Discovery or Learning Opportunity?

I had a 3-day weekend this past weekend and it was okay though I discovered a couple very important things.

The first occurred on Friday when I didn't keep track of my food intake - OMG!  I almost completely passed out and had to suck down an Adkins Advantage protein shake - damn it worked really freaking fast! The rest of the weekend I had to make sure I ate a small snack or ate a regular meal, every few hours.

2nd discovery?  I can actually make chocolate chip cookies and NOT lick the beaters, spatula or leftover dough on the spoon; or sneak a few in my bra, hide in the closet, eat them all and then quickly eat an onion to hide the scent of cookies on my breath; or lick the crums off my man's face.  It is possible!! Can you believe it? 

I also made mashed potatoes to go with the beef brisket my man grilled and I was quite content with just the beef and steamed green beans. Yummmmmmm!  I stole ALL the leftover brisket and made myself a wrap for lunch today. Mwahahahahahahahaha! No brisket for you my man and child! It's mine, all mine! Mwahahahahaha!

Other than discovering I'm PMSing for the 2nd month in a row (very weird), which causes the usual breast soreness and the unusual (though usual for me) narcolepsy, it was a rather normal weekend.

Exercise: not a darn thing though I think taping and painting the guest room should count, thank you very much.

Greek Corner Tragedy

Since I started the Metabolism Miracle I've been doing all my own cooking and food prep, not trusting myself to venture out in the Land of Restaurant Food.  And it's not just trusting myself but really not knowing if there would be anything on the menu that I could eat that would fit in Step One.  Well, I found that out Wednesday.

Background: At the slender and tender age of 19 I was working full-time at night and going to college full-time during the day, scheduling my favorite Reebok step class around all of it. I was the token "youngster" in the Reebok class since it was during the day and women my mom's age or stay-at-home moms would go.  It was awesome and I made some lifelong friendships but when I finished college I lost touch with them until 2000 when we reconnected and now have lunch one a month, hence this entry.

Okay - so we met at this restaurant called The Greek Corner and upon my first perusal of the menu, there was NOTHING I could have on there.  The server was trying to hurry me up to look at the menu to order and when I informed her I was trying to find something I could eat, she grabbed the freaking menu out of my hands and starting pointing out all the things she thought I could eat. WTF!???!!!!!  How rude and please, does she know what eating plan I'm on or if I have food allergies?  I think not!

I did not bitch-slap her and grab the menu, though I really, really, really wanted to and I was hungry, dammit! Instead, I politely informed her I would need a couple of minutes and I'd be able to give her my request. Ugh.  I wanted the Pastichio or a Gyro or something like that but unfortunately, the only item on the menu to fit within Step One was the "spicy chicken salad".  Good thing I brought extra stuff to eat at work because the salad consisted of chopped romaine lettuce, onions, and cucumbers with a bit of spicy cooked chicken.  THAT'S IT!!!! The salads I make at home are so much better and I don't charge a ridiculous $12 for it either.

It was such a tragedy - I stoically suffered through my rabbit food while those about me gnoshed on tender lamb meat gyros, fettucini, baklava, and pasitchio.  The diet fairies mopped my weary brow and spooned coffee to my lips to help me keep my energy.  ((sigh)) I almost slipped into the depths of despair. 

For dinner? I made a delicious chicken paprikash - and can I add, i just like saying "paprikash" with an annoying inflection and accent - along with a broccoli/cheese dish. Take THAT Greek "Tragic" Corner!  Never again will I waste away of hunger at your doorstep!

I'm doing Biggest Loser!

Hah! Gotcha!  I bet that got your attention.

No, I'm not going on TV and doing the Biggest Loser but my company does a Spring/Summer program called Meltdown in Anchortown and one of the categories is Biggest Loser. 

I decided since I only just stared the Metabolism Miracle Diet a little over a week ago AND the "meltdown" starts April 19th, it couldn't hurt to try it.  There are monthly weigh-ins and throughout the contest you're entered to win gift certificates and other prizes.  The winner gets something like $500. 

I also joined the Biggest Loser Teams with two co-workers (they made me the team captain) and we are calling ourselves "V.S.B." aka Victorious Secret Beauties. Bwahahahhahah! I love it!

Keep your fingers crossed.  I wouldn't mind winning some moolah or gift certificates while working on my weight loss goal!

Week One? CHECK! Week 2? In Progress

((sigh)) I'm actually in a good mood but a stupid headache came on over the last hour. Bleh. I've had 3 cups of coffee today which would normally keep me in a relative state of zingy-ness along with the 3 billion gallons of water consumed, sending me running to the bathroom 1.432 million times today.

((sigh)) I think I know the reason and you're going to roll your eyeballs big time when you read it. So, I have naturally curly hair but about 90% of the time I straighten it but since I started swimming, I've been letting it go curly on the day I swim and the day after.  Hello!!  I don't want huge chunks of my hair to fall out due to overuse of styling tools.  My mamma didn' raise no foo!

I put barrettes in it today to keep it out of my face and like bobbypins, they tend to give me a headache because the curly hair is heavier. Ugh!  I told you it was stupid!

Diet News?  Oh yeah - that's what I'm supposed to be writing about.  Sorry. I got distracted by my own neurosis'.

Week One ended with a whimper.  I spent the weekend making multiple trips to the grocery store to get "stuff" to try more of the recipes in the back of the book and doing some major cooking and taste testing.  Sure I have a creative brain but when it comes to meal planning over the long term, I don't stand a snowball's chance in hell. 

One recipe I tried was for a breakfast "cereal" but it was really almonds and brazil nuts (chopped and processed), 1/2 c of creamer, butter, cinnamon, splenda, and something else.  It kind of tasted like a hot cereal but mostly just warm nuts ((snicker)). Warm nuts.  Bwahahahhhaha! Sorry, I have the maturity of a gnat sometimes.

The only other discovery I made was in regards to wine/alcohol.  The plan states you can have a couple glasses of wine without worry of carb repercussions; however, a half glass of wine = 5 oz.  Anywho - last night I decided to have a couple small 1/2 glasses of wine, becoming a tidge tipsy, which is really weird since it's really only 1 glass of wine. 

Stumbling to the kitchen counter I grabbed the book and looked through the section on alcohol: "During Step One, your liver, the organ that helps to clean alcohol from the bloodstream, is on temporary vacation.  While it rests, it may be a bit slower to process alcohol and as a result you will feel alcohol's effects faster and for a longer time."

Hmmmm - guess what?  IT'S TRUE!  Which means 2 things. #1 I am really going to have to watch how much I have to drink at any given time, which I do but now more than ever, especially if I want to meet a friend for a Lemon Drop or Martini after work.  I might just have to sip water or something. #2 I must be doing the diet right!!!!!

04/12/10 Exercise: 32 laps at the pool
04/12/10 Meals: does anyone really care? I don't think I do but I'll make sure to post good recipes.

The Devil made me do it....

That's my story and I'm sticking with it. Deal.

Okay, so according to the author of the Metabolism Miracle, we're not supposed to weigh ourselves for at least the first month since our bodies our going through some internal changes, different eating habits, exercise regimens, etc. 

Some people apparently gain a few pounds. Some don't lose anything. Some are stupid and not really following the plan but still expecting the same results. Whatever.

I was walking by the scale yesterday as I was getting ready to leave to run said errands and something grabbed me by the ankle.  Startled I looked down and my scale had suddenly grown tentacles and was pulling me toward it.  Helpless to resist, I was forced to step on the scale.

Not wanting to see the weight, I screwed my eyes shut but a stinging slap to the ass-entials from one of the tenticles made me open my eyes. Below me glowed satanic like numbers sucking me into the abyss.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I lost 4 1/2 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't believe it!  I'm not starving myself. I'm eating plenty of food and drinking lots of water. I don't feel deprived.  I'm doing my normal exercise routine that I've had for the last 8-10 years. I LOST 4 1/2 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to tell my  MD that in 6 days I lost 4 1/2 pounds on this simple-ish diet and that 5 months on Phentermine did NOTHING. 

Take THAT Dr. Mr. Smarty Britches with a stethascope!

5:30 AM AGAIN!!!!!

Friday night we had stayed up late watching TV before finally hitting the sack since I was getting up to go to my boot camp class.  Yes, I'm a little wacked for getting up early on a Saturday morning for an 80 minute intensive workout.  But I've done this for years and it's just part of my normal regimen.

Unfortunately for me the dogs decided to wake me up at 5:30 AM AGAIN and dragging my tired ass-entials out of bed, the dogs were let out to pee and fed before I collapsed into bed again.  When my alarm went off at 8:30 for me to get up, I was so bone tired and had a major headache.  There was no way I was going to the class feeling like that.  Plus, I was hungry and needed to eat something. 

I ate breakfast, sucked down a cup of coffee, took my horse pills - I mean vitamins, and crawled back into bed to sleep till 11:30 or so.  Yeah.  I'm a slug. Bad me. Horrible to sleep instead of punish myself at the gym with a headache and bone wearyness.  Oh well.  Screw it. I didn't care.

The idea was to replace my workout with a nice brisk walk to a friend's house to deliver some of the sweet nut treats that I'd been raving non-stop about. Nope. Didn't happen. Spent most of the day running errands: putting new dishwasher in the condo for the renters, go to the bank, Costco, Fred Meyer, blah, blah, blah.  No exercise of any consequence occurred.  Meh.

Again, another boring diet day though I did make and try 3 new recipes.  I made Sweet & Sour Cukes (cucumbers), a cabbage salad (it was okay), and mashed cauliflower "potatoes".  OMG!!!!  the best were the mashed cauliflower potatoes.  They tasted like mashed potatoes.  No shit!  I was amazed and totally blown away by the nummyness of them.  Seriously. No really, seriously.

Day 6 Meals
Breakfast: coffee with sugar-free creamer, toast, cottage cheese
Snack: sweet nut treats (walnuts silly. don't think anything dirty)
Lunch: slice of roast beast, mozarella cheese stick, celery, uber-water
Snack: milk chocolate 1g net carb protein shake
Dinner: salmon, a few s&s cukes, cabbage salad, and mashed cauliflower potatoes

Day 5 Recap

Meh. There's not much to tell for Friday.  It was a normal day. Normal eating plan. Normal interaction with co-workers and family. No one was lacerated with an acerbic tongue due to jelly bean deprevation. I didn't fall into the depths of despair with the lack of pasta, rice or bread.

Nada. Nien. Niet. Nonca. Nothing. I was just tired all freaking day long and actually had to take a nap for about 45 minutes before taking the child and two of her friends to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D.  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!! 

Oh and I even made it through the movie without attacking the person next to me for a whiff of their buttered popcorn. Yeah - and no children were crying about the mean lady who stole their sour gummy worms. Yep. I was stellar for the evening, if I do say so myself.  I was content with my bottle of water. Sad, but true.

See! Tired, boring, normal day. Meh.