Woot! Woot!

Here is what my menu has been looking like lately to get me back on the wagon:

Saturday

French: Beefstock based French Onion Soup (Campbells) topped with a slice of Reduced Fat Jarlesburg (type of swiss cheese) with garlic cheese croutons (Trader Joe's, AMAZING, 25 calories per 2-3).

Snack: Reduced Fat Ritz crackers- I was STARVING all night.

Sunday

Mexican Tortilla-Less Fajiitas: Pan grilled chicken, zuchini, red onion, with chilli oil/hot sauce and garlic salt over guacamole (Avocado + Garlic Salt).

British Indian- Chicken Tikka Masala: Pan grilled zuchini, red onion and chicken with Tikka Masala sauce (flavorful spicy tomato based sauce) over basmati jasmine rice with a little Daisy light sour cream.

Monday

Chinese- Pretend Sweet n' Sour Chicken: Pan grilled zuchini, red onion, broccili, green onion and chicken over leftover basmati jasmine rice topped with Sweet Chili Sauce. (Translucent Orange syrupy stuff. Very similiar to Sweet & Sour Sauce or whatever.)

And guess what... I weighed in right before I ate tonight and I was 175.6! AHHHH! :D

I am not feeling the comment love people! last 3 posts are all NEW! New! NEW!

Oh, boy.

I don't know what to do!

I am trying to get back on the SKINNY WAGON and I am seriously struggling.

My lowest weight ever (like in my life since I was like, 12) was 167.4 and that was in July or August I think. I have been exercising the last few weeks and I am like 178-179 and I feel pretty yucky in my clothes. It is hard to remind myself that I weigh much less now than I used to- and that I actually weigh what it says on my driver's license- which was a lie when I put it on there- at 16! (It says 179. I jut picked a random number at the DMV. lol) Those are all good things! Great things! But it is hard to remember when you know what it was like 11 pounds lighter and how different your body looked and felt. It was very weird.

Here is something odd, that I have realized as I have lost weight. When I was a size 18, and I lost like, 5 pounds, or even 10 pounds, I could look in the mirror at myself, at my tummy, and see NO difference at all.





(I am sorry I have no clothes on. I could not figure out how to get my model dressed. Virtual Emily is from MyVirtualModel http://www.mvm.com/ I used to use this as a weight loss motivator because you make her look like you and then you can adjust her weight to see what you look like now or skinnier, etc.)

The more weight I have lost, the more apparent weight fluctuations are to me. At 170 I could look in the mirror and tell instantly if I was bloated or was up even a single pound. I could tell- my body looked different. I always thought those skinny girls were lying when they would say that they were having a "fat day" or that they looked bloated. But it is so true!



I have found that the 170-180 is a VERY pivotal weight range for me. It's the difference between me being able to see the pounds and not. It's the place where my belly goes from rounded to straight down. It's the difference between fitting perfectly and cutely and adorably into a size 10, and skipping straight back to a 14.

Side note, I'm still stuffed into a Size 10. LOL

Ok, so philosophical thoughts aside, I'm confused as to what to do to get going. Because I've been working out consistently for probably around a month with I'm sure some fitness benefits, but no weight loss, or difference in my clothes.



So I think I need to make some major dietary changes to get going. And to make myself not so hungry all the time and wanting to snack. I also know that I don't drink NEARLY enough water. The medications I am on make me dehydrated- and the one that has the worst dehrdration related side effects is also the one they are like tripling in dosage. So I REALLY have to increase my water intake. By ALOT. But I don't feel thirsty... I just get all of those other lovely things that happen when you don't drink enough, if you catch my drift. Ugh.



I am sure I have reduced my caloric intake by at least some, but I need a more drastic cut. Also, I really need that first week weight loss like on the Biggest Loser to get motivated here. I have never desired that, but man would it sure help right now! I also think my diet is severely lacking in protein, and vegetables at the moment. I do eat veggies, and have them in the fridge, and had veggies fajitas the other night, etc., but if I am supposed to be following the food pyramid, I am not anywhere close.



I also really like buying fruit, and then letting it sit in the fridge untouched for 6 months to a year. Hmmm. Ok, maybe not that long, but close. I don't mind fruit, but I just don't tend to eat it, no matter how good my intentions are. Or I will eat a little bit for a couple days and then forget about it. I'm just not a big fan of fruit. If I am at a party and there is a big platter of it, I'll totally fill up on it. I eat it at weddings all the time. But not at home...



I think I need to like drink a really low cal soupy broth for a few days, to help curb the cravings. I was thinking chiken broth, and maybe throw some carrotts, celery, etc. in so I get to chew. (I LOVE to chew! I have noticed this to be an issue if I try Slim Fast shakes. I will be full and happy after drinking it, but I will desperately be dying to chew something. lol) Anyway, I thought that if I had some soup or something instead of an actual snack inbetween meals I would get my water intake up, and reduce my caloric intake whilst still being satisfied.

But then i was worried about all the sodium in chicken broth, or it's alternatives.

Who has some ideas they would like to share with me?

I was a very nice girl and I added lots of pictures to entertain you since I know it is boring just to read all my writing. I talk too much. And write too much!

For Girls ONLY!

Ok, so I have lost quite a bit of weight over the last few years. I started seriously dieting and exercising in May of 2007 when I hit my highest weight ever, of 233 pounds. (I'm only 5 foot 5 by the way.)

Here is a picture of me from then.

Here is another gross picture of me from about 6 months earlier (11/2006), I weighed a little less here, maybe in the 220's? But it's a clearer picture of me. (The other was at my Uncle's wedding, which I was working at, and I am cropped out of a crowd of 50 people or something.



Here I am in May of 2008 or so. I had just hit 197 or something I think? maybe it was 194. I was at least in the 190's.





And then Kristin took the picture of me in an apple orchard near some mental institution. So fitting, right? LOL This is October, 2009.


Ok, now one more time...

and 170ish.

Weird, huh?

Pretty sure we all know I am having some serious financial struggles- feel free to click on those google ads to your right, I get $$ everytime you click on them. Let's help pay Emily's electric bill!

Anyway, so since I have lost weight, (and this is why this post is for girls only) my bra size has changed. At that top picture, I was like a 38 DD, or a 40 D. Mostly I wore 38's.

The bottom picture? I was a 32FF. Um, big change. (Now I am more like a 34).

So my bras don't fit. I have all these millons of bras, which we all know cost a fortune, and they don't fit. But I couldn't bear to throw them away or donate them or whatever since they were all in perfectly fine condition. So I have been holding on to them for literally, years.

I was digging through my drawers yesterday and I really seriously needed some bras. so then I started staring at the too-big ones. And then I thought- well, I know the cups fit, it's just the band sizes that don't fit- so guess what I did?!

I took my bras IN! :-O (pause for gasp)

I know, right? BRILLIANT!

I took a bra that fits me well, and measured it against one that was too big, pinned it so they were the same size, folded the big bra's band size over, and sewed down- leaving a two inch loop or whatever of of excess fabric. I did NOT cut off the excess, because i figured, you never know when you are going to change sizes again, for whatever reason, like weight gain (please no) or maybe a pregnancy (ok, that's fine). AND, being the careless sewer that I am, in case I screwed it up, I wanted that security blanket that if my new stitches came out for some reason (I did a straight stich twice, forwards and backwards, and a zig zag, so I don't think so, but I dunno!) that the original bra design would still hold.

I feel so brilliant! My favorite bra ever I got in Ireland, which seems to be the only place that makes good bras my size that don't cost a fortune, but I haven't been able to wear it (I bought it in 2004!) because it's too big. Well, no more! It fits perfect now and I am so excited! Whewhoo!

And no, since I am the only person who is going to be seeing these articles of clothing, I did not feel the need to match thread, nor do it tidily, NOR trim the threads before I took pictures. :D lol

That really is straight in real life.

Aren't I so smart? Yay for Emily!

I really want to go to In N Out now. Please?

Christmas!

Thank you Michelle for your awesome comment last time! I am so glad you don't think I am a crazy stalker for following your blog! :) lol

Sorry it's sideways, but here was the christmas tree at my sister's house, where we celebrated this year. I took this christmas eve from my "bed". (I slept on the couch. Didn't even hear Santa come in!)

Christmas morning. That's my brother in law Gil at the back, my Dad, my niece Jasmine, and my nephew Justin's bum sticking in there. lol You can also just barely see Clarence the dog's snout sticking in on the right side. He is my dad's pride and joy!

Ok, this was before Christmas, Jasmine and Justin came over to make gingerbread houses with me while their folks went to dinner for their anniversary. I forced Jasmine into wrapping presents. (hee hee) and Toulouse was trying to help, aka getting in the way and driving her nuts.

Here we are making gingerbread houses. Shocking I was able to come up with enough table space! lol Tootie was VERY interested, as you can see.

Here is our Christmas card from this year! Isn't it so cute!!!

Here is a quilt I sewed for my nieces with the help of Kristin's neighbor Nicole's Cricut machine for the letters, and then I embroidered the doggie on it. It looks so cute don't you think?

And yes, I did notice that I goofed and made bulldogs into two words instead of one. I am so sad it isn't flawless. :( The white part is muslin, and the orange and black are all flannel. Since my nieces are hitting high school now, one's a freshman, and one is in 8th grade now, but be there next year, I thought that they might like this to take to games and stuff!

Oh, ALSO, I need anybody that reads this to sign up for SWAGBUCKS! I have to come up with $1700 at LEAST to replace my camera within the next two weeks, and um, I haven't been paid since October. I'm living on my savings. Sort of a problem. if you sign up, and you USE it, you will earn lots of bucks which you can trade in for gift cards, and when you earn bucks, I get some of your bucks too, and then I can trade them in for gift cards to help pay for my camera!!! (My camera broke, and would cost more to fix than replace, unfortunately.)

Christmas Ornament Wreaths!

I got this project from Michelle's blog, who got it from someone else's blog, who got it from Eddie Ross' blog- a site which I now totally love. This was the best project ever. It was super easy, took no time at all, looked great afterwards; totally rewarding! I loved it!

My sister's house (Kristin) is all purple- she has lavendar walls in her kitchen, deep purple couches in her living room, with dark plum paint from the chair rail down. She is obsessed with purple- has been her whole life! So I made her the purple one. I did that first. I did everything wrong on the first one. I didn't really get the logistics of how you get all of the balls to face the front and stay that way- took me a bit to realize you just pack as many balls on the hanger as you can and then it is full from all sides. Yeah, little slow. Anyway, when I was trying to figure it out, I just started sticking the balls (From the 99 cent store- dollar tree didn't have any) on with the little elastic loops still attached- yeah dumb. Then I had to try and cut them all off after the wreath was assembled. Didn't really work. Oops. Oh yeah, and I for some reason thought I had special balls and didn't have to glue gun down the the tops of the ornaments to make sure they stayed on... so they started falling off. Oh, I am a bright one!!!



The little Snowman ornament at the top is just randomly sitting there. I am going to put a bow there, but I put the Snowman there in the meantime. When I was in high school I used to do craft fairs and I sold little stuffed snowmen with scarfs and hats, and then mini snowmen with a wire loop at the top as an ornament- this is one of the leftover ones from back then! I designed him myself. :) All my snowmen were so cute.

I had it all figured out by the time I did mine, which is blue, to match my house, and I love it.

I ran out of balls right before I finished mine, so I went back to the store to get a couple more acks and in the meantime had talked to my dad about the project and he sounded very interested, and so I ended up getting red and silver balls to make him one too. I am going to run out of hangers soon! LOL

I did run out of glue sticks, so I can't finish his yet, but I will get some glue tonight and finish it, but here it is 2/3's done.

Thanks for the great links Michelle! Kristin, you have to make a pink one! I don't care if you are too busy!!! PLUS if you do it in pink, it will look christmasy, but you could put it up at Easter too! How about that?! So cool! :)

BTW the colors on ALL of the wreaths, but especially the purple one is totally funky and off. I may be a photographer, but I am perfectly capable of taking bad pictures too. LOL I will take some tomorrow in day light and you can really see how pretty they are. The colors in the pictures are way off- they are so cute in real life! And there is no gold in that last wreath- those are silver balls- they look gold in the picture tho. Weird!

Kristin's Visit

OK, I know this is six months late, but better late than never, right?

Kristin came to visit me back in March, I think to do a whole lot of shopping, and eating! Our two favorite activities for sure!

One of the things we did was we went to this burger joint that was featured on the Food Network, and got so popular because of the spotlight on Diner's Drive-In's and Dives, that they are expanding to two more locations- even thought the original location has been sitting there for like 20-30 years!

they are famous for their big burgers, and cheese "skirts." It was amazng, and I ate every. single. bite. Wow. Look at those burgers!!!