Keeping up

When you get behind in such things, it can be discouraging -- not only do you need to attend to the new work of the day, but you need to bite the bullet and swallow the frog (and so on with other useful metaphors) and catch up on all the work you didn't do, the work that is already late. It's a debt of work, with interest compounding.

As I try to shake off the pathological need to do things perfectly (natch) or not at all, here's this: instead of NOT doing posts for the days I missed this week, I'll just move on ahead, with the numbers I do have, without going through the bother of trying to remember all the food I took into my system.

When I weighed myself yesterday morning (in the dark dark bathroom -- the sun is no longer up when I am; winter comes...), the scale read 252.4.

This morning, it weight 252.6.

Some data is better than none at all. Pressing on.

PS: Without breaking any mental sweat, I can recall the pop-tart-type breakfast pastry that Jenna and I shared on the way to the train yesterday morning. Just a moment ago, she texted me to tell me what she's just learned: that each (each!) of the two pastries in each packet has 200 calories. Mon dieu. No more breakfast pastries for me, thank you all very much. I'm glad I skipped this morning.

A monday

I weighed 254.8 pounds this morning when I stepped on the scale. Breakfast was a piece of wheat bread with peanut butter and prunes, and a can of diet Mountain Dew. Lunch was a half a cob of corn, and a cup and a half or so of summer salad (feta, blueberries, sliced onion, tomato and cucumber, in a vinaigrette) and yellow rice with sauteed diced onion and peppers from the garden. I had an iced coffee and two glasses of water during the work day. Dinner was a foot-long Subway sandwich, oat bread with buffalo chicken and American cheese, light mayo, lettuce, onions, olives, and tomato. I also had a bag of Lay's popped chips, some sort of newfangled diet food. And a cup of diet cola. Dessert, at home, was a slice of strawberry shortcakish cake, with ladyfinger cookies and whipped cream.

Faturday?

I didn't weigh myself this morning; not after yesterday's unrestrained eating. I was probably feeling sheepish.

The first thing I did in the morning was go downstairs to run the now full dishwasher, and assess the groceries situation. Not good; some produce was going to go bad if it wasn't used. So use it I did. I made a container of guacamole with five soft avocados and some tomato from the garden. I made a salad with butter lettuce, goat cheese, diced peaches, and very thinly sliced onion limbs, with a vinaigrette.

I brought Jenna breakfast in bed: a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats, with blackberries from the woods, and vanilla almond milk. I finished the milk she left in the bowl, but had water for breakfast otherwise.

I hopped in the truck and did the groceries. I came home, and delivered Jenna her requested treasure: a vanilla-cream-filled doughnut from Dippin' Donuts. I had perhaps a third of this, the "rind" that she leaves when she's eaten the soft underbelly of the pastry. I had a good deal of whole grain Tostitos Scoops chips with the guac. I made a sandwich for us to share for lunch -- turkey pastrami and white American cheese, on a cinnamon raisin bagel, with a little brown deli mustard. I had my half, and a bite of hers. We also split a plum, and each had a large soft peanut butter cookie from Hannaford's. I drank more water.

I snacked during the day on the remaining chicken 'n' waffle Lay's chips. It was unpleasant to eat them.

Dinner was pizza; I had two small slices of cheese, and one slice of pepperoni. I also made stuffed horn peppers, with a filling of minced peppers, onion, tomato, basil, and oregano flowers, mixed and cooked with diced wheat toast, goat cheese, and shredded parmesan. I baked the peppers for twenty minutes in the oven. I had one of these with my pizza. I also had a serving and a half of that salad I'd made in the morning. I drank water.

We went to the movies tonight, and saw We're the Millers. A sweet stupid film, one which scratched the itch. I'd made brownies that afternoon, loaded with chopped pecan pieces and dark chocolate chips and berries, and ate three of them while I sat in my seat watching. Come on, man. Jenna and I shared two small diet sodas, and a hot dog with mustard. She turned me on to this hot dog idea with her impression of it rolling, blank-eyed, back and forth in its countertop cooker. 

A backslide

My morning, pre-game weigh-in: 251.4.

Last night, I'd made three chicken salad sandwiches by chopping very finely the BBQ left from the previous Sunday, and mixing it with a little mayo and a little blue cheese dressing. I sliced some tomato from the garden and put this and the chicken onto whole wheat bread. I made three sandwiches.

Jenna saw these sitting on the counter in their little plastic jackets, and decided they needed a little something extra. So she found a marker and wrote on them:

"LOL I AM ZAK'S SANDWICH WTF OMG"

"I AM A ZOMBIE SANDWICH FILLED WITH BRAINZ"

"NOM NOM NOM I AM A SAMMY NOM"

She is a hoot. I ate one of these on the train, with a can of diet soda.

I ate the other two not long after I arrived at the office. This is an unreasonable rate of consumption, I know. Why the backslide? I think it is because I knew I wasn't going to the gym that evening (was going to Finnegans instead), so I didn't have to avoid having a heavy stomach. I remembered that there'd been a book club meeting in the office the night before, and as I walked into the office from the train I dreaded the chance that there'd be pizza leftover in the fridge. Because I didn't know how I'd avoid eating it.

I felt gross as it was happening, as I put away one after the other of these minced meat sandwiches. I also had a few peanut-butter-filled pretzel bites, and a miniature Mr. Goodbar during the work day; and, of course, two iced coffees.

At Finnegans, I demolished a "Canadian" cheeseburger (so-called because of the slice of Canadian bacon atop the patty-cooked-rare) with a side of sweet potato fries. I drank three diet Cokes.

At home, I made Jenna a dinner of frozen entree tikki masala, and ate (!) the frozen broccoli-stuffed chicken breast she'd already baked. She wanted the Indian, and I was going to put away the chicken, and instead I ate it. One two three, gone. I also finished the sriracha chips from Thursday night. I had a lot of water. 

Use it up night

This morning the scale reported that I weigh 251.6 pounds. To start the day I had a package of miniature powdered doughnuts, and a can of Coke Zero. At work, I found a half a leftover sandwich someone had left in the fridge -- pastrami on marble rye, with some french fries. I, I am sorry to say, ate it. I washed it down with the usual iced coffee. My lunch was a sandwich on whole grain wheat bread: a baked (alright, microwaved) whole egg, two slices of white American cheese, a sachet of ketchup, some sliced tomato brought from home, from the garden. I also had six or so of those peanut-butter-filled pretzel bites. I had an iced coffee with it.

Dinner at home was an effort to use-up leftovers and garden produce. I made a box of Annie's cheddar bunnies shells, and served this with a spicy ragu of tomatoes and purple and yellow horn peppers fresh-picked from the garden, sauteed with onion and bacon in olive oil and a little sriracha. I mixed my serving of the pasta with a thigh's-worth of chopped BQQ chicken from Sunday's big dinner. I also cooked thinly sliced two small summer squash, also just brought in from the garden, and cooked this with butter and fresh oregano. I drank diet root beer; but also had a few sips from a can of NON-diet root beer, a result of my inattention when buying soda at the convenience store. Foolish me. I also had a glass of water, and a few bites of Jenna's breaded buffalo chicken strips (she did not want leftover BBQ, for she is fancy). I buckled to temptation and had a single-serving ice cream sandwich bar for dessert. 

Uncouth am I

Weigh-in: 249.8. Breakfast: a sleeve of miniature chocolate doughnuts, and a can of Coke Zero, on the train with the dog. At work, two iced coffees (the usual: three creamers and four Splendas each). For lunch, a glass of water and a wheat bread sandwich with prunes and peanut butter. Before lunch, however, a snack: a miniature Mr. Goodbar.

We stopped at Burger King so Jenna could get a veggie burger. I had the top half of the bun, and a handful of her small order of fries, and some sips of her diet cola. I also had one of her mini doughnuts from the morning; she'd not gotten to it.

Before boxing, I drank a Gatorade of yellow flavor, with some low number of calories -- 45? After we got home, I had a chicken leg and a chicken thigh; a hard-boiled egg crushed with a little horseradish cream onto a potato roll; a plum; and a piece of cake. And, oh, the rest of the chicken 'n' waffle chips from the night before. I drank with this diet Mountain Dew. Straight from the bottle I drank it, because I am uncivilized.

Hoovering the leftovers

Morning weight: 250.8. Breakfast: One of Jenna's mini buttercrunch doughnuts, and a diet Mountain Dew on the train. And at work, second breakfast, or Very Early Lunch (VEL): a cup of leftover scalloped potatoes (Patty makes them with boursin cheese; brilliant, no?); a cup of leftover summer squash, FROM OUR GARDEN; a half a sliced cucumber. At lunch time, I had no lunch; I was still recovering from yesterday's food crush. Dinner: Two bites of leftover wheat-wrap-wrapped-around-cream-cheese-and-veggies; four deviled eggs (each a half of an egg, so, by my math, two eggs); some leftover salad, a cup, dressed with a splash of lemon juice and a squirt of creamy horseradish; a leftover BBQ chicken thigh; and a little less than half of each of three bags of Lay's potato chips -- we were trying out the three new flavors: Chicken 'n' Waffles, Sriracha, and (the best) Cheesey Garlic Bread (by my calculation, I had about 350-400 calories' worth of chip). Dessert was leftover trifle: pound cake, pudding, whipped cream, banana, and pineapple. I had two servings of diet Mountain Dew.

Much later in the evening, feeling blue, Jenna and I shared some kind of flavored Triscuits while watching stupid television. 

A gym day

Morning weigh-in: 253.4. Not surprising, considering yesterday's excesses.

I had a diet Mountain Dew for breakfast. I had two peanut-butter-filled pretzel bites at work, and the usual iced coffee: four Splenda, three creamers. For lunch at 2 PM, I had a sandwich of peanut butter and prunes on wheat bread. I drank water with that, and drank water all during my time at the boxing gym.

On the train ride home, I had water and a chocolate chip granola bar.

At home, I had about a serving and a half of macaroni and cheese (shells, not elbows); and about two and a half (!) servings of baked ham. I also had some of the leftover chips (TOSTITOS® Multigrain SCOOPS!®) with the dip I made for yesterday's smorgasbord, of fresh picked cherry tomatoes and basil leaves finely processed and blended with sour cream, cream cheese, and spices. I didn't have too much chip and dip; but what I did have, I enjoyed. With this all, I had a diet Mountain Dew.

Jenna declined to allow me to enjoy any of the leftover trifle (pineapple, banana, pudding, pound cake, and whipped cream). She is the best/worst.

Visitors and the spread we gave them

I was discouraged from typing up the day's consumption, because of the high volume of snacking involved. We had relatives visiting, which meant hors d'oeuvres and munchies and chips and dip, not to mention a large meal of BBQ chicken and a ton of fixin's. So I simply went to bed.

My morning weight-o-meter reading had been: 251.2.

Eating away from the house

Breakfast: a cracked whole egg (no oils), cooked to doneness in the microwave, with salt and pepper. Half a plum. One and a half strawberries. A Pillsbury home-bake iced cinnamon roll (and a bit of Jenna's). An iced coffee, with almond milk and four packets of generic calorie-free sweetener. A glass of orange juice, diluted (the acid is unpleasant to me) with water. A Who-Nu? cookie. At the Humanist cookout, some boursin dip with five Triscuit crackers. A serving of tortilla chips, salsa, and seven-layer dip. A tablespoon of tabouleh. A cup of pudding parfait. A cookie, about as large as my palm. Four ravioli. A Sam Adams summer ale something. Afterward, at Starbucks where Jenna and I went to talk with Josiah, some kind of fizzy canned Starbucks drink, pomegranate flavor (as well as a few sips of Jenna's iced coffee). For dinner, at a sports bar in Canton where we ended up when we drove in the wrong direction on 95: the chopped southwestern salad with grilled chicken (with bacon, toasted corn, tortilla chips, chipotle creamy dressing). And a serving of sweet potato fries, off of Jenna's plate; and three-eights of Jenna's grilled chicken sandwich on white (they didn't have wheat) bread. I had a cup of diet cola with dinner, and a refill. 

With gratitude to squids

Morning weigh-in: 249.8. On the ride to the train: A snack pack of crackers-and-cheese -- Cheddar (or whatever stand-in these snack pack manufacturers put into their product) and whole wheat crack-a-lackers, and three-quarters of a can of Diet Mountain Dew. Early lunch was more Chinese leftovers: two pieces of (breaded) sweet-and-sour chicken, two crab rangoons, and a half pint of veggies in gloopy sauce. At noon, a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew. Before the end of the work day, three of those peanut-butter-filled pretzel bites, and a banana.

At Waterline meeting one of the founders of March of Dimes, an appetizer raft of fried calamari (which I demolished, a gin & tonic, and three glasses of diet cola. At home, a diet Mountain Dew, and a sandwich of cheese and tomato with mustard on potato pun.

Back down to an eighth of a ton

Morning weigh-in: 250! This a low-water mark I am delighted to have sunk to. The day's intake:

A banana, whilst being delivered to the train. At the office, a miniature Mr Goodbar chocolate bar, stolen from the pile of devotional offerings in front of our teensy-tiny small statue of Ganesha. At the start of the work day, three peanut butter-filled pretzel bites. An iced coffee with three Coffeemate creamers and four Splenda (a glass and a half). At three in the afternoon, an ounce or two of prunes, and two pieces of wheat bread with reduced fat creamy peanut butter. A lot of water at the boxing gym. Two Gold Emblem chewy chocolate chip granola bars on the train to North Station. At home, a can of Diet Mountain Dew, a cup of stir-fried veggies in gelatinous saice from an order of Chinese food, and three boneless pork ribs, two baked chicken wings, and a skewer of what I am hoping is beef, with a dab of sweet and sour sauce.

And since Jenna was eating potato chips in bed, a few of those. Actually, she gave me the "empty bag", leaving my sleepy self to contrive some way of cutting and crimping the bag so the crumbs pasted to the bottom in a greasy lump could be gotten to. Delicious; indulgent. She looked on, horrified. The dog looked on, with an expression that spoke clearly of his admiration for my resourcefulness.

Rabbit rabbit.

Picking up the thread

Morning weight: 250.2. Getting there. Here's what the system demanded today:

On the way out of the house: a sweet-and-salty pretzel granola bar. On the train, a can of Diet Mountain Dew. At North Station, a turkey sausage breakfast sandwich from Dunkin. At work, ten ounces of iced coffee, with three Coffeemate creamers and four Splenda. Around the lunch hour, two bottles of Diet Mountain Dew and a meat-and-cheese snack stick. Mid-afternoon, two stroopwafels and three peanut butter-filled pretzel bites. After work at Barnes & Noble, where I sat for an hour reading Herder and clearing my head after a busy day at the office, a bottle of Diet Pepsi and a bag of salt-and-vinegar Pop Chips. At home at around 8, a turkey and cheese sandwich with mustard and tomato on a potato roll, and two pizzas of leftover pizza from Rye & Thyme. After dinner, a slice of "Single Layer Red Velvet Cake With Cream Cheese Icing" from Hannaford's.

I'd have liked a salad with dinner, but our salad greens were all mush and rot.

A note to my future self...

... for when he comes trawling through these archives in a moment when it seems right to look down upon my history of food failures. I've not abandoned this project (again); instead, I chose to take a few weeks off from monitoring my consumption and weight, in order to focus instead on exercise. I've been doing weight training every other morning, and while I am sore I am also hopeful that this will lead to an uptick in metabolism with an attendant improvement in my cardiovascular outlook.

*

Relatedly: remember when I tried to order a replacement nylon strap for the lat pull-down bar, and the Bowflex people responded by telling me I could place my order by phone, and how I was so irritated at the idea that they wouldn't just give me the information by email that I replied and told them that I was deaf so let's just do it by email and they DID?

*

Relatedly, wonderfully: "What 2000 Calories Looks Like":

Unexpected pie

Breakfast: Two packets of plain oatmeal, with water and a container of hazelnut-flavored creamed. Water.

Lunch: A six-inch wheat sandwich from Subway, with egg white, tomato, spinach, onions, and olives, and honey-mustard condiment. With diet Mountain Dew.

In the office, in an unguarded moment, a miniature Rolo candy and a miniature Milky Way. Later in the afternoon, four or five single-stick Kit-Kat candies.

On the way to the train station to go home for the evening, I felt without warning very nauseated. A return of the old symptoms, I feared. The thought occurred to me that the candy I'd just eaten may have not settled well; and also that I should have a McDonald's sandwich, chicken or burger, to settle my stomach. Then I thought, that's a bit of ridiculous nonsense, and I saved money and dignity by buying no snacks for the ride home. Good on me.

Dinner: A large serving of "sweet-and-sour" spaghetti consisting of: 1) pasta from Sunday evening's mussels dinner, minus the shellfish; and 2) a ragu of sauteed red onion, chopped meatloaf, sriracha sauce, ketchup, barbecue sauce, and low-fat source cream. On the side, leftover roasted cauliflower. I had my plate of food, and about a fifth of J's, and something like three slices of homemade bread with oleo. Two cans of diet Mountain Dew to drink.

Dessert was four peanut butter Girl Scout sandwich cookies (two servings' worth, I learn to my dismay). AND THEN there was a second dessert, brought about when J's mother returned home from her monthly book-club meeting with a fifth of a chocolate candy bar pie. She thought it would perk J up (she was in a funk; the job is showing its strain on her... ) and she knew that I seldom am unenthusiastic about sweets. (Though really I'm just playing to type; I'd be much happier if there was not a sweet in the house.)

So we ate that. Pie crust shell, with a creamy filling made, probably, with sour cream, cream cheese, sugar or syrup. There was peanut butter in it, and a chocolate shell on top, and fresh raspberries studding the chocolate. I thought of it as a Snickers pie. (Why did that girl in my AP Calculus class give me the nickname "Snickers"? I didn't eat candy then.)

I did not weigh myself, for shame. Phoo on me.

Undressed adventure

For breakfast on the train, five forkfuls each of pulled pork, cole slaw, and macaroni and cheese. With water.

For lunch, the remainder of the pork and 'roni and slaw: maybe a pint of food.

For dinner, an undressed garden salad at O'Leary's, and a side order of green beans with butter and tarragon; and a buttered chocolate chip scone; and a butter piece of dense oat bread. With two cups of diet cola.

The salad didn't cut the mustard for me, so when I got home J gave me a bowl of meatloaf and roasted cauliflower.

Bedtime weight: 258.8.

Survival food

I've been skipping breakfasts on weekdays, but this morning I grabbed a pretzel-granola something snackbar out of the cabinet on the way out the door. I was concerned about the possibility that the car would crash on the snowy roads, and didn't want to be stuck out there in the wintry mix without something in my stomach.

A bottle of water on the train.

A mid-morning snack of a slice of wheat bread with grape jelly.

Late lunch at Panera: a small bowl of pesto sacchettini, about seven inches of baguette with one packet of olive oil mayo and one packet of yellow mustard, a small bowl of chicken noodle soup with Tabasco sauce, and a chocolate-walnut cookie. Diet cola, which made me throw up. Because I'm not supposed to drink caffeine, lest it kill me. I should pay attention to these guidelines.

Late dinner, at home: a bowl of pulled pork, mac and cheese, and cole slaw. Water.

A case of the hungry Mondays

I rose on sunbeams and had breakfast on the train: a sandwich of wheat supermarket bread, sliced deli-counter chicken breast (too old, I fear) and American cheese and tomato and mustard. This kept me going until noonish when I had lunch with the intern: a slice of wheat-dough pizza from the student union, dolloped with ricotta I think it was. And diet Dew. (And I thought, while we ate, about the time I ate a slice of pizza at My Brother's Place, gone now some years, in South Campus, sitting there in the window looking out on the street, and wondering whether the person who lived on the street there would make an appearance. I went home after eating, without having seen a soul I know. Is there anyone who waited in those days to see if I'd show up, or walk by, or stop in and invite myself to sit down so we could have a bite to eat together? I know I am vain in wishing so many times had turned out other than they did. I wish I were otherwise.)

The my brother-in-law (soon-to-be) and his bride made mussels fra diavlo for dinner, served over angel hair pasta. I had perhaps a dozen mussels, and a good serving and a half of pasta (which I myself would have taken less of, but the plate, it was served to me and beyond my power to control). Two slices of garlic-becloved Italian loaf with oleo. A can of diet Dew. Water.

Dessert was important to J, who'd had a bad day, so I made a bowl for each of us: a half-cup of chocolate chip cookie dough frozen yogurt (two small scoops), one-and-a-half Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies each, crushed, and a half a banana each.

Weigh-in: 258.6.

Too much the world is in us

J's dear friend Kristin came in from Boston by train. We met her at the station, and whisked her off to Harley House in Lunenburg for brunch. I spoke about the purpose of the thread tied around my wrist, and then completely ignored it as I ate and ate. I had three mini-bagel halves, with boursin, salami, raw onion, capers, and ham (canapes, I mean -- I didn't pile up the cold cuts), and a half-cup of grapes, and a slice of pecan pie and a bowl of bread pudding (each of which had a half-cup or less of ambrosia salad on top; I'd thought it was whipped cream!), and a poached egg over corned beef hash, three mugs of decaf coffee with calorie-free sweetener and milk, half a cinnamon roll, a quarter of a chocolate cupcake with penuche or peanut butter frosting (I don't know which -- mostly, it was tastelessly rich, like Mitt Romney), two corn fritters with maple syrup, and oh, I don't know, other things. Gross.

We spent the middle part of the day preparing ourselves for engagement photos at Cogshall Park. This process started with the girls stewing in the hot tub for a while to take the edge of brunch off (I guess?); I brought them a tray of beverages, and a bowl of dried cranberries and candied ginger. Which they declined, but which I sampled. So that's lunch. I also had water.

After the photo session at the Park (yes, it was cold), we went to Marge's house for boiled dinner in celebration of the holiday. I had, oh, four small slices of corned beef (and a rind of fat, some tablespoons' worth, off the meat in the roasting pan, when no one was looking), and four small slices or so of Zak's Own soda bread with cranberries and raisins, smeared with Zak's Own honey butter, and a serving or two of potatoes, cabbage, parsnips, and carrots. I drank water with the meal because, you know, I'm trying to stay healthy. Dinner was green-colored cake with green-colored frosting -- the cake had walnuts in it. I had my slice, and a second slice which had been brought to the dining room on the erroneous assumption that Joe was going to break his Lenten ban on desserts.

That evening, I had some diet Dew and some more ginger, at homem unwinding with the girls again (my gal, and her pal) in and around the hot tub.

My weight at turn-in was 262.2.

Up again.

Breakfast was one and a half eggs (Jenna and I shared three), scrambled in olive oil with thyme and a half a cup of shredded 'Italian blend' cheese, served over a Pillsbury biscuit and half a mashed avocado (Jenna and I shared one) and a half a banana (Jenna and I shared one) cooked on the stovetop in a little brown sugar and butter. Also about a quarter cup of leftover salad, just absolutely dripping with dressing.

Jenna and I shared lunch, as well: a Cool Ranch Doritos Locos taco (beef) from Taco Bell, and a 'cantina' chicken burrito, with diet cola. And oh yes, when we got home: I had myself a sandwich of wheat bread, tomato, two slices of reheated pot roast, horseradish, and American cheese, and I ate the crust of Jenna's slice of pizza.

I had a berry-something Girl Scout cookie in the afternoon, while baking soda bread for tomorrow evening's holiday dinner. 

Dinner was another use-it-up leftovers meal. I boiled two white potatoes, and mashed them with horseradish cream, sour cream, and a bit of oleo. I reheated the rest of the pot roast, and served it on a piece of leftover corn bread. I found some snack-sized carrots in the fridge, sliced them thin, softened them in the microwave, and then tossed them in a splash of vinegar and a spoonful of the honey butter (a container of which I'd made and was keeping in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner, to go with the soda bread). 

Over the course of the day, I probably had five cans of diet soda. 

Evening weight: 260.2.

Another cow has died.

Friday. Breakfast was a bowlful of mashed potatoes, peas and mushrooms, and rotisserie chicken, leftover from the night before.

At a meeting with an author, I had a cappuccino with Splenda, and a bottle of Pellegrino water.

For lunch with the intern, I had sweet and sour Chinese chicken with white rice, and a fortune cookie, with water.

Dinner at the pub was a cheeseburger, rare, with American cheese, and French fries, with diet cola.

Bedtime weight: 558.8.

Surprising development

Weight before bed: 256.6. Hmm.

*

Breakfast: two packets of plain instant oatmeal, with water and one single-serving packet of hazelnut-flavored coffee creamer.

Lunch: A crispy chicken snack wrap from McDonald's with honey mustard dressing; a small diet cola.

Dinner: Rotisserie chicken (two servings), with buttered mashed potatoes, Caesar salad, and peas-with-mushroom-pieces, along with a cup of chicken w/broccoli and ravioli from the previous evening. To drink, water.

Dessert: A slice of red relvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

To hell with you, crackers

Breakfast: About half of the previous evening's Pillsbury country Italian loaf, 450-500 calories worth. Good lord, why did I look that up. With about a dozen cubes of pepper jack cheese, from a bag I found in the fridge at home, and smears of Concord grape jelly I found in the fridge at work. With water.

Lunch: A sleeve of wheat crackers from Trader Joe's, which come to about 550 calories. (How non-intuitive that huge calorie count is.) With grape jelly, and eight or so cheese cubes.

Water on the train home.

Dinner: Cheese-filled tortellini, with pan-cooked breaded chicken breast and broccoli. Two helpings, really. Also a slice of "Texas-toast" garlic bread. In bed, about a half-cup of chocolate chip cookie dough.

Weigh-in for the night: 560.2.

Damn these cookies.

Breakfast: Whole wheat bagel from Breugger's in Kenmore Square, with egg white, cheddar cheese, and sun-dried tomato spread. A decaf coffee with 1% milk and Splenda.

Lunch: Leftovers -- a Pillsbury biscuit, a cup of corn & rice, five inches of kielbasa sausage. Water.

Dinner: By an act of kindness, a plate was waiting for me in the fridge when I got home after taking a later train. Three slices of pot-roast, two small baked potatoes (with about one and a half tablespoons of butter, he said weakly), and three-quarters of a cup of mixed frozen veg (though this was mostly carrots). For variety, one leftover crab rangoon. A can of diet cola; a can of diet Mountain Dew.

Water.

In bed, seven or so (!) miniature chocolate-frosted sugar cookies, from Hannaford's. No doubt they are basically little morsels of fat.

Weight at turn-in: 259.2.

What weekend?

Don't ask me about the weekend. There was no weekend.

*

Breakfast: about three-quarters of a sleeve of wheat crackers from Trader Joe's, with Concord grape jelly, for breakfast. With water.

Lunch: tom yum pad thai with chicken and shrimps, at Noodle Street. Water; lots of water.

Dinner: about three-quarters of a tater tot basket at the Lower Depths, shared with the ravenous Jenna and the rapacious Kristin. With a diet cola.

And that's it.

Weight at turn-in: 259.5.

Ugh.

Breakfast: a cup of rice with peas and mushrooms, in that familiar cream of mushroom soup gravy. A bottle of water.

Lunch: Two portions of cod piperade. A cup of bowtie paste with ham and peas, in a cream sauce. A scoop of broiled vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, and green beans. A few tablespoons of cooked beets. Half a chicken breast (with skin), with adobo seasoning. Eight ounces of non-diet cola; two glasses of water. A chocolate cupcake with creme icing. A chocolate chip cookie.

A miniature Butterfinger candy.

Dinner: Two slices of pizza with mushrooms and peppers, each with a soupçon Frank's Red Hot. Water. Two two-bite miniature pecan pies. A half cup toffee-something frozen yogurt.

Weight at bed: 261.

With a lazy stop at McDo's

Breakfast: A bowl of Life cereal (brown sugar flavor) with 1% milk.

Lunch: A cup and a half of left-over rice pilaf with peas, with some cream of mushroom soup gravy. A slice of pizza with sausage and peppers. A bottle of water.

A miniature Butterfingers candy.

Dinner: #14 on the McDonald's menu: Mushroom & Swiss Angus Burger, fries, diet cola. Jenna had a fifth of my sandwich.

At home, before bed, three-quarters of a cup of apple cobbler (baked a few days before in the slow cooker, by combining canned apple pie filling, butter, and boxed cake mix). More water.

Weight at turn-in o'clock: 259.6.

More mere drudgery

Breakfast, by my lonesome while I thought about Jenna leaving me at the train station and going back home to go back to bed for a half-hour or so, by her lonesome: A sandwich of two slices of white American cheese, a smear of butter, and a tablespoon of grape jelly, on garlic focaccia bread. With water.

Lunch, with Robert Morris: Five thin slices of "herbed pork loin"; a salad of beets, peas, lettuce with red cabbage shreds, and shredded carrot, with fat-free ranch dressing; a "Moroccan-herbed" chicken breast; and a cup of roasted vegetable. Two glasses of diet cola, and a chocolate chip cookie.

Dinner, with Matthew Kelsey: A bowl of fennel soup; a salad Niçoise (with tuna salad puttanesca, rather than a hunk of solid meat), two glasses of diet cola.

At home, before going to bed for a few hours, a glass of water and one and one-nibble's worth of tiny store-bought pecan tarts. Not bad, today.

Weight before saying goodnight to the day: 260.5.

Back on the horse again.

A sandwich of two slices of white American cheese, a sachet of mayonnaise, and a tablespoon of grape jelly, on garlic focaccia bread. With water.

A brace of animal crackers.

An 8-oz bottle of water on the train.

A half-cup of left-over braised Brussels sprouts, cooked with bacon and onions.

A serving of left-over cornbread with butter.

A whole chicken breast (skinless), cooked with cream of mushroom soup and served over rice pilaf and peas with mushroom pieces.

Two servings of salad with Caesar dressing.

Three-quarters of an eclair.

Two glasses of water.

Pounds-per-square-Zak at light's-out: 261.