A Little Feel Good Story

Almost 12 weeks of 12 weeks

weight today: gained one pound

total lost: 9 pounds in almost 12 weeks

1/2 cup of oatmeal:150
1 tsp of sugar: 15
1 tbl of powder creamer with tea:30
2 tsp of sugar:30
total:225

3 slices of Happy Joes pizza
1 square pepperoni thin crust:200
1 sausage square thicker crust: 300
1 small slice thicker crust sausage:250
1/2 cup of 2% milk: 60
total:710
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running total: 935

Jimmy John's sub with turkey, cheese, Dijon mustard and no mayo:422
bites of son's blueberry scone and chocolate chip cookie: 75
total: 492
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running total: 1,427

1 chocolate hazelnut Pirouline:50
4 oz of sliced strawberries:36
1 tsp of sugar:15
6 to 8 oz glass of white wine: 125
total: 226
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running total: 1,653

Today's challenge: Um...the pizza. I should have stopped with one. But, man it tasted so good. I was on the third piece before I thought about taking a picture. I was at my husband's work party and I guess I was not expecting there to be pizza there. I should have had a plan.

Actual fitness: none. That 5K walk is actually tomorrow. I went there today and no one was around. Daa.... Went on the wrong day.

Note on knees: I'm feeling like I need to resist using my knees until all the soreness is gone so that I don't prolong the heeling process. I hate doing this because I'm worried about gaining weight, but I know I'll hate it even more if this takes even longer to heal because I didn't allow them to heal. This is going to sound weird, but I can actually see some of my belly fat and fat in other places returning. Some pants I just bought are fitting differently. All that running and those leg work-outs really do sculpt my body and melt the fat away. I hate not being able to just "take off" outside for a quick 5-miler. But I have to wait....and somehow stop myself from over-eating.

Note on picture: I don't curl my hair very often, wear earrings or get dressed up. I had a little more time today to look nice for my husband's work party and so this is how I turned out. Figured you all might appreciate seeing Sunshine Mama looking good. I had my husband take more photos...so I might start sharing some of those as well.

A Little Feel Good Story

I've had this little story to share with you all for awhile now, but haven't done it because...I didn't want it to come across as bragging. Then, yesterday it occurred to me that what happened and what I'm about to tell you is a result of all the hard work that I've put into myself. In fact, I should share this story with you so that you can see how my world has changed slightly because of the changes that I've worked hard to make. Maybe this will encourage you. Maybe it will make you feel proud of me. Maybe it will inspire you that it's never too late to work on yourself, and improve on yourself.

Ok, enough build up.

About three weeks ago, my husband and I attended a show where my brother-in-law was performing with four other folk-type singers. It was a fantastic round-table session where each took turns singing and talking.

Anyway, I got dressed up in this "little black sleeveless dress" that I haven't been able to wear in literally years. Because it was cool, I wore a long-sleeve half shirt/sweater to keep warm. During the intermission when out near the sales counter visiting with my sister, I was feeling warm so I took off my sweater shirt.

Again I don't want to brag, but I don't need to flex for people to see that my arms look great.

After we sat back down, a gal who was sitting nearby, and had struck up conversation with earlier turns to me and says,

"What do you do?"

I think I said something like, "What do you mean?"

Now understand this gal is about 24, beautiful herself and not at all overweight. She goes,

"Your arms, do you do yoga or something?!?"

That's when I tried to explain that I lift weights. She said she loves seeing nice arms. Folks, it was all I could do not to say, "Would you like to see me flex?" Ha, ha, but I didn't. I didn't even think about telling her about my diet blog.

Then, later after the show at the sales counter, I was talking to one of the singers about one of his songs. The kind of people that my brother-in-law and sister hang out with are very, as my husband would say, "metro-type" people. They are very socially conscious and I suppose I may even be stereo-typing a little here, but I don't think they're into "big families." But, you never know, I could be wrong.

But, I don't think my current physic perhaps meshes with "their" stereotype of the mother of a "big family".

My nearby husband knows this and so can't resist adding to the conversation that I'm a mother of five kids.

Yes, me...little hot mama in a black little dress. Maybe a college student, but not a mom of five.

You should have seen the look on this guy's face as he flounders and gasps with, "wow, you look great!! ( and a few other compliments that I can't recall...and then..."how old are you?!?"

That last was just a bonus one because I definitely look younger than my age, and the recent weight loss has helped with that. Also, I think there is this idea that if you have five kids you should look old.

Well, the conversation ended shortly and he left with a funny little quip, "excuse me, while I go and have five kids."

So, there you go folks! Wasn't that fun? I wanted to share this with you, because these conversations would not have happened 25 weeks ago when I started this journey. I believe that a big component of my success is being accountable on this blog. It really motivates me and helps me to stay focused where if I wasn't doing this blog, I might otherwise think that I had gone far enough. Reading your encouraging words and seeing the challenges that others are going through, and also seeing that I'm impacting other people's lives has impacted the outcome of my success.

Thank you.

That's another reason why I might start putting out more pictures of myself. So, that you all can see how I am enjoying the fruits of my labor...which you are part of.

Have a great night and weekend!