Day three. Today was a little harder than the last two... Why, BABY COOKIES!! One would think a cookie made for babies wouldn't be so dam delicious! Dipped in my morning coffee after miss Zoey so graciously offered to share... How was I to refuse her chubby little hand thrusting slightly slobbered on cookie in to my mouth? The ones that became coffee fodder were of my own doing... This brought me to the thought... Does a dieting brain actually transform taste? As a chunky teen desperatly wanting to loose weight a friend had suggested a lettuce diet... I actually thought the lettuce had different flavors...perhaps upon reflection I was just really delirious from lack of food... BREAKFAST 1/2 cup fiber cereal 1/2 cup berries 1 cup coconut milk 1 hard boiled egg 10 oz coffee black (yuk) FOUR BABY COOKIES :( 24 oz water Supplements Multi vitamin, omega3, B6/B12 LUNCH Tuna "delite" 4 oz tuna, minced onion, sprinkle of parmasan cheese, 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese,1/4 cup celery (minced). Mix together and put in whole wheat pita with lettuce, 1 oz shredded cheese, 1/2 cup cucumber. 24 oz water SNACK Cinnamon banana (frozen on a stick today) 3 cups non butter popcorn sprinkled with curry DINNER 8oz BBQ steak (no BBQ sauce) marinated in mustard and garlic. Baked potato peppered Strawberry spinach salad with warm flax seeds. 1 cup skim milk 24 oz water Desert Frozen mango slices with frozen no fat chocolate pudding. Snack.... (yeah I was still hungry..) 1/2 cup fat free Greek yougart with one scoop of VI Activity Wii fit/ active 60 minutes.

Just dance!

Day two  Working at Herbal Magic I was exposed to a plethora of different people.... all of them with the same goal; to attain a healthier happier life by losing weight. In Woodbridge Ontario many of the clients were grotesquely wealthy, yet still unsatisfied in their personal lives and their physical appearance. 99% of my clients were Italian Catholics devout in their beliefs.... I hate the stereotype that goes along with Italian-Americans or Italian-Canadians, however in my experience I found many of them to be true! One of my first days working in Woodbridge, a lovely Italian lady came in and was questioning me about supplements and our programs when she stopped midsentence looked me straight in the eye and said "are you Italian?" I replied, "no, I am Irish. " She twisted your mouth into a small frown, furrowed her brows and said, "what a waste! " I grew up on Quadra Island British Columbia. Although very culturally diverse, our lines of "differences" were very blurred. To me it was almost as though we were all one race, one religion so when I transplanted myself into Woodbridge Ontario I wasn't prepared for the total culture shock! It was almost as though I had picked up and moved directly to Italy.... Beautiful and passionate, the people are fiercely family-oriented. When they love they love with their whole hearts, being their fancy cars, their fine clothing, or their exquisite food. Try being a young naïve woman, such as I was, working in a weight loss center trying to convince the Nona in front of you that she had to cut down her pasta drastically.... I was often not liked nor understood when I explained the Herbal Magic program... It's a fairly simple real food-based eating regime. The plus side to this program is that there is no prepackaged meals, so if and when you quit the program you can continue on with real food and not going to prepackaged food withdrawal (I'm talking to you Jenny Craig). A lot of the success in losing weight is about opening your eyes,  and being conscious to what you are doing to your self. How many times did I hear, "I didn't realize that one can of pop was over 300 cal! " And even, "What do you mean potato chips aren't considered vegetables?" It's true, many  people are oblivious to what they're doing to sabotage their weight loss... Rule #1 you must eat to permanently loose weight! The fastest way to sabotage your weight loss is to not eat! If you think of your body like a fireplace, people on Quadra Island will understand this one... you're constantly stoking your fire! You're putting pieces of wood in there and you're making sure that the fire is burning. The more good wood the hotter the fire. If you put bad wood on the fire can be snuffed out...  When you end up letting the fire burned down to coals sometimes it's impossible to throw a big chunk of wood on and expect flames to ignite. A long steady burning fire is always best, but if you can stoke it first thing in the morning get it burning really nice and hot you don't really have to worry about it for the rest of the day.... Just feed it lightly.... So this brings me to your metabolism and your morning meal... you must eat in the morning if you want to be successful in weight loss! Stoke that fire first thing in the morning! I like fruit, fiber, and protein... the fruits sugars give you a bit of a boost, the fiber will help you move things along (poop!!), and I find protein helps with concentration and the feeling of fullness to continue on the day... From my experience in Woodbridge, breakfast was non existence! 4 cups of coffee and starve practically until dinner.... It is amazing to see how attitudes did change once the routine sets in. Your body needs to know that there's always food coming, so it won't go into starvation mode crashing your metabolism. Snacking is promoted, just conscious snacking not mindless shoving of food into your face.... My biggest downfall is justification eating. That is when you say, "I'm a good person dammit! I will eat this because I am a good person and I work hard! " I have to rework those inner thoughts and say "I'm a good person and I deserve to wear summertime clothes and not to feel like a circus sideshow..." "I'm a good person and I deserve to be able to bend down and tied my shoes without great effort!" As your confidence within you grows with your conscious decisions about food and physical activity you will stop tugging at your clothing, sucking your tummy, and wondering which bulges might be leaking out of said clothing that particular moment. At herbal Magic I have had clients come in wanting to lose anywhere from five to two hundred lbs. This is where I learned even though you may have a perfect body to me your body is not perfect to you....thus I no longer judge! I have not, nor will I ever claim to be an expert in nutrition or exercise, however I have tried almost everything that is out there, some with successful results and some with very disastrous  results.... I only write from my opinion and experience. Along with the morning meal, if you were able to exercise, any kind of exercise in you will be more successful in your weight loss. One of the greatest exercises I have found is the "crazy dance". We all have those songs come on the radio and your body just uncontrollably begins to dance. I say, make yourself a mix tape, CD, or download your favorite songs onto an MP3 player... These "power" songs are the ones that make your body move! Now put your "power" songs on and let go! If you're a flailer then flail... if not you'll get there soon... Just dance and enjoy!! The more you can do this and the more freely you feel about flailing the more calories you burn, and of course the easier it is to laugh at yourself!Rule #2 for losing weight, you must be able to laugh at yourself. You will have times that you feel low and hopeless this is when you must laugh! The hardest part about physical activity is getting up and getting started. So many excuses can come up when you're faced with "workout time". What I say to myself, "I will get up, I will move around for five minutes, and if I do not think that I can make it for the remaining 25 minutes (or whatever) then I will quit..." I never have actually quit, in fact I usually push myself even harder and further for longer!! but I have to promise myself to get up and get moving. No matter what the workout or physical activity is you never feel better than after you're finished! Day two Breakfast Two eggs scrambled Two pieces of weight watchers toast, one lightly buttered with sprinkled cinnamon and Stevia the other plain. One cup banana and strawberries with cinnamon. 24oz water 10oz coffee black (yuck) Supplements B6/B12, multivitamin, omega-3. Lunch Noodle salad.  (Sliced cucumbers and tomato with secret sauce...and rice noodles) 3oz leftover chicken (last nights) 24oz water Apple nectarine and grapes(1/2 cup) Snack Rice cake with 1/2 oz meted old cheddar cheese sprinkle, a curry and slice of tomato. Dinner 8oz of ground beef sautéed with a ton of mushrooms, splash of soy sauce, sprinkle of garlic powder curry and minced onions. Fancy rice. Brown rice, prepared as usual except instead of the full amount of water, use half as fruit juice. season the water/fruit juice with minced onions, dill, and garlic. bring to a boil add rice simmer fluff service with ground beef concoction. Steamed broccoli cauliflower and green beans lightly buttered and pepper. Dessert Frozen low-fat or no fat putting (chocolate) fresh berries. Literally take your low-fat or nonfat pudding cups and put them in the freezer you'll thank me later! Physical activity Wii fit for a half hour and dancing my ass off with doing housework!  Yay power songs!!!

Every journey begins with ....

Day one… I haven't found the bravery to actually stand on a scale as of yet. However, I do know that I'm packing at least 80 pounds more than this time last year. Don't get me wrong weight has always been a fun game for me! I was the chunky kid throughout grade school, and started to really slim out after high school graduation... Genetically I'm sure that I have a predisposition to liking butter and loving whipping cream on my cereal :-) my family knows how to cook, bake, and most of all eat! But I'm not going to blame genetics for this one. I know I love food. I love all kinds of foods and food combinations. I remember disgusting my sister over breakfasts at the Quinsam. One waffle, sausage links, bacon, three eggs, and shredded hash browns (syruped)... This was all very carefully divided up making sure that each waffle crevice was slathered in equal parts butter and maple syrup... Doesn't sound that bad right? However, it was the fact that I had to very finely slice up my sausages and spread my eggs over top of my waffles. (Always placing my sausage and my bacon on top of the slathered egg waffle....) Often I would look up from my plate as I was preparing this delicacy to see my sister's face pulled into a strange grimace. She had placed her fork and knife at the side of her plate pulled herself back from the table and sat to watch me in awe at my ritualistic start to the morning meal.... Other times, my friends would look at me with great chagrin as I would dump full box of Glosset raisins into my movie theater buttered popcorn... Sometimes while watching a movie, sometimes just taking the popcorn and Glosset raisins and going home to enjoy my favorite Secret indulgence in the privacy of my own home... I am not one to eat fast foods or soda and crisps, I am a homebody diet sabotager, a closet chemist of cataclysmic caloric chaos, and I love it! Who could ever pass up a full tub of Hagen Das for dinner? Not me and I've always believed that butter it makes it better...  So my love affair with food has been long and passionate... A little odd and obscure at times possibly with hints of sadomasochism... But through all fifty shades of Gray, I have realized that I'm happier at a smaller size! As  a yin to my yang I also have a great love for physical activity. I ride the endorphin high of a good workout like no other. it is with this love of fitness, that I discovered last year the Wii fit! I knew I was on to something fantastic from day one :-) weight just fell off of me, and within three months I had shed over 70lbs! finally I was going to enter summer with that elusive beach body... Wrong, I got pregnant instead! Don't get me wrong, I love my baby and I love getting fat while pregnant! I gain weight so well!!! But as things are quickly approaching, (like weddings) I've decided not to just sit back and wait (ha ha) for my baby weight to naturally "fall off ".... I have carefully evaluated my plan of attack. I WILL NOT STARVE MYSELF, AND COMPROMISE MY BABY'S HEALTH! I WILL NOT OVER EXERCISE MYSELF DRAINING MY MILK SUPPLY FOR MY BABY! I am going to do this smart, and probably slow, unfortunately… As a former employee of Herbal Magic we always said, "you don't gain weight overnight, therefore you will not lose it over night!" So here I go.... Day one. ~Breakfast~ 1ounce of high-fiber cereal 1cup of low-fat Greek honey yogurt 1/2cup mixed berries 1 hard boiled egg *supplements Multi vitamin, grape seed, omega 3, b6/b12, d-drops (vitamin d) 24oz water,  10 oz coffee black (yuck) Nectarine  ~Lunch~ Tomato basil rice cake  1 oz old cheddar cheese (micro waved on rice cake) 1 cup carrots 2 cups tomato cucumber salad (ooohyeah) 24oz water "Snack" 10oz coffee 1 scoop "VI" Banana and apple with cinnamon and sweetener (tiny sprinkle)! ~Dinner~ Boneless skinless chicken breast (8oz) baked...  Glazed with calorie wise Italian salad dressing 2tbs and a squirt of mustard!! Spinach strawberry salad  1 baked potato with pepper. ~Dessert~ Sliced cinnamon ginger apple... Finely sliced apple soaked in boiling water, drained, and sprinkled with ginger cinnamon and a tiny bit of sweetener...  Add 1/4 cup no fat honey Greek yogurt!!! (yum) Activity -30 minutes of Wii fit!! Yay day one!

Boys in a box

Judge ye not! Until you've been there you don't know -40  is a life-changing experience....And I don't mean the bitter cold biting at any exposed skin, the fear of the wind, or seemingly menial task becoming a daunting dastardly deed. Everything in life changes and -40 I suppose it's because you're "over the hill" temperature wise. My furry son, referred to as Mr. P, has never had to use a litter box.  With the great temperature "dip" that we just received last week, I decided that it was no longer safe for the cat to go outside and conduct his "business"... Mr. P was in full agreement with me! He had taken it upon himself to start using my bathtub as an indoor kitty potty, which is slightly more convenient than relieving himself  in the corner of my kitchen , in my closet, or in my dresser drawers.... So I set off to "Wally World" in pursuit of finding a kitty litter box and some kitty litter. The kids and I read the labels thoroughly not wanting to introduce any airborne dust to our home with a newborn baby and all... Very curiously, Ash asked me what we were going to use this strange sand for. I'm sure he was looking forward to an indoor sandbox as it's been a number of months since we visited the local one here. Upon explaining to my young boy, that the cats needs to scratch in the dirt before they can pee and pooh, and then they scratch the dirt over top of their "business",  he began to belly laugh hysterically. I could see him playing out the scenario in his head as his laughter got louder and louder. After making our selection, and calming the boy down we returned home with our new supplies.  Although the setup was simple convincing the cat to use the box proved to be much more difficult than I had first thought.... Mr. P, a larger than most, black cat, is not easily purrrrsuaded to do much that isn't his idea first!  After "playing catch that cat" and throwing him into the sandbox repeatedly I almost gave up! I was hopelessly searching for Mr. P once again, when I entered my bathroom to find that the damn cat had snuck into the bathtub and left me a "surprise". Cursing the cat as I cleaned up his mess, Ash wandered into my bathroom. My son had been watching me all evening entertained by my shenanigans... Now he stood over me watching as I scrubbed out the bathtub muttering with frustration... "Why don't you show him how to use it by example?" the boy queried. This hit my funny bone and all of a sudden my evenings events seemed hilarious. I finished cleaning up the mess and went into the living room to enjoy some family time.  Later that evening, however, the boy came running excitedly up to me. "Mom, mom," the boy breathlessly said, "I got Mr. P to use the litter box!" I felt the rush of panic shutter through my body... "dear God" I thought..."what the hell does this boy mean?" Apprehensively I walked toward my washroom not knowing what cat-astrophe lay in wait for me.... I rounded the corner and peered through the doorway towards the litter box....

Boys in a box.

Judge ye not! Until you've been there you don't know -40  is a life-changing experience....And I don't mean the bitter cold biting at any exposed skin, the fear of the wind, or seemingly menial task becoming a daunting dastardly deed. Everything in life changes and -40 I suppose it's because you're "over the hill" temperature wise. My furry son, referred to as Mr. P, has never had to use a litter box.  With the great temperature "dip" that we just received last week, I decided that it was no longer safe for the cat to go outside and conduct his "business"... Mr. P was in full agreement with me! He had taken it upon himself to start using my bathtub as an indoor kitty potty, which is slightly more convenient than relieving himself  in the corner of my kitchen , in my closet, or in my dresser drawers.... So I set off to "Wally World" in pursuit of finding a kitty litter box and some kitty litter. The kids and I read the labels thoroughly not wanting to introduce any airborne dust to our home with a newborn baby and all... Very curiously, Ash asked me what we were going to use this strange stand for. I'm sure he was looking forward to an indoor sandbox as it's been a number of months since we visited the local one here. Upon explaining to my young boy, that the cat needs to scratch in the dirt before they can pee and pooh, and then they scratch the dirt over top of their "business",  he began to belly laugh hysterically. I could see him playing out the scenario in his head as his laughter got louder and louder. After making our selection, and calming the boy down we returned home with our new supplies.  Although the setup was simple convincing the cat to use prove to be much more difficult than I had first thought.... Mr. P, a larger than most black cat, is not easily purrrrsuaded to do much that isn't his idea first!  After "playing catch that cat" and throwing him into the sandbox repeatedly I had almost given up! I was hopelessly searching for Mr. P once again, when I entered my bathroom to find that the damn cat had snuck into the bathtub and left me a "surprise". Cursing the cat is I cleaned up his mess, Ash wandered into my bathroom. My son had been watching me all evening entertained by my shenanigans... Now he stood over me watching as I scrubbed out the bathtub muttering with frustration... "Why don't you show him how to use it by example?" the boy queried. This hit my funny bone and all of a sudden my evenings events seemed hilarious. I finished cleaning up the mess and went into the living room to enjoy some family time.  Later that evening, however, the boy came running excitedly up to me. "Mom, mom," the boy excitedly said, "I got Mr. P to use the litter box!" I felt the rush of panic shutter through my body... "dear God" I thought..."what the hell does this buoying mean?" Apprehensively I walked toward my washroom not knowing what cat-astrophe lay in wait for me.... I rounded the corner and peered through the doorway towards the litter box....

Trouser tango...

My reward at the end of a day is usually a peanut butter and honey sandwich and a nice glass of milk... or handfuls chocolates, a pocket full of cookies, or anything else I find from around the house. I do not refrain from eating ancient Halloween candy, expired Easter chocolate, or the weird stuff I find in the back of the cupboard that I don't remember buying...(I'm not sure if perhaps it was left here by a previous owner.) My maniacal munching does not help with the horrid pants dance...Not that I had expected to fit into any of my prior pre pregnancy pants... Even my maternity pants are a little ill fitting at present time, and when faced with the daily obstacle of getting dressed, I find my choices very limited. And getting dressed is sometimes exhausting! Oh yes...."The Pants Dance"..., At first I step into my closet to examine the contents and decide where I want to start this terrible, tedious,twisted, tango of attempting to make myself presentable to the outside world. (There must be some stitch of clothing other than my plus size pregnancy pajamas....) Now I am at the stage where maternity clothes just don't fit and regular clothes, well... just don't fit.  A few discoveries I've made with the cesareans section; bikini cut panties not cool, low rise jeans also not cool, most clothes in general not so cool because after a cesarean section you have this extra "flap"  or demi roll to deal with.... This may be a little TMI, but with this flap comes some confusion, do you pull it over your pants, do you tuck it in your pants, or do you use restrictive binding underwear to try and squish it into oblivion.... The daily dressing dilemma takes up a lot of time as my size seems to change constantly! I understand this could be due to my nighttime snacking... Rewarding myself for a days hard work with titillating, tasty, treats. For instance, I get the laundry done that's worth a chocolate. I get the dishes done that's worth a cookie. I make dinner that's worth a handful of Cheezie's.... I am food motivated what can I say...? Now the pants dance... After selecting the pants I wish to wear, I slide my feet into the leg holes, apprehensively pull the pants up to my knees, then I begin hopping, jumping, twisting and wriggling in an attempt to get the pants up over my thighs, past my hips, and ultimately onto my waist.  Apparently this is quite a spectacle, because I seem to draw a crowd every time. My two wonderful children stare in awe as they watch me uncomfortably undulate while tediously tugging up on my pants... I figure this is almost a workout, and perhaps I burn calories while doing it... After all I can wipe a bead of sweat off my brow before I prepare for the grand finale... Halting my spasm like contortions, I flop on my bed suck in my belly, and attempt to fasten my pants.... My success is usually determined by how dexterous I am that given day... Buttons are not a welcome finish at the end of the pants dance and snaps are usually a horrible disappointment!! (Kapow!!) I realize it takes time to bring your body back after baby... But one of these days I know I will be calling an ambulance while laying on my floor in horrible pain after a disastrous pants dance misstep! So next week, I'll be concentrating my efforts back to the workouts on the Wii, and hopefully my pants dance will be a little less vigorous and dangerous!!

Cinnamon and spice...

From the TMI files... Feeling rather domestic this weekend, I decided to pull out my best Martha Stewart effort and make one heckuva homemade breakfast. I started with poached eggs with hollandaise sauce, honey bacon, and cinnamon crapes.  Opening my new bag of fresh organic cinnamon I had one of my world-famous spontaneous hand spasm and flipped far too much cinnamon into my batter. Faced with the dilemma of making a fresh batch of batter, or using the cinnamon thickened batch I had in front of me... Whether it was my frugality or my hunger induced laziness, I decided to use what I have already made! Who knew....perhaps I was about to discover some new taste sensation with this extremely potent concoction.  Well the crepes were cooking in the pan, the house filled with the exquisite aroma of cinnamon arousing our voracious appetites. Once cooked, buttered, and slathered in real maple syrup, I discovered that they also tasted very deliciously cinnamon like!   In the days that followed however I observed that everything in our bodies smelled like the tasty spice! I sweated cinnamon, I peed cinnamon, and my breast milk smelled like cinnamon!!! Now we can all agree there are worse things in the world that breast milk, sweat, and urine can smell like.... Hell if they smell like breast milk, sweat and urine it's not "nice".... The real shock came however, upon changing a poopy diaper...  Low and behold, it smelled like…cinnamon! between my shocking bewilderment I had an epiphany.... "What I put my body, comes out of hers!" So for any mother who breast-feeds and doesn't believe that what they eat or consume goes into their breast milk, my little "Oopsey daisy pancake" experiment has proven it. I've always been cautious about what I eat while I'm breast-feeding a baby but now I'm cutting myself down to one cup of coffee a day, reluctantly I'm taking my vitamin pills, and I'll think long and hard before ever taking any flu or cold remedies.... As a sidenote, I will probably make the cinnamon crepes again, they are darn good, and their side effects are quite pleasant as well!  I'm not saying that my poop don't stink.... But....