Hello Everyone,

Thought I'd check in and give you an update.  When I went to my brother's cookout last weekend I brought my plate to the picnic table with a hamburger (no bun) homegrown lettuce and onion on top and a side of radishes & celery with some ranch dressing for dipping.  He said, "Oh, so you're still on that diet thing" and I answered, "Yep, for the rest of my life".   It's really true too.  I'm so used to it now I didn't even think about taking the potato salad or the buns or the chips.   To be honest though, every now and then I do go off  the beaten trail a little bit.  For some reason I cave to the chips and salsa at Chili's Restaurant every time we go there, but it's not that often and doesn't seem to throw me off too much.  Also I have some dry red wine or a Michelob Ultra on the weekends every once in awhile.  Since I'm doing this forever I have to allow myself a few things that keep me sane.  It's never sugar though, and it's always just once every couple weeks.
-The past couple of weeks I have been pretty strict however,  trying to get these last 10 pounds off.  Since Benefiber is no longer on the market I have been having coffee in the morning and then making myself a shake made of 1/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt, 1 TBS of  Psyllium Husk powder, a few mixed frozen berries, and some non-sweetened coconut milk, and a little water if it's too thick.  I think this mix of probiotics, and fiber is good for me.  Lunch is usually a salad with smoked turkey lunch meat and dinner is veggies and some kind of meat.   I haven't been limiting myself to really low sugar veggies either.  I've decided that veggies are good for me no matter what, so I've been having snow peas, green beans, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, multi-colored peppers, onions, garlic, romaine lettuce and broccoli in abundance.   I still don't eat after 7:00 pm and most of my carbs have been coming from my veggies and the fruit in my shake.   This week I have broken my 163lb barrier... finally!  I weighed in at 161 lbs the last couple mornings. I'm happy, but like always wish it was more. Isn't that scale such a tease?  I'm almost in the 150's but not yet!  I'm going to keep pushing for the next week or two and see if I can keep going down
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The rest of it:   My two boys had their wisdom teeth removed with no problems.  They were quite funny coming out of the anesthesia though.   We traded in our old Town & Country mini-van which was on the verge of collapse for a new used Toyota Sienna mini-van with less miles on it and everything working. It's nice to have A/C in my van again!   My puppy, Mabel, is getting big but is still peeing in the house!!  Driving all of us crazy.  Luckily she usually goes in the kitchen and not the carpet.  She can be outside with me for three hours and then come inside and pee on the kitchen floor within minutes.  Arrgh!    Cleaning with a pet enzyme cleaner doesn't seem to help - she doesn't sniff and pee she just lets loose with no warning.  I'm now trying to give her a really good dog treat every time she goes outside and pees on demand for me.  Hopefully that will get her motivated to go outside!  Any guesses as to what breed she is?  We only know black lab mother, but thinking she may have some kind of bull dog in her.  Might do that Wisdom Panel test to find out.

 

Mabel getting big

It's been really humid here the last week and we had to turn the A/C on in the house.  This morning the humidity has seemed to burn off  and the air is cool.  I'm opening all the windows to get some nice fresh air back in!  I'd much prefer fresh cool air to air conditioning when I can get it.   Will catch up on the blogs today, but hope everyone is doing well!