This was a pretty good week for the Year of Discipline. I’ve stuck to the eating plan almost every day. I even ate well last weekend, without over indulging. It would have been a perfect week, food-wise, if not for a retirement party at work yesterday.

Up to that point, I was on track without any lapses. But, when I got to the party, they had a platter with cheese and cold cuts. They also had a veggie plater, shrimp cocktail, fresh fruit, beer, wine, and a carrot cake.

I skipped the beer and wine. But i had a few little cheese squares. They had cheddar and pepperjack. Both were good, but the Swiss was incredible. It took a lot of self control to stop eating it. And while it was good that I did, I still ate a lot of it.

I also had a good bit of turkey, salami, and ham. I had a little bit of pepperoni, too. Each piece was small, which made them more dangerous. It’s sort of like eating a bag of chips, where they’re so small it’s easy to lose track of how much you’ve had. After my third trip (we had to little paper plates, so each trip didn’t have a ton of food on it), I knew I had to stop.

I had some broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumbers. Those alone would have been fine. But, I had some of the dip that went with them. My guess is that the dip was not low fat.

Then came the cake. It was good. And the woman cut it into pretty big pieces, even for my standards. I took a really small piece, since I felt like I ate a lot of the cold cuts. My piece was roughly half the size of the pieces the woman was cutting.

Later, though, I had another small piece, which defeated the purpose of taking the tiny piecei n the first place.

All in all, it wasn’t wise for me to stay near the food. I should’ve got a little and then moved to the other side of the room. Instead, I stayed by the food, which led to me eating a little more than I probably should have.

Still, I didn’t feel stuffed after the party. Before the Y of D, I would’ve eaten until I was stuffed. Since I didn’t this time, I still feel good about myself. But, I know I’ve got to get back on track and I have to do better next time.

As for exercise, everything is on track. Still working out according to plan. But, I’m still contemplating moving from a three-day-per-week workout plan to a five-day-per-week plan. I need to keep my body from getting accustomed to the workout.

Another week of sticking to the plan. I’ve followed the eating plan pretty closely. On Saturday night, I had a couple of pieces of Polly-O string cheese that I probably could’ve done without. I’d count that as a minor lapse. But, other than that, things have been pretty good.

Last weekend, I went to Dairy Queen twice. The first time, I got a chocolate shake. Normally, I get a large chocolate shake. But, in the Y of D, I got a medium. One day, I’ll get a small, but I’m not there yet. I also took a lot longer to drink it than I used to. So, that’s good.

The second time, I have a medium hot fudge sundae, as opposed to the large I normally get. Again, a better decision considering. So, all in all, I stuck to my plan of eating less, even when going to DQ.

I’ve also been exercising regularly. It’s been getting easier to be consistent with it. Even if I don’t feel like it beforehand, I do it anyway knowing I’ll feel better afterwards. And, I end up feeling great.

All in all, this week has been predictable. I ate what I was supposed to eat, and worked out as much as I was supposed to. So, I feel pretty good about things. At this point, I’m pretty much on cruise control.

Another week in the Year of Discipline and things have been slightly better than so-so. I’d say they were decent to pretty good.

I stuck to the eating plan for the most part. The exception was on Monday night. Long story short, I told Nadia I’d take care of dinner but forgot to take meat out to thaw because I had to rush out in the morning to get my car inspected. So, I decided to order pizza.

I actually ended up geting a calzone, mozzerella sticks, and fried mushrooms. Nadia and I shared the mushrooms and mozz sticks. Together we ate them all, with me eating the lion’s share. At that point, I had half of the calzone left. I wasn’t full, but I wasn’t entirely sure I was still hungry.

Still, I ate it. the last few bites felt more like activity eating than eating because I wanted it. The good thing, though, is that I didn’t feel stuffed like I do when I’m full. That’s a good thing, I think. It tells me I didn’t eat to the point it hurt. But, I did eat more than I probably should have.

I’ve stuck to my exercising routine. I haven’t missed a day in a couple of weeks now. I feel like i’m getting stronger and more solid. I’m still at about 26 lbs lost. I am considering upping the frequency of my work outs. The weather is also getting nicer, so I might start taking walks after work.

I’m also working on a few projects at work. Nothing too stressful, but projects that are keeping me busier than usual. That’s a good thing. This week alone, I completed three semi-important tasks. So, I feel like I’m on track. Things are going pretty good right now.

It’s been a week since I’ve updated, and things have been middle of the road. Not good, not bad. Eating has been, for the most part, on track. I did lapse a couple of times. Nothing too bad, but certainly not making healthy choices that are in line with the Year of Discipline.

Over the weekend, I ate more than I should have, particularly on Saturday. I had pizza for dinner, and ended up eating more than two pieces, which is too many. I also had cheesy bread, which only added to the calories. I didn’t eat until I was stuffed, but I wasn’t too far away from that feeling. Fortunately, I got back on track this week.

I have been back on the plan since Saturday, and feel like I’m back in my rhythm. I’ve been making healthier choices, and eat normal-sized portions. I feel good about that. The one thing I need to work on is upping my protein intake.

When I used to take protein shakes, I felt much better after workouts, and had more energy. So, I’m going to go back to that. Otherwise, after a rough Saturday, things have been pretty good, and are getting back to normal.

Last week, Wednesday and Friday, I didn’t exercise because I had to work late. I know it was an excuse, but I was just genuinely tired. So, I skipped both workouts. I did, however, up the amount I was walking around, but I don’t think that was enough to compensate for not working out.

This week, I got back on track, working out on Monday. I think that next week, I’m going to go from working out three days a week to five. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I may start going for walks, and trying to be more active. That should help.

I’m still around 26 lbs lost since I started this thing, but I’d like to keep losing more weight. But for that, I’ll need discipline.

It’s been nearly a week since I’ve posted, and things have been so-so. On Thursday, I stuck to the eating plan. For breakfast I had yogurt and a banana. I had my normal cheese sandwich and pretzels for lunch, and I had an apple and a orange as an afternoon snack.

On Thursday night, I made pasta from Nadia’s “pasta of the month” gift she received from her sister. It was good, but I did not overeat. All in all, I felt good about my eating on Thursday.

Friday, we ran out of fruit at home, so for breakfast, I bought a fruit salad from my work cafeteria. I also had two biscuits with butter and jelly. I should have only had one.

For lunch, I bought a buffalo chicken wrap, as usual. I also had a Cherry Coke Zero and pretzels. I had an orange as an afternoon snack.

Friday night, I had leftover spaghetti for dinner. I didn’t overindulge Friday either. So, I felt pretty good.

We had friends visiting from out of town, so it was more difficult to stay on the eating plan. I need more discipline for that.

Saturday morning, we went to Eggspectation, where I had an egg-white omelette, a bown of fruit, home fries, and two orders of wheat toast. I probably could have done without the second order of toast, but all in all it was a relatively healthy meal.

For lunch, I had grilled cheese and pretzels. So, I was still on track. For dinner Saturday, we went to Jerrys where I had a cheesesteak and fries. I also had a slice of pizza. I’ve managed to trim the amount of food I eat when I got to Jerry’s by ordering a regular-sized cheesesteak instead of the large. This time, however, I inadvertently asked for a large combo.

The good thing is that they did not fill the large-fries container up completely. So, I ended up eating fewer fries than I do when I order the regular-sized fries. But, I had the slice of pizza, which more than offset the benefit of eating fewer fries.

For dessert, we had pound cake and ice cream. I ate a little more than I should’ve, and combined with dinner, took me off of my eating plan.

Sunday morning, Nadia made eggs, turkey bacon, and biscuits for breakfast. I didn’t overeat, and felt good. Nadia also made ziti as a late lunch. I ate a little bit more than I should have, but I didn’t overeat at lunch either.

For dinner, we ordered Chinese food. I got the usual, crab rangoon, shrimp lomein, a Philadelphia roll, and steam dumplings. I didn’t eat too much of it and felt pretty good afterwards.

I had a little bit of ice cream and pound cake, and that is probably what pushed me into another a day off the food plan. I think without the ice cream and cake, I would have been fine. But with it, I ate more than I should have.

Monday, I had two cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They were very good.

After that, I had to take my car inspected. So, I dropped it off at the mechanic and walked home. It was a decent bit of exercise. I think I walked somewhere between a mile and a half and two miles. I was a little sweaty, but I felt good. It was good to get some exercise.

For lunch, I had leftover lomein. This time, I didn’t overeat because there wasn’t very much left.

For dinner, we went to Smokey Bones with Nadia’s mom. We share a pretzel basket appetizer. I had one and a third pretzels. For the meal, I had salmon, broccoli, and a baked potato. I was going to get a loaded baked potato, but I didn’t want bacon. The waitress told me that bacon was really the only difference on the loaded baked potato, so I got a normal potato.

The meal was very good, and relatively healthy, so I felt pretty good. A little later in the evening, I had some Thin Mint cookies. I was going to eat pound cake and ice cream, but the cookies seemed like a slightly healthier choice.

Tuesday, I stuck to the eating plan, eating my usual breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. For dinner, we had leftover ziti. I didn’t overindulge, nor did I eat more than I should have. I had just the right amount.

But, shortly after dinner, I ate more Thin Mint cookies. normally, this wouldn’t be a problem because I eat one serving. But, this time, I ate a serving and a half. Not the worst thing in the world, but if I keep doing it, it will move me away from my goal. So, I need to get back on track.

As I said before, things have been so-so. I need to stay focused, continue my workout routine, and keep going. Things haven’t been horrible, but they aren’t exactly where they need to be so I need to work on getting there.