One Huge mile stone!

So I did it I hit my 100 pounds! When I went into weigh in on saturday I was hoping for that 100 lbs buts was telling my self it will be ok if you dont hit it this week. Then I steped on the scale and saw what it said and I imediatly started to cry the leader turned to tell me and she saw me crying and she said you just gave me chills congratulations! I continued to cry a little off and on through out the meeting then they wanted me to talk and I couldn't. I had so much to say about this journey but could not speak because all that came out were words hidden in tears. I was not sad by any means I was overwhelmed by happiness and all sorts of emotion. I think of the girl I was a 100 pounds ago and i want to cry because I know how unhappy that girl was and how I thought then is so different than how I think now. If I could have a conversations with my self back then I would want to just hug that girl and tell her I love her. Tell her she has the strength inside her to achieve anything and that she does matter. 100 pounds seemed so hopeless and seemed impossible but its not! Im so glad I that I changed my thinking and that I believed in myself. I also want to thank my wonderful husband who never once said a unkind thing about my weight to me. He always told me he thought I was beautiful and when I would cry about something some one else said he would tell me why do you care what they think? I think your hot. Who could ask for a better husband in this situation than that. Thank you Matt for always trying to make me see me. I love you!

"But it dosent matter."

As you know it is hard to succeed at something if you have a negative attitude about it. You have to train your mind to see the positive in life so that you can see the positive in working out and choosing healthy food. This is a hard task to do because it is human nature to see the negative first. In the book the non runners marathon trainer it gave me some small tools to help me focus on the positive. My favorite its "But it doesn't matter." Try saying this after every negative thought and eventually you will start to see the brighter side in life. For instance, when you get up to go for your run or whatever and you feel that negative thought creep in,"I'm to tired." or "My legs are sore." "It's too early." Try adding But it doesn't matter to the end of those sentences. Then you will push through and do the work out any way and you will feel good about it after. You can use this in all aspects in life and you will see the positive person emerge. For instance ," I never really had a dad,(BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER).", "I have failed at other diets (BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER)." I don't have enough time (BUT IT DOESN"T MATTER). Also another trick I have found to push through the body aches when working out is to acknowledge the pain and move forward. I have bad knees and have had surgery on my left one and often I get pain in them when I'm running. Well after reading up on the type of pain I have it looks like I have runners knee so I do what is recommended and still run on it. The minute I feel the pain in my knees or one of them I say," There you are pain welcome come run with me." I know sounds silly but mentally it lessens my pain and sometimes it even goes away.

97 pounds gone for good!

Just a little update on how I'm doing. I went to my weigh in on Saturday and I'm 97 pounds down only 3 more till I hit the hundred I am so excited about that. Hard work pays off and I feel good! I am so glad I made this choice to become a healthier me! ( the picture was taken right be for a run)

The Vacation!

So when trying to lose weight and also live life we often go into panic mode when you think of vacations and what will you eat. You don't want to lock your self up in your house only eating meals you have prepared. I have experienced some amazing vacations in the last year and I can tell you that their will probably be gains but there are a few things to keep in mind. You don't want to just throw the towel in and say oh I'm on vacation. I mean you can, but if you do you might have a significant gain. When I went to Mexico I did that and came back with a ten pound gain! I got back on track immediately and it took about a month to get off. So first off try to keep track of what you are eating and make healthier choices. Allow your self some of the food you want while on vacation and know you chose that and DO NOT FEEL GUILTY! I did things a little different when I recently went on vacation to Las Vegas. I knew I was going to be in a car for a good portion of the day snacking and then eat out. So I got up at 6 am and got a run in. Then I picked some healthy snacks for the ride and tried to keep track of my calories when we went through the drive threw. Then that night I ate at the buffet and tried to pick things I really wanted to eat by walking threw it first. I even enjoyed desert. The next day I hit the gym. I got in a small work out nothing to big and enjoyed the food I ate that day. I indulged and tried not to over do it to bad. I came home and I didn't gain! I fully was allowing myself a 2 pound gain but by some small planning I didn't gain. So enjoy your vacations and just do some planning.

Spiced Pot Roast!

1. 2 pound beef bottom round roast trimmed



2. 1 tsp salt



3. 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper



4. 2 tsp olive oil



5. 1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple cider



6. 1 cup dry red wine



7. 8 cloves garlic peeled



8. 2 star anise ( fennel stars)



9. 1 bay leaf



10. 4 medium white turnips peeled and each cut into 6 wedges



11. 3 carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces



12. 3 medium red potatoes scrubbed and cut into 6 wedges



13. 2 onions each cut into 6 wedges

1 Preheat the oven to 350 F. Sprinkle the beef with the salt and pepper

2 Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. add the beef and brown turning frequently(about 8 min) then add cider and wine and scrap bits off the bottom of dutch oven. add the garlic , star anise, and bay leaf bring to boil . Cover and transfer to oven. Bake one hour turning halfway through.

3 stir in the rest of the ingredients and cover and bake for 2 more hours till veggies are tender. Transfer the beef to cutting board and let stand for 10 min. Then cut into 16 slices and serve with veggies and sauce.

serves 8 2 slices of beef with 1/2 cup veggies and sauce per serving. 332 cal 14g fat 5 g sat fat 4 grams fiber 23 grams protein 7 points!!!

We enjoyed this for dinner last night! My husband liked it but he said the potatoes tasted a little different! that's cuz he was eating the turnips! I laughed so hard shh what he doesn't know wont hurt him! I got this recipe from the weight watchers turn around cookbook!

Chewy Chocolate- Peanut Butter bars

1. 2/3 c extrachuncky natural peanut butter


2. 1 (14 ounce) can fat free sweetened condensed milk divided


3. 1 tsp vanilla extract, divided


4. 1 c semisweet chocolate chips

1. place peanut butter and 2/3 cup condensed milk in microwave for 2 1/2 min, then add 1/2 tsp vannilla and stir till smooth. then microwave for and additional 30 seconds. spread mix in a 8 x 8 inch pan pressing down to even the layer.

2. Put chocolate chips and the rest of condensed milk and vanilla in microwave for 1 1/2 min stir till smooth and pour over the peanut butter mix. Let chill for a hour.

serves 20 for 3 points each at 147 calories 6 grams fat 1 fiber

I found these to be small but sometimes a good thing when you just want a little chocolate and let the kids go at it.

Asian -Style Pork Medallions

1. 2 tsp dark sesame oil


2. 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper


3. 2 tsp bottled minced garlic


4. 1 (1-pound) lean pork tenderloin sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices


5. 1/4 c dry sherry


6. 1 tbl brown sugar


7. 3 tbl low sodium soy sauce

1. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over med-high heat. add red pepper and garlic and saute 1 min. Add pork, and cook 2 min on each side or until browned. Remove pork from pan, and keep warm.

2. Add sherry, brown sugar and soy sauce. Cook over med heat for 5 min or till sauce slightly thickens stirring constantly. Add pork to pan and cook unitl thoroughly heated, stirring to coat pork in sauce.

serves 4 ( 3 ounce servings)

4 points each at 167 calories 5.9 g fat 22 grams protien

I served it over a 1/2 cup white rice or brown and with roasted veggies that I added my olive oil to so the whole dinner was 8 points for me that included getting my daily serving of healthy oil. Plus it was really good!