Garbanzo bean and zucchini salad

Garbanzo bean and zucchini salad in 0 mins by Ina Garten : FoodNetwork TV EMEA

So I received some cooked garbanzo beans and have been wanting to try them. I need to check the nutrients and carbs first but I think I'm still going to make this. I am a vegetable freak and I think this sounds bloody awesome! So excited to try it.

Moving right along

My weight loss continues at a slow rate, but continues still the same. I plateau often and right before I do, I gain about 3lbs. It happens often enough that it becomes frustrating, no matter how predictable.

I have met the new endocrinologist and I love her! She is very pleased with the changes I have made since May, especially in my blood work. I have a way to go, but I am getting there, and more quickly where the bloodwork is concerned than anticipated. I am hoping when I go back to see her, in December, I will have lost another 15lbs and my (bad) cholesterol will be in good range. My Tricgycerides and (good) cholesterol are at great levels now. I was also able to stop taking my diabetes medication. My sugars have leveled themselves out and that is no longer a concern. I am still in need of the blood pressure medication, for now. She wants me to monitor it at home and if it is lower there on a normal basis she will take me off that as well. So far, for some reason it hasn't been much different than at the office. It is in normal range, but she wants to see it low, indicating the medication is not required to keep it "normal".

So, as of today I am at 40lbs lost since May 20 of this year (2012). Not too shabby, I don't think.

Me, May 11 and 12, 2012 for my kids's Jr. Prom(s) right before I started to make my life change. My son escorted his two best friends to each of their proms.

L-R: my husband, son, daughter, and me

My son and me for his 2nd prom

These were taken prior to their Sr. homecoming dance September 21, 2012, after 4 months on a new lifestyle plan

My sister and I went shopping at Good Will a couple of weekends ago and I was excited to find a couple of new tops. They were still a little snug but I knew it was a matter of time. I hate the way I have to take self photos but it is the only full length mirror we have in our house so they are terrible pictures but here is the one from today wearing the new top :)

Being taken on my phone in a poorly lit room, I had to lighten this. I still have a way to go but I am happy so far :) The pants are a 12!!!! Yep, that's righ a 12! I KNOW the reason my clothes fit the way they do is from my working out. I was MUCH lighter than I am now the last time I wore these pants and they didn't look as good on me when I last wore them. I entered into this challenge on MFP. Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred... I am currently in need of doing L1D8 today. I have been very good about working out but admit my warm bed won the emotional battle this very chilly, early, Autumn, Monday morning. I will do the challenge workout tonight and get back to it tomorrow.

A ways to go and intending to just keep going as I have been... slow and steady has been working quite well for me. :)

Mission accomplished... Halfway Goal achieved!

The good news is I have finally aialated what was about an eight week plateau. I have reached my halfway goal! I have lost 40lbs since May 20 :). The great news is I feel phenominal! I have energy, I LOVE wrking out!
Of course there are days like yesterday where I really did not want to get up and go work out, I have that obnoxious inner goddess to thank for her nasty comments that force me to go.
I see my new doctor a week from Monday. I am hoping he will tell me I am no longer in need of a couple of the meds.

Need To Remember To Post

So much hashappened since my last post, I don't know where to begin. I really need to remember I have this app on my phone now. Posting while I was on my first ever trip to AZ would have been a great thing for me to play with. We will be returning, though, and intend to do more sight seeing when we do. Hopefully I will remember then that I can post right then and give small excerpts along our way.

Our trip was bittersweet and much to short. We moved some friends from the hustle and bustle that is Chicagoland to the quiet Bowl of the Phoenix area.  The home where we stayed brilliantly displayed a fantastic view of sunrise and sunset in the mountains.

It was a bit humid for the area, but we were visiting at the end of "monsoon" season so I'm told it is normal. Being from Chicago, I can't complain about humidity anywhere. The weather was warm for my taste but the boy never once complained of his weather related ailments bothering him while we were there and complains more voistrously since returning home.

His plan is to get me to change our retirement venue using the warmth and our relocated friends as bait. There just isn't enough GREEN there for me to love it enough. The cacti were really cool to see growing in their natural habitat though, and I did bring a potted assortment home to try and raise to keep a momento of our now distant friends. I have found as I've gotten older weird things make me happy (or sad) and I choose my memorabilia based on what would strike the most memories versus what I like.

Our momentos from AZ consist of our usual fridge magnet, the cacti containing the favorite of our friend and a few more that we saw while roaming about, the planter they are in reminds me of the view we had at the house, a set of prayer beads to hang in my car remindng me we had to ship my car keys to my daughter over night because we forgot to leave them home for her, we bought a thank gift mug for my sister with a scenic viw didtating the location, and a keychain and deck of cards for my daughter that are of an old indian art scene.

While getting a taste of new natural surroundings was generally pretty cool, we did have an unwelcome tarantula visit the front porch during our stay.

That layed my mind to remember the other unwanted friends known to that region. Scorpions, black widows, brown lacruse, and rattle snakes are all pretty common in nature in the dessert region. Let's face it, I like to hike. I'd rather not have to worry about interupting a rattlesnake while I'm trying to enjoy a good hike. Tennessee is for me! Yes, there are bears and other dangers, it may be just as for from AZ as Chicago, and it may not come jam packed with warm weather year round, but it just feels more like home for me. I will be happy to visit AZ and Chicago, but, for now, my destination remains unchanged for retirement. We'll have to see if I can hold my preffered grounds now when it comes to the boy...

I have never used this phone app until now so I will keep this short. Plus, the keyboard on my phone is a little retarded so proofing has been no joy. I don't know how the photo will be placed so I don't want to post multiples right now. Though I do have a good one of the tarantula... maybe just two to see how they post from the phone...

OH! A weightloss update rea quick: Since May 20. Have lost 34.4 lbs :) I am still following healthy eating and working out routinely but I will get more into that in another post soon to come.

** Update, the app works nicely but displays photos one on top of the other. You will need to log in through your oc to move them around.

Thwarting the Inner Goddess: Not Such An Easy Task

So I have done 3 days of "The Butt Bible" workout. I am not so keen on the upper body portion as it seems to have little effect on me using only light weight dumbbells. I have decided I will continue to use the machines I have been for the results she says will be seen using her workout. I do the same types of exercises only I am able to use more weight which I might try again when the level two portion rounds the corner and see what kind of difference that makes. I must say, after the second lower body workout, I was not as sore and my bum did not go on strike yesterday as it had after the first workout.



I did blow off the gym this morning though. I don't know if I'm just over tired today, if Mother Nature is interfering with my usual get-up-and-go with the end of the month approaching, or if I'm just really feeling discouraged but I could not bring myself to go this morning. It is my husband's birthday and he usually will go to the gym with me when he doesn't work early; this morning I wasn't about to ask him to get up at 4 am to go keep me company. So, after waking and dressing, getting all my things together, and ready to leave, I had a major meltdown and said "f it, I'm not doing this today" and went back to bed. :( My inner goddess has been screaming at me since, with a scowl on her face, pointing her finger at me in a 'bad girl' fashion, and calling me all sorts of nasty names. I'm just not motivated. My efforts aren't matching with the results AT ALL and I feel completely alone in this journey since I am the only one in my house that has to follow a strict diet and workout regimen. It's really hard and a bit depressing.



I have a call in to talk to my doctor. I believe a change in my Sinthroid is required. Something is not right and I want to discuss with him before my next visit in September. I have been at this diet and workout regimen since mid-May and have successfully lost less than 20lbs. I have accumulated a total of 25lbs. loss, but after celebrating 2 birthdays over the previous weekend, I weighed in yesterday to find I BARELY managed to stay below 200lbs.



What did I eat to make me gain 5lbs. over the weekend? I had a SMALL serving of cake both Saturday and Sunday (Saturday I didn't even have frosting on it!) and a SMALL serving of ice cream on Sunday. I worked out at home on Saturday but no workout on Sunday. Aside from ONE Tostitos chip, the cake was the only cheat and I still managed to gain 5lbs. in 2 days’ time. DISCOURAGING. I work out - alone - just about every day and I am the only one who needs to eat a strict diet in my household. I just feel alone in this battle today. If I don't work out over the weekend, or take two days off at any time, I gain - whether I have followed the strictness to a T or not.



So, I will try to thwart my nasty inner goddess with my own (yet failing) remarks of self-encouragement. I tell her "I fit into clothes better" and "I have lost weight". She reminds me "because you work-out like a maniac and eat like a rabbit." I really hate her sometimes.....



Tomorrow is another day, though, and this weekend is another birthday celebration. It should be interesting to see what happens next week. Until then, tomorrow I will get back to my grueling routine and will work my hardest to lose those nasty pounds (again) and, hopefully, I will be able to manage in the time to get some good workouts in this weekend to ward off another gain. At any rate, I know I won't give up. It means too much to me to lose the weight. So, I will continue to fight and I am determined to lose the weight, I just wish I didn’t feel so alone in it all. I will get through it though. I will just have to be more patient and accepting that my body is now 37, not 17, and having no functioning thyroid is going to make things a lot more difficult than in the past.

I kicked my own arse

So every morning I wake at 4 am with the intentions of going to the gym and working out. The doctor successfully scared me into realizing it was time to act on my weight issue and take my health more seriously. His words, while cruel and hurtful, were quite true and rather eye opening. So I made a decision to change my diet and start working out routinely. The best time for me to do the working out is in the wee hours of the morning so I am taking less of my already highly demanded and rarely available time from my family.

So this morning I go to the gym, arriving a little earlier than usual to find my weightloss machine has been taken hostage by another crazy fool up at the crack of dawn to cause himself pain in the never ending effort to get fit -yes, a fool like me. I was irritated but not thrown. I decided I would just do my first day of "The Butt Bible Workout" first, then finish with my cardio. All I can say is WOW!
Seriously! Search on YouTube for Butt Bible Workout. There will be lever 1 upper, Lever1 lower and levels 2 and 3 of each. There is a routine to follow:

Level 1 - First Two Weeks

Day1: Lower
Day2: Upper
Day 3: Break for cardio
Day 4: Lower
Day5: Upper
Day 6: Break for cardio
Day 7: Lower
Day 8: Upper
Day 9: Break for cardio
Day 10: Lower
Day 11: Upper
Day 12: Break for Cardio
Day 13: Lower
Day 14: Upper
Day 15: REST (though I likely will still do cardio...)

After these 15 days it starts all ovr using the level 2 video.... then level 3....

I have done Day 1. Feel it? Oh Yeah! My bum is in serious conflict with the remainder of my body. My legs have gone on strike. It was 20 minutes and I can feel muscles in my body I haven't thought anything about (other than how flabby they had gotten) in years. This is an experiment I must continue.... I think I might have to snap some pics and see if I can see results as quickly as others claim they have..... Aw, nah, I will spare your eyes the pain.... But seriously, want to kick your own butt? Go Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcNxaXb5Ews