Diet of Champions

The Evil Forces fed me again yesterday.

One McD's breakfast, 2 Pop-Tarts, 4 Cokes, and a Hostess Cherry Pie.

On other hand, I walked two miles, got a proper lunch, and passed on dinner.

That tree jumped out and hit my car officer ...

On the highway to diet hell, I've had a Kit Kat Bar, Nutrigrain Bar, and 12 oz Coke this afternoon.

I was attacked by them. Each of them snuck up on me and then POW! (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Rule 3: Five Meals a Day

Rule 5

Five meals a day, if you can get them.

Comments

What this rule really means is limit snacks in number (one each, morning and afternoon) and scope. Best are fruits, but (in my case) even an occasional candy bar is okay. But that doesn't candy bar and a soda, or a snack right after breakfast or ... you get the idea.

A New Low in Product Activation

At anti-virus renewal time I upgraded to Norton AV 2005. The product requires activation, which I don't mind.

I do mind the geniuses who included both I (ASCII 0x49) and "l" (ASCII 0x6C) in the activation key character set and presented it on the Symantec web site in a sans-serif font. This gave a result of:

xXx0X-AnIlOQ-XXXX0-XXXX-Xx/xXx

But look closely:

xXx0X-AnIlOQ-XXXX0-XXXX-Xx/xXx

Since the mixed case adds one bit per character, they saved one character off the product key at the expense of better than 1 in 2 odds of the customer working into a rage when they type the wrong character.

(I'm computing the odds based on 26 * 2 + 10 characters in the set, two similar characters, each with a 1:2 odds of being typed wrong, with 25 instances of the set. My math may be off, but not the idea.)

Rule 2: Caffeine Free

Rule 2

No caffeinated beverages.

Comments

This seems to conflict with rule 1, moderation, but rather it lives the prior rule. That's because I can't drink caffeine in moderation over the long haul.

Simple, eh?

Rule 1: Moderation

Introduction

When I was a diet at the beginning of the year, my mantra was my
diet is simple. This time, I wonder, because of the number of things I
actually change. So, I am going to take my time, make a list, and check
it twice.

Rule 1

Moderation isn't the best way, it's the only way in the long haul.

Comments

Losing weight is the process of burning more Calories than you take
in.  One can up exercise, lower intake both.  Drugs and diet
changes (ala Atkins) can change intake and burn rate by changing body
chemistry, but even those schemes  ultimately relate on the body
having a less intake than it burns.

(As a
side note, while there is medical support for body changes claimed by
supporters of the Atkins Diet, I peronsally think most people 
lose weight on it simply because the food restrictions make people
think about what they are eating.)

That said, both are important to the average American, because they
both eat too much and exercise too little.  But a drastic course
correction doesn't change habits.  Gentle changes do, and that's
new (better) habits come from..