Such a long day

Back from the gym. BLAH. I REALLY did not want to go today. I also did not do as much as I wanted, but I DID get up and go, which is awesome.

I did a mile on the tread relatively quick for me, but still pretty slow. I was not running, just walking. I have shaved about 30 seconds off of my time from the last time I did a mile and then I was jogging. This time I was just walking.
I also did some incline work, and some backwards incline work which was trippy, hard, a little painful, and a lot fun/different. I will repeat that one!

I got new shoes tonight. They are Saucony brand... These. They feel pretty good. I will know tomorrow how much my foot hurts with them. I also picked up a pair of the Under Armour compression shorts. I noticed yesterday that my legs were rubbing hard and my flap of skin from the c-section was moving too much. They helped a LOT tonight. I think I will pick up a few more pairs over the next few weeks.


I also decided last night that I want to do a Color Run 5k. There is one in Austin next February. I know it is almost a year away, but I think we will do it. I am excited about it. If you haven't seen anything about The Color Run, you should.


Oh yeah- food was good today. Had a problem with my mac n cheese not cooking right, so I measured out a single serving of the regular kind that everyone else was eating and ate that. Have to adapt! The fact that I stuck to the single was good.

5K!!!

I decided to go after a 5k on the treadmill tonight. It is the first time I have done that distance at anything more than a leisurely stroll. My time was pretty crappy, BUT it is a start!!!! I am amazingly proud of myself, that I did not give up, but one thing is clear. I REALLY need new shoes.
I am tempted to take a break tomorrow- I think I deserve it- but I don't think I will. I might just stroll a 5k lol. Or I might go after it again. What do you think?

A day 2 woo-hoo!

Okay so Nutrisystem day 2 threw me for a loop. I had no caffeine in the house so the lack of caffeine and lack of sugar sent me into the worse migraine of my life. I did not let it win though!!

I popped some Excedrin, took a nap, and I was all better. Just in time for dinner.

The husband knew I felt bad so he asked if it would bother me if he ordered pizza. This is amazing because he does not often ask about these things, which usually kills my diets on the quick.

I asked that he order it from a place I don't care for much, and then I started fixing MY pizza. I took the frozen Nutrisystem Turkey pepperoni pizza, and then topped it with artichokes, bell peppers (both free foods), a string cheese (power fuel), some fake bacon (an extra- less than 30 cals) and some garlic. I baked it, and then left it under the broiler to brown and get crisp for a while. It was AMAZING... Even better than the real pizza in front of me. I was so pleased with my self.

It is back to the gym for me again tonight. I saved my protein shake for then like I did last night, since it served me well, and for once I wasn't famished when I was done. I am going on the hunt for new shoes this weekend. My NB are a little older now, and I think breaking down because my left foot was killing me when I was done last night. I expect my right ankle to be sore from the major sprain last year, but my left foot hurt worse.
I think tonight I will soft wrap my right ankle for support and then just take it easy on my foot.

I know these are all mundane things, and I see I have a few new followers!!! YAY! Thanks to Runs for Cookies over there on the right side. I promise, I get wittier.

I found myself a little craving some chocolate today. Hooray for chocolate chip NS pudding. And cashews. In. The. Pudding. SCORE!

Can I Just Say...

I LOVE the NutriSystem food!!!
It is only day one, but I have had the ham and cheese omelet, the chicken tacos, and the cajun chicken and sausage, and it has all been REALLY good. Of course I am adding in the extras, like salad and veggies, but so far today I have stayed really full and satisfied.
I am so pleased already about how this tastes and is working out for me! I am full and I still have a protein shake for before the gym, and dessert to have!!!

Gym time later, where I shall do my best to be a BEAST!!!

Back to the real world

Well, we are finally home!!! It cost us quite a pretty penny but for now our sewer system works. There is a bad problem with a joint right where it meets the main, so that is a battle we will have to fight with the city. For now though, it works, and sadly I do not have a new tub. Boo.

I am home to start my nutrisystem though!!! I am excited. Our schedules are so messed up that we sleep half of the day, so I decided to eat breakfast as my fuel before I head to the gym this morning (2 am gym trip). Because I won't get my shelf-stable food until later today, I had a ham and cheese omlette and some grapes. The omelette was not too bad. The cheese was a little grainy feeling, as most low-cal cheese is, but with a little pepper, it was flavorful enough to be satisfying.

I can handle this, I think.

Off to the gym- BATMAN!!!

Poo-pocalypse 2012

So, honestly, real life KICKED MY ASS this week.

I was so geared up to start my NutriSystem today, but last night I had to haul butt right back to my moms house 2 hours away at 1 am because something catastrophic happened to my plumbing system. I thought it was my fat-butt breaking the seal, and that did not help matters, but as it turns out we either have a clog or rupture in our sewer line which was causing water to back up into mostly my bathroom any time water was run from any other source in the house. Flush the other toilet? My bathroom floods. Run the washer? My bathroom floods.

All of my food is at home right now, waiting for me. I guess it will be better for me to start at it when I have ALL my food. My 1 week weigh in is Monday. I doubt I have lost anything already, just from trying to curb the snacks, but we shall see.

Husband is at home, dealing with cleaning out all of the water and getting things drained in anticipation of the plumber coming out to fix it all. In talking to my husband over it, if it only costs a few hundred dollars to fix the line, he might even replace the big jacuzzi tub in my bathroom. When we bought the house it was a major selling point. It was not until paperwork was started that we were told that the power had never been run to the whole system, making it a big germ-pool because it could not be cleaned well. I have been dying to get a regular tub put in. Maybe we can strike a deal with the plumbers if they will take/haul off the perfectly good, never used jacuzzi tub/system and install a standard drop-in tub for us. I would be over the moon to soak all of the aches and pains away.

*crossing fingers*

What a week

Real life is taking its toll on me this week.

Got the frozen portion of my NutriSystem today. Hooray! This means I can start tomorrow. I will just go through some of my frozen before the other gets here. I am excited. I have never been so excited at the prospect of losing weight in my life because...

Apparently the seal on our toilet was so old that I sat on it and it busted, thus flooding my bathroom and closet. Mortifying....

Official Nutrisystem Before Shots

I know I have posted "before" pictures before-- that is how I got my banner image, but I am posting the official Nutrisystem before pics now.
I will also have an official candid shot from my sisters wedding last weekend.

Stats:

Start weight: 214 lbs
Arms: 13 inches
Chest: 41 inches
Waist: 48 inches
Hips: 49 inches
Thighs: 24 inches


I took a front facing shot and a side facing shot. (And one just to say BEEHHHHH! My face was the same color as my shirt- a sign of a good workout. You may notice that these are always taken at the gym. This is because I do not own a full length mirror. I have not owned a full length mirror for about 4 years now. This causes a problem some times when planning an outfit or making sure my shoes match, but I have never been eager to buy one. I vow to buy a full length mirror as soon as I drop back below 200 again.

Taking the Leap

I decided to go ahead and try Nutrisystem. The hubby is actually being supportive and has given me the money for it. I made my order (and I did the custom food choices because I wanted to leave out the cereal and the bar foods, because I would not want to eat them.

Because of this, I had to break my rule about staying away from the scale. Apparently, SUCK. I know it is that lovely time of the month right now, but I now weigh 214. Bummer. I am listing that as my official start weight and after I go to the gym tomorrow I will include my official BEFORE shot and all of my stats.

I am excited, and hopeful. I would love to be a lot smaller come Christmas....

Emotional Eating

Ugh.. Hubby was being a brat, and I was eating, and the next thing I know I have eaten an entire huge entree of pasta with shrimp and artichokes, a whole baguette with oil, and a huge chocolate tiramisu. I cannot keep doing this. I feel so sick.

I was debating doing nutrisystem last night. Maybe it would be more likely to help with my portion control issues.

Real life and a WOOHOO!!

First we start with the heavy stuff. :( I have not written much because life has gotten very heavy. We have some very important and hard family drama we are focusing on, which is keeping me busy, but I am still watching what I eat and making it to the gym.

I DID binge on some candy yesterday. I gave in and bought a few of those cream easter eggs, you know, the flavored ones like maple and raspberry. I have a few of those and over two days managed to consume 4 of the three musketeer coconut bars. As far as a candy bar goes, at less than 200 calories, they aren't awful, but not when you eat 4 of them. In my defense, I did share one with the kids... so make that 3 of them.

Better stuff: Chandlers birthday was yesterday! My big boy is 7. When he was born, he was a whopping 9 lbs 11 ounces. He is still so tall but very thin as the autism causes him his own eating issues. We are working on it though. His birthday party is on Saturday. Baby Mandy is coming over to help us make Angry Birds cupcakes. As long as I ice all of them I will be fine. Unfrosted white cake is far more dangerous to me than frosted white cake.

Now on to the good!!! I tossed the scale this month (it was on the fritz anyway) so I do not have a weight but I know that the gym work is paying off. Last month I made myself a skirt for the pinup class I did with Mandy. Because of this I know my waist was 47 inches. (ouch)

Tonight I was thinking about making another skirt for my sisters wedding this weekend, and I measured my waist at a lovely 45 inches. That is a loss of two whole inches!!! I am also down one inch under my bust around my ribs!! This makes me so happy. Even if I am working my butt off, something is happening and it is starting to show its self. This is GREAT motivation for me. When I think I cannot do it, I realize I AM!!!

Ugh!

Sometimes I think this blog should not be called "The Skinny Sister" but instead, it should be called, "Confessions of a Binge Eater".

Damn you Pillsbury Pink Lemonade frosting.

Damn me. Damn my willpower. SIGH.

Planting Seeds

As a childbirth educator, often times I will talk about sowing seeds in the mind, to encourage growth and ideas. Today I speak literally about planting seeds.

The girls have been begging me for a while to plant a garden. Apparently there is a clip on one of the kids channels- Disney I think- that shows an 11 year old girl talking about the garden she got to plant. Kay, being the crunchy, save the Earth flower child that she is, decided she must have a garden as well. Just my luck, my mother has decided to plant a garden this year as well, so I am taking many of my cues from her.

I asked the husband for a little extra cash and went to the store to start gathering supplies tonight. I got some seed starters, some seeds, a watering can, and a big pot for my "Three Sisters" plant. More on that in a few.

When I got home the girls were REALLY excited. They helped me pick out which seeds we were going to start in the little starter tray (it holds 72 seedlings) and we went to work. We started 6 seedlings of each vegetable. Among out choices were 3 kinds of spinach and 2 kinds of green beans. Can you tell what foods are big in our house?

Tomorrow I will be asking my husband to pick me up some good soil so that I can start my "Three Sisters" pot. It will be the center piece of my container garden this year. For those that don't know, this giant pot consists of a squash plant in the middle surrounded by 5 corn plants. Each corn plant has 2 bean plants next to it. The three types of plants coexist in one large pot- at least 18 inches across and 18 inches deep. The bean plants vine up the corn. It is a wonderful thing and I hope we can make it work for us this year.

I am trying to avoid planting a lot of the veggies that we get with out CSA. I just joined our CSA again and we get our food from HomeSweetFarm, which is local to us here in Texas. They have some of the BEST food I have ever tasted, and it is a treat for the kids to go pick it up each week.

I am hoping that focusing more on produce will help us all eat a little better this year. Summer usually brings a lot of fast food for us. I am hopeful that this year it will bring a lot of outside grilling with fresh, healthy food instead.

Breakfast Smoothie and Gym Time

This morning we had a nice little breakfast drink! No picture because I drank it way too fast. It was the fresh juice of 3 pineapple spears, a tomato, a carrot and an apple, mixed with the greek honey yogurt, a banana, half an avocado and some ice. It was pretty good. I might do that combo again.

I hit the gym again last night. I am starting to really enjoy it. I did a nice slow pace on the treadmill for a while and then did some weights for my arms and shoulders. I did a quick sprint on one of the bikes and then went back to the treadmill for some incline time. I did the minute percent increase, but this time I only went up to 10% and brought it back down by 1% every minute. My plan is to increase by a minute every few times until I can do all 15% up and back.

I know all of my updates are short. I really need to work on extending my content for all 3 of my readers!! :)

Dessert/Snack Smoothie

I needed something sweet. So I made a drink for myself- It needs a name. Any suggestions?

Juice:
1 green apple
1 large orange
6 pineapple spears

Add juice to blender with:
single serve honey flavored greek yogurt
frozen banana
half an avocado
2 cups ice

SUPER YUM

Sweat is Fat Crying

I TORE IT UP in the gym tonight. I thought I was going to drop. I spent a long time on the treadmill doing intervals of walking fast and running, and then I rode the bike for 3 miles, at a much more rapid pace than any fat girl should. Then I created my own personal challenge.

I hopped back on the treadmill, and then I did 1 minute at 0% incline, only at 2 mph. I stayed at 2 mph the whole time. Then at the one minute mark, I went up to 1% incline. I increased the incline 1% every minute. I got all the way up to 15% and back down to 13% before I realized my heart was beating funny, and my face was REALLY red. I started dropping it a few % every 30 seconds or so to slow down slowly. Instead of going all the way back down, and taking 30 minutes, I only did 20 minutes, but I think I did pretty good. I climbed 260 vertical feet. I was WASTED when I was done.

This is the end result. I am EXTREMELY proud of how today went, in regards to my diet and exercise. I am really planning on giving March my all. I really am more determined than ever to do this. I will be spending more time at the gym, because my husband, (oh ye of little faith) decided that I will not use the treadmill enough, and does not even want to get the low end cheap model now. He does not think I will keep at it.

Nothing motivates you more than trying to prove someone wrong.

After the gym I went to the store and loaded up on good, whole foods. The only thing I bought that was not "real" food, was bread, tortillas, and 2 bags of chips. One for the kids, and one bag of baked lays to go with the crock pot bbq beef I am making this weekend. I loaded up on fruits and veggies since I am juicing and making smoothies again for breakfast. I was also able to get a lot of shrimp on the cheap because it is lent. I love this time of year.