From bad to worse

Change from beginning of program: -4.4 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go

Activity: driving

Temptation: fried food
Fruit and veg: 3

I'm starting to wonder if I'm subconsciously trying to eat more - and more dodgy - food every day. It's getting bad.

Breakfast - black-eyed peas and watermelon. Is that a Southern meal or what?

Snack in the car as I drove to Lufkin - Almond Joy (whole thing) and a Butterfinger mini

Lunch - Olive Garden. Salad. Fried lasagna - that's right - pasta wrapped around cheese, then fried, then served over alfredo sauce. Shrimp dish that included angel hair pasta, tomatoes, and a buttery sauce. I did split it with my sister, but it was still a lot of pasta...and butter. Several bites of a chocolate cheesecake-like dessert.

Snack - birthday cake (chocolate cake with chocolate icing) and rocky road ice cream and two beers. It was nephew #3's birthday, and we followed the tradition of him decorating his own cake. He wasn't really into that, but 2-year-old niece was all over it. She decorated her own "cake" - a paper plate with a layer of chocolate icing. She added about a million sprinkles. And loved every minute of it. She insisted on having a bath afterward because she hates to be sticky. She was pretty damned sticky after that experience.

Dinner - I'm ashamed to write this. I was facing a long drive home. I was nearing catatonia because of the teenager's hormones and the toddler's energy. I stopped at a Whataburger, mainly to pee, but I decided to order a Whatacatch meal. The menu said it was a filet of fish on a jumbo bun with tartar sauce, lettuce, and pickles. The total came to something over $7, which seemed high, but I never buy fast food so I don't know how much it costs these days. After several minutes, the cook came out of the kitchen and asked if I wanted a sandwich. I explained that I did - as that's what was on the menu. Apparently, the cashier had ordered the wrong thing. Long story short (too late), I got a sandwich with two fish filets, cheese, and tartar sauce. And fries. I ate all of the sandwich and about half of the fries. That was interesting - with my standard transmission and darkness and roads with deer crossing signs.

Holy crap! I just looked up the nutritional info on this debacle. With just one filet and no cheese and the regular sized bun, the sandwich had 460 calories. So my version had about 1000 calories. Plus fries. Even Homer Simpson would feel guilty after eating that.

And I wonder why I'm so swollen that I feel like I'm going to pop at any second.

I'm really tempted to stick a pin in my finger to see if it will relieve some of the pressure from all of this water retention. It makes me think that my hormones are fluctuating again. UGH.

I did manage to hit the farmer's market and a roadside stand, so I plan to have some fresh veggies tomorrow. I just need to lay off the sweets and fats.

When will this binge end?

Fattening Friday

Change from beginning of program: -4.8 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go

Activity: jumping up and down in elation over winning a blue ribbon at the State Fair of Texas

Temptation: Mexican food, fried food, beer (I did not resist)
Fruit and veg: 5+

This was a frustrating week. Work was particularly challenging, and I had dinner at restaurants 3 of the past 5 nights. Not good for losing weight.

But the week ended on a positive note: I won the blue ribbon for picante sauce at the State Fair of Texas. This makes me a back-to-back champ. I can say that I make the best hot sauce in Texas.

What do I win? A blue ribbon and bragging rights for the rest of my life.

Woo-hoo!

Sorry - I can't believe it. The results are not posted online yet. But I got a letter in the mail that said my place was "1."

Anyway - another dieting day down the drain...

Breakfast - hummus and pumpernickel (just 1 slice) and raspberries.

Morning snack - green apple

Lunch - Mexican food. Chips and green sauce (tomatillos and avocado). Veggie burrito filled with black beans and several veggies, but also cheese - covered in cream sauce. Instead of rice and beans, I had lettuce and tomatoes. And guacamole.

Dinner - our favorite seafood place. Appetizer of avocado, tomato, shrimp, and crab, served with tortilla chips. Stuffed crab and stuffed shrimp with fries. Why does fried food have to taste so good? If it tasted nasty, we would all be thin.

Evening - Although I told myself all day that I would not drink tonight (to give my poor liver a break), I had to have a beer to celebrate my win. And to help break down that fried food. And to act as a diuretic because I am still SWOLLEN like an effing balloon. And because I survived the week. And because I like beer.

Tomorrow's challenge - a trip to the country to celebrate nephew #3's 13th birthday. I'm sure too much food will be involved.

Are they insane?

A year without shopping?

The only way that would happen for me is if I were imprisoned and had no internet access.

It gives me the chills just to think about it. ARGH!

Self absorbent

Change from beginning of program: -2.8 LBs?? - Goin' the wrong way, Bubba
Goal: 41 LBs to go

Activity: sweating and holding myself back from choking someone

Temptation: the best food ever leftovers
Fruit and veg: 3

I am so damn swollen, I might just pop.

Beer is a diuretic...right?

Challenging day at work because a coworker has convenient memory loss. And is arrogant.

Lunch: Indian buffet. I hadn't been there in about 6 months, and all of the staff greeted me warmly. My companion was impressed.

Dinner: Leftovers of the best food ever are almost as good as the first go-round.

Because we have had intermittent rain showers during August, I have gotten lax about watering the yard. Bigfoot informed me last night that all of the progress I had made with the grass in the front yard was disappearing. So I had to start the watering routine again. Ugh. It's not the watering that takes up my time. It's the weeding and other time wasters that I see only when I'm in the yard watering.

The best food ever

Change from beginning of program: -5.8 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go

Activity: sitting on my fat arse in meetings

Temptation: the best food ever
Fruit and veg: 5+

Breakfast: hummus on pumpernickel. Raspberries. So far, so good.

Lunch: Veggie chef salad, dressing on the side. Still good.

Afternoon: Half a brownie that I baked last night.

Dinner: Team event at the best restaurant in town.

• 3 glasses of sparkling chardonnay
• Appetizer: fried plantain chips dipped in chimichurri sauce (like pesto, but made with parsley and garlic instead of basil and pine nuts)
• Appetizer: crab claws in creamy butter sauce and some kind of heavenly cheesy fried something that defies description
  
• Entree: beef so tender you could cut it with a fork, smothered in a creamy sauce, over mashed potatoes, with two mini taco thingies, with grilled carrots and fried yucca
• Dessert: tequila bread pudding that has a consistency much, much better than that of a normal bread pudding, topped with a luscious creamy layer of gooey goodness

I swear - I must have ingested a half pound of butter over those two hours. My insides will revolt for days, but damn it was good. It tasted even better because someone else paid for it!

Chocolate is evil

Change from beginning of program: -4.2 LBs
Goal: 40 LBs to go

Activity: ironing

Temptation: fudge, Mexican food
Fruit and veg: 5

It's official. I have hit the wall.

The wall of chocolate.

I struggled to break that chocolate addiction in May. After about 3 days with no chocolate, I lost the taste for it. I felt liberated. And I lost weight.

Well, I slowly but surely worked my way back into the chocolate dependence.

It started small. A mini candy bar here, a bit of ice cream there.

Sunday, I made fudge.

Today, I made brownies.

Most of the fudge went to the office, as will most of the brownies. But I still eat the edges, the batter, the bits here and there.

And the weight is creeping back on. Dammit!

What to do?

By the way, have you ever noticed that the words evil and live have the same letters? Same goes for Elvis and lives. And Satan and Santa. What's up with that?

Vindicated

When I bought my house 10 years ago, I had a few requirements. An electric stove was one of them.

I found a house with an electric stove and a gas oven. I replaced the gas oven with an electric one in the first month I lived here.

Everyone said I was crazy. But I know what works when I cook.

Julia Child, my new hero, says in her seminal Mastering the Art of French Cooking, "Electric ovens give more even heat for pastry baking than gas." YES! I knew that the gas oven was burning things on the outside and not cooking on the inside.

Julia also says, "For top-of-stove cooking you wan to switch from very high indeed to very low heat with gradations in between, which a restaurant gas range can provide...Otherwise, a good modern electric cooktop is far better than weak domestic gas burners." (emphasis mine)

The master has spoken. I made the right choice with electricity.

I'll be wearing out that electric cooktop with my new stainless steel cookware.