diet -- a four letter word

Last summer something happened that has changed my life. I turned 25, and nothings been the same since. It seems I had an internal timer set on my metabolism and it ran out when I had my birthday, and as a result my metabolism started working at half it's normal speed. Over the winter I've put on a few pounds but have optimistically believed that when spring came (which technically we're still waiting for) they would just shed off. You know, like it was just keeping me warm and now that it's no longer needed it'll disappear, like an animal's fur coat. Unfortunately no such thing has happened.

So I've decided I needed to help myself lose those unwanted extra pounds. I've decided to turn to the "d" word. Diet.

I've never in my life done any sort of diet except last winter when I was bribed with a trip on a houseboat at Lake Powell. It was definitely worth it, and lookin' good in my jeans was an added bonus. But I've slowly lost the habits I had developed last winter, so now I've got to try again. And this time lookin' good in my jeans is the only incentive I've got, and it's a little harder.

Some of you that do hardcore diets like "Body for Life" or "Atkins" will possibly laugh at my definition of a diet, since it's not quite as rigorous. Basically I've just thought about all the stuff I eat that's bad for me, the times of day that I eat and I've cut a lot of stuff out and changed (hope to change) a lot of my eating habits. Now I'm doing crazy stuff like cutting out white bread (that alone is enough for tears) and soda, buying 100 calorie snack packs, restricting dessert to only two nights a week, and drinking tons of water. I went grocery shopping today and I hated it even worse than normal. All the junk food seemed to know I couldn't eat them, so they called my name louder than normal. While walking down the bread aisle I had to turn my head as I walked past the Little Debbie snack cake display because the thought of Nutty Bars that could no longer be mine was almost more than I could bear. Gone are the days of eating a whole bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and just around the corner are the days of eating salad with no dressing.

So, here's the goal I've set for myself. I have until May 23rd (the day we leave for our trip to Iowa), to lose 10 pounds. That's not a lot, but it's enough for me. Hopefully with any luck it'll be a little more, and with even more luck (and a lot of sacrifice) I'll be able to keep the 10 lbs off this time. So if you see me, ask me how my ten pounds is coming and tell me my butt looks big, I need all the motivation I can get!

Now lets all join in a moment of silence while we mourn the loss of some dear friends.

Raspberry Delights
Apple Cobbler
Reese's
White confetti cake with white confetti frosting
sugar cookies
pie-all kinds
brownies
frosting straight from the can (yes, I'm that gross)

Did I leave anyone out? Let me know if I did. Commiserate with me, share your dieting woes.

(And yes, I'm aware that I'm being fairly dramatic.)