So the food has been ENTIRELY too bland, even with the hopeful addition of Nu-Salt (blech – no salt taste at all). So tonight we tried a recipe from the plan…chili. And man, was it AMAZING, at least compared to what we’ve been eating. Tomatoes (no salt added) for veggies, pinto beans for carbs, and ground turkey for protein. Add some spices, garlic, and onion, and I have a new meal I think I could literally eat every day!!
Category Archives: Health & Well-Being
Body Makeover Update
Although meals at work went smashingly well, dinner was not enticing at all. AT ALL. Disheartening, if I was to pick a word. Fried potatoes, onions, and mushrooms SOUNDED good, but with no oil, salt, or butter, it was just BLAH (and I came to realize I don’t like fresh mushrooms AT ALL in that context). And the cooked broccoli was even worse—I couldn’t even eat it (granted, it was from frozen and not fresh, but still). It was one of those meals where in a normal world, you would eat, then 30 minutes later you’re prowling for something else to eat because you weren’t satisfied. The best part of the evening was the half of banana I had for my PM snack.
I know we still have more experimenting to do and recipes to try, but suffice it to say that overall I am disappointed thus far. And we’re already through one $14 bag of chicken and we’re only on Day 2. Hoo boy.
I will make it through the first week, then I will be adding SOME salt and SOME oil, otherwise this diet is DONE. I never thought food would be THIS unappetizing without the addition of some seasonings (okay, salt and fat). We have red pepper flakes and lemon juice and garlic powder and cumin and pepper and all that…but THEY’RE NOT SALT. Tom is picking up some salt substitute tonight, so hopefully that will change my perspective.
There is good news, though…I lost 2#. I know it’s mostly water, but still. It’s nice to see 2# less on the scale.
Six week body makeover
Tom and I are starting a new “diet” today…it’s called the 6 Week Body Makeover (this is the guy who Extreme Makeover uses). Let’s just say it’s going to be interesting. We’re used to low-carb…as much red meat, cheese, butter, bacon, olive oil, etc. as you want. Now we’re switching to NO red meat, NO cheese, NO butter, NO bacon, NO olive oil, and NO salt…but we do get rice, potatoes, and quite a variety of fruit. Hoo boy. The plan is quite regimented, but you’re supposed to lose up to 30# in the six weeks—in addition to reshaping your body (you have a personalized 18-minute workout twice a week). If anything, it can’t hurt us.
Before we ordered it, I read the reviews of it, and of course there were pros and cons. The biggest con (which I already agree with) is that it takes quite a bit of time preparing to eat since you need to eat six small meals a day (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack). And it’s not like oh, grab a chicken breast and a banana for lunch—it’s 2oz of protein (chicken), 1/2 cup of fruit (pineapple), and 1 cup vegetables (green beans)…so everything needs to be premeasured and put in containers. And since we eat three of those meals/snacks at work, we have to have lots of little containers. For both of us. That’s a lot of little containers. (Have I mentioned that’s lots of little containers?) Last night we grilled about 5# of chicken breast, made a huge batch of rice, baked 6 small potatoes, and fried up some bell peppers—just so we can cut out some food prep time for our breakfast and at-work meals.
We were both a little afraid of being hungry. I mean, we’re used to pretty much eating however much we want as long as it’s low-carb but now we’re restricted to very small portions. I estimate that I get the equivalent of a medium- to large- sized chicken breast over the entire day (I think it’s 8oz of protein). That’s quite a difference from having one chicken breast for lunch and one for dinner. I was especially worried about the two measly scrambled egg whites and pineapple I had for breakfast…but come 11:30 I was just starting to get hungry so I ate my snack and probably won’t eat lunch until 1:30 or 2:30, with another snack around 4:30. So…so far, so good. I can’t wait until we’re more comfortable with it and can experiment more. Right now, we’re more concerned with the basics, so it’s chicken three times a day, plain fruit twice a day, the same veggies twice a day, and a cup of rice a day. Boring, but hopefully effective.
The worst part is we have a pantry and freezer full of low-carb stuff we can no longer eat. (That’ll teach me to stock up.)
Wish us luck!
My poor aching back.
Oh my aching back. My poor, poor aching back. All from swatting haplessly (helplessly?) at a bucket of balls for an hour TWO days ago. Am I in sad, pitiful, pathetic shape or what?
Forgotten Wallets and Locked Cars
So it’s 8:09am and I’m waiting for Tom to come home…to unlock my car. Hoo boy. He finally got the garage cleaned out yesterday so I can park in it again—-so as I’ve been doing since I’ve started parking in the garage, I left my keys in it. So I just went out to leave for work and—-surprise!—-the car is locked. What? Huh? Why on earth is it locked? It had to be Tom… The funny thing is that I already talked to him once this morning, about 20 minutes ago, when he called to tell me he forgot his wallet and would I bring it in with me! Ironically, this same thing happened about a month ago—-and before that, we’d never locked our keys in the car (at least since we’ve been in NC). Tom swore up and down that he didn’t do it—-that he even UNlocked it this morning. Unfortunately, it’s locked, so he did it! Oh well. So he’s on his way home now and I’ll be a little late for work. And to top it off, I feel like crap. I started feeling icky yesterday, slept nicely last night courtesy of Nyquil, and feel like I could still be in bed sleeping nicely. Sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, clogged head. Fun, fun, fun!
Root Canal
Tom has been having some tooth pain for about a week. At first he didn’t think much about it, but the pain got worse and worse. Today he called me about 9:30 and said “I’m going in for a root canal in 15 minutes.” Wow. Just—-wow. He’s already called me and he went back to work for a bit and now he’s at home. You gotta love Mondays!
Mail Order Scripts Rock!
So I finally called TriCare today about the insane cost of the pills. Long story short, it’s really the pharmacist’s fault for inputting 91 pills instead of 90 (because TriCare authorizes those as a 90-day supply). However, I can get the same thing via mail order pharmacy for $9. Yes, by going via mail order, you automatically get three months for the price of one! OOH RAH! The only small drawback is that now I have to go back to the docs and get a new prescription—hopefully I can just explain the situation and have the doc write a new scrip. But this is definitely better than paying $36!!
It’s the principle
So I went to pick up my birth control pills today (the new Seasonale three-month pack), expecting a $27 co-pay like last time ($9/month). Except this time, it’s $36. Huh? The pharmacist said that Tricare only covers THREE months of pills (30 pills/month for 90 total pills) so they have to charge me for four months since there are 91 pills. I am not kidding. I am being charged $9 for (basically) the sugar pills—or, actually, one of the seven sugar pills. This has to be a new thing since two months ago they weren’t doing this (and of course, the stupid pharmicist wouldn’t let me get a year’s worth at one time like I wanted). But this is truly ASININE. So now I have to call Tricare to see what the hell is up and if there’s any way around it (other than going to month-at-a-time pills instead of the three-month-at-a-time pills). I hate this. I hate being annoying with Tricare since they just paid $4000 for my surgery. And I know it’s only $9, but it’s the principle of the thing. Stay tuned.
Micsellaneous Updates
I found my Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi last night!! I was getting gas last night and thought “Hey, I should check here!” Of course it wasn’t on sale like the Coke was, but I bought it anyway! You can tell I was desperate to have it, since I’ve NEVER IN MY LIFE paid $4.49 for a 12-pack of pop! (I rationalize it by saying it’s still only 37¢ a can.)
Tom should be heading home in two weeks!! Of course I’ve known that he’s coming home soon, but I was looking at the countdown clock last night and “14 days” just hit me like a ton of bricks! FOURTEEN DAYS! TWO WEEKS! Of course, he may not actually make it home for 3-4 weeks at most, but still… I’m getting excited!
It’s time to start seriously watching carbs again!! As most of you probably know, I’ve sort of given up on the whole STRICT no-carb thing since Tom’s been gone. (Well, I did okay for the first three months…but Christmas sucked me in and it’s been downhill ever since!) I had been thinking I would wait until Tom came home and then we’d both start again, but I HAVE to start now…a pair of khakis that used to be loose straight from the dryer are now just a bit tight (definitely still wearable, but definitely not loose). Uh oh. I’ve consciously known what I’ve been doing, though, so I only have myself to blame. So, it’s back to being strict again…which is good, since I’ve been feeling sluggish again. I just find it amazing that the food you eat can have SUCH an effect on your body and your outlook! So, I’m actually looking forward to starting!!
Losing my mind.
So it’s 11 on a Friday night and what do you think I’m contemplating doing? Going to Walmart. Can you believe it?!? I think I’m losing my mind! I’m not super tired plus I haven’t been there in ages plus I’m hoping it wouldn’t be that busy this time of night… but do I really want to go out?? It would save a trip into town later this weekend, since I could in essence get everything I want in one place… but do I NEED to go? Not really. I will need to go to town sooner or later since I actually do need bread and eggs and cream…and I generally run my errands on the weekend so I don’t have to stay in town after work. But I’ve been hmmming and hawing for 20 minutes now as to whether or not I should actually go…thinking the trip will take an hour at the minimum (20 minutes there, 20 minutes back, plus at least 20 minutes to shop—but probably more) and do I really want to go out at 11? (Geez, it sounds like I’m 80 years old!) Part of me wants to go just to DO something, since I rarely do anything on the weekends anymore. (I know, I know…I’ve wanted my weekends off for three years and now that I have them off I don’t do anything! I will, though, when Tom gets home! I promise!) But part of me, even though I’m not that tired, just wants to crawl into bed and channel-flip. But I know if I don’t go now I won’t go at all—Walmart is NOT a place to go on a weekend afternoon… So now it’s 11:21 and I definitely could have been there by now. So it looks like I’ve procrastinated long enough that I won’t be going. And so goes my typical boring Friday night… LOL
Support hose are evil!
As I’m sure most women will agree, one of the most uncomfortable things we have to wear is pantyhose. Now, just imagine (if you will) the need to wear support hose. And we’re not just talking the suck-in-your-gut-and-smooth-out-your-cellulite variety, but the actual medically-necessary support hose…which are like support hose to the Nth degree. Otherwise known as the type I am supposed to wear.
Now, if you will, imagine wearing a pair of these support hose…and imagine that they are just a bit too small for you. So they pull. And they rub. And they chafe. And what ever else they’re doing (or not doing) under there that I can’t even begin to describe—other than to say it’s actually almost PAINFUL. Let me just say the grass is NOT greener… Before, I was whining about my other pair that was a tad too big so they constantly gathered at the knees ALL DAY LONG and I spent all day pulling them up. But at least those aren’t painful.
So I have been suffering with these since 7am and I am seriously ready to peel them off, doctors orders be damned… except I have dinner plans tonight and am stuck in town (and in public!) until probably 8pm…and I don’t think I want to go stockingless in a dress and boots…although, honestly, it’s sounding VERY tempting!
What exactly are weekends for?
It seems all I do all week is look forward to the weekend…and then the weekend gets here and what do I do? Nothing exciting, that’s for damn sure. So far, I’ve done three loads of laundry, watched some Tivo, cleaned up the bathroom (i.e. not a full clean, more like a move stuff around, dust, and throw old things away clean), cleaned off the bedroom dresser—and there’s still so much to be done!
I don’t like these kinds of weekends, but there’s not much else to do since Tom is gone and all our friends have moved… I usually feel like I should run to town on the weekends (since I don’t go during the week because I hate getting home that late), but if I go to town, I just end up spending money I don’t need to spend on crap I don’t really need. But if I stay home the entire weekend, I feel like a bump on a log. I am going out tomorrow for a baby shower/housewarming, but it still doesn’t feel like much. I think I need a life. Or just maybe having Tom home again?! 🙂
Playing Catch-Up
What does my weekend consist of after having been on vacation for a week and coming home to outpatient surgery (I had a varicose vein removed from my leg)??? Laundry, laundry, and more laundry—I am currently on load 2 of 9! I guess I should throw in some cleaning, as well.
FYI: Temperature update? A brisk 37 degrees! It was 21 this morning! Brrrrrr!