The "D" word

I have a confession. I am 30 years old and up until last week I have NEVER BEEN ON A DIET. Don't be too impressed. Up into my early 20's I weighed almost nothing (thanks Celiac Disease!) but I was also dying a slow death. After diagnosis I put on 25ish pounds and finally looked healthy.Then for the last almost 6 years I have been pregnant or nursing. Just when I would think about trying to lose the baby weight, I would get knocked up again.

The baby making factory is now an entertainment only facility. My youngest is a year old so I have to claim the last few pounds of "baby weight" as just plain fat. In February I am headed to New York with Matt for work and then in March I am going to Miami. I want Matt to feel proud to have me on his arm, I want to look good in clothes and feel confident. It was time to bite the bullet.

When I got home from Las Vegas I decide to really, actually diet. You know, the kind where you actually track what you eat and have a plan. I would say exercise, but I don't do that. I down loaded the app "My Fitness Tracker" and have really liked it. I put in my starting weight (168) and the weight goal (155) my activity level, my height, my age and other important info.

Each day I enter what I have eaten. It may not be one hundred percent accurate because I am eating gluten free, but it is close. If I accidental exercise (like shoveling snow the other morning) I enter that too. It tracks my nutrition information so the focus can be on good health instead of just being skinny.

These are my observations about dieting so far:

-I am more likely to make me myself something tasty when I know I have only x amount of calories per day instead of eating whatever happens to be left on the girls plates or on the counter.

-Cutting out desserts and sweets will never happens so I might as well plan on eating them and work the rest of my meals around that.

-My nutrition numbers look much better when I load up on fruit and veggies and it keeps my calories down.

-Matt is doing the diet too. It is more fun to do with someone else. We encourage each other and it is easy to make low calorie meals when i know he wants them that way too

My jeans are a little looser and I have lost about 5 pounds. So far watching what I eat isn't too painful and I don't really mind doing it. If I am down to my pre-baby weight by NYC I will be thrilled!