Sick of Failing!

Well, I bet anyone who has ever stumbled upon my blog is sick of reading my advice that I can't even take. However, I have a REALLY good reason that I need to lose weight now. In the past I've had pretty good reasons, but now I have an extremely important reason. I'm engaged! I'm going to have to look awesome in a wedding dress. My goal is to lose 42 pounds. I'm 182 right now and I want to be 140.

Yesterday I did very good. I dieted well and I did 45 intense minutes of Zumba. Today I am doing very good too. I have 700 more calories that I can spend on dinner to stay within my 1500 cal daily allotment. I plan on doing Zumba again tonight and I'll be busy making cake pops too. I'll really try this time to write updates. I'm back to tracking every single thing I eat, but that seems to work well for me. It forces me to come to terms with the stuff I'm putting in my mouth and it makes me think twice if certain foods are worth the calories.

That's it for now. See you later!

Eat To Live Lifestyle - Day 4

Today is the beginning of day 4 of following the Eat to Live lifestyle and I have to admit it has not been extremely easy so far. Luckily the reasons it has not been easy are not the same reasons that other "diets" have not been easy for me in the past.

The GOOD so far...

1. I have not caved in and eaten bad at all. Basically I have not over-indulged on anything that is restricted.
2. I have lost 5 pounds so far and it's only the beginning of day 4. (Started at 185, now 180)
3. I feel like I have a good amount of energy
4. I have not felt hunger pangs, but I have had cravings
5. It feels good knowing that I am giving my body the nutrition that it is really trying to ask me for.
6. It seems like my stomach has flattened ever so slightly.
7. It has not required extensive preparation
8. I have not had diarrhea

The BAD so far...

1. Withdrawals from highly processed foods, sugar, and fat is REAL and it sucks! I have had some of the worst headaches ever the past three days. They always hit me around the same time which is about right before dinner time. I'm hoping they will stop soon.
2. I have had major cravings. Luckily I am smart enough to know that having Sushi one night and allowing myself one Dove chocolate piece every night is not going to throw off my diet.
3. Just smelling all that "yummy" food sends info to my brain that I want that food. I've got to get that to stop!

I'm going to keep strong and keep it up. We are going to Peter Piper Pizza tomorrow for one of our friends kids 2nd Birthday party and I do plan on allowing myself one piece of pizza, but that is all because I know they have salad there. I'm looking forward to reporting my progress again on Monday!

Why I failed... yet again

Hey everyone!

I know I keep going a super long time in between posts and I am sorry, but I am a busy girl!

The 24 Day Challenge that I was on ended in failure. I am not blaming it on advocare or saying it is bad by any means. I think the idea of it is great and there were many days that I felt amazing and even got compliments that I was losing weight. My downfall was I felt hungry and it was very structured. I can not be hungry and I can not follow something that is super structured. I stopped doing the challenge and since then I have gained 10 pounds and I was back up to 185 .

The most recent thing that I have stumbled upon is called Eat to Live. When I say stumbled, I really mean stumbled! I was reading an article on MSN about how older men getting women pregnant could be a reason for children being autistic and the next thing I knew I was reading an article about how animal proteins are a factor in cancer and the last thing I remember I ended up at Amazon reading someones review of the Eat to Live book. Wow, the internet can really lead you on a tangent, but it really is amazing!

So...where am I at now, right? Well, the Eat to Live book by Dr. Furhman took me a while to read (I said I am busy!) so I couldn't get started right away which was sad. However, you need to actually read the whole book to grasp exactly how important it is to eat this way. I have been eating this way for only 2 full days now and I have lost 5 pounds and the scale claims I weigh 180 now. I am going to track this and take pictures. I promise I won't leave you hanging!

24 Day Challenge: Day 16

Oops, sorry it has been over a week since I lasted posted. I am still doing the challenge. I am down to 175 LBS right now. I have strayed a little here and there, but mostly have stuck to the challenge. The things I have had over the past 8 days that are not 24 Day Challenge friendly are : A few fries, a couple crackers, a skinny cow ice cream bar, some bbq sauce,  granola bars, a sandwich that I realized a little too late was highly processed, and some bread.

I need to exercise more and the weekends continue to be the biggest challenge for me. I ran out of the meal replacement shakes and have had a sugar filled granola bar the past two mornings. It sucks. I forgot to order them and then when I remembered, I paid for 2 day air so they will be here tomorrow. I like the results I have gotten so far and I definitely plan on continuing even after the 24 days using some of the other supplements offered by Advocare and continuing to eat this way the best I can.

I really don't miss the greasy food all that much. I plan on having a turkey burger on lettuce for 4th of July. The one thing that I read that made so much sense to me was an explanation of why fast food just makes us fat. I will try to explain it the best I can remember. Fast food is highly processed and stripped of all of its nutrients. It also has added sodium to help preserve it. Therefore, when you ingest it, your body is not getting these nutrients which are needed for your body to tell you that you are full so you stop eating. It has so much added salt and fats to make it taste better too. I have always known that fast food is full of fat, but never thought of it this way. Fast Food is completely empty. If you want calories and fat, then go for it. If you actually want to give your body what it is asking for , then kick it to the curb. Your body is telling you it is hungry because it wants you to give it nutrients to give to your body, not fat to give to your thighs!

Anyways, I have to go for now, but I will be sure to keep you updated !

24 Day Challenge: Day 8

I just realized right now that I was following Day 8 instructions yesterday when I was on Day 7 and I was doing the same thing again today. I got one day ahead of myself somehow. So the other night when I was wondering why I had extra pills, that would be why. I really didn't have extra pills, I had lost a day in my head. I am not sure what to do, so tomorrow I am going to do the white pills (no fiber drink) and then at night the brown pills. You see, the difference is on day 4-7 you take the white pills in the morning and the brown pills and Omegaplex at night. Then on days 8-10 you take a Fiber Drink and the White Pills, but by this time you should not have any brown pills, so you just have your Omegaplex with your dinner and that's it. I feel pretty dumb :(. I really hope this doesn't have a bad effect on how much I could have lost, but won't lose as much now since I ruined it.

Anyways, I am doing very well on the challenge these past few days. I have not cheated at all. The only bad thing I did was yesterday I skipped my second snack. I just wasn't hungry at all and did not want to eat it for some reason. I weighed myself today and I am 179 LBS after completing 7 days. That is 6 pounds in 7 days! I'm starting to feel a little better now I am back in the 170's (even if only by a pound lol). I was going to share how my day has been so far, but I messed up, so there's really no point. It's not like I want you to follow my mistake. I will tell you that I ordered a Half size Caesar Salad from Jason's Deli today for lunch. By the time I was done tweaking it to take out the things I couldn't have, I was left with a bed of lettuce including a ridiculously small amount of chicken and Balsamic Vinaigrette. I paid $6.25 for THAT?! Well, I guess it would've been worth it if I hadn't taken off all the yummy stuff. Either way, I was hoping for more chicken.

Alright, that's enough complaining. Off to being happy now :) 

24 Day Challenge: Day 7

I had a busy (for me) weekend, so I had to try to find ways to fit in my diet. I can tell you right now that it was tough! I definitely failed in some parts, but if I look at it in a different light...what I now consider a "bad" day is what I used to consider a "good" day. Now how is that for some change? At least my perception of that has changed.

Here is a super condensed break down of Saturday and Sunday:

Day 5, Saturday: Woke up at 7:45 and had Spark with the White Pills. Did Zumba on the Wii for 20 minutes. Had a Meal replacement with Omegaplex at 8:45 am. Skipped my snack .12:20 pm Spark. 12:50 pm Was going to have tuna wrap for lunch, but after mixing the tuna and celery, I realized the brown rice tortillas were moldy already :(. So...I used regular multi grain wheat bread. Around 6 pm I had a salad at Chuck E Cheese. I was at least good there and only had a proper salad and resisted the pizza and even the birthday cake. After Chuck E Cheese, I left to meet my friends at a bar to celebrate one of my good friends birthdays. Throughout the night I had a Southern Comfort with Lime, a Tall can of Michelob Ultra, and two Red Bull and Vodka. I know I am not supposed to be drinking, but I was at least trying to make low carb or low sugar selections :-/ . Even getting home at 2 am I remembered to take the brown pills before bed (yay me!)

Day 6, Sunday: 10 am Spark and white pills. 10:55 am - had meal replacement. Around 1:00 pm Dereck went and got McDonald's for his nieces and himself. He offered to get me something healthy, but I declined and said I would find something at home. We were getting ready to go to the movies and the girls left a ton of their food out. I was starving and wasting that much food would've really bothered me. So...I ate 3 of their chicken nuggets and a small handful of fries. That must have lit up my insides because before I knew it I was ransacking the cupboards looking for things I could eat. I had about 5 of those quaker quakes, a small handful of almonds, then a banana. We had missed the time we needed to leave to make it to the movie, so we decided to go to Toys R Us. On the way we stopped at the gas station and I hopped out and got myself an Arizona Green Tea and a bag of Popchips. The Popchips were only 100 cal and 3g of fat. They really didn't seem that bad. I definitely shouldn't have gotten the green tea. I think it is safe to say that I didn't quite follow the plan this day, but I was still really trying to make healthy decisions. For dinner (which was served around 7:45) I had Grilled Chicken, Grilled Asparagus, and Salad.

Whew! That's a lot of writing. Here is a pic of my lunch from today. Yum!

24 Day Challenge: Day 4

You guessed it....(or maybe you didn't?) I am still keeping at it. Yay! This is not a diet, this is a lifestyle change and I feel that it is one that I can stick to IF I see the results I want. As promised, I weighed myself this morning. Before I tell you the results I want to tell you my thoughts about it. First, the day before I started the challenge I ate a pretty good amount for dinner and leading up to dinner. I ate an entire foot long sub and before I had that I ate chips and chocolate and gummy bears. I was pretty bad. I know that weight can fluctuate within a few pounds each day and I am definitely keeping that in mind. Also, I had only recently creeped up to 185 so I kind of considered that temporary and not totally my initial starting weight (in my head at least. On paper 185 is my starting weight because that is what the scale said). Alright, with that being said...After 3 complete days on the 24 Day Challenge...the beginning of Day 4 I am down 5 pounds and the scale says 180 . <<<Were you expecting an exclamation point there? I kind of was too, but I can't quite get my finger to do it. I do not feel accomplished yet.

Here is what I had for dinner last night. I am not totally sure if it is 24 Day Challenge friendly or not, but it seemed to fit in to me.

Tuna Wraps:

*5 oz White Albacore Tuna
*One stalk of celery chopped (I never cook, I have no clue if one strand of celery is called a "stalk" or not)
*1 TBSP of Canola Mayo (I realized after that Olive Oil Mayo is almost the same, so I could've saved my money and just used what I had in the fridge)
*Romaine Lettuce
*Brown Rice Tortillas (Trader Joe's)

It's pretty simple. Drain the Tuna, mix with the mayo and celery. Put some lettuce in the tortilla and slap the tuna mixture on it. I ended up making two wraps because I didn't want one mondo wrap. Here's the thing, I am not sure if the Brown Rice Tortillas really qualify as brown rice or not. I am also not sure if it was a no-no to add the mayo. I can tell you that I felt very full after eating it. Also, I am not sure if it was just because the brown rice tortillas were supposed to expire that day, but they were very crumbly. I might try it with a vinaigrette in place of the mayo next time and see how that turns out.

Last thing, somehow I lost my Step One instructions and I can not find them anywhere online! I had to pack everything for today based on memory. Eek! I have a terrible memory, but for some reason I totally remembered what I needed for the day.

I may not post tomorrow since it is the weekend, but I will try to remember to follow up on Monday!

24 Day Challenege: Day 3

Still going strong! Yay. I think I am going to weigh myself tomorrow morning. I am just so curious. If I haven't lost more than a pound so far, I am totally fine with that. I know this is the cleanse stage and I need to wait to see real results. Everyone at work today got Jimmy Johns (ya know...the sub place that has those annoying commercials about how fast they are) on the house and I declined in an instant. Sure a sub would be great and I have always wanted to try Jimmy John's , but I had a delicious and filling salad of Lettuce, Chicken, and Black Beans awaiting me in the fridge. Knowing that I paid for this program and I have done so good thus far, it was relatively easy to turn down a free lunch.

Here's how the rest of yesterday went for me:

7:30 : Finally having dinner even though I was supposed to have it at 6:00. I had to stop at Trader Joe's after work to grab some healthy stuff I needed to make my dinner and for some snacks for the next few days. I used a recipe I found online and tweaked it to fit my needs. * I have to mention that I literally NEVER cook. I didn't even know you are supposed to drain meat when you cook it. Believe me now? Luckily Dereck was in the kitchen and said "you gonna drain that?" and I said " Oh, I didn't know you are supposed to?". Thank God for Dereck or I would've definitely gone over my fat content for the day* Here is a link to the website that I found the original recipe on , http://cleaneatz.tumblr.com/ . I can't find the recipe on the site again though. I made a huge amount of this because I was hoping it would come out good the first time and I could continue eating it throughout the week. Here is the recipe:

Turkey Lettuce Wraps:

*2 Lbs Lean Ground Turkey
*1 packet of Trader Joe's Taco Seasoning Mix
*15 oz can of Trader Joe's Organic Tomato Sauce
*3/4 Cup of water
*3 cups of chopped onions and red bell peppers ( I chopped them, mixed them together, then scooped it up)
*Iceberg Lettuce ( you could use Romaine too. I plan on trying that later this week)

OK, so I love this recipe because even someone like me can totally handle it. Just Brown the ground turkey in a skillet. Once browned, drain it! Then add in the taco seasoning and mix thoroughly. Then add the onion and red pepper and mix. Then add the tomato sauce and water. Mix around again and turn the heat to low/med. You will let this simmer for 20 minutes. I stirred occasionally just to be safe.

That's it! I just scooped it up into lettuce and attempted to roll it up. I did use an extra amount of lettuce on one wrap and it rolled up very nicely, so next time I will make sure to use that amount on all of them. The best part...my boyfriend who loves red meat and is not doing the challenge with me actually texted me today saying he was craving more of it. YAY!

Wow, this is going to be a long post. Therefore, I will end with saying I am doing very well on the challenge today. I plan on trying out another "recipe" tonight and I will let you know how it tasted tomorrow :)

24 Day Challenge: Day 2

Today is going just as well as yesterday! I think I might have messed up on my lunch a little though. I used a "recipe" that I found for a lunch for the 24 day challenge and it wasn't until after I had determined that as my lunch that I realized it doesn't really qualify. Dangit! I am not going to beat myself up about it because I am still doing pretty dang good. I have already drank over a gallon of water too.

Here is how my day has been so far:

6:45 am : Spark , then Fiber Drink, then glass of Water
7:15 am: Drink Meal Replacement on the way to work (forgot to take my 2 Omegaplex)
10:00 am: 1/4 Cup of Almonds (no salt or sugar) with 1/2 Cup serving of Banana mixed with Oranges (remembered that I forgot Omegaplex and took it with my snack)
12:00 pm: Spark
12:30 pm: 3 pieces of Foster Farms Lean Turkey (measured almost 4 oz) with a couple slivers of avocado and Uncle Ben's Brown Rice cup.

So here is what is wrong with that lunch...
    You are supposed to have a Protein, Carb, and Veggie for lunch. I had a Protein, Carb, and Good Fat. I also had the entire cup of Brown Rice and you are only supposed to have half a cup. Also, the Brown Rice is not supposed to be instant. Instant Brown Rice has oil added to it and you are supposed to stay away from that. Basically, I ate too many carbs, had a good fat when I wasn't supposed to have a fat at all and I had no veggies.  I dished the rice and avocados into the turkey meat and rolled them up for some little turkey rolls. It didn't taste half bad!

My Plan for the rest of the day:

3:30 pm : 1/4 Cup of Almonds and 1/2 cup of mixed berries
Bwtn 5:30 and 6:30 pm: Lettuce wraps made out of Romaine Lettuce, Ground Turkey and filled with onion, red peppers, and celery
Before Bed: 3 Brown Pills from the Herbal Cleanse Packet.

I'll make sure to continue posting my thoughts and feelings while on the challenge. Thank you!

24 Day Challenge : Day 1

Well.... I am starting a new chapter in my dieting. Sorry I haven't been around lately. I have been out in the world getting fatter! Dangit. Yeah, I am back up to 185. I feel like such a miserable failure. It's very disappointing. One of my best friends has introduced me to a diet plan that she has used and loves. It is called "The 24 Day Challenge" and it uses products made by a company named "Advocare". I am on day one and I will try to make it a goal to post my thoughts and *hopefully* success on this challenge. I just started today, so wish me luck :)

CRAP.

You would think that by plastering my weight online I would get the nudge to want to lose weight huh? Nope! I am back up to 175. I've been kinda-sorta fighting it to get back down to 170, but it has slowly creeped up to 176 now. Dangit!

Drastic times call for drastic measures. I still have all those GNC Lean Shakes that I bought a little while back, so I plan on trying the little diet they include with those shakes. I mean REALLY try it. It basically consists of Lean Shakes, Fruit, and Veggies. Or at least my Turbo Lean Shake Diet is going to include those three things. Looks like I'm back to writing down everything I shove into my mouth.

We were going on bike rides on a bi-weekly basis, but the tire on one of our bikes popped and we haven't replaced it yet. It has been weeks and now I actually miss those bike rides. Hopeully we can get it fixed tomorrow or something. As for tonight, I will be working late, hitting the voting polls, then getting a little more work done at home hopefully. I've also caught this crappy head cold thing that is going around, so that is quite enjoyable. To top it all off I have to have all the reports for our accountant done by tomorrow while still trying to make the sales goal for this month. Oh my. At least my dad was nice enough to bring me a salad for lunch :) . That definitely helped me. I'm pretty sure I would've ended up at the gas station for lunch otherwise. Yeah, see how bad I've been lately! ARG.

I'll be back in a week to update. Possibly sooner if I can find the time!

P.S. If you need some extra motivation to lose weight Google "american obesity picture". Need I say more?