Sunday, July 5, 2009

I helped!

I need to start doing more for myself. Not too much-- but more. Tonight I chopped vegetables and helped with dinner. Ooooh, exciting right? We had stuffed peppers, mine was all hamburger and veggies, no brown rice and no cheese-- stupid Zyvox! We ate these as kids all the time, but I am willing to bet my version has more vegetables and less fat. Thinking back on it I assume they were made with 80/20 hamburger, white rice, tomato sauce chock full of sugar (check it out, most are!), smothered with full fat cheddar cheese and no extra vegetables to be seen. I can vividly remember the oil pooling on the surface of the stuffed peppers and in the bottom of the baking dish. Tonight's version was 93/7 hamburger with onions, garlic, mushrooms and spinach, brown rice and lorraine swiss. It was just as yummy as when I was a kid. It's all about changing your normal.

I also cut up a head of cauliflower, a couple of carrots and a sweet potato for a braised veggie recipe I'll make tomorrow. The sweet potato and carrots are veggies that need to be used and are an addition and substitution to the origional recipe but I'm sure will still be delicious. The spices lend the dish an Indian flavor so I can use up leftovers by wrapping them up in phylo dough, brush them with olive oil and bake turning them into a good for you version of the vegetable samosa.

It's so nice to have fruit & veggies back in the house and to have the energy to do things with them. Mom took me to the grocery store yesterday, I walked the produce isles and the frozen isle. I'm noticing the mini dessert trend has hit the ice cream case. Besides the Ben & Jerry's tiny cups you can also get the Edy's Slow Churned, chocolate, vanilla and chocolate mint. I know it's more packaging and I know they aren't great for you, but it makes me happier than having to buy a pint of something that will only taunt me later until I pitch the rest of it. I have no problems paying for exactly what I want. I had a tiny cup of the chocolate with fresh cherries, strawberries and blueberries. Tonight I just had the fruit and that's okay too, but sometimes a girl needs something chocolately to help her cope.

7 comments:

Lori said...

Sometimes it is worth it to get the individual portion sizes!

Your pics look great, too - you are so tiny!

Unknown said...

Thanks Lori! Love your Triscuit by the way.... I was reading on a plastic surgery website somewhere someone was planning on using theirs as a compression garment post plastics. I didn't realize they were that tight?

Your tri is coming up soon yes? I can't wait to read about the race experience!

Learning to be Less said...

I was just looking at your blog for the first time. AMAZING!!! You are so super tiny. You look spectacular. Congratualtions on the maintaining of that enormous weight loss. Do you mind me asking, how did you lose the weight? What made you decide you had had enough? You are truely inspirational. If you wrote a book about your journey, I would totally buy it.

Kenlie said...

I pay for exactly what I want too because it's so much easier to deal with what's in the house. If you can afford it then go for it.

And I agree completely that we just have to adjust the norm. That is wise!

Looking forward to reading more!

Unknown said...

I had enough in the fall of 1999. If you had a look at the pictures, you'll see me on a sofa with my twin sister griping my hands around my tummy. I had always known I was fat, you can also see that from the pics as well and had dealt with all the health issues it brought me, thinking it is what it is. Then one day that fall I woke up and had numbness and tingling in my hands-- I was thinking it was something neurological, my PCP at the time told me I was just fat. I was shocked, but she assured me that the fat in my wrists was pinching the nerves in my wrists causing my fingers to tingle and go numb. That was my first ah-ha moment.

My second ah-ha moment was after I had lost the first 100 pounds. I got back down to my high school weight and felt thin. I had also met my future husband and wanted to last for him and us. My gram was suffering from diabetes and it eventually it took her life, I didn't want that to be me. So I started losing again... uncharted territory for someone who had always been heavy.

It truly was a slow lifestyle change for me, plus a large plateau in the middle that taught me early on about maintenance, although I didn't know it at the time. I never followed any specific plan, just tried to eat more fruits and veggies, cook more for myself and I walked for exercise. My tastes have slowly evolved and I've tried to cut out as much of the processed stuff as possible. They key in all that was writing it down. I started losing in 2000, pre internet logging of my food. I tracked every calorie I ate and every one I burned. It's so easy to fool yourself into thinking you are doing it right, but the numbers don't lie.

That and I just kept at it... Getting there is half the battle and not returning to old habits once you do. A slow eight loss process I think aids in that, the weight didn't come on overnight, it won't come off that way either. We all have to learn to live with food, for some of us it just takes longer than others.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Herbalife Las Vegas said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Emmett said...

Keep up the good work!