May 9

Soooooo baaaadd...ate two whole bags of microwave orange cheese popcorn yesterday. Why? Why? Just when I was feeling thinner...

Brekkie: coffee, fruit salad

Lunch: ginger chicken leg w/brown mushroom rice, broccoli and roasted carrots

Snack: bag microwave popcorn (really need to get this out of the house), 6 Hershey Treasures (3 with spicy peanut butter)

Dinner: yummy stuffed chicken breast over salad (lettuce, tomato, onion, hot green pepper, yellow bell pepper) with the most awesome dressing ever: Brianna's Ginger Mandarin dressing. I would drink the stuff out of the bottle, it's so good.

Workout: 30 minutes on bike, 20 minutes running (2 miles-plus), 10 walking to recover, plus stretching, crunches and wimp push-ups

May 3

Sugar high....and sugar crash. But at least the damn M&Ms of Satan are gone.

Brekkie: coffee, fruit salad, coconut yogurt

Lunch: cheeseburger plate w/fries and Coke (my weekly reconnection to the homeland)

Just now: the rest of the bag of peanut M&Ms

Dinner: BBQ chicken salad, autre fois. 1/2 small whole-grain baguette with lovely French butter. Glass Vichy water. After one-hour workout (bike, running, stretching/wimp push-ups).

May 2

Oh, chocolate...why must you be so delicious and tempting?

Today I hoovered through 1/2 a bag of peanut M&Ms - just because I am in a place where you can't get them for love or money and they are now forbidden fruit. Then, a colleague brought me a bag of Hershey Treasures as a thank-you for watching his pocket rat and I had to have four as dessert. At least this time I didn't put peanut butter on them.

In my defense - I did work out for an hour. 45 minutes at granny pace on the bike and 1 mile running at 6.5 mph. Go me.

Brekkie: coffee (started taking sugar in my coffee again, now that I am up before the break of day. I like it), fruit salad

Mid-morning: coconut yogurt (French dairy products rule)

Lunch: bland ginger chicken leg, rice and spinach prepared by cook

Snacks: aforementioned M&M fest, plus Chili Cheese Pringles to counteract all of the sugar

Dinner: BBQd chicken boob over salad, yummy dressing I made with extra-virgin olive oil (NOT EVOO - God I hate Rachael Ray), balsamic vinegar, grainy Dijon mustard, Key lime juice, a dash each of maple syrup and chipotle Tabasco. Vichy water with lime.

May 1

Yeah....been a while. Been through a breakup and a new man since then too. Not to mention a new country.

Brekkie today: coffee, fruit salad

Lunch: turkey and Gruyere cheese on whole-grain baguette with lettuce, tomato, grainy Dijon mustard and mayo. Pringles chili-cheese chips. 5 cornichons

Snack: bag microwave popcorn, 6 Hershey Treasures (2 with spicy peanut butter), 6 dried apricots

Dinner: BBQ chicken salad, Vichy water