I've been MIA for quite some time. Roller coaster after roller coaster - I'm so dizzy. Can I get off the ride now? Read below why I can no longer bake a decent batch of cookies (and I'm okay with it). www.maryofcourse.com/a-batch-of-failure/

Pumpkin Oopsie Roll

I depend on oopsie-rolls <--link. They are very mild flavored so I decided to spice it up a bit with some pumpkin.

So instead of 3 oz of cream cheese, I reduced it to 1 oz and added 1/4 c pumpkin....and added 3 pkts stevia. It's not overly sweet at all, the stevia enhanced the flavor. I had 2 with egg salad and some spinach for a nice sandwich. If you wanted a nice sweet desserty one by it's self, add additional stevia and some vanilla.

I buttered one and sprinkled some cinnamon on top. Popped it in the toaster oven until it got nice and toasty, and added a dollop of whipped cream! Still just 1 carb, with 1 g fiber, so 0 Net! Woah Nelly! (the whipped cream has less than 1 carb in 1tbsp and this dollop before 'whipped' is minimal when compared to the 1/2 cup I used (filled a cool whip container halfway), it doesnt quite count, so we're going with 0) (4 g protein, 54 calories, 9 g fat, not counting cream)

Fantastico!

Pumpkin Pie Pancake

3 carbs (1.5 net carbs) per pancake.

(and yes, that's a large dinner plate)

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 c pumpkin
• pinch salt (to taste...some things I just don't measure)
• Your choice of sweetener: I used 2 pkts Stevia and a couple of tbsp of SF Torani Caramel syrup (didnt measure) until it was to my likeness)
• Few sprinkles of cinnamon
• 
  
• Mix well, pour 1/2 c at a time onto buttered pan (makes 4)....let it cook on medium until it's set (and golden on bottom), flip and cook other side til golden....eat with whipped cream! 3 carbs (1.5 NET!) per pancake.

Cream Cheese Muffins

Cream Cheese Muffins

(not my picture)

8 oz Cream Cheese softened

1 egg

pinch of salt.

dash of vanilla

1/4 cup (or more, depending on your sweetness, make it a little sweeter than you think, cause it comes out less sweet after it's baked and cooled) of either splenda or your choice of sweetener. I used Torani (it's made from splenda, but luckily lacks that nasty aftertaste). It's a dream come true. Zero carbs. You buy it on the coffee aisle.

Mix ingredients well and pour into 6 lined muffin tins. Bake 325 for 20 minutes or until the muffins are firm, yet not browned. Let cool before eating.

**If you want Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins, use 6 oz cream cheese and 1/2 cup pumpkin.**

Nutrition Information for 1 regular cheesecake (using zero carb sweetener, not regular splenda):

Calories: 109

Carbs: 4

Fiber: 1

Protein 3

Nutrition Information for 1 pumpkin cheesecake (using zero carb sweetener, not regular spelnda):

Calories: 109

Carbs: 4

Fiber: 1

Protein: 3

Day 18 Pet Peeves

Here are a few of my pet peeves. I'm by all means no expert or anything (I'm just here having fun)...but I'm smart enough to know better than so many other people. It's exhausting.

1. "I'm going to stop drinking soda and drink juice instead" That's no different than saying "I'm going to stop cutting off my left arm and cut off my right arm instead." haha.

2. Someone asking what you're doing (for better health) because they want advice and the only response you get is "Oh I could never do that." "Oh no, that's never something I'd ever do" "Oh I couldn't ever give up that" Nothing but I can't, I won't. Then why ask for advice? I've stopped talking to people "in real life". It's a waste of my energy.

3. "I did the low carb thing back when it was trendy...lost a ton of weight, but gained it all back plus some....I wouldn't recommend it"

----Ok, ANY change in your diet (and activity level) for the better from your typical pig-out-lazy-norm is going to cause you to lose weight. That's just common knowledge. Then when you get comfortable in your new self, you go back to your old habits of eating 12 enchiladas "But they were low fat!" and 32 ounce fruit and yogurt smoothie with 3,204 calories for breakfast "But it has yogurt and fruit, it's natural and healthy!" and late at night, eat 8 brownies...yes, you will gain all of your weight back, plus more. The low carb "diet" works...YOU are a failure.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Day 16

I don't have much to say today. I didn't make anything nifty, eat anything nifty, do anything nifty. I drank too much protein shake, used up half my carb allotment for the day by 9am, ate the rest of my carb allotment at lunch, cause I bought a burger at work because I didn't prepare my lunch last night, and I threw the top bun away and just used the bottom. I debated whether to just omit the bun all together, but that left me with a small patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato slice, mayo and hot sauce (did you know hot sauce has zero carbs? I do now!) and said to heck with it, I'll splurge a little.

I ended my day at 24 carbs...also because I took a Vitamin D/Calcium Chew. I still came out well, considering. I'm not hard on myself, I just like to be consistent.

I feel like my diet (not "on a diet" diet, but the food I eat, diet (I don't like the word "on a diet" it's so overused and therefore you can't take anyone serious who claims to be on one. Aren't we always on a diet?) is established. I'm not craving anything naughty. I do need to switch things up a bit, I'm getting tired of scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, egg salad, chicken thigh, chicken thigh, chicken thigh, hamburgers. I eat other things of course, those are just my staples.

I need to get back into my routine of exercise. I have the best of intentions...uh hello, I have an elliptical machine 3 feet away from me as I type. There are pros and cons to having one in house. There is no motivating yourself to get up and get ready, get in the car, drive to a gym, and spend enough time there to justify your trip. But then again, it's too easy to tell yourself you'll go on when the kids go to sleep, after this show is over, when my favorite Food Network show comes on. It's my favorite to watch food shows when I'm on the elliptical, it reminds me of why I'm on it and why I got where I am....sugary goodness.

I do my best workout on Friday and Saturday mornings, which are my days off. You cannot get me up any earlier to workout on my work days, I get up at 6am...that's tourturous as it is. The only way to get things done is JUST DO IT!

No point to this entry today. Goodnight.

Day 15

Dinner. Delicious.

Dinner tonight: Filet of Sirloin Steak with peppers and onion, a bed of lettuce (usually use spinach, but I have none) with egg salad.

Total carbs: 3

Total protein: 47

Totals for today:

Calories: 1,753

Carbs: 20

Protein: 108

Peanut Butter Dollops

8 oz. Cool Whip

5 Tablespoons of Creamy Peanut Butter

2-3 tablespoons Sugar Free Hershey Chocolate Syrup

Fold cool whip and peanut butter until mixed well, but mix carefully. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spoon mixture into ziploc bag and cut the tip of the bag. Squeeze out tablespoon sized dollops onto pan. I get 40 and you will too if you time it right. Freeze on pan until firm. Pour 2 tablepoons of sugar free (or use regular if you want, it'll up the carbs and cals) into a ziploc baggie and cut a very small hole in the corner and drizzle over each dollop. Immediately place pan back in the freezezr and freeze overnight (or 6-8 hours). Remove from pan and store in airtight container in freezer. Eat at your leisure :)

Makes 40 dollops.

Serving size: 1

Calories: 25

Carbs: 2

Protein: 1

Fiber: 0

Fat: 2

These are not specifically "healthy" due to cool whip or sugar free syrup, but sure delicious and a great alternative to a high carb/sugary treat!

Pizza

I love pizza. This is my first attempt at low-carb pizza. The crust is a giant oopsie roll. It turned out well. However it lacks stiffness. Next time I'll add in some coconut flour - if I can find it! (pure experiment, I have no idea what it'll do) My resources for things like that are locally limited.

After the sauce, cheese and toppings (peppers, mushrooms, smoked beef sausage, spinach) it's time for the oven!

The final product!

5 carbs per slice. Just to compare, Domino's has 35 carbs per slice and come on, who eats just one slice?

Weigh-In Day and Menu

2 lbs missing. I thought it'd be more but I'll take any loss any day.

Today I made for my lunch:

Cream Cheese Chicken served on Mock Mashed Potatoes (it's really cauliflower) topped with pizza peppers. Total carbs: 8. Net Carbs: 7. I may edit this post to add dinner, if it turns out well. I'm eating good in the neighborhood!

Day 14 Water

I have no problems drinking water. I love it. But I do have a problem drinking funky unfiltered water, and that's what I have right now. I refuse to buy bottled water, because it's not benefiting anyone but the bottled water industry and only hurting everyone else. I normally have a Brita Filter on my kitchen sink, but it needs to be replaced and I haven't bought a new filter...and don't know when I will. So in the mean time, I discovered True Orange. I get my large cup of ice water and sprinkle a packet of this into my water and stir. It's not a fruity drink, there's minimal flavor. It gives just a very small hint of orange essence. Just like you were to squeeze an orange wedge into your water, or I guess like how some people put a lemon in their water (there's True Lemon too, but I like oranges). It makes the water (filtered or unfiltered) that much more refreshing. No one has an excuse for not drinking water.

No calories, no carbs, no sugar, nothing! It's good :)

Day 13 Oopsie Rolls

I'm not eating any bread (or anything with flour). That is my biggest challenge. I could sit and eat a whole loaf of bread. .....and I have. I love baked goods, pastries, confections of any sort.

I'm okay with omitting the dessert type foods from my diet. If you don't make it, you can't eat it, right? Very true. Except the other day I made a huge pan of peanut butter bars with chocolate frosting and I did not eat a single morsel! I promised my kids I'd make them (for whatever reason, I forget now) and reminded myself that I made a choice and this is my choice and I was okay with it.

So now what am I supposed to eat? I cant just sit and stuff my face with meat and no bread (or pasta or rice or anything else). That leaves something lacking in what we all feel is a complete meal.

I've been reading a lot. Not only am I making the decision to not eat certain foods for weight loss, I'm also doing this because of the negative effects that the wrong carbohydrates have on me. I'm pretty sure I can point blame for majority of my health issues on simple (and even some complex) carbohydrates. Which is a good feeling. Before I started this and read about the way people's life has changed, as far as their overall health went, I thought they were exaggerating. I've been scarfing down "junk" my whole life and felt okay for the most of it. But within just two days of this, a light turned on and I realized, I felt great! It's something you'll have to experience for yourself to truly believe.

There are foods I love that I've omitted from my diet because of the bread. Hamburgers and pizza are big ones. But after reading so much information, I found a recipe for

Oopsie Rolls! <--link to recipe

(name is kinda lame, but product is pleasing). The recipe has you make them into buns (you use 2 for a burger/sandwich), but the possibilities are endless! You can make one giant roll in place of crust for pizza. I've used a regular sized one for a personal sized pizza. That makes a satisfying snack. If you like eggs, you'll love these! I like to add some seasoning to the mix. These can also be used as a dessert. Add in a little extra sugar free sweetener (of your choice) and some cinnamon (I read someone adds pumpkin pie seasoning! Yum!) and some whipped cream. I start drooling just thinking about the endless possibilities!

Carb count per roll: .7 carbs. So 1.4 carbs in an oopsie roll burger vs 22 carbs in a hamburger bun? It's your decision.

So tonight's dinner is a burger. I mixed ground turkey and ground beef (for volume sake, 1lb of one isn't enough for my household and I had one of each on hand) and topped mine with cheese, jalapeños, smoked beef sausage, spinach, mayo (and a smidgen of ketchup) and voila!

Total carb count: 4

It eats like a burger...you'll never miss the bready bun.

Day 12 Eggs

I like eggs. I decided to add up how many I've eaten in the past 12 days.

Total count: 39.

Day 11 What's On My Plate Today?

My intention here is to post daily. Weigh myself every 2 weeks (that's subject to change) and post photographs of my progress and recipes I use. This is labeled "Day 12" because I haven't posted here daily, but I will! It'll keep me focused.

I'm keeping my calories in check for the most part, even though that's not my focus. Before I was making these food choices, I limited my calorie intake to minimum 1200-with a maximum of 1400. But now I eat what I want (and what I want is what I'm eating now) and I range anywhere from 1200-2000. I eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm full. It's a simple concept. I'm focused on carbs. I'm keeping them below 20 grams per day (give or take, sometimes I need a nibble of PB or a few leaves of spinach). Protein, I'm trying to boost up as much as possible too.

Here is what was on my plate today.

Breakfast:

French Vanilla Protein Drink

3 Eggs

3 Strips of Bacon

I'm ashamed to admit, I ate bacon. I dont normally eat pork (but I love pepperoni and sometimes sausage), but it's allowed in the list of the foods I'm eating and it just sounded good, so to heck with that. That was a fulfilling breakfast.

Lunch

I drank this. It's pretty tasty and only 1 net carb. This held me over until I got home from work at 4:15pm.

Lunch II

I had an "oopsie roll" (mock bread made of eggs and cream cheese, I'll post info later) with minimal spaghetti sauce spread over it, cheese and mushrooms and peppers and toasted in the oven. My version of a pizza. It was delicious.

Dinner

2 chicken leg quarters.

Snacks

1 Tbsp of Peanut Butter (even though technically I shouldn't eat PB right now, I needed a "treat" (and yes, PB tastes like a sweet treat to me right now, a few weeks before I would have bet you a million dollars I'd never eat a spoonful of peanut butter...gross. Oh how our tastes change with a little education and better choices in life.)

Beef sausage snack stick (for the protein, but goodness gracious it has a lot of sodium...I'll drink an extra glass of water)

and some coffee with sugar free creamer and stevia.

That's a typical diet for my days, except I usually have actual food for lunch, I just didnt have time the night before to prepare.

At the end of the day, I post notes on my food diary here about what I would do differently the next day. I bought the protein powder and I realize now the sugar content is too high for my liking. Next time I'll buy a lower sugar/carb variety. Overall, I had a good day! I'm proud of myself, because if you know me, you know I love sugar and baked goods.

Calories: 1,209

Carbs: 22 g

Protein: 118 g

Fiber: 2 g

Sugar: 14 g

Fat: 71 g

Day 9 It starts here. (the blog posts)

I'm starting this a week and a day in. I'm doing the "low carb" diet. I'm letting you follow me through my journey. I hope it's fun. So far, so good.

I officially started this March 27. I watched a documentary on Netflix called Fat Head (thank you Barbara, you've changed my life). Basically...we American's are being lied to. So I'm changing my habits. Now these next couple of weeks are extreme and I'm not planning on continuing this long term, I'm just getting a jump start. Am I going to eat carbs again? Yes. I just won't be making cinnamon rolls on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and sometimes Saturdays and eating 4-5 each (hehe, yum). Maybe once a month...but not for awhile now.

Last week my diet consisted of as much protein as I could possibly stuff in my face and to keep my carbs under 50 grams. I did pretty well, with one "slacker day" on Sunday. That wasn't worth it.

Friday I was excited and decided to take a peek at the scale. Down 4lbs! --This was after budging for MONTHS of just simply "counting calories" and working out....that worked for me in the past, but wasn't working as of lately. Frustrating indeed. I also measured my waist...down 2 1/2 inches? YES! So I'm feeling pretty good.

I have a hard time with mornings. I like waking up early when I have no reason to. But to get up to go to work? I'm a dark cloud of thunder, just don't talk to me. But the past week, I've been in such a good mood, it's really weird. I think carbs are detrimental to my mental health.

Aside from needing a few teaspoons of Metamucil every couple of days, I feel great! Better than I have in years!

This new week, I've decided to take it up a notch. After talking to a coworker and reading a LOT about this, I've decided to go extreme these next 2 weeks (minimum) and keep my carbs as low as I possibly can...10 max if I can help it. I figure last week was a breeze, I can do even better!

My goal here. To get the government to stop calling me overweight. They stopped calling me obese last Friday. So I'm on the right track!

(FTR that was a joke, I could care less about BMI).

So here we go!