Saturday, December 15, 2007

Day 28

Dieting has its benefits.

I've noticed that while I'm on this 100 day journey, it has really taken center stage in my daily life. I used to spend much of the day thinking about and planning what I could make for dinner, or what delectable dessert might await me at the end of a meal. Now, there's less joy in eating, so there's less reason to waste my time planning. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy eating, and in some ways I probably appreciate eating even more now. I just don't let it elevate to a very significant part of my life. However (and here's the beneficial part), because I'm "suffering through a diet", my wife has taken the chains off the grocery list, and lets me buy whatever I want....and here's the best part...even if it's not on sale! You don't realize how nice it is to experiment with new low-cal offerings to keep things interesting for my palette. Fat-free puddings and 100-calorie snack packs can be had at any grocery store, they just never migrated to my shopping cart before. Now, they're all part of the plan. If only they made a low-cal plasma television, I'd have 7 of them by now! By the way, in case it's not clear, I appreciate the support, and it does make a big difference. Ya gotta have some variety when your normal menu has been slashed more times than the unfortunate teenage babysitter during the late night horror flick.

Remember I talked about eating salads and basically being able to put whatever you wanted into it because it was still healthier than a burger? Well, I know that most of the bad stuff in salads from McDonald's, for instance, are in the dressing. It really adds to the flavour, but also to the calorie count. Well, today the family went to Wendy's for lunch and I had a Chicken BLT salad. But I'd read on the Web somewhere that you could ask for 'reduced fat' dressing, so I thought I'd give it a try. Sure enough, it was listed on the board (in fine print), and they didn't look sideways at me when I asked for it. The salad itself is pretty hefty, and the Reduced Fat Creamy Ranch dressing (90 Cal) was so yummy that I didn't miss whatever extra calories the regular (200 Cal) dressing adds. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

Day 28
Current Weight: 194
Weight Lost To Date: 12

I'm now on the low side of the 190's, and starting to look forward (downward?) to the 180's. I'm also starting to look down at the scale rather than at my bellybutton. The scale is much less hairy by the way.

Don