day #8

Monday, Monday, got up this morning and went on my walk. It's dark now already when we walk at 5:45am but it is so refreshing and I always feel better when I've done it. My legs were sore from Saturday's Yard sale. I did a lot of walking and lifting, I guess that's a good sign. Truth be told. I will always be honest on this blog. So I weighed myself this morning and the scale didn't budge from Sunday. What? I called my therapist (my sister) why did it not budge today? She said "Don't worry that is not uncommon". That happened to a couple of her friends. I haven't cheated, not once. She advised me to watch it, if it doesn't budge in a few days there is a solution. Called the 3 Apple fix. I had read about it, but I don't want to have to do it. So I'm hoping tomorrow I will see a change. But when I look at my progress, I honestly can't complain. But you know me I'm impatient. If I don't see results I get frustrated. Okay, patience is a virtue. I need to be virtuous. So here goes, Le Menu:
BREAKFAST: Strawberry freeze
AM SNACK: 1 Grissini bread stick
LUNCH: Last of the leftovers (Ground chicken/stewed tomatoes & spices with spinach salad
DINNER: Rosemary Fish & Lemon Garlic Chard - you take Some grinded Rosemary, pepper,sea salt, Italian Herb seasoning and you sprinkle this over your white fillets both sides. Put it in a nonstick pan w/1/3 cup water and 2 slices of lemon, cover it and let it steam for 3 to 4 minutes until fish is flaky. Serve with steamed broccoli and garlic salt.
PM SNACK: 1 Grissini bread stick.
I am too full to have my apple tonight.

I shall look forward to tomorrow after all tomorrow is another day.

Day 7# Can't believe it.

So here we are again. Weighed myself first thing this morning. Sometimes I can't, I have to wait a little bit so nature can take it's course ( I know TMI), but I want to get the best report that I can get. Good, it's all good the report was good. Down a 1/2 a pound, Sigh a relief, I 'll take it. So here's my menu report:
BREAKFAST: Grapefruit Freeze smoothie, you take a whole grapefruit and peel it like an orange then break it up in slices and put in blender, add 1/3 c of carbonated water, 1/8 tsp of vanilla, 1 pkg of Stevia, 1 T of milk, and crushed ice or ice cubes and blend. It is very refreshing.
AM snack: 1 Grissini bread stick and 1.5 oz of beef jerky
LUNCH: I forgot to make a sit down lunch since I was getting ready for church so I ate the remaining 2 oz of the jerky. Mind you drinking plenty of liquids. It is satisfying.
DINNER: the leftovers of dinner from the night before that my sister made, divided in two portions. Served with steamed zucchini and spinach salad on the side with 0 calorie Thousand Island dressing. This gives me my 2 servings of vegetables for the day. (I"ll have the 2nd portion tomorrow for lunch).
** PM snack/dessert: What do you get with an apple, 1 Grissini bread stick and cinnamon and 2 pkgs of stevia? Apple cobbler. Yes, you do. You take a whole apple peel and slice and cut in pieces. Microwave the apples for about 2 minutes until their soft or adente. Your kitchen will smell wonderful. Remove and put the apples in a oven proof single baking dish. In a separate bowl break up the bread stick in small or crushed type pieces. Top the apples with this and then mix up some cinnamon and the stevia and sprinkle over your mixture of apples. You can bake it or I just put it in the oven and broiled it for about 2 1/2 minutes. Wa la a guilt free dessert.
Well I'm starting a new week. Can't believe I've made it a week. I've already planned dinner for tomorrow so I can stay focused. Just wait and see.

Yard Sale/Family Dinner day 6#

Just got back from a family dinner at my sisters. It was nice to see my visiting mom and aunt there and my older sister as well. Best of all was the wonderful dinner my little sister made. Sisters are the best! She made a great meal for everyone and then made me a special dinner that fits my program. Just for me, she's really great and I love her for that. I even got to take the left overs home for my meals tomorrow.
So lets get my menu out of the way:
BREAKFAST: 1.5 OZ protein with flavored freeze
AM snack: 1 apple
LUNCH: 2 oz sliced steak, over spinach salad and my homemade salsa, I added some hot sauce too. It was very tasty!!
PM snack 1 Grissini bread stick
DINNER: **THE BEST YET**, ground chicken crumbled and cooked mixed in with chopped stewed tomatoes Italian style and spices over steamed spaghetti cut zucchini. Sooooo good and very filling.
Late snack: 1 grissini bread stick with 1 apple.
** Note you're suppose to have 2 Grissini bread sticks and 2 servings of fruit a day, so I had to squeeze it in tonight.
So today I had a yard sale, it doesn't take a lot of organization, the night before I went around making a list of what I wanted to sell. I got up around 6:30am, drank my Breakfast as David and I were loading up the truck with our stuff. The truck was full but when we got the stuff unloaded at the end of the driveway it didn't look like much. Oh well. Well we live on a road that's well traveled. I didn't even get my sign out yet, when cars were stopping. It was pretty great. My first sale was a couple of green padded chairs, the guy bought them at full price. Woohoo! The next guy haggled me a little for the next set of chairs with red seats, but I didn't care, I just wanted to get rid of them. Anyway I was pretty pleased at myself, so what does one do? but text her kids to tell them how much you have made in the little time it's been. I was told I text ed them around 7 times. Every time I made a sale I text ed them, for example: just made $25, have made $52 total, $6!,$7! and so forth. One of my children text ed me back, "Mom you are taking all my text space for nothing of importance". I text ed her back and told her okay. Well, what am I suppose to do in between customers? I can't leave. It's amazing what people will buy. So things were progressing pretty quick, and David was seeing this, so he would go back to the house and scrounge around, find more stuff fill the truck and bring it out to me. Almost everything he brought out after our original stuff, sold! We told ourselves that we would end at 1pm. At 1pm a lady came by, saw that we were selling a twin mattress set, bought it on the spot for my asking price. So because I'm so kind I threw in some extra stuff, which she gladly took. Our final tally $193. Cece said "Is that all?" What do you mean, is that all? I think that's fantastic. I got rid of alot of stuff we don't use and didn't want and got something for it. I'm pleased. I love my digital scale!! As long as numbers are going in the downward direction, I love it. Today was a good day I lost another 1 lb and a half. I probably sweated it off because it was so hot today. And because you all know this, it really helps me to not flake out and it keeps me accountable whether you know it or not. I cannot let you down or myself for that matter. I can't, I mustn't. Goodnight.

I've lost something that I don't want to find

Day 5# It's a journey I keep telling myself. Patsy, stick to the goal. Yes, the scale has moved down 3 places. TGIF.
BREAKFAST: A protein, 2.5 oz of jerky. Yes, jerky. Did you know that 1 oz of jerky is quite a bit and it is only 50 calories. So I ate 2.5 0z for breakfast and saved the last oz. for when I got to work around 9am. Umm jerky is sooooooooooo good.
10:30am SNACK: 1 Grissini bread stick
LUNCH: Citrus salad: fresh spinach topped with some of my homemade pi co decal lo and cut up orange slices. Topped with Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing.
5:30pm SNACK: 1 Grissini bread stick
DINNER: 1 3.5 oz broiled steak and fresh spinach salad.
Strawberry Freeze: 6 sliced strawberries, 1 pkg of stevia, 5 drops of Valencia orange stevia, 1 T of milk, crushed ice and 1/4 c carbonated water.

Interesting thing I've observed, don't know if it is my imagination, but when I went to put on my brassiere I could fasten it to the next hook so easily. Does that mean the first thing to go when you lose weight is the breasts? Probably.

We have to stop meeting like this...... day 4#

Day 4# has gone better. When it's my day off the day seems to go so fast especially when you're getting ready for an Enrichment night. So much to do. Well lets get the important things out of the way first.
BREAKFAST: 1 Hard boiled egg and 3 egg whites. Hot sauce tastes real good with it and no calories in the sauce.
10:30am Snack: 1 apple
LUNCH: This time I split my 3.5 oz chicken in half, so I could have part of it for lunch and part for dinner. I made myself a Chicken, spinach, and spring mix salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing.
DINNER: While the wonderful ladies were enjoying their Baked Potato bar I ate my other half of chicken breast cut up and mixed it in my salad. Yum yum.

I have to say the cakes that were made sure looked good. I have come to the conclusion that SUGAR IS EVIL, PURE EVIL. Why does sugar have to be so good?
But you will be proud, I did not partake. Hard as it was, I did not partake. I took what was left of BP's cake home and David and Cecelia devoured it. They said what kind of cake is it? I said, "I know it's good B made it", I don't even have to taste it to know it was good. We had a speaker after our dinner who spoke on Estate Planning, Living Trusts and wills. I know it is so important. There were several ladies coming up afterwards to speak to Jeff Christensen Atty. I need to make the time to speak to him and take care of that. There's so many things that we all need to plan and prepare for. Well I'm pooped. Gonna go to bed now.

Ahhh day 3#

Day 3# has seemed to be the hardest, but I did it!!
BREAKFAST: Orange freeze smoothie
10AM snack: 1 Grissini bread stick
LUNCH: I think its called a Caprice salad? it consists of sliced tomatoes with balsamic vinegar on top, topped with a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. It is very flavorful and good.
4PM snack: 1 apple
DINNER: Citrus Ma hi ma hi with sauteed zucchini with spices like, curry, garlic powder and seasoned salt. Believe it or not it makes the zucchini really tasty. I put Hot sauce on the side to eat with the Ma hi ma hi and it was also really good.
Evening snack: 1 Grissini bread stick.

Did I tell you that with all this, I'm taking the following vitamins each morning:
B-12,Potassium,L-glutomine and a multi-vitamin. They're all suppose to be good for this program especially the Potassium and L-glutomine.

The best part about this day is when I went on the scale this morning, I was down another 1 lb. It does have it's rewards. I need my sister or someone right now to cheer for me to keep going. This is a challenge but I have to keep my eye on the goal, right Tami? Keep my eye on the Goal. Right now I am feeling very stuffed. It seems like the hardest part of the day for me is the morning between 9am and 12 noon. I know I'm not hungry but my mouth wants me to put something in it. It's all out of habit. Why do we do this to ourselves? It really is out of habit. Mouth Say's feed me and we do, despite the fact that we're not even hungry, or we just think we are. So I'm drinking alot of fluids to fool my stomach into thinking it is full. Today it was not going to be fooled, but I persevered. I have to tell you I do look forward to Lunch and dinner. I seem to be fine in the evening, like right now. Oh well such is life.

Day 2# You hear that?

That is the sound of silence. Yep, have the whole house to myself for a little while while David and Cece go to the store. So here we are day 2#.
Believe it or not the 1 lb I gained on the two pig out days, I lost this morning when I weighed myself. I just gotta see that scale move to keep me going, that's all I ask.
BREAKFAST: crushed ice, 6 strawberries, 1 pge of Stevia,10 drops of Orange Stevia ( would have 5 drops of it and 5 drops of Vanilla Creme Stevia but I don't have the Vanilla). 1 T of milk, Blended together, and wa la'- Strawberry smoothie.

10am snack: 1 Grissini Bread stick
LUNCH: Balsamic Chicken wraps *by the way great recipe, very tasty wrapped in cabbage leaves.
4pm snack: 1 apple

DINNER: same thing, Balsamic Chicken wraps
My evening snack: 1 Grissini Bread stick.

I know this sounds boring huh. If I don't jot this down I won't remember anything.
Okay, different subject, and I think I've mentioned this before. Is it a mental change and or hormonal change either in our brains or body that we start to want to do different things When we get to this stage in our lives? I would love comments about this. For example: I love being alone sometimes more I use to. Like I could just get away preferably the coast and just "Be". I have the hankering(is that a word?) to want to explore the creative side of myself. Like what things I wanted to be or do as a child is coming out now. For instance, if one was athletic, one starts training again. Or if one loved art, say way back in elementary or even high school, one starts drawing, or painting again. Or say if one loved theatre arts, one wants to explore that avenue. Mind you, one must keep themselves balanced and not forget their responsibilities but it's like the season has come to have the opportunity to be able to do those things. Anything wrong with that? I'm not talking about joining a Commune or trespassing Federal Property and Protesting, do you get what I mean? I do understand now more than ever why some people go out and buy that Red Porsche or 30 FT Motor home. But I think that's mostly men and they usually have a Young Blond in it too. Along with this change though, comes some outward impatience with STUPID people and rage that comes out of now where. But it is manageable with drugs. But that's not for me. I would love to have a forum and talk to other women about this, to better understand it. Comments are welcome.

Thanks for listening.

Day 1

So, here's my report. Woke up this morning 5:30am went on my every other day walk at 5:45am, Solved all the worlds problems and then some.
BREAKFAST: Orange slush made with a whole orange, crushed ice, 5 drops of orange stevia it has 0 calories and 1 tablespoon of milk, yum yum. Okay it really was good and it took me a while to drink at least all the way to work.
10AM SNACK: 1 Grissini bread stick
(Oh drinking lots of fluids, like HANSEN'S 0 calorie, 0 carbs soda)
LUNCH: 3.5 OZ chicken breast and 3.5 oz of spinach (this is alot!!) with Balsamic vinegar dressing no oil but lots of seasonings.
4pm SNACK: 1 APPLE
DINNER: 3.5 oz baked chicken breasts with stir fried zuchini seasoned with curry powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper. (You can have all the zuchini you want)I had a whole one, I was totally stuffed. Again a Hansen's drink.
7:30pm SNACK: 1 Grissini bread stick.

All done. Oh and the drops, once in the morning and once at night. Like right now or at 8:00pm.

Well on to the next day.

Journey take 1#

So, here I go again. I did this once before and I can do it again, at least I hope. Hopefully this time it will stick. About 3 1/2 years ago I lost weight, the motivator, my daughter's wedding. 3 1/2 years later I have put the weight back on and then some. Well flash forward, I don't have a wedding to go to but my doctor says for health reasons I should look at that again. I have noticed more in the past year my hip joints hurt daily, and no matter what kind of exercise I do, they continue to hurt. My doctor says I'm too young to start losing bone mass. It could be a couple of things, early stages of arthritis in my joints (which runs in the family) or additional weight gain. Some of the weight, she says is typical for pre-menopause, all women start to gain some fat in the stomach area. Boy don't I know it. So I am looking at this as a challenge, if TC can run a marathon by November, I can certainly lose these extra pounds for health reasons.
My wonderful younger sister has stepped in to be my mentor after all she helped me before. She and her husband just completed a program and she has maintained her healthy weight for 30 days now. ** Okay, please don't roll your eyes, and you know who you are**. I am convinced if I write this down, that she or someone will hold me accountable. I have to tell myself I can do it. This program is very unusual, and I have read all the literature and instructions for it. The weirdest part about it is the first two days, which I just completed. They are called the pig out days. You must eat very high fat content food for two days and you take these drops twice a day along with it. FOR EXAMPLE: DISCLAIMER MIGHT MAKE YOU SICK: Saturday morning I went to McDonalds and bought a egg,cheese,bacon Mcgriddle with a med Coke. I will tell you it about made throw up. It took me forever to eat it, it was sooooooo gross!! I sat in the parking lot eating this, because I had other shopping to do and I indeed felt like a pig. I was so full afterwards that I didn't want to eat lunch later. But, I knew I had to keep eating, so later in the afternoon I made a chocolate mint milk shake. Dinner, around 7pm I waddled back to McDonalds and bought 2 3/4 pounder Deluxe hamburgers, fries and a med Sprite, I would eat one of the hamburgers that evening and the other one today. Makes me sick just thinking about it. This morning I made waffles and two eggs and juice. I just couldn't eat all the waffles and this evening I couldn't eat my whole hamburger I ended up sharing with David. *But this is really important so I hope I have eaten enough food. Then for the next 18 days you are on a very very very limited calorie intake (noticed I haven't said the (D) word). You continue to take these drops twice daily. This program is very strict and you can not deviate? from it. After the 18 days, you will stop the drops and continue with the limited calorie program for 3 more days after the 3 days you go on a maintenance program for 21 days. It really comes down to portion control. Anyone can do this, men or women and it is the same for everyone. I hope I can do this. 18 day's when you say it doesn't sound like alot but I'm sure I'm gonna have those "What the heck am I doing?" days. Wish me luck.

Here goes

Well it's been a while since I last visited this place. I just need to get in gear and use this as I originally intended it to be and that is putting down my thoughts. Although you can't know all my thoughts because someone could get into trouble. So my question is: How honest should you be or should I say how open should someone be on their Blog? That is my question. I guess I'll find out who my real friends are in the end. Then again I'm getting to the age that I don't really care what others think, (I noticed that with my elders) they didn't care, "they" were who they were and you either accepted them or you didn't. They were to old to change. Am I becoming that way to? Wait a minute, no, not yet, because as I have shared with some of my close associates I am changing every day. Is it a physical thing or a philosophical thing? I forgot to ask my doctor when I saw her this week, darn! What is it when we get in our mid 40's and we suddenly want to wallpaper the kitchen ceiling? That's a joke, who would ever do that? That's just an example. I know you know who you are, so dear friends of the female persuasion especially those who have gone before me, "that means older than I" I'm 46, there I said it. I would love to hear your comments, because I'm going to drop my basket (Remember Ya Ya sisterhood?), if I'm not careful. Okay that will do for now. But seriously, from now on I am going to speak about the truth, at least according to me.

Thanks for listening.