I'M ON VACATION..

and while sitting here on my butt, I've lost another 1/2 pound! I ate cake yesterday too! Went to Walmart and they had a marble butter sliced creme cake on the markdown rack. It only has 6 grams of fat in a slice. Boy, is it good?! I stay away from the bad cakes though. I don't even consider buying the ones with frosting etc. I read the label on this one before I bought it. My husband buys the evil cakes!! I don"t touch those!

SOMETHING VERY INTERESTING..

I really thought I had already posted this in here,but I went back and checked all my posts and apparently I didn't. I read awhile back in one of the magazines I get that for every pound you lose, it takes 7 pounds of pressure off your knees!!! I HAVE 630 LESS POUNDS OF PRESSURE ON MY KNEES!!! I can tell it too! My knees and feet feel great compared to last year.

IF YOU VISIT...

and decide to join me in low-fat living, you can comment here and post your goals,etc. Click on the word "COMMENT" under this post.

MY CELEBRATION!

I hit 90 pounds lost today and the way I chose to celebrate was to go get my flu shot and let my doctor feast his eyes on less me!Bwahahahahaha! He was rightfully impressed. Betcha money that he didn't think I could do it.Fooled him! I met a very nice lady who asked for my blog addy,but I forgot to ask who she was. So if you're the nice lady at the doctors office, please let me know if you come here.

Is there anything anyone wants to know? I'm sorting recipes. Hope to start adding more....maybe this week. I'm on vacation..... This means that I'm in a very big goof-off mode!
You can do this,people! Let me know when you start losing.

WOKE UP WITH MY TEETH CHATTERING...

Last night, I had my MIRACLE RICE for dinner with steamed cabbage and hominy(yes, I like hominy). Very,very low-fat meal.I think it must have been no more than half a gram of fat. I woke up at midnight with my teeth chattering...I was absolutely freezing! Ha! I haven't been cold at night in October in about 20 years. Anyway, due to reading that if you're chilly at night, your metabolism has to work to warm your body. I covered my feet better but not all of me so I'd stay on the chilly side. Yahoooooo! Got up this morning and had lost another half pound since yesterday morning! Boy, doesn't 89 pounds sound good? It sure does to me!

IF YOU VIEW MY SITE....

If you come to read my low-fat observations,etc.,I'm asking you to please join the followers list on the right below my old picture and let me know that you came. I would so love to know that you checked it out and if I convince anyone to try low-fat living and they start losing(yes,you will) I would love to know that you are trying and I would be more than happy to make a post where we can put other peoples successes! I am HALFWAY to my goal! It is 4 days short of 9 months since I started and I AM HALFWAY!!!!!!!! If I can do this...you can do this! WE can do this! My husband and I went to the local fair the other night. I had no trouble with my feet! Last year, my feet would have been screaming from just walking from where we had to park. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to walk around that place and not have any trouble doing it! If I can get some of you to go with this, I just might have to change the name to...THE WONDERFUL WOMEN OF WEIGHT LOSS! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU COME HERE.

I'm adding a line here to say that it is now 10 months and 8 days and I have reached 90 pounds lost! Please join me. WE CAN DO THIS!

READ THOSE NUTRITION LABELS!

Don't forget,ladies, read those labels on everything you buy to eat! Glance at those calories if you must, but really pay attention to the fat grams per serving! Keep them as low as possible! Buy fat-free and low fat! Eat lots of salad..it fills you up! Use fat-free or at least low-fat or lite dressing! Switch from a dinner plate to a salad plate! You can't put as much on the smaller plate! Check out the Smart Ones frozen dinners..made by Weight Watchers....they are very good! I won't kid you...I used to do some BIG eating! These dinners are kinda small so I add a big salad and sometimes even a veggie if I'm really hungry! Read the labels though and then compare to some of the regular frozen dinners...oh brother! Here's some motivation for those who need it....go to the websites of some of the restaurants you would normally eat at...go to their nutrition page and read what you've been eating! If nothing else,check out the McDonald's one! I love Big Macs and Lord,help me, it's almost time for Mcribs to come back! I checked out those pages back in January when I started eating low-fat and haven't eaten a thing from since!

When you buy a magazine and see that recipe for a scrumptious looking cake etc., read the nutrition info at the bottom of the recipe before you make it!!! There was a recipe in one I saw awhile back that had around 2000 calories(!) and enough fat grams for 2 days in ONE SLICE!!!! I bought my husband a slice of German chocolate cake today. I had 3 bites(OMG...GOOOOD) Don't deny yourself everything..it will make you give up! Don't bake that scrumtious cake though if you don't have the willpower to stay away from it!

Vitamin B-12....

I read this morning that people who eat eggs in the morning lose more belly fat than those that eat things like bagels. It said it was because the eggs have B-12 and that makes your metabolism work harder. I have scrambled eggs every morning..ha...more good news!

DO YOU RECKON...

that eating the habanero peppers that I eat causes you to have wierd dreams? Before I started this diet, I hardly ever dreamed. I just went flat out asleep. Dead to the world! When I started the diet, I started dreaming! Very wierd dreams! I don't like to dream. I just want to sleep,but I guess I can live with it. I don't usually remember the dreams,just that they are very strange. Friday night though I ate my miracle rice with and extra load of habanero salsa. HOT,HOT,HOT! When I woke up from this dream, I made a conscious effort to remember it 'cause it was the wierdest one yet!
THE DREAM:
I was in my house telling George W. Bush how I've lost 85 pounds(i figure he was gonna appoint me as the national weight-loss guru or something) when it started to rain....and rain....and rain!The yard started filling up with water and getting deeper and deeper! Next all these Prairie Chickens started floating by. Then came the muskrats and they were catching the prairie chickens! My daughter let my superfat wienie dog and my itty bitty whatever-it-is dog out and they started trying to catch the prairie chickens too! George Bush and I were out in the rain and water trying to catch Lily and Sofie before they washed away. My daughter was laughing her butt off and my husband(he can't swim) was standing on the porch saying, G__damnit! Son-of-a b__ch! Then I woke up!
I weighed a half pound less Saturday morning! It must have been all that chasing dogs in the rain! My friend Joyce said I should post this dream because it was too good not to! She says shes more interested in my dreams now than in my weight loss! Ha!

I BOUGHT A BOOK...

last weekend at an estate sale called Low-fat Living written by a doctor. I've only read a little so far but he confirmed a couple things that I've read before. He says not to skip meals because it triggers your body to hoard fat and the other thing was to drink ice water because that triggers your metabolism because your body has to warm the water! Well, I've been drinking more water, so I guess you can say I'm exercising more cause your metabolism isn"t all that it triggers! I'm getting some exercise by running back and forth!

I'M BACK!

I haven't written much lately...had a bit of trouble...somebody hit my car in the parking lot at work and I've been concentrating on getting that straightened out! Everything is good now. I got a car I like 100% better!

I've lost 82.5 pounds now! I'm only 5 away from halfway now!! Exciting!

TIMELINE OF MY WEIGHT LOSS...

2008-
1/16-304 LBS (I didn't weigh for a month after I started cause I was afraid nothing was happening and I would be upset!)

Ok, I need to add a note here before putting down the amounts and when. When you first switch your style of eating, your body will think it's missing things it needs. Everu body has a certain amount of fat cells that you will never,ever get rid of,but when it starts making extra fat cells that's what gets you in trouble. This is terribly unfair but women have more of the permanent fat cells than men,too! So when you cut out all that stuff that is bad for you,e.g. fat,cupcakes, pie,candy bars,etc., your body will literally start eating itself! It goes after the extra fat cells and starts consuming them. The first 6 months of your diet change are the easiest. Although my body must have thought I was killing it because I'm still losing pretty good considering that it's past the 6 month mark. Ok,here goes....

2/6-294..10 lbs
2/13-282-22 lbs (12 lbs in ONE week!)
2/14-281-23 lbs (I got excited after the 22 in 1 week,so started weighing more)
2/15-278.5-25.5 lbs
2/17-277-27 lbs
2/18-274.5-29.5 lbs
2/24-272.5-31.5
This is when I had bronchitis and didnt eat peppers.
3/2-270.5-33.5
3/9-268.5-35.5 lbs
3/16-264.5.39.5 lbs
3/23-261.5-42.5 lbs
4/1-260-44 lbs
4/6-257-47 lbs
4/14-255-49 lbs
4/15-254-50 lbs!!!!
4/19-252-52 lbs
I must have hit a plateau here because nothing happened for about 3 weeks. I was sorta upset,but I know better now.
5/6-249-55 lbs
5/9-248-56 lbs
5/10-247.5-56.5 lbs
5/13-247-57 lbs
5/20-246-58 lbs
5/22-245.5-58.5 lbs
5/24-244.5-59.5 lbs
5/26-244-60 lbs!!!!
5/27-242.5-61.5
Another plateau!
6/4-241.5-63.5 lbs
6/10-240.5-64.5
6/20-238.5-65.5
6/23-238-66 lbs
6/28-236.5-67.5 lbs
7/2-236-68 lbs
7/9-234.5-69.5 lbs
7/15-233.5-70.5!!!!!
7/17-233-71 lbs
7/22-231-73 lbs
7/26-229.5-74.5 lbs
8/6-228-76 lbs
This is another week when I didn't eat peppers. Learned my lesson there.
8/16-227.5-76.5 lbs
8/19-226.5-77.5 lbs
8/20-225.5-78.5 lbs!!!!!!!!!!
*!*8/27-224.5-80 lbs!!!!!!!!!
9/16-221.5-82.5lbs!(This was 8 months.)
9/20-220 lbs-84 lbs!!!
9/23-219 lbs-85lbs!
9/27-218.5lbs-85.5 lbs!
10/2-218lbs-86lbs! (1.5 from halfway!!!!)
10/3-217 lbs-87 lbs!! (1/2 pound from halfway!)
10/11-216.5-87.5 lbs!!!!!!! (HALFWAY!!!!)
10/14-216 lbs-88lbs!
10/16-215.5 lbs-88.5 lbs!
10/18-215 lbs-89 lbs!!
10/23-214 lbs-90 lbs!!
10/25-213.5 lbs-90.5 lbs!!
11/29-213 lbs-91 lbs!
12/6-212 lbs-92 lbs!
12/7-211 lbs-93 lbs!! (Over the Plateau?)

2009!

1/25-209 lbs-95 lbs!!!!
2/4-208 lbs-96!!!!
2/15-206.5 lbs-97.5!!!
2/23-204 LBS-100 POUNDS!!!!!!!! WHOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4/8-203.4-100.6 lbs! Over the plateau again?

As you can see, I lost like gangbusters the first month or so. That was that deprived body.Bwahaha!
When I get to 87.5 pounds, that will be halfway to my goal!

HEALTHWISE....

At 304 pounds,I had acid reflux soooooooooo bad that I would wake up at night and it seemed the entire contents of my stomach were almost up in my mouth. It was horrible. One week after I started the low-fat style of eating, I no longer had it. I'm not kidding. It was so amazing to go from miserable every night and going to bed dreading what was going to happen to just sleeping with no problems! I LIVED ON ROLAIDS FOR ABOUT 14 YEARS!I have not needed even one in over 7 months.Wait...I lied. I did need a Rolaids once a few months back,but I'll tell you about that in another post. That was a lesson learned!

Another benefit is that my feet,legs and knees feel better. My feet used to hurt so bad that I dreaded walking anywhere.They are so much better. I actually walk faster than some people when I go shopping now. ;-)

Now this is a big plus...I used wear size 12 shoes. I now have some that are 11's. Ok...ok...so I got my dad's feet. Enough on that subject.

I can shave my legs again! I'm very nearsighted and I couldn't bend over far enough to see my legs good so I ended up striped! It only took about 50 pounds to get close enough. Ha! No more velcro legs!!!

When I laid on my back, I had to have my head higher because it made it easier to breathe. No longer a problem!

I just feel better in general.

Oh....I must include one drawback that I've discovered in the last couple of weeks. Due to the lack of head fat, I'm now starting to get sinus headaches again. I think the fat insulated the sinuses(my theory), but I don't care. That's what they make ibuprofen for!

SOME THINGS I'VE DISCOVERED....

My husband subscribed to some magazines for me. I get Health,Weight Watchers and Cooking Light. They are really quite helpful. I think it was in Health that I read that the capsaicin in hot peppers speeds up your metabolism,which burns fat. I am a firm believer in that now. I liked hot stuff anyway, but now I'm really convinced that this works. Awhile back I had bronchitis and I didn't feel like eating the hot stuff. I didn"t have anything for a week with peppers in it and didn't lose a thing. The next week I started with the peppers again and started losing again.
As you know, I live in Texas and last week was sorta hot so I didn't eat the hot stuff. MISTAKE! I didn't lose ANYTHING! Bummer! Monday night after work I made what I call my miracle rice. I'll do the recipe in a minute. Guess what? I've lost 2.5 pounds this week! I'm up to 78.5 pounds gone! This stuff is about the lowest fat thing I make... here it is...


DEB'S MIRACLE RICE

1/2 pound superlean ground beef(or turkey)
1 small onion,sliced
1 1/4 cups rice (approximately)
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with habaneros
1 small can HOT diced green chilis
Tomato paste,approximately 4 tablespoons
Water
Black pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper,to taste
Chili powder,to taste
Garlic powder,to taste
Ground cumin,to taste
Cilantro,to taste
Mrs. Dash extra spicy,to taste(optional)
Triple XXX habanero hot sauce, to taste(optional)

Brown the hamburger and onion slices. You may have to spray the skillet with no-fat spray. The meat I buy cooks off nothing because it's so lean. After browning, start adding the other ingredients. Most of my measurements would be a few shakes of the spice bottle. I prefer this stuff sort of on the dry side, so I start out with less water and keep an eye on it as it cooks. If the rice isn't done and it's running out of water,add some. If you want it sorta soupy, no problem just add more tomato paste and water. Just cook with a lid until your rice is done.
This is NOT as hot as it sounds. This also makes a skillet full and I keep it in the fridge and when I'm not in the mood to cook, I heat some up. It's just as good leftover as it is fresh. This stuff is my takeout substitute. It's quick,easy and keeps for a week!
I tell myself that if my mouth is burning, so is the fat!

I've eaten MIRACLE RICE for 5 of my meals this week,I think,if I remember correctly. I've lost 2.5 pounds since last Sunday. I did absolutely nothing that would be classified anywhere near exercise either. I figure when the weather cools down and I start exercising again, I might just disappear! Ha! Gotta see that first to believe it!

THE BASICS...

This is what I decided to do... no eating out EVERYDAY....will cook my food so that it will be as low-fat as I can get it. I don't forego sweets,etc.I just moderate the intake.
I down-sized from a dinner plate to a salad plate. That's just to trick you though. It looks like you're eating the same. I use fat-free mayo,fat-free salad dressing,fat-free milk,etc. I also switched to spray margarine. You use less but it gives you the taste. I spray a baked potato,frozen veggies,canned veggies,fresh veggies....
For my sandwich that I take for lunch at work, I switched to wheat bread. I take a salad to eat with my sandwich because at first I only took the sandwich and I was still hungry after lunch. I eat a big salad with every meal except breakfast.I don't add things that have fat in the salad either. Lettuce,carrot,cabbage,sliced celery,cucumber,grape tomatoes and fat-free dressing,that's it! I should mention that I wasn't a big salad eater before. I really enjoy my salad now though. I discovered a new thing yesterday. It's called Kernal Seasonings popcorn seasoning. The bottle says to put it on popcorn,soup,salad,etc. I tried it in my salad and I liked it. I got the parmesan & garlic flavor. I can't wait to try it on a baked potato. The best part is...NO CALORIES...NO FAT in it!!!!
I have 3 flavors of no-fat cooking spray...canola,olive and butter. Did you know that you can fry an egg in no oil? Just keep the temp. down and spray genorously.Takes a little longer but,in my opinion, it actually tastes better. The fried egg is my Sunday morning treat. Love it!

THE BEGINNING...

Ok...I decided to go with the low-fat cooking because I knew that it worked since I had tried it before and it worked. When I got home that day, I got on the internet and typed "easy low-fat recipes in my search box and I started looking for things my family would eat. My daughter is 14 and a vertual eating machine,BUT she doesn' like tomatoes in things...example: diced tomatoes. My husband absolutely WILL NOT eat cheese. He won't eat green vegetables either. Sometimes if I want to make something that has veggies, he'll cook something for himself and my daughter and I eat whatever it was that I wanted to make.
Three days after I started the new way of eating my doctor's office called and the blood he took showed that I was on verge of diabetes. He said I had to change the way I eat. I told them to tell him,"Ha! Already done that!!" When I went back after 2 months so they could check the blood again, he was happy. I read that if you lose 7% of your body weight, you can possibly ward off diabetes. I guess that was so in my case. Hooooooooooray!

LAST YEAR....

I was really getting disgusted with being so overweight. I'd start thinking about losing,but then I'd see a story about somebody losing weight(usually on tv) and how they had to have surgery to remove the excess skin. I can't afford that so I'd forget about for awhile.
In January of this year, I had what I thought was a spider bite on my stomach. It just kept getting worse, so I had to go the doctor about it. While I was there, I talked to him about losing weight. Specifically,what would my skin do if I lost weight? He said if I lost slowly, my skin would go back to where it belongs. He said if you lose the weight very quickly, your skin doesn't know what happened and doesn't know where to go,so it just hangs there.

Well, I left the office and went to the grocery store. I bought healthier stuff and vowed to cook. ( I don't particularly love to cook,did i mention that? My middle name has been takeout for at least ten years!) I bought low-fat,no-fat,etc. Lots of salad veggies,lots of canned veggies. I started cooking and NOT eating takeout.

I went on my diet on January 16th,2008. At this time, I've lost 76 pounds! In two days, it will be 7 months since I started. I thought if I started this blog and told about my experiences,maybe I could inspire some people to help themselves without the expense of having surgery or one of those plans that cost a fortune for the pre-made meals(I couldn't afford that). If you found my blog,please come back. I'll be posting my strategies,recipes,some of my odd sense of humor. I should be back later today to post again and get this thing really going!

A little history...

I was a chubby early teen...got thin in high school and stayed that way pretty much in my twenties. The problem was that I love food and absolutely DETEST exercise!I met my husband when I was 14 and I still adore him. When he was 41 years old, he had a heart attack and had to have triple by-pass surgery. At that time, we had no kids( he was supposed to have to have surgery to make that possible) and we were common law. We got married 3 days before the surgery in his hospital room.His heart doctor told us that to lose weight, PAY NO ATTENTION TO CALORIES! Keep your fat content down. Well, using that as my guide, I lost 40 pounds in 1993.OK..here comes my downfall...3 months after his surgery( and mind you, this wasn't the type of surgery that was supposed to do the trick), I WAS PREGNANT!!! I had already started menopause. Anyway, I had my beautiful daughter two days before i turned 39.When I went for one of the last checkups before delivery, I asked my ob-gyn about the pain in my hips. He said," Oh, it's probably athritis. That's one of the things that happens sometimes when an OLDER woman has a baby." Older? OLDER?!? Did he really say that? Oh yes, he did! I told him," Well, ain't that a kick in the head? Old,pregnant AND arthritis to boot!"So you can see it coming, can't you? 40 years old,a toddler,hates exercise,TIRED,holds down a job,too tired to cook..... Yup,you guessed it. Started gaining weight...and gaining