Slowing the Rate of Descent

I just got back from the studio. Tonight, instead of addressing the sorry state of my cubicle or the enormous pile of bisqued pieces that need to be glazed, I threw yet more pots. I threw a half dozen pots, a cylindrical tumbler, and a large vase. Mostly I just felt like socializing, so I sat next to a couple of the chattier students.

Dave and I are still teaching on Saturdays, and this Saturday promises to be a doozy, what with nine students signed up for the one-time lesson. Nine absolute beginners can be a challenge. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but I sometimes the lesson starts to feel something like this:



Diet Talk 

I've been dieting and have, in twenty-one days, lost ten pounds. That's a bit too fast I think, three pounds per week, so a few days ago I upped how much I was eating to slow my rate of descent to about two pounds per week.  What's my diet look like? Well, I prefer to eat a lot and I prefer to eat all day, so I eat a huge amount of vegetables and I eat three meals and two snacks minimum.

This morning just after I got up, I had yogurt and a banana and coffee. Then a couple hours later I had an apple and soy nut butter (like peanut butter but made with soybeans) and coffee. A couple hours later, I had lunch. Lunch was a very big bowl of what I call faux pho, an entire package of tofu shirataki noodles with lots of vegetables (broccoli, carrots, green beans, baby bok choi, and seaweed) in a broth made with fake chicken bullion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. I stirred in three egg whites for some protein. For lunch dessert, I had a sweet potato and coffee. My afternoon snack (a couple hours after lunch) was wheat crackers with more soy nut butter and jelly and another cup of coffee. And a bit later, before going to the studio, I had a banana.  I was at the studio for about four hours and came home hungry, so we had bean and Quorn burritos with cheese, sour cream and salsa, and a salad with tomatoes, cabbage, red peppers, cucumber, and olives.

Seriously, I'm losing weight on a diet like that. It seems like a lot of food (and it is) but in reality, it's about 1600 calories per day, which is about 800 calories per day less than I had been eating. If I eat 800 calories less per day, then I drop a pound every four days or so, or just under two pound a week, a decent rate I think. And that is with zero exercise. None.