Last day of November

Wow...where has this month gone? On Dec 10th it will be 2 months since I changed my life. I am doing so much better. I am experimenting with new recipes and having so much fun!

All for now.

May there be a yum yum in your future!

God bless!

Libby

I am doing well still

I was able to face Thanksgiving and the weekend thereafter with a smile. I didn't gain any weight and I managed to lose a few ounces.

Going out to eat at lunch today with people from work. Fun! I am not worried, I'll find a good wholesome item on the menu and eat it moderately. That's what it's all about.

Eat happy!

God bless,

Libby

Today

I slow cooked some bean and veggie soup last night for 10 hours in my crockpot and had a small bowl this morning for breakfast. Know it sounds weird, but it smelled so good that I had to try it. It was wonderful. Then I had promised my husband I would make a cinnamon pastry braid for breakfast. I had a small bit of the end with a slight drizzle of frosting. I needed to know how it tasted. It was fabulous, but very fattening. I am going to eat much healthier the rest of the day. I just needed to taste it out of curiosity. I have 2 more of those frozen in my frig. I am going to bake another one for Christmas morning breakfast and probably give the other one away. Perhaps to my mother. We'll see.

Lots of house re-arranging to do today, to get ready for Christmas. There is a light blanket of snow on the ground. It's so beautiful. Life seems to look better, smell better and feel better. Even with a cold and scratchy voice. It's almost gone though.

What a nice long weekend. I've enjoyed shopping and spending time with my family.

Eat well and if you need to try something, don't deny yourself, just have a smaller portion to satisfy your curiosity.

God Bless!

Libby

Thanksgiving....

Went WONDERFULLY!!! I had small portions of just about everything. I even had dessert. I had a sliver of pumpkin pie, banana cream and some chocolate cake. Very small pieces, but just enough wonderful indulgence to satisfy. I loaded up on the veggies and felt better about eating a little white meat, cornbread stuffing, mash potatoes and even GGGGGRAVY!!!! The cranberry relish was wonderful.

For dinner last night...yes dinner, I had a small, yet satisfying salad. I ate at 2:00 PM, so by 7:30, I needed a little something. I know it was late, but I had a great feeling about the way I behaved yesterday. I had a wonderful breakfast yesterday. Oatmeal with dried crans and walnuts. YUMMY!!!

As far as today, I got up this morning BRIGHT AND EARLY and did some door busting at the old stores. Got some great deals.

Ate breakfast at about 8:30. Scrambled eggs with hotsauce chunk ham and a little bit of american cheese. YUMM.. I split them with my son. He loved them too. I also had a small cup of hot and sour soup. I know it sounds weird for breakfast, but I have a bit of a sinus cold right now. It really helped and it is pretty healthy in moderation.

For lunch I will eating light and for dinner as well. Sunday at my mothers we have left over Thanksgiving yummies. I am thinking about a turkey sand with cranberry relish on some sour dough crusty bread. I am looking forward to that!!! We are decorating mom's house and Christmas tree on Sunday. I am really looking forward to that.

I am so happy...

Eat well...It works and your body will thank you.

God Bless!

Libby

Trying something new that I found

I found this great site called 3fatchicks.com and they have these cool counters you can use to track your progress and share with others.

Happy days!!!

God bless,

Libby

Well...

Got my blood drawn on Tuesday and went to go visit some old friends at a former job. That was nice. Yesterday and today were rather light at work. Had a good eating day so far:

Breakfast:

Oatmeal (2 packs maple and brown sugar)
dried cranberries and small amount of walnuts (raw no salt) sprinkled on top.

Lunch:

Lean Cuisine (Chicken and Vegetable)
1 small hass avocado
2 - 4 oz of cut up mango and pine apple

Dinner:

?? Probably some left over pasta with meat sauce and Italian sausage

Lemon water all day long. YUMMY!!!!

I feel good, except for this slight cold I have.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am most thankful for my salvation and that Jesus forgave ME. Wow...Who am I? Also, I am thankful that I have this healthier outlook on life and eating and that all of my doctor appts so far have gone well. All procedures and tests have gone well. GREAT!!! We'll see how my physical goes on December 7th. Got all my blood work done the other day. Will be nice to know where I stand with blood sugar, cholesterol and such. I am down another 4 oz. I vowed not to look at that scale more than once a week, but yet, I do. Oh well. No harm.

I FEEL GREAT. I am wearing my size 16 jeans and BOY do they feel baggy! (happy dance)

Lots of love and blessings from the good Lord be upon you!

Good eating. Eat it all tomorrow, just smaller portions. Don't overstuff...That's never good or worth it. I am ready to concur Thanksgiving with vim and vigor!!!!

Tests tomorrow

I am getting blood work done tomorrow. I am currently experiencing a 12 hour fast. No biggie. I started at 7:30 PM. It's only 8:20 PM right now. Had a great supper. Now, I'm just drinking lemon water until I go to bed and then I eat or drink nothing until after my blood work.

I have my physical in a couple of weeks and I really hope that I get good readings on everything. I have been doing so well and eating so healthy. I want so badly to succeed this time. I have more than my vanity to think about. I'm almost into my mid 30's and I'm obese. I have heart disease, diabetes and stroke that runs in my family. I want to beat the odds. It's not just about weight. Weight is a definite factor, but not the end all be all.

With God's grace and help, I know I will be able to change and stay changed.

Thanksgiving is just 3 days away....GULP. Ehhh, I'll be fine. No worries. New attitude, new priorities...new me! :)

God bless and good eatings.

Libby

Great day of eating yesterday

Me at my former job ------------------------->

Breakfast:

Small avocado
1 scrabbled egg w/cheddar cheese and milk added (small amounts of each)
1 small persimmon
1 cup green tea with 2 tsp honey

Lunch:

8 pieces of sushi(California rolls, tuna & salmon)
1 cup of hot and sour soup
6 peel and eat steamed shrimp
decent amount of soy sauce
water with lemon

Dinner:

White meat chicken (roasted, but with skin removed)
small serving of plain egg noodles
medium serving of broc steamed
small banana

Snack:

Small bite of my sons hamburger from his happy meal! :)

Went to the movies with my wonderful husband. He had a LARGE soda and a LARGE popcorn and I had ONLY a small disani water. :) Didn't even desire one kernel. Besides the sound of 60 people eating popcorn was quite nauseating!

Challenge for today. Sunday dinner at my mother's will consist of KFC. Hmmm...Should be interesting.

LOVE the newly evolving me... :)

God bless!

Libby

11 lbs 2 oz down

WOOO HOOO.... It's been almost 2 months since I started my little, well HUGE endeavor and I'm very pleased at my progress. As of today I'm down 11 lbs and 2 oz. only 57 lbs 5 oz to go! :)

Be blessed and healthy!

Libby.

New Scale & a refreshed attitude....

I purchased a scale last night at Sam's club and boy is it COOL! First of all it weighs you and stores up to 4 weight records. It lets you set a goal weight and then keeps track of how much you've lost since your last weigh in. I think it keeps track of over all weight loss too, but not sure. Anyway, I am INCREDIBLY happy to announce that I have lost a total of 10 lbs and 2 oz in the last month. I am thrilled, elated and cautiously optimistic. The reason being, I know that you tend to lose more your first month. But I don't want to lose this weight over night. I want to lose it slowly and properly so that my overall health will change with the weight loss. I am seeing much clearer skin, much shinier, softer hair and my nails are growing like they did when I was pregnant. :)

I am so pleased with my purchase. 28.95 at Sam's. Well worth the money.

Eat well and be pleased with yourself.

God bless,

Libby

Surprisingly enough...

I'm not having any difficulty with my "new way" of eating. I am basically following the FDA Food Pyramid. I'm having smaller, more reasonable portions of food. Yesterday, my hubby decided to get a pizza. Just pepperoni and cheese. I had some left over chili. Small bowl. And a small slice of pizza and didn't eat the crust, because frankly, it wasn't one of those flavored crusts, so, why bother. :) I feel that I had a sensible, yet enjoyable supper. My chili is extremely healthy too and chocked full of wonderful things. The pizza probably gave me a decent amount of protein, but alas, it was mostly fat, but I had a small piece and didn't eat all of it and I was satisfied. Didn't even think about having another piece. In fact, my 20 month old son ate more pizza than I did last night. :) Wow. Right now for breakfast I'm enjoying a bowl of oatmeal with a tbsp of peanut butter in it. That's right, you heard me, peanut butter. It's really delicious and oh so good for you. A little bit of fat, but a ton of protein and fiber all rolled into one tasty bowl. There is one thing I miss ever so slightly and that is hazelnut coffee with lots of cream and sugar. I basically stopped drinking coffee, because the only way it was palatable to me was to add about 600 calories to it. Thus, making it a very fattening little drink. I have also eliminated pop, soda, carbonated beverages from my diet all together. Don't miss them at all. Pure garbage. I do enjoy a cranberry or cranapple drink every once in a while, but I'm mostly just having water with lemon these days. Love it, crave it, need it! :)

I have a trip to New England in a little over a month. It involves a fair amount of driving from the Midwest and usually stops at McDonald's and Arby's and Burger King. Well, I think what I'm going to do is pack a large bag of trailmix, that I make myself. I love nuts, they love me, so what's the harm. I don't over do it with them either. I am also going to pack some fruit and some turkey wraps and a granola bar for breakfast. Perhaps two? Anyway, I will not be a victim of to any fast food. I don't need it and don't really like it any more. Don't get wrong I love a good burger and fries. But I want to make them myself and know exactly what I'm putting in my body. And even then, they will be not so frequent foods. There are much healthier choices out there and I am all over them. :)

Good eats to all.

God bless,

Libby

Still standing

I have so much energy since I started eating better. It's truly liberating to make better choices and feel good about them and dare I say, crave them. I love fruit, nuts, fish, oatmeal, all of the great things I am eating. I am so pleased with my progress. I'm not sure what my overall progress is at this time. I need a new scale. The one I have is off by about 8 or 9 lbs. Can't get a decent assessment of what I weight with that one. I am thinking about buying one of those that give you body, fat and water weight. We'll see.

Next time I'll include my recipe for acorn squash, carrot, potato soup.

To your health!

Libby

So far so good.

I have been eating so well, that my co-workers have noticed and commended me for it. Yesterday I made an acorn squash & carrot puree soup. I have fallen in love with my food processor, I must say. I had a bowl yesterday after I made it and it was devine. I put garlic and onions and sauteed them in a little bit of butter to start. Just a little. Then I added the roasted acorn squash that I made earlier in the day. (roasted in a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper) Added baby carrots and diced potatoes (two small ones). YUM, then I added some poultry seasoning and two large cans of chicken stock. I don't have to make everything from scratch! The stock was fat free and low sodium though. I added some fresh basil salt and pepper and let simmer for about an hour, everything was was tender and then I poured it all into my food processor and had it on low until it was all blended up nicely. I poured it back into the pot added a little bit of 2 % milk (probably a 1/2 cup), simmered it for about 15 more minutes and then enjoyed a bowl.

I really do feel great about the way I have been eating and I have a lot of energy. I even spoke to my family doctor about it the other day and he seems to think, I'm on the right track. It's really the common sense approach to dieting. I'm not starving myself, I'm not fad dieting, I'm not eating liquids only, I'm eating the way God intended us to eat. I guess my new way of eating is more along the lines of the Maker's Diet. However, I will eat pork and salmon. Pork loin and salmon are really healthy foods. Bottom line, I am making smarter, healthier choices, eating smaller portions of them and drinking LOTS and LOTS of H2O with lemon. I do have an occasional cranberry juice cocktail, but I have completely eliminated soda and coffee from my diet. Soda, because it's pure crap and coffee, because I have to put 3 or 4 creams and 2 or 3 sugars in it for it to be even palatable. I do enjoy hot tea though, with lemon and honey. Honey is a great natural sweetener. In moderation of course.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up. I am going to enjoy some sweet things and some fattening things, but I'm not worried. I will still watch how much of them I enjoy. To tell you the truth, I haven't wanted for any chocolate, ice cream, candy, chips, or anything else junkfoody. Especially fast food. I just don't want it. Once you start eating cleaner and healthier, your body craves, fresh fruits and veggies. I love to eat a handful of almonds or walnuts. They are so good for you and great sources of protien and essential fats. Your body processes them easier than the saturated variety. However, you still have to eat those in moderation too. I also enjoy them raw with no salt. I suppose you could roast them in a dry pan over medium heat to release some of their own oils and lightly salt them. But as for me, I don't need to do any of that.

I am going to enjoy making all of my Christmas confections as I have in years past. I just won't be eating that many of them myself. I am not out to put the whole world on a diet, but I don't mind boasting about my own successes. My husband is benefiting from this way of eating. He's not eating the same way, but hasn't had any fast food in a month. :)

Eat well and prosper.

God bless,

Libby