Live Well Wednesday

I have had to do some tweaking on my weight loss program. Yes, I understand it is a lifestyle change, but mostly I am in this to lose weight. The actual life style change will come into play for me when the weight is off. It should be an easy transition if I remember to continue to a certain degree with what I did to lose the weight. After feeling sick and my brain being in a fog for a couple of weeks, I went off the program the Cevene Clinic put me on and did what I KNOW works for my body. I feel I am insulin resistant to a certain degree and once I went back to a low carb (good carbs are there) way of eating, I feel much better. My weight was to a point that I may have needed to go on blood pressure medication if I did nothing. This is not just about looking good, it is about me being borderline high blood pressure, borderline diabetic, and lots of pain in my arms and legs from carrying the extra weight. I am small framed and 5' 5" tall so the extra pounds cause problems for my body. I watched Oprah the other day and there were women who need to lose 300 pounds. My heart goes out to them. I do not know how their bones and organs handle it. Anyway....I dropped 3 pounds this week! I am thrilled. I have hit 10 pounds and plan to visit the fabric store. I am going to buy a yard of fabric every time I hit 10 pounds. I will make a "weight loss journey quilt" at the end. There should be PLENTY of fabric, so it will be big! Along with changing my eating this week, I also added some walking back in.I have several Leslie Sansone DVD's, but this is my favorite. It has a total of 6 miles in it. I have a treadmill, but this workout does more than a treadmill. I do 1.5 miles in the morning and 1 mile in the afternoon. I will increase these. I like this DVD because you can do 6 miles if you do all the segments. Her miles are nothing like a walk in the neighborhood or a walk on the treadmill. She incorporates arms, and leg movements that target certain muscle groups. Not an easy workout. Charlotte and Zach usually do the mile in the afternoon with me. It is quite entertaining. The walks go from 4.0 to 5.0 MPH...that is pretty fast, so the workouts do not take long...30 minutes including warm up and cool down.

Another thing I have done, since I am very visual...who is not visual??...is to pick an outfit that is my first goal. I hung it in my office/sewingroom where I can see it everyday. The pants are 2 sizes smaller than what I wear now. They look bigger in the pic...in person the whole thing looks much smaller. And what about size?? In America a woman's dress size is 8, 10, 12, 14, 16...so on. Even though there are numbers missing, going from a 16 to a 12 is 2 dress sizes, not 4. So all together I want to lose 5 dress sizes...not 10 like my doctor said. Clothing size is more important than weight. Anything 12 and under for a woman is considered healthy (according to my Internal Medicine doc) depending on her frame. I want to be in a size 8/10. I was in a 12 at my son's wedding and still looked fat...I did not "feel" fat, but in reality I was. Another healthy gauge is your waist measurements...no one ever got heart disease from a fat butt. It is your belly fat that causes health problems. A woman's waist should not be over 35 inches. 35 inches does not mean she is not overweight, it just means over 35" you are at high risk for weight related health problems.

I was informed by Tammy that today is National Pie Day. Well, doesn't that just go along with today's theme??? I am to share a pie recipe. I was going to do quiche, but changed my mind. All I do is throw eggs, meat, veggies, and cheese in a pie shell and bake it. Hopefully someone else will have a wonderful quiche recipe.

My pie recipe has a very low carb filling and can be eaten as a dessert, minus the crust of course. It is not recommended for low calorie, low fat dieters. I am sure it would use up ALOT of WW points! Here is the recipe, as simple as it is.

BEST EVER DESSERT PIE

1 graham cracker or pastry pie crust

16 oz. heavy whipping cream

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

1 small box sugar free instant pudding (any flavor)

6 oz water

Beat 8 oz of heavy whipping cream until thick. Set aside

In a large bowl beat cream cheese until smooth. Add remaining 8 oz of whipping cream and mix. Add 6 oz. water and mix until consistency of whipped cream. Add pudding mix and blend. Add whipped cream that was set aside and mix on high speed. Fill pie crust and top with dessert topping or cool whip. Refrigerate.

I do not put it in a pie crust, but eat it in a small dessert dish. This serving contains about 5 carbs. Perfect for a chocolate fix, but it is wonderful made with butterscotch too. It is very rich, so you do not need a large amount. ENJOY!!!!