The First 43: My Life Now

The dieters nightmare. Halloween.  So many tiny candies and chocolates tempting you. How can they be bad for you when they are so small? It's not like you're eating a whole chocolate bar, right? If only it worked that way! I have (mostly) kept them out of my apartment this month because it causes too much temptation.  Actually, I haven't indulged in a little teeny tiny bit of Halloween chocolate since the bags and boxes of them arrived in store. Now, they aren't all that bad when it comes to treats. They are actually fairly good if you're on a diet and you can stick to just having one (or two!) Most of them range from 45 - 60 calories per snack sized piece and will give you your chocolate fix.  I fully intend on buying a big box of them on clearance this week as retailers try to rid themselves of all the sugar. I actually wish they had little snack sized variety boxes of candy all year.  I don't actually need (or want) full size chocolate bars anymore, b

Inches Lost through Days 11-15 Hips: 0 (total lost: 0.5 inch) Waist: 0.5 (total lost: 1 inch ) Bust: 0 (total lost: 1 inch ) Bicep: 0 (total lost: 1 inch ) Thigh: 0.5 inch  (total lost: 1.5 inches ) ...Level 2 begins... Day 11: Oh my goodness! Level 2 sucks! It looks sooooo easy but it's sooooo hard.  The only thing that didn't kill me were the mountain climbers (Josh, thanks for torturing me with those!) What a shift from Level 1 to Level 2.  I am in shock. What a workout that was. Wow. Day 12: More sweating. More swearing. More pain.  That said, I didn't wake up in pain like I did when I started with Level 1. I do find parts of Level 2 easier (yay for way less jumping jacks) while other parts are harder (there are lots and lots of planks.)  Even Jillian works up a sweat on Level 2 which means, in my opinion anyway, it's a workout.  Day 13: I went to the gym today and I did the shred. All for birthday cake and wine! Not much to re

After 6 months of truly busting my butt and getting into shape I thought that exercise might grow on me.  I've really hated it my whole life (yes, I do mean hate!)  After this much time, and this much weight loss I thought that exercise would be second nature to me and that I'd start to looking forward to my workouts.  I think the opposite is coming true.  I am strong and have no issues lifting weights, I can keep up with a Jillian Michaels DVD and I can run 5K. I'm in the best shape of my life but I don't want to do it at all... and that is the biggest problem. It is a daily struggle. I admit it, I just don't find there to be anything enjoyable about it.  I never get a runners high, lifting weights doesn't really lift my spirits, circuit training often feels too repetitive and joining a team and playing sports doesn't interest me at all.  I'm not a huge fan of exercise with other people, I prefer getting exercise on my own. I also rarely get that ni

Inches Lost through Days 6-10 Hips: 0 (total lost: 0.5 inch) Waist: 0 (total lost: 0.5 inch ) Bust: 0.5 inch (total lost: 0.5 inch ) Bicep: 0 (total lost: 1 inch ) Thigh: 1 inch  (total lost: 1 inch ) Here is how the continued progress is going with the shred... After successfully doing 5 days in a row I missed Friday's workout ( I have a good excuse as I was volunteering at a charity auction, helping out my mom.) Day 6:  Best workout yet (do I say that too often?) Honestly though, I sweat a lot and felt like I could handle the work out.  For the first time, I was able to handle the advanced work out from start to finish without flipping between beginner and advanced.  It's possible that yesterdays rest day gave my body a jump start but I felt really good after the workout today. Day 7: After spending 3 hours outside blowing, raking and bagging leaves the last thing I wanted to do tonight was the shred but before bed I decided to give it a go. I did t

I'm back on track!!! My scale is working properly (i.e. it's set the right way) and I'm losing again!  I've lost 29 pounds! *phew* I've added to the before and after progress line up above with today's photo. I can really see the difference now. I worked really hard this week when it comes to controlling my diet and sticking to Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I really worked my tail off. I lost 1.5 pounds which dealt with the scale debacle plus some additional weight loss.  Thank goodness! I was afraid I'd step on the scale this morning and not get the results I had hoped for, but I did.  This means that I have 14 pounds to go.  I can do this, I just need to kick it into high gear and really work hard for the rest of 2012. No slacking, no getting lazy. Just a 100% focus on diet, fitness and weight loss. This has been so much work. Some nights I still get really frustrated (Just ask my husband how irritable I got this weekend while he sat down and ate

Inches Lost through Days 1 -5: Hips: 0.5 inches Waist: 0.5 inches Bust: No change Bicep: 1 inch Thigh:  No change A promised, here is an update on how the 30 Day Shred is going. I will say that at this point I feel like Jillian Michaels is the devil in a human body. Seriously. The number of times I yell at the workout video is a bit hilarious.  She really does believe the quotation posted in the image above! Day 1:  I didn't find it too bad. It was hard, I was sweating but I made it through without any cheating.  I thought "I can do this!" Day 2: I woke up so so (SO!!!) sore. Literally from head to toe.  I guess this proves that her workout is in fact a whole body workout.  The worst pain was in my thighs. My calves were really tight.  It pained me to type all day at work because my arms were exhausted.  I didn't know how I would do the workout again.  I went home and I did the shred though.  Day 2 was definitely harder because all my muscles were

Stuffed Ricotta and Spinach Shells were on my "freeze" list.  I finally got around to eating them and I am really quite happy with how they turned out!  They froze well and cooked well. Really delicious! Four shells are more than enough to fill you up. Recipe: 16 Jumbo Pasta Shells (I used Unico Brand) 1/2 a package of frozen spinach, thawed and completely drained 1 1/4 Cup Ricotta Cheese 1 egg 1 tsp dried oregano salt to taste Mozzarella and Red Sauce to desired amount. Directions: Boil water, and cook shells as per box instructions.  Once cooked, strain and let cool slightly.  While the pasta is cooking create your filling. Beat egg.  Add ricotta.  Once blended, mix in spinach, oregano and salt.  Divide filling into the 16 shells.  At this point you can cook them in the oven or freeze them.  I froze them without sauce.  When I cooked them from frozen, I put the sauce on top and baked at 375*F for 35 minutes.  Then I added the mozzarella and put it back in

It's been a challenging couple of weeks. I haven't posted much about it because I've been trying to get through it and I've been really busy (which was seen through my lack of blogging last week!)  Thanks again to everyone for reading and following my journey. Thank you for the kind words you've sent me via email, Facebook, Twitter and in person.  Thank you for the compliments you've passed along through my family and friends.  It means a lot and helps me stay motivated and keep going. I haven't posted any weight loss progress lately and there there are reasons for that.  A few things have happened.  One, I had my digital scale set wrong. It was not +/- 0lbs so it had me at a pound lighter than I actually was. This has now been corrected but, I'm trying to still drop that pound. On top of that, I gained half a pound the week of Thanksgiving.  I exercised a lot and controlled my food intake but I put on a little weight.  It was my first gain

Here are my brand new running shoes!  For the first time in my life, I actually wore out a pair of running shoes from running/exercise... not just general use and walking.  I spent a lot of time researching different brands, different shoes and I had a bit of a chuckle about how "high tech" shoes have become! I was going back and forth between Nike Free's and a few different ones from Adidas.  I know Adidas may not be most peoples #1 running shoe but every time I go away from my Adidas running shoes I am often disappointed but wear the runners until they are worn out. I decided on the Adidas adiStar Salvation but honestly, I couldn't wrap my head around their $169 + tax price tag. I was about to lose hope when I found the website "Running Free Canada"  where the shoes were on clearance there for $100 off.  I couldn't believe it, it seemed too good to be true.  In fact it wasn't, as you can see my shoes showed up, brand new, in the box with th

  It's been a little while since I've blogged. Things have been very busy!  I just wrapped up a fabulous girls weekend and figured I should get back at it. I promise to keep up with my blog this week! On Friday, we decided to do one of the best things you can do in the fall - go apple picking!  We got some exercise in with walking up and down the rows of trees and enjoyed each others company.  We had a 20lb bag to with with apples and as I was carting around I thought to myself, how did I carry around that extra 28lbs? That bag of apples was pretty darn heavy and it weighs less than what I've already lost! It's crazy how that bag of apples put my weight loss into perspective for me.  By the time I complete my journey I will lose at least two of those bags worth of weight.  When I think about it in terms of bags of apples, it seems impossible that I've already lost that much and will lose another full bag of them. Now to figure out what healthy t

I'm getting bored with my workout routine lately. Go to the gym, hop on the treadmill or elliptical and then do either chest, back or leg weight lifting.  Throw in a little core on days I'm at the gym longer.  It's becoming really routine.  So, with that I am going to add the 30 Day Shred into the mix. I'm also tired of the exercise I'm doing slowing down my weight loss (I know I know, it's the healthier thing to do and I haven't stopped exercising!) This shred is supposed to boost weight loss. I figure it's worth a shot. A few friends of mine have decided to start the 30 day shred. After some contemplating about whether or not I had enough room in my apartment to actually do the workout I've decided to try it! I got my hands on Levels 1, 2 and 3 and I'm ready. I need to remember to take my measurements too because apparently those that didn't lose a ton of weight ended up losing quite a few inches. From what I've read, you spend 10 d

These are my new jeans and I am still avoiding muffin top! Yipee! Obviously took this yesterday - before the big Thanksgiving Feast. Good news is I was under on my calories for the day with dinner #1.  Hopefully I have the same success tomorrow with dinner #2. The stomach area continues to flatten out and I can start to feels some abs under the last layer of fat.  There is light at the end of the tunnel on this one!

Lasagna rolls! Surprisingly low calorie and very delicious.  I have two photos above. One of when they were freshly rolled before they went in the freezer and the picture below it when they came out of the oven.  I don't like my lasagna too saucy so feel free to add more but here is the recipe: 5 lasagna noodles, cooked (I used Catelli Smart) 1/4 of a package of frozen spinach, thawed and completely drained 1 Cup Ricotta Cheese 1 egg salt and pepper to taste Mozzarella and Red Sauce to desired amount. Cook the lasagna noodles. While the noodles are cooking, make your filling.  Mix ricotta, spinach and egg, salt and pepper together.  Drain noodles and lay out flat, make sure they are dry. Divide the filling among the 5 noodles.  Then roll.  At this point, I took them and put them in an airtight container and froze them.  To cook them, I took them out of the freezer, put sauce on them and put them in the oven in a pyrex dish for 35 minutes at 375*F.  Then I took them

This has definitely been one of those weeks were I feel like quitting. Not sure why, nothing in particular has happened but I am feeling like this week is just so hard.  Everyday has been a struggle. Monday started as a great day when I weighed in, I'd lost 2lbs in a week and I felt like the end was within reach.  Then things changed. Probably due to a very stressful day outside of this journey, I was just feeling defeated.  I wanted to come home and just cook something I knew without a doubt I would enjoy and just forget about MyFitnessPal.  Unfortunately, I am not wired that way.  I did have a friend over so we did order pizza and have some wine but I didn't over do it.  I've come so far in the last 6 months and to throw it all away over a bad few days would be stupid..... but it has definitely put me back at odds with previous emotional eating.  Back to facing those issues which frankly I was able to ignore for a little while because I had an amazing summer without too

I rarely like chicken subbing extra lean ground beef when it comes to meatballs but I realize I need to branch out a little bit and add some variety to my diet. I saw a few recipes but all of them I liked part of but not as a whole.  So with that, I kind of mashed a few of the ideas together and made my own recipe. They turned out great! 500g package of ground chicken 1/4 cup Breadcrumbs of your choice (I used regular/plain) 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated 1/4 cup Basil, finely chopped 1 egg 1 tsp garlic powder Salt and Pepper to taste Take all the ingredients, except the chicken and breadcrumbs, and mix it up.  Then add breadcrumbs and chicken to mixture.  Roll into balls. This recipe makes 20 meatballs. Put the oven at 375*F and cook in a pyrex dish for 30-35 minutes depending on your oven.  You can then add them to any sauce of your choice right away or freeze them to eat at a later date. Calorie count: 31 calories/meatball.  Pretty darn good!

mmmmmm mmmmm good. This soup is fantastic and is wonderful for the fall. Another one of my online finds! I love soup in the winter but get bored of soup out of a can.  This was really easy to make and didn't take much prep time at all. My recipe, adapted from original:  1 796ml can pumpkin puree (3.25 cups if you want to use real pumpkin) 3 cans chicken or vegetable stock 1/2 cup applesauce 2 granny smith, or other tart apples, diced and peeled 1 small onion, diced 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon sage 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon thyme 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup 1% Milk Directions: 1. In a large pot, add diced onion, apples and a bit of water. Saute until onions are translucent. Add chicken broth, apple sauce, and herbs. Bring to a boil and cook until apples are very tender. Add pumpkin and brown sugar once apples are tender and cook for 10 – 15 minutes over medium heat covered. Use a submersible blender to blend soup or blend the soup in bat

28.5 pounds down! 14.5 pounds to go!!  It really doesn't seem that long ago that those numbers were reversed. Today is officially 6 months from when I decided I needed to figure out how to make a change in my life.  I honestly didn't think that I would be this successful with the program, not in my wildest dreams. I am still in disbelief that I have come as far as I have. Sometimes I look in the mirror and can't believe it's me in the reflection. I'm 2/3 of the way to my weight loss goal. Last night I changed over my closest from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter.  Trying on all sorts of clothes to see what still fit.  All my pants are big. Big as in I can take them of without unbuttoning them easily.  I am however saving my biggest pair for the end so that I can do a stereotypical pants stretched out photos.  I also found a pair of jeans from university which is great. They are one size smaller and fit really well. I also found a pair of pants I bought on final s