Still here! (reprise)

It's been a life and a half since I last posted, I haven't been good lately about updating online. Just too busy!

I've been doing my best to stick to the tenets I learned from the BFC but until this week my husband and I haven't completely been sticking to it. Since I last weighed in.. oh I don't even remember when!  I had gained 8.4 pounds (largely attributable to the recent visits by Msrs. Ben and Jerry). Not as much as I thought it would be when I stepped on the scale, but still a shame to take those steps backward. I still fit in all the new and resized pants, at least, though the one "measuring" pair of jeans has definitely been tight lately.

So Monday morning I weighed in at 156.8, and we put aside the brownies and BBQ ribs from my husband's birthday and went back on plan. Summer grilling season makes it a lot easier to rededicate ourselves, and I'm really hoping not to take the 'days off' from the BFC that my husband insists on (though we've already talked about what to eat on Friday when we go to Bertucci's with friends).

I'm also trying this time not to rely on grains as much. Every meal last time through was built around the bread or the buns or the pasta and the rice. What a waste! Not enough to make us satisfied but enough to force us to cut back on the rest of the goodies.

Our store did start stocking the Ener-G Tapioca bread, though, which (if memory serves) is 10g of carbs per slice instead of the usual 15 - 18. Might be some sugars in it, not sure. I do know we can have a very satisfying French Toast breakfast using it. French Toast may well be my favorite remaining food (since sushi rolls really don't work for the BFC, boo!).

Tonight we're having Carne Asada on tortillas and loading up the rest of our meal with veggies. We didn't use a lot of veggies the first time through because the S/C values were so hard to determine on our own, and I always erred on the side of caution. So I left out almost everything! Not in the plans, this time. It's easy enough to look stuff up, and I'll err on the side of more vegetables!

My husband just started some contract work so now we have to figure out how to pack lunches for him. Usually at home he works around mid-day exercise and has a protein/psyllium shake for lunch. Not anymore!

Also found the thinkThin bars locally and ordered a bunch more off Amazon. Hoping they can help me on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I go straight from work to martial arts (I've begun assisting my instructor so I can work toward becoming an instructor myself). Last night I think I ate it too early - after two back-to-back classes I was ready to drop and my muscles said "Nope!"  So tomorrow I'll try it a little later, around 4:30 instead of 3:30. I was just in the habit of eating at 3:30 from when I'd pack food that needed more digesting before I started jumping and kicking. I also forgot to take my vitamins yesterday.

I still have that old problem of not being able to take my vitamins comfortably with anything. After lunch today I took them with the rest of my unsweetened iced tea and I'm still gagging and feeling unhappy. Just about the only thing that's worked so far is the Magnesium Powder I found on Amazon (raspberry lemonade only, the orange is chalky!), and only until it completely dissolves. It's as though the rule for swallowing vitamins is that the liquid can't be translucent! And yet almond milk still doesn't work. Guess I could try the unsweetened almond+coconut milk that we just started buying. Orange Juice has always worked the best for me, so when I finally reach my goal I'll see what happens if I use half a glass to take my vitamins in the morning.

I was getting really sick and tired of the taste and texture of F-Factor cereal, and Shop Rite took pity on me and stopped stocking it. That'll teach me to pity myself! So I got two new cereals to try.

The first is Optimum Slim, which I had a bowl of last night after I got home from class.

When I saw it I couldn't believe that I could fit it into the BFC. Look at that! It looks like a commercial cereal for adults who still have the sweet tooth of kids! Now there are no peaches in there but their prescribed serving size of a cup still has 6g of sugar, so I had 3/4 of a cup to bring it down under 5g. It tastes as good as it looks, and the different textures are great. Not having to add powdered cinnamon and Truvia for flavor (like I would with the F-Factor) is a major plus.

The second cereal, Cinnamon Simply Fiber, hasn't been tasted by me yet. My husband made quite the face and said "You can tell this one has 0g sugar in it!"

I thought he'd like it because of the cinnamon in it, but the tube shapes are very dry. He only tasted a pinch, though, without any liquid. I suggested maybe these would do better heated like grape-nuts. At least there's room for some Truvia!

We bought some Coconut oil a few weeks ago and are going to try the coffee mug Skinny Muffins in the mornings before work. I think we need a test-run though to figure out how long it really takes to prepare, cook and eat them. I'm not good about leaving myself time to do everything in the morning!

Has anyone here tried the Barlean's products? Are they worth the hassle and cost of buying them if I can only find them on Amazon?

Portions of the concrete walls of our future Whole Foods have been erected, but it looks like it could easily take until Winter before they open. Boo! I need me some Clemmy's, LOL! At least we have the ice cream maker for the summer.