Week 3: Weighing In

Today is day 16 of what is really going to be a 24 day cleanse, rather than 30.  I did the math wrong.  We're going to Auburn, AL in 2 weeks to watch the Bulldawgs have some tiger for dinner...we hope (other than Sunflower, who's our token AU fan).  Anyway, you can't have a weekend full of tailgating if none of us are drinking!!!  It could be dangerous.  Stay tuned for updates on how that goes.  I sure hope Lollipop and Tabby can handle us 3 light weights on their own.

I'm really getting the hang of this eating plan.  Every day is easier and easier.  Of course my night cravings are still kicking in and driving me CRAZY!!!  As of Sunday evening, I'm down 8.8 lbs.   I'm wearing jeans that wouldn't fit over my fat ass 2 weeks ago.  I'm feeling GREAT!!!  

I've had tons of people asking for information about this diet.  I think the most important aspect is the DON'T list.  It's much easier to pick out what you can have once you've established what you can't have.  I'll share that with you now....

DON'T EAT!!!

Meats: 
Pork/pork products
Ham
Sausage (pork)
Veggie Burgers
Imitation Meat Products (soy)
Bacon

Fish & Seafood:
Fried & Breaded Fish of any kind
Catfish
Eel
Squid
Shark
All shellfish

Poultry:
Fried/Breaded Chicken

Dairy:
Cow Milk
Soy Milk

Veggies:
Corn
Sweet Potatoes
White Potatoes

Beans & Legumes: (Basically NO Beans)0
Soy Beans
White Beans
Garbanzo Beans
Lima Beans
Pinto Beans
Navy Beans
Kidney Beans
Black Beans
Tofu 

Grains:
Avoid all grains and starchy foods, including bread, pasta, cereal, rice, oatmeal, pastries & baked goods.

Fats & Oils:
Lard
Margarine
Shortening
Soy Oil
Safflower Oil
Canola Oil
Sunflower Oil
Corn Oil
Cottonseed Oil
Any Partially Hydrogenated Oil

Nuts:
Honey-Roasted Nuts
Macadamia Nuts
Pecans
Hazelnuts
Brail Nuts
Peanuts
Peanut Butter :(
Any Nuts Or Seeds Dry Roasted In Oil

Fruits:
Avoid all fruits except those mentioned on the approved list....especially bananas, apricots, grapes, melon, peaches, oranges, pears, dried fruit and canned fruit

Sweeteners:
Sugar
Maple Syrup 
Heated Honey
Fructose or Corn Syrup
Equal
Splenda

Beverages:
Alcohol of any kind
Fruit Juices
Sodas
Coffee

I'll give you all a couple of days to absorb this list before I bombard you with the approved list.  One good rule of thumb is if it's processed, it's not approved.  For quick easy meal ideas, follow me on Facebook.
 

Week 2: Weighing In

It's day 9 in our journey to clean eating.  I'm shocked at how well we're all doing, especially me.  It's amazing the difference between doing something on your own and doing it as a team.  Sunflower & Chiquita are my support system.  We're on IM all day long and when we're not on computers, we're group texting.  We've cheered each other on.  We've given each other advice.  We've held each other accountable.  We've discussed our bowel movements...in great detail.

Here's a sample of what I've been eating - 
Breakfast: Total calories - 239
2 large eggs scrambled w/ 1 tsp of BUTTER & 1 cup of strawberries 

Morning Snack: Total calories - 207
1/4 cup raw almonds (unsalted) 

Lunch: Total calories -322
1 Turkey burger (no bun), 1 cup steamed broccoli & 1oz naked goat cheese 

Afternoon Snack: Total calories - 72
1 med. apple w/ skin

Dinner: Total calories -356
3 oz. rotisserie chicken, 1 cup steamed asparagus (1 tsp BUTTER), small salad w/ spinach, tomato, sunflower seeds & 1 tsp. balsamic vinaigrette.

Total calories: 1196

Now that I've bored you with the food, I'll move on to what you've all been waiting for...RESULTS!!!  In 7 days, I've lost...drum roll please!!!  I've lost 5.8 pounds.  I feel great!!

To follow me along on this journey, you can follow me here on GFC or on Facebook. 

Anti-Inflammatory Cleanse...

I know, I know , I know.  You've all been dying to know what's been going on with my motivation and goals, etc.  Yeah, nothing...until now.  Thank you to two of my best friends for encouraging me to join them in a 30 day anti-inflammatory cleanse.  I'm on the road to clean eating.

I was a little apprehensive to commit.  I was afraid that my dad would sabotage my efforts by cooking tempting meals every night for dinner...I'm still afraid of that, but so far so good.  Granted I had to eat my dinner and then get up from the table last night, rather than stay and visit with the family while they ate....to avoid the temptation to take a bite of their spaghetti.

As I've said before, night snacking is one of my worst habits.  Last night I took my sleeping pill early, in hopes of falling asleep before the cravings kicked in.  I broke down and had 2 tsp of peanut butter.  Of course it's not an approved food on the plan, but it was WAY better than what I would've normally eaten and it did the trick.

Now for the embarrassing part.  Please keep in mind that this isn't meant to be a glamor shot.  It's to show my progress.  Here is my before picture, taken after fighting the homework battle and scrubbing the kitchen.  My starting weight is....gah, this is hard for me to write for the world to see.  But in order for me to hold myself accountable, I've gotta do this.  My starting weight is 225.4. 

If you'd like to follow me along this journey, please either follow me here on GFC or on Facebook.  I'm planning on sharing more details about the plan as I find my groove and find more time to write.  Happy Hump Day!!!

Excuses...

My OCD skinny friend sent me this link yesterday.  It's a blog about excuse-proofing your workout.  Yes, she's that skinny bitch that eats healthy 99% of the time and exercises religiously.  I want to be like her...really I do.  Unfortunately, my excuses are legit 80% of the time...and the other 20% I'm just too damn tired to do anything.

I've done really well with half of my goals.  I've only broken the "no night-time snacking rule" once. and I've not had any fast food.  I did well with the walking until my clumsy ass legitimately ate it and has since prevented me from putting on shoes.  You can read more about that on my other blog....here. 

I've yet to go buy a new scale and take my measurements.  Yeah, I know...I said I was gonna do that last week.  Ya see, the thing is....I'm a single mom on a tight budget that just got tighter because of some unexpected school expenses, plus all the other fun stuff I get to pay for for my lovely spawn  children.  A new scale is no longer at the top of my priority list.  I'll get to it when everything else is paid for.  In this same chapter in my book of legit excuses is, I'd love to join a gym...but I can't justify the $30-40/month membership.  As a fall-back though, I do have some new pilates videos that I'm hoping to fall in love with....when I have an extra 30 minutes BEFORE 9pm.

So my lack of exercise is definitely gonna be a problem.  I swear I'm trying to find the time.  Once volleyball finally starts back in the next week or so, I'm going to force myself to walk the track during practices....even if it kills me or embarrasses my darling diva to death!!!

Until then, I'm hoping to try some new recipes for lunch, dinner & detox that won't break the bank with all kinds of gourmet ingredients.  I found this one on Pinterest and look forward to giving it a try. Day Spa Apple Cinnamon Water .  I'm also looking at new fish recipes.  The closest we ever came to eating fish growing up was fish sticks or popcorn shrimp.  I'm sure there are some tasty ways to cook fish...it's just not something I was ever introduced to and I don't want to make that same mistake with my girls.  I'll keep ya posted on that.

So my goals for this week are (in addition to last weeks):
1. Get acclimated with my pilates videos and my living room carpet
2. Find & make 2 new "healthy" meals

If you'd like follow along with my progress or need some motivational humor....please follow me on Facebook here. Happy Hump Day Ya'll!!!

Checking In...

I don't know what I was thinking.  Who decides to try to make life altering changes the week before school starts?  Whoever they are...they are STUPID!!!  Good thing I'm taking baby steps huh?  I've been doing much better with the night time snacking...not perfect, but better.  We've taken a few after dinner walks...but it's still been so damn HOT!!!  Breaking down that iron wall we call dad/pa...not a single bit of progress.

I've still got my list of things to pick up at Walmart...#1 on the list is the scale.  I know I'm making excuses, but when I haven't been treading water at work, I've been drowning in volleyball stuff (I'm now the president of the board for the high school's feeder team).  I've been trying to reinvent the wheel over here...and I'm finally making headway.  So today, I'm headed to Walmart on my lunch break.

So here are my goals for the next week: 
1. Weigh in and take measurements.
2. No night time snacking.
3. Walk at least 4 days.
4. NO FAST FOOD!!

Thanks to everyone that has read this.  I've had a few people ask how else they can follow me if they're not on Google Connect.  I wasn't planning on starting a separate facebook page, but here ya go.  You can follow me here. 

Have a great rest of the week!!!

Baby Steps...

I suck at counting calories!!!  The word diet makes me itch in embarrassing places.  The thought of a salad WITHOUT RANCH and shredded cheese hurts my heart.  I'm gonna start with just making small changes here and there...and try my own baby steps version of getting healthy.

As it is, I only drink ONE Coke Zero a day and drink tons of water and a glass of skim milk with my dinner.  I'm definitely not fat because of my daily drinking habits...now my weekend drinking habits, those might have something to do with the problem.  Although I really don't even drink that much anymore...you know just the occasional booze fest for a friend's birthday or something.  There are 116 calories in one of my beers of choice.  I'll keep that in mind this weekend :)


My absolute worst habit is night time snacking.  My bedroom is my escape...unless of course one the kids picks the lock or scales the house to come in my bedroom window (it's happened).  I watch t.v. in my bedroom, I read in my bedroom....and I eat in my bedroom, or I did anyway.  That is going to be my first baby step.  No more eating in the bedroom!!!  No more snacking on popcorn or Cheez-Its at night while I'm relaxing.


My second step is gonna be getting outside and doing something!!  I'm gonna start taking after dinner walks with the girls...if they're getting along.  If they're not, the long block will be my new escape and I'll take one of the dogs with me. My happy place is The Greenway...I love to walk it on my lunch break, but these near triple digit highs have prevented this lazy ass of mine from getting out there and doing it...and my addiction to The Hunger Games trilogy.  But now I've finished those...and hopefully the temps will start to cool off soon and I can get back into my lunch time ritual.


Step 3....well, that's gonna be the hardest so far.  My girls and I live with my dad and he does all of the grocery shopping and cooking.  He's an amazingly unhealthy cook.  It's ALWAYS delish...and rarely nutritional.  I'm going to attempt to coax the reigns out of his hands and start implementing some new more healthy meals into our menus...and MAYBE even start cooking a night or two a week.  This is going to be an extreme battle of tug-of-war...and he's still my daddy and he's still stronger than me, but hopefully he'll see my reasoning.  Wish me luck on this one folks.


My scale is antique, so I plan on purchasing a new one this weekend.  I'll take a "before" pic and post my beginning stats soon. 

I'm The Fat Girl....

I'm tired of being the fat girl in my world.  I've battled my weight since middle school.  In 8th grade my parents and I joined Jenny Craig.  I lost weight...I couldn't tell you how much, but it was absolutely effective in shedding the pounds...just can't say it did me any good in the whole lifestyle change.  Once I graduated back to real food (as opposed to their pre-packaged meals), I slowly started packing the weight back on.

Fast forward to my senior year.  I had enormous boobs!!  I wanted a breast reduction the way my kids now want an i-pad.  In order for my insurance to cover the surgery, I had to lose some weight to prove that my "melons" were not the result of weight gain.  I lost 40 lbs...and not even an inch from my bra size.  Wish granted!!!

Then came love, marriage, baby carriage and divorce...and all the sudden I was 207 pound, single mom.  I was a wreck.  I went to the doctor.  He put me on anti-depressants and prescribed phentermine (also known as adipex).  The weight was melting off me...and I'd never been happier.  I got down to 150 and a size 8.  Not only did it curb my appetite, but it also gave me tons of energy.  I worked out 4-5 times a week.  Eventually I came off the meds and still continued to exercise, but my eating habits weren't great.

Then one thing led to another...I got really sick, I quit smoking, I fell down the stairs and broke my back.  And I've just never been able to find the motivation to get back into shape.  I honestly have no idea how much I weigh right now...but I'm willing to guess it's more than 207 (my heaviest post-pregnancy weight).

Last week, my 13 year old daughter went shopping in my closet...and found all of my cute skinny girl clothes and not only did they fit her...but she STOLE them!!!  That was the last straw!!  My oldest daughter is now the size I was at my smallest...and I want her to stay that size.  Plus her sister is on the verge of having a very volatile relationship with food.  It's time for me to change!!!

I've been thinking for a while now about how I can motivate myself.  I've been doing some online research on vitamins, diets, exercises, etc.  I've decided that if I share my story and my struggles and hopefully my successes here...I'll be more accountable to myself and my readers for my actions.  So here we go...