Milestone.

I've officially lost 76 pounds.  I've hit a pretty big milestone for me.  My weight is 199.  I can't remember the last time I saw the number 1, instead of the number 2.

It's been a long time.

I haven't updated this in forever!  I've been pretty busy though.  In October I got married, went on a honeymoon, moved to a different state & have been working on my career.  Then, the holidays happened.  So, now it's time to focus on my health again (although that isn't much of an excuse).  

To date I've lost 67 pounds.  Not bad, but not fantastic.  I haven't lost much more since the wedding.  The seasons influence my decision on what to eat.  In the summer, I'm totally cool with eating a fresh crisp salad, but in the winter I can't help wanting a hearty soup every once in a while.  It's my downfall.

I went through our kitchen today, gathered all of our food & calculated the amount of weight watcher points for each item.  I was surprised to see that we didn't have a single thing that was bad for you.  We have a small pack of truffles that were given to us for Christmas, but I have a feeling they're going to be thrown away soon.  Since living on our own & buying our own groceries, Justin & I have found that we are generally attracted to food items that are meatless.  Slowly our diet has become mostly vegetarian.  The only time we eat meat is if we eat over at someone else's place.  I have a feeling that in the near future we will convert to a strictly vegetarian diet.  Now that we only eat meat once every few weeks, we notice that we don't like the way that meat feels when it's being digested.  We'll see what happens.

I need to start writing down what I eat again.  I'm going to start back up today.

Trader Joes Chocolate Yogurt (3 points)

Trader Joes Low Fat Vanilla Granola (1.5 points)

1 Trader Joes Whole Wheat Tortilla (2 points)

1 cucumber &  3 grape tomatoes (0 points)

1 TBSP. Whole Foods Red Pepper Hummus (2 points)

1 Pumpkin Chocolate No Pudge Brownie (2 points)

Total Points today: 10.5 points

* Best Christmas present:  a new scale!

Holy Crap!

I bought a regular size 16 jeans from target today. The largest pair of pants I own (pre weight loss) are a women's size 28, for reals. I can't believe it. I didn't even really have the money for them, but I had to buy them.

Go me!

Oh yeah.

My fiance has a fat blog too.

www.cakeisawesome.blogspot.com

How?

Total weight loss to date: 60 pounds.

Me- in a pair of jeans that were 3 sizes ago. I have lost 5 sizes though, unfortunately I can't find the largest pair of pants I've ever owned. Excuse the mess behind me... I like the tape measure to the right of my legs. It's so hard to buy clothes online now because I am so unaware of what size I am wearing- I am constantly measuring myself.

Lately Justin and I have been getting this question a lot, "What's your secret?". Honestly I think we all know what needs to be done, it's simple: eat healthy & exercise. Everyone wants there to be an easy way out. Want to know the big secret? Justin & I have changed our lifestyles completely. I don't believe in the word diet. If you say, "I am on a diet" that implies that the change you have made to your eating habits is only temporary and once you have lost the weight you feel happy with yourself, you're going to binge on eating chocolate cake on a daily basis. That probably won't work, but you can try if you'd like. Since February Justin & I have slowly changed the way we live our lives in general. I believe that the biggest part of this equation is mentally deciding that it needs to be done. You have to realize that your life needs to change and you have to do it. In the long run you'll feel better about yourself as a whole. Here's a few tips that have helped me.

- Start slow. Don't start off by eating leafy greens & running 5 miles daily, if that's the case you will quickly burn out. We started with using the weight watchers points system. We felt it taught us to look at what we were putting in our bodies & evaluate whether or not it was a good decision. Once you've learned the basics, you're golden.

- CHEAT! Seriously, everyone needs a piece of cake every once in a while... just not, every day. It's funny but once you stop eating as much crap you realize how much you ate in the past that you didn't even like that much. I pick and choose the cake I eat.... yes, I am a cake snob.

- One of the things I've done is not cut out a few items that I feel like I can't live without. I don't think you can just deny yourself of everything. I drink coffee on a daily basis & I love half/half in my coffee... I can't do skim in coffee, gross. So, I allow myself half/half every once in a while. The fat free coffee creamers do justice though. They provide the same thickness as half/half does. The other thing I won't cut is bread. When I buy bread I buy the really hearty organic wheat. Sure the fat free might be less grams of fat/calories, but the hearty wheat has other pros that the fat free doesn't have. I don't worry about carbs, I'm not much of a potato or pasta person, so I've simply tried to cut those out of my diet and eat more bread!

- Fun excersise. I recommend bike riding and weights while watching tv.

Since I haven't updated in a while, here's a list of a few of my favorite things.




This cookbook is SO GOOD. I recommend the pudding pumpkin cupcakes & the Lord of the Onion Rings



My family's new obsession... this puppy doesn't last very long in our house.



I think I dream about this soup in my sleep. It is my favorite soup of the moment & reminds me of Autumn. I love all of the Amy's Organic's products.

Update:

Make that 55 pounds.

Yay!

I've lost a total of 45 pounds.

My inspiration?

My dad. He's lost over 100 pounds. It's amazing!