Ali and I have begun to record our daily food intake on our blogs. When Andrea returns to blog land, I hope she will join us. Click here to read my weight loss proposal.

I didn’t keep track of calories, yesterday, but I have started recording the numbers, today. I don’t record calories, fat, and fiber, but I keep track of my food intake using the Weight Watchers POINTS! system I learned when I was a member back in 2002 or so.

I found the Weight Watchers meetings to be the greatest asset when I first started. I needed to be held accountable, and a weekly weigh-in with supportive talks and rewards, even though they were trivial, were quite helpful in helping me to drop over twenty pounds.

I regained quite a bit of the weight back when I moved to Wisconsin and got back down to my current weight when I moved back to the Upper Peninsula, where an active lifestyle is the norm. Residents of the Keweenaw are quite enabled both geographically and socially to lead an active and exciting lifestyle. This is a very important factor in controlling one’s weight.

When I joined Weight Watchers, I was 206 pounds. I was beginning to have physical pain associated with hauling around the excess weight, and I wasn’t particularly proud of the fact that I was wearing size 18 clothing. Plain and simple, I was fat, and it wasn’t healthy.

Currently, I weigh about 170 pounds. I’ve maintained a range of 165-175 since I lost my Wisconsin weight several years ago. I even found myself between sizes this summer. I found myself purchasing some size 12 clothing – a size I haven’t been since high school, thirteen years ago.

The exception to my weight range was when I found out I was edging into the 180s last winter. I had finished my second round of antibiotic treatment. I spent much of the winter quite sick, and the tetracycline I was on caused stomach irritation, which I believe is what caused me to feel hungry all the time. I ate and ate and ate in an effort to get rid of that “feed me” feeling. After I got well, I panicked when I saw my weight. The next month, I came down with my first ever case of tonsillitis. Needless to say, that week of drinking hot tea and only dreaming of eating solid food took the weight off. I was back to 175 and ready to prep for cycling season.

I’ve mastered the art of getting myself back on track when it comes to weight gain. Every time I start creeping above 175, I devise a plan to get myself back down to 165. While I don’t always reach 165, I usually get into the 160s. It’s quite a relief.

This year, I’ve decided it was time to get down to 155. This is quite difficult. I do like consuming calories, and the lighter you are, the fewer calories it takes to maintain your weight. This is why a 250 pound person can lose weight easier than a 170 pound person. I had no problem getting from 206 to 190 pounds, but trying to get from 170 to 155 pounds is pure hell. I just don’t want to give up my food and beer, but it’s time for moderation.

I’ve made some wonderful changes in my diet. It is helpful that the American food companies have tainted our food with unnatural or unhealthy ingredients, such as high-fructose corn syrup. This has made giving up pop/soda/soda pop/liquid speed quite easy for me. I bought a large bottle of sweetened tea at a gas station during a long trip. I really wanted that tea, but I knew there was high-fructose corn syrup in there, and I also knew that my asthma symptoms went away after I quit consuming that stuff. I took a couple of sips, thought it tasted funny, really wanted a beverage, but couldn’t get myself to drink anymore. I threw the bottle away – full.

Over the last few years, moderation has been a valuable lesson I have learned. The only thing I haven’t used in moderation is beer. It is always at mountain biking parties, and I love it. I drink it. It is very much a part of my life. However, it is time for a change. Hell no, I’m not giving it up! I won’t drink very much at home, though. If I have a race the next day, in most cases, I will not drink. It is time to eat and drink for performance.

This is where the Weight Watchers system I learned several years ago comes in. Each food is assigned a POINTS value. The POINTS value can be easily figured out based on some simple mathematical equations involving calories, fat, and fiber. I can look at a label and know the POINTS value of a food.

You will see POINTS values assigned to each meal I have eaten. I am shooting for 25 POINTS per day, and some extra POINTS are allowed with exercise. You’ll see my exercise values as well.

If I post earlier in the day, you will see an uncompleted meal list. It will get filled by the end of the night, HughesNet willing.

I look forward to this. Even though Ali is about six hours away, and Andrea is about eight, it is nice having friends doing this as well. I think this will be a great support network. Maybe I really will get down to 155 pounds by New Years!

Ali brought up the possibility of learning new recipes, as well. I think this is a great idea. Since I’ve already written about food, before, I most likely will write about food that I enjoy, and their benefits. Maybe we will all get some great ideas from this melding of the minds.

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Today’s Menu

Breakfast
Yogurt with granola – 6 points

Lunch
5 Morningstar Chik Nuggets, 2 redskin potatoes, 2/3 c corn – 8 points
Chocolate and FruitaBu – 1 point

Dinner

Spaghetti with olive oil and spices – 7 points
Salad – lettuce, tomato, cucumber, homemade ranch – 4 points
Ovaltine (2 cups milk) – 5 points

Total POINTS: 31