We’ve been at this for three weeks, now – and are finally seeing some results! Victor is down seven pounds and I am down five – and it’s quite obvious we have not been suffering in the food department! This is the incentive to keep going – and to keep eating well!

It’s good to know that portion control – and going to the gym – actually works. I’m having fun reworking recipes and coming up with new ways to add vegetables and whole grains to the dinner plate. In a way, I’m kinda going back to how we used to cook when I lived at Tahoe back in the ’70s with grains and vegetables creating the majority of the plate.

Back in those days, an avocado, tomato, cream cheese, and sprouts sandwich on freshly-baked 9 grain bread was a typical lunch when we were home. I just pulled out my 1972 copy of the Vegetarian Epicure and am having fun looking at all the stuff we used to make when we were being the cool kids living in the mountains. Of course, like the Greens Cookbook and The Moosewood Cookbook, it is not exactly low-cal – there’s heavy cream in everything – but there are plenty of ways to get around that. I’m using them for ideas – not strict recipes.

And speaking of not strict recipes – that was definitely tonight’s dinner. A homemade Blue Cheese Dressing on top of lettuce, radishes, cucumber, hard cooked eggs, tomatoes and peppers from the garden, and a few slices of pork from a grilled pork tenderloin. Really simple – and really good. I’m rather amazed that we’re already happily used to smaller portions. It’s been a bit of a challenge to start, but I’m starting to see a pattern and I’m getting used to dealing with what I would once have termed minuscule amounts of things.

The dressing was merely blue cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, non-fat milk, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and salt & pepper – just enough for two salads. It was definitely rich, but when you look at the actual salad, there weren’t a lot of high-calorie fixin’s there. I’m not quite ready to start adding cakes, pies, and cookies back into the routine, but a decent dressing on a salad is important.

Three weeks down and 49 to go. I can’t believe I’m looking forward to going back to the gym!