Less is More

Inspired

2012-02-06T10:04:00.001-08:00

Everett {5 months}

Emersyn {3.5}

Today I decided to re-read some posts on this blog from *way back when* I started this little adventure. While reading, I was just so proud of the girl writing the posts. She was so motivated and positive and I really believe that attributed to her success. She was dedicated to Shredding and preparing healthy meals for her family. Her husband lost weight as a result of her own weight loss goals and in general, they were happy healthier people.

I want to be them again.

That girl and I don't have as much in common anymore. She had a toddler (17 month old) and worked 4 days a week. I know have a 3.5 year old who can be pretty needy and no longer takes a morning nap. I also have a 5 month old and am nursing. It's hard to say which is *harder*, one kid and a job or two kids and no job.

I actually think it was easier to lose weight while working. Yes, it was more to juggle but I find I am better at juggling multiple things then I think. I had time to think, blog and write out menu plans and goals at work. I had time to go to the gym after work when my daughter was already with her Nana and I didn't have to think about childcare.

However, now that I don't have to worry about juggling work, I have great opportunities to be active with my children during the day. Dancing, walking to the park, running around the playground, even walking at the mall....all great sources of activity.

I had a plan to start the Take Shape for Life program after the holidays. I have had several friends that have had amazing successes with this program and honestly, it was the quick fix I was looking for. Not *quick* exactly, but more mindless. However, upon reviewing the program for nursing moms I realized that I was still going to have to do a lot of meal prep on my own (you need more calories while nursing) and for what it was going to cost to do the program, I could just supplement the weight loss bars and shakes with other products that cost 1/4 of the price. I was really disappointed to discover this because I had really thought it was going to be my ticket to success. But then reading back through this blog I realized that I DO have the drive and the motivation to lose weight. My daughter is getting older and I hate thinking about her struggling with her weight someday. I need to lay the groundwork for our family and pave the way for a healthy lifestyle. I'm so excited for us to enjoy our bikes this spring and summer and I need to get in better shape for that to happen. It's amazing how quickly our body can begin to heal itself and I know that the Shred is legit.

I turned 31 on Saturday and am not officially in my early 30's. As a gift to myself for the future, it's time to do this. Stop making excuses, stop whining about how hard it is, stop stop stop.

I need to get my Wii hooked up for our official weigh in's. I've probably gained 20 lbs since my lowest weight and Brett's probably gained at least that much. Not cool. I was on such a roll once upon a time...I know I can do it again. And when I get discouraged, I'll read this blog from two years ago and be inspired by the writer. :)

Today is a beautiful day out! My kiddos and I are going to be taking a walk for sure. So much of our lives are go go go that I tend to be lazy on the few mornings we have at home. Something about getting us all dressed and ready to go on a walk is daunting, yet when we have to all get dressed and out the door for a playdate or preschool, I am on it. My kids deserve my best efforts and they are going to get just that!

Thanks for reading along.....my 31st year of life is going to be a good one, agreed? :)

Back where I started

2011-09-10T15:26:00.001-07:00

My beautiful children :)

Well, I officially have lost all the baby weight and am at where I started when I first got pregnant. I'm hoping some weight keeps coming off like it did with Emersyn. I gained 19lbs with her but at my 6 week postpartum check up I had lost about 40. I'm hoping and praying for similar results but have also learned that each pregnancy (and good Lord, for sure each labor and delivery) is different.

I am nursing exclusively and that's a good thing. My mom just left yesterday after a great visit and she is notorious for filling up my fridge and cupboards with treats that I really shouldn't eat but often end up eating because they are around. I am going to purge my fridge and cupboards this week and start eating more fruits and veggies again. I am thinking that a salad each day for lunch would be a great start. I ate WAY too much fast food over the last three weeks due to rushing around everywhere for dr. appointments, going places with my parents, etc. Considering how I've eaten it's a wonder I've lost any weight at all. :)

I'm excited to be more active again. Emersyn is starting preschool on Tuesday and will be in it two days a week. I'm looking forward to having some one on one time with Everett that will include some good walks. It's SO much easier to walk with an infant and younger child then a toddler and boy, do I wish I would have realized that when Emersyn was younger.

I've been thinking about exploring some *program* driven options that have been successful for friends of mine but I won't really look into it until after the holidays. I'm really hoping I can do it on my own like I was before but I have to admit, losing weight more quickly is appealing. I'll really have to pray and seek the Lord regarding that. I want to try to eat sensibly and enjoy the holidays with moderation and then perhaps tighten things up at the new year. It's a hard balance with nursing, I don't want to deprive my son of needed calories but then I also don't want to use breastfeeding as an excuse to eat poorly.

The good news is, I am over junk food. I had an arugula salad with pears and candied walnuts with a vinaigrette dressing the other day for lunch and it tasted WAY better then any fast food burger could have, seriously!

I am so thankful to be a mommy to two beautiful and perfect children and I'm excited for this new chapter in my life that has started. With the Lords help, I'm going to raise amazing kids and be a great example to them of a woman that takes care of the temple that God has entrusted her with!

26lbs

2011-08-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

I had my last dr. appointment yesterday before Mr. Everett arrives. I have gained a total of 26lbs and don't plan on gaining anymore before Monday when I go in for my induction. :) I am not thrilled at this weight gain but it comes with the territory of being pregnant and I know that. I didn't have the gestational diabetes this time around so I didn't *watch it* as much as I did when I was pregnant with Emersyn. Everett loves frozen yogurt, what can I say? :)

I gained FIVE pounds between my 34 and 36 week appointment which freaked me out but thankfully I've held steady since then and haven't gained more. I know that 26lbs isn't that big of a deal but it kind of is when you start out weighing more then you really should. I'm curious to see how the weight comes off when Everett gets here. He is measuring a LOT bigger then Emersyn was at this point so I'd like to say that is why the extra weight. I only gained 19lbs with Ems but again, I was on a more restricted diet.

I always enjoy this point of pregnancy when for me it becomes more obvious that I'm actually pregnant versus just carrying extra weight in my middle. I'll miss watching my belly dance around at night when Everett busts out his break dancing moves and gets the hiccups.

I'm also very excited to be able to be active again. I found out I was pregnant pretty much day one of beginning my SAHM career and I'm anxious to be a SAHM without the extra fatigue and exhaustion that comes from pregnancy. I know I'll be tired from late night feedings but my hips won't ache (hopefully) and my back won't be carrying this extra weight in the middle.

I've missed bike riding this summer. We logged a lot of miles on our bikes last year and it was such a fun active family activity. We can't wait to take Everett on some bike rides. Who knows, maybe Oregon will do us a favor and let us have a nice pleasant fall season with some warm weather and we can get back on our bikes. :) Our bike trailer will also work for us as a double stroller and I'm excited to take my kiddos on some walks. It will be SO different this time around with a newborn AND a toddler. I'm pretty excited. :)

The next time I post I'll have Everett in my arms and hopefully have some good news in regards to any weight loss that occurred once he was born. :)

8lbs

2011-03-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

Man, there's nothing like going to Hawaii to make you feel out of shape and icky. Everywhere you look there are toned bodies in two pieces and it was borderline depressing. However, it's just a good reminder of my goals after this baby is born.

I've been trying to eat better since returning from vacation. I didn't eat great though while on vacation. Unfortunately, when you're trying stay on some sort of a budget, the cheapest options on most menus are fried. We ate lots of fish and chips, burgers, etc. I am so sick of fries. The restaurant attached to our resort had a salad bar that I LOVED but again, it wasn't as cheap as the deep fried fish tacos, etc.

A lady in the elevator asked me when I was due once and it kinda freaked me out initially. I was wearing a maternity swim suit and cover up though so it *did* make me look pregnant but still, it was weird for someone to ask.

I had an dr. appointment a week and a half after we got back, yesterday. I was CERTAIN that I had gained ten pounds from vacation but happily I discovered that I hadn't gained any weight since my last appointment 4 weeks ago. So far I've gained 8lbs total. That's not terrible for being 17 weeks pregnant but it's not great either considering I started my pregnancy out with extra weight. I'm hoping to slow down the weight gain though as the weather gets nicer here in Portland. Emersyn just loves being outside and we have a grocery store that we can walk to that's about a mile and a half away and that's a good destination for us to walk to. Being outside and getting fresh air always clears my head and makes me happier. It's still cold here but Ems and I went and fed some ducks this afternoon for about 15 minutes and though it was cold and windy, it felt good. Walks are always fun to do with friends too.

I know it seems like I'm always using the weather as an excuse but it's really hard to stand the cold and wet weather here. Spring is coming though (allegedly anyways) and the sun will surely follow! :)

Itchy

2011-02-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

Man, I've been reading some really great health and weight loss blogs and I am SO itchy to continue my own weight loss. I do realize, however, that weight loss isn't overly safe while pregnant but that doesn't mean I can get in better shape even if that doesn't mean that I lose pounds or even inches.

I am committed to getting back on track with healthy eating once we return from Hawaii. Right now I'm slowly cleaning out the fridge and my cupboards and for now, the contents are tolerable. BUT once we get back from Hawaii, the junk is all going. Pregnancy shouldn't be a free ride for eating junk, not for me anyways. I'm confident that my morning sickness will be gone once I get back (please please please Lord!!!) and that should make it easier to eat better. Right now when I'm nauseous, the strangest things sound good like a bowl of barbecue potato chips. I need to re-train my appetite and my family will be better off for it.

I can say with confidence though that after Baby E is born, I WILL conquer weight loss. I know all too well how fast time flies and I'm tired of waiting around for whatever it is I am waiting for. I did it once, I can do it again. Eat less, eat whole foods and move more. Simple. :)

Tests

2011-02-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I headed to the Dr's to take a one hour glucose test. It's a little early to have to take it I know; normally you wait until around 28 weeks I think. But since I had GD last time, the dr. wanted to test me a little early.

I wasn't overly optimistic because I've been feeling so icky lately and thought that this could be a reason why.

I got to the lab and found out that a whole mess of other tests had been ordered for a total of NINE blood draws. Are you kidding me?!!? Apparently FIVE of them were for STD testing which I wanted to opt out of for obvious reasons but apparently it's standard protocol. UGH!

I drank the flat sprite tasting glucola, waited the hour and got the blood draws. Thankfully all the tests came back looking like they should! Blood sugars are fine and the best news of all, I don't have chlamydia or gonorrhea! :)

My next appointment is a week from Wednesday. I'm anxious to see if I've gained weight. We'll see. :)

The Unexpected :)

2011-02-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

So I'm sure you've noticed that this blog has been a little quiet. Okay, a LOT quiet.

This past New Years I had a bit of deja vu....see, exactly three years ago I was in the same position of being ready to get *back on track*, only to see those two lines on a pregnancy test that quickly changed my plans. :) If you don't read my other blog then you'll be surprised to hear that I am 11 weeks pregnant. :) Hence, my plans to *get back on track* have been halted.

I know that pregnancy doesn't mean that I can't be active or eat right, in fact I NEED to do those things both for myself and my baby. But it's soooooo hard to find the motivation when I'm battling nausea and fatigue. The weather has even been amazingly warm but I have like ZERO motivation.

I need to snap out of my funk though. I had gestational diabetes last time and that makes me naturally pre-dispositioned this time around but it would be SO great to be able to control it with just diet. I took a blood test before my initial appointment and my blood sugars were fine. We'll just have to wait and see. I need to go in for the one hour glucose test, maybe this weekend.

I don't want to shut this blog down though for my pregnancy. I want to still strive to post healthy recipes and hopefully after my nausea subsides, I'll be more motivated to get outside and get to walkin'.

I'll keep you posted....wish me luck! :)

Let me rephrase...

2010-10-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

After my post last week about no shortcuts, a friend of mine pointed out that the HCG drops are not really a short cut but actually a strict diet and I wanted to acknowledge how true that is. I have seen many friends totally modify their lives to accommodate this diet and my hat is off to you. I have seen the weight come off and have been inspired. However, for ME, I feel that the Lord has more for me in this journey then a pill or a drop or prepackaged meals. That is 100% my feelings/opinion. I think that because I have done it before with losing the 35lbs, I know I can do it on my own for now and need to let the Lord guide me in this rather then depending on an outside product. :)

I have done great with Shredding 3 out of the last 4 days. On Sunday night I even stayed home from a football party (huge sacrifice I know, lol! No really though, I had friends that I was looking forward to being with there) because I knew if I didn't that I wouldn't have enough time to Shred it up. Yesterday morning I Shredded first thing after I had my coffee and oatmeal and it felt fantastic. Getting it done a the beginning of the day was WONDERFUL. I had great energy, found it much easier to eat right, AND knew that I had accomplished what I set out to do in the day and didn't have to worry about fitting it into my schedule later in the day. Yay.

Something I struggle with at work: snacking. I get really really hungry at work and it stinks because when I'm sitting at my desk, it's like all I can think about. I try to always bring an apple but I still get hungry. Maybe I need to get some nuts or something to keep in my desk drawer.

I am also needing to relearn portion sizes, another struggle. I don't even think I eat that bad of food when I am "off track". I just eat too much of it. Workin' on it. :)

Happy Tuesday!!

Dear Sarah.....

2010-10-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

Emersyn and I had SUCH a fun time today at OMSI with you & Ellie. I feel like our time together is always so refreshing (for me at least) and I SO appreciate your friendship.

I thought a lot about what we talked about on the way home, mainly because Emersyn passed out immediately in the car and left me to enjoy the ride home in silence, one of my favorite things to listen to in the car (as well as the occasional snoring toddler).

When I got home I attempted to put Ems down for a nap and went and changed into comfy clothes which also double as workout gear. I thought to myself, I will Shred this afternoon if I have time but then decided I probably wouldn't have time because I had already changed and didn't change into a sports bra. Yes, this is my LAME train of thought that often prevents me from accomplishing things in life. I got half way down my stairs before I decided to just seize the moment and go change into my sports bra. Excuse eliminated.

I came downstairs and mentally went over all I need to do this afternoon. I need to make a dinner, clean up, prepare for a busy weekend, and deal with some real estate related emails. The emails are almost a top priority so I thought, maybe I'll Shred after I'm done with those.

But then I had like an "aha" moment.

Right when I get home from wherever I've just been, I often have a surge of energy. Just ask Brett, it drives him crazy. Right when we get home, he often plops on the couch to relax which I understand. But I'm usually in the kitchen cleaning, upstairs working on laundry or what not. I knew that if I sat down and worked on emails, I would lose that energy burst so I decided to Shred right away!

After I ~~dug around in my coat closet for 10 minutes trying to find the Shred~~ located the DVD I ~~wiped off the massive amount of dust~~ popped it into the DVD player and fired it up.

As I did it, I felt that familiar rush of endorphins and I loved it!!! About half way through I started to get those "this isn't even going to work.....this is too hard" thoughts but I overcame then and now I feel great! I spent the last 10 minutes of the DVD yelling to Ems upstairs... "IN A MINUTE!!" as she apparently thinks that a 30 min nap in the car is good enough. Bummer. Yes, I still have a list of things to do but I can check one off now, one that should have definitely been at the top.

Thanks again for hanging out and for your encouragement......I'm praying for you too! ;)

Love, Patti

No shortcuts

2010-10-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday everyone! This afternoon I am feeling so refreshed and even encouraged. This weekend has been a dream come true for me. Not only do Brett and I get TWO days off together (something that hasn't happened since before Emersyn was born), but we get to go to church as a family and then go home together. Thank you Lord.

My mom left to go back to MN yesterday and it was bittersweet. I am glad that she gets to go home to my dad who I know missed her, yet we miss her too. The good news is, her and my dad are coming back in just two months and will be here for nearly 2 weeks for Christmas time! I am so excited! Life is back to normal for now and I feel more in control. I miss my Gigi greatly but know the best way I can honor her is to live my life with joy and laughter.

Back when I stared my bible study, "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore, the first session really resonated with me and I knew that the Lord really wanted to deal with me on the subject matter of losing weight and even *gulp* food in general. I didn't use to think that food was my problem, per say. I thought that I just needed to work out more and definitely make better choices. But as I've gone through this past year of trying to radically change my lifestyle, I have realized very much that food is an emotional crutch and thus, a weight problem occurs. :)

I was doing really well on my weight loss quest, right about up 'til my brother's wedding. Major life event = justification for eating whatever. My mom came into town about three weeks before the wedding and that is probably what set us off. She is SO generous about buying us food and taking us out and I think I am finally realizing that I need to say NO sometimes. For some reason, whenever we go out I think to myself that I can't get some grilled chicken breast and steamed veggies...I mean, it's free food (my parents always pay...they are SO generous and amazing). No no, since it's free I may as well get the halibut fish and chips, I mean they are SO good and I hate paying for them when we go out, etc. etc. The first time that my mom came out I had some coconut shrimp and my body absolutely flipped out on me and immediately *ahem* rejected the food if you know what I mean. I was miserable and totally in tune with my body. Yet, two night later we went out for my family's favorite Chinese food and the SAME thing happened. I was sick for hours. How on earth did I not learn my lesson???

After my brother's wedding, I can recall pretty much every Monday would start with, "okay, THIS week I am getting healthy again" and then somehow it turned into October.......we went to MN and of course when you're on vacation you eat what you want. My grandma's health declined and somehow it became okay to say, "your grandma's dying, feel free to buy the full fat ice cream versus the light" in my mind. It's just silly how much food is a band aid for whatever is going on, whether it's stress, nerves or even a celebration.

(P.S. I totally know that the topic of emotional eating isn't exactly rocket science. But bear with me as I process what I am learning about myself and about my Lord too.)

During the first session of "Breaking Free", one of the point that Beth Moore makes really stuck with me. She says, "Nothing we are hanging onto in life is worth what we are giving up." That is SO true for me. I think to myself, I'll get healthy after the holidays....I don't want to give up all those yummy holiday baked goods and fall treats. Yet, if I just give those up for ONE season, I can enjoy them in reasonable portions for the REST OF MY LIFE! I get SO frustrated with myself. But then I realize something I have known for a loooooong time and so easily lose sight of.....

This "journey" if you will, isn't at all about losing weight.

It's about obedience. It's about becoming the woman that God has called me to be and being an example to those I've been given the privilege to influence, my daughter included.

For some reason back in January, I felt like I was on auto pilot losing weight. It was so.stinkin.easy. I didn't even feel like I was "sacrificing" anything! Keep your cookies and cake, I've got my organic apples and I'm doing good, thankyouverymuch. I started to get some really great positive attention from various women in my life, which I imagine ticked the devil off. So I'm sure he went to God and asked if he could try to trip me up and the Lord said okay, she can handle it. But instead of handling it, I tripped and fell and have been trying to stand back up for months.

I know at least a dozen women who are doing the HCG drops as a means to lose weight, and let me tell you, they are LOSING it! Has anyone heard of those or even tried them? Women keep popping up everywhere in my life that have successes after successes. I've toyed around with the idea of trying them myself, even though I already know HOW to lose the weight, I mean, I've lost about 30lbs without any drops of anything. It seems like such an easy shortcut though. The Lord isn't into short cuts though, at least not in my life. (Totally not judging the gals using the drops, just saying they aren't for me). There is no magic drop that is going to make me lose weight. Hard work and discipline are what is going to work for me, just as it has done before.

I just need to keep reminding myself of the lesson that I learned back on my birthday. At the end of the day, my happiness has NOTHING to do with what I did or didn't eat that day. When I go into my daughters room and look at her precious sleeping face, I never ever think to myself, I wish I would have had ice cream tonight. SHE is what matters in my life, NOT anything I can eat or drink. And that is what I need to concentrate on. It's just one bite at at time, one meal at a time, one step at a time.

My parents are coming back to town in two months. I want to have lost at least 10 pounds which should be more then doable. I am going to pray up and get some of that self discipline restored. And when we go out to dinner in December, I WILL make a good choice. I WILL say no thank you when offered unhealthy foods. I WILL overcome this issue in my life and it will not hold me back from becoming the woman God has called me to be. Nothing I am hanging onto (control, food, lazyness, etc.) is worth what I am giving up (health, energy, confidence, looking good for my husband, etc.).

It's gonna be a great week everyone. I hope I am able to keep more in touch. You know when I'm bloggin', I'm doing well. :)

Hangin' in there

2010-10-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

This has been a month unlike any other in my life. In mid-September my mom and Gigi came in to town for a "goodbye" visit due to my grandma's lung cancer and declining health. Then the week after they were here my best friend Tiffany and her son came into town for a week from Boise. Then three days after Tiffany left my grandma passed away and then my parents came into town. My mom is still here and will be here until Saturday.

I have a lot of thoughts and things I want to write but I just don't have the emotional organization to do it right now. The bad news is I definitely have emotional eating tendencies and so does my mom, who insists on buying us endless amounts of ice cream and treats. It is totally her love language but I need to work on self control in a major way. I think that with this life event and grieving, it's easy to justify not "watching it". I shudder to think of what that scale is going to reflect when I do a weigh in this weekend.

The good news is, my husband got a promotion and I will be quitting my insurance job effective mid December. I will still do real estate but that's more in the side and more with friends and family and referrals. I am SO excited to have more control over my schedule even though I know that being a SAHM comes with it's own set of challenges. This is an answer to prayer though regarding being home with Emersyn, something I've prayed for since before she was born. God has had His hand on Brett's career with his company and I'm so thankful and in awe of His awesome provision.

More good news is that we are going to Hawaii in March and that gives me a GREAT goal to work towards. I have 4 full months 'til Hawaii and a couple weeks in October...wouldn't it be great to drop 50lbs or so? The holidays seem to revolve SO much around food, it will be a challenge but I have a wonderful goal in mind and I'm not JUST talking about Hawaii. ;)

I'll keep you all posted and hopefully get a chance to organize my thoughts and share some of the things I've been feeling regarding this weight loss journey. Lord knows I need to give myself a pep talk.

Happy October everyone.

September = FAIL

2010-09-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

Good Lord.

I have not Shred once this month. I had a cold and monthly visitor last week. Felt better for a couple of days and then last night started to have an upset stomach which turned into puking my guts out ALL night. It was literally the worst night of my life. I woke Brett up and told him that child birth was easier then dry heaving every 30 minutes for an entire night.

In weight loss news though, I am down almost 8lbs. I'm thinking that's related to the barfing however. ;) I won't be tracking that for sure on my ticker.

Pray for health for my household. I am so tired of not feeling well.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Starting Over....

2010-09-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Hmm....so perhaps summer wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. I envisioned lots of early morning walks, dinners full of fresh produce from the farmer's market, maybe a hike or two..... Instead, there were many late summer nights (which don't make for early morning walks), dinners full of fresh produce from the farmer's market (which included high calorie desserts and entrees), and NO hikes. We did get to go on some great bike rides and spent lots of time at the park and on walks. However, all in all, it wasn't the great weight loss season that I had anticipated.

Syl over at Live, Smile, Run is hosting a September challenge to either Shred every day or do 20 minutes of working out. I am excited to participate, even though I woke up with a raging sore throat this morning as well as day one of that lovely monthly visitor. I'm still going to do the 20 minutes of activity, even if that's just tossing around the balance ball. I miss our active lifestyle, I miss seeing the pounds come off on the Wii Fit and I have a goal in mind that I am working for and it's a good one. :)

I thought about starting over completely on this blog with a new ticker and everything but I think it's important to remind myself of how far I've come so that I can be encouraged to keep pressing on. I've done it once before, I can do it again.

Here's to a great September!!

Tuesday Ramblings

2010-08-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well, another Shred-less week has gone by. Last week I had a pretty bad sinus infection AND it was my TOM so I didn't get any working out in. I tend to get really discouraged by lack of progress and let it make me sad rather then realizing that every day is a new day with new opportunities.

I feel like back when I was doing SO well with weight loss, it came so naturally and effortlessly. I didn't have to muster up the motivation, it was just there somehow. Nothing has changed, I still have the same goals and reasons for acheiving goals. My life isn't busier then it was then, but I find myself getting overwhelemed. All these feelings are the Lord drawing me closer to Him though, I am confident of that. I think that losing weight and getting healthy is very much a spritual thing and I know that if my priorities are right, God will bless me.

Last night I made a yummy healthy dinner. I was determined to use up food we already have. I sauteed some onions, bell peppers and zuccini and then made some quinoa with reduced sodium chicken broth. I mixed the veggies and quinoa together and then sauteed some chicken tenders in a little olive oil and seasoned generously with lemon pepper. It tasted really flavorful and healthy. It was a small victory for a work day. :)

After dinner Emersyn and I walked to the elementary school playground across the street from our neighborhood while Brett worked in the yard. We had just got there when Brett called and said he was going to come meet us. I just love him. I think a lot of men would have been happy to have the house to themselves and watched sports or something but since he finished up in the yard, he wanted to come play with us. Ems and I were on the swings when we saw Brett walking towards us and you should have seen the joy on my daughters face when she saw her daddy. She started screaming in excitement and could hardly contain herself. It was too darn cute. We decided to play hide and go seek and Emersyn thought it was hilarious. I just love my little family. Even though my life isn't perfect and there are things I wish with my whole heart that I could change, I can't help but be so thankful and grateful for the many blessings in my life.

I really want to find a 5k to RUN this Fall and have something to "train" for. I get overwhelmed and feel like I will never find the time but if I try hard enough like I have before, I will.

Have a great week everyone!!

Back home!

2010-08-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!! I'm baaaaaaaack! :)

So how did I do on vacation you ask? Well....I haven't done a weigh in officially yet to *assess* the damage but I am optimistic that it isn't too bad. I don't feel like I ate terribly. I did indulge a few times on a couple burgers and fries and had ice cream probably more times then I needed to but it's all good. I am ready to be home and back on track!

Surprisingly, our trip wasn't as active as I would have anticipated. For some reason, I really envisioned us taking lots of walks. Several things prevented this from happening however.

{1} It took FOREVER for us to get used to the time change! The first morning we woke up there, it was 11:30am!!! (9:30am Portland time). Emersyn slept in our room and we generally didn't want to wake her up so if she slept in, we slept in.

{2} My parents have these amazingly effective black out curtains in the guest room (and they were broken so they wouldn't open). I hated them because literally NO light comes in and when you wake up, you feel like you have possibly slept for a week. On mornings when we NEEDED to get up early, we would prop the blinds up with shampoo and conditioner bottles. So the time change, combined with the black out shades equaled a LOT of late mornings for us.

{3} In the evenings, my parents like to relax and watch TV. We usually take walks at night but it felt weird to leave my parents at home while we went on a walk. That's the hard part (one of them) about visiting family; I try to make each moment count and it feels almost rude to leave.

{4} My allergies (as well as Brett's and Emersyn's too) were HORRIFIC. It felt like I had a head cold for a lot of the trip and also developed a somewhat asthmatic cough. Bleh.

We did do *some* active things, like walking around the Mall of America, going swimming often in the afternoons, and doing other walking around neat areas. We really loved Minneapolis and there were a LOT of things that we wanted to do but just ran out of time. I think I prefer visiting there in the summer versus the winter just because all the lakes are so beautiful and you can rent canoes, bikes, etc.

A big part of our visit was to make some memories with my sweet grandma Gigi. She has lung cancer and has been given somewhat of a grim prognosis but she is a fighter and Lord willing, we are going to visit them again in January. I have so many memories with Gigi and it makes my heart happy to see Emersyn interact with her too. I had a bit of a tough time saying goodbye on Friday but my heart takes comfort in hopefully seeing her again in January.

Okay, time to get re-focussed!

I swear, every where I looked in MN there were pregnant people and tiny babies. This reminded me of my ULTIMATE goal; to get healthy and in good shape before we have another baby. It's time to get back on track and really kick it into high gear. There's something about coming home from vacation that's so refreshing too and makes me want to live life better.

August game plan:

*Start tracking calories again on my iPhone app and stick to about 1400 each day

*Start Shredding (haven't I said that a million times before?!?! UGH)

*Walk walk walk walk walk

*Go on bike rides as often as possible

*Make the best food choices possible (avoid processed foods)

*Only allow myself a treat on nights that I've worked out (Skinny Cows)

It's gonna be a great month.

In other news, my *baby* girl turns two this month. I can't believe it. She is truly my biggest little blessing.

Happy Sunday!!

Bike Ride

2010-07-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Last night Brett, myself, Brett's brother Brock and Emersyn had a wonderful bike ride downtown! We started at the Springwater Corridor trail that goes along the Wilamette River in Portland. It was beautiful!! I loved loved LOVED riding on a bike trail. There were no worries of cars or any other traffic, other then fellow bicyclists and pedestrians. We rode about 10 miles up the trail and back. It was a fairly easy ride for most of it, with the exception of some killer hills as we went into a more urban area. The weather was perfect though; the sun was setting and it was in the mid 70's. I was a happy girl.

This was my view riding back into Portland. Beautiful!!!

After the bike trail, we rode a loop through downtown called the Eastbank Esplanade. It was amazing!! Part of the path is floating on the Willamette River which is a neat feeling. Part of it was on these metal grates too so when you look down, you are staring at the rocky shore going into the river. Eeeek!

We rode across two bridges...the Steel bridge pictured below...

And then we rode back over the Hawthorne bridge, which I didn't take a picture of but I did take the picture below from the bridge. It was really fun to ride over the water and made me really appreciate how bike friendly my city is.

All in all we rode about 13 miles. I didn't wear my BodyBugg so I am not sure how many calories we burned but I am sure it was a great amount. I hate wearing the BodyBugg with tank tops....you have to wear it kinda tight and it's not a flattering look. But I still know that I burned great calories!

Emersyn was fussy for the downtown portion of the ride which wasn't fun. We have ridden that far before but usually are able to stop about every 5 miles or so and let Ems play or run around. She didn't get to do that at all last night and was pretty unhappy with us. We will have to plan better next time.

I am looking forward to exploring more bike trails in the future!!

Friday Weigh In! :)

2010-07-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

I weighed in this morning and have lost 2.2 lbs since my last weigh in which brings me just .2lbs above my lowest weight. I am encouraged by this. I didn't think that I had gained weight but I wasn't sure that I had lost since I haven't been doing *that* good. This is great motivation though! I have tried to be active when I can be and watch what I eat. Ish. :)

We leave for MN next week and I am determined to NOT gain weight while I am there. My family loves food and they are great cooks too. I need to embrace the fact that yes, I am on vacation and yes, I want to have my favorite pizza while I am there. But I can eat two slices of pizza and a salad, not the usual 4 that I would want to eat. It's thin crust, don't judge me. I want to keep eating lots of produce too.....we have been eating lots of peaches, watermelon, corn on the cob, and more. Summer is such a great time to eat fresh and I can hardly believe that when we get home from MN, it will be August.

Sunday night we have church but I think we may skip it. I have been aching to go on a nice long bike ride and it's been weeks. Church is important to us but so is family. I think we may need to take a family day and enjoy the beautiful weather. I have a specific bike ride that I want to take downtown. It is along the river in our stunningly gorgeous downtown Portland and I will be sure to take pics to show you. Warning though, you might get jealous. The NW is beautiful when the weather finally warms up!!

Anyways, yay for a good weigh in!

Monday

2010-07-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!! This morning I got up bright and early to say goodbye to my bestie who had stayed with us for a little over a week. Her, her husband and two year old were soooo much fun to have around. Anyways, they wanted to leave the house by 7am so I got up early to see them off. After they left, I had a cup of coffee, wrote in my prayer journal and then got Emersyn up and ready for a good long walk! It felt FANTASTIC. The endorphins from working out are unlike anything else and it really is what I need to feel better about healthy living. I find that if I am active in the morning, it sets the pace for my day! Emersyn ate her breakfast on the first half of the walk and then on the second half we stopped by the playground so she could burn some energy too.

Emersyn is outgrowing her stroller, I can't believe it! I really want to get a BOB stroller. Several friends of mine have them and they just glide along when you are walking. I would need to sell this stroller first to justify the purchase though. We'll see.

Emersyn is going through a MAJOR growth spurt. I have never seen her eat this much in her entire life. On Saturday night she ate cucumbers, tomatos, peas, kidney beans, a spinach salad with bell peppers, almonds, and I'm pretty sure the equivalent of her body's weight in beef brisket. She is a bottomless pit!! Because of how much she is eating I decided to get majorly stocked up on produce. I hate just feeding her snacky foods that don't have any nutritional value. On Saturday night we went to Costco and got a big thing of peaches, mini-watermelons and then we have our usual salad essentials at home too. Ems is growing up to be a fruit and veggie lover and it makes me SO happy!! It took my husband nearly 30 years to be able to choke down green beans without gagging; I didn't want that to be the case with Emersyn. It's funny how we look at spending money too. $5 for two mini watermelons seems expensive but then $4 for a Frappachino is easy to spend and justify somehow? That is messed up!

Hope everyone has a great Monday! According to my unofficial bathroom scale, I am back down to where I was at my lowest point. I will do an official weigh in on Friday though...hoping for good things.

Weekend Recap

2010-07-05T14:15:00.001-07:00

This has been a crazy weekend for us. We had a rehearsal & dinner on Thursday night, a wedding Friday night, friends in from out of town and staying at our house on Saturday (and through the week), 4th of July festivities yesterday and then today we went to the Children's Museum in the morning. It makes me tired just thinking about it all! :)

Amidst it all, I don't feel like I have been eating terribly but not as well balanced as I could be. I definitely haven't over eaten, in fact I may not have eaten enough on some days. On Friday morning Emersyn threw up in the car and I was absolutely sick with worry that she wouldn't be able to fulfill her role of flower girl at the wedding. I didn't eat the entire day except for a bagel, which I know isn't good, but I was seriously a worried wreck.

Here is a picture of me and my girl at the wedding. I am totally utilizing Tyra Banks' advice on how to old your arm out in a picture for the most flattering look, ha ha. I bought a sleeveless dress for the wedding which was kinda risky but it looked cute and I actually got a lot of compliments. Because of how public I was when I was doing so good losing weight, I think people are kind of watching me. That should make for good accountability! :)

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!!! I'll be posting a lot of pics from our weekend on my other blog too!

Do you hear the cricket's chirping?

2010-06-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

You know that sound effect that sound like crickets chirping and it's intended to indicate silence? Yeah...that's how I feel this blog is sounding these days with my quiet-ness. I have kind of decided to not post until I have something positive to post so it's been awhile....I thought I should update you though since this is my little online accountability community. :)

First of all, I got some really great insight from several friends (both in real life and bloggy). After reading through comments and having a little email conversation with Tricia, I have decided to just embrace my night owl tendencies rather then fight them. You CAN work out at night, there is nothing wrong with that. Just because it might not be as *traditional*, who cares!!!

I tend to sometimes overly try to define what being a good well rounded person looks like. I don't know if any of this makes sense but bear with me as I ramble a bit. Growing up (and this is kind of awkward because I know my mom reads this but it is my blog and my place to share and I mean no disrespect and I'm not bitter or angry, just reflecting) I was given a really hard time for sleeping in late or having a messy room. Even to this day my mom gives me a bad time about having a messy room which actually drives me insane (and she's actually getting better) but I think I equivelate my worth with getting up early and having a clean house which is just NOT a correct way of thinking. I have to physically make myself NOT clean up my kitchen at times so I can have some playtime with my daughter. SHE is the priority in my life and because I work part time and have ministry commitments, I have a choice to make when I get home. Her or an immaculate kitchen. I pick her. I think I feel the same way about sleeping in. If you sleep in, you are lazy. Or that I what I have always believed and felt guilty about. But instead of trying to turn myself into something I am not, like a morning person, I am going to embrace the way I am which is so much more freeing. The last couple days I have gotten up at 7:45am which has felt great. It's not as early as my mind might consider early enough, but it's great. And I am not motivated to work out prior to Emersyn waking up, I would rather have quiet time and enjoy a cup of coffee. And that's okay. Work out in the afternoons, evenings, etc. Whenever I can is better then not at all.

I tend to beat myself up over things, which leads to unhappiness, which leads to a lack of motivation, etc. etc. Instead, I need to focus at the things I am GOOD at.

I suffered a little bout of post-partum when Emersyn was born. A counselor showed me how to "redefine" my expectations in life and it has forever stuck with me. I constantly find myself needing to "redefine" my expectations to make this healthy lifestyle journey one that will stick. Last night I got home from my book club at about 9:30. Emersyn was still up and it was beautiful outside. Ems and I walked around the block a couple times just for fun because she LOVES talking "walks". Neurotic Patti would have said, "Emersyn needs to get to bed, I have so much to do to get ready for tomorrow, I am hungry, I need to finish the laundry, my bathroom is a mess, I am tired from being gone all day" and pretty much had a nervous breakdown. But redefining expectations Patti said, "It is a lovely evening....I am going to take my daughter on a walk." Such a better place to be in mentally.

I am done talking about "getting on the band wagon" in regards to healthy living. Saying that I am not on it means that I am failing which gives myself permission to make poor choices due to failure anyways. I am making better decisions eating wise and that feels good. I am doing that well and need to focus on that, rather then the things I am NOT succeeding in.

I kind of over-think things sometimes, can you tell? Ha! It's totally who I am though.....and luckily I married a really chill husband who mellows me out in ways you can't imagine. I always tell him that if I hadn't married him I would have totally turned out crazy and high maintenance, hee hee.

Thanks for listening. Life is so one day at a time, one meal at a time, one step at a time. Happy Wednesday!!!

Quiet Wednesday Morning

2010-06-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day in I don't know how long that I didn't have plans in the morning. I need to schedule more mornings like this. Emersyn and I got up, had breakfast and now she's playing and I'm posting a quick blog.

We didn't Shred this morning...FAIL!! I am having trouble getting to bed before midnight these days. I am just such a night person. I didn't end up walking with Sherrie either. My kitchen was a MESS and needed desperately to be cleaned up. I can't function in a messy kitchen and yes, I could have done it this morning but I have learned that if I wake up to a messy house, I am instantly down in a bad/sad mood. It's weird. Like I wake up discouraged for some reason. Part of my problem of letting my circumstances dictate how I feel I guess. I am sure I burned some good calories though. I cleaned the entire kitchen, wiped down dining room table, did some laundry, vacuumed, and picked up. My BodyBugg results have always reflected kindly on cleaning sessions.

Brett and I are major night owls and maybe I need to just start embracing that rather than fighting it. But for some reason, and this may sound strange, I feel like the Lord wants me to show some discipline in waking up early. Ugh, I can't believe I just typed that because now I have to be accountable for it. Rats. I do love my mornings with Emersyn and I never regret getting up early, I just sometimes am not physically able to get out of bed because I'm so stinking tired. But if I have to get up for something, I can. I think I am over thinking this but this is my blog and I reserve the right to write what I want. :)

Today Emersyn's Nana went out of town so Brett is taking a half day off to come home and be with her while I go to work. That will be fun for her to have a daddy date. Plus, I don't have to worry about getting Emersyn anywhere before work. I get weary from packing her diaper bag every day with essentials, food, diapers, etc. It's nice to just be able to leave my house this afternoon. My clean house, I should add. :) Well, somewhat clean house.

Just wanted to check in and confess to my lack of Shredding. :( But I am trying to move it move it each day in some way. Have a great Wednesday everyone!!

Rainy Tuesday

2010-06-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I am SO over the rain this year! It's half way through June and Oregon doesn't seem to have gotten the memo.

It was nice last night though, a little chilly but sunny at least. Sherrie and I walked about 4 miles and I am feeling it in my legs today. We walk pretty fast, no leisurely strolling for us.

When I got home from walking it was about 10:30 and I SHOULD have gone to bed but instead, I had some quality time with my husband. We stayed up past midnight. Thus, I didn't Shred this morning. I am going to walk though again tonight.

I got a $287 ticket for doing a u-turn today. Did you know that u-turns are illegal in Oregon? Well, they are. It was a very safe u-turn, no traffic around, just one cop hiding. I also got a $287 ticket for an expired insurance card but I am pretty sure that will be waived when I show the proof on my court date. LOVELY.

I plan on walking out my rage in regards to this incident tonight.

Oy.

Shredding

2010-06-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Darn that Jillian Michaels but upon reviewing my year of healthy living up to date, I find that my most successful periods of weight loss were while Shredding. So......

I have asked my husband to commit to Shredding with me again. (Do you like how I use Shredding as a verb? Ha)

Not only have I asked for his participation.....but I have asked that he drag my rear end out of bed each morning to do it. Dun dun dun!!!!!!

I have blabbed enough on here about how I know that mornings would be the best time to work, etc, etc, but have YET to put that brilliant philosophy into practice.

When I have Shredded in the mornings, I find that I eat better during the day, look for more opportunities to be active, and just feel better about myself. I can be a horrifically moody person. Shocking, I know. Endorphins from working out do a body good. And they help marriages, ha!! No really people, a happy wife is a good thing.

So, I come to you, healthy minded blogger friends, to give you permission to harass me and ask me how my morning Shreds are going. Surely we all know right now that in the blog world, specifically the healthy living blog world, no news is usually not good news. Hardly any of us ever slack on blogging and come back with a "I've lost tons of weight" post. Usually (for me at least) and consistenly maintained blog equals discipline and focus.

P.S. We are starting our Shredding tomorrow. Last night we stayed up too late and I couldn't wake up. Fail. Part of that was because we watched a friend's daughter (adorable pictures to come of Emersyn and her BFF) and it was a late night for us. Tonight I want to go upstairs by 10:30, pop a Melatonin (all natural, don't judge me) and then be in bed asleep by 11pm. We are striving to wake up at 6:45 am which makes me cringe just to write. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.

P.P.S. Any brilliant tips on how to get your body to wake up in the morning without taking a shower?

Weigh In & 100th Post

2010-06-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

This morning before we headed out to the zoo, I decided to jump back on the Wii Fit and do an official weigh in to get back on track.

I gained 2.4 lbs.

Not good, but considering I have NOT been working out or watching my portion sizes like I should, it certainly could be worse. So guess what my goal is for this week? To lose 2.4lbs! I can do it!

Today we were active and it felt good. We met friends at the zoo and walked there for a couple hours. The Oregon Zoo is very hilly and you're sure to get a good workout. We went from there to do some shopping which also involves walking around. We ended our family day by riding 8 miles to dinner at Baja Fresh and back. It's such a rush to ride our bikes to dinner. You feel more entitled to that meal. :)

I wore my Body Bugg and if I stay sedentary for the rest of the night, as of right now I will burn about 4100 calories which is awesome. I will not be sendentary though, I plan on picking up and getting our downstairs cleaned up for our BUSY weekend. Tomorrow I am going to the Farmer's Market with a friend, a grad party open house, then a girls night Bachelorette party downtown. Sunday we have church in the morning, a meeting in the afternoon, and then bowling at night. It's a busy weekend for sure but full of fun and friends. The good news is, Emersyn gets to come to all of it with me except the girls night. She'll have her own girls night with her buddy Stella while their daddies watch a movie and hang out. :)

Here are a couple pics from our zoo day. Too fun. :)

I used to be able to scrunch my hair. Then I had Emersyn. When she was born, she stole my ability to scrunch my hair. And the ability to control my bladder 100% while coughing or sneezing. Mamas, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about....ha ha.

Pretzel face. :)

Happy birthday Sherrie!!!

2010-06-09T12:54:00.001-07:00

Today is my walking buddy's (maybe someday we'll upgrade our friendship status to running buddy, ha!) birthday. We celebrated this morning with coffee and pedicures. My toes and feet are thanking me. We shared some laughs over some ~~rude~~ blunt comments that the nail tech decided to share with me regarding my dry feet, ha ha. Gotta love people that lack good old social tact. I think she was oblivious though so no hard feelings, hee hee. It was fun to be pampered with a friend and my toes are painted a pretty pink color, all ready for sunshine whenever it decides to make it's debut in the pacific northwest!!

Yesterday Sherrie texted me and said she was going on a walk that night and invited me to come. This tactic worked much better then asking when a good time to walk is. Because I knew she was going, I would have felt bad if she had to go alone, thus providing the motivation that I needed. We probably walked about three miles, hard to say exactly. We got kicked off the high school track by a security guard, which was irritating but I guess that is prevent vandalism. I was proud of myself though, right when I went to leave to walk over to Sherrie's, it started POURING. I was so annoyed because we have cancelled SO many walks due to rain so I grabbed our giant black umbrellas and walked over anyways. We walked amidst the heavy rain and winds too. Sherrie's umbrella even blew inside out and we were laughing. It felt GREAT when I got home after walking about 90 minutes and the endorphins really did my body good. I have been getting really snacky at night and after working out, I didn't feel that way at all. It was a great step in the right direction. So thank you Sherrie, for your passive approach to getting me to walk with you!! :)

Seems like so many friends and bloggers that I know are struggling with staying disciplined right now. Life is a daily thing, that's for sure. I find myself getting wrapped up in the things that I had become so okay with ignoring. Like thinking I can't work out because I have laundry to do or the dishes need to be done, etc. I think some of that might come from the fact that my brother and his wife are living with us (until next week, their apartment is almost ready and I know they are so excited!) so I feel like I need to try to keep the house tidier (even though that hasn't always proved to be possible). I need to really get my mind back in the game and re-train my brain to put working out first and make it a priority.

Happy Wednesday!

The Silver Maple

2010-06-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

I don't enter blog giveaways too often because I always think to myself, what are the odds of winning?? Tricia over at Endurance Isn't Only Physical (one of my favorite blogs!!!) did a giveaway for a necklace over at The Silver Maple a couple months ago and I just had to enter, thinking why not? Well, guess what? I won!!!!!!!!!

Jacquelyn, the fabulous jeweler, contacted me and was eager for me to collect my prize. How fun is that? She made the whole process SUCH a pleasure!! That is why I am promoting her on this blog. I let her know that I wanted to give her a shout out and she kindly offered to give my readers a discount!!! If you want to order anything from her website, The Silver Maple, from now until sometime in the Fall (she said 6 months) she will give you TWENTY PERCENT off!! Amazing. Her jewelry is stunning, totally handcrafted and truly made with pride. She worked with me to make my necklace 100% custom. I had gotten a necklace for Mother's Day that said Emersyn's name on it so I decided that I wanted THIS necklace to be about my first love, Brett. I made the silver part of the necklace say, "My Beloved, My Friend" and the copper piece says "B + P" (our initials). It is so pretty and I get so many compliments on it whenever I wear it.

One of the MANY cool things at Jacquelyn's site is her collection of runner's jewelry. How fun would it be to commemorate a marathon or running event with a piece of jewelry like this one....

I love this one too.....

So if you are looking for a great gift for yourself or a loved one, friend, etc. head over to The Silver Maple and enter "KindPatti" at the checkout for 20% off. (Jacquelyn came up with that discount code, how sweet is she?!?) I hope to send her some great business and bless her!!

Let me know if you order something too! Fun fun! :)

So not worth it!

2010-06-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

So I have made a profound discovery......

Taking a month off from working out, from watching portion sizes, from counting calories.......SO NOT WORTH IT! I am having to wean myself all over again!! Ugh. Yesterday it was all I could do to not eat an entire pack of gum at work. All I could think about was what I was going to eat next and I have to say, it was disappointing. I didn't have any motivation to work out, although I did walk a mile around the track with Sherrie when I got home. I am wrestling with finding time to work out. Bottom line, I am full of excuses but they are *sorta* valid. I don't like working out in the mornings because I am too tired to wake up early and then I don't want to waste my precious time with Emersyn. Then when I get home, I don't want to waste more family time with working out. Yesterday worked great because I picked Sherrie off when I got off of work and I got back before Brett and Emersyn even got home because they were running late.

I have been in somewhat of a pity party mood for myself lately and I need to snap out of it. PMS is playing a part in that mood as well. And it has been raining for like three weeks straight. (Such a complainer, I know!!!)

I really feel like my walk with the Lord directly ties in to every area of my life. I feel like sometimes He is calling me to be closer to Him when I am failing miserably on my own. It's not about losing weight, it's about discipline and a lifestyle and I need His help.

I also need a pep talk. Jillian Michaels style. I DVR'd her new series and am planning on watching it tonight. I am sure she will have all the answers. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Dear "Diet".....

2010-05-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Remember me? :)

We're just going to pretend that May never happened. Tonight I am having one last indulgent meal over at Sherrie's. June is going to be fantastic...wait, didn't I say that about May though!??!

I feel like I actually need to start over. I think that I was WAY to liberal with my eating over the last month (or two) and that is not what leads to success in weight loss (for me). It's not about torturing myself with an awful diet, in fact, I enjoy the new healthy meals that we have found over the last 4 or 5 months. It's about making good choices and not defining any sort of happiness through food. Brett and I had gotten to the point where we weren't even tempted by unhealthy eating, honestly!

I quit Bally's (hallelujah) and Jesus hooked me up with a great deal at LA Fitness. I had really wanted to join their gym because it is so nice and clean but I didn't want to pay this stupid $99 initiation fee. I was looking online and found a deal where you pay $7.99 a week which is about $32 a month which is really reasonable for a gym!! Plus, my work pays me $25/month for a gym allowance so it is VERY cheap for me. I am going to work out for the first time tomorrow night! Praise the Lord for such a great deal, I really felt like that was a blessing just for me!

So, here's to "starting over" tomorrow. I CAN do it and I WILL. Gotta go get the BodyBugg charged and ready.... :)

It not about the weight, it's not not about the weight

2010-05-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

I am reading a very interesting book right now called, "Women Food and God" by Geneen Roth. My friend Sherrie saw it on Oprah and read it in nearly a day. I haven't been as successful in reading it as quickly but every time I pick it up, I am impressed at how insightful it is.

The title of my post is the chapter that I am on right now. I thought I would share my thoughts, book report style. Even if it doesn't mean anything to any of you, it is good for me to process it in this way.

Roth writes, "The bottom line is, whether you weigh 340 pounds or 150 pounds, is that when you eat when you are not hungry, you are using food as a drug, grappling with boredom or illness or loss of grief or emptiness or loneliness or rejection. Food is only the middleman, the means to the end." Other people have different "drugs" of choice; work, drugs, alcohol, etc. But when you struggle with compulsive eating, you just assume that you are unhappy because of what you weigh, which ironically causes you to eat more. That is where Roth makes the point that it's not about the weight....but it's also not not about the weight.

Roth writes, "Acceptance represents the basic challenge of compulsive eating. The reason why it not about the weight. Why people lost ten pounds but still feel like crap.....The lack of acceptance and up happiness are synonymous. [You] are assuming- absolutely counting on the fact- that when [you] get to be someone special [your ideal weight perhaps] [you] will no longer feel deficient and no longer be haunted by emptiness......it's called the "when I get thin (or whatever else will make you happy) blues....i't called postponing your life and your ability to be happy to a future date when then, oh then, you will finally get what you want and life will be good".

Oh, the good old "if only" way of looking at life. In my life, some presently, some in the past I have thought to myself if only I were thin, if only I were married, if only I had more money, if only my house were bigger, if only, if only, IF ONLY!!!

I think that a couple years ago, I actually came to acceptance about my weight. I was very much caught up in the if only way of living and I was sick of it. I wanted to just live in the now and enjoy myself. However, I believe that over time this led to weight gain for the freedom of just eating what I wanted. I didn't deal with the root of what caused me to overeat, make poor food choices, etc. It's an interesting concept. I thought I was giving myself all of this freedom, accepting who I was, but in fact I was still in bondage to my body and food in general. Part of this problem was ignorance though. I had grown so accustomed to processed foods and eating out, neither of which are good for you, especially in excess. I worked long hours in real estate and totally justified eating out every night because of that reason. For periods of time when business was slow, I justified eating poorly because of that as well. Not good, not good.

Roth writes, "It's not about the weight. It's not about the goal. It's not about being thin or 'getting' there. Those are fantasies in your mind- and they are all in the future, a future that never comes. Because when your goals are reached, they will be reached in the "right now". And in the "right now" you will still be you, doing the same things you do now. You will still stand up, walk around, sleep, feel happy, feel devastated, feel loved, feel lonely", etc.

That really hits home for me. I think that so often I take comfort in the fantasy of the future. The future I envision, yet when I get there, I am still me, not this imaginary person who is perfect. Sometimes I look around at my life and have to blink several times to make sure I am not dreaming....this is my future that I always dreamed about, married with a baby. And yet, I don't wear an apron all day long and keep my house spotless, I don't have meals planned out for weeks and dinner on the table every night, my husband still runs out of clean underwear, and my baby has bangs that are slightly too short due to an incident with me and the scissors. It isn't perfect but it is the "right now". I need to embrace my goals and just choose to live one day at a time and not live in the fantasy of the future. This can apply to so many areas of life, more then just weight. I used to get down about having to work while being a mom but then I thought to myself, is it really worth wasting Emersyn's baby years being unhappy and dissatisfied? NO, it so isn't. Thus, my crazy crazy life has been born out of that. :)

I think that I have been on the right track so far this year with pursuing a lifestyle modification versus a diet. It is hard to find balance between making good choices and being obsessed with choices. It is hard for me to not lecture my brother on why eating tons of Doritos isn't good for you. I don't' want to alienate those I love just because I have chosen to embark on this journey. Same with other close people in my life, I find myself getting frustrated sometimes at the foods they choose to eat but then I have to remember, this is about ME, not about anyone else and I can only control myself and hope to be a good example.

Another thing that Roth addresses is the excuse that "I just love food, I love to eat". She says that when you love something, you still can't binge on it and call that "love". When you love something you pay attention to it, you savor it, etc. Overeating never leads to happiness, it leads to indigestion, bloating, gas, etc.

I am only about a quarter into the book and am excited to keep reading. Thanks for letting me borrow it Sherrie!

I'm sick

2010-05-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

I think Emersyn gave me a cold. Stinker.

I wish I was one of those people that get sick and has no appetite and drops like 5 pounds without even trying.

Not me.

I get sick and crave grilled cheese on Killer Dave's bread.

I guess there are worse things to eat though.

My brother and his wife have moved in to our house for the next couple weeks or so. Along with them they brought a bunch of junk food. I am doing *pretty* good at resisting it.

Gotta get back on track. I keep saying that but then I got sick and that is my excuse for right now.

Ugh.

I need to drink lots of water and take a nap which is what I am going to do right now.

Happy Tuesday. Hopefully the next time you hear from me, I am back on track and HEALTHY!!

Giving yourself a break

2010-05-19T17:00:00.001-07:00

Now that the wedding is behind us, I think I have allowed myself some extra "freedom" in regards to eating and working out. I haven't worked out and I haven't been tracking my calories. I haven't eaten horribly but I haven't eaten great either. I haven't had an apple in weeks and that says a lot; apples are a daily snack for me usually. I haven't even been wearing my BodyBugg. I think that after the craziness of the wedding, I breathed a sigh of relief, bid my bridesmaid dress adieu in my closet (and by closet I mean draped over Emersyn's play table in my room, LOL), and decided to give myself a "break".

It turns out, I'm not happy while taking breaks. This little lesson is kind of along the same lines as my previous post. It kind of goes back to the feeling of entitlement. I feel entitled to be lazy because I work and have a busy life. I feel entitled to eat what I want since I worked so hard for all the months leading up to the wedding. Where the heck do these feelings come from?? WHY do I think I NEED to give myself a break?

My body is the happiest when I am NOT giving it a break. And look at me, obviously I gave myself one too many breaks somewhere along the road here. :) It turns out that "treating" myself to a higher calorie meal in a restaurant actually makes me sick. It turns out that NOT working out actually makes me feel sluggish and even a little border lined depressed at times. I have had a bit of a rough week emotionally, dealing with various situations in life and as I step back, I realize that nothing about these situations is different, I am the one who is reacting different. My body grew to rely on those endorphins that exercise provides and my cranky, hormonal mood swings are a desperate plea to myself from myself to get back on the bandwagon. (P.S. Thank you to my amazing husband for putting up with my mood swings, especially when I may or may not have been kind of irritated with him for spraining his ankle last night....I love you honey!!!!!)

I miss the bounce in my step.

I miss the feeling of counting my calories and being proud of myself at the end of the day.

I miss the exhilarating feeling of plugging my BodyBugg in at night and challenging myself to burn more calories the next day then the day before.

I even miss smelling athletic. :)

I want healthy living to truly become a lifestyle, not something I ever feel like I want a *break* from.

I want the pounds to keep dropping. I'm not too hopeful this week....like I said, it's been an emotional week for me and while I haven't eaten terrible foods, I think I may have eaten too much food which is never good.

I'm starting over.

I Shredded for 25 consecutive days. I found the time then, I can find the time now. No more excuses. The Lord has called me to be accountable to Him on this little journey and I can't let Him down.

I also need to wake up earlier in the morning. That little fact was even confirmed in my bible study this week. Rats.

Okay, I think I'm done for now. I need to clean out the fridge, make a list and start eating like the healthy lady that I once was. It's not about waiting until Monday like the OLD me would have, it's about starting right now. I can do it. I have lost 35 pounds so far, whats another 70 or so? :)

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Happy Wednesday!!!

You don't have to be lazy to relax!

2010-05-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

The title of my post was my lesson of the day yesterday.

Yesterday morning we skipped church, due to being up late the night before and due to the fact that Emersyn just kept sleeping and slept in until almost 10am! She must be going through a growth spurt. I was supposed to go to a meeting in the afternoon but Emersyn was kinda clingy and needy and I thought it would be best to stay home, let her get a good nap, and have the afternoon to CHILL. My house was a little bit of a mess but I was determined to relax while Emersyn napped.

So I sat in my living room and got caught up on blog reading and even wrote a few posts with some pictures on my other blog that are scheduled to post later this week. I *should* have done some more meaningful reading, seeing as my books to read pile only seems to grow and never shrink but because my house was messy, I couldn't focus on *real* reading.

Emersyn took a three hour nap and I completely wasted it. I sometimes get so caught up in the "poor me" mentality in regards to my life's circumstances. I don't feel that I get to relax very much at home. I feel like when I am home I need to be doing doing doing and sometimes I resent that feeling. But yesterday it's like I FORCED myself to just sit. I hated it! I was miserable, just ask my husband!

Brett got home from work and we decided to go on a bike ride, our new favorite hobby. :) I was super ticked that the house was so messy, super ticked that I couldn't find my BodyBugg which I desperately wanted to wear to see how many calories bike riding burns, super ticked that I wasted my entire afternoon. I realized that I don't have to be LAZY to RELAX. Seriously. Obviously, being lazy is what got me into this little *weight* predicament in the first place!!! We went on our bike ride and those much needed endorphins kicked in and worked their magic. We rode to a park about 3 miles away and Emersyn sat on my lap and ate her "nunch" (what she calls all meals) and watched the skaters at the skate park with much delight. Then we rode over to Subway and Brett and I enjoyed a "happy anniversary" $5 footlong. :) We took the long way home and stopped by a park for a bit so Emersyn could enjoy the slide. It was great! When we got home, we watched the only show that we ever watch as a family, "America's Funniest Home Videos" which Emersyn thinks is hysterical. She loves the clips with kids and babies. When the announcer guy comes on after each clip and during the commercials, she yells "again!!! again!!!". So cute. Then Brett put Ems to bed, I made some yummy/healthy applesauce muffins, cleaned up the kitchen and downstairs, vacuumed, and felt like I was going to have a great week.

Cleaning is relaxing to me. So is reading and chillin' on the couch sometimes, but not all the time. I need to redefine what relaxing is. I want it to be going on a long walk. I want it to be working out.

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday and I won't soon forget it. It's so much nicer to accomplish something and be happy with what I accomplished rather then *relaxed*. :)

SEVEN YEARS!

2010-05-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

My wedding was so long ago, our photographer still used FILM! Pardon the tiny scans... :)

Today is my 7th anniversary and I can hardly believe it. I was a youngin' when I got married (22) and am so blessed to have been able to "grow up" with my husband. We have been through SO much together and I know that the Lord made Brett just for me.

Looking back through some pictures today, I am so incredibly grateful to have a husband who has loved me over the last 7 years, despite my many flaws. I have not done the best job at taking care of myself and while I could go on and on about various reasons for this issue, instead I am taking charge of my health and pressing forward. My husband deserves a good lookin' HEALTHY wife and he is a huge motivation to me. He has been such a vital part of this healthy lifestyle transformation and I couldn't have gotten to where I am without him.

Brett, I love you more then ever and am so so blessed to be your wife. Thanks for picking me, who knew? :) XOXO

I wrote "our story" on my other blog last summer....for more details on how Brett and I came to be Brett and I, go here. :)

Refreshed!

2010-05-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! What a great couple of days I have had......seriously, I feel like a new woman. A woman that is 1.1 lbs lighter then I was on Monday mind you. Have no idea how that happened but I'll take it!

Back in February, I decided to take the Thursday after my brother's wedding off so that Brett and I could take Ems on a little getaway. I figured we would need it after all the crazy-ness died down. Boy was I right. :)

We debated between going to Seattle, which is a little over 3 hours to drive. I love Seattle and Emersyn has never been there. However, I also really wanted to go to the Oregon Garden Resort for our second annual trip. :) I decided to let the weather decide our plans because the Oregon Garden would be no fun in the rain. On Monday when we saw the forecast for the week and Thursday was supposed to be the warmest day so far in 2010. Hallelujah!! I feel like the Lord did that just for me, as a little wink.

The best part of our "getaway weekend" (that took place on Thursday and Friday) was that we made the most of each of our days. Thursday morning we got up and took Emersyn on her first ride in our new bike trailer. I love it!!!! She loves it too, except for the having to wear a helmet part. :) We rode to Starbucks and then to a park. Thursday afternoon Emersyn took a nap, I cleaned up and packed and then we headed down to Silverton, which is about an hour away. It was a beautiful day and so warm!! At the resort, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and our room. Emersyn, my ever adaptable child, slept in a pack'n'play in the bathroom so that we didn't have to go to bed at 9ish when she did. :)

On Friday we had breakfast, took the tram tour around the gardens, walked around a little, and then headed home so that Emersyn could sleep in the car. We got home at about 4 and decided to enjoy the rest of our day with a bike ride. We rode to Starbucks (shocking, right?), a park, and then the library. We were gone for about three hours and rode a little over 13 miles. I forgot to wear my BodyBugg but I think it is safe to assume that we burned some great calories. The best part was how much FUN we were having!! It didn't even feel like a workout, it felt like a fun family activity.

My heart was so happy yesterday. I felt like we were finally a little family that I have always wanted to be, active and happy. I got a little bit of sun even on my arms and back. I have never been a girl that sports a tan in the summer, unless I have been to a tanning bed (which I don't do anymore). I have never enjoyed being outside. When you are *ahem* bigger *ahem* it is no fun to be outside in shorts and a tank top....in the fall and winter it is easier to hide behind hoodies, pants, etc. I feel like this is going to be THE best summer of my entire life and I am so happy about that.

Here are some pics from our little adventures....enjoy! :)

Ems and "Twin" (the monkey) enjoying the Oregon Gardens.

I'm ready to go!

Okay, you have to understand why this picture is hysterical. See the abundance of straps and buckles? Only like two straps are intended to be buckled when there is one kid in the trailer. Clearly, however, Emersyn was concerned with her safety because she proceeded to buckle every other available buckle while we were on the road. I love her.

Emersyn's first Frappachino. Don't judge me. It's all about moderation people. :) She didn't drink the whole thing either!

Ems and Daddy having fun in the fountain. Brett was the only parent playing with their kid in the fountain. Emersyn is so lucky and so am I! :)

I definitely was in a "vacation" mindset in regards to eating this past weekend. I didn't make any obviously horrible choices (fried foods, etc.) but I could have done better with portion control. I feel like I got it out of my system though and am ready to get back on track.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wordless Wednesday- Fun in the park with Grandpa!

2010-05-12T16:30:00.001-07:00

Dear healthy lifestyle.....remember me?

2010-05-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'm back!!!!! :) What a great weekend we had. I am absolutely exhausted and emotionally drained but other than that, life is great! :)

I don't even remember my last post at this point but I know most of you know that my brother's wedding was this last weekend! It was wonderful. Emersyn did a great job as flower girl and I felt somewhat pretty in my dress. Jenny's (my new sister-in-law) sister did my hair and make up and that was really special. She did it all funky curly and it was fun to see my hair in a different style then the every day. Here is a picture of us that my aunt took with her phone....

Brett looked so good in his tux. All of his weight loss efforts have paid off, let me tell you! :) It was so fun to be in a wedding together with our daughter, truly a dream come true.

Did I fall off "the wagon" this past weekend in regards to my "diet" or "healthy lifestyle"?

Yes.

Not only did I fall off, the wagon is no longer even in sight.....

But alas, I must get back on it.

We went to breakfast twice and out for mexican food. Good choices were not made but they weren't terrible choices either. For all our meals out, I left food on my plate and tried to moderate the portion sizes.

I weighed in this morning and the scale was friendly. I think she felt sorry for me because I had just said goodbye to my parents and grandma and probably shed a couple pounds of water weight via tears. :) I allegedly lost .3 lbs but I am not counting on that number to stick once my body fully processes what I ate this past weekend. We'll see though. I did a LOT of running around and was pretty active for most of the last 10 days or so, not in the form of working out neccesarily but just being busy.

This week: must get back on track. Like I said, today is a tough day for me having said goodbye to my family. This is the first time we have ever left each other, unsure when the next time we will see each other again which stinks.

On Thursday we are going to go on a little getaway for the night. I just need to spend a night with Brett and Emersyn and relax. My house is SUCH a mess and even though my family is gone now, our week is still busy. I'm looking forward to some downtime with my two favorite people. Plus, Brett and I are celebrating our 7th anniversary on Sunday....another worthy reason to getaway!!

Happy Monday everyone, here's to getting back on track!!!

1lb at a Time- Week One

2010-05-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, this was SO not the week to start a challenge. I feel like I have so fallen off the wagon this week, not in a I've-eaten-fast-food sort of way, more like a I-haven't-been-watching-my-portions-and-been-drinking-too-many-free-Starbucks-drinks-with-my-parents way.

However, I like being a part of "challenges", especially health and fitness related ones so I am going to play along and not revert back to my OLD way of thinking; thinking that the month of May is a wash, instead I will press on and pretty much plan on going on a raw fruits and vegetable diet next week to detox in a sense.

Lisa @ This Mommy Works is coordinating this challenge. She poses this weeks first question:

What makes me feel beautiful/good about myself?

*Hearing my husband tell me he thinks I'm cute. :)
*Having brightly painted pink nails.
*Seeing my weight come down on the scale each week (except maybe for this week, Lord help me!!!).
*Wearing my beloved Jessica Simpson Dafa flats. They are comfortable, girly, and make any outfit super cute.
*Taking time to round brush blow dry AND straighten my hair.
*Having a little bit of a tan. :)

Ultimately, I never feel truly beautiful. But I'm working on that! Fitting into smaller clothes definitely will help in this department.

Alright, off to try out the spray tan stuff I got for the wedding on Friday. Might be kinda risky just now trying it. Wish me luck that I don't turn orange!!!! :)

Marriage Advice

2010-05-05T14:22:00.001-07:00

**This is a duplicate post from my other blog but I wanted to get YOUR guys' advice too in case you don't read that blog!!**

My brother is getting married on Friday. 95% of me is ecstatic for him, the other 5% does realize that things will never quite be the same between us. David really struggled when I got married. He was a Junior in High School and in his eyes, his older friend Brett had come in and stolen his big sister. It didn't go over well initially but as David grew up, him and Brett became as close as real life brothers and the three of us have shared many a fun memory. I am excited to add his fiance Jenny to these memories from this moment on. (Wink wink Jenny, hee hee).

I feel like I should have some wise older sisterly marriage advice to give them but in so many ways, I STILL feel like I am figuring marriage out even after SEVEN years!

So, while I gather MY thoughts I thought I would ask you, bloggy friends, for any marriage advice that YOU have found to be tried and true over the past however many years that you have been married. I will compile any responses I get into one big post (hopefully it's big if enough of you respond) and perhaps print it off for the future Mr. & Mrs. David Green. Should be interesting. :) If you want to leave anonymous/private advice, feel free to email me at pattijensen@gmail.com and I will pass the advice on your behalf anonymously. :)

Should be kinda fun! Thanks for playing along, even if it is just a word or two. It's fun to hear every ones little pearls of wisdom in life, after all, isn't that what community is for? :)

Scale working again, LOL.

2010-05-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

So last night I decided to try out my bathroom scale just one more time before tossing it. Remember I posted yesterday about Emersyn peeing on it and I just assumed that it was fried. Well, while standing on it, I noticed it was teetering slightly. I picked up the scale and saw a white Mr. Potato Head arm lodged in the bottom of it.

Scale works, good as new now. Ha!!

The Mr. Potato Head arm can not say the same however.

Happy Wednesday. :)

A nice email :)

2010-05-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

I got a sweet email from a gal at my church that read the following.....

I have been meaning to write to you......you look AMAZING! I am so proud of you. What are you doing to lose weight? It's really working and you look so wonderful. :) Share your secret :):)

It was a nice reminder that yes, I am losing weight and yes, I should be proud of myself. I think that sometimes I feel like this process is taking too long and somehow that equals failure. I do think I need to give myself a little more credit at times. I have trouble wrapping my mind around the whole "don't be too hard on yourself" mentality because I feel that if I had been harder on myself, I wouldn't be in this weight predicament in the first place!!! :)

I'm so thankful for this blog and a way to clear my head. :)

I have a friend that commented once that it must be so much easier for me to lose weight since I only have to work part time and they work full time, thus they don't have the time to put into weight loss. I nearly fell off my chair!!!!!!!!!! Bless their precious little hearts but being a mother is a full time job; I do have a part time job PLUS real estate, plus ministry commitments, plus a social life (that I tend to neglect at times), plus plus plus!!!!!!! If I can lose weight at this stage of my life, I am confident that ANYONE can. The old me would have put this off, saying that I will focus on losing weight someday when I don't have to work outside the home or someday when Emersyn is a little older and can occupy herself while I work out or heck, maybe even until after I finish having babies. Now that I am on this track, I have terrible regret and remorse for not having done this life change sooner. But all I can do is channel that regret into positive energy and encourage others to take charge of their health NOW!!

In other news, today the bathroom scale said I lost 15 pounds since Friday!!!! But then I remembered that Emersyn peed on it the other day (she was waiting to get into the shower and decided to stand on it and pee) and while I thought I had cleaned it thoroughly, I am pretty sure that it is dead now. Guess I will only get to weigh in now on the Wii!

Happy Tuesday!

Zero, Zilch, Nada!

2010-05-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon after church my parents wanted to go to Red Robin for lunch. Red Robin is partially responsible for my er, little weight issue! We used to go there often with a big group of friends and while we waited for our food (which always took a little longer since our group was so big), our server would bring us baskets and baskets of their glorious steak fries. Steak fries that I would dip in ranch mercilessly. Steak fries that were perfected with just a little of that famous Red Robin seasoning.....

Yesterday I faced a dilemma. I have amazingly generous parents. Their the type that pay for everything when you're around, coffee, lunches, dinners, etc. I have learned so much about generosity from them and I appreciate them more then they will every fully know, even though I do try hard to express my gratitude often. :) Anyways, I had a good feeling that this lunch at Red Robin was going to be their treat. Something about the meal being free has always made me feel like I needed to splurge somehow, ya know? Like, hey it's free, I may as well get something kinda naughty that I wouldn't buy myself.

I really really really wanted a Bonzai burger. But I know that even if you get it without the bun and without mayo, it is pretty high in calories. And it comes with fries, which I could sub out with a salad but I knew it would be high in fat.

So I got a crispy chicken salad, which wasn't the ultimate healthy choice but I only ate 2/3 of it and I stopped when I got full. I had the two little pieces of foccacia bread that came with it and that was it. Guess how many of my favorite fries that I had? ZERO! I had no desire for them, not an ounce. My parents both offered me some, after all, they are bottomless but I politely declined. I knew that I would feel sick afterwards and that they just wouldn't be worth the grease and calories. I also had a pretty light dinner and had eaten a light breakfast too. I think I made a great choice!

I ordered Emersyn a grilled cheese off the kids menu with some mandarin oranges. Not the best healthy meal for her but better then other options. Guess how the grilled cheese was served? On TERXAS TOAST. I should have taken a picture. It was super greasy and made with that totally artificial american cheese. I won't be ordering that again but Emersyn did enjoy the oranges and milk that came with the meal. Why on earth would they serve kids texas toast for grilled cheese??!! Seriously, and we wonder why childhood obesity is an epidemic.....

Anyways, I was pretty proud of my fry-less lunch and wanted to share. :)

This week is pretty crazy around my house. I have a new tenant living in my guest room and he is getting married on Friday. :) (My brother David) It's interested adding another adult to my 1582 square foot house. Emersyn is happy to have her uncle home!!

P.S. If you think about it, will you say a little prayer that my little monthly visitor waits until AFTER the wedding to make her debut? I SO don't want to feel bloated in a bridesmaid dress!!!!

May 1st- Progress Report!

2010-05-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

In April I lost 7lbs. Eh.

In the last 16 weeks I have lost 34.8 pounds. Whoo hoo!!

I am fitting in clothes that are 2-3 sizes down from when I started 16 weeks ago.

My brother's wedding is in one week. I would like to have lost 35lbs by the time his wedding comes around which would only be losing .2lbs from right now but with family in town and a lack of time to work out, I would be happy with this loss. :) Of course I would be happy to lose more and I am watching what I eat so we'll see.

The next wedding that Brett and Emersyn are in is 9 weeks away. I think if I am aggressive, I can lose another 20 pounds, what do you think!?! Yes this is a lofty(ish) goal (only a little over two pounds a week) but hopefully as the weather gets a little nicer, I will have more opportunities to get outside and walk/run. I am not in this wedding but still, I would love to get a cute family picture of us all. This is a great goal and great motivation. Wow, the thought of having lost 55 pounds is freakin' amazing.....

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Friday Weigh In....!!!!!!!!

2010-04-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we had an early start! We needed to be out the door by 8:10 to go pick up Maddie, Sherrie's daughter to take her for a special ride in our van. We went over to Slappycakes in NE Portland, a really cute little restaurant that I have blogged about on my other blog here last fall. Anyways, I learned my lesson a couple weeks ago when I was "too busy to weigh in" so today we made sure to allow ourselves extra time before we left.

Brett weighed in first and only lost about a half a pound. This made me nervous because he often loses either more then me (which is irritating!! ha!) or he is right about the same as me. I went and did my weigh in with butterflies in my tummy and guess what? I lost THREE POINT ONE pounds!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thrilled!!!! I didn't work out this week at all which is lame. I am not going to go forward and think, geez I don't even need to work out because the working out is so good for your body and makes me FEEL better. I would give myself an B on eating. I did have some cake on Tuesday night and definitely don't feel like I was on my best behavior. I think the Lord may have known I needed a little extra boost of confidence this week, going into the big wedding week of festivities! :)

My parents get here this afternoon. Right now Emersyn is napping, and by napping I mean playing in her crib. :) I am getting my blog on and then mopping the kitchen and doing a final vacuum throughout the house. My parents are staying in a hotel this visit which actually makes less work for me around the house. Just need the downstairs to look presentable! :)

I am making Zesty BBQ chicken (totally thought of you Melissa while I was throwing all the ingredients together-although I add a chopped onion, garlic and garlic salt too) tonight for dinner and I can't wait to see my mom, dad and Gigi. My mom was just here two weeks ago but I haven't seen my dad and Gigi since Christmas which is far too long!

I am hoping to be active this week while my family is here. Sneak in some bike rides with Brett while Emersyn is happily occupied with her grandparents, go on a some walks with my parents, etc.

THREE pounds!!!! I have lost almost 35 pounds, whoo hoo!! I will for sure have lost 35 pounds by my brother's wedding, thank ya Jesus. I am hoping to have lost 37lbs....we'll see!! The next weigh in I do will be on my baby brother's wedding day, *sniff sniff*.

Happy Friday!!

Tuesday Thoughts

2010-04-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I have blogged, my bad! I find that when I am doing "good" in this blog's focussed area in my life, I tend to post more often. The less you hear from me, the more you know how I am actually doing. :) Feel free to harass me, give me a hard time, etc. if you haven't seen my blog update in a couple days, hee hee.

I feel like my life is scheduled out to the max right now and while that overwhelms me, I am trying to just take deep breaths and realize that for such a time is this! My brother's wedding is next Friday (holy cow) and while I don't have the sculpted arms that I would have hoped for (but sadly didn't do much about), I am hoping to feel just a little pretty in my bridesmaid dress. :) I did my intial fitting today and overall I like how the dress looks, I am just hoping that the $10 I paid for Neutragena's spray body tan will give me that healthy glow I am going for! This pasty white Oregonian's skin does NOT look so good in black, just sayin'.

In the midst of all that surrounds the wedding, the wedding that I am singing in but have yet to be told WHAT I am singing (hint hint if you are reading Jenny!!! ha ha), life goes on! We have birthday parties to go to, pictures to frame and hang before family gets here, jobs to be worked, a toddler to be loved on and TONS of laundry to be done! I swear, my laundry pile multiplies while I am here at work somehow!!

Tomorrow morning I am getting my hair cut and colored, hallelujah!! That alone should result in some weight loss, ha! I have T H I C K hair people, and it drives me crazy!! Because of my early morning appointment, I decided that Ems could have a sleepover at Nana's tonight so that they can enjoy a lazy morning together, rather then me frantically trying to get her ready and then over to Nana's house before 9am. Plus, that leaves me time to do tons of laundry tonight after we drop her off, even though it will be late, because I can get in her room to put it all away. Washing and folding isn't even my issue, sometimes it's putting it away!!!

I have been doing *okay* with eating. I find that when I am busy I tend to revert back to my old way of thinking in regards to fast food, even though fast food grosses me out pretty much. I needed to take a movie back to Redbox yesterday at a McDonald's on my way to bookclub and I looked on MyFitnessPal's app to see if there was anything low calorie(ish) that I could eat. Then I slapped myself silly and headed to Taco Bell where I could get a fresco style hard taco for 150 calories. Was this the *best* dinner option? Definitely not. But also not the worst.

I am going to a bday party tonight that will complete with snacks, cake, ice cream and champagne. Trying to decide in advance what and how much I am going to eat. There is such a fine line between not "depriving" yourself and making a smart choice, ya know? My friend Sherrie's daughter is turning five and I am excited to celebrate at her party tonight.

We FINALLY bought bikes last weekend, whoo hoo!!! I would love to post a picture of us riding them but it has been pouring down rain since yesterday, boo!!! We got a really good deal on our bikes thanks to my ~~crazy~~ thrifty husband. Anyone else married to a thinker/analyzer/canspendtwentyhoursontheinternetresearchingthesametopic type? I truly adore him and thanks to his ~~obsessive~~ dilligent research, our bank account thanks him too! :) I will post all about them when we get a chance to actually ride them!

Brett, Emersyn and I are taking a one night getaway the week after the wedding and after my parents leave. I am so excited, we are debating between a couple places and the weather will play into our decision big time so it might be somewhat of a last minute decision which is kind of exciting! :)

How am I doing with working out you ask? Umm....I'm not. :( I miss it. Last night Brett picked up his weights to use while watching a Blazer game and he was commenting on hard they were to do after having quite a few days "off". It's so true, if you dont' use it, you lose it.

Oh, NSV to report. My fingers are shrinking rapidly! Before I had Emersyn, heck, before I got pregnant with Emersyn I could barely get off my wedding ring. Like I could get it off with soapy water and only if my hands were kinda cold. Now my wedding ring spins on my finger and if I tried really hard, I could even shake it off my finger. Crazy huh? I tried on a ring that Sherrie got for graduation that is a 7 and it fit my right hand, which has always been bigger then my left hand and my wedding ring is a size 8! The 7 fit perfect! Whoo hoo! Also, my jeans are pretty baggy almost to the point of needing to ditch them. That will be a happy day! I am SO feeling like I am in a major clothing rut, wearing the same things over and over and over but I just don't want to buy anything new at this point, ya know? I may have to cave and buy something new for the rehearsal dinner but hopefully it will be something I can wear for awhile if I get the right style. We'll see.

How's that for a bunch of randomness?? :)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Dear "running lady" on my weight loss ticker.....

2010-04-24T12:27:00.001-07:00

I feel the need to apologize for your slow pace these days. When we first took off on this adventure together I am sure you felt like you were sprinting! 4lbs one week, 3 another, almost 3 another. Lately it's been more like 1/2 pound here, 1lb there.....

I think we both know I need to step it up. Hoping to increase your pace in the next coming months. I think 2lbs a week is a nice, steady pace, don't you?

Wish me luck! :)

P.S. I lost one pound this last week. Eh. I didn't work out a ton and ate pretty good. I'll take it, a loss is a loss.

Mini-Skirt :)

2010-04-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Emersyn,

I can't lie.

Part of the reason I am on this journey towards health is in the hopes of rockin' a jean mini-skirt as well as you do someday.

Love, Mommy

I love Costco!

2010-04-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

This was a quick shot of my cart the other day at Costco. Organic fuji apples, mini cucumbers, asparagus, baby spinach, roma tomatos, organic bananas and mini bell peppers. Delish. I find that a huge success to us eating healthy and eating at home (two big challenges for us) is having a fridge stocked with fresh produce. Brett and I each eat an apple a day in our lunch and it is a better dessert then any Oreos or other processed cookies ever tasted. I love the mini cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes in our spinach salads. Last night I made Emerysn a "baby salad" with peppers, cucumbers and tomatos and a little poppy seed dressing which I think made her devour it. I told Brett that a little bit of a low calorie/low fat dressing is worth it to see her scarf up a big bowl of veggies.

I love asparagus too and will often make it as an after dinner snack, how random is that? We stay up kinda late, until midnight usually, and I get hungry around 9ish often. I sautee some asparagus with a little olive oil and garlic salt and am a happy camper. I have heard the whole "you shouldnt' eat after a certain time" but haven't really implemented that into my life style. Not sure if that is an old wive's tale or true.

Another yummy evening snack is popcorn!! We bought an air popper at Walmart the other day for $20. Air popped is SO much better then the microwave stuff in my opinion. I got this idea from Sherrie and I am obsessed. You just use some of the "I can't believe it's not butter" spray (which is ZERO calories but definitely processed, a downside) and a little kosher salt and delicious popcorn results. Brett and I ate a giant bowl of it last night and it was a little over 100 calories for each of us and lots of fiber. I would have never guessed that popcorn had fiber or protein!

Other things I love at Costco: AmyLu Chicken burgers (140 calories/burger), Jack Daniels shredded BQ chicken (140 calories/4oz.), sandwich thins, bagel thins, Killer Dave's bread, Kids Clif bars for Emersyn, feta cheese, real bacon bits....the list goes on and on. :)

Have you found anything at your Costco/Sam's Club/etc. that has aided in your quest for eating healthy? :)

P.S. I jumped onto the "formspring" bandwagon, why not? If you have a fun/serious question for me, you can ask anonymously. Kinda cool, right?

Walking Buddy

2010-04-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Sherrie and I at the Tulip Festival!

(Please excuse the fact that my eyes are no where to be found...the sun was bright!! Ha!)

Since I talk about Sherrie (my walking buddy) often I thought it was only fair for you all to have a face to put with a name! :) We met up somewhat by accident at the tulip festival this year and had fun taking pics of our kids and enjoying the scenery.

I commented on Melissa's blog yesterday about getting a walking buddy after she mentioned the distances she was walking with her hubby. Don't get me wrong, any distance is a great accomplishment! But I would have never believed that I was capable of aggressively walking 5+ miles at a time without Sherrie, our conversations, and her motivating me!! There's something about chatting with a girlfriend that makes the time fly by!

Sherrie, her husband and two kids moved into our neighborhood just two doors down from us shortly after we had our house built. We casually said hi to each other in passing but that was about it. I thought her kids were really cute and their garage was immaculately clean, something I envied (ha!). One night we got a knock on our door and her husband Matt invited us over for steaks because they had friends cancel on them for dinner. We couldn't come over that night, I don't remember but we made plans to reschedule. We went over to their house a week or so later and we totally hit it off. Sherries house is the cleanest house I have EVER been in, almost to the point where I wasn't sure we could be friends because I was so threatened by her domesticity. They are amazing cooks, some of the best dinners we have ever had have been at their house. Shortly after we became friends, they learned they were expecting their third child so I represented them in buying a bigger house in our neighborhood just a couple blocks away. Their youngest daughter is just a year older then Emersyn and we have been the grateful recipients of so many amazing hand me down clothes and toys, truly such a blessing. We had a Thursday night tradition of making dinners and watching "The Office" for a long time until work schedules changed.

Sherrie is a wonderful friend to me in so many ways. I have learned so much from her and been inspired to be a better wife and mother. She is the most thoughtful person I know, always offering to bring us food when I am sick or watch Emersyn when I need to run to a real estate appointment. When I got in my car accident, she stopped by with this really cute popcorn bowl full of goodies and a card just to brighten up my day and it did so much!! A friend of mine texted me a couple weeks ago, totally stressed about her sick baby and was emotionally drained. I thought to myself, "what would Sherrie do" because she is SO good at being thoughtful. Sherrie would bring dinner!!! So I called Brett, gave him instructions on what to pack up and sent him over to my friends house with food in hand (I was at work). It felt so good to bless someone and pay it forward in a sense.

Sherrie is finishing up her MBA, has three kids, an immaculate house AND finds time to eat healthy and get into shape. I want to be just like her when I grow up. Thanks for being the best walking buddy ever Sherrie, you blog lurker you!!! :) :) I keep telling her she needs to start a blog of her own, everyone needs one in my opinion!!!

We did day one of the C25K last night (for the third time mind you) and my legs were BURNING with pain! It was really late too which I don't think helped my endurance but we did it. Day two is going to happen on Wednesday, rain or shine!

Last One!

2010-04-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! It's gonna be a great week, I can just feel it!

We had a great and somewhat active weekend. The weather was beautiful and that makes is SO much more fun to get out and enjoy the sunshine!!

Friday we headed down to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn, OR which is about an hour away from our house. We took back roads the whole way there and the drive was scenic and lovely. I posted pics on my other blog, check them out here.

What a difference a year makes.......I remember going to the Tulip Festival and being pretty depressed because we wanted to take a family picture and I had nothing to wear, nothing that I felt cute in. We went to the outlet stores that are just across the freeway to find a cute shirt and I just felt like nothing looked good on me.

This year I wore a shirt that I haven't worn in YEARS (because it didn't fit) and I felt much better about myself. Even though I am no where near my goal weight, there is a certain confidence that comes from knowing that you are headed there. I can say with certainty that this year's Tulip Festival was the LAST one I would ever attend anywhere close to this weight. That is such a good feeling for me. I have been saying things like that since I was in high school. Each year I would say to myself, "okay, this is the last year that I will start school overweight, I will totally lose the weight this year". Every summer when my cute friends all looked adorable in their tank tops and shorts I would say, "this is the last year that I will be hiding in my jeans and long sleeves, next year I will feel cute". For soooo much of my life, I have been okay with clinging to future plans and somewhat living in denial about the present. As long as I had "plans" to lose weight, that was good enough for me. Now, as I am approaching 30, my heart is saddened by so much wasted time overweight BUT I am still incredibly blessed with husband that loves me despite my many flaws (and not just physical, ha!), a healthy and beautiful daughter that I was able to carry full term without any major complications.

So again, just so everyone is clear, this year's Tulips Festival is the LAST ONE that I will ever attend anywhere close to my current weight! And that is exciting to me!!!!

Friday Weigh In

2010-04-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

I didn't weigh in last week, which I will NEVER do again by the way. It's not good to be out of touch with the scale for me and I wonder if weighing in would have made me more disciplined on the weekend my mom was here.

Sooo......in two weeks I lost 1.1lbs. Not a victory but not a total fail either. Better then gaining or not losing ANYTHING. I have now officially lost a little over 30lbs!

It's funny how much self control is mental. Because I had a "bad" eating weekend, it made it a little easier to be less diligent about tracking food and not as active. That's the old Patti creeping in, thinking, "well, I ate bad this weekend so this week is pretty much blown....geez, April is practically blown". Well, that attitude is UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!

How am I going to make April a great month still??

Be active at every opportunity that I can! This morning we did our family Starbucks run where I had a Chonga bagel, about 350 calories. The only time it is okay to eat this bagel is if I am going to be active right afterwards. We left our van at Starbucks and walked over to REI where Brett looked at some bikes and I scored some UnderArmour workout shorts for this summer for only $9.90! Then we walked over to our favorite park and let Ems run around the playground. It was a great active morning. Ems is sleeping right now and we are going to Woodburn for our annual tulip festival trip this evening to take some pictures of her/us! That should involve some walking around too. Tonight I am hopefully going walking with Sherrie too, in between baking cupcakes and making party favors for my friend's baby shower in the morning. I won't be eating any though, don't worry! :)

Life is good. I may have only lost a pound over the last two weeks but it's better then nothing. There are 14 days left in April. My parents get here on April 30th and I want to greet them 5lbs lighter then I am today! I can do it!!

Losing 1lb at a Time Challenge!

2010-04-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

I read about this challenge at one of my favorite mommy blogs, "Our Mommyhood". This blog is a compilation of other mom's who each write posts on random things. I love it!

Lisa @ This Mommy Works is issuing a 1lb at a time weight loss challenge for the month of May and I have decided to participate. There's nothing more motivating then other people looking to achieve the same goals as you are! This online community has been a great part of my success so far without a doubt!

I have never set monthly goals before but I think they are a great thing and seem to work for other successful weight loss bloggers. Perhaps if I had some April goals in place, I wouldn't be halfway through the month with hardly any weight loss to speak of!!!! GRRR!!!!

May Goals:

*Lose two pounds a week on average. This is very doable I think.

*Walk 5 times a week, whether it be in the mornings or evenings.

*Do something active on every Friday that we have off as a family! This can be walking to a park, going to the Zoo, etc.

*Eat something fresh with EVERY meal, like an apple with breakfast, a salad with dinner, veggies with lunch, etc.

*Drink ZERO pop!!!! Increase water intake!!

*Track ALL calories each day on my iPhone app.

Okay, these goals seem kinda weak but I can't really think of anything else? A fitness related goal would be interesting.....like be able to run a lap around the track without stopping? Okay, adding that to the list. I wonder how far off I am from that goal right now, haven't really tried it. Hmm......

*Run a lap around the track without stopping. One lap sure doesn't seem significant but it's all about baby steps, right? :)

Okay, if you are interested in signing up for the challenge, head over to Lisa's blog and link up! I am excited to meet more ladies interested in health and weight loss! :)

**Side note: I am fully aware that April is only half over and I have not written off the rest of this month for weight loss by any means. I am just getting a head start on this challenge. Tomorrow I am weighing in and will hopefully set some goals for the rest of the month. I am praying that the scale is kind to me tomorrow. On the other hand, however, if the scale is NOT kind then that might be the kick in the pants that I need....we'll see!!!! :)

Realization :)

2010-04-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

Last night I did good enough at the Macaroni Grill, for those of you who were wondering. I had two small pieces of bread, a Cesar side salad (250 calories) and then about half of my Eggplant Parmesan. I would like to attribute my portion control to my amazing self discipline, but instead I will be honest and say that my portion control was entirely due to a ~~naughty~~ sweet little toddler who wanted to hang out in her mommy's lap instead of letting her mommy eat. :) This wasn't a low calorie meal but I anticipated that and adjusted the rest of my days eating accordingly. :)

Onto other subjects....

I have one of those iPhone apps that tracks your monthly cycle, do you know what I am talking about? Anyways, when your period approaches, it gives you a *warning* message just letting you know. Well, when your period is late it also gives you those *warning* messages. :)

I started getting messages that said, "Your period is one day late"...."your period is two days late"....and so on.

And then I realized that I had been REALLY tired lately. Like REALLY tired. Like FIRST TRIMESTER tired.

And I had some unusual cramping. Kind of those ligament cramps that you get when you're, you know, pregnant......

I started to sweat a bit. Ummm.....could I be pregnant?? Well, logistically yes. We are SO not trying to have a baby. But nothing, short of abstinence is 100% certain I guess. Especially since I have a friend that just got pregnant on the pill for the SECOND time (bless her heart!!!). I am not on the pill but I know that a LOT of people swear by it.

Anywho, I took a pee test at Craft Warehouse last week. I bought the store at the Dollar Store but didn't feel right about finding out the fate of this possible pregnancy in the Dollar Store bathroom so I went next door to Craft Warehouse, a much more appropriate place to find out such news.

I started mentally planning how I would tell Brett. I would for sure get the Big Sister shirt for Emersyn. I would wait until Mother's Day to tell our families.

But there was a very very selfish part of me that started to feel sad. I feel like I FINALLY have figured out how to balance this crazy lifestyle, get healthy and lose weight. So much of that would have to paus while pregnant. Not the lifestyle part but the losing weight part would need to be scaled down. I felt awful for feeling sad though, I have many friends who would give anything to *accidentally* get pregnant.

The test was negative.

Three days later, the OTHER test I took was negative.

And about two days later, I gratefully welcomed that usually dreaded monthly visitor.

Would I be devastated to tell you that I am pregnant right now if I were? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I told Brett when we were unsure that every child is a gift from God and if God saw fit to give us another baby tomorrow, I would know that they were just that, a gift from Him.

However, this just helps clear up those baby itches I have been having.

I have a goal. I have a finish line of sorts. It's up at the top of my blog in the form of a ticker. :) I am so glad to have a little more time to achieve my goals. I know that I am not getting any younger. This little *scare* was a great reminder as to my motivations for getting healthy and how I need to step it up. I don't want to take years and years to lose all the weight. I want to be DONE before I'm 30. And I will be. And THEN we'll start talking about baby number two. See, losing weight isn't JUST about eating healthy. I have to clock in some extra hours of working out and be extra careful about food (except when my mom's in town, LOL), etc. I imagine that becomes an even greater challenge having TWO children!! I am not a fanatic about this subject and am not desiring to be *skinny* (although that would be nice, hee hee). I just want to get this weight off my joints, my body, and enjoy an active pregnancy. Someday. :)

**Disclaimer- I hope this post isn't insensitive in any way to my friends who have or are experiencing infertility. This is just what's going on with me. I truly believe that any baby is a gift from the Lord and the next time I see a positive pregnancy test that I have taken, I will be thrilled nonetheless!!!**

Naughty/Mom's in Town!

2010-04-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon and happy Monday!!

Sorry I have been MIA this weekend. I had a good reason though.....my mama's in town!!! She came to attend my brother's fiance's bridal shower as a surprise to them! I knew she was coming but couldn't say anything. She got here in Friday afternoon and we have been having such a great time.

We surprised my brother at work on Saturday! :)

Although there have been some naughty moments too.

Naughty moment #1: I didn't weigh in on Friday. I felt really crappy and bloated and was on my period and just didn't weigh in. I knew it probably wasn't going to be good and instead of discouraging myself, I am going to just wait until THIS Friday to weigh in and see. I haven't been as good about working out still and am really irritated about this!!!

Naughty moment #2: I had some coconut shrimp at Red Lobster on Saturday night. My mom took Brett and I there as a treat since she had a gift card. I didn't eat near all my mashed potatoes, got the salad dressing on the side, but did enjoy some coconut shrimp. It was really yummy but we haven't eaten anything fried in a really long time. Then after dinner I really wanted to go on a long walk but I had a headache from the fried food. Doh!!

Naughty moment #3: I had Chinese food last night. Sweet and sour pork, sesame chicken (breaded and fried), and a bean sprout/noodle chow mein. I have no idea the portions that I hate because it was ala carte from containers we got to go. Let's just say that my body was not pleased with my eating decision. I woke up in the middle of the night with violent stomach cramps and spent well over an hour in the restroom, promising the Lord to never eat that again if He took away my pains. Ugh. Such an ugly and painful lesson to learn.

My body does not react well to fried foods. Period. My neighbor Sherrie was telling me about a month ago that they ate at Red Robin as a treat and both her and her husband threw up afterwards.

Crazy huh??

I find myself feeling really down when I haven't worked out. Tonight we are going to dinner with my brother at Macaroni Grill. I am going to research the menu before hand and find something healthy to eat. It is such a challenge eating out to eat healthy!! My mom leaves in the morning and then we will get back on track with working out.

Losing weight is just one struggle after another it seems. I find that normal every day life is fine, just when you throw something different into the mix like a holiday, family in town, etc. Oy.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Out of Shape & Other Ramblings :)

2010-04-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I started the C25k over. I had done day one last Thursday and then I decided it was silly to do day two last night. So I started over. Guess what I discovered? Not working out for almost a week SIGNIFICANTLY affects your energy level and endurance!! FAIL!!!

The first time I did the 20 minute challenge, out of the 4 running segments I think I did three and power walked the last one. Last night I think I only ran ONE and power walked the other three. Lame-o. A good reminder though. Sherrie was feeling a little out of it too. I think because of our walking together, our "cycles" have synced up, ha ha!!! At least we will be out of it the same time each month! Hee hee. I didn't plug in my BodyBugg last night so I'm not sure how many calories I burned but I am giving myself an A for effort. It rained part of the time too which I actually found to be enjoyable. It was almost 50 out which is a good 10-15 degrees higher then what we have been walking in lately so we actually worked up a sweat.

Positive things: people at work have been asking what I am doing to lose weight. Everyone is always so eager to find out a "secret" way that works, preferable a secret way that you can buy right? I used to be the same way. I would see someone losing weight and ask what their secret was and could I do it to? My simple answer for how I am losing weight: I am eating less, eating healthier and moving more. A girl at my work bought this $140 girdle like thing that is supposed to eliminate your stomach simply by wearing it because it is so tight that it burns calories. I politely listened to her theory and then made a note to myself that if I see her passed out at her desk one day, I will know it is from lack of circulation. Another gal at my work always has a diet coke in her hand. I asked her if she drinks diet coke all day and she said yes, and if she doesn't drink diet coke, she uses the crystal light sweeteners that you can add to bottles of water. She even said that she brings those crystal light packets to restaurants because she doesn't care for the taste of water, therefore she never drinks it!!!! I was appalled!!!!! She said jokingly, "I guess you could say I am a bit addicted!" and I said jokingly (although I totally wasn't joking) back "umm....actually you are TOTALLY addicted!! Aspartame is 100% proven to be addictive!".

My heart actually was sad for her and her body. Our bodies are MADE to use water for fuel. I shudder to think of how little water I used to drink.

Speaking of pop, it's official. I get a headache every single time I eat or drink a product with aspertame in it. NO joke. I went off pop for Lent and because of that, I really think that my body developed an intolerance to it. Am I sad? Not really. I used to really enjoy an occasional diet coke but now, it tastes like liquid chemicals. Not judging any diet coke drinkers out there, my body just reacts differently now.

Brett is getting a reimbursement check from our flexible spending account this month and we have decided to put that money towards BIKES for us!!!! I am so so so excited!!! We are going to get a bike trailer too that can be used as a double stroller someday when we have two littles to roll around. Emersyn will LOVE riding around in a trailer and this will be such a fun activity that will burn calories and create some fun memories too. Bikes are expensive though, dang!!! I look at it as an investment into our futures and our health.

I will leave you with a picture of my favorite little bike shopper. She played with this bike while Daddy took another bike out on a test drive. She wheeled it all through the store, saying "beep beep."

Rain Rain GO AWAY!!!!!

2010-04-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Ugh.

I am SO ready to be done with the cold and the rain.

Last night I was jazzed to go walkin' with my buddy Sherrie. I planned my entire night around it. Then, right before we were going to go, she called me and said look outside. It was P O U R I N G.

We aren't wimps. We can handle a little rain. We walked 5 miles in the rain once and survived.

But pouring down rain mixed with tornado like winds and FREEZING cold (think 40 degrees and under) sounds like a recipe for pneumonia, don't you think??

I posted my frustration on Facebook about the weather and my dear friend Sarah said that I should go anyways, that the rain can be invigorating. I can't use the excuse of wind to her because she lives in Troutdale, one of the windiest cities in the state.

I could have worked out inside but I didn't. :( I get tired at night and when I am outside walking, I am too cold to think about being tired I think. But inside where it is warm and cozy, I get sleepy. Plus, I am so out of my workout groove and it is always that much harder to get back into it.

Wah wah. Excuses excuses.

Tonight we are getting together with friends and watchin' some LOST. Tomorrow night I'll jump back into walking. The weather is supposed to shape up towards the end of this week.

Don't judge me....and when my weigh in reveals whatever it does, I will have no one to blame but myself for my lack of activity. *sigh*

Rain rain, go away!!!! :)

Easter Weekend!

2010-04-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!! I am either at the tail end of a cold or battling some serious allergies. I lean towards allergies because I feel fine in the day; I'm just super congested when I wake up in the mornings. It makes me feel so drowsy and tired......if only there was some sunshine to go along with my hay fever....that would make it more worthwhile!!

Brett and I started our Easter weekend by going to see Michael Buble on Friday night!! This was a very special date for us and we had been very excited for this concert for months. We decided to go to dinner before the concert. This probably wasn't a good idea, considering Easter was only two days away. We went to Famous Dave's BBQ where I quickly discovered that normal ribs versus baby back ribs are VERY different. Such a bummer. I had some ribs, not too many, a couple bites of mashed potatoes, some green beans, a cornbread muffin and a green salad. I definitely felt like I ate too much food. That always seems to be the case with eating out at sit down restaurants. Brett and I ever split a meal and I STILL felt like it was too much food. Also, Famous Daves only publishes nutritional info for SOME of their foods, but not nearly all so it is hard to gage exactly how many calories I had. We had a lighter food day that day though in anticipation of our dinner.

On our way to the concert. This shirt is almost too big to be worn anymore, it's not the most flattering look. I can tell I've lost weight in my face though, whoo hoo!

Saturday I ate okay...Brett's family came over for dinner and we had BBQ chicken sandwiches which aren't too bad.

On Easter I ate okay. The worst thing I ate were some cheesy potatoes. We had these ham things (kind of like a burger made from ground ham, very interesting), asparagus, spinach salad, broccoli salad, cheesy potatoes and that's it. I skipped the sweet potatoes and rolls. Again, I felt like I ate too much though. It's so hard to maintain good portion control when there is SO much food to choose from. Even taking a little bit of everything makes you eat a lot of food when it is all said and done! I did have a couple whopper candies here and there. I skipped the cupcake dessert but did have a small bit of cherry chip cake with no frosting. Having such restraint really made me realize how much I USED to eat. With all the food and candy around, I imagine in previous years that we would have been snacking ALL DAY. Even at the end of the day yesterday I had a headache and felt kinda icky. My body LIKES what I have been feeding it and I kid you not, every time I eat something rich or out of the ordinary, I get a headache! I had a headache after dinner both on Friday and Sunday! I am not sure where I am going to be weight loss wise this week but I am hoping for SOMETHING and certainly not a gain. :)

I have never felt cute on Easter. Like ever. Easter is always when I have felt so blah and NOT cute. Everyone goes out and buys a cute spring outfit and for me, I felt like because of my weight, no outfit no matter how cute was going to make me feel cute. This year I didn't care though for the first time!! I actually wore a dress that I got on clearance at Target while I was pregnant. It is *technically* maternity but doesn't really look like it at all. Anyways, I was happy to wear it as my last Easter outfit before I get to buy something REALLY cute next year!! I am totally going to treat myself to a cute outfit and feel like I actually look good in it next year. I am awfully excited!!!!! :) (Did you like how many times I used the word cute in this paragraph??) :)

Well, here's to a good week this week! I am debating going to the gym tonight. I think I will save my energy for my walk tonight with Sherrie. I need to do day two of the C25K challenge!

Happy Monday everyone!!

Friday Weigh In

2010-04-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

I lost 1.8lbs this week. Not too shabby considering I only worked out a couple days AND my lovely monthly visitor is due any minute. :) I didn't quite get to my 30lbs lost goal but seeing as Emersyn was sick and I am now sick, I'll take any loss I can get. :)

Last night I went walking again with Sherrie. We don't usually walk two nights in a row. I was hurtin' yesterday before we even began and I am hurtin' today.

No walking tonight though........we are going to see MICHAEL BUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Good Friday!!!

C25K

2010-04-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I didn't work out in the morning. In fact, Emersyn and I slept in. She is getting over her cold and mine seems to be in the middle stages. I didn't work out after work either like I normally do at the gym on Thursdays, again using my cold as an excuse. But, after getting a text from my walking buddy asking if I would be up for a walk, I decided to take her up on it.

It was fantastic!!!!

I downloaded the C25K app on my iPhone and it was the best $2.99 I have ever spent. Okay, that might be an exageration but I am jazzed about it. Sherrie and I walked to the high school track and then we decided to do day one of the c25K program, walking for 90 seconds, jogging for 60 seconds and repeating for 20 minutes. Oh man, it was tough!!!! I started to feel some pain in my knees towards the end so I took it a little easier because I really don't want to injure myself and my poor knees still have *ahem* a large amount of weight to deal with. I still pushed myself and had a great workout though! When I got home and plugged my BodyBugg in, I had burned almost 3700 calories and nearly 1300 of that was during our walk! WHOO HOO!

Needless to say, I can hardly walk today. Waddling would be the more approprate description of my movements this afternoon.

I was SO happy to be out and active after my lazy slump this past weekend and Monday and Tuesday with Emersyn.

Brett said that I smelled "athletic" when I got home from my 90 minute walk. Ha ha ha, I am not sure what that meant and I'm sure it's not exactly a compliment but I kinda liked it and he said it with a big smile on his face like he was proud of me. See, I am almost 30 years old *gulp* and this is the first time in my life EVER that I would consider myself to be active. I AM going to lose 100 pounds by my 30th birthday (February 4th) and I AM going to be active for the rest of my life.

Even if that makes me smell athletic every once in awhile.

Ha!

Tuesday: Another Sick Day with Emersyn!

2010-03-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today I am home again with a sick little monkey. I am grateful to have a part time job that has sick pay as a benefit. My mother-in-law normally watches her but she had dental surgery yesterday and wasn't able to watch her yesterday or today. Bad timing but I do treasure an extra few days with my baby girl.

I have had a lot of time on my hands the last few days and I am at a loss with what to do with it!!! It is funny, I often become overwhelmed about how BUSY my life is but when given a couple of bonus days, I just don't know what to do! Someday when I am blessed enough to stay home full time (with real estate on the side of course), I am going to have to get into some serious routines!!

I miss my twice a day, sometimes three times a day working out. I am the kind of person where you give me an hour and a list of things to accomplish and I am ON IT! But give me the whole day to get the list done and I will hardly accomplish anything. It's funny how I work like that.

I am not overly optimistic about my weigh in on Friday but am cutting myself some slack. Staying home with a sick baby certainly isn't a vacation. Especially when that sick baby is going through an I only want my mommy phase. :)

Yesterday I thought to myself, okay, I am home today. What is something that I wish I had more time to do but often feel that I neglect? Hmm....I could read....but that isn't possible with Emersyn awake.....so I decided to CLEAN!!! And I involved Emersyn in every step of the way!! We deep cleaned her nursery, the guest bathroom and the master bathroom. We also made my bed and did some laundry. It took longer with Emersyn "helping" but she was so proud of herself and I DID accomplish something! I was proud of myself and the BodyBugg was kind to me, even though I didn't work out yesterday at all except for the lame Wii Fit (Sherrie and I cancelled our evening walk....it was pouring rain and windy, too cold!!!), I still burned nearly 3000 calories.

Here is Emersyn "cleaning" her potty. She wanted to help me clean mine but I said she could clean hers instead. What a good helper!

I find it's much harder to make good eating choices at home too. I feel so snacky! I am trying to make good decisions though, I cut up an apple this morning and ate it for a snack.

Okay, Emersyn's awake....gotta run!!

Icky Monday!

2010-03-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

It has been raining NON STOP for the last two days!! I am hoping it clears up for my walk/run tonight with Sherrie. Either way, I say we go. Not like I have any water proof gear though! I am at a weird stage in life. I am loving being more active and I'm not scared of getting a little wet and would love to buy some water proof gear but not really at the size that I am in. This time next year I can get some gear, as I will be at my goal weight by then (knock on wood!!!).

I am home with Miss Emersyn today. She has a really runny nose and I just pray that it isn't another cold.....I try to be SO diligent about keeping her away from sick kids, I use a cart cover at the stores, wash her hands all the time. Yet she seems to have caught several bugs this winter. LAME! Poor baby. She is napping right now and while I SHOULD be taking advantage of my extra day home, I am finding a lack of motivation!

Speaking of which, do any of you find that when you give yourself a day "off" from working out, it's hard to get back in the groove of things? Ugh. I went on a good walk with my friend Saturday morning and then I was going to go on a walk with Sherrie in the evening but I really felt like I needed a family evening. Emersyn has been very clingy lately and I really felt in my heart that she needed her mama. I couldn't go after she went to bed because Sherrie's husband works at night right now and normally Brett would watch her kids but since Ems was asleep, this posed a problem. Oy, the logistics of having kids now! Anyways, I didn't workout yesterday either and then today I am just feeling blah. Might be partially due to the ICKY weather we are having, or it might just be plain laziness! I did like 10 minutes of the Wii Fit but it was lame in my opinion. The Wii Fit is great for keeping track of my weight loss and having fun on but it's no Shred, let me tell you. :) Hoping to pick up some momentum again and walk my booty off this evening, literally. :)

I am really really hoping to have lost at least 2.3lbs on Friday but am scared to set that goal. I hate failing!!! I don't feel like I had the best weekend, was a little lax with counting calories and by lax I mean I just DIDN'T but today is a new day and I have done great so far! I'm going to eat a big bowl of broccoli for lunch and try to sneak some into Emersyn's organic mac and cheese. Wish me luck. :)

Just for the fun of it, I will leave you with a picture of one the best deals I have EVER gotten on the internet. I got these shoes for Emersyn last fall for $5 including shipping! They are real Crocs!!!! So stinkin' cute!!!!

Rats!!!

2010-03-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

This morning I met up with my friend Caitlin and her daughter Emery, who is only a couple weeks younger then Emersyn. We met at our preparation for birth class. While I'm not sure this class truly lived up to it's title, I am grateful to have made a couple really good friends from it! :)

Caitlin knows the area that we walked around much better then I do so she led us on a great walk. The only bummer, and I mean BIG bummer, is that I didn't wear my BodyBugg!!! I totally forgot!!! I am so bummed!!!! Oh well! I did map our route at mapmyrun.com, this cool new website that my running friend told me about (thank you Jocelyn!!) and it said that we walked approx. 3 miles but I bet it was little more since we went through some paths that I couldn't track exactly. I am going walking again with Sherrie tonight and hoping to get at least another 4 miles in, maybe more. My legs are feeling better finally.

Yesterday was a busy day for us. I got fitted for my dress and it actually looks really nice on me and I was able to get a size that was better then I thought I would get. The dress ties in the back with this really cute gathered bow and in the event that I do shrink more before the wedding, which is the goal, I will be able to just cinch the bow tighter. It fit great in the chest which is probably partially due to the minimizing bra that I bought and I also got my first pair of Spanx. Don't judge me, they really work at sucking you in and that is always a good thing when wearing a formal dress!! :) Anyways, I felt much better after getting the dress ordered and getting that out of the way. Brett got fitted for his suit and he is down a good three inches on his waist! I also got Emersyn's shoes for Easter and her flower girl gigs, Brett got a hair cut, we played at the park, did a little grocery shopping, makes me tired just thinking about it.

Brett and I went to the gym last night and I was just tired. I have been feeling really tired lately actually. It could be that I often don't work out until the night when my body is tired from the day's activities anyways but I miss having more energy. Maybe we just need to get to bed earlier. :)

Happy Saturday!

Friday Weigh In!

2010-03-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

Friday- No workout but did walk around outlet mall for awhile

Saturday- walked 3 miles with MIL in afternoon, walked 4 miles with Sherrie in evening

Sunday- none (too sore from Saturday, LOL!)

Monday- Medicine Ball workout in morning, 20 minutes of elliptical, walked 5 miles with Sherrie

Tuesday- none (again, too sore from Monday, ha!)

Wednesday- morning walk with friend for approx. 80 minutes, evening walk with Sherrie

Thursday- none

Total weight loss for the week: 2.6lbs

I am losing 2.5lbs/week pretty consistently now which is good I think. I am getting stronger I know that. And I got measured for a bra today and lost 4 inches in my rib cage which is an accomplishment!

My brother and his fiance are over tonight which means Brett and I are going on a gym date after Emersyn goes to bed. I am feeling kinda tired and lazy and I think working out will make me end the night much happier.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Bullet Points

2010-03-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

I love me some bullet points, don't you? Therefore, today is a bullet point kinda post!
My future sister-in-law has found the bridesmaid dresses for her wedding (which is in SIX weeks......EEEEEK). I love them!!! I have only seen them online but will be going to try one on tomorrow afternoon. Brett needs to get fitted for his tux too. Fun stuff!
I have a blister on my left heel that I am quite proud of. I don't know if I have ever had a blister on my foot, no joke! And this is coming from the girl who wears flip flops allll summer long, even to places like Disneyland. I feel like I have tough (yet feminine) feet. Obviously if I have a blister, I must be walking my booty off! Hopefully literally.....
I am going to go shopping for some new socks. Why you ask? See previous bullet point!
I walked almost 21,000 steps yesterday between my two walks!! I'm not sure how far I walked in the morning but I walked 4.5 miles in the evening. It started bucketing rain on Sherrie and I at the high school track but we were hard core and kept walking. I came home looking like a drowned rat and my husband was proud of me.
I need to learn how to properly stretch before going on walks. The backs of my legs are still really tight, especially my right leg. I wonder if I pulled something?
Planning on rockin' the medicine ball tonight. Brett said he has noticed my shoulders shaping up. Whoo hoo!
Sherrie cooked us an amazing dinner last night. Halibut with steamed asparagus and broccoli. Super healthy. Super delicious. I want to get some halibut filets and make some fish tacos!! Brett really liked the veggies. They had some zero calorie spray butter, salt and parmesan cheese on them. Delish! After dinner Sherrie showed us how she makes these amazing, low calorie breakfast sandwiches. We will be making those tomorrow morning for breakfast, assuming I can get home in time to go to Costco. They were SO good. I will take a picture of the deliciousness.
Excited about my weigh in tomorrow even though it is NOT all about what the scale says!

Dear Emersyn

2010-03-24T17:12:00.001-07:00

Dear Emersyn,

I have never written you a letter before on this blog! Usually I keep this blog weight loss related and keep THIS blog dedicated to you and your sweetness.

Well, today I am writing this letter to you specifically on this weight loss blog because I need you to do me a favor in regards to our walks.

Please don't ask Mommy why she waited to start walking miles and miles until you turned into a toddler because she has NO good excuse! I fully regret not walking more while you were an immobile baby; happy to glance up at the one who birthed you for entertainment and took great joy in the simple things in life, like sucking on your fist. Now, within minutes of starting a walk, you start screaming and twisting your body in ways I didn't know were possible in your stroller, desperate to escape the straps that hold you down and keep you safe (which you fail to realize).

See, the thing is, Mommy is trying really really hard to get healthier so that we can run and play and have lots of energy. Do you think you could help me acheive this goal?? I even let you listen to Jason Mraz and Elmo....that has to count for something!!

Notice how happy Elmo is in this picture....take a note or two from him!

I know that you are a very normal, very active and very SWEET toddler. But I was just wondering if you could maybe sit back and enjoy the ride occasionally. Mommy loves you more then she could ever describe and 100% of my desire to be healthier is with you in mind.

Love, Mommy

P.S. You are so darn cute, even if you are a little stinker sometimes. :)

New Shoes!

2010-03-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Cute AND comfortable!! Note the blue medicine ball in the background...love that thing!

On Thursday we went to the Woodburn Company Outlet stores which are amazing!! We always find great deals there, mainly for Emersyn since they have Gymboree, Carters, GapKids, etc. I decided to look in the StrideRite outlet to see if there were any cute shoes for Emersyn. I saw that they were having a buy one, get one half off sale too. I didn't find anything that I loved for Emersyn for the price, even at the outlet they were still a little spendy in my opinion. But Brett found me a pair of walking shoes!! I was SO excited!! They are Saucony's which is a great brand and they were only $45!! Score!!! I did find Emersyn some really cute water sandals for this summer that I could justify for half off, only $12.50!

I have walked 13miles + in these shoes already and they feel great!

Yesterday I did the medicine ball in the morning, the elliptical in the evening and then my neighbhor and I walked 5 miles. I am hurtin' today but it felt so good. At the beginning of my walk with Sherrie I was SO tired and just dragging but once we got to the track, the laps just flew by and it was such a rush!

No working out today, except for a short little walk to the park with some friends. The back of my legs are S-O-R-E. I know I need to stretch better before I walk, gonna have to look into that.

Happy Thursday!

Monday Monday Monday!

2010-03-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. It's been a little quiet around here....I hope this blog isn't getting boring just talking about walking walking walking but if it is, OH WELL! This blog was never intended to entertain, more to journal and vent. :)

Yesterday I had a nice morning with my little lady. I intended to Shred but ran out of time which isn't a good excuse. I could have rushed rushed to work out and then leave but I needed to look professional for my open house and feel prepared. Emersyn had a playdate with our neighbors and was apparently very naughty! She is in this territorial stage, I talked about it a little on my other blog a couple days ago. Oh the joys of toddlers! :)

Last night we got home from church and eating out (Chipotle...split a burrito bowl and added lettuce to it, delish and relatively low calorie for eating out!!) later then I would have liked. It was about 9:30 and I was faced with a dillema. I could either work out or I could clean but I really didn't have time to do both. I elected to clean. I have been neglecting my house it seems with my evening walks and that makes me feel unbalanced. Night time is when I am able to finally pick up and accomplish something. I got the whole downstairs sparkling clean (with some help from Brett, thank you honey!!) and mopped all the hard surfaces downstairs. I LOVE my steam mop, don't get me started....

This morning I did the DVD that came with my medicine ball. I didn't love the workout. Compared to the Shred, so many other workouts are long and boring and don't seem to work as well. This workout definitely worked my arms though. The DVD recommends using a 4 to 6lb ball and mine is 8lbs. I could feel the burn. :)

This evening I am going to do the elliptical right after work for 25 minutes which I have grown to look forward to. It is total me time, I get to listen to music, read and burn calories...score! I am going walking with Sherrie tonight too, whoo hoo! My brother is staying with us for spring break and that makes me happy that Brett will have a buddy when I am gone in the evening(s). :)

Here are some pics from the zoo last Thursday....I can definitely tell that I am losing weight in the picture of me from the back but man, from the front it's still not that impressive. I think I am going to order the Jillian Michael's ab workout DVD. I need some assistance in the ab region. :) Has anyone found an ab workout that works and that they love?

I love our pink hoodies. :)

I have no idea how Brett and I created such a beautiful child! I love her brown eyes.

Ems loves the Clif bars for kids! Mamas out there....they are a great snack and you can get them at Costco for a fraction of the price versus supermarkets!

Here's to a great week and a great weigh in on Friday!

Walkin' Fool!!

2010-03-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

So I've become a little bit obsessed, I have to say. I am so grateful for my BodyBugg and it's tracking abilities. Because of it, I feel like I am way more inclined to be active and see where it gets me.

Yesterday I went to a jewelry party in the morning, which was super fun and relaxing (thanks Vanessa!!). On the way home Emersyn napped so I decided to call my mother-in-law who had been wanting to hang out and see if she wanted to go on a walk. I am all for walking and hanging out these days. I find that with my schedule, I am not able to have the luxury of finding time to work out AND be social so it's exciting when I can combine the two!

My MIL and I walked a little over three miles and ended the walk with a nonfat frozen yogurt at Costco, which was about 100 calories. Well deserved though and I mainly got it as a treat for Emersyn. She was getting really restless for about the last mile and I kept her from melting down by talking of delicious ice cream that was waiting for us at Costco if she would sit down and fold her hands, which she did. :)

After our walk and shopping trip (where I picked up more cutie oranges and asparagus.....my two favorite foods right now), we went to pick up Brett and then to the Pita Pit for dinner, yum!

After dinner, Brett and Ems went over to my neighbor Sherrie's house so that they could all play while Sherrie and I walked.

I am SO stinkin' grateful to have found a walking buddy in Sherrie. She is a maniac. She walks so stinkin' fast and it forces me to keep up with her. I was comparing my BodyBugg chart from my walk with my MIL and my walk with Sherrie and I literally burn like twice as many calories with Sherrie. We walk and talk and the time goes by fast and yes, our legs burn and our bodies ache but there is something to be said about walking with a friend. I used to view walking to Fred Meyer's as this huge long walk. Not the case anymore. Last night we walked past Fred Meyer's to a nearby high school and walked on the track for 6 laps. We power walked for an hour and 40 minutes. Awesome. We walked back to her house and then Ems, Brett and I walked home. Brett and I watched TV for about 30 minutes and then tossed around the medicine ball for a good 20 minutes and totally worked up a sweat. Every so often Brett would ask if I wanted to stop and that just fired me up and I said NO!! He knows how to ~~bug~~ motivate me!

Here are my BodyBugg results from yesterday!

4031 calories burned, 23163 steps walked, which is a little over 8 miles. Incredible!!!

I am upping my goals. My goal used to be to burn 2700 calories on days that I work and 3000 on my days off. Um....those are LAME goals now that I have hit this new level! I think I have decided that my goal is to burn 3200 on work days and 3800 on days off.

Okay, this is such a rambling post but I don't care. I am really happy and feel like I am getting stronger. I was really proud of myself for tossing the ball after such a long and grueling walk too.

Today my legs are sore, as they always are after one of our walks. I have an open house today and am excited about it. (I am a Realtor in case you didn't know) Emersyn is down for a nap since she decided to wake up so early. My amazingly sweet husband decided to let me sleep and made our daughter banana pancakes for breakfast. He is too good to me. I am going to Shred and then get ready for my open house. Ems has a playdate with our neighbor kids, who she ADORES.

I hope none of this sounds like I am bragging about how much activity I have been doing. I think I am just in awe. Awhile ago, the "old" Patti would have looked at my life and been too overwhelmed to get healthy. I would have put it off, saying that I would get healthy when Emersyn was a little older and I didn't have to work around her naps, or I would get healthy when I didn't have to work and had more time to work out, etc. etc. I feel like my life IS busy and I AM finding time to work out and eat right. I so hope to motivate others to do the same someday. Life is too short to waste it being miserable and unhappy with ourselves. I wish I would have started this lifestyle about 10 years ago!

Happy Sunday!

My best day so far!

2010-03-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

Oh.My.Gosh.

Yesterday I hit a goal that I set for myself kind of secretly awhile ago. I had never hit the 10,000 steps goal on the BodyBugg. I didn't think it was possible to be honest! I am not a huge walker....I get bored easily. However, this week I have walked three times with my friend who happens to live down the street from me so it is super convenient for us to walk together!

Yesterday morning Brett and I took Emersyn to the Zoo. I tried to make the zoo a good mixture of us looking at the animals and power walking up and down the many hills.

After work I walked to the gym and did 25 minutes on the elliptical on a harder setting then I did the day before.

After the gym I ate a healthy dinner and then went on a 4 mile walk with Sherrie.

Then I went to the grocery store. Not relevant but it included a little bit of walking.

Then I came home and collapsed on a chair while Brett baked a cake for some friends that we are visiting tomorrow.

I plugged in my Body Bugg and this is what I saw:

Guys?!?!?!? Do you see what I see??!?!?! I burned over 4000 calories for the first time EVER and walked more then 19000 steps. I nearly passed out when I saw how many steps I walked!!!! I was just telling Brett earlier in the evening that I saw another blogger that has the BodyBugg and she had walked like 14000 steps and I was like, how on earth does one person walk THAT many steps in a day?!!? But alas, I did it!!!

I am so so so proud of myself.

Here is a summary of my activity for this week:

Friday- none

Saturday- walked 4 miles

Sunday- Shred

Monday- Shred & 25 minutes on elliptical

Tuesday- none

Wednesday- Shred, 25 minutes on elliptical, walked for 40 minutes. (did some jogging intervals but my legs were pretty tired so I didn't jog too much)

Thursday- walked at the zoo, 25 minutes on elliptical, walked 4 miles (again, very few jogging intervals in there)

Each day I averaged about 1400 calories a day except for Wednesday when I ate the *ahem* pizza.

Total weight loss this week: 2.4lbs. I admit, I had hoped for a bigger loss. BUT I assume that because of my increased activity, I should be adding muscle.

Alright, off to enjoy this beautiful spring day!! I've got a date tonight with a cute boy and our plans include, dinner, a movie and the gym! :)

**I've lost 25lbs now, whoo hoo!!**

Good News & Bad News

2010-03-18T13:02:00.001-07:00

Okay....which do you want first? :)

Let's start with the bad so we can end on a good note. It's not terribly bad but not good.

I gave in to the evil temptation of pizza at work yesterday at a potluck.

Oh man.

It smelt so good and I was starving. I haven't had *real* pizza since last year, literally!!

I had three small slices. (They were pretty thin slices and also thin crust).

I also had some of my texas caviar that I brought which isn't bad for you, however, the tortilla chips that you serve with it aren't exactly low calorie.

It wasn't my best day in the eating books. I had a light breakfast and also a really light dinner. I had one taco at Baja Fresh which was about 230 calories and then some asparagus when I got home. P.S. I'm totally obessed with asparagus too. It's officially my favorite veggie.

It could be so much worse though, don't you agree?

Okay, onto the good news!

While it may not have been my best day eating wise.....it was a fantastic day ACTIVITY wise!!!

I Shredded in the morning, despite having a morning playdate that we had to get ready for which was super fun by the way, thank you Caitlin!!!

THEN I did the elliptical for 25 minutes right after work.

Wow, two workouts in one day! Impressive right? But wait.......

THEN I went on a 40 minute walk/run with my neighbor at night!!!!!!

Guess which workout burned the most calories according to my BodyBugg?

THE WALK/RUN!!!

We probably jogged about 1/4 of the time (ish) which is a huge accomplishment for me. I was so proud to be out with my friend and running! I can't wait for my body to get healthier. I truly feel like I could be a runner. It is relaxing in a strange way. Sherrie and I were laughing though because we would be chatting up a storm and then when we came to the blocks that we were going to run, all of the sudden the stopping ceased, ha! It's not easy to run and chat, not yet anyways. :) I think I could have run more normally if I hadn't already worked out so much yesterday at that point.

According to the BodyBugg, I had a day where I burned almost 4000 calories* and I didn't even work out that day, I was just a busy bee running all over town, shopping, cooking and then entertaining. I swear that had to be a fluke though.

Yesterday I burned.......3600 calories!!! AMAZING!!! For a day that I work too! Even MORE amazing!!

I am a little nervous that the scale isn't going to reflect my hard work though but I truly don't care. I know that my body is getting stronger, I feel better, my husband says I look smaller and that is all that matters to me!! A number is just a number. I still haven't taken measurements which I bet would be impressive but I keep forgetting. The scale in our bathroom that I weigh in on every day hasn't reflected much of a loss but I use the Wii Fit for official results. My weigh in is tomorrow.

This morning we had our usual Thursday morning Starbucks date. I had a Chonga bagel wich is about 360 calories with cream cheese but we are usually active right after our breakfast so I figure that is okay. Then we went to the Zoo where I always try to fit excersice in; power walking up hills, jogging where I can, etc. I didn't Shred this morning but I think the zoo counts for something.

Tonight after work I am going to walk to Bally's (about 15 minutes) and enjoy this amazing Oregon sunshine! I will do the elliptical for 25 minutes and then Brett and Ems will come pick me up. I am hoping to go on another walk/run this evening too, even for just 20 minutes. I am too chicken to walk by myself with headphones, doesn't seem safe to do at night so we will bundle Ems up and all go together. Or I will send Brett over to my neighbors to hang out with her sleeping kids and Ems while we go out! Hee hee.

Happy Thursday everyone!

P.S. And because a post is just more fun with pictures, these are a few from my phone this morning......

"YOU can do it Mama!!"

Brett and Ems enjoying the sea lions. Emersyn was beside herself with joy, screaming!!!

Obsessed

2010-03-17T17:16:00.001-07:00

I am obsessed with these little citrus sensations.

That's all I have to say today. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Elliptical Success! :)

2010-03-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

Last week I was inspired by a post I read over at Tiff's blog about her and "Ellie", the elliptical. She used to only be able to do about five minutes and had slowly built up her endurance. Since I haven't been loving my time at the gym lately, I thought a goal might be good. I could slowly work up my endurance on this machine. See, the only kind of elliptical that I have ever done is this kind......

Not this exact brand by you get the general idea. Something about the arm movement combined with the feet motion just doesn't work for me. Maybe I am not coordinated enough? I can only last like 5 minutes on this machine before my back starts hurting because it is tense and just not enjoyable.

But then I found this delightful creature....

So I know you aren't getting the "full" body workout but I don't care. I LOVE this machine!!!!! Last night after work I changed into my gym clothes, ate a Luna Bar and chugged a bunch of water. I got to the gym, turned in my iPod and rocked this machine for 20 minutes!!! I even took a picture as proof, which I am pretty sure means I am a dork!! :)

I cranked up Jason Upton's "Faith" album and just about got saved again at Bally's while doing the elliptical!! I haven't listened that CD in forever and it is powerful. I totally sang along too. It is hard for me to not sing along to music so when I realized that everyone around me had headphones in, I gave in and sang along. It was everything I could do to not lift my hands in worship, seriously. What a great experience. I so wanted to go again tonight but we are going to watch LOST with friends and have dinner together. Rats!! I need to find time again to go, I truly truly enjoyed myself, pushed myself and sweat up a storm. I've got the sore muscles to prove it.

So yesterday I Shred in the morning, did the elliptical in the evening and then Brett and I tossed around the medicine ball for about 20 minutes or so. We could really feel the burn and it was fun. We had a lot of laughs too. Something about tossing this really heavy ball around leads to laughter. I adore my husband. God made him just for me. :)

At the end of the day, I burned a little over 3100 calories which is awesome for a day that I work! I was proud of myself. I am not seeing working out in my future today though. :( I want to Shred when we get home but we won't get home until about 10:30 and then I need to clean up for Emersyn's babysitter tomorrow because we have a playdate in the morning! :) Man, life is busy but wonderful!

P.S. Has everyone heard of CalorieCount.com? I used it to figure out the calories in my spinach lasagna rolls that I modified with ground turkey. You just list all the ingredients and it calculates it for you! Pretty cool!

Weekend Recap & Recipes!

2010-03-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! I had a great weekend, how about you? On Saturday I joined my neighbor on a 4 mile walk to her daughter's preschool where there is a playground. It was SO chilly but we definitely burned some serious calories! On Saturday I also made these:

Spinach Lasagna Rolls!! They were really yummy actually and pretty easy to make. I found the recipe here! I modified the recipe slightly. The only seasoning that the recipe called for was salt and pepper but I used Italian seasoning pretty liberally which I think is okay since it's low/no sodium (I think). Also, I added a pound of ground turkey which makes it a little higher calorie but according to CalorieCount.com, these little guys have 226 calories/roll. I had one roll and a big spinach salad. Delish!

I also made these muffins on Saturday.

These are from the recipe book, "Deceptively Delicious". I felt bad about publishing the recipe because of copyright stuff but it's all over the internet so here is a link to these Applesauce Muffins with Carrot Puree. Brett LOVES these muffins and so does Emersyn. I think they are pretty good. Brett cracks me up though, like he LOVES them. I think he is just so grateful for anything home baked since that doesn't happen too often around here. :)

Yesterday I inteded to take another walk with my neighbors but Emersyn actually decided to take a nap so I was homebound. During her nap, I did some laundry, had lunch, and even relaxed a bit. I was so cold so I made a cup of coffee. I really felt like the Lord was prompting me to Shred. I have looked at my Shred button on the top right hand side of this blog and felt like a liar lately. :) I looked at the clock and saw that Emersyn had already been asleep for two hours. I told the Lord that I would Shred if she didn't wake up. She totally stayed asleep long enough for me to Shred AND get a shower afterwards AND get ready. Amazing.

I am committing to Shredding daily (again). The only day that this proves to be impossible is Tuesdays. On Tuesdays I leave my house at 9am and don't get home until after 10. I get up at 7am to get ready and then get Emersyn ready and get her breakfast. I think that skipping one day a week is OKAY. I can't be like the old me that said, "If I can't do it everyday, I may as well not do it at all."

As I went upstairs yesterday to change into my workout clothes, I felt the Lord saying to me, "It's not even about the Shred. It's about you committing to doing something and following through". Oh man. So true. I did the Shred and it honestly felt GREAT. I feel so much stronger then I used to and I know that I pushed myself because today I have the sore muscles to prove it! I look back on my weight loss and know that I was doing the best while Shredding.

It's gonna be a great week, I can feel it!

Over it!

2010-03-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

Today is a new day and for that I am a happy girl! My day got better yesterday after my massage therapist called me to see if I could come in anytime soon and I decided to be spontaneous and get one that afternoon. (I get free massage therapy through my insurance due to my accident last summer). 90 minutes of sheer joy was all I needed to refresh my day. Brett and Ems came with me and Emersyn slept in the car while Brett worked on her first year of life blog book. It was a great way to end the afternoon.

I didn't feel like making dinner so Brett surprised me and took me to Pita Pit, my FAVORITE PLACE!!!!!!!!

Today I am choosing to reflect on some positive things in life. I have been so moody lately which really isn't like me.

I HAVE lost over 20 pounds. I feel like sometimes I totally downplay this because of much I have to go but that isn't fair. 20 pounds IS an accomplishment and I need to be proud of myself!

I DID the Shred for 25 consecutive days back in January. I look back and can see results of that. It worked. I need to get back on the bandwagon with Shredding daily. Why wouldn't I do something that I know works??

I am still digging my BodyBugg, except for entering the food. I have found a new tool though for tracking my food that it SO much better!! There is a MyFitnessPal app on the iPhone that my mom told me about and it is SO comprehensive and WONDERFUL! Every single thing I ate yesterday was already in their system, even the Pita Pit!!! It even had the AmyLu chicken burger that I had for lunch. That is one thing about the Body Bugg that I haven't loved; they don't have hardly any foods already in their system so you have to manually enter everything which is a PAIN. Whoo hoo for a cool iPhone app!

This afternoon my neighbor and I are taking our kids on a nice long walk to a park and are going to let them play. I am excited to take a walk and get to chat with a friend!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Bleh

2010-03-12T14:02:00.001-08:00

Geez, another bleh day. I seriously think it is because of the lame weather we are having!! It is really cold and rainy and.....bleh. We took Emersyn to her 18 month appointment this morning and then ran some errands. She was super cranky in the car because she was tired and now we are home and she is refusing to fall asleep. Lord help me!! :)

According to the Wii this morning, I lost a pound and a half. But then this afternoon I wanted to see what the exact number was so I went in to the Wii Fit program and it didn't record the weight from this morning. Irritation!!! So I re-weighed myself and it said I only lost a pound. I am still gonna go with this morning's weigh in since that is the time that I normally weigh in each week. Still, one pound or one and a half pound....it feels LAME. I know that a loss is a loss and it's not like I can look myself in the mirror and say that I have been doing EVERYTHING possible. Especially not in the mirror at Sweet Tomatoes where I am pretty sure I overindulged slightly last night. It is hard at a buffet style restaurant, even if it IS a huge salad bar, to gage how many calories you are consuming. No more going there for awhile.

Today I got my potential bridesmaid dress in the mail. It is from Target.com and my future sister-in-law found it on clearance for $15! Score right? Well, I get it, try it on and realize that it is made for someone WITHOUT breasts. Ugh. So discouraging. I hope to have lost a good amount of weight in another couple of months but it is hard to know if any of that is going to come off my chest. If only I could share with so many of my flat chested friends. Wouldn't that be ideal? A true win/win scenario. :) I sent the bride-to-be an email and let her know that if she likes the dress on her sisters, I will get the dress altered which is intimidating but I'm sure someone can figure it out.

Man.

I totally feel like I'm PMSing but that is SO not the case according to the calendar. :) Time to go on a walk or something, get the endorphins going.

Or I could take a nap.

LOL.

Happy Friday.

Cool Things

2010-03-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

1) I'm wearing pants today that I bought a couple months ago for super cheap with a coupon that were definitely too small for me and today they fit great!

2) Yesterday I burned a little under 3200 calories which is AWESOME for a work day!! My goal on work days is to burn 2700 and on off days 3000. I surpassed both of those goals! I figured out that I burned over 700 calories on my walk with Emerysn. Now that is some serious motivation to get walkin'!!!!! I also tossed the medicine ball back and forth with Brett in the evening and did some sit ups. Cool.

3) I have been eating an apple a day and they are delicious. I have started omitting chips from my lunches (which were just baked lays, not even that bad for you) and eating an apple instead. I enjoy it much more honestly.

4) I have a weigh in tomorrow....I am nervous but hoping for good results! It will be a little earlier in the morning then usual; Emersyn has her 18 month appointment at 9:40 so we will do our weigh ins before we leave. I'll let you know how it goes!

Happy Thursday! I'm looking forward to watching some of my favorite shows (The Office, Community, Parks and Rec, 30 Rock) and tossing around the medicine ball!!

Chilly Wednesday

2010-03-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up to a beautifully sunny day! I knew first thing I wanted to do was take a walk! I checked the temp and it was only 36 degrees though, CHILLY!! Still, I was determined. I made Emersyn her usual morning oatmeal, fed it to her and then got her all bundled up. She was still hungry so I made her a waffle to go. :) I think she wanted to eat some extra carbs since we were going to be working out in the morning. Doesn't she look like a little princess in her chariot? Life is rough when you're a baby!

Emersyn and I walked to Fred Meyers, our closest grocery store. According to google maps, it is one mile away. It was a nice two mile walk that took me about 90 minutes but that is because I spent some time inside the store grabbing a couple things. Emersyn has really been into oranges lately so I wanted to grab some for her, along with some mozzerella cheese for a lasagna recipe I want to make soon. It felt so great to start my day out with activity. When I got home, I definitely felt like I had worked out. I thought about Shredding but this was some quality time with my sweet girl and I just couldn't resist. Plus, in Oregon, you gotta utilize the sun while it's out. The funny thing is, even though it was cold out, I still worked up a sweat and was only wearing a long sleeve t-shirt!

I am feeling refreshed. I don't know what caused my little "funk" that I was in (though I suspect it was hormones). I think writing my blog yesterday about oatmeal really helped me get back into a good frame of mind. As I walked this morning, I prayed that God would give me the strength to be a better wife and mother and to be more dilligent in my pursuit of health. I believe He will answer my prayer!

On another note, my brother came over the other night and showed me this picture:

Apparently some class of his was discussing social networking and blogging and David mentioned my blog so they talked about it. How random! You just never know WHO is reading your blog! :)

Happy Wednesday!

Trusting the Lord with our oatmeal :)

2010-03-09T16:31:00.001-08:00

I wrote a post that involves faith and oatmeal over on my other blog. I know not everyone here reads that blog so I thought I would post a link in case you were interested. God is good and I need to be better at trusting Him sometimes! :) Hope you're all having a great afternoon!!

Bagel Thins!

2010-03-09T14:08:00.001-08:00

First Sandwich Thins......and now Bagel Thins!! Pretty cool huh? I found these at Winco the other day and had to give them a try. This sandwich is only about 180 calories! 100 for the bun, 40 for the lunch meat and approx. 40 for the mayo. I have to have a tiny bit of mayo on my sandwiches, don't judge me. I had this, a serving of Baked Lays, and an entire apple for lunch and I am still REALLY hungry!! That's such a lame feeling, sitting at work, thinking of how hungry I am. Oh well......I've got gum to keep my mouth busy. :)

I feel like I am in a workout slump. Anyone else ever feel that way? Man, when I was consecutively ShreddingI felt GREAT and it wasn't hard to be motivated to work out. But now, somehow life seems busier (even though I am sure it is about the same) and I am just lacking ENERGY. *sigh*

Happy Tuesday!

Medicine Balls are COOL!

2010-03-08T16:07:00.001-08:00

Happy Monday! I am determined to make this a great week! The sun is shining and life is good!

Last night Brett and I tossed around my new medicine ball for 15 minutes. Afterwards I plugged in my BodyBugg and guess what? That 8lb little sucker really burns calories! Plus, it was fun. My husband was giddy with joy at the thought of playing catch as a workout. I need to give this man a son someday so he can have someone to enjoy sports with while Emersyn and I go get mani/pedi's! Ha! Anyways, thanks to Tricia for the inspiration!

Onto another subject......I am considering doing a mystic tan for my brother's wedding in June. I used to be a tanning bed kind of girl for such occassions but since becoming a mother, I have had a change of heart.Has anyone ever done mystic tanning? Can it go wrong? Ha ha, that reminds me of the friends episode when Ross goes in for the spray tan and forgets to turn and ends up super tan on one side of his body and white on the other. Ha. Anyways, I figure if I can't be skinny I can at least have a healthy glow. :) Enlighten me, fellow pasty white bloggers, on what YOU do to achieve a healthy glow?

Weigh In- Not good but it's okay....

2010-03-05T23:01:00.001-08:00

Happy Friday!

Well, the good ol' scale wasn't my friend this morning. I had a gain of .2 lbs. However, this morning also was day one of that lovely monthly visitor which I am confident is the reason for this lame weigh in. Normally this would bum me out BUT I know after reading many weight loss blogs that one a month, your weight is going to be skewed.

My husband however, has lost almost 6 pounds in two weeks by just eating right. He hardly has any weight to lose at this point, I think his goal is to just tone up. I am so ~~jealous~~ proud of him!! He has been taking a lunch, eating an apple a day, and really watching what he eats.

My future sister-in-law and brother came over tonight to show us their engagement pictures. The bride-to-be has also picked out a bridesmaid dress. I like it and am going to order it in a couple different sizes and hope one of them works well!

After reading Tricia's post today, I was inspired. I may not be able to get *skinny* before the wedding but nine weeks is enough time to somewhat improve my arms and shoulders. My arms aren't my worse feature, certainly not my best, but I am challenged to see if I can get some upper body toning done. We went to Dick's Sporting Goods tonight and bought an 8lb medicine ball. Brett and I had some fun tossing it back and forth tonight and I think it will be a great activity to do while watching TV at night, especially while sitting on a balance ball! Thanks Tricia for the inspiration! I love how low key(ish) it is too, especially for certain *ahem* times of the month that you don't prefer the more vigorous exercises.

Looking forward to a sushi date tomorrow with some friends that I haven't gotten to hang out with in a long time! Sushi is something that I have a hard time maintaining portion control; I just love it SO much. I must be good though, wish me luck! :)

The BEST kind of cardio!

2010-03-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

Last night when I got home from work I planned on visiting a friend in the hospital but it turns out that she wasn't quite out of surgery and by the time I could get there, visiting hours would be over. (Sorry Roxanne, you could have stayed for dinner!! Rats!) So I made some quinoa for the very first time; it was interesting but yummy. I also steamed some green beans and made some London Broil for dinner. (It was on my E-Mealz plan) Brett works late on Wednesdays because they are his Fridays. I had about 30 minutes to kill before he got home. So I decided to do some cardio. I didn't Shred. I didn't go on a walk. Nope, instead I turned on my Michael Buble CD, turned it to number 5, "I just haven't met you yet", and picked up my baby girl. I did a good 15-20 minutes of cardio with a 25 pound weight in my arms. Emersyn and I danced, spun, jumped, and danced some more and she laughed so hard that she got the hiccups. I totally worked up a sweat.

Way more fun then the gym. ;)

This morning we went on a good long walk at the Zoo. Hoping to do it again tomorrow morning. It's such a beautiful environment to walk in and since we are members, it's free to get in. Score! :)

I am nervous for my weigh in tomorrow. I have been eating pretty good but not being as active as I would like to be. Workin' on it. :)

Happy Thursday!

Gym boredom, anyone?

2010-03-03T15:51:00.001-08:00

Last night I did it. I thought ahead. I packed my gym clothes, charged my iPod, packed my tennis shoes and was ready to work out after work.

Everything in me did NOT want to go. I didn't feel like it. My workout clothes aren't cute. I don't really like my gym. But alas I went.

15 minutes on the tredmill. 15 minutes on the stationary bike. Lame. I was SO bored. I listened to music, I read....the minutes just crept by. I would tell myself to NOT watch the timer on the machines and would distract myself. Then I would look at the time, thinking LOTS of time had to have passed. FALSE. 2 minutes felt like 10.

Anyone else just get bored at the gym?? I have a busy personality. Some may call it ADD, I like to say I am just a multi tasker. :) I know that the Lord wants me to have quiet times with him though.

I so prefer Shredding to the gym. I also prefer walking with my daughter in her stroller. I like going to the gym with my husband though. I am competitive by nature so I enjoy making it look like my lungs aren't going to explode while rockin' the elliptical, but only with my husband. By the way, am I the only person who does NOT like the elliptical?? It is like the machine of choice among most people I know but maybe I am just not coordinated enough yet or fit enough. 5 minutes on the elliptical is torture for me. Hmm....that probably means it is burning a lot of calories though. Note to self.

I am still struggling with getting up earlier in the mornings. I have been using the excuse of needing extra sleep to combat my alleged cold but I miss out on mornings with my daughter. She has been sleeping in too but I could get things done in the mornings before she wakes up so that we can spend more quality time together, like going on walks.

Feeling a *little* out of it this week. I went wedding dress shopping with my sweet future sister in law on Saturday and she looked just stunning in her dress. I was so happy to share that moment with her. I wish that I was going to be a cuter bridesmaid for her though. :( It's a silly thought, the wedding is SO all about them and I know that, I just envisioned amazing family photo's next summer with me looking a LOT better. :) But I can still lose *some* weight before the wedding though. I think that because I know that I won't be anywhere near my goal in May, it is easy to get stagnant and revert back to that old way of thinking. It's funny, at our women's retreat this past weekend we were talking about the ONE BIG thought that keeps us from being who we are really meant to be. I got to thinking and I believe that the thought that has kept me back so many years is "I'm not enough, nor am I EVER going to be enough so therefore, I'm not going to try". Trying means there is the possibility of failing and I would rather not fail so therefore, I won't try. It is silly and I know better. Anyways, all that to say I have to overcome that thought in working towards this wedding in May. I know I am not going to be a skinny-minny in May. But I am still accountable to the Lord for my journey and I have committed this to Him.

I think I need to go on a walk tonight, hold hands with my husband, and enjoy some fresh air. This surge of emotions can only mean one thing, PMS has arrived. Ha! :)

Feelin' Good!! :)

2010-03-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

It's a miracle! I've been cured! Seriously, I woke up today, good as new! Thank you Lord! :) Emersyn still has a runny nose that just wont quit but she is in pretty good spirits. I went back to work today and she is with her Nana, wiping her nose all over everything I am sure. Lovely!

Tonight I am going to the gym by myself. It is right across the street from my work. I figure, after work I can change, eat a protein bar, and then work out for a good 45 minutes. I made dinner this morning ahead of time (don't act like you're not impressed) and all that needs to be done is to bake it for 20 minutes. I am doing the E-Mealz that I talked about earlier this week. One of the recipes is for chicken broccoli alfredo. I did a double take because alfredo is NOT a diet food and this is a low calorie meal plan. By alfredo, they mean fat free cream of mushroom soup with a dash of parmesan, LOL! :) I sauteed some chicken, boiled some penne and then tossed it with some milk, parmesan, FF cream of mushroom soup and salt and pepper. I will let you know how it turnes out. :) I don't expect it to be life changing but it will be good enough and accompanied by one of my favorie spinach salads. :)

Okay, something that I have found that I LOVE:

It is sooooo delicious. Like, even if I weren't eating healthy, I would still totally choose to eat this cereal over any other. It's packed with protein, fiber, vitamins, etc. The boxes at Target had $1/off coupons on them this last week. We bought three boxes. :)

Wish me luck at the gym tonight. I've got my iPod, cute pink water bottle and should be good to go!! :)

Pity, Party of ONE!

2010-03-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

So I am starting the first of March with a COLD!!!! Ugh. This was so not in my agenda for the month. Today was to be the start of getting back into working out, eating healthy, etc. I have done good with the eating part, just trying to muster up the energy to work out. Meanwhile, my 18 month old is also sick, clingy, and needy for her mama. As a mom, you get no sick days, that is for sure! My mother-in-law did offer to come pick Emersyn up so I could get some rest but I feel like she needs her mama today. It was a nice offer though!

I tend to get really down when I am sick, just from being tired which leads to being emotional, etc. I was looking at my blog reader this morning when some kind words from a (blogger) friend brightened my day! Thank you Melissa!!! You are SO sweet for thinking of me! She gave me an "award" so instead of dwelling on how sick I am and having a pity party, I will play along with the blog award! :)

Okay, with this award you get to discuss the "best of" certain topics. Here we go...

1) Best meal ever: oh my. The one that comes to mind most recently was at Famous Dave's last weekend. I loved the ribs SO much. I didn't even know I was that capable of loving a pork product that much.

2) Best sleep ever: hmm....I can't really think of the best sleep ever. I know that when we first had Emersyn, I would nurse her and then give her to my mom in the mornings and Brett and I would get to sleep in another couple of hours. This may have qualified as the best sleep ever as a new mom. :)

3) Best cup of coffee: a caramel macchiato, iced or hot. I love them each 50/50. I haven't had them very much lately though due to their high sugar content. But the other day at Starbucks, my friend bought me coffee and the barista accidentally made a caramel macchiato instead of the iced coffee I ordered. I happily drank it. Clearly the Lord felt that I deserved it, he gave it to me for free!!

4) Best romantic moment: hmm....there are a lot to think of. We have been together almost 8 years!! One of the most romantic moments I can think of is for our first Christmas we travelled down to the Oregon Coast to celebrate with Brett's aunt and his side of the family. Because of the casual sleeping arrangements, I was horrified at the thought of sleeping in a room with a bunch of other people, some of whom I didn't know very well. So we got a hotel room! I knew about the hotel room, but what I didn't know was that while I drove down with Brett's mom, Brett came down later with his brother because they had to work. When they got into town, Brett went and decorated our hotel room with candles, he brought our stockings to hang in the room, he brought a DVD player with one of my favorite Christmassy movies (While You Were Sleeping), some sparkling cider, and more I think, I can't exactly remember. It was really sweet when we got to the hotel later that night and I was so surprised! It was for sure a top romantic moment!!

5) Best childhood memory moment: I remember becoming a big sister and loving my baby brother very much.

6) Best moment of my life: 3:45am, 8/28/08. Giving birth to my precious baby girl. Marrying her dad was a close second but giving birth has to top the list.

7) Best moment of revenge: hmm....revenge is an ugly word. Happiness is the best revenge I believe and I have overcome many situations by sticking to this principle!

8) Best thing someone has ever done for you: I was going through a really hard time several years ago, financially, emotionally, etc. My BFF sensed my sadness and arranged for us to go on a girls getaway. I flew out to Boise with a free ticket that I had and she paid for a hotel room for us in Sun Valley, ID. We had such a fun time of walking around the quaint city, having coffee, enjoying our room and hot tub, etc. This was the last year before we each got pregnant and it is such a special time for me. Getting away for me was great; I came back so refreshed and happy.

9) Best thing I have ever done for someone: geez....since nothing comes to mind, maybe I need to do more kind things for others! I think something great that Brett and I did for his family was organize a huge family reunion in Sunriver after his Uncle had been diagnosed with brain cancer. We planned the whole things, meals, accomidations and even fronted a lot of it financially, eventually being paid back for most of it minus our share. This was a big project and I think it made many memories for Brett's family before his Uncle passed away in September of '07.

10) Best life changing moment: oh man, I would have to say when they placed my tiny newborn daughter on my chest when she was born. Absolutely surreal.

Okay, I am pooped. This post took a long to write in between wiping snotty noses, feeding Emersyn snacks (it's great that she's eating), etc. I need to pay this forward and give it to other bloggers too but I will do that in another post.

Happy Monday. If you think about it, pray that Emersyn has a nice loooooong nap time so that I can do the SAME!!

March in MOTION

2010-02-28T09:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Sunday!! I had had a rather odd morning....woke up at 5am by a sick baby girl (just a cold) who decided that it was time to get up!! So now it is 9:30 and I feel like I have been awake F O R E V E R!!! :)

I had a great weekend at our church's women's retreat. I plan on blogging about it over at my family blog. I feel like I ate okay. Not good, but not bad. The meals were provided which is nice but just means I have less control over what I eat. I could control how much ate though and the only time I felt like I might have overeaten was at lunch where we had a big salad and some amazing mushroom raviolis. I might have had one too many ravioli. It's all good though. :)

Tomorrow is the first day of March. I am excited for two reasons. One, Brett wrote us out this amazing spreadsheet for our budget and we are going to start that. Secondly, I am determined to make March a month of MOVEMENT!!! I am doing relatively good with losing weight but I miss that active feeling that I had when I was doing the Shred on a regular basis. I am committed to working out EVERY DAY in March. If not a Shred, then a good long walk. At least 20 minutes of movement a day. I can do it! Who's with me?? :)

Another thing we are going to be starting in March is E-Mealz.com. It came recommended to us by a friend and it is also endorsed by Dave Ramsey. They are simple meal plans for dinners that is $5/month and it bases the meals on what's on sale at the stores that week. Very interesting. I think so highly of Dave Ramsey; if he recomends it, then it's worth a shot to me! They have a low-fat meal plan option (which kind of makes me nervous because low fat stuff can still have high calories) and there are other plans too. The only thing that I don't like is once you lock into a plan, you can't change it until the end of your 3 month at a time (the minimum) subscription. Again though, I am willing to give it a shot!! I will let you know how it goes!

Have a great Sunday everyone! This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Friday Weigh In

2010-02-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I lost 2.6 pounds, much to my shock and amazement. I guess I didn't do as bad as I thought I did this week! I wonder though, what that number might have been if I had worked out. I am determined to get back on the Shred wagon next week!!

I am really looking forward to my weekend. My roommate for tonight is sick and had to cancel. I may end up spending the night alone in a hotel room. Would I hate this? Actually.....NO. :) I think that alone time is healthy and can be refreshing. I absolutely plan on dialing into the Lord and using this time to re-focus.

May we all have great, non-binging weekends!!! :) TGIF!!

P.S. That takes my weight loss total to more then 20 pounds, whoo hoo!! Brett has lost a little over 15 pounds too, I am so proud of him. He has less then 10 pounds to lose now!!

Rockin' my world

2010-02-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

Just thought you might like to know some things that are rockin' my world these days......

Pink Nalgene Bottle

Finally, after months of saying I need to get a water bottle, I got one! Isn't she cute? :) I need to drink at least three of these a day. I can do it! It's more fun to drink out of things that are pink, don't you agree??

AmyLu Sweet Carmelized Onion Chicken Burgers

Red alert people....these are SO delicious!!!!!!!!!!! We had them in Hawaii with my parents and I fell in love with them and then I just recently found them at my Costco! They are $11.99 for 10 of them which isn't super cheap but they are WORTH IT! We heat them up on the panini grill and they take approx. one minute to grill up. They come refridgerated, not frozen and are already fully cookeed. They are 140 calories and have 6 grams of fat which isn't *super* low fat but for a main entree item, it isn't bad. I love to eat these on the 100 calorie sandwich thins, piled high with spinach and tomatos. DELISH. We are having them for dinner tonight. As a workin' mom, I really value finding yummy, healthy dinner foods that don't take too much time to make!

Emersyn, turning 18 months this weekend, drinking her first Starbucks beverage

This morning I forgot to take a sippy cup with us on our weekly Thursday morning Starbucks date. So I bought one of these organic vanilla milk drinks and Emersyn LOVED it!! I love her concentrated look, like she's saying "stop taking pictures of me Daddy, I am trying to focus on using this straw!!".

Today at Starbucks, they were out of my beloved Chonga bagel. I got a Hawaiian one instead. *Side note: I know that bagels are the most ideal food but it is a once a week treat and we usually go on a long walk after Starbucks which essentially means I just am carb loading before a good workout! :) Hee hee.* I thought the Hawaiian bagel would probably be better for me because there is no cheese on it like on the Chonga. FALSE! The Hawaiian bagel had 50 more calories AND one more gram of fat. What the??!

I am slightly optimistic about my weigh in tomorrow. Not because I have eaten great or worked out, heavens no! But because I have lost weight according to our bathroom scale but it sure doesn't seem accurate given some of my *ahem* eating choices this week. I need someone to slap me back into action. (No Brett, this is not an invititation for you!!!)

Tomorrow I am going on a women's retreat with one of my favorite friends, Vanessa! Her and her daughter aren't feeling well, I am praying for miraculous healings today and tomorrow!!! The retreat is only about 30 minutes away but I am looking forward to dialing into the Lord, some of my favorite ladies and really taking this time to re-focus and recharge! I will try to post my weigh in results before I leave tomorrow. If I don't post, it is safe to assume that it wasn't good!!! :)

**After looking at my title, I kind of chuckled because my colorful, slightly clutterd background wasn't really consistent with the "less is more" idea. My hubs likes blogs with white backgrounds. I'm gonna give it a whirl.

Happy Thursday!

Monday Monday

2010-02-22T14:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everyone!! While I would LOVE to report what a GREAT weekend I had in regards to nutrition.......I sadly cannot. :( Ugh. The good news is, I was ACTIVE though!

Friday I spent the morning at the Zoo which was great.

Saturday I spent the morning running a couple errands (which involved a lot of walking) and then Emersyn and I went to the park to play and walked from the park to Trader Joe's which was a decent distance away. Then when we got home, Emersyn took a nap and I had a three house power cleaning session in our bedroom to get ready for our Valentine's Date Night (wink, wink!!). My room looked amazing when I was done with it, everything was dusted, put away, vaccumed and I even cleaned the bathroom spotless too. Do I know how many calories exactly that I burned on Saturday? NO because I FORGOT to put my BodyBugg on for part of the day!!! How sad.

Saturday night we couldn't figure out what we wanted to eat. Eating out and eating healthy is a CHALLENGE, anyone with me?? We finally decided to go to.....Famous Dave's BBQ. I know. You don't have to say it. A BBQ place isn't exactly KNOWN for having low calorie food. Ugh. We DID go on a good little walk while we waited about 45 minutes to be seated. We split a dinner and each had a side salad. It was SO good and delicious, I never knew I liked ribs so much. I chalked it up to it being our Valentine's celebration dinner.

Sunday wasn't much better. We went to Sweet Tomato's with Brett's parents for lunch and ate too much and then went out to MEXICAN food for dinner with friends and that was NOT a low calorie experience. After lunch on Sunday we felt so full and sluggish; I just wanted to take a nap. But Brett knew that would be a bad idea so instead, we cleaned out the garage which is great physical activity!

I am pretty disappointed in our lack of will power this weekend. It's hard when so many social events revolve around EATING. However, today is a new day.

I had oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast. Then I ate a footlong Subway for lunch. I totally let them talk me into getting that extra 6 inches because it was only $.50 more. I am a sucker. And I thought that I would save the extra 6 inches for later at least but I devoured it; I was so hungry. I am REALLY full though now and not pleased with my decision.

I am starting a mild cleanse today. The footlong was not a wise choice considering. I was at Trader Joe's on Saturday and saw their "Total Body Cleanse". It isn't made to be dramatic life altering cleanse, just increasing your fiber to absorb any toxins. I take 4 fiber pills in the morning and then 4 at night. At night I also take 3 Digestive Formula pills and 1 Liver Formula pill. That is 8 pills at night which isn't super exciting to me but I hope it works. The cleanse recommends that you eat small frequent balanced meals while doing th cleanse. Footlong=FAIL! I should also drink plenty of water and try to reduce my intake of processed foods, simple carbs, beef, pork, dairy, wheat and soy products. It's also best to avoid caffeine (had no coffee this morning, sad!!), alcohol, sugar, potatoes, saturated fats, trans fats and artificial sweeteners. Any good ideas for foods or snacks that fall within these guidelines? :)

Here's to a better week! I CAN do it. I need to start Shredding again. I am just a little overwhelmed. I think that in the back of my head, I know I will be nowhere NEAR my goal weight for my brother's wedding and that just isn't something I was expecting and kind of bums me out. I was really excited for some family pictures with me lookin' much better then I will in May! But, I need to press in and remember, this goal is to accomplish SO much more then lookin' good..it's to be healthy, take proper care of the temple that the Lord has given me, and be a great role model for Emersyn Grace.

It's gonna be a great week! I have been reading through some of my other "healthy" buddies and their blogs and it is INSPIRING!!

Happy Monday!

Friday Weigh In! :)

2010-02-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

Today I was down another 2.2 pounds. Not too shabby considering I didn't get a chance to work out every single day and had a *couple* treats in honor of Valentine's Day. Slow and steady is good but like I said, I have a wedding to be in soon and I want to get on some sort of fast track! :)

I did great on burning calories yesterday. I plugged in my BodyBugg and it turns out, our walk/light jog burned a GREAT amount! That is encouraging! As the weather gets nicer, I am much more interested in being outside and active then inside doing a DVD.

Today I went to the Zoo with my friend Caitlin and Emery and am sooooo trying use that to justify not Shredding. I am actually kinda pooped but that is probably because I let myself sit down which is never a good idea. :) I think I will end up Shredding later though.

Here is a cute picture from the Zoo today...I feel like I never post pictures on this blog but these girls are just too cute to resist!

OhMyGoodness

2010-02-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

Okay bloggy friends.

It's about to get serious around here. :)

Why, you ask?

Because my brother and his fiance are getting married in T H R E E months!!!

Holy cow.

For numerous reasons, they have decided to get married THIS year versus NEXT year! I am happy for them, I think that a looooong engagement can have *some* challenges. I am not going to expand on that because this is my brother we are talking about. :)

Anyways, Jenny (fiance) has a sister getting married this summer and so I think they are wanting get married earlier so they don't' have two family weddings to close to each other. I think. I haven't been able to talk to them much first hand but I did get a text that said May is it.

Originally they were getting married next July. I thought to myself, I am going to look GOOD at that wedding! I will be at my goal weight and possibly even a little toned at that point, who knows?

I am NOT going to be at my goal weight in May. :)

That is okay though, I am SUPER excited for them to get married and for us to be able to vacation with them as a couple and marriage is truly such a blessing.

However.......

I need to get SERIOUS about losing as much weight as I can in three months, within reason and safely of course.

I was talking to Brett today and I still feel like we eat a LOT out of convenience because of our lifestyle. I think we are eating much much much better then we used to, but our diet is still lacking fresh fruits and veggies. This MUST change.

I am going to start aiming for 1200-1400 calories a day (right now aiming for 1400) and working out twice a day, whether that's a DVD or walking.

I am also interested in doing some sort of cleanse or fast to get my body jump started. I am going to look more into this.

Don't worry, I am not going to do anything drastic, just wanting to really dial in on losing weight for the next three months. It is a good thing. And I know you are probably thinking, "I thought you were already dialed in on losing weight". Well, I am. But I want to get MORE dialed in. At my weight, losing three pounds a week is not an unhealthy thing. That is what I want to aim for. Lord willing. :)

I hope this makes sense and doesn't make me sound crazy. I have a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head. :)

This morning was GORGEOUS here in Portland! We went on our usual Thursday Starbucks date (which is going to be suspended until after the wedding) and then left our car at Starbucks and walked about a mile to a park! I decided to jog in between every other light pole. It definitely got the heart rate up and felt good. I NEED to walk more. My legs need to get stronger to help support my knees. I have knee issues and times and need to be careful. I also need to get fitted for shoes. Just light jogging killed my feet in the Nike's I was wearing.

We took some cute pictures of Emersyn at the park, I will be sure to get them posted. She is such a little nut, I just can't get enough of her.

Tomorrow we have a date at the zoo with two of our favorite friends, Caitlin and Emery! Emersyn and Emery are only a couple weeks apart and we met in our birth class! I took some cute pics of the girls last summer, you can see them here! They will make you smile, I promise! :)

Happy Thursday!

Lent

2010-02-17T15:46:00.000-08:00

Soooo I decided to give up pop for Lent. I have never "observed" Lent before but I think it is a good thing to participate in. I should look into it further. It is my understanding that it is a fast of sorts and that when you would normally do whatever you are fasting, you should pray instead. So while I ate my Subway for lunch today and drank my water, I should have been praying but I was at work. Darn it. I have a little bit of a drive ahead of me today to a Dr. appt. so I will enjoy this beautiful weather and have a chat with the Lord then. :)

I feel like I am *cheating* a little bit because I know that omitting pop is so good for me but I am anxious to see how I feel after 30 days.

I really do love pop. Mostly just Diet Pepsi with some occasional Fresca. I NEVER drink regular, I don't even like the taste. This will truly be something that I miss and will hopefully help me focus in more on healthy living and the Lord.

Happy Lent! (Is that right? Do you even say that?? Hee hee)

Pizza Pizza

2010-02-16T15:03:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of things that I haven't missed very much since starting this healthy lifestyle endeavor. I don't miss fast food a single bit. In fact, the thought of a greasy fast food burger and fries actually grosses me out at this point.

However.

I.do.miss.pizza.

I think my favorite pizza is Papa Murphy's Hawaiian, slightly under baked. Not like raw, just doughy. About 95% cooked.

Don't judge me.

I read on Nicole's blog about some pizza alternatives and I thought to myself...I gotta try something to satisfy this craving of mine!!! So I went on a mission at WINCO for some ingredients.

This is what I came up with:

Flatout Wraps- Amazing. Only $1.98 for six of them! I looked into the "healthy" tortilla's and most of them were still well over 200 calories apiece. These wraps were only 100 calories each, score!!

Turkey Pepperoni- only 50 calories for 14 slices!! Are you kidding me?!?! And, it tastes really good!!!!! Now, pepperoni certainly isn't a "whole" food so this isn't something I will be eating ALL the time but it is a fun Friday date night and movie meal that isn't *bad* for you.

Pizza sauce- my mom sent me some pizza sauce a long time ago from my favorite MN pizza place, "Davanni's". It turns out, 1/4 cup of sauce is only 30 calories! Sweet!

Mozzarella Cheese- I am not a huge fan of reduced calorie/fat cheese. However, I may look into it. Barely any of this cheese was 80 calories but 6 grams of fat which is a lot of fat. I used a serving and a half on this pizza.

Italian Seasoning- made up of mostly oregano to add a yummy Italian flavor!

The finished product!

Only took 5-7 minutes to make in the toaster oven! You pre-bake the wrap for about 2 minutes, then spread on the sauce, cheese and pepperoni and bake for about 5 minutes-ish until cheese is melted and pepperoni curls up! Next time I will throw a bunch of spinach on there as well as some mushrooms (my favorite!!!). I could probably make do with half the pepperoni as well to reduce the fat content.

I thought about brushing some olive oil on the crust to crisp it up for some added delicious-ness. This would also be added calories so I decided against it. Brett really wanted to use olive oil on one of our pizzas and see which one we liked better. I told him that ignorance is bliss and I would rather not know what I was missing out on. I am glad I did though because I liked this pizza just the way it was.

Wrap - 100 calories

Sauce- 30 calories

Cheese- 120 calories, 9 grams of fat (eeek)

Pepperoni- 50 calories, 3.5 grams of fat

Total- 300 calories

At the end of my meal with my large salad I determined one of two things. If I am going to eat the entire pizza, I need to eat a bare bones salad with just veggies and none of my "fun" toppings (bacon bits, nuts, etc). I would like to only eat half the pizza next time though with a hearty salad. I think more fresh veggies is better for my anyways.

Let me know if you try this, I sure enjoyed it and can't wait to try other varieties! Also, the Flatout website had a bunch of other creative recipes that I want to try!

On another note, I am really wanting to tighten up my eating habits. February has been BRUTAL. My birthday, Super Bowl Sunday, Valentine's Day...all within TEN days of each other. It's time to get 100% back on track. Healthy living is about so much more then just losing weight, it really is to fill my body with the proper fuel to function properly. Still learning as I go. :)

Happy Tuesday!!

CRAZY!!!!

2010-02-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Friday) I had a really busy day. I got up bright and early, worked out and then headed into a day of craziness. I got my haircut, went grocery shopping, cleaned, cooked, drove, and then had 11 people over for dinner to celebrate my brother's engagement. I didn't have time to plug in my BodyBugg last night so I just did it tonight.

I burned 3975 calories yesterday.

That is insane.

Can that be right?

According to the chart, I was just super active for the entire afternoon and evening and that is true. I was rushing around shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc.

I only ate about 1100 calories yesterday too, so that gave me a 2800 calorie deficit (approx.). Wow.

That is the most I have burned since starting our healthy journey. More calories then when I Shredded twice in one day. More calories then when I have Shredded and then worked out again in the evening. CRAZY!

It just goes to show you (me) that just being active burns calories.

This is extremely encouraging. To think, scrubbing my bathroom vigorously both burns calories AND results in a sparkly clean bathroom?? SCORE!!!! :)

Weigh In!

2010-02-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

Good morning!!! This mornings weigh in was eventful(ish)!

Brett is now out of the "overweight" category and into "normal" according to the Wii Fit! I am so proud of him. He has lost 11 pounds in a month!

I lost a little over 2 pounds and feel pretty good about that too! I wish the number were a *little* higher but as Brett reminded me, I am also gaining muscle due to working out and that is something to be considered for sure.

Yesterday I burned close to 3200 calories, it was awesome! I Shredded in the morning and then had a great session at the gym too on the elliptical (which I HATE with a passion), the stationary bike, and a rowing machine. If you want to read about my/my daughter's traumatizing gym daycare experience, go here!

My weight loss is pretty good too, considering I only worked out 4 of the last 7 days due to somewhat falling off the wagon for my birthday. Overall, I am pleased but still wanting to continually challenge myself to make the most of my calories!

Off to Shred before Emersyn wakes up! Sooooo excited for my haircut today, whoo hoo whoo hoo!!

Thursday Ramblin's!

2010-02-11T14:18:00.000-08:00

I love this blog. I love that I don't really care about having the most creative or the most witty posts, it is just about documenting this new lifestyle and journaling in a sense. The funny thing is, some of you actually like to read it and that makes me happy! I never started this blog to get tons of followers, even though it IS fun to know who reads your blog. But I do hope to eventually be an inspiration to others trying to make a lifestyle change someday and have track record of success that can be seen through this blog!

Yesterday I intended to work out in the evening (in addition to the morning Shred I had completed) but I ran an errand with a friend and on my way home I got rear ended!!! It was very minor but it did scratch up the back of my bumper and we are going to pursue that getting fixed. I was so flustered and frustrated. I was in an accident this past summer (pictures and story here) and so driving in general is a little traumatizing to me. I can hardly drive through intersections unless cars on the opposing side of traffic are completely stopped because I have this fear that they aren't going to stop and plow into me like the lady did in July. Anyways, I am fine and it really isn't *that* big of a deal, but I was still discouraged in the evening. Instead of working out, I made myself Trader Joes potstickers and sauteed green beans for dinner. Delicious. A little higher in calories then ideal but it was good.

Yesterday I went the highest in calories that I have since I started charting my food in the BodyBugg software! I was just above 1500!! I attribute this to too many snacks at work. I had a Fiber One granola bar AND a Nature Valley granola bar and that was 180 calories that I didn't need. Lesson learned.

This morning Brett and I took Ems to Starbucks for our usual Thursday morning date. Brett is off on Thursdays and I work half a day which is kind of a bummer but I am grateful for a morning off with him! I have a Chonga Bagel which is about 350 calories with cream cheese so it is a treat. We got home from our date and I had about an hour before I needed to leave for work. Brett said he didn't feel like working out but I said that I DID and I did the Shred. I was proud of myself. We are going to work out tonight and I could have just relaxed for 30 minutes before work, knowing we will work out tonight but I decided not to and I am proud of my decision.

I have been working out consistently for 30ish days now, starting on January 8th and I think I have maybe missed 4 days during that time. I can feel my body getting stronger and having more energy. Brett said that I walk with more of a bounce in my step these days which is nice to hear. He also has said a lot of other encouraging comments about looking smaller and that makes me feel good too. It's funny when I am working out. I want to push myself but I still have physical limitations due to my size. It's like there is a fit person trying to emerge from underneath all this....fat. Ugh, such an ugly word. But it's true! And it's motivating because eventually a fit person WILL emerge and that is exciting! I love reading about Tricia over at Endurance isn't Only Physical. She lost 122 pounds in a little over a year and when she started, she was as almost the exact same weight I was with the same aged child as Emersyn even! I know the Lord had us cross paths in the blog world for a reason,; she is inspirational. It's hard to read blogs of people that need to lose 20 pounds and hear about their *struggles*. I know that losing weight in ANY amount IS a challenge, but it is refreshing to find stories of people that need to lose more then just 20, 30, 40 pounds. I have a great blogroll going on the side of this blog and I can't wait to be added to other people's blogrolls someday as a success story.

Tonight Brett and I are going on a gym date. We were married for over FIVE years before we had Emersyn and for one of those years, we had a gym membership to the NICEST most hoity toity gym ever and we NEVER WENT THERE, despite our $100 (!!!!) monthly membership.

What were we thinking????? We were different people then, don't get me started.

We didn't have any childcare to arrange and the gym was super swanky and comfortable.

Ugh.

Anyways.

I can't believe that NOW we are craving gym time but we have this sweet little monkey to worry about when we want to go together. Sooooo....I am going to try the Bally's day care. I am going to tell them NOT to change her diaper, if it needs to be changed they can come and get me. And I think I will workout as close as possible as I can to the room. And I think I will spy on her for the first 30 minutes she is in there to make sure it is all kosher. We'll see. She goes to a nursery at our church so I don't think SHE is the one that will have a problem, more likely me. I'll let you know how it goes.

Tomorrow I get a hair cut, I am SO excited!! I think I will do my weigh in AFTER the cut. I have really thick hair and after I get it cut, I always feel 5 pounds lighter! :)

Happy Thursday!!

Day 3- Feeling Great!

2010-02-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

Hey Ladies! :) It's day three of being fully back on track and I.FEEL.GREAT!!! It's funny how we think that we need to have rich, calorie laden foods to be happy sometimes. No one ever looks back on a time of eating healthy and being active and thinks, "what a waste...I feel like crap!".

Monday night I Shredded in the morning which always feels SO much better. That night I had my bookclub and then came home and got into a *heated* discussion with my husband that resulted in some rage driven cleaning! The good news: I burned a ton of calories. I was over 3000 on Monday which far surpasses my goal of 2700 on work days! I also had a picture perfect day of eating. Ate just over 1300 calories and it was all good nutritious stuff. Except for the 100 calorie Skinny Cow ice cream bar....but that isn't too horrible, it's protein right? :)

Monday's heated discussion led to this delivery at my work on Tuesday afternoon......

Okay, can I just say that these are FREAKING AMAZING?!?!?! When I saw I had a delivery from "Edible Arrangements" I assumed it was from my husband and I thought to myself, what the heck is he thinking, getting me something edible when I am trying to diet. Then I opened the box and the heavenly music started to play. These are so yummy, seriously the best dessert/present ever. Brett said that they are only 60-80 calories apiece and are semi-sweet chocolate which actually can have health BENEFITS in moderation of course. I don't feel like I fell off the wagon eating some of these at all. What a sweet treat!

Last night we went to the Pita Pit for dinner and I seriously dreamed about the pita I ate for dinner. I am officially obsessed with that place and need to look into making my OWN pitas at home. They can't be that hard.

Brett and I are really enjoying this new lifestyle and hit our one month anniversary of it last week! I really do feel like it gets easier and easier. It's also a challenge to fine tune our eating. For example, I love PB&J. When I make a PB&J on Killer Dave's Bread, just the bread alone is 240 calories and 6 grams of fat. It is good fat because of the nuts but still, fat. Then add all natural peanut butter and homemade jam and it is close to 400 calories for just the sandwich. Today I made a PB&J on the sandwich thins. I also bought some all natural jam at Trader Joes that is only 35 calories a tbsp. It is no where near as yummy as my homemade stuff but also full of WAY less sugar. The 100 calorie sandwich thin, peanut butter and jam comes out to a little over 200 calories. What a great improvement. It isn't nearly as hearty as the Killer Dave's sandwich but then it allows me to eat a yogurt and fruit with lunch too. If I can only eat a sandwich (like on the way to bookclub the other night) then a Killer Dave's Sandwich is a great meal.

Still workin' on drinking more water. I need to just go get a good water bottle. I have been saying that for awhile. I Shredded this morning and am thinking about doing it again tonight if Brett is up to it. Tuesday mornings I have bible study so I wasn't able to work out in the morning. Emersyn went to bed really early at 8pm so we got a chance to work out much earlier then we usually do. Instead of doing the Shred, we decided to do one of my Biggest Loser workout DVDs called "Power Sculpt" with Jillian Michaels. We didn't really like it. The nice thing about the Shred is that it is go go go with no time to rest so you feel like you are really burning calories. Last night's work out had pauses in it to explain the exercises and some of the moves were just too easy that we incorporated moves from the Shred to increase the challenge. I think the PowerSculpt is a good workout, I felt the burn, but I think I prefer the Shred for now.

My brother said I should go work for the Shred which made me laugh because of several comments I have gotten on FB saying that people have gone out and bought it. Maybe I could work out some sort of commission from Jillian Michaels for recruiting more Shredders? :)

Happy Wednesday!!

Day One- Deja Vu

2010-02-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

Doesn't it seem like I was just posting day one of the Shred in January? :) I did it this morning and it felt good. I started with Level One and my arms and legs were burnin'. It is SO much easier to work out consistently rather then sporadically. Your body really becomes acclimated to the activity and even craves it. I find that when I am active in the mornings, I spend the rest of the day looking for opportunities to burn calories and add to my efforts.

I got up this morning, fed Emersyn breakfast and fed it to her while watching Sesame Street. Then I made myself a cup of coffee to mentally give myself energy to work out and had a bowl of cereal. Perhaps not the heartiest pre-workout meal but quick and easy. I told Emersyn that I was going to work out and she spent a good time on her chair in the living room trying to impress me with her new found hobby of sticking her tongue out and pretending to read to herself. When I was doing the jump rope, she went over to her inflatable cow and started jumping on it and laughing at the two of us jumping together. When I did crunches, instead of beating me with a book like I mentioned in an earlier post, she laid her head on my tummy and gave me kisses. She is quite the love. At the end I told her that Mommy did it and she clapped for me. What a motivator, huh? :) Anyways, I overcame my "I can't work out when Emersyn is awake" obstacle.

I don't think I mentioned this previously but for my birthday dinner, I really wanted to do something special. It was my BIRTHDAY after all and birthdays are very important to me. The resort where we were staying had a really expensive resteraunt (like $25+ per meal) and then they had a lounge. I didn't want to do the spendy meal, I just can't handle paying a lot for going out unless I KNOW it is going to be amazing. The lounge had mainly burgers and other really unhealthy food, such as beer battered halibut that was totally calling my name. I felt that nagging guilt though in my stomach and knew that I needed to make a good choice. So we drove about 15 minutes into the nearby town of Stephenson, WA to see if there were any options. I knew there was a Subway there but everything in me did NOT want a $5 footlong to be my special birthday dinner. We looked around the town and finally came to the conclusion that there was NOTHING. Brett gave me the choice. We could go back and eat at the lounge or we could eat Subway. I chose Subway. I was a little sulky at first. I got over it quickly though and enjoyed my sandwich.

Later that night I took a little walk to go to the bathroom while we were enjoying some live music in the lobby. On the way to the bathroom I had a realization. I had finished dinner about 3 hours ago at this point. I realized that if I had given in to temptation and had that beer battered halibut and chips, I wouldn't be ANY happier then I was at that very moment. Does that make sense? I didn't spend the rest of the evening WISHING that I had consumed tons of calories. Dinner was a distant memory as I enjoyed my husband, a hot tub, and our getaway! If I HAD given in, I might have felt feelings of guilt or worse yet, feelings of being sick from greasy food! This was a great reminder to me that food is JUST food. It shouldn't be an emotional event and I shouldn't have been so darn stubborn about NOT eating Subway on my birthday. Sure, if we were back in Portland we could have done something healthy AND fun, (like the Pita Pit....still obsessed with that place!!!) but since we were out of town, we had to make do with our choices. And I made a good one. And that is a big deal for me, seeing as I have a rather LONG track record of NOT making the best choices.

Anyways, that was a big realization to me and I wanted to share with all of you. :)

So appreciative of all the support from your comments, they really make my day!

Happy Monday!!!

Starting over tomorrow!

2010-02-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I am starting my 30 Day Shred over! I took a little bit of a break this week due to extreme busyness which is NOT a good excuse, I know, AND due to a monthly visitor which IS a good excuse. There are just a couple days when I cannot work out. I am weak and just feel crummy. BUT tomorrow is a new day and I WILL conquer the 30 Day Shred. I am confident that it is working, considering my weight loss came to a screeching halt this week. I am curious how much of that is water weight though, we'll see next Friday I guess!

Today is the SuperBowl and we are going to a party. I am bringing a yummy and relatively healthy salsa/dip that is safe for Brett and I to munch on. We are bringing lots of gum too. Chewing on gum is a great way to NOT snack. Wish us luck! :)

Looking forward to a new week tomorrow. I am 29 years old now, wow. Lots to accomplish before I turn 30. I can do it!

Happy Sunday!

Hmmm...

2010-02-04T10:07:00.001-08:00

We decided to do our weigh in a day early this week because we will be gone all day tomorrow due to our overnight getaway. I only lost 1.1lbs. I am a little bummed but not overly shocked. I missed Shredding twice this week and I didn't eat as many small little meals as I should have, a couple days having skipped breakfast which is horrible but it's life. Brett and I were talking about how we need to be better at keeping food around the house that is easy to snack on in a healthy way. That has always been something I struggled with, eating enough. I used to eat two meals a day but just big meals. I know eat three smaller meals a day but still struggle with those in between snacks. This week was exceptionally busy but there are more busy weeks to come. This week I encountered a lot of temptations too; making my brother cupcakes, going to a "LOST" viewing party with snacks, having my sweet friend bring me a fruit tart for my birthday yesterday which is relatively healthy but still has sugar in it. (It was so delicious, totally WORTH IT!!!) I indulged more then I should have for sure this past week but I think the whole "birthday week" mentality had something to do with that. I am excited to tighten up the reins this next week. I don't want to make celebrations always so centered around food though, I think that is important.

Another factor in this lame weight loss could be that it is my lovely time of the month. I think the first day or so of your period makes you kinda bloated, don't you think?

I'm not going to let it get me down. Today is my birthday! I am 29 years old and so tremendously blessed. This is my last birthday that I will be overweight, I am certain of it.

Happy Thursday!

I fell of the wagon(ish)

2010-02-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I didn't Shred.

But I have a VERY good reason as to why not.....

MY BROTHER GOT ENGAGED!!!

Aren't they sweet?? This was minutes after David proposed just down the street from my house at one of their special romantic spots as a couple. I love how excited Jenny looks in this picture. She has that bride-to-be glow about her, don't you think? :)

Now, what does my brother getting engaged have to do with me not Shredding?? Well, I had planned on Shredding in the evening with Brett after putting Emersyn to bed a little earlier then usual since we had to get up early this morning for Bible Study. David called and asked if he and Jenny could come over after he proposed and have dessert or something. I said of course! However, my house was a MESS! So after I got off work I ran to Trader Joes and bought some tulips and then ran into Safeway and got some sparkling cider and a cupcakes mix. (They call each other 'Tulip and Cupcake' so I thought this was pretty clever) I got home, started cleaning up, Brett got home with Emersyn, I made her dinner, Brett made us dinner (steak fajita's...so yummy!!!) while I fed Ems and cleaned up, we ate dinner, played with Emersyn, cleaned, put her to bed, cleaned some more, made cupcakes, and then I FINALLY sat down for the first time in the evening at 10pm. No joke. Other then sitting down for dinner, that was the first time I actually got a chance to breathe. David and Jenny were coming over at about 10:30 so Brett and I actually started to Shred, hoping we could get done in time but then decided not to because we didn't want to be all gross and sweaty when they came over.

Having freshly baked cupcakes in my house was a BAD idea. No seriously, a BAD idea. I was a little disappointed in how much I craved one. I have done really well with resisting temptation and the only dessert that I have indulged in since starting our diet were two cookies that Brett's mom brought over for dessert after we had them over for dinner. Brett found it hard to resist the cupcake batter and actually had to wash out the bowl to stop him from thinking about eating the batter, lol. I did end up eating one cupcake in honor of my brother's engagement. This is not a big deal but I still felt guilty. Diets are kind of funny. Like it feels like if you aren't suffering, you aren't doing it right.

At the end of the night I plugged in all the food I ate that day, including the cupcake. I did pretty good, only 1219 calories. I actually didn't eat enough yesterday and the calories that I did eat weren't the most balanced. I was anxious to see what my BodyBugg said about how many calories I burned since I didn't Shred. I was just hoping to be at or above my goal of 2700 calories burned on work days. I burned a little over 3000!!!! I was shocked!!! I looked at the graph that shows when I was burning the most calories and it turns out, my frantic cleaning really gave me a workout! I should do that more often!!

Tonight I am going to a LOST premiere party and guess what? The premiere is T H R E E hours long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brett really wants to stay for the whole thing to watch it with friends. I am not so sure. Our friends have a daughter that is a couple months younger then Ems so they offered to set up a pack'n'play so Ems could go to sleep. We'll see. Maybe I will run up and down the stairs during commercials. :) If we leave earlier, I hope to Shred.

The most important thing is my mentality during all of this. It's NOT the Shredding that is causing me to lose weight on it's own. It's eating right and being active, whether that is Shredding or cleaning. I do have goals but last night at 11:30pm after my brother had left, I was near tears of just being so tired. My brother is only going to get engaged once. I chose to make him the priority for one night. And I have 24 consecutive days of Shredding to my name, which I think is great considering I work, have a toddler, have a husband and am involved in ministry at my church that keeps my busy at times too.

Okay, that's enough for today! Happy Tuesday!!!