The more weight I lose, the more people I consider to be "normal" are including me, and It makes me more ticked off than happy. 

    For all the habits that have changed, I'm the same person I was at nearly  300 pounds. If anything I'm weirder. I've been an outsider since my teen years, and I lost the weight to be healthy, not to fit in. When you're morbidly obese, but not  "talk  show fat"  you're pretty much invisible. Since you're not competition to other women or a potential partner t...
Continue reading ...

Sardines.Mackarel.Herring. 
Are you gagging yet? If you are, it's a shame.They're fairly cheap, high in alll sorts of good stuff, more plentiful, and less polluted than salmon and tuna. After trying out a variety of brands I've found lots of varieties I  love. Since I can't take them to work and stink up my cubicle, they're usually what I eat when I get home starving, and theres no leftover protein in the house. Most of the time, I pop oven a can, throw  some  mayo on it,  and a little sugar ...
Continue reading ...

I saw this blog post  and it reminds me so much of my job- maybe most jobs are like this :
http://whyareyousofat.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/more-fun-co-worker-stories/

I can't believe how much unhealthy food is used as a reward where I work. Today, someone brought Amaretti cookies. This is the first time I've been tempeted in a long time - I actually had to smell them , LOL I'm an almond junkie. However, as hard as it is to  keep losing weight this  time of year, cheating is one big, flashing, ne...
Continue reading ...

I've had two sides of me battling it out for a long time, It helps me to mentally picture them:
1.) This is Cartman, AKA the old me:


This is the part of me that wants to eat the wrong things.  I've heard from this part of me so little these days, I think it's dormant.


And then there's who I want to be:


I'm starting to wonder if this girl's taking over- though she looks like she's up to the job! For example tonight, I overate at Hometown Buffet.Are you ready to hear what I ate 3 plates of ?
SALAD...

Continue reading ...

Well, the holiday advertisements have started, and it seems that in a lot of health web sites, there's a huge amount of ainxiety over gaining weight over the next 2 months.
Christmas, I completely  understand. The food pushers go into hyperdrive with tons of sweets- it's so annoying!
But Thanksgiving? I don't see any reason Thanksgiving can't be  one awesome healthy  meal!
Most  of the  major components of the thanksgiving dinner are in fact, superfoods:
1. Turkey: 
http://www.superfoodsrx.com/s...
Continue reading ...

There's more to the Atkins diet than bacon, LOL!
     If you're familiar with the Atkins diet, you know that you get to eat  things that  other diets can't - but there's a lot more benefits.
1. A lot less hunger. One thing that really stinks about dieting is bieng hungry all the time. On Atkins, I get hungry only if it's been 5-6 hours since I last ate, so I can concentrate on other things. I can't tell you how much I love that freedom! My energy stays nice and steady, even when I'm on my bike...

Continue reading ...

 This, like my post about salads is more an idea than a recipe, since I rearely make this the same way twice.  I  tend to cook a large amount of protein, like a value pack of chicken/ ground beef or a big pork roast on my day off , then use it it during the work week. I suppose the following  would also work  for fish or shrimp, but I'd  prefer to really do  something special with a nice piece of fish if I can afford it!  It's kind of an American comfort food version of a stir fry.

 For this, ...
Continue reading ...

    Well, Fall showed up and changed the weather  in a hurry.I don't know if it's the loss of the extra paddding or my metabolism is slowing down, but I'm FREEZING! I used to run aound in the snow  in jeans and a tshirt - now if gets below 60 degrees I have to bundle up. I feel like such a  wuss!
     My  weight loss has slowed to a crawl, lke it always does when it gets cold. I don't expect to lose more that 2-3 lbs a month between now and May. I'm not going to drive myself  crazy trying to f...
Continue reading ...

If I haven't posted much, It's because  there not much to tell, really. My diet is what I call on "auto pilot": I know what to do, I'm used to it so it just goes along. If I go off my plan I don't feel well so it's not worth it. So far I've lost 45  lbs. It's slowed down but still going. It's also coming off in the weirdest places - my feet and fingers are narrower!
The biggest change is how I've learned to handle stress. I mean the crushing stuff that used to make want to go "face down in a ...
Continue reading ...

I just read this article on a fat acceptance blog and it gave nearly gave me a headache :http://biglibertyblog.com/2010/07/24/the-dieters-clusterf/

Sigh. I dunno, maybe it's less fun to be a low fat  dieter - Susan powter seems to enjoy it, though. Seriously, I do not miss  the way I used to eat one bit - of course it may be because it's summer and I have easy access to incredible local produce. I'd take a basket of Oregon strawberries over chocolate chip cookies any day!

"And praising each oth...

Continue reading ...

    Well I'm back from Seattle. Wow that trip kicked my butt- literally! By the time that we headed home, every pair of pants I brought with me was loose! I don't officially weigh in until Sunday morning, but even if my weight loss doesn't  show on the scale, I'm happy that  I stayed on my diet 95%  of the time. My only minor goofs were a little more fruit than usual, and a  few times that I accidentaly swallowed something with sugar in it.
The whole experience was amazingly  easy- our hotel ...
Continue reading ...

Well it's  that time of year again!
We have no AC in our apartment so not heating up the house with cooking is a big issue. So my oven and rotisserie are out of use until at least October!

So what do I use instead? These gadgets:
1.) Air oven: I use a model that's long been out of production because I'm cheap and like to buy my kitchen toys at thift  shops. All I can say is if you ever spot a "Galloping Gorumet Perfection-Aire" at a  secondhand store, SNAG IT! It's   fantastic for meats, even l...
Continue reading ...

Well, my anniversary is almost here. I'm back to my wedding day weight and hoping to be  lighter by then. Going on  vacation has  caused me to do a lot of thinking.
Do I :
1.) Go  buckwild since it's just a week ?
No, bad idea.I did that on my honeymoon and by the time I got my diet back under control again, I'd gained 25 lbs
2.) Adopt the Carbohydrate Diet approach (strictly low carb  execpt  for a one hour "reward meal" ?  This  definitely has its appeal, but with the evidence all around me ( ...
Continue reading ...

Well, I'm down 18 pounds, and  back in the Atkins routine.  to keep the weight loss consistent I'm adding a couple of new things:
1. ) No Nutrasweet/Aspartame. there's been some studies done that show Aspartame hurts metabolism and  actually makes insulin resistance worse. YIKES!  So what did it for me? Donna Simpson, the New Jersey  woman that is trying to gain another 300+  pounds to  get to 1000 lbs  . http://www.nynews/local/nj_woman_attempting_to_become_world_pco3O4qPWiCg3yjEWaxx9Npost.co...
Continue reading ...

    This one is for all the people that hate "fatties" out there. I'll probbably post vents like this from time to  time, so bear with me.There are things I  understand, and things  I don't  so i'm  going to try to take on the issues one at a time.

1. Fat people in small spaces - ok, this I  completely understand. I definitely try not to crowd anyone in elevators, buses, etc. Most of the time i'd rather be on my bike. I hate it when someone's in my personal  space too.
2. Fat people cost the h...
Continue reading ...

Low carb Products, whether they deserve it or not, sometimes get a really bad reputation. It's easy to see why , when some dietiers buy all the so called "low carb" products they  find in attempt to live the life they always had. That's pretty much  is the opposite of a  lifestyle change.  At the same time, there are some good ones out there, that I think fit in really well to a low carb diet, as long as you're not against artificial sweeteners:

1.) Sugar Free Coffee Syrups:
Da  Vinci, Torani, ...
Continue reading ...

       If I feel like eating something  bad  for me, I  try  to either modify it by making it from low-carb  ingredients (swapping any potatoes or pasta  cauliflower, and sometimes cabbage or broccoli) or  find a substitute.  For instance Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds+ cinnamon  results in a  sweet snack that   replaces  donuts, cookies, and  my boss's  SCARY cinnamon rolls!
        I'm also trying to replace some of the low-carb foods that, while  being OK with my  diet, don't contribute anythi...
Continue reading ...

My family has a combination of rule and private joke - the "no tchotchke rule". Meaning no useless cutsey bric-a brac that collects dust and shelf space. We're a bunch of hopeless markdown table, garage sale, and thrift shop addicts,so we had to enact it to keep from wasting money and hoarding more junk then we have space for, and It's worked very well. For one of us to be "alllowed" to buy an item, no matter how cheap/free it is, we have to answer the following questions:

1. Do we need i...