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Yesterday I wrote about how eating salads can help with weight loss, but be careful of all of the calories in the dressing!

Of course it’s not the salads that are the real problem.  It’s the burgers and the fries!  The Wendy’s website lists nutritional information for all of their foods, and it’s recommended reading before you go out for lunch.

A Classic Single hamburger with everything has 430 calories; adding a second hamburger patty and cheese puts it up to 710 calories.  That’s not so bad, because at least there is some nutritional element to a hamburger.

Much worse is a Biggie French Fries, which have 490 calories, 24 grams of fat, 64 grams of fat, and virtually no nutritional value.  That’s right, there are more calories in a Biggie French Fries than in a Classic Single Hamburger!

Of course a Medium Frosty has 430 calories as well, so it’s not the burger that will kill you; it’s the fries and the drink.

What’s the secret to weight loss?  How can you lose weight?  Simple: skip the fries and the drink!

I was doing some research today on salads.  Salads are a staple in any diet, because you can eat a really big salad, so you think you have eaten a lot, but a salad doesn’t contain a lot of calories.  Or so the theory goes.

Of course it’s not as simple as that; it’s not the salad that will get you into trouble, it’s the salad dressing.

To do my research I went to the Wendy’s website where they list all of their nutritional information.  A Chicken BLT Salad has 340 calories, 17 grams of fat, and 13 grams of carbohydrates (or 9 grams of net carbs for those of you following the Atkins Diet, which is calculated by subtracting the fibre).  The fat is somewhat high for a salad, but overall, not that bad.

However, when you add a packet of honey mustard dressing, the numbers shoot up, because just the dressing as 280 calories, 26 grams of fat, and 11 grams of carbs!  In other words, just the dressing has 82% of the calories, and 150% of the fat of the entire salad!

Even worse, the salad has 50% of the daily recommended allowance of Vitamin A and Vitamin C, and 25% of the daily allowance of calcium, so it has good nutritional value.  The dressing has virtually no nutritional value.

So what’s the solution?  The first solution would be to eat the salad without the dressing; that probably wouldn’t taste very good.  The second solution would be to only use half the package of dressing; the salad’s taste is enhanced, but you only get 140 calories.

Another solution is to make your own salad dressing.  A mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar has far fewer calories.

The final solution is to ask for the low calorie dressings.  Wendy’s offers Fat Free French Style Dressing, which has only 80 calories, and virtually no fat.  Since that probably won’t go very well with the Chicken BLT Salad, a better choice would be there Low Fat Honey Mustard Dressing, with 110 calories and only 3 grams of fat.

A Chicken BLT Salad with Low Fat Honey Mustard Dressing totals 450 calories, 20 grams of fat, and 30 net carbs (this dressing is high in carbs).  If you want to keep the carbs and the calories down, the Italian Vinaigrette dressing has 140 calories, and 12 grams of fat, but only 9 grams of carbs.

The point is this: eating salad all day won’t help you lose weight if you are consuming excessive calories through the dressing, so watch that dressing!

My treadmill is broken.  I enjoy getting up early, turning on the TV, and walking while watching TV.  That’s not possible, until I get it fixed.

So, I’m doing the next best thing, which is to actually go outside and walk.  On Monday I went for a walk after work.  On Tuesday I went for a walk before work, and then again after work.

As I write this on Wednesday it is pouring rain, so I don’t know if I will be going for a walk today or not.  Unfortunately you don’t burn a huge number of calories while walking, but at least you can’t eat and walk at the same time, so hopefully this will help with my weight loss goals.

Well, I have yet to acheive my 3,500 Calorie Exercise Weight Loss goal.

I did well last week, I thought, at 1,870 calories burned exercising.  I exercised every day but Wednesday and Sunday, and still I could only get half way there.  I’m not going to give up; I will keep trying.  Stay tuned for more.

I was disappointed that I didn’t hit my goal last week in my 3,500 Calorie Exercise Weight Loss Challenge.  This week, I’m going to try again, in an attempt to exercise for 500 calories worth every day for seven days.

My theory is that to lose weight according to My Weight Loss Plan I need to exercise and eat correctly.  I think I’m doing a good job on the eating side; no junk food, small portions, and I’m drinking lots of water.  I still want to see if I can do it on the exercise side as well.

On Monday I did 2 kms on the treadmill and did sit-ups and push-ups, for a total calorie burn of around 300 calories.  This morning, for some variety while I attempt to promote weight loss, I went for a 9 km bike ride, good for another 270 or so calories burned.

Then, when I got to work, I had to go to the bank, so I walked, good for another 200 calories or so.  That means that today I’m close to my 500 calorie goal; more tomorrow.

My 3,500 Calorie Exercise Weight Loss Challenge is over, and I am disappointed to report that I was not successful.  My goal was to burn 3,500 calories through exercise in one week, on the theory that a pound of fat is the equivalent of approximately 3,500 calories.  Here’s what happened:

Monday: 300 calories

Tuesday: 400 calories

Wednesday: 300 calories

Thursday: 200 calories

Friday: zero

Saturday: 600 calories

Sunday: 50 calories

Total: 1,850 calories, or 1,650 short of the goal.

In other words, I excercised half a pound, not the full pounds worth I was going for.

I think one of my mistakes was to try to do too much in the morning.  A more successful strategy may be to spread it out during the day.  Tomorrow: my thoughts for the week.

Well, Friday I got busy, and had no time for formal exercise.  Lots of errands got done, but no exercise.

Saturday was better.  I got up early and did an hour on the treadmill; 5.5 kms for 414 calories burned.  I also did 3 sets of 15 situps and push ups, plus some stretching, so I was probably around 500 calories for the morning workout.

In the afternoon I went for a leisurely bike ride, 6.7 km in less than half an hour, for another 180 or so calories burned, bringing the total for the day to just under 700 calories.  That’s a good day’s work, but it looks highly unlikely that I will be able to hit my target of 3,500 calories for the week.