I Made It!

A few months ago, I agreed to do a 2 mile walk for a fund raiser for our local hospital. My 7 yr old daughter also does this walk.  I was not sure I could do it, but wanted to try.
The morning was very cool with the wind. It was cloudy with dark clouds and my daughter and I spotted 1 small clearing.
We met up with 'Gma' and headed for our check in spot at 6:45AM. Then at 7:30 AM, we got on the bus which took us to our starting point. At 8:AM, was when the walk started.
Of course with in minutes, I lost site of all except the 2 I was walking with. I just kept on going and did not lose my pace.  During the past couple of weeks, I had been able to get to the 2 mile walk on the treadmill in about 1 hour.  During the walk, the weather was great..not hot nor cold.
Coming to the 1 mile marker was encouraging and the last couple of blocks were the hardest. I did make it in 59.44 and was pleased. I felt really good about that.
During the ceremony, I felt like a loser when I realized at how fast others did it. I had to think about my journey and how just 6 months ago, I could not walk even 2 blocks.  I made a goal that I will do the walk next year with shorter time. So, in my workouts, I will ready myself to be ready then.  It would be nice to be able to run it, but we will see.

In 6 months, I am only down 30 pounds. There have been times I felt discouraged as it is not going as fast as I would really like, but I still have exceeded my goals.  I still prefer eating vegan but at times I do not. The main thing is that I continue to eat for my health.
The RA is so much better with rarely any pain. My blood sugars are in control and I am feeling so much better.

Hope all is well with the rest of you. When I get pics of my walk, I will post them.

Sarah

What a Work Out

Today, at the club, I ramped up my exercise. U did some equipment and then did the treadmill at 2.2 mph and a #5 incline for 45 minutes. I made it 1 1/2 miles!  I rarely get into a sweat and I was sweaty. I told ecveryone, do not get around my arm pits or it could kill them. After that workout, I did my 45 minutes aerobic class.  When I left there, I just wanted to go to sleep. However; I had grocery shopping to do. My overall attitude is one of satisfaction and I am going to continue to up it.  Good night all..This is a t shirt I made a couple years ago: It says : I had to give up jogging for my health. My thighs rubbing together, kept setting my underwear on fire

Brighter Day:)

Well, today has been a good day for me. Weather was a bit cooler and I got a lot accomplished around the house. I worked out a while. I have started doing the 5 Tibetan Rite exercises as seen on Dr Oz. I cannot do all of them (like the table), but maybe one day I will.  Here is the link to the video. I think you may find it very interesting. : http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/tibetan-rites-practice
Also there are articles about health of the monks that I really enjoyed reading. That link is : http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/tibetan-health-secrets.

I have been going to the club for a couple of months now and am seeing some differences already.  I have more energy which is the best to me. I am seeing inches gone and when I stand in front of the mirror, I see a big difference in my upper torso area.  I have had some areas on my upper thighs where there are bulges along the veins.  These raised areas are almost now non existent.
 I am being inspired to keep going, even though weight loss and smaller sizes are not what I had hoped for. I am trying to stay in my mind frame that this is about HEALTH first and foremost. I have to remember my goal in the beginning was only 4 pounds a month and I have exceeded that by close to double.

This morning I got up and drank a vegetable protein powder with banana. Then for lunch I made this wonderful bowl of salad. There was a bed of spring greens to which I added spinach, tomato, strawberry and topped it with olive oil and lemon juice with ginger. It was very satisfying and for dinner, I had a bowl of soup from last night.  

I am going to ramp up my exercise time at home also. I want to continue to feel good and healthy and build stamina. Tonight, I did not fix dinner for the family. I told them I had soup. I do plan on fixing my family spaghetti once per week and making a meatless meatloaf.

My best friend and I continue to keep each other encouraged on our path. We are each losing weight and inches differently and remain on different eating plans, but continue to share recipes. I am so grateful for her friendship and love her a lot.
Soon, I will add a couple of pictures here.
Happy eating and thanks for visiting.    

A Bit Frustrated

Right now, I am a bit frustrated. I fixed a nice dinner (vegetable soup) I put in carrots, peas, potato, a bit of red beans, cabbage, 1 onion, tomatos, green beans with nice seasonings.  I called the family to eat and was ignored.
 later on, DH came to the kitchen and I asked him if he would like his dinner now. He replied "No, you put tomato and onion in it." Yet, he will eat tomato on  a sandwich and eat green onion.  I only put in 1 small one. He then made himself a can of chili. Then my youngest wanted some, so he made some for her also.
Neither child was interested and in fact, no matter what I fix, they don't eat hardly and go after a can of soup, chili or top ramen.
This did it and I told dh, that tomorrow was our grocery money was coming in and I will buy 60 cans of chili and several cans of soup and packages of hotdogs. If they want something different, he will now have to do the cooking. He said "Why 60 cans?" I just told him that they are going to have to pick out their own food everyday and I was DONE. I may cook them spaghetti once a week.
Basically I am done with it. It has always been this way. All they want is crap.
I must stay on my plan as this is my health.  I guess I'll have to enjoy at least 1 bowl a day of cooked food. I am so still enjoying raw smoothies.

                                                       

Below 230 Now :)

I am now sown again and feeling excited.  last night I went and ordered a treadmill for here at home. I got tired of searching Craig s List only to run into people who seemingly never had time to let me buy their machine and figured I  may as well go new and get all the features I want. I chose Merit 725T and paid 400.00 It has some good reviews along with some bad of course. I am hoping my delivery will be a success story.
Last night , hubby and I had our once a month date night and I thought that one night a month, I could be lax on my diet. However; today, I am thinking it is not such a good idea as I have struggled all day with temptations, etc. probably part of the reason being I did not have any salad stuff in the house until late this afternoon and now I am all stocked up again. Tonight's dinner was a nice huge salad with spring salad mix, banana, grapefruit, tomato, carrot, cucumber and topped with olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressing.  The fruit mixture was exceptionally good.  Tomorrow I will be fully back on track and will also be drinking liver detox drinks and trying a day with no coffee, using green tea instead.

Feeling Great Today

Well, it looks like in the Pacific North Wet we may have a decent day, even though it is pretty chilly.
I am sitting here with a smoothy with celery, cinnamon,  strawberries, chocolate and protein. It is so smooth and creamy and of course luscious.
I made coffee this morning and could not even finish the first cup. It just has not tasted good for a few days now and am thinking of switching to some herbal tea.
Been trying to figure out dinner for tomorrow as I want to fix something special for my family. Whatever, I fix for them, I will make me a single serving of salmon and a great salad.
Yesterday, I did some planting on my indoor garden and am anxious to see some plants peeking through the dirt. I love my plant of garlic chives.
I hope everyone has a great Easter and remembers the reason why we celebrate it.  God bless..

WooHoo!

I am now down 10 pounds since 3/20. I feel well. Yesterday, I dragged though and I wondered if it was because I did not have any coffee. I could barely move. This morning I am much better.
I am still doing mostly smoothies. last night I did try something new though. I made 'Chocolate Mousse' using 1 banana, 1 avocado, unsweetened cocoa and a T of almond milk. I just blended it altogether. The recipe did not call for almond milk though. After blending, chill for 1 hour.

I was blown away by the taste. It was very filling and would satisfy the sweet cravings.
Today, I will have to exercise at home as my daughter has a dr. appt. and then we are joining another friend and her daughter for an overnight visit at a motel. I will pack my small blender and some veggies with me.
Talk to you later..

Getting Excited

I am still continuing to try to eat vegan. Trust me, I have had slip ups and make sure I do not go overboard when I do. My slips consist mainly of a piece of meat or a serving of whole wheat spaghetti noodles.
I have continued to prefer my blender do the chewing for me, even though I at times exercise my jaw.
This week, I have not gone to the club, as I been concentrating on thin gs at home. I will go back on Monday. I think I have really missed it and will not be taking any more breaks.
This morning I weighed in and since 3/20..I am down 9 pounds. This really boosted my moral up.
I am having some serious family issues right now and have been fighting some depression over it. I am NOT going to eat myself over it though..I must keep on. My weight now is 232.6   There, I said it. The secret is out. I was down to 206 last year, so I am climbing back to be there. Then go on down further. I know I can make it.
I was beginning to get some dry areas on my face and I have noticed that since doing green, the patchy areas no longer feel like sand paper.  I am so happy today about my progress..

Lovin' The Greens

You know, I am starting to love the greens and the many vegetables.  I can still use some of the low carb recipes such as mocked mash potatoes using cauliflower.  All in all, I really prefer most of my food fixed in the blender.  The variety of what you can throw together is endless. I tried kale yesterday and that was pretty good.
My smoothy this morning was apple, apricots, banana, celery, chocolate almond milk , flax seed and a scoop of  Plant Fusion which is protein.  It was tasty. The one draw back to a smoothy is the stuff can get pretty thick from the pulp and sometimes that plays with my mind on textures.
Well, I am going to go to the health club and my fitness buddy and I are going to join the step aerobics class. We want to step up our work outs a bit. After we do our circuit today, we will go on our walk. The weather looks pretty nice so far..Have a good day.

A Bit of Meat

Well yesterday has come and gone and I did not get pinched...The day seemed long as I have been waking up at 2AM.
Yesterday, my blood sugar felt like it was very low and I was not about to eat something to spike it too much. On the 14th, I had lowered insulin by 13 units at night and still in the morning, it was 63. I may have to lower it again.  Yesterday, I had a breakfast shake and later on I ate my salad. At dinner, I had a piece of corned beef cooked with cabbage, cauliflower, onions and celery. It was very good.  I figured I would have a bit of the beef instead of craving it watching the family eat and then really porking out on it.
By the way, since the 7th of march when i started this, I am down 9 pounds  :) I am ecstatic of course.
Tonight is my date night with hubby and we go to a pizza place and I will get my usual salad and grilled vegetables.  I usually do a salad dressing out of vinegar, water and splenda.  The only usual thing I will omit is the cottage cheese as for now, I am trying not to do dairy.
I am still feeling good. My one finger is hurting a bit from over use yesterday. As I stood in front of the mirror, I could see the difference in myself. I just want to fit into the size 16 pants I wore before I gained back my weight from before. I can get them on and up over my butt, but they will not zip as there is still at least a 2 inch gap.
Well, I gotta go..it is almost time to meet my dad via Skype. have a great day.

Hey There!

Another day has arrived and I still woke up. I did not get to the club, but did other things. For the past couple of mornings, I been waking up about 2AM and I do a bit of house work before meeting my dad online at 4AM. Seeing my dad via Skype and playing games sets my day for me. My dad will be 82 this year. We have been doing this for a few years.  I used to get up between 3 & 4 and it seemed I could not get anything done as I had low energy level. I am wondering if the way I am eating is doing this and boosting my energy. I certainly am getting so much more done in the house also..which makes hubby happy.
As of yesterday, I started adding in at least 1 cup of beans. I did kidney beans yesterday and today. I have been reluctant because of carbs and calories. I do see where there are health benefits to it.  I am just putting some in my smoothy or if I eat my salad, I add them on top. Actually, they are quite tasty.
Big news of the day is that I ordered a new cook stove. I chose a Maytag with convection double oven. I have never cooked with convection before.
Anyway, I need to get on my walk. Later


The only reason I took up walking
is so that I could hear heavy breathing again:0

A Little Laughter

My 7 year old daughter just came to me , holding a cup in her hand.  She says "Mom, I know this looks like ice cream, but I need to drink it because I am getting a little fat."  (She weighs 48 pounds and is tall)  
"What is it", I asked.
She replied, "A Break Fat."
I asked her to show me and she goes to the kitchen returning with a box in her hand.  "See mom, it's a Break Fat."
Smiling, trying not to burst out laughing I replied, Honey this is an instant breakfast and you can have this in place of a meal.'

 This makes me think as I do not want to give her wrong ideas about dieting and self image.

Anyway, as for today, I went to the club and did double of normal. I felt well afterward.
For breakfast, I started out with a smoothie with apple, blue berries and some tropical fruit mix. It was a deeep lavender and tasted great. I am looking more in to doing Live To Eat lifestyle. The foods appeal to me and would probably benefit my RA. I love Atkins but have had a big concern over proteins and fats.
I went green over the past 2 days, felt wonderful and today had some breaded chicken and my body feels achy now. The arthritis hurts. I will go back to full fruit and veggies tomorrow.
My family have a hard time doing low carb and perhaps since my children love salads and fruits, I think it may be well worth the effort to make really nice salads and fruits available to them.
Well, I am off to bed. I been up since 2AM and am very tired. Darn this day light savings time:(

Loving The Twists & Turns

Well today is new and the health club is not in sight as hubby has an appointment in Seattle and my son has no school. I had bought a walking DVD and will do a walk with it and the housework today is constant and will provide a lot of movement:)
Yesterday, I did a day of green smoothies and actually I did enjoy it. That was after I got over the horrid look of the drinks and the texture. I been spending time trying different seasonings since I usually use mostly veggies and once a day I add an apple. I also do add enough Metamucil for fiber intake, which is orange flavored.
I had been slack on testing blood sugars and finally got some more strips last week and was surprised to see my blood sugars were slightly elevated in the mornings since I was doing low carb.
I carefully monitored my levels yesterday while doing mostly green and my blood sugar was much lower this morning, which left me to wonder if what I had been eating was higher in carbs than what I thought. :o  So, what I learned is to READ THE LABELS more carefully.
This morning, I had a 3 egg omelet with a bit of provolone cheese on it.  It is not the best cheese for omelets, so next time, I will just have my salsa on eggs. I want to make sure something substantial is in my stomach especially mornings when i take my insulin. Perhaps today, I will search for a good low carb breakfast smoothie recipe.
Another thing I noticed since I did the detox is that my left hand does not tremble like it was.  I read some articles about healing diseases through going green, etc., such as no refined foods, no white flour, sugar, processed foods and am getting more convinced it is the way to go.
I am also cutting down on some of the supplements I am taking. Sometimes you can take too many and get toxic. I do my thyroid, B12, multi vitamin, fish oil, flax-seed oil, Vit. C and maybe a couple of others. Man..I hate gagging down so many pills..
So today for the rest of this day is green smoothies. I sometimes add baby carrots in it, but no more than 3 of them. I will also buy some mints and other herbs for flavor.
Have a great day now and visit me soon...

Day After Detox

Well today, I was able to go back to the health club. I tell you, I had to  force myself to go. My body did not want to go. My right leg felt like it was dragging and my ankle had been a bit sore.  I did go. I only did 15 min. on the bike and then I did sets of 50 on the other machines. Afterwards, I went to my buddy's house and we did our walk. I am glad we did.

When I left her house, I went to Walmart for some meds. I took my time browsing and as usual, ended up in kitchen ware.  I saw a cool GE blender that was 650 watts and was on sale. I been thinking about doing a bit of smoothies on my diet and thought it may work good. I have found good smoothie recipes that are low carb and decided to try it. Needless to say, I bought this blender. Then I went shopping for a few veggies. I came home and set my nifty blender up and put in a stalk of celery, 2 green onions, spinach leaves, 1 apple, 1 tomato, spring lettuce mix,  1 avocado, water and 1 scoop of protein powder.  Pushed the button and then turned it off. WOW! I was pretty impressed. There were no chunks and it was just like a shake . I drank a large glass of it and saved the rest for dinner and to that I added in a handful of blueberries. I think I may do this more often.  Now, if I can figure a way to make my drink pretty, I wouldn't have to close my eyes while drinking it. Oh and by the way, the good thing about it is..my kids do not even want to taste it, so I get it all.    
Tomorrow morning I will be going back to the health club.
Goodnight all..

Update: The drink I had for dinner was a much lighter green color and had good flavor. I started with a base of V8 Juice,  and added celery, cucumber, romaine lettuce, apple, avocado, carrots and seasoned with Cayenne Pepper, lemon juice, & garlic. Then I added a couple T of Carb Master yogurt in vanilla flavor. I think I will be doing this drink more often. Taking the picture of it, I added a sprig of celery for looks.

             

Follow Detox Instructions!

This past Monday, I was not feeling up to par. My daughter had the cruds for more than a week and had infection with bronchitis.
I had a long meeting on Monday, in which I left early as my head was pounding with the start of a sinus infection. Mind you, I have massive allergies and a constant annoying cough because of it.
Anyway, I stopped at the store to grab something easy to cook as hubby is useless in the kitchen..While browsing, I always stop at the vitamin section and noticed they had bottles of stuff called Vita Quest 24 Hour Detox Diet. These came in pink lemonade flavor and were 16 oz. size.
The instructions was to take 4 oz. of this drink straight from the bottle 4 different times during the day. Well, even though it was late afternoon, I decided to start this when I got home. Since, I already was not feeling well, I wasn't going anywhere the next day either.
So, smart me, I put ice in a tall cup and poured it in. I guess I drank all of it in less than 1 hour. It was not long afterwards, that my tummy was rocking and rolling.  It was growling quite loudly.  It was not too long after that, I began making trips to the restroom to just sit there and grunt. Oh gosh my tummy hurt with the cramping. At one point when I headed to the bathroom, I lurched forward in pain thinking my vagina was going to fall out and feeling pain also in my backside. Needless to say, I was up several times that night and 1/2 the next day on the toilet. There was one time when I sat there, I also got very nauseated, most likely from the toxins leaving my body. I think by the time it was over, I lost about 10 pounds.
The good news is that I felt 100% better and felt like a new person. I will do the detox again, only by directions on the bottle :)
There are many detox recipes online you can find for detox. I think they are good for a body...

Hopefully This Will Work..

I have been doing extensive research on anti-inflammatory foods, etc. to help me with the pain of RA.  I read about Fish Oil with the EPA in it and never really paid attention as I usually take Flax Seed oil which seems to help.  I had bought a bottle of Nature Made Fish Oil capsules with 360 mg of EPA in it and I took 4 of them last night before going to bed. When I woke up this morning, I was surprised to find I had no pain in my hand. Because of the pain, I usually sleep with my hand tucked between 2 pillows as a cushion. It is afternoon now and I still have no pain. You can bet I will try it again tonight.
Today, I have eaten a green salad and a 6 oz serving of Carb Master yogurt from Fred Meyer's store. Sometimes I add some yogurt to a protein drink.
Tomorrow I go back to the health club and then I will go on my 1 mile walk. I am feeling good and will see what I weigh in another week.
Happy dieting to those out there that are doing it. We all take different paths and need to support one another..

I want to add that tonight for dinner I had 1 serving of whole wheat spaghetti with olive oil, a bit of lean hamburger, minced garlic and ginger, lemon pepper and topped with diced tomato and 1/4 c fat free cottage cheese. A very tasty meal..

Still Hanging In There

Well, I am still going to the health club and have now added about a 1 mile walk in the schedule. I believe that walking can really make a difference.
I see my exercise buddy shrinking and do not really see or feel it for me. I have cut down the amount of cheese I eat also. I am eating more green salads. Tonight I wanted spaghetti and did not have any shiritaki noodles so I made a 1 portion batch of whole wheat spaghetti noodles and topped it with a few strands of swiss cheese and lemon pepper, olive oil & garlic. It was so delicious. I did not miss the sauce at all. I just wish I had green onion on it also.
I am concentrating on anti-inflammatory foods because of my RA. My hands have been very much in pain.
Tomorrow, I hope the weather is nice to take a 1 mile walk with my kids.

Beautiful Day

The sun is shining and birds are singing. It is a beautiful day;)
This week, I have been to the health club 2 days and worked out hard for 30 minutes each time.  Jonice and I tried many machines trying to find our niche. I do have to admit that the second day was not a hard workout as the first day. After our 1st day, we also took a walk which surely felt good after being hot and sweaty. Tomorrow we want to catch the water aerobics class to which I really look forward to, but not letting people see my fat legs :(
Oh and by the way, I was down 22 pounds a few says ago. The damn water weight up and down is weighing on my mind and it is hard to stay upbeat.

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY!

Well, my diet is going pretty well. I have not been weighing myself as I am constantly battling anywhere from 4 to 10 pounds of water weight and if I focus on scale, I could sabotage myself. To now, I have pretty well kept off sugar and carbs.  Well, you know I get some carbs, but not many.
I put on a pair of pants yesterday and WOW!! They are lose. Only regret I have is that I ddi not measure my fat in the beginning. Perhaps I should do that this week:)
I have added some supplements to my diet and I will cover that later on tonight.
I am very excited as on Thursday, I am joining the local health club and they have some nice stuff there. They have a salt water pool & sauna also. They have Silver Sneakers classes 3 days per week, with water aerobics being one of them. My very best friend and weight loss buddy Jonice will be joining with me. The club is less than 5 miles from my home, which is a plus.
Well, I'll be back later to catch you up with some good stuff. I have meetings today and need to leave. Have a great morning..Sarah

Delicious Food..Mashed Potatoes & 'Chips'

One of the things I love about low carbing is that you have so much to eat and the variety is endless. 
One such recipe is mock mashed potatoes using cauliflower. I cut a fresh head of cauliflower and put the florettes in a microwavable boel and then put a plastic over it. No need to add water to cook it this way. I cooked them really soft, then added some cream cheese, butter and heavy cream (1/2 & 1/2) I beat them with the beaters and seasoned the way I wanted. They were fabulous. I am not a potato lover anyway. I am adding a photo of them in the bowl. 
Another recipe I tried is making 'chips'. I put small slices of cheese (I used pepper jack)) and put them on parchment paper. I heated the oven to 400 and put them in for about 5 minutes. You want them flat, crisp, hard, but not burnt. Take them out, place on paper towel. If you want, you can season before you cook. I let them cool and they were so yummy with sour cream..I have put a photo of them also on the plate

Changing Gears

Well, on January 1, 2012, I started eating low caeb and as of today, I am down 14 pounds. I started at 249 and am down to 235. This is very exciting to me. Officially, I have been off of all sugar, white flour products since Jan. 8th and am feeling so good sicne I made it through 3 days of headaches.
I have a very good frind who is also on this journey with me and she is such a support.
I have started some physical activity by dancing to Juke Box Gold music as I clean the house and am currently working on putting fitness exercises. I go just one day and one step at a time.
My plan is based on Atkins and also anti inflammatory diet, so I am working on fats as that is a big concern for kidneys and liver.. When my hubby had to have a liver transplant, I learned a lot. Fatty liver leads to cirrhosis. If you are too heavy, you basically would be turned down for transplant. Too much protein, especially red meat protein is not good for both liver and kidneys. If your kidneys are already compromised, do be extra careful....talk to you later..