Ciao Chocolate

As if quitting bacon alone wasn't hard enough, I have decided it's time to throw another food into the "Do Not Eat" category. With all the Halloween candy just lying about here at work, and more to come as the holidays draw closer, I thought this was a perfect time to kick the habit of grabbing one here or there as I walk by someones desk.

The best way for me to drop a little weight is to eat healthy at work. Grazing every day at the desks I pass by probably isn't considered healthy eating.

Unlike the bacon ban, this chocolate crackdown will be lifted while I am in DC. There is a Melting Pot out there that I will probably end up going to, and I do not plan on skipping one of my favorite desserts of all time. This, along with the possibility of homemade brownies or cupcakes being thrown my way by Sarah, necessitates some leniency while I am on vacation. Just another thing to look forward to in DC.

Seasonally Affected

Every year I face a period of adjustment when we move from Summer into Fall. I usually get a bad sinus infection when the weather starts to cool down, which I have thankfully avoided so far this year, and having less sunlight usually does a number on my overall mood too. As the days get shorter and the cloud cover thickens and hangs lower, the amount of natural light we get around here is quickly suffocated.

This year seems to be worse than any previous year. Maybe the lack of sleep and extra time I am required to spend inside because of class are factors. Maybe I have just become more aware of what to look for to see that I am being affected. Who knows? All I know is that I feel unmotivated and this general malaise. Right now, I am supposed to be doing research for a paper in my Human Sexuality course....instead I am blogging. Not wanting to do research about sex? Something is off there.

I know that exercise and proper dietary habits are great mood elevators for me, but I'm rarely able to do them for more than a couple months at a time anymore. Maybe if I can compare my mood now to my mood when I am eating right and working out and see a big difference, I can stay motivated this time around.

OK....enough babbling. Here's a nice little video to show kinda how I feel lately. I hadn't listened to this song in forever, and it just popped into my head this morning.

Bye Bye Bacon

Today marks day one of my bacon-free challenge.

It's no secret that I need to drop a few pounds. In the last 2-3 years, my weight has fluctuated between terrible and not completely unreasonable quite a few times. I'll do well for a while, then I hit a target weight and let certain things creep back into my diet. Soon enough, I am back where I started. I know I have the discipline to do it, I just need to stick with it a lot longer than I usually do. Instead of a few weeks or a couple months, I need to look to do this for a few months or a couple years.

Cutting bacon out of my diet seems pretty extreme to anyone that knows me well. I don't eat it very often really....but I do love it. To me it seemed like a good start. I know there aren't any health benefits associated with eating bacon, so it isn't hard to convince myself not to eat it. The next time I will allow myself to have bacon will be New Year's Day, if I stick to all my diet restrictions between now and then.

There will be more steps to come in the near future. I have decided to start by greatly reducing the amount of pork products I eat, and eliminating some (like bacon) altogether. Reducing simple carbs, red meat, and dairy are all on the horizon. These foods aren't doing anything but keeping me in the terrible shape that I am currently in, and I have only myself to blame for eating them.

Now I will have a burger or something here and there....I am not going to stop craving these foods right away, if ever. and I know this. I am going to eat heathier, just not completely healthy I am sure.

Simple Math

Wrong Place + Wrong Time = 1 Dead Cat

Biting me in front of my already pissed off
Rottweiler and Mastiff/Boxer....not a great idea.

Not So Good Morning

As if getting up at 4:30 isn't bad enough, I got woken up at 3:00am because my dog Kira needed to go out. She NEVER wakes me up to go out, so I figured she must really need to go. I groggily walk to the door and let both her and Guinness out. Didn't take me too long to figure out why she wanted to go out, as they confronted a cat just a few steps from the porch.

A fight ensues before I can get out there, and before they kill the cat I am out in the yard in my sleep attire (aka nothing) trying to call the dogs off when I am bitten by the cat. Two nice puncture wounds on my left index finger.

So off to work I go, looking forward to a nice day at animal control afterward to test the cat's body for rabies....hopefully I can avoid getting a rabies shot.

Loving this song right now....haven't we all felt this way at one time or another?

Time

Time Passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me.