I've purged myself!

Of clothes, that is.  I needed to free up some drawer space so I did a wardrobe purge.  You know -- where you go through all your clothes and pick out the stuff you haven't worn in the last two years and get rid of it.  I took a large garbage bag full to the clothing drop off bin at the store.  Hopefully someone can get some use out of that stuff, because I obviously don't.

I'm not sure why this is always hard for me -- I tend to hang on to more than I really should each time because I keep thinking I might wear it sometime.  But realistically, if you haven't worn it in two years, you're never going to.  Some things I had to ask, will I wear it once it fits?  Sometimes the answer was no, so in the bag it went.  I pitched a few of hubby's things in there as well.  Just those pull-over sweatshirt type jackets.  He always gets some for Christmas and never wears them.  He wears normal sweat shirts, but the jacket style ones we both prefer the kind that you can unzip rather than the pull-over kind, so there's really no point in hanging on to them.

I kept a few things that were tight but that I definitely WILL wear once they fit.  If I haven't fit into them by the next wardrobe purge, I told myself I would give up and get rid of them.  I say that every time -- this is it, the last time I'm going to try to lose weight, and if I don't succeed this time then I give up. I'll just resign myself to being fat for the rest of my life.  I think that's because I've been fat my entire life (except one period in 1984 where I went from 165 lbs to 125 lbs in like 2 months by only eating one small weight watchers frozen meal a day and jogging every day after work).  So I've been battling the extra weight and trying to lose it pretty much my entire life as well.

That's what started the whole problem really.  I was about 165 pounds in high school and of course I thought that was terribly fat.  So I was always dieting and trying to lose it, but 30 years of dieting only made me fatter and fatter.  So why keep trying?  I guess I can't accept that I'll never get control of this problem.  Seriously though, isn't 30 years enough?  When is it time to give up?  I don't know the answer to that, but I'm not ready to give up yet.  So off I go to make this week's shopping list and plan my healthy meals for the coming week.

You know there's an aspect of my Lunch Box Diet that has evolved to something that was suggested by Dr Oz, and I'm pretty sure Dr McDougall has said it as well -- pick one or two meals each day and have the same thing every day for those meals -- only have variety in the remaining meal.  The theory is variety makes you eat more.  When your meals are always new and interesting, you want to eat more.  But if you eat the same thing every day, you'll get bored with it and only eat what you need to actually satisfy your hunger.  The desire to overeat that particular food disappears.  Well I didn't set out to have the same meals every day, that's just how it's worked out.  I'm having the same breakfast every day, but then I generally did.  My lunchbox has kind of evolved into the one that's quickest to throw together and that tastes great, so I tend to have the same one most days.  Only my evening meals vary, and even those don't vary a lot during the week because I choose meals that make several servings.  Sometimes hubby has one of those servings, but I generally eat the same dinner two or three times during the week as well.  I'm trying to plan low cal dinners that I really like and that are quick to prepare -- don't want to be running the oven for extended periods as the weather gets warmer.

So what's on the menu for the week ahead?  Breakfast is toasted muesli (usually with a banana but I left that out last week to keep my calories lower).  My new favorite lunch box is mixed greens and raw veggies with diced veggie roast, rosemary roasted sweet potato chunks and ranch dressing.  And for dinner?  Well I can't go past my new favorite Rainy Day Lentil Soup (makes 4 generous serves for only 253 calories each) and I think for the other meals I'm going to try something I saw on TV a while back called Orange Pasta.  Instead of pasta, you use a peeler to slice carrots into thin ribbons, and then saute them for a couple of minutes just until tender, not soft.  Serve with veggies and pasta sauce for a low cal, low carb 'pasta' dish.  Sounds good, so I'll give that a try with maybe some other veggies added.  If it turns out well, I'll post my modified version of the recipe.  Here's to a great week ahead.

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