Hop on the Wagon!

Happy Monday Everyone!

First, big thanks to you for stopping by. I absolutely love the support and words of encouragement.

All of the positive buzz Subway has been spreading about re-committing to fit has really motivated me. If you’ve read my last 2-3 Mamavation posts you can see that I have basically been sliding backwards since my wonderful boyfriend quit his job. I was still going to the gym, and my running has SERIOUSLY improved, but my eating was way off track. What was I doing?

1. Eating TOO MANY calories, way more than healthy for my weight
2. Eating almost 75% Carbs and 20% Fat
3. Guzzling Soda in place of water

Now that boyfriend is back into his work routine… and My work has slowed to only a semi-chaotic pace… and my American Eagle (pride and joy) Jeans were getting snug… I decided Enough was Enough and I HAD to stop putting it off.

What am I doing now?

1. Fewer calories – but adjusting for more when I work out
2. Cut out Sugars and Flour – Would not deny myself but they aren’t on the menu either.
3. More Lean protein (Chicken!)
4. Way less soda… I can SOOOO tell a difference when I cut back.

I am back down to 167.2lbs!!! YAY!

That’s where I was on August 27th – a few days after boyfriend quit!

So now I have caught back up to the wagon and I am hoping on!

Hope everyone has a great week! And thanks to @SubwayFreshBuzz for hosting our Mamation TV again!

Laura

{{{BLAH...BLAH...BLAH}}}

Well... it has been FOREVER since I have posted... I finally have time to just vent a bit and I figured if I don't blog now then I'll probably miss another Mamavation Monday post {ha! hows... Mamavation... what day is today?, oh Friday!... Mamavation Friday Post}


Lets see... a lot has happened... not sure exactly what I want to talk about... so this will probably be a long rambly post...

I think I currently weigh 173lbs-175lbs ... I have not been weighing myself regularly lately because it makes me upset... My wonderful boyfriend quit his job back on August 20th or so and has gone from night shifts where I NEVER saw him to 'day shifts' where he is always home when I am... he has a new job and they were training him on the day shift, but he did not go back to nights until this wednesday.... so my world has been shaken up over the last 7 weeks... Dont get me wrong... I love my boyfriend and it was AWESOME to have the time together, but it really messes with my eating...

I have definately had too much carbs over the last 7 weeks and that pretty much accounts for the extra pounds ( I'm up from a low of ~165lbs)....

I think it is wrong that I cannot maintain my weight around my boyfriend... I know how to eat healthy-er... but making him eat what I eat is not always easy... It is super simple for me to cut back on carbs {read cut them out of some meals entirely} and eat a LOT less than normal to control my weight... but he has never had a weight problem and sees nothing wrong with eating 2 or 3 candy bars in one sitting... after a huge carb-loaded dinner... He had gained weight and was feeling down about it... but it was mostly because he was eating twice as much as he did when he was working 12hour night shifts... he's only been back on nights for 3 days and is down 3 pounds...

Anyways, what I am getting at is that I need to LEARN how to feed a family... how to actually COOK meals... with MEAT. and VEGGIES...

I thought about applying to be a Mamvation Mom... because that is what they do... they learn how to feed their family and themselves with the RIGHT foods {while of course getting their butts kicked physically}... I thought -WIN WIN- ... eat right, move more... lose weight, learn healthy habits, help others...

But unfortunately I am disqualified before I even start... Because well... I am not a Mom... And I understand... and not that I thought I'd get chosen on my first try, my first time applying... but at least I could try... maybe do the move-it/lose-it challenge... and feel included... but I joined a group that I don't really belong to... a group of Moms... and so sometimes that limits my participation... no lie, I was BUMMED over the last 2 weeks... But, title or not, there is still a lot of support to be had among the ladies that I would NEVER trade!! Time to put on the Big Girl Panties!!

I need help... I have an awful relationship with food and I don't want to pass it on to my future children... I am trying to get to a healthy weight so that I can have a healthy pregnancy but I know that without really changing my relationship with food that my weight/health will always be a struggle...

I love being a part of the Sistahood... I am not super active on twitter to begin with, so I know that when I stop blogging for a bit it probably looks like I have fallen off the face of the Earth.... well, work is INSANE right now... with no signs of slowing down in the near future... I promise to try and stay active and send out some positive vibes this week.... I am SUPER thankful for everyone who has reached out to me... I promise I am okay and will 'pay-it-forward' as far as love and support go!

Hope all you lovely ladies have a great week! Thanks for the love and support!

***BIG Shout out to Jared and @SubwayFreshBUzz for sponsoring Mamvation this week - offering an ipod shuffle and itunes gift card... too cool!... join the Commit to Fit movement!

***LOTS of support to all the Mamavation Mom finalists... so excited for you all!!!

Lego Party!!

So... I have been super stressed this week... work is INSANE, and I just wrote a proposal this week to get our company MORE work and we were awarded the project this morning! UGH!... It is a good and bad thing... good for our company to get the work... bad because we already have a huge load on our shoulders as it is... But I guess that's why there are more than 24hours in a day?

Anyways... I decided to relax a little by posting a Lego craft I did this past month (I can't believe I had the time!)... My cousin turned 7 in early September and wanted a Lego party... his mom does not go all out for partys... a few balloons and such is pretty much all they get... I think my cousin thought that if he asked for a Lego party then everyone would buy him Legos for his birthday... haha... kids are so cute... and yes he got a bunch of Legos... but my boyfriend and I personally think that these kids are SPOILED!! Not necessarily a bad thing, but the three of them (7, 5, 2) have pretty much every toy under the sun... plus my grandparents are retired now so forget about competing for the coolest gift... we cant afford to compete with them! haha... seriously though, I have no idea what Legos my cousin does and does not have... chances are if they can be bought in our town, he has them... so what's a girl to do? Well we got him a backpack and lunch box... semi-lame ... I know... but practical, and COOL... ithey were Bakugan of course! (dont ask)

Getting back to the craft... I saw a really neat idea for a Lego Pinata that looked super easy to do... we were going to fill it with candy but then realized that it was entirely too large and the amount of candy needed would have put us in the poor house... So we decided to use is to 'wrap' our gifts...

Here's my wonderful boyfriend showing off our mad gift wrappin' skills!

Here's my cousin checkin' out the GIANT Lego present... he was psyched! It's tough to see but there were like a Zillion other presents there.

And here is a picture of him before he opened it... check out the thing on his head... its a Lego-man-light (like a miner's light) to help him build legos in the dark? IDK but it was hilarious!

The project is really easy, you just need: a box, streamers (1 roll), 6 cups, hot glue and tape...

We started by covering the top and bottom with strips of streamers so that they would be blue and match the sides.

Then we unrolled ~10' sections of streamers, folded them on top of themselves into a 1' section to make less cutting... cut every half inch about half way up the streamer to get the pinata effect...

I crunched them a little so you could tell they'd been cut and would flare out a little.

I started wrapping the box with the cut streamer sections, taping every 6 inches or so... This part took a while because you'll want to overlap each row by about half a streamer for full coverage... blending strips of streamers is reallllly simple since you'll be overlapping.

Once the sides were covered we used 6 cups from the dollar store (already blue) to make the lego notches on the top of the box [this is what makes it look like a lego and not just a box pinata]... this part was NOT pretty... the bottoms of our cups were white so I had to cover them with the streamers which was tough since they were circular. We just did the best we could to cover the tops and wrapped the sides with the cut streamers to make them a little more fancy... Then I hot glued them to the top (tape would have been TOO complicated for me!)

Pretty simple and easy for the amount of impact it creates.... Good luck if you try it! Email me if you have any questions, I'd love to help!

Lotsa Love!

It's MONDAY Again!

This time I am in a much better mood!

My weight is up... boooooo!

But that is okay... I was SUPER busy at work so this post is WAY late!

I did go to the gym today... since I gained weight I was super motivated to run hard and fast! I started my run today at 5mph and went for 7minutes before slowing down!! That is INSANE for me ... INSANE! I never run more than 2-3minutes at a time so... insane!

I managed to run an entire mile in less than 12 minutes! FASTEST EVERRRR!

YAY ME!

Goals for this week are:
1. NO Fountian Soda... NONE!
2. No Candy... few Carbs...

Thanks for stopping by guys! Hope you have a fantasic week!!!!

Boo!

Ugh... so weigh-in for shrinkvivor this morning.... was not happy to see 170.8lbs on the scale but I submitted it anyways! I am sure I am just retaining water or something and did not actually gain 2lbs in 2 days...

Are you participating in Shrinkvivor? What team are you on?

I'm part of Tribe Copper! YAY!

I love having the extra support that these types of challenges create!

well.... here goes!

YAY Another Monday!

No.... I am not really excited that it is Monday... AGAIN... haha

Actually I think the only really fun thing about Mondays is the Mamavation post/comments/commenting on other's posts!

I decided to get my butt in gear and post... even though I have been pretty down lately I cannot keep using that as an excuse to be a bum!

Not gunna lie... did NOT have the best week last week, or really the week before!

But, even though it appears I have gained weight:
1. I am still under 170lbs!
2. My American Eagle Jeans fit today {freshly washed&dried} without a fight! And they're already sorta loose!!

I am really not sure what I am doing with this whole weight loss thing... I was going to keep my post short, but I literally just decided to vent... so here goes:

*I am NOT a runner... I am quite bad a running! I am also NOT a tweeter {someone who tweets?idk} ... I really needed a treadmill, and shoot, winning one was pretty much ideal... so I had to get twitter so people could tweet for me and so I got a twitter 'handle' that was treadmill related... Mostly I don't run... and to be quite honest, treadmills are my least favorite cardio machine... but I really think it is one of the best forms of cardio, and an area that I have a lot of room for improvement in... the elliptical and bikes have gotten too easy... 30mins is no longer a challenge on them for me... If I am going to keep losing weight I NEED a challenge... so running... there we go... But I am really not good at it... I can run at 5.5-6.5mph for 2.5 mins before I need to slow down to less than 4mph for a few minutes... So I have been doing a lot of intervals trying to increase my stamina....

I can really relate my 'weight loss journey' and a lot of what I read about other's journeys to my 'running' intervals... Everyone wants to jump on that treadmill and just run full speed for the full 30 minutes... when in fact it is just not going to happen for a first timer or someone just starting out... Same as a full life-style change... 100% healthy eating 100% of the time is like trying to run at 6.0mph for 30minutes your first time on the treadmill... you are just setting yourself up for failure... but just because I can't run the full 30 minutes doesn't mean I am going to give up and hop off... no, I will jog if I can or walk if I must... but my body will complete the full 30minutes... It's the same with eating healthy I think... or any other healthy habit... You probably aren't going to be able to do 100% your first try... but eventually it gets easier... you can run further or longer... you have more healthy recipes or snacks on hand.... you don't need 3 sodas a day, maybe 1 a week is fine... I am sure you see where I am going...

I feel like the last month or so I have really pushed my body to lose every pound it could in that time frame, like sprinting during my run... and I went all out and gave everything I could... but I think my body is trying to tell me that it is time to jog for a while... So I am not going to push myself to go all out... I plan on maintaining healthy habits; drinking water, exercise and incorporating fresh foods in my diet... but I promise myself that I am not expecting weight-loss nor will I be upset with 'maintaining'... I think that with my current stress level and mood swings that this is really the best thing for ME.

Hope everyone has a super fantastic week!

A few shout-outs:

YAY Stephanie H for being Sista of the week! You totally deserve it!

YAY Chefs Choice for being our wonderful and generous sponsor AGAIN! My boyfriend realllly loves their steaks ~ I got a coupon a while back that bought us a half dozen little fillets and he inhaled them!

YAY Rachel Steffen and GretaB for snapping me out of my funk last week! I really appreciate all the supportive comments from all the Sistas! LOTS of Love!!!

Mamavation ... Tuesday?

Yes, Yes... I know... it is not Monday... and I am late...

Well, actually, I had planned on writing in yesterday, but I was SO BLAH.... like super DOWN and just really did not feel like sending extra negative energy out into the world... yesterday all I wanted to do was bitch and complain.... and cry... and sleep...

In college I was 'diagnosed'[read: no one really cared what was wrong, just wanted to medicate and send you on your way] bi-polar and I do not currently take meds for it... I decided I wanted to manage my moods myself, rather than take pills which REALLY did not help anyways, usually made things worse!... So for the most part I control my moods with (extreme coupon)Shopping and Exercise...

I do not know whats got me down lately... probably stress... money, work, significant other.... same problems everyone has! Nothing special or life threatening... just enough to bring ya down... and for someone with tendancys to stay down, not always the best thing!


Oh man... So last week... well;

*I went to the gym 5 times! YAY!

*Did not do so well with the soda intake... I feel like the soda is inhibiting me from losing, cant quite pin point why yet... but I've been feelin' like its really not helping!

*Drank TONS of water... no problem there!

*Eating.... was for crap this week! Low on calories in general... but i did manage to finish off a giant jar of Jif peanut butter... I am talking 6,600 calories!! YIKES!

But I think my body enjoyed the extra calories because I managed to see 166.4lbs on the scale Saturday morning! YAY!

I am super frustrated though... my body is hovering between 166 and 170... depends on the day, time and potty breaks... I really am not sure how I am going to get through this 'plateau' I seem to be chillin' at...

I really need to revamp my whole life-style right now... I've lost just under 40lbs since Easter [did I mention I STILL feel HUGE?... more now than ever, oddly enough]... but the things I did to lose the first 40lbs really aren't going to be what takes the next 10-20-30lbs off... I need a better approach to eating and more than just cardio on the exercise front....

I am just not too inspired right now :(

I have decided that I would like to try for a BMI in the Healthy range... so atleast 24.9 (so 149lbs for my height)... but really more like a 24 (or 144lbs)... before my 24th birthday!

I like that goal :)

24 by my 24th

That's 18-23lbs in 14 short weeks!! or 1.3-1.6lbs per week! I know that's within the 'healthy' weigh loss rates... but it is going to be a HUGE challenge for me because I think my body is use to being heavier... and really has never been below 160lbs in my entire post-middle-school-life!

I'm up for the challenge though!