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!!

Sorry for the neglect! I am here!

Hi Everybody! I am here.  I had my first crash weekend and ate myself practically to death..haha - just kidding but I did eat way to much this past weekend so this week was used to try and do damage control :( but I am finally back to where I was and hopefully will be losing an extra pound or two on top of that.  I have decided that I love my diet in many ways.  The big reason is because it makes me feel better.  Who can put a price tag on that?  It is worth everything you do to feel good.  I never realized that it seems but now I have and I will never let this frame of mind go ever again.  Here are the building blocks of my plan:

1. I have a food journal - if you don't have one, get one.  It is a very important part of my day and I write everything that I eat in it and I keep a diligent tab on every piece of food I put into my mouth.  I count the calories there too so I always know how many I have left to eat and what options I could possibly have for eating.  It is great and I recommend getting one for sure.

2.  Here are most of the foods  that I try to keep on hand for this diet :

lots of fresh veggies like:
carrots
lettuce
celery
red peppers
tomatoes
onions
squash
cucumbers (a big must)

low cal bread from Sarah Lee
no calorie butter spray (I can't believe it's not butter brand)
whip cream! (yes its only 25 cals for 2 TBLS)
multi-grain waffles
popcorn
apples
frozen berries
lowfat or nonfat yogurt
applesauce
low cal frozen dinners (you choose the brand - lean cuisines and WW are great! so are healthy choice)
100 calories snack packs (oreos, cheezits..whatever :)
salsa ( any kind, very low cal )
tuna
canned and frozen chicken
low cal dressing for salad
eggs
rice cakes
frozen veggies
low cal jam or jelly
triscuits or wheat thins
string cheese
extra chewing gum
Fresca (any diet drink will work, I just LOVE Fresca :) )


This is just a small list but it is some of my mainstays.  It is good to make a list of things you really like and try to keep a lot of variety on hand so you can choose your snacks throughout the day and make each calorie mean something so you won't feel hungry or deprived.  I love gum in between meals as it helps me feel less hungry.  I love anything that is free too like celery - YUM!  I feel much better and have more strength and stamina when I eat right and I also have no more need for TUMS which is a big blessing in itself.

3. The last and equally important part of my diet is exercise.  I hit the gym 4-5 times per week without fail.  If I miss a day, I work extra hard the next day.  I also have Sundays to rest and I just relax.  The gym is my time and I defend it.  I take my babies to the childcare and I workout with vigor because I know I have to build lean muscle mass.  Somedays it is a hard thing to do but I always switch things up and I allow myself to do whatever feels the best that day.  I don't punish myself with hard routines or things that I can't stand or handle.  I try to make the gym a good experience and I do a lot of walking there as well.  I always have about 30-45 minutes of cardio and about 10 minutes of weight lifting.  I  switch off with my upper and lower body workouts every other day.  I am in the process of making it more weight lifting as I get stronger because it burns more calories.  Sean and I have gotten our bikes out for summer bike rides and I am looking forward to that!  There are a lot of things to do that keep you active even if it is doing some crunches while you watch TV (I am going to start!) or even if you do arm circles while you are walking or doing anything else.  I love arm circles and it gets rid of your chubby arms which is the best part of all.

Ok.  I hope this helps.  Please give questions or comments - I want to hear from you!  I am going to post my weight again on Saturday morning, wish me luck!  Love to all! xo

Still here and still kickin!

Hi Everyone!! I am sorry it takes me a while to update this blog.  Sometimes I just get going doing other things and wish I could just sit and blog everyday.  I have gotten to the point where my weight loss is slowing a bit but I still hope it is healthy loss because it is not all just falling off of me.  It gets kind of frustrating because you do want to see big results every week but that is just not possible with a busy schedule and life happening like it does.  I had several days this week where I went over my boundaries...LOL - geez the smore I had was sooooooooo good.  I had to stop at one but it was very good.  I also had my period this week so that makes it even tougher to lose weight for me as I have to battle mood swings, more desire for munchies and an overall sense of discouragement most of the time.  However,  I have proven to myself now that I can do this and I won't give up.  This week, I plan to go down to 1700 calories instead of 1800 and I am going to stick to that for a few more weeks to see how much I can go down.  I weaned my baby so that has also made my heart ache so bad that I can hardly think of anything else.  It hurts when your little ones get bigger :(  I just have to think about my new baby who will come along someday soon and I will be so happy for that.  Life is all about perspective.  Today I have a dim one so I am going to change it to realize that I can be happy and positive every day if I just make up my mind to be.  I am so thankful I have a gym membership because that really helps me mentally.  I love to go workout and take that little time for myself and all the time knowing that I am making a huge difference in my overall well-being.  I feel better when I workout, I sleep better and I have more energy.  I am going to keep up with my food journal which has really been helping me keep track and I am also going to drink a lot of water.  It is not easy to diet but it is worth it.  I would like to add my tip for the day on weight loss.  It is to eat a lot of salad!  Never underestimate what a delicious salad can do for you.  For me, it is very satisfying.  I take romaine hearts and chop them up small and add red peppers, celery, carrots, cukes, and tomatoes.  It is soooo scrumptious!!! I also use a fat free sesame dressing with a sprinkle of chili lime salt! mmmmm - It helps make your bowels work better and the green leafy lettuces are good for preventing cancer and good for your liver.  You can make your salad any old way you like it and add apples too for a yummy treat.  I also add some tuna sometimes.  Salads are a great way to get your veggies and an integral part of feeling good I have found.  I hope this week will give me good results!! I am going to try for them at least!  Love to all and thanks for tuning in!  Over and out! xoxo