It gets better...everyday..

Thank goodness. The fog is lifting.

173 pounds now. I have now lost 113 pounds since Nov. 2008. I sat down and wrote out my goals the other day and one of them included losing the last 10 pounds which will put me at 165. I guess if I am at 173, I only have 8 to lose now for that goal.

I am trying to walk 20 miles a week. This week I have gotten up at 5 in the morning and getting about 4.5 miles in before the kids get up. It's very magical to walk under the stars and moon. I get spooked at times but love being out then before the world "awakens".

I talked to a trainer at the gym and am going to set up a meeting with her to "re-evaluate" where I am at. I am looking forward to that. I'll find out where I am at as far as body fat goes. She uses calipers which I think is a better test than that machine they used the first time. I like this trainer much better. She did ask me to write down EVERY thing I eat because she wants to have an idea of how she can help me tweek my eating habits to help me reach my goals. Of course my main goals now are these regarding my health and fitness....

Lose rest of weight to get to 165 lbs. (so now 8 more pounds)

Shape, define muscle mass and build muscle.

Train for half marathon.

Walk 20 miles a week and gym 3 x's week doing weights, and abs/core concentration.

Funny, now that I am back on track eating like I normally do, I have discovered that I really don't eat that many calories. It averages less that 1400 a day. Factor in to that my exercise...there is a huge deficit. I eat very well, and plenty...I just don't super high calorie foods...

I have also discovered something fun and yummy. It's what I call "Snack Soups!" Lately I have been taking my left over roasted vegetables and making soup with them. The other night it was a mixture of sweet potato and carrot. Last night I made roasted cauliflower so with the leftovers I made soup. It's all basically done the same way. I sweat down some onion and garlic in a pan that has been sprayed with olive oil flavored cooking spray. Then I add in my roasted vegetables along with chicken stock and kosher salt and course black pepper. I let it cook just a little bit but not too long because I don't want the veg's to lose their nutrients. Then I add in about 1/2 a cup of non-fat, evaporated milk. I put it in a blender and puree' it. It makes a yummy cream soup. I can eat a cup of that and it's 75 calories or LESS and is full of vegetables. The cauliflower one I actually added a small piece of lean ham to from our dinner. I did a spinach soup the same way on Saturday and added a piece of crispy turkey bacon for flavoring and it was yummy. Just a super easy way to get vegetables in. I make enough for a couple of servings and put it in the fridge. Asparagus will be NEXT on the list....yummers....

Have a great day!

Selfish lady sends...