Or is it? Yes, my month long journey with the #DrinkAndDropChallenge reaches its conclusion today. A 28-day exbeeriment to see if living within some boundaries allows one to enjoy the finer things in life without turning into a massive sack of blubber. If you’ve been following along, you have seen me wrestle with days when I make unfathomably poor choices and days when life just doesn’t seem to work… which leads to even more poor choices. You’ve seen me hit ‘eureka moments’ when I feel like I get it, and days when I get so much cardio in – it seems impossible to fail. I’ll wax poetically tomorrow about what I’ve learned, but the main point is – there are good days and bad days; zeniths and nadirs … but we always need to focus on the next decision.

And that’s where I’m going with today’s post. It’s the end of this four-week challenge, but it is in no way an end to my renewed focus on living life within the margins. I know that I can still fully enjoy life, as long as I do so with some understanding of my limitations. It’s strangely liberating and almost sounds like a contradiction. “As long as I limit myself, I can live life more fully.” I have enjoyed the heck out of this past month. I set out to have “at least one beer per day”, but as you know, that quite often became 2 or 3 or …

So, while I have been living within the bounds of some form of moderation, I do not feel as though I have been limited. That knowledgethat I can have my beer and drink it too, is exceptionally liberating. Again – I’ll have the full synopsis available tomorrow. No spoilers today!

Last Day’s Food

  • Breakfast. It wouldn’t seem right to have anything other than my standard Fiber One bar, right?
  • Lunch. Had leftovers from the previous night: chicken fajita taco meat on iceberg lettuce with some salsa on top. I caved and had one serving of tortilla chips. I’m human. (Yes – 1 serving. I counted out 13 chips.)
  • Dinner. My daughter rocked her performance at the school talent show (singing Vance Joy’s “Riptide”) and so she was allowed to choose dinner. We went to CPK, which is a great choice! Not only do they clearly list their calories, making decisions easier, they also have some great and yummy lower-cal options. I opted for the Banh Mi bowl for 540 calories. Fabulous!

What Beer Though?

  • thought I would end up having one of my very favorites. This place usually has Chimay Blue in the bottle. Alas, last night they did not. I went completely old skool and ordered one of my first loves – a Newcastle. It still doesn’t disappoint. Slightly sweeter than I remember, it’s still a really solid option.
  • I followed that up with a pint of Sam Adams Winter Lager.

And that’s a wrap. Weigh-in is unveiled tomorrow. Drum roll …

Mike Pennington by Mike Pennington