I have been eating between 1500 and 2200 calories per day without feeling deprived all month. Granted, I have made some bad choices in the way of lunches out (but not fast food) but all-in-all, I am proud of myself.

I was talking to a friend about weightloss and he suggested that dividing your calorie intake for the day by 12 gives you a rough estimate of the weight that calorie level can sustain. For example, 1800 calories can sustain a weight of about 150lbs which is my goal weight. I know the numbers aren’t perfect and it can’t account for the in metabolism but it does tend to follow the calculations I have been given by weightloss calculators.

I have been watching my sodium but not really finding an easy way to cut it down. I am still trying to up my water and have been getting in at least 3 bottles which is technically the recommended daily allowance but I feel like I need more. I have not done a single bit of exercise beyond walking around the home show (if that counts). I’m not proud of my definace but feel an obligation to be honest to myself. The last thing I want to do is act as if I am doing EVERYTHING I can and am still loosing less than a pound a week.

I am satisfied with my slow progress considering that I am never hungry and do not feel deprived.

I made a yummy pasta dish with chard this week and bought another bunch with plans of making another chard dish. I have discovered a yummy breakfast frittata with red pepper and artichoke. My plan for the week is to make the frittata with one egg and one egg white or maybe with just a single egg. It is a great breakfast but the cholesterol is high.

As far as weight loss, it appears that I have lost about 2.5lbs this month and am averaging about a pound a week. In the beginning I thought that a pound a week would be too slow but considering that I don’t have to carry Rolaids around with me and I feel much better a pound a week is okay.

Also I am noticing that I can’t eat as much as I used to. Not in an extreme way but I find myself getting full after eating about half of a turkey burger. I am sill struggleing with being able to put down the turkey burger when I have had enough . . .

I have had very slow progress this month. I think I may have lost a lb!!! I am logging everything I eat and noticed that my sodium intake is sometimes double the recommendation.

I was chatting with a friend who described himself as a professional dieter. I complained that I have been eating below my BMR but am not seeing as much change as I sould be on the scale. The first thing he said as how’s your salt! According to him, the 4-5 lb fluctuations could be as a result of sodium intake throughout the day.

My goal for the remainder of the month is to REALLY watch my sodium intake. But, it’s SOOOO hard to cut salt. I cooking for myself and am still having a problem.

I know that my water intake is not what it should be. No matter how I try, I can’t seem to down more than 3 bottles on a good day and one on a bad day–and I love water! I will just have to try to finish a bottle before every meal.

At any rate, I am still trying . . .

I have been gaining and loosing the same 3lbs for what seems like forever (ok, it may only be over the last 2 weeks). At any rate, I was so tempted to forget the plan for a while and have White Castles!

A friend called and asked me to have a drink with him, he needed to talk. I agreed and met him at my regular bar. A GORGEOUS young man, who I had not seen in a few months, came up to me and said “You look like a new woman.” I played dumb because I have had few people notice a change. He said “you look smaller.” I only laughed and said I may be smaller.

It was so encouraging to know that someone who does not know that how hard I am trying noticed a change

I had my allotted 2 beers and made my way home to have my planned cod sandwich. I really needed that bit of encouragement today.

The last week has been pretty good. I am still weighing multiple times a day but only count my morning weight on tickers. I have been doing pretty good in the food department. I have noticed that eating out has slowly crept back into my diet; however, I am doing what I can to make better choices. Lets see . . . this week I had 2 four peice chicken nuggets (only because I worked out of town and did not have time to plan for my food). That was the worst thing I ate out.

I also ate at Applebee’s for lunch but I took my time and looked online for the best option and chose the 360 calorie chicken sandwich with fruit. I was soooo tempted to break down and hit a drive-thru.

I did get 2 you’re loosing weight comments today. One was from my sister, who knows that I am trying. The other one came from my hairdresser, who does not know. So, I guess it must be showing. Also, my neice described me as looking svelt–funny thought, 150 lbs overweight and svelt LOL!

I still have not worked myself up to exercise. I don’t know when it will happen. I will have to set a deadline and just do it!

I have gotten just a bit lax in cooking. I still have been preparing food for myself but I did rely on frozen meals twice in the last week. I quickly discovered that I am less hungry when I eat food I make on my own.

I am hovering around 1lb down over the week. I will not complain considering my sodium intake has been quite high

Oh well, 2 DAYS TILL THE WEEKEND!!!!

This is my 4th month working on my weight. I started strong in November with ediets.com for a few weeks. Of course, I stopped ediets the week of Thanksgiving and slacked for a bit around Christmas. I started January with the idea that I should be able to cook for myself, avoid fast food and make positive changes in my eating habits. I did make some changes, I cut back on fast food but relied heavily on processed diet foods.

I am happy with my choices in the last 2 weeks of February. I eliminated fast food completely, I have cooked every meal that I have eaten–with no processed food short-cuts (unless you count my whole wheat tortillas as processed, I don’t .

As a result, I have lost 6.5 lbs in February and I could not be happier (unless of course it was 7lbs lol). I am so proud of myself!!! I am LOVING eatingwell.com!! I have bought bright colored kitchen tools that I actually look forward to using–and I use them everyday.

Today is a good example. I woke up, made a turkey/goat cheese wrap, ate my yougurt & clementine as a morning snack. For lunch I broght a left-over stuffed chicken breast with millet cakes. I ran to Wendy’s and picked up a side salad (ok, that is fast food but it’s all uncooked veggies). For my afternoon snack I had homemade peanut butter cookies. When I was in line at Wendy’s I was TORTURED by the panko crusted fish sandwich. I didn’t even think about buying it. However, I did stop by Kroger on the way home to pick up whole wheat buns and cod. I had panko crumbs at home. I came home and made my own panko-crusted cod sandwich–it was delicious!

In just the past couple weeks of cooking everything I eat I have realized how much I enjoy cooking. I am definately a food addict and I tend to fixate on what I am eating now, what I just ate or what I will eat later. This works perfectly for me! I have just switched my focus to health foods I can make for myself.

I log my food daily and am estatic with how much my sodium and sugar intake have gone down. The recipies at eatingwell tend to be low in calories and high in fiber. I usually hit my fiber intake goal by lunch time!!

I even fit in a little Wii Fit time last week (literally a little). But, I was close to my calories for the day so I boxed away 110 calories so I could have a beer out with my friends.

I hope I am able to keep this up because it feels so great!!

Good luck to everyone