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.

Resuming

Today, I refilled the office reception candy bowl with mini-chocolate bars. I may have had ten; I don't remember -- it is all a blur. Sitting down this morning in front of the bowl of temptation, I resisted the urge to dig in. I decided to recommit myself to keeping track of consumption, as a rein on impulse. So, let's get back to business.

On the train in the morning: Seven Wheat Thins Stix, chipotle pepper flavor; a half-serving according to the information on the box; a few slurps of Diet Mountain Dew; two bites of a Boston cream donut from 7-11, leftover from the night before; and one Fiber One snack bar, chocolate flavor, 90 calories.

And now that I'm keeping track, and can feel like it was a disciplined decision: one miniature Mr. Goodbar bar.

*

Lunch was a cup of reheated pork fried rice, leftover from J's birthday dinner at Kowloon last Thursday; three mugfuls of diet cola; and a piece of roasted chicken, and a piece of cornbread, from last night's take-in dinner from Boston Market. At a meeting with a student editor, a raisin-bran muffin from Dunkin Donuts, leftover from an office meeting, and a can of Diet Mountain Dew.

*

On the train ride home, a third or less of J's holiday-themed, silver dragée-covered, custard-filled donut from Dunkin Donuts.

*

Dinner was a breaded baked chicken breast with a pinch of Italian blend shredded cheese melted over it; peas with mushrooms; Zatarain's red beans with rice, applesauce, and two Pillsbury crescent rolls. I drank water with this. For dessert, a quarter of the previous evening's pumpkin pie from Boston Market.

Not a noble day.