Tropical Traditions Giveaway at Win, Lose, or Blog

Christmas is just around the corner and this will make a great stocking stuffer!

You can enter for the chance to win a bottle of organic massage oil over at Win, Lose, or Blog through Saturday, the 19th.

It's available in 4 scents, I love this stuff. Go enter!

{Challenge}

Amy over at Fabulously Fit with Five is running a challenge right now while she works towards her Personal Training Certification. 

There are some pretty cool prizes up to win:

10 personal training sessions with her valued at $500.00

1 Purify Cleanse and Detox system valued at $130.00

30 day supply of Zrii Achieve, all natural meal replacement valued at $108.00

Also, I just guest posted over on her blog yesterday. Go check it out!

Funny Story...

This is going to be one of those TMI posts and I can't believe I'm sharing this, but since I'm trying to share all aspects of my weight loss journey, here goes...

So I've been trying to do really good this week with diet and exercise and yesterday I decided to start taking my vitamins again. I haven't in awhile...

So I took my vitamins (probiotic, multi and B6), upped my water intake and found myself in the bathroom a lot yesterday.

This morning I hopped on the scale and saw that 3.6 lb weight loss and chalked it up to the new battery...

At breakfast, I took my vitamins again and when I went to put them back on the shelf, I saw the label on my multivitamin bottle, only it didn't say multivitamin..it read Fiber Laxative. Duh! The bottles and pills look so similar, I guess I need to read labels more carefully before taking pills.

I might be the biggest dork ever. No wonder I lost so much. Go ahead and laugh, I did... or cringe if that's waaaay too much information for ya. Just thought my big 3.6 lbs weight loss overnight deserved an honest explanation. I'm still laughing...

I Could Kiss My Scale!



I could have kissed my scale this morning. Yesterday it was acting wonky..really it's been acting weird a lot lately, but it finally gave me a reading of 139.

Today it wouldn't start at all, it kept giving me an error reading when I tapped it, so I changed the battery and saw a happy...

135.4!

I weighed myself 4 times and saw the same number, so if goes up tomorrow, I'll be throwing it out of the window. I know I've been bloated the last week from too much sodium and that lovely time of the month, but yesterday when I pulled my straight out of the dryer jeans on, they felt a tad looser in the legs. I'm *hoping* my scale has gotten it's act together and that's an accurate number.

PS, I suffered through 2.5 miles on the treadmill yesterday and a toning/aerobic workout. Felt great afterward even though I loathe treadmill running. I'm back in the game! Just need to stay in this time :)

It's Game Time!

I have been having a hard time getting out of this slump! I have good days and bad days, but according to the scale, my bad days are outnumbering the good.

This morning I was at 139.

Up 1 lb in the last month.

I have GOT to get back on track. Now that it's colder, it's harder to get my running in since it gets dark so early and it is freezing out..I hate running on the treadmill. Hate it with a passion. I've managed to do a measly 2 miles on the treadmill in the last couple days, but that's not going to cut it if I want to reach my goal of 100 miles by the end of the year. I started a new babysitting job, which has thrown off my normal workout schedule. I try to do my aerobic/toning exercises during naptime, but that's harder with an extra kid around. I'm not making excuses, just saying it's going to be hard, but I'm going to have to make it work...which might mean suffering through treadmill running and getting up at 5 or 6am to workout.

Go for this week..get back to at least where I was the end of September, which was 138. 1 lb in 1 week. I can do it!

Where Have I Been??

More like where has the time gone??

I haven't even weighed myself the last few days, I know I'm up a few lbs and hovering at 140 lbs..up a couple lbs from a couple weeks ago. Darn.

Here's another confession. I have had a hard time finding the motivation to eat right and exercise. I've not totally gone back to my "old ways", but I've been in "maintain mode" pretty bad lately...and since I'm not at my goal weight, I've got to stop! It's not just about my goal weight either, I've had people ask if I've found I'm comfortable at my weight now and honestly, I'm not completely. I am more comfortable than I was at 183 lbs, but I know this isn't where I want to be..I'm not uncomfortable, really, I just know this isn't my ideal weight yet,,. or size. Let me remind you, I'm barely 5'3" and a size 10 now. I feel I could still down a size or two.

So, enough rambling! What am I going to do to correct my slacking?

I'm going to start running again. I've only run a few times in the last month. I know when I eat bad, I have crappy runs...wow, just re-read that and that came out waaaaaayyyy wrong.. :) lol. You know what I mean, though. If I eat bad and go running, I can feel it. I'm more sluggish and get winded easier. If I am regularly running, I am more motivated to eat well...which gives me more energy to do my other workouts too, like my strength training. So new goal. I'm going to run 100 miles by the end of the year. I'm going to try to find a ticker for running and put it on the side of my blog, so if you don't see it steadily ticking along, give me a nudge.

I'm normal baby! AND..I can't believe I'm posting this picture...

I'm finally at a normal BMI, for the first time in my teenage-adult life! I weigh less now than I did in jr high-high school!

Today is my 25th birthday and even though I didn't reach my goal, I'm proud of how far I've come so far.

Weighed in at 138 lbs this morning! I started off at 183..45 lbs gone so far!

I'm still keeping my goal of 125 for now and will keep going after this weekend is over, I'm going to indulge a bit for my bday first!

I woke up to find a new pair of jeans on the kitchen table from my sweet husband. I had to go exchange them, just for a slightly different color and I snapped a couple pictures in my new pants since I had my camera with me.

(hey cutie in the background!)

I've been walking around in baggy capris the last few weeks so it was high time I got some new jeans! No more saggy bottom for me! Yay! :)

And I can't believe I am posting this comparison picture, but I am, I saw this picture of me today and thought 'hey, I'm not totally disgusted with my arms anymore!'

I've had a few friends say they can't remember me being a size 18, or xl-xxl. well...let me remind you what that looks like...eek.

Here's me today...

And here's me at the end of March, right before I started competing in Season 4 at Win, Lose, or Blog.

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I laugh at my husband, but I about cried when I saw this picture of me at Sea World!

Yeah...it was bad...bad. bad. bad.

My arms still need some work, but they have come along way!

13 lbs to go! My new goal date for that is December 8th! I better get there before then :)

5K- 9/24!

Saturday I ran my second 5K. I met both my goals! My first one was to beat my first 5K's time (38 min 52 seconds) and my second goal was to run the whole time!

I ran the 5K with my friend Tina again and we both finished at the exact same time this time, 36 min 30 seconds.

My hubby was there to snap a couple pictures of me coming around the corner to the finish line...

She's hiding beside me in this picture, she's just so skinny you can't see her! :)

Here's us right before the race, she got the post race picture, but it won't let me upload! Pretty much the same picture, but sweaty in the post one. ha :)

I love having a running buddy and highly recommend running with a friend if you can! We don't even talk when we run, we just plug in our earphones and listen to music, but it's nice having someone to encourage and be encouraged by. There's been plenty of nights where one of us hasn't even wanted to run, but the other encourages to go...and there's been several times where one of us has wanted to stop running a mile in, but kept going because the other one was still going.

I know I really need to work on my stride, if I could just stretch those short legs of mine just a little bit more with each step, I'd cover more ground and I'd be faster.

We're already gearing up to do another 5K the end of October and then there's the turkey trot 5k on Thanksgiving we plan to do. My goal is under 36 minutes next time! I hope to improve a little each time!

5K goals and a little extra rambling...

Tomorrow morning I'll be running my second 5K! Keyword: Running.

My goal is to run the whole thing without stopping..and I want to beat my time from my first 5K in July, which shouldn't be hard if I run this entire one...I had to walk part of my first one.

I'm hoping to do a costume 5K at the end of next month, and a turkey trot on Thanksgiving. Think I can find one in December in Utah? :)

PS, I found another picture of myself from 2006...not sure my exact weight, but I know I was 4 sizes bigger at the time. Crazy to think about! I'll have to post it soon.

Happy Weekend, and wish my luck that I don't go overboard this weekend!



{Weekly Weigh In}

Well poo, close, but not quite there.

140.2

I was hoping to hit the 130s this week, but I can't say I am surprised after how I ate Sunday. Guess that's my goal for next week!

1.2 lbs for this week, which isn't terrible considering how I did eat over the weekend, but it just reminds me that if I can lose that in a week with eating crap over the weekend, how much better I can do if I stay strong through the weekend.

I think I'll "weigh in" next week on Thursday instead of Wednesday since that's my birthday. I won't be seeing 125 on the scale, but I'm going to try for a happy number for my birthday and then just keep going.

{what you eat today is what you wear tomorrow}

A friend on facebook posted "what you eat today is what you wear tomorrow"..I've heard this before, but boy is it true!

Yesterday I was wearing lasagna, french bread and accessorized in many kinds of treats. I went over to a friends house Sunday for a luncheon and there was lasagna and treats galore. The lasagna was delish, but I'm not sure it was of the "light" variety. I should have skipped the french bread and avoided the dessert table altogether, but I didn't. Darn me!

I keep kicking myself for how I eat on the weekends. I do pretty good on the week, but totally blow it in one meal..or two, or 4...I feel like I'm constantly doing 2 steps forward and 1 step back. I just need to reach my darn goal weight, because I really feel like things will be less stressful then. If I yo-yo a little from week to weekend for the rest of my life, I think that will be normal, but right now I feel like I'm leaning more toward maintain mode than losing mode and I need to stop that! I hope that makes sense. I'm not saying that once I reach my goal weight I will be able to eat whatever I want, but if I do good during the week, I will be able to "afford" splurging on the weekends, whereas right now it's keeping me at a "maintain" rate.

This Saturday I'm running a 5K in the morning and that afternoon we are going to a brazilian restaurant to celebrate a friends birthday and mine a little early. I'm hoping to not overdo it too much at the restaurant and do good the rest of the weekend so that when I hop on the scale next Thursday (my birthday), I can still see a decent number on the scale.

My "weight loss journey" doesn't end next Thursday, that's for sure! I might take a few days to indulge a little around my birthday, but then it's right back to getting these last 15 or so lbs gone. I'd love to get there before the holidays hit and since there's about 15 weeks left before Christmas, I shouldn't have any reason not to get to my goal weight before then.

Enough rambling..wish me luck!

{Weekly Weigh In}

Got to make this quick, but no overall gain for this week after all!

I was at 144.8 on Monday morning. 2 lbs gain over the weekend. yikes.

This morning I weighed in at 141.4!

woo hoo!

1.4 lbs away from that "normal bmi" range and so close to the 130s.

Goal for next week. 130s baby!

Biffed it off the bandwagon...

Bad.

If I had just fallen, it might not been so bad, but this was a full blown, unexpected hard biff off the bandwagon. I'm fully expecting a 2 lb gain this week. I've eaten everything I shouldn't have the last few days and in bigger proportions than I should have. I kept thinking, oh well, I'll do better tomorrow...that's been going on for a few days and I realize that attitude is what got me into this mess in the first place. I haven't ran or exercised in almost a week. I did go on a 3 mile walk Saturday, but that's it since last Monday. I was sick for a few days and then we painted our house this weekend which meant lots of eating out. I'm not making excuses, I could have eaten better, but I didn't.

I plan to do a gentle detox cleanse this week and reassess my new goal before my birthday. 125 is out the window for this month I'm sure, but I'm starting fresh tomorrow and want to get as close as possible.

A small loss is better than no loss, or a gain..right?

What a crummy weigh in.

142.8

Only .2 lb gone. I broke one of my biggest rules last night and ate a snack around 9...a fairly low cal snack, but still, that always shows on the scale the next morning. I know because I was at 142.2 yesterday morning, not much better, but I ate good yesterday and painted all day so I was constantly moving with no time for snacks. I'm sure if I eat good today and get a workout in, which will be hard since I'm coming down with a cold, that I'll be down more on the scale tomorrow.

I'm not going to beat myself up over it today. The number on the scale is still going in the right direction...I'm just sooo looking forward to the 130s..another milestone for me. A weight I haven't been since elementary school. Sad to say, but true.

My goal for this week...drink lots of water, not stuff my face with carbs and keep moving as much as possible. I'm hoping this cold doesn't last too long. It's hard to workout when your nose feels like it's packed with cotton :( Off to down some emergen-c. 

5 Years Ago...

5 years ago I married my best friend. It was a crazy day, I was sick as a dog, hated how my hair turned out, and I felt so uncomfortable in my tight wedding dress..but in the end, all that mattered was that I was marrying my best friend.

For kicks, here's a look at some of our wedding photos...

For even more kicks, I tried on my wedding dress today. Most women make a goal to "fit back into their wedding dress". Not me...I knew I was big when I got married, and my goal was to try it on some day and find it to be huge. 5 years later and I got that day...

No fancy pictures, didn't even do my hair or make up (again) before taking pictures. It's only going to get bigger on me from here on out... I never want to fit in my wedding dress again!

{Heaven}

I got a taste of Heaven on earth today. I might be the last person to have tried the stuff in this little jar of Heaven:

Oh. My. Word. How have I not tried this stuff before? Oh yeah... cause I'm cheap and this stuff isn't always so cheap, but I was able to get some on sale with a coupon for $1.78 (normally $3.79 or more here) last night, so I snatched some up.

I put it in my oatmeal this morning, topped it with bananas, and mmm, mmm, mmm. I realized it's made by the same folks of this delicious stuff...

It all makes sense now...the great thing is, it is probably not acceptable to put candy in my oatmeal, but I can throw a spoon of hazelnut chocolaty goodness in my oatmeal or on some whole wheat toast and not feel guilty. It's like eating candy for breakfast. 1 Tablespoon is 100 calories, which is totally comparable to peanut butter...just not as much protein in it.

My little piece of Heaven is now safely tucked away in the back of the pantry where the hubby and kiddos (and I) can't eat it by the spoonful.

33:34

33:34..that's how long I ran last night..without stopping! I've been running with a friend for a couple months now and we have a 3 mile loop we do. Normally we run a mile, walk a mile and run the last mile. Last week we added a little more to our mile before stopping and last night we said we'd run 17 minutes without stopping. It was windy at first and when we got close to the 1 mile mark I was sooo hoping she didn't really want to run 17 minutes. She didn't stop, so I kept going...Then something strange happened..when we got close to 17 minutes, I suddenly felt like I wasn't going to die anymore! I asked if she wanted to keep going to the 2 mile mark and we said we would give it a try..and then when we were approaching the 2 mile mark, I said what the heck...let's keep going. So we did. We ran the whole 3 mile loop without stopping and did it in 33 minutes and 34 seconds. That was a first for both of us! The longest I had ever ran before last night was 17 minutes when I did that 5K in July...and I haven't ran that long since then. Funny that I was soo struggling tonight to even make it to 1 mile, and somehow I wound up doing 3 miles without stopping.

That and my 40 lbs loss yesterday made for one exciting day yesterday. Just the boost and motivation I need to keep going and remind me that we can do things we thought we couldn't..and sometimes sooner rather than later if we push ourselves a bit!

Now that I know I can run 3 miles straight, I have to keep up with it and work on speeding it up!

The one where I embarrass myself...

Ahhh...this is an exciting, but an embarrassing one. I hopped on the scale this morning and it read 143!

That means 40 lbs down!

With 40 lbs I have lost 8" off my waist, 8" off my hips, , 2.25" off my arms, 1" off my neck, 5" off my chest (my husband still cries over this), and 3" off my thigh..for a total of over 30"...I wish I had measured my calves at the beginning, but oh well!

I have lost 3 pants sizes...


I tried on the same pants I was wearing in January...the ones I had to go out and buy because nothing else fit, and when I saw the size, I cried and realized that it. was. time. Time to lose the extra weight for good! I lost a bit in January, and put most of it back on...it wasn't until April that I really got my head in the game.

I decided to video myself in my "18s" today..this is an embarrassing one, but it shows what 40 lbs gone on my 5'3" frame looks like. Keep in mind, this is first thing in the morning before I showered or did my hair/make up..and those lips desperately need some chapstick!

And since I've already embarrassed myself enough with that little video (thank goodness there's only about 20 of you that read this!!) Here's something to embarrass me even more. First of all, this is just a bad picture to begin with. The sun was making me squinty, but this is a very true and accurate, never before seen (except by the photographer) picture of what I looked like last year. When we took family picture last October, I very carefully picked ones that hid my bulk with a kid. Enough talking, but seeing this picture made me..and still makes me want to cry!


Ack! Awful, awful, awful!! The whole pose and everything is just awkward here, but the most awkward thing would be that i look 8 months pregnant, when I am in fact about 8 months post baby. My arm is the size of my face, rolls down my back...you get the picture. AWFUL. I've had a lot of people say, I can't  believe you were a size 18...or 183 lbs, you just didn't look that big...well they obviously didn't see this picture. Trust me, I was there. It was gross, and something needed to be done about it. Good thing something IS being done about it!!

Here is a picture of me 40 lbs lighter...

Awhhhh..Much better. No rolls, my arms don't look like they are going to take over my body and I can look at this picture without cringing. I still have a ways to go, but I have a feeling I won't look back at this picture and cringe someday.

18 more lbs to go!

{Weekly Weigh In}

I'm in a rotten mood today and almost didn't even post this, so I'll make it real quick.

144.2

A measly .6 lb down from last week. I was at 144 on Friday. I allowed myself a couple treats Saturday night when we were camping and one splurge meal Sunday and then I worked my butt off when I got home and I'm still up. 2 lb since Friday. I'm mad at myself. I'm so close to 40 lbs gone and I could have reached that this week. I already know I will be way short of my birthday goal. That and a few other things have put me in a rotten mood today.

I'm going to go workout in effort to not give into my desire to stuff my face today. I already allowed myself a treat after lunch, but I'm seriously tempted to go out and buy some serious junk food.

What a blah day!

{weekly weigh in} I Could Cry!

Happy Tears!

OK, I'm not really going to cry, but I am thrilled with what I saw on the scale this morning!!

144.8

Can I get a Woo Hoo!! I lost 3 lbs exactly this week. My goal was to get to at least 145 but I really wanted to lose 3 lbs and I did it! I'm finally under 145 and I'm not looking back, it's a number I hope to never see again unless I'm very pregnant. This puts me at 38.2 lbs gone, with less than 20 lbs to lose!

I gained a little again over the weekend...I ate really good as far as calories go, but it's the sodium and carbs that did it again. I was at 145.6 on Friday and came home to 146. I guess that just might be life for me.

This last week I really limited the processed snacks I had been eating daily (i.e. all those yummy 90-100 calories snacks) and I upped the veggies and exercise. I did allow myself some treats, I ate frozen yogurt twice this last week, but I measured out my serving each time and stuck to it, no seconds! and really frozen yogurt doesn't have a ton of calories compared to ice cream. I even ate a s'more when we were camping Friday and survived. :) Everything in moderation.

I'm realizing it's about time I take a new picture since I haven't posted one since I was at 23 lbs gone. I'll work on that this week!

Keep this up and I just might keep ya...

I just might keep my scale if it keeps being this nice to me, as opposed to chucking it out the window like I want to some days!

These last two days since I weighed in on Wednesday have been great and my scale has been nicer to me than it has been in weeks. I'm *hoping* I am getting past this plateau it seems I've reached. I am .6 lbs away from a happy number. I've set a mini goal for next weigh in and I'm so close, I won't post it now because as of late, every time I post my goal, I don't reach it. Do I sound superstitious or what??

We are going up to the canyon tonight to possibly camp and make dutch oven pizza and s'mores. I've pre-figured what I can eat to stay in my calories and I better stick to it. If I can make it through the weekend then I should be home free making my "mini" goal next Wednesday! Maybe even more!

Good luck to all you other losers...weight losers that is :) May the weekend not be too tempting for you! I know that's always where my weaknesses always surface!

Happy Friday!

21 lbs in 21 days

I spotted a book called 21 Pounds in 21 Days at the library today and picked it up.

I've browsed through it and it seems to talks a lot about detoxing and from what I gather you just drink a lot of juice and soups. The book says "It is not a starvation diet, it allows you to drink tasty, nutritious cocktails all day." It also talks a lot about laxatives and colonics.

I'm not meaning trying to bash on anyone that has done this or a similar diet, but I got to thinking, as much as I'd love to lose 21 lbs in 21 days (I'd reach my goal for sure!) I don't think I could go through with it. Not because of will power, but I think I would be pretty miserable on it. I didn't really see anything about protein, except during a 9 day maintenance section and I saw nothing about carbs. Again, I've just browsed through it, but I don't want to "diet" in anyway that I can't see myself doing for the rest of my life.

I've been getting down over my slow weight loss, but at least I know that when it all finally comes off, I should be able to easily keep it off. I'm still eating real foods and I'm not miserable losing weight. I'd love to drop a big number to help reach my goal, but at what cost? If I'm not eating enough protein and calories will I be losing more lbs from muscle or fat?

I haven't been posting what I've been eating lately, but a typical breakfast for me is either a protein shake or toast with peanut butter, an egg and fruit. Lunch is normally an open face turkey sandwich or pita pocket or some kind of salad. Snacks are raw almonds, yogurt or fruits and veggies. I've not been dieting perfectly, the weekends tempt me to splurge a little, but I've not been miserable either.  I'm not taking away anything from my diet that I'll have to "re-introduce" later on.

I'm rambling now, but I think I'll stick to my no fad diet rule and keep going the way I am, but try harder. I still need to up my exercise and I'm going to try to do better on the weekends. My husband always has 3 day weekends and for some reason, him and food temptations go hand in hand.. Those 3 days have a way of setting me back! I would need to lose 3 lbs a week from here to my birthday to reach my goal, which isn't impossible I guess, but it's going to be hard. Wish me luck!

This is taking for...ev..er!

I did really good last week, then saturday we had a yard sale/bake sale which left me with leftover brownies...not good, the brownies were good, but having them around was no bueno... and then we went to Winger's for dinner. I don't know how many calories my meal was, but I'm positive it put me way over my calorie limit for the day. It's frustrating that it seems if I allow myself one splurge meal it sets me way back. AND I am pretty sure I'm dealing with an ovarian cyst right now which tends to make me bloated and gain weight. I was happy the scale showed a loss this week, even though it was a small one. At this point, I know I won't be reaching my goal by my birthday, but I'm trudging along and hope to get as close as possible.

Today I weighed in...

147.8

Boo. My goal was to get under 140 by the end of the month, I have 3 weeks to do that.

{Weekly Weigh In}

Whew! It's been awhile since I've posted and I was seriously dreading this day.

The week I left for vacation I was at 149.2.

We spent endless hours on the road and camping. Saturday-Monday I did pretty good. Then the camping food and snacks presented themselves and I had a hard time resisting cookies, smores, chips and jerky. Blast that food.

We got home Saturday night just before midnight and first thing I did was hop on the scale, with clothes on and saw:

155.6

Holy. Crap.

The next morning I weighed myself, without clothes (which is normally how I weigh myself) and saw:

152.4

Crap-ola.

I can't say I was totally surprised, but I was secretly hoping I had gotten away with eating what I did the last week. Sunday wasn't much better, but Monday morning I jumped back on the bandwagon, starting eating right, drank a ton of water and I've worked out pretty good the last couple days.

This morning I weighed in at:

148.2!

This puts me at just .2 lbs shy of 35 lbs lost total. I know a lot of the weight I had gained the last week was water weight which explains why it came off so fast, but I'm thrilled to have lost everything I gained last week, plus some.

Could I have done better last week? Definitely. Do I have regrets? Not a lot.

I was on vacation with my husband's family that we don't see very often. Although the scale would seem that I did, I know I didn't overly indulge, there was plenty I said no to, so I know it could have been worse... and I dropped the weight back off pretty fast.

It's crazy we are already into August! My goal for this month is to get under 140.

{Weekly Weigh In}

I woke up feeling so bloated and not looking forward to stepping on the scale.

My tummy has been giving me some major problems the last few days and I wasn't sure if it would turn out to be a good or bad thing on the scale.

Here goes this week's weigh in:

149.2

I'm under that blasted 150 I've been working to get under forever!! Why I'm I not thrilled? I was really hoping again this week to lose to 2 lbs, and I lost 1.4 lbs. I know .6 lb doesn't seem like a big difference, but it is when I come short of my goal each week which sets me back further in terms of my long term goal...see the name of this blog. I know have 10 weeks left with 24 lbs to lose. At this rate I will come up 10 lbs short of my goal, which still will be all *adult* time goal, but I'm really aiming for that 125. I'll go into more reasons why I want to reach that by September later...

I know there are things I could be doing that will help me speed up my weight loss. I've gotten in the habit of doing daily 200-300 calorie workouts when I was doing daily 500+ calorie workouts during Season 4 at Win, Lose or Blog. Now that I have my heart rate monitor, I can compare my work outs and know what's the best burn for me. So...it's time to up the burn. With that I'm going to be careful I'm not eating too few calories. I want to lose weight, but I want to lose weight from burning fat, not muscle. I've found the best time for me to workout is a little after lunch when my youngest goes down for a nap. I can put in a video for an hour, be fueled from lunch, and not too long after my workout, I can refuel with my afternoon snack.

And another big thing..I gave up my diet coke with lime again. The more soda I drink, the less water I am drinking. So I'm on day 4 without it. I know I need to drink more water, this has always been a hard one for me since I only like really cold water.

Saturday we leave for an 8 day vacation. There will be lots of drive time...about 24 hours total. Drive time = snack temptations. I'll be camping in the woods next Wednesday so I won't be weighing in. This makes me nervous for the following week's weigh in.

First 5K!

Has it really been almost a whole week since I've posted on here? Time flies!
I haven't been just sitting around since my last post.
Saturday I did my first 5K!

Registration was at 6:30 in the morning! My girls ended up waking up at 4 am and hubby got them right back to sleep but I couldn't go back to sleep. I was like an anxious kid on Christmas morning. I finally rolled out of bed just before 6, got ready and headed out.

I didn't want to eat much before the run, so I ate a cliff bar on the way. It was just the right amount of food and fueled me up for the run.
So good!



Oh look, here is me post first 5K...no make up, sweaty pits and all...

ew :)

So how did I do? Not as bad as I thought for my first time since I just started running a couple months ago, but I have plenty of room to improve. I came in at 38:52. I honestly thought I would be closer to 42 minutes.

How did it feel? Great! It was such a great feeling finishing something I never thought I'd want to. I'm already looking forward to doing another one.

I have a small confession, and maybe even a cheesy one, but I got a little choked up on the drive home.
It was one of those moments where I gave myself a little pat on the back, which we all deserve to do every now and then. On the drive home, it hit me that I've lost 33 lbs and had just completed my first 5k, without feeling like I was going to die. It felt great. I ran the first 17 minutes of that 5k without stopping to walk. A couple months ago I could hardly run a minute before stopping to catch my breath. 5 years ago, or even last year, I never thought I could come this far after just a few months of trying...and definitely had no desire to ever even run. I also realized that the weight on my license is no longer a lie :)

I'll be back tomorrow with this week's weigh in, despite the run and a few good workouts that I got in, I'm already nervous that I'm not going to be happy with that darn scale that doesn't want to budge much!

{Weekly Weigh In}

I have about one minute to post this, but I wanted to get my weekly weigh in up, which I've switched to Wednesdays after last week.

Weighed in a 150.6.

1.6 lbs down from last week. I just can't seem to get those 2 lbs down a week and I feel like it's taking me for-ev-er to get to below 150. I was really hoping this would be the week, but I swear, I better be below 150 next week!!

Blender Bottle Giveaway at Win, Lose, or Blog

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I got to do this review and loved these products!

Go enter HERE...giveaway ends July 16th!

{food and exercise- 7/8}

Another day down! I put off working out until tonight, and by time 7:30 came, I did not want to work out. I thought of what number I want to see on the scale Tuesday though, and I know that if I want any chance at seeing that number, I have to work out...so work out I did! Just a short one though. Still glad I did, It's amazing what even a short 24 minute work out can do for your mood and energy.

Here's how today went down...

Breakfast

Fiber One 80 cal cereal

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup banana

205 calories

Lunch

Bagel thin

2 oz deli turkey

Laughing cow cheese- Love this spread on for sandwich

2/3 cup melon

275 calories

Afternoon Snack

Snackwells Chocolate Cereal Bar

140 calories- 8g protein!

Dinner

4 oz Extra Lean Beef Burger

Orowheat Sandwich Thin

2% American Cheese slice

1/2 T  Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil

1/2 T Ketchup

Mustard

Veggies

*I planned to eat corn on the cob (80 cals) too, but was full after the burger so I didn't push it.

353 Calories

*Exercise*

Lindsay Brin Core Metabolic Jumpstart DVD- 24 min

136 calories burned

Evening "Snack"

Minute Maid Light Lemonade

20 calories

*****

Total Calories In: 993

Total Calories Burned: 136

Net Cals: 857

{Food- 7/7} and Heart Rate Monitor

Yesterday I was so sore from the previous two days, so I took it as a "rest" day and didn't exercise.

I ate 1115 calories, but I don't feel like I made the best choices. I wound up with a headache last night which might have been from too many carbs and not enough protein...but then again, I'm still not feeling the best this morning, so who knows.

Breakfast

Sara Lee Whole Wheat Toast

1 T Reduced Fat Peanut Butter

1/2 grapefruit

199 calories

Lunch

Taco Bell Fresco Style Taco

ONE bite of twix- 1/5 of ONE twix bar was 24 calories*

174 calories

*I can eat half a cup of fruit for about that- bleh

Afternoon Snack

Fiber One 90 Cal Brownie

1/2 banana

1/2 c fruit

173 calories

Dinner

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Side Salad

489 calories

Evening Snack

80 Cal Ice Cream Sandwich

80 calories

*****

I was asked about my heart rate monitor watch.

I bought the GSI Super Quality All-In-One Waterproof Heart Rate Monitor Watch and Transmitter Chest Belt. It's normally about $60, but I found it on Amazon for around $30.

I've only used it a few times, but so far I like it. The chest belt doesn't bother me like I thought it might, it fits right below my sports bra and I don't really notice it being there. The watch is a bit bulky for my wrist though, but I have small wrists.  I have to have the watch band on just the right notch or it slips around and the metal plate on the underside of the watch will rub the bone on my wrist and bug me...as long as I have it on right, it doesn't bother me. I hate bothering with returns and I like this one enough that I'll keep it, but if I were to buy a new one, I'd make sure it has a smaller watch.

{food and exercise- 7/6}

Back to tracking calories eaten and burned if I want to start losing closer to two pounds a week.

Here's how today went down:

Breakfast

Toast with reduced fat PB
1/2 grapefruit
1/2 melon *love*

239 calories

*Exercise*
Lindsay Brin Shed 5 Fast DVD

Lunch

Turkey on Orowheat Sandwich thin
with Laughing Cow cheese spread on bread *yum*
1/2 melon *love*

255 calories

Jumped on trampoline with kids, weeded the garden and picked peas.
*all in 30 minutes or so before we were too hot and went inside*
Wore my heart rate monitor watch, which is oh so bulky on my wrist.
Doesn't look so "unisex" on my wrist. meh. But it works...

Not bad for playing with the kids

Afternoon Snack 



Sugar snap peas from our garden! *mmm*
String Cheese
Special K multi-grain crackers

I wound up sharing some of this with my kiddos, I can give them the exact same thing, but it always tastes better coming out of my bowl.

118 calories...
I did not plan to eat the exact same amount of calories I burned right before my afternoon snack, just worked out that way. ha.

Dinner

Pizza
Salad with Wishbone Ranch Spritzer

393 calories

Evening snack

Chocolate graham cracker with PB
1/2 cup melon
A few pretzels

127 calories

*Exercise*
Ran 1.5 miles


Total Calories: 1132
Total Calories Burned: 500

Net Calories: 632

I can't get enough melon, which is good since I better eat it up before it goes to waste! I'm running my first 5k with a friend next Saturday and I've got a lot of work to do before it! Still not a lot endurance.

30 Pounds!

The last couple weeks whenever I was asked how much I've lost, I'd respond with "almost 30 lbs"...well, as of today, I can finally say I've lost 30 lbs.

30.2 lbs to be exact.

I forgot to weigh myself yesterday, so I did this morning and I can't explain the excitement I felt as it flashed:

152.2

Part of me wanted to be disappointed, because that's only 1 lb down since last week, and I was hoping for more...but 30 lbs down total! How can I not be excited about that? Now I can't wait to see hit below 150. I'm going to work it this week and I'm *hoping* to see 149 next week.

I'm already drinking more water and cutting back on the diet soda. When I was a contestant for win, lose, or blog, I gave up soda all together, but I started drinking it again right after season 4 ended. I'm trying to limit myself to one can of diet soda with lunch or dinner. I'm going to start running more this week as well. I ran last night for the first time in weeks and it felt great. I only did 1.5 miles, but I felt so good after. I bought a heart rate monitor/calorie counter watch and I loved putting it to use last night. I'm planning to do my first 5k on the 16th, so I better prepare the next couple weeks! I was sick all last week and didn't work out, I feel great being able to exercise again..definitely improves my mood and desire to eat better!

Now it's time to test that heart rate monitor again while the little one naps.

Here's to losing the last 27 lbs!

{June Boom Recap}

I wish I could say that "aced" the June Boom, but I didn't workout every day like planned.

BUT, the point of the June Boom was to get me moving more, which I did.

I started the June Boom challenge on the 2nd, so there was no workout on the 1st. I had one day where I was seriously too busy to workout, I'm talking I was on the go from 6am to 11pm, only stopping to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, sure I could have got up a half hour earlier, but I did enough cleaning, organizing, chasing kids, and everything in between that it was definitely an "active" day...one day I just forgot until it was late at night and was tired. I ended out the month with 4 days of being sick..and I'm started July being sick too. Will this darn sickness end? I've gone from throat/head/chest cold sick to tummy sick. Bleh.

I sooo want to workout, but my body keeps saying otherwise.

Over all I am happy with how June went. Not so happy with my weight loss for the month, but that just means there's room for improvement in July.

I know I really need to work on drinking more water, so that will be my number one goal for July.

I didn't even lose a full 5 lbs this month, I know I could have done better than that. I'm hoping to lose 10 lbs in July, but with a family reunion at the end of the month, which involves 24 hours in the car, this could be tricky business.

{ABS}

Mom's Into Fitness and Lindsay Brin is one of Win, Lose, or Blog's Season 5 sponors. I'm in the middle of reviewing her 60 Day Slim Down System {more on that later} and I have liked her facebook page to keep up on the awesome deals and tips she shares. I love reading her fitness tips!

Today Lindsay Brin said:

"Should you do abs everyday? Nope! But you can do abs before and after your workout, plus switch up the routine. Challenge yourself. But only do abs every other day...otherwise you could build those muscles out instead of pulling them in!"

Totally makes sense, but I know many people (including me) who think if you want a slimmer waist, the best way to reach that is do 100s of crunches every day.

For fitness tips and deals on Lindsay Brin's fitness DVDs, head over to facebook and like her page.

Here We Go Again...

I still haven't replaced the battery on my scale. I'll get to the store and remember I need a new battery, but it takes one of those little round batteries, not just like a AAA or something easy to remember, so I never know what kind to buy when I get there. I need to bring it with me next time.

Saturday morning it said 149

Sunday morning it said 152.4

This morning it said 153.2

I really doubt my weight is fluctuating that much, but who knows. I just need to replace the battery, because I can weigh myself 5 times in a few minutes and it will give me a 5 lb range between each time I step on.

This morning I weighed myself twice and it said 153.2 both times so I guess I'll go with that.

Again, 1 lb down from last week. This isn't going to do if I want to reach my goal. I'm hoping the scale is just off and changing the battery will help...I've had the scale almost 2 years I think and have never changed the battery and me and my hubby use it often so we'll see what happens when I change the battery. I'm a tad nervous that it will actually go up after I change it.

On a happy note, I've now lost 3 pant sizes since January. The scale can't lie on that.

Woo hoo.

On a not so happy note, I'm sick and didn't work out yesterday and I doubt I'll be up to it today.

My head kills. My throat kills. I'm soo tired and my body aches.

I just want to sleep, but I won't be getting many zzz's in today with 2 kiddos running around.

Goals for this week:

Workout as soon as I feel better

Change scale battery asap

Lose 2 lbs

Drink more water!!

{Free SOYJOY bar sample}

Head over here to get a free sample of SOYJOY fruit bars.

You get to pick from banana, apple or blueberry. I was debating whether to buy one of these last night after the gym, but grabbed a luna bar instead (mmmm), so I'm excited to get the free sample to try.

ugh!

Can I just say how much a new trend bugs me?

Fast food restaurants seem to be pushing late night eating so hard right now.

I just saw this ad...

Everybody wins what else? A high BMI?

Thunder thighs?

A muffin top?

This comes after receiving a coupon for buy one combo, get one combo free after 10pm from McDonalds last week...because if one big mac combo at midnight wasn't good enough, you can get a second one to share...or for yourself.

What the h?

Why the late night eating push?

I get they want to up sales by extending their hours, but it totally bugs me.

They aren't advertising to the graveyard shift workers..unfortunately most people who eat that late are the ones that shouldn't...and I don't say that to sound totally judgemental. A lot of the weight I put on in college came from midnight runs for massive burritos from a small mexican restaurant and late night burger runs to Burger King...was I hungry those times? Most of the time no, we were bored and wanted something to do, so why not eat when there are places open to serve you? That came before all the restaurants were pushing the open to midnight or later advertisements. At the same time, so many fast food restaurants are claiming that they aren't causing/adding to America's obesity problem. I say psssht and whatev to that.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.

It just really bothers me to see the fast food industry encouraging late night eating so much.

There was a time I would have seen this coupon and totally jumped on it, but I think I'll pass this time.

Jazzercise Core DVD giveaway at Win, Lose, or Blog

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{Weekly Weigh In}

I haven't changed the battery on my scale, yet, but it seemed to be acting normal this morning.

Not thrilled with what it showed today, but it could have been worse, so I won't complain too much, just going to have to do better in the weeks to come if I want to reach my goal.

Today I was at 154.2.

Exactly 1 lb down from last week. I need to lose an average of 2 lbs a week from here on out to reach my goal weight by my birthday. I'm not going to beat myself up if I end up a few pounds shy of my goal by then, but if I keep going at 1 lb a week, I will be a whopping 15 lbs shy of my goal. Can't let that happen when I know I can do better than I did this week. I didn't track my calories 4 days last week and I know I do so much better when I track my calories...might also have something to do with the fact that pasta salad and cinnamon rolls made too many appearances over the weekend. And chinese last week...and half a rolo mcflurry...yeah, definitely can do better than last week. :)

{don't laugh}

Before you read this, I want you to a make a promise...this will be on your honor..

you can't laugh...

I wanted to go for a run tonight, but legs have been achy, so I thought I would do some low impact exercise instead. As I went through my workout dvds, I came across one I had long forgotten about...and for good reason.

I got this dvd at my bridal shower 5 years ago, used it once, put it away and it's collected dust since.

I was kind of in a bad mood tonight and thought what the heck, I'll give it a try.

The dvd starts off with stars, sparkles, rainbow colors and unicorns...ok, maybe not unicorns...but for real, a screen full of flashes of pinks, yellow, orange, blue, purple...and stars and sparkles shimmering around the screen.

Carmen and her friends were dressed like this...

And well, I look nothing like that.

While Carmen's moves were smooth and sexy, I felt like my dancing was more akin to this guy's...

I managed through 20 minutes of head rolls, dips, and hip bumps and couldn't take anymore.

Lesson learned...again.

This dvd is back on the shelf to collect more dust.

I feel silly for even putting it in the DVD player tonight.



Chicken Verde Stew with Hominy {recipe}

I found a recipe for Chicken Verde Stew with Hominy in a Cooking Light magazine; the original recipe says to cook it in a dutch oven on the stove top, but I prefer to crock pot anything I can...that way when dinner time rolls around, I'm not tempted to cave for something quick and easy, which unfortunately normally equates to something less than healthy. Making it in the crock pot also eliminates cooking sprays and oils. I made a few substitutes and added some black beans for extra protein. Topped with sour cream, it was supper yummy and filling.



Here's how I made mine...

Chicken Verde Stew with Hominy

1.5 lbs tomatillos (husks removed)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1.5 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth
1 cup chopped onion (I used red)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 chopped red bell pepper
4 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast (I pre-boiled mine)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 (29 oz) can of golden hominy, drained and rinsed (I accidentally used mexican style. mmm)
1 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
reduced fat sour cream (optional)
cilantro leaves (optional)

Broil tomatillos on foil lined cookie sheet for about 14 minutes, until blackened. Cut chicken into one inch pieces. Add tomatillos, cilantro, one cup of chicken broth, oregano and cumin to blender and blend until smooth. Add mixture and all other ingredients to crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

All the veggies alone looked soo good...


All together now...

Top with sour cream and cilantro...

Yum.

This recipe makes about 10 cups.

1 cup has:

175 calories
2.5 g fat
9.1 g fiber
13.9 g protein
23.5 g carbs
7.3 g sugar 

{Weekly Weigh In}

My scale was being whack this morning, so I'm going to go off what I weighed yesterday morning.

155.2

I don't know what was up with my scale today, it kept giving me different numbers, I stepped off and it still said 2.8 even though I wasn't on it...and then I stepped on and it said 157 (say what?!?)..so I really don't know what's up. I might change the battery and see if that helps. A few days ago I was at 155.4 so I think (and hope) 155.2 is right...and yes, I weigh myself several times a week, but really try to focus on the weekly *tuesday* number. I don't have the control to only weigh myself once a week, I want to know every few days if not every morning. Anyone else with me?

80 Calorie Ice Cream Sandwich..yes please!

I had this for dessert tonight...

Ok..so actually, I had two, but still only 160 calories for both!
One nestle ice cream sandwich bar is 240 calories.
160 calories or 240. Hmm..tough choice.

Want to make some?
Easiest thing ever...

Grab a box of chocolate graham crackers and a tub of light cool whip.
Split one cracker into two and sandwich 2 tablespoons of light cool whip between them.

Freeze.
Eat.
Yum...

...and try not to eat 3 or 4...

:)

I loved these, and my hubby who isn't normally a huge fan of the light or low cal stuff loved them too.

Whew!

What an active day!

I got up and headed to the track this morning. I was supposed to go to spin class with a friend, but something came up so that was cancelled. I Ran/Walked a bit and then ran the stadium steps twice.

Then I spent the afternoon gardening. You can burn some pretty good calories from weeding/gardening.

Then tonight, my friend asked if I wanted to walk since we didn't do spin, so we did 2 miles... we ran a bit, walked a bit... and then ran the stadium steps 3 times. We timed it and I ended up doing it in about 7 minutes 20 seconds total.

I'm low again on calories...I could have "afforded" to eat more calories at dinner, but I got full so I didn't finish the last slice of pizza like I planned to.

Breakfast

1 piece toast- Sara Lee 100% whole wheat

1/2 grapefruit

1 scrambled egg

181 calories

Morning Snack

12 special k multigrain crackers

1 laughing cow cheese wedge

1/2 c grapes

145 calories

Lunch

Orowheat sandwich thin with turkey, ranch spray, lettuce

1/2 string cheese

1/2 cup cantaloupe and honey dew melon

211 calories

Dinner

3 slices of homemade pizza

(I cut the slice thin, making 16 slices, so it would be the equivelent of 1.5 slices)

276 calories

Evening Snack

Special K 90 calorie bar

1/4 grapes

32 oz minute maid light

135 calories

Total Calorie Intake: 948

Total Calories Burned: 1336

Net Calories: -480

I burned way more than I ate today and I never thought this would happen, but some days I'm having a hard time eating all my calories. I eat plenty throughout the day, but when I eat at home, they are all very light meals, with lots of protein and fiber. As it is, livestrong suggest I eat 1078 calories a day. I have an extra 130 calories I could eat today and there is that slice of pizza I didn't eat at dinner calling my name in the fridge, but I know I'm not hungry. It just sounds good right now. I've had energy all day so I don't know that I need to worry about getting in all those calories that it says I'm allowed, but gosh, sometimes 950 calories sounds like nothing, especially since I used to down that in one meal without any thought. I think I'm going to try upping my breakfast calories. The toast with egg and grapefruit is one of my favorite breakfasts, it fills me up, but it doesn't have a ton of calories, I might have to put a little pb on the toast next time. And man, am I rambling today or what?

Do you ever get frustrated with the calorie game?

Worrying about whether you are eating too little or too much?

I definitely do...

{food-6/10}

Breakfast

1 c Kashi Go Lean

1/2 c skim milk

1/2 banana

237 calories

Lunch

Carl's Jr. Guacamole Turkey Burger w/o cheese

Fries

Estimated 515 calories*

Dinner

2 oz tilapia fillet

small salad w/ 15 ranch spritzers sprays

1/2 c grapes

130 calories

Evening Snack

1 Nabisco Nutter Butter 100 cal Delight Bar (yum)

1 c honeydew melon and cantalope

158 calories

Total Calories: 1040

Calories Burned: 336

Net Calories: 704

*I totally goofed on my calories at Carl's Jr. I was reading the menu and read the "portion weight grams" instead of calories for the fries and didn't realize it until later...duh..I hate that they put those right next to the calories on the menu, I should have known a small fry had more than 105 calories...good thing I wasn't hungry after my burger so I just ate a few fries or my lunch would have turned into a nearly 800 calorie meal and would have totally thrown off my calories for the day.

Going to spin in the morning and looking forward to it!

Stairs

I've been going to the high school track every day to walk and today I conquered the stadium stairs after doing 2 miles around the track.

{image source}

I was with a friend and we ran, weaving up and down each staircase and across the sections twice, for a total of 20 sets of stairs.

It took us 7 minutes and I could definitely feel the burn when I was done. Next time we are going to try for 3 times in 10 minutes, and I eventually want to do them 4 times without stopping.

Stairs are such a good workout, I calculated on livestrong how many cal/hr I burn running stairs and it's a whopping 1060 calories per hour. Just walking up and down the stairs I could burn 570 calories an hour. Good to know since we live in a split level house and I feel like I am constantly going up and down the stairs some days. :)