Serious Eats
Ed Levine's Serious Diet Week 29: So Far, a Net Loss of Eight Pounds (Not Bad, Right?)
I've been posting about my diet for more than half a year now, and I think it's time to take stock in the bigger picture. As I write this I weigh 246 pounds, which is 19 pounds lighter than I was at my heaviest (265), which was well before I started posting about my diet travails.
Looking Back, Looking Forward
I have lost 8 pounds in the 29 weeks I have been posting specifically about the diet. Using various metrics I have encountered in recent years, and knowing my own body, I would feel great and look good weighing 225 pounds. That is my ultimate goal, and I think it's attainable.
The Revised Plan
At this point, you're all probably sick of hearing how hard it is for me to lose weigh--especially when all kinds of delicious food are in the way. There's only so many ways to express that thought. At the same time I think having to weigh-in every Friday morning has been really good for me. Come Wednesday, I start getting nervous about facing all of you when I jump on the scale. So this is what I'm going to do.
There will still be a diet post every Friday on Serious Eats, but in a new, truncated form. I am going to come clean with the number on the scale, which at the very least should make my wife really happy. But I also reserve the right to change my mind about this, since it ain't easy seeing the naked truth in black and white. I will also briefly outline the lowlights, and the highlights if they exist, of my eating week. Kicking off this week:
At what I'll call the Sarah Wolf Bon Voyage Party, the sweet corn frozen custard was good enough to eat a whole pint, without thinking about it, but thank God there wasn't enough in the fridge for that.
Dinner with Jeffrey Steingarten and his wonderful wife at a restaurant called One Hundred Acres meant I had to order the fried chicken and the burger. The burger was most excellent (more about that later) and the fried chicken was also quite good. But good news: I was in full portion control mode so I think I escaped unscathed.
Review dinners were rough this week as well. I ate twice at Papatzul and once at a restaurant that featured Southern-influenced New American cooking (which you'll be reading about that next Tuesday).
Anyway here goes. Wish me luck.
The Weigh-In
I stayed even at 246 pounds. That's about what I expected. Per usual, I'll be back next week, serious eaters, with the tale of the scale, unless I chicken out.