Sometimes you really need junk food

There is a reason I need to lose weight...I love food, and the worse it is for you, the more I seem to like it. I have finally decided to kick myself in the butt and stop this gut expansion before it gets out of hand. Part of that change of mindset needs to be the idea that being thinner and healthier will feel better in the long run than that instant gratification you get when you eat something really tasty. But you know what, all the positive platitudes in the world can't curb a craving sometimes, so I went on the hunt for a better option, and I came up with some Mozzarella Sticks. Low carb, greasy, and cheesy...what more can you ask for?

I pretty much did what the above blog post told me to. I started out with some string cheese. I cut them in half for easier handling in the frying stage.

Next up, a simple egg bath. I like to add a splash of milk or cream to my egg, it seems to help it stick a little better.

My breading consisted of ground up pork rinds (I really need a food processor!), Parmesan cheese, and some almond flour. I also threw in some dried oregano, salt, and garlic powder.

After dipping the cut up cheese in the egg bath, I tossed them into the bag of breading. A little shake and bake action...and voila! Cheese sticks. At this point, I put these bad johnny's in the freezer...I guess it helps in the frying process with the cheese. I don't know, but I had an episode of 24 going, so a 30 minute break was in order.

Since I am not a total piglet, I only fried up 8 of these guys, the rest of them are safely awaiting their day of deliciousness in the freezer...see, you can be like a normal person! I have some frozen food!

After a quick dip in some canola oil (which I think there are probably better options, but I have a big ol' jug of it to use, so I'm using what I got) these little suckers are gooey, brown, and ready to be dipped in some homemade marinara sauce. You could use the jar stuff, but if you look at the labels, you will see how much extra crap they put in there...so I have just made up a batch of my own marinara sauce, and keep it in a jar in the fridge.

This certainly isn't an everyday type of meal, I try to keep the deep frying down to a minimum, but when the craving hits, this is a great option to turn to for some grub.

A new discovery

I have never really been a potato chip eater so I haven't missed eating them on this new diet. But, I used to love eating fried chicken and other battered food that was fried. It is almost cruel how eating a low carb diet can be...here is a diet where the oil is not the enemy, but the breading on the outside! Well, in searching for new ways to prepare my old favorites, I stumbled across a suggestions...pork rinds. I have never eaten pork rinds before, honestly, they sounded pretty nasty...deep friend pork skins? No thank you. But I saw some folks using them as a breading by grinding them up, so I thought I would give it a whirl...and you know what. It's not so bad. Is it just like the real thing? No, it never will be...I made some Eggplant Parmesan last night...will eggplant breaded in ground up pork rinds, deep fried in olive oil taste the same as real breaded eggplant deep fried in corn oil? Nope, but it was so darn close, I don't even miss the other stuff. So far, I feel like I have been pretty successful with cutting the carbs. I have shed 10 lbs with just a change in the diet...I certainly don't starve myself, I just keep my carb intake to around 50g a day. I am planning on adding in some exercise soon and hopefully I will continue to feel good!

The very most important thing to remember...

...when on a diet is to always, ALWAYS keep healthy food in the house at all times! Do not allow the fridge and cupboards to go bare! Last night, I had the option of frozen steak or an apple for dinner. What choices! I didn't even have any veggies around. So what did I start to do? Scavenge for unhealthy crap. And because of the Mr.'s job, we have on hand some quick, 90 second microwave meals that were calling my name. Loaded with salt, sugars, and carbs.
I was able to resist...I had one big ole steak for dinner, and I didn't really enjoy it. Tonight, I am going to the grocery store to stock up on some options to keep the temptations from creeping back up!

Yeah...I'm terrible at this

No lie, I am terrible at blogging, this is apparent by the major gap in entries. Oh well, what can I say. Update on Mission: Cutting the Carbs. Week One...went pretty good. It was tough when my co-workers decided that this would be the week that we would all go out to lunch, and of course we would all go out to pizza...so not low-carb friendly. Also, week one was the first win of my firms softball team, so it was the week we all went out to celebrate with beer and pizza...again, not low-carb friendly. But aside from those two happenings, I did pretty well. Week two is another story. I was out of town at a conference for school. The conference kind of dictated my life, including what I ate. Often times, lunch that was provided (and there was no way of not eating what was provided) was a box lunch of a sandwich, chips, an apple, and soda. I did my best by eating one slice of bread, skipping the chips, and snagging an extra apple when someone else didn't want theirs. But, if I am totally honest, part of this conference was also about networking, and a lot of the networking happened over happy hour...which meant that I had a beer 4 of the 7 nights I was there...yikes! If it's any consolation to myself, I stuck to Coors light instead of my usually Hefewisen...that has gotta be something...right!
Week three I was back on track! I have done pretty well. I have had one day where my boss took some of us out for beers and apps to celebrate a big win, but other than that one beer and couple onion rings, I have stuck to my diet. Despite the times I have faltered, I am encouraged by my results. So far, I have lost 5 pounds! That may not sound so great, especially since I am now starting Week 4...but since I basically had a week where I said "F*** it" right in the middle...5lbs seems pretty fair.

So what am I eating today? For breakfast, I had egg muffins. Over the weekend, I did a lot of cooking so I would have lots of food ready to heat and eat. These egg muffins had egg, sausage, cheese, and green bell peppers. I had two, which is equivalent to about two eggs. For lunch, I am having a BBQ'd chicken leg and some Mockafoni and Cheese . For dinner tonight, I am going to try to re-create a dish my friend had a restaurant in LA with Asparagus, Bacon and an Egg and maybe have a steak or something.

I also wanted to share a yummy find I cooked last night! I was craving pizza. Pizza is one of my very favorite foods, I can never have enough pizza, when I was looking into this low-carb lifestyle, pizza was one of the first things I thought about, so I looked up different low-carb versions, and I was pleased to find quite a lot of different varieties. Last night, I was craving pizza like crazy, so it was the night to try my hand at some low carb pizza. I went with a cauliflower crust because from all my reading, that has been, across the board, the most "real" pizza crust. I went with this recipe, and the taste was great. I don't think it was cauliflower-y at all...and after all, for me at least, the crust has always been a way to get the yummy toppings to my mouth. My only complaint is that the crust got soggy as the pizza say. When it came hot out of the oven, my god it was perfect! When I put the leftovers away, the crust was quite soggy. So next time, I think I will do more of what this recipe did. The major difference is that the second recipe drains the moisture out of the cauliflower, which I think will help with the soggy issue.

As a pizza lover, this is a GODSEND! It was so yummy! Is it exactly like it's carb loaded counterpart? No, but will it add inches to my ass? I sure hope not!
Picture time!

Day...9

I am clearly not a model blogger...but I will try to be better! In my battle to cut the carbs out of my life, I lost this weekend. :insert frown face: It all started on Friday afternoon. A bunch of my co-workers thought it would be fabulous to go out to lunch as a group. Of course they wanted pizza, and of course it had to be my first week into my new lifestyle! Ack! Not wanting to be a spoil-sport or the odd woman out, I went along, and I made sure to eat all of my giant salad to try to fill up on something other than delicious pizza. I fail...I still ate all of my mini personal pizza. After that, I kind of said to hell with it and went on a carb binge. Rice with my curry, popcorn at Harry Potter, pasta, and Chinese food...all spread out over the weekend. Sunday night, I felt like a failure.
But the good thing about life is every day, you get to start over...so I did. I am back on track! Last night I made some low-carb no bake cookies...I forgot to take pictures, but they look a little like poo anyways, so no pictures needed. I used this recipe, but I added some 70% cocoa to make them a little closer to the traditional no-bake cookies I had growing up. They are so yummy! Still not super healthy, so I can only eat one a day, but perfect for when I am feeling carb-deprived.
On to today's menu...
Breakfast:
     Natural Peanut Butter
     Apple
Lunch:
     Spaghetti Squash with parm cheese
     Yummy no bake cookie
Dinner:
     Chicken Thigh
     Brussel Sprouts in butter

Day Two

Day one was actually pretty easy I thought. I hope that cutting the carbs remains this easy. Yesterday, I bought some Coconut Flour and a Cookbook from Amazon. I am hoping that I can make some decent bread substitutes with the flour...maybe some crepe-like wraps will be in my future.

Meals for today:
Breakfast:
     -Greek Yogurt (Fage 2%) mixed with natural applesauce and a handful of almonds. (BTW, great way to sweeten Greek yogurt, it was super yummy!)

Lunch:
     -Leftover steak from dinner last night, and sliced cucumbers and bell peppers (red and green)
     -Gala Apple with some natural sun butter to dip

Dinner:
     -Spaghetti squash with meat marinara sauce

Day One

So today is the day I am changing my life. After a lot of reading and researching, it is so clear and obvious that if I want to be a leaner and thinner me, I need to look at changing my eating habits as a whole life change. No diets, no cleanses...just life-altering changes, what's so hard about that? So, here is the start of the change, by cutting the carbs, I honestly believe that I will lead a happier, healthier life.
Day One Measurements: (These won't be posted every day, but you gotta know where you started to know where you end up, right?)
Weight: 160 lbs
Chest: 35 inches
Waist: 28 inches
Upper hips: 38 inches
Lower hips: 40 inches

Today's Menu:
Breakfast:
     -2 egg omelet with bell peppers, cheese, and bacon
     -1 cup of herbal lemon tea

Lunch
     -Big Ole Salad: Lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and tuna. Topped with ranch dressing.

Snacks
     -Almonds, Dried cranberries, cheese cubes

Dinner
     -Skirt Steak marinated in soy and sesame oil sauce
     -Steamed Artichoke with butter dip

What's missing? A couple things you will never find on this blog will be calorie counts or amounts. How much I eat will be how much it takes me to fill up. Counting calories has always seemed to have a negative effect on me. Whenever I started counting and tracking calories, I would start to see the numbers fall lower and lower. Sounds great if you are dieting, right? Isn't the best way to lose weight to reduce the calories you take in? I guess that would be true if the calories in/calories out idea was true, but from research, and my own personal experience, I never really lost a ton of weight when my calories dropped to 1,000 a day, instead, I would maintain, and maintain, and then get discouraged and eat a big, unhealthy burrito or something...then bam, 2 lbs up. So I am done...no more counting calories. I believe that my body will tell me when I need food, and when I do not need food...I just need to learn to listen to it.