It's all about Control

This plan where I cook everything for all 3 meals seems to be working.  It was hard this morning since I have court today, but I got up early to plan around it.

The planning is important and somehow I have to be able to keep that up.  And I have to find meals that the family likes, including my 9 year old, so that's a bit challenging.  I think I'll spend some time this weekend hitting my Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet cookbooks as well as my Hungry Girl cookbooks.  I didn't buy enough food to last for 5 people, so I need to do better on that.

Here is breakfast - a form of huevos rancheros.  Tasty and healthy! (I posted the recipe on my recipe page).

Hubby is already losing weight, so that's good.  I'm holding steady, so we'll see.

This Might Work!

So I've got the menu posted where everyone can see it so they know what is planned for the day and what the acceptable snacks are.

For breakfast I made mini egg muffing/omelets (I put some turkey, spinach and cheese in a muffin pan and then added a scrambled egg in and then baked for about 20-30 minutes.  Very tasty and only about 120 calories - not that I'm counting them, but it's pretty low for a protein packed breakfast!

Lunch will be sandwiches in low calorie/100% whole wheat pita bread with grapes as the fruit.  I will make little apple slices topped with nut butter and raisins for snacks.  Dinner is a whole chicken with lima beans and turnips and probably left over garden squash.  Maybe grits, depending on how hungry I am, lol.

I'll put away a bunch of the chicken before we start eating because I need the rest of it for a 2nd meal later this week.

What I'm worried about is keeping this up.  This week has nothing major going on so I'm able to do it, but what about when I am swamped and things are super busy?  How am I going to manage this then?  I guess I can have it all planned and let daughter number 3 cook it all - she's great at that kind of thing and loves it, so that might work ...

I'm down a pound this morning, but I'm sure that's just water weight from the weekend we had (we went to D.C. and ate crabs and lots of rich food and drink).

I guess we'll see how it goes.  I did get the bike ride in this morning and will start up the bowflex again.  I want to have the muscle underneath so when the fat goes down, I've got the muscle tone under it that will look pretty good, I hope!

I will keep you posted!

New Game Plan

I have been just struggling terribly trying to do what I did 2 years ago that worked so well.  Clearly it's just not working this time, so it's time for a new game plan.

I'm putting the whole family on the healthy track.  My 9 year old has just been really eating some bad choices and my two older girls are ready for a change as well, and hubby is always willing to try something that might work, so we are all in (to the dismay of the 9 year old).

One of my nieces is doing the Paleo thing, and while I get some of the idea, I'm not sold on it.  However, I do like the concept of lower carbohydrates which will then require our bodies to burn fat rather than just skim the carbs off the food and not do anything else.  I also like the idea of eating less processed foods, as I think that's one of the reasons we don't feel "well" some days.

With all of us being home for the summer, it has kind of been a free-for-all regarding food.  All kinds of junk in the house "just in case" someone wants it.

New plan:  I'm going to make the same thing for everyone for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  That way we can limit the extras that seem to be floating around.  Plus I can monitor my 9 year old's intake (she ate oreos for lunch one day, I have learned - that is not going to happen again).

So I've done a menu for the week and a grocery list (why is it so darn EXPENSIVE to eat healthy??) and am going to try and tackle this thing.

It is going to have some challenges.  I work from home and some days I get caught up in work and don't realize it's 1:30 and I haven't eaten lunch.  I can't make my kids wait like that so I'm going to have to actually schedule meal time.

I'm also going to cook less food.  There will be less of a problem with portion control if I cook just enough for us to eat well.  AND on the days when I need extras for another meal on another day, I will have to put that food away immediately or else we will eat it.

I'm going to try lean meats, fresh veggies from the garden, and try to use less of the processed "stuff" in cooking.  Going more towards whole grains, etc.  I'm going to mix this in with watching calories, but not being restrictive, because 1) my 9 year old doesn't need restrictive; she's still growing by leaps and bounds and needs good quality food, and 2) if you restrict, you want to cheat and it's never a long term thing.

Of course I'm going to step up my exercise.  One of my nieces has a fitbit like I do, so I'm going to see if we can link as "friends" to help support each other.  I'm thinking of upgrading to a fitbit charge HR (that's what she has; right now I have the fitbit one), and my 3rd daughter wants one as well, so that would probably be helpful to have more supporters.

I feel good because I have a plan.  It's worth a shot.

Really, good health is all about habits, and I just need to try and stick to something long enough for it to become a habit.

It's hard to do with summer vacations, but I can make better choices while on vacation AND I can ensure everyone eats well in between.

It's kind of about control, and, everyone will tell you:  I'm a control freak.

We'll see how it goes!

Tired, but Losing

Day 5 of the 7 day diet - down 5 lbs.  Not sure if it's worth it.  I feel so drained and tired!  I mean, it's great to have the kick start, but man!  TIRED!

Hubby is down about 5 lbs as well.  Daughter number 2 is only down a few pounds - very odd.  She is also very tired.

We are all also cranky, so I'm not sure it's a good idea for all 3 of us to be doing this at once!

Tomorrow I'm ending it early - it's date night so I'll eat on the diet all the way until we go out to dinner - then it's OFF!

Will keep you posted!

Starting Day 4 of the 7 Day Diet

Wow.  This time this diet is kicking my butt.  I remember being starving on day 1 and hating day 4, but I don't remember feeling so tired.

I've only lost 3.3 lbs this time.  I feel like last time I lost a bunch up front and then slowed down as we add back in the protein, but ended up losing 8-9 lbs total.  I'm not sure that's going to happen this time.

I feel pretty bad.  I made sure to do this on a week when I don't have court so that I wouldn't be over-exerting, but boy, this is rough.

Today is the banana and milk day.  This is actually the first time I'm eating bananas since the last time I did this diet - that's how bad today is.  Not looking forward to it.

Daughter number 3 already lost the weight she needed, so she bailed on the diet yesterday.  Hubby, Daughter number 2 and I are still hanging in there.  Hubby is losing the most weight (which he says makes him feel fat because "everyone knows it's the fattest person who loses the most"  lol).  I've learned that men just seem to lose faster than women regardless.

Hopefully I'll feel better today with the calories I'll be eating.

If you can't find the diet I posted last time, here it is:

The 7 Day Diet ... Again!

My hubby, two older girls and I are all doing the 7 day diet this week.  It worked well last time I tried it and I did lose almost the 10 lbs claimed.  It was a great way to get re-invested in myself and kick off my motivation again.  So, since I've fallen sadly short on those fronts these past months, I decided to give it a go again.

I lost 1.8 lbs last night so I'm now the lowest I've been in weeks.  It actually wasn't as bad this time as it was last time.  Day 1 is all fruit, and last time I was STARVING.  This time, we had a really sweet cantaloupe and it was just juicy and wonderful so I didn't feel hungry.  I ate:  1 apple, 1 handful of grapes, 3/4 of the cantaloupe over the course of the day and didn't really feel deprived.

Today is vegetable day.  I have green beans going upstairs and we bought asparagus, portabello mushroom caps, and we get to eat a baked potato today!  I'm actually not all that hungry yet.  I did a crock pot of lima beans over night since I knew everyone would be hungry first thing (although limas aren't the best choice since they are starchy).  I'm going to do broccoli in the oven with chili powder and garlic powder - they are an addicting snack.

I dread the banana day.  That's day 4 ...

I will keep you posted!