Loser! With Photos!

Hey everyone!

I'm down 16 pounds... sixteen!! I lost 1.4 this week, we cheated a bit on food.  Tim was sick all week, and it was easier some nights to pick up dinner from Chipotle, or make something quick at home.  We also tried a new recipe for Barbacoa, and that was pretty hefty calorie count.  It was super good though.  We did some experimenting in the kitchen.  First we did the barbacoa, which was a new recipe for us.  It was so good!! Tim had the leftovers for dinner the next day, and I'm sure that's what got rid of his cold.  We also tried substituting greek yogurt for oil in a boxed brownie recipe.  I love baking, and I really miss doing it.  I have always liked baking and cooking, but with baking I never eat the treats.  Unless it's Texas Sheet Cake.  Then I'll eat the whole thing.  I'll have cake for breakfast, I have no restraint or shame.  But brownies, I don't really see the big deal about them, I just like to make them, and Tim eats them all.  So we thought we'd try a substitution from my list last week, and we subbed out 3/4 cup oil for 1/2 cup greek yogurt and two tablespoons of oil.  Tim is still eating the brownies, but I like them even less than normal brownies.  They came out with a weird texture- a little tougher, kind of chewy (not in the good way) and I know people hate this word- moist.  They were shiny on top.  You know how brownies get that cracked top when they are perfect?  Not these.  And they get shinier every day.  They taste more like really heavy cake than brownies.  I would not recommend this substitution.  Texture is a really big deal.  Saving 1,000 calories isn't worth it if it doesn't taste good.

So, as you've figured out, I have TOPS meetings on Wednesdays, and we weigh in.  I've been the "biggest loser" for two weeks in a row there.  Sometimes I don't think it is fair- I'm competing against women 40+ years older than me.  It's just easier for me to lose weight, I can do a lot more exercises than they can.  Anyway, I won my dollar and change, last week for 2.8 pounds, and this week for 1.4.  That's a loss of 6.6 pounds lost in the past three weeks!  I've been exercising about six days a week with cardio, and I'll do a walk or yoga on the seventh day.  I've also incorporated weight training two days a week- I think I gained some muscle this past week.  I thought I'd include my "before" picture that I took my first week of TOPS, and show you what 16 pounds lost looks like on someone who is already bigger.

Those are obviously my before shots... Here are my current photos, please ignore the mess, I am cleaning out our hallway closets :)

Also, please ignore the dorky smile on this side shot, I was getting a little impatient with the posing.  

I can definitely see the progress this way!  I'm getting there, and have a long way to go, but sometimes it feels like you're just standing still- I know that I'm losing though.  My pants are now too baggy, but I'm not small enough for the next size down.  My clothes are fitting better, and these used to be pants that I couldn't wear without a really baggy shirt!  Now they fit nicely!! 

It feels awesome to be losing!  If you're looking for support, I'm here!  If I can do it, you can!

Weight Loss So Far & Recipes!

Alright all,

I went through my doctor's files, and found out I was wrong- my starting weight with TOPS was not my highest weight.  After my surgery last year, I was actually up to 222.  The first week at TOPS doesn't have a weigh-in, so I lost those few pounds before my "official" start weight.

So, since my first meeting, I have lost 6.5 pounds.

Tim and I like to eat tasty food.  We work as servers, so we are usually at work late, and don't get home to start dinner until about 9 or 10 pm.  We also have a nasty habit of only buying dinner for one night each time we hit the grocery store (which is a lot).  With nothing in the apartment, and it being so late, we fell into a dreadful pattern of picking up fast-food for dinner.  A lot.  Then going right to bed after eating.  No wonder I put on some extra-extra cushion.

Once I decided to go to a meeting, and found one that fit in my schedule, we committed together to eat healthier.  I got really lucky and have a guy that loves to cook, loves to eat healthy, and we like almost all the same food.  I'd say that's the jackpot when it comes to weight-loss support.  While I try to stay under 1,500 net calories a day with MyFitnessPal, Tim just focuses on making healthier choices.  We make simple exchanges- baked tortilla chips instead of fried, fresh veggies instead of canned, extra portion of veggies at dinner instead of pasta, light sauces (or no sauce) instead of creamy-sauces.  We also get down on a lot of soup.  Here's a couple links to soup recipes we've tried and really like, most of which I found first on Pinterest: Mexican-Style Chicken Soup, Sausage and Tortellini Soup.  We have also been trying traditional recipes we have, making them a little healthier.  Instead of our usual Chili, we used a blend of ground turkey and ground beef, and omitted serving it with sour cream.  We also snuck in lots of extra veggies, like carrots and celery, which beefed up the chili without being too fatty for us.

Our favorite dinner right now is a spicy chicken breast with avocado, cilantro and lime, served over rice, usually with garlic green beans, or broccoli.  I don't have an exact recipe- we just do what feels right and hope for the best, but here's what we did last time:

• Two large boneless-skinless chicken breasts (I filet them in half to have four smaller portions)
• One medium avocado
• Small bunch of Cilantro
• Two limes
• One cup uncooked white or brown rice
• Chicken broth, or Chicken Bouillon Cube
• Ground cumin
• Cayenne Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder

I coat the chicken breasts liberally with the cumin and cayenne pepper, add a small amount of garlic and onion powder, and cook in a skillet, on medium heat with a small amount of vegetable oil spray.  While that is cooking, we cook the rice with a 2:1 liquid:rice of chicken broth if we have it, or 2 cups water with a chicken bouillon cube.  Bring liquid and rice to a boil, turn down and cover, and cook on low for about 25 mins, until rice is tender.
To help cool-down the heat from the cayenne, we top the cooked chicken with the avocado mixture.  We stir together one avocado, chopped, with about one cup chopped cilantro (obviously, use less if you want, we just love it-maybe more than each other), and the juice from half of one lime.  We also mix in about 1/2 cup chopped cilantro and juice from half of one lime into our rice.
Serve the chicken on a bed of rice, top with the avocado mixture, and make sure you have at least one more veggie on your plate!

One serving comes to about 600 calories for dinner.  I usually start low with my calories for breakfast and lunch, and work up to a slightly larger dinner.

Those are all typical dinners in our house, and I try to get down to our fitness center about three times per week.  I'm a pretty boring exercise-gal, I stick to cardio on the stationary bike, and about one hard-weight session a week.  I do a full-body weight training session with lighter weights, and more reps.  Two five-pound dumbbells, and a lot of exercises: bicep curl, hammer curl, arm circles, shoulder presses, flat-arm shoulder fly, overhead tricep dips, tricep kicks, bench press, fly press, and tricep lifts overhead on the bench.  Next, I carry those weights for all my leg work: squat, plie squat, calf raises (toes pointing forward, pointing in, and pointed out) and lunges.  I do ten reps of each exercise, cycle through my whole set, then repeat two more times.  I could not walk well for two days, and three days later I'm still between old-lady pace and young-lady pace.  On weeks I don't want to go as hard, I'll try a lighter weight, or remove one full set.  I do this workout with about 20-35 minutes on the bike, alternating every five minutes between a harder resistance level and a lower resistance level (usually 3 and 6).  Finally, Tim and I have been doing Yoga, simply following along with YouTube videos as best we can.  We really like DoYouYoga, and her 30-day challenge.  At bedtime, we usually do a short video, here, and when we are feeling crazy, we follow (curse, yell and swear at) Jillian Michaels.

Hopefully some of these recipes, or fitness ideas will help you!  Or, if you have any fun workout or tasty dishes you use to lose, please share in the comments!