Diet tonic water, Greek yogurt, and a warning from my legs

Is this finally the effort in which I lose significant weight? Who knows? I have to keep trying, though. I eventually quit smoking on the only-God-knows-how-manyth try, and I’ll eventually do this too. Lessons from the front lines so far:

• When you decide you’re going to drink diet tonic water as a go-to, then the local Publix runs out of it very quickly.
• I love Greek yogurt, and it sits in my stomach and keeps me satiated for a long time. I should have been eating it all along. Challenge now is not to get burned out on it.
• There are 55 calories in a tablespoon of regular ranch dressing, and I’d rather have less of the real thing than more of a reduced-calorie version.
• Never, ever sit down with the can of almonds. Count them out painstakingly and leave the kitchen knowing how many calories are in your napkin.
• Ground chicken degrades my chili, but only slightly. It still delivers an 85-90% gustatory experience.
• I’m not making an explicit effort to limit carbohydrates, but that’s kind of how it’s working out by itself. I can tell the difference in how I feel when I’ve had a lot of carbs. It’s not a good difference.
• My legs have been thankfully content for the past few days as they’ve gotten accustomed to the increased activity. They started raising hell in earnest last year, and the message from them is “these are really just niggling little hurts, Bo, but if you don’t get this damned weight off we can arrange a major injury. How would that be?” I get it, guys. Working on it!

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