Dabbling in Dieting: Return of the Veggies

I've never missed something as much as I missed vegetables last week. Holy cow! I was having salad dreams.

Yesterday vegetables returned to my life and I am SO happy about it. I celebrated by having a small salad at lunch and another at dinner. And by snacking on sugarsnap peas and sauteing mushrooms for a side.
(*As I'm writing this, I realize that "peas of any kind" are still on the no-no list. Oops.*)

For dinner last night I simply made up some salmon like I did last week and then sauteed the mushrooms in the Walden Farms Balsamic Vinaigrette that I bought this weekend. I did use too much dressing for the amount of mushrooms - but it was still tasty on the salmon. I do have to say - for fat, sugar, carb, calorie and gluten free -- both Walden Farms dressings I purchased are quite tasty. There's a slight aftertaste I can't *quite* identify - but it's not overpowering and the dressings themselves are good. (They aren't as good as a thick Blue Cheese dressing - which is admittedly my favorite - but they're better than almost every other fat free dressing I've ever tried.)

One thing I did yesterday that I've decided I need to be careful of in the future: eating lots of cheese sticks for snacks. I think that's probably a dangerous habit to get into. While I did find 5% milkfat mozzarella sticks, there are probably much better choices for a snack. BUT that the last one (cheesestick #3) I had before we left the house for a concert kept me from breaking down and getting a bowl of potato chips. I might miss potatoes more than anything. Either that or black beans. I LOVE potatoes (I'll eat them raw, fried, baked, boiled - you name it) and actually still have part of a small bag we purchased before the diet that I will likely need to throw away - and seeing them and the bags of potato chips in the cupboard is a bit difficult. Seriously - I think if I slip during Phase 2 it'll be for something made out of potatoes.

Anyone else have a weakness food right now?

One mental set back - my weight loss has slowed WAY down. However, when I picked up the Dukan book at Target and read part of it (get ready for an overshare...), it does say that you should avoid starting the diet within a week or so of your period. Mine started today. So I'm blaming the hormones for my minimal weight loss over the past few days. Well, that and the fact that I've been a tired, lazy bum and failed to exercise for four days in a row.

The not exercising HAS changed despite the fact that I am EXHAUSTED from those previously mentioned hormones. Yesterday I did manage to get up a little early to work in an abs yoga workout (15 minute yoga dvd). Today I was too tired to do that - BUT this afternoon I got an overwhelming urge to go for a run (WHAT?!) - so I went for a short run after I changed. I logged 1.5 miles in 30 minutes. AND I did it with only 3 walking breaks! That's quite an accomplishment because I have never, ever claimed to be a runner. And even when I was "training" for a 5K last spring/summer I took way more than 3 breaks every time I ran (although, I was running double the distance). Despite that, I'm proud of myself for resisting the urge to sit on the couch and watch tv and actually going out to run.

Speaking of running - I've decided to run the Madison Race for a Cure on June 4. Any locals who want to join me are more than welcome!! :) My friend Trevor says he'll run with me (he's been running like a fool lately and did a race up north this past weekend) - and for that I will be forever grateful! It's kind of depressing to sign up for a race and not know if you'll have any friends there to start with or know will be cheering for you at the finish line. (I'm usually behind everyone I know when I run - I'm uber-slow.) If we get a group going we might even start a "team" to raise a little more money for Komen.

Well, I should start prepping some stuff to eat tomorrow/later in the week. And make some dinner even though I'm (surprisingly) not hungry at all.

Until next time - happy dieting/exercising/dabbling... :)

Dabbling in Dieting: Dukan Day 7 - End of the Attack!

I did it. I made it 7 days on the Attack Phase. I'm still hardcore craving things that crunch - but I get veggies tomorrow and I've already started planning out a nice little snack involving some snow peas. :) Talk about a healthy reward!

This morning I was only down 0.4 pounds - but that's fine! :) It means total for the full week I'm down 5.8 pounds - which I'm just going to go ahead and round up to 6 pounds. I think I'd be down a little more if I'd done more working out the past few days - but I think since I didn't feel very good towards the end of the week it was a good idea to take it easy. I'll be back on the work out attack in the morning. Oh - and since February, I'm down 9 pounds! Woohoo! :)

Today wasn't too bad. I had a couple of large bottles of water - and three plain hamburger patties. The tough part was being at a friend's barbecue. A former co-worker is in town visiting, so we all got together for some celebrating and visiting. Everything that everyone brought looked AMAZING. Guacamole, chips, veggies and dip - oh, and some Sweet Escape Cupcakes. The host - Jacki - makes these incredibly delicious and incredibly creative cupcakes. I have no idea how I managed to not eat every single cupcake... but somehow I made it several hours without gorging myself on even one. I mean - she makes cupcakes with Reese's peanut butter cups baked INSIDE. So flippin' good. Maybe when I reach my goal weight I'll order a dozen and share them with people who'd like to celebrate with me. ;)

Anyway, I must be in the swing of protein only at this point because I was able to resist chips and guac (YUM) as well as the cupcakes. I just ate plain hamburger patties with some chopped onions. Which were also pretty darned good. I'm so glad grilling season is officially here!

The barbecue was so much fun - always nice to spend a few hours with really great company.

After the barbecue, we went grocery shopping. Somehow I managed to resist buying EVERY vegetable I saw. I also found some salad dressing that was suggested by Marisa (the friend who started me on this journey): Walden Farms - all of their dressings are fat free, sugar free, carb free, calorie free, gluten free. I grabbed a bottle of Honey Mustard vinaigrette and some Balsamic vinaigrette. I'm excited to try them on veggies as well as try them as sauces on some of our protein meals!

When we finally got home tonight I wasn't super hungry, but a little snacky and my sweet tooth was in full force after thinking some more about those cupcakes. So, I whipped up a double batch of oat bran cookies.

Now, these are a little more muffin than they are cookie - but they're still super good. I made a double batch because one batch only makes about 6 cookies.

Here's the recipe:
Baking powder1 tea spoon

 Egg1

 Oat bran3 table spoons

 Sweetener1 table spoon

 Yoghurt2-3 table spoons

Instructions

1

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

2

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl into a thick and smooth mass.

3

Pour the mixture into a baking tray or muffin form

4

Bake the mass for about 15minutes at 180C

5

Tip For a crunchy version: after 15 minutes remove the cookies from the oven and than remove them from the muffin trays carefully. Place the cookies upside down in the oven again and bake them for another 10 - 15 minutes. Now the cookies are soft inside and crunchy outside.

**180 Celsius translates to 356 Fahrenheit
**I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla flavor per batch.

They're nice and a little bit sweet - but not too sweet. Plus one or two is just enough to take down a craving. Especially with a small glass of fat free skim milk.

Now that I'm on the "weight loss phase" which alternates protein+veggies and protein only days I will probably just do a few updates throughout the week(s) instead of every day. Hopefully you'll all be able to survive without daily (or multiple per day) posts! ;)

Well, it's about time to hit the hay so that I'm bright-eyed enough for some yoga in the morning - so until next time - happy dieting!

Dabbling in Dieting: Dukan "supplies"

I've had a few questions about where to find certain things for the Dukan Diet, so I wanted to share where I've had success in finding some of these items as well as some other little tidbits I've discovered.

Oat Bran -- I found some at the local grocery store's "fill your own" section. It's where you can fill your own bags of nuts, grains, etc. I haven't found it in another section in any of the local grocery stores where we shop. Luckily, 2 scoops from the "fill your own" has been more than enough for the first week (including making pancakes for Chris and a few batches of oat bran cookies).

The Book -- while I haven't purchased it yet, I've found it for various prices at various places. Target has it for $18.20. Amazon has it as low as about $13 -- unless you want to buy the UK paperback version which is about $8 (but, you'll have to do some interpreting of the UK English). You can also get an e-reader version on Amazon for a lower price. A friend who's looking into starting the diet also found it on Walmart.com for $13. I will probably end up buying the book next week. While I've found a lot of help on the web, I feel like reading the book will help me in the long run as far as sticking with it goes.

Snacks -- Vanilla yogurt. I like Chobani. Once I can have fruit again, I'll start buying fruit yogurt by Chobani - I was eating it prior to Dukan because I think it has the best flavor.
               Laughing Cow cheese - specifically the spreadable varieties. The lowfat version tastes virtually the same as the full-fat variety and the low fat version also comes in a variety of flavors. My favorite is the Queso Fresco & Chipotle because it is a little spicy. :)
              Turkey Jerky. I bought some for the first time on an impulse today. Jack Links makes some that is 98% fat free and packed with protein. It's not too salty and my craving for a snack was satisfied after just one large piece. Plus, it's easy to pack into a ziplock and carry in your purse.
              Carving board style lunchmeat. This can serve as a quick lunch or a snack. I do admit, I feel weird eating lunchmeat alone - so if it's for a meal, I might suggest adding some Laughing Cow to bulk it up al little.
              Oat Bran cookies. I found the recipe in the Attack Phase section of recipes on mydukandiet.com. It's basically the same recipe as the oat bran pancakes I've been making every morning. They're not too sweet, but 2 small cookies is enough to take the edge of a craving off.

Website help -- I cannot say enough how helpful mydukandiet.com has been. It's got explanations and helpful tips and recipes. While it is geared more towards the UK version (meaning recipes are in celsius and have some not-quite-American measurements and expressions), the few I've tried so far have turned out quite well and have been delicious. They're also simple!

Drinks -- Water is the big one. LOTS of water. I've actually started keeping a full gallon jug of water in the fridge so that I have cold water on hand all the time. (I just refill the jug with our tap filter - it can be slow, so having the jug handy makes it more convenient for my lazy, lazy self.) The instructions say you can have as much diet soda as you want - but I would recommend only one soda a day if you absolutely need it. Soda still has a boat load of sugar (or aspertame) and caffeine and sodium which can leave you more dehydrated when you really need more water because of the protein-only diet. The water helps your kidneys flush the protein by-products from your system. It's super important. Coffee & tea are also allowed - I've only been doing one cup of either in the morning to get a small caffeine boost - a little caffeine is supposed to rev the metabolism but too much can make you dependent and cause spikes and crashes which result it being tired - and in my experience - terrible withdrawal headaches. I've also done some skim milk with meals simply because only drinking water all day leaves me craving a beverage with flavor.

Breakfast -- Everyone has something different that works for them - for me having a standard breakfast that is fast and easily travels works best because I'm lazy and sleep in too late to eat before work. I've been taking one egg with my microwave poacher along with 3 small oat bran pancakes. I might start rotating the pancakes with some yogurt. However, the morning pancakes are an easy and delicious way to get in the oat bran every day. One batch gets you the full 1.5 tablespoons of oat bran in one meal. Plus, the help keep you full longer in the morning. Which is a blessing.

I'm sure there are other things I'm just not thinking of... but since they aren't coming to mind, I'll have to share them another time. If you have a question about the diet or where I've found something, please let me know. I'm happy to share!

Until next time (tomorrow - day 7!!!) - happy dieting! :)

Dabbling in Dieting: Dukan Day 6 - Adventures in Eating Out

After reading more about the Dukan Attack Phase - I realized that there is a sort of "sliding scale" for the Attack Phase. After looking at said sliding scale (and hearing the results from the friend who suggested the diet) I decided to do the Attack Phase for 7 days.

When I weighed myself this morning, I was down another 0.8 pounds. That means as of this morning I am down 5.4 pounds. Since I started efforting weight loss, I'm down 9 pounds. That feels pretty good (and means I'll get that massage a little earlier than I planned)! I'm also starting to actually SEE the results. My  clothing is starting to fit differently (IMO - better).

Here is where I was worried about staying on the Attack Phase over the weekend: eating out. We usually eat out on weekends. And we usually split meals when we eat out. And most restaurants don't have "protein only" options that are listed up front on the menu.

This morning we went to the Farmers' Market for a quick trip. We got coffee. Well, I got coffee. Chris got a chai tea latte - my favorite. But, I didn't cheat. :)

For lunch, we decided to try out a new(ish) restaurant - Longhorn Steakhouse. We split a steak. It was pretty good. The cut was a little fatty and coated quite a bit in seasoning salt (more than I'm used to). Other than that it was delicious.

Since it was rainy most of the day, we ended up going to a charity event inside. Mini-golfing for guide dogs! Sure, it wasn't strenuous exercise, but it was exercise. AND we got to pet cute puppies!

I ended up taking a nap - and forgetting to defrost anything to make for dinner (whoops - now you know why we eat out so much on weekends). So, once I emerged from the fog of napping, we flipped through our takeout menus to find something I would be eat without too many changes and special requests. We settled on Joey's Seafood - by deciding to split the snow crab legs.

Now, I couldn't have any of the sides (the corn muffins looked UNBELIEVABLE) or the butter dipping sauce - regardless - they were AMAZING. I love crab legs. I don't know why I don't eat them more often...

Even though we ended up splitting the crab legs, there were several things on the menu that I could've easily ordered. So if you're looking for a restaurant to find an easily-converted all protein meal, I highly suggest a steakhouse and/or a seafood place.

The other thing I did today - bought myself a reward. :)
I promised myself that if I made it the 5 days of the attack phase without a major cheat, I'd buy myself a new workout outfit. I do admit, I took a few small drinks of a rootbeer - which probably counts as cheating - but otherwise I was true to the diet.

While I didn't get a full outfit (I hemmed and hawed about the shorts and figured they can wait - it's still pretty cold outside, so I don't really need another pair of shorts yet - no matter how cute they are) - I did get this workout shirt that I've been eyeing for a few weeks.

I'll have to remember to have Chris take a photo of me wearing it the first time. :)

So, until next time, happy dieting! :)

Dabbling in Dieting: Dukan Days 4 & 5

 I meant to blog yesterday - but blogger was down for maintenance. Let's see if I can remember everything...

Yesterday was the first day of the Attack Phase where I started to feel more tired. I think the toll of no sugar and no carbs is starting to sink in. I'd only been at work for about an hour when I was totally ready to take a nap! One good thing from yesterday: I drank over a gallon of water. Yes, that meant I had to pee every 20 minutes - but it was good to get that much water in my system.

I was also super hungry yesterday. I ended up making oat bran cookies after dinner. Well. I ended up making two batches because the first batch I accidentally used baking soda instead of baking powder - which made them turn out pretty gross... The second batch was better - and Chris likes them too! :)

Here's the progress - yesterday I was down a full pound.
I think my progress has slowed - partially because with the additional sleepiness I pulled back on some of my working out. Skipping a few workouts probably isn't the best idea if I really want to keep at it - but it was hard enough getting out of bed period yesterday.

I did remember to take a photo of the pancakes - I made them for Chris and he really liked them.

Yesterday I made them without the vanilla - Chris said at the end of the day that he thought they needed some syrup. Unfortunately, we don't have any...

After work I was still tired, so we didn't do the Jillian Michaels dvd. We did do a 15 minute walk together and then hit up the grocery store. I price-checked the Dukan Diet book -- $18.20 at Target if you're looking for it. I didn't pick it up, but did some skimming. We really went in just to get eggs, but also picked up some Laughing Cow Light - the spicy flavor. I've always loved Laughing Cow spreadable cheese - and when a friend who is also on the diet said she was eating it on the Attack Phase, I got REALLY excited about it! :)

Then I tried one of the recipes from mydukandiet.com - Salmon and Philly dip (it's got a much longer, more complicated name on the site, so I'll list the recipe after the photo)

Here's the recipe:
Coriander

Fat Free Natural Yoghurt- 1 table spoon

 Garlic clove1/2 or 1

 Lemon juice - few drops

 Philadelphia extra light - 3 table spoons

 Red chilli - to taste

Salmon Fillet - 1

1

Season the salmon fillet with salt, pepper and few lemon juice drops.

2

Wrap it in a silver foil (optional, but if you use it fish will not stick to the pan) and grill on a frying pan for about 20 minutes changing the sides.

3

Prepare the Philadelphia dipper: Take 3 spoons of Philadelphia cheese and one spoon of fat free natural yoghurt into a small bowl. Add pepper, coriander, chilli and grated garlic clove and mix all.

It was really good - better than I anticipated. The dipping sauce is an amazing compliment to the fish - especially fish cooked with lemon. I think it would also go well with chicken. I crushed the coriander because I only had seed form.

If I make it again, I will likely cut the dip recipe in half. The full recipe easily made enough dip for liberal dipping/slathering for probably 4 fillets of Salmon. With just the 2 of us, we had dip on every bite of our fairly large fillets and still had some left over.

One thing I do want to note about the recipes on the website - they're mainly from the UK, so there is a little deciphering needed. Also, some of the ingredients are not as easily available in the US. I read a recipe for "Dukan Mayo" that calls for Quark, which I've only seen in a few specialty food shops here in Madison.

Now on to today. Not down quite as much - less than a pound. I think it was 0.8 pounds this morning.

Today was not a good day. I woke up feeling hot and clammy. Slightly nauseated. Really tired - like muscle tired to the point of almost aching. It did start to get better after I ate breakfast - but I haven't done any exercising today because of it and I haven't drank nearly as much water. I'll work on that more tonight.

I've also had intense cravings again today. French fries are a BIG one. And salt & vinegar chips. And chips & salsa. I'm very excited to get vegetables back next week. VERY excited. I've noticed that protein - in general - doesn't crunch. When I was making dinner tonight I realized I'm really hungry for something "crunchy". I've never really experienced a texture craving before - it's weird.

I will admit - I took 2 drinks from Chris' Sprecher's Root Beer. I absolutely couldn't help myself. I LOVE Sprecher's sodas and having it sitting right next to me was too much of a temptation for me today. But, I did keep myself from drinking an entire bottle.

We didn't go on a family walk today after work because it's been raining all afternoon/evening. It's supposed to rain for the next two days as well, which is disappointing. I really like taking hikes on weekends and thought it could be nice to kick around a soccer ball with Chris - but with it being so soggy that probably wouldn't the best idea. We'll see what happens.

Well, it's time to enjoy this rainy Friday night - and maybe make a double batch of cookies (one batch is only like 6 cookies...)

Until next time, happy dieting! :)

Dabbling in Dieting: Dukan Day 3 -- Exercises in Self Control

Today marked day 3 of the Dukan Diet.

I lost another pound yesterday - so far I'm down 3 pounds. That feels pretty darn good. :)

Before I really get into how today went and some of the other things I want to share - there is something a friend wrote on Facebook to me that I really want to share. It really rang true to me and made sense in relation to "dieting":
"Everyone know[s] that losing weight takes diet and exercise. What most people don't know is that it's actually 10% exercise and 90% diet. That's a good thought to keep in mind when choosing what you eat."

That really put things into perspective and reminded my why it is so important to really think about what I'm  putting into my body. In addition to wanting to eat healthful, quality foods - eating the right ones is such an important decision to make. Whether that's eating on a strict plan like Dukan or a Gluten-free diet or any of the millions of other eating plans that are out there. One of the most important things about "dieting" is understanding what your body needs and how each food decision impacts you in the long run. That frozen mini-Reeses peanut butter egg might sound REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good right now - but is that decision worth a set back in my goals? Is it worth the sugar high and subsequent crash that can make me feel awful? Probably not. So I'll save it as a "splurge" or a reward for later on when I'm really on track to being where I want to be.

Here is where I struggled today - self control. I had some SERIOUS cravings.
 - First: Reeses mini peanut butter cups. They're a huge weakness of mine and there was a little bowl of them in the promotions office this morning. It took every fiber in my being to resist grabbing at least one. I just walked away. (Uhm. Go me!)

 - Second: A co-worker bought me a brownie. This was HARD to keep myself from devouring instantly. Without having any fruit (and therefore extremely minimal amounts of sugar), today I started craving sweets. Additionally, it was so nice of her to think of me that not eating it felt like the most horrible thing I could ever do. :( SO instead I packed it into a ziplock bag so that I can share it with Chris on Sunday. After making it a full week without cheating.

 - Third: Popcorn. Whoa. Didn't expect this one - we have a popcorn machine at work. It's SO good. But - popcorn is not "approved". ACK! I had to keep myself from going back into the breakroom for the final 90 minutes of work. But, I managed.

We've been working out again - yoga in the morning, quick walk after work, followed up by the 30 day shred dvd. After 2 days of it - feeling good. A little achey, but good. I think it's helped me slurp down some more water. Chris mentioned he thought the shred dvd might counter-balance my Dukan weight loss by building muscle - which wouldn't be the worst possible thing.

After dinner tonight I was still having sweets cravings - so I found an attack phase friendly milkshake recipe. YUM.

Speaking of recipes - here's the site:
http://www.mydukandiet.com/recipes/
**This also has some information/tips and a little online shop. This is the site where I found the breakdown of what the diet is. It's a pretty helpful site.

I also ran across this one:
http://www.think-slim.com/2008/04/pierre-dukans-protal-diet/
**This has a slightly more detailed breakdown with a Do/Do Not list of how to keep yourself on track. It is also helpful.

As I keep moving forward with the diet, I'll share what I find. For any of you joining me (you know who you fabulous beings are), feel free to share your tips and discoveries in the comments (or email and I'll share them here).

So - until tomorrow - happy dieting (and good luck maintaining some self control - if you have struggles like me).

Dabbling in Stickin' With It: Rewards. I needs 'em.

I think something that I need to be better about is rewarding myself for keeping with it and working hard. Also - I need to be better at not buying things the second I decide I want them.

Hence - a reward schedule. Now, I haven't quite figured out all of the rewards - or what the "schedule" will end up being... But I've figured out a few things.

At the end of this week - if I'm down my goal 6 pounds: new workout outfit. I found a shirt and shorts I really like this weekend. And I managed to not buy it on the spot. Go me! :) So we'll see if I get to pick it up this weekend.

Other planned rewards:
-  90 minute massage. I was thinking that at 15 pounds I'll reward myself with that. I'll be at my "halfway" point, so it seems like a good spot to give myself a big reward.
-  New wedge sandals. Not sure when I'll reward myself with those. But I've been wanting them for awhile, and it seems like a good reward for all the work (AND show off my legs).
-  New wardrobe. This'll be once I hit my target weight - because I'm thinking very few pieces of my clothing will still fit... at least not my pants (in the *good* way).

Now the part that I need to figure out - some mini-rewards to trickle along the way. Like every 5 pounds I get something. I just need to figure out what that something is... I'm open to suggestions - so if you wanna toss a few my way, please do!

Until next time - happy stick-to-itive-ness! :)