Several Important Unrelated Issues
1. For the record, I had a gallbladder attack this week. I think I ate too much cheese. (Damn you, Wisconsin!) I like to make sure I'm only having about one per year, to assure myself that I don't need to have a bodily organ removed. And yet, ow.

2. The tiny text size on Ointy is driving me crazy, and I can't fix it. Do you guys see tiny text also, or is it just me? And if so, does anyone have any bright ideas on how to fix it? The text size seems to be set okay in the template, I really don't think I changed anything. But damn, that text is tiny.

3. I want to alert you to the new and improved Big Fat Deal. I am trying an experiment to update frequently (nearly daily) and I've also included ads on the site. I'm not trying to go all Dooce on you; the only reason I'm comfortable with it is that it's not a personal site. I can't envision myself putting ads on Ointy, quite frankly. Nor can I envision having this conversation over at BFD. Anyway the site has been kind of barren of comments, which makes me sad. I hope you'll pop over there and consider commenting. (By the way, I don't, like, make money on your comments or anything. I just feel like I'm talking to myself when nobody comments--maybe livejournal has spoiled me.)

4. For some weird reason, I think I'm gaining weight again. Maybe it's all the cheese. (Damn you, Wisconsin!) I have to figure out some kind of exercise that will work for me in the cold weather. Maybe a dance class?
- posted by mo @ 11:58 AM

 
It Has Been Four Days Since My Last Confession
I’ve made more than one trip to the McDonald’s drive through in the past week, and eaten more than one pack of mini-donuts, and had more than one bottle of wine. And yet somehow I am losing weight. I swear to god my Arm Flab is less flabby this week. I mean believe me, I’m not looking at it as a French fry license... but I must be doing something right, right?

So why am I losing? Here are my theories:
*Walking up the stairs a few times a day is really much better exercise than we’ve all been led to believe.
*The Slim Fast shake I have every morning is kick-starting my metabolism; in other words, breakfast really is important.
*The fact that I don’t eat for hours after that Slim Fast shake, because I get so caught up in teaching, is melting the pounds away.
*The fact that I’ve been snacking on 100-calorie granola bars (thank you Quaker) and apples is somehow making a difference.
*My body is expending extra calories to try and keep me from freezing to death in the tundra.
*Food consumed while drunk doesn’t count.
- posted by mo @ 11:31 AM

 
Realization
I got into my car today and the McDonald's bag reminded me: on the way home from the Bad Bar after closing time, I'd gotten a little lost and ended up at a McDonald's drive through, willpower weakened by the vodka tonics, and ordered fries and a Big Mac (no meat, no cheese) that I'd scarfed on the way home. I remembered finishing it and wanting more! Another! Big Mac and fries! But by then I'd found my way home.

(Please note that I wasn't driving drunk or anything; I had stuck to the one-drink-per-hour maxim and had stopped drinking over an hour prior. I was just relaxed enough to relax my guard against McDonald's french fries.)

To atone, or whatever, today my eating was spot on. I just finished dinner: two turkey patties on these awesome light sesame seed buns. The patties are probably four points each and the buns are one, maybe two. Other than that today I had an apple, a Slim Fast shake, a cafe au lait, and a granola bar. So two turkey patties were reasonable since I had basically skipped lunch. And also they were delicious!

This morning I woke up so hungry and was very tempted by the bagel place that's right downstairs, one block over. They have pumpkin chocolate chip bagels, yum. And coffee. Yum. But I figured I should have a Slim Fast shake instead. And of course those things take about 30 seconds to drink and you could easily drink one alongside a huge bagel breakfast, but I noticed that, about fifteen minutes after having had it, I wasn't hungry anymore! It really does satisfy hunger (probably due to the five grams of fiber, right Jen Wade?)

I guess I've never noticed that before, because I drink my morning shake on the way to work and then get so busy preparing for class that I don't even think about whether I'm hungry or not hungry, I just get really focused on teaching. But it's nice to know that if I drink one and then wait 15 minutes, I won't be hungry. That's very nice to know.
- posted by mo @ 4:30 PM

 
Little Things
I did the math yesterday and calculated that I walked up 14 flights of stairs over the course of the day. That's probably about 75 calories, if that, that I burned. But it's still better than taking the elevator all over the place, and 14 flights seemed like enough to do something.

I went and loaded back up on Slim Fast shakes and granola bars and apples yesterday. Like I said, I can tell that I've been losing weight, and I need to continue that! I also went out to our Tuesday lunch and instead of getting french fries with a salad, I just got a salad. It was hard because I love those french fries. But I'm trying to be strong. Close my eyes and think of Flappy.
- posted by mo @ 5:59 AM