Weigh-In: Sunday 1/30

209 (down 4.6 pound from prior week)

This was a surprise to me! Despite being stuck at home all week and not having any physical exercise, I stuck with my Weight Watchers daily points, didn't really dip into my weekly bonus points and lost 4 pounds and some change this week!

It was a great feeling of success. Let's keep it up!

Slow Cooking.

Starting out small. I bought a CrockPot when we first got this apartment and have been looking for a recipe that would fit the palettes of me (and my picky tastes) and Mia (who doesn't eat beef). I stumbled upon this recipe for Chicken 'N Dumplings and determined it would be a success.

Of course, I'm not without worry in this kitcheny world. What is the default size most slow cooker recipes are targeting? Mine is just a small 3 quart pot. Would that be too small for what most of these call for? Worry, worry, worry. In the end, I decided to just try it and around noon today, we had liftoff!

I bought the ingredients this weekend but then realized I had forgot to buy an onion! The recipe called for 1/4 cup finely diced onion. I called my mom and we determiend that my minced onion in a jar would work in lieu of a fresh onion and I went with two teaspoons full.

As I went to get the chicken I realized that deciding to do this recipe on the spur of the moment wasn't the wisest choice. After about six minutes of defrosting, the chicken was finally to a place where I could chop it into little chunks fairly easily.

Once all of the ingredients were in, I started it off. After a few hours my house smelled like heaven! I couldn't wait. As the day progressed, it just became more and more heavily in here. I hated that it took six hours because I was ready to eat it around the three hour mark.

The recipe instructed to add in refrigerator biscuits when only 30 minutes remained. Once I got in the kitchen, I realized there was no way to add in as much as the recipe called for. The Crock-Pot was going to spill over with only half added so I decided to just let it ride and see what happened. Fast forward 30 minutes and that thing was about to bubble over! Good thing I didn't push it with the rest of the biscuits, right?

I was skeptical on how it would taste. I just don't trust myself enough with this sort of thing. However, I was so pleasantly surprised with how it came out. My 7 year old gave it a rave review and gobbled it down. I actually felt the same.

Why am I including my cooking adventure in my weight loss journey?

My mother was always the kind of woman who would kick me out of the kitchen rather than employ me to help. For many years I'd ask if I could lend a hand but she was always shooing me with the reason that it was easier for her to get it done if I wasn't in the way.

As a mom myself, I can see exactly why she did that. But, as an adult who was never allowed to help, to see how it all worked, I am completely without that natural feeling in a kitchen. I'm 29 years old and I can't cook much, unless it comes from a box or can with explicit instructions. I'm terrified to work with meat for fear I'll start a fire, burn it or serve it undercooked, thus getting all of my diners sick. I flounder in the kitchen because I just don't know how to maneuver in one.

Now that we live on our own and aren't relying on my mother's dinners every night, I am more and more bothered by the fact that I'm not feeding my daughter enough healthy meals. I'm bothered that I'm not feeding myself enough healthy meals. Part of the success with my weight loss will be my success in moving around my kitchen when dinner time rolls around. As far as I'm concerned, these things just don't work without each other. So, here's to losing weight and adding skills!

Weigh-In: Sunday 1/23

213.6 (down 1 pound from prior week)

ONE-TIME BACKGROUND: I find that the biggest reason I struggle with my weight loss is because I'm not accountable to anyone but myself. If I slack off, I have no one to check in with and keep posted on it. It makes it easier to say, "Eh, this week doesn't matter." But it does matter. I've carried an uncomfortable excess in weight around since Mia was born and I've never worked to get it off. I've tried but not hard enough.

This weekend I watched the A&E show "Heavy" this weekend and was startled. I'm not there but I don't ever want to be there. It's so easy to lose control and keep adding more and more to your already overweight body. I vowed never to go above my pregnancy weight. And I have... without much effort.

So, here I am. I'm still not employing any popular diets but I'm using Weight Watchers, exercising and relying on my instincts right now. I'm convinced that can do plenty.