Weeks 18, 19, 20, and 21 (With Measurements!)

There's really not much to say that wasn't already posted in the previous entry. So I'll leave it at that and say we're hoping to get back on track ASAP.

Katie

Week 18 Results: +1.8 lbs

Week 19 Results: -0.8 lbs.

Week 20 Results: +1.0 lbs.

Current Weight: -35.8 lbs. (This week: +0.4 lbs.)

Bust: -2.75" (These last six weeks: -0.25")

Chest: -2.25" (These last six weeks: -0.25")

Waist: -4.5" (These last six weeks: 0.0")

Hips: -4.25" (These last six weeks: +0.5")

Thigh: -2.0" (These last six weeks: -0.25")

Upper Arm: -1.5" (These last six weeks: 0.0")

Total Inches Lost: -17.25" (These last six weeks: -0.25")

Tony

Week 18 Results: -2.2 lbs.

Week 19 Results: -2.2 lbs.

Week 20 Results: +1.6 lbs.

Current Weight: -45.4 lbs. (This week: +0.2 lbs.)

Neck: -1.25" (These last six weeks: 0.0")

Chest: -3.5" (These last six weeks: +0.5")

Waist: -5.75" (These last six weeks: -0.25")

Hips: -4.25" (These last six weeks: -0.0")

Thigh: -4.375" (These last six weeks: +1.375")

Upper Arm: -2.5" (These last six weeks: -0.5")

Total Inches Lost: -21.625 (These last six weeks: +1.125")

Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Quick Explanation for our Absence

When I started this blog I promised weekly updates with weigh ins and monthly measurement updates. It has been almost a month since the last update, so I have not come through in my promise. I'm going to quickly provide an explanation since a few people have asked me about the lack of updates and I'm sure there are others who have been wondering.

There are basically three big reasons why I haven't been updating the blog lately:

1. I started my new job on October 1st and no longer have hours and hours at home every day to write a nice blog post.
2. We have been working on cleaning and organizing our condo to sell. Our realtor is coming tomorrow to take photos for the listing, so we have been especially busy this past week getting ready for that. We also have spent a couple evenings looking at houses.
3. We have kind of fallen off the wagon. Nothing super serious, but the extra stress with our new schedule and getting the condo ready to sell has lead us to some poor eating habits. We have gained back a little weight, but only a few pounds. We still track everything and do weigh ins every Monday; I just don't have the motivation to write out a nice blog post about my 1 or 2 lb weight gain that week when I'm already stressed about other things.

So there you have it. I don't consider these excuses because I'm not looking for the lack of updates to be excused. I feel bad that I haven't been updating and I'm sure my lack of updating has made it easier for us to justify eating poorly.

Today we did measurements (we forgot last Sunday) and tomorrow we have another weigh in. I promise I will post about this no later than Wednesday night this week. After tomorrow, the stress of getting the condo ready to list will subside and will switch to less stress of keeping the condo clean for showings. I'm adjusting to my work schedule and getting used to that. On Tuesday evening I have a meeting for my local women's accounting group but I may be able to post that night if I haven't already Monday.

So. We will be back to weekly postings starting this weekend. I PROMISE. :)

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Week 16 and 17 Results

I know it has been over 2 weeks since my last post! Last week Tony forgot to weigh on Monday so we weighed on Tuesday. Then we traded in and bought a new car, I negotiated vacation time and then accepted a new job (starting Monday, October 1st!), we spent hours and hours cleaning up the house, and then had a guest Friday night! So last week was very crazy and I kept putting off posting. And then it was suddenly Monday again and time for another weigh in! So today's post is going to be a double post for both Week 16 and Week 17.

Katie

Week 16 Results: -4.6 lbs

Current Weight: -38.2 lbs. (This week: -0.2 lbs.)

Tony

Week 16 Results: -3.2 lbs.

Current Weight: -42.8 lbs. (This week: +0.8 lbs.)

As you can see, we did really well in Week 16 but pretty poorly in Week 17. We had a lot of restaurant food last week; we went out both Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, which was actually really fun! Probably the most fun weekend we've had in awhile. On Friday night my friend Lindsey came to visit so we went to a nearby restaurant and then went bowling. On Saturday night we went to a hibachi place and then went to a movie. On Sunday night we went to the Gun Lake Casino and ate at their restaurant. These kind of weeks happen every so often. We just have to let it be in the past and keep trying to lose weight!

I have been doing some shopping for new work clothes for my new job. Since I have been this size before, I still have quite a few clothes but I wanted a few new things. I am feeling much more confident about my looks, which translates into wanting to wear better and more stylish clothes. I discovered a consignment shop nearby and got pants, a skirt, and a top for work for only $22! I am really looking forward to starting my new job. The company seems really solid and the employees I met seem great. I think it will be a good fit for me.

Here's hoping for better results in Week 18!

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Week 15 Results (With Measurements!)

Another week, more results! This time with measurements. We are doing measurements every five weeks now, but it has been seven weeks since we last took them. 

Katie

Current Weight: -33.4 lbs. (This week: -1.4 lbs.)

Bust: -2.5" (These last seven weeks: -0.375")

Chest: -2.0" (These last seven weeks: -0.125")

Waist: -4.5" (These last seven weeks: -3.0")

Hips: -4.75" (These last seven weeks: -1.25")

Thigh: -1.75" (These last seven weeks: -0.5")

Upper Arm: -1.5" (These last seven weeks: -1.125")

Total Inches Lost: -17.0" (These last seven weeks: -6.375")

Tony

Current Weight: -40.4 lbs. (This week: -2.4 lbs.)

Neck: -1.25" (These last seven weeks: -0.375")

Chest: -4.0" (These last seven weeks: -0.25")

Waist: -5.5" (These last seven weeks: -4.25")

Hips: -4.25" (These last seven weeks: -1.75")

Thigh: -5.75" (These last seven weeks: -2.25")

Upper Arm: -2.0" (These last seven weeks: 0.0")

Total Inches Lost: -22.75 (These last seven weeks: -8.875")

At some point, we are going to have to take new pictures because these pictures are starting to no longer represent our looks! When we started this, Tony had suggested we take a picture similar to this one (first photo on the page) from our engagement shoot, so you can see the difference. I'd like to wait awhile longer before we do that, since I don't think the difference will be that pronounced at this point. Maybe once we're both past 50 lbs. We'll see!

I met my exercise goal again, so I'm going to continue with it, but this time it will be back to two days a week for 30 minutes each time. Eventually I will increase to three days a week, four days a week, etc., but for now two days a week is the most doable for me. I am still working on making this a habit, so I don't want to set a difficult goal this early in the game.

Later this week, I will post about other things we have changed to make the lower calorie intake easier. Stay tuned!

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Week 14 Results

This post is so late for a couple reasons. The main one is that I stayed at my parents' house until Tuesday evening so we did not do our weigh-in until Wednesday. The secondary reason is I didn't have a chance to write the post until right now because I have been busy with interviews the last two days!! I had an in person interview yesterday morning at Company A, then an in person interview at Company B this morning, followed by an unexpected phone screen interview for Company C, and then an in person interview with other employees at Company A late this afternoon. I have to go back to Company A tomorrow morning to fill out an application; I may hear about that job as early as tomorrow afternoon!

Here are our results!

Katie

Current Weight: -32.0 lbs. (This week: -1.8 lbs.)

Tony

Current Weight: -38.0 lbs. (This week: -2.0 lbs.)

So we did pretty well! We had a few high calorie days over the holiday weekend. We celebrated my mom's and my sister's girlfriend's birthdays on Monday night and that involved an ice cream sundae bar. Let's just say that day was pretty terrible calorie-wise and we'll leave it at that!

I did meet my exercise goal last week. I am going to try to exercise at least once for 30 minutes between today and Monday. I have reduced it to one time because there are only a few days left until Monday, and trying to go with twice would just set myself up for failure. I promise I will bring back the twice a week exercise goal next week!

Next week's post will include measurements, now that we are doing them every 5 weeks. It will have been 7 weeks since the last time we took measurements; I am excited to see them since I know I've lost inches.

(Sort of) exciting news for me. For the last two years or so, I have been sized out of Lane Bryant. Lane Bryant goes up to size 28, and I have been a 30 or 32 (if not higher at times) for the last couple years. All of my recent clothes purchases have been at Fashion Bug since that is pretty much the only brick and mortar store that carries clothes for women under age 80 up to size 32. I went to the mall a week ago and strolled into Lane Bryant since they were having a BOGO sale, and I figured, hey I'm down 30 lbs, let's see if a 28 fits!

IT DID! I got a cute jean skirt/skort (has attached shorts underneath the skirt), a pair of jeans, and some underwear. I am so excited I can fit back into Lane Bryant clothes, especially since Fashion Bug is going out of business and the stores will all be closed by January. So that is exciting news for me and is some motivation to keep going!

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Shredded Chicken

As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I was planning on posting my "recipe" for making shredded chicken. This is adapted from my high school forensics teacher's recipe. Forensics as in public speaking, not anything science or gore-related!! I would link to the recipe, but it looks like her cooking blog has been taken down. Pam, if you're reading this, let me know if you have a link to it, and I will properly credit you!

Lots of recipes call for shredded chicken. Before I came across Pam's recipe, I would pretty much boil the crap out of a couple chicken breasts since I'm always nervous about not cooking meat completely, and we didn't have a meat thermometer until we received one as a wedding gift last summer. I would then struggle with shredding the chicken breasts since they were so overcooked and dried out. This didn't exactly lead to great tasting meals!

Now that I've changed the way I make shredded chicken, it is much tastier, easier, and more convenient! Shredded chicken is a great way to add protein to a meal without adding a ton of calories. A half cup serving of shredded chicken has 120 calories, 4g of fat, and 12g of protein. This "recipe" yields enough shredded chicken breast for 5+ meals!

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken breast, raw and unfrozen

(I used 14 lbs for my 6 qt slow cooker, but would

recommend something more like 10 lbs)

Onion, sliced

Minced garlic

I always start by trimming most of the visible fat from the breasts.

I didn't include a photo of that, since I'm sure you can figure it out ;)

Place enough chicken breasts in the slow cooker to cover the bottom. Place sliced onion on top, followed by a few spoonfuls of minced garlic.

Repeat another layer.

Repeat a third layer. At this point I should have stopped. I normally stop after three layers, but for some reason this week I was overzealous and did a fourth layer. This led to having to cook for extra hours to ensure the breasts in the top center were thoroughly cooked. It was a pain and not worth the extra chicken I got out of it.

Cover slow cooker.

Cook for 5 or 6 hours on high (depends on the size of your slow cooker and the amount of chicken you have in it). I usually cook for 5 hours when I do three layers.

When the slow cooker is done cooking, remove the breasts into a bowl or a cutting board and shred with a fork. It shreds extremely easily and is so tender and flavorful.

Place in freezer-safe containers and baggies in 2 cup portions

(most recipes call for 2 cups of shredded chicken). Place in freezer.

I got seven 2 cup portions this time, which should last us over a month!

If you choose to make this amount of shredded chicken at once, make sure you will use it within the next few months. If you don't often make recipes that call for shredded chicken, having 10+ cups of shredded chicken in your freezer could go to waste before you get a chance to use it. We like to add it to pasta dishes to add protein and it's great in Mexican dishes and other recipes that call for shredded chicken.

Printable version of recipe.

I move the frozen shredded chicken from the freezer to the refrigerator two days before I need it. It is always thawed and ready to go after two days in the fridge. I help keep track of this by meal planning using the meal planning spreadsheet I created this past February. Here is a link to that spreadsheet so you can download it yourself if you like it! This helps keep me on track and to make sure the meats and other ingredients I need will be thawed and ready to go when needed.

Happy cooking! :)

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Week 13 Results

This past week was pretty good. Our results turned out well, even though we had some high calorie days. On Saturday afternoon we went to Holland State Park to hang out on the beach and swim in Lake Michigan.  Afterwards, we stopped at Captain Sundae and had delicious flurries. I swam around in Lake Michigan for probably close to two hours total so I definitely earned the flurry!

Katie

Current Weight: -30.2 lbs. (This week: -1.8 lbs.)

Tony

Current Weight: -36.0 lbs. (This week: -1.4 lbs.)

Last week I decided to keep my exercise goal of two days for 30 minutes each. I met it, and then more than exceeded it with the swimming in Lake Michigan. This week I will continue the goal of two days for 30 minutes each. At some point I will increase this to three days but for now I don't want to push it. Two days is a week for two weeks in a row is amazing for me, so I'm hoping to continue it!

Next week we will do our weigh-in on either Tuesday or Wednesday. We will be at my parents' house for Labor Day weekend on Monday. I may stay until Tuesday, in which case we will do our weigh in and results post on Wednesday.

Later this week or next I will be doing a post about how I make shredded chicken for meals that call for it. It is a super easy way to make a ton of shredded chicken at once, with good flavor, and adds a low calorie protein source to a meal.

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Week 12 Results

Last week was a much better week for me. I did not resort to old habits in the way I had the prior week, and I met my exercise goal! I exercised on two separate days for over 30 minutes each. I used my Wii Fit, which was fun and pretty easy exercise. So I will make the same goal for this week. I will exercise at least two days this week for 30 minutes each day.

It has been four weeks since we took measurements, so normally today would also include measurements. However, instead of taking them Sunday morning after we woke up, we took them Sunday night. I had to leave early Sunday for my cousin's bridal shower, so we did not have a chance to do measurements until that night. Because of this, the measurements did not come out the way one would expect given the weight we have lost in the last four weeks. A few of the measurements were higher than four weeks ago, which doesn't seem right. I think this is because we took them after eating and drinking during the day, so we were a bit bloated. So I am not going to count them. I also think we should switch to taking them every 5 weeks on the 5s (week 15, 20, etc.); it will make it easier to remember to take them and that extra week will lead to greater results.

Here are the weight results for this week!

Katie

Current Weight: -28.4 lbs. (This week: -1.8 lbs.)

Tony

Current Weight: -34.6 lbs. (This week: -2.4 lbs.)

The results accurately show our efforts from this past week, so I was happy with them! We are going to keep on doing what we are doing, because it's obviously working!

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Week 11 Results

Last week was a bit of a struggle for me. I gave in to old habits for a couple days and basically binge ate the way I used to. So I was not upset at my result this week, since I just wanted to at least stay even. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by my result considering how many terrible days I had.

I also did not meet my goal of exercising at least two days last week for 30 minutes a day. But I did get a lot of exercise on Saturday helping our friends move, so maybe that counts? Ha, not really. I never did find the willpower to force myself to exercise. So I will set that goal again this week. I feel more positive about this week so I am hoping nothing derails me from this goal.

Katie

Current Weight: -26.6 lbs. (This week: -0.4 lbs.)

Tony

Current Weight: -32.2 lbs. (This week: -1.6 lbs.)

So. This week I will try really hard to ward off any desire to go back to bad habits, and exercise at least two days for 30 minutes each day. I just need to keep reminding myself of my reward (hopefully) at the end of all this - a baby and motherhood! I know babies are not easy so I'm not imagining this dream-filled world where everything is perfect, but my desire to become a mother has been extra strong lately. I think it is probably due to the fact that so many of my friends have children, and I am about six months from turning 30. I don't exactly have tons of time to dilly dally before we need to start trying!

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Week 10 Results

Sorry for the one day delay with this post. Our internet wasn't working yesterday afternoon.

As I expected, Tony's huge weight loss last week was not sustained this week. He felt like he did pretty well last week so he was a bit surprised with his result, but I told him that he must not have drank enough water last Sunday which led to all that weight loss. This week just kind of normalized his results.

Katie

Current Weight: -26.2 lbs. (This week: -2.8 lbs.)

Tony

Current Weight: -30.6 lbs. (This week: +0.2 lbs.)

So now that we are at 10 weeks, we can easily calculate our average weekly weight loss! I have lost an average of 2.62 lbs a week and Tony has last an average of 3.06 lbs a week. Pretty good! My goal is to lose 2 lbs each week, so I'm clearly on track. :)

I still have not added regular exercise to my schedule. I know I'll be fine with losing weight for awhile without adding exercise, but I will plateau. I plateaued in 2008 and I know I could have kept going if I had started exercising regularly. Since I would like to get lower than my plateau weight from 2008 and then stay there, I will need to exercise regularly and the sooner I get into the habit, the better! I have a Wii Fit I haven't used in almost three years, so I should try that, along with my Just Dance Wii game I did a few times in June. I really have no excuse since I am home all day, most days right now.

Between today and next Monday, I will make a goal of exercising for 30 minutes at least twice. I know that's pretty much nothing but it's better than my current exercise of zero minutes on zero days ;)  It is a doable goal and doable goals are what I need right now!

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.

Niagara Falls Trip Recap with Photos

As mentioned previously, we spent our First Anniversary in Buffalo, NY and Niagara Falls, ON.


We left Saturday, July 14 around 11 a.m. Tony drove to Port Huron, MI; then I got us across the border, through Canada, back across the border, and to our hotel in Buffalo, NY. We didn't stop once from the time we left Port Huron until we arrived at our hotel in Buffalo!

On our way!

Tony showing off our passports which will enable us to return to the U.S.!

After checking into our hotel, we walked the 1/2 mile (yay, exercise!!) to the Anchor Bar, the restaurant that invented buffalo chicken wings in 1964.

Yum!! We shared this plate of 20 wings with homemade bleu cheese dressing.

On Sunday, July 15, we went on a Buffalo harbor cruise on the Miss Buffalo IIL

On the boat, waiting to leave.

The harbor cruise goes into Lake Erie, down the Niagara River, then through the Black Rock Lock and Canal.

Lake Erie

Going under the Peace Bridge. The flag in the middle is the United Nations flag.

Awesome Buffalo City Hall in the center.

After the harbor cruise, we drove back into Canada and checked into our hotel. We discovered our "city view" room had a great view of the tightrope the skywalker, Jay Cochrane, would be walking on every night at 7 p.m. So we stayed in to watch:

We left before Jay Cochrane finished the walk, as we were starving and needed to get going. We went to dinner at a restaurant in our hotel and then went to Dave & Buster's in the Clifton Hill area of Niagara Falls. If you've ever been to a Dave & Buster's that isn't in a tourist town, please note that the Niagara Falls D&B is nothing like the one you have been to. It is kind of terrible. The prizes are crap, you can't take your drinks outside of the bar area, and it seemed much smaller than the one I went to in Houston, TX. But we still had fun!

Patriotic looking drinks at Dave & Buster's :)

On Monday, July 16, we celebrated our first anniversary! We began the day by enjoying a cheap all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast at a restaurant behind our hotel. It was filling, we did not go overboard, and we spent a LOT less money than we would have at the hotel's IHOP (don't get me started on Niagara Falls pricing or Canadian tax rates). 

After breakfast, we walked to a welcome center where we purchased the Niagara Falls Adventure Pass. I highly recommend this pass. For $50 each (including tax), it gets you into four attractions and enables you to take the People Mover bus system for two days. It is worth every penny and saves you money over separately purchasing admittance to each of the attractions along with a People Mover pass. I believe something like $15 each.

We started with Journey Behind the Falls. It is pretty cool and we enjoyed it. To save myself some time, I am not going to describe these attractions; if you are interested in what they entail, feel free to click the links provided :)

Then we went to Niagara's Fury. Photos are not allowed, so no photos :)  It was interesting and we enjoyed this one also. The first part seems geared toward young children but the second part could be a little scary for children who are afraid of the dark and/or thunderstorms.

After that, we took the People Mover to Maid of the Mist! This was so much fun and I would do it again for sure!

We then took the People Mover further north to the White Water Walk. This was decent; for some reason I was under the impression we would be able to see the whirlpool that forms in this area of the Niagara River, but we could only see Class 6 rapids. The rapids were interesting, but if we had had more time, I would have liked to have seen the whirlpool through one of the other available attractions.

We then took the People Mover back to the welcome center, took the Funicular (or as they call it, the Incline Railway) up the hill, and went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner.

We had dinner at the Keg Steakhouse on the 9th floor of the Embassy Suites, about a block from our hotel. It was delicious! We had reservations at 8 p.m. We could have waited 60-90 minutes for a front row table, but decided it wasn't worth it. We were given a table in the second row which still gave us a nice view. When the couple at the table in front of us left, we got up, sat at their table, and had our waitress take our photo ;)

After dinner, we came back to the hotel and ate a piece of cake from the top tier of our wedding cake! it was still delicious. We enjoyed it multiple times over the rest of that week.

On Tuesday, July 17, we slept in, then walked to the Skylon Tower, where we took the elevator up to the top to have a buffet lunch (again, we didn't go crazy!) and to see the views from the observation deck. 

This photo was taken as we went up the yellow elevators that face outside the tower. 

These two photos above were taken from the Skylon Tower observation deck.

After that, we spent about 45 minutes in the casino to secure free parking (woohoo!) and then were on our way home! We got back around 9:30 p.m. or so.


Overall, we had a really great trip. It was so nice to get away and to see a new part of the world. Throughout the trip, we talked about coming back once our future kids are 8 and 10 (or so), once they are old enough to appreciate it. There is so much to do as a family, as a couple, or even as a group of friends. Next time we will hopefully have more time so we can see more things.

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Katie's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Tony's Food and Exercise Diary can be found here.
Our weight loss tickers can be found at the bottom of every page of our blog.