Non-Negotiable Requirements

So I work in a public school district that, like all other public school districts, has a required curriculum for teachers to follow when teaching. Among this said curriculum are things referred to as "non-negotiables". So pretty much those non-negotiables are exactly that...don't try to negotiate a damn thing because they are set and you MUST follow them. So, when I started this whole weight loss process, I knew right away that there were some things I was either unable to give up, or flat out not willing to give up. These are my non-negotiables for dieting:

• "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter!"-Guess what? I CAN believe it's not butter, and it's disgusting. I will not use it. I will continue to use delicious imperial margarine when I cook or have something to eat that requires, yes, I said REQUIRES, butter.
• Light Ranch Dressing-Absolutely not, under any circumstances, will I put light ranch dressing on a bowl full of lettuce that I already don't want to consume. Not happening.
• Brown Rice-It's nasty and I don't like it. I love white rice. I will continue to eat white rice.
• Wheat Bread-Lecture me all you want, but if I wanted a sandwich on wheat bread I would just assume use cardboard. It's cheaper. The closest I get to wheat bread are the Whitewheat brand sandwich rounds.
• Egg Whites or Egg Substitutes-Are you kidding me? It's an egg. I want all of it.
• Making Recipes "Skinny"-This irritates me. Using yogurt instead of sour cream? No. Applesauce instead of eggs or vegetable oil? Gross. My recipes stay the same. Thank you very much.
• Quinoa- I don't even know what this is, but if I have to google something to know what it looks like, it's too much trouble to mess with.
• Anything other than Bluebell Homemade Ice Cream- A silly thought that is not worth an explanation.
• Fat Free or Skinny Coffee Creamers- I am so sorry, but I begin my day with only 1 delicious cup of coffee and I will have it the way I like it. End of story.

So I know you have to be wondering how I managed to lose so much weight by not eliminating things like that from my diet. Well, I feel as though I should add a little "disclaimer" before I tell you what I did...I realize this plan of action may not work for everyone, and that is okay. You have got to find what works for you and your personality in order to lose weight. I just knew that if I didn't allow myself these things when trying to eat healthy that I would become a pissed off hungry person that wanted to kill people. SO, if you find that cutting things totally out of your diet helps you, go for it. If making recipes "skinny" is what you love to do, awesome. This is just what happened to work for ME.

When I began this process, I didn't exercise. I knew I needed to get my food intake under control STAT. I joined weight watchers. I paid for a trial month (or got it for free and paid for another month, I can't really remember), learned the points based on what I wanted to eat, made adjustments, and cancelled my membership to continue on my own. I didn't trust myself to think of new, creative recipes to use with my points or even think of looking up points for fast food or different restaurants. I knew I would fall off the wagon. I didn't hit up a drive through until I had lost the first 30 pounds. The following is a sample menu from what I followed every single day (except for one cheat meal a week, but more on that later) for 3 solid months:

Breakfast: 1 large cup of coffee w/whatever creamer I had in the fridge, Kashi Go Lean Crunch-honey/almond, w/ fat free milk+1 banana (I cut up the banana and added it to cereal...gave it some extra sweetness)...OR...the Yoplait Light Yogurt that has the fruit in it with granola on top, they come in packs of 2, and still a banana...with the same coffee regimen.
Snack: Assorted fruit-however much I wanted of whatever kind I wanted, string cheese and some almonds
Lunch: Triscuits (regular kind) with sharp cheddar cheese (again, the regular kind, but I would buy the HEB cracker cuts to put on the triscuits, and the cracker cuts are huge, so with one cracker cut of cheese I could eat 4 triscuits...I just split the cheese into 4 smaller pieces), more fruit-however much and whatever kind, and more almonds but for lunch I would dip them in some Nutella to have something sweet. I LOVE Nutella. Delish.
Snack: More fruit...if you don't like fruit I guess you're shit out of luck...not really, I guess just carrots, celery, etc.? I don't know honestly. I love fruit and capitalized on that big time...depending on how hungry I was I would maybe have some string cheese again or just some saltine crackers w/peanut butter.
Dinner: Baked Lemon Pepper Chicken, or just plain baked chicken with some monterrey jack cheese on top when it was done so it was melted. I would also saute some mushrooms and onions with butter on the stove to put on top of that...I still love that chicken. Anyway, I would have some type of baked chicken and make green beans-preferrably fresh...way more delicious. Those with some salt and pepper were yummy, and a serving of white rice with a small sliver of butter and salt/pepper.
Dessert: One container of the single servings of BlueBell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and a piece of dark chocolate with almonds in it.

There it is people. Also, I would try very hard to only drink water and if I really needed something else, I would have some tea. If it was a severe circumstance, I would have a diet soda. Now, the catch...I followed serving sizes EXACTLY. I measured my cereal, milk, coffee creamer, cheese, almonds, butter, etc. The only thing I didn't bother to measure was fruit and vegetables-mainly because on weight watchers those things are zero points. The only way I was successful with keeping things in my diet like butter, ice cream, etc. is because I followed serving sizes and stuck to my menu and my menu only. The food above is the only food that was in my pantry or refridgerator. If my husband wanted to eat something different, he could go somewhere else and eat.

I think my next post will be about my once a week "cheat" meal and some other dinner ideas that I started eating after I felt that I had things under control. I will also do another post soon about how I started my exercise routine.

I'll leave you with some pictures...because they're fun. I think this picture is hilarious. The one on the left with my sausage fingers is from the night my husband proposed to me. I remember not thinking anything of it...it fit, after some force. The right was taken today for a comparison shot. No more sausage fingers! It's actually time to get the thing re-sized!

This is my husband. Isn't he a cutie pie? He recently started his new job as a control systems engineer and he has to dress up for work now so I had to snap a pic. Thanks honey!...Actually, he won't see this for a while. He doesn't even know I started a blog...not sure I want him to know. I like that it's mine. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Make good eating choices and get off your ass!