Exercise? and Chickens!

I am totally slacking on working out right now. I have got to get my crap together. If you know me, you know that I am teaching a new class this year and that my work life has been more stressful this year than ever before. Next year will not be so bad, but this year sucks for reasons not worth getting into.

I know I am not supposed to make excuses, but I am feeling so overwhelmed lately. By the time I get home, make dinner, get everything ready for the next day, get the kids to bed and clean up from dinner I am just DONE. I really need to workout in the morning. I am praying that our daughter (who is now 7 months old) will sleep through the night soon. As of right now, she comes into our bed at about 3:30am to eat, and this makes getting up to workout difficult.

I am hoping to give it a try tomorrow because my routine is falling apart at night.

I have been focusing so much on my eating habits and I am feeling good. I am noticing a positive change in my skin. I also notice that I am never bloated and I never have that gross 'full' feeling.

After reading Tosca Reno's book I have reconnected with my love of cooked oats. Today I had a bowl of oats with ground flax seed, honey, walnuts and cinnamon. So good and so filling.

I made a Frittata for dinner with the leftover peppers and onions from last nights fajitas. I added in some spinach, garlic and cumin. It really was very good.

The best idea my husband ever had (besides marrying me of course!) was getting laying hens. I thought he was crazy at first, mostly because at the time I was pregnant with our second child and I could not even dream of taking care of more living creature.

However, the pay off for chickens is huge. We have 7 hens. During the spring/ summer they lay at least one egg a day, giving us 7 or more a day. Right now we get 2-3 eggs a day. Such a great source of protein and if you have ever had fresh eggs, you'd never go back. Trust me, if you had tasted my frittata you would go out and by a hen or two of your own. but if you do, my advice is skip the rooster. We had to shoot ours (a story I won't get into).

Anyhow, my final thought for today is: More exercise, more eggs, more chickens and less roosters.

Groceries

Clean Eats

I have been commenting a lot on the fact that we are trying to follow the clean eating philosophy as much as possible. For the most part we have been very good about it. Really we have always cooked and shopped for healthy foods. The problem has always been our take out. Since we had our kids it was just way too easy to pick something up or go out to eat. So we totally reversed the positive effects of our good grocery trips by eating crap on the go.

Now that we seem to have that under control, I am doing more research and following of Clean eating.

I have used the clean eating magazine website for some time
http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/


The woman who is really the guru on this is Tosca Reno. I finally bought her book "The Clean-Eat Diet Recharged" and so far I really love it. I am not big on limiting yourself and I have always known that many small meals is the way to go. I totally agree with everything she says. If eating good, healthy food is important to you I really recommend reading her book.

I decided to take a picture of some of my groceries today, which I had out on the counter, so you could visualize some of what clean eating includes.

Just to highlight some of what is in the photo:

oat meal
flax seed
flank steak
ground turkey
peppers
mushrooms
whole wheat pasta
black beans and chick peas
apples
bananas
blue berries
walnuts and almonds
skim mozzarella
eggs (those are from our own chickens, not the grocery store)
egg plant
ground bison meat (they sell this at Roche Bros.)
whole wheat bread
organic skim milk

Survived the week from hell

Well, the scale hasn't moved. I weighed in this morning and I was 147.8. Glad I didn't go up, sad I didn't go down. However, this was the week from hell. I only worked out twice, I was exhausted, cranky and unusually busy. I was helping put on a play with my students at work, grades were due in and I found out I have to take a grad class that starts next week. I was in crazy-lady-mode all week.

However, it is over and I feel pretty good. I am glad I didn't gain anything and I can attribute that to good eating. We ate very clean all week. My only slip up was I ate 2 cookies at a work related party.

I am going to the book store today to try and find a book on Eating and Cooking clean. Want some motivation? Go to the website of a chain restaurant and look at the calorie/ fat count of your favorite meals. It just might motivate you into not eating out, or at least making better choices.

I am feeling very good about not going out to eat. My D'angelos cheat last week confirmed that take out/ going out to eat is making America fat. So on that note, I am off to research a tasty (but healthy) Sunday meal choice for tonight.

Here's a good link: Check out the This, not That page

http://eatthis.menshealth.com/all-articles

Calorie Counting and Such...

So I always swore that I wouldn't turn into an OCD'd, calorie counting freak, but I might just need to.

I blogged before about my use of myfitnesspal.com. Both my husband and I have been using it. It is a calorie and exercise counter. Check it out!

I have been more aware of how much I eat and what my calorie intake is. It is a tricky balance to diet, exercise and breastfeed because you don't want to hurt your milk production. The website takes that into account as you track calories.

The other day we were out on the road with the kids and needed to feed Liam lunch so we stopped at D'Angelos. I got a chicken breast club sandwich. I really could have gone without it, and truly it wasn't very good. If we were at home I would have had something smaller. It had no mayo.

When I got home I looked up the nutritional information and my nasty, unfulfilling sandwich was well over 1,000 calories. This was for a small! I was so sad to waste so many calories on something I didn't even really want. If I was going to waste that many let it be on some cheesy, delicious Italian dish (or an entire bottle of wine).

This got my husband and I talking about calories. If I think about that one sandwich it makes me realize what I consumed on certain weekend nights. It wasn't unusual for us to get a pizza to split, or burritos, Chinese, etc. on a Saturday night. I don't even want to know how many calories are in that. YUCK.

So for now (until I reach my goals at least) I am counting away.

Trader Joes and Bj's= my boring life

Highlight of my day (other than my weigh in) was going to BJ's and Trader Joes. This is sad for several reasons:
1. It seriously is just about the most exciting thing I did this week
2. It was just me and the kids (which means no husband with me to make fun of all the gross people at BJ's who only have a membership so they can buy their cigarettes whole sale)
3. I actually enjoy this trip.

I get the same crap at BJ's every time. The biggest reason I go there is because we could buy stock in a paper towel company. If you have kids you know what I mean. If you don't, just wait until you have a 2 year old son who can't quite get his pee stream into the toilet all 10 times he goes in a day.
The other thing I always get is their organic milk. It is worth it because they have much lower prices for this and I only give the kiddos organic.

TJ's is my fave part of the trip. I love that place and always discover something new when I am there. However, Liam decided he was going to throw everything he saw in the cart, so our trip was cut short. I managed to get out with 5 of my favorite things: flaxseed oil, frozen berries, quinoa, frozen/ chopped garlic and olive oil.

Dinner tonight was;
Salmon with olive oil and garlic (cooked under broiler)
Brown rice with fresh artichoke hearts, sauteed onions and lemon peel

It was pretty damn good and healthy. I **heart** salmon.

Liam and I did a killer workout in the basement and he was pretty cooperative. It was fun and I felt pretty good about it.
The best part is when I added up my calories and exercise on my calorie tracker (myfitnesspal.com) I have 800 calories to spare. This was a fine excuse to send out the hubs to get me some frozen yogurt, which is my way of being bad without going all in.

Thank you breastfeeding for giving me an extra 400 calories of consumption a day. I a still plenty short!

sweeeeeeeeeeeeet

I take back what I said yesterday. I CAN be 145 by Charlotte's baptism because at weigh in today I was 147.6!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it. I weighed 3 times just to be sure. This was after my big burrito dinner last night. This means I am down 7 lbs since I started this blog, which was right after Christmas. I think that is pretty darm good.

I am so glad to have this number today, because it will keep me in check and I will certainly get a good workout in because now I know it is worth it.

30 here I come!

Week in review..

Our eating was excellent this week and I am hoping for some good numbers on the scale tomorrow. I fit into some of my pre-pregnancy dress pants this week, so I am pretty psyched.

I am not working out tonight. honestly I just REALLY don't feel like it. But I did workout Tuesday-Thursday and will do a long workout tomorrow. We had homemade chicken burritos tonight and they were FABULOUS. I needed something really good because I felt a major desire to cheat coming on.

I did cheat with coffee this week. I caved and got a Dunks iced on Wednesday. Wednesday is my late day at work where kids stay after for extra help. An extra hour and a half of kids can be torturous and  I was totally dragging. I have been so good about not getting any and making everything at home. I think I need a Keurig at work.

I will report in tomorrow about my weigh in. My short term goal is to be at 145 by Charlotte's baptism on Feb 20. That would make me happy, but if I have a weigh in like last week (where I didn't lose a stinken pound) I am not sure if it will happen. Send some skinny vibes my way.

Super Food that I Love

Now that we are eating clean, I have been following my super food list more carefully. I am a big believer in being sure your diet includes these things. I really like all of the things on this list, so it makes it easy. I like researching the benefits of food and so I keep a running list of things that should be a part of a regular diet.

Here's my short list ( I have a long list, but these are the top of the list)

Blueberries
Blackberries
Quinoa!!!!n(so good, so healthy)
Avacados
Greek yogurt
Black Beans
Walnuts
Almonds
Pecans
Oatmeal
Tomatoes
Spinach
Salmon
Broccoli
Asparagus
Oranges
Chick Peas
Red Pepper
Cranberries

Great...now I am hungry. But trust me people, I have done the research and these foods are where it's at. I am glad we are eating more of them, now just to keep it up!

Self-Reflection

Whenever I have my students do reflective or journal writing I try to write my own entry to share with them, or to model. I had them create a list. They had to start with 10 things they liked about their personality and 10 things they like about their physical appearance. Then they had to do 5 things they dislike for each. This was HARD for me and for them, especially because the emphasis was on the good more than the bad. Here is my list:

What I like about my personality:
1. I am very independent. I have no issue traveling, living, eat or going to the movies alone and I have done all of this many times. It has helped me learn about who I am, and I feel it makes me a better wife.

2. I am a good read of people. I have a very good sense of what is good and bad about a person and what a person wants/ needs.

3. I have extreme patients with children, particularly teenagers and I rarely lose my cool, even when I have been pushed to my limits by kids.

4. I am usually pretty quiet and observant and people come to me to tell me things.

5. I am health conscious and try to revolve my life around this, even though I have had my times that I fall off track..all in all I am pretty good.

6. I have always been a bit of an old soul and I think I have a streak of wisdom that has been with me since I was 2 years old.

7. I am very even-tempered. I rarely over react and am usually the calm one in almost every stressful situation.

8. I am very attentive to my children and have no issue sacrificing if it will benefit them.

9. I am not materialistic at all and spend very little money on myself.

10. I am over the top resposible, always on time, rarely forgetful and I think people know this.

Things I do not like about my personality:

1. I can be unfairly judgemental, especially about how people raise their kids.

2. I procrasinate way too much when it comes to work.

3. I struggle with confidence in my professional life and constantly question my decisions.

4. I am too hard on my husband and I take things out on him too much.

5. I shut down in large groups/ crowds.

What I like about my physical appearance:

1. My upper body (shoulder/ neck area) because it always seems to look thin, even during pregnancy.
2. My height. I like that I am somewhat tall. It helps me look leaner.
3. My stomach: although it has some child bearing wear and tear..generally it is pretty toned and my waiste line has always been small.
4. My eyes: they are not all that spectacular...but I like that they can look either green or blue
5.My lips. I think full lips are important
6. My teeth. I have strong, straight, healthy teeth with no cavities.
7. My hands are small and thin and feminine.
8. My lower legs (calves and ankles). they are strong and long and usually pretty toned.
9. My chest. although I would have died to have a bigger chest when I was young..now I am glad it is smaller. I think it makes me look thinner and there is less to damage after pregnancy and age.
10. My butt (this is something I have a love/ hate relationship). At times I wish it was smaller. But I like having a butt. It gives me some curves and I am glad it isn't flat.

Things I dislike about my physical appearance:
1. My feet. they are serioulsy hideous and big and stupid.
2. My thighs. they are my problem area and I gain a lot of my weight there.
3. My hair. I have struggled with my inbetween, puffy, always needs to be straightened, hates humidity hair for EVER. My hair especially hates living near the ocean
4. My nose. It has a French-Canadian slope on it and I hate that.
5. My butt (yes, i said I liked it before) because although I like it better than having a flat one...it requires a lot of training to keep it from getting too big and I have to do a lot of squats.

Boxing as therapy and healthy eats.

Yup, punching the crap out of a bag is good therapy. When my husband insisted on putting up punching bags in the basement I was slightly annoyed. I figured it would just be one more thing that we were "going to use" and then never actually use.

Now that I am doing circuit training on a regular basis I have been using the bags for boxing and kick boxing sets and damn it feels good. I MIGHT have pictured a few ex-boyfriends and some old bosses while punching. I had wrist surgery years ago, and punching isn't something I can do with ease...but damn it feels good to get out some tension. I actually think punching things makes me a better mother....go figure, but you need to get your aggravation out somehow, right?

Anyhow....I had an okay long weekend. I spent a lot of time with the kiddos. My only regret is that I did not workout Saturday or Sunday..so I need to make up for that this week. I did do the elliptical for 20 and then 25 minutes of circuit work (with an arm/ oblique focus) tonight, so I am back on track.

On Sunday we watched the game (Pats/ Jets). Actually, I have not really been into sports since I had the kids. I guess after 4 years of not sleeping through the night, I just can't find the energy to follow much of anything. But is was a big game, so we made food and watched.

The big dilemma was that we really wanted a game time FUN and tasty meal..but we didn't want to be too bad. I thought and thought and here is what I came up with:

Muscles with tomatoes, olive oil and garlic
Greek Platter with: rye cracker chips, peppers, hummus, goat cheese and olives

We (even Liam) love muscles, so this was a good snack for us. It was all really good and we didn't feel guilty.

Here is a disgusting tid-bit of info.

One dozen buffalo wings with their blue cheese sauce have well over 1,000 calories and at least 75 grams of fat....and I am sure most people can eat more than 12.
Think about that before you pick your game time snack. That is before the beer or any other food you add into the equation.

This is why planning my meals a head is key. I can come up with healthy alternatives.

The annoying part about healthy/ clean eating is you have to go to the grocery store a lot. I go about 3x's per week for produce, etc. It is also expensive...but if you really add up what takeout can cost in a month, it is probably even more. I have no issue spending money on good/ healthy food.

Now here is my somewhat unhealthy cheat snack that I have indulged in this week:
Brighams decaf cappuccino frozen yogurt. YUMMMMM. This is seriously good stuff.

Bouncy Castles your way to health

So, as previously mentioned, Mike and I have a goal to raise our children with healthy habits. One thing I have focused on lately is making sure Liam gets good exercise everyday. In the summer this would be no issue because we are outside every day and we swim, hike, etc. but it has been tough this winter.

Charlotte is so little and it is hard to get outside with both kids. I have had to be creative. We bought him an indoor trampoline. So when we are working out in the basement he usually runs around or hops on his trampoline. We have a lot of indoor dance parties.

Yesterday I think the kid got more exercise than he has ever had in his entire life. We went to a place called "Pump and Jump." It is at the mall in Kingston. It is a department store space that they took everything out of and just have about 15 different blow up castles, mazes, slides, etc. We were there for 4 hours. He was afraid of some of the things, but I found some older kids to help him out...and before I knew it my 2 years old was defying gravity down a 25 foot blow up slide. The look on his face was priceless. I swear to you he climbed up the thing at least 50 times, which looked exhausting! I seriously can't imagine a child getting anymore exercise than he did.

I kept thinking "I need to get him home." But then I realized, why? He was having fun and I didn't really have anywhere I needed to be. I am considering taking him back today. Sooooo much fun.

Bad scale, good jeans

Well, it was weigh in day. I didn't lose a damn pound and am still at 151. I am only mildly upset about this because I did have a positive to balance out the negative.

I was able to fit back into my GAP prepregnancy jeans (size 8). Now I mention the brand, because these are not exactly skinny jean. Size 8 Gap runs a little big. However, this still make me happy. 1. because it means I have lost a few inches in my waist and thighs in the last week (I tried these same pants on last weekend and I still couldn't squeeze in them) and 2. I now have more clothes to wear. It has been a SAD 6 months for wardrobe choice. I refused to buy new clothes and was basically wearing dresses with leggings,  my one pair of fat jeans or yoga pants. I love my jeans and am glad I am starting to fit into them again.

I guess if I lost several inches, but no weight it must be a muscle building thing. I have been doing a lot of weight training during my circuit workouts, so I must be building muscle, right? I really do hate that whole "muscle weighs more than fat" crap. I want to see my results in measurable numbers. Another reason I hate that line is because I am pretty sure it gets misused. When I used to train, woman would use this line for weeks at the gym and I was usually thinking, 'umm, no it isn't that you are gaining muscle, it is that you are still eating mass amounts of crap and not doing enough cardio'

I, on the other hand, have really not been eating crap. I know my calories have been cut by about 1/4 of what I was taking in before and we are eating really clean. Not much processed crap, no take out, more fish, veggies and lean protein and less meat.

So I a hopeful that I will see number come down next week but for now I will enjoy my skinnier jeans.

P.S. I watched Eat, Pray, Love last night and I really liked it. It was a bit long, and some parts of it bugged me a bit...but it is a good thing to watch if you are in the process of self-reflection. I read the book, and in many ways I like the movie a bit better (which never happens) because it didn't seem as selfish in the movie. Now I want to go to Bali.

Hi I'm Caroline and I am a cereal addict

I was never that big into eating sweet stuff...until I was pregnant with Liam. Ever since then I crave sweets at night. If I didn't have to worry about calories, I would probably eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's every night.

When I was pregnant someone gave me great advice. Instead of jumping all in into a pint of ice cream, they suggested that I buy a sweet cereal and have a big bowl with skim milk. I ate A LOT of cereal. It was less calories and sugar than ice cream or cookies...plus it gave me a dose of calcium, some fiber and whole grains too.

So here I am. Not pregnant and I'm scarfing down a bowl of cereal. I actually find that having a cereal I like in the house helps me. It prevents me from eating something REALLY bad.

I have been on a long quest to find a cereal that had a balance between health and taste. Some requirements of this are: Under 9 grams of sugar per serving, at least 9 grams of fiber, less than 150 calories per serving and something that tastes sweet so I am satisfied.  right now my fave that fits this requirement is Kellogs Fiber Plus Antioxidants Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It is sort of like Cheerios that taste like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. They fit my criteria and taste damn good. So if your dessert is usually cereal, give this one a try. It has less sugar that my previous faves (The Fiberone brand) but has less sugar.

Biggest Loser..

I watched this last night. I haven't seen it in a long while, but when I do I find it enjoyable for many reasons.
1. It makes me want to exercise.
I find watching people exercise motivating. It must be so hard for some of those people to move their bodies, but yet they do it. I like the trainers advice. I used to train people, work at a gym and teach exercise classes and I really miss it. I hope to do it again someday. I like training my husband and setting up our workouts. Watching this brings me back into the exercise world. Plus it really makes me want to buy an arc trainer (they are SUPER expensive)

2. It reminds me that it can be easy to let yourself go.
Life is hard. I have a job, kids, bills, stress, etc., etc. and some people have it much harder then me. I think that listening to the people and their problems and insecurities makes me realize that I have to keep my health and well being as my number one priority. It can be easy to say that you live only for your children, but if you do not take the time to take care of yourself you will not be the parent you should be.

3. I find the people inspirational.
There is nothing more terrifying than the thought of getting up on national television in my underwear. These people not only do this, but they also get up on a scale. When I started this blog I knew that if I said my weight and problems out loud to an audience it would motivate me. I cannot imagine what kind of courage it takes for people that size to do it.

I don't particularly care for the competitions they have during the show, or the always annoying made-for-tv drama that is a part of every reality show. But, I do enjoy watching it for inspiration.

I also bought the Biggest Loser meal and exercise white boards for our gym room. I love writing things down and checking them off. I plan my workouts a head of time and am trying to do that with my meals as well, so I am thinking the whiteboard will be cool to have.

Night off and a snow day

Snoooooww Day tomorrow. I have mixed feeling about this because I am super behind at work, but you can't really help but love a snow day. It means an extra day snuggling my babies, and maybe I can get in a good mid-day workout. When that call comes through I feel like I am 10 years old again, standing in my livingroom jumping up and down.

I am taking tonight off from working out. I pulled something in my neck and am just really worn out today. I am resting up today and will resume workouts tomorrow with a long circuit.

I don't feel bad about this because 1. I have worked out in some way for 2 weeks straight and 2. I had a good eating day.

So think of me tomorrrow. I plan to leave my pj's on all day.

I didn't cave

If you read my last post you might have thought I caved. But I am happy report that I had a healthy tofu and veggie stir fry for dinner AND even though I sooo wanted to take a hot bath and hit the sheet, we got the kids to bed and I forced myself to get into my workout gear. I did the elliptical for 20 minutes at high resistance and then did a 30 minute total body pilates workout (off of on demand). I felt an excuse coming on, but I managed to push it away.
Now in celebration (and because I am still hungry) I am having a big bowl of cereal.

P.S. My advice for today is always have your workout cloths easily accessible. I find that once I get those sneaks laced up, I am more likely to actually get on the elliptical when I get downstairs.

I want to be bad

I want Chinese food, and pj's, and the couch, and someone else to put my kids to bed......

Chinese food is probably one of the darkest places I could go.I love it. I mean what's not to love? It's salty and greasy and you can eat tons of it before you get full.

Hmm, what's not to love?

Perhaps the MSG that triggers headaches? Or maybe the sodium levels that cause unquenchable nighttime thirst and fingers that swell to the point that I can't get my ring off? Or maybe the fact that one plate of it can cause me to gain 3 lbs in a day.

Man, I really want to be bad today, but I can't stoop that low. Maybe just an extra bowl of cereal. I hate how stress and exhaustion make me want to eat my face off. Good thing my husband isn't a bad influence, because if I had a partner in crime, the crime would be committed.

No Chinese, or pj's and I guess unless the 6month old puts herself to bed, then I need to be on that too. :o( While I am at it, I might as well exercise. Crap, being bad is just not an option. All well.

Fabulous

Just finished my 12 circuit workout. Did a 15 minute workout on the elliptical. I am pouring sweat and it feels good! There is no harder cardio than jump rope. The damn jump rope almost killed me. But I am jiggling less when I do it :o).

Down 4lbs...

Weigh in this morning was 151. When I started 2 weeks ago I was at 155. I am pleased with 2 lbs a week. AND now I am very motivated to dip below 150. I would love to be 149 by next weekend. I think that if I break into the 140's I will be enthused to keep going. I was in the 140's when I got pregnant with Charlotte and even though I think my ideal weight is 135, I am super excited to see the 140's again.

Last night I needed a Friday night treat, but I also wanted to be good, so I made a seafood stir fry on rice. It was pretty good. Mike and I watched a movie and had some microwave popcorn too. I was able to get on the elliptical for 30 minutes. I was psyched to get the kids down early. I was on the elliptical in time for TMZ. There is something about cheesy Hollywood gossip that really makes exercise go by fast.

By the way, the movie we rented was The American with George Clooney. It was boooooring and slow and I do not recommend it. It is one of those artsy films where you are supposed to get something from its deep meaning. Blah.

Tonight I am going to make whole wheat calzones stuffed with veggies and cheese. It isn't all that good for you, but better than caving to the weekend temptation of takeout. Plus Mike and I are planning a 12 round workout, so it will balance out.

Goal for this week: Workout every day and dip below 150!

Weigh in tomorrow

I made it through the week! I managed to get a work out in every day and I am pretty damn happy about my eating. I have to give big thanks to my husband who has lost 25 lbs and is eating right. It is soooo much easier having a partner and a good influence in the house.

I am weighing in tomorrow. My pants fit better, so that's a good sign. But more importantly is that I am feeling good. Just a week and a half of good exercise has helped my posture, my strength and my energy level.

I can do this....30, here I come.

Oh to be 14..

One of my students had an interesting comment today..

We were talking about having children (after school) and she mentioned that she wanted two kids.

I told her to wait a looooong time until she was good and ready and had a supportive and stable partner.

After some small talk I mentioned to her that having a baby can change your body and if you want to wear your small bikinis you should remember that.

She said "oh, I plan to have my babies cut out (c-section) so my body doesn't get all messed up."

ahhhhh, the teenage mind. If only a c-section would solve the giant growing stomach side effects. I am sure all of the c-sections mamas out there are sporting thong bikinis.

Anyhow, on a positive note...my stomach is shrinking. I had a great workout tonight. 20 minutes on the elliptical and 7, 2 minute circuits. I am feeling good and am glad I made it through my two hard/ late work days.

I am really hoping that the scale is nice to me when I weigh myself this weekend. I do feel like my pants are fitting better.

I guess since I wasn't 'lucky' enough to have a c-section I will have to workout before bikini season. Ha.

Skinny soccer mom with thighs that don't touch

Okay, I have this crazy image in my head. I have been seeing this image for many years now. I imagine myself at my kids soccer practice. I have on casual clothes. Shorts with a slightly tight t-shirt. My hair is in a pony tail and I am tan. I am standing there, watching my kid(s) play soccer. I have a dunkin donuts coffee in my hand and I am smiling.
Why does this matter???
The most important and relevant part of this image is that I am in VERY good shape. My thighs to do touch in this image. I have muscular, toned legs. I have good posture. I have energy and I carry myself with confidence. This is how I want to look when I cart my kids around town. This is the soccer mom I want to be and when I see other moms who look like this...they are my motivation.

So here is what I did today to get there:

After dinner I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and then went downstairs for another circuit workout. I did something similar to yesterday, except I did obliques, jump rope and more arms.

My bad choice of the day was walking into the teachers lounge (I usually never go in there, but I needed a spoon for my lunch) and eating 2 choculate chip cookies that the PTO made. I did it without even thinking. I was p/o's at myself because I didn't even really want them.

Mike does not have boxing tomorrow so I am hoping to do a nice long workout when I get home. I am really going to have to be motivated because I have kids after school tomorrow for extra help, which usually leads to increased exhaustion.

I am just going to keep thinking SKINNY SOCCER MOM!!!!!

Survived

Back to work, back to work..

If you are a teacher you know that the first day back after vacation involves a lot of build up and anxiety. If you are not a teacher, the best way to describe the feeling is how you felt on the last day of summer vacation. Once I walk back into the school everything is fine, but getting ready that night before makes me stressed and sick to my stomach. But I survived.

I am happy to report that I did a full exercise routine yesterday and tonight. I have fallen back in love with circuit training. I will give you tonight's routine to give you an idea. I am a firm believer that this is one of the most effective ways to get in shape.

Tonight's routine:
15 minute warm up at medium intensity on elliptical

Then down to the basement to do 2 minute circuits with 30 minute rest in between:
1. Jumping jacks
2. abs on large ball
3. front kicks (squatting between legs)
4. jump rope
5. lunges with 10 lb weights
6. plyometric jumps over ropes on floor
7. planks
8. shadow boxing (lightly hitting bag w/ no gloves)

I LOVE working out this way, mostly because it moves fast and is intense. I do not have a lot of time to work out, so this targets a lot of body parts and burns a lot of calories. My husband has a timers where you can set a bell to go after after each round and after each 3o second rest.

I am not going to weigh myself again until Saturday. I do not want to be a slave to the scale and I do not want to be discouraged. I hope I can do this every night. I am determined to keep my fat butt moving.

The hard part about this is finding the time. So here is what my day looked like to fit this in:

Up at 6am (Liam was up at 6:15, Charlotte got up with me)
Get ready for work/ pump/ drink smoothie/ feed Charlotte and Liam ...Mike gets home from the gym at this time, he makes the smoothie.

Leave for work at 7:15 and arrive by 7:20

Work until 3:15 (Tues and Wed will be hard because I am there until 4:10)

Home by 3:30. Clean up, play with kids.

Cooking by 4:15, eat, clean up, get bag and lunch ready for tomorrow

Workout started at 5:15 and ended at 6pm (Mike sat with Charlotte and Liam came down to the basement with me and jumped on his trampoline, played ball and punched his punching bag)

6pm: I give Charlotte a bath while Mike gives Liam a bath. I get Charlotte down as Mike finished up with Liam.

6:30pm I relieve Mike from reading to Liam and take over. He is usually asleep by 7:15.

7:30-9:30 Internet, snack, phone calls and grading of papers.

10pm: sleeping

Why do I tell you all this? Because if I can do it, so can you! I squeeze in a million things and I am trying so hard to fit exercise into the squeeze. I am dedicated to keeping it that way. Wish me luck.

Decade in Review, New Healthier Decade to Come

I was just discussing how amazing and a bit unbelievable it is that I've ended what just may be the most relevant decade of my life. Granted I have only been alive for 3 decades, but this decade has been an amazing adventure.

In the year 2000 I was a freshman at Umass Amherst living in a giant tower of a dorms, partying nonstop and overwhelmed with my new found freedom. I can remember looking in the mirror in my early Umass days. I can still see that girl: Long highlighted hair, tight black pants, ready for anything, young and stupid, sweet and funny. That girl had no idea what she wanted and she knew so much less about the world than she thought. She beat herself up about every bad decision and she had no idea that each one of those decisions were helping her become something.

At Umass I had the time of my life. I met some of my best friends and made memories of momentous proportion. I graduated with a bachelors in English and a secondary teaching certificate and the ability to take care of myself.

I was hired as a 8th grade teacher in Barnstable in 2003. I dated a loser, I made good and bad choices, I coached field hockey and left the Cape vowing I would NEVER go back.

I didn't look back when I took a teaching job in North Andover in 2004 and moved into a crappy apartment in the middle of Boston with my best friends. We laughed a lot, we watched a lot of sports and had WAY too much to drink. I dated boys, danced and once again, thought I knew all about life.

At a beer festival in South Boston in 2005 I literally bumped into a muscular, tattooed man who charmed me with his confidence and his perfect smile, and then quickly and casually changed my life.

In 2006 I followed Mr. Beerfestivle back to Cape Cod (even after I vowed to never go back).

I finished up my masters degree in Literacy Education from Lesley University in 2007.

I started teaching in Falmouth and a year later, I married the beer festival guy on a sunny Saturday in July. We had a fabulous wedding and 9 months later, in March 2008 we had our "honeymoon" baby; a perfectly pudgy 8lb 4ounce baby boy on March 30 at 3:44pm. Greatest day of my life.

We had our ups and downs, but there certainly have been many more ups than downs. In 2008 we moved into an amazing house that my handy, dandy husband built from the ground up (I still remember watching him take down the very first tree when he started clearing the land).

We found out that baby number two was on her way in October of 2009 and then were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, born with a head of hair and two dimples in her cheeks on June 23 at 3:35pm.

Now here I am, a new decade to face. I can't imagine anything could hold up to this past decade. In 10 years I have realized what life has to offer. I have learned that I can love other human beings with every inch of my body, that I would give my own life for the life of my children, and that nothing could ever compare to sitting next to a man who loves your children as much as you do. I have learned that I am important and capable and independent. I have learned that my education and my health is a priority and that I want to live a long, good life.

In the next decade I hope to put what I have learned into practice. I want to be a better me. I want to raise a family that values each others physical and mental health. I want to be there to help my inlaws in their old age and my children in their young age. I plan to be the best possible me I can be. This starts with my physical health. I am going to remind myself of this every day for the next ten years.

Cheers to the next  10!!!

1-1-11, Back to reality

Well I have survived the holidays. I am happy to be done with the holiday eating temptation, but am very sad to go back to work. I am going to miss my babies :o(

We had a nice day that started with a walk on the bike path. Liam walked right along with us, which helped tire him out. I was very proud of him today, he had NO accidents and I am hoping potty training boot camp was a success.

We went to my inlaws for a holiday meal. I didn't have a great eating day, but for a holiday I wasn't horrible. Tomorrow I am back on track. I also did 30 minutes on the elliptical and about a 10 minute ab routine. The ab routine might have gone longer if Liam hadn't started hitting me in the head with his sisters snow suit. Ahhhh, toddlers.

My goal for tomorrow is to do a family walk and 45 minute circuit training. I also have to tackle the huge amount of correcting of papers that I have managed to ignore for over a week. PROCRASTINATION is my middle name.