Diet Update

I never really did an update of my 17 Day Diet and how it went. Well, my goal was to lose 15 pounds. If you read my initial post on the 17 Day Diet, you would know that I have a really hard time losing weight. Before starting the diet, I ate healthy and exercised like crazy and was still only able to lose 12 pounds in 1 year. That's right. It took me ONE WHOLE YEAR to lose 12 freaking pounds. So I decided to try this diet. What have I got to lose? 

Well, one year has passed and let me tell you. That diet was amazing! I wish I took pictures of the results before and after 17 days to show you. In the first phase of the diet, I was able to lose 10 pounds. My goal was to lose 15. It was hard the first couple of days of the diet because my body was adjusting. But after that, it was easy for me. I guess it's because I'm not a picky eater. It was much harder on my BF and he complained A LOT. And I would not let him cheat at all, which made him complain even more, which made it harder on me (to hear his whining). Other than that, it was pretty easy. 

Since I still needed to lose another 5 pounds, I continued on to phase 2 of the diet. And I was able to lose those 5 pounds easily within the first few days of that phase. I love this diet because I got to eat constantly, yet I was still able to lose the weight. Also, I hardly even had to exercise at all. During the first 2 phases of the diet, you don't really need to exercise that much. I just did a leisurely 30 minute walk every day. That was it. Easy. 

Once I got to my goal weight, I've just been maintaining it. To maintain my weight, I eat healthy meals during the week from the suggestion of the diet plan. I get to splurge on the weekends so it doesn't feel like I'm missing out on anything. There are a few staple food items that I feel have contributed to helping me maintain my weight, which I suggest you should also add to your diet if you haven't already done so. 

Greek Yogurt:

I eat Greek Yogurt every morning (except for weekends). It was a big part of the 17 Day Diet and I have continued to eat it ever since. I usually buy Fage but I'm pretty sure any brand will do. The reason why I get this brand is because they sell the container (pictured) at Cost for under $5 and I buy multiple containers each time I go. I believe it's the calcium in the yogurt that may be helping with the weight loss. I'm not an expert so I don't know for sure. 

Frozen Berries:

I eat these frozen berries with my yogurt every morning. I buy them frozen because they last a long time and you don't have to worry about them going bad after a few days. Also, I like to add it to my yogurt frozen and leave it out for about half an hour. What happens is the berries will melt and their juices come out which will be mixed into the yogurt, giving it flavor. This way, you don't have to add any sugar or anything else to make it taste good. I guess the berries have a lot of fiber to them that helps with weight loss and maintaining your weight. If you don't have time to let it sit out, you can make it ahead of time by putting it in to-go containers and leaving it in the refrigerator for when you are ready to eat it. I always buy this from Costco. It is very cost effective and tastes great.

Sometimes I will get bored and want to change it up a bit, especially during blueberry season so I eat my yogurt with about 1/4 cup of granola cereal and blueberries. Like this:

Then mix it up:

Looks disgusting but tastes so good!

And eat it!

Read my post on the 17 Day Diet here.

Nutella Obsession

Recently, I have been addicted to nutella. If you have never tried it, you should go get a jar ASAP. Or maybe you shouldn't because it is sure to ruin your diet. For those of you who don't know what nutella is, it's a chocolate hazelnut spread. If I'm not mistaken, the people who make nutella also make the Ferrero Roche candy. My BF had to hide the jar of it from me because I was eating way too much of it. Little does he know I found where he had hidden it and have slowly been eating some behind his back. HA! 

You know you want some of this!

Nutella pretty much goes good with anything. I especially like to eat it with pretzels or crackers. Yum! Have you had a nutella and banana sandwich? Delish! I have been thinking of other creative ways to use nutella to make other desserts and have come up with some recipes that may sound good. Once I get around to trying these recipes out, I will definitely post them on this blog. Until then, treat yourself to some of that delicious chocolate hazelnut spread. 

Ugly Kids

In one of my past posts, I mentioned that I don't want to have kids. Well not right now, at least. Lately however, I've been thinking about how I would feel about my kids if I do end up having them. This may sound superficial but I hope my kids turn out cute. I always wonder how I would feel if my kids turned out ugly. Would I still love them the same? Would I be embarrassed to show pictures of them to strangers? 

I always wonder if this is how parents with ugly children feel. I mean, there are ugly people in the world so of course there have been shares of ugly babies. How would I feel if a friend saw my child for the first time and I didn't hear, "Aww! Your daughter/son is so adorable" or "He/she is so cute"? Would I feel bad that I had an ugly child? Would I even notice or would I think my child is adorable no matter what?

On Facebook when people post pictures of their children, they will always get at least 1 comment saying how cute or adorable their child is, even when that kid is freaking hideous. I have a few friends on Facebook that have the most ugly children. I know I'm a bitch for saying this, but it's true! And it seems like they constantly post pictures of their children for all their friends to see in hopes that someone will reassure them that their child is cute. One Facebook friend of mine has a daughter who looks like Chuckie. Remember Chuckie? That hideous looking talking doll from the Child's Play movies? And of course, whenever she posts pictures of her daughter, she gets tons of positive comments. It makes me wonder if the commenters are lying to her to make her feel better or if they're telling the truth. 

OK. So I might be cursed with having ugly children for saying and thinking all these mean things. Am I the only one who feels this way? Maybe it's because I don't have any children. People always say your views change once you have children. I have a reputation for being too honest about everything. I once told a close friend that her son looks like a baby troll. I didn't mean to say it so be mean but it was just an observation. You know, those toys that people used to collect a years and years ago? I think those things are cute. But I think it offended her that I said that. But honestly, every time I looked at that kid, I was reminded of those baby trolls!

Aren't these baby trolls cute?

Of course, I would only say these things to my close friends. I would never tell that mother on Facebook that her child looks like Chuckie because we aren't that close. On a positive note, if I ever tell my friends that their child is cute, they can be assured that I'm telling them the truth.