Weekend Scoreboard

We are officially through the first weekend of the Buckley Weight Loss Challenge and in the face of overwhelming temptation our man held mostly steadfast but for one moderate yet predictable misstep: dinner on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun.

Poor planning and waning will power led to bad decisions at Chief's Deli which is right outside of the poker room.  Healthy choices are few, if any, so Buckley went with a Turkey Reuben sandwich and a side of potato salad.  As if trying to compensate for his first real digression he rounded this feast out with a pickle wedge which in all fairness could be considered the closest thing to a vegetable on the reservation.

"That's not that bad, and I've only been drinking vodka on the rocks." - FMB, Saturday, 1/11/09

Sorry Buckley, I've done some research for you and the results are not promising.  The following nutrition facts are courtesy of caloriecount.about.com and paint a poor picture for an aspiring health enthusiast like you.

First off, your Reuben alone could probably feed a family of 3.

The potato salad facts were not much better, adding another 324 calories, and close to 18 grams of fat.  You're serving of "vegetable" added an inconsequential calorie count but a spike in blood pressure from 1251 mg of sodium.

If my math is correct you would have been better off eating a teaspoon of salt (2300 mg of sodium) and slugging back a double shot of pure fat (2 fluid ounces).  At least then you would have avoided the additional sugars and cholesterol.

Alas, mistakes are made so we can learn from them and this one may well have come early enough to make up for.  Mark has been showing a good deal of self control but this choice indicates that he may also underestimate the task he's facing.  Tonight's weigh in will help him get a better idea of where exactly he stands in the game.  To me, it would seem he stands to lose about $70.