2017 OCT 1 -- Day 43

Success! My scale gave me three consecutive readings of 387.2 lbs today. I am going to consider my plateau busted. I was a bit premature with calling it busted before, but I think it definitely is now. I did a Google search for the word plateau, and many of the results gave me information pertaining to diets. I wonder how often that word is used in an appropriate context discussing an area of relatively level high ground. That's food for thought right there.

Starting weight: 415 lbs
Current weight: 387.2 lbs ⇩ 
Long-term Goal: 145 lbs
Short-term Goal: 359 lbs

Those numbers look pretty good, but they can and will get better! Those are rookie numbers!

Thanks for the advice, Matthew McConaughey, but I'd rather not pump my numbers up. Let them deflate. I like deflated numbers. Deflate my numbers, deflate me, make all the things smaller, please. Smaller is better. 

I still can't believe that a diet is actually working for me, though. Every now and again, I just stop and think how amazing it is to be actually losing weight for once in my life. This is magical. It's nothing short of a miracle! I'm not sure whether I should continue to post in this blog once I reach my goal. 

On the one hand, this blog is about the journey, and once I reach my destination, should it be done? Do I start a new blog. What do I do? 

On the other hand, you, my readers, may want to stay apprised of my continued maintenance. It would also keep me accountable so that I do not backslide. I never want to be over 400 lbs again. When I get below 300 lbs, I never want to be over 300 lbs again. When I get below 200 lbs... you get the picture. 

As long as I stay within the range of 126 lbs to 154 lbs, I'm good. I read this on the LiveStrong.com site: 

"Women with medium-sized frames, who are 5 feet 8 inches tall, have an ideal body weight of 140 pounds, according to the University of Washington. Add 10 percent – equivalent to 154 pounds – for large-framed women and subtract 10 percent, which is 126 pounds, for women who are 5 feet 8 inches tall who have small frames. Use your wrist circumference to determine your frame size. Women who are 5 feet 8 inches tall are small-framed if their wrist size is less than 6.25 inches, medium-framed if their wrist is 6.25 to 6.5 inches around and large-framed, if their wrist circumference is more than 6.5 inches, according to MedlinePlus."

The full article is Normal Weight for a Woman at 5' 8'' by Erin Coleman, R.D., L.D.

If I measured correctly with my crude tools, my wrist seems to be roughly 7". It may change as I drop lower on the scale, but right now I'm a large-framed woman who is 5' 8" tall. I think getting to 145 lbs is a good goal for me. 

it's October, so I'm thinking about two things: My dad, and Halloween. My dad's birthday is October 8th, and he's no longer with us. He's been gone for two years now; it was two years on September 19th. I wish he was still around. I loved him so much. But I know that while he loved me unconditionally, he wished I could lose this weight. If he could see me now having success with weight loss, he'd be so proud of me! He'd be really happy. 

On the Halloween front, I will be happy when I can wear cute costumes and not just dress up as a panda. I love dressing up as a panda, and it's easy because I don't need any special padding to do it, but I really want to be some kind of sexy something. Just once. Maybe a sexy panda? It's such an odd thing to have on my wish list, but I really want to experience it. I won't be able to do it this year, but maybe next year. It's just another reason to keep on pluggin' along and not give up. 

I want to be a sexy panda graph:

For the third year, I will be hosting Thanksgiving at my house and inviting friends. I like to go all out as it's really the one holiday I get. We don't do Christmas. All other holidays pale in comparison. Thanksgiving is mine. I don't even really mind that I get stuck in the kitchen the whole time and don't get to play and chat with our friends very much. I make all the food, and I decorate and everything, so I get all the raves. 

I'm making our turkey in the pressure cooker this year. I've already tried it, and the pressure cooker makes amazing turkey roasts. I can make fantastic gravy from the drippings, too. I will make real mashed potatoes again, but I will not be using the Yukon gold potatoes again, they were a bit too creamy. I know. That's weird to say. My husband loves lumps. I don't like them, but I don't hate them, so I make sure he gets some lumps in his potatoes. I can't do that with the Yukon golds. Russets are not great on flavor by themselves. I'm thinking I might do reds and add in some russets or Idahos. I don't know yet. 

I was also considering making green bean casserole and a broccoli/cauliflower medley with cheddar cheese. I also want to make some tamales this year. My tamales are amazing. The recipe has been handed down from my great grandma Garcia, to my grandma Cano, to my mom, to me. 

I think I will forego stuffing this year. I made boxed stuffing last year, and it was okay. It wasn't great. My husband doesn't much care for stuffing, and if he's going to eat it, he wants Stove Top from a box. I'm not too keen on the boxed stuffing, so if I can't make it my way, I'm just not going to make it. 

I will make the yeast rolls again. Those go over really well. And I found a great recipe for making my own spreadable real butter. That will be amazing. 

And finally, dessert. I do cheesecake every year. Last year I made individual 4-1/2" cheesecakes for everyone with strawberry topping. Those went over pretty well. I also made strawberry Jell-O parfaits. I make an amazing apple pie, so I may want to do that instead of the Jell-O. I am going to make cheesecake, but I'm not sure I want to do the individual ones again. If I do, I may change the crust to Oreo cookies instead of graham crackers. 

One thing is for certain, I will have to show some amazing will power. I can do it. I have complete faith in myself. I want to prepare as much of this as I can ahead of time so I can maybe spend more time with our friends than I normally get to. The problem is that I cook, and I serve, and then I continuously clean to avoid a harder job of it later. I need to relinquish some control and let it all go so I can enjoy our friends' company.