Thursday, September 30, 2010

Cleaning out my closet and helping others. :)

Are you serious about your weight loss???
If you are, then when your clothes get to be too big, like 2+ sizes too big, either get them altered or box them up and get them out of your room!!! Don't let yourself slip up and gain weight back because you kept your bigger clothes and they were baggy and you didn't notice yourself gaining weight again. Sometimes nothing can motivate you like a pair of snug fitting jeans! :)

I have made a few other posts about getting rid of my old clothes. I have shipped out 150 lbs worth of clothes to 3 different ladies who needed it. I still need to ship one box to a lady and I just rounded up even more clothes and took them to be delivered to 2 other ladies.... I never knew I had that many clothes! But clothes that big are expensive and hard to find too, so I didn't want to just drop them all off at goodwill and have them sit there and rot until someone found them, or just get thrown out if a lady that size didn't find them.

This is the last batch of clothes I just got rid of:

These are pretty large bags from Schwan's and there is 5 of them stuffed full:

My closet has never been this empty and it is mostly stuff for work that is left. (But I had bought new work clothes and then didn't get the job so they got too big for me, some of this stuff fits now and some is still snug.)

I don't ever remember my armoire being this empty either, this is mostly my gym clothes and baggy sweatshirts with a few baggy shirts in the bottom that I am wearing around the house for now.

These clothes are for after surgery, but 2 pairs of the shorts fit me now.

1 pair of jeans, 2 pairs capri's, 3 skirts. This is the emptiest this drawer has ever been too. LOL

Me in my favorite new dress. This was one of the ones I got on clearance for $5.99 :)


 I also found a couple long sleeve shirts at TJ Maxx for $5 and $7.
I'm mostly just wearing my gym clothes all the time unless I am going somewhere nice or I wear a dress. I have a few normal tops and bottoms, but it is just easier to wear the gym clothes because they fit me longer having some stretch to them and then having a drawstring to tighten up the waist when they get baggy. I am pretty active these days so I guess it is fitting. But it has been had adjusting to not having a lot of clothes to chose from because I very much have to have everything matching and I have to look nice when I go out in public. Especially being bigger I didn't want to be out and about and look like I was not put together, neat and tidy. I always thought since my size people were going to stare at me so I needed to pay more attention to the details and not give them anything else besides my size to comment badly on. I am also very picky about my clothes too. I am just trying to limit my shopping while I am still losing and find good sales and be selective in the pieces I do buy. :)

The ladies I have helped out with my old clothes have all been very thankful to get them and it makes me feel good to have been able to help others. Maybe some good karma will come my way and I will keep finding good sales on clothes that fit me and find a good full time job instead of just doing temp work...... I can hope anyway! I haven't really mentioned that on my blog, but yes while my weight loss is going on I am also in the middle of a job search and a bunch of other things as well. I am glad I have a lot of energy now! But I am kind of tired this afternoon and I want a nap! LOL

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

"Mommy Mommy! Look at that lady!!!"

Words that make me cringe.....
"Mommy Mommy! Look at that lady!!!"
Those words always made me brace myself for what was going to come next. 


Over the years I had heard a variety of things,
"That lady is a big ol fat!"
"Mommy Mommy, Look at that big fat lady"
"Mommy that lady is HUGE!"
"Mommy does that lady have a baby in her tummy?"
"Mommy were you that big when I was in your tummy?"
"Mommy did that lady eat a bunch of candy?"
"Mommy is that why you exercise so you don't get big like her?"


I could always understand kids saying things and most of the mom's would act embarrassed and tell their child that wasn't nice to say that kind of thing and some would apologize to me they thought I heard it. The one lady that I couldn't understand was the one who seemed not to have an issue with their child's comment, it was.....
"Mommy see that big lady over there? Is that why you told me I can't have twinkies?" Then much to my horror..... the mother looked right at me and said, "Yes hunny, I don't want you to grow up and be fat like her!"

Well, I was running errands the other day on my way home from the gym and my hair was up and messy and I was wearing one of my new shirts a size 18/20, which is shorter and I prefer them longer to cover more of my extra belly skin that hangs below and just looks like fat under my clothes. So I didn't think I looked great or anything and was kind of self conscious about the shirt being shorter anyway and wearing it with a pair of my workout capri's. So I am in a store and I hear, "Mommy Mommy! Look at that Lady!" of course I cringed and braced for the worst..... Then the little girl said, "See her shirt? It's pretty, that's the color I want to paint my room!" It was both a shock and a huge relief at the same time. I wanted to go give the little girl a hug but of course I didn't because her mother would not have understood why and probably thought I was some crazy lady or something. So I just smiled and kept shopping. The capri pants in this pic are an XL from Target, but they have some stretch to them. Considering that I started with a 90" belly..... I am pretty happy to fit into an xl or even a xxl from Target!
So later I asked someone who has never been afraid to tell me just how fat I was, I started off by saying that I know I am still a large woman, but so I still look really huge like a cow or am I even getting close to normal looking yet? They said I have been normal looking for awhile now and I don't stick out in a crowd anymore and while yes I am still large, I am not that large and there are lots of people bigger then me and I am usually not the biggest person in a restaurant anymore. Then I was told that while they personally did not think I was that big and that some people think anything over a size 4 is huge, so it is all about someone's perception but that I didn't look that big anymore. Then they told me I had lost enough weight and I should add some more carbs back in and they tried to get me to eat a calzone..... I declined, but I did eat a small piece of thin crust pizza that day. It didn't hurt me, but it is definitely something that I won't do often!

I am not done losing and toning my body and for me Low Carb is truly a way of life and not just some diet. When I am done losing weight I will add a few more carbs in per day so I maintain my weight and don't gain any back. Especially with my PCOS if I added in the carbs I use to eat before I would gain weight back in a hurry. Losing weight is not just about losing it, it is also about maintaining it and being healthier, happier and finding that balance that is right for you. Some foods will stall one person while they won't stall someone else. Use a program like FitDay and following the lists of Atkins approved foods and get enough sleep (I need to focus on that one!), drink enough liquids and get enough exercise.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

18th Annual Massachusetts Race for the Cure 5k run/walk

I had so much fun on Saturday!
I didn't sleep much, just 3 very short naps. So I was tired when I got home and took a nap! None of the ladies on my team had done this before and they were all glad that I asked them to go with me. All of us want to go back next year, so I am excited for that. It is such a good cause. :)

This little dog looked so proud of her sweater.
 I don't know these ladies but I liked their hats.
 Another doggie there. I didn't think we were suppose to bring dogs but a few people did.
 The New Balance shoe.
 Waiting forever to start walking. The runners went first and it was a huge herd of people waiting to start walking.
 The runners were already doubling back on the path and at the 1 mile mark when we were starting to walk.
 Some volunteer cheerleaders.
 Water.
 A survivor and her daughter. :)
 Part of the Boston sky line.
 By the water.
 Some wonderful ladies. :)
 I never seen this many port-a-potties in my life...... LOL
 At home and ready for a nap.
 With the walking before and after the 5k and the 5k it's self and some errands on the way home I ended up walking 8.71k before I sat down and took my pedometer off.
 I had so much fun that I already signed up to do another 5k walk in November, this time it is for Lung Cancer. My Dad had a football sized tumor removed from his lung, along with 3/4 of his lung in 1995, so this one is for him. I am very lucky to still have him with me today. <3

Friday, September 24, 2010

Excited for the Susan G. Komen 5k Race for the Cure tomorrow!!!

I can't wait for tomorrow!!!!!

 When I went to pick up my team's shirts and race bibs this guy was helping me and I was looking at my shirt to make sure it was going to fit me. I had picked the size in May so I wasn't sure what I had put down. He made a comment about me not knowing what size I was or something so I just told him that I had lost some weight so I was just making sure the shirt was going to fit. Then he asked how much and I told him and he thought I said 27 lbs and I said no 247 lbs. He said 247???? Wow!! and was asking me how I did it.

He was saying no way, really? I said yes, really and I showed him my before picture in my phone. He said let me see that phone and took my phone and went and showed the other volunteers there helping and was like , "Hey everybody this young lady has lost 247 lbs so that she could participate in this race!" I am pretty sure I turned all kinds of red at that point. LOL Then on the way out he told all of the volunteers outside as I was walking away. It is nice to hear the compliments but it can get a bit embarrassing at times. But it is better then being called a big fat cow and having little kids point and stare and saying "Mommy, look at that big fat lady!"

 I decided to participate in this 5k because my friend Kristy a survivor and mother of two young boys was healthy enough to participate in the 5k in her state and I thought to myself that I should do it too. They don't have 5k's for people who have lost a lot of weight or have PCOS (although since then there is one in Texas being organized) so this is a good cause and I have lost family members to cancer so why not sign up!

I was only able to walk 1 mile when I decided to do this and I was a bit worried for awhile but luckily I can push myself to 9k on the treadmill now. Walking on the treadmill is different the just normal walking but I should be able to do the 5k just fine.

Also someone very special to my Father, a sweet lady named Diane is a 20 year survivor who just had to have more surgery last week, because she got more cancer. Her's was a very bad kind, the kind that usually goes undetected until it is too late. Her's was way deep behind her muscle and she got very lucky that the tech saw it during the mamagram and caught it in it' early stages. Not only did she get lucky once, but twice..... She was lucky enough to have a very good doctor in CA, not everyone has that and the more research that can be done to save the boobies, the better!

The statistics are 1 out of every 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. One of those women could be your mother, grandmother, sister, best friend, wife, girlfriend, cousin or even... you(but I hope not). Check your boobies once a month ladies!!!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

My Red Jacket

I was cleaning out some more boxes of old clothes and I found my red jacket. I think I am going to hold on to it for awhile for comparison. I have been getting rid of so many clothes but I was trying to keep a few things that I had pictures of me wearing before I lost weight. I wish I had more before pictures, but I really hated pictures of myself and mirrors back then. I can't find the purple shirt that I had laid over the bed and it looked like a blanket. I hope I didn't give it away on accident. I do have a blue one just like it still, but I wanted to keep the purple one because I have a picture of me wearing it. If you are currently losing weight or wanting to start losing weight, I would recommend taking a lot of pictures of you from all sides. You will be glad that you have them later on. Sometimes I really don't see a difference until I compare a before pic to a current pic. Anyway here is the red jacket.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Phone Trouble - Way Off Topic!

I am super busy and my phone is having issues. It won't even play my music right while on the treadmill. I have gotten 2 hours sleep within the past 48 hours. I am wicked tired and mad at my phone. I have job interviews going on and having to deal with a phone that is force closing 3 times for every 1 text msg that I can send, force closing in email, won't connect to Facebook and force closes on websites too. I got a certified replacement and it is worse then my current phone. I am so mad I stayed awake all night just so I could call verizon at 6am when they opened.

I talked to a girl who seemed helpful and she said I could get an early upgrade because of all my trouble and told me I could go pick up a new phone at my local store. So I hopped in the shower and drove 20 minutes to go get my new phone, got there and waiting for them to open at 9am. The girl didn't note the account right and then guy who we had to call didn't want to do it and made a big fuss and I really had to fight to get my new phone approved and threaten to go to Sprint, which I am seriously about to. I have been a Verizon customer since 1996 back when it was still Cellular1 before Verizon even existed! They claim that my new phone will be here on Friday and it better be or I am going to be very unhappy.



I am ready to kick some serious a**!!!!!!
I went to the gym after the Verizon store and this faulty replacement phone would not even play my music right and kept force closing and stopping after every song ..... I am soooooooo mad!!!!!!

Anyone want a piece of me??????  I think I better go try to take a nap now. I liked my phone a lot when it worked right, but it been having issues for a long time, it just got worse over time,but this replacement is even worse! I will be glad when my Droid2 gets here and I can stop having phone issues!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Pizza for Breakfast

I woke up wanting pizza, so I made one. Low Carb Pizza of course!

This is a Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza, extra heavy on the toppings because it is a larger tortilla. I usually use a tortilla that is a bit smaller and has 4 carbs per tortilla, but this one has 10 carbs per tortilla and I just have one more left after this one to use up. There was a lot of meat on this pizza and it was a bit messy, but I wanted to make that 10 carb tortilla stretch out for more then one meal so I loaded up on the meat and there is no way I could eat that whole pizza at once! No way at all...... lol

I don't like having an item with 10 carbs in it very often.... It is do-able but I just prefer the lower carb ones. I used 4 pieces of bacon, 1 tsp of bell pepper, 1.5 cups of ground beef, the low carb tortilla, 1/2 cup of shredded Monterey Jack cheese, 1 tbsp of pizza sauce and 3 pieces of deli style sandwich cheese. I just put the tortilla in for a few minutes first, then added the sauce and layered the meat and cheese, put the bell peppers on top and put it back in the oven. I had the bacon cooked and crumbled and added it after baking. But you can add it before and just put some cheese over it so it doesn't get too crispy. You are basically just baking this to melt the cheese and crisp the tortilla a bit. I add my meat toppings already warmed unless it is pepperoni.


There is 1,299 calories, 75.6 grams of fat, 14 carbs and 88.8 grams of protein in the entire pizza for the specific ingredients and brands of products that I used. It can vary a lot between brands, so always check your labels if you are looking for something new. I have found that some of the organic sauces end up with less carbs then others, but that is not always true. Just spend a little time checking all the pizza sauces in the store and use the one with the lowest carb count. :)

Sunday, September 19, 2010

LOL.....

Sometimes I don't know weither to laugh, cry, sigh or get frustrated at the constant need to keep re-doing my wardrobe. Just when I thought I had gotten rid of all my baggy clothes except for my Red Sox and Patriots gear I go to put on a hoodie that was tight on me last time I wore it and now it is too big. It was from my smallest point before my accident when I had lost weight the first time. It is a great feeling when your "skinny" clothes are now too big for you. I guess I better double check my old clothes while I am still getting rid of the last bunch of clothes I just removed. Some day the constant getting rid of clothes that are too big will end! :)

I have a picture of me wearing this hoodie before my accident with my Dad in front of me. I played in photoshop and cut him out and stuck him in front of my new pic in this same hoodie, but holding the excess material in the back. It is about a 40 lbs difference but my middle has a lot more definition from my strength workout now. :)
I need to go visit my Dad and take a new picture with him soon!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Are you ready for some Football? (and all the tempting snacks too?)

I am about a week late with this post, but better late then never! The question of what to eat at Football parties has come up a lot lately and this can go for any party or gathering in general. But I wanted to think more about "game food" or things that could be modified for you but not look too out of place or be too odd that others wouldn't want to try it. A number of people like to hide the fact that they are "low carb" either out of fear of harassment, or they don't want people staring at them wondering why they haven't lost weight yet, or they don't want people lecturing them saying meat/fat is unhealthy while said person plows down a box of twinkies.

People have many different reasons for wanting to keep their eating habits quiet and that is more understandable to me when someone has been bigger or is still bigger. People watch you, they notice what you eat, they sometimes comment on it and it can really make you feel self conscious. If you don't want to say that you are "low carb" you can just say that you can't eat flour or sugar, or that you are even allergic to flour or sugar, or that flour and sugar makes you sick. It's not really being dishonest because most people who are low carb for any amount of time WILL get sick if they eat very much flour or sugar. It becomes more so if you are VLC (very low carb) like I am and even more so if you have a medical condition like PCOS.

A lot of times when we think of a football party we automatically think of junk food, chips and dip, nachos, hot dogs, hamburgers, macaroni salad etc. While all of that is fine and certainly affordable to feed the majority of your guests there are options to add in to help those who don't eat carbs.

If I am having a party or people over I always ask if anyone has any food allergies or dietary restrictions. I grew up with a Mother who is allergic to cheese and other foods made her sick or she just didn't like and other family who was diabetic. Then I worked with/became good friends with a lady who could not eat a lot of fatty foods due to a gall bladder problem. So I guess I just became more sensitive to the issue of people having different dietary needs. Planning for a gathering is easier if it is at my house, but when I go to some where else I just try to bring things that I can eat like a veggie tray, boiled eggs and then just eat a bunless burger or hot dog and avoid the other things. I haven't had any issues being stuck anywhere that didn't have good options besides when I was in enemy territory at Yankee Stadium.

Mini Bacon Cheeseburger Stackers:
You could put pickles, cherry tomatoes and cheese cubes on the skewers above the burgers if you want to. Then have buns for most people but just don't eat the bun yourself.

Pizza!
Just make pizza's for everyone else and then make yourself a low carb pizza with the same toppings or different toppings on the pizza's for variety. If anyone notices that your pizza is different, again just say you can't have flour. I just got some frozen cheese pizza's at the store and then added my own toppings so it looked the same as mine. But you could always just get different kinda of frozen pizzas and then add a little extra cheese to them to make them be better.

This was my Low Carb Pizza:
I just used a low carb tortilla for the crust and a pizza sauce that was as low in carbs as I could find. This pizza was actually 7 carbs for the whole pizza, but that will depend on the tortilla you use, the sauce you use and the toppings you add. I have made other one that was 16 carbs per the whole pizza. The big difference was using a 4 carb tortilla vs. a 10 carb one. 

Buffalo Wings or BBQ Wings or Italian Wings:
I made Buffalo Wings with a sauce that was 1 carb per 2 tbsp of sauce. Just bake the wings with basic seasoning on them like pepper, onion powder and a little garlic powder if you want. Then use a Buffalo sauce that is lower in carbs like Ken's Buffalo Sauce and marinade or a BBQ sauce that is lower in carbs like Kraft Light, or even use Italian dressing and Italian seasoning. These wings actually had only a little sauce and it was 1 carb for all 4 of these wings.


Steak Kabobs:
You could also add cherry tomatoes to this if you wanted to.


Chicken Kabobs with bigger pieces of chicken:
Chicken Bacon Kabobs with smaller pieces of chicken:
You can grill up steaks and then warm them/finish cooking them in the oven or make a roast.

You could also make up a sandwich tray with various sandwiches cut in half or in 4's and then also have a few wraps on the side. Included in this could be your wraps in low carb tortillas, or just keep your wrap in the fridge and get it out when you need it. Maybe make up a few more in case someone else is also avoiding the carbs. You could even ask if anyone else is allergic to flour or sugar and offer then one as well.

Boiled Eggs:
They are cheap and easy. Add a veggie tray or baby carrots and ranch dressing too. You could also do a meat and cheese tray if you like. Put those out in addition to all of the chips and dips. When I have done this I ended up with people thanking me for having some healthier options available.

Cheese Crisp Crackers:
These are the cheese crips crackers made out of melted cheese. You can top them with tuna, egg salad, lunch meats or use them as chips with salsa if you wanted to. Another thing you could keep to the side for yourself or make a small batch to share if you wanted to.


If you want more substantial food and you don't want to do steaks, kabobs, burgers, hot dogs etc. You could do a taco bar. But keep in mind that not everyone has a tummy that can handle spicy foods. You could still have chips and salsa and taco shells and normal tortillas but over to the side have your low carb tortillas or just make taco salads. If you have it set up like a taco bar then people could just make their own. It is easy to store taco meat in a crock put and you could also have queso for nachos too.

Taco Salad:


Chicken Fajita Salad:
Low Carb Enchilidas:
I cut a 4 carb tortilla in half and then stuffed it with as much meat as I could. You could have a pan or two of normal enchiladas ready for everyone else.

Chicken and Sausage Lasagna:
This is a pasta free Lasagna it has chicken and Italian sausage with sauteed bell pepper, onion, fresh pressed garlic, grilled tomatoes, Italian seasoning, fresh ground black pepper and lots of cheese! I fed it to someone who isn't Low Carb and they didn't even miss the pasta not being in it until I asked them how the noodles tasted. Then they noticed! But you could make a normal one if you wanted to and save this one for yourself.


You can even get low carb ice cream and diet root beer and make root beer floats for yourself and normal ones for everyone else.

So am I ready for some Football???
Heck yeah! My only problem is, my Patriots gear from last year is a bit big on me now. This hoodie is kind of like a snuggie now because I can fit my legs up into it when I sit down.

My youngest doggie wanted to give me kisses:
It was actually cool enough that I wore this on Sunday until after I got too hot cooking in the kitchen.

This is my only Patriots shirt that isn't too big for me yet. I have a Broncos fan offering to buy me Broncos gear in the right size, but I have declined the offer. lol

I hope some of these ideas help avoid the carb loaded temptations but still allow you to feed your other guests the food they want. I have cooked differently for someone who eats a lot of carbs and myself being very low carb for quite awhile so I have learned how to make modifications to things and use the same base ingredients but just make alterations or exclusions to mine. The one thing I will caution you on is pay attention to the added things like the ice cream in the root beer float. A serving size is 1/2 cup, if you use more then that just make sure to add up the carbs. You may even want to plan out in advance what you are going to eat and enter it into FitDay and then just kind of keep a mental note during the party so you don't let yourself over do it. BUT if you do decide to be "bad" and go over your 20 carb limit, then you will have a better chance of just staying under say 30 carbs for that day if you have your low carb options available to you. Instead of having a 120+ carb day without your low carb options. Staying under 30 carbs for a special occasion is a lot better then 60, 80, 100+.

I do occasionally let myself have an "Off" day where I go above 20, but it is not very often and then it is still under 30 and very very rarely would I let myself hit 40, it would have to be something special that I really wanted or I was somewhere like Yankee stadium where I didn't have a choice. That day I had eggs, bacon and sausage for breakfast about noon time and then a cheese steak sandwich at the game about 7pm. I picked part of the sub roll off, but ate most of it because there wasn't a lot of meat on the $15 cheese steak sub that was 6" long. Then later in the game I shared a small order of cheese fries with a friend. Drank half of a small hot chocolate that was about 15 carbs, I mostly wanted to hold the cup to stay warm. Then I ate a piece of beef jerky about 1am once I got back to the hotel. I didn't gain any weight and I didn't get sick, but the carbs were also spread out and combined with quite a bit of walking and water that day too. I don't know exactly how many carbs I had that day, but that has been my worst "off" day in a very long time. I went right back to very low carb the next day for breakfast. When traveling I try to make sure to eat a good breakfast because I can get full on eggs, bacon and sausage and not have to worry about the carbs.