Food Prep Blues

Now I remember what I hated about my last diet: all the food prep.

Truth is, I love the food I'm eating. It's delicious and healthy. Not sure if I mentioned it already but the food plan I am following is basically taken (almost verbatim) from the The alli Diet Plan by Caroline Apovian. The menu planning was a tad tricky, but mostly because I am trying to synchronize my 1800 calorie per day plan with Susan's 1200 per day plan. The book makes this pretty simple since all the sample diet menus have 1200, 1500, and 1800 calorie versions - however there are differences between them which are sometimes big (like different foods for the same meal). Anyway I was able to rationalize the menus pretty easily by making some reasonable substitutions so that Susan and I are eating the same food (BTW we are also subjecting the kids to the same menu - so far, they're buying it!).

So like I said the food is great. Today's lineup was as follows:

Breakfast

• Two Eggo Nutrigrain Waffles with Lite syrup
• Dannon La Creme Yogurt
• A cup of OJ

Lunch

• Grilled Shrimp with Corn-Tomato salad (really tasty)
• Dinner roll
• 1/4 of a cantaloupe

Snack

• Jello fat-free pudding

Dinner

• Chicken Paprikash
• Egg noodles
• Peas

Dessert

• 2 Stella Doro Sponge cookies

All in all very satisfying. But here's the rub. I must've spent 2 hours on meal prep today. I am a father of six kids and run my own IT business. I don't have 2 hours per day to prep food. Who does?

Now I remember. I noticed this last time. I was totally hummin along with the diet, but it frustrated me that I needed to spend so much time thinking about food. In fact I think I am spending substantially more time thinking about food now than I did when I wasn't dieting. Between the menu planning, the shopping, the meal prep, etc. - sometimes it seems I am always thinking about food. Aren't I supposed to be moving away from obsessing about food?!?!

I guess I already know the answers. First off I guess if I do this long enough it will become the way I eat, so I won't have to think about it as much. Along the way, I'll need to find shortcuts that save me time. For example I can't be cooking lunch and dinner from scratch every day. No can do. I'll have to get smart about advanced prep e.g. making double portions and saving, repeating the same menu 2 or 3 days a week, etc.

Meanwhile I guess I have to slog through it. Oh well, at least I'm eating well.

p.s. big day tomorrow: the first official weigh-in since liftoff...

Cleaning House

Today's mission: purge. Out with the old. Clearance. Everything must go!

I pretty much went through everything: pantry, cabinets, fridge, upstairs freezer, downstairs freezer, storage room.

Actually while I did end up throwing out about 2 trash bags worth of stuff, alot of it was just old. Some of it was contraband, but not much. So the purge mission turned into more of an exercise in organization, which is good, because we haven't done that since we prepped the house for showings about nine months ago. And with eight people in our household, things get disorganized pretty quickly.

Anyway, mission accomplished. I now have a pretty good handle on what we have in terms of staples / ingredients, and should have plenty of room for healthy foods.

The next task is to make up a menu and a shopping list. I think I'll base the menu on the The alli Diet Plan which I picked up yesterday, mostly for the menus and the recipes. Not exactly groundbreaking material, but I like the menus so it's one less thing I have to think about. A couple things I like about the menus are 1) there are 1200, 1500, and 1800 calorie version of each day, which will make it easy for me and Susan to be on the same plan; and 2) for every recipe-based meal, there is a no-cook substitution -- which makes it nice for dealing with hectic days.

On an unrelated note, I worked out my weight loss goal yesterday. Funny, when I was first thinking about this last week, I thought hey - I'd like to get down to 200 pounds (nice even number, close enough to my "ideal" weight whatever that means), and I think I can do it before my 40th birthday. Given that I wasn't sure of my current weight or the exact number of weeks until then, I wasn't totally sure it was doable. Well, lo and behold, it is. I figure if I start on Wednesday (the day Susan returns), and my starting weight is 328, and I lose exactly 2 pounds per week, then I will hit 199 pounds on November 12, 2008, exactly one day before my fortieth birthday. How's that for serendpity?

The Last Hurrah

It happens every time. During the gear up to any new diet, there is always a "last hurrah" period. It is a time to bid farewell to stalwart friends you may never see again: donuts, pizza, nachos, brownie sundaes, etc. Often this concludes with a "Last Supper" meal of profound indulgence. The mood on such days is bittersweet: excitement and anticipation for the impending life change, mixed with dread for the deprived feelings and intense battle of willpower known to lie ahead.

For some reason I always engage in this charade, and this time is no exception. Yesterday I threw caution to the wind and ate, among other things, two bowls of cereal (one of which was Froot Loops), a slice of pizza, and a plate of kung pao chicken, and a whole box of toffee popcorn. Then late last night I picked up Bill Philips' book "Eating for Life". In the cover inset, the following question is posed: "Were you truly happy with the food you ate today?" As I pondered this question, I quickly reached my answer: decidedly, NO. Except for the slice of veggie pizza from Whole Foods, none of the food I ate was particularly good. So why do I do this?

I think it has something to do with freedom. As in, I now have the freedom to indulge in whatever I please, but I will soon be giving up that freedom. I need to take this chance to exercise my freedom while I still have it. So I will eat whatever I darned well please, whether it's good or not, thank you. Because tomorrow, I'm going on a diet.

This is moronic. I mean seriously, am I a child, or what?

For starters, the concept that favorite foods will be heretofore banished is dumb. Every contemporary diet author worth their salt will tell you that it is OK to indulge, from time to time, within reason.

Second, the idea that I have freedom now but will be losing it soon is backwards. This reminds me of a great talk I once heard about debt. The idea is that if you own too many things (i.e. beyond your means), the things will end up owning you. The same is true with eating, or any type of addictive behavior. What seems like freedom is actually the opposite. While I am "free" to eat whatever I please, the consequences of my behavior make me a prisoner to my weight, and I forsake many other freedoms, such as the freedom to have a good body image, the freedom to wear whatever clothes I like, or the freedom to live a long life.

Finally, there is the obvious: the 800 pound gorilla which illustrates how idiotic this behavior really is. Why, for the love of Pete, would anyone eat anything that a) isn't needed for energy/nutrition, OR b) doesn't TASTE GOOD? It is mindless eating. Eating for the sake of eating. Now this is neither news, nor unique. Everyone does it (well, "everyone" meaning the vast majority of modern-day Americans, who are in general overfed). That's fine. But when you are morbidly obese, like me, you've got no business doing it.

So, a resolution. I hereby have to KNOCK IT OFF. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for a little indulgence before and even during (gasp!) the Big Drop, but from here on out, it needs to be worthwhile indulgence. If I'm going to indulge, it had better not be for the sake of indulging. It had better be worth it. For example, I love brownies. But why would I splurge on a convenience store cellophane wrapped sad excuse for a brownie, which I know is going to taste like tree bark. If I'm going to eat a brownie, I'm going quality, homemade, from scratch (by the way, super easy, and waaay better than boxed brownie mix).

So for my Last Hurrah, I will go ahead and make the Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp with Grilled Corn & White Cheddar Cheese Grits and Chipotle-Tomato Butter Sauce, which I saw Tre make on Top Chef and for which I picked up the ingredients yesterday. Heck I may even make some brownies for dessert. Because I know it'll be worthwhile.

The Gift

I've just been given a gift. Susan has just departed for a 6 day road trip to North Carolina. With all the kids (her sanity is a topic for another discussion). Of course I will miss everyone - our household is eerily silent when the kids are absent. But my gift is tranquility, and time. I expect to use both to ponder and plan The Big Drop. By the time my family returns, I will be in full swing.

My first task is to figure out my plan of attack. A threefold strategy is required: food, exercise, and "psychops".

On the food front, I first need to figure out what plan I need to follow. There are lots of "branded" diet plans out there - Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss, Body for Life, South Beach, etc. I doubt I will choose any of these, they either require too much time and money or are too restrictive. Then there is the "Mike D" plan, personally customized for me by the world's best personal trainer Mike D'Angelo of Body Evolver in Boston. I lost over sixty pounds following the "Mike D" plan about four years ago. The Mike D plan kicks butt however it scares me. Its guiding principle is totally no frills, take no prisoners, no mercy, food as fuel. I am not sure I am prepared for the kamikaze approach, but I'll consider it - maybe that's what I need. Finally there is Alli, which Susan is doing, which is basically a lowfat diet with calorie counting.

Once I pick a food plan, I need to put my house in order - literally. Out with the bad, in with the good. Fridge, freezer, and pantry will get a good whoopin. Then, I need a menu plan, and a shopping list, and I need to stock up.

On the exercise front, there's not much to ponder. Exercise is mandatory, and I need to do it. I just need to figure out which gym to join, and put together a workout schedule. The only things to figure out are what my strength training regimen will involve, and whether I want to sign up for a cardio class (like spinning).

Then there's "psychops". Psychological operations. Mental health. This may be where I need the most help. I need tools to keep me going. I know myself, and I know how easy it is for me to get off track. Committment and willpower is not enough. I need to be invested. I need motivational tools, checks and balances, and support. I have started assembling a mental inventory of the things that will help me here. I need to survey all the tips, tricks, techniques, and suggestions that I can find out there, pick the best ones, and execute. I want to create a "Big Drop Board" bulletin board in my home where I can post goals and progress reports, articles, tips, words and images that will motivate me. I need to communicate my plan to family and friends and coworkers who can encourage me and help keep me on track. I need to take the dreaded "before" picture (uy). Maybe a doctor visit is in order. Needless to say I need prayer, and divine guidance and support.

I am thankful for this gift of time. I have a good feeling about this. I have been here before, countless times, planning my next weight loss regimen. But this time feels different. I finally feel like the right pieces are coming together in the right way at the right time. My optimism has never been higher. I think I can really do it this time.