Diet Day #100!!!!!!!

Yes, I did it, made it to day number 100! Am I stopping my diet now that I've reached a BIG goal day? Nope, I still have at least 10 pounds to lose. I am determined to be able to wear my favorite red skinny size 4 jeans again! Its not about needing to be a size 4, its more about reaching my goal and getting back in shape, to feel good and fit! 

Those red jeans I tried on last night knowing I still have more pounds to lose. I was able to get them on, but not able to zip and button them. Plus, they are low rise jeans, which is more difficult to fit into. I'll get there! There is no stopping me. I just need to stay on track. I've been eating more calories around 1000 - 1500, so in order for me to reach my next goal of weighting 145, I need to stay around 500 - 800 calories per day. It has not been easy for me these past few days. I had intended on eating only 500 calories yesterday but I decided to have nuts and some bread. I have a chance every day to start fresh and reach my goals. I'm just going to stay focused today on the big weight loss picture. 

I ate a little of everything I made for dinner. A little sliver of left over pizza, three cheese ravioli with Trader Joe's red sauce, a whole chicken sausage and some roasted tomatoes with a side of coleslaw salad. 

I put a little Cesar dressing on top of the coleslaw. I usually have balsamic vinegar dressing, but Steve didn't make any of his dressing. 

I have a super duper busy work week. There won't be much time in my day for a bike ride or a run. I'll get plenty of exercise just working. I'll still do my daily planks and weight lifting. Then it's just work, work work! I don't mind having a few really busy work weeks. Just not all the time. Since it's going to rain pretty much every day this week, It's a good thing I am busy working! 

This was me on my 50th, last August. I'll have to put on this dress and do a comparison photo. 

Here is another photo in my favorite skirt and tank top. I'll be doing a try on and a photo to see the weight changes I've made this past winter. 

99!!!

I'm almost there! Day 99 of my diet/fasting! It has not been the best last three days in a row dieting. I still stayed around 1500 calories but that's far from 500 to lose weight. Sunday's plan was to stay at 500 but I was hungry. 

At least it helped when Steve said I was looking skinny! Nice words to hear "skinny!" I'll take that! I am pretty happy with my weight loss progress. Even if I have a few cheat days in a row. I am determined to stay at 500 today because tomorrow is a reward day and I want to feel as though I earned it! 

I worked for 4 hours on Sunday so that was my exercise along with doing my daily planks/weights/yoga. I sure could have gone out for a run but I didn't! I didn't even finish my home projects of spray painting the handles on my dresser! That's on my todo list this week! It's going to rain today so the humidity would be up too high for paint to dry in the garage. I'll just do all my spray painting all on the same day! 

My weekend is a wrap!

I had just a one day weekend. Its back to work today on Sunday!

We ended our night out with a shared Nacho pile (cinnamon/sugar chips, cheese cake chunks, strawberries, whipping cream and chocolate/strawberry/caramel sauce). 

We met up with some of our neighbor friends and hit up a few south Suburbs breweries. They are not as good. I do like the cities breweries much better as they had better drink options. It was still fun to go to a few places and end the night eating dinner. We all shared soft pretzels with cheese and then Steve and I split pork tacos. I only ate one as they were pretty big. We also snacked on popcorn and some PB pretzels that I brought along to eat at non-food breweries. 

Before we went out, I had my favorite food right now, a baked sweet potato. They are delicious just plain! 

I finally got around to painting our kitchen buffets feet white. It's just the first coat of enamel. I have three more coats of paint to apply. At least I can check off one more little project. I never did get around to painting our upstairs doors. I purchased new small rollers and some masking tape. I'm all ready to paint. It will have to wait till a non busy work day. I do feel more motivated to get these projects done because soon we will be working on outdoor projects. The inside stuff needs to be finished! 

While Steve and Logan were helping Steve's brother Tim move into his new house, I went shopping. I found some cute new knobs for our bedroom dressers. I just need to spray paint the handles in silver. I love how the new knobs look to match our ceiling fan with the crystals. It was a cheap fix $20 for 11 clear crystal knobs. Then just the can of sliver spray paint cost of $3.00. I can't wait to spray paint the handles and see how it looks! I would have sprayed them yesterday but it has to be at least 50+F outside for them to dry. It was not a warm day! I think today by the time I'm done working this late afternoon, it should be 50+F and warm enough to spray paint them in the garage! I am still thinking I want a new corner floor huge mirror in silver. It was only $80 and its perfect for our room. It's just that I don't really need it! I would have to sell or donate my existing mirror but I've always hated it. Guess I answered that question, next diet reward day #100 it's a new bedroom mirror for me!! 

I had my two cheat diet days in a row of eating 1500 calories (most of the calories from liquids/ drinks) now to get back to low calories and lose the last of the 9 to 10 pounds I have left to reach my goal weight. Slow and steady weight loss at around 2 pounds per week! I'm fishing up week #14 and moving on to week#15. Only a few more weeks to go!! Perfect timing for summer! All my summer clothes are pretty loose on me, but that's perfect! I just have to stay focused on my goals and then slowly I'll get there! 

Oh the Weekend Started!

The weekend is here! Friday was a nice sunny day, but a bit cool. I never did get out and bike or run. Instead I met up with Kendra and we looked at a newly built house.   

 After looking at the new house, we went out for dinner at the Red Rabbit. It was on my to go to list of places I wanted to try. We went for happy hour and got money off beers, pizza and happy hour food. The pizza was good but a bit too sweet. It had honey drizzled on top which I didn't care for at all. After being on a diet where I hardly eat sugar, I'm finding it too much! 

We ordered this pepper, sausage, polenta side. I have never tasted polenta and liked it. Then I found out its made with corn, cheese and cream. Maybe not again since it's not a low cal food! 

A Brewery, Bad Weather was just down the road from the restaurant so we had a drink there while playing some cribbage. 

At the model house we looked at, they did this stair wood wall. I liked the idea and maybe we'll do something similar? 

I treated myself to new bed pillows. I had been looking at TJ Maxx and Marshalls for ever for more bed pillows. I ended up going to the Home store and found exactly what I was looking for. Now I just need new side glass bed lights installed on both sides of our bed to get rid of the outdated lamps. 

Almost Happy Hour Time!

It's Friday! My weekend is going to be short since I work a full day on Sunday! Good thing I won't be missing out on a beautiful weather weekend. We are going to get that dirty word SNOW/Slush on Saturday! I'll have to bring in my flowers tonight so they don't freeze! 

Speaking of freezing, I picked up these tasty treats. Here's my review, the coconut mild ice cream bars, were too chocolate covered and not enough ice cream. It was more like ice milk. It was okay if you want a lot of chocolate and nothing else taste wise. The Dirt mint chip, was lacking mint flavor. I didn't taste a whole lot of big chocolate chunks either. I have yet to try the coffee yogurt bars. Its next on my to try list, maybe tonight? 

I purchased some legging/yoga/workout pants for working. I got them because it has a side pocket to store my phone while working. I like this idea better then the belt around the waist. I even did a run around the hood with it in this pocket. It stayed put and it didn't even bother me while running, meaning I couldn't feel it in my leg pocket. Love it, now to buy another pair for just wearing around / working out. Work pants are work pants and they can not be intermingled! I do highly recommend getting a pair if you like to carry your cell phone hands free! 

I made dinner last night. Chicken tacos, peppers, onions and rice. I smothered it all in fresh salsa! 

My lavender sparkle gel pedicure. I liked the silver/white sparkles better for nail polish. 

Thursday, I ran 1.4 miles around the hood. Might need to start running longer now that I think my feel can handle it and my lungs!Building back up my running endurance. Slow and steady! 
Right after running, I got on my bike and took the longer route, 10 miles in 44 minutes with stopping for a bit to take some photos. 

Biking always feels so great! I just love getting out there on the dirt roads even when I have a film of dust/dirt on my neck and arms after. 

I'm thinking about weighing myself again on day #100? In five days. Should I? Even though Iam at a good place in my diet efforts at a goal weight of 155/154 am I really there? Last time I weighted myself a few weeks ago I was at 159! I feel like I'm right where I should be, to check in on the scale would just confirm that. It's always a dilemma, to weight in or to not? 

A little Zoey cuteness for the morning. In her favorite spot! #adogslife

 Happy Friday, count down to happy hour! 

That was Tough!

I had a hard night of dieting on Wednesday. I really wanted to EAT! I was fine all day and then I had dinner and wanted to keep indulging in food. I held off and stayed around 800 calories for the day! I don't have many really difficult days but that was one of them! Glad I stuck it out and didn't eat more! 

I had to remind myself that when I started losing weight, I would have loved to be weighing 154 pounds! Or starting from that point! I only am 9 pounds away from my initial goal weight! I have to stay focused on the big diet weight loss picture! I'm not done yet losing weight! I'm also close to my day #100 and need to keep that in mind when eating at night. Night is always my hardest time of the day to stay focused and on my diet. It's my down time and the time of day I can break my fast and eat. I just have to make good food choices. I haven't been eating much meat/protein so I'm probably more hungry. I do have a new nuts so there is a little protein with a spoon of humas. The rest is veggies, sweet potatoes and coleslaw with a balsamic dressing. 

Wednesday was a day off from working. I did exactly what was on my todo list. I got my pedicure, went running with Zoey 1.4 miles, went biking 8 miles with a neighbor friend and then got a lot done at home, laundry, cleaning and my Survivor night of TV. 

The not so fun thing that happend, was a hit and run! I was backing out of a parking space at Marshalls. I was stopped ready to pull forward and out of no where a woman in a white SUV, clipped my bumper and kept driving fast around the corner and kept driving away. I just sat there, not moving my car and was like what the heck? Got out of my car and saw my bumper was all scraped up. Grrrr.. My car is 10 years old and it would be with my deductible $500 to fix it. I'm probably not going to get this fixed. My car has been in more mini accidents! Not sure what that's all about! 

Did I reach another Goal?

Did I reach my new weight loss goal weight of 155? According to my plan, if I lost 2 pounds per week, I'm at a goal weight with only 10 pounds to go! Reward day on my day off!! Yes, I have the day off which is nice. I do work the weekend so it makes up for not working today! 

I completely forgot to update on my fitness and how that's all been going. Last week was a good week for running, biking and doing my daily planks/weights!  I did all 7 days of planks and weights! I ran only 3 miles total, but biked 39 miles for the week. It's a start and as the weather gets nicer/warmer I'll be doing more running and biking. 

I'm so glad my day off is a 70+ weather nice day. Here's my day's plan. 
1. planks/weights - done
2. Blog/email - in process
3. Stop at the bank
4. Go look for some bed pillows
5. Get my reward pedicure
6. Run/ bike
7. Survivor
8. Make cookies/make dinner (or eat leftovers) 
9. Bed

Maybe not all in that order. I also might go for another bike ride with a neighbor. I can go twice in one day! 

I'm also planning on doing a lot of sun soaking up because come Saturday, we are going to get cold and maybe have a mix of snow and rain. I'm not looking forward to that again! At least the snow won't stick around. I just have to remember to bring in all my flowers or cover them so they won't freeze! 

Cookies and more

A few more macaroons. I'm getting the hang of this difficult to make cookie. Its actually easier then I was thinking but I still don't have it all down! I made some vanilla macaroons with a lemon curd / butter cream filling. I started out with just curd but it was too soft so I added it to butter cream which tasted amazing but still too runny! I even put them in the frig over night and they were still a mess from all the filling oozing out. Delicious lemon flavor! 

 Here are my espresso cookies with a caramel espresso filling. Soooo good! They turned out perfect inside and out! 

The flavor combo's are endless for this cookie. It will be fun trying new flavors! 

I completely forgot to take all my Monday weight loss measurement. I made sure to do them on Tuesday morning. No changes at all from last week. Was I surprised, nope! My calories have been a lot higher on three days in a row. I'll need to really get back down to just 500 to get into the weight dropping mode. I'm on day #93 and in exactly one week I will make it to day #100! 

Just a few dog pictures. Zoey being all happy at night. She just loves attention, but only when she wants it. 

I have a light work day. Its going to be in the mid 60's and sunny this afternoon. I'm heading out for a quick run and then to bike in the afternoon. I really have to get back to our house projects. This means break out the paint, do the touch ups. I have Wednesday to tackle the doors, painting all the upstairs white! Base coats are done so it's just the final coats of many to do. 

My diet reward this week, will be to find two to three new pillows for my bed. I'm still looking! Not sure what color. We have white and gray going on in our room. I want to find some fuzzy pillows!

A new Baby!!

I was sooo excited to see Evan's shirt message! I'm going to have another grand baby!!! Kendra is due in November! Yes, another birthday in November which makes three and three more in December! 

I'm so excited! I hope the next seven months go by fast! I want to meet this new little person! Time to start baby shopping! 

After the baby news, we got down to business of dying Easter eggs with Evan. We tried using the foam coloring system. I think it was a super idea! We ended up just using a fork to roll the eggs around in the foam. You let them sit and rise. They all turned out beautiful!

So much fun to dye eggs this way. We'll be doing this again with the foam next year! 

I made a breakfast quiche and it turned out really tasty. I precooked the crust longer and it turned out really crispy and good. I'll have to do this always! 

 Zoey was looking at me the whole time I tried a little slice! 

I had a little dessert fail. I made mini eclairs but they never really poofed up and were a bit too small. I'll have to try again. We still ate them with pudding filling and chocolate drizzled on top. They still tasted really good but probably could have been less sweet with a dark more bitter chocolate on top. 

I probably tried to bake too much yesterday because I just wasn't into doing this mini eclairs. I did make some espresso macaroons. They turned out perfect and delicious! I'll have to post a photo tomorrow. 

Easter dinner. Steve wouldn't take a smiling photo, so this is what I got! And Yes, I wore a dress that I couldn't fit into for the last year! 

I hit some candy filled eggs for Evan to find. Then gave him his Easter basket and some Lego gift to build. I didn't give as much candy this year because we've been eating M&M's and Jelly beans all month. 

Easter table, I only had pictures of everyone eating. I don't think they want photos posted with them chewing food. 

I have a dieting reward day coming up. Although, I need to work for it till Wednesday. I went way off my calories Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So, I need to earn my pedicure. Good thing I ran and biked on Easter! Burn off those calories!