NSV: Non-scale Victories

I keep pushing myself to get behind the camera from time to time because it gives me a chance to evaluate and reflect. I still don't like pictures -- especially those with no makeup and wild hair -- but even I can't deny that things have changed. The top picture shows me at the beginning of the journey and today.

My husband and I just came back from a true "countryside bike ride." The scale is about where it was last year at this time, but I have built muscle and endurance. I've had a lot of surgeries, gain some weight and then went up and down the same 10 pounds for months. My muscle mass has gone from 42 percent to almost 53 percent. The muscle weighs more than fat, but it's not a lot of fun to say "Hey, look how much muscle I have" as opposed to "I've lost 100 pounds!"

We biked about 8 miles on GRAVEL and offroad. I've never biked offroad and it's some serious workout. My husband decided when it was time to turn around and go home. It's a pretty spring day in Louisiana and I spent some time in the woods with the man I love (and he got some exercise also). This could have never happened at 350 pounds, but I did try from time to time. I'm thankful for NSVs because without them, I would feel like the entire year was a complete failure.

I've not exercised much or gotten many adjustments to my lap band in the past year and I'm hoping all that is about to change. I do think I still eat too much, but my choices are so much better than they were before.

This is my Mushroom Chicken over Penne Pasta. I take pictures of food more than I do myself. At first it was for my future cookbook, now, I use them to help enforce portion control -- "I ate this much!"

The pasta dish was a little bland at first. Today, I reheated it and added a few peppers and some hot spices. Much better. The most important part of the meal was to use Dreamfield low-carb pasta. This stuff is great with 7 grams of "absorbed carbs" instead of 41 grams and it tastes great. It's not a weekly meal around here, but I have used elbow, linguini and the penne Dreamfields. This stuff is the bomb!

Tomorrow, I'm going to weigh and again consider a lap band fill. Anything under 270 is my goal. I'm ready to eat less and exercise more. When I reach 250, I will be 100 pounds under my highest weight of 350 pounds. I would like to be there by the summertime.

My goal of clothes that fit and a new hairstyle can come much sooner. My closet ranges from 32 to 22 and last week I wore a size 32 top with a size 22 pants. I'm pretty cheap and I only brought the size 22 pants cause big baggy pants are only cool if you're a rap singer (and NOT my age).

---

Note to Scott: Thank you for doing this for me. Personally it still hurts to see pictures of myself cause I don't see all that double chin when I look in the mirror. What the pictures do is give me comparison and hope. I have to do just a little bit better than this and I will never forget the role you played in reinventing me. Love-Frances

---