HAPPY DANCING HAPPENING HERE

Minus 50 pounds total on the scale this morning.  Smiling and jigging a jog around here!  I was thinking yesterday that these last 30 pounds are the fun pounds.  Those first 30 pounds were just NOT fun.  I had gone up and down in that range a lot these last five years, so you couldn't really tell I looked any different.  I know, it is not all about looks, but when I was working so hard looks would have been a great reward.  It really wasn't until around minus 40ish pounds that any kind soul noticed I'd done something different.  Doing the right thing, and making better choices was really a great daily reward in itself during that time, but it was not as exciting as getting close enough to see the very distant finish line.

These next 30 pounds are motivating and exciting because I just feel so much better, look so much better, and get to begin to enjoy the rewards of the weight loss like smaller and cuter clothes.  For the first time last week another mom commented that I certainly did not need to lose 30 more pounds.  Ahhh.  It made me smile.  With my first five babies I never needed to re-lose more than 25 pounds, so when I would complain about losing weight people would always say that polite thing of "you DO NOT need to lose 25 pounds.  Where?"  With 80 pounds to lose, and even when I got down to 60 or 70 pounds to lose, people would give me a pitiful look or say something like,"You can do it."  I know, I was the only one in denial about HOW BIG I really was, but somehow it still shocked me when they never argued even a tiny bit that I should be losing X amount of weight.  It was nice to hear someone sound genuinely surprised that I still have 30 more pounds to go because it affirmed my loss so far.  Just as I was in denial about how large I had gotten, I seem to be weirdly unsure about if what the scale says matches what I look like now.  So it was nice to hear that maybe it does.

I hope to in list my in house photographer Peter and take a few pictures to post of me at minus 50 pounds.

I am still juicing and starting day 11 today.  Look at the frothy thick top on that juice!  Again it is surprisingly thick.  I really feel very good.  The amazing thing about 10 days of only veggies and fruit is it really changes my cravings.  The Hershey's chocolate bar my son begged for in the store last night honestly did not phase me.   Fresh almonds however make me drool, and I am dreaming of an avocado on top of a crunchy veggie salad.

 He asked me to take this picture with him drinking from his cup.  I have so much help around here.

I'm off to juice with my juicing entourage.  I am thinking about getting a Vita Mix.  Any of you have one have any advice?  My boys who spent 3 hours mesmerized by the Costco Blend Tec man last weekend, and consequently could now go into business themselves, are insisting it is better.  I, having previously been enamored by the Costco Vita Mix man, am not convinced.  Either way, those cool headset microphones and amazingly thick smoothies that don't fall out of the upside down cup are convincing....I won't even get started on the sorbet or HOT soup.  It's a good thing we don't get out much!  I'm boogieing off to the kitchen; let the juicing begin.