Cinny-Minny gooey goodness … gone

My wife and I have a fairly consistent ritual when we go out to eat for breakfast. Or, for that matter, when we go out to eat any time of day at a breakfast-type restaurant. We begin by ordering the breakfast version of an appetizer. A cinnamon roll. See accompanying photo, which will be explained in a moment.

We always say the same thing: "We'd like to start with a cinnamon roll, warmed up, with butter on the side and two forks." I or she point at the other at this point, to indicate we plan to split the roll.

As part of my quest to eliminate 100,000 calories from my existence, I have vowed not to order cinnamon rolls. The caloric reduction will be quantified at the end of this blog entry.

This morning my wife talked me into going out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in town. A quick history on this restaurant: It opened about five years ago near our home and we loved the people who owned it and the food they served. A good combination, no doubt. Then the restaurant disappeared, for reasons unclear. The building became a Laundromat. Suddenly, word spread the restaurant had re-opened in a small town just north of us. We went there one time, but it was a bit farther drive than we'd like to drive for breakfast.

Suddenly, this winter we noticed a restaurant with the same name open in the downtown area of the city we reside. Finally, this morning we investigated. It, indeed, is the same wonderful people and much of the same wonderful food.

We found a seat near the kitchen and near a half wall separating the seating area from the food prep area. The attached picture – I am not making this up – shows what sat atop that separating wall. Yep. A big piece of cinny-minny gooey goodness (see photo).

My wife took a picture, because it captured so perfectly the way I am going about this diet. I am purposely not eliminating the temptations from my life, because they're always going to be there in some form or another. In this case, they just happened to be about two feet and a piece of plastic covering away from my mouth.

We will continue to eat at this wonderful breakfast location despite the well-placed cinnamon rolls. To their credit, that spot is perfect to encourage impulse purchases. I just have to learn to control my impulses.

NOTE: One piece of collateral damage exists in my goal to eliminate cinnamon rolls from my life. My wife, with whom I always split these pieces of cinny-minny gooey goodness, is rightfully bummed. Sure she could order one by herself, but check out the picture. Do you see the size of it? Ordering that alone may ruin the breakfast that follows.

She is pregnant, though, with twins. Maybe she could eat it all and just say she's splitting it with Baby A and Baby B instead of with me.

Calories eliminated: I estimated my wife and I would split a cinnamon roll about 10 times a year. That means I eat five a year. According to http://www.nutrientfacts.com/, one large cinnamon roll is 310 calories. That's with raisins and I don't eat rolls with raisins, so we'll go with 300 calories. Although I contend the cinnamon rolls in many restaurants are larger than large. Regardless, we'll go with 300. That's 1,500 calories eliminated in cinnamon rolls alone.

In addition, I burned 343 calories at the gym in 30 minutes on Friday. I didn't work out Saturday (no good excuse, really), but I am on my way to work out right now. I will log those calories burned on my next blog entry. Remember, this week is "crazy week." I am down another pound on my weight loss goal, but this week I hope to lose a "crazy" amount. We'll see what that proves to be.

TOTAL CALORIES PARTED WITH in 2011: 14,307