Onederland

Earlier I described the phenomena of onderland. It was a while back when one scale died and I purchased a new one.  The new one weighed me in significantly less.  I knew better but physiologically I was at a point that I needed to celebrate so I did!


This morning, I was actually there! My scale weighs in tenths.  I was barely there but I was there.  This is going to be a difficult week to not pop back out of onerland.  It is the week of the month that I retain water.  It is also my birthday this week so we are going out for a special supper.  I am not worried about it.  I am used to bouncing 3-4 pounds. 


I am a bit curious to see how it is going to bounce this week.  There is one other thing different.  My blood sugar levels have been bouncing between 98 and 113 which is very good.  After all, that is my target to be healthy and medicine free without a doctor nagging me.  I know that the doctors want me about 60 pounds lighter but I don't think that would be a healthy weight for me.  Too skinny and you don't have the extra needed when you fight an illness. I am targeting 40 more pounds before I start maintenance.  It will be a challenge because my body loves living on the plateau. LOL

What do you think? I am down 7 pounds in my first 2 weeks!

I have been asked a few times lately is "weren't you on a different diet lately?"  I am working hard to understand what is right for my body, my lifestyle.  Last winter, I started a low carb, high fat diet that was designed to have 3 phases.  Phase one made a fabulous impact in my weight, energy level, and lowered by blood sugars to levels that astonished my doctor. 
Phase 2 was to add more healthy carbohydrates.  My problem is that is something that I have never learned "what a healthy carbohydrate is."  I have been looking for a program that can help me learn with a need to with the next step.  www.beyonddiet.com seems to be a good choice. 
After I signed up, I realized that they had a program that was designated specifically for sugar control for diabetics.  I have not subscribed to that yet and my sugars are coming down significantly as well as my weight.     

2 eggs, bacon and tomato

Day 13 started out with 2 eggs, bacon and a tomato.  My morning snack (while driving to Sauk Rapids) was 1 ounce Macadamia nuts.  When I got home, I realize that I had forgotten to do two things.  Hard boil the eggs for the egg salad and remove the dressing from the refrigerator.  I modified the recipe and it turned out pretty good.  At that point I didn't care, I arrived home much later than I had planned.  I was VERY hungry.

Egg salad with 2 cups of sautéed veggies

I did some yard work after eating lunch.  I worked up enough of an appetite to be hungry again for a late afternoon snack.  I used several romaine lettuce leaves layered with turkey and Dijon mustard.  It was a strange wrap but it worked.  Apples are another one of those things that I don't care for raw (well, raw doused in caramel sauce but that doesn't count.)  So I cooked the apple with cinnamon it smells as good as it tastes!

Turkey lettuce wrap with a  side of cinnamon apples

Supper was the last of my leftover dark meat chicken freshened up with sautéed vegetables and served on a bed of lettuce with a few bites of tomatoes.  I still don't care much for tomatoes but if I can disguise them in a bite of food that I do like, it works okay.

Dark meat chicken with sautéed veggies on a salad

Day 14 is a free day.  I can eat anything as long as I don't eat until I'm stuffed.  For breakfast, I had a 2 egg omelet with sausage, mushrooms and topped with cheese.  Then I started cooking.  I made Pumpkin cheese cake and coco-whips and I tasted a serving of each of them (one in the morning and one in the afternoon). I posted the recipes yesterday afternoon.  Cooking is the most fun when you can sample your food.  For lunch, I had 3 ounces of liver pate.  With my supper, I didn't eat the whole steak.  We have very spoiled dogs and I shared the meat with them. 

Steak, cooked cabbage and salad

If you are looking for a good way to lose or maintain your weight, create a healthy lifestyle where food is concerned then I would recommend you check out www.beyonddiet.com.  Their goal is not put you on a diet but to help you create a lifestyle of healthy eating.  They have coaches available.  Because I am in an educational learning mode I have contacted the coaches a few times.  I find them very easy to work with and very understanding that everyone is an individual and needs to figure out what will work for them.  I am still in the learning stage.  This week I will plan my own meals and with the assistance of a coach, I have planned a few changes to the meal plan that will hopefully help my body's metabolism.

 Interested in Beyond Diet? Use this link for 20% off:

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A day of projects inside and outside

I picked two of my pumpkins yesterday and cooked up the first one.  I decided today was a perfect day to make pumpkin cheesecakes.  I used an over-simplified recipe:
1 cup pumpkin
8 oz cream cheese
4 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
I was out of pumpkin spice.  But after it cooked, it could have used just a bit more seasoning.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Then I made coco-whips.  It is a strange texture but not a bad taste.  It is rather filling too.
4 TBSP butter
4 TBSP coconut butter
1 scoop Egg White Protein Powder - chocolate flavor
1 cup heavy whipping cream

I have noticed that my energy level is down.  I am going to substitute one of these for my afternoon snack.  In-place of a protein-carb combination, I am going to try protein-fat combination.  I need that energy in order to workout.

Coco-Whips

Yes, it is time to put the summer tools away.  My boyfriend told me that I needed to find a way to blow out the hose so that it wouldn't bust open over the winter.  Now why would I need to do that?  I just use centrifugal force.  As I wind the hose, some of the water rolls out as long as I keep the end sitting in the gutter.  Then when it is all rolled up, I secure the end and whip it with force stopping periodically stopping to make sure that the maximum amount of water has drained out.  

Done for the winter

That doesn't end my tasks for the day, I have some bulbs to plant in the garden and some weeding to do.  So I'd better get out in the heat of the day and get the work done.  (I am using those words lightly as it has barely hit 60 degrees today.)

Eating out and finding balance

I am catching up two days again.  When I got back from my nephews going away party, I was too tired to sign in and write my blog yesterday.  I will start with Thursday.  For breakfast I had two eggs, steamed broccoli and cauliflower and half of a small avocado.

Eggs, veggies and avocado for breakfast

I was so full from breakfast that I forgot to eat my mid-morning snack.  I started getting hungry about 11:30 and decided to make my lunch earlier than normal.  It threw my day off a bit but I decided that I couldn't make up the missed food.  Lunch was a salad with a cup of vegetables served with a can of tuna (in water) and a side of strawberries.

Salad with tuna and a side of strawberries

I was so hungry by afternoon snack that I ate most of it before taking a picture.  I added cinnamon to my turkey slices and made cinnamon apples.

turkey slices and cooked apple

Supper was a base salad and it called for sautéed garlic broccoli.  So I warmed up my leftover chicken in with the sautéing garlic broccoli to add more flavor.

Salad served with sautéed broccoli and chicken

Friday.  I was very careful with my food on Friday.  I knew that in the evening I would be going to supper with my sister and her sons for a good-bye party for her oldest son who is moving to Texas.  My breakfast was sautéed spinach and chicken.  Morning snack was pumpkin seeds (shelled).  Lunch was the Turkey meatballs with sautéed tomatoes and it called for spaghetti squash (which I have not been able to find at the stores near me.) Instead I took my zucchini and used my potato peeler.  I made long thin slices of zucchini that resembled noodles.  Then I added it to the mix in the frying pan and allowed it to cook together for a mock spaghetti.

Mock Spaghetti done right

My afternoon snack was rice cereal with protein powder.  Then it was time to head out for supper.  The restaurant we went to didn't have a lot of vegetable choices on the salad bar.  So I took a lot of lettuce mix (it had carrot slices and cabbage mixed into it.)  The coleslaw was on the drier side and the serving spoon was slotted so I was able to tap out a little more of the dressing.

Salad Bar Choices

I was scheduled to have tilapia for supper.  They didn't have that option but they did have broiled torsk.  Without my scale, I had to estimate 5 ounces.  I figured this looked like about 7-8 ounces.  I think my choice was okay Saturday morning when I stepped on the scale I was down almost a pound (0.8#) from two days before.

Broiled Torsk

Down 6 pounds! (& Lunar Eclipse photos)

Several of us woke up early in the morning of October 8th to view the Lunar Eclipse.  I tried my 500mm lens but it was too dark outside to locate the moon.  So I switched to my 300mm.  My sister told me that she had put the 2X lens on her 200mm; I wish I'd thought of that the night before. 

10/8/14 Lunar Eclipse

10/8/14 Lunar Eclipse

I am not disappointed, I think the photos turned out beautifully!  It is amazing how the shadow of the earth turns the moon red.  Some of the camera exposures did not show the red as well.  I chose to share with you the exposures that turned out with the most amount of red.

10/8/14 Lunar Eclipse

I took this last photo and I cropped it so that it appears closer.  I had the camera on the tripod but between the slight wind, the act of pushing the button, and the movement of the moon there is a fuzz around the edge. Despite that it is so awesome.  

10/8/14 Lunar Eclipse

As of the morning of 10/9 I am down 6 pounds in 10 days.  It goes nothing, drop, nothing, drop but as long as it is going down.  My blood sugars are starting to drop a little bit.


Breakfast was my BLT on Ezekiel bread.  I followed that with a snack of Macadamia nuts. Lunch was a meal that was new so I took a photo of it.  It was a salad loaded with vegetables and a baked cinnamon apple on the side.  I have been craving dairy so I took a pinch of parmesan cheese to top off the salad.  

Scallop Salads with a side of Baked Apple

The afternoon snack was a smoothie with a banana and protein powder.  I was burping banana all afternoon. That has never happened before.  Supper was a turkey burger with sautéed vegetables. It sounds like so much food but it is working.  I am dropping weight. 


My target level of carbs is 4-5 servings.  The out of the box 14 days of supercharged meal plan targets 7-8.  I have been feeling more tired so I made a decision to cut those carbs back to at least 5-6 for the last several days. 

What a beautiful evening!

The sunsets lately have been so beautiful that I thought I would share Monday evening pictures from several locations.  I was driving around with the girls (dogs) and I periodically stopped to take a picture.  

Early Sunset 10/6/14

My local grocery store was out of an ingredient that I missed when I went shopping Sunday evening.  So I was going to the next town over to pick up a couple of groceries.   

Sunset 10/6/14

I love the variation of colors that come out as the sun sets on a cloudy evening.  Every degree that that the sun sets the colors change and get more robust.

Sunset 10/6/14

The contrast of pure sunlight and dark clouds add to the drama.  It is my favorite view of the evening not that any of the view were shabby.

My Favorite Sunset 10/6/14

By adjusting the angle of the camera slightly, I gave a whole different palate of colors. Still they are very beautiful and dynamic.

Dynamic Sunset 10/6/14

While I was in shopping the sun finished setting and the moon rose.  Equally as beautiful is the nearly full moon fluttering in and out behind the clouds.


Partly Moony Sky

Well, they call it a partly sunny sky and I think saying partly cloudy is too negative.  There you have it the only option left is a partly moony sky.

Are you hungry? I am stuffed!

Okay, you get two posts today because I wanted to share dad's joke of a Christmas Tree from the weekend.  I tried to make myself an omelet for breakfast but I don't have any non-stick frying pans.

Failed Omelet with Vegetables

Morning snack was an ounce of almonds.  My lunch was a little more challenging.  I didn't look ahead and that meant I didn't have prepared what I was supposed to make.  I swapped todays lunch with tomorrows lunch.  I had ground turkey sautéed with vegetables and a side salad with vinaigrette. 

Ground Turkey and a Salad

The afternoon snack was too much for me to eat.  It was supposed to be a portion of a chicken breast, a small apple and a cup of cauliflower.  I skipped the cauliflower.

Chicken and cinnamon apples

Supper was chicken again this time because I needed to use up the green beans that I purchased last week.  I was supposed to have a tomato and cucumber salad. But the only way cucumbers are good is processed into pickles.  

Chicken and Sautéed green beans with tomatoes

Day 9: It takes so much time to make the food that sharing the pictures each day gets a little bit daunting.  As I said before, by the time I finish my afternoon snack, I am stuffed.  I went to make breakfast and I thought that I had one more chicken sausage left and I was wrong.  I seasoned some of my ground Turkey and rolled it a little bit like sausages. It was tasty.  (Chopped, here I come!) kidding.....

Turkey Sausage and vegetables

Morning snack was carrots and almond butter.  That is a frequent morning snack.  It is simple and easy.  This was supposed to be yesterday's lunch but I forgot to thaw and cook the salmon.  I also hadn't purchased the chickpeas yet.  (My friend, Hayley told me chickpeas are the same as garbanzo beans.)  They look like a tan pea but they are fairly plain tasting.

Salmon Salad with Chickpeas

The afternoon snack was supposed to be an egg white omelet with spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms. I grabbed the wrong pan (the small one) although with the omelet issue in the morning I don't think the correct pan would have helped.  

Another failed omelet

Supper is becoming a favorite of mine.  It is quick, easy and very tasty.  I use slightly different veggies each time and I add different seasonings.  So this turns out like a new meal every time I make it.  I hope that you are enjoying seeing the variety of healthy meal options that I am being taught.

Sautéed vegetables with ground turkey