24 Week Update & Hubby's Progress

Hey everybody. Firstly, I'm sorry my update is late, and that also there is no video this week. My family is going through a difficult time and we got some bad news last night. I will elaborate eventually, but I can't just yet. If you are the praying type, I would ask for your prayers for my family. Thank you and I will provide more information soon.

Also thank you for all the kind comments on the last post. I wasn't upset or angry or sad, just kind of perplexed and didn't understand why he would do that :) All is well.


As for this week's update, there have been some pros and some cons.


Cons:

- my lower back and hip pain have been especially bad this week. Possibly due to getting new athletic shoes. When your back is this weak, the simplest changes can throw everything off.

-On Monday night I tried to work out at the gym, but my body was NOT having it. I did the treadmill for 5 mins and gave up because the pain was intolerable. I switched to the ARC trainer and managed 10 mins, but then had to stop. My hip was just killing me and no amount of stretching was helping at ALL.

- Halloween candy is still around, and I'm still eating quite a bit of it. I've kind of had my fill and we are getting rid of it this weekend. Don't need any more.



Pros:

- Even though I couldn't work out as much as I would have liked, I still got some activity - a couple workouts plus a whole day of shopping.

- I cooked real recipes twice this week (actually twice in the same day!) and we ate off those for a few days this week.

- Had a decent loss this week, despite the cons mentioned above.



My weight yesterday was:

217.2 - that's a loss of 2.2 lbs this week. Still not as fast as I had been used to, but I will take it over a plateau any day :) I may not make my -100 lbs mark by the 20th like I wanted to, but I am super pleased things are moving again.



Workouts this Week:

Friday 10/29 - Swimming laps, 23 mins
Monday 11/1 - 5 mins treadmill, 10 mins ARC trainer, stretching (bad pain day)

I worked out Thurs and Fri, but those technically count toward next week's weigh in. At least I am getting a bit better now and able to work out more again. Stupid pain.. leave me alone please.



Some New Foods This Week:

I picked these up because I haven't had a muffin since before surgery. I LOVE muffins, ESPECIALLY with cream cheese. One of these is just the right size for my tummy right now. It's basically just the top of the muffin. They are frozen, so they will keep even if I don't eat them too often. You zap it in the micro for 18 seconds and it's ready to go. (Or you can thaw at room temp for 30 mins.) I put an individual pack of light cream cheese on top of it and YUM! Since it's higher carb and lower protein, I wouldn't do this every day, but it tastes GREAT for once in a while.

Not technically NEW for me, but I haven't shown a photo before. This is a protein smoothie from my gym - this one has strawberries, pineapple, 27g whey protein, skim milk and nonfat yogurt. Delicious. The one in the background is Ian's with all the same stuff but blueberries instead of pineapple. We order the kids size, but with the full amount of protein.

Double Bean Quesadilla. I made this up this week. It has refried beans, seasoned black beans (pre packaged), and cheese. Tasted good, but SO MESSY because of the sauce the black beans come in. Probably won't make it again. It did keep me full for like a gazillion years though.

Turkey Club from the food court at Super Target. I was grocery shopping and needed to eat (had been out a while already) before I did my shopping... was feeling weak. It was tasty but I had no interest in the bread and it had WAY too much bacon. I pushed most of the bacon off and ate about 2/3 of the turkey and cheese... threw the rest away. Tasty, decent price ($3) and got the job done in a pinch... but not something I'd go out of my way to plan to order.

Taco Chicken Tenders - one of my recipes this week! Chicken tenderloins (1 lb) rinsed and patted dry. Add as much taco seasoning as you like, patting it onto both sides of the chicken so it sticks. Cook it in a skillet over medium-high heat, flipping every 2 minutes til cooked through. (It took like 5-6 mins). Remove from skillet, squeeze half a lime over it all, and serve with some light sour cream. These were very tasty and very moist. A great all-protein meal. From the 4 Ingredient Diabetic Cookbook.

Pizza Burgers - another all-protein recipe I cooked this week. It's from the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. One major tweak - we didn't bother with hamburger buns. I also purchased premade patties. What I did was sprinkle the seasonings across them all and then take each patty, roll it into a ball and reshape it. I felt it worked well and then they all come out the same size in the end :) Doesn't need to be done, but I had bought these already so I tried it, and I actually liked doing it that way. I will have to post the full recipe later - I used my own concoction of seasonings in my own amount so I didn't really follow it. I used oregano, garlic chips, garlic powder, garlic pepper, a ground pepper blend (instead of red pepper flakes), salt and some Mrs Dash onion & herb seasoning. We grilled up the burgers on the George Foreman grill, adding sliced mozzarella on top and melting it. Topped with some Classico Tomato & Basil marinara sauce and then a dash of parmesan. Delicious!!!!!!! We really enjoyed this meal. We each can eat 1 patty, so we had it two nights in a row.



Some other Tidbits...

A quick little Calcium supplement review. These are both from Celebrate. The one on the left is the chewable calcium supplement. The one on the right is the liquid supplement which includes both multivitamin AND calcium.

The chewables are pretty hard to deal with, we feel. My friend hated them so gave them to us, and we pretty much hate them too. Today I tried the liquid - not so bad! The liquid includes multivitamin AND calcium, so I could stop taking my gummy vitamins if I am taking this. You have to take it twice a day though. It tasted totally decent, kind of like a koolaid. You empty the packet into 8 oz of cold water and shake to mix. I poured it in a glass after shaking it in a bottle. Might be ordering these to try for a while as I think it will be a good way to get everything in. But at $45 per 30 day supply, and the fact we BOTH need it, that's pretty pricey. So we'll see.


My hair is still thinning a LOT... Ovation isn't really helping. I decided to get my hair cut a bit shorter to help it look fuller. I am also using a protein spray I got from my stylist, makes your hair appear a bit fuller also. Here is me and my stylist Tarah :)

And FINALLY.... My husband Ian's 5 month progress photos from Nov 3rd. He has lost 70 lbs and is feeling great!


5 Months all in a row, front view:

5 Months all in a row, side view:

Start vs. 5 Months, Front View:

Start vs 5 Months, Side View:

Start vs 5 Months, Back View:

So proud of him!! He has gone from tight 2X shirts to loose 1X shirts, ready to start getting into some larges. His pants size has gone from 54 to 44!

That's it for this week - sorry so long. I probably won't have a chance to post again until next week's update. I'm expecting a bit of a tough and taxing week. I'm trying to still take good care of myself and keep on my path, but definitely have some bigger fish to fry at the moment. Have a great week everyone.