Author Archives: Sephira

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About Sephira

Born and raised primarily in Northern Virginia, my family and I moved to North Carolina in 2006. Married for over 20 years, my husband and I have two boys and a gaggle of cats. For me, writing is a great stress reliever. I can let my mind wander and let my emotions run free in a way that is generally not possible in my normal everyday life. My writings run the gamut in terms of style and genre – for instance my first novel is a historical romance set in the Civil War, but some of the other things I have in the works are fantasy or thrillers, among other things. It probably goes without saying, but my poetry is somewhat eclectic in nature, and again while some may feel the need to stick with a particular form, I tend to write just whatever comes to mind. Let the winds of inspiration lead me on… I’m always interested in comments and feedback. So please feel free to share your thoughts with me!

Weekly Weigh-In: Week 6

Posted by Sephira in Dieting, General, Weekly Weigh-In and tagged with , ,

Week 6: 356

Weight Lost This Week: 5 pounds

Total Weight Lost: 34 pounds

Had my official 2nd visit with my doctor this week as well (also 356 officially in the chart now). He was very happy with my progress. YAY! This, of course, led to my first official cheat day… in which I ate nachos from Moe’s and had a Triple Chocolate Brownie sundae from DQ. Moe’s wasn’t my first choice, was totally going to nom on copious amounts of breadsticks and pasta from Olive Garden, but the weather was not cooperating with me, so Moe’s it was. But either way, it was OOOOHHHH SOOOO GOOD!!! But now I am fortified and ready for the next month of dieting – though to be fair, my wedding anniversary is in about a week, so I’ll probably be going out to dinner on that day too, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. XD

Weekly Weigh-In: Week 5

Posted by Sephira in Dieting, General, Weekly Weigh-In and tagged with , ,

Week 5: 361

Weight Lost This Week: 5 pounds

Total Weight Lost: 29 pounds

YAY!! Forward progress again. I was really starting to worry, but guess my body was just adjusting. If I can maintain 3-5 pounds a week, I’ll be happy. Definitely makes it easier to stay the course when I’m seeing results. Though this week, I’ve been having trouble eating again. At least twice I didn’t even make 1000 calories, or barely made it. Of course last night I was way under, but I fell asleep really early (the kiddo had me up at the crack of dawn) and just never got around to eating my evening food. I will try to do better this coming week.

Things Discovered: Great Low Carb Bread Co

Posted by Sephira in Dieting, Food, General, Things Discovered, Tips and tagged with , , , , , , ,

On my continued quest for low-carb options, I came across the Great Low Carb Bread Co, and of course, I had to place an order. Obviously, they make bread, but they also make pastas, pizza crusts and other goodies – all right up my alley. I miss my carbs desperately and thankfully the box finally arrived!!! Lucky for you, I spent the next few days trying everything out.

Probably goes without saying, the first thing I tried was the Great Low Carb Low Fat Chocolate Brownie. Brownies are my downfall, I LOVE THEM!!!! Especially, the crunchy outer edges that are slightly overcooked. These, unfortunately, not quite hitting my brownie love sweet spot, but they still aren’t bad if you are having a serious craving.

GLCBCBrownie

They are made with stevia and erythritol, which are sugar substitutes, both of which are something of an acquired taste (stevia, in particular, is a lot sweeter than sugar). The plus side though, is that these brownies are low calorie, low fat and low carb – only 55 calories per 2 oz serving size, with only 1.5g fat and 3 net carbs (22g carbs overall, but 10g of fiber and 9g of erythritol are subtracted from that total). Personally, I don’t do the “net carb” thing, so I just count the whole amount, but I also think that the 2oz serving size is a fairly generous portion, and found that eating 1oz was more than enough for me.

Bottom line, I’d probably just make a batch of regular brownies and eat half a serving (or calculate in a whole one on a special day). The taste/consistency is really that important to me. Having said that though, others might not be as picky as I am and find the GLCBC brownie just fine the way it is. Definitely something I’d recommend at least trying once to see if it works for you.

grilledcheese

The second thing I did with my order was make a grilled cheese sandwich with my low-carb Plain Bread. Two slices per serving has 60 calories, 3g fat, 8g total carbs (net carbs only 1g), 7g fiber and 7g protein. Grilled cheese is my other go-to comfort food, so of course, I just had to. Again, though this time due to using way less butter than I would normally use, it wasn’t quite up to par with my old-school grilled cheese, but still way better than never eating one ever again. As for the bread itself, definitely a winner!!

Up next was the low-carb Fettuccine. It’s got 100 calories a serving, and though the 25g of carbs seems high, it has 18g of fiber, giving a net carb total of 7g. Plus, it’s got 12g of protein. The 2 oz portion size is quite generous, and honestly, I will probably drop it to 1.5 oz or even 1 oz in the future. But for review purposes, I ate the whole thing with a bit of alfredo sauce and it was YUMMY!!! So yummy in fact, that I forgot to take a pic of it before I ate it all. XD

I still have the pizza crust to check out, but I’ll probably save that for a bit later. Until then, enjoy!! 🙂

Weekly Weigh-In: Week 4

Posted by Sephira in Dieting, General, Weekly Weigh-In and tagged with , , ,

Week 4: 366

Weight Lost This Week: 0 (gained 2)

Total Weight Lost: 24 pounds

Super frustrated. Still eating between 1000 and 1200 calories a day, 75 carbs or less and high protein, and not only didn’t I lose anything, but I gained. I swear… my body hates me. It’s really hard to stay motivated when there aren’t any results to show for it.

Only positive – I do think I’m losing inches. But not losing is bumming me out. I mean, I knew that the rate of loss would slow, but I was still expecting at least 2-3 pounds a week (maybe even 5) being on such a restricted diet. Hopefully, it will pick back up, but so far, the scale seems stuck at 366-367 (literally been up since later in the afternoon after the last weigh-in).

 

Things Discovered: Halo Top

Posted by Sephira in Dieting, Food, General, Recipes, Things Discovered and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

So… in my (current) never-ending quest to find low-carb foods that I can eat, I came across a few winners today. At the top of that list… Halo Top ice cream. It’s very low calorie, and best of all low-carb. The normal (1/2 cup) serving size only has about 14g carbs, and if you cut that in half to a 1/4 cup, then it’s only 7g carbs. Plus, I also found Mrs Thinster’s Waffle Crisps, which are these little pieces of waffle cone – yum!!! But, the best part is that a normal serving size is like 15 crisps (120 calories / 22g carbs), which is great if I ever have a serious craving, but for average consumption, I can cut that into thirds to pair it with the ice cream and it makes for a nice treat that fits well within my food budget (71 calories/14 carbs/3g protein – there’s a bit of fiber in there too, so net carbs are even less) .

halotop

Another keeper… Special K Crustless Quiche. Great for a quick meal or snack – 140 calories, 7 carbs, 2g fiber and 11g protein.

 

Note to Self: Revisited

Posted by Sephira in Dieting, Food, General and tagged with , , ,

In my original post, I noted how awful certain flavors of my meal replacement shake tasted. Upon reflection, I think that it was more that my taste buds were so used to super-sweet flavoring in everything, that they rejected the not as sweet flavors as being “gross.” I say this, because I’ve noticed this week that most of the shakes, even the ones I mix (the Iced Mocha and Vanilla, in particular) don’t taste as bad, and the chocolate one, which has been my “go to” for most days, actually tastes like chocolate milk (which it didn’t really, in the beginning).

Makes me wonder what other food flavors we are missing out by adding so much sugar to things, or even the non-sugary stuff we eat, our taste buds are so over saturated that it changes the way things taste, in general.