Weight loss is a bonus!

[joesuzzi]

Hi Maralian....you just remined me to again check for those peppers at the store !
I gotta make the releno's.............did you get some cooking done today???
(your pancakes sound delicious...........makes me realize how much I miss pancakes ! )

[Maralian]

Hi Suzzi, yes I cooked all my foods for the week. I made the rellenos following the tip that I posted before to peel the peppers and it was so easy! I used to grill them on the stovetop but broiling them is way easier, hopefully you can get some.

In addition to the “chiles rellenos”, I prepared some grilled salmon with lime juice and herbs, flank steak in the crock pot with tons of veggies, chicken marsala, and a pork loin is marinating with a sauce made with “ancho peppers”. I still need to prepare some brown rice tonight.

Sunday’s food:

B: 2 forbidden pancakes (FWIW they were whole wheat)
S: none
L: huge spinach salad with zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, bell pepper, roasted chicken and home made balsamic vinaigrette, delicious!
S: bites here and there of veggies, meat, sauces while I was cooking
D: 2 huge slices of coconut cake

Not good at all, I got mad after I ate the second slice of cake because I was just like a robot eating it without thinking. At least it was better than other times when I ate something I shouldn’t and it was not even good. This time I can say I enjoyed the taste but I felt so full and overloaded with sugar, arrgg! there was no reason to eat that second one…
Anyway, I have a plan for this week, I have all the food I need so I will succeed.


Today’s menu:
B: kashi go lean and a banana (my plan was a ham and cheese thinwich but it got stolen by my 2yo)
S: if I am hungry maybe some almonds and a kiwi (it is almost 10:30am and I am full)
L: pasta with salmon and a salad
S: orange and cheese stick
D: chile relleno (beans and cheese)

[joesuzzi]

I am thinking that I need to hire you to come and cook for us !
Great job on the weight loss...
(Bad job on eating that cake..... ) But at least you are totally prepared for the week.!
*
So far I have been pretty lucky............no real temptations here except my Grandson (Aidan) came home from visiting his Mom for the weekend......and had a baggie with 2 donuts inside..............I thought about just tossing them....but decided I would give them to him this morning after he finished his breakfast. So I looked at those donuts...and looked at them..........finally gave them to him after he was done eating...and he said...."Just throw them away Nana....they are old now".
I RAN to the trash with them....and dumped coffe grounds on top of 'em....just to make sure ! So I hear ya...........it is difficult when something you really want to eat is staring you right in the face ! I don't think I could have resisted cocoanut cake either !
*
New day..........and you are right on track !

[Maralian]

Wow Suzzi, you are great avoiding temptations, I wish I could do the same, I will try harder because yesterday it happened again

I didn’t have my morning snack and my afternoon snack was an apple with almonds instead of the orange and cheese stick. My dinner was the chile relleno but then I was really hungry, I ate some ww bread, still hungry, ate a few squares of dark chocolate, still hungry, I ate some oreos! yes! the worst possible food! then I was not hungry anymore (duh!), so next time I’d better get a second serving of chile relleno.
Today I will get my 2 snacks and more water. I have not exercised either so I will try to at least go walking with the girl if it doesn’t rain, they love it and I need it!

Today’s menu:
B: kashi go lean w/yogurt
S: low sodium V8 with lime (will try again) and a cheese stick
L: pasta with beef stew
S: orange or banana with almonds
D: TBD
S: maybe a fudgesicle or a fruit

[Maralian]

Yesterday I didn’t try the low sodium V8, but I did today, I could drink 3/4 of it but with the juice of one huge lime, after this final try I give up! no more V8 for me, anyway I prefer real veggies I just need to make them convenient for breakfast. So, the actual food intake from yesterday was:

B: kashi go lean w/yogurt
S: apple and almonds
L: pasta with beef stew (more veggies than meat)
S: orange and a cheese stick
D: 2 slices of ham and cheese quiche. I removed the crust but then I ate most of it anyway! Next time I will throw it away immediately!
S: none

Water: about 70 oz
Exercise: none

Today’s menu:
B: kashi go lean w/yogurt
S: none
L: brown rice and chicken marsala (from the recipe forum, it was good!) and 3/4 can of V8
S: orange and almonds
D: TBD
S: ?

Lately I am not that hungry, the cereal in the morning keeps me full for a while. The funny thing is that yesterday I was not that hungry for my afternoon snack but I had it anyway and only after I ate it I started to feel hungry, I guess that is the blood sugar effect. This morning I didn’t “force” myself to have a snack and now it is 3pm and feel still full but I had a late lunch 1pm, so I will see how I feel around 4-4:30pm. If I am not hungry for the snack, I’ll have a fruit after dinner because I haven’t had any today.

[joesuzzi]

I can't smake you across the nose with a rolled up newspaper because..................................................................................................
I am too busy smacking myself !!!!
Margarita in my hand as we speak.... ....it has been "one of those days"
*
Stay on track little one..........I will talk to you again on Saturday !

[Maralian]

Suzzi, you really know how to cheat! I wish I only cheated with a margarita, it would be so much more enjoyable than the pack of oreos that I ate last night ouch! ouch! I know I deserve it but easy please!, ouch!

Yes, after dinner (chile relleno with a ww tortilla), I was tempted to get something sweet and instead of just grabbing a fudgesicle, I found the @#$%! oreos and I ate them, shame on me but this time at least I decided to eat them slowly and enjoy every bite. I cannot say I didn’t but a fudgesicle would have been as enjoyable and allowed!

But today I am good again (how many times have I said that? I will have to start counting). The menu:

B: kashi go lean with yogurt
S: pistachios
L: roasted pork marinated in the chile ancho sauce (yummy!) with a big side of roasted veggies (zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, very good, a keeper) and a salad
S: apple and cheese stick
D: chile relleno with a ww tortilla
S: fudgesicle if needed or nothing!

I didn’t have any starches at lunch in purpose because the ww tortilla that I am planning to eat at dinner is pretty big, so I guess it counts as 2 servings. I may also need to add more fruit, I have strawberries at home so I may eat some at dinner.

Yesterday I had to take some pictures of me with my 2yo daughter for day care, they are posting them in a wall for the month of May. I was amazed at my face, I looked so skinny! Of course I didn’t include my belly which is not there yet, but my face has changed and I just noticed that in the photo. It is funny because I just read another post about that, and how it is not the same the way we look at ourselves in the mirror and in pictures. We will have some friends over this Saturday, we will take pictures, how will I look?

[Maralian]

Just minor changes from yesterday’s menu. At dinner I had the chile relleno with brown rice instead of the ww tortilla, it tasted better and it is easier to control the portion. And instead of the fudgesicle I had some strawberries covered with semi-sweet chocolate, delicious!

Today’s plan:

B: kashi go lean with yogurt
S: apple and cheese stick
L: TBD like every Friday
S: kiwi and pistachios
D: I think I will eat the last chile relleno with brown rice, it was very good
S: ?

I am a little concerned about this weekend, we have friends over to prepare our traditional annual paella, which is basically rice with meat, seafood and some vegetables, but the rice is white rice and it has little veggies. I am planning to prepare a huge salad for everybody and eat as much as I can and limit the amount of paella. Dessert wise should be fine because someone is bringing fruit salad.
My other concern is that I will not have a lot of time to cook for the week, I still have some leftovers from this week and last week that I put in the freezer so I should be covered for Monday and may need to cook Monday night, I am already tired just to think about it.

[3Wildtrout]

i'm so happy for you and your feelings of skinnyness! i can't wait to reach your current weight now!!

i was reading back in your journal and you mention that you and suzzi "DID IT". What's "IT"? i'm sooo curious! looking for a magic pill i guess! something to help curb my appetite and control my cravings. i guess i should just stop indulging and misbehaving and then i'd be ok!!

Have a great weekend. Radish

[Maralian]

I would not go that far to say that I have feelings of skinnyness, it is just my face, but I was really surprised!
As for "it" you need to read joesuzzi's journal, it is a funny story, not a magic pill, not what you are thinking, it is a....(to be continued)

[joesuzzi]

Chuckle....giggle.....snort !!
Who would have thunk that doing "it" would cause such a stir ????
*
I hear ya about cookies ! I can not even have them in my house. My little guy (5 yrs old) is not a big cookie eater....Thank God............his vice is brownies with cosmic sprinkles made by Little Debbie. Since I always have my bean brownies on hand I do fine....and I don't even like HIS brownies (plus he counts them....knows exactly how many he has left in the box !)
I hope you paella goes well................I know you will do great !!

[Maralian]

I think I did not do that bad on Saturday, I mean, I did have some foods and mainly drinks that are not SB but compared to the way I used to eat in parties this is nothing! I tried not to eat a lot of the chips and I had nuts instead, I didn’t have dessert or bread, but I had a relatively small portion of the paella and salad. The problem were the drinks, I started ok with a glass of red wine, then there were two, maybe three. I had a bailey’s on the rocks (yummy!) and since we were still hanging out around midnight I had a beer to help my voice for the karaoke, it didn’t really help my voice but it was good.
Sunday was not better than Saturday, actually it was a really bad day SB wise but this time I don’t feel guilty, I was so exhausted with the lack of sleep that I deserved a break so I decided not to think about food choices for a day. I don’t think I ate a lot but I ate whatever I had handy. Just to give an idea I even had ice cream! which I rarely eat at home. Anyway, today is a brand new day and I am doing pretty good, I am not very hungry, maybe my body is getting rid of the extra load…

Today’s food:
B: uncle sam cereal w/yogurt
S: none
L: beef stew with lots of veggies and a salad
S: choice between fruit (banana or apple) w/cheese stick, cucumber w/hummus or pistachios
D: I am thinking a ham and cheese pita with a salad

Lately I have been weighing myself a lot, even twice a day! I need to stop that because it doesn’t make sense, it is better to keep the focus on how I feel, how my clothes fit, etc. The thing is that I saw a 131 I think on Friday morning! Wow! But I only count Mondays which was a steady 132.5. I am good with that because I really feel big improvement in my energy and how my clothes fit. Talking about energy, I used to be so lethargic around 2pm at work, I talked to my doctor about that last year and she recommended to avoid carbs at lunch which I tried but it didn’t help. I guess that was not enough and now that I have a more balanced diet, even if I have starches at lunch I don’t get sleepy anymore (I used to literally fall asleep in front of my computer for a couple of minutes, I was even having dreams!).
About my clothes, my old size 6 fit well except for a few items that I can zip but they are not comfortable yet, but I see that I am getting there. I got clothes for mother’s day including a couple of pair of pants size 6P and they still feel tight but they are a great motivation to keep going until they fit perfectly!

[joesuzzi]

Size 6 ??? Size 6 ?????
Uhm..............I think the last time I was in a size 6 was as a freshman in high school........many many moons ago ! Big CONGRATS on your new size 6...........you are doing it !!! You are going to make it !!
My final goal will be to squeeze back into a pair of size 10 jeans (bell bottoms for heavens sake) that I have held onto for 20 years. They even have a patch on the butt that says.....
"Have a nice day" . That should tell you how old they are.

[Maralian]

As always you are so sweet Suz! I am not yet a 100% size 6 yet but I am getting there. The thing is my hips and butt are non existant cause my belly keeps all the fat, so even if I am able to pull them up, the muffin top shows up... but size 8 is starting to look big because of my little butty... ok, too many details ha ha ha
I was trying to imagine your jeans, I know what you mean about old fashion clothes, they just tend to live in a box! but now at least they can get out so we can show them that we are back! yeah! baby!

I finished my day ok, the pm snack were the pistachios and 2 squares of dark chocolate and for dinner I had half a pita stuffed with the beef/veggie stew and cheese. Actually, I realize now that I didn't have any fruit! tomorrow I will not forget, I have a banana and an apple in my office. Another good thing today is that I drank lots of water, it helped me to get clean without doing "it" hahaha I think I was even dehydrated since I had all the alcohol during the weekend and very little water.

Tomorrow's plan:
B: uncle sam and yogurt (once I am done with the box I will go back to the go lean that I like better)
S: banana and cheese or nuts
L: big salad with grilled sirloin
S: hummus and cucumber
D: TBD

[Maralian]

I've been having a really bad day today, eating anything that is in front of me... I had to stay home to take care of my daughter because she is sick... that should not be an excuse to behave like that...