I'm Still Here!

I have neglected this blog in this past week. I am so sorry!

I've been busy adding recipes to my healthy recipe blog. I have added No Bake Mini Lemon, Lime & Ginger Cream Pie Desserts and No Bake Mini Orange Chocolate Cream Pie Desserts to the list of recipes you can find there.

I still have a long list of recipes my husband and I have made to add, such as Mexican Egg Burrito, Apple Wrap Dessert, Bombay Spinach Potatoes, Vindaloo Potato Wedges, Beef Madras, Bacon Deviled Eggs & many more. I don't add the recipes until I get a picture of the resulting dish. It's the photographing that takes up the most time. (I usually forget to take a photo the first time we try a recipe.)

Then, of course, I try and list the nutritional information for each dish. There must not be a law in the UK requiring companies to list nutritional information on the packaging of the food they produce, because I am coming across a lot of food that doesn't have it listed and am then having to research it myself.

So that's why I haven't updated here recently.

I am hoping to lose another 1.5 pounds (minimum) this week, as it would get me to my next mini goal. I think I've lost some weight this week, but I don't know how much (or how little).

Robert and I took the kids to a beautiful park for a picnic last Saturday and wound up doing a lot of walking, which should have been good for us. My weigh-in is tonight, so I will find out if I've lost what I wanted later.

Mini Goal, Mini Goals, Mini Goals!

I have said it before, but I think it bears repeating.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, set mini goals to reach along the way. Each mini goal will seem much more attainable than if you just set your sights on the bigger goal, and having these mini goals will help keep you motivated.

Mini goals do not have to be only about how much weight you've lost. You can set goals to reach different clothing sizes, to increase your cardio exercise intensity, time distance or speed or to be able to lift heavier weights. There are so many other benefits to losing weight and all of them can be used as mini goals.

The mini goals I set for me are all about how much weight I lose.It's what works for me.

Here are my mini goals, reposted today because so many more of them have been achieved now.

May 12th Starting Weight: 272.5 Weight Now - 190 (March 16th)
June 16th: 1st mini goal - 257.5 - 1st stone lost - REACHED (257)
June 30th: 2nd mini goal - 252.5 - 1st 20 lbs. lost - REACHED (252)
July 28th: 3rd mini goal - 245 - 10% body weight lost - REACHED (244.5)
July 28th: 4th mini goal - 244.5 - 2nd stone lost - REACHED (244.5)
Aug. 18th: 5th mini goal - 240 - Weight on wedding day - REACHED (238.5)
Sep. 29th: 6th mini goal - 234.5 - less than 100 pounds left to lose - REACHED (234)
Nov. 3rd: 7th mini goal - 230.5 - 3rd stone lost - REACHED (229)
Dec. 1st: 8th mini goal - 222.5 - 50 pounds lost - REACHED (220)
Dec. 1st: 9th mini goal - 220 - weight after Gabby's birth - REACHED (220)
Dec. 8th: 10th mini goal - 216.5 - 4th stone lost - REACHED (209.5)
Jan. 26th: 11th mini goal - 204 - 25% body weight lost - REACHED (203)
Feb. 2nd: 12th mini goal - 202.5 - 5th stone lost - REACHED (202)
Feb. 16th: 13th mini goal - 199.5 - ONEDERLAND!!!! - REACHED (199)
Mar. 16th: 14th mini goal - 190 - weight when met Robert - REACHED (190)
: 15th mini goal - 188.5 - 6th stone lost -
: 16th mini goal - 177 - weight after Kayla's birth & 35% body weight lost -
: 17th mini goal - 174.5 - 7th stone lost -
: 18th mini goal - 172.5 - 100 pounds lost!!! -
: 19th mini goal - 166 - weight after Angelica's birth
: 20th mini goal - 160.5 - 8th stone lost -
: 21st mini goal - 155 - weight after Victoria's birth
: 22nd mini goal - 148 - high weight in high school
: 23rd mini goal - 146.5 - 9th stone lost -
: 24th mini goal - 140 - average weight in high school -
: 25th mini goal - 136.25 - 50% body weight lost
: GOAL WEIGHT - 135 (9 stone 11.5 lbs. lost/9 stone 9 pounds weight reached) - healthy BMI of 24.7 -

Success!

Eating a little more and exercising a little less was not the death-nell to my weight loss that I worried it might be.

I lost two pounds this week! Robert lost 3 1/2 pounds this week. We are both very happy with our losses.

My total loss to date is 82 1/2 pounds! If I lose 1 1/2 pounds this week, I will hit 6 stone lost (84 pounds), so that's my next mini goal.

I reached another one of my mini goals tonight; I weigh the same as I did when Robert and I first met in person (almost nine years ago).

Here We Go Again

Tonight is my weekly weigh-in.

I was sick for part of the week and ate a couple hunded more calories than usual while exercising less, but made up for it by working out a couple hours a day for the rest of the week while going back to eating right. I have no idea what the scale will say, and as usual, I am nervous.

I hate the idea of going another week maintaining. Two weeks in a row would start to feel like a plateau for me, and I am always trying to change things up to avoid a plateau. Plateaus are bad for my motivation.

I may have lost weight this week despite being sick for part of it. I hope so!

On a positive note, a friend of mine shipped me some Crystal Light powders! I was such a terrific thing for her to do, and now I stand a better chance of drinking the right amount of water this week! (I have a dificult time getting myself to drink plain water, and I haven't found anything in the UK that I like flavoring it with. I really miss all of the healthy choices that were available when grocery shopping in California.)

I made my Bean Soup for dinner tonight. I made it in the crock pot as usual, and the whole house is filled with the yummy smell of it!

Sick & Giving Myself A Pass

I've been really sick with an awful cold that is, apparently, making its way all around the world. Fever, coughing, sneezing, dry throat, flemmy throat, stuffed up nose, headache, muscle aches and more are all part and parcel of this particular cold.

With the exception of going on an hour-long walk with my husband and the dog both days, I did not exercise for the past two days. I did not get on the elliptical crosstrainer, and I did not use the Wii Fit. That was okay for Tuesday as it was my planned day off from exercise, but yesterday I had planned on fitting in at least one of the exercises.

I woke up today feeling annoyed with myself for not exercising yesterday. I was also annoyed that I consumed more calories than usual for the past two days. (I still consumed less than 1,600 and 1,700 calories for those days, but my calories are usually closer to 1,300 per day.) This cold seems to be having the effect of making me want to eat more. I am feeling hungrier, and I am craving comfort food.

Today, I started to exercise on the Wii Fit, but the batteries in the board are going, so I only managed 30 minutes. It didn't feel like much of a workout, so I also spent 62 minutes on the elliptical crosstrainer.

I feel good for having exercised despite this cold that is making me miserable today, but I have come to a conclusion about this whole situation. Instead of feeling annoyed with myself, I am giving myself a pass. I'm only human, and maybe when I'm sick my body needs a little more comfort and less exertion to help it recover.

I might not lose any weight this week. I might even gain. That's okay. I'm human. And next week, I'll be feeling better and back to losing weight again.

And along with this attitude, I am scaling back my workouts. Three hours a day is a bit much. It takes away from other areas in my life, so I am going to alternate days when I spend an hour on the Wii Fit and days when I spend an hour on the elliptical crosstrainer. And I will continue to spend an hour walking our dog in the evening.

I'm thinking of using Tuesdays and Thursdays to only do 30 minutes of aerobic (not counting the dog walking) and then do 30 minutes of weight training. Any suggestions of some good exercises for toning my stomach (lower belly, especially) and toning up the loos skin underneath my upper arms?

Ahead Of Schedule

Yesterday, I only got 2 hours of exercise. I managed to do an hour on the elliptical crosstrainer, and I was able to fit in the hour walking the dog. But I didn't manage to spend my usual hour on the Wii Fit. That's what occasionally happens when I leave it until late; I find out that I just don't have time for it. And I hate missing out on any exercise!

So today, I made sure to exercise on the Wii Fit early in the morning. I'm up early with the kids anyway, and they join me when I exercise on it, so I don't have to worry about what they're up to while I workout. Then during their nap time, I spent 63 minutes on the elliptical crosstrainer. Later tonight, my husband and I will take the dog for his nightly hour-long walk.

Now maybe I'll have a little time to try out some strength training exercises. Strength training is one thing that is sorely missing from my workout schedule, and I really need it if I intend to keep all of this weight off.

Greatest Loser Competition

The woman who weighed only one pound less than me lost 6.5 pounds this week.

I lost SEVEN and won the Slimming World's Greatest Loser award for our group! Robert took a photo of me in the sash standing beside our Slimming World consultant, Sharon.


I won an engraved paperweight and pen set, a sash, a sticker and a certificate. I'm still amazed that I was able to lose seven pounds in one week. I exceeded any hope I had for weight loss for the week.






I also won "Slimmer of the Week."


Losing so much in one week is going to make this week even more difficult. We'll be going out for dinner to celebrate my birthday, plus having birthday cake. Add that to the fact that I just lost a huge amount of weight and it could spell disaster for my next weigh-in. I'm going to spend Wednesday through Monday working really hard to maintain my loss. If I can get through this week without gaining any of the weight back, I will be thrilled. I do not expect to lose any weight this week. I just really, really don't want to gain.

Robert and I also won one of the raffle prizes. It was a rain poncho, a box of Orange, Mandarin & Cinnamon Tea, and a 3-pack of Lemon Hi-Fi Bars.

Tonight was also a "Bring & Try" night where everyone brings a low-syn dish to share with everyone else. Robert made Slimming World's Vindaloo Sauce from the "Slimming World's Saucy Secrets" recipe book. He made a small change to the recipe (as we usually do). He also baked up some chips (thick-cut fries) for dipping in it. He also made Bombay Bhajis and Cucumber Raita Dip from Slimming World's "100 Free On Green Recipes" book.

Here is a quick photo I took of the table of food that everyone brought to share.


I found a dessert recipe on the back of a packet of Hartley's sugar-free Lemon & Lime Jell-o mix. It was for making Lemon, Lime & Ginger Creams. I made changes to the recipe and added to layers to the dessert. It was a big hit at the meeting! I had people asking for the recipe, and a friend was telling me it's her new favorite dessert. She said it tasted like a mini cheesecake.




I will share the recipes for everything in separate posts.

How I Fit In Exercise With Seven Children

Some of you have asked how I find the time for exercise when I have so many children. I intend to give an example of how I fit my exercise into my daily life by sharing today's routine on the elliptical machine. (Do not read further if toddler toilet habits gross you out.)

Ideally, all of my three youngest children would take their naps at the same time, leaving me plenty of time to exercise. Sadly, this does not happen every day. In fact, it happens quite rarely. But, ever the optimist, I still try to arrange it.

Many days, I wait until my husband gets home from work, so he can watch the three youngest kids while I exercise. This is not ideal as my evenings are very busy, and the later I leave exercising, the higher the chance that I will just say, "Sod it," and not do it at all.

So there are days when I try to fit in some exercise during my children's "nap time." Today was one of those days.

First, I had to make sure that the baby was asleep. He was. So I decided to put the other two children down for their naps. Once this was done, I got on the elliptical crosstrainer and started my exercise. My goal was to fit in an hour.

Ten minutes into my exercise, the baby started crying in the other room. I stopped the machine, wrote down my time, distance and calories burned, and then I checked on the baby. After only a few minutes of feeding, he drifted back to sleep. Great!

Back on the elliptical trainer. Twenty five more minutes passed, and then a little voice from upstairs yelled, "I pooped!" This was my three year old. She is potty trained, so when she yells this, it usually means that her poop is too soft and messy for her to wipe herself and she needs assistance. I stopped the machine, wrote down my time, distance and calories burned on it, and went upstairs. I cleaned her up and washed my hands. I took another peek at the baby to find he was still sleeping. Great!

Back on the elliptical crosstrainer. Before even starting up again, my two year old started yelling, "Mommy, I poopy!" He is not potty trained, so I had to get him out of bed, change his diaper, throw the diaper into the outside rubbish bin, and wash my hands. Then he went back into his bed. I checked on the baby again and found him still asleep. Great!

Back on the elliptical crosstrainer. Despite my two year old asking me over and over to get him different toys and to get him a drink, I kept exercising. I told him, each time, to wait until I finished exercising. I actually got the next 25 minutes of exercise done, partly because it's Saturday and my husband, who had been out running errands, came home and helped out with the younger three while I finished the last ten minutes of my workout.

Easy, right?

Mug Give-Away Winner

The give-away had 23 people entering and a total of 27 entries altogether. All of the names and extra enties were added into a hat and a name was drawn at random. The winner of a Skinny Dreaming mug is Wheezybouncer! E-mail me with your mailing address and your mug will be on its way!

Will I Win?

This Monday's weigh-in at Slimming World is both another day for us to make low-syn food to bring and share as well as the day the "Greatest Loser" is selected. At last Monday's weigh-in, I had lost more weight than anyone else in the group. I was only ahead by one pound however, and the woman who is one pound behind me has been known to occasionally drop large amounts of weight in a week's time. I however worked my butt off to lose some weight last week and my weight stayed the same.

So this week I'm experimenting a little bit. I'm not having any sugary or chocolaty snacks at all this week. (Usually I allow myself the occasional small treat.) I'm exercising three hours a day too. I did the same amount of exercise last week as well, but I know that I won't be able to keep it up for much past this week. I have too many other responsibilities and things to do to let myself devote three hours of the day towards exercise every day.

It won't kill me if the other woman wins. She's a friend, and I'd be really happy for her. I don't even know if there's a prize involved in winning the "Greatest Loser," but since finding out I was in the lead for it, I want to win. It's silly, I know.

Give-Away Time

I've decided to give out a prize in honor of my upcoming 37th birthday and to help promote my blog a bit more. The winner will be sent a Skinny Dreaming mug from my shop.



Prizes will be awarded from a random drawing which will be done on my birthday on the 27th of this month at noon, and there are four ways to get entered. You can get up to four entries, but only one entry per method. No entries allowd past 10:00am (UK time) on the 27th of Fbruary.

Ways to enter:
1. Make a comment in the comments section to this post.
2. Mention this contest in your blog, along with a link to this post and tell me you have done so (and give me a link to that entry in your blog).
3. Add my blog to your blog list in your sidebar. (If you have already done so, please let me know.)
4. "Follow" this blog. (If you need to know how to do this, feel free to ask. Those of you who already follow this blog will have an automatic entry.) (If you subscribe to this blog by e-mail instead of "following," let me know.)

Winners will be announced on the 28th of this month.

Not limited to just the US. International entries are allowed as I am shipping this myself.

Back On The Elliptical Crosstrainer

I must admit, on the day my sweet kitty Caspian died, I did not use the elliptical crosstrainer. I didn't use the Wii Fit either. I did, however, still go for the hour-long walk with my husband and our dog. We spent the walk reminiscing about all the good memories that involved Caspian and all the times he had made us laugh.

Yesterday, I did a lot of exercise though. I spent an hour on the elliptical crosstrainer (10.2 miles). I spent an hour and two minutes on the Wii Fit doing aerobics with 15 minutes of that time using hand-weights. And I still went with my husband to walk the dog, walking for an hour.

I doubt I'll be able to fit three hours of exercise in every day, but my kids are all off of school this week. Having the teenagers home makes it a little easier for me to fit extra exercise time in. And now that I am under 200 pounds, I intend to put some distance between me and the 200 pound mark.

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Because talking about the funny or cute things Caspian did turned out to be really cathartic, I started a new blog to continue to do this. The Kitty's Corner

There's nothing in it yet, but there will be later today. Please send me stories and pictures about your beloved cats, whether they have passed on or are still around, and I will include them in the blog. You can ask for a link back to your site and let me know what name you want credited for the story. With permission, I would like to include the best stories in a book compilation. (Note: You must be the copyright holder of the stories and photos.) You can send other things too. For example, my husband drew a couple of comics based on our cat that I will post there. And a friend of mine painted a beautiful portrait of her cat that I'd love to share there.

Caspian Died

Robert just called from the vet's, and our cat Caspian had to be put to sleep. He had liver failure and was dying anyway.

I'm in tears.

Sick Kitty

Our almost-eight-year-old cat, my favorite pet out of all the pets I've ever owned, is very sick. We had an appointment for him to be seen tomorrow, but he was so sick that I was worried he wouldn't make it until tomorrow. I convinced the vet to squeeze him in to be seen today. The news is not good. My husband has now had to take him to their vet hospital branch for tests. If he has what the doctor suspects, it has a 100% mortality rate and I will lose my beloved cat.

I think I'm going to lose my cat, but I am still holding out hope that the tests will find that something else, something treatable, is wrong with him.

In the meantime, the stress and sorrow have me crying and I am struggling not to binge eat. (I won't. I can win at least at this.)

Our elliptical crosstrainer (the replacement for out third broken one) arrived today. I may need to workout some stress on it.

A picture of my cat, Caspian:

ONEDERLAND!!!!!!!!

I went to my Slimming World meeting yesterday for my official weekly weigh-in. I lost another 1.5 pounds! That makes my weight 199 pounds! I have now officially reached Onederland! Woohoo!!!!!!

Starting weight: 272.5 pounds
Weight this week: 199 pounds
Total lost to date: 73.5 pounds

It feels GREAT!!!

I still have 64 pounds to lose to reach my goal weight, but I am really confident that I will reach it.

My husband Robert lost 2 pounds. After having several weeks of small gains, he was really happy to see the scale go down. We are both planning to jump start our losses into a slightly higher amount this week IF our new elliptical crosstrainer arrives. The replacement for our last one was supposed to be delivered yesterday, but it never arrived. We are hoping it gets delivered today.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday, I upped my Wii Fit exercise and used the hand weights again. My arms, neck and shoulders are aching but in a good way. Robert and I went for a walk last night that lasted three hours. My legs are really sore today!

We didn't get to bed until after midnight last night, so he gave me my Valentine's gift then. He bought a therapeutic massage oil and gave my back a wonderful and thorough rub down. This is why my back is not hurting today.

I have already got the crockpot on with the bean soup in it, and I plan on relaxing today. I still intend to get some exercise in later today though.

We had some good news about our elliptical crosstrainer. The store manager where we bought it told us a replacement would be delivered to us on Monday. It'll be great to get back into my workouts on the machine again! And hopefully it will give another boost to my weight loss.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Valentine's Day!

Trigger Foods

I am finding on this journey that certain foods are trigger foods for me. I don't go on all-out binges anymore, because I would have to log those into my food log and the calories numbers would haunt me all week. But certain foods still cause me to want to eat more, and I wind up with a higher calorie count for the day on days when I eat those foods.

About a month ago, I tried having oatmeal for my breakfast in the morning each day as a healthy start to the day. Unfortunately, oatmeal turned out to be a trigger food for me, and I would either go over my calorie allotment for the day or I would struggle all day fighting cravings and the urge to eat.

Oatmeal is a trigger food for me.

I recently learned that oatmeal is a common trigger food for people. I wonder how many people who have this problem with oatmeal have yet to make the connection. Trigger foods can be different for different people though. While oatmeal might be a trigger food for me and many others, there will be others who have different trigger foods or more than one trigger food. Chocolate is another common one. Most trigger foods are carbohydrate-rich foods.

Have you discovered what your trigger foods are?

New Recipe Blog

I started a blog to put the recipes I have tried out all in one place, with pictures of the food Robert and I have made. I wil still post them as I make them here, but in my recipe blog, it will just be recipes and all in one place, so it will be easier to search for recipes you might want to try out. Skinny Dreaming Recipes (I also have it listed in my sidebar now.

A Little Closer To Goal

I'm down another 1.5 pounds, so I'm at 200.5 pounds, and I've lost 72 pounds so far. :) Onederland is so close!!!!

I can do this!!!

Finding Time To Exercise When You Have Young Children

As most of you know, I have seven children. Three of them are teenage girls, so they don't hinder my exercise time in any way, other than trying to talk my ear off occasionally while I am concentrating on a complicated move. But finding time to exercise with small children in the house is a lot more complicated.

My younger four children are aged 6 years, 3 years, 2 years and 10 weeks. I find that I often have to wait until the evenings to do my workouts because that is when the teenagers and my husband are home. But the teenagers usually would rather be playing video games in the other room and the husband sometimes has to work late (or also would rather be playing video games in the other room), so there are times I have to be more creative with my workouts.

Last night was one of those times. The baby started crying while I was exercising. And nothing calmed him. His diaper was dry and he didn't want to eat. He just wanted to fuss. I had been exercising for about 20 minutes, and I wasn't getting much of a workout because I had to keep stopping to try and calm the baby.

I finally gave up and came up with a different solution. Here are a couple of photos of my solution.



Yes, my hips look enormous, and yes, my my workout clothes are very baggy. (I've dropped a few sizes since I bought them.) The toys in the photos are not as close to me as they look, and I had a burp rag over my shoulder because the baby spits up often.

The really great thing was that Cameron stopped crying while I exercised with him this way. And when I stopped for a moment, he started to fuss again. When I started to do the stepping exercise again, he fell asleep. After 25 minutes of doing Wii Step Aerobics with Cameron in my arms, my back was killing me! The workout did become a lot harder though and I built up more of a sweat, so that was good. I might have to do this form of exercise more often!

Before And During Photos

Here are the "before" photos Robert and I shared during the Slimming World Mr. & Mrs. competition.




Here are a couple of photos taken of the two of us a week ago on January 31st.



And these are photos that our friend Paula took of us at the meeting where we won the Slimming World Mr. and Mrs. award last Monday. The photos are a little blurry, but she was taking them on her mobile phone.




I still have a lot of weight to lose, but I've come a long way already! (I cringe when I look at my "before" picture.)