Fatblogging | lynette {radio}

Pure Genius

May 24, 2009 by Lynette ·

Last summer I cleaned out my closet and gave my mom (who is much shorter and thinner than me) some of the clothes I was too big for. At the time I was a Size 14 and anything under a Size 12 was just pathetic. Drum roll please…good news! I can finally fit into some of my old Size 10 capri jeans for the summer! My mom gladly gave me back some of the pants because she’s shrunk a size or so herself. The key to my ongoing success, besides not binging on white chocolate chunk cranberry cookies? WATER. H2O. AGUA. The only issue – I hate to drink it ‘plain’. If I don’t get in my 8-10 8 oz glasses a day my weight loss either stalls or even reverses a little. I was using some of the sugar free drink mixes for awhile, but if I drink too many of them I get headaches (most have aspartame, and if I have to have an artificial sweetener, it has to be Splenda). Besides, now that I’m really paying attention to what I’m eating and drinking, it seemed counter-productive to be putting ‘nothing’ into my belly.

Enter Pure Inventions water supplement. You just add a dropper to your own glass of water and not only are you getting something that tastes a whole lot more interesting than plain water, it has extracts that are actually good for you. I tried the Green Tea Raspberry and the Fit + Slender blends. Sometimes I use them by themselves, sometimes I mix them. Go check out the website to read up more on each flavor and all the other blends they have. To be honest it was really hard to tell if the claim of appetite suppression was true or not, because drinking the water may have been the reason I didn’t feel hungry. I can tell you that they taste great, not overly sweet like the sugar free drink mixes. I don’t get a headache the next day like I do from artificial sweeteners. I *feel* better and can go without coffee or diet sodas. And there is little chance that I would be consuming all the other healthy extracts and antioxidants that Pure Inventions contains. So to me it’s a win-win situation, I drink all the water I need to in order to get healthy and lose weight and I do my body a favor by giving it the things it needs to function better.

Next on my list to try is Tranquility, well, because I can really use some way to help me unwind after an entire holiday weekend of kids climbing all over me. Oh and I can’t forget about the Chocolate Cocoa, because every girl needs chocolate! I still prefer to drink my red grape antioxidants straight from the Merlot bottle though!

[Disclosure: I was sent two bottles of Pure Inventions to try out at no cost to me, which rocks because I was going to buy it anyway.]

[tags]Pure Inventions, dieting, healthy lifestyle[/tags]

Filed Under: fatblogging Tagged With: product review, Pure Intentions

10 down, 40 to go

May 3, 2009 by Lynette ·

Diet

For the past three weeks I’ve been on the NutriSystem diet. I have lost 10 pounds so far. I have 35-40 left to go. How the HELL am I almost 50 pounds overweight?! Full disclosure, I was about 182 pounds. My BMI was 30.3 – in the obese range. WHAT THE HELL?! I was a (tight) size 12. The 12′s are falling off a bit now. How is size 12 obese? Lord knows what I’ll look like when I hit my goal of 135 pounds, I may damn well be paper thin. Or fingers crossed, a size 4. So I fully acknowledge that I am overweight. My mom lives with us and likes to bake all my childhood favorites, but I still don’t stuff my face with pineapple upside down cake. I’m not a huge snack person or a chips and dip kind of gal. I choose quality food over quantity, meaning I’ll eat less of a better food (for example, gourmet flourless chocolate cake and not a Twinkie). I can’t use the “I just had a baby” excuse, he’s 1.5 years old now. So why am I so HUGE? Age? I’m two weeks from turning 38, is my belly destined to gain mass with every birthday? OY.

As far as the NutriSystem diet goes, it’s a plan with mostly pre-packaged foods, no stupid counselors to go visit once a week, and an incredible support message board. And dessert. Every night. I add in my own salads, vegetables, and fruits. The food is mostly really good. The mac and cheese is hands down better than anything you can buy in a box in the store (yes, even the ‘deluxe’ varieties) – I would eat it even if I wasn’t on a diet. Their version of pizza isn’t up to par, but that may be because I live in the center of Pizza Heaven (between Philly & NYC) and nuthin’ can compare to our pizza.

Strange side effect from eating better – the other day I went out to dinner and ate a few bites of a breaded fried food, and *POW* my stomach was killing me. Wasn’t really low in my stomach though, but some spot under my right ribs. Very weird. I am now rejecting greasy fried foods – how cool is that! Planning meals is much easier now because all the food is color-coded for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert/snack. Of course I still have to cook for my family from time to time (my mom cooks a lot during the week when she’s with us). All in all I’m on my way to losing a lot of weight and learning better eating habits.

And I am sure to be rockin’ a size 4 bikini on my Rick Springfield cruise in November.

[tags]NutriSystem[/tags]

Filed Under: fatblogging Tagged With: NutriSystem

Early start on resolutions

December 26, 2008 by Lynette ·

I’ve never been one to make resolutions on New Years, let alone stick to any. I think about it every year, but never do it. Goals like that just always seemed so unattainable, so frivolous to make – setting goals just because ‘everyone else’ is doing it. Goals for myself personally (like exercise & personal ‘me’ time), goals for myself professionally (hello Regional Vice President and getting the podcast back on track), and goals for my family (vacations and family activities like game night – and maybe date night with the ol’ husband).

Well, today is different, it’s a new start. I joined a gym (Curves For Women) and not only made a New Years resolution, but did it *early* as not to chicken out. At 37 (OH MY GOD DID I JUST TYPE THAT?) I’m on the young side for membership, but I don’t care. Never mind, I’m not that young anymore. Anyway, it’s quick and easy (as in I don’t have to create this whole elaborate workout routine) and I don’t have to think about what machines I’m doing or stare at myself (or other people) in mirrors. Yes, I need to lose weight, especially after two kids and the cookie-coma my mom put me in this holiday (she HAD to bake my all my favorites!), but more importantly I need a stress buster. Time in the car by myself to crank up my iPod, time to work the kinks out of my shoulders and exercise. Time to have a complete thought inside my own head without interruptions. Yes, squatting down and picking up my toddler 134 times a day is a workout, but not exactly burning up stress and calories.

Anyway, I joined and I feel better already. Today’s workout left my lower back a bit sore, but that just goes to show how pathetically out of shape I am. The girl that did my initial measurements and weight couldn’t believe how poorly I ranked on body fat (30.1%) and body mass index (29.9). I came in 0.1 points away from ranking as obese. My weight also came in a few pounds heavier that I expected – an all time non-pregnant high. I’m a size 12. Hardly obese, but whatever, I want to workout because I wake up in the morning with my teeth clenched and shoulders in knots – before my feet even hit the floor next to my bed. Something has to give, the stress needs to go. And since the source of stress isn’t going away – me being with my beautiful children 24/7/365 (I love them more than anything, but cultivating human beings is hard work) – I need to find a constructive outlet to let it go. The solution I had found in the past was to be a bitchy cranky mom and that wasn’t working for any of us. Exercise is good.

A happy, sane, fulfilled, healthy, relaxed, successful woman/wife/mom/ME is a much better start to 2009.

[tags]curves for women, curves, exercise, resolutions, new years[/tags]

Filed Under: fatblogging, stuff i felt like saying Tagged With: exercise, stress

What’s For Dinner?

October 7, 2008 by Lynette ·

How should I know? Oh, you want me to *cook*? I need to find a website that answers the question “what the hell can I make with THIS?” – and gives me options to enter in cheddar cheese soup, French bread, chicken nuggets, and Pop-Tarts. Because that’s what I feel is in my pantry most days. How do people come up with two weeks worth of meals to cook to keep their families fed, healthy, and interested? Harder yet is the fact that the baby (who is almost technically a toddler at 11.5 months old) is eating real food, and not just mush in a jar. I’ve never seen a human being get so excited over chicken breast and broccoli (our dogs are another topic).

I’m stalled on my diet, mostly because I choose to eat evil chocolate-peanut butter snack cakes my mom has been making. I’m still down 10 pounds, but weight loss is stopped until I can stop eating these snacks. Here is the evil, but very simple, recipe.

Mock Peanut Butter Tandy Kakes

1 box pound cake mix (prepared, but not cooked)

1/2 large bag of milk chocolate chips

1 jar natural peanut butter

milk (about 1/4-1/2 cup)

Spread mixed pound cake batter in a 1″ deep cookie sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes until done. Let cool 15 minutes, then spread a layer of peanut butter on warm cake. Let cool completely (refrigerate if necessary to harden peanut butter). Melt chocolate chips over double boiler, and add enough milk to thin. Pour over cake/peanut butter, cool, and cut into squares.

And don’t get any ideas about me becoming Rachael Ray or anything. I’m still not a great cook at all.

[tags]dinner, cooking, tandy kake[/tags]

Filed Under: fatblogging, stuff i felt like saying Tagged With: cooking, dinner