Sorry for being away for the last few days. I wasn't feeling all that well on Friday, and when I got home, well....between that and more friggin snow, and...some worries I've had going on, and my sinuses acting up, and EVERYBODY at work passing around some bug or other, I just ended up having a lay-around-and do nothing sort of weekend. If only I'd gotted to do that completely...still had some errands to run, but once I was home, I just didn't feel like doing much of anything else.
I did not over-indulge in the lead-up to Phase 5, though. Matter of fact, I did some juicing and kept the calorie intake very low, partly because I didn't feel good, and partly because I'm so happy with my loose pants. Now its time to follow the plan.
So for all of you Phase 5 challengers, good luck!
For anyone else, well lets see how this works, since this blog is about me discovering what works and what doesn't.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
(167) I Hate to Open My Cupboards
Yesterday I was talking about purging my cookbook shelf, and that got me thinking...
I need to purge the cupboards too.
Since I've been dieting, I just dread opening up the cupboards. I hadn't really realized how much it had been bothering me...just one of those things where I'd walk in the kitchen and pace a bit before opening the doors, one by one, unhappy with what I find, each and every time.
There's stuff in there I can't have. Stuff I have no intentions of making. But it plagues me nonetheless. For example, hubby pulled out two boxes of chocolate cake mix the other day. Him and youngest were discussing making brownies, but we don't have any mix. So they found the cake mixes instead. Ugh!! They haven't made the cakes yet, so those boxes are still sitting there...
There are also some caramel-apple wraps. You know...those thin sheets of caramel that you are supposed to wrap around an apple and microwave for a few seconds. I could just eat the caramel. But I'm not.
And then there is the pasta.
Pasta is a weakness of mine. It's one of those things that I have made very seldom since I started this weight loss journey. I just have such a hard time moderating it. I LOVE it, and I want to eat LOTS of it. So I don't make it at all. Well, hardly at all... Which is why I have a cupboard-full. Spaghetti, linguine, farfalle, rotini, lasagna, vermicelli, orzo, macaroni, egg noodles, spatzl, and enough flour to make dumplings for an army.
Sigh.....
This is the one I really struggle with. I want to get to a place where I can eat a healthy amount and really enjoy it. But I'm not there yet.
So there it sits. Do I just throw it all away? I suppose I could donate the unopened containers. But that still leaves plenty. And there are the other people in my house to consider. Youngest isn't dieting. She's a very healthy weight, and her eating habits aren't terrible. Probably too many carbs and too much fat, but she also eats plenty of veggies and some fruit, so she's doing ok.
There is a part of me that just wants to empty out everything and start over. Get rid of all the pre-packaged crap, and stock up on just the healthy, low fat stuff, nutritional stuff. I guess I need a plan.
Hmm.....where to begin?
I think that I will start with one cupboard this weekend and take everything out, spread it out on the counter and start evaluating. I'm sure there are some things in there that just need to be pitched because they've been around too long. Thats a start. Then I'll separate the "truely junk food" from the marginal and questionable. If its junk and its been opened, its getting pitched. If its marginal, and unopened, I'll discuss with the family and pin them to a "you eat it by..." date else I'm throwing it away. If its an ingredient, I guess I'll have to take that into consideration.
So, the steps are:
1. empty
2. sort
3. purge crap
4. re-sort remainder
5. hold questionables for a short time
6. organize what's left
7. make a "pantry list" of healthy replacements
Anyone else have any suggestions? How have you handled your cupboards after starting a diet?
I need to purge the cupboards too.
Since I've been dieting, I just dread opening up the cupboards. I hadn't really realized how much it had been bothering me...just one of those things where I'd walk in the kitchen and pace a bit before opening the doors, one by one, unhappy with what I find, each and every time.
There's stuff in there I can't have. Stuff I have no intentions of making. But it plagues me nonetheless. For example, hubby pulled out two boxes of chocolate cake mix the other day. Him and youngest were discussing making brownies, but we don't have any mix. So they found the cake mixes instead. Ugh!! They haven't made the cakes yet, so those boxes are still sitting there...
There are also some caramel-apple wraps. You know...those thin sheets of caramel that you are supposed to wrap around an apple and microwave for a few seconds. I could just eat the caramel. But I'm not.
And then there is the pasta.
Pasta is a weakness of mine. It's one of those things that I have made very seldom since I started this weight loss journey. I just have such a hard time moderating it. I LOVE it, and I want to eat LOTS of it. So I don't make it at all. Well, hardly at all... Which is why I have a cupboard-full. Spaghetti, linguine, farfalle, rotini, lasagna, vermicelli, orzo, macaroni, egg noodles, spatzl, and enough flour to make dumplings for an army.
Sigh.....
This is the one I really struggle with. I want to get to a place where I can eat a healthy amount and really enjoy it. But I'm not there yet.
So there it sits. Do I just throw it all away? I suppose I could donate the unopened containers. But that still leaves plenty. And there are the other people in my house to consider. Youngest isn't dieting. She's a very healthy weight, and her eating habits aren't terrible. Probably too many carbs and too much fat, but she also eats plenty of veggies and some fruit, so she's doing ok.
There is a part of me that just wants to empty out everything and start over. Get rid of all the pre-packaged crap, and stock up on just the healthy, low fat stuff, nutritional stuff. I guess I need a plan.
Hmm.....where to begin?
I think that I will start with one cupboard this weekend and take everything out, spread it out on the counter and start evaluating. I'm sure there are some things in there that just need to be pitched because they've been around too long. Thats a start. Then I'll separate the "truely junk food" from the marginal and questionable. If its junk and its been opened, its getting pitched. If its marginal, and unopened, I'll discuss with the family and pin them to a "you eat it by..." date else I'm throwing it away. If its an ingredient, I guess I'll have to take that into consideration.
So, the steps are:
1. empty
2. sort
3. purge crap
4. re-sort remainder
5. hold questionables for a short time
6. organize what's left
7. make a "pantry list" of healthy replacements
Anyone else have any suggestions? How have you handled your cupboards after starting a diet?
(167) Daily Food Log
Brkfst: coffee (40 cal), water
Snack: pear (96 cal), water
Lunch: leftover salad from last night (about 200 cal), grapefruit, (120 cal), coffee (40 cal)
Snack:
Dinner:
Snack:
Totals:
Snack: pear (96 cal), water
Lunch: leftover salad from last night (about 200 cal), grapefruit, (120 cal), coffee (40 cal)
Snack:
Dinner:
Snack:
Totals:
Thursday, February 3, 2011
(166) Not Fixating on Flavor
One of the things I've noticed, by comparrison, is that, over the last couple months, I'm spending a lot less time thinking and daydreaming about food.
Or more to the point, before I started this diet/weight loss journey, I'd gotten very comfortable spending time thinking about food, planning meals, browsing through cookbooks, or even better, browsing through magazines with pretty pictures or watching the Food Network and all their shows about delicious gourmet foods.
It all sorta crept up on me.
Not too long ago I bought a magazine-style cookbook by Paula Dean. In it, there is a recipe for mac n' cheese. Initially is sounded so good! Lots of cheese, bacon, and half & half added for extra creaminess. I decided to make it, and everyone looked forward to it.
The evening arrived when I'd planned it for dinner. I got out all the stuff and got busy. Here are the ingredients:
5 Bacon Slices
1/4 C. Butter
1/2 C. All Purpose Flour
4 C. Half & Half
3 C. Shredded Smoked Cheddar Cheese, divided
3 C. Shredded Parmesan Cheese, divided
2 (8oz) Pkgs. Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Ground Red Pepper
1 Pound small Penne Pasta or Macaroni, cooked, drained & kept warm
1 (4oz) jar Diced Pimentos, drained
Holy COW!!!! I started getting a little worried about it while I was mixing it all up. Yes, those numbers are correct, unless Paula's publisher needs to fire the copy editor...
Really???!?!! 8 cups of cheese for one pound of pasta?!?!
But I soldiered on.....
When it was done and we sat down to eat, everyone....EVERYONE...was overwhelmed by it, and not in a good way. The kids, who ordinarily love cheese, were pretty much grossed out. Hubby agreed.
Seriously, there was enough cheese in this dish to choke a horse. (no offense to horses)
After dinner, I got to thinking about that recipe and why in the world I didn't look at it from the beginning and realize how ridiculous it was. That, my friend, is a recipe for death. No one, no body, not a single person has any business or need to consume that much fat in one dish, at one time. EVER.
What possessed Paula to come up with that recipe is far beyond me. The ratios are insane. It was unnecessary to put that much cheese into the dish. It could have had muck less in it and still been tasty.
Which brings me back to the whole bit about food-daydreaming. All the picures and tv shows make these recipes look so damn good, but if you allow your brain to kick in and really absorb what's going on, the warning bells should have been going off like crazy before I made this!!
Its no wonder that we have a weight problem.
So my meals have gotten much simpler and much more boring. I'm am trying very hard not to fixate on flavor, and just stick to utility. Get in the nutrition, even if its a bit bland and boring. I'm consciously avoiding thinking about food and meal planning from the perspective of taste, and trying to think only from the perspective of calories and flavor.
At some point in the future, I would like to enjoy the food I eat, without eating things like Paula's baked death in a bowl. I want to be able to make tasty dishes that are, in the first place, healthy, and second, of the right proportion.
I believe it is time for me to purge the cookbook shelf.
Or more to the point, before I started this diet/weight loss journey, I'd gotten very comfortable spending time thinking about food, planning meals, browsing through cookbooks, or even better, browsing through magazines with pretty pictures or watching the Food Network and all their shows about delicious gourmet foods.
It all sorta crept up on me.
Not too long ago I bought a magazine-style cookbook by Paula Dean. In it, there is a recipe for mac n' cheese. Initially is sounded so good! Lots of cheese, bacon, and half & half added for extra creaminess. I decided to make it, and everyone looked forward to it.
The evening arrived when I'd planned it for dinner. I got out all the stuff and got busy. Here are the ingredients:
5 Bacon Slices
1/4 C. Butter
1/2 C. All Purpose Flour
4 C. Half & Half
3 C. Shredded Smoked Cheddar Cheese, divided
3 C. Shredded Parmesan Cheese, divided
2 (8oz) Pkgs. Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Ground Red Pepper
1 Pound small Penne Pasta or Macaroni, cooked, drained & kept warm
1 (4oz) jar Diced Pimentos, drained
Holy COW!!!! I started getting a little worried about it while I was mixing it all up. Yes, those numbers are correct, unless Paula's publisher needs to fire the copy editor...
Really???!?!! 8 cups of cheese for one pound of pasta?!?!
But I soldiered on.....
When it was done and we sat down to eat, everyone....EVERYONE...was overwhelmed by it, and not in a good way. The kids, who ordinarily love cheese, were pretty much grossed out. Hubby agreed.
Seriously, there was enough cheese in this dish to choke a horse. (no offense to horses)
After dinner, I got to thinking about that recipe and why in the world I didn't look at it from the beginning and realize how ridiculous it was. That, my friend, is a recipe for death. No one, no body, not a single person has any business or need to consume that much fat in one dish, at one time. EVER.
What possessed Paula to come up with that recipe is far beyond me. The ratios are insane. It was unnecessary to put that much cheese into the dish. It could have had muck less in it and still been tasty.
Which brings me back to the whole bit about food-daydreaming. All the picures and tv shows make these recipes look so damn good, but if you allow your brain to kick in and really absorb what's going on, the warning bells should have been going off like crazy before I made this!!
Its no wonder that we have a weight problem.
So my meals have gotten much simpler and much more boring. I'm am trying very hard not to fixate on flavor, and just stick to utility. Get in the nutrition, even if its a bit bland and boring. I'm consciously avoiding thinking about food and meal planning from the perspective of taste, and trying to think only from the perspective of calories and flavor.
At some point in the future, I would like to enjoy the food I eat, without eating things like Paula's baked death in a bowl. I want to be able to make tasty dishes that are, in the first place, healthy, and second, of the right proportion.
I believe it is time for me to purge the cookbook shelf.
(166) Daily Food Round Up
Brkfst: coffee (40 cal), water
Snack: grapefruit (120 cal), water
Lunch: peanut butter sandwich (whole wheat/1Tbsp PB/1Tbsp low sugar preserves) (240 cal), coffee (40 cal)
Snack: pear (96 cal) water
Dinner: salad with lettuce, tomato, celery, fresh mozzarella, & vinaigrette (350 cal), coffee (40 cal)
Snack: grapefruit (120 cal) coffee (40 cal) and water
Totals: 1086 cal 98 ounces
Snack: grapefruit (120 cal), water
Lunch: peanut butter sandwich (whole wheat/1Tbsp PB/1Tbsp low sugar preserves) (240 cal), coffee (40 cal)
Snack: pear (96 cal) water
Dinner: salad with lettuce, tomato, celery, fresh mozzarella, & vinaigrette (350 cal), coffee (40 cal)
Snack: grapefruit (120 cal) coffee (40 cal) and water
Totals: 1086 cal 98 ounces
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
(165) So Much for 13" of Snow.....& food log for the day
I was a bit skeptical about the numbers they were predicting last night. I kept looking at the radar and satellite images and saw this swirl of cool dry air that was pushing right up through the middle of that storm. The more I watched it, the more it looked like it would split up that storm and spread it out.
Then I kept looking outside and the ***BIG*** flakes just weren't coming. You know the kind....clusters of fat, wet snowflakes that look like a cartoon cuz their so big.
Nope. Not here. It started yesterday with a sort of misty-sleety snow, and just got a little more dense and started blowing sideways.
Never gonna get 13" of accumulation out of that...only a bunch of drifts.
Sure enough, it looked like we got half of the predicted amount this morning. Just enough to make it miserable on the roads, and for the snow plows to make messes of all the intersections.
And for them to block in my driveway....
funfunfun
Brkfst: coffee, water
Snack: clementine, water
Lunch: salad with lettuce, tomato, olives, celery, green pepper and lite Italian dressing, water
Snack: none
Dinner: 2 homemade tacos, lotsa veggies, minimal cheese/beef, water
Snack:
Then I kept looking outside and the ***BIG*** flakes just weren't coming. You know the kind....clusters of fat, wet snowflakes that look like a cartoon cuz their so big.
Nope. Not here. It started yesterday with a sort of misty-sleety snow, and just got a little more dense and started blowing sideways.
Never gonna get 13" of accumulation out of that...only a bunch of drifts.
Sure enough, it looked like we got half of the predicted amount this morning. Just enough to make it miserable on the roads, and for the snow plows to make messes of all the intersections.
And for them to block in my driveway....
funfunfun
Brkfst: coffee, water
Snack: clementine, water
Lunch: salad with lettuce, tomato, olives, celery, green pepper and lite Italian dressing, water
Snack: none
Dinner: 2 homemade tacos, lotsa veggies, minimal cheese/beef, water
Snack:
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
(164) K...I'm confused
Allan is sending out notes to his Challengers about helping a few stumbling participants. I hear the disappointment and discouragement....And then I read his latest post about the Challenge being closed.
And what I'm hearing...or at least what I think I'm hearing...is a man who has made a decision to change his life for the better, who wants to share what he's learned so that others can learn what he has, who has opened his heart and his blog to folks that claim they want it.......and is heartbroken when they won't get it. Even if he doesn't say so in so many words.
I get this. I get this in a different sort of way. I get bending over backwards to try and help, guide, teach, mold, and shove someone in the right direction.....and then to have it all come flying back in your face.
I get it.
Why should I kill myself, drag myself through the emotional minefield, put myself out there, and spend so much energy trying to help someone who is unwilling to help themselves???
Why???
I've asked myself that a ga-gillion times.
And all I can come up with is this:
1.) by teaching you, I teach myself
2.) by helping others, I set an example to them
3.) by being successful, I show others what success looks like
4.) not all lessons are learned on the first try
5.) sometimes we plant the seed, but someone else picks the fruit
6.) sometimes lessons take a long time to sink in.
Allan, you keep writing your blog for you. I'm sure you will anyway, regardless of what anyone else says. But know that your intentions are clear to many, even if there are a few haters out there, and a few who just don't get it.
Everyone else who joined his Challenge: guess who needs some support?
And what I'm hearing...or at least what I think I'm hearing...is a man who has made a decision to change his life for the better, who wants to share what he's learned so that others can learn what he has, who has opened his heart and his blog to folks that claim they want it.......and is heartbroken when they won't get it. Even if he doesn't say so in so many words.
I get this. I get this in a different sort of way. I get bending over backwards to try and help, guide, teach, mold, and shove someone in the right direction.....and then to have it all come flying back in your face.
I get it.
Why should I kill myself, drag myself through the emotional minefield, put myself out there, and spend so much energy trying to help someone who is unwilling to help themselves???
Why???
I've asked myself that a ga-gillion times.
And all I can come up with is this:
1.) by teaching you, I teach myself
2.) by helping others, I set an example to them
3.) by being successful, I show others what success looks like
4.) not all lessons are learned on the first try
5.) sometimes we plant the seed, but someone else picks the fruit
6.) sometimes lessons take a long time to sink in.
Allan, you keep writing your blog for you. I'm sure you will anyway, regardless of what anyone else says. But know that your intentions are clear to many, even if there are a few haters out there, and a few who just don't get it.
Everyone else who joined his Challenge: guess who needs some support?
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