My World … and welcome to it!

Boy howdy am I on a rant today. It all started last week when I got my third shipment of food from Jenny Direct.

Yeah, I went back on the diet. After gaining back almost 30 pounds in one year I decided that perhaps eating without a plan might not be the best idea. So after doing a liver cleanse supervised by the N.D. from Billings Naturopathic Clinic, I felt maybe I could tackle the JC diet again. And it’s going great! In 3 weeks I’ve lost a little more than 10 pounds. Yippee!!!

Then I looked at the invoice. Then I wrote my counselor.

It seems that Nestle Corp., in it’s “infinite” wisdom, decided to ditch the “Jenny Rewards” program which gave long term clients a 15% discount. That’s a lot of money. Well, no more. First month was $611. Second month was $577.

I am not made of money. I cannot justify spending THAT kind of money (which amounts to nearly $20 a DAY) on just entrees and a snack daily. You have to add in all the fresh fruit, veggies and dairy “extras.”

I thought about Nutrisystem which is HALF the cost of Jenny Craig and is delivered FREE by my local Schwan’s guy.

Then I thought, WTF am I thinking? So I dug out my old Zone diet books, dusted them off and am busy reacquainting myself with the 40-30-30 plan that keeps, among others, Jennifer Anniston so trim and slim.

I followed it once before and easily lost 2 pounds a week EVERY SINGLE WEEK I was doing it. Plus the added benefit was I WAS NEVER HUNGRY.

So why did I quit? Well, I didn’t, really. I just sorta slid away from it, kept the weight off for over a year then had a total hyst and oh hell, in 10 years added another 40 pounds.

Which brings me full circle to the liver cleanse. Hey. WHO KNEW?! It’s not as “out there” as it might sound. I’ll leave it to those who want the info to do a google search.

So, right now I’m doing one meal a day “on my own” and eating the packaged stuff for the other 2. That should stretch my food out for 5 weeks at which time we’re off the Ireland!!! When I get back I plan on doing another liver cleanse then will really get on the Zone plan.

the other tirade?

HEALTH INSURANCE

@*#()%_^($ thieves. OK. first off, while hubby worked for the railroad we had coverage first with Travelers, then they sold out to someone and evenually we wound up with United Health Care. You remember them? The outfit that saw fit to “reward” the freaking CEO with, what was it? SIX billion dollars?! Or it might have only been one billion. All I know is I saw red when I heard that and am still pissed. All those years of denying a huge chunk of a claim then only paying 80% of what was left. Motherfrakkers.

So hubby retires. All of a sudden I DON’T HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE. Oh shit. So I go to Blue Cross Blue Shield. and pay and pay and pay. $314.60 a month for the last year. with a $5,000 deductible. Mother frakkers. 3 visits to the ND which I pay for out of pocket. $300.

Thank god I’m relatively healthy.

then last month I got a letter. They are raising my premium to $370+ a month. WTF????? so I went to ehealth.com. Filled out the form. Saw Celtic insurance would only cost me $271. OOOOOkay! Applied, was accepted, got the visa hit for $295.58 for the first month’s premium. Coverage to start 3-15.09.

OK. I’m set.

Then Saturday’s mail shows up with a frakking bill for $361.25 for March. WTF!! OVER!!!

So I got to stew all weekend about this. Called, ready for bear. Got a very nice woman who politely agreed to cancel the policy and refund my money. Then called BCBS and was loaded for bear again. Again, a nice CS rep who let me rant about $250,000 parties for top salespeople and bonuses for the CEO.

god I hate apologizing after I’ve blown my top. Well, I didn’t really yell but I wasn’t very nice either. Had to laugh about being a cranky old lady.

So where the frak is the single payer health care? I keep hearing rumblings that Obama is backing away from it because the insurance companies (who along with banks, big oil, and big business in general OWN THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT) are not happy.

Yeah. Right. What about the CITIZENS?

I have to say I feel fantastic on this WOE. I’m NOT hungry. WOW. that’s amazing. for the 15 months I was on the packaged foods I was HUNGRY. And it was getting worse toward the end.

I’m still bummed that the scale isn’t cooperating but OTOH given all the fat I’ve been eating, I’m not seeing a massive weight GAIN either.

Yesterday hit about 2000 calories and that is NOT easy let me tell you. Today I started with

2 eggs fried in a tsp or so of butter
a “muffin in a minute” (recipe follows)
butter on the muffin
a couple of spoonfuls of that “nasty” cream cheese/pnut butter concoction from Bawdy Wench
a sausage patty
cup of decaf with lots of heavy cream

Lunch was my own chicken salad:

what was left in the bag of diced chicken meat from Schwans (about a cup?+)
a diced hard boiled egg
TBS of minced red onion
2 TBS of minced celery with leaves
couple of spoonfuls of Hellman’s REAL mayo
a healthy squirt of dijon mustard
handful of chopped raw pecans

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm TASTY

and no I didn’t eat the whole thing! Gah. Too rich by far. I had, hmmm. Maybe there was more chicken in the bag. I had about a handful. I dunno. Less than half. The rest is in the fridge for Joe’s lunch when he gets back from the VA.

OK. Muffin in a minute:

1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 packet of Splenda®
1 tsp melted butter
1 egg

I melt the butter FIRST, add the dry stuff and stir really well. Add in the egg and stir some more. Nuke for about a minute. Depends on your nuker. Ours is old so I go 80 seconds and it’s still moist. You can do this is a coffee mug, I like to use my 2 cup Pyrex® measuring cup. These are also good toasted after it’s cooked. mmmm mmmm good. LOADS of fiber too.

Bawdy Wench’s nasty cream cheese pnut buter concoction:

1 brick of cream cheese
6 TBS sugar free pnut butter (organic is best)
6 TBS heavy cream
3 packets or to your taste Splenda®

Whip it all together with your mixer. One third is what BW ate for breakfast the other day. urk. Too much for me. So I keep it in the fridge, take it out when I want a snack and have a couple of spoonfuls. yummmmmmmeeeeeeee.

OK. We’re visiting the outlaws this weekend and the cats don’t know how to run the computer so no posts until after I get back on Monday.

And finally, I decided to try and play with the built in camera on my iMac. First I had to find the software to run it (Photo Booth, catchy, eh?) then figure out how to run it (push a button, duh) then process it.

Whaddaya think?

I picked up the current issue of People magazine yesterday because it was the “half their size” issue and I need some inspiration to get back on track with Jenny. Imagine my “surprise” when I read that one of the “losers” at 5′8″ and 150 pounds was wearing a size 6. REALLY? (how I WISH there were a sarcasm font.) Or that someone else, 5′7″ and weighing in at 164 pounds is in a size 10. Yet another 5′8″ beauty at 150 pounds is a size 8.

un huh

Why am I picking on these women? Because I am 5′9.5″ and a medium frame. Currently I weigh in at 181 pounds. And I barely fit into a size 16. I work out. Not as often as I should but over the last few years I’ve been pretty faithful about attending my strength training classes at the Y and for 2 years did water aerobics 3 times a week consistently. Now I prefer to use the elliptical trainer because it’s as close to jogging as I will ever again get in this lifetime. So I’m not Pillsbury doughboy size 16 but pretty well shaped up for being 61. have a look:

here’s another one:

My point being that it seems Hollywood has convinced all of us that anything over a size 4 is obese. Seriously. If you’re a size zero does that mean you no longer exist?

I know from personal experience back when I weighed 140 pounds that I was a size 12. I was THIN! I see pictures of myself from that time and think my god how could I think I was FAT?

Why do these wonderful, beautiful women who have achieved so much still think they need to compete with actors who are starving themselves to look like emaciated teenagers? Because Hollywood has told them that if they want to be “beautiful” they have to be less than a size 10. Well what the hell is a size 10 anyway?

I used to make most of my clothes and at 140 pounds I used a size 14 pattern. Remember I said that I wore a 12? Well that was off the rack. Patterns are a little different. Here’s the sizing chart from Vogue Patterns (bust, waist and hips all in inches)

THIS is the real world. Not the “Size Zero” phony baloney of hollywood.