The Lesser Man Project: Week 9

Sorry for the hiatus on the updates. I was caught up in the D-Bag Award posts and the holidays, along with some other news that will show up in, possibly, my final post????  Time will tell on that one. In any case, I hope you didn’t think I abandoned the project, because I didn’t.  In fact, I surprised myself with being off of work for the last two weeks of the year.  I figured boredom would have set in and I’d be reaching for the cookies and egg nog. Fortunately, there is some rule that any behavior for 21 days constitutes a habit. Well, at the time I went on vacation I had been at this for almost six weeks, which is twice as long.  I guess I have a habit now.

Speaking of habits, let’s go over the last four weeks. I’m not going to get into what all I ate, but I will share some. Let’s just say, I didn’t skimp on the holiday meals.

I started off week five having already lost 10 pounds from my heaviest weight. Then two weeks later I was head long into being off of work and around all kinds of bad food. I was doing my Christmas shopping and eating on the fly which is always a bad idea. I was hitting Starbucks because I was able to and taking in a few more Caramel Brule decadence than I should have in my position. I was eating at malls and going through the drive thru.

However, when I did stop at my favorite spot, Wendy’s, I managed to keep to my reduced meal plan with the value sized burger, fry, and drink. That was a plus. Being able to be satisfied by a very small amount of food is a good step towards winning the war.

Christmas Eve was filled with meat and cheese trays, ham and roast beef sandwiches, and various cookies. I tried to be good but I know I had one or two more chocolate covered Oreos than I should have. Christmas Day was just leftovers for lunch and turkey sandwiches for dinner at my parents. My Dad’s birthday was a couple days away and I was digging this dip my sister-in-law made and downing shrimp left and right. New Year’s Eve and Day were my worst meals. We had pierogies, pork, sauerkraut, hot dogs, and kielbasa. More cookies, more meat and cheese.

I did try some a new dish at one of our regular eateries.  I had fish and pierogies and loved it. At Fat Zackel’s in Claridge, they make an awesome Russian Cod and accompany it with three pierogies. It’s enough to get your gnosh on, but it won’t kill you. Skipping my daughter’s fries also helps.

Now to the biggest help over break.  I had, what has been called, around here as, The Pittsburgh Puke and Poop.  Actually, I never puked. My kid woke up the morning of the 19th with it but had stopped vomiting by noon.  My wife had a small bout with it and I was showing signs around mid week.  Like I said, I never threw up, but I wasn’t taking any chances and was pretty much eat toast and drinking ginger ale, because I was constantly nauseous.  Now, I would have expected to gain all that weight back after I felt better, but I am proud to say that as of a weigh in on the morning of January 5th, I had lost almost [drum roll] [paradiddle] [LOL]



18 pounds.

Now that’s a habit!

I’m back at work this week and have had one small indulgence, a tiny Frosty after my lunch on Tuesday.  Otherwise, I have been eating less and I am actually starting to feel like I’ve lost weight.  People have said I look like I've lost weight.  "Yeah, your face looks thinner."  Great.  If only I wore my pants around my nose, I'd feel like I had accomplished something. My knees still groan at me when I go up steps, but I’ve been finding pairs of pants, I was ready to throw out, fitting once more, which is a bonus. No more exploding buttons.

To summarize:

• Apparently getting the flu has benefits but don't expect all results to be the same.  I wouldn't go licking the Lincoln Logs at your kids' daycare, just yet. 
• If you plan on doing anything like this, do it a few weeks out of a big meal holiday like Thanksgiving. 
• Don’t call it a diet. It’s a change in habit.
• Most important, keep going. 

Now, I’m not going to get all caught up in the psychology of it all, just like I didn’t get caught up in all the counting and monitoring of what I did.  I’ve made all these changes in an effort to have them become an automatic thing. The subconscious mind will reach for a bowl of chips just as easily as it will walk past the kitchen at 11:30 at night, despite the cries of Ben and Jerry telling you to eat them. You simply have to train yourself, in small increments.

It’s nice to know I haven’t hit that plateau, yet, but my next challenge occurs starting January 10th. More on that later. Peace out!