Welcome back. Hope you enjoy your time here at Carol’s Corner and feel that it is time well spent. Today’s pic came out pretty good , considering I didn’t wash my hair today, just touched it up with some product. Too bad you can’t see the back of these jeans. They’re beautiful, of course by now you can probably tell I like the bling. Now today, in case there are new reader’s that haven’t seen me before I started my journey , gonna post the one picture I could find at my heaviest ( and even that one is about 10 lbs. below my heaviest weight) , and then a couple of me since I lost 54-58lbs.

So guys, is that some difference or what? After the holidays are over I might have to lose a couple pounds to put me back at my lowest point , but won’t allow myself to vary more than 2-3 pounds. I still weigh myself twice a day. For me that is something I just have to do, so I don’t get too far off the beaten path. Now some of you wanted to know what a day’s diet might have looked like. When I started my journey it first was for health reasons. So when I devised my own food plan, I had to take into consideration, these three elements: sugar, carbs, and fat. I read label after label,and bought items with the best values. I rarely used fat free products because they always contained more sugar grams than the low fat varieties, the exception I made there was that I used fat free milk. I found a vegan product that I used to replace butter . This product tastes pretty good and melts like butter. It’s called Earth Balance. For mayo I used Hellman’s light. For bread products I used whole wheat or whole grain breads. I also used a wrap I got at Aldi’s that was either whole wheat or whole grain . One was 90 calories, the other 100. I made a chicken salad that I used the wraps to make a sandwich with , that I ate many times for lunch either with a cooked vegetable or a salad. Since I keep strange hours, I didn’t always have a specific breakfast food. If I did , It was usually a slice of whole wheat or whole grain toast with my vegan butter product and natural peanut butter. Every day I would have at least one big bowl of salad. I would make a big one that would last me two to three days. It contained lots of veggies: a mixture of iceberg lettuce, romaine, and spinach. Added to that was usually baby cucumbers, scallions, grape tomatoes, sprouts, and sometimes cut up pea pods or some broccoli slaw mixture. When I made my serving each time I had a salad, I added some shredded low fat cheese mixture, and some kind of crunch. I used a couple different kinds of dressings, but only used two tablespoons. Eating salad was never a hardship for me because I actually enjoy them very much. My main meal usually had some kind of meat, salad, and one or two cooked vegetables, or once in awhile a potato serving and one vegetable. I always have a large steamer pot on the stove. Something you all should try, my husband turned me onto this, and since we had bought half a beef we had lots of hamburg. Try steaming your hamburg. Take a ramekin bowl and press the hamburg down into it. Season with seasonings of your choice. I used garlic powder , Adobe seasoning salt, cloves, my peppercorn medley shaker, and a little crushed red pepper. I would turn it once by lifting it up and season again. I would also be steaming the rest of my dinner at the same time. When you lift the hamburg out of the ramekin, all the grease is left in the dish. I usually had some kind of salsa as a condiment. Learn how to utilize spices . They can be your best friend. Vegetables can also be a dieter’s best friend and I love all kinds. Use them liberally . You can do with other meats what I did with the hamburg. Try cutting up chicken breast into pieces and do the same way. With chicken I would add a tiny amount of olive oil in the dish along with seasonings. For snacks I would usually have single serve sugar free pudding or jello with some sugar free cool whip and sometimes with some berries mixed in. I used a lower sugar light cinnamon applesauce as another snack option. I would allow myself small amounts of sugar free candy. Also as a diabetic, sugar free does not mean carb free, so you still have to be aware of that. My blood work in January is probably going to not be as good and I might have to make adjustments back to my dieting levels. Before I always had diet soda, but have since found a flavored water that is delicious and has vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants . It’s called Polar Ice. It comes in many delicious flavors and is the best kind out there. So there you have an example of how I ate. I didn’t start my exercise program till half way through my weight loss, but if you can in the beginning , I recommend it. Exercise is key to keeping the weight off also, and has so many benefits besides the weight component. Remember, any questions just ask me , and I will answer to the best of my ability. And please give me your blog topic suggestions. I need all your input to better serve you in this endeavor, which seems to be my calling in life now. I hope you enjoyed this Edition of Carol’s Corner. As always, till next time and God Bless. Remember get up off the couch and walk, walk, walk!!!!!