Whew.....

I reached another small goal along the healthier living path....

I am now down 10 pounds!!!

I actually reached this goal over the weekend, but worried that I might not be able to hold onto it until today as we ate a little outside, okay a LOT outside, the diet lines...even for a weekend!

Friday we went to Wendy's for lunch. I ordered 2 of their grilled chicken wraps (very good) and a small Coke. I made a taco buffet for dinner. I ate three hard shell tacos even adding cheese and light sour cream (not too conservingly either). Then we went to the movies where I bought their popcorn, but opted for Kettlecorn salt (I carry the travel shaker in my purse - they're sold in Regal theaters!) instead of butter (a HUGE sacrifice for me) and another Coke.

Saturday we ate breakfast at iHop. I ordered steak tips and eggs. Ate a small portion of my hash browns and a couple bites of my buttered crepe (just enough to satisfy the palette). We snacked on low-calorie, baked chips and skipped lunch. We ate an early dinner at Bob's Burgers. Melissa and I shared an order of fish and chips, and I had a few bites of the Caesar salad. Then we went to Coldstone for dessert and I ordered a child-size vanilla and double fresh raspberry mix-in. By adding double fruit, I was able to offset the very small portion of ice cream and it totally satisfied my dessert craving.

Sunday (Father's Day) we ate at Marco's like usual. I had the steak and eggs. And a cupcake! We again skipped lunch and ate a very early dinner at our favorite chinese restaurant, Golden House. I didn't worry about anything other than removing most all the breading from the deep fried prawns and opting for finishing Shadoe's Won ton soup so I would get a little more full on soup broth before diving into the deep fried almond chicken (my fave) and everything else!

All in all, it could have been disastrous!

But there are always ways to rethink our previously unhealthy choices about meal selections. Even when we eat out and are on vacation, there are ways to pull out better options from a menu of seemingly only fattening foods, without having to always opt for a salad every time. If I continually opted for salad only, I would be driving myself (at record-breaking speed) to a melted butter pity party. I would crash the diet and land in a sea of comfort food. Proving to not only give myself back every calorie I had deprived myself of, but then some!

Compromising is really the key. Don't deprive yourself of the foods you love; find ways to enjoy them using healthier choices and moderation. Trade this for that. Take off the fried coating to enjoy the prawn in sweet and sour sauce. Have more soup and less chow mien. Eat half an order of fried fish instead of none at all. Make smarter decisions with the foods you've always loved.

Skip that chocolate muffin and wear those Tommy jeans! ;)

enjoy the trade-offs,
-d.