Lose the L

Let my mother cook!

I’m trying to decide if I should continue, for the time being, with the whole lose-the-weight plan, or put it on hold until after I recover from the hip surgery.  The biggest part says keep it up until then, then put it on hold immediately after, just because I’m going to have enough to deal with without having to explain to all my caretakers that I want balsamic vinegar on my salad and not creamy ranch.  Experience tells me that the painkillers I’ll be taking (lorcet) will effectively nullify my appetite, but healing takes calories and if I know my mother, she’ll be putting cheese smothered lentil loaf in front of me every day.  Maybe I should hide cans of vienna sausages in the bedside table. Blech.  ok, here’s what I’d like. Suggestions for super easy, good for you, tasty food that can be prepared by the culinarily challenged.  I’m thinking Lean Cuisine.

I started doing this about a week ago, and darned if it doesn’t work.

Instead of eating a salad or veggies *with* your meat and potatoes, eat it an hour or so before.  Last week I was STARVING at 5, dinner wasn’t ’til whenever Terry got home (6:30 or so), and I didn’t want to eat cheese or peanut butter, so I filled a big bowl with greens and carrots and all, threw on some lite vinagrette, and ate it. When we sat down for dinner (spaghetti,  bread, blah blah) I was too full, and ate about half what I normally have, and it was plenty.  I guess it’s a logical extention of the ’6 meals a day’ concept.  Maybe when you’re fixing dinner, have a bowl of salad there to eat on while you work.  I absolutely swear by the chopped greens in a bag. They cost a bit more, but how easy is it to just dump them in a bowl and go?

I’m hungry. Yes, I am.I’ve been SO Good recently, with my eating and all, now I want to sit down to a huge plate of chicken fried steak and cream gravy and fried okra and a biscuit. But I’m not going to because it’s too hot to cook anything like that, let alone eat it. So instead, I’ll eat a popsicle.

 Mercy it’s hot. The thermometer says 103, and that’s in the shade.

That’s what this is called, and while it’s not *quite* as satisfying as say, one made from Breyers Double Cream and Barq’s, it  is cold and kinda sweet and all. Even tho it does have fake sweeteners. I’m not advocating you have one every night, or make one in a 4 quart pot and eat it all at once, but, when you must, it works. For me anyway.

 Nearly Nothing:

Diet root beer or coke

fat-free sugar free ice cream or frozen yogurt. Maybe low fat instead, so you don’t feel so ridiculous.

Make a float.

I am very excited. The jeans I put away last Spring are loose. Like, a size too big loose. Here’s what I’ve done to get this way: No sweets, period (ok, I had a DQ strawberry sundae yesterday, but it was CJ’s birthday thing, and the first dessert I’ve had in 2 months), no seconds on anything, smaller portions. Nothing terribly scientific, but it’s working. And lots of water. I have to have mine with ice, for some reason I can’t swallow room temp water.

My hip still bothers me, but at least he can’t say I’m not trying.

I ate out last night and tonight.  Last night was Chili’s and their tasty lettuce wraps, so virtuous!

Tonight…not so much.  SOuthern Palace and their fried crispy fish with this…very…sweet…sauce all over spooned on the rice even. So good! So Not Real Chinese but So Good.

 Alas, after 2 (TWO! *%#@*!) hours in a traffic jam, I got home hot, hungry and unmotivated to cook.

Do you have some magic bullet for eating out? I mean, other than not eating out at all, or just ordering a salad and a lemon wedge.What do you do when you’d really like a 1/2 pound burger platter with onion rings and slaw?  Would it work to eat something before you go out, so everything won’t look so good?

How many kittens do I have to save to make up for the crispy fish?

My doctor told me that people who eat breakfast lost more weight than people who don’t. Therefore, I am trying to eat breakfast every day. I really don’t like breakfast, as I am queasy every morning and just want a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea.

However, I’ve found that keeping certain key items always on hand make it easier to eat a decent breakfast, and really *does* cut back on how much I eat the rest of the day.

My favorite: 8 oz cartons of fat-free/sugar-free yogurt, and a box of granola. I’ll eat the yogurt with about 1/2 cup of granola mixed in. It’s fillng, tastes good, and makes me feel virtuous because the yogurt’s a dairy product. (I don’t drink milk, except in my coffee)

It’s also very convenient.  If I know what I’m going to eat for breakfast, and don’t have to think about it at all, I’ll just do it and be done, rather than waffling about poptarts or whatever.

What do y’all do for breakfast?

you know what’s really hard- checking myself, not grabbing a tater tot when I walk past the pan, or snagging a cookie to go with the 2pm cup of coffee. Ugh.