My first goal!!!!

I made my first goal....5 %....WHOO HOO!!!!


Today was my weigh in day and I LOST -2.8 lbs. I was still nervous getting on the scale because I couldn't tell if I had lost weight. I've been doing everything right but that doesn't always mean a loss on the scale.

I'm excited!!!

My next goal is 10%

I feel like the cookie monster

Remind me NOT to let my daughters make homemade chocolate chip cookies when I am in my hormonal phase of wanting to eat things I shouldn't.

There hasn't been any food that has tempted me lately as much as these cookies. We've kept them in the freezer so they are very hard and crunchy, which appeals to me even more...lol!!! Keeping them in the freezer was also to be "out of sight, out of mine"...[right!!]

Two cookies are worth 3 points. I have used 6 - 9 points on these cookies the last few days.... daily!!!! I guess I could congratulate myself in the fact that I have not lost all self control and just pigged out on the cookies like I would have in the past. I would have eaten as many cookies as I wanted and not really think of the outcome.

But assigning points to the cookies really makes me evaluate if I want to eat them or not. Lately eating them has won out. And really it hasn't been too bad because I am still with my points, however it has also kept me from eating something healthier.

That's the beauty with Weight Watchers. I have my allotted points and I can determine what I want to eat. Now if I was to make a habit of this then that wouldn't be good. But that I can indulge with self control in limiting how many cookies I'll eat is a breakthrough for me. I am able to satisfy the craving without going overboard.

However, I will not be letting the girls make these again anytime soon. And most definitely not during my "hormonal phase".

Glad there are only 9 cookies left....and I get at least two of them tomorrow. :-)

This is painful

I hate having my pictures taken. I mean HATE!!! I will do all sorts of things to not get my picture taken. However, this is a blog about losing weight. So here goes.....


This was taken last fall...and if anything I may have gained some more weight since then but not much...this is pretty accurate.

And then there is this one....

This was taken in the Summer of "08. See why I hate having my picture taken!!

Pictures don't lie. I know many will say it adds ten pounds...but let's get real...at my size what is an extra ten pounds...LOL!!!

I think I dislike photos because even though I KNOW I am fat...I don't see myself as fat. So when I see a rare picture of me I cringe because now I am seeing myself the way everyone else does. ewwwww!!!

I didn't start having a weight problem until I started having children. Unfortunately I spent a lot of my younger years [high school and beyond] constantly trying to lose weight. At the time I thought I was fat and saw myself as fat I was 5' 11" and weighed 140 lbs. That was so not fat!!!

And yet I was so consumed with getting thin...I was obsessed. Here are two pictures I found taken when I was in highschool and thought I was fat. I'm the tall one...hahaha!!



When I find the ones of me in college I will post them one day...

I am amazed at how much time I wasted as a youngster on my weight...maybe I wasted so much time that when I actually became fat I just didn't have the time to invest. Or maybe it's because I had 6 children in a 12 year period and didn't try hard enough in between the pregnancies to lose the weight. I'm sure I was overwhelmed with having babies, nursing babies and homeschooling too.

Now my youngest is 9 and my oldest is 22. And as much as I hate looking at pictures taken the last few years I have to say that those pictures are also motivators. Maybe this spring I will recreate the picture on the fountain [in the orange shirt] and post the two side by side.

I do believe there will be a difference.

I LOVE PIZZA!!!! LOVE IT!!!


I made some homemade pizza tonight [picture of it above]. Actually I usually make homemade pizza at least once a week. When we moved to where we live now, 10 yrs. ago, there were no pizza places that delivered to our house being that we live out in the country and out of the delivery zone. If we wanted pizza we would have to order it from the nearest Pizza Hut and drive 15 minutes one way and then back. And since I have a large family, 6 children, it wasn't cheap.

My brother and his wife came to visit us not to long after we moved. My sis-in-law showed me how to make homemade pizza...even the dough is made from scratch. I usually shy away from making anything that requires yeast. Not sure why, maybe cause it seemed like it would be hard. But it wasn't and the pizza was soooooo good!!! So good...I quite ordering pizza out and started making it in...

I wonder how much money I have saved? 10 years ago it cost around $45 per trip and whatever we used in gas. Now I spend about $30 a month for around 8-12 pizzas. I love saving money.

But what else I like about home made pizza is that I am in control of the toppings. I know exactly what is used. Making home made pizza also comes in handy now that I am doing Weight Watchers. I am able to get more pizza for my points since I can control the ingredients.

My pizza ends up being 4 points per slice. Which is kind of high for one slice but they are big slices. And I always leave enough points so I can have two slices....yum!!!


It wasn't too long ago that I would eat 4 to 5 slices. I didn't eat that much because I was so hungry but because I just LOVE pizza. Now that I see how many points are in one slice I can understand why I wasn't losing any weight. And now I am in that place where "nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels".

I find that I am content eating two slices...and I feel full afterward. I haven't been tempted to eat more but if I am, I know that I can save some and eat it for lunch the next day.

Our family tends to finish up a dinner of pizza with a bowl of ice cream. I still indulge in the ice cream too but I changed from eating a bowl of ice cream to eating the 100 calorie ice cream sandwiches. It is just as much a treat to me as a bowl of ice cream would be.

I love that I am becoming more in control of my food and that food isn't as in control of me...

Looking forward to exercise

I haven't been feeling well the last few days. So much so that I haven't had a lot of motivation to do much. However, I have made myself go to my exercise class. I LOVE deep water aerobics....LOVE IT!!!

I have done many different things for exercise but usually I have to force myself to do it. A friend asked me to go to a deep water aerobic class with her last June. I wasn't going to go because it is a little bit of a drive and the classes cost money. But I figured it couldn't hurt to try it at least once.

And once is all it took. The class is an hour long and it is quite invigorating. We start off by putting on a floatation belt and entering into the water. The water is on the cool side and we don't have time to get used to it...you just have to plunge in and start moving. Pretty soon you are working up a sweat and the water actually starts feeling good. I am one of the few in my class that dunks my whole body under the water. Most of the ladies don't get their hair wet.

I love that I get a whole body workout...being in the deep water has helped me to start getting some stomach muscles because my stomach is constantly getting a workout because I have to keep my body in a stable position. It's kind of like working out on a ball.

It did take me awhile to get the hang of some of the moves and I still have some problems with a few that require my brain to really focus to keep me coordinated.

About 2/3's way through the class we use floatation weights or noodles to focus on the muscles. The weights on land are very light but when used in the water they become challenging. Keeping them underwater while using them really gives me a workout because of the resistance of the water.

The last 5 minutes of the class is a strecthing time. And does that feel good.

Being a larger weight has hindered me from doing a lot of "land exercise" because of the pounding on the joints. But deep water aerobics allows me to get a full workout at a high intensity if I so choose. That's another beauty of this exercise. Each person can chose the intensity of the workout according to their ability. This week because I am not feeling all that well I workout at a lower intensity than I usually do and that's ok because I am at the place that anything is better than nothing.

Another benefit from this exercise is that I feel so much better. I may be sore the next day but it's a good sore. An even better benefit is that I am finally noticing the changes in my body. I am losing inches and my clothes are fitting better.

If you are looking for something to do for exercise...try deep water aerobics...you may just start looking forward to exercising...I know because I do!!

Be Anxious about nothing

Saturdays are my WW's meeting and weigh in days. This is my fourth week with WW and I can't believe how anxious I felt this morning. I think it's because our scale is a bit strange. I can weigh myself three different times and get three different weights, sometimes less and sometimes more. It can make a person crazy if they only relied on their scale to tell the story.

And I know that there is more to measuring weight loss than getting on a scale, but let's face it...if we are trying to lose weight we want to see it on the scale. At least I do:-)

I picked Saturday mornings for my meeting and weigh in day for a few reasons. First, my husband works on Saturdays so it's a lazy day around our home. I let the children sleep in and laze around till noon so if I am gone, it doesn't interfere with any plans. Second, my husband has an odd schedule and is off on Sun -Tues. so, if I am going to go out to eat it will be on one of those days and that will give me a few days to work off any indulgences before I have to weigh in again. Although right now I am doing good about NOT indulging.

Anyways, this morning I was anxious on my way to the meeting. Maybe it was because I didn't lose weight last week, actually I gained .2 [I consider that more of a maintain in weight than a gain since it wasn't even 1/4 of a pound]. And although I did see a loss in inches....I WANTED to see a loss on the scale too. I'd worked hard, been diligent, tracked my points, barely even touched the extra 35 points I have each week, and worked out pretty hard.

As I was driving I was reminded of this Scripture...Php 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So I prayed and talked with the Lord and shared my anxiety and asked for His peace so that irregardless of what the scale showed, I would not let my emotions dictate my actions. Because whatever the scale showed...I KNOW that I have done what I was supposed to...and I will continue to do so.... After this conversation I had a lot more peace and was ready to face the scale.....

And guess what?????

I LOST -2.8 lbs. this week!!!!! yippeeeee!!!! See, all that anxiety about nothing....

Later, as I was entering this information on my etools, a box popped up congratulating me on my weight loss but also letting me know that I am losing weight too fast...

Too fast???

I'll save my comments for another time.

As of today I have lost a total of 13 pds. since starting WW.

It's about time

I have finally gotten serious with losing weight. Or maybe you could say that I am fed up with being fat....finally!!! I have not always been overweight. But after having six children and not making losing weight a priority....let's just say I have reached some "highs" that I never thought I'd reach.

A few weeks ago one of my sisters-in-love mentioned that she was wanting to lose another 20 pounds. She has already successfully lost 40 pounds and had kept it off through Weight Watcher's.

The fact that she has kept it off is what has inspired me to try Weight Watcher's myself. I have lost weight before through other programs and if rewards were given out for most weight lost and regained....I could be a gold medal winner. I seem to lose and regain the same 30 pounds over and over...ugh!! I want to lose the weight and KEEP it off. I am TIRED of being fat, overweight, obese....I think you get the picture:-)

My oldest daughter was married this past summer and when I saw myself in the video and the pictures I was so disgusted. I know I am heavy, and I know I want to lose weight...but I wasn't making it a priority. I am now making it a priority and am doing something about it.


I joined Weight Watchers [WW] July 25, 2009. I don't think I am ready to tell the blog world my starting weight yet....I will eventually but not in this post. I will say that since then I have successfully lost over 10 pounds...whoo-hoo!!!! I ONLY have over 100 pounds to go....but I can do it...one pound at a time.

So begins my blogging about my journey. My life was transformed over 20 years ago when I acknowledged Jesus as Lord of my life. He has been gently working and transforming me from the inside out. I want ALL of me to be a witness to His goodness, not just what's "inside". It's my season to focus on the outside. And in sharing my journey I hope to encourage others on the same path.

Tomorrow is my weigh in day...I'll let you know how it went.