It Started with a Journal

I've started using MyFitnessPal again. I started it like 2 years ago, used it for a bit, then stopped. After my latest doctor's appointment, I felt inspired to go back to it. I really need to lose weight. I barely recognize myself anymore! Usually when I think of dieting, I get really discouraged because it seems like some far away goal, I won't see results right away, it'll take years do undo what I've done, etc. But right now I am on a "lose 1 pound a week" plan on MFP, and I realized that that meant if I really stuck to it, I could be close to my goal weight by the end of the year! An actual, real day that's within sight! So I'm giving it a shot. I have terrible self control, so we'll see. I keep telling myself that I did it before so I can do it again, but back then I had more things going for me -- I lived in a neighborhood where I could safely take long walks, I wasn't running a food blog (there's a certain amount of pressure to, you know, be making/consuming good food when you run a food blog), and I had good distractions... namely, World of Warcraft. >.>

It's made me want to play WoW again. I know, losing weight through playing WoW is like the antithesis of the image people usually think of when they think of video gamers (see South Park's "Make Love, Not Warcraft"). But for me it worked. In order to have fun, you have to interact with the game. Your hands are kept busy. I often ate only a bit of my dinner before I'd get distracted playing, and then I felt full. It's the opposite of watching TV for me -- when watching TV, I like to be doing something else, and eating is perfect. So I just eat and eat. Portion control is very difficult when I'm watching TV -- I don't eat until I'm no longer hungry; I eat until I'm stuffed.

So I'm going to try. Keeping the fitness diary really helps because 1) seeing how many calories something is, is really an eye opener; 2) I don't want to have to add stuff to the diary; and 3) it helps me realize what '1 serving' really amounts to. Last time I cut out, like, everything that was 'bad' -- ice cream, chips, fried foods, bacon, other junk food. I'm not going to do that this time because I think it was so restrictive that I had to fall off the wagon at some point, and I want something I can keep up with long term. Then again, last time I did it not to lose weight, but to improve my cholesterol. That seems under control now (at least so says the physical that I got in September), because I've generally been eating better (just too much of it).

I want to be able to wear all those nice jeans I've unearthed in my closet! LOL.

But speaking of bacon and TV... >.> Today is the last day I'll be curing my bacon. I had enough dry cure to cure it for 6 days, so I'm stopping here. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (the British "meat guru" whose advice I'm taking) says that a 5-day cure is perfect for breakfast slices. Longer cures allow the bacon to last for months, but become unpalatably salty (you have to boil away some of the salt before using). I obviously don't have some drafty shed in which to hang my bacon, so I'll just have to use his alternate suggestion and keep it wrapped in cheesecloth in the fridge. I've also been reading other food blogs about homemade bacon, and there's this ultra simple method of doing it (even simpler than what I did, which was already pretty darn easy), where you just keep it in a plastic bag the whole time with the cure and flip it over every other day to redistribute the liquid (because it does release a lot of liquid). Since I had two slabs of pork belly I probably should have tried one of each method to test which was better, but oh well.

( Finished American Horror Story. Spoilery. )

( Watched through ep 4 of Downton Abbey S2. )

How awesome does the new season of Game of Thrones look?! The trailer (thank you, akscully):



Also, ropo found this for me. We'll stop by the next time we're in Vegas. In fact, I think I saw this place the last time I was there!

Power has gone out twice tonight, both times for at least an hour+. You don't really realize how much you depend on electricity until you don't have it anymore. I couldn't even cook because I don't have gas, and if power hadn't been restored by morning I wouldn't be able to shower, because the water would be icy cold. And of course, the pets and I would freeze without the heater. Plus, it's really boring to sit in the dark. I used a crappy reading light from Woot! to read a bit. I don't know how many more times the power may go out again, so I've set my cell phone alarm. I just hope the cell doesn't run out of battery, because it's not like I'd be able to charge it!

What's weird is the outside... in the winter, usually by 5pm or so here it's already super dark. However, with the snow, even without the neighborhood having electricity, it's very bright outside -- you can make out shapes and details like it's 5pm in the summer. The sky is a dark pink. Very odd and cool.

This experience has made me feel even more like I need some kind of emergency survival pack. I was talking that over with some of my coworkers, and nearly everyone seems to have some form of emergency pack or other. I want to prep a good one -- any suggestions? I want something in between "just some extra food and water" and P's survival pack, which is, like, zombie ready. I mean she has a freaking gun and everything. I don't think I need to go that far, but I want to be reasonably ready in case I don't have access to electricity and what not. I bet campers and other outdoorsy people know a lot more about cool/useful things that are available than I do. Like, I don't even know what kind of knife to have -- what would be the most utilitarian? Would something like a Swiss army knife be best? Etc.