Portion-Control Tools

I was down 2.2 pounds at my meeting this morning. Woohoo! Still haven't wanted any junk or sweets of any kind. I'm hoping for an even bigger loss next week. We'll see. :)

Akus posted this over at the message board on my website. I think it's useful info that should be passed on. :) Thanks Akus!

Portion-Control Tools

These items will help you portion your food into 1/2-cup to 3/4-cup servings:

* Snack-size baggies hold about 1 cup fully packed, and about 3/4 cup loosely packed. This is a good size for portioning crackers, nuts, pretzels, baked chips, dried fruit, turkey jerky, and cereal.
* Foil cupcake liners hold about 1/3 cup -- perfect for portioning baked goods and snack items.
* Mini foil pie pans are perfect for portioning side dishes and entrees.
* Large muffin cups (those that have about 6 cups per pan) will hold about 3/4 cup. That's just the right size for baking individual portions of entrees like quiche, shepherd's pie, chili cornbread casserole, etc.
* A ladle holds about 1/2 cup of liquid, great for portioning things like stew, chili, pasta and pasta sauce, and steamed rice.

Practically Portioned Food Products

Here are some items that come in reasonable portions:

* Small cereal boxes (they usually come in a variety pack) hold about 3/4 cup of cereal.
* Snack or power bars are individually wrapped portions -- usually about 2 1/2 ounces. Look for higher-fiber, lower-sugar varieties.
* Pita bread (preferably the whole-grain variety) is a great way to portion your sandwiches. If you fill half of each pocket with raw vegetables (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers) you can't get into too much trouble with the fillers, such as chicken salad, roasted turkey, avocado and cheese, and lean ham.
* A small can of water-packed tuna (6 ounces) will keep your fish serving to about 3/4 cup (drained), totaling only 180 calories.
* A 14.5-ounce can of ready-to-heat-and-serve soup makes 2 servings (1 cup each). If you choose a soup that is broth- or tomato-based and has no more than 5 grams of fat per cup, you'll consume only about 250 calories -- even if you eat the entire can yourself.
* Individually wrapped light ice-cream bars keep your dessert serving to around 1/2 cup, depending on the brand.
* Individual portions of light entrees can be found in the frozen food section of your supermarket. You can even find higher-fiber vegetarian options these days. At Whole Foods Markets, for example, you'll find things like Bean & Cheese Taquitos (Whole Foods brand) and Tofu Lasagna (Amy's brand).
* Individual microwave popcorn bags (look for the "light" version) keep your popcorn serving moderate.
* 100% juice in individual bottles, boxes or pouches will keep your juice serving to 8 ounces.

I Am Not A Snack Machine...

I am not a snack machine (this is my new mantra). Therefore I will not put cookies, candy, ice cream, cheese crackers, or any other snacky junk food into my mouth. I have been eating healthy for an entire 3 days now (I don't believe I've ever gone this long without snacking or even really thinking about sweets or other junk). I'm going into day #4 stronger than ever! I just feel so much better over all. Everyday it seems to get a little easier and I feel like I already have more energy. Even my portions have gotten smaller. I'm just not as hungry as I was when I was stuffing my face with mostly junky carbs.

Goodbye to all of my evil little friends who made me do midnight runs to Super Walmart only to get home, scarf you down and wish I had brought home one of your evil buddies. Goodbye to midnight snacking all together with your evil little ways of making me sit up for hours popping Tums. I bid you all a farewell!

With that said and out of my system... :)

I tried a new recipe tonight for orange chicken. I honestly didn't know if I'd like an orange flavor with my chicken since I've never tried it before, but it was good. I could taste the orange the most with my first bite, but after that, it wasn't so strong. Here's how I made it....

Diet Soda Orange Chicken
Using a fork, punch holes into 3-4 chicken breasts (depending on size). Place the chicken into a large zip-lock bag. Pour in 1/4 cup of lite soy sauce (reduced sodium) and 12 ounces of Diet Sunkist (or any other diet orange soda). Squeeze the bottom of the bag a bit to get the soy sauce and soda mixed up well. Try to get as much air out of the bag as you can and zip it up. Place the bag into the refrigerator for a few hours (I imagine the flavor would get a little stronger the longer you let it marinade). After marinading, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken breasts into a 9x9 glass baking dish and pour some of the marinade over it so that it comes about half way up the side of the chicken breasts (discard any remaining marinade). Bake for 30-40 minutes (or until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle). This chicken is sooo moist! The points would be 1 per cooked ounce. Enjoy!

FitDay

While I was reading about the Kimkins plan yesterday, I came across a link for the FitDay website. I'd heard of FitDay before, but never really checked it out because I really wasn't that interested in it. Last night I decided to sign up for an account (it's free) and input the food I eat just to see exactly how my day breaks down as far as calories, fat, fiber, carbs, protein, etc go. Wow! I was completely surprised to see just how many carbs and junk I was eating each day. I mean, I've always known I wasn't the healthiest eater since I'm not a big fruits and veggies lover, but this was a bit of an eye opener for me. I've just been eating whatever I wanted as long as I stayed within my points each day. That isn't working out so well for me. I know everyone loses weight at a different pace, but I know I should be losing faster (comparing to when I lost my weight before). I've decided to make a few changes to how I spend my points each day. I'm going to pretty much be switching to Core, but for awhile I want to limit my sweets and not use any flex points just to see how it goes. Get back to the basics a bit and cut down on my carbs. When I get bored or decide I've had enough, then I'll switch back to Flex. I just really want to try to eat healthier. No more excuses for it just because "I have the points and I can spend them how I want to". That's not working for me and it's just not a healthy way to eat. I did really good today. I ate healthy, drank lots of water (much more than I usually do), didn't eat any junk or sweets at all, and I just really feel better over all. I feel better about myself and I feel like I have more energy. I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing. Would any of you care to join me and eat a little healthier (I'm sure we all have something we can change about how we're eating). Even if you just cut out one thing that you normally eat that isn't healthy, that's a good start. TTYL!

The Kimkin's Plan

I was wondering.... has anyone read the article in the June 12th issue of Woman's World magazine about the Kimkins plan? If so, I'm curious as to what your opinion is. The article peaked my interest, so I spent a few hours this afternoon looking up information about it. The Kimkins plan is supposed to be an alternative to Atkins. Most of it made sense to me like the part about cutting carbs can help stablalize blood sugar and slash hunger and cravings, but these people claim to be losing A LOT of weight! 220 pounds in 11 months for the person who came up with it; 100 pounds in 5 months for another woman; 55 pounds in 3 months for another. I also found a blog today where a guy says he's lost 13 pounds in just 4 days (though I have to admit his blog was fun to read. I might start reading it more often. LOL!). I did some reading on it today and to me it sounds like Atkins, but just lower fat and fewer calories (the article stated that people on Atkins could consume over 3,000 calories a day if they weren't careful). From what I can tell, here's what you get each day....

As much lean protein as you want, no fatty meat (from the Kimkins food list)
No more than 20 carbs
No more than 3 cups of veggies (also from a food list)
No low carb products like sugar free candy, energy bars, frozen meals, etc)



Though I'm not sure I could live a low carb lifestyle (like I said, I'm a carb junky), I did have fun reading about it on the web today. I even found some fun blogs, like this one called Eating Low where a woman named Amy has her own little cooking segment from her kitchen. I probably spent close to an hour just watching her videos. LOL! Kind of a cool idea (no, I won't be doing that) LOL! Ok, I'm out for awhile. Let me know if you've read this article or have any knowledge or comments on the Kimkins plan. TTYL!

The Good and The Bad

The Good...
Getting to a meeting this morning wasn't easy, but I was determined. I showed up at the meeting I had planned on weighing at, but when I got there, I was the only car in the parking lot. I was like "what's going on?" I use to attend this meeting at one time, and it was still listed on the Weight Watchers website as a meeting place. I walked up to the door and it said they (they, meaning the church) had temporarily relocated to a school a couple miles down the street (there was no mention of the WW meeting). So... I hop back into my car, find the school, and there's no meeting. I was like dang it! I was already hungry at this point, but I wasn't going to go home and eat and just forget it. I went home, got on the WW website and looked up meetings. The closest one was 35 miles away at 10:45 (there were other meetings closer, but I wasn't going to wait until 6 PM). I printed up the driving directions and headed out the door. It was a bit of a drive, but I'm glad I went. I was down 1.4 pounds so I'm pretty happy. Especially after eating on vacation. Now that I've been back on track for a few days, I'm going to stay on track. I feel so much better when I know I'm eating better and doing a good job.

The Bad...
I won't even mention all of the crap Rick brought home from work with him this morning. He works in a grocery warehouse and they were selling cases of stuff really cheap. Here I am, getting ready to head out the door to get weighed in, and he's lugging all of these boxes into the house. He brought home half a case of lucky charms cereal (about 6 boxes), a case of nutter butters (3 boxes in a case), a case of combos (I don't even want to know how many are in there), a case of olive oil (like I need an entire case!), and I think there was a case of something else (I probably blocked it out of my memory on purpose). I was pretty upset about it. He asked me last night if I wanted anything (he had a 2 page list of stuff for me to look at) and I said no. Just goes to show he either doesn't listen, or he doesn't care. I suppose I can use the olive oil to shove everything up his butt!!! LOL!!! He was going to stay home this morning and not weigh in (he actually said "I'm just going to stay here and have some Lucky Charms."). I told him to get his butt in the car. :) He mumbled and grumbled about it half the way there, but I just tuned him out (must be how he does it when I'm talking about not bringing junk food home). LOL! I see why he didn't want to weigh in. He was up like 4 pounds. On the way home I told him "well at least you got your weight recorded. Now you can start fresh and be down next week when you weigh in." I think it fell on deaf ears again, but we'll see. I've let him derail me in the past, but it's not happening this time. He's not leaving me here tonight with Combos, Lucky Charms and Nutter Butters while he's at work. I know myself too well. I'll eat it. He's going to have to put it somewhere out of the house (I'm a very good food detective. I can find anything no matter how well it's hidden, and I'm the type of person who would look until I found it). If he doesn't get rid of it, I'll feel no shame in walking it all to the dumpster after he leaves. I'll just leave it outside the dumpster in case anyone sees it and decides they want it (I live in an apartment, so I'm sure someone can use it for their kids). Hey Ben, do your kids eat Lucky Charms???? :)

Today's Dr. Phil Show

I don't normally watch Dr. Phil since he's on in the afternoon, but my mom called me this morning and told me to tape it, so I did (it's on in the mornings at her house). The topic was "How Weight Issues Consume A Persons Life". It originally aired back in Dec. '06.

The first woman they brought out was named Angelique who was 28 years old and weighed 500 pounds (she should weigh around 140 pounds). Her mom was raising her daughter because she couldn't take care of her and she can't work because she can't fit behind the steering wheel of a car to get there due to her weight. Dr. Phil asked her why she eats and she said "I eat because I love the taste, the textures, etc. I'm addicted to food." The more I watched, the more I felt like I could identify with her. Even though I don't weigh 500 pounds or consume the large quantities of food the she does, I related to her love for the food and the need to eat an entire box of something "because it's there and you feel like you really need it" and then feel bad about it afterwards.

Dr. Phil went on to show her that just by cutting a few things out of her daily diet, in 1 year how much weight she could lose. She said she eats 13 cheeseburgers per week. Dr. Phil broke it down like this...

3,500 calories = 1 Pound
13 Cheeseburgers per week = 8,350 calories
8,350 calories = 2.4 pounds per week
Total loss per year just by cutting out the cheeseburgers = approx. 125 pounds

Dr. Phil said we don't think about how this stuff adds up, or how it all comes together in the end. We just keep eating it. You don't even have to weigh 500 pounds to be dealing with this. How many people stop and grab a high calorie drink at Starbucks? Even if you only do it once a week, those add up. He went on to show Angelique how much sugar she consumes in 1 year (at this point they rolled out a grocery cart filled with 59 - 5 pound bags of sugar. That's a total of 295 pounds of sugar per year. He said she should be consuming only 15.64 pounds of sugar per year. She was also consuming 26 pounds of salt per year. She could lose 115 pounds a year if she just cut her sugar back to the 15.64 pounds and reduced her salt intake. Add that to what she could lose just by cutting out the cheeseburgers, and she could lose approx. 240 pounds.

After they talked to Angelique, the brought out another woman named DeeDee who had been on the show before. She weighed 750 pounds at the time and had to use oxygen tanks, 2 canes, 5 men, a special van with a lift, and a large wheelchair just to get there. Dr. Phil told her that her life expectancy had been shortened by 40 years due to her weight.

She was back this time and walked out on stage with just the 2 canes. She now weighs 498 pounds and has lost over 250 pounds in 7 months. She's no longer on oxygen and can ride in the front seat of the car instead of the back "like cargo" she said. She said it hasn't been the easiest thing she's ever done. "You don't just pop a pill, go to sleep and wake up beautiful. It's a lot of hard work and we're all gaining in every manner (except for weight)." She said the biggest change is that she's now able to breathe on her own. She said "If I can get to 200 pounds, there's going to be a party... with no food involved." LOL!

Just by the mom losing weight, her kids (who use to take care of her and called her a burden) have also lost weight. Her son has lost 71 pounds, and her daughter has lost 55 pounds. They're both proud of her their mom now and they say she's no longer a burden since she can take care of herself.

The 3rd and last woman Dr. Phil brought out was a woman named Jennifer who lost 162 pounds in 3 years. She had a lot of loose skin. Her husband said he had never even seen her naked. She decided to get surgery because she felt worse than before she lost the weight. She wanted to wear things that skinny people wear (like a bathing suit) but she couldn't because of her loose skin. She had to have 2 surgeries, but after the surgery, she looked amazing. She said she feels like she's been reborn. The Doctors removed 13 inches of skin from her stomach, 12 inches from her back, 6 inches from her thighs and 8 inches from her arms. Total amount of skim removed along with some liposuction was 15 pounds. That's a lot!

I think today's show was good. It just shows that no matter how much weight we have to lose, it can be done with hard work and determination. I know the last thing I want is to be stuck inside due to my weight. I think I'll work on it now before it gets out of hand more than it already has.

I'm actually taping another show right now called "You On A Diet" (also a rerun that aired back in Dec). I'm guessing they'll be talking about the book (which I own, but haven't actually read). If the show is any good, I'll recap what they talked about in another blog.

Oh, and in case you're wondering how my weigh in went today... I didn't go. I was up all night sneezing myself to death and didn't feel well, so I looked up the meetings and will be weighing in tomorrow morning (you probably thought I was avoiding it didn't you? LOL!). I said I would face the scale and I will. I almost always do what I say I'm going to do (unless I forget or get too busy) but that won't be the case here.

I'm Back

I'm finally catching up with everything since getting back from Michigan. I came back to over 400 emails, so you can imagine that took some time to get through. LOL!

As you know (or don't know), Rick and I went to Michigan to golf last week. We played at The Grande Golf Club. It was REALLY hot! I didn't do too bad on the front 9 (not that I did great or anything. Actually Rick did great. Some of the best golf I've seen him play). Even though I was drinking plenty of water, I just got too overheated to continue playing. I felt really sick. So for the back 9 holes, I pretty much just watched Rick play and I took pictures. I did play a couple of par 3 holes on the back, but that was it. I wanted Rick to take my picture while I was playing, but he doesn't seem to know how to point and shoot a camera, so the few pictures he did take were either of my neck down or pictures of the ground. LOL! I put a video together of some of the pictures I took at the course (I left Rick out of these since I'm not posting any of me. This is just to show you what the course looked like). I promise this one isn't as long as the last video I posted. This one is only about 2 minutes long. :) Just click the picture to go to the video.


There really wasn't much to do or see in the town we stayed in. We pretty much just hung out the first day we were there, we went and looked at the golf course we were going to be playing the next day (they actually let us take a cart out and ride around the course. I wish I had my camera that evening because I would have had some really good pictures. We also saw a bunch of wild turkeys out on the course. Not something we see around here). We went swimming and sat in the hot tub after dinner. Then the next day we golfed and went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We slept in the next morning and then headed home. On the way home we stopped off at a Russel Stover store (we don't have those around here, thankfully). I got my dad a 3 pound box of chocolates and my mom some hard candy. Rick and I had some fudge. I didn't do too bad while I was gone as far as points go, but I didn't do great either. We ate at a buffet the first night, then we had pizza the next day. I'm still struggling to get back on track. I did good yesterday and then I was doing good today until I ate too many of those stupid 100 calorie packs from Hershey. Boo hiss!!!!!! Weigh in will be here in just 1 more day. I have no idea what the scale will say, but I've already decided to just go face whatever the verdict is. Well I'm off to bed. Goodnight!