"Why did you have ice cream?" asked Sarah when we met about my Jenny Craig progress over the last week. Yes, she was a little scold-y. And unimpressed with my need to find out whether sugar-free Red Bull + Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean ice cream = delicious float. (It does.)

Fair question, though. I get to eat a lot of fun stuff on this program, including dessert treats such as cheesecake, cupcakes, brownies and cookies. So really, as Sarah noted, no need to go off-menu.

I meant to have more treat photos for you today, but the soft choco-chip cookie is the only one I had when the light was right for snapshots. So another day -- there are many more treats in my Jenny Craig future, after all.

Thanks to Sarah's counsel, I stayed pretty much on track from last Thursday to yesterday (my JC weeks go from Thursday to Thursday), save a Saturday-night Chinese-food-fest at Congee Time to celebrate a friend's awesome new job. (My Reebok EasyTone shoes and I went for a walk on Sunday to try to make amends.)

I even stayed the course during Sunday social bbq time in the courtyard of the apartment building I live in. "No thank you," I said to calling-my-name ribs, tempting I-love-lemon cake, and oh-my homemade blueberry pie. "Yes, thank you," I said to roasted rapini (yum! really!). Of course it helped that I'd had my Jenny Craig dinner before joining my fellow tenants downstairs. #smartestmovethatday. And later in the week, I had one little something+soda drink and a dressing-free salad snack when out with friends one evening.

Know what else helps? I'm down 2.8 lbs from last Thursday.

Thanks, Jenny. And thanks, Sarah :-)

By the way, I put those two mini Häagen-Dazs containers (brilliant idea, H-D) back in my freezer right after that snap. They're there still. And Red Bull? I blame you a little for my ice-cream detour. *grin*

Have you tried a sugar-free-Red-Bull-vanilla-ice-cream float? BBQ-roasted rapini? Reebok EasyTone shoes?

Please follow the links if you missed the beginning of my Jenny Craig adventure and the back story.

Photos via Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR digi-cam.