My last diet failed because of chairs.

It sounds ridiculous, right?  That’s because it is ridiculous if you completely disregard the fact that it’s true.

Over the past week, I’ve been taking time to really examine how and why my eating habits have changed over time.  What have I been doing differently this week than I had done in weeks past?  How was I successful last time, and what disrupted my patterns of eating and exercise?

I would wake up in the morning, have breakfast, go to work, come home for lunch, then go back to work, come home for dinner, and then go off to school.  What changed in May of 2007 that would upset this routine?

Chairs.

My ex-roommate Jen moved out at the end of April and took her wooden kitchen chairs with her.  From then on, I didn’t sit in the kitchen to eat my meals because there was nowhere to sit.  May 2007 was when I started eating every meal in front of the computer.  Over the following year and a half, it’s developed to the point where I feel like I can’t complete a task on the computer without first thinking, “Well… let me get a snack before I do this assignment.”  No longer are my schoolwork and my meals separate entities.  I have to fix this, so here’s the new rule:

NO EATING IN MY BEDROOM.

AT ALL.

EVER.

I’m off to buy some chairs.