VEGAN RECIPE REVIEW: Rice Paper Bacon

Say what? Rice paper bacon? When I saw this recipe in my recipe book by Sam Turnbull called Fuss-Free Vegan (Amazon affiliate link), I instantly knew I had to try making it. Because there was NO WAY that I could imagine making rice paper taste and/or feel like bacon. She wrote that rice paper bacon hit the internet by storm, but I had never heard of it! So it may or may not be a new concept to all of you. It certainly was to me.

It rarely occurs to me, when I cook a new recipe from a book, that I may not be able to link to the recipe here, which kind of defeats the purpose of writing these posts. Thankfully, after I made this, I was able to locate the recipe online. It's not on Turnbull's site (It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken) but rather on a site called The Recipe Link. It says that the recipe is used with permission on that site, so I hope that it is. There is nothing that drives me crazier as a blogger than when someone steals my content. Anyway, the recipe can be found here (I'll link to it again at the end of the post).

Okay, so... rice paper bacon. I had never even touched rice paper before making this, so I was kind of excited to try a new ingredient. And I learned that rice paper is so cool! They look like tortillas, only they are paper-thin, much stiffer, and when they get wet, they are super sticky.

The ingredients for the "bacon" are simple enough: rice paper (obviously), nutritional yeast, cooking oil, soy sauce, liquid smoke, maple syrup, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. I already had everything at home except for the rice paper (which I found in the Asian section of Kroger). (I realized after I took the picture that I had grabbed the regular paprika instead of smoked, but I switched it out before making the marinade--so I actually did use the smoked paprika.)

As you know, I always like to follow recipes exactly as written; however, I couldn't find extra-large rice paper, so I bought the only package I could find.

To start, you just preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Then, in a small flat dish, you combine everything except for the rice paper and stir it up well. (It will already smell really good at this point!)

Yes, sometimes I stir things with chopsticks--it didn't work great in this situation!

I used a large cutting board for the next part. The recipe says to use three sheets of rice paper stacked together for the best texture. To do this, you just quickly run the rice paper under water, set it aside, run another sheet under water and then stack it on top of the first. Do it a third time so that you have three sheets of rice paper stuck together in a stack.

This is a stack of three after they've been moistened and placed on top of each other

They will be VERY sticky, so avoid folding them over. (Ask how I know.)

From there, you slice the rice paper into strips (I cut each stack into six strips). I found it easiest to use a pizza cutter to do the slicing. Once it's sliced, you take one piece (which is technically three pieces of rice paper stacked together, but it's stuck into one piece at this point), dunk it in the marinade, making sure to cover the whole thing, and then set it on the parchment-lined paper.

The recipe says to run your finger along each piece to wipe off the excess. When I did that, I think I did it too hard because there was pretty much nothing left but oil. So after that, I made sure to leave some of the thick part of the marinade on them, too, in random spots (which was suggested in the recipe). Later, I was glad I did that.

I used 12 sheets of rice paper total, making four stacks. And that was the perfect amount for the amount of marinade I had. You only bake them for 8-10 minutes, and I let mine go for 10 so it would be more on the crispy side (I hoped so, anyways). This is what it looked like before baking...

The kitchen smelled absolutely delicious when the rice paper bacon was in the oven. And when I took a peek at it, I was really surprised at how good it looked. After about 10 minutes, I pulled it out and this is what it looked like:

See the little spots where the marinade was thicker? Yeah, that's the best part!

I wanted to eat a piece right away while it was still hot, and holy smokes--it was delicious!! It was very crispy but still had that subtle chewiness of bacon at the same time. I found out later that it crisps even more as it cools--making it SO easy to just keep snacking on. If you like chewier bacon, I'd suggest using four pieces of rice paper and/or baking for a little less time.

The flavor is a perfect balance--smoky, a little salty, with a very tiny bit of sweetness. I asked Noah to try it and I was really surprised and (and disappointed) that he wasn't crazy about it. Noah's been more and more interested in eating plant-based and he's very open to trying to things, but he just didn't like this one.

Shocker of all shockers, though, Eli loved it! He didn't even hesitate after taking a bite to then shove the rest in his mouth and tell me how good it was and that he would definitely like me to make it again. This is ELI, who thinks vegan food is "gross" ;) 

I wasn't at all surprised that Jerry loved it. He said this rivals the lemon pepper tofu he loves so much and he asked me to show him how to make it so he can make it as a snack instead of eating potato chips or something. Hearing that was like music to my ears, hahaha. I can definitely see making a big batch of these to snack on just like you would with potato chips.

Joey was sniffing around while I was cleaning up, so I decided to see if he would like a piece. The pets can be a bit iffy about certain vegan ingredients (probably because pets like meat!). But Joey was certainly interested. And he loved it!

Whether you are plant-based or not, I highly recommend trying this out! The name of it is actually "Insanely Good Rice Paper Bacon"--and it definitely is. Here is the link to the recipe. And because I want to make sure she gets credit, here is a link to Turnbull's site, It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. I actually bought both of her books because I have liked everything so much.

I'm curious what others think, so let me know if you try it!

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Also, I'm going to post this for a few days, but I ultimately decided to go ahead and make an Amazon Wish List for my cross country team. The kids are in grades third through fifth and I like to reward them when they reach certain milestones. A few years ago, the Amazon Wish List was a huge hit and the kids were THRILLED with the prizes. So, if you feel inclined, please check it out; and if you are interested in donating something (either on the list or otherwise) thank you SO SO SO much!! Here is the link to the wish list: Cross Country Wish List. (The items will be shipped to me, so you don't have to worry about shipping. And don't worry, I'll post pics!)

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Bedroom/Bathroom Progress!

We are finally seeing some progress in the bathroom/bedroom! Brian (my brother) has been doing the behind-the-scenes stuff with electrical and plumbing (as well as installing the bathtub/shower combo), so even though progress was being made, there wasn't much to see yet. Today he came over to finish the tub so Jerry and I can at least start doing the other things like drywall and flooring (and framing the walls for the linen closet). It started to look more like a bathroom once the shower was in.

Brian brought Luke and Riley over with him because he wouldn't need my help much today, so I had the fun task of playing with them :)  Riley and I played with Mrs. Potato Head; we all played a game about cats and mice; Luke and I used plaster of paris to make a skeleton (we still have to paint it--the dry time before painting was 24 hours); and we dumped out my huge piggy bank.

We sorted through the money to look for coins with their birth years (2017 and 2018). Then I impressed Luke by offering him nine pennies or one dime--and when I told him the one dime was more money than nine pennies, he was very interested. Then we went through the other denominations.

Finally, we did the most fun thing of all... we played a prank on Jerry! Jerry had gone to Lowe's, so I showed the kids how to wrap a rubber band around the kitchen sink spray hose nozzle so that whoever turned on the water got a blast of water from the hose. After we set it up and waited for Jerry, I accidentally sprayed myself SIX TIMES--hahaha! I was so used to just turning on the water whenever needed and kept forgetting about it.

When Jerry came home, Brian (who knew what we were trying to do) asked him to check the if the water was back on at the kitchen sink (he'd turned off the main valve when working on plumbing). Jerry went to the sink and turned it on, and his surprise was hilarious!

After Brian was done with the framing and plumbing/electrical, Jerry got started on the floor. I felt totally helpless watching him, but he was actually really enjoying himself. He turned on Friends in the background (for him watching Friends in the background is like my listening to podcasts when I work).

Bonus points if you can name what episodes he was watching! ;)

It was already after 7:00, I hadn't eaten dinner (or even figured out what to make), and I was supposed to go for a run. Along with the other stuff I've been dealing with (I'll write about it one day if I can--long story and not mine to tell) I was feeling super overwhelmed.

Normally, in that situation, I'd procrastinate the run until tomorrow, but I found that I actually wanted to do it. It was super humid outside, but at least it was evening and didn't feel super hot. There was a funny circumstance that happened on my run, but I'll save that story for Thursday's recap.

Okay, I'm going to go make some General Tso's chickpeas with barley (yum!) and then chill out with Jerry. I don't have any Transformation Tuesday posts for tomorrow, so I'll do my vegan recipe review tomorrow instead. (ETA: Doh! It's only Monday. See where my mind has gone?)

(I mentioned this a few days ago and I wasn't sure if I should do it but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. I created an Amazon Wish List for my cross country team (I coach third through fifth grade). I like to give out rewards to kids who achieve milestones that are difficult for them. A few years ago, so many of you were so generous to donate gifts to the team! The kids LOVED earning their rewards. So, if you feel inclined--and certainly not obligated!--here is a link to our wish list. I believe that when you buy something from it, it gets sent directly to my house. But don't worry, I'll post pictures with the kids when they earn them ;)  If you're able to do this and you choose to, I can't tell you how grateful I am--and the kids will be ecstatic! 

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Deep Thoughts with Jerry #4

(If you're new here, Jerry is my husband.) Jerry has been cracking me up--he's been asking if it's time for him to write a blog post again. Yesterday was a really bad day for me and he practically begged to write my blog post. He's getting a little cocky about this blogging thing ;)  Actually, I love watching him write the posts because he gets really giddy. Then we laugh at all of his politically incorrect responses before he tones it down a bit so as not to offend anyone. (Something that's hard to do these days!)

While he worked on this post, I worked on organizing soooo many screws and nuts and bolts and all that kind of stuff into little containers to hopefully get the garage more organized. The day flew by so quickly! I was glad to have him work on his deep thoughts post while I worked on everything.

So, here are Jerry's "deep thoughts" of the week...

Who is your favorite person to travel with?

Easy--Katie. We have a blast together. I love trying new things in bigger cities. We usually have the same thought process when it comes to vacations... go with the flow. I don't like being tied to any plans. I like being able to just wing it without having to be somewhere at a specific time. Having reservations or putting any sort of time constraints on activities leads to stress and zero fun.

Did you have a stuffed animal as a child? What was its name?

I had a stuffed beaver. True story, no joke to be made here. His name was Bucky. I took him everywhere with me when I was a kid. My family was traveling from Sacramento back to Michigan and after being on the road for a bit, I discovered that I had left Bucky in our room at the Motel 6. When I realized Bucky was gone my dad promptly turned around to rescue Bucky from the housekeeping ladies. Good thing Motel 6 kept the light on for us or we would've never found him. I wish I had a picture of him.

What is your favorite dessert?

German chocolate cake. My mom is responsible for this. I look forward to one every year for my birthday. Last year Katie asked my mom for the recipe for the cake because she wanted to make one for my birthday and it had turned out phenomenal. Because I've switched to eating plant-based Katie said that she was going to try to come up with a vegan recipe for a German Mockolate Cake. We shall see. [Katie here: Jerry didn't do it on purpose, but that was a Friends' reference--remember when Monica was trying to come up with a recipe for "mockolate"?]

Have you ever met a celebrity?

A couple years ago I went to Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. I saw multiple stars from the saga including Oscar Issac, John Boyega, and Daisy Ridley. However, Katie was super impressed and jealous of me taking a selfie with Cameron Monaghan (she still calls him Ian because he played Ian Gallagher on 'Shameless', Katie's favorite show at the time).

He was at the convention because he had recently been cast as the voice actor of Cal Kestis, padawan and Jedi survivor. The character was featured on the game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the upcoming game called Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Needless to say, he was very down to earth and appreciative to the praise I gave him for his performances. 

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Animals dressed as humans. 

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A professional wrestler. I am a pro wrestling nut. I've been watching since I was a wee little man and I haven't stopped. Years ago, before marriage and the kids were even a thought I had a friend who was trained at a school in Detroit. Although he didn't make it to the big time a couple guys he trained with made it to TV and still are to this day.

I still remember him calling me telling me about his experience and how I could do it, too! I wasn't settled at my job yet but I thought it was a pipe dream so I didn't pursue it. I wish I would've. In the years to come I came up with the perfect gimmick--my name, my signature, and my catchphrases. Even to this day I come up with sayings or phrases and some of my friends still refer to me by my wrestling name... Jerrick Damon.

This picture is from 1998 of me wrestling with my friend Kris, who was smashing a chair over my head. Clearly brain damage wasn't on my mind.

What’s the most embarrassing moment from your teen years?

All I can say is it involves a Buns of Steel video and my dad coming home early. Take that however you'd like!

Katie here again. I make fun of Jerry for the Buns for Steel video all the time! Hahaha. Jerry loves writing this posts, so please send him some questions! He'd love that. (You can either comment or email me at katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com.) Happy Saturday! :)

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Friday Night Photos

I'm still having a very rough time with depression/anxiety lately, so I won't get into that right now. I always try to sound more upbeat on my blog than I actually am (otherwise I get called ungrateful and a Debbie Downer). I will just say that I have had more "heavy" things thrown at me (figuratively) in the last three weeks than I have in the last three years. I will write about what I can another day.

Anyway, now for Friday Night Photos! My favorite post of the week. If I didn't post these photos they would just sit in my Photos app on my computer until the day I die, so here they are. And I'm going to do them in alphabetical order (based on what I named them), so they will will likely be all over the place. :)

Jerry sent me this picture from New York yesterday. Since he's eating a plant-based diet, he was worried about the food options up there. A local man told him to try the beans and greens--totally not something I would ever picture him ordering--but Jerry LOVED it and wants me to recreate it. So if any of you have suggestions for a good beans and greens recipe, please email it to me!

Riley's birthday was on the weekend and Becky let Riley do her make-up. I thought it was so cute!

Pretty much what our bathroom looks like right now. My favorite part is Duck poking his head out of the bathtub, hahaha.

Brian mixed some sort of compound mud to put under the shower, which holds it into place once it cures. We are going to do a shower surround (to the right in the photo) that matches the tub because the last thing I want to get into is doing tile! This is enough work as it is. Besides, I like the look of the tub and surround.

After I posted a couple of weeks ago that I saw these cat beds at TJ Maxx and I wanted them, but they were too expensive ($40), Jerry saw my post and just had to go buy them. When he went back, they were down to $30 each! Still a lot for a cat bed, but definitely a challenging DIY project, so they were worth $30 for sure.

I don't remember at ALL what show I was watching (it looks kind of ridiculous) but Duck was totally into it. I thought this picture was hilarious because the cat on TV is staring directly into Duck's soul and he clearly avoided making eye contact for fear of losing said soul, haha.

I saw these at a garage sale for $1 and they were so cute! I couldn't help but get them for Riley. The woman at the sale told me the charms were in an advent calendar (such a great idea!). So, since Riley just turned four, I let her pick four for a necklace and I told her that each time I see her, I'll let her choose another one. The ones she chose are on the bottom. Since her wrist is too small for a charm bracelet, we made it into a necklace.

There is a small space between the window and our couch, and one day I felt terrible--I saw Chick trying to look outside, but the blinds were closed and he was lying in that cramped spot between the couch and the window. So naturally, I pulled up the blinds so he could see.

I feel like I might have posted this already, but Noah went disc golfing with Jerry a couple of times and I love that they have that in common. Eli isn't interested, but he's been regular-golfing ALL THE TIME. That's how he spends most of his money from his job. Golfing is expensive--$25 each time he goes. Jerry and Noah have been bonding quite a bit, though.

Duck is pretty much the only thing that can boost my mood when I'm feeling sad or depressed. Just look at how sweet and innocent he looks in that bed!

This is kind of hard to see, but I had this canvas tote on my bed (full of dust, of course, thanks to all the plywood, drywall, and whatnot). Anyway, I was lying there and then suddenly, quick as a flash, I saw what looked awfully like a Duck-size cat arm reach out. Hahaha! He kept pulling it back in and then sticking it out again, which is how I got the picture.

While the other cats understand that these are cat beds, Chick just thinks they are for playing. He jumps on top and plays with whatever cat is underneath. And definitely, they are annoyed when they are trying to sleep.

I'd given Luke Noah's old iPod a while ago so that I could text him pictures and FaceTime him and all that. When I was babysitting them, I found it and showed him again how to use it. He was really interested in looking at the pictures he took a couple of years ago when I first gave it to him. It was cute to see what pictures he liked! Normally, those would be the pics I'd delete ;)

This was my first batch of sprouts (mung beans). It was exciting to watch them grow, but I'd hoped they'd get thicker. Did I harvest them too early? Is this what they are supposed to look like? I'm bummed because I put them in the fridge and they actually froze! I have no idea why. So I'm sprouting more right now. These filled the entire quart-size mason jar, so I didn't want to let them go longer. But I started with just one tablespoon of seeds!

These mushrooms have been quite a mystery. I'll see a big patch of them in the mulch when I walk by in the mornings (when it's shaded), and then literally a couple of hours later, the whole patch is completely gone and you can just see wilted stems. I think it's when the sun comes out that it happens! It's so odd.

So this was from Noah's last "real" first day of school. Technically, he's all college kid now (he's been taking college classes for two years), but I wanted the first day of school picture anyways. The pic on the left is from his first day of kindergarten. So sweet!

This is kind of random, but when I went garage sale-ing with my parents, I saw this dress--it's a young girls' dress--but I thought the lace on it would be great to use for altering jeans. I could use it to sew patches or to add to the hem or some thing like that. If you have any cute ideas, let me know!

Ohmygosh, when I was babysitting Riley, she wanted to paint her nails. For being a brand new four-year old, you can see she's on her way to being a nail tech ;)  (It literally looked like she had just dunked her fingertips in a bucket of paint.) The mark on her forehead is paint as well. It was also in her hair, as I later found out!

I only took a picture of this because I thought it was so odd and kind of out of place. I saw this when my parents and I were garage sale-ing. It was just in front of someone's yard. Maybe it's symbolic of something I know nothing about--who knows?!

The things you do/wear when you babysit your unicorn-loving niece are true testaments of how much I love this kid! (Yes, I wore that the entire time)

I realize this looks really gross, but I promise it tasted delicious! I used a quick homemade vegan mozzarella (it's becoming my go-to--it's delicious!) and homemade vegan parmesan. I added some Brussels sprouts and broccoli, too. It was sooo good! I don't miss "regular" pizza at all. 

Finally, and this is COMPLETELY random, but I thought I'd throw it out there as a long shot. This was the day of my wedding in 2003 and my hair stylist came to my house to style the bridesmaids' hair.

I'd gone to this stylist for half of high school and then for the next 3-4 years I think. She left to go work on a cruise ship, and now I have no idea where she is or if she's still doing hair or what. However, I would really like to reconnect with her if I can! This is the best pic I could find of her face. Anyway, her name is Niky (I am pretty sure that's how she spelled it) and she used to work in Trenton, Michigan at a salon called The Hair ID.

Sooooo... if you happen to know who she is or where she is working or any way I could get in touch with her, I'd love to know--she was the BEST. I do my own hair now, and have been ever since Niky left, but it'd be great to see her again.

And that's all I've got for this Friday night. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to get some serious work done in the garage to help take my mind off of things. Have a great weekend! xo

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Running Recap: August 18-24

Since it seems like I might actually be getting back to running regularly, I'm going to just start calling these recaps by their dates. I'll start my running week on Thursday and end on Wednesday (so that I can write Thursday's post after the week ends). Since I already recapped last Thursday's run, I'll just skip it and only have two today.

I'm going to keep these posts short and simple. Since my goal right now is to be a "hobby jogger" (a friend of mine calls it that and I think it's perfect for my goal!) I am not going to go into heart rate or speed work or tempo runs or anything like that. My plan is to just run three miles, three times per week; the only real rule is that I can't go more than two days in a row without running. I did this years ago and it was super helpful to keep me from waiting until the end of the week to do the runs.

I did both of my runs outside this week--even though it was midday and it was hot! The older I get, the colder I get; and I'm able to tolerate the heat much better. It's about the only time I'm not cold.

I actually chose to wear a tank top for my first run this week--really! I don't even like wearing short-sleeve shirts but it was so hot that I didn't even car who saw my arms flapping in the wind (if there was any wind, haha).

It felt hard! I was running really slowly, but my legs felt like lead. I went down the road that leads out of the peninsula, which is kind of busy (for around here, anyway) and people drive about 65 in a 45--and they're always distracted. I like that route sometimes, when I'm looking for something different, but I have to be careful. Anyway, I had negative splits (getting faster as I ran) so I thought that was cool.

I felt really accomplished when I was done. So sweaty! In a good way.

Today, I really didn't think I was going to run. I wanted to skip it! Brian came over to work on the bathroom some more and I helped him with that. We got the bathtub set and while we wait for the "stuff" to cure (I have no idea what it is, but it looks like mud and it holds the tub in place once it dries and cures), I just have to pick up some more 2x4s and the water fixtures for the shower. He may come back tomorrow to add the surround to the shower.

After that, I worked on more sewing stuff (my pile of clothes to mend or alter is growing way too big). Then I went out to the garage and finished building a work table for my jointer and planer. Then I learned Eli hit a pot hole and blew out a tire on Jerry's car, and I don't even want to write how expensive it is for tires. He really needed new ones as it was, but this expense couldn't come at a worse time.

At that point, I thought for sure I wouldn't get a run in, but I did--I changed my clothes and went out into the heat and humidity, and I sweat loads during a three mile run.

I felt like I ran so much faster than the previous run because it felt so much harder! But I think that's because it was hotter. (I just realized this run should have gone on next week's recap--whatever! I'll recap on Thursdays with whatever I've got, how 'bout that? Haha.

Anyway, I'm going to watch a movie with my two boys--I'm excited they both agreed to watch one with me! ;)

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 65

You can clearly see that our bedroom hasn't changed much; Brian is supposed to come over tomorrow to finish installing the tub.

I've been debating--do I continue to count weeks in the title of my Wednesday Weigh-In posts or do I change it to a date? Or just leave it without any sort of number? I guess I do like to see the progress I've made since May of 2021, which is where the Week 65 came from. I became vegan on January 29 of this year, so I feel like that is a sort of "anniversary" too.

This week was another week that I went into blind as far as my weight goes. With my bedroom and bathroom torn apart, it's too inconvenient to weigh myself daily like I usually do. I've gotten into a good routine with eating, so I just hoped it would carry me through the week without gaining 20 pounds ;)

Last week, I was at 137.0. And this week, I was actually pleasantly surprised when I stepped on the scale:

At 136.8, it's not much of a difference, but it's a loss--I'll take it! While I'm happy at this weight, my goal is still 133, so I'm only 3.8 pounds away. I never believed when I started this last May that I'd actually DO IT. How many years have I been trying to get "back on track" to lose the weight I'd gained? The last time I was this weight was in early 2018. That year was the year I gained most of the weight--and in a very short time period.

Confession: I haven't counted calories in probably six months. I had intentions to and sometimes I'd enter my breakfast and lunch into the app, but I just have gotten into such a routine that I don't feel like I need to count. My breakfasts and lunches are pretty much the same every day, which I've written about before. For dinner, I just cook a vegan recipe (usually something new from a cookbook I have) and I eat a hearty portion of that. And later, I usually have a small snack. 

Eating vegan is the easiest thing I've done to lose/control my weight! Jerry has lost eight pounds this month without even trying as well--he's been eating plant-based since the first of August (with the goal of doing 30 days) and he likes it so much that he plans to continue after 30 days. I'm SHOCKED. Truly. 

One thing I've noticed over the last 5-10 pounds is how much my body has gotten smaller. It's not a lot of weight to lose, but the clothes that just fit me a few weeks ago are already on the big side. Even my size six jeans! I took in the waist in a few pairs of jeans (they tend to fit in the thighs but are big in the waist).

I guess it makes sense, though, because I was wearing a size four at this weight before (in 2015 ish). But for some reason, I'm seeing myself and thinking of myself as about 175 pounds. I was flipping through jeans at Goodwill and each time I found a pair I liked and I thought would fit, I discovered they were size 10 or 12. The size fours just looked so tiny. I regret getting rid of my "thin" clothes! ;)

I hope this week is much less stressful. (I don't mean about my weight; just the issues that have me stressed out in the first place). I'm excited to have friends over for a game night, but we have to get the house put back together first.

Anyway, I'm happy with another good weigh-in (I don't even know how many losses in a row this has been). I am just kind of stunned that I've lost 60 pounds in the past 65 weeks. The time went by so fast!

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