On Sensa, Dinners, School and The Dog

I'm really just lacking time to specifically blog so I'm doing a very random post!  Yeah!

Sensa Update:

Okay, so I'm going to be on this three weeks come this Thursday.  I still am at a 4 (sometimes 5) lb. loss.  I made some bad food and beverage decisions this last week though and have seen it slow down.  The product still works but sometimes better than others.  In a week and a half, I will be changing over to the month two tastants and that is supposed to kick my brain back into gear.  The tastants change each month so that your brain does not get too use to them and they stop working.  I really need to stop having wine at all.  We have an event in August at our winery that I want to go to but besides that, I'm going to abstain the rest of August just to give this a better chance to work.  The fair did not help either.  I also have not been exercising much but will be kicking that into gear here in the next week as well so I'm hoping the Sensa will have more of a chance to push my goal reaching.  Over all, for two and a half weeks, it's still a good number for loss.  Two lbs a week is a healthy number and this is close.

School Starting Soon!!!
Two weeks from today my youngest two start school.  Everyone is finally ready for this (Emma was reading day two of summer break).  I just don't like that they have to ride the bus on the windy road out to their little school in the heat.  It's great to have them out there at this small wonderful school, but the road is long and curvy.  We are really excited about Emma's teacher this year.  We were hoping Caedmon would get the great fourth grade teacher that Emma had but it looks as though he is not.  However, that class would be a 4/5 combo and he was in a combo last year.  I'm glad on that account that he is not again this year.  Also, it would be pushing him a bit.  He really needs to take academics slow till his brain develops a bit more.  He is really needing lots of boyish wiggle time right now.  He is always the largest kid in the class but he is actually one of the youngest.  This teacher he did get is a pretty tough, and it's a guy.  I think that could be good for him but a little shocking as well.  He will be a little more militant and perhaps that is what God knows Caedmon needs.  I decided I would not fret at all about this years teacher placement but would trust God to put him where he needed to be.  It's not what I would have chosen but how often does God follow my plan anyway...:)

Victoria starts High School in three weeks.  This is going to be a really big change for us.  Right now it looks like I will be able to take her in which she is relieved about since the bus leaves our town at 7am and she would be having to get up so crazy early.  This way also, I can take her in, go workout, and go from there to work.  It will motivate me to make sure I do that. So, it's a good deal for both of us. I'm hoping she does not have to ride it home but we don't know yet.

Foodie Update

I was really excited about this post Money Saving Mom put up about a lady who had structured five frozen assembled dinners for the crockpot.  The crockpot is a working mothers friend.  I get so tired when I get home and it's so hard to push myself to get right into the kitchen.  Then, add the triple digit days and I'm really dragging.  So, I told my friend Michelle about it and she had a great idea!  We should get the stuff and get together to assemble packets together.  It worked out really well.  I highly suggest doing this.  We are cooking the Hawaiian Chicken one today in the crockpot.  I'll let you know how it comes out.  This lady did test these though and the comments on the post seem to indicated great applaud.  She is working on coming up with another batch of these.  I personally don't need them to use five nights in a row but to use on days I need the help.  All I have to do today when I get home is put rice in my awesome Pampered Chef rice cooker in the microwave and in 20 min dinner is ready.  Perhaps a salad tossed up as well would go well with it.

I am also in research to discover some different "egg on top" recipes.  More on that once I find some....

The Dog

So, the dog made it through his trail.  He is ours now.  He is really doing well.  However, he is trying to pee in the house every now and then.  We are working with him on it, and I'm so glad I don't have carpet in the main part of the house so we can clean it up well but I'm not happy about it.  He seems to really know now when he has done wrong.  I try to remember he may have been out on his own for a while.  He is great with the whole family but get's a little too excited when kids come over who have dogs at home.  He get's confused and want's to marry them if you get my drift.  We are working on that too.  Oh, and the kids named him Angus.  He really took to the name so I'm fine with it.  I think he is a perfect fit for our family though.

Blowing Up A Weight Loss Myth

I've always held to the idea that you should NEVER buy bigger clothes when you want to loose weight.  I've held to that idea for years.  The thought is that if you are uncomfortable, you will not eat as much and you will get more serious about weight loss.  I recently was forced into a situation that led me to find this not true, and had some other revelations about myself along the way.

As I've said lately on my Sensa Weightloss posts, I'm the heaviest I've been outside of pregnancies.  So I was really feeling awful the last few months in my clothes, especially jeans and pants.  I was forced to do what I dreaded doing and buy that darn next size up.  What I discovered amazed me and blew a huge myth out of the water for me....

I felt fabulous!!!

I did not expect this.  I've not really let myself do it before.  Suddenly, I felt like I looked right in my clothes.  Now days I see women everywhere cramming themselves into clothing that causes all manner of unsightly bulges everywhere.  I have a pet peeve for bulges, I avoid them at all costs.  So what I would do is wear my soft pants or yoga pants until I felt better.  This time I worked out and worked on it and was not feeling better.  In fact, what I was wearing was depressing me more and making me feel defeated.  When you feel defeated you have a major disadvantage....

you don't want to move at all, not to mention get out and get going!

Now, mind you, there is always the problem that you will just forget all together about your goal for change but I noticed that when I felt better, I was MORE motivated.  I felt like I'd made immediate progress (of course I'd not but it was mentally just as rewarding to feel good in what I wore).  It finally occurred to me that this was true when I was watching a Fly Lady video yesterday about getting up and getting dressed head to toe when you start your day because feeling good motivates you.  That is exactly what this was.  I felt I could get out, go do, accomplish instead of feeling painful and uncomfortable and way frumpy in my outfit. My clothes not feeling good made me want to hide and it made me feel so discouraged.

Thankfully, I found a few good deals on Gap and Levi jeans at the Goodwill as well as a few tops that I love.      Otherwise, yes this could be very expensive so I would not recommend putting much money into it, after all, the goal is to be out of those clothes soon.  On that note though, it made me think that I was going to change something else about my attitude regarding my weight.  I was going to.....

be okay with my weight wherever it was.  

That is not so say I was not going to set goals to loose, but while I was wherever I was, I wanted to be continually content with it.  It sounds like I'm contradicting myself but I'm not.  It's the same concept as being content with your finances yet still saving up more.  Being okay where you are for the time you are there while you work to make it to another place.  I'd never thought of this before and my clothes were a huge conduit to how content I was with my body.  One practical way I'm going to do this is to stop getting rid of my "big" clothes.  I've done this before, tossed them out!  Somehow I thought doing that would make me never go back where I was.  You know what though, life and my waistline are always changing!!!  I need to be okay with it and always work to make it better all at once.  So, I'm going to keep a tote of "big" clothes just as I have the one I have called "too small" in my storage.  Honestly, this concept is very freeing to me.  I'm not sure what all the psychology is behind it but it's been a powerful revelation.

For the fact is, and this also I've noticed lately, women of all sizes can be stunning.  They may not be meat market sexy in temporal terms, but why should that by my goal anyway?  The meat market is an unhappy endless discontent.  Even the gorgeous ones don't feel like they are, we all know that.  It's really a focus of getting male attention at that point.  That should never be my goal.  I want to do the best with what I have always, and get the attention of one man.  Do you know what wonderful thing he said to me too????  When I was telling him these revelations I've had and told him the crazy number the scale has me at right now he said "You really wear it well".

What a man.  I knew we both needed to be honest that we noticed my situation, we agree that I need to make goals to change it, but he was truly content with me as I was.  I've never let myself be that, for myself.

So, I highly recommend going on a chubby shopping spree and getting stuff that makes you want to live your life!  Set goals and work for them, and love it all along the way.  I don't want to always miss my life shooting for something that will come and go.  My life does not have to come and go with it. My drawer and my storage should be ready to make me feel good at any size.

Perhaps some people all ready get these things....I'm probably just dense.  I'm happy to have realized it, and I just hope this encourages someone else feeling the same way.  I guess we live in a culture that makes it hard to see the more true obvious things.

Sensa Update

(For my original post go here )
I was planning on waiting a whole week to update how Sensa is working for me (again, I'm not getting paid to do this though I wish I were), but I have had results that I don't want to forget about.  Plus, I was asked how it's going and said I'd up date, so here ya go... :)

Like I said, I noticed it working right away on the first meal I tried it on.  Later that evening my husband and I took our kids to a movie and we went to our favorite Italian restaurant for a dinner date.  I knew this would really test it.  If there is anything I can over eat on, it would be Italian food.  Since I could tell from the lunch, that it was more wise to start with a small portion, sprinkle that, eat and then have more if I felt I needed it, I took that approach.  Our first course was our salad.  Even though I don't worry about over eating salad, I wanted that salad to start the process of "I'm satisfied" for me.  I sprinkled the sensa over all of it and ate it all.  Our tomato brushetta came and I took a quarter of it and gave Rick the other 3/4.  I was all ready realizing that although my stomach was growling, I was not really craving food.  However, the food still tasted good to me.  I used the sensa on my brushetta and enjoyed my small portion of that.  I did not feel I wanted more of it.  By the time the pasta came (Chicken Mushroom Fettuccine w/ basil cream sauce.....oh, yeah!) I was not wanting much more.  I scooped out a little into my plate (We had planned ahead to share the dish), about 1/4 of the whole.  I sprinkled my Sensa and ate and was completely satisfied.  My favorite part was that I was satisfied AND I felt great when I was done eating.  Without the Sensa, I would have felt craving for more and the good lightness of my tummy.  With this I was fine and I felt light still.

 I've been really paying attention to if it works or not, and when it works in the meal.  I've been noticing that I'm not hungry between meals,  and I'm not eating at night or wanting to munch.  That is very helpful for me.  I've not been able to get any serious exercise in since I started it, only a few walks. I started it last Thursday at lunch, five days ago.  I've lost a 3lbs.

I'm not putting much stock in the scale however.  I was more excited when my jeans fit comfortably right out of the dryer.  No squats to stretch them before I fell them relax. One pair I could not fit in well before vacation fit nicely this morning.  So, that is where I want to see it.

If felt last nights dinner was a huge test for it again.  I made homemade sweet corn mac and cheese (the recipe Ivan made on his pilot for trying to win Food Network Star), sloppy joes, pea salad (the cold one with red onion and cheddar chunks), and salad.  I portioned myself small portions of each so I could have some of them all, and I used the Sensa.  As I'm starting to eat, I'm all ready thinking that I will want more mac and cheese.  By the time I was done with my plate, Sensa had changed my mind.  It was fantastic.  The one key with Sensa, is that as it's helping you, you don't want to push that and eat anyway.  It really does help you but you have to listen to that and not push back into the food anyway. For me, I've not really wanted to.  In fact, I remember sitting there thinking I kinda wish I wanted more! LOL.


So, so far I'm loving it.  I'll keep you posted.   This product has it's critics for sure.  I'm here to be honest how it works for me.  This is only the beginning and as most of you know, the beginning can be the easy part.  So, we will see!

Giving Sensa A Try

Well 35 has not been good for me. I have felt my body really get old this year.  I've put on 15 lbs in the last year (which was a bummer because I had lost 10 the year before.  I've started exercising more, eat better and still have struggled badly.
My thing too is not the scale.  I just want to feel good.  However, the weight is making my heels really hurt after exercise.  Some mornings I wake up and can barely walk because my heels feel bruised.  I have more aches and pains and my energy levels have been really low, even with adding exercise.
I'm not one for doing products for dieting.  I'm very much a naturalist.  Years ago, the only way I really ever lost weight (and mind you, I was 115 when I got married but pregnancy did me wrong) was between my first two kids and using Metabolife.  It contained ephedra which is a strong stimulate.  It did keep me moving though (bordering jittery) and it really curbed my appetite.  Eventually Metabolife was taken off the market because some people had health issues.  I read of one mom who was in her early thirties and had a heart attack while on the treadmill.  It was scary even when you used it right. I'm thankful it's not around.  I was in my early 20's then and my body could handle it.  I don't think it would now.  It did work though and I lost 30 lbs.
Now I'm once again willing to try a product I'm hearing a great deal about.  Over vacation I did a lot of research on it.  At first it seemed like a food wasting issue though (I'll explain) and I don't like to waste food. I was also worried about what EXACTLY the ingredients were and how EXACTLY it works.

So, today I tried it for the first time.

The way Sensa works is  that you sprinkle it on your food.  Created by a doctor of neurology, Sensa is basically inhaled through your nose as you eat and tells your brain you are satiated.  There is one for salty foods and one for sweet.  You simple don't feel you need to eat anymore soon after you start eating.  I was worried this would be a nausea feeling, but it's not.

I had a chicken salad to try it out on for lunch.  I had about two cups of salad on my plate.  Mostly greens, then chicken cubes, dried cranberries, walnuts, and some feta and dressing.  I sprinkled on the sweet Sensa because I won't use that as much and in my mind, a salad with fruit could go either way.  I started eating.  I made a point to smell my food as I ate knowing that was how this works.  For the first few moments I could tell nothing.  I could taste no funny flavors...nada.  Then, about half way through my plate I was suddenly done.  I did not feel a puffy stomach full, I just felt done.  I did not feel nauseated or like my food grossed me out, just done.  It was the most definitive feeling, neither good or bad, just DONE.
My concern had been that if I sprinkled this on my food, I did not want to throw the rest away.  It says you can eat leftovers, but you have to sprinkle new Sensa as the product looses power after a while.  You also want to eat right after you sprinkle.  So, I guess I will start with even smaller portions.  I can eat my salad leftovers later I just have to re-sprinkle.  Honestly, I don't want to have to do that often because the product is not cheap.  So, I will dish a lot less next time.
I'm blown away at the results just from the first time eating.

You can read about exactly what is in it here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/98962-ingredients-sensa-diet/
and of course they have a website.

I do feel like I'm my own guinea pig at this point but I'm wanting to try it out.  I plan to post the progress.
(Please note: I'm not being paid by Sensa to do this.  I wish I were!  If it's bad...you will be told)