Currently reading....

Just starting this book...if you haven't read this series, you should! The first one is called 'Naked in Death'. This is a romantic suspense book (light on the romance, heavy on the suspense) that takes place beginning in the year 2058. The author is Nora Roberts writing under the pseudonym of J.D. Robb. I believe there are 23 books so far included short stories in compilations using the same main characters, and there isn't one that isn't good. So, check it out if you haven't already.

making progress again...

well, it's wednesday weigh in day, and last week i was up 8 lbs...wondering if the scale was off, because i'm down 8 pounds this week.
Yesterday's menu was:
breakfast: Q.O. breakfast cookie, coffee
mid a.m. snack: goldfish snack crackers, banana
lunch: Wendy's chicken sandwich & a coke (oops)
mid p.m. snack: pretzel sticks
dinner: taco in a bag at the basketball game and water
also had another coke...it was really hot in that gym!
no evening snack.

this a.m. so far: breakfast was banana, special k cereal bar and coffee
a.m. snack-pretzel sticks

drank all water yesterday and so far today am doing pretty good water wise.

yesterday walked 1 mile and today have also walked 1 mile.

So, down to 170 again. Hopefully the rest of the week will be okay. Today is co-worker's birthday. We are going to lunch. I will try and be good. We decided to forgo the birthday cake so we can both be good. Hopefully I can find something healthy that isn't salad at this restaurant...bestbud

Today is the first day of the rest of my life....

Well, once again, I did good for the first part of the week, then really go down hill after Thursday afternoon. Thursdays at our house are pizza night. I did pretty good for the pizza. Had about 3 slices of Pizza Hut cheese pizza on thin crust. Had 2 cokes with that, though. Then Friday I enjoyed the dollar menu at McDonalds...double cheeseburger, small fry, small coke and a yogurt parfait. Well, there is fruit in the parfait. But then I had to take my car into the shop and leave it for awhile, so went home and walked....yeah right! I went home and took a 2 hour nap. I think fast food has the same ingredient in it that turkey does...it makes me sleepy in the afternoon.
Friday night daughter #1 had friends over, so hubby went and got these huge cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I had one with my coffee, but ended up scraping about 1/2 of the icing off. So, that counts for something doesn't it? Then I skipped lunch, but made Weight Watcher's stew for dinner. Hubby and daughter #2 enjoyed it as much as I did. I made biscuits (canned, I'm not THAT good at baking...) and we had a decent meal, but I have to say, I'm still working on that portion control thing...
yesterday I made homemade chicken casserole and grated potatoes with sour cream and sharp cheddar. Nothing at all low cal about that meal! Then I skipped dinner because I was still full from lunch, and then had to go to the store for lunch bags and juice and came home with a mini-size coconut cream pie. I was okay until I watched Desperate Housewives and saw Edie eating that dessert with all the whip cream on it!

So, here is how today is going.... Breakfast-Quaker Oats breakfast cookie and coffee (I drink it black, so no added calories there); Mid a.m. - banana (1 fruit for the day...or 2 pts on WW); Lunch-turkey sand on wheat with just a smidgen of mayo, pretzel sticks and a KoolAid jammer--90 calories, 100% of my vitamin C and a ton of sugar I'm sure. Of course, I spilt half of it trying to get the stupid straw in the pouch!

I get to have one of those Cara Cara oranges for my p.m. snack. Dinner is meatloaf. I don't like meatloaf, so that shouldn't be much of a problem to control portions...

So, it's off to another start. I weighed in and I have GAINED--I'm up to 175 again. Bummer. Oh! But I did my mile walk this morning and am on my way to getting all my water for the day. Things are looking up, and I'm going to do it this time! D

Tuesday and Wednesday in DIEt land

Tuesday's menu: Breakfast - 2 homemade cookies, coffee
mid-morning snack - banana
Lunch - turkey sand on white with mayo
2 homemade cookies
med fountain coke
mid afternoon - nothing
Dinner - burrito, taco, coke and a pina colada daiquiri and small piece of cake.
Met friends at a mexican restaurant to celebrate a co-worker's getting married. They had a civil ceremony because they have been living together for 8 years. I don't drink often and I don't go out much at all except with the family, or maybe a couple times a year with hubby. So, I figured it wasn't SO bad. I could have probably made better choices, but it was a start.

Wednesday's menu: Breakfast: Quaker oats breakfast cookie & coffee
mid-morning snack-nothing
Lunch - Soup at hand tomato, 100 cal. Wheat Thins, granola bar, mini fruit cocktail
mid p.m. snack: apple
Dinner - sloppy joe and water
Have church tonight and we will be singing in choir, so will have a p.m. snack of teddy grams and milk.

I also walked today on the complex trail--1 mile with inclines! So, I actually DID something today. So far, no pop....and all my water for the day! So, we'll see what happens.

Things with my hubby are going well. He started working a few hours a day again. He says he feels pretty good, but he's not going to push it. Next week he goes for the chemo consult, so we'll see how that goes.

The diet is going terrible! I do great during the week when I have things to do all day, but on the weekend, it's just too easy to grab something here while we are shopping, or just snack on this while watching t.v. Instead of losing, I'm gaining! I have gained three pounds!

So, I guess I will have to figure out how I can do this and really DO THIS! I appreciate everyone's support, though. I can't let myself or you down. This weekend the biggest problem was the girls wanted cookies, and I love to bake, so Imade chocolate/peanut butter swirl chip cookies. They were pretty good. So, I guess that wouldn't be so bad, but I eat two or three of them every day. I also can't say no to the pop again. I forget I'm not supposed to drink it, and order it or grab one of the kids. It's so ingrained I can't stop myself.

So, back to square one...

Update on my diet

Yesterday I did pretty well. I had a cereal bar for breakfast and coffee. For lunch, I had a BK grilled chicken salad. I ordered the honey mustard dressing, I thought it was the fat free one. I got the regular one, so I ended up just using a tiny bit of it and eating the salad pretty much without it. It wasn't bad, though. They put in a lot of different vegies, so it makes it good. For dinner I had a plain chicken salad and tater tots. Not the best, but it's what was in the house. I drank all my water for the day, and didn't have a coke. That was pretty tough, but I stopped drinking pop before, and I can again.

Today was okay. Well, started out not so good. I brought another cereal bar, and it was hard as a rock, so I ended up throwing it away. So no breakfast again. So I made up for it at lunch. Went to the grocery store and got a salad from the deli. Chicken Caesar salad (just a small one) and a banana and milk. Also got a bottle of water and an orange. Had the orange for a snack.

But this was weird...I peel the orange and it's red like a grapefruit. Turns out they are Sunkist Cara Cara oranges. It's a delicacy I guess...it just looked like a regular orange to me.

Read any good books lately?

I am just finishing reading this book.

This isn't the normal type of book I read, but every once in awhile I scan the 'best sellers' or check out the 'book clubs' selections, and this one was on several, so I read the description on Amazon.com. I asked for it for Christmas, and my Mom gave it to me. I got into it right from the beginning. It is set in 1964...the year I was born.

If you are looking for something different, check it out.

The Plan...

Today is going better. Just to clarify yesterday's post...I didn't intentionally not eat anything until lunch...I forgot to eat, and I didn't have any change...of course, it would have ended up in a vending machine, and I would have blown it before I barely even got started! So, today is better and I'll try and post tonight how I did through the whole day.

A year ago I started to try and lose weight, and I developed some rules that worked for me. I'm not saying if they are right or wrong, but it helped me lose 15 pounds and keep it off for 6 months. I'm going to have to tweek it a little, though, because after the first 4 months, I hit a plateau, and that's pretty much why I quit. Obviously the plan isn't perfect, but that's why I'm blogging...for help and advice to get me to the place where I will be thin AND healthy.

So, here are the rules...my starting point:

1. No pop--even diet isn't good for you. It's not good for ME. I can't just stop at one, and the sugar in it makes me crave more sugar. I hate diet pop.
2. Always eat breakfast. Choices to include: an English muffin with a little margarine and a tablespoon of strawberry jelly on each half. or fruit and a Special K cereal bar.
3. Drink 8 - 8 oz. glasses of water every day. You can use the Crystal Light powders and count that as part of your total, because they have only 5 calories. The Raspberry Ice ones are yummy! (That's what helped me to kick my pop addiction.)
4. Try to walk every day on breaks. At least in the morning for 15 minutes if you can.
5. Lunch - Lean Cuisines or Healthy Choice or Weight Watchers during week when at work. I try to stay under 5 grams of fat...3.5 if possible.
6. Fast Food-McDonalds I will have a reg. hamburger, a fruit parfait and a bottle of water. Taco Bell you can have a bean tostada and water, but they have more fat. At Arby's, I have a regular roast beef plain and do't eat the top bun. At Burger King, I get the garden salad with grilled chicken and low fat honey mustard dressing. No croutons! So far, that's what I have been having for fast food, which I am trying to avoid. With 2 teenage daughters, that can be tough!
7. I also take a multi vitamin every day. It seems to help with my cravings. I take One A Day for Women.
8. To help with my chocolate cravings, I have chocolate Teddy Grahms. You can have 24 of them and they are about 120 calories! That is my late night snack sometimes with a small glass of milk (gotta have that calcium, too!)
9. Another snack is low fat Fudgesicles. They have them at many of the grocery store chains. Schwan's has some that are excellent, too. That curbs my ice cream cravings...
10. I only weigh myself once per week, on the same day, same scale wearing as little as possible. (That's a pretty mental picture, I'm sure.)(don't go there!)
So, that is the old rules. We'll see how that goes and try and refine it to something that works, without having to pay someone else to think for me.

All for now...off to get rid of some of the 64 oz. of water I've been drinking all morning! Bud

New D-I-E-t 2006 starts today!

So, today, beginning weigh in was 170. At this time last year, I weighed in at 175, so for all of 2005, I lost 15 pounds, gained 10 back. So, today is the start of my new diet. I will post the "rules" later. I have a friend that is paying to go to the center named after the large city in California. She gave me some of their literature and I created the daily diary on my computer. It has a spot to record what you ate for breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, mid pm snack, dinner and evening snack. It also has a spot to check off as you drink 8 - 8 oz. glasses of water, and check off your fruits and vegies. So, for today so far, I have had...5 glasses of water, no breakfast, no morning snack, lunch was tomato soup, wheat thins (100 cal. packs), and pineapple. For my snack I had chips ahoy (100 cal. packs) and hot chocolate. Didn't walk, because the wind was blowing like 100 miles an hour. So, I am getting an okay start. Rules to follow, but got to go feed the family! Bestbuddie!

Hug a nurse!

Well, hubby is doing better and will be coming home tomorrow. His tests showed that he had only 1 lymph node that the cancer spread to, so only 1 round of low dose chemo will be ordered. He was lucky. With no history of cancer in the family, they don't recommend tests until age 50. He is 44. He had none of the classic symptoms. We are thankful that it was caught now.

I have been practically living at the hospital for the last 7 days. I have seen some bizarre things, and watched the RN's, LPN's and CNA's and the things they have to do. I am so thankful there are so many men and women out there willing to do these things, because I am such a wimp...I just couldn't do it. So, think about it next time you go for a check up, or visit someone in the hospital, or if you are unfortunate enough to end up there yourself. These wonderful angels that are willing to do the dirty work everyday and get no thanks alot of the time!

So, that is my soap box for today...and if you are over 50--buck up and get a colonoscopy! LOL! bestbuddie!

Most important thing in life....

YOUR HEALTH! Not your weight, or your bank account, or what kind of car you drive, or your kids' GPA. We have been hit right between the eyes with this message this week. My 44 year old husband, with no history of cancer, who has never been sick, went to the emergency room on Monday night, and Tuesday night, they operated and found a cancerous tumor the size of an orange. No symptoms until 3 days before. So, don't take your health and your family's health for granted...you just never know what is going to happen.

Bestbuddie