Ok....

Princess Dieter this is for you!!  LOL!!  It has been 4 months since I posted or even looked at my blog.  Yes, I did give up.

I am trying to get back on track with healthy eating.  I kept bouncing back and forth between different plans and couldn't make up my mind what to do.  Weight wise, I have been absolutely miserable, gained everything back that I lost last year.  I was ashamed of myself and didn't want to 'fess up.

Several years ago, I read a book called The Weight Down Workshop and was intrigued.  It basically says that we all have a God-sized hole in us and that we choose what we fill it with.  For me it's food, for others it may be drugs, alcohol, sex...whatever.  It talks a lot about trusting God for all of your needs, and when it comes to food, I don't.

I have to learn to trust God for all of my needs.  Even my next bite.  Just because I leave some food on my plate, it doesn't mean that I won't ever have that particular food again or that the starving children in China will continue to starve just because I didn't clean my plate.

In her book, Gwen Shamblin, talks about eating until you are no longer hungry, not til your full.  I eat until I can't stand anymore and I make myself miserable.  I have kind of played with this and waited until I was very hunger and then paid attention while I ate.  I didn't watch tv or read or play on the computer.  I just focused on the food and when I stopped being hungry.  Sometimes it was just a few bites...sometimes about half of my meal, most of the time....a lot less than half.

I am going to do this.  There are no forbidden foods, no lists, no counting.  Sounds easy, right?  It's not.  You eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are no longer hungry.  She recommends  (if you are having a hard time stopping) cutting your food in half, and putting it aside.  If at a restaurant, go ahead and ask for a doggie bag as soon as your food comes and put half of it in there, then start eating.

I do plan to not eat just anything, I will make healthier choices and I will try to stay away from rice, flour and sugar, as I have discovered that they contribute to my ankles swelling.  This is not going to be easy or fun, but I hope it will be a time of growing closer to God and a better relationship with him.

 I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  I am not trying to talk anyone into doing this, I am just telling you what I am going to do.  If you have questions, I will be glad to answer them.

By the way, my older daughter Christian is having a boy, Hunter Blake L...., around 3/28/12.

'Night y'all

Supper...

So, Christina and I had Allan's pizza tonight for supper.  Mine was 8.5 points and her's 12.  The only thing I miss with this is the crust.  I would love a buttery, deep dish pizza, yum!  But my bootie is big enough, thank you very much!!

I joined a challenge today, it ends on 12/19, I just realized that the day it ends is the anniversary of me and my husband's first date, 29 years ago.  It's a Christmas Dress Challenge.  I need to find something special to wear that I will need to lose weight for as an incentive.

Night, y'all

Switching gears...

It's been 2 weeks since I have blogged or even read any.  My friend, Tammy, has convinced me to give Weight Watchers a try.  So I am.  My first meeting was on 9/8, 2 weeks ago and I didn't start until the following Monday.  I've only been doing it for 1 1/2 weeks and the options are great, the food is what you choose and at 48 points plus, there is a lot.  One thing it is doing for me is I am eating a lot more fruit and veggies.  The numbers are slowly coming down but WW prefers that you lose slowly.  I promised her 4 weeks and I will stick to that and see how it goes.  I weighed 336.2 (4 lbs, exactly, higher than my scale, but then...I had clothes and shoes on at the meeting!!), that same morning at home, my weight was 332.2.  For some weird reason, you can't weigh in the nude, go figure!  This morning on my scale, I weighed 330.8. That's 1 1/2 lbs.  We'll see tomorrow afternoon.

My 30th class reunion is in June '12 and I would like to go.  I've not been to the others because I was ashamed of my weight.  I would like to get back to what I weighed when I got married and that was about 240, size 22. I don't know if I can lose it that fast on WW.  I know I can on 1200 calories or low carb, BUT can I stick with those for the long haul is the sticking point.  The way I am eating now, I can do for the long haul.  I am still watching my carbs, though.  Still not eating much bread, sugar or pasta.  I am putting sugar in my coffee, though. and counting the 1 point for 1 tbs.

I really need to start going to the gym again.  The weather change here is killing my sinuses and that is just the excuse I need to be lazy and not do anything.

Jacqui gave me an award and that is great!  I love it!  Thanks, Jacqui!!

I will post 5 people I read and who deserve it later.  I should be able to get to it tonight.

Later, y'all!

Yay!

11.3 lbs so far!!  I am excited!!

We had breakfast for supper last night.  Eggs with ground pork and cheese, bacon and biscuits for hubby and child.

Dinner was 4 carbs oh! and coffee 1 carb (creamer)

Breakfast today was a protein shake - 4c
Lunch - cucumber with ranch - 5c
coffee - 1c

Not real hungry today, I think that is a good thing.

Found out today that I am getting Izzy at 9:30 on Sat, Christian is going to travel with her husband to his "one weekend a month" with the National Guard.  I'm glad because Christian always wants to go and do things, eat out, go shopping and it just wears Izzy out and we don't get to really enjoy our time with her because she gets tired and cranky.  This will be fun!

After while, crocodile!

Day 10...

I wasn't very hungry yesterday or today.  I think I have hit that point in Atkins where you start to feel like you don't need to stuff yourself to get past the cravings.

Yesterday's menu:

breakfast - protein shake - 3c
lunch - caesar side salad from Wendy's with ranch dressing - 4c
           hamburger patty with cheese - 1c
           3 deviled egg halfs - 0c
snack - caesar side salad - 4c
dinner - protein shake (not really hungry) - 4c
snack - hamburger patty with cheese - 1c
            home frapp - 4c

Total - 21

Not enough veggies, I know.

Today' menu so far:

breakfast - protein shake - 4c
lunch - cup of cucumber slices with ranch - 5c
           2 slices of smoked pork butt - 0c

I have to say that the cucumbers we are growing are delish!!  I need to eat more of these!

Later, gator!

Weigh in...

Weigh in was yesterday, even though I have been weighing almost every day.  334.7, that's 9.1 lbs lost this week!!  I know most of it was water because my ankles were very swollen from the Mexican food I had over the weekend before.

Cooked a lot yesterday.  We had sausage, chicken, hamburgers, pork steaks, grilled onions, bell pepper, green beans and deviled eggs.  Lots of carb friendly food.  I made pimento cheese for one of the guys at work, he loved it.   I ran the recipe through Sparkpeople and it came in at 1 carb per serving.

Deviled Eggs

I mix into the egg yolks: mayo, very small amount of mustard, dill relish and Zatarain's Creole Seasoning.  Be careful with the Zatarain's the more you use the hotter and saltier it gets.

Night y'all!

Great day...

Had a great day with the girls today.  Christian started sewing Isabella's quilt, we cut the squares over a year ago and put it away and she finally got the itch to start it!  Then we went to Vikki's house and I cut her and her husband's hair...she is such a sweet lady!!!  She had 4 grandchildren and both of her children have decided that they wouldn't have any more.  So when we go visit she always sends toys home with us for Isabella.  Today was a wagon/dump truck kind of thing that has large leggos in the back of it.  She has enjoyed playing with it.  Then we went to O'Charley's and I had the Black and Bleu Caesar salad.  It was very good, the meat was a cut up sirloin steak, I forgot to tell the server to hold the croutons, so I ended up picking them out.

Not sure how many carbs I had today but I am sure I am under 20 for the day.  Breakfast was scrambled eggs, cheese and ground pork that I got at Wal-mart and seasoned it with Zatarain's Creole Seasoning, so it made a good pork sausage without the fillers that have carbs.  So breakfest was 4 carbs. Lunch was probably about 7-8 for the 3 cups of romaine, 2 slices of tomato and the dressing.  Steak was 0.  Dinner was a home hamburger patty with 2 pieces of cheese and 2 small pieces of tillapia.  3 carbs?  So about 15?  I may have a cup of decaf coffee before I go to bed.

Night y'all!

Day 5...

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and bacon, 3 carbs, lunch was 2 grilled pork chops and green beans, 4 carbs, and dinner was spaghetti sauce with zucchini noodle and parm cheese on top.  Very good, but remind me to read the label BEFORE I eat it.  1/2 cup of Hunt's Zesty & Spicy Sauce is 11 carbs, dang! that's more than half a day's worth!!!

I ended the day with 25 carbs, that's 5 over but not that bad.

I need to run this recipe Picadillo through Sparkpeople to get a carb count on it.  It is something I have made before and it's really good.  I leave the green olives and wine out because of my husband.  He only likes black olives and I only like green ones.  Talk about opposites!!

About to watch The Black Swan with the family, gotta run!!

I almost forgot!!!

Isabella will have a baby sister or brother on or around March 30th.  We are so excited!!  Last Monday, I took the day off and went to Christian's first prenatal visit.  They took all of us back to a room and we thought we were just going to hear the baby's heart beat, but wrong!!!  They did a vaginal ultrasound and we got to see the baby!!!  It's too early to tell what sex the baby is, that comes at 20 weeks.  The tech said that the baby is 8 weeks and 4 days, which now would be about 10 weeks along.

Please pray for a smooth pregnancy and most of all, a healthy baby.

Day 4...

Doing really well.  Had a protein shake for breakfast, 4 carbs and I am having my first cup of coffee, it will be my last, as well, 2 carbs.  I am cutting back on caffeine and because of low carb, sugar.  I joke about having a little coffee in my cream and sugar.  I use a tall coffee cup that Christina gave me for my birthday last year that has a collage of Isabella on it, it is about 16 oz and I have 2 of these per day.  I usually put in 3 spoons of creams (powder) and 6 spoons of sugar. I got used to using Equal instead of sugar during Phases 4-6 but when that was over and I realized how bad I felt with so much Equal in my system, I went back to sugar.  Today I decided to tough it out without Equal/Splenda/Stevia in my coffee and just use my sugar free liquid creamer.  I hate the after taste that I get with artificial sweeteners in hot liquids.  To be honest, it was not as sweet as I like it but it wasn't "spew it out of my mouth" nasty, either.  I think I could get used to it.  That would be a good thing.

Lunch today with be left overs from last night, chicken tenders and green beans, 8 carbs, no ranch to dip in this time.  So far, I am at 14 carbs.

After while, crocodile!!

Dinner was delish!!

I made chicken tenders and green beans for dinner tonight.  Recipe.  Even my husband like it!! So dinner was 10 carbs and dessert was 3.5 carbs.  My total for today was 21.5 carbs.  Did well on the carb count but not enough veggies today.  I'll need to be more careful so that I don't get stopped up, if you know what I mean.

Feeling better today.  Not as congested as I had been.

Night y'all!

Day 3...

I had a protein shake for breakfast, 4 carbs, stuffed chicken breast for lunch, 1 carb, and coffee, 3 carbs.  So I have in 8 carbs for the day and 12 left.

Last nights dinner of a bacon cheeseburger on an oopsie roll was divine!!  It was just a tad eggy, but I will put in more dry mustard in the yolk next time.  I just wasn't sure how much flavor it would add, also, I put in some parm cheese, I may put more of this as well, next time.

Thank you Caron and Debbie for the encouraging words.  They help.

My friend, Tammy, has met her goal weight and has changed it down some because she feels so much better and it will give her some wiggle room.  She looks great and I am so proud of her!!

I am going to add a new ticker for this phase so that I can track what I lose on lo carb.  I will keep  the other to show my progress from the very beginning.

I had said that I was going to wait until Monday to weigh, but I couldn't stand it, I have lost 5 pounds in 2 days, now I know that this is probably water weight because I had eaten Mexican twice over the weekend and my ankles were HUGE!!!  But we will see on Monday what the true results are.

I may make grilled chicken breasts for dinner with a salad or green beans.  I love the skinny green beans that come in the bag frozen.  I put them in my Pampered Chef rice cooker and add a little butter, fresh ground black pepper and ham seasoning and nuke it for 5-6 min.  They come out still a little crunchy and oh so good!!

Later, gator!

Day 2...

Went home from work not feeling well again. It's just sinus, but man, it is kicking my butt!!

Food has been good so far, I had a protein shake for breakfast, a chicken breast (skin stuffed with bleu cheese, bacon, butter and chives), recipe here and a Caesar salad. Dinner will be a cheese burger on an oopsie roll. I need to run everything thru myfitnesspal.com to see where I am. Oh, yeah, 1 cup of coffee with 1 tbs of flavored creamer.

16 carbs so far. I need to add a small salad, ooohh no!! Grilled onion!! We have some vidalia onions and I slice them and drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle Zatarain's Creole seasoning and them grill them. They are soooo good!!! Never mind - 14 carbs!! Who knew??? Back to the salad!

How was your day?

lunch today...

was some sliced black forest ham and colby jack cheese and sliced raw carrots, lunch comes in at 5 carbs.

Came home and started cooking, after resting for a bit. I am making my first batch of oopies rolls. Stole this from Jamie aka Carbarella at Your Lighter Side. I did a double batch and added a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of splenda to the second half. I can't wait to see how these turn out! It seems really simple. 3 eggs, 3 oz of cream cheese and a pinch of cream of tartar. I doubled this and used a 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar so that I could do the sweet rolls, too. I put the egg whites and cream of tartar in my Kitchenaid stand mixer and put it on 10 and let'r rip. I creamed the cream cheese and egg yolks with my hand mixer and by the time I was done with that, I had some really stiff peaks in the egg whites. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and make six mounds of mixture and flatten them a little. Bake at 300 for 30 min and there you have it!!!

I plan to use some Anne H's aka CarbTripper 's recipes, as well. She made bacon with brown sugar/splenda on it that looked delish!!! I have been wanting to try that for months. She fried the bacon and when it was almost done, you pour off the fat and add some brown sugar splenda blend and then let it carmalize!! Yum!!!

Tonight's dinner will be taco salad sans nacho chips. With 2 tbs of salsa, dinner will be 10 carbs. Total so far is 19. Only 1 left!!

Weigh in...

343.8 lbs this morning! Cripes!

Low carb has started!

Breakfast - 3 eggs, scrambled with bacon bits and 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and a splash of heavy cream (instead of milk)

Snack - coffee with 1 tbs heavy cream and splenda (which I hate in hot stuff)

I am at 4 carbs so far.

I am going home after my boss gets here. I have had a headache for aobut 1 1/2 weeks now that I can't get rid of. I went to the Dr Friday and I told her that I didn't think it was sinus becuase I wasn't congested. She gave me 2 prescriptions, 1 for pain and 1 to help me fall asleep. I have had trouble going to sleep lately. Last night, while I was blogging, I noticed that my nose was stopped up, I guess it was sinus after all.

Holy cow!!

It's been a month since my last post and I have hardly read any blogs, either. I haven't been following any food plans either.

I've been working for M for about 6 weeks now and I love it! It's so much less stressful and I don't feel like I have someone watching over my shoulder any more.

My husband has changed jobs and his salary is lower until he gets his own store. He is working for a tire/car repair company. Money is kind of tight for us right now, but we will get through it.

I have gained a few more pounds, I am now at 338.3. I keep waffling back and forth between what I want to do about my weight. I have thought about it a lot for the last few weeks and have decided to do low carb. I know that I'm carb sensitive, and when I have too many, my ankles swell. I went shopping over the weekend and have bought a lot of carb friendly items. I have been reading a lot about it. I am a subscriber to Your Lighter Side and Carbarella has a lot of recipes that look really good. So this is what I have decided to do, I'll still do protein shakes and the way I make them with unsweetened almond milk (only 1 carb per cup) will keep them low carb.

I am going to do Atkins, induction starts tomorrow, 20 carbs per day with 12-15 coming from veggies. I'll verify that, but I think that is the correct ratio for veggies. I bought an interesting book a couple of months ago that compares a lot of low carb diets and give the pros and cons of them. Pretty neat seeing the chart the shows the differences between them. Like, the amount of carbs per day, how much dairy, how much fruit or veggies, that kind of thing. Its called The Secret to Low Carb Success! Got it on Amazon.com.

I would probably do Paleo if I didn't like dairy so much!!

It's getting late, good night all!!

PS - I am going to update my weight in the morning since I have pigged out today. I am going to try not to weigh every day and just do it on Mondays.

Wow!!

Has it really been a week? It has flown by!

This is my first week getting off at 3 and working strictly for M. I am loving it!! I might not once I get my first check with the lower hours, though! But M has already asked me if I want to increase my hours and I told him to let me enjoy the time off and recover from my 5 yrs of a high stress boss!! He seems so concerned that I not get overwhelmed and that is such a good feeling! He actually told me one day last week, that he had been wanting me to come work for him for years and he was glad that it was finally happening. I asked him about going in at 8am instead of 9 later on when I want to increase my hours and he laughed and said that he was flexible! I can't tell you how blessed I feel with the ways things have turned out! I told a couple of people in my office yesterday (with a laugh!) that I felt so good and that it was nice to have gotten fired and then get a raise!!

I've lost about 6 lbs in the last week. I've not really paid much attention, which is strange because I am usually very anal about weighing every day! I will do better keeping up with things this week.

I came home and cleaned the fridge, took everything out and wiped the bottoms of all the jars and cleaned the shelves, took out the drawers and washed those as well.

Well, I am tired and going to bed! I hope that you all have a great night!

Food

Busy at work today, but it is starting to slow down a little which is what I need.

Food today has been good.

Breakfast - scrambled egg and egg beaters mixed, 153 calories

Snack - 2 coffees, 200 calories

Lunch - salad, 366 calories

Dinner - homemade pizza on flatout bread, 350 calories

Snack - watermelon, 92 calories

So how you doin???

food

Today I did much better. Food:

Breakfast - protein shake, 200 calories

Snack - 2 coffee, 200 calories

Lunch - salad, 366 calories

Dinner - grilled chicken breast, grilled onions, mash potatoes, 540 calories

Grand total - 1206

Weighed 331 this am. Down 5 lbs, let's me know how much I was really eating!!

Slimmer This Summer Goals

1. Survive this week at work!!

2. Stick to plan, 1200 per day!

3. Exercise 30 min, 3 times per week!

4. No binge/depression/emotional eating

5. Eat only when I am hungry and stop when satisfied!!!!!

6. Encourage others in the challenge!!