Ah, breakfast. It was once a meal I avoided. I mean, why waste time pouring a bowl of cereal when a cup of coffee was enough?

Of course, that was back when I was 15 pounds heavier. But I've had something for breakfast for the last couple months, and I do feel a lot better.

I still need to work on snacking during they day.

Go in my strength training which I hadn't done in a while.

With the upgrade of WordPress (what the developers call "Dexter" and I call "So What's the Point?") I decided to make this new theme.

Just installed WordPress 2.3... begrudgingly. I really had no desire to, but since I was already a couple version behind, I thought, what the hell.

WordPress 2.3 really didn't have anything new for me. Sure, it has tagging, but I use (err, used) Ultimate Tag Warrior and loved it.

And WordPress 2.3 likes to break some installs on upgrades. I just edited my contact page and I got an error. The contact form itself works, but editing the page was a pain.

Date-weight-waist
Jun 01 165# 38?
Aug 13 158# 37.5?
Sep 15 150# 35.5?
Sep 21 150# 35.5?
Sep 29 148# 35?
Oct 06 147# 34.75"

I've had a bad week. I know, the last set of numbers above are going in the right direction. But the whole week was... off. With family issues and time issues and everything else that life threw my way, I just didn't put what I know to do to be healthy in action.

I have to realize that a bad week or day for me isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. It's not like on a bad day I'll go out and eat a chocolate cake or down a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi, or go hog-wild with a grande hazelnut mocha at Starbucks. Truth is, I have no desire for candy bars or soda pop or a cappuccino. The attachment isn't there. (I do plan on going to Starbucks this December for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Yes, I'm planning that far ahead.)

For me, it was a bad week for two reasons:

This was a much better day. Started off with my 'regular' breakfast, which really does make a difference for me.

I didn't walk... again. And I need to find ways to get more veggies in my diet.

9am breakfast - bowl of cereal with 1/2 banana, milk & coffee
11:30am - toast (1) with jam - a couple glasses of water
1:30 - Lunch - Scrambled Egg Wrap - 2 eggs scrambled in a whole wheat tortilla with cheese, Canadian bacon and dollop of salsa to taste.

3:30 - 8oz Smoothie
5:50 - 8oz Smoothie
6:30 - Tuna sandwich w/lettuce and a bit of mayo
7:45 - 16oz Smoothie

This is a bad day. It started off bad and didn't improve much. In fact, my lunch, which should have been my cheat meal, was probably the best choice food-wise I made all day.

The first of the month is always hectic. I drive my mom around (she doesn't have a car) to do errands. Add to that I had a headache all day, and skipped by evening workout - which I shouldn't have done - made for bad choices. But the nice thing about this is I can always start again!

In June of this year, I weighed about 165 pounds and had a belly-measurement of 38". On September 29th I weighed 148 pounds and had a belly-measurement of 35". I don't know about you, but those numbers look pretty good to me.

I did this all by changing my diet. I didn't join a gym (but I do try to work out at home.) I didn't join Weight Watchers. I don't put my food into Zones. I just make smarter decisions about the foods I eat.

And I decided to write out my diet (what I eat) for the world to read and scrutinize.

Now I've read plenty of diet books. While there are quite a few that are really good, there are some that are just plain scary. For me, the book that made the most sense was The Abs Diet, which my diet is based on.

I recommend this book for these reasons:

1. It simply has you replace the bad foods with better foods and teaches you how to eat better.
2. You don't have to count calories or Zone your foods or check off boxes for protein, fats and carb consumption.
3. You get to eat more often. Yes, it's like an "eat when your body tells you to" diet.
4. Instead of just telling you to exercise (most books spend a page or two telling you this) the Abs Diet shows you things you can do.

While The Abs Diet is my book of choice, other good books are The South Beach Diet and The Mediterranean Diet. The Zone Diet is okay, but reads more like a medical journal than a diet book.

Date - weight - waist
Jun 01 165# 38?
Aug 13 158# 37.5?
Sep 15 150# 35.5?
Sep 21 150# 35.5?
Sep 29 148# 35"

When the city of Seattle decided to build a light rail system in the South Lake Union area of Seattle, they decided that it needed a trolley. So millions of dollars later and what do we get?

We get a SLUT.

The South Lake Union Trolley.

Before everything was done, someone realized that the acronym really wasn't appropriate. (For South Lake Union. In Downtown or Pioneer Square SLUT would have been useful. As in "Ride the SLUT to get to your prostitute.")

In Raider of the Lost Arc we had snakes.

In Temple of Doom we had nasty, crunchy bugs.

In The Last Crusade we had rats.

What's going to be the creature in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?