5/8

5/7 - 283.0 lbs, 35.6% bf. Yup. It's all back, right where I left it. Yes I gained back what I'd lost during my illness, but that was to be expected. Lunch was this Italian buffet that my mother wanted to go to for an early Mother's Day (long story). The food was pretty good. I tried to be careful in what I ate, but it was difficult. I'm all about carbs, pasta in particular, so an Italian buffet is a dangerous place. Rough guess, I shoved around 1000 cal down my neck. Dinner was sort of better. Nachos, bad (but soooo tasty). 1/2 veggie burger with a side salad, not so bad. Still, that added roughly another 1500 cal to the day, for a total of 2500 cal, plus or minus. Not the way to lose weight.

5/8 - 282.0 lbs, 34.8% bf. Hmmm. Down a bit because the wind beneath my wings made me lighter on the scale. I honestly thought the Italian buffet (I thought only the Chinese did that) would have killed me. Who knew? Monday was not going to be a good day. Caved into the muffin guy and had a croissant, in addition to my usual breakfast regimen. Breakfast - 380 cal. Snack - 470 cal. Lunch was soup and salad, for a total of 310 cal. Needed a chocolate fix and had a Butterfinger bar for an additional 270 cal. Some reduced fat Wheat Thins as an afternoon snack added another 250 cal. Then came "dinner". My company has season tickets to the San Diego Padres. I got the tickets for tonight, so I went with my dad and a buddy of mine. Started off with a hot dog (350 cal) and an MGD beer (150 cal). Then came a plate of nachos (approx. 800 cal) and another beer. All told, I consumed almost 3000 cal today! At least I'll get to hit the gym for the next few days. And yes, the Padres swept the Cubs and continued their 9 game winning streak! w00t!

Curse the influences in my life!

5/6 - 280.2 lbs and 35.7% bf. Damn. Between the Marie Callendars, the weekend dinner, and recovering from my illness, I gained back 3 pounds. And that weigh in was after hitting the gym in the morning!

So. Walked the dog. Hit the gym. Went to the store (think Natural Cheetos). Came home and had a dry box of Trix cereal (120 cal). Lunch was shrimp fajitas. Calorie King's database puts the average shrimp fajita meal at somewhere around 1000 cal. Damn. Dinner was Vietnamese food. Soup, a noodle dish, and this wok-seared filet mignon dish that was outrageously good. Rough guess, another 1000 cal. Dessert, small piece of pie (300 cal), and I'm at another 2400 cal. Sunday is another day. We shall see...

A Sign of the Apocalypse

So I'm wandering thru the grocery store this morning, buying the usual crap. Bottled water. Pita bread for sandwiches. Soup. Diet Coke. It was near this last item that I stared deep into the abyss. In a quick flash of insight before my eyes exploded, I whipped out the camera phone and shot this picture:

NATURAL CHEETOS?!?!? Holy Hebrew National Franks, Batman! I was unaware that there was anything natural about them in the first place! Once I slipped the Thermonuclear Protection of my Mil Spec Oakley Eye Jackets over my suffering eyes, I was able to read some of the information on the bag. First of all, it said "no artificial colors. Huh? Cheetos are about nothing BUT artificial colors! Do you really think that shade of cheeto orange occurs in nature? Apparently they use organic flour and white cheddar cheese (byproducts, I assume). And in keeping with the whole organic-natural-healthy vibe, instead of an obviously clear plastic bag, the bag was still plastic but had that brown paper bag appearance thing going on at the top and around the label. Be afraid, be very afraid, as they also had other varieties such as Natural Tostitos chips. I'm sure Natural Doritos aren't too far behind.

5/5 - 277.0 lbs. and 35.0% bf. And the slide continues. The day started off correctly, with the instant breakfast and oatmeal morning. Lunch consisted of another mixed greens salad with fat free ranch dressing and a Lean Pocket Cheeseburger sandwich thing. Then came the afternoon (cue bells of doom). We had a going away party for one of the employees. We had Marie Callendar Banana Cream Pie and French Silk Pie. Curse them all!!! I had one piece of the French Silk pie, because I'm a sucker for anything chocolate. Damn them to hell! Dinner consisted of a variety of sushi rolls. As best as I can estimate from Calorie King, probably 800 cal worth. And on the weekend the gf gets to go out and have dessert at one of several swanky dessert places. I managed to get away with having half of a slice of this Grand Marnier Chocolate Truffle cake. I'm lucky if that half alone was only 400 cal. All told, probably around 2500 cal for the day! We'll see what the morning holds...

5/4

Weigh-in on the morning of 5/4. 278.8 lbs. Let the purging continue. I did go to work on Thursday, but I was still feeling the effects of whatever it was. I ate, but for some reason (hmmm) it was a lot easier to control my intake, selection, etc. I guess when you're not really feeling good about the idea of eating, it's easy to not eat. Shocking revelation, I know. On to the nitty gritty.

Breakfast was the usual combination of the Carnation Instant Breakfast on the drive in, and Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal after arriving at work.

Breakfast - 380 cal

Lunch was a mixed iceberg salad with fat free ranch dressing totaling 90 cal, Healthy Choice Chicken Noodle soup for an additional 220 cal, and an Oreo ice cream bar. Damn those chocolate demons, but surprisingly only 260 cal.

Lunch - 570 cal

Afternoon snack. I brought an apple to eat, but the evil people in the office I like to call everybody, decided to bake Otis Spunkermeyer cookies. I work for a home builder, and if you've ever gone thru a new home model tour, often the developers will put out cookies and bottled water and other stuff. So we had the frozen dough in the office kitchen, and the office manager decided that cookies sounded great. So I had two. Amazingly, only 96 cal for the two of them. Calorie King had my Red Delicious apple pegged at 92 cal, so I'll take the trade off.

Dinner wasn't bad. Got home late, walked the dog, railed a bunch of poker bloggers in a tournament, and vacuumed around the house. By this point, it was getting later, so I killed my extra nibble time. I had a Celeste frozen pizza for one (Zesty four cheese) for 440 cal. Not too bad, all things being equal. After that, I also had some chips and salsa that added approximately 250 cal. Meh.

Dinner - 690 cal.

All told, I ingested 1736 calories. This is the first time (yesterday notwithstanding) that I consumed less than 2000 calories, in many years. Not to gross anyone out, nothing seemed to stay in my system long, so this might actually be a significant drop. I started off at 278.8 lbs. The morning weigh in should be interesting.

I be illin'

5/3 - 280.4 lbs and 39.5% bf. Yup. Purging myself of everything I'd consumed in the previous 24 hours netted a 3 pound drop. BF went up, but I attribute that to a lack of hydration. I think that's what my sister said causes that. Had a Healthy Choice Chicken Noodle soup for lunch (220 cal), and gf thought I needed some roughage for dinner so we went to Souplantation. Maybe 1000 cal there, I don't know. Either way, I was in and out of the bathroom all day, so anything I ate didn't hang around long. We'll see what Thursday holds.

5/2

5/2 - 283.0 lbs and 35.2% bf. Day started off ok. Breakfast and oatmeal (no croissant - w00t!) for 370 cal. Staff meeting all morning. Had to blast up to Riverside for a quick meeting. Had some Chef Boyardee R/F ravioli for 380 cal. Couldn't help myself and had a Taco Bell Chicken Caesar Grilled Burrito for another 670 cal. Did my meeting. Had the nibbles driving home and actually hit McDonalds for some fries. I haven't had fries in months! They tasted good, but I don't think my system can handle that much grease anymore. I was dying by the time I got back to the office, and was in and out of the bathroom for the remainder of the day. GF had a crappy day, so I passed up on the gym (wasn't feeling up to it anyway) to take her out to dinner. Yes I still wasn't feeling well, but going out to eat makes her happy so...

We go to this (seems to be a California thing) health-mex place in La Jolla. I had the shrimp fajitas, figuring that those were as safe as anything. That place absolutely rocked! Of course I still wasn't feeling well, but I don't think it was from the fajitas. I spent the evening engaging in reverse consumption. Helluva weight loss plan. Next post will reveal how beneficial driving the porcelain bus can be.

5/1

5/1 - 284.4 lbs and 36.0% bf. The day started off scary, but I did ok. Instant breakfast drink, and then a ham/cheese croissant. Evil good. Must kill muffin man that comes thru our offices. That gave me 690 cal to start the day. Mid morning I had some pickles, for an additional 20 cal. Next, lunch consisted of a Lean Pocket (290 cal), and some Campbells Select Chicken Noodle Soup (180 cal). I caved into the chocolate demons, and had an oreo cookie ice cream bar. Surprisingly only 260 cal. Some reduced fat wheat thins (130) cal as a snack. Dinner was a Celeste frozen pizza (400 cal) and some chips and salsa (approx 300 cal). All told, under 2300 cal. Not great (I think to maintain my weight (ha ha ha) I have to have around 3000 cal), but in the not too distant past I was logging 3600 calorie days regularly. I've got a ways to go, but progress is progress.

Weekend Update

4/29 - 284.8 lbs. and 36.0% bf. So I go have a nice steak and lose a half a pound. Hmmmm. Didn't make it to the gym, but had a nice, hour-plus aerobic workout with the doggie. Then spent the day running errands. Had healthy, ghetto Mex food for lunch, and a bunch of tapas for dinner, at this killer Asian-Fusion place called Roppongi. For those who don't know what tapas are, they are basically "appetizer for one" size portions of finger foods or other assorted appetizers. We ordered a sushi roll, kung pao calamari (not deep fried), this lump crab and artichoke dip, and shrimp and scallop pot stickers. As a side note, we saw the movie, United 93. Absolutely incredible! An amazing portrayal of the events of September 11, 2001, and the passengers on Flight 93 who kept their plane from hitting Washington, DC. I literally was gripping my seat handles as the passengers were planning their attack on the hijackers. There really was no politicizing of the movie, just a seemingly accurate retelling of the events of 9-11. I absolutely recommend that movie.

4/30 - 283.8 lbs. and 36.4% bf. Guess the tapas did their job. Long walks with the doggie. Spent the day walking around. There was an Art Walk street fair in San Diego's Little Italy district, and me and the gf spent the afternoon walking around. Got sunburned for the first time this year. I also did some walking around while the Jeep was being detailed. Because of the Art Walk, breakfast got lost in the mix, and morphed into an early lunch. GF and I split a Caesar salad and some penne pasta rustica (tomato sauce with peppers and sausage). Dinner was at Fuddruckers for veggie burgers with all the trimmigns. We'll see what the tale of the scale says in the morning.

As promised, the weighty details.

4/26 - 285.0 lbs and 36.1% bf. All I can figure is that I was on the road that day, and hit a Souplantation for lunch. Buffets of any kind are not g00t. Also played pokah that night and had a few Jack and Diet Cokes.

4/27 - 284.0 lbs and 35.6% bf. Out of oatmeal, so I had a croissant for breakfast (damn the guy who comes thru the office every morning). Lunch was actually somewhat healthy...not on the road, so I had a lean pocket sandwich and a bowl of Campbells Select Chunky Chicken & Egg Noodle soup. Bad things for dinner. I got a hankerin' (is that the correct pronounciation, Jill?) for PF Chang's Kung Pao Shrimp.

Yup. Bad scene, Bix.

4/28 - 285.4 lbs, 35.5% bf. Again, had a croissant with my breakfast drink because I was out of oatmeal. Brought a healthy lunch, but got sent on the road. Managed to be relatively good...Jack in the Box Southwest Chicken Pita and two tacos. All told, around 600 cal for lunch. Dinner was not good. Hungry Hunter Steakhouse. Very tender New York Strip, rice pilaf, salad, and a piece of cheesecake for dessert. Saturday morning (later than now) should be interesting.

As I discussed earlier, I'm trying to reconfigure this here bloggy thingie. As such, posts and some formatting will probably change this weekend. Bear with me whilst I figure out the logistical crap.

Really quick...

You may have noticed, that I rearranged the furniture here. The obvious reason is the way cool tracker that BSN found. The black text didn't work with the dark background on the old template, so here we are. The deeper reason, which I have come to realize as the month of April draws to a close, is: I. Am. Lame.

I don't have my weight measurements for the past several days with me (they're at home, on the desk, waiting to be blog-i-fied), but since I started this thing late in March, I've GAINED 2 pounds!!! WTF?!? I must make myself more motivated, if not for my health and not for all the bloggers I expect to meet in Vegas in July at the World Poker Bloggers Tour, then for the money!! As I noted previously, several other poker bloggers are setting up a weight loss contest. $25 entry fee, highest percentage of weight lost wins. Money goes for a pizza party, probably without the pizza. Either way, I'll take all the motivation I can get.

So watch this site. Formats will change, sections will be added, virgins will be sacrificed (hey, I'm serious about this). Hold on tightly (heh), because it's gonna be an interesting ride.

Update

4/22 - 283.0 lbs, 35.0% body fat. Actually went to the gym this morning. Pain is g00t! Lunch was bad. Azul La Jolla for their tapas buffet. All kinds of evil good stuff. Hummus and pesto dips, sushi rolls, portabello pannini sandwiches, several pasta salads, several leafy salads. Dinner wasn't too bad. A bridal shower for one of gf's coworkers. I actually napped in the Jeep while the festivities went on, and then I was summoned. The party was going to last longer, and I needed to use the restroom. One thing led to another, and I'm winning a bottle of wine in a sexual charades game! w00t! Munchies included 7 layer dip (not mine, btw), chicken enchiladas, and a variety of finger foods. Beer was also consumed. After that party (which we left around 7), we went to a house-warming party for a teacher that gf teaches with. Sangria, stuffed mushrooms, six different kinds of cheeses, crackers, etc., etc.

4/23 - 283.0 lbs, 35.7% body fat. No real damage. Sweet. Long walk with doggie, but no gym. Brunch was splitting a garden sink omelete with hashbrowns and toast. Dinner was Olive Garden for a sampler appetizer, salad, and penne rustica (peppers and sausage).

4/24 - 283.0 lbs, 37.6% body fat. Interesting. On the road today, so breakfast is normal for weekday. Lunch was 2 El Pollo Loco BRC burritos early, with a Carls Jr. BBQ Chicken Sandwich later. Meh. Long doggie walk & vegetarian taquitos for dinner. Playing poker, so Jack Daniels came along.

4/25 - 283.1 lbs, 36.4% body fat. Gain .1 lb, but drop 1.2% body fat. I don't understand it either. Breakfast normal. Lunch was a Submarina turkey, beef, and ham sandwich. I know, not the best, but no mayo, etc etc. Dinner was bad. Chipotle, for a chicken burrito. These things are huge, almost as big as the Chicken Monster burrito from Freebird's World Burrito. Mmmmm. Freebirds. The Chicken Monster. Two tortillas, beans, rice, chicken, cheese, and the secret ingredient: bbq sauce! You can add a variety of other things to one (onions, cilantro, salsa, etc.), but the original and best is with just the bbq sauce. They have several locations scattered around Texas, but the original is the one that I went to, in Isla Vista just outside the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Evil good stuff. Anyway, Chipotle burritos are very good, but I'm sure not good for me. The morning will tell...

Attentive readers of this here bloggy thing may have noticed a few new links added to the blogroll. It seems that several of us online poker players have a few pounds to drop. Big Slick Nuts is attempting to reclaim his moniker of Little Slick Nuts. Falstaff is looking to drop a few, well, more like 40 pounds (kinda like me), and also mentioned that Fat Dan wants to become Thin Dan. It looks like we're getting a contest together. Specifics still aren't set yet, but it looks like a bunch of poker bloggers will be gambooling on pounds lost instead of buy-ins lost. Details will be provided as they become available. Should be interesting.

Getting caught up...

Allllll righty then. I really have to get into a rhythm with this here brog, but heck. I also need to get into a rhythm (besides the up and down) on the weight loss. I’m lame, I know, but I really want to kick my ass into gear. I am going to start by trying something that a coworker told me about. As way of background, this guy is a former firefighter and now construction worker, and he’s in extremely good shape. He says he’s not all “abb-ed out” anymore, but he looked cut enough in a t-shirt that I’ll take his advice. He says that when he watches TV, during commercials he does one of two quick circuit workouts. If your endurance is lower (me), he does sets of 10 or 20 reps of first crunches, then pushups, then tricep/shoulder dips off of a chair/couch. He cycles thru those throughout the commercial break. The other one is when your endurance is greater. First commercial break, you do crunches the entire break. Next break, you do pushups the entire time. Next you do the dips, and continue the pattern for the rest of the evening. It seems to be a nice way to tone up and keep the metabolism boosted while watching TV. I will definitely give that a try.

It’s update time. When last we discussed the saga of my fat (4/16), I was at 284 lbs and 36.3% body fat. That was Easter Sunday. I kept to a minimum the candy I consumed, had a relatively light lunch, and dinner consisted of fairly small portions of ham, scalloped potatoes, sourdough rolls, and Jodi’s wicked good green beans. They are sautéed in something (olive oil?) with mushrooms, onions, and I think a little bit of garlic. They are sooooooo good, and I never thought I’d say that about any vegetable (right, Jill?).

4/17. The self-control on Easter paid off, with a weight of 282.6 lbs and 35.8% body fat. Nothing exciting or unusual to eat at any of my meals. Good long dog walks.

4/18. 282.0 lbs and 35.6% bf. The day started off so promising. Staff meeting, so no opportunity to snack after breakfast. Unfortunately I went on the road, right after the meeting. I needed to hit an ATM to get some moolah for lunch, and the route from the ATM to the freeway took me right past a Chinese buffet. Damn. Those places are just freaking evil. I attempted to make up the difference at dinner by limiting myself to a leftover ham sandwich, but it wasn’t enough.

4/19. 283.4 lbs and 35.6% bf. Yup, those Chinese invaders attacked my soft underbelly and occupied my territory. In lieu of normal breakfast, I had a bagel with reduced fat cream cheese. One of our contractors came in for a meeting with our Purchasing Manager, and decided to bribe everyone with bagels and coffee from Einstein Bros. Oh well. I was out of soup and Lean Pockets, so lunch was of the fast food variety. Jack in the Box has some tasty food that is surprisingly not too bad, so I had a Southwest Chicken Pita (230 cal, 3.1g fat) which is very tasty and seemingly healthy, but watch out that they don’t load too much juice/grease/whatever into the pita with the meat and veggies, because the pita tends to commit structural failure. I also had 2 of their tacos (total 320 cal, 16g fat) which aren’t perfect health food, but are perfect drunken beach food. Dinner consisted of this Curry/Indian place in Pacific Beach called World Curry. Probably not the best.

4/20. Could be worse. 283.0 and 36.4% bf. Different morning. Company quarterly meeting out at the Pala Mesa Country Club with a catered breakfast. I managed to exhibit some semblance of portion control, and had some eggs, some bacon, a croissant, and orange juice. Back on the road again, lunch consisted of a classic chicken burrito from El Pollo Loco (636 cal, 19g fat). Dinner could’ve been worse. Healthy choice French bread pizza, some chips and salsa, and some grapes. Which leads me to…

4/21. Today. Weigh in was 283.0 lbs and 35.7% bf. No change on the weight and the bf is down. Hopefully today will not be too evil. Breakfast was normal, but I have to go out to lunch again. We’ll see…

Update

The yo yo continues. Consistency at the gym was not achieved, and being the week of my birthday, extravagent meals and other naughty foods were being consumed with abandon.

4/13 - 283.6 lbs, 35.5% body fat
4/14 - 284.0 lbs, 35.4%
4/15 - 282.8 lbs, 35.0%. The day before consisted of especially long dog walks, which I assume helped. Other than that, I've got no idea why the weight was down on the morning of 4/15. We went out for steak and drinks to The Palm restaurant. One of the best ribeye steaks I've had in a long time. In poker it's called Variance.
4/16 - 284.0 lbs, 36.3%. Again, not sure why. Ran errands all day. Dinner was fairly light, so I've got no idea. Meh. We'll see what next week holds.

Birthday Update!

Quick update. I’ve been on the road and just overall busy. Besides work, all I’ve been doing is car shopping and taxes. I finally, for the first time in quite some time, made it to the gym last night. Pain is goot. I haven’t even had much time for poker! Oh well. At least I’ve got the dog walks for regular physical activity. So, now that I finally found my log sheets from the past week (got folded up in the tax stuff…I wonder if it’s easier to deduct my weight from my taxes. It’s can’t be any more difficult than deducting it from my body!), it’s time for a series of updates. Side note, I finally got the body mass (euphemism for fat) calculation tool on my scale to work. Something about my big feet. Meh. Here we go.

Didn’t eat much on Saturday due to communications breakdown. GF had to go to a baby shower and I had to wait to rescue her from it. Suffice to say, snack for breakfast and no lunch. Dinner was nice and healthy. Seared sushi-grade ahi tuna, from Sbicca in Del Mar. Outstanding view of my Pacific Ocean (just blocks away from my highschool beach bum days at 19th Street) and exquisite food. End result, weigh-in Sunday morning was 281.0 and a body fat percentage of 35.1%

Sunday 4/9. Weigh-in as above. Bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, because we were meeting my parents for lunch to celebrate my impending birthday. Red Lobster. Tried to be good and had the shrimp combo. Some deep fried shrimp, and scampi. Didn’t remember seeing the grilled ones, tho, don’t know why. Dinner was Thai, a spicy chicken dish and pad thai with shrimp. Not the best set up, and I knew I was going to pay for it.

Monday 4/10. Yup. I suck. 283.0, body fat 36.0%. Bleh. To top it off, I’m on the road all day. Gotta behave, gotta behave. No snacking, amazingly enough. Usual breakfast. Lunch was El Pollo Loco, BRC burrito and a couple pieces of chicken. No fries! Woot! It’s been a long time since I had a French fry. Dinner was a French bread pizza and something else that was a low fat frozen dinner. I’ve done better and worse. So it goes.

Tuesday 4/11. 282.8, body fat of 36.5%. So I drop 2/10 of a pound and pick up .5% body fat. I believe it’s called “margin of error”. Usual breakfast, with a croissant for meeting strength. Again, I suck. Oh well. Lunch in the office consisted of Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup and a Lean Pocket sandwich. Total lunch less than 500 cal. And the best part of the day, I made it to the gym!!!! Woot!!!! Not a stellar workout, but anything is better than nothing. Dinner was a couple of organic, vegetarian flautas that were really good. GF unfortunately had a bad day, and needed dessert. Conveniently, it was $1 scoop Tuesday at the local Baskin Robbins, so away we went. I had every intention of just having one scoop, but they brought my favorite flavor back…chocolate oreo crunch. 2 scoops later and I’m in a chocolate coma on the couch, watching DVR’d episodes of The Apprentice, and alternating between petting the dog and snoozing. Fairly long walk later, and I crash out.

Wednesday 4/12. D-day. Or rather B-day. Today I am 35. And the winning weigh-in: 282.0 lbs, and 36.4% body fat. I didn’t have time to do the other measurements, but not really going to the gym at all, I doubt there’s anything that would’ve changed significantly. Breakfast was normal, and I’m getting ready to head out on the road. Must behave. Must behave.

I really didn’t put too much thought, planning, or effort into this experiment, and my up and down results reflect that. As such, I’m going to keep going. I’ve got a poker tournament in Vegas that I’m playing in this summer (Vegas in summer, at least I’ll sweat off any weight I gain by drinking!), and I’ll see what I can do by then. I intend to go to the gym consistently, several days a week, and try to get back into some sort of rhythm. Wish me luck.

Meh

283.0. Yup. I celebrated last night and paid the price for it. But oh holy crap was it worth it. Dear and patient gf (aka Jodi - figure if I can name the dog, why not the gf?) took me out to dinner for my impending birthday last night. She normally doesn't like Italian food (she is Italian and grew up with Italian nearly every day, so she's kind of burnt out on it), so she relented and we went to Trattoria Acqua down on the cove in La Jolla. The calamari was some of the most tender I've ever come across. She had the lobster ravioli, one of their signature dishes, and it came in some sort of tomato basil cream sauce. Oof. Me, I threw caution to the wind and had their special of the day: Truffle, Portabello and Porcini Mushroom lasagna. Jebus what a meal. It was this silky smooth orgy of flavors. I only ate half of it (damn bread) but holy crap was it good. They topped it off with a complimentary flourless chocolate cake. And IGH fatter. At least Ginger took me on a long this morning. We'll see what the day holds.

Yo yo yo yo

And the story of my life, up and down and up and down. After what seemed to be a good day yesterday, I weighed in at 282.0 this morning, up a pound. Due to the chill in the air, doggie didn't want to take long walks, so maybe that was it. Both last night and this morning, out and back in less than 5 minutes. Oh well. Breakfast - usual. Lunch - not so usual. Out of soup, so I had a couple of hotdogs. Evil, I know, but hopefully they won't do too much damage. Dinner is not going to be pretty. Dear and patient gf is taking me out for Italian, to celebrate my impending 35th b-day on Wednesday. I already avoid anything with the word "alfredo" in the title, so maybe it won't be too bad. We'll see. Hell, maybe I'll get to the gym on Saturday!

On a related topic, my original thought behind this here inter-webby bloggie thing was to track my (hopeful) weight loss from back in March thru my 35th b-day. I had hopes of actually hitting the gym, even occasionally, during this period. One thing has led to another, tho, and that hasn't worked out. So I'm going to keep this going. I do have my goal weight of 240 to make, although I must confess that this particular target seemed so much more attainable when my (old) scale was telling me that I weighed 263, not 283 like the new accurate scale tells me. Oh well. I'm gonna try, dammit. I don't like that a lot of my clothes are tight or don't fit. Cue Rocky music. Here I go again (or was that Whitesnake). Think thin.

And so...

Real quick for 4/5. Started off at 282.6. Usual breakfast of breakfast drink whilst driving to work, followed by instant oatmeal at the office. Some gum and some diet coke later, we hit lunch. Amazingly, today, I wasn’t on the road. Even more amazing, I was working thru lunch. I had to bail out of work early to go pick up the new ride, so I decided to lunch at my desk and just plow thru. Had a Lean Pocket and some of the Campbell’s Select Chunky Chicken Noodle soup. Some wheat thins and trail mix in the afternoon. Dinner was a Healthy Choice French Bread Pizza and a Lean Cuisine lasagna. Also consumed some chips and salsa and some Jack and Diet Coke while playing poker online. I think the key is lunch. When I’m on the road it is so tempting to hit places I really like, like Souplantation or a Chinese Buffet. Unfortunately my problem is self-control, and I consume way more food than I should. Then I get nuked.

4/6. The lunch observations paid off! 281.0 lbs.!!! Downward ho! Breakfast, identical. Lunch, identical. Dinner will be at Casa de Hoff, where I have a lovely supply of frozen dinners, not just by the usual suspects (Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, etc.), but also some quality organic and/or vegetarian meals by Whole Foods Market, Amy’s, Cedarlane, and others. I’m thinking I might see another small drop by tomorrow morning. Again, my key seems to be lunch, because I’m not getting any real physical activity in besides walking the doggy. We’ll see.

Bleah.

So. The walking to and from the ballpark paid off. All that bad food, and I was only up to 283.2 lbs, this morning. Unfortunately, I was on the road and succumbed to the siren song of a quick drive thru. Breakfast was the usual, with a croissant thrown in for staff meeting support. Two BRC burritos from El Pollo Loco for lunch (the small ones), and a chili cheese dog from Wienerschnitzel as a snack. Dinner was a Mexi-chicken salad from Chipotle. The doggie took me on long walks each time, including a nice 45 minute stroll in the rain, so hopefully the damage won't be too bad. Still, I think I'm doing this wrong. Yes, the damage isn't too bad. Why do I sound like a politician trying to justify a budget deficit? I really have to remotivate myself. Maybe I can use the rain to my advantage somehow. Wish me luck.

4/3/06

Ok. Started off at 282.0. Yes, I'm not seeing a huge drop, but I'm not seeing a huge gain. If all goes well, I'll start hitting the gym again this week. Sadly, I don't expect it to go well...don't know why, it just seems that way. Oh well.

Today was not as good as it should have been, but it could've been a lot worse. Oatmeal and instant breakfast. Lunch was a ham & cheese croissant and a Healthy Choice French Bread (or was that Freedom Bread) pizza. Then the sky fell. I went to the ballgame. Rather, I started off by meeting Troll, Gato, Erin, and Lynn at Dick's Last Resort, the self-titled "shame of San Diego". If you ever are in SD and have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it. The decor is awful, the music is loud, and the servers are extremely rude. They'll wad up napkins and throw them at you! It is so cool! Anyway, a couple of tall Sierra Nevadas were quickly quaffed. Quickly, because I had parked 15 or 16 blocks away, so I had a nice, brisk walk from the Pathie to the bar. Then it was another 4 or 5 blocks to the stadium. One big red ale, one hotdog, two diet cokes, some nachos, and a slice of pizza later, the Padres kept the 'roided one, Barry Bonds, from doing any major damage. He went 1 for 4 (a double, no dingers) and the Padres beat the Giants 6 to 1! Woo hoo! Then another 20 or so blocks back to the car. Another French Bread pizza and a couple of glasses of water, and I'm calling it a day. Watch a little TV with the gf, and then play some poker. We'll see how good/bad the day was tomorrow morning at my weigh in. Think thin.

Hey Kids, It's Update Time!

OK. Real quick.

3/29 - Weight in a.m.: 282.8 lbs. I was on the road, but didn't do too badly food-wise. Wheat Thins for breakfast (8 a.m. staff meeting, no time for anything else). Fast food (trying to be careful) for lunch. Whole Foods frozen enchiladas. 310 cal, 8g fat, 42g carb, 5g fiber, 16g protein. Not nearly enough physical activity.

3/30 - 281.4 lbs. On road again. Oatmeal for breakfast. I forget what lunch was, and I went out with a friend from Rhode Island (Aaron "Zippy" Katz) for sushi and beers. Oh well.

3/31 - 282.2 lbs. Yep. Gained a pound. I blame Karl Strauss and his Amber Lager the night before. Oatmeal and Instant Breakfast for breakfast (logically enough). Salad bar at Sizzler for lunch. Out with gf and Zippy for dinner at a wicked-cool restaurant, Indigo Grill. Had prawns and several drinks. Bad, naughty Zoot.

4/1 - 283 lbs. I suck. Missed breakfast. Not trying, but was originally going to have brunch with Zippy and his family. That morphed into lunch. Lobster Burrito and shrimp taco. Yum. Evil. Dinner was Hunter Steakhouse (long story, but it was the gf's fault due to her bodily needs during a certain "time" of the month. shut up. we're all adults, and I'm sure the few of you who read this are mostly female, Roscoe not withstanding), and it was evil good.

4/2 - 283.6 lbs. Probably would've been worse, but doggy took me on a long run/walk. Thanx, Ginger! Omelete for breakfast with gf. Spent the day walking around car dealerships looking at things. Leading candidates to replace the Pathfinder are a new Pathfinder, Grand Cherokee, and Explorer. Updates will follow. To reward tireless gf for putting up with my car needs, we went to a swanky restaurant in Del Mar, The Poseidon. Tried to eat somewhat good, but the gf likes a lot of food. Calamari, caesar salad, clam chowder, and seared ahi.

We'll see what the day holds tomorrow. Probably bad. Padres home opener. That means beer and bad food. It may rain, so we'll see.