Good morning friends!
Life here has been so busy. We took a couple of trips out to Utah and Wyoming last month to see family and friends. It was so wonderful! I saw my sister-in-law and her kids while they were visiting from Hawaii - oh how I miss them! When we were saying our good-byes, her son completely fell apart - which caused me & my SIL to fall apart, too. I told my nephew that we would come visit him next summer. I promised him.
So it looks like we're saving for a trip to Hawai'i. And we're all SO excited about it! Grand Duchess is practicing putting her face in the water so she, "can go to Hawai'i". The kids aren't asking for things at the store anymore because I sat down with them and showed them how much we spend on this and that. It really has made grocery shopping much more peaceful.
Popeye and I decided that if we "make weight" we'll go. We have until March to reach our desired weightloss and size goals. And I found just the diet to jumpstart it all off.
This all started when I went to stay with my sister at the beginning of July. She looks amazing! The last time I saw her she was about 20 pounds heavier and pudgy. Come to find out, she has been an exercise/paleo diet junkie and it shows! Her stomach is flatter, her face is thinner, in fact - she's wearing MY skinny clothes! I had her take a couple of bags of clothes to the DI when we lived out that way and she went through them first. I had given up on trying to get back to that size and was donating them. well, they fit her now. And I am so proud of her! But it also made me do a double take on myself. I had seriously let myself go over the past 4 months. No running with the dog in the mornings, letting stress run my life, bad eating habits, etc. well, my sister took me to her pilates class while I was there and the next day I couldn't lift my arms above my head or walk up my stairs. It was a seriously awesome workout - something that my body has been craving.
So it jump started my desires to get on the treadmill again and do more strength training. But the pounds still weren't coming off. Until yesterday.
I found this diet on Pinterest (pinned here) and did some reading on it. Compared to the cabbage soup diet - this one is SO MUCH BETTER! By day two of the cabbage soup diet, you're done. You don't want to do it anymore. Apparently this diet - aka the military diet - is only 3 days long and works using chemical reactions in the various foods. You may exercise or not - obviously you'll get better results if you exercise.
So after reading success story after success story, I decided I was going to do it! Popeye is on board with me and we started it yesterday.
Day one: All you can drink water
Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, 1 slice of toast & 2 Tbsp of peanut butter.
Lunch: 1/2 cup of tuna, 1 slice of toast
Dinner: 3 oz of salmon, 1 small apple, 1/2 a banana, 1 cup green beans, 1 cup vanilla ice cream.
This morning I got on the scale. 4 pounds gone.
Seeing that makes me more motivated to get back on the treadmill this morning and push myself further. (That AND the Olympic athletes' bodies - talk about motivation!)

Anyway. I'll post my success each day. and if people are wondering if the weight comes back - most claim that the pounds stay off. So with the jump start to weight loss and my bountiful baskets order coming in saturday, the pounds should stay away.

Oh - For those wondering about my Dyson. (Because I know you all care about the status of my baby) Yep, a month later and still at the doctor. I'm thinking that she's done, though, and I'll be getting a call today to pick it up. (At least I hope so. Thank heavens for loaner vacuums.)
Have a happy Thursday!