I’m realistic about what works and what doesn’t, and I know that exercise is key to losing weight faster (not to mention, you know, living longer). And I love running; it’s not complicated, it clears my head, and I get to listen to my favorite music or podcasts. Yet I’m not exercising for the entire month of January. Why? Because I’m so heavy for my frame that my knees and back are giving me problems. So I have to lose weight first through dieting, and that’s what really sucks because it’s a waiting game.

When I started this log, I decided for the first four weeks to measure my weight and body fat percentage every Sunday (since the year conveniently started on a Sunday, and I’m anal about things lining up). At no point was I going to obsessively take measurements every day — Sunday morning, that’s it. So, the 1st of January, those measurements were:

• 235 pounds
• 32.5% body fat

I have been putting all of my efforts into eating properly this week; tomorrow, I hope to see the proof in the pudding when I get on that scale. I am looking for any improvement to those stats. Here’s hoping.

Okay, this one is as hard to give up as pop: It’s natural to snack on something while I compute, watch a movie, etc. It’s like a nervous habit. So how to mitigate the cost of the habit? Nosh on low-calorie stuff, obviously. Here is a list of snacks that I’ve found have a low calorie content and, somehow, don’t taste like ass:

• Trader Joe’s Oriental Rice Crackers. They’re small and light, and a little sweet thanks to the Sweet Rice they’re made of. They’re around 110 calories a serving, and if you try to eat more than that, your tongue starts to burn — the self-limiting snack! Credit goes to Melissa for finding these.
• Hot-air-popped popcorn. Must be popped via hot-air popper so you don’t use oil. Don’t put butter on it, although seasoned salt is just fine, or some of the other seasoned toppings you can sprinkle on it like Kernel Season’s (groan) Ranch or Nacho Cheddar. Go ahead and eat as much as you want; you’ll be full long before you ingest more than 100 calores. (And never ever eat the microwave stuff — it’s just plain nasty, almost synthetic. Come on, you know it is.)
• Celery sticks. Don’t load them down with peanut butter or anything, just eat them. Strip the little strings off if it bugs you. Why celery? Because celery sticks are just plain hilarious: They have so few calories (9 or less) that your body expends more energy eating them than they provide! I suppose it is possible to, well, die if all you were given was celery to live on. Still hilarious.

There you go. Get snacking.