Well, it’s the end of week eight and I am going home.  What a journey.   I was a tad disappointed that this week I only lost 3.4 pounds, bringing my total to 39.4 pounds.  But then it hit me that it is funny to be bummed about LOSING weight and doing it for eight weeks straight.  I mean I weigh less than I did twenty one years ago.

And the best thing is that my plan is not to have this be an 8 week experiment, but a lifestyle change.  I’ve already decided to add 2 more weeks to this journey and make it a 10 week blitz – 8 here and 2 back at home.  This will allow me to transition into those key first weeks at home still “on the plan” and weighing in each week and pushing towards the finish line.  I’d love to hit 50 pounds.

I went shopping this week for clothes.  Dropping just shy of 40 pounds means new wardrobe. That was really fun.   And I can only imagine what my husband and friends are going to say when they see me tomorrow.  I can see it, but not as much I think because I see myself each day.  But they have not seen me in almost nine weeks, so it should be fun.

I’m already planning how I will eat and move back at home.  I’m signing up for Jazzercise.  Louisville is blessed with a great Jazzercise community.  This week everyone gave me praise and wished me well. One lady even took me out after class for tea.  I’ve felt adopted by the Jazzercise family here and that is neat.  It’s new for me to have a group of people and the thing we share is a commitment to personal health.  Wow.  That feels good.

This week was my best yet for exercise.   I did Jazzercise and walked each day, and two days doubled up with either an extra Jazzercise or Zumba class.  Now that is quite a change from the old Lisa.

So…good bye Louisville.  I will stay in touch.   I can’t wait to see my husband and be back in my own bed.   But my new life at home will be one committed  to eating and moving in a way that is healthy and will serve me for years!

Lisa

For those of you who’ve been following my sister Lisa’s journey, here’s the latest update. I’m so proud of what she’s accomplished! 

- Stacey

Week seven is in the books, and the theme is one of big steps forward. Stacey and I took a walk over at Bellarmine and through Joe Creason Park that was our hardest walk yet. And according to my sister, I did great. I am still working out twice a day – Jazzercise in the morning and walking at night – and looking forward to it each day and enjoying it. That’s no small feat.

We did a great meal of roasted veggies with a marinade that you could eat by itself or over a whole-grain pasta. Stacey ate hers over a bed of raw greens. I’ve included that recipe this week. This coming week we’re going shopping for new clothes, since all of my old ones are baggy.

I am excited to say that I hit a milestone this week in terms of weight loss. I lost 5 pounds, for a total of 36 pounds in seven weeks — and I now weigh 2 pounds less than when I got pregnant with my first child. I am still about sixty pounds heavier than my lowest point as an adult — but nearly 40 pounds down out of about 100 to lose.  That’s pretty darn amazing.

This next week is my last in Kentucky – the home stretch – but I am trying to consider it my 3rd-to-last week so that my “last 2 weeks” will be the first two at home. This will give me a jump-start when I get home so that the “finish line,” if you will, is actually back there, not here. My goal was never to get a quick fix, but to change habits that will stay with me for life.

Stay tuned for next week…..because I know I am going to have great things to report.

RECIPES

Grilled Vegetables

Use vegetables of your choice, such as:

Asparagus

Red, orange and yellow bell peppers

Red onions

Portobello mushrooms

Sweet potatoes

Zucchini

Yellow Squash

Eggplant (slice, and then be sure to salt both sides for about 20 minutes, or while you are cutting the rest of your veggies and making your marinade. This will take the bitterness out of the eggplant. Rinse once done.)

Cut vegetables, put into bowl and pour dressing over them. Grill them on the barbeque or under the broiler for 30 – 60 minutes, depending on the heat. Use marinade to brush on vegetables as they cook, if desired, but be sure to toss them as they cook so they brown nicely on all sides. Be sure not to overcook.

French Vinaigrette Dressing

½ cup olive oil

½ cup water

2 TB fresh lemon juice

4 TB wine vinegar

2 TB Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, finely minced

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 TB each chopped fresh basil, tarragon, and oregano

Combine all dressing ingredients.

Thanks to all of you who’ve been following my sister Lisa’s progress on her journey to better health, and cheering her on. Here’s the latest update. Enjoy!

- Stacey

Week 6 in my journey. It’s hard to believe I have just two weeks left here in Louisville and then it’s back home.

This was a good week. I’d love to say that I’m back to normal eating, but that’s not quite the case. I am eating more, and bringing back in foods that I got turned off to weeks ago. On the food front I made my first full meal myself this week – Hot tamale pie. We’ve included the recipe below. This was great, but a little spicy for me, so you can adjust the spice as you like.

This week I went through cookbooks and started making lists of fruits and veggies that are plentiful during each season so I could focus on eating and cooking with those once I am home.

On the exercise front I had another strong week, doing Jazzercise plus a walk each day. One morning I went out walking and realized when I got back that I had been gone for 90 minutes. And remember that hill I first discovered, from Speed up to Grasmere? I’ve been back to that hill, and while my heart pounds and I might have to catch my breath, I am not huffing and puffing like I did at the start. The change is pretty noticeable. Speaking of walks, I’ve been talking to my husband, David, back home about the fact that we’re going to need to get in the car and measure out the mileage for various walk routes around my house. We’re also discussing whether I’ll join Jazzercise near my house, or we’ll both join the YMCA. The Y is great, but unlike here, you pay for your membership and then classes a la carte on top of that..so with one of us out of work, that’s a consideration.

The scale continues to be my friend – something new in my life. This week I dropped 3 pounds and my grand total is 31 pounds in my first six weeks. If I can lose 3 or more pounds this week, I will be at the weight I was before I got pregnant with my first child. Of course this is nowhere near what my ideal weight should be – but I haven’t weighed that little in 21 years – so that would be quite a benchmark to achieve. The biggest change is still in my face when I look in the mirror and in the way my clothes fit. I am planning to buy some new clothes before going home, and most of my old clothes will need to be donated to charity, because they just don’t fit anymore.

This next week will be pivotal for me. I am starting to make the change in my mind from what I am doing here at Stacey’s house to what I’ll be doing in my routine back home. But the great thing is that I am planning for a future that now includes healthier eating and regular exercise as a habit. I don’t want my life to be a diet. I just want to make better choices.

RECIPE: Hot Tamale Pie

Bean mixture ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 16-ounce can unsweetened tomato sauce

1 16-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 ear corn, kernels cut off the cob or ¾ cup thawed frozen corn

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Cornmeal mixture ingredients:

3 cups water

1 cup yellow stone-ground cornmeal

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

For the bean mixture: Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and cook until softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the tomato sauce, pinto beans, corn, chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne. Pour into an 8-by-8 glass baking dish.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the cornmeal mixture: Boil the water, add the cornmeal, lemon juice, mustard, and salt in a large saucepan and still until mixed. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes.

Spread the cooked cornmeal over the bean mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. It keeps well in the refrigerator for up to five days.

Week 5 – Taking Steps Forward

Time for another update about my sister Lisa’s journey toward better health. Enjoy!

- Stacey

Last week – week 5 in my journey – was a really good one. I am starting week 6 with renewed energy and a really great outlook.

Food – I got off Subway and had a better week with food. I am still not eating enough, which probably slows my weight loss a bit. But I am slowly eating more. Stacey was gone over the weekend, which meant some new choices including eating out. But since her car was gone, I got to get in another walk to go eat, and had to think about my choices once I got there. This was really good for me.

I poured through cookbooks as promised this week. The great news – when I was done some books were so dog-eared from pages I marked where the recipe sounded good that I decided why not just buy the books. That’s a great sign to me that all those foods sounded good.

It dawned on me that I have not had meat in 5 weeks. I don’t know that I’ll stay totally vegetarian, but it hasn’t been as hard as I would have imagined it to be. My week six food goal – bring back in those foods that I got “turned off” from a few weeks ago. Then will come recipes and cooking foods I like.

Last week was my best yet in terms of movement. I stuck with Jazzercise five times a week, but also added an evening walk five times a week. The heat kills me, but the humidity even more so. I am not sure how you all stand it, but I guess you get used to it. This is more exercise in one week than I probably did all of last year. One night it was going to rain so instead of using that as an excuse, I decided to just walk around the block and stay close to home. I think the old me would have used rain as an excuse – “guess I can’t work out tonight.” So I felt great about that.

Weight loss – it’s noticeable. I bought another outfit that was 2 sizes smaller than “before” on top and 1 size on the bottom and it fits! And the scale keeps heading south – 4 more pounds this week – for a total of 28 for my first five weeks. I can feel it in how my old clothes fit – or don’t fit – and I can see it in my face and my body. That feels great.

The biggest detour thrown my way this week was from back home. Chicago was hit with massive rain and we got flooding in our basement. My husband had to deal with most of the mess. I was impressed that he didn’t even ask me to stop and come home to save the day. The other thing is that this type of stressful event in the past would have been a “double-whammy” for me – exercise less – too busy, too many fires to put out – and eat more – stressed, no time to cook properly, grab whatever is close and whatever “feels good” to numb out the stress. I didn’t do either of those this week when life threw us a curve ball and that’s a BIG thing I hope to take back home to my new life.

I have to say I am more upbeat about tackling week six and hopeful about my progress than any week so far. So I’d say last week was a big step forward in my book. Enjoy this week’s recipes…

RECIPES

Black Bean Cakes

2 15-oz cans black beans, partially drained and pureed

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

½ cup sliced green onion

1 cup shredded carrot

dash of cayenne

2 tsp hot sauce

4 roasted, peeled and diced poblano chilis

Juice of 1 lime

1 cup whole-wheat bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Scoop into ½ cup portions, and shape into cakes. Dredge in more bread crumbs. Saute in olive oil, or spray with cooking spray and bake in a 400 degree oven until heated through and crispy.

Serving options:

Omit bread crumbs and use as a filling for chimichanga, enchilada or burrito. Use a red chili sauce and bake.

Top with fresh tomato or mango salsa. (See recipe below.)

Mango Salsa

1 mango – peeled, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1 green onion, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, finely chopped

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix all salsa ingredients together.