Weigh In: Approaching the Future

204.4-->203.0-->203.6
I know, I know -- half a pound is not statistically significant, and can be explained away by simply having too much #1, #2 or bloat in my system at the moment of weighing, but still, vanity and ego. Regardless, March saw a later-than-usual kick off to my riding season due to weather, and this past week saw two good rides, leading me to assess my fitness as close to where I left off at the end of last season. No where to go but up.

Professionally and personally -- two topics I choose not to dwell on, in these here parts -- things have transformed dramatically and quickly as Spring has set in. Too complicated to say it's all "good" or "bad", but definitely interesting and points to paths for many years to come. I only bring this up because as my day-to-day evolves, so must my eating.

I must be mindful to stay mindful: just as meditation or yoga practice allows a person to dispense with the energy it takes to focus on the task at hand by repeating actions endlessly (as opposed to OCD, where the repeated actions take up ALL the energy), I see my eating and my bike riding running in parallel - I repeat meals endlessly, I repeat my weekly training ride to the same place endlessly, because it allows me to not focus on the task at hand and gives me head space to work on other things. I allow it to carry me, safe in the knowledge that what I'm putting in my body and what I'm doing to my body is good for it, and so I can worry about something else more important and even less me-focused. And I save the weekends for more adventurous riding and more adventurous eating.

I'm not going to make any changes or resolutions to my eating this month, we'll see where life takes me and reassess at the end of April.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2717
Over ate this week, birthday was a part of it. Had time off Friday, went for a long ride and found myself weirdly unhungry, guess all the over-eating was catching up with me.

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MONDAY COUNT: 3025

SLEPT: 9pm - 6:15am, 9.25hrs

AM SNACK: 6:30 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, falafel, health salad, pickle, soup, 620 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, cheezits 310 cal

DINNER: 7pm, flounder, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 685 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, popcorn, +/-400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, kind bar, 2 kids granola bars, 400 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 3020

SLEPT: 9pm- 12am, 2am - 6am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 730am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Fage with honey, almonds, vanilla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, chicken meat balls, lentil curry, steamed stringbeans, pickle, 560

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, poppa salad with dressing, 1040 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, freshly baked unfrosted cupcakes, +/- 500 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: -----

SLEPT: 9pm - 3am,  6 hrs
Birthday. Over ate. It's ok.

AM SNACK: 3:30 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BIRTHDAY SNACK: 7:45am, freshly baked homemade cake, +/- 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, grilled chicken, poppa salad with dressing,  pickle, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, cheezits 310 cal

PM SNACK: 7pm, cashews, 235 cal

DINNER: 8:15pm, Korean BBQ....

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 2 slices of homemade cake....
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THURSDAY COUNT: 3040

SLEPT: 11pm - 5am,  6 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea, homemade granola bar, 150mg caffeine, 220 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, poppa salad and dressing, sauteed shrimp and mushrooms,  600 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, Ramen, ice cream, +/- 1000 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, handful of oreos, +/- 300 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 1630 cal
FRIDAY COUNT: 1785

SLEPT: 11pm -3:30am,  4.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 4am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice,  80 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, Fage yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla, & 150 mg caffeine, 450 cal

BIKE SNACKS: 1pm-4pm, 4 homemade granola bars, 685 cal

LUNCH: 5pm, shrimp fried rice, +/- 1000 cal

DINNER: 7pm, meatballs, flat bread pizza, 1 glass proscecco, bread and soft cheese, chocolate cake & ice cream, +/- 1200 cal

Hangry

Stock photography is magic.

My mom told me, "the best spice for dinner is hunger." No matter how good a meal is, if you are not hungry, it's just not going to be fully appreciated, and extreme hunger can make something like a leather boot or human flesh appear on the menu of edible things. The other truism my mom laid on me: "Never go food shopping hungry." All the food looks more appealing, all the quantities seem smaller, and all the prices seem slightly cheaper. Go in full with a list, stick to it, and get out. (I think there was a bit about a pile of clipped coupons from the local newspaper, but I somehow gratefully forgot about that part.)

So it is with some amusement and satisfaction that social scientists have measured and concluded in an experiment what the wisdom of my 'rents already knew, but take it one step farther:

For the study, called “Hunger Promotes Acquisition of Nonfood Objects,” marketing researchers ... asked sixty-three undergraduates not to eat for four hours. Then they treated half of them to as much cake as they fancied. All of the volunteers were subsequently presented with a three-quarter-inch binder clip from Staples, asked how much they liked it, and told to take as many more as they felt they needed. The members of the cake-deprived group were no fonder of the binder clips than their peers, but they went home with seventy per cent more. Later, Xu and her colleagues surveyed eighty-one shoppers exiting a department store, recording when and what they last ate and scanning their receipts. The researchers found, after controlling for the shoppers’ moods and the varying lengths of time they had been in the store, that the hungriest among them had spent as much as sixty per cent more than their well-fed counterparts. Hunger, Xu and her colleagues concluded, “renders acquisition-related concepts and behaviors more accessible.” In other words, the desire to grab something to eat becomes the desire to grab anything at all.

It's a common belief in nutritional science that you can over-eat and starve at the same time. If your diet solely consists of hyper-proceed food with no fruit and vegetables, it's easy to get enough calories but the lack of vitamins and other micro-nutrients will cause your body to kick into starvation mode, trying endlessly to consume more in hopes of acquiring what is lacking simply by increasing the quantity of everything. Hence, poor people balloon to outrageous obese proportions while literally starving. It's a leap, but perhaps it could be said that hyper-processed food in the US has encouraged a never-ending wasteful consumer culture.

There is a flip side to hunger and the urge for more of everything, too, though...

(Side) effects of hunger—intensified awareness, greater persistence, bolder risk assessments—...exist in humans. Like (other animals studied) people seem to behave with a profitable recklessness when hungry. 

Greater persistence and bolder risk taking? That sounds like a right-wing panacea for all that ails us. But I think these side effects are for the literal experience of hunger, not the cumulative biological effect of a lack of nutritional value. I imagine there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that if you eat a Big Mac for lunch, a Chipotle Burrito for dinner then a Grand Slam breakfast from Denny's the next morning, you will be neither hunger or feel a persistence for anything riskier than pooping and sleeping.

Well, if Stockphoto Lady can eat nothing but fast food and be hot, so can you!

My parents, being the good Jews they were, never ever let me go hungry...so I got fat. My father escaped the Holocaust when he was my daughter's age, and lived in a camp in Cuba first as a prisoner, then as a refugee. All his adult life he hoarded food and basic supplies in a pantry in the basement of the house I grew up in. I imagine he had some residual, innate fear of hunger and scarce resources that he and his family experienced as a child. My father spent most of his life hiding from hunger and shielding it from his family. 

The weekly rundown of what I eat addended to these blog posts are my attempt to run towards hunger -- a little hunger now and then will not only manage my weight, but as the scientists point out, also intensify my awareness, aid in my persistence and be bolder and less cowardly. I'm collecting a knowledge base...

Hoarding vs. Collecting
Hoarding is not the same as collecting. In general, collectors have a sense of pride about their possessions and they experience joy in displaying and talking about them. They usually keep their collection organized, feel satisfaction when adding to it, and budget their time and money.
Those who hoard usually experience embarrassment about their possessions and feel uncomfortable when others see them. They have clutter, often at the expense of livable space, feel sad or ashamed after acquiring additional items, and they are often in debt. 

I enjoy writing down what I eat, not to have a timeline of what went in my mouth, but the act makes me pause and reflect for a second in the act of writing. It helps me get hungry when our culture encourages constant satiation. Other than these essays, which can take an hour or so, the act of recording and measuring calories has become only minutes in my week, so second nature, it barely registers as clutter in my brain -- indeed, it's become a welcoming organizing principle to tune myself to my body, something that being overweight and in declining health really messes with. 

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2702
Weekly average remains stubbornly high. Next week's weigh in will determine whether I need to ring the alarm or just focus on good quality food.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2775

SLEPT: 8:30pm - 5am, 8.5hrs

AM SNACK: 5:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, falafel, health salad, pickle, soup, 580 cal

PM SNACK: 3pm, rando piece of work chicken, +/- 200 cal

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, momma salad, 100 cal

DINNER: 7pm, flounder, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 685 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, popcorn, +/-400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, kind bar, 200 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2915

SLEPT: 9pm - 4:30am, 7.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 4:45 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Cabot with honey, almonds, vanilla, 500 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, chicken meat balls, lentil curry, steamed stringbeans, pickle, 560

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, grilled pork tenderloin, roasted brussels, poppa salad with dressing, 785 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, kind bar, 4 kids granola bars, 600 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2620

SLEPT: 9pm - 3:30am,  6.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 3:45 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, grilled pork tenderloin, roasted brussels, quinoa, pickle, 830 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, momma salad, 310 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, Chipotle Burrito, poppa salad with dressing, 1080 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 655
THURSDAY COUNT: 2590

SLEPT: 10pm - 3:30am,  5.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 3:45am, iced green tea, homemade granola bar, 150mg caffeine, 220 cal

BIKE SNACK: 5:30am, homemade granola bar, 220 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Fagewith honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, poppa salad and dressing, sauteed chicken, 500 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, cashews, 235 cal

EVENING SNORT: 6:30pm, 3/4 of a pint of beer, +/-150 cal

DINNER: 8pm, Maoz falafel salad, small cup of ice cream, 3 crab rangoons, +/- 1000 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2610

SLEPT: 10pm -4:30am,  6.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 4:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice,  80 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat toast, sautéed mushrooms, poppa salad with dressing, 800 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 5:15pm, hotdog, fries, ice cream, +/- 1000 cal

McDonald's Chicken Problem

McDonalds recently announced it would stop purchasing chicken raised with antibiotics. This is major because they dictate the market. What this means is while the chicken industry has been spending decades moving slowly to remove "human-important" antibiotics from their chicken, McDonalds has come in and basically said, "Bullsh@t. Our chicken needs to be anti-biotic free in 2 years and I ain't payin' for it either." While Chipotle's customer base doesn't blink when their prices go up in reaction to the commodities market (hello, guac-fee!) or miss an ingredient because the supplier isn't organic enough (goodbye, pork!), McDonald's customers are on the losing end of the increasing inequality in the US. So in a weird way, McDonalds is not only fighting for health of it's customers, it's also a defender of 99%...

McDonalds will save us all.

These little changes make a huge difference because of scale. It can't be understated that these are relatively fast tectonic moves in the food industry that touch almost everyone in this vast country. While McDonalds doesn't touch everyone, when you add Costco,  Homophobia Chicken (aka Chikfila) and other players jumping on the bandwagon they created, yeah, it kinda is touching the majority of us.

On the other hand, before you accuse me of being a weird shill or apologist for McD's...: the whole system is f*cked, just like the propaganda video above points out. I comment on this system because me and my children live in it, and noting a rare and positive move is not an endorsement. A few years ago I wrote about the relatively secretive push by McDonalds to reformulate their McMuffin to add more whole grains. McDonalds did not really advertise this because changing the recipe of a core product for reasons of health instead of taste was considered bad for business. The fact that they are making moves as big and loud as anti-biotic free chicken speaks much more to board-room panic than a newly found love of man. It's more like a newly found approach to propaganda to weaken their enemies arguments.

Removing anti-biotics from chicken increases their grow-time by 20%, increases their mortality, and requires much bigger (and humane) spaces to stay healthy, among other additional costs. Will chicken still be profitable? Yes. Will shareholder value take a hit? Yes. Should we value human health over profit? McDonalds (or any corporation) will never say "human health" -- they will ask how can we market to people's desire for health to increase profit? The depth of the evil and arrogance of someone saying "corporations are people" is just sad.

This WWII propaganda poster needs to be recontextualized  for the relationship of Big Gubbermint and Corporate Personhood.

I'm a little surprised I'm still talking about McDonalds here, but they keep literally making the news, because they are the most desperate and dangerous of things: a multi-national corporation that is losing market share hand over fist. They must seek to control the storyline in the media to create a environment in which to claw back what they once had. The intersection of food, money, health and my childhood is just too tempting to obsess over for a few entries!

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2679
Calorie count too high, but I'm not eating garbage. I think I'm going to not stress about it right now but if my weight goes up in a few weeks, I'll have to seriously reconsider the issue.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2485

SLEPT: 12pm - 7am, 7hrs

AM SNACK: 7:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: noon, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3pm, vegetarian meatballs, health salad, pickle, soup, 480 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, and cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, flounder, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 685 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, +/-400 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 3180

SLEPT: 9pm - 6am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Cabot with honey, almonds, vanilla, 500 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, chicken meat balls, lentil curry, steamed stringbeans, pickle, 560

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, frozen pizza, poppa salad with dressing+/- 1020 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 7:30-10:30pm, 2 kind bars, kid granola bar, veggie straws, 630 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2250

SLEPT: 11:30pm - 5:30am,  6 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, poppa salad with dressing, sautéed chicken, pickles, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, cashews, 

DINNER: 8:30pm, Chipotle Burrito, 880 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 690 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 2540

SLEPT: 9:45pm - 3:45am,  6 hrs

AM SNACK: 4am, iced green tea, homemade granola bar, 150mg caffeine, 220 cal

BIKE SNACK: 5:30am, homemade granola bar, 220 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am,Cabot with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, poppa salad and dressing, sauteed shrimp & shitakes, pickles, 520 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, vegetarian dim sum, small cup of ice cream, +/- 1100 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, kind bar, 200 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2940

SLEPT: 9pm -2am,  5 hrs

AM SNACK: 2:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 6am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice,  80 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, almond butter & grape jelly on whole wheat, poppa salad with dressing, pickles, 700 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, rabbit, polenta, root veg & cream, broth, 1 glass cider, chocolate, apple crisp & ice cream, +/- 600 cal

DINNER 2: 9pm, vegetarian sticky rice, cookies, +/- 800 cal

Home Vs School Lunch: School wins.

-sigh-

Several years ago, I wrote about the idea of the government providing lunch for school children, how food is inherently political, and just having healthier food around is a good thing, even if snot-nosed little kids make a big noise about not eating it. Unfortuntately, the basic idea of the government feeding children while under their care is a partisan football. Pushing this massive public program forward towards healthier foods and more sustainable choices is a "liberal" agenda, while letting the market determine the cheapest, most business-advantageous foods be fed to children regardless of consequence seems to be the clarion call from the right.

Michelle Obama's agenda as first lady has been focused on children's obesity, because one would think no one would be in support of kids being fat. But while safe-for-business noise is made about kids exercising more, there has also been moves to make school food more centered on whole grains, fruits and vegetables, etc etc. There has been all sorts of push back, with the Secretary of Agriculture blatantly proclaiming that dietary guidelines will not consider sustainability, just "health", though we all know the health he refers to is business health over the health of the consumer. States look for exemptions from rules mandating healthier food because of claims they don't value children's health don't have enough funding, though a few cut through the politics and zero in on getting better stuff on their children's plates.

I don't care about what we can do for the environment, only what the environment can do for us.

A friend of mine recently placed her young child in his first school setting, and she had more than a little consternation about what he would be fed. Up until that point, he had a loving nanny-figure who would make him home cooked meals with a bit of care and soul, and now...Big Government grub? I understand -- packing a home lunch with care and love is probably going to be healthier than whatever a bureaucrat purchased on the commodities market for the best price possible. Well, that was my assumption, anyway...

One study, conducted in 12 elementary and intermediate schools in Houston, found that compared with what is served in school, lunches brought from home contained fewer servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and milk than the national program mandates.

Packed lunches also contained more desserts, chips and sweetened nondairy drinks, none of which can be served by schools that participate in the federal program. “About 90 percent of lunches from home contained desserts, snack chips, and sweetened beverages,” the study found.

A second study, conducted among pre-K and kindergarten children in four schools in rural Virginia, found that calories, fat, saturated fat and sugar were significantly higher and protein, fiber and calcium were significantly lower in lunches brought from home than in the meals served in school.

A third study examined food selection and plate waste by elementary and middle school children in four schools in an urban, low-income school district before and after introduction of the new meal standards. Juliana F. W. Cohen and co-authors found no increase in waste and a significantly greater selection and consumption of vegetables and fruits from the improved menus.

“These results suggest that the new school meal standards have improved students’ overall diet quality,” they wrote. “Legislation to weaken the standards is not warranted.”

It's  a nice thought that a parent's home lunch will always be better than a school lunch, but the facts don't bear that out. The food industry has so catered to a parent's convenience and a child's lizard-brain palate that a home lunch can become a lunchables pack, a juice box, and perhaps a bag of chips, a candy-bar like granola thing, and whatever else is convenient and "friendly". On average, the current state of a federally mandated school lunch tends to be more healthy than a typical home-packed school lunch. That's not to say that my friend's organic, balanced home lunches aren't vastly superior (or even my own whole wheat bagel, local pickle & washed cut strawberries aren't either), but she and I are not typical. 

Some foods should be "21 and over", because if you're going to eat this sh@t, you should be old enough to understand and accept the consequences.

It's a cop-out to say sex ed should be taught at home, not at schools -- the culture is such that too many parents won't do the right thing, diseases will infest the young and teen pregnancies will become a social issue. Once it affects you and me, it's not completely a personal or private issue anymore. Like sex, food is a personal, private choice certainly, but food can have grave impact on the public health, and can not be left to the vagaries of the market, or religion, or personal choice. There are valuable, vital reasons why government exists, and a superior school lunch across our great nation is one of them.

I don't want Big Government out of my kid's school lunch. I want Big Food out of my Big Government.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2975
Oof. A good but high-stress work week, not a happy number but something to consider,  finding a new balance.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2885

SLEPT: 12:30pm - 6am, 5.5hrs

AM SNACK: 6:30 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, vegetarian meatballs, health salad, pickle, soup, 480 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, and cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, flounder, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 685 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, +/-400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, children's granola bars, 400 ca

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2820

SLEPT: 9pm - 6am, 9 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Cabot with honey, almonds, vanilla, 500 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, chicken meat balls, lentil curry, steamed stringbeans, 550

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, small amount of lomein, kind bar, 2 chicken nuggets, popcorn, 5 children's granola bars, +/- 1300 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2890

SLEPT: 9:30pm - 6am,  8.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 6:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal
Mili helped me make it as he usually does, but then he spilt it. Looked like  a crime scene. -sigh-

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, slice of pizza, sautéed chicken, pickles, 450 cal
Forgot my salad at home, ate it with dinner, -sigh-

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, Chipotle Burrito, poppa salad with dressing, 1080 cal

EVENING GORGE: 9pm, kind bar, 6 kid granola bars, 800 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 3090

SLEPT: 12am - 5:45am,  5.75 hrs

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am,Cabot with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, poppa salad and dressing, sauteed shrimp & shitakes, pickles, 520 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, kid granola bar, 100 cal

DINNER1: 7:30pm, samomsa chat over sting beans, chocolate, tea, +/- 700 cal

DINNER2: 10pm, fresh pasta with homade sauce, kind bar, +/- 800 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 3190

SLEPT: 11:30pm -2:30am, 4am- 6am,  5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice,  80 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, almond butter & grape jelly on whole wheat, poppa salad with dressing, pickles, 700 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 5:15pm, hot dog, fries, ice cream +/- 900 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, frozen pizza, 800 cal

Weigh In: F-U, cold, I'm my own man.

206.2-->204.4-->203.0

Three pounds over two months sounds a bit small-time and petty, but thats the thing: real and sustained weight loss is a slow, unsexy battle. Still 13 lbs away from my low a year ago, and -snort- 51 lbs from having a "normal" BMI (but only 9 lbs from going from "obese" to "overweight") (BMI is kinda suspiciously overly simple.) I could say here that last month was trying, and some bummer times caused me to lose my appetite (bad), and the last few weeks saw some relief from that but saw my appetite come back very strong (also bad). I guess I could focus on the negative, that I'm having a hard time keeping a consistent diet, calorie-wise. 

But. Bottom line is I feel physically good despite almost no bike riding these past two months, and during record cold times when most people gain weight, I pushed the needle a reasonable, healthy amount to the left.

Not going to dissect what I did right/wrong or micro-goals for the month, life is still a bit too chaotic. However I will note that my weekend eating has never been better, less going-for-it to get in things I denied myself during the week. Though that sounds like a tossed-off line, in reality that means literally 100s, if not 1000s of calories less per week for my system to handle. That would help explain  a continued moderate weight loss, despite being a few hundred calories over my daily budget pretty much every day...
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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2611
A meh eating week, 3 of the five days reasonable, two not.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2510

SLEPT: 11pm - 6:30am, 7.5hrs
Nice to have an evening gorge that surprisingly did not blow the doors off the budget.

AM SNACK: 6:45 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11:15am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, falafel, health salad, pickle, soup, momma salad, and cheezits, 910 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, flounder, asparagus,  poppa salad with dressing, 685 cal

EVENING SNACK: 6:30pm, popcorn, +/-400 cal

EVENING GORGE: 7:30-10pm, kind bar, cookies, 2 children's granola bars, 725 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: ----

SLEPT: 11:30pm - 5:30am, 6 hrs
Dentistry in the evening messed me up.

AM SNACK: 6:45 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, chicken meat balls, lentil curry, steamed stringbeans, 550

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 7pm, ice cream, kind bar, frozen pizzas, ----
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2500

SLEPT: 9pm - 6am,  9 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Cabot with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, poppa salad with dressing and sautéed chicken, pickles, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, Chipotle Burrito, 880 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, kind bar, 200 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2545

SLEPT: 10:30pm - 5:30am,  7.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 5:45 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 6:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, poppa salad and dressing, sauteed shrimp, pickles, 425 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, kind bar, 200 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, steak sandwich, fries, meat balls, chocolate cake, water, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, peanut butter and chocolate syrup, +/- 200 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2890

SLEPT: 11pm - 5:30am,  6.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice,  80 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Cabot with honey, vanilla and almonds, 500 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, almond butter & grape jelly on whole wheat, poppa salad with dressing, pickles, 700 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:15pm, sweet & sour soup, shrimp in oyster sauce, white rice, summer roll, tea, +/- 500 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, tarte tartine & vanilla ice cream, +/- 800 cal