What's in a title?

I wanted to use this blog to explain my title. You see there are few things in life that I am good at: eating, sarcasm, cooking, writing, complaining, self-deprecation and organization skills. I only claim to be an expert at one of those and that is absolutely eating. I am really, REALLY good at it. One of my special concentrations within my eating expertise is ranch dressing. I love ranch. I am the girl you have judged before that went up to the counter at pizza hut to ask for a cup to put her ranch in so she could dip every bite of pizza into its creamy goodness. Don’t get me wrong , I love sausage, fries from McDonald’s and cookie dough as much as the next girl but ranch is…well…it’s home. It’s comfort.

Here’s the problem…since I have began dieting and counting points, no matter what I do…there is no way I can justify having it. For instance, last night when I went out with friends (which btw, yesterday I said that I had allotted for beer, I meant the 64 calorie kind that resembles water, not the good stuff) and enjoyed grilled chicken tenders with mild buffalo sauce, naturally, there was something missing. Something in my genetic makeup shatters my heart the second I see a food that deserves ranch and I can’t have it. One tiny cup of ranch from the place last night is 9 points! NINE! To put that in perspective, I can have a DOUBLE cheeseburger from McDonalds for 10 points. So, there again, there is no justifiable way I could have gotten it. In general, I have been very good about consuming low fat and fat free products, but the healthier options for ranch are repulsive. Quite frankly they are a disgrace, an abomination even. They are sweet and grainy and I would rather have nothing at all (even though I did suck it up for a few bites yesterday…blech). As terrible as it sounds, my life without ranch is probably the most difficult thing I have had to face in my weight loss journey. On Sundays, I don’t count points. I figure I deserve a cheat day until that cheat day turns into a cheat week. So, occasionally, I have ranch on Sundays but usually it’s so ugly and I do everything but wallowing around in a tub if Hidden Valley that I try to keep the Sunday ranch moments to a minimum.

So, I thought that the title “my life without ranch” was quite the thesis statement to my new, little, turned over leaf. I posted some pretty terrible pictures of me on here and I will try to keep up with more recent pics so my progress is shown. The one where I look burnt in the prom pose and the one with the pregnant lady (note: I’m the one with brown hair)…are very recent which is most discouraging considering I have lost 27 pounds but I digress. Hopefully, the camera will be nicer to me soon. I think that is all for now. Tonight, I will go to Moe’s with my friend Jordan. If you don’t have one…Moe’s is a very yummy burrito joint similar to Qdoba and Chipotle. If you are wondering what I eat there…I get the Triple Lindy (type of burrito) “stripped” which just means that it has no tortilla. Luckily, I don’t eat beans or guacamole so I save fat there. Essentially, it’s rice, chicken, lettuce, onion, cheese and salsa in a bowl but it’s pretty good.