Don't get discouraged!

Don't do it, don't get discouraged about weight loss! I have been sick the last few days with a really bad cough. My chest felt weird and I never experienced a cough like this before. Better just go in to the doctor to see if its in my lungs. I knew they would weight me. I didn't want to get weighed on this diet/fasting because it tends to discourage me about my efforts. I gave myself a pep talk, because the scales always make you heavier at the doctor office. I mean, its the middle of the day, I've drank lots of water, have all my clothes and shoes on. That counts for at least 2 pounds! My pep talk went something like this. I'm losing weight, not gaining and didn't remain the same weight I was over 39 days ago. What ever my weight is, its better then the alternative. I'm sure that I've lost at least 5 to 10 pounds, any more is a bonus. Of course in my mind, I should have lost at least 15 pounds by now. I was close 13 pounds. Not exactly the 15 I was hoping for. I got home and checked our scale and sure enough, two pounds lighter then the doctor office. So, seeing that made me feel better because I had originally weighted myself on our scale. So, it's been 6 weeks of weight loss effort to lose 13 pounds. I was hoping for more but with weekend eating more that's what's to be expected. I figure about a 2.5 pound a week, weight loss. So I had to re-adjust my weight loss journey on paper to include the accurate weight and my projected weight loss the next few days and weeks. 

I will get there with my weight loss. I still have a few months, March, April and Most of May to lose the weight I want before true summer is here! If I stay focused and don't get discouraged, I can lose all the weight I want. The key is to not get discouraged. I think by having a realistic idea of my true weight loss and not over exaggerating it helped me not be scale / weight shocked. Sure I would have liked to see 15 to 20 pounds of weight loss and it will come. I am soooo close to that goal! 

It's been a long time 6 weeks on this fasting diet but it doesn't feel that long. Its been fairly easy to maintain this diet. I get hungry sometimes, but that too passes and I do eat every day. I didn't have to give up anything, I just cut back. So, I'll be continuing and trying to stay focused on my true weight loss goals! Summer will be here either way, if I lose or quit and I don't want to be a quitter! 

The bug

I caught a little of the flu bug. Good thing I had a flu shot back in October. It was pretty mild if I did actually have the flu. I had a bad, dry cough for about two days. I'm still coughing but not every other minute. It's more like once in awhile but my stomach sure hurts when I do cough. 

Feeling better but I probably should rest up and not try to go out and ski after work today? I'm still thinking about it! 

I kind of feel like my dieting progress has stalled. I'm on day # 38, almost to the next big goal day of #40!! 

I've been eating around 700- 1000 calories since last Friday. Last night I made Philly steak sandwiches. I omitted the cheese and bread for my meal. Instead I wanted some left over turkey stuffing. After dinner, I finished the little slice of Raspberry Mousse cake from Celina's birthday. Then we  went to the store to pick up a few items and I really, really wanted some granola. Weird diet craving! With all the cold pills I've been taking, I think my stomach needed some oats. I ended up eating that and I had an early part one dinner of a few sweet potatoes cut up and roasted. I ended up eating some where around 700 - 800 calories for the day.  Plus, not getting much exercise other then working. I've also skipped my planks this week. I'm going to try doing them today and see how I feel. 

Good thing these cough drops are sugar free. I've been eating them like crazy for my cough. It really does help! 

Dragging this week

I've had this wonderful nagging cough the last few days. I loaded up on these cough drops and took some cough meds. I just hate being sick. I did actually sleep last night on the couch and woke to find I had less of a cough but now a runny nose. Nothing like getting sick yet again this winter. I spent October, November and December sick and now sick again! 

I had a tough time eating last night's dinner. I could hardly swallow the turkey leftovers. I didn't even finish my sweet potatoes. I still managed to eat around 500 calories because I did have a serving of stuffing without gravy. 

I'm hoping this afternoon, I'll feel good enough to go cross country skiing. I didn't go on Monday due to my constant coughing and really cold felt like -23 degree temperatures. Today is a warm up of sorts with the high of 11. Still hanging around -1*F so it will be much later today for skiing, if at all. I should probably just rest up and get better instead of pushing myself. Guess we will see??? 

I skipped my Monday weight loss measurements. I wasn't feeling it because of my splurges on the weekend. Alcohol and late night eating. I did manage to drop a few inches. It's always interesting to see weight come off in different areas. This week I lost 1" on my thighs and a half an inch on my hips from last week. Making progress always feels good even if I don't feel like much has changed from week to week. I am down 6" on my waist from the start. I do feel it in my clothes. I tried on a summer skirt and it was comfortable once again. The end of summer, it was far too tight to wear so more options now that I've lost weight! 

Week #6!!

The end of my Week # 5 I had a few more calories then 500 per day. It included a 60th birthday with a sour beer and then a flight of hard apple cider. I splurged a bit! We also ate dinner far too late in the night. 

 Sunday, we celebrated Celina's 19th birthday. She requested Thanksgiving dinner. Mostly turkey! She loves turkey and eats it every day. I must admit, I too could eat turkey at least once a week! I did splurge on dinner and loaded my plate even with gravy and stuffing. I skipped helping myself to any seconds. My stomach actually hurt. So, I must be getting use to not eating as much. We have leftovers for the week, but I'm staying away from the gravy and will try not to eat much stuffing. Not having gravy will prevent me from wanting to eat lots of stuffing! 

I've always wanted to make those fancy twice baked potatoes. They are easy to make and really pretty. They just could have used more garlic / flavor! 

We had a day time visitor at our bird feeder before the big snow/wind storm on Sunday. He's cute, but I'm not getting close to a possum! 

I knew that Sunday, I'd be eating a lot for my one meal of Birthday Turkey. So, I made sure to work for an hour and then go cross country skiing in 45mph winds and snow drifts. It was a really tough 1 hour and 18 minute workout! Glad to be back home! We have temperatures below zero for a few days in a row, so I'll be skipping the skiing! I have busy work days, so I'll get plenty of exercise just working this week! 

Happy 19th Birthday Celina!!

Happy 19th Birthday Celina! 

To my smart, kind, determined girl, Happy Birthday!

One more day!!

Just one more day till I hit the goal I've been waiting for. A Normal BMI range. No longer in the over weight category based on my estimate weight loss these last 34 days!

For the first time, I had lunch on Friday. Well, if you call this a lunch, humas a few pita chips. I had really, really low energy all day and just had a tough time working and was really hungry. So not like me! I can usually last till dinner no problem. So, I broke the fast early and then ate. I just knew that I needed food. I felt so much better and then we went to dinner where I had three small street taco's one with chicken and the other two with beef brisk. I had a glass of wine with dinner and then we went to play cribbage and I had a cider along with some popcorn. Not a 500 calorie day of eating more like 1000+ but I needed it after over a month of dieting non stop. 

We just keep getting more and more snow. I helped shovel the 3" off the driveway then headed out to cross country ski this morning. Good thing I went early as the park was already getting crowded. Trials were in perfect condition and skiing was super! 1 hour, 10 minute and 5 miles skied. Now off to work for an hour, do some shopping and then off to a 60th birthday party at a brewery. 

Fasting and weight loss on Week #5, Day #33

I've reached yet another mini weight goal. Its just an estimate of how much weight I should have lost by now if I lose 3 to 4 pounds per week on this fasting/500 calories per day diet, of only eating dinner. 

I've been feeling a lot colder. It's due to not eating much and I know this is what happens. Makes me want to move to warm  up! 

I've had to increase my exercise since I want to lose weight fast. I do daily planks, 1 minute bent arm's 2x;s and then 1 minute straight arm planks 2x's. Side planks either 30 seconds or 1 minute right and left side, some times 2x's. Lifting 15 pound dumbbells and then 20 pound dumb bells. I've also been cross country skiing 5 miles a few times a week, for over an hour each time. It's burning the calories and then some. I also have a very physical job where I'm moving for at least 2 or 3 hours a day which adds any where from 200 to 600 calories burned. 

Mostly, it's all about what I eat and watching calories/ portions. In between not eating from bedtime then morning till dinner, I drink lots of water, chew some mints for bad breath, that's also a symptom of not eating bread. Its easily cured with brushing my teeth and having a few sugar free mints throughout the day. Having some flavored water, and low calorie hot chocolate. 

What have I been eating? Smoked clams, sweet potatoes, parsnips, pork, chicken breast, humas, popcorn, chicken wings, taste of cake, a few almonds, salad, broccoli and I even had some alcohol a cider. I have gone over my 500 calories a few times. Mostly I stick to around 500 or a good guesstimate. 

I save my meals for eating with family most of the time. Unless I'm super hungry and can't wait past 6pm to eat. I even go out to eat on the weekends. I just split meals, like sharing a hamburger and not eating the fries. Or eating fried chicken wings but not the skin. I don't want to feel like I'm going to have to miss out on life while I lose weight. I'm trying to make this diet as easy as possible. 

I've been baking and giving away what I make. I plan dinners and make them so I know when and what we are eating. 

My goal is to get back down to where I was back in 2011. I lost around 40 pounds and kept it off for years, but the weight slowly crept back up. This last year was particular tough on my weight. I gained even more with Steve's eye injury and all the stress it placed on our family. It took a toll on me. I didn't gain back all the weight I had lost years ago, but very close. 

I've now dropped about 10 to 15 pounds in 5 weeks. Reaching mini goals of number of days, aprox weight, inches lost, fitting into more clothes, feeling better and looking a lot thinner. I still want to lose 15 to 20 pounds and will do that over the next few weeks. 

While I'm not recommending this diet. It has been successful for me. Figure out what works for you to lose weight. The experts say extreme cutting calories is dangerous below 1200 calories for women. It's it also dangerous to stay over weight every day? I suppose this is why I'm not worried about only eating 500 calories. I'm not going to faint, I still have energy and I don't feel overly hungry throughout the day. I would eat more if I didn't feel well with this diet. Its not something to maintain forever but I will use it a few times a week to maintain my weight loss. 

Snow/life update!

Did we get 10" of snow? I think so! It was nice to have the day off for a snow day. I was a bit worried that I needed something to keep me busy in the morning because dieting just goes faster when I'm busy. I ended up getting up late, late for me is 7:00 / 7:30am. I did my exercises and took my sweet time doing them. Cleaned the kitchen, washed the floors, vacuumed the house, did the dishes, washed some towels and clothes, baked cookies and went to the store at 1pm. I even resisted having lunch since Steve and Logan were getting Arbys. It did smell really good. 

The snow wasn't coming down as hard after 2pm and our neighborhood was finally plowed. I figured might as well go skiing. It was either that or just sit there not burning extra calories! So off I went to ski and see if the trails were groomed. I was in luck. The trails were at least plowed down, but no actual trail. I think two skiers were out earlier, but the tracks were covered in snow. I followed the tracks where I could see them and then made my own. That's the great thing about doing your workout outside. Once you get started, its not like you can stop. You have to finish the workout or you won't get back to the car. I was feeling tired out there. I was happy once again to see my car after 5 miles and 1 hour and 24 minutes of cross country skiing. It took me extra time to ski what I normally can do in a little over an hour! I was DONE! 

I kind of felt like Zoey looks in this photo after I came home. I couldn't rest because I wanted to cook my parsnips and sweet potatoes in the oven. I had veggies to cut up. Steve also wanted to play a game of cribbage while waiting for the potatoes. I decided to have some spicy humas and pita chips for a before dinner snack. Humas is pretty high in calories at 70 calories for 2 TBSP. I kind of load it on my pita chips. Then we ate leftover warmed up BBQ pork and the veggies for dinner. We still have more pork and left over veggies so I will either eat that for dinner or have my clams. I have yet to decide. I'm not really tired of BBQ or my sweet potatoes just yet! In all with the humas / chips I probably ate over 600 calories. I burned enough skiing calories to allow myself that humas and it was part of my dinner! 

My work schedule is a little messed up from the snow day. Mostly, it's a lot lighter work day! I'm hoping this afternoon the ski trails will be freshly groomed. My plan is to work from 9am to noon, stop at the bank, rest for an hour and then go ski! Loving the fresh snow!! I must remember to wax my ski's. The snow was a little sticky and I think my non wax ski's will just glide a bit better with a little wax.

Another No School Snow Day!

This is the third day this month that the kids have had a snow day! I'm taking a snow day from working too! With 6 to 8" of heavy snow predicted for today, I decided it was safer to stay off the roads and at home! 

I don't have a lot planned for today now that I'm stuck at home. It's easy to diet when I have plans so I tried to come up with a todo list for my snow day. 

I'm going to attempt to go cross country skiing at some point today. It might just happen in our neighborhood path! We'll see if I can make it down the street to the park. I'm sure the trails will not be groomed so I'll have to figure out where they are. Not sure I'm up for doing that? 

I also have some cookie baking to do for tomorrow morning customers. I leave a half dozen cookies. I just need to bake them as the dough is already made up. 

I'll be vacuuming my own house, washing towels and washing our floor. Maybe even cleaning the kids and my bathroom counter tops. I also have my planks and weights to do. I do have some customer invoices to write up so I'll do that this morning. Not much planned. Maybe a movie? 

It was my 30th day of dieting on Tuesday, diet reward day! I worked in the morning and in the afternoon, I treated myself to a gel pedicure. I tried out a new nail salon. I think she did a good job, I got the owner. She was pretty annoying right from the start. Kept telling me to come back and bring my friends, daughters etc. She went too hard on the sales and just never let me relax. I decided on silver sparkles. No idea why? It's cute. My last pedicure I tried french nails and it lasted a really long time. It's extra so I just got one color this time around. Maybe next time I'll go back to that again for the summer? 

Before I got my pedicure I went to the store and picked up dinner to quick cook in 4 hours some BBQ Country style ribs. I was really hoping they would be cooked by 6pm. 

It turned out tender and delicious! I just dump BBQ sauce and a little red wine on top, cover the lid and let the cooker do it's thing. Easy dinner for me to make and something to look forward to eat! 

I also cut up three medium sweet potatoes and seasoned with some light olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme, baked at 375+F for 30 minutes! 

I was eating in stages last night because I was waiting for Steve to come home from his brother's house where they were having happy hour. It was almost 6pm and I couldn't wait any longer. I ate my sweet potatoes, then made a salad with some light Cesar dressing. I kind of splurged on the food, but still stayed around 600 calories. I had tiny taste of 2 almonds with salt and a coating of honey Peanut-butter on a spoon. I was craving salt and sweet with PB.  

I'm finally feeling good in tank tops once again. A lot less stomach fat on day #31! 

Feeling the chill and little cheater pick me up!

My dieting has reached a new mile stone! Day #30!!! YEAH! I'm still deciding on how I'm going to reward myself. I think a movie is out since nothing is playing in the theater. Pedicure? I have yet to treat myself to one and it's needed! 

I felt pretty chilled yesterday before I went cross country skiing and after. I always treat myself to a low calorie hot chocolate when I'm done skiing. It just always sounds sooo good! I also had to bundle up while drinking it and never really felt warm, probably the symptoms of dieting! Feeling cold all the time. 

My plans was to work, take a small break then go cross country skiing yesterday. Instead, I took an hour nap, then went skiing late in the afternoon at 4:30pm. Good thing it stays light outside till at least 5:30pm. I didn't want to be in the woods when it's dark. There was full moon so that helped keep it lighter. I finished in one hour and 13 minutes, skiing 5 miles. I really had to push myself out the door yesterday. I just was chilled all day, so I dressed in extra layers and kept all on with the exception of my face mask. I always get too hot to keep that on the whole time I ski. I must have needed the nap. I took a half a caffeine pill to wake up after working and give me some much needed energy. Instead it knocked me out and I napped. I took one more half a pill when I woke up. That did the trick and I felt good skiing. A little cheater pick me up! 

I just need to stay focused on reaching Sunday. I'm going to be finally back in a normal BMI range. Not over weight. I don't want to ever get back into the over weight category again! I'm excited to reach a new BIG goal! Just a few days away. I've been eating a lot less the last two days because I really splurged Thursday and Saturday.

Sunday, I just ate a little chicken, Guacamole, sweet potatoes and a 1/4 taste of my cake.
Monday - Clams and a little guacamole on a few corn chips.

I'm kind of craving BBQ for tonight's dinner. I'll probably pick up some country style ribs and BBQ sauce and throw all that in the slow cooker. Plus, back some sweet potatoes cut up in the oven with parsnips. Sounds like a delicious dinner. I'll have to get that going by noon or it will never be ready! 

Little Changes

I'm making little changes every day on this weight loss diet. I added back in daily exercise (I stopped for a while last year when Steve had his eye injury and my heal on my foot hurt). I'm back at cross country skiing and doing as much of it as I can. 

I was able to ski three times last week and skied a total of 15 miles, doing 5 miles each time I was out. 

Every Monday instead of weighting myself, I've been recording my measurements
(waist, hips, arms, thighs, %fat and BMI and projected weight). This week, the body measurements didn't change at all. The only change was my %fat taking with that hand held machine. I lost 1% fat from last week! My clothes / leggings are also looser! I fit back into a top that was far too tight a few weeks ago and now is comfortable and feels good once more! I love having more clothes options again! I reach a huge goal on Sunday. My BMI is back in the normal range instead of the slightly over weight. I want to be NORMAL! I ate my way through the stress of Steve's and my injury. I can't do that again. I know that as I age, there will probably be more exercise related injuries. I just can't wait over a year to go see a doctor to get it fixed. I will also need to do other exercises so I don't give up on everything. I have to do a lot better job of eating and maintaining my weight loss. It's always going to be a struggle but I will have a good plan in place! 

What the ?

I completely forgot to take a photo of my Valentine's day roses from Steve. Sam's club had the cheapest and nicest roses. They are huge buds. I went with to Sam's and picked out the ones I wanted. 

We also got a gift card and a box of chocolates from Steve's parents. The best was a card from Evan. He even wrote his name and everything in the card. Very impressive for a 5 year old. 

Tonight we are doing a belated V-day dinner. I'll make up more of my little mousse cakes. I'm going to actually bake that cake I wanted to make for the crust/base of the cakes. 

I did a what the _ _ _ K? I said that to myself after I received a text message from a customer around noon on Saturday. Out of the blue he wrote " What happened to my front door Lorraine? There is a a dent with red paint. FYI very expensive to repair. Are you insured? Mind you, this was the 2nd time this customer texted me about being unhappy but with his bathroom counter. He was blaming me for it not being cleaned. Come to find out, it was a cup marking that was embedded in the bathroom counter top that I knew would not come out. Grrrr. You'd think actually seeing if something could be cleaned first before you do the whole blame game and have me come back would be something to do before bitching. Nope not this guy! So after getting this message with a photo of his front door. I think the dent with the red on it was the side of a dime. I texted back a photo of my vacuum and cleaning supplies. I said I would never damage your property. I have no idea what happened to your front door. His tune quickly changed to "of course I appreciate your work, lets just be careful". I'm thinking this is the last straw. He's out! Having my own business allows me to let go jerks. What's the next thing, am I going to pay for something else in his home? No thanks! I''ll cut my losses and let him go! Some things are just not worth the money! 

I decided to start focusing more on my Personal Training business. Taking on more customers and not as many house's in between. Cleaning is a good filler and that's all its going to be! I have really great customers for the most part but every once in awhile I come upon a jerk! I'll only put up with that so long. But once you threaten expensive repairs and blaming me before asking. I'm done with you! If I do something to damage your house or anything in your home, I will let you know right away. I don't hid anything. And really, he wanted a brand new door? Just wash off or paint the stupid door! 

And the fasting continues!

Here I am on day # 27 of my intermittent fasting schedule of eating only dinner with staying around 500 calories for the day. I've gone a bit over that on a few of the days. Mostly, I try to only eat 500 or less. 

I still have fat on my stomach. It's going down. My clothes are fitting comfortably once again. I'm wearing clothes that were too tight and are now loose. I'm excited to hit week #5 starting on Monday. This next month I'm sure to notice a lot bigger changes in my weight loss. This first month has been just a little with clothes fitting, inches lost and just feeling better over all. I'm not a dieting/fasting expert, I'm only doing a diet that I know works best for me. This is an easy to follow diet where I only need to think about dinner every day. The only difficult part, is sometimes after I eat dinner when I want to keep eating. It's that urge to keep eating till your stuffed. My solution, make a low 25 calorie hot chocolate and sip that. Works great and I don't feel deprived. Kind of like an after dinner dessert. 

Here are the two other little cakes I made on Valentine's Day. These both had chocolate mousse, with a peanut butter filling, topped with peanut-butter and chocolate ganash. I added a chocolate heart and a m&m on top. I'm still trying to perfect the glaze on top since I don't have the smooth pouring down. I also cheated and just used a chocolate chip cookie I made that morning for the crust base. I was planning on making peanut butter cake but never got that far. I did have a 1/4 slice of this peanut butter cake last night to taste test it. Delicious! It's a winner! It was even good with the cookie crust. Although, I do think a cake crust would have tasted even better! 

I have zero plans for my Saturday. Steve is working till 2:30pm today. We do have plans to go out with friends tonight. I've already pre-though about my meal out. 1 glass of wine, and maybe chicken wings with out skin shared with Steve. 

Its only -2*F this morning so I'm in no rush to get out and cross country ski. I'll save that for around noon today when we warm up into the teens. I have a few home projects I really want to do like paint the office, paint the upstairs doors white, finish sanding the edge of the kitchen buffet and stain gray. Do I feel like doing any of those projects? Not really. 

I also have my daily planks to do. I missed a few days this week. Just went to work earlier and got up later. I've been trying to sleep more just because dieting is harder. I wanted less hours to think about food. Well, guess on this diet, I only think about food in the mid afternoon and of course I think about baking all the time. So many delicious things I could make. 

A lot more!

I did a lot more of cake making yesterday afternoon. I made some little cakes with chocolate mousse and a peanut butter filling topped with peanut butter and chocolate gnash. I have yet to taste test them.  I just cheated and used a chocolate cookie that I baked that morning. I really wanted to try making a peanut butter cake. I have left overs so I might need to still try that cake recipe. I gave away a few cakes for Valentine's day. I just need to purchase a few more little cute boxes. 

I fasted all day, and knew that I would be enjoying a Valentine's day dinner. We had time before our 7:30pm reservations so we went to Union 32 for a few drinks and to play some cribbage. I did have a drink. I splurged. I just filled my glass at the self serve just half way. I topped that off with another half full glass and then just drank some water. We also shared some popcorn. 

I probably ate around 1000 or a few more calories last night. Dinner was pan fried Walleye, green beans and mashed potatoes. Delicious and I ate every bite. They also had a bread basket of tiny mini popovers with honey. Of course I had to eat two with a little bit of butter. So a big calorie splurge. I'm back on track today with my calories. I've pre-planned my dinner of smoked clams at 180 calories. Next week is a BIG goal day on Sunday and I sure want to reach that goal! I'm on day #26 of my fasting. This next BIG goal is all about BMI. I want to be on a certain number, back in the NORMAL range! No more being a little over weight! 

I forgot to share the meal I made on Wednesday night. Pork tenderloin. I'm getting to be a better cook now that I'm dieting. I'm actually making the meals. This one I found on Pinterest, but then when it came time to actually make the meal, I could not find the recipe. I had to guess. I just pan seared the pork, put it in the oven (added seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder after searing because I forgot) I roasted the broccoli in the oven with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Made sauce in a pan, white wine, little heavy cream, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, dash of lemon juice, dash of balsamic vinegar and some Parmesan/ Asiago cheese and reduced that. Added back in the pork and broccoli and done deal! Delicious! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh yes, Valentine's Day. Indulging is what this day is all about. I'm even going to do a little indulge while staying on my diet. We have plans for dinner tonight and I've already determined that I will be having Walleye, potatoes and a popover with butter! Just going to try and stick with eating only half and bringing the rest home for the next night. We will see how that works out! 

I'm on diet day # 25, which is also a big goal day. I'm trying to break down my goals to have some little celebrations of my dieting success. 

I had a super duper stressful yesterday. I decided to figure out what I owe for back MN sales taxes on my business. I have 2016, 17 & 18 taxes to pay. Thankfully, they won't charge me penalties or interest. I just need to get it figured out and pay up. It was just super stressful figuring out that I'm going to owe, thousands! Sooo depressing! I'm trying to stay positive about the whole situation because, we are good savers and do have the money set aside. It's just not what I wanted to spend my money on. I was thinking spend on home improvements and a vacation. Those things are now on hold. Huge bummer! 

Steady Transformations

I'm slowly making progress on my weight loss goals. I still want to lose another 15 pounds by May. 

It's been easy following this simple diet where I only eat dinner. I don't have to think about food and I don't have to worry about making sure I don't over snack! I'm staying around 500 calories for the day. I'm now on day #24, which means I'm hoping that I'm down 12 pounds, if I can lose a pound every other day. I have no idea as I'm not going to weight myself. It's not about the actual weight on the scale, its how my clothes fit. They are getting looser and I'm feeling much better about that! 

I had a light work day, so I wanted to get out and cross country ski. The only problem was that I had pretty low energy in the afternoon. I had shoveled 6" snow off the driveway, cleaned and then went shopping. By the time I got home, I needed some couch time for an hour and then took a half a caffeine pill which is only 100mg. Not a whole lot but enough to pep me up. This time I didn't over dress but kind of under dressed by forgetting my face scarf. It was pretty chilly on my face so I was happy to at least have worn my motorcycle goggles. Snow was falling and I hate getting snow in my eyes as I learned the last time I was out and had my lashes coated with snow. I always end up taking off my face scarf after a mile or so into my skiing but it sure is nice to have it, until I warm up! I won't be forgetting it today. Temperatures are 10 degree's colder! 

It sure felt good to get back to the car after skiing 5 miles. I was thinking at the 2.2 mile mark that I really wanted to cut my route shorter. Its just easier to stay on the route I always take because I kind of know where I am and how much longer it will take me to ski to my car. So I end up just doing my same old route. 

I finished my little Raspberry/chocolate mousse cakes. They turned out delicious. I really wanted to try luster dust on my chocolate chocolate hearts. It turned out okay. I'm not super sold on the luster dust look. It did add some gold sparkle but I'm not sure it needed it? A chocolate heart made with white chocolate or colored pink probably would have looked better. They weren't perfect cakes as I have yet to master that, but good enough for the first try. I'll improve! 

We tasted tested one last night. I cut it open and it turned out exactly as I had hoped. I added a touch of almond extra to the raspberry mousse and it almost tasted like a cherry filling. Yum! I was pretty happy with the results and the mousse held up and didn't all melt to nothing. 

A neighbor had a birthday this week so I bought these cute little gold boxes and packaged up a little cake for her. I also make those brownie candy bites with left over brownies I used for the bottoms of the cakes. They turned out cute with the added pink in the white chocolate and then I drizzled dark chocolate on top. I didn't taste test those but made Steve. He said they were good but not super chocolate tasting? What? 

Instead of the usual Taco Tuesday. I wanted to make Beef tenderloin Kabobs for dinner. I wanted to pre-plan my food since I had to work at 4:30 to 5:30 last night. I pre-cooked the mushrooms in a pan with garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I don't like plain mushrooms so they must be precooked. I just coated the beef with some Montreal seasoning. I was a little heavy handed with the seasoning but it was super good and peppery. 

Steve also roasted some sweet potatoes and parsnips in the oven and made a side of little cherry tomatoes in garlic. I forgot to take a picture so I snapped this one after I ate half my food. 

I'm planning dinner again tonight. I checked Pinterst for some ideas. I'm going to make a pork tenderloin in heavy cream, wine, rosemary sauce with some wild rice, asparagus and a salad. I was tempted to just have my smoked clams but I'll save those for another night. Usually I wouldn't make anything with heavy cream but I have leftovers from my cakes. I might just use skim milk instead of the cream? 

Another chilly morning with temperatures at 2*F. I couldn't get Zoey out the door this morning. This was her look! She turned and went right into the office on her bench in the window and hasn't moved since. Its only warming up to 10*F Tooo cold!