The Undiet Journey ~ Becoming Me

Its been a few days. But, just to let you know, I am still going strong! Just very busy. Life. That's it.

Its funny, after the first week, which admittedly is the toughest, I am just going about my every day life normal. Just a bit more educated in what I choose to put in my body. I admit, this past week, I haven't been perfect and I am tweaking so to speak, how I am eating or what I am eating.

I am working out almost every day. On Monday, I started 3-2-1 Shred with Jillian Michaels...OMG! She is brutal! My legs are still burning. But, tomorrow I will be back over Tammy's to do it again. Every other day I plan on doing that workout and alternating it with my Elliptical. Today, was a very busy day and I knew that the only time I had to work out was very early in the morning. So I did what I never thought I would ever do, I woke up early, before I HAD to and got my butt on the elliptical. As tough as it was, it felt great!

I am sleeping better, and waking up not tired and ready to start my day. I made a fantastic dinner tonight with a recipe that I got from Tammy I will share. It is worth a try and so filling!

Thanks again for all the kind words and boosts of confidence!

Much love! Michele

Chicken Slaw

1 cup cut up cooked chicken

2 cups Shredded Cabbage

Shredded carrots

2 Scallions cut thin

1/2 TBSP butter

2 TBSP slivered almonds

3 TBSP light mayo

2 TSP spicy brown or Dijon Mustard

2 TSP honey, splenda or Agave syrup

1 TSP balsamic Vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl add chicken cabbage and carrots.

Melt butter in a pan and toast almonds.

In a small bowl add mayo, mustard, honey and vinegar. Mix well add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over cabbage mixture and mix until coated. ENJOY!

You can eat right out of the fridge but I liked mine warm! :O)

The Undiet Journey ~ Becoming Me

I feel great! I have energy and I am not hitting a wall at 3pm. I am not feeling deprived or wishing I could have more with my meals. I guess that is the biggest difference between what I am doing and other diets that have failed me or I them (depending on how you look at it). Either way its a failure.

This time around I am focusing on a lifestyle change, not measuring or counting points or calories. I am choosing what is right for my body and ways I can do to improve how I feel and in the end look. I am looking at food as my friend not my enemy and not dreading the end of the day if I do not have enough points saved to enjoy a dinner. I eat normal healthy choices. Most of all I have to say, that I am enjoying this challenge so far. It really is enjoyable to learn all this new stuff, not to mention all the support I have.

Today I started my day with pineapple and cottage cheese, then had my 20 minute elliptical workout. For breakfast I had a wonderful omelet with cheese, ham and broccoli. Then a snack of celery with natural peanut butter (so good by the way). Lunch was a salad with shredded lettuce and zucchini and tuna. I just finished a snack of fresh cauliflower and a yogurt dipping dressing. Dinner will be a yummy BLT salad with chicken! I feel full and satisfied.

Lets not forget that I am doing a great job on finishing a minimum of 64oz of water daily! That is something for me that has never been easy! But now into week 2 its easy! Have a great night! Much love, Michele

The Undiet Journey ~ Becoming Me

First so sorry its been a few days. I had a very busy weekend.

Let me start by saying that on Friday I had my weigh in. I am down 5 pounds! I was a bit hard on my self. But Tammy reminded me that this week was not important about the weight loss but cleaning my system. Hey, 5 pounds is a bag of potatoes. So I am happy!

Today I started my work out routine. I feel great! 20 minutes on the elliptical, tough no lie but I am glad I did it. The one hurdle I am still struggling with is eating on a regular basis. I need to prepare my foods a head of time and not be so rushed to get through the morning and remember to eat something, especially with protein to jump start my day and keep it going. I need to eat, food is my friend, food is my fuel to keep my metabolism going, without it, my metabolism will slow to a crawl. And that is not good.

I went food shopping today and was HORRIFIED at the labels I read. It took me twice as long today as it normally did. Another change, to get out of my routine and grab what I am used to but grab what is useful to my (an my families bodies). I was horrified with the amount of sugar in most of the regular items I normally buy. Sugar in everything! The all natural low fat supposedly good foods we think of buying when we are on a "diet" ingredients listed SUGAR as the first ingredient. That is not OK! This is a learning process and I am learning what foods are a good fuel for my body and what foods are not.

Thanks again for the much needed support!

Much love, Michele

The Undiet Journey ~ Becoming Me

Day 5 of the detox. I feel great! Yesterday was the first morning in I can't even tell you when that I woke up, before my alarm without feeling exhausted, or like I didn't even sleep. I felt good, I had a lot of energy.
I also felt good today. My stomach was a bit unsettled and I didn't do a good job of eating. Not that I ate bad, I didn't. I just didn't eat so much of anything.
I am looking forward to the next step and introduce more foods and learn new recipes.
Oh one more thing. I tried to make my water hotter for the lemon water and it wasn't so bad. So my tip for that...HOT HOT water = tolerable lemon water. Luke warm water = icky lemon water ;o)
Much love!
Michele

The Undiet Journey: Becoming Me

Day 3 HALF WAY THERE! My first week! Woohooo! I am so proud of myself. Facing the temptations. Eating when and what I am supposed to eat. I have to say though today I wasn't that hungry. I kept having to just eat, every few hours grab some cantaloupe an apple or even some cauliflower. All good.
Water check, lemon water, check (Still yuck) ;o)
My cravings not so bad today. The worst was protein. I really am craving chicken and peanut butter! Oh and bread, and a bowl of cereal with milk...but not as bad as yesterday.
I am glad I am doing this. I am starting to feel like I have a bit more energy. I am looking forward to see how I am feeling tomorrow and I am not dreading tomorrow either. So many people who are on a "diet" dread everything, they dread their healthy lunch or the amout of points or calories they can or can not eat. I don't. Not sure if it is because I am 100% comited to this or because its not that bad.

I am looking forward to eating new foods next week. Learning what is going to work for my body and ways to keep my metabolism running at its fullest is going to be great! Thanks again to all my new followers!
Much love,
Michele

Becoming Me ~ Day 3

Second day of the detox/cleanse is not so bad. If you can handle temptation and cravings. Its everywhere. Today I faced a big temptation. We took the girls to the movies. You know how it is, you go out before the movie and buy all your snacks and bring your own soda just so you won't spend a fortune. Then the second you hit the parking lot a wave of delicious smell comes toward you. POPCORN! Almost nothing is better than movie popcorn. I don't add much butter, or salt. SOOO GOOD! Today was different, I brought my own snack, cut up cantelope, and water. The girls brought theirs. I suffered through the entire movie smelling and hearing the crunch of that delicious popcorn. But..I did it. I didn't cave into the temptation. It would have been very easy to just walk up and buy a bag, even a small bag. But I didn't. Okay so it wasn't that bad. I am a bit dramatic. It wasn't as bad as cooking pasta for my girls or making snacks for them througout the day. Being faced with the every day.



I keep telling me that its just this week. When the cleanse is over, I will be faced with other temptations, BUT, I will learn how to eat so thoes things that I want so bad I can eat in a different way. Maybe I will bring my own fresh popped popcorn to the movies.
I must say I was hungry today. But not because I was depriving myself of anything. I think it was because I was eating. I told you in my first post that I never eat breakfast. But now when I do, I am hungrier throughout the day. I have to get over this feeling of fear of eating. And think of eating as something good, not bad. This journey will help me.



Dinner tonight was absolutly delicious! I grated Zuchinni and Cauliflower and put it in a frying pan (dry) mashed it all together. Cooked it until it was warm, not mushy, but lightly brown. Almost like a potato pancake. Then I put a bit of tomato sauce on it. SOO good!
Thank you again for all your support!
Much Love,

Michele

Becoming Me ~ Day 2

I made it. I made it through the posting of my stats and my first day of detox.
As I said in my first post yesterday was my first day. Admission. I received so many encouraging words and outpouring of support. Thank you to each and everyone of you. I assure you I can not do this with out all of you.
So my first day. It wasn't hell..but it was tough. It started with a full glass of warm water with a half of a lemon squeezed in. YUCK! That was probably the worst part of the day. I will get used to it. The lemon water is supposed to effective way to help eliminate toxins, clean internal waste, and promote energy. I am just going to have to believe it works and do it again tomorrow.
My biggest challenge was to eat first thing in the morning. I did have some fruit. It is going to be a difficult habit to break and get going with a good breakfast.
But, I do have to say this, by late morning, I was on my way home school and it hit me, I was starving. I was so hungry I said to one of my good friends, if I don't eat now, I will eat my arm! LOL! So I ate. During this week, its primarily fruits and veggies.
Oh the water! I drank and drank and drank today. Another challenge of mine, I never drank enough water ever. But, I did it. And I will continue to do it.
Through out the day I grazed on veggies all different ways and for dinner, my most favorite of the day Eggplant cut very thing and baked I then poured a bit of no salt tomato sauce and it was SOOO good!
Did I have any cravings? YES! I craved..bagels, bread and chocolate. Did I give in NOPE!! :o)
Trust me that wasn't easy! Tonight when things are most difficult, sitting relaxing watching TV when I want to grab that not so good snack, or something sweet, I am going to not give into that temptation. I am going to keep busy, read or maybe just go to bed. What ever it takes I will do.

Everyday there is going to be a challenge. Something I will struggle with. But I have faith that I will prevail and succeed. I am exhausted tonight and plan on getting to bed early. I hope tomorrow goes as good as today went! Tomorrow I'm making cauliflower rice! MMMMM!

Much love,

Michele

The Undiet Journey: Becoming Me

This is the beginning. The beginning of becoming who I am. I know to most of you your thinking, we know who you are...your Michele. Yes, I am! And I do know who I am too. But, I do know that who I am is not healthy, is not happy the way I look, I will not change entirely. Rather, I am going to change my lifestyle to be a healthier and happier me. Starting tomorrow morning, the way I look at, cook and eat food is going to change.

Starting this blog is going to make me accountable for my actions. Starting this blog will help with my journey and I can see, you can see the change that is going to happen. Starting this blog gives me support. Starting this blog keeps me going. Its not going to be easy that I know.

I said starting tomorrow but really the start is right now, the second I publish this post. The first step of this journey is admission. For me to admit to myself out loud that I am overweight..no, I am obese. There I said it....do I feel better? Nope. Does it change anything Nope. But, to admit I have a problem, like anything is the first step in anything. I can go on and keep asking how did I get this way. Point blank, I ate, or rather I didn't eat. I have very bad eating habits. You probably just asked yourself, "did she just say she got this way by not eating". Yes, that's exactly what I said. I have very bad eating habits. I get up, and I go. I always have. Just go. I don't eat breakfast, mistake number one! I then can go all day, yes ALL DAY! Without eating. Not good. Finally when I do sit down and I eat dinner, not over eat, not eat the entire house and not stop. Dinner. A normal dinner. So what happens (or so I learned today) My body is starving, so what ever I eat it stores as fat, and my metabolism slows down to a crawl, and my body uses what little muscle I have as energy. I'm not saying I don't have a sweet tooth, or like a candy bar, if I said that you all would laugh and call me a liar. You know I love chocolate and sweets, but I don't eat and eat and eat. I have bad eating habits period. I am going to change that, staring NOW. I have to say for a fat lady I am healthy. I don't have high blood pressure, I am not a diabetic, my cholesterol is perfect, my body doesn't hurt...YET! I am on borrowed time before my body says woahhhhh there lady, your killing me. I don't want to wait for a heart attack or for my doc to say you need medicine for your blood pressure or diabetes. I don't want a scare to force me to eat healthier and to live a healthy lifestyle I don't want to wait for that day, I'm not going to, I am staring now.

Do I like myself? YUP! Do I like how I look? Nope. I hate shopping for clothes, bras, anything. I struggle every time I go shopping. Sure I can pretend to go in a store and look at something, try it on and say it flatters me, but really who am I kidding. This journey is going to allow me to look at myself differently and maybe 6 months from now I can go shopping and actually like what I try on..no, like how things LOOK ON ME when I try them on.

Okay so I am jumping ahead. I am going to take this day by day and week by week. Today I had my first weigh in by my very good friend Tammy. (HUGS TAMMY) She weighed me, measured me, and took pictures. I do have the stats (except my weight), which I am not ready to disclose, please don't even try to guess. I will disclose everything else even the pictures. Just to give me accountability. And to show you all my transformation. She will keep taking measurements over the next 12 weeks and I will disclose everything.
Today I went shopping. I bought everything I need for my week. My first week will be a cleanse, a detox. I am going to clean my body. Its going to be HARD. I plan on sharing with you all the good, the bad and the ugly.
My week will consist of A LOT of fruit, veggies and water lots and lots of water. I am cooking now as I write. Cooking spaghetti squash and veggie soup. I have made berry zinger tea for the week. I cleaned out all the junk for temptation. I have a 64oz water bottle ready to go. I am ready.
So here it is, time to face the truth, here are my stats:
Age: 35
Height: 5' 3"
Weight (not ready to share)
Waist: 43
Hips: 52
Chest: 47
Bicep L: 17.5
Bicep R: 17
Thigh: L: 27
Thigh: R:26
Pant size: 20
Shirt: 1 or 2x
Yes that was embarrassing, but I told you that I was going to be open.
In closing, just to say thank you to anyone who plans on supporting me, following my journey and being there for me. HUGS! :o)
In the future, I plan on posting recipes, things that worked, didn't work and links. I will try blog daily and I will share my progress weekly. Thanks for joining my blog!
Much love,
Michele