Plan B

Well after two weeks of SlimFast, I did not lose any weight. Of course, I should be happy that I didn't gain any either. In all fairness to SlimFast, their instructions do say that if I want to lose weight, I need to replace two meals with the drink, not just the one. I don't think I could do that for more than a week. So the next plan is the "eat sensibly" plan. To me this means, cut down on startches, more veggies, more lean meats, watch the portions. This is actually harder than you think for me because, as stated before, I am a picky eater with a huge sweet tooth. Wish me luck.

I keep forgetting to weigh myself, first thing in the morning; so I have no clue what I started at. I do know that some of the things I've been struggling with, like portion control, junk food, etc. have been a little bit better. I've been trying to eat more fruits & veggies, than junk food; my coffee seems to be at 1 cup a day right now & I'm planning on cutting that back in the next week or so; & for some things my portion control has been better.

Louise, how you doing????


-Thelma

fruits & veggies

So Louise commented that on Sunday she had a hard time staying away from yummy lemon bars. Since I, Thelma, don't like lemon as a general rule, they weren't hard for me to stay away from. I made a veggie platter to take to the cook out, figuring I'd have veggies to eat the rest of the week. Well, yesterday, was not a great day, so my friends & I indulged in a tub (14oz) of chocolate covered pretzels. At least I had help & didn't eat the entire thing myself. I find that on days it is rough, if I have junk food in the house I will eat inhale it. Okay, let's face it, regardless of what kind of day it is, if there's junk food in the house, I'll inhale it. I can't completely get rid of it, because the husband likes it for his lunch. So now we come back to the issue of self-control. I've been trying to have healthier things in the house, like homemade cookies, etc. I've also been trying to cut coffee out. Today my head is killing me, but can't tell if it's lack of caffeine or just a sore/stiff neck. So back to the veggies & fruits. I love fruit, that I could eat all day long! But as with anything, there are drawbacks to that as well. I have eaten a lot of blueberries & veggies in the last few days, oh & strawberries.

Dieting Methods

In trying to lose weight as painlessly as possible, I've run across quite a few methods. Here are some less popular diet plans:

1. The Coma Diet. This is where I'd be in a medically induced coma for six months. My calorie intake would be monitored closely, I wouldn't be able to cheat with cookies and I'd finally catch up on my sleep. My husband insists he'll develop a horrible oozing skin condition if left totally alone with the kids for six months. Whiner.

2. Junka-buse. Like Anta-buse for alcoholics, this substance is added to what ever you're eating so you will throw up if you eat anything afterwards that is sweet or high in calories. I'd be willing to try this but I'd hate to waste all those cookies by tossing them.

3. The Stomach Bug (a favorite of my friend Mary Ellen) This diet method is a little like the Coma method but takes less time and is more interactive. I can't seem to find it at Wal Mart, though.

4. The Al Sharpton method. To lose weigh, all he eats in a day is two salads and cookies. Wow, never thought I'd see the day where Al Sharpton and I could agree on something.

Experiment Week 2

I'm going to try the SlimFast thing for one more week because it really is tasty to drink and it's easy. And that's what I'm all about after all. No, wait. That didn't sound right. Anyway, today I went to WalMart and purchased SlimFast Optima! Only 190 calories but up to 4 hours of appetite control. I could have used some of that control yesterday in the face of those lemon squares. But I digress. That four hour appetite control was a bald face lie. Not fifteen minutes later, I was craving, and I mean craving (but not in a pregnant way, Thelma!) an Italian sub with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and oil and vinegar. With chips and a cherry Coke. Two hours later, I'm still dying for some chips. I'm gonna have to write my congressman about this.

End of Week 1

So it's Saturday and I've lost a pound. I'm actually amazed given all the cheating I've been doing. I don't know why that when it comes to food, I act like a complete baby (I want! I want! I want! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!). I have a SlimFast and then congratulate myself with a full calorie latte. Someone! Where is the pill for self discipline?!?

Coffee

I live in New England. I haven't always lived here. In New England there is a Dunkin Donuts on EVERY street corner. I drank coffee before I moved here, but very infrequently. NOW I drink coffee every day. Sometimes several times a day. Wait, let me revise that. I drink a LITTLE bit of coffee with my cream and sugar. Do you know how many calories, carbs etc. are in that cream & sugar???? A LOT!!!! If you do weight watchers I could have an entire meal of points in just 1 cup of coffee. So I revamped my coffee. Now I'm just tired of drinking coffee; so I'm trying to wean myself from it, by drinking tea.

portion control updated

So, the carrots won out this afternoon. And Louise made rice crispy treats for dessert tonight. The woman is amazing! Even rice crispy treats turn out looking like a gourmet dessert! I think I only had 3 pieces. (4 at the most!) Isn't eating rice crispy treats like eating air?
The carrots winning out was huge though. I just hope I can keep up that endurance.

SlimFast Day 2 and 3

I weighed myself on Tuesday. Then again this morning. Didn't lose any weight. Must have something to do with the Milanos, chips and bowl of ice cream I had yesterday. The SlimFast thing is not bad but this liquid lunch thing is boring. Besides, all the leftovers I'm not eating for lunch are piling up in my fridge!

portion control

So I started this post @ 9am, but am just getting back to it. In my life, I think that my dieting issues are many. I don't exercise enough at all very little. Our portion control at our house is out of control, at least with the husband & me. I love to eat!!!! And what I eat may be "a well balanced" diet, but isn't necessarily the best things for me. So let me just recap my week thus far. As Louise said we pigged out on sushi on Saturday. Sunday being Father's day & church, well I have to have a doughnut at church. Then the little girl upstairs had her birthday party, so of course there was ALL kinds of wonderful food(barbeque-ish) to pig out on. No lunch or dinner though. Monday, had breakfast, don't remember lunch (probably picked & snacked on chips, etc.), then hot dogs for dinner. Tuesday, breakfast, lunch probably the same as Monday, dinner was shepherd's pie, then we took the girls to Friendly's to use the bogo coupons I was given for ice cream. Today, breakfast, lunch was chicken noodle heart attack special & dinner is going to be frozen pizza. Don't forget the scrumptious dessert that Louise usually makes, since tonight is bible study night. I'm trying really hard at this particular moment to ignore the doritos & potato chips that are calling my name & am trying to think about the carrots in the frig instead. Not sure who will win that battle though.
The other diet issue I noticed I'm having is eating/snacking late at night. Last night at 10pm I had rumbly's in my tumbly's as my dear friend Pooh likes to say(No, not my friend Louise, who happens to have a nickname of Pooh.) I did not get out of bed & indulge them, but boy if I was still up & on the computer I probably would have.
So Louise says I need to quit whining about how my life stinks & make some positive changes. (See the post, This week's experiment)Do you think she'd dope slap me a bit? It might help! Then in the next post she asks me what my plan is. PLAN?? I'm suppose to have a plan??? Good intentions don't count for anything? Well, like I said in my last post, I'm having some life difficulties, let me think on that & get back with you, Louise. In the mean time- thanks for putting up with me! Feel free to tell me to be quiet any time.
-Thelma

technical difficulties.

Thelma is having technical life difficulties & will hopefully be back tomorrow.

Keep up the good work Louise. p.s. you said you didn't weigh yourself, did you do so when you realized it? Hope so. It shouldn't be off by that much.

Oh Theeelllmaaaa.....

Where are yooooouuuu?????

SlimFast Day 1

I had steel cut oatmeal for breakfast, an ice coffee (my own) and the SlimFast Chocolate Royale for lunch. I was quite surprised by how good it tasted. One 8 oz. can is 220 calories. It occurred to me though that I probably could have come up with a 220 calorie lunch on my own without having to drink something with ingredients I can't pronounce. However, I did have a slice of deli ham because just drinking lunch seemed so...unsatisfying. I also forgot to weigh myself this morning so I have no bench mark to match results against on Saturday. The Slimfast also had a lot of carbs. I think I'm one of those who reacts poorly to carbs. Oh well.

Some Recipes

After pigging out on sushi Saturday (thanks Thelma!), and hubby's Father's Day dinner, my "loose" pants are tight. So it's either diet or get a bunch of new pants. Hello SlimFast! What's your plan, T?

Some recipes:

Whole Wheat Pancakes
This is from Alton Brown. I like the fact that it's a whole grain meal that is actually edible.

2 c. whole wheat flour (buy it cheap at WalMart)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. sugar
2 eggs
2 c. buttermilk (2 c. + 2 tblsp. vinegar works fine)
4 tblsp melted butter

Mix the whole shebang together and enjoy. I serve it with my own syrup in an effort to cut down on the high fructose corn syrup in my life

Syrup

1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. water

Mix together, bring to a boil until sugar crystals dissolve.

Cauliflower Soup
Perhaps the cheapest, easiest soup to make and low calorie too!

1 head of cauliflower broken into florets
4 c. chicken stock

Boil cauliflower in stock until soft and puree in a blender. That's it. No really.
Sometimes I substitute 2 c. of milk for water. You can also throw in bacon and potatoes if this is just too plain for you.

See you tomorrow!

This Week's Experiment

I think lifestyle change requires a specific goal with specific steps to get there. If you just sit there and say, "I hate my life, I need to change." not much will happen.

I've been thinking about my specific weight loss goals and plan of action. I'd like to lose 15-20 pounds. Actually, I'm not so concerned about the specific weight loss as I am getting rid of THE BELLY. You know, the one that makes me look like I'm three months pregnant. I've tried Weight Watchers and South Beach. I’m too picky an eater to do something like the Grapefruit Diet. I've heard the Alli diet can cause some embarrassing moments. But I've always been curious about SlimFast. So in the interest of science, I'm going to try it this week and see if I lose weight with it. The plan is to have something like steel cut oats for breakfast, SlimFast for lunch and then what ever I make for dinner. And no, dinner will not be cheesecake.

diet is a 4 letter word

Is it really all about dieting? Or is it more about self discipline, self control (are those synonymous?) & a life style change? Change is not an easy thing. Some of us deal with it better than others, while change throws some of us into a complete tail spin. I don't always like change, but I can do okay with it. It is definitely easier to deal with if you have some one to support, encourage & cheer you on.
So how does one go about getting rid of the junk food, sweets, chips, etc. that our bodies desire? Is it really desire? Or simply we like to eat these things because they "taste good?" I have a blessing & a cursing in my house. I only have 1 small mirror to do hair & make-up in. A blessing because I don't see how big I am every day; a cursing because when I do see myself in a big mirror & realize how big I've gotten I'm disgusted & saddened with myself that I've let myself go.
So I guess the elephant in the room is: HOW DO I GO ABOUT MAKING THE LIFE STYLE CHANGES I NEED, TO LOSE THE WEIGHT SO I FEEL GOOD ABOUT MYSELF AGAIN?
Any thoughts or ideas greatly appreciated.
-Thelma

hello as well

Thelma here. I am also a stay at home mom, but of beautiful identical twin daughters, who recently turned 3. I'm not exactly sure where Louise read that at around 40 women's metabolisms come to a screeching halt, but I know for me growing up I was always petite; until I hit about 25. At 25, my metabolism started slowing down, by age 30, mine came to that screeching halt. So having twins later in life, well, I've lost all my baby weight(by my 6 wk. check up I might add)& gained it back & then some. Our good friend, Steve, who recently became a black belt said he is in the best shape of his life. Sadly, Steve is only 2 months older than me & I am in the worst shape of my life. Part of my problem is lack of discipline- I like to eat, especially junk food & chocolate. So hopefully Louise is right, maybe no, I'm going to be positive here, this will encourage both of us to shed the unwanted pounds we have & be accountable to each other. I know I'm not very good at being accountable with my hubby. Who is quite wonderful, I might add. On that note, I need to go get my girls dressed so we can BICYCLE to the post office. Yes, you read that right, I'm going to exercise & save money at the same time.
Let me leave you with this scripture though as to why God's dwelling place should be less flabby.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV
16Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
Here is the Message version:
You realize, don't you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God's temple, you can be sure of that. God's temple is sacred - and you, remember, are the temple. (italics theirs)

Hello!

I thought I'd start this blog as a way to help my friend, "Thelma" and me, "Louise" try to lose some weight. I'm sorry I couldn't come up with a more positive title but I'm trying to keep it real here. I'm using the names Thelma and Louise because me and Thelma are good friends like in the movie, we like road trips like in the movie but I haven't had a fling with Brad Pitt so that's where the comparison ends.

Anyway, I thought we could use this post to blog about our thoughts on dieting, recipes, weekly menu ideas, products we like or don't like, etc. Oh yeah and our progress.

A little about me. I'm a stay at home mom with five lovely little kiddies and a hunky hubby. I just read recently that around the age of 40, most women's metabolism comes to a screeching halt. Additionally, they become more glucose intolerant so that means all those carbs you eat go right to the belly. That couldn't describe me better if the article said, "Hey you, Louise! This is why you can't eat all them cookies anymore!" So my weaknesses are ice cream, lattes and any junk food. Also the fact that I hardly eat any fruits or veggies. Wish me luck.

Since I am her good friend, I will be kind and let Thelma write her own bio. As soon as she knows this blog exists.