Losing Faith.

I am losing faith in this blog.  The whole point of keeping it was to "keep me honest" and deter me from being lazy and eating unhealthy foods.  I'm doing pretty well about not being lazy, but I am very touch-and-go on the dieting piece.

My will to eat delicious food lately is over powering my desire to lose weight.  I want to eat Doritos.  I want to eat delicious homemade truffles.  I ate both of those things today.  The funny thing is, today I was also ridiculed for eating raw veggies at lunch once again.  "Ridiculed" is quite an exaggeration, but I am still going to use the word for dramatic effect.

Tomorrow's weigh in will not be good.  While I did very well on the weight loss challenge, the weight loss did not translate as well on my home scale.  Also, I'm pretty sure a couple of those pounds have weaseled their way back into my life.

Vegetables Are My Friends.

Why is it that I get so many questions and comments about my raw vegetable lunch?  For the last few weeks, I've been having a heaping plate of raw veggies along side some sort of lean protein for lunch.  "Wow, that's a lot of veggies." "Now that's a healthy lunch." "Do you have some ranch to dip those in?" "The weight loss challenge is over.  You're still doing that?"

Yes, that's a lot of veggies and there are probably fewer calories in this entire plate of veggies than there are in the bread in your sandwich.  Yes, it is a healthy lunch and that is the point.  No, I don't dip them in ranch because that would defeat the whole purpose of eating them.  Yes, I am still doing this because my weight loss challenge is not over.

Trust me, I would rather be eating a ham and cheese sandwich and a cup of soup.  Unfortunately, that is not going to take me where I want to go.

My cheat week is over and I need to buckle down.  Making truffles yesterday was not a good idea, but it needed to be done.

Sugar.

I had a check-up at the doctor today, which also resulted in a half day of work.  I used my half day to experiment with the truffles that I am going to make for my sister's baby shower.  I tried two recipes: chocolate peanut butter and white chocolate raspberry.  Both tasted great, but the consistency of the raspberry filling made it really difficult to work with.  There must be a secret to working with gooey filling.

As I've mentioned on multiple occasions, I love baking and cooking.  That made this afternoon a lot of fun.  I wish I could spend every afternoon like that.  However, my stomach is not having so much fun tonight after sampling the candy that I was making.

In the last week I really have noticed how much worse you feel when you eat crap all of the time.  When I eat healthier I feel more energetic and even happier.  Not everyone has the guilt gene, but I do and eating unhealthy makes me feel guilty.  That is why I need to get back on this diet.  Actually, I did very well today aside from the truffle sampling.

My check-up went well.  I had been wondering if my hearing was impaired due to spending my teenage years listening to heavy metal and punk music until my ears rang, but it turns out that there is only one low frequency that I can't hear.  I have decided that half of all men speak at this frequency, including my boss and my husband.  I apologize guys, and so do the Suicide Machines.

I have a new doctor, and she thinks that I may need to step up my dose of Synthroid.  Synthroid is the medicine that I take for hypothyroidism.  I'll find out in the next week or so.  That could be another step toward figuring out why my weight is such a pain in the ass to control.

It's Sunny and Cold. Boo.

Sunny and warm would be great.  Regardless, I am talking Jet out for a nice long walk today.  I'll just have to bundle up.

I've spent the morning shopping.  I bought a banana yellow, high waisted pencil skirt that looks great on me.  I very much have an hourglass figure, so anything that sits high on the waist looks pretty good on me.  Hip-huggers are another story.

I won't be around this evening to post, so I thought that I would just post now.  I'm going to go ahead and consider today a pretty good day in light of how the past week has been.  I just now ate lunch and I had some tuna salad with a Cheez-It 100 Calorie Pack.  That doesn't really follow the 17 Day Diet rules, but it's not a bad lunch.  I'm having Indian food for dinner, which is in general not terrible for you.  In fact, most Americans could probably benefit from eating more Indian inspired food.

Off spend some quality time with my dog.

Too. Much. Food.

I was so bad today.  I'm feeling it.  In fact, this morning I was thinking to myself about how much better I felt before starting this binge week.  Apparently my body was enjoying the break from carbs and excessive amounts of fat.

I could have done worse at lunch.  The peanut sauce on my stir fry and the flat bread served with it were probably the only unhealthy ingredients.  By the way, loved the Flat Top Grill.

For dinner, Chris wanted Olive Garden.  I was not about to skip out on an opportunity to avoid cooking dinner, so we went.  It tasted great, but my stomach is revolting a bit right now.  We each had two drinks, salad, bread sticks, and an entree.  We split a dessert.  I only ate half of my entree.  Does that count as a win?

On a positive note, I discovered this morning that I have not totally lost my endurance.  It's been a while since a ran for more than 5 minutes.  You may recall that I've been doing 2, 2 minute sprints at 7 mph after lifting each morning.  Well, this morning I had already finished my lifting for the week so I decided to spend 20 minutes on the treadmill.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could run at 5.5mph for all but one minute of it.  If I had pushed a little harder I probably could have ran the entire time.

I'm thinking about running the Dexter-Ann Arbor 5k.  My employer will match my registration fee in a donation to C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.  That's a $60 donation.  My brother spent a lot of time there as a kid, so Mott is a special cause for me.  Also, I was just two days out from running my first 5k when my brother passed last fall.  I did not end up doing it and he's probably complaining to Jesus right now about how I broke my plans because of him.

Where Are You, Spring?

I've had about enough of this 30 degree weather.  My tulips and daffodils have, too.

My cheat week continues.  Leftover pizza for dinner.  Tomorrow I will be trying Flat Top Grill for lunch.  I've never been, but I hear it is very similar to Mongolian BBQ and is delicious.  I will be sure to report my findings tomorrow.

On Saturday, I'll be eating dinner at Shalimar with Chris, my sister, and her husband.  Shalimar is a great Indian restaurant in down town Ann Arbor, and I'm really looking forward to it.

How can someone that loves food as much as I do ever be able to stop being on a diet?  I can't.  I am going to have to go through life constantly denying myself the food that I really want to eat.  There is a positive side to that though.  After weeks of eating "healthy" foods, the indulgent foods feel so much more indulgent.  Everything in moderation... I guess.

"Late Night Snack."

I just discovered a new Ben & Jerry's flavor called "Late Night Snack."  It has a vanilla ice cream base with a salty caramel swirl and fudge covered potato chip clusters.  Doesn't it sound awesome!?!?  I was thinking about getting Coldstone for my Friday night treat, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get this instead.

They also have a new "Red Velvet Cake" flavor that I will be trying another time.

By the way, there wasn't any thunder or ice last night.  The Weather Channel is a tease.

I had pizza for dinner tonight, just like I planned.  It was good, but there is a lot left.  There is probably enough left for dinner tomorrow.  That does not bode well for my diet.

Still no word on the payout for the weight loss challenge.  I hope I hear something tomorrow.

Thunder Ice.

We've had "Snowpocalypse" and "Snowpocalypse 2".  Coming tonight: "Thunder Ice 2011."  I hope we really do get some thunder and lightning, because that might almost make the quarter inch to one inch of ice covering worth it.  I've already decided that I am going to work, no matter the road conditions.  It just might take me a while to get there.

My daffodils and tulips have started to come up already.  I hope the ice doesn't kill them.

There is nothing very exciting to report today.  I got back on the diet for most of the day, but finished off my tostada for dinner.

Waiting for Mid-Week.

Why am I so anxious for mid-week to get here?  Well... because that is when I get my winnings for the weight-loss challenge!  I went into the gym like always this morning, only this time I was down 11.2 pounds.  Hooray for me!

Remember, that is 11.2 pounds since January 17th, not January 1st.  Also, that is on the gym scale, not my home scale.  I believe I still have some catching up to do on my overall weight loss goals.

That did not stop me from eating an Asiago cheese bagel for breakfast.  It also did not stop me from having the "Super Tostada" at Mexican Fiesta for dinner tonight.  Well, half of it anyway.  That thing was huge.  Anyway, I had my binge day and I need to get back on the program...

... Except for Wednesday when we will be having pizza for dinner, and Friday when I am going to have some real ice cream.  Aside from those two splurges, I am going to try my hardest to stick with the diet.

Thursday is the 17th day of the diet.  I think I may keep going on phase one for an extra week though.  Next Thursday is the 31st, and the day before my next weight confession.  I'm hopeful that if I stick with the diet until then, I may catch up to the 163 pound mark that I am supposed to be at by the end of March.

A Quiet Sunday.

I spent the day by myself.  It's been a long time since I've done that, and it was nice.  I'm just one of those people that likes a little alone time every now and then.

I did not diet well today in that I ate sporadically throughout the day.  However, the things that I ate were good.  I made turkey chili for dinner, in full accordance with the 17 Day Diet Phase 1 rules.  It was really good, but not as good as old fashioned beef chili.

Tomorrow is the weigh in for the weight loss challenge that I'm doing!  I'm forcing myself to think optimistically, but I really have no idea if I've lost the 10 pounds or not.  It could go either way at this point.  However, I do have all day tomorrow to work it off.  That works if you only have a pound or so left.

My partner weighed out on Friday and was down 12 pounds, so it's all on me!  I think I'll pay her the $20 she loses if I don't make it.

The Baker's Nook!? Yes!

Yes, I know.  I missed a day.  Anyway...

I went shopping with my Mom today for some supplies for my sister's baby shower.  I plan to make some truffles for favors.  I have never made them before, so I spent a little time online researching about chocolate.  I learned that baker supply shops generally have the best chocolate for candy making.  Go figure.

I have a new favorite store.  It's called The Baker's Nook in Saline, Michigan.  I thought that I'd died and gone to heaven.  I love baking and this store has everything that anyone could ever need to bake anything.  I could have spent hours in there.  Luckily, I had my Mom with me to keep me focused on the mission at hand.  I picked out 15 pounds of chocolate (Yes, I said, "15 pounds of chocolate.") and got out of there.

Fortunately, I will not be making these truffles until long after my weigh in on Monday.  You know that I will have to sample them when I do.  Every good chef samples thier food.

We did baby shower related shopping for most of the day.  I did eat at Red Robin for lunch, and I did not do a great job of sticking to the diet.  I had a BBQ chicken wrap and a bowl of chili.  I could have done worse, I guess.  I will be working out hard tomorrow to make up for it.  I'll do some Tae Bo or running, but I haven't decided which.

I got back home around 3:30 and Chris and I turned around and headed out to the movie theater to meet some friends.  We saw "Paul."  It was very funny, and well worth the ticket price.  Not for kids though, if you didn't get that from the trailer.

We grabbed some dinner at IHOP afterwords, and I did very well.  I had crepes with fruit, yogurt, and granola on them.  Yes, I know there were a lot of carbs in that.  It's okay though, it was low calorie.  I also had two sausage links for some protein.  I'm still having some trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that eating a crepe is more of a sin on this diet than eating a sausage link.

We had a great time.  It's been a while since we went out with friends.  We need to do it more often.

Down to the Wire.

2.5 to go and 4 days to do it in.  I got this!

Italian Sausage and Peppers... Sort of.

I make a very good Italian sausage and peppers recipe with green peppers, onion, fennel, tomatoes, pasta and of course, sausage.  There are three things wrong with this when you are on phase one of the 17 Day Diet: fennel, pasta, and sausage.

Last weekend at the grocery store I discovered that you could buy Italian Sausage made with turkey.  I just had to try and make sausage and peppers with it.  I decided from the get-go that I should just leave out the fennel and the pasta.  (By the way, I'm not sure why fennel is not an "approved" vegetable for phase one, but it isn't.)  Also, I substituted orange peppers for green peppers because the price of green peppers is outrageous right now.

It was edible, but only left me wishing that I could have had the real thing.  You can find turkey versions of a lot of items that are typically made with red meat.  I've tried a few and I have not liked any.  I'm okay with letting turkey be turkey.

On a positive note, I was driving along a stretch of road today that I don't normally travel down and found a fresh meat market and country store.  I have been wondering for a long time where I could get fresh meat around here.  I plan to go check it out sometime soon.  Hopefully they have some chicken breasts there that don't look like they were hacked apart with a machete.

I've lost another pound!  I have just under three to go by next Monday.  If I keep at my current pace, I should get there!  Yippee!

I Want Bread!

This diet is killing me.  I want to sit down to a giant bowl of spaghetti with meat sauce and a slice or two of garlic bread.  Badly.  Macaroni and cheese would also be wonderful.

I am at the halfway mark of the first 17 day cycle.  I've been contemplating making it a 34 day cycle though.  We'll see.  That will depend on my own will power and whether Chris can stand anymore carb-less dinners.  Tonight I made him a baked potato so that he didn't have to suffer with me.

I need to lose 3.8 pounds by Monday!  Wish me luck!

Uh Oh.

This is not good guys.  My life has gotten so lame that I have nothing to write about.  Having nothing to write about gives me very little motivation to write at all.  I completely forgot to write yesterday.

I don't lead a thrilling life and I'm okay with that.  In fact, that is one of the things that I like most about my life.  However, this is a blog about dieting and fitness... and my diet and exercise routine is BORING.  It's so much more interesting when I cheat on my diet.  Who wants to read, "I ate another plate of raw vegetables today."?  Not me.

I could probably spice things up by writing more about work, family, or friends.  I'm pretty sure I would get in trouble on multiple levels if I did that.  I have a bad habit of saying things that mean nothing to me, but somehow cause drama for months on end.  I think that people assume that there are layers of meaning in the words that I say, when really I'm a pretty straight-forward person.

I didn't make it to the gym this morning because we overslept.  The alarm was set.  The time was adjusted for daylight savings.  We just didn't hear it.  Our secondary alarm, Jet, did not wake us up for his breakfast because he is still adjusting for Spring Forward.  Tomorrow will be better.

Clean House, Tasty Turkey.

The title of today's post pretty well sums up my day.  I spent four hours or so cleaning today, and the house looks good.  When I was finished, I put the turkey breast in the oven and somehow managed to burn the next three hours fluttering around the house.  I don't recall sitting down for very long, but I'm not sure where the time went.

I did make some more of that great basil marinade that I tried earlier this week; and started marinading four chicken breasts.  I'm going to cook them off tomorrow for my lunch and for some salads one night this week.  I also cleaned up a dog mess with our Little Green Machine (stinker!) and made a menu for next week's dinners.  Then, I made some accompaniments for the turkey (tossed salad and steamed broccoli and cauliflower).  That does not sound like three hours!

Not to brag, but I make the juiciest, most delicious turkey ever.  In the past I have used butter and wine to baste the turkey.  Today I used some homemade turkey broth that I had in the freezer and it was to die for.  I will never again make the mistake of thinking that turkey needs to be jazzed up.  It is wonderful with nothing but a pinch of salt.  If you couldn't tell, I'm still thinking about it.

Part of the 17 Day Diet is drinking 64 ounces of water each day.  That is really easy to do when I am sitting at my desk with a 32 ounce water bottle.  I found today that it is not so easy when you are up and moving around.  I've only had 12 ounces today.  I need to try and be better about this on the weekends.  I also made the mistake of working through lunch.  All of a sudden it was 3:00pm and I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.  I wonder how thin I would be if I worked in a job that was more physically demanding?

I Love Fridays.

Well, I love Fridays from 4:30pm on.

I got out of cooking this evening.  Chris and I went to a going away gathering for one of his co-workers at a local bar.  I did cheat a little.  I had a beer and had ranch dressing on my grilled chicken salad.  Other than that I was super good though!  I could have done so much worse in a setting like that.

I had all but lost hope on the losing the ten pounds that I needed to lose by March 21st.  This new diet is working wonders though, and I have renewed determination to make it happen.  I've lost three pounds since Monday!  Four more to go and a little over a week to do it in.  I just have to stick to the plan.

My heart hurts for the people of Japan today.  Although I am grateful for the technology that we have these days, I am not sure how I feel about the relentless and intrusive news coverage.  This is certainly not the first occasion that I've felt this way, but today's events just bring it to the forefront of my mind.  There are a couple of things that bother me.  First, someone is profiting off of another person's grief and misery.  Second, many people in this world get some sort of high off of witnessing tragedies.  I am guilty of it.  I visited CNN.com multiple times today.  I guess I just feel that if you want to see this stuff first hand, get on a plane and go help them.  Don't sit on your couch and say, "Oh, that's too bad, but that tsunami video was amazing so I'm going to watch it forty times."  I won't be watching the news this weekend.

Blackened Mixed Grill Salads.

Tonight's tester recipe was "Blackened Mixed Grill Salads."  The attached recipe for blackening spice is a winner.  Just in case you were wondering, no it is not spicy.  I thought that it would be and was pleasantly surprised to learn otherwise.  As for the rest of the recipe, eh.

This did affirm for me that I am not a seafood eater.  I loved the seasoning on the chicken.  The first bite of salmon made me lose my appetite.  I am a firm believer that people should try things that they didn't like as children when they are adults.  I've found out on many occasions that I was really missing out.  That is not the case with our finned friends.  I told Chris that going forward he should eat fish when we go out for dinner if he wants to eat it.

Again, I do like crab, tuna, and most deep fried seafood.  Although, I think you could deep fry just about anything and it would be good.  Mmm... fat.

I didn't end up having much of a dinner after that disgusting bite of salmon.  I am sure it will come back to haunt me later.  It was haunting me a little bit during the Spartans basketball game tonight.  I'm pretty sure ESPN's ad sales department hates me.  Snickers PB Squares, pizza, McDonald's... Bullies.

Loser of a Recipe.

For the third night in a row, I tried a new recipe for dinner.  I made "Sauteed Chicken with Artichokes and Peppers." It was not very good.  I did make one substitution.  I did not get the "marinated artichokes," and opted for the plain canned artichokes that were one third the price.  Perhaps that was the issue, but regardless I do not plan on making this again.

The expense of eating healthy foods infuriates me.  I feel like the world is telling me that if I care about myself, I have to spend more than half of my paycheck at the grocery store.  Not to mention the judgement that I'll receive when I have children and I have to feed them "toxins" because I can't afford the good stuff.  I'm sure I am not in the minority here.  Ranting finished.

I've done well at the gym this week.  Legs Monday.  Abs Tuesday.  Arms today.  I am supposed to work my back tomorrow, but it is pretty sore today.  I'll see how it feels in the morning.  If it's sore, then I'll just do some cardio.

Basil Marinaded Chicken.

Day two on the diet has been a success.  The weight does seem to be coming off, which makes me a happy camper.

I made "Grilled Basil-Marinaded Chicken" for dinner tonight.  It was excellent.  I will most definitely be making it again.  I'm looking forward to making it this summer when I can use the outdoor grill.

I made some steamed asparagus to have on the side.  I learned that asparagus is not good when it is out of season.  Half of the pieces were mush and have of them were tough.  It might have been okay for a cream of asparagus soup, but that is certainly not allowed on this diet.  I won't be eating anything with the word "cream" in the title for quite some time.

Problems on the home front abound. The garage door opener has gone kaput.  The water softener, which is less than two years old, was repaired for the second time today.  We've been told that we need an expensive filtration system.  The muffler on Chris' car is barely hanging on.  The dog has been digging in the yard again, and broke the collar that is connected to his invisible fence.  We have ants living near the kitchen sink, in spite of the traps that we've put out.  We're not dirty people, I swear.  Why does everything break at the same time?

I just heard the toaster pop. My husband is making toast with Nutella (the only thing in this house that he could be making in the toaster).  Let the torment begin.  Mmm... carbs.

Saucy Salmon.

I am not a seafood fan.  I never have been.  There are a few things that I like, but I've never been one to sit down to a giant hunk of fish (unless it has been battered and deep fried).

In order to keep some variety in my life during phase one of the 17 Day Diet, I have decided to try some new fish recipes.  Tonight I made 'Saucy Salmon'.  It wasn't bad.  I would rather have been eating a giant bowl of spaghetti, but this was a fish recipe that I could tolerate.  I ate half of the piece of salmon that I served myself (about 2 ounces, I believe).  Trust me, that is a victory.  Later this week I will be making blackened salmon to top a salad.  Stay tuned to find out if I can down 3 ounces of that.

Day one of the diet went very well.  I may have eaten my weight in fresh veggies.  The only carbs that I ate were some Activia this morning and an orange at lunch.  By the way, I did not mention yesterday that this diet requires me to eat two servings of probiotics each day.  I've decided to have an Activia at breakfast and an acidophilus tablet with dinner.  There's something very odd to me about intentionally putting live bacteria in my body, but I haven't heard of anyone dying from it.

So far this isn't so bad.  We'll see how I feel in 17 days.

I'm back.

Chris and I arrived back in Michigan yesterday after four sunny, warm days in Arizona.  Of course, it was snowing when we touched down at Metro Airport.  I wish we could have spent the rest of winter in Arizona.

My diet was non-existent while I was on vacation, aside from the morning when I had a mild case of food poisoning from the previous night's Mexican dinner.  Anyway, I did do a lot of walking and even went for a run.  I was exhausted at the end of each day.

I'm sure that I've done a fantastic job of driving home the fact that I do not like fad diets.  We need carbs, fat, and calories to live.  However, desperate times call for desperate measures.  I have 14 days to lose 7 pounds.  If I don't lose the weight, then I lose the $20 that I wagered on the weight loss challenge, along with my partner's $20 and our winnings.

Tomorrow, I will be starting "The 17 Day Diet."  I received an email forward with the 'rules' in it, which is how I am able to start it before the book even comes out.  I believe the diet has been featured on Dr. Phil Show and on The Doctors, which is probably how the rules got out there.

This is essentially a low carb diet, but it changes every 17 days.  In the first 17 days you get no carbs.  The next three sets of 17 days, you gradually step up your carb intake and learn portion control.  I like this a little more than the diets that these money grubbers usually shove down our throats, because it teaches me new eating habits.  Ideally, by the end of the diet I will have a completely new way of feeding myself that doesn't leave out any major nutrients.

There is also a "17 Minute Workout" that goes along with the diet, but I like my own gym routine and plan to stick with it.

The only down side: a $200 grocery bill.  Granted, I bought some stock up items for the freezer and a few things that we don't buy every week.  Also, we were out of town for the week and had nothing in the house. Regardless, I don't expect this to be cheap.

Humbug,

169.2.  I took a picture, but then packed the camera.  Now, I have 2.2 pounds to make up.

My brother-in-law's girlfriend is trying some 17-day diet with awesome results.  I may have to find out more about that, if only so that I can get my money back out of the weight loss challenge that ends on March 21st.

Off to Arizona! Yay!