Discovery

I didn't make my usual Monday post because it was a holiday and I simply took the day off and did nothing that was work related. I have been slaving away uncluttering my house. Two bedrooms, three bathrooms, living room and dining room are complete. My garage is filled, and I still haven't done the kitchen and my office, the two worst rooms. I worked so hard this past week that I weighed in at 163 pounds without dieting at all.

At night, in an exhausted state, I did manage to read an ebook that has set a whole new tone for this week and, hopefully, for the rest of my life. 11 Simple Steps to Living Your Ultimate Life Starting Today is a true life changer. The principles outlined in it I have known about for a long time, but I have never seen them put so simply. Anyone can easily put them into practice to change their health, happiness and financial status. Embracing these principles is a roadmap to a better you and a better universe. This is one ebook I strongly recommend if you want to start living the life of your dreams. I guarantee that next week I will be down to 162 pounds, and it is simply from reading this one ebook.

Chow for now.

A Retro Meal

Read the prior post to learn the wherefore for this one.

All week my concentration has been on uncluttering my home. It is exhilerating manual labor. I have become obsessed with this project to the extent that my real estate business is an intrusion on my mission even though it is how I make a living. Some days the work work was so intense I forgot about food altogether. I didn't diet, but I still ate sensibly. I didn't pig out on any of my favorite ice cream treats, although for breakfast one morning I had a cinnamon roll covered with gooey icing that a neighbor brought to me after she devoured two of them herself. I got out and walked enjoying the mildly brisk spring mornings that set the tone for the day. Without dieting, I weighed in at 163 pounds this morning. Whoopee!!!

My journey to a simpler life waxed nostalgic. Tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich came to mind. That's retro. It's also a simple, nutritious, low-calorie meal. A cup of Campbell's Cream of Tomato Soup made with skim milk (actually 10-3/4 ozs.) is approximately 175 calories. The grilled cheese sandwich consists of:

2 slices whole wheat light bread (40 calories each)
2 slices 2% American processed cheese (50 calories each)
Olive oil spray
Lawry's Coarse-Ground Garlic Salt with Parsley

Spray one side of each bread slice with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Place cheese slices between bread on the unsprayed side. Place sandwich sprayed side down in a teflon skillet sprayed with olive oil spray or on a broiler pan under the broiler. Cook til golden; turn over and cook the other side til golden.

Voila! You have a retro treat with around 180 calories for a total of approximately 355 calories for soup and sandwich.

There is definitely something to be said for simplicity.

NOTE: Look for olive oil spray that is made without alcohol. I use Trader Joe's brand, but I believe Bertolli also makes their spray sans alcohol.

Ciao fo now.

The Urge To Purge

No, not my last meal but all the clutter, dust collectors and unused items around my house. An electric waffel iron that I eschew in favor of Eggo Apple-Cinnamon Toaster Waffles; dozens of unused wire coat hangers from clothes that have long since gone to Goodwill; dozens more trinkets brought back from world travels; a dumpster's worth of magazines, clipped articles, scratch paper, photographs of who knows what; all of this and much, much more that has rendered my home claustrophobic must be purged.

I don't know how the desire to collect and save all began. Certainly it is something deep in ones psyche, and I'm sure volumes have been written about it. Lately, I have honed in on conversations regardng the simple life. I have a friend who downsized from a 4000 sq. ft. home to a 700 sq. ft. apartment and couldn't be happier now that she can travel unfettered, atttend lectures and take interesting classes at the local community college. I am envious, and even though I still work part-time, I'm sure I could find time to have more fun if I weren't tied to the constant feeling of being overwhelmed by so much "stuff."

On July 8-9, we are having a community garage sale. This, I decided, would be the perfect time for me to get rid of all the excess I have accumulated in 25 years of living in the same place. I began last Monday and so far I have filled 7 leaf bags full of garbage, all things that cannot be recycled. The above picture is the "before" of my office. Pretty bad, huh? When I finish uncluttering my office, I will post the "after" picture. Stay tuned. For anyone in a similar situation, I suggest you read a concisely written ebook, Clutter-Free Forever, as a primer for how to begin the process.

So what does this have to do with dieting? Read the next post.

Easy Baked Tilapia Dinner

If you've never tried tilapia, you're missing out on a real taste treat, and at 100 calories for a 4-ounce portion, it's a real Diet Delite. Fresh tilapia can be found at Costco and at major supermarkets occasionally, but check the frozen fish as well for availability. Trader Joe's will carry it on occasion, but it sells out quickly. If you have a local fish market, it will probably be available on a regular basis. This recipe is for a single serving, but you can multiply it for additional servings.

2 tilapia fillets (4 oz. each)
1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1 tsp. dried dill
Lemon juice/soy sauce spritz
(Combine 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup soy sauce in a spray bottle available at most
kitchen stores like Sur Le Table or salvage an old one from some other use.)
2 tbsp. grated parmesan/romano cheese
Olive oil spray

Spray small glass baking dish with olive oil spray. Place the two fish fillets in the baking dish. Spritz both fillets with lemon/soy mixture. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning and 1/2 tsp. dried dill on each fillet. Sprinkle 1 tbsp. of grated cheese on each fillet. Spray fillets lightly with olive oil. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve with 8 ozs. of new potatoes boiled in lightly salted water until tender and 1-1/2 cups or 6 ozs. of cooked broccoli seasoned with 1 tbsp. of your favorite lo-cal salad dressing. I particularly like Litehouse Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing.

This entire meal is plain and simple, won't leave you hungry, is a Deliteful meal for a summer evening and is only 500 calories. You might even have room for dessert.

BTW, weighing in with no gain, no loss. Oh well, that's the story of my life. Too much eating out plus Mother's Day dinner with Mom, who is a fabulous cook, did me in again this week. Don't let anyone tell you dieting doesn't take will power!!!

A Beautiful Thought

This has nothing to do with dieting. Someone just sent me a link to one of the most touching pieces of writing with an accompanying song that brought tears to my eyes. If you're too young to revel in it's meaning, pass it on to an older person you know. Go to http://www.marycy.org/remember.html for a beautiful thought.

Next post will be a new recipe.

Ciao for now.

Hoodia

Of course I jumped on the Hoodia bandwagon when it was being touted on Oprah and by Diane Sawyer. It was TV's diet darling for all of a week. The only place I hear of it now is in all of the spam I receive every day. Why did it disappear from the news? My guess is exactly what I found to be true -- it didn't dampen my appetite one iota. But......

What I did find is another of it's properties that is rarely if ever mentioned and which actually worked for me. I have always been great at multi-tasking. Most women are. It comes naturally to them. Unfortunately, this can lead to chronic disorganiztion and becoming very ineffective when you have taken on way too many tasks.

Hoodia contains something that actually permits you to focus on one subject at a time. For the first time ever, I was able to concentrate on each task at hand without becoming distracted by another task. I took 2 pills of Hoodia today AFTER breakfast, and I have been going strong all day and accomplished more than I would normally in three days. This has been a god-send to me especially when my plate is really full as it has been for the past few weeks. So I don't lose weight; I get a lot done and there's value in that.

Check out Hoodia at Deliteful Links in the sidebar. It is available at a really great price.

Ciao for now.

Remiss Again

OK, OK, I did it again. I was remiss at weighing in yesterday. Actually I was ashamed of myself. I gained back the measley one pound that I had lost in the last month. I know we shouldn't abase ourselves, but I let my hedonistic tendencies overrule my intelligent self. I ate out 5 times this week including Burgerville Fish and Chips, Red Lobster Shrimp Feed, Olive Garden Chicken Alredo, just to name a few of the comfort dishes I enjoyed. For me it was almost binge eating. The only day I was good was Friday when I painted my deck. It took all day, but I was physically busy doing manual labor and found that I had no hunger pains. I put work -- and stress -- aside for the day and ate very little. I know I am a stress eater, and my job does stress me out. There must be a pill for stress, but I haven't found it yet, and I can't afford not to work.

I am experimenting this week. When I am stressed, I crave carbs. Even if I keep my calorie count down, I believe a high carb diet is not allowing me to lose weight. This week I am going to try to maintain 1150 calories per day broken down into 20% fat calories, 35% protein calories and 45% carb calories. I have noticed that when I eat cereal for breakfast, I am much more hungry at noon than if I eat bacon and eggs (actually turkey bacon and egg substitute). With more fat and protein than carbs, I am guessing it will make a difference. We'll see next week. Also, it's spring, the weather is beautiful, and I am trying to walk 2 miles every morning. It's the only exercise I actually enjoy because I love being outside when the weather warms up. I don't care if it's sunny or not, I just love the fresh air. The monotony of a treadmill or an exercycle is just too much to bear.

Next post, I want to tell you about my experience with Hoodia. Til then, ciao.

Monday -Ooops Tuesday - Weigh In

I've been so busy that I even forgot to weigh in yesterday. I'm still holding at 164 lbs. In truth, I haven't been sticking to my 1200 calories per day diet. Instead, I am soothing my stress by indulging in Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches at 130 calories each and eating frozen entrees for dinner. This is a mindless way to count calories since they are counted for you. With all that my job entails when it is busy, I need to keep things really simple on the home front. This means a bowl of Kashi Good Friends Cereal for breakfast, a bowl of Trader Joe's Tomato Soup (in a box) and a turkey sandwich for lunch, and a frozen entree and ice cream for dessert with non-fat yogurt or a banana for a tween-meal snack. This may be more calories than I should be consuming in order to lose weight, but it's all healthy food and I'm not gaining.

So, until I have time to write again, ciao.