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.