Dieting... :-(

I could blame it on over-indulging during the holidays, and that would be fractionally true. The real truth is that Joe & I have been over-indulging since the holidays of 2003! We both agreed that it was time to "stop the madness" and go on a diet.

Personally, I don't believe in diets. Many years ago I read in the book 'Fit for Life' that "Diets are temporary measures that yield temporary results" and I believe that is true. In order to maintain any weight loss, one must change one's eating habits for good (er, forever). So I am hoping that the we aren't actually 'dieting', but rather, 'changing our eating habits'. The proof is in the pudding. (Pun intended.)

We have done this many times before, but many of our diets have unfortunately only lasted until lunchtime. So this time we decided 'it would be different'. We went to the grocery store and only bought healthy, low-fat foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. We cooked and ate at home Tues and Wed nights, successful (so far) on our diet.

But we all know what Thursday means: dinner with Evelyn. We mentally prepared ourselves to resist the delicious but fattening menu items we'd loved for the last year, and concentrated on healthier, low-fat choices. What made it more tolerable was that we had guests! Kerry, Hugh, and George decided to meet us at the Springfield Restaurant & Pizzeria. Joe ordered the grilled tuna sub, but didn't eat all of the bread. I ordered the shrimp salad in a spinach tortilla wrap. Both our dinners came with potato chips (HEEEELLLLLP!) but we requested a vegetable substitution and for $2. each we got broccoli. Oh well... not as satisfying as we'd have liked, but at least we ate out and managed to stay on our diet - I mean - new eating habit.

The real test will come this weekend. We're going to the beach where there are lots of dangerous temptations. (Can you say Boardwalk Fries and Kohr's Brothers Ice Cream?)

Please pray for us.