Still chuggin along

Hey all, wow, the posts on here have really slowed down. I hope it's cuz your all busy like me, and not cuz anybody is giving up. Come on ladies if I can do it, so can you. hehehehehe

I've still been working hard. It's a little hard finding exercise I can do without being in massive pain. We don't have water aerobics or swimming here. That helped me lots over the winter. Now I try and exercise best I can, but man with how heavy I am, and my health problems. If gravity is involved then it hurts. hehehehe

Wanted to share a recipe I made up and it actually turned out really good. I was watching the food network and they did this using bell pepper, tomato and pineapple. But ever since my gall-bladder got taken out, I can't stomach bell pepper, and I'm not fond of hot tomato, (except in spaghetti) So...anyhow what I did.
I put a sheet of tin foil out on a plate. I then took a boneless/very lean pork chop and set it in the center of foil. I seasoned both sides with season salt and garlic powder (you can use whatever seasoning you like) I put about a 1/2 inch thick slice of onion on top of the pork chop and two pineapple slices/rings. I then drizzled with terriyaki sauce and a little pineapple juice. Wrap the foil all around so it's in a little pouch, and we put it on the grill. I'm sure you can put it in the oven too. Depending on thickness of pork chop to how long you cook it. We let ours grill/steam for about a half hour. We put it on a plate and poured the juice over it. The pork chop came out fork tender. It was awesome. We just served with some more veggies.

Anyhow, I hope to see more of you posting and coming by again. I've missed reading about all of you.

Have a happy Tuesday everyone.

Campus Diet & Call for Help

Myth #1) Iowa is flat. Hardly, people! There are hills on this campus that may as well be vertical! Which is good. I huff and puff my way up at least one daily. Not for class, but during my two hour break between. Plus, I'm forcing myself to take the stairs instead of the elevator and parking towards the far end of the lot.

Myth #2) Campus food sucks. Nope. Not even close. I can't speak for the Residence halls (dorms), but there are two restaurants on campus run by the University and both of them have delicious, fattening foods. Thank god they also offer a fruit/veggie buffet and lots of vegetarian goodies. Now, if I can just stay away from the breadbowls and buffalo burgers, I should be fine. Oh and the omelets and the decadent chocolate desserts and the Dutch letters...

Myth #3) Vending machines that offer more fat free and healthy snacks. I know they exist. I've seen them with my own two eyes. However, try to find a machine on campus that offers more than three of these choices. And the choices seem to be animal crackers, beef jerky, and trail mix. The trail mix is occasionally omitted in favor of those little packages of crackers with cheese or pb. Yeah. All I wanted was some damned pretzels! I found them...they were those nasty mustard pretzel ball things three buildings away from my classes. Ish!

As for my call for help, since I do have a two hour break between classes, limited income (duh), and a strong desire to both cut costs and weight, does anyone have any suggestions for a decent sack lunch to carry with me? I have no access to a microwave anywhere on campus, but I do have an insulated Betty Boop lunch bag. I've got fruit, low cal soda, and other than that, I'm out of ideas. I also have access to a fairly reliable thermos for hot stuff. Plenty of areas to munch at, just no munchies. What a world! What a campus!

Few Tips

I was just sitting here reading everyone, and thought of just a few tips. None of you have to take my advice, but I just thought I would air them. Everyone is talking about salads. God knows I know how fricken boring a salad can get, day after day after day. Jazz it up a little. You can add some lean meat. Some grilled chicken, some fish, little crab meat. Also if you get bored, open up a can of mandarin oranges and add it. Or some sliced strawberries. Or any other berry you like. It add's just a touch of sweet to the dish. I also like to add nuts. I do almonds or my all time favorite is pine nuts. You can cook up two pieces of the extra lean turkey bacon, and have with your salad for protein, or even boil and slice up one egg. Just a few thoughts on how not to get overly bored with your salad.

Oh and for you chocoholics. I am a major major chocolate fanatic. And I don't do much of the "not real chocolate chocolate" cuz it better dam well taste like chocolate for me to like it. Well I have found the Carb Selection box brownie mix, taste just like the "real stuff" also the snack wells sugar free cookies, ROCK and Russel Stovers has an excellent line of sugar free chocolate candies, that I would never know was sugar free if nobody told me. I try to keep just a few of these on hand for those big chocolate cravings.

I have a few AWESOME recipe's but I can't figure out the stupid file thing. So if Kat won't kill me, I might post one every once in a while. They are really short, cuz I'm not into doing the whole, "slave over a hot oven" thing. And lets face it people, we are all in a hurry, and want something easy and cheap. So that's what I got. hehehehe

Happy Tuesday everyone. I need to go do some dishes, laundry and floors. I should work on my Avon too. I need to keep busy so I don't get to depressed. First day of school and all, I didn't want my baby to go back. sniffle. LOL

feeling good

I'm trying to feel good about the good decisions and not beet myself up over the bad ones. Last night I grilled chicken on the George forman and sliced it up in a salad. Jeremy LOVED it. He said it was nice and light and he didn't feel stuffed. I agreed. I did eat Steak N Shake yesterday for lunch but didn't "supersize" it. I don't really think fast food a couple times a month is going to kill me. I know tonight we're going to the baseball game, chances are I'll have a diet soda and a pretzel or something. It's a baseball game for crying out loud. Can't go to a Cardinal game w/out some sort of ballpark food. That's communist :0)
Jeremy being the sweetie brought me a chocolate bar from 7-11 this weekend. I ate 3 little rectangles..he ate the rest. Felt good about that.
I made a chocolate, banana shake Sunday night. It was yummy. Not going to kill myself over a shake. At least it had fruit in it!
I've been shopping very helthy. Fruits, veggies, lean meats..w/ the occasional bad stuff. ie I got the microwave pulled pork for quick sandwiches tonight. Lunch meat is all low sodium low fat. So this post is basically I fell good about the direction that I'm going. I think it's time for my morning banana! :0)

Crappy weekend

Well sorta. I really have to get back on track, I thought I had a totally crappy weekend, but now that I look back on it. Maybe it wasn't that bad. Only a couple lapses. I'm sure I will survive and bounce back as long as I don't have that stupid attitude of "oh my god I failed"

I know I haven't posted in a while. I've been trying hard to get back on track since I got home from Texas. Getting things right with the house, the eating, the family, and getting ready for kiddo to go back to school. Not to mention his trip out of town to the dentist. (yeah I ate healthy that day, fricken fast food)

So, anyhow. My weekend breakdown. I went and got my elbow retaped up, and my foot. I ate 9 non fat ritz crackers with fat free peanut butter on them for breakfast/lunch (I woke up really late) We had leftover spaghetti for dinner (I went real light on the pasta, and had no cheese) Saturday, we dinked around, watched some t.v. and went grocery shopping. We went to a friends for dinner and games. She grilled up some pork chops, so not bad, and had a big salad, and bread, and a big potato dish. I had 1 pork chop, a big amount of salad (no dressing cuz it wasn't fat free or light) half a piece of bread, and no potatoes. I got full and satisfied, and think I did okay on that day. But Sunday, aaarrrrrggggghhhhh we were busy busy busy around the house and Gigantor went out and bought everyone a cheeseburger. I thought, "okay I can do this once" and ate slow so if I got full, I could stop eating. We had grilled/lean steaks, asparagus, and fat free muffin for dinner (so not to bad) But today was "meet your teacher day" at school. So we go up to the school for about an hour. Then I realize it's 2:30 and I haven't fed my kid since 7:30 this morning, and I haven't eaten anything at all. Neither had the hubby, so what do we do, we cave and go to McDonalds. aaaarrrrrggggghhhhh So I had a burger two days in a row, and I feel like shit, both physically and emotionally. I did plan a healthy snack, and I'm gonna get back on track. I just gotta remember one slip once in a while doesn't mean I failed. I'm just gonna keep pluggin along.

Okay I'm tired of whining (I hope I didn't do it to bad) I'm gonna go bang my head on the wall, and make a good dinner, and pack my kids backpack for tomorrow (god I don't want him to go back to school)

Lots of lover shrinkers!!!!!!!

How NOT to Diet while at Mom's for Surgery Assistance

Okay, here are the absolute worst things about trying to diet just after your mother has surgery:

1) Even though this event has been planned for weeks, there was no menu planned of any kind...for her or myself. My own fault. Just habit. You know, go home to visit, eat whatever you like cuz Mom's cupboards are always stocked! What does this mean? Fast food! And not salads. Okay, one salad, the rest was chock full of fat and calories and...

2) Due to stress levels, eat hardly a thing the day of surgery. This is followed by acute bouts of binge-eating of anything chocolate that I can get my grubby little paws on.

3) Having sympathy constipation. Apparently, like the symptoms of pregnancy, loved ones can suffer right along with you. My mother is the one on pain pills that cause constipation and require her to take things such as Milk of Magnesia and stool softners with them daily, along with gallons of water. Who can't poop? Me. She appears perfectly capable.

4) Eating for two. My mother's appetite is decreased since the surgery. Duh. That's a no-brainer. However, whenever she takes one bite, I take at least three to make up for it. And then graze all the time in between.

5) Running around after and taking care of a post-op parent does raise the stress level and lack of sleep level, but does not involve enough activity to burn all the calories from #'s 1 thru 4.

My advice? See my blog for further funny info, though not weight-loss related, and plan a bit ahead next time!

Huh??

Did you read in today's paper about the lady who went on a strictly McDonald's diet (all 3 meals for about 2000 calories a day).. for 90 days & lost 37 lbs!?
Why am I finding that hard to believe? She says she ate cheesburgers & the whole magilla.. hmmmmm. Sounds like the food chain wants to get back at the 'Super Size Me' movie.

I'm off to go camping for the week-end, where I'll actually eat healthier than I do here at home. However, I tend to binge on sunflower seeds while reading in the hammock. I'll have to pump in lots of water & walk a lot to combat that sodium overload.

Hope you ladies have a fabulous wk-end!

Crappy Crappy Breakfast

I'm sitting here with my tummy doing flip flops and I wonder why. I ate a banana, hard boiled egg and slice of cake for breakfast. WHY????

I do want to add that the pants I normally wear (5 pair that I wear to work) are loose in the waiste. That has been mailing cutting out fast food. :0)

My "Before" Pic and other issues

Okay, here's my 'before' pic. It's awful, but my 8 year old daughter took it for me. Pardon the lack of support garments, but I managed to burn my boobies at the beach today and cannot stand to wear a bra. I can barely stand to wear the pj top, but it's loose and light and doesn't rub too much. I'd run topless, but since I have two teen boys and cannot restrict myself to my own room, that's out. I also weigh (oh lord, so much for the unlisted number) 232 pounds by my bathroom scale. I don't look it to most people, but my ass is getting its own zip code next week, so I need to get on the ball...literally. I'm buying one of those exercise balls and a mini trampoline for indoor exercise when the weather turns shitty. I'm taking daily walks with my daughter and using her jump rope, too. She doesn't mind, she gets to laugh at me trying to jump rope like a master second grader. I'm tired of not being able to run and play with my kids, huffing and puffing when I walk up a slight slope much less up the stairs to my bathroom, and of shopping in the plus sizes. I'm not foolish enough to think I'll ever get back to a sixe 13, but I'm gonna try like hell. My goal at this point is to be below 220 by Christmas. My fat and I have been friends for so long, I think the parting is going to be hard!

I just had to share.

I took my mother to the doctor today, and while I was there I decided to step on the scale. I mean I should have a base line right? Well, who would have thought it I actually lost 23 lbs. since the last time I weighed, like two years ago. Okay so 23 lbs in two years is not great, but I was fully expecting the scale to inform me that I had gained like 40-50 lbs. It's all about baby steps, right?

Not a bad weekend

Well we had my stepson this weekend which meant trips to McDonalds..I didn't get anything! I've shopped well and got lots of healthy things. Saturday we had a big birthday party for my father-in-law. I ate everything except for cake. Ribs, pulled pork, potato salad, rye bread dip etc. But that was my major faux pas of the weekend. I'm patting myself on the back for staying away from McDonalds which I love. :0)

Diabetic Dieting

I'm also finding that since my recycled hubby is diabetic (no insulin yet, thank god) makes a big difference. He is completely unable to cook (don't ask), so it's all up to me and the kiddles. Which is fine, but I'm not used to it yet. However, in the month that he's been here, we've all gotten healthier. The kids are more likely to complain that we're out of fresh fruits and veggies than to bitch that the chips are gone. Diet pop still sucks rocks, but who said it'd be easy?

Any suggestions or tasty recipes? I'd love to get some quick and easy ones. I'm out of new foods!

Glad to be Shrinking...Yay-Yay!

I'm glad to be a part of this blog also! God knows, any one trying to lose weight or get healthier needs a place to vent and get support. I do not have a picture to post right now, but I'll have one by Monday. It'll be hideous, but it's the 'before' pic, right? It's supposed to be. For right now, I do have two tips that have helped me in the past and I am putting them to good use again:

1) exercise in small bursts throughout the day is as effective as workouts -- my friend Grasshopper and I always seem to accomplish more while we're on the phone together, so during our numerous phone calls each day, we prod the other into some kind of activity whether it's a ten minute call and ten minutes of jumproping or an hour's talk and half of it is spent walking in circles around the house. It may sound silly, but it works!

2) I buy hard candies of different flavors, including chocolate and constantly have one in my mouth. It gives me the flavor and sweet I crave, without all the fat. If I'm out and truly having a chocolate fit, I'll eat a dill pickle...kills the craving right away! True fact.

Good luck to all of you!

fruits and veggies

Well since I now have to shop for a hypertensive man I found myself buying salad, fruit and vegetables yesterday. Good step in the right directions! I haven't weighed myself but did exercise last night..I cut the front and back yard. I'm a little sore. Good direction. I did eat danish for breakfast. Oh well it's not EVERY day.

oops!

I have too many damn blogs that I'm posting to! If you happened to see a post on here about Lord of the Rings....yeah, that was s'posed to be on my blog. I'm such a dork! It was written around 2 in the morning....so, it could be I was a little tired.

Diet update....I'm still not working my plan....but, I'm getting so close! I'm actually craving meat. This is a good thing.

So, how are y'all doing? Moving forward? In neutral? Going in reverse? We want to hear about it all!

Trying again..

Seems like a couple of times a month I try to get on the health-kick wagon. I shouldn't be so hard on myself.. at least I keep climbing back on. I am now 40# up on what I was when I got married 4 yrs ago. I've tried to blame a lot of this stuff on menopause. But I had no trouble losing 50# five yrs ago, so I need to let go of that excuse. Back then I did it w/ a modified Atkins diet. Attempts since then to try the same diet just isn't having the same effect. I think the ole metabolim just says 'whoa..' once in awhile.
So yesterday I made the conscious choice to stop drinking wine during the week. My doc thinks it's great that I drink wine in the evning because she's says it's worked wonders for my cholesterol. (I have way more good than bad) And that while I might die of cirrhosis, it wouldn't be from a heart attack..;o)
But I've found that a couple of glasses of wine take away my inhibitions when it comes to eating. It's hard to say 'no, thanks' when you're just so warm & fuzzy. My husband is of the Euro-mindset that it's uncivilized to eat before 8 or 9.. so big meals then off to bed. Ugh!
And I found myself feeling bloaty & boggy. Time to detox.
Last night I drank iced tea all evening.. oh my, was I wired when bedtime came. Took a melatonin to bring me down. But I did wake up energized & not at all sluggish. So I took a 3 mi walk in 45 minutes..wahoo.
I'm not eating the Atkins stuff, but smaller portions of a regular diet. Today's lunch was House Special Chinese Soup. And I'll switch from tea to water this evening. I might add some flavored carbonated water to jazz it up.
So here's to perching on the wagon again. And if I fall off.. I know my sisters will provide a soft place to land.

Low Protein?

Well hopefully Jeremy comes home from the hospital today. We talked to the dietician, he is going to be on a low Protien, low sodium diet for life. If he is having to live that way I only think I should for the most part try to live that way as well. I'm wondering though what that will do to my weight? The fruits and vegtables (fresh) and lean meats, poultry should be good. Don't you think? I would think eating that way and watching the portions would work. What do you guys think?

I'm kinda back!

Well ladies, I'm back sort of I can tolerate sitting at the computer for a little bit at a time.I'm starting over well not really starting over but getting back on track with my dieting I still can't do much exercising yet.But I can start walking. My Doc. has started me on some vitamin's One is a brain stimulator it stop sugar craves restore chemical balance and feeds the brain. the other is shrimp oil. He told me no more coffee, not because of the caffeine but the oils they process the coffee in are really bad for you they clog your limph glads and thats were we process stuff thru. He is also doing a limph drain thing on me. He also said DO NOT EAT 3 HOURS BEFORE GOING TO BED!!!!!Just doing these things will drop weight. So far so good I've lost 8 pounds in a week. Next week he's starting me on a smoothie type drink for breakfast and in the morning when I first get up He wants me to start drinking water with applecider vinegar and lemon juice. I've been derricking a lot of water and I feel pretty good.
Well that enough for me for now Good luck ladies I sure did miss you all!

Discouraging Bastard!

I have been trying to be good and eat right at work. I have my slim fast snack bars, my raisins, popcorn and my rice cakes. Fair enough right?

Well let me tell you a little bit about my discouraging condescending bastard of a boss.

I was talking to one of my co-workers the other day about dieting and how I am trying to do better, yadda yadda, and he comes up behind us and says to me "Well you a lot of junk" to which I replied "No, I really don't eat a lot of junk but I do like the occasional bag of chips or a cookie" He sighed and walked away.

Today I got to work all happy go lucky with my new bag of rice cakes, the yummy ZERO fat caramel kind and he comes in my office to ask me something and see's my bag of rice cakes sitting next to my desk and says to me "You aren't going to lose any weight by eating those" to which I replied "They are completely fat free and better than a bag of chips" and then he said to me "If you really want to lose weight you should call (insert name here), he is on that... " to which I replied "Yes, I know he is on the Slim for Life diet" to which his come back was "Yeah and he's lost 30+ lbs" to which I replied "That's great for (insert name here) however, I am doing this MY way and on MY terms" and then the bastard walked out of my office.

I am a pretty strong person, very strong minded and very opinionated and if I had a half a fucking brain I would call an attorney and sue the pants off this bastard for his harassment. I have many stories about this man and his egotistical too good for any one ass, but I am the kind of person that believes in Karma and I just KNOW that some day this will all come back to him ten fold and he will regret every rude condescending remark he has ever made to me or any other person for that matter. He is just a very disrespectful mean person and I really don't like him but I love my job. I guess I have a love/hate relationship going on huh?

There is nothing worse than trying to do the right thing and having someone discourage you of it. Not only does it make you feel like total shit but it hurts. I am thankfully strong enough of a person to not let his comments effect me and my goals but to someone who is not strong this could be a major set back.

I just want all my Shrinking Sisters to know that I am here for you and will do whatever it takes to be encouraging and supportive of you and your goals. I hope that none of you have a person in your life that is so full of his/her self that they try to hurt others to justify their own inabilities in life, no matter what they be.

Jeremy update

I guess I'll just copy and post this to both blogs. Here is my Jeremy update.

What I assumed would be an evening at the ER for him to get fluids and a perscription has ended in a weekend at Missouri Baptist Hospital. The routine bloodwork shows he has damaged kidneys. His blood pressure is now stable and today he is going to have a renal untrasound to show the percentage of damage. We'll just have to go from there to figure out what he needs to do different to make sure additional damage isn't done.

It was a lonly weekend when I was at home, extremely quite. I did get about 10 hours sleep Saturday night.

I'm going to work 1/2 day today, his test is this morning so I hope to catch the doctor and results this afternoon.

People keep asking if I need anything. Can I ask someone to cut my grass? I have little trees growing in the yard.

Thanks to all those who sent good wishes and prayers. Somehow I'm remarkable calm through all this.