day 1

Day 1 of the vegetarian challenge hasn't been bad at all.

Breakfast:
eggs

Snack:
fiber bar
strawberry crisp

Lunch:
veggie lasagna
cauliflower

Dinner:
mexican pizza- whole wheat tortilla, refried beans, salsa, cheese

Snack:
kit kat
yogurt

The Challenge

My 13 year old daughter has challenged me to go vegetarian for a month.  She is also taking the challenge.  I guess its kind of like a contest between us because we each think the other is going to eat meat first, lol.  I think the real challenge for me is to keep it healthy.  There are tons of unhealthy things that are vegetarian friendly.  This means no more turkey bacon!  That, I think, is going to be the really hard part.  I have been researching vegetarian recipes online in hopes of keeping a good variety of foods to eat so as not to get bored.  I will attempt to keep it SW friendly at the same time.  The challenge begins tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

2/28/2012

Breakfast:
lemon merengue pie

Snack:
fiber bar
strawberries

Lunch:
hot dog- no bun
broccoli

Dinner:
zucchini boats (zucchini, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese

Snack:
zucchini chips
french onion dip

2/26/2012

Breakfast:
eggs, turkey bacon, potatoes, whole wheat toast with PB

Dinner:
hot dog on bun, baked beans, mac & cheese

Snack:
chocolate cake
lemon meringue pie

No lunch, wasn't hungry.  I am an emotional eater and when I am emotional, I eat all the wrong stuff.  I have had a very bad day today, fighting with the husband and its a big one this time.  We fought right at lunch time and at first I was too pissed to eat.  Then I got busy with my son's birthday preparations.  Dinner doesn't sound so bad, but I had a HUGE helping of mac & cheese.  HUGE!  Then the cake and pie.  I suppose it could have been worse.  I could have gone ape shit on the chips and dip I bought too, but I didn't.  I did have waaay too much soda today (diet) and no water.  Not cool.  I realize I am full of excuses for my terrible eating.  I need to get my shit together.  I think this blog is helping though.  I like having a place to put down my feelings and my food.  I forgot to make a lunch for work tomorrow.  Not sure what I will do.  I guess I'll figure it out in the morning.  I'm a great procrastinator.

2/25/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
egg and turkey bacon on whole wheat bread

Snack:
1/2 fiber bar

Lunch:
pot roast
potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash

Dinner:
Zaxby's buffalo blue salad

Snack:
reese's cup
pickles

I was down another lb this morning :)

2/24/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
turkey bacon
whole wheat toast with peanut butter

Snack:
1/2 fiber bar

Lunch:
pot roast
potatoes, zucchini, squash, and tomatoes

Dinner:
curry chicken with carrots added to the sauce
riced cauliflower
corn

Snack:
ff activia vanilla yogurt
snickers

I am in love with my new food processor.  It made perfect riced cauliflower and it chopped the carrots up nice and fine for the curry sauce.  The carrots were a nice addition.  They thickened up the sauce really nice and the kids didn't even notice them, so a plus for sneaking some veggies into the kids!  I'm starting to get my veggies back in and I feel I'm working nicely back toward slimming world.  I can't wait to play some more with my food processor and also with my dehydrator.  I'm looking forward to making turkey jerky and some veggie and fruit chips.  I'm really excited to try out bananas and zucchini.  The strawberries were a great success and possibly could become an addiction, so I need to be careful with those :)  The apples were really nice too and the kids loved them.  Next time I will make tons so there is enough to go around.

2/23/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
turkey bacon
strawberries

Lunch:
Laredo Barbequed Pot Roast (recipe here)
roasted potatoes, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes

Dinner:
pizza from the pizza shop

Snack:
fat free activia yogurt

2/22/2012 food diary

no breakfast

Lunch:
2 slices whole wheat toast with peanut butter and low fat cream cheese
grapefruit

Dinner:
turkey meatloaf with gravy
mac and cheese
green beans

Snack:
fat free vanilla activia
low fat ice cream bar


Still not much of an appetite.   I did make a slow cooker pot roast and some roasted veggies to pack for my lunch for the rest of the week.  I'm trying out my new dehydrator.  Hopefully I'll have some dried strawberries to take to work for a snack.  I'm hoping I feel like breakfast tomorrow, I know how bad it is to not eat breakfast.  This morning I slept in and by the time I got out of bed, it was closer to lunch time.  I needed the rest.  I'm starting to feel more normal so hopefully I'll be back to myself and ready to try again very soon.  By the way, I was down 1 lb this morning.

2/21/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
2 slices whole wheat toast with peanut butter

Lunch:
steak
broccoli
Snack:
twix bar

Dinner:
2 low fat hot dogs with chili
baked potato chips

tomorrow is my day off, hopefully I will be able to prepare some good lunches to last me the rest of the week.

Taking a Step Back

Following the Slimming World diet has made me extremely constipated which has in turn caused the biggest hemorrhoids I have ever had in my entire life.  I am in so much pain it is not even funny and this has been going on for days now.  I'm conflicted because I know that SW is such a healthy way to eat, but I can't keep living with these digestive problems.  I'm taking a little break in hopes of getting better so I can give it another go.  I really think I may have been overdoing it on the rices and pastas.  I hadn't had either thing in over a year and I was so excited to get to eat them again.  I'm backing away from those completely for awhile and will try gradually adding them back in.  I will still post my daily food but it won't be in following with SW for a few days, or until I can sit properly again, lol.  I got on the scale this morning and had gained 3 lb.  I'm sure most of that was water since my fingers were so swollen I couldn't bend them, then I peed all morning long.  Plus, I hadn't really eaten anything all weekend long and I know not getting enough calories can cause a gain as well.  Hopefully it won't take too long at all to get back on track.

The Weekend

I'm sorry, I haven't been posting.  Over the weekend I have had some stomach issues and really didn't eat anything the whole weekend.  I'm back at work today, still feeling yucky, and really not eating right at all.  I didn't have breakfast and my lunch was small.  I did have chicken and veggies, but I know I haven;t eaten enough and I haven't been drinking anything other than soda.  I can feel that I am swollen.  I'm also having some issues mentally over whether this whole thing is worth it or not.  I'll go into more detail when I feel good enough to sit at a computer and type for any length of time.

2/17/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
eggs
potatoes
bacon
cheese (HE)

Snack:
fiber bar (HE)

Lunch:
leftover spaghetti from last night

Dinner:
salad- lettuce, carrots, onions, chicken, cheese (HE)

Its the hubby's birthday today, I'm fighting the craving for cake really hard right now.  I wanted to get him a cake that I don't like, but his favorite is my favorite too :(

2/16/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
turkey bacon
orange

Snack:
fiber bar (HE)

Lunch:
white rice
chicken
broccoli

Dinner:
spaghetti with homemade sauce that was so awesome I will post a recipe later :)

2/15/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
turkey bacon
pineapple

Snack:
fiber bar (HE)

Lunch:
chicken
white rice
corn
tomato sauce

Dinner:
Turkey meatloaf -grated parmesan instead of bread crumbs (HE)
potato
green beans

Snack:
orange

Not Today

Nope, not today.  I'm not doing a food diary for today, its way too embarrassing.  Seriously.  I started out the day ok.  I had my meals planned.  I ate my bacon and egg for breakfast but the pineapple was hard and not very good.  I didn't have time to grab another fruit so I ran out the door and off to work I went.  I packed beef stew for my lunch and took an orange for snack.  Then I got to work and they passed out valentine's donuts to everyone.  I wasn't going to eat it.  I really wasn't, but I was still hungry and it was my favorite kind, and as long as I count the syns I'll be ok.  Then came the Hershey's kisses from the big boss, the box of Lindor truffles from my supervisor (my absolute favorite).  I thought I could just eat 1 truffle, oh how wrong I was.  I ate the whole box and then I was sugar high and not much giving a damn so I ate the kisses too.  By then it was lunch time and I thought I better try to get something nutritious into me, but I was full from all the junk so I only ate a few bites of my stew.  Around 2:30 I got hungry again and it was break time.  I grabbed my orange and headed to the break room where the left over donuts were sitting there calling my name very loudly.  Yup, I ate another one and my orange got ignored.  Then I came home from work, cooked a nice yummy meal of curry chicken and rice with green beans on the side, but I was way too bloated and sugar high to want to eat at all.  Now, here I sit hating myself for binging like that and wondering how I ever expect to lose weight if I can't control myself.  How will I ever make this work if 1 chocolate truffle will lead to a whole box down the hatch.  There is always going to be some holiday or some reason people are handing out sweets.  I know I have no one to blame but myself, I'm just having a pity party and I will pick myself back up and get right back on track.  I just feel like such a failure, and it is affecting how I am treating the wonderful people I live with.  I yelled at 2 of my kids for no good reason, then promptly apologized.  Then I went to the store with my husband and called myself slamming the car doors, again for no reason.  I'm not fit to be around humans right now.  I probably shouldn't be around animals either, its a good thing we don't have any pets.  And I have a tooth ache.  UGH!

weigh in:  218.9 down .6 from last week and too aggravated to figure out the total right now.

I'm going to bed now.

2/13/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
SW pancakes
banana
turkey bacon

Snack:
fiber bar (HE)

Lunch:
pasta with home made sauce

Snack:
pineapple
Hershey's hugs (10 syns)

Dinner:
taco salad- lettuce, ground turkey, cheese (HE), picante sauce

Snack:
ff plain yogurt w/ splenda


So I decided to try the pancakes again after I read Helen's blog about her experiences with them.  I had beat the egg whites until frothy like the directions said, but apparently you actually need them to have peaks.  So I tried again and this time I beat the whites until peaks formed (soft, not stiff- hush your minds!).  They came out much better this time!  I will make them again for sure, but will likely use less sweetener as I thought they were just a bit too sweet for my taste.  I had to share with the kids too because 5 eggs are just too much for me, but they didn't mind :)

2/12/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
mock danish- egg, cream cheese, splenda (HE)
banana
turkey bacon

Lunch:
homemade chicken noodle soup
grapefruit

Snack:
baked chips (3 syns)

Dinner:
turkey cheese burger on whole wheat bread (2 HEs)
baked sweet potato fries

Snack:
strawberries
ff plain yogurt

food diary 2/11/2012

Breakfast:
turkey bacon
pineapple

Snack:
fiber bar (HE)

Lunch:
beef stroganoff (HE + 2.5 syns)
peas
string cheese (HE)

Dinner:
grilled tilapia
salad- lettuce, carrots, cucumber, bacon, picante sauce

Snack:
banana
ff plain yogurt w/ strawberries

2/10/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
egg
turkey bacon
grapefruit

Lunch:
pizza- whole wheat high fiber tortilla (HE), tomato sauce, low fat mozzarella cheese (HE), bacon, pineapple
salad- lettuce, carrots, ff italian dressing

Snack:
vanilla flavored low fat yogurt (3 syns)
marshmallows (5 syns)

Dinner:
crock pot beef stroganoff (2.5 syns)
egg noodles
peas

Snack:
strawberries


I should have had a super free veggie with dinner but the kids voted me out on that, lol.  I tried to make up for it with the strawberries for dessert.

2/9/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
egg
turkey bacon
strawberries

Snack:
fiber bar
string cheese

Lunch:
chicken
honey mustard dressing (3.5 syns)
broccoli

Snack:
hershey's hugs (8 syns)

Dinner:
curry chicken
white rice
green beans

Snack:
pineapple
ff plain yogurt


I went over in syns today.  Damn my boss for putting a huge container of candy on his desk.  My desk is right next to his.  Damn me for not being able to resist!  UGH!  Tomorrow I am off so it will be easy to resist candy since I don't have any in my house :)  I plan to get the grocery shopping done tomorrow and maybe a new hair cut if there is enough money after groceries and bills.  I need it.

Little Black Book

I write down everything I eat.  When I started this journey I bought myself a little notebook to carry with me at all times so I never forget to write anything I eat down.  I wanted a really pretty one but all they had were little spiral notebooks with black covers.  So I bought myself a little black book to keep track of my food.  It stays with me everywhere I go and has a special pocket in my purse.  I keep a pen attached so there is never any excuse not to write my food.  As they used to say at WW, if I bite it, I write it.  Then in the evening when I'm pretty sure I'm done eating for the day, I pull out my little black book and I sit at my desk and I enter my food diary for the day into this blog.

2/8/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
egg
turkey bacon
banana

Snack:
fiber bar (HE)
string cheese (HE)

Lunch:
tuna with low fat mayo (2 syns)
strawberries
baked chips (2)

Snack:
pineapple
ff plain yogurt
milky way miniatures (4)

Dinner:
spaghetti with homemade meat sauce
cheese (HE)

2/7/2012 food diary and weigh in

Breakfast:
egg
turkey bacon
banana

Snack:
fiber bar (HE)
low fat string cheese (HE)

Lunch:
chicken with buffalo sauce (1 syn)
sweet potato
broccoli
ranch dressing- 1/2 serving size (2 syns)

Snack:
pineapple
4 miniature snickers (8 syns)

Dinner:
chicken
egg noodles
green beans
shredded mozzarella (HE)

Snack:
fat free yogurt plain

weigh in : 219.5  gain of .2 lb

I gained .2 lb.  I'm pretty sure it is water weight due to my period.  I also think I have been having too much salt.  I'm going to back off of the bacon when I finish off the pack in the fridge.  I've been thinking a lot about grapefruit lately and I found some on sale at the grocery store tonight.  I can't wait to dig in to them!  Strawberries were on sale too and they actually looked good so I'm going to cut some up to take for snack tomorrow.  I have gotten into the habit of drinking too much soda again so I am going to try to up my water intake and try to only have 1 soda a day again.  Diet only of course :)

2/6/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
egg
turkey bacon
banana

Snack:
fiber bar
low fat string cheese (HE)

Lunch:
small steak
sweet potato
broccoli

Snack:
strawberries

Dinner:
turkey
rice
peas

Snack:
sugar free chocolate pudding (3 syns)
orange


Period started today.  I'm feeling very bloated.  I'm worried about tomorrow's weigh in.

2/5/2012 food diary

Breakfast:

SW pancakes with strawberries and bananas

Snack:

yogurt (1 syn)

Lunch:

Tuna with low fat mayo (2.5 syns)

baked chips (2 syns)

orange

Snack:

fat free pudding (3 syns)

Dinner:

baked chicken

corn

green beans

mac and cheese made with fat free cream cheese and low fat cheddar (HE)- no milk

Snack:

strawberries

SW Pancakes

This is my friend Helen's recipe and picture :)

Ingredients:
5 eggs
6 tbsp sweetener (or to taste)
4 tsp vanilla flavoring
fruit

Directions:
Separate eggs into 2 bowls.  Add sweetener to the whites and whisk until white and frothy.  Add vanilla to the yolks.  Fold yolks into the whites and pour into a small frying pan sprayed with fry light (or pam lite).  Cook for 1 minute, flip and cook for another minute.  Repeat until mixture is gone.  Top with fruit.  Helen adds yogurt on top of that :)  1 egg = 1 pancake

you can check out more of her recipes and pictures at  http://www.helensslimmingworldrecipes.com/

2/4/2012

Breakfast:
eggs
turkey bacon
potatoes

Lunch:
salad- lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, bacon, chicken, eggs, cheese (1 HE, 4 syns for the dressing)

Snack:
sugar free pudding snack (3 syns)

Dinner:
pizza- whole wheat, high fiber tortilla (HE), tomato sauce, pineapple, ham, cheese (HE)

Snack:
orange

2/3/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
turkey bacon
orange

Snack:
fiber bar

Lunch:
buffalo chicken dip (1.5 syns)
carrots
1/2 deviled egg (estimated 1.5 syns)
bbq sausage (estimated 2 syns)
1/2 brownie (estimated 6 syns)
3 pieces of turkey wrap (estimated 5 syns)

Dinner:
shrimp
broccoli
rice

*all estimated syns came from the online syns tool on the SW website.

This morning I woke up feeling nauseous and even got sick during a coughing fit (cold is now in chest).  I managed to eat some turkey bacon and an orange but no way was I forcing down eggs too, lol.  By lunch time I was starving but my plan of taking carrots and buffalo chicken dip seems to have worked ok to keep me from totally undoing myself at the pot luck at work today.  I did have about 14.5 syns off of that food table, but compared to what I would have done if I hadn't been prepared, I did excellent.  Normally I would have gorged myself on all those different chips and dips, the hot dogs, cakes, cookies, donuts, and brownies.  Then I would have gone back later for more.  I didn't do that today!  YAY me!  Dinner was small as I was still stuffed from lunch, man those carrots and chicken dip are filling!  I'm looking forward to planning my week and creating my grocery list tomorrow.  Heres to my small victory today!

Buffalo Chicken Casserole/Dip

3 breast tenders cooked and shredded

3 oz fat free cream cheese

1 1/2 oz low fat cheddar cheese

buffalo chicken sauce to taste

I boiled the chicken then shredded it using my kitchen-aid stand mixer.  I added the cream cheese and most of the cheddar and about 3 tablespoons of buffalo sauce.  I mixed it on medium speed until it looked well blended. I put the rest of the cheddar over it and will eat it warm with my carrot sticks.

This was 1 serving and I calculated it to be 1.5 syns if I use the cheeses as my HEs.

2/2/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
eggs
turkey bacon
cheese (HE)
orange

Snack:
fiber bar

Lunch:
chicken breast
white rice
green beans

Snack:
banana

Dinner:
homemade chili- crushed tomatoes, ground turkey, onions, kidney beans, seasonings
cheese (HE)
1 slice white bread (5 syns)

Tomorrow is the annual Super Bowl pot luck at work.  these things are always packed full of cakes and sweets and very little nutritional food.  I plan to take a veggie tray as my contribution.  I'm going to make myself a small buffalo chicken casserole to take along for my lunch along with some baked potato chips.  I'll shred some chicken breast, add some buffalo sauce, cream cheese, and cheddar.  I'll have to figure out the syns while I make it since I don't know how much of each thing I will need yet.  I'm thinking I will take a sweet treat with me as well, maybe a fruit flavored yogurt or a fat free, sugar free pudding.  Hmmmm.

2/1/2012 food diary

Breakfast:
eggs
bacon
orange

Snack:
Kellogg's fiber + antioxidants bar

Lunch:
Chicken breast with sweet chili sauce (1.5 syns)
broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots
white rice

Snack:
pineapple

Dinner:
curry chicken breast
green beans
white rice

Snack:
strawberry cheesecake fat free yogurt (1.5 syns)
Clancy's baked potato chips (1 syn)

Wow, I can't believe it is February already.  This month will bring several challenges for me.  First is Valentine's Day and all that candy!  Then is my husband's birthday and then my son's birthday and the cake that goes along with both of those.  The key will be to plan properly for those events.  Today I had rice with 2 meals.  I don't like to do that but I didn't realize when I grabbed my lunch this morning that we were going to have rice for dinner too.  Yummm, curry chicken is one of my favorites and I am so glad I can still eat it on this plan :)  Just noticed I didn't get my 2 dairy HEs in today.  I'm thinking I might have to add some cheese to my eggs or maybe do string cheese for a snack?  I don't drink milk.  I'll have to figure that one out.