Temporary Relocation

Well we are all settled in at my Mom's house to house sit with all of the animals. It should be a long and torturous week. LOL.

Husband played easter bunny for all of the kids this morning, and brought me a huge teddy bear (which he hasn't done since highschool when I collected them) and said it was because he knew I couldn't eat a ton of chocolate. Then I found two hidden bags of Reeses eggs which is likely going to kill me.

I get to spend this whole week at my mom's house, which means I will be really homesick when I get back to my house next week. It is going to be pure torture! I will be struggling to not gorge myself on everything because I am sad. Hubby is traveling a lot these days, which leaves me a lot of alone time. Luckily, as long as I do not shop and stock the house with junk, I stay away from it because I cannot just hop up and go to the store for it.

I have done good today. Because we are all alone, there is no big Easter Sunday meal for me to eat. This means my sad little lunch was NutriSystem chicken cacciatore. It was good, but it was no ham, mac and cheese and green beans. :(

On the up side, I TORE IT UP at the gym the other night. I finally tackled the stairmaster. I only did 10 flights of steps, but I still finally did it and it wasn't near as torturous as I thought it would be. I then rocked the tread, both front and backwards, on a high incline and spent some time on the elliptical. For once I did not want to die after that, which means I am getting more stamina. I also rotated all of the cardio with weights and machines, since I know I have been neglecting my upper body. I was SO SORE for the first time in a while. It was satisfying.

Taking a Break

Most diet methods do not advocate taking a whole day to eat whatever, but today I decided I needed a break. It was a rough few days with the kids, and I have done great for 3 weeks and am down 8 lbs, so I decided to have a nice dinner and a few drinks when the kids went to bed. Dammit I deserve it!!
I stayed on track through lunch, and then decided I wanted food. I made a cocktail and had some pizza. HOORAY. Now I no longer feel like I am going to binge on everything.

Back to the grind, and the gym, tomorrow, as hubby will be home.

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!!!

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.

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!! :)

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.

Quick Note

Just a quick note after shower and before bed-- I actually made it to the gym tonight. Tomorrow I will post some new pics. I worked HARD tonight. I did intervals on the treadmill- a 2.5 mph pace set on 15% incline and a 3.3 mph pace on 6%. After 30 minutes of that, I took a few minutes to breathe, and then did 10 minutes on 15/10s-- that is 1.8 mph at 15% and 2.2 mph at 10%. Slow, yes, but oh so hard-- a real hike.

Early morning tomorrow. Out the door at 6 am.

Failing miserably

I am failing miserably at the no fast food thing.
But the good news is that I have lost about 3 lbs. Lets just see if I keep it off. I have started going to the gym again, while we have membership. It will expire this month if we don't renew the credit card on the account, and I don't think we will, since Doug will be getting me my incline trainer in about 2 weeks. Between that and the weights I already have, I am not missing much at the gym except for no kids, and it is so hard to actually get AWAY to go to the gym, this will be far beneficial.
I found out that while most of the treadmills in my gym only have a 7% incline, the two closest to the door go up to 15%. I have had the best time hiking up them. It is a better workout to me. This is why I am looking forward to the incline trainer.

Day 1.

Today I officially start the juice fast. I have decided to aim for a 10 day fast with nothing but raw fruit and veggie juice, however, if I feel too weak at the end of the day, I will have a light dinner.

So today is day 1. I will be taking official before photos at the gym tonight. I am back down to 200 lbs though, when I was up to 208 before, so I know the juice fasting helps a lot.

I cannot wait to see how this goes for me. I decided that I always fail at diets, and that I either do something drastic to kick start it, or I never do anything at all.

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.

Gale Force Winds

Boy, while I was under the weather yesterday, I am down right SICK today. I am almost glad though, that I got sick when hubby is gone and I cannot go to the gym. That way I don't have to feel guilty when I can't make it.

Even though I feel crummy, I have been working around the house, at least trying to keep my activity level up. Like I have said, it is better than sitting on my butt all day. So far I have cleaned the kitchen, cleaned out 1/4 of the pantrys (pantries?) and some of the cabinets. My goal tonight is to get all of the cabinets and pantries done. Time to weed out and get rid of stuff.

Under the weather

I am sick! Bummer. I have the same sinus crap that everyone else has. The babies are snotty, the kids were snotty but aren't now. Guess it is my turn. This really sucks. I hate sinus issues more than anything else on this earth.

Doug went out of town today for a day or two. That means no gym for me for a few days. Through Thursday evening at least. This means I must play some Just Dance to do SOMETHING. As long as I am not sitting on my butt for a week then I will be fine.

Wish this cold away for me, please!

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.

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!

Good times!

So I made it to the gym yesterday! Hooray! I managed to do 2 miles on the treadmill in 40 minutes. Seems pretty slow but I have been out of the game for a while. I did the first mile pretty quick and then did the second slower but on an incline. It was a good workout but I need to get more done this morning. I usually go late at night but our sleep schedule is really messed up right now so going at about 5 am is better for me. I have time to grab some oatmeal or something, and then head in. I am determined to go again this morning.

As a note, I also remembered to get diet soda for my caffeine instead of regular. That will cut about half of my days calories tomorrow. Also, I would rather no comments on the hazards of artificial sweeteners. I have done my research and while I am not 100% comfortable with them, they are okay in my short term until I can get off of the caffeine.

I very well might make half a dozen posts on here a day, but I figure if it keeps me on track, all 3 of you reading this won't mind!