UH – OH… I’m FAT

When I started this blog, it was going to just be about Wedding Photography. I was going to write blog entries every week. Sometimes a person runs out of ideas. I thought I would open up another part of my life besides my passion for wedding photography, and write about my diet. After turning 40, my weight began to slowly increase, and my waistline increased accordingly. I’m over 60 lbs overweight, and my doctor has told me that I have to diet. Not that I should, but I MUST lose it.

It is affecting my photography. I can no longer move around like I used to. If I kneel down, it is slow and painful to get back up. My back is so painful after shooting a wedding that I can’t function the next day. So, I’m going to be a police detective during the week, a wedding photographer on the weekends, and a diet blogger for my sanity. I’ve found that writing about things helps my brain resolve things that bother me. I write this with the expectation that there is no one out there in the web world that will actually read this blog. Regardless, I thought I would jot down my plan, and write about how it’s going.

The Plan

In the past, I had good luck losing, and maintaining my weight with Herbalife products.  I liked the shakes, I just wasn’t very committed.  Now I am.  Each shake has protein, vitamins, and all that scientific stuff that Herbalife is famous for.  The way I make my shake, it should have about 250 calories. My mistake in the past was that sometimes I wouldn’t make my shake in the early morning because the blender would wake my wife Judi.  I took all my stuff, blender and all to the police department, and will make one shake in the morning, and have another shake for lunch. Herbalife recommends a sensible meal for dinner.  In the past, another mistake I made was eating just about anything for dinner.  My new plan for evening meal is a small portion of beef, chicken or fish, and a small portion of green vegetables. I’m shooting for no more than 280 calories. In between meals, I’ll have my Herbalife tea, which increases metabolism, and decreases my cravings for sugar and carbs. My target for daily intake is only 780 calories.

I realize that most nutritionists would advise against this plan. I think it will work. I bought a grocery cart of frozen chicken breasts, fish filets, and beef strips. On days when I don’t feel like cooking, I thought I would try some of the frozen diet dinners that are out there.  For this week, I bought two brands, SmartMade and Atkins.  Tonight I tried one of the SmartMade dinners. It is the Rosemary Grilled Beef & Vegetables. Cost at Walmart was about $3.28. This meal had sweet potato chunks, Brussels sprouts, and tender sirloin in a pretty tasty gravy. The picture on the box is a little misleading… especially the picture of the large grilled steak. The amount of steak in the meal before it was cut into pieces was probably as large as a slice of cheese. The picture shows a lot of Brussels Sprouts, there was one. The majority of the contents were the sweet potatoes and the gravy. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being best thing I’ve ever tasted, I’d give it a good 6. A very good value for the price. Best part is that it was filling. I’m not starving after eating it. Two thumbs up.