Week One - Day Five

Yep, that's my story!

They say confession is good for the soul, so I must confess. After I posted my blog last night I did eat more.  I had a handful of pistachios and a spoon of peanut butter.  Just a bit of protein.  I was in a snacky mood.

Day 5 is here.  I'm not to worried about it as I don't have anything on my agenda. Saturday and Sunday are different issues: a retirement party Saturday complete with Captain's vanilla malted Bailey's homemade ice cream (adults only!); and Sunday it's a combo birthday/Super Bowl party. Heaven help me!!! But for now I will concentrate on today.  I'm taking it one day at a time.

Breakfast started off with my usual coffee.  I didn't have much of an appetite so I eventually made some cheese crisps.  After talking to my BFF Peggy I decided to shower, dress and run errands.  Flu shot, meat market, grocery store and home to cook.

Well, I got to CVS and filled out all the paperwork to get my flu shot.  They were out. So I went across the street to Walgreens.  Fifteen minutes later I was walking out, flu shot completed.  Off to the meat market I go and got some hamburger (I am envisioning tacos made in those little cheese crisp tortillas) and stew meat.  Over to the grocery store to get things to make the Deen Bros 3+ Bean Salad, jalapeno poppers (not sure whose recipe I will be trying), and various and sundry other things.

Arriving home I put groceries away and set about making that bean salad. I slightly changed the salad by adding chunks of salami and using green onions instead of red onion.  It is very tasty. I put it aside to meld the flavors.  Can't wait for dinner!

As the day has worn on I am feeling worse and worse.  I think I'm having a reaction to the flu shot.  Ugh... I have too many things to do. :(  So this day for me has come to an end.  I haven't eaten anything else, nor do I feel like eating anything.  I'm tired and going to bed. Good night.

~Lin...

Week One - Day Four

Day 4 is winding down. How did i do?

Well, it was a busy day. I started off with a bacon and cheese omelet to get my day started, because I knew I had errands to run and I wasn't sure when I was going to get to eat again. Off I went to get my nails done, pay the rent and grocery shop.  Well, two out of three completed.  

After nails and rent I had just enough time to stop at home and eat lunch before my board meeting started. What did I have?  Yep, those tasty little roll-ups!

Time for my board meeting, which started at 2:45.  We didn't get done until 6:30. Whew, I'm tired, but I'm hungry, and I still have to go grocery shopping.  They say you should never go shopping when you're hungry, but list in hand I was determined to stick to it.

I was very good.  I bought radishes for snacking.  Radishes? Yep, radishes.  Did you know you can smear herb butter on them and they are divine?  I didn't know that either.  Until I found this recipe. Tomorrow I will be trying it.  (Is it tomorrow yet?)

I also bought a cauliflower so I can make cauliflower soup.  Did I mention it has bacon and cheese on top? MMMmmm... it will be so very tasty.

And finally I bought a can of whole chilis so I can make Pioneer Woman's Lazy Chili Rellenos and a spaghetti squash so I can eat it covered with this glorious parmesan cheese sauce.

I am set for a few days except for some staples.  As for dinner tonight? I just steamed a hot dog, crisped it up, cut it up in bites, and chowed down.  I am trying to not eat too much in the evenings. Isn't it great that there are no carbs in hot dogs? Nathans. YUM-O!!! The best! 

Day 4 has been a success. Thanks for hanging with me. 

Love you all bunches!

~Lin

Week One - Day Three

Good morning! Well, morning for only 4 more minutes.  I am lazy this morning and only on my first cup of coffee.  I'm surprised I don't miss the sugar in the coffee. Chalk one up for me! I haven't eaten anything yet, but getting ready to trundle off to the kitchen.  I will continue checking in throughout the day to let you know how I'm doing and what I've been up to.

So my brunch ended up being ham, cream cheese and dill pickle rollups.  I had these at my brother's Christmas party and they are very addicting.  Just take a slice of ham, smear it with cream cheese, lay your little dill pickle(s) down (enough to fit across the ham), roll and slice.  How do they look? Delicious? Why yes; yes they are!

I ate everyone of those bad boys.  If you wanted to get fancy, and if you have toothpicks (I didn't), you could have included an olive on top.  Oh, are they satisfying!!! 

My dinner tonight consisted of Ugly Green Beans and Chinese Cabbage Salad.  I slightly modified both recipes.  For the green beans my marinade was all olive oil and I added lemon pepper.  The dressing for the salad was made with Splenda instead of sugar, and since I didn't have rice wine vinegar I used apple cider vinegar.  Plus I used the peanut butter/oil combination instead of just peanut oil because I didn't have that either. The topping was only the almonds, no ramen noodles here.  Oh, well, it was all fabulous, and I didn't really feel like I was "dieting" because I was eating so many new, yummy flavors.  Maybe it's because I finished my night with a 5 oz glass of Dancing Grape!

So, to recap:

The Roll-Ups!

The Ugly Green Beans!

The Chinese Cabbage Salad with that amazing modified dressing!

Dancing Grape!

Slainte!

Mood? Content!

All in all it has been a successful day.  Here is to many more.  Not all will be as easy as this, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.  

Have a lovely night! 

Week One - Day Two

Well, last night I was trying really hard not to snack, so I made a snacky dinner.  Yes, I know, I was going to make an omelet, but that seemed like too much work. Instead I made crispy cheddar cheese crisps. Oh, my goodness! It filled me up and it curbed my cravings.  A winner! I finished the night off with a 5oz glass of red wine, which is allowed and low carb.  Day one was now complete.

My morning started off just fine.  Coffee and a cheese omelet.  I was full when I got done and feeling very satisfied.  But then along came lunch and I was busy so I didn't eat.  About 2 o'clock I realized I was starving and wanted to eat everything in the kitchen. Remember those evil triscuits I talked about yesterday? They are still calling my name.  Not wanting to eat too much because Captain and I are going out tonight with friends, I decided to make some bacon.  Plain and simple.  Hunger assuaged!!!

Now all I needed to worry about is The Happy Viking whose special beer of the night is Heretic Brewing's Evil Twin!!  As of this time I am planning on eating a salad and drinking a Bloody Mary.  Ahhh... the saga continues!

Well, I made it thru The Happy Viking without too much damage.  I had fried pickles (I was delighted they had minimal breading on them!), two chicken wings, a BBQ chicken salad, and only half a beer.  So although I cheated a bit it wasn't as bad as it could be.  

Like I said, it's a daily struggle.  That's why I'm sharing with you, to remind you that we are all human but we keep slugging on...  Now, on to day 3!

Week One - Day One

Well, today I started my new lifestyle.  I am on a low carb regime.  I have found a couple of great websites that are very useful.  One is called "No Buns Please!"  The other is called "Heart of the Country Home." They are both great resources for encouragement and low carb recipes.  Of course in my googling sites I still come across amazing things that I would love to eat, like Sinful Triple Chocolate Poke Cake, but I will wait a while before making it.  

My reward when I reach my first goal. What that goal is yet, I have not determined. Any ideas? (Does it not look glorious?)

So today is the first day and I have had to just pick from what I had in the house.  For breakfast I have started having my coffee with only cream or half n half and no sugar.  I was using splenda and/or truvia, but neither one are really good for you. So I just quit using them all together. I also had a sausage patty with a bunch of cheese melted on top.  It was delicious.  For lunch I had a salad with LOTS of cabbage (which I dearly love) and some lettuce and olives, coated in my homemade Italian dressing I made the other day. Very filling. Not sure what I will have for dinner.  Possibly a cheese and bacon omelet.  

And just so you know, it has been very, very difficult for me to not go into the kitchen and make a big ol' bowl of buttered popcorn or eat that box of Triscuits that is calling my name.  

Tomorrow I will be going to the grocery store.  I plan to make a scaled down version of Pioneer Woman's Lazy Chili Rellenos. Don't they look amazing?

I have also been walking around the house more, instead of just sitting on the couch.  I try to do something during the commercial breaks before parking my butt back on the couch. I would love to be able to say I can get out and walk and walk and walk, but for now I'm just not able to.  I took a really bad fall last summer and it has impacted more than I realized when it happened.

So those are my thoughts for the day. Stay tuned for my further adventures. 

Love, 

~Lin~

It's a constant struggle!

Well, while working and before retirement May 1, 2012, I had lost 70 lbs.  Since retirement I have gained 20 lbs.  I really do need to get back on track.

For those of you who don't know, I had gastric bypass January 1999. Although I had non-life threatening issues afterwards, I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

All my life I have struggled with my weight. The first time I realized how much I weighed I was 9 years old and weighed 100 lbs.  Bear in mind, I am short - all of 5'1". Whoa!!! I have tried all the diets. What works best for me is Atkins.  But even with Atkins it's still a struggle because I have such a slow metabolism and my brain constantly thinks I'm starving. Therefore it wants to take everything I eat and store it as body fat. Ugh!!!

So here I am writing about my struggles and sharing with you - well, if there are any out there that are reading this.  My goal is to reach 150 lbs.  I will check in with you periodically and let you know how my progress is going.  For now, this is where I am.

Today is Sunday.  Starting this week I will work on controlling my lifestyle so I can reach my goal and make it to Ireland. I want to travel and enjoy myself. I don't want to live on pain medication the rest of my life because of my arthritic knees.  Think good thoughts for me. You can follow my progress on my widget.

Thanks for stopping by!  Love y'all!

~Lin...