Diets

Diets suck. I'm a foodie. I love food, especially food that tastes good, but isn't particularly good for you. I love pizza, chips, anything with chocolate, McDonald's hamburgers - basically anything fried and greasy or chocolately. Ok and I'm incredibly lazy so if it's quick, easy and convienent - it's a meal.

On top of that - I'm an emotional eater. I eat when I'm depressed, lonely, nervous, but I also eat when I'm with friends, happy and excited. And I graze - my husband pointed out that I am constantly eating. What can I say? I have an oral fixation. I used to smoke; I love sucking out of a straw. It's the pressure on my lips and tongue...heavenly.

When I was a kid - I could eat anything. I was a skinny little runt. I could eat ice cream every night before I went to bed and never gain an ounce. My sister was the chubby one. She always had the baby fat. Unfortunately, she became anorexic and battles that every day -still. Although she's considered recovered.

Now that I'm in the midst of middle age - my middle is middling. I swear if I look at ice cream - it jumps to my tummy. I might mind so much, but the majority of my weight is located in my stomach. I understand that is a huge health risk or indicator or something bad. Over the years I've always said by next year I'm going to weigh 25 pounds less, then it was 50 pounds less. I got on the scales yesterday and unless I'm mistaken - I've topped 200 pounds - 207 to be exact. That's not pudgy, or chunky or even fat - that's gross fat! Obscenely obese.

So I started not a diet, but a change in how I eat. No longer can I sit and watch TV munching happily on chips and dip. No bedtime cookies and milk. Lunch can't always be a McDonald's quarter pounder and fries. And my pick-me-up should be more time sleeping and less time chugging diet sodas.

I took a long hard look at my exercise habits too. I don't have any. I have a Wii, but it always tells me "that's obese" so I don't like it much. Plus my neighbors live so close that they can see me exercising. They're always home. When I was younger, I was always dancing whether it was at a club or just around the house while I cleaned. Now, I sit at my desk or I sit on the couch. I'm on my computer. I don't need to go anywhere - everything is just a keystroke away. My gardening is down on FarmVille, my excitement comes from scaring bears on FrontierVille. Life is way to simple so I'm going to start slow and build up my endurance.

So here's the plan - pay attention to what I eat and when I eat. At the moment I have a lovely meatloaf and scalloped potatoes in the oven. I even made a Mornay White sauce for the potatoes; But, I made everything from scratch so no preservatives and I added veggies to the meatloaf. This is my husband's favorite meal and I'll take it to him on his dinner break. I bought smaller plates to eat on so I'll trick myself. I also heard if you're hungry eat a teaspoon of peanut butter - I might try that. So my dear blog readers - I might be a bit cranky over the next few weeks as I try really hard to drop at least a few pounds. I should write out a goal. By next Friday I will be down to 205. That's only 2 pounds in a week -that's 6,000 calories I need to cut or expend. I can do it.