We started on Monday. And by "we," I mean "the lot of us," because I have this thing where I won't make multiple meals just because one of us -- or, in this particular go-'round, two of us -- are on a diet. One of the reasons why this particular "lifestyle change" (because I am already getting sick of writing "diet" and it's only Day 3) worked for me before and why I have faith that it will work going forward is that it's based on "everything in moderation" instead of "not eating anything that tastes good." So, if my kid wants to have teatime on a Sunday afternoon, then by hook or by crook, I will find a way to be able to enjoy teatime and not feel the least bit guilty about it.
PS: Stella d'Oro breakfast treats? They really are treats. And neither my kid nor my husband are particularly fond of them, so I am going to get that whole bag ALL TO MYSELF BWAHAHAHAHA. But what can I say? It's pretty easy to stick to your diet when it openly involves cookies, you know?
The only thing I'm really doing different this time is that I am trying to get as much buy-in as possible from my husband, which means that we're doing a lot of "convenience" cooking. As in, "let's see what we already have in the fridge and see what we can count as a serving of vegetables." On Monday we passed on the traditional New Year's Day pork-sauerkraut-and-mashed-potatoes dinner because EW! and instead had stuffed shells and this salad I concocted out of assorted kitchen fixin's: iceberg lettuce (which keeps surprising well when your refrigerator is set at like 35°F, bee tee dubs), shredded carrots, shredded cheese, and bacon bits, with some "crunchies" that I found in the fridge and a couple of croutons apiece. Plus balsamic vinegar -- just balsamic vinegar, plus salt and pepper -- which is my very favorite salad dressing.
It is also easy to stick to your diet when you can go out to lunch to use up a gift card and you can find a drink on the menu that is light, something you'd drink anyway, and actually good. That's a "skinny mojito" from The Cheesecake Factory, of all places, and that whole giant drink is under 150 calories. I think I'm going to Google a recipe for this, because it was perfectly light and refreshing and delicious and I'd definitely drink that on vacation.
This salad, also from The Cheesecake Factory (from their Skinnylicious menu, which is smaller than their regular menu, of course, but pretty damned good, honestly), is much prettier than mine, and of course better, because I assume the chefs at The Cheesecake Factory actually know what they're doing: chopped lettuce, chopped bacon, chopped chicken, chopped tomatoes, chopped apples, corn (not chopped), and blue cheese (also not chopped). The regular menu salad comes with avocado, which I don't like, and I don't know what kind of dressing was supposed to be on this thing, but (1) there wasn't much of it and (2) it didn't really need it, anyway.
And the really best part? We still had calories left to have some tuxedo cheesecake, which was TOTALLY WORTH IT.
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