I can put my hands in my pants! :)

Okay so I don't condone putting your hands down your pants...ever. But check this out...

Yep those are my pre-pregnancy jeans and yes, my hands are down my pants (but only for pictures sake :) ). I'm so excited. My PRE pregnancy jeans are getting to be loose. How exciting is that?! I'm almost to the 20lbs mark... crazy. I've never lost this much weight before. These last pounds will be the toughest mentally for me. I've been in the low 140's since I got home from my honeymoon (all-you can eat resorts are just not a good way to start a new life ;)) and part of me feels "complacent" here. I'm in good shape, I can wear a lot of my clothes. I feel good. But is this where I want to be? No. I don't want to be "on a diet" forever. I want to be not just happy with my weight, I want to be ECSTATIC with my weight. I want to love my body and be so proud of it. Have you ever worked for something SO hard in your life and been SO THRILLED when you achieved it? Like a college education, you spend a lot of time, money, blood, sweat and tears for that. But do you wear your degree on your shirt everyday? No. Or maybe you have kids that are grown, you worked really hard to raise them, but the person in line behind you at the grocery store doesn't know that! Getting to your "ideal body type" is like wearing your proudest accomplishment on your sleeve, that is something that you and everyone else sees, and I want that! I asked Boyd to give me a pep talk last night and he said the best thing he could have said, "The only thing I want is for you to have the body that YOU want." Is he excited that I'm losing weight? Heck ya. Would he still love me and be attracted to me if I didn't lose any more weight? Of course. But he wants ME to be happy with ME and that is what I'm going to do. Woo hoo, I can do it! He also pointed out that I have such good momentum going right now that to stop would really be a bummer, it would be so much harder to start back up. So I'm pumped and motivated...130 (hey maybe 125??) here I come!!! Plus I can't stop, my trainer would hunt me down, and oh yeah I'm running a half marathon in 10 months!

Cheesecake...

How many calories do you think is in this cheesecake? Couple hundred maybe? How many times have you been on a diet and said, "I think I'll have a cheesecake." Not too many right?
Well my friends, thanks to my new love for cooking and modifying foods so they are healthy, here is a delicious cheesecake that is..........................(drum role)........................................................
145 calories! (that's less than a bowl of cereal)
I found a recipe for cheesecake in the weight watchers cookbook (fabulous by the way) and I decided to try it. The recipe is for a cake which should be cut into 16 slices. But honestly who cuts a cheesecake into 16 slices? I knew that if I made a whole cake 1 serving would really be like 2. So... I bought some cupcake liners and put them in a muffin tray, then made individual cakes. They are SOOOO YUMMY!!! (and super easy to just pull out of the fridge and enjoy!) It's so fun to create things like this! I HAVE to have variety and I have to have desserts, so I found a way to do it. Here is the recipe...

Delicious Mini-Cheesecakes

12 graham crackers (this is equal to 6 "boards" of the crackers, 12 squares) made into crumbs

2 cups fat free cream cheese (don't even think about using regular, it TRIPLES the calories!)

1 cup fat free sour cream (dito)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 large eggs

2 tsp. grated lemon zest (would also be good with lime, or orange)

LITE cherry pie filling (I actually liked it better without this and hey bonus, less calories!)

• Preheat oven to 325, put 16 cupcake liners in a muffin tray, spray liners with non-stick spray
• Press graham cracker crumbs into bottom of cups (about 1 spoonful in each cup)
• In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
• Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed until blended
• Stir in the lemon zest
• Spoon batter into each individual cup (about 3/4 of the way full)
• Place muffin tray on a cookie sheet or 13x9 pan (something with a lip or a side)
• Pour boiling water in outer tray/pan
• Bake until almost completely set 30-35 minutes
• Turn off the oven and prop door open, leave the cake in the oven for 30 minutes
• Cool completely, then refrigerate
• If you would like, spoon 1 Tbs. LITE cherry pie filling over tops of cakes (without pie filling, calories = 128 per serving)

Nutrition info:

Calories: 145 (without pie filling = 128), Fat= 6g, carbs = 14g, protein= 5g, weight watchers points = 5

HAPPY EATING!!!!