Well, today is my birthday.  A lot of people break their diet for the day.  If you can prepare for your birthday and lose a pound or two more, then you can take on the extra carbs, so why not?  In my case, I had gained a few pounds and today was the first weigh in day that came out normal.  I do not want to ruin the good strides that I made, so I am not splurging on food.  

Why does food have to be the birthday reward anyway?  Whoever came up with that idea?  

Instead, I went to Peets Coffee and got my favorite Americano, and then I went to Target and bought a few extra new shirts and a few knick knacks and had fun there.  Tonight, I will go out for a delicious salad with chicken with my husband and maybe it will be BBQ to be different.  The fun is being with him and getting my Carbolite protein snack later on.  I am even going to get my car washed now as a treat to myself.  

I will NOT be having birthday cake.  Whoever came up with cake as a birthday must-have?  If you absolutely must do it, go split a piece of Cheesecake Factory low-carb cheesecake with your best friend (each half is about 17 g of carbs).  But, a piece of chocolate cake with icing is 35g of carbs (mostly sugar).  In my book, it is not worth it unless I am below my goal.  Last night I worked out for two hours and how stupid to ruin it for a piece of cake when I am perfectly happy with my Carbolite frozen dessert.

A couple of people sent me flowers and I love the flowers.  Thank you for not sending food!  A client gave me a chocolate bar, which is mostly natural and a third of it is 17g of carbs.  Not bad if you need that chocolate fix….however……

FOOD DOES NOT HAVE TO BE A REWARD.  We have to get over that mindset.  It is crazy.  It is what gets us fat in the first place.

I was shopping at Costco, thinking about getting some yogurt.  Some people eat yogurt every day and they don’t realize that most brands of yogurt are high in sugar, have some protein, but are high in carbs.  Yoplait regular yogurt with no fat has 17 g carbs and 5 protein. The original Yoplait has 33 g carbs.

(that is a lot if you don’t want more than 50 to 100 g carbs in a day to lose weight.

I noticed one named, Oikos Greek Yogurt, at Costco.  Some of this brand has  low carbs and some have high carbs.  Don’t let the no fat or lite fat fool you.  The carbs will mess up your diet.

The Greek Yogurts are usually lighter in carbs.  I wound up deciding on   (Dannon Lite & Fit Greek) Serving Size: 1 container, Calories: 80, Fat: 0g, Carbs: 8g, Protein: 12.  It had fruit at the bottom, it was low carb and high protein.  And it was SUPER delicious.  I completely recommend it for those who think that they might not like Greek Yogurt.  I am eating them daily now for my snack.  They are good for bringing with you to work or outings.  Another snack idea for low carbs, high protein.  Remember 6 meals a day and three of them can be things like this!  Kind of like a dessert and protein all in one!

I see people eating portions that are ridiculous for their size. Food sizes have increased over the years (and so have people!).  People make the mistake of eating out and thinking that the restaurant-sized portion on their plate is the portion that they should entirely eat.  They trained their brains and stomach to want MORE MORE MORE.  Chances are, you should eat half of it or a third of what is there.  I always get a take away box up front, divide the food up and put it in the box and then only eat what is on my plate.  Out of sight, out of mind!  If you eat a sandwich, think about it.  ONE slice of bread is about 15g or more carbs.  If you eat a whole sandwich, there are two slices of bread.  Chances are the protein portion is about 3 times too big to lose weight.  And then people eat potato salad or chips and you just can’t do that if you want to lose weight.  You will put weight on, not take it off.

If you want to lose weight, here is what worked for me and most people on low carb diets.  It is very simple:

50 to 100 carbs a day, closer to 50, the better!

Learn to measure.  Size does matter!  This is what I learned from the pros and worked for me.  After a week or two, you will be able to just eyeball stuff and know the weight or size.

1.  I ate protein 6 times a day, about every 2 to 3 hours.  Don’t let a lot of time pass in between.  Starving yourself in between meals slows down your metabolism and you will not lose weight.  You have to BURN!  If you eat chicken, turkey, meat, soy (6 ounces of soy), 1/3 cup of a veggie burger–your protein choice shouldn’t weigh more than 4 ounces at each meal.  You can also do low carb protein bars or a small greek yogurt.  Just saw a Dannon lite one with 8 carbs, with fruit at the bottom at Costco, and at other markets.  String cheese and lite mini Baby Bells.  Protein bars like Power Crunch or Nature Valley Protein Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate are lower in carbs, but be careful, some are high.  Protein drinks are good too, check carbs.  Trader Joes has two and they are about 4 or 5g carbs each (better chilled).

2.  I ate 2 cups of lettuce two times a day (lunch and dinner). Fat free dressing and look on the label for the carbs and factor that into your day’s allotment of carbs.

3.  I ate roughly about a cup of any vegetable twice a day.  If it is an onion or carrots, only half of a cup.  If you can stay away from most root starchy vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams.  Too many carbs and they spike up your blood sugar.  Look up a recipe online or on my blog history on how to make cauliflower-based “mashed potatoes” without the potatoes.  Tastes great.  NO CHIPS!

(to make life easier, I made a salad twice a day that had my lettuce, a protein and my veggies in it (I would do something like half a cup of tomato and 1/4 cup of carrots in my salad to do a smaller mix of two rather than just eat one at each meal.  And this way, two proteins were accounted for with a salad.)

4.  Diet drinks.  Coffee can have non-dairy creamer, but if you use milk, that is a protein.  Look at the carbs for it and factor it in as one of the six proteins for the day.  1 cup is 12 carbs.  I gave up milk in my coffee, and I carried non-dairy creamer cups in my car because I didn’t want to give up a meal just to put milk in my coffee.  Use the creamer sparingly, there are carbs, but not nearly as much as milk.

5.  Each fruit has different amounts of carbs and you need to eat two a day.  I lost little weight with apples and bananas, as they are high in carbs, so I stuck with a citrus fruit or a cup of berries like strawberries or blueberries (you can put them in your yogurt).

6.  I stayed away from bread, oatmeal and cereal.  You can have bread or a grain twice a week in place of a fruit.  But, they are high in carbs (one slice is usually 15g or more carbs and a cup of strawberries is only 11g carbs.  So choose wisely.  In fact, Julian Bakery in stores like Whole Foods or online orders has very low carb bread.  Western Bagel makes a bagel that is 10g net carbs (Perfect 10).  So you can have your grain twice a week and if you get the right one, you can keep losing weight.  Before I found out about the low carb breads and I had a normal slice of bread (despite counting carbs), I would get stuck in my weight.  So, I tended to avoid the grain substitution altogether because I wanted to lose weight!

7.  A dessert after dinner would be one of my six proteins, but done 2 or 3 hours after dinner to keep your metabolism running better.  I would have Carbolite frozen dessert and count the carbs.  8 ounces had 16 carbs.  Or I would look at a Skinny Cow dessert or something that had a milk or something yummy to it so it felt like a dessert, but it was a protein.  Look at the label and make sure it has protein.  The more protein, the better.  There are lite chocolate puddings, etc.  You don’t want to feel deprived, but if you do it in a way that still follows the rules, then you can lose weight.  Cheesecake Factory has a low carb cheesecake now that is about 35g carbs.  That is still a lot, but think about only eating half or sharing it with a friend.  I think there is a low carb one at Whole Foods too.

8.  A way to kick start your metabolism is to eat some carbs for a day or two and then, do ONLY proteins for 3 days.  Nothing else.  Just the three proteins, every 2 to 3 hours–along with beverages.  Then, start the above plan.

9.  If you want pancakes or pasta as a protein to break up the monotony, then look at low carb websites for low carb replacements.  Lindora.com ( you don’t have to be a member) has a protein infused pancake mix and a pasta.  They are really good and worth the money.  They will let you lose weight.  But, keep the carb content in mind as you factor it into your day.  An egg is only one carb, so that might have to be your lunch or snacks to balance it out.  I did this a couple of times a week and stuck mostly to meat and eggs as my protein.  Jenny O Chicken Sausage is a VERY low carb delicious way to get your protein!

–Important! Do not use regular syrup if you want to lose weight.  ONLY 2 tablespoons of most maple syrups are about 50g carbs. INSANITY.  So, look at lite syrups.  I believe Aunt Jemima Lite is not that lite at about 21g carbs per 1/4 cup (a lot more than 2 tablespoons), when you compare it to some like Walden Farms lite at 10g carbs per 1/4 cup or IHOP Lite Syrup at 5g carbs per 1/4 cup.

10.  Exercise!  Even if you can just walk.  But do it!  It helps you burn and you will burn.  You will be going into ketosis, where your body is now burning fat. (Rules for ketosis, including checking with your doctor and making sure you are ok to do this weight loss planhttp://www.livestrong.com/article/132636-ketosis-weight-loss-rules/.  )

AND REALIZE THAT IF YOU DON’T ADOPT THIS AS A LIFESTYLE. AND YOU GO BACK TO EATING A LOT MORE THAN THIS (OUTSIDE OF ADDING IN A LITTLE BIT MORE OF FRUITS, VEGGIES AND PROTEIN),….

AND YOU GO BACK TO REGULAR MAPLE SYRUPS AND DESSERTS, AND YOU DON’T COUNT CARBS PER DAY, YOU WILL PUT IT BACK ON.  LEARN TO MAKE DIFFERENT THINGS LIKE MY CAULIFLOWER BASED PIZZA RECIPE AND DELICIOUS TURKEY MEATLOAF AND YOU WON’T FEEL SO DEPRIVED.  IF YOU FEEL DEPRIVED, YOU WILL CHEAT.

This is not a punishment.  This is actually what you really should be doing.  You trained your body to eat too much before, and now you have to train it to eat right and balanced.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/americans-obese-2030-report-warns/story?id=17260134#.UFuwW7KPX09

This article came out.  So, why is this happening? Maybe it is because almost everyone I see around me really does not look into the nutritional content of what they are eating.  They go out, and order a sandwich and a salad, and they think that is pretty healthy.  Well, the healthiness of that choice all depends on how the meal was prepared:  What is in it and what is the content of what is in it?

For example.  I can eat a slice of pizza from Dominoes.  A normal slice of cheese pizza is about 25g carbs and thin pizza is 20g carbs.  But, the worst offender, Costco  (Pizza Hut as a runner-up) is about 70g carbs–for just a regular slice of cheese pizza.  So, the size of the pizza slice and how it is made is important to know.

If you go out to eat, you should have a little information on what you are eating, or you should stick to a salad with a protein, with the dressing on the side.  If you don’t do that or plan and bring things with you, and you just eat whatever, whenever, expect your weight to go up.  My next blog, I want to talk about portions and choices of food, as I saw a heavy girl yesterday eating a very large sandwich AND a bag of chips (she needed all of that like a hole in the head).

Choose wisely today and remember, what is important in a diet or change of lifestyle is not that you are losing a lot of weight at once, it is that you are consistent in your choices and losing, and keeping it off over the long haul.  Eat proportionally, not like this little guy!

You need to look at food labels if you want to keep slim.  You would be amazed at how many carbs are in things!

You want items that are high protein and low carb.  You also want more fiber and not too much sugar.

Let’s look at some protein bars for instance.   There are many websites which will show you the food labels.  Caloriecount.about.com, myfitnesspal.com and livestrong.com and  http://tracker.dailyburn.com/nutrition/food_search will give you this information.

Some people think that if they eat a Balanced Bar, that it will be a good nutritional snack.  Well, a Balanced Bar basically has about 23 g carbs, 1 or 2 g fiber, 17 or 18 g sugar and 14 or so g protein.  So, great on protein, but not so good on carbs, fiber or sugar.  Similar information on many protein bars, including the Special K bars.

Better bars in numbers, Oh Yeah, Think Thin, Power Crunch and Nature Valley Protein Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate (pretty much the only Nature Valley item that I would recommend).

The Power Crunch is only 10 g carbs (the lowest I have found), only 5 g of sugars (compared to others at 15 g plus), 14 g of protein (pretty good) and only 1 g fiber.  So, good on everything, except the fiber.

The Nature Valley bar previously mentioned is 14 g carbs, 10g protein, 6 g sugar and 5 grams fiber.  So, basically not too bad.  I do wish that the sugar was lower, but it is better in the other areas.  If anyone finds something that tastes n this decadent and is better in all categories, please let me know.  I have tried the Oh Yeah, which is lower in sugar and it just was not as tasty as this bar was!  A girl has to have something that tastes good while eating well and to stay thin!

I challenge you to start looking at labels.  The article on how looking at food labels is attached.  I challenge you to read it.

http://www.elements4health.com/paying-attention-to-food-labels-pays-off-on-the-scale-for-weight-loss.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+elements4health%2FmTrh+%28Elements4Health+%29

Be careful with cereal and rice.  LOADED IN CARBS.  Here is a food label of a generic corn flakes box for ONE cup (have you measured a cup?  It is small) of corn flakes.  How many of us only eat ONE cup of cereal?

Cereal has lots of carbs, not a lot of protein.  Good choice for breakfast?  One egg has no sugar, 6 g of protein and ZERO carbs.  And don’t even get me started on rice!  I am just sayin….

I was in the mood today for some pasta.  But a regular small serving of spaghetti is about 35g of carbs WITHOUT the sauce.  You can get high protein, low carb pastas on the internet or a low carb store.  Lindora, for instance has one that tastes great and is about 5g of carbs.  http://store.lindora.com/index.php/hot-and-hearty-proteins/protini-pasta.html

So, I cooked the pasta, heated up a little marinara sauce.  Check the bottles, some are higher than? others.  You can always buy low carb online (Netrition.come or Carbesstentials.net for instance).  But, mine was about 8 carbs per half cup.  I mixed that up and sprinkled a little ZERO carb cheese on top, which made it so delish!  Anyway, about 13 carbs for my delicious lunch.

Who is suffering on a diet?  Not me!

So, you didn’t plan ahead.  You ran out of the house and brought no snacks or lunch.  What to do?

1.  Keep nuts and seeds or low carb protein bars (like Power Crunch)  at your desk, in your purse, or in your car.  You can eat a handful of them (not the whole jar).

2.  You can grab some cheese or hard boiled eggs and run out the door with those (try to keep them in supply at home)

3.  If you must run through fast food out of desperation:  Always look for chargrilled chicken-type things.  Some places do chargrilled nuggets or strips upon request.  I know Chick Fil A does.  In fact, attached is my food run today, as my husband is busy and I wanted to pick up a quick lunch and go home to assist my dogs.  I bought the Chick Fil A Chargrilled  Chicken Salad.  http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Menu-Detail/ChickfilA-Chargrilled-Chicken-Garden-Salad#?details=ingredients  It is only 11g carbs.  I do not eat the croutons at 9g carbs for the bag.  I do like the sunflower seeds at 3g of carbs.  Watch the dressing.  I love the honey mustard dressing which has a lot of carbs, but I use it sparingly.  Their balsamic vinaigrette has no carbs.  So, use your discretion.  However, this is a wiser decision than getting the chargrilled chicken wrap at a whopping 50g carbs and the Chargrilled Sandwich at 36g carbs (the bun!).  And their classic Chicken Sandwich is 42g carbs.

Choose your junk food wisely and sparingly!  Always look at the nutrition lists that most places have hanging up or are available by request.