Time to put on the brakes again.

The bicycling season is coming to a very quick end. When the temperature drops below 45 in the morning……….my toes get too numb too soon into the ride, lol. So now some adjustments have to be made. I was allowing myself the luxury of eating more in order to fuel my rides. Although mostly good foods such as nuts and other proteins(okay, okay……..some cookies and stuff too)…..but it still comes down to calories in have to equal calories out.

Before my biking habit evolved, I would make a salad every morning to take to work. That along with at least 3 fruits and a yogurt. I also like to take a separate Tupperware with green beans, broccoli or other vegetable for a snack. I put a little fat free Italian salad dressing on if for flavor. Also to satisfy myself when i need to have that “crunch” factor in my diet i put a serving of Quaker Rice Cakes in a Ziploc bag. Notice i don’t just take the whole bag to work………………..We all know what would probably happen if i did. The above food list is in addition to my breakfast and lunch. Breakfast i usually wait until I’m at work an hour before i eat. Now breakfast can be cereal(also in a zip lock bag) along with a small container of 1% milk. Lunch is a frozen dinner type. It used to always be a Jenny Craig meal but honestly they have gotten expensive over the last couple of years. Even after factoring in my discount for making my goal. So its usually a trip to PathMark, Target or other market to pick up whatever frozen dinners are on sale. I usually buy at least 10 when the price is right. Please note that the cheapest are usually NOT the best. I usually stick with Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice or Smart Ones…………….listed in order of my liking. The beef dinners usually have a salty taste……..to go with the high sodium listing on the label. So i usually stick with the chicken based entrees. I once had a friend comment on my Jenny Craig meal at work. It was a turkey, mashed potato and green bean meal………….It was one of my favorites at the time. He commented on how good it smelled and asked how much it cost. I told him it cost around 4 dollars. He laughed at me and said………..”$4 for that little bit of food?” He then proceeded to open the freezer and pull out two dinners. I cant remember if they were Swanson or Banquet but they were BIG and full of potatoes, fried chicken and gravy. He said ”I paid less than 4 dollars for both of these combined.” The calorie content of his “lunch” was more than my total daily intake. Let me mention that he weighed in at about 350 lbs.

In his eyes i was the fool. Although i never weighed anywhere near what he did. Five years ago my thoughts on food probably weren’t far off of his. The more food you get the better. I guess its like being a member of the “Happy Plate Club”. Meaning you always eat whats in front of you no matter how full you might be. I guess its a “get your money’s worth” way of thinking.

Anyway………………
I have to take up some sort of exercising for the colder months. A friend suggested jogging. I have a treadmill and it makes an excellent clothes rack. I also have a Nordic Track Skier which i have used over the years on and off. I went on the treadmill yesterday and did a 20 minute program. Nothing that took me into a full run but had my top speed at around 4mph. Which is fine when coupled with inclines.
The only problem with using the treadmill is moving all the junk off of it every time i want to use it.