Addressing the Waistline

My friend, Melissa, is one of the bravest people I know. I don't get to talk to her often, we live a few time zones apart, combined with me being an early bird and her an insomniac. But we burned some serious rollover minutes yesterday!

We were talking about how frustrating weight loss can be. And, after I got off the phone with her (and played with my attention-deprived son for an hour), I started rereading her blog (http://www.themacmommy.com/). Melissa, I am in awe that you're willing to put your weight, and struggles with it, out there for all to see! YGG!

So, in a show of sisterly solidarity, here goes....

This morning I weighed in at 210.4.

That's such a hard number to look at. This time last year, I had lost 30lbs and was hanging around 202ish. While I'm proud of myself for not regaining that much (I've been doing this Oprah yo-yo thing my whole life), I can't seem to make the weight drop.

Since the start of the new year, I've been more-or-less following the Eat Clean diet (http://www.eatcleandiet.com/). This diet is always expensive and often boring. Lean meats are the key, along with unrefined carbs and lots of veggies, salt-free, of course. Mmmm, spelt pasta. All the things this 3rd-generation-removed Amish girl ISN'T used to! Also, you eat around 300 calories worth of clean food every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, which worked really well controlling my unstable blood sugar.

Then, about 6 weeks ago, I started working out with a friend of mine, a certified personal trainer. And he started to debunk the Eating Clean "myth". Not the types of foods, but the amounts. According to Ryan, I should be eating 2500 cals/day, not the 1800ish I've been doing according to my fitday software (http://www.fitday.com/). Unfortunately, when I do it his way, I GAIN WEIGHT! (Don't take this personally, Ryan. You know I luv ya!)

And lo, here I be, hanging out in limbo. But with your help, gentle reader, the scale will start to reflect something more promising than the last few months. Please give me some words if inspiration, that I may use them to season my plain little chicken breast instead of the salt, pepper, butter, cheese, bacon fat, BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, etc. that I'm missing!