively. but if experience bears me out, I lost 15 lbs in 10 days. drop that down to a pound a day, that means that I will be down to 195 in 60 days. that's 2 months, a much better number. Unfortunately I doubt that that will happen. It will probably be somewhere between 3 and 4 months, if I'm lucky. But then again as I get down to 225-215, that calorie loss number will also drop to probably around 1400 or 1800. Not to mention the fact that I'm gaining muscle too. Definitely an interesting game.

Which brings me to my next point. I'm really glad I'm doing this journal. It's doing exactly what it's supposed to do, which is keep me motivated. Whenever I think about going off my diet, I think "Man, then I have to post it in the journal, and this'll be staring me right in the face every time I look at it." Plus I can look back and see what I did, and how fast I'm losing weight. It's a great tool, and I highly recommend to anyone who has a long, arduous task ahead of them.

~N

Weight check: 253
Current eating habits: 2 power bars, 2 fruits, 1 cup noodles
Date started: 07/07/02
Exercise: Jogging (1 mile)
Mistakes: None

Yesterday was the second day that I started jogging. And man, are my legs sore! I plan on going out tonight, and I work early today, so I'm not going to go jogging or walking today, and, I plan on going out to a real restaurant today after work. So I figured I would bring a couple of fruits with me to tide me over until I go. I'm going to an italian restaurant, so the meal alone is probably going to be like 2000 calories. But it's for a worthy cause, so I don't mind. Despite having to get up early, and having plans for this evening, I still have a ton of stuff to do today. Luckily for you, the reader (notice the singular term), I consider keeping this log a top priority, so other things get dropped before this does.

Hopefully my plans won't have too big of an effect on my diet, since I didn't lose much weight today. There seems to be a trend of 1. lose 3-4 lbs 2. lose 0-1 lbs. 3 lose 3-4 lbs, and today is the lose 0-1 lbs day. Hopefully this food won't ruin my 3-4 lb loss tomorrow. I'm not too concerned about not jogging because my legs are pretty sore as it is, but my main concern is that I'll be eating lots of food, later in the evening. Tasty food, but fattening food nonetheless. It looks like Saturday is going to be my "Diet break" day, or my "break the diet" day, if you will.

As far as jogging goes, yesterday didn't suck quite as much as I'd thought it was going to (check out that sexy grammar!). It did hurt at first, my legs were really sore when I woke up, but once I started jogging, the pain quickly subsided. I didn't push myself as hard as I could have, but even so I wound up joggin further, and for longer periods of time than I was the day before. Hooray for building muscle! I'm looking forward to my next jog (which should be tomorrow, or monday depending on what happens tonight), so I can see how well I'll do then. If I remember correctly there was a "wall" that I hit after about a week of jogging where I didn't get any faster, and jogging didn't get any easier. Hopefully I can overcome said wall, and make jogging my bitch.

~N

Weight check: 254
Current eating habits: 1 power bar, 2 fruits, 1 cup noodles
Date Started: 07/09/02
Exercise: Jogging (1 mile)
Mistakes: None

Well it looks like jogging was the correct answer. I've lost some more weight, and I'm not as hungry as I thought I'd be. I was definitely hungrier yesterday than I've been in awhile, though, but I see this as a good sign. It means that my body is being forced to find energy in places other than my stomach, which means I'm losing weight. I wound up buying a pair of shorts from Sams Club (ugh, I hate to think that I am supporting them, but oh well, the alternative is 30 miles away).

So yesterday was my first jogging experience. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Before I started, I had to keep telling myself, "I'm just going jogging, everyone does it, nobody cares what you look like, everyone's doing the same thing I am..." But once I started jogging I stopped thinking about it, and everything was fine. I actually feel a litle better about using the trail since I'm using it for the same thing everyone else is now. So that's good.

As for the diet part, I picked up a box of 24 power bars yesterday, so I'll probably stick with this diet for at least 12 more days. I'm still worried about what I'm going to do once I'm done with the power bar diet thing. I might just keep doing the diet the way it is, and allow myself an extra 500 calories a day or something. That way I can keep up with the diet as it is, and still get like a hamburger or something once in awhile. Of course I'll usually be eating a tasty salad or some such, but you know, I do miss that pagliacci's pizza hehe. Ok I'm off to go jog on my poor pained legs.

~N

Weight Check: 258
Current eating habits: 2 power bars, 2 fruits, 1 cup noodles
Date Started: 07/09/02
Exercise: Walking
Mistakes: None

How in Gods name can I gain 2 pounds when the combined total weight of my food is like 10 ounces!??!?? It never ceases to amaze me the things my body will do. Well, whatever, if that's how my body wants to play then so be it. i'm going to go down to Gig Harbor tonight and get those goddamn shorts from my dad, and I'm starting my Jogging tomorrow. That's right, body, you hear that? You're in for some hurt now. Nobody makes Nathan Martin gain weight, NOBODY. Well, nobody but Nate.

It's fairly early here (for me), 9:00am. I still have to go to Costco and buy power bars, or I'm going to be SOL for a day or two. Hmm, maybe while I'm there I can buy some cheap shorts and start jogging today... That'd be nice, not having to wear the same shorts everyday. I started looking at Mens fashion last night, and it's like reading a different language. I understand the need to have a name for all the different clothing types, but would it kill them to post a picture once in awhile that shows what they're talking about? Oh well, it's going to be awhile before I need to concern myself with things like fashion, and the Spring Fashion will have waned to Fall Fashion or even Winter Fashion, depending on whether or not I keep gaining 2 pounds for every 10 ounces of food I eat. Grrr.

An interesting thing about yesterday: I wound up eating everything I'm supposed to (instead of only 1 fruit, or no cup o' noodles, etc), and I was hungrier yesterday than I'd been in awhile. At lunch I found myself wanting to buy a hot dog at seven eleven (I forgot my cup o' noodles, and had to buy a replacement), and if they had had a german hot dog on the "grill" I know I would have bought it. I've got to watch my diet, and make sure I'm keeping up with it, because I'm very impulsive. Once I realized they didn't have german hot dogs available I started looking at beef jerky, chips, and whatnot, and finally came to my senses and realized that the last week would be going to waste if I didn't stick with my diet, especially with the cup o' noodles that I needed just 2 aisles behind me. So I do have the resolve and sensibilities to stick to my diet, I just need a minute or two for it to kick in. Hopefully the German Hot Dogs of the world will always be out of stock, so that I can make the tough decisions today's dieter faces. Grrr.