44 Inches today... My last measurement was 46.5. Woo Hoo!!!

MARIA'S ENTRY

Ok, so I finally picked up book.
I have to be honest.. It didn't hold my attention very well, but that's because I know 80% of this stuff already. The parts I am interested in so far are the exercise and recipe chapters.

Tonight I will start implimenting the 30 minute walk rule. I will either take Arthur for a walk after dinner, or walk after he goes down.

I need to measure my waist so I can start tracking, so I will post those measurements tomorrow.

I know I need to give the book a little more time, so I will, but it's just boring to read what I already know. I also think that I may start posting pictures of me through the process. I think that blogging every day, or close to every day will keep my momentum going.

I am excited to finally be able to blog! Hooray!

Kara gets exercise

Oops. I forgot to blog yesterday and the day before, but I did exercise on both days!
On Thursday, I did 30 minutes of yoga and strength training exercises on Wii fit plus.
Yesterday, I took a 30 minute walk outside . . . in the rain! It wasn't raining when I started walking, but it started lightly raining shortly after. There was no thunder or lightning, so I didn't mind. It was kind of refreshing. :)
Sadly, I haven't exercised yet today, and I'm not sure it is going to get done. I did walk around Costco, and I'm planning to do a little yard work later, but I think I may fall a little short today. I'll do better tomorrow.

Kara's diet personality test results

As suggested in Dr. Oz's book, I went to www.diet.com and took the diet personality test.
Here are my results:

My eating personality is Steady Snacker. Meaning - I have a diet of unplanned snacking throughout the day whether I'm hungry or not. I've developed the habit of not being able to turn down food that is within my easy reach.
My exercising personality is Rain Check Athlete. Meaning - I'm a busy person who would like to work out if only I had the time. I'm frustrated because exercise is important to me but I don't know how to fit it in.
My coping personality is People Pleaser. Meaning - I do more to help others than to help myself. I say yes to all kinds of projects, and before I know it, I have no time left to nurture my own health.

Not a big surprise -- any of it. I guess it does give me some things to think about as I work on motivating myself to get back to full time healthy living. It's a lot of tough stuff to be up against.

On the bright side, I did do my exercise today: 30+ minutes walking with Walk It Out on the Wii!

Yea Kara!

I exercised for about 40 minutes with my Walk it Out video game on the Wii. Yea me! I feel good. I really enjoy that game.

Kara's official measure-up #7

O.K., I know I'm behind. It's no secret that I've been lacking motivation lately. I've indulged in a few sweets, and I've been snacking on carbs a little too much, and all of this has had me feeling a little down.

Anyway, today I picked up my "You on a Diet" book and started reading again, and that has helped reignite the spark a little. It motivated me enough to measure-up.

Before I give the results, I should explain that I've decided to start sucking in all the way when I measure my waist. I decided that is the only way to have a controlled test. If I suck in as much as I can, I'll always know that any reduction in the tape measure is actual loss of fat. So, this week's measurement looks drastically smaller, because I am REALLY good at sucking in. Drum roll . . . 37 1/2 inches.

Now, I'm going to have to make it a priority to keep reading so I fan the flames of my motivation and really get going again. Conveniently, I'm approaching the part of the book where you're actually supposed to start the 2 week You Diet plan that helps you change your habits and learn healthy eating. While I had skipped ahead and tried a lot of these changes already, I think it will be good for me to kind of start anew when I get to that chapter.

My goal for this week is to exercise for 30 minutes each day. Dr. Oz wants us to have a "buddy" who we call after we finish our daily exercise. I haven't been doing that. What I'm going to try instead is to blog every time I exercise. It may just be a simple sentence, but it will help me stay accountable and I think it will also help me feel proud of my accomplishment.

Kara's official measure-up # 6

Sorry I've been absent for so long. I was away camping for a week, and then I just kept forgetting to blog. Anyway . . . I didn't measure up on the Sunday I was out of town, but I did measure this past Sunday, 7/11.

Drum roll . . . 39 inches, still, I think . . .

I know it sounds wierd, but it is kind of hard to be sure you are measuring accurately when you've got a bunch of flab and loose skin. You are supposed to measure your waist at the point right around your belly button, but it is kind of hard to make sure the tape measure stays even all the way around (this can affect the measurement by a little bit which makes it look like you've lost or even gained inches). And, Dr. Oz says you can suck in if you want to. I think that is kind of wierd -- seems dishonest, so I haven't really been sucking in, but I've also been not relaxing my stomach completely so that it goes all the way out either, so it is hard to remember exactly how far I should keep it in or let it out each time I measure.

Anyway, I exercised on my Wii fit yesterday, and it said I was 3 pounds lighter than I was 18 days ago, so I thought that sounded pretty good. But of course my Wii also saw fit to remind me that I was weighing in a few hours earlier yesterday than I had 18 days ago, and the time of day can affect your body weight by a couple of pounds of so. So, who knows!

I will say this: I am back on track, and I am looking forward to seeing more progress in the near future!

Kara's official measure-up #5

Still at 39 inches . . . no loss this week . . . no comment.
My goals this week are:
1) plan meals ahead of time
2) to track (write down) what I eat each day
3) be diligent about sticking to the Rule of 5's

Kara vs. frozen yogurt

Frozen yogurt wins.
:(
To be fair, when I first ate it, I didn't look at the label. Had I looked, I probably wouldn't have put it in my mouth to begin with. It was full of high fructose corn syrup and other terrible and addictive stuff. But, I dove in without checking the waters.
It was meant to be a semi-healthy dessert for our Father's Day dinner, and then the leftovers stayed in my freezer and kept calling my name. It wasn't until after my 3rd bowl or so that it occurred to me to check the label.
Once I checked, I immediately knew why I've had the blahs and why I've been wanting to eat everything in sight, but did that motivate me to trash the rest of the yogurt? Heck no! It was just too tasty!
Coincidentally, I also started reading the emotional eating chapter of "You on a Diet" this week. I learned a strategy where I'm supposed to rate my hunger level every time I'm tempted to eat. Then I'm supposed to consciously decide whether I'm truly eating for hunger or, rather, for emotional reasons. Finally, I choose to eat or not to eat.
So . . . . at one point when I was getting ready to open that freezer door, I remembered the strategy. I evaluated my hunger level and decided I wasn't truly hungry. I really just wanted the yogurt because I was a little bored and because the memory of the yummy yogurt was nagging me. But, when it came to making the choice -- I still opened that freezer door and ate a big serving of yogurt. D'oh! Frozen yogurt is just too powerful!
So, now I'm kind of in a bad place, where I'm craving all kinds of terrible foods, I'm feeling guilty and ashamed for my poor food choices, and part of me would love to just call it quits and pig out.
Well, the yogurt is finally gone, and I am not calling it quits. I do want to get healthy, and I do want to model healthy choices for my children. No one said it would be easy. I've learned an important lesson about label reading. Just because something is supposed to be healthier, doesn't mean it is healthy enough.
It sucks that I'm going to have to go through a difficult several days while my body detoxifies again, but if I keep my eye on the goal and remember how good I was feeling when I was eating right, I know I can do it.

Kara rates recipes

I haven't rated recipes in awhile, but I have tried a couple recently.
First, I made the Orient Express Salad with Chopped Peanuts from page 318 of "You on a Diet." I give it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. I really enjoy this salad. The dressing has a nice flavor, and the ingredients mingle well, but it seems like it is missing something. Probably what I'm missing are the bad for you things that they throw on otherwise good for you salads in restaurants, such as fried won ton strips, fried noodles, extra salt, or even MSG. Whatever it is, I feel like it could use just a little more flavor, but still I enjoy it.
This weekend, I made Lifestyle 180 Vegetable and Country Dijon Potato Salad from page 328 of "You on a Diet." Delicious!!! 5 stars! I made this as a side dish to go with chicken kabobs for a Father's Day dinner. I was a little concerned that it would in no way resemble traditional potato salad, but no worries -- it's just as good; and since it is healthy, it's actually better! It serves 14, so it is perfect for a big family dinner or a pot luck dish. The potato salad really has the taste of a traditional mustard based potato salad with a hint of sweetness. It lacks the creaminess, but you don't miss it. I loved it, and so did my guests!

Kara feels blah

I'm having a blah day - no energy. This past week was soooo busy. I was literally on my feet, working hard from morning 'til bedtime every day, and today I just feel exhausted. I managed to stick pretty well to the Rule of 5's even though I was so busy, but I did splurge a little this weekend. I had not one but two servings of cake at a baby shower Saturday afternoon (talk about feeling shame), I ate some foods with simple sugars at a party Saturday evening, and I ate two servings of full fat frozen yogurt Sunday evening. Maybe the splurging accounts for why I feel blah today -- sugar low. The worst part: the leftover frozen yogurt remains in my freezer, and I'm finding it really difficult not to go eat it. I feel like I'm being drawn to it, as if eating it would make me feel better, even though intellectually I know this is not true.
So, the plan for now is this: I'm going to go eat a healthy dinner in an effort to satiate myself. Then I'm going to clean up the kitchen. And last, I'm going to make a plan for what I want to get accomplished tomorrow. Hopefully, that will help me avoid two days in a row of the blahs.

Kara's official measure-up #4

drum roll . . . 39 inches! That's a loss of 3/8 of an inch this week. AND . . . I've officially lost one whole inch off my waist!
One month; one inch. An inch per month. I can live with that. It feels great!

Kara's official measure-up #3

I almost didn't measure yesterday. I was afraid I hadn't made any progress, and I feared that bad news would cause me to lose momentum. This blog is keeping me honest though. I said I'd measure once a week, and darn it, I'm going to stick to it.
So, drum roll . . . 39 3/8 inches; I'm down another 1/8 inch! It's not much, but it IS progress. So, I'm glad I measured.
When I stop to think about it, I feel pretty good about how I'm doing. I can't say it is easy yet, but I can't say it is torture either. This definitely is the easiest "diet" I've ever been on, which seems incredible because it is also the healthiest. I still have the tendency toward emotional eating. I'm eager to get to that chapter in the book to see what strategies Dr. Oz suggests.

Maria's Waist Measurements

My waist is 46.5 inches

I'm tired.... that s all I have to say.... More later when my job slows down and I have time to blog at work, because otherwise, as you can see I don't have time.

Kara struggles

O.K., so a few days ago, I had a really bad eating day. It all started with a muffin . . .
To make a long story short, I started the day off eating simple sugars and, quite predictably (as I've learned from Dr. Oz's book), so began the simple sugar rebounding effect.
After eating said muffin, (or corn pops, or my son's leftover chocolate chip pancakes, etc., etc.) I'd feel good for maybe an hour, but then I'd feel blah (because my blood sugar had plummeted), and I would crave more sugary foods. I kept eating to try to make myself feel better, but my food choices were actually the culprit -- the reason I was feeling so sluggish, so I basically felt like I needed to eat all day.
So, what now? I learn from it: I did not enjoy myself at all on the day I binged. I did not feel good. I did not have fun. So, why do it again? It just doesn't make any sense.
Will I fall off the wagon again? Probably. But I feel certain that it will happen much less frequently than it used to. I am making progress, and I am feeling good about it.

Kara rating recipes again

I've made a couple more recipes out of the "You on a Diet" book. Both of them turned out well.

A few days ago I made the Lifestyle 180 Vegetable Rice on page 351 as a side dish to go with salmon patties. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It was delicious and not that hard to make, but next time I will leave out the lemon zest. It made the whole dish taste like lemon peel -- kind of bitter. I think we would have been able to better enjoy the other flavors if we weren't being bombarded by the lemon.

This evening I cooked Apricot Chicken and Green Beans with Almond Slivers from page 335. Superb! I loved the chicken and the beans. I definitely have to make this for Maria and Aaron next time they come over for dinner. 5 stars!

Kara rates recipes

Well, I said I was going to make 3 recipes yesterday. 2 out of 3 isn't bad, right?
I had trouble getting motivated yesterday. I kept procrastinating on getting started on things, so I waited too long to make my salad for lunch, and I just ended up eating some leftover green beans almondine and some cashews instead.
I ended up snacking on cashews later too. Ah, cashews . . . probably the tastiest but least healthy nut. I'm sure I ate WAY too many. But, Dr. Oz reminds us that we all make mistakes. I can't let it get me down. I just need to make a YOU-turn and get back on track.
Eventually, I finally got around to making my first recipe: Carrot, Raisin, and Yogurt Slaw, on page 322 of "You on a Diet." Before I rate it, I have to be honest and say I didn't follow the recipe 100% exactly: I used regular fat-free plain yogurt instead of Greek yogurt, and I eliminated the cilantro (which I think tastes like soap). Anyway, I can only give this recipe 2 out of 5 stars. It just doesn't really do anything for me. I have to eat it in really small portions. Unfortunately for me, I thought the recipe sounded really good, and I doubled it when I made it! I'll definitely be giving some to Maria on Monday. She's a better cook than I am. Maybe she can find some way to "fix" it.
Luckily, my second recipe was much better: Lifestyle 180 Rutabaga, Carrot, and Potato Mash on page 354 of "You on a Diet." I give it 5 stars! A sapid and dulcet dish, it would be suitable as a side for the fanciest meal you could serve your guests, but it was also delicious with my baked catfish dinner last night! A word to the wise though: this is a very time consuming recipe -- definitely a weekend adventure.

Kara's official measure-up #2

Drum roll . . . 39 1/2 inches. So, I went down another 3/8 of an inch this week. I'm satisfied. I'm presently wearing a pair of pants that were very tight on me a month or so ago, and today they feel pretty comfortable. I think when I lose another half an inch they'll fit perfectly.
I started up our family Wii yesterday to do Wii fit and nervously stepped on that balance board. It had been 98 days since my last workout. The Wii jokingly called me by my cat's name! Anyway, I weighed a little less yesterday than I had 98 days before, so that felt good.
This week I want to focus on getting more exercise. Dr. Oz says that walking for 30 minutes EVERY day needs to become part of our routine. That's going to be tough for me. So far I've only been able to get it in 2 or 3 times a week, max. I'm going to shoot for 4 times a week, minimum, this week.

Kara's week in review

Wow, it was a super busy week - thus, the lack of posts; but I have to sing the praises of my new healthy lifestyle! Even though I was busier than usual this week, I could feel that I had more energy. I also find that I have more mental clarity and a more positive mental outlook.
As I was getting dressed one morning this week, I caught myself smiling in the mirror, and I thought, "Things are getting better. I feel healthier already. This is really good!" (And I am normally NOT a morning person!)
It could be my imagination, but I think my face looks thinner and my stomach looks a little smaller. Tomorrow is measure-up day, so I guess we'll have some real data then.
Today I'm going to make 3 more recipes out of "You on a Diet" -- a salad for lunch, and a slaw and a rutabaga, carrot, and potato mash as sides to go with dinner. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Kara's lunch

Yum! I'm eating Spinach-Walnut-Citrus Salad. I made it from the recipe on page 313 in the "You on a Diet" book. I feel like I am eating a fancy salad in a nice restaurant. And the recipe serves two, so I already have tomorrow's lunch made and ready to go!
I give it 4 stars out of 5. Reason being: it has grapefruit sections in it, and I'm not a big fan of grapefruit. It also has orange segments though, which I love. Next time I might just make it without the grapefruit; however, Dr. Oz says grapefruit is extremely healthy for us (I don't quite remember why). The home made salad dressing is spectacular!

Kara's official measure-up #1

O.K., I summoned up the courage and got out the tape measure yesterday. Drum roll . . . 39 7/8 inches. So, I've lost 1/8 of an inch. Hmmm, it doesn't seem like much, but it's progress. I'm used to measuring weight in pounds, and obviously, pounds come off in higher numbers than inches, so it makes sense that 1/8 of an inch doesn't seem that impressive.
I have to focus on the positive and keep my momentum though. I'm not finding it too difficult to stick to the "Rule of 5's", because I just keep thinking about the horrible things those ingredients do to my body. Dieting is no longer about being beautiful, folks (although that will be a fabulous side effect!) -- it is about being healthy. It is about eliminating the inflammation in my internal organs and avoiding terrible diseases such as heart disease and cancer.

My name is Kara. I am 33 years old (for 5 more months!). I am married to Jim and am mother to six year old, Eddie, and three year old, Franky.
I've always been petite. Maria likes to call me skinny, but Dr. Oz would beg to differ. I measured my waistline for the first time on 5/20/10: drum roll . . . . 40 inches. Since the ideal waistline is 32 1/2 inches, that means I have 7 1/2 in. to lose. Yikes! That's a lot when you're only 5 feet tall. I'm on page 147 of the 508 page "You on a Diet" book, but I've already started following the "Rule of 5's".
Next measurement is scheduled for Sunday, so we'll see how I'm doing . . .

And away we go

Welcome to the blog of two friends fighting the same battle on opposite sides of the scale.

My name is Maria, I am 33 (for another month), married to Aaron, and mother to 9 month old Arthur.