Sept. 4. 2007

Fall is here which means I'm nearly another year older, and hopefully another year thinner! I've lost 11 1/2 pounds so far, which is probably the best present I could have given myself. It's exciting because I know it's not weight I'll gain back, since it was put on by not being able to be active while I healed from the car accident.

I was saying to my mom yesterday that I don't know how we fit everything in that we do in one weekend. Between Saturday and Sunday, we went to the Windsor Fair in northern Maine, a comedy show in Boston, an art festival in Portland, took three walks on the beach, watched two movies and had our own little dance party. I'm exhausted just reading about it, so I was happy to see it translated to two more pounds of weight loss.

Only four weeks left before I'm on my own, so I hope to make the most of it. I've been predominantly living off of sprouted bread and peanut butter, Luna and Zone bars, Greek low fat yogurt, fruit, vegetables and grilled chicken, fish or tofu, and we can't of course forget dropped eggs on toast! Dropped eggs are my favorite breakfast and you don't even have to drop them from very far to make them taste good! I eat pretty much every 2 1/2 hours and usually around 300 calories. I also switched drinking an evening glass of wine for a cup of tea. I have been drinking so much tea, I now have an English accent. When I do drink wine, I drink white and put an ice cube in so that as the cube melts it fills up your glass making it take longer to empty (wine connoisseurs are horrified right now I'm sure, but a girls got to do what a girls got to do!).

I'm just glad to see that white wine made it to the choice list of low calorie alcoholic beverages for Labor Day. I'm waiting for the day when they come up with the white wine and nacho diet. What? It's carbs and protein. OK, maybe a little bit of a fantasy, but it could happen ...

Aug. 14, 2007:

The first couple weeks have been off to a great start. After the first initial shock of seeing me on TV, realizing what I really looked like, and reconsidering whether peach is a good color for my skin tone, I have settled in to the idea that the world is going to know I, Tonya Dalhaus, am on a diet!

My most alarming moment came when I realized, being someone who dabbles in online dating, that now when prospective suitors search my name in Yahoo it pops up "I'm Tonya Dalhaus, 5'5", 190 lbs."

Well, at least it doesn't mention my age as 36 and my 8 1/2 shoe size. Oh, woops!

I'm happy to say though that in the first two weeks I lost 6 lbs! The amazing thing is, I've been eating more than I ever have.

My problem, I'm told, is my body has been in constant starvation mode and not getting enough caloric intake to substantiate my hectic life style. Therefore, my body has been turning everything I eat into the "F" word! FAT!

Once my body realizes I'm not going to purposefully starve it anymore, I'm hoping we will be able to be friends and live a long and thin life together!

I think the toughest part of trying to stay on track is going out with friends. I end up eating a lot of meals out and trying to choose soda water instead of a glass of wine or figuring out items on a menu that are not high in calories or fat has definitely proven to be a challenge.

I feel like I'm playing 20 questions with the waiters: Is it grilled? Is it fried? Is the pan oiled? Is it marinated? Is it dressed? Is it low fat? Are you single? How did that last one get in there?

To win my battle, I've been getting a ton of exercise from playing ultimate Frisbee to volleyball, weight training, jogging, walking, and mountain biking. Last week, I was able to fit 16 hours of exercise in!

More importantly than losing weight though, I've been losing inches and I feel great and that makes me very happy!

July 30, 2007

Wednesday, I was off to a great start as Diet.com's newest featured Weight Loss Challenger. I had a great meeting with the nutritionist at My Healthy Fit and gave my legs a good workout with my new personal trainer. I left feeling full of energy and ready to take on the challenge.

I've always considered myself a fairly healthy person. I've always eaten the right foods, veggies, fish, salads. I'm not a junk food junkie, I rarely eat sweets and I don't even have sugar in my house.

One would think from the fact I barely eat that I would look great! I've always struggled to keep the weight off though, and when I got in a car accident last spring and could no longer exercise for nearly a year, I really put on the pounds. Come to find out, I'm not eating enough!

Diet isn't just about eating the right foods, its about eating enough of the right foods and with the hectic schedule I have, I never have the time to eat, so my body is constantly in starvation mode, that means everything I eat turns to fat! Arggghhhh!

I guess its like they say "timing is everything". Last night, after leaving the gym at 2 p.m. having having been there since 10 a.m., I got back with enough time to grab my notebook and take a two hour drive down to Rhode Island.

I'm a stand-up comedian and I had a show in Narragansett. I didn't have time to get to the grocery store and I hadn't eaten since 8 a.m., so I ended up grabbing a quick sandwich at a deli to eat while I drove. By the end of the night at 12 a.m. when I started heading home, I was starving!! Of course, nothing is open at that hour, so I ended up with a bagel from DD's. BAD BAD BAD!!!

Talking about getting off to a bad start, this morning I woke up ready to start a new day with my 1/2 cup of oatmeal and fruit, opened the cupboard, the cupboard was bare. Bummer....! How does the children's rhyme go...."and so the poor Dalhaus had none"

By the time I got packed up and hit the store it was 12:30 p.m. and I hadn't eaten all morning! Again, I grabbed a quick sandwich and did my grocery shopping and now ... finally ... I feel like I'm back on track!!

I think I may have to get a timer or something to remind me when I'm supposed to grab a meal, because I get so tied up in rushing around the hours often slip by and even though I'm hungry, I just don't stop and then I end up binging because I'm STARVING!

This is going to be a real life style change for me and take a lot of discipline, but I'm determined to make it happen.

I want look good for the cameras when I make it on Leno ... lol!