Day 8: Nothing To See Here...

Wednesday morning weigh-in: 155.4

• coffee, Eight O'Clock (1)
• Al Cohen's rye toast w/butter (2)

DMV, School Tax payment day, grocery shopping.
Woo-Hoo!

• leftover chicken/cabbage soup (1 bowl)
• leftover pan-fried chicken breast strips (2)
• cranberry/oatmeal cookies (2)
• water (12 oz)

More shopping and errand-running.
This is turning into a very exciting day.

• Newman's Own Thin & Crispy Pizza, Buffalo Style Chicken (2 slices)
• Diet Vernor's (12 oz)

Watched a hilarious episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway with The Boy while shoving a small quantity of…

• Clancy's Wavy Potato Chips

into my face.

Then watched some of the Yankee/Red Sox game before putting a DVD of War and Peace into the DVD player. An almost four-hour long movie. Lasted about a half-hour in.


To be continued...

Day 7: Grinding It Out

Tuesday morning weigh-in: 155.2

Must have been eating just that one Lay's potato chip that saved me.

Picked up a...

• coffee, Tim Hortons medium black

on my way to work. It was one of those mornings, so I also had a

• coffee from the work coffee pot (see below)

What is it about the coffee wherever I've worked that made it almost undrinkable? Adding cream and sugar is the only way I can manage to force this stuff down no matter who makes it. Ugh.

A morning of the computers being dead in the water finally led to lunch…

• sliced hard-boiled egg on a biscuit
• McIntosh apple (1)
• Wegman's fruit-on-the-bottom raspberry yogurt (6 oz)
• Arizona pomegranate green tea (16 oz)

An afternoon of the computers still being AWOL led to me finally going home at the end of the day to dinner…

• pancakes (3) w/Mrs. Butterworth's
• slice of pan-fried ham
• scrambled eggs (2)
• Nature's Nectar mango passion juice (12 oz)

That juice has the most vibrant color of any juice I've ever had. I'd love a car in that shade!

Snacked a bit — just a bit — in the evening while watching the new Fred Savage/Rob Lowe FOX comedy The Grinder. Had a few laughs, but I'm not sure how it will hold up. Will try it again next week.
Oh yeah, the snacking…

• Lay's potato chips (the last handful in the bag)
• ice cream sandwich (1)
• Angry Orchard Crisp Apple Cider (12 oz)
• leftover chicken breast strip (1)
• Fire-Roasted Tomato/Olive Oil Triscuits (6, and 2 broken ones)

And I think that was that.

Day 6: Take THAT, Bert Lahr!

Monday morning weigh-in: 156.2

If I haven't gained two pounds over the course of a weekend it was a good weekend.

An unusual Monday spent at the store working on a special project, so the day started with…

• black coffee, Tim Hortons medium, 1

Not much to report until lunch…

• Wegman's fruit-on-the-bottom strawberry yogurt, 6 oz.
• McIntosh apple, 1
• nectarine, about 1/3 before I realized it had gone bad
• Arizona pomegranate green tea, 16 oz.
• leftover Wegman's chocolate cupcake, 1

Hey You! Back to work!

Finally came home to dinner…

• pan-fried chicken breast strips, 3
• oniony mashed potatoes, 1 large pile
• steamed baby carrots & lima beans, some (who counts beans & carrots?)
• Not Your Father's Root Beer, 12 oz. bottle, 1

Did some dishes before sitting down to do a little writing. But not before I snacked on…

• Lay's potato chips, 1

That's right, one potato chip, just to see if I could do it. And yes, it can be done.

Day 5: Visiting The Doctor

Sunday weigh-in: 155.2

Somehow it's the same weight as yesterday. We won't complain.

Another weekend morning, another actual breakfast. Well, not much of one come to think of it…

• coffee, 2 cups of Eight O'Clock
• Al Cohen's rye toast w/butter, 2 slices

then it was off to church. And no, we're not counting taking Communion and wine every Sunday in our end-of-day tabulations.

Some of you will shudder when I say I then headed off to Tops for a few things; I then came home and did some laundry and had a bit of lunch…

• sliced hard-boiled egg on a biscuit
• Millville Sweet & Salty granola bar, peanut, 7.4 oz., 1
• water, 12 oz., 2 glasses

which led to Sunday's bike ride down the Niagara River pathway into Buffalo, where I roamed the lower West Side for an hour or so, Upon returning home, I refreshed myself with a…

• hard-boiled egg, 1

while planning dinner. Which turned out to be…

• grilled cheeseburger on a bun, 2
• garlic mashed potatoes, a mound
• steamed buttered baby carrots, 1 Dad-sized portion
• Genesee Light beer, 12 oz., 1 can

All of this as we watched the DVR'd latest episode of Dr. Who. Halfway through the show I began snacking (ugh!) on…

• Lay's regular potato chips (too many)
• Diet Vernor's, 12 oz., 1 can

and called it a night. A night where, just about the time the lunar eclipse was about to start, the clouds rolled in. So we weren't able to see the thing we wanted to see disappear.

Day 4: Falling into the Big Ditch again.

Saturday morning weigh-in: 155.2

In this blog, down is up!

Being a non-workday Saturday, I actually had a breakfast…

• coffee, Eight O'Clock whole bean (and yes, I ground it first), 2 cups
• grits & eggs, 1 bowl (for those of you who are new to the SofE blog, it's a bowl of grits with two soft-boiled eggs mixed in. Yum.)

Paid some bills. Wasted some time in front of the iMac. And got a haircut — or as Dad used to say, "I got 'em all cut!"

Lunch? Hmm, yes, I think I also had a lunch…

• chicken & cabbage soup, 1 bowl
• water, 12 oz.
• Wegman's vanilla cupcake, 1

Then it was outside to continue on the house-painting project. I took off the hot weeks of August and early September, but am back at it and in the home stretch. After cleaning the tools I crammed a...

• hard-boiled egg (1)

into my face before getting changed to head over to the Artvoice 25th Anniversary Party. It was held on the grounds of the old Buffalo Color Corporation on South Park Avenue, a place I must have passed-by a million times in my life. What a talented group of artists showed up! I felt very inadequate, but was helped somewhat by a…

• Big Ditch Low Bridge Golden Ale, about 10 oz.

This was very appropriate seeing our location at the Buffalo River bend. That's two different Big Ditches (Ditchi?) in two nights.

Arrived home hungry and sat down with…

• chicken and pepperjack cheese on an everything bagel
• Yoplait blackberry harvest yogurt, 6 oz.
• Clancy's Honey Wheat pretzels, 8 (no broken ones tonight)
• water, 12 oz.

All of this while watching Brian Regan live at Radio City Music Hall on the Comedy Channel. Funny guy.

Day 3: Let 'em Eat Cake!

Friday morning weigh-in: 156.4

Blame the beer. And those stupid veggie straws (whateverthehell those are!).

Another boring morning (no offense TimmyHo) of

• coffee, Tim Hortons medium black

Work.
Whoever invented work, anyway? At least it eventually leads to lunch…

• Arizona pomegranate green tea, 16 oz.
• McIntosh apple (1)
• Wegman's low fat apricot/mango yogurt, 6 oz.
• Millville Sweet & Salty Nut granola bar, peanut, 7.4 oz.

Work. (See above.)

Rushed home for a quick dinner before meeting some friends downtown at Statler City —

• homemade (not by me!) chicken/cabbage soup, 1 bowl
• chicken & provolone on Al Cohen's rye

and then there were a few birthdays to celebrate at the Statler. With cake. And more cake…

• homemade (see above) Smores cake, 1 slab
• DiCamillo's white cake, 1 slice
• Wegman's chocolate cupcake, 1

Oh, and

• Big Ditch Hayburner IPA, 2 pints

Pete

Besides celebrating with old friends, got to meet YouTube star Pete from Pete's Garage. Talked cars in between cake and beer.

Came home, sat down at the keyboard with




• Clancy's Honey Wheat pretzel rods, 7-1/2 (hey, those broken ones don't just disappear you know!)
• water, 12 oz.

And that, was that.

Day 2: Heading in the Right Direction

Thursday morning weigh-in: 154.4

Whew! It would have been very disappointing to have a gain on only the second day.

Started today as I start many work days...

• coffee, Tim Hortons medium black (and no, there's no apostrophe in Hortons. WTH?)

An unusually busy morning in the store, so not much happening here until lunch...

• Arizona Pomegranate Green Tea, 16 oz.

• Wegman's (with an apostrophe) low fat fruit-on-the-bottom Cherry Vanilla yogurt, 6 oz.
• mcintosh apple (1)
• nectarine (1)
• Moser Roth Privat Chocolatiers Toffee Crunch bar, 4.4 oz. (1)

I believe that I read somewhere, or, at least imagined, that nine out of ten doctors recommend eating chocolate daily. That tenth doctor? I never take his calls.

Dinner was rather simple…

• tater tot (1) (yes, one it's a long story)
• chicken breast strips (2)
• potato salad (1 large dollop)
• yellow wax beans, steamed (a manly serving)
• Crystal Beach diet loganberry, 12 oz.
• Millville Sweet & Salty Nut granola bar, peanut, 7.4 oz. (1)

Headed over to the St. Francis Food Pantry to help out for a few hours, enjoying

• coffee, black, 8 oz.

while there. Then came home to watch the latest installment of Project Runway while scarfing down some

• Clancy's Veggie Straws (a very large handful)
• Genesee Light, 12 oz. (1 can)

Still not sure just what the heck those things are, but they're very addictive. Luckily there weren't many left. As as I toil away here at the keyboard, trying to keep my calcium up, I'm inhaling

• Swiss cheese, about 2 oz.
• water 12 oz.

And as Heide Klum would say here, "Auf weidersehen!"

Day 1: Got Ham?

First day of fall weigh-in: 155.8

Looking back at the original SofE blog, I see that I'm starting out almost two pounds heavier this time around. Seeing that I still have the same goal, I guess I'll be working harder to reach it. (LMAO)

You may start to notice certain patterns as time passes. Like how I don't eat many breakfasts. Not never, but not often. This morning for instance, which consisted of

• coffee, 2 cups of Eight O'Clock

Yep. That was it.

Then we (me) were off to waste almost an hour at the DMV because the woman at the information desk gave me the wrong… are you ready? — information. Doh! I guess she was clock-watching as it was almost noon by the time I inched-up to her counter.

Then it was off to Northtown Fiat for a test drive of the new 500X for next week's Artvoice. Not the same model Pope Francis was driven around Washington in on Tuesday, but I did somehow feel closer to God while driving around northern Amherst. (Who doesn't?)

A quick lunch upon my return of

• egg-salad on Al Cohen's rye
• 12 oz. water

Drinking water, we may find out, is one of the keys to losing weight. As long as the water is taking the place of something else, and not being used, say, to clear the taste of a Big Gulp out of your mouth.

A little yard work (very little) and it was time to start dinner.

• Jim's fried rice (leftover chicken, leftover rice, thrown in a frying pan with celery, carrots, onions, and a handful of bacon bits
• Crystal Beach diet loganberry, 12 oz.
• Perry's French Roast Coffee ice cream (2 scoops) w/chocolate syrup

Watched the second-season premier of Gotham during dinner. Seeing the show's logo come up on the screen at first looked like it said GOT HAM. Maybe the pork producers could pick up on this as their next advertising slogan.

Long-time readers (both of you) may notice that I've quit the gym and bought a bicycle. I've already gotten more exercise this summer than I did during the two years I belonged to the gym. Lesson learned.

Took about a four mile bike ride as dusk neared. Just finished one more

• water, 12 oz. 

and am calling it a night. Nosh-wise.

Getting Started… and Why

Okay, I've heard it before (like, two summers ago ago when I started the original "A Season of Eating" blog). I know I'm not overweight, I've just reached the point where I have to inhale to button my pants. And I'm not springing for new pants.

So, again, I'm writing down everything I eat and drink (don't be offended when I pull out my little notebook if you happen to be around) until the end of fall, in the hopes that it will make me think twice before inhaling an entire bag of chips,
ordering that fourth pint of ale, or reaching for a third pork chop. And you'll be able to follow along daily right here.

It worked last time. Well, all except for the "keeping the weight off" part.

Hopefully, you won't be too bored.