I've given up on this attempt of Project Three Meals, but plan to start it up again later in the week. Bad start timing.

Project Three Meals went completely off today. I got no healthy snack, got no exercise, and went on a junk food binge. Don't worry, I am not following that binge up with a purge, those days are very long gone and I'm not going back.

I did get in my three meals, though, if that matters. For breakfast I had egg and swiss on an everything bagel, for lunch I had linguine in a tomatoed alfredo sauce, for dinner I had pizza. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

Success! For breakfast I had macaroni and cheese laced with broccoli bits, for lunch I had samosa chole chat; for dinner I had linguine in a tomatoed alfredo sauce; for my healthy snack I had 3 mandarins. I got plenty of exercise walking home from merryperseis's place. No junk food.

For breakfast I had angel hair pasta in a garlic butter sauce; for lunch I had mutter paneer on rice; for dinner I had pizza, and for my healthy snack I had three mandarins. However, I didn't get any exercise and ate quite a bit of the left over Halloween candy. We only got two groups of trick or treaters, so there was a lot left over. Tomorrow is another day, perhaps the day I make this attempt work.

For breakfast I had creamy parmesan noodles, for lunch I had eggs and hashbrowns, for my healthy snack I had a mandarin and a sugar-free popsicle. I got in well over an hour of exercise walking from my place to merryperseis's place and back.

I would have made, except that my dinner wasn't exactly reasonable. I went to Rudy's with purpleglitter, zarthon, and Jeff. I ended up eating chili con queso, a jalapeño poppers, and a bean & cheese burrito. The popper and burrito would have been fine &ndash but the chips and chili con queso were not only too much, it's hard not to categorize them as junk food.

Tomorrow, I'm going to start Project Three Meals up again. The same as it's always been: three reasonable meals and one healthy snack – no more, no less. 30 minutes of exercise a day, minimum. Absolutely no junk food. Sounds simple, should be simple, isn't.

This of course means I won't be raiding the after-halloween candy sales this year.

Yesterday, as predicted, didn't work out for Project Five. For breakfast I had pizza; for lunch I had rotini and faux italian sausage in a jalapeño jack sauce; for dinner I had spaghetti in tomatoe sauce with portobello mushrooms and parmesan cheese; for my first healthy snack I had a clementine; for my second healthy snack I had tortillas with spinach and garlic hummus.

I also had a hand full of walnuts and the rest of the Godiva chocolate. Several people have argued that Godiva chocolate is a healthy snack. I'm still not ready to put it in that category – regardless, both the nuts and the Godiva were beyond the two healthy snack quota and would therefore be outside the Project Five plan whether or not the Godiva is healthy.

I didn't get my exercise in either. I need to find a good indoor exercise regimen that I can and will do.

Yesterday was Valentine's Days. purpleglitter gave me a heart of chocolates from Godiva, which is absolutely wonderful but ensures that I failed at Project Five yesterday and will again today. However, I can't entirely blame not making Project Five yesterday on the Godiva. I at a cheese danish, got no exercise, and had half a microwave pizza before bed.

For breakfast yesterday, I had pizza; for lunch I had spaghetti in tomatoe sauce with portobello mushrooms and parmesan cheese; for dinner I had arepa de choclo; for my first healthy snack I had a clementine; and for my second healthy snack I didn't have one.

I'll get back on track tomorrow.

For breakfast yesterday I had pizza; for lunch I had spaghetti o's with monterey jack cheese; for dinner I had spinach and ricotta stuffed ravioli in a tomatoe sauce with parmesan and green and black olives; for my first healthy snack I had spicy peanuts; for my second healthy snack I had chips and salsa - wait, that's not a healthy snack and neither was the salt and vinegar potatoe chips I had shortly after. Add in not meeting my exercise quota and I need to do better.

For breakfast yesterday I had cream of mushroom soup; for lunch I had spaghetti o's topped with monterey jack; for dinner I had ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli in tomatoe sauce with parmesan and green and blacks olives; for my first healthy snack I had a clementine, for my second health snack I had dried blueberries.

I didn't get in my exercise quota and I had a white chocolate Lindt ball. Mmm... it was good, but definitely not on the plan.

For breakfast yesterday I had rotini and faux italian sausage in a jalapeño jack sauce; for lunch I had a veggie burger with cheddar; for dinner I had french bread pizza topped with faux italian sausage; for my first healthy snack I had a clementine; for my second healthy snack I had pumpkin seeds.

I got in plenty of exercise with a non-direct cigar walk to Stop & Shop.

Success.

Yesterday didn't work at all for Project Five. For breakfast I had spaghetti in tomatoe sauce with mushrooms, peppers, and parmesan cheese; for lunch I had vegetable and paneer pakoras followed by shahi paneer korma with rice and naan, for a healthy snack I had tortillas with spinach and garlic hummus.

I did no real exercise and only ate 2 meals and 1 snack as opposed to 3 meals and 2 snacks. So, no dice on day 2.

Yesterday, for breakfast I had tomatoe soup with parmesan cheese; for lunch I had paneer tikka masala wrapped in a tortilla; for dinner I had spaghetti in tomatoe sauce with mushrooms, peppers, and parmesan cheese; for my first healthy snack I had peanuts; for my second healthy snack I had pumpkin seeds. I got in a good hour long walk around Arlington.

I would have made it, however I foiled myself first thing yesterday morning. Before I was awake enough to remember I was starting Project Five, I started gnawing on some thai barbecue tortilla chips.

Here I go yet again. Project Five starts tomorrow.

Three reasonable meals a day. Two healthy snacks. And, no junk food.

No more, no less.

30 minutes of exercise a day.

More of that is okay.

Not being 100% successful is okay, but strive to succeed as many days as possible. Pretty simple, only one ingredient needed: willpower.

As if being a tween is not hard enough, scientists now call the years between 9 and 12 a time when girls are especially at risk of getting fat. Girls are more likely to become overweight in those preteen years than when they are teenagers, researchers report Monday in The Journal of Pediatrics. The study did not say why that was and did not examine boys to know whether they face a similar risk. ... Parents should pay attention to creeping waistlines and poor dietary habits, particularly in this age group, said Dr. Denise Simons-Mortonof the National Institutes of Health, which funded the research. ... "It should be cool to be physically active, and attractive," [Simons-Mortonof] said. full article

There you have it. Dr. Denise Simons-Mortonof believes it's vitally important that 9-12 year old girls be "attractive". Apparently she thinks that the drive to meet the media's demented beauty standards simply isn't pushed hard enough on these girls. Surely, with a little effort, the rates of anorexia and bulimia can be doubled.

I've decided to wait until the New Year to continue Project Five. This time of year is simply not as nice without the junk food.

Researchers have discovered a subtle new difference between men and women -- this one occurring in the realm of eating. Kristen Harrison, a professor of speech communication, has found gender differences related to eating and body image. In the new study of observed eating behavior in a social setting, young men and women who perceived their bodies as being less than "ideal" ate differing amounts of food after they were shown images of "ideal-bodied" people of their own gender. Lead researcher Kristen Harrison found that "in the presence of same-gender peers, certain women eat less and certain men eat more following exposure to ideal-body images -- 'certain' in this case referring to women and men who have discrepancies between their actual body and the kind of body they think their peers idealize," Harrison said. "In a nutshell," Harrison said, "we found that, following exposure to ideal-body images, men who are insecure about their bodies eat more in front of other men, while women who are insecure about their bodies eat less in front of other women." ... The 30 images for the female groups were drawn from fashion, lifestyle and fitness magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Vogue, Shape and Elle. The images for the male groups were from magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness and Muscle & Fitness. ... For example, "If a woman is a regular user of ideal-body media such as fitness and fashion magazines, not to mention television programming featuring advertisements for diet foods and products, she may be moved to abstain from eating several times a day -- even when she is hungry -- resulting in significant weight loss over time." Harrison noted that people thinking about the national obesity epidemic might respond to such abstinence with, "Good! This is what should happen." "But the fact that this happens even to skinny women means that such weight loss could be unhealthy," Harrison said. "Similarly, a man who is vulnerable to ideal-male images due to the presence of an actual body vs. ideal body self-discrepancy may be moved to eat even when he is not hungry, just to reassure himself and other men that he is sufficiently masculine." full article

Shock of shocks!!! You show women images of starving waifs as ideal, they eat less. You show men images of musclebound behemoths as ideal, they eat more. Who pays for this crap? Oh yeah, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

For breakfast yesterday I had mixed pasta in a jalapeño jack and parmesan sauce, for lunch I had 1¹/₂ 7-layer burritos from Taco Bell (mmm... lettuce), for dinner I had spaghetti in a tomatoe sauce with zucchini, mushrooms, carrots, peppers and parmesan cheese. For my first healthy snack I had cashews, for my second I had a clementine. I completed my exercise quota in the form of a cigar walk to Stop & Shop.

Yesterday sucked.

Junk food galore and no exercise.

Lost it.

No details.

Sorry

Yesterday I had a faux shrimp cocktail for breakfast, faux turkey on a focaccini roll with mayo for lunch, and for dinner I had breadsticks covered in mozzarella cheese. For my first healthy snack I had cashews, for my second I had an orange.

I got in plenty of exercise. I took an hour-long cigar walk, then ended up taking a 30 minute walk with Sara as she pushed her new craigslist kickass moped to Alewife. Later I took a short 10 minute walk around Spy Pond with sophiaserpentia. All together, I more than fulfilled my 30 minute exercise quota, but it was such a nice day out yesterday it practically felt like cheating.