One Week Down

It's been tough doing this diet and not having someone to hold me accountable.  Only a couple more days till my roommate comes back.  Thank goodness!  Luckily it wasn't all bad and I was able to learn a few things over this last week.  

It's super easy for me to add in 2 fruits.  Usually one with breakfast and maybe a handful of raisins for a snack.  Veggies?  Not so easy.  I get MAYBE one in a day.  Perhaps better planning and a veggie nazi (ie: roommate) might help me be more successful with that.  Because 2-3 veggies a day are going to be a constant once we get into the next phase, so I have to get it down!

I thought oatmeal was going to be my big problem but I actually prefer savory oatmeal to sweet.  Just a bit of salt and maybe some cheese and my brain thinks its grits.  Yum!  I'm still fiddling with the granola idea.  I keep burning it.  I tried just pouring a little milk over raw oats with some honey. Texture wasn't horrible, kind of like eating soggy cereal.

Remember I was so excited about my smoothie packets?  Turns out, I don't really like smoothies.  That or I can't get the texture right.  It should be like drinking a milkshake but still the thick texture makes me gag.  When I have some time to play around with it I'm thinking about blending one and freezing it like frozen yogurt.  Or maybe keeping the packets in the fridge so they're cold but not difficult to blend like they are straight out of the freezer.

We're going to add in an extra week of the jump start plan so we can do a full week together before moving into the next phase.  Oh, and we're gonna buy a scale.  Yay progress!

I'm Baaaaaack!

And ready for this amazing new year!  I just know it's going to be absolutely fantastic!  I feel this way deep down inside me in a place I can't quite put my finger on.  I haven't felt this way in a long time and I'm excited about it!

Even though it's been awhile since we've chatted.  Or since I've talked at you.  Or whatever.  I'm still interested in that This is Why You're Fat weight loss program and so I'm dusting myself off and trying it again.  And pulling my new roommate in with me.  We both have our own weight loss goals but at least we can be a support system for each other, which is what I think has always been missing from my past attempts at weight loss.  I really need someone to encourage me and push me when I need it.

Organization is the key to this 2 week jump start, and I suspect the rest of the diet. My roommate can do the whole egg thing so I hard boiled 14 eggs in the oven @325 for 25 minutes.  2 eggs each day for 7 days.  We're also going to do breakfast smoothies with spinach to take care of all our fruit and half our veggies in the morning.  The last time I tried this diet I put raw spinach in my smoothie and just blended it with the rest of everything.  The flecks of spinach coming up through my straw really squicked me.  I gagged a couple times just on the texture.  So this time I'm trying a spinach puree, made at the beginning of the week with raw spinach and apple juice, and just measured out and added to each smoothie every morning.  I've also made "smoothie packets" with frozen fruit.  Separated the fruit combinations into ziploc baggies so you can just reach in, toss the contents into the blender, add the spinach puree and whey protein powder, and blend.

I made oatmeal as a snack for us today and added honey and craisins.  It was palatable but I don't think you'll make an oatmeal lover out of me anytime soon.  I'm still searching for oatmeal based muffins and things to replace mushy, slimy, flavorless oatmeal.  Hell, maybe I can just make a yummy crunchy granola instead.  Should be the same thing considering what I have to add to regular oatmeal just to keep from gagging on it. 

 If you want more information on this weight loss program, go pick up This is Why You're Fat: And How to Get Thin Forever by Jackie Warner from your local bookstore or read the post below and follow along with me.  It's easy, just scroll down!

This is Why You're Fat...

I have a great friend who listens to me whine and bitch and talk things out and obsess and plan and obsess some more.  In just a minute, she'll know who she is.  And I hope she also knows how grateful I am for her support and guidance and love.  Ok, all mushy stuff aside.  We chat about a great many things, including weight loss.

She saw me through my first blog.  Which survived like three weeks before I got so bored with it and gave up.  She's heard me plan and plot but never see lasting results.  Then she told me about a book a friend of hers was reading and so I looked it up.  The ideology behind the book made sense to me and so I went hunting on eBay.  (I have a love hate relationship with eBay.  I get great deals but then I spend way too much money lol).  I found the $25 book for $6.50!  So I bought a copy and have read through the first 66 pages.  The farthest I've ever gotten in any weight loss book I've ever read.

In her book, Jackie Warner talks about how over processed foods have put our hormones out of whack.  That our bodies are naturally predisposed to want to be thin and healthy because being thin and healthy is a means of survival.  Our diets and personal choices are making us fat.  Duh, right?  The idea that you can eat naturally without all the diet food and still lose weight by balancing your body from the inside out is so simple yet so genius.

Her section on the deadly effects of sugar was eye opening.  Over processed sugar is lightyears different from the product they ate when sugar was first discovered and so unhealthy for you its the cause of most of your problems.  She explains how sugar is just as addictive as heroin or cocaine.  It produces the same kinds of endorphins and high as a drug and you can crash from it just as hard and violently.  She pledges that her diet will wean you off sugar so that you no longer crave it and your body can stop being dependent on it and start to regulate itself.

In the first two weeks of her plan she doesn't ask you to get rid of the bad things you're already eating.  Cakes, cookies, bread, pasta.  You can eat whatever you want you just have to add in a few things each day, every day for 2 weeks.  She asks you to add in these foods in daily:

2 eggs

1 cup oatmeal

2-3 cups veggies

2 servings fruits

2-3 liters of water

8 oz whey protein shake

Herbal tea to curb late night snacking

I'm not an egg person so I'm really going to struggle on how to add those in there.  I can choke down some oatmeal but its not my favorite.  She provides a list of detoxing veggies for you to choose from and there are some on there I can munch on and others I'm going to make myself try.  Fruits usually aren't a problem in the eating department my brain just isn't programmed to purchase them and keep them in the house.

She also recommends the following daily supplements.  A multi-vitamin, Omega-3, Vitamin C, BCAA, Creatine, and CLA.  It seems like a lot and I'm not sure how jazzed I am about taking so many pills.  But I'm going to look into it and see if I can find a cost effective alternative.  Maybe in the beginning I'll pick 2 or 3 instead of going with all 6 at once.

She pledges that her clients begin to lose weight in this 2 week jumpstart even without removing bad for you foods from their diets.  Just by adding these items in and beginning to regulate their hormones and detoxifying their organs they start to set their bodies up for maximum weight loss.

I'm excited to go through the steps of this book and see what happens!  I hope you'll follow along and toss in some words of encouragement along the way!

Loaded Baked Potato Dip & Cinnamon Honey Greek Yogurt Dip

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

I am a huge college football fan.  Go UVA Wahoos!  Which is funny because I seem to be the only UVA fan in the family.  My aunt, uncle, cousins, and brother are all die-hard VA Tech fans.  So game day when we're together is fun.  They tease me.  I tease them.  Although they're usually doing more teasing than me because, let's face it.  Beamer football is top notch in this state.

That being said, I was visiting my cousins this weekend.  And while I was hanging out, watching football, and getting in some much needed nephew time (he's such a happy, adorable baby!) my cousin remarked that "football food is always healthy" while stirring up some bbq chicken dip with whiskey meatballs simmering on the stove.  Super healthy food we were partaking in.  Not.  Sometimes, you just have to indulge.  And if you're jumping up and down and yelling at the TV during the game like me then you're probably burning more calories than you realize.  So eat this dip with your favorite potato chip and exercise on Sunday, after college football is over.

This dip is worth the indulgence and not nearly as terrible for you as some things you could eat.  I did tweak the original recipe (go figure, right?) but it's the easiest thing to put together ever.  Sour cream, shredded cheddar, bacon. Mix, serve with chips, enjoy.  Voila!  

I changed the ingredient amounts and I think it tastes just as great and you're saving yourself some calories.  Never a bad thing so long as you're not sacrificing taste.  I use 24 oz of regular sour cream, 1 cup of cheese, and 9 strips of bacon.  I use WalMart brand pre-cooked bacon and chop it up without heating it first.

Calorie Count:  This dip is 203 calories for 1/4 cup serving.  Serve with your favorite potato chip (Wavy WalMart brand chips are 150 calories for 22 chips)

Cinnamon Honey Greek Dip

I've recently discovered that I LOVE greek yogurt.  And those Danon Oikos fruit on the bottom yogurts are always on sale for $1 a piece.  Score!  They're 50 calories more than light yogurt at 130 for 5.3 oz but they're packed with protein and keep me fuller longer, which means I'm not starving and reaching for the chocolate stash in my desk at 10am.

So when I came across this recipe I smiled.  Three ways to spruce up an already yummy snack.  I cheated and used the Danon Oikos with honey in it already and added the cinnamon and vanilla.  I actually ate this with pretzels because I didn't have any other dipping receptacles in the house.  It was the perfect sweet and salty combo.

Calorie Count: This is 130 calories if you use the Danon with honey in it already because the cinnamon and vanilla add nothing to the calorie count.  How awesome that you get a totally different taste for the same calories as the plain yogurt!

Cream Cheese Danish & Pounded Steak

Cream Cheese Danish

Breakfast and brunch are seriously my two favorite meals of the day.  I LOVE breakfast food.  A couple weekends ago my friend Sara came over for brunch and I was trying to decide what to make sort of last minute.  And I remembered this recipe.  It was easy, super fast, and very yummy.  It got rave reviews!  And I used some low fat swaps and she couldn't even tell.

The original recipe doesn't tell you how much it yields (which you know drives me nuts!!) but mine made 12 servings.  12 sinfully delicious servings.  I cut each can of rolls into 6 and made an indentation in them like this

You could probably change the shape a little and make the indentations bigger to keep the filling from bubbling over but these worked well for me.  Add the filling, about a tablespoon to each cup, so that it looks like this

Bake according to the recipe and you end up with these

Amaaaazing semi-homemade cream cheese danish.  Now when I made these exactly according to the recipe I had leftover filling.  Woe is me.  (I ate it off a spoon lol)  But I recommend cutting the cream cheese it calls for in half and not using the sour cream.  I also, as you can see, didn't drizzle royal icing over them.  The filling was sweet enough, it didn't need it at all.

Calorie Count:  160 calories per danish.  Due largely to the pre-packaged crescent rolls.  We ate 3 each they're that good!  Compare that to around 350 for a store bought danish and you're doing a good thing :)

Pounded Steak

I love eating my grandparent's food.  It is amazing and no matter how closely I follow the recipe it never tastes the same when I make it myself.  This is one of my favorite recipes for them to make when I go up for a visit.  This and chicken and waffles but that's another post.

It's so easy, the crock pot does most of the work, and it's surprisingly low in calories considering it's beef.  Check it out on the Entrees page, try it, and let me know what you think!!

Inside Out Burger & Yeast-Free Pizza Dough

Oh.  My.  God!  It's been two weeks since you've heard from me and what a roller coaster of a 2 weeks its been.  First I was a social butterfly then all my gallivanting made me sick (that and the kiddos still learning to sneeze and cough into their elbow) and then my laptop had a nasty virus.  So I had to get away for a little long weekend R&R.  I ate too much, I laughed, I shopped, I slept in...kinda.  All in all it was a perfect way to reboot.

I have two super yummy and easy recipes for you this week.  Enjoy.

Inside Out Burger

I found this recipe on...you guessed it...pinterest.  It was really fast and pretty yummy! And topped out at 235 calories per burger as long as you eat it without the bun.  Which isn't bad for beef.

Yeast-Free Pizza Dough

Do you ever get into those moods where you crave something?  Like if you don't get that slice of pizza or that taco the next person you see might get hurt?  I get into these moods where I'd kill for a slice of pizza or a taco.  Seriously, I think we've talked about the taco thing before.

One night I wanted pizza.  So bad the idea of pizza made my mouth water.  But I was pretty tapped out cash-wise and couldn't afford $15 for the deliciously bad for you pizza at Bravo's up the road.  So I scoured pinterest (shocking, right?) and found this.

Yeast scares me.  It's one of the big reasons I haven't tried to make my own bread yet.  Even if yeast didn't scare me I didn't have any on hand during this pizza craving insanity.  So I went for the yeast-free version.  The only thing I left out of the recipe was the olive oil to brush the crust with.  I just thought why waste the extra calories?  Or better yet I could use those calories wisely for stuff like cheese.  Mmmm cheese.

Anyway......try this.  Start to eat it takes me 30 minutes every time and it's pretty darn good.  One day I'll get brave enough to try yeast but until then this'll do just fine.

Calorie Count: Including a 1/4 cup of sauce and 1 cup of cheese per pizza (this recipe makes 2) it's 517 calories for the whole pizza.  And if you like your dough thin like me then it's about the size of 1 1/2 personal pan pizzas.  Sooooo this recipe saves you about 365 calories versus take out pizza.  You're welcome.

What Does Satisfied Feel Like?

I've been pondering this question, more so at the beginning of this latest lifestyle change than now, but it's been on my mind for awhile.  I've been wondering if I was the only one until I came across another blog that posed much the same question and I rejoiced in my unalone-ness.  (Great word right?)

I'm an emotional eater so I don't generally eat only when I'm hungry.  I eat when I'm stressed, sad, pissed off, to celebrate...the list goes on and on.  Food makes me feel better.  There's research about emotional eating but I'll save it for another post :)  I also rarely eat until I feel satisfied.  I eat until I'm full and the thought of walking around makes me want to puke.  Awesome visual, isn't it?

So if when you eat is dictated by your emotions rather than your body's need for food and you stop when you're so full you can't take anymore...what happens to your little built in censors that tell you "I'm hungry, feed me!" and "We're satisfied but not overflowing."?  This is exactly what I spent a lot of time wondering (and let's face it worrying) about when I first started out 3 1/2 weeks ago.

So back when I began this fantastical blog idea and eating better and (trying to) exercise I often would eat a nice portioned, good for you meal and then when I was finished eating I'd sit there and wonder...am I still hungry?  Am I going to be hungry soon?  What should I eat if I get hungry?  This sounds sooooo obsessive (if you know me you understand where this comes from) but I know from past experience that when I get hungry I make bad choices.  And I'm a worrier.  Worrying is practically a disability for me sometimes.  I worry that my food isn't as healthy as I think it is or that I'm somehow a failure if a "normal" portion doesn't fill me up or that I'm not burning enough calories at work.

Slowly I'm getting better at not obsessing over whether I'm going to be hungry or not after a meal and I have some healthy snacks like pretzels and low fat popcorn on hand in case I am.  I've also accepted that I haven't failed if I get hungry between lunch and dinner or dinner and bedtime as long as I'm making good choices in snack foods.  A handful of raisins or nuts instead of some Hershey kisses or a bowl of sugary cereal.  MyFitnessPal gives me my calorie goal for a reason.  And even though I prefer to stay under by at least 500 calories a day it's ok if I don't.

So now I try only to eat when my stomach is growling but not let it get to the point that I'm in pain.  You know we've all been so hungry before that our stomach literally hurts.  I eat a good meal with healthy portions, measuring everything really is the key for me here, and wait 20-30 minutes.  If I'm still not feeling satisfied I'll have some apple sauce or greek yogurt or a handful of nuts.  And then I tell myself...it's ok!

I think a huge part of successful weight loss is being able to forgive yourself for your mistakes.  We're human.  We can't be perfect and that's ok.  I'm my own worst critic.  I say things to myself in my head (Dr. Phil calls this self talk) that I wouldn't take from someone else and what the hell am I doing that for?  I'm the one who's supposed to be nice to me!  To love me unconditionally!  To forgive my many faults!  But I'm the meanest to me.  It's crazy!

Satisfied feels different for everyone but it's key to know what that feels like for you and to make the healthy choices that will maximize satisfaction and leave you some wiggle room.  Don't worry about being perfect.  Focus on being the very best you you can be in the moment.