Last day week #13...Yippee

That's right.. it's the last day of week #13! Moving right along..

According to my weight loss plan of either losing 3 or 2 pounds per week I should be any where between 164 -173. Where do I think I am? Maybe around 169? Still not going to weight myself! I'm still too afraid of the number on the scale. I just don't want to see 170's. 

Today is also measure myself, hips, thighs and waist. I always do it the last day of the week. Which I will do at some point this morning and report back

Waist = 

Hips =

Thighs = 

Arms = (haven't done this in a long time!)

What have I been eating? This baked chicken sandwich! Sooo good. We purchased thin chicken breasts, and then dipped in corn starch flavored with seasonings, egg and then in crushed corn flakes and topped with more seasoning and a little olive oil. Placed on a foil lined pan and baked on the top shelf to crisp up about 15 minutes on 400+F. I eat with some hot sauce and arugula on a bricoche bun. I should skip the 180 calorie bun! Was not worth the extra calories. 

I've mostly been eating my homemade Chicken Thai soup. It's my favorite!! Super easy to make and very delicious. I add in far too many veggies VS soup! I have one bowl left for dinner tonight and it's all gone. I'll probably go back to sweet potatoes or something else for a week. I just can't eat too many because my hands/fingers start to turn orange. 

I do like having ready made food available.

 Lunch is still 3 cups of smart popcorn at 130 calories. 

A cute sleeping photo of Zoey. I need a new phone with a better camera! Steve is getting the best camera on his new cell soon to be delivered tomorrow. 

I never did try on clothes yesterday. I was too chilly with the rain we had yesterday. It's sunny today so maybe later I'll try on a bunch of outfits that I wore at my heaviest. See where I'm at! Maybe try on some skinny clothes too and start cleaning out my closet! It's time to purge! 

I have a busy work day! Working from 9 to 12, then I have an accountant appointment at 1pm, followed by a new customer estimate. I also have to go to the gym after! So I'll go right there after my estimate. 

I always have ups and downs being self employed. I lost a year long 2x's a week customer last week, but gained a new one and now will pick up yet another one. Lost another new 1time a month customer, well they are on hold next month. Might lose another customer who's husband is going to die in the next few weeks. Just a lot of ups and downs. That's the kind of job it is.. I just would rather keep adding then losing customers! 

Steve's eye is doing better for now. Still on meds trying to get the cornea swelling down. If he does need surgery it's only a week down time. It's just replacing cells and then a lot of follow up appointments. He has a big job starting this Thursday. It's nice to have work lined up all the time for him. Takes a lot of stress away. 

Talking about stress.. fingers crossed we get money back or at least don't owe anything in taxes this year. The accountant called yesterday and he didn't mention money back but I'll be happy not owing! 

Weight change

 Here's where I was with weight gain in August of 22. I need to put on this outfit and see where I am now.. 

I still think my face needs more weight loss and arms/stomach but I've made big progress just since Nov 30th. It's day #90 in my weight loss journey. 

I'll try on my summer outfit later on today and post a comparison photo of before and after. One thing I heard was to take lots of photos of your journey along the way. I really don't want a bunch of fat photos. I hated having my photo taken because I didn't like the way I looked that heavy. 

What's my motivation to keep going every day? Just wanting to get back to feeling good. Reaching that goal of being able to wear a swim suit this summer instead of a cover up and shorts/sports bra. I want to have more clothes to wear. 

Sometimes I think my stomach and arm fat are never going to go away. I keep expecting to not be able to grab fat and there it is.. still on my body. I just keep telling myself that tomorrow it will be less and the next day, week and month. I'm almost at day 100, but not done with weight loss at that point either. 

What have I changed in 90 days? 

I joined Planet Fitness and like going to the gym once again. 

I found a workout at the gym that I like. Stair mill for 30 minutes that makes me sweat. Plus lifting weights again for 30 minutes. I'm looking forward to the day where I have muscles again! I was reading it takes 4 to 6 months. I started in January, so by April/May which is my goal dates I should start seeing the results of my hard work. I've been trying to go workout 7 days a week. Hit my goal the last 2 weeks in a row. 

I used to not do my morning workout of planks/dumb bells and just lay around all morning till work. I'd work till noon, eat lunch and snack all afternoon just laying on the couch till the next day. No wonder I gained weight. I just never felt like moving more after working. Plus, drank too many high calorie drinks. Indulging too much was the reason I put on weight over covid. 

12 years ago,  I lost over 50 pounds dieting the same way I am doing right now. I again had to lose at least 20 to 30 pounds before covid.. so this is the 3rd time losing quite a bit of weight. It works what I'm doing with my diet. Adding in exercise makes me keep the weight off. I only gain when I quit working out and stop watching calories. Which I know I'll have to do after I reach a goal weight. 

What doesn't work.. weighting myself while losing weight. I measure my waist, hips and thighs instead of stepping on the scale. Water weight will fluctuate day to day, week to week. I don't want to get discouraged if I think I should be losing 2 to 3 or 4 pounds a week. It would send me off my diet and probably would give up before reaching my goal. 

What also works is liking a workout. Wanting to go to the gym and sweat. Wanting to go ski or bike and even take a walk to burn calories. Splurges on the weekends too. Looking forward to a night out but not over doing it with food. I might have with drinks but it's okay to live a little too. Progress won't be as fast but there needs to be balance and I need to relearn how to live and maintain my weight loss. 

Do I know how much weight I've lost? Nope. I can figure out it's been 13 weeks and if I lost 3 pounds per week that would put me at 39 pounds or 2 pounds a week at 26 pounds. I really don't know what weight I got up to. I can sort of guess?? I should be around 170 to 160 pounds. I'm hoping closer to the 160! 

How will I know I'm at my goal weight? By my old swim suit fitting. It's still a little too small on the top (spilling out on top) and I haven't tried on the bottoms. Probably should just to take an inventory. I'm guessing I have another 20 pounds to lose. Which would put me right at 165. I do think I look 100% better. My old skinny jeans are still a little tight too. Which I know means I must lose weight. I was also wearing size small tank tops. I'm in medium. Goal would be 145. I should be able to lose 8 pounds a month if not 10. So two more months of weight loss then maintain for the summer and beyond. I really don't want to gain that much weight back ever again. It's a possibility, but at least I know I was able to keep it off for years and know what went wrong. I stopped running due to foot pain. Now I bike, exercise at the gym and ski. Plus, stopped drinking lots of empty calories. 

Alcohol and weight loss

 

Last night we celebrated Celina's birthday with a night out along with her friends. First stop was a Mpls winery Axe .... Wine bottles were expensive but cheaper then buying by the glass. We all had quite a lot of wine! Then we walked to Coal fire sheep pizza and had dinner. Got home around 10pm and I was exhausted! 

I'm not sure dieting and alcohol should really mix. I only ate popcorn for lunch and did a lot of exercise, the gym (stair mill 30 min/weights 30 min, cross country ski 1 hour) so having a few glasses of wine hit hard. I sobered up after eating some pizza along with some water! 

Kind of the way my night looked walking from the winery to the pizza place just down the road. 

Far too many alcohol calories! 

Today is get back on track with dieting and no more splurging even thought I want another chicken sandwich! Oh so good and I didn't even take a photo. 

We purchased thin cut chicken breasts, coated them with egg, then corn starch with spices and finally more egg and corn flakes with more seasoning on top. Cooked in the oven and was nice and crispy on a broch bun. I might have to have one again tonight along with my Thai soup! 

No coffee this morning as I don't need the extra caffeine to jack me up all day. At least today, I don't have a headache. 

It will be more gym workout followed by skiing this afternoon. I should go now to the gym, but will wait a bit. A nice sunny 35+F day before it will rain tomorrow. Not sure how the ski conditions will be after Monday's rain. Ugh! Once again we get a nice amount of snow only for it to warm up and rain making ice! 

Saturday....

 Celina's birthday photos...

Happy 23rd birthday Celina! 

Day #87 on my weight loss journey

 I should never look at my stomach in the evening! I eat my dinner of soup and drink lots of water plus ate a bowl of strawberries. The bloat is real! It's okay morning I'm back to normal. Also hungry today since I worked out early today, like 7:20am! Did the stair mill for 30 minutes followed by 30 minutes of weights. No time for the massage chair after. I thought that the last two days of our super snow storm I wouldn't be able to get to the gym so I did the cross ramp at home for 30 minutes and then went to the gym and did my normal workout. I guess there was zero calories burned from working since I didn't work the last two days. I sure needed the time off. It was wonderful. Glad today is Friday and an easy work day too! I had picked up a new customer last week and have another new customer next week. I did lose two customers one monthly, which I wasn't sad about but the other one threw me off and no real explanation. Just circumstances changed and we won't be needing your services. Sucks when you get to know people and its just cut and dry. I just said okay. What more can I say? It's not like they expressed unhappiness.. I should ask but for my mental health.. nope not going there. It's better to just let it go and move on. I have new houses to concentrate on and it's always changing that's the nature of the job! 

My diet will be a bit off today. I will have an early lunch before 10 am because I'm starving and just worked out early. I will most likely have a larger calorie dinner with cake and maybe a drink tonight for Celina's birthday. Tomorrow there will be wine and maybe pizza. I'll have to get in a morning workout at the gym and get in some skiing too! Sunday I want to do coffee and then soup for dinner. Just preplanning my eating splurges to stay on track. 

I'm almost at day 100! only a few more days left to go. I am not where I want to be for weight loss but a lot closer to my goal weight then I was 87 days ago. Every day I am making progress even on my splurge days because I make sure to go to the gym and do think about what I'm eating and drinking to control the calories and make better choices. Got to live a little too and still make progress. 

Happy 23rd Birthday Celina!!!

Celina's birthday today! Our baby girl is 23! 

I set the table tonight for family dinner. She wants crispy chicken sandwiches for the meal. Celina also made her own two cakes. 

I'll have more photos tomorrow! 

Red jeans!

 I tried on a few of my old skinny clothes last night when I was getting ready to go out to our neighbors for a snow storm game night. 

They fit! I can ware more clothes in my closet. I also realized I am keeping too many outdated clothes that I will never wear again. I need to go through my closet and purge! I do have time for that today since we have yet another snow day. Just not sure I ever feel like taking on this huge project. I need bags too for all the clothes to be brought in to Goodwill. 

Another full body update on where I'm at on week #13, day #86. Feeling good but still have stomach and arm fat that I'd like to get rid of. I also tried on a skinny swim suit, black bikini top and it's a little small still. Which means I need to lose more weight! 

A little storm update. We finally got more snow over night. About 8 inches of snow. Not any blowing yet! It's supposed to stop around noon today. Which I'm hoping we can go to the gym later on today/tonight. Yesterday, I didn't think it would be possible to go to the gym, but it didn't start snowing till after 2:30pm and light snow only. I'm not sure when the heavy snow started but when we left our neighbor's house from  snow/game night, it was only a few inches of fresh snow at 10pm. 

Morning snow fall... Time to go out and snow blow!! 

 

Half Way point of my weight loss journey!

 I recalculated my weight loss at 2 pounds per week and I would hit my goal weight at week #26-27,  around May 30th. If I lose 3 pounds per week... I would hit my goal at week#20, April 11th. So I'm calling this my half way point because I will be at my goal weight if I continue doing what I'm doing some where between week 20 and 26.  Which puts me at week #23 for my goal weight. 

It's also day #1 of week #13. 

I'm now able to wear all my skinny clothes again. This cardigan fits and it's loose once more. When I was at my heaviest, It was far too tight and small. I also tried on other clothes to see how they are fitting. Summer skirts/skorts are loose once again and fit nice. Still have no idea of what I weight. I will weight myself but maybe come May. I defiantly will have to weight myself when I'm at the maintenance level and not want to gain. I think measuring once a week is also going to be more helpful to keep the pounds off. I have figured out what works to diet and exercise for myself. I just need to do what works. Sometimes the hardest part is just starting and then sticking with it and not getting discouraged or stopping because I've been doing it too long. 13 weeks seems like a long time to be on a diet. I really don't feel like I'm dieting now. It's just a way to control portion, splurges are added in as weekend life. I haven't given up anything but do make better choices. Plus, I'm back to exercising and loving going to the gym again. 

Today is a snow day. Not much of a storm so far.. but it's supposed to drop even more snow later today and tonight. Plus tomorrow the winds will blow and cause a blizzard. I'm not working the next two days and won't be going anywhere. I'll instead just do my morning exercises, and instead of the gym go on our cross ramp and do another set of dumb bells/planks in the afternoon. I also have our house to clean this morning. So I'll still get in some work exercise. 

Last day week#12

 I love ending a weight loss week and then starting a new one the next day. Here we are measure Tuesday! 

How am I feeling about it? Like I'm not going to see any changes from last week. I had a Friday, Saturday and Sunday splurge days. I did manage to get to the gym 7 days and do 7 days of planks too so that was the plus part! Working more on toning last week. 

I also slept awful last night waking up around 1:30am and never fell back to bed. I did sleep great 9pm to 1:30! Probably went to bed far too early. 

I'm delaying the measure part.. and still not doing a weight in.. I'm just not ready to face my actual weight. Even though I know I've lost weight since week 6! 

Measure update: Down 1/2 inches on my hips. Still no changes on my waist or thighs. I'm still making good progress! Who knew?? The inches off my hips might be due to all the stairs I've been climbing at the gym? Maybe it's working?? This is why I don't want to step on the scale, it would not tell me where I'm losing inches!

The big snow storm this week started Monday at 8am. We got an inch of snow in like 5 minutes. Of course then it quit and the roads were a mess till around noon. We should get snow starting around 1pm today. I plan to drop off our taxes for the accountant and then go to the gym for a workout before too much snow falls. Not sure if I'll be working Wednesday or Thursday?? Guess we will see how the weather /snow/blizzard looks before making that call. I'd rather stay home and safe off the roads! 

I've got this!

 I should have figured out by now what works and doesn't for my weight loss journey. I count calories, know I will have a calorie splurge on the weekends with going out to eat and having drinks. I skip breakfast most days, but did treat myself to weekend coffee flights. Lunch is simple popcorn and measured out for calorie control. Dinners I try to share food or choose lower calorie options like drinks and food choices. I also skip the high calorie items like fries 99% of the time, just having a few instead of all. I even have had desserts along the way. It's all trying to re-learn how to eat, so when I'm not needing to lose more weight I can maintain. 

I also am back to wanting to exercise and go to the gym. Loving getting sweaty burning calories and lifting weights to tone up. Half the battle is just getting started and then I'm on auto pilot, just go and keep going.

I was disappointed by the lack of whipped cream. Food coloring or sprinkled sugar. Plus, they had no flavor in most with the last being a strong coconut. Not good at all!!And not cute with the exception of the heart gummy. 

I got a coffee yesterday, but knew it was loaded with cream. I only drank 1/3 of it and gave the rest to Steve to finish. I was still able to enjoy our coffee trip to 3rd space in Mpls. I really went there for the flight, but it was awful and I returned it. There is still one coffee flight place I'd love to try out in Osseo. I'm hoping the 4th one is way better than this last flight. The only one I didn't like. At $15 they are not cheap either! 

I really wanted my Thai Chicken soup, but Celina and Don wanted to meet us out at Red Cow in St Paul last night. Steve and I shared a burger and salad. I had about 4 fries and gave the rest to Steve along with the pickles. The salad had a vinaigrette dressing and was really good. Delicious meal, but I never really know how to determine the calories. I just look up something similar on my Fitbit. 

Here's what I ate yesterday

Coffee - 200 calories ? 

Popcorn 130 calories

1/2 burger, 4 fries and a shared salad 700 calories

aprox 1030 for the day

Exercise: Yoga, 1 min plank, dumb bells 10/10/30/10

30 min stair mill level 5, 6, 7 and 1 min 10

30 min weight machines

Total of 300 calories burned. 

Day # 83 almost done with week #12, Which according to my weight loss I should be around 170. That's if I was losing 3 pounds per week. I'd be happy to be any where in the 170's. Although, I would like to be in the 160's next week. Even high 160's would be fine. Any rate, I weight a lot less then I did 12 weeks ago no matter the weight. Not sure if I lost any inches. I know there will be a time where I don't see any progress some weeks and I'm kind of in that phase now with only seeing 1/2 inch lost on my hips last week and the week before not much progress either. It's not fun to not see any changes for my efforts. Right now I'm working on seeing more arm muscles, my stomach having less fat. Working on getting to the gym every day and seeing progress. I didn't miss one day or morning of exercise last week. Going for 6 days this week. The weather/snow storm with a foot or more snow might be a travel issue to get to the gym Wed/Thursday this week. I do have our cross ramp at home, so I will still get in some cardio. No excuse and a back up option in case I'm stuck at home. Plus, there will be skiing and shoveling snow. It's always good to have a back up plan in place. 

What wasn't so great this week? Eating out Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Two drinks while out on Saturday instead of one, with an ice cream dessert that I didn't need. Was I still exercising - Yes. Did I count calories and stay under 1500, yep. So that was a win/win even though it was a splurge. I have to live a little too. I can't have a diet and weight loss a punishment. It should be a reward with out going over board and then getting back on track asap! 

Monday here's the plan... 

Morning workout (yoga, plank and dumb bells)

No breakfast

Work 9am to 11, Burn 200 calories 

lunch - popcorn 130 

Gym - stair mill and weight machines - burn 300 calories

dinner - Thai chicken soup  - 400 calories 

raspberries 50 cal

Total burn = 500

Total ate = 580 cal for the day

Measure and maybe weight in tomorrow! Not really sure if I'm going to have a snow week, if I should weigh myself. Still not sure about stepping on the scale?? I'm worried I'd still be in the 180's or high 170s. I think I'd be okay with 170's, just don't want to be in the 180's any more. This might discourage my progress and mess with my head. 

I would like some raspberries for dessert. Which I'll need to purchase. I ate all the pomegranates which were my after dinner snack. 

Sunday... fun day!

 We did an explore a new coffee shop in Mpls. Who am I that I want to visit coffee shops! lol.. Until I discovered fun flights! 

I saw a Tic Tok post for 3rd space coffee house in Mpls. So off we went this Sunday morning to check it out. 

So they came either hot or iced. Since all the other flights so far have been iced, I stuck with that for all 4. They were awful tasting and I hated the colored sugar. No whipped cream and nasty coconut flavor for the last one. Yuck. After one sip of them all, I told them I didn't like any. They instead gave me a cinnamon bun coffee that was 100 time better tasting. I only drank half and gave the rest to Steve. It was loaded with cream. Super pretty with the design. 

I still have two more coffee places to try. Isle Bun (doesn't have flights but has good cinnamon buns, and another place out in Osseo that has flights. I'll stick to Cork and Froth for the best flights and the little Loco place in Brainerd for coffee. 

I did not share one meal with Steve I shared both/ We split the sandwiches in half so we each had a full sandwich of pork and beef. They were corn cakes, super good at Hola Arepa in Mpls. So different and tasty. I have no idea the calories but instead of getting Yucca fries I opted for a salad. I did try one fry and that was good enough. 

I really didn't need a dessert after dinner but this ice cream cookie sandwich sounded so different. It was corn, Fritos and chocolate/butter scotch Chips in the cookie with vanilla ice cream. It was good, just needed some hot caramel, chocolate or raspberry sauce to dip it into and it would have been a 10 out of 10. I didn't need the calories but it was a weekend splurge as were the sangria and sour beer. Ugh! I probably ate over 1300 calories for dinner and drinks! 

Both drinks were pretty tasty, so at least I enjoyed those too. Well, worth the calories for a night out. 

I might not have lost any weight yesterday since my calories for the day were probably 1500! It's okay. I need to go workout this morning to make 7 days this week! It's a goal I set for myself! I have to go do it. 

We are supposed to get snow Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week up to 12 inches. I will get to ski more at least. That's the only good thing about getting fresh snow. 

Saturday, I also finished doing my tax receipts tallying them up and entering all on my spread sheet. Now to do that final report with all on one page. I need to make a few calls to get other expenses and then I'm done. I have our accountant appointment on Tuesday. I should be able to get the last of the numbers on Monday. Feels good to be almost done with this month long project. Now fingers crossed we don't owe and get money back. Most years we get money back, but there were a few we owed a little and got back some too, pretty much breaking even. I would rather get some money and not owe! right!! I still need to submit my sales taxes for 2022. I'm behind and procrastinating on paying and setting it up. Ugh! I am sure there will be penalty fees to pay too. 

Next week is Celina's 23rd birthday. We mostly likely will have a family party for her and I'm hoping we can plan something else fun to do Saturday. Her Birthday falls on a Friday. There is that Isle Bun coffee shop I want to visit on Saturday or Sunday and maybe hit up some wineries on Saturday for a fun day of drinking. Maybe out to Wisconsin- east of us or Waconia out west of us? 

This also sounded fun on her birthday. I'm sure it will be family birthday night instead. 

She wants a gift card to Amazon, which is a super easy gift to get. I always stress too much about gifts. So this takes the pressure away. She likes to shop on line for clothes so will use that to purchase some work outfits. 

I would like to make her a cake, but she likes her gluten free cakes and usually wants to make her own. Not sure what Steve will make for dinner, but we are thinking steak sandwich. Just depends on what Celina wants for her birthday meal. For those that don't eat beef we will have a veggie sandwich or maybe chicken too. 

I have another new customer on Monday, an easy work day Tuesday and the rest of the week is just busy in the mornings. I'll hopefully, be able to ski again on Thursday if we get enough snow. I

 also might not be going anywhere Thursday if we are expected to get lots of snow! Not sure if I'll be able to make it to the gym all 7 days, but if I can ski instead it's a good replacement or do both! 

Well, off to the gym, finish taxes and maybe shop for a few things we need. Packaging tape, b-day decorations and gift. Plus, Steve needs a hair cut and a new winter jacket. I'm hoping TJ Max has some on clearance. 

I made more of my Chicken Thai soup yesterday and will have that for dinner all week. Delicious and I think low calories since it's mostly veggies. 

Saturday...

 Already day #81.. 

Friday was a tough work day. I didn't finish till 1:15pm. I took a long lunch break and finally got up to just go to the gym. I sure felt like staying on the couch but I knew I wanted to go out to eat and I made a plan to go to the gym 7 times this week. There is no skipping a day! 

I have to cut back on sweet potatoes! My fingers are turning orange. Good thing popcorn doesn't do that because I can't go without my yummy lunch every day! 

Today's plan is going to gym, taxes and shop. We have dinner reservations at 6pm for a latin restaurant in Mpls. I'm excited to try the food as we've driven by in the summer and it looks like a great patio. Of course it's too cold at 39*F to sit outdoors, but we can go back in the summer if we like the place. 

I determined all my XL leggings are too saggy now. I'll have to put those fat yoga pants away. Hopefully for good! I'll save them for painting projects or maybe work pants? Hard to say if I'll be able to wear pants that want to slowly fall down! Maybe I can have them taken in by one of my customers that sews? 

Week #12 is going good so far. Just added up the calories for dinner out last night. Even though I had shrimp, steamed broccoli and rice. The calories for the grill shrimp were 400, rice/broccoli  another 500 and 1 hard seltzer 100. Plus my popcorn for lunch 130. Oh and some bread another 100? 1230 for the day with all but 130 calories from lunch. We probably should have just shared a meal, but I was hungry after my workday and working out burning around 700 calories. I do know weekend calories will be higher. I will have a drink tonight and share a meal to save calories. I've been choosing 100 cal drinks while out and sticking to just one and done. This way I don't have to miss out and I can enjoy a little living while on a weight loss journey. After all I have to be able to maintain this weight loss too. It's all about balance. 

Day #80, week#12

I've been living on popcorn for lunch the past 80 days. It's crispy, delicious and takes awhile to eat. This is why it's the perfect lunch. I do buy my popcorn ready made, Smart pop is my favorite just the plain sea salt. for 3 cups it's 130 calories. This is the container that is exactly 3 cups. I fill it a little over. 

I can tell I've lost weight. I still see a thicker person in the mirror at the gym. It only means I have more work to do, weight to lose. I'm making progress every day little by little. I keep telling myself, I only need to reach my goal weight by the end of May. Its only the middle of Febuary! 

 

I've been trying to up the intensity of my gym time. Stairmill at 6 or 7 for 29 minutes then the last minute at 10. I'm a sweaty mess after. Then I go lift weights doing a full body workout. I do skip a few machines just because I'm not ready for those just yet. I do try to do at least two sets of 10 on each. Sometimes I have to drop the weight load down to finish. My arms never feel sore the next day. I always expect to feel it but I don't. Guess that's okay because I go daily to the gym. This week I'm trying for 7 days. With going to the friends cabin last weekend, I skipped a few days of working out. 

All my old skinny clothes are fitting once again. It's nice to have other options of things to wear. I have yet to do my weekly reward. I wanted a pedicure but never had time between working and going to the gym. I'll save it for next week. 

We have plans to do a coffee flight this weekend and have dinner reservations at a latin restaurant in Mpls. It's all my idea. I have planned some non diet splurges. 

I still keep track of calories and know weekends will be higher. Yesterday I ate popcorn for lunch, dinner was white rice, pico, taco sauce, hot sauce and 2 Tbsp of guac and after dinner a pomegranate. Delicious and filling. 654 calories for the day and I burned around 600 with working and going to the gym. 

Not many people have noticed I've lost weight. My mother in law mentioned my weight loss last week. Steve said I'm melting away. That's about it. Not that I need anyone to say something... but it confirms that yes I am losing weight and it's noticeable. Sometimes I wonder is it? Doesn't really matter because I am going down in size and feel better. 

Day #79...one more day..

 One more day and I hit 80 days of being on my weight loss journey! In the past I've stopped keeping track after day #100. This time I'm going farther, till May. I probably should keep tracking since I'll at some point be on maintenance and not needing to lose more weight. 

I didn't take a photo, but we had pizza last night. I picked up T-joes dough and used gyro veggie leftovers for toppings. It was delicious! I made two pizza's and had a slice of each along with a skinny slice. So worth the calories. 

Day 78 photo update. Still have some fat on my stomach. It's going down every day! Working out daily and burning more fat! 

The garage doors are finished! Do they look like real garage door windows? I think it's a pretty good faux windows for cheap. I spent $50 on this simple fix. There is also magnet hardware I can purchase to also spruce it up a bit more to make them less plain. Not sure it's needed?? I do like the new look. Someday we will replace the garage doors and actually have widows! For now this works! 

Bought myself some succulent plants I had been wanting. Hopefully, I can keep them alive. I also bought some potted basil as I love fresh basil on top of my pizza. 

Grand kids on V-day. 

Week #12!!

Well, made it to week #12 on my weight loss journey. 

Here's how it went... 

Exercise:  /   calories:

800	580
600	650
650	1230
0	1250
0	950
350	605
450	830

This was last weeks photo. I'm starting to wonder if I only lose maybe 1 pound per week? It's been slow going. Maybe my calorie counting is off? Well, it's not for lack of trying to lose weight! I've had a calorie deficit and worked out 5 days a week. Two days of higher calories. 

I am losing weight. I just need to keep going.. I actually lost 1/2 an inch on my hips this week. Making progress. I'm still staying away from the scale. I'm at that point in weight loss where I should start seeing a bigger difference in the next few weeks. Some times it's hard to see the progress week from week, but now that I look back to my weight at week #6, and do know I've come a lot farther in my weight loss. 

Here's what the plan in this week.. stay the course. Keep doing what works, skip b-fast, popcorn for lunch, low cal dinners and my weekend splurges up to 1200 calories. Plus, try for 7 days of exercise at the gym. 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

 I've been wanting some v-day donuts so I got them the day before to make sure they would not be sold out! Dunkin only had two heart shaped donuts for V-day the chocolate was good! I just took a slice of each and saved the rest for Steve to eat. Just what I wanted! 

Here's what I ate for the day

B-fast - taste of three donuts 150 cal

lunch - popcorn 3 cups 130 cal

Dinner- Med sweet potato 100 cal

Chicken gyro 1/2 200 cal

5 strawberries = 25 cal

Total ate = 605

Tonight is bingo and most likely two beef soft taco's with one hard seltzer for dinner. 

I was watching a weight loss guy's Tic Toe this morning and he talked about our issues with the scale. I have this problem and this is why I have yet to weight myself with the exception of week #6. I was a lot heavier than I thought. Must have started out at a lot heavier then I thought I was. He mentioned that weight gain isn't a straight line of gaining. Just like weight loss for all your efforts is not going to be a straight line of weight loss every day or week. It's up and down. Some weeks I won't see a weight loss change. Just like the measurements I take, I'm not always going to see a reduction. I have to trust the process. It worked and it will work. Just stay the course because the following week you might now see a weigh loss or a reduction in your measurements. I just don't want to get hung up on a number or where I think I need to be at and get discouraged if I didn't reach that goal thinking I was good or bad this week for diet or exercise. It's just about consistency. Keep doing what works and make adjustments. I'm not trying for perfect, I'm just trying to do better. Make better food choices and do the exercise to burn calories  and tone up. 

I've kind of felt stuck at my progress. I looked in the mirror and didn't see a difference in how my body looked. This week, I'm feeling even thinner. I still have fat to lose on my arms and stomach but suddenly it's gone done to a lot less. Am I were I want just yet. Nope, I have more toning to do and more fat to lose on my stomach and arms/ Legs need to tone up. I don't have back fat any more which is one less area. 

I'm not going to give up a dessert or donuts. It's not going to set my diet back and I'm still going to continue to lose weight and make progress on the days I have treats or go over calories on the weekend. It's called living too. I'm not going to go all out and say, well, I screwed up so now it's a free for all and I might as well eat all the junk I can and stop working out. Nope, it's got to be a new lift style. 

So every day get some exercise or maybe just aim for 5 days a week. Any extra is a bonus! I set weekends to be my higher calories days. There will be some week days too mixed in. Just need to keep at least 2 to 3 days a week where I am eating less. Realistic goals on tough weeks. 

This is the last day week#11. I usually measure myself today.. let's go! 

Waist = 34

Hips = 42-1/2 (1/2 inch lost)

Thighs = 24

I really wanted my waist size to go down. I'll take some on my hips! Making progress little by little. I still have months to go before wanting to reach my goal weight. 155/145.. the end of May. That's half of Feb, March, April and all of May till Memorial Day! 3-1/2 months! I've only been dieting since Nov 30th. 2-1/2 months! Plenty of time to drop more weight. 

Since I don't weight myself and I might lose 3 pounds a week. Where should I be? 169! Am I there? Could be?? Just have no idea! I'm okay with not knowing because it's more about fat loss on my stomach and being tone than a number on the scale. If I didn't lose any more weight then I did today. I would still feel 100% better about the way I look and feel. 

Monday ...moving on to a new week soon!

 I've been kind of obsessed with coffee flights and now these Nashville hot chicken sandwiches. I need to try this place. It's all balance with trying to lose weight. I'm also wanting Valentine's Day donuts. Thankfully, most places I want them are closed on Monday. I might have to get some Dunkin donuts even thought, I'm not super crazy about those donuts. I just want some heart shaped, filled fluffy donuts and just a taste! Same with the sandwich, just a few bites. It's all balance of not depriving myself and still losing weight and staying on track. 

Diet day #76 still on week #11.. but moving on to week #12 soon. Sometimes I feel like I'm still stuck at the same weight or won't have lost any weight this week due to my splurges on food calories over the weekend. It has been a trend for me to go up on calories at least two or three days a week, higher calories are 900 to 1200. I also don't feel the best when I am not working out getting exercise and I had two days in a row of not getting much exercise! Not the best for weight loss. 

It's a fresh day #76 and a new opportunity to eat less calories and workout. 

Girls weekend in Brainerd, Gull Lake

I had a fun girls weekend up at the lake. It was just three of us, but sometimes smaller groups are better! 

We got in Friday night, went to dinner at Side track. I was pretty hungry so I ate all my walleye, salad and potatoes. It was delicious. Plus, had two seltzers, one at the restaurant and the other at the brewery/Jack Pine. 

 

The next morning, we went to Loco Coffee shop. I got an expensive $17 dollar flight of coffee. They were all good except the Loco cold brew. Not a cute of a flight as Hastings Froth and Cork. Now I want to try Third Space coffee in Mpls for their flight. 

The cabin view of the lake. Lots of snowmobiles on the lake and everywhere in town. 

We did a lot of shopping in the cute town of Nisswa. It was a warm 40*F sunny day so walking between the shops felt great to be outdoors. 

Diet was kind of hard to do this weekend. I did only drink Friday night. I didn't exercise at all Saturday or today. Out to eat for lunch and dinner Saturday calories were around 1200 aprox. I had coffee flight for breakfast, lunch we shared nacho's, quesadilla, and a soft pretzel. Dinner I had shrimp swimming in butter. I skipped drinks and eating the bread with the meal and took the chocolate samples but didn't eat them. 

While the other women both purchased a bunch of stuff, I only bought Steve a Bigfoot air freshener for his Truck. It was to replace the old one that lost the pine scent years ago. It was a fun weekend as we stayed up till 1:30am both nights. Glad I went and got to know another person too.