Long Day, Mild Failure

Day started well, had basically the same Nutrisystem breakfast I've had the last 3 days, unfortunately, it was the last one I had in the hotel, and all the other food is at the apartment... where I have no utensils of any kind, yet.

I was on the road all day, had to deal with multiple government offices regarding new license/tags/voter registration.  But all that's done, so I don't need to worry about it any more.  Based on past experience, I would have tried to put it off, but my old vehicle registration from PA was expiring soon, so it didn't make sense.  I picked up lunch at Burger King amidst this, had 2 double cheeseburgers and a large fry.  Less food than I ate yesterday, but not enough less, obviously.

I spent the rest of my day running to a hardware store to get some protective feet/mats etc. for my furniture and exercise equipment.  This took a significant portion of the day, and I ended up ordering some Jimmy John's delivery to the apartment, so I could continue placing some mats/unpacking a few things/cleaning/disassembling some of the owner's furniture for storage.  I ate a Club Lulu and a bag of BBQ Chips.  If you're not familiar with JJ's sandwiches, that's a turkey and bacon sandwich.  I ORDERED that, another bag of bbq chips, and a Gargantuan, which is a sandwich of many Italian meats, sauces and seasonings.  I felt I should have something that I could actually eat as a meal on hand in the apartment tomorrow.

I have to get up very early to get back to the apartment and prepare for the movers to be there tomorrow.  I am out of breakfasts here at the hotel, so I'll probably get a sandwich (or a donut) when I go to get donuts and coffee for the movers.  Tomorrow isn't going to be good, diet-wise.  I won't have cooking capability until at least tomorrow night, and I'm going to be so busy with unpacking that I'll probably just get delivery of something for dinner, and eat the gargantuan for lunch.  Maybe I'll try and split the sandwich between lunch and dinner.

I'm tired, I'm babbling, so I'm going to bed.  We shall see.

Fatness at Lunch, Frugality at Dinner

So, Lunch went poorly.  I was at the apartment meeting/photo-documenting the condition of the apartment prior to my move in far later than I'd intended, and I was ravenous on my way back to the hotel at 1:30 for lunch, and stopped at Wendy's, where I ate:

A double cheeseburger, a large fry, 10 spicy chicken nuggets with ranch, and  large Diet Coke.

Yes, because the diet coke makes up for all my sins.... Ah, fuck.  I arrested this downward spiral with a penitent's dinner.

So, I'm not Saint, but carrots (vegetable), light ranch dressing (fat) and 8 oz of non-fat milk (dairy) is not what I would call pigging out, either.  This doesn't excuse my earlier behavior, and, if I were hungrier, I'd probably eat more, but I'm still mostly full from lunch.  I might have a serving of slim jims (protein) for dessert.

Tomorrow: DMV, maybe IKEA, definitely hardware store (for felt feet for furniture, fffff), massive cleaning effort to make up for previous tenant, making sure I have proper things to eat while working at the apartment.  Tonight: going to brew a hotel pot of decaf, snap into a Slim Jim, and feel good about afternoon Target run for basic household essentials and their unpacking/distributing in the apartment (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, garbage cans, etc.) and whatever is on TV on Wednesdays that is not completely terrible (meaning I'll read a book).

Breakfasting, Moving Progress

Good Morning! and it is, indeed, a glorious morning.  I'm currently enjoying a fabulous Nutrisystem breakfast, but, before I describe that, allow me to share with you the snackings of my people.

Last night, as anticipated, I chowed down on about 3 protein servings of Slim Jims after dinner.  Is this the best thing I could have eaten? No.  But, considering I was considering abandoning a Nutrisystem dinner and walking across the parking lot for a Baconator from Wendy's... I'll call this one a win, and I'll win even harder today.

Speaking of winning, I again ate Nutricinnamon Squares Cereal for breakfast this morning, that's already down the hatch.

I'm continuing my method from the road trip of consuming my cereal from Solo cups, and using one of my Nalgenes as a measuring bottle. So for sides, I had some Diet Coke, a slice of mutli-grain bread (carbohydrate), a juice box (fruit) and 8 oz of non-fat milk (dairy).

You know, I appreciate the newspaper the hotel is giving me, and I appreciate even more that there's still some way that the newspapers are getting revenue from physical product, but I really don't understand one practical concern with the damned things:  how am I supposed to read this and do anything else?  I mean, I understand that there was a time in history, some magical far-off place, where people could spend time every morning JUST reading the newspaper, but for me it's always been a while-you-eat proposition.  Given that, I'd much rather deal with being one of those people eating breakfast over their laptop so I can get my read on while I eat than try and wrestle with a paper and knock over my precious caffeine.

I've got an exciting day ahead, as I'm getting the keys to the high rise condo I'm renting today.  I got a really sweet deal on one that's downtown in this city, and I can't wait to make my long-anticipated return from suburban living.  Of course, the furnishings I'm ready to install pretty much boil down to a cable modem and a folding chair, but that's OK!  Just having a place with my name on the lease again is fantastic.

I love my family, and I'm eternally grateful that they let me live with them during my transitional phase, but it's incredibly demoralizing to have to live at home as an "adult", especially when you've already lived on your own post-college.

Now, with breakfast completed, on to the shower ritual and the commute that is the opposite of what I will normally be doing.

Proper Eating Roundup

Today, for a first day back on, could have gone worse.

I started off with some Nutricinnamon Squares Cereal (I think, I forgot to look at the package before I poured it out).

For sides, I had a box of juice (fruit), 8 oz of non-fat milk (dairy) and a slice of mutli-grain bread (carbohydrate).  I've not been much of a breakfast person while I've been on my horrendous cheating-spree, so this was plenty to hold me over for the morning.

For lunch, I heated some water in the hotel coffee pot and had some delicious Cheesy Homestyle Potatoes.

I ate a bit before noon, but I'd chalk that up to boredom.  I enjoyed a diet coke and water with dinner.

Afternoon snack was less than perfect, and way early.  I had a snack bar, which is what I'm supposed to have, and about 3 servings of protein in the form of mini-Slim Jims (which are about the worst protein vector I can think of, due to fattiness, and which I am not supposed to have, in the first place).  Also, I ate this snack at about 1:45, again probably out of boredom.  I managed to contain my fat ass until dinner, however.

And for dinner, I had an entree of Wedged Potatoes with Sliced Beef Steak.  I was, again, bored and hungry, so I ate around 4:30, which is, again, a bit earlier than I'm usually supposed to eat.

For sides, I had some carrots (vegetable), a juice box (fruit), a slice of multi-grain bread (carbohydrate) and some light bleu cheese dressing (fat).  For dessert, I had another snack bar.

I was doing ok at this point, but I'm a bit nervous, and still damned bored, so I'm munching on some more of these damned Slim Jims.  I'm going to put the damned things down, now, but I might chow on some later.

One might wonder why I'm so bored, and the easy answer is that I'm in a between period right now.  I'm staying in a hotel while I await the arrival of the bulk of my belongings, and I'm also still waiting to get into my new place with what I DO have with me.  Right now, I'm basically sitting around and reading/watching hotel tv all day.  I'm very much in a "hurry up and wait" mentality, and I'm going swiftly mad.

It's made worse, of course, knowing that I'm going to be in an insane flurry as soon as the next step comes up, and I can't do anything more right now to make that easier.  Ah well, maybe TV will distract me better than spicy mini meat sticks this evening.  I'll update tomorrow.

Big Changes

PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET: I RETURN!

It's been over a month since I've posted, and I'd like to apologize for that.  Those of you following on the twitter will have noticed a few messages since my last blog posting, but the rest of you have had reason to be suspicious of my continued existence.  Nothing's wrong, in fact, things are very right, but I've been avoiding posting about them to keep from announcing any news that I couldn't share until things were more finalized.

Those of you who have been with me for awhile know that, since I've been posting, and for the entirety of this year and a good portion of last year, I've been an unemployed engineer.  You also might know that I spent hours of every day applying for jobs, every day since even before I was informed I was to be laid off, more than a year ago.

I am tremendously pleased to let you know that I am preparing to start a new job.  During the time I've been away from you, I've interviewed for and been offered a job in the southeast.  I'm currently in the process of relocating, and will be starting work very soon.

I'd like to note that this is the only interview I was called for in the last year, amongst thousands of jobs for which I applied.  I had assumed that I was not going to get this job, since it had been months since I originally applied for it.  After my interview, I thought I had blown it, so I assumed, still, that I was not going to get it.  Up until the day I received an offer, I still applied for new jobs every day.  In another amusing note, immediately after accepting the offer, I received a call from a corporate recruiter with another company I'd spoken with a year ago asking if I was still looking for work.

Enough about the good news, it's time to move on to the bad/indifferent.  My diet has suffered... profoundly.  Between travel, stress, jubilation, and general malaise at various points, I have been fairly consistently off it since we last spoke.  I hopped back on for a week or two, then went back off.  During that time, I also haven't exercised with anything resembling consistency or frequency.  I haven't gotten weighed in weeks, out of terror for what I've done to myself.

Now, I'm ready to get back to work.  I'm living in a hotel, temporarily, and have my Nutrisystem food with me, along with a microwave and mini fridge, so I'm prepared to act properly.  I picked up some essential extras at the supermarket today, so I should be able to keep myself under control until I get settled into my new place.

I should note I'm thinking about making some changes, now that I'm resuming the diet.  I'm not going to have the time to write morning or lunch entries immediately after meals, as I had been when I was blogging more consistently/without a job.  I'm also not really sure what my schedule is going to be like, so I'm going to call this a very tentative proposed schedule.  I think I'm going to write a morning entry with weigh-in info, and then write evening entries covering exercise and what I eat over the course of the day.  Of course, if I find the time to write more often, I will.

I'm targeting weigh-in resumption for Monday, to keep myself honest once again.  I ate my first Nutrisystem meal in the hotel tonight, and I'm feeling good about getting back on it.

With all this, I have a question for those of you who work and work out:  do you prefer to get up at 5am and work out/eat before work or work out in the evening after work?  When you work out, do you prefer to eat first or work out first (before or after work)?  I'm trying to figure out how to work it into my schedule, and I don't know what is best to try first.  Look forward to responses in the comments or on the twitter.

Lastly, I'd like to thank those of you who are still subscribed, despite my long absence, I look forward to sharing further weight loss success with you.