July Updates

This week has gone by slowly. I've slowed down time, actually. I'm not sure how I've done this, but it might have something to do with my not having to go into work, and I get a lot done in one day. I'm certainly not sitting and relaxing much.

Hope everyone had a good July 4th celebration, or whatever you do. We stay home. We don't like crowds, and it's very quiet here, and we grilled a couple of steaks. Been a while since we've done that with the cost of such things, but once in a while we treat ourselves. Besides, my husband's birthday is on Monday. He's told me he's turning 50 (again). I said if he was turning fifty again, then I should too.

I do feel MUCH better this summer than I did last. I was struggling with my weight, up until I began the Atkins diet. I've now lost 17 pounds! And I'm within 11 pounds of my goal weight (125). I have so much energy it's alarming. In fact, yesterday I worked on digging up a flower bed, moving large rocks and flagstone around--I began this around 7-ish in the morning, took a 45 minute break for lunch, and was back at it for another two hours. I built my little waterfall with the large flagstone, but that was as far as I got in getting this area ready. I later will put down brick for a walk way. I've wanted to do this for a long, long time. There used to be old railroad ties in the area where I've worked, and we pulled these rotting ties out, back in the spring. Now, this is my project, and I'm doing this by myself. The only thing my husband did was haul away the dirt in the mini cart hooked to the large mower he uses out at the park. Later that night I still had energy to cut up a chicken and fry it for Dennis' birthday meal (he doesn't know if he's going to take the 7th off or not--gets behind in the mowing out there in the park).

My raspberries have come on strong. One day this week I sprayed myself down with repellent, and went out and picked what might have been two quarts. Yum!

I've watched all the Harry Potter movies first to last. Now, I really need to work on my book. My beta reader, Jennifer Weydert now has a different job, and it's at the university. She's been able to find a little time to work on my 5th book. Hopefully, she'll continue to be able to find the time. But she claims that she loves this series, and can't really put it down.

As for the fourth book, Vampire Caprice, is now on Smashwords, if anyone is interested. Since my publisher quit the business, I've gone Indie, and I'm sorry, but I simply don't have the money to put out a soft-bound book for this. If I could, believe me, I'd do a hell of a lot better job than was done with that third one. I was actually happy that he quit, since he didn't give my third book his complete attention. My suspicion was that he was too busy publishing and promoting his own book. So, this was why he was so quick to allow me to use the book covers for all three books--he felt guilty.

Anyway, I'm working on the 8th book, working on the plot. I know when not to write much down into the main document, because I don't have a good grasp of the plot. I've had a few revelations, however--and have the plot twist--but I need the meat of it, and what sort of clues to drop and how. This is going to be a sort of Western, but it will still have fantasy elements. Maybe it's a little bit of Harry Potter, too, since I use a train ride in this from one place to another in Drakulya's realm. Oh, and she is back on Black Veil to help find Princess Aljhambra, who has been abducted by one of Drakulya's off-spring, Hawk--who HATES vampires. She's told they've threatened to kill her if Drakulya doesn't comply with their wishes. Which is to stop invading a neighboring country and taking humans. But Joha, Drakula's son, claims he is not doing this!

So, at the end of my first week off, I've got a pretty good start of getting things that need doing done. The outdoor work will get done, but I need a day off in between. I'll be posting once in a while in here, and when I can, checking out what everyone else is doing out there. In the meantime, I hope you're all fine and don't mind me while I'm in my writing cave.

Harsh Winter = Weight Gain... Here's What I'm Doing About It

Okay, as pretty much all of you know we had a very rough, very cold, very snowy winter. As a result most of us just wanted to stay warm and eat comfort foods. I'm one of them. I'm also one who can't stick to any exercise program, or diet, so I've got some pounds to loose. I've tried everything--save having the fat sucked out of my body. I've tried the Low Fat diet... it really doesn't work. And you know the pill ads where they claim you'll loose lots of weight. Sure, and then once you quit them, you gain it back and more. I've tried the shakes--same thing. I lost the weight, but I'm not willing to keep on buying the shakes. And the more popular shakes on the shelves, but they don't keep me satisfied. So, I gave up.

But now I've gotten to the point where I can't stand being this heavy, so I've decided to do something I know works. It worked for me before when I tried it. Atkins. 

Atkins Diet plans-follow my links

It worked for me back in 2003/04 when I tried this. I watched the weight shed from me in a matter of a few weeks to a month and into the next month. I got rid of 20 extra pounds and I felt great! But, back then, I didn't have the actual diet plan. I had a recipe book, and in the beginning pages it told basically how to do it, but not enough details for me to know when and how to add more carbs, and certain foods I could eat.

But now that I can go on-line, I've found the actual phases--there's 4 (the 4th one you stay on for life), and I know I can follow this easier than before. Especially since they now have the snack bars, candy, drinks, and frozen meals (although I can't think of why I'd need to buy any frozen meals, as I can make my own salads, breakfasts and dinners).

I think you've seen the ads with Sharon Osborn, and they're funny, but effective. I tried this back when people really thought you were nuts for not accepting a bun with your hamburger. I got criticism from family, but they couldn't deny I lost weight and kept it off for a while, but slipped back because I didn't have the full plan, which you need in order to follow it until you've shed the pounds and can move on through each phase.

HOW IT WORKS:
In Phase One you have to make sure to keep your carbohydrate intake to 20--no more than 22, and no less than 18. You will have 3 meals, and 2 snacks a day. Never starve yourself, o go more than 3-4 hours without eating. If you want, you can break it up to 5-6 meals a day. You don't want yourself to become ravenously hungry. One of the things that I noticed with the low-fat diet, I was always hungry. Even if I consumed protein, I understand why they say that fats keep you feeling full. You need to have 12-15 carbs of "foundation vegetables". Nearly all of the carbs will come from the vegetables, and some from cheese and certain other products. Meat has none. Some cheese has none, but you do have to check labels.

Although you can eat eggs, and I will eat eggs, I'm going to substitute with "Egg Beaters" for the no cholesterol. And bacon is soooo expensive and greasy, I'll see if I can't use turkey bacon--but not the low-fat. You are not encouraged to use low-fat anything in this diet. There's the danger of lurking carbs inside such things. Any time they make a low-fat something, they add stuff in that maybe you shouldn't eat (like more sodium).

I've ordered my "starter kit" which includes three bars, but I have to wait for them, so I bought a box and I'm going to see how well these work for me. I need something to get me through my 4-hour shift driving a bus. Later on, in May, I'll have a 6-hour shift and I'll have to know how these bars and the drinks will work.

Like I've said, I've tried other ways to loose, but nothing really worked. The Atkins diet is something you can go on, work to get your metabolism back on track, and then gradually, over time, add a few more carbs, but you'll probably never eat bread again--which I can do with out. And so can my husband who has trouble with gluten.

Water is something you need to drink anyway, and 8 glasses of 8 oz. is what you need anyway. But you can substitute with a few cups of tea or coffee, and other drinks, but not fruit drinks. I've found a great tasting sparkling drink called ICE, it has no calories, and no carbs and they have plenty of flavors to choose from. I can't have any alcohol in this first phase, which is fine, and so I'll drink this instead.

Milk: I'm going to try almond milk. The carbs in milk are high, and when you only have 22 carbs to work with, you need to really cut out some things. Ketchup and dressings you really have to watch the carbs. I've settled on a couple, and believe it or not, Ranch dressing is very low in carbs so I can have that on salads, or for dipping.

I'm going to start this seriously in another week. I'll let you know how I do.
Have a great week, guys!

Our Health and Wellbeing

I've wanted to address this for a while, and I think I will today. Weight gain and getting rid of the extra pounds. We all want to live healthy and long lives, right? Weight gain is a problem for women more than men because they seem to be able to work it off easily. For us, it's the belly, the waist, thighs—you know what I'm talking about.

One of my favorite authors' pictures makes me just cringe when I think that she needs to address her weight and overall health. I'm not sure even from her blogs that this is an issue with her or not. But as writers, we don't have an option as to how we go about the writing. We need to sit down and write for hours at a time. But we so need to etch out time for exercise, even if it's a 20 minute walk.

I was never heavy when I was much younger, but as my twenties and thirties roared in, the pounds began to pile up—two, three or 5 pounds over the winter. When I was that age, I worked outdoors in the spring and summer and shed it. I didn't become way concerned about it until my 40's. The place where I worked, at the time, someone was always having a birthday and the cakes and so forth were brought in on a weekly bases. Sometimes more often. Thus you indulge because it's there. Extra pounds again piled on, and I did try to walk when the weather allowed it during the lunch break, but still the extra calories were there.

This winter I found myself over 150 pounds. I've never been this heavy in my life. I didn't like it, I felt uncomfortable, and at five-four, this wasn't a good thing. Not for my knees which I have been taking Flex-o-min for. Having gone through menopause a few years ago, I knew that weight was going to be my biggest problem. It's not flattering and I felt terrible. I was horrified when I was looking at size XL!

I determined I was having problems with munching on snacks too often. But I got hungry. Why? I guess it just got out of hand. The calories in snacks are the diet killers.

That's when my loving husband stepped in. While I was in my bath one afternoon, he picked up the phone an ordered something called “Smoothies” that had been advertised on TV in our area. He told me he had done this for me to help me reduce my cravings. And let's face it, the two things I do—my job as a writer, and as a bus driver—I'm required to sit for the majority of the time. When I'm writing, this is a mental past time, creatively speaking, and thus you aren't really aware of time passage. I have a clock on my desk top, but I don't watch it like I do while driving the bus. My bus routes are in increments of 30 min. and I constantly have to watch the clock and time my snacks accordingly. I usually get done with the route within 20-25 minutes which leaves me with a little bit of time to do whatever I need to do—which includes a snack.

I got the Smoothies in a week. One Smoothie was to replace a meal (2 per day—breakfast & lunch), and unlike the popular sugary diet drinks you get for this at the store, the Smoothies have something in it to hold your cravings down, has more protein in it, and less sugar, and were only 200 calories once I mixed it with Low Fat milk.

Then I was to make better, wiser choices in my snacks. Calorie-wise I found out that although the walnuts I was eating have Omega-3, one quarter cup is 200 calories! My smoothies, when I mixed with milk were at 200 calories. I was trying to keep my daily intake at the 2,000-calorie level, so that one snack had to go—plus a few others.

Since I wasn't that over weight, the weight loss was not dramatic. Actually this is a good thing. I've read that if you loose weight gradually, it will stay off. I began the 6-week Smoothie diet back in February. To this date I've lost ten pounds (and didn't have to buy any extra large clothing, thank goddess!) I'm still loosing about a pound every 7-10 days.

Once I got off the Smoothies I had to find something that would substitute my breakfast and lunch meals. The breakfast wasn't hard. I ate oatmeal, and sometimes strawberries, or I'd substitute “Egg Beaters” for the cereal, and that filled me along with a half cup of cottage cheese--2%.

I still needed snacks and so chose certain ones that I knew didn't have fructose or high fructose corn syrup in it. The horrible truth about why people are so overweight is because your body will not assimilate fructose to energy, but it stores as fat in your body.

I spend 7 hours on a bus driving college students around. The one big thing I'd noticed was obesity ran rampant. Why? Fructose has replaced sugar in pop and other snacks, in bread, cereal, and other products for years. It's only now coming out in the open as the worst thing you can eat. Avoid it like the plague, READ LABLES!!! Many products will state it on the front that they don't have it. Miracle Whip doesn't state it, but they have substituted it with sugar. Ketchup is another one with fructose in it. If you eat out a lot, try to at least lower the consumption of ketchup, and eliminate fries—they are bad for you. Eat a salad with grilled chicken—not deep-fried, and use salad dressing is at least low-fat.

If you eat yogurt be aware if it has any flavoring at all in it, it probably does have high fructose—I've yet to see more than a few that don't, especially with fruit. If they don't have the high fructose corn syrup, and have another substitute, be aware that you're still eating something that really isn't all that healthy for you. Eat plain yogurt if you want to get the benefits, add your own fruit, use a natural sugar substitute.

Once I got off the Smoothies I had to figure out what I could make for lunch. In my job I only have time for a quick sandwich. But one slice of bread is 100 calories. Then I found Bread Thins, or Deli Thins. They're small, thin, round buns, one is only 100 calories. I add cheese, turkey lunch meat, lettuce, tomato slices, and mayo. I might have something that ranges at 250-280 calories. But this is my lunch. My snacks are V-8 juice (8 oz.)--40 calories, celery, and carrot sticks, South Beach Living granola bars. The granola bars are 110 calories, and are my mid morning snack to keep me going while on the bus. I don't eat these while at home. After I get home I usually eat a banana. I've switched to skim milk as it's only 80 calories per cup.

Of course you have to lighten up and have one thing you know you will crave. I allow myself one—only one per day—piece of dark chocolate that comes in a wrapper. These are right around 30 calories. It's my one indulgence. I do still enjoy 2 glasses of wine at night, and this hasn't hampered my weight loss any, as far as I can determine.

We writers are so busy with our writing, and lives on the side, that it get difficult to get into a work-out program, but I think we can make wise choices in the foods we eat, at least. We deserve it, and I think we'd like to be around a while for our children, spouses—and yes, our fans!