Honey, I'm off to the gym!

Wow, what a week! Busy, busy. Let's do a rundown of the goings-on in Cindy's world:

- Gym: Ok, here's a shocker. I like going to the gym. Can you believe it? I certainly can't. I like the routine of it. I like the way it makes me feel - like I'm doing something good for me. It's taking care of myself and I haven't really done that before. I feel so accomplished when I get out of there. The personal training is also going well, too. Jennifer is pretty awesome. No Jillian-like tendencies, at least so far. LOL! I was concerned our personalities wouldn't mesh well or something but we get along fine. She's increasing the weight on the machines for me each session and we think we've 'hit my weight' this past week. She says I need to feel like I just can't push out one more then make myself do it. I'm there. Not in too much pain the day after at this point, though. Just my knees. We kinda baby those because well, we have to. I don't want to hurt myself.

I never thought I'd be one of those people talking about things 'at the gym'. That phrase was like a foreign language to me. But I find myself saying things like 'Honey, I'm going to the gym' or 'I saw that on CNN when I was at the gym on the treadmill' or 'No, I can't go tonight, I have to go to the gym'. Bizarre. And amusing! I crack myself up thinking about it.

- Thanksgiving: Last Monday was Thanksgiving Day and we went to my mother-in-law's for dinner. We chose to forego the turkey this year and she made schnitzel. I was able to eat a small piece of that, a forkfull of both stuffing and potatoes, a lone broccoli stalk and...that was about it. I was stuffed. A few hours later I had a tiny wedge of sugar-free pecan pie. It wasn't bad! I got the recipe from Susan Maria Leach's book, which I've discussed in past blogs. I've always preferred pecan pie to pumpkin, so it made the holiday a touch more 'Thanksgiving-ish' for me.

Amazing Pecan Pie

3 large eggs
3/4 cup Splenda granular
pinch of table salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tblsp. salted butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans, plus 10 halves
one 9-in. pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until well blended and stir in the Splenda, salt, vanilla, butter and syrup. Mix in the chopped pecans and pour the filling into the pie crust. Arrange the pecan halves evenly on the custard and bake for 30 to 35 mins., until the sides are set and center is still a bit soft. Cool to room temperature and serve. Please note this pie doesn't have any sugar to act as a preservative so it must be kept in the fridge or it will spoil quickly.

Splenda is available everywhere - I actually used the Equate version, which is Walmart's store brand. Much cheaper and it works just fine. In her book, Susan tells us to use Steel's Sugar-Free Country Maple Syrup, and no other kind, in this recipe. She says she's tried other syrups and they don't work as well. I have searched and searched for Steel's in stores and online - it's not feasible for Canadians, it would seem. I used Cary's, which I got at the Walmart pharmacy, back with the diabetic supplies. It seemed to be just fine. Erich, my brother-in-law and mother-in-law all liked the pie just the way I made it. You can get a sugar-free syrup in Canada that is stocked on the shelf with the regular syrups (in the breakfast aisle), but that one has 'sugar alcohols' in it. Some gastric bypass patients are more sensitive than others and have dumping issues with sugar alcohol. I don't seem to, but I'm not pushing it. I just use Cary's. As for the pie shell, I just used a frozen one.

And while we're on the subject of recipes and food, I'm putting out an APB for a mini donut pan. If ANYONE out there can tell me where to find one, please help me out. There are protein donut recipes on the Eggface blog (see link at left) that I've been dying to try but I can't find the freakin' pan anywhere. You can order one from Amazon, but not to ship to Canada.

- Reward: Last Saturday, I got my ears pierced! I was going to do a tattoo for my 100-lb. milestone reward but I can't decide on a design. So, Erich and I went downtown (during Oktoberfest...not a great idea) and had my ears done by Tim, a guy we've known for years and has tattooed and/or pierced most of our friends. LOL! Including my ex-husband. Yeah, weird, I know. I know that at 39 I'm a little late to the game on pierced ears but I tried two different times when I was younger (jr. high, I think) and they just kept getting infected and wouldn't heal. So I gave up. Tim put stainless steel hoops in my ears and so far, I think they're healing up nicely. I am such a total wuss, he and Erich were laughing at me because I was wincing in pain and stuff. I told him 'There's a reason why I only have one tattoo. They hurt.' He responded, 'Well, let me recommend a place down the street for you when you get your next one then...' LMAO! I'm still thinking about that tattoo. I want one so much but yeah. They hurt. Wuss.

I only lost one pound last week. Frustrating to say the least, but it is what it is. At least it's a loss. So I'm at 308 right now, 136 lbs. total loss.