t-minus 26 days!!

Today was my first day of no cheating since...um, a while. I really was good today! I never felt deprived or hungry and I hope the rest of the month is just as good! I hope I didn't overdo the carbs, as usual, but I really did try to watch them! According to Dailyburn.com, I ate 1792 cals, 115.7 g protein, 58.7 g fat, and 206.7 g carbs. My nutrient ratio was 45:26:29 instead of 40:30:30. Close, but I will try to do better tomorrow!! I am proud that I didn't do any mindless snacking today which I can contribute to staying busy! Today just flew by for me. I think keeping my mind occupied is really going to be a key factor in my weight loss! Today I kept the downstairs of my house mostly picked up all day and I did some online window-shopping for fall and winter clothes for the kids. If I had an extra $300 laying around right now, they'd be the most styling kids in town!

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast- baked chicken breast with italian seasoning (leftover, cold straight from the fridge!)

snack- smoothie with whey, flax, spinach, rice milk, and golden fruit blend

lunch- 2 slices of ezekial, toasted with 1 tbsp all-nat pb and 1 tsp raspberry preserves

snack- 1 cup rice milk with 1 scoop chocolate whey, 1/2 apple with 1 tbsp pb

dinner- 6 of the crispy chicken bites (tosca recipe) and 1.5 sweet potatoes--cut up and very very lightly tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with lots of cinnamon. where I went wrong with my carbs! I sliced up 2 sweet potatoes into fries and I ate damn near the whole pan of them!! I didn't miss the sugar at all that I usually put on and I could have eaten another whole tray of them! gosh they are good!

Today's workout- p90x arms and shoulders with ab ripper x--probably my very favorite p90x workout!! I love doing arms and it was straight lifting today, no pushups or pullups! I was going to take my dog out for a run (I arranged for my mom to stop over every night this week so I could take the dog out since Pete is gone) but when my mom got here I had *just* taken my dinner out of the oven so I had to just do a brisk walk! We walked for 30 minutes, so I'm guessing around 2 miles. Not something I'd count as a workout but it was out and moving nonetheless!

Tomorrow I would like for my eating to be as good as today or better and I have yoga and as always my goal is to get through as much of it as possible--last time I did 45 min so maybe this time I can shoot for a whole hour! The yoga x workout is a crazy 90 minutes long!

ABSolutely fABulous

Week 1 photo. The first of many weeks to come! (excuse my dirty mirror and redneck workout room!) ps- for those who have less-than-perfect tummies, ie. stretch marks--I recommend the cell phone pic! Less detail=good thing. I wish my abs looked so nice up-close and personal ;)


Okay, let's face it...it is all about the abs. I can track my progress all I want and weigh and measure until I am blue in the face but until I lose this muffin-top and get the rock-hard abs I want, I will not be finished with my weight-loss journey. Can you see my little 4-pack in my upper abs?!?! Is it just me or IS IT THERE?!

One day, these darn lower abs WILL match the upper abs! I will be combating this with my clean eating and adding some more intense cardio--running intervals for now!

So today is the big day. Time to see if I have lost anything! Drumroll please...

Today's weight-- 166. psssssshhhhhhtttt. Oddly enough, I am not discouraged by this. I have come up with a number of possible scenarios for this bizzare number.

#1- my weight last week was not accurate. Highly possible on this scale. I got a different number depending on where I put it in my house but 166 was the most occuring number today. Or this week's number is wrong.

#2- I have a muscle gain

#3- I am still retaining water from Wednesday's salty pizza and am still bloated from this week's pinto bean kick.

#4- I really did gain 2 lbs from my poor eating.

All are possible explanations. I also measured today. Here is a side-by-side comparison of today vs July 13 vs June 1 2009 (I cannot find my complete list of measurements from 09 but you can really see how much I've lost since last year!)

Today/ July 13/June 1(last year)

weight- 166 165 180

bust- 36 37 x

chest- 32 33 36

waist- 30 31 39

tummy- 37 38.5 x

hips- 39 40 47

thighs- 23 24.5 25

arms- 11 12 x

I may not have lost any weight (or maybe I did...who knows!) but I have been steadily losing inches which is what counts!! I'm not sure what a good measurement for my lower abs would be. I'm shooting for 34 or less by my birthday on October 26. I saw on the news last night that the average American woman's waistline is 37 inches!! WOW! We have a major problem in this country! I'm really not surprised.

I started off today with my usual coffee and a smoothie. Today's fruit was Schwan's golden fruit blend. It's my all-time favorite kind of smoothie. Like a big ole glass of summer!

Lunch will be a chicken/lettuce/honey mustard/cheese wrap and some apple slices with peanut butter. I'll have another smoothie for a snack and dinner will be more spaghetti! I'll be getting my drink on later tonight--one glass worth since I'm a lightweight! I am thinking Bicardi Razz with some lemonade and frozen raspberries and ice all blended up! One drink once a month can't be too bad, right?!?!

Today's workout was a 5-mile run. I was hoping to finally break my distance barrier of 8 miles but 2 miles into my run I knew it wasn't going to happen today! I had to stop after mile 2 for a walking water break and then again after mile 3 and I started to run again and ran about half of mile 4 when I had to stop--OMG those damn pinto beans have me running to the bathroom 6x a day!!! I had to walk and squeeze!! hahahaha The feeling finally passed and I decided mile 5 should be intervals...2 minutes hard, 1 minute easy. I made it 90 seconds into the first one and I felt like I was gonna die!! I don't know what is wrong with me today--I should have no problems running 5 miles on a nice day without the stroller. I'll just chalk it up as an off day and hope for a better run next time on Sunday! Right after my run, I grabbed some more water and a chocolate-coconut larabar for some much-needed fuel and then did p90x arms and back with ab ripper x. Made it through that just fine and I could even notice a difference in my strength!!! I was cranking out the pushups like I've never done before aaaannnnndddd I can finally do the military-style ones!! I still have to be on my knees for those kind (all toes for the other kinds!) but I never even had the strength before to go all the way down and come back up and today I could!!! BIG milestone for me! I wasn't able to do the diamond pushups or the dive-bombers--I am still having some kind of issue with my hip flexor (I think that is what is hurting, anyway) on my left side. It bugs the CRAP out of me while I'm running and I can't do any wide-leg pushups or exercises because it hurts so bad!! I hope with time it will stop hurting! I tried to exaggerate my stride today to fully stretch out my legs and I think that helped me get through my run. Oh and I weighed again after my workouts and subsequent trips to the bathroom and I was at 164. So maybe by tonight I'll hit 162! LOL

Tomorrow will be plyo so I will take the day off from running unless I feel really really good tomorrow night! I have another wedding shower, this one at a really yummy Italian restaurant....hello starchy carb city! I just want to get through the day and not hate myself. I won't beat myself up but I want to come with a full stomach and healthy snack in-hand and have plenty of water to drink! I'll keep it simple since tomorrow is Saturday :)

and one last look at this tummy....GOOD BYE!!!!

p90x week 1: completed!

After a much-needed reality check I think I have my head and my heart in the right place again. I'm not sure why I get in such low funks sometimes and why I am so hard on myself! I am so anxious about tomorrow's weigh-in! I know I've done a good job with my workouts this week but my eating is still not where it needs to be--but I hope it is enough to see a change on the scale! Besides the two times I have had pizza, my other food has been good and clean.

Today's breakfast was a smoothie with strawberry and peaches as my fruits. I had a slice of fresh out of the oven, warm banana bread (clean recipe!) for my midmorning snack. And some fresh pineapple--I finally cut my first pineapple and it was so easy with my new sharp knive (thanks mom!) and just soo delicious and refreshing! Lunch was 2 ww tortillas spread thick with refried beans, 1/2 chicken breast (1/4 each tortilla), and cheese. Very yummy and filling! I made the kids cheese pizzas on ww english muffins and the boys even asked for seconds. I would like to start phasing my kids to eating as clean as I do!

I ate a late lunch so I wasn't very hungry for an afternoon snack but I had cut up two apples for the boys with some peanut butter so I had two slices with pb also. Dinner was Ronzoni Healthy Harvest pasta with spaghetti sauce and it really hit the spot! Today is my rest day and my body really appreciates that!

Tomorrow I will update with my weigh-in and hopefully get some running done besides my p90x! And it WILL be a good eating day!@

Another great day for me! I am feeling so good these days physically! I started my day off with my usual coffee and smoothie. I also had 2 scrambled eggs and a slice of ww banana bread (recipe found under ww banana bread on http://www.allrecipes.com/). Not all at once, of course, but between the hours of 7 and 1.

I had p90x legs and back for my afternoon workout. For some reason I just wasn't into the workout today and I don't feel like I got a whole lot out of it. I did, however, really notice how my abs are getting more defined--not so much slimmer yet, though.

Lunch was leftovers from last night's dinner. A ww tortilla spread thick with my homemade refried beans, about 1/4 cut up grilled chicken breast, and a little sharp cheddar cheese, all warmed up in the microwave. Super easy and filling! I'm not going to lie, though, I was craving Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream like crazy this afternoon...it's been months and months since I've had any but that craving just HIT me! I settled for a big spoonful of crunchy peanut butter with a little squirt of Hershey's syrup...definitely not clean but it took care of my craving!

I had a big bag of tomatoes my mom had dropped off for me. It had been sitting in my kitchen at least a week and I kept thinking, "I NEED to do something with these" but I never did and I was beginning to think they were all just going to go bad because I just had not made the initiative! During p90x, Tony has you "call out your soup" when doing a particular stretch. His soup was tomato basil. That made me think, hmmm...I have tomatoes, I have basil (leftover from when I made pesto--about 2 cups worth) and I've been wanting some good, healthy soup, so I decided to make some! I had no idea how to go about this but I just gave it a whirl and you know what, it turned out great! I took a lot of tomatoes--some regular size, some roma, and threw them in boiling water for about a minute and then rinsed them right away in cold water. They peeled so easily after that--thank you Mandie for the heads up! Then I put my tomatoes and basil (minus the stems) in my blender and hit puree and it blended it all up! I transfered it back to the big pot on the stove, added some chicken broth, milk, and 1/2 tsp sea salt and let it simmer for a while. That's it! It was soo good!

Then I was trying to think of something to go with my soup and I remembered seeing a recipe for clean corn bread from http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/. I made a few substitutions for ingredients I didn't have but otherwise followed the recipe--and wow! It was the best cornbread I've ever had. So tasty! I love that it has a cup of frozen corn in it! So my cornbread, with my soup, was just such a great summer supper!

Tonight I took my dog out for a run...we ran about 2 miles and walked one more. Overall, I'm happy with today although now I see I may have had too many carbs for one day so I will be extra cautious for the next couple of days. Tomorrow I'd like to do some more baking and finish my first week (again x6 lol) of p90x. Another run would be a bonus, too :)

Day 2

Today had another great start!! My husband had to leave early for work for his last day at his current job (yay!) so I had no choice but to load them up and take them with me running this morning. The weather was almost perfect--about 75* but humid, a nice breeze, overcast and not too sunny! I felt great during my run! I decided I was going to go for distance so I was at a 10 minute pace, hoping I would make it 10 miles today! I took my long 6-mile loop around town and out in the country and for the last 4 I was going to go weave in between my other route--kind of hard to explain--but it required me to run right past our house right after the 6 mile mark. Mistake. The kids saw home and got so excited--they had been in the stroller for the past hour, afterall, and they just got out of hand when I kept on running past, so I stopped and walked around the block for my cooldown, with my son throwing a temper tantrum the whole time. Ugh. I hope 4 is going to be an easier year than 3 for us! But I am glad I at least got an hour of running in today. I burned 800 calories and I've never had a better 6-miler than today as far as quality of the run. I've run it much faster before but today was just great.

I had to shower and run errands after the run and I didn't get around to making lunch til 2 this afternoon. I was HUNGRY! I did munch on a tiny triangle corner of cold pizza before I went running but that was all I'd had all day. I made Tosca's Crispy Chicken Bites from http://www.eatcleandiet.com/ and I cut up 3 sweet potatoes into fries and tossed them lightly with olive oil, a few sprinkles of organic raw cane sugar, and a ton of cinnamon. I baked them at 450* for about 25 minutes--delicious! I keep making them healthier and healthier every time. I used to make them with butter. Next time I will try omitting the sugar so they are truly Clean!

I was still stuffed from my lunch at 7:00! I might have had a bit too many of the fries! I could not stop eating them but I figured, hey, they're veggies! LOL I definitely ate at least half of them all to myself. I will definitely start making them at least once a week. I had 5 of the chicken bites; one serving was 4. My late dinner was a smoothie. It had my usuals--spinach, rice milk, flax, and whey, and this time I put in a banana and a tbsp of cocoa powder. Riley really enjoyed it, too!

I was planning on doing plyo tonight...honestly, I am pooped!! I just want to hit the sack early and see if I can get up early for a solo run--maybe get a new distance PR! And if I did plyo then I'd have to eat again and I don't feel like cooking! haha

Tomorrow's goals-- eat clean, get in a good run (or bike ride if I'm too stiff) and do p90x arms and shoulders. Do some clean baking for my family--banana bread, pancakes, muffins--and maybe even make salsa and spaghetti sauce.

on a side note--I cannot ever get this page to load correctly and it isn't letting me upload pictures!! Anyone more internet savvy than me who knows how to fix this??

Day 1

Today started off great. I woke up at the unholy hour of 6am and went running with my dog Clark. I started off walking but Clark wasn't having any of that. We ran 3.5 miles and I'm glad I had him there to make me do it. It's funny how Clark is merely power walking while I am running at my distance pace.

Fridays are my official weigh-in days and today's weight: 164.4. A HUGE sigh of relief this morning. All week I had been coming in at 166. I will never let myself get over 165 again. Next week I really would like to see 162!! I'm going to add in all the extra cardio I can to melt this fat off!

Breakfast was 2 scrambled eggs, with a sprinkle of paprika. And my coffee, of course. I always drink two cups sweetened with a little agave, a teaspoon of cocoa powder, and a little half and half. I know, I should be using rice milk or almond milk, but it just doesn't taste the same.

I had a smoothie for my morning snack. 2 big handfuls of fresh baby spinach, a handful of fresh pineapple, a cup of rice milk, a scoop of vanilla whey, 2 tbsp ground flax, and frozen strawberries and peaches. So yummy. As usual, the kids were immediately asking me if they could have a drink. I don't think I've ever gotten a whole smoothie to myself.

My mom brought me some fresh organic basil yesterday so today I made pesto! I was going through some old food journals when I came across one of my old favorites that I had somehow forgotten--a chicken pesto panini. I had some chicken thawing in the fridge so I took it and sprinkled it with pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and a little sea salt and thew it on the Foreman grill. I sliced up 4 potatoes into fries and seasoned them the same way as the chicken, and lightly tossed them with olive oil. I baked them at 450* for about 40 minutes, flipping them three times. I don't know why anyone would want to buy a bag of frozen fries when you can buy a big bag of potatoes for $5 and make your own fries and have them taste a million times better! I gave the kids the grilled chicken and homemade fries along with some grapes for lunch. My sandwich was on two slices of Ezekial bread. I smeared on a good amount of pesto on the bottom slice, topped that with 1/2 of a cut-up chicken breast, then put on some roasted red peppers, and then about 1/8 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. I cooked it in the Foreman, right after the chicken was done. No need for a fancy panini press. I had some of the fries and a few grapes with my delicious sandwich. I like to have lunch be my biggest meal of the day. I am quite frankly too lazy to get up and cook a big breakfast. Maybe not lazy, but unwilling to wake up even earlier to take Clark out so I'd also have time to cook breakfast by the time Pete leaves at 7:30. So we usually just have eggs and toast and cereal. I like to have my carbs with lunch to fuel me for my afternoon workout and then eat a light dinner at night.

This afternoon I started p90x over again. I hope this is the last time I ever say that. Day one went very well since I am practically a pro at those workouts now. Today's workout was Chest and Back, follwed by Ab Ripper x. I did at least 100 REAL pushups during that hour which I sure couldn't do last November when I started p90x the first time. I almost made it through every single rep of ab ripper x which I never thought I could do. I should be able to do it by the end of the month. I didn't stop early during any of the exercises and I really felt that I pushed myself.

Tonight wasn't exactly a light low-carb dinner. We started a new family tradition, about 3 weeks ago, of ordering pizza on Friday nights. It is the first tradition we've ever done as a family. With our Army lifestyle, nothing could ever be planned and Pete missed birthdays and holidays with us. Then when he first got home, I worked evenings and we never got to eat as a family. Then, he got a job with Schwans and never got home til 10 or later. It's really silly but it makes me feel like a normal family. I know I shouldn't be associating food with family memories, but it is what it is. Friday night is my once a week "cheat" for now. I had four pieces of square pizza, so about the size of 2 slices of an 8-piece frozen pizza. And a cheese-filled breadstick dipped in pizza sauce. I have had days where I ate half of an extra large pizza. Not tonight, not anymore. I can stop now.

I was craving ice cream after dinner so I decided to make some clean banana-based ice cream. I used 1 cup of milk, 4 frozen bananas, 2 tbsp agave, 2 tbsp cocoa powder, and 2 tbsp peanut butter. It was my first time adding peanut butter and it seemed like such a great idea at the time. It didn't really taste so great to me. I'll omit that next time.

All and all, I'd say today was a pretty good day for me. I am trying to not feel guilty of my scheduled Friday indulgence. Tomorrow I'd like to go for a long run--see what kind of distance I am capable of running now. I might take the kids...I'll just have to see what tomorrow brings! And of course, do my p90x workout. Plyometrics. It's a great calorie-burning workout so I should be needing two showers again tomorrow :)