Oops.

So, Friday evening I went for my walk like usual.  However, partway through the walk I completely lost track of what lap I was on.  Naturally, being aware of when I left and the pace I usually walk at, I looked at my watch to figure it out.  Given the time, I determined I must be on the second lap, so I did another lap after that one and went back inside.

When I fired up Wii Fit U and transferred the Fit Meter data, I saw this:

Each lap of my walk has a very distinctive set of spikes and dips in altitude, given that my neighborhood is hilly as fuck.  It's very easy for me to tell where I was in the neighborhood at any point on the graph just by looking at the altitude and taking it into context.  But the pattern is repeated four times, not three.

I accidentally an extra lap.

So Saturday evening I did four laps again, purposefully this time.

I guess I'm doing four laps now.

Go me?

Wii Fit U, three months in

Things are still going pretty smoothly.  Really smoothly in fact.  Buttery smooth.  Like a hot knife through a baby's bu- well, you get the idea.

Before I go any further, though, I want to preface this with a note.  Fortunately, I don't have to type it, because I already did.  I dumped this spaghetti already on /r/mindcrack, where I've been doing short monthly posts about this whole thing in the Free Talk Friday threads.

I changed absolutely nothing, and my body seems to have kicked it into overdrive.  Last month I was 233, right?  Well, guess what.  I'm 213 now.  20 pounds in a month is fucking insane.  I don't really want to keep that pace going, but again I'll stress that I did nothing differently.  Well, maybe that's a lie.  I'm eating a serving of Lay's potato chips every day now.  But that's a relatively recent thing, the massive losses that started this thing happened well before that, and I've continued losing weight despite the potato chips.

What massive losses were they?  The first one was five pounds in two days.  The second one, a few days later, was another five pounds or so across three days.

With all this weight lost, it's only natural to start noticing things, right?  Well, there's the obvious thing that it's way easier for me to get in and out of a car now.  I can also bend over and tie my shoes without running out of breath.  On the negative side, I seem to have lost enough fat from my ass that it now actually kinda hurts to sit on a wooden chair.

This next MAGFest is gonna be awesome being this much lighter.  I wonder if the foot pain issues I've had in the past few MAGFests are still going to be a problem.  They persisted even with supportive footwear and switching my staff shifts from floor staff to desk staff so I could sit down and take some weight off my feet.  Also, if it's any indication of awesomeness, when MAGFest opened preregistrations and hotel reservations, the hotel sold out within 24 hours, and the pre-reg server promptly shat itself from the traffic.  I was there with my email with the link to confirm my staff badge going "damn, this thing just isn't loading".  It took them several days of maintenance to get it back up, this time much more able to handle the volume of traffic.  I claimed my badge, which meant...  it was time.

"Time for what?", you ask?  Well.  Last year I had to get a 2XL shirt, because I couldn't fit into an XL shirt anymore.  Having to move up to 2XL shirts was one of my motivators for losing some weight.  So, it was time to try on one of my many XL shirts and see what size I should request.

Guess what?

I can wear my XL shirts again.

That's awesome.

If you've met me in real life since the latter portion of last year, you may have noticed that I've been wearing these featureless shirts in various colors (white, black, grey) that I got for cheap at K-Mart.  Those were 2XLs.  All my shirts with the various funny or geeky things on them are all XL shirts (for the most part, a couple are actually 2XLs like the "Make 7/Up Yours" shirt).  I went from having eight shirts available to wear, to an entire closet full of shirts to choose from once again.

I wonder if my polo shirts and khakis fit once again.  If so, that's gonna make trying to get a job a bit easier.  If I can get anybody to hire me.  "Overqualified" is the biggest load of bullshit that anyone's ever made up, except maybe for the anti-vax "argument", or the 2016 election where we get to choose between a bigot and a criminal.  I don't care what my qualifications are, I want a job in receiving somewhere so I can be active all day.

Anyway, the graph.  Standard complaint about Wii Fit U not letting me use Miiverse to screenshot it goes here.  Also, I finally got the balance test to be happy, so there's a Miiverse screenshot of that as well.


Let's hope the future is as bright as the present, shall we?

Lay's Passport To Flavor

So, the new Lay's flavor promo is out, and learning from last time, I pounced and grabbed bags of all four flavors.  The deal this time around is that you can enter a code found inside each bag to earn "miles" and use those "miles" to select prizes.  Given the nature of these sorts of things, I'm sure it requires far more "miles" than any one person will ever get for anything that's actually desirable, but that's not what we're here for anyway.

Nah, screw that, all we want to know is, "What are the flavors, and how are they?".  Also, my palate cleanser would have been a 20 oz. Mountain Dew had I had the forethought to not drink the entire thing on the way back from the store.  So instead, it's a 12 oz. can of Coke Zero, in full "Trying Not To Get Zika At The Rio 2016 Olympic Games" livery.

Just to make it abundantly clear: I bought the chips myself, Lay's doesn't even know I exist.  Even if they did decide to send me stuff, I'd only accept it with the stipulation that my opinion is my own, and there'd be full disclosure anyway because not doing so is unethical and actually illegal.

Indian Tikka Masala (Kettle Cooked)

A flavor very similar to that of tandoori seasoning hits you right away.  There is a hint of a kick in there, but it's very subdued, making these chips flavorful and accessible.

Brazilian Picanha (Regular)

According to Google, Picanha is a cut of beef that's popular in Brazil.  Fittingly, the flavor description on the front of the bag mentions steak, and you can smell a faint beef aroma if you really pay attention.

Digging in, we find a distinct meat flavor, the taste of which reminds me of a steak cooked medium rare, accompanied by several herbs and spices to round it out.  It's a very nice combination of flavors, without anything overbearing.

Chinese Szechuan Chicken (Regular)

No discernable smell upon opening the bag.  Quite flavorful, though.  Further proof that the link between smell and taste is not as set in stone as people would have you believe.  Anyway, there is a larger kick to it than the Tikka Masala chips, enough of a kick to overwhelm the rest of the flavors after the first chip.

Greek Tzatziki (Wavy)

My instinct going in is that this is a spiritual successor to the underdog flavor from a couple years ago, Greektown Gyro.  My verdict was swapped from everyone else's on that, they all picked New York Reuben over it.

Anyway, the Tzatziki flavor is strong, and there's various complimentary flavors of herbs and spices that are also quite noticeable, but well balanced.  There's nothing objectionable whatsoever.

Overall

While I do like spicy things, I also like being able to eat a fair amount without zorching myself.  I ate a quarter serving of all four chips, and ate the Szechuan Chicken chips last since I expected them to be spicy, which takes a bit to go away and I can't be trying other flavors in the meantime.

While the Szechuan Chicken chips are good, I'd probably go for the Tikka Masala chips for best all around flavor.  Second best would be the Tzatziki chips, which has a nice flavor that would go well with a sandwich containing a few slices of meat.  Third would be the Picanha chips, and in a close fourth due to more emphasis on spice than flavor, Szechuan Chicken.