"Is that on your diet?"

One of our yearly stops on our annual trip to Yosemite is at Pete's Place in Oakhurst. It is owned by a Greek family and I always get their Avocado BLT with a side of zucchini fries. The zucchini fries are long and battered in corn meal and even though I believe they are deep-fried, they aren't greasy at all. (they've got the temperature on the oil just right. When you fry at the proper heat the food absorbs less oil.)

Katherine always gets the Rib-Eye steak with rice. Jason gets the gyro. Melissa wishes we were at a pizza place.

So I'm eating my zucchini fries, dipped in buttermilk ranch dressing and Katherine says: "Mom, is that on your diet" and Jason answers "Everything is on the diet. If it is food, it's on the diet." And I explain that it is all a matter of portion control. Nothing was off-limits. And I'd been planning to have those zucchini fries and iced-cold fresh iced tea with lemon and an Avocado BLT. On the way up to Yosemite I was particularly hungry so I ate the whole BLT. On the trip back down, we stopped there again (even though I really wanted to try the BBQ place, I was outvoted.) So four days later I had the BLT and zucchini fries again but only ate half the sandwich this time because I wasn't that hungry and saved the rest for later. Both times I probably only had 10-12 zucchini fries. I split the platter with Jason.

In Yosemite I was full after dinner but Val had made her fabulous pound cake and wanted me to taste it. The pound cake was made with 3 pounds of real butter! It was so good. I only had three bites but was so glad I tried it. I also had a bite of brownies. Again, I was already full from dinner and just wanted to taste it. I ate tons of fruit on that trip: I had cherries, apricots and nectarines from the Gerawan's and we ate them like crazy. Then I had packed blueberries and blackberries. I think whole fresh fruit (because of the fiber and vitamins really helps balance out your diet and increases your metabolism. So try to eat some kind of fruit with every meal as well as having fruit for snacks and dessert. I ate normally the whole time on the trip except the one splurge night at the Awahnee when I had Side Car's (one of my favorite drinks) Cheese Platters, Antipasto platters, Smoke Trout, Crab Dip (that was mostly crab and not a lot of cheese or mayo) I wrote everything down and counted all the points and I didn't gain any weight on Monday when I weighed in! SUCCESS!!

The last three weeks have been a series of wine dinners, birthday parties, graduation parties, other celebration dinners, camping and road trips. My goal was to maintain my 147 pounds. And this morning, after all those fabulous meals, I jumped on the scale (wondering if my homemade mac and cheese and homemade tortilla chips and fresh squeezed lemonade might have increased it just a bit and guess what: 147!!!!!!!) I was jumping for joy!

I've got the maintenance part down! I think people get confused and don't realize there is a huge difference between losing, maintaining and gaining. Sometimes the maintaince is forgotten and I think people who look at food as either "good" or "bad" or "lose weight food" or "gain weight food" tend to be on roller coaster diets where they starve themselves and then binge and gain it all back. They forget there is a happy middle ground. The truth is you can eat everything in moderation and you can even balance out the week with some extra healthy days and then some splurge days. Just don't "worry" or "feel guilty" about food. Think of what food makes you feel the best and what food you really enjoy and that makes you feel good. (much more on this later since it is a big topic!)

For me it is really easy to lose weight at home. I'm so busy doing so many things that I truly only eat when I'm hungry (every two to three hours). I've got a refrigerator full of food and I can eat what I need to whenever I want. It is the socializing and eating out that are the challenges for me. So when I started my diet I was super super strict and didn't do anything socially until the third week when I went to my annual Sillie Fillies Cowgirl weekend. I knew that group of friends would support me on my diet and they did. And I still had whatever they were serving for dinner. The gourmet pizza the first night and the homemade ravioli's the second night. (again, portion control was the key) I just didn't have any wine or alcohol the first 6 weeks of the diet because I tend to eat a more when I drink wine. Traveling, socializing and going out to dinner is when it isn't as easy to find some canteloupe for a quick snack. They just don't have fresh blackberries at a drive-through restaurant. Fresh fruit, veggies and healthy snacks and meals are so much harder to find while traveling. You have to plan ahead (which I know is a pain, but you have goal right, and a little pre-planning will help you get there.) I pack a lot of fruit and that helps and I drink a lot of water (Jason is used to my frequent bathroom stops by now!) I should actually add to my diet tips "pack snacks" because it is being hungry on the road that makes you eat food you don't even want to eat and rarely even enjoy. They are just hunger solutions made because you don't have time for a good meal.

Back to my maintenance test plan: I really wanted to see was if I could go back to my normal eating pattern of being at home and eating well and then interspersing that with dinners out and dinners with friends. There was no way I wasn't going to eat the pasta after Jeff spent three hours hand rolling gnocchi and spelt pasta and making all homemade sauces. I was going to eat every bite and enjoy it. It was a wonderful night! The next night was a Wine Dinner at the Tilson's. There is NO WAY I'm not having wine over there. John has one of the most amazing wine collections in the world. It was a great night and I even got a double serving of Ahi because Rhoda doesn't care for raw fish and let me eat hers! Then Saturday and Sunday were back to normal eating and on Monday it all balanced out and I was still 147.

I lost the guilt over food sometime around age 20. I was dating Michael Smith and that was when the low-fat diets were in style. I was really having a constant battle with food because I thought I was eating "the right things" because they were fat free. I'd eat entire bags of "fat-free candy." I'd really want the blue cheese dressing at a restaurant but wouldn't order it because it wasn't fat free. Instead I ate a whole loaf of bread without butter (fat-free tactic again). Guess what: I didn't lose weight nor did I feel satisfied or like I'd had a good meal. I remember Smitty said something like, "I think you're beautiful and I think you should just enjoy your food and not worry about whether it is fat-free or not." (I can still picture the restaurant we were in in Hartford when he said it.) And that was it. The key to food freedom. That simple statement changed my mind-set and a light bulb went on and I just started enjoying a mint-chocolate chip ice cream and started ordering blue cheese dressing on my salad and putting butter on my bread. And I lost weight! And I've been on the "Enjoy your food" plan ever since then.

So if I have to analyze how I slowly gained weight it over a five year period it was from excessive eating out and frequent traveling. But I've never gained weight eating at home even if I made chicken pot pies, quiche or steak and baked potatoes for dinner. And I eat Cheese every single day. That is the one thing I've even continued to eat even on the strictest part of my diet (just less than normal). Somehow making sure I have salads and fruit balance everything out.

But the challenge for me now was to lose. Just as I suspected, I have the maintaining thing down pat, but wasn't sure exactly what to do to lose so I was grateful for these WW guidelines to give me the tools to lose. Then after losing I I can go back to normal eating and stay the same.

Oh, I almost forgot another great tip: Share dessert! We went to the San Ysidro Ranch with our friends, Lou and Christy for dinner. (Such a beautiful place! I'll have to send pictures!) I of course had Foie Gras (can't pass that up on a menu!) and the halibut with these lovely flavorful vegetables in this heavenly broth. Jason had the snapper with saffron rice and peas. Also, cooked just right. The Lobster special that Christy ordered for her first course was also exceptional. Oven roasted tomatoes and artichokes with the lobster. I'm so thankful for friends who don't mind sharing what they order so I can taste it! The server came out with a platter of desserts at the end of the night. The special was peaches in gingerbread pockets so we ordered that. Then they had a dessert sampler!! What a great idea. They were mini versions of each of the desserts (6 total) so we all split that. I got one or two bites of everything!! For me, a chef, I love to taste food. And one or two bites of something fabulous is often all I need. And I hate having to chose only one thing so it was my idea of a great night to try a taste of everything. And honestly a good way to maintain on a diet because you don't have to eat the whole big dessert in front of you. The champagne and wine were magnificent too. First time I'd tried Pahlmeyer Chardonnay it was lovely.

The last three weeks were a kind of whirlwind marathon and I'm glad I survived and made it through and didn't gain weight. Looking ahead at the my calendar the next three weeks are ideal times to lose weight, so I'll move from maintenance and back to losing.

More Fiddle Recipes coming very soon. Now I'm going to have one of my favorite quick snacks: a super pretzel with soft-spreadable cheddar cheese and mustard. (I measured the Kaukauna sharp cheddar cheese and I don't even use a tablespoon of cheese for the entire pretzel. I would have guessed I used more.) Then an apple afterward and maybe some blueberries. I love fruit after any snack!

(I've added quite a few recipes to my other two blogs but just haven't updated any Fiddle Recipes recently. The other two blogs are:

http://themailifiles.blogspot.com/ (Professional recipes and recipes for home)

http://recipetesters.blogspot.com/ (Recipes from my friends)