Day 11 (Part 2)

I had a filet mignon with a salad and some broccoli tonight for dinner. It was good, but honestly I probably would have been fine just eating the filet. I was too full from the veggies to eat the whole thing!

Wayne is totally off the low-carb way of eating today. He had bread and honey French dressing at dinner. He gets pissy when I tell him what is allowed and not allowed on a low-carb diet, since he can't bother to actually read the books and such himself. And God forbid I ask him to measure the amount of each thing he's putting into a dish so I can calculate the carb amounts for my portion of it. I can't control what he eats. I told him tonight he can eat whatever he wants. And really, he can. I'll keep cooking low-carb, but I'm not going to bother helping him do it anymore until he asks me and promises to just eat what I tell him to eat without all of the bitching. He has to want it, and it seems that right now he doesn't. Ugh, men!

Day 11

Chipotle gave me heartburn last night, again!! I guess I better not go back there again for a while :-/

I was reviewing my FitDay stats for the past 10 days, and I noticed that some days I have been under 10 carbs. And you know, on those days I felt full pretty much all day. I also felt better, in general. So I think I'm going to start doing very-low-carb for a while. I doubt that Wayne will do it, but we'll see. If I lose a zillion pounds, he might try it ;-)

So here are my revised "rules":

• No limit on carbs, but aim for 10g/day max.
  
• Eat at least my minimum protein (34g/meal)
• Limit non-animal-based carbs; try not to get no more than 2-4 carbs worth of these in a single meal, and don't eat any of these if I don't need to (usually just the meat is more than enough!).
  
• Eat enough fat to make me feel full (good fats only, no trans junk!)
• Heavy cream, butter, and cheese only for dairy... might cut these if they seem to stall me
  
• Drink water when I'm thirsty
  
• Limit artificial sweeteners and caffeine... might also have to cut these out
  
• No more than 2 diet sodas each day... if I cut the stuff above out, these will go!
• Use organic, natural food as much as possible; try to get grass-fed, free-range meat
  

I'll track my progress in this very blog.

As for today, we went to a birthday party, and Wayne didn't eat any breakfast or lunch. So he had CAKE!!!! :-o I managed to feed Claire ice cream and not pass out from the temptation.

I had a couple of eggs and some bacon for breakfast, and then had the toppings of the pizza from the party (the sauce probably had more carbs than I should have eaten, because I'm feeling sleepy!!). Dinner tonight is going to be steak, steak, and more steak. We're going out to dinner with some friends to Longhorn. I'll probably have a filet mignon, or something just as tasty.

My very-low-carb experiment will start tomorrow, even though we have another birthday party to go to!

Day 10

Yeah, I sneaked another peek at the scale this morning, and my weight is down a bit more (ticker's not updated, going to wait until Tuesday!). Wayne's went up a little bit, not sure why, except maybe he's still eating way too fast and not feeling it when he gets full. I wonder if it might also be that the mechanism that tells him he's full is out of whack.

I've eaten OK today, but didn't get as much protein as I should have. Had a 3-egg omelet with tomatoes for breakfast, pastrami and cheese for lunch (in the movie theater, shhhhh!) and for dinner I'm going to Chipotle. I'm going to get a Burrito Bol with carnitas, green salsa, cheese, guacamole, and lettuce. I found this neat calculator to tell me the nutritional info.

Day 9

I know, I know, I'm not supposed to weigh myself except on Tuesdays, but I had to take a peek. I'm down to 185.6! Wayne didn't weigh himself this morning before he left for work, but I think he will when he gets home.

Let me review my "rules" to see if I followed them all:

• Eat at least my minimum protein (34g/meal): ALMOST got this... missed it by a few grams for breakfast.
  
• Limit my carbs to less than 20g ECC: Today was 11g
  
• Cut out the fruit and grains for the time being: Done
  
• Only eat veggies that are on the Atkins-approved list: Just had lettuce and tomato
  
• Keep carbs to no more than 10g (ECC or Net) per meal: Yep!
  
• Eat enough fat to make me feel full: Definitely did this! I had lunch at about noon and wasn't hungry for a long time
  
• Heavy cream and cheese only for dairy: All I had was cheese
  
• Drink 8+ glasses of water: Got it!

Today I went back to the gym. Did 10 minutes on the bike and about 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Not as much as I should have, but I was up too late last night so I was a bit pooped. It didn't help that Claire woke me up at 5:50am looking for Wayne! I took a 90 minute nap when I got home from the gym, and felt a lot better.

Tomorrow I'm going walking with my moms group at the mall, and then going to the movies. I'm going to have to pack some lunch because the movie starts right around lunch time and won't be over until almost 1pm. They don't have a whole lot that I can eat at the movie theater, and I doubt Claire will last long enough without some food! There are still some hardboiled eggs in the fridge, so I'll probably take those and some cheese, and maybe some lunch meat.

Day 8 (Morning)

So I've been thinking... Even though I love all of the science behind Protein Power, and I'm losing weight doing it, I've decided that I'm going to start doing things a little bit differently to see if it works. I'm basically going to try to combine the principles of Atkins with Protein Power. So here's what I'm going to try to do for the rest of the week (starting tomorrow, I already have stuff cooked that won't fit below):

• Eat at least my minimum protein (34g/meal)
• Limit my carbs to less than 20g
• Cut out the fruit and grains for the time being (no more strawberries or low-carb wraps/bread... waaah!)
• Only eat veggies that are on the Atkins-approved list, keeping carbs to no more than 10g (ECC or Net) per meal... I'd like to average 4-8 for each meal
• Eat enough fat to make me feel full (good fats only, no trans junk!)
• Heavy cream and cheese only for dairy (no more whole milk for now)
  
• Drink 8+ glasses of water
• No pre-packaged stuff
  

As usual I'll keep all of my food listed in my FitDay account, so we'll see how this goes. Wayne will probably keep doing what he's been doing because it works for him, and he loves getting his berries (which we have to keep in the house for Claire anyway). But I may talk with him about adjusting his diet to what I'm doing because he's been complaining incessantly about being hungry. So if I tell him he can eat as much meat as he wants until he's full, he'll be happier :-)

Day 7 (Evening)

Wayne and I went to a basketball game tonight (GO TERPS!!!). I scored awesome seats in the alumni suite. They provided us with munchies and drinks, but unfortunately, we couldn't even look at the food! It was stuff like M & M's, pretzels, and chips. So during half-time I ran out to one of the concession stands and got some peanuts. Not the best choice, but after hearing Wayne complain about how huuuuuungry he was for the first half, it was better than nothing.

We had more of the breakfast casserole this morning. It'll be all gone tomorrow, and then I'm going to make a different version of it tomorrow afternoon. For lunch I had a GIANT beef frank with some sauerkraut and some protein pudding. Dinner was delicious: my version of Alice Springs Chicken (NO mushrooms, yuck, ick, ewwie, blech!!) and a salad.

I ordered groceries online for the first time in many years. This time around we used Safeway, and for the most part we were pleased. Some of the produce is a little past its prime, and they were out of a few things we ordered. The delivery was on time, which was nice. I ordered online because the grocery store has been ridiculously crowded the past few times we've been, and I didn't feel like standing in line for 30 minutes yet again. I'd rather just spend 30 minutes adding all of the stuff to my online shopping cart and have it delivered. We're probably going to try Peapod next time.

Day 7 (Morning)

My weight went back down a bit this morning, so my total weight loss for the first week is (drum roll, please!) 3.8 pounds. Not bad, I think :-) Wayne's weight loss for the first week was 6.6 pounds, which is also not bad.

This morning after dropping Claire off, Wayne and I went to the gym to use our free 8-week memberships at Bally's Total Fitness. We signed up for the Discovery Health National Body Challenge to get it. While at the gym I did a 20 minutes on a bike and 15 minutes on an elliptical trainer. I managed to work up a nice sweat!

I had a Bally's membership for a while, and rarely used it, so I am loathe to actually pay for one. If I actually go more than once a week for the next 8 weeks, I might be willing to splurge. Then again, a membership at the local community center is much less expensive (about $95/year). They have a lot of the same equipment, just in smaller numbers. They also don't get quite as crowded as the local Bally's, which was packed even at 9am today. Don't these people have jobs? Yeah, I'm one to talk! The other thing that's nice about Bally's is they have a pool, hot tub, sauna, and group exercise classes. I can get the group exercises classes at the community center (by paying extra for each class), but they are included in the price at Bally's.

Something to ponder, huh?

I'm going to go take a nap! I was up late working and then reading (almost done with The Amber Spyglass). I have a lot of work to do, but I won't be much use if my brain is all foggy from lack of sleep.

Day 6 (Evening)

Today was a little crazy. My daughter's friend usually comes over on Mondays so her mom can have a break (the friend, not my daughter's mom, which would be me!!). So I had a 2-year old and an almost 2-year old wreaking havoc on the house all day. It was fun :-)

For lunch I had some more chili and some of the cucumber salad we made the other night. Wayne cooked up some steaks for dinner, and they were delicious. I had some veggies with cream cheese on the side for that meal. After ice skating lessons (for the girls) we had some strawberries with whipped cream.

Tomorrow will be one week on low-carb! I think I am only going to report my weight on my weekly anniversary so I don't stress about any daily fluctuations.

I found a great web site today: Linda's Low-Carb Menus & Recipes. I'm going to have to try some of the recipes! Wayne and I are going to a basketball game on campus tomorrow night, and we're going to have some Alice Springs Chicken before we go so we're not temped at the game. We're sitting in a suite, so I'm sure there will be plenty of temptation to be found ;-)

Day 6 (Morning)

Hmph, I am up a bit more!! I feel bloated, and I think I'm retaining water for some reason. I'm going to review what I've eaten the past few days to see if maybe I'm getting too much salt. I know I'm in ketosis because I've been using some ketosticks, and they are in the purple (which means I have a "large" amount of ketons in my urine). That means I *should* be losing. Maybe my body is saying, "WHOA!! Hold on to this stuff, she's trying to get rid of it!!!" and I'll have a big "whoosh" in the next day or so.

I had some more breakfast casserole this morning. Still yummy :-)

Day 6

So.... no more wine for now! Wayne and I both went up a bit. I think it was either the wine or there was some sugar in something we ate last night. Neither of us went back up to our starting weights or anything, so nothing too big to worry about. I'm not going to update our tickers or charts until tomorrow ;-)

Today I had to clean up the house for my book club meeting and I didn't get around to eating anything for breakfast. For lunch I had some of the breakfast casserole I made last night. Boy was it good, and very filling. Maybe next time I'll add some crumbled bacon. I also had some veggie cream cheese with some veggies, 4 small pieces of cheese, and 4 small pieces of chorizo. Dinner was some chili and a cucumber salad that Wayne made last night (I'll post the recipe). Claire and I shared an almond butter and strawberries sandwich for a snack.

I may sign up for a belly dance class that starts tomorrow night... we'll have to see how the day goes. Mondays are usually a little chaotic, especially when it's the day after Wayne works!

Recipe: Breakfast Casserole

This is based on a very yummy higher-carb (and slightly more time-consuming) recipe that my mother makes whenever we have a brunch. I love this stuff!!

Note: This is basically a double batch. If you want to make just one casserole, cut the ingredients in about half.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs ground pork
• 0.5 lbs ground beef
• 12 eggs
• 0.5 cup whole milk (or use heavy cream with some water to cut the carbs more)
  
• 16 oz sour cream
• 16 oz cheddar cheese (shredded)
• 3 tbsp Italian seasoning (or other seasoning, whatever you like!)
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
  

Directions

1. Brown the pork and beef together. Drain, add the Italian seasoning, and mix well.
2. Divide the meat mixture into 2 casserole dishes.
3. Mix the eggs and milk together and scramble.
4. Divide the cooked scrambled eggs between the two casserole dishes.
5. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the eggs.
6. Divide the sour cream between the two casserole dishes. Spread evenly over the eggs.
7. Divide the cheese between the two casserole dishes, sprinkling evenly over the sour cream.
8. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese melts.
   

I figured about 12 servings for this, maybe less if you're having it with other stuff. Each serving has:

• 493 calories
• 39g fat
• 30g protein
• 4g carbs