20th Aug 2010
This is what I will eat on Sunday, which is when I’ll start. After I go to the grocery (see grocery list and on-hand list in the previous blog) I will come home and bake the boneless skinless chicken breasts to use for lunch on Sunday and then store the rest in a gallon baggie for the rest of the week.
ALL recipes - even for the toast - are on this web site - just go to recipes and click. And the recipes list all the calories, fat, fiber and carbs
Breakfast - Cinnamon Toast
Lunch - Taco Chicken Salad
Dinner - Lasagna Ligera - HINT: Once you make this dish, it makes 12 portions, so you’ll freeze them for later. I’ll eat this again on Friday night so once this is made dinner is made for Friday too!
My snacks will fill out my calories for the day.
In my reading and research it is generally understood that women should never eat less than 1200 calories a day and men 1500 calories a day.
As you know I am NOT a nutritionist - this is just a suggestion of what to eat and it is how I eat everyday now. On this day the total calories will come to 830 which means I’ll have 370 left for snacks. If you’re a man you’ll have 670 calories left for snacks, which means if you’re really hungry at dinner you could have seconds of the Lasagna!
I usually eat at least one 100 calorie pac of popcorn a day, I’ll have some fruit in there somewhere and I might have a glass (4 oz = 100 calories) of red wine with my Lasagna.
This is day one.
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23rd Jun 2010
This is the most inspirational blog I have ever read. There is nothing she says here that I disagree with. Read and be inspired.
http://www.mystyle.com/mystyle/b5223_losing_feargaining_understanding.html
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17th Jun 2010
Life is all about victories - some small and some big. Just to wake up in the morning is a victory and I think it classifies as BIG!
Well, I had a victory today and I’m not sure if it was big, medium or small - but I’m still smiling about it. You see, the oil leak in the Gulf has the seafood industry and everyone who enjoys seafood very nervous about the status of getting fresh Gulf seafood in the future. The whole thing is a tragedy - just a tragedy. So sorry for so many who depend on that industry for their lively-hood and have for hundreds of years..
Not to be a pessimist, but I ordered 35 pounds of shrimp and crawfish tails last week from a place in Louisiana just to make sure I have some. Neil and I are going to the Gulf Coast for a family visit the end of July but who knows what kind of shape the Coast and the seafood industry will be in by then.
So I ordered some for us to have here in California. And sort of a way of supporting the industry, too, since people are afraid that it’s tainted now and sales may be off - which what I ordered is NOT.
I’m not a physically strong person. A few weeks ago I began lifting weights and realized I’m in such a state of weakness that I needed to step that up. I had been going to a gym for the past year but quit, trying to save the dues, so I began exercising at home and “yes” I am actually doing that 6 days a week now.
Ever since I placed the order for the seafood (I had them deliver it to my office at work) I kept thinking “Gosh 35 pounds of seafood. How will I ever get that to my car and more important how will I get it up the two flights of stairs to my condo refrigerator?” I have really been worried but thought maybe I can ask someone to help me.
So the cooler full of frozen seafood came today and as the FedEx guy sat it down and I signed for it the fear that I couldn’t lift it was all over me. So after the delivery guy left I walked over and pick it up. TO MY AMAZEMENT I COULD LIFT IT UP WITH EASE!!!!!! Don’t ever let any tell you that you won’t see results soon after you start exercising because I only started lifting weights a few weeks ago and I can lift this like it was ten pounds - not thirty-five.
This was amazing and I had to share! And because I am someone who doesn’t like to exercize, I can tell you that I will have the memory of this in the morning and many mornings to come to help me lift those weights ten more reps than what I normally do.
THIS IS A VICTORY - A HUGE VICTORY!!!!
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12th May 2010
After 4 years of having lost weight and the daily work of keeping it off - something happened today that is truly remarkable. I went on a bender but what I wanted to pig out on was not delicious and so after three bites - I quit eating. I had shut the door to my office (Sneaky Fat Kitty had come to visit) and was ready to hunker down and eat - and after three bites I quit.
My boss Dave Bell used to give away one pound boxes of dark chocolate with his logo on the block of chocolate for Christmas each year. He didn’t do it this past year but he had two boxes left from the year before and one box from two years ago. I went into his office to do something and I spied the one box that was 2 years old. Knowing that he’d never give two-year old chocolate to anyone I talked myself into thinking that this would be okay. That he’d never miss it. And Fat Kitty doesn’t care how old the chocolate is - I mean this is one pound of luscious dark chocolate. She’s never been picky before.
So I tore open the packaging and looked at it. There it was - a pound of chocolate. My mind was telling me that this was not a good thing to do but then I walked over to the door of my office and shut the door, like I’ve done a thousand times before - knowing that I’m about to do something I shouldn’t do.
I sat at my desk and tried to break off a piece to eat. It was too hard to break so I got a knife and after a minute of sawing I was able to get a chunk ready to eat. I chomped down and felt the chocolate in my mouth. It was - WHAT - tasteless????? What’s going on here. So I took another bite and ate it and then another and this was not going as I had hoped because the chocolate was AWFUL! Hard and tasteless and old. So I threw away the remaining part of the chunk and then threw away the remaining block - box and all.
This might sound like a bad thing, but I’m choosing to see it for what it is - a breakthrough for me. I have over-eaten most of my life - many times and a variety of foods - and it never matter if it was delicious or not. It was just food and I was eating it. This was tasteless - and so I stopped.
Maybe Fat Kitty finally got picky about food, or maybe my good sense kicked in. I don’t know. I only know that this was another example of how good habits can overtake bad ones if you give them half a chance.
There are two more bars of chocolate in Dave’s office from a year ago - but he should not give them to anyone. If Fat Kitty won’t eat them - no one should.
A blog is about being honest - so when I am doing things that I question I want to share them with you - in case you behave this way on occasion too. We are not bad people. We just want to eat. But hopefully by me telling you this story it will make you feel more comfortable with being honest with yourself. If I can tell you a story like this - you, only talking to you, can surely be honest with yourself.
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3rd Mar 2010
I can’t believe the new year is here and I didn’t even post a blog the whole entire month of February! YIKES! I’m behind!
A lot is going on - but that’s no excuse. I’ve been finishing my book and creating new recipes and I have a few more irons in the fire for TV appearances so who knows what will be up in 2010.
My friend and confidant (and fellow RFP) Carol T from Biloxi, MS sent me an email a couple of days ago about Mississippi and how overweight the state is. I then turned on the TV show RUBY that I recorded from last week and Ruby is going to Biloxi, MS to see if she can remember her childhood and maybe connect why she is so overweight. As Ruby travels through Mississippi she stops at various places to eat and at each stop she is hit with Southern Fried Comfort Food like no body’s business. I know all the dishes and how they smell and taste. BUT I now know how to cook them in a way that doesn’t make me gain all my weight back. Carol’s email was about how she and her husband had gone out to eat at one of the Casinos and she was the only normal weight person in the restaurant. Not surprising…
I don’t know how I can show people the way I cook but I’m determined to do it. I could cook for Ruby and she wouldn’t have had to say NO to everything on her trip to Mississippi. The South is so notorious for cooking with butter, sugar and for frying everything - and I mean if we could figure out a way to fry tap water I think we’d do it. I mean, back in the day I even fried my own potato chips.
There is a way to prepare food so you don’t have to live a life of NO. Let’s face it we can say no when people are around, but something takes over when it’s just me alone in my kitchen with my friend the refrigerator. Fat Kitty knows all my buttons to push.
Make sure, if this is you, that you have good choices around when that voice comes calling for you. Mississippi is number one in obesity, but it doesn’t have to be that way forever. I’m sorry we even have that as a statistic but every year that goes by, as the country gets fatter, we have more fat statistics. I was reading the other day about when portions started getting larger and it was 1970, when they first started to increase. No secret that was the same year we had an explosion of fast food joints. By 1976 obesity was on the rise. So, it’s not hard to put 2 and 2 together here. I was plump in 1970, but not fat until the late 1970’s so I fit right into this trend. I’m just another test rat the fast food industry is playing with. I got super sized portions and my body super sized along with it.
So, Carol if you’re reading this, I understand your concern, but as we both know you have to be ready to hear information before you can act on it. For years I turned a blind eye (and fork) to my weight and food issues. As I watch Rudy on her TV show try to find the answer to why she overeats I wonder if she’s ever considered this. Maybe she does, just because she does. Maybe there isn’t a dark horrible answer to why each of us stuffs our mouths full of food that is bad for us. Maybe we just do this like someone else who likes to paint with water colors. Maybe we just do because we just do. I have quit trying to find the answer because in all my searching it never helped me lose weight and keep it off. Accepting that maybe this is just a part of me (meaning my desire to overeat) that will never change has helped me more than any other single thing. It allowed me to create my recipes and enjoy them without guilt. NO guilt, that’s what I want. And I wish you the same happy life. If you never lose weight, you are beautiful - remember that. Simply beautiful.
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7th Dec 2009
This is the subject we talked about on the radioshow, “Seth and Kitty Weighing In” on WONA last Thursday and I felt it deserved a blog.
Should you or shouldn’t you even attempt this? I mean there are so many temptations around this time of year and a feeling of deprivation could take over easily if you start saying NO to everything. I know that I was always afraid of the Holidays. I knew what I was capable of regarding food, so as Halloween ended and I saw Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching - I would almost panic wondering what kind of mischief Fat Kitty would get me in to this year. She rarely let me down. So I’d come out on the other end of January ALWAYS heavier.
So is it a good idea to actually diet as the Holidays approach? That’s a question only you can answer but I do have some thoughts on what you can do.
I was always afraid of failure, so rather than all out diet during this time of year, maybe pick a few days each week that you know you’ll be strong on. I have already done that and mine are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. If you wonder why I didn’t put Wednesday in there, well this is because I know myself so well now - and I know that if I put too many days together in a row I might feel trapped and do something I shouldn’t. Now this doesn’t mean I plan to overeat on Wednesday - it just means I am giving myself that day to think about it. And I don’t even plan to overeat on the other remaining days, but what I have discovered is that if I give myself the chance to stay focused and not put too much pressure on myself, I’m more likely to not eat wrong any day of the week.
So this works for me and I thought I should share it because it might not be something you thought about. In the days to come, heading up to Christmas, I’ll share more tips of what I do during the Holidays, to stay on track. My recipes have made my life so doable - but I don’t kid myself that the grocery stores full of candy canes don’t have a pull on me. They do and I still have to enter them to buy the food I do eat.
If you are struggling - write me with your struggle and I’ll try to figure a way to help you too. Losing weight is not easy and keeping it off is even harder - but it IS something you can do. I failed my whole life till now - so if you feel like one more try is more than you want to attempt during the Holidays, why not try just one day a week - then add another day you feel you’ll be strong - a month might go by and you’ll wake up and you’re strong more days than you’re not. We have been programmed to think that dieting and losing weight is all or nothing. Well, how well is that working out for our nation that is 66% overweight or obese? Not so good I fear.
My way is certainly food for thought - pun intended.
Happy Holidays!
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7th Oct 2009
Last week was a tough week. We scheduled a shoot for my diet cooking show we’re developing, ”Kitty’s Lighter Weigh”, and that is quite an undertaking with grocery shopping, and cooking all the dishes - so I was whupped! And some of that carried over into this week. The tired part I mean.
If you struggle with food or weight issues I don’t have to tell you that when you’re tired your defenses are down. And on top of that I had gained a few pounds this past spring and summer and FINALLY got them off and back down to 126 so the combination of being tired and cutting back on food to start with made me ALMOST fall into a bad habit as I came home Monday from work. I CAME HOME HUNGRY and the whole way driving home I noticed all the fast food joint - Carl’s JR, Burger King, MacDonald’s, I-Hop (not sure this qualifies as fast food but I overate MANY times in one of those restaurants) and the list goes on and on. It was all I could do to get home and not stop.
So I decided to make myself some fast food and I made 4 of my diet pizzas. 2 for me and 2 for Neil. I made mine out of Portabella mushroom and low fat salami as the main ingredient so they would both be under 300 calories and I ate 450 calories worth and saved the rest for lunch today. I should have only eaten one of them, but I knew what was happening to me and so decided to let Fat Kitty have a good time “within reason” and now I’m back on track.
If you have a day that you feel especially vulnerable - cooking helps. As I made all these pizzas Monday - the urge to overeat did get better. I didn’t fall off the cliff…
But who know what tomorrow will bring. For today at least, I have half of a pizza for lunch. That’s okay with me.
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2nd Sep 2009
I don’t know if I’ve told you or not - but I’m currently writing a book about my weight loss journey and it will include a meal plan and how I did it. It’s pretty exciting and if you wondered where I’ve been for the past weeks - well, writing a book is HARD! But not as hard as losing weight and keeping it off, so I’m not complaining. HA!
I’ve actually had a lot of fun reliving some of my experiences in this weight loss thing. I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching too. There are abusive things I did with food and writing them down has really made them come home to me. It’s a good thing.
So if you’re reading this and you have food or weight issues, I suggest getting yourself a writing pad and writing down everything - what you eat and how you feel about it. Once something is on paper it becomes more real. At least for me it has - so until next time!
…remember - there IS a Lighter Weigh!
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12th Aug 2009
What a whirlwind experience this has been. The response was overwhelming and generous and kind and all the things I could have only hoped for.
But now it’s back to life - and guess what? A miracle occurred this past weekend.
If you’ve been reading my blog and know anything about me you know there are certain things I cannot have in my house like ice cream, potato chips and any kind of chocolate bar. Well, this past weekend after the Bobby Flay Grill It show aired and I was no longer nervous about screwing up, Neil and I decided that we would celebrate with some champagne, lobster tails and asparagus. I thought this was such a special occasion that we should have a dessert - which we hardly ever eat. So I asked him to get me some orange sherbet, but make sure it’s the smallest size they have in case I fall into the carton head first. I have never had ice cream or sherbet in my fridge that I did not eat it all till it’s gone. I know that I will do that so I no longer ever buy more than a pint.
Well, as luck would have it - the only size my husband could find was a half gallon…sigh. I knew what was going to happen but I allowed it in my condo anyway. I wanted it. What can I say - Fat Kitty won that battle. This was Sunday afternoon.
Last night when I came home I realized that I had not eaten any more of the sherbet. Sunday after my lobster dinner I scooped out about 3/4 cup of the stuff and put it back in the freezer - and it’s still there. And I knew it was there and didn’t eat any more of it. Not sure how long this will last but this is a victory for me. A BIG victory. I forgot about something that I ordinarily eat till it’s gone. How did I do that?
I think I’ll just accept the victory and leave it at that.
Maybe it was Bobby Flay? Maybe watching our episode and how accepting he was of me - I can’t explain it but I felt normal. I’ve said many times that I thought once I lost weight that I hoped I’d be like a normal person who never thought about food. That didn’t happen for me - but for a brief moment it did.
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14th May 2009
WOW! Do I feel great! I love dieting again! I had forgotten some of the dishes I used to eat when I was strictly losing weight and there’s nothing like an old favorite food to bring you back to life. I made my Creole Chicken Pie and I’m having that tonight! And guess what? I joined CURVES! I’m actually gonna get off my lazy butt and exercise. That’s always been a sore subject for me but I went for my orientation last night and I actually think I can do it. I was so sore I was shaking last night but I’m going back again today and feel very good about it. I’m just incredibly out of shape and since I lost weight there’s no excuse not to take it to the next level.
And I’ve already lost my vacation weight - now I have to lose the fve pounds I gained during Christmas.
I make no more promise to myself than that - but I would like to lose five more after that - but no promise - just onward and upward. I’ve really been EATING GREAT AND LOSING WEIGHT! Who knew - I can practice what I preach!
Stay tuned!
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