147.6 Before and After Losing Weight Pics

I lost three pounds yesterday, and am back within my goal weight of 145 to 149.9 pounds. I just took this photo on the right this morning. The photo on the left was taken in August of 2011 at Mt. Rushmore. There is a 70 pound difference. Can you tell? :)

My only disappointment is that I waited to be almost 50 before I made this amazing transformation. Imagine how much better I would have looked at this weight ten years ago. Twenty years ago, I was even thinner, but I was maintaining that by smoking, so that doesn't really count.

If you want to see how I lost the weight in the first place, and maybe follow along in my footsteps, then please click on the link at the top of this page, the one that says "Lose Weight w My Blog."

Today, for me, keeping the weight off is all about weighing myself every morning to see how much I can cheat. Dr Tarnower himself admitted this was his own approach to keep trim eating. Avoiding sodium is just as important as limiting carbohydrates, sugar, and fat.

The three pounds I lost yesterday were water retention weight from all the sodium in the pizza I ate the day before. For exercise, I walked my two dogs a mile in our neighborhood park. Here is what I ate yesterday to let the sodium leave my body along with the extra water my body retained to balance all that salt:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
El Monterey beef and bean burrito with salsa
Small bowl of fresh blueberries
Hamburger patty prepared without salt or salty sauces, steamed broccoli
Raw baby carrots
One sucker candy at family movie time

145 Love Walking in Washington State

I lost .4 pounds yesterday on keep trim eating. With this spring weather, yesterday's walk around the neighborhood was pure pleasure. See the old brown barn behind me, to the left? How cool is that?

Spokane is rustically picturesque even in the alleys between the houses. Walking here feels like time travel to the pioneer days. You can tell that most people put up their own fences, out of wood or decorative bricks or stone. Many of the driveways have been re-graveled over and over for 100 years. Some people live in cabins that are 100 years old, too, home made and less than 700 square feet.

You can be in the middle of town and walk 20 minutes and be out on a farm. Large patches of land right in town are unspoiled wilderness. A large deep river with a waterfall runs right through town. It snows in winter, but in spring everything is green green green. This is so different from the deserts around Los Angeles, where I am from.

We walked 45 minutes yesterday. Here is what I ate and still lost .4 pounds on keep trim eating:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Small banana
Two mini Hershey's Special Dark candy bars in Easter wrappers, and two milk chocolate ones
Three eggs scrambled in bacon grease with onion, mushrooms and red bell pepper
Hamburger on a bun with a tablespoon of BBQ sauce and 1/3 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Steamed broccoli
Strip of bacon I forgot to eat with lunch!

144.8 Sweater Dad Gave Me

My dad picked this sweater out and gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago. It is a size 14, and I was a size 18. The trick of wearing loose clothing to look skinnier worked on him. He thought I had lost weight when I hadn't. Dad's Alzheimer's was not recognized yet, at the time. This sweater is a bit too big, and it has seen better days, but I will try to keep it forever.

Besides, this sweater matches this mug that Mom bought me at Heavenly Valley, the last time we skiied together.

I am thrilled but shocked that I lost .2 pounds yesterday. on keep trim eating. I was at the bottom of my 145 - 149.9 goal weight range yesterday, so now I am under goal. I am just keeping the weight off. I was sure I had  indulged too much and would gain .6 pounds or so, which I would have to lose today. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Half an apple with 1 tablespoon Jif Chunky Peanut Butter
1 Cup Cattle Drive Chili with Beans
Half a cup Mexican Blend Grated Cheese over the chili
Small bowl of Kirkland corn chips, to eat the chili dip with
1 Hostess Fruit Pie - Apple
Baked chicken, Brussels sprouts and broccoli

We walked the dogs half an hour in the drizzle and 44F cold yesterday before we took the car in to get diagnosed. It needs new shock absorbers.

145 Peanut Butter Can Be Healthy

I have to admit, this idea to make peanut butter apples was not mine originally. I got it from my sister's best friend's mom, in 1974. This mom is in fantastic shape -- trim and healthy. She is from England and speaks with an accent.

Her ways were foreign to us. We were kids. We thought she was weird. My sister came home one day and told me, "For lunch, they ate peanut butter on apples!" We giggled over how weird that was. Today, I appreciate this mom's wisdom!

Half of this feast in the picture was my "second breakfast" just now, with the rest of my coffee. I got the apple yesterday at our new Trader Joe's Market, here in Spokane. I tried to shop for fruit at thursdaymarket.org. That was just silly of me. It's only April. They won't have fresh fruit until they open outside May 17th.

See my lifestyle change! Six months ago, I had no idea about nor interest in any farmer's market. Even a month ago I made peanut butter cookies instead of peanut butter apples or peanut butter toast. Today, I know a serving of peanut butter is just 2 tablespoons, and I stick to that.

Dr Tarnower's Keep Trim rules say not to eat peanut butter. I know I am breaking the rules. So far, so good, though. I am keeping the weight off. This way of eating is not just for a little while, for me. It is for the rest of my life. I feel the need to work in the foods that I love so that I don't feel deprived. I love peanut butter!

I gained a fifth of a pound yesterday. That is OK. I was a fifth of a pound under goal weight yesterday, and now I am back at my goal weight of 145. Small ups and downs from day to day are a realistic part of keeping the weight off. We walked the dogs two miles in the rain, shivering in the 44 degree weather without gloves on so we could use the cord microphones on our radios. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
McDonald's Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit with side of hash browns
2 slices of toasted Sara Lee Healthy Multi Grain bread with
2 tablespoons peanut butter and 2 teaspoons of Smucker's Special Recipe strawberry preserves
Two-bite sample of spiral sliced ham at Trader Joe's
6 oz Fried ham and 6 steamed Brussels sprouts
1 Small sliced banana dipped in 1 tablespoon Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Syrup

151.2 The Cookie Diet?

I lost .6 pounds yesterday eating cookies and Pop Tarts. It is almost frightening. Once I reach my goal, am I going to have trouble keeping my weight up? I was only trying to maintain, not to lose.

Thank God, the weather finally has turned and is in the 40s with rain instead of the 30s with snow. I no longer feel cold all the time or have chills from being thin.

I am losing weight on this indulgent keep trim eating, though, so I figure why not continue with it. I mentioned before that in the 1970s I had heard of The Cookie Diet. I never went on it or looked into what it consisted of, but it seems that now I am on it, heh!

We walked the dogs two miles yesterday. I made peanut butter cookies. Here is a picture of a few of them.

Here is all I ate yesterday and lost .6 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and vanilla soy milk
2 Brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts
Baked chicken, onion and carrots
4 Hershey Drops
Leftover chicken, onion and carrots
6 homemade peanut butter cookies

Well, I just looked up how the real cookie diets work, and I am not on one of them! They make "cookies" out of meals. They manufacture cookies that are really made of stuff that is good for you. You just grab one of their cookies whenever you feel hungry, instead of having to plan a meal. I am eating real cookies, and still losing weight. My way is better, Sanford Siegal! (Well, OK, Dr Tarnower's way is better.)

151.8 Losing Weight Getting Easier

Explain to me how I am still losing weight! I ate bacon and bacon grease yesterday, as well as a Pop Tart and a full serving of Hershey's Drops. I lost .4 pounds! I am not complaining, but I wish it had always been this easy to lose weight! Here I am on keep trim eating, taking it easy until the weather warms up, and losing weight almost without effort!

In total, I have lost 88.2 pounds. I started at 240 in May of 2011.

I can see now that the hard part will be when I am out of weight to lose and I need to maintain exactly. Good thing there is a 5 pound leeway built into my plan. My goal is 145 so that even if I am over a bit I should weigh in at under 150. I am getting so close to my weight loss goal!

Here I am showing yet another ladies size medium shirt that I loved, last time we went shopping. If it weren't winter with the threat of icy roads I would probably be out trying on clothes all day and all night whenever I didn't work, heh!

We walked the dogs two miles in the park yesterday.

Here is everything I ate and still lost .4 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and vanilla soy milk
1 Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tart
Half a piece of bacon
Eggs scrambled in bacon grease with fried onion, red bell pepper and mushrooms
Baked chicken, onion and carrots
15 Hershey's Drops

152.2 Lobster Ravioli and Homemade Pesto Sauce

We finally broke out this lobster ravioli for dinner last night. I made pesto sauce and steamed veggies to go with it. Yum! It was a great dinner!

Pesto sauce is really easy to make at home. I buy dried Basil leaves in bulk at Costco for really cheap. I get a small bottle of olive oil and a small jar of wet ground garlic at the grocery store. I mix two parts olive oil to one part each of wet ground garlic and dry measure Basil. That's it!

We bought the lobster ravioli pre-made at Costco. We still have another tub in the freezer. Lobster is too rich for me, eaten on its own, but it tasted great inside pasta.

I lost .4 pounds yesterday without even trying. My activity level was high, though. I sang at church. We walked the dogs 1.3 miles.

A guy at church shared that he had been bedridden the last 5 weeks and the doctor just figured out he is diabetic. There was nothing to eat but sweets at coffee hour, so I gave the guy some of my carrot sticks and one of my Diet Cokes. It felt so good to be able to help this guy out. He commented that he had cut carrots out of his diet because he mistakenly thought they converted immediately to sugar, but then he found out it is corn that does that. I told him peas convert immediately to sugar as well, based on Dr Tarnower's book about The Scarsdale Medical Diet.

I ate all this yesterday and still lost .4 pounds on keep trim eating, without really trying:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and vanilla soy milk
Raw carrot sticks, 2 tablespoons Parmesan spinach dip
1 frosted soft sugar cookie at church coffee hour
6 lobster ravioli, 1 tablespoon homemade pesto, steamed Kirkland frozen stir fry veggie mix
8 Hershey's Drops

152.6 Alternating Diet Days and Keep Trim Days

I subbed yesterday. One of the lunch ladies offered me a free hot ham sandwich after I had already eaten my carrots and Parmesan dip. It sounded so good that I accepted. I had 5 minutes left and I gobbled most of it down. This morning after my ham sandwich indulgence, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had lost a whole pound!

My guess is that consecutive diet days cause a weight loss plateau. I am going to try alternating diet days with keep trim eating days, and see if that speeds up my weight loss. I only have 7.6 more pounds to lose!

Here I am wearing a tank top from the juniors department, juniors size large. We were shopping last night for new tire chains. Ours are rusted. We bought the type we wanted and tried them on our truck in the parking lot, but they didn't fit. Meanwhile, the sun had set and it had gotten very cold outside.

In all, I think we walked more than a mile, in the parking lot and inside Wal-mart. We took this picture toward the beginning of our trip, while we were still smiling, heh!

Scott tried again to talk me into stopping at my current weight. "You are skinny enough already," he told me. I think he might be worried that I have anorexia. I promised him I will stop losing weight when I reach my goal of 145. I calmly explained that I am aiming for a body mass index of 22, which is supposed to be the healthiest. He wasn't convinced.

I also explained: I want to weigh in at less than 150. If my goal is 145 I will have 5 pounds leeway for Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthday parties and other feasts. I also explained that at the doctor's office they weigh me with my clothes on, so that 5 pounds leeway should make me still weigh in at under 150. The 5 pounds leeway for feasts seemed to soothe his worries.

I ate all this yesterday and still lost a pound, along with walking around the high school where I subbed and walking about a mile inside Wal-mart and in the parking lot:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and vanilla soy milk
raw carrot sticks and Parmesan spinach dip
Hot ham and American cheese sandwich on a six-inch French roll
8.5 oz Healthy Choice Ravioli Florentine Marinara frozen dinner (230 calories)

157.2 Diet Day 6 of 8 or 10

Most of losing weight is cooking from scratch instead of eating prepared meals loaded with sodium. (Just as you told me, Mom.) Scott took this picture of me cooking yesterday. I was making scrambled eggs with ham and veggies for our lunch after church. I put a few teaspoons of garlic salt in the eggs before I cooked them, and boy did they taste good!

There might be 8 or 10 diet days in this cycle. It depends if I get called in to substitute teach on Thursday or not. If I don't, I will attend a Ladies' Valentine Luncheon at one of our churches. I will put myself on keep trim eating instead of the diet, if I attend.

We confirmed yesterday that the other church's evening couples Valentine Banquet is this coming Saturday night at 6 pm. I am so excited! I plan on wearing these fawn colored corduroy pants with the purple velour top that has the lace waist and sleeves. I posted a picture of me in it at McDonald's a few days ago.

We walked the dogs two miles in the park yesterday. Here is what I ate and lost .6 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and organic soy milk
3 scrambled eggs with ham, mushrooms and red peppers
Salmon patty, steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots

157.6 Cheese Is Mostly Fat!

While preparing my dinner last night, I looked at both the nutrition charts in the pictures above. A third of a cup of cheese and a salmon patty both have 80 calories of fat. The cheese has 110 total calories, which makes fat 72% of the cheese. The fish has 170 total calories, which makes fat 47% of the fish. Which one looks more satisfying? I picked the fish.

I just learned we excrete most of the calcium we eat! We poop and pee out our calcium. This is because our livers are acidic from all the processed food, hard cheese, fatty meat, and grains we eat. Our livers buffer this acid by releasing alkaline stores of calcium in our bones. We can stop the calcium being released from our bones by eating fewer acid-producing foods and more fruits and vegetables. All this is according to Loren Cordain, Pedro Bastos, Nell Stephenson, Chris LaLanne and Maelan Fontes in the "Calcium and Bones" section of their page about the paleo diet.

I do remember hearing that cola was making my bones release their calcium, but it was never explained in terms of acid vs base. The paleo diet people also have an acid vs base food chart on their website. Coffee is strongly base producing in the liver: -1.4 according to their chart. Coca-cola produces acid in the liver: 0.4 on their chart. It looks like Apollinaris mineral water is a good base-producing cola alternative: -1.8 on the chart. Parmesan cheese is the highest acid producer at 34.2. The most base producing thing on their chart is raisins: -21.0.

I don't see a need to change over to the Paleo Diet. Dr Tarnower's Scarsdale Medical Diet and lifelong keep trim eating program says the same thing as the paleo diet: eat mostly lean sources of protein, vegetables and fruits. In his book, the doctor says he doesn't believe in milk drinking for adults and that grains and cheese should be taken in strict moderation. I do appreciate the Paleo Diet acid vs base info on how to retain more calcium, though.

We walked the dogs two miles yesterday. I finished off my Valentine's treat of Shari's Berries. I lost .2 pounds. Here is all I ate yesterday:

Small bowl of Special K and soy milk
2 white chocolate dipped strawberries from Shari's Berries (I like the brown ones better.)
3 eggs fried in bacon grease with red peppers, onion and mushrooms
1 strip of bacon
Salmon patty and steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots

160.2 This Is How Much Pizza

I said I was learning to maintain my weight, not that I had mastered the skill. I am still posting my "This is how much pizza I can have per day and not gain weight" picture. I posted it to Facebook yesterday because of a discussion. It really surprised me just how little food my body actually needs, compared with how much I want to give it.

Here is what I ate yesterday and gained .4 pounds, even though I ate more the day before and maintained perfectly:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and soy milk
Half a dinner plate of Costco combo pizza

Baked chicken, onion and carrots

One brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart

I think the Pop Tart is the culprit. Maybe if I had eaten it in the morning before I walked my dog .97 miles in the icy park... But anyway, there you have it. Two days left on keep trim eating and I am up .4 pounds.

Some have asked me why I do the keep trim eating periods, why I don't just stay on the diet all the time until I am at my goal. For one thing, I trust to The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet because a medical doctor authored it. For another, keep trim eating is teaching me how to keep the weight off. Keeping the weight off is the hardest part in many ways.

Dr Herman Tarnower, the author of the book, "The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet," had a French cook and was a foodie like me. He was a practicing physician. Not only did he go to medical school at Syracuse, Dr Tarnower saw patients for twenty years before writing this book. He was a heart specialist, but all medical doctors have to study nutrition in order to treat the full patient. From reading his book, I know that Dr Tarnower went on the Scarsdale diet himself whenever he gained 5 pounds over his goal weight and that he weighed himself every morning to see how much he could cheat.

Medical advice aside, keep trim eating periods help me practice maintaining my weight. How am I supposed to know how much pizza I can eat without gaining weight if I don't have a chance to experiment and find out? Also, this is unscientific, but it seems as if weight loss plateaus come toward the end of my two week dieting periods. It appears that my body only wants to be in weight loss mode for two weeks or so, and then dieting becomes less effective. Finally, keep trim periods give me an end in sight, something to look forward to. I don't think I could have stayed on my diet and lost 80 pounds if I only ever got to eat diet food. I love the chance to eat normal food during the keep trim periods.


Have a look at some of my friends' blogs about their projects. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Guide to Thousands of Unlisted Job Openings in the US!

Do you know anyone who is over 40 and has a college degree, but no job? I wrote this book for them. Tell them about it, or better yet, buy them a copy. Turnover is high in these jobs, so there are almost always openings. With this guide, a substitute can do the job so well they actually like it. I do.

I hope you will at least "look inside" the high school substitute teacher's guide I wrote. The free book sample you get by "looking inside" tells you not only how to get a job as a substitute teacher, but also my qualifications to write the book: my education and detailed substitute teaching work history (since 1989).

This book is available in paperback, in Kindle mobi format at Amazon, in Nook format at Barnes and Noble, and in any other format you could possibly need through Smashwords.

159.8 Keep Trim Day 10 of 13

I'm keeping the weight off! This is two days in a row at exactly my keep trim eating weight for this period: 159.8. I eat normal food during keep trim periods, too, which means I will be eating normal food once I am at my goal! This is encouraging.

We are excited to be invited to a Valentine's banquet through the tiny little church of the two we attend right now. I have taken a day off this keep trim period so that I can get in 14 full diet days and be back on keep trim eating for the banquet on Saturday, February 11.

What does one wear to a Valentine's banquet, though? I want to go out and buy a really pretty, fluffy dress, but in reality it will be too cold to wear a dress. Lately I am thinking maybe just a pretty sweater in red, pink or white would be best. I could wear it with these skinny fawn corduroys, or maybe even get some white corduroys at The Salvation Army Thrift Store or Good Will Store.

A lady named Erika from this same tiny church made aprons for all the ladies for Christmas. She is the same German lady who made the Christmas bread. Isn't the fabric beautiful?

We walked the dogs in the icy park yesterday, with our cleats on. My pedometer says I walked .96 miles. Walking on slippery ice while wearing cleats is easier than walking in a foot of fresh snow, but not by much.

Here is what I ate yesterday to exactly maintain my weight, along with walking and housework for exercise:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and soy milk

1 Brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart

1 Costco combo slice of pizza (from our refrigerator)

3 Hershey's Drops

Handful of cajun-breaded oven-fried trout, 6 Brussels sprouts

Custard dish of blueberries

159.8 Keep Trim Day 9 of 13

Today I am wearing my 32 x 32 corduroys from one of the second hand clothing stores for the first time. They are just a little smaller than my size 10 corduroys. My tummy got flat enough that I can wear them fastened without too much discomfort.

They will of course be much more comfortable when I am at my goal weight of 145. I might even need a smaller size then. We shall see! Scott took this picture of me in my 32 x 32 corduroys just a few minutes ago.

I am maintaining my weight at exactly the 159.8 pounds I started this keep trim eating period on. Yes, I am thrilled to be in the 150s! Under 150 is my goal, though, which is why I set my sights on 145. I figure at 145 I will weigh in at under 150 even in the doctor's office.

We got a ride to the church up the icy hill yesterday from a friend who has front-wheel drive. I got to sing with the pastor again. He goes in for surgery this Wednesday, so we will be praying for him. They served homemade oatmeal cookies during fellowship hour and had extras they sent home with us. I ate 6 all together: three with cranberries in them and three with chocolate chips in them. Yummy!

We walked the dogs in the icy snowy park when we got home from church. We used our new pedometers. I walked 1.26 miles in the icy snow before I got a blister and came home.

Here is all I ate yesterday and lost .2 pounds on keep trim eating:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and soy milk
Half a brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart
Cup of blueberries
Cup of raw carrot sticks, 2 tablespoons parmesan spinach dip
6 oatmeal cookies: 3 with cranberries and 3 with chocolate chips
Half a stuffed salmon steak, six Brussels sprouts, half a cup of red bell pepper sauteed in Pam

159.6 Thank God for Sunny Winter Days!

It was sunny yesterday after three days of snow storms. Everyone and their sister was at Costco, stocking up and eating pizza and hot dogs, including us. We also went to the bank and to Walmart, all in ecstatic joy!

Of course, over night the slush froze into ice. I am not sure we can make it to church this morning unless we walk through the ice to our closer church, which is a mile off. Maybe God will smile on us and melt the ice before 11 a.m.

Scott took this picture of me smiling in the winter sunshine in the Costco parking lot yesterday. I am wearing the size 12 Anne Klein jeans, and look! They are baggy on me! They are even more baggy in the seat.

We walked all over Walmart and Costco, and we walked the dogs half a mile in the slushy park. We bought two pedometers at Walmart, for less than $5 each. Today we will figure out how to use them. On Mapquest we figured out our route to the park and six times around is almost exactly two miles, as we thought. I wanted the pedometers to gauge how far we walk if we do more laps, walk to church, or go shopping.

Here is the normal food I ate yesterday on keep trim eating and lost .4 pounds along with walking probably two miles total between the park and stores:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and soy milk
Half a brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart
1 Hershey's Drop
Half a Costco Combo Slice of pizza, Tropicana Lite Lemonade
Half an egg roll (sample)
Three bites of flax seed flavor oatmeal (sample)
Half a stuffed salmon steak, 4 Brussels sprouts, half a cup of red bell pepper sauteed in Pam
1 Hershey's Drop

160.4 Keep Trim Day 4 of 13

For the third day in a row, I weigh 160.4. This is a keep trim eating period where I am trying to maintain my weight. I only wish I were maintaining at 159.8 instead of 160.4, but you know what? I'll take it! We walked the dogs two miles yesterday before the snow storm hit.

I just took this picture of my profile myself, using the "Natural and Flash" feature on my Fujifilm digital camera. First it shoots with flash and immediately after it shoots without flash. This shot is without flash. I think it came out really well.

As you have pointed out, Mom, my face is much thinner than it was. I still have a bit of a double chin, but nothing like when I weighed 240 pounds. I find it amusing that all my turtleneck collars are loose on me, even my new ones.

Here is what I ate yesterday and maintained my weight exactly, along with walking two miles:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and soy milk
Costco combo slice of pizza
Half a hamburger patty, half a tablespoon of BBQ sauce, steamed broccoli and cauliflower
--------------------------------------------------------------

Guide to Thousands of Unlisted Job Openings in the US!

Do you know anyone who is over 40 and has a college degree, but no job? I wrote this book for them. Tell them about it, or better yet, buy them a copy. Turnover is high in these jobs, so there are almost always openings. With this guide, a substitute can do the job so well they actually like it. I do.

I hope you will at least "look inside" the high school substitute teacher's guide I wrote. The free book sample you get by "looking inside" tells you not only how to get a job as a substitute teacher, but also my qualifications to write the book: my education and detailed substitute teaching work history (since 1989).

This book is available in paperback, in Kindle mobi format at Amazon, in Nook format at Barnes and Noble, and in any other format you could possibly need through Smashwords.

160.4 Keep Trim Day 3 of 13

I guess I upset some sort of balance, because I took a diet day yesterday and I still weigh 160.4. It is no fun being on keep trim eating if I have to keep taking diet days to get back to the 159.8 I weighed on Jan 15! We walked the dogs two miles in the morning yesterday. I did 50 crunches.

This picture doesn't make my face as pretty as yesterday's photo, but it shows off my flatter tummy better. I am glad I paid better attention when shopping for these size 10 pants. I might have them quite awhile. I made sure they were the right length, in addition to fitting at the top.

I am wearing the cute size 12 Anne Klein jeans today with long underwear underneath! Size 12 is that big on me.

Here is all I ate yesterday along with walking two miles and stayed exactly the same weight as the day before, 160.4:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and soy milk
Leftover baked chicken, onion and carrots
Leftover baked chicken, steamed broccoli and cauliflower


--------------------------------------------------------------

Guide to Thousands of Unlisted Job Openings in the US!

Do you know anyone who is over 40 and has a college degree, but no job? I wrote this book for them. Tell them about it, or better yet, buy them a copy. Turnover is high in these jobs, so there are almost always openings. With this guide, a substitute can do the job so well they actually like it. I do.

I hope you will at least "look inside" the high school substitute teacher's guide I wrote. The free book sample you get by "looking inside" tells you not only how to get a job as a substitute teacher, but also my qualifications to write the book: my education and detailed substitute teaching work history (since 1989).

This book is available in paperback, in Kindle mobi format at Amazon, in Nook format at Barnes and Noble, and in any other format you could possibly need through Smashwords.

161.4 Diet Day 13 of 14

I gained .2 pounds back yesterday and I weigh 161.4 again. I am shocked that I actually gained weight back! I walked my dog a mile and then I walked all over the VA Medical Center, Walmart and Costco. Here is what I ate:

3/4 cup Special K, 3/4 cup soy milk

Leftover baked chicken and carrots

Costco Sample Cheats:

1 lobster ravioli

1 bite-sized empanada

1/2 a mozarella stick

2 cups steamed broccoli and cauliflower, 1/4 cup grated cheese

That one Pasta Prima lobster ravioli is probably what did me in. It was as big as the palm of my hand and had cheese in it as well as lobster. I fully expected it to stall my weight loss for the day (but it was so good!), but I am shocked that I actually gained weight. We bought a package of the lobster ravioli. We plan on having it for dinner Sunday night.

I will be on keep trim eating, so I will only be trying to maintain my weight, not lose, but I better only have one ravioli and the rest vegetables!

--------------------------------------------------------------

Guide to Thousands of Unlisted Job Openings in the US!

Do you know anyone who is over 40 and has a college degree, but no job? I wrote this book for them. Tell them about it, or better yet, buy them a copy. Turnover is high in these jobs, so there are almost always openings. With this guide, a substitute can do the job so well they actually like it. I do.

I hope you will at least "look inside" the high school substitute teacher's guide I wrote. The free book sample you get by "looking inside" tells you not only how to get a job as a substitute teacher, but also my qualifications to write the book: my education and detailed substitute teaching work history (since 1989).

This book is available in paperback, in Kindle mobi format at Amazon, in Nook format at Barnes and Noble, and in any other format you could possibly need through Smashwords.

168.4 Keep Trim Day 15

I walked a mile with the dogs yesterday, and then another two miles with Scott later on in the day. It was the first time he had come out walking with me since he slipped and broke his arm, about 6 weeks ago. His arm is getting much better.

I love this pair of size 12 Anne Klein jeans that Mom sent in her hand-me-down Christmas box! These are the only women's jeans that fit me properly. Usually the hips are too tight and the waist is too loose. These are perfectly proportioned for a real woman!

I am having so much fun downloading free books from Amazon onto my new Kindle Keyboard 3G! It's a new marketing scheme all the publishers are using. The books are free when they first come out, and a lot of people post about them being free and read them and post on Facebook how they like the book. When they think they have enough publicity they start charging for the book. This takes a different amount of time for each book. It could take a month or just a few hours.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still lost .4 pounds on keep trim eating, because I walked three miles:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

Half a dinner plate of combo pizza from Costco, Diet Coke

Hamburger patty, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 2 cups steamed broccoli, cauliflower, yellow pepper and carrots, lots of water

2 brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts

168.8 Keep Trim Day 14

Still holding steady well below my target keep trim weight of 171.4. I weigh 168.8 today. I walked the dogs 2/3 of a mile yesterday.

I am extending this keep trim eating period for the New Year's Eve party we're going to. It will be casual, just a potluck and board games. A potluck means I want to be able to taste everything people bring, though. My plan is to taste everything, but eat very little. That is straight out of Dr. Tarnower's book about the Scarsdale Medical Diet.

I love this picture! Here I am in skinny cut size 12 jeans that Mom sent. I love this pink top, too. It is so comfy! I look like a normal person: not fat and not skinny. The relief I feel in lack of headaches and lack of general soreness in my feet and ankles is the true reward, though.

My right Achilles Tendon is almost healed from when I stretched it too far, too fast the other day on our Lifestyler stair step exerciser. Thank you for the suggestion to wear good exercise shoes while I am on the stair stepper. I don't really understand how they can help me not stretch my Achilles Tendon too far, but they can't hurt. Maybe if I wore some high tops with ankle support they could prevent me from hyper extending.

Here is what I ate yesterday, and managed to lose .2 pounds on keep trim eating:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
4 slightly burnt decorated sugar Christmas cookies
Half a dinner plate of combo pizza from Costco, Diet Coke
Salmon patty, 2 cups steamed broccoli, cauliflower, yellow pepper and carrots

169.0 Keep Trim Day 13

Doing awesome at 169.0 pounds when my goal for this keep trim eating period is 171.4! Here I am in this photo in grey hand-me-down office pants in size 12, courtesy of Mom, who is now a size 6 and weighs 128! She is shorter than I, so that size looks good on her. You can tell she is my mom, though, because our legs are exactly the same length and we wear exactly the same size shoe.

After dinner last night I had a craving for cookies. Wouldn't you know, I remembered the slightly burnt Christmas cookies we had set aside to be dog treats. They didn't seem quite so burnt as they did when I had 6 dozen unburnt cookies at hand. I ate three and they were yummy! There are a few left, and I might have them with my coffee this morning.

We prayed and prayed for temperatures above freezing last night and this morning so that we wouldn't have to drive through ice or snow to take Scott to the doctor this morning. Praise God, it has been in the 40's this whole time! This is just a general practitioner visit today. Next week he starts physical therapy for his arm, so we will be praying for non-freezing weather on Jan 5th, too.

Here is what I ate yesterday and only gained .2 pounds on this keep trim day:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
1 brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart
Leftover baked chicken, onion and carrots, Diet Coke
Another brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart
1 can Campbell's Healthy Choice Beef Soup (1 can = 2 servings)
3 slightly burnt decorated sugar Christmas cookies, caffeine-free tea