Still here - 22 pounds lighter and counting

From last Friday 5/22 to Friday 5/29 I lost 2.2 pounds. In the beginning of that week I had hit a stall, and that was annoying! But, later in the week the scale started moving in the other direction so that was good.

One of my favorite foods is chicken wings, but even with their low carb characteristics, I just can't think they're really good for me. So, we've been experimenting at home. Same flavors, healthier preparation. We take boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders and season them and fry them in a skillet. Then, we pull them out, chop them into bite size pieces. First we made a hot sauce (butter, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce) to drop the cooked chicken bites in - very good. That with celery sticks and ranch dressing was a nice casual supper. Then, the other night, George mimicked this garlic parmesan sauce I love! He sautéed garlic in butter, and put the chicken in that. Then, he'd put some parmesan cheese in a deep mixing bowl so he put the chicken in there and tossed it in the cheese. It was delicious!

Other than that, we're experimenting with other low carb foods. I've ordered some things from netrition.com and have mixed reviews. The low carb pancakes and syrup are pretty good. The no carb BBQ sauce was awful (I'm going to try to make my own next time, more on that to come.) I also tried low carb apple cinnamon muffins - pretty good, but I think it was like 4 carbs for one little muffin.

Next week my sister and her family are coming for a visit and I want to try out my low carb homemade ice cream recipe while they're here. I'll try to post pictures and a review!

20 pounds!

Just here to write a celebratory post about losing 20 pounds! I had lost 16 pounds at the one month mark, a few days ago and I was stalling there for a few days. Then the last couple days I started losing again!

Love this diet, it's really the easiest diet in the world for me!

One month in

well, I started this diet one month ago today and I'm happy to say it's going well. It's definitely the easiest diet I've ever been on, in terms of sticking with it and not feeling starved all the time.

And, the best part is, I've lost 16 pounds! (I've been stuck here at -16 for a few days, grrr).

I love the food I'm eating and it's so realistic for me. I don't miss the carbs much at all!

Green Tea and Water

That's what I drink - green tea has replaced my beloved morning coffee with the french vanilla creamer and I drink water all day long after that. I have had an occasional diet soda or ice tea, but mostly water. And now that I'm giving my body the water it needs, I sort of crave it, if that makes sense.

According to wiki, below are some of the health benefits associated with drinking green tea:

• Anti-cancer properties
• Increases metabolic rate
• Possible anti-diabetes effect
• Boosts mental alertness
• Boosts immune system
• Lowers stress hormone levels
• Effects on bad breath

Other changes that are no doubt making me feel better include (1) working out everyday - I do Wii Fit so it's not extremely hard, but I do it every morning at 6 am and get my blood pumping for 30 minutes to start my day and (2) I don't suffer from heartburn, hardly ever - since I've been eating low carb. I have a bottle of Rolaids on my headboard and I used to pop 3 or 4 at night to be able to lay down and go to sleep. Now, I rarely touch the bottle, and when I do I take just 1 Rolaid if I feel a little heart-burny. It's awesome!

3 weeks

Today marked the third week of my diet. With my ups and downs (or should I say downs and ups?) I've lost a total of 13 pounds!

Yay!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Today was an interesting day. We got a late start for breakfast so decided to turn it into a brunch. First, George fried up some bacon while I chopped mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomatoes and ham for omelets. Then, I made french toast (for the kids) while George made omelets. My omelet was loaded, and with bacon on the side made for a huge breakfast.

A few hours later, a friend of ours called and invited us to the park for a Mother's Day cookout along with a few other families. Since it was sort of impromptu, I wasn't sure what to bring. I settled on a salad of tomato/basil/green onion tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

The cookout was great - I had chicken, a hot dog, mushrooms (cooked in some hot seasoning, yum), and my tomato basil salad. Had to pass up chips, corn on the cob, cookies, and many other tasty looking treats. Also, I had two Michelob Ultra beers (2.6 carbs each).

When I got home I wasn't really too hungry but had a sweet tooth. I had an Atkins Shake (1 carb) so I think I'm done for the day!

Came in right around 19 carbs today.

The pic I'm posting is last nights dinner - Crab cakes, squash/zucchini, and a tomato slice.

Here's the crab cake recipe - a little different than the previous one I posted.

Crab Cakes

3 cans crab meat
1 T chopped pepper
1 T chopped parsley
1 T mayo
1egg
1 T baking powder
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 t sage
1 t thyme

Mix together and fry in oil til cooked. Combine equal parts of mayo and hot spice mustard for the sauce.

Also, sauteed some onion and garlic then added the squash/zucchini with olive oil, salt and pepper, it made a tasty side!

I'm still here!

I haven't been keeping up with my daily food blogs, mostly because (1) I fell off the wagon a day or two while my sister was in town and (2) I've been repeating menus from the first two weeks so nothing too new. I think it's hard to eat out on this diet, I know a lot of people would disagree, but we ate at a mexican restaurant last weekend and since I love chips and tortillas, I felt very deprvied! Ha! But I actually didn't cheat there (except for that one single chip). But during the weekend I had some broccoli casserole (with rice), a few beers at the Kenny Chesney concert, and Sonic onion rings during the long weekend Em was here and I gained 2 pounds. Argh! Anyway, I got right back on the wagon this week and lost those two. So, total weight loss still = 12 pounds.

So on this diet I eat scrambled eggs about every day. And I like eggs, but get a little tired. So I found a low-carb pancake mix on http://www.netrition.com/. It is called Big Train Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix, I believe. I also bought some no carb DaVinci syrup. The pancakes are still 7 net carbs for 1/4 c mix, but it was a nice treat. And, pretty good. The syrup was no Mrs. Butterworths, but it was ok. On a 'normal' day I wouldn't consume 7 carbs at breakfast (8 with my morning tea) but once a week I think I'll go for it. George and I were talking and decided we could probably do a brunch some morning and have these pancakes, bacon and eggs and we wouldn't be hungry again til dinner. Anyway, I'm posting a picture showing how 1/4 c pancake mix looks all prepared on my plate this morning.

I'll be back as I weigh myself and as I try new recipes.

Day Twelve- Thursday April 30

This was an important day because it was my first time eating out since I started the diet. Therefore, I am not even attempting to count carbs, I have no clue. (But I did weigh myself today and I've lost another 1.5 pounds so I'm doing ok!)

Breakfast:

2 eggs, scrambled, with cheese

1 cup peppermint tea, packet of splenda

Lunch:

Tuna Salad

1 Atkins Bar - my first one, yum

Dinner:

Ate at Babba Bruno's - it was great.

I had this grilled shrimp (5) in a garlicy oil and grilled veggies, like zuchini and squash. There were potatoes on my plate but I didn't eat them. Oh, and I had a small dinner salad, that I would guess had some kind of balsamic vingarette on it. I also ignored the bread - that was hard!