Diet Update

This picture was taken October 2009. I am usually the one behind the camera and rarely ever see myself in a picture so this was a rude awakening for me. I had allowed the pounds to creep on. Working part time in a plus size women's clothing store didn't help matters either.

At 192 pounds, I hardly recognized myself anymore, with a round face, double chin, large belly and what I called my bubble butt. I hated it! It was painful to garden and I had difficulty even putting on my shoes. Not only that, I was beginning to have serious health issues. I had become a diabetic and I was having dangerously high blood pressure. My hips, legs and feet hurt all of the time. I felt terrible.

I am a stress eater, and there had been significant, never ending, stress for about four years. I put on 20 pounds in 2009 after my dad's bout with lung cancer, my mother-in-law's nursing home injury and surgery, her significant weight loss and end stage Alzheimer's. My husband also lost his job. I needed a lot of comfort food! I love to eat and I am a sugar/carb addict. The more I eat, the more I crave.

The worst part was the guilt. I have over 100 diet and nutrition books in my personal library and have read many more from the library. I am a health nut wannabe. I was not being true to myself and I felt so incredibly guilty for eating all of the processed junk food. Something had to change.

On January 1, I started a healthy diet plan. Eating only fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean cuts of meat. No sugar, no coffee and nothing processed. After the first three or four days I no longer had cravings and I started to actually enjoy what I was eating. The weight came off...without exercise. I have lost 35 pounds! Really, I lost a total of 38 but those last few pounds keep fluctuating.

I used the timer on the camera and took a few pictures to record my progress.

The sad part about losing weight is that I can no longer wear my favorite denim jackets and the clothing budget is rather small right now.

These jeans were actually too tight for me and I couldn't wear them when I started my diet. (I had already packed away the larger size.)

I am down four sizes! I know that I still have some weight to lose and it will come off more slowly now, but that is OK. I'm happy! At 48 years old, I never thought I'd see a size 12 again!

The best part is not even the weight loss, but the health benefits. I no longer have high blood pressure and I can control my diabetes with diet so I have not had to get on medications. After seeing my mom suffer for years with diabetes and eventually die from surgery complications due to the disease, I am motivated more than ever to stick with this healthy eating plan.

My next goal is to start exercising consistently. I don't think I'll lose much more weight until I do that. Really, my husband doesn't want me to lose any more weight. I'm 5'7" and I weighed 110 pounds when we got married and he honestly likes the size I am. So my goal now is just to be healthy and more physically fit. If I lose more weight in the process, hopefully he won't mind too much.

I know weight is a very personal and sensitive issue, I hope that I haven't offended anyone by sharing about my weight loss. I wanted to share just in case there are those who might need encouragement to change their diet and get healthier!

Easy Suet Feeder Project and Diet Update

We have had record breaking warm weather for three days this week. The temperature right now is 83° . The trees are blooming and the leaves are shooting out so fast you can almost see them growing.



Who would ever believe that such delicate sweet flowers could smell so bad? Our neighborhood has quite a few Bradford pear trees lining the streets and I smell them as I walk. I also have a few in my own yard. The blooms only last for a few days and then they fall like a spring snow shower.




Gail, from Clay and Limestone asked me about the wood in the picture of the woodpecker that I posted about on Saturday.



It is a suet feeder that I made from a portion of a small diseased maple tree that we cut down last year. I drilled a 1 inch whole that is about an inch deep and attached a screw eye into the wood and I hang it with a large S hook. I stuff it with homemade peanut butter suet. The birds love it and even though I have two suet cages nearby they fight over the suet in this homemade feeder. I'll be making a couple more of these so there won't be as much competition for this one.


For some crazy reason our Internet has gone done every night for the last week right at 8:00 and is down until 8:00 the next morning. I've called AT&T and they are trying to figure out what is happening. It is frustrating because night time is when I usually browse blogs. I've been using this down time to try and organize my pictures. It is amazing how quickly they pile up.

Thank you to all of you who have encouraged me on my diet changes. I am thrilled to say that I have lost 25 pounds since January 1! The best thing is that the diet changes have made a huge difference in my blood pressure and blood sugar. Both of those are staying in the normal range by eating a healthy diet and removing all sweets and simple carbs from the diet. That is a huge relief because the budget right now is tight enough without adding insulin, ($80.00), and blood pressure medication.

Now that it has warmed up I'm walking and finally getting some exercise. The weight loss has slowed so hopefully with exercise, I'll drop the rest of the weight.

Surprisingly, the diet changes really have not been that difficult. I am very, very addicted to sugar, so I never cheat. I just can not allow it. There was a time recently that I just about sat in the floor and cried like a two year old for chocolate, temper tantrum and all! I know better than to go to the grocery store hungry but I had been running errands and forgot to pack my snacks, (usually a small apple, baby carrots and a few raw nuts). The Easter chocolate was everywhere and I wanted, no, I needed some chocolate in the worst kind of way. You ladies know how that is, right? I felt the tears stinging my eyes and felt very deprived and sorry for myself. After firmly telling myself that I was not going to cheat, and reminding myself that being healthy and being thin is so much better than the fleeting taste of chocolate, I wiped the tears and moved on. I try really hard to remember to pack my snacks and my iced green tea or lemon water before leaving the house now.


It feels so nice to be able to bend over and garden without the excess belly fat. I have recently packed away my largest sized clothes and hope to never wear them again!

I hope that you all are enjoying this gorgeous spring weather! I'm about to head outside and do some much needed weeding,


it is amazing how quickly the dandelions have popped up!