DRINK UP!

Yes, I'm starting today's post with the same picture I used last week. Partly because as I wrote last week's post I decided I needed to make the post two separate pieces and the pic was already in place. And it looks yummy.

To help add some fruit into my diet and not bottom out my sugar, I've been adding fresh fruit to my Protein shakes. If I use the strawberry powder I add strawberries. Don't suggest bananas go well - ewww. I'm not a banana person unless I have a taste for a fresh banana or it comes as an ingredient in bread/ muffins.

My husband also has a container of vanilla whey powder. By the time you read this post I will have tried adding other fruits to the vanilla such as peaches, pineapple or blackberries. Not sure how the blackberries will do with the seeds but I'm going to give them a try as soon as they start getting ripe.

Bob has said he would like to give this a shot when he comes home. See if he can kick start his metabolism. I'll add blueberries to his (another one of those fruits I do not like). But I love vegies and finding ones he'll eat is going to be interesting so it's a trade-off.

What fruits would you suggest?
Enjoy the Journey!
Kelly

DETOX UPS AND DOWNS

Yesterday I gave you a rundown of what I'm 'eating' during the week. Today, I want to tell you about how I felt that first week. I think you will be surprised. I was.

My normal work day starts around 7 a.m. I make my single cup of fluffy and spend an hour doing the 'fun' stuff I enjoy but seldom make time for - thus the early hour. I'm up at 6:30 a.m. during the week just so I can get this time in. By the time my coffee is gone, I'm ready to move into work mode. I spend the day using social media to send promos for country music artists, doing cd reviews, transcribing interviews and setting up a appointments for more of the previous two. Somewhere in there I fit writing short articles for magazines and hopefully having enough energy by about 8 p.m. to work on fiction. And all of this is done while multi-tasking household tasks (though don't look too closely at my house at the moment. It's been a long month hehe)

Normally by 3 p.m. I need a nap. Though I push through this only to gain a second wind and work until 10 or 11 p.m.

But here was the really cool part of the new program.
A) I didn't feel like I physically needed EAT something. What I was doing satisfied me. I never felt hungry.
B) I didn't need that afternoon nap. Instead, I could work steadily until around 5. I would do final email checks for the day while fixing supper and usually have the computer shut down by 6 p.m.
C) I felt GREAT!

And I noticed the difference over the weekend. By Sunday afternoon I wanted a nap. I felt tired, sluggish and just out of sorts. And to top it off, I gained 4 pounds! I still strove to watch what I ate, and gave into a craving for a cheeseburger and letting my guard down showed.
I was relieved to be back on program yesterday and already feel the difference. Psychological? Maybe. But does it matter? As long as my body is happy and I feel good then I'm okay with that.

While doing Liquid Detox does limit my food options, I do have a couple of things in store for the return of Recipe Wednesday next week. So stay tuned.

Enjoy the Journey
Kelly

DECISIONS DECISIONS

When I signed in this morning, my plan was to tell you I would be closing out this blog. Mostly because I am just so busy with work (with a new job prospect in the planning stages) that I don't get in here on a regular basis like I want to.

Then I check my stats this morning to see that although no one is leaving comments, people ACTUALLY are reading. Hmmm.

When you view, please leave a comment. Tell me what you do and do not like to see on here. What is helping? What can you do without? Your input is very much appreciated.

While searching for a garden picture on Morgue File to use this morning I came across this precious scene. I instantly thought of my oldest granddaughter. She loves to be in the garden with me. She also knows the fine art of frying green tomato chips (fried green tomatoes but sliced thin and fried crisp). Tootsie Pop lives far from me and my garden tasks just are not the same without her. 

Her favorite thing is fresh blackberries. She can be sitting in the living room playing and declare 'Grandma, I need a snack.' Before I can ask what she wants, she will be up and out the back door, headed for the blackberry patch. My blackberries are in full bloom now and with her so far away, I'll be enjoying snacks for both of us. 

So... what do I do here? I still need to lose weight. My daughter (Tootsie Pop's mom) has done well with various forms of detox to get to a manageable weight. Now she and Tootsie Pop walk almost daily. They are up to 5 miles! Both love to walk and this is good quality time for the two of them.

So I am doing a modified version of her Liquid Detox. Rather than liquids all day for 4-5 days I am doing liquids during the day then a sensible lean meat/ vegi early evening. 

I tried green tea. I just can NOT drink that stuff. So here's how I'm working this plan:

1 - 9 oz cup of fluffy 

1 - 20 oz glass of unsweet tea

1 - protein shake

1 - 20 oz glass of unsweet dieters tea

1 - 4 oz glass of V8 vegetable juice (low sodium)

1 - 20 oz glass of unsweet tea

Lean meat and vegies usually in the form of a stir fry or salad

1 - 20 oz glass of tea

If I need a snack throughout the day or at night I have a cup of jello. I sometimes have a second protein shake at night.

I lost 2 pounds the first week, which is fine since that is a good steady weight loss for long-term.

However, over the weekend I sabotaged myself. Apparently I bought the wrong tea bags and I could not get a glass of tea that was not bitter. If I ate out, I could get good unsweet tea. I also knew I'd be eating out so figured that would be my 'weekend'.  

Two things happened..... and I'll tell you about those tomorrow - promise ;-)

In the mean time

Enjoy the Journey!

WEEKLY PLAN - New Plan - New Week Track

Happy Monday!

Although I knew I would be starting back on the Wii this week, NOTHING motivates you more to shed a few pounds than the possibility of being on television. I had already been on the Wii for my 20 minutes when I checked my music business email. One particular email caught my attention and although I can't give any details until I know more, let me just say that I do NOT want to find out the hard way what they say about the 'camera adds 10 pounds'. 

Because I leave for Texas in a couple of weeks I have set my first goal on this new round of the Wii for 6 pounds in 2 weeks. I'll be sharing these screen shots with you at each 2 -week bench mark. 

Since I've not been on the Wii since pulling the muscles in my shoulders and collar bone last fall, I wanted to take it easy. I did a total of 20 minutes. I started by warming up on the Wii Fit by doing the soccer practice for two rounds. Then I did the down-hill skiing for two rounds to warm up my legs. From there I moved to my favorite exercise on WiiFit... the step aerobics. I did two rounds each of basic and advanced. I probably should have finished with 2 rounds of basic as a cool-down but I was 20 minutes on the mark so stopped for today. There is always tomorrow.

I also need to weigh on our bathroom scales. There is a difference between the scales and the Wii board. Bob and I will be using the bathroom scales for our challenges. So my signature line will reflect the bathroom scales - not the Wii board weight.

189/187/135

However you choose to travel... enjoy the journey!

Kelly

PLANNING FOR THE WEEKEND - Road Trip!

I think if I pay closer attention to this post on Fridays, my weekends might be less of a wash. Though I have decided I'm allowing myself one day a week to enjoy food. I don't over-eat but sometimes it's nice to enjoy the foods you love without thinking about how many calories something contains. This is where 'comfort foods' come in.

This morning I'm headed for Linden Texas. About five and a half hours as the crow flies. I'll be traveling through areas I've not passed through before so I don't really know what my food options are. One thing I do know - my nose has radar when it comes to locating a Chinese buffet. If I'm lucky I'll find one of those for lunch and have a nice Mongolian stir-fry. If not, I have coupons for Ruby Tuesday and they have a new chicken tender salad that looks yummy.

As I said in my Tuesday post, I'll be packing things like my morning glory muffins and plenty of bottled water. I'm sure there is a grocery store somewhere nearby that I can purchase Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine meals for the microwave. Friday night I'd like to scope out the area and see what is available for local food options.

Saturday is all about prepping for the Texas Music Awards, which I'll be covering via Twitter. I'll also be conducting interviews with some of the artists and lots of networking with industry professionals. What that leaves me for food time, I'm not sure. Since I don't know what Linden has to offer, I will just have to wait and see.

Sunday I'll be back on the road headed home. I hope to do some shopping somewhere and eat what will probably be my first decent meal of the weekend then arriving home late.

If I can wake up at a decent hour on Monday, I'll let you know how things go.
Enjoy the Journey!

RECIPE WEDNESDAY - Morning Glory Muffins

Once in awhile I go to Heroe's Coffee in West Plains, MO. With coffee readily available, music in the background and a kitchen table to work from, Heroes is a nice place to spend a day when I want to work 'outside' the office. I pick a table out of the way so I'm not interfering with the heavy lunch flow and they are kind enough to let me spend the entire day there if I choose.

One of my favorite items on their menu is the Morning Glory muffin. I've searched for months for a matching recipe and finally found one via Pinterest. I have found several recipes through Jamie, at MyBakingAddiction.

The only change I made to her recipe was to add Craisins to part of the batch. Hubby doesn't like anything resembling a raisin. As it turns out as soon as he found out they had zucchini in them, the raisins wouldn't have made any difference. I'll know next time to make them to suit me. 

WEEKLY PLAN - Week 9 & 10

Okay... so these two weeks haven't been perfect.
Bob and I made a weekend trip to Springfield, which usually involves food. While it is possible to eat out and stay on target, sometimes you just choose not to. I'm not saying we went overboard - okay one night. And by myself I could have done without but sharing dessert was better than the alternative other than just not ordering one at all.

We ate at Red Robin. I have fallen in love with this place. They have THE BEST burgers. Their Campire sauce is amazing. I'm allergic to Heinz Ketchup - which sadly is what most restaurants offer and why I don't eat a lot of fries. But this Campfire sauce is a blend of Ranch and Catalina dressing. Yum!

Then this dessert - the Mountain High Mud Pie-  is the cherry on top.

Bob saw one delivered to a neighboring table and decided we needed to share one. I'm not big on ice cream - I've determined this is a 'guy' thing. But the oreo cookie crust and the caramel sauce was reason enough for me to help him eat this cold and creamy mound of calories. 

Thanks to their handy dandy Customizeable menu & nutrition calculator I know the Whiskey River Burger came in at 1408 calories while the killer dessert rounded out at 1372.  I did eat a few fries, though I'm not a fry person either. I eat maybe 5 or 6 then I'm done. But their sauce is what makes them the best. There are 

With their customizeable menu calculator you can find out what your items total based on whether you add or leave something off. 

Over the course of days of eating out I only gained 1 pound so wasn't too upset. Bob and I only do this kind of thing once a month - sometimes only once very 2 months. The rest of the time we eat at home and keep each other on task.

This next week will be interesting. I'm on the road to Linden Texas where I'm covering the Texas Music Awards. I love my job! I will be trying to curb spending as much as possible. Since I will have a microwave in the hotel room I plan to stick to my Lean Cuisine meals whenever possible. I have Morning Glory muffins (Recipe coming tomorrow) as well as my coffee and plenty of bottled water. Though I will have to try some local foods. I hope to do lots of walking so that will help.We'll see what happens. 

188/189/135

Enjoy the Journey