Another Before/After Picture

December 2007

May 2008

May Weight Loss Picture

Starting picture 323 pounds Ouch! I don't like this picture much!!!!


Here is my picture for May, the lighting was so bad, it was actually raining here. I am 275 pounds here. I can really tell in my upper body that I am losing and while I am Plump still I think I am starting to look better! I have lost 48 pounds here since starting.

Tuesday Weigh-In!

Well, I weighed in at my Weight Watchers meeting and I am happy to report that I have had a GREAT week! I lost another 2 pounds! Woo Hoo! That makes my total weight loss 48.6 pounds! I have 6.8 pounds more to lose until my next goal of reaching my Weight Watcher 10%.
Weight Watchers works people! I remember hearing people say that but I guess I never believed anything could help me. This has been the first thing that has really worked in my life! Maybe I have more motivation this time, I don't know, but I do know I love Weight Watchers! Maybe Weight Watchers works because it is all about living. I eat the foods I want. It really is a change of lifestyle and not a diet. I know I am losing weight, but I really do not feel like I am on a diet and I guess that is why it has been easier.
Tonight at my meeting we talked about how to deal with all of the picnics that are coming later this month. I have a picnic this weekend and I already told my dh that I am bringing a Boca burger and I am going to ask them to put it on the grill for me. I might have to also bring my own bun and I am bringing the Dreamsicle Cake.

New Progress Pictures

Starting weight 323.8 pounds


Today 280.6 Pounds

I went to Weight Watchers tonight. My leader weighed me in at 280.6 pounds and wrote that I had a 2 pound loss. After sitting down and thinking, I realized she had made a mistake. So, I took it back up to her and she refigured it and I had lost 3 pounds. Now how I lost three pounds I really do not know. I have been doing the same things I always have been doing. But I am really proud of myself! I have now lost a total of 43.2 pounds since January 7th and 16.8 pounds of that since going to Weight Watchers. I have to lose 29 pounds to get to my 10%, so I have 12.2 pounds to lose to get there! I still got a long way to go, but I know I can do it!

FlyLady?

Someone asked me what FlyLady was and I am sorry I did not give you the link. FlyLady is an online resource to help you organize your house. Do you ever clean all in one day just because you have company coming over? FlyLady might be for you. She sends daily e-mails to help motivate you to get your house clean. Her whole thing is baby steps. So, cleaning 15 minutes at a time really will eventually get your areas cleaned. Purging is also important. You should only keep what you need and love. Also, her big thing is cleaning your sink every night before you go to bed and always keeping it clean. She works in zones and usually gives a week to each zone. Like, this week is the master bedroom. We also get a mission each day to work on in the zone. Like this week was cleaning off your dressers one day. Go to her website and learn more. When I was doing her system I felt like I was just picking up a little each day. Things seemed to stay cleaner and I would never mind if someone was coming over. I need to work on getting to the just picking up part so I can have more time with my kids this summer. I know some people feel this is just too much but really you need to make the plan work for you even if it means changing it to fit your needs. I really loved it but quit while I was on bed rest with the twins and never went back. My house is constantly a wreck and I NEVER have enough time to clean it. I have to invite people over sometimes to motivate me to clean it. Basically, it is not dirty just cluttered. Having four kids has really made this happen fast! So, with baby steps I may get my house back to being clutter free. Also, she has a lot of great things that go along with Weight Watcher ideas like vitamin everyday, 6-8 glasses of water, and 15 minutes of activity a day. She also has a book called body clutter that is really neat. So, I think this will work real well with what I am already doing with Weight Watchers.

Weigh In

Well I lost 2 more pounds last night at my Weight Watchers meeting. Do you know what that means? It means I have lost over 40 pounds!!!! I am so excited. I loved being a loser on my birthday yesterday, it felt so good! I now weight 283.6. Trying to get to the under 270 goal I set for myself! I am getting there!

Weigh in

Last night I lost .4 pound. Yes, that is all. I have decided not to worry about my weigh ins. I can't do anything about it except do the best I can on selecting my food for the week, so that is what I am going to do. So now I have lost 38.2 pounds. That's good, only 17 more to reach my WW 10 percent!!!
Last week, I had a Weight Watcher Smoothie every morning with ff milk for 3 points each and you get your two dairy in. So, I did not do as well last week at drinking my milk, so I have been reading and lots of people say when they do get all of there dairy in that they seem to lose more on those weeks. So, I am going to try it this week. I know there is lots of research to prove this theory, so now I am going to see if it helps me? I love the new orange WW smoothies! Taste like a dreamsicle!

Freezer Food Friday

This is really yummy, you can make one for dinner and one for the freezer in a very short amount of time.

Lasagna Margherite

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1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce

Cooking spray

1 (15-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt6 no-boil lasagna noodles

1/2 cup (2 ounces) pre-shredded fresh Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
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Preheat oven to 450°. Spread 1/2 cup pasta sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine ricotta, 1/3 cup basil, crushed red pepper, and salt. Arrange 2 noodles over sauce; top with 1 cup ricotta mixture and 3/4 cup sauce. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Cover and bake at 450° for 25 minutes or until noodles are tender and sauce is bubbly. Uncover lasagna, and top with Parmesan and 2 tablespoons basil. Bake lasagna an additional 5 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.

4 servings
NUTRITIONAL INFO: CALORIES 386(30% from fat); FAT 12.7g (sat 7.6g,mono 3.6g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 24g; CHOLESTEROL 43mg; CALCIUM 620mg; SODIUM 959mg; FIBER 3.7g; IRON 2.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 42.4g

Source: Cooking Light Magazine November 1998

For more Freezer Food Friday recipe go to What a Crock!

Crockpot Pineapple Chicken

Crockpot Pineapple Chicken
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6 whole chicken breast halves without skin -- skinned and split

1 dash pepper

To taste paprika

20 ounces pineapple tidbits in juice

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 clove garlic -- minced

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Arrange chicken in bottom of crockpot. Sprinkle with pepper and paprika. In a small bowl, combine drained pineapple tidbits, mustard and soy sauce. Pour over chicken. Add minced garlic. Cover and cook on LOW 7-9 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours.

Makes 6 serving. Per Serving: 194 Calories; 2g Fat; 28g Protein; 16g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 68mg Cholesterol; 483mg Sodium.

Slow Cooking Thursday is sponsored by Diary of a SAHM go look there for more recipes.

Lighter BLT Pasta Salad

Lighter BLT Pasta Salad Recipe
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3 2/3 cups cooked large macaroni shells
4 cups tomatoes, cut up
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 cups of thin sliced lettuce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/2 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1/3 cup light sour cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
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In a large bowl mix together shell, bacon, tomatoes, and lettuce. In a small bowl mix the sugar, vinegar, mayo, sour cream and mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Pour over shell mixture, stir and chill.
Serves 6, 1 cup servings at 3 Weight Watcher Points Each
Trista over at The Pumkin Patch is the host of Tasty Thursday, head on over to her blog to see more tasty recipes.

A Better Look

My Weight Chart:


I think this chart better shows my progress from when I started on Jan 7 of this year!

My Weigh In...

Well my meeting was not as bad as I thought it would be. I was worried because last week I had only lost .8 pounds. I knew I had done GREAT this week. Stayed on points, exercised everyday, so why was I worried? I got on the scales and I had lost another 2.4 pounds! I was so excited! This puts me at 286 pounds. Since going to Weight Watchers I have lost 11.4 pounds! I have lost a total of 37.8 pounds since I started! 32 pounds would have been my 10% if I had started going to meetings when I started, but now I have to lose 29 pounds while going to meetings to get my 10% key chain. I only have 17.6 pounds to go to reach my 10% and get my key chain. I will get a 25 pound charm before I get my key chain to put it on. I am feeling so much better. I went to the grocery and got some different foods that I think will help me with this rut I am in. I thought it was kind of funny that after the lady had rung up my groceries, she said man you sure do eat healthy. I never thought someone would say that about me! lol!
Well off to start another good week, I HOPE!
Oh and the red star is my first 5 pounds, the pink star is an additional 5 pounds and the line is where I need to get to reach my 10%.

My Applebee's Date Night

Dh and I went to Applebee's last night for date night. I was very surprised that what I got was really good! I got the Steak & Portobellos 7 point dinner. The steak and whatever kind of mushroom sauce was just so good. The broccoli was so good and had some kind of dressing on it that was fabulous! The potatoes were also good, but they did not have what I think looks like chives in the picture above. Then we had the Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake. I shared half with dh so it was only 2 points for me. I had read a lot of reviews online that the chocolate tasted like rubber. I will admit that the texture is different but with the sauce it is really good. I also learned something about an appetizer we always order when we go to Applebee's. It is the Buffalo Chicken Wings w/Bleu Cheese Dressing. Dh ordered it again and I ate three pieces. There were 12 pieces in the dish, I counted. I picked the smaller ones and only used a very small amount of dressing. When we got home, I asked dh if he knew how many calories and grams of fat were in that appetizer. He said no so I told him and now I am going to tell you: Buffalo Chicken Wings w/Bleu Cheese Dressing (1724 cal/132 g fat/2 g fiber/) 45 WW Points!!!!! Dh was shocked, he said, "That is deadly!" I do not think we will EVER be ordering that again! I had to use some of my 35 weekly flex points to eat the small portion that I ate. I would have rather spent those points on a Caesar salad! Next time I might just do that! If you are interested in finding out calorie and fat content of things you eat you might want to visit Dottie's Weight Loss Zone. That is the best source I have found to get that information! But I warn you, you just might not want to know! LOL!

Freezer Food Friday-Mustard-Dill Chicken in Foil Packets

I used to do Freezer Food Friday until the person quit doing it. What a Crock! has taken it over and I am going to start posting. Most of you who know me know I am doing Weight Watchers and have lost 34 pounds so the recipes I post now are WW friendly. Enjoy!

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Mustard-Dill Chicken in Foil Packs (Freezer-friendly)

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1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 Tbsp dried dill weed(can use fresh dill weed)

1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, four 4 oz pieces

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Preheat oven to 350°F.Combine mustard, yogurt, garlic salt and dill in a small bowl; thoroughly coat chicken with mustard sauce. Tear off 4 sheets of aluminum foil that are large enough to wrap each chicken breast individually. Place a prepared chicken breast on each piece of foil; gather foil loosely around chicken and fold over to seal.Place foil packs on a nonstick baking sheet; bake for 20 minutes. Using oven mitts and keeping your face away from steam, open foil. Broil chicken on foil until lightly browned and cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes more.

Yields 1 piece of chicken per serving at 3 points each.
For more Freezer Food Friday recipe go to What a Crock!

Slow Cooking Thursday-Rice Pudding with Fruit

Crockpot Rice Pudding with Fruit
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4 cups skim milk

1/2 cup rice

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon diet margarine

1/8 teaspoon salt, optional

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup minced dried apricots or peaches

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

2-3 packages Splenda to taste at end of cooking time

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Put all ingredients except Splenda into crockpot. Stir to blend well. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 1/2 hours, stirring once after about 1 hour. Or, cook on HIGH for the first 30 minutes, turn to LOW and cook as long as you desire. Check after the first 2 hours of low cooking and stir. If rice is not absorbing the milk quickly enough, turn the crockpot up to HIGH again. Keep cover on at all times. Before serving, add Splenda to taste. Add a dollop of fat-free Cool Whip to each serving, if desired.
Makes about 6 cups. 1/2 cup serving is about 2 points

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Slow Cooking Thursday is sponsored by Diary of a SAHM go look there for more recipes.

Tasty Thursday-Spring Edition

Today for Tasty Thursday, Trista is asking for Spring recipes. When I think about the springtime, bright colors and fruits come to my mind! Especially lemons! I LOVE lemons! Recently at my Weight Watchers meeting, we talked about low calorie and low fat desserts and diet soda cakes came up. They are so good and all you need is a cake mix (any flavor), 1 can of any diet pop flavor, and one to two egg whites (optional but helps hold cake together.) All you do is mix those three ingredients (batter will be thick!) and then bake according to the cake package directions. The recipe I am sharing today is a similar kind of cake, but adds a few more ingredients. The Weight Watchers point value will depend on what kind of cake mix you use, all have different values for dry mix, so look on the package. Most of these cakes will be between 2-4 points. Enjoy and Happy Spring!

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Lemon Better Than Spring Cake

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18 ounces lemon cake mix
10 ounces diet Sprite(or any lemon lime flavor diet pop)
1 egg white
1/3 ounce sugar-free lemon gelatin
7 ounces fat-free sweetened condensed milk
8 ounces Cool Whip Free
2 teaspoons lemon extract

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Mix Lemon cake mix, egg white and diet soda. Grease a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray. Pour cake batter into pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
During the last few minutes of baking, put lemon jello and condensed milk in a sauce pan and stir on medium low heat until smooth. Take cake out of oven and poke holes all over the top. Pour jello mix over warm cake, filling in the holes. Cool completely. Mix 2 tsp lemon extract with cool whip. cover cake with cool whip mix. Place cake in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serves 24

Trista over at The Pumkin Patch is the host of Tasty Thursday, head on over to her blog to see more tasty Spring recipes.

I have lost over 30 pounds!

Well I just realized that I have lost over 30 pounds. I usually just say 5 or whatever the loss is but I just realized that I lost over 30 pounds and that makes me feel so good! If you want to see all of my progress go here.
We are all still pretty bad. I took all of the kids to the doctor yesterday. She put all of them except the baby on Tamaflu. I really do not think Tamaflu works on this flu if you want to know the truth, all my kids have fevers right now. I feel better, but my head feels like it is swimming and it makes it hard to do anything and I really have to at least do dishes and some laundry. Well, with fevers they are definitely not into as much, so that makes it a little bit easier! I will be around, but I am a little busy right now with all that is going on.

Slow Cooking Thursday- Tamale Pie

Crockpot Tamale Pie

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3/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 cups skim milk

1 large egg, beaten

1 pound extra lean ground beef, browned and drained

1 1/4 ounces chili seasoning mix

16 ounces canned diced tomatoes

16 ounces canned corn, drained

1 cup fat-free shredded cheddar cheese

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In a large mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, milk and egg. Stir in meat, chili seasoning mix, tomatoes, and corn until well blended. Pour into slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour, then on LOW for 3 hours. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook another 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

Serves 8

NOTE: If you would like a spicier flavor, you can add 1 small can chopped green chilies or substitute Rotel tomatoes for the diced tomatoes.

Nutrition Information: 211 cal., 2.7 g. fat, 2.8 g. fiber, 4 WW Points per serving.

Slow Cooking Thursday is sponsored by Diary of a SAHM go look there for more recipes.

My New Jeans!

Well here are my new jeans that I bought that fit me. I have not worn real jeans in a long time, probably 12 years at least before that I wore all elastic waist. These zip up and I like my new shirt too. This will be my March progress picture too. I think the pictures were taken too differntly to tell much of a difference, but believe me I know there is a difference! If you want to compare, here are my last pictures. These jeans and shirt were my "reward" for reaching my first goal!

This is not to show you my big fat butt, but to show you my new jeans have no elastic, important only to me probably!

Well thanks for taking part in my exciting new jeans!

Also: to hear all about my first Weight Watchers meeting, go here.

For more Wordless Wednesday Pictures go to 5 Min For Mom.

Monday Morning Weigh-In

Well, first let me say this was a very hard week for me! I started out doing so well and then my dh's grandfather died and we were gone from home a lot! We ate out at an all you can eat steak house one night. I have read some articles on how you should eat at these places and I pretty much followed it. A big salad first then fruits and veggies and then a lean meat, I had chicken instead of steak. Doing this really helped me stay on track. I was pretty full before I even started on the chicken! I also am looking at eating out in a different way now. I do try to watch my portions and fat in things while eating out, but eating out is such a luxury for us when we do go, I am going to stop worrying about it and just enjoy it instead of feeling so guilty. I counted all my points that day except the eating out because I really had no clue on some of the things as this restaurant does not have nutritional facts online or in the restaurant. I also was snowed in for a day and really snacked a lot! I did snack on healthy things usually 1-3 point items, but my points really added up that day! Still though I have a BIG weight loss for this week! Last week I weighted 298.6. This week, I weighed in at 293.2! That is another 5.4 pounds GONE!