90 Days

It's been roughly 90 days since I started the upgrade. I'm 29lbs down and happy with where I am at. Last week I did a little bit of spring cleaning. Following my Virginia Jeans post, I realized that I have way too many jeans.

It was surprising to see that I own 8 pairs of jeans. I say surprising because I rarely wear them... mostly because they don't fit. The Virginia Jeans are loose but can still be worn without a belt. Four pairs don't fit at all. I tried on each of them and they could fit a small child in them as well as me. My belt could barely hold it up - I'm on the last notch. I had one pair that was a little tight... but close to being perfect. So I reduced this this stack to 4 pairs. I was really happy to get rid of clothes that I know I will never need again. :)

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Brittany Upgraded By The Numbers 

Starting Weight: 308.2 

Starting BMI: 48.3

Current Weight: 279.4

Current BMI: 43.8

Goal Weight: 160

Bad Brittany

News Flash: I am truly terrible to myself. I said some awful things in my head before stepping on the scale. Including, but not limited to, fat pig. I was sure that the scale was going to read a gain of a million pounds. Which I guess is reason for me to berate myself. But then I did step on the scale and I had lost a pound - in a week - which is my goal.

Eventually, I will have to learn to trust in the process and that being mean to myself is not going to help anything. The only goal of this whole upgrade is to be/get healthy. It's not healthy to call myself names. It's healthy to give myself credit where credit is due.

I've lost 28lbs in 3 months. That's an average of 9.3lbs per month... 2.15lbs per week... 0.3lbs per day. And that's compared to the 0lbs I lost last year and the year before that and any year that I didn't even try. Pretty damn good I think.

Awww.. Happy Easter

Source: weknowmemes.com via Jordan on Pinterest

Slowly

Spring is coming slowly this year. But this is the forecast for the long weekend:

The funny thing is that you get so used to temperatures like 15... 20... 30... That anything above 40 degrees is like a HEAT WAVE. I used to laugh at the people wearing shorts on cold days... now I totally understand. If it hits 45 on Saturday, I'm going to melt. 

Speaking of melting... I took some pictures of the front and back yard on Tuesday. We're slowly getting there.

Blag Housekeeping Note

Since I went all 'public' and stuff with my desire to upgrade to Brittany 2.0, I've decided to import the posts onto this site and just add the tag Brittany Upgraded. If you get spammed anywhere from all the posts that get imported, my apologies. :P

Kitchen Adventures: Pork Chow Mein

This was our first recipe from Jamie Oliver that we tried to make. We spent a good portion of Saturday tracking down some of the ingredients for this dish. We dove deeper into the downtown Asian market which felt a bit like visiting another country.

Black Pepper, Kosher Salt, Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, Hoisin Sauce, Pork Tenderloin, Broccoli (florets and chopped stalks), Dried Egg Noodles, Corn Starch, Ginger, Cilantro (leaves and chopped stems), Green Onion - (ignore the fruit bowl full oranges and apples :P)

This was a very quick meal to make. The majority of the time is spent chopping. Ian the sous chef  loves to do that! :) Once you start the actual cooking portion it goes very FAST. The noodles are cooked in about 3 minutes. The biggest revelation we had from this meal was the step that had us cook the broccoli with the noodles. It turned out fantastic... bright green, soft but not flimsy. The stir fry of pork and the remaining ingredients is done in a wok for about 5 minutes on high heat. You're constantly stirring and flipping. If you've ever watched the original Iron Chef, I felt like Chen Kinechi! Ian helped toss it... I was too scared to do that. :) 

This was the result. Yummy. I've never had chow mein anything and this was delicious. 

Adventures in Spice

Ian and I woke up from our winter slumber and discovered that both of us have been very bored with the meals we make. We cook dinner at home 95% of the time... and everything seemed so boring it was hard to choose what to make for the week. Two weekends ago, Ian discovered the Jamie Oliver app after watching his show '15 Minute Meals'. We made an extremely delicious dish on Saturday (post coming soon) and started an adventure in spice. 

I had told an Indian woman I work with about our interest and she has been bringing items for me to try. She is vegetarian but most of the dishes can have meat added. One dish she brought still makes my mouth water - simple boiled and sauteed vegetables in lots of spice called Pav Bhaji. Pav means bread, which you can have the vegetables (Bhaji) with. This morning she brought me every spice she used. I can't wait!

From left to right - Chili Powder from India (VERY bright red), turmeric powder,
coriander and cumin powder, garam masala, cumin seeds and mustard seeds

Virginia Jeans!

A few years ago, I bought a pair of jeans in Virginia. They were tight when I bought them but I liked how they fit in the legs. I wore them for a couple months and then they got to be just too tight to wear. I would consider them my one pair of 'skinny jeans'. I put them on this morning and I slipped right into them. They were easy to do up and still had lots of room - almost to the point of needing a belt. :)

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Brittany Upgraded By The Numbers 

Starting Weight: 308.2 

Starting BMI: 48.3

Current Weight: 281.4

Current BMI: 44.2

Goal Weight: 160

Could It Have Worked Out Better?

No!

Not only do I get to see these two crazy cats get married...

and see the best mom in the world....

but now I get to see this goofy kid,

his goofy older brother...

and these two knuckleheads.

I also get to fly in a nightclub.

Pretty sweet. I can't wait for May 29th. I need a vacation. :)

The Dress That Should Not Fit

I bought a dress online that was a last minute deal. I got it for about 60% off. It was a size smaller than my normal size; the measurements were on the small side as well. I was going to have it be motivation to fit into it by end of May. It arrived yesterday and when I held it up I thought there was small chance it would fit. 

Fuzzy Picture courtesy of Ian

It really shouldn't fit but it kind of does! It's a little snug in the middle and loose on top (my usual issue!) but it did zip up without any problems. Pretty cool. Hopefully by the end of May it will be nice and loose and I can cinch it with a belt or the tie it came with. :)