Time is a Precious Gift

Current Weight - 181.5

With a one year old on my hands, I seriously wonder what I did with all of the time I had before. I spend most of the day chasing her around the house, reading lift the flap books, and playing peek-a-boo and hide n' go seek! While I love every minute I spend with my precious babe, it's hard to find the time to exercise and work out.

Yesterday while Parker was napping, I spent 30 minutes working out and 15 minutes just stretching. It was heaven! I felt great! I need to remember how great it feels to get back into the rhythm of doing it every day.

Here's to more nap time workouts...

Current Weight: 187.5

Goal Weight: 150

37.5 pounds to go!

I've decided to start posting on Sundays like last time, just to make myself accountable. I mean, when you tell the internet how fat you actually are, there's some level of "I better fix this or everyone will know how lazy I am" mentality that keeps you accountable.

I also need to buy myself awesome stuff. That helped last time. A lot. So here goes:

180 - Hollister Jeans (return Christmas gift, so they will be free)!
170 - Pedicure (those things are hard to come by these days)
160 - Hair cut & Colored (Haven't done this since Dominican vacation)!
150 - Tattoos w/ sissy! (Will actually fit into Hollister jeans mentioned above.

I'm just going to look back at a bunch of skinny pictures of myself and keep the following things in mind so I don't cry a little:

1) I had a beautiful, wonderful baby girl.
2) I lost more than this last time and it only took me about 5 months.
3) I can do it!

Perfectionist Attitude

I am definitely a perfectionist when it comes to many things. When I began my journey toward a healthy lifestyle in 2012, I logged every single calorie. I tracked every calorie burned with a HRM. I spent hours cooking and calculating calories. I blogged weekly and tracked everything. Well when you have a baby, you don't have the time to do those things. I barely feel like I have time to take a shower let alone log calories in MFP.

In order to move forward, I've come to an important realization. I cannot do what I did before. If I miss half of a workout in my 21DF because Parker wakes up, I shouldn't just quit the whole program because I didn't follow it exactly. I should keep on keepin' on, even if it's not perfect.

I am absolutely determined that when we have our next baby, I'm going to remain active and healthy. I was so so tired all the time in my first trimester with Parker. I was also terrified of overdoing it and doing any kind of harm to my growing baby in my belly. As a result, I'm back up in the 180s (ahhhh!) and it's time to get serious. I've lost about 50 lbs in 6 months before, and I know I can do it again.

The 21 Day Fix

The 21 Day Fix

Yesterday marked Day #1 of my 21 Day Fix. I have to admit that I wasn't very well prepared. I didn't even really read the meal plan until yesterday morning. Nevertheless, I was able to follow it from what we had already at home. 

Food

Here's what a day of eating looked like:

Meal 1: steel cut oats with strawberries

Snack: banana

Meal #2: chocolate Shakeology w/ coffee

Snack: cashews

Meal 3: Chicken Breast topped with red roasted peppers, spinach, and mozzarella cheese with a side of green beans

*Note: I did not eat all the food that I was allowed. I could have eaten one more purple container, one more green container, two more red containers, two more yellow containers, and 2 more teaspoons.

Allow me to briefly explain how this works. Each container corresponds to a food group.

Purple - Fruits

Green - Vegetables

Red - Proteins

Yellow - Starches
Blue - Cheese/Nuts/Avocado
Orange - Seeds/Dressings
Teaspoons - healthy oils (olive oil, for example), nut butters (almond butter, for example), and seed butters (pumpkin butter, for example)

There's a simple formula, based on your weight, that tells you how many of each container you can eat daily. I love this!! I am retraining my brain to know what a portion looks like! I have also realized that I don't eat nearly enough protein during the day.

For my weight loss goals (and adding in 400 extra calories for breastfeeding), I am allowed 3 purples, 5 greens, 5 reds, 4 yellows, 1 blue, 1 orange, and 5 teaspoons.

Exercise 

The 21 Day Fix also comes with exercise DVDs. Each DVD is only 30 minutes. Yesterday, I did the "Total Body Cardio Fix." 

This, paired with the fact that I sucked it up at volleyball on Saturday, helped me come to an important realization. I am in bad shape. The worst. Worse than probably ever before in my life. As I did the 30 minute workout, I was struggling. Struggling hard. I even did the low modification and still was dying. There were a few times that I couldn't even keep up with the low mod girl! Gone are the days of Melissa and I doing the highest possible intensity modifications at Zumba, jumping and hopping around to make it more difficult than even the instructor would do sometimes. *sigh*

Then I hear Autumn Calabrese say to keep moving, no matter what intensity level you are working at. It makes me think of something I've read before...

I am not exaggerating when I tell you this. I finished my low mod, fat girl version of the first 21DF workout. I walked out of my bedroom and when I stepped down on the first stair heading toward the living room, I thought my legs were going to collapse. They felt like jelly and were barely holding me up. I had to hold on to the railing. It was sad. It was pitiful. This workout would have been a breeze for me a year ago. Not anymore. I am determined to get back to that place where I would have done the highest intensity version of the workout. I want to be able to do that again. I will be able to do that again. It will just take time. In the meantime, as my whole body aches and struggles to move around today, I'll remember...

It's a Beautiful Day for a Walk

I'm starting to learn more about what is involved in being a Beach Body coach, and I'm excited to get started! I think I need to go ahead and do the 21 Day Fix (starting on Monday), learn more about all of the programs, and then after that I will try to start my first challenge group!

I had a delicious green smoothie this morning! What a healthy start to the day.

 I also went on a nice walk with my baby girl, which of course means I'll share her picture with you. I can't help it! She's so darn beautiful :)

Saturday is the Annual Chili Classic Volleyball Tournament. You have no idea how freaking excited I am!! I have been missing volleyball desperately since I didn't get to play while I was pregnant. I haven't played a game since November 2013. Such a tragedy! Anyway, I can't even explain how I excited I am for Saturday.

Another thing I'm starting on Monday...Shakeology! I've sampled it before, and it tastes pretty good from what I remember. I just need to get the okay from my doctor to take it while breastfeeding my little munchkin. Guess we'll find out at my appointment tomorrow.

I'm determined to not only get back to 145 pounds, but to pass that up and get to my original goal weight of 140. It is on!!!! :)

Going Forward!

Must. Go. Forward...

In November 2012, I weighed myself after Thanksgiving dinner and a depressed, unhealthy almost 200 lb. girl decided it was time to make a change. 

I worked my butt off! I meal planned, tracked my food and exercise using My Fitness Pal, and did tons of exercising! I joined the gym. I played volleyball. I ran. I did Zumba, yoga, TurboJam, TurboFire, Hip Hop Abs, some thighs and butt program that I can't remember the name of! I lifted weights. I had an awesome workout buddy! I did all the things that healthy people make a lifestyle of. I was down to 145 POUNDS and feeling better than I have in years!!

But then...I got pregnant. I am beyond blessed to have a beautiful and healthy daughter! I never thought it would be possible to love a little person so much! But along with my precious little Parker came 55 pounds! Well it's time to get moving again because I am remembering just how much I hate being overweight. I'm remembering just how much I love being healthy. I'm remember how much I love fitting into cute clothes.  I am now a Beach Body coach. I don't know what all that entails yet, but I am ready! It's time to go forward. 

My Motivation:

• To be a good example for my daughter
• To complete more Beach Body programs and help others reach their health and fitness goals too!
• To find a cute dress for Phil & Melissa's wedding next October
• So I can wear all my cute swimsuits I bought last year
• To feel good and have more energy!

This is the Jenny who is on her way back...

Now I just need to find my heart rate monitor...

Little Baby Cole

It's funny. I looked back at my blog, which seems like it hasn't been used in forever. I read my last post before now. The last time I used it, I wrote about how I hoped that I was pregnant. Well (drum roll please)...

I was ONE day pregnant when I wrote the last one :) Now I'm 17, almost 18 weeks, and couldn't be more excited. I have to say, being pregnant is not all the fun and awesomeness that I expected it to be. Of course it's worth it, and I would go through this a million more times to be able to meet my sweet baby boy or girl. However, the first trimester nearly killed me. I've never been so exhausted in my life. I'm talking lay on the couch, can't/don't want to move, completely fatigued. I never threw up, but got nauseous on a few days. I think the worst part for me has been the headaches. I've tried so many things to get rid of them. I'm even seeing a chiropractor and old friend, Jeanne Engert. Anyway, I don't want to complain too much! I saw the most perfect explanation of all of this the other day:

Anyway, this blog has completely been about weight loss and leading a healthy lifestyle. I had a very successful year last year, and it was so hard for me at first to slowly watch the pounds creep up on the scale. It was downright depressing. I've finally (I think) accepted the fact that I'm going to gain weight, and I'm going to be starting over again. *sigh* But I know it will be worth it. 

I wanted to write this post to post pictures of our latest and greatest purchase - baby furniture! I really love what we picked out, and we finally ordered it yesterday.

I guess that's all for now. Hopefully now that I have a more normal amount of energy, I can blog more. I sure did miss it!

One Year Later

Well...

I did my yearly "weigh myself after Thanksgiving" expecting to get annoyed with myself once again. Not this year! 

Over the past year, my lowest weight was 146. My sustainable weight where I felt the best was 155. This is where I've been for a while. On the day after Thanksgiving, I was at 162. Sure, it's not ideal. I had to force myself to look at the big picture. Last year, on the day after Thanksgiving, I was at a mind boggling 196. Even though I've put on a few pounds and went over my usual 155, I still weigh 34 pounds less than last Thanksgiving. And that's a win in my book!

I ovulated yesterday. Bring on the two week wait! This is the second month we've tried to get pregnant, and it's seriously made me realize how terrible I am at waiting for things. I am a "please me now, give me what I want" kind of person. When I want something, I get it. I am not one who enjoys waiting around for things. So what I'm trying to say is that this is kind of like human torture. I know there's really no reason to get all crazy about it, but it's just so darn exciting!

I've decided I'm going to start making fruit smoothies for breakfast and vegetable soup for my lunches. I have a butternut squash in the oven right now that smells delicious! 

That's all for now. Fingers crossed that in 9-10ish months, Josh and I will have our own little bundle of joy! :)

Here Goes Nothin'

It's been a great year for me health wise. I've lost a significant amount of weight, and I just celebrated one full year without smoking! I was really into this regular exercise and healthy eating lifestyle, and unfortunately over the past two months I've kinda fallen off the bandwagon.

My current weight is in the mid 150s, and I know exactly why. I've quit exercising daily, and I haven't been planning meals. I've been eating out a lot, and I've been consuming more calories. I really, really want to make it to my goal of 140, so starting tomorrow I'm getting back into it.

My mom is getting ready to start the Military Diet, and I thought...hmmmm! Why not give it a shot? My brother's girlfriend Janelle mentioned that it gave her energy, made her feel good, and helped her lose a few pounds. I found the food plan here: http://themilitarydiet.com/military-diet-plan/.

I want to be in the best shape possible when I get pregnant, which will hopefully be soon! :)

Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Everyone who said "it's not that bad" is a freakin' liar! This is terrible, terrible...and I wouldn't wish this kind of pain on my worst enemy. Let me give you a little recap of my past 52 hours.

Tuesday @ 1:00:
The surgeon tells me that unfortunately my bottom two wisdom teeth are going to cause me quite a bit of a problem. Apparently if I had taken care of them sooner, I would have been fine. The bottom two teeth grew in and got too big. The root grew down, and it wrapped around the nerves below my gums. He said the top ones would quit hurting in about two days, but the bottom ones would cause me quite a bit of pain until about Sunday. 

He wasn't lying.

Fast forward to Tuesday @ 1:25:
I wake up in tears even though I was knocked out. How does that even happen? I was still out of it, but I was in horrible pain from the second I woke up. My grandma wanted to drop me off at home before she got my prescription, but I wasn't having it. I needed painkillers.

I know almost everyone goes through this in their life, and you might even think I'm being a baby. Let me clarify. My top two teeth haven't hurt me one bit. It's those bottom two that were a problem from the start. 

Tuesday around 2:00:
I got home and took my pain killers. That was an ordeal. I was bleeding a lot and I couldn't take a pill without swallowing a lot of blood, which instantly made me nauseous. I slept the rest of the day and only woke up to take medicine, which made me sick every time. 

I've been alternating Vicodin and Ibuprofen every two hours, and taking Amoxicillin three times per day. Every time I get close to medicine time, the pain becomes almost unbearable in my bottom teeth. The first day I would just lay there and cry. 

I thought I would be taking less and less Vicodin by now, but I can't or my mouth starts throbbing and makes me feel funny. Not to mention the terrible pain and my swollen cheeks. Here's a picture of my cheeks today:

You can tell they are slightly swollen, but the real swelling is on the inside of my mouth. My inner cheeks have swollen over my teeth, causing cuts and bleeding inside of my mouth. I'll spare you a nasty picture of the inside of my mouth.

So far I've only eaten mashed potatoes, pudding, blended veggie soup, and ice cream. I decided to try some macaroni and cheese for dinner, but it really hurt to try and chew (all my bottom teeth are sensitive). 

Looks like it's back to this delicious carrot soup tomorrow:

This turned out to be a really bad week to do this. Josh's uncle passed away and his wake was tonight. We went for a little bit and I was all loopy (thanks to the Vicodin) while we were there. The funeral is in the morning. Then tomorrow evening, I signed up for this painting class for my friend's birthdays, but I honestly am not feeling up to it at all. I feel like crap and I just want to lay here, sleep, watch Homeland, and do nothing. After the painting class, I'm supposed to go see my friend Katie for her going away party. She's moving to KC for a nursing job. Any other time, I would be way excited about tomorrow's festivities (funeral excluded), but I'm not sure how I'm gunna make it through the evening. I'm just hoping that tomorrow I'm feeling much better! 

So if you want some words of wisdom, here they are: Get your wisdom teeth removed before you're in your 20's or leave those suckers in your mouth for life. This it totally not worth it!

Running is Fun!

Running is fun.

Running is fun.

Running is fun...

If I keep saying it, maybe I'll believe it! While I certainly don't think running is fun, it is fun to see my time go down. Here's my time for my latest outdoor, hilly, 1 mile run:

This was Friday. We went camping and on a float trip this weekend, and we had a really great time. This was our third annual family float trip, and we got some family members to come who haven't in the past. This made me happy! I love hanging out with my family. 

I hate almost all mixed drinks because they are just way too sweet for me, but I made a great river drink this weekend. It was Skinny Girl Cucumber Vodka, club soda, and a splash of Diet 7-Up. Super refreshing and not too sweet! 

I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled on Tuesday, so it's not going to be a great week for working out. But hey, I'll probably only be eating Jello, pudding, and soup so hopefully I won't gain weight.

Have a good week!

Keep on keepin' on!

I went for another one mile run today. 

Yesterday, my time was 9:48. 
Today, my time was...

14 seconds faster, although I felt like I was going slower today. 

The two sided battle in my mind (stop or keep going, quit or push harder) started much quicker today than yesterday. 

When I told a good friend about how excited I was that I finished a whole mile without quitting in 9:48 yesterday, I got a response that went something like this:

Skeptical face over my excitement.
"Really? That's kind of slow I thought."
End conversation. 

What started off feeling like a huge accomplishment suddenly made me self conscious and embarrassed. 

Running

Today I've been thinking about something I've had a love/hate relationship with my entire life: Running. 

This morning I decided to go for a run, so I put on my running shoes and headed outside.

Some people are just born to run. I get it. The wind in your hair. The outdoor scenery. The Britney Spears workout music bumpin'. It's a time just for yourself. As I took off down my street this morning and looked up at the beautiful clouds, this is exactly how I was feeling, but then...

I started getting really hot. It's a humid day in St. Louis, but I continued on. I was stupid and took the wrong way for my mile run because I put the big hill towards the end. 

It started getting hard to breath. "In through your nose, out through your mouth," I repeated in my head like a mantra. I had to convince myself to continue every single step for the last 1/4 mile. Pure and unnecessary torture. 

But then, my friends, I was home. The whole mile without stopping to walk. I felt victorious, out of breath, and happy. So as I said before...it's a love/hate relationship. 

This picture I saw on Pinterest exactly describes the constant battle going on in my head during running:

I just came across this "how to run" information when I got home. Allow me to embarrass myself. When I used to play select soccer, my coach told me that my running form was incorrect (which is why I was so slow even when I was in good shape). They brought in a running coach to teach me the correct way to run. I felt like a real winner that day!

So here's to more running in the next few weeks!

Weak Core

I did a core workout today, and man am I sore already. I'll be seriously shocked if I can move in the morning. The funny thing is...it was only 20 minutes! Wtf mate?! I thought I was getting strong, but apparently not that strong...

That is all.

Sweet dreams!

DietBet & Lack of Schedule

Current Weights: 149.9 lbs.

Down 46.1 lbs. from the start

9.9 lbs. until my goal

So I weighed in today for the DietBet, and it looks like I am a winner! Hooray! On Sunday, I was weighing in at 149 (I needed to be at 150.9), and I had to weigh in my results the following day on Monday. I ate at a deficit and worked out, only to see that I was at 151.3 the following morning, and could therefore not weigh in as a winner. Annoying! I hate when my weight fluctuates for no apparent reason. Luckily, I was good to go this morning at 149.9 lbs. I don't know how much I won yet, but I can't wait to find out. I currently have about $95 I can cash in, plus we have about $50 on Josh's account as well. 

Enough rambling...the reason for this post is because I am proud of myself. I weighed in today and was absolutely starving. Luckily we have no food in our house right now because I literally wanted to eat any and everything. I considered ordering pizza, going to Subway, driving through Taco Bell...the possibilities were endless. Fortunately it was raining, and I decided to go for a bowl of cereal instead. 

Everytime I get into the 140s I always feel accomplished, take it easy, screw everything up, and then get mad at myself. Well not this time! I'm going to continue to work my butt off because in 9.9 more pounds, I'm getting a new tattoo! And I have a feeling that once I hit 140, know that I worked extremely hard and was able to lose 56 pounds in less than a year, and get an awesome new tattoo...it's going to be one of the best feelings in the entire world. 

Hello Abs, It's nice to meet you!

Current Weight: 149.0 lbs.

9 lbs. until my goal

47 lbs. down from the start

I can't put into words how intense Turbo Fire was today. I did the Fire 55 EZ class. Since it was my first time, I did the extended, "new to class," version. This means they stop and very slowly show you the moves before each part. Even with these four pauses between the workout sections, I still burned 857 calories! Amazing! 

In other new and very exciting news: I am starting to SEE my abs! I'm not talking about a ripped, six pack. I think those are gross on girls. But on the sides, my tummy is feeling hard and flat, and there is not a chunk of fat covering it! I can tell by how sore my tummy is after only four days that Turbo Fire is gunna give me the tummy I want. Of course this is not only the work of Turbo Fire, but of the last seven, crazy months. 

Today, I am completely 110% exhausted from my workout. I feel completely spent, yet happy and motivated. We're having people over tonight for a fire, since the weather is absolutely beautiful for a St. Louis day in June. I'm not going crazy tonight though. I'm too focused, and too anxious to continue down the right path to get the results I want. Yay for exercise!

(I almost was lazy and left this centered rather than to the left, but I just...couldn't....do it. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit.)

DietBet & Dental Health

I am about .3 pounds from making the DietBet that ends in a few days, so I totally think I'm going to make it! It's hosted by this chick who has a lot of great online workouts:

I went to the dentist this morning, and for the first time ever he had no bad news. I got my teeth cleaned, and I have zero (that's right...Z-E-R-O) cavities! Boom! 

In other news, I finally got my husband to love pistachios! Happy Thursday!

Paleo?

I've been reading more and more lately about a Paleo diet, and it just really freakin' makes sense. Our bodies were created to hunt and gather, i.e. eat meat, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. They weren't made to eat processed foods and all the other things that humans can make these days.

These graphics not only made me laugh, but were also helpful in understanding the importance of Paleo as well as how it works.

I don't know if you can even see that last one, but hopefully it will work. I'm going to make me Paleo shopping list. I think I'm going for a gradual change at first, so I'll slowly cut out processed foods. 

Blogworthy News

Current Weight: 153.1 lbs.

Total lost: 42.9 lbs.

Total to goal: 13.1 lbs.

(keeping my eye on the prize, which is a sweet new tattoo)

Josh and I got back yesterday from a wonderful and relaxing week in The Dominican Republic. Just look at us, love birds!

 Before we left, we each shared a goal with one another for when we got back.

My Goal: Start and complete the Turbo Fire program as outlined by the calendar. It's a three or five month program, depending on what you order. I ordered the three month version. Totally doable. Especially since there is one rest day each week, and the longest class is 60 minutes.

I had a good burn today, especially considering that I did the "new to class" option, where they stop and slow down the moves for you...

Josh's Goal: Quit smoking. There is almost nothing in this world that I wouldn't give for him to be able to successfully quit smoking. As an ex-smoker myself, I know how completely miserable and hard it is (particularly in the first few weeks). 

I want to do everything I can to help him quit, but wasn't sure how to go about this. I asked him tonight, and he said I would help him the most by not bringing it up or asking about it. I totally get it. For me, it was easier to put it out of my mind. Once I started talking about it, it made me want to light up.

In the past few years, I've really seen the devastating effects of smoking with people I know and love. My aunt had a heart attack, my dad had a stroke, Josh's mom has COPD and was just in the hospital while we were in the Dominican, and a friend's dad passed away after finding out he had emphysema. 

Addiction is such a strange and terrible thing. We want what we know is slowly killing us. When I finally got in the right mind set to quit, I was determined now to be "weak minded." I had to think of myself as strong willed and independent, as silly as that sounds. It really helped.

I love how cigarettes are labeled in the Dominican. I wish they did this here:

Anyway, I'm going to run out real quick and clean his car. This way, he won't smell cigarettes when he sits down tomorrow morning in his Jeep. All of us ex-smokers or current smokers now, it's the habits that are the hardest. It's the act of lighting up after you start you car, once you finish a meal, with your morning coffee, etc. I want to make it as easy for him as possible. Please send him all the prayers, hugs, and positive energy you can to help him get through the next few weeks. He's quit once before for a short time, but I'm praying he can stick with it this time. This time will be different :)

iHasta la vista, baby!

First and foremost, I'd like to say goodbye to my piece of junk heart rate monitor. After only six months, it totally sucks and quit working. Here's what it said after my cardio workout today:

So I just ordered my new one in hopes that it will come while we are in the Dominican. My brother is going to be watching our house so he can snatch it up off the porch when it comes. Time to shower and get some sleep! We are leaving at 4:00 a.m. to catch our early flight. Adios you crappy heart rate monitor, and adios St. Louis! Have a lovely week!