Walking the Walk - Day 3

Day 3: Dropping the amount of sodium I eat immediately after the holidays (mmmm ... salty ham) was a fabulous idea. Wooosh! Two pounds gone. Of course, I understand those two pounds were all water to begin with, but still. It's great to see some movement on the scale.

It also soothes the sting of having to give up those quick and easy foods. I'd gotten in the habit over the holiday season of zapping a frozen diet dinner for lunch or heating up a can of soup, rather than making the fresh, veggie-loaded salad I usually make. While I was sticking to my calories, I was also loading up on salt. Denial is a powerful thing.

Just how much salt? Here are the sodium levels of the first five dinners I pulled out of my freezer:

• Pesto Chicken Flatbread Sandwich: 630 mg
• General Tso's Spicy Chicken: 500 mg
• Sesame Chicken: 650 mg
• Grilled Chicken Marinara: 550 mg
• Steak, Cheddar and Mushroom Panini: 720 mg

Clearly, if Jillian stays under 500 mg of salt a day, she doesn't eat frozen dinners!