THM Part 1 - The Rules

The problem with most diets, for me and most people I know, is that they are not sustainable. You lose weight (sometimes), but eventually you just can't stick with it anymore and you go back to old habits. Too many restrictions or too much misery will make you quit. So my goal with Trim Healthy Mama was to do it in a way that was easy, enjoyable, and doable for life. My short cuts may not work for everyone, but I hope it shows you that you can be less than perfect and STILL be a successful THM family.

Trim Healthy Mama, wait there's how many pages? I know, right! I haven't even finished the book myself. I'm still meandering through the recipe section and loaning out my book to curious friends. But the first 1/2 of the book is really all you need to get going.

After reading the basics, I got worried that THM was too restrictive. And my perfectionistic tendencies tried to tell me that if I didn't follow all the rules, I'd be a failure. Well, after 9 months of successful weight loss, that's proven to be false.  So here's where I bend the rules.

1. Unsweetened Almond Milk - blah, I use the Original in everything. Now there is an Original with Less Sugar.
2. Half and Half for Coffee - I'm allergic to dairy. So I still use Coffeemate or International Delight. I've started buying the no sugar version. But not always.
3. No Cereal is "On Plan" - Well that is just not acceptable. I occasionally still eat a healthy cereal. Mostly at night if I need something crunchy. But I consider it an (E) and move on.
4. Dreamfields Pasta - Made us sick. So I buy whole wheat pasta and make sure to create an (E) meal as best I can. We probably have pasta once a week.
5. Old Fashioned Oatmeal - I don't have time for that. We buy the Quaker Weight Control Instant Oatmeal.

6. Breads - I use the Joseph's Pitas for an (S) Sandwich. But I buy the Arnold Sandwich Thins Flax and Fiber for the girls sandwiches and for my occasional off meal that needs a bun (like BBQ or a Hamburger).  I also buy regular flour tortillas for mexican dishes and create mostly (E) foods.
7. Categorizing Meats - I don't consider meats an (S) or (E). I just let them stand as the Protien and I build the rest of the meal correctly. So ham may be considered a fatty meat, but it might serve as the center of my (E) vegetables.  I also don't obsess about eggs being an (S) with the yolk and (E) as egg whites.
8. Greek Yogurt - My girls eat the Light and Fit Yogurts. No dairy for me.
9. Peanut Butter - I don't buy the no sugar added version. Just any brand of regular peanut butter that's on sale. And I buy A LOT of peanut butter cause it's in so many of my THM chocolate treats.
10. Diet Soda - I still drink a Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper 1-7 times a week lol.

And in the past 9 months, I was also cheating once a week for Life Group Meals on Sunday Nights. I wasn't going to deprive myself when someone else was doing the cooking. Now clearly you can't cheat everywhere and still expect to lose weight. And every person's body is different. But I found that THM improved my metabolism and even those cheats didn't hurt like before.

All that being said, we DID change our lifestyle a lot with THM in order to lose weight.  We cut out white flour, white sugar, white rice, and white potatoes. We stopped drinking sweet tea regularly. And we switched to Stevia and Truvia (MYO Truvia with Erythritol) as our sweeteners. When my meals aren't truly on plan, I just try to make them low-carb low-sugar.  We stopped buying any potato chips and only purchase tortilla chips. And I do my best to make most meals or snacks lean towards either fats or healthy carbs, but not both.

So what do our meals look like?  And what specialty items do I buy?  And which recipes do I make and keep on hand?  You'll find out in the next THM post.  Whew, I'm tired.  Aren't you?