Pumpkin and Spice

New Year's Eve is great- I love that feeling of having a new chance at a fresh start. I know it's just the turning of the calendar, but something about a new year makes anything seem possible. Did you make any resolutions? I did, and it's probably the same one many of you made- to lose weight. I make it every year, but I'm never very good at it. I've been going back and forth in my head about this, but I've decided that this year, I'm going to blog about it. Please don't roll your eyes- I know this is a food blog, but this is about food. I've tried to share with you all my adventures in food, and I feel like this is going to be a significant adventure for me.

And, well, it's my adventures in food that brought me here. I was a chubby kid, and a chubby teenager, and in college, thanks to the tried and true method of exercising a bit and not eating everything that wasn't nailed down, I managed to lose quite a bit of weight. Later, when I got engaged, I slimmed down even farther... but, with the threat of a strapless dress immortalized on film forever no longer looming, and the cozy comfort of newlywed-hood, a few pounds crept back on. Not a big deal, but then I went to pastry school and put on a few more, then I went to Utah and packed on some winter weight on top of that, and well... never really lost it. So, in a nutshell, I am an embarrassing 45lbs heavier than I was three years ago (thanks mostly to croissants, cakes, and other sweets...)

Oh! And did I mention that my 10 year high school reunion is in September? ‘Cause it is. Yikes!

My plans for this are to check in at least twice a month on my progress, in addition to occasional recipe posts (one of my other resolutions was to blog more frequently!) I'm going to try for healthier recipes, though I'm sure there will still be fatty, sugary special-occasion recipes from time to time.

As to how I'm planning on losing weight, I'm doing the exercise and watching what I eat thing. My goal is at least four 30 minute cardio sessions a week, along with calorie counting.

Soooo... here we go-

Okay. I was going to tell you how much I weigh, but the prospect of posting my weight online for the whole world to see is a little ('kay, a lot) terrifying. I will say that to be in a healthy BMI for my height, I need to lose 45-50lbs. So, for perspective, I am 5'7", and about a size 14 in jeans, and usually a 10 in shirts. I feel like I look lighter than I am, but I think that's because I don't carry weight in my waist/belly. (It's mostly in my booty.) Here's a "before" picture in my workout clothes (no way I was I gonna post a pic in a swimsuit.) Actually, I usually wear a giant t-shirt and not a tight tank top, but this gives a better idea of what I really look like. Ugh, it's embarrassing.

A couple nights ago, I went out to dinner with Kyle's family. We went for Mexican, which is, like, a thousand landmines waiting to happen for me. I steeled myself on the drive to the restaurant... and honestly, I think I did pretty well. I ordered a Diet Pepsi, which is not unusual since I normally drink diet soda, but is significant in that I really, really wanted a margarita. (And the universe rewarded me by surrounding me with tables that all ordered margaritas. Thanks, universe.) I also turned down my sister-in-law's offer of queso dip, and managed to only eat five tortilla chips out of the basket on the table. For dinner, I had a bowl of tortilla soup and two soft chicken tacos. I forgot to ask for no cheese, so both the soup and the tacos had cheese on them, but compared to the blanket of melted, cheesy, ooze that covers most of the platters. And, since I didn't eat my weight in chips, and didn't have a platter big enough to feed a lumberjack, I wasn't so full that I could barely move, which was a major bonus.

I also worked out four days this week, so I'm feeling like I practically qualify for diet sainthood... At the very least, I'm off to a good start. I rewarded my goodness by taking a hot bath with a Lush bath bomb, scented candles and a good book. After my bath, I changed into my comfiest PJs (my bee jammies), took a couple ibuprofens (for a standing-all-day-in-shoes-with-no-support related backache, not workout related aches) and snuggled into bed feeling very virtuous and very hopeful for this upcoming adventure.

UPDATE- I wrote the above a week and a half-ish ago. I've been waffling about posting it, because it's embarassing. ("Embarassing", as you can see, is the Word of the Day.) I've been doing really well with getting to the gym, though I'm still struggling a bit with dining out, but I'm getting better. Anyway, since then, I'm down 2.5lbs, so, yay!