The Diet!

It is here!  It is happening! The time has come that hubby and I have entered into the world of dieting.  What an interesting world.  I have never had to visit this place before and quite frankly, at first, I did not like it. 

Over the last year of being married, I have managed to put on a few extra pounds that I feel, are not in the best interest of my wardrobe.  My jeans would agree.  My mom says those pounds have come because I have found happiness.  I find that theory odd but others have repeated her insight repeatedly as I have mentioned my weight gain. 

I always thought that sadness caused you to eat more but during my divorce, I dropped down to a measly 104lbs quickly learning that for me, sadness does not equal eating.  So this theory of happiness and weight gain I guess makes sense and leave me to attempt solving the problem and embrace the diet (or for the professionals out there, lifestyle change).

My problem begins with coming from a line of amazing southern cooks.  I am so incredibly thankful that I have a grandmother and mom who taught me how to cook and bake.  While some moms throw together that graham cracker and pudding éclair cake (don’t get me wrong, it is yummy) this mom turns to baking up a homemade pound cake or coconut cake (pictured at top). (The curse of my grandmother and great grandmother) Oh my just thinking about those things makes my mouth water.  I love desserts.  A trait I get my from grandmother.  Our preference would be to eat dessert first and then the meal but unfortunately it does not set the best example in front of the children so instead we eat a little of the meal saving much room for the dessert at the end.  What this means is that my love for dessert includes a tremendous love of sweets and sugar.  UGH!  So the repercussions of a sugary diet, added pounds. 

Hubby loves my cooking which I get from mom.  I love to cook.  Even more, I love making recipes my own.  I never follow a recipe exactly.  It always gets a few tweaks, which probably makes it more fattening adding many more calories.  (I have turned many a meatloaf hater into meatloaf lovers.) Since life has become so incredibly wonderful, I cook a lot more.  I have found my passion for cooking and baking again which means, we are eating more meaning we have added some “extraness” (my word for it) meaning there is now more of hubby and me to love. 

Next in my list of problems comes prime time TV shows that hubby and I enjoy watching together.  We also love snacking while we watch those shows.  Wanna know what our snacks used to look like?  A bag of Butterfinger bites and popcorn.  Yeah!  I am all about sweet and salty together so those two things were a perfect combination.  So yummy! So not healthy!  Eating such atrocities at nine and ten at night are not good for you or so we have discovered!  Another habit we fell into was ordering our favorite Chinese while watching our shows.  Now some items on the local Chinese food menu are not so bad.  For us though, we love Orange Chicken.  Orange chicken is fried and full of sugar.  Orange chicken is bad. That particular menu item is not good for us so late in the evening and so now, we diet.

I am not a nutritionist so I will not go on and on about our diet.  It is our own.  I don’t do trendy so we have avoided the shakes, Atkins, the pre-made meal things and instead have opted for “eating healthy.”  It is working and I am pleased.  However, I have a thirteen year old who is unhappy with his mother’s need to diet as he feels his mother is already too skinny.  LOVE HIM!  I have tried explaining that I am not trying to lose a lot of weight, just working on making my jeans fit the way that they should and wanting to be healthier.  My hope is that at the end of this little diet, he will see mom is not trying to disappear again as she did through those rough couple of years.  I am not shooting to be 104 lbs again!  Ever!  I looked ghastly!  However, I am shooting for him (as well as the other four) to see this as mom choosing to eat healthier and not about mom being obsessed with her weight.   

So there you have it!  I found happiness and in turn found some extra weight.  I am totally not complaining!  I would not trade this life for anything and will gladly give up a few slices of cake and homemade mashed potatoes for more apples and bananas in order to fit comfortably back into my jeans again!  Happiness and weight gain do not mean I have to quit eating.   It just means I am going to have to eat a little less, a little healthier and I am okay with that!