Just a quick post to let you know the results of my "Take away snacks, Add exercise Week". On my official Wednesday Weigh-In the scale said.......166lbs. I'm down two pounds - yeah! It felt so good to see the scale move a little bit downward because it sure has been awhile! I'm going to keep on going this next week with the same 'no snacks - add exercise' that I started and see if I can't nudge the scale down another pound. I HAVE been a little hungry in the evenings and have been trying to alleviate that with hot tea! Might have to eat a bit more protein with dinner.
This week has also been a bit stressful because my aunt had to go into the hospital. She was on new pain meds for her leg pain and that led to nausea and throwing up which led to dehydration. They sent her to the ER on Tuesday and I met her there and spent the next six hours there as the ER tried to come up with what was wrong. I kept telling them its a combo of the new pain meds and a vascular problem, but doctors do NOT like being told anything. They did a bunch of tests and decided she might have gall stones and admitted her. Three tests later they decided she did not have gall stones but had a bladder infection. I kept saying please get her vascular surgeon to look at her leg. I even called the surgeons office but they told me she would have to discharge from the hospital and then go to an outpatient clinic to run tests and then see the surgeon in his office. What?!! I'm beginning to thing the whole medical community is being run by insurance companies that don't know what the heck they are doing. Today she is getting discharged back to her assisted living. I doubt if I will get her to go to an outpatient clinic next week like they want, but you never know. We will play it by ear.
Anyway, I am happy that with the stress I still didn't eat the wrong stuff and still fit some exercise in. The key is to make this way of eating such a way of life that you don't even think of eating anything not on the program.
Showing posts with label BFC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BFC. Show all posts
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Week 40!
Wow, forty weeks on the BFC as of today. I think this may be the longest I have lasted on any particular eating plan. Four or so years ago I did a low carb / food combining type diet for almost this long and I lost a lot of weight on that too (which I then gained back). I couldn't tell you exactly what I lost back then or even what I weighed because I really didn't keep track of weighing myself or being that accountable. That's a big difference between then and now. Eventually trying to eat only carb meals and then only protein meals turned out to be too hard to stick with. What I like about the BFC is that its easy. You can still have good carbs, proteins and fats mixed together which is much more normal, at least for me. There are some days I have no grain carbs, but that isn't really a conscious decision, its more like how I felt like eating that day. Another good thing that has happened after this long on the BFC is that I find that I'm not really craving anything anymore. For example the boys and I went shopping the other day with one of their cousins and we stopped at Bob Evans for lunch. Now I used to LOVE Bob Evan's rolls (they come with just about every meal) and also LOVED their seasonal Cherry Bread. This time we all ordered and I got a small Cobb salad. When the rolls and cherry bread came this time not only did I not eat any, but I didn't even care that I couldn't eat any. In the beginning it was like, "No, do not let me look or smell that roll" Now, no big deal. So that is good. Cravings for bad stuff are going away.
So I think the next stage of this journey is to add some kind of exercise to the mix. It's just like starting the diet - you have to be mentally ready to start. I think I'm about there. I saw on a show that Jennifer Hudson (who lost a ton of weight on WW and looks fabulous!) likes to jump rope because she remembers it as a fun activity from her childhood and wanted to find something that seemed fun to do so that she would keep with it. She also chooses three exercises a day and then does 25 reps of each. Her examples, 25 squats and then 25 situps and then 25 bent knee push ups. Now see, that doesn't sound so bad to me - it's doable. So I think I'm going to start with doing the three exercise thing and then work my way up to finding an exercise I think is "fun". (if thats possible, lol!)
By the way, my son is down eight pounds. His "secret" that works for him right now is a HUGE BFC breakfast and then a very small BFC lunch and a basically normal sized BFC dinner. Hot tea in between seems to be helping too.
So that's it for now. Hope everyone has a great day!
So I think the next stage of this journey is to add some kind of exercise to the mix. It's just like starting the diet - you have to be mentally ready to start. I think I'm about there. I saw on a show that Jennifer Hudson (who lost a ton of weight on WW and looks fabulous!) likes to jump rope because she remembers it as a fun activity from her childhood and wanted to find something that seemed fun to do so that she would keep with it. She also chooses three exercises a day and then does 25 reps of each. Her examples, 25 squats and then 25 situps and then 25 bent knee push ups. Now see, that doesn't sound so bad to me - it's doable. So I think I'm going to start with doing the three exercise thing and then work my way up to finding an exercise I think is "fun". (if thats possible, lol!)
By the way, my son is down eight pounds. His "secret" that works for him right now is a HUGE BFC breakfast and then a very small BFC lunch and a basically normal sized BFC dinner. Hot tea in between seems to be helping too.
So that's it for now. Hope everyone has a great day!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Saturday January 14, 2012
I'm having a bit of writers block trying to come up with something to talk about on here. Nothing is really new or different. My weight this week was the same -big surprise. I'm thinking I might have to do something to shake things up a bit but I'm not sure what? I realize that the last 18 lbs will be the slowest to lose. Rosalie said she took a long time to lose the last pounds, and Amber said she was stuck for a long time also, so I'm not really discouraged...just tired of being at this weight! It really is like the scale is stuck - but I know its not, all of us in the house use the same scale.
To give you an idea of what I'm eating, here are my last two days as far as I remember:
Day 1
Breakfast: two coffees with heavy cream, benefiber, and stevia
scrambled eggs with mushrooms, onions, bit of spinach and bit of cheddar cheese
Lunch: Chiplote salad with black beans, cheese, grilled peppers, and pica de gallo
Dinner - grilled slices of london broil with wine sauce, mashed cauliflower with cream and Parmesan,
steamed broccoli
Snacks thru out day: coffee with decaff, cream stevia, two coconut muffins, 3 squares Lindt 85%
chocolate
Day 2:
Breakfast - two coffees with heavy cream, benefiber and stevia
3 link sausages, scrambled eggs with onion, cheese and mushrooms
Lunch - Running errands so had two orange flavored coconut muffins, handful of roasted almonds, and
cup of decaf with truvia and heavy cream
Dinner - homemade meatballs in spaghetti sauce (Delallo 1sugar per serving), green beans marinated
in vinegar and capers
Snacks thru out day: two coconut muffins, 3 squares Lindt 85% chocolate, coffee with decaf, stevia,
and cream
So those are basically my days. I think everything is allowed and within the boundaries of the BFC, but maybe it's too much rich food. I don't know.
I'll tell you one thing that is a bit hard when following the BFC and that is cooking dinner for six people every night. I have to come up with something everyone likes and will eat, but I have to make sure it's BFC friendly for my husband, my son and myself. Here is an example of how frustrating this can be. I tried Jorge's Raspberry Porkchops one night for dinner. By the time I prepared the raspberry/mustard coating sauce and ground up enough nuts to dip it in and then coated seven pork-chops (a girlfriend here that night) and got two huge pans out to fry them in, trying to make sure they didn't stick to the pans (which they did), and meanwhile got brussell sprouts chopped up and put on roasting pan in oven with olive oil salt and pepper, and then had to make a pot of brown rice for my non BFC eaters. It becomes quite a chore!! After all that, no one really liked the pork chops that much! They were met with such a lackluster reception that they are off this house's recipe list.
I sometimes think how much easier this would be if I was just cooking for myself!! First of all I could eat when I wanted to, not at a set dinner time (here it is 6:00pm), secondly when you are just making one piece of protein you can take much more care in the cooking and do it right, and thirdly I wouldn't have to come up with some kind of brown rice, whole wheat pasta, or potato to go with my meal(because I don't eat them any way!) and lastly I could eat the same recipes over and over and not have to worry about people being bored with the menu. Oh well, one day they'll all be moved out and then I'll probably miss my days of family dinners........or not?
Hope those that were sick are feeling better, and everyone is having a nice weekend and doing something fun!!
To give you an idea of what I'm eating, here are my last two days as far as I remember:
Day 1
Breakfast: two coffees with heavy cream, benefiber, and stevia
scrambled eggs with mushrooms, onions, bit of spinach and bit of cheddar cheese
Lunch: Chiplote salad with black beans, cheese, grilled peppers, and pica de gallo
Dinner - grilled slices of london broil with wine sauce, mashed cauliflower with cream and Parmesan,
steamed broccoli
Snacks thru out day: coffee with decaff, cream stevia, two coconut muffins, 3 squares Lindt 85%
chocolate
Day 2:
Breakfast - two coffees with heavy cream, benefiber and stevia
3 link sausages, scrambled eggs with onion, cheese and mushrooms
Lunch - Running errands so had two orange flavored coconut muffins, handful of roasted almonds, and
cup of decaf with truvia and heavy cream
Dinner - homemade meatballs in spaghetti sauce (Delallo 1sugar per serving), green beans marinated
in vinegar and capers
Snacks thru out day: two coconut muffins, 3 squares Lindt 85% chocolate, coffee with decaf, stevia,
and cream
So those are basically my days. I think everything is allowed and within the boundaries of the BFC, but maybe it's too much rich food. I don't know.
I'll tell you one thing that is a bit hard when following the BFC and that is cooking dinner for six people every night. I have to come up with something everyone likes and will eat, but I have to make sure it's BFC friendly for my husband, my son and myself. Here is an example of how frustrating this can be. I tried Jorge's Raspberry Porkchops one night for dinner. By the time I prepared the raspberry/mustard coating sauce and ground up enough nuts to dip it in and then coated seven pork-chops (a girlfriend here that night) and got two huge pans out to fry them in, trying to make sure they didn't stick to the pans (which they did), and meanwhile got brussell sprouts chopped up and put on roasting pan in oven with olive oil salt and pepper, and then had to make a pot of brown rice for my non BFC eaters. It becomes quite a chore!! After all that, no one really liked the pork chops that much! They were met with such a lackluster reception that they are off this house's recipe list.
I sometimes think how much easier this would be if I was just cooking for myself!! First of all I could eat when I wanted to, not at a set dinner time (here it is 6:00pm), secondly when you are just making one piece of protein you can take much more care in the cooking and do it right, and thirdly I wouldn't have to come up with some kind of brown rice, whole wheat pasta, or potato to go with my meal(because I don't eat them any way!) and lastly I could eat the same recipes over and over and not have to worry about people being bored with the menu. Oh well, one day they'll all be moved out and then I'll probably miss my days of family dinners........or not?
Hope those that were sick are feeling better, and everyone is having a nice weekend and doing something fun!!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Wednesday Weigh In - January 4, 2012
Hello everyone! It's Wednesday weigh in day for me. I haven't been on the scale in two weeks so I was a little leary of my weigh in this morning. Happily I am the same weight -167lbs. Unhappily I didn't lose any more. Seriously though, I am actually glad I made it through the holidays and our little trip without gaining. Now that they are over it will be easier to get back on schedule and hopefully work these last eighteen pounds off. I think the closer you get to your goal weight the slower the pounds come off! Ugh!
My oldest son has put on quite a bit of weight since he graduated from college and of course we've been trying to encourage him to lose weight. Like most kids(or young adult in his case), the more we tried to encourage him the more he ate and did what ever was the opposite of what we were saying. On New Years day he actually came to us and said he wanted to do the BFC like we were doing. He said he could no longer deny that my husband and I were losing weight and he was not(with the methods or lack of methods he was using). I think when he got on the scale on New Years day he was actually shocked at what he actually weighed. I think everyone, no matter how young or old you are, has to have that "moment" when you finally realize that you are out of control. Until that moment you fool yourself into thinking that you aren't really that bad, that you carry your weight well, and that you can start losing when ever you want to and it won't be that hard. At some point reality finally hits us all and only then can we begin our journey back to health. Honestly, I was getting pretty worried about him and was SO happy that he decided to finally try the BFC. I told him that it might be easier for him because I am already cooking that way and he can just join in. I told him the first month is the hardest. I told him that I would help him in any way I could. I told him I have faith in him that he CAN do this! I told him to try and do it TOTALLY for at least one month and he would see a difference. You really can't cheat on the BFC like you can on other diets. I really hope he sticks with it and gives it a chance. Patience is not his strongest point.
So that's where I'm at this cold January morning. We had snow flurries all day yesterday although nothing stuck on the ground. I took down all my Christmas decorations and now I'm off to start reconciling the business books in preparation for taxes! What fun!! I hope everyone has a good weigh in this week and we all continue to encourage each other with tips, recipes and empathy!
My oldest son has put on quite a bit of weight since he graduated from college and of course we've been trying to encourage him to lose weight. Like most kids(or young adult in his case), the more we tried to encourage him the more he ate and did what ever was the opposite of what we were saying. On New Years day he actually came to us and said he wanted to do the BFC like we were doing. He said he could no longer deny that my husband and I were losing weight and he was not(with the methods or lack of methods he was using). I think when he got on the scale on New Years day he was actually shocked at what he actually weighed. I think everyone, no matter how young or old you are, has to have that "moment" when you finally realize that you are out of control. Until that moment you fool yourself into thinking that you aren't really that bad, that you carry your weight well, and that you can start losing when ever you want to and it won't be that hard. At some point reality finally hits us all and only then can we begin our journey back to health. Honestly, I was getting pretty worried about him and was SO happy that he decided to finally try the BFC. I told him that it might be easier for him because I am already cooking that way and he can just join in. I told him the first month is the hardest. I told him that I would help him in any way I could. I told him I have faith in him that he CAN do this! I told him to try and do it TOTALLY for at least one month and he would see a difference. You really can't cheat on the BFC like you can on other diets. I really hope he sticks with it and gives it a chance. Patience is not his strongest point.
So that's where I'm at this cold January morning. We had snow flurries all day yesterday although nothing stuck on the ground. I took down all my Christmas decorations and now I'm off to start reconciling the business books in preparation for taxes! What fun!! I hope everyone has a good weigh in this week and we all continue to encourage each other with tips, recipes and empathy!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 30th, 2011
Hi Everyone, I'm still here and I'm still on the BFC. Hoping to get back to blogging now that the holidays have almost ended. I'm sure with the slow months of January and February I'll find lots more time. I've just started reading over the past blogs and I will get caught up! I'm sorry I haven't been on to comment and support you the last week or so. It was such a hectic couple of weeks. Christmas was very nice. My friend and her kids came and stayed with us a couple days right before Christmas and then my parents came for a day and then we had to go to some relatives houses and then all of a sudden Christmas came! That's it in a nutshell! My husband took off the week between Christmas and New Years (sort of) and we decided to take advantage of the time and take a little trip down to Charlottesville, VA., which is a little over three hours south west of us. My three youngest sons went with us. I am also looking around for places we might like to retire to one day and have been scoping out areas whenever we take a little trip. We had a nice time while we were there and visited Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. It is gorgeous! If I could retire at Monticello I would be a happy camper, lol! For me, the rest of Charlottesville is not what I am looking for. Nice for a visit, but I don't want to live there I don't think. We got back this morning.
I actually think I have been doing pretty well on the BFC over the holidays. I baked about 12 dozen Christmas cookies and didn't eat a single one! And no cookie dough either! The holiday dinners were not too bad with salads, ham, deviled eggs, and brussell sprouts. My brother-in-laws house was a bit harder because he made BBQ ribs, spinach salad (loaded with a sugar dressing) and cookies! That's it!! No veggies except that sugar loaded salad. Luckily he dry rubbed the ribs so my husband and I ate those and water. I was pretty hungry when we got home that night and had to much on some almonds and tea to get me through until the next morning. On our trip to Charlottesville I did succumb to a piece of regular pizza because we were shopping in an open aired market place that had either really expensive cafes or pizza joints. I wasn't taking all five of us to a really expensive cafe for lunch so we went into the pizza place and got a extra large pizza to split. I had ONE piece! It's the first piece of "real" pizza I've had since last April and I'll tell you I ate it really slow and savored each bite. Honestly though I don't think I went too far over my carbs with one piece but the sauce probably had sugar. I weighed myself before our trip and I was still at 167lbs. I haven't weighed myself on the trip or since I've been back. I might sneak in a weigh in before my official next Wednesday or I might wait.
My usual New Year's resolution is to lose weight. I've been saying that every New Years since I started having kids! This year my resolution is to keep going! I want to keep losing weight, and keep getting healthier! I hope to be at my goal weight of 150lbs at least close to my year anniversary in April! Anyway I just wanted to check in with everyone and now I'm going to try to catch up on some blogs. I wish to all of you a wonderful 2012 full of health and happiness!!
I actually think I have been doing pretty well on the BFC over the holidays. I baked about 12 dozen Christmas cookies and didn't eat a single one! And no cookie dough either! The holiday dinners were not too bad with salads, ham, deviled eggs, and brussell sprouts. My brother-in-laws house was a bit harder because he made BBQ ribs, spinach salad (loaded with a sugar dressing) and cookies! That's it!! No veggies except that sugar loaded salad. Luckily he dry rubbed the ribs so my husband and I ate those and water. I was pretty hungry when we got home that night and had to much on some almonds and tea to get me through until the next morning. On our trip to Charlottesville I did succumb to a piece of regular pizza because we were shopping in an open aired market place that had either really expensive cafes or pizza joints. I wasn't taking all five of us to a really expensive cafe for lunch so we went into the pizza place and got a extra large pizza to split. I had ONE piece! It's the first piece of "real" pizza I've had since last April and I'll tell you I ate it really slow and savored each bite. Honestly though I don't think I went too far over my carbs with one piece but the sauce probably had sugar. I weighed myself before our trip and I was still at 167lbs. I haven't weighed myself on the trip or since I've been back. I might sneak in a weigh in before my official next Wednesday or I might wait.
My usual New Year's resolution is to lose weight. I've been saying that every New Years since I started having kids! This year my resolution is to keep going! I want to keep losing weight, and keep getting healthier! I hope to be at my goal weight of 150lbs at least close to my year anniversary in April! Anyway I just wanted to check in with everyone and now I'm going to try to catch up on some blogs. I wish to all of you a wonderful 2012 full of health and happiness!!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday December 13
Good morning everyone! Once again I have to catch up on the blogs since I have been away a couple days. We went up to Lancaster, PA this weekend so I could find my Christmas spirit! It sometimes seems we have so many tasks to do that we don't take time to just have some fun and that is what I wanted to do. My husband and three of our boys went with me and we just walked around the little Amish towns, went into craft shops and stopped at a couple Christmas train layouts! While we were there we went and saw the movie Hugo. It was just so nice to slow down and have a little fun. On the way home we stopped at the Christmas tree farm and met my oldest son and his girlfriend there to finally pick out our tree. We ended up getting this HUGE 9' Fraser Fir. When we came home we found that my oldest son and his girlfriend had made us dinner and a ton of Christmas cookies. Christmas spirit found! I'll post some Christmas tree pictures next post.
Ok, so probably because we did so much walking up in Lancaster I was down a pound when we got back. I am sure by my actual weigh in day this Wednesday I'll be back up to my usual 168lbs. For the first time since being on the BFC way of eating, I am having a bit of a hard time resisting... - it's the darn Christmas cookies! Ok so I admit to my first major cheat ever - I had one Christmas cookie when we got back and then the next day I broke off a small piece of Peppermint bark. So you may be thinking that it isn't that bad of a cheat, but it worries me because I started having thoughts like, "It's Christmas, am I never supposed to enjoy myself again?" "I can't go never having a Christmas cookie again" and things like that. Luckily I brewed up some peppermint chocolate tea and added some Reddi Whip to it and it seemed to quell my cookie cravings and wild thoughts - thank goodness. I'm probably going to drink two hundred cups of tea from now until Christmas, lol! I can try whipping up a batch of coconut or almond flour something to have also, but honestly, as good as that usually is, it really is not in the running with the regular Christmas cookies. So hopefully I can keep resisting the good stuff and keep my long term weight goals in my head at all times. We'll see. Hope all of you are doing well!
Ok, so probably because we did so much walking up in Lancaster I was down a pound when we got back. I am sure by my actual weigh in day this Wednesday I'll be back up to my usual 168lbs. For the first time since being on the BFC way of eating, I am having a bit of a hard time resisting... - it's the darn Christmas cookies! Ok so I admit to my first major cheat ever - I had one Christmas cookie when we got back and then the next day I broke off a small piece of Peppermint bark. So you may be thinking that it isn't that bad of a cheat, but it worries me because I started having thoughts like, "It's Christmas, am I never supposed to enjoy myself again?" "I can't go never having a Christmas cookie again" and things like that. Luckily I brewed up some peppermint chocolate tea and added some Reddi Whip to it and it seemed to quell my cookie cravings and wild thoughts - thank goodness. I'm probably going to drink two hundred cups of tea from now until Christmas, lol! I can try whipping up a batch of coconut or almond flour something to have also, but honestly, as good as that usually is, it really is not in the running with the regular Christmas cookies. So hopefully I can keep resisting the good stuff and keep my long term weight goals in my head at all times. We'll see. Hope all of you are doing well!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Thursday - November 11
Well, just as expected when I weighed myself yesterday (my official weigh-in day) I was still 168lbs. I've come to find out that this is just how my body works. I stay the same weight for quite awhile and then all of a sudden I'll go down a pound or two. It's been slow but I've still come a long way since last April. I would like to get to 150lbs. Someone asked how tall I am and I'm almost 5'7" so I think 150 lbs would be a good weight. I'm giving myself until April to lose the last 18 pounds so that way I'm not putting too much pressure on myself.
So I haven't had any bread for about a month. I was doing the FT and stuck with it all the way for about two weeks and then started adding in coconut flour products and then some steel cut oats in the morning. Yesterday I basically went back to the original BFC and for lunch I had a two pita pizzas with Delallo marinara sauce (7g,1 sugar for 1/2 cup) mozzarella and turkey bacon. It was delicious and the best part was I wasn't hungry for the rest of the afternoon! For dinner we had chicken frajitas with grilled peppers, sour cream and homemade pico de gallo - I just eat it all on my plate and don't put it on a tortilla. I felt great all day! I think I missed my regular food!
This brings me to the fact that I believe,for me, the FT was a little too restrictive. It didn't seem to make me lose any faster than I was losing before and it left me a little hungry and maybe a little unsatisfied. I think because I was hungry between meals I was making pumpkin muffins and lemon coconut bread and stuff like that and was grabbing bites of it all day instead of just filling up at each meal with good foods. I will probably still make the lemon coconut bread (my favorite) or the coconut cookies but will use them in place of a piece of chocolate after dinner instead of a way to keep me full during the day.
Speaking of eating during the day, does anyone else ever come up short trying to think of things to have for lunch? I enjoyed the pita pizzas and they are quick to make but of course I can't have them every day. I have never been a sandwich girl for lunch because I don't really like lunch meats - which is probably a good thing. I do like peanut butter sandwiches but don't want to have too many of them. I would rely on leftovers but very rarely are their leftovers in this house of men and if there are I can't get to them before someone else does. Half the time my lunch time is spent running around doing errands so I'm not really in the house to cook and need something quick and easy for lunch. I remember one time Pattie posted everyone's good ideas for breakfast and I was just wondering what everyone did for lunch.
I started tracking my food again with "My fitness Pal" because I was getting really lazy about doing that. If you eat different things, or make a new recipe you have to type in all the ingredients and stuff to get it stored. Sometimes I just try to find something already in the program that is very similar to what I've eaten. I have it set up to monitor carbs, sugars, fiber, sodium and calories. I'm still trying to keep my calories decent and my sugars below the 16 allowed and my total carbs at under 80.
I really do like hearing about everyone's great ideas and new recipes but I already feel better just going back to the basics the way I started, and think it will definitely be easier through the holidays. I'm a little behind on the blogs and am going to read them now! Hope everyone is doing well!
So I haven't had any bread for about a month. I was doing the FT and stuck with it all the way for about two weeks and then started adding in coconut flour products and then some steel cut oats in the morning. Yesterday I basically went back to the original BFC and for lunch I had a two pita pizzas with Delallo marinara sauce (7g,1 sugar for 1/2 cup) mozzarella and turkey bacon. It was delicious and the best part was I wasn't hungry for the rest of the afternoon! For dinner we had chicken frajitas with grilled peppers, sour cream and homemade pico de gallo - I just eat it all on my plate and don't put it on a tortilla. I felt great all day! I think I missed my regular food!
This brings me to the fact that I believe,for me, the FT was a little too restrictive. It didn't seem to make me lose any faster than I was losing before and it left me a little hungry and maybe a little unsatisfied. I think because I was hungry between meals I was making pumpkin muffins and lemon coconut bread and stuff like that and was grabbing bites of it all day instead of just filling up at each meal with good foods. I will probably still make the lemon coconut bread (my favorite) or the coconut cookies but will use them in place of a piece of chocolate after dinner instead of a way to keep me full during the day.
Speaking of eating during the day, does anyone else ever come up short trying to think of things to have for lunch? I enjoyed the pita pizzas and they are quick to make but of course I can't have them every day. I have never been a sandwich girl for lunch because I don't really like lunch meats - which is probably a good thing. I do like peanut butter sandwiches but don't want to have too many of them. I would rely on leftovers but very rarely are their leftovers in this house of men and if there are I can't get to them before someone else does. Half the time my lunch time is spent running around doing errands so I'm not really in the house to cook and need something quick and easy for lunch. I remember one time Pattie posted everyone's good ideas for breakfast and I was just wondering what everyone did for lunch.
I started tracking my food again with "My fitness Pal" because I was getting really lazy about doing that. If you eat different things, or make a new recipe you have to type in all the ingredients and stuff to get it stored. Sometimes I just try to find something already in the program that is very similar to what I've eaten. I have it set up to monitor carbs, sugars, fiber, sodium and calories. I'm still trying to keep my calories decent and my sugars below the 16 allowed and my total carbs at under 80.
I really do like hearing about everyone's great ideas and new recipes but I already feel better just going back to the basics the way I started, and think it will definitely be easier through the holidays. I'm a little behind on the blogs and am going to read them now! Hope everyone is doing well!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
November 2 - BFC week 29
I am back down to 168lbs today and if I know my body on the BFC, I'll probably be at this weight for the next month! Doesn't bother me too much, because I'm almost down 30 pounds since I started, my sizes are smaller, I feel good (except for this darn cold I'm trying to get rid of), and I hope I will be at my goal weight of 150lbs by my one year anniversary next April.
So speaking of the months of the year, how can it already be November! Wasn't it just summer? Now comes the incredibly fast paced days that occur from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas. I feel like I'm already behind, lol! I talked to my older brother, Steve and his family and also my parents this week and have asked them all to come to my house for Thanksgiving. No one in my family ever seems to organize anything and I always end up having the family get-togethers. One year I decided to forget it, that I wasn't going to do all the work that year, and then no one else did either. We ended up just having our own Thanksgiving dinner. When you have your own Thanksgiving dinner with no other people, it turns into just a regular dinner at your house where you just happen to be having turkey. At least that's how it is over here. It really is much more fun to have people over, to talk, to pour some wine, and to laugh, even if you have to do a lot of work to make it happen. I now have to come up with some great menu that will keep everyone happy. Remember me talking about my sister in law that was at the beach with us? The one that is really overweight that said anything without sugar tastes disgusting?! Well, she will be here too. I think I will make some BFC dishes and some old "regular" dishes and do the same with desert, one BFC and one or two "regular". So I was wondering what all the rest of you are thinking of having? I know Dawn is doing the Costco dinner (smart!) but what about everyone else? Some of you were on the BFC last Thanksgiving and I'm hoping you'll share what worked and what didn't. I love getting ideas, recipes and inspiration from all of you. When I get my menu planned I'll post it here also.
Off the subject of Thanksgiving, I was thinking about our recent snow (which is all gone now thank goodness). Everyone was talking about how early it was for snow in their area and stuff. I know from your posts where some of you live but I was wondering what state everyone lives in. It might have been said before but I might have not been blogging then. If you don't mind, could you share what state you live in and what kind of winters you get? I live in Westminster, Maryland and we get all four seasons. Snow doesn't usually start until some time in December and doesn't usually get heavy until Jan, Feb., and sometimes March. It's interesting to hear how everyone else lives, don't you think? Thanks for listening and hope you all have a great day!
So speaking of the months of the year, how can it already be November! Wasn't it just summer? Now comes the incredibly fast paced days that occur from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas. I feel like I'm already behind, lol! I talked to my older brother, Steve and his family and also my parents this week and have asked them all to come to my house for Thanksgiving. No one in my family ever seems to organize anything and I always end up having the family get-togethers. One year I decided to forget it, that I wasn't going to do all the work that year, and then no one else did either. We ended up just having our own Thanksgiving dinner. When you have your own Thanksgiving dinner with no other people, it turns into just a regular dinner at your house where you just happen to be having turkey. At least that's how it is over here. It really is much more fun to have people over, to talk, to pour some wine, and to laugh, even if you have to do a lot of work to make it happen. I now have to come up with some great menu that will keep everyone happy. Remember me talking about my sister in law that was at the beach with us? The one that is really overweight that said anything without sugar tastes disgusting?! Well, she will be here too. I think I will make some BFC dishes and some old "regular" dishes and do the same with desert, one BFC and one or two "regular". So I was wondering what all the rest of you are thinking of having? I know Dawn is doing the Costco dinner (smart!) but what about everyone else? Some of you were on the BFC last Thanksgiving and I'm hoping you'll share what worked and what didn't. I love getting ideas, recipes and inspiration from all of you. When I get my menu planned I'll post it here also.
Off the subject of Thanksgiving, I was thinking about our recent snow (which is all gone now thank goodness). Everyone was talking about how early it was for snow in their area and stuff. I know from your posts where some of you live but I was wondering what state everyone lives in. It might have been said before but I might have not been blogging then. If you don't mind, could you share what state you live in and what kind of winters you get? I live in Westminster, Maryland and we get all four seasons. Snow doesn't usually start until some time in December and doesn't usually get heavy until Jan, Feb., and sometimes March. It's interesting to hear how everyone else lives, don't you think? Thanks for listening and hope you all have a great day!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
BFC week - 28
I had a fun day today. Instead of worrying about the family and the business (too much) I had a "me" day. I drove about an hour to a town a couple of towns over from me and went shopping at the Whole Foods. I've been there before but it was before I started the BFC and back then I was just admiring the store because of my love of "Top Chef". Whole Foods is where all the chefs always go for their food shopping (me and my second oldest LOVE that show). Anyway today I went there looking for BFC motivation and goodies and I found both. I found some things that are not at my local grocery store like that I've been wanting to try like:
Besides these goodies, I also found some St. Josephs sugar free crunchy peanut butter, and the St. Josephs sugar free cookies. They also had Zevia on sale for half price so I got a six pack to save for pizza night (that's the only time I really crave a soda). They also sold Zevia individually so I picked up a different flavor to try besides my favorite ginger root beer. I wish we could always just try just one of something instead of having to buy the whole pack before we know if we like it or not. The only thing I couldn't find at Whole Foods was the Nature's Hollow sugar free Jam which was a bummer, but the rest of my haul made up for it! So, after going to Whole Foods I stopped at the J.C.Penny's nearby and bought a pair of jeans and a pair of cords in a size 12! It's so weird because the scale does not seem to be moving but yet I'm in a size 12 jeans. I'm 5'6" and a medium/large build and I've never been much below a size 12 - maybe a size 10 way back when. It's also weird because I was getting discouraged with the BFC just yesterday to the point of looking up other diets and seeing if there was anything else out there for me. I get discouraged because I'm strict about this diet and feel like the weight should be falling off instead of staying the same or coming off so slowly. The problem is that no other diet looks good to me. I don't really want to start anything new. I don't want to change my mind about what I can and can't eat. I'm used to eating this way and nothing else looks good to me or feels right to me. So today when I strolled through Whole Foods I was trying to get myself motivated again and I think I did that. Once I got my new jeans I felt good about myself. (Although I still think they must be making clothes bigger these days if I'm getting into a size 12 at this point.) I've also decided that this week I'm going to go through all my old recipes and find the ones that will work on the BFC. I'm sure I have a lot of soups, stews, and pot roasts and things like that that would work just fine,. I'm going to dig them all up and put together my own little BFC cookbook of things I like and things I know my family likes. Then I'm going to just keep going. I hope I'm not being too negative on here. I just try to be honest about my journey on this food plan. I really do appreciate everyone's thoughts, ideas, support and also just reading about everyone else's journey too! You're all awesome!
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| They don't sell this near me. They only sell the Dairy free version not sugar free. |
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| Or these either! I haven't tasted either yet but I plan to |
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| I went looking for the Apple Cider Tea but they unfortunately did not have any. So I looked around at the other flavors. I LOVE the Double Dark Chocolate Mate but still have a bunch at home so I decided to give this a try! Had a cup as soon as I got home and it is SO good!! If you like mint chocolate chip ice cream you'll probably like this. |
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| I also saw this one there. I like bananas but I don't miss them that much, but I know some of you said that you miss bananas so this might be the perfect tea for you! |
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| Then I saw these! They have 4 sugars per TABLESPOON! They would be perfect on top of some steel cut oatmeal or on some of those pumpkin muffins or cookies! You wouldn't even need anywhere near a TBS. |
Besides these goodies, I also found some St. Josephs sugar free crunchy peanut butter, and the St. Josephs sugar free cookies. They also had Zevia on sale for half price so I got a six pack to save for pizza night (that's the only time I really crave a soda). They also sold Zevia individually so I picked up a different flavor to try besides my favorite ginger root beer. I wish we could always just try just one of something instead of having to buy the whole pack before we know if we like it or not. The only thing I couldn't find at Whole Foods was the Nature's Hollow sugar free Jam which was a bummer, but the rest of my haul made up for it! So, after going to Whole Foods I stopped at the J.C.Penny's nearby and bought a pair of jeans and a pair of cords in a size 12! It's so weird because the scale does not seem to be moving but yet I'm in a size 12 jeans. I'm 5'6" and a medium/large build and I've never been much below a size 12 - maybe a size 10 way back when. It's also weird because I was getting discouraged with the BFC just yesterday to the point of looking up other diets and seeing if there was anything else out there for me. I get discouraged because I'm strict about this diet and feel like the weight should be falling off instead of staying the same or coming off so slowly. The problem is that no other diet looks good to me. I don't really want to start anything new. I don't want to change my mind about what I can and can't eat. I'm used to eating this way and nothing else looks good to me or feels right to me. So today when I strolled through Whole Foods I was trying to get myself motivated again and I think I did that. Once I got my new jeans I felt good about myself. (Although I still think they must be making clothes bigger these days if I'm getting into a size 12 at this point.) I've also decided that this week I'm going to go through all my old recipes and find the ones that will work on the BFC. I'm sure I have a lot of soups, stews, and pot roasts and things like that that would work just fine,. I'm going to dig them all up and put together my own little BFC cookbook of things I like and things I know my family likes. Then I'm going to just keep going. I hope I'm not being too negative on here. I just try to be honest about my journey on this food plan. I really do appreciate everyone's thoughts, ideas, support and also just reading about everyone else's journey too! You're all awesome!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monday -October 10
So still following the Fast Track and today will be day nine already! As far as I know I haven't dropped anymore weight since my last check in, but I haven't weighed in on my primary scale since last Thursday - I can never get to it before my coffee and stuff. I would move the scale somewhere else but my husband and son use it too so I leave it in the shared bathroom. On Wednesday weigh in day I'll get up even earlier than 6:15am to see what my weight really is. Sticking to the no grains hasn't really been that hard for me but I think that's because like I told you I've done a diet like this before and I'm a bit used to it. I noticed that everyone has still been making coconut flour products even on the FT. I've been avoiding them for some reason. Even though I know coconut flour is not a grain, it just seems like it once you're eating pancakes and bread. I think after my 14 days are up I will start incorporating the coconut bread and other products back in to my diet but try leaving out wheat grains for a while longer and see how that does. Dawn always has such delicious looking treats and things that she comes up with using coconut bread or almond flour - I'm dying to try some of them!
Other than BFC things have been going ok. I've got my dog on heart medicine now for his enlarged heart/congestive heart failure. The vet says there might be another pill we could try that may improve his quality of life and maybe even extend his life by many months. The only thing is the pill would NOT be good for him if his enlarged heart was caused by something other than a bad valve. The vet is guessing that he has a bad valve, but the only way to know for sure would be a very expensive echocardiogram . Without it I would be taking a gamble of the pills helping or hurting him. Why is life always so difficult with these difficult decisions to make.
My oldest son that got his degree last May and has been sending out a million resumes since while living at home, finally found a job last Thursday! The only twist, is that it is a start up graphic design/web design company and he would have to start out as an independent contractor. That means getting paid for each job he does, not getting benefits and paying his own taxes. I told him to take it. Anything is better than sitting in his room all day sending out resumes. The main thing everyone is looking for these days is experience on top of the degree. This way, even if this company folds, he will have gained a bunch of experience. If the company doesn't fold and ends up taking off, then he would the first designer hired and could really move up in the company. So either way its a no brainer win/win for my son.
My son that is in Towson University with the two partying roommates, got de-tripled last week! Yeah! He was a little stressed because the college made him move to a new room in a new building and the move had to take place after 7pm at night on a Tuesday, so that the RA's would be on duty to sign him in and out. Nothing like moving everything you own and sleeping in a new room with a new complete stranger in the middle of a school week on top of classes and homework. My oldest son and I went over to help him move and it all turned out pretty well. At least he is now in a room with only one other guy. The new guys seems pretty nice and is definitely mellow. He has posters all over his side of the room about how pot should be legalized. But Nick says he is nice and won't bring his habits into the room. Nick has already pretty much decided that he wants to do his next 1& 1/2 years at the community college near our house. I just think he is not ready to live on his own just yet and misses home and his brothers. Doing community college to get his gen ed's out of the way is fine with me. It will save us money too - that is always a good thing!
Thats about it around here. My husband and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary on Saturday by going craft shopping and then seeing the movie, "The Ides of March" the political thriller with George Clooney. We had dinner at Carrabbas which we love because you can get Italian food without the pasta. Mine was cheese stuffed chicken breast with a lemon garlic cream sauce over the chicken and the julienne zucchini that went with it. Delicious! Hope everyone has a great day!
Other than BFC things have been going ok. I've got my dog on heart medicine now for his enlarged heart/congestive heart failure. The vet says there might be another pill we could try that may improve his quality of life and maybe even extend his life by many months. The only thing is the pill would NOT be good for him if his enlarged heart was caused by something other than a bad valve. The vet is guessing that he has a bad valve, but the only way to know for sure would be a very expensive echocardiogram . Without it I would be taking a gamble of the pills helping or hurting him. Why is life always so difficult with these difficult decisions to make.
My oldest son that got his degree last May and has been sending out a million resumes since while living at home, finally found a job last Thursday! The only twist, is that it is a start up graphic design/web design company and he would have to start out as an independent contractor. That means getting paid for each job he does, not getting benefits and paying his own taxes. I told him to take it. Anything is better than sitting in his room all day sending out resumes. The main thing everyone is looking for these days is experience on top of the degree. This way, even if this company folds, he will have gained a bunch of experience. If the company doesn't fold and ends up taking off, then he would the first designer hired and could really move up in the company. So either way its a no brainer win/win for my son.
My son that is in Towson University with the two partying roommates, got de-tripled last week! Yeah! He was a little stressed because the college made him move to a new room in a new building and the move had to take place after 7pm at night on a Tuesday, so that the RA's would be on duty to sign him in and out. Nothing like moving everything you own and sleeping in a new room with a new complete stranger in the middle of a school week on top of classes and homework. My oldest son and I went over to help him move and it all turned out pretty well. At least he is now in a room with only one other guy. The new guys seems pretty nice and is definitely mellow. He has posters all over his side of the room about how pot should be legalized. But Nick says he is nice and won't bring his habits into the room. Nick has already pretty much decided that he wants to do his next 1& 1/2 years at the community college near our house. I just think he is not ready to live on his own just yet and misses home and his brothers. Doing community college to get his gen ed's out of the way is fine with me. It will save us money too - that is always a good thing!
Thats about it around here. My husband and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary on Saturday by going craft shopping and then seeing the movie, "The Ides of March" the political thriller with George Clooney. We had dinner at Carrabbas which we love because you can get Italian food without the pasta. Mine was cheese stuffed chicken breast with a lemon garlic cream sauce over the chicken and the julienne zucchini that went with it. Delicious! Hope everyone has a great day!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Thursday 10/6 -Fast Track Day 5/BFC Week 26
Today is the start of day 5 on the Fast Track. I actually got into the bathroom before anybody else today and was able to weigh myself before even my first cup of coffee. The scale read 170lbs! That is a two pound loss for me -FINALLY!! I think this FT may have nudged me past my plateau. I still think that in this stage of the game I'm just losing slower than I was in the beginning, but that's really ok. The other day I noticed that I was constantly hiking up my size 14 jeans, so when I was in Walmart the other day I grabbed a cheap pair of 12's thinking they would be too tight but at least I'd have them for when the 14's were really too big(I'm just doing cheap jeans now until I get to goal) When I got home I tried them on and they actually fit. I am still surprised because I didn't have to suck it in and really pull to get them buttoned or anything - they just fit. Now this doesn't mean I don't still have some extra fat on top of the jeans,because I most definitely do. The "old" size 14's do not create any "muffin top" because they are a bit big,, but the size 12's do create a bit of a "muffin top" so that I wouldn't want to wear a tight shirt with them. Still work to be done and weight to be lost for sure. I do believe that wherever we have our BIGGEST trouble spot is going to be the LAST place to lose all the weight. I mean if you are a big thighs person then that might be your last hurdle, for me it's always been the stomach area that is my trouble spot so that will probably be my last hurdle.
I'm following the FT for 14 days but not exactly the menus in the book. I'm making sure all my meals are fats/proteins and no grains or carbs except for veggies. I'm still putting my meals into the food tracker to see how I'm doing, even though technically we are not supposed to count anything on the fast track. My fiber seems to be suffering a little I think its down to about 16 or 17 grams a day. But hey, that's the best I can do on the FT and it still seems to be working. Yesterday I ate:
Breakfast - two coffees with cream, left over chicken breast, and celery with a cream cheese artichoke spread
Lunch - I was running around doing errands so I managed about 4 pieces of genoa salami, a few more celery sticks, a handful of macadamia nuts that I keep in the car and one Hint water. (normally my lunch is a salad with grilled chicken, some raw broccoi and ranch dressing)
Snack - After that small lunch I needed a handful of pecans, a cup of hot tea and one square of Lindt 85% to keep me going until dinner.
Dinner - I made homemade regular pizza for the boys and the Cauliflower pizza for me and my husband. I just have to say that it was my first time making the cauliflower pizza and it was delicious!! Couldn't even taste the cauliflower!
After dinner - one square of Lindt 85% and one decaff with stevia and cream
Also had another cup of hot tea later while watching Mythbusters with my son.
I love how everyone is keeping us posted on the FT news and regular BFC/other diet news! I think it also helps to see the foods people are eating. I know I like to see the menus. I'm hoping this FT will get me down into the160's! (hopefully did not just jinx myself there)
Our sun finally came out yesterday after what seemed like two weeks of gloom & rain! Hope the sun comes out for everyone today!
I'm following the FT for 14 days but not exactly the menus in the book. I'm making sure all my meals are fats/proteins and no grains or carbs except for veggies. I'm still putting my meals into the food tracker to see how I'm doing, even though technically we are not supposed to count anything on the fast track. My fiber seems to be suffering a little I think its down to about 16 or 17 grams a day. But hey, that's the best I can do on the FT and it still seems to be working. Yesterday I ate:
Breakfast - two coffees with cream, left over chicken breast, and celery with a cream cheese artichoke spread
Lunch - I was running around doing errands so I managed about 4 pieces of genoa salami, a few more celery sticks, a handful of macadamia nuts that I keep in the car and one Hint water. (normally my lunch is a salad with grilled chicken, some raw broccoi and ranch dressing)
Snack - After that small lunch I needed a handful of pecans, a cup of hot tea and one square of Lindt 85% to keep me going until dinner.
Dinner - I made homemade regular pizza for the boys and the Cauliflower pizza for me and my husband. I just have to say that it was my first time making the cauliflower pizza and it was delicious!! Couldn't even taste the cauliflower!
After dinner - one square of Lindt 85% and one decaff with stevia and cream
Also had another cup of hot tea later while watching Mythbusters with my son.
I love how everyone is keeping us posted on the FT news and regular BFC/other diet news! I think it also helps to see the foods people are eating. I know I like to see the menus. I'm hoping this FT will get me down into the160's! (hopefully did not just jinx myself there)
Our sun finally came out yesterday after what seemed like two weeks of gloom & rain! Hope the sun comes out for everyone today!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday - week 25
Still trudging along on the BFC. Sticking to the diet almost perfectly! Like a few other people on here I've decided to try the Fast Track starting this Sunday to see if that will get me past this ridiculous plateau I'm on. Hello body - you are not done at 172lbs, now get moving!!. I could never have "no carbs" for the long term, but I'm sure I can probably do it for 14 days. A few years ago (maybe more like five) I did the Suzanne Somers diet which was very similar to the Belly Fat Cure. I lost weight on it. The only problem was I couldn't stick to it long term, and once I started eating "regular" I eventually gained back the weight. Her diet had you eating meals that were either all carbs, or all fats/proteins and you could never mix grains with fats/proteins. She also had a list of "funky" foods that you could never have and that was pretty much things like nuts, yogurts, dark chocolate, milk (she never mentioned almond milk as an alt.), and stuff like that. Plus you had to give up caffeine- what!! To be honest it was a little too complicated and I didn't like not ever mixing anything. You couldn't have a sandwich, cereal with milk, any grains with your dinner. Then she started putting out her own food products that were seriously expensive - I never bought any. Anyway I did it for about six months but I could not commit to it forever. But the premise was good and the idea of getting out of sugars was good. That's why when I saw the BFC it looked really appealing to me because it had the same ideas but looked easier to do and maybe something I could do forever. I do like it much more because it lets me eat things I like and when I want to make something easy like Uncle Sams for breakfast, or a sandwich for lunch I can do that too! I can't always cook every meal! The Fast Track sounds a bit like the Suzanne Somers diet in that I must choose a fat/protein meal with no grains. I just have to do it every meal. I think I can do this for 14 days. Hopefully this will announce to my body that I am not in maintenance darn it! I still have 22 lbs to go!!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday -September 26th
I have been really bad this past week in tracking my foods. I've still been eating pretty much the same as I have been so I sort of know what the daily totals would be like, but still, I think tracking is a good idea and I'm back to it. I had a really nice time on our short, overnight Lancaster trip. We left right after my son got on the school bus Thursday morning. Since we only live about an hour and 1/2 from that part of Lancaster we got up there fairly early. We spent all of Thursday shopping around at the little craft shops. I love all that kind of stuff and it was so nice having no boys with us acting bored out of their minds. My husband actually likes shopping too so that is nice. I have to say we never ate any really good food while we were there. We stopped at a family restaurant for lunch and it turned out to be mainly a buffet type place which I don't like. The small menu part was all sandwiches so I got a sausage and saurkraut sandwich and told them to leave off the roll and just put it on the plate. It was OK. That night at the dinner theater my parents wanted to see they also had a buffet! It was pretty bad!! Some kind of meatloaf gel-like thing, creamed corn, carrots and peas mixed, and a tasteless chicken and broccoli casserole thing. Blah!! Skipped the veggies, except the pre-served salad, and ate the two meats. At least there was no chance of overeating!! The play was called "John loves Mary" and was a farce about a WWI veteran bringing home a wife for a friend that saved his life in the war, but the friend turned out to be already married. I think my husband and I were the only ones in the theater under the age of 65! It was nice to to this with my parents though. The next day was breakfast at the hotel. My dad can't pass up a deal and the hotel included a "hot" breakfast. This turned out to be round sausages that were cooked about two hours before anyone got up, and some kind of egg beater eggs. Another round of shopping followed, and we got some nice lanterns with those wax electric candles that are on timers. They come on by themselves for five hours and then turn off by themselves for 19 hours and then keep repeating that pattern. So cool! On the way home it poured down rain and we got stuck in a ton of traffic. We had to pick up my son at Towson and we were about an hour late! Oh well.
I stayed away from the scale all the rest of the weekend and finally just got back on today - 172lbs again! What in the world! It's so weird how long I seem to last on one number. I think I'm going to try that Fast Track challenge that is happening in a week or so. I might start on it a little early too, just to see if that shakes things up. I know I couldn't do no carbs forever, but I think I can do it for one or two weeks. I might switch my probiotics to a different brand also. The ones I'm using right now are not capsule form, which Jorge says is the better kind. I might try this one which I found on sale at Walgreens.
What kind does everyone else use? Any recommendations? That's about it for today. I have to run and take my dog to the Vet. He started his heart medicine last week and they want to re-check him today to see if it is the right dosage and all that. Hope everyone has a great day!
I stayed away from the scale all the rest of the weekend and finally just got back on today - 172lbs again! What in the world! It's so weird how long I seem to last on one number. I think I'm going to try that Fast Track challenge that is happening in a week or so. I might start on it a little early too, just to see if that shakes things up. I know I couldn't do no carbs forever, but I think I can do it for one or two weeks. I might switch my probiotics to a different brand also. The ones I'm using right now are not capsule form, which Jorge says is the better kind. I might try this one which I found on sale at Walgreens.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday 9/17 - dog stress
Nothing new in the weight department today. I really appreciated everyone's comments and encouragement on my last post. I still might try the fast track in a week or two to see how it works, but other than that I'm not going to change anything else I'm doing. I feel like I've gotten to a point where I'm eating so much healthier than I used to, choose only healthy carbs now when I have them, and only get sugar from basically my vegetables and dark chocolate in the evening. I think the weight will come off even it takes me another six months to lose the last twenty. Even though the scale is slow, I've really noticed a difference in my clothes. I used to wear a size 16 pants and right before I started the BFC I had even bought a couple size 18's. I'm 5' 6" and even before I was married and had kids (almost 23 years ago), I wore a size 12, maybe some of my clothes were a size 10. I was in shape then too! Unless they are making sizes different these days I have no idea how people are getting into size 6's or 4's. Anyway, it's getting cooler here now and I went to try on my jeans and they were too big - yeah! I decided to just buy a cheap pair at Walmart for now since I'm still hoping to lose more weight. I bought a size 14 and believe it or not, they not only fit but I can fit two fingers in the waist while I've got them on! My shirts went from a size 1X to a size L. So in general I am doing pretty well, I just have to stop being in such a rush and give myself time to lose the weight in a healthy way.
So in other news I got some bad news about my dog this week. We have two dogs, Buddy & Marley. Marley is three years old and is a yellow lab/retriever mix. Buddy is an Australian shepherd/beagle mix. Buddy will be eleven this March. Anyway, in the last three weeks Buddy has developed a cough that sounds like kennel cough. I took him into the vet this week and they told me he has a heart murmur. The vet wants me to take him to a canine cardiologist that is about 45 minutes away. She told me their workup would be about $450.00 to diagnose his heart condition and find the right meds for him. Geesh!! I love my dogs but I have two kids in college and that is a lot of money! So after much thought (and kids making me feel guilty) I decide to do it. I call the cardiologist yesterday and they say it's not $450 it's $600! Well that is just too much for only a diagnosis. I started looking around for other vets in my area that might be able to figure out my dogs problems without him going to a cardiologist and I finally found one that sounded hopeful. This vet told me she could do all the diagnostic tests the cardiologist would do except for a heart sonogram. She sounded super nice and talked with me on the phone herself for about twenty minutes. She even said she could see him the next morning, which is this morning. I hope she gives me some better news and I'm able to give Buddy another couple years with medication. I love dogs, and have always had them, but I do hate this part. The part when they get older and such hard decisions are needed. Wish me luck!
So in other news I got some bad news about my dog this week. We have two dogs, Buddy & Marley. Marley is three years old and is a yellow lab/retriever mix. Buddy is an Australian shepherd/beagle mix. Buddy will be eleven this March. Anyway, in the last three weeks Buddy has developed a cough that sounds like kennel cough. I took him into the vet this week and they told me he has a heart murmur. The vet wants me to take him to a canine cardiologist that is about 45 minutes away. She told me their workup would be about $450.00 to diagnose his heart condition and find the right meds for him. Geesh!! I love my dogs but I have two kids in college and that is a lot of money! So after much thought (and kids making me feel guilty) I decide to do it. I call the cardiologist yesterday and they say it's not $450 it's $600! Well that is just too much for only a diagnosis. I started looking around for other vets in my area that might be able to figure out my dogs problems without him going to a cardiologist and I finally found one that sounded hopeful. This vet told me she could do all the diagnostic tests the cardiologist would do except for a heart sonogram. She sounded super nice and talked with me on the phone herself for about twenty minutes. She even said she could see him the next morning, which is this morning. I hope she gives me some better news and I'm able to give Buddy another couple years with medication. I love dogs, and have always had them, but I do hate this part. The part when they get older and such hard decisions are needed. Wish me luck!
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| Buddy & Marley |
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sunday week 22 1/2 -Fiber!
Things seem to be going pretty well so far this week. I've been weighing myself everyday and the scale is now going between 172lbs and 174lbs every day. For some reason I always have a 2lb flip flop thing that goes on. I don't have one of those scales that measures point increments. Mine just goes to the closest whole number I guess. I've been sticking to my daily regiment of Uncle Sams in the morning, a wasa cracker with protein on top for lunch, a cup of decaff and 1/2 cup pecans in the afternoon and then a protein with a veggie dinner. I know some of you were concerned that I might not get a good fiber count this way, but the weird thing is I'm actually getting MORE fiber this way. According to "my fitness tracker" for the last five days my fiber for the day has been, 42g., 29g, 38g, 29g, & 42g.! How have I been getting such high numbers? Here is a sample day of where my fiber comes from:
Two cups of morning coffee with tsp. of Benefiber each = 6 fibers
3/4 cup of Uncle Sams w/ 1/2 unsweetened Almond milk = 11 fibers!
3 Wasa Crispbreads loaded with cheese, a tomato & basil & spinach leaves = 7 fibers
1/2 cup of raw pecans for snack - 6 fibers
Lemon chicken over Romaine lettuce salad w/1 TBS whole flaxseeds on top = 5 fibers
1 square of Lindt 85% = 2 fibers
Grand Total for the day = 37 Fibers
I'm finding it much easier to reach my total fiber count with the Uncle Sam's cereal. Also, even though we are NOT supposed to watch our calories at all on the BFC, I'm finding that having the cereal in the morning instead of eggs & sausage and stuff is keeping me at a lower calorie count, which for me, may be helping me lose. It at least got me past month long plateau! We shall see as I continue onwards! Hopefully this fiber information might help someone.
On the non-diet side of things, I had a really nice night out on Friday with my husband. The boys were doing there usual thing of having friends and girlfriends over and I just said to my husband, "You know, lets just go out and have dinner and see a movie by ourselves tonight". And we did! While getting out at the restaurant my second oldest son called and said, "Hey do you mind if I bring Sammie home for dinner with me?" (Sammie is his girlfriend and this is his usual thing to do 1/2 hour before I'm serving dinner). I said, "It's fine with me, but just so you know I'm not home. Dad and I are going out to dinner and a movie so you'll have to cook Sammie dinner yourself, or see if Jason (oldest son) made enough for you guys too" I hear this hesitant, "Uhh...Ok". I have to admit it was kind of fun doing that to him. All of the men in this family are too reliant on me to take care of their every need!! I feel like hired help sometimes (without the pay). Anyway we had a nice night out and ironically saw the movie "The Help". lol! I liked it, but the surprising thing was my husband REALLY liked the movie!
Hope everyone has a good day on this sad day in our history! I remember 10 years ago running and getting all my boys out of school because I wanted everyone home with me because we didn't know what else was going to happen. What a horrible day. My heart still goes out to all the families that lost so much.
Two cups of morning coffee with tsp. of Benefiber each = 6 fibers
3/4 cup of Uncle Sams w/ 1/2 unsweetened Almond milk = 11 fibers!
3 Wasa Crispbreads loaded with cheese, a tomato & basil & spinach leaves = 7 fibers
1/2 cup of raw pecans for snack - 6 fibers
Lemon chicken over Romaine lettuce salad w/1 TBS whole flaxseeds on top = 5 fibers
1 square of Lindt 85% = 2 fibers
Grand Total for the day = 37 Fibers
I'm finding it much easier to reach my total fiber count with the Uncle Sam's cereal. Also, even though we are NOT supposed to watch our calories at all on the BFC, I'm finding that having the cereal in the morning instead of eggs & sausage and stuff is keeping me at a lower calorie count, which for me, may be helping me lose. It at least got me past month long plateau! We shall see as I continue onwards! Hopefully this fiber information might help someone.
On the non-diet side of things, I had a really nice night out on Friday with my husband. The boys were doing there usual thing of having friends and girlfriends over and I just said to my husband, "You know, lets just go out and have dinner and see a movie by ourselves tonight". And we did! While getting out at the restaurant my second oldest son called and said, "Hey do you mind if I bring Sammie home for dinner with me?" (Sammie is his girlfriend and this is his usual thing to do 1/2 hour before I'm serving dinner). I said, "It's fine with me, but just so you know I'm not home. Dad and I are going out to dinner and a movie so you'll have to cook Sammie dinner yourself, or see if Jason (oldest son) made enough for you guys too" I hear this hesitant, "Uhh...Ok". I have to admit it was kind of fun doing that to him. All of the men in this family are too reliant on me to take care of their every need!! I feel like hired help sometimes (without the pay). Anyway we had a nice night out and ironically saw the movie "The Help". lol! I liked it, but the surprising thing was my husband REALLY liked the movie!
Hope everyone has a good day on this sad day in our history! I remember 10 years ago running and getting all my boys out of school because I wanted everyone home with me because we didn't know what else was going to happen. What a horrible day. My heart still goes out to all the families that lost so much.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Sept. 8, 2011 - The scale moved!
Even though it is a gray, rainy day here again, I'm in a pretty good mood. I told you I'm weighing myself everyday now and the scale has been alternating between 176lbs and 174lbs, well yesterday it said 175lbs. It's never fallen there before. My scale is like one of those game show things where the numbers jump back and forth before settling on a number. Today the scale settled on 172lbs! What!! It did settle there but I still got off real quick before it could change it's mind, lol! We'll see over the next few days whether that is going to be a new number or not. It's not really the number that makes me happy but the fact that the scale moved downward at all. Maybe, just maybe, I'm unstuck! This week I've been trying to go back to basics, by following the handwritten journal I made way back in April. My days have been going something like this:
Breakfast-2 cups of Coffee with heavy cream and two tsp. Benefiber. Just yesterday and today I added a tsp. of coconut oil to one of the cups.
About two hours later I have 3/4C (measured) Uncle Sams with 1/2C(measured) almond milk & a little stevia.
Snack: about 1/2 cup of Pecans and water, water, water (I stopped drinking my ice tea w/ stevia and switched to only water and the coffee all day)
Lunch: 3 wasa fiber crackers w/ one slice divided up smoked turkey, garden tomatos (they are almost gone), slices of fresh mozzerella, spinach, fresh garden Basil, and little olive oil & salt & pepper.
Snack: Cup of decaff with stevia and cream
Dinner: One small piece homemade eggplant lasagna (remember my eggplant!), diced cucumbers with oil & vinegar.
After Dinner: One decaff coffee with cream & stevia one piece of Lindt 85% or one chocolate coconut cookie.
The only thing I've been changing up is the dinner. I usually have a protein and a green veggie every night, but had to use the eggplant from my garden last night. I've also been drinking a ton of water. My cup is about a 12oz serving and I must have about six of them a day. I've decided to lay off the coconut bread for awhile even though I know it's Belly Good (and great tasting) I think it may have been too much for me. When I get down further I'll put stuff like that back in.
After Amber's post I did some research on the coconut oil, and it's supposed to have umpteen health benefits for us,so I decided to try to incorporate it into my families and my diet and much as possible.
So I took a picture finally so you can see where I'm at right now. Excuse the pre-shower look here, but I had to set up the camera to take a self-timed picture and do it before everyone got up! I don't like pictures of myself that much especially with no make up or shower but...,here you go. Still have at least 22lbs to go!
Hopefully the "rainathon" will stop soon. Four straight days is enough! I want to get back outside before the cold weather comes! Hope everyone is having a great day!
Breakfast-2 cups of Coffee with heavy cream and two tsp. Benefiber. Just yesterday and today I added a tsp. of coconut oil to one of the cups.
About two hours later I have 3/4C (measured) Uncle Sams with 1/2C(measured) almond milk & a little stevia.
 |
| The Stevia I use |
Lunch: 3 wasa fiber crackers w/ one slice divided up smoked turkey, garden tomatos (they are almost gone), slices of fresh mozzerella, spinach, fresh garden Basil, and little olive oil & salt & pepper.
 |
| Wasa Lunch |
Snack: Cup of decaff with stevia and cream
Dinner: One small piece homemade eggplant lasagna (remember my eggplant!), diced cucumbers with oil & vinegar.
After Dinner: One decaff coffee with cream & stevia one piece of Lindt 85% or one chocolate coconut cookie.
 |
| Cookies, recipe here: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/cookies/r/choclatecoconut.htm |
After Amber's post I did some research on the coconut oil, and it's supposed to have umpteen health benefits for us,so I decided to try to incorporate it into my families and my diet and much as possible.
 |
| Was trying to show that coconut oil is solid unless heated up, like shortening |
So I took a picture finally so you can see where I'm at right now. Excuse the pre-shower look here, but I had to set up the camera to take a self-timed picture and do it before everyone got up! I don't like pictures of myself that much especially with no make up or shower but...,here you go. Still have at least 22lbs to go!
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| Me at 22 weeks |
Hopefully the "rainathon" will stop soon. Four straight days is enough! I want to get back outside before the cold weather comes! Hope everyone is having a great day!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Saturday - August 20th
Well I made it through what I like to call Birthday Week around here. Two of my son's have birthdays within two days of each other, even though they are four years apart. Kyle's was on Wednesday and my second oldest, Ben, turned 20 on Friday. When Kyle was born (two weeks early) I made it out of the hospital the day before Ben's birthday and I told him that Kyle wanted to come to his party so bad, he was born early! This diet has encouraged Kyle to get healthier with us and he has cut his sugar use way down, so on his birthday I made him that "no sugar, no flour" chocolate bean cake and truvia ice cream. The cake was really very moist, chocolately and good! Even my one picky son,Nick, tried a little piece and then went back for another! It only makes one 9" layer and it doesn't get super fluffy or high, but I'd probably make it again as a healthy alternative for the boys. I only had a sliver of it, just because I didn't take the time to figure out all the carb/sugar counts that were in it because of the beans. Anyway, for Ben's 20th, I made a big red velvet cake with mascarpone icing. It's from a Bobby Flay "Throw Down" recipe. (We LOVE watching food network around here!) It looked amazing, but I'm not sure how it tasted because I didn't have any! It was my first time making a cake without tasting the batter that got on my fingers or anything. It was more than a little tempting to do it too!!
Reading everyone's blogs I've come to realize that most of you are either at your goal weight or almost at your goal weight. I think that is AWESOME! I started on April 6th at 197lbs and as of last Wednesday's weigh in I was 175lbs. So I have lost 22 pounds so far. I want to get to at least 150lbs so I still have at least 25lbs to go! I think that is why I have to be extra strict with myself, and not cheat or anything. When I get down to where you guys are I can be a little more flexible, like bringing brown rice back into the picture or something. My husband and I were talking the other day (he is on the diet also) and we were saying that if we went off this diet tomorrow there really isn't anything we would run out and eat! In other words we haven't been craving anything, which is a bit weird! Its also why we are hoping this is one diet we can actually stick to forever! In a way its almost turned into a little game of trying to find replacements for things we love. When we want pizzas we make those little pita ones that I put on our grill outside. The other night we wanted Italian food, so I made a batch of homemade Italian meatballs and substituted ground pork rinds for the bread crumbs. We ate them with a Caprese salad (mozerrella, a few tomatoes, and basil from my garden). Did not miss the pasta, which is odd because I had some kind of pasta dish at least once a week before this all started.
All of you are very inspirational to me in losing this weight! I love reading about your ideas, the products you use, what works or doesn't work, and love hearing how the weight keeps going down. Keep up the good work everyone and keep blogging to encourage those of us that are only half way through our journey!!
Reading everyone's blogs I've come to realize that most of you are either at your goal weight or almost at your goal weight. I think that is AWESOME! I started on April 6th at 197lbs and as of last Wednesday's weigh in I was 175lbs. So I have lost 22 pounds so far. I want to get to at least 150lbs so I still have at least 25lbs to go! I think that is why I have to be extra strict with myself, and not cheat or anything. When I get down to where you guys are I can be a little more flexible, like bringing brown rice back into the picture or something. My husband and I were talking the other day (he is on the diet also) and we were saying that if we went off this diet tomorrow there really isn't anything we would run out and eat! In other words we haven't been craving anything, which is a bit weird! Its also why we are hoping this is one diet we can actually stick to forever! In a way its almost turned into a little game of trying to find replacements for things we love. When we want pizzas we make those little pita ones that I put on our grill outside. The other night we wanted Italian food, so I made a batch of homemade Italian meatballs and substituted ground pork rinds for the bread crumbs. We ate them with a Caprese salad (mozerrella, a few tomatoes, and basil from my garden). Did not miss the pasta, which is odd because I had some kind of pasta dish at least once a week before this all started.
All of you are very inspirational to me in losing this weight! I love reading about your ideas, the products you use, what works or doesn't work, and love hearing how the weight keeps going down. Keep up the good work everyone and keep blogging to encourage those of us that are only half way through our journey!!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
New to Blogging
Hi,
I've been reading everyone's BFC blogs for a few weeks now and decided it might help me to start my own blog. Confession: Although I've read a lot of blogs I have never tried this myself until now. I guess I'll start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I have been married for 22 years and have four boys. My oldest son is graduating college in a few weeks, the next is in his second year of college and the third is graduating high school in a few weeks. My youngest son is a high school sophomore. I think, like a lot of women, I have spent the last twenty years focused on my kids. Although I have loved every minute of raising my boys I have to wonder where I went. As I neared my fiftieth birthday this past March, I realized two things:
1.) My boys are becoming more involved in their own lives and don't need me like they used to. While this is a good thing and what we actually want as a parent, it also leaves me with a bit of sadness and a bit of wondering - what should I do now?
2.) One of the things I decided I need to do now was to start thinking about me more.By thinking of me more I mean my health, my body and my future.
Somehow over the years I've managed to let myself go. My weight has creeped up, exercising is almost nonexistent, and I even had dental issues that I'd put off. Although I don't think I have any major problems or ailments, I can't remember the last time I've been to the doctor for a well checkup. The first thing I did right before my fiftieth birthday was to go to the dentist and got two root canals and two crowns put on. I was so relieved to have this done, and have vowed go regularly from now on. Then I started thinking about my weight. I had been on the Suzanne Somers diet about five or six years ago and had lost about 25lbs at that time. As with a lot of people and a lot of diets I found that I couldn't eat like that forever. Her plan is similar to the BFC and Atkins where you stay away from sugars and bad carbs, but on hers you basically can't eat carbs and fats at the same time - you have to keep them three hours apart. This means no sandwich of any kind, no toast with fried eggs, no cheese and crackers etc. Too hard to maintain. The BFC looks similar but I like the fact that you can combine fats and carbs. I also never considered fiber before and that also looks like a good thing to consider. So anyway I started the diet on a Wednesday, April 6, 2011 to be exact, and therefore weigh myself every Wednesday morning.
Here is my journey so far:
April 6, 2011 I weighed 197lbs.
April 13, 2011 -196lbs
April 20, 2011 -193lbs
April 27, 2011 -190lbs
May 4, 2011 -191lbs
So I was very happy to actually be losing weight even if it did seem to be coming off very slowly, and not the big losses I've read about in other blogs for the beginning weeks. I figured I had probably messed up my metabolism over the years with the different techniques I've tried (Suzanne Somers, then trying my hand at gourmet cooking, then low calories) This morning when I got on the scale I was so looking forward to seeing my weight out of the 190's but instead I saw that I had gained a lb. I was disappointed and a little depressed to see that. Instead of quitting I decided maybe if I started this blog maybe it would help me. In reviewing last week here are things I may have done wrong/different.
1).Had some alcohol one day. My husband and I had a couple vodka and Sobe's and it's the first alcohol I've had since starting.
2.) I had also been writing down everything I was eating and this week I didn't do that.
3.)I had a couple pieces of 85% chocolate every night this week while before I only had a few pieces the entire week.
4.) Drank a lot of ice tea & Stevia instead of just plain ice water.
5.)Although I put clear Benefiber in my two cups of coffee each morning I stopped taking the additional Benefiber pills I was taking before because I ran out of them.
6.) I got hungry this week, so maybe I should eat more of the right stuff and not get hunger pains.
That is all I can think of that was different. Maybe if I become more accountable by writing things down I will figure out what I am doing right or wrong. Any hints or suggestions by anyone that might be reading this are welcome. Thanks!
I've been reading everyone's BFC blogs for a few weeks now and decided it might help me to start my own blog. Confession: Although I've read a lot of blogs I have never tried this myself until now. I guess I'll start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I have been married for 22 years and have four boys. My oldest son is graduating college in a few weeks, the next is in his second year of college and the third is graduating high school in a few weeks. My youngest son is a high school sophomore. I think, like a lot of women, I have spent the last twenty years focused on my kids. Although I have loved every minute of raising my boys I have to wonder where I went. As I neared my fiftieth birthday this past March, I realized two things:
1.) My boys are becoming more involved in their own lives and don't need me like they used to. While this is a good thing and what we actually want as a parent, it also leaves me with a bit of sadness and a bit of wondering - what should I do now?
2.) One of the things I decided I need to do now was to start thinking about me more.By thinking of me more I mean my health, my body and my future.
Somehow over the years I've managed to let myself go. My weight has creeped up, exercising is almost nonexistent, and I even had dental issues that I'd put off. Although I don't think I have any major problems or ailments, I can't remember the last time I've been to the doctor for a well checkup. The first thing I did right before my fiftieth birthday was to go to the dentist and got two root canals and two crowns put on. I was so relieved to have this done, and have vowed go regularly from now on. Then I started thinking about my weight. I had been on the Suzanne Somers diet about five or six years ago and had lost about 25lbs at that time. As with a lot of people and a lot of diets I found that I couldn't eat like that forever. Her plan is similar to the BFC and Atkins where you stay away from sugars and bad carbs, but on hers you basically can't eat carbs and fats at the same time - you have to keep them three hours apart. This means no sandwich of any kind, no toast with fried eggs, no cheese and crackers etc. Too hard to maintain. The BFC looks similar but I like the fact that you can combine fats and carbs. I also never considered fiber before and that also looks like a good thing to consider. So anyway I started the diet on a Wednesday, April 6, 2011 to be exact, and therefore weigh myself every Wednesday morning.
Here is my journey so far:
April 6, 2011 I weighed 197lbs.
April 13, 2011 -196lbs
April 20, 2011 -193lbs
April 27, 2011 -190lbs
May 4, 2011 -191lbs
So I was very happy to actually be losing weight even if it did seem to be coming off very slowly, and not the big losses I've read about in other blogs for the beginning weeks. I figured I had probably messed up my metabolism over the years with the different techniques I've tried (Suzanne Somers, then trying my hand at gourmet cooking, then low calories) This morning when I got on the scale I was so looking forward to seeing my weight out of the 190's but instead I saw that I had gained a lb. I was disappointed and a little depressed to see that. Instead of quitting I decided maybe if I started this blog maybe it would help me. In reviewing last week here are things I may have done wrong/different.
1).Had some alcohol one day. My husband and I had a couple vodka and Sobe's and it's the first alcohol I've had since starting.
2.) I had also been writing down everything I was eating and this week I didn't do that.
3.)I had a couple pieces of 85% chocolate every night this week while before I only had a few pieces the entire week.
4.) Drank a lot of ice tea & Stevia instead of just plain ice water.
5.)Although I put clear Benefiber in my two cups of coffee each morning I stopped taking the additional Benefiber pills I was taking before because I ran out of them.
6.) I got hungry this week, so maybe I should eat more of the right stuff and not get hunger pains.
That is all I can think of that was different. Maybe if I become more accountable by writing things down I will figure out what I am doing right or wrong. Any hints or suggestions by anyone that might be reading this are welcome. Thanks!
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