Eleven weeks in and I’ll be straight with you — the scale barely moved this week. Hovering right around the same weight, maybe up a little. Two meals out probably had something to do with it, plus I’ll admit I wasn’t feeling as hungry some days and may have eaten a little more than I should have. That’s dieting. It’s not a straight line and if it were, everyone would do it.
The good news: I did crack 250 during the week on one of my mid-week weigh-ins. Didn’t hold by the official Sunday weigh-in, but I got there. That’s worth noting.
Now let’s talk about the eating out. First stop was Round Table — individual 7.5 inch pizza, four slices, about 480 calories. Completely within one meal’s range. White flour crust meant I was hungrier than usual afterward, but I didn’t go back for more. Held the line. Second stop was Tia’s Tacos in Riverside for my son’s college graduation — congratulations to him by the way. I went with the shrimp burrito, got about three-quarters through, and realized I could’ve stopped. I didn’t, but I ate less at dinner to compensate. That’s the adjustment you make.
Highlights from the week: tri-tip night plus a tri-tip sandwich the next day — that cook-once-eat-twice approach keeps paying off. Eggs with leftover tri-tip in the morning. The diet bacon cheeseburger with 92% lean beef was dry, but Dijon mustard saved it. Five calories per teaspoon and it adds serious flavor. Just don’t go too heavy — there’s a horseradish heat in there that will clear your sinuses.
Now for the honest miss of the week: Greek yogurt chicken salad. AI suggested swapping mayo for Greek yogurt to cut calories, and I gave it a fair shot — Dijon, dill, lime juice, celery, the works. Took a bite on camera. The verdict? No. Hard no. Greek yogurt works beautifully as a sour cream substitute, it works in the tahini wraps, it even worked in the hollandaise. But mayonnaise in chicken salad is not the same category. Fat is flavor, and when you remove it, you know it. It tasted like fat-free ice cream — technically the same thing, but not the same experience. I’ll be talking to Claude about how to fix this one for next week.
Week 12 is Italian week — chicken marsala and shrimp fra diavolo are both on the menu, two dishes I’ve either never made or never heard of before coming into this diet. That’s one of the things that keeps this sustainable: every week there’s something new.
