Food

So I'm not going to be a food nazi, but I'm going to crack down on my food portions, count calories, and eliminate a few things. Here are my ideas:

1. No alchohol, no sugar. Edit, 3 January. I just learned this morning that the Racing Weight guide allows for a bit of ETOH and sugar. Alcohol in the form of wine, once to three times a week (depending on activity levels), and sugar in the form of a little bit of jam, again once to four times a week. Fitzgerald's rational is 1) wine is good for you 2) everything in moderation and 3) if you get to have limited quantities of it, you're less likely to binge.

2. Count calories.
So my basal metabolic rate is approximately 2200 calories. I'm going to try to plan ahead and pick an appropriate caloric intake for the day: 3000 calories for days with 12 hours of activity (not too common mid-winter), 2500 calories for 8 hour days (more common), 2000 calories for 4 hours (more common still), and 1500 calories for days with no activities.  If I miss-estimate my activity level, I'll pay for it or get rewarded the following day.
I've loaded up MyFitnessPal on my iPad to count calories, and I'll keep using Strava to track aerobic activity.

3. Cook at home as much as possible.
Eating out is one of the biggest ways to gain calories - portions tend to be bigger, sauces are more common, and eating out encourages over-eating. But I will be traveling this month (3 days in Portland, 5 days in Salt Lake City), I like taking my wife out on dates, and I personally enjoy eating out, so I have got to come up with a strategy. When I have to eat out, I'm going to adhere to my menu as much as possible, including portion sizes - even if that means having left overs. And rule #1 still applies, so no Molly Moon Ice Cream in my near future.

4. Have a menu, and keep it simple.
I'm going to use the weekly menus in Racing Weight: Quick Start as a general guide, especially in portion sizes, but I will also be switching some ingredients as I prefer (i.e. switching brown rice for white rice).  I'll have to watch and see if it changes my caloric intake.

5. Have an end date.
I won't lie - if I tried to do this for 365 days, I'd likely fall off the wagon in 10 days. But I have a really good reason to fall off of the wagon at the end of the month - a two week trip to Japan.  So my goal is to keep to this diet for the month of January, then reassess.