Foods that are allowed on this Plan include:

Fresh/Frozen Fruits & Vegetables — you do need to watch the fruit, however, as it has A LOT of sugar and, yes, eating too much fruit can make you gain wait.

Lean Proteins — chicken, fish, 93% lean beef.

Dairy — Yes, you can have Fat Free milk, cheese, etc. However, I absolutely detest FF cheese, so for cheese, I will use my 49 weekly bonus points for the real stuff.

Carbohydrates — Yes, you can have whole wheat pasta and brown rice, lite breads, etc. However, keep in mind that your body will go to carbs first to burn for energy, so if you over do your carbs, even high fibre ones, you will not lose weight.

I’ll give a more in-depth view of the “Simply Filling” plan at a later date.

Best of Luck to You! Godspeed!

Raffi Torres Suspended 25 Games…Is this RIGHT?  NO!

That is total BULLSHIT! Torres is a menace to the integrity of hockey. Twenty-five games is NOT sufficient penalty, especially since he has done this MULTIPLE times to other players. Why is this ASSHOLE still allowed to play??? I heard he was supposed to be suspended “indefinitely” not for 25 games…he should be suspended indefinitely…he should NEVER be allowed to play hockey again. So, he’s charged, what half a million for the total # of games lost? Out of his, no doubt, multi-million dollar contract?  BIG WHOOP! He’ll do it again if this asshole is allowed to continue to play the game.

What is it going to take to get him removed indefinitely from the sport? Until he actually KILLS somebody or puts them in a wheelchair for life for breaking their cervical spine??? This is TOTAL BULLSHIT! Hossa could’ve been KILLED and if this bastard is allowed to play, he will, no doubt, end up KILLING somebody else. What the hell is wrong with the NHL? Don’t they have any brains in their friggin’ heads? This is an outrage! He should be suspended INDEFINITELY — not for only 25 games — for multiple violations of NHL rules: interference, charging and an illegal check to the head. What kind of justice is that for Hossa and all the other players he has injured in the past? Hell, they should bring CRIMINAL charges against him for ASSAULT with intent to injure. He should spend time in JAIL not just be penalized 25 games and fined $25,000+ per game he misses. They need to make a rule that states if you intentionally charge at an opponent with intent to seriously injure that takes that player out of the game, that player should be suspended INDEFINITELY immediately following the offense.

Also, the fucking referees on that game should be charged and FIRED for not even calling a penalty on the play itself. Are they friggin’ BLIND? Why wasn’t there a call made on that illegal play?

This is how they’re trying to cut back on the amount of illegal hits??? Are you kidding me???

A cheap fine and a 25-game suspension. BULLSHIT!  He should be suspended INDEFINITELY from the NHL IMMEDIATELY.

Raffi Torres should NEVER be able to play professional hockey in the NHL or anywhere ever again for unsportsmanlike behavior. He’s a menace to the game of hockey and ruins what hockey is supposed to be. He should’ve been suspended indefinitely A LONG TIME AGO and should not have been playing so he couldn’t have attacked Hossa.

His punishment is NOT enough, not by far. The NHL really needs to come down on these ASSHOLES who deliberately go out to HURT or INJURE other players. That is NOT what the sport of hockey is about. A good check, yes, is fine, but when the player’s feet LEAVE THE ICE as he JUMPS and TURNS to make illegal contact with another player’s HEAD, THAT has got to STOP! The only way it will stop is if they make an example of Raffi Torres and SUSPEND HIM INDEFINITELY from the NHL so he never can play hockey again.

Shanahan, you’ve been a good VP of Player Safety and Hockey Operations and you’ve ruled with an iron fist….UNTIL NOW!

Something more stringent needs to be done to RAFFI TORRES so he gets the message that this kind of behavior is NOT okay and is NOT going to be tolerated.

Missing 25 games and a wee fraction of the millions of money he’s been paid is NOT going to make that impression. He’s laughing at you and he will do this again.

Torres, and others like him, must be STOPPED now!

YOWZA!

How did I do this, you might be curious? Well, I’ll say one word–PROTEIN!

I totally scarfed down A LOT of lean protein, mostly chicken breast and salmon, broiled. Cut down on carbs/sugar. I did have a little pasta, but it was WHOLE WHEAT so, remember, you want to watch your NET carbs which means total carbs MINUS fiber, so if you eat something with a lot of fiber, like whole wheat pasta, that reduces the amount of net carbs. So, yes, in essence, you CAN still have pasta and rice (brown) and even some breads and still lose weight.

Wish me luck for Week #2 on my “Simply Filling” food plan — WW Term, used to be The Core Plan and you’ll hear me call it Core more than I will Simply Filling, I just think it sounds better, to be honest.

Best Wishes to all. Have a Great Week!

Breakfast: 2 eggs with 1/4 C lean ham.

Lunch: Subway – Salad with Buffalo Chicken, no sandwich, lots of veggies.

Dinner: Broiled chicken tenders with dry BBQ rub….spicy!

Let’s do it!

The thing is I’m eating MORE than I usually do and it’s helping. Go figure! I’ve been using ALL of my assigned Points, plus about half to two-thirds of my weekly points, so I guess the trick really is that EATING does help you lose weight.

I think my mentality is different this time around. This time, I’m not stuck in the “I’ve gotta be perfect” or “I can’t have that becuase I’m on a DIET” mode. This time, there is NO FOOD I can’t have, I just need to learn to incorporate it into a healthy lifestyle. BOOM! Duh! It’s a lifestyle change, not a DIET. Diet’s fail because you give up your favorite foods, then, after you lose the weight and starting eating “normal” again, the weight comes right back on. I’m not giving up my favorite foods, I’m learning how to eat them in moderation.

My goal is 10 lbs. per month. I started on 2/01 so, by 3/01, I want to lose 10 lbs. I’m one pound away from my first goal and 5 lbs. away from my 5% target.

Good week! Keep it up!

My first goal is to lose just 10 lbs. by March 1st. I’m shooting for 10 lbs. per month, but taking them month-by-month in increments of 10 lbs. because that sounds doable. So I’m halfway to my first goal of 10 lbs. Wish me luck!

Food manufacturers today make it so easy to buy the food that’s bad for you because it is so much cheaper and, if you’re on a budget, it’s really hard to stretch your money to afford to eat good, whole fruits and vegetables, lean cuts of meat, non-processed stuff every day of the month. Trust me, I know. Usually, by the last week, we’re down to cereal and PB&J sandwiches and pasta and all of those things are problematic for weight loss because of the numerous amount of carbohydrates (carbs) they contain.

It’s the excess amount of carbs we consume, which turn into sugar and ultimately get stored as FAT in our bodies, that makes weight loss so difficult. If you cut out four basic ingredients, you’ll be healthier and lose weight. Those four ingredients are….

(PAUSE FOR EMPHASIS)

Flour, Fat, Sugar, and Salt.

Basically, you want to eat a diet rich in low fat protein (protein is our FRIEND), very little, if any, sugar and carbs, and reduced salt. Think the new Atkins diet. If you want to lose weight, you need to restrict carbs so your body starts to go into and burn your stored fat for energy. If you eat carbs, those carbs are what the body burns FIRST, then stores the rest which ultimately end up as stored FAT. No carbs in, the body still needs to burn someting for energy so it turns to your fat reserves and starts the process of ketosis which is burning fat for energy.  That is what you ultimately want if you are trying to lose weight. You want your body to go into its fat reserves and start burning that fat for energy.

I know it’s difficult if you’re a carb addict like me who loves my bowl of cereal at 10:30 at night and loves a good sandwich for lunch, but remember, you don’t have to totally give up carbs forever…just until you reach your ideal, healthy weight and then you can start to incorporate carbs back into your diet.

Good luck on your journey!

BUT…the good news is I went to the gym today with my son. We got a joint membership at the YMCA and, thought I haven’t been there in about three months, forced myself to get up off my fat ass and get some exercise. So I definitely made up for my Italian Wedding Cake splurge

In summary…

15 minutes on the ellipital = 110 calories

45 minutes of light/moderate weight training = approx 200 calories

20 minutes on the treadmill at 2.5 mph = 155 calories

Plus, gotta include my 3 x 10-minute walks with my dog, Niko. THAT is a definite that I get every single day without fail. I mean, the dog’s gotta go, right?

So, all in all, not a too terrible day. Keep pushing on!

Started out good. I actually ate breakfast which is a stretch for me. If I did eat breakfast, it usually came in the form of 2 breakfast burritos from McD’s. Nope. Today, I had two eggs, scrambled, with 2 slices of breakfast ham. High protein, no carbs. I got my 32 oz. bottle of water to bring with me to work. I’m off and running…one day at a time.