A little update

I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth or given up on my way of eating.  I'm still alive and well.  I'm still losing weight and eating low carb.  We're just getting a new roof right now and my internet is sketchy.  It was out for a week but is back to working for right now, even though the roof is still not done....

Today the scale said 269!  Out of the 270s!  Hurray!!  Adios 270s, the next time I want to see a _70 in a weight I want it to say 179!  :)

I had a week or two that my scale didn't move much, but all in all things have been evening out.  I'm down 31 pounds now!  Pretty good for almost 3 months now.  I just hope I can maintain that 10 lb a month average.  I have 69 pounds to lose by March 8th, which is now 7 months and 10 days away.  So, if I keep up the average of 10 lbs a month I'll get there!  Oh, how I'm hoping this will happen, but if it doesn't and I'm still pretty close to my desired goal, I'm not going to beat myself up about it.  As long as I'm trying my hardest, that's what matters most.

I had a 2 week trial gym membership while my internet was out.  I went twice.  I hurt my knee the second time, I'm thinking on the elliptical machine.  Dang thing.  I had to stop walking for a few days because of it too.  So, I'm done with the gym, it's just not for me.  But, I did also try aqua zumba, and I really like that!  I've been to that twice and wish I could go more often.

So, things have been going great.  I've had the occasional craving, but I've stayed true to myself and not given into them.  I'm pretty proud of myself for that!

275 Before and During Photos

I had my husband take some pictures for me today after I got home from my walk, you'll have to excuse my makeup less sweaty self.  (You can click the picture to make it bigger.)

 I can see some difference on the side view, but the forward one not so much.  Still, it's progress.  The scale finally said 275 this morning!  And in the before pictures, actually right after them I weighed myself and the scale said 299, it wasn't the morning though, so I subtracted a few pounds to get the 296 that I originally wrote on my weigh-ins.  But, that's what the scale said.... 

Summer Time

I'm ready for school to start again!!!!!!!!!!  Please?  My kids are driving me nuts, but I'm trying to keep them entertained.  The next 10 days they have swimming lessons, which is great, since it gets them out of the house and in the water!  That water sure does look nice too! 

Anyway, this weekend was full of summertime parties.  We went to a friend's backyard party on Friday, then we had my 5 year old's birthday party on Saturday afternoon and then Saturday evening we went to yet another backyard party.  Lots of hot dogs and burgers later and this morning on my weigh-in day I managed to stay the same as last week.  All week long the scale was registering at 1 lb lost, even yesterday it said that, then this morning I'm at 276.  sigh.....  So, I'm still at 24 lbs lost I guess.  Not that I'm not trying!  I tried really hard to stay on track at all of those parties and I think I was pretty successful.  I didn't eat even a bite of carb laden foods.  I brought that broccoli slaw to the Friday party and had that with some dill pickles and 1.5 hot dogs that were a little higher in carbs then I would like, but I still stayed under my carbs for the day.  Then Saturday afternoon I stayed away from the chips and cupcakes and stuck with the zero carb sausages that we brought.  Then Saturday evening I ate a burger and a hot link for dinner with some tomato, onion and lettuce.  Not once did I even THINK about cheating.  Oh well.  The body is a funny thing.  I'm sticking my guns though and hoping that since I didn't lose this past week that it will all fall off this week.  Crossing my fingers!!

I'm going to see if my husband will take some pictures of me tonight or tomorrow morning so that I can see the difference.  I can feel it though!  My pants are constantly having to be pulled up!  But, I still can't quite fit into the smaller size yet.  Soon...

Broccoli Slaw

I first heard of this recipe from The American Homemaker blog.  She adds craisins and uses real sugar in her recipe, and I've made it that way before we were doing low carb, but it's just as good this way!!  This is a great side dish to go with grilled meats or even baked meat dishes.  It's also great to take as a pot luck dish to a bbq.  This entire recipe is only 16 net carbs, so if you wanted to serve 4, it would be 4 carbs per serving.  And that gives very generous servings.  Todd requests this salad a lot, that along with a blue cheese coleslaw that I make.  I'll have to share that recipe the next time I make it.

Broccoli Salad 
16 net carbs for whole recipe

½ cup real bacon pieces (from a package or freshly cooked)
12 oz pkg broccoli coleslaw mix (you can find this by the regular coleslaw mix in most stores)
½ cup sunflower seed kernels (shelled, get the roasted and salted kind)
3 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 TBSP splenda
1 c mayo

In a large bowl combine the broccoli slaw, bacon bits and sunflower seeds. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, splenda and mayo. Pour over broccoli mixture and toss until well mixed. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Jalapeno Popper Chicken

Yum!!  I made this delicious chicken for dinner tonight.  I was so excited to eat it that I completely forgot that I had made a huge salad and had put it in the fridge.  I remembered after I ate and wasn't hungry for anything else, so I guess I'll save the salad for tomorrow.

I got this recipe from Low Carb Layla  I did change a few things though, which I'll note in the recipe below.  I highly recommend this chicken and it was great served with low carb tortilla chips made by frying a low carb tortilla in oil and then sprinkling with salt and some homemade guacamole and sour cream.  Yum!  If you're even thinking of doing low carb, don't hesitate!  This is what I get to eat while losing weight!  I don't feel deprived at all!!

Jalapeno Popper Chicken
 3.5 carbs per serving


3 chicken breasts seasoned with:
Goya Adobo con Cumino (or cumin if you don't have this)
chili powder 
season salt

2 cloves garlic, minced
3 jalapenos, seeded and chopped (I used pickled because that's what I had on hand)
4 oz full fat cream cheese
3/4 cup chicken broth
3 slices of bacon, chopped
1 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro (plus more to garnish)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 TBSP heavy cream

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Pan fry the bacon until crisp.  Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon but leave grease.  Sprinkle goya adobo, chili powder and season salt on each side of chicken breasts and pan fry in the bacon grease until browned on each side.  Remove chicken and place on a greased baking dish, continue cooking in oven until cooked through. While the chicken is cooking in the oven, cook the chopped jalapeno and garlic in the same pan the chicken was browned in and cook for approximately 2 minutes over medium heat.  Add chicken broth, scraping and deglazing the pan.  Add cream cheese and stir in until melted.  Add shredded cheddar and stir until melted.  Add in the heavy cream and stir until thickened, this could take up to five minutes.  Add bacon crumbles and cilantro, stirring through for a minute or so.  Spoon sauce over cooked chicken.  Garnish with extra bacon, cilantro and jalapenos if desired.

Random Thoughts

I walked this morning for the first time since Saturday when I got an enormous blister on the bottom of my foot after walking for 4 miles with really thin socks on.  I couldn't really walk for two days after that.  Ouch!  Then my foot was feeling better but I had sick kids.  I tried to go out yesterday, but the baby woke up right before my alarm was set to go off and she had a fever and needed her mama.  She seems to be feeling a bit better today.  I was able to get in 2 miles this morning.  I got some gel inserts for my shoes the other day, but my feet aren't used to them or something and they make my feet hurt.  So, I'm not sure if they are really what I needed.  I really just probably need to fork over the big bucks to get some better walking shoes.  Who knows when that will be able to happen though.  Something always comes up that needs money (most recently a car needing to be fixed after being stranded 40 miles from home)! 

My eating has been really good.  Sticking to my low carb way of eating without much effort, not cheating at all.  But, the scale hasn't moved much since that 5 lb loss last week.  I was actually back up 2 lbs and then back to the 276 and then yesterday I was down to 275 and then this morning I'm back to 276.  So, I guess my body is trying to readjust after that big loss last week.  I'm not really liking it though!!  I guess I still have 4 days until I have to weigh in and things could change a lot by then. I'm hoping they do at least, in my favor. 

I haven't been able to look into the Zumba classes yet because I've had sick kiddos.  Maybe I'll be able to do that soon though.  We have a birthday party that had to be rescheduled for this Saturday since the birthday boy was sick on his real birthday on Monday.  Hopefully everyone stays feeling well so we don't have to cancel it yet again.  That would really stink!! 

I think I might start sharing recipes that I like on here.  That way I can keep track of the ones that I've tried and liked.  And maybe give people some suggestions of good things to eat while on low carb.  I think that variety in the diet is the key to success.  Not getting bored of eating the same things over and over again.  Because then you just want to give up!  Which, if you are eating a variety of delicious things, shouldn't even happen.  So, I'll probably start sharing some good recipes.  I also have my pinterest low carb board that has lots of good looking low carb recipes.  yum!

Oh!!  I saw this picture on pinterest the other day and had to pin it.
This picture is of a 250 lb woman and a 120 lb woman.  Just look at all that horribleness on the 250 lb woman's body!  Look at her insides, how much bigger they are than the 120 lb woman.  But also look at her muscles, underneath all that fat, they almost look the same.  Almost.  I know I probably won't ever be 120 lbs, and I'm currently over 250 lbs, but this is a good reminder!  Something to keep looking at as a reminder of what I don't want my body to look like, not only on the outside, but on the insides too. 

What an AMAZING week so far!!

I've gone walking everyday, except Sunday for 10 days now.  From anywhere from 2-4 miles.  Depending on time and how I'm feeling is how far I'll go on the walk.  This morning my walking buddy couldn't go with me, so I went solo and went about 2.75 miles.  I have so much more energy during the day if I get that walk in early in the morning.  On Sunday when I slept in and didn't go walking I felt SO tired all day!  It was crazy.  I'm still going to use Sunday as my day of walking rest, but I think I still want to get up early and maybe do something in the house instead of going out walking.  I just need that energy for the rest of the day that exercise gives me.  By the way, I would have never thought that I would be saying these things.  Not in a million years.  For me to like walking and exercising.  ha!  That's a new one.  I'm happy that I like it though.  And, I'm dreading winter, even though we're in the middle of summer right now out here, I'm dreading when winter comes and I won't be able to go on my morning walk.  I'm almost tempted to rearrange my house and save up some money to get a treadmill.  I would get a used one of course, but I just can't fathom not being able to get up early and walk.  I'll have to figure something out.  I've got a few months before I really need to worry about that.

Now onto the other AMAZING news!!  On Monday I had weighed in at 281, 19 pounds lost.  Tuesday I was down to 280 and then today, Friday, I'm down to 276!!!  24 POUNDS LOST!!!  Booyah!!!  hahaha.  I'm so excited about this loss!  I'm sure I won't continue losing like this every week,  but it's nice to experience it!  My official weigh-in is on Monday, so I've got 2.5 more days before I weigh in that day.  I hope I can maybe lose one more pound over the weekend.  That would be AMAZING!  We'll see.  I've been going on a low carb forum lately, and they call this kind of a loss a WHOOSH!  I'm happy for my whoosh!  Todd had his own little whoosh since Monday too, he's down 3 lbs so far this week!!  Way to go Todd!!  He's losing a little slower than me doing low carb, averaging about a pound a week, so he was excited to see that he had lost 3 lbs in the last 5 days!!

Oh!!  I'm also going to look in to Zumba classes in the town closest to me.  The dance studio that they do it at always looks closed, but that might be because they block off the windows, I'm assuming for privacy of those that are doing the classes.  That might be fun though!

Just Keep Walking, Just Keep Walking....

Walking, walking, walking.....  I feel like Dory from Finding Nemo, but instead of swimming, I'm walking.  :)  I started walking last Tuesday.  I started with a little over a mile and just today I walked a little over 3.5 miles.  Sunday is my day of rest, but I felt so lazy yesterday not walking.  I'm really enjoying walking and getting in that exercise that my body needs so badly.  It feels good to use some muscles that haven't been used much in the past.  I don't walk fast, but everyday I've been pushing myself a little harder to go a little farther.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to start walking a little faster. I've got a walking buddy too.  It's nice to have someone to keep me accountable.  I can't just sleep in and skip the walking because I know I have someone waiting for me.  Although I do feel like I'm holding her back a little since I walk kind of slow, she doesn't seem to mind, which is very nice!  When she asked if she could join, I told her that as long as she walks my pace, then she was more than welcome to join.  It is nice to have the company.

The weight loss is going good.  I lost another 2 pounds this week, so I'm down to 281 right now.  I was really wishing I'd be down to 279 today, but I'll take the 2 pound loss.  :)  Maybe I'll get to 279 for next week's weigh-in.

I'm really excited about my goal of getting down or below 200 lbs for my birthday next year.  That is really pushing me even harder.  It gives me something to look forward to.  Something to strive for and try harder to attain.  I've got 8 months and 11 days, 257 days all together until that goal.  If I lose 10 lbs a month, then I should be right on track to reaching that goal.  I'll have to push myself pretty hard, but I think it's reachable.  I'm on the right track so far!  I started low carb May 6, so two months will be July 6, and I'm sure I'll be down 10 lbs for my second month.

So, my mini goal for this week is to lose another 2 pounds and to keep walking everyday this week, except for Sunday.  :)

A reminder to myself

When I look in the mirror, I don't see this.  You know why?  I suck it in.  Even when I pose for pictures I suck it in.  These pictures, I did not pose for.  These were taken the day before I started low carb.  

May 5, 2012.  I was almost 300 lbs.  With my clothes on that day, when I weighed-in after the party, I was actually 299, then I subtracted 3 lbs for clothes and that's how I got 296.  Sigh....  I'm posting these to remind me that I don't want to look like this.  Not now.  Not ever.

Goals

I want to set some goals for myself, and I thought today would be a good day to do that.  My long term goal, is to lose 150 lbs.  When I talk about the weight I've lost, I'm talking about since the very beginning, when I weighed 300 lbs.  So, I ultimately would like to weigh 150 lbs.  Now, I have never weighed that much.  I remember weighing 200 lbs when I was 12, so who knows how young I was when I last weighed 150 lbs.  So, I don't know what I'll look like at that weight, and honestly, I might think that I'm too skinny at that weight.  So, for now that is my goal, I might change it when I get closer to that weight.  I might want to be 170, or I might want to be 130, I really don't know yet. 

A shorter term goal that I'd like to make for myself is to be under 200 lbs by my 30th birthday on March 8, 2013.  At my weigh-in this morning I'm now at 283, I lost 4 lbs since last week!!  So, I would like to lose 84 lbs in 263 days, or 8 months and 18 days.  I think I can do it! 

An even shorter term goal that I'd like to make for myself is to be able to fit into the six or seven pairs of size 22 jeans that I have in my closet.  I'm currently a size 24, even when I weighed 300 lbs I was wearing a 24.  I go down in sizes VERY slowly, unfortunately, so I'm not sure what weight I'll be when I can get comfortably into those pants.  When I was in high school, I had lost a bit of weight, and was down to about 230 and was wearing a size 20, but now that I've had kids, my body is different.  So, it's a guessing game for me when I'll go down in sizes or what I'll weigh when I'm at those sizes.

So, those are my goals for right now.  I'm sure it will take probably two or more years to get to my final goal, but having smaller goals is always a good way to stay on track.   

Update

I haven't had much time to update this blog.  But, I'm still going strong.  After being slightly off track for a week while in California for vacation and gaining 3 lbs, I've lost that weight and am now down to 285 now.  Feeling really good and enjoying cooking lots of low carb recipes that I've found on Pinterest and low carb blogs.  It makes things so much more enjoyable to have new ideas and recipes to try out!

I need to start exercising and with the kids home from school now for summer, it's kind of hard to find time.  If I break out the kinect, then they want to do it with me and I can't do things the way I want to with them right next to me.  And, if I wake up early, they will too.   *sigh*    And then at night, after they go to sleep I'm tired too and don't want to exercise.  I'm almost thinking of getting up super early, like 5:30 or 6:00, which is early for me, and just going walking.  That way my husband will still be home, asleep :) and if I leave quietly the kids probably won't wake up.  Maybe I'll start that on Monday. 

Other than that, I'm loving the low carb way of eating.  It's really not that hard and I don't feel deprived.  :) 

Having Control

Control is one thing that I usually don't have with my eating.  Even when I was doing Weight Watchers I still craved sweets non-stop.  I would rather have eaten a candy bar than dinner sometimes.  It was known to happen.  Since starting the Atkins way of eating I have been in complete control.  I actually kind of freaked out today at church after taking the sacrament and realizing that it was bread.  But, that doesn't count.  ;) 

I have not been having cravings, which is amazing.  Sure, I've made a couple sugar free desserts, but not because I was craving sugar.  Just because I wanted to try them out and at the end of the day if I still have some carbs left out of my 20 that I'm allowed, then I don't feel bad using them on a dessert.  Sugar hasn't really even crossed my mind.  I have complete control over what I'm deciding to put into my mouth.  I can say "no" to that piece of candy that the kids gave me for Mother's Day today or the cupcake that my daughter decorated for me at church.  It's liberating to have control over what I choose to put into my body!  It's an amazing feeling. 

Without eating the carbs, my body isn't craving more of them. It was a vicious cycle before.  I would have my meal, that would include a ridiculous amount of carbs, now that I think about it, then I would always crave something else sweet.  Which would make me want more.  A vicious cycle!!  I'm so glad that I have gotten rid of  sugars in my diet.  I do however need to find a good tasting carb-free sugar substitute.  Splenda just isn't cutting it for me.  The horrible bitter after-taste is anything but appealing. 

Oh, and another thing.  This morning I weighed in at 290!  I've lost 6 lbs in the last week! 

A Fresh Start

Where do I begin?  It's May 2012, I had fallen WAY off the wagon for far too long.  I let myself go, yet again.  And I got on the scale last Saturday to see 296 staring back at me.  Wow.  That's all I could think. 

Thankfully, a friend of mine was over and was talking to me about how she has been having great success with her new way of eating.  It got me motivated, and I've officially been Low-Carbing it since Sunday.  So, tomorrow will be a week of only 20 carbs a day.  It's actually quite easy.  Which, is very strange for me.  I'm a carb-o-holic, through and through.  I haven't really craved sugar at all and I could really care less about bread right now.  I'm completely satisfied and actually find myself naturally eating less because eating higher fat and more protein is very filling.  I've found some awesome Low-Carb recipe blogs and have been inspired that I can still have things that I love, just modified versions of them.  Now all I need is to find a sugar-free sugar substitute that I like!

So, thank you Nikki for leading me in the right direction. 

Here's to a new JOURNEY, one without giving in or giving up.  I KNOW that I can do this.