Dan Nied's 100 Days is the chronicle of one man's quest to improve his health in 100 days. Feel free to email him at nieddan@yahoo.com with any questions or comments you might have.

What I ate today

Breakfast (9:30 a.m.)
1 can of tuna
2 slices of multigrain bread
2 servings of fat-free Mayo
Calories: 270
Fat: 3.5 grams

Lunch (2 p.m.)
1 foot-long Subway chicken breast sub
Calories: 640
Fat: 10 grams

Dinner (9 p.m.)
1 foot-long Subway club
Calories: 640
Fat: 12 grams

Total Calories: 1,550
Total Fat: 25.5 grams

Exercise: 40 minutes on elliptical machine. Full body lifting (not really full body, just arms, legs and back, but to me that is full body. Oh, also worked the stomach a bit, so I guess that really is full body, but well, I didn't do lower back or forearms.)

Hey! I'm back from Wyoming!

Did you miss me? I know you did. I am very missable. I did manage one entry on Tuesday night, but that was all. And I got back Thursday night but decided to take the night off from writing. I did, however, begin the diet again Thursday.

My friend Guy asked me on Wednesday if I thought I was rationalizing eating like shit in Wyoming by saying that I believed I could easily go back to the diet when I got home. That was a legitimate question, since, usually, I would be rationalizing. I had to think about it.

I suppose in a way I was rationalizing the shit eating this week. For the sake of self-respect, I needed to convince myself it was ok, right? So yes I guess I was rationalizing a bit.

But at the same time, I truly believed that I could easily go back to eating right. During the trip, I found myself wishing I was back home on the diet. Not because I wasn't having a good time, but because I knew that if I was home I wouldn't be in a situation where many of the day's events revolved around eating.

There were lunches with the coaches (In case you don't know, I was in Wyoming covering a basketball tournament) and postgame meals with the entire team and free food at the arena (which came in handy for a poor motherfucker like me). And it wasn't difficult to convince myself to break off the diet.

But that doesn't mean I wanted to. I would look at myself in the mirror every day and see a guy who is smaller than he was two months ago, but still not anywhere near "not fat". I would grab on to my stomach and feel the handfuls of fat that still overlapped my belt. And then I would pinch the loose skin where fat used to be. And you know what? There was a lot more fat than loose skin. (Although I am guessing that the skin tightens up since there seems to be less of it than there was even a month ago when I was 15 pounds heavier.) And I wasn't happy with the way I looked. I wasn't happy with my wardrobe and how other people saw me.