Proof is in the Pudding

Have you ever had fat free chocolate pudding? It's delightful. But that is not what I am writing this. To date I have lost almost 23 pounds. I hope to be able to continue close to this rate. I would like to lose another 27 pounds so about ten pounds a month until Mexico. If I did so, I would weigh less than I ever have in my adult life.

I'd like to take a minute to discuss the word "overweight". Most people think of it as a nasty word they have to say sometimes. For me, it is a good thing, for now at least. A few times in my life I have been, what the BMI scale would classify as, OBESE. You have to type it in all caps to really understand. Before I started losing weight this year, I was OBESE. As of a couple of weeks ago, I am now overweight. That is a happy thing for me. If I am able to lose another 30 pounds, I will be at my healthy weight for my height. Kind of a daunting task to make it just below the overweight line. I am working out like crazy and eating lots of fruit and veggies. I pay attention to how much of everything I am eating. I realize that when I am not thinking about it, I tend to eat more than I need.

Here are some before and during pictures for you:
(I'm not very good at fake smiling, as you can see below)

Valentine's Day

So, I am not one for flowers. I do like the occasional bouquet of lilies or roses but when it's a forced occasion like Valentine's or an anniversary, it just doesn't hold as much meaning for me. So this year I told Glen not to do anything for me for Valentine's. The plan was to go out to dinner and then buy something we both want. Lucky for Glen, he listened. I can't justify having him spend thirty or more dollars on flowers unless it is a surprise. Like, I got a beautiful bouquet on my birthday this year. Total surprise and I loved it! Anywho, Glen has been extra special sweet and loving the past little while so I couldn't do nothing. Also, he is a teacher so I knew all the little kids would tease him if he had something from me in the classroom. So George and I took him two heart balloons and a card. It was awesome. I got in trouble with Glen but it was worth it! That night, we got all gussied up and dropped George off at Grandma's. We went to Baci which in Italian means kisses. Quite appropriate. It is a cute little Italian place about 2 miles from my mom's house. I got one of my favorites: gnocchi. How did I not know these heavenly little things existed before I tried them in Argentina? Anyway, they had a special Valentine's dessert that was a heart-shaped raspberry/vanilla gelato covered in white chocolate and drizzled with raspberry sauce. Delicious! We spent the bulk of the evening asking obscure questions about each other like, "If you were stuck on a desert island, what three things would you want?" We learned a lot! Usually we spend most of the time keeping George from yelling at the other restaurant patrons. As long as he has food, he's good....

Then we went to Wal-Mart for our joint Valentine's present. We were planning on getting a down mattress cover for our not-so-comfy mattress but we decided to get that and a wii game. We got Mario Party 8 which is tons of fun and then Glen through Alice in Wonderland in bluray into the cart. It is my favorite movie of all time so I let it slide.

All in all, it was a fabulous Valentine's Day. I love my best friend and I can't believe he chose me!

Why Must They Always Be the First to Go?

Every time I start losing weight, my bra suddenly gets much bigger. While I do love being able to easily see my collar bone, I wish I could keep the "C"s, almost "D"s. Now they are more like "C"s almost "B"s. But at least I am having some success. Six weeks in and I have lost over 15 pounds. I hope to have lost at least 20 pounds by the end of the month.
This week, after a horrible weekend, I decided to start jogging/running in the mornings. In order to have the time to do so, I have to start at 5 am. Not my favorite but so far I am following through. Prior to this week, I was walking with Glen, my brother and his wife. We walk 3 miles and carry weights. It's a pretty good workout. If we don't go walking, I spend 30 minutes or so playing Gold's Gym Cardio Workout on the wii. Awesome game. I get a really good workout. So, I am now walking/jogging in the morning and then walking with the gang in the evenings whenever anyone wants to. I started my morning routine yesterday and we went walking last night. That meant this morning my body did not want to cooperate. There was a lot more walking going on than jogging today. But I still got a great workout. I take the same route as we do in the evenings which is about 3 miles. I hope to see better results in the coming weeks.
And since my baby is cute, I must mention that he has started weekly swimming lessons. He is slowly warming up to the idea...

Ten Months!

My baby is ten months old today! His newest tricks are standing up from sitting down with no one to pull him up or furniture to grab onto, taking down the baby gate, finding Mommy's nose and mouth, clicking with his tongue, copying Daddy on the piano, walking everywhere, climbing into the dryer, nicely turning the pages of a book, dancing, kissing mommy and talking jibberish. We love our Porge! He is the best baby ever! He sleeps at least ten hours a night and takes at least two long naps a day. He has ten teeth, including two molars. He eats everything, and I mean everything, we give him with gusto. He is content to play by himself for hours which helps when I am trying to get work done but he is often laughing or squealing which makes phone calls next to impossible. I miss his little baby self but he makes me laugh and he is my second best friend!