July 15, 2007 Lunch at P.F. Chang's

Week 1 Day 4
Weight: 184.5
Lost: 6
WOW, 6 pounds after 3 days!!! This morning I woke up feeling bloated which is probably the water replacing the lost fat. One of the side effects that the doctor warned me about is insomnia, and it’s actually been quite the opposite for me. Eating less and healthier food has been making me fall asleep faster so I’m already experiencing some of the benefits of being healthy!! However, a side effect that I am experiencing from the medicine is constipation, mot major constipation, but I just don’t go to the bathroom as easy as I normally do which I can probably overcome by eating spinach salad everyday. I plan on going grocery shopping once the clinic gives me the customized meal plan I’m supposed to get this Wednesday when I go for the official weigh-in and assessment. Right now I’ve just been making due with whatever low cal things and lean protein my family carries in the fridge (which is why I’ve been eating mainly protein). Speaking of which, I decided that after today I’m not going to weigh myself every morning. I know that there’s probably going to be good days and some bad days and I don’t want to become so obsessed with the numbers. The only weighing that’ll be done will be the weekly one at the center and I’ll let you guys know of the results.

Last night I left work early because we were slow and on the way home I got depressed. Maybe because it was Saturday evening and I had no plans but I also didn’t feel like calling anyone to see what’s going on. Being fat has resulted in me not wanting to go out and see people as much. At that moment I would normally be pulling in the drive-thru of mcdonalds but I just knew I couldn’t sabotage myself and plus I really didn’t feel like eating that much it was moreso about following a familiar pattern because it gave me comfort. So I compromised and went to a frozen yogurt place that serves the best fresh and sour frozen yogurt I ever had in my life, the small size only has 150 calories and it brought a smile to my face. I could have one of those everyday and still be healthy and lose weight as long as I’m not eating too many other carbs since it does have around 20g of carbs, but that’s also 75 dollars a month and I really need to control my spending.

Today I experienced the biggest challenge since starting the program: I had lunch at P.F. Changs with a friend who doesn’t know about my program. I didn’t have a big appetite or cravings, but I just know how good the food tastes. After studying the calorie counter handbook for like 30 minutes I decided on the healthier kung pao chicken (they have a healthier one that’s cooked with chicken stock and not oil they just don’t list it on the main menu). We ordered vegetarian lettuce wraps which are relatively low in calories. I portioned out half of the kung pao chicken, had a few spoons of brown rice and a couple of bites of my friends more unhealthy entrée. What I ate for lunch is probably equal to what I ate each entire day the past three days but it’s definitely less than what I would usually have eaten out. Using their nutrition guide I estimated that entire meal to be around 785 calories, 29.5 grams of fat, and 72 grams ofcarbs but I still feel like I did good because on a regular day I would have ordered a more unhealthy appetizer and entrée, probably eaten the entire if not most of the entrée, and split a desert. I brought the leftovers home but I think God’s watching over me today because my mom ate them so I had no choice but to have a small healthy dinner (just a turkey bacon, that’s all I felt like eating). I didn’t have much of a breakfast or dinner so my grand total today is 885 calories, 32.5, and 74 grams of carbs. I do realize that because of the high amount of sodium and carbs I had there will probably be a small setback in the weight loss. I’ll make sure I get more of an intense workout tomorrow morning, I also took an extra water pill!

Tomorrow a friend of mine is having a big lunch at her house and I’m getting a little anxious thinking about it. In my past experience with dieting it’s always those large social gatherings with food that cause me to sabotage myself. I’ve always found it really hard to just ‘make healthier choices’ and portion control because I’m such an all or nothing person. If I couldn’t stick to just the salad and grilled chicken than I might as well just eat everything + seconds and worry about it tomorrow. This is why I feel like I did good with lunch at P.F. changs, just because I didn’t order the steamed vegetables it doesn’t mean that I might as well get desert and that’s IMPROVEMENT!!! I think the fact that I was only with one other person helped, there’s just something about the big gatherings that make we wanna have a feast and I don’t know of those pills are gonna change that, I’ll let you know tomorrow!