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

Weeks, Weight, and Holidays!

Hola!
Wow I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks since I last blogged! Awful!

To make a long story short, I had 8 days in a row off from work, I didn't really work out... maybe like once. :S bad bad bad!!! Lots of laying on the beach, a barbecue or two, the 4th of July, and snuggling with my niece Emberli!!

Then my sisters were over for almost a week, but while they were here, in a matter of 3 days my one sister and I walked 24 miles! I was feeling great! My eating has not been too fantastic the past couple/few weeks though. Last 'regular' weigh in, it said 220... Sweet! That meant 25 pounds down, and I was excited to get back under 220 for the first time in YEARS!!! Well, last week my weight said like 223ish... I figured most was water weight because I was SO bloated.... I wasn't eating horrendously just a bit worse than usual.

Well, now today... exactly ONE week later, the scale says 226/ 227!! EEEEEK! I need to drop this 7-8 pounds FAST and get myself back on track. I know I am super bloated and retaining water right now though, ugh! Once I see 219 on the scale, I will be happy. Actually, it's strange cause one day last week I swear the scale also said 217, unless I was dreaming.. which is possible. But I think I remember telling Joe how excited I was about it. So strange! HOWEVER.. I have not been drinking as much water as usual, and drank a fraction of the tea I ususally do. I also had pizza twice, 2 fudgcicles, a couple swiss rolls, and some pop. Oh, and some chips. AHHH! What was I thinking?! Today I ate much better. But tomorrow will be better yet.

I need to stay focused and keep my ultimate goal in mind! Which is to be a mom who can live a long, healthy, happy life with her family. I want to be active, and be able to enjoy this wonderful life that the Lord has blessed me with!! So much to be thankful for!!


My goal is to be under 220 by the end of July. Time to kick some serious butt!!!!