Can't do it

I'm off diet this week altogether.  Sorry readers.  There's just too much going on for me to think about this too.  Hopefully I'll do better next week when I start over... again.

Sigh... not doing so well

I have been good and stayed within my calorie range Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week but, really, I'm just not feeling this diet.  I have never enjoyed dieting.  That would be weird.  But, usually, I am pretty motivated.  Not this time.  I just don't want to do it.  I'm not interested.  I'm really down about the whole thing.  Last night I was so frustrated I didn't even know what to do with myself.  I'm taking the weekend off, as I said I probably would.  Hopefully I'll make mostly smart eating decisions anyway and maybe I'll think of something to motivate myself.  Any suggestions? 

I wish I could be one of those people who could just exercise and stay at a normal size.  I can't even get motivated to do that though.  Maybe I've just had too much on my mind with moving and wondering if I'll have a job or not.  I really don't know what my deal is.  

Anyway, I hope you have all had a good week.

Tasty

Tonight I had a wonderful, delicious dinner.  A pulled pork sandwich, cheesy potatoes, and green beans.  "What?!" you say, "You already fell back off the diet wagon???"  Nope.  The entire meal was 500 calories.

180 calories of pork + 110 calorie bun + 70 calories (4tbsp) sauce + 120 calories 2/3 cup potatoes + 20 calories of green beans =  500 calorie dinner

It was fabulous.  Although, I will say, I could totally have eaten another one of those sandwiches.  That puts me at 1100 and something calories.  I will have a 100-150 calorie dessert later and cap off the day in the 1300s somewhere.  Also, I will ride my bike for half an hour after I finish this post.

If ever you are looking for a good bbq sauce, and you don't have time to make your own (or get somebody else to make it for you, as I would) let me suggest this kind:

Budweiser bbq sauce.  I had never seen it before today.  It is very good.  Much better than your run-of-the-mill bottled bbq sauces.  It's just the tiniest bit spicy and has a very good flavor.

Also, if you are looking for a very delicious low-calorie dessert I highly recommend these:

Betty Crocker Warm Delights Minis (make sure you get the minis, the regular ones are obviously more calories).  They are super delicious, they cook in the microwave, and they are 150 calories each.  They have caramel ones too.  Enjoy!

Diet starts again

Ok, I didn't do well this weekend or Monday so I'm starting over (again) today.  So far I have eaten 680 calories.  210 at breakfast and 470 at lunch.  Now, remember, I am counting calories this time not focusing so much on the actual Flat Belly Diet.  However, I am trying to stick in a MUFA with most meals.  I had 10 olives with lunch.  

My biggest resource is SparkPeople.com which, again, I highly suggest if you are trying to lose weight.  It has informational articles, blogs, weight loss teams, message boards, and tons of resources to help you count calories.  It will help you set up a program, tell you how many calories you should eat in a day (I get 1200-1500), and suggest recipes if you want them.  Also, you get "points" for doing healthy things and those points earn you silly trophies on the website.  I like silly trophies.

The thing I like about counting calories is that it allows you a lot more freedom with what you eat as long as you can exercise some kind of portion control.  It is also a lot easier to eat out, if you are like me and like to do that.  Most restaurants, especially chains, have their nutrition information somewhere on their website. 

I must be honest and say that I am still really down on this dieting thing despite my change in program.  I just can't seem to get into it this time.  I sort of feel like I've been on a diet for most of my adult life and I'm really just tired of dieting.  Really really tired of dieting.  Then there's also still the bitterness about not losing weight at any kind of reasonable rate and gaining it at warp speed even when I am eating mostly healthy stuff.  I look at an unhealthy food and I gain a pound.  Sigh.

Also, I should be upfront and say that I usually don't diet on the weekend.  I've found (during past diets) that it helps me keep my sanity and makes me be more focused on the diet during the week.  I know that sounds counterproductive but last time I did it I lost like 15 pounds.  There are some diet resources that say dieting for 4-5 days and then not dieting for 2-3 days keeps you from plateauing and keeps "shocking" your system into continuing to lose weight.  I don't know if that's true but I have read it in a few places.  That said, don't be too disappointed in me if I report not-so-healthy choices over the weekend.  You were forewarned.

Anyway, I want an elliptical now but I'm not allowed to buy anymore exercise equipment because I sort of used to collect it and then not use it so I have prohibited myself from purchasing anymore.  Why do I want an elliptical?  Several reasons.  
 
1 - it is sort of like low impact running and I'd really like to be a runner but it really messes up my knees

2 - It burns a good amount of calories

3 - it doesn't hurt your bum like riding an exercise bike for a long time does

4 - you can do it while you watch brainless television at night

Maybe I will look for one on Craigslist.

Have a nice day!

Weekend = Fail

I've blown the weekend.  I'll start over tomorrow with my regular old counting calories plan.  Got to go to the grocery store today.

And the scale says.... (Part 2)

That I gained more weight.  Super.  I have lost like 2 1/2 pounds in two weeks which is ridiculous.  Today at the doctor I told them about this and she said they'd test my thyroid, so they took blood.  No idea how long it takes to get results back from something like that.  She said they'd call if it was abnormal.  Then she told me it probably was not my thyroid and was probably just because I was getting older that it is hard to lose weight.  I am only 28.  Not that old.  We'll see what happens.

Have a good weekend!

So, it's decided

I'm officially counting calories with a Flat Belly Diet influence.  I couldn't wait until tomorrow to decide officially because I started doing it today.  I just can't always be so prepared ahead of time to have things ready to cook.  Today, for example, I didn't have time to go to the grocery store so we didn't have any FBD appropriate dinner or lunch makings.  Also, I sometimes forget to eat.  I know this sounds strange coming from somebody who so enjoys eating but I frequently skip meals by accident.  Like this morning, I accidentally didn't eat breakfast.  I got busy trying to get out of the house to run errands and then had some visitors come by and I just forgot.  Anyway, what I did eat todady was a repeat of yesterday's lunch (corndogs - yumtastic) and a Zaxby's buffalo/blue salad for dinner.  I'm at about 1262 calories for the day.  Also, I rode my bike for 30 minutes and drank a couple of liters of water.  Liters kids.  It's all going metric by the time you're in eighth grade.  Get on the bandwagon now.

A little plug for Zaxby's.  They have EXCELLENT salads.  Now, really, some of them are sort of high in calories to be a salad, especially if you use the dressing.  But, the buffalo/blue has enough buffalo sauce on the chicken that, when combined with the blue cheese crumbles, you don't need dressing.  So you can have the entire salad and the delicious toast for 762 calories.  If you are like me and tend to eat smaller meals for breakfast and lunch then this is not an unreasonable number of calories to eat at dinner.

Tomorrow is anniversary-diet-day off!  I'll check in to let y'all know how the weigh in goes in the morning but, other than that, talk to you Saturday!  Have a great weekend!

Mmmmmmmashed potatoes

Tonight we had chicken with avocado and bacon and a side of garlic mashies for a total of 400 or so calories.  Amazing.  I didn't think such a meal was possible for 400 calories.  It was very delicious.  The mashed potatoes were particularly excellent.  They were made with only four ingredients: potatoes, garlic, a tiny bit of salt, and plain Greek yogurt.  In all honesty, I didn't miss the butter at all.  They were really really good potatoes.  Try it sometime.

Before I expound on my other meals of the day I thought I should tell y'all that I have made a decision, I think, sort of.  I am pretty sure that I am going to change up my "program" just a little.  I think I'm going to count calories with a Flat Belly Diet influence.  The four meals/day, eating 400 calories at breakfast, and never really being able to eat out (even if I make good diety decisions while eating out) are really just kind of getting to me.  

I hope y'all are not disappointed.  I am sticking to the "Flat Belly Bets" mentality though, as that is still what I am trying to achieve, and I still intend to eat lots of MUFAs.  Also, I really do enjoy the recipes from the Flat Belly Diet Family Cookbook so I plan to continue to use it frequently in my counting calories program.  Now, I have not totally decided to do this.  I am going to continue flat-bellying through tomorrow and make the final decision on Friday, after I weigh in, as I mentioned earlier in the week.

That said, I couldn't do 400 calories this morning.  I ate 1 delicious muffin which was about 200 calories.  And, for lunch, I was out of my MUFA meal makings (take a moment to appreciate the alliteration), so I had two corndogs (the frozen kind that you heat up in the oven) with 10 olives (a serving) for a MUFA, about 450 calories.  I did have my snack today like I was supposed to.  Still lovin the peanut butter cookies.  And we have already discussed dinner.

I also rode my bike for 30 minutes.  I should probably change it up and do my Wii some more here soon.

Not that I'm excited or anything but Friday is rapidly approaching.  And, since it is my anniversary (yay!) I'm off-diet on Friday (yay!).  That's three not-diet meals which just adds to the general happiness of the day.

Have a good night!

Things I haven't posted but said I would

Ok, first, an update on the rest of today.  

I had cookies for lunch, as anticipated.  They are very good and require no work on my part so they make an excellent lunch.  

I skipped my snack again.  I really don't mean to do this but a snack in the middle of the afternoon doesn't fit my life very well so I tend to forget to eat it.  It takes time to prepare the suggested snacks, and I don't have a lot of spare moments in the afternoon.  Also, Jack wants to eat everything I eat.  This is fine except for that I won't give him peanut butter cookies until he's two, or the pediatrician says otherwise, because of allergies and things like that. So then I can't share my cookies, he is too smart to accept an inferior substitute cookie, and he gets all upset.  I prefer to avoid this type of situation when possible.  So, no snack.

For dinner we went to Moe's for a little change of pace.  I had a Jr. Triple Lindy with steak, rice, cheese, guacamole (MUFA), pico de gallo, cilantro and black olives (MUFA again).  According to the website this is about 410 calories so, in my opinion, it fits for the diet.  It was very good.  Maybe I shouldn't be eating out at all.  I guess that could be the problem but sometimes I just like to go out and eat.

I have exercised for 30 minutes today and, since I skipped my snack earlier, might have some more cookies in a little while.  I am still considering switching my diet plan to counting calories like I did before but I guess I'll decide for sure on Friday.

Now, on to things I haven't posted but said I would.

First, here is the picture of the pasta we ate the other night.  

Second, I was going to post the muffin recipe but then I thought that might be plagiarism so maybe I better not.  It is in this book or you can email me and I will share it with you.

Have a nice evening!

Monday recap - as requested ;)

Ok, eager readers :)  Here's the Monday recap.  I've changed fonts today.  What do you think?

For breakfast I tried my lemon blueberry buttermilk muffins.  They are very very good.  I had them again this morning.  Maybe I will post the recipe later in case y'all want to make them.

Then came lunch.  Lunch is proving increasingly difficult for me.  There are no lunch recipes in the book that I like.  The sandwich I had the other day was a breakfast recipe.  Now, I know that I can eat a breakfast recipe or a dinner recipe at lunch but, for some reason, I don't really want those things at lunch.  I guess I'm used to having something quick and easy and I'm not really in the mood to have to cook or assemble my food at lunchtime.  I prefer to just stick it in the microwave.  So, since there was nothing I wanted to eat yesterday, I had 3 peanut butter cookies and a glass of skim milk (which is a "meal" on this diet) for lunch. I will probably have that again today.

A few hours after that should have been snack time but I was running errands and forgot to take a snack with me.  We have already discussed how it is impossible to find food that is diet-friendly to snack on while you're out so I just didn't eat anything.  By the time I got home and wasn't busy doing other things it was closer to dinner time so I figured I'd just wait.  Plus, we were having a "Yay Laura!" get together and I figured if I saved my snack calories for dinner I could eat a little more of the yummy food.

Now, dinner.  My dinner was not a from-the-diet MUFA (mono unsaturated fatty acid) meal.  We grilled burgers for the par-tay so I had a tiny little burger with some diet-approved muenster cheese and mustard (also diet approved).  I also had some potato salad, which is probably not diet approved, and 10 olives so that I'd have a MUFA.  So, I had 800 calories (snack + dinner) to eat and my meal was about 680 calories so I was a little under the total recommended calories for the day which I think is fine. 

Post-party I rode my bike at a good little clip for 30 minutes, burning almost 300 calories.

Now, readers, let's talk math some more. 
400 calories at breakfast + 400 calories at lunch + 680 calories at dinner = 1480 calories yesterday

1480 calories - 278ish calories burned biking = 1202 calories

Now, after much googling around I have come across this website which has a BMR calculator.  According to the website, it tells you how many calories you need to eat to maintain your weight with different levels daily of activity.  According to this website, if I sat in bed all day and did NOTHING I could eat almost 1500 calories a day and not gain weight because that is what my body needs to exist.  Either this is a load of crap and not scientifically accurate or I am a medical anomaly because, since Friday, despite my good eating, exercising, moving around all day, and 1200-1300 calories consumed (after subtracting exercise calories) I have GAINED TWO POUNDS.  Almost three pounds really.  Two and some change. WHAT?  Irritating.

This doesn't make any sense.  And it's not "muscle weight" or whatever junk people like to tell you.  Now, I am trying to be reasonable about this little upset but I will not continue on a diet where I am gaining weight.  No way.  

Ok, back to me trying to be reasonable.  I know that the initial 7 pound loss was mostly water weight.  So it could be some of that coming back.  What I don't understand is why it is coming back.  I am practically floating away for all the water I drink in a day.  You are supposed to drink water to keep water weight off.  Got it.  That's what I'm doing.  I am not eating salty bad for you foods that make you hold water and I'm not drinking anything else except water.  It doesn't add up.

Here's my thought.  At the end of last week, the bland week, even without losing water weight, I should have easily dropped about two pounds - the healthy amount to lose in a week while doing any diet and exercising.  Since I am continuing to eat well and exercise this week I should lose another two pounds.  If, when I weigh in on Friday morning, I am not sitting at at least four pounds lost from my initial weigh in, I'm kicking this diet to the curb and going back to just counting calories.  Any thoughts on this?  Please let me know your opinion.  I know this is only the second week but should I really give a diet where I am gaining back weight another week to prove itself?  By the time it's over I could weigh more than when I started!

I have a doctor's appointment on Friday and I'm going to tell them about this insanity and see if they think something's off.  It is really very frustrating to gain weight so easily, work hard to take it off, and then step on the scale and see the number go up instead of down.

Now here is an unrelated comment, at the end of my long post: please take some time today to remember that you are super awesome amazing just for being you. 

The Weekend

Happy Sunday evening folks!  I hope you have had a wonderful weekend!

So, the weekend was good.  On Saturday, after going to pick fresh blueberries (which I will get to later) I went to Jason's Deli for lunch with Clare and had a Vegaletta sandwich which was really tasty, less than 400 calories, and had olives as the MUFA.  For dinner we had cherry tomato penne pasta which was also very good and very pretty.  I will post a picture of it tomorrow.

Today I also had tasty food.  For dinner we had shrimp tacos with an avocado salsa for the MUFA.  They were very very good and I will definitely be eating them again.  I tried to take a picture of them but for some reason it saved as a black box even though it shows the picture on my phone.  You will just have to imagine them being beautiful and tasty.

The only problem I had this weekend was during lunch today.  I found something on the Quiznos website that looks Flat-Belly-Diet friendly and so set out to get it for lunch.  Quiznos was closed.  Disappointing.  This was made more irritating by the fact that I couldn't easily just drive through somewhere else to get something.  As I was stewing over this on the drive home (with no lunch) I started to fall into the bitter-about-dieting phase.  Here is why I am bitter about dieting:

I should not weigh this much in the first place.  I lost a good amount of weight.  I weighed less than I do now.  I do not eat badly on a regular basis.  Yes I will eat out occasionally but, thinking about it, on a regular day I eat a tiny breakfast (if anything), a Lean Cuisine or something else pretty small for lunch, and a normal dinner.  This cannot possibly be more than 1800-2000 calories at most.  You have to have an excess of 3500 calories to gain a pound.  If you need 1600-1800 calories a day that is not leaving an incredible excess.  Plus, I move around all day.  I didn't have a sitting around job and I don't sit around now.  I chase the Jackster.  So those calories shouldn't be causing me to gain weight.  But I do!  I gain weight like crazy!  Now, I will admit that right before we moved, and especially when I was in Columbia alone, I did not eat well.  But I did not eat badly enough to gain almost 15 pounds.  It does not make mathematical or scientific sense.  Thus, I have fallen into the bitter-about-dieting mentality.  Sigh.

Fortunately, I have started to move out of this mentality due to some super awesome peanut butter cookies that are in my diet cookbook and that I made to have for a snack for the next few days.  Also, I have some lemon-blueberry (fresh picked on Saturday!) - buttermilk muffins to eat for breakfast.  These things make me feel better.  So, hopefully, Monday will start on a good note!  Have a good week!

Dinner = Yum

So I already told y'all about my delicious lunch so this is just a quick update to say that:

#1 I haven't exercised yet today except for my daily afternoon dance party with the Jackster. 

Not sure if I'll be adding any exercise to that or not because it's already 10:30.  Too bad I didn't ever try to take that one adult hiphop class I found.  I always have said I wanted to do that but then I never actually sign up to take one.  Anyway...

#2 Dinner was just as good as lunch.  

It was a swiss, sauteed onion, tomato, and black olive tapenade burger on an English muffin.  The picture in the cookbook was pretty, I like all the components, but I was still skeptical.  Seriously, it was delicious.  Maybe it's the black olive tapenade that makes everything so good.  Tasty tasty.  It got good reviews from Stephen and Clare too.

Yay for Day 5!  Way better than days 1-4.  Day 5 has totally turned my bad attitude around and now I feel like I can absolutely do this diet because everything today tasted so good.  I'll be sure to get back to exercising tomorrow.

Have a nice weekend!

And the scale says.....

.... that I lost SEVEN pounds!  What?!  Wow!  

Now, I know that this is mostly water weight because the book says so and how else could you lose that much in four days?  But still, SEVEN pounds.  Also though, I had a big huge heavy meal Sunday night and then weighed Monday morning so it probably has a little to do with that too.  Now I just have to stick to it and not gain the water weight back.  How do you do that?  By drinking water, exercising, and eating some certain foods which are built in to this diet.  Isn't that weird though?  Drink water to not retain water.  I'm on glass four of the day.

Now, let's discuss what I've eaten so far today.

Breakfast

Whole Grain English Muffin with 2 tbsp "Natural Unsalted" peanut butter and half a banana sliced on top.  

Yumtastic.  It was very good.  This peanut butter doesn't taste quite like your regular peanut butter, mostly because it doesn't have salt, but it's also gooier.  Still, it was a nice change from sugar-free puffed rice cereal.

Moving right along.

Lunch

This is my lunch.  Can you say, "delicious?"  Because friends, this little sandwich is amazingly delicious.  So delicious.  Here is how to make it:

1 whole grain English muffin (I suggest toasting this)

1 sliced plum tomato

3 slices of romaine lettuce

1 slice of Muenster cheese

2 slices of Turkey bacon

2 tbsp of black olive tapenade

I had to make my own tapenade because I couldn't find it in any store and it turned out super well.  Goodness is it ever good.  If you like olives, you should make it and then make this sandwich.  The sandwich has about 385 calories.  

Now, I did not follow the recipe exactly because they suggested a specific organic brand of cheese and the same organic brand of pre-cooked turkey bacon.  I didn't buy those because they cost about $2 more than regular cheese and turkey bacon.  I bought regular low-fat cheese and turkey bacon with comparable nutrition information to the brands they suggested.  (I got Jennie-O turkey bacon and Sargento cheese.)  Also, I couldn't find pre-cooked turkey bacon so I had to cook it.    The recipe didn't say to toast the English muffin but I highly recommend it because the English muffin is better that way, in my opinion.

Here is a link for the black olive tapenade recipe that I used.  It makes about 2 cups which is excellent because that means there is more for another one of these sandwiches tomorrow AND my hopefully-tasty swiss and sauteed onion burgers which I plan to make sometime this weekend.

Have a very nice Friday!

HOORAY - End of Day 4!

ANTI-BLOAT JUMPSTART IS OVER!  Hoooooray!

Please don't ever ask me to come eat plain grilled chicken, brown rice, or steamed carrots at your house.  I'll have to politely decline.  

That's it folks.  I (barely) made it through the first four days.  Tomorrow, and for the subsequent 27 days, I get to eat more normal-ish food.  Four 400 calorie portions starting with a toasted English muffin with 2 tbsp "natural" peanut butter and sliced bananas.  Mmmm delicious.  

Let's reflect on today though.  Ever had Cream of Wheat?  I had it today.  I hear it's good if you put stuff in it.  I couldn't put stuff in it.  Enough said.  Lunch?  More turkey slices and steamed carrots.  We don't need to revisit that either.  Dinner?  Chicken (plain), brown rice (plainer), squash (tasted like mushrooms - didn't finish them).  But it's all ok because tomorrow starts my life full of peanut butter, avocados, dark chocolate, and olives (but not together).  

After much thought and searching calorie counts/ingredient lists online, I have decided that I can go eat at Jason's Deli if I get a 1/4 Turkey Muffaletta (which I like very much) and don't eat the free ice cream (sad) and it will be 390 calories.  Also, I think I could easily eat at Moe's and get a Triple Lindy Jr. on a whole grain or flour tortilla (probably whole grain is better though I prefer flour) with steak, rice, cheese, guacamole, olives, and pico, which would be no more than 428 calories.  This is also tasty.  Now, neither of these are any Pizza Inn mind you but it is good to know in case I want to not cook.  If anybody has other suggestions of things/places I might be able to eat please let me know.  Remember: there must be a MUFA (olives, avocados, nuts, oil, dark chocolate), the entire meal has to be around 400 calories, and whole grains are preferred.

Happy end of anit-bloat-jumpstart day!  Enjoy your Friday!  Check back tomorrow to see if I actually lost any weight and/or inches.  I'll weigh in the morning.

Middle of the Day Posting to Avoid Eating Lunch

I am sitting here starving because I don't want to go eat my lunch.  I'm sure I will give in and go eat it in a minute but the thought of another day of turkey, steamed carrots, and a string cheese is really unappealing to me.  Really really unappealing.  So unappealing that I sort of just want to skip the rest of "Anti-Bloat Jumpstart - Day 4" and go straight to the regular diet.  This food is so boring.  

As you can see my negative attitude has persisted throughout the night and into today.  I have got to eat something with some taste soon.

Also, I can't find anything online about eating out on this diet.

"Screw this, let's go get Pizza Inn."

First, let me say, "thanks!" for your nice posts :)

The title of this post is what I said as my plate was placed in front of me for dinner.  I really want me some Pizza Inn.  Fortunately for me I had two lovely ladies sitting at the table with me who reminded me that I can make it through tomorrow.  I did not go get Pizza Inn. 

Let me just say this though before I come off as a total negative Nancy about this diet.  If you are the type of person who enjoys good "home cookin" type meals (grilled chicken, fresh green beans, steamed carrots, roasted potatoes) then this really may be the diet for you.  It's really basic food for the first four days and it's not that it is bad food, it's just not food I enjoy.  I love to eat (which is probably part of my problem) and I have no appreciation for plain boring food, which is what this is to me.  I am eagerly awaiting the peanut butter banana english muffin that I have already planned for breakfast Friday morning and my olive tapenade BLT for lunch.  Yay flavor!  I just have to get through tomorrow.  Cream of Wheat for breakfast, more turkey deli meat for lunch, and grilled chicken for dinner. 

Overall, I really have been rather negative about the whole thing today.  I need to change my attitude.  I do hope I've lost some weight though or it will be hard to carry on with this plan.  

Another difficulty: you can't eat out easily on this diet.  This should be ok because really and truly the recipes for the post-anti-bloat-jumpstart period look pretty decent.  But, I really like to eat out and I like to go eat with people.  This is doable if you're just counting calories.  You just have to pick decent food when you're out or "save" your calories for the meal you're eating out.  Chicken soft tacos instead of quesadillas, salad with buffalo chicken instead of chicken finger plate, or a smaller breakfast and lunch to have a bigger dinner, things like that.  I don't like being confined to eating at my house.  I'm going to google and see if I can find any flat belly diet restaurant meals other than the limited list in the book.

I'm still going to try really hard to stick it out for the entire 32 days (29 to go, well really 28, I'm taking my anniversary off, I'll go ahead and put that out there) since I have committed to the internet to do so but, at this point, I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to just counting calories once the 32 days is over.  Who knows though?  Maybe the recipes after the first four days will get me hooked on this eating plan forever.  We'll see.

I rode my bike for 30 minutes tonight.  Yay still exercising!

Got to get through Thursday.  Wish me luck.

Flat Belly Diet - Day 2

So I didn't really like the food today.  I don't love canned tuna, steamed carrots, brown rice, or mushrooms and those things made up the bulk of my lunch and dinner.  It was sort-of a chew-chew-chew-wash-down-with-sassy-water kind of thing.  I saved my lunchtime string cheese for the end of the meal so I'd have something to look forward to.

I am ready for this first dour days to be done because the recipes for the remaining 28 days look tasty tasty.  Avocado, dark chocolate, olives, and peanut butter (not together) here I come!  Yumtastic.  Just got to get through this first four day "anti-bloat jumpstart."  I also bought the cookbook that goes with this diet today and there are some seriously yummy looking recipes in that book.  And let me just tell you how wonderful I think it is that I can have three peanut butter cookies with a glass of milk for a snack once these first four days are over.  Or two blueberry/lemon muffins for breakfast.  Mmmm....

Also, I drank my entire 2 liters of sassy water plus two glasses of normal water.  I may float away...

I also rode my bike for thirty minutes today.

Day 2 = success.

Goodnight!

Flat Belly Diet - Day 1

Ok folks.  It's the end of Flat Belly Diet Day 1.  Here's the rundown.

The first four days are "Anti-Bloat Jumpstart" days.  1200 calories broken down into four 300 calorie meals - breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner.  The book claims that you won't be hungry and I haven't been hungry.  I guess that's due to the "eat every four hours" rule.  By the time I got an inkling of hunger it was time to eat again.  Also, the "Sassy Water" is pretty decent.  It tastes like weak lemonade with a hint of cucumber.  It's kind of like what you get when you go to a spa.  I am finishing my last glass of the day as I type.  Here's the blow by blow for each meal:

Breakfast

Breakfast was pretty decent but it is hard for me to eat that much first thing in the morning.  I usually skip breakfast or eat something pretty small so eating cereal, applesauce, and sunflower seeds was a lot.

Lunch

This was difficult.  I was supposed to eat 4 oz. of deli meat type turkey.  I can't stand deli meat turkey unless it's on a sandwich so it was hard to eat all of that.  Actually, I didn't finish it.  I only ate 3 oz of it.  That was all I could take.  I also got to have string cheese and a pint of grape tomatoes.  That part was good.

Snack

Blueberry smoothie.  Tasty.  Would have been better with sugar but still tasty.

Dinner

I was dreading dinner.  Talapia, green beans, and red potatoes.  I thought this would be very bland and boring.  Thankfully, with some dill, pepper, and paprika it actually ended up being pretty good.  Better than lunch for sure.

Also, I rode my exercise bike for thirty minutes.  So, overall, a successful day one of the diet.  Think nice thoughts for me tomorrow.  A large part of my dinner is based on mushrooms and brown rice which I typically do not enjoy.

Diet starts tomorrow!

Tomorrow is Flat Belly Diet, Day 1.  I have all of my groceries except two things: mint and unsweetened corn flakes.  I do not have mint because all of the available mint at the store was gross looking.  I do not have the corn flakes because I don't think unsweetened corn flakes exist.  I checked three stores and nobody had it; not even in the fancy-organic aisle at the fancy grocery store.  

I am substituting unsweetened "puffed rice" cereal for the corn flakes.  I am supposed to eat the puffed rice for breakfast on Day 3, I think, might be Day 2, so I am hoping it is an acceptable substitute and won't throw off the entire four day "anit-bloat jumpstart" during which I can lose "up to 7 pounds!"  Happily, unsweetened puffed-rice cereal is only available in Ingles brand so it was super cheap.  The mint is supposed to go in my "Sassy Water" but I suppose I can make it without the mint and add the mint after I get to the store tomorrow.

My "last meal" before the diet was de-freakin-licious.  It was risotto, asparagus, and steak au poivre, a brownie topped with vanilla ice cream for dessert, and a bottle of red wine.  Mmmm mmm mmm.  My favorite meal, hands down.  Well, that and my brother-in-law's lasagna.  The best part about it?  It was made in my kitchen and eaten on my porch with my wonderful husband (who made it) and my fabulous parents.

So, tomorrow, diet and exercise.  Got to do both.  32 days to go.  Good luck to me. 
Time to go make my "sassy water."

Save-the-planet Bets

Didn't exercise today.  Still not Monday yet though :)  I actually am looking forward to this diet a little.  I'm tired of feeling fat so at least I'll feel like I'm trying to do something about it.  Plus, I like most of the foods I get to make meals from.  Mmmm peanut butter and banana.  Anyway, Monday is quickly approaching, almost diet time.

In addition to trying to better myself by losing weight I am also trying to increase my efforts to save the planet.  I got a composter for my birthday.  I'm going to name it Enzo.  Today I got a little canister to keep on the counter during the day so I can put my compostable (is that a word?) materials in it and take them out to Enzo after dinner.  Maybe I will name it Enzino, "little Enzo."  I am very excited about this since it should reduce the amount of waste I send out with the trash on Fridays.  Yay save the planet!

I was inspired to get Enzo because of my wonderful new huge recycling bin, provided to me by the city to be used for every-other-week curbside pickup.  I love this recycle bin but recently realized that I cannot recycle any plastics other than 1 and 2.  I have lots of plastics rolling through my kitchen that are not 1 or 2.  Happily, today I discovered that there is a place in town that takes ALL SEVEN plastics.  So I will be getting bins for numbers 3-7 for my garage and my save-the-planet efforts will continue.

Here is a picture of Enzo:

And no exercise on my bday

So, the birthday went as predicted.  No exercise.  And I didn't exercise today either.  So, good for me for still being honest about it.  Bad for me for not exercising.  But, since the diet officially starts Monday, I don't feel too bad about it.  Monday is when it counts.

Anyway, I just wanted to update the blog.  Got to get in that habit since my exercise "habit" hasn't kicked in yet.

Have a wonderful weekend!  Try not to melt in the crazy heat.

Exercise - Day 2 - aka - No Exercise

Didn't exercise today because I spent the better part of the evening cleaning and unpacking those boxes that have been sitting around forever because they are full of stuff we probably shouldn't have bothered packing in the first place.  And, let's be honest, tomorrow's my birthday so I probably won't be exercising then either.  Here's to high hopes for Friday and the weekend!  Monday starts the new diet so I will for sure be exercising then.

At least this blog is keeping me honest :)

The Diet

It occurred to me that I hadn't actually mentioned anything about the diet itself so here's a quick and dirty overview.

There is an initial 4 days where you are supposed to stick to a pretty specific menu of around 1200 calories/day broken down into four 300 calorie meals.  This is the "anti-bloat" period.  It says you will lose a few pounds of useless water weight and the idea is that this will motivate you to stay on the diet.  You also drink two liters per day of "Sassy Water" which is water with lemon, cucumber, ginger, and mint in it.

After those four days are twenty-eight more days during which you eat four 400 calorie meals per day (1600 calories each day).  You are supposed to eat every four hours or so.  They break it up into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a "snack pack" which you can eat between any two meals or after dinner to make sure you don't go more than four hours without eating.

As a part of each meal you eat a MUFA (moo-fah) food.  The motto is "A MUFA with every meal."  Catchy.

What does MUFA stand for?  Well, Madison Ultimate Frisbee Association of course!  (hahaha - that is the first thing that came up when I googled it the other day)  Just kidding, just kidding.  A MUFA food is a food that contains monounsaturated fatty acids, which are healthy plant-based fats that have been proven to help reduce/prevent belly fat.  MUFA foods are broken into five categories:

1. Oils - canola, safflower, sesame, soybean, walnut, flaxseed, sunflower, olive, peanut
2. Nuts and Seeds (yum)
3. Olives (double yum)
4. Avocados (yum yum yum!)
5. and... DARK CHOCOLATE  (holy crap, yum!)

That's the basics of the whole diet.

Exercise - Day 1

Well, I said I would start exercising today and, despite Direct TV's best efforts to make sure that did not happen (because their techs were at my house almost all day) I DID IT!

Here is a little "go me!" dance:


I did 35 minutes of my fabulous Wii EA Sports Active "More Workouts" and burned 300 calories.  That is 50 more calories then it predicted I would burn.  I got the "overachiever" trophy on the game.  This is particularly good because, as I am not starting my diet until Monday, I ate junk junk junk today.  Leftover Pizza Inn for breakfast and lunch, mexican for dinner.  Mmm potato burrito....  I definitely needed to burn the extra 50 calories.

Let me reiterate how very much you want this game, or the original, if you have a Wii.  You can build your own workout or use a pre-programmed one and it gives you a circuit-training type workout, which I am partial too.  My most successful diet and keeping the weight off was when I went to Curves regularly and they were totally circuit training.  


Ok, back to Flat Belly related things.  Today, as the Direct TV guys were working away, I was reading my Flat Belly Diet book and reviewing the recipes I thought sounded good.  I am trying to start picking the ones I might want to try after the initial four days.  I thought I would leave you with a "Flat Belly Meal" that I think sounds tasty.  This is a breakfast suggestion.


Banana Split Oatmeal
1/2 cup dry Quaker Old Fashioned Quick 1-minute Oats (cooked to the consistency of your choice)
Mix in 1/4 cup microwaved frozen strawberries
Top with:
1/3 medium banana (sliced)
1 tbsp semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp peanuts

Total Calories: 367

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, I think my fantastic new shoes glow in the dark just a little.  Hooray!

The "why?"

Why am I going on this diet?

Several reasons.  I will list them.

1. I have a wonderful, fabulous, couldn't-get-anything-better-even-with-three-wishes family.  This includes our newest addition, my adorable son.  I'd like to be able to hang out with them for a long time so I need to be healthy.
   
   
2. I do not like to be a part of negative statistics.  
   
   According to my weight (which I will not publish on the internet) and my BMI (Body Mass Index) I am a part of the 64(ish)% of the American population that is overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.  I fall into bottom half the "overweight" range.  This is irritating to me.  I am determined to remove myself from this statistic.  Want to know if you're a part of that statistic too?  Click the BMI link.
   
   
3. I used to be in the dead center of the healthy weight range for my height and I want to be back in that range.  I was very happy there.
   
   
4. I want to complete (running or walking) a half marathon one day.  This will be easier to do if I weigh less.
   
5. There are a lot of health risks that go along with being overweight and I want no part of any of them.  Want to know what those risks are?  Google it.  There's tons.  Cancer, diabetes, immune problems, just to name a few.
   
   
6. We'll probably want to have another adorable child one day and I want to be one of those pregnant people who people look at and go, "Look how cute she is!  She looks like she swallowed a basketball!"
   
   
7. I got to get new shoes to restart my exercise regimen.  I was going to put up a picture of them but I thought that might be silly so I will tell you that they are New Balance running shoes with the number 425 on them.  They are silver/gray/teal and they make me look fast.

So, that's why.

The Plan

Here's my diet plan:

• Beginning tomorrow (Tuesday, July 6) I will do my best to get back into exercising.  I used to exercise all the time but I really fell off that wagon and need to get back on.  I have always wanted to be one of those "crazy" people who run for fun so I'm going to try to turn myself into a runner.  If that doesn't work I'll do my EA Sports Active (I highly recommend this if you have a Wii) or ride my trusty exercise bike.
  
• I plan to actually start my diet next week on Monday.  This is for two reasons.  Mostly, it is because my birthday is this week and I don't want to have to mess with a diet while trying to celebrate my birthday.  But, this is also because that gives me a week(ish) to hopefully get into an exercise routine before I start the diet.
  
• I will follow the Prevention Flat Belly Diet! exactly as the book says for 32 days (that's what the book says) with the exception of my anniversary which is later this month.
  
• I will track my eating and exercise on SparkPeople.  I have already joined their "Flat Belly Diet" team.
  
  An aside: If you happen to be thinking about going on a diet, join SparkPeople.  It is FREE  and it works.  I used it before and lost all kinds of weight.  In my opinion, it is not worth your money to do Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or any of those other things if you join SparkPeople.  You can friend me.  My SparkPeople name is Sibby74.
  
  Also, if you are one of the many pregnant people I know, SparkPeople has a sister site called BabyFit that can help you make healthy choices while pregnant.  Obviously, it is not for weight loss but there is a lot of information on there about losing weight after the baby is born.  I should have paid more attention to this site while I was pregnant.

I'm starting a blog

I'm not really a blog type person.  I don't generally have that many thoughts that I want to share with just whoever.  However, I have recently decided to try the Prevention "Flat Belly Diet!" and, in the book that goes with this diet, they suggest doing two things to increase your chances of success:

1. Tell everybody you know that you're on a diet.  Specifically, this diet.
2. "Journal" about how the diet is going.

This blog has been born as a result of these two suggestions and my hope that this diet will actually work.  I am a physically slow writer but I type pretty fast so I thought I could do the journal part on the computer.  Then I thought, "If I make it a blog, and tell people about it, then I might stay on track just so I don't have to report to the entire internet that I have failed on my diet."  And so, here begins my "Flat Belly Bets" blog.