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.

Weight Check: 256
Current eating habits: 2 Power Bars
Date Started: 07/09/02
Exercise: Extended Walking
Mistakes: None, really. No fruits yesterday tho.

I find it interesting that even though I ate a grand total of 4 ounces of food, I somehow managed to lose only one pound yesterday. Now I'm scared to go off this diet for fear that I will gain all 13 lbs back in like 2 days. On the plus side, it's still fairly easy to maintain this diet, so I'll keep it up for a few more days. I just bought the necessary items to continue this diet. All I need now are more power bars, I've only got enough for today, So it looks like I'll have to get up early tomorrow and head to costco (The sale at Safeway is gone).

So yesterday I ate about 490 calories, today I'll jump up a bit to around 1000 or so. Perhaps that will jump start my metabolism. The only thing I can think of is that yesterday when I went for my walk, I continued down to Safeway (The halfway point for my walk is about an eigth of a mile from University Village). I picked up supplies for the diet, including a big 2 1/2 gallon jug of water and carried it all back with me. I can only assume that this meant I built some muscle, so maybe if I didn't lose weight, some of my fat got turned into muscle. That works for me as well. Matt weighs about 220, but does not look fat, and I'm sure it's because he has a ton of muscle on him, so if I could weigh 210 or 200 and just have a bit of muscle on me, that would work out. but I would still prefer to gain muscle and lose weight at the same time...

Speaking of exercise, I still haven't picked up my shorts from my Dad's yet. I might go down tonight after work, but if I do, I'll wind up staying down there. hmm, if I did that then I might not make it to Costco, then again, there's a Costco right off the freeway in Tacoma. If I left for work, I'd have to leave at 11:00, plus running so, 10:30, plus showering and waking up, 9:30, plus going to costco, 8:30. hmm, it's do-able. If I wanted to come back here and do my log, I've have to get up at 8:00. Tight schedule but it can be done. Anyways, I've got some walk to do, so if you'll excuse me...

~N

Weight Check: 257
Current eating habits: 1 Power Bar, 1 cup noodles, 3 fries
Date Started: 07/09/02
Exercise: Walking
Mistakes: didn't eat enough. hmm... Oh ya and I had 3 Tom Collins.

So I'm back on track here. It feels really good to be losing all this weight, I hope it continues. However, I know it isn't good for me. But it just feels so good to be losing weight, and for the first time in my life it's really easy to not eat. I don't want to buck the trend, if you know what I mean. Power bars are starting to be less and less appealing, but so is the thought of going back to preparing and cooking meals. Even less appealing is the thought of fast food (which is a good thing). I went out to Jazzbones with Meagan late last night and had a few drinks (which was nice), and afterwards we went to jack in the box so she could get some fries. I had a few fries, and they really weren't all that good. All I could taste was the grease. If every fast food place is like that, and I just never noticed, then spending the rest of my life never eating a jumbo jack again is starting to sound more and more attractive.

It's getting late so I should probably go for my walk soon. I still haven't decided when I'm going to start jogging instead of walking. I'm embarrassed to jog right now because of my weight, but if I wait until I feel comfortable jogging, I won't jog until after my diet's done. my current excuse is that I left my only pair of shorts down in the harbor, so I can't go jogging without them. I even went down to the harbor last night and spent a couple hours with my dad, yet I still forgot to get them. A viable excuse, maybe, but a paltry one for sure. I'm going to microsoft to test some new xbox game, so maybe I'll head down to the harbor afterwards and pick up my shorts. I really like those shorts, too. hehe they were a little too small for me when I bought them, so maybe they'll fit now :)

Um lets see anything else to report? No major challenges coming up, no impediments to my exercise routine, I'm running out of power bars, but I'll remedy that shortly. Nope, I think that's about it. Everything's coming up roses. Keep an eye out for my next log entry, wherein space aliens kidnap me and stuff 50 lbs of fat up my ass then threaten to kill me if I lose any weight.

~N

Weight Check: 260
Current eating habits: 2 cups dry cereal, 1 reg. fruit smoothie, 1 power bar, 1 cup noodles
Date Started: 07/09/02
Exercise: None
Mistakes: orange julius fruit smoothie was prolly 2500 calories

Well, the Dream is over. I've dropped whatever it is you drop when you first start dieting, and have gone back to the half-a-pound-a-day-if-yer-lucky part of the diet. Granted, I haven't been the model dieter these past two days, but we'll have to wait and see if things pick back up once I'm back on track, with none of this KFC, Orange Julius bullshit.

Like I said last night, doing the power bar thing isn't too difficult (not to mention cost effective), so I'm going to continue doing that until a) I can't take it anymore, or b) It stops working. It's more out of convenience than it is anything else. with the PB diet I don't have to cook anything, prepare anything, and most importantly, I don't have to refrigerate anything. That's the main reason I find dieting difficult. I hate cooking on a daily basis, and mostly eat fast food or junk food out of convenience. Granted I could get a granola bar instead of a 1/4 lb big bite, but that's beside the point. Kind of.

I know what you're thinking. "But Nate, if you keep going on with this diet, you'll be losing muscle instead of fat!" Well, that's why I'm going to start exercising more, dickhead! I will keep walking every day. The walks do me good, and I feel better when I'm done, so they will continue. Now I just need to find something else to add to that. I suppose I could do push ups or sit ups in my room... hmm. well I'll have to think of something if I want to keep what little upper body strength I have.

In the previous entry I have my weight listed as unknown, but the truth is last night (around 1:00) I did check my weight, and it had gone up to 264. That means that in 9 hours I lost 4 pounds. While I was sleeping. Granted, I took a piss when I woke up, but does it really make that much of a difference? haha maybe those people on the sleeping diet are on to something. You know what else bugs me, is the thought that when I'm done losing all this weight, I'm more likely (statistically) to gain it all back. That bugs me a lot. I hate to think that I might get down to some slim number like 180, then balloon back up to 230 or something like that. Hopefully I'll start dating some girl who exercises for fun and get into some good habits. Oh well, gonna go for my walk now.

~N