Halfway!!

I have done it.  I could hardly believe the scale this morning.  It seems so unreal!!!!  Halfway!!!!!!!! I took off 30 lbs in 3 months.  I did it on my own and with my own hard work.  I am teaching my body to follow my desires to have a fit body and the pattern I am in won't ever change.  Even when I get to my goal weight, I am still going to be counting calories to maintain it.  I know I will never go back and that is the best part of this whole journey.  I am not on  "diet" because that word suggests that there will be an end somewhere.  I have changed my life and there is no going back.  I will not yo-yo anymore.  I will not gain fat and lose self-esteem.  I will not use food as an emotional crutch or as a means to "feel good" ever again.  It will always be a transaction for me which is teaching me to get the most energy, health and nutrition for my buck (or calories..hehe)  and that is now part of me.  I do not feel deprived or unsatisfied in the least bit.  I have more energy, more stamina and overall I feel great!  I know I will only feel better!  I get more sleep at night and I have no heartburn or any of the other bothersome digestive problems.  I know I have made a good choice in doing this and it has made me so happy.  Well, it's time to roll up my sleeves because I have 3 more months and 30 more lbs to go until I reach my first goal.  My final goal will be 180 if I can possibly get there, I won't give up until I do.  Thanks for reading and for your love and support.  It means the world to me!! Love you all!

Greetings from the diet battle front ...hehe

Still hanging in there and still trying - It is hard and the way is fraught with many emotions.  I have been getting lots of compliments on how I look which makes me feel good but it boils down to me believing in myself, that is the power I need to win this war.  It is the hardest commodity to come by for some reason but I manage to have enough self-discipline to keep it up for now.    We had family over tonight for dessert only...boo!  I should have gotten myself something special I could enjoy but nooooo...haha I didn't do anything that smart.  Instead, I watched as everyone savored the delicious homemade banana chocoloate chocolate chip muffins my brother-in-law brought over (they smelled heavenly!!!!!) and a sundae bar.   Alas, I only snitched a bite of muffin that I was giving to my baby and it was sooooo good!  I then ate my graham crackers and milk like a dutiful dieter should.  It is hard to say no dang it!!!  And to compound matters, I had TTOTM...lol (that time of the month - thanks Jen!)  so that does not help matters at all :(  I usually come to a diet halt and have to wait a few days to start losing again.  I did work out today though while Sean went swimming with the boys.   I wished I could have been with them but working out was more important so I did it.  I found out today that I can fast walk a 17 min mile.  I wonder if that is good?  It burned 132 calories so that was good to know.  I am going to start trying to be more diligent next week and see what I can do to get in to the 220s.  I can't wait!!! What a feat it will be to be at halfway!!  YAY!!!  I hope it is this week!  I ate a salad at Wendy's tonight for dinner.   I tried their cobb salad the last time so this time it was the cranberry pecan chicken salad that I tried....Oh...My...Gosh - SO GOOD!!!  I couldn't believe how good it was!! I got the lowest calorie dressing they had but I didn't really need that much of it.  It had bleu cheese and apples and a delicious breast of chicken on it, my goodness it was well worth the 510 calories I spent on it.  I love salad and I am glad for that.  It is a big meal that you can usually make very tasty without a lot of calories.  I tried the same type of salad over at Carl's Jr and it was good but not as good as the one at Wendy's.  I will definitely be wanting to eat that one again soon!!!  OK, I am done now but I hope the next post will find me out of the 230s for good!! Thanks for reading and keeping up with me! Love you !!

Good lesson learned...lol I think :)

Ok so I was making a fuss this week over hitting a diet plateau and having family in town and the whole 9 yards right?  Well I think I inadvertently got myself back on track.  How? I don't really know.  All I know is that I only hit the gym 3 times and I ate slightly over my calories each day.  I didn't go hog wild but I did eat more than I usually do.  Is that the answer?  LOL I think that is funny!  Who would have guessed?  I about passed out this morning when I weighed and it said 233.5!! SO HAPPY!  So I guess it isn't all about driving and achieving, your body knows better than that.  If you do the same things all day every day,  I think the body gets used to it and conserves a lot of energy even though you feel like you are expending way more than you should.  So maybe I got my first plateau under my belt, I am hoping so!  I have 2 free 30 minute sessions with a trainer over at the gym so I have planned to use them together on Monday at 4 so  I think that is going to give me some more help.  I talked to the gal I am meeting with on Friday and she told me she can totally help me.  I am so excited!  I will learn how to keep going and to finally get this weight off of me.  It's about time and this time it is final.  I refuse to yo-yo any longer.  Thanks for reading! See you in the 220s as soon as I get there!! xoxo bye!

Falling off the wagon.....dang it

So who said this diet stuff is easy...oh..me? yeah I guess I only thought that.  Ok, so I got 23 lbs off myself but then the first dreaded plateau hit and so did many a family gathering because family came to town.   I am so sad!  It is hard!!!  I just decided that even though I had tried to count my calories and make wise choices, I just couldn't do it.  I didn't go stark raving mad or anything but I did eat more than I should have and I savored the moment with family and the enjoyment of homemade food and dessert.  It is so good sometimes.  I sort of hoped that my having a week of total diet oblivion might help me get out of this plateau and help me start losing again.  I was going to start fresh on monday and then the neighbors decided to share their barbeque of grilled steak,  hot dogs, rice and guac with us and it was the best food I have ever eaten it seemed like!!!! LOL How do hispanic people do that??? I just really want to know.  They make the best food I have ever eaten and I count myself lucky but also cursed a bit to have such wonderful neighbors who always share their delicious food with me.  I guess I should look at it this way:  Dieting isn't easy nor is it something that you should kill yourself doing.  I slip and fall along the way.  I just really hope that my slipping will help me get back into the swing of things and that I will find my diet mojo again.  I went to the gym yesterday and today and I worked out with a vengeance!! It felt great and I am not going to ever give that up so at least I can say that much :)  I ate my calories like a good girl today and was quite satisfied.  However,  in addition to my evil yet heavenly dinner last night, I also made 4 batches of raspberry jelly with my Dad and that came with a lot of tasting...uh to make sure it was good?? Oh ok - I just flat enjoyed it and did not want to forgo.  So good for me LOL - next time I will and this week I will be back on the wagon for another hopeful long haul of weight loss.  Thanks for reading!! Over and out :)

Happy Fourth!

I had a great weekend and overcame some food obstacles.  I had my cycle last week and it ended with the funeral for my friends nephew so all in all it was a hard week.  I was so depressed and soooo sad because of the loss of a little 7 year old named Kobe.  I wanted to eat but I stood my ground.  I did eat a little extra but I made good choices and I got through it.  I know my battle with weight will never truly be over so I have to stay diligent for the rest of my days if I want to keep the weight that I am losing right now off.  It is so hard but the fact that I have lost 23 pounds is so exciting to me that I am willing to keep trying.  I found that I will need to get to 180 to not be overweight anymore so that is 57 more pounds...blech :( but hey, if I were to feel good and have energy and age well because of it, wouldn't that be worth it?  I would say a big huge YES!  See you on the scales!

20lbs!!!!! I am in shock!

One third of the way through my diet journey and I did it in 2 months!  I am really seriously in shock!  I know it is a math game to lose weight but I told myself for so long that I couldn't do it that I had almost come to believe it wholly and truly.  I almost failed myself completely with my mind set of not being able to lose any weight.  The sad reality is that I was addicted to food and soda and I was medicating myself for pain I was feeling in life with chocolate and sugar of any variety.  It is so sad to me.   A couple of days before I started my diet,  my mind caught hold of a thought I believe was placed there by my guardian angel.  That thought was "I am healing my body with water"  It was so profound to me that I dropped my soda habit that very day.  I only drank water for about 4 days before starting my diet and that was the catalyst to me believing that I could start watching what I eat and losing weight.   It worked!  Now 2 months and 20 lbs later, I feel better and look better and my skin looks better from drinking water and from the good things I eat.  I exercise more than I ever have in my life and I stay true to my commitment to see this thing through to the end when I can say, I lost 60 pounds.  Won't that be a great day?  That is only my first goal and I intend to go lower from there but the day I can hop on the scale and see that 200, I think I will throw a party! :)  What a great day that will be and only 4 months from now hopefully!!!!!  Thanks for reading!  Love you!

3 Great dinner ideas!

OK so the first idea is soup.  If you don't like soup, then skip down to the second idea.  If you do like soup, then the next question is what kind do you like?  For me, I always grew up and loved and still love Campbell's condensed soups.  Yes, I know there are soups that aren't condensed and a lot of people think they taste better like Progresso and the likes.  I just happen to be one of the ones that doesn't like their soup.  I don't know what it is about it that I don't like. but I don't.  I discovered that Campbell's condensed makes 4 varieties of light soup that I love for only 70 calories per serving!! The whole can is just 175 and that is filling!!  Here are the 4 kinds:

Chicken mushroom barley
Chicken Gumbo
Italian-style wedding
Chicken with white and wild rice

They are soooo good and so nourishing.  I know that summer is not a time for soup usually but when you are dieting,  you need to have that sense of fullness sometimes and this gives it!  I usually have mine with a piece of Sarah Lee diet bread and a tsp of low cal marg spread.  It is a meal that holds you over and keeps your calories counting on the low end!  Give them a try!

The second idea is a hobo dinner.  Yes, I said hobo dinner!  In tinfoil with cut up steak bits, carrots and so forth!! It is sooo good!!  The only bad thing is that you can't really count it unless you measured it all out.  Here is my list of ingredients and I will tell you why I think its low cal and what I do to count it.

Start with these:

potatoes (on the fewer side as they have more cal's)
carrots
red pepper
yellow squash
zucchini
green pepper
onion
steak (small portion cut up)

I always take some foil and put down pam on it and then I put the meat and season it.  I then put in the chopped veggies and spray it with no cal butter spray and add more seasoning.  I then have Sean throw it on the grill (all wrapped up in a couple of sheets of foil and made kinda thin so it will cook)  and cook it for app 20 flipping midway through the cook time.  It comes out all perfectly seasoned and done and the best part is you are eating mostly veggies!!  You could count and measure but what i do is wait until dinner and save up a few extra calories before I eat like last night when I had 700 left and then after dinner, I ate some graham crackers and milk and was done for the day.  You do want to be careful not to go hog wild but you can enjoy this and not feel guilty!! It is so delicious!! You could even try veggie version without the meat and I know it will still be sooo good.   It is something that I don't do all the time, but when I do it, I feel like I am being naughty but in reality, it is just fine.

The third idea is a turkey burger!  It is soooooo good.  I grill turkey burgers and eat them on sarah lee diet buns and that is only 240 cals!!!  Then add ketchup for 15 cals per tbls or mustard for free.  I then add tomato, onion, lettuce and pickles and it is soooooooooo good.  It is so fresh and delish and I do it quite often to get a low cal dinner.  You could even try it with a salad, low cal baked lays, sliced cucumbers on the side or with 8 wheat thins and string cheese (145 cals for the crackers and cheese combo).   Having a burger makes dieting worth doing and it is so filling.  Don't forget to leave off the cheese unless you have some that is very low cal as regular cheese is pretty high in fat and calories.  Enjoy!!!!

I hope you will try these ideas!!  I have been hoping and praying for the 230s this week so send me some love and hope I will get there!! hehe thanks!!