Diary of a MAD * FAT * WOMAN…..

Category: Food

  • Testing…One…Two…Three….

    Okay – FIRST just let me same this photo made me laugh….you figure it out!

    TODAY is EXAM day. I am going downtown and checking into the Crowne Plaza with LAW and we are going to go to the ASTROS game this afternoon. Then a party tonight and lounging by the pool and massive pampering tomorrow morning before hitting the coast for a late lunch in Surfside.

    I started to pack up my Scooby snacks and then realized “You can’t take your lunch box to the ball park dummy!” 😦

    So, the test this weekend is to see if after 3 weeks of Weight Watchers can I calculate my points from common restaurant and street faire food without taking my lap top computer everywhere I go to log in all my points. MAN!  What happened to the good ole diet days of just sheer deprivation?

    That’s the tricky part of making you RESPONSIBLE for your choices. I can HAVE a ballpark hotdog I just have to count the 10 points. Hmmmm. Maybe not the best choice for 10 points. Oh and BTW….10 points is for the regular dog…not the mega foot-long cheese, chili and jalapeno smothered dog that is my favorite!

    The best thing is that eventually…if I keep passing these random weekend tests, my ass will eventually COMFORTABLY fit in one of those stadium seats.

    The bigger life picture is that making responsible choices is something  you need to learn to do in all aspects of your life every day. Not just your food choices. Remember….If you feel that your life is not your own…then that’s because you made the CHOICE to give it away.  You have to sail your own ship to stay on course. You can’t place the responsibility of your happiness with other people no matter how much you think you need or love them or vice versa. When you spend your life telling other people that their needs matter more than yours then eventually they will believe what you are preaching. Your value on their life meter will diminish because that is what you projected. Your personal sacrifices will not be recognized as you would expect- they rightfully will perceive your actions as YOUR CHOICE.

    I love each and every one of you. And hope you all make great choices this weekend.

    Juliana

  • Slow down Speedy…..

    Much to my amazement and amusement Weight Watchers DOES have police on their POINTS PLUS program. I dutifully entered my weight on Sunday after weigh in into the Weight Tracker and bells and whistle about blew my hair back. Apparently you CAN lose too much weight in a week. Who the hell ever heard of THAT? Certainly no prom girls I know.

    So the POINTS PLUS program admonished me and readjusted my POINTS allowance to slow down my progress. educational windows popped up about the risks of rapid weight loss and the dangers of losing muscle mass and not just fat. I’m thinking – Honey, there is way too much fat there for you to even worry about it hitting my muscle mass yet! But I read on……. Unless you are under a doctor’s care, you should not lose more than 1 to 2 lbs. per week. This is a safe amount of weight that will allow your body to slowly adjust to the changes and you will be more successful at keeping it off. Losing any more weight than that can lead to severe health problems. Well SHIT! I already have health problems.

    So I did a lil research. “Your heart is responsible for pumping blood and oxygen throughout your body. When you gain or lose weight, your heart must adjust to accommodate more or less body weight. Since your heart is a muscle, rapid weight loss or constantly losing and then gaining weight can place a lot of stress on your heart. As your weight changes so does your blood pressure and heart rate. You may also experience irregular heart rhythms and eventually heart failure.”

    Okay – so that makes the whole weight loss issue a little more serious in my mind since I already have Heart Failure and Irregular Heart Rhythms. Slow and steady wins the race. Reality check noted!  

    But I do love me some Speedy Gonzales! So me and Speedy will keep moving forward we just won’t be leaving a dust trail behind us!

    I love each and every one of you

    Juliana

  • I get the point….

     

     

    I have been running mach 90 with my hair on fire this week! I have worked from 8am – 2am and gotten up and done it all over again. 4 days of non-stop events and more to come over the next three days. The busiest week we have had all year and I am doing it  – cankle free!

    I have managed to take my retro Scooby Doo lunch box with me everyday. I searched for The Partridge Family, Gumby and Bobby Sherman lunch boxes because they were the ones I actually owned in the 70’s but… no luck. The only retro on the shelf at Target was Scooby. SO Scooby it is, filled with all my POINTS for the day…okay – not all my points but most! And I have been able to MAKE time to log my points on the tracker on line.

    It freaks me out at how much I have to eat a day to use up my points. I have points left each night but I have gotten better. Today I only have three points left. I just can’t eat another dang thing.

    Extra temptations surround me everywhere I go when we are so busy. I turned down a wonderful plated dinner at a gala Tuesday night for what was in my Scooby Box. I did the same last night at Tony Valone’s. Today – they delivered 13 piping hot pizzas for the crew so they could keep up the pace for lunch….ohhhh they smelled soooo good. But by eating the things I brought all day, I wasn’t hungry….but Girl, I was still tempted cause it just smelled so dang good and greasy! You feel me don’t cha?

    I always thought Weight Watchers was going to be hard. But it is easy once you get the hang of it. This has been the best I have done and most consistent I have been on watching what I eat in years.

    Oh I still get to play in the kitchen and get creative. Check out the photo of the making of a wrap above.

    Ezekiel Sprouted Grain tortilla with Olive and garlic humus, fresh spinach, 1 slice of white cheddar, 1 slice of Boar’s head turkey breast, cucumbers, tomatoes,onions, bean sprouts, carrots and topped with Wanda’s home-made pepper relish. Yummy wrap I make the night before and put in the fridge till the next day. And it’s less than 8 points.

    I get the point GOD! My best days are yet to come!

    "Julie, Julie, Julie do ya love me?"
    Bobby Sherman- Julie, Julie, Julie do ya love me…..

     

    I love each and every one of you

    Juliana

  • WTF!!!…..

    I know it sounds weird but I have never used an alarm clock. I don’t even own one. I just decide what time to get up and that’s when I wake up. Neat trick, I know.

    You may think it’s just repetition or routine but it’s not. Whether I need to wake up at 4am or 8am it’s all the same.

    Now GETTING up can be the challenge. I admit! I am not that disciplined. So telling myself to get up in time to work out and eat a descent breakfast, choke down all my meds and pack a lunch for the day including snacks and bottled water AND log it all in a Weight Watchers PointsPlus system??? okay – it’s not going to happen most days.

    So today I am headed to Target. I’m going to go buy the most obnoxious alarm clock I can find. The kind that keeps annoyingly chiming away till you GET UP and turn it off. I’m hoping I will turn my morning silence that I am so accustomed to into a swift kick in the ass to get up and do what we all know I should be doing.

    I’m finally getting the hang of the Points Plus system and I have bought some of the items at the store that have the points listed on them so I don’t have to even think about it. And since you can add in your own recipes you can create your own items which I think is kinda cool.

    But it all comes down to how your start your day. I know that when I give myself 30 more minutes to snuggle into my Egyptian Cotton sheets and Downy fresh pillow that I’m not REALLY pampering myself like I tell myself I am. I’m just succumbing to my own line of BS.

    When the day is done, the WEIGHT of it is all on my own shoulders. I have taken care of plenty of people in my life. Friends, Lovers and Bosses alike. THAT was a self imposed obstacle and distraction to taking care of myself. I made them more important. I had no problem getting up at 5:30 in the morning to make a partner breakfast or spending the money I should have saved for catching up on bills on entertaining a friend and buying her those things she mentioned she didn’t have.   Somehow it just seemed they were more important. That they deserved to have the things they wanted. Consequently, I attracted those people to be in my inner most circle for most of my life. My mistake was making all THEIR moments more important than my own.

    I get pissed sometimes that it took me 48 years to realize I had my own value. That I was worthy of being taken care of. But WTF, better now than never I say.

    I love each and every one of you and today, I’m gonna love me just a little more.

    Juliana

  • Weight Watchers….whose watching???

    Alright, I have succumbed to the Jennifer Hudson hype and joined Weight Watchers on line for three months. That was $65.00 out of my budget that just vanished with the click of a keystroke. But there is still nobody WATCHING me…I can still eat what I like. There are no POINTS POLICE lurking behind the counter at the Local Popeye’s Chicken just waiting to bust me and take me down for a calorie violation.  Nope – not even a Meter Reader to issue me so much as a warning for parking at the Baskin Robins. What the hell did I pay for??? Dang it! There are no free rides even when you shell out cold hard electronic cash. I still have to do all the work myself. I have to plan meals and log in every POINT of substinance that passes my lips. And they tricked me – their is an ACTIVITY LOG to go with it….they even expect me to log how much I drink.

    This is like…like…..HOMEWORK! What about my tan time? What about Dancing with the STARS? What about FACEBOOK????

    Okay – I’m done bitching. I know (after finally reading my last hospital report about RESTRICTIONS) that I have to knuckle down and get on the ball. They have finally gotten really nasty about salt – it’s FORBIDDEN….and alcohol…I just don’t even want to talk about it. And after looking up points on a hotdog which remains one of my favorite foods – Well, let’s just say that after adding those points to the POINT TRACKER I wouldn’t be allowed to eat for a week.

    Ho – hum…what’s a beautiful girl to do?…..COUNT Points with Jennifer Hudson I guess. I bet she doesn’t even log in her own points. I bet she  has a personal assistant that logs everything she eats into the POINT TRACKER and sends up a warning when she gets too close to going over budget for the day. Aghhh the life of the rich and famous.

    I love each and every morsel of you

    Juliana

  • Good Friday…..Best Life EVER!

    Good Morning world. It is GOOD FRIDAY! In my book, all Fridays are Good Friday. But this Friday the Blonde Bunny and I will be celebrating with a bevy of fabulous friends at the LAW Good Friday Crawfish Boil.

    Our afternoon will include the holy trinity of crawfish, potatoes and corn. Throw in some sides, some cold drinks and a crazy bunch of people with a jam box and you have yourself one heck of a religious experience.

    It’s a time to be thankful. It’s a time to be reborn. Good Friday and Easter – It’s not just the resurrection story of a man who came and gave his life on the cross for our “Sins” and then arose three days later. It’s not just about what someone did for us! It is a map – a guideline, an example of how to renew your own life and be born anew.

    Change is hard. Letting go of your burdens is difficult when you feel that only your burdens define you. Instead of pointing the finger of blame at those around you for being  the source of your discomfort or for being the barrier to your success   – “forgive them, for they know not what they do”. YOU have the power to release and forgive them because only you have the vision of who you truly are. There is no room for judgement or grudges in the Kingdom of Heaven. And the Kingdom of Heaven is within you.  Let the past die away, enter the chamber of your heart and rest in the new ideas of love, forgiveness and peace. See the obstacles that block your path dissolve away. Forgive YOURSELF for not believing in the power and wonder of YOU and the God within you. Only then can you awaken to a new life. Only then can you accept the wonderful gifts that were meant to be yours all along. Only then will you live your best life ever!

    I love each and every one of you

    Juliana

  • FROST & TIP PARTY

    Today was FROST & TIP Saturday at my house. Yep… it was time to get our highlights on. And who better to put you through the torture of pulling your hair through a plastic cap with a knitting needle than your good friends.

    First we fortified ourselves with homemade deli style sandwiches accompanied by a chip or two. Washed it down with a refreshing  vodka tonic with lime….or two…or three…oh hell, who’s counting.

    Then we lamented about the stupid frenchman with too much baggage to recognize what a hot mess Christina is. I mean…WE see it – why can’t he????

    And then there are the on-line dating sites where you say NO SMOKERS and the person you meet REEKS of an ashtray and their idea of being a NON-SMOKERS is one who is trying to quit….Leisa calls “LOSER” !!!! Which of course is closely followed by the chubby chasers who just want to date us for our cushiness.LOSSERRRRRR!!!!! And the one who lives down the street from your last ex – ohhhh soooooo not an option under any circumstances. If you can get a new home address then we can talk. Maybe more! wink, wink!!

    Then we had to bitch a bit about menopause cause that’s just what we do now. I’m hot, I’m cranky, I’m dry, I’m…… okay…”Too much information” as my mother would say.

    Well, our blonde streaks are PERFECT….just saying. Patting myself on the back.

    We have laughed till we nearly peed my concrete floor – the cat has hidden under the bed all day to escape our shinanigans and it very well may be time for a nap!

    Love my girls, love my Saturdays, love a good frost and tip party!

    I love each and every one of you. Especially if you have highlights.

    Juliana

  • OMG….. FLAT ABS!

    I have FINALLY found the latest, most effective way to get in shape. It is THE ultimate work out!!!  A girlfriend was kind enough to share this secret with me. Talk about motivational! OHHHH I just couldn’t wait to share it with everyone. I think we are REALLY on to something that could change the face of workouts everywhere. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how out of shape. There is nothing to buy or sign up for. No special diet. No books to read or DVD’s to sweat to. You don’t even have to leave your house! Any woman with a pulse can do this! Are you ready???  It’s called Coregasm! Yep! COREGASM. Apparently – I say apparently cause I haven’t run home to try it yet – APPARENTLY, it is an orgasm some women can have when performing certain ab exercises. Experts say (wait….BIG O Experts?? Really??? Who knew!!) Well, EXPERTS say that this wacky core induced climax could be due to a number of factors:

    1.)The tightening of pelvic muscles

    2.) The build up of tension 

     3.) Nerve impulse

    At this point in my life I don’t really care if it’s caused by underpaid workers in a sweat shop in Malasia, I think it is wortha try.  It’s doesn’t matter HOW it works, only that it does!

    Oh….and if I lose a few inches of my waist…well that’s just gravy…so to speak.

  • I’m not FAT ….I’m Fluffy!

    It sounds good in theory anyway. Being fluffy instead of fat. That’s what a friend’s son told me once a few years back. That I was Fluffy – not FAT.

    You see, kids don’t really have filters at 7, or 8, or 9….to him FAT was a negative thought and once he spent a few hours with me we were the best of pals and I couldn’t peel him off me. He was glued to my side.

    His mother politely told him to GET OFF me. He replied that he couldn’t. “She is so soft and fluffy”, he exclaimed with a smile and nuzzled his face into my side.

    Yep – that’s me. I’m broken in like an old Lazy Boy recliner. Soft and comfy in all the right places. I know I’m overweight. No nine-year old needs to tell me that. But somehow I have been able to win them over with my charm, wit and homemade peach cobbler.

    I never had kids. When I was younger I believed that threat my mother yelled out at me when I misbehaved. “Someday you’ll have  kids and they’re gonna be JUST LIKE YOU. YOU JUST WAIT LITTLE LADY!”. I always thought – HELL NO I’M NOT! And I have lived by my proclamation.

    So, I am Auntie, Aunt Huli, Tia. To Nieces and Nephews by blood and by choice. I am the coolest Aunt around. I answer calls at midnight from stranded college students. I hear about first kisses and broken hearts. I have done my fair share of homework , science projects and parties at Chucky Cheese. I’ve sat thru school and church concerts, plays and sports games at 8:00 am in the cold rainy morning.  I’ve dug thru mounds of dirty clothes in search of THE shirt that MUST be worn NOW! I’ve over bought and over indulged. I’ve bent the house rules, stayed up too late and let them sleep to long? YEP – I am Aunt Huli, Auntie, the fluffiest Tia in Town. I don’t mind it at all.

    I made an impression – and so did they. There is a new one on the way this fall. I can’t wait to meet her…or him.

    I love each and every one of you

    Signing off – Your fluffiness – Juliana

  • Duck’in Church…..

    Oh yes. It is Sunday and a whole bunch a folks headed off to church today. God bless’em.

    The girls and I decided to have a little “Church” of our own out at the Lake Conroe with Ms. Wanda (my mom).We all had some chores to do first. Lori had to feed and water Big Bob. Kim had to make sure Blair House was tended to and me – well, I like to think I started my day at God’s Sunday School pinching and feeling all the fabulous natural creations of the earth at the local farmers market on Airline. I bought Ms. Wanda more than just groceries. I brought her a ton of work!

    She has beets to pickle and strawberries to stew and lots of nice, fresh treats to eat for the next few weeks. Now THAT is a southern girls blessing!

    So we all convened at the local “BIG Church” beside the lake. Otherwise known as Sam’s Boat. A nice table with an umbrella out beside the water beats a flat bottom pew any day. We got to watch all the folks come in on their boats and tie off to the dock.We greeted them warmly whether we knew them or now, after all – we did belong to the same church.  Lori and I being experienced church goers asked the waiter for some holy spirits. Ms. Wanda, being the Matriarch of the group, took her time reading the written word and made her selection carefully before sharing her choice with us. And Ms. Kimberly…well, sometimes she can be a woman of few words but she always knows exactly what she wants.

    The fellowship was amazing and we paid special attention to the wonders of nature. Mud hen here and a mallard there. We bought feed and tossed it to the grass carp and watched the water boil as they gobbled up every morsel. God is good and the day was beautiful. But then again any day we can sit outside and enjoy each other and have Ms. Wanda with us – well, it’s just a religious experience for us all. She’s a bright shining star of light and love where ever she goes. She never meets a stranger and always has a kind word. She has loved us through thick and thin, right and wrong and always reminds us that God is within each and every one of us. She was the preacher we needed to see today. We are blessed to have her.

    Well, some cute little boy passed the collection plate which is the usual sign that church is about over. We hugged and loved on Ms. Wanda two or three times each at least. Then off to our cars and back to our lives. Lori to check on Big Bob, Kim to Blair house and me?…aghhh I came home to Punkin ……and to you.

    Life is good. I love each and every one of you.

    Juliana