Tofu corndogs and low-fat ice cream by Mollie B. '06

Today marks the tenth day of my ill-conceived diet, and all I want right now is to eat something. A huge something. (Actually, that’s not strictly true. Today should be day 11 of my diet, but on day 2 I feasted on pizza and bourbon chicken from the mall, so day 2 doesn’t count.)

In my glorious pre-turning-20 days, I never worried about my weight, except if it was too low. Even now, I don’t worry about my weight during term, because I go to cheerleading practice and throw people around and get muscly. (Can you pick me out in that picture? Let’s play Where’s Mollie!) I also lost about 5 pounds last term on what I like to call the “75 Unit Diet”. But it’s summer now, and, after walking a mile to lab, I mostly sit and pipet all day. And then I come home at night and watch Law and Order: SVU.

Plus, my boyfriend is some ridiculously elite freestyle skiier, so he has to stay in shape so that when he careens down a mountain on glare ice and breaks every bone in his body, he can look damn sexy doing it. Since I live with him and we cook together, him going on a diet = me going on a diet.

It’s actually going pretty well, despite my lamentations. There’s actually quite a wealth of yummy, low-cal/fat food out there. My favorite discovery so far has been the 150 calorie meatless corndogs from Trader Joe’s — they taste exactly like normal corndogs, just slightly less greasy. We also found some great low-fat ice cream sandwiches at the grocery store. Instead of chocolate, I’ve been gnawing on blueberries and low-fat Cool Whip to satisfy my sweet tooth.

I am lucky for two things. First, we have the ability to cook for ourselves, and that gives us a lot of flexibility in making food that tastes good but is also healthy. (I came up with an idea to make manicotti with half cheese and half spinach. It sounds pretty good. Keep your fingers crossed.)

Second, Macgregor Convenience is closed for the summer. If I want cookies, I have to purposely stop by LaVerde’s or Star Market and get them myself, rather than taking a quick elevator trip to the junk food of my wildest dreams. The laziness factor is keeping me in low-cal chips and salsa.

I just ate a slice of bread and some low-fat cheese, so I think it might be time to call my mother. She misses me or something.