March 29th - Birthday Present!

Hey everyone guess what I got for my birthday?

 A new little black lab/shepherd rescue puppy!  Isn't she cute?  We named her Mabel.  We got her last Saturday at an adoption event in Annapolis, Maryland.  She was just seven weeks old, the youngest age you can adopt.  She is a sweetie, but boy, what a lot of work.  I've got most of the puppy duty of course so it's taken the rest of the time from my already busy day.  Still trying to get my older dog, Marley, used to her.  He pretty much ignores her as much as possible, and has given a couple warning growls when she gets too crazy around him.  Any tips?

So a year ago today, when I turned 50, I decided to turn my attention to myself a bit and use my fiftieth year to get healthy.   I took care of some teeth that needed crowns and then started to devise a plan to lose weight.  I chose the BFC because I had tried low carb before and been successful with it.  The low carb I did before was Suzanne Somers diet and you could not combine carbs and fats in the same meal.  You ended up eating basically a carb free diet, which I guess is similar to the Fast Track.   I finally couldn't do it anymore and went back to my old ways for a few years.  When I discovered the BFC I liked it because I could combine high fiber carbs with fats and have things like a sandwich, crackers & cheese, toast & eggs, a pita pizza, or a quesadilla.  To me, that was much easier to do.  I was a bit startled when I first weighed in to find that I weighed 197lbs.  That's what never being on the scale does to you.   It took me this whole year to get down to 163lbs where I am today.  I am still trying to get down to at least 150lbs.  I feel like that might be a healthy weight for me at my age.  I was 140 lbs when I got married - 24 years ago.  Who knows I may see that weight again.
Since last year I worked so hard on my diet and weight, I decided this year I'm going to try to become friendly with my old nemesis - exercise!   I wish I could find something that I really enjoyed doing that didn't seem like work.  Remember when we were kids and we would jump rope, ride our bikes, swim, play hop scotch & kickball?  Why couldn't it be that easy these days??  Now it involves making time, putting on workout clothes, timing ourselves or driving to a class.  So much harder.  BUT.. I discovered the BFC after many trys at different diets and I am going to devote this 51st year of my life to finding some kind of exercise that is fun that I will enjoy doing on a daily basis!!
Tonight I am off to the Outback Restaurant for a birthday dinner with my husband and four boys!  They have great selections in sticking with the BFC as I am a steak & Caesar salad lover.  Hope all of you guys have a great night too!

Sunday March 18th

Hello everyone!  I think I'm going to have to change my blog picture soon because I'm beginning to think winter is over here in Maryland.  I've never seen weather this warm in March before, very strange indeed.

Last night I was home with just two of my boys and they wanted to go get some Chinese for dinner.  Now I haven't had Chinese food (which I love) since I started the BFC not just because of the white rice they serve with their meals, but also I'm pretty sure there is always some kind of sugar in the sauces they make.  Anyway, the boys really wanted to go, so I said OK I'm sure I can find something on the menu that I can eat.   Turns out there really isn't too much that looks BFC friendly.  I ended up with just the Hunan Beef & Vegetables which I ate with NO rice.  I brought Truvia for my tea, so I think I did OK.  Anyway I used to go to this place a lot and when the older waitress came to the table she commented on how she hadn't seen me for awhile.  I agreed that it had been awhile and then she said, "Yeah you lost weight".  This may sound silly, but that made me feel so good.  This little Chinese lady noticed that I had lost weight, so maybe I do look different now. Awesome!

One other thing I wanted to mention has to do with probiotics.   Now like most of you I take these every day.  Last week I noticed I was running low and while I was at the drugstore I thought I'd pick up some more.  I like to get the Ultimate Flora by Renew Life brand. This time the store didn't have them so I just picked up a different brand because I figured they were all basically the same as long as they had enough different strains, and enough active cells. So I got something called Probaclac Healthy Flora.  Well without giving out too much information over the next two days I started having a lot of problems with bloat, gas(sorry) and a little cramping.  At first I thought it was too much of the Joseph's sugar free syrup that is made with Maltitol. I've been having a TBS of that everyday in my one minute Flaxseed muffin.  So, next morning I made eggs and sausage for breakfast instead thinking that would clear up the problem. I took my vitamins and Probiotic that morning like usual.  That day things got even worse and I realized it couldn't be the Joseph's and it finally dawned on me that I had switched Probiotics.  That day I went out and got my usual stuff and switched back.  Now I'm pretty much back to normal and feeling much better.   I just wondered if anyone else has ever had a bad reaction to any brands they are taking.  From now on I'm going to only use the brands I have used in the past.

            Good Probiotic

                         Bad Probiotic   (for me anyway)                           

Today I'm off to West Virginia for the day.  My parents live there and I want to go check up on them.  I hope you all have a great rest of the weekend!

Wednesday March 14, 2010 - Warning sad post

Buddy

Hi you guys, sorry I've been missing for a couple days.  It's been a really rough week.  I think you remember me telling you that one of my dogs got diagnosed with congestive heart failure last September.  Well this weekend he took a  bad turn.  He was doing really good all week and then Friday afternoon he stopped wanting his treats, food or pills.  Saturday I was having a hard time getting him to drink water and he would only take a little out of my hands.  By Sunday he was not eating or drinking and was pretty listless.  I told the boys that this was probably it and I would have to take him to the vet on Monday.  It was a pretty sad day.  Monday the vet told me to bring him in that evening after everyone else was gone so I spent the day with him outside on our deck just reading and being there with him.  It actually felt good to do nothing for an entire day.  Ironically it was beautiful weather.  We took him in Monday night.  So sad.  He was really a great dog and super smart and loyal.  Just looking at his picture makes me sad.  He will be missed.

My other dog is missing him too.  He is a big yellow lab mix and I don't think he really understands what is going on, but who knows maybe he does.

So it hasn't been the best past month with my Aunt and dog both dying.  I'm hoping the sadness is over now and better things will come.

On the bright side the weather here has been unusually warm and sunny.  I think last winter we still had snow on the ground on March 14, but today it was sunny and get this....80 degrees outside!  What?!  I had the windows open and sandals on....very weird.  I think they said next week it would get back into the 50's so I guess I'll try to enjoy it while I can but it is very strange.

Still stuck on 163lbs as of my weigh in today.  You know how this happens for me, I get stuck on a number for weeks.  If I would start exercising again I think I could start going down again but I just didn't have it in me this week.   My youngest son made those chocolate chip cookies I posted last blog earlier in the week. We like to have a batch for his school lunches and he volunteered to make them this week.  Anyway when he was all done they looked good but a little weird, like a darker color and sort of oatmeal looking like.  Turns out he got the flaxseed meal and the almond flour mixed up (they were both Bob's Mill brand) and made the cookies with flaxseed meal.  I have to say they still tasted pretty good and came out to be a pretty healthy fiber cookie!!

I'm going to catch up with your blogs tonight when I have a bit more time.  Just wanted to check in first.  So glad to have all of you friends to share things with...the good and the bad.  Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

I thought I would give you the results of the sugar vs. Truvia cookie experiment my son did for his class at school.  To make sure he was only evaluating the sugar itself he kept all the other ingredients in the cookies the same, except for the chocolate chips. For those he used the sugar free variety for the Truvia cookies and regular chocolate chips for the regular sugar cookies.  So, in other words, the Truvia cookies were not really sugar free (because of the flour).   He asked the participants this:  What cookie did you like better and then, which cookie do you think was made with real sugar and which was made with a sugar alternative.   The results......., 60% liked the real sugar cookie better and only 50% could tell which cookie was real sugar.   That's not too bad!  Kyle was hoping no one would be able to tell the difference, but when your having people choose between two items there is that 50% guess factor also.  I think it proved Truvia to be a good alternative.

Before he made the cookies for the experiment I thought he wanted a truly sugar-free variety and I found a really good version that I made up as a sample.  These chocolate chip cookies cooked just like a real cookie in that they spread out while they baked (in fact mine spread a little too much and I think I would add a little more almond flour next time).  After they cooled off everyone in the family sampled them and thought they were awesome!  My husband asked "You sure we can eat these?" and my pickiest oldest son that prides himself on finding fault with every alternate sugar concoction  I come up with even said they were REALLY good.   I'm still staying away from them until I get to maintenance because the last fifteen pounds I want to lose are SO hard to lose!  But here is the recipe for all of you that want a cookie:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter softened
24 Truvia packets
1 egg
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups of ground almond flour (you might need a bit more so they won't spread so much)
3/4 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt (I also go a little less on salt,maybe 1/8)
1/2 cup Hershey's No Sugar Added Chocolate Chips

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in Chocolate chips.

Drop by tsp. full on to parchment covered sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake at 350' for 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Yield about 2 dozen cookies   They are 90 calories, 7 carbs, 0 sugar, 1 fiber per cookie

By the way I found the recipe on this blog: http://grace2882.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/chocolate-chip-cookies/

Tomorrow is weigh-in day for me.  I haven't done any exercise this week because I've been running around getting this estate stuff done.  (I know, no excuse is a good excuse).  Anyway I haven't been snacking and think I have done well on foods except for one mishap last week with a basket of Chilie's chips and salsa.  I'll let you know how it turns out this week.  Have a great day!