Dad's cooking surely tempting

Sorry this column is a week late. March 1 really snuck up on me, but ironically enough it fits in with my prevailing theme this past month: struggle. That’s what it seems I’ve been doing all through the month of February. I had some success in January with my weight loss, and I don’t know if that led to overconfidence or if I just let myself slip back into some bad habits. At the beginning of the month, I gained 2 pounds. That’s because I wasn’t doing anything I was supposed to do. For example, I let my journaling slide so I wasn’t keeping track of what I was eating. I also stopped keeping a close eye on my portions. There was still the awareness that I needed to watch how much I ate, but I wasn’t being as vigilant as I should have been. The middle of the month brought a bit more success. I lost 5 pounds, and was happy to see the numbers go down. My slight gain at the beginning of the month served as a wake-up call, so I jumped back into journaling and portion control full force. Then came the toughest challenge of all: my dad. You see, my dad came to visit me for a week. While my mom took a girls-only vacation, my dad came to work on my house — and cook. My dad is a great cook. Of course, he learned from my grandma, so it’s no surprise he’s handy in the kitchen. He also likes to experiment with new recipes, which is something I like to do too. So, during breaks from work, my dad and I often found ourselves in the kitchen. Now, to be clear, the fact that my dad likes to cook is not the problem. The problem is I like to eat everything he makes — sometimes going back for seconds. It was great cooking with my dad. I like to cook but don’t have much experience, so I really learned a few things from him, and we had fun trying some new recipes together. For the last couple of months, I have gotten to the point where I have been eating several small meals or snacks during the day. Well, while my dad was here, I could count on at least one — but often two — large meals each day. And I’m willing to admit that my willpower was not able to withstand the temptation of fresh, yummy food. Luckily, my last weigh-in showed that I had stayed the same. I didn’t lose any weight during my food frenzy, but I didn’t gain any either. That means I still lost 3 pounds during the month, bringing my grand total so far to 11. I had hoped to be further along than that by now, but I’m willing to take my victories where I find them. Now it’s time to get back to portion control, journaling and the healthy habits I was working on. I’ll also need to beef up my willpower so next time I can enjoy my dad’s cooking without jumping ship on my weight-loss program. To share your thoughts on temptations and how to overcome them, write to me at Christine’s column, c/o the Sentinel, 64 Downtown Plaza, Fairmont, MN 56031, or e-mail me with Christine’s column in the subject line at news@fairmontsentinel.com Christine Rupp is the Sentinel’s city editor.