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!