My Five Holiday Survival Tips......NOT

With the Thanksgiving holiday behind us I would like to share my 5 tips on how I survived the holiday without gaining weight.......ha! fooled you!  I am totally kidding since yes, I did survive, but no I did not come through unscathed.  In fact I ended up GAINING 4 pounds!  I really should be happy that it was only 4 as I put aside my no dessert/extra sugar pledge and splurged on Thanksgiving with a piece of pecan pie (my absolute favorite, go figure since it is probably the most sugar-laden pie there is) and a small slice of a decadent chocolate cheesecake my cousin made.

I should backtrack a little.  I found myself pretty much alone for 7 days because of the Wisconsin gun deer hunt season that my hubby and darling daughter drive 4 hours to the western part of the state to participate in. By choice I didn't plan much for myself to do those days.  I had a lay-off from work that whole week and I wanted to regroup and recharge my batteries after some stress filled weeks.  Time to indulge in my favorite pastime-reading! So off to the library I went for my fill of feel-good and self help books.  I also started reading the Fifty Shades Of Gray series for a little "light" reading.

In the end I figure I had way too much free time by myself especially at night because I became victim to the 5 gallon pain of ice cream I had in the house for my family.  Up until then the ice cream did not bother me one bit, but I think being alone with my demons took over my sane mind and the end result? Insanity!!

My only saving grace in all this was the fact that for most of my time off it was gorgeous outside and I did lots of walking until the Friday after Thanksgiving when it turned cold.

So my sad holiday tale ends with an extra 4 pounds, and I wish if the only reason would be the holiday I could live with that.  My struggle is way more than that and I work everyday to push those old demons back down to the basement where they belong.  We all have to remember that our past does not define us today!

Enough of the glass half empty stuff, because I am not that person in reality!  This is a new week and I do feel very good.  Even though I had an unexpected day off today I am making the best of it.  I already got a nice walk in today, am eating right, and I am doing some I really enjoy to do by writing.  So to my extra 4 pounds I say "off with you" so I can feel great in my skinny dress for Christmas!

The Plateau Sets In but Wait.....

Hummmmm...heavy sigh!!  I have not posted in awhile on purpose.  Yes, I hit the fearful plateau.  For two weeks I struggled with the scale pretty much staying the same,  then it slowly began to creep up.  This called for drastic measures.
 I pretty much dealt very well with the no dessert pledge, but I began to eat larger portion sizes than I should have and I let my exercise routine slack a little too.  What I was left with was a 6 pound gain and a big self defeated attitude.  Here I was accomplishing something I had little strength to do before (the sugar thing) but I just couldn't seem to loose anymore weight.  I knew I needed to up the anti or I was not gonna get to my goal.
So almost two weeks ago I went back at it full force with a stricter eating regimen, a diet cleanse that has me eating just protein and veggies at meals and two fruits along with my amino acids. No wine!(gasp), but I have been allowing myself one square of dark chocolate after 2 of my meals. Plus I make sure that I am getting at least 30 minutes of exercise in daily and I have begun doing some toning to get the flabbiness down.
Eureka!  I have again jump started my weight loss and am back on the right track!  As of this morning, I am back down to my 157 and am working on just 7 more pounds!
The best thing that happened this week was I got my health assessment back and I was elated to see my total cholesterol went from 240 down to 204.  This was done only 4 weeks after I gave up all that sugar!!  I am now on 8 weeks so I may wait awhile and have it retested.  Actually my weight was okay, I just need to work on the flabbiness.  I am proof positive that a small lifestyle change can really do wonders.  Do I miss the sugar?  at times, yes, but I made it through Halloween when there were lots of tempting treats at work!  I imagine the upcoming holidays will be the ultimate test.  Thanksgiving is coming up and my favorite pie-pecan!!  I will take it as it comes.  They say it takes like what 26 days to break a habit?  I am way past that now and my confidence grows a little each day. 

Monday Morning Weigh-In

Fall is definitely in the air here, but today I had a huge spring in my step!  This morning I stepped on the scale and to my total delight it came in at a nine pound total weight loss.  Yes, that is NINE pounds!! I was doing a happy dance in the bathroom at 3:30 am.  Starting weight, 168 current, weight 159!!

I have been doing fairly well following my food routine Monday through Thursdays.  The weekend I deviate somewhat, but I still feel triumphant when I can bypass sugar.  Take this past weekend for instance.  Saturday myself and a couple of friends of mine volunteered to help out at a K-9 Cancer fundraising event at our local Vet Clinic.  We worked the food table, and ended up standing behind the table with all the donated baked goods.  It was our job to push these delectable delights.  Are you kidding me?  A sugar addict pushing bakery?  Proudly I have to say I was only slightly tempted by the mouth watering brownie bars with frosting and crushed oreos on top.  I refrained, you can ask my friends who were busy stashing goodies away for themselves to take home. Instead I grabbed a loaf of Parmesan herb bread! 

No thanks!  I don't want any!!

Anyway I do have a basic food routine that I try to stick to. Breakfast usually consists of a large serving of low-fat cottage cheese, 6 triscuit crackers, and a greek yogurt.  Mid morning snack is an apple and string cheese.  Lunch varies between a Smart Ones frozen dinner, a sandwich on multi grain bread with deli turkey or other deli meat, lettuce, and mayo or hummus.  Mid afternoon snack is either a handful of almonds or a chocolate rice cake with natural peanut butter.  Dinner is whatever I make for my family or whatever I want if we go out to eat on the weekends.  I try to get in my 4 cups of veggies a day.  I know some of these things have sugar in them but I am not really that strict when it comes to non desert items.  The rice cake and the peanut butter have minimal sugar content. I have been more mindful of my white flour intake also as I know this converts to sugar rapidly in the body.

Since I have lots more energy taking the amino acids and cutting out all those sugary treats I have been able to stick to a walking routine.  Still, my goal is to do more resistance training.  I am thinking of joining a local Zumba class with a friend.  I also would like to try Yoga.  I find I do much better in the exercise area if I am doing it with a friend.  Going to a gym on my own does not seem to work for me.  Walking does since I have an energetic dog that is practically waiting for me everyday when I get home with her leash in her mouth!

I feel great, have tons of energy, and I know I am on the right track.  I am very pleased with what I have done so far.

If you have not read the Diet Cure yet, next week I will explain the role the amino acids are playing in my weight loss.

Week Four And Down 2 More Pounds

Week four is coming to a close! I will be honest with you, I never thought that I could go this long and not have one craving for a sugary delight. I have managed to go to a family reunion and not even come close to the desert table. Then last weekend we were at a party that had some awesome looking bars and a cake and I was not even tempted when Rick was eating a piece right in front of me.

Is this some sort of miracle? For me it is! Or is that L-glutamine really working on those cravings. I'd like to think it is, together with the other amino acids I am taking. Whatever it is, I feel great and actually have extra energy left in the day to get a walk in.

I did get on the scale Monday morning and was down another 2 pounds which makes a total of 6 pounds lost! Ive managed about 7 miles total walking this week so far (not alot, but better than what I have been doing)

I'm going out on a limb here and making my total goal official. Down to 145 pounds, which would make it a total weight loss of 23 pounds from my starting weight. It is scary for me to actually type those numbers, cause it makes it very real. I am totally commited now for the whole world to see.

So my weekend begins. I'm planning on keeping the eating out to a minimum this weekend. Focus on making healthy meals at home with the exception of Saturday night when we have a wedding. Yikes more temptation! I am sure there will be the dreaded wedding cake but I am sure I will be able to walk past it and not give it a second glance!! I'll keep you posted and wish me luck!

Back On The Dukan Diet Bandwagon

As you may know-last September/October I started the Dukan Diet to much success.  I shed 11 pounds on it and felt great!  Then the holidays and my busy life got in the way (along with my sugar habit) and the weight slowly crept back up.
Two weeks ago after a terrible Memorial Day weekend I decided enough was enough and I had to jump back on the diet.  I did 6 days on the attack phase and managed to drop 6 pounds.  I also downloaded two apps to help me out.  One is called Slimkicker for my Ipad and Map My Walk for my android phone.  I did blog about Slimkicker in a previous post.  Map My Walk uses the GPS on my phone to track my route, MPH, time, pace and you can share your success to Facebook and Twitter.

I am now on the Cruise phase and have dropped another 3 pounds according to my scale this morning.  The thing is, is that I have been doing great during the week.  Being on a strict schedule with work works well.  Everything is timed.  I pack all my food the night before.  I am on a great schedule with walking our great trail system in town almost every weekday when I get home from work.  It works great having a teenage daughter who is now home for the summer and helps me out doing chores which frees me up to get my daily walk in.

The trouble is weekends.  My Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays are a REAL challenge.  We tend to eat a couple meals out which is disastrous for me.  Portion control is painful since I am a lifetime member of the clean plate club.  I'm busy doing cleaning , gardening and getting leisure activities in with friends and family.  The last thing I have on my mind is planning meals and exercise. I try to make sure I have plenty of Dukan approved food in my fridge.  If you peek in my fridge now you would see a supply of cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, boiled eggs, and lean meats.  Plus some fresh cut veggies for veggie days.  I have not been perfect on the weekends, and that is where I need to improve.  Why is it so hard to remember how great you feel when you are eating right and working out?

So here we go again...but this time I will do it.  How is it that I have traveled half way around the world without anyone I knew and yet I have such a hard time trying to lose 20 pounds?  Gosh, losing weight and staying healthy is hard!  Hopefully with the help of writing this blog and sharing Dukan recipes plus support from friends and family, I will be a diet success!