Day 1

Well, so far so good. I've had breakfast, a morning snack and lunch. I'm feeling pretty good so far. Haven't had a huge case of the hungries yet, but I know it can strike at anytime. I'll give you a rundown of the day so far.

3/4 c. whole grain cereal
1 c. fat free milk

Lean Cuisine tortilla crusted fish w/rice
1 wieght watchers cupcake

2 bottles of water
1 pkg. Crystal Light on the Go Fruit Punch

I have some cucumbers and a Cherry Coke Zero for later in the day. Dinner will be roasted chicken, brown rice and green beans. I see lots of chicken in my future. Of course, there will be lots of veggies in my future. I don't mind them so much. I just need to get a little creative.

On My Own

I talked to my JC consultant today about my current economic situation. MJ and I need to cut some costs. While JC isn't exactly a luxury, it does add to our grocery bill. C and I talked about creating a menu that will meet my JC requirements. I will be able to prepare meals that I can share w/MJ and that he'll enjoy. I've done an inventory of what we have in the freezer. I've researched some recipes on Cooking Light. Now, I have to make my menu for the week. The real challenge will come in figuring how many calories I'm taking in. I'll be chronicling my adventures here. I am going to need all the help that I can get. So, please check on my progress. I cannot do this alone. If you have any lowfat ideas, I ask that you share them.

I am going to list some of the basic things that I should have every day.

8 oz. fat free milk or low fat yogurt
2 pcs. fruit
3 or more servings of vegetables
150 cal. snack like popcorn or 100 cal. pack.
8-8 oz. glasses of water

I am going to need to step up my exercising. I gave up my gym membership a while back. So any creative ideas on working out would be good as well. I enjoy walking so I will be doing that as often as I can.

Wish me luck!

Just Breathe

I didn't gain the weight in a day. And I didn't gain it by eating food that always tasted great. Let's face it twinkies, ho-hos, and ding dongs have very little nutritional value no matter how hard you try to justify that flour comes from grain. And corn syrup has corn which is a vegetable/grain. I know that I complain about the meals from JC, but some of them are quite tasty. Take last night's dinner. I had the mac and cheese. It is really tasty. There's a bite to it from sharp cheddar and a hit of spice from red pepper. And it's a bit better than those snack cakes that I used to love.

I've got to get a better attitude about this. You see I sabotage myself and that's so not good. I have to be more responsible about what I eat. Will having a slice of pepperoni pizza kill me? No, but it will add to the time it takes me to reach my goal. What's your weakness? What do you do to curb it? Do you substitute or give in? Hey, I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Is It Meat?

That's my question today. My lunch today is Jenny Craig's tortellini soup. There are six tortellini in here. Yes, I counted. It's not bad, but I can't tell if the pieces floating around in the tomato based soup are meat or not. It doesn't say that they aren't, but it doesn't say that they are beef either. Why do I suspect that it's not beef/meat? Well, the texture is a little off. Shoot, even cheap beef feels more real that this. These little meat like nuggets feel a little rubbery. I know I should just shut up and eat my lunch, but I just can't help but wonder. Is this stuff real? You see they tell me that the cheese burrito doesn't have any meat in it and that it contains tofu. Okay, I can deal with that. I can bury the tofu under extra salsa and a little fat free sour cream. This 'beef' though is floating all through the soup. You can't avoid it.

Of course, if I could learn to be more disciplined then I could eat my own food, but I can't be trusted just yet.

I'm Back!

Did you miss me? Well, I missed me, too. I'm on the wagon and fully recuperated. It's been very hard to stay focused. I know what I should do and I've been doing it most of the time. However, I've been having a hard time resisting the cravings. I mean a bacon double cheeseburger can't be all bad, can it? Don't answer that. I have dropped 20 pounds and that's a great feeling. I want to drop 20 more, but that feels like a daunting task. I know take it one meal at a time. Well, when your meal comes in a box, it is hard not to get discouraged. I said this at the beginning. I HAVE CONTROL ISSUES.

And that is the problem. I don't want the little boxes. I want to eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it. There I said it!! And that's another problem. That's what got me in this fix. I need to find some sort of happy medium, a balance, if you will.

I'll keep you posted.

A Treat

Mother's Day isn't exactly my favorite holiday. It's stressful. My DOM passed away a few years ago so it's bittersweet. MJ's mom is hard to please. So, I decided not to try. It was going to be what it was. Of course, I decided this after we had gone to pick up dinner fixins from Harris-Teeter. I'm a huge beef fan. The music from the "Beef, It's What's for Dinner" commercials could be my theme song. We picked up a few ribeyes (on sale), some chicken breasts (BOGO), asparagus (on sale), onions, garlic and a rotisserie chicken for lunch. Well, after lunch I didn't feel like doing anything. And my MIL let us (read me) off the hook. She said that would be enough.

Okay, you know my grill situation. I can't have one b/c of the fire code in Alexandria. Well, those beautiful steaks kept calling me from the fridge and freezer. The slacker in me kept turning the volume down. Then a beautiful thing happened. MJ's brother-in-law walked in. He was hungry. He didn't want to do the prep, but he'd man the grill. A plan started to form. You see I had picked up some packets of grill seasoning from good ol' HT. MJ and I got prepped the meat. I made a quick marinade for the asparagus and we were ready to go. My SIL and I went to pick up some microwaveable sides and life was good.

What do you like on the grill? Do you grill your veggies like I do? Are you a charcoal snob or will you use gas in a pinch? I must say I prefer charcoal, but my SIL's Weber gas grill is kinda nice. There's something to be said for instant temp. control.

Lunch

I just had my Jenny Craig lunch. The container said Beef Chili with Beans. They lied. It was beef flavored bean chili. ICK! You might be asking yourself why did she buy the chili when she knows that she doesn't like beans. Well, I'll eat a few beans, but they are not my favorite by a long shot. And I love chili. I haven't had it in a while. My dad used to make chili that would burn so good. It was thick beef chili. He made two batches, one for TY and me with no beans and one for him and our mom with those alien pods. As it is the little container is no bigger than the soup bowls you get, so I jazzed mine up with some tortilla chips (good use of today's snack pack), salsa (gotta love the free items) and a little fat free sour cream (a limited item). The trouble is I can still taste those beans.

When I am able to create my own meals, I want to make my own chili. And it's not going to be that burn your mouth going and your keister coming out kind either. I want to use a mix of ground beef and turkey to create a leaner, lower fat version. There will be no beans at all in mine. I will be looking for ways to pump up the fiber though. So, for all of my cooking friends, start going over your recipes. I'm looking for any and all suggestions for my chili.