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Weight Loss Journey: Week 2

Week Two for me on the South Beach Diet was not nearly as dramatic as Week One. The last several days my weight stayed firmly at the same place, despite my very strict adherence to the plan. I must admit that this last week got rather monotonous as far as eating was concerned and I actually found myself making myself eat just because I knew that I needed to instead of having any desire to do so. I'm hoping that this bit of a stall was due to my body and metabolism getting used to what and how I was eating than anything else. I guess we shall see as today I started Phase 2: reintroducing fruits and whole grains. I also plan to take a one free day this next week, allowing me to have a few things that I gave up. With the weather taking a turn for the better, I'd also like to get out to get a little exercise. One thing I have noticed is that just as the diet predicted, my cravings for sugar have lessened over the last two weeks, although my unfortunately my satisfaction with artificial sweeteners has not improved. What can I say, but if I'm going to eat something sweet, I want the real deal. Looking forward to seeing what this week holds.... and eating some bread again!!

Weight Lost This Week: 1.2 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 6.6 lbs
Total Waist Inches Lost: 3" 

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Mini Muffins

My youngest daughter is "Student of the Week" in her kindergarten class. It's a lot of fun for her, but it just means work for me. Each day I have to provide the morning snack for the 20 kids in her class. Every day of the week. Yeh, I know. So.... I try to find healthy snacks that won't cost me a fortune that the kids will enjoy.... because every kid likes having the mom who brings the best snacks, right? These muffins where a big hit.

I adapted this recipe from Baking Bites, the biggest change exchanging the nuts for chocolate chips. Here's my version of Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins.

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Click to download printable version of this recipe

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3 medium bananas (about 1 1/4 cups mashed)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar 
• 1 large egg
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat mini muffin pan with a light layer of cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl, mash up the bananas by hand or with a mixer. Mix in the brown sugar, egg, oil, milk and vanilla into the mashed bananas. Blend in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until just mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Fill each mini muffin cup with a small scoop of batter. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove muffins from tin to cool.

Makes about 60 mini muffins. Or about 12 full-sized muffins baked 18-22 minutes.

Weight Loss Journey: Week 1

Four pregnancies in five years is what did it. I never made it back to my pre-pregnancy weights before getting pregnant again, which means my weight kept creeping steadily upward. I have tried Weight Watchers in the past, and while it works for many people, I just found that it made me think about food all the time. After years of saying I was going to lose weight, at the beginning of this year I started making an effort to do just that. Not wanting to pay someone else to help me lose weight, I just started eating smaller portion sizes and not eating at night. This led to a 10 lb loss in 3 months; not bad for not really doing anything special, but when you'd like to lose 40-50 lbs, it's a long, long, long, long road.

Friends from my church had just started the South Beach Diet a few weeks ago, and I saw the great results they were getting. After chatting with them about what it entailed, I checked out the book at the library -- FREE! This made me happy because as I mentioned, I was done paying someone to help me lose weight. Basically what the South Beach Diet does is cut out simple carbohydrates from your diet. For the first two weeks, Phase 1, you limit your eating to mostly low-fat meats, low-fat dairy, good fats and lots of veggies. During Phase 2, you add in small amounts of complex carbohydrates in whole wheat breads and fruits. After looking through to see what I could eat, I decided that it looked like something I could handle and if it truly got results, it was worth a shot.

I started last Monday, and the first day I was climbing the walls with my carb cravings. I spent most of the day just trying to distract myself from my desire for bread and sugar. I had no idea that my carb addiction had such a hold. The nice thing about the South Beach Diet is that you're never hungry. If you get hungry, you eat. Simple. There is no weighing or counting points or calories or anything. I love that.

The biggest challenge for me is that I really dislike artificial sweeteners. They always taste chemically to me. But in a pinch, I have found a few things that will, if not fully satisfy, then at least take the edge off: sugar-free Jell-O, sugar-free gum, sugar-free chocolate pudding (for those chocolate cravings!). And I have discovered that a sugar-free, non-fat blended ice mocha from one of my local coffee stands is like heaven in mouth. The thing I miss most is my flavored Coffee-Mate creamer in my coffee in the morning. I'm sorry Nestle, but the sugar-free versions are nasty!

Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet lasts two weeks, so I am halfway in. Right now I'm a little sick of eggs. And I've been eating a lot of green beans, which have worn out their welcome too. But I know that I can push on through the week, change up my menu a bit, especially with such positive results. 

Week 1 Loss: 5.4 lbs
Waist Loss: 3" 

For those wanting to start the journey with me, I've pinned some great recipes on Pinterest.