Judge for yourselves

It was a wonderful time.  

My family, all 17 of us, were able to be together this Thanksgiving at a rented house on Kentucky's Lake Cumberland.  All nine grandsons (That's right.  NINE grandsons, ZERO granddaughters) played together well.  This is no small feat as five of them are aged 3 and under.  

My brother-in-law, the amazing Mike, made all of the Thanksgiving dinner and dessert with the exception of my sister-in-law Vivien's delicious cheesecake.  Love those guys who do the culinary school thing!  He was even incredibly successful making tur-duck-en despite the fact of not having any butcher's string to hold it all together.  I'd never had tur-duck-en before.  Chicken wrapped in duck wrapped in turkey with stuffing in there all over the place.  FABULOUS!  Highly recommended.


Friday morning Vivien, assisted by Clinton and Mike, made a huge breakfast.  Viv also made spaghetti for Wednesday night and a wonderful chicken casserole on Friday night, using up the leftovers.  Somehow all three of us McClelland kids managed to find spouses who enjoy cooking.  We're still trying to find the down side to that one...   Lorie, Bill and I are definitely loving it.  Mom and I have gladly volunteered for permanent clean-up detail.


And, yes, I have the results of my Fit By Forty challenge to myself.  Vivien, a former model, assisted me in my "pose" while photographer Clinton added a few "Work it, baby, work it"s in his best LA accent.  


So, thanks to Joline and Weight Watchers, I came to Thanksgiving in my khakis.  The khakis even stayed on my body for the entire evening.  Mission Accomplished!  Whoo-hoo!  Jumping Jacks for Joy!



On Monday I'm officially back on the treadmill.  3 great cooks x 3 full days x a plethora of amazing food = the need to burn some major calories before they take up permanent residence again. 


Weight Watchers was incredibly helpful in meal planning, and having a milestone birthday as a deadline was a major motivation, but the most important factor in my success has been the accountability my friend Joline.  I would probably have skipped several (okay, many) workouts had I not loathed the thought of emailing her my failure report.  I hope our mutual accountability society continues.  You up for it, Jo? 


Now if I can continue with these changes, I may be able to stay in my khakis for the foreseeable future.  And who knows, I may get to wear them to our next Thanksgiving celebration.    :)

Fit By Forty x Seven

It's been one week since I began my "Fit By Forty" quest to lose the weight I've put on in order to fit into my khakis by Thanksgiving/my 40th birthday.  Several factors have been in play over this time period.

Thanks to my friend Joline, talented author of the CuppaJo blog and completer of a half-marathon, I am for the first time ever working out with a buddy.  Um.  Well.  Sort of.  Joline lives 9 hours away from me in Pennsylvania.  That's 550 miles according to Mapquest.  She contacted me after my last post and we became accountability partners, encouraging each other in our workouts via email.  I've always been a loner in this area, but I must say it is working GREAT for me!  You'll have to check out Joline's blog to see how it's working for her.   http://thecuppajo.blogspot.com/2009/11/buddy-system.html

Another factor is I've been cooking for 3 hungry farmers this week.  When I take them lunch I also take Nathan with me and feed him while the guys eat.  I can't feed him and myself at the same time so I usually eat before I go.  Lately it's been something meal-replacement-bar-ish.  Makes it much easier to plan Weight Watcher points that way and I'm too busy right now to think much about sneaking food later.  Protein water and coffee are helping to curb my appetite, so for this week at least I'm able to really watch what I eat. 



Haven't tried on the khakis but the scale is showing me some encouraging numbers.  The true test, other than the khakis, will be what the scale at the doctor's office says.  My annual physical exam is scheduled later this week.  Believe me, I'm not excited, but it must be done.  We'll see how much The Dreaded Doctor's Office Scale affects my mood and thus my commitment to my program.


Good thing Joline's got Jillian Michaels kicking her butt these days.  Actually, I think Jillian is shredding her butt...either way, I'm sure she'll pass that butt-kicking along to me and project me right out of my slump.  Hurray for buddies!

Fit By Forty

It took a while, but it has happened.

In general I am pretty good about watching what I eat.  Lately though I've been watching what I eat go in my mouth, down to my lower half and expanding.  Two weeks ago when I was running late for church I went to put on my favorite khakis and I could not get them on.  

I was HACKED.  At myself.  I knew I'd been really careless and have noticed my pants getting tighter, but this was the first time this fall I'd tried to wear these particular pants.  Apparently I hit the breaking point.  

For those of you who know me, just stop with the "Wah wah wah you're so little you don't have anything to worry about blah blah blah."  Here is the thing:  It doesn't matter what size you are.  If you gain enough weight that you don't fit your clothes,  you have a problem.  And while I do have some yoga pants, I do not want to have to wear them all the time.


I rather like my wardrobe.  It has taken me several years and a substantial investment to build it to this point.  I FLAT OUT REFUSE to let myself go to the point that I have to start over from scratch.  I busted my tail (literally) to get back into my clothes after Nathan was born.  Gaining a few pounds is one thing.  Not fitting your clothes is quite another.


As an added bonus, I will turn the big 4-0 on November 25, the day before Thanksgiving.  

I refuse to feel "fat and forty."  I refuse to have my clothing options limited by my own poor choices and lack of will power.  I refuse to buy another wardrobe.  I refuse to loathe seeing myself in a mirror.  I refuse to be unhealthy.  I refuse to allow the Enemy to have any little niche to poke his nose in and cause me trouble.  I refuse.  I refuse.  I REFUSE!!!


I have just under three weeks to get my rear in gear to meet my goal and fit into my khakis.  This is an attainable goal.  I am working my plan.


And as I know that at the age of forty it gets REALLY hard to keep weight off, I intend to continue to make changes in my lifestyle.  For a while now I have been slowly making small improvements in our eating habits and will continue to do so.  

The biggest obstacle is making exercise a priority.  But, even fifteen minutes a day can help.  As Flylady says, "You can do anything for fifteen minutes."  The near-miraculous transformation of my previously cluttered basement is proof of that.


I intend to have a little less "junk in my trunk" in three weeks.  I intend to wear my khakis to Thanksgiving dinner.



Oh, and uh, I intend to ask you to please pray for me.