Diet Hack, Day 2

This is Day 2 of the Garrett Diet Hack Experiment. See my earlier post for an explanation.

Adjustment in the plan

When doing experiments on your own body, it always helps to have a biochemist to consult with. Fortunately I live with one. My wife Teresa suggested that instead of reducing the target weight by one pound at the beginning of each week, I gradually reduce it. That way I won't have a "starvation Monday" effect. I've never been a big fan of starvation, so I think this is a good idea. I plugged the numbers into Excel and came up with daily target weights. So from now on you will see a target that drops slightly each day.

Today's Target: 203.3 lbs
Actual Weight: 200.0 lbs
Food Budget: 52.1 oz
Food Eaten: 53.25 oz

Oops!

The astute reader will note that I went over my budget by over an ounce today! I think this happened because of an addition error. I will need to be more careful in my final meal of the day. I also didn't write down the food budget on my index card, so that threw me off.

I had two glasses of wine with dinner. If I had to do it over again, I would have cut out the second glass of wine, and had a piece of Valentine's chocolate instead.

Tomorrow's Dilemma

Tomorrow night we are going to one of the top restaurants in the country: The Magnolia Grill in Durham. It is soooo good.

So what should I do? Take my kitchen scale with me? Just splurge and forget about it?

Some factors that weigh in my decision:

• This is a very nice restaurant. Taking out a scale is sure to draw the attention of everybody in the room.
• We are having dinner with a bunch of biochemists. Pulling out a kitchen scale and explaining this experiment would provide a great conversational background for the evening.
• Teresa has sternly warned me not to bring the scale into the restaurant.

Some possible solutions:

• Teresa suggests that I weigh myself before and after eating there. Assuming I don't drink any water or go to the bathroom, this would at least give me the data point that I need for the experiment.
• Forget about the diet hack for an evening. Just splurge and go crazy with the whole meal. In this case I will pay the price the next few days, when my body has stored all that good food into fat, and I have to eat less to recover.
• Eat the absolute minimum during the day (we're talking hard tack and beef jerky) so that I can still stay under budget.
  
• Bring the scale, risking matrimonial disharmony.

Tune in tomorrow to find out what I decided to do...