Double Double - Yummy!

So I have parent conference/open house night tonight at work.  I'll probably talk to about 5 parents and spend the rest of the time yapping with my colleagues.  I would much rather be home, but I guess I can't complain too much.  Except that I won't see my boys today and there haven't been very many days that I haven't seen them.  So it goes.

I live about 30 miles from work and had a meeting after school, so I ended up not going home after school.  I had to grab something to eat and I decided that a Double Double from In-n-Out sounded like a great idea.  And it was.  So were the fries.

This is one of the reasons that  really do like being on WW.  The meal cost me 29 points (for the ladies like my wife who get 26 points a day.. GASP!).  Guess what?  I still had 31 points left for the day.  I had the points and was able to enjoy an every once and a while treat.  It isn't the best choice but it was a damn tasty one.

Funny thing is, this is the second time I had fries this week.  On Monday night, I went out with my friends and the sandwich I ordered came with fries.  My buddy (Mister Deprive Myself) got a side salad instead of fries.  I may have had fries twice this week, but Monday night was the first time in weeks that I indulged in the crispy golden potatoes that were handed down from on high.  Mister Deprive Myself is on a self-imposed diet of sorts and pretty much said that he was "giving up" fries.  I told him there was no freaking way that I was giving up fries.  I just don't eat them all that often (except for this week).

I guess I just trust myself enough now that I know that a small order of fries from time to time isn't going to derail me.

Flogging Molly and Binge Drinking

First, I must say that I had a fabulous time at the Flogging Molly concert on Friday night.  It was everything that I could have hoped for and more.  Unfortunately, my apprehensions about drinking too many beers did come true.  I overindulged a little bit, but I was kind of prepared for that and I'm actually okay with it.

I gained .6 lbs this week.  I blame it mostly on the drinking on Friday night.  Even when I have the points to drink, I still post little gains when I go overboard.  Friday just confirmed what I had already known.  If I plan on drinking, I better also plan on posting a gain.

Deception..

I have a friend who has been on a "no red meat" kick for the last several months.  It probably isn't a bad idea, but sometimes I think that people can confuse cutting out red meat (or going full on veggie) with eating healthier.  This sort of idea was brought to light a couple of Fridays ago when I "had" to go to Taco Bell for lunch.  My wife is Catholic and we observe lent in our house.  This particular Friday came and I was totally unprepared for lunch.  I usually just go with tuna fish sandwiches when I find myself without a suitable meatless meal on Fridays, but we were out of mayo.  Since my work schedule is more conducive to going out to eat (I have a prep period before lunch), I took one for the team and grabbed some Taco Bell.

Knowing full well that Taco Bell isn't a super healthy choice, I did more or less budget my points for the lunch but I was still pretty surprised to see what the damage was.  I ordered 2 bean burritos and a tostada.  Even with eating less these days, that is still a relatively small meal (at least compared to the past).  The three items cost me a grand total of 24 points.  My usual lunches from home are much less "pointy" and it seems like they usually fill me up much more.

However, that isn't really the point of this exercise.  It got me thinking about comparing my "healthy" and meat free Taco Bell choices to a more standard cheeseburger and fries type of meal.  In the Inland Empire area of Southern California, we have a great family owned fast-food chain called Baker's Drive Thru.  While I love the Mexican portion of their menu, the shining star is their burgers.  Their "Double Baker" is almost on par with In-N-Out's "Double-Double".  Just for kicks and giggles, I decided to add up the points from a Double Baker value meal (with a Diet Coke of course).  A Double Baker w/cheese and an order of fries adds up to 29 points.

It obviously doesn't take a math major to figure out that the Baker's meal was more "expensive" than the Taco Bell meal.  On an unrestricted day, I would pick the Baker's meal 100 times out of 100, though.

However, the point of this exercise is more about perception.  Before my Weight Watchers days, if you would have given me the choice of which meal was healthier I would have thought that the Taco Bell me was WAY more healthy than the Baker's Meal.  In reality, they really aren't too much different.  Both of them are really bad for you.  And that is kind of the point of this exercise.

Sometimes we get caught up and focus too much certain components of a meal and don't take a look at the bigger picture.  A completely vegetarian meal from a fast food joint can be almost as bad for you as a typical burger and fries combo from another fast food joint.

It is noble to figure out ways to make yourself healthier.  I just think that sometimes, we need to to take a look at things on a "macro" scale rather than a "micro" scale.  Removing something like red meat from your diet is more of a micro choice to me.  It might make you healthier than you currently are, but it might not be a big enough change to make and keep you healthy in the long run.

Besides, I still think the important question is "Are you really going to give up (x) for the rest of your life?"  If you can't honestly answer that question than you need to maybe think about doing something else.

Allow me to indulge..

Given that this blog was created to express my thoughts about diet and exercise (and really my personal journey), you would think the title for this post would be related to food.. it isn't.

I usually don't like making statements about politics or anything of that nature in a public place.  Usually, it just isn't worth the hassle.  However, the whole Rush Limbaugh controversy has been eating at me the last few days.  I think most of us can agree that Rush's 3 day rant against Sandra Fluke was idiotic, misguided, and absolutely dishonest.  There isn't much that he said that can actually be defended by any person with a moral compass and a couple of brain cells.

Yet, the right wing pundits (including El Rushbo) have mounted their own defense.  You see, David Letterman made a bad joke about Sarah Palin's daughter one time, this other time Louis CK called Palin a cunt, and this other time Bill Maher called Palin a twat.  The crux of their argument is that since these folks used similar slurs against women, than it is pretty much alright for Rush to do it.  Really, these folks are trying to call "the left" out on their hypocrisy. 

Give Limbaugh a bit of credit.  The explanation of his "apology" on Monday's show was brilliant.  For his followers and fellow right wing pundits, he did a very good job of spinning the controversy.  Fluke's testimony in front of congress had very little to do with herself.  She relayed stories about fellow female students she had spoken with and their struggles to have their insurance cover birth control even when it was deemed medically necessary and not for contraception.  As we all know, Rush turned this into an outright attack on Fluke (needs to rehashing) and her sexual activities.  Yet, this is what the heart of his apology was:

Against my own instincts, against my own knowledge, against everything I know to be right and wrong I descended to their level when I used those two words to describe Sandra Fluke.  That was my error.  I became like them, and I feel very badly about that.

 His apology was that he used the wrong words to attack Sandra Fluke.  Not that he attacked her or misrepresented her testimony, but that he used the wrong words.  To double down of the insincerity, he implied that he "sank" to the level of the other side when he chose those words.  He spun the apology away from what he really did and sent people scrambling to find evidence of what the other side did that was bad.

His sycophants and fellow right pundits ate right out if his hand.  They have now framed the argument in terms of hypocrisy rather than what it actually is.  "I know you are, but what am I?" is now the official argument of the Rush Limbaugh supporters crowd.  Nice job, Rushbo.  You totally "blame-shifted" the apology and steered away from your smear campaign and let people focus on "two" words rather than the entire smear campaign and tirade that you spewed against Sandra Fluke for 3 days on your radio show.

Now many of his supporters have rushed to his aide and found all sorts of evidence that the left has used the same or worse words against women as evidenced by the previous mentions of CK and Maher.  I actually think that there could be a valid conversation based on this if it wasn't used to deflect responsibility.  What if Hannity came on his radio show today and said:

Let me start off by saying that Rush Limbaugh's attack against Sandra Fluke was misguided and totally inappropriate.  Much has been made about the language that Limbaugh used while attacking Fluke and that misses the heart of argument.  However, this is a chance for an open discussion about the kind of language that it used against women on a regular basis.  No one should use that language whether they are conservative, liberal, moderate, or somewhere else on the scale.  It is unacceptable to talk about a woman in those kinds of terms.

Not many on that side of the aisle would do that sort of thing, but I think it it would make for an interesting conversation or statement.  It would condemn Limbaugh while at the same time pointing out the misogynist tendencies that many of us have.   Condemn everyone for using that kind of language.  Put a spotlight on everyone.  Don't go around finding examples of left wingers using nasty words against women to defend Rush.  It takes away from the other words (that were far worse) that he said.

Apprehension (and a touch of excitement)...

This Friday, the guys and I are going to see Flogging Molly.  Most of me is very excited for this because I haven't been to a show with my buddies in years.  My default (and expected) date for most of the shows that I have been to in the last couple of years has been my wife.  I think the same can be said for my buddies.  My wife decided last year (after getting a pounding headache) that she would no longer be my date for "rock" shows.  This time around, my buddies are going with me.

I'm excited to hang out with my friends and do something that was a huge part of our lives when we were younger.  Going to shows and concerts was a hobby of ours in our late teens through a good portion of our 20s.  Then we grew up, got jobs, got married, and had kids (at least two of us did).  Life changes a bit when responsibility sets in.

And that is where the apprehension sets in for Friday.  One of the wives suggested that she would feel much safer if we stayed in a hotel on Friday night.  I had actually thought about it and totally agreed that stumbling back to our hotel or taking a cab after midnight was a far better option than driving back home well after the witching hour.  Again, exciting in some ways but nerve wracking in others.

I started on WW back in September.  The wife and I have had some getaways and enjoyed ourselves while I have been on the the plan.  However, it is much easier to restrain yourself when your partner in crime is also following the same plan you are.  Even if both of us overindulge in one way or another, we both still know that we are accountable to that tracker in our phone and the scale.  It seems to be a more daunting endeavor when you are hanging out with folks who aren't on the same page as you.

It's also more daunting because, quite frankly, our pastime throughout the years has been drinking beer.  Lots of beer.  I've severely cut back since I started WW, but I know that my compatriots can still put it away.  I plan on having a couple of beers (or more) throughout the evening, but I really don't want to go overboard.  For the most part, I've done a pretty good job restraining myself when we've hung out lately.  Of course, that is when I have a wife and kids that I need to be accountable to when I go home.  It's going to be a little different this time.

I'm not setting myself up for failure and I plan on making the best choices possible, but I am still nervous.  I'll have to give a recap on Monday!