Weigh in

Just the results

Me UP3.8 lbs
Hubby- same
Son DOWN 0.2

I HATE hormones.

An inspiring story

Another sitting and waiting kind of day, so I thought I would share with you this amazing story.
Woman loses 500 pounds

She's been waiting...

Still waiting for the people to come and do the bathroom here. In their defense it was said , two weeks ago, that it could be next week, the week after that or.... You get the picture. So it is a waiting game with a lot of life put on hold because I don't want to have the remodel happen in the middle of it. Every morning wake up early to get showered and dressed in case today is the day. Every morning we hold off walking or other exercise because we are waiting. Noi serious school projects are happening because they may not be able to be completed because the water is turned off, the crew is dismantling the bathroom and so forth. Grrrrr. Add to that is the fun of hubby working late a lot, being called into meetings most days and then having to complete projects for church when he is home. It's a very frustrating, hurry up and wait time.

I hate waiting.

So as therapy yesterday , since I had to spend yet another morning waiting for all these things, I decided to try to make the Atkins Revolution rolls. Revolution in the fact that they contain no flour

Atkins revolution rolls

3 eggs, separated
1/4 t cream of tartar
2 tsp Splenda
3 T cottage cheese

Whip the egg whites and cream of tartar into soft peaks. In a seperate bowl beat the egg yolks, cottage cheese and splenda till combined and liquid. Fold the yolk mixture into the white mixture and spoon onto a greased cookie sheet into 6 hills. Bake 300 for 45 minutes.

They come out sort of like a flat cream puff shell and taste somewhat similar. If you store them in a ziplock bag they soften up to a consistency of a hamburger bun. Pretty darned tasty, but I don't think I would use them with a really moist sort of sandwich filling.

And along with all this waiting, i wait for the scale to show some kind of progress. It has remained the same so far all week, and I am begining to fear once again that I am at the complete mercy of my hormones, no matter what I do, so I am going to have to wait for menopause to complete in order to have any control over my life.

Color me extremely frustrated !

So what do you eat when you don't eat grains ?

My eating has changed quite a bit since shunning the grains and fruits , Some fruit will come back starting next week and some occasional whole grains, but for now they are gone. So what do you eat when you shun those amber waves ?

Breakfast- mushroom cheese eggs with turkey bacon

Lunch- baked chicken leg and sauteed cabbage

Snack- hardboiled egg and cheese stick

Dinner- Ranch chicken, Parmesan garlic yellow squash rounds, sweet potato fries, red pepper strips and sliced cucumber

Dessert- chocolate mousse ( cream cheese, whipping cream, splenda and cocoa powder). It is VERY satisfying, tasty and I really do not miss grains in the least. I feel more energetic, have no joint pain, am sleeping much better and my skin and hair are looking better. The scale is slowly moving down ( at my age rapid weight loss is not something that happens) , and cooking is a lot easier.

I think I will stick with this .Only change I need to make is to swap my current brand of Diet Soda for Diet RC, which is made with Splenda instead of Nutra Sweet

Thoughts

Something really funny has been happening. The further away I move from eating grains, the deeper my love for meat has grown. (Sorry to those vegetarians out there). It is making for strange thoughts in my head. The other day it was chocolate covered bacon and this morning I woke up wondering if anyone ever put pork sausage in brownies. What the heck is up with a chocolate and pork combo??? I will not actually make it, but the thought keeps crossing my mind and making me laugh.

Another thought crossed my mind- Thanksgiving. We are going to my mom's on the day, but i usually cook a turkey on the day after to take advantage of the sales and have the left overs. We really love leftover turkey, and to miss out is a very sad thing. Turkey in this house does pose a slight problem, and that is the fact that I have two stuffing junkies. Eating the original turkey without stuffing for them is a form of cruelty, but stuffing for a low carb grain free diet is a problem. At least at first thought it is. However, with almond meal muffins, flax bread or the Revolution Rolls, I belive it can be possible.I am looking forward to experimenting.

Meanwhile, my son has decided that he must find a recipe or two for a dish to pass up at the gathering, and he found this adorable appetizer for a turkey shaped cheese ball that I will let him make and take. Other than the crackers, it is a low carb cute thing.

Me vs the buffet

There are weekends when hubby has a full singing schedule, it it becomes almost impossible to do "fun " family weekend things, so we have to get creative. Hubby loves to sing and is a great asset to the congregations he serves, we have chosen to live with one vehicle and do not do the traditional kid's sports kind of thing for several reasons. So weekends wind up a lot of errand running between commitments. One thing that we used to do on the weekends for fun is go out to eat. There are pitfals in that choice, but it was something that we could do on our own time schedule and have other ways of controlling. When we began the weight loss journey we stopped doing this, but the rest of our life kept up in the same way. Result was kind of boring. Everyone needs some kind of psychological break from the routine , or things become kind of cagy. The weather has turned cool and hiking is not very appealing again , so we decided to adopt our old habit of going our to eat Sunday afternoon. We planned to go to Golden Coral, but when we got there it was very crowded, so we decided to head to Old Country Buffet instead.

In my brain, I thought this would be a really good choice for us all. Salad, meats, veggies abounding. The guys could stick to their calorie based program and I could stick to my low carb program, and everyone would be fine. It's funny how you forget specific details with time . It has been over 10 months since I set foot in an OCB. Once we paid and I faced the buffet, I was reminded of a few things.

1. A lot of the meat is breaded (no no)
2. That which is not breaded is often in a sugar based sauce ( no no for me)
3. I have an allergy to fish and seafood ( I have gotten attached to breathing, so a no no)

So I wandered around the tables, considering my options, and settled on some baked chicken, green beans, salad of baby greens and something called Spinach Marie ( other than a bread crumb topping, low carb). It was good, but I felt really limited as to my options. We had considered going to Sweet Tomatoes, but once you finish with the primary salad bar there are no low carb options, and eating salad only on a cold day is not my idea of fun.

I think I need to go back to the drawing board as to fun options. Oriental buffets are not a good choice because of hidden sugar in the sauces and breaded meats ( and the fish thing for me). Normal restaurants are going to be a better option for us in the future it seems. Just another change in life, but worthwhile. expanding horizons is a good thing after all ! Just hold that bread bowl, please ??

How a commercial can lead to the truth

Today I want to talk about something that is a non scale victory of sorts. I have to say
first off that dropping almost all grain products has not only gotten the scale moving
in the right direction again, but has made a few really nagging problems totally dissipate.
For one my joint achiness has dissipated, and for another the idea that you need high fiber
grains to be regular has been completely disproved.These two things have gone a long way to
improving my overall outlook on life, and so my brain is free to think about other things.

My husband and I watch a lot of TV during our free time, and we heckle commercials for fun.
Favorite things to pick on are those drug commercials, that deliver glowing reports about a drug's performance and then give a long list of scary side affects. One of my favorite is an osteoporosis drug designed for post menopausal women. Amongst the warnings are statements about it not being safe to take in pregnancy. Excuse me, isn't pregnancy when you are post menopausal a pipe dream at best ???In any case, they make us laugh. And then there are those commercials for male enhancement drugs that simply that having their aid will get you a promotion, a shiny house and all manner of things. I think they appeal to some of the deepest fears in every man, that being that someone else has a bigger toy and therefor is having more fun in life. It's so not true. You do not need a tank to paralell park- you just
need the skills to get it in the right position so as to not smash the other vehicles in the process.My husband, being very much a typical male who is aging, half jokingly said one day that perhaps he should try one. I assured him that there was absolutely no need for such nonsense and that all is fine. And it is. And it has been for all of our 29 years together.

Yesterday we were discussing something ( the upcoming need to buy tires and other things) and something he said reminded me of this previous discussion, and I assured him that I am perfectly and ecstatically happy with him exactly as he is in all aspects of life.I am totally honest- there is not a single thing I would change about him. From the top of his head to the soles of his feet he is absolutely perfect for me exactly as he is. And this made me suddenly aware of the fact that he has said and meant the exact same thing about me throughout all of our marriage. When we were first married and struggling to build our life together, he totally accepted all of my quirks and faults and lack luster skills with finances and homemaking. He accepted my crazy work hours, my strange family and friends and moods. When we were going through infertility he kept assuring me that no matter what happens he loves me the same. When I was at my highest weight ever he still loved, accepted and desired me for who I am, warts and all. When we lost our first son he assured me that he loved me all the same and did not blame me at all. When I had gotten very sick he did things to care for me and loved me the same through it all.Through every moment of our lives his love has remained unchanging and constant, and he has reminded me of it every day. Yet somehow I never believed it. Not because I doubted myself, but I could not wrap my head around how anyone could feel that another human being was such a complete and totally perfect match in every way. So many sources have said that love is a decision and a choice, and that discounted the idea that for each of us there is one perfectly matched soul out there in the universe, and if we are blessed, we will meet them and share a life together.In their presence everything is perfect and balanced simply because they carry the second half of our soul, and when you are together everything is complete. It will never be anyone elses idea of perfection, but it will indeed be perfect for the two of you. I think I finally get that not only can human beings feel that way about other human beings, but I have found one who feels exactly that way about me, and I about him. No matter where I am weight wise, I have this in my life. And having this makes numbers on the scale totally unimportant.

And I have a silly drug commercial to thank for making me realize that this is indeed possible.