Cheat days are bad!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Hope everyone is enjoying corned beef and cabbage today.  I know I will for dinner tonight, but there will be no potato's just 4 oz of corned beef and 2 cups of cabbage and a very carrots.  I will leave the potato's for the kids tonight, not that they care for them very much.

So the diet is still going fairly well.  We took a cheat day on Saturday and I we took the kids out to lunch.  I was good and got a buffalo chicken salad with hot sauce for the dressing, but I did enjoy two Bud lights along with that.  Then later we took the kids with some neighbors to Chuck-E-Cheese for a couple hours and they ordered their (cardboard tasting) pizza and although I was not hungry I ate about 3 pieces (thinly sliced).  We got home and I put the kids to bed and then us adults went out for drinks with neighbors.  I had a few (to many) draft beers and then when I got home my DH stopped and got the new Little Cesar's "Bacon Wrapped Deep Dish" pizza and I think I ate 3 pieces and they were big pieces.  Ugh, what in the hell was I thinking , oh wait I wasn't thinking that was the beer talking.

So, on Sunday I decided for breakfast to have another slice of the pizza and it wasn't as good as the night before.  Then for lunch I just had a protein shake and had lots of running around to do.  I invited my mom over for dinner with was corned beef with cabbage and potato's and carrots and yes I enjoyed every bit of it.  Yes, I have come to realize you cannot just have one cheat day because if your will power is not strong enough then it will not stop at just one cheat day.

Monday morning I stepped on the scale (only because I wanted to see the damage done from the weekend) and to my surprise I didn't gain anything just maintained, so that gets me to think if I didn't fall off the wagon like I did then I wonder how much I might have lost instead of maintained?  Guess I'll never know, eh!  I have been back on my diet since yesterday and feeling better.  I drank some of the tea that DH bought and yes it made me have to poo a few times yesterday.  We took the kids for a 3 mile walk yesterday to Dairy Queen (for the kids only) because they had free cone day in favor of the 75th anniversary.

We all know that the weather in Cleveland has been really nice this past week, so along with this nice weather comes the ever so dreadful POOP PATROL.  Yes, we have two big dogs and we haven't seen grass here in Cleveland since before Christmas and the ground hasn't been "frozen" since before that.  So I have literally about 5 months worth of dog poo to pick up.  I started on Sunday and got 3 bags and that was only half of the yard.  I still have the other half to do, which I wanted to do after work yesterday since it was 60 outside, but DH wanted me to walk with them.  I know I got half the yard done in about and hour and a half so what is another half of yard.  Well the half I didn't get done has piles and piles on top of piles.  You cannot see grass it's just a grass of poop so I have about another 8 bags probably that I need to get done before garbage day on Thursday.  So, guess what I'm doing tonight after work even though it'll only be in the high 20's.

I think that is enough talk about Poo in this post, but that is what my next couple days will consist of.  Then I will be going on the treadmill walking for about an hour at 4.0 mph.

Until next time......


Jennie

Quick check in before the WEEKEND!

Things have been going great with the Low Calorie diet that DH and I have been following.   As of this morning I am down 4.9 lbs.  I did weigh in at WW yesterday and according to their scale I was down exactly 3 lbs, which I was confused at first as to why it was off from my home scale and not by much just a pound, but when you're trying to lose weight a pound is a pound!!!  I figured it's because we don't get weighed in until 12:30pm and when I step on the scale at home it's first thing in the morning.  So by the time I weigh in at WW I've already drank at least 96 oz of water I know it's more because it's not including the water I drink before work & the coffee I drink.  Then factor in my breakfast & anything else in between and it will put a pound on me. 

I have to admit as I sit here typing this it is 4pm on a Friday and I am absolutely starving today.  I have eaten a banana already and that just didn't help any.  I don't know why I'm so hungry today, but I am very hungry and I'm trying so hard to let it go and not go grab something out of the cafeteria or vending machine.  So far I've done a great job at staying away.  I still have an hour left before I can get out of work and then at least another 2 hours before I can eat dinner, UGH... Hope I make it, LOL.

So we have a crazy busy day tomorrow from the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed.  DH and I have declared it a "Cheat" day and he is taking my 5 year old daughter to get a steak for lunch because she has been asking for steak for a few days now.  I'm going to cheat by enjoying some beers later that night with some great friends. 

Other then that, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  Hope I can stay strong over the weekend with this diet.  I did great last weekend, just need to remain positive about it and think to myself..

Summer is coming and I WILL be down 50 lbs by then.

Enjoy and until next time......



Jennie

Testing Yet Another Diet Plan

I cannot think of a good title for this post yet but hopefully by the time I'm finished something will come to me. 

Well I am happy to say my scale read 272.4 that is 4.2 lbs down from my WW (Weight Watchers) meeting last Thursday.  Here is what I have done different since then. 

On Wednesday I dragged my DH to a weightloss meeting thru Parma Hospital's Bariatric Surgery and Nutrition Center.  I went for their weightloss program not the surgery part.  They discussed how they have 3 options in their program.  The first one is VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet, LCD (Low calorie diet) and their meeting assistance program.  You are monitored by a doctor during your whole plan.  Ok, now for a break down of what each diet consists of. 

VLCD = 3-5 high protein shakes a day and that is all.  You can loose anywhere from 5-7 lbs a week.

LCD = 2-3 High protein shakes and a lean meal (such as 4 oz of any meats & all the raw veggies you want).  You can loose from 3-5 lbs a week.

Meeting Assistance = Attending a meeting once a week & just watching your own diet (kinda like WW that I'm currently on).

Well as I've mentioned before my DH is having the gastric Bypass surgery on 3/31 and since my weightloss meeting was at his doctors office building he decided to get weighed in & he was up 4 lbs from the last weigh in.  Well he has to lose 19 lbs by 3/31 to make sure that insurance will still cover this.  So he decided to do the LCD and to support him and to get myself moving in the right direction on the scale I decided to go alone with it.  I started on Saturday and it was hard at times & I ate a healthy meal for dinner, but what they have on the list.  Then I went out drinking (alittle to much) on Saturday night with neighbors.  I have followed the diet perfectly since then and I feel GREAT!  DH is down about 9 lbs since Wednesday last week & me 4.2.  I am not in a race with him because I do understand that men will loose weight faster then females plus with his surgery coming he's taking the easier & faster way out.  I'm doing it the "hard but right" way.  

Since the Cleveland weather has FINALLY decided to break from our months of below freezing temps.  We have been taking the kids & dogs for a walk and OMG is it GREAT to be able to get out of the house and get fresh air and some exercise in.  This is definitely what the kids and we needed after these long winter months.  It has seriously been in the single to negative digits here and at that time you cannot bring the kids outside in it for long period of times.  But, I'm keeping my head up because Spring is 10 days away & the Sun is shining & it's in the 40's. 

OH and just a little FYI.... I've been eating lots of salads and my biggest challenge was trying to give up on my Ranch dressing or any dressing at that.  I have tried zillion times to forgo it and eat a plain salad but it just didn't cut it, until one time a couple years ago in my WW meeting someone mentioned hot sauce & something else I just cannot recall.  But hot sauce is -0- points in WW so I decided to use some hot sauce as dressing and I love it.  I have no forgone the dressing and just reach for the hot sauce.  Oh & I use to be (and still am) not a fan of spicy or hot but since my last pregnancy when I craved it in the end I can now tolerate a tad bit of hot & use Franks Red Hot as my choice. Try it, you might love it.

Well until next time...........................

It Worked!

Well the meal prepping on Sunday has paid off.  I am proud to admit that FINALLY at my Weight Watchers weigh in I was down 2 lbs from last week.  This in itself excites me because it's been a few weeks since I lost anything. 

Well just got called into a meeting for work.  I will have to update with a few things that I have done/attended this week later. 


Until next time...

BE WARM!

Jennie

New Monthy mean a New me (or try)!

OK, let me honestly say I have slacked and have slacked big time.  I went to my Weight Watchers meeting last Thursday and I took a weight pass, meaning I didn't want to record my weight.  The reason behind this is because I fell off the wagon bad!  I still weighed myself at the meeting and I gained weight.  I was up to a whopping 278.6 lbs.  I think that woke my butt up.  I enjoyed my last beer for a while on Saturday, February 28.   As of March 1st I took advantage of the new month and decided a new me as well.  Summer if coming soon and I'm not even comfortable with having to wear tank tops and shorts.  I have enjoyed my beer alittle to much lately and I believe that is the big contributor to my weight gain and not loss.  So if I want to enjoy a drink or to it will be with soda water and liquor or wine and yes I know those are not that much healthier but it's less calories than beer and for a person like me that doesn't care to much for liquor that means that I will not over drink then.  Yes, I am going to try to drink absolutely nothing, but I know there will be nights when out with friends that I want something, just not as frequent as before.  Meals have been bad choices lately too.  We have been ordering out more then I like because DH and I have been to lazy to cook. 

So what I have done to change all this is: I spent Sunday this past weekend planning a shopping list off of lunch and dinners I was going to make for the week and I made sure they are healthy choices.  The reason I decided to do this is because DH gets home before me from work and is the one that does the cooking mostly and sometimes his choices are not as good as they can be and he'll get lazy and order pizza or Chinese or make something from a box.  So, after shopping Sunday I spent hours prepping for a weeks worth of dinners and froze them.  I started late and so it was late by the time I finished the dinners and was to tired to do a weeks worth of lunches but I did get Monday's lunches ready for us and the kids and I made lunches last night for today.  Below is a list of dinners I've made for the weeks and the links to the recipe.

Spinach Lasagna Roll-ups - had this last night and so delicious.

Meatballs with Veggies - I'm going to make Meatball subs, but I am going to use lettuce for mine

Cheesy Chicken and Black bean Enchiladas

A better Mac & Cheese (with sneaky sweet potato) - Made to much of this so we had half on Sunday night and OMG every loved it and I didn't tell my DH it as made with yogurt & Sweet Potato until he finished it. 

Roasted Lemon-Garlic chicken with Veggies - I used Lime not lemon - Tonight's dinner

So far the ones we have eaten have been a huge hit.  I'm very curious on tonight's dinner.  I'll let you know how it turns out. 

Below are my lunches for the week. 

84 Quick & Healthy Meals.  - Under Lunches I'm making #2 Very Veggie Fried Rice  and #5 Chipolte Turkey Pinwheels had this yesterday w/ veggies and very delicious.

Turkey, Cucumber, Hummus Lettuce Wrap - Today Lunch w/ a side of veggies.

Chicken & Asparagus Lemon Stir Fry - Thursday's lunch

Mason Jar Zucchini Noodle Salad - Perfect for Lent so I'll be having this Friday.

So there it is, all planned and prepped for the week and frozen except for the lunches I am making those the night before.  I also have switched the kids school lunches up too & have given them something different then the same ole PB&J sandwiches.  I have made them something healthier and hopefully fills them up more.  They have well let me say my 3 year old son has been grazing bad when he gets home from school, so when dinner time comes he won't eat and compared to the twins he is a very, very picky eater lately (hoping it's a 3 year old stage).  I still make him eat what we eat and refuse to make him something different (just like how I was raised).  It doesn't help that my DH's Aunt who picks the kids up from school and watches them until he gets home lets the kids eat everything and anything in the couple hours that she is there.  UGH, it frustrates me to no end.  My DH will not say anything or force it.  I am terrified that they will get fat and unhealthy since their genes are already against them and I sure don't want them to have to struggle their whole life with there weight because they made bad decisions early in life or that their parents didn't teach them any better. 

Well that is it for now.  I will up date you on how my weight in goes this Thursday at Weight Watchers. 

Until next time..................

Jennie

My Update - My struggles.

Hi, I promised I'd update so I'm going to do my best now. 

Well since my last update back on 1/22, I have gained, yep you read that right GAINED weight.  I packed on 3.8 lbs.  I weigh in tomorrow and feeling just a tad bit of confidence that I might, just might have lost something even if it's just .5 lbs, it's something.   Yes, I have realized that I am going the wrong way on the scale.   I'm truly not eating as healthy as I should and I blame it mostly on myself and this crappy weather we're having.  It's been in the negatives the past few days and other days just down right cold.  We actually broke a 111 year record for the coldest day in Ohio and Friday of this week is going to be the coldest on on record.  I'm so over this crap and truly want Summer to start like, tomorrow!  The reason I'm blaming the cold weather is because I want warm food, comforting foods, fating foods.  Who wants to eat a cold salad when you can have something warm and hearty to make you comfortable and warm?  I do really good with my diet while I'm at work so during breakfast and lunch, but when dinner comes it is a totally different story.  First, since DH gets home before me he has been cooking dinner and because of this he doesn't care about cooking healthy meals.  He just wants quick and easy.  When I cook I look for healthy and different recipes to mix things up.  Our eating habits have been slacking lately.  I kinda wish he'd leave the cooking to me, but then we would eat late and I have to do almost everything else myself (bathe & put kids to bed & clean up after dinner). 

I went and met with my regular doctor last Monday about my weight.  I was really hoping that he would prescribe me some weight loss medication, but he didn't. I kept going over and over again in my head exactly what I was going to say to him and that I was not going to get emotional over it.  Well when he walked into the room I only got 4 words out before I started bawling like a big baby.  Talk about embarrassing, OMG I cried the rest of the appointment.  I told him how when I was a SAHM for 2 years I faithfully went to the gym 2 hours a day 5 times a week and I watched what I ate and I would lose 5lbs and gain it right back the next week.  For over 2 years I was stuck between 250-255 and now I'm at a whopping 278.00, that's not how I wanted it to end up.  It gets very frustrating and makes you give up all hope when you try and bust your ass to have no results, none at all.  Seriously, I have gained 27 lbs since November 2014 when my father died.  What is up with that?!?!  I have lost all motivation that I even ever had.  Anyways, the appointment ended up with nothing.  I got nothing out of it.  He did refer me to a weight loss clinic through Parma Hospital Bariatric center (he's referred me before).  I called and made an appointment with their New Directions Program for Metabolic Weight loss clinic.  Now, I don't want to go through the surgery but I don't think I'd qualify anyways because thankfully I don't have any of the conditions you need to qualify except my BMI is about 39.5.  Yes, that's disgusting it's severally obese according to the charts.  So, I am going to their information meeting on 3/4/15 at 6pm.  I'm not sure what to expect and I'm really scared that this is going to cost lots of money and my insurance will not cover it.  I'm not getting my hopes up only to have them come crashing down. 

On another note.  My 40th birthday has come and gone (1/25).  I had a nice one.  The night before my DH surprised me with a mini party at a bar with a few close friends.  That was FUN times.  Then just this past weekend was the big surprise party (Yes, I knew about it cuz DH spilled the beans).  This party was a combination of mine and my neighbor Ron's 40th party.  He will be 40 on 2/25.  It was good times with great friends and family.  I'm glad it is all over and we don't have any more birthdays coming up until 9/26 which is Jake & he'll be 4.  Oh, the twins celebrated their 5th birthday on 2/5 and they had a party on Saturday 2/7 at  Strongsville Recreation Center.  It was swimming and playing with friends and they loved it. 

I was just trying to upload some photo's but it wasn't working right.  I'll try it later. 

Things have been rough lately and there are lots of things that need work on and things I need to make decisions on.  I need to make sure I'm happy because if I'm happy then the kids are happy and that is a number one goal.  Things are just so hard!

So that is an update for you and I think I said everything that's happened in the last few weeks.  Here is to nothing but happiness and weight loss in the up coming weeks.

Until next time......

Jennie

Updating

I want to say I will be updating soon.  I know it's been awhile and things on my end have been crazy, depressing, frustrating, fun since my last update.  I have been meaning to get on and say Hi and I promise within the next day or two I most definitely will. 

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm in this crazy cold temperatures.

Until Next time....

Jennie