8/27- MEASUREMENTS.

Today I ONCE AGAIN didn't get up with my alarm. The kids & I got up at about 7:30, and did our chores. Then I had my toast/ peanut butter/ coconut oil for breakfast and they had cereal. I drank a ton of coffee and green tea, and water.

We had a light lunch, some fruit & veggies and crackers. Its just what sounded good to us all.

Then I could tell Silvana was getting sleepy, so we had 'quiet time' for about 2 hours. She napped, Deslin played quietly with some toys, and I read a few chapters in my book.

Afterwards we all went to my in-laws house for lasagna.

I had a piece of lasagna [which, I didn't feel like eating, just thinking of the cheese & what not.. but it was SO good and she invited us over so I did have a piece. ] It was good! I also had a piece of garlic toast, and a bowl of salad with fat free dressing. The kids had ice cream for dessert, but not me! :)

I KNOW my calorie count is under 1500 for today, probably under 1000.

After we visited for a few hours, we came home and the kids got their pajamas on and brushed their teeth and I got them ready for  bed. I just got done straightening up the house, organizing some stuff, and putting some things back in order. I also went through all of Deslin's pants, pajamas, socks, etc and got rid of all the stuff that is too small on him. His dresser drawers were hardly shutting and it drove me nuts! Then I did a couple loads of laundry. I'm going to do a few more loads tonight and then fold it all tomorrow night.
While the laundry is going, I'm going to get my workouts in. I have the WII fit all set up and my water ready. I'm going to do WII fit then some extra workouts after my hours of WII fit, such as squats/ leg lifts/ etc.  Not sure I'll do the elliptical tonight, definitely tomorrow, though.

Before I go, I'm going to do my measurements. So, here are last time's:::


The date was:

June 26, 2013. Exactly 2 months ago!


Current weight: 221

Waist: 40.75

Hips: 49.75

Neck: 15

Forearm over birthmark: 10.75

Upper Arm: 13.75

Calf, an inch below the knee, widest part: 17.5

mid thigh: 24

Upper thigh: 27

Body fat %: 53.02


Now:::::


August 27th, 2013:


Current Weight: 213    [ lost 8 pounds!]

Waist:39"

Hips: 49"

Neck: 14"

Forearm over birthmark: 10.5

Upper Arm: 13.5"

Calf, an inch below the knee, widest part: 17.5"

Mid thigh: 21.5"

Upper thigh: 26.5"

Body fat %:  51.59

I'm okay with that I guess! I knew July was a really slow month, so I'm not too shocked that things weren't better... but progress is progress!! I could be going in the opposite direction, but I'm not. 

So the difference from June to August is::

-8 pounds

 

-1.75" in my waist

-.75" in my hips

- 1" in my neck

-.25" in my forearm

-.25" in upper arm

-2.5" in my mid-thighs

- .5" in my upper thighs

Body fat %   - 1.43%

Now it's time to get motivated & kick these numbers into high gear between now and the end of September!!!!!!!! I want to see way better results in 1 month, than I did the past 2 months!!! Praying for motivation and strength of mind to stick with my goals, so I can get the results I need!!! :)

Going RIGHT NOW to do my work outs, and drink a TON of water! Tomorrow is Deslin's birthday so we're going to be having fun and hanging out all day, and go for pizza & ice cream per his request for dinner! But I've decided I'm having salad, and no ice cream for me!!! :)

8/26 Motivation-less Monday!

Today we were all so busy! We went to shopko this morning to get a few things that were on sale, then Joe went to sleep and the kids & I loaded ourselves & some raspberries up into the van. We went to my grandma's house to bring her a birthday card and some raspberries we had picked and cleaned up and froze. We visited for about an hour, then headed up to the kids' gymnastics practice. It was their last session until next spring or summer. They are so busy with figure skating, hockey, and school in the winter that we just don't have time to go to gymnastics.

Afterwards, we went to Walmart to restock up on our vitamins, coconut oil, olive oil, etc and then I brought them to the park. They had a blast swimming and going down the slides. We got home pretty late.. I bought them slushees on the way home. Once we got here, I made dinner and then shortly after dinner I got them ready for bed and chit chatted with Joe for a little bit before he left for work.

Today I ate:

1 yogurt
10 ritz crackers
2 slices of cheese
6 slices of summer sausage

a bunch of green tea and water

steak

half a cup of rice

half a cup of broccoli

half a cup of cashews.

Not horrible, but not great.

I haven't worked out yet today either, and it's almost 11pm. I'm debating on if I'm going to or not. I should probably just do some Wii fit & squats & stuff... but I'm pretty pooped. We'll see.... if I end up heading to bed after this, I'll just get up in the morning. I had actually set my alarm to get up this morning, but I must have been tired because I don't remember it even going off! :S

I'm not really liking this every other day pattern I'm on here.. I've been working out like 4-5 days a week, for at least an hour each of those days. Which isn't horrible, but I feel so horrible about myself on days I don't work out. * sigh*

I saw a post on facebook showing before and after pictures of these ladies who lost TONS of weight, and they all look so amazing now! You can tell they most likely had a personal trainer, because they are just SO fit. I hope I get to that point someday!! I won't at the rate I'm going, though. :( I really wish I had a bowflex! Hahah.... I think that would be a great investment for us to consider. Joe has actually lost around 80 pounds total now from when he was at his heaviest weight! He looks amazing!! But we both do need to tone up more.

Silvana's teacher called today and informed me they're only going to have a half day of preschool this year. I was really glad, because I love having her home.. yet, I was a bit unsure because I used to have so much time to work out, get stuff done around the house, take a nap, focus on myself etc last year when they were both in school all day. Plus now it's going to be a bit more of a struggle having to think about babysitters. Ugh!!! I'm glad she'll be home, though... she'll have plenty of years to be in school all day, and I'll have more than enough alone time to spare then.

 Well I am just praying that I get out of this little rut of slacking that I seem to be in. I mean I guess it's not really slacking since I'm working out quite a bit still, but ideally I'd like to make it priority #1 to work out every day!! I have got to give myself credit though, in the past 6 months I went from not working out at all, to doing a half hour a few times a week [ and I was SO proud of that at the time!] and now I'm doing much more... but, there is ALWAYS room for improvement! I won't give up!!!! I WILL keep improving, and pluggin' away! :)  Praying for motivation, and for more results, and more self control!! I need to watch what I'm eating a bit better! I've been sticking to around 1500 calories but I need to make more of those calories fruit & veggies!

I wanted to do measurements tonight, but I'm pretty tired. I'm hoping to make time to do them tomorrow. I think I'll head to bed, set my alarm, and get up & make coffee & work out, then take measurements. Tomorrow I have a lot to do, too. I need to pick raspberries, do some laundry, and get things done so we can take Wednesday off of chores.Wednesday is Deslin's actual birthday, so I'm going to do whatever he wants to do all day! He already said he wants to go out for pizza........ lol. Great!! :/

8/25 ~ Mentality and Fair Fun*

First off, I must say-I do apologize for my lengthly blogs! I type like 80-100 words per minute, so the words fly out just about as fast as I think them. Annnd, I have a lot of thoughts. Haha :P

 One thing I really wanted to blog about today, is the things that are happening mentally along this journey. I can see and feel the weight falling off and my clothes fitting better. But I'm also noticing that the way I perceive myself and this whole process is something I didn't really expect.
 

Yesterday before we left for the fair, I had one HELL of a time trying to find something to wear. It was strange.. you'd think that since I'm losing weight, I'd love getting dressed & going places moreso. Don't get me wrong, I do have many days where I throw an outfit on and I feel great! Particularly if the outfit is something I haven't worn in quite some time, and something I specifically remembered as not looking good on me anymore.

However, some days it seems like my clothes are fitting awkwardly loose in areas, or things I thought should fit me by now, aren't fitting so great yet. I guess what I'm saying is I am super proud of myself for losing 30 pounds, but some days the reality of just how far I have yet to go brings me down. I know I can do it, and I'm just stubborn enough to prove it to the world... but, it's frustrating.

Since I was younger, my grandma, my family, my friends, would tell me how good I looked. Not to sound vain!!! I never necessarily agreed!! I was young though, and at times it really made a difference in how I felt about myself. Especially because

in elementary school I went through a chubby stage, and was definitely picked on a little. lol... but I slimmed down a lot in Junior High, and more so through High School. In college, I was super fit. I felt on top of the world, maybe more so than I should have at times. lol. Upon meeting Joe and having babies, I put on SO much weight. Since then, I guess I just kind of eased myself into accepting the fact that I didn't look so good any more. I kind of got used to the fact that I never really got compliments any more. I didn't expect much from myself anymore. I knew no matter how much makeup I put on, how I did my hair, what I wore.. I knew I was still way overweight and felt as though that was how I was going to stay, and I had to accept it. That was what people saw about me now. They didn't see how caring I am, how good of a mother I was, how hard I work.. they saw my weight. Obviously, I thought, people must think I'm lazy and gross because I'm so over weight. That kind of thinking can really take a toll on your self image/ self confidence.

What makes it worse, is when YOU realize, that you can't do things you used to. I'll never forget a few years ago when Joe & I went to the fair, and we went to go on the ride " The Zipper" together... the carney basically had to slam the door hard and squish us into the ride to be able to lock the door... I was terrified the entire time, that the door was going to fly open!!! I also wasn't able to do as much with the kids as I had wanted to! Especially when they were super little, and  Iwas exhausted from lack of sleep as it was, I would get tired SO fast doing the smallest things.  It was a huge shock at times, when I'd sit & think about how drastically I had changed, but I accepted it as my new reality.

Now, although I am frustrated with how far I have yet to go, I do try to focus on the fact that I am getting there!! I can do this!!! I can still be my energetic, happy, healthy self again! I don't have to 'accept' what I have let happen. I can definitely change it, and I am on my way!! I have a long way to go, but I'm moving in the right direction and I have to remind myself I have a lot to be proud of! I have already had SO much more energy! I had a blast on the rides with Silvana, and fit in alll of the rides super comfortably!! My health and years of being able to do whatever I want to with the kids, is MORE than reason enough to make sure I keep at it!! I could care less if people think I look better or not... I feel better, and I am able to devote even MORE time and energy to those I love! :) Other peoples opinions [particularly negativity!] have a zero rating on the scale of what's important to me in life!


 That being said....


Yesterday, Joe and I set our alarms to get up early, before the kids were up. We had some coffee, then headed downstairs to work out. We've been alternating between watching Saturday Night Live, and Celebrity Wife Swap episodes while we work out. When I work out by myself, I watch Extreme Weight Loss/. That show is so motivating!! It makes you realize that ANYONE, ANYONEEE can lose weight once they set their heart on it. Watching Celebrity Wife Swap is also, so entertaining.. it baffles me how some of these celebrities live so frugally! Some of them live in houses that people on House Hunters would definitely scoff at! But, it just goes to show that just because people are rich & famous, it doesn't mean they all spend their money frivolously, or that they have tons more stuff than everyone else. It's really a pretty entertaining show in various ways!

After our work out, we got showered and ready, and Joe & the kids had breakfast. I just wasn't feeling hungry what so ever. We packed some baby carrots, apples, yogurts, and TONS of bottled water. I'm SO glad we did, otherwise we would've probably ended up spending a fortune on water. It was a pretty hot day, and we all drink a lot of water as it is. On the way I did eat a banana and have some green tea.

While at the fair, the kids got wristbands, and I ended up getting one too so I could take them on the ferris wheel and some of the other bigger rides that Silvana wanted to try. Deslin wasn't wanting to go near those rides, so right when we got there we brought them to the littler kids rides. Then I took Silvana to the bigger ones and Joe hung out with Deslin on the smaller rides. It worked out pretty great, and I had a blast bonding with the little lady!  We rode on rides for a good 6 hours or more out of the day! We were at the fair from 11am-11pm, and had a blast the entire time!

Near the end of the night I was finally able to talk Deslin into trying out some bigger rides with me. He went on a few big rides with me, including the ferris wheel which he swore he wasn't going to go on initially! I was so proud of him for being brave and trying it out!! He ended up loving the rides, and he was very proud that he tried it out and ended up having fun! He is excited about going on more big rides the next time we're at a fair.

We did end up taking a ride to get a little caesars pizza around 5 pm. I had 2 pieces of that, but didn't feel too bad since all I ate otherwise was a banana, carrots, an apple, and a yogurt.

We got home around midnight, and we all went straight to bed. 


This morning [Sunday] Joe and I set an alarm again, got up and had our coffee, and worked out again. I LOVE this time with him!! It's so convenient that we both love having our coffee and working out right away in the morning together. For years, we would stay up until about 2-3 in the morning after the kids went to bed, to watch TV together and chit chat and spend time together. Now, we get to bed between 10-12 typically, and wake up early to spend our time together, and it's much more productive!

Plus, I'm finding out that while I was working out at night after the kids went to bed for quite some time, working out in the morning is so much nicer! I can get my workout out of the way first thing in the morning, so I can do what ever else I want the entire rest of the day & night without wondering when I'm going to squeeze it in. 

After our workout, I had just enough time to shower and go to work.

After dinner tonight, I counted up all of the calories I ate today , and it was right around 1500. I am okay with that! I could've eaten less, but I ate pretty healthy and I feel pretty good about it! If I aim for burning off at least 1000 calories a day, and eat 1500 or less.. I'm happy. I know some people are super hardcore & extreme with dieting, and stay clear away from anything ' bad' for them, but this is the approach that works for me at the moment. I know I can stick with this for the long haul. I have pretty good self control, yet I don't like depriving myself completely from things that I like. With what I'm doing, I can have a little of what I like, on occasion,  and it's okay if I skip a day working out here or there.  Most days, I eat super healthy. I'm not about to set myself up for disappointment or failure, by telling myself I'm going to eat 100% healthy, no junk at ALL, and work out for hours a day, every single day, forever and ever.

For now, I'm taking this all a day at a time. As long as I keep on losing 5-6 pounds a month minimum, I'm happy.... and I keep dreaming of the day I love what I see in the mirror again!

I need to take and post measurements again soon, as well as my 'before' picture that inspired me to start all of this! Stay tuned! :)

8/23 - Raspberries, Reubens, and other Ramblings!

Okay, I imagine it may be annoying that I post what I eat and what I do each day.. lol... but if it is, remember.. that's what this blog is intended for. I started it as a reminder to myself , to keep track of what I'm doing and how I'm doing it so I can refer to it as I need to.

That being said.........

Last night after posting, I ended up having the strangest dinner EVER.....

ALL that sounded good to me, was a sandwich of whole grain bread, a slice of cheese, and an entire onion cut up on it. So odd... but strangely, sooo good.

After that I cleaned up the living room and headed to bed. I am so glad that I did!! I woke up at 4:30 this morning feeling refreshed and ready to work.


For breakfast I had:

-1 scoop of roasted potatoes & peppers
-1 scoop of scrambled eggs.

For lunch I had a Reuben. SO good. SO bad for me I'm sure.... but SO good.This day only comes like once every 6 months, that I have a reuben. Still, not feeling great about it!


After work I came home and filled out Deslin's paperwork for school. I still can't believe he's going to be in first grade this year. Time sure does fly! Then I listed some stuff for sale online. We have this stuff that we're not using, and it's taking up space in my life, and I can't stand clutter. SO I'm trying to get rid of it.

I have an Innotab 2S that I bought Deslin for his birthday just a couple of months ago, just to get it out of the way. I was thinking he would love it. And I'm sure he would... but a couple weeks ago we were at the store and he was telling me how he was so upset that his Nintendo DS wasn't working right, and he was eyeing up the new ones but not begging or asking for one.

 I chatted it out with  Joe and we decided to buy him a brand new Nintendo DSi right then and there, but I informed him that was going to be his birthday present from us. You should've seen him! He was screeching and jumping, and hugging us. So, it felt good to get him something I knew for a fact he wanted and liked. And he sure appreciated getting it!

So, the Innotab is just sitting in its box in our closet. Silvana has never really been in to any kind of video games or electronics, so I wouldn't give it to her. And I could save it for Christmas or something, but I don't want him to have too many gadgets clogging up his brain. lol. Besides I already have a list of exactly what I want to get them for Christmas, and they don't need any more than what I already planned.


Next we got groceries.. the grocery store has yoplait yogurts on sale, 10 for $5!  That's like 50 cents a piece... so we bought 20, plus bananas, grapes, etc.. I love having a variety of healthy snacks on hand at ALL times, for us as well as for the kids. Deslin eats like a bottomless pit sometimes so I need to make sure he is eating the right stuff.

Then this evening Joe and I washed up a ton of raspberries we picked, and froze them. They are so huge!! We get the biggest, nicest raspberries right in our back yard. And there are SO many! More than we typically have time to pick. Next year I am planning on making a much bigger garden than the one I have, and planting much more stuff. I'm pretty excited about it! Between then and now I am going to spend some time researching different gardening tips, and different ideas for things to plant. :)

Tomorrow we are going to the Houghton County fair and we're going to go past my grandma's house on the way, so we're going to bring her some raspberries so she can make a pie.

We're all pretty excited for the fair... we've been looking forward to it for some time. We're getting the kids bracelets so they can go on rides ALL day long. Silvana has been saying she wanted me to go on the big ferris wheel with her, but now she's saying she doesn't want to go on it... I really hope she changes her mind because I was really looking forward to that!! Haha


So, other than breakfast and my reuben lunch.... .I had another reuben for dinner. BAD!!!!! I feel so horrible about myself when I eat something that's bad for me. I feel a little better once I get my workout in, but I still feel horrendous.

But, I drank a ton of water today and I'm going to work out tonight with Joe. I love the days when we're both home in the evenings because I work out on the elliptical while he does push ups, crunches, etc, etc, and then when he's on the elliptical I do crunches, arm workouts, leg lifts, etc, etc... and we do this while watching a show together that we both like. Lately we've been watching Celebrity Wife Swap, or SNL on Hulu. Love having a designated workout room right in our house! So convenient. I cannot wait until we get more workout equipment! It's a good investment , and our kids will be able to benefit from it, too.
 Also, as of this morning I had lost another 2 pounds!! :) So that brings me to 32 down total. Cannot wait until it's 40, and so on!!!! Exciting stuff!!!

All in all, I'm feeling pretty glum with what I ate today, yet I am looking forward to working out, and excited for the fair. :)

8/22- Pictures and Preparing!

Last night after posting, I drank a huge glass of chilled green tea and hopped on the elliptical. I got in an hour, and it felt amazing ! Then I did some arm workouts, and 200 crunches. I felt so great during it all, but then I felt really sick afterwards, just kind of nauseous and light headed. Probably because I am positive I burned off more calories last night than I had eaten all yesterday, and probably today for that matter.

This morning when I got up, Joe had a cup of coffee and my usual peanut butter/ coconut oil toast waiting for me!! What a keeper. :)

After he left for work I began reading the newspaper, and hanging out with the kids. My mother in law called me, and reminded me that we had made plans to go take pictures of the kids, and said she would be over in about 2 hours. I started scrambling around to make sure I had all of the outfits/ etc that I would need to use for their photoshoot.

Needless to say, I didn't have much time to do anything for myself. I fed them some lunch, they had whole grain pasta with shredded mozarella, pepperoni, and tomato sauce. AKA ' Pizza Pasta". They devoured that before we left.

All in all, it was a really fun time. I've always ALWAYS loved taking tons & tons of pictures, and I have probably 50,000 + Pictures on an external hard drive that I've taken of the kids since birth.  It drives Joe NUTS how many pictures I take and save! But, I can't help it. It's always been something I've loved doing.




 [ One of my 'works of art' lol...... I just love these two! It is hard to get a bad picture with them as the subjects!]

I had tossed around the idea years ago about going to college for photography, and was actually dead set on that for quite some time. Then I ended up opting for the one thing I knew undoubtedly I was good at, which was English Writing. I just have so many passions, it's hard to pursue them all in an educational setting, but I figure I can just as well do what ever I want on my own time, and self-teach via the internet, etc.

After the photo shoot, my mother in law bought the kids some Burger King. They were SO excited about that. It is now 7:10 pm and I have not eaten anything other than breakfast...... [ and I may or may not have eaten Deslin's last, unwanted chicken nugget............ lol] But that's it! Not saying that's a good thing. I really should figure out what I want and make something for myself. I'll most likely just have some veggies or maybe some oatmeal?

Seeing as I work at 5:30am tomorrow, I'm not sure if I'll be working out tonight.I should actually start preparing myself to try to get to bed early, otherwise I'll be up until my usual 11pm-1am range.  But I will for sure be working out tomorrow night, Saturday night, and Sunday. :)

8/21 Catching Up

This morning after Joe left for work, the kids and I had lunch, then began catching up on our chore list. For lunch they had apples and peanut butter toast, and I had some baby carrots.

We then moved all the furniture in the living room, vacuumed everything, scrubbed any spots on the carpeting that seemed to need it, and washed the living room walls. Which by the way, made me realize how direly we need to paint. These white walls have some areas where the paint is gouged out, and not to mention it just looks boring. If I had the paint, I would have started painting today. I am so excited to get paint on these walls. I didn’t want to paint before moving in like many people do, because I need time to live in a space and figure out what would feel good. What I’m leaning towards is dark dark purple, or dark teal. Then I’m undecided as to whether I’ll paint the wood/ trim white or leave it how it is. Decisions, decisions!

So anyways, yea the kids enjoyed scrubbing the carpeting believe it or not. They enjoyed helping with everything that I’d allow them to help with.  They just might be a bit crazy. Lol.. but I am glad they find joy in doing household chores. Hopefully that’s a trait that I can prolong. We then scrubbed down the couches and recliner, dusted everything, washed the window shades, etc, etc. Basically cleaned the living room top to bottom. I must admit, to this day I do actually still love doing chores myself. I obviously have my days [maybe even weeks……………..] where I just don’t care, but I like making our home look and feel good.

After all that cleaning, we had ‘quiet time’. No electronics, no television, just reading a book, napping or playing quietly. It was nice….. very nice.

Then the kids and I played ‘ kitchen school’ [ lol ] and they made dinner with me. They shucked the corn on the cob, and they each peeled a potato, I cooked the chicken breasts, peeled the majority of the potatoes, and got the water boiling for the corn and mashed potatoes.

They each ate a lot. I had a corn on the cob and a scoop of mashed potatoes. I’m just not feeling hungry today, so I’m not going to force myself to eat.

*That is one thing that people have told me in the past that I must say I disagree with. I’ve been told that even if you’re not hungry, you NEED to eat something. I firmly believe my body will inform me when I’m hungry, and I’ll eat then and only then. Getting into the habit of eating when you’re not hungry, is not a good thing at all as far as I’m concerned. So, that brings today’s food count to:

1 cup of coffee

2 tall glasses of ice water

2 pieces of coconut oil/ peanut butter toast

1/2c of baby carrots

1 corn on the cob

1 scoop mashed potatoes.

I intend to keep it there, seeing as it’s already after 8:00… and I’m not hungry at all.  Now my next goal is to play a couple games with Silvana since I did so with Deslin last night, then get downstairs to the elliptical. I NEED to get my hour in, and do some crunches at least. I’m sure I will be hungry after my work out, but that’s too bad! Sometimes if I’m hungry afterwards though, I’ll have a glass of skim milk, or a piece of peanut butter toast, or even some air popped popcorn. Of course, fruit and veggies are always okay, too. I LOVED finding out that a cup of broccoli has like 40-80ish calories.

 

Sometimes I like to keep track of my calorie count, so that I make sure I don’t overdo it. That’s typically on days when I feel hungrier than normal. But days like today, I don’t find it necessary since I know I’m way below. I try not to go over 1500-1800… but definitely NOT over 2,000. Only on my cheat day which falls on whichever day of the week I decide at the moment. Sometimes it’s a Saturday, sometimes it’s a Wednesday. It really  just depends on what I’m doing that day, where I’m going, who I’m with, and how I’m feeling overall.

All of that being said, I must say I am pretty happy with what I'm seeing in the mirror these days, and how great I feel! Nothing in life can compare. I neeeed to post my picture that inspired me to start all this.. my horribly depressing picture of myself... along with a picture of me now, at 30 pounds down. I'll be doing that within the next couple of days.
 

Alright, well I’m off to play a couple games with the kids, then hit the elliptical. I have some tea brewing, so I’m going to have that over ice to get my energy up. I’m feeling pretty energetic right about now, but that can disappear in a matter of minutes sometimes, lol !  Thanks for reading!! Please feel free to leave comments or questions!

 

 Deslin & Silvana at the beach yesterday

Helping with dinner today

Deslin's writing practice

 Silvana writing

 Fresh mint from our yard!

[There is TONS more that needs to be picked!]

Failure!?

SO I completely failed at my hopes to work out for like 3 hours yesterday.

But in my defense, I wouldn't have traded my day/ evening for the entire universe, or for losing 50 pounds all at once!

Yesterday after my meeting, I came home and got the kids ready and we went straight to the beach. We had SUCH a fun time. I don't know what it is, but every time Deslin is submerged in water he is the most pleasant, happiest, most peaceful kid on this planet. He has been that way since birth, and it still holds true today.

We played at the beach until 5pm. I had plenty of time to relax and take in some rays, and plenty of time to play frisbee in the water with the kids, and to swim out in the 'deep' water with Deslin. Deep to him is up to just below his chest. We had a great time! He was so talkative, just telling me all his ideas about things, his theories about life, lol.. it was fun! We had some apple slices as a snack while we were out there.

When we got home and changed, they were ready for dinner. So we had hot dogs [on whole grain buns, if that makes it any healthier! ]  and baby carrots because it was quick and we needed to get to the school to sign Deslin up for flag football.

When we got back, the kids wanted to do 'bootcamp.' Boot camp is something I came up with, that they think of as a game, to get them some extra exercise. What we do is we go out in the front yard, and I give them challenges to accomplish. For example, they line up on the edge of the driveway, facing the grassy yard... I tell them to race back and forth across the yard twice, then hop back & forth across the yard twice. As long as they go their fastest [and I can tell...] and complete it, they win. It doesn't matter who is first. Otherwise, Deslin would win every single time because he's about twice the size of Silvana.

So, we did that outside for about an hour. They had their own individual challenges, and challenges that they did together. Jumping jacks, racing, hopping, skipping, etc, etc. They love it!

After that we went in the house and had school time. Almost immediately, Silvana expressed she was tired and I could tell she was just wiped out. So I gave her some ice water and got her ready for bed and she went right to sleep. It must have been about 7:00 at that point.

Then Deslin and I continued playing school for 2 hours. He read his word flash cards, he read 10 mini books, did money math for about half an hour, did some telling time for about half an hour, a little addition and subtraction, and about half an hour of writing sentences. I find this time very important, because they need to keep what they learn in school fresh in their minds through out the summer, and also it doesn't hurt a bit to learn some things ahead of time that he hasn't learned in school yet. I am going to continue doing this all throughout their schooling years as much as I can.

All during this time of doing his schoolwork, Deslin was really excited about it and having fun. He gets very excited about learning things he didn't previously know. I am so proud of him!!

Afterwards , it was about 9:00. Typically I'd be trying to get him to bed, but we played a game of Jenga, and we played Connect 4 up to whoever won 11 games first. I won...... haha.. but he was a great sport about it and helped pick everything up afterwards.

Needless to say, by the time I got him to bed it was around 10:00. I was pretty pooped out, which typically happens to me after a long day of being outside, and keeping super busy with other stuff. So I took the night to relax. Joe was home at 11pm and we chatted for a while then went to sleep.

Today, the kids and I are going to get some chores done around the house, [ we  are all a few days behind on our chore charts since we have been busy with other things], and then I am going to take them for a walk to the park if we have time, then work out. If it's pretty late by the time we're done, I'll just get them to bed and then work out. I have tomorrow off also, so we can spend a majority of the day tomorrow at the park. :) Actually, I'll probably just get some chores done and then work out before anything else, just to make it priority #1 today. Seeing as we don't have much else to do other than chores, I have no reason not to make sure I get in my workouts!!!!!!!!!


So far today I have had:

2 pieces of whole grain toast with coconut oil and peanut butter
1 cup of coffee


It's almost noon, I'm planning on having some veggies for lunch, and I still have to figure out what to give them for lunch. Probably toast, sausage, and fruit. Silvana had oatmeal this morning and Deslin had scrambled eggs.

8/20~ Days Off

Yesterday was the last of 6 days in a row at work for me. Now I have 3 days off finally! :)  Last night I fully intended and yearned to work out but the kids were up until midnight, and I was trying to get them to sleep so it just didn't happen.

Today I have a meeting at work. I was planning on just not going to it last night, but this morning I decided to just go. Afterwards I am loading up the kids, a chair, towels, and a cooler of water & snacks and we are heading to the beach for the day!! It's high time we get some super hot, perfect beach weather again! :) Need to take full advantage of it while we can!

Later today Deslin has his Flag Football sign up, so we'll go to that quick and when we get home it'll be dinner time.

So far today::

2 apples
2 pieces of toast with coconut oil and peanut butter.

That's probably all I'll eat until dinner, other than some carrots if I get hungry.

I'm not sure what I'm making for dinner yet, probably chicken & mashed potatoes & steamed veggies.

Tonight after dinner I'm getting the kids right to bed, I'm sure they'll be pooped out after being up so late last night and spending the day at the beach today....

Then it's ON!
I'm going to do at LEAST an hour on the elliptical, pushing for 2 hours. lol.. we'll see...

Then my arm workouts, crunches, and WII Fit. I am just aching for a good workout. My body like literally craves it!!!!

I'll update tomorrow with how it all went and what I did. :)

8/16

Well, after posting last night about not working out, I was getting ready for bed and then suddenly got a burst of energy. I decided to utilize it, and  headed downstairs to the elliptical. I got my hour in while watching SNL on Hulu, and it felt great!!!!!!!!!!

This morning I woke up and had:

2 pieces of whole grain toast with coconut oil and peanut butter

Later I had a piece of fish and half a cup of asparagus for lunch.

A cup of veggies for a snack around 2pm with 2 oz of ranch.

2 glasses of green tea and 3 tall glasses of water.

and that is all so far today. I'm kinda hungry, but mostly tired.

My mom is coming over this evening and I don't think I'll be working out.... well maybe just some free weight stuff.  I'm so tired, and I work early tomorrow morning so I'll probably head to bed a bit earlier than usual and get caught up on sleep.


I know I will more than likely not be working out tomorrow on the elliptical either ... I'll probably do some WII fit ...but for sure on Sunday I'll be on the elliptical again.

As long as I don't skip 3 days in a row on the elliptical, I don't feel too horribly.... and as long as I don't skip working out altogether.


That's all for now! Going to go figure out dinner, then fold laundry and spend the evening with my mom & the kids.

8/ 15...... Work Mode!

The kids have been sharing a room for awhile now. We finally got the finishing touches in their room done, hung up their glow in the dark planets, and stars, etc... and Deslin just decided yesterday, at 7 pm, that he wanted to be back in his room. His sister talks a lot and keeps him up...... so, we had just enough time to get the beds moved, and some of their stuff, and then get them to bed. But a majority of their stuff was left in the living room over night. So, yesterday I skipped my workout.

To be fair, yesterday I was honestly super sore from working out the days before, and I ate super clean and light , and I was being productive and getting stuff done I needed to, so I was fine with skipping my workout.

I had full intentions of working out today.

Today when I got back from working 8-4, Thankfully Joe and the kids had finished putting a majority of their stuff in their rooms. I organized everything, organized our stuff, hung stuff up, etc, etc. Then we had just enough time to have dinner and walk down to the park for the music at the park night. We actually got down there late, it was almost 8:00 and it had been going on since 7.

The kids were happy to see some of their friends and had a blast running around.

When we got home, it was 9:30. We washed them up and got them to bed by 10:00 shockingly.

I am so pooped out. After they went to bed I washed up the raspberries we picked the other day, and while doing so it really hit me how tired I am.

I am a firm believer that sleep is JUST as important as exercising. If I am feeling exhausted and tired, I do not force myself to work out because I know I'll only be more tired and hungry the following day. It never fails that when I'm tired my body seems to automatically walk towards the kitchen. LOL.. I guess subconsciously I'm trying to fuel my body to stay awake.While I was cleaning the raspberries earlier, I had a few tortilla chips, then I was like " What am I doing?!?! It's 10:00 at night!!" haha... So I make sure I catch myself, and get to sleep. Towards the beginning of my working out days, I napped quite a bit. I knew I needed it.


Tomorrow I work 8-4 again, then I have a ton of laundry to fold, and my mom is coming over tomorrow night and we are going to bake for my employee picnic I'm going to on Saturday. After we bake, I neeeed to get to sleep because I need to be up at 5:15 Saturday morning for work. So, Im not very confident in the idea of working out tomorrow either. But I do need to try to force myself to make the time! I'm sure she'll be supportive of that and hang with the kids for an hour or something so I can do that.

Then Saturday, is the picnic right after I get off of work, and up early again Sunday. So, I'm going to hit the hay tonight...... try to sneak in a workout tomorrow when my mom is here, and most likely skip Saturday and work out again on Sunday night.


That's the plan! I just really hope I am not pooped out tomorrow[ I'll need to drink lots of Green Tea! :)     ]  , so I can get in a workout... first step to that plan working out, is hitting the hay ASAP tonight... It's 11 now, so I better get on it!!

Good Night!! :)

New Ideas for New Beginnings

So, today after making my blog public, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I want this blog to consist of. I mostly used it before to blog about little things, reminders for myself, workouts I've been doing, measurements, etc.

I want to keep doing those same things, blogging about what I eat, how much I work out, etc. But I will most likely blog about my day a little more in there too. My plan is that once I am to my goal weight, and where I want to be physically, I will probably change the blog name to something else rather than " Losing Weight; Gaining Life" . I love this name for now, because it's kind of a reminder for me, in essence, of what I am going to gain by losing this weight. I am going to gain YEARS of my life, with my children and future grand children. I am going to gain more and more confidence, which will open so many doors. I am a fairly confident person, but then again I know I do not fully take advantages of all of the opportunities life offers, because I don't feel quite adequate right now. I need to change that.

Also, I need to be a good example for the kids. I want to jog with them when they're older, I want us to focus on health as a family. We have raised them to love healthy foods, and to love being active. They understand the importance of it all, and often when offered a treat they decline. They are ahead of the game in that aspect. I want to encourage them further, and push them to being their optimal selves. I fully believe that the best way to do that is to lead by example in all that I do.

8/14/2013 - 30 pounds DOWN!

Well as of this morning I have OFFICIALLY LOST 30 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so so pumped about this!! Since slacking off in July, I have really been sticking to my goals the past couple of weeks! And it has paid off! Most of July I was stuck at 219 which was 26 pounds down... and I finally kicked the other 4 pounds out, and am at 215! :D Every single night I have been doing an hour on the elliptical [burning 800-1000 calories] and completely watching what I eat during the day. I don't feel like I've deprived myself at all, though. Yesterday for example, we had some homemade pizza and chocolate chip cookies for dinner. LOL.. I firmly believe that if you COMPLETELY deprive yourself, you're going to give up and say, " This isn't worth it!! I can't do this!!!" Everything in moderation. But other than my once a week cheat meal, I am eating very healthy, and small portions. It feels so good to not 'crave' sugar all the time like I once did. I can easily say no when the opportunity to eat some junk food presents itself. I just keep my goal of being in shape, in mind. Like the saying goes, " Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!" I totally believe in that!!! I have lost 30 pounds, yet have such a long way to go before I can refer to myself as skinny... but I'll get there! Even with being where I'm at now, I feel like a million bucks compared to how I used to feel.


I really need to thank my initial inspiration for starting all of this, Marilyn Ziebell. [ Click Here To See Marilyn's Blog!!! ]Following her blog really inspired me, and seeing her weight just falling off was so eye opening.Another person who is am immense inspiration is a girl I am friends with on Facebook, but who I don't completely know.. Jessica Dawn. She has given me some great advice, and is an immense inspiration as to where I'd LOVE to be some day fitness wise. I initially set this blog to private, for my own use. This is the first post I am making after publicizing it. So, if you refer to my prior blog posts, please forgive my grammar or rambling/ not making tons of sense moments. It made sense to me! LOL. Anyways I will be posting publicly from now on,and more frequently than in the past, to keep myself accountable.... and to hopefully inspire other people to jump on the bandwagon. :)

My short-ish term goal, is to drop the other 15 pounds so I can FINALLY be below 200 again. I haven't been below that since I was preg with Deslin, which was shocking for me, because prior to having kids I was typically around 120, with my heaviest EVER being 145. When I was preg with him, I gained 10-15 pounds a month most months... very unsure of how I let that happen, but it did. But now I am determined to get my health back, particularly because I want to be the best mom, have tons of energy, and be a good example for my babies. I KNOW I can do this, so.... I WILL do this. If anyone else can, I sure can. Once I set my mind to something it's on!! :)


Today I had:

2 pieces of whole grain toast, buttered with coconut oil , and some peanut butter.
1 hard boiled egg
1 cup of cantaloupe

4 cups of iced green tea

60+ Ounces of ice water

4 ounces of beef stir fry
1 cup of fresh broccoli/ cauliflower with fat free italian dressing

I have yet to eat dinner, but Joe threw some chicken breasts, potatoes, and italian dressing in the crock pot while I was at work. I'm going to have a little portion of that, with some fresh carrots from the fruit / veggie stand.

Plus, after each meal I take a Biotin vitamin, and Fish Oil. Then once a day, I take a multivitamin after I eat. I aim for drinking 6 of my tall plastic cups full of ice water or more, and 4-6 brewed green teas, which I pour over ice.

Then each day I get in my hour workout on the elliptical, followed by about 30 minutes of weights , and then each week I aim for doing 2+ days of my WII fit routine.

A lady I know is going to give us her Total Gym , so I am really excited to start using that! Ideally I'd love to get a bowflex and a bowflex treadclimber, but they are SO expensive!! The Elliptical and Total Gym will be enough to do what I need for the time being. I do want to invest in some more free weights, though. :)

That's all for now!

8/12/13

I don't even know off the top of my head when the last time was that I blogged! :S

Well, July was a challenging month in a sense. On the super hot days I felt so NOT motivated to do anything but hang out at the beach. I still watched what I ate for the most part, but we did have some BBQ's & ice creams. I did keep working out, but there was probably a week in there when I didn't, and the other weeks it was probably 1-3 times a week TOPS. I would say an average was 2 times a week. Thankfully during this time, I did not gain a single pound back. Being at -26 pounds has been a blessing! I feel like I have made some very positive and permanent lifestyle changes which are allowing me to stay at this weight.

For the past week I have been back on track, full force! I have been eating well, not starving but not eating crap. Mostly like chicken breast with veggies, some whole grain noodles with sauce and crushed red pepper, or brown rice with steak and veggies cut up and mixed in. All whole some , real food , low fat meals. I know steak has fat in it & what not, but I firmly believe it's fine in moderation! I even had an ice cream the other day with the kids, but it was a small one. :)

So, with my working out daily again, and watching what I eat, and sticking to my green tea and water, I have lost another 2 pounds!! As of yesterday I was at -28. I am so very excited for when the day comes when I can say that I have officially lost 30 pounds! And I am so determined and confident that it will be soon. I am also determined and confident that I will EASILY lose another 30 in the next 6 months as well. I know I can!! It will feel amazing if by mid February I have lost 60 pounds. I will be ecstatic!! Then of course my goal will be another 40. If I can stick to the pace that I'm at now, and keep motivated, I will SO be shorts ready by spring, and by the end of next summer I will be back to my ol' 20 year old self again!!! :D