Battles of the dinner table

Tonight, my husband wanted to make dinner for everyone. His idea of dinner is fairly easy and very tasty.

We got a new multi cooker as a wedding gift, which has a primary function of deep frying things. While this is a delicious option to have, I think to myself "Deep fried???? How am I to lose ANY weight having THAT thing around??"

While I have to admit, it does make awesome chicken tenders and jalapeno poppers... I need to keep it to a minimum. As in, special occasions and just a couple times a month. Besides, I should take into account that oil is EXPENSIVE!

I made myself a mixture of leftover taco meat, a few chips and some broccoli for dinner and watched the others eat chicken nuggets, each with 2 mozzarella sticks... and of course they had broccoli, too. I'm glad my daughter loves veggies. She actually ate her broccoli first and asked for seconds! Good habits are made better by giving better choices for the not-so-great habits.

My mom actually send me a reply about my post last night. It was very encouraging with a lot of good ideas. It's funny... I know HOW I should eat and I could tell anyone how to formulate a great meal plan... but I can't do it! Why can't I follow my own great advice? I know I'm NOT the only one to have this problem, but it just seems to be tough.

I know I shouldn't be eating out or spending a lot of extra money, but my work has an amazing salad bar. I think I might just save those few extra dollars each week instead of buying something I DON'T need and just let myself feast on salad. How can I honestly turn down a salad bar with hummus on it????

After tonight, I'm off for my "weekend" and I think I'll spend some time writing down my favorite foods and making a substitution list. It's the peanut butter that's going to give me problems...

Newly married, not-so-newly overweight

Well, here I am, starting to think about what I'd like to do with my life. I'm eating lunch at work (on the night shift) and trying to dissuade myself from going back to get that piece of peanut butter pie calling my name at the register. I'm 25 years old and I'm already starting to give up on my body. I mean, I've grown up, gotten a good job, and started a family (including the best husband and coolest kid ever!) But I've been in a constant struggle to be skinnier, healthier, and prettier. I've always been "the fat kid," and I've never had aspirations for bikinis or riding a bike without the seat being wedged "you know where." I've never imagined myself dating the "popular" guys or buying that size 8 skimpy little black dress. I've never even DREAMED of shopping at Express, which just so happens to be one of my favorite window shopping stores. I'd pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I was never going to ride a roller coaster or sit comfortably in a restaurant booth again.

But tonight, I've been thinking about my weight loss, or lack of weight loss, journey.

I've bought expensive outfits 4 sizes too small as a hopeful motivation tool to get me to stick to a diet. I've starved myself, bought "miracle" pills, read libraries of books, become a member of 5 different weight loss programs, tried fad diets, left out carbs, left out fats, worked out until I couldn't move my arms, tried acupressure, tried hypnotherapy and failed...

I'm ready to start moving, start eating right, get my family motivated and take the bull by the horns. Today marks the first day of the rest of my life... literally.