*drool*

These lil' darlin's will soon be marinaded in evoo, low-sodium soya sauce and steak spice, then BBQ'd. YUM!!

After 8 Full Months...

...my weight is still hovering between 150 and 152 (has been since early July) and this must be because I've been lazy (lack of exercise) and it's birthday season and I just can't resist a piece of homemade birthday cake made from scratch by my step-mom. There are more birthdays to come (mine as well), so we'll have to see what happens.

This week I decided to join the Mark's Daily Apple forum since there is so much support on there from other people who are on the same journey to health as I. Reading everyone's success stories and especially seeing their progress photos really gets me motivated. So much so that I attempted a burpee blitz the other night. Silly me, I thought I'd see how long it took me to complete 50 burpees. L.O.L. I managed 22 of them before having to stop. This was at the 2-minute mark.

Shame on me, my form wasn't perfect, either, but I did what I could without throwing my back out. There was minimal pain the next day and I could feel the presence of some muscles I'd never felt before. which felt really good. On the second day, however, my stomach and back muscles reminded me that I'd worked them a little too hard. They'll get over it. ;)

I meant to try a few more burpees today before my MIL came over for dinner, but the timing just wasn't right. I don't think my muscles were ready for another go at it, either, so I'll do it tomorrow.

I'm really not one to post pictures of myself on the net, but here are the first photos showing my progress so far (click the pic for a higher-resolution version):



I tried to recreate the scene/pose as close as possible because I couldn't find a better pic where a) my chunkiness was visible and b) I could find the same clothing to wear. Next time there will be progress pics of me wearing my for-private-home-use-only bikini. Now aren't you excited about that! HAHAHAHA!

Another improvement I noticed, which is likely from being soap-free, is that I no longer get a nasty rash after shaving my bikini area. It was a guaranteed annoyance prior to this summer, and now it just doesn't happen. Nice. :)

An Evening Snack

Although the blueberry Activia yogurt would have been awesome on it's own, I decided to dress it up a little, as I often do. I added some raw almonds, dried (unsweetened) cranberries, flax seeds and (for my sweet tooth) a few chocolate chips.

Yum.

(Click the pic for a higher-resolution version.)