My 30th birthday.

Ok - so as I posted, I am turning 30 on August 29th. I HAD planned on inviting a bunch of friends out to go to Dave & Busters ON the 29th.

Well...this past saturday (the 22nd) - my best friend and I planned to go out for lunch and then to see a movie. We went to Ruby Tuesdays and then saw The Time Traveler's Wife (FABULOUS movie, btw...)

I thought my fiance was going to be going fishing - as that's what he said his plans were for the day.

So I'm driving home from the movie and texting my fiance, telling him how great the movie was - and he asked me to park in front of the house, instead of on the side in the driveway, like I normally do.

So I did - whatever - didn't even think about it...walk in and SURPRISE!!!!!! He threw me a surprise birthday party! All of my friends and my parents were there. It was AWESOME!

Now, I had already planned that ON my birthday I was not going to care about low-carb and enjoy myself with foods I normally wouldn't eat.

So - since this was my birthday, I enjoyed myself immensly on saturday. They got me an INCREDIBLE cake - "Rent", "Wicked" and "Cats" on it. And it was my FAVORITE - red velvet.

I also had a few brownies, cookies, chips, etc...we went out that night and I had a long island iced tea and a real beer (not my low-carb beer lol)

It was great - I had an incredible time.

The next morning (sunday) I got on the scale and was 6 pounds up! ack! but I knew why (obviously) and was ok with it. I got RIGHT back on track and monday morning I was already down 2 (up a total of 4)...

This morning (Tuesday) I'm still up those 4 - so I am putting that as my weight right now.

Thing is though - while I enjoyed myself very much - I realized that I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE eating low-carb. I couldn't WAIT to get back to my fatty foods! lol

Seriously though - I know that I can NEVER go back to the way I used to eat. I enjoy my new lifestyle WAY too much.

so yeah - that is my "confession". No one is perfect (although I'm damn close! lol) I enjoyed my birthday and I am now back to my regularly scheduled program!

Pizza & Beer!!! :D

I love low-carb. You all know that. I've said it over and over and over again!

On one of my atkins boards tha I post to - someone asked for "tips and tricks"...one of mine is - I have to find alternatives to foods I love - otherwise there might be a possibility of cheating and going for the gusto with the "real" thing...

I told this poster that in the past 8 months of me changing my lifestyle, I still eat BROWNIES, PIZZA, PANCAKES, BEER and even FRENCH "FRIES"...

How do I eat all of these indulging foods on ATKINS???!!! I mean - wait a minute, isn't atkins just "meats, eggs & cheese"? hahaha. yeah right um NO. not so much.

First off - for anyone who TRULY KNOWS that atkins involves TONS of yummy foods such as vegees, dairy, nuts, berries, alcohol, beans, fruit (yup, fruit!) and even potatoes and grains!

If you've never read the book and only "know" what you've heard - you're reading this going "that's not atkins!" but let me assure you it IS! Read the book. Dr. Atkins taught people how to eat WHOLE - UNPROCESSED foods and how to even eat the foods that everyone think is bad, because the INDUCTION phase tells you not to eat those foods. But the Induction phase is ONLY two weeks when you decide to start your new low-carb lifestyle. Then you climb the "rungs" of the ladder. Currently I am on rung 7 (fruit) but I have had a potato skin or two (my fiance is weird and doesn't eat the skin of his baked taters)...as well as some low-carb bread (rung 9)...

So anyways. I just wanted to share some of the things I eat such as PIZZA and BROWNIES so that you know you CAN eat those things again.

One more thing, though - before I get into those foods - you DO have to follow the rules of the carbohydrate ladder and only add these items/ingredients in small amounts, as per the "rung" you're on (for example, no almond flour until rung 3 - nuts) and concentrate more on your healthy fats, meats & VEGEES.

Now. I HAD to share my pizza I made last night. It was INCREDIBLE!!!

I was trying to figure out what we would do for dinner and thought I'd just stop by a pizza place and get my fiance a cheap $5 pizza. So I got that - but obviously I'm not going to eat a commercially made pizza with white bread crust!

So I went to my FAVORITE low-carb recipe website: Linda's Low-Carb Recipes and found a recipe for this Most Awesome Pizza Crust . I made this and while making it, I had sliced up 1 roma tomato and placed it in a bowl with some chopped up onions, basil & olive oil.

For the home made sauce I used this recipe off of recipezaar: Pizza Sauce.

Put that pizza sauce on the crust (which btw, is VERY crunchy!) - place the bruschetta mix (tomatoes, onions, oil) on the sauce - top with shredded mozzarella - bake for 15 minutes at 350 and enjoy!

And with that pizza I had my beloved Michelob Ultra beer (2.6 g carbs per 12 oz!)

I mean - really - low carb is freakin' FABULOUS! :D

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Now - I'm sure you also saw "fries" up there in this post too.

I will talk about my "french fries" in my next post! hehe - so come back!

A new experiment...

Ok - so I figured out that this damn rash is freakin' POISON IVY! ugh. :(

I'm EXTREMELY allergic to this crap and it got all over my body - including my face.

it SEEMS to be going away. :) I went to the doc and she had to give me prednisone - which is a steroid - which I didn't want to take because I know that prednisone leads to weight gain...

well - i've been on it for 3 days so far and good news is that i have NOT gained weight. :)

ok - so what is my new experiment? it's coconut oil. I've been using this fabulous oil now for about 3 months or so - but very sparingly - usually I only use about a tsp or so to fry my eggs in the morning. I have been up all night, tonight - reading about the MIRACLE benefits of coconut oil and I will definitely be upping my consumption to the 3 tbsp recommended daily.

Here's the site I've been on: http://coconutresearchcenter.org .

I am thinking I will definitely start making a smoothie every morning with my So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage and adding 1 tbsp of coconut oil to that.

I will also be adding 1 tbsp of coconut oil to my oolong tea at work.

Then to my protein shake when I start going back to the gym (hopefully next week).

I also want to try using it as a pre-shampoo when I wash my hair,.

I will, obviously, post my findings!

laterz!

a hearing aid, a sunburn and a fish. :P

Ok - so this isn't a weight loss post (my blog, doesn't have to be about it allll the time! hehe). But yeah - so as I posted recently, I had a tympanoplasty and a mastoidechtomy done on my right ear. It's still in the healing process and tomorrow is my next post-op appointment to see how it's healing.

My left ear - on the other hand - it's technically "healed" from last year's surgery of removing the tube that was still in the ear drum - and everything is "normal" in that ear - except for the hearing. I have hearing loss in both ears and this year I got the go-ahead from my ear doc to look into getting a hearing aid.

Well after a few run-arounds of trying to figure out whether or not my insurance would pay for the hearing aid (which it does not) - I got in contact with an INCREDIBLE service called Vocational Rehabilition. They were absolutely WONDERFUL and last thursday I got my very first hearing aid. It is a God Send. Seriously - This has got to be the most incredible invention known to man. I really didn't realize how seriously deaf I really am :(. So I picked it up Thursday afternoon and Friday, at work - it was just absolutely incredible. I could converse with people and NOT have to ask them "huh? sorry - could you repeat yourself???!!!" I absolutely LOVE having a hearing aid. :)

Now - Sunday...so Sunday we (me and my fiance) were invited out to go boating/fishing with a friend from work and her fiance. It was SO fun! Dan and I brought along our golden retreiver, Chloe - and we had a BLAST! Normally, our Pug, Petey, is the spoiled on - going places with us - but we knew that he wouldn't have fun and would be more of a nuisance. Chloe, on the other hand - was soooo happy and behaved so well. It was great. We also got her into the lake - which she had a BLAST in. So we went fishing - which I have NEVER done in my life. Well, ok - my mom swears I went when I was like 4 - but c'mon that was 26 years ago and I barely remember 2 years ago! lol. But Dan is into fishing - he's gone a few times this year by himself - and he was excited to go fishing with me, to see how I'd fend. Well - I must say I actually did pretty well for myself! I learned how to bait the hook by myself, cast the line - and I even caught fish like 6 times (we found a spot on the lake which was full of little striped bass - Dan swears that catching fish like that is a fluke and NORMALLY you catch ONE in a 4 hour period, if you're lucky - not one every time you cast your line! lol). But it was really fun - I must admit I enjoyed myself. Here's a picture of the very first fish I've ever caught in my life:

Now - on Saturday I had helped Dan take down a tree in our back yard - and I don't know if it was from that - or an allergic reaction of something, but I broke out on my face something bad...so of course - Sunday, when we were out fishing, I had sprayed my body with SPF50 to make sure I didn't get burned...well - even though I sprayed myself 3 times - i still got a few stripes here and there. One of my thigh (weird stripe) - one on the top of each foot - and on both shoulder blades on my back. AND of course...my face. So on top of breaking out on my face - I now have a sunburn too. It sucks. Hydrocortisone is my new best friend! lol. :P
So anyways - yup that was my weekend!
Laters!!

My ear Surgery...

Ok - so in my last blog, I mentioned that I had an ear surgery done.

I had to have a "Tympanoplasty" and a "Mastoidechtomy" done to my right ear.

What does this have to do with my diet/exercise?

Well - the healing process will take about 6 - 8 weeks from the surgery and then about 4 months total for my hearing to get back to "normal"...at least this is the timeline my doctor has given me.

What sucks is I am SO looking forward to getting back to working out - but I honestly don't know if I'm going to be allowed to for a while. :(

My first post-op appointment will be this upcoming Thursday and I will talk to the doc about working out when I see him.

Now - about the surgery itself...basically I have had ear issues since I was 7 years old. I was 7 when they first put the first set of tubes in my ears - and my mom SWEARS that having done that helped me in school tremendously, as before I had this done, I was having troubles hearing the teachers and participating in class...but once I had it done - things changed and I was pretty much always an A & B student.

So - for the past 23 years, I have lived with A. not being able to get water in my ears - meaning earplugs every single time I would take a bath/shower - go swimming - even if I wanted to have a water balloon fight and B. if I WAS to get water in my ear...instant ear infection. It just became second nature to me as it was a part of my life.

Now - because of my ear issues, I've always had a little bit of trouble hearing people - but no real "hearing loss" to speak of until really this past year...

Last August - on my 29th birthday, actually ... I remember my left ear popping and thinking "oh great, another ear infection"...but this time it wasn't a 'normal' infection like I was always used to.

Along with the actual hearing loss - I also developed incredible Tinitus (ringing in the ears) - which will never go away, even with surgery. :(

So I found the most FANTASTIC ear doctor here in Indianapolis and after he looked at my ears and history - we decided that in that left ear the best plan of action was to take the tube out.

I knew that my RIGHT ear didn't have a tube in it anymore - and knew that it had a small hole where the tube had usually been placed - but no longer was there as there was the hole.

So anyways - I had that tube removed from the left ear and it healed nicely (according to the doc... :))

BUT once I had it removed - the hearing really started to go. In fact it got so bad last year that my fiance started to think I didn't like hanging out with his friends and it was straining our relationship until I myself realized that the REASON I was becoming "anti-social" was because of my hearing loss. I HATED trying to carry on conversations with people when I was CONSTANTLY turning my head to get them to talk directly to my ear and constantly saying, "what? can you please repeat yourself? what?"...so instead I didn't realize it - but I just started to decline to be in situations where I'd have to worry about BEING in a social setting. :(

Not only that - but my job started to suffer too. I started to really look anti-social at work and was even turned down for a promotion because I came off as "not a people person"...when I now know that it was BECAUSE of my hearing loss!

quick FYI - once I realized that, I started working on this issue with my supervisor, as far as communication goes - and I DID finally get a promotion I deserved - and I start this monday!!

So my surgery. Once the tube was removed from my left year last year - the doc really started to concentrate on my right ear. He told me of what needed to be done and what was actually WRONG with the ear drum (half of it was literally gone - the other half was all scar tissue from the YEARS of infections and needed to be removed...)

So we scheduled my surgery for July 21st. It is now July 24th. It's been 4 days since I had the surgery and I will be on a long road to recovery. I know this was absolutely NEEDED and I'm not wishing I hadn't had it done or anything like that - but I'm just going to put this out there - IT SUCKS!!!!! lol

so yeah. that's where I'm at right now. As for exercising - HOPEFULLY I'll be able to go back to the gym this year - but we shall see. I know I don't want to do anything to harm my healing - and I may end up having to cancel the membership all together until next year. :(

So anyways - I will post more later!

each and every pound, now, is a celebration!!!!

wow. ok - so on tuesday of this week I had ear surgery done. I had a HUGE hole in half of my ear drum that needed repairing as well as all this scar tissue that needed removed...so I had that done on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, at the hospital - I weighed in at 170.4 lbs - that's cool - I was good with that. :)

After my surgery - the nurses fed me apple sauce and sprite...yeah - i know i'm obsessing since i'm actually bringing that UP - but it's almost like a force-fed cheat. lol - but in all honesty it wasn't a big deal.

That afternoon when I got home, my mom (who'd been here with me and my fiance for the surgery) - went to go get my medication from the pharmacy and I asked her to go ahead and get me a sandwich from Jimmy Johns - yes - bread and all.

And so I had my FAVORITE JJ's sandwich - Beach Club - and enjoyed every bite of it! Now, granted, I did NOT eat any chips - which, in the past, I would have...

But it's seriously been over 7 months or longer that I've had Jimmy Johns - which I used to be addicted to! :)

That night I was good - and just had a steak caesar salad from O Charley's (no croutons)...

All was good the next day - wednesday - I weighed in at 171...ok - understandable

Wednesday night, however, my fiance REALLY wanted the new Tagalong blizzard from Dairy Queen...so he went and got a large and (gasp, confession time) I shared a bit of it with him...

So yesterday morning - Thursday - I weighed in at 173!!! ACK!!!!

So yesterday I go right back on track and this morning - 168. whew!

Now - I know that there's TONS of reasons why my weight goes up and down and up and down. And I know I should NOT be concerned if one day it's just a little higher (as long as it doesn't keep GOING higher EVERY day...).

It's funny - Dan (fiance) tells me NOT to scale hop every day - which is what a lot of other people say too - but for me, I NEED to. I NEED to keep myself in check to make sure that I'm NOT going up and up and up...when I'm NOT obsessing over the scale - my weight creeps up and before I know it, I'm at 200 pounds again.

I am *sooooooooo* close to 160 again it's awesome!

I have a pair of slacks in my closet - from when I weighed 160 - that I have been longing over for YEARS since I first weighed 160 and could wear them...and then started gaining back when I could no longer wear them...so they've been sitting there - staring at me - saying, "wear me...wear me..."

Well - I tried them on this morning - and O-MY-FREAKING-GOSH!!!!!! they actually pulled up and I was able to button them!!!!!! NOW - they were just a little tight - but seriously - maybe 5 more pounds and I can wear them again!!!!

I also pulled down all of my skinny jeans out of the attic the other day - and every single one of them - INCLUDING my favorite pair of "ass-jeans" (you know, the ones that make your ass look incredible!) which are a size 11 in juniors - fit like the old friends they are!

I'm just in absolute awe. THIS is how I'm supposed to live. THIS is how I'm supposed to eat (low-carb) and I will NEVER EVER EVER be at an unhappy weight again!

Now - due to my surgery I'm not allowed to exercise for a while. :(

BUT that doesn't mean I can't take walks (which I plan on doing til I can go back to the gym).

I WILL absolutely maintain (if not lose a bit more) before I DO go back to the gym - and once I'm back there - it'll FINALLY be time to tone up and focus on weight training.

Now, in all seriousness - ONCE I do get down to 160 pounds again - if I never lose anything else and stick at that for the rest of my life I'd be ecstatic. HOWEVER just the idea that I could actually weigh UNDER 160 is beyond my comprehension.

I'm turning 30 years old next month. All of my 20's was up and down and up and down on that freakin' scale. All of my 20's was also about finding out who I was and where I wanted to be with my life. And here I am - one month before I turn the big 30 and now that I've finally FOUND all those things

• ~I've finally gotten my eating habits under control and I know how to live a healthy life.
• ~I've finally found the most incredible man, and we're getting married, and we have an AWESOME house with our AWESOME dogs and we're planning on kids after the wedding...
• ~I've finally found the most AWESOME job (well, have had this for a while, lol) but I've also gotten a promotion to a job I have wanted for some time now...

And I must say - I pray and thank God every single day for all the blessings he's instilled in my life.

- Now that I've finally found all these things - I only have one thing to say about turning 30...

BRING IT ON!!!!!!

169 lbs. July 2009

Wow. So my scale FINALLY says 169.0 lbs.

Sometimes I thought I'd never see that number again. It is absolutely amazing to me - the past 7 months - I've NEVER felt like I was "dieting" because there's never been a time where I was STARVING because I was only allowed so many calories during the day and didn't want to "go over"...I haven't been KILLING myself at the gym with cardio just to "burn off" the reeses peanut butter cups...

It is seriously incredibly amazing to me that THIS is the way to eat. It's funny too - I'm really reading up on REAL foods / WHOLE foods - that aren't chemically created...you know - the way people are SUPPOSED to eat...and the fact that it's SO easy - SO good for you and SO delicious - I'm almost pissed at myself that I didn't start this YEARS ago.

I know that one thing that will help me in the future NOT to gain back and yo-yo ever again is the understanding and knowledge that all those packaged foods out there - twinkies, pop tarts, oreos, 100 calorie snack packs and yes - even my beloved reeses peanut butter cups are for the most part pure chemicals!

It does suck sometimes cuz I know how GOOD those things tasted - but I've seriously gotten to the point now where I do NOT want to put ANYTHING chemical like that in my body!

Not only do I KNOW for an absolute FACT that I WILL weigh 160 pounds again - I also know that I will NEVER weigh 200 pounds (not including pregnancy weight)...but even then - I only plan on gaining the "recommended" 25 pounds - if that!

Plus - as much as part of me thinks I miss those packaged foods - the truth is I don't crave them at all any more. AND it's really opened me up to learn how to make my own healthier concoctions from almond flour and coconut flour.

I haven't made my own peanut butter cups yet but I do plan on doing those things when I get closer to my goal weight - to make sure that my body can handle real organic chocolate.

There is a new chocolate I've been eating (sssh don't tell anyone on the atkins board, lol) - but I found this INCREDIBLE dark chocolate truffle made with omega 3's at Whole Foods - and there's 4 truffles per package - I'm able to only eat ONE at a time...and it's like 4 carbs per truffle! :) and OMG do I savor every last bite. It's SOOOO good!

I also know that - once I'm in 'maintenance' I WILL eat bread again - which I'm looking forward to - but I also know I should NOT have bread at breakfast, lunch AND dinner.

plus - i LOVE my almond flour pancakes i make...and my home made jelly... :)

low-carb does NOT mean eggs, meat and cheese for the rest of my life. it means making SMART choices for my body that I know my body can physically handle.

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July 2009

So last night, Monday 06/July I did yoga - for the SECOND NIGHT IN A ROW! :)

Sunday night I did Bob's Fat Burn Yoga (The Biggest Loser)
& last night I did a crunch yoga DVD.

I am actually starting to miss working out. I decided to put my gym membership on hold until September due to my ear surgery this month. But during this time, I'm going to really start researching new weight training routines so that once I'm good to go for exercise I will be set & ready!

I know, for me, I'm actually excited that once I start exercising again, MOST of my weight will have already been banished forever...and I actually FEEL like weight training will DO something for me. So I'm def. looking forward to getting back in the gym. Til then though...and at LEAST for the next two weeks til my surgery - I will be doing yoga. :)

Also - another thing - it's funny too...but in the past I was never one to take vitamins. Ever since starting Atkins, however, I've started a decent regimen of vitamins...but for the next two weeks I can not take ANY vitamins and really am only allowed to take my prescribed Metformin & my BC pills...and i'm even supposed to stop the metformin 5 days before surgery.

SO that also means I can't have that new whey protein shake I made the other day (which sucks cuz MAN is it yummy!)
And - I've also found a few new supplements I'd like to try - but again - nothing til at least 2 weeks after surgery...so until then - research, research, research! :)

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Ok - so FIRST off...my exercise for the day:

15 minutes of using the punching/boxing bag + jumping jacks

20 minutes of Yoga with Bob (Biggest Loser)

NEXT: my food for the day

BREAKFAST (high-er carb...)

4 tbsp flax seed = 2.66 grams net carbs & 5.34 grams insoluble fiber

2 tbsp Smart Balance Peanut butter (w/flax) = 6 g carbs, 2 g fiber = 4 g net carbs

1/2 cup blackberries = 10 g carbs, 4 g fiber = 6 g net carbs

1 greens/whey/strawberry/coconut milk shake = 9.5 g carbs, 2.5 g fiber = 7 g net carbs

Wow - this WAS a bit high in carbs - but oh so good! :)

total carbs = 28.16 g carbs, 13.84 g fiber = 14.32 g net carbs

LUNCH

1 grass-fed/home-made bratwurst = 0 g carbs

1 cup canned spinach = 8 g carbs, 4 g fiber = 4 g carbs

total carbs = 4 g net carbs

DINNER

Halibut w/Basil Oil = 0 g carbs

1 stuffed Avocado = 14 g carbs, 8 g fiber = 6 g net carbs

TOTAL net carbs per day = 24.32 g carbs

TOTAL fiber for the day = 25.84 g carbs

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SECOND...

Ok - so I found this new FABULOUS store here in Indy (another health food store) and there I found this AWESOME book called, Cooking With Coconut Flour. I'm really excited because there's SO many AWESOME looking recipes in this book. :)

a'right - that's all for now. last post of the day. :)

later!