Finally?

Okay so I've decided I might start doing something about this spare tyre I got hangin' round the mid-section.

I was looking through a magazine at work today (you know, the type that has good recipes and ways to lose weight etc), and found this neat "healthy eating" spread. It's based on a 1500 calorie diet, and you basically eat one thing from each column (conveniently labelled "Breakfast", "Lunch" and "Dinner"), plus two things from the "Snacks" column, and they had all these delicious-sounding suggestions, complete with instructions of how to make it or prepare it. What caught my eye was the yummo photo of salmon with pesto-fettucine and spinach, and as I looked through the other suggestions I went "...hey I could do this! Ooh and this! And this one!"

I'm not saying "OMG I'M GOING TO LOSE TEN KILOS IN TEN WEEKS!" because I'm trying to be realistic! I'm not even really planning exercise as of yet, it's more of a healthy-eating thing than anything.

The reason I called this post "Finally?" with the question mark is because who knows if this is going to work, or even last. I'm the type who dreams big and does little. But I want to be the one in control of how I eat and what I eat, I don't want my eyes to be all "OMG EAT THIS NOW" when I'm not even hungry.

It's going to take a lot of work, though. I'm very good at grazing/snacking on the wrong things, and my portion sizes would make many Americans proud. :P And one of my biggest downfalls is COFFEE... oh I love it so much. But I have to have it with half-and-half (there is no Australian equivalent of this... it's literally half-cream half-milk - super thick milk, basically, fantastic for adding to coffee), and I have to have it three times a day. And when I stop for coffee I usually get a jelly donut... or a sugar donut... or something else equally horrible for me... basically my self-control is shot.

I often wonder what happened. The year before my wedding, I was super-disciplined. I had gained ten kilos on my trip to the States about nine months before the wedding, and I managed to lose it all quite easily when I got back home. I wouldn't even look down the chocolates aisle at the supermarket, I wouldn't even think about drinking soft drink, I wouldn't even consider eating anything with salt or butter on or in it. What the heck happened to that girl?!?!

So... yeah. For dinner tonight I cooked up some spaghetti noodles, and served them with some baby spinach sauteed in a little oil and some minced garlic, plus some canned chicken mixed in (I wanted some meat with it, and there was some leftover canned chicken in the fridge - does anyone else expect to taste tuna when they eat canned chicken?! It's such a mind trick!). It was good, really good (especially the garlicky spinach - it was kinda "al dente", if spinach can be so described), and to drink I just had some club soda/soda water. I got a little hungry earlier this evening (because I ate around 6, instead of closer to 8 or 9 like normal), so I had a little cup of natural unsweetened applesauce. YUM!!

I don't know whether I should set my hopes up or just assume I'm going to fail with this... like I said, I'm all talk :P. But maybe it's time for me to stop just talking and actually put my butt into gear. It seems I rely much too heavily on "I'll do this when..." or "I'll be happier when..." or "I could get this done if only...", which is no way to live. True happiness (ie. JOY) comes from being at peace wherever you are, a lesson I really should have learnt by now!

So I guess I can say... let's see what happens. One day at a time. :D