Today was another good day, where I stuck to the plan and continued down the right path.

For breakfast, I had a banana, yogurt, and a bottle of water. My next-cube neighbor had eggs, sausage, a biscuit, a fruit and yogurt cup, and an orange juice. Based on the smell, I believe the eggs had cheese on them. It smelled so good. But, it’s not on the program, so I had to enjoy my banana and yogurt.

At lunch, it was much easier to stick to the plan. Someone near me was eating something that smelled strikingly similar to hot dog food. This kept me from being as hungry as if someone were eating something good. I had a cheese sandwich and a small portion of pretzels.

As an afternoon snack, I ate an apple and had a bottle of water. About an hour or so after that, I had an orange. I’ve been able to cut out the afternoon 100-calorie pack. I like having it just in case I get hungry. But lately, I just haven’t felt the need to eat it. So, I don’t.

For dinner, Nadia made some delicious chicken fried rice. It was excellent. I had two servings, though I could have had four or five. I had some water with it.

A little bit later, I had four little graham crackers. I wanted something sweet, but not something that was unhealthy. I wanted some chocolate chip cookies. Nadia made some. But, I resisted the temptation.

So, another day…still on track. It’s not getting much easier — at least not as easy as I thought it would. I figure as time goes on, it will get easier.

When I got home from work, the last thing I wanted to do was exercise. But, because of an appointment on Friday, I didn’t work out so I needed to tonight.

I’m glad I did. It’s getting a little easier to get through the workout, an indication that it is working. I need to stick with it, though, because despite the strides made in the eating department, without working out, I will not see the type of results I want.

So far, I’ve lost five pounds, which is good considering its been such a short period of time. The last time I strictly stuck to a workout program, I lost 25 lbs. I did gain it back because I stopped working out, and went back to my old eating habits. This year, however, it should be different.

For dinner, I had tacos. I only had two soft tacos. I used to have three to four. I also used to load them up with meat and cheese. This time, I minimized the amount of meat, and used predominantly lettuce, tomatoes, and guacamole to fill the tacos. It was a good meal. I wanted another taco, but I stopped after two because, again, my problem has always been the amount of food I eat, not necessarily what I eat.

All in all, today was a success. I stuck to my eating plan and workout plan. So, I’m happy to report that I’m still on track.

Today started out well. I had my usual yogurt and banana. I didn’t, however, drink my usual bottle of water. I’m not sure why; I guess I just spaced on it.

At lunch, I had my usual cheese sandwich. I didn’t have a 100-calorie pack today. I was in the mood for pretzels, so I packed some. I took 17 mini pretzels, which is a single serving. The combination of the cheese sandwich and pretzels is good. It’s good at keeping my calories/fat intake down, and it tastes good. I also had a Cherry Coke Zero.

My afternoon snack was a bottle of water and an apple. At first, I was going to also have a 100-calorie pack. But, the water and apple filled me up. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to eat my orange later. We’ll see.

Been a few days since I’ve updated. I’ve been staying on course with eating. I’ve been eating slower, eating less, and being mindful of what I’m eating.

Tonight was one of the harder tests, though. I ordered a pizza. Usually, we get a pizza, cheesesticks, breadsticks, and chicken strips. We usually finish the cheesesticks and chicken strips. Then, I top it off with a few breadsticks and three to four pieces of pizza. Nadia doesn’t eat very much, so I probably eat 80% – 90% of the chicken strips and cheesesticks, myself. That’s way too much.

Tonight, I had four small cheesesticks, and two slices of pizza. We didn’t order the breadsticks or the chicken strips. When I got done eating, I felt like I could eat a lot more. But, I didn’t. It was good to earn that small, yet important victory. Granted, eating pizza is not healthy, but my primary goal is to consume less, so I’ve accomplished that part.

Last Friday, I skipped the workout, in part because my foot was bothering me after walking so much in NYC, and also because I had an appointment at 5:15 p.m. I could have worked out after my appointment, but I didn’t. I was more concerned about my foot. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. If I still feel like it hurts, I will probably do everything but the exercises that put too much stress on it.

So far, today hasn’t been a bad food day for me. But, unfortunately, it wasn’t good either. Not because I overindulged or anything like that. The reason it wasn’t a good food day was because I didn’t eat like I normally do.

I didn’t eat breakfast this morning because I’m out of fruit and yogurt. Instead of buying some, I waited until lunch to eat. I had a cheese sandwich, a 100-calorie pack, and a Cherry Coke Zero.

Then, a few minutes ago, I had another 100-calorie pack. But, I’m still hungry. I don’t feel like I’m hungry just because I’m bored (activity eating). I think I am legitimately hungry. The problem is that there are no healthy choices around.

I’m drinking a bottle of water right now, in hopes of getting rid of this hungry feeling. We’ll see if it works.

On Tuesday night, I went to New York with my girlfriend because she was getting sworn in at the New York court. We stopped for dinner at a New Jersy diner, which meant the potiential for a lapse.

I ordered a chicken cheesesteak with fries and a side salad. I didn’t use all of the dressing that came on the side of the salad, which I’ve never done before. The cheesesteak wasn’t the greatest food choice, but I didn’t order anything else.

The following day, while in the city, I had a couple of sips of a Vanilla Latte and an egg, spinach, and feta cheese wrap, which was advertised as having 280 calories — the lowest of all their breakfast food offerings. The egg, cheese, and sausage bagel had a whopping 500 calories, which is what I wanted originally. Glad I passed.

I spent the entire day walking NYC. I must have walked about 100 blocks all told. So, as far as exercise, it was a good day.

For lunch, I had two piece of pizza and three garlic knots. Again, not a good choice, but before I would have had a stromboli and two slices. So, to cut it down to two slices was a better choice. I was also eating three meals instead of five, so I was hungrier. Add in all the walking, and it was okay to consume a little more.

We walked around the city some more, before returning to my dad’s house. From there we went out to dinner. I had salmon, broccoli, and a loaded baked potato. The meal was good.

Then, I split a piece of cake with Nadia. It was a huge piece of cake. It was actually two pieces of cake. We didn’t finish it, but towards the end of cake, I was on verge of going into activity eating — eating because it was there. So, I stopped and put the food down.

All in all, it wasn’t a healthy weekend. I did get a lot of walking in, but I negated it with my eating. Now, I’ve got to work twice as hard to make up for straying.

The first day back, and things weren’t great. I had a buffalo chicken wrap for lunch. And, I had leftover sweet and sour chicken for dinner. I didn’t make the healthiest choices today, either. But, I didn’t overeat, so it’s sort of a neutral day.

Tomorrow, I need to get back on track, eating smaller healthier meals.

Getting up this morning was easier than I expected it to be. I went to bed around 12:45 a.m. and had to be up by 4:30 a.m. I thought it would be harder to wake up, since I wouldn’t be getting much sleep. But, I got up and got moving shortly after my alarm went off.

Today is going to be a long day. I have to work 10 hours today, then I have to drive five hours to New Jersey. It’s going to be a long day. I’ll be much happier when I’m in NJ tonight.

Breakfast was routine this morning: yogurt, banana, and a bottle of water. I’m really craving a cheese omelette and some sausage. A banana doesn’t compare, but it will have to do.

Today is going to be tough, but I think I can stick with the plan.

After I got off work, I headed over to WalMart to get some oil because I had to change my oil before I head up to New Jersey Tuesday night. I was doing the oil change myself because I wanted to save some money. Before the Year of Discipline, I probably would have taken it to Jiffy Lube.

But now, I decided to get off my butt and do it myself. It also saves me money to do it that way. So, when I got back from WalMart, I changed my oil. It cost about $18 compared to $50+ for Jiffy Lube.

Once I got done with the oil change, I debated not working out. It was late. I already did something productive. I was tired. But, then I stopped and realized I was again trying to rationalize not working out. So, I changed and worked out.

I felt good for working out, and felt good after it. I was a little sore, but in a good way.

Then, it was time to make dinner. I ran to the store to get some pineapple and some peppers so I could make sweet and sour chicken. I didn’t stray from the two items I needed. I didn’t even think about desserts or salty snacks, which is good.

I didn’t overindulge the chicken either. It was very good. I tried a couple of new things this time, and it was the best sweet and sour chicken I’ve ever made. But, I didn’t let that be an excuse to over eat.

I have to be at work early tomorrow, so I intended to go to bed early tonight. But, that didn’t happen. I played a little Rock Band instead of packing for the trip tomorrow night. So, I started packing around 11 p.m. and finished up a little while ago. So, here it is after midnight and I am not asleep.

I have to be at work at 5 a.m. which means leaving here around 4:30 a.m. Tomorrow is going to be rough because I’ll be working a full day, then I’ll be on the road in the evening. I hope I stay focused and don’t eat junk food on the road.

This afternoon was a good afternoon. I stuck to the plan, meal-wise. I ate a cheese sandwich and a 100-calorie pack for lunch. Then I had a 100-calorie pack and a banana for my afternoon snack.

I also completed another online course for work. I took a training course for Microsoft Visio, a drawing program we use. I had a pretty good understanding of the program before I took the course, but now I think I can say that I’m proficient. It was a productive day, and I feel like I took another step towards improving my career skillset.

All in all, a good workday for the Y of D. Let’s see how I do this evening. I’m looking forward to trying to make this a complete Y of D day.

Out of yogurt this morning, so I didn’t really have anything to take for breakfast. Decided to head down to the cafeteria to pick something up.

Despite the smell of a freshly made cheese omelette, sausage and bacon, I ended up getting a fresh-fruit salad. It consisted of cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, and grapes. It was no sausage, egg, and cheese sandwhich, but it was still pretty good. And, it was healthy.

After a not-so-great Sunday, its good to get back on track.