Thank you Easter Bunny!

Well I have to say all my hard work paid off.  I busted my butt working out and managed to lose 2.4lbs in one week.  It was exhausting, especially working out both Saturday and Sunday nights at 8pm.  Now I just hope I can stay on track to lose 5lbs by May 14th.  I need to average 5lbs a month to reach my goal by November 14th.  After this week's loss, I am very positive that I can make it or come pretty close to it.

Mom, Dad (still chewing a carrot), and Jeremy

 

 

I have to say I was pretty pleased with the Easter dinner spread.  I am lucky that I only had to cook for 4 people.  I did make a bunch extra to feed Jeremy and myself for the week though.  The cooking was the  easy part, it was finding the nutritional value and serving size on the recipes that was the hardest.  I spent hours researching the whole thing and met resistance from people not wanting to change from traditional ham.  Of course after they tried everything, they realized how silly they were. 

The total meal consisted of seasoned pork tenderloin, parmesan mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, roasted carrots, and reduced fat crescent rolls.  The pork was the best and where I had the most trouble.  I first forgot to marinate the pork for 2hrs.  So our normal lunch time Easter dinner, actually became a dinner time Easter dinner.  Then I had trouble cooking the pork.  Broil for 6 minutes on each side.  Ok I can do that, but on hi or low.  Well lets put it on high.  "Sniff"...whats that smell.  Oh thats the pan roasting.  Stupid aluminum cooking sheets.  So then I freak out and put it on low.  Not good.  It ended up being a little rare and had to go back in the oven for some time.  My second favorite, of the dinner, was the mashed potatoes.  Super easy make.  Maybe a little dry, but lots of flavor.  The asparagus was great and I am not a huge fan of asparagus, but still enjoyed it.  The carrots were a little undercooked and the rolls got a little over cooked.  Oh well, its my first time.  This also was the first time in forty five years that my mom hasn't hosted Easter.  Is that what I have to look forward to?  Anyways here is the end results of all my hard work.

Dad's plate definitely was the best display

Now for dessert.  If you know me at all, you know I take dessert very seriously.  Very really do I skip dessert.  Maybe thats my problem.  I made chocolate brownie cake and made the icing.   Chocolate brownie cake needs vanilla ice cream, of course.  I was going to go with frozen yogurt, but decided to get slow churned instead.  Toppings included strawberries and fat free cool whip.  Can I just say, YUMMYY!!!!

My plate of course

Well I definitely had a great Easter.  The food was awesome.  The weather wasn't great, but still managed to get it two walks.  The Celtics swept the Knicks and I got to see my dad do jumping jacks.  Now that was something I was I had on video.  Too funny!  See you next week.

I'm not where I want to be, but I'm glad I'm not where I use to be

A little disappointing weigh in this morning.  Only lost .4lbs.  I was really hoping for more.  Thought I was doing pretty well before the weekend, so I figured I could ease up a little and still be have a good loss.  Wrong!!!!!!!!!  This morning I was all ready to give up and just admit defeat.  Then I realized I am not ready to give up just yet.  I went to my Weight Watchers Community for help again.  Someone had written the quote (in the title) on a Weight Watchers message board and I thought it was perfect for my photo montage.  Not many pictures were allowed to be taken during my heavy period, but you get the idea.  I was pretty big.  Definitely glad I am not where I used to be. 

PS:  Stay tuned for next week's blog on the healthy Easter dinner I am making for my family.  Its our first time hosting Easter!  Its a practice for our first hosting of Thanksgiving this year.

Cameron and I before heading to Red Rocks for the day in June 2008.  I believe I was wearing 2x's at this point.  My poor mother had to go clothes shopping with me before this trip. 



Rachael and I walking through Red Rocks.  The camera adds 70lbs right?  lol



Rachael and Matt's Wedding in June 2008.  This was me at my heaviest.  I was about 200lbs and was in lots of discomfort from my back problem.  Looks like I was on pain meds in these wedding photos.  lol



The first dress I first got didn't fit (too small).  I had to rush and rush to find a matching one that would hold me.



The Best Man, Doug & me, the maid of honor.  Not a bad picture when I am hiding behind flowers & another person.   



Jeremy, Lauren, Jay, Kris, and Me at the Newton's in Oct 2008



 


                                         

think like a thin person

The title is from the book I just started reading called The Beck Diet Solution: Train your brain to think like a thin person.  This book was suggested by someone on the Weight Watchers message boards.  Last week was a struggle for me, so I went to the Weight Watchers community for help.  It is about using Cognitive Therapy to help lose the weight and keep it off.  One of the first things that was mentioned was creating a meal plan, which is exactly what I did yesterday.  I guess I was already trying to think like a thin person.

I never realized how exhausting cooking and planning can be.  I spent hours doing research on recipes trying to find stuff I would eat and wouldn't kill me in points.  Most of the difficulty came from some recipes not having the nutritional info, which prevented me from calculating the points.  Once I picked my meals then I had to do the lay out for the week.  After that I had to make the grocery list and cook everything.  I cooked for about 5hrs last night.  What a pain that was!  I forgot what it was like to be on my feet for that long.  My body was achy all over and I fell asleep around 9pm.  I still have a few more things to cook, but they should be fairly easy.  Below are pictures of some of the things I made yesterday.

                                                            Nut and Fruit Breakfast Bites

                                                          Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake

                                                         Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork

                                                           Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies

So far things are going well, but I have my moments.  My body is rebelling I think and misses the junk.  A few hungry moments won't kill me though.  I am really trying to focus on the Weight Watchers good health guidelines. That means I am drinking lots of water.  Ugh!

Good Health Guidelines
1.  Eat 5 servings of gruit and vegatables each day
2.  Choose whole grain foods whenever possible
3.  Consume 2 servings of low fat or fat free milk products
4.  Have 2 teaspoons of healthy oils
5.  Eat 1 or 2 servings of proteins
6.  Limit added sugar and alcohol
7. Drink at least 6 8oz glasses of water a day
8.  Take a multivitamin a day

I am really trying to stick to a meal plan and eat only what's on the plan until Easter.  Of course I had to make sure I allowed myself pizza at least once during my planned meals.  Friday Night Pizza!!!!  It was hard finding healthy pizza's too.  Thanks you Newman's Own and California Pizza Kitchen!!!  There were a few other options, but I had coupons for them and Weight Watchers had already calculated the points.  The less thinking I have to do to think like a thin person, the better. 

Thank you Jillian!

Well I wanted to lose more, but I guess I will take a 1lb. loss.  As long as I can average a 5lb loss each month I will be right on track.  I should be super happy considering what I ate this week.  On Friday I indulged with  two slices of pepperoni pizza from Papa Gino's.  Yesterday was the big indulgence.  I had a donut from Dunkin Donuts, a bacon cheeseburger and sweet potato fries, and then two yodels.  Actually I think a 1lb. loss is pretty good now that I think about it it.  Just an fyi, I changed my weigh in date to Monday so look for my blogs on Mondays now.

I feel 50% of any weight I loose is due to the hardcore Jillian Michaels.  I said last week that she is in need of her own blog and here it is.  If you want a workout you can count on to get results, choose any dvd from Jillian Michaels.  You really get a feeling of accomplishment when you feel yourself getting stronger and her workouts getting easier.  Here's to you Jillian!

Jillian was not always like this.  At the age of 12, she was 5 feet tall and 175lbs.  Her mom enrolled her in a martial arts class and that became her focus for herself and other people suffering with weight issues.  After she graduated high school, she went to college for a short period of time and then dropped out.  While working as a bartender, she was also training for her black belt.  People would see her at the gym and just assumed she was a trainer.  The rest is history!

I didn't start my Jillian kick until maybe a year ago.  At that point I was still trying to go to the gym.  The gym couldn't be much closer and yet I still couldn't get the motivation to go there.  I came across fitness on demand and there was a special section for Jillian.  I had watched her on Biggest Loser and was always amazed at the results she would get.  I tried both No More Trouble Zones and Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism.  I was hooked!!!  It was 40 minutes of serious butt kicking.  That is when I decided to get a Netflix subscription.  Very good decision on my part.  No excuses now why I don't work out.  Well the only excuse I do seem to find is being sore from Jillian's work out. 

The woman is amazing.  She has been creating at least 2 workout DVDs a year since 2005.  I am still waiting for Netflix to get the first 2011 DVD.  Then she does The Biggest Loser.  I did hear she is leaving the show because she wants to adopt a child.  She also has another show called Losing it with Jillian.  Plus there are books and games for Wii.  She amazes me and all the haters need to just be quiet.  Not sure why people attack her so much.  They obviously don't pay attention to her enough to realize how awesome she is.  I just want to give this shout to her and say thank you for being you!!!