First of all, the results. My short term seven day diet went OK. It would have gone much better if I hadn't cheated two of the seven days! One of the seven days I had my Greek food party and it was fantastic. My cupcakes came out....interesting. I added, among other ingredients, one whole cup of honey to the recipe. I was aware that doing so would cause the resulting cakes to be a little sticky and perhaps runny but I didn't expect them to pour out of the cups and cover the whole pan with one giant cookie. A DELICIOUS cookie, but it wasn't cupcakes. I was pressed for time so I ended up taking the remainder of the batter and made a cake out of it. It was a hit, everyone loved it. I will include the recipe at a later date. Other food that was at the party was stuffed zucchinis which were fantastic too. I will write up a healthy recipe for that in a future blog as well. The lamb was cooked perfectly, the olives were stuffed, the pitas were toasted, everything was great. Everything was exactly what was not on my seven day diet though. Oh, and the three ciders I had were not either, but they tasted so goooood!

Me, eating :)

Another day I cheated was this Monday. I went out to the vineyards with our grower relations guy and checked out how bloom was going this year. While we were out we had lunch at Mustards Grill. When the company is paying, and the food is that great, there is no way in hell I am passing it up just because I want to lose a pound. We also imbibed in a few drinks.

So, where does that leave me after my seven (five?) day diet? I lost two pounds. Nothing to poo poo. Just imagine if I had stayed on it and didn't have the fried calamari and cornmeal breaded fried catfish tostada with cilantro aioli! Twopounds is a healthy loss in a week anyways. If I had lost the four I really wanted, it would have been bad for me because we all know that rapid weight loss followed by cheeseburgers (that is the first thing I am eating when I get to Hawaii, along with my Mai Tai) means rapid weight gain and I don't want to start my trip with that.

Since the beginning of the year I have lost exactly 30 pounds. It took me two months to lose five pounds, then I began The Experiment and since then I lost 25 more pounds. This is no small feat seeing as how I never exercised but one time when I went hiking up a little hill. It is also amazing since I cheated so many times on the diet too. I had burgers with peanut butter on them, tons of wine, beer, vodka and cider. I had a full Irish breakfast, several greasy champagne breakfasts, many cupcakes, cheesecake, pizza...the list goes on. I think this blog has helped me stay focused in those times between all those diet cheats. If you take the time I was doing the experiment (85 days) and divided it by the amount I lost in that time (25 pounds) you will see that I lost an average of two pounds a week which is exactly the maximum recommended number one can safely and healthily lose a week according to most experts. This is something to be proud of and I am.

What now? Well, now I go to Maui and have the time of my life with the love of my life. I will be bringing back pictures to post here when I get back.

Landing in Maui

What next? When I get back I am going to be continuing to eat healthy. I will raise my caloric intake above the 1200 cal/day, fat burning level to a weight maintaining level. I am going to come up with, and post, recipes for a healthy lifestyle. As usual, I have something planned every single weekend as far as my calendar can reach that involves parties, food, drink and other potentially unhealthy things that I will be trying to put a healthy spin on. As a wine maker, I will always be drinking wine, but I will try to do it in relative moderation from now on as a weight control thing.

Where does that leave you? I know I am leaving you for a while but I will be back in a couple weeks. If you are needing a weight loss/healthy lifestyle blog fix while I am gone, please call upon my friend, Jase's, blog. He is losing weight like it is going out of style and he posts every day to keep you inspired.

Until I get back, Aloha and Mahalo