Something's Gotta Give

I'm on a diet.

I'm bad at it.

This really sucks.

I'm trying to lose about fifteen pounds--enough to have a little more wiggle room in my skinny jeans, and a little less wiggle under my chin. As of this writing, I've been working on it for about a month, and have made zero progress. Just so you can understand how frustrating this is, here's a list of the life changes I've made in a month:

*I no longer drink soft drinks, save for the one I had at the movies when there was no alternative, and the diet coke I had with a salad. My only other option, at the time, was sweet tea. I went with the lesser of the two evils. Instead of soft drinks, I'm drinking bottles (plural) of water with calorie-free flavoring. I'm also downing a bottle of diet green tea per day.

*I've changed my snacking habits. I now eat two servings of fresh fruit as a mid-day snack. In the evenings, I either munch on popcorn (low-cal) or graham crackers with an itty-bitty bit of marshmallow fluff (low-cal. Empty calories, granted, but very few), or if desperate, one of those atrocious Fiber One brownies. I've cheated a grand total of three times in the past month, and never wildly.

*I've all but abandoned Starbucks. In the past month, I've been there twice. I now drink home-brewed coffee with Splenda and a little non-dairy creamer. One cup per day.

*Chicken fingers barely exist. I now get the no-finger salad when we go to the local heavenly chicken finger joint. If we have to go to the chain restaurant, Thomas and I split a meal, and I eat two fingers. I'm slowly curbing my addiction. I'm also cooking more at home, and watching serving sizes to keep everything around 400 calories.

*I have a smoothie place reward card, and there are even punches on it. It's attached to the heavenly chicken finger joint, so that's really saying something.

*There is no junk food in my house. The last of the ice cream went out yesterday. The worst thing in the pantry is a box of Little Debbie Apple Flips, and they're not that bad.

*I do sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and trampoline jogging at least twice a week--most of the time more, and walk two miles at least once, sometimes twice, per week. I'm beginning to stretch in the evenings while I'm watching TV.

*Out of desperation, I've even tried a fat burner and a very gentle two-week cleanse. There have been no side effects other than increased energy, so I'm keeping them up, but I can't swear they've done anything.

So, now I'm really making sure I don't cheat. 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet (love that name, by the way) suggests keeping a calendar, and using a sticker to mark off each day that you eat right, do all your exercising, and stick to your plan. At the end of a full month of stickers, you can treat yourself to a little happy, like a lipgloss, something cute to wear, new lingerie (oh, good Lord...that's more than a month!), or a massage. Another sweet visual reminder is this thermometer, that lets you tick off how much you've lost. My calendar is already on my fridge, so I may print this out and tack it up next to it for a little extra motivation.

Now, I know I'm not the only one out there in this situation. What are you guys doing to shed a few unwanted pounds? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!