Before and After - Photo Logging

Do you keep visual reminders of what was and what now is? I do. I highly recommend it as a matter of fact! It's not too late to start unless you already reached your losing end point.

What I do...
1. Take a face shot once a week (usually Saturday in the same location with the same lighting) and post in a facebook album. This permits me to flip through the album and see the progression of my face and features slimming or changing in good ways. I can also do some good side-by-sides after a while.
2. At the beginning and every month or so, take a profile shot. Look at that chin shrink!
3. Take pictures of your bigger clothing to show how much you have shrunk. :-)

Do you do anything like this? Please share!

Some examples of mine...

 Compiled 3.22.12

 Losing inches!!!

 Size 24 ---> 20

Cauliflower Crust Pizza - 446 Cals

When I started a calorie-reduced diet, one thing I really missed was pizza. My current daily calorie budget is 1,211. I don't have enough to spend on pizza when each slice has hundreds and hundreds of calories... and goodness only knows I would never have just one slice. I started seeking alternatives. I found recipes, experimented, and altered. Here's what I've come up with for excellent pizza. (Please note that this crust is firm but not crispy... if I find a way to get it crispy, I'll update!)

Ingredients:
Fresh cauliflower - 1 cup grated

Kraft Mozzarella Cheese, 2% - 1 cup, separated into 1/2 cups

Medium Egg, 1 each
Ground Oregano, 1 tsp
Ground Parsley, 2 tsp
Pam brand olive oil cooking spray

Ragu Pasta Sauce, Tomato and Basil Light (no sugar added) - 1/2 cup (less if you'd like)


Method of Madness:
1. Using a cheese grater, rice 1 cup of cauliflower. Then, microwave for 2 minutes. DO NOT add water, and DO NOT cover!

2. Add 1/2 cup of mozzarella, egg, oregano, and parsley to the cooked, riced cauliflower. Stir well with a fork. This is the crust!

3. In a non-stick pan, spray a liberal amount of Pam brand olive oil cooking spray. Place pan on burner and turn heat on medium-high. Put mixture in the center of the pan. Using a plastic spatula, press crust mixture evenly in pan.

4. Once the bottom has firmed to your liking (without burning), slide crust onto a plate and then flip over in pan to cook the other side.

5. Add sauce and top with cheese/additional toppings. Cover to melt cheese.

6. When the cheese is melted, check the bottom of the crust to make sure it is firm throughout. Carefully slide pizza onto plate. CONSUME! :-D You can also share this with someone and enjoy 1/2 of the calories... though for dinner, I like the whole yummy thing!!

Calorie Breakdown: 

Cauliflower Pizza (edit name & serving)

446 calories

Mozzarella Cheese, 2% (edit) 1 Cup 280 calories Sauce, Pasta, Tomato & Basil... (edit) 1/2 Cup 60 calories Riced Cauliflower (edit) 1 Cup 30 calories Herb, Oregano, Leaves, Dried (edit) 1 Teaspoon 2 calories Herb, Parsley, Dried (edit) 2 Teaspoons 2 calories Egg, raw (edit) 1 Each 70 calories

Smart Food Choices

Making smart choices with food is hard... wow is it difficult! 

What are some of your smart swaps? Feel free to post below! Here are a couple of delicious, flavor-packed snacks I enjoy in the evenings (calorie contents included):

Mock Bagel - 138 calories

1. Open a sandwich thin roll and lay both pieces flat.

2. Split one container of cheese onto the flats and spread evenly.

3. Sprinkle with dill and enjoy!

Naturally Sweet - 185 calories

Post your smart swap(s) in the comments section!

Green Zone Rewards!

My favorite rewards that keep me happy but in the "Green Zone"...

1. Nature walk/exploring
2. Playing Wii or other game
3. Watching a movie while snacking smart (think 100-cal bag of popcorn, raspberries, and square of dark chocolate)
4. Buying a new article of clothing (smaller pants, yay!)
5. Getting (or giving myself) a pedicure

What are your favorite rewards? :-) Tell me in the comments section below!

Health - Overweight Effects

Every body handles excess weight differently. What are some problems you have had because of excess lbs? (Feel free to post in the comments section if you'd like...) I'll tell you a few of the problems I've had and the solutions I've found.

Knees

My knees started screaming at me. I acquired creaky sounds and excruciating pain that would wake me in the middle of the night and leave me near paralyzed. This flared up really badly during curling season because of the way one delivers the stone... and this was when I would curl 4-5 times a week. Then, two years later, I decided to try a Couch to 5K (C25K) program and went home each night with swollen knees and the inability to move much. I found that buying knee support braces and wearing them during runs would keep the blood/fluid flowing and would prevent swelling and pain after exercise. The last thing I needed was an excuse not to exercise!! I have a feeling that as I lose weight, this problem will become less. If not, at least I have my braces to help me through. 

Heartburn

Can you believe I've had heartburn since the end of my middle school years? I couldn't figure out why I got it so frequently (numerous times a day) or why Tums just weren't working. In high school, I had an upper GI done and found that I had GERD. I still didn't really put the whole puzzle together and didn't change my eating habits. In college, I switched to using ranitidine (generic Zantac), but I had to take twice the recommended dose to get it to work. Since moving down South for work a year and a half ago, I've had less frequent heartburn problems, but it still hadn't gone away and boy was I frustrated. I realized about 15 days ago that I had only gotten heartburn ONE TIME since the start of the new year. The change? Eating habits. Yes, it sounds obvious... but that is because it is! Eating more healthfully and reducing the amount of greasy, fried, and acidic foods makes such a difference. Heartburn is your body's way of saying, "NO THANK YOU" even though your taste buds may be greedily saying "MORE! MORE!" My grandma died when I was in college because she developed cancer of the esophagus. It was a terrible way to die. She had heartburn from a young age but didn't change her diet or take it very seriously. That will not happen to me.

Fatigue/Depression

No exercise and eating poorly is a dangerous combination. Not exercising leads my body to become tired on a daily basis and gives me more time sitting at home craving foods (whether stress-related or boredom-related). Lacking energy leads me to depression. Boosting happy hormones in my body happens through exercise. Also, knowing I did something positive for myself makes me feel happier, so positive food and exercise choices literally make me smile. I feel weak and defeated when cravings have control over me. So basically, I've been able to combat both fatigue and depression by making positive nutrition and exercise choices. I also have come to the realization that I am worth it. :-D Journaling and blogging are great outlets!

Thank you for reading!

"I once was lost, but now am found... was blind, but now I see..."

Food: Pleasure, Rewards, and Emotional Eating

Pleasure/Rewards:
For as long as I can remember, eating had been a pleasure and a reward. Treats happened often, with no regard to the calories they contained. Whether it was sneaking Oreos or Mountain Dew growing up or stopping for a fancy coffee on the way to work and at Dairy Queen on the way home from work, this is something I had been used to doing for a long time. Habits do not build themselves over night. I've heard that it takes 21 days to build a habit, though this one was many years in the making.

Food can still be seen as a pleasure, and I never want that to end... but moderation is the key. Why shove 6 Reese's peanut butter eggs in my mouth and then suffer hours of heartburn? For 1,020 calories worth of crap? After changing my eating habits drastically 2 months ago and letting my tastebuds "reset", I now find pleasure in a 1/2 cup of raspberries and a 60% dark chocolate Ghirardelli square. That's a total of 85 calories. Or heaven forbid I should REALLY want that Reese's PB egg? Then I have one. I won't deprive myself from what I want, because that makes me resent healthful eating and sends me down a road where I establish a short-term diet that has an end as opposed to a lifestyle change.

I have had to switch my brain to think of food as energy. That's what calories are... energy. If I need a reward, I should go for a beautiful nature walk, see a movie, or do something that will not involve eating a bag of chips or hurt my body. All of these years of abuse have really harmed my body (and at times, my mind), though it's not too late to make amends.

Emotional Eating:
If you want to see what a "victim" of EE (emotional eating) looks like... I could have been the POSTER CHILD! And damn, it is frustrating when you are depressed and sobbing because you think you are a fat pile of nothing... and so you eat a bag of Cheetos... and you continue being fat and continue feeling like nothing. It's a vicious cycle that will consume you if you don't break it. The first thing to realize is that it is YOU who is responsible. YOU are the person who puts food in your mouth. YOU are the person who doesn't love yourself enough to stop. YOU are the person who is letting others take advantage of you. And... YOU are the person who CAN HAVE THE CONTROL TO STOP THE CYCLE! Here are the ways I have found to stop my evil EE cycle:

1. Take ownership. Say "It's on me. Nobody else is responsible for the eating."
2. Find a way to deal with the baggage you are carrying around. Does your partner treat you like crap (and why do you let them)? Does your job stress you out too much (maybe time to start saying "no")? Do you have depression you need to deal with? Trust me--we all have our problems. You aren't alone. But if you refuse to deal with the problems, you will continue to be emotionally dysfunctional and maybe even self-hating. Trust me -- you are worth everything in this world. Sometimes you may feel like you don't matter to anyone. Love starts within, so grab life by the kahunas and begin living it!!!
3. Find amazing, inspirational, honest people to talk to. Find people to chat with who have overcome their EE issues and who will call you on your BS and excuses. Don't call up the friend who has the same problem as you because you will both end up eating cake before that call is over.
4. Find a different route to/from work. I used to drive by at least 20 drive-thru restaurants and a Walmart on my way to and from work. It was really easy to pull over and get something. By changing your route so you don't drive by those places, you'll be less likely to go there.
5. Don't keep junk in the house. If it's there, you'll eat it. If you are like the old me -- depressed and lethargic, you won't bother leaving the house in the evening to go find something naughty. You'll sit there and mope for a few minutes and then the craving will move on.
6. Find a hobby. Keeping your hands and mind busy will prevent you from snacking or eating unnecessarily. Try knitting/crocheting or playing a musical instrument... journal... blog ;-) ... Whatever! Find something to do. If you tend to be depressed, find a nature trail to walk or a public place where you can see people and hear for a little while... less time alone to brood.
7. Track your intake. Whether you use a cool site (like loseit.com or sparkpeople.com or myfitnesspal.com) or a pen and paper, the first way to be honest with yourself is to write down what you eat. If you don't want to track calories at first, fine (although it is an eye opener). But so many times I had forgotten about that huge calorie-filled drink I had in the morning or that cupcake or two I snagged at the office before I stopped at a fast food chain on the way home.

And one final word... if this is your battle, your struggle, talk to me about it. Whether you post a comment or find me on Lose It, I am an honest, open book about this because it has been a long struggle!! 

YOU are not alone. YOU can make the change.

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

For much of my life, I've been (or at least felt like) "the fat kid". Yeah, there have been short periods of time where something causes me to slim down (like track and field in middle school or converting to vegetarianism in college)... but inevitably I would balloon back up to 200-ish lbs. I would get frustrated with myself because of my lack of commitment to making myself healthy and/or thin. I admired people with perfectly sculpted bodies and felt angry and jealous. And wondered what in the hell was wrong with me.

This year I am grabbing life by the balls and making it what I want so I can enjoy my life the way I want it. I'll pretend like it's a spin off from my emotional healing process. Heck, maybe it's not even a spin off. Maybe a continuation.

Regardless... I returned to my apartment after Christmas Break with my family in the Midwest to find that I had gained 6 pounds... in ten days. I ate like a glutton. I disgusted myself with all of the sweets and food I ate, yet I was the one who put the food there and was the only one to blame for the result. I returned home weighing 215 lbs. The heaviest weight my body has ever felt was 224 in college. And here I was, climbing back up there again. I deemed it unacceptable and decided to make

the biggest decision of my life... 

I was going to get healthy!

Yeah, yeah... you're saying "Everyone says that..." or "Nobody keeps New Year's Resolutions..." FYI, this was no stinkin' resolution! This was for REAL. My friend told me about a site she had started using to log calories and exercise on and she invited me to join her. I thought "what the hell--may be useful", so I signed up. Lo and behold, I loved it. It was like Facebook for people trying to get their lives together. All of these amazing, supportive people trying to kick their bad habits, eat well, exercise more, and encourage each other. How easy it would be to get jealous of someone else who has lost 2 lbs the day you gain 1 lb.  And yet, that component of evil isn't there. It's so positive--strangers embracing strangers in common journeys. I can't tell you how much I love the site and the people. The site gives you access to charts and graphs that track your progress. To date, I've lost just over 27 lbs... I have 48 more pounds to go! More exercise, better choices, naughty foods in moderation... the whole bit. I am there. Every success makes me feel more and more empowered. I know I can do this, and I know I will. If you had asked me a year ago if this was possible, I would have laughed in your face... but now I'm laughing in my past's face. And boy does it feel good.

Website referenced: www.loseit.com
(There is also an Android App -- to use on a phone or Kindle!)