The Menopause Makeover

My husband just gave me a hug and said in a tone of wonderment "You have lost weight, haven't you!"

He noticed his arms had a lot more overlap than he was used to having. Yay! That's a lovely compliment, better than the jeans that were too tight to wear before Christmas now being waaaaay too loose on me!

My db and dsil arrived yesterday for a long weekend. About 8 family and friends are going out tonight to a Basque restaurant. They have a set menu and you choose your entree, then the sides are brought out in big dishes for the table and you serve yourself. That should make it easy to fill my plate with salad and veg.

It's time for change.  It's time for the next 2-Week Challenge!

Start LIVING the MM Plan!

This new challenge embraces that WE are all different, with different eating and exercise needs.  

I enjoyed my evening meal tonight so much I though I'd post the recipe for it too!

I had a craving for pizza after my lousy day at work  so I did a modified low-carb, low-calorie one (only problem is that I make the mental connection pizza= red wine!)

I don't know why but I've been in cooking mode all week...even the fam has noticed the "nicer" meals.  I got thinking last night about some of my favourite ways to have veggies and got a craving for stuffed mushrooms.

Okay, if I looked like one of those young ladies I would not be involved in this. I have been playing all Irish folk music--not the traditional irish music of relatively new popular irish songs, but the real, traditional irish folk, folk rock bands and irish traditional singers. Some of the music is even the music used for Irish dancing. 

No, that's not my batting average.

Last night my dh grilled ribs (yum!) and I made baby potatoes and loads of veggies.  I left the potatoes for the kids and dh and filled up on 2 ribs (yes, only 2!) and asparagus and carrots and turnip.

Those aren't veggies that a lot of people may like so I thought I'd post my recipes for them since even my kids gobble them up.

Roasted Asparagus

I feel like I'm going through an every-other-day cycle lately. Yesterday, I made some not so good choices in the food dept and didn't get in my exercise. Today I made good choices all day. Walked at noon and went to Curves on the way home from work, then did a little bit of weights tonight.

This week wasn't a good one for me because of all the ups and downs.  Still, after consuming massive amounts of water yesterday, I got the water retention out and am back to where I was.

My jeans are looser.   And that just makes me smile.

Get ready, it is time for change again - I am creating another Belly Buster challenge to start next week.  

Thot you'd like to see it after. 

(my trailer before)**   Someone brought in goodies today and I was so board with my job, waiting for other people to do their job so I could do mine, that i gave in and had some shortbread and a few "chocolate covered raspberry flavored fruit" whatever that means. The thing is, I had a nagging headache all morning and slight upset tummy, and still I had some of the goodies.

One of my co-workers is leaving us. Her soon-to-be husband is an entertainer. Currently he has been working on cruise ships, but he is taking a job with a famous acrobat troupe. She has decided to go with him on his last cruise and then they are moving to Vegas. We have three sites, but our newest site uses any excuse to have a pot luck. Her good-bye pot luck was today.

I'm up 1.8 pounds from last week.  Grumble, grumble moan.  Some of that is water weight, some of that is me being bad.  Since these pounds came on in the past 2 days, I'm not sure what is real weight and what is not.  Either way, today I had 80-calorie yogurt with granola topping and two turkey sausages.

I'm going to try to be good today!!  Somehow, some way...

The time change, that is. I forgot to set my clocks ahead last night and have been running an hour late all day. I didn't even remember the time change until 3/4 o'clock! Doing it two weeks earlier takes getting used to, also. But I love Daylight Saving Time, since I'm a night person, and soon it will still be daylight when I leave work. 

I thought I'd try oatmeal and protein powder for breakfast last week. Big mistake!

It is human nature to have expectations, hopes and dreams.  When it comes to weight loss it is simply a numbers game - calories in and calories out.  Those numbers can be influenced by expectations and your reactive feelings toward those numbers.

It's hard to tell if I've lost any weight this week.

My scales at home were cheap, and they only show 2 pound increments. I may have lost a pound or even two, but I can't be sure so I documented that my weight was the same as last week. I had a feeling I might hold this week anyway, with all the psychological stuff going on.

I caved and got on the scale this morning instead of Sunday, (or Monday, the actual day I started). And no loss. So... I got out the tape measure. My tight jeans haven't been so tight lately. I lost 2" in my waist and 2" in my hips, and a few bits here and there, also. Cool. Tomorrow I'm going to try on my really tight jeans.

I spent time this morning making my meal plan for the next ten days. It wasn't that hard because I really only planned 4 days, then I mixed and matched the meals for the rest of the week. I checked the freezer for stuff left over from last week then made a shopping list. I went out in 45 mph winds, with rain, to Curves then the market. And my jeans aren't so tight! 

I read this tip/comment on The Biggest Loser calendar I bought last month, and I find it rather comforting, so I thought I'd share it with you

If you plateau, don't panic.  It's your body getting used to your new size.

I LIKE that, and panic is exactly what I did last week, so if the needle on the scale doesn't move this week, I'm not going to worry about it.  Other words of wisdom I found among the pages include doing your cardio first thing in the morning - before breakfast because your body is low on stored carbs then and it will tap into fat for energy more readily. And even though I'm definitely NOT a morning workout person, I know some of you ladies are and would want to know!

Jayne

ps, I'm taking next week as a holiday for March Break.  I'll be checking in though, so no excuses ANY of your for falling off the plan if you think I won't be looking!  Also Staness will rat on you....Bwahahahaha!

In my profile I explain that this picture is a watercolor I painted of myself from a photo my mother took. I was about four and we were on a family outing. I was not a happy camper. I don't remember the day, but I know the mood: "I don't wanna.."

Today was an I don't wanna day. I don't wanna get out of bed. I don't wanna drive to work. I don't wanna do yoga.

Tomorrow is a conference day at work. Typically everyone is encouraged to bring in breakfast foods for a breakfast buffet and the boss pops for a lunch buffet. There is always a ton of food. Fortunately I am too busy setting up, encouraging staff to sign in and sign the certificates to pay attention to food.

Okay, so...I'm off. Almost. We leave in the wee hours of the morn. The to-do list for today is daunting. I thought, as always, that I'd get more done before today. Oh well. I did get on the scale this morning and it did go up a couple of ounces, which is not unexpected. That whole fluctuation thingy. But I'm feeling good. And I'm determined to stay on track. I did yesterday and I plan on doing this to the best of my ability through the entire vacation.

So...have fun everyone!!! Hope you all have a great week while I'm gone and I'll 'see' you all when I get back. You all will be on my mind while I'm there!!!

Cole

I overslept by 30 min this morning! I never finished my meal plan for the week and never finished filling my meal bins. So I was ripe for failure.

I grabbed my lunch container, threw in 1/2 ww pita, 2 veggie sausage, a container with some leftovers (1/2 c brn rice and some stir fry veg), an apple, a string cheese, some almonds, a protein bar and a protein shake and took off. It turns out I didn't have to rush, as it started snowing and any day it snows no one thinks twice about people coming in late. They're not strict on times anyway, but I like to be punctual. 

I am stuck.

My weight hasn't shifted for five days, and tonight I realised why.

I'm scared of losing my fat suit. It's my comfort, my protection, my anonymity. It stops people really seeing me. It's stops me needing to deal with something I have trouble dealing with- being found attractive.

It is easier to lose weight when you are happy.  Are YOU happy?  Happiness is a CHOICE that you can EXERCISE.

Morning Everyone!

Yippeee, I can post at last! It was my ad blocker stopping me seeing the box I needed to tick for MM!

Okay, here is my first MM blog, I hope it goes right. 

Ladies - congrats!  The 2-week MM Challenge yielded almost 50 pounds collectively!  Very impressive. As we continue with our personal weight loss goals I wanted to share one of my favorite secret weapons - FIBER.

Fiber is the part of plants that cannot be digested.  When you eat fiber, it passes through your body virtually unchanged.

Benefits of fiber:

I'm somewhat embarassed to admit this, but I was VERY pouty yesterday and Staness, bless her heart, spent some time on the phone with me puzzling out where I might be...not necessarily going wrong, but what it might be that was causing the less than stellar weight loss that I'd planned.  And then...

I got on the scales this morning and I'm down 1 more lb!!

THANK YOU Staness, for believing in me and THANK YOU for being such a patient coach, cheerleader and buddy through this for ALL of us.

Luv ya, and I'm sorry I was such a whiner.  Even though it appears that whining (ok, pissing and moaning too) burns significant amounts of calories.

Stick with this program ladies...IT WORKS!!!

Jayne

Morning Everyone! Well, morning from my part of the world.  

So I did a bit of cheating yesterday.  Doh!  It wasn't huge, horrible cheating, but cheating nonetheless. 

I want today to be my weigh-in day. If it was I would be able to post at least a two pound weight loss for the past week. I have finally reached a weight I haven't seen in over a year. I still have a long, long way to go. But my current clothes are not longer tight and I am able to comfortably wear clothes that I could not wear a year ago.

Today we're having a pot luck at work. Again. This time it is in honor of our coworker who passed away last week. Since her memorial service will be out of town, and we can't attend, our boss thought a meal and slide show of her photographs would be a good remembrance.

So, it should be interesing to see what I can have.

It looks like everyone had a hard week...plateau anyone?  And as I was going through the grocery store yesterday I had an idea.

I thought it might be cool if the MM challenge had positive affects that reached further than just me, you know?  So for every pound I lose, I'm going to donate an equivalent weight in groceries to the food bank. 

Ladies, how are you all coping with family meals?  I find that's what's hindering my progress most.

So let's tally up our weight loss over the past two weeks like we said we'd do.  Everyone just post their total in the comments below, and at the end of the day we'll add it all up and see how much we've lost all together. THAT should cheer us up, (well,  those of us who are grumpy that they didn't see the personal results they'd hoped for eg MOI)   I'll go first!

Jayne

I got nothin'

[insert big sigh]

But I'm stubborn and I'm not going to let this get me down, and I have to think that maybe tomorrow's the day I'll get my big payoff.  But it IS kind of depressing to know that I've been eating according to plan, I've UPPED my exercise and still I'm sitting at only 3 lbs down for the two week blast.  How pissy is THAT?

I'm going to have to look at my portions, change up my exercise and see what I can do to tinker.  What IS happening though is that over all I've lost approximately a pound a week since I've been MM'ing.  I'm grumpy yet determined to make that scale MOVE!

I know, 2 posts in one day?! LOL Making up for not getting a chance on the weekend.

Since the dh made it last night and it was so yummy (and I'm totally not a fish eater, by the way) I thought I'd share.

 Marinade:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/2 tsp dried dill weed

who couldn't lose weight too fast.   But I see many of you struggled to get more weight off this second week.  

This morning when I weighed myself, I was back down again--1x4.4.  So I'm going with that number.  Total weight loss--4.4 pounds in 2 weeks.