Hi!

So, it's been a long time since I visited. The reason for that has nothing to do with my dieting, but with my aversion to longterm blogging. I get bored, and then I stop. Sorry. (Tristi: You knew what I was when you picked me up!)

I have not been terribly excellent at continuing to lose weight, but I've remained steady and even dipped a bit. I'm currently at 228 (so, a grand total of eight pounds down from the starting point). Not great, but not bad, considering everything I eat is dripping in butter.

My diet technique continues to be: eat less, move around more. I'm not awesome at either one, but I'm better than I was three months ago.

Checking in

Sorry I've been gone lately. I've been writing like a mad man, and I haven't wanted to break for blogging.

The stats are these:

Weight: As of yesterday I was down to 230. That's six pounds since we started! And, even better, I've been able to do it without significantly altering my lifestyle. It's essentially been a matter of portion control, and a lack of sugary drinks. Here's what I especially like about this: I feel like I'm learning how to eat better overall. For example, a week ago I ate a very large meal--about normal for things I used to eat--and it completely made me sick. So, I feel that, once I've lost the weight, I'll be able to maintain it. So, yippee.

Writing: As of yesterday, after seven writing days, I'm 38,000 words into this new book. I'm mucho pleased.

Mmm....Biscuits and Gravy

Weight update:
As of yesterday, the scale told me I was down another pound and a half. I think the problem is that Monday is my official weigh-in day, and I diet really well all week until Sunday, when I eat pot roast and mashed potatoes. So, the Monday weigh-in is after I've ruined it all.

But anyway, the dieting is going fine. My wife, ever the temptress, made biscuits and gravy last night, knowing that it's my favorite food in the world (after fried chicken). I think she's still treating this weight loss like a competition, and she's playing dirty. Hey Erin--watch for the bag of caramels under your pillow! Turnabout is fair play.

Writing update:
Those of you who aren't writers might not be impressed by this, but: 4400 words on Monday, and 5900 words yesterday. I'm kicking this book's trash.

Half a pound down

In your face, fat!

So, yeah, half a pound isn't that amazing of a weight loss unless you know how poorly I have dieted in the last three days. I was doing really well until a date with my cute wife on Friday (eating the large combination at a Mexican restaurant) (and it wasn't even worth it because the food was lousy), then having a Japanese food party on Saturday, whereat I ate about 50 (no exaggeration) gyoza--little dumplings. And then yesterday I had ice cream. So, half a pound is decent.

Today has been much better. I've decided to get off of caffeine entirely, in hopes that it can do something about this two-week-long headache I've been having. Today is the first day off, so we'll see how it goes. Here's the problem: I just really really like caffeinated beverages. Sprite just doesn't cut it. And don't get me started on water--who's bad idea was that stuff? It doesn't taste like ANYTHING.

Weight and Writing

For those who don't follow my every movement (and I'm sure I'm speaking to a very small demographic here), I mentioned on the Frog Blog that I'm under weird circumstances that require me to start and finish a book, all in two months. So, i decided that in addition to posting my diet updates here, I'd also post my writing updates--that little bit of extra incentive. So, here we are:

Writing Update: I have a rough outline of the entire book now. In fact, I have a rough outline of three entire books. When reading the outline yesterday to my brother, he pointed out that Holy Crap, that's a long book and it really ought to be three. So, that makes my job of writing it easier.

Dieting Update: Yesterday I was doing really really awesome on the diet. I'd eaten next to nothing all day--I think I had a piece of toast and glass of milk. And then I met Jeff Savage for dinner at Applebees. And then he was half an hour late, which gave me nothing to do but sit in the booth and look at large glossy pictures of steak smothered in cheese and pasta covered in bacon. It was like a dieter's pornography. (Also: since I was all alone and constantly looking out the window and toward the door, I think that everyone in the restaurant thought I was on a date, and I'd been stood up. And then Jeff showed up!? WHAT?)

Anyway, if the scale is to be believed, I've lost another 1.5 pounds. Also, if my belt is to be believed, I've lost another hole on the belt.

Also, did you notice that Erin, my wife, has showed up on this blog? For some reason her first post was buried under several of the others. But she's here, and you should go read it.

Monday, Monday

Yesterday was not too shabby. Cherrios for breakfast (which, I believe, have all the nutritional characteristics of sawdust), chicken noodle soup for lunch (which doesn't even count as a meal, because you drink most of it), and a hamburger for dinner. The last one isn't all that healthy, but we were at a back-to-school night barbeque, so it was unavoidable. I did, however, not eat the chips or the cookie. I tried to eat the baked beans, but one bite informed me that they were cooked by the school lunch lady.

So, a good day. Up until the late-night ice cream. But that totally doesn't count, because--HEY! What's that over there!?

End of Week Two

And the verdict is: no weight loss this week. But, no weight gain, either. I'm conditionally pleased. The important lesson I learned this week is that I still ate all the foods I wanted to, but smaller amounts, and maintained my weight. That means that if I can ever get my lazy butt to do some exercise, then I might just lose some more weight.

The other good news is that my wife has decided to finally start blogging here. I think it's because she was displeased with my descriptions of her dieting techniques. That's kind of how our marraige works: I kind of pretend like I'm running things, do a mediocre job, and then she says "Fine. I'll do it myself." And then she punches me in the eye.

Rob's Update

Not much to report, other than my consuming a small plate of cheese fries and a frosty mug of root beer. But, that was after four hours of standing at an outdoor concert whereat I sweated profusely. Granted, that still probably doesn't offset the cheese fries, but any diet that doesn't let me eat the occassional cheese fry isn't worth it.

Also, here's something that I recently discovered: did you know that the pastrami burger is a uniquely Utahn phenomenon? There was an entire article in the New York Times last month about those crazy Utahns and their crazy burgers. And last night I saw that Gourmet Magazine called the pastrami burger "an outrageous concept". Having grown up in Salt Lake, I assumed everyone had pastrami burgers, but apparently not. The moral of the story: this is the promised land.

(This is not to say that I've eaten a pastrami burger recently. But I may at some point, just to show patriotism to my state.)

Also, my wife last night proposed that she and I turn this dieting into an actual competition wherein there are prizes for the winner. I declined, because she's OBVIOUSLY going to win. She doesn't blog about cheese fries and pastrami.

Day Whatever: Blah

So, I'm still dieting, but I have very little to report. I ate pizza yesterday, but I didn't eat a lot of it. I also didn't eat the crusts. A few years ago I realized that I'm a grown-up, and if I don't want to eat the crusts of my pizza then I don't have to. You're not the boss of me.

I also ate some popcorn. For those who don't know me, I'm something of a popcorn afficianado, having previously worked for Orville Redenbacher's. However, despite this popcorn being Orville (and therefore the best) it was also SmartPop, the diety version. And it's pretty terrible.

Here's an interesting tidbit about popcorn: while corn is one of the very most genetically-engineered plants, only recently has anyone actually thought "Maybe we ought to engineer it to taste good." All previous efforts were directed to larger kernels and better colors and more resistance to bugs and higher harvest rates. However, they're only now thinking about cultivating taste, which means that the earliest versions of tasty popcorn won't be available for a few years.

So, for now, the only way to make your popcorn somewhat tasty is to put something on top of it. And I think that SmartPop sprinkles it with chalk and sadness.

Also: where are all you other bloggers? I feel lonely.

I had birthday cake for breakfast yesterday

And then I spent the rest of the day at wedding festivities. So, all in all it was not a terribly dietific day.

However, I'm still quite pleased with my progress overall. I'm getting far better at portion control, and I've entirely cut out sugary drinks. Now I just need to start on the exercise portion of the competition.

Weekly Update

It's been one week, and the scale is being kind: I've lost three pounds. And my wife (who is dieting with me but isn't posting here), has lost three and a half.

She's been more obedient than me. I, for example, ate way too much meat loaf yesterday. But I figure that Sunday dinner doesn't really count. Calories eaten on the Sabbath are more . . . reverent, I think.

In other news, I discovered a great way to eat fruit. I may not have mentioned this before, but I don't like fruit. I love vegetables, but fruit=blah. Anyway, I discovered that it's a lot easier to eat a banana if you cover it with ice cream and chocolate syrup.

Day Four: Too Much Soup

I had soup for lunch and for dinner yesterday. This is absolutely unforgivable, and I have no intent to continue this trend in the future. Soup is not a meal; it is a side dish. It's a savory beverage. Combine that with a breakfast of cereal, and that's three meals eaten with a spoon in one day. Like I said, unforgivable.

I only had one true indulgence, which was my nightly Oreo. (Well, my nightly four Oreos.) But at least I got to actually chew something. Stupid soup.

As for exercise, there was still nothing more than walking to and from work. However, I had to do it three times, because I first forgot the office keys, and then later discovered that I'd also forgotten my laptop power cord. Fortunately, unintentional exercise still counts.

I weighed myself this morning and I've lost three pounds. I don't believe it. Monday is the official weigh-in day, so we'll see what that says.

Day Three: Rationalization

Last night, at my writing critique group, I ate orange pecan cookies and chocolate zucchini bread. That counts as one fruit and one vegetable, right? RIGHT?

Day Two, Wherein I Ate More Oreos, But Also Sweated

So, a few minor successes:

1) No sugary drinks today. Just a lot of artifical sweetener, which is yucky. Why can't someone put caffeine in something healthy? Like celery?

2) A little exercise: I had to dig in storage in the garage for a couple hours, carrying lots of big heavy boxes and furniture, and I got all sweaty and out of breath. (I was trying to find my daughter's birth certificate so she can register for school.) (Otherwise they'll think she's from Kenya.)

3) I walked to work instead of drove. (This isn't a huge deal, because I almost always walk--it's only about half a mile.)

4) No seconds on dinner.

So, hooray!

Day One, Wherein I Ate Some Oreos

Well, admittedly I didn't really think much about my diet yesterday. Breakfast was...something. I can't remember, but I drank some Coke with it. Lunch was a bowl of cereal, so that's good. Dinner was macaroni and cheese, because that's what the kids wanted. And then I had some Oreos.

But, was all actually lost? How did I do on the excercise front? Well, I did walk all the way from the front door to the car door. So, pretty excellent.

Today's already going better--Coke Zero for breakfast! I should have my own health show.

Eat Less. Move Around More.

I am also joining this weight loss party, as is my wife, who will be reporting through me.

I'm not going to post any pictures of myself, because I don't want you to fall in love with me, but my starting weight in this little endeavor is 236 lbs and I am 6'0".

I will not be using any famous weight-loss program, because I don't have a lot of faith in any of them. Instead, I will be using a relatively unknown plan called "Eat Less. Move Around More." The tenets of this plan are simple. First, you don't eat as much as you used to, and you move around more than you used to. Crazy, I know, but it's so crazy that it just might work.

So, let me tell you why I'm fat: I like eating. And, worse, I like eating unhealthy foods. I cook almost everything in butter, and I drink 2% milk because skim is yucky. And, I like to have seconds of dinner, and I like to eat at 11:30pm. This is why I'm fat.

Not the reason I'm fat: sugar. I don't care about sugar. I'd much rather have extra dinner rather than dessert. And I have little use for candy. (However, I am a soda drinker. I like to drink my sugar. I'm trying to convert over to diet soda, but it's really gross.)

So, my diet plan is this: I'm still going to cook in butter, and I'm still going to drink 2% milk. In fact, I'm not really going to change much about what I'm eating--I'm just going to eat less of it. Also, I might try, once in a while, to get out from behind the computer and get the heart pumpin' a bit. Watch the fat literally melt off my body! (Literally!) (I know! Gross, right!?)

As for Erin, my wife, she weighed in this morning at 189, and she's going to be using a kind of bastardized Weight Watchers plan. (It's some version of Weight Watchers from twenty years ago where you keep track of how many vegetables you eat and how many pieces of bread you eat, and I don't really know how it works.)

Erin's modus operandi is the opposite of mine: she loves the sugar. I'll let her post a comment explaining it a little better than that, but suffice it to say that she likes to bake sweet things, and she likes to eat candy.

And... that's all for today.