Days 1-7 (17 day diet)

Here are my dinner plans for the week. I will be posting recipes for each dinner every day. The recipes will include the nutritional values as well as the Weight Watcher Points. Every day for breakfast I will pretty much be eating the same things. Fruit & greek yogurt or eggs with salsa; I am not a huge breakfast eater, so this will be challenging. I am going to try and make big dinners so that I can have left overs for lunch almost daily. On days when there is not enough then I will eat salads. I know that these first 7 days will be the hardest. No processed foods, no sugar, no flour!

After our anniversary date tonight we went to the store to get everything I need. As I ate dinner tonight I felt like a prisoner on death row eating my last meal. I know that it shouldn't be like this and I usually don't advocate such restrictive plans but as I have said, "desperate times, call for desperate measures and I have a desperate goal". When we are in Idaho, my very talented niece Candace is going to take our family pictures. I will be 150 pounds by then! Wish me luck..I start in the morning!

Sunday

Oven BBQ Chicken w/toss green salad

Monday

Salmon Dijon w/broccoli

Tuesday

Eggplant Parmesan w/asparagus

Wednesday

Taco Salad

Thursday

Sesame Fish w/ green beans

Friday

Creamy Southwest Chicken w/mashed cauliflower

Lucky 13

I know that I said no progress pics but this really isn't a progress pic. Tonight Travis and I went to celebrate our 13 year anniversary which is really tomorrow by going to Flemming's Restaurant. We had a gift card for $100 so it was nice to splurge and enjoy a yummy meal. The $100 didn't cover it all but it at least made it more edible. :) The funny thing is that after dinner we headed to Super Target to do some shopping. We spent quite a bit cause we hadn't been to the grocery store in forever. However, I looked at Travis and said "we got this entire overflowing cart of groceries and we could not of ate at Flemming's twice for the price we paid" Shows you that eating at home is healthier and way less expensive.

I can't believe that Travis and I have been married for 13 years. It has went so fast and I can't wait to see what the next 13 years have in store for us. Everyone says that marriage is hard...but I don't really think so. Honestly, I don't. If you are both committed to each other and communicate well then I think it can be easy. I have been so blessed to have Travis for a husband. We enjoy each other so much and he is my best friend. I love all my girlfriends but truly I would rather spend time with him and my kids than anyone else. We have tons in common and enjoy a lot of the same things which has made it easy. I love that we compliment each other...seems like my strengths are his weaknesses and visa versa. Travis is a wonderful man, father and husband and I don't think I could ask for a better one. We definitely are his number one priority above everything.

Thanks babe for all that you do! I love you more than anything and I don't take for granted all the sacrifices that you make for me and the kids. Love you. Happy Anniversary! May we cherish many more years and fun adventures together.

17 Day Diet

A couple of months ago I read the newest weight loss book, "The 17 Day Diet" by Dr. Mike Moreno. It was a quick and easy read and the concepts behind this plan made sense to me. The title sounds a whole lot easier than what it really is. At first I just thought, this is another fad and you can't diet for 17 days. However, as I read I found that this is really 3-cycles (17 days each) and that if you haven't achieved your weight loss goals then you repeat it again and again. No miracle here. This diet is not easy, it is a diet and not a pure lifestyle change. It eliminates several foods and that is why I see it more as a diet. I am sick of my plateau though and while my lifestyle changes seem to at least allow me not to GAIN weight it hasn't been working to well for me to LOSE weight. The 3 cycles of 17 days is 53 days and we leave for Idaho in about 58 days. I am going to do this and blog about the recipes that I am eating, how I feel and how it is working. I have a goal to meet and drastic changes call for drastic measures.

Here is how it works:

Cycle 1 (17 days)-ACCELERATE

This phase is a low carbohydrate diet that provides around 1200 calories. Eat unlimited lean meat and no-starch vegetables, two fat-free plain yogurts and two low-sugar fruits, a bit of oil, green tea, and 64 ounces of water a day. Typical for any low carb diet, fat-burning and fluid loss is favored during those days.

Cycle 2 (17 days)-ACTIVATE

This phase is calorie cycling (aka calorie shifting or calorie zigzagging), which means that the daily calorie intake cycles and recycles from low to high over the course of several days. The goal is to trick the metabolism to prevent it from slowing down. Two servings of whole grains are added to the above to raise the average calorie intake to 1500 a day. During these 17 days you will alternate days of ACCELERATE & ACTIVATE.

Cycle 3 (17 days)-ACHIEVE

This phase is the same as “Activate” except that lean meat is no longer unlimited and more grains and fruit are added, along with an optional serving of alcohol and a 100-calorie snack. In other words, the low carb diet is 'Out' and a balanced low-calorie diet is 'In' sans the processed food.

I will be doing my meal planning for the week on Saturday's, doing my grocery shopping on Saturdays and then starting my plan on Sunday (tomorrow). I will post all of my dinner recipes and try to take pictures.

This plan is going to be hard. Travis is on board to help me as he wants to see my achieve my goals as well. I have been loving my exercise and I feel like I have totally made it a habit. I rarely miss a workout and consistently workout 3-4 times a week. I need to focus on what I am eating. I really do think that this plan will work. I will be weighing tomorrow and then the fun begins. I am not super excited about this as I know it will be restrictive and limiting but I have a deadline and I have to meet it. I will still be plugging in the recipes to weight watchers and getting their point values too. I do think that the challenge will be fun and that it will be fun to document the process, recipes, and planning.

Am I Fat?

I was talking to my friend the other day about taking Hudson to this big waterpark close by, Splash Country. She chuckled and said that I should go because it would be a big confidence booster and I'd feel skinny when I left. This week in the news Tennessee was listed as the fourth fattest state in the nation with an obesity rate of over 30%. Wow! I am sure it is all the fried foods and the southern comfort foods such as biscuits & gravy that are catching up to people's waist lines. I have to admit that I have never had a biscuit & gravy and I have only had fried chicken a handful of times. I've never had fried okra and only tried fried green tomatoes. When I tell people this, they look at me with dismay...like I am really missing out on something.

Growing up in California which is actually one of the fittest states I was never served these types of food. I had cold cereal, an english muffin or a bagel for breakfast. My family never really had hot breakfasts such as homemade french toast, pancake or eggs & bacon. Occasionally we would have waffles or eggs and bacon for dinner. As a kid I wouldn't even eat pancakes. I am getting off topic...

As I read this article about the fattest states it reminded me of a radio cast I had heard on NPR telling a similar story about the obesity rates in the south. They interviewed people and asked them to describe people as obese. Most people states above 300 pounds. What? I am a 5'3 female and I think that sadly I am still considered obese at 170. The show focused on how people sometimes don't realize that there is a problem when all the people around them have the same problem. It made me think back to my friend's comment about splash country. Here I am, still overweight but if I went to splash country and saw all the people there that are overweight and sporting their skirted swim suit how I would all of a sudden feel skinny. It makes total sense to me.

I think that is why I think its good to have a strong base of friends and family members with common health goals as you. This holds you accountable and can keep you on track. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have friends that are overweight; how sad would that be. I am so thankful for all of my friends no matter what size they are but I am glad that I have those that bug me for my weigh ins, ask me what I am eating and want to go workout. Without them I would be lost on this journey. I just think that it could be really easy to not realize that you have a problem if everyone around you has the same one. That puts those of us that live in these fat states at a disadvantage already because the normal here is just an illusion and not a good picture of health.

Do you wonder if you are overweight? Click here for a BMI calculator. BMI is not a perfect prediction as we know that muscle weighs more than fat however it is pretty accurate for the typical, average person.

For the Love of Kitchen Aid

I have been wanting a Kitchen Aid for about 10 years now. Several of my friends and family members have them and even though I have wanted one I thought that it wasn't really necessary. Most of the baking and cooking I did used only the power of my small hand mixer and I never even got out my stand mixer. Really I wanted one to be trendy!

However, since being at home more I have really learned how to make some new things; especially bread. It tastes so much better and it is much healthier than eating a bunch of ingredients that you can't pronounce in your super market bread. Baking bread with a hand mixer is impossible so I am really looking forward to having a new mixer.

This weekend is Travis and I's 13 year anniversary. He surprised me with the new mixer. I can't wait to give it a try. We also already have our babysitter lined up for Saturday night and we are headed to Flemming's to celebrate. Looking forward to a kid free date night. I will have to be very careful as I select my food choices that night but I think I should be able to find something tasty and not overly loaded with calories. I'll be posting more soon!

If you have any recipes to share or any healthy baking...please let me know. I'll be posting an easy bread recipe soon.

4th of July

Knoxville Boomsday

I wrote this on July 5th but for some reason it didn't post. I know I didn't post a weight post on Sunday. This weekend was so busy that I haven't sat down on the computer once or even think about my blog. Sadly, I lost no weight and I weigh exactly the same. This is going to make my goal get even harder. I now only have 8 weeks till our trip. Time is creeping up on me and every week that goes by it will only get that much more unobtainable. My niece Ashley suggested writing my goal on my forearm again. I think I will do that today!

This weekend was not your typical 4th of July weekend for me. No lake, no barbecues, no parties just a whole lot of sun, sand paper and paint! We have a pretty good size deck and screened in porch which were both in dyer need of some fresh paint. After spending the entire 4th of July weekend, 10 hours per day...our deck is done! The sad thing is that we have more decks and a fence so I think this project is never ending. I should of wore my bodybugg because it would of been very interesting to see how many calories you burn doing manual labor but I didn't want to get paint on it. That brings me to another point. Why is it that people will spend money to go to the gym but you couldn't hardly pay someone to want to come over and paint?

The weekend really was beautiful. It was pretty HOT though for manual labor. We did have some fun playing in the sprinkler, swimming in our kiddie pool and doing some fireworks in the cul-de-sac. We were also able to sit on our back deck and get a 180 degree view of all the fireworks. It amazes me the amount of money people must spend. I spent a pathetic $40 and got 10 nice fireworks and some sparklers. There were people that must of shot off 100 bottle rockets similar to what you would see at a fireworks show. Some of those are $25-$50 a piece. The good news for us is that we get to enjoy them at someone else's expense.

Today I am just trying to recover. I have sore muscles in places I never new I had! I have a Zufu class today at 11 but then Tammye is going to be going to the beach so no more workout sessions with her this week. I will have to force myself to do some on my own. I was really really sad because she had two weekend sessions (Sat and Mon) and I was unable to attend. Her Weekend Warrior sessions are intense and I would of loved to go but sometimes chores have to come first. Kind of made me want to trade this house in for a condo!

Hope you all had a happy Independence Day! I am so thankful to be an American and to have freedom. Thankful for all the men and women that have served our country and made sacrifice so that this is true. I read a quote the other day that was something like "How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy." This really got me to thinking how lucky we are. That even when our country is suffering and congress is fighting.....we aren't starving, we aren't drinking muddy water, we aren't fighting malaria, we aren't oppressed, we aren't fighting for our freedom. So many of us take life for granted and fight about our political differences; yet we still live in the best country in the world and we should all be Proud to be an American.