Comfy Size 14

I still weigh less than 180! Holding steady today at 179.2. I feel so much better than I did a year ago: my ankles don't hurt at all, I don't get tired standing up all day when I sub, no more headaches! I did walk my mile yesterday, with both dogs. Scott's arm is not well enough yet to help me walk them.

I don't think I could have stuck with the diet so long without these keep trim eating weeks. They are a great break when they come, and they are something to look forward to during the diet weeks. I enjoyed candy at Halloween and pumpkin pie / stuffing / mashed potatoes / gravy at Thanksgiving without the guilt associated with cheating on a diet. Each bit of it was a planned cheat on my diet, so it was guilt-free.

Here is a picture Scott took of me just now, wearing my new MEDIUM shirt and some size 14 pants from Good Will. This is the smallest shirt I am going to get, so I got it new, but I am hoping to get into size 10 pants eventually. There still is some fat around my face, but nothing like there used to be. I can see my ankle bones again, the swelling has gone down so much.

Here is what I ate yesterday and only gained .2 pounds (which I will slough off today!):

1 cup Special K, 1 cup soy milk, 1 cup strawberries, black unsweetened coffee
1 Banquet frozen dinner: sweet and sour chicken, Diet Dr Pepper
Baked chicken, onion and carrots, caffeine-free diet soda
Half a Hostess apple fruit pie

179 Keep Trim Day 12 of 14

I gained .4 pounds yesterday, so today I am back to my maintenance baseline for this keep trim period: 179. I ate a lot of sodium yesterday, so I assume this is just water weight that will come off automatically if I drink enough water and don't overdo it on the sodium today.

With shopping and mall crawling before my movie started and then walking once round the park with the dogs, all in all I walked at least a mile yesterday. I went for the second time to see "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn." Scott and I had been once the day it came out, but there was so much going on in the movie that I wanted to see it again.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

1 cup pumpkin pie

Half a dinner plate of pizza, Diet Dr Pepper

1 can Progresso Beef Burgundy soup (1380 mg sodium!!!!)

1 brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart, caffeine-free tea

178.6 Keep Trim Day 11 of 14

I gained .2 pounds yesterday. I did not walk my mile, and that is probably why I gained. My maintenance weight for this keep trim eating period is 179, so I am doing fine.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 cup pumpkin pie
Half a dinner plate of pizza, Diet Dr Pepper
1 cup mulled apple cider at Christmas choir practice
Leftover Chicken and Onion with mushrooms and steamed broccoli, caffeine-free diet soda
1 slice of wheat bread with butter

178.4 Keep Trim Day 10 of 14

I lost .4 pounds yesterday and now weigh 178.4! I am pleasantly surprised, as I took just the amount of treats yesterday that satisfied me. I did walk my mile.

I can see how weighing in every day is, far from the chore I imagined it would be, actually a tool that helps keep me on top of maintaining my weight. I don't know why I resisted it for so long. Thank God I adopted the practice and the attitude to lose all this extra poundage while I still can exercise.

Another thing that is weird about this experience is not knowing how clothes are going to fit me from one day to the next. For about the past two years I have either been gaining or losing weight. I now fit into clothes I hadn't worn for 10 years or more. Some of these are even too loose on me. I have had to buy new pajamas because my old PJs were falling off me.

Anyway, here is what I ate yesterday and still managed to not only maintain my weight loss, but to lose another .4 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 cup of pumpkin pie
Half a dinner plate of pizza, Tropicana Lite Lemonaid
Baked chicken and onion with mushrooms and steamed broccoli, caffeine-free diet soda
1 brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart

178.8 Keep Trim Day 9 of 14

I'm back below 180! I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday. I walked a mile and two-thirds. I just ate the minimum I needed to keep my stomach from growling:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

Handful of raw baby carrots with 2 tablespoons Parmesan spinach dip, Diet Dr Pepper

1 hamburger patty, 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce, 7 steamed Brussels sprouts with nothing on them, caffeine-free tea

I drank lots of water yesterday, too. It is tempting to skip the rest of this keep-trim period and go right back onto the diet again. However, Dr Tarnower is adamant that our bodies need these keep trim periods, so I will stick to the schedule of two weeks on the diet and then two weeks of keep trim eating.

180.2 Keep Trim Day 8 of 14

I gained that pound back yesterday, but it is coming right off again today. It was a planned cheat on my diet for Thanksgiving, so I feel no guilt and I relished each and every bite. I did walk my mile yesterday. It was a great Thanksgiving Day.

I woke up and had my usual breakfast of Special K, strawberries, soy milk and black unsweetened coffee. I took both dogs for a mile-long walk in the park. Scott is still staying home to nurse his right hand, but says it is feeling better than it was. He is starting to notice the sprains in his fingers, which he couldn't feel before because of the pain of his jammed elbow. He is afraid to go out because even a light touch on his arm or hand is painful. He likes to keep ice on it through the compression bandage, to help control the swelling, so padding his arm inside the sling won't work.

We had our Marie Callender's turkey TV dinners for lunch with a few Pillsbury crescent rolls. I had Diet Dr Pepper. The TV dinners were only 320 calories, but they had 1180 mg of sodium! Yikes! I had a piece of pumpkin pie for dessert with a pot of decaffeinated Good Earth tea.

We were all set to have another TV dinner for dinner, when our friends came earlier than I had hoped and brought us each a huge plate from the Thanksgiving dinner we were supposed to attend. I had given them a big pumpkin pie and some ice cream that I had bought to bring to the dinner. I was hoping for a plate for the dinner, but I didn't dare expect it, and not in time to have for dinner! That was such a nice surprise!

So, we pigged out on really moist home-cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, great gravy, stuffing, yams, green beans, rolls, and two pieces each of my pumpkin pie!

I am having no extras today, so I am hoping that pound will come right back off and tomorrow I will once again weigh 179.2. I still have 6 keep trim days left in which to accomplish that, if it doesn't happen by tomorrow, so I don't feel bad at all about enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving feast brought by a couple Christmas angels!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I ate breakfast before I remembered to weigh myself today, so we will just have to wait until tomorrow to see how I am doing. I did walk my mile. Here is what I ate yesterday:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 hot dog on a bun with 1 tablespoon mustard and 1 tablespoon dill relish, 1 carrot, Diet Dr Pepper
Half a dinner plate of baked frozen pizza, small green salad with 2 tablespoons light raspberry walnut salad dressing, caffeine-free diet soda

179.2 Keep Trim Day 6 of 14

Woo Hoo! Back down to 179.2! I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday. I did walk my mile, with one of the dogs, in the snow. I also did two 5-minute sets on the stair step exercise machine.

I am wearing my 34 x 30 jeans today! I finally have enough wiggle room in them to be comfortable. I wore my size medium pajamas last night, too. I can pinch a whole inch away from my skin in them.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still lost 1.4 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
Half a cup of parmesan spinach dip, 1 cup raw carrot sticks, Diet Dr Pepper
1 sample bite of taco at Costco
2 small hamburger patties, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 1 cup steamed broccoli, caffeine-free tea
5 M&Ms

We received our Advent calendars in the mail yesterday. Thank you, Nancy! I wanted to break mine open right away and have the first chocolate for dessert after dinner. Scott talked me into having 5 leftover Halloween M&Ms instead. He pointed out I would have been disappointed on December 1st if I had eaten that candy now! We always have lots of fun with our Advent calendars, so thank you again!

180.6 Keep Trim Day 5 of 14

I gained .4 pounds yesterday. No extras today. I did walk my mile yesterday. Here is what I ate that was too much to maintain my weight at 180.2:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
Half a dinner plate of pizza, Diet Dr Pepper
Three fish sticks on a bun with tartar sauce, steamed broccoli with 1 tablespoon grated cheese, caffeine-free diet soda
1 Hostess apple fruit pie

180.2 Keep Trim Day 4 of 14, Eggies

I still weigh 180.2, so I am keeping the weight off! Yay! I did walk my mile, in the snow, with a dog. I was deliberate and calculating with everything I ate. It paid off! Yay! I am starting to think I can maintain my weight for life!

I had deviled eggs for dinner. It was the first time I hard boiled eggs with the newfangled Eggies that Scott brought home one day about a month ago. They are shown here in this picture I took with the eggs inside, floating in water inside my stew pot.

On the whole, I do recommend these Eggies things. It is SO much easier to get the hard-boiled eggs out of these, than out of egg shells. I think that is a pun on their name, too: Eggies = Egg Ease.

It was a bit tricky getting the eggs INTO the Eggies. The instructions say to assemble the Eggies except for that small circle on the top with the handle in it. Then, crack the egg into that small hole. Easier said than done! After a few eggs going all over the counter, I changed my strategy. I cracked my eggs into a measuring cup that had a pouring spout. It was easy to pour each egg into its Eggie with the pouring spout.

Here is all I ate yesterday and managed to perfectly maintain my weight, with no gain and no loss:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

1 maple bar at church fellowship

Half a dinner plate of fresh pizza, Diet Dr Pepper

2 deviled eggs (no mayo), green salad with 1 tablespoon Italian salad dressing

1 tablespoon white chocolate raspberry creamer in hot water at Christmas choir practice

180.2 Keep Trim Day 3 of 14

I lost .2 pounds yesterday on keep trim eating, so today I weigh 180.2. My maintenance weight for this keep trim period is 179. I walked my mile yesterday, with both dogs, in the snow.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost .2 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
Half a dinner plate of Costco fresh combo pizza, Diet Dr Pepper
1 Hostess apple fruit pie, water
1 large hamburger patty, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 1 cup steamed carrot sticks, water

Scott is OK. We called the VA and spoke with a triage nurse who did not think x-rays were needed. She prescribed RICE treatment: rest, ice, compression, elevation. I drove to WalMart in the snow yesterday to get a compression bandage and a sling.

While I was out, I also drove to Costco and got one of their fresh pizzas. My instinct seems to have been correct. Fresh pizza seems to have far less sodium in it than frozen pizza. I also got some Hostess apple fruit pies while I was at Walmart.

180.4 Keep Trim Day 2 of 14

I jumped up 1.4 pounds yesterday? I barely ate any more than I have been eating, and I walked my mile. This is upsetting. I have got to figure out keeping the weight off, how to just stay at a certain weight without gaining or losing. I also refuse to be on a diet every single day of my life, which is why I love the Scarsdale Medical Diet and its "two weeks on, two weeks off" plan.


Here is all I ate yesterday, to gain that 1.4 pounds. Maybe once again it is just bloating from water retention from eating too much sodium. If so, it should come off easily:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 10 oz Tony's Crispy Crust Supreme Pizza (ack! 1160 mg sodium!), Diet Dr Pepper
Cheeseburger on a bun with BBQ sauce, 1 cup steamed carrot sticks, caffeine-free diet soda

Since the 1.4 pounds is probably from too much sodium, I will just limit sodium today and see if the weight comes off in the form of water. If it doesn't by tomorrow I will do diet days until it does come off. This is exactly the type of adjusting that I am supposed to be doing on keep trim days, to learn how to keep the weight off, which is arguably the hardest part.

Scott slipped on the ice and fell on his right arm last night. He says he heard something pop out and back into place. I elevated his arm, put it on ice and gave him a gram of acetaminiphen every few hours. He was able to sleep and he ate this morning. I think he will be OK. His arm is not noticably swollen. He wants to go get it x-rayed today, so I looked up a bunch of places that might be open on Saturday and take VA Health.

179.0 Keep Trim Day 1 of 14

I lost .4 pounds yesterday and now I weigh only 179.0! It's weird, but dieting has gotten me out more and doing things. Part of it's because I feel more presentable. Another part is I have much more energy now that I am not hauling around those extra 60 pounds. Also, my ankles no longer hurt and I don't constantly have a headache.

My goal for the next 14 days is keeping the weight off. I can go up a pound or two so long as I go right back down in the next few days. Scott took this picture of me yesterday. I am starting to have some wiggle room in my 34 x 30 jeans! Next month they should be comfortable.

We just got back from seeing "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1." I meant to see it at midnight last night and I had even drunk Sleepytime tea and taken a nap, but the midnight preview was sold out. Great movie! At least as good as the movie version of Eclipse. Of course, I did not get anything at the snack bar. My breakfast held me through until now that I am home I am heating up some frozen pizza for lunch.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost .4 pounds:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, plain coffee
1 salmon patty, 9 steamed Brussels sprouts, caffeine-free diet soda
Baked chicken, onion, mushrooms and carrots, Sleepytime tea

179.4 Diet Day 14 of 14

Yay! I lost .6 pounds yesterday, and I am back under 180! I even cheated on my diet and ate one of Scott's pizza bite snacks. Go figure. I did walk my mile yesterday, even though it was only 17 F outside. I probably looked like a dork in my orange camouflage snow pants and grey snow coat, but I was warm.

The most awesome thing happened yesterday after some students offered me some candy. I declined, explaining "I'm on a diet." This really skinny girl exclaimed, "I could never be on a diet! It sounds so awful!" I told her, "You're not fat, so you don't need to diet." She said, "But you're not fat, either." (!) I think she really meant it. I don't think she was just being nice. Yay! I am not fat anymore!

Here is what I ate yesterday and still managed to lose .6 pounds:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 salmon patty, 2 cups steamed broccoli, Diet Dr Pepper
1 Pappalo's Pizza Snack (cheat, 38 calories)
2 small hamburger patties, 2 cups steamed carrot sticks, unsweetened caffeine-free tea

180 Diet Day 13 of 14

I still weigh 180! Gr! The weight was coming off so easily a few months ago, and now I walk miles and only eat 900 calories and sometimes gain. I am getting frustrated. I did walk yesterday, and more than a mile, too. This is the stubbornest weight loss plateau yet. I am disappointed. I wanted to be at 175 before the next keep-trim period started. This is the toughest time of my whole diet. I can totally see why people give up under circumstances like this.

Fortunately, I have you in my corner! I know you are following along with me and praying for my success. That makes all the difference in the world, and I will carry on.

I just took this picture a minute ago, when I went out to start the car so that it would be defrosted by the time I need to leave for work. Isn't this beautiful? It is just frost on my driver side door's window.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still managed to maintain my weight (against my will) even with walking more than a mile:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup soy milk, 1 cup strawberries, black unsweetened coffee

1 cup raw carrot sticks, 1/2 cup parmesan spinach dip, 2 cans Diet Dr Pepper

Baked chicken and mushrooms, caffeine-free tea with nothing in it

I took it easy on the diet soda yesterday, because of my fear that all the sodium in the soda was causing me to retain water. I guess I could knock off the soda all together, but I don't think it has come to that point yet. I will try walking even more today and see if that makes me lose weight finally and get off this weight-loss plateau.
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180 Jenny & Tyler

I gained .8 pounds yesterday, so I weigh 180 again today. I did not cheat on my diet, either. I am hoping this is just water weight gained from taking in too much sodium. I drank a lot of Diet Dr Pepper yesterday, so that could explain it. I hope it does. I will take it easy on the sodium today and hopefully tomorrow I will weigh 178 and be back on schedule.

I didn't walk yesterday because I taught and then rushed home to eat my soup before we tried to take Scott out for Veteran's Day. We went to a local restaurant that was feeding the veterans for free. We arrived there early, before 5pm, but there was already a line about half a block long outside the restaurant in the freezing cold! We would have stayed anyway, but we had tickets for a concert that started at 6:30.

The Sara Groves "Reason to Gather" concert was wonderful! It was at the beautiful Bing Crosby theater in downtown Spokane. Sara was touring with a young couple who both play guitar, sing and write their own songs, Jenny & Tyler. I liked their music even more than Sara's! Tyler sings melody and Jenny harmonizes beautifully. They sang a few songs that had a Celtic sound that I love. I bought their 2011 Christmas CD "Love Came Down" and their regular 2011 CD, "Faint Not."

I did not walk yesterday, but that should not have made me gain weight. Nothing I ate should have made me gain, either:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 cup raw carrot sticks, 1/2 cup Parmesan spinach dip, Diet Dr Pepper
2 cups homemade low fat diet chicken soup (with very little salt), caffeine-free tea

[Edited later to add: 1/2 cup was way too much Parmesan spinach dip for one day. A serving is only 2 tablespoons, and has 230 mg of sodium and 100 calories. Part of the lifestyle change from fat person to skinny person is realizing how much of any food is too much. At the time I wrote this blog entry, I had not yet realized this.]

179.2 Diet Day 11 of 14

I lost .6 pounds yesterday, because today I weigh 179.2! I did walk my mile. We also shopped at Costco, which added a bit more walking. I did not eat any samples.

I forgot to add my Costco samples to what I ate the last time we went: a bite of butterscotch Almond Rocha Cookie which was heavenly, and a bite of green bean casserole which I immediately wished I had not taken. I used to like green bean casserole, but it just tasted like dirt to me. My diet is changing my taste buds and I guess I no longer like cream of mushroom soup, which is just fine by me. It is full of empty calories.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still lost .6 pounds:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 cup raw carrot sticks, 1/2 cup parmesan spinach dip, Diet Dr Pepper
1 salmon patty, 1 cup sauteed mushrooms, caffeine-free diet soda

179.8 Diet Day 10 of 14

Yay! I finally broke 180! I lost .4 pounds yesterday and now weigh 179.8! I did walk yesterday, but only 2/3 of a mile. It was snowing and windy and very cold. Next time I will remember to put on long underwear under my jeans! Now that I am so much thinner that won't even be difficult, with the 36 x 30 jeans that only a few months ago I could not even squeeze into.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost .4 pounds of this stubborn weight that has been with me 10 years or more:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 cup raw carrot sticks, 1/2 cup parmesan spinach dip, Diet Dr Pepper
1 large hamburger patty, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 2 cups steamed broccoli, caffeine-free tea

I have switched from my caffeine-free diet soda in the evening to caffeine-free tea because the soda has some sodium in it. I was losing weight with the soda just fine earlier on, but that was not the stubborn weight that I have had for 10 years or more. I know the sodium makes me retain water weight.

180.2 Diet Day 9 of 14

I lost .8 pounds yesterday, because today I weigh 180.2. I did brave the elements and walk my mile yesterday. I probably shouldn't have, though, because I woke up this morning congested again, in my sinuses. There was also 1/4 inch of snow on the ground this morning.

I won't walk again today, but I have got to do something that raises my heart rate for at least 20 minutes. That much is clear. I have to do aerobic exercise or I am not going to lose any more weight. My plan is to go easy but steady on the stair step exercise machine for as long as I can. So far that has only been 3 minutes, so pray for me! I can go much longer on the Total Gym, but that is not aerobic exercise.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still lost .8 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

2 cups low fat diet chicken soup, Diet Dr Pepper

1 salmon patty, 9 steamed Brussels sprouts, caffeine-free diet soda

181.0 Diet Day 8 of 14

I weigh 181.0 today, so I lost .4 pounds yesterday. I did not walk my mile, but I did do a few minutes here and there on the stair step exercise machine. My nose still felt a little tickley last night, but in the daytime I feel fine now. I should be back to work next week and I should be able to sing my solo this Sunday with no problem.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup soy milk, 1 cup strawberries, black unsweetened coffee

2 cups home made low fat diet chicken soup! This was the first time I ever made soup. It was so easy I have no idea why I waited so long to try making it.

2 hamburger patties, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 2 cups steamed broccoli

181.4 Diet Day 7 of 14

I weigh 181.4 today, which means I gained .2 pounds yesterday after eating only 897 calories. I am sick and I did not walk my mile. I did put in a few minutes here and there on the stair stepper, but I guess it was not enough. This could also be yet another weight loss plateau. I have not weighed less than 185 since 1997, so this is old stubborn fat that could take a few days to break down, I guess.

On the positive side, here is a picture Scott took of me on our stair step exercise machine. I think I look normal now, rather than fat. These are the 34 x 30 jeans I bought at Good Will a few weeks ago. I can wear them now, but I don't very often as the looser 36 x 30 jeans are more comfortable. I am still a loose size 16 on the bottom. I can squeeze into size 14, but it is not comfortable. On top I am a comfortable size 14. This sweatshirt I am wearing in the picture is a souvenir we got at Niagara Falls in August. I got it tight on purpose and now it fits well. It's a size 14.

Thank you for asking if I ever counted calories. That made me curious. I went to a web site that tells the calorie count when I input the food and portion. Calorie counts and nutrition information are per this website unless otherwise noted. Here is what I ate yesterday and how many calories it was:

1 cup Special K = 100 calories
1 cup soy milk = 100 calories (per the container)
1 cup strawberries = 49 calories

1 salmon patty = 170 calories (per the container)
10 Brussels sprouts = 80 calories
Diet Coke = calorie free but lots of sodium

7 meatballs = 378 calories (per the container) (yikes!)
1 cup steamed broccoli = 20 calories
caffeine-free diet soda = calorie free
__________________________________
= 897 calories for Wednesday November 9


On days when I had onion chicken or hamburger patties instead of those 7 meatballs I probably stayed closer to 700 daily calories. I am going to cut the meatball portion down to three meatballs, which will be 162 calories. That is closer to the 170 for the salmon patty.

So there you have it. Yesterday was a flop. Maybe tomorrow morning we will find out if it flopped because of a weight loss plateau or because I had been too lazy to look up how surprisingly many calories were in those meatballs!

181.2 Day 6 of 14 Diet Days

I weigh 181.2 now, so yesterday I lost .6 pounds. I am still sick and it is below freezing outside, so I did not walk my mile yesterday. Again I put in a few minutes here and there on our stair step exercise machine. I feel much better today, so I think tomorrow I will go outside once more.

The food holidays are coming up. For each holiday I have a planned cheat on my diet:

Thanksgiving we have plans to go to our new friend's mom's for dinner. That is good because we won't have any leftovers at our house to tempt me. I will be on keep trim eating, so my plan is just to have one dinner plate of food and then stop eating. I may leave a little empty space on my dinner plate if they have pumpkin or apple pie for dessert!

It's not Christmas for me without sugar cookies. Scott loves them as well and even enjoys making them. I will be on keep-trim eating and not on the weight-loss diet plan December 16 through December 29. My plan is to make cookies December 16 and limit myself to three a day, as desserts to diet meals. I will attend all the church potlucks and just stick to one dinner plate of food. My goal during this time is not to lose weight, but just to maintain, to not gain.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still managed to lose .6 pounds:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
Diet Ham Salad, Diet Coke
2 hamburger patties, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 2 cups steamed broccoli, caffeine-free diet soda

181.8 Diet Day 5 of 14

Today I weigh 181.8, which means I lost a pound yesterday, yay! I have a cold and it was 29 outside yesterday, so I didn't walk my mile. I did put in a few minutes here and there on our stair step exercise machine, though. I amused Scott by turning around on it and walking "down" after I had walked "up" the stairs for a few minutes. Walking "down" on a stair stepper uses different muscles than walking "up" uses.

My ankles are no longer swollen. Did I say that before? It is so wonderful to have thin attractive ankles once again, where I can see the little ankle bone on the outside. For the longest time my ankles were so swollen I didn't dare wear skirts or dresses. Losing 58 pounds has really helped with the swelling. I also can see my knees once again. They also used to be swallowed up, but just in fat, especially when I bent them. I still have a double chin, but it is much smaller than it was. My cheeks are smaller, too.

And of course in addition to looking better, I feel so much better I cannot even express it. Little aches and pains that I had in my ankles and my lower back are just gone. I have a headache right now because I have congestion with my cold, but for the most part my headaches are a thing of the past as well.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost a pound, even without walking a mile:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk

Diet Ham Salad

Baked chicken, onion and mushrooms, 1 cup steamed broccoli

58 pounds lost and 37 more to go till I reach my goal of 145.

182.8 Diet Day 4

Another weight loss plateau today: I weigh 182.4 which is .2 more than yesterday. I didn't cheat on my diet and I did walk my mile yesterday. This plateau, too, shall pass. It is my forth or fifth weight-loss plateau, so I know with confidence now from experience that it will only last a day or two and then I will be back to losing a pound a day or more.

The bad news is I have another cold. I guess I must have gotten it at school last week. Everyone knows there are plenty of germs flying around there. I cancelled the substitute teaching assignment I was supposed to continue today from Friday. I did this early this morning so the system had plenty of time to get another sub in there. It is 29 degrees outside today, and I have a cold, so I probably will not be walking my mile today. I will use our Lifestyler stair step exercise machine and Total Gym instead.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
Diet Ham Salad, Diet Coke
7 meatballs, 9 steamed Brussels sprouts, caffeine-free diet soda

182.6 Diet Day 3

I weigh 182.6 today, which means I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday! I didn't walk a formal mile, but I did go to the mall and check out 5 different stores. Thank you Mom for the generous offer of the gift card once I am at my target weight of 145! I pick TJ Maxx for the gift card. They have a good selection and they are organized the way I like: all the pants together, all the skirts together, etc.

I also checked out:

-- Old Navy (where they had the cutest blazer in peach, white and cream but I don't fit into the medium size yet)

--Nordstrom Rack (where everything is still too expensive, even though it is marked down)
--Sears (where they organize by designer and label, so it is frustrating trying to find things)

--JC Penny (where I managed to find and buy these argyle sweaters with matching turtle neck shirts, even though they organize the same frustrating way)

I can fit into these argyle sweaters and shirts, but they are too tight for teaching. I will just have to lose the remaining 37.6 pounds before I can wear these pretty sweater ensembles.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost 1.4 pounds:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

Diet Ham Salad, Diet Coke

1 baked chicken breast with 1/2 cup baked mushrooms, caffeine-free diet soda

184 34 x 30 Jeans

I weigh 184 today and I am wearing the 34 x 30 jeans I bought used! I lost .8 pounds yesterday on my first day back on the diet this cycle.

We had bought these salmon patties months ago at Costco and forgotten about them. They are really tasty and filling. Scott ate his on a hamburger bun with some Miracle Whip and dill relish. I ate mine plain, with a fork. Their full name is Trident Seafoods Alaskan Salmon Burgers from Full Fillets. They come in a tube of 12. I do not think they were cheap.

Thank you for reminding me that I need to eat a variety of foods and I can't just live on meatballs and broccoli. That is what lead me to explore the freezer and unearth that salmon! I do take a multivitamin, so that should help, too.

I did walk my mile yesterday. Here is what I ate:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

1 cup raw carrot sticks, 1/2 cup Parmesan spinach dip, Diet Coke

1 salmon patty fried in a spray of Pam, 7 steamed Brussels sprouts, caffeine-free diet soda

184.8 Diet Day 1

Down to 184.8, I am once again in territory uncharted for ten years or more. I lost .4 pounds yesterday. I did not go on a formal walk, but that was because I was so sore from standing at school all day and then grocery shopping that my right hip hurt. It feels better this morning, but I have to teach again today, so I can use your prayers.

Here is what I ate yesterday, and still lost .4 pounds on my last keep trim day for this cycle:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

1/2 cup raw carrot sticks, 1/4 cup Parmesan spinach dip, 2 Ritz Crackers 'N Cheese Dip Handi Snacks, Diet Coke

1 Costco combo slice of pizza, Minute Maid Lite Lemonade, 1 bite of brownie at a Costco sample cart

Last Day of Keep Trim Eating

Today I weigh 185.2. I lost .6 pounds yesterday on keep trim eating. I walked two thirds of a mile. I tried the strategy of eating as I would on the diet and adding desserts. It worked! Here is what I ate yesterday:

1 and 1/2 cups Special K, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

1 cup carrots, 1/2 cup spinach / garlic / parmesan dip, Diet Coke, 1 fun size Tootsie Roll

1 Hostess fruit pie, apple

7 meatballs, 1 cup sauteed mushrooms, caffeine-free diet soda

I substituted at one of the high schools yesterday, and a kid gave me the Tootsie Roll. He offered. I never would have asked a kid to share his Halloween candy with me.
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185.8 Day 13 of 14 Keep Trim Eating

My weight is back down to 185.8 today, which means I lost .6 pounds yesterday on keep trim eating. I am not even sure how, except that I did walk my mile yesterday. Here is all I ate:

2 cups Special K, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

Half a dinner plate of pizza, Diet Coke

2 cheeseburgers complete with bun, American cheese and BBQ sauce, caffeine-free diet soda

My new 34 x 30 jeans are a tiny bit loose under my hips, but not enough yet that I can wear them to substitute teaching assignments. I had them on this morning and I was tempted to wear them, just because I could get them on and they were semi comfortable. I wanted to celebrate the accomplishment. But they are too tight to be appropriate for teacher wear. In another week they won't be, if I stick to the program!

Day After Halloween

I am back to 186.4 today, a .6 gain on Halloween. This is OK with me, as this was a planned cheat on my diet during a keep trim eating period that started with me weighing 186.4. I have managed to keep off all the 50 pounds that I lost earlier in the year over one of the most challenging holidays, Halloween! We gave out all the candy last night over at a friend's house. I don't have any more at home to tempt me. Another friend posted on Facebook that she used the strategy of giving out candy she hates (so that it doesn't tempt her). Why didn't I think of that!

Halloween is just one tempting holiday based on food, though. I still have to keep this weight off over Thanksgiving, plus whatever weight I lose in the next dieting period from November 4 to November 17. It wouldn't be so tough if our holidays encompassed just one day. They encompass the entire month, though, typically, so far as all the tempting things people put out for foodies like me to eat.

I did not walk my mile yesterday. Here is all I ate and only gained .6 of a pound:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee (strawberries are on the shopping list)

1 cup carrots, 1/2 cup garlic / parmesan / spinach dip, Diet Coke

1 dinner plate of pizza, caffeine-free diet soda

6 fun size Halloween candy bars: 3 Twix, 2 Almond Joy and 1 Snickers