Yah I'm naughty for putting off blogging and stuff... 

I reached some goals, and sadly my body decided enough was enough and I plateaued for 3 months straight. Not very encouraging, so of course, I stopped low carbing, slacked with my work out routines, and I'm realizing now that I'm gaining weight again. When I started to plateau I was 201. SO frustrating being just a few pounds away from your ultimate goal... Then I would yo-yo off and on from then until now around 202 - 205 range. SOMETIMES peaking up to 207. Today I weight myself and I was 210. I NEVER wanted to see that number so high again. I can tell in my face and the way my once lose size 14 pants use to fit, they are tight again. I've got to snap back into low carb and continue with my goals.

I realized the reason I started to gain again was because I stopped giving myself milestones, and I took my 'daily reminder' photos off my mirror. Having that there as an eye sore of what I was and what I want to become was what kept me going from day to day. Taking it down was a bad idea... so today I reprinted the pictures and created some new weight loss rewards for myself. Interests have shifted from last time, so these seem a bit weird, but they are things I want REALLY badly, so here we go:

~ 205 lbs Reward ~

Get nails done.

~ 200 lbs Reward ~

Buy the Donna Noble shirt “Forget me Not” off TeeFury.

~ 195 lbs Reward ~

Order a commission for myself on deviantART or Signed print off eBay

~ 190 lbs Reward ~

Make Ten/TARDIS cosplay

~ 185 lbs Reward ~

(DEADLINE: AUGUST)

DSLR Camera!

Yah.... totally nerdy, but truth be told, we're trying to save up for Florida next year, and I can't really spend a whole lot of money on rewards like I planned to last time. I doubt I'll afford the DSLR camera by the time we go, but here's hoping I can convince my husband and that I can meet that goal! 

That mermaid tail I had before will break the bank, so to speak, so I have to table that for at least another year or two. Hopefully by then I'm really skinny. XD And that Ten/TARDIS cosplay will also be very expensive, so I have to be careful which goals I create.

So the plan will lead me right back to low carbing, strictly, once more. Less then 20 carbs a day, 1 cheat meal a week, and no other cheating. I hope I can keep a regular routine to the gym every other day. Going every day wasn't helping and I did find that without carbs to fuel my work outs I was getting worn out. :(

Anyways, hopefully making this blog post will motivate me a bit more. I'm very proud that I lost how much I did. I mean look!

I'm very proud of myself! 25+ pounds and I really do feel good about myself. Just gotta keep going. I'm nowhere near done!

Back to strict low-carbing

I've been cheating long enough. Yay that I haven't gained weight on the scale, but I'm starting to see that chubbiness in my face again, and I hate it, so here I go again with strict low carbing!

Hopefully this break gave my body a chance to reset and forget about the whole low carb thing and quit plateauing. I figured it was my best chance at starting anew. I hope to lose an additional 15 pounds in the next few weeks.

I'm also going to start working out regularly like I promised I would. Among other things:

No more sugar, only splenda
Cheat only ONE dinner meal a week

Here I goooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Carb Cycling

Discovered why I was keeping my weight down despite cheating. Apparently its an actual legitimate diet called Carb Cycling! 

I follow Chris Powell's blogs (he's a dieting and weight loss professional most known Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition, which ironically, starts tonight at 8pm on ABC---PLUG). Anyway, he talks about what diet he gives his contestants, and its basically a roller coaster of low carb, high carb days!

"With the Classic Cycle, besides losing weight at a quick and constant pace, you’ll also be able to tune into what is happening in your body during this carb cycle process. You’ll learn and actually feel how food affects your body, and while you may experience some brief periods of nausea, headaches, low energy and other symptoms as you change the way you fuel your body, these will be temporary. In the end, you’ll have a whole new appreciation for this marvelous body you have! And as with the Easy Cycle, you can stick with the Classic Cycle throughout your weight loss journey or move onto another cycle. You are in control!"

Full article here: http://chrispowell.webfactional.com/carb-cycling-the-easy-cycle/ 

The star is one entire day of cheating, and you get one reward meal a week on a high carb day. So while I'm still counting carbs, and keeping them low, I can still have foods I love. :D

I may try this for a week to see how my body reacts. But in reality, it was no different than what I was already doing. I was going a couple of days, staying super strict with low carb, then slacking for a few days. I think if I did every other, I might see better results. 

Either way, I gotta get back into dieting. I'm still 201 - 204 range, despite cheating regularly. SO glad I'm maintaining, but the break is over, time to get that number under 200! :D

Maintaining weight! (Thankfully)

I've always been good at keeping my weight solid. It's the reason I stayed 217 pounds for 4 years straight after I had Kadree. It was only those last few months before I started this low carb lifestyle that I really let myself go, eating out too much; McDonald's, Taco Bell and any other fatty place I could find, as well as drastically increasing my sugar intake. That's what made me go from 217 to 224 in just a few months. Normally, I'm not like that. It must have been a hard time in life, too much stress or something, because normally I stay away from sugar (I don't go out of my way to eat it), I control my portions to keep my stomach small, and I just try to eat normal, and not pig out or whatever.

Lately, I've gone back to that healthy 'normal'. I slacked on the low carbing (since we had so many friends and family visit, eating out a ton really tempts me). Thankfully, my body remembers how to maintain! I've been dancing around 201-204 for 2 1/2 weeks, which is normal for anyone, dieting or not, to yo-yo a little bit. 

I miss seeing 201, but I'm hoping with this break from dieting will refresh my body. That way when I start eating strict low carb again (which I started again today), my body will lose again. I'm hoping it'll treat it like I just started my diet for the first time. Your body usually goes through a shock and rapidly loses when you first start low carb. Just like I did when I started, losing 15 pounds in 2 weeks (which is what Atkins advertises). 

I've read lots of articles of people who say sometimes to jump start your diet, you have to cheat for like a week, then switch to being super strict and lowering your carb intake. It's risky, and yes you do pack on the pounds a bit, but so far its been working. It's what helped me get passed that first big plateau at 210. 

Cheating for 2 weeks off and on has been great, and thankfully, no rapid weight gain, but even though I haven't reached my first major goal of reaching 199, I'm already enjoying the benefits. Lots of people have seen the difference and have complimented how good I look, compared to back when I first started in February. I can see a difference in the way clothes look on me. Most of my tight shirts I wore then, are lose now! I'm inches away from wearing a size 16, but with all this excess skin, not sure if that will happen. Either way, 17/18 is far better than size 20/21!!!

This last weekend I went to a convention, as Link as usual, and people noticed how loose my costume was, in fact I was swimming in that tunic! That was a huge motivation boost, because every time I go to a con, I'm motivated to try new cosplays. Since the weight has come off, its motivated me to try more. :)

Anyways, other than that, nothing new. I'm happy with my results so far, even though they could be better if I stopped slacking off and making excuses. XD I need to hit the gym at some point again, and get back into a normal schedule. 

So close...

This has been teasing me for the past 3 days!!! So close! Don't screw up now!

5 day cleanse

After a defeating weekend of cheating and gaining 4 pounds back, I decided now or never.... I begin my 5 day cleanse.

Last time I did this, I gave up 3 days in. It was just too hard. The first 2 days I basically eat a vegetarian diet. It's mostly the same, only I can't have any dairy or meat at all. So that limits most of my low carb options. Basically for the next two days it will be eggs, salad, and broccoli. haha! And the 

Herbalogica cleansing pills that came with this packet (I bought it a few years ago, thankfully there's plenty left over!)

Days 3 - 5 are the killer ones. It's nothing but this syrup drink mix and water. No solid foods. I'm hoping with the yard work and amount of commissions I have to do this week, that my mind will be occupied on those things, and not starving. As I detox, I get rid of toxins (obviously) and I gain a ton of energy, so I hope that will fuel me through the week. By Saturday, if I can get through this, I should have lost 10 lbs (putting me under 200 lbs!) and have cleansed my body of crap, got rid of cravings, and reset everything so that I can live a low carb lifestyle from here on out without any cheating (if I can help it).

I've looked up lots of info on what a detox can do to those plateauing  and its pretty much guarenteed to break you out of that rut. So crossing fingers and praying I can mentally and physically concurred this feet this week and get myself back on track! :D

Nothing new to report... kinda? Recipe!!

I've stayed at my plateaued weight for a solid 4 weeks now, it seems. And with all the cheating I'm surprised I haven't gained weight back! I guess I'm glad I'm not gaining. I never want to see any number above 210 again... so I'll settle for 203 - 204. :D

What's worse, is that I am SOOOO close to my goal of under 200. It kind of sucks to sit here and make no progress. I know the main reason I'm not making any progress is because I stopped working out. I've reached that point where once again, working out is a social thing, and I hate going alone. I like having someone there to motivate me. That, and going with Kadree is a pain. I have to drive all the way to the one in South Jordan/Sandy area and pay for day care just to work out for an hour. I really need to get back into this. :(

One good thing about this experience, is that I know what foods are causing my weight to go up once and a while. I know sea salt is normally known for not allowing water weight, but if I use too much, I still get real puffy the next day. Also learned that donuts don't hurt me at all! Not that I'm gonna get a dozen each week, but I had 4 donuts over the weekend and it didn't do anything. And I'm less afraid of eating out because I'm learning more and more that there are low carb options everywhere! I just gotta look for them. :D

Another thing I did was make a week long plan of meals. I'm sticking with them, very strictly. I made sure I had all of the ingredients and there's no excuses. I just gotta get in the kitchen and DO it! Last night's dinner was, I think, a success, which motivates me to just keep trying! ;) 

Saw this recipe floating around Facebook so I decided to try it!

Crispy Cheddar Chicken:

Chicken:
2 lbs chicken tenders or 4 large chicken breasts 
2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup whole milk *
3 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoon dried parsley
Sauce:
1 10 ounce can cream of chicken soup
2 tablespoon sour cream
2 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Crush crackers.

If using chicken breasts and not tenders, cut each chicken breast into 3 large pieces.

Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small pans. Toss the salt and pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine.

Dip each piece of chicken into the milk and then the cheese.

Press the cheese into the chicken with your fingers. Then press the cheesy coated chicken into the cracker crumbs and press it in.
Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan.

Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken.

Cover the pan with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes.

Remove the tin foil, bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy. 

Sauce Directions:
In a medium sized sauce pan combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot. Serve over the chicken.

** I substituted the milk for heavy cream (no carb substitute) and thankfully, the Ritz crackers don't make up very many carbs. ;D ENJOY!

5 lbs up

Just when I finally start to make decent progress with my weight....


Easter weekend happens. I cheated every single day. Friday through Monday. Ugh....

Gotta catch up now. :(

Trying on summer clothes...

...has never been this rewarding!

I busted out a bunch of my last year summer shorts/capri's. Every year I do the same thing, and every year it usually ends with a DI run of my favorite pants and another shopping trip for more. This year, will be the very same situation, only this time, its getting rid of clothes that are TOO BIG! :D

Last summer through up until I started this diet, I was a size 20, sometimes 22 depending on the brand. Most of the shorts/capri's (lets just call them shorts for now hehe) I tried on today were 20 and 18. The 20s, 2 of them are so big they just fall off while I'm standing there! And majority of the 18s are pretty loose fitting!

So, these were my favorite shorts to wear last year. I loved them, and they were a size 20 from Maurices. Look at them now! I can slip them off without even unzipping! Goodbye shorts!

These are Pre-Kadree pants, I believe. I've had these forever, and they were always pretty tight, but now they slip on nice! Actually a bit more loose than I remember! They are a size 18. In fact, most of the size 18 pants I wore last summer are LOOSE! SO excited!!! 

Weight on the scale is one thing, but my actual size is far more exciting! But I have lost a total of 17 lbs since I started this journey. :)

All and all, I get the feeling its gonna be a great summer! Not quite ready to bust out the bikini (I don't even own or wear them, its just a figure of speech). ;)

Oh, and an update, I'm currently 206! One away from my next goal! Gonna buy me something fun on Amazon. :) 

Then its just baby steps to 199...

I. Want. My. CAMERA!

Now... I need to hit the tanning beds. I'm as white as the snow that's currently ruining our springtime outside. >_<

Seems to be working!

Well, I've been trying the whole lower calorie/carb thing for a about a week now, and its paying off! I weighed in this morning at 207! 2 more pounds and I reach my SECOND goal!

Still haven't cashed in my first goal of Rodezio's, mostly because we didn't have any time, and I didn't feel I deserved it until I passed 210. I hope I keep this up, I NEVER want to see 210 on the scale AGAIN!!

Also, had an interesting experience with Jamba Juice the other night. We were having the hunger cravings for it, and Kelly and I used to go their frequently for a little late night desert, so we got our usual things. I love Strawberries Wild, but upon looking for the nutrition I found it was a whopping 54 Carbs! I thought to myself, "Weekly cheat?" Well, it turns out not having any fruit for a full 2 weeks is like taking a laxative haha, so lets just say it "cleansed" me, and I lost a pound, despite it being so high in carbs! Woo!!!! If I'm gonna cheat in the future, its gonna be with something healthy like Jamba Juice!

Another thought, been paying more attention to measurements for a while. I didn't start out measuring, and I should have, but I did measure myself way back before I had my surgery and after. Since my body was essentially the same after the surgery, I went by those measurements, and I've lost a full 2 inches in my stomach area, a half inch on my hips, and a full inch on both arms!!! That's pretty drastic, and I can totally tell the difference in my clothes! 

This is all very exciting, so I hope this just continues to go this smoothly without any more delays. 

Still plateauing

I still haven't had my Rodizio's dinner because I refuse to make excuses for myself. 

Yes, I reached my first goal of 210. 
Yes, my husband promised me dinner... 
and yes, I look and feel much better than I was 14 pounds ago....

but NO, I can't have my dinner because 210 was my plateau and I can't..... get.... below it!!!!

I've been steady at 210 - 213 for a week. I've worked out again, and I've been really active in general, working in the yard, spring cleaning the house, and just walking more. Yet, nothing is working. Thanks to the internet, I think I have found a solution to my problem: too many calories.

Apparently, you CAN have too many calories on a low-carb diet. All the many yummy foods like bacon, mayo, butter, cheese, etc. are totally fine for me to chow down on, but the calories may be too high. I very well could be eating more than 2000 calories a day, which is bad! So, I'm going to start counting carbs AND calories starting tomorrow. Gonna stay away from processed food (because they always add in sugar and weird chemicals that can throw off a diet), and no more CHEATING.

Yes, tonight, since I figured I'd start tomorrow again, I had Taco Bell. What I usually eat; Meximelt's, Cheesy Gordita Crunch, Nachos, and a Baja Blast Freeze. Was it worth it? Maybe, but DANG was it tasty!!!!!! Will it effect me? Who knows. The scale will show tomorrow if it did. I DID take some carb intercept pills to help take the load off, so we'll see if they finally did their job. 

Other cheats this month included eating one Oreo, taquitos and half a burrito at Rancherito's, and having an Ultimate Grilled Cheese at Cafe Zupas. All of which probably contributed from me slowly going from 210 to 213, therefore forfeiting my Rodizio dinner.  :(

I've also learned that just because it doesn't have any calories, carbs, or sugar, doesn't mean it isn't okay to eat. Case in point; diet root beer. I read an article that even the diet stuff destroys diets (go figure?). So, goodbye my late night guilty pleasure sips. :( Also no more fruit PERIOD, which sucked because even though strawberries are only 1 carb each, the natural sugars are just as damaging as real sugar. So no more of those either. :(

Basically, I just gotta stop making food my life. I'm letting it control me. Every day my world revolves around what not to eat, and it's very stressful (which also leads to gaining weight). Bottom line, this sucks.

BUT, now that its warmer, I'm going to push myself and go on bike rides. I'm gonna best my bike out this week, ride my bike to Smith's to get groceries. Walk to church instead of driving (if I can wake up enough haha), and hitting the gym more regularly. Pray for me that I can get my body to wake up and start losing again  I hope this, along with counting calories and lowering my limit to 15 carbs a day, will help me get down to 200!

Plateauing...

This is the part I hate when doing Atkins. I reach the point where I can't lose any more. I seemed to have stopped at 210, and I can't get any lower. Granted, I've been tempted more and more the past few days, and yes, I cheated (my weekly, 1 meal cheat)... Carb Intercept doesn't seem to be working the way it should (or used to), so I ordered something more powerful online to help. 

What do I do now? Technically, I'm supposed to move on from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of Atkins. It's strange that adding more carbs to my limit is the answer to losing weight. But when I cheat (even up to that level of carb intake), I still gain. How is it supposed to help me lose more?! 

Atkins is frustrating for this reason. And sadly, I haven't worked out for a week (so much going on) and my sleep schedule has been destroyed. All things causing my body stress and probably preventing me to lose weight. 

I've been reading lots of articles of "success stories" of people who live low carb lifetsyles and have lost weight with ease, having a MUCH HIGHER carb intake than Atkins allows. All of the information sounded familiar, but most of them don't complain about their weight plateauing. I know the last time I did this diet (and any other diet), is that I start to lose, and boom, I'm stuck. It was very frustrating last time because I got all the way down to 205, and no matter what I did (even exercise) I couldn't get lower. :(

Blah.... now it's happening again and I can't figure out how to get past it!!!

Creamy Chicken Skampi

So tonight I made my first low-carb recipe dish. This is absolutely delish! I practically licked the plate! And to think this chicken with the cream was only 4 carbs!!! I highly recommend this to everyone! :D

View the recipe here!

First milestone reached!!

By two ounces. To be fair, I'm going to wait a couple days to make sure it goes down. Then I can have my Rodezio's dinner!

Also when I first stepped on the scale, said 210.4 instead of 210.8. So unless I gained 4 ounces in the 2 seconds it took to go grab my phone to take the picture, I think it's time to buy a new scale. I hope this one hasn't been lying to me this entire time. :(

Any recommendations on a good inexpensive scale?

Also new pictures. :)

What a difference 12lbs makes!

So 3 weeks ago I bought a pair of jeans at Maurices. They were a tad too tight, but I knew with the diet I would hopefully it back in them.

I left them in my drawer for 3 weeks, and today I tried them on. They fit perfectly! That kind of boost is just what I needed!

As for being inactive for a couple of days, I ended up in situations that made me cheat. I gained a couple pounds back as a result, which really depressed me, but everyone assured me it was just water weight. Either way, it sucked. But, it was an experience I needed. That feeling of failure only fuel my desire to try harder to lose weight. I feel so much better! And I'm ready to continue on this journey together me!

Cheating has horrible consequences

So, the other day I used an expiring coupon for a free McDonald's large strawberry shake. I hate letting coupons go to waste. And yes, I know, I know, very bad of me, but here's what happened:

I didn't buy it for me, I bought it for Kadree, since she loves McDonald's and we go there for Happy Meals and the Play Place. Well, tempt me tempt me, she refused to eat it, even after saying she wanted it. She drank about a 1/4 of it and wanted NOTHING to do with it after that. So here I am with a delicious shake. Ugh....

I looked up online how much it would cost me, and found that 1 ounce was 6 carbs (fun fact, the entire drink is 50+). I thought, yah I can deal with that. Basically, a couple of slurps and I was done. 

Well, after my slurps, and a little lick of the whipped cream on top, I put it away for my husband to have later (so hard to do, since it was sooooo tasty). But despite it being well within my carb intake for the day, the ingredients alone were something I weren't allowed to have: sugar (loads of it) and milk. 

My body hadn't had any sugar or straight-up milk since I started my diet, and later that day, I felt SO sick. I felt sluggish. I became tired and almost didn't make it to basketball that night... All because of a few slurps of strawberry shake! I had to down a ton of water to make it feel like I flushed it out of my system. Yuck, never doing that again!

It's amazing how food effects you. To think that I drank that kind of stuff a lot, without guilt, before I dieted. No wonder I got all the way up to 224 lbs! I'd like to think that this diet, in a way, is like a cleanse. Everything you eat after, you will see how it effects you. I took a carb intercept pill just in case, to make sure that didn't effect me much, and I still managed to drop a lb today. 

And even after all of that, I'm an idiot and took a chance by having a sausage biscuit for breakfast. Not allowed to have that either. I did eat the sausage mostly, and only a few bites of the biscuit, but this is what happens when I'm stuck without much food options. :( I really need to be more smart. This really isn't a low-carb world. Everything is low-calorie, which is great if that's what you do, but for me, low-calorie has never helped me lose weight. >_< 

Be smart Jennette, be smart. 




On a lighter note, I am 2 lbs away from reaching my first goal: 210 lbs! The husband is gonna take me to Rodezio's once that magic number appears on my scale. And hopefully working out and trying to stay good until then will pay off. :D

Water... gotta have it.

Yesterday I didn't cheat, and was under my carb intake by 4 carbs. Checked the scale today. .. didn't lose... not even in ounces. There could be water weight or food that still needs to exit my body, but I think I know why.... I realized I only had one glass of water yesterday. :/

Bad Jennette...

Half way there + progress photos!

Well, half way through Atkin's Induction, and I'm right on schedule. The promise of Induction, is that you can lose up to 15 pounds in the first 2 weeks. I started this diet at 224, and today I weighed in at 216! So, technically, I should way 208-209 a week from now. That'll be my 210 award of eating at Rodezios. ;) Definitely looking forward to it!


Oh, and face pictures. My face is definitely showing what a difference 8 pounds can be!

I lined up the pictures as best as I could (overlapping first in Photoshop to make sure my eyes and mouth line up. The pictures don't lie! My face looks MUCH slimmer! My jowels/chin are a little tighter, and more straight line than a slumped curve (I can't wait to see my jaw line again ;__;)

My front facing photo you can't see my double chin as much! Before I looked so bloated. Bleh. This is doable. ;) Can't wait to see what another week will do to my face. AND I'll take body pictures to compare that as well.



My work-out schedule is working out so far. I really like how I have it planned (not sure if I shared it before, but here we go anyway):

Monday Wednesday Saturday: Gym
Tuesday: At home workout vids
Thursday: Church basketball (once that ends, I'll probably try to do a Zumba or work out class if I can)
Friday: Rest day

Now that the madness of a off-set week is over and the start of a new one is here, lets KICK this pig! 

Fatso - "The Diet Song"

So, every time I diet I can't get this song out of my head. It's funny. Enjoy. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJZf1UBhmf8

I cheated yesterday...

But it's okay! It was just beans, and I had less then a half a cup of them! We went to our ward chili cook-off last night. Sadly, all but 2 chili pots had beans in them, so I was in one of those situations where, it was cheat, or starve. I HATE that, and I hope that doesn't happen again. At the very least I picked the beans out that I could see, and I took my nifty Carb Intercept just in case. 

It even sucked because there was also mounds of delicious fudge. Everyone around me as having desert but me. One kid even asked why I didn't have any. Hard to explain to a kid why I refused treats. :(

I do think I was punished though, cuz the few chili's I could eat with less beans, ended up being the spiciest (oh the irony), and I HATE spicy food. I ended up having heartburn all night. >_< 

Karma. 

But...... I STILL lost a pound yesterday!