Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1392 / 32.0
Yesterday’s exercise:  no exercise
Weight Yesterday:  251.8    Today:  252.0
Change today::  +0.2 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  27.8 lbs.  /  33.2 lbs. 

We started yet another Saturday by lying in bed and watching stupid movies on cable.  Today’s stupid movie was “Stuck on You” starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear.  I’d never even seen a trailer for this movie - and was definitely somewhat appalled by it - but strangely, I couldn’t stop watching.  The two of them as conjoined twins (which happens only with identical twins and they are far from identical, ha) surprised me.  I never would have pictured Matt Damon taking a role like that one.  Kinnear, maybe.  Damon, no.

Late last night I caught up on my TV shows.  I never used to watch TV at ALL, and now I actually I have shows that I refer to as “my” shows!  Who woulda thunk?!  Anyway, I watched Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Eli Stone, and both of my soaps (AMC and GH).  Oh I just love the internet.

Other shows that I watch regularly are Dancing with the Stars, Brothers and Sisters, Amazing Race, Samantha Who? and Lost.  Oh, and Pushing Daisies, I like that one too.  And now I’m kinda getting sucked into The Biggest Loser, too.

My husband and I are watching the new series, “Life on Mars” together.  He works in the evenings so he’s not home on Thursday night when it comes on, but we are watching it on Friday night on the computer.  So far we’ve rolled our eyes a few times but other than that, we’re enjoying it.  I like all things time-travel, so I’ve been looking forward to this show ever since I heard about it.

Tonight I finally got back on that DDR pad!  I put in a full hour and it felt so good to move again!!

3885

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1455 / 22.6
Yesterday’s exercise:  no exercise
Weight Tuesday:  253.2   Weight Wednesday:  254.2     Weight Yesterday:  252.8    Today:  251.8
Change today::  -1.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  28.0 lbs.  /  33.4 lbs.

I’ve missed blogging (and commenting) the past few days!  I had a big report due at work and was consumed by that - and then when the report was done I had to play catchup with the work that wasn’t getting done while we were working on the report.  Annnnnyway, after a few late night work sessions (last night ’til 2am), I’m mostly caught up and glad for the weekend.  Very glad!

I’ve also been “too busy to exercise.”  My knee feels well enough for the DDR (minus the jumps still) but I just truly have not had the time to devote to it.  Oh, I suppose I could have given up yet another hour of sleep, but after working about 18 hours straight, I just couldn’t do it.  Nevertheless, I broke through the stall and dropped down to 251-point-something which made me very happy!  I’M ALMOST THROUGH THE TWO-FIFTIES ALREADY!  WOOHOOOO!

I think I made a mistake at lunch today.  Got all cocky with the “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-I-can-have-alfredo” attitude and overdid it.  What did I do?  I called Quizno’s and ordered my favorite favorite sandwich to be delivered.  Twenty minutes later I had in front of me… a steaming hot Chicken Carbonara sandwich, which has on it:  grilled chicken breast, cheese, bacon, and bacon-alfredo sauce (I ordered it with no mushrooms).  All of these items (except for the bread its on, obviously) are LOW CARB.  And really, really yummy.  I scraped the innards of the sandwich off and ate them on low-carb tortillas. 

Here’s the obligatory food porn:

YES, I can have this on Atkins.

But.

I’m counting calories too.  And CRAP, the calories for this yummo-fest were through the roof!!  I’ll be eating salad for dinner tonight, as payment for this indulgence.  Worst of all, though, was how yucky I felt after eating my lunch - I was well and truly stuffed - and I’m just not used to feeling like that anymore.   I should have eaten slower and stopped when I felt full instead of stuffing myself to over-full just because I could.

Hey, I’m learning from etherence and aliciag57, my Intuitive Eating friends!  =D

ANYWAY, I missed y’all, and I’m glad to be back!

(I was looking for a I-ate-too-much-at-lunch cartoon and
somehow came across this …
… and it made me snort!  So I had to post it!)

CARTOON OF THE DAY

3833

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1342 / 30.3
Yesterday’s exercise:  2 hours yard work
Weight Yesterday:  253.8    Today:  253.2
Change today::  -0.6 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  26.6 lbs.  /  33.0 lbs.

Today I cooked one of my childhood favorites, Beef Stroghanoff.  It’s just chunks of beef in a thick gravy but I’ve been craving this stuff for over a week, in fact I bought the steak for it last weekend but it’s been in the freezer and I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.  Today was finally the day.

I didn’t really add it up ahead of time to see what the calorie and carb counts were going to be, but I knew that the only ingredient that was going to be worrisome was the cream of mushroom soup.  Well I expected that the steak, even though it was lean, would contribute some calories but the onions, the beef broth, and the small amount of sour cream would be pretty low-calorie and all of those would be low-carb.  So while it was simmering on the stove, I added up the ingredients using Fitday. 

One serving (about 1/3 cup) totaled 126 calories and 4.7g net carbs.  Not bad - in fact, a little better than I expected!  BUT, stroghanoff is no fun by itself!  It’s supposed to be served over something.  Something starchy.  Something loaded with carbs. 

For example, stroghanoff is lovely served over egg noodles.  Aha, a cup of noodles adds up to 221 calories and a whopping 40g carbs!  Stroghanoff is yummy over white rice, but a cup of rice totals 200 calories and 44g carbs!  Stroghanoff is great over mashed potatoes… hmmm, a cup of white potatoes has only 175 calories but has 37g carbs.

Well I found out today that stroghanoff is also delicious over low-carb 7-grain bread.  Two slices cut into cubes make up about a cup.  Those two slices total 176 calories - and - ONLY 4 NET CARBS.  Woohooo!  So tonight I had a lovely dinner which included a nice romaine salad with feta cheese and greek viniagrette - and the whole meal was about 500 calories and only 15 net carbs. 

Oh, man, it was really good, too!

Ha! Today I found a cartoon that’s perfect for me!

CARTOON OF THE DAY

3765

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1377 / 25.7
Yesterday’s exercise:  1 hour yard work
Weight Yesterday:  253.2    Today:  253.8
Change today::  +0.6 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  26.0 lbs.  /  31.4 lbs.

My husband came down to my office this afternoon and mowed the grass in the front yard with the riding lawn mower and he also edged the sidewalks and used the blower.  He loves all that stuff.  At my request he did not touch the back yard.  That’s mine.

At about 5:30 this evening, I went outside.  I used the trimmer along the fence and along the building - then fired up the push mower.  I never stopped for a drink or a rest - and I finished the drainage ditch in the back all by myself.   When I came inside, I was wringing wet with sweat, both my legs ached, and my left hand was numb, but hotdamn I felt great!  The first time I mowed that stupid ditch I didn’t even do the whole thing and I thought I was gonna die - today I was so happy that I was able to finish the whole thing myself!  Of course the fact that it’s no longer 98 degrees out there, that helped a lot. 

So.  That was my workout for today.  =D

I’m still doing the bouncy-thing on the scale.  This morning I woke up to a .6 lb gain.  It’s been 10 days now since I hurt my knee and I’ve been basically stalled ever since.  I just keep losing the same pound over and over again.  S’okay though.  I’ll eventually break through.

CARTOON OF THE DAY

3712

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  912 / 22.6
Yesterday’s exercise:  2 1/2 hours shopping / walking
Weight Yesterday:  253.6    Today:  253.2
Change today::  -0.4 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  26.6 lbs.  /  32.0 lbs.

Today when I was reading Delitaagain’s blog, I saw that she was celebrating a certain milestone - she had lost a full 25% of her total goal.  (YAY DELITA! WOOHOO!)  It occured to me that, hmmm… I don’t even know what 25% of my total goal is, so since I never figured that out, I wouldn’t even know about it when I got there.

So let’s do that math… Let’s see, I started out at 285 lbs.  I wanna be 130, so that’s a total loss goal of 155 lbs.  155 divided by 4 is … drum roll … 38.75.  Woohoo only 6.75 lbs. to go and I’M THERE!  **Dancing around**  I like that!  Thanks, Delita!

Today I started mowing the grass down at my office but I waited too late and so I only got about an hour’s worth of work in before it got dark.  Guess what I’m gonna be doing tomorrow, lol.  It’s weird, I actually kinda like doing it now.

Oh!  I just remembered something I wanted to share!  Today Mike and I went to a thrift store (looking for a desk for him) and I wandered down the women’s clothing aisle and saw this really cute jacket - a kinda casual suit-jacket, ivory with a little flower print on it.  I held it out and thought to myself, “This is the kind of jacket I would buy if they just made cute stuff like this in my size.”  I thought of looking to see what size it was, but I could tell from the arms that there was no way it was gonna be big enough for me.  So I moved on… then went back to it.  I had to know.

The tag said “2X.”  I hate that.  What exactly IS 2X anyway??  Having already ascertained from the narrowness of the upper arms that it would not fit me, the 2X further supported that assumption.  Last time I bought an “X” it was preceded by a “4.”  Ain’t no way I’m gonna fit into a 2.  I moved on… and went back.  I’ll just slip one of my arms in, just for the hell of it. 

Hmmmm.  Not as snug as I had expected.  Now I must know!  I took the coat off the hanger and slipped both arms in - and voila - they went in… all the way in.  A little snug, yes, but I was actually wearing a coat with “2X” on the label!  Did I buy it?  No.  Once I had it on, I decided that I wasn’t all that crazy about the flower print after all.  LOL I crack myself up!

CARTOON OF THE DAY

3643

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1388 / 29.5
Yesterday’s exercise:  1 hour DDR
Weight Yesterday:  254.2    Today:  253.6
Change today::  -0.6 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  26.2 lbs.  /  31.6 lbs.

I spent the day with my hubby today, just the two of us.  I really love that man.

Because I love him, I will do stuff that makes him happy.  Stuff that doesn’t particularly appeal to me but we’re two different people after all - we do happen to have a lot in common - but we also have some different interests and tastes.  Sometimes we’ll do stuff that I like and he goes with it because it makes me happy.  Today, though, it was his turn.

My husband is a motorcycle enthusiast.  Specifically, a Harley Davidson fan.  He owns a 1995 Fatboy (with all the upgrade chrome stuff) which he keeps in cherry condition.  Today there was a “Bikefest” in a nearby town and we spent the afternoon and early evening there, strolling down the (blocked off) streets, looking at all the motorcycles, visiting the vendors, and (most of all for me) people-watching. 

We had a really good time.  Yep, me too.  Even though I’m not as fanatic about motorcycles as he is, I’ve learned to enjoy the events (and museums and assembly plants and stores) that we’ve visited. 

Yep, there he is, my man in his element.  =D

Here’s the thing though… see that cute little seat behind him?  The one for a passenger?  I won’t ride there.  Not because I don’t trust him to drive safely, no.  I sat there once and though I “fit” behind him, I felt like I was plastered up onto his back.  But my feelings of being crowded (or crowding him) are not why I won’t ride with him.  There is really only one basic reason why I won’t ride on the back of his bike.

I don’t want him to be embarrassed.  Now I don’t think he’d actually be embarrassed or even give a shit what people think about his woman because he really doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what people think about anything else so why would he start?  Also, he’s never cared whether I was fat or thin, he loves me just the same.

Nah, it’s me… I just don’t want him to be the biker with the fat chick on the back.

So - one of my (many!) reasons for being so committed to losing weight - and getting fit … is to ride on the back of that Harley.  And I will.

CARTOON OF THE DAY

3607

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1255 / 24.2
Yesterday’s exercise:  45 minutes DDR
Weight Yesterday:  254.4    Today:  254.2
Change today::  -0.2 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  25.6 lbs.  /  31.0 lbs.

Hey I’ll take another two-tenths of a pound - together with yesterday’s two-tenths, it’s almost a half a pound altogether and that ain’t small potatoes at all.  Okay, the fact that just this past Saturday I weighed almost a pound less than I do now, that may be buggin’ me a little… but I’ll get over it.  Because that pound will come off.  Eventually.  I’ll be sure to wave goodbye to it when it does.  =D

Tonight was the high school football game and this time I felt up to going.  I’m glad I did!  I’m not really all that much into football (I’m mostly there because Kevin’s in the band) but what an incredible game!  Our boys played so well, pretty much everyone was amazed.  All the parents in the stands at our games are pretty much resigned to losing because, well, we usually do.  The fact that our team members have the highest average GPA in the county - eleven years running! - kinda takes the sting out of it though.  We don’t care if our future doctors and lawyers win a high school football game!  But BOY!  When they DO!!  It’s really fun! 

Kevin plays the drums (he’s the only snare player) and he’s really good at it.  Tonight the drum line did a little exhibition of their own and my son was out there drummin’ like a wild man, dancin’ and rockin’!!!!  I was so proud!

One thing I noticed tonight while watching him move around the field - - his uniform is way too big!!  I can’t believe the band instructor hasn’t noticed this.  He was fitted for that uniform last year and he’s lost 25 lbs. since then!  He totally needs a smaller size!

Speaking of which, I wore a pair of khaki pants to work today, which I haven’t worn in over a year.  One of my co-worker noticed, she said, “You’re lookin’ cute!  Are those new pants?”  I did a little twirl / dance in the middle of the room.  Woohoooo!

CARTOON OF THE DAY

3576

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1275 / 27.6
Yesterday’s exercise:  1 hour DDR
Weight Yesterday:  254.6    Today:  254.4
Change today::  -0.2 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  25.4 lbs.  /  30.8 lbs.

Two-tenths of a pound.  Hey, I’ll take it.  =D  Anything downward is good with me!

Tonight was my daughter’s high school chorus concert.  I knew that I was going to be getting home pretty late for dinner so I made sure to eat before I left the house.  I had to be on the road by 5:15 so I started cooking at 4:30 this afternoon, made hamburgers on the stove, then split one in half and ate that, saving the rest for when I got home, which I figured would be after 8:30 or so.  Ha!  The concert was way longer than I expected, so I didn’t get home until after 10:00!

Today at work my friend/co-worker (the one that was in the video with me) wanted to get some exercise after lunch so we plugged in the DDR and put about 45 minutes in.  She was cracking me up!  She picked up the basics pretty quick (quicker than I did) and so we play on the same level.  Today she kept saying, “OMG I sucked! We gotta do that one again!”  We did one song about five times in a row and halfway through each time we’d both start laughing because the song was so fast and our feet weren’t cooperating.  LOL it’s a hoot!

When I first bought the DDR pad, I also bought the Ultramix 3 game.  Then when I bought the second pad, I also bought the original Ultramix and Ultramix 2.  Well, the original one is hard, really hard.  I’m so not ready for that yet.  I like UM2 a lot but the DVD I bought was used and it’s a little damaged.  Sometimes words don’t show up or they’re garbled and sometimes the dancer is just a pulsating blob.  It’s actually pretty amusing.

Anyway, there’s a song on the UM2 game that we danced to and so I had it stuck in my head most of the rest of the afternoon.  The song is called “Rubbernecking,” it’s an old Elvis song that I don’t remember hearing before I saw the TV show Las Vegas (Ohhhh I miss Josh Duhamel!).  Annnnnyway, this evening at the chorus concert, that was one of the songs they sang!  Geez, what a weird coincidence.

CARTOON OF THE DAY

3535

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1357 / 32.1
Yesterday’s exercise:  1 hour DDR
Weight Yesterday:  254.6    Today:  254.6
Change today::  -0.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  25.2 lbs.  /  30.6 lbs.

I forgot to weigh in this morning!  I slept in late and then Hubby and I decided we were going out for lunch and in all the rushing around to leave I totally forgot about weighing myself.  Oh well, hopefully I’ll have good news from Mr. Scale tomorrow morning.

I feel good!!  My knee is feeling so much better and I had no pain at all this evening when I put in my hour of DDR.  I’m still skipping the jumps but getting a good workout nevertheless.  I work up a sweat every time, probably because as I progress and get more coordinated, I’m able to move faster and do harder step combinations. 

There’s a “grade” with each song (at each level), and though I’m still working in the “Light” level, there are faster songs and slower songs and more and less complicated routines that go with them.  What I’ve started doing now is I’ve been concentrating on those songs that I previously got a C or D on, and work to bring them up to an A or B.  Then after I’ve managed that, I’ll go back and try the ones I got an “E” on (failing).  Some of them are really fast!!!  They seem impossible, but I know the ones I’m getting C’s on now - they too seemed utterly impossible when I first started out as a beginner.

Woooohoooo I’m so happy to be DDRing again!!!

CARTOON OF THE DAY

3508

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1099 / 32.7
Yesterday’s exercise:  nada, nothing, zip
Weight Yesterday:  253.6    Today:  254.6
Change today::  +1.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  25.2 lbs.  /  30.6 lbs.

Wooohoooo I played the DDR game for a full hour tonight!!! 

Like I said I would, I didn’t do the jumps at all.  It affected my score most of the time, but I didn’t care!  Today I was there for the exercise, not for the score.  After about a half hour, my oldest son Eric came out and joined me.  I don’t know why, but it’s so much more fun when you have someone with ya!  He doesn’t play often so he got mostly D’s but he just kept right on going anyway.

My knee hurt a little when I started but after about 20 minutes it was warmed up and the pain went away.  I can feel it’s a bit swollen now but no pain at all, so that’s a happy thing.  My scale showed a full pound gain this morning and it’s been quite a while since I had that see-saw thing happening, so I’m really happy to be able to get back to my daily DDR!!

My mom invented these weird ham-and-cheese melt things when I was a kid.  They honestly have no name - if and when we have to refer to them, we just call them “those ham-and-cheese-melt-things,” LOL.  Well anyway, it’s the kind of thing that a person either hates or loves and I’ve always loved them.  It occurred to me this afternoon that I could probably have those things for dinner, if I used my low-carb bread.  So yummy!  I made myself a nice romaine salad and a couple of the melty things. 

There ya go, there’s a name:  “melty-things”  … I’ll have to inform my mom.  =D

My husband and I went to my hometown in Wisconsin this past summer and stayed with my aunt, who one evening invited her adult children and their children over for dinner so they could all see their Florida kin.  Anyway, you’ll never guess what she served for dinner…  Didja guess?  Yep!  Melty-things!  Ha!  She told the story of how she visited my mom in Florida last year and my mom made these things and auntie loved them so she came home and made them for her extended family and they loved them too.  And did they ever…!!  They ate a LOT of the melty-things!  I sat there amazed as I watched Paul (50-year-old cousin) down SIX of them.  Me, I was officially off my diet at that point, but still, I only had room for two.

Okay so now that I’ve rambled on and on about the melty-whatever-they-are, I suppose I should at least give a brief description.  Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal (now that I’ve made such a hoo-haa about ‘em).  The ham and cheese part is just ham salad (you know, ham, sweet relish, onion, and a little Miracle Whip) with some American cheese blended in.  And then you spread it on bread and bake it in the oven.  When the bottom is toasty, then switch it to broil and take it out when the cheese starts to brown.

On my low-carb bread, each one of these little suckers is 200 calories but only 4 carbs.

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