July 4, 2011

It was a rainy 4th of July, so we ate inside and played inside.

Rummikub anyone?

Lots of good food to choose from!

Good friends and family, too!

Every time I see this picture of Beth (purple shirt) I think it's Jessica. :)

Ben with the Chicks

This was taken a month or so ago. These chicks are now two months old.

Ben letting one of the chicks perch on his hand.

The one out front stretching her wings is Frost...Ben's chick. The one in the "first row" in the center is Parfait...Beth's chick.

Ben had a piano recital back in the spring.

Here he is playing...it's a bit dark, but you can see his white shirt. :)

The Ongoing Journey

I'm still going to Weight Watchers and although the weight loss has slowed down, it's still going in the right direction. I've now lost about 27 lbs. I still have a long way to go, but that's okay...I didn't gain it overnight and I'm not going to lose it overnight!

I'll try to add a picture later. :)

A Little Get-Away

Neal and I were blessed with a little mini-vacation last weekend. We had a wonderful time getting away together. (I feel the need to mention that while we were having such a nice time away from home, we didn't know that my dear friend, Perri, was fighting for her life! You can read her incredible story here.) Anyway, it had been too long since Neal and I had gone away alone, so we decided to take a drive up in the mountains and spend the night in Charlottesville. Usually when we go on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we have a certain route we take and we always cover the same area. This time we turned right instead of left. :) And we thoroughly enjoyed the breathtaking views along the way.

There was a spot that had a Mountain History Museum and a recreated homestead. This is the chicken coop.

They had 7 chickens

This was an original cabin from the early-mid 1900's. Two adults and five children lived in this one room cabin with loft.

They moved this cabin from another part of the mountains and added a porch. There were several things they had to do to fix it up, but they've maintained the time period with this building.

This was on Skyline Drive. They made special note of the "hand carved tunnel" and we just knew it was going to be incredible. Well, as you can see, it isn't very long at all. When we saw daylight before we even reached it, we were a bit disappointed. I'm sure it was spectacular in the 1930's though!

These guys were repelling at one of the overlooks on Skyline Drive

Gorgeous!

Me and my wonderful hubby, Neal.

In addition to traveling in the mountains, we spent the night in Charlottesville. One of my favorite stores, Whole Foods, is there, so we spent a couple of hours looking at all the interesting foods. We bought various dried beans and sprouts, locally roasted coffee, Blue Agave syrup, trail mix and several flavors of tea. We also ate supper at a local Mexican restaurant. Their food was really, really good! Then the following day we had lunch at an Indian restaurant. They had a lunch buffet, so we were able to sample everything. It was good, but I prefer Mexican. :)

I'm so thankful for my husband and for the fact that we love spending time together!

Before and 18 Pounds After

This is before (and I'd already lost 6 lbs here)
January 17, 2011

And as of today, March 14, 2011
I've lost 18 lbs

I know I have a long way to go, but I needed to see these before and after pictures so that I could see the difference. Weight Watchers is working...I just have to stick with it! Thank you, Lord, for helping me these last 9 weeks!

The Journey Continues

I know it's been a while since I posted about my weight loss, but I'm still chugging along. :) I started this journey on January 10th and am now in my 9th week. I've lost 16 lbs so far. This past week, when I weighed in at Weight Watchers, I had gained almost a pound. That may not sound like much, but when you are striving to see the scale go down, it can be quite discouraging.

In the past, when the scale started going in the wrong direction, I would turn to food. Stupid, huh? Yeah, I know. However, that's the way my emotions run. This time I'm trying very hard not to let my emotions rule me. I'm trying to allow the Lord to direct me and keep me on track.

This weight loss is a journey and a lifetime commitment to eating healthy. I know there will be days when I will overeat, but instead of saying "Oh well, may as well eat what I want", hopefully, I will get right back on track and refocus. There will also be times when I "choose" to eat more than I should, or something that I know is not the best choice, but again I'll just have to get back on track immediately....and, it's OKAY!

Exercise is moving in slowly. I know that's an area I need to improve in. Walking for exercise is still out of the question right now. I have so much pain in my foot, that it would only make the pain worse if I walk for exercise. I have been lifting weights though, and as a reward for losing 15 lbs, I purchased an exercise ball/dvd kit from Weight Watchers called "Belly, Butt and Thighs." lol Funny name, sore belly, butt and thighs! :)

This week I finished reading "Reshaping It All" by Candace Cameron Bure. This was an excellent book filled with good tips, challenging thoughts and practical advice. Candace is a Christian and she fills this book with convicting scripture and stories of how our Father has helped her in her journey. She was a bit overweight and she had an eating disorder. Now she is 25 lbs lighter and healthy -- both physically and spiritually. At the end of each chapter in her book she reviews the verses she shared, she includes a letter from a fan and her answer, some favorite quotes and a recipe she uses with her family. I highly recommend this book!

I'll try to post more often about my weight loss journey and if any of you are on this same journey, let me know! I'd love to pray for you.

Chicken Cat!

This is what Ben found last week when he went out to the chicken coop!

Mom's goofy cat! Does he think it will hatch and give him a meal?

Before and After Pics

I was watching Rachael Ray the other day and she had a woman on her show who had lost 40 lbs in the past six months. On the woman's blog, at the very beginning of her journey, she posted a picture of herself in a bikini. (Don't worry...you'll NEVER have to worry about me doing that!) Then she would periodically update her blog with pictures to show her progress. I thought that would be a good idea for me to do, too. Even though it's not a bikini, it was still difficult to put these pictures on here. I can't wait to see my "after" shots!

January 24, 2011

January 24, 2011
(This is after 9.8 lbs lost, but, unfortunately, I still look the same.)

Oh, stink! I just realized that I shouldn't have smiled. You know...all those before pictures on infomercials shows the "before person" not smiling and the after person with a BIG smile. Oh, well!

Weigh In Day #2

Today was my second weigh in at Weight Watchers and I was very happy with my weight loss. I lost 3.6 lbs this week for a two week total of 9.8 lbs! Next week I should reach my 5% weight loss goal.

Making menus for our suppers and having plenty of options for breakfast and lunch help me a lot! I don't like to be bored with my food...I need variety. Some of my favorite breakfasts are:

1 fried egg, 1 slice of turkey bacon and mustard on a toasted lite multi grain English muffin

1 cup oatmeal with about a teaspoon of crunchy peanut butter and half a banana (and milk)

Multi Grain Cheerios

Bagel with a thin spread of whipped peanut butter

fruit smoothie

Some favorite lunches are:

Whole Wheat tortilla with 2 oz of chicken or turkey, mustard and romaine lettuce and a sliced apple

Sandwich (same as tortilla only use my whole wheat sandwich rolls)

Salad

Soup

Leftovers

Some favorite snacks are:

Apple

Banana

Plain Greek yogurt with a bit of sweetener, a tablespoon of Grape Nuts and a few mini chocolate chips

Quaker makes some mini rice cakes in various flavors (I separate them into serving size and put them in little zip lock baggies)

Two Rice cakes with a small spread of whipped peanut butter

Suppers vary: soups, grilled meat, baked fish, lots of veggies!

Chug, Chug, Chug, Chug...

and no, I'm not drinking anything, I was thinking of a train chugging along the tracks ... uphill. That's my journey right now.


I continue to feel good on this program and continue to lose weight. I do weigh myself daily (I know the "experts" say you shouldn't do this, but it does help me stay on track), but I am only going to post my official weight loss here after I weigh in at Weight Watcher's on Mondays.

I'm trying some new recipes that I found on the WW's website. I've tried a really good crockpot chili with pork (pork instead of hamburger), crockpot chicken burritos (kind of like fajitas), and a few others. I hope to add recipes that we like to my food blog soon.

Exercise is still a struggle for me. I've worked out once this week. I hope to work out again today. For some reason I'm really resistant to it right now, but I know I need to do this!

Neal hasn't been here this week. He's on a business trip in Tennessee. Usually when he's away I really struggle with cooking. I usually take a kind of "cooking break" while he's gone, but I knew I couldn't do that this time. I haven't cooked every day because we've had leftovers, but I have cooked. I've also stayed on program for which I'm very thankful and excited!

I don't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but we went to a birthday party last Saturday night and I knew they were going to be serving pizza. So ahead of time I purchased a Lean Cuisine pizza and a Weight Watcher's dessert to take along with me. It worked out great and I didn't feel deprived. They also had fresh veggies, so I enjoyed some of those, as well! This is do-able!

Okay, gotta get off here and go do some cleaning and cooking. May you all have a healthy, blessed day!

Weigh In Day!

Today was my first weigh-in and I lost 6.2 lbs! I knew I had lost some weight, but I didn't realize how much. I was very pleased with my first week's loss. I'm sure the following weeks will be less, but I hope I continue to lose at least some each week!

I'm reading a great book right now called "Reshaping It All" by Candace Cameron Bure. It's a book about physical and spiritual fitness. She uses a lot of scripture and gives a lot of advice from experience. So far I've gotten a lot of good nuggets out of the book!

Peanut Butter!

I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER!

I stood in the aisle at the market on Thursday looking for the best peanut butter. I knew Reduced Fat must have the lowest points, so that's what I looked at. I ended up buying Jif Reduced Fat. Today I decided I wanted two rice cakes with a thin spread of peanut butter on them. I got out the Jif and figured out the points again (I hadn't written them on the jar yet). There were 5 points for 2 Tbsp. I looked at the regular peanut butter next to it and figured it out (it was Kroger brand). There were 5 points for 2 Tbsp...the same as the reduced fat! Since they took out the fat, they added more sugar which doubled the carb count! I also had Peter Pan Whipped in my cupboard, so I check that and guess what? It has 4 points for 2 Tbsp! I also didn't need to use even a Tablespoon for my rice cakes because it spreads so easily! This is what I'll be buying from now on. Bye, Bye Reduced Fat Jif!

Day Four of Weight Watchers

So far, so good!

I've been able to stay on track each day so far. That is an accomplishment for me, to stay on track for four days without cheating. The cool thing is that I can eat anything I want, I just have to count it. I went out to breakfast at Panera with a friend this morning. I looked up the nutritional information before I went, so I knew what I was going to order ahead of time. I ordered a sesame bagel with reduced fat sun-dried tomato cream cheese. I only ate about a third of the cream cheese, so that helped on points. It felt very liberating to be able to go to a restaurant and order something I liked and not feel guilty!

Each day has been an adventure deciding what to eat and how to spend my points. It reminds me of when I get money for my birthday or for Christmas and I'm very careful how I spend my money. The same is true for my points. I don't want to waste them by spending them on something that I don't like, won't fill me up, or satisfy me.

I'm SO excited about this new way of eating!

I'm Tired of Being Fat!

Not that I haven't been tired of it before, but I'm even more tired of it now! 2011 is the year for change...permanent change.

On Monday, January 10th, I joined Weight Watchers (WW). The WW website has a wonderful community and tools to use on your journey. You can also have a blog on their website. Since I know I won't be on it forever (Please Lord!) I'm going to post my weight loss blog posts over here, as well. Here is my post from Day One:

I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting today. I'm excited about the program and truly believe I can stick to it! I joined with a good friend, and we are going to pray for each other every day and hold each other accountable.

I'm not a huge fan of fruit, however, I did buy some apples, bananas and grapes today. I had an apple with my lunch and it tasted really good. We make fruit smoothies with our Vita Mix and the only thing I add to it, other than fruit, is a bit of Splenda and skim milk. I'm going to try thinning it with water so that I don't have to count the milk points. This will be a good way to get fruit in.

I've been overweight to one degree or another almost my entire life. I've lost weight and regained it numerous times. However, I'm 44 years old now and I do not want to continue this cycle of lose--gain, lose--gain. My health is really telling me I've got to lose the weight and keep it off!

I also want to be a better example to my 16 year old daughter and 13 year old son. They are not overweight yet, but if we don't change some eating habits soon, it will happen to them too. :(