Diet Wars: Another Breakthrough!

In Search of..... Fun Foods to Eat Under 300 Calories

Pizza - Who would have thought that you could still eat pizza on a diet? A normal slice of pizza (1/8 of the whole pizza) is roughly 140 to 196 calories, depending on the size of the pizza and what other stuff will on there. I would stick to the thin crust cheese pizza, with maybe one additional topping of mushrooms, chicken, veggies, maybe pepperoni. A slice of pizza and a small tossed salad with fat free dressing can make a great meal.

Grilled Chicken Salads - The BK Garden Salad with Tendergrilled Chicken is your best bet. The whole salad along with the packet of Fat Free Ranch Dressing is exactly 300 calories. A perfect lunch. I never add the croutons to the salad and they probably add a little more. Shoney's has a similar salad along with a side of fruit. A cursory look at several regular restaurants and fast food restaurants shows that in many places you have to be REALLY careful with the salads. You can easily be fooled into thinking you're eating healthfully (which in theory you are) but especially the restaurant salads like you get at O'Charleys, Logans, etc., are going to be anywhere from 500 to 1,000 calories! Yikes! (Thanks to Hungry Girl for that tip)

A Filling Breakfast - I've never been a good breakfast eater and tend to wait until late in the morning, and then stop off at McDonald's for a sausage and biscuit. I've discovered a very filling breakfast for just below 300 calories is a toasted English Muffin with a tbsp. of jam (preferably sugar free), and two boiled eggs. That's more that I would ordinarily eat, but since I'm having to make do until lunch, I figure I should get that protein from the eggs. You could also make your own Egg McMuffins and stay well within range.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Another Breakthrough!

So I guess I've figured out my body's weight loss pattern. After another couple of frustrating weeks with only a 1 pound loss, this past Sunday when I weighed in I was surprised to see a 4 lb. drop! A real surprise given that I haven't been carefully tracking my points, and I know I'm probably going over points on some days, and then the Halloween candy is looming large! But I guess the cumulative effect is what's important, and as long as I don't fool myself into thinking that I don't have to cut back as much as I had, then I'll be okay and continue to be successful.

So this makes another milestone - I'm now officially below 240! And significantly below enough that I don't think I have to worry about gaining back above 240 unless I just totally lose my mind and willpower this week. So now my next short term goal is to drop below 230.

People are noticing the weight loss, although in recent photos of myself I still couldn't see it. I have this terrible double chin that just horrifies me when I see photos! When I start seeing that go, I'll be much happier! But I'm also worried that besides the weight loss sometimes producing sagging skin where fat used to be, my family on my mother's sad is cursed with turkey necks - where you have the perpetual double chin that looks like a turkey's wattle! I've never really been tempted or vain enough to consider cosmetic surgery, but after I get the weight off, if I still have that neck, I may very well consider a surgery to get rid of that!