Veggies!

I'm finished with week 5!  I somehow lost another 5 pounds.  I thought my loss would be much less this week because it was like that much the week before.  Sometimes I doubt the scales at the clinic can even be right??  Craziness!  Now that I finished week 5 and am starting week 6, there are a couple huge new things.  Firstly,  I can have bars.  I did end up buying a box of Fudge Graham bars this week.  Are they the most delicious thing I've ever eaten?   After 5 weeks of packaged powder meal replacements... YES!   I can only eat one per day so I am going to eat them for breakfast.  This is ideal because I am really supposed to have my first MR within 30 minutes of waking up but with the shakes, I have to wait until I get to work, which is usually about an hour.  This way, I can grab my bar and eat it in the car in the morning.  It's perfect!  One bar replaces one meal replacement.  I still am eating 5 meal replacements a day (including bars), so now I have 1 bar, 3 regular MRs, and 1 soup MR.    The other big thing is that I can eat fruit and veggies now!!  5 weeks FLEW by and it seemed like yesterday when 5 weeks seemed forever away.  I guess that's a good thing.   So I am supposed to add in *up to* two 60 calorie servings of fruit, and 4 servings of non-starchy veggies (1/2 cup cooked veg, or 1 cup raw veg = 1 serving and is supposed to = 25 calories).  So if I eat 4 veggie servings (100 cals), and 2 fruit servings (120 cals), then I will be adding 220 calories to my diet.  I had been eating anywhere from 830 cals to 920 cals a day prior to this week.  SO my new goal is to eat right around 1050 calories with the added fruit/veggies. Here's the list of what we can eat that they provided us in class.

The dietitian told us we could start eating them last night, but I didn't want to drive to the store and basically all we had in the house was baby carrots so I chopped up 1/2 a cup of them and added them to my soup.   Tonight for dinner we went to Jason's deli and I ate a salad.  I'm so used to piling it high w/ boiled eggs, pasta salad, cheese, croutons, etc so it was hard to JUST put veggies... but I did it.  I chose dark greens and added mushrooms, peppers, zucchini slices, broccoli, cauliflower, and red onion.  I read online that Jason's Deli had a Fat Free Leo's Italian dressing that only has 10 calories per 4 tablespoons but I couldn't find it anywhere.  So I used the raspberry vinaigrette which was the next lowest calorie at 90 for 4T, but I probably only used like...maybe 1T... not much at all.  Then I put a couple dashes of vinegar on it.  The I mixed it up as much as I could. Doesn't it look yum??

 I wrote down a couple of dressing recipes off the internet that are very fresh/low cal/no oil dressings that should be good to use for my salads!  I will make each week and they should keep in the fridge for a week.  I love vinegar though, so if those don't work I know I'll be okay with a sprinkle of vinegar!! 

So I am excited about the program still.  I know I won't lose weight as fast now that I'm adding more calories but no one can healthily lose an average of 5lbs a week for extended periods.  Speaking of health,  everything was good at my doctor visit yesterday except for my liver enzymes in my labwork.  They were going up.  One of them was actually elevated out of the normal range so the doctor says I need to come back in a month and redo-labs and she will follow them.  She said unless they normalize I will need to modify the diet program.  Not exactly sure what she means, but I am just hoping the labs go back to normal and I won't have to worry!  

Did I mention that my cholesterol dropped 40 points in just a month???  It was normal the first time (under 200 at 180 something) but it was 140 something now!   Amazing....

This blog post is getting long but I just have one more thing to share.  I tried a new recipe w/ the potato soup MR this week- "pretzels", and boy are they good!  I eat them with mustard (0 cals).  I've made them twice now.  All it is, is a potato soup MR + 1T jiffy pizza crust mix (35 cal)  + water to a firm but wet dough.  Then I knead it a few times in a tsp of flour (9 cals) and roll it into 2 long ropes... shape like pretzels and bake at 350 for 15 mins.  I then spray them w/ pam butter spray and sprinkle w/ salt.  Definitely one of my new favs!!

Oh and another thing real quick-  eating all these extra fruits/veggies all of a sudden makes me feel like I'm eating SO MUCH.  It's going to take some getting used to, but I don't think i'll mind it.  I love love love most fruits/veggies and I know they are so great for me and I'm thankful that I do love them!    So anyways, they said I should lost between 2-3lbs from here on out w/ the added cals.  Guess we'll see in a week if they're right! 

Off days

It's Sunday.  I usually take the weekends off as far as workouts go.  Sometimes I'll go for a walk in the neighborhood on the weekends but this weekend it's incredibly humid and yucky and it's the last thing I want to do! I did do arm weights yesterday and sweeping/swiffering/vacuuming as well which isn't really cardio but it's still more activity than I normally get on a weekday sitting in a cubicle.  I look forward to the off days in a way, but in a way I always feel somewhat guilty for not doing cardio.  Not sure why,  I think 20-30 minutes of moderately intense cardio 5 days a week is pretty good.  I also feel like I'm not losing weight on these days.  I tend to get on the scale every morning.  Not sure why, b/c my scale isn't the same as the hospital and I also weigh in the evenings at the hospital and fully clothed.  I guess I still watch for the number to go down in the mornings, but sometimes- like the last few days.. It hasn't.  I think this week will be a small loss compared to last week.  And I might be one of those people who loses a pretty good amount one week, then a smaller amount the next week, and repeats that pattern.  Some people lose the same amount each week.  That's definitely not me.  But as long as it's a loss I'm okay with it!
So I've tried a couple new recipes this past week.  One of my new favorite things is the sugar free fat free lemon pudding mix, mixed w/ a vanilla MR.  I just eat it mixed w/ water to the consistency of a frosting/icing and eat it w/ a spoon.  It's delicious.   So this  week I tried making cookies w/ the same mix.  Here's what I did:
1 packet vanilla MR
1 1/2 T egg whites
1 T lemon pudding mix
mixed w/ enough water to form a dough consistency and tore off little balls and pressed them to the cookie sheet.  Think I baked them at 350 for 15ish minutes?  I can't really remember, just watched until the edges started turning brown. Here's how they turned out:

They were kind of chewy (maybe the egg whites?), and tasty.  I would definitely make them again.   Easy to make them at night and grab and go for breakfast the next morning.
I also made some pancakes from the recipe book.  Here's how they turned out:

These were okay.  The texture wasn't right on w/ an actual pancake, but close.  The flavor was pretty good.  Not sure I'm a fan of the no sugar syrup I used, though.  Maybe they would be better w/ a couple sprays of spray butter?   I would probably make these again too but they were 1 MR + 48 calories of additives.
We're only allowed 50 calories extra per meal replacement and not supposed to use that much on each one per day b/c that would add up to an extra 250 calories a day which is quite a bit.  
I try to keep my calories eaten under 900/day.  Some days I might go over 20 or so.  I think that's pretty good.   I'm not getting bored.  Still sticking with it.  Although, I will admit, I did eat a baby carrot yesterday to show Ben how yummy they were!  Hey, just a mommy duty I had to fulfill!  I don't think that baby carrot will hurt my diet!  *crosses fingers*.
Can't wait till Wednesday when I get to buy some yummy bars!!  Praying everyday this program is my solution and I really know it will be if I keep it up.

Favorite Recipes

So I am totally loving (okay maybe not loving but close) the taste of the chocolate shakes now!

My favorite chocolate meal replacement shake + flavorings/additives are:
Sugar Free Fat Free Chocolate Pudding Mix - makes it thick and even more chocolatey!
PB2 - who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate?  I also mix in 1 packet of splenda to sweeten it a bit.
Instant Coffee Grounds- kinda like a mocha!
Sugar Free Fat Free Cheesecake Pudding Mix - chocolate cheesecake!
English Toffee Sugar Free Davinci Syrup - calorie free and gives it a kick.
Dulce De Leche Sugar Free Davinci Syrup - pretty tasty.

My favorite non-shake foods are:
Pizza! Creamy potato soup MR + Garlic and Herb seasoning, baked, topped w/ Hunts basil, garlic, and oregano tomato sauce (1/4 cup is only 20 cals!), and 2 teaspoons parmesan cheese (kraft- 20cals).

Taco Waffle - Creamy potato soup MR + 1 T corn meal mix + 1 teaspoon taco seasoning.  Makes 2 waffles in the waffle maker - and topped w/ 2 T of Wholly brand Salsa (10 calories)

Lemon "frosting" - Vanilla MR, water + 1 T of Sugar Free Fat Free Lemon Pudding mix (Kroger brand).

On occasion I have a tiny item to hold me over:
An egg white omelet made w/ egg beaters, sprinkled w/ Parmesan

A wedge of Weight Watchers Creamy Swiss (30 cals)  - I was told I could have one of these per day but I maybe eat 3 a week

Pickles!!

Salsa yum (my own invention) - 29 calories   2T Wholly Salsa + 1T Fat Free Sour Cream + 1 T Fat Free Feta Cheese -  mixed in a bowl.  I eat it w/ a spoon or use this on top of my taco waffle!

My fav soup mixes:
Creamy Chicken Soup  + 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules + 2 teaspoons dried chopped onion

Minestrone + 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules + 2 T blended Rotel Mexican Cilantro and Lime Juice (8 cals)

This is pretty much what I've been living on for 2 weeks.  The past couple days I've been really wanting to eat something real.  like anything my husband or kid have for dinner.  But I hold back.  Gosh it's hard!!
Just say no!  It will be 4 weeks on Wednesday.   Can't wait to see my results then!

Weekends

It's Saturday.  The weekends always seem to be a tiny bit harder than the other days of the week.  I'm usually either sitting at home all day, grocery shopping, or out of town at my parent's house watching them eat.  It's always harder when there's less routine.  Monday through Friday I wake up, go to work, drink my first shake, go on my morning walk/jog to the parking deck, then come back to my desk, work, drink another shake, work, drink another shake, work, and come home.  I fix my 4th meal replacement, then fix dinner for Robert and Ben, and then by that time it's almost 6 and then I make my soup, get Ben ready for bed, and that's the day.  It's the same everyday.  But on weekends, it's always different.  There's more temptation.  More opportunities for boredom.  It may be harder but I just stick to the plan.  I haven't veered off since the start and I'm in my 4th week.  I've tried a couple different recipes lately.  I made my rendition of "french fries" last night (see picture).  I added Lawry's season salt to the "dough" and then dipped the finished "fries" which were more like crunchy sticks, into reduced sugar Heinz ketchup (only 5 cals a T).  Next time, I'll put less season salt because they were WAY too salty.  And combined w/ the salty/overly sweet ketchup, it was almost inedible but I got them down.  Unfortunately, I probably gained 3lbs of water weight.  I've been feeling heavy lately anyways.  I thought maybe I was retaining too much water w/ all the pickles I've been eating (usually 5 little pickles or a couple spears a day), but I drink so much water I don't know if the added sodium really matters.   I also bought some Wholly Salsa at Kroger (10 cals/T), and it's delicious.  I was hungry last night after my soup (and maybe a little bored) so I put 2 T in a little bowl and added a sprinkle of fat free Feta cheese and ate it w/ a spoon.  Yum!

Anyways, we don't really have plans for this weekend, but I'm sure I won't have much trouble sticking to the program.  I do think about eating yummy food all the time but I just won't/can't let myself do it because of the accountability.  I wonder if there will every be a time where I won't pass a fast food joint or any restaurant and not think about how tasty it is??

One week down

I went to weigh on Wednesday before class. Miraculously (or maybe not given the circumstances), I lost 8.5 lbs! Normally when I start a diet I do lose a lot the first week due to water weight etc, but I am more than thrilled with this number. I weighed before class on my scale so I would know how much it was off from theirs and it was exactly 1.5lbs off (mine says I am heavier). But I think I will just try and weigh only on Wednesdays before class. Things are going good. Not hungry at all still. The meal replacements still taste awful though. I tried making "chips" again but i just cant get past the taste! I wish I could get used to it. I tried making some vanilla cornbread from the vanilla MRs I bought, but the taste again was too much and I had to gulp diet coke with each bite.... I am really getting the "shake" form of the MRs down much easier so I have been having 3-4 of those a day. It might be hard to do all shakes but it's even harder getting the "food" i make down... I am still going to try new recipes though... Not giving up on making foods entirely. Yet. Oh and we get to buy soups now. There are only 3 flavors and they are made by UAMS. We can only replace 1 health one MR with a soup because they have less calories (90 compared to 160). I have been making the soup like this:
1 packet minestrone soup
1 tsp chicken bouillon
12 ounces water
2 tablespoons of blended Rotel mildwith cilantro/lime. The mild is mild until you blend it. Then it becomes rather spicy!
I cook it on the stove top and its delicious!!! I make it every night as my last meal and now look foward to it after my shakes all day. (see pic).

I walked the parking deck every morning this week except Tuesday. Tuesday I did the elliptical at home. I am going to start walking with weights next week.

So far so good. I think eating pickles helps me a lot. And the soup.
Only 5 weeks to go and I can have fruit/veggies:)

A few new things

Day 6 is almost over.  The shakes are getting easier.  Making the MRs into food and eating it is getting harder.  Kristen e-mailed me back about the other day and said something about some people have a hard time adjusting to the "soy" flavor of the meal replacements.  Well, I don't know what soy really tastes like besides eating edamame (soy beans), and trust me, if the meal replacements tasted like those I'd be fine.  Maybe it's a different soy flavor I can't shake.  It's getting easier to drink my shakes b/c I drink them so fast, but actually chewing the food is still pretty rough.  The potato soup meal replacement gets so thick and gross in your mouth if you don't swallow it fast enough.  I pretty much have to wash each bite down as I eat.  Gross, right?  Still have hope that it will get better.  It hasn't even been a week!   I still haven't gotten hungry at all, which is GREAT!  I've been exercising everyday and apparently too much b/c I asked Kristen about that and she said they like us to keep it 30 mins or less per day in the beginning.  One day I did 60 mins.  So I've been doing around 20 minutes cardio per day and otherwise trying to keep busy at home (like cleaning, etc).
I did try a few new recipes the past couple days.  The first one being potato soup out of the potato soup meal replacement.  Seems like it would work, but no.   I actually made it w/ bouillon (chicken granules) (9 calories) in boiling water, then I added a tsp of Molly McCheese (5 calories), 1/9 cup of instant mashed potatoes (18 calories),  and salt and pepper, mixed it together, then added the meal replacement.  Then I added water to a soup consistency- which ended up being quite a bit, and I had a fairly large bowl of soup, and it was still too thick.  I topped it w/ some baco's (10 calories).   The flavor was good, but it is just too powdery and thick tasting.  I barely got this down.   I don't recommend it.

The next thing I tried w/ the potato soup MR, was a potato cake.  I mixed 25 calories worth of potato flakes with the potato soup MR, and some garlic seasoning into a batter consistency and dropped spoonfuls onto a hot frying pan.  I cooked them a couple mins at medium, then flipped them and cooked them a few more mins.  They turned out looking okay but again, I can't get past whatever taste is in the potato soup MR...  I used 1 tablespoon of ketchup (20 calories) and spread it on the potato cakes which helped a little.

So that's about it.  I made pizza again tonight.  Made the crust a bit thinner tonight, and it helped a little bit but again, if you chew too much, it gets all yucky in your mouth and you just have to swallow really quick... lol. 

 I know everyone that reads this is probably wondering how on earth I'm doing this.   I really don't know how I am doing it.  I guess I'm doing it because I really have no choice at this point.  It's not AS BAD as I may make it out to be sometimes!!!  

Anyways, I weigh in, buy new meal replacements, and have my 2nd class tomorrow.  YAY.  I'll update with progress (hopefully progress!) soon.

Keep on Truckin'

This diet is MUCH harder than I initially thought it would be.  Could I drink 5 Special K, Slim-Fast, etc protein shakes a day no problem? Absolutely!  That's kind of what I thought I would be doing.  It's NOTHING like that.  These meal replacements have insane amounts of nutrition in them.  That's apparently how you can consume so little calories so safely.  And BECAUSE of that, they taste HORRIBLE!  I mean I really struggle to eat/drink them. I feel nauseous at times thinking about having to eat my next one.  One good thing about them is that they don't leave a yucky after taste, thank God.  Once you get it down, it's down.   I have been trying new recipes left and right and still haven't found anything that 100% covers up that "meal replacement" taste.  I honestly, don't think I will.  If I can do these for 6 weeks it will be a miracle!    But, don't worry I'm not giving up yet :)   So today I tried something my brother's girlfriend, Suzanne suggested- which was to NOT blend the MR (meal replacement) w/ ice and just mix it up and pour it over ice.  So I put 8 oz water in the blender w/ the MR and 2 capfuls of sugar free (calorie free) English toffee syrup.  I blended it for like a minute, then poured it in my tumbler over ice.  I drank it with a big straw in less than a minute!!!  It took me like an hour to drink those real shakes.  Much much better!  And the toffee syrup made it tolerable.  :)
I tried another new recipe today, a waffle.  Not like a breakfast waffle, I'd call it a taco waffle lol.  You make it with the potato soup MR, a little bit of corn meal mix, water, and taco seasoning.  Then you cook it just like a waffle.  The batter actually made 2 waffles though.  Topped it w/ salsa.  It was the most edible thing I've eaten thus far.

I also tried a minute muffin.  A chocolate MR, a packet of splenda, and water mixed to a batter consistency,  in a coffee mug.  Then you microwave it for about 1 min 20 seconds.  It LOOKED just fine... but had the same gross flavor and gritty texture of the other baked things I have made w/ the chocolate MR.  It took a lot of water to get down.  Not a fan.

So today I had 2 of those toffee shake things over ice, the waffles, the muffin, and some chips and salsa.  I literally cleaned the house for almost 4 hours, vacumming, scrubbing, picking up things.  I broke a sweat.  I probably underestimated the calories I burned (113 - 20 mins of light cleaning/moderate effort on MyFitnessPal app.  I know I cleaned 3-4 hours and not 20 mins but I hate over-estimating exercise.  So anyways, the I ate 913 calories today, burned 113, and netted 800.    Yesterday my net was 519 (I walked a lot!), and Thursday I netted 851 (just a 10 minute walk).
I feel bad for not eating my 6th MR but I really just can't.  It's possibly hurting me...   I emailed Kristen about it, but haven't heard back.  I feel fine though, energy wise.  I'm not hungry in the least.  I have been eating some pickles on the side:) They are allowed and I'm only eating 4-5 mini-dills.  Love them! Thanks for supporting me on this weight loss journey, reading these blog posts.  Please pray for my strength and commitment to this diet.  I'd appreciate it!!!
A couple new recipes to try tomorrow!   Yay (*sarcasm*)

Class Numero Uno

I went to my first class tonight.  I was a smidge nervous but not too bad.  It was in a small classroom in the Jack Stephen's Spine Center at UAMS.  There was a variety of people in my class. I think I may have been close to the youngest person in it. Maybe this program is just too expensive for younger people?  I mean... we really honestly can't afford this program but I have to do something, so we'll make it work.
So the first class was about getting started on the program, and meal replacement cooking. Yup.  You can bake, microwave, waffle iron your meal replacements.  The replacement is just a package of powder.  To make a shake you add like 6 or so ounces of water and ice cubes and blend it.  We tried several things that Kristen our dietitian had made for us in advance.  One of the things was some type of cookie.  Here's how she made it:
2 packages of chocolate meal replacement
1 packet of splenda
2 tablespoons of PB2 (a peanut butter substitute-it's powder)
1/4 cup of water.
You mix it up and then drop teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake it at 325 for 10-12 mins.  It is supposed to make 12 cookies.

This was actually the tastiest of the things we tried tonight.  We also tried "Cinnamon rolls".  They are made from the vanilla meal replacement, cinnamon, butter buds, splenda, flour, and baking soda.  They were the most disgusting thing ever.  Okay maybe not ever, but let's just say I will NOT be making those in the future.  I took one bite of my little piece and then smoothly slid the uneaten portion into my purse.  HA!  gross.    Another thing we tried was just the plain chocolate meal replacement shake.  I didn't really like it, but I think maybe could get used to it??  Kristen says she drinks a chocolate meal replacement shake every morning and she adds 1 tablespoon of sugar free, fat free chocolate pudding powder to it.  She said it thickens it up and makes the texture better.    We also tried the "chips" which is just a potato soup flavored meal replacement with taco seasoning in it, baked into chips.  They are pretty okay.    The last thing we tried was called a "Razzleberry".  This is a shake made from a strawberry flavored meal replacement, diet 7-up, sugar free rasberry jell-o mix, sugar free vanilla pudding, and ice.   So this was way too sweet for me.  Or something.  I don't know if I liked it...  I may give it another try sometime down the line.  Not this week though because I got 3 boxes of meal replacements : 2 chocolate and 1 potato soup.   Next Wednesday I buy more and could buy the other flavors if I choose to.  There are only 4 flavors : chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and potato soup.

Okay so that was basically the whole class, just her telling us those recipes, us trying them.  No one really asked too many questions.  We were given a giant recipe packet (40 pages) of recipes to make stuff.   She said we can add up to 50 calories of like flavoring type stuff to each meal replacement.  No more than 50 to each one.  SO if you added 50 calories to 5 meal replacements (most people have 5 a day, I am on 6 for some reason), but that would add another 250 calories a day.  Seems crazy.
We have a list of all the things we can add - like bouillon, sugar free, fat free jell-o and pudding mixes, salsa, Pb2 (the PB2 has 45 calories per 2 tablespoons compared to regular stuff), the list is kinda long.  Not all of them have calories like the gazillion flavors of sugar free DaVinci syrups.

So that was that, and class was over 10 minutes early.  First thing I did was went to Drug Emporium.  We were referred there d/t their insane stock of these DaVinci syrups- apparently they have more flavors than anyone else.   And that was no joke.  I ended up getting the English Toffee one.  I'm not really sure why because I can't even think of what English toffee is or what i've ever had it in.  I think I like toffee though...  I also bought PB2, splenda, sugar free fat free chocolate pudding mixes, ground instant coffee, and some more crystal light (for my waters).   Good thing about the diet is you can have zero-calorie soda's but if it has caffeine in it, it doesn't count towards the 64+ oz of water you're supposed to be drinking every day.  You can also have black coffee.  No creamer though so coffee is out of the question for me.  I did buy some though, to add to my chocolate shakes.  I was thinking mocha.  Or something... lol.

When I got home, I started thinking about this.  I have to make 6 shakes, or 6 SOMETHING'S tomorrow.  You're suppose to spread your replacements out evenly throughout the day, and you can't eat more than 2 at a time, and you can only eat 2 at a time ONCE a day.  So in other words they really want you to eat 5 or 6 times a day or whatever.   OK so I could make a shake, or chips, or cookies... but I can't do it in the morning, b/c I leave at 5:45 and I can't be up cooking and blending when Ben is asleep in his room 3 feet away.  So I am going to have to fix my work meal replacements at home the night before.  Fun.

Tonight... I *attempted* to make the cookies I spoke of earlier.  Except I didn't use PB2 and I used chocolate pudding mix instead.  I am not really sure how they are supposed to look, but all I know is that I got that doughy mix ALL over my hands while I was trying to get it onto the baking sheet.  I mean ALL over my hands.  It was soooo sticky.  I probably washed 1/4 of one of those meal replacements down the sink.... so sad. so not funny!  Note to self- don't use your hands next time!   SO this is what they turned out like :

Scary, right??  HA!  I have no idea what they taste like either, but I do know I can't be wasting any of these dang meal replacement packages because they are too expensive!!  I divided these in half b/c I used 2 meal replacements in the recipe so I will have 1/2 for breakfast and the other 1/2 later.

Here's how my chips turned out:

Now these don't actually look *that* bad to me, yes some are a little on the crispier side, but hey they are chips.  I made the chips w/ cavenders seasoning instead of taco seasoning and again, I have no idea what they taste like.   I will update later w/ reviews of my creations.    I also went ahead and made a chocolate shake w/ added chocolate pudding mix and a little bit of coffee.  I mixed it, and stuck it in the fridge.  I am assuming the ice will melt over night and make it more watery.  I'll stick it in the freezer when I get up and then take it out when I leave so maybe it will thicken up some?????

Trial and error my friends.  I can't believe I'm doing this.  It's NUTS!  This stuff looks horrible!!
Please God, be with me.  I'm freaking out.

On a good note, my new running (walking) shoes came in today.  At least I'm excited about something, right?