Thankful For Many Things

Thank you everyone for your wonderful words of support and encouragement yesterday. At the urging of my friend Monica, I'm posting this side by side comparison so you can see how my weight has or hasn't changed. The photo on the left was taken last year in May, the photo on the right was taken this year in October. Yes I watermarked the photo because I certainly don't want to end up on some other site (you know which one I mean LOL)

Photo on the left was when I had lost weight without doing much exercise...gave up and regained and restarted this year with a new fresh attitude, blogging and not giving up. I'm also doing plenty of exercise this year. The actual weight difference between these two photos is 4.6 pounds. The inch difference?
Bust: 5 inches
Waist: 2 inches
Hips: 11.5 inches
Thighs: 3 inches each
Calves: 2 inches each

Yes apparently muscle does take up less room than fat.

So in this week before Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for many things. One of them being my wonderful new friends in blog land who have encouraged me to never give up. Thank you all very much!

Kriss over at Zookins is collecting Thanksgiving recipes and I shared this one with her so I thought I'd share this with you too.

Spiced Cranberry Apple Chutney

12 oz. Bag of Fresh Cranberries

1 ½ Cups Sugar (I used splenda, or half sugar half splenda )

½ Cup Water

½ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Granny Smith Apple, Peeled, Cored and Chopped

1 Orange, Zest Grated and Juiced

1 Lemon, Zest Grated and Juiced

¾ Cup Raisins

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

½ teaspoon Ginger

½ teaspoon Allspice

¼ teaspoon Ground Cloves

¾ Cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts



1. Combine the Cranberries, Sugar, Water, and Vinegar in a saucepan. Over medium heat cook around 10 minutes or until the Cranberry skins pop open. You will hear the popping sound.

2. Add all the other ingredients except for the Pecans. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 15 minutes stirring often.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the Pecans.

4. Cool to room temperature.

5. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. Bring to room temperature before serving.

*EXCELLENT with Turkey, Chicken, Pork, or Ham. Great to serve along with cheese and crackers at a party too.

Life Lessons in Patience

Patience is a virtue

Yes, a virtue, you know that good and admirable quality of moral excellence and righteousness. While I possess many admirable virtues, it would seem that patience is not one of them. When they were passing out virtues did I skip this line in favor for an extra turn in the hot fudge brownie and double mocha latte line?

While every reasonable fiber of my being knows that I’m doing this the right way, the healthy way, the part of me who tried on clothes that didn’t fit today brought out the impatience monster. The part of me who turned down the invitation for a girl’s trip to Vegas because I know my ass won’t fit in the plane seat brought out the impatience monster. I never realized just how ugly that monster can be. After all, we live in an instant society of , instant coffee (yuck), microwaves, fast food, instant access to information online and more, doesn't it make sense that it would start to carry over into other aspects of our lives such as weight loss. Well there isn't a fast fix, there is no magic pill (other than the Laddie and Lassies site) and losing weight takes time!

This morning we were lying in bed and the puppers came jumping into bed with us and I ended up quite contorted in the bed fighting for a little bit of bed space.

My hand ended up in my armpit area and I noticed something...the bulges of fat under my armpits feel smaller. When I measured earlier in the week, I had noticed that the fat on my lower thighs around my knees seemed smaller too. But how disgusting is it that I have armpit fat? LOL

While I’m not obsessing over a number on the scale anymore, I still want to see progress. Maybe the extra few feet I jog every night on our walk is enough progress for now.

My fitness Barbie of a sister-in-law who is a nutritionist and an exercise freak/personal trainer once told me that her clients have to go from clothes too tight to clothes that FIT before they start dropping sizes. I lost 11 inches last week…that is progress! I have fat in weird places and yes, I have to get rid of the fat in the weird places first before my body will get rid of the fat in the stomach, hips and thighs, arms, waist and double chin....its a process. I am losing weight, I am getting healthier, I am getting stronger and maybe, just maybe I’m learning a little bit about patience.

Running After Dark

I posted the other day about how excited I was about running for a few feet. Today I jogged for over 1/2 a block!!

As I was jiggling down the block it suddenly occurred to me that it was a VERY good thing that it gets dark earlier now....as I jiggled past one of the houses, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the front window and I suddenly had a horrifying vision of my 358 pound ass jiggling down the block ending up on YouTube...HORRORS!!!! Yeah, I think I'll stick to jogging after dark!

Celebrating...Our Aniversary, Positive Mental Shift and Cooler Weather!!

Yesterday was our 6^th Anniversary! We had a wonderful day together. We started the day with breakfast at our favorite breakfast place that offers a lot of healthy choices like turkey sausage, egg white omelets and sliced tomatoes in place of potatoes. We then headed to the Christmas shop just because it makes me happy to walk around and look at all of the pretty decorations. Then we headed to International Plaza, a shopping mall that houses the higher end shops like Tiffany’s and Louis Vuitton. By the time we left the mall we had spent over $250,000!! Of course it was $250,000 in window shopping dollars, not actual dollars. Maybe I didn’t need that third Prada handbag. Because our extensive walking and stair climbing at the mall, I allowed for an indulgence at The Cheesecake Factory before we left the mall. We had planned to visit our favorite Greek restaurant but the cheesecake was very filling and we ended up watching movies in bed instead. Probably a good thing since I found out the cheesecake made with Splenda still has over 600 calories! Even with that indulgence, I still stayed within my calories for the day.

Its nice to have a treat and not feel guilty. In the past I probably would have beat myself up over the Cheesecake. As it was, at 2:30 in the afternoon when we sat there eating our cheesecake, other people sat and watched. You could feel the stares and woman seated next to us made a point of telling her date how hard she had been dieting and cheesecake wasn’t on her diet. Yes, she was talking THAT loud but I ate my cheesecake without guilt knowing that I was within my calorie limits and that I’m in this for life. This isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle and by allowing for indulgences, I keep myself sane and on track. In the past, a slice of cheesecake would have sent me on a “why bother” and I would have spent the rest of the weekend on an eating free for all…no MORE!!

Besides the walking at the mall, I did come home and do strength training exercises. My legs were kind of achy from running on Wednesday night.

This morning I was treated to a glorious treat! The weather has finally cooled a bit here in Florida. Yesterday was sunny but quite humid. Today the humidity is down and the air is cool 65 degrees! After months of 80’s and 90’s 24/7, this is a true TREAT! I know it won’t last but I plan on enjoying it while I can with an extra long walk/jog tonight!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who left comments on Wednesday’s post. Your kind words mean so much.

I Ran!!

We did our nightly neighborhood walk tonight when we rounded the corner where I typically power walk for the whole block. My husband took the dogs leads and started to run ahead and something in me just kicked in and I ran to keep up with them...not jogged but RAN! It was only for about 40 feet but it was a milestone. I haven't run since, well probably since I was a teenager in high school over 20 years ago.

When I stopped running, in between gasps for air, I thought about the movies. You know the ones, where some big monster is coming after the hero and heroine and they have to run for their lives...I couldn't do it, I would be the one who would be a snack for the big alien monster. In my mind when I thought of those movies I thought I would be the heroine. Now that I know I couldn't do it...I WANT to do it. I want to be able to run for my life and in a sense I'm in a run for my life with this lifestyle change.

This isn't for just a few days or weeks. This is something that doesn't have an ending. I have to make good choices every day forever, not just for a few days, weeks, months or even years. Every day....forever. This is my life and I'm the heroine in my own story.