Food Find

You have to try these...they are so yummy and only 60 calories per twist. I've only had the california almond and original. They have been my little secret at home for a while.... Brayden and Bobby stayed away because I said they were good for you... good as in "better than the junk I would usually choose" Well last night I had them taste it.....big mistake. The entire bag was devoured by the end of the night.


By the way, I forgot to post my weight yesterday but it was back down to 211!!

Dunkin' Donuts!!

Ok, so I wrote that post and got all inspired and I haven't been back since... It's not because I haven't been on the program, I've just been so busy and haven't had a chance to get back here. So I'm here now. I'm excited about weighing in tomorrow. I just hope I'm back down to where I was a few weeks ago. I do have a confession to make. Someone brought in Krispy Kremes today and I took a raspberry filled one from the box and brought it back to my desk. I didn't want anyone to see me eat it (um, that's a sign that you have a problem), so I put it in a napkin and was going to wait until the room cleared before I ate any. Well thank goodness I did that, because the longer it sat there there more guilt I felt. I looked at it and imagined how good it tastes and in my head I said "screw it, I want that donut" and almost as soon as I thought that I thought - well you're not eating it...just throw it away...and that's what I did. I have just thrown a perfectly good Kripsy Kreme in the trash. I actually felt guilty for throwing it away because someone else might have wanted it and now I have taken it and trashed it - but you know what? Nobody else really needs that junk either!

I figured instead of putting a picture of the yummy donut, I'd put a picture of the nutrition label!!

What do you want??

I don't know what has happened. I was so gung ho for a while and doing so good and now it's like I have lost all my motivation. I weighed this morning and I'm up to 213....wrong direction!! I need to figure out where I fell off and jump back on while I'm still fit enough to catch the train! I'm not going to make any excuses, (even though I have a ton of them running through my head) The truth is I obviously just don't want it bad enough....but I do! Or so I think I do!!

How does that happen? How can someone want something more than anything in the world, but not want to do what it takes to have it. It's not like I'm 5'6" wanting to be 6'. I want something that IS possible, something that is as easy as just making the decision to do it. I will never understand it. If I had some horrible deadly disease and they offered me a cure, I would do anything it took to get the cure. I would think I was worthy of receiveing it. But somehow this disease is different. I like the way the disease tastes, I like the way this disease makes me feel (in the moment anyway). But on the other hand this disease IS killing me...slowly. It interrupts my livelyhood, it makes me cry, it makes me depressed, it makes me feel weak and unworthy, yet somehow the good feeling I get from it is more powerful then the horrible feeling it also gives me. It truly is like a heroine addiction (not that I know from personal experience) The more the addict does it, the more they want. When they do it, it makes them feel wondeful, but afterwards they hate themselves....but they continue to go back, over and over again.

I am worthy of this...WE are worthy of this. We are worthy of the money it takes, the time it takes and the support needed from those that love us.

I am robbing my marraige.
I am robbing my relationship with Brayden.
I am robbing my future.

I say there isn't anything that I wouldn't do for my child, yet there is...

CAN I do this? Yes
Do I NEED to do this? Definetly
Do I really WANT to do this? Honestly? I'm not sure. I definetly want to lose weight, but I don't know if I want to do what it takes to do it. If I did...wouldn't I be doing it? My body doesn't want to do it and I'm not sure that my mind is quite on board with the idea either.

They (who are "they" anyway) always say with any addiction that not only do you have to want it, but you have to want to do it what it takes to overcome it. I disagree.... I don't think I have to want to workout everyday for the rest of my life and I don't think I have to want to skip dessert from now on. If I waited until I wanted to do those things, then I'm not sure I would ever do it.

So the real question is.. CAN I do something that I really don't want to do? Do I have the inner strength to suck it up and do what it takes even when I don't want to do it? YES. YES I DO!!

and I have proof...

I stood in front of my college Speech Orientation class every Monday night and gave a speech. I DID NOT want to. I knew I wasn't good at it. I HATED it. But I dug down and found the strength to do it anyway. I did it because I wanted the "A" and it was worth it.

I made myself vulnerable and laid on a table, half naked for hours with my legs spread open in front of my husband, mother and a room full of complete strangers. I definetly DID NOT want to...but I did. I knew the reward was worth. Brayden was worth it.

I packed up my stuff and my son and left my husband after almost 5 years of marragie to go live with my parents. I DID NOT want to!! I loved him and wanted to be with him. I bawled my eyes out along the way, but I did it. As heartbreaking and scary as it was...I DID IT! I found strength in God, in my family and most of all strength in myself that I did not know was there. At the time I didn't know it would come to be one of the best things that ever happened to our marriage and probably the only reason we are still together today. So was it worth it?? Yes, even though at the times it was so hard and my heart ached! Even though I felt weak and wanted to give up sometimes.

So do I want to do all of the hard work that it takes? Want to? Not really. Will I? Yes. Because I know the reward will be worth it.

It will be really hard at times. There will be mornings when my muscles will ache as I climb out of bed. I will have moments of weakness. There will be days that I feel like giving up. So even though I really don't want to do what it takes... I know that I have the strength and the determination to do it anyway. I WILL do this...not because I want to... but because I have to. For Bobby, for Brayden and most importantly....FOR ME!!

I hope there comes a point in this process that I will actually enjoy exercising and I hope there comes a time when I enjoy passing on the dessert...but for now it's going to be all about inner strength and doing what I don't really want to do.

Do you REALLY want it??

What things have you done in life that you really didn't want to do?

Weigh - In Wednesday - Traci

So I am sad to say that I weighed in this morning at 212.2 Honestly I was expecting it to be higher after yesterday!! I've done good so far today and plan to do so from now one! I can really tell I worked out. I'm sore and I only did 20 minutes.

I really like the deskercizes you posted!! I'm going to try to do some!!!

BTW - You are doing a great job!!!

Fun Stuff!!

Some cool sites that I've stumbled upon: (not all diet related)

Virtual Pizza Parlor: - Just pick your crust, sauce and topping and it gives you the nutritional info. Very Cool!!

Baby Name Wizard: Just type in a name next to the > and it will tell you when the name was most popular.

Virtual Deli: Similar to pizza parlor, but for sandwiches.

Death Clock: A bit morbid, but in regards to your weight it's interesting to see if you lost weight how many years of life you might gain. I would gain 3-4 more years. And if I led a more optimistic life I would gain 11 years of life!!

Rubber Faces: Stretch the faces of your favorite celebrities.

Change of plans....

...diet plans, that is. I guess I haven't actually been on "a plan", but I've been counting calories. I've decided that I'm going to give Weight Watchers a try again. I liked it when I did it, but I hated keeping track of everything. But now that I haven't gotten in the habit of counting calories, I figure it's no different than leeping track of points. The thing with only couting calories is that I'm taking fat into consideration, but with WW I will be. I'm not signing up on the site or anything. I'm just going to follow the point guidelines. I know that you've done WW in the past, but I'm posting a link to some info just in case you forgot how many points for each weight range, etc. Just in case you want to give WW a second shot also. I also found this online points calculator. So my stats will still appear the same way, I'll just have points beside each meal instead of calories. At my current weight I get 26 points and then there are the 35 flex points. I'm not going to use the activity points.

Slacker!!

Ok, so I have really been slacking on the posts. I was doing so good about posting everyday but now it's been over a week! I've been crazy busy at work and it seems like we have had something going on every night this week!! I have done o.k. this week. I haven't been counting the calories, but I have still been eating healthy for the most part... there have been a couple of "treats" this week. I'm guessing I've been getting around 1800 a day. I weighed this morning though and I'm actually at 209. I think the 1200 was just way too low and that's why I plateaued so quickly. So Im shooting for 1500 a day. I'm still not 100% on the exercise, but I am doing better. Brayden and I actually got up this morning and went on a walk. We got outside and I remembered that Bobby took the car to work today, so we had to go without the stroller (it's in the car). It was cold and windy but he was quite the little trooper. I did however have to carry him piggy back the last couple of blocks. When we got home he said "ya know mom, that exercise felt good". I told him that from now one we would do it every Saturday, he was fine with that but insisted we take the stroller next time. That's probably best anyway. I could have gone a lot farther, but he was ready to come back to the house. Mom is coming to get him later today, so I'm going to go again after he's gone. Anyway, I'm back on the counting calories and posting bandwagon as of today. I am sooo glad to hear that you are "feeling it" now. It took me a good month or so to really put my foot down and decide to do it, but once I did it got much easier. It won't be long before we have awesome b4 and after pictures like the BL pics. I have a picture from August that I'm going to use as my before. I think I may put the same outfit on and take a picture of me now and post them next week. That will be my first b4 and after! I've lost a total of 20 lbs since then so you should be able to notice a difference. Keep on keeping on! You are doing great and I am very proud of you!! Love ya!!

No Excuse Policy

Life will never present us with the perfect setting for losing weight (unless we sign up for the BL) There will always be something to blame for not being able to do it. Therefore, I have incorporated a no excuses policy into my regimen. I'm trying to catch myself when I make an excuse and then tell myself why it is lame and figure out a way to make it work. Here is a list of the excuses I used to use (ok I still use them on occasion) for not losing weight and what I try to tell myself. I actually started these last week and have been writing them down as I catch myself. I thought of a few more while writing this too. (WIL - why it's lame)

E: Because I have to cook for Bobby and Brayden and I don't want to cook seperate things!
WIL: Hello, they NEED to be eating healthy too. Do you want Brayden to grow up learning to eat healthy? Yes, then he needs to be eating healthy now. As far as Bobby is concerned, this is about me taking care of me! If he doesn't want to eat healthy then he knows where the skillet and the stove are.

E: It's so hard because I have snacks and stuff all around for Bobby and Brayden.
WIL: Again, they do not need to be eating that junk either. Get rid of it and replace it with fruit and healthy snacks. (I still need to get rid of a few things)

E: By the time I get home, cook dinner, clean it up, give a bath, read a bedtime story etc...I'm too tired to excersize.
WIL: You're not a single parent. Bobby can give a bath and clean. Just ask. ( I did and he does, I mean his woman is working on getting skinny - he'll do anything he can to help)

E: I just don't like to exercise. It's not fun.
WIL: You don't like being fat and it's not fun. If you're serious about this, making the decision between the two should be easy

E: I hate water and I just can't make myself drink it.
WIL: Water is essentially flavorless, how can you hate it? It's the missing out on the other stuff that you hate. And yes, you CAN make yourself. You are a mentally stable adult that is capable of making decisions. Just decide to do it!

E: The girls at work wanted to go out for lunch today and they really wanted me to go.
WIL: Then go, just make a healthy choice. Nobody said that because you're going to eat out that you have to eat junk. And if they are going somewhere that eating healthy is not an option...then don't go. You aren't a teenager anymore and are capable of conquering the peer pressure. Just say no!!

E: I have too much to do to be messing with counting calories and eating healthy.
WIL: This is one of the lamest ones. It takes just as much time to eat a hamburger as it does a lean turkey sandwich with light mayo. If you don't have time to count calories, then don't, but that doesn't give you an excuse to eat chocolate cake for breakfast.

E: I'm losing so slowly, I'm just gonna quit and learn how to be happy being fat.
WIL: You gained it slowly and the best way to lose it is slowly. Hey at least you're losing. Do you really think you will ever be happy being fat...NO, so don't pretend that you can convince yourself to be.

E: I feel like crap today so I'm going to take it easy and eat whatever I want.
WIL: That's fine, take it easy. That doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want though. It doesn't take more energy or time to eat an apple vs a twinkie. You probably feel like crap because you are "obese" (Yes I said the "O" word. As Dr. Phil says you can't change what you don't acknowledge - 6 months ago I was considered "morbidly obese", so I'll take obese...for now. I have 25 lbs to lose before I'm considered simply as "overwieght")

E: If I am cooking something special for work etc, I have to eat it because I need to know that it tastes ok... it right?
WIL: Wrong, you've made that a hundred times and you know it tastes fine. You know it's yummy too and that's why you really want to taste it!

E: I ate too much today but hey it's still less than I used to eat. (I use this one alot)
WIL: Keep telling yourself that and you'll be back up to 2000 caloreis before you know it. You are trying to learn how to quit overeating....so quit OVEREATING!

E: Once I give in I might as well blow it the rest of the day.
WIL: This is the kind of thinking that got you where you are today. Doing this is like running a race and tripping halfway and then getting up and running back towards the starting line. That's crazy!

E: It's expensive to eat healthy.
WIL: The medical bills that result from diabetes and heartattacks cost a lot more than lean meat and whole grains!

E: It's so much harder to do on the weekend.
WIL: Saturday and Sunday are no different then Monday, Tuesday.... It's just another day. Still 24 hours, the sun still shines and the moon still comes out at night. There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to do at home what you do at work. If it's easier because you stay busy at work, then stay busy at home. If it's because you aren't surrounded by junk food at work, then don't surround yourself with it at home. On the weekend you should actually have more time to exercise and think through what you eat.

Ok, I think that's it for now. I kind of got on a roll. I went back through all of my post and counted how many times I made excuses. Once I hit ten, I quit counting. Most of my excuses in the post have to do with exercise more than eating. The eating healthier and less has actually be pretty easy for me. It's the exercise that's been a bit of a struggle. I am working on it though and applying the "No Excuses" policy. I say going forward that we are not allowed to post any excuses. What do you think? If I do...it's your job to call me out. If I don't do well one day, that's fine, I just can't make an excuse. I have to be honest and blame no one but myself. The post should read like this: "I did pretty bad today. I have no excuse, I simply did not want to do it today. I was lazy and didn't think I was worth the effort." Because even if I did have to work late and I was tired and had a lot to do when I got home...the truth still is that I was lazy and I didn't think I was worth the effort....if I thought I was worth it...I would've done it no matter what. I'll be the first to say that yes I will still have days like that. Everyday is not going to be perfect. It's ok to have days like that, but I can't allow myself to let a day turn into a week and then a month. It's all about one day at a time. If you screw it up one day, go to sleep and wake up with a new attitude. No matter what, there is absolutely no valid excuse for not doing it. Even if the worst of worst happens (whatever that may be), it doesn't mean I have to give up on me and throw in the towel. It just means I have to work harder and be stronger. Ok I'll hush now. It's just the more I talk about it the more it gets engrained (is that a word) into my head. I'm going to read this post everyday.

Love ya girl!! We are worth it and we do deserve this!

Wednesday Weigh In: Traci

Down just barely a pound from last week...but I guess at least it went down.

I really want to see a 3 or 4 lb loss soon. I have to get my butt on that treadmill!!

NO EXCUSES!

Weigh-In Wednesday: Traci

I almost forgot to weigh in today....


Up 1 from a few days ago but still down 1.2 lbs from last weigh in!

Salad Dressing

I LOVE salad, but I'm very picky when it comes to the dressing. The real stuff has so many calories and the fat free stuff is usually pretty nasty. I found these Cottage Cheese dressings and they sound ok and only have about 10 calories per Tbsp. They may end up being nasty too, but I'm gonna give the Thousand Island one a try. I'll let you know There are a lot of other really good recipes here also.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/cookbook/viewrecipe/197


This dessert sounds very yummy!!
http://www.3fatchicks.com/cookbook/viewrecipe/552

Dr's Appt

I went for my Adipex follow up today. Last time I was there (s0metime in Nov) I weighed in at 228.5 Today I was at 214 (I weighed in this morning at home at 211, i ate breakfast and have had 60 oz of water since then though). She said 14 lbs in that amount of time was great. She called in the refills and I go back on the 14th of February. My goal is to be at 199 by then. That's almost 4 lbs a week but I'm going to push myself to do it. If they can do it on the BL then I can do it. I'm bumping the cardio up to 40 minutes a night, sticking to my 1200 on the weekends and getting at least 100 oz of water a day. I can do this and SO CAN YOU!!! I know it's hard, but we've got to keep keepin' on. Not only for ourselves but for the kids.

WE ARE WORTH THE EFFORT AND TIME!!

Are you still taking the Adipex? I don't think I would have gotten this far without it. The nurse that did my weigh in took it for 6 months. She looks awesome. She lost 70lbs. She showed me her "fat" pictures. They were very inspirational!

Goal Day

Well yesterday was my first mini goal date. My goal was to be at 206 by the 15th. Well I weighed in yesterday at 210.2 Only 4 lbs away from my goal and I am pleased with that. Bobby said that I have proved that I can do this and he has agreed to put trying for baby number 2 on hold for now. No matter what I weigh though as of April 1 we are going to begin trying. I would like to be at 180 by then, but that would be 30 lbs in 11 weeks. My goal is to lose 2 a week, so that only puts me at 188. I would be ecstatic with that. I'll shoot for the 30 though, just to push me. I have finally started to bump up the exercising so hopefully that will help. How did you do this weekend??

Recipe

Beef and Biscuits
1 lb of Extra Lean Ground Beef
1/2 c Chopped Onion
1/2 c Bell Pepper

1 Clove of Garlic

8 oz Can of Tomato Sauce
10 oz Can of Regular Refrigerated Biscuits (not Grands)
1 c of 2% Monterey Jack or Colby Cheese shredeed
1/2 c Light Sour Cream
1 Egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375

In large skillet brown the ground beef, onion, garlic and bell pepper, drain. Stir it tomato sauce and simmer on low while preparing biscuits.

Seperate biscuits into 10. Pull each biscuit into 2 layers (this part is a bit tricky, the biscuits need to be cold and right out of the fridge or they are hard to pull apart) Lay 10 halves on the bottom of a lightly greased 8x11 casserole dish or a deep 9 inch pie plate. Reserve the other 10 halves for the top.

Remove meat mixture from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of cheese, the sour cream and the egg; mix well. Spoon over layer of biscuits. Arrange remainng biscuits on top of meat mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes, remove and add remaining cheese; bake an additional 5 minutes.

Makes 8 servings. Each serving is only 242 calories! Enjoy!!

Weigh-In Wednesday: Traci

Down 3.9 lbs since last weigh and down 8.6lbs since original weigh in on Dec 6th. It's going slow, but at least it's going. I knew I would put a few back on after the flush over the weekend. I always seem do worse on the weekends, so I've decided I'm going to do the modified flush every weekend. I think if I have a certain strict paln to focus on I will do better than just winging it.

I think your plan sounds great. I need to start paying more attention to the food groups too. I noticed on my fitday report that I am getting a lot less than the RDA on many vitamins and minerals. I need to start taking a multi-vitamin. Have you taken a look at the new food pyramid. It now bases your pyramid on your age and gender. Here is mine.


As for the water here is my take on it. I think the flavored water counts as far as your bodies hydration needs are concerned, however I don't think it counts towards helping to flush more fat. Fat is expelled through exhaling and urinating. It does make you go to the bathroom more, but your liver is having to filter out the artificial flavorings and colors therefore it's not flushing as much fat as it would be with pure water. But for people who struggle to get there water, I think the flavored water is a good addition. 100 oz from a combination of flavored and pure is better than only being able to get down 60oz of pure water because it is making you go to the bathroom more, therefore probably expelling more fat. However, 100 of pure would be even better. My goal is to get at least 80 of pure water a day.

The Trafany Fruit Flush - Sunday Stats

8am -1 banana- 105
10 - cup of grapes - 110
12 - 1 apple - 72
2 - cup of cherries - 95
4 - skipped it
5 pm - I was so hungry for some real food and I felt dizzy and lightheaded (probably doesn't help that I gave a pint of blood that afternoon), so I skipped the lettuce and oil and ate leftover turkey spaghetti instead and then I had a tiny piece of chocolate cake. - 459

Total Calories - 841
Total Water - 60
Total Exercise - none

I think this 'detox" is really just a way to lose some quick weight, not as much as it is a cleansing thing. I haven't even been to the bathroom (I'm sure you wanted to know that), isn't that where the "cleansing" part comes in??? I am still doing it today. I brought nothing but fruit to work. I am going to eat real food for dinner though. That's my version of it, follow it during the day and eat a healthy meal of your choice for dinner. I think I may try that every weekend. Protein all day Saturday and a healthy high protein meal for dinner and then fruit all day Sunday and a healthy high protein meal for dinner. I'm doing this mainly for the weight loss not the detox part. I weighed this morning and was at 210.4, so I can say that it at least helps you lose some weight quickly. I just wonder if it will all come back when I go back to eating real food everyday. Hopefully if I stick to the less than 1200 a day it will stay off. I couldn't find the colon cleanse pills, I must have threw them away last time I cleaned out the medicine cabinet. I'm going to buy some more on payday and I will send you some.

This is sooooo cool!!!

You've got to sign up for this... www.audioblogger.com

This will also be great for when we start Jack's Legacy....if we ever do!!

That is what I heard when I weighed this morning...

I just weighed in at 213.0 lbs. That's the lowest yet! I know today isn't weigh-in day but I had to weigh this morning because I am starting the detox today. That's the only way I will know if it works. I decided to go with a premixed protein drink. I did a little shopping last night and could only find one protein powder that meets his criteria. It was $39. I'm not spending that much on something that #1 I may not be able to tolerate and #2 I only need for one day....well at least for now. If this goes well, I may do it once a week for a month as he suggests. I didn't realize until I got home that the article says that each 1 oz of powder mix should have 24g of protein. You are supposed to have 6 ounces of MIX, not drink, every 2 hours. Well I only bought enough to have 8 0z of drink every 2 hours (5x total) and it's only 16g of protein for every 8 ounces I drink. I will only get 80 total grams of protein for the day, but after looking at what I have eaten this week, that is more than double what I currently get. So I am just sticking with my own version for today. I will follow to the book for the next two days though. I bought the Slim Fast Low Carb shakes. I will be drinking the equivalent of 4 cans. That's a total of 760 calories, 36 g of fat, 24g carbs minus the 16g of fiber will give me 8 "net carbs", and 80 g of protein. I want to go for 100 ounces of water.

I decided to skip the phentarmine, I just need to press through until 6 pm when I get real food. I should be able to do that without it. Oh yeah Uncle Tom decided to drop by last night, so that will probably make this a little harder, but I'm doing it anyway. No more excuses!!

Later that day.....

Ok, here is an update for Detox day 1. It's 4pm and I've had 3 of the slim fast. I feel really full. It's time for another and I don't really want to drink it. So tonight I'm supposed to have a 3-6 oz piece of lean chicken, fish or beef and 3-6 cups of raw vegetable salad with olive oil! I'm having salmon and steamed broccoli though. I just can't do 3 cups of lettuce with oil. Ok can't really isn't the word, I don't want to. How much different can 3 cups of stemaed broccoli with nothing on it be from raw veggies and oil? So maybe this first day isn't exactly by the books, but I still feel like it's a good first day to the detox. I think this day is mainly to get our body ready for the next 2 days of mostly fruit. I also have some Arbonne colon cleanse. I've taken once before and let's just say that yes I think it cleaned out some areas that had not been cleaned out in a while!! I'll skip the details!! Anyway, I'm going to take one of those before I go to bed too. If you want some, I will mail them to you. I have a huge bottle.

Well I tried the Discovery Health thing and I don't like it. You can't choose your foods for the meal planner, it gives you the option of several customized meals. Have you looked at it?? I decided to sign up for fitday.com instead. It's free and you can track your food, activities, water, etc. I really like it. It even lets you do graphs so that you can see your progress. Some of the food I eat isn't listed but I just improvised. For instance the Ragu sauce wasn't on there, so I just used regular spaghetti sauce and adjusted the ounces until the calories equaled what I knew they should be. I figure once the calories are adjusted that the fat, carbs, etc probably end up being pretty close. Even though I am tracking calories, it's good to see the carb and protein intake also. The activity thing is similar to the one on caloriesperhour.com. You enter how much you drove, cooked, worked at a desk etc. It adds all of that up and compares it to what you ate to make sure you are burning more than you eat. It breaks it down to basal, lifestyle and activities. The basal is the resting, the lifestyle is based on your "lifestyle level" you put in your profile (ie: sedentary, active, etc) All of the activities you entered are in the activities category. You should check it out. Seems like it is one of the sites we talked about last time we were trying to lose.