In addition to my mind, I have also lost…

WEIGHT!  It’s true.  I have officially lost 20 pounds in 6 weeks as of today.  (Actually, it’s 21 pounds, but who’s bragging?)

I bought a scale.  GASP!  I wish I had seen this one before I bought the traditional poundage one.  Your weight is given to you in the form of an animal (no numbers).  In second thought, I am not sure I want to know which animal I most closely weigh.  There is also a celebrity version which could be very funny…or just depressing.

I have been following a few diet rules these past 6 weeks.  I was very very very strict (still an understatement) the first 2 weeks.  And then purposely gave myself a bit of freedom.  Basically, this is how it all started…I looked at my current fatty diet at the time.  I noted my personal diet weaknesses: eating out, Cokes, Starbucks, bread, etc.  No need to for me to focus on things that aren’t really problems for me anyway, right?  So all those things were completely cut out immediately on day 1…no weaning.  After that, I was able to make some additional “rules” that I picked up from years of reading diet and nutritional information.  So out went the sugary foods (sweets, drinks, desserts, even some fruits and vegetables for the short-term) and high carb items (white bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.).  Plus, drinking lots and lots and lots of water. 

So, in order, to actually facilitate this, I gave up eating out completely for the first 2 weeks.  It allowed me to really control what I ate and also forced me to figure out how to cook…I mean, prepare meals that I liked.  It was extremely hard.  The hardest part was when I was just tired from a full day of work and Emerson (imagine that?) and could just eat about anything (previously that would have meant going out to dinner or a giant bowl of Cheerios).  But failure would be eminent if I resorted to the same old ways.  So usually it was grilled or baked chicken and some steamed vegetables (usually the frozen kind in a bag).  It doesn’t sound all that bad until you have had that same meal several days in a row…But soon you are forced to start getting creative with low-fat sauces, seasonings, turning it into stir-fry, etc.  See below for my baked eggplant and stuffed tomatoes.  Phillip might not always like my “cooking”, but at least I am doing it!  (Huhummm…Phillip.)

I think the first week was the absolute hardest.  Breaking bad habits of just reaching for something in the pantry or rationalizing something by “just this once” or “I did so good so far I deserve a treat”.  But again, that was the whole point. 

At the end of the 2 weeks, I had my first meal out.   A salad. (From Mellow Mushroom…yummm!)  It wasn’t as good as I remember.  And I found that I got annoyed with the entire restaurant process as well.  I waited another full week before we went out again.  It’s a strange thing.  For someone who ate out almost everyday, I didn’t really love it like I thought I did previously.  I guess it was just more routine and out of convenience.  And since, I have had “treats” (although always erring on the side of healthy), and then found almost immediately that it wasn’t really worth it in the end.  Don’t get me wrong…Those 2 or 3 bites of a mouth-watering dessert are completely worth it.  But eating half of the entire thing wasn’t.

Since, we have had much more going on in our lives (out of town, visitors, etc.), eating out has been progressively occurring more often.  But our travelling is over and the month of March looks to be a lot calmer, so back to eating at home for the most part is the plan.  I hope to be another 10 pounds lighter by April 1st.  I will give you an update then!