Still at a total weight loss of 20 pounds.

I’ve been fluctuating throughout the month, but at least I’m maintaining! It seems that either the weather is hot and humid (miserable) or else it’s raining. I haven’t gone for any walks at all this summer except for the Chicken Run that I did in July. Other than that it’s just been a chore for me to get outside to do yard work.

However, if I hadn’t been able to lose the 20 pounds I would never have been able to wear this dress in my sister’s wedding. People kept telling me how good I looked in it, but I have to admit that every time I saw myself in a picture I couldn’t help but think that I did not look good in it at all. In my mind’s eye my hips and butt looked huge and my best assets were a bit hidden. At least, that’s how it looked to me in the pictures. I’m sure that many people would disagree, but they see flaws in the mirror when they look at themselves that I would never even see.

I believe that last month I mentioned that I was going to seriously look into joining a gym. I did seriously look, but due to other factors that might have been an influence as to whether I felt we would be able to afford it, I didn’t pull the trigger. Now that I know for sure what my finances should look like, I might actually look into joining the Y. Jay said that he would join if I would play racquetball with him. I’ve never been a runner or highly athletic, but I’m considering it. I know that it might be hard on my ankles and knees, but I’m willing to give it a try. When I was in Fifth grade I was on a Little League team and loved it, but my mom told me that after that first season was over I wouldn’t be allowed to join again. You see, after every practice and every game I would have to go home and ice my ankles because they would swell up so bad. My family just isn’t made up of athletic people. In fact, my older sister failed gym class! My dad almost failed… but he managed to barely pass with a D-.

Hopefully in September I’ll have a better update for you regarding the whole exercise thing…

I did some more experimenting this month and attempted to make paleo gummies. Gummies are my kryptonite. I LOVE gummies. I found this recipe for paleo gummies that called for blended up fruit and gelatin. It sounded simple enough and so I gave it a try. *sigh* It did not turn out well. Perhaps I had my expectations way too high because I was SO disappointed. My favorite gummies are the soft, chewy gummy bears. This stuff was more like three-day-old Jello; too dense without the right kind of chewy. So I give up on trying to make gummies.

I have had a couple of compliments, though. Yesterday when I was out working in the yard I was talking with my neighbor and she said, “You really have lost a lot of weight, haven’t you?” I think that she noticed because I had to keep pulling up my sweatpants as they drooped down. 🙂

Oh, and on a side note… the zucchini relish that I made with the stevia baking blend turned out really good! I’ll be sure to post about that sometime in the near future.