The First 43: My Life Now

Tonight we say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013! A whole new year, a whole new set of goals.  Weight loss and getting healthy was barely on my radar when I rang in 2012 but a late resolution is better than never right? I did say I'd like to lose 15lbs by the end of the year (check!) and that I'd like to be healthier (check!) but, honestly, I wasn't that serious about it until the spring, it had been my default resolution for years. I thought that the quotation in the image above was fitting for ringing in a new year. I could never have imaged in my wildest dreams that in one years time, I'd be where I am now. This year I accomplished many things outside of my weight loss journey but they all seem to pale in comparison to this. I am starting this year 39lbs lighter than when I started it.  I've brought down my body fat percentage. My BMI has dropped 7 points. I can run 5k.  I rock strength training.  I can run up and down stairs without getting winded. I su...

Ahhh.. the battle with self discipline.  This has been something people have complimented me over and over again on the last few months.  To me, it isn't really discipline (even though I know it actually is) it's about getting to where I need to go the fastest way possible.  Having a chocolate bar because I'm having a bad sugar craving isn't going to help me get to my end game faster, it's just going to slow things down.  There is nothing fun about dropping this much weight, it's a lot of work every single day. The sooner it's over, the better. It's mentally exhausting and there are days when you cry or just want to give up because you're not sure how much more you can put yourself through but you pick yourself up and you keep going. I got disciplined because I needed to be accountable and take charge of my life.  I needed to have the physical me, reflect the inside me and if you know me well, you know I like to do things fast, things that ta...

The holidays for me were very busy this year and full of really delicious food! I jokingly posted this photo on Instagram on Christmas Day with the caption "Where my diet goes to die..." The truth is even though I really wanted to enjoy sweets that night, I was so full! I made up a plate of food honestly no different than Christmas last year.  I got through most of it and by the time it got to dessert I could barely stomach it.  I was in actual pain from the amount I had eaten.  I guess my stomach has done some shrinking over the last 8 months and even when I have the calorie space to allow for a little over consumption, my body just doesn't allow for it.  I actually felt full for a solid 12 hours after eating... that never happens. The good thing, I felt legitimately full for the first time in ages, the bad thing, I didn't pace myself well enough and ended up being overly full and didn't fully get to enjoy the sweets the way I wanted to.  I also admi...

Banana Bread!! One of my favourite all time recipes!  The original recipe was full fat and I have made some adjustments to make it lighter so I can still eat it but it tastes equally as good, promise! Ingredients: 1/2 Cup  Light Becel Margarine 1/2 Cup  Sugar 1 Cup Mashed Ripe Bananas (4 medium sized, sometimes it ends up being just over a cup) 2 Cups All Purpose Flour, sifted 2 eggs 3 tsp. Baking Powder 1 tsp. Lemon Juice 1/2 tsp. Salt   Optional Additional Ingredient: 1 cup Chocolate Chips or 1 cup Chopped Nuts. I have not accounted for this addition in my calorie count as I usually make it without. Directions: Blend sugar and margarine together until smooth.  Beat eggs and add to creamed mixture.  Mash Banana, add lemon juice to the banana and then add to the blended mixture.  Sift in flour, baking powder and salt quickly into the mixture.  (Add nuts or chocolate chips if desired) Bake in a greased loaf pan for 75 mi...

mmmm mmmmm good.  I had some friends over this past weekend and decided that I wanted to try something new. I had a few friends recommend different buffalo chicken dips and so I decided to give the one from SkinnyTaste a try as the recipes on that site are always diet friendly. I only made one substitution because I am not a fan of blue cheese in anything, so I used a ranch salad dressing instead.  I had seen that listed on other websites as a good substitute for blue cheese in recipes and it worked!  The dip was delicious and this is how I made it: Ingredients: 125g of light cream cheese (1/2 a brick) 1 cup light sour cream 1/2 cup Franks Red Hot original hot sauce 1/2 cup light ranch salad dressing 1 tsp white wine vinegar 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken (about 400g, 2 large breasts)  Blend the first five ingredients together until smooth (I threw everything into my KitchenAid mixer to make it nice and easy, and smooth!) Add the shredded chic...

It's not about finding time. Most of us can't "find" time... I know I certainly can't. I'm always so busy I can barely keep up. For years I said "I don't have time, I just can't find any." When reality was I needed to make time and I needed to make it a priority.  Now, I make sure not to make social or work plans every night during week because I need to make time to hit the gym or get some exercise in some way.  If I work all day and then see people every night it would be impossible to stick to the plan I'm on.  It's probably  helped my overall stress levels as well because I make sure that I have nights where I'm not running around like a crazy person. Going to the gym is like making a doctors appointment, you need to make time for it because it's important. It's not necessarily something you feel like doing or really want to do (or at least it isn't for me) but it is a necessary part of life. If I don...

35 pounds down, 8 more to my goal! When I've been asked recently how much weight I've lost, I say "About a toddler" but the funny thing is, it's not a far stretch. I should actually say small child because 35lbs is the average weight of a 3 or 4 year old.  When I think about it that way, it seems crazy. Other things that weigh 35lbs? a medium sized microwave, a large bag of dry dog food or a medium sized dog. I'm so glad that I'm on the last legs of this first round of weight loss.  8 more pounds and I can take a break from dropping pounds and focus on maintaining my weight.  I'm almost back to my high school weight, this is pretty exciting!

I can barely believe it. I meant to post when I hit the big 200 but,  I've been so busy that I haven't had the time to keep up on my blog. I apologize for totally slacking off with my posts. So instead, I am blogging at 225 days! My thought over the last week or so has been "Can I actually do a full 365?" and I think I can and it might be a goal for me once I lose the last 10.  That doesn't mean I am going to actively keep losing, just keep myself in line. When I started this 225 days ago I was given a number of calories to eat in order lose 1 pound per week. After losing 33 pounds obviously, they take calories away. Since day one, I have gone down 260 calories/day.  That is a heck of a lot of food.  The challenge lately is that the calories are definitely less than I feel like I can consume and some days leave me feeling hungry. My fix for that has been to increase my exercise, full well knowing it will slow my weight loss, but at least I'm healthy and fu...