The Biggest Loser! 227

Ok-- so you've probably thought that I fell off the bandwagon-- to be completely honest I did for a while. I got my weight down to 227.5 and then from about Halloween to New Years I ended up putting about 9 lbs back on

About 3 weeks ago my work decided to do a "biggest loser" competition-- I knew it was time to start back on the track-- a little disappointed that I had a) not lost any weight in a long time and b)put back on weight. -- there are about 20 people who each put in $10 -- the pot will be split evenly between the top 2 losers in June.

I was reluctant to go back to the gym -- only tonight did I drag myself there for the first time in MONTHS (what a waste of money @ $48/ month)--

ANYWAY the first week I was in 4th place-- the past 2 weeks I've been in 1st place-- I have lost 7.8 lbs (according to the work scale) and I've done that all by keeping track of my calories on my iphone ap "Lose it!" -- it works pretty well-- it was a tool I used before but for whatever reason (maybe the upgrade) it seems to be more accurate this time around

Tonight I went to the gym and walked for 35 minutes-- burning 360 calories

Here recently I've also found several excellent foods I'm going to share with you in the next few posts.

You guys are my accountability so I'm going to try and be better about posting now-- even though my life has in fact sped up instead of slowed down over the past few months.

The jewelry website isn't up yet-- I'm meeting with my friend this weekend for a few hours to try and get it close to up and running-- I doubt we'll finish it this weekend but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm ALSO in the process of looking for a new home-- I want to get one before the deadline for the tax credit which is April 30th (for a contract) and I think June to close. So wish me luck, send a few prayers my way and we'll all get through this together.

Tomorrow I'm going to post a couple of photos of me in my new SEXXY jeans and tell you about where to get them etc. I'm so excited about them-- but that my friends is a story for tomorrow! :o) Until then!

Crown Jewel Boutique 231.5

Yet again I've been notably absent-- this time for focusing on trying to launch the website for my Jewelry Business! I wanted to give you guys a sneak peak-- my friend has talked me (reluctantly) into modeling my own jewelry but I LOVE this photo-- we still have to take a few more and edit some more photos as well... (and make some more jewelry)-- I'm going to be selling earrings, necklaces and bracelets -- I will even custom make pieces as well. Before the site is even up I've already sold 15 pieces-- so I'm happy about that! Anyway just wanted to check in and give you guys an exclusive sneak peak at what is coming!!

Get excited, tell your friends and stock up for Christmas!

Some Wedding Photos 236.5

Here are some photos that were taken @ my cousin's wedding/ reception. This was me trying to line dance.. I find it amusing that even in the photos you can see how uncoordinated I can be :o)

This is a dress I bought @ IGIGI. I just recently came upon online store. I think their stuff is great! i love that they make flirty dresses for plus sized women. The prices are a little high-- but they have sales quite often. I loved the dress I bought-- although I wish I had realized that the tie was sagging and I would have fixed that! IGIGI has another dress with the same fabric/ pattern but a different top (which has straps on it rather than the wrap dress) but I think it's absolutely beautiful and I'm tempted to purchase it. The other thing that's kinda nice (Iguess) about IGIGI is that the sizes are "smaller" than what they actually are. For instance right now I fit pretty easily into a size 18 but the dress I bought from IGIGI was a 12.Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on the photos we took BEFORE the reception where hopefully my dress is sitting a little nicer :o)

Dinner --235.5

Here's some dinner I made the other night. It's shrimp, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, pasta and feta cheese. I sauteed the shrimp, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms in a skillet-- I didn't need to use any sort of oil with it because there is a little residual oil on the sun dried tomatoes (from being in the jar they come in). I cook the pasta for about a minute less than suggested, drain it, then add it to the skillet, throw just a spoon of the feta (which is actually tomato basil feta)-- I then cook that for a couple of extra minutes-- plate it and add another spoon of feta on top. It's really good and pretty healthy for you-- just watch how much pasta you're eating-- and you can make it even better by using whole wheat pasta!

I didn't find this recipe anywhere.. I just thought about what I thought would taste good together-- add what you want to it-- I thought oregano and basil would be tasty--maybe even some artichoke hearts!

If you try it let me know! It's pretty simple to make and probably takes about 15 minutes at the max. (the biggest time commitment is waiting for the water to boil and the pasta to cook for about 7 minutes)

Perfect Self Portrait --235

Hi all!

Sorry I've been away.. I've been working on getting my necklace/ jewelry shop up and running-- I have a logo-- working on a website-- so far I've sold 7 necklaces (not bad I guess) .. I just wanted to share with you.. what I feel is the most perfect self-portrait :o) More to come!

Jewelry! 242

Hey guys! As promised here are some photos of (some) of the necklaces I've been creating. I made 10 this weekend alone (these are 5 of the ones I've made this weekend. I've made about 25 so far, sold two-- just to people I'm showing them to at work/ or over the 4th when I saw some of my family). I'm working on creating a website to sell them on..

I took these photos today but wouldn't you know as soon as I got set up outside the clouds came out (this makes for a less than desirable shoot-- but overall I think they turned out well). The initial photos I took inside and they turned out too dark (hence why this has been so long in coming) It's taking me some time to come up with the photos and formatting them/ naming them (I'm trying to come up with cutesy names for each one-- I bet this will get more difficult as time goes on since at this point they are all one of a kind beauties) . I wanted to give you guys a special sneak preview. Let me know what you think!

Phantom Fat!

I heard on the radio that there is a "disease" called phantom fat. This is really the same idea as a phantom limb (where people who have lost limbs still have phantom feelings for that leg, where it may seem to itch or hurt etc as if the limb were still there). Well the idea of the phantom fat is that even after people lose weight they still perceive themselves to actually be fat-- you worry about all the same things that you used to when you were over weight, like knocking things over, being too heavy to sit on certain things, thinking you can't fit into clothes, being too wide to fit in seats etc. They said that this "phantom fat" typically occurs in people who have either lost significant weight in short period of time (typically those who have had bariactric surgery) or people who have simply been overweight for a long time.

This makes me wonder if I might actually have this when all is said and done. Even now I don't really see that much of a difference in myself from where I started. Having been overweight my entire life--- I wonder how I will perceive myself when I hit my goal weight (which I've never weighed that little in my entire adult life). Not that phantom fat is really a serious matter it's just really being accustomed to how your body has functioned for a long time.

In this same news report they said that people who have lost weight are actually more self-conscious or self-aware than people who are overweight that have never attempted to lose weight. I think it's also interesting that they stated people who have lost a lot of weight are also more conscious of what they look like than people are in thin. I would probably assume this has a lot to do with being aware of what you look like now and what you looked like THEN. Looking at where I'm at when I hit my goal weight and comparing that to what I looked like at my heaviest is motivation enough to keep going to the gym and make sure I keep the weight off!