Have I Mentioned?

I don't think I've mentioned it too much on here, but I put my family on a diet. Basically, I saw all the pictures that my SIL took of me in Dallas and decided that I'd had enough. I don't think I look huge, but I don't look the way I want to either, so I needed to make a change.

Anyone who has a family will tell you that diets are tough because you've got to get everyone on board. I'm lucky because Charlie will eat anything. My husband is a different story, though. He doesn't like anything pre-packaged, so my former dieting technique of eating Campbell's soup and Lean Cuisines wasn't going to work this time. For the record, that was a great way to lose weight when I wasn't feeding anybody else.

So I went to the store and bought a Cooking Light Cookbook, made a grocery list, went shopping, and started cooking. Generally, I'm not the cooking type. I'm more of the eating type. I knew I was going to have to cook to make this work, though.

So far I've had to buy a lot of ingredients in the grocery store isle marked "Oriental/Hispanic." Most of the food has been good, but it's definitely different than what I'm used to eating. Also, the cookbook gives exact parameters for portions and I think it's safe to say that my husband and I were eating almost twice what we should at mealtimes.

I've cheated some and I think I've lost three or four pounds in two weeks. I was dragging my husband along in the beginning and now he's definitely more gung-ho than I am. Did I mention I really like eating?

The funny thing is that I started this because I was tired of feeling fat, but there are all these other advantages that are cropping up as well. Since I'm cooking our meals, we have more time in the evenings to get other things done--nobody has to stop and pick something up and we don't have to go out either. I think we're saving money too because the portions are smaller and we have plenty of leftovers for Hubby to take to work the next day.

I'm no Donna Reed and it's definitely a lot more work this way, but I really think it's a good thing. Sure hope I can keep it up!