Five Things That Have Gotten Much Easier After Losing 50+ Pounds

I've discovered a few things that have gotten a lot easier in the last six months, and I decided the list would make a good blog post. So here they are in no particular order:

1. Painting my toenails. I can reach them sooo much better, they look better, and I don't get all out of breath when I do it. That is so sad that painting my toenails was such a strenuous activity.

2. Stop eating when I feel full. I do occasionally still struggle with this one, but not like before. There used to be times when eating actually felt like a compulsion to me. I'd know I should stop, that I was no longer hungry, but the food was so good! I would finish my dinner and take my plate into the kitchen and find myself standing at the stove shoving more food in my mouth right over the pan. I don't do that anymore. At least not in the scary, I-know-I-should-stop-but-I-can't-stop-give-me-more-right-now kind of way.

3. Shopping. I don't hate it with the red-hot passion that I used to. I actually kind of enjoy it. There are still times when it can be frustrating, like now, because I'm kind of in between sizes. But that is waaaaayyy less frustrating than not being able to find any new clothes because I can't fit in anything in the women's section. I can wear a 1X now!!

4. Sex. 'Nuff said. This ain't that kind of blog.

5. Looking in the mirror. It's no longer just a quick look while fixing my hair, or catching an accidental glance that scares and depresses me. I actually look in the mirror kind of a lot now. Not because I'm vain and I love to look at myself or anything. It's more in disbelief. As I've said before, I'll always be a fat girl on the inside, and it still surprises me when I see my new, thinner face looking back at me.

This Week's Menu

I keep telling myself that I need to take Sunday afternoon and plan the week's menu and then do the shopping so I don't have to go after work. I hate doing that because the store is so busy and then we don't end up eating dinner until 7:30 or later. I only have to plan four meals because we always eat out with Bryan's parents on Thursday nights, and I don't plan the weekends because we never know what we'll be doing. Well today I finally sat down and did it. Here is our menu for the week:

Monday
Taco Salads with black beans and corn for us, and a bean burrito and corn for Nathan. (He's not a big salad eater.)

Tuesday
Orange chicken stir-fry and fried rice. The recipe is for lemon, but I like orange better, so orange it is.

Wednesday
BBQ Chicken Tenders and Green Beans. These are baked rather than fried, and only 67 calories apiece!

Thursday
Dinner out. I'll try to be really good. :)

Friday
Whole Heat Pasta with Chunky Garden Marinara (broccoli added!) and Turkey Italian Sausage.

So, the menu is planned and the groceries are bought. No quick fast food fixes needed. All of these dinners are right around 500 calories as long as I keep my portion sizes on track, and should provide leftovers for lunches. Wish me luck in sticking with it!

Feelin' Groovy

Things are going pretty well these days. The return of the evil voice inside my head was short-lived and after a little bump in the road (a.k.a. the 4th of July and all of it's traditional calorie-laden barbeque festivities) my net loss as of this morning was 55.6 pounds.

I sure do love a barbeque. I think I'd have an easier time not cheating at Christmas dinner than I would at any gathering involving grilled burgers and macaroni salad. I tried really hard to be good on the 4th, though. I ate a veggie burger (who knew those things were so good?) on a multi-grain deli flat rather than a "real" hamburger on a bun, and much to my friend Stephanie's dismay, I tried out a recipe for diet deviled eggs. Even she had to admit that at 34 calories apiece they were pretty dog-gone good. Oh, and I used light beer in the beeritas. :) Hey, even a girl on a diet gets to have some fun on the 4th of July.

Last week was awesome! It was the end of our Biggest Loser Style Weight Loss Challenge at work, and I WON!!!! The first weight loss challenge we had ran from the first of December to the end of January, and then we went right into another that ran through June 30th. When we weighed out on July 1st, I posted over 58 pounds lost since that first weigh-in in December. It worked out to something close to a 19.7% loss of body weight. I've lost almost 1/5 of me! That totally blows my mind.

To celebrate, Teri and I took Friday afternoon off and went to Wichita where I spent my winnings on new bras and some cute new clothes. I actually enjoyed trying on clothes! I don't really remember the last time I could say that. I also learned that what I've heard is true: it's hard to stop thinking fat. I kept pulling out clothes that I would've worn 50 pounds ago and feeling surprised when they didn't fit. It's a really weird sensation to actually hear myself say, "I wonder if they have this in a smaller size?"

Please don't think I'm bragging or getting full of myself. I realize that I have a long way to go and a lot of work to do to get where I want to be. I'm not slacking off just because the weight loss challenge is over. I have pounds and inches to drop and a skinny inner-me that's just waiting to get her chance at the world. And I intend to give it to her.

PMS

That mean-kid-on-the-playground voice is back. It rode out of it's hidey-hole on a tidal wave of hormones and started mocking me as soon as I got out of bed this morning. I'm posting a gain this morning. At one point this week, I was down 53 pounds. Today, my official Monday weight loss is only 49.8 pounds. It's not the first time I've gained. I imagine the hormones combined with the big Italian Father's Day dinner we had last night are to blame, and there's a good chance I'll see a much better number on the scale tomorrow. But it sure hit me hard this morning. On top of that, it's a big ugly Monday in every sense of the word. I went to Curves this morning wearing my workout shoes. That's a big no-no. I didn't even realize I'd done it until I went over to the area where I usually change my shoes. So for the entire first half of my workout I just alternated between mentally berating myself for the gain and the shoes, and wondering what the other women were thinking of me. That girl didn't change her shoes! Get a rope. Then halfway through the circuit two ladies came in a started one machine behind me and one machine in front of me. There was only one other woman on the thing at the time and I had respectfully started on the opposite side of the circle from her. Then the other two came in and crowded me. I HATE that. It's like being in a public bathroom and someone taking the stall right next to you when there are seven other ones available. It's like someone walking into an otherwise empty elevator or movie theater and taking up residence within six inches of your personal space. They were in my bubble. The rest of the workout I was just super annoyed.

I hope the rest of my day shapes up better than my morning has so far. All I really want to do is crawl back in bed.

Screw you, diet.

Trying to Stay on Track

Hello all! (and by all, I mean my small handfull of loyal readers. lol)

Things are going well in diet-land. I'm down 52.8 pounds as of this morning. This week has been good with steady, if small, losses all week long. Last week, not so much.

Last week my lovely sister and her husband were in town. We're still the family that plans all of our activities around eating. That's just the way it is, for so many reasons. Meagan and David have a checklist of restaurants that they HAVE to visit while they're here, as I do when we go visit them. Combine that with the fact that when we all get together we're going, doing, and on the move constantly and you end up with WAAAYYYY too many fast food, barbeque, and mexican meals in one week! I don't blame them. They don't hold a gun to my head shouting, "You WILL stuff your face, Private!" It's just too much temptation to be good all the time.

On top of that, I spent the whole week putting together a baby shower for someone at my church. I spent hours baking and decorating.









You tell me. How was I supposed to resist all of that?? :)

It's Time to Move It Move It!

I'm stuck! I was so happy when I broke the 250 mark I was ready to throw a party. Who knew it was breaking 240 that was going to be the hard part. I've been stuck between 240 and 243 for most of May.

My vacation derailed me for a little bit, but I think I've officially hit that infamous plateau I've heard tell about. So now it's time to get my sizable posterior in gear and put in some hard physical labor.

When it comes to exercise I've been lackadaisical at best. A long walk here, a stint on the treadmill there (and let us not forget those crazy dance parties with Nathan) but nothing solid or with any regularity. That era HAS to come to an end. I'm ready to kick ass, mostly my own.

It's time for action!

Things 'Round Here, They Are A-Changin!

We had so much fun visiting Meagan and David in Waco this weekend! Meagan and I went clothes shopping and we went to a going-out-of-business sale at a bead store!! We ate pizza at Poppa Rollo's (Nathan really dug walking through the "wall" into the secret room), we took him to the playground and the water park, we went swimming, we went to church, and we went to the circus. It was fan-tabulous!

The food was pretty good too! I will admit, I overdid it a little bit. Okay, a lot. One of the things I look forward to most when on vacation is trying a bunch of different places to eat. Our families outings have always centered around food, and when we're travelling every meal is an event. This morning, the first day back in the "real world," I was a little afraid to weigh. I was sure I had gained, and I was worried about how much. With much trepidation I finally sucked it up and stepped on the scale. I gained 1.8 pounds.

I was so surprised! After four and a half days of basically ignoring my diet I really expected to do a lot worse. When I thought about it I realized how much my eating habits have really changed over the course of my diet. I ate a lot more than I should have this weekend, but WHAT I ate was so much better than what I would have had six months ago.

I ate salad with nearly every meal and I really enjoyed it! I've caught myself actually craving salad lately. Back when I first started this, just looking at a salad bar pissed me off. I got down right grouchy when lunch time came, knowing that some stupid diet food was waiting for me. That has all changed now. As much as I LOVED the pizza at Poppa Rollo's and all of the yummy Mexican food, I think my favorite meal of the entire weekend was at Souper Salad. (They have the BEST pico de gallo!)

So overall, I look at my 1.8 pound weight gain as a success. There was a time when I would have gained that much in one meal. At the risk of sounding a little full of myself, I'm really proud of how much my eating habits have changed. Believe me, it wasn't an easy change to make, but I am truly beginning to believe that I'm worth it.