My knife skills have improved tremendously since I started this journey.:cool:

I am recognizing that a committment to preparation is key in the maintenance arena as well as weight loss.

Spinymouse, I am 100% with you regarding the sanctity of cheese. There will be lots of cheese in heaven. It shall be known as a "free" food.

I'm hungry! :lol:

Gary -- Feel free to experiment with nachos and let us know how it goes. Someone else has mentioned adding jalapenos - that could be kickin! :D

There are a lot of things I eat a LOT less than I used to, but I love coming up with healthier alternatives!

My husband had figured he would rarely eat sausage again, but a few weeks ago we got together with friends and made our own. We know exactly what's in it and kept the fat down. It's also delicious. And we have our freezer stocked! I'm not saying I'd let myself overeat it -- it's still caloric and somewhat fatty. But we've found ways to fit it into our lives in moderation. So, you never know!

I have quit my late night eating, I have quit going for seconds, I drink water with lemon more often, I have a sweet tooth so I keep sugar free candy around the house and in my purse. I love cornbread and biscuits but now I eat 35cal. wheat bread.

I can't tell you over the past 4 years how much my diet has changed. It is definitely an evolution towards a healthier diet and I definitely feel better.

I also experiment a lot with food to make healthy, good tasting recipes. I find it fun although sometimes I rather not have to cook. I make the effort to grocery shop for healthy items as take the time to prepare healthy meals. Something that helps is I make large batches of food when I do cook. Although I make salads every day just because it is better to make them fresh but it doesn't take much time at all.

I also used to have lots of stomach problems but once I started eating better, those problems went away.

The thing about the sausage is that it is good quality. I am really trying to educate my palate about quality :lol:. And that a little bit goes a long way.

We actually traveled almost 100 miles to an orchard this summer and picked our own peaches. Actually, I think we went down there three times. We ate over 60lbs of peaches between us. They were so good! Peaches have never had a part in making me fat.:lol: Picking was fun and exercise. The lady was nice and the dogs they had were nice - a new experience!

I am using much less meat than I used to. When I fix steak, I grill one piece. DH gets most of it, and I cut off a few slices and make a steak salad sandwich sort of thing. It is delicious and uses no more than 3 oz meat. I measure my meat portions most of the time. I just guess at the amount of raw spinach I eat.

I am also eating less red meat - just now realized that. Sometimes when I fix red meat for DH, I really crave some of my turkey spaghetti, so I have it.

What I really love about all this is that I have absolutely no sense of deprivation. In fact, sometimes I feel like I am eating very luxuriously. This is not to say that I don't ever get ravenously hungry. I do. But as long as I eat regularly, I am a very happy camper.

My dinner tonight was above mentioned turkey spaghetti sauce on Ronzoni whole wheat mix pasta with a grating or two of parmesan, a big spinach and water cress salad with tomatoes and onions and balsamic vinaigrette. One small sliced, steamed zuchinni with dill, a piece of french bread toasted with garlic and olive oil. Ice water. For dessert, a cup of Starbuck's decaf and 4 small squares of chocolate. How could I possibly feel deprived!!!!

I need to quit yapping! Sorry to be so windy.

gail -- goodness, yap away!!!

Yes! Your dinner sounds totally satisfying! :drool: And I want to emphasize what you said about not feeling deprived. Eating differently leads to wanting different things in different amounts--it doesn't have to be a sad life of deprivation!

Jay

I was thinking yesterday about the changes that I've made. I have family from out of town staying at a motel, and I met up with them last night. They fussed over me (which was nice) and insisted on buying a takeaway and me having dinner with them. All I could think of was the nice piece of lamb fillet I had in the fridge at home that I was intending to turn into a salad, and I didn't really enjoy that takeaway.

I've also being PMSing like crazy for the last few days and instead of hitting the chocolate, I'm finding that a handful of grapes or dried apricots are satisfying my cravings in almost the same way. This is good!