Thursday, 10/21/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  156.5

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:  1215.  (Another decent day!)

Exercise today:  45 minutes on the treadmill / 150 calories burned.  (Sweet!)

Today was another good one for me.  It wasn't easy, or fun, but it was manageable.  I survived.  I kept things simple, and tried not to dwell on the mental stress of the "dieting stigma" quite so much.  This seems to help me.  One of the worst things about being on a diet is the fact that it places food in the foreground of your brain.  When I'm trying to lose pounds, I inevitably think about food all day long, whether it's about what I'm going to eat for my meals that day, or wondering how many calories something contains, or trying to figure out portion sizes, etc..  My point is, I think about food WAY more when I'm dieting than when I'm not particularly trying to lose weight.


Shouldn't it be the other way around?!


Today, I tried to have more mental control over my tendency to obsess rampantly about food.  One thing that really helped was planning out my entire day of eating in the morning.  I have tried this before, and am wondering why I didn't remember until now how helpful this has been for me in the past.  When the day is already planned, it eliminates the "what am I going to eat at my next meal?" question.  It makes things easier, and it frees up brain time to think about more important things, like, "Why do I have to wait so long for the 3rd Season of True Blood to come out on DVD?!"  See?  It's win-win.

This pic pretty much sums up my favorite T.V. show.

So I tried to keep food out of my brain as much as possible today, and just the attempt was helpful.  I had decided early in the day what I'd be eating for lunch and supper, so I wasn't thinking about either of those meals at all.  All I really had to deal with was between-meal hunger when it cropped up, and I'm trying to wipe that out with the kinds of things you're SUPPOSED to snack on:   A piece of fresh fruit (I've been eating an apple every day, which I've never done, and also bananas and frozen berries...), a serving of veggies (I love steamed AND raw cauliflower, of all things...), a serving of almonds or peanuts or peanut butter (for the protein boost), a cup of hot or ice tea, a glass of milk, or a serving of plain Greek yogurt.  I've been doing really well with this the past few days, amazingly. 

I always keep frozen raspberries and strawberries on hand... baby loves them, too!

40 dry roasted peanuts contain about 160 calories.

I would drink a gallon of milk a day, if I wouldn't weigh 500 pounds as a result.

I'm back on the occasional crutch of diet pop, but I'm embarrassed to say that it's simply unavoidable.  I'm a pop addict, and it's not something I can quit cold-turkey.  I read the other day that many people who are addicted to regular pop, such as Coke Classic or Dr. Pepper like me, switch to the diet version "on their way to drinking water instead of any pop."  I am still trying to "make" myself love water.  I can only stand it ice-cold (as in, more ice than water in the glass).  Keeping that kind of a crushed ice supply with me at all times is, unfortunately, impossible.  So, back is a can of diet 7-up or diet Dew here and there, followed by the crushing, throbbing brain-pain.  Fun.   

The elixir of migraines and eventual death.

One other tidbit I've decided is that I should be eating as much soup and as many salads as possible, since I love both!  I even had the crazy idea that I should try to eat a bowl of soup, a salad, and a sandwich every day for a few months, simply because they're low-cal and there are so many options for variety.  On salads I love dumping raw sweet onions, turkey, chicken, tuna, smoked salmon, imitation crab, boiled eggs, carrots, pickles (YEAH), grape tomatoes, raisins, seasoned slivered almonds, Parmesan cheese, Wishbone spray dressings, and Mortons Seasoning Blend.  All delicious!

My favorite soups right now are from Progresso, and they include Hearty Tomato, Creamy Mushroom, Lentil, French Onion, and Minestrone.  YUM!

My current #1 favorite soup...  Only 220 calories per can!

My current #2 favorite, with 240 calories.

So my day played out much like Wednesday; I had eaten only 770 calories worth of coffee, hot tea, Progresso Hearty Tomato soup, baby's leftover Carl Buddig-brand honey turkey,  Diet Mountain Dew (UGH), and a Rich Chocolate Royale Slim Fast shake by 7:00 p.m.


I loved my raisin Ezekiel toast-scrambled-egg sandwich so much on Wednesday, I made another one tonight, minus the turkey bacon (I was out!).  I rounded out my day of eating with a cup of 2% milk, which I know I need to drink more of.  


So once again, I headed downstairs after my sandwich for 45 minutes on the treadmill.  I honestly have no idea what has kicked me in the butt the past 48 hours and served to motivate me to action; I really don't.  I wish I did, so I could bottle it and sell it!   LOL


A final note on two more celebrities who have inspired me to lose my pounds, though they're two that you'd least expect from me.  I've never watched them on T.V., and the first, Drew Carey, used to really irritate me.  But he has lost more than 80 pounds in the past several months, and he is unrecognizable!  He hosts The Price is Right now; I keep forgetting!  He has been quoted recently while explaining how he lost his weight, and cutting carbs was key for him - so I've been following his story with interest...

Before and after... CRAZY!

80 pounds lost made a huge difference.  DUH!

An old Marine pic of Drew, and one before his transformation.

About his more than 80-pound weight-loss he has said: 

“No carbs,” Carey says. “I have cheated a couple times, but basically no carbs, not even a cracker. No bread at all. No pizza, nothing. No corn, no beans, no starches of any kind. Egg whites in the morning or like, Greek yogurt, cut some fruit.”
“I don’t drink anything but water,” he says. “No coffee, no tea, no soda.”

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Another celebrity who has shed her extra weight is Kelly Osbourne.  I've never paid particularly close attention to what she does, and I never watched "The Osbournes."  But her weight-loss is inspiring to me, because she has made several comments that tell me she has really "figured out" that losing weight, and keeping it off, isn't just a passing activity that ends once the weight is gone.  Once the pounds are gone, you simply must live your life in a new healthier way to keep the pounds off.  She spent years yo-yo-ing, but now has figured out that she needs to eat healthy every day, and she needs to exercise throughout her life, if she wants to not gain it all back again.  This is basic truth, and so I admire her accomplishment! 

After and before:  Amazing!

Awful and awesome. 

New runway model?!

Gorgeous!

Crazy style, but her confidence is what I admire!

Kelly Osbourne hasn't always been the role model for healthy living. The once potty-mouthed singer and "The Osbournes" reality TV star has not only struggled with her weight, but also checked herself into rehab for drug and alcohol addiction three times. But now, according to an exclusive interview with "Us Weekly," it looks as if Osbourne has embraced a healthier lifestyle, which helped her lose a whopping 42 pounds.

The 25-year-old Osbourne recently dropped weight through a healthy, low-carb diet, training and competing on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" (in which she won third place), and the fat-blasting ballet-meets-yoga-meets-Pilates Bar Method, she told "Us Weekly." Her new lifestyle has shrunk the 5'2" singer from a size 14 to a size 2 (from 160 pounds to 118 pounds)!

"I have seen her when she is heavier," Melanie Bromley, West Coast Bureau Chief for "Us Weekly" told That's Fit. "At the shoot [Osbourne's February 21 "Us Weekly" photo shoot in Bel Air], she had more energy and seemed excited about her new body. She had a new confidence. We had so many outfits and she was really enjoying trying them on. She looked incredible and so slim; she was in the kind of clothes that you've never seen her wear -- they were tight-fitting and cinched at the waist. We haven't seen her in that role before."

Tight-fitting, cinched-waist clothing? It certainly does seem like a different side to Osbourne. Even from a young age, the reality star has struggled with her weight, and admitted to "Us Weekly" that she's suffered from bouts of depression and was an emotional eater. "I'd order a pizza and eat my emotions away," she said.

This isn't the first time Osbourne has lost a considerable amount of weight. She shed nearly 40 pounds on the Blood Type Diet. However, she gained it back before the 2009 season of "Dancing With The Stars." To keep her weight in check, she's even been known to try a few extreme dieting tactics. "A friend told me to take Adderall [an ADHD drug that suppresses appetite] a couple years ago," she told "Us Weekly." "Or I'd take diet pills. I starved myself until I was shaking and felt sick. I tried the Atkins Diet, but you had to eat so much meat and cheese, I hated it. No vegetables. I felt dirty when I ate like that."

It was during DWTS, though, that she shed some serious weight, attributing her success to partner Louis van Amstel. Van Amstel made her work out and practice six hours a day to get fit, she said. As soon as DWTS ended, Osbourne began the Bar Method. "DWTS taught her that she can change her body shape," said Bromley. "You really have to be committed to DWTS -- and many people lose a lot of weight while on the show. But after the show ends, they generally gain it all back. For Kelly to have kept it off is an accomplishment, and I think she has a better figure now than when she finished the show."

While she may not be a fan of exercise in general, Osbourne swears by the Bar Method, a class she takes for 60-minutes three days a week. "Not every day," she told "Us Weekly" of the Bar Method. "I don't have that kind of dedication! Working out sucks. It's miserable. You sweat and you stink, but then you're done -- and you see that just taking an hour three times a week can change you so much. It becomes addictive." When she can't make class, Osbourne hits the hiking trails near her parents' California home with mom Sharon and a trainer. "We'll stop and do pushups and situps then keep walking," she said. "There are so many hills that, by the end, we're gasping for breath."

An average day eating-wise for Osbourne consists of an egg-white omelet with turkey bacon for breakfast, a chopped salad with tomatoes, salami, mozzarella and garbanzo beans for lunch, and a turkey burger with a salad or a side of steamed vegetables for dinner. Sugar-free Jell-O is her go-to snack.

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So, all I have to do is stay focused and do whatever it takes to eat as few unhealthy carbs as possible, and I will succeed.

Right?