Learning Balance on the South Beach Diet

I started my new job last Wednesday, so far so good, I love it, I'm down 17.5 lbs in less than a month.  Today I went shopping with my Mom, I was in need of nice clothes for work that fit.  I had a bunch of summer tops but they don't really give you that professional feeling plus they weren't flattering on me.

So I bought a nice fall coat, a blazer and about 6 or 7 blouses.  Everytime I tried pants on they were too long, I didn't realize how short I am until today.  I need to shop in the Petites section for women 5'4" or smaller (I'm not quite 5'4").

Aside from that all is going well, I'm sticking to the plan, trying to go out every day at every chance I can get.  I need to up my exercise quota but I also need to learn some balance.  How do I balance work, cooking 3 square meals a day, exercise, pets and finding me time.  I know its doable, women do it all the time, I just have to learn how.

I made a delicious dinner tonight, I made South Beach Friendly Tacos and they were a hit!  I've started looking up recipes because even though I can eat the same thing over and over again without complaining too much, I'm not the only one eating this way.  Also I'm trying to find quick South Beach Diet Phase 2 ideas (thank goodness for Katlyn's website).

I have a family dinner to go to today, not really looking forward to it, simply because it means I have to eat something that I don't know if its SBD friendly or not.  We're going to my stepsisters house, so I will need to watch my portions, remember no dessert, try to get out of there at a decent hour and chill a bit before bedtime.

I've already made breakfast for the week, I had ran out of skim milk mozzarella cheese so I put low-fat feta cheese, I think it'll taste great.  I even managed to iron all my clothes and now all I need to do is cut up some lettuce (with the lettuce knife) and other salad treats for lunch and dinner for the week, I think if I have everything prepared ahead of time it should leave me with more time for myself.

I have to go, thanks for stopping by!

Have a glorious Labor Day!

Sassle!

South Beach Lifestyle still going strong

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday sending about 30 plus resumes to potential employers.  On Sunday I received an email asking for an interview, I went today, it went very well, I think I have the job, keep your fingers and toes crossed.

In the meantime, I'm still on plan, I've down 12 pounds since August 10 (wow times flies) which is pretty darn good, I guess I'll never lose the 20 I envisioned for myself in the first two weeks but I'll let these 12 go, plus Wednesday is the 2 week deadline.  Today we had a busy day, hubby & I both had appointments and had to grab a bite in between, he had the fettuccine alfredo, chocolate cake, white bread and my cheat was a Cesar salad with croutons.  So I feel as though I haven't done nearly as bad as he and have stayed more on plan than he, not that it matters, it's my body I'm trying to heal.

I had gone to the Doctors this a.m. as well, found out I had high blood pressure, next week they'll put me on some MAP thing for 24 hours to see how it does in order to decide if I need meds or not.

Overall I'm in a good place, when I put on my clothes for the interview, I felt good, I still wore my Kymora Body Shaper and my stomach did look flatter (not flat, but flatter) maybe it's the 12 pounds, I have definitely debloated.  Weird how one can feel sexy at my weight, but that's how I felt today pretty darn sexy, though it was a bit awkward when the Doctor was checking my breathing with his stethoscope and he had to push my Kymora.  Though he was gentleman enough not to say anything about it.

The mentioning of the Kymora reminds me that I have yet to wear my Body Wrap from Shapewear I might try it on this week for my next interview, I think it might feel more comfortable than the day I bought it, where it was over 100F outside, I was 12 pounds heavier and had just ate lunch.

Well that's it for today, wish me luck that one of those jobs come thru, I have agencies that have called, I have another interview, who knows I might actually get hired for a regular 9 to 5 job.

Thanks again for visiting!

Sassle

Walking, Burpees, Tabata... Have I found my dream exercise?

Burpees

I love the internet!  Yesterday while searching for other SBD blogs, I came upon this Log My Loss which is an inspiring blog.  I was reading about his program and saw that he did this form of exercise called Tabata so being the curious girl that I am I had to research it and that brought me to burpees.

I think burpees are the exercise I've been waiting for my whole life.  For beginners like myself there are different ways of starting out, I did a search on youtube and the one that impressed me most, or made it seem doable for a woman my size was this one.



After watching it I felt as though I can at least do what she's doing and then when you see how far she's come in three weeks well heck that just encouraged me more.  Burpees work the whole body, you need no equipment, just enough space to do them and they burn a ton of calories.  I'm starting the burpees today, the beginner ones, I'm still looking in on if I should do them 2x or 3x or more a week and for how long, but my goal is to do them tabata style (that's a whole other post) where I would do 20 secs of burpees, 10 sec rest, 20 sec burpees you repeat this up to 8 times which totals about 4 mins of exercise and apparently is the longest 4 minutes of your life.  I am still studying as much as I can on the topic and will share as I learn.

Now if you want to know more about Tabata or Burpees, you can click on the links.  I think they'll explain it way better than I can.

Now before I go, I'd like to add that hubby, myself and our mini doxie went for an 8 block walk, I found a site called Gmap Pedometer that helped me figure out based on the route hubby and I took the almost exact amount of distance we walked and calories spent.  So according to Gmap I walked 0.87 miles that's 1.4 km in Canadian :) and I burned 180 calories (based on today's weight).

Also since starting on Wednesday I have dropped 7 lbs and I believe it was all water because I've had to pee endlessly since I started this lifestyle.  I don't remember peeing like this the two other times I followed this plan (February 2009, January 2011), but I'm not complaining.  Though it's a pain in the butt to wake up every hour to pee, but in time It'll stop and normalize itself.

On Aug 22 I have an appointment with my family doctor, I've had him since 1990 and well I haven't been to a doctor in over 4 years so I will request some blood work etc since I have no idea if I'm diabetic or not or how my heart is doing or anything.  Keep your fingers crossed please, I think I'm doing ok, I believe I'm blessed but I guess I won't know till he tests me.

Well I guess that's it for now... I'm still on plan, still going strong, still feeling good and still reaching out...

Have a blessed day everyone!

Sassle!

Sassle in Canada!

There's something about coming back to Sassle that always make me feel at home.  Speaking of home, the reason I've been off the blogsphere world is that hubby & I packed our things and moved to Canada.  It's been a wild, crazy and fun journey.  I got to meet my nephew, see most of my family and the odd friend.  We  are renting a nice home and trying to acclimate to our new lives.  We live in the province of Quebec which means it's French which poses no problems for me whatsoever, my husband on the other hand does not speak the language.  Since we got here, he has learned polite phrases, we have found an AA home group and I started a new job and quit it within the month (long story) oh and I gained 5 pounds.

So all in all since I first started this journey with you in January I believe my 30 to 35 lb loss is now a 15 lb loss (insert sad face).

But yesterday I went to the store and stocked up on my South Beach Diet foods and today is day 1.  I'd write how much I way but hubby is beside me and well that's the kind of information one keeps from one's hubby, at least till I've down 50 more pounds lol.

The latest 5lb gain I believe stems from my old new job, I worked 12 to 13 hour days without a break so what I did was eat at my desk and they had a wonderful vending machine with cookies, pop and chocolate bars.  So I ate my emotions and found the weight fast.

When we first moved here in April I have gained 15 pounds (Oh my God) and my stomach is bloated and huge.  It's hard, I have a headache right now as I type this but I want to lose weight.  I keep telling hubby at least we're trying and only quitters don't try.  I always want to go back to the Weight Watchers route, you know where I can eat what I want while counting my points, that worked for me in the past, yet for some reason South Beach is what motivates me.  Why fight it, the eating plan is delicious, I always lose weight so I might as well just accept it and go with the flow.

Now what am I going to do different this time?  Not much, it works if you work it, though I am going to incorporate walks in my day and maybe throw in Lesley Sansone's Walk away the pounds and Strength Training for Dummies.  I need a schedule or else I get overwhelmed.

Thanks for stopping by!
Sassle

10% Loss Plus Learning How to Cheat

Weird title but it's true, there have been days on the South Beach Diet where I was hungrier than usual and instead of going all ape sh!t over cake, cookies and chocolate, I'd eat an extra portion of nuts or string cheese.  I'd eat 2 oranges instead of one or maybe a bigger plate of pasta than usual.  This is good, because even though I did not follow the instructions to the tee I am not going crazy.

I've been weighing in every day for the last 2 weeks, I seemed to maintain a 26 pound loss which is good but today I got on the scale and have officially lost 30 pounds.  I weighed myself 3 times before I believed it.  That's a 30 lb loss, that is so amazing and what is even better than it being a 30 lb loss is I've officially lost 10% of my weight!!  So I'm sure that's made the world of difference on my blood pressure, heart, blood sugar etc.  Though I don't officially know this since I can't afford to see a doctor.  But I have faith.

I started fitting in some of my old jeans and this time I'm throwing out my fatty clothes, I think as long as I held on to my size 26 pants, I was reserving the right to get fat again.  This time they are going in the garbage.  I am not reserving the right to get fat again, I am reserving the right to get healthy again at a healthy weight.

Today I plan on tackling my closet, hubby & I are moving next month, we are putting our Ebay store on hold and are decluttering our lives.  Anything that is too big or too ratty looking goes in our dumpster.  I'm hoping by the time we leave next month that the size 20 jeans I have will fit nice and I can get rid of my 22's.  Yes I'm wearing 22's.  I can't wait to be a proper size 10-12 but I'll have to, one day at a time as we say in AA.

So I'll be getting together with my family next month, I'd like to lose at least 10 more pounds by then but ideally 20 pounds.  Is it doable 20 pounds in 38 days? Probably if I go back to Phase 1 which I'm considering, but we'll see...

That's it for now, I have 2 topics I'll be writing on later today, one on exercise and the other on bread.

Thanks for visiting!

Cardio Alone Won't Help Me

I'm down 25 lbs.  I took this week off from exercise, I started feeling as though I had no energy in my legs and thought I'd just do myself a favor and take a break for one week only.  I was also struggling with the fact that I want to tone up at the same time, yes I need to burn calories but I don't want to be flabbier than necessary.

So I was on Facebook the other day and a friend shared this article on Why Cardio Alone Doesn't Cut Fat it's a great read and only reinforced my desire to want to incorporate strength training into my life and this healthy eating lifestyle.

Now for the last three days (if not longer) I've been trying to find a strength training routine for the obese or morbidly obese online and aside from multiple articles on why it's a great idea I'm coming up with squat (no pun intended).  What I'm going to do is check out some of my followers blogs and some of the blogs I'm following, I'm sure there's a routine in there somewhere.

If anyone has a recommendations please include a link for me in the comments...

I saw these 4 tips on a website:

There are four ways to achieve a caloric deficit:

1. Eat less.
2. Increase your activity.
3. Elevate your basal metabolic rate.
4. All of the above - also known as "Cardio Alone Won't Work".

Thanks for stopping by!

Still On Plan and Still Feeling Good...

I've lost 23 pounds as of this a.m., two days short of a month on plan.  This has been quite the adventure for me.  When I first weighed in this morning I was a tiny bit disappointed, I thought great 2 more pounds but that's only 23 pounds that I've lost, then I realized I had not been on this plan for one month yet and that I had accomplished quite a bit!

I've also started doing things a bit different this time, yes the way I did it before worked but I realize that my mental and spiritual health are as important as my physical health.  So I've tried to incorporate different aspects of this to my new South Beach lifestyle.

Exercise
I've been doing Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds for Abs 1 Mile for the last 10+ days.  I'm trying to do it 6 days a week and i'm thinking of starting the 2 mile probably on Sunday.   I try my best to do it before 10am so that it's out of my way, yes that's how I feel about it because if I wait too long I'll have figured out some great excuses on why I can't do it.  As I'm typing this it's 9:40am, my usual routine is to start my omelet, cook it on low and start walking away the pounds, so this will go into draft until I'm done...

Meetings

I started attending 12 step meetings, helps me a lot, I work the steps or at the very least try to and do my best to try and do the next right thing.  Which believe me isn't as easy as it sounds.

Prayer & Mediation

I try to connect with my higher power on a daily basis thru prayer and meditation.  I don't always "pray" in the traditional sense but I reach out more now than ever, but I still feel as though there is much room for improving my conscious contact with my Higher Power who I call God but some may refer to him/her as  Goddess, Source, the Creator etc...

Sleep
This is a big one for me.  I've never been much of a sleeper from childhood into adulthood.  There's too much to do in order to sleep.  I don't suffer from insomnia (touch wood) I'm one of those lucky ones that once I hit the pillow its night night for me.  But I used to live off of 6 or less hours a night for years and years.  When I was an active alcoholic I even had less sleep than that (or shall I say pass out time).

About 2 months ago I woke up feeling hungover, I haven't had a drink in over 11 years so I couldn't understand what happened (did I tell you this story before) anyway that's when I decided sleep was going to be an integral part of my life.  I now sleep 7 to 9 hours a night and if I don't get that for whatever reasons, I will nap.  Sleep is part of me taking care of me, to think it took me 30 plus years to figure that out.

I have big news coming soon, I'll be writing about it in the next few days, it's big news to me anyway.

Thanks for stopping by!

Being Kind... to myself.

It's been a week since my last post and a great week at that.

On Monday I started Alanon, which is a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope in order to solve their common problems. I got that from their site. My husband is a recovering alcoholic with over 10 years sobriety and I am happily married, however, a fellowship like Alanon can only help me be a better wife, be a better human being.
So Monday I went to Alanon and heard something, you know that little voice that speaks to us, well mine says stuff like "you're fat, you're ugly, they're talking about you, they don't like you, you're stupid, you won't succeed, you're scared and the list goes on... that little voice known as my ego does not like me in the least, so a gentleman from the group was saying that he has learned that he should just shut that voice off no matter what it says. So the minute my little voice says to me "you're fat" I just take that information and ignore it, it's a liar, it hates me. Now at first I thought, this is too easy, how can I just shut a voice off, but I've been doing it and it's working. Sort of like "uh oh, you go bye bye voice" and poof it's gone. Yes it tries to sneak back in but I'm trying to be persistent in being kind to myself...

That's another thing, being kind, being good, being loving to myself... I owe myself that, like I said, I'm the meanest person I've ever known when it comes to how I'm treated (did that make sense?). So with the wise words from my cousin, Alanon and other hints and clues here and there I keep hearing, Be good and kind to yourself. So that's my mission for 2011.

Thanks for stopping by...

Weighed in this morning with t-shirt and panties on and I lost what appears to be 4 more pounds for a total of 16lbs since 1/11/11.  Not bad for 11 days on Phase 1 of the SBD.  You'd think I'd be more excited but maybe I'm just tired, though I think it's because I don't "feel" 16lbs less.   I think there lies a huge problem with my whole being, I need to change that thinking, "feeling" is very important when one wants to succeed in anything in life.  I won't be too hard on myself though, I think I'll listen to my Abraham Hicks mediation CD Physical Well Being Mediation.  I'll be back...

========

I'm finding it too hard to concentrate, so maybe meditation isn't the solution right now, I have the tools though so I'll get back to it later today.  I also think it's time to incorporate exercise into my life, more than walking the dogs around a path my hubby built us with the snow blower.  It's a good size path, I walk it up to 10 times a day on most days unless it gets cold like it has been lately -24F yesterday.

I need to tone my arms and legs and squish my gut and butt.  I also need to bring my cardio levels up, this whole thing is about my poor heart.  The older men in my family have all had heart disease and I know nothing about my fathers side of the family so I need to take care of myself because heart disease is the number one killer amongst women.  So I have lots going against me, my weight, the diet I ate, the fact that I can't afford medical care so no doctor visits etc...  So I must take care of myself and make it a priority.  I guess I'm doing that while following the SBD and I have to say, I love it.  Yes it takes planning and work i.e. having to make salads etc. but I'm ok with that.  I am not craving anything, habits are just that, yes at midnight I'd love to munch on some chips but that's not a craving that's just a habit that I am learning to change.

I just thought of something, maybe I'm not "feeling" 16 lbs lighter because I know in the past I lost more weight and I'm measuring my success with that.  I should stop that right now, appreciate how well I'm doing on this and move forward.

Are there any strength training exercises for the morbidly obese?  It's time for a Google search, I figure if I incorporate some strength training and Lesley Sansone plus walking with my dogs I should feel real good when I head to Canada this May.  Yes I'm moving back to Canada (that's a whole other blog post) and I already have a nice home waiting for me and my family to move into (thank you God).

Well I've been all over the place with this post so I'll say goodbye for now and update my stats.

Thanks for coming by!

South Beach! I knew you would NOT let me down...

Let's see where to start...

NSV

Yesterday hubby and I went to buy more food since we were running out of our staple South Beach foods and I wanted to try some new things too.  I bought some turkey burger, turkey sausages, chicken breasts and natural peanut butter and more...

We had breakfast and a snack but had yet to eat lunch, so we went grocery shopping on an empty stomach, but since I'm determined to lose weight, eat healthy and follow the South Beach Diet Plan I was not too worried, I knew I wouldn't cheat (sometimes you just know).  By the time we got home we were famished, I had laundry to finish, work to do and cooking, for some reason I did not ask hubby to make dinner even though I was over extending myself.  I'm sure had I asked he would have but I had clear ideas as to what I wanted to eat for dinner.

I made all 5 turkey sausages figuring that we'd each have 2 and one would be enough to break off tomorrow in our omelets for breaky.  I made a cauliflower/mashed potatoes dish but I added some low fat cheese to flavor it up even more (it was delicious).  So I sat down with 2 sausages and lots of cauliflower/mashed potatoes.  I couldn't eat the second sausage, I was full.  I had to stop and listen to my body and thought yes I could eat this but I won't.  For a split second the food hoarder in me panicked, it was like I had to eat it, this was my last chance.  But I tossed that voice aside and went about my business of feeling proud of myself for recognizing that I feel full.


Weight Loss Victory

I decided the other day to weigh myself (yeah I know) but I did so with all my clothes, socks and shoes on and the scale showed a loss of 5 pounds.  I was happy with that, I knew I was losing some weight.  Then today I went back on the scale, I've been following the program since last Tuesday, this is technically 7 days on plan so I went about weighing myself again fully clothed.  It showed 5 pounds loss.  I thought well that's ok I guess, then I figured screw it, I undressed myself down to my skivies and weighed in at an 11lb loss.

So yay for me...

That's all for now!

Thanks for visiting!

Feeling Good...

I've been reading the SBD book with as much interest as a historical romance novel.  It is very fascinating and what is weird is that I did NOT read it the last time I followed the plan.  What I am enjoying about it this time is that I'm learning how food and the body work together.

I've kept my promise to myself and have yet to weigh myself since day 1 of the plan.  I'm thinking I'll weigh myself either next Tuesday when it makes it a full week or maybe after week 2 is completed.  I just don't want to focus too much on what the scale says.  Yet, I'm hearing a lot of people do better weighing in every day.  I'm really doing this for my mental health.  I beat myself up ALOT and feel that it's in my best interest for the moment.

I've been searching out recipes to make the SBD more tasty and fun.  There are so many great sites out there with some delicious recipes I'm really impressed.  You see that's what makes this fun for me, it's a healthy way of living and tastes good too.

I'm on another deadline so this will be short, I just wanted to keep up with my blogging and let everyone know that day 2 of Phase 1 was wonderful and tasty.  I'm still on track, feeling good and happy to be on this new journey.  It just feels right.

Thanks for stopping by!

Day 1 of the South Beach Diet... A Success!

Did I mention yesterday that I loved that we started this new way of living on 1/11/11... First of all the number one (1) has always been my favorite number, it's my numerology number and all those ones resemble very much my sobriety date which is 11/11/99.  Now enough with the nerd talk, let's get down to business...

I was up till 3:30am working on a deadline, so yesterday hubby was in charge of preparing our food.  He's so excited that we are doing this, I swear he must have told me that 5 times yesterday alone.

I didn't keep a journal but I stayed on plan yesterday and I figured since I have a 3 months subscription with WW I will journal my food there.

You know my neighbor just sent me a message thru facebook about wanting to change how she'll pay me some of the money for utilities that she owes us.  She upset me and my first reaction was to get me some food.  I actually felt the need for the food, it was a physical reaction.  I had to remind myself that I am following the SBD and am not to let her or anyone else make me feel bad to the point that I have to eat.  I can't control her but I can control my attitude.

I have an oral fixation, I must throw something in my mouth.  I'm also confrontational which is not one of my most flattering qualities.  I answered her a big fat no and was a bit direct but felt that her sneak attack was just that sneaky... I know I'm getting off topic, but my feelings affect how I eat.  I am an emotional eater and this is the first obstacle I have to face since I started this diet (yesterday).  Gee suddenly I'm a bit scared.

That's it for today...

Thanks for stopping by!

South Beach Diet! Here I come...

A week or so ago I read a comment my cousin Faye left me on one of my posts and it was exactly what I needed to hear.  I know SB works, I know when I follow the program, I lose weight, I feel good and sleep well.  Why do anything else.  Why? Because I like to complicate my life is why, but her comment stuck in my head, sort of like a little voice that I kept hearing:

::YOU KNOW South Beach works, you have the info, do it. It won't cost you anymore than buying your regular groceries, and maybe it will cost you less because you won't be buying processed food.::

Be good to yourself.

Hmm.. wise words... Yet! I still went back and forth trying to decide if I wanted to go the SBD way or the Weight Watchers way... I finally decided to go with SBD because it stops my sugar cravings, brought me to a weight that I was thrilled with, made me feel good and make my body work the way it was supposed to and so much more.

Yesterday hubby & I went and bought our groceries, I joined two online SBD groups and found some great recipes, I got out my trusty SBD book and started reading it from the beginning and so far so good.

Today was rough, I weighed myself and hit an all time high, haven't weighed this much since '07 so needless to say I was not pleased, but I need to move on and not kick myself in the butt over it.

I've been suffering from chest pain for the last 3 days, I really think it has more to do with the fact that I went bowling with family and friends to celebrate hubby's 50th birthday on Saturday than my heart.  I had a good time but lets face it, at my weight it's hard work to have fun, hard on the body that is.  The pain is on the left side but it seems to hurt more during certain moves.  Plus I don't have any of the other heart attack symptoms attributed for women.

Had breakfast way late today, I have a deadline for work and was not able to prepare as I would like to, but that didn't stop me, we had an omelet (hubby is following the program with me) vegetable juice and a bottle of water.  I'm finding all kinds of Phase 1 recipes online so once this work deadline is complete (I already have another one in the works) I will at least get somewhat organized the SBD way.

I'm trying to keep up with the blogging, it's been my salvation in the past when I followed the SBD, reading comments from readers, your support has meant so much to me.

So that's it for now... I'll be back soon, I swear, either later or tomorrow...

Thanks for visiting!

Catching up with old friends...

I decided to play catch up today and read a few weight loss blogs that I am currently following.  I noticed there were others like me, who haven't posted in either months and a few hadn't posted in 2 years.  It made me feel sad, I wanted to say hey why didn't you tell us you were leaving, but then again I certainly made no announcements when I stopped writing.  So I do understand but I feel a sense of loss, as though I lost a dear friend.  The good news is that there are many bloggers who have continued sharing their journeys with us and I'm grateful for them, they continue to inspire me, show me that if they can do it, I can do it too!

So here's to a great 2011 may we all find success in what we are seeking!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sassle