Starting off on the right foot!

Wow, first I need to start by saying THANK YOU to everyone!  The amount of comments, emails, calls and texts I've received over the past few days have been amazing and inspiring.  Thank you all for your love and support.

Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon cooking!  Yes, cooking!  I know that seems weird for someone who is trying to lose weight, but hear me out.  In the past, when I've been successful in losing weight, it's because I've prepared myself for the week.  I have my meals (for the most part) planned out or cooked, that way when I get home there isn't any "there's nothing in the fridge, lets go out to eat" or "lets order a pizza".  So that's what I did yesterday, I got ready for the next few weeks.  I'm going to post what I made so that I remember for future cooking, but also in case anyone else wants to try out a few of them.

• I baked a bunch of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I just put them on a cookie sheet (sprayed with Pam) and sprinkled some seasonings (Italian herbs, garlic and onion powder) and put them in a 400 degree oven for 30 mins.  Then I put each on in an individual freezer bag with the date on it and popped them in the freezer.
• I browned up a few pounds of ground turkey.  I don't use any prepackaged seasoning mixes because of Chris's high blood pressure so I used the same seasonings that I did on the chicken.  I like to put turkey on my salads at lunch to give it some protein.  I found that in the past I'd make a huge salad for lunch with only veggies and an hour or two later I'd be hungry again.  By just adding a little protein (turkey, tuna, etc.) to the salad, it keeps me fuller longer.
• Salad time!  I find that I'm much more likely to make a salad if everything is already chopped up and ready to go.  I don't want to have to think about chopping veggies while I throw my lunch together for work.  So I chopped up all of the extra veggies that I had and put them into separate baggies.  This time I had cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms, green peppers, cherry tomatoes.  My acupuncturist also told me that eating salads that are darker in color are better, so I went with a spring mix without spinach.  
• When we were in Colorado this past August, my cousin Heather made eggs in a muffin tin.  I thought it was the coolest idea.  I followed this recipe, however I did make one adjustment.  I sauteed up some onions and mushrooms with some Pam and put them in the bottom of the muffin tin first.  After they were done, I put them in freezer bags and will take them out as needed.  I also bought some 90 whole wheat sandwich thins and 40 calorie cheese slices, I plan on using them to make my own, healthy egg mcmuffins.  http://www.ehow.com/how_5623008_cook-eggs-muffin-pan.html#page=7
• When I was on Weight Watchers I made this soup a lot.  It's good, low in calories and pretty filling.  Yesterday I made a HUGE pot of it and then put individual servings in tupperware containers for the freezer. http://www.food.com/recipe/ww-0-point-weight-watchers-cabbage-soup-128956

Chris and I also decided that this is going to be "No Drink January".  I know that laying off drinking is one of the best ways to kick start a diet, so that's our plan.

So now for the tough part, I stepped on the scale yesterday for the first time in months.  I almost threw up at the number.  People have asked if I have an end goal in mind and I do, but it's hard to tell someone, yes I have over 100 lbs to lose.  That makes me ill.  So, instead of looking at the big number, I'm going to look at my 10 lb increments.  It's tough for me to look at these pictures, much less upload them for the internet universe to see, but I promised myself I'd put it all out there - the good, the bad and the ugly.  Here I am at the start of this plan, I give you............the ugly!