I've Lost About 70 Pounds So Far

I've lost about 70 pounds so far. I'd be down further but I do some of the dumbest things to sabotage my efforts.

The bottom line is I am battling a case of severe emotional eating. The odd thing is that while I'm not turning to the sweets as I once did in times of stress, I'm still engaging in a form of dysfunctional behavior.

What happens is I get so stressed over certain circumstances such as my finances, that I skip eating or drinking my water altogether. Splat goes the metabolism and the scale doesn't move.

I need to move this ole' body and gulp that water.

A friend suggested Phentermine, but I said I preferred to stick with the Winner's Weightloss Regime!

A Kayaking Vacation

One of my favorite things about losing this weight, is the increased energy I have!

Anyone up for a kayaking vacation? I will be when I drop all my excess weight.

Photo Credit: Stephen Gibson & SXC

Iced Chocolate Truffle Cappuccino

Mid-afternoon and the daily workload is heavy, with no end in sight. Feeling a dip in energy, I headed to the kitchen where I whipped up a little something to rev up my engine.

My solution is a delicious one. Imagine a creamy cup of iced chocolate truffle cappuccino.

Simply delish and so easy, too.

This version is made with freshly brewed chocolate truffle coffee, a packet of Winner's Weightloss chocolate shake supplement and a good bit of ice. Whip it all up to a thick, rich consistency and pour into a favorite cocoa mug. Dust the top with a flourish of cinnamon. Yum!

Diet? What diet? This sure doesn't taste like diet fare, but the high protein in this shake is actually helping me to shed my unwanted pounds.

Looking to lose some weight? Winner's Weightloss in Tallahassee, Florida is a great place for helping people to shed unhealthy pounds and reclaim the life they were created to live. For a complimentary consultation call Lori at 850-297-2500 or Ruth at 850-671-3200. Make sure and tell them Kathi sent you!

Photo Credit: Dragon Sasic & SXC

Meal Replacement Solutions For Healthy Eating

Where does the time fly?

My breakfast and lunch today tasted great.

Breakfast was a prune-studded breakfast cake. My breakfast cake is made with the same quick fix recipe that takes a beaten egg, a torn-up slice of 40-calorie honey wheat bread, cinnamon, equal, a sprinkle of (dry) vanilla shake mix and a small amount of fruit.

Since my fresh fruit supply is totally depleted, I thought why don't I try adding some slivers of prune, since I do have some of those little gems in the refrigerator. As I carefully sliced a couple prunes, visions of Jewish Hamantaschen danced in my head.

Hamantaschen are my most favorite cookie. Even though I was never a fan of prunes, the prune hamantaschen that I enjoyed as a child were phenomenal tasting.

I nuked the breakfast cake for a tad over 1.25 min. Inverted the small, round cake on my breakfast plate and dusted the top with a bit more cinnamon and equal.

Delish!!

Lunch was a small beef fillet with an oriental veggie blend, stir fried with some Winner's Weight Loss Beef Supplement. A liberal shake of various spices imparted a rich and amazing depth of flavor.

I love being on the Winner's Weightloss program! It is great to be able to eat real food.

Today, I heard that the Tallahassee, Florida LA Weight Loss Center is closing. So I got to thinking about a conversation that Ruth and I had the day I was teaching cooking classes at the NE Capital Circle location.

How cool would it be to have a place where you could swing by and pick-up a ready-to-eat meal on your way home. Not something laden with fat or calories, but a replacement meal that is light, healthy and simply delicious!

I' d love to co-ordinate or consult on a project of this type with Winner's Weightloss or even a restaurant, catering company or other facility that has a state-licensed, commercial kitchen that wants to set up an "enlightened to-go" program. No, I don't want to do the cooking, but I would love to provide recipes, ideas and public relations for such an endeavor. If you are interested, call me and let's pow-wow! Food writer and former caterer Kathi Dameron, can be reached at 850-422-3599. BTW ... If you have the time, please come by and read my latest column from Entertaining with Kathi. I would love your feedback!

Potato Saffron Frittata with Lemon-Kissed Spinach

The Food Network shared a recipe today for a Potato Saffron Omelet, as part of a Tapas collection.

I didn't take the time to read the recipe, as I knew there would be ingredients that I wouldn't be able to eat on my diet. Yet, I found the idea to be a nice launching pad for tonights dinner.

How does this sound... a Potato Saffron Frittata with Spinach? My version will be made with egg, potato, spinach, saffron and spices, prepared in an individual souffle dish. I'll serve it inverted on a bed of lemon-kissed braised spinach, to which I'll add a blast of roasted garlic. To garnish the dish, I'll do a mosaic of colorful, confetti chopped raw veggies.

Tomorrow night should be a real adventure. I'm going to a restaurant that I have wanted to go to for years, but the timing was never right. Tomorrows adventure is part of a new project I'm working on called Coastal Culinary Odyssey. Each month, I'll be visiting a different Florida Coastal restaurant and writing it up in the new Every Day Living Magazine. Very exciting! In fact in time, I would like to research the possibility of getting a grant to turn this project into a Florida tv series. I know... I have BIG IDEAS, but that is the way my mind is wired! What can I say!

Surviving The Holidays

Surviving The Holidays.... that is a loaded title for me!

Since this is a diet blog, I'll try to stay on topic and not run down any bunny trails.

I did it! I got through the Easter weekend without even craving a chocolate-covered marshmallow bunny.

This new lifestyle is becoming easier for me. Something else really amazing is happening. Years ago I received lots of compliments. But in the last fifteen years, I don't remember hearing any compliments on how I looked. But lately I've been hearing people tell me I look "beautiful."
Wow! It sounds kind of funny after so long. Funny, in a nice way.

Encouragement is such a great thing! I am so appreciative of people who take the time to encourage others along! We need to encourage one another. It takes so little, yet it gives so much. For some reason, my antennae has really been tuned in to the subject of encouragement for several years now. I've witnessed a real lack of encouragement with certain people. Best I can tell, some people simply are not wired to plant seeds of encouragement. That doesn't make them bad. They probably have lots of other gifts, instead.

If you find yourself lacking in encouragement, that is ok. You are not alone. Give yourself permission to encourage yourself! The best encouragement we might get... just might be the encouragement that flows from the inner most region of our souls.

From that interior region we can find the strength to survive anything... even dieting during the holidays!

Staying The Course

Kudos to meal replacement shakes! While I rarely go the meal replacement shake route, I am thankful for their convenience.

Right now I am sipping on a rich creamy chocolate shake and thrilled that I didn't have to interrupt my manic-like frenzy of writing this afternoon, to prepare lunch.

The diet is going GREAT! Actually it is going alot better than I would have ever expected. Even though visions of rich, decadent food flows in and out of my consciousness constantly through my passion and vocation of food writing, I am not deterred. I am staying the course without difficulty. To date I have lost about sixty pounds and feeling better than I have felt in years!

The Deep Dreams Of Our Soul: Are they Linked To Hunger

Today, I can not help to wonder how much of obesity is related to the deep unrealized dreams in our souls.

As a firm believer that every person's life and purpose was planned before the creation of the world, I wonder if when we are living outside of the bullseye of our truest authenticity, if that isn't a big piece of the puzzle as to why there is such a deep hunger.

Our authenticity is tied so profoundly to our life purpose. But if our life purpose has become scattered by the choices we make and the resulting circumstances of our reality, perhaps we lose sight of what is really important for us. Perhaps we come to believe that the big dream is not ours to have and that we have to settle for something far less than what we really want out of life.

Looking at my own life, I am mad at myself for settling for so much less than I once dreamed of.
I am mad that for twelve years I settled for a fruitless and unhappy marriage. I am mad that I am constantly doing things outside of the bullseye of what I really want.

Two years ago I identified the following goals:

1. To be a prolific best selling author, bringing the dozens of book projects inside of me to fruition.

2. To be a syndicated food and entertaining columnist.

3. To be fabulous, fit and financially secure.

4. To be living in the fullness of the best version of who I was created to be.

While by the grace of God, I have made significant progress on these goals... I recognize that I am a long way from hitting the bullseye of my target because I get caught up in things that are sort of what I want. But the reality is these "sort of things" are not what I really want-hence the reason for my anger at myself this morning.

Life is far too precious not to be going after the bullseye of our dreams. In the light of introspection, the "sort of" doesn't cut it! You either are or you are not and when you are not... there is bound to be a deep void in the garden of the soul that cries to be fed.

So we can feed it with that which it truly wants or we can attempt to stuff it with that which will never satisfy us and we will continue to be starving.

Pan Sauteed Grouper with Broccoli Pesto

For dinner tonight I'm thinking about preparing Pan Sauteed Grouper with Broccoli Pesto and A Lemon Herb Smashed Potato.

To lighten up the pesto, I'm planning to use some chicken soup supplement in place of the olive oil. I'll still use maybe 1/4 teaspoon of oil with the broccoli, herbs, garlic, lemon, etc.

For my Lemon Smashed Potato, I plan to incorporate some of the yummy lemon drink supplement, garlic and herbs into one cooked potato.

If I get a chance I'll post the results on how it tasted.

Do you want to know my secret to creating diet-friendly meals that pop with flavor?

My secret is to keep a well-stocked pantry of different Winner's Weightloss supplements that I can sprinkle into meal preparation. These supplements are a huge help in creating interesting, tasty meals that pop with great flavor.

Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels

"Nothing tastes as good as thin feels!"

I have heard this saying several times over the years, but today is the first time that I have heard my own inner voice murmur those words.

While I am still a long way from being considered 'thin', I am nearing the 60 pound mark which is making me feel so much thinner than I was before embarking on this adventure.

Slipping into a pair of old khacki shorts this morning, that I have not been able to wear in at least five years and discovering that they are now two sizes too big for me, certainly made these last five months well worth everything it takes to lose over fifty pounds.

This diet really works! After being on just about every fad diet, it is so exciting to finally find the one weight loss program that can help me to lose the fat.

Kudos to Ruth and Lori at Winner's Weightloss in Tallahassee, Florida for helping me to get my life back! As far as weight loss centers go... Winner's Weightloss ROCKS!!

Luscious Lemon and Apple Breakfast Treat

Luscious Lemon and Apple Breakfast Treat is very similar to the 2 minute wonder breakfast souffle that I made for the recent cooking class at Winner's Weight Loss in Tallahassee, Florida.

My taste buds are dancing with joy after breakfasting on this luscious lemon-kissed meal. In most cases it would take an hour plus and hundreds of calories to get a treat that tasted this yummy. Yet in my kitchen, it took no more than two minutes to assemble and cook.

Luscious Lemon and Apple Breakfast Treat
From The Kitchen of Kathi Dameron

You'll need:

1 piece 40 calorie honey wheat bread, torn into small bit size pieces
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons Winner's Weight Loss Lemon Supplement
1 Tablespoon fresh apple, diced
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 drop pure vanilla extract
1 packet splenda, equal or stevia
Dusting of cinnamon (afterwards)

Directions:

1. Spray individual glass souffle cup with pam non-stick spray.

2. Tear bread in bite size pieces and add to souffle cup.

3. Add egg and mix well. Add all other ingredients and mix well.

4. Microwave for approximately 1 min. 25 seconds or until fluffy.

5. Invert on breakfast plate and dust with additional cinnamon.

For more recipes ... scroll through the pages of this blog.

Have a recipe? Please feel free to share it with all of us on this blog.

Happy Dieting! Looking forward to seeing "less" of you at the next cooking class.

Tell your friends to stop by too for ideas and let's see how many combined pounds we can lose in Tallahassee this year!

Look like Heaven in 2007!

Kathi Dameron's Cooking Class Menu For March 29, 2007

"Kathi, everyone wants to know what you are cooking tomorrow," Ruth said.

"Tell them it is a surprise!" I responded.

But while tomorrow's cooking class is fresh on my mind I realized I probably ought to post the menu on this blog, before my life detours in a zillion different directions.

The class is going to start out with a jolt of frozen cappuccino. What could be more refreshing on a warm Tallahassee day than a frosty, whipped blend of Frozen Cappuccino Blast?

Surprise!! We are going to add a blast of fudge-like brownie into an icy brew of java and cappuccino or chocolate supplement. Yum! Keep in mind the addition of a diced Winner's Weight Loss candy bar is not something you should do everyday... but tomorrow is not everyday. So I say let's make it special! Think Dairy Queen Blast and you have the general idea for the first food in Thursday's cooking
class line up.

From there we are going to make use of the microwave for a super simple one-bowl breakfast souffle. With one egg, one piece of forty-calorie bread, a drop of vanilla extract, a dash of supplement and a dusting of cinnamon and sweet and low I'll show you my two minute breakfast. Now of course this is just one variation. This easy treat can be made savory or sweet, depending on your taste preferences and availability of ingredients.

The third food is the lunch that I eat most days- a mixed green salad with fruit and a wildberry vinaigrette. This dressing in my opinion is far better than the Sweet and Jazzy dressing that I use to make when I owned Canopy Rose Catering. Plus it is not loaded with sugar and oil!

We'll finish up with an exotic tea-marinated chicken breast that I'll turn into a trendy chicken sate appetizer.

There you have it the Winner's Weight Loss Cooking Class menu for Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Finding Time For Creative Exercise In The Garden

Exercise doesn't have to be a ho-hum routine. I'm interested in pursuing creative exercise. You know what I mean? The kind of exercise that doesn't even feel like you are exercising.

Like yesterday for example... my exercise involved getting into the garden and doing some spring maintenance. With all the work my garden needs this season, I should be able to burn up lots of calories.

So my plan today is to take my mid-afternoon break outside scrubbing down the mailbox, bird baths, garden statuary and yard markers.

I've Lost 54 Pounds

Today I hit a new benchmark in this weight loss adventure. I've lost 54 pounds so far! As I drove home from the weight loss center, I began pondering the psychological aspects of eating.

Long before I embarked on the diet, I had been trying to unravel the mystery of how it was that food, especially sugar cravings, had become so entangled in my interior being.

As I became more aware of my patterns, I spotted triggers in my life that drove me to crave sugar.

While I don't begin to have the answers for anyone else, I understand what is making the difference for me. My secret is the transforming work of a higher power. With the hand of God, none of what I've been able to accomplish could have happened. God's orchestration is everywhere in this fabulous journey of weight loss.

Timing is everything. For some mysterious reason, after fifteen years of being obese, the timing is right for me to lose the weight. I suspect that if I had lost the weight before God had the chance to do a bunch of inner work with me, things would have been far more tangled up inside me.

I pray that my years of obesity have not caused irreversible health problems in my body. How tragic that so many of the health problems in today's world could be avoided by simply following a diet that is based on the good natural foods God gave to us.

It is often said that you don't have something because you don't ask, or that when you do, you ask with the wrong motives. How true this can be about weight loss.

For me this weight loss is not so much about looking hot, as it is about becoming the best possible version of who God created me to be. It is also about being a good steward of this one miraculous body that will travel with me during the remainder of my stay on planet earth. It is my job to do my part to take care of it and not abuse it.

Next Cooking Class

Thursday March 29, 2007 is the date for the next cooking class that I will be teaching at Winner's Weight Loss. Space is very limited, so if you are interested in attending call Ruth at 850-671-3200 and make a reservation as soon as possible. The classroom is pretty small, but the good news is I'll be teaching the same cooking segment during two different time slots that day. The first class is at 12 noon and the second class is at either at 5 or 5:30.

Naturally these classes focus on low-fat, heart-healthy cuisine that pops with flavor.

If you can't come to the class, but want the recipes send me a request at askkathidameron@aol.com

Springing With Joy

Hoorah! I've finally crossed the fifty pound mark! On my most recent weigh-in I was down 50 1/2 pounds and 54 1/2 inches.

What a great way to spring into the warm weather season. And springing is a good way to describe exactly how I am feeling these days!

Now, of course I'm still as big as a football player, but God-willing by tailgate season next fall, my weight won't be any where close to a football ball players weight any longer.

Grapefruit Sorbet

Did you know that frozen fruit tastes awesome?

This is a real fluke! Last week when everything went haywire over here, my commercial refrigerator turned into a freezer. The temperature dropped from 40 degrees down to 20 degrees below zero. Everything turned rock solid!

I really thought I would have to toss everything out.

But I discovered if I kept the grapefruit and tangerines in the freezer and nuke them as I wanted one, they tasted fine. In fact, the iced taste added an extra bit of pizzazz to the partially thawed fruit. Imagine the taste of a grapefruit sorbet without any added sugar or other other ingredients.

This former food professional is still learning kitchen secrets. Sort of like getting a Free Diet tip!

I'm Back

I'm back! Finally!

Did you miss me? I sure missed being able to post on my blogs.

I had about a week where everything simply went haywire over here! Kudos to Heath for pitching in and posting when I couldn't!

There is a story about my diet coming out in the next issue of Tallahassee Discoveries Magazine.

I'll probably go ahead and post it here, but try to pick up a copy of the magazine.

Sandy has tweaked distribution a bit. Starting with this issue, she will be direct mailing an extra 4,000 copies to certain Northeast Tallahassee neighborhoods. I hope that will give her advertisers more bang for their buck!

Ok... back to my diet. Some days my stress hopped off the charts. But the good news is I didn't turn to sugar! You know I think I'm licking this emotional eating disorder!

On my last weigh-in I was down 49 pounds!

Hopefully, my postings will get back on a consistent schedule now.

I'll be doing another cooking class in March. If you want more details call Ruth over at Winner's Weight Loss. The number is 850-671-3200

Tramadol Amount

Question: Can you take too much tramadol?

Answer: You want to be very careful how much tramadol you take. Generally it should be taken every 4 to 6 hours, too much can easily result in serious side effects. Always perform your due diligence prior to taking a new medication. Be proactive and know the facts.

Shooting Food Videos

Today, I dusted off the digital camcorder that I purchased back in 2000 for videotaping Canopy Rose catered events.

Back then, my vision had been to create entertaining videos for the old Canopy Rose website. But we were always too busy to shoot videos.

For nearly seven years, the equipment sat stowed away on a shelf in the closet. Occasionally, I'd pull it out and attempt to play videographer.

After last night's cooking class at Winner's Weight Loss in Tallahassee, Florida - I got to thinking that I should set my camera on a tripod in my culinary studio and experiment with creating some cooking episodes.

Who knows! Maybe sometime in the future I'll share a couple of them on here... after I can figure out how to use the technology to effectively express the visions that dance across my imagination.

Anyway, I wanted to share this video I just found on youtube. I liked it. I thought it was pretty good. They used the Windows Movie Maker program to make the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOQkBP5nioY