And today would be close to Day 288.

If 3/14, below, was Day 68, then that would make today....

Day 144 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -- Tuesday

Having seen my physician about a week ago, I can provide some actual empirical updates this time. Since last visit, which was back in November of 2000, we've:

• Lost 22 pounds, due largely to the changes in eating habits which were so well-documented up to a point in these pages;
  
• Reduced overall cholesterol counts to 167 from 212, due again to the dietary changes, regular exercise (in the form of hikes, walks and a weekly pick-up volleyball date), plus 40 mg of Zocor (simvastatin) daily;
  
• Reduced waist size by three -- count 'em -- inches -- down to a 35 now, which is great, and people have noticed -- but it has required the expenditure of a small fortune in alteration charges at the tailor's, and required the acquisition of some new jeans and khaki's.

So, ya know how many times you've heard the phrase, "eat right and exercise"?? Well, it actually really is as simple as that!! Keep at it!

Howdy, all. Just another brief update -- first, another apology for making absolutely no improvement in keeping things updated, here........I thought I'd have more patience for this, I guess. However, the important thing is that The Diet Continues. In fact, it's now --

Day 68!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Wednesday

That's pretty cool, huh? Sixty-eight straight, steady days of good eating behavior. In fact, it's now completely conceivable that We Have Succeeded in permanently altering our eating patterns and pointing them in the steady direction of -- you guessed it -- All Health, All the Time.

We are still doing the daily morning oat bran, the daily bowl of soup for lunch, and the daily evening Big Salad. Weekends continue to be "reward" days, when we typically go out and have something not on the standard menu, but still conscious of health/nutrition value.

We've still managed to avoid looking at a scale, but based on comments from friends and colleagues, weight management is visibly appreciable. I'm gonna guess we dropped 10 pounds of needless extra weight. It's damn nice to be fitting back into the 36" waist pants that I bought three years ago, and haven't been able to wear for two! So we're gonna keep this up.

The Band has been Horribly Remiss in updating this page -- because it's so damned boring! However, rest assured that All Parties are sticking to the new regimen. Religiously, even. And We fully intend to update this, as was the original plan, and keep everyone posted. So far, though, we've settled into a basic routine of the Hodgson's Mill hot Oat Bran cereal daily for breakfast, one bowl of the Bean Cuisine Spinach and fresh Green Bean enhanced Pasta & Bean soup for lunch, and a big plate of The Usual salad, with either a glass of water, or a glass of skim milk. Weekends have been used for protein acquisition: A few Saturdays ago we had a nice piece of broiled trout, w/ a side of potatoes and steamed veggies, and house salad, w/ fat-free Rasberry Vinagrette dressing (surprisingly nice); then we had a 16-oz New York Strip, medium-well, with steamed veggies, anda house salad w/ the house fat-free (kind of a French, which was also very surprisingly nice, given that Your Humble Chronicler doesn't even like regular French dressing; and last weekend we had a split chicken breast, broiled, with steamed veggies, and the house salad and dressing (same place). All of those weekend meals also included a few pieces of fresh baked bread, which came with the meal, and we limited ourselves to one helping. Sunday's have seen more preparation of soup for the coming week's lunches, a repeat of Our Muse's chicken breast with fresh peppers and onions; a pork tenderloin, pan fried, accompanied by a side of fresh green beans, parboiled, and then sauteed with fresh ginger, some olive oil and sliced almonds, and couscous.

That's pretty much it. Feedback from fans and miscellaneous observers has been overwhelmingly positive, energy levels continue to improve, and once-snug items of clothing are becoming noticeably less restricting.

Day 18 - Tuesday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, black.
Lunch: One bowl of Bean Cuisine's Pasta e Fagioli.
Dinner: A salad day. The usual -- red/green lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, grn pepper, carrots, chopped mushrooms, cucumbers, chopped red beets, garbanzo beans (all salad ingredients chopped fresh, unless otherwise noted). Splashed with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. Skim milk to drink.

After dinner: Nothing (licked PBnJ knife).

Day 17 - Monday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. One cup of tea, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk.
Lunch: One bowl of Bean Cuisine's Pasta e Fagioli.
Dinner: A scaled down salad, followed by one bowl of Bean Cuisine's Island Black Bean Soup. Water to drink. (Needless to say, we left out the optional two cups of diced ham.)

After dinner: Went to a show, and had three Double Diamond drafts, plus split a plate of nachos and salsa with The Muse.

Day 16 - Sunday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk.
Lunch: Skipped.
Dinner: Splurged, and enjoyed a new recipe, conceived by our Very Own Muse -- boneless chicken breasts sliced and sauteed in olive oil with red, yellow and orange peppers, garlic and onions and some light seasonings. A Manischewitz long-grain wild rice and lentil pilaf on the side (which looks nothing like the picture on the box, but tastes much better than it appears. Main course preceded by a scaled-down version of The Usual Salad. Water to drink.

After dinner: A late bowl of Bean Cuisine's Ultima Pasta e Fagioli soup. De-e-e-elicioso! (Substituted chicken broth for beef, and added one lb bag frozen spinach.)

Day 15 - Saturday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, black.
Lunch: One bowl of Giant Eagle grocery store brand chicken and pasta soup.
Dinner: Seems Saturday is becoming the week's reward day. Initially thought that a nice piece of fish would be a good idea, but The Muse wanted sushi, so we forwent Tram's in favor of Young Bin Kwan, where The Muse had the deluxe sushi and was happy, The Chile had his usual (Hunan Style Chicken) and was happy and Yours Truly, well -- I ordered something Korean -- a bibim something or other -- described as "buckwheat noodles with vegetables in a hot spicy sauce" -- sounds good, no? Yeah -- until I get this thing, which is a pile of noodles, in a bowl, in a brown sauce, topped with cucumber slivers -- still sounds good. But it was cold. And sweet. Not exactly what I was looking fwd to on a windy, snowy Saturday evening... Oh well -- we shan't be ordering that again. Live and learn, I s'pose. The dining experience was preceded by an order of steamed dumplings (2 each), and accompanied by a mild tea which was shared by all.

A Nod to Decadence: Had a few sips of The Muse's chai while driving around a posh new residential development in a rather lovely and unexpected snowfall.

After dinner: Had about a bottle of Clos du Bois Merlot w/ The Muse. And too, too many pumpernickel pretzels. Not happy about that.

Cravings, if any: Everyone else's orders, plus that nice piece of salmon or trout accompanied by a baked potato that I had floating around in my mind.

Apologies, Dear Readers, for the delayed posts -- between RT work and a round of post frustration (we're talking like nearly an entire day of blogshit, here, guys -- I mean, you're forgiven and all, but write some scheduled task to periodically dump the tran log, 'k?? 'Cuz all of these lost posts are for the friggin' burdz, man...word...) it's been tough to stay current. Anyhew.......

Day 14 - Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday {*....Snoopy dance....*}
B-fast: I'm tellin' ya -- Your Narrator is all about this shit, man -- one serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk. Two more cups in course of day, black.
Lunch: One bowl of vegan 7-bean soup, from across the street.
Dinner: The usual salad -- red/green lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, grn pepper, carrots, chopped mushrooms, cucumbers (all salad ingredients chopped fresh, unless otherwise noted), chopped canned beets. Topped with roasted almond slivers and The Muse's homemade fat-free ranch dressing. One bowl of Amazing Cabbage-enhanced 18-bean soup (~1 cup).
Water to drink.

After dinner: One martini, dry. Tanqueray Malacca gin, Noilly Pratt Original French dry vermouth, splash of Rose's Lime Juice. Shaken, not stirred. Four miniature green Spanish olives (whatever that means -- do they make their own refried beans??), w/ pimentos. On a toothpick. La Russa brand, if you must know. Oh yeah.

Nod to Decadence: After lunch, had a tall latte, with 3 shots of espresso.

Cravings, if any: Fried chicken (?!?!?????).

Day 13 - Thursday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk. Had one more cup, at office, ~4 pm, black.
Lunch: One bowl of the Amazing Cabbage-enhanced Manischewitz 18-bean soup.
Dinner: A salad day. The usual -- red/green lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, grn pepper, carrots, chopped mushrooms, cucumbers (all salad ingredients chopped fresh, unless otherwise noted). Topped with roasted almond slivers and homemade fat-free ranch dressing. Skim milk to drink, ~ 2 cups.

After dinner: Nothing.

Denied, if anything: Invitation to lunch on quesadillas w/ boss. (She took it well.)

Cravings, if any: Can't recall.

Nod to Decadence: Had small handful of chocolate-covered popcorn (read: ~ 5 individual corns), further evidence that work is bad for your health.

Rewards: Licked knife used to make child's PBnJ sandwich for school lunch.

Day 12 - Wednesday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk. (Additional 2 cups over course of day in office, black.)
Lunch: One bowl of Bean Cuisine's Lots of Lentil Soup, also Cabbage-enhanced.
Dinner: A salad day. The usual -- red/green lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, grn pepper, carrots, chopped mushrooms, cucumbers (all salad ingredients chopped fresh, unless otherwise noted). Topped with roasted almond slivers and homemade fat-free ranch dressing. Water to drink.

After dinner: Nothing.

Denied, if anything: Evening cup of tea.

Cravings, if any: Peanut butter and jelly.

Day 10 - Monday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. Coffee, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk (~2 tbsp.) -- 3 cups.
Lunch: Skipped.
Dinner: Should have been a salad day, but made it a salad and soup day, since we spent much of the weekend making big pots of soup. Salad was the usual -- red/green lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, grn pepper, carrots, chopped mushrooms, cucumbers (all salad ingredients chopped fresh, unless otherwise noted). Homemade fat-free ranch dressing. One bowl (~2 cups) of homemade 18-bean soup (from a mix by Manischewitz, w/ onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, and 18 kinds of beans). Cup of skim milk.

After dinner: Nothing.

Denied, if anything: Evening cup of tea.

Cravings, if any: Doritos, from seeing them in the grocery store.

Day 9 - Sunday
B-fast: Coffee, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk (~2 tbsp.) -- 4 cups.
Lunch/Dinner: Had a big chain restaurant steak salad -- more or less heathly, except for the garlic breadstick, the cheddar cheese, the hadful of french fries and the parmesan peppercorn ranch dressing. Otherwise, a big bowl of veggies. Washed down with one India Pale Ale.

After dinner: Had some celery sticks with homemade fat-free ranch dressing (fat-free yogurt, skim milk and one of those ranch dressing packets). Also sucked on some frozen fruit, plain. Also, had a bowl of homemade 18-bean soup, which was on the burner for the coming week.

Denied, if anything: Appetizers, coffee and apple pie, at restaurant -- aside from their obvious desire to move more product, you'd think a restaurant would suspend this tactic in favor of better health.

Cravings, if any: Can't remember.

Rewards, if any: See "After dinner" notes.

Day 8 Saturday
B-fast: Coffee, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk (~2 tbsp.) -- 4 cups.
Lunch: Skipped.
Dinner: Vietnamese, again. 1 small eggroll, 1 regular vegetarian spring roll, and two fried wontons. Chicken curry (coconut milk again....didn't plan on that...). Beverage: Water.

Snacks/Misc: Hung out with friends, which was fun. Unfortunately included 4 Double-Diamond ales, and shameless handfulls of salted nuts and M&Ms.

Denied, if anything: Sadly, no.

Cravings, if any: Vietnamese food.