Craving

I'm having a craving...for ice cream. Actually I think it is for dairy, like a big glass of cold milk.
Its not on the diet until next week.
So I ate a mozzarella cheese stick and gave the dogs a treat. I am following the cheese stick with a big glass of water while I talk out this craving.
I read that somewhere--that you should stop and think about your craving, maybe talk it out or write about it until it goes away. The problem would be if it didn't go away; I'd be writing here forever.

I learned in my Maternal Nursing class that cravings are a signal that your body needs something. Like the cravings I had for strawberry anything with my first daughter. I also had cravings for pickles and milk. I couldn't stand the smell of pancakes or raw meat.
My second pregnancy was completely different--I craved chocolate (especially Hostess HOHOs) and grilled meat.

Here is the interesting part of all this:
My first daughter is a vegetarian and loves strawberry anything. She also turned out to be a bottle baby. She is a pickle eater.
My second daughter loves meat and sugar. She hates strawberrys and pickles. She had to be breastfed forever because she couldn't tolerate milk.

Makes you wonder if that old saying should read: "You are what your mother ate."

Craving is gone.

The reason the rich are thin......

...THEY CAN AFFORD IT!
After a lengthy talk with my favorite Dietician, M, a women I work with, I decided that I would try the South Beach Diet to lose weight.
"At least they have a great cookbook," said M.
And they do. I bought it. And I bought the diet book.
Even with my Barnes and Nobles membership discount I spent about $30. I read the book and cookbook. This was a week ago Sunday. (I know, I could have been reading something more interesting like Martini's "The List" but I didn't and now I don't have to.)
The following Monday I went to Meijer's with my list and for the first time in my life I scratched EVERYTHING off it. The grand total? $199.64. I was only shopping for a week.
Before going to Meijer yesterday, I sat down and did some caluclations from the first week: dollars spent: $229.64 pounds lost: 7 If I did the math correctly, thats $32.80/lb. That is some high priced fat. And I lost it!

Since I had bought so much food the first week, I really only needed a few food items for this week. And a new scale. No, this is not a vanity thing. My scale was old and I think my hubby wore it out a couple years ago when he got on it everyday while losing 26 lbs! Besides, there were times when I got on the scale and it would read one number, then change its mind and display another, never in my favor, of course.
Before I swiped my debit card in the handy little swiper and gave Meijer $210.16 of our hard earned money, I asked the woman if employees got discounts and were they hiring. She had a look on her face that said, "You bought all that damn stuff and if you're trying to tell me you can't pay for all that, I'll be pissed."

To keep it real, I subtracted the cost of the doggie toy and bones: $204.16 including scales. How did this happen? Hubby said it was because I didn't take a list this time and I probably did the thing he hates the most---I wandered through the store thinking, "We could use this. And that. And this too." Guilty.
He didn't think we needed new scales either at $40 until he got on them and he weighed less than he thought he did. I weighed a pound less on the new scales. And it didn't change its mind on me.

The food I have been buying is really healthy. No junk, except the dog bones, but they are for the dogs. Green stuff and meat are very expensive. I have been buying new spices to try and they are expensive.

For the first two weeks of this diet, I cannot have any milk products, no bread, no fruit and no alcohol. The reason being about sugars, even natural ones like lactose and fructose and maltose.
I couldn't do it.
I have successfully stayed away from the bread, dairy and fruit, but it was the alcohol that made me cheat. I have been drinking wine. I probably should have subtracted that from the total too. $-12.00.

This diet has had it's benefits so far--mostly for hubby. I seem to be doing all the cooking. He has been eating what I eat and he has decreased his beer drinking to a minimum. Actually, except for the night I kicked him out, he didn't have any beer last week! He has lost weight, of course.
Benefits for me include the loss of 8 lbs and my husband's new taste for wine. (He even mentioned going to some winerys!) And we have spent more time together at the dinner table and he helps with dinner if he gets home early enough.

Despite the cost and the cheating, I'm sticking with it. One day at a time.

Notice that I have only talked about the price of food. I haven't even talked about the cost of exercising yet. Probably because I haven't started--unless you count carrying bags of grocerys once a week.

From this day forward...

It wasn't a New Year's resolution. It was the wedding date announcment.

My oldest daughter is getting married THIS May. It will happen the way I always thought it would--white dress, a great guy, her little sister standing up for her, a backdrop of nature in rustic southern Indiana, mom walking her down the aisle.
I will walk her down the aisle because she has three dads and despite them all being capable of the job, they can't all do it. Who does she choose? MOM.
This is great. I love my daughter and would do anything for her.

Problem? Three years ago I was over-weight by maybe 20 pounds in my estimation. In the last three years I have gained nearly 30 pounds. Or is it that I've gained over 30 pounds? Anyway, count them: 50 pounds. Besides being unattractive, that is unhealthy.

I attribute this weight gain to 1) quitting smoking and 2) getting married.
As you learned earlier, I have been married three times and I have gained weight all three times and (lo and behold) the weight went with the husband.

OK, you and I know that I didn't get fat because I quit smoking and got married although they have served me well as excuses. I gained weight because I ate too much, drank too much beer and have not exercised in, lets say, five years.
So now that I have established why I am fat, I will tell you why I don't want to be.

My daughter's wedding. No, my daughter. She is a beauty just like my younger daughter. Taller than me but shorter than the younger one. Skinny. Muscular skinny from riding horses. She is going to be a knockout walking down the isle.
She doesn't care if I'm fat or skinny. Obviously, I really don't care either. I do care that people on one side or the other of the church won't be able to see her if I am walking beside her. That worrys me.
It also worries me that people will watch us walk down the isle and whisper, "she must take after her dad's side of the family." I will NOT have anyone say my daughter resembles her dad more than me. Besides, I don't want anyone comparing our asses.

I have spent a lot of years on a lot of diets and have been motivated by many different things. Most of the time I have dieted, I did so behind closed doors. It's just easier to pretend that you aren't on a diet because if you fail, no one knows you were trying anyway. No one knows you failed.

When I quit smoking June 1, 2005, I told EVERYONE. And everyone kept tabs on me.
"Still not smoking?"
"Not smoking."
"Good for you."
What I noticed was that the people who love and care about me were actually cheering me on, even if they were smokers. I loved that support.
I need that now.

So I started this diet blog to "hang it all out there" for the world to see. My hope is that there will be less of it to see come May. I will try to post everyday. I am aiming for humor because I won't get through this without it. I will enjoy you stopping by for a read and write. If you have too much body fat like me, I hope you find encouragement here. If you are your own perfect size, please throw some encouragement this way and that. Most of all, be entertained with my quest.