Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Still Struggling

I'm still struggling.  I feel like the exercise is coming along.  I worked out 5/7 days last week.  This week I've worked out Monday and Tuesday and plan to work out the rest of the week as well.  This is on top of the fact that I'm having my period (tmi I know, sorry), and we've got a lot going on around here (more about that in another post). 
I just can't seem to get a grip on the food.  I completely binged tonight after my kids went to bed.  I'd love to blame it all on the little miss sunshine that showed up  two days ago, but I can't.  I was eating this way last week before I got my period too.  I'm wondering about meeting with a nutritionist.  I don't know.  I definitely need some help.  It really sucks right now. 
I do all this work at the gym and then blow it when I get home.  Anyone able to offer advice?

Friday, August 26, 2011

Exercise Success, but Food Inconsistancies

I can't believe it's already Friday!  This week has been completely crazy (hence my lack of posts).  With my big boys starting school we're having to get up about 1.5 hours before we normally do and it's killing all of us.  We're doing earlier bedtimes (for everyone including me), but it doesn't seem to be helping all that much.  We're just beat.
We seem to be getting into a new routine thought and that's a good thing.  Our new schedule includes hitting the gym every morning after we drop the hubster off at work.  I have to keep the car everyday now to pick up the boys from school, so I'm able to get to the gym on a regular basis.  It's been really great.  I've done my Couch to 5k program this week (finishing Week 2 today), and on my off days I've hit the elliptical machine with a vengeance.
I'm really struggling with my food though.  It seems like I'll do really well for two meals in the day (usually breakfast and dinner), but I fall apart at my other meal.  Eating way too much at the meal or binging 30 minutes after I'm done.  I'm not sure what's going on, but it sucks!  Now that at seems like I've got the exercise part down, I'm really going to focus on my food.

I've been looking at this a lot this week.

I think it's awesome.

We took our three biggest boys to their first high school football game last night.  It was awesome!  If you don't live in Texas you might not understand the power of high school football.  It's a BIG deal here.  This game was televised.  It's huge. 

When I told them where we were going my oldest said, "You mean a real game.  Not on tv, but a real game."  They were so excited.  One of our friends is the defensive coordinator for the team, so they were super excited to sit on the 50 yard line and cheer on Coach Carey's team.  My oldest played flag football and he kept saying, "Oh I know this play.  I know exactly what they're going to do."  He was so cute. 

I cherish moments like last night.  I want to enjoy my family and doing things with them for as long as I can.  I'm not going to be able to do that if I'm not healthy.  That's what I'm aiming for.  I'm not aiming to be model skinny (is anyone really?  aren't they all airbrushed anyway?).  I just want to be healthy.  I want to be fit.  I want to walk to the football stadium and not get out of breath.  When the boys are practicing their football plays in the backyard I want to be out there with them enjoying every minute.  Isn't that what life's about?  Being the best you can be with what God's given you? 

Monday, August 22, 2011

Goodbye Weekend : (

This weekend was so fun and I'm incredibly sad to see it go.  Friday night I went out with my best girls and we saw The Help.  Oh my goodness, so good.  I laughed so hard at one point I almost fell of my chair and at another point I cried and ruined my mascara.  I had such a good time with my girls.  Then on Saturday night we had a dinner at another set of friend's house, and Sunday we had lunch with more friends, and dinner with my parents.  We are so blessed (and so busy!). 
Folks I'm going to tell you the truth on here.  My eating the past few days has be lousy at it's best.  Way to much processed, fat, grossness.  I felt it big time today when I did my Week 2, Couch to 5k program.  I did 1.93 miles in 30 minutes.  Down .04 miles from the last time I did it.  Bugger.  I wasn't able to go as fast on the running sections and it sucked.
After I did my run I got on the bike and did 3 miles in just under 17 minutes.

Today was the start of the school year for my boys!  I can't believe I have two in school.  Last year we homeschooled, but this year they're both in a public school.  My house is so quiet.  It's just so weird.
To celebrate their first day of school I made cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs (you know trying to balance the carbs and protein!).  Yep, I had some.  Big mistake.  Sugar gives me headaches and I got a doozy.  Sometimes I just make the dumbest mistakes.  For lunch I had some Work With What You've Got Hummus, Sweet Chili Rice Chips, and Carrots.  I had way to much hummus and chips.  
I finally got a hold of myself at dinner time and decided I needed to change my eating pattern for the day.  I made Creamy Dreamy Roasted Chickpeas which have been a big hit in my family in the past, but this time I roasted some asparagus while the chickpeas were cooking and chopped it up and added it to the mix.  I really liked it (and my kids devoured it, always a plus).

Look at all that beautiful asparagus (thank you Sprouts for having it on sale!).
I served it with brown rice and it was delish!

*I'm thinking about doing the detox again.  I feel like I need to refocus on my eating and the detox really seemed to help with that last time.  Anyway, just thinking about it, but I might do it.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Weekly Weigh in... and Work with What You've got Hummus

Okay, let's just start with the depressing news. I had my weekly weigh in today and it was disappointing. 186.8 lbs. Yep, I was up 4 pounds. That sucks. I knew I'd be up, but I wasn't expecting it to be that much. I had a really inconsistent week, but I'm ready to move on.
Yesterday I wrote that I had learned things from this last week and that is really true. I learned that I definitely need a plan for my food and my workouts. When I don't have plan things just seem to fall apart. I don't have the food I need in the house and I don't make time to get to the gym (honestly, this past week I couldn't have worked out much because of my horrendous sunburn). So, my new goal is to plan a week of meals at a time and get everything I need. I'm also going to start planning out my workouts. For so long my workouts have been sporadic because I never knew when I'd have a car to get to the gym (my hubs and I share a car) or it was really hard to workout at home with the kids running around. Now that school is starting (on Monday) I'll have the car everyday so that I can take the kids to school and pick them up. So, I'll always be able to make it to the gym. And if one of the kids at home gets sick I can still workout when they take a nap. I'm feeling much more confident in my ability to hit the gym.
Today I saw this on Pinterest and it really started my thinking

I've had a rough week, but I'm not going to let it define my journey to lose weight and get healthy. I've fallen, but I'm pulling myself back up and getting right back in the game. 



I woke up really hungry this morning.  I made two eggs with a little bit of greek nonfat yogurt thrown in and two pieces of whole wheat toast with simply fruit blackberry jelly.  It was yummy, but honestly not filling.  I don't know why I was so hungry.  Definitely wished I had made my steel cut oats and saved the eggs for something else.

At lunch time I was starving.  I cooked up two veggie patties (they were only 90 cals each so not bad) and had them over spinach and arugula topped with goat cheese.  I had a side of cherries.  I also had some great new chips and my "work with what you've got" hummus.  Those are Doritos that you spy.  They're the new to me Rice Works Chips in Sweet Chili.  Oh my goodness they were so good!  The main ingredient is brown rice so that's pretty fantastic.  I was really wanting some hummus to go with them and I've got a pretty good hummus recipe.  I went to make it and discovered that I didn't have any tahini.  I was super bummed, but decided to see if I could come up with something on my own.  I looked around and saw that I had some Sesame Garlic Sass Dressing and I thought, "hey tahini is made from sesame seeds so maybe this will work!"  So here is my Work With What You've Got Hummus Recipe:  I used a can of chickpeas (drained), about 2 tablespoons liquid from chickpeas, about 3 tablespoons Sass Dressing, about a tablespoon olive oil, juice from a lemon, a minced garlic clove, and some salt.  It was a little thick after I put it through the food processor, so I added a little a little water until I got the consistency that I wanted.  Ummm yeah, I think I might like this hummus more than the other one that I make.  It was sooooo good with the chips.  If you have access to the Sass Dressing then definitely give it a try.

Tonight we had meet the teacher night at the boys' school.  They were so excited.  I don't really know anything about the teachers that they got, but they were very friendly and I'm looking forward to a great year.  It was late when we were done at the school so we headed to Taco Cabana for dinner.  I got the Chicken Street Tacos.  The nutritional info for these tacos isn't listed on the website, but the nutritional info for the regular chicken tacos is.  It was 210 calories.  I'm guessing it's about the same or maybe a little less because the street tacos are made with small corn tortillas and the regular tacos are made with big flour tortillas.  They only have chicken, lettuce, and tomato on them.  It was a pretty decent dinner.

Today was a little crazy because I was getting all the boys' school supplies together to take for tonight and I had mounds of laundry to catch up on.  So, I didn't get a workout in , but I've got one planned for tomorrow!

I'm really ready for the weekend.  I'm going to a girl's night tomorrow night and we're going to see The Help.  I'm super excited.  The book was fantastic and I've heard the movie is just as good.

Do you have anything fun planned for this weekend?

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Back to the Gym! Finally! And a New Recipe!

Ahhhh...I finally made it back to the gym after almost a week of suffering from one of the worsts sunburns I've ever had. But I'll get to more about that in a minute.

Today started off pretty well. I had my steel cut oats with Raw Fiber, Ground Flaxseed, Non Fat Vanilla Yogurt, Unsweetened Vanilla Organic Almond Milk, and a big bunch of blueberries.  I am out of fresh blueberries, so I just tossed in some frozen ones.  Fantastic!

After breakfast I headed out with the kids to run errands.  We went to Sprouts and Costco.  About half way through Costco I started getting really really sleepy (not like me for it just to hit me in the middle of the store), my head started hurting really badly, and I started feeling like I'd be sick if I didn't get something to eat.  I've had migraine issues for a long time, but they've never come on like this so I don't know what it was.  We finished our shopping and headed to an all natural organic local burger place next to Costco.  I got a burger (seriously one the best burgers in town in my opinion), some sweet potato fries, and a large unsweetened green tea.  I ate about half the fries and the rest were eaten by one of my kids.  It wasn't the most healthy lunch, but it was the healthiest of what was around.
I got home still feeling the terrible headache and took some meds.  About 30 minutes later I was feeling much better so we headed to the gym.  I was soooooo glad to be back at the gym.  First I got on the treadmill to work on my Couch to 5k program.  I did the week 2 program again since I didn't really get to much of it last week.
I went a little faster this time and I went a little further (not a lot further .02 miles to be exact), but it's still further than I've ever gone before.  I'm almost at the 2 mile point!  I can't wait to hit that.  Hopefully next time.  There were two times when I had to walk an extra 30 seconds and at one point I kind of felt like I might puke, but it was worth it.  I am so glad I did it.
After the run I wasn't ready to go so I hopped on the bike.  I did a little over 4 miles in a little over 22 minutes.  By the end I was really feeling it in my legs (thanks to my run), so I went ahead and stopped instead of going the full 30 minutes.
After my workout I was really hungry so I grabbed a Lemon Zest Luna Bar.  Yummy and just what I needed.

We ran a few more errands (getting the boys ready to go back to school) and then came home and made dinner.  At Sprouts today they had Eggplants on sale for 99 cents a piece!  I was so sad that I was buying eggplant instead of pulling it out of my garden (my garden is in state of disaster thanks to the horrible drought we're having...I'm going to try again in the Fall), but at 99 cents I couldn't resist.  I decided to make Grilled Eggplant Parmesan.  Now, I've never actually had this dish, so I just kind of made up the recipe and what I thought should be in it.  It was a success!  Everyone loved it.  It was so easy and I can see this being made a lot in our home.  Here's my super easy recipe.  Enjoy!


Get your self an eggplant!
Slice it up, brush it with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Throw it on the grill and wait 5 minutes.

Turn it over and wait 5 more minutes
Take it off the grill and put it on a baking sheet and top with some awesome tomato sauce
Top it with cheese and put it under a broiler to it's all melty and good.  Take it out and enjoy!
I had mine with a side salad topped with Calamata Feta Sass salad dressing.  It was sooooo yummy.  I love when I'm able to pick something up randomly at the store and come home and make something really good from it.  It does a lot for my wife/mommy ego : )

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan
1 Eggplant (there are two in the picture, but I only ended up using one)
Tomato Sauce (I used Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce....my favorite)
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Shredded Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese
Olive Oil (enough to brush the eggplant slices)
Salt and Pepper to taste

First get an Eggplant.  Slice it into discs about 1/2 an inch thick.  Brush each piece with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Turn your grill onto medium (my thermometer on the grill read 300 degrees).  Grill each side of the eggplant for about 5 minutes per side.  Remove from grill and set on a baking sheet.  Top with about a tablespoon of Tomato Sauce.  Sprinkle with Parmesan and Mozzarella Cheese.  Place in the oven under the broiler until cheese is melted (it took about 4 minutes).  Remove from oven and enjoy!



On a side note, tomorrow is weigh in day and I'm dreading it.  After the past week of no exercise and awful eating I know it's going to be bad.  The only good part is that it's been a great learning experience for me.  I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Choose your hard

Today was way better than the past few have been.  I had steel cut oats with flax, raw fiber, blueberries, nonfat vanilla yogurt, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  Yum.
Then I took the boys to the pool with some friends.  So fun!  Today I put on sunscreen, so no sunburn.  Yea!!  Our sweet friend made us lunch.  Peanut Butter and Jelly on Whole Wheat, fruit, and yogurt.  Perfect.
I came home and was super hungry.  I really wanted to eat the left over baked potato.  I mean I really wanted to, but I didn't.  I thought about it and was able to talk myself out of it and only had a handful of cereal instead.  That held me over until dinner.  We had some friends over (they brought ribs and chicken!).  It was a great dinner.  BBQ chicken and ribs, salad, baked beans, and potato salad.  Yummy.  I didn't over do it and I'm feeling good about my choices.
I didn't get in a workout today.  Busy at the pool enjoying these last few days of summer and then getting ready to have people over.  I should be able to make it to the gym tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it.  It's been way to long.
I saw this on Pinterest and loved it.


It's so right.  Losing weight is super hard, so is maintaining, but you know what?  Staying fat is hard to.  It's hard on your body, it's hard on your emotions, it's hard on the people around you.  I choose to lose weight.  I choose that hard.  It's the hard that's worth it.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Big Goof

In order to lighten my mood after my last post I decided to take some big goofy pics of my self and post them for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy!

I always tell my boys not to stick out their tongues, but I find it quite amusing when I do it myself.
 Be careful...you're face might stick like that!
 Oh my word...I'm such a dork!
 Big Cheese!
 Big Smooch!
 And...Goodnight : )

By the way...I have a plan worked out for tomorrow and thanks to the plan and my pictures I'm in much better spirits.

Rough Few Days

I am a stress eater. Like, uncontrollable eater during stressful times. I can't seem to get a handle on it. It sucks.
The past few days have been super stressful. So, I've been super eating. Add to that not being able to go to the gym thanks to my mega sunburn (I can't wear a sports bra thank you very much). Exercise is a stress reliever for me so I don't have that reliever. Then I'm eating too much and realize that I need to be exercising more and I can't so that makes more stress. It's just a vicious cycle.


I need a new plan. I think I should be able to get back to the gym on Wednesday, so that will help. Tonight I need to sit down and make out a meal plan. Having a plan always helps with my eating.
Of course a day spent at the spa would be a nice stress reliever too. Yeah, that's not gonna happen anytime soon, but I can dream right.
What about you? How do you handle stress? Any secret tips you want to share?

Thursday, August 11, 2011

I'm an Idiot....and weigh in day...

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I will get to all that in a minute, but first let' start with my weigh in. Drum roll please....182.6 pounds. That's down 1.4 pounds from last week (if you're keeping track...I know I am : ) I'm a happy woman.

Okay, so yesterday was not good.  I was so sore from my lifting workout on Tuesday that I couldn't even walk up the stairs.  It's Thursday and I'm still sore.  The New Rules of Lifting is a hard core workout people.  I didn't do any exercise yesterday because I could barely move.

For breakfast I had steel cut oats, a scoop of Raw Fiber, Ground flax seed, nonfat vanilla oatmeal, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and blueberries.  A big bunch of blueberries.  Yum.

For lunch yesterday I had my beloved salad with over easy egg, spinach, arugula, goat cheese, and sunflower kernels tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Another yum.

After lunch I went about my day and then started making dinner. That's when things started to go wrong.  I started feeling awful.  My stomach hurt, my head hurt, I was dizzy.  It was just bad.  So, I went to bed.  At 7:30.  I never go to bed before 11.  It was bad.  Bad I tell you.

I woke up this morning feeling a little better, but my stomach still hurt.  So, I skipped breakfast.  I took the boys to the pool with some friends and this is where I become the idiot of the day.
We got to the pool and I got everyone all ready.  Smeared sunscreen all over the boys, put floaties on the little ones and was ready to go.  Then I don't know what I was thinking, but I completely ignored putting sunscreen on myself.  After 3 hours at the pool with no sunscreen on I am cooked.  Seriously, I'm in pain.  I'm red, I'm hot and I'm just a mess.  I can't even take my hair out of my ponytail because it hurts my back.  Here I am in all my red glory.  Tonight is going to be miserable trying to sleep.


After the pool I came home and had tortilla crusted tilapia on quinoa with black bean salsa, extra cilantro, and goat cheese.  It was super yummy.

Late this afternoon the effects of the sunburn really started to set in and I am not feeling well at all.  I couldn't eat dinner.  So, all I've had today is lunch.  Not a great day as far as my eating goes.  And I didn't get in a workout because I'm still so sore and I couldn't wear a sports bra right now even if I wanted to.  My shoulders hurt so bad.  I'm fairly certain I won't be able to exercise tomorrow either.  I'm hoping by Saturday my shoulders will be able to handle some clothing and I can make it back to the gym.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

I did it!....An early work out

I can't believe I did it. I actually tried to talk myself out of it.  When my alarm went off this morning I thought, "no way!  I'm not getting up this early to go do a weight lifting program at the gym!", but after I laid there a minute I realized that I was going to be mad at myself the rest of the day if I didn't get outta that bed.  So I got up and was at the gym by 6:30.  Let me tell you, I was nervous!!  I really didn't know if I could do the first set of exercises in the New Rules of Lifting for Women, but I set my mind to it and decided that no matter what I was at least going to give it a shot.  And you know what?  I did every single one of the exercises!  I honestly was a little shocked at myself.  There were a few guys in the weight section of the gym, but it was no where near as intimidating as the crowd yesterday.  I'm really pleased with myself.  My legs are so sore, but it feels so good!  I warmed up for 5 minutes on the elliptical, did the weight workout, and then did 15 more minutes on the elliptical.  I wanted to do 30, but my legs gave out and I just couldn't do anymore.

Before the workout I drank a bunch of water (I drank a lot during too).  Then I came home and dove into this yummy bowl of steel cut oats with a scoop of Raw Fiber, ground flax seed, nonfat vanilla yogurt, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and blueberries. 

For lunch three egg cups (eggs, cottage cheese, green peppers) and some grapes.  Not super exciting, but still good.

I played my calories pretty low and healthy for the first half of the day because I knew that tonight would be hard with food.  Our regular group of friends that we "do life" with came over and it was bring your favorite appetizer night.  We had bbq bacon jalapeno poppers, sandwich wraps, taquitos, garlic bread, and mini-quiches.  Yeah, not super nutritious.  I had two jalapeno poppers, two sandwich wraps (spinach tortillas stuffed with bbq sauce, deli meat, cheese and fresh spinach), a taquito, a slice of garlic bread, and a mini-quiche.  Honestly I don't feel like over did it, but it was definitely lacking in nutritional substance.  I see a lot of fruits and veggies in my future tomorrow : )

I surprised myself exercising today.  What about you?  Did you have any surprises today?

Monday, August 8, 2011

Making Up for a Bad Morning

Man, mornings are just crazy around here. Somehow we always oversleep and end up running late. This morning was no different. The hubster woke up and said, "I've got a meeting at work in 23 minutes." Great, how were we going to get six people ready and in the car and get him to work on time? Add to that the hubs was starving and didn't feel like he had time to eat anything at home and you've got a problem on your hands. He headed straight to McDonalds. I should have let him order, watched him eat it, and then come home and eaten a healthy breakfast, but I didn't. I told him I'd take a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. And throw in a Dr. Pepper while you're at it. Yeah, not a good start to my day.

However, I realized that I made a mistake and moved on, spending the rest of the making good decisions. After the crappy start I was really feeling the need for some fruits/veggies at lunch. So, I made a juice with a green apple, red apple, spinach, blueberries, and a carrot. I also added Raw Green Super Food Powder and Tri-Cleanse Powder.
I felt much better after I drank this.  Oh, do you like my new nail polish?  I'm digging it, but my husband says it makes my nails look like M&Ms.  Hmmm....not sure what I think about that.

I'm supposed to start the New Rules of Lifting Group over at Prior Fat Girl.  I read the book and I have to say I really like it.  The guy who wrote it doesn't try to sugar coat anything.  He tells the truth and has a good sense of humor.  There are a couple of things in it that are a little difficult to follow (like way he explains the schedule is a little difficult to understand, but I think I've got it).  Overall it's a good book. 
Today I went to the gym with every intention of starting the program.  When I got there and saw the massive crowd of guys in the weight section I chickened out.  We went to the gym a little later than normal and it really busy.  I just wasn't up for attempting a new workout that I'm nervous about trying in front of a bunch of guys.  I was especially nervous about this move:
Yikes!!  I actually came home and practiced on my ball and I think I've got it.  So I should be ready.

Instead of doing the lifting program I did my Couch to 5K program.  I'm on Day 1 of Week 2.  It was tough!  There were two walking segments that I had to extend 30 seconds because I just couldn't start running again.  However, I did it and at the end I did my best distance yet!  A week ago I did 1.76 miles and today I did 1.95.  That's a great improvement.  I can't wait to see where I go from here. 
Because I didn't get the lifting workout in today I am going to go back early tomorrow morning and do it (hopefully it won't be crazy busy...if it is I'm just going to have to do it anyway).

I was still trying to get over the junk I ate for breakfast this morning when we had dinner.  I made a great salad and everyone loved it.  We had a mixture of baby spinach and baby arugula topped with carrots, goat cheese, avocado, sauteed yellow and red peppers and red onion, cooked chicken (I just cooked in a pan on the stove) and drizzled in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It was fantastic.

So, despite the awful morning I feel really good about today.  The majority of my food choices were really good and I got in a good run.  Here's to hoping I don't completely chicken out at the gym doing some new moves in the morning.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Busy Busy Weekend!

Oh my word, this weekend has been crazy busy! Yesterday we spent almost the entire day moving things around the house/getting rid of stuff we don't need/throwing junk away, so that we can switch the big boys to their new room. We didn't stop until we had to get ready to go to a friend's birthday party.
I new I needed lots of energy for all our work yesterday, so I started with a big mug full of steel cut oats with a scoop of Garden of Life Raw Fiber, ground flaxseed, nonfat vanilla yogurt, unsweetened organic vanilla almond milk, and a big helping of blueberries. I haven't been putting almond milk in my oatmeal recently, but it was really thick (I think because of the raw fiber) so I needed to thin it out a little.
I had my oats in one of my favorite mugs...it's from our honeymoon and I got it when we visited the Statue of Liberty. It brings back such awesome memories everytime I use it.
For lunch yesterday I had some left over egg muffins and an apple.  Not a lot, but I was too busy to really prepare something and I wasn't that hungry.
Last night we had such a fun time at our friend's party.  His wife threw a big surprise 30th b-day party for him and he was completely surprised.  I had one chicken fajita with grilled veggies, rice and beans.  I also had a small piece b-day cake.  Yum!
Today was another crazy day.  We woke up late (again) for church, so I rushed out the door with nothing but a bottle of Spark.  After church we had a leadership meeting and everyone was asked to bring a brunch item.  I brought watermelon, but everything else was muffins, donuts, pig in a blanket, and chicken salad.  Not a great lunch, but I did the best I could.  Lots of watermelon and a sausage.
Once we got home we were back to moving things around the house.  I looked up after working hard and before I knew it the clock said 6:30.  I didn't have anything ready for dinner and the kids were starving so we went out.  The hubster picked an Italian food place that close.  They really only serve calzones and pizza.  I got a calzone and ate about 1/2 of it. 
Today kinda sucked with the eating.  I love the weekends, but it's hard because we don't have a set routine.  I do much better during the week when everyday is pretty much the same.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Friday, August 5, 2011

I'm Alive!....

I didn't fall over and hit my head yesterday when I weighed in!  Instead I got the following text yesterday afternoon from my hubs, "Want to do dinner/date night tonight?  Put the kids to bed, then eat?  Maybe watch a movie and never crack open a computer? : )"  Who am I to say no to that?!  So, we let the kids eat, then we ate, and watched The Fighter.  Oh my word I loved this movie.  One of my favorite parts may have been during the credits though.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?  Don't worry that I skipped posting yesterday.  I'm still going to fill you in on all the details!

So, I did my weekly weigh in.  I've actually tried to be really good and only weigh once a week so that I don't obsess about the number.  I wasn't expecting great things (in fact I was expecting bad things) because of having my period and the crap I had eaten.  I was pleasantly surprised when I weighed in at 184 (even).  Just in case you're counting that's a .2 lb loss.  Yep, not much at all, but considering everything it's pretty cool.  Especially if I look at the fact that I haven't gained back an ounce of detox weight.  That's pretty freakin' amazing.

I started my morning yesterday with steel cut oatmeal topped with ground flax seed, nonfat vanilla yogurt, slivered almonds, and blueberries.

Ummm....I'm having a mild obsession with this breakfast.  Someone may need to stage an intervention.  I may be buying stock in McCann's Irish Oatmeal.  I'm just sayin'.  Lord, help me.   I love it, here's my empty mug just crying out for more.

For lunch I took the left over quinoa from the night before and added canned albacore tuna, arugula, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, crumbled nonfat feta (I'm out of my beloved goat cheese) and squeezed fresh lime juice all over it.  It was fantastic.  So easy and so good.

I'll confess that I did no exercise yesterday.  I was tired and grumpy (thank you pms), so instead I did this...
Made a big super fun tent in our living room and let the boys watch a double feature (Night at Museum and Night at the Museum:  Battle at the Smithsonian).  They loved it and I got some peace an quiet to read.

For dinner last night we had lemon orzo salad.  It was decent, but not a lot of flavors.  Probably won't be making it again (although one of my kids loved it and had seconds).


On to today!!!!!!!!!

This morning we were in such a rush!  All of us over slept and were rushing around like crazy to get the hubs to work.  So I grabbed a Nature Valley Granola Bar and my bottle of water to eat for breakfast on the way to drop him off.  Ugh.....I was really missing my steel cut oats.

After dropping him off we went to the gym and I hit the treadmill.  It was the hardest of the three runs I've done this week.  I think it was a combination of my period (are you ready for me to stop talking about that yet?), not eating a great breakfast, and not being well hydrated.  I drank a lot of water while I ran, but not a lot before.  Here's how it ended up....
 I'm still on week one of Couch to 5k.  However, even though it was a really hard run, if you look back you'll see that I actually improved.  My first run this week I did 1.76 miles in 30 minutes, the second run I did 1.82 miles in 30 minutes, and this time I did 1.86 miles in 30 minutes.  So, each time it's an improvement.  I'm super happy about that.  I'm hoping that I have time to go in the morning and do another day of week one and then move to week two on Monday.  At the end of my run today I wasn't quite ready to quit so I hopped on one of the bikes for 20 minutes.  I don't remember how far it said I went, but I did the interval program and the hills with resistance were challenging.  I was definitely continuing to sweat.

After my workout I had some Advocare Spark (Pink Lemonade).  I have never had this drink before, but a friend of mine sells it and I have a lot of other friends that use it and love it.  I get so sleepy in the afternoons and since I've given up coffee I decided to try this.  Okay, I know it has caffeine, just like coffee, but I'm not adding milk and sugar and a bunch of other stuff (high fructose corn syrup) to it.  So, I feel better about it.  It's sugar free, you put it in water, it's 45 calories and it taste great.  I have to say that this afternoon I didn't have any problems feeling sleepy.  I also didn't get jittery or have any other problems.  I really liked it.  ***Just fyi, I'm not trying to promote my friend's business.  The link I posted takes you to the official Advocare website and isn't for my friend.  I paid for the product because I wanted to try it.  I was not given anything to write about this.***


During lunch we were out running errands (after being in the house for two days with out a car I needed to get out and get some things done!).  So, I had to make a choice between some fast food places to eat.  We ended up stopping by Chick-fil-a.  I was a little worried that my hunger, pmsbun with no condiments.  Instead of fries I had a fruit bowl and instead of my usual sweet tea I got an unsweet tea.  Progress at the drive-thru!!!

Dinner was part healthy and part not so healthy.  I made egg muffins following  this recipe that I found via pinterest.  I followed the majority of the recipe, adding 4 pieces of turkey bacon (chopped up), low fat shredded cheddar cheese, and chopped red bell pepper.  I didn't use paper cupcake liners like she said to do, but I really sprayed my pan and once they were done I used a sharp knife to loosen the edges and didn't have a problem with them sticking.  Also, I had way more than I could use in 12 muffin cups.  I ended up making 18.  Everyone really seemed to like them.  Even the baby ate two of them.   My hubs also made some pancakes and I had two small ones with sugar free syrup.

I am so ready for this weekend!  We're working on changing up our bedroom and the boys' bedroom.  The two older boys will be sharing a room and the two younger boys will be in a room together.  They're all super excited, but the hubs is dreading moving the bunk bead. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  What does everyone have planned?

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Yummy Yummy Chickpeas!

Tomorrow is weigh in day and I'm dreading it. Okay, tmi time, I started my period (or as the hubster calls it, "time of death and destruction") which explains why I've wanted to eat everything in sight and all the bloating I've been feeling. So, I'm not expecting any good news tomorrow. We'll see what happens.
I had more steel cut oats today. I love them and I've taken a fancy to eating them out of mugs. I don't know why. It just makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

This was the highlight of my day. The big boys got to go swimming at the grandparents, so it was just me and my little man for most of the day. I don't get to spend near enough alone time with him. We enjoyed playing with the pop up toy and he's got mad sword fighting skills. Such a stinkin' cutie.

Ummm...lunch didn't go to well. I ate cereal. Not even good cereal. Frosted mini-wheats. I'm choosing to blame it on the death and destruction time.

Dinner was WAY better!  Creamy and Dreamy Roasted Chickpeas!  I loved them.  Caitlin came up with a stellar recipe.  I served the roasted chickpeas in all their creamy and dreamy deliciousness over quinoa and steamed kale and spinach.  La la loved it!

After dinner I met up with a friend at Starbucks.  She was a little late so I enjoyed my non-sweet Shaken Green Iced Tea while reading more of The Help.  I'm totally diggin' this book and can't wait to finish it and see the movie.  I may have to make it a girl's night though, because I'm not sure the hubs is up for it.

I didn't get to the gym today because the hubs had the car, but I did a Crunch Pilates Yoga Blend Workout that was on Netflix Instant View.  Good workout.  I also drank buckets of water.  It is sooooo hot. 
If I don't show back up here tomorrow it's because I fell off the scale and hit my head when I saw how much weight I've gained thanks to my time of death and destruction and Frosted Mini Wheats.