100 Days

What I ate today

Breakfast (10:15)
3 servings of Special K
3 servings of skim milk
Calories: 570
Fat: 0 grams

Lunch (1 p.m.)
2 slices of multi grain bread
2 servings of roast beef
2 servings of fat free mayo
Calories: 320
Fat: 5 grams

Snack (4 p.m.)
1 bag of beef jerkey
Calories: 280
Fat: 1.5 grams

Dinner (6:30 p.m.)
1 foot long Subway Club
Calories: 640
Fat: 12 grams

Snack (9:45 p.m.)
2 servings of baby carrots
Calories: 70
Fat: 0 grams

Total calories: 1,880
Total fat: 18.5 grams

Exercise: full body workout, 40 minutes on elliptical machine, burned 800 calories.

Here’s a nice little tidbit about my life. Tomorrow, my landlords are bringing in some guys to put in a nice new kitchen window. That is great and all, but the only window in the kitchen is blocked 100 percent by the refrigerator. I have never even looked out that window. Meanwhile, my apartment has no garbage disposal, a balcony door that won’t lock and is blown open by the slightest gust of wind, a broken bathroom sink drain (which I should get them to fix). Also, running water is a crapshoot. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. But that kitchen window, apparently, is long overdue.

Another lesson today: stay away from the scale. Apparently somewhere between Tuesday and Thursday I put on 10 pounds. The scale that told me I weighed 302 Tuesday told me I weighed 312 today. But there was another scale, a brand new scale, that told me I weighed 310. Which to believe? I don’t really know. In fact, I don’t really care. Remember when I lost five pounds over the course of 24 hours? I do. And now, over the course of 48 hours (albeit with a pizza binge in there) I have gained 10. There are, however, certain variables that can explain this. Here they are:

1) When I weighed in Tuesday, I don’t think I had eaten for at least four hours. However, on Thursday, I ate lunch and drank a liter of water right before I went to the gym. Also, I had a heavy breakfast three hours earlier. And I hadn’t pooped yet, which is always good for a pound or two.

2) When I weighed in Tuesday it was right after a workout. Thursday it was right before. I don’t know how much working out affects your weight in real time, but for now, let’s say it affects it tremendously.

3) There was about a pound of cheese and a pound of pepperoni that I have to be accountable for. I think I was today.

I was not, and am not, discouraged by the 310 reading. It’s all fine and dandy to me. Actually, on Saturday, I would have been pumped up to weight 310 on Thursday. That would have been a four pound drop. Also, I don’t actually believe 310 is the right weight. However, I don’t really know what is. My best guess would be somewhere between 302 and 310, but that’s just me. I’m not living and dying by the scale, though I obviously do care what it says. I am at a point where I don’t need a scale for affirmation. I know what a good day is and I know what a bad day is. If I have many more good days than bad days, I will lose weight. That’s all there is to it.

And a 310 reading is actually losing weight. So even if that was the correct reading, I am doing pretty well. However, it is a bit of a kick in the nuts to get a 302 reading one day and a 310 reading the next, especially when you’ve already gone and bragged about it to readers of an internet journal. I guess there is a little bit of egg on my face. But don’t worry, I won’t eat the yoke.

So here is what I am proposing for the next week: Stay off the goddamn scale. Actually, this makes more sense. I’ll see if I can weigh in Friday and then stay off the scale until next Friday (Day 100) and then that’s it. Whatever that scale says is the final reading. But I am not about to beat myself up over this just because we’re getting close to the end of the 100 days. That’s just not my style.