It's been awhile since I've blogged, and I happy to report that today I officially hit the 10 pound mark!  I'm down to 150 and my pants are pretty loose.  Soon enough I'm going to have to swap my size 12s for size 10 (of course I kept all of those pants so at least I won't have to go shopping!).  The steady results are enough to keep me with this even more than the fact that the food is delicious.

Here are some observations after my first month:

• I think my sense of taste is more keen now.  Especially sharp flavors such as jalapeno are intense!  Either everyone is serving the most amazing samples of food when we go out or my taste buds are no longer dulled from constantly swimming in sugar.  This goes for sugar too - the few times I've treated myself to chocolate or yogurt covered raisins I can't have too much without being overwhelmed by sugar.
• I am so much more awake in the morning than I used to be.  I started drinking coffee again, but even without it I can wake up on time with no problems.  Most days I don't need an alarm clock either.
• I can go for fairly long without eating - even if I don't mean to.  If I get caught up at work and can't drop everything to have lunch I'm fine and can make up for it later.
• I do still have occasional thoughts of wanting baked goods, but I realize that it's not hunger at all but a longing of my taste buds.  It's been comfort food for over 30 years, so I understand it.  But so far I haven't really wanted anything when it comes down to it.  The most I've had is rice in a sushi roll, and for an occasional indulgence I'm okay with that (I bloated a pound or two the next day and lost it again the day after)
• Eating out isn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  We plan ahead and look at menus first to make sure there's options, but just about everyone has steak or something along those lines.  We ask them to hold the bread basket so we're not tempted.  Cheesecake Factory low-carb cheesecake was also a recent indulgence for a celebration dinner and I had no ill effects from it.  It's also easy to request a grain-side like rice to be switched out for veggies like green beans.
• Chinese takeout is also possible when you order off the "diet" menu, which is a strange way of saying they put the sauce on the side and just give you cooked meat and vegetables.  Not ideal but great for nights that the meat doesn't defrost in time or you're just strapped for time.

That's it for now.  I'll check in again soon on my progress and hopefully have more to report on getting fitness in there too.  I would like to eventually run again one day, at least up to 5k, and have dreams of fitting it in my schedule some where.  We'll see!