Monday, May 17, 2004

Random Blog Thought of the Day

Salad, salad is my friend!

Friday, May 14, 2004

WI Update & Correction

On Wednesday I posted that when I started WW, I weighed 196- not true. I weighed 193.6, so I have a bit more to go before I hit 50 pounds lost.

However, my estimate was close but not exact in that I thought I'd be around 147... I'm less! Ok, not so much less, but as posted earlier, I'm a stick of butter less! My WI was 146.8, which is 1.8 pounds from my personal goal of 145.

Oh, and I also learned that for my height (5'4"), the WW range is 134 - 140 (with absolute limits at no less than 113 and, for women 45+, no more than 145). So, I have to revise my official WW goal to 140, even though my personal goal ever since I started has been 145.

Lamb Shish Kebob & Orzo

We had a great dinner last night! Marinated lamb shish kebob with orzo- only 6 points! Here's the recipe:

2 Tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp dried oregano
zest & juice of one lemon
1 pound boneless leg of lamb (~1-inch chunks)
cherry tomatoes
bay leaves
zucchini pieces, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 cups cooked orzo (no oil or salt)

Put oil, salt, pepper, oregano, zest & juice into a ziploc bag. Add lamb pieces and marinate at least 30 minutes or overnight. Skewer lamb, tomato, bay leaves and zucchini on 4 skewers. Grill 10 - 12 minutes for medium rare. Serve with 1/2 cup orzo per serving.

The recipe is for four servings (6 points/serving), theoretically making four skewers. We used lamb shank, as leg of lamb isn't kosher, and suprisingly it was quite tender (lamb shank tends to be a tougher cut of meat than leg of lamb). The longer you marinate the lamb, the more tender it will become. Excellent meal, and very quick- great for camping!

I Love My Mommy

My mom is in town for a CME (continued medical education) conference and has been staying with me for the past two nights. It's so nice to have my mommy around.

Last night we went shopping, and for the first time in my life, we had a good time! It wasn't that I didn't used to have fun shopping with my mom before, but I just generally didn't like shopping. It's hard to enjoy shopping when the things you want to buy just don't look good because you're not happy with your weight- Now that I'm able to wear the hot fashions I have fun shopping... and how much more so with my mom! I'm also realizing that my wardrobe has been primarily blacks & neutral colors because they tend not to draw attention and black is slimming- I can now wear the more 'out there' colors because I have the confidence to pull it off. For instance, last night I got a suit that is a 40's-war-time-era cut suit in blue & green tweed-looking fabric. Very 'out there' as in not subdued in color or cut. I don't think I would even have considered it when I wasn't happy with the way I looked.

So, thank you, mom, for buying me a cool suit and thank you for a wonderful two days- may there be more to come!

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

New Look for a New Me!

In honor of my new blue dress (and as a way of testing my new blog settings), enjoy this new look for the new me!

Wow!

I am pretty impressed with myself, I must say. Last night I went shopping with Cara and bought, among other things, a dress from New York & Company. It's a pretty casual dress that kind of looks like a cropped-sleeve polo, but really long, and is a pale pastel blue. Periwinkle, really. Anyways, I have never been able to wear this style dress before because it's an 'honest' style- you can see the folds, bulges, shape and size of everything between your mid-thigh and collarbones. I have to say, this new dress looks amazing- and I feel amazing in it!

I'm also proud beyond belief to say that I'm officially a size 8, though most of the people who read this blog will say I've been officially a size 8 for a long time. I'm now convinced that when I go into a store, I need to be taking size 8's into the dressing room, and I don't have to take a size 10 also 'just in case'. That's not to say all size 8's fit me, but those that don't are the exception, not the rule. Pretty cool coming from a girl who started WW a year & 3 months ago wearing a women's size 16 and weighing nearly 200 pounds (196 to be exact). I WI today, and I plan on reporting then- but my guess is I'm somewhere in the area of 147- on the cusp of 50 pounds lost!!

Here's a visual for ya! 50 pounds equals 6 gallons of milk, 10 bags of flour, 10 sacks of potatoes, 40 medium cantelopes, 200 sticks of butter, or the average amount of meat I put on a Shabbat table for 8!

Friday, May 07, 2004

Starbucks Toffee Nut Frappuccino

As mentioned earlier, I worked 12 hours yesterday, and am completely exhausted & stressed out today. So, I'm treating myself to a frappuccino! I usually get a tall mocha frap which is 4 points without whipped cream (6 with whip), but decided to try the toffee nut frap today, also 4 points without whip (7 points with whip). On a scale of 1-10, I give the toffee nut a 6. It's good- but I shoulda gotten Mocha.

NSV, though: I REALLY wanted the whipped cream, and I got it without. Saved myself 3 points!

It's been a while, eh?

So, I haven't been posting as often as I would like to because work has been terribly busy. I was actually going to put this post up yesterday but ended up working a 12 hour day! By the time I went home, I ate dinner, watched Survivor and went to bed. But there are a couple of highlights I would like to share:

1) I lost 2.8 pounds this week, bringing me down to 148.2- the lowest I've ever been as an adult.
2) I caught a glimpse of myself in a storefront window and did a double take at the fact that I looked skinny- at the risk of sounding conceited, I looked hot!

That's it for now. Nothing big, but a quick little post to say I'm still here, I'm still counting, and (IY"H) I'm still losing!

New Link Highlights

I want to introduce two new links to this blog, Kosher Blog and Shades of Jaim.

Kosher Blog is relatively self-explanatory. It's a blog- about Kashrut. 'nuff said. They have a lot of great information about new products, where to find them, etc etc.

Shades of Jaim is run by a fellow Just Married Board'er, Arnaknagsak. Well, Jaime is her real name, but I know her posts as Arnaknagsak! Her page is truly inspiring with amazing before and after pictures and great advice and motivation. She also has two pages of links to other WW's home pages- including people who have lost 200 pounds and more! If you want to be inspired, check it out.