Today's Meditation - Control

This meditation is perfect for me.  I am forever trying to control everyone and everything - it's just my nature.  I need to work on this.

The essence of surrender is a recognition that you can't control everything.  In fact, there is very little you can control.  Give up trying to control everything and you will feel a giant weight fall off your shoulders.  Give up some of your worries to your higher power, your inner sense of wholeness, the deeper self that has intuitive wisdom and perfect peace.

Say to yourself: I am part of a whole that is larger than me and also present in me.

~Afternoon Affirmations

The Dukan Diet - Day Four

The Dukan Diet  - Day Four - Phase One - Attack


I woke up this morning eager to see how much weight I lost because I really felt that yesterday was a day of weight shedding.  To my disappointment, I had not lost any weight :(  Maybe it skips a day?


I was really depressed because my kids left to go to their dad's and I did not have plans.  Usually, I would plan my day around eating out and enjoying myself.  However, since I felt like I could not eat anything, I figured I would just go back to bed and sleep the day away.  A few hours later, I realized this was a waste of a perfectly good day off of work.


I got up and opened the refrigerator.  Seeing all that food from yesterday's shopping trip was irritating me.  By now, I usually would have sampled at least one of everything in the fridge.  Instead, I decided to consolidate some of the food into smaller containers and I began cooking sauces, dressings and other yummy looking recipes from my Duakan Diet book.  This made me happy as I discovered some tasty stuff that would help me get through my diet.  I am excited to try them with different meals and they were really easy to make.

The rest of the day pretty much went down hill :(  I was hungry all day.  While I lounged around I ate a lot of food.  I believe my two worst decisions was eating Sherbert and having more lemon juice with salt.  I felt that because the Sherbert was fat free that it would be okay, but the problem was the sugar that was in it.  Also, I guess because I knew I could not have salt, I wanted it even more.

So, today, being the fifth day of the diet will be my last for now.  I actually gained a few pounds back and throughout all of this, I have only lost one pound.  The first three days I was gun-hoe but found by day four, it was tough, especially being home for the weekend.  


Do I feel like a failure?  Yeah, kind of!  But, I did good for 3 days at least and I saw where I made my mistakes, and they are easy to fix.  Perhaps next time I try this, I will start on a Monday and I will also make sure to plan it around my female cycle.  Until next time.....

Hey, are you missing something?

 

I often wonder about the "one shoe" I see laying off to the side of the road or in the middle of the street.  

Why is there just one?

Hey, is someone missing this?

Where was the shoe before it became abandoned?  

Did it's owner just not like that shoe? 

Is someone out there walking around with only one shoe?

It's one of those things that make me go, mmmm........

The Dukan Diet - Day Three

The Dukan Diet - Day Three - Phase One - Attack

I lost three pounds since yesterday, now I am at 168.  Now that's the kind of results that I want to see!  I was not hungry this am but knew that I needed to eat before I went about my errands for the day.  I had some cooked ground turkey and put some spices in it along with my day's requirement of oat bran.  I immediately felt rumbling in my stomach.  I guess that's what the fiber is supposed to do!


Later, my stomach hurt but also felt full.  I took the kids to Culver's and boy, did everything look good, especially their ice creams.  I was good and although I was not hungry, I ordered a bowl of roast beef.  Normally, it comes on a bun and the cashier asked if I would rather have it in some lettuce (when I said I could not have the bun).  I excitedly said, "Yes".  Then I realized that I am not allowed to have lettuce until Tuesday.  So, I sadly changed my mind and just ordered a bowl of meat :(  It really was not tasty and I only ate a few bites.  So much for going out to eat.

I went into a yogurt shop next to the grocery store in hopes that I could find something nonfat since I was dreading eating any more dry meat.  To my surprise, the lady in the yogurt shop told me that all of the yogurts were nonfat!!!! I enjoyed my small bowl as I shopped.


Shopping was difficult because I was trying not to only concentrate on what I needed, but also on all of the yummy stuff my family eats.  Two hours later, I was on my way home.


Dinner time came and I chose to have a turkey drumstick and some nonfat cottage cheese.  The cottage cheese was so good, I had thirds!  The turkey was not as satisfying, but I appreciate that my hunny took the time to grill it for me :)


While watching tv, I began to crave something that I actually really enjoy and have a hard time fighting.  I know you will think it's completely weird, but I like to have a small glass of lemon juice with lemon.  Although I need to stay away from both of those, the temptation was too strong. :(  Oh, well, I am not Superwoman!!!

The Dukan Diet - Day Two

The Dukan Diet -Day Two - Phase One - Attack 

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good.  I did not feel tired or hungry.  I checked my blood sugar and was surprised that it was in the healthy range (usually my morning blood sugar is elevated).  I also checked my blood pressure - all good!

My weigh in was 171 (only lost a pound).  With only eating lean proteins and non-fat dairy yesterday (and walking for 24 minutes), I felt that maybe it would be more.  But, I am keeping a positive attitude and expecting a bigger loss within the next few days.

I pre-packed/cooked my food last night so that I had a smorgasbord of food available to me today.  I really was not hungry and ate minimal but felt fine with plenty of energy.  The challenge was at dinner time when my family decided to have McDonald's.  The smell of the fries and the look of the food was tempting, but I did well.  I also re-read some portions of my diet book and found out that I can have non-fat cream cheese and lean lunch meat.  I am excited to expand the realm of what I can eat.  I am especially excited that in a few days, I can introduce some vegetables that I like.

The Dukan Diet - Day One

The Dukan Diet - Day One - Phase One - Attack

Payday is not until tomorrow, so I had to make due with the lean proteins that I currently have in the house.  I will need to go get some oat bran before the day is over, since I am supposed to eat that every day.

I rushed to get ready this morning for work, not allowing any extra time to get my day's food prepared.  Thankfully, I was able to juggle my morning routine and grill some chicken, boil some eggs and fry some egg whites.  And surprisingly, I was not late to work.


I stuffed myself the night before at Olive Garden, so my weigh in was a little high this morning.  I am starting the diet at 172 pounds.  My goal with this diet is to get to 141 pounds by September.  This is my healthy weight.  By the way, I am 5'4 and 39 years old and I have pre-type 2 diabetes and am on some medications for high blood pressure and depression.

I have been feeling a little under the weather the last few days, so perhaps this is not the best time to start this diet.  However, I am determined and full of will, so I am going through with it.  


I started the day off with a headache and kept it all day.  I was not hungry but made myself some egg whites, Canadian bacon and drank 20 ounces of water.  At lunchtime, I still was not hungry but I had a hard-boiled egg and some non-fat yogurt.  I am allowed to have sugar-free soda, so I had a sugar-free Red Bull.  I am not sure if it's the same, but I gotta have my RB :)  Later, I had some non-dairy yogurt and 3/4 of a chicken breast.  I was feeling full so I stopped myself from eating the whole thing.  I also drank 16 oz. of sugar free tea.


I continued to have my headache into the night but applied some peppermint oil to my temple and it went away (thank goodness).  Once I got home and was in the kitchen thinking about dinner, I had another yogurt with 1 1/2 tbspn. of oat bran. I ate some rotisserie chicken and about 8 pieces of shrimp.  My family had tacos and boy, did they look good!

The funny thing about diets is that EVERYTHING you can't eat looks good.  Every commercial that came on had some appealing item and as my husband pointed out, some of them I never even eat when I can!  I am missing my lemons though.  There was a commercial with a talking lemon (for McDonald's) and my mouth began to water.  How funny.

Here We Go Again!

(IF YOU ARE READING MY BLOG THROUGH FACEBOOK, PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK TO GO DIRECTLY TO MY BLOG (view original source), THERE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE PICTURES, FORMATTING, ETC.)

Here we go again!  Yes, I am starting to diet and I know that I have made attempts in the past.  But I am going to move past that thought and focus on the diet at hand.

The Dukan Diet involves four phases.

• Phase One: Attack (A 2 to 7 day period during which dramatic weight loss is achieved.)
• Phase Two: Cruise (Eat as much as you want of 100 foods.  Alternating days of pure protein with days of protein plus healthful vegetables allows you to reach your weight loss goal.)
• Phase Three: Consolidation (Stay on this phase for 5 days for every pound lost, adding fruits, bread, cheese, and other vegetables.)
• Phase Four: Permanent Stabilization (Eat whatever you like without regaining weight, provided that you follow three unbreakable rules, including eating only unlimited lean protein one set day per week.)

So, I have begun day one of the Attack Phase and will be "attacking" for the next five days.  I will be recording my thoughts, feelings and results on a daily basis, so please stay tuned.