This is my last diet.  I admit, I am a bit excited.  For two reasons, first, I am heading to a business luncheon this afternoon to do some networking and I hope to get some leads on a new position in brand marketing.  Second, I am starting my diet smart plan diet!!!!

I went to the website after putting Josh on the bus, and for Patricia, www.thedietsmartplan.com, (my neighbor who is quickly becoming my fan wants the website listed more often) anyway, I clicked on the middle big button and signed up.  I got a step by step list of stuff to read, blah blah blah.  Called Nicky right away.  She said I needed to take a week, read the book, get the guides, and then start next Monday after I get a clue.  Wait a minute, I have to study to be on this thing?  I started with the checklist which was one page, skipped the see your doctor step since she is going to tell me to lose weight and I felt a sense of accomplishment.  

Nicky forwarded me an email she got when she decided to join.  Yeah, Suzie Sunshine is cheerleading me to victory……I thought is was a bit elementary, but I guess when you have tried everything, then you start with baby steps.  I don’t know how I am going to do with the weighing in twice a day either.

On the other hand, I am now 193 lbs, since I started blogging two weeks ago, I guess that not having the kids in the house all the time and eating whenever I can has led me to some really bad habits.  This diet better not be organic (YUCK) or ask me to cook, keep it simple sister. 

After a couple of weeks of feeling sorry for myself, I woke up one day and I swallowed my pride, called Nicky again and agreed to do lunch while Mom watched the kids.  She would fill me in to get a better understanding of what she was doing.  She wasn’t there so I left a message. Until she called me back, I decided I would look online at this fantastic little diet that she was on. 

My research turned up that The Diet Smart Plan is a relatively new thing and is based on another diet book (yippee! Sarcastically).  There is a website www.thedietsmartplan.com.  I went to the website and it was clean and well organized, didn’t yell at me and wasn’t junked up with tons of words.  I played around, got the jest, and then did more research to understand what exactly she was doing.  Armed with a page of notes, I was ready to sit down with Nicky.

Emily’s party was a success .  The bad news was that I was jealous.  Nicky stole the spotlight by looking great in her sundress and I was flush with jealousy.  It seemed everyone was asking her about her weight loss and then she ate cake and ice cream!    Nicky had lost another 5 lbs in the 3 ½ weeks since we had our first planning session.  I am watching my sister do something I want to do so desperately, lose the weight and grab attention.  I didn’t want my daughters birthday party to become a red carpet affair for my sister though. 

The worst came later as Danny and I

The next time I saw Nicky, we were planning Emily’s birthday party in Mid June.  I couldn’t believe the difference.  My little sister, who couldn’t make up her mind between the chicken strips and the black and bleu salad, had lost a noticeable amount of weight.  She was holding out on me, and it was ticking me off.  This was as bad as finding a sale on Coach bags and not telling me about them and trying to keep them all to herself.  She had found a way to lose about 15 lbs (at least) in about two months and wouldn’t share with her own sister how she did it! It was time for me to do some research and find out what her secret was.  Was she doing crack or speed?  I bet she wasn’t eating at all.  Or, better yet, she was sticking her finger down her throat and doing the supermodel diet. I had to find out the truth, it was killing me.  I was the saver, I was the one who was organized, and now she was losing weight.  She couldn’t even balance her checkbook and now she was losing weight and all she would give me was “It really is easy….” Oh, bite me!

Nicky, my little sister has never had any discipline.  I can't tell you how many times I have had to bail her out of trouble.  yeah, I was the big sister, but she was always a mess.  She did eventually grow up and I really am proud of her, but she, like Momma, struggled with her weight.  At one time I think she was a size 16 and didn't care to lose it, I mean we even joked about it, but Nicky didn't really seem to want to do anything about her weight.  Her husband Steven was heavy, and he was anything but a Chippendales dancer so they seemed to not want to change.  Nicky ate everything, and usually more than her fair share, but she was a great sister and fun, so it was always ok to hang out with her. 

As Mary Alice Young from Desparate Housewives said "Some things are easier said than done".  My reality is that I know I should not eat as much or stick to the rabbit food, but I just can't do it.  I mean, come on, I eat what the kids do during the day its basically mac and cheese and then at night I want something a bit more adult and I don't want just plain lettuce and cheese.  Besides, by the time I get the kids fed and then bathed, it is 8pm and I want a couple of hours to unwind.  If I have to cook some gourmet organic meal, then I can't and I would rather be fat.  Also, with me going back to work, there is even going to be less time for me to cut up vegetables.

It is ironic that I am sitting here at my desk with a glass of red wine and two slices of pizza beginning my diet blog.  And, with that said, let me say that I am not much of a writer, but I am going to tell you how I feel, how I fare, and that I hope that you are going to be entertained and learn something along the way.

 Let's go ahead and get introduced since we are going to be spending some time together.  My name is Janet. I am happily married to a wonderful man, Danny, and we have two great kids, Emily, who is 8, and Josh, who just started kindergarten.  Danny and I are both in our mid thirties (I am not going to tell you my exact age, come on!) and we have been married for almost 10 years.  We met shortly after college through his sister Rachel who was one of my sorority sisters at UT.  We also have a beagle and a cat.