Diet soda.

The whole time I was losing weight, and on into the first two or three years of maintenance, I drank massive amounts of diet soda. When I changed job and money was tight, I couldn't see spending good money on fizzy brown water, so I quit... and started to gain back weight. Of course there are a gazillion other things that changed at the same time, so I can't really blame the diet soda. Then again, one of the gazillion other things that changed about that time was that I started nibbling while I cook dinner and in the evenings after dinner, and I'm pretty sure I don't do that if there's a bubbly cold drink available.

The grocery store across the street has its store brand soda on sale, 59 cents for a 2-liter bottle and $2 for a 12-pack of cans. I've decided to lay in about a 6-week supply and see what happens. I drank one can tonight, and you know... It kept me out of the kitchen. The raisins were calling to me, but they shut up when I took the diet pink grapefruit soda out of the freezer and I haven't heard them since.

We'll see. I really hope it helps, because I really want to get rid of at least 5 pounds in the next 12 weeks or so. At that point I'm probably either going to be interviewing for a job in California (and trying to sneak in a few extra days to go to Sequoia National Park) or heading to Big Bend National Park for 3 months as a volunteer, or possibly both. And I'm just about 5 pounds too heavy to be really comfortable hiking in rough terrain, or to look my best in my interview suit. You wouldn't think 5 pounds would make that much difference, but it does. If $10 worth of generic diet coke even just makes me think I'm doing better, it's worth it!