Renewed Strength

I have to say I'm pretty proud. For the last month I've been struggling to reach past this plateau. As you recall I reached 256.8 and stayed there at the very start of September. I've tried really hard to eat well but have been so stressed out it just wasn't happening.


On Friday I realized I had gotten down to 260, through the whole month I was about 263-265, seeing this drop got me motivated. Saturday morning I came in to work to see parts of the office reorganized, after 2 Symply Magic I felt very energized and decided to "fix" the rest of the office. After rearranging a few things and running around like a mad woman I oddly didn't feel phased. Saturday night I stepped on the scale and was amazed, I was down to 256.2. Yes I struggled this month, Yes I should be farther along, but I'm back on track and that's what matters right?!


Also of note this weekend, I decided to clean out my closet. I wanted to make sure any clothes I have that are too big don't find a way to weasel into my heart and hide in there. That's just asking for a relapse! 


Since I started this journey I really couldn't tell a difference in my body. Yes my clothes felt loose, but I couldn't fit comfortably into smaller sizes. With jeans my waist area stayed tight and my thigh area got very loose. I thought that was just because I was wearing them all day. Turns out I'm losing all my weight at my knees (weird right?). I have this fantastic pair of pregnancy pants (never been pregnant just very comfy in the waist), very cute. Since they day I bought them I couldn't fit in them, don't ask why I bought them, wishful thinking? My thighs were always too big and I couldn't get them up all the way. 


This weekend that all changed, I saw the jeans and with my renewed sense of self decided what the heck right? I slid the jeans on and OMG they fit! It absolutely amazed me, they fit perfectly! I then decided I was going to try on the shorts I bought this summer that never fit correctly because I have wide hips, amazingly they fit as well. 


I am literally on a high today, it's nice to see that I really am changing my body, that I am getting ahead, slowly but surely.

Homemade Beef Stew

Last week I cooked up some Homemade Beef Stew and actually took pictures and wrote down what i used. YAY me! So just in case you're curious, here's how you can cook a good lunch for a week and still have it taste delicious. You'll notice I'm not really big into measuring things, just make it to your taste. I also don't like things like onions or whole tomatoes, but I love the flavor things like that add, just not the texture. To each their own!


HomeMade Beef Stew
A little Butter
1 Package Stew Meat
Carrots
Beef Broth
1 Can Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup

Seasoning:
Basil Leaves
Black Pepper
A little Salt
Garlic Powder



With the lid off take a bit of butter and coat the bottom of a large pot, warm over medium-high heat.

Season meat lightly with pepper and salt. Brown the meat 3 - 5 minutes, the best way to do this is to brown half of it then remove it from the pot and brown the other half.

After the meat is browned add the carrots, garlic powder (seasoned to taste) and any other veggies or seasoning you would like.

Saute a few more minutes and add beef broth and condensed tomato soup. There should be enough liquid to cover all ingredients by about 3/4 an inch.

Add Basil and a little more pepper, bring to boil, cover, reduce heat. Cook until carrots are tender and liquids have thickened.


Enjoy!