Fast Forward Results and Final Thoughts

The book boasts you can lose up to 8 pounds in this initial stage.  

So just how did TheFiance and I do? 

Well,  I gotta say I wasn't expecting a large loss from myself but I lost an awesome 8.8 pounds.   Considering all the crap I've been eating for the majority of March I suppose I shouldn't be so alarmed.  It has been an awful month for my weightloss endeavors (pre-Sass plan)  Needless to say this loss definitely puts me in a great mood.  I'm delighted!

TheFiances total loss was an amazing 9.2 pounds. .  He wasn't quite expecting it either as his initial guesstimate was that he would lose 5 pounds.  He's happy with the results and serves as motivation to keep on going in the right direction.

Overall success on both our parts :0) 

In Review: 

TheFiance has had extra energy this week and its kept his mood pretty much balanced throughout the days.  

As for me, well I haven't felt sluggish at all during the week but for some reason I haven't been sleeping as much as I could/should so I've been on and off sleepy since Wednesday. 

Getting up earlier in the mornings to help TheFiance get his breakfast made while he packs his lunch has taken a bit of a toll on my sleep.  One of the things I wish I had done was to separate all our foods for the week as we bought them.  You know, measured everything out and have it pre sorted so when the time came we could just throw it altogether.  It would have saved me a lot of time but stubborn little me chose not to at first.

Day 2 we did boil half a dozen eggs and by Day 3 I had separated all the frozen berries into their proper serving sizes.  I could have divided the yogurt, almonds, and spinach servings in the same respect but once again I didn't.  

Personally I dread pre-planning things and despise following a routine of sorts but I learned this week it comes in far more handy than my spoiled brat self can argue. 

As for the cost that went into this week, I sat down this morning with all my reciepts and tallied it up.  Our total cost for the two of us following these 5 days came out to $100.70.

Alarming I know, but considering most of my shopping was done the weekend before I started this plan I (once again) didn't preplan or look for the best prices.  I went for the most convenient stores that are right down the road.  

Heres the breakdown of my costs:

• FRUITS: $51.93 (several big bags of frozen berries and a pound of tangerines)
• ALMONDS: $7.98
• YOGURT (Plain Greek): $21.96 (qty: 4)
• YOGURT (Plain) $1.99 (qty: 1)
• EGGS: $2.78
• SPINACH:  $8.77 (mix of frozen and fresh)
• ALMOND BUTTER: $5.29

You'll notice we could have saved about $14 if we had just used plain yogurt versus greek yogurt but I found that the greek kept me fuller longer and that was well worth it to me.  

If nothing else this experience will also teach me to become more of a savvy shopper for these next 25 days.  

All in all I regret none of the expenses.   The author does urge you to buy organic (especially for the eggs) but with those prices being even higher I opted out for the most part.   

As for the next 25 days, we will be incorporating her eating strategy and I am beyond grateful that she has so many recipes in this book because even though the strategy seems simple enough, I am the type of person that needs a lot of examples before I can piece it all together on my own.  

I'll update with further details on our next step once TheFiance and I get a plan of action together and gather groceries for the upcoming week.    

Day 5 Overview

Heres the breakdown of Day 5.: THEFINAL FastForward DAY :0) 

• 10 a.m Breakfast Scramble. + Coffee.   Late start on breakfast because I got caught up with blog readings. I did change it up and cooked the egg sunny side up over the bed of spinach.  It was DELISH. Saved the berries and almonds for later.
• 1:30 p.m. Ate frozen raspberries and almonds on my way to work. 
• 4 p.m.- 6p.m.  Yogurt Parfait with Almonds.  Eaten once again while I was busy at work.
• 8:30 p.m. Spinach Salad w/Berries, Almonds and a hard boiled Egg. 
• 11 p.m.  Berry Smoothie with Almond Butter.   A toast, to the final piece of the five days.

Overall Day 5 Review:  Although every last bite of these foods seemed as yummy on Day 5 as they were on Day 1, I gotta admit I'm excited this part of the plan is complete.

I forgot to mention we did play with some spices in our yogurt parfait Day 4.  We added cinnamon and nutmeg.   I didn't mind it but much preferred the parfait sans spice.   TheFiance only had cinnamon in his and felt the same way.

I am currently waiting for TheFiance to wake up as we are now in Day 6 and weigh in time approaches.   I'll be posting our weigh in results and an entire recap to these five days after weigh in and breakfast.

Wish us luck ;0)

Day 4 Overview

Heres the breakdown of Day 4.:

• 9 a.m Breakfast Scramble. +Coffee (saved the berries and almonds to be eaten later)
• 11a.m.  frozen berries with almonds + Water
• 2 p.m-5p.m  Yogurt Parfait .Eaten while at work in small intervals due to my job  +Water
• 8 p.m. Spinach Salad w/Berries, Almonds and a hard boiled Egg + Water
• 10:40 p.m.  Berry Smoothie with Almond Butter 

Overall Day 4 Review:   Still enjoying the scramble VERY much every morning and the smoothie at night.  I  still can't say i'm "sick" of eating the same things which is definitely awesome and my hunger pangs today haven't been as strong as the last two days.    Yay.

What I have noticed is that on my busiest days this week my dinner salad only held me over for about an hour before I felt hungry again.  On those days, it helps to know that a few hours away the smoothie awaits.

I jokingly asked TheFiance yesterday if he thinks he had it in him to do this for another set of five days.  His response was that he COULD but he'd rather not.   Interesting as I was sort of expecting a great big "HELL NO"...    he even took it a step further and suggested we start every month with this 5 day fast forward to cleanse us out consistently.

umm...  wha??
Gotta say, I wasn't expecting that one!  Even though he's been talking about his desire for a cookie the past few days  he's enjoying the way this eating has been making him feel.   One point in favor of the book... so far.

I should also mention that TheFiance has been taking in an extra hard boiled egg some days.  I know it was suggested to do so in the book if you found yourself far too hungry in your day but I can't seem to find exactly where that page went in the book.

Day 5 is upon us and we weigh in Saturday morning to see the results. This could prove very interesting.  I meant to ask TheFiance if he's ever gone on a weightloss program of any kind in his life but I keep forgetting. I know he's talked about joining a gym or taking up boxing classes in the past but he's never really made a mention of weight loss.   I always get curious about the male point of view.

As for the next few days to come, I'm thinking this Peach and Pecan French Toast may be the winner for our Saturday morning breakfast.  We'll be reviewing some of the recipes in her book as well as scouting the internet for other swaps and suggestions from Ms Sass to plan out our weeks menu.

Thats right... I said it.  PLANNING.   Who knew I had it in me?  :-O

Anyone want to take bets on whether or not I will actually stay on this program for 30 full days?  Currently I'm still in the "high" stage of something shiny and new...  i'm infamous for dropping the ball on things and never caring enough to pick them back up.

Time will tell though!  Time will tell :0)

Day 3 Overview

Heres the breakdown of Day 3.:

• 8:45 a.m Breakfast Scramble. +Coffee (saved the berries and almonds to be eaten later)
• 10 a.m. CHEAT!!  I had three baby sips of a Mocha Light Frappuccino.  (explained down below)
• 11 a.m.  Berries and Almonds. (saved from breakfast) + Water.
• 2 p.m-4p.m  Yogurt Parfait Enjoyed as I worked on rearranging my blogs.  +Water
• 7 p.m. Spinach Salad w/Berries, Almonds and a hard boiled Egg + Water
• 10:45 p.m.  Berry Smoothie with Almond Butter added a sprig of mint to the smoothie but didn't really taste it in there.  

Overall Day 3 Review:  Still not "tired" of eating these foods.  Looking back this food is actually tastier than the regular foods I was eating day in and day out while losing weight.  I look forward to the smoothies at night!

I'll be honest, TheFiance and I are counting down the days as we go anticipating the end of the five day fast forward but its not in a dreadful manner.  Im quite anxious to see what the scale has to say as I am noticing a difference in the way my love handles feel when I put my hands in "i'm a little teapot" formation.  I also noticed TheFiances tummy slimmed down when I hugged him this morning.

As for the three sips of frappuccino i had, one of my Etsy customers was local and wanted to pick up her order rather than have it shipped out.  I'm a hop skip and a jump away from a Target with a starbucks inside and so I offered to meet her there.    Once I was inside I felt awkward as the security guy eyeballed me walking in with two bags and just sitting down at the starbucks.   Yeah, I know, I shouldn't feel strange because of a damn rent-a-cop but throw in my social anxiety and there I am making a purchase at the Starbucks counter.

Ten minutes and three sips later, my customer showed up and we were all on our way.  I dumped the drink in the trash bin and carried on with my day.  May the starbucks gods have mercy on my soul.

More than halfway through our week. Two days to go!   Its been a busy week for me and though I havent been getting in as much sleep as I should I have to admit I don't feel supreme exhaustion as I would normally. I've been getting up earlier than usual to prepare TheFiances breakfast scramble before he goes to work.    It's definitely more time consuming than "regular" days but these are the sacrifices that I wasn't willing to necessarily make prior to this starting this "plan".  

Without even knowing the number on the scale I will say that I like the way I feel.  Even though I felt sleepy yesterday I wasn't crabby nor outright sluggish.  Same goes for TheFiance.  He made the comment yesterday that he's not as tired as he usually is when he comes home from work.  And thats saying quite a bit considering he's been working an additional two hours the last few days.

Days 4 & 5 are on the horizon ;0)

Day 2 Overview

Heres the breakdown of Day 2.:

• 8:30 a.m Breakfast Scramble.  Woke up pretty hungry on Day 2  The scramble really hit the spot!  (Berries and almonds postponed  hoping to stretch out my food intake throughout the day) Drinks: Coffee and Water
• 10:50 a.m. MAJOR HUNGER ALERT.  I got sidetracked working on an art project and forgot to eat the berries.  Beelined to the kitchen to get my berries and almonds. Crisis Averted!
• 1:30 p.m. Prepared my yogurt parfait "to-go" so I could eat it at work.  Upon preparing it my stomach got ferocious on me and I gave it dose of verbal "STFU!" Drove to work. Drank water.
• 2 p.m.- 6p.m.  Yogurt Parfait with Almonds.  Had to once again eat in small intervals throughout my workshift. Drink: Water throughout the shift
• 8 p.m. Spinach Salad w/Berries, Almonds and a hard boiled Egg. 
• 10:45 p.m.  Berry Smoothie with Almond Butter

Overall Day 2 Review:  TheFiance and I agreed on two things, first this 5 day dealie-o doesnt seem as bad as we thought it would be and second, after day 2 we noticed that our "toots" (for lack of a better word) are no longer offensive to the nose.

Yes I just announced it to the world wide web.  True story.  Also might I throw in the fact that I have been taking an abnormal amount of pee breaks since this all started.  Geez Louise!  I thought I had experienced it all the last few months as I was losing weight on my own and drinking tons of water but this is honestly beyond all of that.   

Also I should mention that around 9:30 p.m. Igot hungry again and it made me realize that my hunger signals were hitting me harder and quicker than they were in Day 1.  Not exactly tremendously ravenous but definitely noticeable.  One thing I like about Sass's book is that she gives you a heads up on what you may or may not experience on these individual days.. this spike in hunger on day 2 or day 3 is apparently to be expected.  

So glad to hear that!  Day 2 passed with flying colors.  The food is still tasty but again, its only Day 2.  3 days to go! 

Day 1 Overview

Here's the breakdown of Day 1:

• 9a.m. Breakfast Scramble with berries and almonds.  Drinks included Coffee and Water
• 2pm-6pm*  Yogurt Parfait with almonds Drink: Water
• 7p.m Spinach Salad with berries, a hard boiled egg, and almonds Drink: Green Tea + Water
• 9:30p.m.  Berry Smoothie with Almond Butter

Overall Review:  VERY Surprised at just how satisfied I was throughout the day.

*You'll note that it took 4 hours for me to eat my yogurt parfait and that was because of my work schedule.  Its smack dab in the middle of the day and I can only get a few bites in here and there as I do my job. (For those who may not be aware I work in a bakery as the mixer/baker).  More often than not I'm more concerned with overmixing ingredients than stopping entirely to take a long enough break to eat my food.

This is my only concern at times because depending on how busy it gets,  there are times where I wouldn't even have a chance to get my food from the refrigerator let alone eat it.   Those are the worst days because by the end of it all I'm exhuasted and starving.   Lucky for me today wasn't so bad though by 6p.m my stomach was slightly crying out to me.

For Dinner, the Spinach Salad was very tasty.    TheFiance and I always have spinach on hand but its generally the frozen  kind that we toss into dinner recipes.  Upon our preparations for these 5 days, we decided we would continue to use the frozen kind for the morning scramble and fresh spinach for our dinner salad.  We topped the salad off with two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, a tablespoon of tangerine juice and the berries and almonds.    We were both happy with the outcome.

Not too surprising that I enjoyed the yogurt parfait.  Although the yogurt does seem more bitter than my liking, I think the fact that we use the berry medley helps immensely. Its delicious and I make sure to use the greek yogurt for the parfait as the additional protein will help keep us fuller longer :)

As for the late night smoothie.  I was a little hesitant on how it would taste but I was once again worried about nothing.   I'm all about texture when it comes to food so the grittiness of the smoothie was great.  Since it was already late night I decided to go ahead and use the plain yogurt as opposed to the greek yogurt.

Prior to doing this little experiment I was not in possession of a blender of any sort.  For months I've been talking about getting a Magic Bullet but with so many mixed reviews I opted instead for this single serve blender from Target:

They have great reviews and it got the job done nicely.   Of course in my smoothie making inexperience I made the rookie mistake of trying to take the "cup" off the base without the lid.  Because of the size of the base, my hand was wrapped around it and my thumb hit the blend button.  Needless to say, my kitchen was bombarded with about 1/6th of my smoothie.  Fail Whale for me :(

An hour after the smoothie I did feel a hunger sensation but I'm not quite sure if it was actual hunger or if it was from the fact that I was on the phone with my mother who was talking about all the food she made for her family while she was in Mexico the past few weeks.  Of course being MEXICO, they already know great mexican food so when my mother comes over they always ask her to make meatloaf and apple pie.

Mmmm.. apple pie :0)

Overall the day surprised us.  At the end of the day, TheFiance and I both agreed that neither one of us felt like were deprived nor starving during the day. Thats a win in my book :0)

.. of course I must keep in mind.  This was but day one.

4 more to go :)

It begins!

Here we are... Day One of the program.

I'll give the full report tomorow, today was just a few things I wanted to mention about the plan we are doing these 5 days.

Once TheFiance decided to jump on board with this it meant going back to the grocery store to double up on a few things.   I had initially bought the 2% plain greek yogurt as opposed to plain regular yogurt because I figured the extra protein might satiate me longer.  (I'm skeptical that these foods will NOT keep me feeling full throughout the day so every little bit will help)

Sadly I didn't have it in my expenses to pay for another full tub of greek yogurt so we went with the plain yogurt from Aldi instead.  I figured if nothing else, I can actually report if I feel a difference eating the regular yogurt as opposed to the greek yogurt.  

I also gasped at the prices of both fresh and frozen raspberries.   After doing some comparison shopping and checking some options I opted for a frozen Berry Medley, containing blackberries, blueberries and raspberries:

Thats 48 ounces of berries there!  I'm pretty sure after this week I'll have eaten more berries than I ever have in my entire life.    I'm not sure why but the only berries I ever tend to buy are strawberries, so believe me, I'm not exaggerating on that one :0)

As for drinks, well up until my recent 6 month weightloss detour the only thing I was drinking for months on end was water, so ditching drinks wasn't a problem for me.  TheFiance on the other hand, I was pretty sure he was going to sulk about not getting all of his coffee everyday.

(In this phase you are alotted one cup of coffee per day.  And because we use vanilla soymilk in our coffee, it is recommended we do not add sugar to it.)

Once in a while I get awful sinus headaches which can only be soothed with black coffee, so I'm no stranger to drinking it sans sugar.  Doesn't mean I like it but I think I'm going to give it a try and see if I can get my taste buds to grow accustom to coffee sans sugar.

Sass also strongly urges one to purchase organic eggs over conventional options.  No organic eggs here,  although eggs aren't extremely high priced items, its certainly easy on the wallet to buy them from Aldi for a fraction of the cost.

I think the fact that TheFiance is doing this with me, rather than feeling whiny or dreadful of this experience, I'm ... dare I say it... a little excited.   I'm not expecting a huge loss in these 5 days because in my warped little mind I feel like my body is used to losing weight over the past few months  but considering the fact that I've gained quite a bit back in such a short amount of time I'm crossing my fingers to be blown away.

A girl can dream ;0)

What the first 5 days entail

Tomorrow starts the initial 5 days of the 30 day program.

If you have checked out the book at all or any of the reviews, you may have heard about a 5 day Fast Forward program that is completely optional to begin.   Its composed of eating the same 4 meals for the initial 5 days.  Sort of a detox, if you will...

Those 4 meals consist of 5 ingredients:  Spinach, Eggs, Almonds, Raspberries, and Yogurt.  The claim is said that one can lose up to 8 pounds in those initial five days by following this Fast Forward Program.

Of course there was a part of me that wanted to sing out

 "♪♫ LAMESVILLE ♪♫ .... how gimmicky!!"

... but after reading the ingredients and the information as to why these "superstar" foods were specifically chosen I thought "Hmmm..  ok... I GUESS it sounds pretty valid"...

considering the last 6 weeks for me have been emotional eating and more weight gain than I care to confess to, a good flushing of my system would be beneficial.   I'm no stranger to the weightloss game so I know the initial weight will be mostly water weight and whatever ickyness my bodys holding onto from my recent (over)indulgences.

Plus its only five days right?  

In the name of "blogging" I will do this and report in my feelings everyday.

Furthermore, I have learned today that I will not be doing this alone as TheFiance has decided he too will join me on this venture!   (Hence the title Diminishing Doll & Company)

I may not be reporting actual weigh ins but you can bet your sweet bippy I will come back and report the pounds lost for each of us.   TheFiance is currently toying with the idea of starting a blog of his own so if that comes to happen then you guys will be the first to have access ;)

But getting back to the subject at hand, I can tell you now that doing this 5 day dealio isn't so budget friendly for us.   Berries and yogurt (4 times a day for 5 days) can get costly.  Especially for us (as some of you know we are already on a tight little budget these days)   But it will be worth it in the long run I say...

and if it isn't then I'll be packing up these reciepts and sending them to little miss sassy pants for compensation.

(I kid, I kid)  though I do like the idea of referring to the author as Little Miss Sassy Pants.  I must admit the title of the book makes me wince a bit.. something about the word SASS that makes me feel the same way I feel when I hear "JAZZ HANDS"...

but thats my problem, not the books.  S.A.S.S actually stands for a few different things in the book:

Simple And Satisfying Solutions 

as well as

Slimming And Satiating Seasonings

Tomorrow begins Day One.
[insert dramatic music of your choice here]

Embarking on something new.

30 days of blogging on this site begins today.

The goal of this blog is to journal my weight loss experience with the following book:

For anyone  interested but unfamiliar with the book as well as the author, I highly recommend checking out the description and reviews on Amazon.com: SASS Yourself Slim .  I will be writing my own review in a few weeks after I finish reading it and after I follow along and implement it into my life.  Considering the fact that I'm only just now halfway through it, a review of any sort would be premature.

According to the book, by following this plan for a month, you will:

• Know which healthy foods promote rapid weight loss (the answers may surprise you!) 

• Enjoy dozens of delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes that help you reach your weight-loss goal

• Better understand, and control, the emotional triggers that often lead to overeating

• Sleep better and enjoy more energy

• Shed the stubborn inches and pounds you'd all but given up 

I'll go into a few more details as the days go by.   Folllowing this sort of book/plan is highly unorthodox for me but I am doing it because:

1. I need to lose 40-50 pounds to get into the higher bracket of my "ideal weight" range.
2. Between June 2011 and February 2012 I've lost 70 pounds on my own but have in the last two months steadily regained some of the weight back.   

Even after having the "success" of losing so much weight, I have realized that I have a lot to learn about the proper way to eat.   Though I have learned how to better my relationship with food on my own, it still isn't enough.  I'm not an expert and have been far too stubborn to think I need any help from anyone telling me what I need for my own body. 

Foolish little fat girl.   But with no funds to seek out consistent help from a nutritionist of my very own, I am in need of something else.   And just as this ephiphany was hitting me, I was offered a helping hand in the form of this book and you all get to see my experience first hand.

Are you ready for this?   Cuz I'm about to smother the stubborn fat brat inside of me and jump in head first!