The Last Weekend

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I had a little escape from the boys this weekend as I travelled back East to my sister Natasha's wedding. Natasha lives with my dad and his wife, Liz, in rural Virginia. They're rural enough that they only have dial-up acccess, which is way too slow for impatient me.

Natasha and Jay had a beautiful wedding, and her daughter Julia was absolutely adorable. It was wonderful to see family and old friends. Although the run-up to the wedding was extremely difficult for the family, the wedding itself was spectacular.

The wedding weekend was not friendly to my waistline, however. My first meal in Virginia was at a barbeque restaurant. I'd forgotten how they eat in restaurants in the south. Every appetizer was deep-fried, and every salad was topped with fried something - onions, chicken, shrimp, cauliflower. Definitely not what I'm used to seeing on California menus. I went for the BBQ pork sandwich and mashed potatoes. Yum!

My dad always lays in a supply of delicious pastries that serve as breakfast, and we ate wedding food and cake for a couple of meals. We polished off the weekend with a terrific meal of grilled filet, roasted potatoes and green beans with hollandaise. It was all so good that I just kept eating. Who knew that hollandaise was so good on potatoes? And beef, and green beans. The food was fantastic, but I cannot eat like that long term. Packing all those calories onto my already-plump frame did not advance my weight-loss goals.

So I'm back in California, and back on a reasonable eating plan. After unsuccessfully messing around with Weight Watchers for the past year, I'm trying the South Beach Diet. I have really mixed feelings about this one. I know it has worked for my family - my mom lost 30 pounds on it, and kept it off, and my sister-in-law and brother swear by it. That's probably why I've resisted it so - because it's worked so well for them. That and I can't really imagine a happy life without pasta. Or bread or fruit. Weight Watchers has worked for me in the past, but I just don't have the willingness to count and stay withing points for more than a day. So I've decided I can do anything for 2 weeks, even survive without fruit and pasta. I'll get it back, they promise.

I read the New South Beach book on the plane back from Virginia, and I've been on Phase 1 for 12 hours so far. Now I have my first real challenge: preparing dinner for my family, and making it one that we will all enjoy. Given that neither boy is very passionate about veggies, this will be quite interesting. It could be good, in that they will be exposed to a ton of veggies on a daily basis. But it could also result in disappointing meals for all of us. We'll see.

Tonight, I'm trying burgers (no bun or ketchup for me), grilled veggies, and a tossed salad. I also have BBQ chips and red grapes for the boys, both of which I will resist. I have apples that I could cut up for the boys, but I am craving an apple so badly that I don't think I could resist it. Wish me luck!