Another gorgeous September day and I will take it! Makes long walks positively delightful. Along with my iPod - I've had one, technically John's old one, for just about a year and only organized and put my music on it last week! Who knows what the hell I was waiting for...that's such typical, nonsensical, Stephanie-procrastination I can hardly stand it. Ridiculous. But now it's in action, woo hoo! In fact, yesterday I listened to one of my own Feminine Hijinx podcasts and laughed so much and had such a big grin on my face that strangers were smiling at and greeting me. How sweet! Just goes to show that people most certainly respond to your aura...

...which will continue to be full of good energy tonight when I get together with Kim and Suz to record a new FH. It's been a few weeks and we're chomping at the bit, ready to talk naughty and cackle and gossip. Yeah baby!

For dinner tonight? Well, as I said, I'm gently applying the brakes to the speed with which I've been cranking tasties out of my kitchen since starting this blog - who knew a blog could be so fattening? Ack. Love my blog, love cooking and writing about it, love eating the food, of course...do not love the gaining weight part. It's clearly out of balance, and therefore not moderate.

So. As I mentioned below, I've figured out that for me, dinner is the main culprit. I eat pretty lightly during the day, even when blogging, ha. As you can tell from my recipes, I'm a vegetable lover. And not a much of a sweets eater. In fact, I tend to prefer lighter, healthier foods in general. The problem is that I am starving at around 4:30, no matter what I've eaten during the day, no matter how I've spent the day. That is just hungry-time for me, period, always has been. Everyone's different of course.

My previous strategy was to have a snack, to hold out for dinner... But what really ends up happening is that I have the equivalent of two dinners - the (big!) snack, plus the real dinner (and did I mention the tasties while I'm cooking? Those add up fast, and oh how I love them). With wine. Nope! That doesn't work for me. I did a little research first by tracking my calories for three weeks, down to every last bite and sip, on a great (free!) website, FitDay.com. Eating as I normally do, I consume, and have gained weight, eating on average less than 2,000 calories a day. UGH, that sucks. Not a lot of wiggle room there. So much for being able to eat a bit more since I'm 5'11" - it's never been true for me and apparently still isn't (in fact, as I approach the big 4-0, it's of course less true - neato). An hour or more of exercise per day, and between 12-1500 calories, and I weigh what I should. Not easy to maintain, especially when one loves to cook, eat, and drink as much as I do! And when the work I do for most of the day is at my computer (aka on my ass, like most of us). But hey, it is what it is. Time to get more creative! You work with what you've got, sista. And without question my evening - and getting a bit carried away with my passion for food and cooking - offers the most room for paring some cals.

So, I've put the family on alert that full-on dinners are going to be fewer and farther between and most nights we'll stick to lighter, a la carte choices that offer more flexibility for those of us trying to, ahem, lighten up. Nathan and I can still eat together on our nights, since we usually eat before John's home anyhow (he's a go-in-late, stay-late guy). And of course John and I can still have a nice dinner once in awhile, either here or out. But day-to-day, we'll be moderating the full-on dinner experience. However...

...that doesn't mean I'm still not needing and eating delicious and healthy food! I refuse to eat energy bars and drink diet drinks and other fake foods, YUCK, I hate them. Especially anything with artificial sweetener in it, tastes like chemical disgustingness to me. I'm still all about fresh, delicious foods. (With lots more walking and Russian kettlebells for dessert, ha.)

Yesterday, spicy beans and rice made up my snack/dinner. Tonight, crunchy cabbage salad. Tomorrow, perhaps I'll make some soup. Stay tuned...