Goodbye 2010!

Amen to that! I wont even go into how much 2010 sucked for me but I will say that as rotten a year it was, it was a great year! Yeah, I know, a little contradiction but I know you all understand!

I started 2010 weighing around 215, I was 213 on surgery day in March and today, 9 months later, I weigh 164 lbs!!!! I am well on my way to my 50 lb goal by my bandiversary. I am currently down 49 lbs and I am one happy little camper!

I am so looking forward to 2011. I look forward to continuing on my journey to get healthier an thinner and I am looking forward to being with all of you on your journey's. My wish for everyone is to have a happy and HEALTHY 2011, we will do it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Just a quickie....

post to let you know that we made it home safe and sound today...one day later than planned and I am now getting ready to greet Steves brother, SIL, daughter and father and they will be with us until New Years Day!

My sister looks at my getting stuck in NY for an extra day as divine intervention as she and her two children were scheduled to leave for a trip to Las Vegas this morning and guess whose flight was leaving at the same time? Ours of course! She had a meltdown yesterday, missing her husband and my dad and she was so comforted that Steve and I would be with her and the kids at the airport. She was so strong on Christmas day, trying so hard to make it a good one for her kids, and it was. My brother in law would be so proud of her! That is the only thing I keep telling her that seems to help her. We joke about it though because there are things that she does on purpose to get him to come and haunt her such as raising the heat...my BIL was for lack of a better word, CHEAP! and was always turning it down in the winter and up in the summer! She will be in Las Vegas until Friday and I know they will have a great time! I am so proud of her!

As for me, I will be trying to pop in here and there for the rest of the week. I have never in my life looked at a new year like I am looking at this one. I am looking to lose 15 more pounds in 2011, I know I will! Thank you all for being such a support to me and always being here with advice or a kind word. 2010 has really sucked for me and my family but my personal accomplishment of finally being able to attain my weightloss goals has been beyond my imagination.

If I don't get back here until after the new year, Happy New Year to you all!

Blizzard of 2010!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas (those who celebrate)!

This could truly be the last Christmas we spend on Long Island for a long time! Last year we drove to Long Island for Christmas in a blizzard...it took us 3 days when it normally would take 1. This year, it may still take us 3 days to get home even though we flew! Our flight tomorrow has been cancelled and we are tentatively booked on two others, one tomorrow night and one on Tuesday morning. We will see!

We had a wonderful Christmas being with our family. Santa was so good to me this year as he had my engagement ring reset! What a nice old guy!



As good as it was being here this past week, I really was looking forward to going home tomorrow morning! We have Steves family coming in on Tuesday night so this will be really interesting if we don't get home by Tuesday! Always an adventure.

I am also looking forward to getting my eating/exercising back on track. Thankfully my band has been 'reminding' me not to eat but man, I have been making horrible choices! It amazes me how horrible I have been. I really thought I was past all this, you know, falling into the "going home and eating" routine? The only bright side is that I know what I have to do and even better, I know that I will do it! That part is new to me..in the past I would just continue with my bad choices but those days are gone!

So, wish me luck with getting home tomorrow! I will let you know how that turns out!

I'm outta here tomorrow...

So, I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I cannot thank you all enough for joining me on this journey! I weigh 50+ lbs. less this Christmas than I did last year and I feel so much better!

We are flying to NY to be with our family for Christmas and I am so looking forward to being together especially for this, our first Christmas without my Dad and Jimmy. My sister is doing better than I could ever have imagined and I just pray that she gets through this holiday without too much pain, if that is even possible.

Tomorrow is my youngest daughter Jordan's birthday. She will be 20 years old. Holy Schmoly! Where the hell did these years go? I have been blessed with these two gorgeous girls who have brought so much joy and happiness to my life! If I can only get them both to move to FL! Actually, Jordan is making plans to finish her college education here with Steve and I. The plan is for her to move here in May. I.Cannot.Wait.

I am typing this blog from my new MacBook Air. It is so different from my PC but so far, I love it. It weighs nothing! It will be a pleasure using this for work and not having to drag my old PC around with me! This was an early Christmas present from my husband who I find myself thanking all the time! He has truly been my knight in shining armor. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God that we found each other.

Anyway, before I get all mushy and blubbery, I just wanted to pop on and to wish you all a Merry as I may not have the time to do it later in the week! If I can, I will!

Christmas Cards and Food Porn...Ahhh!

This is the first Christmas in a very long time that I have not sent out cards. I tried, really hard to get into the "spirit" of Christmas by decorating my home, shopping for gifts and baking cookies. The cards, I could not do. You want to know what I realized throughout this "getting into the spirit thing"? Its all BS! The "spirit" I was looking for will never be there again. Everything changed for me on 5/11/10 and there is nothing from before that I can ever expect to be the same because two very important people in our life were violently taken from us.

This doesn't mean that I will never have the Christmas spirit again, it just means that what was normal for us and me specifially, will be different going forward. Our family is looking for the new "normal" as things will never be what they were. We lost our innocence on that day, you know what I mean? The "something like that never happens to our family" kind of thing. One day at a time, that is what I keep preaching to my sister, one day at a time.

So, even though I wasn't up to cards this year, Brutus was and was all set to go with his antlers on! Sorry, my little furbaby, I promise you'll get your Christmas card next year!

Dinner last night was fantabulous! They ordered Eggplant Rollatini as an appetizer for the table and I tasted Steves. Delish! For my entre I orded Veal Osso Buco which I shared with my Steve and my neighbor Steve! That was just falling off the bone delish! Than, both couples ordered the S'mores Bread pudding! Oh.My.Lanta!!!! I actually left the restaurant with the recipe which will be deadly if I ever make it! Uh, turns out there is no bread in this "bread pudding"....can you say Krispy Kreme Glazed Donuts?!?! Who knew? Well, now that I know, unfortunately, i may never be eating this again! Sometimes, ignorance is really bliss!



B: Click protein shake with skim milk
L: 2 hard boiled eggs
S: S.E.I Chocolate mounds protein shake
D: 4 oz NY Strip Steak with spinach
S: Klondike Slim Bear Bar

Calories: 870
Protein: 87

Twas the Saturday before Christmas...

and I am sitting at work doing nothing waiting for the phone to ring with someone on the other end wanting to buy a house! It ain't happening!

I am out of here at 5 though as we have confirmed dinner plans with my Canadian neighbors for tonite. Last night Steve and I got some Chinese food and it did not go down well at all! I had about 3/4 of a BBQ Spare rib and 1/2 of a dumpling and that was all she wrote! Stuck! Not sure but I suspect it was the dumpling.

Tonight we are going to the Plantation Bar and Grill which is a great little Bistro about 1 mile from our house. They opened up last June and I have not been disappointed in the 5 or 6 times we have been since. To have a place that is this good within walking distance is unbelievable actually! Normally, we have to drive at least 20 miles to get to a decent restaurant. I kid you not. Even for a bagel, 20 miles! There are places closer, although not that much closer, 10 miles maybe? This is also the place where I had that unbelievable S'mores Bread Pudding, remember? Oh, man...why did i think about that?

My scale is definitely responding to my more protein, way less carbs plan and I am very happy about that! I'm not sure what I will be having for dinner tonight but I'm thinking a little steak and salad. So far my day looks like this:

B: 1 hard boiled egg
L: 3 oz. Tuna salad
S: Click Espresso Protein Drink

Calories: 312
Protein: 42

I went to the gym this morning for a step class and the instructor was 20 minutes late! The front desk came in after 10 minutes to say that she called and couldn't find her car keys but was on her way. Normally, I would not have had a problem with this but this particular instructor is late every single Saturday by at least 5 and sometimes 10 minutes. A bunch of us regulars did not buy the "lost keys" excuse and said something to management. There is a big sign on the door to the fitness classes asking that members be on time, and ready to work-out 5 minutes prior to class start time...we feel that if we, the paying members are getting there on time, the instructor surely should be there. This particular instructor is fairly new, maybe 2months? If this is putting her best foot forward, we are all in trouble!

I am usually the one telling others to calm down, breathe, but today I was pissed. It was a rainy Saturday morning and I would have loved to stay in bed a little longer but I got up and out and made it to the class on time. For what? We ended up doing only 20 minutes of what is usually 45 minutes of a step class and 20 minutes of weights. Some of the others even asked her to do more step and less weights and she just did what she wanted! Than, she even complained that because of Christmas and New Years being on Saturday, she would be making less money this month because the gym is closed. If she keeps it up, we will not be going to her class anyway and she will not have a class!

When I came home from the gym, I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookie dough for my hubs. He has been patiently waiting for me to make them and I just never got around to it since I baked two weeks ago. So, I made the dough, chewed my gum (this trick works great and I dont eat the dough!) rolled up 3 logs of dough in parchment paper and I will be baking them for him either later tonight if we get home early enough or tomorrow after I get home from work in the afternoon. He is so good to me...the least I can do is make him his cookies. I put them in the freezer and he takes out 3, not 2, not 4, but 3 cookies every night and has them as dessert! Who does that? In my past life, I would take 4 cookies. 2 is not enough and 3 is an odd number! This is why he is thin, folks!

3 more days and we are off to Long Island for Christmas! I cannot wait. We are getting there on the 21st which is my daughter Jordan's 20th birthday! I cannot believe she is that old! I, on the other hand, feel & look better than I did 20 years ago...Thank you Band!!!!!

Happy Friday!

Not to mention its the last weekend of shopping before Christmas! Whew...where the heck did this year go? Where the heck did this month go? Crazy!!!

I went to th gym this morning and we did our usual weights and what-not. My trainer told me that beginning in January, she wants to increase my cardio, not the time just the intensity! Can't wait for that but hey, lets face it, I have a sexy "mother-of-the-bride" gown to get into in March so I will be doing whatever she tells me to.

Nothing much going on today...working until 1 than I am going to get some kind of facial that is going to make me look 20 years younger..hmmm...we'll see about that! I may be going out to dinner tonight with my neighbors who are in town from Canada. We love them but they are always a last minute kind of couple so it makes it a little hard to plan my eating for the day. That being said, so far my eating will be looking like this:

B: Greek Yogurt, Kashi Go Lean Cereal
L: Tuna with mayo on some lettuce
S: S.E.I. Chocolate Mounds Bar protein drink (YUMMERS!!!)
Skim Milk
Calories: 545
Protein: 84

This actually leaves me with plenty of calories for dinner and I will just have to come back later and add it in!

I feel so much better when I am not ingesting empty calories such as christmas cookies! Yes, they are good but man, they really make me feel a lot more like Santa than I care to!