Category: Health and Vanity

My Girls’ Night Out (While All My Friends Were Drunk Off Their Asses and I was Stone Cold Sober)

charleneaross7 Comments

Last Friday night, when I was nearing the end of my second week of the Biggest Loser-style weight loss competition Just Lose It program at my gym, I was invited to my friend’s beach house for a girls’ night slumber party.

At first I thankfully declined the invitation.

I mean, I couldn’t drink. And trust me, I’ve given myself plenty of pep talks before walking into a social gathering about how I’m not going to drink because I am trying to lose weight, only to find a glass of wine in my hand 30 seconds after walking in the door.

And party food is my biggest weakness. (If we’re ever at the same party and you want to find me, just head over to the food table where you’ll most likely find me face first hoovering as many hors devours as I possibly can into my cheese hole.)

meat-and-cheese-platter
This photo was taken at the Wine Sisterhood Gathering in March. Right before I stuck my face in it.

 

But we had nothing going on at home. And if I’m going to be successful beyond this program I’m going to have to learn how to rein it in and live my life in (a little bit of) moderation.

So I put on my big-girl no-drinking panties and went to the beach house.

Of course I got shit from my friends 30 seconds after walking in the door. I told them if they tried to make me drink I would leave. So they shut the hell up.

I have to be honest, if this Just Lose It program was an individual competition as opposed to a team competition, I would have ended up drinking. My drunk friends were acting like assholes, but I really don’t think I would have noticed (or cared) if I was drunk and acting like an asshole too. Screw proving something to myself. I disappoint myself all the time. I’m used to it. But I had a weigh-in in three days. I needed to stay strong and not disappoint my team.

I did have fun, but trust me, they were having more. Seriously, not to be offensive, but if this is what it’s like to be “high on life,” pass me a bottle of vodka so I can take a big ol’ swig. Being high on booze? It’s better.

Speaking of “high,”, the high point of the night was the food. At least for me. (No surprise there.) While there was fatty delicious crap dip (I only had two bites. With corn chips. Not bread.), the dinner itself was incredibly healthy. We grilled Salmon and chicken and fresh vegetables picked from one girlfriend’s garden. Plus we had cherries. Because my nutritionist says I need carbs. Amazing.

Grilled-summer-vegetables
Yes, we know how to make a meal!

After dinner we pumped up the 80’s iTunes and danced. If you are a man reading this, and are anything like my husband, I will tell you just like I told him that seven women dancing in the living room of a beach house does not mean we were just one drink away from having a big lesbian orgy right in the middle of the hardwood floor. Sorry to disappoint you, dudes. It just means that dancing is fun. And girls just wanna have fun. (Yeah, that was lame, but I couldn’t resist.)

Around eleven o’clock (which is about an hour and a half past my bedtime) we decided to walk to the dive bar down the street, that due to previous trips to the beach house has been nicknamed “The Hurt Locker” by my husband.

And this, is where things got a little bit nutty.

I can’t really tell you what happened at The Hurt Locker because it’s a little like Vegas that way. But here are some things that might or might not have happened. (I can neither confirm nor deny them.)

There might have been a two-man band there (singer and guitar player) with a guitar player who only seemed to know one riff and therefore every song sounded exactly the same. If there was such a band, the mystery remains how in the hell the singer even knew what song the guitarist was playing.

One of the girls might have chatted up a few of the locals to get free beer. I won’t lie, I like free beer and attention from the opposite sex too, but at this place? Not worth the $5 savings.

One of the girls might have had everyone in the entire bar dancing because of her hilarious dance moves and vivacious personality. She’s very pretty, but her confidence and funny demeanor translated into her being sexiest broad in the joint (by far). Her goal may have been to make sure every single person at the bar was having a good time. (If that did happen and that was her goal, she achieved it.)

The girl chatting up locals for free beer might not have liked not being the belle of the bar and might have told some of the patrons that the dancing girl was a lesbian. Or perhaps she was trying to protect the dancing girl from unwanted molesters suitors. You know, if she did say that, which I’m not saying she did.

But I will tell you that the dancing girl might be is funnier and cuter than me, so while I wasn’t the one calling her a lesbian in an effort to minimize the attention being paid to her, she might have deserved it! (I’m just sayin’)

One of the girls might have flirted with a cute boy who is the same age as her son – 21. (And people call me a cougar.)

But I’m only saying those things might have happened. I’ll never tell. And if they did… well, my friends were just having fun. Drunk girls do silly things. I was sober, so of course my behavior was boring perfect.

But I will tell you this, it’s a good thing I’m seeing some real progress with this Just Lose It program, because I had fun, but my girlfriends? They had a blast!

Just Lose It: What It’s Really Like to Join a Six-Week Weight Loss Competition (Week 2)

charleneaross5 Comments

I’ve completed Week 2 of my “Biggest Loser-style” Just Lose It program at Stevenson Fitness, but I’m sure what everyone really wants to know is how much weight I lost from Week 1. (What, you mean you haven’t been curiously obsessing over it all week? Whatever. I’ll tell you anyway.)

After my first week I lost 5.8 pounds. Yes, I am awesome. Or just fat. Either way…  I have to admit I was pretty happy with the results.

As a team we lost 14.4 pounds – an average of 2.5% per person. Our team is in 2nd place – the first place team lost 38.4 pounds total (wow!) and an average of 3.9% per person. Obviously they are cheating. Plus there are five of them and only four of us, so there! (But I have faith. Our team will pull ahead and be the biggest losers – you’ll see.)

Biggest-Loser-Style-Weight-Loss-Team
Trainer Safia (middle) hanging with Phil and his Pink Bitches

After our weigh-in last week we had a meeting with our nutritionist, Holly, who went over our food diary. (Yes, we have to keep a diary and write down everything we eat and at what time. And I mean everything.)

Holly said I’ve done very good on my diet (um hello, see weight loss above), but I’m not eating enough carbs. And by carbs she does not mean yummy bread, pasta or French fries. She means brown rice, the smallest portion of (non-French-fried) potatoes you’ve ever seen, or fruit. (Yawn.)

She explained that while the lack of carbs could be part of the reason I lost almost six pounds in a week, in the long run it’s not going to serve me well. I’ll become cranky and irritable and more likely to binge.

If you want to know the truth I think that’s a little rude. She doesn’t even know me. How does she know whether or not I’m cranky and irritable? Maybe that’s just my personality. And maybe I lost 5.8 pounds because I did not cheat on my diet (which is not a diet, but a lifestyle change -ugh!) even once and because bad mean Phil (quite literally) worked my ass off! Lack of carbs is making me cranky – Pffft! I might hate Holly too.

Um… anyway…

I found Week 2 to be a bit more challenging diet-wise. I mean, how much freaking chicken can one person eat? I swear if I see one more piece of chicken on my plate I’m going to kill it. Oh wait, it’s already dead. Well, I’m going to… to… I don’t know, I’m going to anything but eat it is what I’m going to do.

Chicken with black beans
Chicken with black beans and corn. (You see that Holly – plenty of carbs!)

And if I’m honest (and sadly I always am), I will admit that the over-eating of chicken is my fault and not rude Holly’s. I can eat beef or pork or fish, but I don’t really like to eat too much red meat. (Okay, that’s a lie. I could eat red meat every day, possibly every meal, and be happy as a Survivor contestant after winning a food-reward challenge, but I’m pretty sure that’s not really good for you.)

But my family is fairly picky and doesn’t really like pork (unless it’s Easter ham or bacon) and my daughter won’t eat fish. So, we eat a lot of chicken. But these past two weeks we’ve eaten even more than usual in replacement of the quesadilla/pasta/grilled cheese gourmet meals that I usually rely on presenting to my family a few times a week. Even my husband who never complains about what I serve for dinner gently suggested we might have something else.

And then I snapped at him. And not because I didn’t eat any carbs. I mean I had 12 cherries that day. I think.

Also during Week 2 I’m sad to admit that I cheated and went wine tasting. But it wasn’t my fault. My friend bought a Groupon for SIP and it was about to expire. And friends don’t let friends let wine-tasting-Groupons expire.

I did talk to Holly about it beforehand and she told me to treat wine as my carb and to be sure to balance it out with a protein. (Wine as my carb? I might like this Holly afterall!) So I brought some cheese. Except that you can’t bring food to SIP so I had to sneak it in my purse.

wine-and-cheese
Some people sneak wine where they’re not supposed to – I sneak food!

I enjoyed wine tasting very much. (Like you wouldn’t believe.)

wine-glow
See how wine makes me glow? Or perhaps I’m cleverly minimizing my wrinkles with a filter. At least one of those statements is true.

I also enjoyed flirting with our cute 24-year-old wine pourer, Austin. (And yes, I am familiar with the term sommelier, but are cute 24-year-olds who work at wine tasting rooms considered sommeliers? I don’t think so. Let’s just go with wine pourer.) And I think my 5.8 pound one week weight loss gave me a confidence that translated to hotness because my boyfriend Austin did not bust me on the cheese.

cute-wine-bar-guy
In my mind Austin’s red eyes are only for me.

And then we went to Ladyface for a late light dinner where I enjoyed their Salade Niçoise and a club soda with a splash of cranberry. And do you know who showed up 20 minutes later and sat right next to us at the bar? Austin! (5.8 pound weigh loss = confidence = cute boys following you.)

The fact that we didn’t tell him we were headed to Ladyface and he left after about 10 minutes when his friend showed up is really none of your business.

Yes, I enjoyed my cheater wine tasting evening very much.

Do you know what I did not enjoy? That night I slept like crap. And the next day I felt like crap. Following Rude Holly and Mean Phil’s program had my body so detoxed and clean that drinking wine made me feel crappy. And feeling crappy makes me crabby. And wine was my carb. So obviously Holly does not know what she’s talking about when she says lack of carbs will make me crabby because it turns out that it’s carbs that make me crabby.

At least program-cheating-wine-carbs.

Sh*t.

I do not like that. Not one little bit.

Check out my post on Thursday to find out about my girls’ night at my friend’s beach house with my six drunk-ass friends and sober-wine-carb-free me. (Yeah, that happened.) And check back next Monday to continue on my “Biggest Loser-style” Just Lose It weight loss journey.

 

Just Lose It: What It’s Really Like to Join a Six-Week Weight Loss Competition (Week 1)

charleneaross14 Comments

Have you ever looked at someone and thought to yourself, Yeah, I’d look great too If I had a personal trainer and a nutritionist like she does? (Or he does. If you’re a dude. Or want to look like one.)

I have. (Like all the time.)

So decided to approach the manager of my gym to see what she thought about me participating in their “Just Lose It” six week weight loss competition and writing a blog series about it. She thought it was a great idea. Of course I did too. Not only will I participate in a group and individual weight loss challenge complete with a personal trainer and nutritionist (and therefore look amazing), I will have interesting and informative blog material for the next six weeks. (Win, win!) The program includes two weekly team workouts with a trainer and one weekly team meeting with a nutritionist.

Six-week-weight-loss
I’m totally going to look like her when I’m done!

Sounds awesome right?

Well, if your definition of awesome is stepping your fat ass on a scale at night while wearing tennis shoes in front of a really cute boy trainer, then having another cute boy trainer measure your body fat, and then having your body measurements taken (at least that was done by a woman), then yeah, it’s pretty awesome.

And no you do not get to know what my numbers are. At least not yet. (Nosy!)

But here’s a couple of “before” pictures of me (if you click on it it will get bigger):

Before-weight-loss-photo
Feel free to snicker!

After the shock and humiliation of learning my stats I sat down with the other participants to have the basics of the program explained to us:

This is a challenge where three small teams (two five-person and one four-person) will be competing to see which team loses the most inches, body fat and pounds. There will also be an individual “Biggest Loser” (hence winner) at the end of the competition. (The loss totals are done as a percentage to compensate for the fact that one team only has four members and because of the whole “men lose weight faster than women” thing.)

We will meet with our trainer twice a week and the nutritionist once a week. We also have to do one additional strength training session as a team designed by our trainer, but without our trainer present. And we have to do three weekly cardio sessions (again designed by our trainer) that last 30 – 60 minutes.

Uh… I thought this thing was only twice a week.

Nope. It turns out if you want to look like “those people” (you know, the skinny, in shape, fit people) you have to workout like they do.

Sigh…

But still. It sounds pretty easy to me. Well, maybe not easy, but at least doable. I mean, I workout all the time. On good weeks I hit the gym five to six times and on bad weeks I get there at least two or three.

And I eat healthfully. Ish.

Really, how hard can this challenge be?

Well, considering the fact that I’ve been unable to drop any significant weight for the last year and a half and the people who stick to this program drop a ton of weight in just six weeks (one woman I talked to lost over 20 pounds!) the answer, my poor tired aching body is finding out, is pretty freaking hard.

In the first place, there is no drinking alcohol. What?! Bu…bu…but… it’s summertime! Time for delicious margaritas. Yummy sangria. Refreshing lemonade and vodka. Crisp Pinot Grigio. Fruity Sauvignon Blanc. Buttery Chardonnay. (There may not be any wine for the next six weeks, but trust me – there will be plenty of whining!)

The diet is healthy,but strict. At least the food is plentiful (it had better be with all the working out we’re doing). I have to eat four times a day (every four hours) with a very regimented protein/healthy-carb/fat ratio. Nothing that contains flour may be consumed for the first two weeks.  So my two to three times a week “Oh-crap-it’s-six-o’clock-I-forgot-to-pull-something-out-of-the-freezer-what-are-we-going-to-have-for-dinner-how-about pasta/quesadilla/grilled cheese?” dinner plan just got thrown out the window. (Shit!) I can have potatoes. But not the (French) fried variety that I prefer.

And I’m sure it goes without saying no sugar. But honestly, I’d rather have a French fry. (Or wine.)

Day One

My trainer’s name is Phil. I hate Phil. And not because he was the cute boy trainer who took my fat measurement. (Bastard!)

I hate Phil because of what he is making me and my team members do to win this contest. Which is, you know, workout.

Hard.

Really really hard.

He made me say the F word. (But only once.) I’d tell you our workout routine, but I don’t want the other trainers getting wind of the awesomeness terribleness of Phil and copying any of our workouts. Because my team -The Pink Bitches- we’re going to win this competition. (Believe it!)

Day Two

Phil told us we could rest today. But I took my dog on a 2 mile walk, did a 4 minute Tabata Training (yes, only 4 minutes, but trust me they are 4 intense minutes) and called myself awesome.

Day Three

Workout #2 with Phil. Phil made us run. I hate running. And sprint. And since sprinting is doing something I hate really, really fast, I hate sprinting even more. (Have I mentioned that I hate Phil?) He made me say the F word again. And not just once.

Then Phil made us do no less than 400 reps of various core exercises. I wish I was exaggerating.

And lucky us, there was even time for upper body weight lifting. (Yay!)

At the end of the workout, Phil was nice enough to help stretch me out. I (almost) felt bad for him because I think I smelled pretty bad gross, so I have to give him credit for coming within two inches of me. the stretching felt great – in an ouchy-hurts-so-good kind of way. I started to like Phil. (A little.)

Day Four

The four of us took Deena’s 5:30 AM kickboxing class. (Phil made us do it.) I workout at 5:30 AM all the time, but I was so sore that there is no way in hell I would have gone if the other Pink Bitches weren’t there counting on me. (Turns out accountability works.)

And Deena? She is so freaking perky in the morning I want to punch her I love her. Her class was great, but I was dying. D-Y-I-N-G!

Day Five

The Pink Bitches met again at 5:30 AM for a weight training session developed by Phil. We thought it would take an hour. It took an hour and a half. I might not be the only one who hates Phil.

Day Six

Rest day. I love Phil.

Day Seven

Cardio Day. Fifteen minutes stair climber (think going the wrong way up an escalator – for 15 minutes!), fifteen minutes on the recumbent bike, fifteen minutes on the ellyptical. All at high levels and a fast pace.

Every muscle inside my body hurts. My eyelashes hurt.

I really hate Phil.

Check back next week to see how much weight I lost the first week.

 

This is What Happens When You Call Someone Out in a Blog

charleneaross3 Comments

Two weeks ago I wrote a blog about my birthday weekend and mentioned that I refused to get on stage during kickboxing because I didn’t like the way my ass looked in the workout pants I was wearing. I might have made a smart-allecky remark about Chris Stevenson not picking me up and placing me on stage against my will (as he is known to do) for fear of hurting his back (due to the size of my ass). I was trying to be self-deprecating, but Chris took it to mean that I was challenging his manhood and calling him old (which I would never do because he is at least 10 years younger than me and that would make me… nevermind)!

Stevenson Fitness.Group-X-Slide-21
Kick it Chris!

This past Saturday he motioned me up again. I did not want to go.

As much as I enjoy being the center of attention (what – a blogger that likes attention?!) kickboxing is a place I prefer to remain anonymous. I’m not very graceful and my kicks aren’t very high. I have to stop a lot to wipe off the incredible amount of sweat that is pouring down my face (I hate sweat on my face) and take a lot of water breaks. And of course the woman he had pulled onstage already was gorgeous and about two inches taller and 20 30 pounds skinnier than I am. That’s always fun to stand right next to. In front of everybody.

And saying my workout look is not my best look would be an understatement. Even before the sweat. I pull my hair into a messy ponytail that just looks sloppy instead of a messy ponytail that looks cute like other women seem to be able to achieve. And I hate the way I look without bangs, but I pull them back in a bobby pin and expose my gray roots and in-desperate-need-of-some-Botox forehead to the universe because the only thing worse than sweat on your face is wet sweaty bangs on your face.

And I wear baggy black yoga pants from Costco and drab deteriorating tank tops from Old Navy instead of the brightly colored Lululemon outfits that 90% of the other women at my gym tend to wear.

And don’t get me started on the sorry state of my middle age arms. Ugh.

But it was 95 degrees outside (at 9:30 AM) and when you are in a kickboxing class with 50 other people it gets really, really hot no matter how high you turn on the air in studio. It looked like I might be able to breathe a little bit better on stage. (And who knows, maybe my batwing triceps would be useful and actually fan the people standing behind me.)

And as lame as my kickboxing skills are (and for someone whose been kickboxing for about 14 years they’re pretty lame) – nobody really watches you when you’re on stage; they’re too busy watching themselves in the mirror. (Or is that just me?!) I couldn’t even tell you who was pulled up for the class I took three days before. (Except that she was probably skinny with a cute-messy ponytail and Lululemon clothes.)

So when Chris motioned me up to the stage this time I rolled my eyes and walked up there. I mean, I was afraid if I didn’t he might try picking me up, throw out his back and feel unmanly. And I didn’t want him feeling unmanly.

And you know what? I think I kind of rocked it.

Stevenson-Fitness-stage
Rockin’ the stage at Stevenson Fitness

*Photo of Chris Stevenson on stage courtesy of www.stevensonfitness.com

Invisalign – The Invisible Braces

charleneaross5 Comments

A few weeks ago I was invited to attend a blogging workshop sponsored by Invisalign. Free food and drinks at a swanky hotel, mingling with other FAB bloggers, learning some awesome blogging tips, the opportunity to find out about a great product and write a sponsored post? Oh yes, Yes, please!

blogger-buffet
Delish!

As far as braces go, I was lucky. I was blessed with straight teeth and never had to wear them. (Of course I received the curse of having more cavities than I can count no matter how much I brushed -and I brushed a lot- but that’s another story.)

My son – not so lucky. When he was around seven or eight years old we were told that he would definitely be needing braces. For more than half of his middle school years and the first few months of high school my son’s smile looked like this:

traditional-metal-braces
Say cheese!

His teeth look fabulous now. He has a beautiful smile. But when he had braces he was in pain every time they were tightened and did not like having restrictions placed on what he could eat. (And I was not such a fan of cutting corn off the cob in the summertime.) At Halloween he would end up giving almost half of his candy to his sister. He was a good sport, but not a very happy camper.

I think he would have been a much happier camper (and I could have left the corn on the cob) if Invisalign had been an option for him when he got his braces.

Invisalign has been around since 1999 and started their Invisalign Teen line four years ago, just about the time Chandler was getting his braces. His orthodontist uses Invisalign now, but I don’t think he did back then. And don’t worry that Invisalign is too new and not tested out – there are more than 2 million Invisalign cases in treatment or completed worldwide.

Invisalign uses a series of practically invisible removable aligners that gradually move teeth over time. The aligners are changed every two weeks. This means you don’t wear them when you eat or brush your teeth. And there is an indicator that changes color so Invisalign wearers know when to switch to the next set and  alerts the orthodontist as to whether or not the wearer has been wearing them for as many hours a day (20 – 22) as they’re supposed to. (Pretty tricky!)

invisalign
They’re practically invisible!

Does Invisalign really work?  After hearing from the brand reps, a certified orthodontist, and 2 teenagers who have used Invisalign (and their parents), I’m convinced that it does.

If your child has crooked teeth, an overbite, underbite, gapped teeth or various other dental problems, Invisalign might be an excellent alternative to traditional metal braces.

Sounds fantastic right? But how much are these invisible braces going to cost? Amazingly enough, about the same as regular braces. The range is from $3,500 to $8,000, with the national average being around $5,000. (I paid about $5,500 for my son’s traditional braces.)

To be honest, after the presentation I found myself thinking that Invisalign might be perfect for my husband. He really should have had braces as a child but didn’t. I think he’d be even cuter if his bottom teeth were straighter. (And he’s pretty cute!)

Did you know Invisalign was a clear alternative to braces? What do you think about them?

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Cabbage Soup Diet: The Day After

charleneaross11 Comments

It’s the day after the Cabbage Soup Diet and you know exactly what I did, don’t you? I did this:

Morning coffee
Hello precious!

That’s right! Coffee! (Can you hear the angels singing? Trust me – the did!) But I only had one cup instead of my usual two, so you’d better believe I savored every sip.

I re-lost that pound and a half that jumped back on me after my one cheat, making my total weight loss six pounds. Six pounds in seven days? I’ll take it! And I know, I know, now the trick is to keep it off.

I really do think I can do that. Like I said on Day Five of the Cabbage Soup Diet, I really noticed all the little things I was eating throughout the day that add up. Today I only had one cup of coffee instead of two. I never really enjoy that second cup of coffee as much as the first, so instead of having a second I switched to green tea.

At lunch I usually have half a sandwich and tortilla chips. (Followed by a second serving of tortilla chips.) Today I had half a sandwich and a cup of tomato and roasted red pepper soup from Trader Joe’s. (YUM!)

We had pasta for dinner, but I only had half a cup and put it in a bowl with a heaping serving of broccoli and marinara sauce. (And just a teaspoon of olive oil on the broccoli – it was delicious.) I didn’t put blue cheese crumbles in my salad and ate my salad with lemon instead of salad dressing. (I think I will usually eat salad dressing instead of lemon on my salad, but since I am going to not one, but two Thanksgiving dinners this week, I figure I’ll save my calories where I can.) Also, I had water with dinner instead of wine. Shockingly enough, after a week on the Cabbage Soup Diet, I got used to having water for dinner and kind of lost my craving for wine. Again, I’m not giving up wine with dinner forever, but don’t think I’ll have it this week until my Thanksgiving food orgies on Thursday and Saturday.

I won’t lie, last week wasn’t fun. Sometimes it was even rather hellish. But I do feel lighter. My stomach is flatter. My pants fit better. I’m happy with the results. But would I do the Cabbage Soup Diet again? I hope I never have to.

Today my Yogi Green Tea fortune said this:

Yogi Green Tea Fortune
You’re beautiful!

But I’m not sure if it was talking to me or that glorious cup of coffee.

By the way, in case you missed it, here is the complete diary: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five, Day Six, Day Seven

Cabbage Soup Diet Diary: Day Seven

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Hazzah! Day Seven of the Cabbage Soup Diet! Do you know what that means? It means tomorrow I get coffee!

First the bad news. I gained back a pound and a half from my dinner-with-friends-cheat so now my net weight loss is 5 pounds. I know that’s still really good for six days, but I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t bummed. However, I believe in living life to the fullest, and I’ll take a pound and a half hit in exchange for a fun evening with good friends any day. I just know that today I have to be really careful.

And I will also confess that I’m a bit scared – today is brown rice and vegetables. The dreaded carbs! I’ve done this Cabbage Soup Diet before and gained back weight from Day Seven. But I think that perhaps I was a little lax on Day Seven in the past and also probably dipped a little too much into the rice. Cabbage Soup Diet Tip #7: Don’t stick your face into that bowl of rice. Try to eat more vegetables than rice. Also, ignore Diet Tip #3 – stop being lazy!

Yes, if you haven’t started working out again, today is a great day to start. Today I took my dog on a two mile walk first thing in the morning, came home and had some brown rice, butternut squash and spinach for breakfast, went to the gym and worked out on the treadmill for 40 minutes, came home and had lunch (the same thing I had for breakfast) and then before dinner I took my dog for another walk. (Only a little over a mile this time.) That may be a little extreme, but I wanted to be sure to walk off that cheat dinner and make sure the brown rice didn’t stick.

Cabbage Soup Diet Brown Rice and Vegetables
Breakfast (and lunch) of (Diet) Champions

For dinner I made Mandarin Orange Chicken from Trader Joe’s (a staple in our household) with broccoli and brown rice. Of course I didn’t eat the chicken. I also realized that I hadn’t had any soup today and ate the last of the soup. (Thank god!)

Today I felt really great. Working out made me hungry, but not famished. I had all of my energy back – which admittedly at my age is marginal at best. But I was able to tidy up the house, clean both bathrooms and do three loads of laundry and I didn’t need a nap. (You are jealous of my rock star life aren’t you?)

Be sure to check in tomorrow when I give a Cabbage Soup Diet recap and let you know my total weight loss. (And thanks so much for reading about my crazy crash diet ride!)

Cabbage Soup Diet Diary: Day Six

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Cabbage Soup Diet Diary Day Six: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: I lost another pound from meat day and have lost a total of six pounds –6 pounds!- in just 5 days. Hooray!

The Bad: Still hard to sleep. I’m hoping it will go away after this Cabbage Soup Diet is over. It’s weird though, I really did think it would stop after adding protein. (Maybe it really is the fat melting away!)

The Ugly: I cheated.

Sigh… I didn’t want to, but we had plans for dinner at some friends’ house, so I didn’t really have much of a choice. Cabbage Soup Diet Tip #6: DO NOT SOCIALIZE while on this diet. It is impossible to stay on it if you do. I don’t think it would have been the best manners for me to call my hostess and ask her to only serve beef and plain vegetables at her dinner party. And I couldn’t postpone because these are friends that we haven’t seen for years and this was the only date that would work.

I didn’t do too badly. Of course I should have turned down the champagne that was offered to me. But I felt like celebrating. Once we got there we realized that we hadn’t gotten together for dinner in almost ten years! (That’s what happens when you keep in touch via email and run into each other at the soccer fields and grocery stores – you feel like you actually see each other.) So I had a few glasses of champagne (champagne flutes are small) before dinner and a glass and a half of red wine at dinner. (Yeah, yeah, I know, mixing red wine and champagne – not the smartest choice!) For dinner I had Asian barbecued beef (yay!), vegetables stir fried in soy sauce and a sweet chili sauce (okay, close) and some rice noodles (I should have skipped that, but it was just a small serving). I brought a lemon cake for desert and had one very small bite and my girlfriend had a flourless chocolate cake and I had one teeny tiny bite (even though I really wanted more). That’s it. Like I said – not too bad. But I am afraid to get on the scale tomorrow and see if I’ve gained.

I knew I’d end up cheating, so I actually went to the gym in the morning. I know that one of my diet tips was to be lazy, but since I’ve added meat back into my diet I have more energy and knew I could handle a trip to the gym. It actually felt great to be there, but when I got back I was really hungry and probably ate more beef than I should have. Especially since I knew I’d be going out to our friends’ for dinner.

Oh well.

Tomorrow is the last day. Thank god!

Cabbage Soup Diet Diary: Day Five

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Cabbage Soup Diet Diary Day Five – first the good news: Hello Meat! Now the bad news. I only lost half a pound on banana day. I know, I know, that’s still a lot and I’ve lost 5 pounds in only four days. But I always want more! More, More, MORE! (Usually more food!)

But Cabbage Soup Diet Day Five – Meat Day! Meat Day! How I adore you Meat Day!

This is what I had for breakfast:

Cabbage Soup Diet Day Five Beef
Even better than a baked potato!

Roast beef rolls with horseradish (horseradish as zero calories so I don’t think that’s cheating) and tomatoes. Delish! I didn’t need to eat again until lunch. For lunch I had a bowl of soup and a couple more roast beef rolls.

After lunch I went out and ran a bunch of errands and was gone for five hours. This was the first time this week I’ve gone five hours straight (except when I was sleeping) without food. And I wasn’t hungry! The only problem was I left my water bottle at home and was really thirsty. Cabbage Soup Diet Tip #5: Drink lots of water. Especially on meat day. (And don’t forget your water bottle!)

Also the great thing about today was I got to eat the same dinner as my family for the first time in five days. That was nice. (I think they liked that too.) I barbecued hamburgers. Mine was six ounces! The bummer was I didn’t get to put cheese and mayonnaise on it like I usually do (probably has a lot to do with why I need to lose weight in the first place) but it was still delicious. I did put on Gulden’s brown mustard and dill pickles. I guess that technically counts as cheating – but we’re talking an extra 10 calories and no fat so I don’t care. (And no, I didn’t have a bun. I actually almost never have a bun when I eat hamburgers at home.)

I guess I also technically cheated as I made a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers when I was only supposed to be having tomatoes. But I figure if I’m supposed to eat the soup, which is all vegetables, I can have a salad. I did not put dressing on the salad – just squeezed some lemon juice on it. It was actually pretty good. We eat salad most nights with dinner. I always make my own balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing because it’s healthier and tastes better, but I might try the lemon trick a couple of times a week to keep the weight off. Of course I usually throw some blue cheese chunks in the salad too. Might have to also stop doing that. GRRR!

The strictness of this Cabbage Soup Diet has actually made me hyper aware of all the little things I usually eat throughout the day that I don’t think about. In the morning when I put cream cheese on Marley’s bagel I’ll scrape the excess cream cheese off the knife with my finger and lick it off my finger. (Mmmm… cream cheese!) When I put cheese on cheeseburgers, if I’ve cut  a little too much I’ll eat the extra. Yesterday a pretzel fell on the table when lunches were being packed and usually I’d just pop it in my mouth. These are all very small things, but they all add up. I’m going to try very hard to stop doing those things when this diet is (thankfully) over.

The achy pain is getting better, but it’s still there and it’s still difficult to get to sleep. I have a new theory though. I think it’s the fat just melting away. Hmmm… not likely, but to make myself feel better I think I’ll stick with that!

Just two more days to go. (And more meat on Day Six. Hooray!)

Cabbage Soup Diet Diary: Day Four

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Cabbage Soup Diet Diary Day Four – I made it over the hump.

The Good

I lost another pound and a half which puts my three day total at 4.5 pounds! Four and a half pounds in three days – that’s better than the flu. (And for the most part not quite as unpleasant!)

Also, today, for the first day I wasn’t really hungry. I woke up and had a banana milkshake made with two bananas, one cup of fat free milk, a little bit of cinnamon, a dash of vanilla, and some ice. Yum! I ate a banana around ten o’clock, the soup for lunch, another shake around three o’clock (which actually made me really full), and another bowl of soup for dinner. You can have up to eight bananas and as much milk as you want, but I only had four and a half bananas and two cups of milk.

Cabbage Soup Diet Day Four Banana Shake
Oh yes, my shake was overfloweth!

We did eat an early dinner so we could attend a high school concert and got home late and I will admit I was pretty hungry when I went to bed, but I didn’t want to eat a banana at ten o’clock at night so I just fell into bed and actually slept like a rock.

The Bad

I don’t really like bananas. Well, I should modify that – I don’t completely dislike them, I’m just very picky about them. If I’m going to have bananas in a shake I like them very ripe. They are much sweeter that way. If I’m just going to eat them, they need to be the perfect shade of just-a-little-bit green. Cabbage Soup Diet Tip#4: Buy your bananas so they’ll be at the ripeness you like on Day Four. (So if you do your shopping on Sunday to start the diet Monday and like very ripe bananas buy yellow ones instead of green ones. If you like green bananas shop just a day or two before.) In fact on Day Two I hid my ripe bananas so no one else would eat them. (Look, don’t mess with a cranky diet lady’s diet food!)

Cabbage Soup Diet Day Four Bananas
Shake bananas on the left and eating bananas on the right!

The Ugly

Remember that weird pain I talked about on Days Two and Three? Well, last night it came on with a vengeance! My lower back and legs were killing me. I could not sleep, I was in so much pain. My poor husband. I don’t know how he slept (but he’s a man, so he did) with all the tossing and turning I did. Even with three Advil and a Melatonin it took me forever to fall asleep on Night Three into Day Four. I do not know if it is due to lack of protein or my body detoxing, but I will tell you this – it hurt and I did not like it one bit. (BTW, if it was my body detoxing, my body must have been pretty “toxed”!)

I really do think the bananas and milk helped though, because I’m feeling much better today.

And tomorrow – tomorrow is meat day. Can you hear the angels sing? (I can and they are singing Hallelujah!) I have rare roast beef sitting in my fridge, waiting for me. (And you’d better believe I’m waiting for it. Hello Mr. Beef. Get in my belly!)