Making a better me!

[p_wreath]

I have been on and off of South Beach for the past year and a half. Since then I have had a net loss of about 10 pounds but it could have been about 30 if I hadn't gained back 20 in the last six months. I know I should pat myself on the back for the 10 pounds but it depresses me that I keep getting stuck at about the same place (168) and can't seem to go lower.

I've been bored with South Beach lately--if I have more egg substitute for breakfast I think my head will explode. And I can't really eat eggs because I have genetically high cholesterol and eggs just exacerbate the problem. But I'm encouraged by what I've read on everyone's posts and think that I should do at least one more week of phase 1 before I settle in for a long period of phase 2. I also have been incorporating some heart healthy items into my diet which aren't necessarily on the SB diet but seem to help prevent heart disease (like juice and wine).

I'm not just trying to change my body--my goal is to change both my habitual ways of eating and thinking. I want a healthier body and mind. One way I know how to change my thought process is to hold myself accountable in a public forum (hence this journal). I also plan on giving myself positive affirmations and to create a "track" record I can be proud of.

Today I ate:

1 cup Trader Joe's Shredded Wheat (no sugar)
2 packets of Splenda
1/2 c. 1% milk
6 oz. pomegranate juice

coffee
4 tbsp. fat-free half and half

Turkey burgers leftover from dinner (homemade & P2 friendly)
1.5 tbsp. Ketchup
2 or 3 roasted potatoes (also leftover from dinner)

1 oz. almonds
1 peach

Spinach Meatballs (from the slow cooker thread!)
1/2 c. whole wheat couscous, made with chicken broth (lf/ls)
Asparagus
20oz. crystal light lemonade

I also plan to have:
4 oz. red wine
1 packet of Swiss Miss Diet Hot Chocolate with a little bit of Torani SF Peppermint syrup (tastes like a Thin Mint!)

I stayed within my calorie range and got in 49 minutes of walking. Today was a good day!

Calorie intake: 1371
Cals burnt thru exercise: 176
Net caloric intake: 1195

[p_wreath]

Today I did pretty well even though I felt somewhat hungry much of the day. I think that's because I'm premenstrual. It's a particular challenge for me to re-start eating better during this time of the month.

I did give into a small weakness--I had a biscotti with my afternoon coffee. I don't normally have coffee in the afternoon but on Thursday I have a seminar from 3-6 and then another thing I have to sit through from 7-9. I plan ahead and bring a healthy dinner to eat on the road between 6 and 7, but in my seminar there was a huge plate of brownies and biscotti sitting there for everyone. I was hungry (my dinner was in my car and I'd already eaten my snack) and the coffee wasn't that good and I thought the biscotti would make it taste better, which it did. I did cut out some other calories I was planning on eating later that day (1/4 cup of dried fruit and 4 oz of wine), so I don't think it was a horrible thing to do. Still, I'm kind of regretting it--I'm bothered more that the impulse got a hold of me. Well, part of this change is learning to think more positively about myself, so I need to focus on the fact that I was able to cut out calories later on to make up for my impulse. Not that I want this to be a regular occurence but at least it shouldn't do any bodily harm.

I need to learn to come better prepared with lots of healthy snacks and drinks. That's the lesson I'll take from today.

Anyway, here's my menu for the day:

6 oz. Pomegranate juice
1 cup of TJ's shredded wheat
1/2 cup of 1% milk

Coffee
2 tbsp fat free 1/2 & 1/2

1 cup of steamed broccoli
Spinach Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup of whole wheat couscous

Coffee
Biscotti
3/4 of a granny smith apple
1 tbsp peanut butter

1 whole wheat english muffin
1 turkey burger

1 hot chocolate---sugar free

I also got in 35 minutes of cardio and about 74 oz. of water.

All and all, an okay day.

Calorie intake: 1358
Cals burnt thru exercise: 252
Net caloric intake: 1106

[p_wreath]

Today was hard. Actually, today wasn't hard until about 3:15pm when my husband asked me if I wanted anything "interesting" for dinner since we're re-starting Phase 1 tomorrow morning. "Interesting," of course, is code for pizza, burgers & fries or pretty much any unhealthy food from a restaurant. I told me no, that I'm still trying to eat well even if I'm not beginning Phase 1 until the morning. Unfortunately, this planted a seed and I keep fantasizing about food while stuck in traffic for the hour and three minutes it took me to get home.

Then I went through all my SB books and online recipes to make a menu for the week, which made me think even more about food and all I'll be "missing" for a while. This made me want to eat out even more. But I kept putting off making a decision and finally I was so hungry I just re-heated the healthy leftovers we were planning to eat anyway. So yay for me, but I'm still craving those yummy frosted cookies that seem to be everywhere these days. This simply re-confirms how much I need Phase 1 right now to help me get rid of the cravings.

It did help knowing that I would be posting my menu for the day to this public forum. Even if no one reads this post, I know it's out there in the public realm and I didn't want to have to post the bad things I ate today. So, yay for this message board and for journaling!

Today I ate:

Scrambled egg substitute
2 meatless sausage links
Whole wheat english muffin
1/4 of an avocado
1/2 tbsp ketchup

coffee
2 tbsp ff 1/2 & 1/2

cheese stick
1/4 c. dried berry medley
25 pistachios
granny smith apple
(I teach classes back to back from 11-3, so I only have time for snacks on Friday)

3/4 cup vegetarian refried beans

Spinach meatballs in tomato sauce
whole wheat couscous, 1/2 serving
1.5 servings steamed broccoli

Water
Crystal Light
Coke Zero
Diet hot chocolate

Plus I walked for 32 minutes today. Really, I can't complain. There's room for improvement but this is still a very good day.

Calorie intake: 1387
Calories burnt through exercise: 173
Net caloric intake: 1214

[Aninha]

Hi, there!

Congratulations for resisting the temptation of indulging in burger and fries and pizza and cookies because you start the diet the next morning!! That's a tough one!

I tend to have "goodbye-food parties" whenever I start a diet too

It's so hard to get out of the "I already screwed up today eating this cookie so I may as well eat the pizza and start again tomorrow" mentality. But the good thing is that when we do, we never "start" a diet again: we just pick up where we left off. Which is WAY better!! I'm still working to get there myself.

[inspired24]

Ha, I think I would've caved to temptation if I was about to re-start. Congrats on choosing the better way! Good luck with your future weight loss; 10 pounds is nothing to shake a stick at!

[p_wreath]

Hi Aninha & Inspired! Thanks for visiting my journal--I love knowing that people are out there reading about how I'm eating! Weird, but true.

My "good-bye to food" party (celebrated only with food, of course ) fell apart only due to the fact that I was so hungry I couldn't be bothered waiting for "party" food. I so easily could have justified the binge, but I'm grateful I had a healthy back up already waiting in the fridge. I guess that's a good sign, too.

So, my first day back on P1 hasn't been too bad at all. My hubby makes a delicious Cheesy Frittata so that was the 1st thing I had this morning--absolutely scrumptious. However, for lunch, before I could get into the kitchen to throw together a salad my husband was heating up a Lean Cuisine. He was content that it was just lo-cal.This bummed me out because I thought he was committed to P1 and that we were in this together. He is to a point, but this just reinforces that I have to focus on making the right choices for me and to not be swayed by anyone else's choices. I did throw together a salad for myself (sans lettuce because we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet), and it was quite yummy, actually.

Today's menu:

Cheesy Frittata

Coffee
4 tbsp ff 1/2 &1/2

11.5 oz V8 juice

2.5 oz chicken breast
.25 avocado
1/2 cup kidney beans
2 tbsp lite ranch dressing

.5 cup veggie refried beans
sf raspberry jello (made w/crystal light lemonade--yum!)

roasted cauliflower
zucchini parmesan sticks
grilled salmon w/rosemary
sf raspberry jello

sf fudgsicle
sf hot chocolate

84 oz of water (not including the jello!)

No exercise, day of "rest" (stayed home and worked all day).

Calorie Intake: 1379

Yet another good day!

[p_wreath]

It's ironic, but I find that cooking helps ease the cravings. As I pulled my car into the garage tonight I immediately imagined how delicious pizza and cookies would be (clearly my weakness--see earlier). But with my meals planned out, the fact that I had just stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up a couple of things and, not least of all, I have to take a cholesterol test tomorrow, I didn't entertain the craving for more than a few seconds. So I came into the apartment to start dinner right away and never looked back to salivate over my cravings.

Part of me is annoyed--I don't want any cravings and that I still have them scares me and makes me wonder if they'll always grab a hold of me. On the other hand, look how well I did today and the previous 4 days. That's why I'm doing this journal, so one day I can look back and see that the good days far outweigh the bad, proving that the cravings don't control my life.

Today's menu:

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
Sugar free syrup
V8
Coffee w/fat free 1/2 & 1/2

1/4 cup refried beans

Salad w/leftover salmon, kidney beans, artichoke hearts
Lite Creamy Caesar dressing
Sugar free jello

French Onion Laughing Cow wedge

Orange Roughy Amandine w/ spinach, tomatoes & mushrooms
Brussel Sprouts w/Garlic
Fudgsicle

Mock Cinnabon
Sugar free hot chocolate

76 oz of water
Exercise: Waltz class with hubby for one hour!!

Calorie intake: 1356
Calories burnt: 227
Net: 1129

[p_wreath]

So...I was sitting outside peacefully eating my lunch. I should say wolfing down my lunch because I hadn't eaten since last night. (I know this is not a healthy SBD thing to do but I had to get bloodwork done today and I'm required to fast 12 hours before.)

Anyway, so I'm quietly enjoying the salad I made last night (white fish salad on a bed of lettuce--very, very yummy) and am about halfway through when THE BEE comes to visit. (I'm not afraid of bees, I'm afraid of being stung, you know? I was stung last September on my ring finger and it swelled up so much I thought it was going to explode. It was extremely painful and took a week to subside, and even prevented me from being able to drive the day after it happened). I ignore THE BEE but it keeps buzzing around me--it even has the audacity to land on my forearm, but it quickly flies away.

Then it comes back, hovers over my salad and gets very close to me. I stand up but then THE BEE lands on the edge of my container.

Must my salad be sacrificed? Can this salad be saved??

I'm able to place a napkin over the container in the moment that THE BEE flies away. But he comes back further energized, trying to get under the napkin. I can see he'll succeed, so I grab the lid to shoo him away, which works for just enough time for me to throw the lid on top of the container.

So what does THE BEE do next? He flies under the lid and the napkin and gloriously destroys my salad. He's now trapped.

Do I let THE BEE gorge on my salad and then suffocate to death? No, instead I throw the lid off, THE BEE flies away without so much as a glance back. But my salad and container are forever defiled and I throw the whole thing in the trash.

This is my reward for eating well, planning ahead and taking care of myself???!!!



So, I moved inside to eat my snacks in peace and vent my frustration. Thanks to whoever reads this through to the end!!

[Aninha]

Maybe I'm totally gross but I wouldn't have thrown out the salad because of the bee!!

I mean, a bee is not like a fly or a cockroach, right? It only flies around flowers and pretty things... it's a quite clean insect IMO Or at least it should be, because when we think about it, we eat honey and it comes out of its butt!!

Something similiar happened to me once. I was drinking Coke and then I bit something crunchy and spit it... and it was a wasp!! And it was still moving. I'm so lucky it didn't sting my tongue or something!

(It didn't taste good BTW in case you're wondering! lol)

But you did a good thing... honey salad dressing isn't SBD-friendly!

[p_wreath]

Hey! My post from last night is gone. What's that about????

[p_wreath]

Well this is annoying. I wrote a long journal entry last night and I'm sure I posted it, but now its gone. Aninha--I even replied to your post. I don't remember exactly what I said, something about having a temper tantrum and not liking honey.

I'm too tired and annoyed to re-construct my post from yesterday. Suffice it to say, I ate all Phase 1 appropriate food/portions and I even exercised. It was a good day.

[queenoftheu]

Hey, P! I just read your bee story, and I couldn't stop laughing... I have to admit, though. I would have kept eating it, too.

[p_wreath]

Overall, today was a good today. I worked really hard and am now exhausted, so this will be a brief entry. I am premenstrual and find that I’m more hungry than I’d like to be, but I have been able to fill myself up with healthy choices, which is a nice thing to be able to say.

Today I ate:

Coffee
3 tbsp, ff 1/2 & 1/2

Egg substitute, scrambled
Turkey bacon, 2 slices
V8

1/2 cup refried vegetarian beans
Souffle stuffed chicken (last night’s leftovers)
Sugar Free Jello

1.5 oz smoked salmon
Cheese stick
Crystal light

Green salad w/ lettuce, tomato, cucumber & 1/4 of an avocado
2 tbsp light ranch
Ground turkey and spinach casserole (1.5 servings)
Crystal light

Sugar free hot chocolate

94 oz of water
11 minutes of walking

Calorie intake: 1448
Calories burnt: 59
Net: 1389

[p_wreath]

Hi Queen! Thanks for visiting!! Yeah, I probably should have kept the salad but I was just too frustrated at the unfairness of the whole thing. I know it was just a little annoyance but it seemed huge at the time.


Anyway....just a quick journal entry for today. I'm exhausted, it's 10:55pm and I still have at least another 2 hours of work to do. I'm going to be so so so excited on Friday to be done with this week.

I do have to admit that I've been thinking about cookies today. More like fantasizing about them rather than craving them. How sick is that? Maybe it's because my period started today?

Today's menu:

Mock Oatmeal (which I'm going to start calling Mock Cream of Wheat, because that's more accurate, IMHO. And also, my dog is named Oatmeal so I don't like to mock her. )
V8 Juice

Ground turkey and spinach casserole (1 Serving)
Lettuce

Ground turkey and spinach casserole (1 Serving)

Thai Chicken for the crockpot (1 serving)
Broccoli (2 servings)

Mock Cinnabon


96 oz water
39 minutes of walking

Calories in: 1385
Calories burnt: 211
Net: 1174

Yay!!

[queenoftheu]

Mock Cinnabon

I just had my first one of these today... Oh. My. God. I'm converted!