Zach: What's up cheaters?! So we had Cheat Day Sunday yesterday and if you haven't read Liz's post about it check that shit out before you decide whether or not you'd like to waste your time with mine!

Firstly, my Dad retired today after he busted his ass for 31 years straight with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Now that is pretty impressive to me. I love that old bastard and he deserves nothing else but to be retired. He should take this time he has created for himself and live EVERY day like it was CHEAT DAY!

Yesterday Liz and I kicked it off with, YOU GUESSED IT, Dinner Diner! I had a double bacon cheeseburger and an order of hash browns. Then I ate some of Liz's pancakes. CHEAT DAY DON'T CARE!

Then it was football time! I drank Pumpkin beers all game for the Chiefs vs. Giants. And then I drank MORE Pumpkin Beer. I gotta tell you, if you decide to drink pumpkin beer make it only one or two and then switch to regular. Otherwise your stomach WILL hurt. Consider yourself warned.

I then went home, after the Chiefs took care of the fallen Giants something fierce. Like the lilliputians took care of that giant BITCH Gulliver. I needed to clean my room. But, before I did that I stopped by the AWESOME Mexican joint across the street from my house, Fast Super Burrito, on Irving Park. There I got a small chicken quesadilla and a small chorizo chimichanga! I made fast work of that and got my room cleaned. You GOTTA FRY that burrito on CHEAT DAY!

I finished the Cheat Day Sunday off with hardcore snacking of potato chips and candy and the 2nd to last episode of breaking bad! Tomorrow is my birthday so next Sunday we are skipping cheat day since I am going to make this holiest of weeks a cheat WEEK. Cheat Day would have wanted it that way! I'm down to 211.8lbs anyhow. Only about 12 more pounds to go. Alright folks check out Fast Super Burrito, for real:

Which Pumpkin Ale is the Best

Sunday SUNDAY SUNNNNNDAAAYYY!!!

Football all day. The Chiefs won. Buffalo won. The Redskins scraped by. Hell yes.

And we drank PUMPKIN ALE. SO MUCH PUMPKIN ALE. Hey, the leaves are starting to change colors. And cheat day don't care. I'd say my preference overall of pumpkin ales would be the Blue Moon Harvest. It's got the sugar to compliment the spice, and it has a full, pumpkiny flavor. It's cheap too.

Also: DINNER DINER. Pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon. Zach had to help me out, but I was very pleased. Next time though: bacon grilled cheese. Bacon and cheese make everything better.

CHEAT DAY will have to be posponed this coming week, as we will be cheating like crazy this week to celebrate the birth of Zach Finch 28 years ago. We will be eating bad food and drinking beer. Also, there will be coverage of THE GREAT AMERICAN CHALLENGE. Get ready...

Zach's First Cheat Day Entry

Zach: Dear diary, this will go down in history as my first ever blog post! Cheat Day has been good to me. As Liz said I have lost 20s of lbs., 25.6lbs to be exact. And I got to tell you Cheat Days are THE saving grace of this weight loss program. It is like a weekly holiday. A "Sabbath" if you will. A day of rest. Zach hath created a less hideous body in 6 days and on the 7th day he CHEATED! That kind of thing.

I won't bore you with the strenuous details of the diet itself, go buy this geniuses book for that. Instead I will reg-ail you with tales of half dozen donuts, smothered burritos, and as George Costanza would recommend: taking a bite out of a block of cheese like it were an apple. It is hard for me to recollect all my Cheat Days so in this initial blog post I will simply go over some of my favorite Cheat Day adventures.

First and foremost, a trip to the Dinner Diner on Irving Park Rd. in Chicago, IL is always a recommended choice. It is cheap, delicious, and it is a blast watching how efficient those fry cooks are. One time I got a stack of pancakes, an order of hash browns and a double bacon cheeseburger! "Did I finish it all," you scoff? You bet your sweet "playin' by the rules" ass I did! Cheat day for life mother fuckers!

Last weekend I was at Chicago's own punk fest extraordinaire, Riot Fest, in Humbolt Park for cheat day. There I ate a chocolate and bacon cream puff, a Polish Plate complete with potato pancakes, polish sausage, and pirogi; a watermelon ice cream slushi and then right before Blink 182 played a corn dog and a funnel cake. If my 13 year old self met me today he'd say, "Way to keep it REAL, you svelte SOB."

And, perhaps my fondest cheat day memory, if you can call it that, to date: The 4th of July. It was ballsy to move Cheat Day from a Saturday to a Thursday this early in the process but it was well worth it for me. We kicked this Cheat Day of revolutionary proportions off with a power hour fueled by High Life and PBR. We chased that down with a lil'old bottle of Wild Turkey's Honey Bourbon, all before we'd even eaten anything yet! We made our way to the beach, although I couldn't tell you how we got there. Before hitting the sand we stopped at a grocery story for some IndeCHEATance Day munchies. Which, to my recollection consisted of chips, cheese, various delicious fruits (sounds lame but a MUST for cheat days, trust me), crackers, bread, and salted cured meats. Then we wrestled in the water for a while. I frightened some children, it was great.

I am looking forward to many more cheat day adventures! My goal is 200lbs, although once I am there I will see if I can just go a little further. After all Cheat Day really is just that much fun. No joke! Follow me, will you? And then you can see how I ended up looking like this:

Instead of like this:

Happy Cheat Day Everyone!

The Bears won. I ate an Oatmeal Creme Pie.

LIZ: Yesterday's damage is as follows:

1 Large White Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Latte from Dunkin Donuts (Ravenswood)
2 1/2 donuts from Dunkin Donuts (Ravenswood)
1/2 plate of nachos from Fast Super Burrito (North Center)
1 wheat ale
1 slice pepperoni pizza from Santullos (Wicker Park)
1 Miller High Life in frosted glass
1 Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks (Wicker Park) (for comparison)
1/2 an ice cream from Bunny Fro-Yo (North Center)
2 Sam Adams brews
1/3 Chicken Lo-Mein order from Orange Garden Chinese (North Center)
2 fortune cookies
2 steak tar tars (thank you, Mr. Giamichael)
1 glass of Malbec red wine
1/2 a package of Twizler Pull and Peels
1 double stuffed Oatmeal Creme Pie

I woke up this morning with a sore throat from indigestion. For those that know about my sober September, yes, I did break it. But with all this food, I did not get drunk.

Cheat Day. Don't Care.

LIZ: Hello. I hope this first blog post finds you in good spirits.

You may be asking yourself, "what is a 'cheat day?'" For those of you who are unfamiliar, I will describe to you the essence of this glorious and sacred of days.

A 'cheat day' is one day a week (a period of 7 days) when you can indulge in any form of food. Whatever pleases you. Whatever you impulsively desire and have the availability and monetary wealth to acquire. The other days of the week, you are on a rather strict diet of nutritious food. However, on the 'cheat day,' you do not have to calculate nutrition, quantity, or digestibility. 

This sounds down right delightful, does it not? You may be saying "I must take on this ritual!"

HOWEVER--you must understand that you will need to give up all notions of personal dignity. If you are ready...please...read on...