Long Time, No Post

Hello to anyone who might actually be reading this! I just thought I'd pop in and tell you that I am still alive! :o) I can't believe its been like 3 weeks since I posted anything here! Oh well.

As far as weight watchers goes, I did really very well for the first couple weeks of this month. Then I did okay for about a week, and then I did really quite poorly for about a week, and today is the END of that week. (I hope). William has had 2 birthday parties in the past week. And i've made 3 birthday cakes this month. And I dont' know if I've mentioned it before, but birthday cake and icing are my most favorite foods. And so I've been having quite a few treats lately. And they've been yummy, but now its time to stop.

So, I just thought I'd come tell you all that.
Tomorrow, all I have to do to get a star on my calendar is stay within my points - I'm not even gonna worry about the exercise for this week. Just staying within points. So far this month, I've only gotten like 3 or 4 stars - pretty poor. I really would love to be in the 150's by Christmas. That would be great. I think I'm around 164 right now - like I said, I was doing well earlier this month - so I just need to get back on track. Here's hoping.

Bony

I think I have recently re-entered the stage of weight loss where I have started to experience the unpleasant side of it... that is, I'm starting to feel uncomfortable every now and then because my fat is no longer cushioning me as much as it used to. The main places I've noticed already are in my butt when I'm sitting on the floor or on a wooden chair, and my hips, when I'm lying on my side at night. And I have to say - I miss that fat. It's quite a bit less comfortable to be thin! Its hard to get comfy when I lie down at night lately and I know its only gonna get worse - so I've got to try to find some new positions to sleep in, I guess.

Anyway, just wanted to throw that "complaint" out there. Really, I'm happy to lose weight, but I just have to say "boo" to my bones.

Some Encouraging News for Me

Yesterday I measured myself for the first time since April 11th. Now, keeping in mind that on April 11th, Elan was only 3 and a half weeks old... so I was still pretty fresh from having had a baby... but still. I'm very excited to report that there is a significant difference between the me now and the me then!! My arm measurement is the only thing that didn't turn out well - it showed no change at all - but I think that probably I made a mistake in how I did the measurement in April... not sure.

So, it showed that I have lost (drum roll please....) a total of TWELVE inches - yes that's one whole foot! - off of my waist measurement. WEEHOO! :o) A loss of SIX inches off of my hips, and a loss of 3 and a half inches off of my thigh.
yay. yay. yay.

So, its working. And its taken me longer than its taken some others I know, but really, when its all said and done - who cares how long it took, as long as the weight loss actually happened, right? Right. So, I'm plugging away at it. I'm not going to weight watchers to weigh in today - but I weighed myself at home, and its a loss, so I'm on the right track.

Hooray.

p.s. these 2 pictures I posted weren't chosen to show off anything in particular - they just happened to me the shots I had of myself taken as close as possible to the dates of measuring. Hopefully, in a few months' time, I'll measure again and have another "new me" shot to show off...

Spicy Beef & Lentil Soup

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups dry lentils, rinsed thoroughly
1 1/2 C chopped carrots
1 C chopped onion
1 C chopped celery
1 1/2 C water
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
2 packets beef bouillon
1 Bottle Spicy Tomato Juice -- 64 oz of Spicy V8 (U.S.) or 1.89 L of V-GO (Canada)
2 or 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Many dashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce (to taste)

Directions:
Brown beef; break into small pieces while cooking. Drain.
Place meat into slow cooker (crockpot). Add lentils, vegetables, water, salt, pepper, bouillon, spicy tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, and Hot Sauce. Cook on high until it boils. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 6 hours, or until lentils are tender. Stir occasionally. Serve with extra hot sauce as desired.

My husband doesn't really love soup for a meal, but thinks this one is good - since it has the hot sauce. It tastes great served with biscuits, fresh bread, or even garlic toast. OH, and I count it as 3 points per bowl (I guess thats about a cup of soup?) The ground beef is really the thing with the most points in it - the V-GO is only 1 point per 1 Cup, so you just have to add the points for the ground beef and lentils on top of that... Anyway, ENJOY!

Check this out for tons of great recipes...

I'll be posting a recipe of my own there later today (and here too). Just click on this big box and you'll be taken to BooMama's recipe event! :o) Enjoy!

WeeHoo

I just want to share that I weighed in today (for the first time in 3 weeks), and I'm down 2.8. And that is exciting to me because I'm pretty sure I gained the first of those 3 weeks, maintained the second, and then lost this last week. So, I'm glad that I did lose.

It's so funny how once every couple of months, I realize that the thing about Weight Watchers is that if you do it the way they tell you to, you will lose weight. Then, I spend a while doing it right and losing weight, and then I gradually peter out to just kinda doing it and kinda losing weight. A lady at weight watchers today said that is like cooking with a recipe... if you follow the recipe properly, it will almost always turn out - but if you stray and get lazy, it probably won't.*

And I also just want to share that this week, I did more Activity Points (APs) than I think I've ever done in one week (well, this time around in my weight loss anyway). I did 14. Wow. I'm loving my treadmill, and loving my kids for napping at proper times so I can use my treadmill.

So, that's my update here. Now, the trick is to stay strong even after a little success. Sometimes I tend to think, WOO - I did it! And then reward myself with food or something silly like that. Well, no sir - not this week. My stickers on the calendar (see the last post I wrote) are working really well to motivate me - I must finish one whole week to see what a completed rainbow will look like! If I do that, then I'll take a picture and share it with you all. Oh, the joys of having a somewhat anal (whats a nicer way to say that?) personality... Sometimes you can use it to your advantage.

Oh, and the WW quote for the day:

If hunger is not the problem, then food is not the answer.

Have a good week everyone! Especially you Amanda (she's going on a tropical vacation!) Heck, just for fun, I'll include a picture of me and Trevor on a tropical vacation (((SIGH))) ... one day it'll happen again... (((SIGH))). oh, and please note that the reason I am wearing a shirt is that I got so stinking sunburned the day before that I thought I was going to spontaneously combust at any point... so the t-shirt was the answer for this day. But I still love this picture cuz of the water.

(((SIGH SIGH SIGH)))

Okay, I'm done now.

*This analogy applies only to people like me, who cook the best with a recipe and who have little imagination when it comes to making variations on the recipes. (And I must admit, I am blatantly copying Amanda with this asterisk. I owe her all of my asterisk credit.)

Stickers

Just thought I'd share my latest motivational strategy... stickers. As I've shared before, I am highly motivated by stickers. Well, my good friend Shayne bought me these beautiful star stickers for my birthday last month, and it occurred to me this week that I should put them to use! So, I thought that if I am good all day (like writing my points down the whole day, and staying within them, or within them using some extra points, and if I exercise that day), then I'll get to put a sticker on yesterday's day the next morning. So far, its working beautifully... thanks Shayne for the rainbow stickers!