Down another 11 lbs.

I have been really busy with packing (we're moving to Oklahoma from Missouri), so haven't posted at all, but I took some more pictures to compare to when I was 11 lbs. heavier. So, here they are (the first pic is the before pic at 184.4lbs., next is 164 lbs. and the last in each group is the after pic at 153 lbs.):

Side view (I had a bow tied in my blue shorts today, so it looks like it's sticking out more than it is. Boohoo!):





Face (I don't have a face shot from 184.4 lbs.):

Side view:

My pictures got all messed up, but you can see which is which by the outfits. Today, I had on a brown shirt and blue shorts. I still don't see a big difference, but I know it'll just get better and better as long as I keep going....one day at a time. :)

Some progress pics

I'm still hanging in there, but I don't have as much computer time as we're planning an out-of-state move. It's a lot of work, but I'm still getting my workouts in. It's the one thing I said I will work hard to continue. Once I stop, I stop for a long time and I certainly don't want that!

Also, in addition to eating Dr. F's way, I joined Weight Watchers to help me with my portions. I'm not very good with portions, especially when I cheat. I figured that if I cheated on WW, at least I can stay within my points and still lose weight. And I have been losing weight!

I've lost about 20 lbs. since I started and took some new pictures today. At first, I was depressed when looking at them, thinking that I didn't look any different at all and that I'm as big as ever. I even compared my before and after pics side by side and they don't look much different to me. It's a little depressing. I know I've changed because I can get pants on that I couldn't get on before. Whatever...I'm just going to keep going and can't wait to lose 20 more.

Here are my pics....don't mind the lack of makeup and nappy hair. I am exhausted and didn't get enough sleep last night and I hadn't brushed my hair before taking the pic. I wish I would have had shorts on to compare, but my shorts were in the dirty clothes from working out in them. :)
Before and after pics:





Some closeups:






My starting weight was 184.4 and as of this morning, I'm at 164. :) I can't wait to be in the 150's!

Weigh In Day and the Superbowl

Last night was the Superbowl and I planned to go off of E2L in the evening. I endulged in my favorite of chips and salsa, but had lots of raw veggies in bean dip, too. I made my kids Vegan Twinkies and had one myself, but without the cream filling. Yummy!

I was a little bit nervous to get on the scale this morning after eating all of that food. My starting weight was 184.4 and when I got on the scale this morning, I weighed 181.6. I should have been happy, right? I mean, I was down 2.8 lbs. since last Monday. Well, I had cheated this week by weighing myself a couple of other times and on Wednesday, I was 180 even. :( So, I was SURE I was going to be under 180 today.

I've learned my lesson. I'll only weigh myself on weigh in day and that's it!

So, for the record, I'm down by 2.8 lbs. Not too bad. I have 41.6 lbs. to lose if I want to reach my goal by my 40th birthday. I keep telling myself, "40 lbs. by my 40th!"

I have until July 9th. It's definitely doable.

Mild Bean Chutney

Tonight, we made Dr. Fuhrman's Mild Bean Chutney. It was VERY good! I was surprised because I thought it was going to be bland. I haven't been adding any salt to anything and things have seemed pretty bland. Maybe I'm getting used to it!

I made some organic pinto beans from dry beans the other day and they tasted salty to me, even though I hadn't added any.

Ok, for the chutney...

Mild Bean Chutney from Dr. Fuhrman's Disease-Proof Your Child.

Serves 4-6 (we doubled it)

1 c. diced tomatoes
1 c. shredded green cabbage
1 c. shredded carrots
1 c. diced green peppers
1/2 lemon
1/2 c. diced red onions (we omitted this because we don't like raw onions)
1 c. frozen corn, defrosted
1 c. chickpeas (I used Great Northerns)
1 c. frozen green peas, defrosted
1 tsp. cumin
1 T. wine vinegar or raisin vinegar (In keeping with tradition, I forgot this ingredient....I think I have a problem!)
1 tsp. Mrs. Dash
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 c. red kidney beans
1 c. black beans

Add the tomatoes to a small covered pot and steam the shredded cabbage, carrots, and green peppers for only 5 minutes on the lowest flame possible in the pot. (Mine was a little over-steamed, but it still tasted good.) Stir in juice of 1/2 lemon and the diced red onions, corn, peas, spices, and beans. (See? It said nothing about the vinegar, so that's probably why I forgot it!)

Serve cold on top of shredded lettuce.

Delicious and very filling! My 15 yr. old son had a huge plateful and went back for seconds. Try it, you'll like it!

Goodwiches

Last night, we had what Marilyn Diamond calls a "Goodwich." Basically, they are a tortilla wrap, filled with whatever your heart desires (healthy, of course!).

I made up a week's worth of menus and it completely disappeared! I searched the whole house and car and could not find it anywhere. I even dug through the garbage bags out in the garage! Blech....lots of fruit and vegetable peelings to dig through. I really need to find a good indoor container to put compost in.

Anyways, because I couldn't find my menu, I had no idea what was supposed to be for dinner. The bummer part is that I just went grocery shopping based on my menus! I do remember a few of the meals, but not everything. Sigh...

So, I dug out my trusty old cookbook (The American Vegetarian Cookbook.) and searched for something that would be fairly quick and easy.


The Goodwiches popped out in front of me. Basically, you take a whole wheat tortilla (if I had Ezekiel, I would have used those instead) or whatever kind of tortilla you like, and stuff it with lots of fresh or steamed vegetables or your favorite salad, beans and whatever else you want.


We used:

Shredded organic carrots
Shredded organic purple cabbage
Steamed broccoli, chopped
Shredded Romaine lettuce
Organic Pinto beans
Julienned organic pickles (yes, I know there's lots of salt in them, but I just love pickles!)
Broccoli sprouts
Sauteed green peppers
Spicy Szechuan sauce
Mustard
BBQ sauce


I think that's all we used. Other options could be:


Chopped cauliflower
Shredded zucchini
Shredded yellow squash
Steamed squash
Rice
Snow peas
Sugar snap peas
Shredded beets
Shredded apples
Shredded green cabbage
Shredded chinese cabbage
Chopped onions
Sauteed onions in BBQ sauce
Sauteed or fresh peppers
Your favorite salad
Your favorite stir-fry


Condiments:


Spicy mustard
BBQ sauce
Squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice
Your favorite salad dressing
Nuts


They sky is the limit! You could have a different Goodwich each day of the week and not grow tired of them!


I personally had mine stuffed with everything except for the pinto beans. I ate those on the side and the condiment I used for my wrap was spicy Szechuan sauce (by San J). It was stuffed full and delicious!

Exercise

In addition to starting to finally eat right, I've been exercising every day, too. I love the Slim in 6 series at http://www.beachbody.com/. This has worked for me in the past, so I decided to do it again.

I had been using their Turbo Jam program, but I don't like those as well.

What I like about Slim in 6, is that there are 3 different tapes. The first one is a starter tape and you do it for the first week. The second one is done for 2 wks. and the 3rd is done for the rest of the 6 wk. period (I think that's how it goes!).

I had never been a video person until I started using these videos. Now, I prefer to work out at home because I don't have to get the little ones all dressed and ready to go. Besides, Oscar (10 mos.) has stranger anxiety right now and cries for most of the time he's in the childcare at the gym. So, I pay the older boys to watch him while I work out first thing in the morning. It works great!

I also own their Power 90 videos and those are great as well. I prefer to do Slim in 6 for 6 wks. to jumpstart my weight loss and then either go through Slim in 6 one more time and then Power 90 or I'll do Slim in 6 for the 6 wks. and then Power 90 right afterwards. Either way works very well.

So far, I've been going for 5 days and will finish my first week's video tomorrow and have Sunday off.

What I've been doing lately

I forgot to mention what my starting weight was on Monday morning, the day that I restarted the program, yet again. I got on the scale and my weight was 184.4. So, we'll see what it is this coming Monday.

I have weighed myself a couple of times this week, but you know how weight fluctuates, so I don't want to tell everyone how much I've lost, in case it goes up by Monday despite sticking to the program (which I full intend on doing!).

I've been meaning to have one of my kids take a picture of my face, so that I can compare what it looks like now to when I lose weight. I love seeing changes in photos! I can't wait to feel the change in my clothing!

I've been reading Dr. F's books again, Eat to Live as well as Disease-Proof Your Child and I'm very inspired! My kids aren't as thrilled with me getting back on track because it means no more organic cookies or chips in the house. I just can't have them here or I'll cave!

I read a blog, recently, about a woman who lived on green smoothies for 6 mos. Her caloric intake was horrifically low for a 500 lb. woman, at 600-800 calories per day, but I was inspired and have used some of her ideas to get me back on track.

I have decided to eat only green smoothies (big, huge ones!) for breakfast and lunch. Since my smoothies usually have about 400-500 calories in them, I'm sure I'm getting plenty of calories. I am breastfeeding, so am shooting for about 1500 per day.

For dinner, I am trying to eat some kind of bean-vegetable dish. So far, so good.

In the past, I have had a problem with consuming too many nuts. Once I take a handful of cashews and bite into the crunchy, creamy goodness, I just can't control myself. So, I'm only eating my nuts in my smoothies and since I'm eating 2 smoothies per day, I'm having 2 ounces of nuts per day.

Dr. Fuhrman told me that I should have 2 ounces of nuts per day and 1/2 an avocado per day (because I'm breastfeeding), but he did say that it would be OK to have either the 2 oz. of nuts or 1/2 the avocado and 1 ounce of nuts. He didn't sound too thrilled about it, though! So, I am going to try and get at least a 1/4 avocado in most days.

The key to my success is being prepared ahead of time. I've been making menus (I used to do dinner menus, but never breakfast and lunch.) and have been sticking to them. The kids like being able to get up in the morning and see what they're eating for the day. (Mom, guess which one likes that the most?)

Part of being prepared is having yummy, healthy foods prepared for the kids. They frequently make themselves green smoothies and OH! my 15 yr. old has actually started to add spinach to his!! This is HUGE! He has been balking at that for the longest time! Today, he took a small handful and put it into his smoothie. The 12 and 10 yr. olds put 2 handfuls in theirs and I'm hoping my 15 yr. old will add more gradually. He said that as long as it's not green, he thinks he can handle it.

My 3 yr. old seems to be on a banana kick. I'm waiting for the day that the cashier at the grocery store asks me if I have monkeys. LOL. Actually, I have 5 of them! Anyways, Jack, my 3 yr. old loves bananas with almond butter on them and "sprinkles," which is shredded coconut sprinkled on top. He eats 3 or 4 of these per day.

He also likes to take spoonfuls of almond butter and just eat that. I used to love to do that until they stopped making raw almond butter. :( Now, the jarred almond butter tastes stale to me and the almond butter I make just isn't the same. I'm glad Jack likes it, though!

It's getting late, so I'll post another time about feeding the kids. I have more to say regarding what I read in Dr. F's book, so will try and get that written up tomorrow. You know how that goes, though......

Corn, White Beans, and Green Beans in Green Onion Sauce

Here's another great recipe from Marilyn Diamond's cookbook. I have to say that there is lots of great information in here other than recipes! You should really have this on your shelf. :) I see that Dr. F. may have been inspired by her cookbook as she has a cashew cream sauce recipe and I know Dr. F. says cashew cream sauce is one of his favorites.

Anyways, here's a recipe that the kids liked, but it was hard to get them to try it after they saw that the sauce was green. Once you pour it into the "stew," it isn't green anymore, but they saw it in the Vitamix after I had prepared it.


Corn, White Beans, and Green Beans in Green Onion Sauce


2 medium green onions
2 T. whole wheat flour
1 c. soymilk
1/2 tsp. crushed garlic
Salt-free seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper
2 c. green beans, trimmed and cut in 1-inch segments (I used frozen, since they were to be cooked anyways. IMO, there should have been double the amount of green beans in this stew.)
3/4 c. chicken-flavored vegetable stock, or 2 tsp. light miso, dissolved in 3/4 c. boiling water (I used regular vegetable stock, as that is what I had on hand.)
4 ears fresh corn, cut from the cob (approx. 4 c.--I used frozen, but did not use this much...I doubled the recipe and used 5 c. of corn in total and I still think that was too much. I'll probably use 3 next time.)
2 1/2 c. cooked Great Northern or navy beans (I forgot to cook some, so used 2 cans in my doubled recipe, but I should have used 3 cans.)


The sauce in the book calls for 1/3 c. of olive oil instead of the soymilk and flour, but I wanted this to be free of so much oil, so I made a different sauce.


1. Pour a little bit of soymilk into a large saucepan. Add the flour while whisking and continue to add the rest of the soymilk, slowly. Continue whisking until it is well mixed and let it come to a boil. Let boil until nice and thick and add more soymilk while whisking if you think it needs more.
2. Pour this mixture into your Vitamix (or blender) and add the green onions and garlic and whirl it all together. Set aside.
3. Steam your green beans until tender. Set aside.
4. Heat broth in same saucepan. Add corn and simmer 5 minutes or until tender.
5. If using prepared beans from a jar or can, rinse under cold water. Add to corn with green beans and bring to a boil. Add sauce and heat mixture over medium heat, stirring for several minutes, until well blended and heated through. Adjust seasonings.


Like I said, this had too much corn and not enough white or green beans, so I'd add more next time.

Cream of Celery Soup and Broccoli, Red Pepper, Corn Salad

This soup is a yummy one. It's from--surprise!--The American Vegetarian Cookbook.

Old Fashioned Cream of Celery Soup

1 c. finely chopped onion
2 T. olive oil (I omitted this and used water to saute' the onions.)
2 T. whole-wheat pastry flour
5 1/2 c. water
1/3 c. soymilk
4 c. diced celery
2 c. peeled and diced potatoes
3 T. light miso or chicken-flavored vegetable broth (I used vegetable broth, since it was all I had.)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Fresh pepper

1. In a medium soup pot, heat onion with oil and saute' for 2 minutes, stiring. Add flour and stir well. Slowly add 2 c. water, stirring to avoid lumping. Bring to a boil and stir until thick and smooth.
2. Combine the soymilk and remaining water. Add to soup pot and bring to a boil. Add celery and potatoes, return soup to a boil, and simmer 15 minutes or until celery is very tender.
3. Remove 1/2 c. of broth from soup. Dissolve miso in it, then return to soup pot and stir well for an additional minute. Cool briefly.
4. Puree half of the vegetables from the soup with a hand blender or food processor, taking as much potato as possible to be pureed. (You don't want too many chunks of potato, since this is cream of celery soup.) Return puree to soup and stir well. Add pepper to taste.

Serves 6

For the salad, I just chopped up a whole bunch of broccoli, stripped the corn off of 3 ears of corn, diced 2 red peppers and sliced up about 1/2 c. of green onions. I threw them all together and squeezed lemon juice over it and put a tiny bit of olive oil as well, although, I think it would have tasted better without it. My husband just piled the salad into his soup and the kids used ranch dressing. Sigh...

Easy Bean Tostada

I made another tostada recipe from The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen again. This time, it was a bean tostada.

Easy Bean Tostada

The salsa and guacamole recipes are the same as this recipe.

Tostada

4 cups shredded Iceberg lettuce
4 cups shredded Romaine lettuce (I didn't use Iceberg and used Romain and baby spring greens.)
1 c. corn, cut from cob and steamed with 1/4 c. minced green onions (I used frozen.)
1 c. alfalfa sprouts
1/4 c. finely grated carrot
1 c. cubed tomato (I forgot this ingredient...are you noticing a trend here?)
1 1/2 c. refried pinto beans, heated
3 corn tortillas, heated on a dry skillet until soft (Only the kids had these.)
Olives, for garnish (I didn't use these.)

1. Prepare salsa by combining the chopped and minced ingredients. Stier in the olive oil and seasonings.

2. Prepare guacamole by mashing the avocado in a bowl and mixing in the other ingredients.

3. Place the shredded lettuces in a large salad bowl. Add the corn mixture, alfalfa sprouts, carrot and tomato. Add 3/4 c. of the salsa and toss well.

4. Place hot tortillas on 3 large salad plates. Top with refried beans and equal portions of salad. Top with guacamole. Drizzle extra salsa over the top and garnish with olives.

We just layered all of the ingredients on our separate plates, rather than combining everything in a big bowl first. I don't do very well when it comes to reading directions. :) (Remember, you can click on the pictures for a larger view to see the yummy details.)

Indian Tacos

I'm behind again...

We had Indian Tacos for dinner a few nights ago. They were very good, but the "Fry" bread (which I baked instead of frying) turned out a little hard. It still tasted good, though.

Here's the fry bread (made with freshly ground whole wheat flour)




Here is the Indian taco filling:


Here it is on the plate. Fry bread on the bottom, filling on top and topped with Romaine.