Day 36: 292 lbs

I dropped three pounds yesterday. I have now been dieting for exactly five weeks, and lost 23 lbs. The great weight loss crusade marches on!

I stuck to my diet yesterday, after my debacle on Thursday. Temptation is becoming more of a problem and harder to resist (as I expected would happen around this time in my diet). But I'm determined to stick with it.

Tomorrow will bring a novel challenge: it is my birthday, and my family will insist upon celebrating, and most celebrations involve food. I don't know what my wife has cooking up, but I suspect it may involve leaving the kids with grandparents and spending most of the day together--a rare treat when you have three young children.

I need a way to deal with tomorrow, and the holidays in general (which are coming up fast). I can think of several options, none of which is entirely appealing:

1. Stick to my diet and refuse to eat cake, ice cream, fancy restaurant meals, etc., unless I can measure portions and count the calories.
2. Make a reasonable effort to stick to my diet, guess at the calorie content of the "social food" I'm eating, and stop eating when I reach my quota.
3. Declare my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day to be Super Special Non Diet Days, with the understanding that it may cost me a few days of progress towards my goal.

Option number 1 feels like being a party-pooper, especially if my wife wants to take me out to a nice dinner somewhere. She and we deserve some special time together, and it doesn't happen often enough these days.

The second option is a little better, but still could have some party-pooper effect if I run out of calories just when she wants to go to the ice cream parlor. Plus, it has the disadvantage of being very imprecise, so I'll probably go over my quota anyway.

The last option is most appealing, and that's what worries me. It won't be a problem if I have just a handful of special holiday days throughout the year (Valentine's Day should also be included in the list). But the temptation is to have more and more off-diet holidays, which would be the death of my diet.

I'll have to ponder this question today.