This is beginning to get a little unreal. Guess what the weather’s like in St. Louis. Still fucking raining, pouring actually. I drove home in a monsoon last night and was glad of the van’s high clearance, as I had to plow through many little lakes. The off ramp from 170 onto Delmar was like driving up a waterfall.

Mary and I had dinner last night over at Angela’s. We did a large Atkins style meal with a roast that we cooked under the broiler, a cauliflower and cheese mixture that was intended to resemble mashed potatoes (it didn’t, but was good in its own right), and greens with ham as a third dish. That was the largest meal I’ve had since starting this diet and yes I broke down and had wine with dinner. I’m not weighing myself on the same scale, at the same time of day, in the same attire, but by any measure it looks like I’ve lost well over ten pounds at this point, possibly pushing fifteen. The jeans I just bought last month no longer fit, my winter coat is loose where it used to be snug, and honestly I’m regretting getting rid of some of the clothing that I took to goodwill.

So if I were to codify what’s working it would be the following: no bread or pasta, reduce coffee to one cup a day, eliminate alcohol (except the occasional glass of wine for cheating purposes), eat two to three eggs for breakfast in any style, have some form of meat for lunch and a salad for dinner with olive oil and red wine vinegar as a dressing (it’s important that you eat every six hours), no fast food of any kind, eat cheese whenever you want a snack, no fruit or fruit juice, drink lots of water and take a multivitamin. Here’s my modification – drink as much milk as you want. Atkins suggests that you should cut out milk and I am drinking more than half a gallon a day. Walk your squirrel for at least thirty minutes a day, do sit-ups and push-ups, and that is Carlo’s post holiday weight loss plan.

I’m sure you’re getting sick of all this health crap. When am I going to cut loose? This weekend we’re having a Cajun party – so the answer to your question would be Saturday.