Daily Weigh In: 192.2 
tempted as I am to call in my LOST chips, it's the weigh in on Sunday that's official in these parts. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm uber excited to see I'm .2lbs away from seeing Entourage too 
[update @ 6:20pm] Change of plans, it's always been a bit awkward to update the daily post during the day. Starting tomorrow, I'll post the current weigh in w/the complete stats from the day before.
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As I promised last nite, an explanation on the naked strips and green beans dinner.
I went out w/my aunt and my godson to get the kid some new kicks for school, we went after I came back from the gym, around 6. He's diabetic and must eat his dinner and have his insulin around 6:30, 7 at the latest, and being out so late, he needed to be fed.
That's also my dinner time and because medically his needs come first, I deferred to my aunt to pick the place to eat, figuring so long as I get some protein and roughage I should be good. The kid picked Popeye's and away we went.
I took a looooooooong time to order and almost gave up. But if I sat there while they ate, it was too late to take him back w/the food, I'd cave from hunger and overeat. I remembered they used to promote a "carb friendly meal" 
and saw it was still on the menu: "Naked chicken strips w/green beans". I immediately removed the biscuit and not being a fan of diet drinks, instead of lemonade and sweet tea!!!, had water.
Folks, the inner debate and choices I made are a bigger victory than this AM's weigh in.
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Eons ago, when I was 160-sumthin' and thought myself fat enough from my 130-140 range, I attempted to go on a diet and lose weight. W/o getting into the gory details, the fact that I have this site and stats you see in the middle column should tell how that story went.
My whole way of eating has been pretty wacked out, came out the birth canal w/issues, call me one day I'll regale you the tales, so extreme structure is a no go for me.
Along the way, I dabbled in a few methods of eating and whittled it down to the 3 systems I relate to the most, make the most sense to me, are fairly sound and aren't radical. I smooshed all 3 systems to make my eating a bit more flexible vs. following one way of eating to a tee.
Chronologically, here's how my eating evolved:
1) Body For Life
What it is in a nutshell: Lean Protein + Veggie/Starchy Carb + Healthy Fat 6 days a week, 1 day to eat treats, w/in reason.
Why?
No counting calories, carbs, points, gms. You eyeball it, open palm for protein, closed fist for carb and you eat 5-6 times per day, every 2-3 hours. Years of skipping breakfast and eating one big meal threw my blood sugar off. I used to get dizzy and was slightly anemic. This way of eating got my blood sugar stabilized.
2) South Beach Diet
What it is in a nutshell: Eliminate process, refined carbs.
Why?
After going to a doctor to see why I wasn't losing weight, she recommended it. Back then I wasn't cooking and the meals were too exorbitant and expensive, but I liked what the book said, especially during the "down w/all carbs even fruit" hey day of Atkins, which never sounded like a healthy way to eat. For me.
3) Nutrisystem
What is in a nutshell: Prepackaged foods that total about 800 calories, and you add in dairy and fruit and fresh veggies you net about 1200-1300 calories per day.
Why?
Seeing that SBD wasn't doable for me @ the time, NutriSystem ended up fitting into my lifestyle. It got me to understand portion size. Similar to BFL (book), it was 5 meals spread out thru the day, it had already done the counting for me, something I loathe, and it was all heat and eat.
As you can see, all 3 systems have a few things in common and overlap. While NutriSystem is processed foods, something I currently try to avoid, back then I allowed for it. It gave me other benefits that time were more important. In practice I still use their system. Presently and for the majority of my weight losing, I'm going to stick pretty close to SBD, I see myself more in the BFL (book) group as my muskles start to pop out.
I'm fairly certain if I follow one all the way thru it'll like totally work, but as I learned the hard way, I will also be extremely emotionally miserable, and end up rebelling. Big time.
It's really why I've come to accept focusing on burning off 500 calories a day while I am reasonable w/food. Being reasonable means, I'm not eating excessive calories and I'm getting them from good stock. It doesn't mean, Wow I just burned 600 calories, now I can go to the buffet and eat it up.
From all 3 systems I try to do the following:
- Eat every 2-3 hours
- Eat small portions of each food group, protein, carb, fat
- Limit refined carbs
- Fill up on fruits and veggies
- Drink tons of water
- Don't deny treats or restrict eating to the point of misery.
As for WW, as Amazon Alanna, gamely mentioned, I'll give you a quick story on how I knew it wasn't for me, well it may not be so quick, you know me
Once a co-worker and I ordered Chinese food, I saw her mumbling numbers and heard the word points. I'd seen her do this before and finally asked, what gave. She told me she was on Weight Watchers and explained the points thing. My eyes glazed over.
As much as I love to crunch numbers, I'm a mathaphobe. Keep in mind, back then, I was a complete n00b to losing weight, I don't even think I was actively trying to, so hearing her say carbs = xxpoints but you minus the fiber, and fat = xxpoints, I got a headache.
A few years later, feeling a bit more confident, I did the WW online. I'd learned what protein and carbs actually were, but I got on their site, saw the word points, and my eyes glazed over.
A few months later, lurking @ weight loss bloggers that did WW, my eyes would glaze over when they'd tally their points…
..you get the point. Had I not stopped the madness when I did, today Renee's eyes would have a permanent layer of glaze around them
But seriously when I realized the points were really a replacement for calorie counting, which I had just about gotten a hang of although I don't do it, I felt better counting calories than figuring out points. Plus I feared I'd end up like my friend, my OCD would kick in and I'd be out in public looking @ things mumbling points.
Yes, I am that bad. I used to do the word jumble till I found myself mixing up normal words to see what other words I could make of them. I'm sick.
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