New Routes

When Adam and I were commuting from Erie to Baltimore every other weekend, the drive began to get a tad predictable. More than once we found ourselves veering into the other lane or pulling off for scary naps in parking lots in which any random passerby could break the window and commit all sorts of unthinkable crimes (I think I have thought of most of them thanks to my affinity for murder shows and Stephen King novels). I usually opted for pounding caffeine pills so it would be mid week before I could ever sleep again.

The point is, the six hour drive became Boring with a capital B. So we began experimenting with alternate routes. Although some routes took as much as 45 minutes longer, the break in the routine was enough to keep us from (almost literally) dying of boredom.

With this philosophy in mind, I have created a new spreadsheet. This one focuses on servings rather than meals, and will hopefully be more accurate. It does basically the same thing and is just a different means to achieve a smaller rear end. I thought of going cold turkey and scrapping the dang dorky spreadsheet, but I don't think I can handle it. It is simply too easy to lie to myself when it is not spelled out right in front of me. It is not as though I try to forget the brownie I ate on my way to the printer, but I do - or at least I forget to factor in the calories.

I also went back to my old strategy of the mini-goal. This week's goal is to adopt a trick I read in "The Dorm Room Diet": drink a glass of water before every meal. I know I don't drink enough water - unless the kind mixed with malt and hops counts**. As a result, I often feel achy, crampy, and just plain icky. I have also read that many hunger pangs are actually triggered by thirst. Most of us are apparently just ignoring or misinterpreting the thirst, which I have never understood. Why can we not accurately listen to our own brains??

** It doesn't.