Day 5-CTFLC Week 2 and Coffee MMMMM......

Good morning!
Today is day 5 of Crack the Fat Loss Code. Today I am doing what they call a "Baseline" day. What does this mean you ask? Well, it's feeding your body what it needs or what it is requiring. So, I get to have 2 meals today in which I eat a carbohydrate. Yippee!! ;-)

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and bought almost all of the items I needed. I purchased Ezekiel bread which is on the "allowed" list. ;-) I have to say it's pretty tasty. I added a tiny bit of peanut butter because it is EXPENSIVE in the calorie sense (200 Calories for 2 tbsp).


This morning, I measured out real creamer for my coffee to go with my toast and I am savoring it. I have been using half-n-half which is OK, but I can't stand the taste of coffee with it. So, right now I am really enjoying the "real" creamer. Yummmm...

Also, I started counting my calories today. Last night I sat down and planned today's menu. Can I say that it is exhausting trying to figure out what you’re going to eat for the whole day? I think that since I am counting my calories it really makes me look at what I am putting in my mouth. You can't have too many nuts, or too much cheese. You have to have protein for at leave 4-5 of your meals during a day, so you have to be creative. It is also important to watch how many carbohydrates you consume and how much fat you are eating. At least with this lifestyle plan, they give you good examples of how to fill your day food wise so you know what you should eat and what you shouldn't.

Today is going to be another big workout day. I plan on trying to do more than 35 minutes of cardio. Maybe an hour’s worth and then weight train. Since my muscles are so tight every time I go in for massage therapy each week, I need to incorporate a stretching routine as well. It will be interesting to see how many hours a week I spend on working out and stretching. It’s like a part time job! LOL

Have you ever felt--while trying to get your life in order and back to a healthy balance that the whole thing consumes you? I mean, there might be things here or there that are not related to weight loss or just getting healthy, but for the most part that is your LIFE?? I have people asking me all the time what I have been up to lately and I have to strive to find some other answer other than "Well, I am on this getting healthy kick". Sometimes I slip up because I can't think of anything else to say and that is what I tell them. They pause--look at me funny--smile at me and then ask me what I am doing. In my mind I think "Why did you say that??????". Now they look at me differently and then move on to whatever else they may be doing. Sigh..... At some point I know this will just become a habit, a way of life and I won't actually have to think about it so much, or spend so much time planning. I will just know what to eat, when to eat it and just move on--with life.

I have also been working on a canvas painting which I haven’t touched in 2-3 weeks. I feel like our house is in semi-chaos what with a roommate moving out and my other roommate and I are painting our laundry room. My hope is that when things settle down I will actually start working on it again. On top of that, I am searching for a new church, and am praying for new fellowship around my area. Big changes are happening—sometimes at a slower pace than I like—but it’s all good. ;-)

Day 4- CTFLC Week #2

Well, I am on my way into week #2. Sunday the 4th was my first day and basically, I was supposed to only have 1 carb meal that day. Well, I ended up breaking down and had several carbs (including some sugar) that day. Uggg.... I chalked it up to a carb up day since I had been off of major carbs for 7 days.

Today I weighed myself and found I am pretty much at the same place as I was last Friday. I might have lost a few ounces but the scale could not make up its mind on where it wanted to stay this morning sooooo... I am basically marking it as a zero weight loss or gain. Which is OK, I am trying hard not to be disappointed in myself. I know I have to live life and there are days where I need to eat more carbs in order for my body to function. I just am scared right now to eat more carbs because I don't want it to show a gain. Sigh.......

I am also working out now, which last week I couldn't because, well, I wasn’t' eating carbs. ;-) So, I have been going strong since Monday. Yesterday I did 35 min. on the bike, weight trained and then went home and after dinner I helped paint some of the laundry room. Today is a rest day to give my muscles some healing time and then tomorrow I will be back at it again. I know that when we build muscle, it weighs more than fat so that might also be the cause of a lack of weight loss. Who knows?

On the up side, since I have cut out regular bread from my diet, I feel so much better. I am not bloated like I used to be either. So, today I am going to buy some Ezekiel bread and see how my body handles that. I sure hope I do OK because I miss eating bread. ;-)

So, I am still on my journey of learning how to eat properly. This takes time. It takes learning. It means finding out how to fill the body with the proper nutrients to make it work and not starve. This is a lifetime experience, so I have to be patient with myself. I am also starting to count my calories again because I want to make sure that I am not over-eating in my 5-6 meal a day plan, or I could be under eating. I am also going to buy a food scale today, because most of the information out there goes by ounces rather than regular measurements. It will make my life so much easier I think.

Day 7-CTFLC Week 1

I made it to day 7!!!! Yeee haaaahhh!! Do you know what this means?????? This means that tomorrow I can start eating carbs. Praises be! ;-)

I just wanted to say that I am so very thankful for my friends and family who are sticking by me through this and praying for me. I cannot tell you how much it is helping me. Some of the things God is showing me is too private for a public blog but I can tell you--THANK YOU--and please keep praying. This is a long journey. God is bringing healing, and I have so much weight to lose, but this is the time to do it. ;-)

So, yesterday (day 6) was a tough one for me. There were times where I just wanted to give up and not care--but God reminded me of why I am doing this. It's not the short term benefits that I should be looking at, but the long term ones that I should be striving for. Grant it the short term goals are what keeps us going though.

I am feeling revved up today--or I should say this afternoon. I actually had a pretty rough start to my Saturday. I had bad stomach pangs and felt a bit nautious for quite a while. I didn't want to eat anything. I ended up eating my first meal at 10am, but I am feeling a lot better now, with only a little bit of issues.

I know that I need to keep gong strong even through my weekend, so I chopped up a simple green salad, mixed apple cider vinegar, olive oil and garlic and pepper and had a pretty tasty salad. I grilled some burgers on the stove top this morning so I am combining my salad with that. Super yummy and very simple.

I do have to say that garlic, even though I used it often before I started the program has now become a main staple in my home. I bought a few bulbs at the farmers market and they are so fresh and yummy. I am pretty sure I always have garlic breath, but hay, it tastes great. Also, there are so many people at work getting sick right now and I know that garlic is a great way to stave off sickness, so the more the better. ;-)

All in all, my day is going pretty well for day #7. I have had coffee with real creamer but am not too worried about it.

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend. Tootles.

God, only God can.......

God, may your Spirit open up the seals, break through and let your light shine. May the hurts and pains flow away. Come Lord Jesus Come, Come Lord Jesus Come. May the life long hurts--the bondage keeping us from walking towards you fall away. Wash it away God. You are the Only one that can take care of them. Place your hand over the wounds, the scars. With every tear and wail- may they fall away Lord. May every part of us be whole--be made new. Show us the way Lord. May the tears make our hearts soft for you Lord. Amen.


Song "Fling Wide" by Misty Edwards

Awake, awake, O north wind
Awake, awake, O south wind; blow over me
Come, O winds of testing
Come, winds of refreshing; blow over me

Pre-chorus:

Let the winds blow, let the winds blow (7x)
Let the winds blow

Chorus:

Fling wide the door to my soul
Open up the door to my heart
Have your way, have your way
Have your way, yeah

Post-chorus:

I won’t be afraid; I will face the wind
I won’t be afraid; I’ll embrace the flame

Bridge:

Take me through the fire, take me through the rain
Take me through the testing, I’ll do anything
Test me, try me, prove me, refine me like the gold, like the gold

Amazing isn't it? The reality is, God, only God can walk us through the hard times. I am amazed by how many times I have said yes to Him, and yet I still tend to walk on my own path. How easy it is to try and do things my way, instead of asking Him for help. He reminded me today that I said yes to Him last year when I visited IHOP. I said yes to what He asked me to do, and yet I ended up caught up in the issues of life-of bondage. Whew! Practically took my breath away when He told me this.

Here is the reality of one of the issues I have been dealing with. In order to lose weight, I tried taking it on all by myself. I have struggled and struggled and struggled--feeling sorry for myself for not being like those other people who can go on with life without worrying about their weight. POSH!!! It is what it is. I am not like them. I never will be. God created me like I am, and like it or not, it is what it is. I can't change how I look without God's help, and even then if I get to my goal weight it won't stop there. I still have to lean on Him for life. FOR LIFE!!! I often struggle with this reality. I often wish it were different.

Funny, as a kid I used to day dream that there would be this weight loss pill that you would take once a year and WALLAH, you were thin. HELLO!!!! Wouldn't that be lovely? Or not! Think about how many people in this world who would be truly obese yet hid the truth by a weight loss magic? No one would be healthy.

Anyway, the thing is--the reality is-- we all struggle with something. It doesn't work very well by doing it on our own strength--we have to lean on God. That is my reality today, and I pray that I am reminded of that every day.

Day 6- CTFLC Week 1--Great news

Day 6 and 5 pounds lost! Wahoooooo!!! This is an exciting day people. I am charging forward. I am CRACKING THE CODE!!! ;-)

So, it's possible that most of the weight I lost is water weight, but who cares right? It's 5lbs less than I was before, so that is exciting enough. I have to think- the more pounds I lose, the less weight will be on my back and on my knees and ankles. Oh, glorious day! It will be a major celebration once I find out how much weight I lost at the end of this 8 week cycle. But that's not only it, I will have become healthier. I hopefully will no longer have issues with cholesterol and high blood pressure. Very exciting.

In other news- Yesterday was a tough one for me. I was hungrier than the day's before, and I felt weaker too. I did however break down and have a cup of coffee with real creamer in it. It's was DELICIOUS!!!! Oh, how I miss my coffee. You can have coffee on this plan, but the book states it's better to have sugar free in everything you drink. I however cannot stand most sugar free drinks, so if I can't have it, then I usually don't drink it. But yesterday I was cold and just wanted the yumminess. ;-) I really wasn't feeling too guilty about because it was really a treat for me.

I am looking forward to a 3 day weekend. I am hoping to get some painting on canvas in, but also we are painting our laundry room yellow--SO FUN--and might work on that some as well. My cousin Tammy is in town so I am hoping to see her too, but we will see.

I also should be able to start exercising on Sunday since that starts Week #2 and I begin to eat regular carbs again. We will see how the first workout goes. I bet it will feel great. Elliptical, HERE I COME!!!!

Well, healthy eating everyone and have a great Holiday Weekend!

Day 5-CTFLC Week 1

Yeah for day #5-

I have to admit, even though I am determined to stay going on this journey, today is probably a little less easy than yesterday. I didn't sleep well last night because of my back, and again getting up many times to use the restroom. Sooo, today I am a bit tired and just feel blah.

I am still wondering if I am taking in too much salt. My ears still feel like there is pressure there so I might need to check my blood pressure in the near future. I hate having issues like that--it sucks!!

Last night I decided to change up my eating a bit so I grilled some steak and chicken for the rest of the week. I didn't get home until late, so I didn't give myself much time to tenderize the steak so it came out tough. Bummer, but still edible. ;-) I am so glad we can eat most lean meats. It breaks up the monotonous.

Today I am a little hungrier than yesterday. I still had to force myself to eat breakfast though. I was a bit hungry when I woke up, but when it came time to eat I wanted to gag. LOL! I will be glad when we can have grains soon, and then I can eat oatmeal on some days. It will be a good change-up from eating eggs every morning.

As far as water goes, I am doing my best to drink through-out the day. 70+oz is what I am getting in. There are so many theories on how much a person should drink. I heard a while back on the news that the idea of how much water a person should drink isn't really what it was a while back. I've heard you should drink 1/2 of your body weight, which would be like chugging a ton of water each hour. What are your thoughts and what have you heard to be healthy? For now, I am just going to stick to the amount recommended in the book unless I hear of something better.

Good to know: Here is some information that I have been reading about for fat loss--thought it was pretty interesting. This is a quote from the CTFLC book.

"The best part about manipulating the body's energy stores is that, ultimately, we can get the body to store less fat altogether, giving you higher sustained energy levels. That's right; when you manipulate glycogen stores over a long period of time, the body takes what it's eating and forces it to be used for sustained energy levels, instead of storage as fat.

The body is stubborn, but it can be trained. It wants you to survive; that's why it stores fat. It thinks that by saving up plenty of energy, it can keep you healthy in case of emergency. But that's just your cave dweller brain thinking! Today we don't need to hunt and gather our food, so there is rarely a time when we'll need to save all that fat in case of emergency. Just the opposite is true: our food is too convenient, too readily available. With the double-to triple-sized portions being the norm rather than the exception, we are eating too much and storing too much fat.

We need to teach our cave dweller brains the modern way of thinking. We do not need to be walking around with excess baggage, because we can learn for ourselves how best to eat for maximum performance. The payoff is rediscovering the joys of eating again. "

I love what the author sais here. I am learning that if I can train myself now how to live, I won't have to stress out about it much later, and I can still enjoy life and eating. This isn't a "diet". It's a way of life--coming to terms with how the body works is my ultimate goal so that I can live a good life, not one filled with being uncomfortable because I am big, or one where I am filling my body with toxins from the medications I am taking. I am so looking forward to the day when I am off the medications because then I am going to do a full body cleans to get rid of them. That will be a day to party for sure. ;-)

Day 4-CTFLC Week 1 and more fun

Wahoo, I made it to day #4!!! This is exciting for me because normally I would have given up because "it was just too hard". I won't lie, there have been temptations, and when hunger is "LARGE" in my mind, I want to eat whatever.

This time around is so much different. I feel great--albeit a bit tired and somewhat weak, but really it's been great. My body is definitely doing weird things though. I can feel hunger pangs here and there, but for the most part I am really not that hungry. I actually had to force myself to eat breakfast this morning. Weird. I am wondering if some of the lack of appetite has to do with eating the same thing every day. Well, hopefully tonight I will buy some new veggies like mushrooms and onions to put in my food to change it up some. They have meal plans for each day, but when you are on a tight budget, you eat what you have.

The difference between how I feel now verses before I started CTFLC is amazing. My daily routine used to consist of the following: Wake up, make coffee, drink 1-2 cups coffee, wait to eat breakfast, feel famished, getting a headache, starting to feel my blood sugar crash--oh, I guess I should eat. That was my usual pattern and I would end up eating around 9am. Since I get up so early every morning, including weekends, which means by the time I wake up and eat it's been 3 hours or more! Not good! I would get shaky and just feel like crud because I would make the choice to not eat until it was too late. On the other hand, in regards to just eating during the day, I would not focus on my protein intake for every meal. Sometimes it was just carbs so I would feel yucky no matter what.

Now, since Sunday I have had to re-think everything. Since it's better to eat 4-6 meals a day, I now have to think about the timing of everything. I try and get 5-6 meals in a day (small protein meals--some with veggies and protein shakes). So now, I don't feel my blood sugar crashing since the first thing on my list is to "EAT". Go figure eh? Even though I had no appetite this morning, I knew that if I chose to skip my first breakfast I would be in trouble. It's now more important to me to make sure my body has the appropriate nutrients to function. Did I actual say that? To function--WOW! It's no longer about what "I" want, but what my body needs. Sure, there will be times when I might eat something that is delicious because I want it, but I am learning to eat for my body, not for "MY" emotions. Cool huh?

I know that I am very early in this process, and I am sure there will be some mistakes I will make down the road. But, at the same time, this go around feels great. It feels right. It feels healthy. I am so excited to see where God takes me on this journey. It's not really ALL about weight loss is it? It's about Spiritual, Mental and Emotional things. What a BIG change I am making in my life--for ME!! Not for anyone else, but for me and for God. I know He wants me to be healthy and not be on medication my entire life. That is another thing I am excited about--getting off medication. It's actually a little embarrassing for me because I hate telling people that I am on different medications because my body just cannot handle being over-weight any more. Sigh.... But, this will change. I have to get a blood test done soon, so I am hoping it shows the need to take me off some medications.

This week I have just been lying low--not exercising much. I know that if I choose to do that, it might drain me too much. I think I might try some cardio tomorrow but not do too much and see how it goes. Next week is when exercise is actually "allowed" so that will be great. ;-)

On another note my mom and I had a great time last night at a girls pampering party at a store called Beauty Brands. In order to gain more clients and just more customers, they offered free mini-services if you signed up. Also, they did raffles which mom and I didn't win anything, but we did come away with many free give-a ways. They had paraffin wax treatments, 5 minute chair massages, free hair treatment and straightening, etc. It was just great fun and a good time to spend with mom. ;-)

Will do another update later. Tootles for now.