Day 36:

I'm feeling horribly neurotic today. I know this is not like my regular posts where I talk about the food or the diet, but I'm really worried today about the project. Today was my first fall off the wagon into the road and get run over by the wheel day. It has been extremely easy to stay on this diet up to this point-- I've been off for summer break. I could hole up in my house and there was no real challenge. Today, a stone shattered the window of my reality, as one of my fellow teachers often quotes.

Today I went to see a movie and ended up with a regular soda rather than a diet. Not much of a stone you might say-- actually it was bigger than you might think. Today I had to choose. Stick to the diet or be rude. I have troubles being rude, especially when the person I would have to correct was one of my former students who is finally moving where he wants to go in life. In that fraction of an instant when he handed me the regular Coke, I could have told him that I wanted diet. I could have, but I didn't. I took it, drank it, and ate half a bag of butter-less popcorn. I skipped lunch and haven't drank one glass of water or exercised all day.

Still this shouldn't cause me so much trauma right? Ah, but the second wheel had yet to roll over my back. It came in the form of a folded pink piece of paper. A paper that welcomed me back to school and contained two very infamous lines: Working lunch, and Staff Lunch at Golden Corral. Again I am in a quandary. Times are difficult in the schools. Our budget has been slashed in half and I know that buying lunch for the entire staff is a drain on the budget that the Principal didn't have to do. Am I really serious enough about this diet to say no thank-you as she hands me my Mexican salad (which is possibly the best tasting thing in the entire world) on Monday? Am I willing to eat my granola bar at Golden Corral on Tuesday?

The answer: of course not. I'm afraid that on both Monday and Wednesday I'll try the Nutrisystem eating out guide- something I was planning on avoiding. As for the salad, I'll try to eat only the lettuce and leave the beans, rice, and sauce on the plate. (Sigh) I only hope I'm strong enough.

Katie