day 2 of my BO08 adventure and i run into my first roadblock, its staff meeting time and the boss hooks us up with dinner out to discuss the job.  So we venture off to the Mandarin all you can eat buffet.  I was dreading this all day.  i’ve been so good for the past week and a bit, really clean diet and really want to stay on track.  I’ve been feeling great and didnt want to destroy that with a binge eating sesson.  As i walk into the restaraunt my internal football player instincts hit me like a wave, look at all the deep fried, battered, fatty goodness, and as much as i can handle.  I remember going to this place with my football team or wrestling team after cutting weight and having contests to see how many plates you can consume.  this was a tough temptation.  but i sat down ordered my drink and remembered something i read in a MH magazine a while back about having soup as an appitizer. apparently people who eat soup as an appy consume far less calories during their meals than do people that fill up on greesy bread or other such things.  so i tried it out.  Then the moment of truth, dinner, i walked up to the buffet tables and carefully look over the foods, one by one eliminating the ones i would normally have jumped for.  I looked at them and saw not how good it would taste for the few minutes but rather how gross it is thinking about what that can do to my body.  so a plate of steamed brocholi and poached fish with a few other vegie options later, i was happy with myself.  As the dinner finished and the meeting progressed everyone got up for the desert bar, again look at all the fat filled sugary goodness that i could binge on but i was controlled, i grabed a small plate and headded to the fresh fruit, once i had a few pieces on the plate there was no room for the bad stuff so i walked away.  so the first test was passed.  i think it will be easier to pass the other tests to come now.