Mood Way Up

Wednesday, August 5, 2026

I'm still in a tremendously good mood after yesterday's radical change in how I feel.  I don't think I'm doing a good job of describing it, and maybe I just can't.  Lately I have felt strained, and like I'm fading out.  Yesterday, starting in the afternoon, I felt more normal, more alive.  There may be a small psychological piece to it but it's mostly physical.  No, I'm not magically in shape or less fat.  But there was (and so far today, knock on wood is) a meaningful difference in how I feel and what that allows me to do.  My best guess is that it may have been a small clot breaking up but I'll probably never know for sure.  I just hope things continue. 

Anyway, I've never been so positive on a day the scale was way up - deservedly - and I'm miles away from an acceptable weight.  I'll be chipping away again, the battle continues.

Breakfast:  Salami, greek yogurt, coffee

 

Last of my mini yogurts.  They were on sale, making them about the same cost as a large tub at the time.  I like the convenience but if they're more expensive I should just buy the tub.

Lunch:  Jimmy Johns #9, salt and vinegar chips, coke

Had a work obligation.

Dinner:  BK texas whopper, fries, coke, avo oil tortilla chips and avo salsa

Very excessive.

Exercise:  Nope.

124.8 

Back Bloat And Other Words That Start With B

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

I can think of a lot of words that start with the letter B, most of them insulting, that should be directed at myself after another major fail.  Very disappointing.  Still not consistently controlling the urge to EAT.

Bummer.

On the positive side, slept okay despite the overeating.  Not incredibly bloated despite drinking crazy amounts of water (which chain pizza always triggers).  Backed up.  A good day or two and this stuff will clear out, but it's still annoying.  Scale way up.

Do better.

Breakfast:  Salami, greek yogurt, coffee

 

Again.  It was fine.

Lunch:  Brisket, smoked mushrooms, bread, pickles, Dr Pepper Zero Sugar, rice krispie bites

 

Audible, had to make an unplanned trip to the bigger city and had time for BBQ.  Good, but excessive and expensive.

Dinner:  French dip, 12 oz Miller Lite

 

Again.  Also Big Mac, fries, coke.

Exercise:  9 holes with cart.

I do not know what got into me this afternoon, but I felt much more like me.  I zipped up the stairs on the way to golf.  Walked faster and without strain.  Just felt much much better.  It was very nice.  It would be incredible if it continued

124.2 

More More More

Monday, August 3, 2026

More excuses, more binging.  FAIL.

Breakfast:  Salami, greek yogurt, coffee

 

OK.

Lunch:  2x McDouble plain, Coke zero

Not one of their finer efforts.  It was fast.

Dinner:  LC webberoni, crazy bread and sauce

Meh.  Just way way too much.

Will also have the last mini root beer.

Exercise:  Nope

121.8 

Binge Excuses Never Stop

Sunday, August 2, 2026

At some point the excuses have to stop.  I have to take ownership of my choices.  End the binges.  Not eat the stuff that's killing me, no matter how good it tastes.

Anyway, ate WAY too much yesterday, bad choices.  Ugh.  Slept poorly.  Scale up.  Not good.

Must do better.

Breakfast:  Biscuits and gravy, eggs over easy, coffee

 

Not good for me but very tasty.

Later some lemon crumble donut holes and gardetto's rye chips, mini root beer

Lunch:  None.  After eating way too much this morning, none was needed.

Dinner:  Steak kebabs, baked potato w butter, blueberries, part of a Miller Lite

 

Sunday dinners.  My guts were not happy (not dinner induced). 

Exercise:  18 holes with cart, some walking

122.6 

Month Up

Saturday, August 1, 2026

Well July was a month of not doing it right.  Need to do a lot better.

Weird day upcoming.  Major festival day, which I am avoiding.  Weather doesn't look great either.

Slept in a bit.  Scale up, I ate too much yesterday.

Breakfast:  Salami, cheese, plain greek yogurt

 

Didn't go out today.

Lunch:  16 oz Mich Ultra, cheese bacon fries w ketchup

Didn't really need the fries.

Dinner:  Big sack of Taco Bell, Pepsi

Ugh. 

Add two lime Outshine bars and a mini root beer. 

Exercise:  18 holes with cart, not much extra walking.  Lucky it didn't start raining until we were putting on 16.

120.4

Dollars spent:  $31.04 (plus $5.00 tip) 

Extra Egged

Friday, July 31, 2026

Well that was not exactly expected.  I grabbed my two hard boiled eggs from the package this morning and ... it wasn't empty.  Huh?  It's a 6 egg package, I had two yesterday and two on Wednesday so I should have two left.  Nope, I had three.  Uh, okay.  Thanks Eggsland for the bonus egg.

Mixed effects from yesterday's activity.  I was more active in the evening - I did four loads of laundry and picked some stuff up.  I was not notably sleepy when I finally made myself try to crash around midnight.  No dozing off in the recliner early.  Slept okay, though it was only six and a half hours.  Scale was minimum down, which is exactly what I predicted though of course you always hope for more.  Thought about walking to work this morning but I had a sufficient number of aches and pains to talk myself out of it.  We'll see about later.

 Otherwise, it's Friday, let's get to it.

Breakfast:  3 hard boiled eggs, Cabot seriously sharp cheddar, coffee

OK.  

 

Also had half a cherry blossom donut for a colleague's birthday.

Lunch:   Steak fajita burrito

Decided to stick close to the office, hit up a food truck.  This was huge and an incredible carb bomb with tons of rice.  Stuffed.

Dinner:   Turkey, leftover southwest zest beans, jar jalapenos, cheese popcorn

 

Lunch plans turned into dinner.  Cleaned up all four items.

 

And the capper, salted caramel ice cream with choc syrup.

Honestly, I ate too much today. 

Exercise:  As mentioned I did not walk to work first thing, but when I went out midmorning I ended up parking at home and walking back, so 15 minutes there.  Ended up walking home after work, wasn't sure I'd be able to but the rain is holding off for a bit.

118.8 

Money spent:  $17.00 (plus $3.00 tip) 

Peppered Not Pepped

Thursday, July 30, 2026

More of the same.  Went to sleep at a reasonable hour.  Woke up about 6:00 and was not going to get back to sleep no matter how hard I tried.  And I did not want to get going either.

And that is not the result of doing a lot last evening.  I did my grocery shopping, ate and it was already about 8:00.  Hard to start too many projects when you're staring bedtime in the face.  And when you dontwanna.

On a happier note the scale was down a chunk again.  Much more than expected, my prediction was a small fraction of a pound.  Fewer calories and less grain is a good thing apparently.  Still room for improvement, but I'll be thrilled if the weight trends down.   And even more thrilled if I feel better physically - I worry about how I feel being the new normal.

Breakfast:  Hard boiled eggs, Cabot seriously sharp, coffee

 

Determined that I like the eggs best heavily peppered.  Somehow forgot to take a photo so this is a rerun.  Same as yesterday but a bit more cheese today.

Lunch:  Deli turkey, Bush's southwest zest beans, jar jalapenos

 

Bought a couple different types of canned beans, since I probably won't make any of my spicy beans until fall.  Also ended up with Deitz and Watson oven roasted turkey since it was on sale.  Very tasty.

Dinner:  Salami, cheese, pickle, cheese popcorn

 

Grazing plate.  Didn't need much.  Actually really enjoyed this.  Probably didn't need the popcorn but it was open and I left some for tomorrow to finish it off.

  

And the capper, salted caramel ice cream w choc syrup.

Exercise:  I walked back to work after lunch, about seven city blocks, took 14 minutes.  It doesn't take much of a slope to put me into difficulty, fortunately I can choose how much I want to take on by route selection.  I am slow, and while it wasn't exactly pleasant it went better than I expected.

Also walked home at the end of the day.  Forgot to check the time, but expect the same 14-15 minutes.  It was less pleasant.  I kept going, but it should NOT require that much effort just to walk at a leisurely pace.  

119.0

Lights Out

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Well that was an interesting overnight.  To me at least.  I frequently fight dozing off, last night I had my ice cream, settled in to watch TV and boom out like a light.  Woke up at 2:00 thinking WITAF.  I usually don't doze for more than a couple minutes - contact lenses make it uncomfortable.  Can't remember the last time I was out that long and I did not remember even a moment of leadup.

So of course I could not get back to sleep.  I grabbed a blanket somewhere along the way, 4:00 maybe, and after that I must have dozed off very lightly because I had some weird-ass dream involving chickens.  Otherwise it felt like I was awake pretty much the whole time until just before my alarm went off.

Needless to say I'm not super rested today, dragging on anything resembling activity.  Scale was down, nice.  Need to hit the store tonight and do some laundry.

Breakfast:  Hard boiled eggs, Cabot seriously sharp, coffee

 

Again.  New package of eggs - smaller but tastier.  I would hard boil my own but you know, it's hot in here.

Lunch:  Applegate turkey, Siete ranchero refried beans

Clean up.  A tasty meal.  Skipped the jalapenos today.

Dinner:  Cheese popcorn, salted caramel ice cream w choc syrup

Not getting a gold star for nutrition.  I found myself wanting a pizza.  I did not get a pizza.

I have now tried five of the six flavors of Turkey Hill Simply Natural ice cream that my local Meijer carries.  I probably will skip the coffee chip, I've never felt that coffee ice cream would be something I would enjoy.  I hate cold coffee. The salted caramel is good and I have liked all five.

Exercise:  Nope.  Dragged myself around Meijer for about 45 minutes tho.

123.0 

Money spent:  $74.01 

Redirecting Planetary Objects

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

It takes a lot to turn this ship.  A ship isn't even big enough.  I'm a effin planetoid.  And inertia is real.  I want the results of change but don't want to suffer through the process of making it.  Just being honest.  Given the choice I'll eat terribly and excessively and do as little as possible.  But then I pay for it.

So anyway yesterday was a small nudge in a better direction.  Better breakfast.  Not as much dinner.  I still had an overwhelming psychological urge to eat in the evening, but I (barely) kept it contained to eating things I had at home.  Don't get me wrong, I nearly broke out for tacos or something but the line held by the smallest of margins.  Still ate hundreds of calories I did not need.  Didn't exercise.  Did nothing.

And still the small nudge was helpful.  It was easier to get to sleep.  I managed somewhere between seven and eight hours.  It was reasonably restful.  The scale was lower.  All good things.  Little things, but good.  Let's see what I can do today.

Breakfast:  Hard boiled eggs, Meijer sharp white cheddar, coffee

 

Cleanup. 

Lunch:  Applegate roasted turkey, Siete ranchero beans, jalapenos

 

Something different, because it's stuff I have on hand.

Dinner:  French dip, 12 oz Miller Lite

 

Again.

 

Capped with a bowl of strawberry ice cream w choc syrup.  A bigger bowl than I needed but I wanted to finish it off to clear space for a restock. 

Exercise:  9 holes with cart

125.8 

I Guess That Is Something

Monday, July 27, 2026

I was not notably ready for it to be Monday.  Tired this morning, took a long time to get going.  It's going to be a day.  Let's see if I can crash early tonight.

Scale up a bit, presumably due to eating way too much too late.

Breakfast:  2 hard boiled eggs, Cabot seriously sharp cheddar, coffee

 

Might be a new standard, we'll see.

Lunch:  Deluxe sub

 

I really need to come up with better on the go options.  Or, you know, just not eat.

Had some pork rinds as a snack. 

Dinner:   Strawberry ice cream w choc syrup

 

Yeah, that's dinner. 

Also:  Lime outshine bars.  

Exercise:  Nope.

128.4 

Today's spend:  $12.84 (lunch) 

Activity Driven

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Driving myself to exhaustion yesterday -- okay it wasn't that bad but I was pretty tired -- paid off on the scale this morning.  Despite the fat sack of taco bell (and large breakfast), it was down.  Which was a pleasant sight.  I even had a full quart of water in the evening to try and rehydrate.

Unfortunately that level of activity does not happen every day.  But I'll get some today.  It's also going to be humid though so I'll probably consume a gallon of water. 

Breakfast:  Biscuits and gravy, 2 eggs over easy, hash browns, coffee

 

Regular place was too busy today so I went elsewhere.  This was fine, if not as good.

Lunch:  McDouble plain, fries, Coke

I need a better Sunday lunch solution. 

Dinner:  BLT, chips, 12 oz Miller Lite, vanilla ice cream w hersheys syrup

 

Sunday dinners. 

Also a sack of taco bell w pepsi. 

Exercise:  18 holes with cart.  Quite a bit of extra walking, though the humidity did dissuade me from doing even more.

126.4 

Pushing Hardish

Saturday, July 25, 2026

Early start, long day on the course.  I was happy to get home with some food and time in my recliner watching the Tour de France on tape.

Still need to get going on the weight problem.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, raisin toast w jam, coffee

 

Standard pre-golf meal.

Lunch:  12 oz Miller Lite

After golf.

Dinner:  Big sack of Taco Bell, pepsi

Ate a bit much.

Also a bowl of salted caramel strawberry ice cream w hersheys simply 5 syrup

Exercise:  27 holes with cart.  Tired.

131.0 

Full Limpthru

Friday, July 24, 2026

Whew.  Made it through.  Super early start today after not nearly enough sleep.

Breakfast:  CFA spicy, BEC biscuit, hash browns, coke.  

Also coffee and a donut

Lunch:  Pizza slices, Coke

Need groceries I guess.

Dinner:  Italian beef, fries, root beer

Also a little chocolate ice cream

Exercise:  Nope

129.2 

Quick Bits

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Long, busy day means a quick recap.

Breakfast:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, coffee

Again.

Lunch:  McDouble, fries, Coke, combos

On the go.

Dinner:  BK texas whopper, fries, coke

Work.

Also a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

Exercise:  No chance.

128.8 

Less Of This Please

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

I am quite tired of this routine.  I nod off, wake up, get ready for bed, then don't get to sleep until midnight or later.  And then I wake up after a few hours -- 4:30 this morning, thanks to a foot cramp -- and don't get back to any kind of deep sleep.  I'm not exhausted but also not getting the rest I need.  Too much cortisol.

Anyway, that got today off to a fabulous start.  Scale was minimum down, whatever.  Still need to do better.

Breakfast:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, coffee

 

Again.  Starting to get low on PB and the sell by date on the bread is coming up so not too many more of these.

Lunch:  Turkey sandwich, pickles, root beer

 

Again.

Dinner:  LC webberoni pizza, crazy bread and sauce, pepsi

 Ate way too much.

Exercise:  Nope.

128.4 

Interestingly Flat

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

A weird start to the day.  Didn't get to sleep until about 1:00, though I did nod off for a while a little earlier.  Woke up at 5:00 and was much more awake than usual.  Flat in terms of energy, but very awake.  Got up to clear some water, tried to go back to sleep but never got beyond maybe the lightest of dozing.  I was less awake when I got up,  So far it hasn't impacted things, but it would be nice to get a bunch of sleep one of these nights.

Scale up a small amount.  Time to start dialing back, hard.  I have garbage on hand that will get used up, I really need to not buy more.

Breakfast:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, coffee

OK.

Lunch:  Turkey sandwich, Meijer hot dill pickles mini root beer 

 

OK.

Snack:  Hard boiled eggs, root beer

 

Dinner:  French dip, 12 oz Miller Lite

 

Also, sack of taco bell and pepsi.  Grrr. 

Exercise:  9 holes with cart

128.6 

A Launch So Soft

Monday, July 20, 2026

Ugh.  I was very much not ready for it to be Monday.  Didn't sleep well apparently, getting underway was a struggle and I'm quite late and slow this morning.  Tired.  Not exactly launching into a new week.

Scale was up a chunk which is no surprise.  It's been a bad month.

Breakfast:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, coffee

 

Once more and I'll probably have the same tomorrow.  Need to axe the bread soon though.

Lunch:  Turkey sandwich, chips and onion dip, pepsi

 

Not ideal. 

Snack:  Mcdouble fries coke 

Dinner:  BK texas whopper, fries, coke

Tasty but so bad for me. 

Exercise:  Nope.

128.2 

Much Going

Sunday, July 19, 2026 

Lots to do, lots to do.  Nice to have a late tee time this afternoon, probably going to only play nine.   Means I have a couple extra hours to do an additional load of laundry and some other stuff.

Scale down a shade despite everything.  Still not serious.

Breakfast:  Biscuits and gravy, 2 eggs over medium, hash browns, coffee

 

Good again if not great. 

Also:  Meijer donut holes.

Lunch:  McDouble, fries, coke

The fries were free, which is more than they were worth despite being hot and well salted.  Bah.

Dinner:  Brats w MR, sun chips, strawberries w vanilla ice cream, 12 oz Miller Lite

OK.

Also TB steak burrito, chips w deluxe sauce, pepsi 

Exercise:  9 holes with cart, good extra walking.

125.4 

Some Days You Are Just Off

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Sigh.  Not much pep today.  Made it around the golf course but it wasn't easy.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium, 3 strips bacon, hash browns, raisin toast w jam, coffee

 

Standard pre-golf breakfast out.  Not their best.

Lunch:  BLT dog, fries, 20 oz Miller Lite

 

OK.

Dinner:  Small sack of taco bell, pepsi, SRF tallow chips

Also okay.  Will have a bowl of ice cream later.

Exercise:  18 holes with cart, as little walking as I could manage.

126.0 

Going Big

Friday, July 17, 2026

Didn't have much today.  But I got through it.  Scale up and I ate too much again.

Breakfast:  Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, coffee

 

Not the ideal bread for it tbqh.

Lunch:  CFA spicy + pep jack, fries, strips w ranch, lemonade

One of their better efforts.

Dinner:  Italian beef, fries, mini root beer, popcorn, ice cream

 

Tasty.

Exercise:  Nope

124.6 

Flat Smoky Heat

Thursday, July 16, 2026

The new box fan was most helpful.  Although the inside temp briefly touched 84F, it never felt real bad.  It was okay.  The dehumidifier pulling a bucket of water out of the air also helped.  Still, it only dropped to 82F overnight so it's still hot in there and will be for the foreseeable future.

The wildfire smoke from Canada is crazy.  Visibility is way down and unlike last year you can really smell it.  Not a good day to be outside, that's for sure.

Did not get enough sleep, but that's just my body being weird.  Scale was flat.

Breakfast:  McD BEC biscuit, egg mcmuffin, hash browns.  Coffee

Decided I wanted eggs so a mcbreakfast it is.

Lunch:  Turkey sandwich, an extra slice of bread w butter, mini root beer, hard boiled eggs 

Different bread, this loaf was not sliced. 

Dinner:  Dominos pep bacon beef jala onion, bites, coke, a bit of ice cream

Ugh.

Exercise:  Nope.  Good day to stay inside.

122.4 

Most Excessive Heat

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

It's too hot.  Even though it hasn't hit 100F here, the relentless warmth and high overnight temps are taking a toll.  It moved over 80F inside a few days ago and is currently at 82F.  Too hot.  ETA:  Bought a new box fan, air flow is better though the temp keeps rising.

Scale down slightly for no notable reason.  Sleep minimum acceptable.  Might go to a mostly ice cream diet.

Breakfast:   Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, coffee

 

Again.  Using up my bread.

Lunch:  Turkey sandwich, mini root beer, plain greek yogurt w strawberries

 

Again.  Bread used up.

Dinner:  Chili cheese dogs, fries, coke, chips, mint chip ice cream

National hot dog day apparently.

Exercise:  Nope.  Going to need to force the issue.

122.4