Champagne buff-it

Change from beginning of program: ?
Goal: 39 LBs to go
Activity: eating
Temptation: buffet
Fruit and veg: 4 so far - and that was just breakfast

The best part of Las Vegas is the buffets. And Sunday is the best day for buffets.

My champagne buffet included unlimited mimosas, boiled shrimp, smoked salmon, smoked trout, asparagus, tomatoes, crudites, grapefruit, pineapple, macaroni and cheese, fried shrimp, apple crepe, and cheese blintzes drowned in strawberry sauce. I passed on the cheeses and about 100 other things.

The title of this post comes from the best movie ever, "A Hard Day's Night." In the early part of the movie, Ringo receives an invitation to go gambling where they have "baccarat, (some French word I don't know), and a champagne buff-it."

Observations from Las Vegas

Lots of people have tattoos.

Lots of tattoos.

Bad tattoos.

Why?

Oh - I realized that I lose a lot of street cred when I wear my glasses on a chain around my neck.

Don't hate the old blind woman...

Viva frickin Las Vegas

Change from beginning of program: -5.2 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go
Activity: trolling Las Vegas
Temptation: ice cream, beer
Fruit and veg: 5

Breakfast: Kale and black-eyed peas

Lunch: Subway veggie sandwich at the airport. Plus several Reeses minis. Plus two 100 calorie packages of Cheese Nips on the plane.

Dinner: Salad from the House of Blues - field greens with blue cheese and pecans and some wonderful dressing

Evening snacks: 5 beers (over several hours) and a waffle cone with ice cream and Reeses

Bigfoot waffled for weeks on whether he would accompany me to Las Vegas for a work conference. He announced about a month ago that he would accompany me. But he has apparently regretted it ever since. He mysteriously came down with a cold (I says it's allergies, but he insists that he doesn't have allergies) last night. I gave him Advil PM, and he said it helped.

When we arrived in LV, he asked for more medication. I gave him Benadryl and Advil, which he insists doesn't work. I keep telling him that Advil PM is simply Advil with Benadryl, but he does not believe me.

As soon as we checked into the hotel, I had to go to the conference center to get our booth built. When I returned to the room, I asked him what he wanted for dinner and I suggested going to the House of Blues, which is in the lobby of our hotel. He said that he was too weak to walk downstairs and eat. So I went downstairs and ordered dinner and brought it back to the room. While waiting for the food to be prepared, I slammed two Newcastle Brown Ales (my all-time favorite beer).

After we ate, I asked if he minded if I left. He said that he did not, but he was lying. I left.

Not one, but TWO different men tried to pick me up when I was sitting at the bar and gambling.

Now I'm back in the room listening to sniffles. This is gonna be a fun four days....

Ice cream for dinner

Change from beginning of program: -5.2 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go
Activity: assembling a bookshelf
Temptation: ice cream, beer
Fruit and veg: 4

Started with a healthy breakfast of pumpernickel with hummus and a pear.

It went downhill from there.

Total of 5 Reeses minis throughout the day.

Lunch at Chuy's - chips and salsa, bean and cheese nachos with guacamole (and extra lettuce and tomato).

Dinner - banana split at 59 Diner

Snacks - beer and Triscuits with sharp cheddar cheese

All in all, a great day!

My day in prison

Change from beginning of program: -8.4 LBs
Goal: 35 LBs to go
Activity: not much
Temptation: fats
Fruit and veg: 3

Because I was exhausted last night, I was hoping to sleep in. But I awoke at 5:30 and could not go back to sleep until I moved to the other room and watched an hour of "Funny Girl." When I got up at 8:30, I was already tired.

I had a Fiber One pop tart before heading to the farmer's market. Because of my recent travels, this was my first trip to the market in a month. In that month, the crops all changed. I loaded up on kale, yams, and black-eyed peas. Yum!

For lunch, I met my friend and her children at Red Lobster, where I had a salad (with blue cheese dressing), a cheese biscuit, popcorn shrimp, and a loaded baked potato.

We visited a new branch of the Houston Museum of Natural History which just opened in an old prison...the prison where Leadbelly was incarcerated and wrote "Midnight Special." The exhibits were still being built, so there wasn't much to see.

Baskin Robbins has finally done what should have been done years ago - combined Reeses peanut butter cups and vanilla ice cream already - no need for mix-ins! I had one scoop in a sugar cone.

Dinner - guacamole and chips. Then mac and cheese. Then dried cherries.

And to top off the day, dying my hair and ironing. And watching the HBO production of "Grey Gardens." Talk about a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship.

Another thrilling day

Change from beginning of program: -6.2 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go
Activity: working
Temptation: Mexican food
Fruit and veg: 4

Breakfast: Nothing. I had to fast for my periodic blood work. It's time to check my thyroid.

Lunch: Lebanese Luby's - vegetarian sampler with many different veggies and salads. And hummus and rice.

Dinner: Chuy's. Not too many chips (surprisingly). Two shrimp tacos and a little bit of rice. I was full to the point of pain.

Evening activity: Grocery shopping. I bought next to nothing because I was so full.

Then I hit my fourth Marshalls in three days and finally found the pair of shoes I wanted - in the color I wanted.

Get this - the weatherman just said that we are much drier than yesterday. The humidity is "only" 63%.

My evening with Bono and the boys

Change from beginning of program: -4.8 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go
Activity: recovering
Temptation: chocolate cake, guacamole (not at the same time)
Fruit and veg: 4

So last night, my little sister and I saw U2 in concert. This was the third time we have seen them (spanning the past 17 years). The show was great, although Bono seemed a bit tired.

We drank a lot of beer. A. Lot. Of. Beer.

Did I say that we drank a lot?

I was feeling a bit crappy. Not quite ground-up dog puke bad, but not on top of the world either.

I turned to my faithful friends who have helped me through many similar situations - carbs. Wonderful carbs. Breakfast consisted of two slices of pumpernickel bread with cheese melted on top. And some chocolate cake.

The reason my sister and I saw U2 and drank so much is that we were celebrating our birthdays. The concert fell one week after she turned 40 and one week before I will turn 39. Again. So the chocolate cake was a joint birthday treat.

By mid-morning, I was feeling better - despite the fact that I spent 90 minutes on conference calls.

For lunch, I turned to another proven hangover helper: Mexican food. Chips and salsa and green sauce, and bean and cheese tostadas with extra lettuce and tomatoes.

Dinner: Leftover macaroni and cheese (with the pasta purchased in Rome). And then because I had some avocados that were at the peak of ripeness, I made some guacamole and ate it with chips.

For good measure, I had some ice cream later in the evening.

And all of this on the day before I go to the doctor and have to get on the scale.

Hey, I can't feel too bad. Even Bono is getting a bit pudgy. And he runs around the stage - and around the world - all the time.

Observations of Rome

Stop signs are optional. At least according to every taxi driver I had.

House wine is the good stuff, not the cheap stuff like it is here.

Rome is full of tourists.

Seafood is on display in many restaurants - fish heads and all.

Back to reality (again)

Change from beginning of program: -6.8 LBs
Goal: 36 LBs to go
Activity: catching up on last week's TV
Temptation: ice cream
Fruit and veg: 3

The good news - I did not gain weight while in Rome. All that walking must have paid off.

Being gone for a week took a toll, and I took a day off work today to catch up on sleep and TV shows. I handled the grocery shopping and laundry yesterday.

Breakfast/lunch: Homemade mac and cheese, made with pasta from the grocery store in Rome. Pear.

Snack: Ice cream

Dinner: Fresh spinach and a pear

Snack: Ice cream

Another snack: More of that delicious mac and cheese

Not looking forward to work tomorrow...

Still eating

Change from beginning of program: -4.8 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go
Activity: doing laundry and ironing
Temptation: the best food in the world
Fruit and veg: 4

The binge continues...

Breakfast: Two slices of pumpernickel with hummus.

Morning snack: Four Reeses minis at work.

Lunch: The best food in the world at Churrascos. Plantain chips with oily, garlicky, delectable sauce. Salad with creamy dressing. Beef (yes, beef - again) with creamy sauce. Taquito with cheese and peppers. Fried yucca and grilled carrots. I left there as full as a tick.

Dinner: Our favorite seafood restaurant. Wonderful appetizer of avocado, tomato, and shrimp with tortilla chips. To continue my record of eating food that was just too damn fattening, stuffed shrimp (fried) with fries.

Why do they call it stuffed shrimp? The shrimp are not stuffed; they are covered with a delicious mixture of crabmeat and some kind of breading and then deep fried. It's more like the crabmeat breading is stuffed with shrimp. Another mystery to ponder.

Evening snack: Beer. Lots.

I'm packed and ready to leave for Rome in less than 7 hours.

I plan to eat wonderful meals, drink wonderful wine, and see wonderful sights.

Oh yeah, and work.

Did. Not. Stop. Eating.

The binge that began this morning did not end.

Lunch: Chuy's, where I ate way too many chips. I did restrain myself and order just one chile relleno (a wonderfully delicious cheese-filled pepper dipped in batter and deep fried) with rice and beans. And guacamole on the side. With more chips.

Hey - that guacamole counts as a fruit! I probably had another serving of vegetables in the amount of salsa I had.

Dinner: Leftover baked potato. Ice cream. Cheese and crackers. Beer.

Feel like crap.

Not ready for the trip yet. I mean, I'm ready to get the hell out of dodge for a while, but I have about a zillion things I need to do here before I go. I could easily be up all night tomorrow night, which would make it easier to sleep on the plane.

Can't. Stop. Eating.

Change from beginning of program: -5.8 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go
Activity: chewing
Temptation: got sugar?
Fruit and veg: 1 (so far)

Woke up hungry. Had two slices of pumpernickel with hummus at home. And a brownie.

Got to work. Had a small can of cranberry juice because I woke up with a raw throat (allergies). But I cannot get sick just two days before leaving for Rome.

Then had two Reeses minis out of habit.

Then had most of a jelly donut because a manager insisted that I have it.

It's only 9:15 a.m. and I have had most of my daily allotment of calories.