A Week Of Gratitude

I can't believe it's already been a week since I've posted here!

I've been keeping up with my writing for National Novel Writing Month, and I am going to make the 50,000 words for the month that NaNoWriMo had challenged me to write.

I started a new business creating awesome gifts for people which help inspire their kids' creativity and build their confidence and at the same time make wonderful gifts for grandparents, teachers and parents. Your Kids' Creations (You can also check out my husband's on-line business which is in making beautiful fairies out of your photos, each one totally unique. Check out the woman fairy wearing green. That was made out of her "after" photo once she's lost a bunch of weight. Fairy Magic Photos)

I lost 2 1/2 pounds at my last weigh-in, and I behaved myself for Thanksgiving Day, so I am hoping I will see another loss this month.

I now weigh 150 pounds, and I am only 15 pounds away from my goal weight! I've lost 122.5 pounds total so far.

My family has all been suffering with different stages of a really bad cold, and it appears that I have it too. At the moment, my little 3 year old Connor seems to have the worst case out of all of us.

And because yesterday was Thanksgiving, I thought I'd list some of the things I am thankful for.

1 - My loving and wonderful husband (who cooked Thanksgiving dinner for me and our family and guests and also did most of the cleaning up afterwards).

2 - My adorable, kind-hearted, creative and clever kids who amaze me with their wit, charm and creativity every day.

3 - My friends, both on-line and off-line, who all have my love and gratitude.

4 - My parents and siblings who, although they live thousands of miles away, are always in my thoughts.

5 - My pets who make me smile each day with their antics and need for cuddles.

And I am thankful for so many other things that I can't even begin to list them all. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

I'll check in after Monday night's weigh-in.

Slimming World's Miss Slinky

Today we had the competition for Miss Slinky in our Slimming World group. Andrea, who achieved her target weight and a healthy BMI also tonight, won the award.

Andrea has lost a total of 51.5 pounds! (I think. Hopefully, she'll set me straight if I got that number wrong.)

She's beautiful, isn't she?

Here's a photo of the two of us together.


It was also another "Bring & Try" night with the theme being baked goods. Robert made his Gingerbread Squares, but this time, instead of adding chocolate chips or candied ginger, he added flaked almonds. All of the food was delicious!

I made Cheesy Garlic Breakfast Potatoes. I made the recipe up the night before, and I'm happy to say that the dish was a success at the meeting. I will definitely be making this again!

When Weight Loss Slows

I lost another pound at my last weight loss. I'd have liked to have lost two, but one works for me.

I keep saying that my weight loss has slowed down because I'm lighter now and closer to my goal. But, although that does have an effect on my weight loss, it's not the only reason.

My friend Helen and I were recently talking about this. She only has three pounds to lose left until she reaches her goal weight. And she's been at around that point for a couple of months now. The way she explained it was that, now that she's so close to her goal, it's not as important or as urgent to lose weight. She feels like she can "play" a bit. She's only 3 pounds above her ideal weight, so I can understand that. If she'd already reached "target" at Slimming World and then gone up three pounds to where she is now, she would still be considered at target.

And I think a little bit of that is creeping in with my weight loss too. When I had over 100 pounds to lose, it was obvious to anyone looking at me that I needed to lose weight, and my health was being affected by my weight, so I knew that it was really important that I get myself fitter and healthier as soon as possible.

But now I'm just 17 pounds from my ideal weight. And I feel like a normal person. I feel healthy. I feel fit. And I don't feel like people are looking at me and judging me because of my weight anymore. So I'm not trying as hard to get those last pounds off.

I nibble at things. Sharon, our Slimming World consultant, was talking a little about this last night. Those "syns" (or calories if that is what you keep tabs on) really creep up when you aren't counting the little things.

When I make my daughter a peanut butter and honey sandwich, I always get a bit on my fingers, and I always lick my fingers when I am done before washing my hands. I don't count the syns or the calories from that. I don't measure my food as often as I was doing. So what if my portion of cereal in the morning is actually slightly higher than the amount I am counting? Or maybe I am giving myself a bigger portion of grated cheese with my lunch because I'm just eyeing the amount instead of weighing it. I may be adding syns (calories) without realizing it (and I probably am) and I'm not writing those extra calories/syns down in my food journal. It's little things that add up without us even realizing it, and those little things can sabotage our weight loss efforts.

So this week, I'm going to be very careful about measuring and weighing my portions, make more healthy choices in my food, do no indescriminate nibbling, and keep my syns (or treats as some of you would call them) in check.

And I'll let the scale at the end of the week tell me whether I've done a good job.

No more complacency. I will reach my goal weight by my birthday on February 27th.

A Good Week So Far

I have no idea if this Monday's weigh-in will show a loss, but it should. I've had a really good week.

And as far as my NaNoWriMo challenge, things are going well and I am ahead of schedule! The writing itself isn't very good, but as far as quantity goes, I'm right on target. And I've been getting lots of new ideas for my story's plot along the way.

I love that I am sticking to my goals in both my health and in other areas in my life!

What goals do you have in addition to health and fitness? Are you taking steps to achieve them?

Half Pound Down

I only lost half a pound this week, but at least I'm heading in the right direction.

I may have some Internet connection problems this week, but if that happens, I'll send my posts in with my husband and he can post for me from his work when he's on his lunch break.

Want to see a current photo of me? I posted my family's Halloween photos in my family blog. And I even allowed a photo of me to be taken. (Scroll down the post. My photo's at the end.)

I'm still working on my NaNoWriMo goals and , so far, I'm reaching my daily goals.

Reaching For The Stars

My weight went up a pound last week, but it was a certain time of month for me that normally goes up, so I'm not overly worried. Hopefully, tomorrow's weigh-in will show a weight loss again.

Losing so much weight has shown me that I can do things which I once thought impossible. And because of this, it has encouraged me to try and reach for other goals that are important to me.

So this year, I'm all about reaching for the stars!

That's why I have signed up for NaNoWriMo this year (National Novel Writing Month). The goal is to write 50,000 words of my novel in the 30 days that make up November. Today is day one. To reach 50,000 words in 30 days, I need to write a minimum of 1,667 words a day. Today, I wrote 1,788 words!

I can do this!