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.

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!!!

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.

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.

Woohoo!

A few things to note!
Tax return is in! This means I get to shop for my treadmill/incline, new shoes, some compression shorts to keep my legs from rubbing and the super sports bra of steel-- All the good things I have been looking forward to. I think I am going to end up with a regular treadmill, and I am okay with that. I think I will be fine and in a year or two I can always sell it and get the better one.

Also, I have lost a few pounds!! My ticker doesn't reflect it, but for a while it hit 212. That SUCKED. I don't EVER want to see that number again. I have been making an effort to get up and do more, cut back on the soda, and eat better, and so far, so good. I know these streaks for me are usually short lived, but I am trying hard. I am down to 201.
I first noticed it not on the scale, but how my body shaper fit. I usually have to fight and jump and contort to get into it-- I mean major cussing, blood, sweat, tears, more cussing, a break... fight some more--, and last weekend I just pulled it on fresh from the dryer like it was nothing. I hopped on the scale and it said 199.9. WOOT.

Small triumphs.

Hubby is still not being supportive, but what can you do. He has heard me talk about doing it so much and I never do, that I am sure he just rolls his eyes inside now, and keeps ignoring me.

I will show him.

Nice long weekend

Bad decision. Bad Decision. BAD DECISION!!!!
LOL
This weekend, we had Amelia's birthday party. I proceeded to make myself sick on food. By 10 am I had eaten my weight in sandwiches, I had 3 cupcakes, and 2 pieces of pizza. I had a ton of food while watching the game yesterday- and I have already had a big breakfast today, though in my defense, in my eggs are mushrooms and spinach.

GAH. On to better days. Headed back to Beaumont in a bit. The van threw a CEL yesterday so I have to get Doug to his car which is at my moms, and then get the spark plugs replaced in the van tomorrow. Good times.

Friday Weigh-In

Well, yesterday finished out okay. For dinner we had a pasta that was essentially the exact same as my pizza, except on noodles instead- garden rotini actually.
I did have a nice dessert- a milkshake- but it was 3 small scoops of ice cream and 2% milk, and only filled a smaller solo cup.

So Friday is my weigh in day. And today was... drumroll please......


204.4

It's a start.

I am a little upset. I was so proud of getting out and running yesterday, and then hubby laughed at how long it took me to run a mile. I am sorry if I cannot run a 7 minute mile like he can... I NEVER could run a mile that fast, and I never will be able to run a mile that fast. (I'd settle for anything under 10) But aside from once or two short bursts on the treadmill, I have not run in a LONG time. It took a lot for me to get off my ass and do it, but I did!! And he laughed.
:(

Well, it could have been worse.

Well, yesterday, I took the kids to get a birthday lunch for Amelia, who turned 4.
We went to Sonic, and instead of getting my usual double cheeseburger and a large fry and extra large coke, I got a hot dog meal (which is two small hot dogs, (though one was chili and cheese, in my defense, the other was onions and saurkraut, so it wasn't as bad fat and calorie wise) and I did not make it a larger combo, which means I had a medium fry and a medium coke. I did not even finish the soda though because half way through driving around, Chandler started trying to steal Kays, so I gave him the rest of mine.

After we got home, I crashed because I had been up since 9 pm the night before. I slept straight through until about 330 this am, and so here I sit. I had to run to the store to grab garbage bags, and I must admit I bought and tried one of the new coconut 3 musketeer bars. I MIGHT have chased it with a regular one too, and then came home and ate one of those little packs of the two sausage biscuits. SIGH. Now I feel gross and REALLY wish I had my incline trainer already.

At this point I am begging hubby to just do it already.

Pasta Lunch

Garden rotini with scallops, spinach and mushrooms in a light tomato sauce.

This makes me feel guilty, but I made one bowl of it, so I couldn't over eat, and that was IT. It was so amazingly good.

Put down the brownie...

...and back away slowly.

I am having such a battle with food these days. I just want to devour everything in sight. I know I shouldn't. I eat even after I am full. When I was having lunch yesterday, I was eating and I got full, and I told myself I should stop. I told myself that I was full and I looked down and I still had some food, and I just... ate it anyway.
I have serious food issues.

Speaking of food, it is about time I start my grocery list. It is the end of the month. I really need to make some meal plans and stick to them, but it is so hard with as busy as we stay.
Excuses excuses, I know. I hear them as they are coming out of my mouth, but I just cannot... or will not change things. I want to, I just never stick to it. :(

So for this shopping trip- no soda. No snack cakes (that I like) and no brownies.

I am trying to get off the soda again. I just bought a huge bottle of no doze to handle the caffeine withdrawals. Those that say caffeine has no withdrawal effects have certainly never gotten a migraine when trying to come off it.

Oh look, peaches are on sale at Kroger.

All time high meets all time low

Ouch. I spent too much time at my Mom's house this week. All time high. Will be updating ticker to reflect this new all time high.
I never thought I would see this number when I am not pregnant. I am already depressed lately and this is not helping.
Of course, eating like this is a nasty spiral. I am feeling bad or upset and I eat. And then a few weeks later it shows on the scale and I get depressed so I eat more.
I have got to get a handle on my weight. I know I always say it and never do anything about it. But I have to, for my health.

SIGH. I guess I will write more later.

Fell off the Wagon

The blogger wagon that is.

I am doing OKAY on the food front. I have not lost any more, and I might have gained a pound. I went to Scentsy Convention and ate a lot of junk, but I am getting back into the flow of it all. If I can get back into the gym flow it would be even better.

We did have a good trip. I learned a lot about how to grow my Scentsy business, and I am armed and ready to improve everything.

No more excuses. For anything.

Walking the Mall

I took all 6 kids to the mall today! We got out and met a friend of mine and her daughter. Kay now has a BFF, and they had such a good time together. I did not go to the gym, but I did get a little exercise by walking the loop at Katy Mills. It is about a mile but if you count the occasional kid chase, it was a decent workout. At least I wasn't sitting on my bum at home all day.

I will say that the kids did so much better than I expected. Chandler got a little upset at the start of the day, but settled down once he realized all the people around us weren't interacting WITH us, just AROUND us. Anthony and Mimi walked on their own for the first time. While they had a good time, maybe the mile long loop was a bit much for Anthony, although after we stopped for lunch, he got his strength back and was good to go the rest of the way. In fact, he was a little upset when we had to go.

I did bust on eating today and my stomach is pissed at me for it tonight. It is doing that weird cramping thing again so I am pretty sure I am having gallbladder issues. If I eat something greasy two days in a row, it gets really angry. While it sucks to be me tonight, it is good because it will help keep me away from greasy gross stuff.

I bought some yummy smelling peaches and plums at Walmart tonight. Cannot wait for breakfast to have some.

Rockin' it out!

So I made it to the gym 5/6 days. With all luck I will make it out there this evening. If I do not, I won't feel too bad because we have a playdate today at the mall with a friend of mine and her 9 year old daughter. I am sure that taking all 6 kids on a mall walk will be a pretty decent work out in and of its self.

I got up this morning and made myself some breakfast, since I am usually at the diner eating right now. I have taken a liking to the veggie omelet at 59 Diner. It was not the same without it but it is starting to get pretty expensive.

My weight is down more but I am thinking about not updating it for a day or two to make sure it sticks. Over all, I am so thrilled with how I am doing this time out. I am starting to really enjoy my time in the gym, and I am not changing my eating habits TOO much. In fact, I am eating more often, as I never ate breakfast. I am snacking less because I am just not as full as I was.
Can't complain.

Eating Healthier

I recently made the decision to start cooking again. I had to cast all laziness aside, make the other big people handle the babies and cook. Our wallet needed it, and so do our waistlines.

We have consumed WAY too much fast food the past year. It started when I had the morning sickness. My nausea was so bad that I could barely lift my head up. Hubby is not the best cook (insert southern- "bless his heart") so we ate a lot of take-out. From Taco Bell to Chili's to the occasional Olive Garden, we had it all. It got old REALLY quickly, and hubby gained about 15 lbs in the process.

After the morning sickness was gone, we discovered I was having twins and had high blood pressure again and had to stay off my feet and in bed most of the time, so the take-out trend continued. Then I had the babies, and was stuck in bed after, as recovery from the c-section was long and horrible. About this time, hubby decided to try his hand at cooking a little more and he did a great job most of the time.

I have recently gotten back into the swing of things like cleaning and cooking. (And exercising... don't forget exercising)
At first I was using the crock pot way too much, but now I am back in the kitchen more, cooking better and healthier meals.

You would think that buying more real food would save us a little bit of money, but unfortunately I am hung up on buying yummy things like fresh veggies and good cuts of meat, free range eggs and organic milk. This means my grocery bill is rather expensive at times. I found a great CSA that we bought a share into. Sometimes we do not use all of the awesome goodies, and I need to change that. I really suggest that those who have a local CSA take part. (Community supported agriculture- find one HERE). Our food comes from HomeSweetFarm. Amazing people and wonderful food!


My goal in the next few months is to stop buying as much prepackaged mixes and frozen food. Less chicken nuggets for Chan and more real chicken. Less powdered potatoes, more real, etc. Wish we luck on that one...

Farmers' Market

Sometimes I like to get up and go to the farmers market at LaCenterra. Kind of a yuppy part of town, but there is this bakery that sets up there called Sinfull Bakery. Now before someone gasps at me because this IS a weight-loss blog, their specialty is organic, vegan, gluten free, and sugar free products. I LOVE the vegan cookies. To me, I don't care the calorie count, because we eat them maybe once a month, and then they are so expensive, we never eat more than one per person. ($4.50 for 2 cookies).

I skipped out on the gym this morning, but instead loaded up all 6 kids and took them down to the farmers market. 30 minutes of getting ready, and 20 minutes getting them out of the car just to walk around for 30 minutes and eat a cookie, and then spend 20 minutes getting back in the car. :) That is a workout in its self.

As I enjoy the second half of my amazing cookie (we got cranberry orange, oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip), enjoy some pics of the day.

Food Food Food

I have been to the gym 4 days in a row. I am doing pretty good with that. I am sure my workouts could be a little longer but I am getting off my butt and am doing it more than once a week.

As far as food goes, I think I am doing much better by not snacking on everything and I am not eating near as large portions as I have been. I figure if I start slowly I might be more likely to stick with it vs. jumping in too fast and hard. For once I am trying to do this slowly.

That said, I weighed myself today and I am down about 5 lbs. HOORAY!!

Off to work on my Skinny Sister logo...

2 day streak!

I made it to the gym two days in a row!! It was not a long workout, but I kept my heart rate up so I know it counts! Every little bit counts. I did a little on the treadmill, 7 minutes on the elliptical, which is good for me, and then a few miles on the stationary bike in about 10 minutes.

Of course, today was my anniversary, and I blew all calories out the window and at a dinner from Olive Garden that was worth about 2500 calories!! YIKES! That was after I did so good on my breakfast. It was about 450 cals, and it was eggs and french toast!

On a side note, I am working on the most awesome little cartoon of myself, The Skinny Sister. :) Can't wait to show it off!