The white whale and weight loss.

Call me Ishmael(except in my story I end up kicking the whale's trash, yeah!). Weight loss is my Moby Dick. Don't you think it's quite fitting to compare fat to a white whale? Especially since I'm quite pasty. Applaud me.

Anywho, losing weight is something I've thought about, obsessed over, worked on ever since I was a chubby pre-pubescent teenager (oh yes, I was pre-pubescent well into my teens - explains a lot doesn't it?). I've tried many diets. I may try more in the future. I was worried that after my baby I would never lose those last few pounds. I ran a marathon mostly because I love running, but also because I wanted to lose that baby fat (cute on the Bean, NOT on me). I've been on and off the no sugar train so many times I should just buy a monthly pass. Nothing really worked. Well, I may have found the heavy artillery to bring down this cursed white whale.

If you recall, I watched a few movies about food and decided to try a few raw food recipes. Then entered the heat wave of the summer and the fact that we have no AC and that I couldn't bear the thought of cooking anything most nights. So, our meals have been mostly sandwiches, raw food salads and the occasional quesadilla, or something like it, that's lighter on the cheese and has tons of veggies and lots of flavor (breakfast is a free for all: sometimes cereal, sometimes a smoothie with toast, sometimes eggs, etc.). It's been about a month I've lost 8 pounds. Hot to the D to the A-M-N. That's the most weight I've ever lost in the shortest span of time (unless you include my short stint with the Atkins diet in which I laid on the couch like a slug when ever I got home as I had NO energy. I may have lost 7 pounds in a week but I could have eaten my hand while sitting in the dark writing, no just thinking, about depressing poetry as I had no energy to write.)

I would like this to be a permanent change in our lives but don't I want to be so crazy vigilant that it takes over my life. I think making this change also meant overcoming the mental road block that eating raw foods recipes was eating boring tasteless salads and always being hungry. So not true! We found a few recipes that worked for us and they are so delicious, very flavorful and totally filling. So I am looking at a 80 to 20 ratio of raw foods, lighter meals and healthier options to the occasional yummy treat now and then. I'll take the next few months to see if all that weight was just a fluke or if this is a sustainable thing.

What do you think?