Two Days in

weight 211.8 - nice start!

Old Fashioned Meatloaf, Sweet Potatoes, Whole Green Beans

When I read the outside of the package of this meal I was really excited. I like meatloaf and it's something I almost never fix myself. I looked forward to this meal for two days. I was rather shocked and dissapointed when I actually opened the package. Again - this is just a personal food foible of mine but geeze - I don't know if they could have stuffed more onions into this thing. In fact it would have been more aptly named 'onionloaf'. luckily the chunks-o-onion were large enough that I was able to pick them out - but there were so many!! there wasn't much left of the meal when I was done. Still what was left was really good!

The sweet potatoes were yummmy yummy yummy - and the green beans nice and crispy. So while the meal hadn't been all I expected it was still good. I may even have it again.

Wahoo Fish Burger on a Multi-Grain Roll with Tartar Sauce, V8 Juice, Apple

This meal was the one I was most nervious about when I got this 'bag' of food. Fish is one of those things that can be TERRIBLE when not done right. I should of known that these guys do it right. The most relieving part of this meal was that the Tartar Sauce cam in it's own container - I was afraid it was going to come already smeared on the fish and Tartar Sauce is just one thing I can't choke my way through. So - the fish patty was really good. Nice mild tasting fish. The Roll was a little dry - but then I ate it dry with no added sauces. I did note that the roll was not 'pre-cut' given I was eating this at work it made it difficult to make it a 'burger' but the fish and roll stood up on their own so it still made for a nice meal.

this was the first time I had V8 juice. I was pleasantly surprised there. Not being a fan of most tomatoe products I was happy to find that this went down nicely. The apple was perfect. Chrisp and juicy. all and all a perfect lunch. I almost didn't feel bad passing on burgers with the rest of the office.

Plain Bagel, Cream Cheese, Apple Juice

Well in the past few days I've learned quite a lesson. Breakfast doesn't need to be HUGE. I really thought that today's breakfast was going to leave me hungry and unsatisfied. NOPE. The bagel smeared with Cream Cheese was enough. Good Bagel. Pleanty of Cream Cheese (more then I needed) and a little apple juice to top it all off. YUM!

Homemade Cinnamon Power Bar, Orange Juice

My first reaction to this was - is this it? The "power bar" looked like a cross between a scone and a coffee cake. But hey - I was giving this an honest try so I sat down to eat my 'breakfast'. I was pleasantly surprised. (again). That power bar was honestly very filling and tasted great. OJ was good too.

This is staying in the rotation for sure

Broccoli & Cheddar Soup, Soft Prtzel with Mustard

This is diet food?!

Wow! this was so good - so cheesey - with big chunks of broccoli that were the perfect balance of not too mushy not too crispy. The pretzel was good on it's own, but even better when soaked in the last dregs of the cheese soup. Not only was I full at the end of this meal but mentally satisfied as well. Not only will this lunch stay on my menu plan, but I'll probably ask for it to sub for other lunches I don't enjoy as much.

Chicken Fajita, Side of Refried Beans, Baby Carrots, Salsa Cup

Ohhh where to start? I don't know about most people but this isn't what I envision when I think of a fajita. Yes, there was a tortilla, and yes there was chicken, but, that's where the similarites to a fajita ended. When I first pulled back the tortilla covering I thought to myself, hmmm this looks like an inside out enchalada. Because the chicken was mixed in with some sort of red sause. If only it were true. Granted, I'm not a fan of red sauses in general. (Yes yes I'm a picky eater.) But I can usually tolerate most without it ruining my meal. This time though... rather then being some kind of spicy mexican flavored tomatoe sause what it tasted like was cheep, overly sweet pizza sause. It was icky! I'm sorry but the sause they include in lunchables was better then this. On the plus side though... the beans were really good. Spicy and not too watery. The carrots were good too - not overly cooked, reheated easily and were flavorful. So I'm not going to give up on this meal just yet. What I'm going to do is, next time I'll pull the chicken 'mix' out of the tortilla (the tortilla got gross in the microwave) add the beans to it, then put it back into tortilla and try it that way.

at least it was filling

Ravioletti Pasta Salad, Everything Flat Bread

Well two meals in a row, my personal preferences rears it's ugly head :)

I don't like mayo, 'white' dressing or things that taste like them. So my first bite of this salad was with a bit of trepidation. I have to say I was surprised. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Given that the description states that this is a pesto dressing, I was dissapointed to find it wasn't all that.. pesto-ey. But it wasn't as mayo-ey as it could have been. I didn't savor every bite, but I didn't choke it down either. The ravioletti was really good. The noodle part was the right level of aldente. The veggies were nice a crisp. There was a lot of bell pepper (another 'dislike' of mine) but they were big pieces easy enough to pick out. The flat bread... soooo yummy!! a little bit of sesame crispy goodness.

Again, this is a meal that I'll probably leave on the menu for one more try. Sometimes things that I don't 'love' the first time I have them grow on me after a bit. And I know for sure that if you were someone who didn't have my particular food 'hangups' you would have loved this lunch.

Cranapple Muffin, CranOrange Cream Cheese, Orange

I was a little worried about this, my first breakfast. I'm not a big fan of cooked fruit so a muffin with not only cranberries but apples in it kind of set me back.

As I expected the cooked bits took a little mental fortitude for me to get over. It's mearly a texture thing for me - I just don't like the way cooked apples 'feel'. But I promised myself that for this first month I would try the food as prepared and 'get over it'.

I can honestly say, though, that my personal squeemishness aside, this was a really really good muffin. It was super moist, and amazingly enough filling! Not to mention it taisted really good too. I'm normally not a huge fan of cream cheese either but the canorange flavoring in this one made it outstanding and it was a perfect compliment to the muffin. There was way more then I needed too. The biggest surprise was the orange. I don't know how diet to go did it, but that was the best orange I've had in years! juicy and sweet. It reminded me why I used to like eating oranges.

Overall I'm on the fence about this meal. It was so delicious that I'll probably just work through my 'no cooked fruit' thing and just give it another go.

Stir Fry Chicken, Oriental Veggies, Brown Rice

First Dinner on the plan.

It looked good. The chicken put me back a little because it looked like it was all dark meat but there was pleanty of it. But if it was dark meat it didn't have the 'fatty' flavor that I normally associate with it (and don't like). it was also in 'big' chunks but the broke up easily while cooking. The rice was a little tough straight out of the container but once heated was perfect, not too tough not too gummy. The veggies looked good. Whole pices of snow pease and baby corn ears. They cooked up nice too.

To cook this I dumped the entire container in a pan and 'stir fried' it to heat it up. It worked really well. This made a nice big 'bowl' for dinner and I was certainly satisfied when I finished it. This is certainly a meal I could stand to eat once a month and I suspect will stay on my menu for a long time to come.

Only negative was that there were quite a few mushrooms in the mix, but they were big and easy to pick out. The 'no mushroom' thing is mearly a personal preference.

The First Day of the Rest of my Life

I've said this before, but this time it's different. Ok, I know I've said before 'this time is different' too. *SIGH* I'm getting depressed already (not really).

So there are a few things here that are REALLY different. 1 - I turned 39 a few weeks ago. That means that on Jan 4th, 2009 I'll be 40. Like many people, I would like to start the second half of my life in the BEST shape of my life.

The goal? 130 lbs

Secondly: Last night I picked up my first 'bag' of food. from Diet to Go. I'm on the three meal a day 7 day a week program; 1200 calories a day. On the 1200 calories program it allows me to put a little variety in my meals because I should be eating between 1200 and 1400 calories - so that leaves me 200 calories that I can eat something of my own choosing. It also allows me to 'save-up' some calories each day so I can have a 'splurge meal' once a week. The part of all is that I don't have to spend any time planning or prepping meals. I've no excuses to not eat a nutritious, low calorie, low fat meal. So far, my experiance with Diets to Go has been great. It was easy, the phone support/customer service has been excellent, and the two meals I've eaten (cause I had the first one last night) were fantastic!

I know there will come a time when I wonder how the heck will I get through the next day - but for now I'm forseeing smooth sailing. Even on the weekends - imagine that!

First goal is to get below 210. I expect to get there by 1/23 (one week from today). I also want to get back to the gym. I don't know why this has been so difficult! Not just for me but for my husband as well. Neither of us seem to be able to get ourselves out of bed in the mornings. I'll update as I figure it out.