Week Number 3 on the Cinch! Diet Update

Let me get right to point: I've lost 7 pounds!

How awesome is that?! I'm now weighing in at just a hair over 130 pounds.

And Brian can't keep his hands off me! God love him! :)

And I owe a HUGE thank you to Cynthia Sass and her Cinch! diet.

My favorite food on this plan is the Turkey Pita "Pizzalad." What's a Pizzalad? Let me share the recipe, and you'll see:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all natural marina sauce
• 1/2 cup field greens
• 1/4 cup each of chopped asparagus, chopped red bell pepper, chopped red onion, and shredded carrots
• 1/2 whole-grain pita, sliced widthwise
• 3 ounces cooked extra-lean ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions:  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onions are translucent.  Add the asparagus, pepper, and carrots, and saute until tender.  Lay the pita, outer side facing up, on a piece of foil.  Spread with the marinara, and over with the turkey and sauteed vegetables.  Bake at 450 degrees for five to eight minutes, or until the pita is crisp.  Toss field greens with vinegar and spread over the top of the pita pizza then serve.

YUMMY!  And it's tasty recipes like this in the Cinch! book that help me to keep hanging in there on this diet. 

I won't lie, sometimes it's been hard and I want to hit the nearest drive-thru for a hamburger and french fries, but I've managed to abstain.

The one thing that helps me is that Cynthia Sass makes it clear that, if you do falter, it's not the end of the world.  As she says, it takes approximately 3500 calories to gain one pound of fat.  Somehow, knowing that I can fail without major repercussions keeps me from actually giving in to temptation.

Come back next week when I update on my fourth week of the Cinch! diet. :)

Read more...

And the Cinch! Dieting Continues....(Giveaway too!)

I promised I'd update yesterday on how the Cinch! diet is going.  I'm a day late. I know. It's been a crazy week, with all the snow. The kids have been out all week.

Since there was 49 states with snow, I doubt I'm the only Momma who's seen her weekly routine shot.

Somehow though I managed to stick with the Cinch! diet.

Sadly though, I've actually seen a gain, as of today, exactly 1 pound.

Cynthia Sass says not worry about about.  Weight will fluctuate daily, throughout the day.

Even though I've weighed in at the same time each day, I too think 1 pound is nothing.  After all, I have stepped up the exercising - so maybe it's muscle!

I'm over the headaches from caffeine withdrawal, finally.  I didn't stick with Green Tea.  Didn't like it.  So I just waited out the withdrawals. 

Not feeling any more energy, like I was hoping.  But I'm not feeling any less either.  And I'm not sure a mother of four is a good one to judge energy levels.  Know what I mean?

I mentioned before how I felt the diet was very restrictive.  Now that I'm in the Core portion of the diet, it's not so bad.  There's many more food selections and several tasty recipes to choose from.

If I have any one complaint, it has to be the cost associated with a healthy food diet.  Why is it that the super-sweet, bad-for-you-stuff is so cheap??  Could it be so there is enough money to cover the heart attacks caused by it later?

Well, if so, I'd rather shell out more money now for healthy food than to pay it out in hospital costs later.

And I get to look good too. :)

Overall, I'm like the Cinch! diet.  Much better than I did the first week. 

I haven't yet been brave enough to measure my waist, but I promise to no later than the last week of the diet.  What I can attest to, however, is that my pants are sliding down....a lot.  So that's a good sign right?

Have you been on the Cinch! diet?  If so, how's it going for you?  I'm anxious to hear!

Want to try the Cinch! diet but don't have the book?  Well, keep reading to find out how you can get a FREE copy of this bestselling book!

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! Cynthia Sass through One 2 One Network is generously offering a free copy of Cinch! to one lucky reader of The Mom Trap.
Here's how to enter: Leave a comment below telling me why you want to try the Cinch! diet. (Be sure to include an email address or have one available on your profile in case you win!)
Want to increase your chances of winning with extra entries? (Leave a comment for each additional entry; i.e. 2 extra entries = 2 comments)

• Visit Cynthia Sass' website at http://www.cynthiasass.com/ then return and leave a comment with one fact, on any subject, from her site.
• Like Cynthia Sass on Facebook for 1 extra entry (already like it? That counts!).
   
• Follow Cynthia Sass on Twitter for 1 extra entry (already follow?  That counts too!)
• Become a Facebook Fan of The Mom Trap at www.facebook.com/themomtrap (1 extra entry. Current followers also receive extra entry.)
• Follow The Mom Trap with Google Friend Connect, Twitter, or Yahoo Account. (1 extra entry. Current followers included.)
• Follow The Mom Trap on Twitter (1 extra entry. Current followers included.)
• Tweet this giveaway for 2 extra entries, including @kdcantrell in your tweet. (Include the Tweet status URL in your comment.)
• Blog about this giveaway for 5 extra entries. (Be sure to include the URL of your post in your comment)

The Fine Print: Contest ends at 11:59:59 PM Central Time on Thursday, January 27, 2011. Winner will be chosen by random number generator. Must be 18 years or older to enter. Open to U.S. and territories residents only; void where prohibited. Winner will be announced on Facebook, in the last of my Cinch! posts, and notified via email no later than Monday, January 31, 2011, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Read more...

Cinch! Book Review and The Results of My First Week On the Cinch Diet

What was my New Year's Resolution? To lose this baby roll that seems to have taken up permanent residence on my body!

So when I was offered a copy of Cynthia Sass' new book Cinch, I jumped at the chance. 

Do I think it's a good plan?  Yes, particularly the 5 day Fast-Forward plan - which is a 4-meals-day-plan for 5 days.

The kicker, there are specific Fast Forward foods; namely:  spinach, raspberries, almonds, organic eggs, and plain organic yogurt.

Not a lot of pickings there.  And for someone like me who is a picky eater, the pickings are slim to none.

But the restrictions lighten up some after the Fast-Forward plan.  And, actually, Cynthia says that the Fast Forward is not mandatory and can be skipped altogether - although you will not quickly lose those initial 8 pounds.

As I mentioned earlier, the pickings were slim but I've reached a point of desperation and I really, really need to lose this middle.   So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to take a crack at it.

Having started on the Cinch diet on Monday, beginning with the Fast Forward plan, the first thing I noticed is that this plan is SUPER restrictive.  I mean, I read it but to live it - O.M.G.!

One of the things one the Cinch! diet is to eliminate sodas (including diet).  As a HUGE Dr. Pepper addict, drinking approximately 40 ounces per day, this was hard.

Even harder than eating foods I'm not crazy about.

And I noticed I had headaches and felt tired.  Fortunately, I had the chance to ask Cynthia Sass if this was normal - because in the book she says you'll feel more energy in the first few days.  And I wasn't.

Well, just as I suspected, I'm detoxing from Dr. Pepper.  But Sass recommended that I substitute Green Tea for the Dr. Pepper to ease the transition.

I didn't really like the Green Tea.  And I did wind up cheating a couple of times with small amounts of Dr. Pepper - bad, bad me! - but now I'm on flavored water.  The headaches are gone and, although I'm not bounding around with tons of energy, I am starting to notice I am feeling better.

As I finish Fast Forward step and I'm heading into the overall Cinch! diet, I can proudly say that last night I weighed in at 132.2 pounds - meaning, I've lost 5.9 pounds! (How much would I have lost if I hadn't cheated with the Dr. Pepper?) Although I'm not really seeing it in tummy area...yet.

Now I've just got to stick with the remaining 25 days.  I'm pretty sure I can, but I'm hating the fact that I'm preparing two meals, essentially, because the diet is NOT family friendly.  Also, I've got to dodge restaurants for these next 25 days because you won't find anything on a menu that even closely resembles the permissible foods.

Not to mention that Princess A's birthday is coming up and the birthday cake and ice cream is going to be very hard to sidestep.

But I know I can do it.  I want to do it.  Because I really think this could work.

Check back with me next Friday to see how I'm doing.  And wish me luck!

As a member of the One 2 One Network, I was provided a free copy of Cinch! by Cynthia Sass. 
Providing this product in no way influenced by opinion as stated in the foregoing review.

Read more...

Spare Tire? You Want to Try the HCG Diet

A friend and I were having a discussion today about our weight loss efforts.  During this conversation she told me about some homeopathic treatment for helping to lose weight around the middle.

Since that is the only area where I need to lose weight (fortunately), I went in search of this weight loss method that sounded perfect for me.

I found what I was looking for:  HCG,a natural hormone/protein substance that helps burn off unneeded excess fat on your thighs, hips, belly, and upper arms and changes the way you eat. The HCG method consists of a very low calorie diet combined with six drops of HCG under the tongue, six times each day.

Simple and safe.

And it's the same treatment many people are taking by injection. Ugh! This works just as well, isn't anywhere near as expensive, and doesn't hurt.

I'm going to give the HCG Diet a try. I'll let you know how it works. (Or if you've already tried it, I'd like to hear your feedback!)

Read more...