Day 42 - It's ALL About Salad

Today we are going to talk about salad. I've been wanting to share this post for quite some time but haven't because I thought it might be a kind of LONG post; though I just don't know...

So, let's get to it.

Salad.

When you are making a major life change, one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to change your eating habits.

No more fast food.

Limited slow food (at restaurants).

Abstaining from candy and cookies and ice cream...oh MY!

To that end, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to EAT MORE SALAD!

I love salad. NOT because it's healthy, necessarily. Seriously, I've eaten some pretty crazy HIGH calorie salads and loved every bite. I just love salad.

So, there I was, day 2 of the rest of my life and after hitting the grocery store that day, I was ready for my first healthy lunch.

(You don't want to know what I had for lunch on the FIRST day of my new life. Ya don't. Trust me!)

But now I am ready for salad. I got out all my ingredients and I began to build. I measured. I weighed. I added. I....

Well, here. Here's that first salad:

Look at THAT! All kinds of yummy goodness for ya. Yes. Yes, it was. All 1125 calories of it. And yes, I ate every bite.

But (of course) 1125 calories for lunch each day is NOT going to help me lose weight. I mean, seriously, can you see all that dressing on there? Whew, that was a LOT of Catalina. So then I got to thinking...

I love salads. I want to eat salads. But the salads I eat have to be in a decent calorie range for me to be a loser.

I do LOVE being a loser.

So, yep, you guessed it.

I started downsizing my salads and in the end, I got to where I wanted to be without sacrificing taste or the ability to fill my shrinking belly.

Let's just take a look:

Day 2 I shrunk that salad down to 799 calories. Balsamic Vinaigrette instead of Catalina (DUH!) and it was GOOD!

Day 3 I was back up to 814 calories. Yikes. Darn it, that's what 6 extra croutons will do for ya.

Day 4 I shrunk it again, right on down to 709 calories. YAY, me. And it's still really big, tasty, and definitely filled me up. Measuring out my dressing (yes, by the tablespoon) helps in two ways: knowing the exact amount of calories AND I'm now able to actually taste the veggies. YUM!

Day 5? Down to 619 calories. WooHoo. Less dressing, still. Less croutons. More veggies. And taste? FABULOUS, of course!

By day 6 I was down to 579 calories and I did this by lowering my cheese by an ounce. I still got my cheese in, by I knew I didn't need that extra ounce. And OMG, still so tasty, too!

And on day 7 I hit it outta the park. (Unlike our Red Sox = sad face). ANYway...I was now down to 508 calories. Still filling AND tasty.

But on day 7 I made a mistake. I THOUGHT (I do that SOMEtimes) that I was being smarter by using oil and vinegar instead of a store bought dressing. It turns out that it added an extra 60 calories that I'm just not interested in eating.

I've since found a great Balsamic Vinaigrette that is 60 calories per tablespoon AND it's so tasty you won't believe it's light.

I have since stopped recording my salads. I still weigh and measure and EAT my salads but for now I'm done snapping photos of them.

All that's left is to enjoy these tasty treats and watch the pounds melt away. You should know, I don't eat a salad every day for lunch - sometimes I have one for dinner instead. But I do tend to use lunch as my bigger calorie meal of the day. Sitting down to a nice big HEALTHY plate of salad keeps me going all afternoon and depending on our dinner hour that day, I may not even snack; it all just depends.

So there you have it. A bit about salads. MMmmmMMMM, GOOD!

Till next time!

...Can you BELIEVE it? Today marks the last day of week 7 on my weight loss journey. Stay tuned for tomorrow's weekly recap and then I'm off for 2-3 days to get moved. Cheers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 100 Miles Challenge Update: 

Sandi: 63.69 miles

Anna:  39.5 miles

Kathy: 101.10 miles

Steffie: 68.30 miles 

Bernie: 4.3 miles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remember, if you want me to track your miles for August, just shoot me a note and I will add you to the blog. If you are here already and I've got your numbers wrong, just shoot me...no, no, just let me know and I'll change it. I'm good with that. Cheers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Starting Weight: 306.4

Goal Weight: 150

Today's Weight: 284.6

Total Lost to Date: 21.8

Scale 'n' Toes 8.27.12

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am a work in progress, always. Sometimes I stumble, but I always get back up. The hard part is knowing which direction to turn. If I go THAT way, I know I will fail. This time, I'm going THIS way. It's a new direction for me and I will NOT fail. Cheers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And OMGoodness, I forgot to mention it yesterday...My diary has now had MORE THAN 900 nosy ninny views... YAY! Thanks to all who continue to enjoy my crazy. I have so much more in store for ALL of us. Stay tuned!