Updates…How’s that for a Catchy Title? LOL. This week I haven’t gotten the opportunity to work out like I normally do. At first I had some physical pain, and then my sinuses were killing me. I really should have called off work, but I want to save my days for vacation. Anyway, No worries, I’m feeling better. I’m sticking to the South Beach Plan (mostly). I must say that the most amazing part about the diet plan is not having food cravings. I mean I get hungry of course, but I don’t have that intense drive to eat something sweet or full of bad carbs. It’s SO nice to have that peace of mind. I truly thought it was about 80% mental, now I’m learning that eating healthy and making better choices is much more physical than I ever understood. But, I am struggling a little bit with the fact that I don’t have to write down what I eat. For so many years I was taught from nearly every diet that I need to write down my food and keep a food diary. But, on my first week of South Beach, I lost over 7 pounds, I ate a lot, and didn’t write down a thing. It’s totally, freeing, just so different. It’s a major mind shift, but I like it. I went for my 2rd weigh-in with Lose to Win. I stayed the same, I didn’t lose or gain. Not bad. I wasn’t too disappointed. At least I’m not gaining, and I know it’s because I was completely inactive this week. Next week will be better.
What Did Carli Eat Today?
B- Egg Scramble with light cheese and onion
L- Salad and Chicken Gumbo and a Rice Krispie Treat (The rice krispie was not on plan, but it’s my favorite treat from a local restaurant. It wasn’t a craving, but it was a mindful decision, and that felt good.)
D- Brown Rice, Steak, edamame, cabbage, zuchinni stir-fry (Back on plan!)
I drank only water all day!
Hey!! Guess what? I signed up for a local weight loss competition called “Lose to Win.” It’s kind of like “The Biggest Loser,” but not really. A lady passionate about fitness and healthy eating started a program to use your competitive edge to lose weight and created a local weight loss competition. Participants weigh in each week, and results are posted in the newspaper. At the end of the 12 weeks, there are 3 grand prize winners along with the top 10 winners. Prizes include cool stuff like iPads and cookware. As you know, I’ve had so many ups and downs with my weight, but I would like to be in the top 10. I went in for my first official weigh in. I was happy and surprised that I lost 7.3 pounds in just over one week. I can’t wait for the results to come out and see where I fall amongst the 1,000 other participants. The South Beach Diet 
is actually working for me. It’s so freeing not to have to count calories or track everything you eat. But, I can already see that the challenge will be getting bored with eating the same foods. After about the 5th day, I couldn’t eat another egg for breakfast. Whether it was boiled (LOL), scrambled, or baked in a frittata, it was still an egg. I started to adapt Phase 2 of the plan early, and had bran cereal for breakfast. That was enough to keep me on track. Ultimately, I will probably do to the Weight Watchers Simply Filling Plan. It allows you to eat whole grain (and low fat) bread, whole wheat pasta and gives you a weekly points allowance for all of the food not on the Power Foods list. I think that’s more manageable for a lifetime plan for me and my body chemistry. Have any of you used the Simply Filling plan from Weight Watchers? What’s your experience with it?
Did you know …if you boil an egg in a pot of water and completely forgot about it for an hour (or more), that all of the water will boil out, and that the egg will stick, burn and explode? The egg will pop and cause an unusually loud bang that will scare you out of your pants. Your 65 pound dog will turn into a scared little Chihuahua afraid to go anywhere near the sound. You will grab your salad fork from dinner as protection against the possible home invader and bravely go towards the kitchen as you quickly realize that somehow, you’ve managed to almost burn your house down. As your barefoot steps on burnt egg shells and egg parts, you will remember that quite some time ago, you attempted to boil an egg. The dog that followed behind (not in front) of you will then attempt to eat the egg that has splattered on the stove, cabinets, walls and floor. The dog and the broom will fight for egg scraps as you clean up the huge mess; laughing at the fact you and a frightened dog were going to save the day with a fork.
I had an awesome week! I’ve been going to the gym and eating healthy. (My internet has been down, sorry I haven’t gotten a chance to blog about it.) Friday, I went to lunch with my Big Little Sister at my favorite Mexican restaurant and I did not touch the fresh hot tortilla chips. I ordered a salad instead of my regular deep fried burrito… After years of my father begging me to read the The South Beach Diet Book
, I finally did. I decided to give the diet an honest try. If you want to know more about the South Beach Diet, you can check out my Video Book Review. My Dad has done a good job of maintaing his weight loss and adopting the diet as a lifestyle change. Someone asked me what’s the status with Weight Watchers? I still love Weight Watchers, but I wasn’t working the program like I should. I was simply tired of keeping points. I learned from my hypnosis CD that’s it’s okay to change diet plans every few months or so. You don’t have to stick with one plan forever. This week I’ve eaten delicious omelets, and great snacks like celery dipped in garlic-flavored hummus. Who knew I would like that?
I realized that I have 2 choices; I can track my food and eat everything in proportion, or only eat certain food (High protein, low carb, low fat) and not track. I actually just remembered that Weight Watchers has a “Core” plan that I never thought to try because I thought restricting food was too ridiculous. But, I’m giving South Beach an honest try to see which I like more. Once the carb cravings died down after a couple days, it wasn’t so bad.
I mentioned before that I’m helping my church with a walk-a-thon. Last week there were six of us at my 7 AM group training session. However, this week, most of last week’s participants were out of town or unavailable. But, I dragged myself out of bed, actually hoping it was raining, or that no one would show up. I despise mornings…I was standing there alone at 7:05, and I was ready to head back to my car, until I saw my sister’s car, speeding toward the History Museum where we planned to meet. There was no turning back now, because she hates mornings as much as I do. She said she only had a few hours of sleep, but came anyway to support me. Then I got a text from one of the girls at the church who was also on her way. Once she arrived, I told them, I would take them on a scenic walk off the regular path. Unbeknownst to me, we stumbled upon the 9/11 memorial. It was so amazing, they had flags representing those that were lost in the tragedy 10 years ago. Each flag had a brief description of a person that lost their life that day. It was quite a site to see. We took some pics and shared “Where were you when the plane hit the tower stories.”
I didn’t have my iPod tracker thingy
on, but my guess is that we walked about 2 miles. After our walk, I came home and made a broccoli cheese omelet with turkey bacon. It was yummy. I did some laundry and dozed off and I was almost late for my orientation boot camp class. I got a Groupon for 10 Classes for $30. The class started with awkward endurance/flexibility tests, which reminded me of elementary school gym class. Finally we got to work out, in a quick mini version of the class. After doing the “Spiderman” on the floor and jumping jacks for the warm up, it was hard to imagine how difficult a real class will be. Then, we did interval training as we rotated stations doing squats, planks, and pull ups with resistance bands dangling from the wall. I think it boot camp class will be a big challenge, but I’m ready! Tonight my old co-worker friend is having a Fight watch party for Mayweather v. Ortiz. Now that’s what I call a Super Saturday!
Here is a recipe for delicious Mexican Chili I made last night before I went to the gym.
Ingredients
- 1 Pound of Lean Ground Beef or Ground Turkey
-1 Chili Seasoning Packet
-1 Squirt of Ranch Salad Dressing (My Secret Ingredient)
-1/3 cup Guacamole
-1 Small Can of Bush’s Baked Beans (I use vegetarian, since I don’t eat pork)
-1 Can of Corn or Frozen corn
-1 Can of Pinto Beans OR Black Beans OR Chili Beans (whatever kind you like)
-1 Can of Diced Tomatoes (Made for Chili)
- A Crock pot (Optional)
Cooking Directions
1) Cook ground beef in skillet until brown, season meat with chili seasoning packet.
2) Add a squirt of ranch salad dressing to the cooked seasoned ground beef and stir (trust me!)
3) You can use a Crock Pot or a regular pot to combine remaining ingredients.
4) Add the cooked Ground Beef, Guacamole, Can of Bush’s Baked Beans, Corn, Can of your favorite Bean, and Can of Diced tomatoes into pot and heat to desired temperature.
This amazingly flavorful dish is High in protein and fiber and very filling.
