I have now settled on a boring but effective diet:

1. Breakfast: Go Lean cereal, with skim milk.  Sometimes a cup of yogurt.  Usually an apple too.
2. Lunch: stir fried vegetables and chicken (no rice). Sometimes a piece of bread.
3. Dinner: cold salad with either chicken or tuna (no salad dressing).  Sometimes a cup of soup and a roll.

And how do I make it happen?

On the way to work I stop by the SV Dome 3 canteen and pick up two yogurts and two apples (one badge swipe).  I could get oranges (but currently have a few in my work refrigerator), or orange juice.  The other options at breakfast are powdered eggs (found out that had a few instances of salmonella due to fresh eggs and therefore fresh eggs are now banned in Tengiz), sausage patties, bacon, and rice porridge (pass).  I eat at my desk when I get in – if no meetings will call home about this time since it is the highest likelihood of catching people at home.

For lunch I go to the TCOV canteen, usually with a couple Lead Engineers and Senior Engineers.  They have a stir fry counter (Wok Place) where they have vegetables (carrots, onions, cabbage, bell peppers, green beans, and corn), rice or spaghetti, and meat (beef, chicken or pork).  Concluded the healthiest approach is the vegetables with chicken only.  They cook it on a grill, little bit of oil, fry the vegetables, add the chicken and some soy sauce, and there you go.  It is done by two cooks and there is always a line, sometimes you must wait for fifteen minutes – but it is worth it.  The alternatives are a food line where they typically have three entrees (beef, chicken, and vegetarian), with a starch (potatoes, pasta or rice – many times all three) and a vegetable (usually from a can like pureed carrots or spinach).  You can also get dessert, usually slices of cake or pie.

If I get hungry during the day I eat one of the extra yogurts or apples that I picked up in the morning and then put in my office refrigerator.

For dinner I stop on my way back to my room in the Dome 3 canteen.  They have a take-out line where you can get cold salad.  It varies a little but they always have shredded carrots.  Some days they have peas, corn, bell peppers, shredded cabbage, beets, and tomatoes.  Then they have protein such as bacon, sausages, chicken and tuna.  I get all the vegetables (except beets) and either chicken or tuna.  I take it back to my room and eat at my computer table while I check email and download the SF Chronicle to my Kindle.  I may try to call home (on the weekends) but sometimes just browse the Yahoo Sports web site and then read in bed.

I do not keep any food in my room refrigerator, only water.  I do keep chocolate in there when I first arrive but then bring it to work.  I share the chocolate at our bi-weekly (every two weeks) safety meeting.  To date I have resisted eating any.  By not having any food in my room, and no alcohol allowed, I have avoided the snacking habits I have developed at home.

So that’s it, boring but effective.  I expect to do this most every day while in Tengiz (once in a while the line at the Wok Place is too long and instead will go through the food line and get chicken and vegtables).   Believe I will lose at least another 5 pounds during this hitch, plus the 15 I have already lost from vacation and the first hitch.  Yesterday I weighed myself at the pool and came in at 108 kg.  On the way to my end of school year goal of 95 kilos.