Water, Water Everywhere

I stand/sit corrected. I've been informed that John did weigh himself. (If he doesn't tell me, how am I supposed to know?) Anyway, he lost about a pound and a half the first week.

So when I was watching Biggest Loser a couple weeks ago, they mentioned drinking water increases your metabolism. Now, I've always known/heard about water weight. If you drink your "required" water, you lose weight the first couple days when your body flushes out stored water. But this is the first I've heard about a metabolism increase. So I did a search and found that a research facility in Germany did a study on energy expenditure. Turns out water does increase your metabolism. A little bit. Basically, "over the course of a year, a person who increases his water consumption by 1.5 liters a day would burn an extra 17,400 calories, for a weight loss of approximately five pounds" (http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040105/drinking-water-may-speed-weight-loss) So no super secret weight loss trick here. Just have to go back to eating healthy. Ooooo, shrimp fettucini on the menu tonight!

It's the Little Things

Okay, here's another suggestion. Make an entire meal of the lentil chili that came as a side item. Oh, that's yummy. Talk about a comfort-food lunch. Grilled cheese, chili and a brownie! However, I've given the brownie to John. I love it but he'll enjoy it even more. On a side note, people are surprised when we tell them that we don't do anything for Valentine's Day or our anniversary. That's because romance is in the little things. Like giving them your brownie. Or bringing your nine month pregnant wife a mint chip shake from Baskin Robbins on your way home from work. Or the really big one, thinking it's a good idea for his mother-in-law to live with us for two months before, during, and after the twins' birth. Now that's romantic!

I'm also surprised at the little touches to the meals. Things that make it special, like shredded parmesan cheese to sprinkle on your vegetables or macaroni and cheese. Oh, did I mention the macaroni and cheese last night? Not dry, cheese-sparse mac & cheese. But like Velveeta mac & cheese.

John keeps forgetting to weigh himself. He's such a guy. He doesn't need to lose weight as he has to keep in shape for the military. (That's why I'm supplementing his 1600 calories a day with extra fruit.) But he's been good about sticking with the plan so I expect he's lost a little also.

Oh, I'm also asked what Nicky eats while we're on this plan. I respond with, he's 3. He eats air. Actually, he lives on fruit, vegetables and milk. Oh, and lollipops when he goes in the potty. Dum-dum suckers are his fourth food group.

Week 1 Results

Check out lunch for today. Look at the sheer amount of food! Chicken pesto sub with cheese and tomato, chickpea and spinach salad, pineapple, and chocolate pudding. Seriously! I love this pesto sauce. You know, a pasta dish with this pesto on it would be quite tasty. (hint, hint)

One thing I've realized this week. It's not enough to cut calories. You need to eat healthy also. Cutting calories will actually harm you if you also cut out your nutrients. By letting DTG handle all the thinking, I've been actually eating better this week, even though I'm eating fewer calories. I can tell the difference in the amount of energy I have, chasing Nicky around the house a lot more than I did just a week ago.

So I guess you're curious as to any weight-loss results. I can do this Biggest Loser style, which I am a fan of. But I watch it Tivo'd so I can fast-forward through the screaming and crying. There's no way I would put up with someone yelling at me the way they do. And I realize that the mental aspect is a part of weight loss but there's way too much crying.

Oh, I do my weight loss every week at approximately the same time on the same day. Eliminate as many variables as possible.

Anyway, so Week 1 weight: 209.4

Week 2 weight: 206.8

Week 1 weight loss: 2.6 pounds.

Not too shabby!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Okay, this is why it's nice to have dinner's made for me. Catie didn't settle down until 8 last night. So we were able to have dinner 3 minutes later. Barbecue chicken with green beans almondine, potatoes, and baked beans. Wow.

Today's lunch was particularly yummy. A huge philly turkey sandwich. Seriously huge. About 8 or 9 inches long with turkey, peppers and onion. I really like the honey mustard mayo. My substitutions for breakfast went through. That's pretty cool. As long as it's before noon on Monday, you can get your menu for Tuesday changed. I admit to being a bit of a pain when it comes to my menu. I don't like anything spicy and I've mentioned I'm not a muffin fan. You may wonder why I bother but it's easy to customize it and once you get everything changed, it stays that way. So next month, when that meal comes around again, I'll automatically get my substitution. About the only way it could be easier was if I could access my menu online myself. Sometimes, I forget whether I made a substitution.

Some people may ask so I'll go ahead and answer the question. No, I'm not exercising right now. At least, not formally. I just don't have time. And while that may be a trite excuse, it's totally accurate in my case. When the weather gets warmer, we'll trek outside for walks. And if you happen to see us on the street, don't stare! We're quite a train. A five foot long stroller with two car seats and a seat on the back for Nicky.

Well, time to get settled for bed. I do still have an apple before bed every night. I don't feel the least bit guilty about that!

Short and Sugar Free Sweet

So I survived the weekend. We're going to up our days to 6 starting in two weeks. This weekend John is going to India for a week so I did a stop/restart. You go online and fill out a form http://www.diettogo.com/0108web/menu_stops.htm and you can pause it for however long you need. But I'm going to stop getting breakfasts. I'm just not a muffin fan. So I can substitute a bagel three or four times a week or I can get some mini-bagels. Hopefully. I have to check to see if there's some with a reasonable amount of calories.

I made my own jello snack packs. Sugar-free jello-0 with some diet 7-up. Put in those little Glad 1/2 cup containers so we have our own 10 calorie snack packs.

Whoops, gotta run. Catie is being unhappy and we can't figure out why. What else could a baby want? She won't eat, she's clean and she has a paci. Sigh. Time to walk the floor.

Fight the Power!

Good Morning America today said that for the first time, there were more obese people than overweight people in America. 35% obese vice 34% overweight. They had a story about how the corporation's wish to make a buck isn't helping.


So what are your choices if you don't want to cook? You can order in pizza (1 slice, please) or Chinese (plain rice, chicken and vegetables with no sauce) for $15 or $20. If you get fast food, healthy choices are basically nonexist. I mentioned that I had gone by McDonalds for my son. (bad mommy confession #235) You can get a burger, fries and a soda off the dollar menu for $3.15. Or you can get JUST a small salad for a bit more. As long as you don't get one with crispy chicken which gives you 20 grams of fat. Yikes! Why are healthy items more expensive? Like Panera. If you want to get a fruit cup instead of chips, you have to pay extra. Wendy's has a better selection on their value menu but again, watch out for the salads.


Even the grocery stores have the healthy food disparity. Compare the price of fruit versus chips. Or milk versus soda. Why do we have to pay so much more to get juice or applesauce without sugar added. (And spend ten minutes reading labels to find that 1 out of 20)


Why the interest? Well, I'm only getting five days of Diet-to-Go. Which is going to be adjusted next week. Having to spend over an hour in the kitchen cooking and then cleaning when I don't have to is just plain wrong. Anyway, I was out doing errands at lunch and was trying to find something that wasn't high in calories. I ended up at Taco Bell and got one soft taco and one crunchy taco. I hoped that was reasonable. Looking them up at home I found that the soft taco is 200 calories and the crunchy taco is 170 calories. So not too badly.


So my advice is troll the internet for nutritional information for those places you frequent. Sometimes it's a bit depressing but it's better to know than to regret.


**The statement herein are the opinion of the blogger and do not necessarily represent any scientific experimentation (just common sense)**

Peas and Dessert

So John doesn't like peas. Actually, beyond doesn't like. As in pick the peas out of a frozen dinner meal before cooking it. He called me today and said he needed a substitution for lunch because all he got were peas in his pasta salad. Seems like he missed the pasta, beans, zucchini, tuna, and tomatoes. Seriously. I liked it. So he told me to make a substitution for next time. I guess I shouldn't give him a hard time. I make subsitutions for meals sometimes when I don't like the side dish. I also started supplementing his lunch. 1600 calories is pretty low for a healthy man. So I added a banana and an apple to his lunch box to help combat the munchies. Now to get him over his dessert addiction. The mousse spoiled him. He graciously volunteers to give up his cauliflower if he gets dessert.


Wasn't it a beautiful day today? Well, for January. We spent two hours at the playground. I had a bite of Nicky's banana but that was it. Like I said, I liked lunch today.


Part of the reason I think this program will be good for me is to remind me how to eat healthy. I want to make sure my children don't end up with bad eating habits. They say children have naturally healthy habits. They don't eat when they're not hungry and they stop eating when they're full. Of course, it's that not eating part that drives me crazy sometimes. Nicky sometimes only eats fruit and milk during the day.


I've been advised that blogs are more interesting if they include risque photos of famous people. So I make this solemn vow to you. If I find any celebrities on Diet-to-Go, I will do my utmost best to obtain said photos and post them.

Leaving the Nest

Remember yesterday when I said it was harder staying home? Well, today, I tested that theory. We all left the house today. (And it usually takes about 30 minutes to pack everyone up and get in the car :) I brought half my breakfast and half my lunch with me in Nicky's snack bag. Some of the items are easily portable. We stopped by McD to get Nicky one of the three meat items he'll actually eat, nuggets. So many things on the menu. Yum. I ordered unsweetened tea. Which is good for me because while pregnant, sweet tea calmed my stomach and became a crutch. Unfortunately, they messed up and gave me sweet tea. (Yet another drive thru screw up) Why do the gods test me so?!?! But I was strong, thought about the empty calories in sugar, and tossed it. Whew.


So dinner last night. John had the vegetable ravioli. I giggled when he was halfway through and said "this is good." This was before he got to the chocolate mousse and basically licked the container to get every last bit. I think it ended up better than "good." I did a substitution.


You know, I realized that I haven't really talked about how this whole thing works. You can go to the website http://www.diettogo.com for more detailed info but here's the gist. Meals are prepared locally and I pick them up twice a week. That way, they don't freeze them. On Tuesday, I get three days of meals (Tuesday dinner through Friday lunch) and on Friday, I get four days of meals (Friday dinner through Tuesday lunch). Well, I'm just getting two days on Friday. You can choose however many meals you want for the week, in any combination. Like just lunch and dinner for 4 days for maybe breakfast and dinner for 7 days. Whatever you want. You choose between two calorie levels and three menu types. Like Low-Fat: http://www.diettogo.com/0108web/menu_lowfatlocal.htm, Vegetarian: http://www.diettogo.com/0108web/menu_veglocal.htm, or Low-Carb: http://www.diettogo.com/0108web/menu_lowcarblocal.htm. Now, I love my carbs. No way I could give up my pasta and rice so I'm doing low-fat.


Anyway, there's a set menu but you can make substitutions. Thus, back to my dinner last night. I substituted Stuffed Shells. Now, I get a little annoyed at the substitution menu. http://www.diettogo.com/0108web/menu_subs.htm because there's not enough details. Like the Veggie Pizza sounds intriguing for dinner but I'd never order it because I have no idea what's on it or what the sides are. But I like the shells. Three jumbo pasta shells filled with cheese, covered in sauce, with baby carrots on the side. Very satisfying.

Wednesday, January 21

Last night was our first dinner: Red Snapper. I was impressed that the broccoli wasn’t mushy at all. The angel food cake was a little dry. But we definitely weren’t hungry after a plate full of food.


This morning, I cut my scone up into four pieces vertically and spread the raspberry preserves on two slices and the Neufchatel cheese on the other two. I saved my yogurt and juice for a mid-morning snack. I get hungrier in the morning than the afternoon. Could be because the babies have a feeding between 4 and 5. Since Nicky gets up at 6, I just stay up so mid-morning for me is most people's lunch.


Anyway, Nicky ate half my vegetable chips this afternoon which almost made up for the 100 calorie popcorn bag I ate in the morning also. The salmon burger was good. I remember now how much we loved the sandwich and dinner rolls.


I think it's harder to be good when we stay home all day. 12 hours of conversations where every sentence begins with "mommy." Sometimes I think I eat just because it's something I can do alone. So there's another habit to be changed. I read it takes 28 days for habits to develop. So 27 to go : )

Tuesday, January 20

Okay, I know the blog says all this was posted on Wednesday. That’s just the day I finally got this stuff set up. My date titles are accurate.


This is too cool. When I signed up to get my food, I told them about doing a blog about it. So now I have a sponsor! I don't know what that's going to mean. Maybe some free food! Woo hoo! I'm not going to change what I would say because of that. But I figure any criticism I say
will definitely be read!


Starting weight: 209.4
I can’t believe I’m back here again. After two years at 182 pounds (I’m 5’9” so that’s almost in the healthy range), I was depressed as I watched the scale creep up when I was pregnant. I would never regret my beautiful babies but they could have taken a few more pounds with them when they left!


Got our first three days of food today. Both my husband and I are getting 5 days 1600 calorie breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got so excited sorting the meals and putting them in the frig. I don’t have to cook dinner tonight! I think at this point, however, I'd be happy eating about anything as long as I didn't have to cook it!

In The Beginning

Well, here I am again. If you live in the DC area, you may have heard me on the radio three years ago. My son was 3 months old and my husband was leaving for Afghanistan when I started receiving Diet-to-Go. I weighed 234 pounds (see me with the stroller). Six months later, I was 50 pounds lighter and watching my husbands eyes bug out when he stepped from the plane. (See me at the park) I had no problem transitioning to cooking healthy for my family using what I'd learned eating Diet-to-Go food and kept the weight off for two years.

Now my twins (!) are 3 months old and my son just turned 3 years. Time to cook healthy is non-existent and I need to get rid of this pregnancy weight! I am going to share with everyone my experiences this time because I learned the first time how life-changing weight loss can be.

So the first step is admitting I have a problem. Done! I have a huge problem. Nicky (my 3 year old) just gave up naps so round about 6:00 at night, he starts getting very grumpy and high maintenance. Of course, that's about the time Jason and Caitlin want their evening feeding. John (my husband) doesn't get home until 6:30 or 7:00 so when am I supposed to make dinner? Sigh.

I looked around at the different plans out there to make sure I picked the right one for me. I spent about 15 minutes on Jenny Craig (hey, it worked for Valerie Bertinelli) but I couldn't find ANY information on prices. They wanted my information to contact me. Like I have time for a hard sell! So then I went to Nutrisystem. It looked more intriguing. It seemed a bit time consuming having to choose your food. But I really didn't like having to get a month of food at a time. I can't commit to a month! John is active duty and may get sent somewhere with a week's notice. Relatives may come in town for a visit (and when they come, they stay a week!). Plus, I don't have room in my freezer for all that food. And there's that freezer aspect. If I want frozen food, I could just get some Lean Cuisines at the grocery store.

So I decided to go back to Diet to Go. I like that it's a week at a time. I really like that I don't have to plan a menu but I can change something if I want to. And it's not frozen so I know there's not a lot of preservatives and sodium in it.

So here I go. I'm going to be very matter-of-fact in my postings regarding my weight and whether I cheat. Please feel free to follow me through this experience. And I hope something I say in my ramblings helps someone. Like I said, been there, felt like that.