Day two...this is not going to be easy

Day two...this is not going to be easy

So I accomplished the day one goals of weighing myself and noticing what I ate. The weigh-in was depressing, of course, but not actually as completely horrendous as I was afraid it might be.  The noticing what I ate was easy.

We went to Joplin last night to shop and ate at HuHot's Mongolian Grill.  One could eat just about any type of diet one wanted there. All the meat and all the veggies you want.  One could go low fat, low card, vegan, vegetarian, high protien, just about anything.  I stuck to meat and veggies, very little carbs.  That was my personal taste, considering what they serve at HuHot's.  One thing I discovered, and I need to remember, is that I didn't need the Dr. Pepper I ordered without thinking.  It actually clashed in taste with the food I was eating.  I commented half-way through the meal that water would have been a much better taste choice as well as a better health choice.  I need to remember that when I'm eating out.  Unless it's something like pizza or something with eggs in it, ice water is fine with me.  (I always need an acidic beverage when I eat eggs.)

After our shopping we stopped at Andy's Custard and that's the part I should have had the discipline to just skip.  Even a small was a huge amount of custard.  I wasn't hungry but it tasted so good so I ate it anyway.  Those are the tough choices I'm going to need to make in the future.  I knew the people I was with wanted it so I went along.  I could easily have let them enjoy it without ordering any myself.  A matter of changing habits and mindset. 

Day two of the switch to a common sense American diet begins.

And so it begins...

And so it begins...

I eat the Standard American Diet.  And I need to lose about 80 pounds.  Those two statements taken together will not surprise anyone.  We've been hearing for years how obese Americans are becoming and I guess I feel right into the same path as everyone else. I've always eaten what I wanted and what tasted good.  As I reach my 50's, it's all caught up with me and it's time to do something about it.

Aside from the obvious health benefits of losing weight, there are two main reasons that the time has come to do something about it. I have two beautiful little granddaughters and I want to be able to do things with them as they grow older.  And I love to travel.  I love to have adventures.  All the extra weights jeopardizes both of these.

I'm not the type of person that decides I'm going to go whatever-free or low-whatever.  Those types of diets usually last 2 days or less with me so it's time to reevaluate my eating and see what will work.  My current plan, and what I hope to chronicle here as a kind of diary to follow my progress, is to see how I can modify the Standard American Diet to keep what I and my family love and still lose some weight.  We do a lot of entertaining and attend a lot of events so I have to find a way to incorporate those things into my plan and not drive my family and friends nuts with trying to accommodate my need to lose weight if they do not.

My plan today is to first, weigh myself.  I will not be posting that weight here.  I will post what I lose or gain but not the total.  Second, I plan to observe very carefully what I eat and when.  I believe a lot of what I eat is done without thinking about it.  I think that eating consciously will make a difference.  I believe that portion control will be a big key to what I want to achieve here.

I won't be completely cutting out anything.  I love pop!  I just do!  My challenge will be to start controlling my consumption of the foods I love instead of letting them control me.  I'm going to call what I hope to achieve the Common Sense American Diet. And so it begins.