I'm sort of getting into the new diet. Actually, it's the old fashioned diet where you just count your calories. I've never done calorie counting before; some part of me has always rebelled against counting calories. Counting calories seemed so anal, so nazi, so I don't know, way too intense for me. I had friends who had done and told me horror stories about their calorie counting experiences, and their stories put me off. It's amusing to think I've never counted calories before, especially since I've been dieting since I was 13 years old. I think I've tried every other diet on the planet, except for good old fashioned calorie counting. Strange.

I'm finding however, that calorie counting is actually quite fun. I like doing things that I can track and count. Counting and tracking are after all, how I make money in this world and I'm quite good at it too. Counting pages I've written or words I've written is the only way I seem to able to finish any writing project. Doing Nanowrimo last November clued me into this way of working. I was also only able to finish my screenplay, by setting up a schedule of how many pages I had to write each week.

Maybe calorie counting is the only way I'll finally be able to take off this awful weight I gained, when I was having problems with my silly hormones and my thyroid. Those problems are all fixed now, thank god, but the weight is still there. I lost 14 pounds of it last year and kept it off for a year. Now I just have to lose the rest.

Calorie counting is also easy for me since I tend to eat the same foods over and over again. I think what's going to be difficult is when I go to parties and when I go out. On Friday at work, we're having a potluck for someone who is having a baby. Potlucks at work are always calorie laden eatathons for me. I'm also having dinner at a friend's house on Friday, and she'll probably cook. When you have dinner over at a friend's house, especially a friend who never has to watch what her and her husband eat, the food is usually delicious and completely fattening. How will I track my calories at these events?

I've told myself in the past, that it was always okay if I ate like a complete pig at parties. Now I'm not sure if it's okay for me to eat occasionally like a pig anymore. I think this maybe the reason why I've always hated calorie counting.

The dieting gurus say, if you want to avoid pigging out at parties, eat before going. If you eat before going, you'll be too full to eat like a pig when you get to your party. I wonder if I should try this method. I've never done it before. I've had drinks before going to parties, but never food. I mean, the whole point of going to a party with food, is to eat as much of the free food there as is humanly possible. Is this how I've gained weight over the years? Treating parties like eating free for alls, and eating like I've never seen food in my life before, only because the food is free. Silly attitude isn't it? I don't think I'm the only one with this attitude though, if I think about all the holiday office parties I've attended.

I wonder where I got this attitude about free party food came from? It seems like I've always had a thing about free food. Maybe not in grade school, but definitely since then. I'll have to think about my free food thing; it's never crossed my mind to question this attitude before. Interesting.