Wednesday, January 27, 2010

202.5(-12lbs)


I was excited when I got on my scale this morning and it said 198!! That is the smallest number I have seen in years and it is under 200 pounds, which was a special goal for myself. I am not sure why. Most of the time, when my Mom and I would talk about what our weight was, I would always say, "the scale said 106." and my Mom would always ask, "You mean 206?". Oh, poop, of course I meant 206 or whatever number was showing that day, but I just could not wrap my mind around the fact that I was in the 200's. I did not ever really feel that BIG. Well, now I am not THAT big.(Still close, maybe, but on the way down.) **PS-The 202.5 pound weight and most other weights I report here are according to the scale at QWLC, which are always higher than my home scale, but are constantly showing the same weight loss.**

I went to try to find a new shirt for my upcoming trip to New Orleans this week and grabbed a medium, thinking, "This may fit???" Well, it did not, but I am getting there. I am really trying not to buy clothes since my goal is to be shrinking for a few more months and it seems that God has a sense of humor and keeps remind me of this as I have tried to find some new shirts at least three times since losing the first 10 pounds, and I just cannot seem to find anything that looks good. I am so used to shopping for clothes that hide my "problem areas", like empire-waist designs, with a lot of room around the lower belly and hips. I always joke that I could wear most of my clothes even if I were pregnant. Sad, but probably true. Now that I am losing the weight, I really want to embrace the fact that I do not have to cover the "problem" anymore. Well, I do still have to hide some belly FAT, but I will be able to wear more styles then I have been able to the last few years.VERY EXCITING!!!

I made a fabulous Veal Chop last night. Thanks to an idea from my friend Lindsay, I used some mustard, sage and tarragon to smear on each side just before removing it from the oven and it was outstanding! I am already planning to try the same thing on chicken tonight. I am going to use a different mustard and maybe a little crushed red pepper to add some spicy, but I am actually craving something that is healthy for me! I have also found that I crave yellow squash and since having asparagus last night, am also craving it!

As I mentioned earlier, I am going to New Orleans this weekend and am so excited to get away, however, one of the BEST things about New Orleans is the FOOD!! We are planning on going to Mother's, Court of Two Sisters, Clover Grill, the motto of the last place being: "We love to fry and it shows." Well, I LOVE things that are fried, but I am not really fond of the fact that fried food seems to show up on my hips faster than I can get out of the restaurant! We are also going to go to Cafe Du Monde, but I am not worried about the beignets. I will be just fine with a yummy coffee. I am worried about the Muffuletta at Central Grocery. When I was in NOLA last May, this was probably the BEST thing I ate all weekend! I have literally talked about it ever since. I can actually remember the feelings I had when I was eating it and the way that the oil felt dripping down my arm. There was no point in wiping your hands/arm/mouth until you were done eating because they would just get oily again. OH MY LORD, this is a good sandwich!! So, I am announcing to the World(or more appropriately you who read my ramblings), that I will have a Muffuletta. My goal is to only eat 1/4 of the damn thing, so I will be bringing 4 other hungry people with me, but I WILL be eating this yummy piece of Heaven and I will enjoy it!! I will behave myself MOST of the rest of the weekend and we will be walking EVERYWHERE, so I am only partially concerned for my shrinking ass.

I do plan on going to Pat O'Brien's, but not for their famous Hurricane(I hate them!). I am going to bid farewell to my fat-self since this is the place that it "technically" all started. A skinny me got engaged in October of 2004 in the piano bar at Pat O'Briens and I knew the moment it happened that I was not ready, but damnit, I did not listen to my intuition. I had a ring and I wanted a wedding. Thank God that it did not work out, but when I went to NOLA last May with friends, I returned to the site of the proposal and thought I would be fine, HAHAHA! I could not hold it together and ended up breaking down and hiding with my girlfriends in the bathroom for a bit. I guess this revisit will be a sort of test of my emotions(which I am well known for not being able to hide well). I feel pretty confident that it will be much easier this time. I know that I will probably always have the memory of that night when I go to Pat O'Brians, which is truly the only time I think about it, but I am ready to move on from that part of my life, and more importantly, to shed the feelings and pounds that I am still carrying around. I would say after 5+ years, I am good and done thinking about why things did not work and if I could have changed the way things happened. I have come to love myself again and I know that I will find someone who sees me for who I am and embraces these things(with all their challenges). I know that all of you who read this feel the same way and I just ask for your continued prayers. They mean the World to me and are so inspirational!!!

The pic attached is from my last trip to NOLA.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

203(-11.5lbs)

I am going to begin my training for the Avon Walk today!

I am so excited to be on this journey again. The Avon Walk is April 10th and 11th this year and even though I am still ahead of schedule, I am beginning my training a few weeks later than I did last year. I got my shoes yesterday. They are Saucony Grid Cohesion NX cross trainers, the same shoes I wore last year. This year I could not find them in a 9-wide, so I have regular old size 9's, but I think they should work. It is important to be sure that you have a large amount of room in the toe-box, the area around your toes, when shopping for shoes for a walk of this length. If your toes are hitting ANYTHING of real substance, you will end up with bruised toe-nails and can lose the nail in the end. I did not have this problem last year and only ended up with a couple small blisters, so I decided not to mess too much with what worked for me last year. My brother, Adam, was thoughtful enough to give me a git card to Academy to buy my shoes, and they were only $40!!! I am still using my shoes from last year for my regular work-outs because they are sooooo comfortable.

My friend Sarah and I will begin our training with a four mile walk today at Terry Hershey park. This is a park on the west end of Houston that runs between Beltway 8 and Highway 6, with an expansion currently in progress to bring it out to I-10. The trails are just off the bayou, so it is very scenic and serene. I prefer to train here over Memorial Park because it is less crowded and has an overall relaxed feel to it. Just watch out for bikers. There are many people who use proper etiquette and warn you by yelling ahead to tell you what side they are coming up on, so you can more over and afford them a little space, but some people are rude and do not make any sounds or give you and warning. Some of us have almost been knocked over by these riders, which would be more hurtful to them if it actually happened. I mean they are farther from the ground that they will eventually be landing on, face-first and are going twice our speed or more. So, now that I am off that soap-box, on to my further weight loss.....

I said I was going to "treat" myself when I lost 10 pounds, and I finally made good on this promise to myself last night. I dug out the Tim Tam cookies that I received for Christmas and had ONE wonderful, chocolate covered, caramel filled, amazing piece of Heaven with a nice hot mug of Gingersnap tea. Tim Tams are originally from Australia and I was turned on to them by my friend, Milena, when she was on her Trip Around the World and visited there. The secret is to nibble a little piece of the cookie off of 2 of the corners diagonally. Then you sip a hot liquid, i prefer hot tea, through the cookie like a straw. The cookie then proceeds to melt into a yummy messy chocolate and caramel goo and you have to get it in your mouth before it falls apart in the cup of tea. They call it a TIM TAM SLAM! I had gotten very good at this technique prior to beginning my diet and I clearly have not lost this special talent, because I managed to get the entire cookie into my slightly smaller belly without losing any. It was very enjoyable, and I purposely stretched it out into two lovely bites, which was not an easy feat with a melting cookie! I was very satisfied after the ONE cookie and I will not have another until I lose ANOTHER 10 pounds.



The gingersnap tea is another secret to curbing sugary cravings. It is caffeine free, so when I get a sweet tooth late at night, I can brew a mug and it serves two purposes. It takes time to brew the tea, at least 7 minutes, so you preoccupy yourself and then you usually sip slowly, so another 10 minutes or so. At this point, your craving for something "unhealthy" should have left your mind and you should feel warm and happy from the tea. It may sound ridiculous, but I have fond that it works for me. They only negative, is that I associate the smell and flavor of the ginger with my yummy Tim Tams and have had to learn to separate the two in my head. It also helps that the Tim Tams are in the top of my closet ans hard to get to.......

Well, that is probably enough babbling for today. I know I can go on forever and I am not sure that any of this is actually doing anything but keeping me occupied, but I do appreciate the feedback you all continue to give me. Keep it coming!!!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

204(-10.5lbs)


So I hit the 10 pound weight loss milestone and I treated myself with a night of wine and a dinner out with some good friends. I felt so guilty the next day! I ate salmon and grilled veggies, with some spinach, but giving away control of how your food is prepared is like giving your waistline over to someone else.

Some of you may have read the recent study that found that meals in restaurants and fast food places are up to 18% higher in fat and calories than they list in their nutritional profiles.

The restaurant food seemed overly salty and I was so thirsty the next day! When I got on my scale the next morning, I had put on 2 pounds from the previous morning. I stayed busy the remainder of the weekend, and followed my eating plan and was down a half a pound on Monday's weigh-in at QWLC, but I just do not feel as good when I eat out or drink alcohol.

One of my challenges this week has been blood sugar spikes and dips. I am becoming more aware of when I need to eat fruit, protein, or get some kind of food in my body. I do not usually get hungry before I eat and I found out this is actually a healthy thing. When I get to the point that my body/stomach is telling me to "feed" it, my metabolism has already slowed down to snail's pace and then you usually feel that you need to eat more to fill your ravenous hunger.

I try to eat breakfast about fifteen minutes after I wake up, then have a high protein, low fat snack at about 10pm. Lunch is best between noon and 1:30pm and I find that an apple about 4pm gets me through to dinner quite nicely. I usually try to eat by 7:30pm and I eat a noticeably smaller amount of food and am always satisfied.

I have had a few "drunk" or lightheaded moments when I get too busy and do not get my food in at the right time. I caught myself driving in such a daze yesterday, that I had to pull over and eat one of my protein bars because I literally felt like I was drunk driving. I had not had a thing to drink in days! I guess this is a sign that my metabolism has changed and I am getting to know a new side of my body. I have always been very aware of my body and quite sensitive to changes in ANYTHING to do with my body, but this is taking a little while to get used to.

Finally, I am completely in love with Orange Roughy. It is a fish that has a bit of a heavier texture with a mild flavor. I made some in foil packets for my Mom and I. The serving size is a 6oz fillet(large) and I placed fat free dressings on top of each fillet before sealing them in foil packets. I preferred the honey Dijon with a little lemon pepper and dill, but the one with Italian dressing was also very good. I cooked them for about 15 minutes at about 350 degrees. So easy, tasty and healthy. We had them with some steamed broccoli and green onions. I have found that the plastic microwaveable rice-cooker my Mom gave me is the easiest way to cook(steam) my veggies. Usually 5 minutes cooking time with the vent closed, and let it sit 3-5 minutes afterwards and continue to steam, and the vegetables come out al dente. You can find one at Target or Walmart, and Mom has even found them at the dollar store! There are also many stores that carry the steam in bag veggies now. You have to be sure to get the ones without sauces or preservatives, but I am loving the convenience of fresh green beans that steam in the bag. I will eat them the entire week.

Well, I went out to dinner tonight and was very good with my food choices. I had a spinach salad with grilled shrimp, grilled portabello mushrooms and tomatoes. I used my own fat free dressing and took off the croutons, but I left the Gouda cheese on the salad and will probably pay for it on the scales tomorrow. I will also be working with my trainer tomorrow, so I am trying not to feel too guilty about the small amount that I ate. (and, yeah, it was damn good!) I am also starting Avon Walk for Breast Cancer training this Saturday and Sarah and I have committed to doing at least 4 miles our first time out. Let me know if you would like to come join us!

Also- I have included a picture of my baby girl, Abby, who has been getting a bit chunky since my weight loss began. Aparently, I am feeding her more treats, but we have now started breaking them into smaller pieces and she is slimming down along with her Mom. ABBY SAYS "HELLO"!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

205(-9.5lbs)


I am very close to losing my first 10 pounds and I have only been on the QWLC plan for eight days! The last couple days have been a little challenging because I have been fighting off a sinus infection and REALLY want a hamburger or loaded baked potato.

I was walking into the QWLC today before lunch and it just happens to be next to Yao's restaurant. The smells coming from the restaraunt were so tempting. Many of you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE my chinese food and Yao's has some great food!!! I was seriosly wondering if the placement of the QWLC was intentional. There also happens to be a Pappa's BBQ with a drive-thru in the same parking lot - and YES! - I have driven through said drive-thru for one of those 5lb. BBQ baked potatoes.

Due to it being that time of the month, I felt for sure that today would be the day that I was going to gain back some weight, so when I went in and she said I had lost one more pound, I was very incouraged. Since my Mom, Cathy, is also participating in a QWLC diet, and has already lost 30 pounds, we get to chat about the way everything works. We both pondered the truthfulness of the "weigh-ins" since they are not using a digital scale and can pretty much tell you whatever number they feel like they want to. One woman at the center does not even know how to take my blood pressure correcly, but most of the staff are pretty friendly.

I have been weighing myself on my home digital scale, which was a gift from my wonderful friend, Sarah Andrews. I never weighed myself until I was about 26 years old. When I was growing up, I do not ever remember my Mom being overly self conscience and never really remember her weighing herself or talking about being "fat". Mom always hated her legs, and so I was usually more self consciece about my legs as well, but overall, I was never really "worried" about how my body looked. I think this has served me in being somewhat confident even with the extra weight, but it is time to be the fully confident woman I once was.

I have posted a picture of one of my goal dresses. I have hung three peices of clothing in different areas of my home to help me remember one of the top reasons that I am working to take this weight off. The dress is sliky, satiny number, a size 12, color-blocked with pink, black and white and has been hanging in my closet for months. I loved it sooooo much when I saw it, and even though the dress was too snug to wear then, I swore I would get into it "soon". That was last March! When I get under 100 lbs, I will be trying it on again to see where I am at. It is VERY fitted and will look fabulous when I get rid of my gut. I can tell I have lost most of the weight in my hips, belly/waist, and a little in my arms(and breast- but I did have a little to give there).

In closing, what I miss the most are my dumplings! I had just found a cheap place to buy them frozen and they were so easy to pop in the microwave or in a pot on the stove. I had gotten into the habit of having a few for an appetizer when I got home from work. Who the hell has appetizers at home??? When it wasn't sumplings, I would have cheese and bread, sometimes an entire bagette in one night.

Tonight I will be baking some chicken in that I have soaked in a homemade wine and tarragon vinegarette. I was told not to use any oil in marinades or cooking, so to get flavor in the chicken, I have to be creative. Please, post any ideas you might have for simple, fat-free, salt-free seasoning of meats/fish/chicken so I can try them!!

Love you all and thanks again for allllllll the amazing support. I never really grasped the magnitude of love that I am surrounded with. I am so very lucky and I cannot wait to find a wonderful man to share this beautiful life with.

Friday, January 8, 2010

208(-6.5lbs)




I made it through the first 3 days, the cleanse stage. It was not easy eating salad twice a day, but I switched up the protein portions each day. I had some fabulous chicken marinated in red wine vinaigrette with a little extra red wine and tarragon. I also had veal and seared yellow fin tuna. The veal was on sale in the 30% off bin at Randall's and the tuna is frozen from Costco. Both were very good with little seasoning and no oil.

Today was the first day of the regular diet that I will continue on until I lose all 70 lbs.

I have my choice of:
2 proteins servings
4 vegetable servings
2 fruit servings
2 starch servings
then I get to include 2 of Quick Weight Loss Center's(QWLC) supplements as snack/dessert type meals.

There is actually a lot of food, in smaller servings over the entire day and the QWLC supplements are all high-protein, low fat, lot calorie, low sodium.

I actually FELT healthier when I went shopping for my new foods. Nothing comes in a box and most things must be fresh. I did get some frozen okra and squash, but everything else was fresh fruits, veggies, meats and light bread.

I love love love love LOVE cooking and I love to take a recipe and make it my own. I bought some eggplant and had never cooked eggplant before, so I GOOGLE'd some recipes and ended up coming up with 3 that will work with my diet. Tonight, I made a Thai inspired Spicy Basil Eggplant dish. It called for fish sauce, which I have, but cannot use on the diet due to the high salt content, but instead, i added some yellow cherry tomatoes and fresh ginger and the combo was great. I will definitely make this again!

Everything that I made today was surprisingly flavorful and I am definitely not hungry after each meal/snack.

The one thing that i have found is that I am often bored and have a hard time finding things to occupy myself. I guess I used to eat, drink wine, watch TV, repeat, repeat, repeat.....I love reading, but am just not in the mood this week and it is too darn cold to go outside. I cannot wait for it to warm up so Abby and I can go on walks to see the fancy houses just outside my neighborhood.

I have posted my BEFORE pics and I am already noticing a difference, mainly in my belly and hips/thighs. I cannot wait to get my flat stomach back, so I have a training session tomorrow at the gym. If you would have told me even a month ago that i would be in the gym on a Saturday, I would have laughed, but I want to loose this weight, and more importantly, be able to incorporate WINE back into my diet. I mean, WINE is the most important food group!!

In closing, I want to state that I am about to start my period(sorry guys) and I am dying for some chocolate!!! I will be trying one of the QWLC chocolate bars for dessert tonight, but i am not expecting much. My ass will surely thank me later, though.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

210lbs(-4.5lbs)




I was so honored and happy about the comments and support many of you gave me on starting this journey.

I am using this blog as a tool to keep myself honest about my weight. I cannot promise that what i write will always be positive, eloquent, or even grammatically correct, but I promise it will be HONEST!

I have never been a "fan" of diets, but I guess I never really needed a diet until now. I did lose my "freshman 30" on Weight Watchers when I was at Texas A&M - WHOOP! - but I have way more emotional baggage now and used food, and wine, to help bury those feeling for YEARS!

My Mom, Cathy, recently started losing weight with Quick Weight Loss Centers(QWLC) and after seeing her lose 30 lbs, I thought I would give this a try.I will talk more about what I am doing to lose the weight as I go, but I am currently on a low calorie "cleanse" for 3 days.

Breakfast: 2 eggs any way
Snack: 1/2 orange
Lunch: unlimited protein, unlimited salad greens, light Italian dressing
snack: 1/2 orange
Dinner: unlimited protein, unlimited salad greens, light Italian dressing

I am also drinking 80oz of water a day and 2 "boost" energy drinks provided by QWLC

I actually feel lighter and more "awake". I went to bed early last night because I was bored, and could not think of anything better to do...okay, insert dirty joke here.....

After my first weigh-in tonight, I decided to clean the fridge and pantry and replace the "bad" with the "good" - or more correctly, I took out the crap I cannot eat and replaced it with the stuff that will help me lose the FAT!! I had a garbage bag so FULL I could barely carry it to the dumpster. I did keep some things that I can incorporate back into my diet after the weight loss, but decided to bag them up and put them in the closet so they are not staring me in the face(damn you TIM TAMS!!!)

I have cheated - I had 1 almond yesterday,but once I had had the "forbidden food" I felt fine and stopped at the one. Today, I had a half a glass of rose wine. I am a little upset with myself for having the wine, but I think this slip will keep me from being tempted to fall off the "diet wagon" again. To be honest, it was not nearly as good as I thought it would be. Go figure! (yes - I like my exclamation points).

Well - 10pm - off to bed to watch Chelsea Lately - I love that chick - "Are you there Vodka, Its me, Makenzi?????"

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

It begins...

After calling of my wedding in 2005, I stopped caring about myself and my health. My weight spiraled out of control, until I hit a high around 260lbs. In 2007, I lost 50lbs and have kept it off, but I have decided that it is time to get control over my body and my life.

I love wine and food, but my main problem is overeating when I am stressed out. I also give into my unhealthy cravings every time I have them.

I have committed to losing 70 lbs through diet and exercise and plan to overcome my emotional and mental hurdles by journaling and creating this blog.

I am 28 years old and am ready to find a wonderful man to start a family with. I commit to losing this weight for my family and friends, but most of all, for myself. I am worth it!