We survived Christmas!

Well, it's a miracle. We survived the holidays! We survived Christmas Eve/Christmas without rice balls, white pasta, canolis, napoleons, SUGAR! I could go on forever. Gram made a delicious lasagna with whole wheat lasagna sheets, low fat ricotta and mozzarella, turkey meatballs and turkey sausage. You could barely tell the difference, it was great! We each had ONE (yes, one!) serving and felt satisfied. For dessert, we had low fat vanilla frozen yogurt and berries. It wasn't even close to being as delicious as all the Italian pastries we are used to, but it satisfied my sweet tooth and I really enjoyed it.

This week, Mom and I are in Texas visiting our family. We are doing really good with making healthy choices while we are here. Even though I would love to have a Jack in the Box Taco while I'm here, I am NOT going to do it! We also are getting in a ton of walking. Luckily, we have access to a treadmill while we are here and that really helps. I'm having so much fun, I'm definitely not going to want to go home!

I'm not doing so great with the trying vegetables thing. I can tolerate mushrooms still... but that's about it. I tried zucchini and spaghetti squash... umm no thanks. Hopefully I'm able to find more healthy choices I actually enjoy because I know eventually I will get sick of salads with cucumbers and chicken!

At Target we bought a yummy snack... it has walnuts, craisins and dark chocolate covered soynuts. I LOVE walnuts! Who knew?! They are really good. And the dark chocolate covered soynuts are awesome. Next, I'm going to try soynuts not covered in chocolate.... I hope I like them too. I'm kind of doubting that though! lol

Mom, Gram and I weighed in yesterday and are still doing great... but I'm not giving away numbers! We still don't have an airdate for the show but hopefully we get one soon. Keep you all posted!

On to Week 2!

Well, we've finished week one of YOU on a Diet and we all are feeling great! We can't tell you how much weight we've lost but we are doing good. ;o)

Christmas is going to be strange without all our favorite foods, but we are planning on making healthy versions. I'll be sure to post our menu after the holidays. Mom and I are going to TX on Saturday, but we are bringing a laptop with us so we'll be able to post from there too.

I've tried 4 new veggies in the first week.. carrots (I can tolerate 'em...), mushrooms (I didn't hate them, didn't love them... I guess I liked them!) peas (umm eww.) and asparagus... (no thanks.) At least I'm trying! Anyone who knows me knows I do NOT try new food. Don't be surprised if you look outside and see pigs flying... seriously... go look!

Got any good veggie ideas for me to test out? I'm REALLY picky but if you can give me an idea and I actually like it, I'll be thrilled!

Message from Matty!

Tomorrow is a week and I am feeling good. Tonight when I went online, Dr. Roizen sent me an email complimenting me on my food choices and actually asked me when I was going to Florida. That blew me away because he really cares about our progress and now I can't wait to be able to make 10,000 steps! At this point I haven't gotten past 2,500. I will get there!

-Matty

Days 5 and 6... Willpower!

The past 2 days have gone really great. I went to the gym yesterday and used the elliptical and the treadmill. We have to walk 10,000 steps a day (we each have pedometers) and after going to the gym I was up to about 4,000 steps... I was so determined to get to 10,000 so instead of staying home and doing school work like I should have, I decided to go Christmas shopping instead! By 4:30 pm I had made it to 10,087 steps! By the end of the day I was at 11,020! That's over 4 miles!

I am noticing already that I'm not hungry as much. I forced myself to eat a snack this afternoon because I know I have to eat all 3 snacks and all 3 meals. I didn't eat breakfast (I know, that's bad...) but I had lunch, snack, dinner and another snack. I feel good, not stuffed, not hungry. Just normal and energetic!

Last night for dinner I made my Dad and Louie MY favorite meal.. Chicken Cutlets. I didn't even TASTE one! Today in class (it was my last day of classes, I'm officially a Paralegal...) my professor brought brownies and cookies and I didn't even taste one of those! WILLPOWER!

Mom and Gram are doing really great too. See yesterdays post to see what my Mom had to say! I'm still tryin' to get Gram to post on here herself, hopefully this weekend I can talk her into it! It's real easy, I'm sure she'd love it! ;o) We all had dinner the other night together and ate very healthy. Grilled chicken, salad and brown rice for me, plain turkey burgers, salad and brown rice for them. We are DOING this and doing it right!

We are about to be snowed in for the weekend so it looks like maybe no gym... I'll have to break out the Wii Fit! Stay warm everyone!

Adele's thoughts....

Nicole decided to let me post to the blog, the only problem is that she has all these rules I must follow because it's "her blog". I started along with Nicole and Mom on Sunday and so far everything is going great. I don't think I have ever been so excited about going on a diet before and I have been on many diets in my lifetime. The plan is easy to follow and we support each other which helps. Since I work around food all day it has always been difficult for me but this time seems different. I haven't really been tempted and trust me there is plenty of temptations in my kitchen, especially with the holidays coming up there is even more than usual. I had my last cooking club yesterday and I had to melt 5 lbs of Ghiradelli chocolate for the students to make chocolate covered pretzels and cookies. I did great and I was proud of myself. The holidays are going to be rough but I figure instead putting on 10 extra pounds, I will probably lose more than that this year. I am cooking for the Christmas party at work on Tuesday and that will be my next challenge but I'm not worried. Right now what's more of a challenge to me is the fact that I have been so busy that I have not started my Christmas shopping yet! I guess it's going to be a weekend of shopping for me. Nicole said I can't write anymore, she's so bossy so until she invites me back, thanks for your support.

Days 3 &4... Energy? Where'd that come from?

The past two days have gone really well. Still eatin' healthy and feeling good! And I'm noticing something new... I have ENERGY! I walked up flights of stairs that I always walk up and didn't feel like passing out! I don't feel tired all the time, and I always want to do stuff! And I'm not even working out yet. Just eating the right foods has really changed the way I feel already, and it's only day 4. I've dieted before and felt this... but it just feels different this time. It feels... permanent? Like I won't go back to the way I felt before. Maybe that's referred to as "motivation"!

Tomorrow morning after I drop Allie off at the groomer (a NEW groomer, fingers crossed that I like this one!) I am going to the gym to do some cardio. And I actually feel excited about it. I'm supposed to be walking 10,000 steps a day and since I've just been sitting at home studying for finals... I am no where near 10,000! For instance, my pedometer right now says 1,041! That is definitely not enough. I know if I were working it would be better but I've just been sitting home cramming for tests.

Today we did a conference call with Dr. Roizen. He is Dr. Oz's partner and they wrote the book YOU on a Diet together! (go buy it right now, it's fabulous!) He is a really nice guy! We have to email him everyday with what we eat and how many steps we've taken. Once a week we have to email him our waist size and weight. This is a great way to keep us on track! I'm excited to weigh myself on Sunday... ok fine, I "cheated" and weighed myself today and I'm already doing great! But, I'm going to wait till Sunday to make it official... can't trust the scale day to day. I learned that the hard way in the past!

Ok, back to the books. Only a few more days left and I'm officially done. Tomorrow is Gym Day 1! Can't wait!

Day 2... An epiphany, perhaps?

Day 2 was great! I started off with 1 cup of cheerios with 4 oz of skim milk and a clementine. For a snack I had one apple with a few almonds... I'm really trying to like them. For lunch I had chicken breast on a little whole wheat pita with cucumbers... and for my mid afternoon snack I had a mixture of cheerios, almonds (still tryin'!) and dried cranberries. I find that if I eat a dried cranberry and an almond at the same time, I can tolerate it! For dinner I met up with my wonderful cousin, Alissa, like I sometimes do on a Monday night after class. This is where my epiphany comes in... so, usually when we meet at the diner I get a chicken sandwich and fries... or a burger and fries... or chicken francaise and pasta... something like that. Well today I had a greek salad with grilled chicken and barely used the dressing. And not only did I find that I was full without even finishing it... but I also didn't feel like complete crap! Instead of wanting to go home and sit on the couch afterwards, I went shopping! Ok, so that's not so great for my bank account, but whatever. I felt good! EPIPHANY! Who knew? :o)

I'm not getting many steps on my pedometer since all I've been doing is sitting at home studying and doing homework. Tomorrow is another full day of the same thing unfortunately. Less than a week and I'm officially done with school ( and NEVER going back again!) Then I can concentrate even more on this journey. ( and finding a job... someone please hire me!)