weigh-in, 12/8/06 -

Up 2 lbs, back to 202. I expected a gain...I've been shy on both water and exercise, and it's That Week besides. I had hoped it would be a smaller gain, but this is fine too. All the more motivation to reassess what the hell I'm doing over here.

A quick analysis of this week's calorie balance after the jump, for anyone interested in that sort of thing.

Exercise was, as I mentioned, lighter than usual. The party on Friday* prevented me from doing my Saturday club ride, and then I skipped the Sunday ride due to TOM lethargy. I did make the two spin classes, walked the track for an hour Tuesday, and hit the cardio machines after the trainer eval on Wednesday, so the week wasn't a total wash, but it's not nearly the activity level I'm used to. About 3 hours for the week, when normally it's closer to eight.

Food, well...after keeping track of everything I ate for a couple days, I discovered that I take in a lot more calories than I think I do. I'll plan an entire day with what I think is a reasonable amount of food, but then somewhere around midday I'll start jacking with it. Making deals with myself..."okay, you can hit the vending machine now if you take the meat out of the pasta sauce later." Then I eat the same sauce that I made for the boys. "Okay, I'm going to have jello instead of pudding." Then later, "Oooh, pudding would be good." And I eat the pudding too.

Nothing is terribly bad by itself--30 extra calories here, 150 there. The problem is that it's cumulative. If I plan an 1800-calorie menu in the first place, it doesn't take very many little extras to get me off track. It's also very easy to "forget" about those 50 or 100 calorie indiscretions.

Really, this shouldn't come as any surprise to me...I've known for some time that this is how I am about money. Every time I get frustrated about where all my money goes and sit down to track it, I realize that I'm spending hundreds of dollars each week in tiny little increments. $3 coffee here, $10 lunch there, $1/song at iTunes...and most times, I don't even remember doing it. I'm great with budgeting and planning the big stuff, but the small things get away from me very quickly. This + not-so-strong impulse control = budget problems, whether with money or with food. Devil's in the details, as they say.

*The picture from which will not be posted, as it was HORRIBLE. My hair did not photograph well, and I wasn't really crazy about the style in the first place...this is the last time I'm having it put up, I think. My makeup looked weird, it's a terrible angle, and basically I looked like a gussied-up cave troll. Rob, as usual, looked lovely.

Just gotta get back on the bandwagon. I've been chasing that damn thing my whole life... no reason to stop now, right?