They fit! They fit!

At four months postpartum my wedding rings FINALLY fit! I haven't worn them since Christmas so it's pretty exciting. I'm only about six or seven pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. Pretty damn proud of that. 

Black Bean Tacos!

I already blogged about the black bean burgers we made as an attempt to try some more economical, meatless options. They were a huge hit, so I started thinking about other things we could make, replacing ground beef with black beans. And then it hit me, it was so obvious - TACOS!! We love tacos in our house, I usually make them at least once a month, but sometimes even more, sometimes once a week! This might be the first recipe I have ever created myself, so I am pretty proud to share it with you all.

Here's what you'll need:

1 can of black beans
1 red pepper
1 small red onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup of chili powder
2 tsp of cumin
2 avocado (mashed)
2 tomatoes
salsa (maybe 1 cup? however much you would normally use)
grated cheddar cheese

First you need to dice up the red pepper and the onion, add them to a frying pan with the olive oil and garlic. In the meantime you can drain and rinse the can of beans. Once the onions turn translucent, add the beans. Cook until the beans start to come apart and are a little... mushy, for lack of a better word!

That's all it takes! This will make enough for 8 tacos, it usually gives us 2 meals worth. We have made this probably 4 times in the last month. It is SO unbelievably delicious, even my husband didn't miss the meat in this meal at all.

I've got a confession to make...

Anyone singing that Foo Fighters song? Perfect. Mission accomplished.

Ok here it goes: I quit Weight Watchers.

Yep, I did. After all of the posting about it, I decided that it just wasn’t worth the money right now. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great way to lose weight, and I do feel that they really promote a healthy lifestyle and not just a fad method of losing weight fast. It’s great, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to drop a few (or many) pounds.

Why did I quit? It goes back to struggling with my self-esteem. I got so focused on weight loss, and I am not sure it was good for me. I felt guilty every single time I strayed from my points. I guess that’s pretty normal, but the issue for me was, I am not overweight. I don’t have a ton to lose, and I am trying really hard to actually create a lifestyle I am happy with, and feeling guilty about having one cookie is just not my idea of a good time.

Here I am looking happy! I heard you shouldn't blog without photos so that's why this is here, awkwardly placed in the middle of a wordy blog post :P

So, about 2 weeks ago, I quit. I decided to lose the last 5 or 6 pounds on my own, with the tools that WW has taught me. In two weeks I have only lost 1 pound, but I am happy about it. I have been exercising a lot more, and having treats on the weekends, and overall I just feel happier. Yesterday I ate a muffin because I haven’t had one in months and really felt like it, and then I went to the gym.

This is exactly the kind of relationship I want with food. One where I typically eat very health and get lots of exercise, and as a result, treat myself on occasion without feeling guilty. I'm hoping this doesn't end with me gaining back the 15 pounds I have lost... only time will tell. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to hit the gym!

It's Saturday, and I got weighed!

Well, it’s time for another installment of Weight Watchers Saturday Update! I imagine this isn’t really that exciting for anyone but me, but hey, it’s my blog so I guess I can write about whatever I want J

So, I had a really great week diet wise this past week. I controlled myself better than normal over the weekend, and then didn’t go over my points every day through the week. I also managed to get to the gym three times, plus one evening I ran/walked outside with the dog, and another evening the hubby and I went roller blading. It was an active week by my standards, to say the least!

The scale reflected my awesome week and I was down 3 pounds, making it a grand total of 15 pounds! I couldn’t be happier with this. I had really struggled in May/June, but things are back on the upswing.

I did some digging around, and this is the only picture I could find of me at my heaviest, it was actually taken a couple of years ago, before I had lost weight for my wedding, but it does the trick, since my starting weight was about the same:

Here I am today, in a similar pose. As a side note, it was kind of awkward having hubby taken a photo of me from behind… It’s not a photo often requested… And this one is SO unflattering I can't even believe I am posting it!!!! Anyway, here it is:

I think the difference in the size of my derrier is noticeable! I am increasingly happy with my body J. We’ll see how I feel about it when I put a bathing suit on for the first time in a year in a couple of weeks!

Saturday Weight Watchers Update!

I have some great news to share! I went to Weight Watchers this morning and this week I lost 2 pounds! Even with some pretty terrible eating last weekend. I am so psyched about this. I am back under 170 pounds for the first time since just after our wedding. I am at 169 right now, and I was about 165 at our wedding. I am so proud of myself. It feels so great to be in control of something. Weight loss is great that way, and awesome for the self esteem.

This week I managed to go to the gym twice. The first day I took it pretty easy on the elliptical and did 35 minutes. The next day though, I actually ran on the treadmill for the first time in well over a year. I only made it about 2.25 miles, but it felt amazing. I forgot how much I actually LIKE running.  I have been dealing with pretty chronic back pain since I was about twelve years old, and my physiotherapist suggested not running anymore, but I think if I keep the runs fairly short it might be ok. We'll see how it goes! I can't wait to build up some more mileage (probably only up to 6ish miles)!

I am been thinking about my next steps and goals, and I definitely want to keep running. I am planning on signing up for a 10k race in the fall. As far as weight goals, I am planning on getting down to 160 and then re-evaluating, and possibly going to 155. In high school I weighed 145 pounds but I don't think I can possibly get there again, so I think 160 is pretty reasonable. Only 9 pounds to go :)

Has anyone reached any weight loss or fitness goals/milestones recently?

Update: Always a struggle...

See Part 1 here!

Well, we're back from NYC and I am back to update you on the weight loss situation. I went on the trip with every intention to be reasonable and not stuff my face. That is not what happened at all. What is it about vacation that makes you feel like you deserve to eat candy every day? I literally ate candy every. single. day. First it was big feet (my favourite!), then it was M&Ms from the M&M store in Times Square. I am not proud of myself even a little.

For meals I didn't do very well either. I tried not to go overboard but I still had french fries and burgers, and a fully loaded baked potato with my steak dinner (yum!). For breakfast I ate a bagel and cream cheese every day at the hotel, and some days I also added a chocolate croissant. Just writing all of this out makes me embarassed and ashamed!!!

We did end up walking a TON. Our hotel was 1.5 hours of walking from what I would call the main "area", which was Midtown I guess. We didn't take the subway because we wanted the exercise. The only day we didn't walk was Monday, since it was pouring rain. I was hopeful that all of the walking would help balance out the poor food choices.

When we got back, I didn't weigh myself for a couple of days. I drank a ton of water and went back on the diet, aside from eating our wedding cake from the freezer. On Saturday I skipped Weight Watchers again. We had plans with my parents and I just didn't want to make the trip there. I vowed to go the next week. Then I ate out A LOT with my family. And didn't exercise at all. The next Saturday came and I skipped Weight Watchers yet again. Then again.

I finally went to Weight Watchers this past Saturday, 4 weeks after our trip. I gained 0.5 pounds. Not too shabby given how awful I have been doing! This weekend was bad too, but I am determined to hit the gym this week and get myself under 170 come Saturday!!!! Will keep reporting back :)

Always a struggle...

One of the things I have struggled with my whole life is body image, and my weight. When I say struggled, I don’t mean that I am unhealthy or even overweight; I mean that I am constantly gaining and then losing 10-15 pounds. It seems like I am either on a binge, or on a diet. It’s just not healthy. I’m really working on getting off of this track. I want to be healthy and happy.

Just before our wedding in May 2011 (1^st anniversary is next week – wow, where did the time go?!), I lost about 18 pounds in preparation for “the” dress. But, I couldn’t even keep that off until the wedding, and gained about 5 of it back. That was ok, I was still at a comfortable weight. Slowly though, over the following months, I gained another 10, and was almost right back where I started. Then, more recently we have gone through some really rough times (more on that later…) and I put on 5 more.  Wow. All of the sudden I was 20-25 pounds from where I am comfortable.

Five weeks ago I joined Weight Watchers, for the second time in my life. So far I have lost 9.5 pounds, and I am hoping to get 10+ when I go on Saturday. I am feeling really good about myself.  One of the things I am doing is trying different “diet” recipes. I’ve had awesome luck so far with soup. I get most of my recipes from Skinny Taste (I’m sure you’ve heard of it!). Some of them, I modify. My favourite so far is adding curry to the carrot ginger soup.

Some obstacles coming up include our anniversary trip to NYC, and my parents visiting the week after. I’m sure we’re going to do a TON of walking while we’re in NY, but with my parents it’s hard. My mom still wants to baby me, and that usually involves food! Hopefully I can resist, I really don’t want to set myself back.

I’ll report back on this in a couple of weeks!