20 down, maybe 30 more to go???

first and foremost, ignore the third eye growing on my chin.

thank you.

photo update:

 i just feel like the only way i can see a difference is by posting the originals. sorry if you get sick of seeing them over and over again.

my face looks less bloated, which i guess is a good thing. did not realize i had a double-chin...??? ew.

in other news, the house is FINALLY painted. you can tell a difference in wall color between the two sets of photos. if for some reason i ever go through the experience of foreclosure, PLEASE remind me that ruining every wall and door is NOT the answer. once everything is put back in order, as promised, i will deliver a couple of photos.

5%!!!!!

go me!

i officially hit my "5%" by losing another 3.8 (or 3.6? my official weigh-in form is too far away to check right now...) for a total of 11.2 lb (which in total makes 21.2 lb, for those of you who are actually "following" this).

woo hoo!

pictures to come tomorrow, i'm too busy hoping that i get to see george clooney accept an oscar in a few minutes. : )

i cooked AND did the dishes! : )

quick check-in! as it is monday, i owe everyone a photo update:

and again, to satisfy my curiosity...

 now, i think there is still a muffin-top on display...and i was preferring to wear the sweatshirt i had been sporting all day...but jacob insisted that i lose it for the snapshots. grrrr. i will say that someone at work who is unaware of my little mission commented on how i looked today - in a good way - which made me feel slightly less upset about NOT taking a slice of the homemade cheesecake at today's work potluck. i only brought myself to try on one pair of jeans the other day, which i am proudly wearing (well, squeezed into might be more accurate) today.

yup, i had to work today while lots of you got to sleep in.

on another note, jacob and i did a massive food shop tonight and i made a 7 point macaroni and cheese:

the only variation i made to the original recipe was to add a little bit of panko breadcrumbs to the top. reminds me of grandma blanche (i.e. mom's mom). : )

also happy to report that the yucky olive green in the background of the kitchen is changing to a red as we speak! i suppose a lot of you who may read this have never even seen pictures of our townhouse (we moved in at the end of august)...so when painting FINALLY ends, i will post a few shots of our pad.

the scale does not lie

well, quick weigh-in news...

since only doing ww online: -10 lb.
since going to ww meetings: -7.6 lb. (-1.8 lb. on saturday)
total lost: -17.6 lb.

CRAZY!!!!

it is still hard to notice a huge difference except for the side-view pictures. jacob suggested trying on some of my jeans so maybe i can motivate myself to do that today. and maybe take a walk. it looks fairly nice outside.

feeling a little stuck

well, the weigh-in this past weekend did not give me the results i was hoping to see. i was only down 0.2 pounds. UGH. my scale at home said something MUCH different - the only advice my leader gave was, "don't trust your scale at home."

really? i do not buy it. if that is the scale that i have been using from the start, why should i ignore what it says? plus, i can weigh myself naked at home! : ) i have to wear clothes at the meetings so i really truly feel like it is not accurate. if i go by MY scale, i was down another 2 pounds. so maybe i will just split the difference...???

updated pictures:

i am liking the side view much better! the muffin top just needs to go...sigh...

i realize that exercise just has to become part of my schedule. i keep putting it off and i know it is the obvious addition that will help the weight come off a bit faster. and maybe not eating out so much on the weekends. i have not gone crazy at any restaurants but it is hard to know exact point values.

on another note, happy valentine's day! even though i did not get to see my valentine for too long before he went to work, i know that we will celebrate on friday (our "date night"). he had two dozen roses delivered to me at school today - they were super pretty! checkout my facebook page for a picture. i got him some really funny cards, silly candy and an office chair. yup, you read that right - an office chair.

me, cooking?

well, this is something new for me...cooking! i found this cookbook..

... at sam's club last week. i am determined to try and make some new things so i do not have the same food all the time. my first culinary adventure was a mexican corn-tortilla soup:

the final product, on the right, was pretty tasty! reduced-sodium chicken broth with chicken, tomatoes, onion, red pepper, garlic, avocado, cilantro, green chili, chili powder and corn. yum : ) even jacob cleaned his bowl.

my goal is to cook something new, either from that cookbook, the hungry girl cookbook (who weight watchers endorses) or from the online etools that weight watchers offers at least once a week.

only the successes will end up on here!

first milestone

got my first 5 pound sticker! woo hoo! and a "bravo" sticker, since i bravely tried the brownie mix with just water and black beans. sounds weird but it was pretty good. so, with what i also lost just doing weight watchers online, my scale says i am down about 16 pounds.

i did pretty well during the super bowl yesterday. i ate lots of veggies (thanks, ky!), apples with marshmallow/cream cheese dip, tostitos with cheese/turkey chili dip, two mini cookies with frosting, and two handfuls of starburst all red (watermelon, cherry and strawberry) jelly beans. i considered that lunch AND dinner. : )

all-in-all, the scale did not scare me this morning! to be on the safe side, i sent the peanut M&Ms that never got open to work with  jacob. he also finished off the cookies, haha. i had some jelly beans today but threw the rest into the garbage. i am having an apple with the marshmallow/cream cheese dip one more time before discarding the rest of the it. my plan is to just not use the extra 49 points that we get for the rest of the week. just in case. ; )

hello, gorgeous

new pictures! : ) not that anyone cares besides me, but i feel like i can kind of see a little change going on...

maybe not from the front, but certainly from the side. the belly-over-the-jeans look is never a good one. nor is a muffin top. though that looks a bit smaller too.

like i was telling a friend last night, a certain number is not the goal. i just want to be comfortable in my own skin...and a cute dress i want to wear to that friend's wedding.

and just to satisfy my curiosity, a side-by-side comparison of me after a month: