Salads, and a correction

I realized that when I was marking my calendar for the 17DD, I accidentally put 7 days for some of the cycles, instead of 10. I also decided to do the first cycle for 10 days, just like the rest of the cycles, instead of just 7 days (I know, I'm all over the place!). It just made sense to make it all 10. After making the corrections, I will be done with the 17DD March 25! That feels like it's just around the corner!

Monday's are going to be my weigh in days. So next Monday I will see where I'm at with the scale (I would have weighed in this morning, but I made the decision to do Monday weigh-ins this evening:)

***

I've still managed to eat out almost everyday, while being on the 17DD. I just always get a salad, and be sure to ask them to leave out foods that I'm not allowed. Here's some salads I've had over the past few days:

Greek salad from Jim-n-NicksChicken Cesar salad from Spicy PickleBuild your own salad from Qudoba. This one kinda looks gross, but I put lots of veggies in it, and it was delish!Chicken and fruit salad from chick-fil-a
Keep in mind that there are a lot of salads, that are high in fat and sugars. Most of the salads I see on menus don't go along with the 17 DD. I usually have to custom order mine. If you're doing the 17 DD,
follow these 3 steps when ordering a salad:
1. Choose a light dressing, and always ask for it on the side.
2. Make sure you only have ingredients in your salad that go along with the guidelines of whichever cycle you're on.
3. Even though it's a salad, and it's filled with healthy greens, stop eating when you're just about full, to avoid over stuffing yourself. Too much of a good thing, is a bad thing :)

I found this neat link on Pinterest that gives a big list of healthy salad dressings. I can't wait to try some of these on some of my salads! Here's the link!
PS. Do you ever want to give a gift to someone who's on a diet, and have no idea what to give? "Chocolates? NO." "Homemade cookies? NO." "Cupcakes? NO." "I give up!" A nice big jar of healthy homemade salad dressing is a great idea!!

Do you have a favorite restaurant salad?

Clear headed, and my plan

TOM is finally gone, and I've finally got my sanity back. I swear I'm not normally an emotional wreck when good old TOM rolls around (and for those of you who don't know, TOM is "that time of the month";), but for some reason this time was a whole different story.

I've had a good week on the 17DD, but not perfect. I've had a Hershey kiss, and a bite of ice cream, here and there. If there's one thing that I've learned from the 17DD, it's that if you want to have amazing results, you really need to follow it to the T. Otherwise, you'll probably lose just as much weight a week as you would any other diet; In that case, it makes sense to go ahead and do another diet :) I want to have 1 perfect week like I did the first time around. After that, I'll go onto cycle 2, but, it will be a little different...

I've formulated a plan of my own, that I feel really good about:

I'm discovering that I really miss my :Deliciously Healthy way of losing weight, and I miss blogging about it the way I used to. But I also really want to finish the 17DD. My solution to this, is to shorten the 17DD. Instead of having each cycle last 17 days, my plan is going to have each cycle last only 10 days. The 17 DD book says that you can go back and forth between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cycles, if you have more weight you want to lose then you would be able to achieve by only going once through.
This is how my 17DD will look:
Cycle 1, cycle 2, cycle 3. Cycle 1, cycle 2, cycle 3, cycle 4. DONE!
But, my cycles will only be 10 days, instead of 17. With the exception of the 1st, 1st cycle, which will only be one week, since I've already done the 1st cycle. You still with me? ;D

I've got it all mapped out on my fridge calendar!:
I don't know if you can see the colors, but the pink days represent the 1st cycle, blue is the 2nd cycle, and black is the 3rd. According to my calculations (I've always wanted to say that;), I will be done with the 17DD on March 14! That's only 50 days away :)

So far, so good

Day two was a success!

I've been so emotional all day. I seriously broke down crying for no reason at all, at least twice today. Oh the joys of being a women. The good news is, I didn't have the urge to turn to food. I just kept telling myself, "Eating a hamburger is just going to create more problems, then it would solve." Now if only I could have been telling myself that for the last two weeks... but whatever :)

Lately I've been experimenting with spaghetti squash. I like it, but I can't seem to make it right... it keeps coming out slightly crunchy. Tonight I decided to experiment with it some more. I made chicken with marinara sauce, on top of spaghetti squash, and veggies.
It was quite yummy. and slightly crunchy :)

Onto tomorrow!

Have you ever made spaghetti squash?
Does yours come out crunchy?

One step

Hello there!
I am so sorry for being MIA lately. As you can guess, I've been struggling. In more ways then just my diet. Usually when I'm struggling, my blog really helps me to journal all of my thoughts, and gets me through a rough patch. But other times, it can be really hard to put myself out there. Kinda like standing outside naked. Completely exposed. In those cases, I hide.

I've had so many things on my mind these past couple weeks:

~Fertility. Once again wondering if we are ever going to get pregnant, and be the parents we so badly want to be.

~Knee replacements. My knees have been killing me lately. I have to concentrate when I walk, to try and not "step" wrong. Cause if I do, I can barely walk for the rest of the day. This has been most frustrating when I'm trying to lose weight. "How am I going to lose this weight, when I can't even walk around the block on somedays?!" I've been considering getting knee replacements now. It's such a hard decision that weighs heavily on me.

~Putting our dog Kisses down. She's old, and doesn't move around much. She needs surgery again, but she's gotten to the age where it doesn't make sense to put thousands of dollars into her. We've decided it would be best to put her down. But I love her, and I don't want to.

~And of course, losing weight. Having so many things on my mind has not made it easy to start my diet back up. Especially a diet that is as strict as this. Food is my comfort, and my happy place. I was doing so well, and I'm so mad at myself for sliding off track. To get rid of that anger, I turn to mac and cheese. The official "don't worry, be happy" food. The problem with the 17 day diet (for me anyway), is that if you slide off track for a few days, it's really hard to get back on it. It's so restrictive (at least in the 1st cycle), and after a couple days of eating yummy comfort food, you don't want to go back to salads. Like, you seriously throw a tantrum like a 3 year old on the way to the dentist.

(Amongst all that, TOM is here (for the first time in a while), so I'm overly emotional, bloated, and hungry.)

Today I've realized that you simply need to take the first step. And then another, and another. But it all starts with the first. It's the hardest step to take. For me, I usually decide if I'm going to be on a diet that day, before I eat breakfast. "Do I make eggs, and get back on my diet, or do I have cookie crisps?" Lately, I've been choosing the cookie crisps, and the day is set for unhealthy eating. But today, I took my first step in a healthy direction. I already feel better. The day is set for healthy eating. Now I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I'm going to do the 1st cycle of the 17 day diet for 1 week, to get my butt back into gear. Then onto the 2nd cycle! And I PROMISE to blog everyday, while on the 17 day diet :D

My Plan, and my early Christmas present!!

I can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow! I am so excited!

After 3 days of struggling on the 17 day diet (Mon, Tues, Wed), I am back on track with my eating. I've decided to stay on the 1st cycle until the day after Christmas. I wanted to give myself a day off my diet, during this fun and joyous time of year. I just had to decide if I wanted my off day to be Christmas Eve, or Christmas. After lots of thought (lol), I've decided that on Christmas Eve I will let myself eat, and be merry (in moderation of course). That is part of the reason why I've decided to stay on the 1st cycle until after Christmas.

***

My hubby brought me home an early Christmas present while he was visiting in NY:A Goldendoodle puppy!

We've named her Bellissimo. It means lovely in Italian. This little pup has definitely been keeping me busy! But we absolutely love her! She has made this Christmas very special.

Our date night, a weigh-in, and an update

This past Tuesday, my husband and I went on our date to see the nutcracker.
Me in my reward dress!:It was such a fun night with my husband. After the nutcracker, we walked around Denver, and went out to a fancy dinner. I felt beautiful and girly in my dress. Joe kept complimenting me the entire night, and congratulating me on my weight loss. I was on cloud 9, and I felt so proud of myself!

***

Monday was supposed to be the end of cycle 1, and the beginning of cycle 2. Here's my final weigh-in for cycle 1:
(my starting weight was 190.4) On the 1st cycle, I lost 14.4 pounds!

Since Monday, I haven't been doing so good.
Monday I was busy, busy, busy, and didn't make time to eat. I didn't eat until 9pm! I was starving, and too tired to cook, so I had a burrito. Tuesday was our date night, and I just wanted to enjoy myself at the restaurant, and not eat yet another salad. I felt content with that decision. One fancy dinner wasn't going to kill me, or undo everything I accomplished on the 1st cycle. But of course that thought process spilled over into today. Today I've eaten 3 cookies.

UGH!

So now I'm trying to figure out what to do from here:
Continue on with the 2nd cycle, even though I haven't been doing well, and have gained back 2lbs?
Or go back to the 1st cycle for a few days to undo my bad behavior, and then start the 2nd cycle fresh?

Why did this have to go and get complicated? I was doing so well...

17 day diet- cycle 1, day 16: My Christmas dress

I was going to wait until Saturday or Monday to buy my dress, when I actually finished the first cycle. But I just couldn't wait. And I'm glad I didn't, because there was only one dress left! Luckily it was the size I needed.
I bought a clutch to go with:And a belt :) Now I just have to find a cardigan, and my Christmas outfit will be complete. Here's the outfit so far:If you're asking yourself if I hung my dress on the chandelier, the answer is yes. Yes I did.
I was going to take a picture of me in the dress, but my photographer is out of town ;) I'll be sure to take pictures on our Christmas date night!

This was such a fun reward for myself. I had fun putting it all together, and I absolutely love the dress! The bottom is flowy, and I couldn't stop twirling in it, in the fitting room.

I'm almost done with the first cycle, and I have to say, all the hard work has been worth it.