1000 Calorie Salads

Weigh In: 272.5 F
ive Day Average: 271.3 (new low!)
Calories Counted: 2095

Salads are healthy, right?

So we went to Chili's tonight to meet my sister's new boyfriend. He's a nice guy - friendly, respectful, you name it. Which means I don't have to beat him down this week - lucky for him. We were at Chili's and I was in the mood for the salad. So, I chose the Mesquite Chicken Salad. It was the grilled chicken as opposed to the fried, so it was the better choice. I didn't check the calorie count before we left the house because I wasn't home when we decided where we were going, so I just estimated it to be 600-700 calories to be safe, and went with it.

I just got home and checked - and this salad has 1050 calories. Holy crap.

I guess the good (or, "less bad") part about it is that I had only taken in about 1000 calories the entire day prior, so I'm sitting just a hair over 2000 for the day, so I'm in the clear. I would have PREFERRED to be around 1600 for the day, considering my eating yesterday, but it could have been much worse. There's a lesson in this:

Just because it's got lettuce and they call it a salad doesn't mean it's healthy for you.

Also, it was strange today. All day I was feeling the effects of that fondue meal. When I got to the gym this morning, I just felt weak. For example, part of my training is my Dumbbell Incline Presses. I usually use two 55 pound dumbbells for my sets of 10 or 12 - I got on the bench with the 55's today, and I literally couldn't raise them from the start position. It was as if I had NO strength. I had to drop to the 40's to finish the workout. My pushups were hell, I had no strength at all. It's as if Kryptonite was injected into the fondue last night.

When I got out of the gym, I felt lightheaded and weak. For hours, I just drug ass. I don't know what it was, but I felt like I was running on fumes all day. I'm wondering if that could be related to eating all those fattening oils last night, or if it was just 'one of those days'. Either way, I got a good workout in - just with a lot less weight on the reps. Strange.

So I've got 18 days to hit my first goal of 264 pounds. I went up to the 272.5 today, but I've seen as low as 270.5, so I know I can hit the goal if I work hard and be great on the diet like I was last week. It's no coincidence that my best weight loss results happen during the 11 day clean-eating streak. I've got 11 days (from last night) until the day I leave for Oklahoma and 18 until the end of the month, so that means I need to drop 8.5 pounds in that time frame.

Tough? Sure.

Attainable?

Damn right.