A Bottomless Pit Day

The day started normally enough.

7:15 oatmeal, grapes, and a particularly delightful homemade decaf. capp. One of the pleasures of life. There's a reason I'm addicted.

I wasn't able to workout in the morning as I prefer. Instead, I hoofed it to and from the BART train for a downtown appointment. I love walking for transportation. Bonus exercise, beautiful scenery, fresh air, interesting houses, shops and people. Today it was a total of about 40 min round trip, fast paced, with the added bonus of BART stairs. Yes, I walk up them, no matter how many. Why not? More bonus exercise that lifts the derriere. What's not to like?

12:30 pm. Working out when my body says lunch arouses some protestations, but I perservere. I realize how great I'll feel afterwards, and how unpleasant it is to rouse myself from afternoon immobility to exercise. I hop on the elliptical. A tape (yes, a tape, for a VCR. There are a few still in operation) of Oprah's show on "The Secret" enthralls me to 54 minutes. Love that Law of Attraction stuff. Yes. My dream is to be on Oprah too. Actually, my dream is to have Oprah as a client, then be on her show. Back to today. My goal was 50 min, so I overachieved by 4. I feel great.

2:00 pm. Thai veggies and tofu again. I learn, after I order, that they have brown rice. When did they add that to the menu? This is a major development. It doesn't get much more exciting than this.

My water comes with a straw today, and I notice they have carefully shaped the paper into a little heart in honor of Valentines day. Now that's attention to detail. I bring it home for my kids, who find it as exciting as I found the brown rice.

3:00 pm. I'm still hungry, so another Zen baker bun and string cheese. I'm still hungry.

4:45 pm. An apple. Still ravenous. 1/2 of my daughter's banana and a string cheese. Still very hungry.

7:00 pm. Absolutely empty. I prepare a large meal:

Chicken burrito
brussel sprouts
left over brown rice
salad

It occurs to me at this point that I'm having one of my "bottomless pit" days. They are fairly unusual and a real hassle. It seems no amount of food can satiate my stomach. I keep eating, and keep not filling up. After a while, I give up and go to bed. There's no point eating more since it doesn't seem to help much. Sometimes they continue into the next day.

Tonight, however, I'm not yet ready to give up.

Although I've already eaten more than my norm, I have lots of room for more. 3/4 of a chicken tamale salvaged from my kid's plates (waste not want not, and all that). I'm temporarily full, but feel it's just a volume issue. In a few minutes, my stomach asks for more calories, please. "Remember all that exercise you did today?" it says.

Tonight, it's an adult bowl of cereal, a second, and the remains of my son's.

It's definitely an impressive amount of food, and guess what. As I write, I'm still very hungry. It's time for bed.