Last night, I had dinner with a friend. I had never been to La Hacienda Ranch restaurant, but had always wanted to try it. At first, we were to meet at the Outback for dinner. I was pumped because I knew Outback had a under 600 calorie menu - choices of steak, chicken, and salmon with steamed fresh vegetables. Bonus for me! The place was packed when I got there, so we decided to go to La Hacienda Ranch.
Luckily, I got there before my friend and got a table within about 5 minutes. Here comes my first weakness - salsa and tortilla chips. Yes, I did have some tortilla chips, but I made sure I only had about 20 chips at most and only a small bit of salsa. Both were very good, but I worked on savoring the chip and salsa I would eat, so that I would eat less of them.
My friend arrives and we order. Rather ordering a ribeye steak, as I usually do, I opted for the 7 oz tenderloin with skillet potatoes and a salad. The meal was supposed to come with Texas Toast, but it did not - I am actually happy about missing that piece! The salad was delivered with the dressing on the side, so I only put in a little bit and mixed up the dressing with the salad. That way, I did not use up all of the dressing. I like that.
Overall, I only ate part of the potatoes, which I considered more roasted as I do them. I loved that the potatoes had bits of onion - I love roasted onion for some reason. By the time I finished the tenderloin, I was pretty much full, but I had room for a few bites of apple pie. We shared that and I did just have 3 bites of the apple mixture and very little crust. I figure a little moderation helps curb cravings along the way.
My friend tells me of how she never used to eat tomatoes until a friend of hers came to dinner after his father passed away. She would fix her friend dinner every night and her friend always had sliced tomatoes with his meal. I have heard this story for years. The thing is that having sliced tomatoes is not a bad thing.
When I first started middle school in 1978, I got sick and had my first trip to a new doctor here in Texas. At the office, I weighed 232 lbs and I was only 12 years old. The doctor told my mother I needed to lose weight. He put me on a 1500 calorie diet and knew that I had to take PE, so he knew I would be getting some sort of exercise. My mother, not wanting me to feel alone, made sure everyone in the family went on the diet as well. Both my mother and father were overweight as well and I was not going to go through it successfully on my own, so she made it her job to get everyone's calories counted.
One of the food items that my whole family loved was fried catfish. There was a restaurant in North Richland Hills that had this beautiful fish tank. I loved going there and getting a chance to look at the beautiful fish swimming in the tank while waiting for a table or food. The fried catfish was absolutely wonderful, but with all great dishes like that, it came with fries. We all could only have about 10-15 fries and it was a temptation that just could not be tolerated.
My mother asked the waitress if we could substitute something else for the french fries. The waitress checked and said that sliced tomatoes could be substituted. From that point forward, until the restaurant went out of business, we would get the fried catfish, salad, and sliced tomatoes. While I admit, I would have rather had the fries, I loved sliced tomatoes as well, so I learned it was a better choice.
By the time I went into 8th grade, I had lost about 52 lbs. I weighed 180 lbs. The problem was I never could *really* see the new *me*. I knew I could wear smaller clothes, but I was still fat.
I remember at the time, the popular girls had been away from the skating rink that summer and I continued to go every Friday and Saturday night. When they returned, one actually pulled me aside and told me that she noticed I had lost weight and how great it was. I never really hung out with the popular crowd, but I was happy that one of them actually noticed me.
As I think back to that time in my life, I wish I had been able to see it for myself. This time, I will make the right choices, so that I can see that change. It will be hard because I see myself every day.
Today's message from God to me - I have to admit - I believe this with all my heart:
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