Stop it! Just stop it!

Now, I am talking to myself. What's worse, it looks like I am now writing to myself. "I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter..." Remember that song from my youth? Late 50s or early 60s?

Maybe I need to leave notes around the house so I will not eat?

I made pimiento and cheese and ate the whole thing yesterday--8 ounces of cheese, small jar of pimientos, and about 1/4 cup of Miracle whip and a smidgen of salt. That is one of my favorite thing to eat. The problem is--it calls for ruffled chips. So, I ate the smallest bag of Golden Flake ruffled chips I could buy.

Yes, I will never lose weight this way. However, I did have two eggs, milk, and my fruity smoothie to even it all out. Then, I opened a brownie mix and ate some of that dry.

Today, I am doing better with the eating right. Since the day is not over, I won't brag too much.

I slept for one hour last night, awoke to go to the bathroom, and could not go back to sleep. It is hard to explain the feeling of no sleep! I am beyond groggy!

The hens are out, playing in the yard, so I must stay awake. They complain pitifully when they cannot get out of their yard and play in the grass.

Today, I have had milk, boiled egg, orange juice, and a Mountain Dew. Since I am starting to get hungry again, maybe I will eat lunch at 1 pm, and take a nap. If I don't nap now, I will nap too late. Then, I will awake at midnight and be up all night.

If it kills me, I am going for a short walk this evening. So, NOW, I have said it and will have to account for my shortcomings if I fail.

Going off to eat salad now, just greens, no dressing. Maybe I will find something interesting to eat. A can of tuna? Yum! That's it--tuna, celery, Miracle Whip. Maybe I will put a boiled egg in it. See, I figured it out--tuna salad on the salad greens. Bye now.

Short and Sweet--I Lost Weight

So, it was only 3/4 of a pound. It was a loss and a move in the right direction. Even though I ate the pizza, some ice cream, and other foods I should have not, I lost.

Summer has always been a hard time for me to lose weight. Does anyone else feel that way?

This must change...NOW.

Tonight will be another smoothie and lots of vegetables. I have already had a bowl of cereal and milk. Plus, I had a huge, thick turkey sandwich and two glasses of milk.

I am off to the store to buy milk and bananas and might just get a free cookie the bakery has out for the taking.

Pizza pie, that's amore

Yes, I think I fell in love with Domino's pizza all over again. I have not had crackers, chips, ice cream, sugar in a drink, or candy this whole week. This evening, I saw a Domino's Pizza sign and succumbed. Half has been comsumed and the other half awaits for tomorrow. The new crust that Domino's is using has me sold...delicious.

It has been over 9 months or maybe a year since I had pizza. Friday evening, I ordered and picked up a mushroom pizza, telling myself it was better for me than double cheese, sausage, or sausage mushroom pizza. Those are the only kind I eat.

Domino's seduced me! Now, I will spend the night doing penance, eating lots of greens and fresh or frozen fruit. Tonight won't be my regular smoothie, just the fruit, plain and simple:apple, banana, grapes, cherries, mango, strawberries and salad greens.

My foot feels like it is broken. I must have done it while sleeping because it was okay when I took a nap and felt broken when I awoke. Hmmmm...what did I do in my sleep this afternoon?

I went in to Domino's and ordered the pizza and sat in the car to wait while I talked to a friend on the phone. For half a second I wanted to put the Domino's number into my cell to make ordering easier. You know, I could order pizza before I left Lowe's and it would be ready when I arrived. I put that thought away--Get the behind me, Satan.

First, I gain weight. Then, I eat pizza. And, any exercise (normal walking around) is out.

Anyone think this hundred pounds will ever come off?

Sadly, a weight gain

I have waited until Friday to report a weight gain of 3+ pounds last Tuesday night. It looks like fat reigns here. No more.

Last week, I kept eating ice cream and justifying it by saying I needed to cool off. Oh, yeah! I had lost 3 pounds in a month and managed to put it all back on in a week. If I got up and looked in my weight book, I would know the exact amount. However, what does it matter? I GAINED!

Already, I am doing much better. I have had little cheese, no candy, no chips, no fast food, and nothing fried. Oh, I did have a free cookie at the grocery store one day and two free cookies another day. Those were being consumed last week, too.

After moving food from my kitchen refrigerator freezer to my upright freezer, I now have room for ice trays. That means I can drink more iced tea and less Cokes. I heart the taste of tea without sugar or lemon, just plain iced tea!

Oh, yes, I forgot. For months I have been looking for my square brownie pan. While cleaning out the kitchen freezer, I found it. I have been eating the fresh apple cake with raisins and chopped walnuts that I froze around Christmas. This will be my one sweet other than the cookies at the grocery.

Since I have done a lot more housework--decluttering--and more yardwork, the pounds I gained should slip away this week. Oh, the killing of flies has occupied my time, so that counts as exercise, right?

My mother would not allow me to kill a fly. Okay, she was right! I have lousy aim. That just means more exercise for me.

Now that I feel I am back on track with eating right, I can relax about my weight.

Sweating it out in the South...

Today, it feels like 100 degrees, according to the weather! Maybe I will have lost weight tonight just from sweating. Of course, if I arrive with damp cotton knits I am wearing, I will weigh more!

This has not been a good week because I have succumbed to the Siren call of ice cream more than once. Someone should lash me to something so I cannot be lured to my doom by the call of Ice Cream Sirens. You think anyone would wonder why I was lashed to the oak tree out front? I can see the headlines on the front page--
WOMAN TIED TO TREE IN HER FRONT YARD

Tonight is the night! I cannot do like other people, just not eat all day. If I do that, my low blood sugar will have me wasted, mentally and physically.

Unfortunately, I am using the oven today. WHY oh WHY? Okay, you asked. I am baking chicken. While it is not a good idea, it seemed to be.

Okay, the scales await!

Losin', losin', losin', keep those pounds a-movin'...

After a weight gain last week, I am happy to report that I lost 3/4 pound this last Tuesday, July 13, 2010. It's not much, but I am not going to complain. I will just do better.

My strategy is to eat less cheese and eat more fiber. Period. So, I bought four pounds of cheese to go with the ten pounds in my refrigerator! Actually, the cheese was at its lowest price in a long time. So, I was out of cheddar chunks and stocked up. There is about ten pounds of mozarella, five cheese Italian, and several other bags of cheese, all shredded. I had bought chunks at the time but ate them all. That is why I bought more chunk cheese--cost. It is a stock up of cheese until I decide to eliminate cheese from my life for a bit.

My supply for smoothies was depleted, so tonight I stocked up on oj, plain yogurt, frozen mango, and frozen strawberries. I had plenty of frozen blueberries and frozen bananas. My smoothies never vary unless I am out of one of the ingredients listed above.

Tonight, I resisted the urge to buy candy or chips or just anything I wanted to avoid. One free cookie from the bakery was my only indulgence.
I did buy one pouch of brownie mix. When I bake the brownies, there will be a cup of chopped walnuts in the mix.

Next Tuesday will see another weight loss! Anyone with me?

Too hot to eat and too hot not to eat

I know. I am confused, too. But, at dusk the temp was 92 degrees according to a bank display. I try to eat things that are cool. All those foods seems to be fattening, like ice cream. When my energy flags and I wilt in the heat, I think real food will energize me. It does. So, I eat some more! At this rate I won't lose weight tonight.

Here is where TOPS helps. I know I will have to weigh in and then say whether I gained or lost at roll call. Besides, none of the games are fun when you don't lose weight. Nope, not a bit of fun. And, I really like games of any kind. Well, almost any kind.

Today, I have lots to do--wash hair and try to get it to dry instead of getting soaked with sweat, vote, gather lots of medical records from doctors, go to TOPS, clean the house a little bit, deliver results of more decluttering, take care of hens, and not overeat. Well, the heat alone causes me to eat wrong.Plus, my ac is trying to die!

Tonight will tell how I have done.

Is anyone out there sabotaging their weight loss like I am? Are you eating all the wrong things? Eating too much when less would work?

"Sweet Misery"

Today, I only have one thing to say: watch this video.Please! The artificial sweetener, aspartame, is dangerous beyond belief--brain tumors, shortness of breath, fibromyalgia. There is a list of 92 symptoms. View it for yourself on hulu or youtube. I have given the link for both but you will have to paste the link in the address bar. If you decide to google youtube--sweet misery part 1--you can watch from the beginning.

Or

http://www.hulu.com/watch/162709/sweet-misery

If for some reason you cannot reach it through the link, just go to hulu, sign up and search for Sweet Misery. There are shorter versions elsewhere on the web, but this one is great. You don't want to miss one word of the video by going to a shorter version.

Okay, I just found "Sweet Misery" on youtube. This will make watching it easier.There are 10 parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB-SXOYnXeY


You will probably have to get a free account with hulu, maybe not. At any rate, this video is worth watching. It could save your life or the life of someone you know.

Sorry for the jumbled, rambling post.

Did you watch it? What do you think?

Starting Over

Of course, I am not starting over at all. But, I am starting over to achieve more weight losses. So far, I have lost 2.5 lbs.

Pre-breakfast: Coke
breakfast: I got up very late, so I just ate lunch with my friend at the house.
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwich
Snack: Otter Pop type thing (like frozen koolaid in a plastic tube), 1/2 glass chocolate milk
Dinner: Baked chicken breast,coleslaw,lima beans, corn on the cob, cornbread
Snack: smoothie with banana, mango, blueberries,strawberries, oj, yogurt
Snack: salad greens, grated cheese, tomatoes, baked chicken, dressing.

Since I did not eat breakfast, my late, late snack is only the third meal of the day.

Today was torrid! It was all I could do to keep from melting. However, the heat did keep me from eating some things I might have.

Tuesday, I baked a chicken. It will make four meals for me and two for my friend. I halve each breast for a meal. He will eat a leg and thigh for each meal. The chickens will eat from the carcass and giblets at least four times. They love the fat, gristle, and skin.

After the gain, I must strengthen my resolve on not eating excessively.

Anyone else losing weight?

Tuesday Gain! & Stovetop Blueberry Pie/Cobbler

It could be the chips I ate yesterday. Or, it could be the fact I ate something just before I weighed. It wasn't much food, but the gain was not much either--1/4 lb. Actually, it was 0.2 lb, I believe--1/5 lb. But, a gain is a gain. If I had lost anything at all, I could have eaten the orange juice and tiny bit of chicken breast without gaining. All my fault.

It is so difficult for me to lose weight in the summer! This will have to be a different kind of summer, a summer of losing weight! Maybe 30 lbs by the end of August will be a good goal to keep in my head.

Breakfast: milk and slice of bread
Snack: the rest of a bag of frozen mango
Dinner: bit of chicken and oj
Snack: smoothie--banana, oj, strawberries, yogurt
Another snack: blueberry pie/cobbler, milk

Since I ate late because I slept late, the above looks strange. It was too hot to cook anything for breakfast, and I just did not want cereal. That portion of frozen mango was too expensive to eat in one sitting, but it was so cooling.

Stovetop pies are one of my favorites. I started making them when I had two Granny Smith apples and wanted pie on cold fall day. Of course, there was not enough apple for pie. That did not deter me. I just made a stovetop pie in my little 6" iron skillet with water, sugar, spices for apple pie. The results were so warm, tummy-pleasing, and easy that I made it several times a month. Tonight, I was given a little over a cup of blueberries, so I am off the make a pie on top of the stove. I shouldn't buy a pint of ice cream, but I might! A really large Granny Smith apple could be just enough for this treat.

Okay, the above method for apples works just fine.

Stovetop Blueberry Pie/Cobbler

Cup of blueberries
1/2 cup water or more if needed
1 tbsp sugar until I decide if I need more
tiny pinch of salt
Cook on the stovetop in my 6" iron skillet
When it is suitable as far as sugar is concerned,I will...

Add:
2 tbsp plain flour
1 Tbsp butter or margarine, maybe less

Basically, what I am doing is making white sauce in the blueberry mixture. I get the taste of the flour (think crust), butteriness, and the sweetened blueberries.

This works for me. I am not consuming much sugar, little flour, little butter. Any pie on the stovetop satisfies my urge for something sweet besides fruit.

A better way is to make a white sauce from a Tbsp of butter, 2 tbsp flour, and a bit of milk. Then, add water, sugar, and blueberries. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves and mixture is thick. I don't mind them but you might.

For the Granny Smith apples, I use one large or two small, according to what I have at the house.

Since I am the only one here and I have just a few blueberries, I will make a stovetop cobbler in my 6" skillet. I did this one year in the fall when I had two Granny Smith apples, wanted a pie, didn't want to eat the crust, and the stovetop seemed like the right place to cook my pie. Besides, the stovetop will use less electricity than the oven. The ac will not have to run as long or at all. Today, keeping the house cool is of utmost priority. I have already baked a hen, so it is still warmer than usual.

Apples will need more water and should be cooked longer than blueberries. Stovetop pie is my own creation and can be your creation if you change it to suit yourself. I put cinnamon in the apple. Maybe a little salt or vanilla can be added to any of these. Just figure out what you would put in a pie or cobbler for an oven and put a tiny portion in the stovetop creation. Most people cook apples on the stove for dessert. I just decided I wanted the crust taste and added the flour and butter.

If you try the stovetop pie, let me know if you like it or how you made it your own.

Monday, Monday and more

Not making ice cream on the 4th of July this year had its benefits. I was not exhausted at the block party. I am more rested today. No one even missed it, so I probably won't ever go to the trouble without some help in making the ice cream.

Now, for my eating habits, I lose weight best when I eat often. On some of my posts I just have a list of food. When I list breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I am trying to conform to others' expectations of having meals and snacks by plugging foods into proper categories.

The truth is that I eat sometimes once an hour. Over the course of a day this looks like meals even if it is a long list.I am hypoglycemic and eat when I must. To adapt that condition to weight loss, I just eat often to stave off hypocglycemia.To stay healthy I eat what I should be eating for a meal but at different times.

If I have slaw now, I might have green beans later, then a small piece of chicken later. I might follow that with a banana or apple. That makes a good meal even if it were eaten over a four hour period. Sometimes, I really do eat it all together. Well, maybe the piece of fruit will follow a bit later.

A friend once told me, "Linda, you don't eat, you graze!" He was not accustomed to eating this way. At the time, I was losing weight daily. He was impressed not critical.

Listing what I ate and the time might be more of an eye-opener for people! I really have "snacks" all day long! The difference is that when I eat healthy snacks, I lose weight.

When I list a salad, I really did eat that all at once. Yes, I was really hungry!

breakfast: huge glass of milk
lunch: boiled egg. brownie square (60 cal)
snacks: 1)apple, 2) cheese and coke, 3) Coke and chips
dinner: salad greens, shredded cheese, tomato, diced chicken, shredded carrots
smoothie snack: banana, strawberry, mango, blueberries, yogurt, oj

The cooler weather, humidity, and a breeze made it possible to get a little more exercise today. Hanging out the laundry is not a miserable chore on days like today. How many people are hanging clothes outdooors to dry?

Fireworks

Today is the day I go to Birmingham to watch fireworks on Red Mountain. It will also be a day of good eats. My contribution is deviled eggs and a big bowl of boiled eggs. For the last 17 years or so, I have made homemade ice cream. I just was not in the mood or needing the hassle or weight to carry! I have to carry the cannister in a cooler full of ice. No way, today.

Breakfast: Coke and cheese sandwich
Snack: apple, 1/2 deviled egg

Great company, blazing fireworks!

At the block party:
plain roast turkey chunks
cheese tortellini
salad with apricots
small fudge square with coconut in it
strawberry pie
banana nut bread
tomato and feta in dressing

At home I ate:
fudge
cheese

For my offering I took a plate of deviled eggs and a dozen boiled eggs served in a bowl. I think only one was eaten on the spot. I encouraged others to take an egg home for Monday. Most people took two. I encouraged the last guy to take the last, lonely egg.

Outdoor Saturday

Pre-breakfast:Coke, Miniature candy bar. cheese
Breakfast: milk and something
Snack: cheese
Lunch:Cheese,two pieces bread
Dinner: hamburger, too many condiments, a very few fries
Snack: apple, 12 chips, chocolate milk (actually this is 3 snacks)

I did some stretching exercises. Nothing more to report...lol

Is anyone else exercising?

Friday Forever & Stretching

Did you ever have a day that seemed to last forever? I am having one today. It is not that it seems to last too long, it just does not end. That's today.

I managed to buy my daughter a gift, a digital frame, wrap it, stuff a box full of things for her and her children and mail it. Now,the PO line DID seem to last forever. The PO won't be open tomorrow, so people were lining up to do their mailing today. Everyone had packages! As it turns out, the day they gave for delivery is also her birthday. That works out well.

For about a month now, I have been slowly easing my body into a stretching routine several times a day. This is paying off.

Food for the day:
Coke
apple
Ruffles chips
cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread

Smoothie:banana, mango, strawberry, blueberry, yogurt, oj
This make a 24 oz drink/meal

Salad: Romaine, raddicio, endive, carrots, tomatoes, chicken, dressing

Thursday's progress

I did not get much exercise of any kind today. However, I did get lots of dishes washed. Is that exercise?

From the things I ate today, it does not look like I am really trying to lose weight. However, this is still so much less than I usually eat!

Thinking about the video "Fuzz" did cause me to do a little stretching of parts not stretched lately. Good video on YouTube! I will post it one day. Promise.

pre-breakfast-Coke
breakfast--2 scrambled eggs,two sausage patties,1 toast and butter,oj, milk
snack--way too much cheese
dinner--hotdogs and a bit of kraut, leaf lettuce
snack--four cookies
later--turnips greens, grapes, strawberry, mango

That's it folks!