Another great day on The South Beach Diet!

So yesterday was sort of off kilter for hubby and I, our schedule was way off, due to a visit from my lovely stepdaughter and grandson (he's 16 months old). So our meals were eaten later then intended but they were eaten and followed to a tee.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything I put in my mouth yesterday, it was all delicious. Breakfast consisted of an omelet, I put peppers (green, red, orange, yellow) onions, garlic, spinach, mushrooms, Canadian bacon, shallots and a quarter cup of cheddar cheese (no fat or sugar in this cheese), I put water instead of milk and had a glass of V-8 juice. It was good eaten LOL!

Now for lunch I was hesitant I don't normally like salmon unless it's either breaded or covered with mayonnaise or some other sauce. But hubby was getting restless with my menu (he doesn't grasp the concept that money helps with creativity in the menu department)so I took out the salmon and spiced it up (I'm not rich in spices) I put Montreal Chicken Seasoning on it (what kills me is I saw Montreal Fish Seasoning the other day and didn't buy it for a $1.00) and a ton of garlic powder. Hubby chopped some fresh garlic and put it around and the smell was wonderful. I served it with veggies and salad and it was soooo good I could have eaten it again for dinner but hubby would have none of that.

Dinner came around and it was getting late, no need to fill our tummies too much when it's now past 7:30pm so I grilled some chicken with my famous Montreal Chicken Seasoning and we had a salad with balsamic vinegar dressing.

It was all delicious. I'm not much of a cook, I don't have a passion for it like hubby does but the reason why I don't let him cook is because he will secretly add ingredients like butter without me seeing and then I'll wonder why the plan isn't working for me. So this is better, I have total control over what is going in my body.

Now, I know I'm only supposed to weigh myself once a week but I couldn't help myself, I had to this morning and I was down another 3 pounds!!!! so that's 14 pounds since I started this plan on the 17th. Not too bad, I guess this is the only advantage of being morbidly obese, you lose weight faster in the beginning. I haven't weighed 285 in a long time, in a year I think so that's good. But I'm not settling for that no way, I want my goal of 150 (140 if all goes well).

I live in a 2 story farm house on the top floor with my hubby and pets, below us are 2 gentlemen that live there (but they are not a couple) and one of them works at an organic health food store and he can get me my fresh veggies for $1.00 a bag. So that's great! That'll save me and hubby a ton of money. Sometimes I even get freebies, I got 10 Roma tomatoes the other day for free, no they weren't perfect looking but they were still good and free so we've been eating them in salads and such.

I promise not to weigh myself before Saturday morning because I have an event Saturday night so I'll want to see at what weight I'm going in at so I can compare it on Tuesday (if I don't weight myself Sunday that is). At first I was a little scared about going to an event (AA banquet) but with the South Beach Diet I know what I'm allowed to eat and what I'm not, so I should be more then OK. I'll concentrate on protein, veggies and salad (watch the dressing) and no bread, no fats, no potatoes, no pasta etc. I can and will follow the plan and thank you God because I'm not craving sugar!

That's it for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Sassle!

The South Beach Diet Week 2

Ok, I've lost 11 pounds this week!

I am seriously loving the South Beach Diet. Not only because of the weight I've lost but because of the good food, I feel better, I smell better and believe it or not it's brought me and hubby closer together because he's doing it with me! That was my first surprise when I started this program, hubby joined in with me and I didn't even have to twist his arm. He has in my opinion a minimal amount to lose, he was 265 +/- he's 6 foot tall and I think perfect (I like a man with presence) he may have a gut (it's still smaller then mine) but I love him that way. Anyway, he's already down to 252, we don't know what his exact starting weight was because he was on the rode for a week and he hadn't weighed himself in months we just know his biggest weight was 265.

Now enough about him, this is my blog. :)

I started at 299 on Tuesday the 17th of February, today I weigh 288. That is progress and I'm so pleased because really the SBD is easy to follow and I think I was only hungry once so far (not too bad) and I had a snack and was just fine. My sugar cravings are gone.

Now the side of the SBD that I don't like is the preparation and my need to be creative because I'm cooking for 2 people and I don't want to get bored with the menu. I also dislike that I have a ton of dishes to wash everyday and I don't have running water nor a sink so I have to bring my dishes to the neighbors to wash them (it's not as bad as it sounds) they live downstairs from us we share a huge 2 story farm house. I will get my own sink this spring (Goal May 1st are you listening hubby) but in the meantime this is what I have to do. So the negatives are the preparation, my lack of creativity and no sink to be able to regularly wash veggies and dishes at my own whim.

Now, I found ways to combat this negatives, there are millions (I'm sure it's in the millions) of sites with Recipes for all 3 phases of the SBD. I will post some links to the best sites I have found so far. I mean really the recipes people have out there are amazing and delicious. So no excuses about having no creativity. As for my dishes, the solution is to cook and immediately bring the dishes downstairs and wash immediately (see that was easy).

I have found many SBD support groups on the web and I have joined two of them (again I will post links).

The reason I haven't posted my menu thus far is simple, my life has been busy and I've now added cooking 3 meals a day (no complaints just reality) so I haven't taken the time to start writing my day to day experience with the plan. I guess I set myself up to have to write these long posts about my day when in reality I just need to write about what I ate and what I felt/learned/saw during the day, no biggie really. I will try to post more often it does me good.

I'm on day 4 of a bad cold that hubby brought back with him from his rode trip but it hasn't done me too much damage, only a stuffed head, cough and fever. I am a woman so this is nothing, I just go to bed early, no meds involved. When hubby had it, he had to sleep 3 days, take antibiotics and I had to constantly baby him. Men can be such babies when they are sick, actually I shouldn't generalize like that, I should say My man can be such a baby! LOL!

That is it for now! I hope to be back tomorrow!

Sassle!

South Beach Diet ~ Day 1 part 2

I'm almost done with day 1, it's 7:10pm CT and I look back at my choices of food for the day. All in all I would give myself a pat on the back for a successful day. I could have done better but that's my fault, I need to be more prepared which I was not. I will be better prepared tomorrow. Tonight before I go to bed I will have a list of what I will eat tomorrow. I will post it here so I can be accountable. Hubby is very supportive, of course this is day 1 and I guess he's so anxious for me to drop the weight that he'll do anything to appease me especially in something that involves weight loss.

Dinner was a steak (I didn't eat it all) I cut the fat off after (I know should have done it before) I had some spinach (love the stuff) onions (mmmmm) and a slice of cheese on my meat (I know weird but that's me). But here's where I screwed up, I had mashed potatoes. Why? Because hubby was in a hurry and I didn't want to make some veggies (see the importance of planning both food and times). But I feel good about my choices and I've had no sugar. Tomorrow will probably be the official day 1 but I'll keep today and stay proud of my accomplishments.

What would I change?

More Preparation
Incorporate some exercise into my day
Make jell-o so I could have a dessert

I'm hungry and it's been 3 hours since dinner (it's now 8:05pm).

Thanks for visiting!
Sassle!

The South Beach Diet ~ Day 1

OK, so I lied but I started. Uh, what?

I tried starting the plan on Sunday but with the kids here and all, I just couldn't do it. I didn't want to eat steak while they ate pot pies, I didn't want to create all this expensive foods and say "no you can't have any" so I didn't start until now.

So here's the scoop...

Breakfast:
I wish I had my camera but hubby has it somewhere since he just got back from a trip.

I made 2 eggs, spinach and onions and a slice of mozzarella cheese. It looked weird, really weird, but it tasted really good!

Now, if I were smart (I am! really?!) I would have prepared better yesterday but I didn't. I waited for the stepdaughter to leave (with boyfriend and kids in tow) and cleaned up so hubby would come home to a nice smelling clean home.

I woke up after only 3 hours sleep, took care of the dog spent time with her, took care of the cats, returned some business emails and next thing I know it's 11:00am and I've not eaten for the day. Now, my first reaction is, I'll start tomorrow, but how many more tomorrow's do I have?

So I started today, now, and my breakfast was good and nutritious. I have tons of veggies that need washing (I have no sink... long story, I will get to that another time). So I have to take all my veggies downstairs and use the sink there (no big deal really).

So today, I will wash my veggies, chop them up, prepare them for the rest of the week. Hubby said he will follow the program with me (he's got maybe 30 pounds to lose in my opinion but he wants to lose 50, I don't like skinny men) he wants to lose weight and eat healthier so that's good for me and for him.

As a snack so far I've had (it's now 2:44pm) a Weight Watchers String Cheese and half a slice of Cheddar cheese (it was sooo good).

Now I'm looking up recipes for the steak and later dinner.

I'm having trouble giving up the pop but today is day 1 so I'll cut myself some slack.

I'm going to continue reading the book and understand more of what's being said to me, I love this plan, I feel so good about it and I've only been on it 14 hours LOL!

I'll post some more later as to progress and what recipe I chose for our lunch/dinner steak.

I do realize I'll have to be better about my eating hours, so again, I'll take it one step at a time.

See You Later!

Sassle!

The Start of a New Journey

Ok, so thanks to my cousin Faye, I am officially starting Sunday February 15th the South Beach Diet. I am excited about this because I have the food to start, the mentally to want it and I am scared enough to take this seriously.

Why am I scared, well lets see, I am 43 years old and morbidly obese and all my fat is in my belly. The only thing I have going for me at this point is that I still have regular periods which according to the good doctor Arthur Agatston is to my advantage.

I bought The South Beach Heart Health Revolution Diet Book and I am reading the book cover to cover. Normally, I read AA books or a book of fiction but I think its important that I read this. It's my life and I need to arm myself with everything I have in order to live a longer life. I mean I can't control things but I'll be darned if I will die because of terrible food choices and the lack of exercise, it just seems wrong. This book offers me a way to rid myself of the sugar monster and to build a healthier heart and lose weight. I did research on the diet over the weekend and I read tons of positive reviews. I am willing to do what I need to do in order to get away from that awful beast called sugar. He wants to destroy not only my life but my health, well I say to hell with him.

I'm thinking I will journal daily (or close to daily) about my food choices, struggles, weight loss etc with the SBD. I will weigh myself tomorrow morning (if nobody is looking) and post it here somewhere. My goal is to lose 50 pounds by this summer. Maybe some of you will say that's too much but its my goal and I will achieve it by July 3rd (granddaughters 7th birthday). So that gives me 10 pounds a month +/- for the next 5 months. It's definitely doable.

So what do you think of my new layout? I know I keep changing it, but I can't help myself, I'm looking for the right fit and this one really rings true to who I am.

If anyone has any experience on the SBD please let me know!

Thanks for coming by!

Sassle!

Coming out of the PMS fog

Another fine example of why I believe God intervenes through others. This is where I know all "spiritual awakenings" don't necessarily come with harps and angels.

As I sat in the office of my Pastor we discussed my life. She asked me how I was doing, I told her not very well, I had a very rough week. My poor husband and I suffered the raft of my PMS, how it was absolutely the worse case of PMS I have ever experienced. My mind/ego went to all sorts of places, thinking he didn't love me, thinking he had to go on this sudden trip to his family to run away from me and to never come back. My mind thought I would leave him and go back home to my family and friends, my mind went everywhere a happily married woman's mind should NOT go.

Now don't ask me how I got to the point of mentioning sugar to her, but I did and I am totally drawing a blank as to why we were talking about it. She replied how some people were affected by sugar and how it did strange things to them not only physically but emotionally and this is where the proverbial light bulb went off. I told her how I spent the week proceeding and during my PMS binging on donuts, cakes, more donuts and more cakes. I snuck them into the house and abused them like a drug. I had abused so much sugar during the last 2 weeks that I truly believe that is the single most important reason as to why my PMS was so unforgiving!

OMG! I have to stop using sugar for my own emotional well being! I believe that, I really do. I know I'm not willing to go through this again, I can't. I will be divorced in less than 6 months if this keeps up. The self-loathing, the doubt, the distrust, the fears, I can't do this again.

Another awakening came upon me, the dawning that I am an alcoholic who follows a 12 step program to which I am not applying towards my eating habits, most especially towards my sugar addiction (carbs too?). I am not applying any of the 12 steps to this emotionally and physically dangerous addiction. Here I'm thinking I'm doing well with my sobriety, well yes I haven't drank in over 9 years, kudos but have I replaced the bottle with a boxes of Little Debbie Zebra cakes!

A blessing in all this were my 3 pets; 2 cats and a 3 month old puppy. Every time I would go play with my puppy, I would somehow forget that the world was a dark place to be. Looking at her cute face, training her, loving her would make all the darkness almost non-existent for that period of time or when I'd go cuddle up with the cats and my youngest cat (1 year old female) who is deaf and gray would lie on her back and meow with her little voice always asking a question (don't ask, I know, she always asks questions, she's like me). Or my male, he's half mane coon, he's been with me almost 9 years, he's the true love of my life, always loyal, always ready to protect me and those he loves. He'd "own" me or sleep by my feet or I'd see his beautiful face and melt, because I could forget for a moment that I was feeling sad or mad. Thank God for our 4-legged children.

My granddaughter is coming over today, she's coming to chill with Gramma and Papa, and she'll be spoiled rotten which is OK because if anyone deserves to be spoiled it's her.

Thanks for reading, I feel better today, I've been up since 4:00am so a nap and a shower is in order before she comes for her overnight visit. She always makes me smile so it looks as though it's going to be a good day today.

Coming Out of Secret Safe Place

No, I'm not coming out of the sexual orientation closet but I am coming out of hiding. I've been hiding to long and I'm not even talking about this blog, I'm talking about life, my weight, my obesity. Yesterday I did something that I would never have imagined I'd do before, I actually told my cousin how much I weighed. Albeit this was done by email and yes of course I fear judgment but wtf it is what it is and I can't hide.

You see I think if I keep hiding from people or from telling people about the real me I will not lose weight because I'm in hiding. Maybe my subconscious will stop it from happening or my evil ego will I don't know but I believe the old adage, you are only as sick as your secrets. So if I slowly let people into my world, that dark fat world maybe I'll be able to change.