Courage and Kindness

In fact, Jim and I are sitting in the Dr's office as I type this.

I have been far from perfect on this diet. ANd my blood pressure is still quite high. 140 over 70 is what I beleive the nurse said. NOT good.

I have been really making an effort though.

I have been trying not to let myself get to excited about my jeans becoming looser. I keep reminding myself they are stretch denim and that stretch denim does tend to get looser over time.

But the last time I was here my weight was 274, and if I read the scale right. It's now 265. So I've lost nearly 10 pounds! (yes, I WILL round it up. It's more encouraging that way.)

It's nice to know the effort is actually having an effect.

I've never liked yogurt. Or oranges. Over the last year or so I have developed a taste for mandarin oranges. Which is good, because suddenly I'm eating a lot of them. As in I am eating them three times a day on this diet at times. Also, as of last week, I really appreciate Yoplait light yogurt.
Also last week, I discovered that I can abide diet cream soda. As in, I don't LOVE it, but I can live with it. Also, diet 7-up is pretty close to the real stuff, but it's more exspensive.
So this weeks experiment is to find out whether I can stand soy milk. Soy milk with sugar-free coca powder is allowed for my evening snack. I may have to go with skim milk instead. As I sit here sipping my chocolate soy milk, I am not thrilled. ::sigh::

Ok, So, I've been FORCED to start a diet. For health reasons. As mandated by my Dr. I hate dieting, but I'm trying. The weird thing is, aside from snacks, I am eating so much MORE on this diet.

I usually have cereal for breakfast, and I still can. Before, it was just cereal, and probably WAY too much of it. Now it's 1/2 cup of bran flakes AND a slice of wheat toast, AND a half a banana, AND 8 oz of milk, plus one tsp. of margarine. Or what I've actually been doing all week, which is One whole wheat bagel, 1 cup of nonfat yogurt, 3/4 cup of manadarin oranges, and a tbsp of cream cheese. I am estimating the cream cheese, plus I bought fat free. Also not sure about the portion on the oranges. Been eating just a small mandarin orange. This morning I had 2 small ones, because it seemed SO small, I can't imagine how one could have been 3/4 of a cup. Also, I just noticed the yogurt I'm having is only 6oz. Altogether that's somewhere around 500 calories for breakfast, and I'm finding it amazingly filling.

There's no mid-morning snack listed in the sample menues so I haven't been having one, unless I get terribly desperate, at which point I've been munching on radishes or celery as they are "free" foods. Apparently so is coffee, which is awesome as I get free coffee at starbucks every Wednesday thru May.

For lunch I've been having a bowl of TJ's tomato and red pepper soup. A bowl being larger than one portion. The box is 4 servings and it's only been lasting me three days. That's @ 100 calories per serving. I'd also regularly treat myself to a Pepsi and a bag of skittles. NOW, I have a slightly smaller bowl of soup (trying to make that box last for 4 days) plus a sandwhich made up of one dinner roll, 3 oz (approximately: how many oz in a pound?) of cracked pepper turkey, a slice of white cheddar cheese and a tbsp of smart heart mayo. Along with all that I have an apple and a zero calorie diet cream soda.

Again there's no mid afternoon snack listed, so again with the "free foods:. That category can also include Cranberries, rhubarb, cucumber, hot peppers, tea, bouillon or broth(no fat, cocoa powder, salad greens, and dill pickles. There are a few others that I can have up to 3 servings of a day.

Dinner is to include 3 oz of meat 1 cup of vegetables(approx)1 cup of fruit, 3 servings of bread/starch i.e (1 cup of corn and a dinner roll) and two units of fat which would include margarine for the corn.

Now dinner has always been a bit of a binge I guess. Fast food and lots of it on a regular basis. Did you know that a serving of french fries is 10 fries? TEN! And how many do you get in a Super Sized order at McDonald's?

Anyways, as I said, I'm eating more...and I'm not done. As I sit here typing this I am about to dig into my evening snack, which is the one snack listed on the plan. 3 2 inch graham cracker squares, an apple and 1 cup of yogurt. The plan suggests a cup of milk but we're out. I have not been having the dairy with the evening snack at all, just the fruit and crackers. I haven't added in the calories on the yogurt yet to figure out if that finally makes me hit the suggested daily intake or not. Because I've been finding it difficult to hit the 1800 calories, falling short at around 1550.

How does a diet where you struggle to eat as much as they tell you to make you lose weight?