Medifast thoughts, how'd that social dinner go?

So, I ate my Lean and Green meal before going to Old Spaghetti Factory, and had a 'bulky' meal (lots of eggs and protein). When we got to the restaurant there was cheesy bread and t-rav on the table. It looked good, but there was no compelling urge to have a bite.

 I ordered my glass of tea and proceeded to have a great 'dinner'. I wasn't ever really tempted by any of the entrees I saw. The fresh bread and butter looked good, but it was Not Allowed so I was able to ignore it. All I thought about the bread was 'I'll need to keep an eye on how much of that I eat once I'm transitioning off this diet'.

Dinner ended and the conversation was great.

This is the first 'diet' I've ever been on. I've tracked my calories before, mind you, and was successful on Weight Watchers for a while. I think that this diet, which is a pretty brutal culture shock, will do more for me than 'just track!' ever did. Just tracking was frustrating for a number of reasons... I'd have Chinese food, or work out, and not drink enough water and the scale wouldn't move for days and days.

 Now I'm on a plan. The scale bumped up, but I'm on plan. I didn't drink enough water, and the scale slowed down. Then I pounded water yesterday, and shed a ton of water and I've got a big drop again.

 So what am I learning from this? How is this going to help when I'm off plan? Well, I know I need to hydrate more in general. I know I'm bad about that, and I just need to keep a bottle of water nearby and drink more. Not only will it keep me from retaining water, it really does help with hunger.

Also, I'm learning portion control. If I can be fine after eating a half cup of Macaroni and Cheese, then off plan I can eat a half cup of real mac and cheese, and not a plate full. If I can drink an 8 oz shake and be fine, I don't need a 16 or 24 oz shake. This is the first time I've ever stuck with a plan where portion control was actually monitored to this level.

Finally, I'm actually measuring and weighing. If I do that for a few months I'll get an accurate view in my head about how much food I'm eating. This will help immensely when going out to eat. 

 I really want to be one of the success stories that keeps the weight off after a diet. I can see how it would be easy to just say 'screw it' and go right back to bad habits instantly, so I'll have to actively work to avoid that.

In other news, the scale was good to me this morning, I finally dumped all the water weigh I held on to after working out.