WW = Jessica Simpson body???

Well I started Weight Watchers and hope to look like Jessica Simpson shorty ;)

I have several friends and co-workers who are doing it or have done it and been very successful. I need something to be held accountable to and their app makes it really easy. So, I signed up online yesterday and got my logon to the online features and my temporary in-person meeting card.

I logged all my food and I have to say I was surprised at how fast I ran out of points. Defiantly an eye opener as to how much have been eating and not realizing it.

I'm doing the full thing, online + meetings. I found a great deal via RetailMeNot, only $29.95 for your fist month. Basically, $10 off. Figured it was worth a shot for $30.

I stepped on the scale this morning and was at 161.4 lbs so we will call that my starting point. 

Here we go...

Where to even start? I took a break and didn't even tell you, sorry. I needed it.

So, the business is going well. I'm having a ton of fun with it and have some big things coming up. I'm doing a deal with LivingSocial later this month and am excited to see how that goes. Well I think I'm doing one. I got the contract today and a few things didn't sit well with me. SO I'm going to do some research before I go signing anything.

I've been selling quite a bit, but also keep BUYING more. I mean, I need new inventory! And I've been buying in larger quantities now that I'm selling out of things faster.

I am also back on the weightloss wagon as of the morning when I stepped on the scale and saw 164.2 starring me in the face. I went off the rails this weekend. I ate and ate and ate and washed it all down with leftover birthday cake.

I've got NINE weeks until we go on Cruisecation 2014. I want to loose 20 lbs. making it a 2-3 lb loss a week. That's doable AND healthy.

I toyed around with signing up for Weight Watchers but can't bring myself to pay the monthly fee. So, I'm falling back on a diet I did years ago and had much success. Success in loosing weight, success in staying on it and success in eating healthy. It's called Lean for Life and I really like it. Its a great mix of just eating healthy and also making sure you eat often to get/keep your metabolism going.

I'm on day one. Day one - three are protein days. I find comfort in this. I know that works for me and will get some of my recent binge eating weight gain back off so I'll feel comfortable in my work pants again.

So here we go, again.  

Detoxing

I thought it would be a good idea to start that Dr. Oz two week detox diet over the weekend. Being home all day yesterday was haaard. I wanted to eat everything in the pantry.  But I stayed strong and am excited to see my results.

I looked at Holly's before and after photos a few times for some motivation to stick with it. Well that and I spent a shit load at the grocery store on all this detox food. Speaking of, she made it easy with a grocery list that can be found here. I saved the images on my phone to make shopping super easy.

Way more veggies than I normally buy, sad, but true. 

So far, I'm already not a fan of the morning protein shake. I thought I would be because of all the fruit, but either the protein powder or the ground flaxseeds makes it not enjoyable for me.

I also got chocolate flavored protein powder so I'm thinking that may have been a bad decision and wish I got vanilla. They were out tough and I'm not paying another $20 for that stuff.

I weighed in before I started and was at 159. I'm hoping to get into the low 150s with this and break the 157 mark. 157 is the lowest I've gotten so far and it would feel amazing to get below that. And that, that is what is keeping me motivate.

Day 2

So it's day 2 of my shopping diet. OMG. This is hard. It's the same as a real diet, you want it even more now that you're telling yourself you can't have it.

But I must say, it is totally working. We had a spread of oatmeal cookies and pumpkin muffins (both my favs) in the break room at work yesterday and I haven't touched a single one. Not a singe one.

I was 161 this morning on the scale.  Yay for a loss. 150s you are so close!

As far as the shopping diet, thank gawd for Pinterest. I have been pinning everything I want to buy. My little way of saving it for later and not letting it go forever. This is what I've added in less than 24 hours. And never would I have bought all this stuff, but it's like now that I can't, I want to. so. bad.

I didn't run last night, it was near impossible with Mr. Mister's schedule and being a work night for the hubs. Firefighters have a pretty good scheduling gig, but I'm starting to dislike those 24-hour shifts more and more.

It has warmed up here so running during the day at lunch time is not really feasible. However, I lugged my gear into work today hoping I could swing it. It really is the only way I'm going to be able to gear up for the half in December.

Hope you all are having a great week, we're half way to the weekend!

Done and done.

Beautiful morning for a little run. 

Half marathon was a success. As in I didn't die or quit. I'm an official finisher with a time of 2:37. Not great, but I'll take it. It was so so so so so so hot and humid. I thought I was going to pass out around mile 9.

You'll see from some pics that we decided to have fun with the race and not take time too seriously. We really did run the entire thing. No walking, but we did stop here and there to take some pics and have some fun. Isn't that what it's all about???

Official finishers. Thank God. 

Race bling.

However, I have to say the Rock 'n' Roll folks know how to host a half. It was fun and well organized. I was really surprised by the spectators. Part of the race is in a neighborhood and down residential streets. They were camped out in the front yard, lawn chairs, beer coolers and all. It was fantastic, you would have thought we were the July 4th parade coming down the street. Maybe the worst July 4th parade. Ever.

One house was passing out popsicles, another beer. We ran past and grabbed both. That beer was ICE cold and a few sips were just what I needed at mile 11.5. Coolest race viewers ever, thank you!

Hello beat red face.

You don't stop for beers along the way? You should!

The expo was pretty good too with a fun photo booth. Vendors were all the regular ones you'd expect to see.

Things I've learned from this pic, 1-I need a tan; 2-Dont stand next to skinny cousin in pics; 3-Sports tape looks dumb.

I'll tell you what wasn't fun, drinking chocolate milk post race. Apparently the milk folks are trying to push it as a great way to refuel post run/workout and they were a sponsor. So in addition to water and Gatorade, we also got chocolate milk. I tried it, no thank you. I'm not buying what you're selling. It made me want to gag.

NOT my after

Speaking of recover, it's not half bad. I didn't really have too much muscle soreness. My feet hurt, like I had been dancing all night in heels. And my knees were/are a little achy. So I really think if it weren't for the heat, I would have crushed my estimated time. We did kick off recover with a pedicure, maybe that's why I feel so good.

Oh and ALSO, for those of you that use the MapMyRun app, I'm pretty sure it's a big liar. I ran with it on Sunday and by mile 10, it said we were on 11 and running at a much faster pace. And then something happened about the real mile 11 and it got paused or canceled so I have no idea what it would have come in at in the end, but I'm 100% sure it over estimated distance and therefore speed.

So all in all, great time. Will I be doing it again? I can't say. But I will keep running and now it's time to focus back on weight loss. I might be the only person I know who gained weight during half marathon training. 

Wednesday Weigh in

1-6-3 Fuck.

That's what went through my head this morning. How in the world. And don't give me that muscle weighs more then fat BS. I mean, it does, but I don't want to hear it. My clothes aren't getting any bigger.

I'm tired of letting my weight and scale rule my mornings and am considering really only weighing once a week. Why is it so hard to let go of weighing every damn day?

I need to get a handle on my eating. That's 80% of the game and I'm obviously not doing something right. Food diary again? I guess I'll dust off MyFitnessPal and get to logging. I also took a look at an old SkinnyMeg post on how to figure out your calorie need. Check it out here.

If my math is correct, to loose 1lb a week, I need a net intake (food - exercise) of 1,575 and 2 lbs, 1,075.

On a positive note, I ran 3.1 miles last night, thats a 5K for you non-runners. No, not an actual 5k. No t-shirt, no entry fee and no fellow runners. Just me, my running shoes and some tunes, pounding the pavement.

I need to push myself more on these shorter runs (PS- I can't believe I now call these short runs). I need a running buddy and an actual plan. Any takers?

Weigh-in Wednesday

Oh no, I'm up to 163.4!!!! WHAT?

I've been running and watching what I eat for the past few days and I've gone up instead of down or even maintaing. Yikes.

Protein day today. Gotta get this under control!

We had a great day celebrating with Mr. Mister yesterday. An entire year old. Wow.

Here are a few pics of the little guy. We did first birthday photos and a cake smash, that's why he had numerous outfits.

Weigh-in Wednesday on a Thursday

Hey, hey!

So it's no secret I've been struggling to get the next 10 lbs off and this week is no different.

160.2 on the scale.

And it's my own fault. On the days I run, I eat like crap. On the days I do no exercise, I mildly eat like crap.

I need to get back to my goals of eating healthier and cooking more. Mr. Mister is turing ONE next week (O.M.G. I'm about to have a ONE YEAR OLD!!!) and that means he'll be eating more table food instead of drinking most all of his calories for the day.

The plus side to this is I can finally STOP pumping at work. I'm so pumped about this - ha, pun intended. But it also means I've really got to get my act together and meal plan/cook for the little guy and us.

What are some of your favorite healthy/clean dinners to eat as a family?  

Keeping weight off during vacation

So we went on the big 7-night cruise and I was super worried about going balls to the wall on the food intake. Will power is so hard when it's in front of me and it is a cruise after all. Food is the main attraction on the boat it seems.

However, I'm happy to report when we returned I was shocked that I came home weighing the same I did when we left. Say WHAT? Yup, exact same. 159!

So here are my tips to keep the weight off, they seemed to at least work for me.

1. Don't go on a cruise. Kidding. Realize that there will be food and lots of super unhealthy food around but you have all week to try it. Don't feel like you have to eat everything at every meal as fast as you can. Space it out and indulge a little here and there. Also take a bite or two and then be done with it.

Caught in the act! I think I was on my 8th cookie at
the place we panned for gold.  Do as I say, not as I do ;)

2. Bring it. Most likely there will be a gym so bring your workout gear. If you don't bring it, you're giving yourself a free pass to not do anything while you're gone and that's not ok. If there's no gym, get out and go for a jog/walk. Do some pushup, jumping jacks, squats, etc.

3. Walk, walk, walk. Look for opportunities to go for a walk. If you're at the beach, go for a walk on the beach. If you're on a cruise, go for a stroll around the deck after dinner. If you go to a theme park, walk the park, don't be lazy and take the train/sky ride to get around. Big city? Walk, don't use public transportation. You get the idea. The extra walking will really help to balance out the extra food/drinks you might be consuming.

4. Wear the baby. Yup, strap that baby to you (if you have one) and cart around an extra 20 lbs or so, it is sure to burns some extra calories. I use the Ergo and love it. I just recently really started liking it now that he's bigger and heavier.

5. If you're gone for an extended period of time, say a week or more, pick a day or two to dial it back in. I did a protein day about half way through the cruise. I looked at it as it was just one day and I still ate awesome food. Omelet for breakfast, chicken for lunch, steak for dinner. Not bad, still a good day of eats and I felt so much better that next day.

6. Travel days. I try to be super good on travel days, especially the travel back home day. I feel like I get a jump start on getting back on track.

Half marathon update-- I'm still running but not at the milage I hopped to be at. I ran on the boat, 5 miles being the most I did at one time, thats 15 laps around the running deck. FIFTEEN. I thought it was going to suck, but with the boat moving it was like I was going somewhere and not just in circles.

The day I did 5 miles it was after dinner and most people were at the later dinner seating or a show so there was just me and one other person on the track. As I came around the corner about 4 miles into it I almost ran over Fantasia Mickey. He was waiting at the back door to one of the restaurants to make his grand entrance during the dinner show and it was the one and only time I saw a character without a handler. He stood there and just waved and blew me a kiss, well played Mickey, well played.

The scenery was also amazing and toward the end of the run I saw the most magnificent snow covered glacier with a waterfall. Crazy beautiful. It made me so glad that I had gone on that run and stuck it out to do my full five mile goal. Sorry no pic, I didn't have my phone on me. But here's a general scenery pic. Who wouldn't want to run with this to look at? Oh AND it was only 65 degrees.

  

Weigh-in Wednesday

Man I'm getting lazy or am just not excited about what I see on the scale because no photo again this week.

I promise it was 160.4. Dang it.

My eating hasn't been great and exercise is decent but could needs to be better.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

Weigh-In Wednesday

Hello, hello! Well, it's Wednesday and time to face the scale.

But first, let me explain myself. I continued to eat like I was on vacation until this past Monday, as in two days ago. So basically I took a two-week food vacation and have been back on the wagon for two days. Gotta start somewhere.

To my surprise, I bubbled up to 162ish and sat there. Even though I was on my food vacation, I always keep a running tab in my head on calories. I never went over 2,000 and generally stayed around 1,800. I'm still nursing and some days I run, so I guess thats why I was able to stay around 162.

So today when I got on the scale I was very excited to see this -

Thank God. We leave for our SEVEN night cruise with my family in 3 weeks and I really want to be in the mid to low 150s.

Hope you all are having a good week so far, half way!

Random Chatter

Hi there, sorry I was MIA on Monday AND Wednesday.

It's been a busy week trying to prepare for our family va-ca. A week away and air travel to another country (I know it's just Mexico, but that still counts as another country) has me a little stressed out.

Lets back up and start from the beginning---

Weekend was good, having Monday off from work was awesome. I love work holidays. We even enjoyed the day with some Memorial Day festivities with friends at the local city center. Didn't get to stay for the real concert due to Mr. Mister's bedtime and such, but the opening act was good and it was honelty just nice to be out of the house doing something social. It has been a long time since we've been able to do that. Especailly together. It seems like either I'm out or the Hubs is out while the other keeps Mr. Mister.

Sorry for the IG screen shots, I cleaned all the pics off
my phone last night. I was maxed out - AGAIN!

And for Weigh-in Wednesday, well, my weight is up a little, no pic this week. I was so disappointed with myself  I didn't even bother to snap a pic. 161.8 I think is what it said. Booohoo. Totally my fault, lots of cheats been going on. Dang it!

OH! I got a pedicure yesterday for vacation prep. First one in MONTHS! I had seen some white toes on Pinterest and thought I'd go with this trendy scheme. Um, bad idea. I like the look, but as the Hubs put it, you have to have a really good paint job to pull of white.  He made some snide remark about not knowing they still made whiteout as well. Oh he's a funny one.

I also messed them up on my way back to work so looks like I get to redo them tonight, add it to the to-do list!

I'm working on packing and so far I have a two piles of stuff and a list of things to not forget. Looks like it's going to be a looooong night.

AND, I also finally have a hair appointment this evening. It's only been 4 months +. Just a few more and I'd be able to pass my roots off as ombre. Speaking of ombre, my Hair board on Pinterest is full of it -

Super excited for our week away though. Viva la Mexico! This is where I'll be starting Saturday...

Weigh-In Wednesday - Womp, womp.

I'm really kind of aggravated but really shouldn't be. While I did good with eating and even exercising this past week, I went a little extreme on my birthday. So, I'm still sitting on the + side of 160.

I guess this is why people breakup with their scales. Even if you're feeling good about yourself that number can knock you down and be a serious motivation killer.

So time to fess up... I ate a lot of cupcakes on my birthday. My work peeps got me some and it would have been rude to not eat one two three of them.

And then I came home and my mom also brought cupcakes by the house when she came to watch Mr. Mister while the Hubs and I went to dinner.

So I had a bite from all four cupcakes. What!? They were all different flavors and it was MY birthday!!!!

Dinner was good, we went to a new restaurant so the service was incredibly slow, but I didn't mind. It was nice to be out of the house with the Hubs and not be in a hurry. First time in a long, long time.

I did indulge in a litte Miller Lite, but just one eventhough I wanted to drink three more. I love beer.

I had asked for a new full length merior for my birthday gift, but I also wanted it installed on the back of our bathroom door as part of the gift.

About a year ago the Hubs 'borrowed' my mirror for a car show and it never returned. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with his instillation. He used Command Hooks so he wouldn't have to drill into the door or use that mirror tape.

One command hook on each side 

And two at the bottom. 

He also pointed out this would allow for the mirror to be mobile, I could remove it from the door. I told him to not even think about it, this mirror is NOT to show off the underneath of a car.

Now I can really see what I look like in clothes. I have a feeling this will aid in cleaning out my closet.

So all in all, it was a great birthday - cupcakes, weight-gain and all .

Eh, do you know how hard it is to get all three of us looking at the camera?!?

Confessions: Pants

As my maternity leave was winding down I realized yoga pants wouldn't work for my daily work attire. Sad, sad day. I lived in yoga pants those first 3 months and never once did yoga.

I pulled out all my pre-preggo fat pants, thinking surely those would fit. Um, no. Not even close. Shit. I could either return to work wearing my maternity pants or go buy new ones.  

So while I was out getting diapers at Sam's Club, I decided to look through the clothing section. Whatever, you know you do too. And I stumbled upon some black and grey dress pants. I bought them to ya know, hold me over until I lost the weight. Surely for just a few weeks. 

I have been wearing them for months now. But here's the good news, they are FINALLY getting too big. You've been good to me Sam's Club size 12 pants, but I'm not sad to see you go. 

Why hello extra room in the rear. Little less junk in my trunk these days. 

And these were a little tight on me when I started. 

And while we're being honest, I also wore quite a few pairs of my maternity pants the first few months back to work. Within the past month or so I've been able to get back into some of my fat pants.  Thank God, I was just waiting for someone to call me out and ask if I was expecting again so soon. Few. 

Weigh-in Wednesday

Good morning blog buddies. So good news, I didn't gain on our weekend away. I am very proud of myself for that. I generally jump willingly off the wagon with a running start any and everytime we go out of town for a weekend.

But I stuck to low-carb options and passed on all the delicious cakes, pies and other tasty homemade sweets.

I'm at 160 this fine Wednesday morning. I was really hoping/thinking I'd be 159 or less so a little dissapointed with myself on that. I ate a few things yesterday I sholdn't have and did zero exercise unless you count walking around Walmart for an hour to get some supplies for work.

Speaking of Walmart, I came across these bad boys in the shoe section. 

Fake Toms at Walmart! They are comfortable and only $20! Go get ya some. 

Mexico vacation is just WEEKS away. I tried on some of my one-piece swimsuits Monday night and I don't hate myself in them. Well, I wont once I get a spray tan and wear wedges with them. 

My legs are a problem area. They're big-ish and have cellulite on the front and back these days - gross. So I REALLY need to get to jogging and doing some squats and whatnot to tone that shit up. A spray tan can only do so much. 

Weigh-in Wednesday

Yo-yo oh no! After my big loss to 159 I celebrated a little too much with food over the weekend and was at 163.8 Monday morning.

"Oh, shit," came out of my mouth and so I put myself back on the weight-loss wagon and am back down to 161 this morning. Few. Still sucks, but I'm going to get back in the 150s STAT.

I feel like I'm in the dangerous yo-yo zone and need to snap myself out of it. I do a protein day and get some weight off and then stuff my face with food I shouldn't, feel guilty, do a protein day, stuff face...

Anyone else guiltily of this? It's a vicious cycle I tell ya. 

Speaking of vicious cycles lets talk about my love/hate relationship with Ikea. 

I love that place. The show room, the meatballs, the endless accessories and even the self checkout. I get so excited to go for a visit.

Even Mr. Mister has his eyes on the meatballs. 

The closest one is 2.5 hours from home so it's a real road trip to go. And this creates the, I-have-to-get-it-while-I'm-here mentality because who knows when I'll make it back. Meaning, I buy lots of stupid stuff on top of the one or two big items I went for.

This brings us to this past Sunday and I came home with a car full of brightly colored objects in those famous blue bags. Speaking of, does everyone else always forget to take the 47 Ikea bags they already purchased back to the store and then have to buy more? Happens to me every. single. time.

I went to buy a shoe organizer to help free up some closet floorspace. I love what I got, but then got home and remembered it need to be put together. Ugh. Here we go.

Say what?!

Ok, we've got this. 

3.5 hours later my love turns to hate. I'm missing the last and final screw thing. Whatever, I put it together without it.

And the finished product. 

Ohhh, look at all that storage. Now I just need 4 more of these to house ALL my shoes. 

I LOVE this. It makes me feel like I have a celebrity closet.

Couldn't resist some 'decorations' for the top.

That LV is used off of ebay, don't get excited. I'm not a baller. 

And now, to cleanup this mess...