I hope I am encouraging!!!

This was my thoughts on Saturday:)

Thank you Katie for telling me that my blog helps you to make choices when eating out. I really don't tell you all the bad/good things I eat when we eat out to brag or to say "haha I can eat this", I say it because I believe in the BFC being so easy to do in "real" life. I want to share the small changes that I have made that allow me to be successful. Here's an example of depriving yourself....
When I went to Mexican food lunch with my friend, she had a Tostada, I had Taquitos (fried burrito type with chicken and cheese in flour tortilla) She said no to the guac and sour cream because she is trying to lose weight. I have never eaten either of those 2 things. I ate 1/2 my Taquitos whole and then just dug the chicken and cheese center out of the other 1/2. I LOVED my meal. She ate her Tostada and at the end she thought it was blah and she wished she would have eaten it with  the guac and sour cream. My thoughts are, she should have eaten a little bit the way it was good, and then she wouldn't have left lunch thinking that it was a waste? Yes that takes will power!!! But a few bites of heavenly is better than a lot of bites of just OK. That's my belief.
After my food yesterday and my little cookie, I was still at 136 this AM. Yay!!!

End of meal plate:)

Sunday, Sunday:) Zumba Zumba! I just got home from Zumba with my favorite teacher. I swear, in 4 weeks I really lost all of my stamina. Ugh! Several of the gals dressed up including the instructor and her clique. They are all about the same age, have similar aged kids etc. which I think is cute, but don't run over and take my place because you think it's funny. I was ticked off!!! They were extremely annoying today, or was it just me? If I was new to the class, I probably wouldn't go back. Hmmmm....
OK so this is a picture of what I had left from my meal last night. We did have a chili con queso (sp) appetizer, so I did have some carbs from the chips too. I also used 2 ranch dressings for dipping my chicken tenders. Just saying. You can eat out and lose weight too. I ate the rest today and it was good day 2 too.
We are having pork roast and veggies for dinner. My daughter put it in the crock pot and it smells awesome!
I am have 2 days in a row of eating out and social engagements. Tomorrow is Olive Garden with my dear German JoAnn. 3 more hours of laughter:) Tuesday is lunch with my gym friends and then Bunko. I can't wait to see the scale on Wednesday!!! Well I can, but it won't be pretty. I will jump back in on Wednesday.
My 23 year old son spent the night the last 2 nights. I love having my kids here so it was really joyful to me. My grandson was excited to have a new playmate! It was fun to hear him say "Uncle Matt" over and over. Since my son was a little boy he would lay across my lap and I would rub his back. He did it again last night and my daughter said he almost made me disappear. He is at least 6'4 and I would guess at least 250. I told her she would love it when her son did that someday too. It was special:) My hubby doesn't like having him hear too much. A bone of contention that we are working on. He isn't motivated enough in life, blah..blah...blah!!!
Anyway...Thanks for listening. I love everyone and reading the blogs. I love hearing about everyone's lives. The mundane to you is fun for us to read:) We are Blessed:)

Happy:)

I found this photo I took of myself in May, I don't really recognize that lady. I feel so much better now! I paid like 89.00 for that stupid shirt and wore it once because I realized it was not flattering. I bought it at a CABI party. Has anyone been to one? I just went to another one last week and bought a really cute black top, I hope it looks a lot better than this one did! 

May 2011

Lots of things happening the last few days. I went to a Macy's interview, was hired for Men's wear, temporary through the Holidays, and then I decided not to do it. It was for barely above minimum wage, a dollar an hour less than it would have paid 2 years ago, and my hubby and I decided it would probably not be worth the stress. It feels good to have made the decision. Now I know I am not going to work through the Holiday's. 

Food wise I have been good for me. I continue to eat out way too much. I went to lunch with my friend that I worked at their furniture store. I said a prayer before I met her that I would not be a bitch and tell bad stories about people. I did not. I felt so good at the end of the lunch not telling the things that I wanted to tell. I was proud of me:) That was the same day that hubby and I ate at Ivar's fish and chips. It seems everything is working OK because I am maintaining the 136. If I could get to 135.4 I would have lost a total of 30 lbs on the BFC.That is really the only reason I would want to lose more. Sure I would like to firm up and have a tiny waist, it is never going to happen!!!

I went to Zumba today for the first time in almost a month. OH MY GOSH!!! It almost killed me. It is not something I can "dabble" in. I need to get back consistently. 

We had french dip sandwiches for dinner. Yummy! The french roll was to die for, but I only ate 1/2. My daughter and I ate at KFC for lunch,  I just had a few bites of potatoes and gravy and 4 chicken wings. I love chicken wings!!! My breakfast every morning now is Jimmy Dean sausage on a sandwich thin with butter. Sometimes I add eggs, but I am kind of egged out. Dawn's recipe looked good though. 

My Matthew and me

My daughter made my favorite cookies to send to her hubby for his birthday. They are solid sugar. Caro syrup/peanut butter and special K cereal with chocolate chips melted on top. I am in the process of eating a tiny piece. I knew I would regret not having any once they were gone. No regrets...just good choices! 

Pretty Fall colors

My Kitty:)

I wish everyone would start blogging more! I know it is hard because I feel so boring. I need to sit down when I think of something profound and write it and save it. Otherwise it totally escapes my head! 

Have a great weekend! Blessings:) 

136.0 :) Lowest so far!!!

Lowest weight:)

I started my BFC journey on March 7th, 2011 at 165.4 lbs. I have lost 29.4 lbs. All of my extra weight from vacation has gone bye-bye!!! I am repeating myself here, but last year at this time, I was around 170 lbs. What a difference a year makes! I really think that I can go into the Holiday season and be a good girl. If I have a few slip ups, I know I can get back on track. It feels amazing!
For me, the key is sugar. I think working and not being able to eat all day right after vacation helped too!
THIS IS MY ALL TIME LOW WEIGHT:) Woot!!!
Yesterday I even had a "Big" burger from Carl's Jr. and waffle fries. I just ate 1/2 the bun, and about 5 of the fries. (they are huge) with tarter. Then last night I went to a party and she had lots of goodies, but I stayed with her taco soup and some tortillas. I had 1 candied pecan...yum! I even brought some soup home and ate it about 8:30. I was hungry. The soup had tomatoes with green chili's, chicken and broth, so it was only bad because of the tomatoes, but all things in moderation.
I believe with all of my heart that the reason that I have been so successful with this plan is because I have been able to adjust all of the things I normally eat, except sugar, into fitting into this lifestyle. Eating just a little of what I love, instead of a lot of what I could live without.
Things are a changing at our house. My husband's company is downsizing so he will either be out of a job with a severance package, or go on long term disability. We should know more by mid November. My daughter and grandson are leaving on November 14th. As much as I love having my grandson here, 2 adult women in one house is difficult. I can't imagine the mornings when he doesn't come upstairs and say "oh hi Grandma K" I have a feeling that my emotional state will change if I don't come to terms with some of these things. Christmas without all of my kids here is going to be AWFUL:( My Sailor daughter's ship is positioning themselves outside of Iran somewhere. Ugh:(
I say those things because I don't want food to be my go to comfort. Life:) Gotta love it!
Have a great day everyone. I love the blogs and I miss them when people fall off a bit. I really do think that writing and reading them helps me a lot. Thank you:)
Blessings and happy scales!

138.6 Still going down:)

My lei lasted quite awhile:) Karson and one of his millions of monkeys!

OK, so I feel like I was hit with a mack truck!!! Work was tiring...Bless you all that have full time jobs!!! I worked 31 hours in 4 days and I feel like I am going to die. It is 8:00PM and I am going to bed!
We had Mexican for dinner and it tasted amazing!!! I have gotten back total control of my sugar intake, a little harder on the carbs. I will get there. Tomorrow is my grandson's official birthday party. Today was his actual birthday, but I had to work all day:( Hopefully I won't overeat tomorrow and have to start over again. My job was over as of today. It's a bummer, but like I said, it was not the business that they were expecting.

Karson with his matching cake and shirt!

My family minus my Sailor Daughter!

Today was the official birthday party at a Jump in Play. I actually played on the blow up jumpies. It felt good to be 54 years old and playing with my grandkids! I couldn't have done it 30 lbs ago. I was also complimented by people that I hadn't seen since last years birthday party. That made me happy!!! 

My daughter is very crafty and really went all in for Karson's party. It was pretty darn cute. To have all  of my kids and my Mom there was quite nice too. If you have read my blog, I don't really speak much to my Mom, but it was good to see her. My 4 year old grandson's face is missing from this picture! 

I did not have birthday cake, but I ate a lot of potato chips. Like I said, the sugar is under control, the chips are another matter entirely. I was back down to 138.6 today which is about 2 lbs more than when I left. I haven't been able to drink water since I have been home because I couldn't go potty at work all day. Tomorrow I plan to drink, drink, drink and hopefully the last 2 lbs will go bye bye. I showed my hubby how I can pull my brand new jeans down over my hips without unbuttoning them last night. He was like "great, more new jeans". That felt good too. I wish I wouldn't have washed the second pair,  I would take them back and get a smaller size to lose into. Bummer:( 

So yesterday 1/2 way through my work day the "traveling manager" at the furniture store moved my chair back and told me not to say Hi to people anymore and just count. I was devastated. Salespeople had complained that the customers felt they wanted to work with me and I was confusing them. Hmmm....let me see, because I looked professional, had a real smile on my face, and was warm and friendly? I have never seen such an unprofessional group of people! 5 of them that were there actually travel around the country doing these types of sales. The eye rolling behind people's backs, the complaining etc. was unreal. I know one thing for absolutely, totally, positively certain. I WILL NEVER AGAIN BE IN COMMISSION SALES!!!  I could write a book!!!! Once I quit saying hi to people I realized how many people were never spoken to because a salesperson wasn't lined up ready to jump on them. That is why I do NOT shop at Nordstrom. No one ever greets me there. Ugh!!! I could not wait to leave and it ruined what started out being a very fun job. I cried all the way home. How lame is that? I also knew a lot of the people that were coming in so they wanted to find out what I was doing? Isn't familiarity a good thing? Whatever...I am over it....until I talk to my friend who's husband owns the store. I wasn't going to tell her anything, now I don't know. The bitch in me wants to be a bitch, the nice person in me wants to keep my mouth shut. We will see which "me" wins! 

Tomorrow I should go back to Zumba, but all I want to do is sleep in and drink water and catch up on all the sitting that I haven't done since I left for vacation. It will be interesting to see what I do!

Have a great week everyone, thanks for listening to my tale of woe. I guess it was a compliment in some ways? Whatever!!!

Blessings and happy scales!

139.2

The weight is slowly coming back down and that is a good thing. This working is really killing me:) Yesterday I had my sandwich thin(I broke down and am eating the whole grain one) and chicken sandwich and a bag of chips. I came home ravenous and ate 2 pieces of digiorno's pizza. Today I only had about 10 minutes of break time (my choice) so I never even ate my whole sandwich and are you ready for this???? I didn't even get to my chili cheese fritos!!! I started to eat one and thought about how it would make my breath smell and decided against it. I got off at 6:30 and came home and ate a chicken casserole thing my daughter was nice enough to make. If I don't lose tomorrow I will be bummed! The best part of working is that I have not even had an opportunity to eat sugar, so my body is returning to my pre vacation status. I found out today that because sales have been slow I will most likely be done on Saturday. So much for 4-6 weeks. The writing was on the wall by about hour 3 yesterday. The economy is really bad even for rich people. This is the only high end furniture store left in our city which is the second largest city in WA state and sales are bad??? I am a little surprised, but not shocked. I did see some of my former fitness friends today so that was very fun. I turned in to a greeter instead of cashier. It is preparing me for my future Walmart greeter job!
I am so excited to start the Holiday season the size I am now. Last year was so depressing because I felt so bad about myself. I am excited to have some cute clothes! I love, love, love my glitter Toms. Seriously the most comfortable shoe besides flip flops and UGG boots. Fabulous investment!
OK, no more boring everyone! There are 1000 things running through my brain and not one of them has to do with BFC, except it is one of the BEST things that has ever entered my lifestyle! Oh, and I am kind of OK with work ending so I can go back to Zumba. I really missed it and my friends there.

Oh how I wish I was back there. Notice the computer, coffee and water. Everything at my fingertips! 

Blessings:)

140.8 Ugh...but could have been worse!

I think that is about a 4.6 lbs gain from my all time low. Oh well:) It was worth it and now I am ready to get back on track.

Our last night before dinner!

I start a temporary/ part time job tomorrow for a major furniture store. My friends husband owns it so she asked if I wanted to work their sale. I work 10-8 the next 2 days and 10-6 Friday and Saturday. Sunday is my grandson's birthday party. I guess it depends on how well the sale goes as to how long I will have a job. I am just glad to get my feet wet again. I haven't worked in almost 2 years. I think I am going to be really, really tired. I can't think of a better place to start back in though. They are good people and I will just be running credit cards and taking checks etc. It will be a lot of familiar faces and it should be fun.

Thong man...GROSS...saw him daily!!!

We got home at 1:15 AM and I am pooped today. Cleaning the house and doing laundry was an all day deal. I also babysat my older grandson for awhile tonight. It was so good to see him and I can't believe how much they change in short amounts of time. My Karson was so excited to see me this morning. He just hugged me tight and kept saying Grandma K, grandma K. It felt so amazing!!! Neither grandson was really into their stuffed animal that we brought back. That was a 40.00 waste of money:( I got my granddaughter 2 leather bracelets so hopefully they are  more of a hit. Gratitude.....
If you aren't on my facebook, you didn't see gross thong man pictures. I saw this guy every day, several times a day. I finally decided to take his picture, which I know he loves. We were eating lunch the second to the last day there and he lays down on the beach right in front of the restaurant. I had to go stand by him. The first picture I wasn't close enough and the people in the restaurant like "closer, closer!" He likes the attention I guess. Crazy!
Good job on all of you that did your Fast Track! I am proud of you all. I have no intention of giving up grains, heck I am not even giving up Chili Cheese Fritos. They did not have them in Hawaii, but I ate a ton of Maui chips. Just cutting chips back out is going to be a little difficult.
I am hoping for a miracle and weight loss in the morning. I didn't really eat too bad today. We'll see how long it will take me to lose the weight. I am surprised it was not a lot more. After the first few days, I ate everything in moderation!
Blessings!

It's been the best of times...fun/relaxing....it's been the worst of times...food:)

Sunset at The Chart House

I have to say the first few days we were here I was pretty conscience of what I was eating and trying to be good. Then all hell broke loose and I decided that I am in paradise and what the heck!!! I have been hungry before every meal since. That's the good ole sugar I am sure. I have truly gotten bitchy because I am HUNGRY!!!
This is the view from one of my favorite eats so far. It was highly recommended on a travel site and a very short walk from the hotel. Not only were the views amazing, but the food...yum. I am a meat and potatoes girl, no fancy food for me. I had a prime rib dip that was truly out of this world. Everywhere we travel I eat them and compare. This was definitely one of the best yet. Other than the bun, which was a Hawaiin bread roll, they are Belly good. We also had catch of the day fish sticks...yum!

Rainbow Tower

Looking up from under our beach umbrella.

This is the view of where we are staying from across the Lagoon. We are in the end room 1/2 way up. There are 31 floors and we are floor 15. We have the double lanai's which has been amazing.

Pictures aren't my friend here!

Hubs and I got in a "fight" about his picture taking abilities. Every picture that he takes of me makes me look fat and ugly. He is so busy trying to make sure the scenery is right, the moment fades, I am ticked, my face drops, and there is no "real" smile forthcoming. UGH!!! 

OK, back to the food. I haven't been nearly as bad as I was pre-BFC. I have my moments, but not really too many heavy sweets. We did finally eat at the Cheesecake Factory and Rosie...were you ever right about the Hershey's cheesecake. I ate way too much of it, but it was hard not to. I didn't get sick, which really surprised me, but I did get really, really tired. 

Today we are catching the Aloha open air bus and traveling around most of the day. We both could use a little time out of the sun. No burns for me and no burns for hubby once he got the heavy sunblock. 

Oh...and I got bit by a fish. I thought I was stung by a jelly fish and I turned to look and it was a black fish that was coming at me again. I had to hit it away. I bit my lip trying not to scream which caused a blood blister to form. Not one person looked up or wondered why the heck a woman was thrashing around in the water!!! The guys at the beach rental said that was the first time in a couple of months they had heard the fish bite someone again. Seriously it looked like 2 stingers left in my leg. It is funny now, but wasn't funny then!!! I worried about all the little kids here, but I guess I was a chosen one;) 

The last picture is the famous Diamond Head. We were going to hike to the top, but I am being too lazy yet again. If it were totally up to me, I would be on a beach chair, every day, all day. Love, Love, Love the sun!!!

Blessings and good luck to everyone on their versions of lifestyle changes. We did not have internet for 3 days so sorry for not posting replies on all of your blogs...I read them!