The inequality of salads

I spent a lot of time on Friday creating a diet plan for my upcoming week. My weight loss has halted, although it goes up and down a pound or two from morning to morning – it is essentially the same. With my training moving into the serious stage, I am concerned about getting enough calories in the upcoming weeks. I researched the amount of calories burned for 4, 7, and 14 mile runs as well as for 60 minutes of cycling. I input the information into the spreadsheet, added the baseline JC foods, and then began supplementing until I reached a reasonable caloric deficit. Then I brought my spreadsheet to my JC appointment. This week’s order was pretty small since I have somehow gathered a stock of JC foods in my freezer.

I only ordered:
7 Strawberry Bars
2 boxes of (vitamin fortified) Peanut Butter Bars
7 Toffee Bites
1 Double Chocolate Cake
1 Lemon Cake
7 Balsamic Dressing Packets

Patti, my usual JC girl, was off this week. I was looking forward to seeing someone else. Patti pretty much lets me dictate what I want; I am sure that she realizes that she doesn’t have the nutritional information level that I need. I have become more and more resistant to seeing her because she says, “AW” entirely too much. I feel like she is belittling me as she says it when I explain that the weight measurement at 1:45 pm is not accurate. If I’ve just run for 2-3 hours, then it is likely to be too light due to sweat loss. It takes a while for me to drink up the lost fluids. But as my appointments have been later in the day, the weight is then too heavy due to my drinking. She can write down any number that she wants, I just want her to quit saying, “aw.” But, I could never *tell* her to stop, so who am I to complain. Instead, I am just changing centers – which is what I discussed with Patti’s substitute consultant.

I called the JC center, which turns out to be closer to my house, and explained my needs. While they really didn’t have anyone who was a long distance runner, I am sure the new girl won’t say, “AW” all of the time. Apparently, she majored in nutrition and is very “fit.” It works for me. Besides, it’s closer to my house.

As for the menu that I worked so hard to plan: I’ve already deviated. There were pastries, bagels, and muffins brought in this morning as a good-bye breakfast for another employee. I had half a bran muffin, some orange juice, and my latte. Later, I went down to the cafeteria for a small amount of cottage cheese and 5 small strawberries. For lunch, I got the special Waldorf Chicken Salad from the main serving station (instead of my boring green salad). Apparently, not all salads are created equal. It turns out that *this* salad is 674 calories! What’s more is that it has 43.2 grams of fat! Whatever. It sure was good. After 60 minutes on the spin cycle, I’ve earned it.