It has been 10 days since I updated but.........

That isn't because I am doing bad! Not at ALL!!!!

I have kept all of my goals COMPLETELY!

In fact, we even added to them. Starting last Sunday, we have been totally sugar free. I mean, COMPLETELY sugar free. Only for the month of January, just to kind of unspoil our taste buds, start the New year off with a bang, and give me a nice weight loss boost.

No Redi-Whip
No dark chocolate
No ANYTHING with sugar in it!

It hasn't even been hard. I hardly ever even think about it.I WILL be excited for FEB 1 to get here but I am doing fine!

We have been exercising perfectly! We were doing 6 days a week but I did change it to 4. I just don't feel like exercising 6 days a week and don't feel it is necessary.

Our new schedule is......

Monday- A mix of easier cardio (dancing) and TaeBo/kickboxing
Wednesday- Upper body
Thursday- Peak 8
Friday- Lower body

My weight was kind of stuck but ever since I have started to get more sleep and not eat after 7:30, it has started dropping! I don't know if I will reach my goal or not but I DO believe that I will be close! I am not going to post my weight until Feb 1.

About the evening eating. Staying up late and eating late was really messing me up I think. So I am tryiing to eat supper by 6:00 and my dessert by or around 7:30. After that I can have one FP snack IF I need it (I willl eat a little more on date night) but mostly I have just started drinking tea. I bought a pretty cup to drink it out of too :).

Well, that's all for now. :)

Doing just about PERFECT!

I don't have long but I wanted to say that I kept my goals and did EXCELLENT this week. The best week I have had in I don't know how long!

Surprisingly, my weight is not down. Oh well, I am fairly certain that next week it will be!

That's it for now!

I feel ridiculous posting.........

Because when it comes right down to it? I have NOT been serious since Gracie was born.

Well, I have been serious, but I didn't STAY serious.

So to come here now and say "I am SERIOUS this time!" feels sort of like crying wolf! I really HATE when people don't stick to their commitments and these last 3 months? That has been me.

I have had soooooooooooo many good days of eating excellent. In fact, I bet I have eaten FULLY on plan 75% of the days. But that is NOT enough for me apparently because I have not lost ONE pound. Well, I HAVE......But I gain lose gain lose gain lose.

So I do not blame you ONE BIT if you read this and think "yeah whatever". :) I totally understand!

But right now, in my mind? I am d.o.n.e.

I hope you will come back in 2 weeks and see that I have been blogging consistently and have stuck with my goals of :

Exercising 6 days a week
Staying FULLY on plan unless my dh wants me to cheat
4 quarts of healthy fluids a day

I hope that by FEB 1 I will be able to update my weight in the side bar and say that I have lost ten lbs. That is my January goal for weight.

That will put me at 198.

Unless the Lord has other plans, I will never EVER see 2 ANYTHING again.

That is all I have to say for today but I hope I will be back around often now that I am starting fresh!!

And just because it feels good and I am a TOTAL resolution maker?

I would LOVE for 2014 to look something like this.......

198 by Feb 1

190 by March 1

PRE-PREGNANCY (187) by Mid march

and 178 by my birthday!!!!! (May 3)

That is 30 Lbs in 4 months. I would be so EXTREMELY happy with that! I know I will have to work hard to do it though! But if I do!!!!? That will be..........

Gracie's
Titus'
Isaac's
Ezekiel's AND
Tobias' weight GONE!!!!!!!!!

After that it will be:

165 Patience's weight GONE!
152 Vashti's weight GONE!
140 Silas's weight GONE!!

Our anniversary is Aug 20. If I am at 178 by May 3, that leaves me *almost* 4 months to lose the rest, which is 38 Lbs. I don't know if it will be possible or not but even if I were in the 160's by our anniversary I would be THRILLED. We shall see! For now I will just work hard and DREAM!

Thanksgiving menu

We are baking up a storm today! Here is what is on the menu!

Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potato casserole
Rolls
Corn
Cauliflower/bacon/cheese/mushroom casserole
Gravy

Pecan pies
Pumpkin pies
Apple pies
Maple cinnamon bars
Cinnamon roll cookies
Turkey cupcakes

THM pecan pie cheesecake
THM cream cheese filled pumpkin cookies
THM pumpkin pie
THM Apple Crisp
THM peppermint bark chocolate
THM Cheesecake balls
THM Brownie batter balls

And we are off!!!!

Diving In

A change of attitude. This is actually a huge thing. Even throughout the entire time I lost my weight before I got pregnant I did not have this attitude.

Basically there are two ways I can do this weight loss thing.

Mess around and lose slowly OR

Be serious and lose faster.

I realized that I was date nights and special occasions were starting to be something I sort of dreaded. Because they always consisted of eating WAY too many sweets (because cheat time only lasts so long you know) and the entire time I would be thinking (while feeling FAT) that I couldn't wait until I was back to eating RIGHT again and feeling like I was getting thinner. The scales would be UP the next day and sometimes take a few days to get back down again. I start feeling like I am on a roll and BAM, another date night! (Or some other special occasion!) Repeat, repeat, repeat!

But the thought of giving up my cheat times was horrible.

But guess what? I am two month postpartum and down how much weight (after the initial baby loss) ?

NONE........Well ok, I can't quite say that.........I am down 3-4 more LBS but pretty much NONE.

I have wasted 2 months!!!!!! The sad thing is that I have done EXCELLENT 75% of the time. Then you have all of the cheat times! They are enough to keep me from losing. I am SICK of that! I am SICK of the way I feel when I am not eating right. I HATE feeling fat and that is exactly what I feel like when I am eating badly.

So I was dreading Thanksgiving. Eating ON plan for Thanksgiving seemed ridiculous and HORRIBLE! That wonderful Thanksgiving dinner? Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, fresh rolls with lots of butter, desserts desserts and more desserts! This is something that is not ever going to change around our house. And we don't even WANT it to. We aren't a family who will ever cut out white flour and sugar completely.

BUT, it hit me. For NOW I need to get serious. This isn't a forever thing. Once I am at my goal weight I can enjoy more crossovers/sugar treats. But for now? I can't afford it. Not to say that I plan on getting to goal weight and going back to the way I used to eat. Not at all. I don't EVER plan on quitting the THM concepts. This is for life for me. But right now, I am undoing damage that I have done and it is going to take being EXTRA strict if I don't want it to take 10 years. When I am at goal weight, I can be more liberal, but that doesn't mean I plan on STOPPING. No way! This is all about being healthy for me.

I am not saying that I won't have ANY Thanksgiving sugary treats because I am going to . But instead of looking at it as a day to cheat all day. I am going to stick on plan as much as possible. Not cheat as much as I can just because I can. I am making LOTS of THM treats and will be eating very few off plan things.

I am so excited and relieved to know that I am not going to be going backwards here in a few days but instead, I can end Thanksgiving atLEAST staying where I am at, if not going forward just a little.

I am sick of going forward forward forward BACKWARDS BACKWARDS forward forward forward forward forward BACKWARDS BACKWARDS BACKWARDS forward forward BACKWARDS BACKWARDS forward forward forward BACKWARDS BACKWARDS.

See my pattern? I would love it to look something like this........

forward forward forward forward forward forward forward STANDSTILL forward forward forward BACKWARDS forward forward forward forward forward STAND STILL STAND STILL forward  forward forward forward forward forward forward forward forward forward forward BACKWARDS.

I don't mind treats now and then as they come up in life. But there is a BIG difference in going to visit my dh at work and being offered a doughnut, eating it, and then getting right back on plan OR literally eating as much junk as I can all day every Saturday.

I DO still plan on using small amounts of sugar (as I described before in another post) as long as the carbs are within the limits. I have no problems with that. I am just going to quit the planned cheats. (Except for real chocolate.........We always have real chocolate on date nights. But THAT is not my problem. It is the eating sweets ALLLLLL day and night that causes me a problem.)

I am going to continue my breakfast-lunch-afternoon snack- supper- dessert  pattern. That has been plenty of food for me. If I do need something more to eat after my evening dessert, I am going to make it FP.

I want to try and lose 2 lbs a week on average. If I don't, I don't. But I think it is very doable if I stop so much cheating.

The cheats are NOT worth me being 20 LBS down after 5 months instead of 40 ! Not at ALL!

I have SO many THM desserts that I LOVE. Instead of putting so much energy into planning cheat times, I am putting my creativity into making up THM desserts. 

Enjoying your food does not have to be unhealthy or fattening. I can either be full and satisfied, knowing that I didn't go BACKWARDS, or full and satisfied knowing that I went BACKWARDS and have to work it off now. There is no question which direction I am going to go!

I have spent WAY too many days of my life feeling fat and miserable. Feeling depressed because I don't feel good about myself. Wanting to lose weight but failing failing.

Then I made soooooooooo much progress after my 7th baby's birth and did SO welll al throughout my 8th. Better than EVER.

I will NOT stop. I WILL keep this up and get to my goal.

So all that to say? I am so excited about planning my THM menu tonight and I am SO relieved that I don't have days coming up that I have to feel horrible about and feel like I am GROWING instead of SHRINKING!

Horray!!! I can't tell you how wonderful it feels.

Excited today!

203 this morning.

I have already body brushed, exercised (40 minutes of dancing and 10 minute Tiffany Roth ab workout) , showered and I am getting ready to eat!

I saw a picture of myself today and it just disgusted me. I can't wait to feel undisgusted about myself. I am feeling GREAT though that I am OFF of the doing bad wagon! I feel so motivated and just plain wonderful!

A few yummy things........

For breakfast this morning I had a small amount of chicken breast sauteed in butter along with green peppers and 1/2 of  a Joesphs wrap. After that I ate 3 chocolate chip cookies topped with a tiny amount of caramel/almond butter! All carbs totally in the limit! It was SO delicious and amazing that I could be eating something that good and still be doing great!

Another yummy treat is spreading a Joseph's wrap with peanut butter and a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips! Fry in a skillet with butter! Delicious!

Off to shop!

Brownie Batter and White Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake Balls

I have done GREAT yesterday and today! I am very motivated! I am so.sore today and got very busy this morning so skipped exercise. That's ok though. Will be back at it tomorrow! I did order 4 LB of oat fiber, some more gluccomannan and 2 dancing/workout dvd's! I am very excited about those things!

I was 204 this morning.

Below are two AMAZING recipes that you must try! Substitute any sweeteners you want/need to!

Two DELICIOUS recipes I made up.

Brownie Batter Balls

1 C almond flour
1/3 C cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
4 TB melted butter
3-4 shakes NuNaturals stevia
1 tsp xylitol
2 tsp sugar
2 TB chocolate chips

Just mix everything together and shape into 12 balls!

Experiment with the chocolate chips! We used mint chocolate! SOOOO delicious! We also topped each cookie with a little bit of Redi-Whip.

2 carbs each cookie (But that is not counting the carbs in the almond flour......I don't ever count the carbs in the nuts)

White Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake Balls

1 1/2 C almond flour
8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
5 shakes stevia
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 C chopped pecans
3 TB white chocolate chips
2 tsp xylitol
2 tsp sugar
Sprinkle or 2 of salt

Mix the above all together and shape into 30 balls.

Make a mixture of :

1 TB sugar
1/4 C almond flour
1 tsp vanilla

Roll balls in mixture

FREEZE

2 carbs each and 3 grams of protein each!