Day 10. Fried Chicken Does not Count as Protein

Midnight Confession: I drank the rest of the apple juice last night. I thought to myself , self why not drink it all that way you won't have to feel guilty any longer. So I did. Now it's gone and we don't have to worry about sneaking it.

I have to mention again that I am super syked that I lost 3 pounds already... in 10 days 3 pounds. That's good for me considering that I have been having a hard time dropping any weight as of late.

Today I did good as well, I cannot tell you how happy I am that I am actually doing this. I do have to let you know however that I went to happy hour with some of my peeps and since I needed to have a protein and veggies I ordered the buffalo wings and broccoli. Well, thanks to my friend Kia (thanks for burstin my bubble) she let me know that the fried in the chicken certainly does not count. She called me a cheater. Am I a cheater? I guess so considering it was drenched in some sort of sweet sauce. They were too sweet.

Ok, ok nor more fried chicken. I guess the fried does kinda cancel out the good stuff. LOL! I also opted for red wine this evening but only one glass.

Anyway good people, talk to you tomorrow. I'm going to try on my new tights :)

PS: I still need to work on the water thing...*deep sigh*

Day 9. Still Truckin

I love the fact that I am learning how to eat on my plan while eating out. I would go as far to say that this plan is not bad at all. I'm managing in between sneaking a few things here and there (that won't kill me or sabotage me necessarily) to lose weight. I was supposed to stay off the scale until the end but I couldn't help to peak and it looks like I've lost a few pounds (if you are reading Susan, you caught me!:)

I was super syked to see those numbers on the scale. By no means is it even close to where I need to be but gosh darn it it's a start.

I was able to get a salad today at lunch from chipotle minus all the yummy stuff like sour cream and cheese and corn but it was very good. I liked the fact that I could go to lunch and not feel left out. I did manage to have a diet soda but I'm not to mad at myself for that. Other than that I had some tic tacs which helped my breath a great deal after lunch.

The one thing that I am now loving is peanut butter on my apples. I had that today and yesterday and it is umm umm good! I am using the PB with no sugar to and its still very good. I think that snack is a keeper!

I'm eating dinner now. Some super dry tuna that I cooked for way to long and I will eat some asparagus in a minute. I was too lazy to cook it. I will be straight up with you and let you know that I am about to drink some of this apple juice and after that I may pour it out. I'll let you know. I should also admit to you Bangaly that I did end up eating that whole protein bar last night at 11:30. I know I should have had water instead but it was so yummy I couldn't stop. Well, I guess I could have, I just choose not to. I won't let it happen again sir. Scouts honor. (good thing I'm not a scout)........

Anyway, I'm about to get ready to watch Obama so I'm outty. Thanks for your continued encouragement as I try to loose weight AGAIN.......

Here's to 9 days!

Day 8. How about I stop sneaking.

Last night after I snuck some more apple juice, i thought to myself, self, this is your diet why not tailor it to your liking so you don't feel like you are "cheating". Just as I am allowing myself to have bread one day a week, perhaps I put in my contingency plan that I can have juice twice a week or some sort of fruit that's supposedly "not a part of the plan."

I thought going the cold turkey route would be good, and it is, but I also need to give myself permission (within reason that is) to have something that I'd like. Ok, so its settled. I just need to think about what that's going to be. I'll let you know...

I went out tonight... I stuck with my plan for dinner although I had to glasses of red wine. I went with the red wine only because in my mind red wine is less fattening than any other liquor. So I think. Whatever... I'm a little loopy tonight as well. Sheesh! Of course that made me hungry. But instead of me acting a fool, which technically I can't since I don't have any bad foods in my house, I ate a protein bar. I should have just brushed my teeth and went to bed but nooooooooooooooo.

Over all though I had a good day, I had two new yummy snacks today. An apple with peanut butter and turkey slices with celery... Doesn't that sound just yummy... LOL!

Anyway, I'm out. Gotta go to sleep.

8 days down, a lifetime to go!

Day 7. I need to drink more water....

Today was good for the most part. I realize however that I need to drink more water. I don't think I've been drinking that much which is not good. I also need to start working out again. My back is healed and I have no excuses...

I'm also not sure how super strict I should be following this plan. While I've pretty much been eating the appropriate foods I'm not sure if my panang chicken which is cooked in a peanut sauce counts as a protein. I mean it does but I'm not sure if the sauce was ok. Nevertheless, it was good. I've also had peppermints and tic tacs and honey in my tea some days. I'm sure that's not going to kill me considering I decreased the amount of sugar I am taking in on a daily basis. I love sugar. Refined sugar that is. I'm addicted which is why I think I can't cut it out 100%. Although I have gone a few days without it I think..

It's also not that hard for me to eat out either. While I may have to alter some things, like taking the carrots and cheese off my Burger King salad and taking the meat off the bread of my sandwich for the most part its been ok. Not bad.

I did manage to sneak a few olives in today. I need to see if those are ok so I can throw them in my salads.

Anyway, my friend went apple picking the other weekend and I must say that there is something different about these apples from the ones I get from the stores. They are so incredibly crisp and sweet. I love em and will eat them as snacks this week with almonds or peanut butter.

For dinner tonight I am going to cook some tuna and maybe have some asparagus. I guess I should be cooking this now since it's 7 and I am not supposed to eat after 7. (or at least three hours before I go to bed)

To the kitchen I go!

PS: I hear there are going to be 100 calorie pack Twinkies coming to the stores soon. I'm sooo disappointed. I absolutely LOVE Twinkies even though they are so not good for you and I am afraid I will buy them and eat them all. Ok, let's not think about that! :)

Peace

Day 6. Give us us Free!!!

This was my get out of jail free day. The one day my wellness coach said I can have bread if I was good all week. With that said, I had french toast at brunch today! I'm not sure if I felt free although it was good. I also loaded up on veggies and chicken for balance if that counts. I will say that I was charged to get back on my plan which is a good thing. I've gotta lose weight! This is my goal, this is the plan. It's necessary and I need to approach this with a sense of urgency.

Anyway, for breakfast I had one of my super yummy smoothies and for a snack I opted for a super yummy apple (thanks Alethia) and the rest of my protein bar. Dinner was sauteed shrimp and spinach with almonds.. I threw it together from the things I had in the house and it was super good and only took about 5 minutes to cook!

I didn't feel like going to the grocery store today although I must go tomorrow. It's such an important part of the process. Otherwise, it makes it easy to get off track.

Oh, I didn't mention that I was rebellious last night and had apple juice. I did dilute it with water if that helped. Not sure. Sugar is my challenge. This is my only and biggest challenge and I will not let it conquer me. I can't. I am in control right?

Anyway, here's to another successful week!

Holla!

Day 5 Alive

The only thing I would have changed about last night was the wine. I would have done red as opposed to white.. It made me a little loopy... My sight was even blurry.... LOL!

Today was the 1st day where I had to alter my plan all together since I didn't have my blender, to make my smoothie breakfast. I did good though. For breakfast I choose a few slices of cantaloupe and honey dew melon along with strawberry yogurt. I had some tea as well

There was no protein for me to eat as a snack so I choose vege broth instead. Thankfully I bought a pack with me. It was a life saver.. For lunch I took the meat out of a turkey and tuna sandwich and slapped it on some lettuce which was good. I had my protein bar for a snack and some Thai chicken and veggies for dinner, my portion size for dinner was a bit big however... Greed took over... I can't wait till tomorrow where I can have bread since I've pretty much stuck to my plan all week.

Anyway three cheers for 5 days!

Day 4. Making Better Choices

Midnight confessions: I was up late, the refrigerator was yelling my name. I got up to answer and it put me in a choke hold and made be drink about 4 oz of Apple juice... I craved something with taste so I didn't fight it. I decided to extend some grace to myself, just a little.

Anyway, today is the 1st day where I had to make adjustments to my plan because of traveling. I thought it was going to be hard but I only had to make some slight adjustments. Tomorrow will be more of a challenge because I can't make my morning smoothie but I'll do fine!

I'm on my way to dinner with some of my members but I find for some reason and surprisingly that this is the easiest meal for me. I can stand to pay attention to my portions a little closer however. I think I can manage not eating yummy pasta or rice... I'll let you know how I did tomorrow.

B: Smoothie ( i used a whole banana due to greed, I was only supposed to do half)
S: Pear and Almonds
L: Caesar Salad with Balsamic dressing. At this point I was already in Long Island so this was my 1st challenge and I did good). I also choose to drink water with my meal and skip the croutons.
S: Almonds and a 100% fruit snack. this was a bit of a change but it was still better than a snicker. Holla not to mention I ate this like 1/2 hour after lunch. I need to work on that every 3 hour thing.... :)

Oh, I also decided to get some wintergreen life savers today at the airport. I will definitely limit those since it is nothing but sugar but they helped with my hunger pangs today.. I guess sugar will do that.

Woo hoo!
4 days down a lifetime to go!

Day 3. Sheesh, Luis!

For some reason these three days have made me feel like I know exactly what Jesus was going thru when he fasted for 40 days. I know it's not that deep, but I'm an eater, which is exactly what got me into the issue I am in now... Overweight. I've heard it all b4. "oh you're not fat you're tall." What the heck does one have to do with the other?? Fat is fat is fat is fat, be you tall short or whatever. I may be able to mask it better but it doesn't make it any healthier.

I've even had dreams about sneaking food over these past couple of days. The other day it was popsicle's, 6 of them no less. Last night, it was this pink sparkling liqueur called Nuvo which I watered down to try and make it less fattening. How funny is that? I do "sneak" food in real life so the fact that I am sneaking it in my dreams is not to far from reality. Now who I am sneaking it from is beyond me.

Anyway, I felt kinda dizzy earlier today, not sure what that's about. I do have bouts with dizziness every so often however. I think it's because I need sugar... Ok, I don't need it, but I want it. I think these feelings are simply part of the withdrawal process.

Today my food was pretty much the same as the past few days

B; Berry and Whey smoothie
S: Pear and Almonds
L: Salad with turkey and egg
S: Luna bar (I'm gonna lay low on these next week too many carbs. I need to find ones lower in carbs)
D: A whole lotta green beans and whole lot of ground turkey. ( I ate too late due to my late night pedicure and I was starving)

I should also admit that I did sneak a sip of juice today. It was really small. I was pouring it down the drain and as it was going down I thought how neat it would be to sneak a sip. What's up with the sneaking. I may need to bring this up with my therapist. I'm sure there's something there that can last us a whole session.

3 days down.... a lifetime to go!!! Go Sandy! Go Sandy!

Day 2. What can I say? I got thru another day..

I need to get on a schedule with eating! Otherwise, I will end up eating every 2 hours all the time as opposed to three. My desire is to eat at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and then 7pm. That way while I may finish up dinner a little after 7 I won't be starting to eat after 7. This is going to mean getting up earlier which is going to require me to go to bed earlier. *Deep sigh*

Being on a restricted plan made me realize today that I eat too much. I eat at anytime and grab whatever. Even if it is healthy I need to get into the habit of not eating just because. That's really hard. Just in these two days, I've had to turn down fried shrimp, yummy, a choc ice cream bar, ooh ahh, and hot wings, ouch! While it was a challenge, I felt good about doing so. I'm on a mission. To be so young, I have to many little health issues where, if I just have the proper diet can be reversed. I need to learn how to eat to live as opposed to living to eat.

Anyway, the end of my day was VERY stressful at work today and under other circumstances I would have went straight to the vending machine but I stood my ground. It landed me a BIG FAT headache however which is not good but I didn't eat to mask my frustration. I shouldn't let people get under my skin so much. It's a process though. I'll get there.

B: Smoothie (blue and strawberry, banana, milk and whey powder)

S: Pear and Almonds

L. Salad with turkey meat and hard boiled egg

S. Luna Bar

D: Ground turkey meat with veggies


I'm proud of myself. I got thru another day. woo hoo!!! Oh, I guess I should mention that I did put splenda in my green tea today.. I think I should ask Susan about the whole artificial sugar thing. I don't think she wanted me eating that either.... But I may sneak it in periodically... (bad I tell ya, bad!)

Day 1.... I Won!

Yesterday, I spoke with a clinical nutritionist Susan. I must say, she is the greatest. She's my new wellness coach (thanks to this new benefit from my job). We spoke for an hour about what my goals are, my current health issues, and what challenges I am faced with with regards to loosing weight.

I told her that I preferred to go cold turkey and eliminate sweets all together for the moment so she started me on a 21 day Jump start program to help me lose weight. I shared with her that the biggest challenge would be the whole not eating after 7pm thing. I don't think I've ever not eaten after 7pm. So here are the rules (from the top of my head because I left my sheet at work)

Breakfast: Protein Shake (berries, banana, whey protein with no sugar, ice and milk)
Snack: 1 cup of low glycemic fruit with nuts or a fat
Lunch: Big salad with non starchy veggies (and add chicken, turkey or fish) with olive oil vinaigrette
Snack: Protein/Fat (protein bar or protein such as turk, chik or fish with avocado and lettuce)
Dinner: 4 to 5 oz Turkey, chicken or fish with lots of non starchy vegetables.
Xtra: at least 64 oz of water daily, drink decaf green tea, eat every 3 to 4 hours, eat breakfast one hour after waking up and don't eat after 7.

I did pretty well today surprisingly but I am gonna have to go to bed soon or I am going to attack the fridge. The only challenge is that I didn't eat breakfast early enough so I found myself eating every 2 to 2 1/2 hours today. I had the following:

B: Smoothie with one cup berries 1/2 banana, scoop of whey, ice and water
S: Pear and almonds
L: Salad with turkey
S: Odwalla bar (even though she told me to lay low since it has 60% of my daily value of carbs)
D: Baked Chicken with greens, green beans and cabbage

I went out tonight so when I got there I had some sauteed spinach which was the bomb and a diet soda which technically I am not supposed to have but I did anyway.

Anyway, I did it. I'm happy! I won! I ate the appropriate foods and I didn't eat after 7pm.