An Open Letter to Grocery Store Clerks

Dear Grocery Store Clerks,



I've never done your job before but I have been your customer for years so I think that gives me a unique perspective from which to make suggestions on how you should do your job. What I need you to do is quite simple: 1) Greet me politely; 2) Work efficiently; and 3) Thank me.



What I do NOT need you to do is provide any sort of commentary regarding my purchases. What I am buying and the purpose for which I am buying it is NUNYA DAMN BIDNESS!!! I do not wish to be congratulated if my cart is full of produce and fat free yogurt. And I do not need to know if you think the chocolate cake I am buying "looks really good." And I ESPECIALLY do not need to hear any jokes from you should I be buying lettuce and ice cream and nothing else.



I am sure it is difficult to not pass judgment on the purchases of your customers, particularly the fat ones. But might I suggest you keep your thoughts to your own damn self?



Thank you,

SheddingMyFatSuit

What's Cooking? - Black Bean Salad

Are you sick of turkey and sick of cooking in general? Here's a tasty dish I created myself that contains no turkey and required no cooking at all....well, except for nuking my Steamfresh brown rice (the greatest invention known to man).

I had been buying a black bean salad at Whole Foods and decided it didn't look all that complicated so I decided to try to replicate it at home. I adore the combination of black beans and corn. I literally just threw this together by eye, so I don't have measurements:

• Canned black beans, drained and rinsed


• Frozen corn


• Chopped bell pepper - red, yellow, and green


• Chopped onions


• One chopped jalepeno (seeded)


• Garlic powder


• Fresh cilanto


• Juice of one lime

I served it with a side of brown rice and, my friends, this was delicious. Light, easy, and healthy. Next time I will probably add an extra jalepeno, chopped tomatoes, and maybe red onions instead of white.

It was best served the second day after the flavors had time to meld in the refrigerator. Yummo!

Impromtu Thanksgiving Post

I wasn't going to post today but after reading some other blogs and seeing how many of you are doing something athletic this morning before you begin your festivities, let me just say here and now, "As God is my witness I am doing a freakin' Turkey Trot next year." Because lying in bed reading the accomplishments of others doesn't cut it for me. My life can be different next year. It is up to me.

Group Support: Sometimes It's Twisted

I think most will agree that having the support of like minds is an immeasureable asset to people trying to lose weight. For me, I think it also has the danger of messing with your head or putting undue pressure on you.

Case in point:

Yesterday I had to go to the DPS office to renew my driver's license. While waiting in line I realized I was behind my former Weight Watchers leader. So I said hello and we started chatting about the fact it was both our birthdays, Thanksgiving was coming, etc. Then, out of nowhere, she starts telling me how sometimes it can be embarrassing to run into her WW members outside of the meeting. She said the day before she had been eating dinner at IHOP and was nervous someone would see her because "how can you be 'good' at IHOP?" I just laughed and said, "I guess you do the best you can and maybe leave some on the plate." Then she started justifying what she had eaten at IHOP. "I got the pot roast but told them to leave the gravy off. It was really dry. And I had it with broccoli and corn." I could not give a rip what she ate at IHOP and yet here she was justifying it to me as though I had caught her red-handed with her face in a short stack drenched in syrup.

You know, this is one of the things I hate about "group dieting". The guilt. I didn't see her eating at IHOP but clearly she felt so guilty about it she had to justify it to me. A day later. It was still bugging her a day later. I wasn't even there! I haven't been to her meetings in weeks. It strikes me as a bit twisted.

What I know is I don't want to trade my current set of twisted food behaviors for a different set of twisted behaviors. I just want to have a healthy mindset surrounding food. I don't want to feel guilty one way or the other. I just want to learn to eat healthy most of the time and realize that into every life a little IHOP will creep and to not freak out about it when it does. Or try to justify it to near total strangers at the driver's license office.

So sometimes, I think it's better to keep your weightloss efforts to yourself. Or at least be selective as to who you let into your inner weightloss circle.

30-10

That's how old I am today. Because I can't quite bring myself to say I am

Egads.

Thanksgiving: Learning From Last Year's Mistakes

You know, this blogging thing comes in handy after you've done it for awhile. I was just sitting here making my grocery list for Thanksgiving and trying to plan how I was going to survive it without pigging out. Then I wondered, "How did I do last year?" (Because my memory sucks!)

So I pulled up my Thanksgiving post from last year and while it sounds like I didn't do so hot at keeping it under control that day, I also posted an idea for how to do better next year, which is now this year. I love the idea and I think it will help me this year. And to think...I didn't even remember posting this!

Do you guys ever go back and read your old posts? Ever found anything that helped you that you had forgotten about? I'm thinking maybe I should re-read my old posts more often!

Giveaway: PriorFatGirl E-Cookbook 2009

If you haven't heard, Jen at A Prior Fat Girl has compiled a collection of healthy recipes and is sharing them in an E-Cookbook. If you follow Jen, you know she posts some pretty yummy-looking food AND she's a very successful loser. If you don't follow Jen, you should!

I love getting new ideas and recipes so I ordered 2 copies - one for me and one to give away. In order to be eligible for the giveaway, please share a healthy recipe on your blog. Leave me a comment letting me know you have done so. The winner will be chosen randomly and I will post links to all participant recipe postings so we can all benefit from some new and tasty ideas! The E-Cookbook will be emailed to the winner by Jen so you will need to provide your email address.

Deadline for entry is Saturday, November 28.

What's Cooking? Butternut Squash Soup

I'm finally getting around to posting some of the creations I came up with after buying various winter squash at Whole Foods.

For the butternut squash I decided to do a soup. I got this recipe from Food Network. Yeah, it has heavy cream in it, but not much considering the number of servings it makes.

I was suprised I liked it as well as I did. Many times squash is just too squashy-tasting to appeal to me so I was a bit afraid of a soup made nearly entirely from squash. I was pleasantly suprised to find that I liked it alot. If I made it again, I would probably try it with a little heat by adding a shot or two of tabasco. Might go nicely with the sweetness from the honey.

That said, it's unlikely I will actually make this again unless I find a good trick to getting the squash out of the skin. It took me forever because the darn thing was so hot. But I was afraid if I let it cool it would be hard to scoop out of the skins. Yes, Alton Brown says this recipe was easy, but for the squash newby...not so much!

Poll Results: Apparently I Am Vain

My last poll question asked what motivates you more to lose weight. Health? Or vanity?

Of the 11 people who voted, 9 voted for health. I was one of the 2 who voted for vanity. Oops. Apparently I am vain.

If I can extrapolate the results of my tiny poll over the population of overweight people in general (which I am sure would make my statistics professor cringe), then that means that 82% of you have your priorities right. The rest of us...well....maybe not.

So what is my deal? (And the deal with the other person who voted with me?) For me I think my putting health in the backseat behind vanity is because my health hasn't been affected directly by my weight (Yet!). Even though I turn 40 this month and am almost 180 pound overweight, my blood pressure is good (122/75 when I had it taken last week), cholesterol is fine, no blood sugar problems. So even though I know I am headed down the path of destruction staying at this weight and that eventually it WILL take a toll on my health, I have not seen the tangible health consequences yet. I have never been told by a doctor to lose weight. Although that is probably more a sign of neglect on their part than it is good health on my part. In any case, it is hard for me to be motivated by health reasons.

On the other hand, I have had direct experience with the negative consequences to my vanity. I have suffered the embarrassment of having my friends and co-workers watch me gain so much weight over the course of just a couple of years, I don't look good in anything I wear assuming I can even find something to wear. I can't even by shoes at a regular store anymore because my feet have gotten too wide. I have been embarrassed by my profuse sweating at the slightest exhertion (althought I guess that's probably a sign of poor health, isn't it?) And because I have these direct experiences, they motivate me more.

What about you? How have your personal experiences with your health or your vanity affected your motivation to lose?

Weigh in: 1.2 lost, 176.2 to go

Still moving in the right direction on the scale. My focus continues to be getting my food in line and tracking everything on Weight Watchers online. Exercise continues to be walks around the block with my dog and continued unpacking. Yes, it's taking me a long time. It's really hard work on me at this weight so I have to do alot of stopping and resting my back. Doing that all the time really slows your progress. But it's exercise for me so I'll just keep plugging away at it.

I'm a pound away from my second 5 pound goal. That means I will have earned two charms for the charm bracelet I am rewarding myself with. I posted about it somewhere and for the life of me I can't find it to link to, but I bought myself an empty charm bracelet and plan to fill it with a new charm for every 5 pounds I lose.

Another busy week coming up. Something big is afoot at work and I don't know what it is yet. I just know I am headed in to manager's meeting this afternoon. Yes, on a Sunday. And, no, this has never happened before. Something's cooking, that is for sure.

[And can we just ignore the fact that I am in dire need of a pedicure and that I caughty my belly in this picture? K? Thanks. :)]