Oh Dear

Oh Dear, my new plan may not work out very well.  Here I am, Day No 2 or so, and I am on a business trip with no control over my meals and I am subjected to open bar receptions.  This is fine for my professional development and I am making great contacts nationwide - even internationally, as I had a semi lengthy conversation with an Italian engineering professor who lives in New Zealand.  I am learning a lot.

I am not, however, losing weight.  In fact, I am so full at the moment that I am a tad disgusted, and I feel bloated, sleepy, and altogether blah.  I had lofty goals to show all you Constant Readers how it can be done.  How you can make healthy choices, and come out on top, even on business trips.  How you can go to the hotel gym.  I am told it is on the 27th floor.  I am not able to verify that firsthand. 


I do not understand why this was such a failure.  After all, I did no research, no planning, and was only half committed in the first place.  What could go wrong?

Initially, I thought I would take a picture of my meals, and diligently log them into an online food journal when I got back.  I began with a large, but healthy breakfast, in hopes that I would not partake of any mid-morning snacks, and I aimed for about 400 calories.  This is more than the typical breakfast, which is 300 calories for me, but I figured it was taking the place of a snack.  And this did work out.  I did not eat again until lunch, when we were served a lovely salad and a chicken breast over beans.  Unfortunately, I was still hungry after the healthy stuff, and ate a semi-delicious dessert that had been set out at my place prior to my arrival.  The dessert was too sweet, and not to my taste, but I ate it anyway, because it would be wasted if it did not enter my digestive tract.

Dinner was a bit of a disaster, because after two drinks at the open bar, I no longer remembered or cared about my intentions.  And after the, uuhhh, fourth drink, I had lost count of the little quiches and Mexican spring roll thingies.

Today was worse.  Here is what I remember eating today:  egg with bacon quiche, two muffins, a small pastry, a chicken wrap, some pasta salad, beans, a lemon bar, a small bag of cheddar and caramel popcorn (in the same bag for some reason), a second lemon bar, a mint-chocolate truffle, a brownie, a few sprigs of asparagus, a piece of celery and a piece of zucchini, a hamburger slider, a chicken bite, a fried spring roll, a piece of brie with pastry and fruit, some adorable little appetizers of unknown, bite size chemistry, a plate of risotto and three Samuel Adams Original Lagers.

And that's just what I remember.

I am hoping this little list might help me out tomorrow.  And maybe, just maybe, I might check out the 27th floor before I head to get deep dish pizza and tours of the Hancock and Willis Buildings.  Did you know that's what they call the Sear Tower now?

Whachu talkin' bout Willis?