Christmas is coming and goose is getting...LESS FAT!!

I weighed in last Saturday, Good News!  220.2!  That is 9.4 pounds total loss.  I lost 2 pounds last week.  I really stuck to it too, so I expected a loss.  I would have been really bummed if I did not lose.  So I am averaging about 2 pounds per week at this stage, which is about the same I would lose if I was strict on Weight Watchers...probably.  Except there is nothing to think about or calculate which is awesome!  Also it is good to know that I have a cheat day and that I am not deprived.  I suppose on Weight Watchers I wouldn't be deprived either, but I feel like I can cheat more on weight watchers.  Knowing myself, I would add a bad thing here and a bad thing there, which in the end just adds up to no loss.  Also I think that not eating "white" is a very good for you.  Like I said in my last post, the gluten bothers my gut.  This last cheat day I really didn't eat much gluten rich foods.  I ate some cupcakes which of course have flour in them, but other than that I ate corn tortilla chips, corn tortillas, rice products, potatoes (good old large fries from McDonalds!), and some oatmeal.  Sugar is something I really crave and I have mentioned that I love chocolate.  Lately I have really wanted peanut butter too.  Which I will have maybe a tablespoon full as a snack (the natural stuff...just peanuts) sometimes. I have made what is called Chocolate Delight.  It is something I ate on the hCG protocol...YES I have tried EVERYTHING!!  It is basically cocoa powder mixed with coconut oil and a little bit of stevia for sweet and frozen.  It serves as chocolate for me.  I hope it doesn't ruin me this week.  We shall see!
Also I have started doing Tim's minimum workout 3 times per week:

20 glute activation raises
30 alternating flying dogs
25 or more 2 handed kettlebell swings (as many as I can do with good form)

I hope this gets me going too.  It is so easy and the swings are pretty fun.  I will do this for a few weeks then move up and maybe do 2 sets of the above.

How did I measure up? Well:


            Start 11/4               This Week 12/12            Loss        

           Right      Left         Right        Left        Right       Left
Arm     42.5      40.5          41.5          39.5           1            1
Leg        77         77            74            75              3           2
Waist         97.5                          92.5                         5
Hips           120                          116                           4

Total :      454.5                        438.5                       16 cm


WOO HOO!!  That is AWESOME!!  I must have had some water weight or puffiness last week.  This is so great.  So 16 cm equals 6.3 inches of loss!  Yay.  And a majority of that is in my hips and legs!   Double Yay!  I guess they have the most inches to lose so they will show more loss, but that is great!

Well as far as my goal of losing 20 pounds by Christmas......well I have 12 days and 10.6 pounds.  I don't think it is going to happen, but I am still gonna keep at it!!  I am going to set my day off for this Sunday and probably do 2 days off for Christmas...Monday and Tuesday.  Hopefully I don't completely ruin myself, but really its Christmas!!  I can't be successful and feel bad about myself because of what I eat.  And plus its Christmas and I LOVE Christmas and everything that goes with it.  Especially the cookies...and you know I just can't resist cookie dough!

My son and I made a gingerbread house Monday.  I ate some gingerbread.  I am telling the world!!!  I just can't resist it.  I love to bake and can't resist eating the dough...I guess not such a good combination, but oh well!  I will own up to it and know that I will pay the price.

So the plan is to continue the workouts (which are SO easy and fun) and continue the plan.  Take a couple days for Christmas and then get back to doing it right!  No stress, no feeling bad, just enjoying life!!!

Ups and Dows...UPs SUCK!!

Ok the ups that such are the ups on the scale!!  I went up a pound.  I guess Thanksgiving made me have some domino effect.  I cheated way too much last week and the scale showed it!


            Start 11/4               This Week 12/4            Loss        

           Right      Left         Right        Left        Right       Left
Arm     42.5      40.5          42.5            40           0            .5
Leg        77         77            74.5         75.5       3.5           1.5
Waist         97.5                          96.5                         1
Hips           120                          116                           4

Total :      454.5                          444                       10.5 cm

So that was really weird.  My waist measurement went up, but my legs and hips went down, so all in all, I had the same total cm loss.  I can feel that my pants are looser in the hips and legs, which is good, legs are my problem area.  I really think the long span from Thanksgiving to the following Saturday...8 days...kinda sabotaged me.  I felt a little deprived and cheated more often.  So...note to self and anyone that might be reading this, if you are going to hold out for a special day, work back to it slowly then work back to your regular day slowly.  Christmas will have a different plan.  

I have to also say, I really think the gluten in the carbs makes my gut hurt!!  I get horrible gas and pain.  It really is not fun at all.  Sugar doesn't seem to bother me, but the carbs do I think.  On my day off I am going to limit my gluten and see if it helps.  Oh how I love food!!!  I might just have to suffer to eat yumminess!  We will see.  I have been very "good" this week so far, and to reach my goal of 20lbs by Christmas...well it is going to take a LOT of determination!!

Comment if you read this and feel that it helps you.  It sure will help me to know someone else has the same issues!  Gotta go get my baby up from his nap!  Until next post!

Thanksgiving Measure Up!

        Ho Hum...kinda feeling wishy washy right now.  I wasn't exactly reasonable for Thanksgiving.  Oh well it's in the past, all I can do is focus on the future right?  Needless to say I ate and ate and ate and ate.  I didn't do air squats or tricep presses or any physical activity.  I just sat on my ass and ate anything and everything I wanted.  I felt like I really needed a trap door in my stomach to let out all the crap I ate.  That sounds so gross...but wouldn't it be handy?  Anyway  I weighed myself Wednesday, the day before my off day, since I was going to be away from home.  I was at 222.4...awesome!  8.5 pounds total loss so far.  I am pretty happy with that.  I measured myself this morning:

              Start 11/4               This Week 11/24            Loss        

           Right      Left               Right        Left      Right     Left
Arm     42.5      40.5                42.5            40           0          .5
Leg        77         77                   75           75.5          2           1.5
Waist         97.5                               93.5                        4
Hips           120                               117.5                      2.5

Total :      454.5                              444                       10.5 cm

Very Cool!!!  My waist and my hips are going faster than my legs or arms...which is typical for me.  I usually lose in my face first, then my waist.  I know what a blessing...but my problem area is my legs.  Anyway I really am motivated by these measurements!  My next off day will not be until December 1st...one week from today, so hopefully by then I will have gotten over the Thanksgiving spoils and maybe have lost a pound or so.  I will be happy if I am the same with all the crap I ate!!  I think I had 4 pieces of pie (2 pecan, apple and peach) And they were SO good.  I do believe that I make the BEST pecan pie EVER!  I love food so much...I plan for my off days.  I love that about this eating plan!

I am pretty close to a month on the 4HB diet and I don't feel hungry or deprived.  I don't get cravings (except for chocolate sometimes), and when I do eat carbs my gut tells me somethings wrong!  The sugar it seems to handle ok, but the gluten laden flours give my lower gut a punch and I get some rip roaring gas!  (Gross I know!)  So maybe that is a sign that I am getting a little gluten intolerant...who knows.  I am planning on doing a digestive system cleanse when I am done nursing my 8 month old.  I think that will help my metabolism too.  

Cheers!!!

Finishing up Week 2...CM Loss!!

Its Sunday 11/11/12. I'm finishing up my second week on the Slow Carb Diet.  I weighed myself yesterday morning, before my off day.  I was 224.8.  So that is a total loss of 4.8 pounds in 12.5 days.  Okay I suppose, when I started this diet I was very lofty at thinking I would lose 5 pounds a week.  As I have researched and read what others have attained, women usually don't lose as quickly as men.  OF COURSE they don't, why was I fooling myself?  But I had a nice bonus...I wore a pair of jeans last night that made me feel like a sausage stuffed in a casing last time I put them on.  Not that they were loose or anything, but they weren't uncomfortable!  Yay.  So I need to go measure my self and see how the centimeters look.

Here are the measurements:

                      Start 11/4               This Week 11/11            Loss        

           Right      Left               Right        Left      Right     Left
Arm     42.5      40.5                42.5          40           0          .5
Leg        77         77                   75           76           2           1
Waist         97.5                               96.5                       1
Hips           120                                119                        1

Total :      454.5                              449                       5.5 cm

Cool!  That is something to be happy about.  2.2 inches...yes I am all about numbers.  I think Tim is right.  Tracking is motivation, even the smallest increments in the direction you want to go is motivating.  So slowly I'm heading to my goal of 20 pounds by Christmas.  I think I can do it.

My husband asked me if I thought the ice packs in the evenings were helping.  I really don't know, but I figure it can hurt.  I tried to take a cold shower last night...not so nice.  I even backed the water off slowly and I couldn't stand cool water, let alone just cold water...burrrrrr!  The past 2 days have cooled off, so me and my family are huddled around the pellet stove right now.  It doesn't get too cold down in these parts, us desert rats like our warmth!!

I had a good off day yesterday   I didn't feel sick last night like I did last week.  I had my slow carb breakfast and the rest of the day didn't really think about what I ate.  I made pumpkin cinnamon rolls which were so yummy.  Had fried chicken breasts for lunch and had red enchiladas, beans, rice, chips and salsa for dinner.  It was so great.  Oh and chocolate cake for dessert.  I had a couple s'mores sometime in between, not as good as on the campfire...but the propane flame did its job.

So far I am pretty happy on this "diet".  I think I like it better than anything else I have done.  It seems more doable on the long term.  Especially for a ranchers wife that like her meat and beans.  It works for my lifestyle.  My husband and boys love meat and beans so I don't have to cook anything special for me.  My husband is Type 1 diabetic, and this diet is great for his blood sugar maintenance.  I think he eats better when I eat better.  So far so good...happy, satisfied and looking forward to more motivating results!

Till next post....  

It's Chile not Chili!!!

Just thought I would give a little update on how things are going.  I feel like I am doing pretty good.  Although I do have to admit that I had one square of a lindt chocolate bar...maybe an ounce?  It was pretty tasty.  Probably shouldn't have done that, but oh well.

I feel pretty good, good energy and I have not been hungry really at all.  I started my ice packs on Monday like I said I would.  We will see what it does.  I am going to weigh on Saturday instead of tomorrow and do my off day Saturday too.  I have a Enchilada Dinner benefit to go to Saturday night, and enchiladas sound pretty dang good!  I love red chile.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a sauce made from red hot New Mexico chile's.  Not that nasty canned enchilada sauce...gross as Hell!  The state question (yes we have a state question) for NM is "Red or Green?" Chile that is...RED baby all the way for me.  (and since I am a chile snob, it is chile with and "e" not chili with and "i"!!!)  Chili is like texas chili beans, or gringo chili as my husband says.  Basically tomatoes, meat and some chili powder...good but not what I'm talking about.  So get yourself some Hatch, NM chile...red or green, and culture you palate   Your taste buds will thank you (your ass may not)!   Anyway off my Chile soapbox.

Although I have been incorporating chile (green) in to my slow carb diet.  It is a high powered veggie...has way more vitamin C than an orange...bet you didn't know that!!!

I have set a goal for myself of 20 lbs of loss by Christmas.  I am aiming for that mark.  I am going to reward myself with one of these awesome handmade silver bracelets (HappyGoLicky on Etsy) that says "DETERMINATION"  So hopefully this blog will help me get there!!!

Looking forward to my weigh in and measurements in a couple days!

Day 8 One week weigh in

Well I'm not over joyed this morning.  I am at 228 this morning.  But not gonna let it get me down.  I am positive that it is water weight after my off day Saturday.  I was so thirsty yesturday I think I drank over a gallon of water.  I guess its from my carbs and sugar on Saturday.  It doesn't help that I think I might be a little sick...kinda have a scratchy throat and sound like a man.

I have decided to do my weekly weigh in on the morning before my off day.  That will keep me positive I hope!  So my next weight day will be Friday morning (11/9/12).  I am working my day off back to a Thursday, so that Thanksgiving can be my off day.  I don't know if that is ever done, but why not?  So I will do Fridays as day off for 2 weeks then Thursday then go back to Friday then Saturday.  I think that is fair.

I am going to start doing ice packs tonight.  I will do an ice pack on my neck and shoulders for 30 minutes each evening this week.  Hey...it can't hurt to try right?  I really don't think I can stand a cold shower and know that I would freeze my nipples off if I tried to do an ice bath...it makes me want to scream like a banshee just thinking about it!!!

Til next post.....

Measurements Day 7

So I promised measurements...here they are.  I am a week into the Slow Carb Diet.

I measured in centimeters.  The more increments there are, the bigger the loss looks right????  Mind games...they work!!

            Right      Left
Arm     42.5      40.5
Leg        77         77
Waist         97.5
Hips           120

Total centimeters, drum-roll please:   454.5

Wonderful, hopefully it will go down next week.  I really need to put a pic don't I?...maybe.  Not too sure if I want to go there yet.  Maybe in a month I will do a before and after.  I think I need a little more confidence than I have to put a yucky picture of me for the world to see.  Well not that anyone is really looking, but potentially it could happen right?

Day 6 First Off Day...Ugh!

Whew, well that's all for my first day off.  I was really looking forward to it, but right now I kinda feel like hurling!!  I weighed in this morning...226.4.  Down 3.2 lbs in five days...not too shabby, that's what 0.64 lb average daily loss.  I am going to measure tomorrow and post it.  I still haven't found a place to do my fat % yet.  I want to still though.  I'm guessing I'm about 35%...that sounds disgusting, over 1/3 of my body is fat (GAG!).

So what did I eat today:

      9 am or so

• 2 hard boiled eggs first and a couple glasses of water
• 2 1/2 biscuits, sausage gravy, and a fried egg...YUM  (by the way all my food is HOMEMADE!)
• Coffee with cinnamon and a 1/2 small glass of OJ

     1 pm

• 1 apple
• 1 pop tart (only one...my husband ate the other one)

     Between 5pm and 7pm

• 4 pieces of halloween candy...snack size
• Brownie batter (like a few finger licks...this stuff is like crack its so addicting, well I think its like crack...I don't really know)
• Linguine Alfredo with grilled chicken and home grown tomato salad
• 2 brownies

It's 9pm, we ate dinner at 6pm.  I am still stuffed...ugh!  I am surprised, but I am actually looking forward to getting back to my beans, veggies, and protein.  Don't get me wrong...those brownies were damn good!  But I am pretty sure once a week is plenty.  I didn't eat any chocolate, and I don't want any right now, blah!

So I hope I didn't over do it.  I did 40 air squats 2 times today, maybe that helped.  I guess I will see Monday morning!!!

Meals and thoughts first 2.5 days

10/29

So this was breakfast:  Canned red beans, spinach, and 2 eggs

Lunch:  Black beans, red bell pepper, mushrooms, spinach...quite tastey!

I chewed a piece of gum driving

Then I got hungry (I blame the gum!!) so I stopped at taco bell in Deming and got the taco salad with no shell and no rice and picked out the stupid little tortilla strips!

My mom made stuffed bell peppers for dinner...I asked her to make me one with no rice...the yellow stuff is squash.

10/30

I guess I didn't take a pic of breakfast...but it was black beans and 2 fried eggs

Chia tea with dash of cream and some equal at the conference

They served lunch at the conference...just ate the salad, beans and brisket...yum!

Mom made her Thanksgiving dinner (she drives a big rig and will be gone for Thanksgiving) so I ate turkey and a little bit of green bean casserole

Got home and ate chicken, spinach and refried beans for supper

Pumpkin with some pumpkin pie spice and a little splanda

Wanted more...so I ate more!

 10/31...Happy Halloween!!  I want Halloween candy and brownies!!!!  For Saturday I suppose!

Breakfast:  2 whole eggs, 2 whites, veggies, green chile and some beans

 Its 11:02 am and I am not particularly hungry...but could eat some chocolate.  I LOVE chocolate, any and all chocolate!!!  Just plain old 70% Cacao dark chocolate...YUM!!!  Saturday I am eating chocolate.  I am gonna make some pumpkin puff pastries too.

I never did say that I love to cook and bake...I did say I love to eat.  I am a foodie and enjoy my food.  SO glad Saturdays are off.  MMMmmm...steaks sound good.  Maybe dinner tomorrow night.  Tonight we are going to the Halloween Carnival, I better eat before we go!!

My Fat Beginning...

Well here I am.  This is basically just for me to keep honest with myself.  I never thought I would be a good blogger cause I usually don't have anything interesting to say to anyone, although I do find myself quite funny sometimes...I like to laugh at my own jokes.  Anyway the main purpose of this blog is to keep me on track and honest.  So I'm gonna review my fat life, and express some of my feelings

So...the fat kids stomp...that is a kinda skip hop with one foot in front of the other, that only fat kids can do.  So if you were a fat kid you know what I mean.  Now I mean a fat kid when being fat wasn't so damn common...like in the 80's and prior.  Back then fat kids were maybe 1 in 25 orso...like being the only fat kid in a class of 30 kids...ya that was me.  Anyway what a horrible school life it was, but I guess I got the fat kid stomp out of it.

I blame my fatness on my mother and grandmother...cause who else can you blame when you are 10 years old and fat?  I sure wasn't going to Safeway and buying my own food (unless my Mom sent me across the street to the liquor store to get her cigarettes...I would take the food stamp card and buy candy, so ya, if I was buying my own food I'd probably be fat) I didn't know any better and what kid does.  That's why it pisses me off to see all these fat kids nowadays, bad parenting...thats it!!!  Anyway I ate anything and everything I wanted and no one stopped me and sometimes my grandmother pushed me to.

So needless to say I have been fat since I was about 6 I think.  I'm 32 now.  Right before I got married in 2005 I did Weight Watchers for about a year and a half and was below 200 pounds the first time since middle school and thought I looked pretty good.  I was almost in a size 12 and my goal was a size 8.  Which if you know for a 5'8" woman is still overweight  but I was pretty happy.  Well since then I have had 2 awesome little boys who are now almost 4 years old and 7 months old and I love them to pieces.  I have a wonderful husband whom I met in college...when I was fat... and he still married me and says I am beautiful all the time.  But you know that it doesn't matter what other people think in this situation, its just what you think and how you feel.  I can honestly say I love myself (therefore allowing other people to love me and all that blah blah bullshit) but I do not love the way I look from the neck down.  I am blessed to have a shapely figure and I am thankful for that, don't get me wrong.  I have a relatively small waist compared to my bust and hips, so according to all the hype...I am not the unhealthy obese.  But really can you be healthy and obese?  But really and truly its my big, huge, fat, nasty, legs that I hate the most.  I have to buy 38" waist mens loose fit jeans and take them in 5 inches at the waist so they will fit.  I never have figured out why they can't make jeans for women with large legs and smaller waist??  No gap my ass!  Yes it is my ass crack that shows when there is a 6 inch gap in the back of my jeans!!!

Ok I'm gonna get off my soapbox and get more to the point.  I figured that WW worked because I went to meetings every week and had a friend that went with me.  Which if you have read anything about sucesssull wieght loss:  "have a buddy" and "weigh once a week"  and "have accountability".  Well I had all of that then, but now I live 80 miles from the closest WW meeting (plus the leader sucked!), I have no buddy and no accountability.  WW online didn't work for me either.  So this is my next effort...my blog.

I am reading the "4 Hour Body" by Tim Ferriss.  It has got me pretty excited and really seems doable and healthy.  So there are 5 rules for the "Slow Carb Diet":

1. Avoid carbs that are white or can be white
2. Eat the same few meals over and over again
3. Don't drink calories
4. Don't eat fruit (GOES AGAINST ANY DIET I HAVE EVER DONE)
5. Take one day off per week (AWESOME!!! Eat ANYTHING you want!!!)

Some other suggestions are:

• Track you food by taking pics of every food/drink you put in your mouth (good cause I suck and writing down what I eat)
• Get your body fat %
• Measure yourself 

There are others, but this is what I am starting with and see what happens.  So just FYI, there will be lots of pics of food that I eat and before and after pics that won't be so pretty.  Plus my frustrations, sucesses, gloating (hopefully!!) and whatever else I want to write.  If you don't like it don't read it!  It's not for you, its for me so get over it!

So day 1 (Monday 10/29/12) I weighed in at 229.6 (oh Lord!!).  I haven't measured my self yet cause I haven't had time.  I plan on getting my body fat % too...just gotta get it done somewhere.  I will post my meals as soon as I get the pics downloaded.