Chewable food.. where for art thou?

*sighs* sippy dinners just are not good all the time. The paper I got says that a liquid is anything that can be drank through a straw. Believe you me I have been looking at my blender and trying to figure out how to make something drinkable.. I tell you what though, that doesn't sound to good once you think of hot dogs or eggs pureed and then made liquid. Like.. ewww.. so... I have had one shake today and just finished a glass of orange juice. Hubby made him some toast and never thought bread could look so darn good. Oh well... I just tell myself that it will be worth it and I only have 8 days left to do this. I know that it is still like liquids afterwards, but I also hear I won't want solid food then anyway. Ribs and taco just keep calling my name.. but I just laugh and turn away.. a single tear rolling down my cheek as I say good-bye to my friend, comfort food. It is all about eating to live.. just healthy crap so I won't over eat.

And we go merrily along..

It has been awhile but alls that I am doing is walking, drinking shakes, and monitoring my food intake. I have lost 3 pounds every week now for 3 weeks. I bought the Vanilla and the Cookies n Creme OH YEAH! powdered shakes. They taste okay. The vanilla is alright but kinda bland but will be good in the long haul so that I don't get tired of the chocolate. The cookies n creme is better than vanilla but not as good as the chocolate but once again, it will keep me from getting tired of the chocolate. I have found that if I put some ice and water in the bottom of the shaker and then the powder and then add more ice and water, that it mixes better. If I put the powder at the bottom, then some sticks to the bottom and if I put it on the top, then some seems to stick to the top of the lid.. so middle it is! I bought three 2.2 pound jugs with 21 scoops per jug is enough to feed me for 3 weeks if that is all I eat! That isn't bad for $100! But I did buy some TV dinners too and spent about $22 on them but got low calorie, low fat, and high protein dinners that will last me 2 weeks if I eat one a night. It is so nice not having to think about what I am going to cook for dinner! I LOVE it. I don't need to pack a lunch either and since I like the shakes, I don't mind having them for work. I did bring string cheese and yogurt for breakfast today too though.

I am finding out that the more I walk, the less my calves hurt so that is good! I still am not thrilled about walking and really need to get a book to read while I do it. I am bored more than anything... wierd, huh?

Full steam ahead!

Okay so I didn't lose weight on 'their' scale but the one at work is still showing I did. I looked it up and maybe, just maybe it is because I last weighed myself in the morning there and this time I did it in the afternoon. Well, I am determined to show her (the nutritionist, Susan) that I can lose weight! I started by having a banana and a drink for breakfast and a drink for lunch. It is now after 6 pm and I am getting hungry but I think a shake will do it. I am going to go to lunch with peeps from work due to them paying for a Perfect Attendance luncheon and we are going to a Mexican restaurant, which just happens to be my favorite food in the whole wide world. Soooooo how do I order food in a restaurant? I am thinking a salad, oh yum.. NOT. I will just not eat all the chips & tortillas and watch the carbs and fats. I won't eat dinner tonight, just have a shake and just a shake for breakfast and dinner tomorrow and that should cover it. It is just too bad we can't have Margaritas at lunchtime on the company! LOL...

I have upped my walk time to 20 minutes today. My legs are getting so much better and I was actually tired from walking instead of stopping due to leg cramps. I also slipped in 8 minutes at break! Tomorrow I plan on walking home and will not only walk it off but sweat it off due to the heat! It is only a 20 minute walk from work to my apartment. I am hoping to start walking in the mornings to work too... that would get me in 40 minutes of walking per day!

OH, and on a side note, I have found out that excess protein that you put in your body tends to want to stay put, as it were... and I was told to get lots of fiber so that my green eyes don't turn brown! Next trip is to get some Metamucil so that I don't have to go through that stage of unhappiness!

I have worked out some stress in my life as well today so I am feeling very good emotionally and mentally. Due to stress being one of the reasons I want to eat, I am going from here on out to resolve any conflicts I have so that I can move on and not dwell on crap I don't need to trouble myself with. Taking care of myself is number one so that I can do this and better my outlook on life and get not only healthy physically, but also mentally & emotionally. It all ties in together and it is listing your priorities to get the job done correctly so that I won't have to do it over again from step one!

What another day brings...

So I have been drinking the protein shakes not because I should but because they taste so frickin good! I was like so surprised! I bought that shaker cup, put the whisk ball in, then ice, water, and a scoop of Oh Yeah Chocolate Shake powder and shake it up good! I really get into it and then I let it sit while I do my treadmill workout! I shake it some while walking.. and let it set. You see, I have bout filled it up with ice so I am letting it melt and make the shake ice cold! YUM! I then shake it once more when done walking and add a straw and enjoy.

Blogging... I have noticed that my blog is rather boring and not as pretty or busy as other blogs. I have added some blogs to follow that I think are upbeat and have an optimistic look on life. Everyone needs some way to find their own silver linings to their everyday encounters. I read one blog where I was totally able to connect to her personality and saw how she wrote was just wonderful! So I hope to spice this one up some in the following days.

One of the other blogs I read was about loving your inner-self and the inner-selves of others. I totally believe in this and it is nice to see such a young woman have that much energy promoting the thought to others.

I walked, counted calories and protein, and ate pizza today. Oh well... I just need to keep on going.. I guess telling yourself that you can reward yourself for losing weight by counter-acting that achievement by eating unhealthy is like giving an alcoholic a bottle of whiskey on his 30th day of no drinking! So, back to square one with my mind over food and don't beat myself up.

Protein Drinks...

Alrighty then.. to get the protein you need to survive on the low calories resulting from the surgery, you are told to drink protein drinks.. oh yummy... I have been looking and reading labels and looking at prices and reading reviews.. and then seeing that there is a whole slew of protein drinks out there. I have a list from the Nutritionist and I know what needs to be in the drinks to cover all the bases such as calorie and protein statistics. So, now that it is getting near, I go to the place where a girl at work goes and I buy my first 2 pound jug of powdered drink. Of course I bought Chocolate to start with. It is called Oh Yeah! and made right here in Charlotte, NC (I figure it should be fresh then!) Was thinking of mixing it with ice to make like a shake that would be cool too but I also bought the shaker cup to mix it with water at work too. It has a little whisk ball in it that mixes it better when you shake your cup. I longingly look at the 12 pack cases of the ready made stuff but found that the powder was about 1/3 the cost! So, powder it is. I am about to go try it but there is not much I can do if I don't like it seeing that I have 2 whole pounds of the stuff!

At work 3 girls and myself also joined a Wellness Challenge that our work sponsors. I weighed in at 137 last Monday and 134 this Monday... soooo.. I have lost more weight!! Yeah!! I tell you, just do some exercise then eat and you will not be as hungry! On the treadmill today I was also able to up my walk time from 5 to 8 minutes during break and 5 to 10 minutes during lunch! I was proud of myself for being able to go longer with my legs not giving out so soon so I guess it is helping to walk every day. I plan on walking home from work Thursday if it isn't raining, which takes me about 20 minutes. It is so hot though I don't know if I should... I could jump in the pool once I get here and cool off that way! Hmmmm.. sound like a plan to me.

I have been reading labels too.. Did you know that a piece of meat that is the size of a deck of cards has about 20 grams of protein??? Seeing that I am a meat eater, I was happy to find this out since I have to eat between 60 to 80 grams of protein a day. Protein also keeps you from getting hungry faster but you still have to watch the fat so I need to pick lean meats. I have found bacon is NOT a lean meat! LOL... I feel that eating healthy actually is letting me eat more food with a lower calorie count since pretty much all veggies that are not sautéed in butter or fried in grease are dirt low in calories. I also like to eat kidney beans plain and will experiment watching a movie to use them like popcorn! Little bits of food to pop in my mouth that is good for me. I do know that you should only put in a bowl what you want to eat so that you don't over eat buy placing the whole bag near you...