The life of an artist trapped in the corporate world and her plans to bust out while losing a couple of pounds along the way...and finishing a couple of books.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Weight Loss Update.... Coming Soon
For what it's worth I have lost a net of 3lbs in one week. If it wasn't for the day I gained weight (1) fried chicken without the skin is still fried 2) Just because the sales person said its non-fat does not mean non-fat) If you count the weight I lost to get back on track I have lost a total of 6lbs in one week.
More to come later. Phase 2 should be starting in 2 days.
~~
Friday, April 29, 2011
Day 3 of Dukan and Friday Morning Weigh-In
They were right.
Day 3 for me was a definite test as it was my longest day at school. Because I have class until 10pm, the only source of sustenance after 8pm is the vending machine. At the student union I found that almost all the restaurants were closed early because of Unity Fest. Do not get me wrong, this is a great thing. I love and support Unity Fest as I spent 3 years of my life working on that event. However, for those of us who arrived on campus with very little time there was not many options for a meal. Before I get to my final decision let me start with the beginning of the day.
Breakfast: 2 Boiled eggs and some yogurt with black coffee
Lunch: 2 patties of Morning Star However, I did not eat the whole patties. I ate about half of each. I left the patties in the microwave for too long and they were so hard the plastic fork snapped in half and broke my finger. I took that as a sign that I should give up on the patties.
Snack: Slices of turkey
Evening Snack: Piece of skinless chicken
Another Snack of boiled eggs with the yolks thrown away
Dinner: Scrambled egg whites & grilled skillet steak with yogurt and oat bran or dessert.
I went to Ralphs to buy the meat and eggs for dinner and for the first time I did not feel tempted by any of the sweets or fruit or other pre-packaged foods that would have been easier than cooking but not allowed on the diet. I went straight to the meat section and headed over to Ruben's since my sister hates the smell of eggs cooking.
So I succeeded in keeping my diet for the day! Thanks to so much water.
I drank more than 2 liters of water (no joke)
This morning I did my weigh-in.
Today, I lost .4lbs. That brings my grand total to 1.7lbs in 3 days.
I hope to continue the trend. When I entered my information on the Dukan site, I found that I should reach my goal weight in August. At this rate, I really think I might make it.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Day 2 Dukan & 3rd Weigh-In
I went to the gym instead.
After work I realized that if I saw chicken one more time I would throw up
and so I headed to Trader Joe's and bought lean pork cutlets, more yogurt and some nonfat frozen yogurt. After eating a few spoons of the frozen yogurt I realized that it was non-dairy and as such not allowed on Dukan (unless you're a vegetarian or lactose intolerant. I don't do lactose but I can do nonfat dairy)
That was the end of the yummy frozen yogurt.
I had also purcahsed a container of 100% egg whites. So for dinner I had pork and scrambled eggs. It was yummy and what made it even better was knowing that in enjoying this meal I still stuck to my diet. Plus I was incredibly full. Whenever I wanted a snack I stuck to non-fat yogurt.
Later that night I did have an unbelievable hankering for chocholate. I put the blame fully on my boyfriend because he left all these funsize three musketeers bars out. After going back and forth for a bit, i decided to have a very small bite of the candy. I did and I enjoyed the little bit of chocolate.
Never thought a little sliver of choclate would make me so happy, but it did. And after that bit I was done.
Woke up this morning scared to do my weigh-in. all I could think about was the following:
1) The Quaker Oats I was using for the first two days was not the same as the oat bran that I was suppose to be having.
2) The frozen sorbet that was a non-no.
3) That sliver of chocolate.
I got myself together and got on the scale...
Today I lost 1 lb :)
Many happy dances follow that realization. I am determined to stick to the diet through today and this will be a test of will because I have class until 10pm tonight so we'll see how this goes.
Still happy dancing.
~~
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Morning Weigh In, Dukan & Admin Professionals Day
Today I have lost .3 lbs.
I know that's not alot but its better than gaining. I am hoping that tomorrow will show even bigger results.
Today has not been easy but I have been sticking with the program so far. In celbration of Administrative Professionals day there was a luncheon held for all Admin. The menu consisted of pasta, spinich salad, gelato etc. Read: nothing Phoebe can eat. This could have spelt disaster for me but I ate before the luncheon. Vanilla Greek nonfat yogurt with my allowed oat bran, 1 boiled egg and some water. Once I was in the luncheon I heated up a salmon fillet and had that while everyone ate lasagna.
Back at my desk and food was released from another meeting. Grilled chicken. Another day of chicken but I'm not complaining. I have been sticking to the plan and I'm not even hungry which has always been my greatest concern when it comes to diets.
More of an update to come...
~~
Day 1 of The Dukan Diet (also named) Chicken, Chicken, More Chicken and Some Yogurt
Not sure if that's going to happen.
Another goal of mine is to fit into my favorite pair of jeans.
I think I blogged about that before.
In any case, as I stated in a previous blog I have been working out every weekday during my lunch break. At least 30 mins on the bike and if I have time then some other activity like 10 mins on the treadmill or some free weights. Lately, I have been sticking to sets of sit-ups and pushups. After my first day in the gym I was in so much pain, it was agony. I even started a blog entry that went like this:
"I am going to die and I do not mean that in a deeply metaphorical sense. I mean that I literally feel like I am about to die...
And what did my fat@$$ do after working out to the point where death was a sweat drop away? I went to Olive Garden. Talk about counter-productive.
So there has not been any more of that...on a regular basis anyways. I have been watching what I eat, no burgers, stayed clear of too much sodas and no big Easter meal either. Working out every day and there have been minor victories (see Happy Dance entry below) However, there has been no earth-shattering weight loss.
Yesterday, I was searching for something to read on my nook and I came across this book called the Dukan Diet. According to the reviews, participants claimed to have lost 5 lbs in the first 5 days of the diet. This seemed too good to be true. A search of various reviews showed many sites deducing that this diet was a fad and most of the weight loss, water weight. There were other sites that claimed celebrities like J.Lo and others used this diet to lose the baby weight that most of us regular people would not have noticed unless we had a magnifying glass. What made me decide to give it a try was this guy named Marshall Brain.
Marshall is this guy who writes on a site called how it works. I do not follow his blogs or that site. However, when I did a search of how the Dukan Diet works I found his blog. Reading Marshall's entries made me feel like this might actually be a diet that I could do. Not to mention Marshall listed the amount of weight he lost every day and it was pretty amazing. Sure losing .3 pounds a day may not seem great but when the total is 6.6 pounds in 5 days that is definitely something to get excited about. After reading Marshall's blog, which you can view here, I purchased the Dukan Diet on my nook (oh the joys of an e-reader) and began reading what I would have to do for my first day. There is a lot of detailed explanation as to why the elements of the diet are as such but that was not very important to me. I just wanted to know what to do to lose 6.6 pounds in 5 days.
I should probably explain the rules of the Dukan Diet. There are several phases to the diet which I will explain as I reach that phase. The first phase is called the Attack phase. This phase is to kick start the body into weight loss mode encouraging the participant with fast results and jump starting the metabolism. This phase lasts anywhere between 3-10 10 days with the average time frame being 5 days. In this phase, the individual cannot eat anything that is not one of the designated categories of food. A quick summation says this: lean protein, fish, chicken, nonfat dairy products, lots of water, 1 1/2 tablespoons of oat bran and 20 minutes of walking. I cannot reveal all the details, some people will just have to buy the book. Should anyone decide to try this diet I strongly recommend buying the book because there is a lot of details on why you can eat this and why you cannot eat that, but returning to the task at hand...
Yes, that is correct that is all one may eat during the first phase. No fruit, no veggies, no carbs, no sugar, no sweets. However, you can have any of the foods in the categories listed and as much as you desire. Diet soda, coffee, and tea are all approved.
During my first day I had to run to the store because I did not have the necessary food. This meant I skipped breakfast which is a big no, no on this diet. Going to a grocery store when you're hungry is bad. Going to a grocery store when you're on a diet is horrible. Going to a grocery store when you fit all the descriptions above and you cannot eat anything except protein is unbearable. Everywhere I turned I was staring at something delicious and I wanted it. Grapes, chocolate, cookies, cheese, it all looked so appetizing and I knew I could have none of it. I bought a container of nonfat vanilla yogurt and a smaller container of nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt and headed to Fresh and Easy. There I was not as tempted and I purchased this ready to eat chicken, sandwich meat, and mustard.
Once I returned to work I heated up the chicken and had that with a diet Dr. Pepper. I also opened the bottle of 1.58Qts of water. When I finished the chicken I had some of the nonfat Greek yogurt to feel full. Throughout the work day I drank as much of the water as I could. After working out I felt starved and so I had some more of the Greek yogurt.
That evening I went to Ruben's to visit. I had offered to make dinner and so I cooked sautéed chicken and spinach with low carb tortillas. Ruben loved it! I had just chicken. I was getting pretty sick of chicken and I wanted to jack Ruben for a tortilla. However, I was good and stuck with the chicken.
Ruben and I then went to Target so I can get some more things so that I could be prepared for day 2 of the diet. There I spent some time trying to figure out if nonfat ice cream constitutes as a nonfat dairy item. In order to be on the safe side I picket out another small container of nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt whilst my boyfriend picked out a much larger container of mango sorbet (glaring look)
I then spent the rest of my time in the store trying to figure out what exactly is oat bran. According to a website I found, oat bran may be similar (if not the same thing) to Quaker oats. Since the store was closing I settled on Quaker oats and grabbed a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper. Once I got back to Ruben's I ate the Greek yogurt with the 1 1/2 tablespoons of oats. It was really good to me. (I like yogurt and cannot believe I can eat as much of it as I want) It almost made me forget about Ruben and his sorbet. Almost. (Another glaring look)
So that was my first day. Although it got off to a rocky start and I felt like I would turn into a chicken I managed to stick to the plan with no cheating. I just finished boiling eggs for breakfast tomorrow. I will be weighing myself every day so every 10th of a pound helps.
I am already getting sick of chicken.
~~
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Happy Dance
I went to work wearing a dress yesterday which meant I weant to school wearing a dress. This was fine until I left the library and it was freezing!
Hoodies were on sale at the bookstore but they were in weird colors. Did I want a purple sweatshirt or a yellow sweatshirt? It was like Dominguez was rooting for the Lakers (maybe that's why they were on sale.) In any case I grabbed a purple hoodie in a size medium. That's the size of all my school sweatshirts. I then started having second thoughts about the color so I tried it on in front of a mirror.
A medium was HUGE on me! I grabbed a small and it was still pretty big but fit much better than the medium.
There's obvious reasons why this makes me happy but what most people don't know is that I have been working my butt off to lose this weight. I go to the gym during my lunch hour EVERY DAY. This week marks week 4 of me being in the gym. I step on the scale and it says I have lost one pound.
Yes, that's right. One pound.
I can drink diet tea and lose more than 1 pound. So to see a difference in clothing size makes it worth it.
Though I have to say, scales lie.
...and for those wondering I bought the yellow hoodie.
~~
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Starving Fat
Lunch: Salad Creation Turkey Club with Fat Free Raspberry Vinagrette: 260 cals
Dinner: Del Taco
I'm not even writing what I had at Del Taco, except lets just say the words deluxe fries and some other things pop up.
Today's report:
Breakfast:
1 Black Coffee
1 Nutri Grain bar 95 cals
Lunch:
El Pollo Loco Chicken, & Steamed Veggies 510 cals
Snack:
Carrots 35 calories per serving and I've probably eaten less than 1 serving
Some nasty brithday cake that wasn't worth my calories.
The El Pollo Loco really, really shocked me. Seriously??? 448 of those calories were for the chicken breast but I only ate 2 pieces!!
Back to the lean cuisines and maybe sandwiches for lunch.
...and I promise all my blog entries will not look like this!!
~~
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A Glance So Bitter it Shattered the Mirror
Seriously?
I am fully aware of my weight gain and I am working to do something about it. My mother insists I cut out all carbs and I think Why? So I can be as grumpy as you are when you stop eating carbs? Then she makes all types of other comments and suggestions. The thing that my mom fails to remember is that I have gained the weight and subsequently lost the weight in the past. It's just a matter of me battling with myself to figure out if I should operate in the same way as I had in the past.
No, I did not have an eating disorder. No vomiting, or pills or starving myself in the sense of no food. However, I did severely cut my calories. Deep inside I know this will be the key to my success in dropping the pounds I need to fit into my favorite jeans.
Yes, that is my goal.
There is no magic number on the scale that will make me jump with joy. Nothing will make me feel more at ease with my body then to be able to COMFORTABLY fit into my favorite jeans, and the assortment of jeans in that same size.
So, today is a new day. I'm starting and I am seriously trying to lose the weight. Beginning last night, when I was on the treadmill for 30 minutes straight. Here is my meal breakdown so far:
Breakfast
1 Yoplait Light Yogurt 100 cals
1 Black Coffee with Splenda 15 cals
Then maybe I won't have to pick up these glass shards.
~~


