I am into my third week on the cookie diet. I am doing well! My first non-diet day when I had a small dinner party went really well. The food was fabulous and I can't wait to do it again. Yesterday was my second non-diet day. My husband and I went out for brunch and I had an egg sandwich on whole grain toast. My company holiday party was last night and that was really fun. I didn't give myself limits, but I didn't really have to. I had a few of the passed appetizers, and the buffet selections were great but I limited myself and didn't go up for seconds, nor did I have any dessert. Later on when I came home, I had what was left of my vegan oreo cheesecake that I've been working on for a few days. It was one slice that I got on thursday night from a friend who runs a vegan restaurant and have been nibbling ever since. If you didn't know if was vegan, you would have thought it was a regular cheesecake. It's delicious!

Today, I woke up with a big of a hangover! But I didn't let that deter me from my diet. I had a shake this morning and trudged to work. I had 2 cookies at work and it was so busy I didn't get to eat anything else until dinner. I had a whole foods tofu pad thai frozen dinner which is 300 calories. Since I didn't finish my allotted cookies, I had a side of sauteed mushrooms and arancini.
I don't feel hungry at all.

This saturday I am hosting game night and plan on cooking all sorts of delicious things. Lasagna, meatballs, stuffed mushrooms, etc etc. Should be fun! I am looking forward to having everyone over.

Talk soon!

Day 5!

I made it through 5 days with little or no issues. Okay maybe that isn't entirely true. It is by no means easy and I am just a cranky bitch to be around at times. Dieting does not do well for one's psyche. I am looking forward to my one non-diet day of the week. Sunday to be exact. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not going to run out and splurge on burgers, pizza, milkshakes, and all of the other wonderful, high-calorie foods that I can get my hands on. I will keep it within reason. The reason I am doing this is partly because without one day a week of normalcy, I might just lose it. It is also something that I can look forward to throughout the week.

This Sunday, I plan on a spa morning with friends, then Phillipino lunch at Bamboo Grill, then I am going to come home and prepare a yummy dinner for my husband and friends. I am not going CRAZY with the dinner, but because I love to cook and entertain, this is something I must give myself. I am preparing, thanks to The Martha Stewart Cookbook, Collected Recipes for Every Day:

Martha's Mashed Potatoes (I will make them less caloric, using less butter and cream cheese than she calls for)
Spinach Souffle (which just looks to-die-for and I bought a souffle dish just for the occasion)
Carrot and Squash Puree (Mmmmm Tasty! And very wintry)
Whole Roasted Chicken with Goat Cheese and Sage (how can your mouth NOT water after reading that?)
Minted Chocolate Mousse (her lightest dessert in the book, and I am substituting half & half for heavy cream)

I have a friend bringing salad and wine. Sounds like a nice dinner!

Ohh how I love Martha Stewart. She is such an inspiration to me.

Sometimes I get down on myself about this diet. This seriously has been the longest week in recent history that I can remember. Remember on Day 1 how I weighed in at 189 lbs? Well I weighed myself this morning, mostly because I had to see if I was getting results or I was just going to throw in the towel. I weighed in at 183 lbs! Not bad! Except I don't really FEEL the difference yet. Everyone keeps telling me to be patient. I don't know how much longer I can do this without feeling and seeing results. It is so hard to not give in to temptation that I am seeing everywhere I turn!

Just looking forward to Sunday!


See ya!

I am now halfway into DAY 4 of the Dr. Seigal's Cookie Diet. I am doing pretty well on it! I definitely am more partial to the chocolate flavored cookies. I tried the chocolate shake this morning and it is not terrible! The shake can be substituted for 2 cookies and it is definitely just as satisfying. Okay. I won't use the word satisfying. Satisfied is a word that I use after I have had a fabulous steak dinner. The shakes and cookies just keep me going. That is part of the problem is that they keep you from passing out and going crazy, but they are by no means satisfying.

The worst is grocery shopping on this diet because you literally can't have 98% of the whole store. So I have to try to ignore the gorgeous bakery section, artisanal cheese department, etc. It's just painful. But I just have to lose weight. My hunger to look good versus my hunger for tasty food is greater, and therefore I can look past these things, knowing that they will be there when I have achieved my goal weight.

Today I am going to roast a turkey breast for dinner with some veggies to accompany. It is one of the more healthy of Martha Stewart's recipes. I absolutely ADORE her and on this diet it is very hard to use her recipes. But again, it will be a reward to myself when this is all said and done.

I also had my first BM today while on the diet. I know it's gross and totally TMI but I can't believe it took me 4 days. Hopefully this is just a sign of my body adjusting to the new diet. UGH.

Alright, I am off to run errands, do laundry, cook, etc.

Post later!

It's been almost four years since I've posted on my so-called blog. FOUR YEARS. So much has happened in my life since then. I won't go through all of it (mostly because I know that no one is reading this). I'll just hit the major points.

I got married!
I moved to New Jersey (hmmmm.)
I still have Percy, the incredible cat.
I now live in a normal house, not a shoebox of an apartment.
I have a car that I get to and from work with.

It's amazing how all of these things listed above (except being married) were normal before I moved to NYC, learned to live without, and have now become luxuries.

Anyway, on to more important topics. The real reason I have decided to start blogging again is that I have a started a crazy, insane, regimented diet and I want to write down how I am feeling, track my progress, and just use the blog as a tool to keep me sane and share my thoughts.

Today is Day 2.

I began yesterday, 1/4/2010, with the Dr. Siegal's Cookie Diet. I weighed in at 189 lbs. I know it sounds ridiculous, but he only uses the word cookie to entice you to eat these so-called cookies. He specially makes them so that they are edible but not delicious enough so that you will binge on them and sabotage your diet. Very crafty man, this Dr. Siegal. The key to the cookie diet is to keep you on a low-calorie diet without hunger attacking you. I saw a girl on the Today Show who had lost 85 lbs. on the diet and she was truly an inspiration. If she can do this, I can do this.

Yesterday, I did well. I started with the oatmeal raisin cookies and followed the directions, not eating any until I felt hungry. I was able to get through the day just fine. When I came home, I had a 500 calorie dinner consisting of organic chicken and broccoli nuggets and sauteed mushrooms. The only speedbump that I hit was after dinner, around 10:30pm. The hunger pangs I was feeling were so great that I just had to eat something. So I went for a cucumber, figuring it was the lowest calorie, healthiest thing I could consume. I don't think I did too badly on the first day!

Today, I tried the chocolate cookies and did just fine. I finished all 6 cookies without going too crazy and then when I came home for dinner, I made stir-fry with ground chicken and veggies. I only used maybe 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and the portion I made was for my husband and myself. Not bad. I just find that at night, when I am lounging around the house, I think about food and get very tempted to eat. I need to occupy myself with something, which is why I have started reading more. I just started reading Julie & Julia which I am enjoying greatly. I want to cook everything in the book that she writes about. I have such a passion for food, cooking, baking, eating. It is really hard for me to be on a diet like this, but I had to take control as my weight was spiraling out of control.

I yearn to be back at 150 like I was a few years ago. I was by no means thin, but I was normal. I could fit into normal clothes, looked great in jeans. Now I find myself with no clothes to wear, spilling out of my fat jeans, and avoiding social situations because I am afraid of what people will think of me seeing that I have gained so much weight. This has to stop!!

Every time I want to reach for a piece of chocolate or order lunch from The Cheesecake Factory, I have to consciously remind myself of how I want to look and feel and remind myself that the only way to get there is by sticking to the diet and of course the most important thing, TIME. I'm not going to see results in one day, or two days. I am hoping after having such a restricted calorie intake (1000 a day) that after a week I should be feeling a slight difference. Dr. Siegal says that 3500 calories equals 1 lb of fat. After 3 days, I should have cut a total of anywhere from 3000-5000 calories in just 3 days. That should be at least 1 lb!

I will be checking in as often as I can and tracking my progress.

Goodnight!