Technology Sucks Sometimes

My laptop is being a real pain in the booty. Freezing, taking forever to load, etc... It's been on it's last legs for a while, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Anyway, I did some more alternative exercise today. =) It's way more fun than working out. My husband and I took the kids to the park. I don't know how far it is; probably a mile or so. I rode my Razor scooter there and jogged back, so that was good. The kids rode their bikes and my 2 year old rode on his dad's shoulders. ;-) Fun for all. :-D

I swapped babysitting with my mom (and on Friday watched her kids, as well as Michelle's) and it was super nice to be out there. I wish so bad I knew how many calories I had burned.

So, if you have a BodyBugg, why did you choose that over some of the alternatives? Or do you have an alternative to the Bugg? The BB seems really expensive; we don't have that kind of money. I'm wondering if I can find something cheaper on eBay or craigslist or something. It's a luxury at this point, but it would be so nice to know how many calories I'm burning. Which leads me to my next point...

It seems that, for me at least, calories in minus calories out does not necessarily equal weight loss. I figured if I ate below my allotted calories-- calories that were designated to help me lose 2 pounds a week-- then I could basically eat whatever I wanted. If I wanted to use all my calories on pizza and chocolate, I could. But, when I've been eating whatever fits my fancy and isn't low calorie and low fat, I don't lose. Even if I stay within my calorie limit.

This is very disheartening for me. It makes dieting so much more unbearable for me. I don't like salads by nature. I can eat them a couple times a week, but even then I don't really enjoy them by the end of the week. I'm sort of at a loss as to what to do. I'm not making any huge changes until after I see the doctor and get my hormones back in the right place. Cuz now that I think about it, I DID lose those first 3 weeks.

So, we'll see. I really want to lose this weight, but I don't want to go crazy or overboard in the process. Plus, I just generally lack self will to eat only salad and chicken for the next however many weeks/months to get to my goal weight. I can't do that.

Anyhoooooo, that's all from me tonight. I'll weigh in again tomorrow, but I expect it to be the same as Friday, which brings me to a total of 6 pounds lost for the month of January. =)

Alternative Exercise

So, I didn't get in a "formal" workout program today, but I burned some calories. Our church is having a big men's retreat this weekend; over 450 men are here. So today I worked in the coffee bar and kitchen. I was there from 9:15a.m. until 3p.m. working NON STOP the entire time.

Let me tell ya, I burned some calories fo shizzle. Probably more than I burn when I do my 30 Day Shred, even. I was running around, sweating like CRAZY. I had to step inside the huge walk-in freezer a couple of times just so I wouldn't spontaneously combust. I kid you not.

My only downfall today was I had 2 different coffees. Both were fat free and sugar free, but obviously, not dairy free. Other than that I had a banana, 1 piece of banana bread, a couple slices of turkey, a handful of baby carrots and now I'm eating a big bowl of Kashi. Oh, and 3 bites of my sister's PayDay bar. ;-)

I'm gonna hit the hay and read a while to relax, but I'll be back tomorrow. :-D

Exercise is not happening today

Oh. My. Word.

I am beyond exhausted; totally and utterly. Throughout the day I had a total of 6 children other than my own in my house. It has been hectic and crazy.

I am tired and I am going to bed. I hope to work out tomorrow, but am busy from morning until sometime in the afternoon. I don't want to stop exercising; today makes 2 days in a row with no exercise and that can't be good.

Especially since the scale isn't making any huge downward spirals, I feel myself slipping into "It's not working so I'm giving up" mode. But no. I will not quit.

Like I said, EVEN if I only lose 5 pounds in a whole month, it will still be THIRTY FIVE pounds down come July.

So. I won't give up. I won't stop exercising. I won't stop striving to eat healthy, low calorie meals every day.

But for now, my bed beckons to me and I will go lay these tired bones down. =)

Proper Post

Ok, so after I went to the bathroom, got ready to shower, etc... I decided to step on the scale one more time. I had gone to the bathroom, after all. ;-) I was down 1/2 a pound, yippee. So I'm back to 167, which is good. I'm hoping that by Monday, maybe maybe maybe I can convince my body to shed 8 more ounces (how ridiculous is that!?) so I can have a 1 pound loss for this week. We'll see.

My husband is gone for the weekend, and man do I miss him. This morning when he left I was trying so hard not to cry. It's ridiculous, really. The retreat he is going to is literally 10 minutes from our house, but I won't see him until Sunday. Once he was gone my 4 year old daughter came up to me and said, "It's ok, mom. Daddy's gone now so you can cry." And cry I did. And then SHE started crying so I knew I had to pull myself together. Ahhhh, what a sap I am!

Anyway, I ate leftover pizza for lunch. And breakfast. I like cold pizza. I'm weird like that. So today hasn't been perfectly on plan, but the day isn't over. I haven't had a chance to work out. I plan to do it tonight, after the kids are in bed. I even plan to do Level 2 of the Shred and also my Leslie video. Try to recoup some of my losses. ;-)

SO, for the Perfect 10 Challenge, here are my goals for the following week:

Weigh in on Monday and HOPEFULLY post a pound loss this week.
Drink 85oz of water a day... I'm behind on this right now, but have time to catch up.
Try to eat mainly meat, eggs, fruits, veggies, nuts and oils.
TRACK MY CALORIES. I did track them yesterday. I didn't know how many calories were in my chocolate cheesecake so I guessed 400, and then with the pizza I have no clue, but am pretty sure I went over the 328 I had left for the day.

Speaking of, a slice of pizza from the Costco deli will set you back between 700-1400 calories. PER SLICE. Sure, those slices are huge, but I can eat one easily.

I can't wait to go to AZ next weekend. I hope I'll be able to kickstart some more weight loss.

That's it for now, I'll post again real quick tonight to let you know that I did indeed work out. =)

Real Quick Perfect 10 Challenge Update

I only have a few minutes here, because soon I will be watching over 7 children ages 5 and under. Eeeek! ;-)

I took a sneak peek today and my weight is the same, 167.5 That's better than it going up, but I really wish it would just go down already. *sigh*.

I'm going to try to get my workout in at nap time, once the majority of the kids I'm babysitting have gone home.

Quick fact about me... well, it's about my great aunt really. My great aunt is Ruth Mayer, a well renowned artist in Laguna Beach, California. She painted a portrait of Pope John Paul II before he died. She had a private sitting with him, and they auctioned off the painting to benefit charity.



I am privileged to have one of her (huge) paintings hanging in my house. It's Catalina Island.



Here is a bigger picture of it.



Check out her gallery; I for one, think she is an amazing artist! ;-)

Aw, I got a Happy Award!

266 was kind enough to pass on the Happy Award to me! If you haven't already, check out her blog. She has lost 92 pounds so far, and her progress pictures are amazing. =)

With this award I'm supposed to name 10 things that make me happy and then pass it on.

I've received this award 3 times in the recent weeks, and I am thankful for every single time, because I get to count my blessings and come up with 10 things that make me happy!

So, here are 10 things that make me happy:

1) Knowing God is in control, watching everything and He cares for me.
2) My 30 Day Shred. It's brutal, but it's going to help me lose this weight!
3) My blogger friends, my IRL friends and my family
4) Sunshine
5) Baking
6) Mary Kay Satin Hands lotion. My skin gets so dry and cracked and it helps!
7) The easy clean feature on my oven. ;-)
8) My 11 pound shih tzu, Charisma. Who is doing much better with house training!
9) My lucky bamboo plant
10) High thread count sheets. Yep, I'm a sheet snob. The higher, the better!

I would like to pass this award on to the following friends:

JEN My real life friend and sister-in-law. She has lost 35 pounds on her own and has 3 small children close in age!

SHERAH Also my IRL friend, and she is having some AMAZING results lately. The mom of SEVEN children and fit to boot!

SUNSHINE MAMA She goes running in negative degree weather and can do 140 push ups!

LINDSAY Who is totally real and down to earth and a real peach.

WHITNEY She has a BodyBugg and totally has me wanting one and Dr. Jeff from the Biggest Loser reads/comments on her blog!

ERICKA She's been sick recently, but her posts are always honest and funny. And she perseveres.

SHEENA Special to me because our blogs are similarly titled and needs encouragement to KEEP blogging. ;-)

AMY She also recently started this journey and is doing great!

JACK Super, SUPER witty and entertaining.

RACHEL She has lost over 100 pounds and is funny to read. Sometimes R rated, but funny. ;-)

And last, but most certainly not least, I can't leave out DAWNIE. She has received this award many times recently but I love her blog. She has lost 63 pounds in 4 months and is very inspiring and uplifting and encouraging.

Whew, I think that's 10. I know some of them have received it recently too, maybe even by me!LOL So you guys feel free to pass on the whole passing it on and what not.

Today went fairly well. I didn't exercise. I was just too drained. I ate well, right up until my sister brought over a piece of chocolate cheesecake. And then we had pizza for dinner; and a small fire in our oven.

It was a comedy of errors, really. My husband gets home from Costco with a meat pizza (which was extraordinarily delicious!!). We put it in the oven, on the little cardboard thing. Well, it starts smelling funny and isn't cooking correctly, so we slide it off the cardboard. Except my husband doesn't realize how far out he's pulled the rack, and half the pizza falls off the back end, the toppings dripping down toward the coils.

It takes us a good 5 minutes (cuz we're really fast-on-our-feet-thinkers) to get it back on the rack, I burn my hand in the meantime and the pizza is like, destroyed. It looks like it got in a fight with a Great Dane and the dog won. We decide it's still edible, so we put it back in to finish cooking.

More toppings drip off. It starts smoking. We take it out... and once again it's like falling all over the place, definitely a 2 man process. We finally end up taking the entire rack out, and when we try to transfer it to the cutting board, more mutilation occurs. We are in stitches. It's so bad it's funny.

I immediately turn on the self clean option and what happens? The oven catches fire. The self clean heats the oven up really hot and apparently the grease and meat from the pizza ignited. There are huge flames in the oven, but none coming out. Hubby and I stare at it, wondering if that's normal or if we should think about installing a fire extinguisher in our kitchen. Eventually the flames die down, we turn on the fans to get the smoke out of the air and go about the rest of our evening.

All that to say that on TOP of the chocolate cheesecake, I also ate 2 small pieces of the pizza. Which was in no way healthy or good for me. I also did not manage to get down my water today. I had several cups of warm tea, but nowhere near 85oz. I can tell, too. My lips are once again dry and chapped, my throat is sort of scratchy. I'm going to try to drink 28oz now, before bed. Which will ensure several potty trips during the night, but whatever.

Hope you all had a great evening! :-D

Sick Day

It seems my kiddos' colds have caught up to me... and then some. I woke up this morning feeling like I've been hit by a truck. My throat is swollen and hurts, my head aches, my body aches, I have that sickly, feverish chills thing going on. Bleh.

So I'm contemplating taking a rest day from exercise. I did take some DayQuil and Airborne, so if those make me feel better then I'll do some exercise. Either Leslie's video or Level 1 of the Shred.

Yesterday was a good day. I got almost all my laundry done (a huge task, and my most dreaded chore). I ate sensibly... wheat thins and laughing cow cheese did make it in the mix, Dawnie. ;-) I didn't track my calories, which I really want to get back into doing. Since I really don't know how many calories are in things, I need to have a physical reminder of what I've eaten and how many calories it adds up to. It's just hard to get back to the computer these days, but I'll do my best.

I did get all my water in again yesterday. It's getting easier. I've thought about buying those Crystal Light things, but they seem so unhealthy with the artificial sweeteners. But if it helps me drink more, maybe it's worth it.

I plan to lay low today; I was supposed to go to the grocery store but I don't think I'm going to make it. My husband is going to try to come home early to do it for me. :-) He's a really good guy.

I also booked a ticket to go see Dr. Ray in Arizona in February, so hopefully we can get my hormones sorted out and back in balance. I'd love to see a loss on the scale on my sneak peek weigh in tomorrow, but if not... so what?

I was thinking yesterday that even if I only lose 5 pounds a month, by the time July comes (and bathing suits) I will have lost 35 pounds. I can live with that. Yes, I would love the weight to come off more quickly, but I really am willing to be patient, slow and steady and end up as that skinny turtle. I will not throw the towel in, even though it seems like ALL my friends in blog land are losing. IT IS NOT A COMPETITION.

It's not.

So, I will continue to plug away, thankful for the courage and grace to make these lifestyle changes and even if those pounds melt away S-L-O-W-L-Y, I'll take it. =)

Level 2 of the Shred

This morning I was feeling like I needed to bump up my calorie burning even more. So I attempted Level 2 of The Shred. I was able to do 75% of it; on an empty stomach. It's definitely much more challenging than Level 1, but I'm going to stick with it until I can do the whole thing before moving on to Level 3.

Also, I drank all my water yesterday! Over 85 ounces, which is huge for me. I can tell I'm dehydrated; my lips are really dry and chapped. So I'm going to shoot for drinking at least that much again today.

I also have LOTS of laundry to do, so that'll burn some calories as well. ;-)

I'm going to have a sneak peek weigh in on Friday, and I hope and pray the scale goes down. I'm babysitting for a friend this afternoon, but hopefully I'll be able to get out to the grocery store later tonight. Right now I really wish I had a garden and orchard, LOL!

Happy Wednesday!

Thank You

Hey guys,

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for taking the time to write such encouraging words to me! It helps so much. I won't give up, because that would just be pointless.

I know that with my hormones off it really does affect my weight and ability to lose weight, so as long as I don't keep gaining and continue to practice healthy eating habits, I will learn to be content. In whatever state I happen to be in.

Today has gone well. I did my Shred video and ate well. I didn't count my calories, but ate an apple I found in the fridge, as well as a banana with peanut butter. I also had a rice cake, 16 wheat thins (twice) with hummus and then roast, a baked potato and corn for dinner. Oh, and I had some Kashi with no milk in the morning.

I do plan to start trying to keep track of my calories, just so I have a general idea of how many I'm eating. But until I can get to the store... hopefully Thursday night, I don't have any more fresh fruits and vegetables. My husband has been putting in a lot of hours at work, so he isn't always available to run to the store, although he would if he could! ;-)

Have a great evening, my friends.

Pass the Magic Eraser, please

Wouldn't it be great if there was a Magic Eraser for the extra pounds on my body? YES! And wouldn't it be great if there was a Magic Eraser for when I messed up? Yup.

Yesterday was interesting. I did fine all day; ate only fruits and vegetables besides the chicken on my salad and 2 Hebrew National dogs. I was really hungry, so it felt like I was eating all day. When dinner time rolled around, I sort of snapped.

I was super hungry and stressed, and I had eaten all the fruit I had in the house. So I ate a bowl of cereal with milk, effectively slaughtering my no dairy/no grains rule in one fell swoop. Then I had 2.5 homemade biscuits with butter and honey.

Then I threw up. I haven't thrown up in weeks, which is actually a really great thing! It used to be a several-times-a-week occurrence, thanks to my messed up digestive system. After seeing Dr. Ray and getting on the digestive enzymes, I haven't had any issues to speak of.

But last night, I overdid it and my body couldn't handle it. I think it was already taxed trying to digest all the vegetables and fruit I ate, and it couldn't handle all that bread on top of it. I was hungry after my stomach emptied so I ate 7 Rosemary and Olive Oil triscuits with cheddar cheese. And then 2 slices of toast. :-O

The water thing... I managed to get in 56 ounces, which sadly, is way more than I normally drink. I came nowhere near the 85oz I was shooting for. I'll keep at it, but I really hate drinking water. I have my water bottle full at all times, I just can't bring myself to drink more than a sip or two at a time. I had to really chug the last of it down just to even get to 56oz yesterday.

Anyway, I also didn't do my workout. I know I keep saying I'm under so much stress, and it's true. Hopefully in the next little while here I'll be able to better explain what's going on, but right now everything is up in the air and it's just a lot of things combined.

The kiddos being sick and waking up 4-5 times a night, trying to lose weight and NOT lose heart when the scale doesn't cooperate, and then adding on the no dairy/no grains rule just was a bit too much for me. Yesterday when I ate my last banana I felt a bit of panic rising up because WHAT WAS I GOING TO EAT NOW!?!?!?!?!?!

So anyway, my kids are pretty sick which means I won't be getting out to the store today to get more fruits and veggies, so I'm retracting my dairy and grain rule. I'm not going to go overboard, but it's what I have in the house so I'll eat it. It's better than freaking out and binge-ing.

I will do my Jillian workout. Right now, in fact. I have been so incredibly tired the past few days, due to not sleeping well at night, so I've been taking the opportunity to nap with my kiddos. Which is great, but then I don't do my Jillian workout. I've had 2 days rest and it's time to get back into it.

On a weird note, my binge last night seems to have gotten some things moving because I've had some very successful waste management last night/this morning. Who knew?

Hope you all are well; thanks for all the encouraging words and ideas! I'm going to keep on going. Last night I was lamenting to my husband about my dive off the deep end and he just kept encouraging me not to give up. It feels like that's all I want to do. I don't want to be stressed about calories, eating, exercising, how hard it is to lose one measly pound and oh my goodness I have 40 of those pounds to lose!

So I'm going to take a step back and only look at today. TODAY I am going to do my Shred DVD. Today I am going to make healthy eating choices. Today I am going to drink more water. Yesterday is gone, it's not going to kill me, I didn't eat dozens of doughnuts or bags of fast food. It was a slip up, yes, but it didn't put me out of the running.

I hope you all are having successful, wonderful days! I will continue this journey and learn to live healthy and happy, with moderation.

Monday Morning

I weighed the same as I did on Friday 167.5 I was happy to see that I hadn't gained more, because I just feel very heavy. I'm hoping that with my increase in water intake this week that I'll lose come next Monday. I also hope the water intake will help with my constipation. (Seriously, what is up with that!? The vegetables haven't kicked in for me yet)

I am very tired today. My kids were up literally all night long, one or the other of them. But I will do my Shred video; just not sure when because I am definitely taking a nap when they do.

I hope you have a good Monday; I'll check back in as I can but seeing as I'm a zombie it may not be til tomorrow. ;-)

Rest Day

I took a rest from my 30 Day Shred today.

I am under more stress than usual right now; just life in general. Things with my husband's job, my kiddos, trying to crack down on the house training with the dog etc... It's just life, ya know?

I did do well with eating. Eating for my blood type has been pretty easy, although I do miss dairy. Both yesterday and today I've had a latte, which is made with milk. Eating for my type O blood doesn't allow dairy or grains... so no more wheat thins and laughing cow cheese.

Today I had egg whites with some hamburger mixed in. It sounds really weird, but it was leftover hamburger from dinner the other night and it was good. I also had half a grapefruit. Definitely don't have a refined taste for those yet! LOL

For lunch I had 1.5 chicken breasts with fresh spinach, broccoli, carrots, peppers, cilantro and dressing. For dinner I've had a banana and apple with peanut butter. I don't feel hungry right now.

I've stopped counting calories. I don't think it's necessary with this new way of eating. I'm hoping the scale is down tomorrow, but I'm not eating this way for weight loss primarily. I hope the weight comes off, like it's coming off for Sunshine Mama, but mostly I hope to feel better. Have less aggression, irritation and headaches.

The other HUGE thing I need to do... DRINK MORE WATER. I have really been slacking in this department, so I am going to really, really concentrate to get at least 85 ounces of water a day. It's hard for me to drink water, so this is going to become one of my Perfect 10 Challenge goals. Drink 85oz water a day.

I'll be back at it tomorrow with good ol' Jillian. =)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Dedicated or just plain crazy?

It's 10:17 p.m. but I had to come post.

After my salad (which kept me really full for a long time) I had a latte, compliments of my husband. That was around 3 or so, after I did my Shred. Which, incidentally, is getting much more tolerable! YAY! The push ups still KILL me, as I basically have the upper body strength of... well, something with little to no upper body strength. :-P But I am getting closer and closer to doing the "advanced" moves the entire time--except the push ups.

Anyhoo, we had a busy day cleaning carpets, running errands, grocery shopping, etc... So at 6pm we had to return the carpet cleaner and decided just to grab burgers for the kids on the way. I didn't order anything, but ended up stealing one chicken nugget and 10 fries from my husband. Then we got to my sister's house and they had celebrated her SIL's birthday today. There were baked goods GALORE. Cookies, fudge, cream cheese bars, brownies, cake. Yeah. Lots and lots of stuff.

I ate one 2" square cream cheese bar and one 1" square piece of fudge. I shouldn't have. It wasn't on plan. But I could have done a LOT more damage.

So we get home, put the kids to bed, I finish up some laundry, my husband leaves to sit in the hot tub at a friends house and I go to bed. I've really been having insomnia, which leaves me tired ALL. THE. TIME. I try my hardest to fall asleep, but can't. So I do what any semi-dedicated (or semi-insane) person would do.

I got up and did my Leslie Sansone video. :-D And know what?! I hardly broke a sweat! Granted, I didn't use my hand weights, which ups the intensity A LOT. But still, I breezed through that video without a hitch. YAY!

Yay for burning a few extra calories and yay for progress!

Yummy Salad

I went to the store, but they didn't have any purple cabbage??? Is it a seasonal thing? I'm going to go to a local health food store and see if they have any, and also get some organic sweet potatoes.

I had this for lunch:



It was wonderfully delicious! 1 chicken breast that had been marinated in chipotle seasoning, spinach, broccoli, shredded carrots, red, yellow and green bell peppers, cilantro, sunflower seeds and Newman's Light balsamic vinegar dressing.

I am very full now; those vegetable really do fill you up! For breakfast I had 1 egg and 2 egg whites and a turkey dog. I'm planning to eat the Hebrew Nationals I have and then not buy more.

I also bought a roast at the store, which will give me a lot of meat to work with that ISN'T chicken or ground beef.

I'm off to do my Shred video. My muscles have seriously taken a beating. Last night I took 800mg ibuprofen and had a long soak in the bath with some "Aches and Pains" bath salts; it had eucalyptus, chamomile, and something else. It was so nice! I love my hot baths with bath salts or bubbles. :-D

What blood type are you?

Once again, Miss Greta at Big Bottom Blogger has given me a HUGE inside tip to what may be going on with my body... although she doesn't know she did. ;-)

She linked to THIS website; it's about eating right for your blood type. Click on the "About the Diets" tab and you can find the diet suggested for your blood type.

I'm type O. Here is what it says:

Type O’s can be powerful and productive, however, when stressed Type O’s response can be one of anger, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. When Type O wiring gets crossed, as a result of a poor diet, lack of exercise, unhealthy behaviors or elevated stress levels, Type O’s are more vulnerable to negative metabolic effects, including insulin resistance, sluggish thyroid activity, and weight gain.

Good grief! That's exactly what has been happening to me, and I have been under much more stress than usual.

Now, I'm not sure exactly what my diet should be. Greta read the book and found out her Geno Type diet. You should really just go read her blog; it's very fascinating.

In any case, these are the basics that type O's should eat:

Meat
Eggs
Veggies
Fruit
Nuts
Oil

I CAN DO THAT!!! I am really excited to start eating cleaner. No more processed food. No more turkey sausage, Hebrew National, etc... They ARE meat, they ARE low fat, but they ARE processed.

I'm going to the store to stock up on good, healthy food for my body and see what difference I can make.

I also spent some time last night checking out the website Sunshine Mama posted where she was getting her menus from. She has lost 4 pounds in 3 days!

It all seems to boil down to good, clean whole foods. From what I read, I'm supposed to have 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats. I have no idea how to figure that out, as far as meals. So I'll just start with changing my eating habits to stay within the guidelines for my blood type.

Happy Saturday!

Brutal

Sheesh, I thought doing The Shred yesterday was hard. Doing it today, with sore muscles, was so much harder! But I did notice I had more endurance and was able to do the correct moves with intensity. Right now I'm sort of in between the beginner (Anita) and the advanced (Natalie). I'm good with that for now, and look forward to seeing the results I get.

I would definitely recommend this DVD. It's a great 20 minute workout and I can tell it's working my entire body. It's only $9 bucks at Wal-Mart, WELL worth it.

So, I did Day 2 of the Shred and I'm alive to tell it. =)

I had 5 egg whites for breakfast, sprinkled with Montreal Chicken seasoning. It was a bit much. I think 2-3 egg whites are plenty for me.

I also had 1 small piece of homemade pizza at my friend's house, and 1/2 cup of espresso... except she made it with WHOLE milk! It tasted divine, but I know it had a lot of calories in it. Oh well, it was worth it to have some quality time with my friend. I didn't want to be rude.

I'm going to eat an orange now and bake up some more chicken.

Have a great weekend!

Perfect 10 Challenge Update

It's Friday! YAY!! This week has felt soooooo long. My husband had to work on Monday and my kids didn't get the memo it was a holiday. ;-) But it's finally here!

Weigh In... well, the scale says I gained half a pound. :-P I have done nothing to deserve this abuse from my body/the scale! LOL I have exercised every single day, drunk my green smoothies, and not eaten outside of my calories. I even let Jillian kick my booty! What more can I do!?

I'm not disheartened, though. There are a couple things that are affecting it, I think. First of all, I need to go back to see my doctor in Arizona. I can tell my hormone therapy needs to be updated; the drops I take that normally help aren't really helping at all. So, hormones could be a big part of it. Also, I'm still working on getting my intestines to function properly and release the waste, so that's an issue.

Finally, Greta mentioned in her comment yesterday that it's important to eat good fats so your body can let go of the bad fats. I definitely need to work on that. And my nutrition in general.

So, although the scale smugly told me I didn't lose a thing this week, I will not give up. Besides, I am going to weigh in again on Monday and hopefully I'll see a change then. And by that, I mean see the scale go DOWN! LOL

I've been thinking about Sunshine Mama's new diet, and I am going to buy the following ingredients at the store:

purple cabbage, shredded carrots, cilantro, green, yellow and red bell peppers. You mix this all up into a salad and use whatever salad dressing you like. The nice thing about this salad is that it's really refreshing and IT DOESN'T GET SLIMY AND WILT. It's all hard vegetables. So I'm going to make up a big batch of that and eat it with my cooked chicken breasts.

I am VERY sore today. My whole body aches. My plan is to do my Shred video this afternoon when the kids are napping, and so I'll have eaten something prior. I hope I can do it; my muscles ache so badly but I'll do my best to push through because I am determined to complete the 30 days!

So, updates to my Perfect 10 Challenge:

*No weight loss this week (yet) but I have a plan in place to help get that fat sliding off. It really should still be coming off with the amount I need to lose.

*Change weigh in days to Monday

*Eat more vegetables and lean protein

And a fact about me:

I've never broken a bone. Not a toe, not a nose, not a rib, nuttin'. And, barring childbirth (which is a different story entirely) I've only ever had stitches once. This is a miracle because, well, I'm a very clumsy person! Recall I got my head stuck in the subway doors in France. Yeah, graceful is not a word I'd use to describe myself. Growing up I was always falling out of trees, off horses, off bikes, etc... But never broke a bone. That's got to be some sort of accomplishment, right!? :-D

Happy Friday Everyone!

Mrs. Noodle

I completed Level 1, Day 1 today. It wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong- it was hard. I only have 3 pound hand weights, which seems piddly but for me, someone who hasn't worked out my arms in... well eons really, it was a lot.

I hate to say it, but she's also really hard to look at. Her face is so horsey! Sorry Jillian! The only other "negative" thing is that the girls who help are so incredibly ripped. Like 2% body fat, you can see every muscle moving, no flaws. And it makes me feel... flabby, LOL! I don't have any grand notions that I'll attain those bodies, because I don't have the time or desire to look like that. They look ripped. I want to look sexy, but in a toned way.

There are 3 sets of routines. Each set consists of 3 minutes strength training with hand weights, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs. The first set I did fine. The second set was harder. And the third set I thought I was going to faint. I'm looking forward to seeing my progress with the sets, as they get easier. There are 3 levels and you do each level for 10 days. So I'll do the routine I did today for the next 9 days and then move up in intensity. (GASP!)

Anyway, I did it which is the most important thing. I'm definitely going to have to do it during nap time. The concentration I need to be able to perform all the moves correctly is too intense to have my little kids running in and out, jumping about and flailing their arms and legs. I also think I need to do it after eating. It was way too fatiguing to do it in a fasted state, and I don't think I did each exercise as intensely as I could have if I would have had some fuel to burn.

When I was finished, I was a noodle. My legs and arms were quite literally wobbling. I had to give my arms a rest while washing my hair, that's how tired they were. This is a great thing! ;-)

Today I've eaten:

1/2c Kashi
1/4c 1% milk
1 slice of bread
2t ff mayo
6 slices thin shaved deli meat
1 graham cracker (what can I say? I'm channeling Sunshine Mama!) ;-)
1 banana

I'm marinating chicken in a chipotle marinade right now and will have that with a baked potato for dinner.

One last thing I'm changing up... I'm moving my weigh in day from Friday to Monday. The last 2 weekends, once my weigh in was done I've sort of heaved a sigh of relief and gone off plan all weekend. Not conducive to losing weight, as evidenced in my lower weight loss the last 2 weigh in days. So this week I'll weigh tomorrow and Monday, take whichever weight is lowest, LOL and then start weighing in on Mondays from here on out.

Hope everyone is doing well!!! Thank you so much for all the comments on my "To eat or not to eat" debate. I will listen to my body and make good choices.

For $9 Jillian owns me

I did it. I bought the 30 Day Shred. It was only $9!! (See her at the bottom of my shopping list?) ;-)



So, I start tomorrow. I fully anticipate not being able to complete every single move, but I am going to give it my all. Even if that means pausing it to catch my breath a wee bit.

I'm excited and nervous!

On another note, I have a dilemma... If I'm not hungry, I shouldn't eat, right? Even if that means I only get in a very small amount of calories?

Today I had 50oz green smoothie, 1.5c Progresso soup and 3 tacos (vegetarian refried beans, ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes and lite sour cream). Oh, and 1 brownie.

I feel like I should eat more, because I don't want my body to think it's starving. How it can think that with a good 40 pounds of extra fat is beyond me, but whatever. :-P I'm just worried that my body will start hanging onto the pounds, but do I force myself to eat? Maybe just a snack?

I sort of feel like it will even out, because some days I am much more hungry and I eat more. Maybe I'll google it tomorrow and see. Then again, maybe the Shred will pound me so hard I'll be starving all day. Only time will tell! =)

Oooh, interesting!

I just read this over on Big Bottom Blogger:

"In an article entitled ‘Forget the Fat-Burn Zone’, Clarence Bass cites research done by a group of Canadian scientists, headed by Angelo Tremblay, Ph.D. Tremblay, et al, compared the results of an Endurance Training (ET) program versus High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on fat loss:
“As you might expect, the total energy cost of the ET program was substantially greater than the HIIT program. The researchers calculated that the ET group burned more than twice as many calories while exercising than the HIIT program. But (surprise, surprise) skin-fold measurements showed that the HIIT group lost more subcutaneous fat. ‘Moreover,’ reported the researchers, ‘when the difference in the total energy cost of the program was taken into account..., the subcutaneous fat loss was nine-fold greater in the HIIT program than in the ET program.’ In short, the HIIT group got 9 times more fat-loss benefit for every calorie burned exercising.”

That was encouraging for me, seeing as I've been doing HIIT but noticing it doesn't burn NEARLY as many calories as, say, doing 45 minutes on the elliptical. So I'll keep on keeping on! I still plan to do the Shred. But maybe I can add in 20 minutes of HIIT 3x a week as well. We'll see how it goes!

Stay Busy = Eat Less and another Happy Award

So, I've had a pretty busy morning and the result is that I've had less chance/opportunity/time to snack. That's a good thing. ;-)

I've had approximately 25oz of green smoothie, and I'm planning to finish the other half throughout the day.

I also had a can of Progresso soup for lunch. Speaking of soup, look what I got today!



My Progresso Soup package! =) It's always fun to get something like this in the mail, as opposed to bills and junk mail.

So I've had about 300 calories so far today and it's 1:30. I don't feel hungry, which is good. I'm off to cook up some chicken and brown some hamburger so I'll have them ready to go when I need them.

Thanks for all the encouraging words!!!

Lori Ann at Amazon Runner gave me the Happy Award, so I am privileged to tell you 10 more things that make me happy! =)

1) My kiddos. Even when they pour cereal all over the floor, I still love em.
2) My husband-he has been so supportive, loving and caring throughout my struggle with postpartum depression. I can't imagine life without him.
3) Vacations. Especially to warm destinations!
4) Newborn babies
5) My church
6) Hot bubble baths and good books
7) My garden-to-be
8) Music... ABBA, Bon Jovi, Susan Boyle, Michael Buble, etc...
9) Baking
10)Cecelia Ahern. She's an author, the daughter of the PM of Ireland and I love her books. She wrote PS I love you

I can do this! =)

Yesterday went well. I ended up drinking 1.5 pitchers of smoothie, which wasn't quite as much as I wanted, but it's still more than I've ever drunk in one day. So I'll take it. I stayed within my calories and even managed to have a good attitude about it. ;-)

Today I did Leslie's video with hand weights. It's a good workout, especially adding in the weights.

I've been thinking about my diet (as in, food intake) and I think I need to strive for lower calorie/fat. Yes, I'm staying within my calories but the truth is that my workouts don't burn THAT many calories. So the weight loss is really starting to slow down. I'm going to incorporate more salads and chicken and green smoothies.

I also plan to buy Jillian's 30 Day Shred. I'm scared. :-P I know it will be so incredibly hard, I'm hoping I will be able to do all the exercises despite my SI joint and low back issues, and I'm REALLY hoping it'll help jump start the weight loss/fat burning process.

I hope to get it either today or sometime this weekend, and then do it for the 30 straight days. So I'll be updating that as well.

I feel good today. My pants are definitely too big, even fresh out of the dryer. They fall down, which, while annoying is also really encouraging. I don't think I'm quite down to the next size (12) yet, but soon. I feel like my stomach is getting smaller and I know my back fat is disappearing. So, it's working. I just really want to hit my goal of 20 pounds in 10 weeks (without killing myself or getting burned out) so I want to add in Jillian and lower calorie/fat foods to help me get there.

Interesting fact... If you take a gram of fat and a gram of protein, the fat will have TWICE as many calories as the protein. Makes sense, but I just never really thought about it before.

Anyway, I have a busy day today so I'm off!

Successful amidst the Struggle

I am really struggling. These past few days have been really hard; there are a lot of extenuating circumstances that have pushed me to "the brink" in several areas. Just a lot of stress and anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed. Not just in weight loss or eating right; there are situations in my extended family, situations with my dog, with my children, etc...

But I am really trying to learn from this all, to take it one moment at a time and not just crumple into a heap on the floor crying "It's too much!".

Yesterday was okay eating wise. I did eat 3 pieces of banana bread, which was totally unnecessary. Sure, 2 of the pieces were small and equaled one normal piece, but I didn't *need* to go back for them. I ate them because I was stressed, which is never a good reason to eat.

Yesterday I ate:

green smoothie
1/2 c Kashi cereal, dry
1/2 c peaches (canned)
3 pieces of banana bread
1 slice of lunch meat
part of a cup of coffee
2T hummus with 16 RF Wheat Thins
5 or 6oz of Thai chicken that I made

I have found that when there is outside stress, more than what I am used to, I tend to snack and not eat healthy meals, which does nothing to help me.

Today I plan to make another pitcher of green smoothie.



I have been using spinach, blueberries and strawberries with lots of water. I feel very toxic and bloated and backed up currently, so I am going to try to drink 2 pitchers of smoothie today to help clean out all the salt and sugar that I ingested over the weekend and yesterday. Hopefully that will help the scale go down on Friday, or at least maintain 167.

It's hard, it doesn't come naturally to me, but I am determined to learn how to live with a healthy relationship to food. How NOT to turn to it when I'm stressed or, for that matter, feeling any other emotion. How to choose healthy foods that will fuel my body and give me the energy I need to live a full, happy life.

I am NOT in a race. I am on a journey, so even if the scale goes up this week (as it may well do) I will not fall into a pit of depression. I will use it as a learning experience, and go forward striving to do better. It took me 5 years to get to this high weight I'm at, and it will take some time to come back down and get it off. I will be patient and stick it out. I'll be the skinny turtle. =) Slow and steady.

My Happy Award

So the wonderful Dawne deemed me worthy of the Happy Award! I will list 10 things that make me happy, but won't be passing it on simply because I'd be giving the award to the same people that I gave the Beautiful Blogger award to. :-P


Ten Things That Make Me Happy:

1) Sleep. Good, long, deep sleep
2) When my kids unknowingly say funny/witty things
3) Date Night with my husband
4) Laughing Cow cheese and Wheat Thins (for you, Dawne) :)
5) Learning to live moderately and in a healthy way
6) Really good, supportive, caring family and friends
7) Seeing the scale go down
8) Owning a home
9) Dr. Ray in Arizona for getting my hormone therapy going
10) All of you who read my blog =)

Endurance and Perseverance

I have to keep telling myself "It's not a race" this morning.

Last night I was in bed by 8pm, but my kids were up and yelling and talking until past 10. This is very abnormal for them, and they were already overtired. When I finally fell asleep it was fitful sleep, I woke up lots, had weird dreams, etc...

So I feel like the week is already off to a bad start. My kids woke up screaming and yelling (seriously, is it a full moon or something?) I ended up watching my niece today and she is teething and sad, my workout got interrupted.... Blah, blah, blah

So. I told myself- it's NOT a race. It's a lifestyle change. YES, I wanted to get a good, hard workout in, YES my body and kids didn't allow that, YES I feel really tempted to give up and be mad. But I don't have to allow any of that to change my course. I don't have to give up. I don't have to snack because I'm stressed and tired. I don't have to be grumpy and irritated.

So, today is Monday morning, the start to a fresh week. I've drunk my green smoothie and my workout is now complete (the whole thing... just in 2 increments). The teething baby is sleeping peacefully and I will be a hands on, attentive mother to my children today. It's all part of life; it's all part of the process. Losing weight and becoming healthy and fit isn't my WHOLE life. It's just a piece of it, and I have to learn how to make wise decisions even in the midst of "turmoil" if you will.

So I will endure and persevere and do the absolute best I can. And I will hope and cross all my fingers and toes that the scale goes down on Friday. :-D

Sunday

Whooo boy, I am so tired. We went over to a friend's house last night; we have children roughly the same age. We had such a good time; we ate chicken caesar salad for dinner and it was delicious. I had a little bit of the cream cheese brownies I brought for dessert. But the kicker was the latte that my friend made. It was made with 1% milk, but had white chocolate in it. And I drank it way too late, which meant I was up past 2a.m. last night. Not super good. :-P

Today started off well. I had 1 oatmeal pancake and 2 sausages. For lunch I went out with another friend and we had mexican food. I ate a tostada, but only ate the meat and lettuce--although it did have sour cream and guacamole. For dinner I had 3 Hebrew National dogs.

I feel like my eating was a little out of control this weekend, because I didn't log on to count my calories at all and I ate several things that I don't normally eat. Junk food type stuff. I'm very ready to get back in my groove tomorrow, eating what I know to eat, within my calories. We are headed to yet another friend's house for a playdate and pizza for lunch tomorrow, but I plan to just have a small piece. It's homemade so the pieces won't be big.

I also have a chiro appt on Tue and Thur, and my son has a check up on Wed so the week is going to be a bit busy. I plan to make exercise and good nutrition a priority.

I will have some green smoothie in the morning to help with my "waste management" issues. I feel so bloated and gross. Too much sugar and salt, entirely.

I had a rest day today from exercise, but will be back on the wagon tomorrow, and then continue to work out every day until Friday. I also plan to drink a lot of water to help flush out some of the salt I ate this weekend.

Dawne awarded me another award. =) I will pass it on and write 10 things that make me happy tomorrow sometime. For tonight, this tired old lady is headed to bed. =)

Saturday!!

So, last night I had a bit of a slip. I was hungry all day and snacked more than usual. Not on bad food, but it was still calories adding up.

In the evening we ended up running out to get a movie for the husband and myself. We got McDonald's for the kids; I had a few fries. What I *really* wanted was Oriental Rice Crackers. Weird, huh? I love them for some unknown reason.

So I stopped and got some, as well as some Mt. Hood mix-- chocolate covered peanuts and raisins and toffee peanuts. And, well, um.... that was my dinner. I know, I know, so bad.

I also had a glass of wine. So I'm fairly certain I was over my calories yesterday. But I decided it was ok. I had a really good time with my husband, I didn't stuff myself, and hey- It's ok to have rice crackers and Mt. Hood mix every once in a while for dinner. :-D

This morning I had a good workout and I also was blessed with some great "waste management". I thought all this exercise and the fiber I'm eating would surely help me in that department, but so far it hasn't improved much. Today, though, I was able to experience the glorious blessedness of going #2. :-P Maybe it was all those rough, starchy carbs! LOL

Anyway, we're off to have a fun day with the kids, I'm going to keep my eating in check today and continue to work out this week for 5 consecutive days. Only 3 more to go to meet that goal, and I'll probably just shoot for 7 days.

Happy Saturday!

The snack monster attacks!

Whew, I'm just coming on to jot down what I've eaten so far, and review where I'm at...

1/2c kashi cereal w/ 1/2c 1% milk
1.5c noodles/alfredo/chicken
1 clementine
2 stalks of celery with peanut butter
1/2 corn dog
1 cup of coffee

I better reign it in. Tonight is either pizza or chinese and I don't want to blow through all my calories!

Perfect 10 Challenge Update and my FIRST AWARD!

I lost a pound! While this isn't ground shattering or anything, it is HUGE for me. Because I got below that 168 number. You'd have thought I hit my goal weight at the giddy smile and pure joy I felt to see 167 on the scale. :-D Plus, it was my monthly cycle week AND I did have an accidental overdose of salt last night.

So, although it wasn't a 2 pound loss, I'm still on track to lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks, which is my goal with this challenge. I've lost 6 pounds in 3 weeks. That 3 pound loss the first week sure helped me out.

I did my HIIT on the treadmill this morning, and I bumped it up a notch in intensity. At 18 minutes I felt my back/hip/SI joint telling me to slow the pace, so I did. I think part of my problem--and thus lack of a good amount of weight loss this week--is that I didn't work out consistently 5 days in a row. It was pretty sporadic.

So this next week, these are my goals:

Eat within calorie limit every day (this has been surprisingly easy)
Do my HIIT or Leslie video 5 consecutive days, more if time and family allows
Do a more intense version of HIIT as my back/hip/SI joint allows. Meaning: do 30 second intervals of fast/slow and take the fast pace up a bit.

So, that's my plan for this next week.

My random fact of the day about myself:

I spent some growing up years in Texas where I had to eat the following:

Frog Legs. These frogs were the size of rabbits; only 5 or 6 of them would fit in our bathtub. Imagine my HORROR to be innocently using the facilities one morning as a 7 or 8 year old, to hear a thunderous CROAK from the bathtub!!! And then have to EAT those frogs later that day. By the way- it really doesn't taste much different than chicken (HONESTLY!) but it's really slimy. Blech, no thanks.

Rabbit. All I remember is that it was really, really salty. I think it was just prepared wrong. Also a traumatic event, as I happened into the "bunny barn" thinking I'd see some cute rabbits and instead came upon the butcher block.

Squirrel. I mean, really. What's the point?? It's such a small amount of meat, and it is very sinewy and gamey. Just disgusting and something so wrong about eating teeny tiny drumsticks.

That's the extent of my weird food experiences. Not something I'll repeat OR put my children through. Oh, and it's not like we were poverty stricken and living off the land. We totally raised our own cows for beef and could afford to shop at the grocery store. It was just something my hunter step-dad thought was "cool". He was weird.

Dawne gave me an award today!!! Thanks, Dawne. =) I'm supposed to come up with 7 things you don't know about me, and then pass it on.

1) I have red hair and am so very, very thankful none of my children have it! I don't like my red hair, can you tell? LOL

2) I was a nanny in Norway for 4 months.

3) I've never been to a concert. Ever.

4) I am one of 7 children, my husband is one of 16 (no multiples or adoption!!)

5) I've seen the Mona Lisa and Eiffel Tower in person and had a HILARIOUS trip to France. I got my head-- yes, my HEAD-- stuck in the subway gate doors, I yelled "Holy Mackerel" the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower. Oh, here's a funny story:

We were in France at the end of the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong won. So there was this little group of Americans with a boom box, and we were singing (loudly) the national anthem and other patriotic songs. It was quite crowded, so my friend and I were standing on chairs we had taken from a little bistro. Part way into the celebration a frenchman came up and was asking about the chairs, so I told him where we got them. Turns out, he OWNED the bistro and wanted his chair back from the despicable Americans, LOL! Ahhhh, good times.

6) I have never been skiing. And only snowboarded once.

7) We just bought our first house this year and I LOVE it. I can't wait to slowly make it my own, with paint and decorations and such. =)

I pass this prestigious award on to:

Amazon Runner
Fat Girl in a Wedding Dress
Destination: Runway
Thunder Thigh Bride
Sherah (if she wants it) =)

Happy Friday everyone!! Have a really awesome weekend. =)

My *newest* favorite product

Today was very successful!

It started off rocky. I was doing my video with Leslie and my two boys stared duking it out over the toy trains. I had to stop the video, work with them, and give MYSELF a time out. I wanted to be so mad at them for interrupting my exercise. I almost just threw my hands up and quit. But, that is what the OLD me would have done.

The new me took some time to compose myself, went back out to the living room and started the video over. I did the whole thing (although I only made it half way with the weights; my arms are JELLO!) and in the end I even had my kids side stepping and clapping with me. =)

Then my MIL took them for the day so I could get some errands done, go to my chiropractor and I also had a visit with my friend's dad-- the one who owned the health food store. We did some EFT together... you can google it if you want. It sounds new-agey and crazy but it really works. I was with him for a 2 hour session (REALLY long; they don't usually take that long, but well... I have lots of issues) ;-)

The chiro reviewed my chart, said the xrays they took last time indicated some degeneration in my SI joint and lumbar region. I'm only 31, what gives? Anyway, he treated me (he isn't a bone cracker type), put the electrical stimulation on with heat, stretched it and told me to come back twice next week. If the treatments don't work he is going to send me for a cortisone shot in the joint.

I'm home now after grocery shopping, and I had forgotten about Hebrew National dogs. They are kosher beef (I don't eat pork. Not for religious reasons, I just don't like the taste). They have 97% fat free beef dogs and each one is only 40 calories with 6g of protein. So I ate FOUR of them for dinner. I had only eaten an orange, 1 lite string cheese, a cup of coffee and a footlong Sweet Onion Teriyaki Sub (6 inches at 2 different times) all day.

Now I'm pleasantly full. Except, I looked at the sodium AFTER I ate the beef dogs and it's pretty high. 22% of your daily value in ONE. Oops. I'm going to drink lots of water and hope I don't retain any for my weigh in tomorrow.

Even if the scale is stuck at 168 in the morning, I'm not giving up. This is a process and I'll keep at it. A stubborn scale/body isn't going to deter me.

Oh, a funny little story. I bought some more Kashi today. That stuff really is delicious. I get the Honey and Almond kind and eat it as a snack, with no milk. Well, today I poured it into our tupperware container and went to put it on the shelf. Unfortunately, the lid wasn't on all the way and the whole thing spilled on the kitchen floor!!!! ALL of it!

So I was scrambling, because my 11 pound Shih Tzu was giving me a run for my money in who was going to get to it first. Yep, I swept that cereal right off my kitchen floor and back into the container. My husband just mopped the other day (yes, my HUSBAND did.) I was willing to eat a little bit of dust with my precious Kashi. ;-)

Busy Busy Bee

Today I will be out and about running errands, chiro appt, etc...

I plan to do my Leslie video this morning, adding in hand weights. I have this sinking feeling that tomorrow the scale is going to still say 168. It's a huge mental hurdle for me; it really doesn't feel possible to get below it. I have stayed on track calorie wise, and if I work out today and tomorrow, which I will, then I'll be on track for exercising 5x this week. So we'll see.

In other news, my new niece Lilly Ann is absolutely gorgeous. She is 1/4 hispanic and was born with lots of dark, curly hair. She is so tiny and perfect. Makes my heart melt. =)

I'll check back in later tonight. Have a great Thursday everyone!

Productive

Whew! You know you've had a productive day when the clothes you wore this morning to exercise in are washed, dried, folded and put away in the drawer already. ;-)

Speaking of being productive, my sis was uber productive today-- she had her baby girl!!!! Tiny thing at only 5lb 11oz. I can't wait to see her tonight.

I've been really grumpy and depressed today. My other sister came over for lunch and I basically cried the whole time. I'm blaming it on hormones, since I'm in the midst of my period.

I haven't, however, turned to food. YAY ME! In fact, all I've had is a slice of my homemade bread (which reminds me... Jen--I'm really only interested in whole wheat recipes, but THANKS anyway!!) with butter and honey. A cup of coffee with a bit of cream and a slight spike of Baileys, and 2 cups of popcorn.

I need to eat some protein, but I don't feel hungry. I'm also working on drinking more water. I am really thirsty. Probably dehydrated from the coffee, although I didn't finish it. I very, very rarely finish my coffee.

Anyway, I'm glad the house is in order at least. All the laundry and dishes are done and I've got a plan for dinner--chicken alfredo. Simple, since I'm leaving once my husband gets home to go see my new niece!

I worked out

So, I have been searching for this belt thing I have had for years. Years and years ago I was in a car accident and that was the start of my back/hip problems. I had to wear this elastic belt to help hold my hips/ligaments together. Having 5 pregnancies in 2.5 years, along with the loosening of the ligaments that goes with that, has not helped at all.

Anyway, I finally found it yesterday. I have it strapped as tight as it can possibly go, holding my hips in place. I was able to walk on the treadmill with it, so I did 20 minutes of that, but not HIIT. I don't want to cripple myself.

I have a chiro appt tomorrow and he will help me, as he has in the past. And this time, when he's done all he can do and suggests physical therapy, I'll be obedient and go. I'm too young to need a walker, and honestly, on the days it's really bad I can't weight bear at all on my left foot/hip.

So, I'm putting aside the all or nothing attitude and doing what I can. I'll continue to eat healthy, moderate portions and continue to move as my body allows. I'm not in a race. I'm having a lifestyle change. And it's going to take time.

"The earth is slow, but the oxen are patient." My best friend's dad had this on the wall of his health food store for years and we always laughed at it cuz we had no idea what it meant. I'm still not sure what it means, but I do know that I need patience and endurance. =)

Kashi no more. =(

Well, I love my Kashi cereal. It is delicious! Unfortunately, this afternoon we had an incident.

I was in the loo. I mean really, how much damage can 3 children 4yo and under do while I'm going to the bathroom, right?

A lot.

The following pictures are what 4 big boxes of cereal looks like all over the floor. And tv cupboard. If only I had black carpet so you could really see the magnitude of things. The rice krispies blend right into the carpet. And the pixels on my phone aren't that great. But it gives you a small idea of what I came out to.





I know what you're thinking... How long WAS she in there!?!?!? Really? Honestly? MAX 5 minutes. I needed a little "me" time. Cuz the whole day has been like this. Flooded bathrooms, ornery children, etc...

I still haven't exercised, and I'm not going to try to get anything done today. Well, I am leaving the minute DH gets here and headed out to the store for some retail therapy. So I'll get some walking in. :-D

Let's take a vote

Ok, I usually do a few updates a day. So what I'm wondering is this. Should I:

a) Make a new post for every entry as I have been, or
b) Make one long post, putting the most recent update at the top, or
c) Not bother cuz it doesn't matter, or
d) Stop having so many updated posts

Let me know what you guys prefer.

On another note, it's 12:49 and I have yet to exercise. I still feel ill from the pain in my back. I wish I had a swimming pool I could exercise in.

I've eaten:

3 turkey sausages
1 Java Crew Drink (390 calories, since it's full fat, full sugar but OOOHHHH so worth it today)
1 slice of bread with butter and honey.

I can tell I need to stop snacking now since I'm already up to probably 700 calories. I guess that's not such a bad thing since I am having my monthly cycle and am therefore more hungry. But at the same time I *need* the scale to be down on Friday.

I have to get below 168. I haven't been below that number in almost 3 years and everything in my brain is telling me I can't do it. So I have to make it happen. It's not that many hours til dinner, so I'll just eat something sensible like chicken in order to stay within my calories today. They went down a bit, because I lost a bit of weight. =)

Don't forget to let me know if you have an opinion one way or the other about the posts. :-D

I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I won the Progresso Soup GiveAway!!!!!!

I have only won something one other time in my life. I used to listen to a radio station that had people email them their quotes, sayings, anecdotes, etc... Then they'd pick a winner each week. Well, I mailed in my husband's (except he was my fiance then, cuz we weren't married yet)grandpa's quote. "If you want to get rich quick, count your blessings."

We got married, left on our honeymoon and when we got back there was a message on my machine saying I had won. =)

Anyway, I'm totally psyched to win the soup, bowl and jumprope!!!! Yippee!

It is good timing. Last night ended up badly. Not food wise, thank goodness. Instead of eating chocolate chips I made half a slice of my bread, toasted with a bit of honey and butter. It was delicious.

But all day my back had been hurting off and on. I could feel it flaring up when I was working out, but pushed through. I guess that was a bad idea. At the end of the day I could hardly walk so I took a hot bath. It felt great while I was in the bath, but when I went to get out, it totally seized up. I was stuck in limbo between the tub and the toilet, I couldn't get up or down. The pain is just excruciating.

I called for my husband, but he didn't hear me. =( So I just had to stay there until it released enough for me to stand up, hobble into my bedroom and collapse on the bed. It feels much better this morning, but I think I'll do Leslie's video as opposed to the treadmill this morning.

I think I'm going to have to invest in one of these. ;-P A medical alarm necklace, ha ha.

Anyway, I'm so excited about my win and will take things one day at a time with my back. I guess I'll be going back to the chiro and physical therapist.

Bread

We had homemade wheat bread with our lasagna. It was delicious!



I love my breadmaker, but need to branch out and find some new recipes. Right now I just follow the recipe on the back of the bread flour, and it is really good bread. But sometimes you just want something different, ya know?

I am majorly craving chocolate. We don't have any in the house. Well, we do. I have a bag of milk chocolate chips. But, I've never been one to eat chocolate chips out of the bag. Guess I'll drink some water instead. :-P

Oh, and that Baja Fresh cup in the background, next to the pink striped jar? Yeah, that's the one the spider was hiding in. *shudder*

I did my HIIT

I ended up doing my HIIT on the treadmill, because I was freezing and knew it would warm me up. ;-)

I hadn't been keeping real close track of my calories, and felt like I had eaten quite a few, but I just added it up and it's only 560.

Egg, egg white, 2 turkey sausages
Lunch was a FlatOut wrap, can of tuna (2 servings) 2 tsp mayo and 1/4 of an apple.

I've also had 1.5 cups coffee and 1 cup of popcorn. I normally don't even like popcorn, but I made some for the kids, it's light butter-- only 20 calories for a popped cup and it was a little salty and buttery. Just what I needed since it's that time of the month and I crave all things salty.

I'm making lasagna for dinner and there is a fresh loaf of bread baking in the bread maker. =)

Just another manic Monday...

(how many of your have that song in your head now? You're welcome, ha ha ha!)

Whoooo boy. My kiddos are giving me a run for my money. My boys have colds... just sick enough to be really whiny and grumpy. So I haven't yet worked out. I ate breakfast with them, which means I won't be in a fasted state, but that's ok. That's life and it's not going to kill me. =)

I am waffling between doing my HIIT training and doing Leslie's video. The video is easier, but the HIIT is shorter, LOL!

Anyway, I had a good weekend and am just laying low and taking it easy with my kids today, but I will get a workout in.

For breakfast I had:
1 egg and 1 egg white (the yolk fell in and broke, so I went with it) ;-)
2 turkey sausages

Sunday Success

Usually on the weekends I lose track of how many calories I've eaten, but this weekend I've been very good. =)

Today I've had:

2 egg whites and 2 turkey sausages
6" Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on Italian Herb and Cheese (SOOOOO good), baked lays
1/4c vanilla ice cream

In other really grody news, the stool softeners finally started working and I had 2 good poops. I know, that's so disgusting, but I feel so much better. Less heavy.

I'm also about to start my monthly cycle, tomorrow probably, and I am excited to continue to exercise, eat right, and lose weight even during this time of the month. :-D

Erin-Yes, I would love to be copied on your "blog" emails!

End of Day Update- VERY successful =) EDITED

So far today I've eaten:

1 egg white and 2 turkey sausages
1 FlatOut wrap with 1 chicken breast, 1tsp mayo and spicy mustard

443 calories so far. We're getting Thai for dinner; I love yellow curry!!! YUM. It doesn't SEEM high fat/calorie but the info I'm finding suggests otherwise. Maybe it's made with coconut milk or something, I don't actually know. But I have calories to spare, so I'll enjoy it. Until full. ;-)

EDITED:
So, we couldn't find any Thai places near us in the phone book. Guess we're gonna have to do some footwork. So we had our fallback-Chinese. ;-)

I had sweet and sour chicken and vegetable yakisoba noodles. I don't know exactly how many calories it is, but I put in 700. That leaves me with over 500 available calories for the day!?!?

I'm not hungry, though. I'm really not sure what's going on, because usually I am a total grazer. The past week I just... haven't been hungry. I'm eating when I'm hungry and trying to make good, healthy choices. So I'm not going to sweat the lower caloric content.

Have a wonderful evening!

Erin-Are you chronicling your weight loss anywhere? And can you send me the link to your other blog; I accidentally deleted the bookmark I had for it. Thanks!

Leslie Sansone Review

This morning I got to do my Leslie Sansone video. Walking Away the Pounds, 2 miles of interval training. First off, I have to say that Leslie is really adorable and not intimidating at all. I feel like I could be her friend in real life. =)

The video wasn't as intense as what I do on the treadmill. I didn't sweat as much, but I was more out of breath. It was low impact, which is good for me and my "broken" body. The time went by really fast.

One thing that I'm not sure about... it says that the speeds are 3.5, 4.0 and 5.0 but we never got anywhere close to the speed that 4.0 and 5.0 are on my treadmill. ???

Anyway, overall I really liked it, was able to do it in a fasted state with no problems and enjoyed myself. I think I'll do it 1 or 2 more times and then add in some hand weights; that will increase the intensity a lot.

Today is Saturday and I always tend to do a little worse on the weekend with counting my calories, but I aim to be on top of it.

Have a wonderful day everyone, and thanks again for all the comments!!!

End of Day Update

So, I never ended up eating anything else. I just wasn't hungry, so I didn't.

For dinner I had 2 slices of pizza (500 calories) :-O, 1 breadstick and half a glass of Arbor Mist. My dinner contained more calories than the entire rest of the day!

I still have 350 left and plan to have some cobbler with my hubby after the kids are in bed. =)

This counting calories business has really opened my eyes to how many calories are in stuff, and why it takes such an intense effort to lose weight. The pounds pack on so easily, it's soooo easy to blow 2000 calories a day, and it takes a LOT of sweat and calorie restriction to lose a pound. But you know what? It's so worth it.

It's worth it to be comfortable in my own skin. It's worth it to be healthy, to set an example of a lifestyle that I can be proud of for my kiddos. Not insane. Not yo-yo dieting. But learning to live in moderation. Having a piece of cake, but not 1/2 the sheet cake, ya know?

To steal yet another line from my beloved Dawne... It's my time. I haven't felt up until now that losing weight was a priority for me. I had health concerns to deal with, I have 3 small children and I didn't have the drive to lose weight. But now is my time. Now is my time to reclaim my rightful, healthy, lithe, supple body. Now is the time to feel fabulous about myself. Now is the time to be (physically) who I am meant to be; who God created me to be.

I am so glad to be out of the 170's. So glad. I plan to never return. Buh-Bye 170's!!!!!

Have a really wonderful weekend everyone!

Calories, Calories, Calories

Hi guys-
Thanks for the love and concern you all show me in my comments section. I really appreciate it and love it when you leave comments!

Here's the thing on those "low calorie" days. I wasn't hungry. So, I didn't eat a lot. 1100 calories or so a day. I am learning to lead a life of moderation in all aspects, weight and eating be a huge part of that (HA! no pun intended).

So, I'm eating when I'm hungry and if I don't feel hungry, I don't eat. Well, for the most part anyway. It's a work in progress.

Today I've had:

4 turkey sausage (these are so yummy and quick, and only 40 calories each)
1 chicken breast, mixed greens, feta, craisins and zesty italian salad

We have a tradition of having pizza on Friday nights, and I'm really looking forward to it. I plan to eat some good, wholesome calories beforehand so that 1 slice will be enough. I also made some peach cobbler last night, and I'd like a portion of that for dessert.

And again, thanks for all the love guys! <3 (that's a heart, in case you can't "see" it.) :)

(Katie-- that <3 business reminds me of Jessyca every time! LOL)

Friday Challenge Update

So, I lost 2 pounds. And I feel disappointed???? This is why I don't weigh more often than once a week. Because I weighed 168 last Saturday when I snuck a peek at the scale. So, in essence I lost 5 pounds last week and none this week. Which is weird, because I had some really low calorie days this week. I only worked out 3x though.

In any case, I am having an attitude adjustment and I am going to celebrate those pounds gone! I lost the equivalent of EIGHT sticks of butter this week! :-D

Part of it is a mind game for me. I haven't weighed below 168 in a long, long, long time. So in my subconscious I feel like it's impossible to weigh less. But guess what? I'm gonna prove my subconscious wrong. :-P

For my Perfect 10 challenge, I'm also supposed to give a random fact about myself. Since this is the first week, I decided to do a little background about myself.

I'm 31 and was pregnant 5 times in 2.5 years, resulting in 3 healthy children and 2 miscarriages. My 3rd was born when my oldest was 4 months shy of 3 years old. It's been a busy few years. ;-) After my last child I developed postpartum depression and have been battling that for the last 18+ months. I saw a doctor in Arizona who has helped me tremendously to get it under control. And now I'm ready to take charge of my life, get RID of these excess pounds, get back to being healthy fit and well, FABULOUS! =)

So, that's me in a nutshell. I've lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks and I am PROUD of myself.

Progresso Soup Give Away

I don't know about you, but I am totally on a soup kick and discovered THIS give away today. I follow Lynn's blog and just wanted to share the give away in case anyone else is interested. Ok, Ok, it also gives me another entry to win. :-P

Internet Back!

Whew, my husband got the internet fixed!

Today has been a good day. I didn't get my exercise in, though. I got my new Leslie Sansone movie today and was all pumped to try it out. I got 5 minutes into it and realized it is not going to work with my kiddos. I'll have to reserve it for nap time. My children have no concept of "personal space" and when I'm kicking and side stepping and marching and what not, it can get messy quick. ;-)

I've kept track of my calories as best I can without TheDailyPlate.com and I did well again today, staying within my allotted amount. Not sure what my total is, but I know it's not over.

This morning I had a horrifying experience. I've been, erm.... backed up so I took a stool softener. I went to take a drink out of my water cup to swallow the pill and felt something fuzzy in my mouth. I spit it out immediately. It was a spider. Yes, a spider. It was hiding in the straw and then it went IN MY MOUTH!!!!!! I had a fuh-reaking SPIDER in my mouth. And it was big. And fuzzy. I nearly passed out and threw up simultaneously. Horrible, violating, repulsive situation.

So I am avoiding that water bottle like the plague now, because it has been jinxed, wouldn't you agree? Bleh. I still physically shudder when I think about it.

Tomorrow is weigh in and Challenge Update day!!! YIPPEE!!!

Internet Issues

My internet is having issues today and I managed to get onto some unsecured network. Hopefully this posts okay!

Today was another successful day, hooray!

I got up and did my HIIT workout. It works so well for me to get out of bed, settle my kids with food and get on the treadmill. I much prefer it over going to the gym, and I'm so thankful I was gifted the treadmill!

I didn't input my calories, but I did add them up-until dinner time. Before dinner I was at 600 from 2 slices of banana bread, 1/2c dry Kashi cereal and 1 can of Progresso lite soup. For dinner I had a small helping of corn chips with cheese and some guacamole. Later I had one crepe with 1tsp butter and a bit of cinnamon and sugar.

I'm drinking my water and ready for bed now. I weigh in on Friday and am excited to see what the scale says. =) My pants are all falling down and I can take them off without unbuttoning or unzipping them, so that is a good sign. ;-)

Revelation

I had a mini revelation. :-D

I don't think it was Kashi's fault that I was jittery and irritated. See, all day today and yesterday I've had really bad back pain. I don't deal very well with pain, and it was an underlying stress for me.

I was helping my daughter wrap a gift and we were sitting on the floor. When I couldn't get back up because it was too painful, the light bulb went on. AHA! It's PAIN that has been my problem; the nauseating, gnawing, shooting pain in my back/hip.

I took a Percocet and am headed to bed. Hopefully in the morning it will feel better.

I had 2 corn dogs for dinner, bringing my calorie total to 1120 and I feel good about that. I wasn't hungry so I don't think it's a bad thing that I didn't eat so much today.

See you all on the flipside! =)

Banana Bread

MMMMMMM, I made some delicious banana bread today. It's 170 calories per piece, and so worth it. I'm at 760 calories right now (including 2 pieces of banana bread) ;-)

Not sure what I'll have for dinner, but I do have some avocados and I love guacamole. Maybe I'll indulge since I have some calories left; we'll see. I am making taquitos for my husband (well, they are premade, I'm just heating them up), and 5 of them have 480 calories. :-0 They aren't even that big! Plus, we usually eat them with sour cream and salsa. Guess I won't be buying THOSE anymore.

So far I've eaten:

1c Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal with 1/2c 1% milk
2 servings of Progresso Lite chicken noodle soup 140 calories total
2 pieces of banana bread

Wow, uh. Hmmmm. That's not very much food. Guess I'd probably better eat a wrap or salad or something for dinner.

I'm boring my OWN self, so I'll sign off for now. =)

Kashi=snack, not meal for moi

I ate the Kashi cereal (a whole cup) at 9:30 and then took the kids to the library. I felt shaky and irritated the whole time, so I guess the Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal will be a snack for me, as opposed to a meal. It does taste really good, though!

I had a Lite Progresso chicken and noodle soup for lunch. 140 calories and it was so yummy.

Ok, is it just me, or does this picture totally inspire you to lose 20 pounds!?! I mean, she looks like she's lost 50 pounds! I guess 20 pounds can make a big difference, especially on a short girl (like me). ;-)

I'm looking forward to losing my first 20 pounds!

My new favorite product

First off, I have to say....

ERIN-AH, you are a genius! Rice bags. So simple, and yet so effective! I love you!
DAWNE-Ooooh, I totally wan to see that movie. I lurve Meryl Streep. =)
STEVE-Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on my blog! It means so much, because I know I'm not the only one you follow. =)

Okay, so I did my workout today, YAY! I just got up, and went straight to the treadmill. It worked out okay today, because only the boys were up and Kate was still sleeping.

At Costco yesterday I found this thing... it's flatbread. Called FlatOut. They are a bit spendy at $6 for 18 of them. BUT they are 100 calories each and have 9g of protein and 30% of your daily fiber requirement. I used one last night as a soft taco shell, with lean ground beef, cheese, sour cream and tomatoes. In the future I'm going to use them for wraps and put my chicken and lettuce inside with some dressing. They keep me full for a long time!

I also bought some Kashi cereal, thanks to Miss Dawne. =) I didn't realize it had so much protein in it, so that's what I'm going to have this morning. I'm interested to see how long it keeps me full. We're going to storytime at the library later this morning and I'm curious to see how long I feel full and not starving.

Have a wonderful day, my friends!

A day of rest

My husband took today off, so I took the day off from exercising. Instead of getting on my treadmill, I let him sleep in and cooked a down-home breakfast. ;-)

We went on a date last night. I have to say... Applebee's is of the DEVIL! They don't post their nutrition info on the web (any idea how we can get a petition started, stating they must do so????) but I googled "Calories in boneless bbq wings".

Anyone care to take a guess how much 1 serving (10 pieces) will set you back, calorie wise???? EIGHTEEN HUNDRED CALORIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is shocking and insane. Now, I don't have this information verified, but it was posted more than one place on the web by other people. I usually get mine plain, with sauce on the side, but good grief. No wonder America is so obese!

I opted instead for one of the 550 meals. Steak, potatoes and veggies. The plate was like, miniature. Seriously it looked like it had been made for an Oompa Loompa or something. But I ate it and it was delicious. Then I rationed myself 12 Bit-O-Honeys to eat during our movie. We watched Have you heard about the Morgans?. It was a good time. =)

I'm still on plan today as far as my eating goes. I've only eaten breakfast and lunch, with no snacks and am at 820 calories, although this is sort of a wild guess due to the breakfast I made and the fact that the calorie calculator I usually use didn't have some of the items in it. I've eaten:

1.5 eggs with 2 turkey sausage and 1/8c milk
a biscuit made from Bisquick, with cheese and milk
Chicken salad with craisins, feta and Girard's White Balsamic dressing

That dressing is the bomb diggity, but at 110 calories for 2T I won't be buying more once it's gone. May as well just use FF Italian. ;-)

Hope everyone is doing well!

MORE than a conqueror...

Ok, so first off I have to say I did end up having a snack last night. HOWEVER, I absolutely believe it was the right choice. I did what I could to stave off the hunger- drank 30 odd ounces of water and went to bed. But I couldn't fall asleep because I was soooooo hungry. So I had 16 wheat thins and 1 lite laughing cow wedge. 165 calorie snack and that was all I needed. This is a victory because what I really wanted was a plate of nachos with sour cream.

After my snack I went to bed and... still couldn't fall asleep because I was so freezing cold. I've had issues in the past with my thyroid and I think it's sort of out of whack again. I usually bundle up for bed in the following: socks, long pants, a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt. With the hood up. And my head under the covers. I'm talking bundled up like I live in the Antarctica. Or Minnesota.

So I got up, took a steaming shower and was able to fall asleep once I was warm and toasty.

This morning I woke up with a headache, felt grumpy and just generally did NOT want to work out. I refrained from eating, because I knew I *should* work out, but didn't want to. Not only did I not feel well, but since it's Sunday my whole family is here. In the living room. Where my treadmill is. Which means my husband will be watching me. And I don't want him to watch me, cuz I'm embarrassed!

Now, don't get me wrong. HE doesn't make me feel that way. Sorry to be blunt, but he'd whisk me off to bed the instant I was done, if I let him. I just get all sheepish and shy when all my wobbly bits are bouncing around as I do my workout.

In any case, I decided that I wasn't going to make excuses and I was going to work out. It all turned out just wonderfully because my husband took the kiddos outside to help him pull out some bushes, in preparation for the garden I'll be planting this spring/summer. (YAY!!!!)

Sooooo, I did 25 minutes of HIIT. And since there was no reason not to, I took a page from Sherah's book and rested 5 minutes and then GOT BACK ON THE TREADMILL. For another 20 minutes. GO ME!

I haven't eaten anything yet, and it's almost noon. I'm going to hop in the shower and then make myself a salad with baked chicken.

Have a successful day of moderation, my friends!

I am starving, but I'm not giving in...

It's 8:00pm and I am so incredibly hungry. We were out at the church conference center all day again, and we had paid to eat there. Lunch was a total bust. Clam chowder, which I despise, or else "tortilla soup" that was really a spicy broth with a few corn kernels floating in it. Seriously. Bad. Although, I'm pretty sure the person serving it just wasn't getting to the meat and stuff at the bottom of the pot. But what *I* got was broth and 3 kernels of sorry corn.

They ended up setting out some bread with peanut butter, so I had 1 slice of bread with 1T peanut butter (approximately) and 1 T jam. I had a few almonds for a snack. Dinner was spaghetti with a tiny piece of garlic bread and a cookie.

I did have 3 turkey sausages and a lite string cheese for breakfast, so at least I got some protein in.

I don't have any idea how many calories I've eaten, so I'm not going to risk it. Plus, I'm just going to bed anyway.

I am drinking TONS of water, hoping to fill my stomach up and also because I feel dehydrated.

So... another successful day! YIPPEE!

As a side note, I stepped on the scale today after my workout. I'm REALLY trying to only weigh once a week; I don't want to become obsessed with the scale. I was happy to see another loss. I'm not saying how much, but it was pretty significant. =) Hopefully come Friday I'll have a good loss to report for the week. :-D

Another Successful Day and Modified HIIT

Well, I wasn't at home all day yesterday so I couldn't run to my computer to input the calories I was eating, but I think I did okay. Here's what I ate:

3 small crepes with a total of 1T organic ff yogurt and 1T jam
2 slices of turkey bacon (35 calories each)
1 light string cheese
1/4c smoked almonds
1 tiny piece of vegetarian pizza (it was seriously 2"x2")
5 sun chips, 2 mini reese's pb cups, 10 M&M's (this was a victory believe it or not. I was STARVING and just wanted to shove handfuls of chips into my mouth)
1 piece of baked bbq chicken, salad with some ranch
1 c chicken yakisoba noodles

I could have had much more than that, but I didn't, so I count it a victory. =)

This morning I got up and did my HIIT on the treadmill in a fasted state. I modified it for me. I am nowhere near being able to run, much less sprint. So instead I walk moderately fast for 45-50seconds and then walk faster for 45-50 seconds. It seems to be working well, I sweat a lot but don't feel like I'm overdoing it, and the time FLIES past. As I get in better shape I'll up the speed, but for now, I'm good with this.

Have a wonderful day everyone! =)

The Same!

So, the scale stayed the same, which I am very happy about. =) I also had an epiphany in the middle of the night... I love, love, love the sweet and sour chicken and yakisoba noodles we get from this Chinese joint. BUT that chicken is seriously coated in greasy batter. In the middle of the night as I lay there awake (I've been waking up and not able to fall back asleep for a couple hours) I thought, "Sheesh! I should have just cut up one of my baked chicken breasts and put some S&S sauce on that!" So, that's what I'll do from now on. I think it will lower the caloric content considerably.

Also, whilst laying in bed awake last night =) I was thinking about what it means to *me* to be fabulous. For me, it's not about looking like Heidi Klum or some other Victoria's Secret model. I don't have the body type for that, I will never look like those girls. That doesn't mean I can't be fabulous in my own way.

For me, to be fabulous means feeling comfortable in my own skin. Being at a healthy weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Being a supportive, loving and respectful wife and a kind, caring, nurturing mother. Aren't those qualities fabulous!?

So, that's what I'm striving for. Moderation in everything, living a healthy lifestyle (and being a good example to my kids in that) and getting down to a healthy weight.

I am so excited for this new year! Getting Thin In 2010! (Yep, came up with that one last night as well.) :-D