Short Shorts Aren't For Everyone. Seriously.

Holy crap, they know how to eat in the South.  Or, more importantly, Texas.  Yes, again, with the hiatus on my posts, but mostly because I was out of town. I had the grandeur plan to write on the way down on Thursday night about the closing of my Cleanse, but Alaska gets me everytime with the rental of those movie players. Everytime.  Boo!  So, let's first start with the summary of my cleanse. 

Hard. Really hard. But, as I said before, we did it.  Down nearly 12 pounds and lots of inches.  I am a regular lift & grunt gal (ha!) and am actually starting to see some definition again. Yeah!  But, not out of the woods yet. I have so much work to do.  Sadly, a good portion of the work to be done is lower body. Yep, folks, leg lift 2X per week as well as a bunch of sprints added in for good measure. Barf. Literally. Work "left" to do however, is not how I am going to look at this.  I am changing the way I live and eat. For good this time.  I am sick and tired of having to kill myself to lose the weight again and again -- you hear me?  Can I get a HELL yeah???  All in all, the cleanse was not too bad and I have now "reminded" myself how one should take care of their body.  Eat well, hydrate.  Exercise. It's really not that tough.  It does take time and dedication, however, and sometimes the choice to exercise early or late in the day might mean missing out on extra zzzz, which is also very important. Ah, voy.

So, now what?  I had a focus before leaving for Texas, but now I really have focus.  I mean REALLY.  I don't know if it was me being overly aware (and conservative) as I put the first few morsels in my mouth on that Thursday, but there is an over abundance of really heavy folks in Texas.  Not only adults, children - so sad.  Stuffing chips, queso, fried fast food and flavored wet-kins into their little mouths just as fast as they could.  But, the icing on my focus cake? (Pardon me, going to get blunt here)  My first real treat to myself came on Mom's Day when I craved pancakes so bad, I could actually smell them.  Noone was cooking them  - the smell was just permeating in my mind so aggressively, it felt like an actuality.  I had to have them, and Jim's was to be the place.  You know this place - an IHOP/Denny's sort of greasy spoon where the locals come to have biscuits and gravy.  It took only one glance at the 14 year old shoveling in the goods so fast they couldn't keep her glass full of what looked like Coke.  It wasn't until she got up from the table with the shortest shorts I have ever seen that my mind really went South. And, no, she shouldn't have been wearing them. It was like her skin was trying to escape the tight get-up that was her Sunday best to have breakfast with her mom.  So sad. But, made me think twice about eating the three pancakes on my plate. So, I didn't.  Things I learned eating (and drinking in Texas):

1. don't try and order anything whole wheat - they have NO idea what whole wheat is -- at least at restaurants. 
2. They have self-serve bars for chips. Yep, self serve.  You probably get a free t-shirt for 5 baskets eaten.
3. BBQ must be accompanied by many slices of the whitest bread you've ever seen for "sopping." Gagalicious.
4. If you want to order something healthy at Sonic Drive-in, the only two things they have are apple slices and bananas. In fact, the server questioned  - "who comes to Sonic for healthy?" Doh. Guess she was right to call me out.
5. The oatmeal at Chikfila is OUT OF THIS WORLD. Order it - you will be glad you did. 
6. Torchy's street tacos.  Awesome goodness - chicken fajita booyah.  Again, too many chips!!

As much as I complain, sincerely appreciate Carla Robertson joining me daily for a workout. Without the "food escape" there would be too, too much temptation to be bad.  (The highlight of these excursions was a Zumba class taught by the Colombian version of Richard Simmons.) In fact, I did try "custard". No, not the jelly like yogurt crap, the ice cream. It was to die for.  My tummy was pissed I ate it. Not again.

So, back to what next?  I am now commencing on what I call the "Clone" diet.  The clean Zone. 
What the heck is that?  It is a clean diet of non-processed junk, following a strict "block" set of the Zone.

Remember my mention about counting cals, but not actually watching what comprised those cals?  Well, this will allow me to count blocks of protein, fats and carbs based on my weight & exercise level.  This will control my cravings and ensure I am fueling properly.  BTW, that is Tosca Reno.  She, at age 40, was tired of being heavy, and went onto develop and follow the eat clean diet and win many a fitness competitions. Today, at 52, she is in amazing shape.  My goal: Git R Done.

So, I invite you to follow my journey about food, weight loss and humor through the continued reading of my blog.  I will post recipes. I will be hard on myself.  I will entertain, I promise. 

Until l8tr/ HK