Week 18 had a lot going on. Let me break it down honestly.
The good news first: grocery ad week was a success in one specific way. I used the weekly store circular to build the meal plan — photographed the ads, handed them to Claude, and said “design a week of meals around what’s on sale.” The result was $60 in savings on meat, yogurt, and other staples. That felt great. The less great news: I also spent $220 total at the store, which on reflection might be more than a normal week. Buying sale items is only saving money if you weren’t going to spend that money anyway. The jury is still out on whether grocery ad week is a net win — but it produced good food, so I’ll call it a partial success.
Meal highlights: boneless skinless chicken thighs on sale were a standout — Happy Healthy Wife loved the way I seasoned them, and the leftovers made a great next-day sandwich. Turkey bolognese came back on the menu, this time with Rao’s marinara on sale. I’ll admit the hype is real — Rao’s is genuinely better. Got the spicy version. Also discovered a garlic bread swap worth keeping: spray oil instead of melted butter, on wheat bread with Parmesan. Still garlicky, still satisfying, but nowhere near the calories. And after 18 weeks I’ve noticed I’m not even craving the fatty version anymore. That’s the habit shift working.
What didn’t work: tilapia. Ten fillets for $10 sounded like a deal. Lemon garlic prep, tried it, not my thing. I’ll stick to salmon. Sale price or not, food you don’t enjoy eating doesn’t belong in a long-term diet plan.
Now for the honest confession: I got sick mid-week, barely ate for a day or so, and the scale dropped all the way to 236. Then the weekend happened. A short vacation, a seafood restaurant with fried everything, clam chowder, a very buttery lobster roll, and the kind of eating that happens when you’re away from home and the plan is out the window. By Sunday morning I was back at 239.
Here’s how I’m thinking about it: a setback is not a failure. I didn’t quit the diet. I had a vacation, the scale reflected it, and now we’re back. The habits are in place, the meal plan is running, and the clean-out-the-freezer theme for Week 19 means we’re cooking from what we already have — steak, salmon, broccoli beef, ribs, chicken thighs, and Trader Joe’s breaded chicken with a salad to offset the calories. That last one Claude was not thrilled about, but we negotiated: no bread with the meal to compensate.
25 pounds down and counting. The vacation was worth it. Back on the horse.
