OK, so maybe I was being a little too pie-in-sky

Well, I found something that I think it's safe to say is TERRIBLE. It was my lunch entree of Black Beans and Rice. Sounds harmless enough, but upon my first taste I immediately thought "this tastes like fish???" I checked the label and - sure enough - it contains dehydrated anchovy, sardines & tilapia. Now I realize that I can probably no longer separate the real from the imagined, but my second bite tasted exactly the way salmon eggs smell (the bait, not the delicacy). Suffice it to say that Roxy (my dog) didn't seem to mind, and I made myself a sandwich instead. The sandwich is good - I'm still eating it now...1 oz each of ham and turkey, mustard, lettuce, tomato & 1/4 avocado on a 100 calorie Orowheat Sandwich Roll. Unfortunately I have several more of those Black Beans & Rice cups in my cache...maybe I'll become more inured to it later in this saga, but for now that's going way to the back of the pantry.

The Nutrisystem Series - Weightloss the Lazy Girl's Way (Day 3 - Minus 2.5 lbs)

Yes, I really need to stop the daily weigh-in, but for now it gives me something to report back on. Yesterday was fine. I had NS cereal for breakfast, this potato-bud style - cheesy mashed potato thing for lunch, and then "Mushroom Gravy with Salbury Steak and Rice" for dinner, and a chocolate macadamia nut biscotti for dessert. The cereal is cereal - it's good. I actually liked the mashed potato thing, but it doesn't feel like a particularly healthy meal. The salsbury steak thing was basically airplane food from the 70s. It's no wonder it's called gravy with steak instead of steak with gravy because it kind of feels like soup with a meat patty in there. But it tasted fine. You can see that I'm really in a different place about this whole NS thing because so far there hasn't been anything that I actively hated. I'm not going to be hosting any parades for myself yet, but it's a start!

Nutrisystem (Day 2 Minus 0.5 lbs)

I know I shouldn't weigh myself every day. It's just plain stupid and a good way to get frustrated, but the scale was just sitting there on the floor silently drawing me nearer as I brushed my teeth like some magnetic force from deep inside the Earth's core.
Fortunately I can report at least a minor victory after day one. Here's my little recap:
Breakfast we had planned to take Paul's Granny out. We went to IHOP (I know - high brow!) and I ordered off of their IHOP for Me menu...Egg Beaters, turkey bacon, dry wheat toast and fruit. It was actually really good. Maybe more calories than I should normally do for breakfast (like 360 or something) but it was fine and satisfying and actually tasted good.
Lunch I skipped and just had an orange because breakfast was really brunch.
Dinner I ate the NS Chicken with Almonds, Rice & Vegetables, and I am both pleased and surprised to report...It was actually pretty good! This whole new-mindset thing is already working out for me.
Then I had NS Hot Chocolate for my "dessert" and that was it. Actually quite simple and not a big deal at all.
And at the risk of sounding even more pathetic, I will do a gratuitous plug for the NS website, which tracks all your calories for you. You just put in what you ate and it does the rest. I like it!

The Nutrisystem Series - Weightloss the Lazy Girl's Way (Day 1 - Minus 0 lbs)

Ok, so I stole a before and after photo from the internet to start off my series, but I figure I need something to motivate me.
Last summer I had this great idea that I would do Nutrisystem to lose these unwanted pounds that have been creeping their way onto my ass (and thighs, arms, waist, boobs, fingers, chin, earlobes, calves and knees - if I'm being honest) over the past several years. I was motivated for all of about 15 minutes when I suddenly realized...I hate this shit! It's horrible.
So the back story of this is that I've been a yoyo dieter for years. I gain 20, lose 30, gain 35, lose 8, gain 12, lose 24, gain 26...well, you get the picture. Anyway, I've done low carb, no carb, all carb, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, South Beach, Bob Greene...you name it! The long and the short of it (or maybe I should say the thin and the fat of it) is that I'm going to be 40 in a couple of months, and I'm a good 60 pounds over where I should/want to be...and I think I've finally hit a wall.
And like I said, my most recent foray into the multi-billion dollar industry of weight loss products was last summer's attempt to do Nutrisystem.
You get a discount (and free shipping, I think) if you get on this auto-delivery program. So, of course (always the economical one), I think I'm going to save money by getting on that auto program.
Now you can see where this is going, right? What this means is that now I have at least 2 months (probably more like 3) of paid-for, boxed-up, freeze-dried food taking up space in my pantry and my basement.
I have a lot of "reasons" (that's code for excuses, if you didn't know) for not doing it last summer...we went to Australia for 3 weeks (yes, this could have been a hiatus and not the ultimate demise, I know that!), my kids were home all the time, we had a crazy travel schedule, blah blah blah...but the truth is that I really didn't enjoy the food and I wasn't in a mental place to suck it up and do it anyway!
ENJOY the food? you ask...
Let's face it, I don't care how you try to package it, weight loss is not about "enjoying" the food. "Enjoying the food" is what got me to this rotund place to begin with.
So with 40 out there pointing it's finger at me like Uncle Sam in those Army recruitment posters from the WWII, I have come to Jesus, so to speak...Nutrisystem - you are ON!
I haven't even weighed myself yet, and to be honest I think I'm too much of a coward to actually post the number here after I do, so at least for now, I'll be doing this as a "day ___ minus ___ lbs." Maybe someday I'll get the courage to admit out loud where I am, but I'm taking this one step at a time.
Wish me luck!!