Lunch, plain turkey sub.

Dinner mashed taters and flank steak.  Two servings of each.

And some darned hershey kisses.  And some chocolate peanut brittle.  I need to not eat when I’m bummed out.

Overall, a better day.

Today’s exercise. Did the morning walk.  My iPod battery was dead, so I had to go silently.  Which wasn’t all bad.

Today’s food intake:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with Craisins. Diet Pepsi.
• Lunch: Plain turkey sub from Jimmy John’s, Chips (bad) and Diet Pepsi.
• Work snack: Diet Pepsi.
• Dinner: Bleu Cheese Burger, Cucumber salad (very low fat, high veggie!) Diet Pepsi.
• Late night snack: Here’s where it gets ugly.  Trish got me a nerds blizzard.  Gonna be so good and bad at the same time.

Not great.  The chips and blizzard pretty damn bad.  But the walk, and most of the other stuff was good.  I’m gonna go hit the weigh in.

• Breakfast: Oatmeal and a nanner. Diet Pepsi.
• Lunch: Plain turkey sub from Jimmy John’s, Diet Pepsi.
• Work snack: Diet Pepsi.
• Dinner: Hot Dog, Cheeseburger, pita chips, nacho chips and salsa. 3 Michelob Ultras. I was at a cookout.  It was nice!
• Late night snack: 6 Hershey kisses.

Not good at all.  I’m going to pay for this at the weekly weigh in.  Today I really felt like I was on a diet (as opposed to just trying to change habits).  I felt trapped by trying to eat a certain way.  It was almost like food was poison and it was dangerous to eat the wrong thing.  I don’t want to have an unhealthy relationship with food, and it felt pretty unhealthy today.  I need to be comfortable with eating healthy.  I don’t want to feel trapped, I want to feel like I’m making good choices.  Not sure quite how to do that, but it felt good at dinner to not be thinking about what I was eating.  This is gonna be tough!

Today’s food intake:

• Breakfast: One exact cup of special K with strawberries. Diet Pepsi.
• Lunch: Italian sub from Jimmy John’s, Diet Pepsi.
• Work snack: Diet Pepsi.
• Dinner: 2 Crab Cakes, unsalted chips and salsa. Diet Pepsi.
• Late night snack: Ice cream, banana, and 6 hershey kisses.

Not great. I was in a sad mood and the chocolate really does perk you up. But its not like I’m proud of that.  But you really can feel the mood boosters in there.  Especially when you’re trying to avoid it.  Crazy.

Today’s exercise. Another day, another 25 minute walk.  Started the week and day off right.

Today’s food intake:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with craisins.  Diet Pepsi.
• Lunch: Spoiled myself and gave myself my one bad lunch.  Had a chicken shwarma pita and fries.  So good.  So damn indulgent. Diet Pepsi (my 4th of the day!)
• Work snack: Diet Pepsi.
• Dinner: Burger, Brat and an ear of corn.  Diet Pepsi.
• Late night snack: Nothing thus far.  But I’m still thinking about some ice cream.

Not great.  But I’m still walking.  Have really slashed my between meal snacking.  McDonald’s needs to quit advertising that new Southern Chicken Breakfast sandwich.  That thing looks good.

Today’s exercise. I’m repeating myself but I did the up and out walk. Woke up at 5:35 and went for a really solid 25 minute walk.  The fact that I’m repeating myself means I’m establishing good habits!

Today’s food intake:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with some craisins and a nanner.  Diet Pepsi.
• Lunch: Packed a lunch, but ended up going out.  I had a chicken shwarma pita.  Given the choice between fries and rice, I chose the rice!  Boo-yah!  That’s what I’m talking about.  Good choices baby!  Couple of Diet Pepsis.
• Work snack: Diet Pepsi.
• Dinner: 1.5 hot dogs and half a cup of mac and cheese from my son.  5 Hershey kisses.
• Late night snack: A bud light.  But I’m thinking about some ice cream.  I knew I should’ve thrown that out.

Not bad.  Lunch was heroic.  Dinner wasn’t the healthiest stuff, but I had relatively small portions.  The late night cravings are bad right now.  I tell you, I need a sponsor to talk me down.

Today’s exercise. Did the up and out walk. Woke up at 5:35 and went for a really solid 25 minute walk.

Today’s food intake:

• Breakfast: Exaxtly 150 calories of cereal and a Diet Pepsi.
• Lunch: Turkey and swiss on rye.  A paltry sandwich, but that’s what changing habits is all about.  100 calories of pretzel sticks and a Diet Pepsi.
• Work snack:0 Calorie Diet Grape Faygo.  And 10 calorie Diet Orange Cream soda.
• Dinner: 2 chicken breasts (with some cheese and salsa) with mashed taters.  Diet Pepsi.  Oh yeah and half a cup of mac and cheese from my son.  And half a pickled tomato.  I was hungry.
• Late night snack: Other than a diet pepsi, nothing.  Am thinking about that ice cream.

Not half bad.  Dinner was a bit sloppy, but still not so bad. At lunch today I was really missing the taste of food, but it made me realize that I use food as entertainment sometimes.  Which is bad.  It was an interesting realization.

Today’s food intake:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal and a Diet Pepsi.
• Lunch: SUPERBAD: A falafel chicken pita with fries.  So damn good, so damn bad for me.  BUT . . . I’m done with fries for the week.  Decided I’ll give myself one fry day a week, day two was that day. Diet Pepsi.
• Work snack: avoided the 250 calorie fruit juice in favor of a Diet Pepsi. This is the exact kind of food choice that makes me a bit crazy.  Cool, I avoided calories, but I also avoided a ton of vitamins and a couple of servings of fruit.
• Dinner: 1.5 Pork Chops with mashed taters.  Diet Pepsi.
• Late night snack: Now, I’m tempted to blow it, but I’m thinking, I should’ve had that fruit juice and called that my sweet.  Instead, I’ll have that recommended daily allowance of one Bud Light, and avoid any ice cream smidge.

A so-so day.  That lunch was a bit over the top, but I dialed it back down for dinner, and stayed away from the ice cream.  Although, right about now, that second beer is looking pretty good. I think I’m on the low calorie/low nutrition diet today.

1. Just get up and go. Treat it like a hostage situation. Don’t mess around with getting awake. Just get dressed and go. Don’t waste time arguing with your wife about why you folded a load of dirty laundry the night before. You’re probably wrong anyway.
2. Listen to something walk worthy. I like the NPR Science Friday podcast. Tends to be around 20 minutes or so in length, which is helpful.
3. Walk like you’re in a hurry.Helps you swing your arms, which is good for cardio. Also makes you look a bit crazy which is good for keeping the early morning crazies at bay.

Today’s food intake:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal, a banana, and a Diet Pepsi.
• Lunch: Turkey on rye, one slice of swiss, one serving of pita chips. Diet Pepsi.
• Dinner: Two hamburgers (on the grill, so good) one ear of corn. Diet Pepsi.
• Drive Home: Diet Orange soda (10 calories)
• Snack: Here’s where I’m about to blow it. With a smidge of ice cream (super smidge) and another Diet Pepsi.

Not too terrible of a day. I avoided several snacks during the day which helped. It’s a series of small steps, and I started with the first batch today.