What's that?

Raspberry Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches... ....

What you'll need: (5 servings)

• 4 tbls Lite Cool Whip
• 20 fresh raspberries mashed
• Chocolate Graham Crackers

Mash raspberries, combine with cool whip, make yummy sandwiches, and freeze.

Enjoy at 44 calories per serving (2 small graham cracker squares for one sandwich).

And the winner goes to....

1.6 lbs lost this week.

Nice Surprise

It's nice when you've forgotten you've ordered something.

Several weeks ago, I just so happened to catch an episode of the Dr. Oz show (which to be honest, I don't watch all that much since I'm not home when it's on) in which he talked about the health benefits of losing just 10 pounds. I was right at that light-bulb moment where I could have gone either way with my weight loss. I could have decided to love my overweight (really obese) self, or go the other direction and start making a change. As part of the Just 10 movement he offered a bracelet (curtosy of Zappos) to anyone wanting to make a life change. It came today. I had totally forgotten about it.


The card reads, "We've created this bracelet to give you something tangible to wear that reminds you daily that you are worth it. This bracelet lets everyone else in your life know that beginning today, you're taking the steps toward a healthier lifestyle."

I won't list all the health benefits for losing 10 pounds here, but basically to sum them up... it means not having a heart attack, stroke, infertility, you know... DEATH.

For those of you interested in the Just 10 program, check out Dr. Oz' site, here.

Surviving other people's dirt weekends

This weekend was a challenge for me. I've often struggled with my relationship with food, and I use people as an excuse to celebrate and indulge (indulge meaning eating 1000s of calories without blinking an eye)

What? You have a birthday today? Let's eat cake!

You got a new job? Let's eat cheesecake!

Your cat used the cat box? Let's make cupcakes!

I could celebrate anything with food.

This weekend Philip and I visited with our two favorite people, my cousins Rick and Steve. Often when we've visited with them, I've used it as an opportunity to eat as much and as horrible as I want. It's a food-cation for me. So when we decided to go spend the night with them, I knew I was going to have to play it smart. While I know eventually I'll feel comfortable partaking in meals and days where I don't count calories, I can't afford to now. It's too early in the process for me, and my commitment to living a healthier lifestyle is to fragile to do anything to threaten that. This is too important.

So what did I do? Did I eat whatever I want? Or did I count calories? I'm happy to report, I counted calories. On Friday, Philip and I had recommended going to Fudruckers for dinner. After much research, and realizing Fudruckers does not put their nutritional info online, I finally found that they offered a Turkey Burger. win! AND they had a side salad I could get instead of fries. It was an expensive caloric meal, but I still came in under calories for the day.

This morning I asked to go to IHOP. IHOP has some healthy options on their menu. Again, I knew this before going. I knew exactly how many calories to plan for, and though it was a rich

breakfast, I could afford it nutritionally speaking. The option I chose was a 560 calorie breakfast that included blueberry harvest grain pancakes, bananas, and

egg substitute. Definitely yummy and went great with sugar free syrup. Try the sugar free syrup people. It's tasty.

To sum up the weekend, everything went well. I planned ahead, and knew what to eat and what to stay away from. I'm pretty proud that I survived my first weekend.

Next post.... weigh-in on Tuesday. Yikes.

Low-Calorie Brownies

I've always loved baking. Unfortunately, baking equals calories, fat, and carbs. Not a great combination for trying to lose weight, huh? With that being said, there are options and techniques you can use to cut the calories while enjoying baking. Everything in moderation, right? I present to you, Brownies!

Have your brownies, and eat them to.

What you'll need:

1 can of Diet Coke

1 Package of Brownie Mix (Pillsbury now makes a sugar free version)

Cookie Spray

Muffin Tin or 9X12 Baking Dish

Preheat oven according to package. In this case it was 350.

You'll need about 6 oz of diet soda.

Add soda to brownie package.

Stir. Will be exceptionally fizzy.

Grease your muffin tin or baking dish. Thanks to my husband, we've found that using a muffin tin is so much easier for baking brownies. They don't fall apart and they come out perfect. It was also helpful using the muffin tin to try and get consistent portions.

Pour batter into muffin tin. Will be lumpy.

Bake based on package directions. The instructions on the brownie package I have says 26 minutes, but I checked mine after 20 minutes and they were finished.

Enjoy! Approximately 90 calories per serving. That's with using sugar free brownie mix and diet coke. : )

Waffle French Toast

Yum.

*Editor's Note: First video produced on MacBook Pro. More to come, I'm sure!

Success!

Today I found the courage to weigh myself. We all knew this hour was coming, right? The ironic bit was Philip found a quarter on the ground as we walked into the mall. The last time I weighed myself was on the scale in the movie theater bathroom (which requires a quarter.) I felt like it was a spot where I could get the most accurate weight. That's how I got the 203 weigh in before. Since we weren't seeing a movie I opted to use the scale in the mall bathroom. Same set up, so I thought it would give me an accurate reading. I can't say the weight was accurate, the reading ended up differing from the scale we purchased today. So for further accuracy, I'll continue to use the one at home... .. so the results!

I lost 6.6 lbs!

I actually lost more according the scale at the mall, but as I mentioned I want to be consistent with my weigh ins, and from now on use the handy scale at home. So that's a loss of 6.6 over 10 days. I would have liked to have lost more, but at the very least this gives me some much needed encouragement and starts to chip away at my theory that I'm meant to be fat for life... or as I'm going to refer to it now as FFL. : )

*Editor's note: First blog entry on my new macbook pro.

Beginning Again

I guess introductions are in order. I did start a blog over at LiveJournal, but decided after seeing the abundance of advertisements that take over the page maybe I should plant myself on blogger. Years ago I had a LiveJournal account, which existed when there were no advertisements. I went today to update my journal, and had to wait for a bread advertisement to finish before I could write. Enough of my wining I suppose.

On January 5th, I started a new way of eating. Last year I downloaded myfitnesspal to my iPhone and periodically recorded my calorie intake. I wanted to do as little work as possible and didn't really research what I was doing and why I was choosing my calorie limit. I chose 1200 calories for each day, thinking that would help me lose weight quickly without any real effort towards exercise. It was sort of a failure. I didn't stick to the app at all, I didn't work out, and I often didn't add certain foods or condiments to the count since they were such small amounts. I stopped recording in October I think.

My husband got a job recently, which is a salaried position with benefits. This is what we've been waiting for to give us the green light to possibly have a baby. We haven't made any concrete decisions, but it's on the table as a topic to discuss further. I knew that I always wanted to be healthy before conceiving, and after weighing myself sometime in December I was horrified. I had noticed that some of my clothes were getting tighter, and I looked just horrible in Christmas pictures. I destroyed two pair of jeans by rubbing holes on the inseam from my thighs rubbing together. I weigh 203 lbs. That was it. I was disgusted.

On January 5th I started Graduate School and also made a new commitment to try eating healthy again. I read an article from a self-help guru, which can be found here... "How I lost 25lbs in 1 month."

Please note I'm not at all expecting to lose 25lbs in a month, but I thought Debra had some good advice. I did some research and found my BMR, and found what I should be eating if I want to be a healthy 136lbs. It's been kind of a weird realization that if I want to be a certain weight, maybe I should eat like that person would eat. Why didn't I think of that before?

So I did just want Debra suggested. I record EVERYTHING. The measuring cup has been a lifesaver. I record every drop of oil, every tablespoon of lite butter, every condiment. It has TOTALLY helped with holding myself accountable. I dusted off myfitnesspal, and started again keeping track of my daily activities. I haven't had a "dirt" day, and I even count calories on the weekends. I haven't yet, but in the future when I want to eat more calories in one day I'll eat less the day before.

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday following class I go to the gym for at least 30 mins. The workouts have been slow going, mostly because I feel awkward and a little out of place being at the gym, but I'm more confident each time I go.

I have to believe this will work. Everyone tells you right - if you eat less and exercise you'll lose weight? I sure hope so. The voice in the back of my head keeps saying that I'm meant to be fat, and I'm not supposed to be skinny. To be honest, I've actually had people confirm that in the past, saying that I'll not ever be a size small or I'm just too curvy to ever be thin.

Le Sigh. The positive part of this is I'm finding that the end of the day I have plenty of calories left over and I'm never hungry. Maybe this weekend I'll weigh myself, but I have to tell you.. I'm terrified. If I've gained weight or not shed a pound I'll be so embarrassed, but I've got to make a change and this is it.