The First 43: My Life Now

Months ago I posted an image from the weight loss simulator which showed my original weight and my goal weight.  Here is the simulator image with my goal weight in a side by side with a recent photo.  It was fairly accurate. Here is a new simulator image, it has my current weight with a goal weight of an additional 15lbs lost.  If I can get there, I'd be happy to look like the simulator image! If you want to try out the simulator, here are the links again: WOMEN: http://api.modelmydiet.com/eywomen MEN: http://api.modelmydiet.com/eymen

We are moving soon so, it's time to do a purge....   I held onto my "fat" clothes for far too long. I'd let a piece of clothing go here and there but I was honestly terrified I would gain the weight back and have to buy new bigger clothes again.  Since we are moving, I decided it's time to get rid of those clothes, give them away to charity and embrace my new smaller sized clothing.  There is no point in packing and moving clothes I can't wear. I even found some really nice clothes that were just too snug to keep wearing not that long ago, packed up under the bed.  It's almost like having a new wardrobe to work with without spending any money.  It feels great to get rid of the clothes and say to myself "you won't gain it back." I honestly think that having the clothes around always gave me the "option" and I don't want to have that option, I just want the clothes out of sight. Someone else can enjoy them instead! As ...

What an exciting morning! I reached my goal of 43lbs lost and even did myself one better as I'm sitting at 44lbs lost right now. I am ecstatic. I did a ridiculous dance all around my living room and then almost felt like crying out of sheer relief.  It's been 283 days of calorie counting, about 9 months. Every single day. It's been well worth it as I've managed to stick to it and reach my goal. I'm going to slowly start increasing my caloric intake now to switch to a half a pound a week loss for another 15lbs.  It doesn't mean that the exercise stops or that I am going to stop eating the way I'm eating.  It just means I won't be losing at the same rate and that's okay with me.  I need to give my body a break and just live a healthy active lifestyle. Thank you to everyone who has cheered me on every step of the way and given me more support than I could have ever asked for. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Here are my progress photos: Thi...

One of the reasons I love Chatelaine magazine is the recipes and I always hope I will get around to making them someday. Well this one I got around to making. It's delicious and I highly recommend it. Tomato Goat Cheese Risotto 2 tbsp light margarine 1/2  white onion, finely chopped 1 cup arborio rice 540 ml can stewed tomatoes 2 cups vegetable broth 1 tbsp dried oregano leaves 1 tsp each of garlic powder, salt and granulated sugar 140g light goat cheese, crumbled  150g package frozen spinach, thawed Directions: Use an oven safe casserole dish with a lid.  Preheat oven to 400*F. Melt margarine in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and stir often until they are soft. Stir in rice until coated and then the can of tomatoes. Stir often until liquid is almost absorbed.  Then stir in the broth, herbs and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Put the mixture into your casserole dish, cover and bake in centre of oven until all liquid is abso...

In April when I started this program these jeans were snug. I mean snug in every place. I really should have been wearing a bigger size to be comfortable but, I refused to buy them. I looked like I was just sausaging myself into them. My muffin top was out of control. It was probably the realization that I needed to start buying bigger clothes that really got me thinking. Here is what they look like now..... The photos don't really do it justice but, if I walk, they don't even stay up, they immediately start to fall down. These will be the only pair of my "starting" pants I will keep so as I continue to lose weight, I can continue to show these types of photos.  I am now officially ready to purge the rest of them! Plus, if I hang onto them, it gives me the ability to just fit back into them and I really don't want that. I figure with 0.8lbs left to lose the pants aren't going to change much between now and my goal so here they are. 

Nutella cookies! NUTELLA! I really love Nutella but honestly haven't eaten much of it since April because of its high calorie count (it's worse than peanut butter at 100 calories per tablespoon, yikes!) I guess this is where my Italian genes come in, love of all things chocolate. Anyway, I found a recipe and slightly adapted it (well, just cut the sugar in half, who needs all that sugar when you've got all that Nutella?) It allows me to still love my Nutella while consuming less calories. Ingredients: 1 cup of Nutella (or knock off Hazelnut spread) 1 cup All Purpose Flour 1/4 cup Sugar 1 egg Directions: Preheat oven to 350*F.  Mix egg, sugar and flour (it will look crumbly.) Once that's done add Nutella.  Mix for a minute or two. It will still look crumbly but will be able to form into solid dough (think peanut butter cookie consistency) Roll the dough into balls (this recipe makes 35 cookies) and place on baking sheet.  With a fork, press down on each ...

Last night I decided to throw a few things together and make my own sauce. A fun experiment in "just use what was already in the cupboards, in the fridge and in the freezer."  It actually turned out pretty great and it was healthy so I'm sharing it here with all of you. Sausage and Spinach Sauce Ingredients: 2 lean sausages (I used Blue Menu) 1 1/2 cups strained tomato sauce 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup of frozen spinach, thawed 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped Two garlic cloves, pressed 2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 tsp sugar Dry or Fresh Oregano & Basil to taste Directions: Take the casings off the sausages, cut into bits and cook oven top in a frying pan.  Add onion and garlic.  Keep in pan until cooked.  Once cooked, add the strained tomato sauce, water, spinach, olive oil, sugar, basil and oregano.  Mix together.  Let the sauce simmer stove top for about 15 minutes.  This makes enough sauce for 4 people. Calories: 150/servin...

I swear.... these last few pounds seem to be dragging on forever. In my mind anyway. If I'm actually being honest, they are coming off at a little bit of a faster rate than usual but, I just want to make it to my goal so badly! The good news, 1 more pound until I reach my goal! The day is near! I want my reward dinner.  Isn't it awful that I go through all of this so I can still enjoy food? I actually did the 30 Day Shred, Level 3, tonight as I couldn't make it to the gym and needed to get moving.  I then watched The Biggest Loser and my goodness, Jillian Michaels is hard core. She's so tough and I hate her every moment when I'm doing the shred but, she's also got such a kind heart which you get to see on the show. She really wants people to be the best versions of themselves, I really think she truly cares. The quotation in this image is something I keep going back to over and over again. It's a saying that has kept me going.  These days and month...

In my progress photos, my 10lb lost photo is actually from a wedding party I was in, in June.  I still have that bridesmaids dress in my closet because I fully intended to wear it again at some other time. I decided why not pull it out and see just how much weight, in terms of inches, I've lost.... and it is quite a bit! About 3-4 inches. I can actually get in and out of the dress easily without unzipping it. The clip I put on it, didn't even clip all the extra material.  This photo was 31 pounds ago which is insanely hard to believe. Here is a little comparison so you can kind of see how much bigger it is, hard to really photograph it.  I guess I will hold off on getting alterations done until I'm done losing weight!

I came across this on Pinterest the other day. The part that made me laugh was #2. I always say "I'm not a runner, I just run for exercise purposes." It's funny because I run 3-5k about 3 or 4 days a week but I really don't consider myself to be a runner. To me a runner is someone who runs marathons and long distances (10k +) which certainly isn't me and I doubt it ever will. I really don't like running enough to run for a longer period of time than I do. I guess however, that it's time that I admit that I am in fact a runner and honour these 10 commandments for runners. #4 really isn't a problem for me as I have more than one rest day in a week! Anyone else in the same situation as I am? You run a lot but really don't consider yourself to be a runner?

A lot of people I talk to say they just don't have the time to exercise. I get that, I make time now but I was there.  I still have weeks where it is next to impossible to get exercise and I have to really monitor every single calorie that goes in my mouth because of it.  There are some fun, and easy things to get moving a little bit everyday and it only takes about 5 minutes out of your morning or evening.   For example, Jumping January!  In the below image you will see a calendar which has some exercises on it. It breaks down what you are supposed to do everyday and work your strength up.  If you are on Pinterest, you can see a bunch of these types of calendars for different months and different activities. I think they are a great way to get yourself moving.  I've also included a couple of the ones that I've done with some friends of mine in the past.  Knowing other people are doing these things with you really helps keep you accountable and fo...

I got a brand new slow cooker for Christmas and I was so excited, the one I had didn't have an auto warm setting after cooking which made the use of my slow cooker almost impossible Monday - Friday while working.  This was the very first meal I made in my Crockpot and it turned out great.  Slower Cooker Balsamic Chicken & Vegetables Ingredients: 6 lean chicken thighs, chopped up (I used blue menu, one package has 6)  1 1/2 cups Baby Carrots, halved 1/2 cup Red Onion, chopped 1 Medium Green Pepper, cut into strips 1 Medium Red Pepper, cut into strips 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar 2 tsp Worschesher Sauce 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Ground Pepper 4 Garlic Cloves Directions:  Chop onion into small pieces.  Cut the peppers into strips. Cut the baby carrots in half. Put all the vegetables in a bowl and mix together with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and worchesher sauce.  Cut up the raw chicken into bite sized pieces. Put the chicken in the slow coo...

I had a very exciting morning.  Monday is weigh in day (I know, cruel since it's right after the weekend right?) I always fear stepping on the scale as if I'm suddenly going to find out I have gained a bunch of weight.  Well, the scale gave me more than good news, it gave me great news! I lost 2.2lbs (1kg) this week! I almost jumped up and down right on the scale. This leaves me with 1.7lbs left to lose. I am just a week or two away from my goal and I couldn't be more excited about it. It seems like it wasn't all that long ago I started this but it's been 39 weeks and on average, it's worked out to just about one pound a week. This quotation/image is something I often referenced back to when I was feeling defeated and I honestly think it means more today then the day I first found it.... in time, you'll see change and I can honestly say that I can finally see the difference in myself now.  This means only 1.7lbs before my official before and after, start...

Oh delicious little pizza bites!  These pizza bites are always a winner when I have a party, they literally disappear within minutes. I will say though, no one loves them more than our friend Eric, so I try to make them when he comes over to visit! Ingredients: 1/2 a store bought fresh pizza dough 26 pieces of Turkey Pepperoni (I use Butterball brand) 1/3 of a ball of a ball of Mozzarella (I use TreStelle or Saputo) Dry basil and oregano sprinkled on top Optional: If you like, you can create an olive oil herb mix and put it on top instead but the skinnier version is to just skip the olive oil as the herbs will stick to the fresh dough without it. Dip : Tomato sauce of your choice (I usually make my own with a jar of strained tomatoes) Directions: Cut the dough ball in half, and let that half sit out for about 30 minutes to warm up (makes it easier to stretch the dough)  Prep the mozzarella by cutting 1/3 of the ball and then cutting that into 26 smaller pieces....

Today I bring you Kate & Mark's Stuffed Peppers ! They made them for dinner when I was over a few months ago and I absolutely loved them.  One is more than enough to fill you right up. Ingredients: 9 medium sized sweet peppers 2 cups of couscous of your choice (if you don't like couscous I'm sure you could substitute rice) 1 large can diced tomatoes 3 Sausages of your choice without casing (I used lean Blue Menu) 1/2 cup Red Onion Garlic (to your taste, I crushed one clove) Salt and pepper to taste Optional: Mozzarella cheese Directions: Remove casings from sausages and cut up, put in stove top pan.  Add onion and garlic and cook stove top until sausage is cooked through. While this is cooking, prepare your couscous, hollow your peppers and preheat the oven to 350*F.  Chop up the tops of 4-5 peppers to include in the stuffing mix.  Once sausage is cooked, add the couscous, chopped pepper, and can of tomatoes.  Heat stove top on low for a few m...