Losing weight feels good

So I've been on the Nutrisystem diet for just over a week now, and I already have more energy than I'm used to. As well, I've already lost a pound, and after hovering between sizes for a while, I'm firmly in the lower size. I've only worked out twice though, as I'm letting my body acclimate to the calorie level. I'm ramping it up this next week though.

Five Fast (diet) Findings:

1. The best thing about this diet is that I HAVE to eat everything provided, because it all adds up to exactly 1200 calories. There's no guilt over eating something anymore, because I HAVE to eat it! It's amazing, when I think about what I ate, I don't have to feel any shame for splurging on something unhealthy or sweet. As well, I've stopped trying justify poor eating choices to myself, because there's now a firm, hard line on what's allowed and what's not. Spinach is allowed, Taco Bell is not, end of story. It's surprisingly comforting to have such ironclad rules, especially since I've always WANTED to lose weight, just never had enough willpower to enforce the rules on my own.

2. The fresh-frozen foods are not great. Ironically, they're part of the "gourmet" plan, and they cost more. Even if they didn't cost more, I'd advise against it. I'm downgrading my plan next month to only receive the ready-to-eat meals that need no refrigeration. Not only do I have yet to really find a frozen meal that I love, but whenever I microwave or heat the meal, it tends to not work properly. I put a Turkey Pepperoni Pizza in the oven, and it burnt the cheese on the outside, but the cheese in the middle didn't melt all the way. So I put it in the microwave (a brand-new one, mind you), and it was the same thing, like the cheese itself isn't meltable or something. So far, none of the frozen meals have really gone through the cooking process smoothly. My ready-to-eat foods, though, taste delicious, and I'd much rather have a Flame-Broiled Burger than the Glazed Chicken Tenders (blech). The one that I did enjoy was the Ravioli Formaggio, but it's not enough to keep me paying an additional $75!

3. The Fudge Graham Bar is probably the most incredible thing I've ever eaten. I'm serious. It's soo delicious. And even though it's just a bar, I still feel full afterward (a rarity for my stomach), because there's so much flavor. I only ordered 4 this month and you better believe I'm ordering a bunch next month.

4. On that note, getting bars for both breakfasts and lunches on this diet is important, I didn't realize that before. Here's the deal: I'm a person that normally skips breakfast and lunch, munches around suppertime, then eats a large dinner. No wonder I weigh more than I'd like, I do the exact opposite of everything I'm supposed to do. Anyway, what I've been noticing is that on busy days, I have a tough time carving out time to eat since I've never done it before, especially with breakfast items like the bagel or chocolate muffin, because you need to put cream cheese on the bagel, and the chocolate muffin is so messy that I don't want to eat it in front of other people. Lame, I know, but I'm also your basic self-conscious-about-food overweight person. SOO, I'm ordering breakfast bars next month. They're mess-free, and I can eat one while I'm driving to church, or walking to class. Same with lunch. There are quite a few lunch bars on the Nutrisystem menu, and they are easy to toss in my purse and eat while I'm shopping or running errands. Again, since I'm not used to making the time to eat 3 squares a day, whatever I can do to make that happen more smoothly, I'm all for it.

5. It's much easier to say no to non-approved foods. We had root beer floats at a group activity tonight, and it took me about 5 seconds to remember I can't have it, and walk away from the table. Had I not been on the Nutrisystem diet, I would have easily had "just a small one." But I had dinner and dessert to look forward to, and with an exact 1200-calorie diet, I don't have room for another 200 calories in a dumb root beer float. I've never counted calories before, and I don't have to now, as long as I follow all of the snack guidelines, but I am more aware now that every item NOT within my diet has significantly more calories than I need to eat.

Anyway. A friend on the HCG diet has suggested that I do HCG to lose a bunch of weight now, then go back on the Nutrisystem diet after that, but I really am pretty skeptical. I don't doubt that people lose a lot of weight on the HCG diet (I've known several people who dropped weight like water on it), but I've spent several months building up good muscle tone, and I don't want to risk losing it. I don't like the idea of being lightheaded either, it seems like medically-induced anorexia. As well, I love not having to cook or prepare food beyond the 1-minute microwave time, and reverting back, even for stuff like tomato soup on the HCG diet, does not sound good to me, even if it's only 26 days. Plus, being on a 1200-calorie diet is just right to train me how to eat smaller portions. A 500-calorie diet seems restrictive enough for me to pack the weight right back on later. But it really boils down to cost. I think if I had a lot more money in the bank, I'd try the HCG diet for a bit, but I think the cost is too high to take the risk. Nutrisystem is a much more solid gamble. Plus, I am in the camp that believes weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint.

Editing to add this:

What I really want from weight loss is to get to a size where, when people learn that I'm 25 and single, they don't think anything of it, except that maybe she hasn't met the right one yet, or she must be focusing on things other than finding a husband. Currently, I feel like people think, even if they don't mean to, that I'm not attractive enough to be married, because that's how I feel sometimes. Even if people DON'T think that, every single girl who has ever weighed more than she likes has thought that about herself at one point or another. It's how our minds work. As well, I tend to like guys who are, well, good-looking. I think they used to be closer to the same league as me, when I was thinner, but now, they are definitely in a class above me. I'm still attracted to those guys though. I'd like to feel like I'm in the same class, looks-wise, as the guys I tend to like. Shallow? Yes. But there it is. This is my blog, so I guess I have to be honest from time to time.