Mona's Clean Slate for 2006

[Mona]

Well I decided to jump on the journal bandwagon. I'm trying to refocus for 2006 and make it the year I finally get back to losing some serious weight. Over the years I've tried joining challenges but they never seem to work out for me. I usually wind up feeling overwhelmed trying to respond to everyone's comments...or I end up feeling like the 5th wheel in a 4 man clique. Also, I tend to shy away from starting new threads about myself and my accomplishments or failures. So I'm hoping this journal will be a place where I can keep track of my progress and maybe even toot my own horn as needed.

I have good feelings about 2006. I think it's finally going to be the year I do it! This is just getting ridiculous, I HAVE to do it. I've been saying I've been doing low carb for 6 years now and I'm still morbidly obese. I feel like a hypocrite giving people advice on the boards when it's obvious I am not a successful lowcarber. I know what to do, I just don't do it because I'd rather keep medicating myself with every cheap, refined carb I can lay my hands on.

My goal for this year is to lose 100 pounds and stop with all the damn cheats everytime a holiday or birthday or I-don't-feel-like-cooking-day rolls around. I lose an average of 10 pounds a month when I'm on track so I think 100 pounds is a reasonable goal for the year. However I'm not going to be devastated if I only reach 90 or 80 pounds gone. My main focus is to just stop with all the excuses and rationalizations and focus on eating well. The weight loss will happen if I just eat right.

The good news is that this is the 2nd day of Induction for me and I'm down 4 pounds. I had a horrible headache at the end of Day 1 which was a surprise since I normally don't get the headache until day 2 or 3. No headache yesterday or today for which I'm very thankful because I'm a big baby when it comes to pain.

I'm not a big fan of advanced meal planning. Typically when I go shopping I just buy a bunch of veggies that I like, buy whatever meat is on sale, a few staples I like to have around like yogurt, various cheeses, etc, then I decide what to thaw for dinner in the morning. Breakfast is usually the same--bacon or sausage coupled with either yogurt or cottage cheese. I can't stand eggs. Lunch is usually some sort of leftovers or if I'm feeling ambitious I'll make a salad. If I feel like posting my menus I will most likely post the previous days' menu, but I'm not going to start setting up rules for myself because I know me and I tend to get anal about things. I know that I can get caught up in the minutia of posting daily menus down to the last speck of garlic powder. Then I get frustrated because it's "too much work" and I give up on everything.

Here's what I ate yesterday.

Brunch: 3/4 cup cottage cheese, 3 sausage patties, 1 ounce almonds.

Dinner: 6 ounces beef chuck roast, 1.5 cup steamed broccoli w/ butter plus 2 oz. melted cheddar and .25 cup real bacon bits.

Fat: 120g 1081 69%
Carbs: 26g 63 4%
Fiber: 10g 0 0%
Protein: 106g 425 27%
Total Cal: 1598

Doesn't seem like much food for a 340 pound person. I woke up late and went to bed early so I only had time for 2 meals.

Vitamins-check!
Water consumption-good!

Some comments about my dinner. Divine! Got the roast for 1.99/lb. It's a Choice cut and honestly the best chuck roast I've ever had. Cooked low and long so all the fat got crispy and delicious. I went back to the store and bought 5 more and froze them! And I'm loving this "loaded broccoli" I read about on the boards. OMG it is so yummy! Feed this to people who don't like broccoli then see what they say!

It's so important to me that my meals are good and satisfying. Whenever I try new LC recipes that don't turn out well I tend to feel very sorry for myself and deprived. That usually leads to a pity cheat. A tried and true method for me is to just stick to the basics. Meat and veggies without any fancy schmancy recipes.

[thinr4me]

Best of luck to you Mona, sounds like your head is in the right place!

Linda

[Mona]

Thanks for the encouraging words Linda

Well after 4 days of low carb eating I'm down 8 pounds. Woo hoo I love the first 2 weeks with all that water weight. It's very motivating. My face looks less puffy too.

I went to Costco and stocked up on a bunch of meat. Bought a can of macadamia nuts as sort of an impulse buy. On another thread I was talking about how macadamias were dangerous for me, and now here I am with a jumbo can of them. But I only ate one serving last night and put them away in the cupboard. Half the battle I think is just having them out of sight so I'm not triggered to snack on them all day.

I'm frying up a sirloin steak for breakfast and having some cottage cheese while it cooks. I'm hungry! Sometimes it's a real drag having to wait an hour after my morning meds to eat. I've usually got a pretty good appetite when I wake up in the mornings. My steak smells really good. I got the $4.99/lb sirloin instead of the $6.99/lb NY strips. The strips are my favorite. Oh what a sacrifice!

Tuesday Menu:

Brunch: 5 oz beef chuck roast, 1/3 cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds.

Snack: 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1/3 cup tuna salad (tuna, mayo, celery, sugar free relish)

Dinner: chicken ceasar salad (4 romaine leaves, 1 oz. parmesan cheese, 1.5 slice 7-carb bread made into croutons, 1 boneless/skinless breast grilled with a touch of olive oil and spices, 3 TBSP ceasar dressing)

Dessert: jello and whipped cream (.4 cup)

Total Cals: 2310
Fat: 181 1629 71%
Carbs: 40 115 5%
Fiber: 11 0 0%
Protein: 141 565 24%



Wednesday Menu:

Woke up late for school so I didn't eat before I left. I forgot my water at home. I was more "put out" over not having any water than the lack of food. I get SO thirsty in ketosis. Got home around 8pm and finally ate some food. Not as bad as it sounds, my school starts at 4pm.

Dinner: 5 oz beef chuck roast, 1 ounce macadamia nuts. My roast is finally gone. I will miss you my friend.

Dinner #2 (a couple hours later--it took awhile to get my act together with washing the lettuce): Giant 4-cup salad with romaine, 4 baby carrots, 2 ounce cheddar, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup real bacon bits, 1/3 cup Ranch dressing.

Dessert: 1 cup SF Jell-O with 0.2 cup whipped cream.

Total Cals: 1889
Fat: 173 1557 82%
Carbs: 21 50 3%
Fiber: 8 0 0%
Protein: 74 297 16%

Looks like Wed was pretty high in fats and a little low on the protein. Oh well I'm having a thick, juicy steak for breakfast today so I'm sure it will all even out.

Goal for 2006: Lose 100 pounds
I have lost 8 of 100 pounds. I am 8% to goal.

[thinr4me]

TGIF and keep it up Mona

I miss the rapid weight loss of Atkins myself but I was not feeling well on it and have added LC whole grains and fruits, continuing to lose weight but more slowly, feeling better. For me personally, I feel like I can manage this more long term having battled LC eating off and on for almost 2 years. Time will tell.

Sirloin for breakfast????Wish I had that kind of time!

Looks like you are well on your way to a great start

Linda

[Mona]

I forgot to weigh myself this morning before I ate breakfast, and as we all know that violates the "dont weigh unless you are naked, have recently voided bladder and bowels and have an empty stomach" rule

Thursday

Brunch: 8 ounce choice sirloin steak cooked in 1 TBSP butter, 1/2 cup cottage cheese

Snack: 1 ounce macadamia nuts (I even weighed those suckers out and one ounce is not much)

Dinner: Salad with 4 cups romaine, 2.3 oz. grated cheddar, 4 baby carrots, 1 oz. real bacon bits, 1 oz. sunflower seeds, 1/3 cup Ranch dressing. (My favorite salad of all time)

Total Cal: 2164
Fat: 175 1574 73%
Carbs: 33 97 4%
Fiber: 9 0 0%
Protein: 124 496 23%

Vitamins and Water both good.


Friday

Breakfast: 2.7 ounce pork sausage (raw weight), 1/2 cup cottage cheese

Lunch: 25 pepperoni chips with 2 ounce cream cheese (I have been craving that for a week and was so dissappointed that my previous supply of pepperonis got old and disgusting in the freezer)

Dinner: 1.5 cups tuna salad (tuna, mayo, celery, SF relish)

Total Cal: 1993
Fat: 160 1444 73%
Carbs: 16 60 3%
Fiber: 1 0 0%
Protein: 119 474 24%

Vitamins: good!
Water: Not so good.

Had about 5300 mg sodium today. I chose some very salty foods! I might be holding some water tomorrow between the high salt content and the lack of water today.

[Mona]

oops double post

[Mona]

*blows dust away*

Wow, it's been 2 years since I've been here. I guess it turns out that 2006 wasn't the year I'd DO IT. But here I am trying again.

I really need to stay strong and stick with it this year. In August I start a job where I will be on my feet almost all day long. I haven't worked in 7 yrs and I'm really out of shape.

I lost almost 60 pounds the first part of 2007 but then had a "planned cheat" on vacation and managed to drag it out for 6 months. Undid most of my work.

I'm hoping the fear of the deadline will help me stay on track. I'm very good at having pity parties and deciding that I need a treat, etc. That August deadline is real. This isn't something like "I want to look good for a one-night school reunion" or something like that. Not that that isn't a worthwhile goal...but this is my whole future life I have been planning for. I can't blow it by being unable to physically perform my job when the time comes.

I have been going to school for 3 years now for this new career. I have known it was coming.....and now I'm down to my last 8 months. I want to start this job as thin and strong and confident as I possibly can. I know I can lose 80 pounds by then if I stick with it. That's 10 pounds a month. That would leave me at 270 pounds. I haven't been that weight since my early 20s. I would be extremely pleased to start my new career at that weight.

You can do it Mona!

[Mona]

I have 4 days of induction under my belt now. So far so good. I haven't even felt sick or headachy which is strange. Well there's always tomorrow!

Spent way too much at Costco...always do. I actually went in with a list and came out with about twice as much. Just saw so many yummy LC foods I wanted. Got some alfredo sauce. Everything is better dipped in alfredo sauce. Hope it tastes good because it's sold as a 3-jar pack. heh. I've been sort of faking induction with foods I have on hand because I didn't want to keep putting off Atkins any longer. Now I have steak, stuff for salads and lots of fatty dairy products.

I can't believe how fast the night goes when I get home from school. I am just now getting my chicken wings in the oven for tomorrow's lunch. Since it's 9:30 now, guess I won't be making my 10pm bedtime. But I have to cook them tonight--I can't stand how boned chicken smells when it's been in the fridge one day too long.

I have all sorts of ideas for things I want to cook this weekend and have on hand. It works so much better for me to have my lunch ready to go the night before. This morning, case-in-point, all I had time to do was grab some cheesestix, delimeat and mac nuts. Got a rotisserie chicken at Costco and ate a breast and both wings. yum.

They had just put out warm french bread at Costco and I could smell it's yeasty goodness. I wasn't tempted to buy any or cheat at all. They didn't even have good food sample ladies this time. Boca burgers? Blech. The other day I drove home with KFC in the car for DH. Again it smelled great but no temptations at all. I hope I can keep this attitude for a long long time because I need to stay strong this time.

[Mona]

B: smoked almonds, cheese
L: 6 chicken wings
S: peanut butter & celery, pepperoni and cream cheese
D: pork ribs, salad, greenbeans

Went out to eat with some school friends at a BBQ joint. Got ribs with no sauce and LC side items. Gave my piece of bread away. Had a nice time...was nice to socialize.

I hope I have a woosh soon. It's always nice to look forward to the big induction loss and so far I've only lost 2 pounds. I usually lose 10 pounds or so my first week. Trying not to get bummed about it tho.

[pescacat]

Hi Mona-Enjoyed your journal. Just wanted to say I believe in you!
--Laura

[Mona]

Hi Laura, thanks for your kind words. Sometimes I forget to check my own journal. I'm so busy these days it's about all I can do to post a couple times a week on the main thread.

B: sm. stalk celery w/ peanut butter, couple almonds, 3 sausage patties

L: romaine salad with a couple baby carrots, 1/2 stalk celery, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup real bacon bits, ranch dressing

D: choice pot roast dunked in drippings.


I haven't been paying too much attention to how many carbs/cals I've been eating. Just sort of winging it. I'm fairly certain I'm staying around 20-25 carbs. Yesterday tho I was munching on LC stuff all day. I just couldn't feel full. I'm surprised I didn't have a gain!

I got a couple cook-ahead meals done today but I sure wish I had time to do more. The pot roast doesn't really last too long, either. I had about 1/3 of it tonight, then Jeff will have some...then there's like one meal for leftovers. I should start cooking 2 at a time!

Tried making pork carnitas in my new crockpot. Got the meat tender. Tomorrow I will have to do the shredding and broiling part. Hope they taste good....because right now they are covered in all this grey cooked blood stuff that doesn't seem very appetizing. I can rinse it off but that might rinse off the flavor. hehe. we'll see how it goes tomorrow. I should be in bed right now but I'm stalling here at LCF.

[pescacat]

Hi-
So how were the carnitas? How are you doing? Sometimes I have trouble feeling full too-that's when I eat cream cheese or regular cheese-and drink more water-helps me feel full for awhile-especially the cheese.
KUTGW!
--Laura

[Mona]

Hi Laura. The carnitas turned out pretty good, altho they don't taste like the kind from a mexican restaurant. I just dont know their secrets.

Today I feel like I've had the perfect lowcarb day. No snacking, no nuts, no overly processed foods.

B: cottage cheese and 3 sausage patties
L: grilled chicken breast, broccoli, alfredo sauce
D: pork chop, oven roasted green beans

Tomorrow is my weigh-in. I was down to a low of 341 on Friday but then I had too many carbs I believe, in the form of fruit, and I've been up to 343 all weekend. Would be nice to get back down to 341 for tomorrow.

I got a lot of stuff done today so I'm happy. Did all the dishes including pots and pans. Yay! Have some grilled chicken and pork chops ready to go for meals, and cooked up some rice for Jeff. I was going to make tuna salad but it's late and gotta go to sleep. But now that the counters are clean I can do that tomorrow. Having food on hand is such a big deal for me.

[pescacat]

Good for you Mona! Way to go on losing! I know what you mean about having low carb food already on hand. When the munchie monster hits, it is so important to be forearmed!

Don't know the secret in the mexican restaurants either-maybe I don't want to know if it means they're adding massa flour or carbs or something else non-low carb but oh so tasty! I miss mexican food-it is diffcult to find a mexican restaurant here. The closest one is abou 45 minutes away and in the town where we got married-not exactly eager to go there now and even if I were, doubt my husband would take me especially sicne he's resorting to emotional balckmail to try to make me agree to a low settlement. Since he's the owner of the car and the only one of us with a valid italian driver's license, I'm pretty much stuck at home or using a bus and they don't go to that town. Oh well.

How are things going otherwise?

Take care and KUTGW!

--Laura

[Mona]

Hey Laura, I had a couple weeks of backsliding but I'm back on track now.

Made 4 cans of tuna salad. Ate some for dinner and now I have lunches for the rest of the week. yay!

I'm off to a good start...had a good Atkins day. 1633 cals, 73/2/25 (fat/carb/protein). Using Fitday to keep track of food since I haven't been doing so well "just winging it." Mind boggling to find out I had 520 cals of mayo in my tuna salad...and it still seemed a little dry. Lol! But I'm purposely trying to up the fats to hopefully keep me satiated.