Newsgroups: alt.support.diet

Yeah, I survived pretty well, myself.  Was at loose ends this holiday
(Hey, I'm a loner; you expect well-adjusted from me?  I don't), so I took
the opportunity to get some long bike rides in.  Shortest riding day was
45 miles, and I got a good walk in, too.  (Feet are finally healing.)

As it turns out, the mid-week figure for activity was 11K calories for
4 days.  I have to 'work' Monday-Wednesday, so I'll end up at or near
my top level of 16K for the week, but it's been kind of fun.

I ate a little bit of chocolate.  Found a 2oz pack of truffles, and
enjoyed them immensely over a couple of days.  The only unexpected treats
were some hard candies that came with a present.  They were sugar based,
so I ate them over a few days.  (Sugar candies are not a problem food
for me; I'll eat them, but won't lose control.)  My mother is now on
Jenny Craig maintenance, so she knows not to send me goodies with the
Christmas shipment, so that really helps.  (The 'planned indulgence'
of the truffles worked fine.  I got my chocolate fix, with no overload,
and zero guilt.  The only hard part was finding small quantities of chocolates,
but the gourmet section of the grocery store had all sizes of goodies.)

The only event that took planning was the Christmas eve brunch.  This
is mandatory (attend the party for 2-4 hours and get paid for 8, or
work 4 hours for 8.  I'll party, thanks.), but tricky.  I checked with
our department secretary, who gets to organize all these events, and
got a peek at the menu.  Sure enough, it was either eggy food, to which
I'm quite allergic, fatty/saucy meats and pastries, or fruit.  At which
point, my plan was set.  In the morning, I did a short ride (16 miles,
short for me) and ate my standard breakfast of oatmeal and fruit.  At
the party, I hit the fruit tray for 360 calories (according to my
trusty scale and calorie sheets) and had a good time.  Got to eat fruit
I don't normally see this time of year (even in California, melons are
expensive at Christmas time) and didn't OD on goodies.  With a full belly,
the chocolate cake was resistable (barely) and the rest of the crap was
semi-repulsive (I think it was eggs Benedict; looked like an Egg McMuffin
on steroids).  

After the affair I had a light lunch and went exploring
on my bike.  We had great, though 'cold' weather in the Bay area the
past few days, so as long as I got home before 7PM, I wouldn't freeze too
badly.  (Gotta get better gloves, though.)  Took the back roads, thus
avoiding the psychotic drivers who manage to make urban driving a pain
every Dec 24th and got to see some nice new terrain/scenery with light
traffic.  Even the drunks weren't around that time of day.

The rest of the weekend was similar.  Kept on checking out new areas
whilst taking advantage of weird holiday traffic patterns.  For those
interested, the truly crazed people are those who use jet-ski boats.  A
few people were out on/in the water, even with temperatures in the low
40s... 

Weather just got nasty today, with a forecast of more rain to come.  My
commuter bike is in the shop for a 6000 mile overhaul and my road bike
is not set up for rain, so I'm going to walk and take advantage of my
little-used health-club membership for a couple of days.  BTW, 5300 of
those miles occured since mid-July.  Even I'm amazed at that!  (OTOH, the
road bike had not been ridden at all since late July.  Gotta correct that
Real Soon Now.)

If this rain continues, I might even clean the garage come New Year's
weekend.  Not enough of a football fan to spend the time on the couch.

Pete Brooks


Newsgroups: alt.support.diet