MOLLY'S DIET RANTS! (ranting, raving, motivating & more)

RANTING BURNS CALORIES!

This is an open, ongoing, support-encourage-motivational-RANTING thread. Feel free to skip to the end, or spend days reading through all of this ...

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I have decided that "Diet" is a 4-letter word.

I find myself muttering and uttering the word around my house these days with loathing and vehemence previously reserved only for comments directed toward liberal politicians. In fact, I seem to be talking to myself a lot more these days .... sort of a running, sarcastic commentary on all the foods I can't eat, or on various other related topics. I wonder if there is a link between calorie-deprivation and Tourettes Syndrome? Grrrrrrrrr.....

I am now on Day 8 of the dreaded D-word. This is already the longest period of time that I have ever successfully remained on a diet. And I seem to be growing grouchier and feistier each day..... at least when I am alone and no one is around to hear my running rants. (My wonderful DH has heard some of my more memorable rants on the subject of broccolli and reports that I am hysterically funny when I am hungry!) I am counting carbs. I am counting calories. I am counting fat grams. Sheesh ... now my math anxiety is about to kick-in!

Mini Rant #1 .... what masochist decided that the serving size of cereal was anything less than 2 cups? Have you ever measured out 2/3 a cup of cereal? Or even a full cup? And placed it in a bowl? Those few little flakes and pieces just sit forlornly at the bottom of the bowl, shivering and lonely, even when we dribble on a few meager droplets of skim milk! Sheesh. Well, I can tell you that there is simply no way that my oversized body is going to be happy with that tiny amount of cereal ... so I have been eating TWO servings for breakfast. SIGH. And while the side of the box says that I can supplement the cereal with some fruit, they probably don't mean eat 45 cherries with your cereal -- much less 1/2 a watermelon, huh?

Mini Rant #2 .... Things NOT to say to someone who has told you that they have just started on a diet:

1.Good, you sure needed it.
2. It's about time.
3. Really? It doesn't look like it.
4. Again? Haven't we heard this before?
5. Gosh, how much weight do you need to lose?
6. What do you weigh? I've always wondered.
7. I never need to diet, I have a fast metabolism.
8. Really? I can eat all I want and never gain weight.
9. Is THAT why you are so grouchy?
10. I sure hope you plan to exercise a lot more.

AAAUGGH! All of these responses are just the thing to make me even grouchier .... so just smile and say something encouraging and supportive, ok? I will let you know how it is going.

_____

=^..^=  Molly 

WELCOME TO MOLLY'S MOTIVATIONAL RANT / CHAT THREAD ... FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR RANTS, TOO!  YOU CAN EITHER READ FROM THE BEGINNING OR JUST JUMP ON IN ON THE LAST PAGE ... JOIN US! 

Pattikins Wow thats really good keep it up! Wish I was losing it that fast but as long as I'm losing thats what matters  right!?

Wonderful story Molly! It sure made me feel insprired. I can sure relate to it as many can I'm sure, This morning I tried on a pair of jeans from my skinnier days, size 14 and I got them on!!! I had to lay on the bed to do it, but I GOT THEM ON!!!!! I am so happy and it gives me the motivation to keep going . I'm so tried of wearing my baggy size 16 I can now look forward to my size 14s getting looser. 

Original Post by sarahrip:

I had to lay on the bed to do it, but I GOT THEM ON!!!!! 

Congratulations on going down a size.  I have to say, the above made me laugh literally out loud.  I was having a vision of 25 years ago (junior high) and my best friend Stacy and I getting ready to go to the skating rink.  The above was a REGULAR occurrence.  Sometimes we would even have to use the old clotheshanger-through-the-zipper-tab to get them zipped!

Oh, to be young and have the energy to struggle into too-tight pants!! HA HA!
(Quoth the raven, Nevermore.)

thanks coach K, I only have CC classic, so that explains it. Made me feel better about now being able to figure it out on my own!!!

(pssst -- a good reason to switch)

HAVE YOU LOST WEIGHT?

Hey! Have you lost weight? What is it about this seemingly innocuous (and complimentary) question makes me want to rant some days? I think it is the absolutely inappropriate use of the word "LOSE" in the context of weight reduction and dieting. After all, the dictionary definition of "LOSE" is as follows: to come to be without (something in one's possession or care), through accident, theft, etc., so that there is little or no prospect of recovery; to fail inadvertently to retain (something) in such a way that it cannot be immediately recovered.

Let's face it, peeps. We don't "LOSE" weight in the sense that we absentmindedly leave a pound or two here and there as if they were wayward car keys or the long lost remote control. And nobody is stealing any of MY fat. In fact, no one I know accidentally or inadvertently "LOSES" weight these days. Nope, nope, nope ... not at all. If anything, we have to pry weight from our bodies like those annoying price stickers stuck onto items that we are trying to wrap as holiday presents. You know the kind that you lose fingernails scraping off, using everything from a crowbar to boiling water to lighter fluid? THAT, my friends, is sort of like what it's like prying those extra pounds clinging to our chubby bodies. And THEN comes the really hard part .... keeping that weight off ... which is much like trying to shove gummi worms through a keyhole in a doorknob.

Of course, in polite society, it is usually best to just smile and be gracious and say "Yes, I have lost weight" rather than embarking on a 10 minute rant involving price stickers and gummi worms, lest people conclude that my calorie deficit has caused some sort of escape from sanity....even though that's probably true! And I will just politely continue the myth and misconception that either (a) hordes of marauding criminals are breaking into my home at night and filching my fat; or (b) I have become a lovable absent-minded housewife who keeps blithely misplacing spare pounds as I wander the grocery store aisles.

"Clean up on Aisle Six. Someone left a whole bunch of pounds in the Produce Department."

=^..^= MOLLY

Perhaps a good response to the polite question "Have you lost weight?" might be, "no, I'm giving it away, free. Would you like some of it?"

Early on I read in a post somewhere on this sight that "pounds were dropping off as I walked" and what a mental picture that was......step, plop, step, plop....careful, don't slip on those fat globs!!!

If we say we're "eliminating" pounds, will someone get the idea that we're simply passing them through our GI tract into the comode? (Well, not a far off idea, is it?)

Nope, I definitely don't want to lose weight if there's a chance I will find it again! (Been there, done that...too many times already!)

I say, let's VOID the excess pounds!!

Original Post by krismasself:

I say, let's VOID the excess pounds!!

AMEN and AMEN!

=^..^= MOLLY

Oh, man, Molly, your gummy worm and price sticker rant made me laugh!  After I lost 30 lbs, I had a lady at my job tell me she was "finding" all the weight that I had lost, because she had been gaining.  Your comments reminded me of this!  Don't we all wish that losing weight was as easy as losing our car keys!

RAVE: MY WONDERFUL DH MADE ME LUNCH!

My wonderful DH made me a fantastic, over-the-top, extra special, 400-calorie lunch today!!! He was SO proud of himself (and rightly so!) and had everything all measured out and written down so I could log my calories, too! (Is he a sweetheart, or what?) He made 4 servings of garlic-parmesan broccoli, a toasted Thomas' light multigrain english muffin, and caviar in hardboiled egg whites with radish garnish and a cherry tomato salad! He finished it off with a light dusting of parsley and lemon pepper! (OK, can you tell we watch all those Food Network cooking competition shows? and Top Chef?)

one toasted Thomas' light multigrain english muffin with ICBINB spray (100 calories)

4 servings of fresh broccoli, with garlic powder and a light dusting of parmesan (103 calories)

one cup of cherry tomatoes with no-calorie vinaigrette (31 calories)

a few radishes, sliced thinly, with lemon juice, as a garnish (we're not counting those!)

six hard-boiled egg whites, halved (103 calories)

4 tablespoons of caviar (from Cost Plus) (60 calories)

TOTAL CALORIES: 397

VEGGIE SERVINGS: FIVE (plus the radishes!)

(He even photographed it for me!)

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/Harvie _Ruth/GRAPHICS%20AND%20SCENERY/DIETING/CAVIAR 001.jpg

=^..^= MOLLY

Molly, that lunch looks fabulous!  Your DH must be like mine - presentation means a lot to him. 

Sometimes I feel badly for just flinging the food on the plate, but then again...... (dream sequence - remembering food being slapped on plates again and again and again) ... I have prepared the meals for us approximately 260 times a year - just counting dinner 5x per week, 50 weeks per year - for 25 years.  That makes a grand total of 6250 dinners!  Let's not forget breakfasts and lunches now and again!  And he's made about 15 meals all by himself.  Maybe I don't feel all that bad after all!

Seriously, he's trying to learn to cook and I love him for it.  And his plating skills are way better than mine. He also loves to watch Top Chef with me. 

I think Molly's hubby wins the CC award for "Most Supportive Dieter's DH".  My bf certainly doesn't make it any easier for me.  I wish he was like your husband!

My DH is a good cook too...but his menus are decidedly carb and fat calorie laden! Old fashioned stick to your ribs (or in my case, backside!) kinds of food! Still, it's the thought that counts, and we all enjoy "comfort" foods now and then.

Rant time: Planning a wedding menu and ordering the cake!! Yikes!!

Over the weekend we had B'day cake ordered from the bakery we thought we'd get our wedding cake from. YUK!!! More than half that cake went into the trash, as not a single family member at the dinner party asked for seconds. So now, DH goes out and brings home samples for another bakery....5 different samples!! How in the world does one taste test these things without consuming excess calories??!?

 And this week I need to firm up our menu with the luncheon caterer...another gourmet TV watcher, who prides herself on elegant fare! Ever try to convice a caterer to go low-fat, low-cal?????

Wow that's a GORGEOUS lunch, Molly! I may have to print that picture! How were the caviar egg white boats?  I LOVE caviar! I may make some of those for our Christmas eve feast.

My DH has been making more meals recently as I have class at 6 PM twice a week. It's wonderful but he can't quite resist frying the meat! I have a feeling he doesn't really like the way I saute  things(just 0 cal spray and a little liquid) but he's never said anything. Of course I didn't say anything disapproving the other night when he cooked the boneless skinless chicken breasts in 1/2 and inch of oil! :(  He does offer two vegetables and salad with most of the meals instead of something starchy so I guess we've made progress. He's lost 10 pounds plus since we were married a year and a half ago and I think he's starting to get enthused about it. He ordered salads and other intelligent food while we were away last weekend. Now if I could just get him to give up the frying pan...

ROFL. I think the Food Network must be a plot by overworked housewifes! Prior to the Food Network, my culinary skills were limited to a limited mastery of the grill, and breakfast (I learned at Shoney's Big Boy when I was a teenager). As the one lady said, my total meals cooked in 29 years of marriage, other than a few hundred grill-outs, was maybe 200  breakfasts or so.

Since Food Network, I cook at least once per week and sometimes twice, and I cook real meals with spices and stuff. I think it must be a giant conspiracy! And I gotta tell you, I love Rachel and Giada and Sandra, but Paula Deen was my favorite, but I have had to go cold turkey on her show, she is NOT diet friendly!

Ooooh, Molly, your DH gets big points for presentation! Yowza!  You are indeed a lucky girl, to have someone who looks out for YOU looking out for yourself.  Support at home is wonderful, isn't it?

(Hey, does your hubby happen to look like Bobby Flay??  I'd be INSANE with jealousy.  He's SO dreamy!!)

stellajo - I love Bobby Flay too! My DH and I watch the Food Network ALL the time, and I call Bobby Flay my TV boyfriend. My DH thinks Alton Brown is the coolest person ever!

Another vote for Alton Brown here!  He's so geeky-cool.  On the other side of the spectrum, the Take Home Chef-guy has the best accent, and I would take him home from the grocery store any day of the week!  ;)

Original Post by chris1208:

Wow that's a GORGEOUS lunch, Molly! I may have to print that picture! How were the caviar egg white boats?  I LOVE caviar! I may make some of those for our Christmas eve feast.

The egg white boats were a FABULOUS choice ... and I love the radish sliver (marinated with lemon juice!) And what a great deal, calorie-wise!!! The radishes were a nice touch / a nice crunch. Then he sprinkled lemon pepper (just a little) and parsley flakes ... for some added interest and color.  And I thought that the red cherry tomatoes were pretty festive, too. If you mixed the red cherry tomatoes with green olives ... it would be VERY Christmasy!

I also think that you could make some nice low-calorie hors d'oeuvres putting a tomato relish/olive slice in egg boats, or even tuna salad (or crab salad) in egg boats. (And I've had hummus in eggs, too ... yum! yum!)  By avoiding crackers, I avoid a lot of carbs and fat ...leaving me more room for other food!

=^..^= MOLLY

Original Post by stellajo:

(Hey, does your hubby happen to look like Bobby Flay??  I'd be INSANE with jealousy.  He's SO dreamy!!)

OK, I must confess that I am a teensy bit biased. (Heck, make that a whole lot biased!) I think my wonderful DH Ron is CUTER and DREAMIER than Bobby Flay!

My wonderful DH ... http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/Harvie _Ruth/RON%20AND%20HARVIE/BusterandCats005.jpg

Here's another ... http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/Harvie _Ruth/RON%20AND%20HARVIE/MARCH15PART2001.jpg

=^..^= MOLLY

OK, my wonderful DH outdid himself, yet again.  He bought me a new bike today! (Details and a photo on my journal!) It's purple and lime green!

Wooo hoooO!

(We now return to our regularly scheduled rants.)

=^..^= MOLLY