Dieting

It's hard. Especially for someone who loves food. I love food. LOVE it.

I had a conversation with a friend this morning about our love for food and dieting. How do people do it? I ask because I am really trying, but losing weight is a hard thing to do. I have cut out butter whenever possible. I measure how much oil (okay, most of the time) I put into stuff. I have decreased my portion sizes. I buy fresh, local, organic. I cook most of my family's meals from scratch. We eat LOTS of vegetables. I choose lean proteins. Etc., etc. And, still, I exceed my daily allowance of Weight Watcher points. I even exceed my overall weekly points, including the ones I get for activity. Okay, okay, I'm not getting that much activity in. But, it's not like I'm sitting on my ass, either. It sounds like a lame excuse, but I can't get to the gym enough. I am lucky if I get there twice a week. And, even then things don't go my way, like last week when I had to pull the kids out of the gym's daycare early because they were coughing up a storm.

How do people do it?

I read an article on fat free food items recently. Oh man! There is a lot of hard to pronounce ingredients that go into making food fat free. I'd rather take the fat over all that extra stuff.

So, what do I do? Frankly, I don't know.

I have allowed a few low fat items into my diet, like Skinny Cow ice cream products and Laughing Cow cheese. Maybe if I see the cow on the packaging, I'll feel like I'm having something real. I believe we also have fat free pretzels in our pantry. Oh and we have milk & yogurt. All the other stuff we have with no fat is in the form or a fresh fruit or vegetable. I feel good about that. But, it's a lot of work.

I have signed up for a 3 month plan on Weight Watchers. I'm 2 days into my 4th week. I lost 5 pounds, then gained one, so I'm down a total of 4. Ooh, did you get that complicated math I just threw out? I'm determined to make it to my goal of 10 pounds in 3 months. I thought it seemed totally reasonable and attainable, but now I'm not so sure. Stay tuned...