Hi ladies!!!!!!!

-0.4 today..new low @ 154.4# It dawned on me this morning, that I'm around the weight I was when I got married. I didn't really weigh myself a lot (there was probably a reason for that! ) But, I know I was around 150-155. I got married July 2007. So it's been THAT long since I've been this size! Anyways..still hoping for 154 or less by tomorrow/Sat.

Hubby is on his way home..looks like some short delays at the airport but nothing major! Looks like we'll be heading home to visit family tomorrow afternoon. SO, I guess my "maintenance weigh in" for the holidays will be whatever I weigh in tomorrow morning at.

Anyways, hope everyone has a great, OP day! I'll be on tomorrow to catch up before we leave! I'll miss chatting with all you ladies! I'll try to pop on every couple days if I can to say Hi! Everyone have a excellent holiday!!!!!!!!!!

Lauren--Yep, that's the recipe I found and made yesterday. It was amazingly yummy!! I had it for lunch today, too.

Roxan--I wasn't a breakfast person either. I've been having to make myself. I think something small...even just a piece of fruit or toast would help wake up your metabolism. I don't think it has to be big.

Hi, MamaP!

Lindsey--I'm so glad to hear that there's nothing major going on at the airports. Have an awesome time on your trip!!

Vixsin--I'd love to!

(From Isa Chandra Moskowitz's website "Post Punk Kitchen")


For the stew:

Olive oil (from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons, depending how much you feel like using)

1 small onion, diced medium

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

Several dashes fresh black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup green lentils

1 1/2 cups baby carrots

2 lbs plum tomatoes, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

1 lb small yukon gold potatoes, sliced in half (if using large ones, cut into about 1 inch pieces)

2 bay leaves

3 leeks, white & light green parts only, in 1 inch chunks (and washed well)

Fresh rosemary or thyme, to serve (realistically, only if you’re taking food photos)

For the polenta: (If you don’t want to use polenta you can use mashed potatoes, rice or any manner or yummy starches)

4 cups vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup dry polenta

To make the stew:

Preheat a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Saute the onion in olive oil, along with a dash of salt, for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, celery seed, pepper and salt and saute a minute more.

Add the lentils, baby carrots, tomatoes and vegetable broth. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally for about 20 minutes, until lentils are slightly softened (now is a good time to start the polenta.)

Add potatoes and leeks. Lower heat to simmer. Cover and cook for about 20 to 30 more minutes, until potatoes are fork tender and lentils are soft. Let sit for 10 minutes or so to allow the flavors to meld. Serve over polenta, garnished with fresh herbs, if you like.

To make the polenta:

Bring vegetable broth and salt to a boil in a 2 quart pot. Add oil. Lower heat to simmer. Add the polenta in a slow steady stream, stirring constantly with a whisk. Whisk for about 5 minutes, until polenta is thickened. Keeping heat low, cover and let cook for 20 more minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

(I didn't have leeks at the time, so I just sauteed some onions and added them. I also didn't have any lentils, so I used navy beans and I added brussel sprouts, because I love them)

Today's Info:

Exercise: LS 4 fast miles

Breakfast: oatmeal, pat of EB spread, brown sugar, splash almond milk, coffee
Lunch: cauliflower bisque, whole wheat bread, EB spread, fun size snicker bar
Dinner: Lauren's suggested Stuffed Shell recipe

Calories: Will add later

I am going out of town from Christmas Day until December 31 or January 1. I would like to keep this Accountability check-in going. If I am back on the 31st, I can post the thread. If I am not back until January 1, does someone else want to post it or do you want to wait until I am back?

Lauren I am going to take some more pictures soon. My powder has the light reflecting properties. I was getting very low (like only a week left) on the other powder. I purchased a new one today that doesn't do that. Do you wear makeup? If so, don't forget about all of that when you take your wedding pictures.

Vixsin Congrats on the .2.

Roxanne The suggestions that Kris and Vixsin made are good (protein shake or Greek yogurt). Some people eat leftovers from dinner. Protein is a biggie for me. If I eat a carby breakfast, I am doomed for the rest of the day. The good thing for me is that I am not fond of that type of food for breakfast in the first place.

Kris How ya doin'? I miss seeing you.

Lindsey What's the status of your DH? I'm keeping him in my thoughts. I forgot, where is "home" for you? How long will you be gone?

School was canceled today, which means I got to sleep in!

Yesterday was on plan. We went grocery shopping and picked up some much-needed fresh items. I made a really good spicy citrus shrimp with whole wheat pasta for dinner. It was SO GOOD and filling enough that I was able to stick with the 1 cup serving size! MMM!

I went ahead and did my makeup with Bare Minerals so y'all can see the miracle of mineral. LOL!! Just so you know, I look AWFUL without makeup. The "without" picture is actually pretty flattering! I have dark circles and uneven patches of skin and dots on my cheeks, nose and chin from pregnancy. I have almost blueish-purple looking bags under my eyesm as well as very red areas near the corners of my nose and lots of little blemishes on my chin. When people compliment my "perfect skin" I feel kinda guilty because it's actually the makeup doing it. LOL!! I just put on the basic bare minerals stuff (the mineral foundation, bronzer, mineral veil and the radiance stuff using the brushes from the starter kit) and some blush and mascara. The lip stuff is Bert's Bees Replenishing lip balm. The whole process took me exactly 8 minutes, and that includes taking the pictures. It's VERY easy!

Why not go ahead and post the accountability thread for January - we can all bookmark it and just wait until January 1 to start posting there.

I am doing ok. Still struggling with life, but things are leveling out some. I'm not near as focused and I need to be but right now I'm kind of in surivival mode. I have not been consistently counting my calories or writing down my food but I am still weighing every day and updating my weight on the daily weigh-in thread (on page 1). The scale is finally moving in the right direction, just not very quickly. I am hoping to be below 210 by the end of the year (onederland was my goal, but I don't see 12 lbs gone in 15 days - maybe 2 or 3, but not 12). It's sad to think I've wasted the last month and a half (I weigh what I did the end of October).

Pint - you look great. With and without the makeup.

Pint Wow! You are very, very pretty. Thanks for posting those pictures. I am going to start looking into Bare Minerals. I still have quite a bit of my other stuff left. This will give me time to figure out what I need. I have seen those products at Ulta. I can probably get them to do my makeup and I can get an idea of everything I will need. Where do you get your Bare Minerals products? Have you found prices are better at one place over another?

Kris Nothing wrong with survival mode. At least you are not where you were in February. You have made progress all along and you are continuing to do so. It may be slow, but it's still progress. That's an idea on posting the thread early.

Kinda fell of the wagon the past few days...in my defense I had a final for college to take and I didn't wanna worry about my eating habits

Breakfast
Bagel - 250 calories

Lunch
Chicken and cheese wrap - approx 450 calories

Snack
10 Grapes - ?? calories

Dinner
possibly special k & skim milk - ??? calories

+ 15 calories in flavored water.

Planning on walking a mile or two on the treadmill tonight...haven't been to the gym in a while..

MamaP, Diane, thanks.

I bought my first bare minerals makeup from the website. I started out with the $60 starter kit (I just checked, it's still $60), the clear radiance ($18) and the rev-er upper ($21). I don't use bare minerals eyeshadow, blush etc... but I have never found another foundation/coverage makeup that covers this well without looking and feeling like I have an inch of makeup on. You can buy bigger sizes of powders from Sephora at JC Penney for about $25 for a large thing of foundation (which doubles as concealer because of the different brushes you get) but the starter one lasted me about a year before I had to replace it. I haven't been to the Ulta here, (except when I ran in to report a hit and run...lol) but I know Sephora has it. I had friends who REALLY loved Bare Min, and practically forced me into a makeover with it, so they helped me with finding a shade. I find that even with a tan, the foundation adapts and looks fine. The Starter Kit comes with an instructional DVD, as well as written instructions for application.

I use the mineral veil, the original SPF 15 foundation in light, "warmth" which is the bronzer that gives us pale girls some color and clear radiance, which gives that "air brushed" look. I suggest getting the skin rev-er upper too. I ran out of mine and just haven't replaced it yet. The makeup stays in place pretty well already, but the rev-er refreshes my skin and helps the makeup stay looking fresh longer.

All in all, the prices are a little up there (I grew up on the cheap side of drugstore makeup) but they are definitely worth it. They look wonderful, they don't make me break out at ALL and I'm one to fall asleep in it. I have super sensitive skin, so I can't wear most liquid foundations, powders and concealers. Plus, these things last a long time. It was about a year before I had to start replacing things, and that was when I was wearing it every day.

... end Bare Minerals commercial.

Thank you all for the hugs yesterday, I feel better knowing that I can always come here for support.

Haven't been feeling too bright today, and my tummy is being a bit weird (sending me to the toilet every half hour, ugh) so food has again been limited to a few ricecakes, cups of tea and some plain rice and a little chicken.

If I've got the stomach bug that's going round at work, I swear I'll... *shakes fist*

Hope I'm better tomorrow, and for the weekend because me and a friend are going to try out a new Mexican restaurant that's opened in our town. It does BUFFALO WINGS which are my absolute favourite naughty food. Will report back on what it's like!

Shells - Thanks for posting the recipe!

Diana - Hubby just got home and we just finished dinner!! Our home is Michigan. Haven't been back since July 2009.

Pint - Holy cow! You look awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously beautiful!

Quick post..I'll probably be back later....

Hi Everyone!

Lindsey I'm glad to hear your DH made it back home safely.


Total Approx 1255 + Morning Joe

Breakfast (365 Calories + coffee)
spritz oil in pan
egg 70 cal
egg whites from carton 60 cal
Handful of spinach
2% Reduced Fat Cheese 40 cal
high fiber English muffin 100 cal
1 teaspoon jam 20 calories
coffee w/sugar and cream
juice 75 calories

Lunch (340 Calories)
2 Slices Nature's Own Wheat 35 calorie bread 70 Calories
3 Slices Hormel Natural Choice Sliced Turkey 60 calories
Mustard 0 Calories
Romaine Heart leaves 0 calories
Oikos Yogurt 110 calories
1 apple 100 calories

Dinner (550 Calories) Sodium will probably get me in the morning
Zuppa Toscana 170 Calories
Venetian Apricot Chicken w/veggies 380 calories

Exercise:
TF Fire 45 EZ
Cathe's Travel Fit

WARNING: Long post...

First, here's my check in for today...
B- bagel thin w/cream cheese 190, banana 110 (300)
S- 1/3 c. cranberries 130
L- 2 1/2 c. chicken noodle soup 125
D- grilled steak and onions, mashed potatoes 500
S- 2 andes mints 100, 2 hershey kisses 90
1245
I slacked on water intake today, maybe like 40 oz...
No exercise other than getting things around for our trip tomorrow and cleaning.

Well, this morning about 7am I woke up to my pup (old lady ) yelping! I literally jumped outta bed and flipped on the light to see what was wrong. She was kinda turned to the left, like a crick in her back. When I touched her she was yelping. Rewind to Tuesday night, she must have been feeling frisky and going down the stairs she did a jump over a couple missing them and fell. Wednesday she was fine, normal Bri. So..kinda weird all of the sudden she's acting funny. So I cuddled with her and put her on the bed and she laid with me. Once we got up she went out to potty and was fine, running around outside...then I come into get ready and I'm getting cleaned up, she comes in the bathroom and is all scrunched up like that again. I literally try to straighten her back and she goes back to the crooked position again. I gave her a warm epsom salt bath thinking she maybe had some stiffness..she is 10 years old. Ok, I decide she needs to go to the vet, obviously no improvement.

The vet tells me that her shoulder was almost dislocated causing her to kinda compensate and be in that crooked position. She thinks she also has something wrong with her disc near her left shoulder, so she's on a restricted activity plan...she's 10, she's not that active anyway, but NO jumping. The vet said she could injure herself again or even paralyze herself.

THEN I asked the vet to look at that lump thing on her lower belly while I'm here. She pokes and prods and feels it. I asked if it was anything serious. She looks right at me and says, "Yes, this is something you need to be worried about. I think she has mammary (breast) cancer!" My heart sank and I started crying like a baby! They are going to remove the tumor and test to see if it's malignant or not. I'm hoping and praying it's not!

This just broke my heart. This dog was adopted by my husband and I in Oct 2007. Her history isn't clear but from what little we know she was a puppy mill gal, bred and bred over and over and probably received very little affection, spending most of her life in a cage. When the puppy mill didn't "need" her anymore, they abandoned her. She was found and was adopted. The first people that had her said he bit. (This dog is SO gentle, I cannot possibly imagine this, unless you were intentionally mean to her!) The second people complained of her biting I believe as well, and relinquished care. She's been to NJ, NC and who knows where else. She's never had a normal life. UNTIL we adopted her. She is the sweetest dog EVER! She snuggles with you, she loves ANY kind of affection! This is the dog that after I've worked out and I'm stretching my arms she gets under my arm and rubs my arm, so I of course pet her. She follows you everywhere. She is just plain sweet and adorable!!! It makes me so upset that she could have malignant mammary cancer, the sweetest dog on the planet! NOT fair. It hurts because I wish I had more time with her, and hopefully we will, but even a few years isn't enough. I wish I had her HER WHOLE LIFE!

Sorry...I'm really going on about this. I'm just upset. It breaks my heart she has health problems like this... Well, that's the update. Not what I hoped for. BUT, maybe, just maybe we'll get lucky and it will be benign! As silly as it may seem to some of you, your thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated! As far as I'm concerned that is my little girl! I have no human children, she's my FURKID! Thanks for listening/reading.

Night!