Journal

This is my journal I'm keeping as I eat at McD's every day for one month.

Here is a picture of me on the first day of my one month experiment.

Note that I am drinking a lot of water (and a fair amount of tea) during the day outside of what is recorded here.

Date (2004)	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	My Weight	Snacks (not at McD's)	Cost	Notes
Feb 7	Sausage and Egg biscuit meal with unsweetened tea (not all McD's have this beverage item, but mine did)	Take out grilled chicken cob salad + water	Take out grilled chicken cob salad + water	213	3 carrot pulp muffins	11.94	I only intend to weigh in once per week. I was worried that eating 2 salads would leave me hungry, instead I feel like I ate too much.
Feb 8	Sausage and Egg biscuit meal with unsweetened tea (not all McD's have this beverage item, but mine did)	1/2 Take out grilled chicken caeser salad + water	1/2 Take out grilled chicken caeser salad + water		2 carrot pulp muffins and an apple	8.41	I know I said I was going to eat a burger on fries on Sun. But I just didn't feel like it today. I will save it for later.
Feb 9	Large yogurt parfait + water	1/2 bacon ranch salad + water	1/2 leftover bacon ranch salad + water		2 carrot pulp muffins and a slice of banana bread.	6.73	My co-workers have informed me that I'm crazy.
Feb 10	Large yogurt parfait + water	1/2 cob salad + water	1/2 leftover out cob salad + water		1 carrot pulp muffin and 2 apples.	6.56	Those parfaits are quite good, they are mostly frozen strawberries.
Feb 11	Large yogurt parfait + water	1 side salid + 1 vegetable beef soup	1/2 caeser salad + water (the other 1/2 salad is tomorrow's lunch)		1 carrot pulp muffins, 2 slices peanut butter toast	8.28	It's interesting to note that not all McD's charge the same price for the same items.
Feb 12	Large yogurt parfait + water	1/2 leftover caeser salad + water	medium size quater pounder meal (with tea)		2 carrot pulp muffins, 1 apple	6.56	Things are going pretty well apart from a strange side effect, my hair has turned bright red and become very curly -- and I've developed a preference for wearing yellow. Just kidding :) I've decided that Thursday should be my burger day, not Sunday.
Feb 13	Large yogurt parfait + water	Side Salad + 1/2 yogurt parfait	Side Salad + 1/2 yogurt parfait		2 carrot pulp muffins, 1 handful of peanuts	6.67	A meatless Friday!
Feb 14	Sausage and Egg Biscuit, unsweetened Tea	1/2 bacon ranch salad + water	1/2 bacon ranch salad + water	208.5	1 carrot pulp muffins, 1 chocolate croissant, 1 slice peanut butter toast	7.82	Wow! I did not expect to lose 4.5 pounds. I will have to eat more this next week so that I don't lose so quickly.
Feb 15	Sausage and Egg Biscuit, small coke	1/2 cob salad + water	1/2 cob ranch salad + water		2 carrot pulp muffins, 1 slice peanut butter toast	8.36	I didn't really want Coke at breakfast, but the drink fountain was not self-serve and the checkout person didn't really speak English.
Feb 16	Large yogurt parfait + water	1/2 caeser salad + water + cherry pie	1/2 caeser salad + water		2 handfuls of peanuts, 1 slice apple cinnamon bread	7.56	I added the cherry pie in hopes of slowing down the weight loss. I don't want this week to show another 4.5 pound loss.
Feb 17	Large yogurt parfait + water	2/5 bacon ranch + chicken burrito + water + apple pie	3/5 bacon ranch salad + water		1 handfuls of peanuts, 1 carrot pulp muffin	8.68	The pie, both yesterday and today, was a between meal snack. I don't have a column for a snack which is a McD food item though.
Feb 18	Large yogurt parfait + water	1/2 cob salad + water + apple pie	1/2 cob salad + water		2 apples	6.52	A group of older gentlemen eat breakfast at the same McD's I do. I heard one remark, "They should give California and Massachusets to the Canadians." A Canadian in my office said they weren't interested.
Feb 19	Large yogurt parfait + water	1 side salad + chicken burrito + water	Philly Cheesesteak meal with root beer		1 apples, 2 handfulls of peanuts	8.90	I had a coupon this time. Tonight was my wife's birthday. We celebrated at McD's. I got away with it. :)
Feb 20	Large yogurt parfait + water	1 side salad + 1 small yogurt parfait + apple pie + water	1 side salad + 1 small yogurt parfait + water		1 apples, 1 handfulls of peanuts, 1 soy bar	8.90	I can order by saying, "I'll have my usual" at breakfast. The woman at the counter knows what I want before I even speak.
Feb 21	Sausage and Egg biscuit meal + diet coke	1/2 crispy cob salad + water	1/2 crispy cob salad + water	206	1 carrot pulp muffin, 1 cup applesause, 1 soy bar	7.72	Looks like the pies did the trick, I was down 2.5 pounds this time! :)
Feb 22	Sausage and Egg biscuit meal + tea	1/2 caeser salad + water	1/2 caeser salad + water		1 carrot pulp muffin, 1 handful of peanuts	7.41	We were out and I missed one of my snacks :(
Feb 23	1 large yogurt parfait + water	2/5 ranch salad + water + chicken burrito	3/5 ranch salad + water + cherry pie		1 handful of peanuts, 1 handful of raisins	8.68	A friend of my wife's said she lost 500 calories from laughing while reading this website.
Feb 24	1 hot cake and sausage breakfast + small coke	1/2 caeser salad + water	1/2 caeser salad + water		3 apples	8.98	It finally happened, I lost the receipt from breakfast. Anyhow, since it's Fat Tuesday I dined on the traditional pancakes.
Feb 25	small yogurt parfait	fillet o fish + 1/3 side salad + water	2/3 side salad+ water			4.44	Today is Ash Wednesday.
Feb 26	yogurt parfait+water	Quater Pounder w Cheese, med fries, iced tea	1 side salad + 2 McNuggets		1 soy bar, 1 cup peanuts, 1 apple	10.76	My wife found the receipt, now I can go back and fix my other day!
Feb 27	yogurt parfait+water	side salid + small yogurt parfait + apple pie	1 side salad + side salad		1 soy bar, 1 cup peanuts, 1 apple	6.57	I've started using Fit Day to keep track of my progress. It's a pretty cool program.
Feb 28	Sausage and Egg breakfast with tea	1/2 cob salad + apple pie	1/2 cob salad	203	1 cup raisins, 1 apple, popcorn and coke	8.47	I think I lost a little extra this week because of Ash Wednesday. I got the snack of "popcorn and coke" because I went to see Bubba Ho-Tep One of my receipts is hand-written because the register's printer wasn't working
Feb 29	Sausage and Egg breakfast with tea	1/2 caeser salad + apple pie	1/2 caeser salad		1 cup raisins, 1 apple, 1 cup peanuts	7.41	It was so nice a day that I went jogging. Ran about 3/4 miles.
Mar 1	Large yogurt parfait + water	1/3 caeser salad + quater pounder + apple pie	2/3 caeser salad		1 cup raisins, 1 slice cranberry bread,1 cup peanuts	9.94	I decided to take a "bonus burger" this week, since I've been losing so much weight.
Mar 2	Large yogurt parfait + water	1/2 ranch salad + cherry pie	1/2 ranch salad		1/2 cup peanuts, 1 soy bar, 1 banana	6.56	The finish line approaches... the excitement builds... Mar 7 will be the last day. I'm extending it by one day so I don't miss my chance to win a million dollars in the latest McD promotional.
Mar 3	Large yogurt parfait + water	1/2 ranch salad + cherry pie	1/2 ranch salad		1 cup peanuts, 1 soy bar, 1 banana	7.62	I'd saved 2 mcnuggets in the fridge, but my son ate them. DOH!
Mar 4	Large yogurt parfait + water	1 quater pounder (no cheese), med fries, 1 pie	1 side salad, 4 mcnuggets, 1 small parfait		a handful of celery sticks, 1 apple pie	8.89	I actually saved half the fries for a snack later. Also, I put some Temporary Insanity sauce on the nuggets. Yum.
Mar 5	Large yogurt parfait + water	1 fillet-o-fish, 1 side salad, 1 small parfait	1 side salad, 1 small parfait		1 soy bar, 2 servings trail mix	8.89	I think the most valuable lesson I've learned from this experience is that it pays to apply some science to your method of eating. Planning your eating for the day, counting calories, sodium, protein, etc. pays off.
Mar 6	Sausage biscuit with Egg + unsweetened tea	1/2 cob salad + water	1/2 cob salad + water	201	1 serving popcorn, 2 servings trail mix	7.41	I'm actually not extending by a day. I thought I'd started on the 6th, so tomorrow is the last day, on schedule.
Mar 7	Sausage biscuit with Egg + unsweetened tea	1/2 ranch salad + water + apple pie	1/2 ranch salad + water		1 pear, 1 soy bar	8.79	THE LAST DAY! But stay tuned -- I'm going to get some bloodwork done so you all can see my cholesterol at the end. I also want to pull together some more of my thoughts about the whole experience. I've lost 12 pounds. I never thought of myself as heavy, but it feels really good to be rid of that weight. The cost was $8.01 +/- $1.43 per day. Not bad!

A Month at McDonald's: Journal