"Tip of the day"

Do you ever get the munchies? Way stupid question, ofcourse you do. So how do you eat right & eat right away? Answer: prepare and portion in advance. Pick healthy and yummy food and divide and package it in snack size portions, some salty and some sweet so you're ready for whatever craving hits. If healthy snacks are just as easy to grab as chips or a Ho Ho there is a greater chance that with a little effort the munchies can be guilt free.

Time flies

I can't believe it is already Wednessday night, the days are flying by. This week has been spring break for my kids and it has kinda messed up my schedule, from changing the time I get up, to moving things around after work. Monday I did a 50min workout, Tuesday a 4 mile walk - 60min, and today I got a two hr massage instead of exercise. I know, tough life. I'll only mention the food I ate that wasn't basic meat and veggies, but I have stayed under 20 carbs a day. On Monday I made a yummy crustless quiche that consisted of eggs and lots of different cheeses, green onions, and fried salt pork. I made a 9 x 13 then cut up portions and put them in baggies so that I could grab a portion easy whenever I was hungry. I also made myself a crustless low carb cheesecake with 2 eggs 1 egg yolk, 1 cup splenda, 3 cream cheese bricks, 1/4 mixed cup of cream and water and, some vanilla and lemon juice. The only items that even had carbs were the cream cheese and lemon juice. The way I made it , it was less than 3 carbs per slice, but oh so good.

forgot to mention

Saturday night I had to make a last minute run to super walmart for stuff needed for my Sunday lesson. I can't seem to go to the store and not look around, I think part of it is just the quiet time. Anyway, I saw a pair of cute black capris and I thought I should try some on. I don't really have extra money so I knew I could not buy them unless I could buy them in a smaller size, oops, should not have gone there. I grabbed a pair of 8 - 10's, I totally should've known better. There I was, at walmart, at 11:30pm(not my skinniest time of day) standing in the dressing room with a positive attitude ..Ha Ha. So I stepped into them one foot at a time, you know, the usual way, and started pulling them up. I made it past my ankles and knees with hardly any effort, searching for the positive can't you tell? My thighs presented a much Bigger problem (literally). There is nothing more hilariously gross then shimmying way too much flesh into something smaller than itself. I was determined so onward I went, bouncing, shoving, shaking, and tucking as much of myself into these capris as I could. Wonders of wonders, they went up. It was not comfortable, infact I couldn't move, but they were up. I used newly aquired arm muscles to button up, I was scared that the button was going to go flying so I sucked in as much as I could. Last project, zipping the zipper. It is harder than one would think to push your belly in with hand because at this point my blubbery belly had only one escape route( the zipper hole), and then use the other hand to pull the zipper up, very ...slowly. Success!!! You think I would be really depressed at the way I looked, but no, I had accomplished the impossible. Did I buy the pants, ofcourse not!, they hurt and looked ridiculous!! But I left walmart happy, go figure. I make myself happy way too easy. New goal ... fit a size 10 by my birthday ... that's 6 weeks. Yay!!

Weigh in...

So I called it... got on the scale this morning and my loss was... 0.0lbs, absolutely no change. That does mean however that I didn't gain anything either, so I guess I'll take it. I was really bad about writing what I ate the last couple days so I won't be posting my food for the weekend. I did stay below 20 carbs a day, I know this 'cause I wasn't creative at all in what I ate. We bbq'd on Sat. and I've just been eating left over meat and salad ever since. Yesterday was hard though because I made the family lasagna and garlic bread and it looked and smelled so good. Starting this week I am going to try to make my menu a little more interesting so I don't mind posting it. I did try a new trick with my bbq. I didn't have any low carb bbq sauce on hand and I was wanting sweet meat. I was way to lazy to make sauce from scratch so I did a variation of fry sauce and combined 1 part of my regular bbq sauce with two parts mayo. It was totally sweet enough for me and only 1/3rd the carbs.
For exercise this weekend it went like this: Friday - 20min Pilates. Sat. 8 miles of  walking with intermittant joging. 1hr 45min. Sunday - Day of rest, smiles.

My own advice

This morning has started in away that I think I should start this post by following my own advice from yesterday's " Tip of the Day." Here it goes ... I am thankful for the chance to start over each new day with the opportunity to be better than the day before, and the knowledge that if I don't reach perfection that day, there is always tomorrow. I am thankful for children who drive me crazy, so that in the moments when they don't, I can see what good kids I have and feel an overwhelming love for these little (getting bigger) people in my life. I am so very thankful for a husband who loves me, always, when I'm grumpy and crying or happy and laughing, when I'm 230 lbs or leaving him with the kids so I can go on a 4 mile walk to get myself to a more reasonable weight. I'm thankful for those of you who leave comments and help motivate me on my "quest."  smiles. One last thing for today, I'm thankful for the knowledge that there is a reason for all of this. That I am not making myself a better person just to be put in the ground someday but to go on after this life and to love those I love now and to see those I haven't seen in a while. My brother Mark has been in my thoughts latley, can you tell? There are so many other things that I'm thankful for, but for now remembering these things has put me in a much better mood.

Wednessday, here is what I ate... Breakfast - Steak and 2 eggs(0 carbs) You wouldn't really think of those as a free food on any other diet. Snack - Atkins shake(1 carb)  Lunch - Big salad .. lettuce, cucuber, cheese, eggs, bacon, and ranch dressing.(4 carbs) Round Table pizza .. topping only, 3 slices chicken bacon(1 carb), 3 slices pepperoni(3 carbs). Dinner - 3 sausage patties(3 carbs), glass of Postom with cinnamon (3 carbs). Dessert - 1 cream cheese mini mixed with splenda and lemon juice (2 carbs), yummy. Total for the day 17 grams of carbs. Exercise ( don't judge) only 20min Pilates.

Thursday. Breakfast - Atkins shake(1carb) Lunch - Half of a chicken(0 carbs), and a ceasar salad minus the croutons(2 carbs) Snack - Chicken Jerky(6 carbs), kinda weird but OK, and some honey roasted peanuts(2 carbs). Dinner - Steak taco salad with out the tortilla(4 carbs), 1 glass Postom(3 carbs). Dessert - 1 mini cream cheese with splenda and lime juice(2 carbs). Exercise ( a little better) 4 mile walk, total of 1hr.

" T ip of the day"

If you've hit a slump and you just don't feel like being healthy or exercising, start a gratitude journal. If you start writing down all the things you are thankful for the"blehs" will go away and the happier you is more likely to want to be a healthier you. In return ofcourse, the healthier you will even be happier.

Requested

Being on a low carb diet now I had decided not to post what food I was eating. Low carb is just so different than counting calories or following a low fat diet, the food I eat now is NOT diet food. However, I have been  asked to start posting what I am eating again and I've decided that I will. That being said, I would like to share something I have learned in my 18yrs of dieting, Every Body is Different! What works for me might not work for you and visa versa. I have tried many, many diets and have stuck to many, many diets and have seen real results from very few. If  I had my choice of which one one my body would react best to I would pick a well rounded balanced diet and exercise program, not cutting anything completely out. Someday that is how I am going to maintain a "healthy weight", but for now, low carb is my body's choice. For those following a low carb diet like me, I hope this can be a place we share favorite recipes and tips, but I would also like to here the favorites of those following other eating plans. I have seven other people to feed in my family who are not eating the way I am, and I love having them try new healthy things.

When I figure the carb content of a certain food the formula is grams of carbs minus grams of fiber. The reasoning is ... the fiber carbs do not effect blood sugars like other carbs do. When I can't find the nutitional info on the food I'm eating, because I prefer food I have to prepare instead of pre-packaged,  I find the the information on sites like www.elook.org/nutrition . If the information doesn't seem quite right, I gather from more than one source and compare.

I started writing my meals down on Tuesday so here it goes: Breakfast - half of a three egg, spinach and provalone omlett(2carbs) I used egglands best, cage free eggs. They are 0 carbs, compared to the usual 1 carb per egg. Snack - Chocolate Atkins shake(1carb) Lunch - Salad. Green leaf lettuce, cucumber, tomatoe, green onions, red onions, and half an avocado with El Torito cilantro ceasar dressing(6 carbs) I need to cut back on the onions, high carbs with hardly any fiber. Avocado - great source of fiber. Dinner - 2 chilli cheese
bratwurst(6 carbs) Snack - Glass of Postom with heavy whipping cream and splenda(3 carbs) Toatl for the day 18 carbs. Exercise - 20 min Jillian dvd and 4 mile walk on Monday (total 1hr 20min) and nothing on Tuesday, yikes, hit the snooze in the morning and worked later than usual, threw my whole schedule off. I know, not a real good excuse, but it is what it is. Here is to making Wednessday better.

"Just my thoughts"

What the heck? Are boobs 99% fat, is that why they are almost gone? and why is the fat in my boobs so much easier to lose than the fat in my butt? I know there is more to choose from on my backside, so give me a break. Wasn't it bad enough that when I used to lie down they'd disapear because they hiding under my armpitts, pointing at the walls? Now I can't find them at all.

Weigh in ...

It is always scary to get on the scale when this week has been a hormonal rollercoaster, and you have finished off more than half of a low carb cheesecake. Scared or not, I got on the scale and was pleasantly surprised. My weight this morning was 174.5lbs, that's -2lbs this week, YES! I will gladly take the loss and hope it continues. In the past, when doing low carb, I would usually loose weight every other week so I it will not shock me if  that starts happening again. It's all about the consistancy. I kept my carb count below 20g on Friday and Saturday, on Sunday I went up to about 25g, too much low carb cheesecake. I've been doing well in getting at least 3 servings of veggies in a day, but not so good on exercise,  only 30 to 60min. Always room for improvement. Ok, your turn, comment and tell me how you are doing.

The Joys of being a girl !

First of all, I obviously need to catch up on the last couple of days, so here it goes. I have been doing a really good job, when you start a low carb diet it needs to be all or nothing ( I've learned that over the last 6 years). I've stayed under 20g of carbs per day and exercised at least 1 1/2hrs per day.  Having said that... I am a Girl !! This fact (unfortunate at times) means that at least one week  during the month my weight climbs higher and higher and higher for no apparent reason other than to make me feel 30lbs heavier and make me want to give up on dieting, exercise,  oh,and day to day life. Am I not the most positive person you know? Smiles. So what do I do when all I want is a big fatty brownie and a pair of baggy sweats? I have no feakin idea. What I do know is, that this is the time I can not give up, I have to have faith that diet and exercise will do it's job even when the stupid scale is trying to lie to me ( not in a good way like my mirror). So as I said before, I'm sticking to it.

As you can probably tell, I haven't been in the best frame of mind the last couple of days. I didn't post because I figure I want to motivate more than bring people down. This is real life though, and I am not Mrs. Brady, raising six kids with a constant smile on my face. Wednessday was a tough day for me, although I can already look back and see the humor in it...kind of. The morning was very funny to me because I was not present for the pudding fight between my youngest two. My husband was not laughing when he called me at work, but when he described what he was cleaning up as looking like, "poop flung on the walls" I lost it. That coversation kept me in a good mood for most of the work day but by the time I got home the "blehs" were back. I was not motivated to exercise so I decided to be creative and have my oldest drop me off almost four miles away so I would have no choice but to get myself home. I felt a little bad because I was not going to be home when Nathan and Emily got home, but I knew Nate could take care of her for about an hour,so I went. Soon after being dropped off Nate called and said he had scouts and he did not want to leave Emily by herself ...good boy. I had to have another parent (thanks Ruth) take Stephi home so she could watch Em. Stephi was now ticked, but I was determined. Half way through my walk Stephanie called me and said Timmy had called 20 min ago needing a ride home golf practice but at that point there was nothing I could do, I was still about 40 min from home, he was going to have to wait. Around this time Hormonal Harry or "Scary Sherri" showed up, so I continued to walk down the street with my face all red and now tears streaming down my face because I felt like such a bad mom. I called my husband and he calmed me down a little bit saying every one will survive and it was no big deal. That held me over until I got home and went and picked up Timmy. By this time Steph and Tim are both ticked, Nathan is at scouts, Anthony had just got home from track, Kimberly is at work and Emily stepped through the front door wearing....  a shirt and tights.. Nothing Else !! My little girl went to school that way! The shirt was at least long enough to cover her bum, but Really? That was it!  All I could do is lock myself in my room, turn on the food channel (a sad substitute for brownies), and cry. How is that for a peak into my head. I know, I know, all of you who know Scott have a new found respect for him staying married to me for the last almost 19yrs. Well heres to the next 3 to 7 days,  may the food channel be enough.

Happy St.Patty's day!

A big thank you to my sister Michelle who designed my blog for me, doesn't it look fantastic? I stayed below my 20 g of carbs yesterday but only got in about 40 min of exercise. I didn't sleep well the night before so I reset my alarm and went back to bed. Way big no no, if I don't force myself up in the morning I very rarely can motivate myself later. Fortunately there is always a next day, all you have to do is get your butt up and NEVER waste two days in a row. I got up this morning and did my Pilates and I've been smiling ever since. Sometimes I think I please myself way to easy, but somehow I'm totally OK with that. Speaking of being pleased, this morning I thought to myself, " Wow Sherri, you look pretty good today." I should have let that be the end of it, but nooo. I then thought," This would be a great picture day."  Have I not learned? there is no such thing as planning a great picture. Great pictures, at least of me, only happen when the sun is at a precise point in the sky, and when my skin is the perfect shade of tan brown, and  only when am WEARING BLACK! Oh, another thing, I can't plan for it to be good, I just have to be going through pics someone has taken and be completely surprised that all the elements previously mentioned were present. Well those things weren't rolling around in my brain this morning when I pulled my 12 year old outside to take a picture of me. I thought that if I took a picture on St Patricks day, wearing green no less, I would at least remember when it was taken and I could post it. So when will I be posting my next picture? I don't know, it will be a surprise to me too, but I will probably be tan, and wearing black. After seeing the pictures this morning I am covinced that someone loves me enough to have installed the mirror from "Snow White" in my vanity. Think about it , the mirror had no problem telling that ugly queen she was the fairest of them all!! Lucky for me , I am easily pleased and I choose to believe the mirror. Smiles

"Just my Thoughts"

Something I'm grateful for.... I'm grateful for being short! Not always, but every morning when I look in the vanity mirror I'm glad I can not see the bottom half of my body, especially the backside. I stood tippy toe and peeked once ..yuck ...I will not  make that mistake again! I have also made a conscious effort to never use my kids bathroom. Who's bright idea was it to put a low mirror right behind toilet? Just Wrong.

Weigh in ..

Why did I switch back to low carb?  Oh that's right, the scale read 176.5lbs, that's -5lbs baby! Will it be that big of a loss every week? Ofcourse not, but this week I'm thrilled!! I kept my carb intake to under 20 carbs a day, and did 1hour of exercise on Friday. I did not exercise Sat. or Sun. but my knee is feeling much better, so I'll shoot for my 2 hours today. I'm really excited this morning because I'm only 10lbs away from weighing less than I have in 16yrs. It's funny, everyone always talks about wanting their 20 something body back but I was pregnant for my 20s so I'm actually looking foward to a trim 40yr old body.( Or sooner, a trim 37 would be nice too!)
It's the beginning of a whole new week, say your prayers and work really hard so that next Monday you don't feel like you've wasted a week. Accomplish something you've been putting off, there is nothing more motivating than seeing some progress.

Something new...something old

So to finish reporting on yesterday .... I took the day completely OFF. I can't tell you how many calories
I ate because I didn't count them at all. Now usually this would be a bad thing and it would lead to taking more days off, but not now, and not anytime soon. I really do want to keep going and I don't see stopping ever. This is something that I believe will be a little bit of a battle for the rest of my life, and that's ok. There will be days I take off and then there will be the next day when I start again.


Yesterday I did a lot of thinking about the type of diet I've been following, I like that it has seemed more balanced, but my immediate goal is to get more weight off. It is just going way too slow. I do realize that the slower it comes off the slower it should come back, but I think I would like to be about 20lbs lighter before I start taking my own sweet time. I think exercising will be easier and some of my pain might go away if there is less weight on my joints. I have lost the majority of my weight so far by following a low carb diet but I was afraid I would have to follow it for the rest of my life or gain the weight back. At the beginning of the year I added healthier carbs and wonder of wonders I haven't gained it back in fact I've lost a little. I'm glad I've experimented , I now know that if I low carb it for a while longer eventually I can add things back in and not blow up like a balloon.


Today I started with the idea that I might be able to count carbs and calories at the same time, it doesn't look like it  is going to work, so for now I'm going back to counting carbs.  My plan for now is to report my carb count and how many servings of veggies I eat during the day, because I struggle with veggies. I will also still report my exercise. I hope that changing things up might jumpstart things and then maybe the scale will start moving. Today I stayed under 20 carbs but I only ate one serving of veggies, I need to eat at LEAST three servings a day. Oh well there's always tomorrow. I did 30min of pilates this morning and walked 14 holes of golf in the afternoon for a total of 4 hrs of exercise.

Too much or too old

On Monday and Tuesday I ended up with 1220 and 1350 calories and I made sure to get two hours of exercise in on both days. By the end of Tuesday (yesterday) my shoulder and my knee were killing me. I fell asleep way too early, like I have lots lately, and woke up too early. When I got up this mornig my body screamed at me to go back to bed and I listened for about an hour.  I don't know if I've hurt myself bad enough to get to the doctor, but for sure I hurt bad enough to skip my exercise for today. Don't worry it is just for the day I'll be back tomorrow. I just don't know if I'll be doing much more than pilates for a couple of days.

"Tip of the day"

Don't know where to start? Pick up a five dollar pedometer and take 10,000 steps a day. You won't need to wear it forever, probably only a month, just until you get in the habbit of moving. The more you move, the more energy you have. The more energy you have, the more you want to move!  Here's to being healthier... skinnier is just a bonus.

Weigh in...

The scale read 181.5 lbs this morning, that is 1 lb down from last week. This morning I was a little bummed, I really wished I had lost more, but I quickly reminded myself that 1 lb is better than nothing!! I've thought about my week and the things I can improve on, and I've decided to write down some new goals for the week in hopes that I will follow through if it is written for all to see. Number one goal, try to exercise at least 2 hrs a day, five days this week. I know that I can do this if I manage my time a little better and I don't let myself get lazy in the evening. I'm wearing a knee brace now when I work out and it seems to be helping the pain in my knee. Goal number two, this one is much harder for me, I will try not to eat carbs after lunch time. I know for myself that my body does well with less carbs. I have enjoyed adding the healthier carbs back into my diet, but in the evening I tend to lean towards the unhealthy, I then try to make the better choice and end up eating another bowl of oatmeal. The choice is better than cake, but I'm not getting all my veggies in. Let's see what these changes do to the scale, I'm hoping for a bit more of a drop. I want to break into the 150's by my birthday in May and at my current rate of weight loss I won't quite make it. No matter what, by summer time I'm going to be looking and feeling great!!! Who's with me? Do you really want me to look way better than you? smiles J/K ... well kind of.

Catching up

Thursday
Exercise: Pilates,(20min) walking 5 miles (75min) Total for the day, 1hr 35min
Food: Breakfast - Oatmeal(200cal) Snack - Apple and walnuts.(200) Lunch - El pollo loco chicken, leg and thigh and two tortillas.(530) Dinner - Oatmeal.(200) Total for the day 1130 calories
Friday
Exercise: Total for the day,(60min) walking.
Food: Breakfast - Three whole wheat banana nut pancakes covered in strawberries, bananas, and whipped cream.Yummmy!(400) Snack - 3oz snap peas and walnuts,(130) 1/3rd apple cinnamon pretzel from Jamba Juice(133) Lunch - Pair of BK burger shots,(220) BK fresh apsple fries(25) piece of cake.(250) Dinner - Oatmeal(200) Total for the day 1358 calories
Saturday
Exercise:  Total for the day,18 holes of golf, walking (4hrs)
Food:  Lunch - Sizzler, 6oz steak,(230) 1/2 of a cheese bread,(160) small chicken noodle soup,(60)lots of veggies/salad toppings,(100) and one small soft serve cone.(150) Snack - At the movies, 5 cups popcorn,(400)and 16 sour patch kids.(170) Dinner - Grilled chicken wrap(250) Total for the day 1520 calories. At least I did spend 4 hrs golfing, crooked smiles  : \
Sunday
No Exercise on Sundays
Food: Dinner - Three stuffed shells,(400) Garlic bread,(300) Lite Ceasar Salad. (125) Oh, and I forgot, taste testing while making dinner.(100) Total for the day, 925 calories. Ouch that's a lot for one meal!!

"Tip of the day"

Never say " I'll start my diet or exercise on Monday." If you can't start today you'll most likely fail anyway. There is always another Monday, and usually there are a couple days before, that all we do is binge because we are going to start a diet on Monday. Start today and by Monday feel better about yourself and more motivated because you made it through your first weekend, instead of  feeling gross, bloated and 2 lbs heavier because you ate like it had to get you through the winter.

Stop raining already...

Is it just me, or is hard for anybody else to snack on veggies and drink lots of water when it is raining outside. AAHHH!  Yesterday, not my best day, I only did 20 minutes of exercise total. I ended up eating lots of oatmeal, my (healthy) comfort food of choice lately. Calories are as follows: Breakfast - Oatmeal.(200) Sanck - Apple and walnuts.(200) Lunch - Chicken tamale,(300) 3/4th cup black beans(160) Dinner - Oatmeal, a full cup(400)Total for the day 1260 calories and not enough exercise.

I decided that today I was going to get my walk in no matter what, why did it have to rain?  I woke up with a headache and I didn't have a great night sleep, unlike yesterday however, I did not push the snooze and go back to bed. I got up and walked out to the living room and sat down in the middle of the floor. I then stayed there sitting staring at the tv screen for about fifteen minutes. I forgot to mention that the tv was not turned on, nope, I just sat there looking at the screen trying to convince myself that for some reason I didn't need to exercise today. After way to much time I got off my bum and up onto my knees, I said a prayer, then exercised.(30min)   When I got home from work I had a lot of running around to do and since the weather had cleared up, I went. After I got home and before I could walk, it started pouring. I did the only thing I could do, the treadmill was not an option with a headache, so I went outside in the rain and did my 4 miles.(75min) I am thankful for my son Anthony who was willing to go the 4 miles on his scooter and keep me company in the rain. Total exercise 1 hr 45 min. I added a little variety to my menu for the day. Breakfast - 2 eggs,(200) 1/2  of a grapefruit,(20) and a cup of milk.(90) Lunch ,I tried something new, 1/2 of a whole wheat bbq ranch wrap from Togos. Loved it!(320) Snack - carrots, cucumbers and walnuts.(150) Dinner - Oatmeal.(200) Dessert - 1 2inch lemon bar.(143) Total calories 1123.

"Just my thoughts"

Getting older is the only proof I need that God intended me to stay with one man. My body requires too much "stuffing," "sucking in," and "holstering" to have to find somebody new. My poor husband, I definitely got the better end of this "Eternal  Arrangement."

My weigh in...

So yesterday morning I got on the scale and it said 182.5lbs. Yay!, I lost 2.5lbs and kept it off through the weekend. Since the beginning of the year I've done pretty well losing weight during the week, but keeping it off for the weekend is a different story. So thank you, thank you, I know some of you have been checking up on me and that made me aware of of my food and activity. I haven't recorded yesterday yet so here it goes. Food: Breakfast - My normal, oatmeal and milk.(200) Snack - An apple and walnuts.(200) Lunch - Chicken breast,(110) and 1/2 cup black beans.(120) Dinner - Chicken breast,(110) and Broccoli salad. (150) Total for the day, 840 calories. I'm supposed to eat more than that, but I was full, go figure. Why can't I eat that way on the days I really want dessert? Why couldn't I have added calories early in the evening last night and forced (smiles) myself to have some dessert last night? Oh well, to lose  1 lb you have to burn 3,000 more calories than you consume, hopefully it will help me out. On to the burning the calories thing. Exercise: Cardio max.(30min) I had to drop the kids off for breakfast in the middle of it so I didn't get in the all the time I wanted. I got my hubby to go for a 4 mile run / walk/ jog with me,(he brought an ipod so it kind of defeated the purpose...Boys??) I'm glad he went talkative, or not. (1hr) Total for the day, 1 1/2 hrs.