Just a Little Comparison...

A friend of mine who weighs in with me weekly brought an old picture of me along with her last time... just to remind me of where I've been. Well, instead of posting that picture here, I actually went and found one that had been taken a year before it, when I was at my heaviest ever (when not pregnant) And I just thought I'd share that with you - taken May, 1997:

Then that got me wanting to see the old me compared with the other "old" me - at my thinnest before I had Elan. So, this is me at my lightest ever - taken summer, 2007 (pretty much 10 years after the last one):

And then one of me recently:

Most of that weight was originally lost on the Weigh Down Diet - and then I got pregnant with William. After that I went with Weight Watchers. I find it interesting how the weight has distributed itself differently over my body over the years. It used to be in my face a lot, and now it is choosing my middle more (since I've had 2 babies). I think I prefer this new way ... :o)

Anyway, this comparison has encouraged me to keep at it... encouragement which I need because of the Christmas season looming. We're having our annual family Christmas decoration party/Christmas season kickoff party this Friday evening - and of course, it comes complete with tons of very anti-weight watcher food. But very yummy food! I'm looking forward to it - gonna try to save all of my bonus points this week for that night.... cheezies, egg nog, ferrero rochers, suprise dip, and appetizers. YUM!

One Problem With Being a Food Addict

Okay, I finally managed to get a star yesterday. Woohoo! I relaxed the rules a bit, but just the act of getting a star boosted me enough to make me wanna be back on the bandwagon. I went to the Weight Watchers meeting today and it showed a loss of 2.4 over the past 4 weeks, so that's okay. It would have been more if not for William's birthday parties, but at least its not a gain or a plateau, so I'm gonna be satisfied with that.

I'm making brownies this evening for a treat (Tuesday evenings are "treat evening" - after the WW meeting ends and before the new week officially begins Weds mornings). I know I can't be trusted with the leftover brownies in the house, though, so I'm just making them for us to have a brownie sundae tonight, and then Trev is gonna take the rest to work with him tomorrow. I can't be trusted with anything yummy around. I was thinking that I wish that I could bake a bunch of stuff and have my freezer full and ready for the Christmas season, but thats just not gonna happen for me. Oh well. I guess thats the price I pay for being a food-a-holic.

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!