Happy Day! I’m on Day 12 already! That’s like 10% through our Mid-Year Resolution Challenge!
Woo, girl (or boy). I hope you’re giving it a go with us to see how much you can safely and sanely lose by December 31.
Don’t forget to enter here for a chance to win one of these lunch sacks for your kids, or for you! We’re all just big kids! Simply leave a comment here to enter before next Wednesday at midnight.
How are you doing?
Things over here are looking up. A lot of the water retention is gone since I began this journey and I am looking forward to weighing in at TOPS on Monday. Last night I slept through the night like a zombie sated on Mensa brains. Me = thrilled. I had kept wonky hours, but yesterday I buckled down, watched an episode of River Monsters and zonked.
Now what I had yesterday… First of all, here’s the plan I’m following and here is the introduction post to the Mid-Year Resolution Challenge.
While you look at what I’m doing, be sure to do your thing. I am thrilled to give some ideas, but I’m not the person you should necessarily look to for dieting advice (I’m not a paid nosh-a-titian). I am, however, here with you to cheer you on when you’re so skinny you might fall through the holes in a manhole cover.
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I ate this:
Breakfast: Cheese straws and Diet Coke
Lunch: 1 sausage patty, scrambled eggs with 2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese + Diet Coke
Snack: Cheese straws, part deux + Diet Coke
Dinner: That casserole I’m still tweaking + Diet Coke
Notes: Ermagerd! The vitamins helped! I am not sick anymore. Whee! I staved it off!
Today I learned:
I learned that dairy is something I think I’m glad I’ve limited.
My oldest son is lactose intolerant, a sign I at least could be. I’ve limited myself, then, to 1-2 ounces per day, tops, to see if that helps. So far, it seems to have. I’m not happy about this; Wisconsin born and bred, we love our cheese. Love love love love love. It’s like the bacon of dairy, and the cows all nod in approval.
Wisconsin: Smell our dairy air.
On the other hand, it seems when I’m eating cheese, I feel a little more bloaty and my losses stall ever so slightly, so I’m sticking with it! I’ll post a separate post about how to limit cheeses today if anyone else is trying to cut back without feeling the sting.
So that’s it! Another food intolerance detected, and this one breaks my heart.
But guess what, I’ll spork a ho in the eye to get into skinny jeans, so if it is cheese, I’ll take her down.
What food intolerances have you noticed in your journey and what are you doing to fix it?
Thank you for posting your menus and thoughts . I need to be the more awesomer me, too.
You are totally awesome. We want to be less-of-us awesome to match!
Glad you are feeling better! It was just within the last few months that I have discovered that peanuts, eggs, milk, and cheese (so far) have a negative impact on my GI tract and weight loss. I love cheese- cannot stress that enough. Although I have not given it up completely, I do limit my cheese intake to 2 servings max per day. I can’t wait to read your post on limiting it. Thank you for posting everything! It is really helping my journey along 🙂
I agree, and can’t wait to share that post. It’s hard for to go totally without, but there are easy ways to limit and still enjoy the flavor.
Oh, I forgot to add grains to that list, lol. All of these items cause my stomach to severely hurt, along with bloating and that miserable feeling. I have since cut out all grains that I could this week.
I’m joining you! Thanks for all the menus, updates, and tips! 🙂
I am so glad, Jillian! We can do this together!
Try not to worry too much about missing cheese! 🙂 If the cheese is aged 30 days or more the amount of lactose left in it is virtually nil. So most hard cheeses are safe! It’s the fresh cheeses like mozzarella and goat cheese and cottage cheese and cream cheese that you have to stay away from.
I’m so glad to hear you beat that cold away 🙂
I am so so glad I kicked the cold out of my life! I still have a teensy bit of sniffles, but I’ve had worse allergies than this. I am so not complaining one bit! I want to limit the cheese to some degree if, for no other reason, that I tend to go for the full servings per day–and then it’s easy to accidentally overdo it.
I was just wanting your opinion on my situation. I’m down 30 lbs since I began low-carbing in May of this year and still plan to lose another 30/40. Low carb works for me and I plan to keep it up but I’m finding I feel rotten a lot of the time. Low energy levels, feeling so exhausted all day and even wake up feeling that way after 8 hours of sleep. I do exercise on a regular basis but have to force myself and never ever have gotten an energy boost from it. My family has expressed concerns that it is because I’m not eating enough carbs. Normally, I stay under 40 grams per day but this past week, I have stayed under 10 to get off a plateau. It worked and I started losing again but I feel even worse. My question is do you alternate higher/lower carb days and how do you find the right balance? I so appreciate you sharing your amazing recipes and experiences with us. It is very helpful to feel like we are all in this together!!
Way to go on your weight lost so far, Tamara!
Hmmm… Tamara, can you tell me how many calories you’re eating a day, what you’re doing for exercise, and then shoot me what a typical day’s menu looks like? I can give you an unoffical opinion based on my anecdotal experience! After years of evaluating menus, I have a few thoughts I can share.
A super low-carb day would go like this: 3 scrambled eggs with a tbsp of shredded cheese and 2 turkey sausage links; lunch would be a small can of tuna with a squirt of mayo, s&p, and a turkey breast, green onion, and cheese rollup, dinner would be a turkey burger patty with sauteed mushrooms, spinach and swiss cheese. I try not to snack on most days. A regular “low-carb” day would be breakfast tacos with low carb tortillas (3 grams each), a lunch of shiratake noodles with chicken breast, spinach and mushrooms and a little light alfredo sauce. Dinner is normally some kind of meat and veggies. If I have a snack, it is usually a handful of pistachios, some sort of Atkins treat/snack, cottage cheese with strawberries, a string cheese, some sort of dip with veggie chips (16 for only 6 carbs!!). I lay off the low carb tortillas and chips if I’m really watching because they can add up quickly but they make life so much more meaningful!! ( : I drink coffee with Splenda and sf liquid creamer and I only drink diet sodas (occasionally), tea with Splenda, water or some of the sf flavored mixes extremely diluted and I am always drinking something throughout the day. I don’t normally count calories but I’d guess I’m anywhere from 900 some days if I don’t eat 3 meals up to 1800 on a day with 3 meals and a snack. I’m not consistent calorically.
For exercise, I do water aerobics at the gym or the treadmill at a pretty high incline to burn more calories. I walk at our local mall frequently, anywhere from 2 miles to 7 in a day depending on how much time I have. We have a Wii and the Wii Fit Plus and I do that on days that I can’t make it to the gym/mall. I love riding my bike but in south Texas, it is still too hot so I don’t do that very often (once a month). My routine is different every week because I babysit 2 kids and have 2 of my own so it depends on who is in school and what extra kid I have what I’m able to do each day.
Is this enough info? ( : I appreciate any help you can give me!
Hi, Tamara!
You gave me so much terrific information to use to figure out what could be happening. I have a few ideas.
1. Soy and/or gluten intolerance. I notice that you eat tuna (soy) and tortillas (wheat). Those could possibly be slowing down your progress. If you could cut out the wheat for a week, maybe that’s your culprit. Soy would be another to watch out for, because it’s a big one when it comes to food allergies.
2. Dairy/Lactose intolerance. Coming from the Dairy State, it’s hard for me to say this, but it seems when I indulge in dairy, the scale slows down, I bloat and I’m not feeling as great as I could be. Try eliminating dairy for a week and see what happens.
3. Nuts. Because nuts are considered moldy foods, and because many just tend to have an aversion towards them, it’s possible that they’re exacerbating any possible yeast overgrowth in the body. If they’re not, and you find you might be dealing with bloating or stalls, these could be the culprit, too.
4. You might need more carbs and calories. For your energy expenditure, you might not be getting enough food. If the food allergy tricks don’t work, try switching up your caloric intake for a few days and see what happens.
5. Too much sodium. While it’s just temporary weight gain and the body needs salt, too much could cause further water retention.
Those are a few thoughts. My main thought is to eliminate the wheat for 10 days. Then the soy for ten days. And then, if things haven’t started moving, try removing dairy for 10 days and see if that helps.
Wow! Thanks so much for all of your insights! My husband has been saying that I might have a gluten sensitivity issue. I guess I might have to try eliminating it for a while and see what happens. I do almond milk but I’m definitely a cheese lover!! OMG! But, it couldn’t hurt to cut back a bit more on dairy than I already have. It might be time to do what I’ve been talking about doing for years: Meat, veggies and lower carb fruit diet and just see what happens. Losing weight is great but I expected to be feeling better with each pound gone and that isn’t happening so there must be another answer! Thanks for your help and encouragement!
I am so happy I could offer some suggestions. Thanks, again, for sharing your menus!
Day 12 already? We’re rockin’ this thing! Sorry about the cheese! Totally LOL’ed over sporking a ho in the eye. That’s some serious stuff right there!
Yeah, Vitamins! See nutrition works! Yeah!
Breakfast…
Scrabbled eggs…vanilla almond milk!
Lunch…
Fried ground beef perfumed with a trio of aromatic spices,,,nutmeg, cinnamon and all spice….plus s & p …cup of coffee. And a Caesar salad …my delicious usual!
Mid p.m. Snack…
Prepared a batch flax…cocoa…coconut cookies. It is the second time I make these…the addition of baking soda was superb! These will be my muchies for the weekend. Sometimes weekends are the hardest times to diet! And last night the weather turned suddenly….much cooler….it was 60F this 7 a.m. and although that is not bad…there is a cool wind with it! So cookies are great…with hot steaming coffee or tea!
Went to the gym and rode stationary bike for 1.2 miles…as fast as possible!
Monday I will try to make this a habit!…Monday to Friday!
Dinner…
I have ground beef ready to cook….but have not decided how I am going to prepare it!
Any way….dinner isnground beef something….and a Caesar! Of course!
Regards,
Glad
Everything looks great! I am so proud of you for hitting the gym, too! Work it, hot mama!
Very funny! I am the least athletic woman on the face of the earth! Hot mama, I am not!
I do and will take the gold medal in the couch potato event! So even if I walk everyday an hour or more….that is my earnestness in wanting to get the weight off! And get back into skinnier clothing!
You are so kind, Jamie!
What would we do without you!
Glad
I dabbled in plant-based eating for a while and found that nutritional yeast is actually a satisfying substitute for cheese (I can share a KILLER nacho cheeze recipe I found if you ever desire one). I too was raised in the land of cheese and casserole so don’t worry, I understand your pain!
Such an inspiration!
Thanks so much! I can’t wait to weigh in on Monday.
Cheese straws?!?! Please do share – I couldn’t find them on your site, and this Southern girl LOVES cheese straws!
It’s s silly and easy, you’ll laugh! You cut cut thin strips of American cheese and then microwave them for about 45 -60 seconds on parchment paper to make them crunchy.
Ah… Just like the crunchy crackers, but long and skinny. LOL I make crackers all the time, silly me for not figuring it out. However, I like my cheese straws a little spicy, so will add a light sprinkle of cayenne. Thanks!
I just found this newsletter recently when searching for low carb casserole recipes. I love the site and am enjoying trying the recipes. I started really watching what I eat and am writing down everything but no weighing the food. I am eyeballing it and putting it into a measuring cup to ensure that I don’t eat over 1 cup of food. I started keeping track of my weight two weeks ago and am now down 4 pounds. I like that but really thought it would be more due to the size of the meals and lowering the carbs. I will take it, though, and plan to lose about 100 pounds total.
Four pounds is so super! I am so proud of you, Susan! I always think of it this way: It took time to put the weight on and it’ll take some time to take it off again. And four pounds is pretty tremendous, I say! I have friends who’d give anything to lose that, so it’s definitely perspective. So long as you’re feeling well and aren’t hungry, I say keep on keepin’ on!
When you say “American cheese”…do you mean like “Kraft Singles”?
I do! You could use either the Deli Deluxe, or the wrapped singles. I’ve seen both work equally well.