Dieting and New Clothes

I haven't talked about my diet much on this blog yet, but here goes. I am coming to the end of my diet. I have basically been on a liquid diet for almost six months. Yes, a liquid diet. I have also been under the care of a doctor with weekly check-ins and classes to help teach me better eating habits and behaviors. It has been hard, but 80 pounds later (give or take a few), it was so worth it.

I have lost lots of inches. I went from a size 18 last summer, to a size 10/12 at present. I've had three sizes of pants literally fall off of me. I have literally worked my ass off, excuse the pun. Up until my surgery I was taking Pilates and zumba as well as lifting weights and spending time on the elliptical. Not everyday, but I was hitting the gym four days a week. Expending that much energy is not easy on 600 to 800 calories a day. The hard part is now. Now I'm adapting back to a regular diet.

Eating food again after six months is very hard. Eating healthy is even harder. I won't say I am perfect. No way, no how. Pam has this need to feed us at rehearsals, so I've had rice, mashed potatoes, pretzels and lots of sangria over at the Marks' house. I've had a few margaritas the last two months and even some chocolate. Mostly I've had lots of protein, carrots, salads w/ vinegar dressing, cucumbers and other veggies. I'm still eating my shakes in the morning and I'm taking lots of vitamins. I'm supposed to add a 100 calories to my diet each week until I'm back to a normal calorie intake. So more and more food each week. I'm at about 1,200 calories now. I will try to stay at until 1,500 a day until after the move because of my other problem...

The thing is I can't do much more than walk for the next month or so. I have to take it easy. Only the elliptical is ok if I take it slow. It is driving me crazy. I guess that is why I started this blog. I need to do something besides watch TV. I have gained back two pounds the last two weeks. This is normal for this time in my diet.  I did go get my resting metabolic rate tested yesterday. It seems I can burn 1,900 calories a day without exercise. With exercise, I can add another 600 calories a day. Since the dietitian originally told we to keep it at 1,600 calories to maintain, I was very excited at the results. Woohoo. I also told the dietitian yesterday that I was not giving up alcohol. After five months without alcohol, I'm glad to finally be able to have a glass of wine with dinner. I have never drank much, but I do like it on occasion.

I'm a little long winded so my next entry will talk about my wardrobe problem. How to replace everything on a budget.

Tonight I leave you with a "To be continued..."