Kathy: Week 19: Blehhhh...

Week 19 Stats:

Today's Weight: 140

Last Week's Weight: 140??

Starting Weight: 151

Total Weight Loss: 11 pounds

Not much movement, as you can see. I am stuck here in 140-ish land, where I've been since early March. Blahhhhhh... Now what?

Here are this morning's photos. I think I look way better than I did back in Week 1. But I don't honestly see any difference at all between today and Week 13.

Duh. I weighed the same this morning as I did back then.

I've known for a while that it is probably time to keep a food diary. Sigh. That always seems so nit-picky, to write down every little mouthful. But then I read about a study where the people who kept a food diary were the ones who lost weight and kept it off.

So I've decided to take this one week at a time. Dear Skinny readers, I promise to keep a food diary for this week, and tell you about it next Saturday. I'll be keeping it simple, but I WILL be keeping it. Promise!

This morning I learned an astounding fact. Our stomachs are only as big as our fists! Whoa! I've always thought of it as kind of balloon-sized. But no. A fist. That's an empty stomach. It's stretchy, and we can eat up to about 1 liter of food at a time. But I'm going to be looking at my fist with every meal, then eyeballing my plate, to decide just how much I want to fill up that little fist-sized munchy-musher inside of me.

One more thing I'm trying out this week: I'm trying to learn how to run. I can't wait for Emily's next post to give me some hints! When I told my husband that I wanted to be a better runner, he said, "I know how to run." And you know what...he does! We went over the the track last night, and he coached me for several laps. (No, I did not run all that way...I mostly ran the straights and walked the curves.) Gosh, there are so many things to think about that I do wrong! But it feels better when I get closer to doing it right. He was coaching me on how to hold my arms, and how high to bring up my heels and knees, and...there was more, but I can't remember right now. So I'm going to drag him over to the track several more times this week, and see if I can begin to learn how to run.

Those are my three goals for the week:
1. Keep a food diary
2. Visualize my stomach the size of a fist
3. Learn how to run

What do you think? Any suggestions or tips for me?

And, to wrap up this post, here's a yummy dessert recipe I found in Prevention magazine this month. I'm going to make it for our family Mother's Day dinner tomorrow.

Frozen Strawberry Pie

I haven't made it yet, but here's what the magazine says: "Loaded with sweet berries, this luscious pie doesn't need full-fat cream cheese to taste delicious. The buttery cookie-crumb crust saves calories over a regular pastry. You can make and freeze the pie up to 2 weeks ahead. Just defrost at room temp for 35 minutes before serving."

Work time: 20 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes + chilling times

Servings: 8

Crust:

6 1/2 oz vanilla wafers (about 3 cups)

2 Tbsp butter, melted

2 Tbsp canola oil

Filling and Topping:

8 oz reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 lb strawberries, hulled

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1. Make crust: Crush wafers to fine crumbs in food processor. Mis crumbs, butter, and oil together until combined.

2. Pack crumbs on sides and bottom of 9" pie plate. Chill crust at least 20 minutes or up to a week.

3. Heat oven to 325. Bake crust until golden, 15-18 minutes. Cool completely.

4. Prepare filling: Beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar at low speed. Beat thoroughly at medium speed to combine.

5. Puree one-quarter of the strawberries in food processor. Fold puree (about 1/3 cup) into filling, saving any extra puree for topping. Pour filling into crust (will not reach top).

6. Freeze pie until just firm, about 1 1/2 hours.

7. Make topping: quarter or halve remaining berries. Toss with granulated sugar in medium bowl. Let stand at least 5 minutes. Serve toppings over slices of pie.

Nutrition (per serving): 283 cal, 4 g pro, 31 g carb, 2 g fiber, 17 g fat, 7 g sat fat, 206 mg sodium

Have a great week! And Happy Mother's Day!!