Weekly Weigh In

I missed Monday. Long weekends freak me out. It didn't feel like a holiday to us because our schedule is so not normal to begin with. All day yesterday I thought it was Sunday. When I woke up today and realized it was Tuesday I felt like I was robbed of a whole 24 hours. Hmph.

I did manage to remember to go to the gym yesterday, so somewhere in the recesses of my brain I must've known it was Monday. Somewhere. In one of those deep, dark corners.

Anyway, my current weight is 215.4. That's a .8 lb drop from last week. I started my period right after last week's weigh in, so that could have been another reason that it was slightly up (that and the fact that I wasn't counting calories.)

I planned on upping my cardio last week, but it just never happened. Both boys were sick and Boy 1 ended up with a major asthma event and well, you know what happens when life throws curve balls.

I'm back to counting calories and also tracking my protein. I'm still positively in love with this new weight lifting program. I started Week Three yesterday and the results are astounding! Two weeks ago I started out on the cable row machine with 50 lbs. Yesterday I was at 90 lbs. I hope to hit 100 lbs next week. I know I'm losing inches all over and it's killing me to not measure myself. But not until I'm finished with this first stage. If all of workouts happene when scheduled, I should complete my final workout of this stage on June 24. I'll take my measurements on Monday, June 27. I can't wait!

I'm going to be trying some new recipes this week. If all works out, I'll post them here.

Just Bookmarking....

I need a place to host my pics so I can post them on a web board that I'm on. Please disregard this post.....

Vices

I talk a lot about eating whole foods. I drink organic, raw milk. I buy only organic apples; I make green smoothies & make most of our bread from scratch with organic ingredients. I've cut out nearly all processed foods from our house and I truly believe that rather than cutting out an entire macronutrient (carbs, fats or proteins) or an entire food group (meat, dairy, wheat, etc...), cutting out processed foods is the best way to find optimal health.

Having said that, I have to admit that there are a few processed foods that I simply can't give up. These are my vices.
Whey protein powder. Since I've started lifting heavy weights, I simply need more protein to recover. Whey has been used and cherished as a wonder food for thousands of years. If I were into making my own cheese, I would have my own whey. But it wouldn't be vanilla flavored. And I don't make cheese. So, powdered whey is where I turn. I did a lot of reading and a lot of research before I took the leap. Jay Robb has been getting his whey from grass fed cows since way before grass fed became the mating call for all primal & paleo devotees. He also uses stevia to sweeten his protein powders instead of sugar or splenda. Major kudos from me on that one. I'm comfortable with Jay Robb's products and I feel good using them and sharing them with my kids.

A friend asked me on facebook the other day if I make my own ice cream. You know, since I'm a "raw milk nazi" (her words). I'd love to make my own ice cream, however at this point in time I do not own an ice cream maker (been asking for one for years, ahem). I haven't found an ice cream that uses cream/milk from grass fed cows, so I go as natural as I can find/afford. I insist on the milk & cream being rBST free & I don't buy ice cream with artifical ingredients or colors. I never buy ice cream that uses HFCS. It's an occasional treat & Haagen Dazs just can't be beat, in my book!

My cereal consumption goes in cycles. I grew up on cereal, but as I became an adult I started having issues with milk & lactose intolerance. When I was pregnant with my second son, I had some pretty serious cravings for Frosted Mini Wheats and I think I probably went through two boxes a week for a few months. After the baby was born, my lactose intolerance came back and I stopped eating it again. After we switched to raw milk, I realized that drinking milk wasn't a problem for me any longer. My son picked out the chocolate frosted mini wheats one week and then decided he didn't like them. We had a whole box in the pantry that no one was going to eat so I decided to give them a try. Oh Holy Baby Jayzus! These things are amazing!!! It's been a few months and I've powered my way through quite a few boxes. They're a nice sweet treat that I can have and not feel to guilty about.

I know, I know. I could make my own red sauce, but I don't have a food mill and this is the only red sauce I've been able to find that my entire family will eat. So, Ragu it is....

Who isn't addicted to these little things? They sound healthy, but in truth they have very little nutritional value. I love to grab a handful of these with a little wedge of cheese. A great snack. Yum!

I'd read about these little gems all over the internet but hadn't ever tried them. Then I went to lunch at a friend's house a while back (Hi Nom!) and she had some and offered them to me. Oh boy. Thankfully, they are rich and I can't eat very many at one sitting. Just a small handful and I'm satisfied. But good gravy, they are good!

I know. I know. Ewwww, gross. It seems you are either Team Mayo or Team Miracle Whip. If you love one, you hate the other. There is no middle ground. I happen to be Team Miracle Whip. I've tried to switch to mayo, but I just can't do it. I don't eat sandwiches much, but I do use this stuff in my deviled eggs & egg salad/tuna salad. Can't help it. I just love it.

Cheezits. I love Cheezits. Pretty much end of story.

So, these are my processed vices. What are yours?

The Dress

I found out a few weeks ago that I get to buy a dress. A fancy one. Oh, and I have to wear it. In public. Oh dear. That means I actually have to fit into it.



As soon as the hubs told me about this event I grabbed the computer (quite possibly out of his hands) and immediately sent off an email to two of my most stylish and girlie girl friends (hi Ann, hi Cricket!). I mean, I love playing Cinderella as much as the next girl, but seriously, I haven't been this dressed up since my sororoity formals in college.

I started stalking store websites and asking my husband "Do you like this one?" "How 'bout this one?" "Oooh, look. This one's pretty, right?" He was over it in about 2.7 minutes. Then I started counting out the weeks. I believe it was about 25 weeks (at the time and I can't remember the date of the event now to recount). I figured I'd have no problem looking hawt by then. I won't be at my goal weight, but I'll be well past the half way point of my weight lifting program and I know I'll have quite defined muscles by then ~ even though it's in October, I'm so baring my shoulders!

So, I've started a collection of dresses here on my computer as my motivation for now. Every time I don't feel like going to the gym, I pull up my file and scroll through them. I barely make it through the whole file before I'm grabbing my water bottle & ipod and heading out the door. Funny how that works, huh?

Oh, and our 10 year anniversary is about 18 months away and we're talking about probably going on a cruise. This dress will also be going with me (assuming it's not too BIG by then!).

Y'all can be sure that when it actually comes time for me to buy the dress, I'll be here begging for your help. I doubt the hubs will go with me on that shopping trip, so I'll have to grab a girl friend to take with me.

You can be sure on that day, I'll take lots of pictures from the dressing room and send them here to you guys. I'll need input all day long. You guys would do that for me, right?

Because you love me. And I need love you. P.S. The black one below is hubs' favorite. Mine? I'm not sure I have a favorite yet. You?

**all photos are from Nordstrom website**

Weekly Weigh In

It's Monday ~ again. Are the weeks getting shorter? Anyhoo, I've posted that I wasn't that strict with calorie counting last week and even that I was aiming for slightly higher calorie consumption than normal. In addition to that, I did no cardio last week. I lifted weights three times and that was it.

So, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I gained 1.6 lbs this week. I weighed in at 216.2. I'm not concerned. Without counting and without working out, I think that's a pretty good number. I'm still not strictly counting ~ I'm eating when I'm hungry and I'm making good choices.

However, this week I do plan to add the cardio back in. I lifted today, tomorrow I plan to run, Wed lift, Thursday Zumba, Fri lift and rest Sat & Sun.

There have been some questions about what, exactly, I'm doing with this new program. So I'll give you a little run down of what I did last week:

• Squats (15 reps x 2 sets) (Mon & Fri)


• Rows (same as above)


• pushups ( " ")


• step ups ( " ")


• prone jack knife (stability ball) (same as above)

On Wed of last week (and Mon/Fri of this week):

• Deadlifts


• Dumbell overhead press


• lat pull downs (up to 80 lbs on those ~ Whoot!)


• lunges


• stability ball crunches

I seriously cannot say enough great things about this program. I can already tell I'm getting stronger, and I have to admit I peeked. I'm already losing inches :)

Week One, Stage One

As of yesterday I've completed my first week of Stage One in The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I'm absolutely loving it! This is so different than the strength classes I was taking. It is nearly impossible to significantly increase your weights in that class because of the massive amounts of reps done. I do plan to occasionally still do that class after I'm finished with this program for maintence purposes, but I'm no longer veiwing that class as strength building. It's purely an endurance thing....

So, this week, I did very little outside of the weight room. I wanted to see how my body felt on my off days and how well my muscles recovered. We did go for some family walks several times this week and that felt really good on my muscles. I'm going to add in some swims and some easy runs on my days off. Nothing too taxing, but enough to get my heart rate up, some calories burned and some blood flowing to my muscles to aid in recovery.

One thing I found this week ~ I was STARVING! It's no joke when they say strength training leaves your metabolism revved up for hours after your workout is finished! I didn't religiously track all of my calories this week, but I made good choices and I still weighed/measured everything I ate (except for that Haagen Dasz last night, that was purely a pre Rapture celebration, though!). I'm sure some days I went over my calories and some days I was under. I'll get back to counting as soon as I'm comfortable in this new program and determine exactly how many calories I need to fuel these workouts. So, I'm not sure how my weigh in on Monday is going to go, but I'm not sweating it....

I cannot "weight" to show you guys my before and after pictures after this first stage is completed!

Weekly Weigh In

It's Monday again. You know what that means, right? It means it's time for me to strip down to my skivies and step on that scale. Well, I step on it everyday, but I don't strip down every day. I just like to watch the fluctuations and see the general downward trend ~ at least that's what it's supposed to do!

And it did! Last week was just a fluke, I think. Today I weighed in at 214.6. Whoot! I haven't seen that number in a looooooong time. And I have to say, it was a pleasant surprise. I expected a lower number this week, but I really didn't think it would go that low. So, that's a 3.4 loss from last week and a 10.6 loss overall. Phew! I'm back down past that 10 lb mark! I don't plan to ever go back..... maybe....

After reading a few rave reviews on Twitter, I decided to swing by the library the other day and pick up this book. HELLO LIGHTBULB! Wait, let me back up....

I'm currently reading about five books. I typically pick up a book and read a few chapters. Then something else will catch my eye and I'll pick up a new book and read a few chapters of it. At this point, my husband will usually recommend a book that he's just finished and suggest that I should read it because he thinks I'd find it interesting. I pick up that book with the intention of just leafing through it, but end up reading the first two or three chapters...and so on. Can you say ADHD?

So, if I tell you that I fnished this book in 2 days, you can appreciate how captivated I was with it! I've always enjoyed strength training. Even when I was playing volleyball, I loved the look of my strong muscles (even though I really wasn't all that toned) and enjoyed the time we spent in the weight room. Even though none of us (including our coach) really knew what we were doing there.

Reading this book has made me realize just how much time and effort I've been wasting at the gym over the past year. The strength classes I've been going to are not an efficient use of my time and they are not building my muscles to their potential. In fact, I'd say other than endurance, they're doing very little.

This book lays out a program of weight training and a nutrition guide and it really seemed to click with me and make a lot of sense. It's a six month program, broken down into stages. The first stage is about six weeks long. I took some before pictures today and I took my measurements and I'm going to do the same in six weeks after I'm finished with this first stage. I'm also going to slightly increase my calories ~ due to a higher need for quality protein. I'm aiming for a 40-30-30 percentage ratio for Carbs/Protein/Fat (respectively). I'll be building muscles rapidly so it wouldnt' surprise me if any weightloss slowed down or even stalled out for the first little bit. But who am I kidding ~ it's not like my weightloss has been mind blowingly fast these last few months, right? I know that after I build some solid muscle that my metabolism will speed up and I know the scale will move in the right direction. But that's why I took my measurements, so that at the end of these six weeks I'll have a tangible number to show what I've accomplished.

My first workout was today and while I was at the gym, I really didn't think I was getting that tough of a workout, but now that I'm home ~ HOLY MOLY. My body is sore! The first stage is broken down into two workouts and you alternate these two workouts ~ lifting weights 3x per week (you can do 2x, but 3 is best).

So this week I'll do workout A on Monday, workout B on Wed & workout A again on Friday. On the off days I'll keep moving, but I don't want to over tax my muscles so I probably won't be doing much running or spinning. I plan to do a lot more swimming, yoga & walking. Just keep my body moving without tiring out my muscles. I need them to recover to be ready for the next lifting session.

I am so stinking excited about this program!

Welcome to Blogging!

Two and a half years ago, when I first signed on to Facebook, I had no idea what to expect. A few of my friends had mentioned it, but I had no idea what it actually was. One day I decided to log on and see what all the hype was.

I'll admit, at first log in I wasn't all that impressed, but within a few days I'd received friend requests from almost 25 people with whom I'd gone to highschool. People I hadn't seen or spoken to in over 15 years.

Nearly all of every graduating class in the history of my school my graduating class and the classes surrounding mine are now on Facebook.

Let me introduce you to Sarah. Internets, Sarah. Sarah, Internets. Sarah and I hung out occasionally in highschool. Her boyfriend (now husband) was best friends with a guy I dated hung out with. It was more of a "Hey, you aren't dating anyone. I'm not dating anyone, let's hang out until one of us gets a better offer." Yea, it was a mature relationship....

Sarah has recently started a blog and it's really funny. She writes with a natural, easy style that makes you feel like you are sitting at her kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and giggling over the daily craziness that we call motherhood. In addition to the stories of her crazy children and her yummy recipes, she's also journeling a weight loss journey similiar to my own.

So please, hop on over HERE and give Sarah a big ole internet welcome.

Frustration...

Last night I sent out a plea both on Facebook & on Twitter that I needed help in the homeschool arena. Boy 1 is very bright and everything has come very easily to him up to this point. He basically taught himself how to read, taught himself addition and even started teaching himself multiplication.

He's earned several new belts in Aikido & made the swim team less than one year after his first swim lesson (at which he was terrified to get into the water). He's hit very few bumps in the road and the few bumps he did encounter, I seemed to always be there to smooth them out.

This year, however, the work has been getting a little more challenging and he's making a few more mistakes. I think part of it is arrogance, he has stopped taking the time to read all instructions carefully, but it's also obvious to me that not all of the concepts are coming as easily to him. He's actually having to work at things.

His frustration & stress levels are raising rapidly. Rather than sitting at the table happily and celebrating a job well done after his work is complete, it's now a fight to get him to sit down in the first place and when I do ask him to correct his mistakes, he immediately goes on the defensive and gets very offended. I've tried to explain to him that I'm not being mean spirited when I point out his mistakes, that I simply am trying to teach him the proper way to do things (most recently: letter writing).

It seems every lesson lately quickly deteriorates into pissing match of me trying to get him to redo his work and him digging his heels in and refusing to absolutely anything. Not an environment conducive to learning and growing ~ to say the least.

Thus my plea all over the internet last night.

I got a response from a friend and it was like a total lightbulb moment. Well DUH! She stated that she had recently read a study (sorry, I don't have a link) about frustration in kids that have been labeled as "smart". The study determined that "smart" kids got frustrated early, gave up on projects that they struggled with and were afraid of taking risks because of the possibility of failure. Sweet Jaazus ~ was this written about my child?!

The study went on to explain that if parents, instead of celebrating how easily things come to these "smart" children, they acknowledge how hard these children worked to master each task then the children responded with less frustration, less stress and more of a willingness to try new things and ask for help when needed.

**Smacks Palm To Forehead**

Boy, do I feel like a real dunce! Of course! We talk to Boy 1 often about having to work hard for the things he wants in life, but I'm not sure we've ever actually acknowledged his hard work ~ because to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure there's been much in his short 8 years so far that he's had to work very hard at......

So, this morning, as I was thinking of the final few weeks of homeschooling that we have left this year (but we'll be playing some catch up over the summer), I thought of ways that I could put this new idea into practice and then.....

**Smacks Palm To Forehead**

....I realized how easily this translates into everyday life, even for adults. In my case specifically, athletics have always come easily to me. I was a star athlete in highschool (and a pretty good student). When I went to college, in both academics and in volleyball, I was simply middle of the pack. I was going to have to work hard in order to shine. And I quit..... I didn't know what to do or how to handle not being the best.

Even now, as I'm clawing my way back to being a fit, in shape sexy mama, I'm struggling with not seeing results NOW. With not being capable of going out and running a marathon right NOW. But, maybe I need to step back and acknowledge how hard I've worked already. How far I've come. I have a lot of work in front of me still, but that doesn't negate the hard work I've already put in...

Weekly Weigh In

It's Monday again. My numbers seem to be all over the place and I don't get it. Last week, I was back down to 215 & I busted my ass at the gym this week. I concentrated hard on strength, but I did a lot of cardio, too. All week my number was hovering right around 217, but it always goes slightly up while I'm working hard and after a rest day it falls down to where it should be. Except this week. Grrrr...

I did indulge a bit yesterday for Mother's Day, but I was in complete control of my eating all day. I just ate things I wouldn't normally eat. I woke up and had a cup of coffee & a green smoothie (normal), we had brunch around 10 am and I had a few bites of an egg strata & half an omelette with crab & shrimp with some potatoes (not normal, but not a horrible choice).

The omelette filled me up, so I didn't eat much the rest of the day until dinner. We did Thai takeout and I had half a serving of Pad Thai and half a serving of Broccoli Chicken with white rice. Again, not what I would normall eat, but not out of control. Oh, I also had four crab wontons.

I dipped into the candy bowl yesterday and had three Starburst candies. Bleh ~ time to start over with my #7daychip. Boo.

So, anyway, my dinner was fairly salty and I woke up really really thirsty. I'm hoping that after a few days my weight catches up with my workouts again and I see some better results.

So, this morning's weight was 218.0. That's a 2.8 lb gain over last week. I'm feeling my body tighten back up and I can tell my waist is getting smaller and smaller. Out of curiousity I broke out the measuring tape again (Statistics reporting to resume June 1) and my waist is back to where it was in November before my injury, so I know I'm going in the right direction. I'm just frustrated as hell.......

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope your family spoils you the way mine have spoiled me today!!
I started the day with two beautiful hand drawn tulips from my babies and a new Keurig coffee maker.  Whoot!
We then got all fancied up and headed out to brunch. I split an amazing crab & shrimp omelette with Hubs. I had a handful of breakfast potatoes and a few bites of my son's pancake. I washed it all down with a fresh squeezed mimosa. Yum!

Too cloudy for my garmin. Used my phone to time the one mile loop around my house. This was after 15 mins of Bob Harper's Inside Out Kettlebll DVD. Holy shit. Gonna have to work my way up to the full 45 minutes on that!  
For my first run in six weeks, I think this wasn't too shabby. 

Protein Shake

Best Protein Shake. EVER. Stay tuned for recipe.

**Edited to add recipe**

1 scoop Jay Robb Whey Protein Powder, Chocolate

1 scoop Amazing Grass, Green Superfood, Chocolate

1 Tblsp Adam's Natural Peanut Butter

1 1/2 c Whole Raw Milk

1/2 c Vanilla Milk from a local farm

1 banana

ICE

I blended it all up in my Vitamix. Holy Guernsey Cow!! It's awesome.

Too cloudy for my garmin. Used my phone to time the one mile loop around my house. This was after 15 mins of Bob Harper's Inside Out Kettlebll DVD. Holy shit. Gonna have to work my way up to the full 45 minutes on that!  
For my first run in six weeks, I think this wasn't too shabby. 

7 days

Over on Twitter (do you follow me? You should) there is this awesome support group. They use the hashtag "#7daychip" with the idea being you can do anything for 7 days. Take 7 days and pick one (or more) things you want to change to get your eating, your health, your whatever under control. You can read all about it here.

I've decided to jump in. That candy bowl is still sitting on the kitchen table and it's still calling my name. My first 7 days is going to be to say NO to that candy (as I slyly throw small amounts away each night so the kids don't notice!).

7 days without candy. Oh, and 7 days WITH a green smoothie. I've let my smoothie slack and I always regret that when it happens.

So, what are you going to do for the next 7 days?

I love bananas and I seriously should eat more of them. I often forget how much I really love them until I eat one. Every time I'm like "oh yeah, bananas are freakin' awesome!". That is all. Carry on. 

Mrs. Crabby Pants

I noticed that I have several new followers. Welcome & let me apologize in advance for the following post. I'm not normall this crabby.

I'm in a bitchy mood this morning. I will not win any Mother of the Year awards today. I've already yelled at my kids twice because the sun is out, they are happy and happy boys = hyper wound up loud boys.

My husband had a dentist appt at 11:00 and instead of just taking the boys to the gym with me, I left them home with the promise that I would leave my class as soon as it was over and meet my husband at the dentist to pick up the kids. I set my weights and bench up at the back of the class in case class ran late and I had to cut out early.

I like working out in the front of the class. I like being right up there with the instructor. I push myself harder that way. So, I don't feel like I got much out of my workout and I felt rushed. I usually go to the cardio room for about 20 - 30 minutes after my weights class. Today I skipped that.

I came home starving and I discovered my cottage cheese had been pushed to the very back of the top shelf in the fridge which means it was frozen solid.

I have three days left in this budget cycle, we're low on nearly every food group and I have $14 left. I have only a 1/4 tank of gas in my van. Sure, I could dip into the general budget, there is plenty there....but this is my budget and I hate going over.

There is a ton of candy in the house from Boy 1's birthday party last weekend and I've been dipping into it way more than I'd care to admit and I'm sure that's a factor in why I feel more like a beached whale this week than someone who is working her ass off to become a healthy role model for her children.

I'm going to go drink a green smoothie & take a shower. Then I'm going to soak up some of this sun. Maybe I just need a good dose of Vitamin D?

We got up early this morning to head into Seattle for some errands and to take the boys to the Pacific Science Center to see the Star wars exhibit. Later we'll be having dinner with my inlaws. In an attempt to get out of the house before 7 am I forgot it was weigh in day. I did weigh yesterday, so we'll go with that. As of yesterday I weighed 215.2. Exactly 10 lbs from when started.
Also, if you read this through a reader, you may have seen a deleted post about a May challenge. More on that later.

Dinner Tonight

I don't have a picture of dinner because, well, it's still only 4:00 here. Hahah!! I'll edit this post tonight with a picture.

Chicken Pineapple Kabobs

2 chicken breasts
Pineapple hunks
Teriyaki sauce
Honey brown beer
Cilantro
Onion
Green Pepper

Cut the chicken into 1" cubes. Place into a ziploc bag with a few pineapple hunks and the juice from the package (if precut). Dump in some teriyaki sauce & some honey brown beer and a handful of cilantro (coarsely chopped). Allow to marinate for a few hours.

Soak some wood skewers in water. Alternate chicken pieces, pineapple pieces, onion pieces and green pepper pieces on the skewer and grill over med hi heat until chicken is cooked through.

Meanwhile, place the marinade in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer lightly until thickened. Serve kabobs over brown rice with the sauce on the side.

**This is one of those recipes that I do not measure anything. I just dump it all in until it looks right.**