Tuesday Ponderings....

Hi folks!

I was so encouraged to read the comments some of you left for me; thank you so much for taking the time to not only read, but respond.  I have to admit, that after I hit "Share on Facebook" and saw the blog on my profile page, I cringed in embarrassment that I had so frankly put it all out there!  Good grief!  Have I no pride??  I had to tell my exact WEIGHT!??  Aaaackk...

I'm pretty frustrated with this Blogger thing as it's not allowing me to alter the original page I'd set up last year...I need to change the Beginning Weight, and incremental goals, etc. but my computer shuts down the program when I try.  So frustrating!  And when I see that back in the fall I began this at the weight of 232 (which was horrifying enough) and now, at 15 pounds more, I just...shake my head in disgust and disbelief at my...lack of control and perseverence.  Just can't figure myself out.  Oh well.  I don't mean to be negative; this blog is about being "real", for sure, but I also want to be encouraged and encourage others. 

It's been 9 days since I began, I've dropped 10 pounds, gone to the gym 7 times, and my size 18 pants are feeling a TAD loose!  That's cool.  I'm so happy to be back at the gym; alternating days of cardio for 45-60 minutes, with days of 15 min cardio warm-up, then 30 min or so of strength training on the machines.  Planet Fitness is a great place and I'm very thankful for it!  I'm glad that Erin & I will continue a swim class together; I missed seeing those dear (old-er) people each week that attend so faithfully. 

I know I've said this before, but I have to say again how thankful I am for delicious, healthy food that is SO satisfying!  Tonight I had baby carrots w/ garlic hummus while my garlic-chicken sausages cooked in marinara.  When it was almost done, I put a heap of fresh baby spinach on top, then stirred it in and let it cook down a few minutes.  SOOO delicious!  Topped w/ a bit of grated romano cheese!  mmmMMM!  Feeling comfortably full.  I was sorely tempted when shopping tonight to buy a loaf of handmade artisan bread, fully whole-grain, but I'm so afraid that once I get that in my mouth again, I'll tear into the whole loaf in one sitting!  I LOVE good bread, especially toasted, with either sharp cheddar cheese melted on (after buttering the toast, of course) or with natural peanut butter on one slice and jam on the other.  Eaten w/ a cup of hot, strong coffee...what could be better??  Wow.  Now I'm really glad I didn't buy it!!  :D

Okay, gotta hop off here and get to the gym.  Tonight is cardio.  Unfortunately I have a very painful plantars wart right on the ball of my right foot which really affects my workout, but I'll try to just deal w/ it, and get in at least 45 minutes.  Might end up on the bike, but that's fine too.  I have an appointment w/ a podiatrist next month, and hopefully it can be easily remedied. 

Ta Ta!  Thanks for stopping in! 

This is a stack of clothing I weeded out of my dresser since I don't fit them anymore.  Hoping to put them back in before too long!  Especially my favorite Levi's! 

I'm BAACCKKK (again.)

Good morning to whomever may happen upon this blog!

As you can see by the dates, I haven't written this blog since late January, a full two months ago.  What happened during those months?  I completely threw in the towel, began eating and packed the pounds back on.  I'd lost a total of 16# and by last Sunday, March 2oth, I'd gained not only those 16 pounds back but an additional SIX!!!  Holy CRAP!!!  :O  When I got on the scales Sunday morning, and saw my weight was up to 247, I about DIED!!  And said "THAT'S IT!!"  I know, I know, I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again.  What an idiot!!  But I'm not gonna beat myself up here; already did that and now it's time to move on. 

I began eating right again, low carbs, lots of water, good protein, and back to the gym.  Lost 2# by Monday AM, lost 4# by Tuesday AM, 2# by Wednesday, another pound by Thursday and this morning I'm at 238.  Nine pounds total in these last 4-5 days.  Thank GOODNESS my body drops pounds fast like that; it's a real shot-in-the-arm and spurs me on!  I've been to the gym twice, and did swim class last night with Erin.  I have the morning off and think I'll go do swim class at 10:15am.  I'd pretty much stopped going because they are at 5:30pm which means leaving the house at 5pm, right at dinner time.  I'd run out the door saying "I left you some food, Becca!" or "I'll make us some food when I get home!" (at 7pm) so we'd end up eating late, or not having a "proper" dinner, etc.  It just wasn't a good time to leave home 4-5 nights a week. 

Re: swim class, I'd gotten the mindset that because I loved it so much, I'd never have to do the treadmill/machines again!  So my brain (and body) was very resistant to going back to those.  During my two month "hiatus", I was still in the mindset that I couldn't go to swim class, yet wasn't ready to consider doing the other workout again.  Resisted it for a while, but realized it is OKAY!  Ideally, I'll be able to do both, which will give me a nice variety.  So here's my plan (uh oh!  When I make a plan, I seem destined to fail!):  gym at least 4-5 times a week, interspersed w/ swim class.  Erin wants to continue our Thursday class so we'll do that together.  Trying to finagle a time to workout at Planet Fitness with Sylvia can be challenging but we managed it once this week so far.  It seemed REALLY good, and familiar and comfortable to be back at the gym.  :)

Well, that's it for now.  I have a crockpot of chili simmering since last night so I had two small "sample" bowls this morning w/ a dollop of sour cream for breakfast!  YUMMO!!  I only have one client today so plan to clean my house and do some wash.   Dinner will be chili, a big green salad, my moist & delicious cornbread, and a glass of wine.  Not sure about dessert...maybe some fruit.  It's FRIDAY!!!  YAAAAAY!!!  :D 

So, here are some pictures to "inspire" me!  :)

Taken in the fall of...2010 I think.




Skinny Sharon Summer 09




Beach Babe in Florida w/ Sylvia April 2009




My "Hey, Big Boy!" picture for Kyle back in summer 09 



Haven't quite come back to THIS, but getting too damn close!!  :(



A good start on my first weight-loss endeavor, Fall 08




OH!  MY!  WORD!  :O  First time EVER at the gym in July 08



No words.... except look how cute Becca was!!  Probably 07?



WOW!!  Back in the day.  This is Becca around 2 years old!




Me n' Caty, spring of 2009, my HaPPy year!  :)




Sara & I enjoyed a lovely afternoon of bike-riding.  Summer 09



Monday, Monday

...so good to me; Monday, Monday, it was all I hoped it would be..."  well, in regards to the scales, anyway!  Total pounds lost last week are SIX!!!  My scales this morning said 225!!  For a grand total thus far of 16# lost! :D

 I'm really happy with the weekend eating; I was at Kyle's and he cooked for me on Saturday evening!  Homemade Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccoli.  It was a total comfort meal, delicious and healthy!  Sunday morning I had a big bowl of oatmeal w/ about a cup of my frozen peaches/pineapple/melon thawed out and chopped up, heated and stirred into my oatmeal!  It almost seemed like baby food, but was so filling. 
For lunch we had batter-dipped fish fillets, hot & crispy in the oven (no bread) and another big serving of broccoli.  I put a slice of American cheese on mine, for cheesy-deliciousness!  Coffee around 3:30 then didn't eat again till I had a bag of Smart Pop popcorn and another bowl of frozen/thawed fruit at like 7:30pm.  Done for the day.  Zip.  Zilch.  Not another bite. 

Happy Dance this morning.  Good eating today. I made my scrumptious Turkey Rosemary Pita pizza.  Oh.  My.  Goodness!!  SOOOO good!  Here's a picture.  It started with a big Lavash Pita thing that's about 12" long by like 8" wide.  Spread olive oil on it, then sprinkled on bits of chopped garlic, mozzarella next then tons of baby spinach leaves, cut-up grape tomatoes (they really had to be used up today), torn up pieces of sliced turkey, chunks of feta cheese, fresh rosemary bits and...um....think that's it.  The whole pita thingie is only 14g carbs, but I cut it up into 8 pieces and ate two.  I'm so psyched to think of all the variations of pizza to make on these amazing breads!  It was light and crispy, and the flavors of the toppings were not over-powered by dough. 


My pizza, unbaked.




Baked.  Yummo!

   Also made Becca gluten-free pizza w/ a bread mix from Mr. G's that I paid $1.69 for~!  Came out pretty good looking and she said it tasted good too!  SCORE!!  I was headed to swim class when hers came out of the oven, so no picture of it hot and ready to eat! 



Becca's Unbaked. 

Wow, it's 11pm and my eyes are shutting as I type.  Gotta hop off here and get to bed.  Another busy day tomorrow.  Wonder what I'll eat??  :D

Friday Night Success

It's so wierd to think I've lived through several Friday nights now that I haven't eaten junk/snacks or even wanted to!  How can that be?  What's making this particular weight-loss endeavor so different and successful, so far?  I've lost 15 pounds since the 3rd of January!!  That's 15 pounds in 19 days!!!  :O  How can that be???!!!  How can I sit here, on this Friday night, not wanting to dig around in the cupboards, looking for something to snack on?  These past few weeks I've also been very busy w/ organizing my stamping stuff and making cards; I tend to lose track of the time when I'm occupied and being creative!  But even when I'm lying on the couch, watching TV, I haven't felt the desire to eat.  Just can't figure it out. 

It was a good day; breakfast was 2 boiled eggs w/ a pat of butter, a bowl of strawberry yogurt w/ a generous handful of blueberries, coffee as usual.  Went to swim class at 9:15am~ pretty good workout.  Came home, putzed around and made a cheeseburger for lunch before heading out to clean a house for 3 hours.  Went straight from there to get highlights, stopped in to Body Le Bronze for some color, and zoomed home, starving!  Cooked more burgers, had one with a great salad and a little SF chocolate pudding cup.  That was at 7pm.  It's now 12:26pm (I forgot to mention my after-dinner, late-in-the-day cup of coffee) and I haven't felt hungry at all or tempted to snack!!  SO ODD!  SO AWESOME!!  :D  

Here's a stack of clothing I removed from my dresser a few weeks ago, because I just don't fit into them and they were taking up too much space.  Notice the jeans in the pile?  The top two pair are now out of the pile, and back into my drawers because THEY FIT!!  One is my size 16 Levi's!!  They're pants that I bought as I was slowly but steadily gaining weight back, but the fact they were 16's assuaged my guilt/conscience but of course, I soon became too fat for them.  Got back up to size 18, even a pair of 20's...  :{  HORRORS!!  So, even though the 16 Levi's aren't my goal pants, fitting into them (fairly comfortably, at that!) means I'm headed in the right direction!  YAHOO!! 

Still Moving Forward~

Good morning!  Sitting here, eating my bowl of Greek yogurt w/ a Tbsp of SF raspberry jam, blueberries and a generous sprinkling of flax, thinking about what I can have for lunch in between clients, giving brief thought to dinner options.  There are so many great little ways to stay focused and plan for the days eating.  Here's what I've been doing for 2 1/2 weeks:

• Write down what I eat every day, not portion sizes, just the food.  It helps to see it on paper. 
• Try to remember to drink a couple quarts of water; was adding a lemon slice last week, then remembered my Crystal Light packets and that helped make it more interesting!
• Definitely eat breakfast w/ protein every day!  After my enormous cup of coffee, I'm not always as hungry but eat anyway, knowing a comfortably full stomach is almost a guarentee I won't be snacking inappropriately.
• Plan for a snack each day, one in the AM, one in the afternoon.  Usually nuts, or fruit, or veggies, or peanut butter celery.  I love that I'm eating all day long, feeling satisfied and yet still losing weight! 
• Really try to exercise each day; last night I did shoveling so skipped the water class.  I'd also done vigorous cleaning of walls, cupboard fronts for a couple hours at a clients house, so my arms were really tired, then shoveled snow.  I felt justified in skipping.  :} 
• Don't eat after say, 7pm-ish.  So far, this has worked, although night-time snacking has always been my biggest downfall.  I ate a HUGE salad the other night, probably around 7pm, thinking "Oh no, this will probably affect my weight in the AM" but it didn't.  I still lost another pound.  :)  PHEW! 

I don't really see my face getting thinner yet; that could be due to my swollen face in the early part of the week.  It's pretty much back to normal now; but weight loss usually shows up in my face pretty quickly.  I also just barely noticed a loosening of my jeans, in my butt and upper legs.  SIGH.  Can't wait to really see it and really feel it.  But in the meantime, I'll keep moving forward, feeling a renewed sense of energy and determined to accomplish this goal!  Sylvia and I were talking yesterday about where to go on our vacation this spring, as our reward trip!  Florida?  A cruise?  St. John??  Who knows! We shall see!

It's Tuesday!

It's actually 10:17pm and I can barely keep my eyes open~ my Power Waves class was SO vigorous that I left there on shaking limbs, and feeling totally wiped out, but in a good way!  :}  Haven't been to one since last week, so it felt good to be back in the water.  Thankfully, Sylvia & I haven't signed our contract yet, which will say we agree to exercise at least 5X a week.  We do realize that there will be times that we can't always do that, due to kids activities, etc. but 5X is our goal. 

Been eating very well; love that I've had no sugar or white flour for two weeks!  I will have some eventually, but for now, it's all good.  Thinking about making pita pizza soon, but have to be sure the pita's are whole-grain.  Yummo!  Oh yah!  Weighed on Monday; down 3 pounds.  I'd gotten to 230 the day before and despite a good eating day on Sunday, Monday's scale said 231.  So.  Ten pounds is good!  :)  Can't wait to get below the three-zero mark!  Can't wait to fit into my next size down pants!  Can't wait to hear someone ask me if I've lost weight!  Can't wait to go bike-riding in the spring!  Random, I know!

Okay, gotta get to bed.  Good night.  :)

Change of Plans~

Well, my weekend didn't turn out the way I expected!  I had oral surgery on Friday morning and it was quite an ordeal which ended with vicodin, advil and antibiotics.  I can't drive while taking vicodin, so had to stay home.  :(  My face is all swollen, my mouth is full of stitches and I don't feel very good.  So, my weekend worries were all for naught!  :} 

Instead, I spent Friday night at home, on the couch, which is always good.  :)  Saturday was a pretty mellow day with the kids in and out.  Later in the afternoon, Erin and I went to Goodwill where I bought purses, shoes and a stuffed squirrel to sell on ebay.  The handbags are Gucci, Dior, Talbots, April Cornell and Coldwater Creek.  Shoes are Bandolino, Antonio Melani, Hype, and Ciao Bella.  They're really nice and were pretty cheap at GW.  We'll see if they sell though.  I may be peddling them on craigslist or at a yard sale!  :{ 

Later today, Becca and I are supposed to go ice skating with the diabetes support group; I'm not really up for being out in public looking like this, but it's important to meet other kids and families, so we'll go.  Actually, I probably shouldn't ice skate, because if I fall, I'll jar the stitches and the bleeding may start again.  SIGH!  What a hassle!  :(

Okay, Debbie Downer is getting off for now.  Oh!  I've lost another pound, for a total of four this week, eleven in all!  YAY!! 

Worried About The Weekend

This is going to be a difficult weekend; I'll be visiting Kyle and his family and we're going on a road-trip Saturday with his daughter, Desiree.  She's interested in buying an Audi from craigslist, but it's in Connecticut!  Which means a 3 1/2 hour ride, one way!  :{  We've done a few road trips with Desiree, one time to NYC, which was my very first visit, and we always have a blast!  A distinct memory from that trip was the three of us bellowing at the top of our lungs to a Stevie Wonder CD!!  (I'm sitting here, grinning, at the memory!) 

So what's the problem with a car ride this weekend, you ask?  Well, first of all, it means sitting still for about 8 hours-no exercise.  :(  And, road trips usually mean snacking; but I can't be snacking randomly, especially with sitting for so long.  SIGH.  I'm sure it'll be fun but I'll have to plan for low-carb snacks, like almonds, fruit, low-fat cheese sticks, etc., and lemon-water too.  And maybe run around the gas station every time we stop for coffee!!  :D

I always look forward to cooking and baking for Kyle and his family!  So I'll have to plan for that as well, figure out what to make that's good for all of us!  One thing I make fairly often there, is chili.  I have three bags of dried beans, so maybe I'll soak and cook those for the "scratchiest" home-made chili I've ever made!  (as in "from scratch"!)  :D 

Okay, today is a day off but I've gotta bring the car to Jiffy Lube at 8am for an oil change (I LOVE that they check everything AND vacuum my car!!) then have a 9:30am appt, then my friend, Janice, is coming over to talk and stamp!  We haven't seen each other in AGES, and I can't wait!  One of my New Year resolutions is to get back in touch with friends I've lost contact with over the past year.  :)

So!  Ta Ta!!  Have a great day!

And They're OFF!!

*Realized I never posted this from the other day~  good grief!

 Good morning!  Yesterday was our first weekly weigh-in, and I'm happy to report that I lost 7 pounds and Sylvia lost 4~  Woo Hoo!!  :)  It was a great week of healthy, satisfying eating, good solid exercise (Sylvia's doing a strenuous Boot Camp three times a week at 5:30am!!) and encouragement from each other.  We've been emailing a list of what we've eaten, at the end of each day.  That's good for accountability too~ 

I'm having  a really hard time not getting on my scales every morning; I'm so used to doing it and keeping a close watch on my weight (when I'm trying to lose it, that is!).  I admit I got on again this AM (down 2 more pounds-see??!!)  but will TRY not to weigh again till at least Thursday!  :D  It just kills me that I not only gained back the 10# I'd lost when I started this blog back in September, but added nine more to that!  So today, I'm back at the 232# weight (arrgh!).  SIGH.  Oh well.  Move on, Sharon.  This isn't a race, and my purpose isn't to lose as fast as I possibly can, but to steadily and realistically work off the weight, establish a positive perspective about food, and re-train my habits over time.  Yada Yada....

Here's what my salad looked like yesterday; I've decided to only buy baby spinach from now on.  The spring mix is prettier but the purple parts wilt and turn to slime too soon.  Kyle said, "Shouldn't you NOT look at pictures of food?  Doesn't it make you want to eat more?"  Not at all!  I love the visual part of good food; it pleases my eye to see the variety of color, textures, flavors, and even the color of the plate is part of it all!  And I look forward to the next delicious, healthy meal or food I'll eat later on! 

Yesterdays Eating:
coffee/oatmeal w/ craisins & figs
almonds/fig
chicken sausage and above salad
clementine
another sausage w/ brown rice pasta & meat sauce (1/2 cup)
p.butter celery
about 3 quarts of lemon water

Exercise:
Cardio Combo water aerobics (only 45 min as I had to leave early to get to my chorus rehearsal)

Well, we're off to a great start!  Gotta run! 

Weekend Happiness

Hey there!  Sitting here, feeling satisfyingly full after a delicious dinner of my signature salad (greens/red onion slivers/grape tomato slices/cuke/red pepper/bacon crumbles/feta/sunflower seeds/craisins/Caesar dressing/balsamic vinegar) and two scrumptious Tomato & Basil Italian chicken sausages simmered in No Sugar Added spaghetti sauce, topped with parmesan, washed down by a tall glass of lemon water!  Aaaahhhh....healthy food is soooooo GOOD!!!  :D  Oh yah!  My dessert was one of those delightful little fig nuggets rolled in unsweetened coconut.  mmmMMMM!!!  :D

Have I mentioned before how much I love the weekends?  Friday night is almost as good as a whole day, because I tend to stay up pretty late, stretching it to the nth degree, knowing I can sleep in if I want.  I actually missed my Saturday AM swim class 'cause I woke up 15 minutes before it began at 9am.  Whoops!  Didn't plan that very well!  But it's okay as I did the Sunday afternoon class instead, for a total of five days of exercise. 

Today I finished taking the tree down/out, vacuumed thoroughly, even taking up the living room area rug and non-slip thingie, so I could vacuum the crud underneath it.  Vacuumed my way through the house with my trusty Dyson, emptying the container about 3 times!!  Put the pretties back into place, did a couple loads of wash to finish out the morning. 

 I also got my stamping table cleared, finished a set of cards I've been working on, stamped out images from a new stamp, and colored happily with my markers and water-brushy thing.  Made 3-4 new cards and posted them on my splitcoaststampers gallery and on Facebook.  SO satisfying! 

4pm swim class wasn't too crazy, but still good to be moving with purpose.  Can't wait for classes Monday through Thursday when I know we're gonna kick butt!!  Back to chorus rehearsals Monday evening!  Mad scramble from swimming to singing! 

So here's a link or two.  http://www.sparkpeople.com/  I haven't checked this out yet, but a woman on another weight loss blog raves about it for the support in the weight loss community.  As soon as I finish this, I'll hop on there for a look around.  And another link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50UnD51CPkw for more inspirational weight loss photos! 

See Ya!! 

Mish Mash



Thank You card to VYOC for Becca's scholarship~




Book my Mom sent; can't wait to dig in! 



Another book Mom sent to help with Becca's newly diagnosed celiac disease. 



My list for today plus lots of other days!




Messy stamp table; I keep going over and fussing around but am DYING to sit down for a good stamp-session!  Got plans for my cards in 2011!





Isabel all curled up on a cozy wintery day.

 


Molly too! 




Bought this cheap at Hannafords; it's Xylitol, an artificial sweetener.  Anyone know anything about this stuff?  Thought I'd try it out for $2.49. 




FIGS!  Dirt cheap @ Hannafords.  .97 each package.  I've discovered I like figs and must go back to the clearance table and buy the rest!  Wonder if they freeze well?  Had some on my steel-cut oats w/ craisins and walnuts this morning!  YUMMO!  :D



I'm BAAACKK!!! :)

Starting with gall-bladder surgery the day before Thanksgiving and the week or so of recovery/lying around set me off on a period of "bad" eating and no exercise that extended through the holidays, resulting in my gaining almost ten more pounds!!  Sometimes I'm amazed at how quickly I can put the pounds on!!  :(  But the good news is, it's a NEW YEAR and a NEW BEGINNING!  Feels like a clean slate to start all over again, get up, dust myself off, and climb back on the horse!!  :D

Sylvia & I got together New Year's weekend, and hashed out a detailed plan for this renewed adventure of getting thin and fit again!  We realized that it had to be different, because we're different than we were two years ago when we became '2fatchicksonadiet'~ I have some more serious health factors, I've learned how easy it is to think we've arrived, get complacent and lazy about eating right and exercising, causing pounds to pile back on, and I don't have the excitement of losing alot of weight for the first time, to spur me on.  I'm a veteran at this now, and have to dig deeper for more realistic and solid reasons to get healthy. 

All that said, we have quite an awesome plan, that I can say, six days later and 7 pounds thinner already, seems to be successful!!  Wanna hear about it?  Of course you do!!  :D  Okay, here it is:

• Doing pretty solid Atkins the first two weeks for a jumpstart: so, no sugar/flour. 
• Exercise at least 5X weekly (non-negotiable as much as is practically possible)
• Weigh on Mondays only
• Measure each month & take progress pics along the way
• Call each other before  cheating
• Agree to pay one another $5 for every pound lost, on Mondays after weighing.
• Sign a 3-month contract, agreeing to the above, and also agree to continue to pay the other for # lost if we ourselves quit for some reason.
• Renew the terms and re-sign a contract every three months, up to one year.  Assess what worked and tweak the plan as neccesary.

Don't think I've missed anything.  We're both pretty pumped about it; it feels great to finally be addressing the problem and look forward to feeling better, looking better and getting healthy again.  I've also realized that in this coming year, my main goal is NOT to lose the weight, but to change my MINDSET about eating, to train my mind and tastebuds to dislike junk and unhealthy foods, and to crave and be satisfied only with healthy food.  I know it's possible and I look forward to being in that place! 

This week has been a good one; I've done four water aerobics classes so far and have eaten delicious, hearty and satisfying foods.  I did weigh myself a couple times earlier in the week, losing 3# the first day, then four the next!  Not sure I can only weigh myself once a week, when I'm accustomed to weighing daily just to see where I'm at; Sylvia suggested I get on the scales every other day to begin with, so I'll do that. 

It's so exciting to remember the fun of losing weight two years ago, feeling my clothes get looser, seeing my face get thinner, feeling more energetic and just knowing I'm doing a very good thing for myself!  Can't wait to get into some of those really cute, smaller clothes I have packed away, too! 



YIKES!!  Me at a horrifying 241 pounds!! 




Delicious sautee'd veggies with lentils and parmesan.  Yummo! 

 Okay, I've got a very long list of things to accomplish this weekend so I'm offa here!  Bye for now!  I leave you with a couple pictures.