Stay tuned folks, I’m alive and well and have PLENTY to talk about….. 
But real quick while I’m here, just made my first red sauce lasagna using Dreamfields Pasta…. Details to follow soon!!!! Hope ya missed me!
This is another thing I am a big believer in, measure measure measure. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight can tell you, sometimes the scale is a dick. You’re doing everything right and it just isn’t budging. Well, that’s ok if you measure too because you’ll see that it’s not all about that angry little number staring up at your sleepy, nude body every morning. That number doesn’t get to win, you want to be smaller! So measure! I say every 2 weeks or monthly is good. Granted it’s not an instant gratification thing, but it’ll help you through those times when the scale is not being nice to you. If you’re on plan and doing what you should be doing and the scale won’t budge, I can bet you’re still losing inches.
I started measuring at 243lbs, I really wish I had done it at 280lbs, but that would have been scary. Not really sure I even want to know that one, the 243 numbers are scary enough. Here’s what I got.
1/15/2011- 243lbs 2/26/2012- 196lbs
Neck- 13 3/4″ Neck- 12 3/4″
Belly- 47 1/2″ Belly- 40″
Waist- 45 3/4″ Waist- 40″
Hips- 54 1/2″ Hips- 47″
Thighs- L 30 1/2″ R 32 1/4″ Thighs- L 26″ R 26 3/4″
Calves- L 18 3/4″ R 19 1/4″ Calves- L 16 3/4″ R 17″
Biceps- L 18″ R 18 1/4″ Biceps- L 15 1/2″ R 15 1/2″
Forearms- L 11 1/2″ R 11 3/4″ Forearms- L 10 1/2″ R 10 3/4″
That, my friends, is a grand total of 42 1/2″ gone. I’ll tell you, seeing those measurements continue to go down has gotten me through some dark days in a stall or two. So do it.
I just wanted to give a shout out to Cleochatra (Jamie VanEaton), her recipes are amazing and she is a force to be reckoned with, please, check her out, I tried this recipe last night and it was nothing short of awesome, much like everything else she graces us with!
Low Carb Deep Dish Pizza @YourLighterSide.com
Here’s how mine came out 
Ok, not really, but they are really kick ass recipes. Mostly from my head, which is scary. I’ve never been much of a cook, more of a baker, I like the exact science of it, just throwing things together and hoping they taste good has always terrified me a bit. Lately though, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and tried it, so far, so good! I made a maple beer ham glaze that I’ve decided to hold off on posting until it’s perfected, but everything else is bad ass.
This isn’t so much of a recipe, just an idea that turned out really good. I took one of those SteamFresh creamed spinach pouches, cooked it up in the microwave, added 1/2 cup of 4 cheese blend and 1/4 cup of bacon pieces. Heeeeelll yes. It was awesome. So I highly recommend that as an quick and easy low carb side dish.
Chicken Broccoli Casserole
OK, cut up the chicken raw, then cook it in a skillet. In the meantime, steam the broccoli and mix everything else together in a pot, melting the cheese and making a sauce. Mix it all together in a 9″x13″ casserole dish and put in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. I threw some extra cheese on top of mine and put it back for 5 mins to melt it. Came out great! I wish I took a picture… :doh: Next time! Enjoy!!!
And like anything I ever say or post or tell you, make it yours!!! Experiment and find out what works for you and what you like best! Don’t let my tastebuds rule yours
Well, well, well… Guess who finally made it under 200lbs! ME!!!!! So frigging excited. I haven’t seen that since… well honestly, I don’t even remember!!! It’s a good feeling. Even at 199.8!
I’ve been busy busy busy lately, so I have been neglecting you all, but I do have lots of good stuff for you coming up soon!! I managed to concoct a few recipes in the past few days that I am happy to share!
A low carb maple beer ham glaze, an awesome low carb meatloaf and last night’s chicken broccoli cheese casserole!! Keep an eye out for them!!!
Sorry for the drive by, but I’ll be back soon and it’ll have been worth the wait!
Well folks, here it is! The long awaited mini low carb cheesecake recipe!! I love this recipe for a few reasons. First and foremost, it’s tasty and really hits the spot if you’re craving cheesecake or just want something sweet. Not only is it good though, it’s easy! Plus there is so much you can do with it since it is a very basic recipe. Be creative!
Or copy off of me and try some things I’ve found to be good
-Spread 1tbsp peanut butter on top (Peter Pan crunchy is lowest on net carbs-6)
-Put a glob of sugar free jam or jelly on top
-Make a crust out of crushed up peanuts or almonds and a bit of melted butter and put it in the cupcake panty before adding the batter
-Add some cocoa powder to make a chocolate version
-Make it a pumpkin cheesecake (my favorite- but a little recipe alteration is needed, see the special notes)
-Add more cinnamon or try adding your favorite flavor extract
Really, anything goes! Make it yours! And if you come up with something kick ass, come back and tell me about it!
The exact carb count is going to vary slightly depending on what you add to the recipe, how full the cups are, etc, but mine usually come out to be about 6 or 7 net. Stick with one cup per serving though, you don’t want to over do it, but these shouldn’t stall you at all.
Enjoy!!!!!
You’ll need:
16oz full fat cream cheese
½ cup sweetener (I’m partial to Splenda)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Soften the cream cheese (leave it out for a bit or pop it in the micro for about 40 seconds), mix everything together in a big bowl, then beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Pour into 12 muffin cups (with liners!), you can fill them most of the way as they puff up when they cook, but deflate when you take them out. Bake for about 20 minutes or until they start to brown a on top.
Let them cool completely, they are better once cooled/refrigerated. Eat!
(For the pumpkin variation- Add 1-15oz can of pumpkin, 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice and 1tsp cinnamon. They aren’t as thick, but still really good! I need to figure out how to make them more dense, suggestions welcome)
This is the first recipe of many as I have lots of favorites! So please check back often to see what’s next! You might discover a new favorite yourself!!!!
Oh, and did I mention I’m a lazy cook and afraid of ingredients I’ve never heard of before? So all of my recipes are simple to make, taste great, are easy to increase/decrease depending on the size of your family, make good leftovers and they all contain very few, if any, weird ingredients!! Also, I tend to stick to induction levels for the most part, so they are all induction friendly!!
I decided to turn today’s post into a topical post. Hope that’s ok with you all
Based on the fact that I’ve been working 60+ hours a week at my ‘regular’ job, I think it’s important to talk a little bit about how to fit low carbing into a busy (read: normal!) lifestyle. It’s actually much easier than you think! If I had one sentence to tell you how to do it, it would be- Always come prepared. But thankfully, I have a whooooooooole bunch of sentences at my disposal, so I am able to elaborate for you. (Lucky you!!)
As you may or may not know, I’m quite the advocate for eating when you’re hungry. Sounds pretty common sense, right? You’d be surprised how many people think that not eating is the secret to losing weight, it’s totally not. It’s actually counter-productive because, uh… it sucks? Who the heck wants to be hungry? That’s where people get messed up. I love food and I love to eat, so if my tummy rumbles, you better bet your ass I’m going to feed it! The key is, in a busy lifestyle when hunger strikes, you have to have planned ahead. If you’re on the go a lot, Atkins bars are a life saver, or those single serving packets of nuts (just regular salted is best, but if you need more flavor, just watch the carb count. I stick to peanuts, but almonds are good too). Keep one in your car, your purse, your backpack, your desk at work, anywhere. EVERYWHERE. Then you know if you need to eat something, you have something that not only fits your life; it fits your ‘diet’.
(Please note: Low carbing is not a diet, it truly is a lifestyle, but for the sake of this discussion not getting too confusing, I’m saying your ‘diet’, but by that I just mean how you eat. But you’re smart, you already knew that.)
Make sense? It should. Seriously, eat. Especially if you’re first starting out while you’re adjusting to everything in your body switching gears. Don’t deprive yourself of food in general, just cut out the white crap (kidding, read the books, but really that’s the jist of it.) Don’t worry about too many calories in the beginning, you likely won’t have to watch those for a while, as you will find yourself being hungry less often anyway (barring you’re eating enough fat) and your body will regulate itself to only wanting enough calories to sustain your activities. True story.
I, myself, actually do what people call ‘intermittent fasting’ or IF, but not really on purpose. When I stick to a low carb style of eating, my body naturally adjusts to only wanting one meal a day. I drink coffee (black w/Starbucks sugar free syrup) and water all day, if I get hungry, I’ll grab one of the above mentioned snacks or an Atkins shake and then between 6-10pm when I’m actually hungry I make and eat a big ass dinner. It just works for me. Plus I’m lazy and have no desire to plan and prepare 2-3 meals for myself a day, I’m not much of a cook. Just putting a little extra thought into it and you can make this thing idiot proof, I promise. For example, cook up a pound of bacon on Sunday night; throw it in the fridge in a Ziploc and woohoo! Snack for the week! Or do the same with hard-boiled eggs, etc. 3 meals a day even on a busy schedule is easy!! Exhibit A: Jimmy Dean Omelet for breakfast, ham and cheese rollups and a small salad for lunch, Atkins bar/shake or a pack of nuts for snack and a big old juicy burger with a side of broccoli and cheese for dinner. Sound easy? Yep. Sound good? It is.
So what the hell are you waiting for??????????
Just a quick drive by on dinner last night! Made a new recipe for myself, and decided to share my experience. I saw some of those FlatOut brand light wraps at Publix last week and they were BOGO free, well I can’t resist a sale and they are only 6 net carbs each, not too shabby. So I got them. I tend to do not so well with actual wrap sandwiches, I want to make and eat like 10 of them. Too close to real carbs for comfort I guess, but I figured maybe I could get some traction out of them. And I did!!!! I decided to follow the recipe on the bag, I know, what a novel idea!!!! So, took a wrap, threw it on a cookie sheet for 7 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees to crisp it up, then put on lower carb pizza sauce, added some 5 cheese shredded Italian blend, pepperoni and sausage crumbles, baked for another 5-7 minutes until the cheese melted and Voila!!!!!
It came out great!!! Really tasty!! Definitely hit the spot for a pizza craving.
The bad news? I was up 1.4lbs this morning, surely from the wrap. However, it’s just water weight, so no big deal, but it just goes to show that this is all about trial and error and you have to figure out what works for your body.
Which is why I weigh myself every morning, kind of gives me a gauge on how the foods I ate the day before effected me and teaches me how to improve and what works for me without pesky anal-retentive tracking.
Ok, sorry to tease you all and then disappear, I’ve been struggling lately… But isn’t that what I am here for? To vent and discuss my struggles? Yes, however, I’m still a novice at this whole blogging thing, so you’ll have to cut me some slack.
Alright, back to my struggle. I’ve been dancing around 205 since August. AUGUST!!! Lowest I had gotten was 203, then up to 2…. Uhh…. 223… yeah, holidays. Then back down to 203 when I posted my first blog and back up to 207 after that. Suffice it to say, I was getting really frustrated and starting to lose my drive thinking that I was stuck, that I was doing everything right and I was just doomed to be stuck at 205 forever. Wah wah wah. Well, duh Sara, you’ve been slacking. If you weren’t letting laziness win and letting bad carbs sneak in here and there or just screwing up totally for a week at a time, you’d be fine. {insert face palm here}
One key thing I have learned about low carb is that you absolutely get out of it what you put into it. It needs your complete dedication to succeed in the initial losing phase. I lost sight of that for a while, got lazy, got complacent. Who the hell am I to be complacent when I still have 60lbs to lose?? I’m only halfway there! We don’t quit at halftime folks! No way! So I reigned myself in, decided I needed to do what I know works. I needed to ease up on the drinking, limit my frankenfoods, drink green tea daily and go back to basics. Isn’t that how I lost the first 75lbs to begin with? Duh Sara.
(However, a side note is, that I was able to maintain within a 5lb swing when I wasn’t going hog wild, so that shows I can loosely pay attention and am able to maintain- which will be very important once I get close to goal)
So I re-committed to giving it my all, so it will give it back. And I’ll e damned, it’s giving back already, as I weighed in at 201.6 this morning! WOO!!!!! That, my friends, is what we call ‘virgin weight loss’. I am SO close to my first real goal of being under 200lbs for the first time in at least 13-14 years. That is huge to me and I cannot wait to claim it, my reward is waiting patiently. I have a $50 Marshalls/TJ Maxx gift card that I’ve been sitting on, waiting for it. It’s burning a hole in my pocket!!! I’m a clotheshorse, I am sure to blog about my sale/thrift finds in the future. I love to shop!!!!
Which brings me to goals. They are key. Little ones, big ones, whatever. Just set them and KEEP them. Make sure you schedule rewards for yourself that matter to you. Ones that aren’t food. I personally like rewards that I can use to pamper myself, a manicure, pedicure, highlights, clothes, etc. Or for the man folk, maybe a new video game or a musical instrument? Why not? You deserve it!!!! Pick up a new hobby, go out and meet people, show off your newly shrinking body!! OK, I’m getting ahead of myself a bit, but it will happen. It also can work to have your significant other or some other important person in your life help with goal rewards too, gives you more accountability as well and makes them feel involved in your transformation, which is important too.
Recap: Make goals, meet them, and congratulate yourself. Make it a priority. Today.
Mine?
Under 200lbs- Use $50 gift certificate for new summer clothes and get hair re-highlighted.
100lbs lost at 180lbs- 3 day cruise to the Bahamas with my mom (on her dime- woot!) and I’ll probably do something for myself too, like a spa day or at least a mani/pedi in preparation
And so on and so forth. But one important thing I’d like to mention is that you should NOT put a date stamp on a weight goal, you’re just asking for trouble. I’ve done it and failed miserably and it sucks. This isn’t a race. I know it’s tempting to say “Goal- Be 185lbs by Sally’s wedding”, but when that doesn’t happen, you’ll feel bad about yourself on Sally’s wedding day when you planned to feel great, which blows. So don’t do it. Set goals, work hard towards them, but know your body has a mind of it’s own. Don’t set the pace, set the plan and let it work with you, not against you.
If you’re reading and you like what you are reading great! If not, feel free to provide constructive criticism or ideas for blogs, I’m all ears!
Here are a couple ideas I have planned for future blogs:
Weekly low carb grocery deals (let me know where you shop!)
Book reviews and plan comparisons
Ummm…. And more! ☺
Wether ‘tis nobler on the web to suffer the snark and criticism if outrageous naysayers, or to take arms against a sea of carbohydrates. And by opposing, end them.
To abstain… to be fat… NO MORE!!!!
OK, Just kidding, I’m not always that dorky, but it does happen from time to time.
I’ve decided I need a bit of a hobby, so I’ve decided to start a blog about my life as a low carber and possibly help someone else escape the dredges of carbdom. I believe in the low carb lifestyle because I know it works. The science just makes sense, it’s worked for me, I’ve seen it work for others and it can work for you. I want to help. I want other people who felt as shitty and worthless as I did being fat to know, there is hope!!!! It’s easy, it’s doable, but it’s a commitment. It’s been said before, but bears repeating- “Losing weight is hard, being fat is hard. Pick your hard”. Just do it.
I guess I can start by telling you my story, hopefully this will be the most boring part of my blog adventure and it will get much more exciting from here, but I can’t make any promises.
Ahhhh…. 1982…. It was a good year, the year of my debut into the world. At 8lbs 6oz, I was a decent sized babe, nothing out of the ordinary and certainly not fat, yet. Fast forward a few years and on came the chunk. I was always a fat kid, even as a toddler. Not sure why, I just always recall being heavier than everyone else. I remember playing outside like a normal kid, being active and my mother never allowing chips, soda, candy or sugary cereals in the house. So why did I end up fat?? Who knows. Well actually, I do now, I’ve read Taubes’ newest, but I’ll get to that later I’m sure. But anyway, yep, fat from the get-go, nothing I could do. Growing up was tough for me. I was raised in a 2 parent household (still married actually) and I have a brother who is 4 years older than I. Mom and dad both worked hard, mom from home, dad was away a lot, but that was kind of okay with me. Interacting with dad was rough, still is really. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, my weight was always a topic of… “conversation” we’ll call it. Not the best motivator for a kid, as you can imagine, but I don’t blame him. His dad was an ass to him, so I guess shit rolls downhill as they say and frankly, I was an easy target for disappointment. Anyway, my mom tried everything to help me lose weight. I remember joining a gym and having a personal trainer in elementary school. I also remember attending weight watchers meetings as a kid with my mom, but I was the member. We had to get special permission for me to attend. Talk about embarrassing, but bless her heart, she tried. However, nothing worked. It sucked, as you all know I’m sure. Elementary school was hell, riding the bus was terrifying, not sure what was going to get thrown at me each day, just because I was different. Kids are assholes. I got called every name in the book and eventually just stopped listening. Yeah, I’m fat, great, how original. .sigh.
All that is rough on a kid and I’m sure I still have some residual bullshit rolling around in my head from it, but it made me the strong woman I am today, so I guess it wasn’t all for naught.
Anyway, moving on to junior high, still fat (shocking, I know) but ended up making some awesome lifetime friends and caring if I was heavy became less of a concern. I lost weight in high school for some reason, more active? Puberty? Who knows, but one crappy break up the summer between junior and senior year and I ballooned up to almost 300lbs my senior year. And so, my life as a morbidly obese woman began.
From 2000-2009, I bounced around from about 210 to 300+, depending on my depression level at the time (Side note- I’ve been on Prozac on and off since ‘99). Funny part is, looking back the most fun I ever had and some of the most fond memories I have are from 2005, the fattest I have ever been, no doubt over 300lbs, but I was happy and I didn’t care. In hindsight though, I wasn’t happy. I was having fun, yeah, but always in the back of my mind, I envied my thin friends who got all the attention and hated being the ‘fat friend’ and being virtually invisible. Sometimes when you’re fat though, you come to be thankful for being invisible, since attention usually ends up being a negative event. But dammit, I want positive attention, I mean, who doesn’t?
Anyway, fast forward again to summer of 2009. I was 282lbs, depressed and basically just ‘over’ being fat. So I started a low calorie, low fat diet and stuck to it to a T. In one month, I lost 2lbs. I was miserable, hungry and not seeing the results I wanted. My brother had recently lost about 80lbs following Protein Power, so I turned to him for help. I was ready to try anything, unconventional? Maybe. But I knew it worked, so I was game. He gave me the book, told me to read it and let him know if I had any questions, and boy did I. He’s a patient man, because I must have been annoying as hell the first couple months! I cut down to 30g of carbs a day and in less than 3 months, lost 30lbs and felt awesome. Then enter the holiday season and long story short; between then and Sept 2010, I gained it all back. I had tried restarting it again a few times, but always ended up stuffing my face with carbs and got right back up to 280. After moving to Florida in February 2010 at 260, then finding 280 again in the fall, I finally said enough is enough.
The first day of my new life as a former carb addicted fat-ass was Septemer 13th, 2010 at 280lbs. Today I weighed in at 203. I’ve been struggling for a while to get under 200, a few more cheats than I should have, but life happens. 77lbs is a lot. I’m damn proud of myself. I feel better, I look better and I can do things without second-guessing if I’m too fat to do them. Of course I still second guess, but I’m hoping it’s a bad habit I will lose over time.
As far as what made me get my shit together, I have no idea. I’ve had numerous ‘wake up calls’ or ‘light bulb moments’ over the years, not fitting on roller coasters, breaking chairs, etc, but I guess I was just never ready. I guess something finally clicked, like ‘hey, you know how to do this, you know it works, now get off your ass and do it already!’
So I did.
Pardon the goofy face in the ‘during’, I was being silly. I will post more progress photos as I get into this, but this will do for now, you see what I’m working with here.
I’ve got a long way to go to get to a “healthy weight” of 145 (according to BMI charts and such), but for once, I can see it happening. My goal is to be there by the time I turn 30 in November, but even if that is a bit of a steep goal, I’ll still be closer to ‘normal’ than I ever have been, and that is what matters.
I’ve lost the weight thus far with little to no exercise, as I’m just a lazy creature. But I do wish I had paid more attention to doing that on the way down. When you don’t incorporate exercise, sure, you lose fat, but you don’t gain muscle and things get a bit…. Loose. Blech.
So as of the new year, I’ve started walking a few miles almost every day. I’m hoping exercising is like drinking water, the more you do it, the more you want to do it? But we shall see, at least I am doing something.
So, you may be asking yourself what my purpose in blogging is, my story isn’t all that different than anyone else’s really, I’m not a snowflake and I’m certainly not much if a writer, but I think it’s good for me to have a place to vent my daily struggles on this way of life, cathartic hopefully. But what I really hope is that people who read this, one person even, can become inspired to take control, lose weight and live a happier, more fulfilling life because of it. I’m thankful every day to my brother who gave me this knowledge and changed my life, quite possibly saved it as well.
I’ll be posting my triumphs, defeats, thoughts, struggles, recipes, meals, advice, encouragement, whatever. I want to see what this can grow into. I’m not an expert nor am I a health/exercise nut, I’m just a regular chick, making my way and trying to get healthy and look good. Yes, vanity is important!!
Some follow and some lead…. I think I’ve earned my stripes as a follower, I’m thinking I’ll try my hand at leading.
Coming along??
