Beans and curves

In the process of reading the Eat to Live book, I am learning about the benefits of eating more beans in my diet... I bought several types at Winco to try out cooking on my own (with Mikey's help)... Got pinto, navy and kidney beans...

Today I soaked the pinto beans all day while I was at work and then Mike cooked them for me...  I tried them after they were cooked and they were pretty bland, but I decided to make them into refried beans...  By simply adding taco seasoning, mashing them up a bit and then using the mixer to smooth them out some more - they came out really good... And instead of eating canned refried beans, I know EXACTLY what is in these beans...

Why, you ask, do you have curves in the title too?  Well the last 10 lbs I have lost has made some curves show up on my sides... And that is exciting to me!  To SEE the difference emerging and changes in my body... Sooo exciting!

Yikes & Success

I "love" the emotional roller coaster that my mind/body goes through in my PMS-ing week...  I feel like curling up with a teddy bear and crying myself to sleep most of the time... :(

This coupled with being frustrated to not see the scale move at all off of the plateau that I have been on - even with the month of being grain-free & with increasing my exercise.  (insert comment about chocolate being so damn tasty and grain free!  LOL)

But this morning I was thinking about a conversation I had with my Mom after she met with a lap band Dr to evaluate the status of the lapband that was put in by another doctor 9 years ago... The Dr was stating that she was a SUCCESS because she had kept off 75 lbs over 9 years... Yes, at one point she weighed a lot less and has gained some weight back, but 75 down from her highest is still a success!

So I stopped to think about my success... I am down 50 lbs from my highest & feel pretty good all the time (aside from the stupid PMS week!!!)  Yes, at one point I was 65 lbs less than I am now, but I wasn't happy at that weight either...  Yes I would like to weigh about 25 lbs less than I do now, but if I am happy and healthy, then there really isn't a hurry to get there...  I have to remember to focus on the Success that I have already had and feel proud that I am maintaining that weight loss and that = SUCCESS!

For now I will continue to find ways to stir up my body to get past this plateau - adding weights, more variations on exercise and the like...  And continue with my grain free diet and try to figure out reducing some sugars as well (one thing at a time right? and trying to make decisions and changes that I can live with for a lifetime!)

A new low today...

My favorite meal - salad with chicken breast on top... Nummy

I know that it isn't all about the scale - but today the scale and I celebrated a new low - the lowest I have been in over five years.  I entered a new set of 10's digits (which ones are between me and the scale... LOL )

I do have to admit doing a little happy dance this morning after stepping on the scale and seeing that number...  And remind myself that I have been working really hard the last few days to keep my eating in check - maintaining my sugar levels - to help release stored fats - and that might be what finally got the scale to inch down just a bit more...

Hoping to get it to go a few more in the next few weeks so I can hit a nice milestone before I get to meet up with a dear friend I haven't seen in a long time :)

~enjoy~

Pants without an X!

Sorry no picture for this quick post - but I have to report I am wearing a pair of yoga pants that I got at the goodwill bins yesterday and the size tag doesn't have an "X" in it!  They are a size LARGE... :)

Smile - happy dance... Feels good... :)

Hi...

A new picture at my Trekdesk...  It's a mess because it's busy for me at work right now... :)  But time out to take a picture should be good...

I love that I found 3 new blouses that are smaller to wear (I am not liking wearing the baggy stuff anymore...) at a thrift store for $10 yesterday...  I am wearing one cute black top in this picture - but it doesn't show up so well at this angle - and because it is black...

I spoke with someone on the phone today from the Journal of Commerce in Seattle about my experience using the Trekdesk... It was fun to share my thoughts with them... Will be interesting to see what they publish...

I don't have much else to chatter about right now - I just keep walking... :)

A changing image...

During Zumba class I spend 45-55 minutes looking in a mirror while doing a bunch of sometimes silly moves, but getting my body moving and burning up some good calories!

Know what is strange to me? What I see in the mirror...  My shape has changed so much - it is hard to believe... 35+ lbs lost & I look so different! I hope to lose another 35 or so, and can't really imagine what I will look like when I get there...  Sure I have pictures from when I lost weight before, but I was a different person then - I wasn't conscious of the need to plan to make changes for LIFE...  I look at my pictures at my lowest weight and I don't see a happy person - I just see a smaller version of myself, but there isn't happiness radiating out of me...  I am very happy with life and the progress I have made & it shows in pictures now... And I love that...

When talking with another gal that I have sort of been mentoring with healthier choices, I was telling her it is more about feeling better and being healthier than what the scale says... Don't worry and fret about that... It is about all the little choices that you make and how they add up to a healthier, new and improved you!

A new low...

As of this morning - I am the lowest weight I have been in over 4 years... :)  That makes me feel pretty darn good...  It is only downhill from here - with the numbers - but not with the work/lifestyle that I need to keep up with to keep seeing results and maintain what I have worked so hard for...

This lowest weight is 34 lbs lower than 1/24/2011 when I recommitted myself to trying to get healthier and 44 lbs lower than my all time high...  While I am not comfortable sharing my actual weight on an open forum - the actual number on the scale isn't really the point - the numbers on the scale relative to each other are what matters to me - how much of a change I have been able to make in those numbers while making healthier choices.

I picked up a new-open-box scale yesterday at goodwill (people buy stuff at Target, open it - return it because they didn't like it and then Target donates it to Goodwill because the box/package is not in resale condition)... I got a scale that retails for $50 for $15 at Goodwill...  The other scale that I have been using is frustrating for me... I can get on it first thing in the morning and it will say one number, move the scale on the floor a few inches and it will say another number... Still later (after sitting at the computer for 10-15 minutes in the morning) I can step on it again and see another totally different number... All of these numbers are +/- 3-5 lbs of each other...  Yes consumption (of water and food) and time of day can cause numbers to fluctuate through out the day if you weigh yourself in the morning vs at night - but we are talking a maximum of 15 minutes apart and sometimes just a few seconds apart!  This has been annoying to me - and yes my husband had a simple suggest of just weighing ONCE on the old scale and then I would never have any concern about varying numbers... (Funny guy...)

So finding another scale was nice... I got on it several times this morning (like I used to do on the other one) and it was consistent every time I got on it...

Know another interesting thing about it?  It reads my weight as being 7 lbs lighter than the old scale...  I am not ready to record myself as having just lost an extra 7 lbs overnight - but I sure like the number it had on it!  It is below another threshold I had for myself that is exciting...  A few more days seeing that number and I think it will become "reality" for my mind...

I think I will switch over to the new scale totally as of the first of March - and just make notes for myself that I did - so I still have a valid amount of weight lost (back to the numbers relative to each other) for February and then for March using the new scale...

Fun, Fun, Fun...

Move on...

Ever have a day that someone brings in a dozen donuts & you can't resist having one?
Ever go ahead and have something like this and then it turns out to not be "all that..." ?  Like it didn't really taste all that good, afterwards you are feeling like UGG... That wasn't worth it?

Well gotta just move on - no regrets, just bottle up the feeling of UGG and remember it for next time when you are faced with a decision like that again.

As you can tell - I ate a donut like above this morning & it just wasn't all that... the 210 calories I ate were not worth it, I could have ENJOYED something else for less calories and less regret...

But it is not the end of the world - I move on and make better choices going forward from here...  :)

One bite at a time, one decision at a time...

Pants on the ground... Almost...

Anyone that has been a fan of American Idol in the last few years will remember the guy that came in and sang about pants on the ground...  And we all know how silly the young men look that purposely wear their pants big and their underwear are showing instead of pulling their darn pants up...

Even though the tape measure isn't really showing that much of a change in the inches on my braline, waist or hips - well maybe a little bit, but my clothes are really telling the story...

I am wearing my "favorite" pants today - they are a nice pair of slacks that are cotton & light in weight so I don't roast while I am walking at work... But they are driving me nuts today... They have gotten really baggy in the legs and I can take them off without unbuttoning them...  Luckily the hips are keeping them from falling off on their own, but if I had another pair of pants with me - I would be changing...

Don't get me wrong - I really like having this issue - but until I am able to take them off and put on a better fitting pair of pants...  It's about time to go through more of my closet and see if I can rotate out some more of the larger stuff and perhaps pull down some of the too small ones that were stashed away to shrink into...

This is all good!

Not going to do it...

I won't let this basket of candy that is in my office right now win... No, No, No...  I won't!

There is a class that is going to be going on here tomorrow so there are extra things in the office that are goodies for the people that will be at the class tomorrow...  This basket is sitting on the stairs - just 50 ft away from me...  There are many things in there that look soooo good, and would taste really good as well - but no - I am not going to give into the basket...

Yes, I do have candy from time to time - er almost daily - but in moderation...  15-20 plain m&ms are only 60 calories and I can savor the flavor of them in my mouth and really enjoy them (as opposed to a candy bar where it is hard to eat in really small amounts and savor the taste...)  And I could eat one or two of these candies in moderation - but it just isn't worth it - not worth the spike in my blood sugar that could happen if I ate it without balancing the carbs/sugars out with protein and the like...  The same blood sugar spike that would tell my body to store it's fat, that it has immediate sugar energy it can use instead of releasing fats to burn - and help me get healthier...

So I took this picture really quickly & walked away from the basket & smiled as I pushed start on my treadmill and got back to walking at my TrekDesk...  It is all good... Another good choice checked off!

One choice/decision/bite at a time...

Weight history

Found this picture of me from 1996 - it was in a flyer for the place I worked for at the time (thus the black and white) - this is me at my heaviest - I was at that weight from about 1996 to 2002

 I am amazed as I have looked back over the pictures and the weight history I could find for myself, amazed to find that I stayed at my highest weight for over 6 years, through two pregnancies!

Dec 2010 - at my heaviest in 5 years

 This is one of the only pictures I can find from just over a year ago, when I was at my highest weight since losing over 100 lbs in 2003-2004...  I was about 10 lbs lighter in this picture than I guess I was in the black and white one...  I wore smaller clothes than I did near my heaviest because I was/am more toned, but still the scale didn't lie that I was way too close to being at my all time heaviest again...

Dec 2011 - about 26 lbs down

A year of TrekDesk walking and changing my eating habits, and I am down over 32 lbs from Dec 2010 - just a few pounds away from being my lightest in over 3 years...  When I hit that point,  I will post another picture...

I love looking back and stuff like this, it shows where I have been & where I don't want to go back to...

I have also looked today back over my history since I started tracking body fat percentage (when I learned more about why it is important taking my nutrition certification class) - and since September I have lost 11 lbs and maintained my Lean Body Mass - so all 11 lbs were of fat!  That is good, means I am doing what I am supposed to do - eating correctly to release and burn stored body fat!

No, No I can't do that...

Started out in a good mood, as the sun is shining and they are forecasting that it is going to stick around for several days into the future... :)  That always makes me :)  Then there were a few communication break downs at the office - a major pet peeve of mine, and I found myself frustrated and down...  My mind kept thinking about what I could grab to eat as a "comfort."  But my mind also knows that comforting myself with food is not what I should do...  I need to break the cycle for myself of comfort eating...

There are lots of ways that I am trying to combat the comfort food cycle... The biggest help is not having junk around that I could comfort myself with... At work that really isn't a problem - because I simply don't have anything other than my meals with me to eat...  (Home is another story with kids in the house, and a hubby that is able to eat just about anything and maintain his waistline...)

Along side not having the junk around to eat, at work I am able to just get into a "zone" and work on stuff by  getting my treadmill going and starting to walk at my TrekDesk - and I can't forget the headphones at the same time - they are an integral part of the "zone..."

All of what I am talking about are simply choices - choices to eat better, choices not to cram food in to drown out my frustrations or stress... Finding a different way to deal with the stress is forming a good habit - rather than continuing on the path of bad habits and comfort eating.

There are so many ways to deal with stress other than eating through it...

• Take a walk
• Walk away from the area where the stress started
• Take deep breaths
• Talk it out with someone
• Exercise
• Read a book
• And so many more...

Thought this was cute - as I usually have salad for dinner each night & am working hard at making good choices on the toppings for the salad - to keep the salad "healthy"