The Single Ladys Definitive Guide to Surviving Valentines Day on a Diet

Hey single ladies! Countdown to V Day... The stores are dawned with heart shaped boxes, fluffy teddy bears, and roses...and youre single. Ughhh....

I know what youre thinking, "Its just another day, Ill be fine. Im amazing, and I LOVE single life." Thats all probably true, especially the part about you being amazing... but lets be real, Valentines Day sucks when youre single. And if youre trying to diet on Valentines day WHILE being single...Lord have mercy. Maybe you have incredibly strong will power, and if thats case then this blog isnt for you. This blog is for the single ladies with a chocolate addiction and enough bad breakups to inspire a season of Gilmore Girls.

 Ive spent 21 of my 22 years of life as a single person on this holiday, and while Im all for empowering women, not needing a significant other to be happy, and learning to enjoy life as a single adult, every Valentines day, since the age of 17, made me want to stuff my face with all the tiny, mysterious, assorted chocolates in the world. Its the one day I feel like I can justify wallowing in self pity and single-ness.

Back at my heaviest weight of 285, I remember being so excited for Valentines Day to be over  because that meant all those Valentines Day cakes and candies were going on clearance the next day. Cheapest binge of the year. Then I started my weight loss journey; my Valentines ritual of overeating was no longer an option. I had to learn how to survive Singles Awareness Day without smothering my emotions in food.

As a "Single on Valentines Day Dieting Veteran," here are my tips for sticking with your diet:

Stay Busy

The best way to cope with Valentines Day is staying so busy you dont have time to notice all the cutesy PDA of couples out and about on the dates. Stay home and start a Pinterest project, open up an new book to read, take a bubble bath, give yourself a mani, pedi, or immerse yourself in work. Be so incredibly productive that you dont have time to think about being single, or wanting junk food.

Hello Fresh Fruit

Today, fresh fruit is your date. Cut up strawberries, cover them in Trulicious stevia and eat them all through the day. It will taste indulgent, but you wont need to feel guilty for enjoying this treat. If you get to the point where you are feeling like you need to eat more sweets, choose fruit (its better to have fruit, even if its not on your diet paln, than chocolate). Raspberries and bananas also taste incredible topped with stevia. 

Avoid the Sappy Movies & Love Songs, Maybe Even Facebook

As much as you want to listen to Drake and Lana Del Rey as you help yourself to a double chocolate sheet cake, dont. Dont listen to anything that is going to make you feel bad about being single. Avoid Sleepless in Seattle, avoid How Harry Met Sally because these movies are just going to make you feel all weird inside. Watch that documentary on the fast food industry that youve been seeing on Netflix. Oh and Facebook.... yeah, avoid that too. It will be littered with, "omg. best. boyfriend ever. thanks for the flowers boo. #Love #VDay #BooThang #LoveHim #Roses #Spoiled #TrueLove #SuckItSingleGirlReadingThis."  

Hit the Gym

Crushing a tough workout is the ultimate feeling of empowerment. Even better than that, you dont even have to change out of your sweat pants to do it. Throw on some Nikes, hit the treadmill and run until you feel like the hottest girl in the gym. If youre on Phase 2 of the HCG Diet, you can still do this, just remember that you may need to have an extra serving of protein before and after your workout. 

Dont be too Hard on Yourself

Do your best to stick to your healthy goals, but if you slip up, its not the end of the world. Get back on track. Whatever happens, youre not a failure. You really are amazing, and while it may be hard to believe on a day like Valentines Day, you dont need anyone else to make you happy. If love is meant to be youll find it when you are meant to. Who knows, maybe the person who will be your future soul mate is also sitting home alone thinking about when theyll finally meet you. 

Steer Clear of the Candy Aisle

This one is pretty straight forward. If an alcoholic steps into a bar while upset, its a relapse waiting to happen, just like if you hit up the bakery on your diet, youre bound to leave with a fresh cannoli. If youre committed to sticking to your diet this Valentines Day, dont go near junk food. A chocolate-less Valentines Day doesnt seem very festive, I realize, but youll feel much better about yourself the next day having stuck to your diet. 

Send Yourself Flowers

Super lame, right? Wrong. No one has to know you sent them to yourself. For all they know you have a
secret admirer. Plus, even when you buy them yourself, they still make you smile when they show up at the door. :)

Girl, youve got this. Its just another day and youll be too busy working out, painting your nails and eating deliciously sweet strawberries to even think twice about being single. 

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HCG Hormone Free Round 5 Progress Update

Today is day 17 on the HCG Hormone Free Drops from HCGDiet.com. I feel great! My energy levels are fantastic, I dont feel hungry. I havent had terrible cravings. Things are just so good!

Im down 11.8 pounds! Considering Ive had 4 different days of cheats, TOM, and an incredible amount of stress at work & school within the last two weeks, Im beyond satisfied with my results. I only have 13.6 pounds to go before I reach my go for this round!

Losing pounds is extremely motivating, but inches are even more motivating because I can see the difference when I wear clothes I havent been able to wear in a long time. Finally wearing my snug-fitting, size 12 skinnies! Wooohoo! I bought them super snug back in March and they are just now fitting the way I want them to.

This round hasnt been a complete breeze. The cheat days were a bit tough to recover from, but I knew going into this round I was going to eat whatever I wanted for my boyfriends birthday parties (per his request). Even after the parties were done, the temptation lingers, but I am trying my best to put my goal at the top of my priorities list. 

Last night I turned down chocolate covered macadamia nuts, pizza, and bread sticks. Im going strong right now, but even if I were to cheat I know that it will be OK just as soon as I get back on track. Im really trying to focus on that idea this round: moving on, not feeling guilty, and getting back on track. Ive grown to recognize that guilt is a trigger for my emotional eating. So no matter how badly I slip up, I brush it off and start fresh the next day. 

Life is good. Youre a strong individual who can only give their best. Stop spending time feeling guilty when you fall a bit short. Stop comparing yourself to others and wallowing in self-consciousness. Go out and do something amazing for yourself.

You can get the hormone free drops Im using for 40% off when you use coupon code MYHCGTRIUMPH. This is an exclusive code for my readers only! 26 day kits are less than $50! Get yours now! 

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Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies Second Attempt

I am a sucker for a chewy peanut butter cookie, and with fall on the way all I want to do is bake! Well... As much as I love baking delicious treats, my waistline doesnt. Instead of avoiding baking all together, Ive decided to try and make low carb alternatives to my favorite fall goodies. So, first up: Peanut Butter Cookies!

Just as a disclaimer, this is my second attempt at these cookies. The first one was using coconut flour and honey instead of flour and sugar. The cookies were wayyyy dry and had a very different texture.  I didnt do a blog on those because I felt like there had to be a better recipe, I just needed to figure it out. So,  the recipe Im sharing today is my second attempt. This one is flour-less and uses stevia as the sweetener (the only stevia I like is Trulicious. No gross after

taste and its blended with monk fruit!)

This one is MUCH better than the coconut flour recipe, but if you want to try the coconut flour

recipe, just post a comment and Ill give it to ya. Im still working on perfecting my recipe, but this is a good start. :) They are kind of dry and crumbly, but the flavor is awesome!!!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup Trulicious powdered stevia
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Mix ingredients together in a bowl. At first your dough is going to be runny, just keep mixing. Its going to stiffen right up. If youre not worried about eating a little bit of raw eggs, taste the batter to make sure it tastes sweet enough. If not, add a little more Trulicious. Roll the dough into melon baller sized balls and flatten with your fingers on the cookie sheet. I got about 24 cookies out of my batch. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet.

Pro tips: Dont store cookies in a Ziplock bag, lay them flat in a container. :) These little guys crumble pretty easily. Also, try sprinkling additional Trulicious on top of the cookies before you put them in the oven.

Nutritional Info:
These are actually a healthy option when you need your peanut butter cookie fix. One cookie has 127 calories, 3 net carbs and nearly 6 grams of protein (this is based on a batch of about 24 cookies).

These cookies are much better than my first attempt, but hopefully next time I make them I can figure out a way to make them a little more moist (sorry for using the M word). If you have any suggestions on how I can do that, feel free to post them in the comment section! Happy baking everyone!

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Round 3 Week 2 Update

Im closing in on my second week of Round 3. I always like showing my progress on Fridays because it helps me stay focused and motivated through the weekend.

I started this round at 229.2 pounds after loading. I am currently 217.2 pounds on day 12 of Phase 2. That means Im down 12! :) I could not be happier! Take a look at my progress so far:

Not only have I lost 12 pounds, but Ive also lost 13.5 inches! I am hoping to keep going at this steady rate so I can reach my goal of losing 30 pounds before Thanksgiving! Hang in there everyone. Trust me, its so worth it. 

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BODY FAT DOWN LEAN MASS UP NUTRITIONAL KETOSIS AND WEIGHT LIFTING UPDATE

Here is an update on how things are going in the past two weeks:

Basically, up and down.  I did do some water fasting, some fat fasting and some Low Carb High Fat eating.  My weight has fluctuated up and down.  I have more pounds of lean mass than when I started, and Im sure that the weight lifting is responsible for that.

I have not been tracking food very much, and I think that is the reason that I have gained some body fat.  I just cant seem to be able to keep my weight under control unless I track every bite of food that goes in my mouth.  Its like I have a mental block about it!

Here is where I started five weeks ago:

July 15, 2015
Neck - 12"
Bust - 36"
Waist - 31.75"
Belly - 39.75"
Hips - 40.25"
Thigh - 22.5"
Calf - 14.25"
Scale weight - 146.2 pounds
Body fat - 52.7 pounds - 36%
Lean mass - 93.5 pounds - 64%

 

Here is where I am now:

August 16, 2015
Neck - 12"  (no change)
Bust - 35.75"  (lost 1/4")
Waist - 31.5"  (lost 1/4")
Belly - 39.625"  (lost 1/8")
Hips - 39.875"  (lost 3/8")
Thigh - 22"  (lost 1/2")
Calf - 14.125"  (lost 1/8")
Scale weight - 146.2 pounds  (no change)
Body fat - 51.6 pounds - 35.3%  (lost 1.1 pounds)
Lean mass - 94.6 pounds - 64.7%  (gained 1.1 pounds)

 

I still need to lose 10.8 pounds of fat and gain 0.6 pounds of muscle to reach my goal of 136 pounds with 30% body fat.

 

Here are a few charts.  These charts actually go back to April, because that is when I started weighing and measuring and tracking my food again after a long break of keeping track.  So only the last five weeks of that have to do with my recent posts.

 

 

 Here is my chart that shows the progress Im making with The Big Five weight lifting routine according to Body By Science:

 For each of these exercises, I am attempting to reach total muscle failure in less than 90 seconds.  Each time I reach failure that way, I increase the weight by 10% the next time I lift.  The column to the right of the column for 8/12/2015 shows the weights I will use the next time I go in, which will be 8/19/2015.

Anyway, thats where Im at this week.  Onward and Downward!  And thanks for reading!

 

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NUTRITIONAL KETOSIS SHORT WEEK UPDATE

Since I only started Nutritional Ketosis again four days ago, I just want to post this update and talk about how I will eat in this coming week.

On the first day - July 15, 2015 - I did a full days monitoring of my blood sugar, to get a baseline for the future.  Here are the results:

(click chart to enlarge)

As you can see, my average blood glucose for the day was only 79, which is great, and the highest it went all day, even after eating, was only 90.  Well within optimal range!  I also added a chart above that shows what I ate at each meal, so I can see how the macros of fat, protein and carbs impacted my blood glucose.  The levels that I ate on this particular day did not cause any problems.

Here is what I actually ate on that day:

(click chart to enlarge)

So food is good, blood glucose is good, but what happened to my body composition in the past four days?

July 15, 2015
Neck - 12"
Bust - 36"
Waist - 31.75"
Belly - 39.75"
Hips - 40.25"
Thigh - 22.5"
Calf - 14.25"
Scale weight - 146.2 pounds
Body fat - 52.7 pounds - 36%
Lean mass - 93.5 pounds - 64%

July 19, 2015
Neck - 12"
Bust - 36"
Waist - 31.625"
Belly - 39.5"
Hips - 40.125"
Thigh - 22.25"
Calf - 14.125"
Scale weight - 144.4 pounds
Body fat - 51.6 pounds - 35.8%
Lean mass - 92.8 pounds - 64.2%

In the past four days, I have lost 1.1 pounds of body fat, but I have also lost 0.7 pounds of lean mass.  I would rather have lost less weight on the scale in order to have not lost muscle.  This muscle loss came after eating only 66 grams of protein for the day.  I was basically having only Bulletproof Coffee for one meal and splitting my protein allowance for the day between the other two meals.

The reason for partitioning my macros this way is to make sure that I am eating at least 30 grams of complete protein at each of my two main meals.  The idea for this came from Dr. Donald Layman, PhD.  In this video, Dr. Layman explains why it is necessary to eat at least 30 grams of protein at each meal in order to achieve protein synthesis.  Dr. Layman says that it is necessary to eat three meals per day, with at least 30 grams of protein at each meal, but I am questioning if this is a good idea for a Type 2 Diabetic.  Most of the ketogenic diabetes blogs I am following say to eat much less than 90 grams of protein per day to keep high blood sugar at bay.  So I am going to experiment on myself with a new n=1.  I am going to "sneak up" to eating more protein at each meal, until I get up to the 90 grams of complete protein (this would be protein that contains all the essential amino acids, but not the protein that comes as part of the vegetables that I eat, which are incomplete proteins), or until my blood glucose starts increasing, whichever comes first.  So here is my plan for this coming week:

Breakfast (Bulletproof Coffee with whey protein isolate):
437 calories
43.5g fat (89.7%)
10.7g protein (9.8%) of which 10g are complete protein
0.6g net carbs (0.6%)

For lunch and dinner, I will eat whole foods.  For each of these two meals, I will budget 30g of complete protein, plus whatever small amounts of incomplete protein are contained in vegetables.

I will budget no more than 5g of net carbs for each meal.  If I fall short on carbs at lunch, I will not try to make it up at dinner.

As far as fat goes, I am a little on the fence about it.  Part of me thinks that I should hold the fat low in order for my body fat to get burned, and part of me thinks that I should keep fat higher, to make my food more palatable, and to keep more in line with a true ketogenic diet.  Two schools of thought.  Looking back at my old food and weight loss logs, I see that having more fat did not stop weight loss or muscle gain, so I am not going to restrict fat.  I am also not going to force fat in order to get it up to a certain percentage of my food intake.

What I am going to do is eat the amount of fat that seems right for each meal, and let the grams fall where they may.  For instance, I am having quite a bit of fat at breakfast.  If I eat a salad with protein for lunch, I will add enough oil in my homemade salad dressing to balance the apple cider vinegar I use.  That seems to be about 4-1/2 teaspoons of oil for the 4-1/2 teaspoon of vinegar.  If I eat protein with a cooked vegetable, I will use a tablespoon of fat of some kind on my meat, and another tablespoon on my vegetables.  For "dessert", I will treat myself to one of my fat bombs, which is one of the recipes I contributed to "The Fat Fast Cookbook".  (shameless plug)


Lunch (green salad with homemade dressing and some sort of protein):
560 calories
43.9g fat (70.6%)
36.1g protein (25.8%) of which 30g are complete protein
5g net carbs (3.6%)

Dinner (cooked protein and vegetables with butter, oil, lard, etc.):
621 calories
52.2g fat (75.6%)
32.8g protein (21.1%) of which 30g are complete protein
5g net carbs (3.2%)

The total for the day, based on this example:

1618 calories
139.7g fat (77.7%)
79.5g protein (19.7%) of which 70g are complete protein
10.7g net carbs (2.7%)

(Edit at the end of the day)  Here is a chart to show how I ate today and how it affected my blood glucose, which is not much!

(click to enlarge)

My plan for the future is to try to keep increasing protein each week.

Week 1:  70g of complete protein (10 breakfast, 30 lunch, 30 dinner)
Week 2:  80g of complete protein (20 breakfast, 30 lunch, 30 dinner)
Week 3:  90g of complete protein (30 breakfast, 30 lunch, 30 dinner)

By the time I get to Week 3, I should be up to the 30g of complete protein per meal that Dr. Layman recommends that I eat.  It remains to be seen if my blood glucose will stay under control doing this.

Oh, I almost forgot...

WHAT ABOUT HUNGER???

As soon as I started eating this way, I noticed that the only time I am hungry is first thing in the morning on the days I have to get up at 4 am but do not have breakfast until 8 am.  Why do I wait to eat?  Because I just cant eat a full breakfast before dawn, and if I did, it would mean getting up even earlier that 4 am to prepare and eat before leaving for work at 5 am.  Not only that, but I am not able to have lunch until I get home around 1:30 pm, and if I ate at 4 am, there would be a 9-1/2 hour break before lunch.  So, I have a cup of broth at 6 am at work, then have a cup of coffee at 7 am, then eat the breakfast I brought from home at 8 am.

Calorie reduction makes me hungry.  This way of eating suppresses hunger.  On the four days a week that I do not leave the house to go to work, I eat around 8 am, 1 pm and 6 pm.  I do not snack at all in between, and I am never hungry.  Being in a state of ketosis will do that for you!

Ill try to post again in a week to let you know how it went for the week.

Thanks for reading!

This photo, by the way, was taken by my wonderful husband on our 40th Wedding Anniversary on October 27, 2014.

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Life Update Balancing Life for Better Health

Life has this way of pulling you into chaos. When this happens, you hang on for dear life and pray you make it through.

Ive realized lately that I havent been very personal on here lately, mostly because Ive had some big things to handle recently and I tend to withdraw from friends, family, and readers when that happens.

Whenever I feel stressed, its usually because there is an imbalance in my life. My physical, mental, and emotional health are all very important to me. Usually when something goes amiss in one of those aspects, the other ones fall apart too. You cannot be healthy if any of those things are lacking. Its no surprise that as I started to get overwhelmed, I started to put on a few pounds here and there. Im not yet where I want to be because Ive been neglecting myself, and so I have made it a goal to refocus myself in every aspect of my life. So, just to catch everyone up... Heres what Im working on:

Physical

FitBit Fun! I got a fit bit a few weeks ago and its been so fun competing with my friends to get all my 10,000 steps in. :) I got the FitBit Zip on sale at Best Buy and its been an interesting challenge trying to move more on days when Im not scheduled to run! Each day I have the goal to hit 10,000 steps.

Speaking of Running... Last month I did phenomenal with my running. Each week I set up a schedule on Mondays and would make sure I stuck to that schedule. Three weeks ago, I finished a run and was having a really hard time breathing. A day later it was much worse and I went into see a doctor after having a really bad panic attack that led to a fit of coughing that I was not able to catch my breath from. I was having chest pain and felt terrible. Turned out I had a breathing virus causing inflammation in my lungs, and a fever of 103! I did a breathing treatment, was put on steroids and an inhaler, and told I needed to take a little break from running. That little break turned into about two weeks. The first week doctors orders, the second week being terrified that I wouldnt be able to finish a run without having an asthma attack. This week I am putting that fear aside and going for a good run tonight! :) My goal is to get my mileage up to 15 miles per week with my average mile time being 10:30. Im not a very fast runner, but I am enjoying celebrating the little victories of getting my mileage up and my pace down! Im also working toward increasing my long runs to 6.2 miles. Once I have my mileage up, Im going to work on my speed. Id like to be able to run a mile and a half in 11:56. 

As far as my diet goes, I am trying to cut out all candy this week. I am also trying to stick to 1300 calories M-F, 1500 calories Sat & Sun.. My focus is on eating balanced meals. Low carb during the week, and still being mindful during the weekends, trying to only eat whole grains. Woohoo. Ive been trying to take my focus off the number on the scale and instead focus on how well Im sticking to the goals above. If I do all these things above, I know my weight will be fine.

Mental

I am trying to take control of my life by taking control of my thoughts. I realized that Ive lost sight of some of the things I really enjoy just because Ive been too unmotivated to put the effort into keeping up with them. One of my goals to improve my mental healthy is to things that I dont want to do if I know they will improve or contribute to my life. So that pile of laundry that is sitting in my room, Im going to fold it. And that blog Ive been wanting to start, Im going to start it. That phone call Ive been needing to make, Im going to make it. Those articles and documentaries Ive been meaning to read, Im going to read them. One of my greatest fears in life is becoming stagnant. I dont want to settle. I want to progress. Progressing means overcoming yourself mentally and learning to push through the lazy thoughts that are holding you back. And thats exactly what I plan to do.

Emotional

Emotionally, Ive been having a difficult time. Going through a breakup basically destroys your confidence, then add all the other pressures of life onto that, and it becomes really easy to feel negative. Emotionally, Im trying to come to terms with the fact that being alone doesnt mean you have to feel lonely. My happiness is not dependent upon another person. Ive made a goal to be productive with my alone time instead of trying to escape it by making plans, spending all night on social media. Im also working on serving others to feel more confident about myself. I know that I have a lot to offer this world, and that thought is empowering, but if I never take opportunities to help others, I dont feel like Im living up to my full potential.

Remember that no matter how hectic your life gets, you still are capable of rising above all of the things that try to hold you down. Your life is in your hands. Your happiness is solely dependent upon how you react to situations. Are you going to be a victim in the your own story? Or are you going to be a hero? Its your choice. Ive made mine.

What are some of your goals?

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HCG Week 6 Update

Today is Round 3 Phase 2 Day 47 of my HCG Diet. I have lost 22.6 pounds! My after taking a two week hiatus (breakup, move, then death in the family), I am back on track. I will be extending this journey to 52 days. I want to lose 7.6 more pounds between now and next Wednesday.

Throw a little focus my way if you could. Im going to need it. In 7.6 more pounds I will be in Onderland. :) No, not wonderland. ONEderland, the magical place of smaller jeans and healthier things. 

I cant remember the last time I weighed less than 200 pounds, but It was probably pretty close to ninth grade. 

Ive lost about 13 inches in this round. I can see the biggest difference in my thighs, butt, and mid section. 

Im feeling pretty good about all Ive accomplished. :) Its amazing how far Ive come. My only hope is that when others look at me they realize they can do it too. 

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