17 Day Diet

Well Where do i start.......i have never had to seriously diet before. Not saying this to brag or anything i was just always of the slender build. And very active. I used to be a Camping safari tour guide in the outback of Australia, so that kept me quite fit. As ive mentioned before i have 5 children. Loosing the weight after number 1 wasnt even an issue, i just slipped right back into my old self after a few months. It wasnt untill 5 years later that i had number 2 and a size 8-10 was easy enough again, but number 2 and 3 came close on the heals of each other. So it wasnt until after number 3 that it got to be a little tricky. I suppose i wasnt as active, and i was one of those women that craved alot of food whilst i was breast feeding . So there you go i got to a size 12 and stayed there. It wasn't until i had my 4th and 5th child that i realized that, i had to do something different.
Ok ok so im not that huge and i know alot of people would like to be this size. And (drum roll please) im going to say it..............I am currently now a 12-14 sometimes 16 in my clothing sizes and i thought i weighed, using my $10 scales about 75kgs. And life is good, were not broke, i have a happy family, live in a wonderful country, but i just dont feel myself. So i watch a show here called A Current Affair and a while ago they featured a new diet called the 17 day diet. I looked it up and over the past month or so ive been really thinking hard about it. But as we know thinking about exercize and diet doesnt really equate to anything does it? So on Tueasday this past week i conned my husband into doing this diet with me (because he could loose a  too), and it wasnt until today that i decided to blog about it. So here we go


17 Day Diet by Dr mike Moreno

Day 1

Easy peasy just followed the plan. I didnt crave for anything and didnt want for anything. I was a bit hungry right before it was time to eat the next meal but then i could eat and it was ok. I had lunch mind you at about 11am i just couldnt wait any longer and i had the snack at 2 and then just loaded up on water until dinner, (which i served at 5 instead of 5:30). I actually had breakfast and lunch ingredients already at home so when Dean came home from work we went for the weekly shop together. And truthfully there wasnt alot of difference bewtwee shopping for this diet and my normal shop. I just had to get more fresh veg and more chicken! Turkey mince was on sale for half price this week so we loaded up on that too. Dean had to go away on Wednesday for overnight and so i made up all of his things and packed it up for him. As far as i know he didnt cheat, but who really knows!!!

Day 2

Ok today im hungry. We had yogurt and berries for breakfast, which i used my happy chopper to break down the frozen berries to put through the yogurt. BTW greek yogurt needs a sweeter fruit! I had left over berries and so for the kids afternoon snack i made berry scones. AND MAN it was so hard not to just have one they smelled SOOOO good!! The kids have been great though they were saying "NO mum" alot today. Actually the only thing that got me through was this little mantra i kept repeating to myself "you can make them again" and so yeah i didnt have one!! Not sick of veggies yet either!

Day 3

Today was hard. I dont know what is happening to my body but it feels sluggish. The diet says you can have as much chicken and veg from the free list for dinner and so i have been really loading our plates with mounds of veg just to keep the hunger at bay. But today my body wont work! I made a chocolate cake for Kealin because he likes them, and i needed a sweet to send to school with the kids. And yes i know what your thinking.....Im torturing myself. And yes in a way i am. But my chidren are far from fat and they are all really healthy and im not going to make them diet. I figure this is about self disapline aswell. Ok bend down i am going to tell you a secret. I have tried diets before! Atkins, the soup one, The CSIRO one. And i always give up on day 3. And there have been repeat attempts of these so i know my pattern. Day threee i am always justifying the end. Actually Atkins i stayed with for 5 days but again too restrictive. Dont know how i did it but tthere was no chocolate cake that passed these lips, and to be honest i wasnt really that hungry today!

Day 4

Today i feel wired!  i feel like i have a clear head, but every move i make i can feel it. Not saying that i feel sore or tierd, i can just feel it! I will describe it as this....i feel like my body is actually using something different besides Sugar and carbs from bread, potatoes, rice and pasta, to fuel itself! and you know my mind is feeling alittle more set. I mean, why give up today when i gave up fresh berry scones and chocolate cake right? But i will say when i did my 17 minute workout i got off the stepper and my legs were very wobbly and i felt a little sick. Ok, so Dean went to the shop and got us some $30 scales as my $10 ones broke about 3 weeks ago. I wighed myself........And after 3 1/2 days on this diet and to be truthful i feel like ive lost weight i was dicouraged to find out that i was 76.9 Kilos! which means i was heavier than thought when i started this : ( determind much to keep going YES!!

Day 5

Wow! Today i slept till 9am The Dr says that you should be able to sleep better. And i normally wake at 2am every night. Why? don't know just always have. But last night nothing! Being a Saturday my husband was up making eggs for the kids and was patently waiting for me to fix his breakfast. I don't normally do this but that was the trade off, you do this diet with me and ill fix ALL your meals. He normally can fend for his own breaky and lunch. I had it in my mind that i would go for a walk outside today and so after breakfast Dean and i went for a 20min walk. On our way back we stopped by the farmers market (which is literally across the road) and got the kids some kiss biscuits (which are commonly made in Tasmania and i will post a recipe later as i am going to make some today) and jelly cakes. Yep was tempting but im ok. Tonight is hamburger night (homemade of course) and dean and i will just have turkey burgers and no bread. That is how ive done this actually, the kids eat a similar variation of what we have. But like ive said before we don't actually eat that badly anyway. I needed to do this diet to get over this hump! Weight today 75.6 kilos yep!!!

So if anyone is actully reading this....you may have noticed that i havnt updated it in a few days. so you may be thinking ive cheated or stopped. But alas to my own amzment i have not!.

Day 5

One word to decribe today ENERGY! its really wierd but i feel really energetic! I had to make some cakes for our luncheon today at church, and i wasnt even tempted until................it came time to set everthing out at the chaple to eat. That is when i really started to doubt myself. But i got throught the afternoon with the support of my husband. I packed some left over chicken soup that i made from the night before and so i ate that, and all was well. What did i make for the lunchoen that got me all worked up well..i made pizza, white chocolate and passion fruit muffins, passion fruit cake, choc chip cookies and chocolate cake. now you see the problem?

Day 6

So today i woke up as normal and went to go have my greek yogurt and pear breakfast. I was half way through it when i realalized that i didnt even taste the bitterness of the yogurt this time. Weird!!!! today went on without a problem really and not much worth writing about. Oh except it was the last day of the week and i only had iceburg lettuce left and, well, yuck! but i ate it still with the only tomatoe i had left and a grated carrot. Yes poor me, 75.8 kilos today whoop whoop!

Day 7

Well due to my husbands job i have a box full (25 bags) of jersey caramels. I know right!! so i was forced to serch the net for some recipes.I settled for something called Butterscotch caramel brownies. I know right!!! yummo! I dont know how i managed to get throught the night really. I did find myself taking really long sniffs of the childrens slices. As to how im feeling? Well to be honest today i feel sluggish and unmotivated. I did go for a walk to pick up the kids though and before i started i really thought i was going to feel more weighed down than i did i was quite rejuvonationg : )

Day 8

So today i feel like ive fallen into a nice pattern. I actually came up with a recipe on my own using the list of foods we can have for mine and deans dinner, it was turkey meatballs with fresh basil rolled in them, cooked in passata with some veggies. It was so lovely. Anyway it wasnt until i finished eating that i realazed that i made the recipe up and did it quite natuarally. But it is alarming you want to know why? well it scary because it seems this diet is actually working in more ways than weight loss!

Day 9

So today i think is a flow on from yesterday my wieght is 75 kilos yeah me!! and although i am loosing weight and at a nice pace i suppose, I actually feel normal. No more wierd i feel like im on energy pill moments, or sluggishness. And whilst i was preparing my food today it actually didnt feel like i was preparing diet food. Although i am, i havnt cheated or anything not even a lick of cake batter for me. So what does that mean? I actually felt Like i wasnt doing myself any good by eating the normal amount of food i have been because it felt too natural. Anyway im going to bed tonight dicaouraged.

Day 10

74.6 kilos. Discouraged? i think not. Wow how can i actually be loosing weight and still feel as though im not dieting? You know there have been plenty of times in my life where things that are being taught to me i put into practice. I do not know what is wrong with me but i just am simply not tempted to cheat on this diet. I always thought i was quite good and changing bad qualities in my life. Im quite stubborn when it comes to that sort of thing. But this is weird. Last night i made chocolate brownie loaded with caramels and it wasn't even a challenge. The 17 day Diet does say that i will start to crave other kinds of sweet tings, and today i sat down to a bowl of yogurt and, you will not believe it, BERRIES!! yes i am tamed and the berries were really quite sweet!. Ive had a hankering to make beef meat pies for the kids for a few days and today i made up the filling and even had my mother taste the mixture!! oh AND!!!! i got out of bed at 6am today and went for a jog to the beach! yep if i do say so myself something is changing in me. OH and by the way Dean is down to 99 kilos he has lost about 6-8 kilos or more, we will never be sure due to the no scale to start with thing. But he is stopping now and going straight to the 4th stage of the diet. My hubby is well over 6 foot and doesn't want to loose mass, but he has lost his muffin lol

(BTW i always do some sort of work out but only up until day 10, for 17 minutes just like the diet suggests)

Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17

Ok Ok so its been a awhile! but this is how i roll really, im a bit scatty with everything. So if anyone out there is reading this besides Anna : ) you probably think i dropped out of my self inflicted strict diet regime. But you will be surprised to hear this i think.......But i actually stayed on track. I didnt waver once from the diet for 34 days. See you do the 17 days in groups of 17. so i was on day 15 of the second round of 17 days and i broke my diet! WAIT there is a good explanation : ) On day 15 i caught a plane to Sydney for the Australian leg of the international tour of A Time Out For Women. Which by the way was excellent. But alas, as per my goal for that weekend i ate whatever i wanted for the weekend. Leaving the shores of Tassi as a 71kilo weighing women and returning as a ....................... ha ha ha lets just say i have to start all over again : )

My Magazines

 Ok so im going to do a confession........I buy too many cooking magazines! When im trying to explain my cooking obsession to people its hard for me to really relay my passion. Now in saying that i am not professing to be the "BEST" cook because im not! i just really like to. I went through a stage where i wanted to find really good one bowl recipe recipes. Then a stage where i did alot of pastries, then i made alot of bagels and pretzels ect ect Really i think i do this to say "i can" or "I have made that before". So i have my actual cook book collection, i only buy the book once ive found a cook i really like or i look at the pictures and know thats what i like to cook. I get given books too which is really good. Im easy to please in this area! Then i have my  magazines which above as you can see i like to make sure their in order. I live in Australia and two magazines i like to buy are Martha Stewart and Racheal Ray. I found out that local news agencies only carry one or two copies over here in The down down under so i have the lovely ladies at the news agency reserve a copy of each every month. OK my USA readers (if in fact i have any) i pay $9.95 for each mag, i know i know that $20 a month. I actually stopped buying the Aussie ones to be able to accommodate this purchase. But in saying that i often am loured in by fancy front cover pictures in the super market. So the picture above is a a sample of the mags i "KEEP" if i dont cook 3 or recipes from them i give them away.

 This is a pic of some of my cook books. I know maany women have moany more than this but i like to only keep what i actually use, and of course i actually do use them!

 Here are some more

 And this is what i keep my Mags of the month in so i dont have to dig for them

 Some samples of what i buy and, Good Taste, recipes plus, better homes, i always take a copy of the free ones at the super markets, Martha, Raqcheal and Good Food!

these are the two current ones im concentrating on right now and i actually do bake or cook from them (so i can justify them) So ill post a Mag recipe review a little later!

A Birth Day

Hmmm So i think im supposed to feel different today!! I don't ask for much, just a cake. If i get more, than that's great, i wont say no. I find myself grumpy at the looming day every year. My dear husband even had a surprise party lined up at our favorite restaurant about 5 years ago. I had a hissy fit and stayed home, he was devastated and told me that there were people waiting. Its a joke to this day, my sister always thanks me for the party i never attended.
So what to do with myself? I find i can compartmentalize every stage of my life because its been so vast from one experience to the other.
childhood
Youngster
teenager
foreign student
out in the world on my own
fallen
broken
mother
single mother
lost
found
in love
married
religious
student
baby machine (which i loved)
wife
teacher
healer
confidant
mate
friend
support

And now what to do?.......Most of the things Ive become will stay with me forever ie mother hopefully wife! and there are alot of things that t i know, i am and i can improve on always. I met a lady once who made an impression on my life. She said that she would seek out to learn something new each week. She was a stay at home mother, and still is i presume. She said she would pick something each week and learn about it. Well ive been trying to adopt this philosophy since i met her, but with my own twist. I did have a learning buddy but between her and i we have been pregnant since we became friends. So this being my 33rd year of life i am going to either
1- learn something totally new, maybe the piano or take those singing lessons ive always wanted or
2-join a group.
i cant really say joining a group to me is all that different from learning something new, as i don't play well in a team efforts, but maybe i hiking group or something active.  or
3-go back to school, which i know in my heart im not ready, nor is my family, for yet.

Ive been sitting on my lounge for the past few days thinking of who or what i am. I am determined that i will look back at this chapter and say "hmm i think i started back when i was 33, yes 33 was the year!"
Now its just choosing something i want to make apart of my self that will hopefully improve me. I think maybe i will start by going to bed! i don't really handle sleep deprivation the way i used to : )

Free Fruit!

 

Yesterday Dean had the pleasure of driving all the way down to my mothers house and back! and she loaded him up with some lovely fruit. Well the bananas are on their way out and half the Apricots are soft and bruised. Actually to look at this photo some of you (you know the whole 3 of you that read my blog) may say WHAT! but i say hellllooo baking day!

With kids going back to school in about a month and banana prices going up i would be stupid not to put these beauties to work. So banana bread it is for today. There are about 30 bananas there and so that calls for alot of bread. I have a whole bunch of apple sauce that i bottled from last season that needed to be used. I remember seeing a recipe i have somewhere that called for apple sauce so there you go. But when i read the review on the bread again i noticed that people were say to substitue this and that and wow! so i just took a bit from each advice and this is what i did. Its not the fluffiest banana bread recipe i have but its definantly moist, going into school lunch boxes, and my kids will eat it. Or do what i found out Charna was doing with my muffins last year SELL them! (she didnt actually know she was selling them she said to me one day that she swapped someone $2 for my muffin i had to explain to her that that is selling!)

Banana bread the way i made it with Apple sauce

Blend 5 bananas together

add

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

mix and leave to sit for 15mins

then add

2 eggs

1/2 cup of applesauce

mix well

add

1tsp vanilla

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1tsp baking powder

1tsp cinnamon or chocolate chips

I had a block of lindt dark chocolate with pear pieces inside no one in this house was going to eat it like it was so into the bread it went. 2 loaves with cinnamon and 2 with choc for today!

Mix  till only just combined then bake in 2 loaf pans for 30-45 mins. Im going to wrap them and freeze them for school. 1 loaf =1 week. It wont last the whole week but if i haven't had the chance to bake that week or if its Monday and im not organized, thats when i whip them out. And at least they have had some sort of homemadeness for the week. : )

I also made some fried banana scones for a treat today. So in total ive used 13 bananas. I will also make muffins and a cake for the freezer for school. It just makes life alot easier on those mornings you cant be bothered. . Ill also freeze a few of them for a later date. Waste not want not!. With the apricots i made jam and the kids ate some. I actually have a recipe for a cake that i want to try using fresh apricots not dried.

Gadgets

 Gadgets gadgets everywhere!. So for christmas this year my mother was kind enough to get me this Belgian waffle maker. I already have a waffle maker, but it only makes one at a time and there are 5 hungry growing kids in my house. So i gues my mother felt sorry for me having to slave away over a one waffle at a time waffle maker. But i tell you what......I love my mother. This is waffle machine makes 4 think and luscious waffles at a time, and is up there with my most favourite things in the kitchen to use list, the only thing that is above it is my Kitchen aid. Why?,  i hear you asking there only waffles!. Well now come over and ill make yo a batch and you will know what i mean. Im going to make a waffle Machine carry bag so i can take this thing anywhere i go. Crazy no way i just love waffles!

I triple the batch every time beating the eggs whites and everything. The left overs i freeze and the kids can take them out as they please and toast them for breaky.

 So up untill Christmas day 2010 i had one of those gadgets that are a blender and processor in one kind of deal. Yes i scored again and got a flash new processor from santa. (santa must have felt sorry for me too because my old one had a crack in it and i couldnt do anything liquidy). So that left us with this big ol machine with only one thing on it that i needed (the blender). So i went out and bought a new blender. In summer time my family love making smoothies and shakes. Look at the colour of these beauties!! imagine something that vibrant in colour growing from our earth. It can only be good for you.

Corona smoothie

1/2 cup frozen berries (mixed berries in this case you could use mango we often do)
1/2 a banana (freeze those too already peeled and halved)
1/2-1 cup of low fat milk
1 heaping tbls of yogurt

serves 1

 Smoothies and waffles oh my life just couldn't get any better!

This is my new flashy food processor. It comes with all sorts of fancy attachments. See them all there in the back? Well Dean was watching Jamie Oliver the other night and was inspired to make this dish. Dean said that Jamie said  : ) to use a processor if you have one, because whats the point of having it if you don't use it! (in reality i use mine ALOT) but i indulged dean and pulled it out. Recipe - Smashed carrots. So i peeled my carrots and fed them trough the processor with the slice attachment. MAN it was FUN!! quick too no sore fingers. Then dean put them in a pot with only a couple of tbls of water and boiled them quite high for about 10 mins.he added butter, thyme, and pepper. Then when they were tender he smashed them quite chunky. We ate them with rice and plum sauce chicken. Yes home made plum sauce i made last year at about this time!

a gift in use is a good gift!

Well Well look what we have here! Dean called me one night to" come quick and see this". Well it was worth getting up for because this is what he wanted to show me. Baydan was playing with his bath pack kealin made for him for Christmas. And actually when i think of it those cut out sponges are always stuck on the shower window now. worth it? YES!

Holiday Fun For free

So ok,  I always get given a hard time because i loovvee having my kids home for the holidays. I love having them around, I love sleeping in and hearing them slowly get out of bed and play, i love making my own plans and i love doing fun stuff with them. The only problem is there isn't many things to do without spending a little money. Movies = money, mini golf = money, the town pool = money, a take away lunch = money, a local fair these days often  = entry fee money!.One of my New Years resolutions is to try to not spent money everyday. Yes Yes i know this sounds silly but between paying bills, groceries, petrol, stuff here things there i noticed that there isn't many days i go without spending a little money.Take a picnic for example, a picnic you would think wouldn't cost a lot of money, but it could, and most of the time i do spend money on picnics on things i can go with out, like fizzy drinks, lollies, expansive salad things (fancy kinds of veggies), maybe a bbq chicken and chips from the corner shop, paper plates, snacks,  hmmm what else, i don't know just STUFF!. On the other hand if you use your head and think outside the box a picnic really can be quite inexpensive.

A beautiful day only means one thing to me....A day outside, Yes a picnic at the beach!. My family and i just came back from our Christmas holiday with my parents a few days ago. And i don't know about you but i like to clean out the fridge and have my House sorted before i go. Oh i leave some things in the fridge, say if its only for a week and a half like i went for i left a few veggies that don't perish fast ie carrots and potatoes, i use powdered milk so its only a matter of making some up etc etc. I always save a little cash for when im home to get immediate things like bread and cheese. Although this year we came back late Saturday and we don't shop on a Sunday so i had to make bread : ( (i love making bread but not out of necessity silly i know). So my point is i didn't really have anything but mainly food storage stuff to pull together a picnic feast, and when trying to stick to a budget and pay day looming in on a few days from now,  i thought..... All the things i normally take on a picnic or variations of the same kind of menu were already at home. A day at the beach can be low cost food and all. And this is how We do it.
New Years resolution broken yes...but not by much.