Prelude to a diet

It's that time of year again. It's the holiday baking, cooking and gorging season. I LOVE this time of year. I love baking up yummy, carb-laden cookies, cakes and breads. I also love cooking Thanksgiving dishes like roasted turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, and sweet potato casserole. And Christmas time? What's Christmas without cut-out cookies, fudge, snack mix and hot cider? See where I'm going with this? I love to eat just as much as I love to cook. This is not helping out the weight loss efforts!

I've been taking a supplement called Visi which really took the edge off of the insane appetite I have. I still take prednisone and recently added a couple more medications which have hunger and weight gain as a side effect. So it was working great up until the last couple of weeks when my appetite went off the charts again. I lost ten lbs and then gained it right back.

I also got my ass back on to the elliptical machine and that was great until my joints started to grind together in my knees and ankles. It doesn't really hurt but I can feel and hear the grinding and popping. I will definitely talk to my doctor next checkup but I'm not letting that stop me from trying to stay as fit as possible.

With all this going on, I happened to catch Dr. Ian Smith on our local Fox 4 morning show. If you have ever watched Celebrity Fit Club, then you will recognize Dr. Smith as one of the judges and consultants for the show. He is promoting an upcoming book and weight loss plan called Shred, The Revolutionary Diet. He asked people who were interested in his plan to tweet him @doctoriansmith to get a sample of his book. I did that and emailed him and next thing I know, I was accepted to be part of his nutrition and weight loss plan, representing the Kansas City group. So I start tomorrow on a whole new way of eating and thinking about nutrition. I've decided a good way to keep me honest and on track is to blog my journey through this 6 week plan. I think I'm crazy because this is the best time of the year, food-wise. It will not be easy to hold the hungry monster at bay over Thanksgiving! But I like challenges and am actually looking forward to giving this my all. If I do really well, who knows. I may be on the local news as a "success" story.

If anyone has links to low-carb recipes featuring Thanksgiving fare, please let me know! Thanks and I will let you know how Day 1 goes!! Tschus. :)

One of the 7 Deadly Sins: I has it.

We admit it.  Ron and I made way too much food for the two of us and loved every bit of it.  Lots of leftovers, lots of groaning and new stomach stretch marks.  But all worth it.

I admit that consumerism lured me in.  I had a coupon from Hy-vee for a free turkey with purchase of ham.  So I bought said ham even though I don't eat pork anymore (Ron loves the ham) and then sought out the brand of free turkey offered to me through this glorious coupon.  The smallest one I could find was 18 lbs.  Does that stop me?  No.  I bought the 18 lb turkey.  And we brined it and cooked it up along with all our favorite sides and pies.  And we continue to eat, slowly extending the size of our waists, giving bits and pieces to our pets.  They are all happy as well.  Ever hear a pet rat sigh?  Well ours do because they are so happy with trytophan.     (Or however the hell you spell it.)

Here are our food pics:



The turkey



Notice how clearing the table means throwing all our shit onto the floor or a chair?





It was a ton of food for just us but dammit, it was good. Thankfully I started the cranberry sauce and pies the day before. I really condone cooking things ahead of time.



There is Ron, posing pretty after cooking for hours with me. I have to admit that I have a kick ass husband. He doesn't sit on the couch and watch tv while I cook. He's in there, wrists deep into the food. I couldn't get it all done without him.

So today I am working on some crafting/art shit and I did some painting. I hate painting. Oh God, help me. I HATE PAINTING. I hate getting the paint all over my feet because I refuse to wear shoes. (I can hold a grip on the tiny parts of the sink and counter with me feet better if they are bare.) I hate dripping paint onto the cupboards. And I hate trying to make it all look even. I keep hitting the popcorn ceiling with blue paint and then swearing loudly. Fucking paint. Ron says it's ok because he wants to scrape every last bit of popcorn ceiling off in the house before we die. I figure we should be able to get it done before our loan ends. 30 years.

Here is me with my "Fuck you Paint I fucking hate your ass" face. Notice the defined shoulders from hefting a brush. Also notice the start of my Thanksgiving pooch from all the food I've been consuming and exercise I haven't been doing.



Yeah. That's normally how I look on any given day. Since the pain is coming back and I'm too scared to take the new pain pills I've been given, this is about as good as I get. Oh well. At least my feet are a pretty blue.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Tschus.