Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Slippery Slope of Dieting

Stress ~ Time of Month ~ Illness ~ Plateau

All of these factors play a role in the slippery slope of dieting. During the past couple of months I've faced each of these challenges. A couple of times, I've faced all four challenges at once. This is hard on Psyche. How do you overcome the challenges and continue forth with your plan?

You might have noticed I haven't posted in the past couple of weeks. My stress level is at an all time high. TOM came for a visit and I've had an upper respiratory infection that has basically kicked my butt. I'm in survival mode. I've been on a see-saw plateau for awhile now. It's frustrating and hard. It's all I can do to hang in there and not shove carbs down my throat in order to cope.

I guess I'm human after all.

Planning has come to a stand still. I have a freezer full of meat. I pick something, defrost it, and cook it. Vegetables come in a frozen bag or can. I've been eating a lot of Slim Jims and salads. The salads come from the drive through fast food places. It's not ideal, but at least it's on plan (sort of). I'm out of sorts to the point that I'm just not focused. How do I pull myself back together?

I'm going off plan tonight. On purpose. I'll probably feel sick from it tomorrow, but I need a break. I need a dose of priority. I've got one more month to get through before I am given a short time of freedom. May is an extremely busy month for me. The stress will increase, and the time I have to cope will decrease. This is my last weekend to before my world goes topsy-turvy. I'm going to eat Mexican food.

I know, I know. Forgive me, my low carb friends. I won't go crazy, I promise.

This weekend I will plan and shop for May. I'll figure out a way to slide on the slippery slope to success. But tonight, I am going to take a break from life and dieting for an hour with my family enjoying something I haven't indulged in for months. I will forgive myself and move on. Tomorrow is a new day. This weekend is a time for renewed commitments. I need a fresh start. Stay with me.

Monday, April 12, 2010

What's In Your Freezer?

I've been rather busy this weekend, and payday comes in the middle of the week, so this week it's all about what's in the freezer. I'm learning to pick up extra meat when it's on sale. This keeps my freezer full of choices when life gets busy. I also keep around bags of steamable vegys.

This morning I pulled out pork chops for dinner. I poked around my freezer and discovered hamburger patties, steaks, a roast, pork loin, and Bratwurst sausage DH must have bought because I will never, ever eat it. I think that will cover us for a few days.

I have some vegys I need to cut up and steam before they go bad. Actually, I better check -they might already be gone. Yikes! I'm terrible when it comes to using up the fresh vegys I buy. Frozen bags work for me.

Strawberries are the lowest carb fruit, and even lower than many vegys. Recently strawberries have been on sale. I bought several packages for .99 cents each! Strawberries for dessert! Sometimes they are sweet, sometimes not. If not, I'll sprinkle a little Splenda on them and let them sit. Not too much though, Splenda does have carbs.

Tip 1: Pick up meat when it's on sale and throw it in your freezer.
Tip 2: Keep frozen steamable vegys in your freezer.
Tip 3: When you get too busy to plan -raid your freezer!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Dinner Menu Week of April 6 - 9, 2010

I found a 1 carb per 3 oz. ham at the grocery store. I didn't add any glaze to sweeten it up, so it will be a plain ham to go with my plain green beans. It's a plain Easter dinner. At least I have Easter eggs! This is going to be a tough week, so I'm keeping it simple.

Monday

Bacon, cheeseburgers without the buns and a side salad

Tuesday

Beef fajitas on low carb tortillias

Wednesday

Variation of chicken fried steak (dip the steak in Worcheshire sauce and Carbquik) & steamed vegys

Thursday

Pan fried pork loins & steamed vegys

Friday

Homemade chicken wings & salad

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Gone Into Hiding -Life Is NOT a Bowl of Cherries

A cup of cherries is 21.4 carbs.

Okay, I confess, I've been in hiding. I've hit a weight loss wall. I'm frustrated, tired, cranky, and ticked off. I'm a teacher, and this is my testing time of the year which equals a woman's time of the month, except it's longer and more painful. Actually, it's just stressful.

It's hard to think about what I'm putting in my mouth when I'm worrying about 70 kids passing a state test. I'm working double time right now trying to stay positive and keep things interesting. Last week I didn't plan. I winged it.

Winging it is not a good thing. I managed, but it wasn't easy. I had wings out at least twice, Cracker Barrel's low carb menu once, a steak from Texas Roadhouse, and drive through grilled chicken salads. Winging it is also expensive.

I remind myself daily: I'm not on a diet. This is my way of eating for life. Carbs equal high blood sugar.

But I'm also on a diet. I'm halfway to my goal, and now I've hit a stall wall. I started see-sawing back and forth (3 pounds come and go) two months ago. Other dieters tell me this is a plateau. Everyone experiences it. Sometimes they last for months. I want to be at my goal weight this summer, so I'm having a hard time accepting this stall. I've tried different "tricks" to no avail.

Next week is testing week. It's long, hard, boring few days. In the past I've snacked my way through the day. I can't do that this year. I've got to plan ahead. Yesterday I bought 3 dozen eggs. It's Easter. I'm going make lots and lots of Easter eggs for the week. Easter eggs taste better, don't they?

I'm going to Sams today and raid the meat department. Part of my problem last week was that I didn't have extra meat in the freezer. It was time to stock up but I was at the end of the month if you know what I mean. I bought meat that was on sale at Krogers yesterday. Today I'm going to try cutting up vegys (zuchinni, yellow squash, bell pepper, carrots, brocolli, and cauliflower) and mixing them up in plastic bags for the week. That way I can steam them in those steamable bags. Planning is crucial for survival this week. Today is the day to plan.

If you are wondering about my weight loss challenge, I'm stalled at 179, and today is weigh in day. I've lost two pounds in 8 weeks. No wonder I'm depressed! Well, this is not the time to stop. It's the time to move forward and continue again. I'm going to start a new challenge: 13 by 31. My goal is to lose 13 pounds by Memorial Day (May 31st). It's an inverted lucky 13. Join me, leave comments (encouragement), and let's help each other make it. Are you in?