Riding with the window down…

I know junkier is not a word, but trust me - it applies.

I just had to snap a pic after I saw this at the checkout of my local 7-11.  You are looking at a Butterfinger BUZZ!

Yes, you read that right “With as much caffeine as the leading energy drink!”  So take the sugar bomb and add a boatload of caffeine - nice.  It’s a wonder our species is still alive considering the stuff we are talked into putting in our bodies.

Trust me - I am as guilty as anyone of eating crapola, but this one caught even me off guard.

I tried something a little different with my diet today.  I was tired of the quick, unhealthy lunches so I decided to have a PowerBar (Peanut Butter) and some beef jerky for lunch.  I didn’t feel a hint of hunger throughout the day.

The problem was it worked too well.  Not only wasn’t I hungry, but I was waaay under for my caloric consumption and my level of fat intake was too low.  Seriously, this sort of diet extremely high in protein and absent of fat is not healthy.

So, I fixed things when I got home by making some Queso con Bambi.  (hehe)  My brother is an avid deer hunter and always supplies me with plenty of deer meat.  Not only is it darn tasty, but it isn’t pumped full of all those steroids and chemicals in beef.  With it, I make the most amazing dip with Velveeta, deer, Rotel, and a nip of beer.

The cheese took care of getting my fat intake higher, but this stuff sure was filling - and, the deer is also high in protein.

Here is what I did today:
Total Calories: (under 2,100) 1,887
% Fat: (25-35%) 16%
% Carbohydrates: (40-50%) 34%
% Protein: (20-30%) 50%
Minutes of exercise: (30-60) 15

In the end, I lost another couple hundred calories, but went waaay overboard on the protein side.  Overall, it is fine as I have gone overboard on the carb side plenty of times.

Here is what I did yesterday:
Total Calories: 1,825
% Fat: 17%
% Carbohydrates: 61%
% Protein: 21%
Minutes of exercise: 0

I continue to come in low in the area of fat and although you would think that would be good, if it drops too much farther, it could be unhealthy.  I overdid the carbs by 6% yesterday so I will need to watch that - and of course, the exercise was bad as well.

Now, I am not sure I will do a very good job of keeping up with it, but Pennie was asking me about a formula I had created back in 2004 which really helped when we were working together to drop some weight. The first thing I discovered was that I had a bunch of posts that had never come over when I moved my blog hosting from Blogger.com.

I moved a few hundred of them when I first made the switch, but eventually forgot to move them all over. She was asking about the formula recently and even though I had forgotten about it completely - her prodding reminded me that there were still some posts over there. Sure enough - there they were. I moved about 20 of them a couple nights back and will continue to move the remaining 200+ until I forget - haha.

So for the record, here is the formula: First, you determine your BMR (basal metabolic rate) which will tell you how many calories you need to consume each day to remain exactly the same weight - then you shoot for totals under that. I also broke down the calories into carbs, fat, and protein - based on the research I had done. The focus on carbs is low-glycemic food as they take longer to break down and are healthier. I threw the exercise in as a general goal.

Calories < 2,100
Fat 25-35%
Carbohydrates 45-55%
Protein 15-25%
Minutes of exercise 30-60

Based on these numbers, I report here the totals and then color them according to whether I hit in the range, over, or under.

Here is what I did yesterday:
Total Calories: 1,970
% Fat: 24%
% Carbohydrates: 53%
% Protein: 22%
Minutes of exercise: 35

This one cracked me up, but I apparently forgot to post it… I was getting my car washed and thought the irony was worth a photo.

On one of my last trips to Victoria, I swung by my brother, Tom’s place and found him building a coffin. Not just any coffin - a coffin for playing music. It is complete with handles for pall bearers to carry it to the party of your choice.

Ever the one for reporting on good food, I snapped this at Kip’s BBQ in San Marcos but my Blackberry was unable to send photos at the time. This is some pretty darn good barbecue for San Marcos. Not as good as Woody’s, but darn tasty. What you are looking at here is a chopped beef and sausage sandwich and side of macaroni and cheese.

That’s all I have right now and the Blackberry is rocking and rolling again on sending photos, so look for them to go here, Facebook, Utterli, or Brightkite as I feel motivated.

I used to be a big fan of Carl’s Jr. hamburgers - we are talking from way back in the day (like the 80’s.) Although I had never actually eaten one until much later, they advertised on all the LA Lakers games. Being a Laker fan since I started watching basketball, and being the the burger seemed exotic (as it wasn’t available in Texas) I liked the thing.

When I actually did get out to California, it was the first fast food outing I made. I have to say, I was not impressed, it tasted like a more expensive version of the Hardees burger. (Which was available in Nacogdoches where I attended college, and I later discovered was owned by the same company.)

In any event, I don’t eat a lot of fast food burgers anymore, but I will give the new Carl’s Jr. in San Marcos a try for nostalgia if nothing else.

I am guessing that Paris Hilton is not included.

Okay, here’s the deal. I am trying to stop drinking soft drinks. I had pretty much eliminated them from the lifestyle and then, because I am do impressionable, I started drinking them again when Blake moved to San Marcos. (I really am that weak when it comes to food and beverage that is bad for me.)

To curb that I have put a bounty on soft drinks - well not on the drinks themselves, but on catching me drinking one. Its pretty simple - you catch me partaking of a carbonated sugar-water drink and mention it. I hand you five bucks. The system will stay in place until the end of the year which will certainly be enough time to break the habit.

And just so you don’t get any ideas about turning this into a money-making machine, only the FIRST person to catch me drinking on gets paid (and then I get to finish that one.)

I figure after drinking a couple $5 Dr. Peppers I’ll break the habit pretty easy.

Wish me luck

Congratulations goes out to my older brother, Tim.  He won first place in the Jackson County Go-Texan Texana Chili Spill Bean Cook-Off.  Out of 69 contestants from around the state, his beans ranked as the best.

Team Blackheart celebrates their win!

Not being a big bean eater, I can’t vouch for them personally, but when outings with family and friends are planned, someone always asks if he is going to make his beans.

Part of growing older is adapting to certain changes.  I have been blessed in that complaints my friends talk about (vision dropping dramatically at 40, stiffness and pain getting up in the morning, the need to head to bed earlier than in their youth, and the ability to eat like a teenager) haven’t really bothered me yet.  That is until recently.

It appears that my tolerance for spicy food has given out.  Last night was the second time in the last couple weeks that I had a pretty spicy meal just before before bed and woke up in the middle of the night with some serious acid reflux.  Sure, eating anything that late is not a good idea and I am sure that played into it.

In the end though, I am going to take it as a painful message to make a few changes.  I may not lay off spicy food entirely, but I certainly will keep it earlier in the day.  I will also take it as ‘another’ hint to drop some weight.  Oh yeah, cutting down on stress would be a good idea too.

I am actually starting to believe that I am not invincible and could possibly miss out on my plan to live forever.

My trend of posting entries related to Mountain Dew (or Cheetos) continues! Eric brought in some very cool Mt. Dew bottles to the office and I was struck by how small they were. These are not your typical 16 oz bottles, but 12 oz. Big deal right? Four ounces. Well, I have been a fan of smaller portions when it comes to liquid refreshment - even back to the college days of filling our kitchen table with the “dead soldiers” of empty bottles of Little Kings Cream Ale.

Whether it is a beer or a soft drink, I am a slow drinker. The problem with beer used to be that it was warm before I finished a regular sized one - with soft drinks, the same thing. When I get a bottle of Mountain Dew now, it literally takes me three or four sittings to finish one. The sweet is just too sweet.

I think he found them at HEB in a 12-pack or something. Oh, and yeah, I did sort of cheat in the photo by placing it next to a 1-liter Coke not the traditional 16 oz. All the other photos I took of it didn’t show the size difference well. Trust me though - these are some tiny bottles