If my Kuerig was a man I would make out with him...

Just saying,

because it's true.

Green Mountain Wild Mountain Blueberry is fantabulous.

NYE!!!

It's New Years Eve time. It will be a hard night to be good. I am trying to just let it go for tonight and only worry about portion control. We are having another couple over who have kids and we are just hanging out. I am not a big fan of going out on NYE. For one, the nutzo drivers on the road freak me out. And for two, where would we go with 2 kids?

I am cooking the following:
Spinach and artichoke dip in the crockpot
Pork meatballs in tomato sauce (made from the pigs we slaughtered this year), served w. rolls and provolone cheese
Stuffed crab and cream cheese mushrooms topped with cheese and bacon
Mini-Sweet Potato Pies with glazed walnuts
A cheese plate with gourmet cheeses
Potstickers

Still not sure about a dessert. So as you can see, being good is pretty much out. I figure I need to just let it go and have a good workout. The other somewhat good thing is I don't really drink much now that I nurse.

At the most I will have 2 glasses of wine. The old pre-mama me would take down AT LEAST 2 bottles of wine on a typical weekend night, never mind on NYE. So I figure I am at least saving some calories this way.

Now let's talk resolution:

I sort of hate new year's resolutions, but we have one as a family..so it is more likely that I will stick to it.

This year's resolution is NO take out food or drinks. This isn't too hard for us, except for the occasional pizzas and dunkin donuts. Thank goodness we got the Kuerig machine..this will help.

Less lazy than usual

I did it. I put both kids to bed on my own and did 30 minutes on the eliptical and some toning. I had a total fight with myself about it as I was sitting in Liam's bed, and I am happy to report that the healthy me won...wohoo. Now I feel good. Ever notice that when you do abs you actually hold yourself in a better posture? I like that feeling

Envy

My husband lost 20 lbs and is still going. I am so proud of him and I hate him a little too :o)

Trader Joes is my BFF

Healthy snacks you must try from TJ's

1. Orange flavored cranberries: think grownup fruit snacks

2. Single serve bags of light kettle corn (only 130 calories for a sweet/ salty and filling treat)

3. Cranberry covered goat cheese. If you are a cheese lover, it is a healthy/ light choice

4. Honey wheat pretzels

Some not so healthy ones I LOVE: frozen spinach and artichoke dip and orange chicken= double yum!

Bad Movie/ Good Wine

I had a great time last night with some work friends. There was gossip, and chatting and good stories and I wasn't upset that I had 2 glasses of wine (which is a lot for me these days).
I was happy that I made a pretty healthy good choice; crusted cod with asparagus and brown rice. AND, I suprised myself by sticking to my no popcorn or candy rule. I didn't get anything to eat or drink at the movies, but I did enjoy my nice little buzz from the wine.

The movie was HORRIBLE. Do not see How Do You Know! I really wanted to love it. I love Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson. It should have been great, but it was sooooo bad. I am not a picky movie gal either, but this one was horrid.

One inspirational thing that did help keep me from sticking my hand in my friends popcorn was Reese Witherspoon's ridiculous body. She was in seriously good shape.

So on that note. I MUST make good choices today. I started off with a 20 minutes pilates toner that I sometimes do. It is an On DEMAND cable choice (which, by the way, is a great place to go to if you want a workout video...there are many to choose from). I did it with my husband. Now I just NEED to do some cardio. Hmmm...maybe I will take the kids into the basement and do some kickboxing with the bags.......

From the mouth of babes

Oh my lovely Liam said to me last night:


Liam: "Mama, I think another baby is growing in your belly."


Me: "Why do you think that?"


Liam: "Because it looks like it's getting bigger."


Thanks Liam! You are lucky you are cute.

2lbs, hope it's not water weight

My morning weight was 153, down 2 since yesterday so I start my day off on a good foot. I feel like if I hadn't gone down at all, I might not be as motivated to keep going.

I am sitting here drinking my smoothie and thinking about what flavor coffee I will have. It might be sad, but making my coffee decision is one of the things I look forward to most in my day. I do realize this is pretty lame, but it's the truth. If the doctor tells me I need to give up coffee to live, I would pretty much make the decision to die.

I am also trying to make a plan for my day. Charlotte has a doctors appointment in the middle of the day, so I am thinking about bundling us all up and going for a morning walk. I need to make very good choices today because tonight I am going out to dinner and a movie with friends.

I am so psyched about getting out with some adults. I am so worried about making bad choices and going back up 2 lbs.

So today's goals are:
1. Get moving: do at least 45 minutes of physical activity and some weights when the kids nap (fingers crossed) this afternoon.

2. Make a healthy choice for dinner tonight...maybe fish? Nothing with french fries and NO candy or popcorn at the movie. I am thinking if I get a diet coke it will at least keep my mouth occupied and my sweets craving low.

3. Enjoy myself and be positive. We are going to see the new Reese Witherspoon movie and I never get out so I want to have a great time and not think about how my jeans are cutting into my fat.

Wish me luck!

An okay kinda day.

I had a decent day, considering it is FREEZING outside and we couldn't do much and I am on day 3 of potty training bootcamp with my son, which is stressing me out and requires constant efforts, not to mention the bribery candy I have in front of my face that I use to get him to the potty (friggen M&M's).

Today's exercise:
-25 minutes on elliptical (it should have been 30, but Charlotte decided to wake back up)
-20 minutes kick boxing/ ab circuit/ running around with Liam/ Jumping on his trampoline with him. This was really fun. We cranked up the tunes in the basement and ran around doing circuits together, using my husbands punching and kicking bags. Charlotte sat in her bouncy seat laughing her head off at us.
We would have done more had it not been for the fact that in a matter of 3 minutes, Liam ripped his kids size punching bag off the ceiling, peed in his pants and head butted me so hard that I split his lip and thought I may have knocked his front teeth out. Then he had a 10 minute crying session, and that was that.
All in all getting a 20 minute workout in with 2 kids in my care was pretty good.

I put both kids to bed (Mike is gone for his boxing class) and fought the urge to sit down. That is when I did the elliptical. Putting Liam down is about the most unmotivating thing ever. I lay in his bed for sometimes over 30 minutes, reading books, singing and waiting for him to nod off. Getting on the elliptical after this was a true accomplishment.

Eating went okay today.

For breakfast I had a smoothie and coffee.

I had a handful of almonds and some dried cranberries and apricots for snack.

For lunch I had one can of tuna with melted provolone and a handful of pretzels.

For dinner I had 8 pieces of spicy tuna roll sushi and some mixed seafood in light olive oil (muscles, shrimp, octopus).

I ate 4 of Liam's pottytraining M&M's because I felt a huge sweets craving coming on. Then I stopped with the M&M's when I remembered my weight and instead ate a sliver of cranberry flavored goat cheese and pretzels.

Not such a bad day. I am pretty happy about it. I am going to stretch and do abs before I go to bed because if I don't I will sneak back into those damn M&M's.

A book to inspire

If you are looking for a great book, consider Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (author of The Glass Castle). My mom gave this to me last week and I just finished it. It is a great book if you believe yourself to be a strong, independent woman. The protagonist is the prototype of the stong, ahead of her time female. And when I say strong I mean STRONG. I'm talking the type who spends days on the dry plains of Arizons rangling cattle, who sold bootleg liquor out of her back door and who road 500 miles by herself via a horse at the age of 12, just to get an education.
The book made me want to get up and stop complaining. GREAT READ! Thanks Mom

Smoothies seem to help

I started drinking smoothies a while back. This is one healthy choice I am good about. I have seen a great improvement in the shine of my hair and the condition of my skin. I totally recommend it. My husband, son and I all split this for breakfast.

This is enough for 2.5 smoothies (cut in half if for just you)

-1 banana
-2 big scoops of non-fat, plain Greek yogurt
-2 scoops of natural protein powder, vanilla or chocolate powder (I am sure to use one w. no artificial sweeteners)
-flax seed oil (one tablespoon per person)
-frozen fruit (about 1-2 cups) I like the berry medley w. blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.
-Ice (keep adding until you like the consistency)


This keeps me full for a few hours.

I'm starting (I Think)

Today feels like a good day to start making a change..

For one, it is my school vacation week. Which means I am not totally exhausted.

For two, all of the Christmas cookies are officially gone.

For three, I gained a lb and my current weight is 155. BLAH.So I better get it together before I creep up.

Here is today's pledge:

1. I will not snack on anything but fruit.
2. I will do the eliptical for 30 minutes.
3. I will do abs.
4. I will get my crap together and get the kids bundled up in this snow, get to the store and get some new running sneakers with my Christmas money (this may take the most motivation of all!)

I'll let you know how it goes. NO EXCUSES!

Once upon a size 6

I have been thin forever. I was too skinny in high school. The bean stalk type. Of course I didn't appreciate my high metabolism at the time. In college and in my early 20's I worked at a gym and was pretty good about staying in shape. I could just about eat and drink whatever I wanted as long as I hit the gym.

Even after I had my first baby, things were not so bad. I gained 30 lbs and lost most of it right after. By 6 months I was back to my prebaby size and when Liam turned a year old, I was 7 lbs less than I was before I got pregnant (thank you breastfeeding!)

Breastfeeding does help. Some woman think it's weird to have a baby hanging from their boob for a year, but they might reconsider if they knew what it might do for the postbaby weight loss. With Liam it was like I couldn't eat enough. But then again, he was a moose and ate ALL the time.

The breastfeeding trick isn't enough this time. I am thinking part of the trouble is that I didn't have to go back to work for 5 months with Liam. This time around I was back to work at 2 months; which has meant less time to go for those long walks, less time for recovery and less time to get back on track with a sleep schedule.

I know what you are thinking....I thought she said she was done with excuses. Yup, this is a bit of an excuse, or a complaint that this time the weight is not just falling off. Poor me! Now I need to cut back calories and start moving if I want what I once had.

I would love to be a size 6 again, but I would settle for a body that is not hideous in a tankini.

A need for change

I have just figured out that all though I have had a great couple of years (beautiful babies, marriage, house, dog, etc.), something bad has happened to me. I can officially confess that I am full of shit.
Not in every way of course. Normally I am a pretty honest person. Yet in the past year I keep lying to myself. I constantly talk about exercise, health, healthy eating, etc. Yet since I had my second baby, Charlotte, I have been talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

I am less than 3 months away from the 30th birthday, and I feel fat, gross and lazy. I need time, I need energy, I need to make less excuses and I need to get my fat ass moving. So this is it...my public delaration that I MUST get my crap together and start walking the walk. I will be a hot mom who turns 30 in her skinny jeans.

Charlotte turned 6 months old as of yesterday and this means I an no longer allowed to use the wonderful "I just had a baby" excuse. I am still 10 lbs away from my prebaby weight, but more important than the numbers is the fact that I do not feel good about myself.

So you need to hold me accountable. I weigh 154 lbs and I did not exercise today. Tomorrow will be different.