14 days ago...

As far back as I can remember, I have been at battle with my weight. When I look back at it my weight has never threatened my health nor my day-to-day lifestyle, which I am thankful for each and every day. But when you get down to it, what matters is how you feel about yourself when you look in the mirror and when you walk down the street. 14 days ago, I looked in the mirror and saw the reflection of someone who was not completely happy with how she looked. It was affecting my attitude and my motivation. Jogging suits and baggy college t-shirts had become my best friends and to be honest they still are! Now back to the point...that day the mirror gave me a wake up call. It was definitely time for a change of pace and that time was now! I stepped on to the scale and was horrified to see the needle rise above 160, on to 170 and then come to a quivering stop at 181. Could it be?

It seemed that my decadent brunches in downtown Denver and the nightly recipe testings with the perfect wine pairings had taken their toll. Let's back up a week or so. I walked in to get my usual monthly haircut (more like an insignificant trim) and saw my stylist who looked to be at least 50 pounds less of the stylist than I was accustomed to. She told me about the Ideal Protein diet and immediately I decided that this was for me. A step-by-step regiment of protein meals, vegetables, green salad and vitamins. I have always been a person that likes order and lists, so I thought it would be a snap. I made an appointment for a consultation three days later and the lady wanted me to make a commitment to the diet that day. What was she thinking? Did she not know that I hadn't done enough research or had my usual week to consider something before making a decision? For some reason, I jumped into the deep end and decided to start the diet right away.

The Ideal Protein plan (I like to think of it as a plan rather than a diet) is very straight forward. A protein shake in the morning; a lunch of their soup or omelet with 2 cups of veggies and green salad; and a dinner of 5-7 ounces of meat/seafood with 2 cups of veggies and green salad and absolutely no alcohol and this meant wine. After a couple days into the diet, I had raging headaches, an annoying growling in my stomach and it was taking all I could muster to ignore my craving for a cheeseburger and fries. My will power was definitely under attack. Two days, 12 Advils, 220 ounces of water (and of course my allowed food intake) later, I felt just fine.

After about a week I was feeling great, drinking more water than ever and actually waking up by 8 o' clock, which incidentally had become quite unusual. My first weigh-in was 3.6 pounds less than at my consult and at my second weigh-in I had lost 8 pounds in two weeks.

Even though all seemed to be going well, I felt like I had lost two of my greatest joys in life: food and wine. Obviously, the wine was not even an option so I turned to the food element. My breakfasts and lunches were already set in stone, so I thought about my dinners. I had a list of allowed veggies and condiments, full reign to use dried and fresh herbs and other spices as well as any seafood, poultry, pork and beef products you can think of. I realized that dinner was my outlet for my recipe creations and foodie withdrawal. So instead of making my signature mashed cauliflower with sour cream and shredded cheese, I would make it with salt, pepper and fresh tarragon or chives. And instead of ravioli or lasagna, I would create cod en papillote with roasted asparagus.

And so my blog begins...