I'm not back from my hiatus, but had to check in and give an update. I weighed this morning and I've lost another 1.6 pounds !!! That makes my total loss 11.6 and me a very happy lady.
To reach my 20 pound loss I have 8.4 pounds to go.
One thing that has helped me is I've gotten a handle on those creeping calories. They were putting me into maintenance mode instead of losing mode.
I shaved where I could do so without feeling cheated, by eating more voluminous foods so that I could satiate my hunger on fewer calories.
For example, I added more water to my morning oatmeal---I'd been eating it thick...now I'm eating it thinner. And I replaced my half banana with a quarter of banana and added some fresh sliced strawberries and instead of a nut butter I added some thin sliced almonds for good fat and crunch. And....I started drinking my coffee black. I treated myself to a bag of blueberry crumble coffee beans and made it a bit stronger so there is lots of flavor. It takes some getting used to, drinking my coffee without half and half...but I learned to drink my tea without sugar and I can do this too without feeling deprived because I've chosen to do it because I want to, not because I feel I must.
Got to run...still on hiatus...I'm enjoying reading YOUR blogs and the nice weather is an incentive to get out and get moving. Cheerio for now!