This is the winter of my discontent. Well discontent with my weight at least. It seems I’ve gotten rather….well fluffy as of late. I’m still healthy as far as blood work, blood pressure etc… but I feel it’s time to lose a bit. Between writing two food blogs and working at a job that requires me to sit most of the time it’s no mystery as to how I’ve gained some weight over the past two years. So over the past couple months I’ve started taking several subtle steps to changing how I eat that I am going to go over below. Also I have gotten myself a gym membership that is going to be seeing some use in addition to my mountain bike.
So when I started to look at my weight I decided to tweak how I eat because I knew I wouldn’t stick with any major changes. My friend over at Johnny sized has the willpower to go veggie but I know I don’t. What can I say I am a carnivore through and through, if we ever meet ask me about my theory that the cuter an animal is the tastier it is (have you ever seen the movie Babe?). Looking at what I enjoy I noticed something I already knew I love cheese. You name it I will throw cheese on it, eat cheese with it, you get the idea. The first step then was an easy one. Stop putting cheese on things that don’t come with it. When making dishes like ravioli, and stuffed shells there’s enough cheese inside I don’t need to pile more on top and bump up that calorie and sodium level.

Another thing I noticed is that I do a lot of frying, and sautéing. My normal course of action would be to drop a pad of butter into the pan and away we go. Now I’ve made the switch to a small amount of olive oil for all of my frying. If I still have the craving for that flavor of butter, like when frying up some onions or pierogies, I wait until the end and add a ¼ of what I would have originally and I still get that nice glossy sheen and buttery taste. Previously a stick of butter in my home would last only about a week and a half. Now it will last four weeks or more. I’ve taken to freezing the other sticks in the box because they would be hitting the expiration before I use them.
My last tidbit here is regarding drinks. I’ve cut out most soda with the exception of use in an evening cocktail. I first made the switch to iced tea and now I am going toward making tea and adding the ice and honey myself to get rid of all the added sugar. Using tea bags I get a wider variety of flavors, save money and use less sugar. A travel mug or water bottle makes it just as portable. If you are working to be environmentally friendly then stopping the use of all those plastic bottles must really appeal to you.
As you can see there are no drastic changes here and yet I’ve managed to cutout a significant amount of sodium, fat, and calories from my diet. I think the addition of some go hard workouts is really going to make a difference in my weight. To add some motivation to the mix I’ve made multiple bets. Frankly I lose and I am broke so I better get on this. Want public declaration of weight from the fat guy? Well I am just on this side of 250 depending on the time of day so we will say I am 250. As we go and continue cooking on here I will update that and maybe throw in some tips I find as I go to keep eating better without changing what I eat.

Cupcakes from the Warm Sugar cupcakery in Hellertown