I did it

Well….I made) it, the whole 21 days and I feel really glad… it’s over! 🙂 In the end I lost 7 inches total; I want to say at least 10 pounds. I find it hard to believe I actually made it, there were times when I thought I could not do it, even before I really started it, I was convincing myself that I couldn’t do it, it was way to hard for me. This is the one thing that I am the most proud of, I did it, I started, I continued and I made it to the finish line. On Thursday at work I wore the pants that were my gauge in the past, those pants would let me know if all the working out and the “eating right” I was doing was working. Well they fit me great and I was happy. I have been wearing the pants all along thinking the were “fine” when they were way to tight, that was the validation I was looking for.

The last phase of the diet required drinking two shakes a day and only eating lunch. I found that to be the worst part of this process, I don’t do shakes and I really don’t like for them to be my meal. I only drank the same kind of the shakes Dr. Gottfrieds shared because I bought all the ingredients and I didn’t want to waste them. Chia seeds; Now I have heard of them, the people at my office have a bag full of them they add to their shakes. Dr. Gottfrieds recipe calls for the chia seeds to be soaked overnight before you use them, which I did. Once these little buggers are soaked the start to look like frog eggs to me, and I wanted to vomit when I saw this. I put them in my first shake, because I am a rule and recipe follower, and all I thought of the whole time was that any minute I was going to feel those slimy things go down my throat, it was very unpleasant. Needless to say, I never put those in again! I just couldn’t. It was bad enough to have to drink the stuff, I didn’t want to keep imagining there were little frogs growing in my belly. 😦

This diet requires a re entry period, during this time you are to add one of the foods you took out, one at a time. Well…on the 22nd day I decided to add three all at once, fruit, red meat and sugar. I went through the grocery store looking for some kind of ice cream that had the lowest amount of sugar, that was hard. I found one that was low in carbs also and I had that one for dessert. In the past few weeks of having no sugar, after I ate dinner I was never hungry, I ate the right amounts of veggies with my protein so those items filled me up. What I noticed after I ate my treat, at about 8:30 or so, that when 10:15 rolled around I was hungry again, that worried me. The next morning while I was at the store, all the cakes and cookies around the store I felt were literally, calling my name. It was awful, I knew that there wasn’t a single thing out there that had less than 10 grams of sugar in it, yet that is all I wanted. So clearly, sugar is the issue with me. So that is something I am going to need to watch, because if my cravings are that bad, I can just imagine how much I would eat if I were to just say, hey, why not, I can have the whole pound cake over there, I will add strawberries and that will make it all fine and dandy. It won’t, it would help me justify eating the whole cake, but it will not make it a better choice. My choices have changed for the better I believe and I think I can keep up these habits.

Because I was only drinking shakes 3 days during the week, I did not work out as much as I normally do . My energy level was very low, so I couldn’t get myself out the door. I did nothing on Saturday and Sunday, well working out wise, I did house work of course, but nothing more strenuous. I walked in the morning twice, did a 7 minute work out once and yoga. That is all I did all week. Yoga was, by far the best practice for me in a very long time. I posed the poop out of pigeon and that is super hard for me.

I learned a lot from the diet. It has been 4 days as I write this that I have been eating without the constraints of the diet. I have developed some good habits, I don’t wait till I get to work to eat my breakfast I make time in the morning to make eggs. I had cottage cheese and berries on Wed at work and they didn’t keep me as full as the eggs, so I went back to them. Truth be told, I am tired of eggs, I am craving bread, pancakes and waffles, even cereal would do right now, but I am being good. Some day when things are calm I will look up different things I can eat in the morning.

Quite the week for me, started out weak and ended up being much stronger. I really tested my self on Saturday when I went to a country concert with my bestie, she is a fellow blogger and as soon as we have our “Blog Party” I will be able to share her blog info for you to view if you would like. There was beer, carnival food, all kinds of temptations and we only had water. It was an outdoor concert we decided to attend at the last minute and we had the best time. After the concert, the rest of the shake days got harder, then I had to put my big girl panties on and deal with my husband getting sick, my son having to have his four wisdom teeth removed at once on an emergency basis. So I was very happy when the weekend, and a long one at that, was finally here.

I am planning a vacation by myself at the end of the month. I had originally planned on taking my daughter for her 20th birthday, but she got a job and can’t go, so now I am making the journey alone. First stop my parents house and the beach for 2 days, then off to Atlanta to mow my little sisters lawn. Why you ask? Because I love mowing the lawn, it relaxes me. I am able to take the large piece of land, start it and finish it and that brings me peace. I hope my sister can get a day or two off to go with me to Nashville, that will news to her, but I have been wanting to go there for a few years and I actually attempted it over 10 years ago, but we turned around when we were invaded by ticks while we walked through a Civil War trail. But we did see Rock City and who doesn’t want to See Rock City??? I will be a little bit lonely, but not to bad. I will end my trip back at the beach with Mom and Poppy and I think I will have a wonderful time. I can hardly wait!

My recipe this week is not healthy but as easy as they said it would be to make. In fact I am making it while I am writing this blog. My oldest daughter is having a 4th of July party tomorrow so I decided to make this. Follow all the ingredients right to the tee, not like me who thought I bought key lime juice and it is actually lemon juice, so these green cookie bars I will serve are going to taste l like lemon. Typical me, I always mess something up, but most times, it turns out amazing;

Almond Key Lime Bars

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 3 tbsps. sliced almonds, toasted*
3/4 cup Pillsbury BEST™ All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup key lime juice or regular lime juice
3 large egg yolks, beaten
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
3 drops green food coloring, if desired

WHIPPED TOPPING (optional)

1 cup (1/2 pt.) heavy cream
4 ounces mascarpone cheese or cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preparation Directions

HEAT oven to 350°F. Line a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with foil.
CHOP finely 1/2 cup almonds. Combine chopped almonds, flour, powdered sugar, almond extract and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is the size of peas. Press in bottom of prepared pan. Press remaining 3 tablespoons sliced almonds into crust mixture.
BAKE 20 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool.
REDUCE oven temperature to 325°F. Combine sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, egg yolks, lime peel and food coloring, if desired, in large bowl. Beat until smooth. Pour over crust.
BAKE 20 minutes or until center is set. Cool 2 hours. Cut into bars. Decorate with Whipped Topping.

WHIPPED TOPPING

BEAT cream, cheese and sugar in small bowl until smooth and stiff peaks form. Top each bar with cream mixture using a pastry bag or spoon.
TIP *To toast almonds: Place almonds in dry nonstick skillet; cook over medium heat, shaking pan until nuts are lightly browned.
TIP For a thicker bar, double cookie bar ingredients; proceed as above.

That is all for this week I am a very happy camper, happy with myself, happy with my body, happy in life. I wish happiness on you this week. I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!