I friggin love food.

I love food.  A lot.  We had the most amazing dinner last night at Proof for Hila's birthday.  I cannot even put into words what good food does to me.  Life was a little bit better last night while eating this meal.  I forgot about the stress of work and bills and the general thoughts that weigh on ones mind during the day for these brief hours.  Bliss is the best word that comes to mind.  I find that good food and good wine together just make me happy.  Luckily my wife shares the same feeling so we are able to enjoy this together.  A friend once told me that she only eats to live, other than basic survival she has no interest in food.  I cannot fathom that statement, for me I live to eat.  I love everything about food, the way it makes me feel, the textures, the different flavors, the way a certain wine enhances the flavor of a certain food.  This has definitely become a passion of mine.  It is because of this passion that I have to focus so much of my attention on what I eat.  There is a reason I am overweight, I eat too much.  I have tried all types of diets, South Beach, The Abs Diet, etc.  While I have been successful in the short term, none of these have lasted in the long term.  I have only found success in Weightwatchers.  It's not a diet, its a change in lifestyle.  What I have learned from my years with Weightwatchers can be perfectly explained in two words, portion control.  Like I said I like to eat, and I very easily overeat.  If I am not carefully weighing out my portions, or measuring my food I will eat too much.  There is a mechanism in your brain that says "hey you are full, stop eating", I have confirmed with my doctor, that I was born without it!  It doesn't exist for me.  For the first time, maybe ever, we brought some of the food home last night.  Dinner was four courses, and believe me when I say it was good.  I wanted to finish our entrees, I wanted to eat all the bread.  But I didn't.  I am not saying we made the best decisions when ordering dinner as far as healthy food is concerned, I mean we ordered foie gras, ok?, but I am saying that I did make some good decisions when it came to eating the food we did order.  One of the courses was a cheese course, served with bread.  This time around I skipped the bread, it was just empty calories when all I really wanted was the cheese itself.  We also ordered dessert but we split it.  I am guessing I ate over 130 points yesterday, I used the rest of my daily points, all my weekly, all the activity points I have earned and then some.  But I knew this was going to happen, it's my wife's birthday, it happens once a year.  Now I need to focus on being aware of what I am eating the rest of the week and make sure I workout.  I am not going to dwell on the calories I ate, I enjoyed it, now it's time to move on.  In the past I would wonder after a night like this what's the point in being good the rest of the week, there is no way I am going to lose weight now and I would just throw in the towel for the rest of the week.  All that mindset ever did for me was make me be unsuccessful on the scale come Monday night.  Today I am on it, I'm starting fresh with my daily points, I brought my lunch, I am heading to the gym tonight (no bootcamp on Friday's) and I will do it all over again tomorrow and Sunday.  It's times like these where I truly know that life is good.

Cheese course, Charcuterie, Beef Pho Terrine, Foie Gras, Crispy Pigs Head, Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop, Sauteed Peking Duck Breast, and Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake. (left to right, top to bottom)