A compliment.....

A lady in my BodyCombat class came up to me on Wednesday after we were done and said "You did such a good job, I'm new to class and I just followed you the whole time".  I completely realize that I'm patting myself on the back right now, but that was such an amazing compliment.  I try really hard to get my form right on all of our punches and kicks and it was nice to know that I'm doing it well enough that someone feels like they can look at me to see what we're doing.........or else they can't see past me and they have no other choice =).

Countdown to baby time.  My birthday is approaching.  If you will remember several posts ago I said we would start trying for our 4th baby (I know, we kind of think we're crazy too) when I lost 30 more pounds or turned 33, whichever came first.  Obviously the 33 is coming first because I just don't think I'll be losing 30 pounds in 3 1/2 weeks.....Actually, if I would have been posting this 2 years ago I'm positive that I would have thought I could lose 30 pounds in 3 1/2 weeks, then been so disappointed in myself for not losing the weight that I probably would have gained an extra 10 before I got pregnant.  Not that I'm expecting to get pregnant right away, but by the end of the year would be fabulous. 

this is me now.

Pluggin' Along

Still here. Still trying. Still struggling to come up with "interesting" posts about my latest accomplishments, which is pretty much that I'm maintaining my weight.  And while that's a good thing - when I think about how many years I slowly gained another 20 pounds each year(must have been at least 6, not counting the two years I was pregnant) I have to say that maintaining is a pretty significant thing.  The flip side of that is I have been at the same weight for pretty much all of 2010.  Realistically, there's NOTHING wrong with that (sometimes it helps to put things in caps, mostly for my benefit).  I honestly get up each day and go out in the hot Vegas sun without sweating much - 60 pounds and 16 months ago I was sweating a bunch in the 70 degree weather in Idaho.  I am not self-conscious anymore.  I enjoy where I'm at and what I'm doing and hardly give my body a second thought.  I feel confident at the gym and go 5 days a week - I love it.  I went to the movies with the hubs last Saturday and slid right into the seat - I remember barely squeezing into movie seats and setting the popcorn on the floor, having it tip over and just wanting to crawl in a hole and die because I was going to have to bend over to pick up the bag and I knew my butt would be hanging out, my stomach would only let me bend over so far and would be silently berating myself for being such a fat, blah, blah, blah.... you get the picture.

Am I happy with where I am? Yes, I would say my maintaining my weight would answer that.  Am I content? No.  I still have a number in mind and that number is 180.  Right now I would settle for 220.  By Thanksgiving.  Putting it out there again.  It kind of seems lame to me that I keep getting on here, stating pretty much the same things, and then getting on 3 or 4 weeks later and doing it all over again.  But, I'm a work in progress.

Is my journey over? Nope.  Am I still trying? Yep. Do I get discouraged? Of course! Will I give up? Never!

this is me now

Favorite Smoothie So Far.......

So, I loooove the Green Monster.  It is amazing.  It is great.  However, I think I mighta found something I love a little more.  My girls wanted a smoothie for breakfast last Thursday - but one of my twins hates bananas and they were going to share - so I grabbed my ginormous bag of strawberries from the freezer - popped 6 frozen strawberries, one container of raspberry carbmaster yogurt & one cup of almond milk in the blender.  They loved it and it got me thinking about my love of the GM and wondering how it might taste with the strawberries instead of the banana. And then I continued thinking about how nice it might be to add the container of carb-smart yogurt to the mix.  And THEN I started thinking about how it might taste totally awesome with a little bit of coconut extract to it and guess what?  SO freakin' good.  Seriously.  Here's the breakdown:

2 T. Ground Flax
2 C. Fresh Spinach
1 Container Kroger CarbMaster Raspberry yogurt
1 C. Almond Milk
6 Frozen Strawberries
1/3 Capful of Coconut Extract (totally optional)

This is 290 Calories.  It contains 19g of protein and 14g of fiber.  If you wanted to, you could always do 1T. of flax and that would bring your calories down to 255 - but it is seriously so full of good stuff that I think the extra 35 calories are worth it.  And protein is SO, SO, SO important when you working hard and weight training.  Anyway, I'm just loving this right now - and it's still a very cheap meal and you're getting 19g of protein (12 of it is from the yogurt) without having to buy protein powder - and 14g of fiber, holla!

Moving on.  I last weighed in on Friday and my weight was 238.4.  I am very pleased with that number.  I am hoping I'm down to 237 by Friday or Saturday of this week - I'm making the choices that should put me there.

this is me now.

Week In Review

So, this week I finally tried something I've heard about for the last 6 or 7 months it's called The Green Monster and I looooooove it.  I've tried the "original" monster and the Blueberry-Banana and I have to say that I'm a big fan of the original.  I have had it twice first thing in the morning and once mid-afternoon and it really does give you ENERGY.  It definitely helped with my mid-afternoon slump.   I bought a HUGE bag of ground flax from Costco for around $8 and I freeze my bananas - I also used regular 1% milk, but I'm going to get some almond milk this week and try it.  Give one a try and let me know what you think - you will NOT be able to taste the spinach - maybe in the first sip - but after that it tastes like a yummy banana smoothie.

I weighed 240.1 yesterday morning.  The reason I am using my weigh-in from yesterday is because PMS has reared its ugly head and I am now a puffy marshmallow - puffiness will ensue for the next 2 or 3 days.

So, I changed my weight routine this week, and of course I used two of the workouts from this months issue of Oxygen .  My body has responded in the best way it knows how - being absolutely sore.  I am still taking BodyCombat twice a week - I really love it.  Heavens knows I will never be a boxer (much, much too slow), but I enjoy how strong I feel.  I have also been running twice a week - my goal it to build up to 5 miles per run.  I am currently at 3 1/2 miles.  I also do some sort of cardio on Mondays - usually the stepmill.  Working out has not been something I've struggled with this past 14 months.  It's the darned nutrition.  I read this week in Corrine's post over at Phit-N-Phat that most "experts" will tell you that losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise.  She took it a step further and said that it is 60% MENTAL 35% nutrition and 5% exercise (she actually put 25% nutrition but those numbers add up to 90 and I'm pretty sure she was shooting for 100%).  Her advice is to GET THE HECK OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY.  I believe it because I've lived it.  The months when I've lived with my "healthy" mindset have been the most rewarding and easiest of my journey.  I'm getting back to that.  Until next time.

this is me now

Don't Worry.....

I am one to automatically think the worst has happened - for instance, my sister called me at 7 a.m. about 6 weeks ago and my first thought is, crap! something is wrong with the baby (she's pregnant).  Turns out that the reason she called is she thought it was 8 a.m. here - crazy girl! And just wanted to chat. 

The reason I'm stating this is because I didn't want anyone thinking the "worst" has happened to poor Emily and she has given up on herself.   Truthfully, I have been having a VERY difficult time keeping my momentum going - it seems like one thing after another has happened (i.e. washer & dryer died, vacuum died, needed new tires on the Expedition, had to get a root canal) and I have dealt with them in the way I have done the past 12 years of my life - with a lot of food and I am slowly dealing with that.  This morning I weighed 242.4 - after reading my posts of the last few months I realize that I am pretty much at a standstill - it feels like it is taking all of my effort just to stay within a reasonable weight fluctuation - and it is through no one's fault but my own - I haven't been eating well and have really been feeling down in the dumps.  Poor combination.  However, that doesn't mean I'm giving up and feel "destined" to be where I'm at.  I'm putting my weight out there. AGAIN.  I'm posting my truth. AGAIN. and I am going to keep living my life each day with the intention of living it on purpose.  I am aiming to MAKE choices each day that will bring me closer to living the life that's important to me - as a healthy wife, mother, daughter and friend. 

I'm also contemplating combining this blog with my Emily's Big News blog - because my life ain't all about trying to lose weight and I've thought it might be best to combine the two because a) I've been horrible about blogging on either one of them and think it might be less "overwhelming" b) I'm not self-conscious anymore about my friends and family that only visit EBN finding out that I used to weigh 297.2 and c) I can do what I want because these are my blogs =).  Let me know what you think - okay, let me rephrase - if 2 or 3 of you would be willing to leave a comment on this I would really appreciate it!!!

this is me now.

Week In Review

I have now realized the importance of an ACCURATE scale.  The one I bought last year had been very consistent up until about 3 months ago.  These past few months, everytime I would get on the scale it would read something entirely different - we are talking from one minute to another.  I would get up in the morning, weigh myself, go to the bathroom, weigh myself again and weigh 2 or 3 pounds more than I did.  And while I knew that it was pretty much impossible for that to be right, it still reaked major havoc in my head.  So, while I was at Costco yesterday I bought a new scale - it was less than $20, but a good one.  Just to test it out yesterday I weighed myself in 4 different rooms of the house and I weighed the SAME in each room.  I was so freakin' excited - sounds stupid, but I feel like that's one thing that I can rely on to accurately reflect my progress.  So, my weight this morning is 239.4 - I'm very happy with that number.  I also know that I probably didn't weight 245.4 last week seeing as I was weighing on old  unreliable (oh yeah, that stupid scale now has a nickname). 

I've learned that a little sun on the arms and legs makes it a whole lot easier to see some of my muscle definition and DOES make me look slimmer - holla! (does anyone say that anymore???)  So spending time with my girls this week at the splash park - the one with Livy is in my bedroom - she is a hard monkey to catch at the park - helped on the tan front.

I have also learned this week that I feel strong and sexy (whoa!) after I've finished my BodyCombat class on Wednesdays and Fridays - I leave feeling so powerful and confident.


We are headed up to Mount Charleston to take the girls for a hike - probably around 2 miles.  It is supposed to be 103 today in Vegas and MC is only 1 hour away and a 30 degree difference so it will definitely be worth the drive. 

I bought some turkey (previously mentioned here), wholly guacamole, sprouts,  banana peppers and alpine multi-grain bread for lunches this week.  I've also been buying a ton of produce lately - lovely watermelons, strawberries, kiwi, bananas, and salad fixins.  I have also been completing my "Gallon Challenge" each day this week and it has been an easy thing to do - the hubs picked up his own gallon jug yesterday.

Here's to a day of hiking and swimming - we will be hiding in our house tomorrow after church - it's supposed to be 108.  Yikes!!!!

this is me now

Feeling Better

Apparently all I needed was  great Memorial Day weekend to get things in perspective.  I was VERY excited to get to the gym today.  I am doing a new weight circuit from this months issue of Oxygen Magazine and it felt great!  I realized this morning that I haven't lifted weights for 3 WEEKS!!!!! So crazy! I know for me personally, lifting weights makes me happy - gives me those great endorphins that I really need to stay motivated.  I also started drinking (as of yesterday) a gallon of water - I'm planning on doing this for the next several weeks to see if it makes a difference in my hunger, etc.  It also doesn't hurt with the lovely summer heat of Vegas to stay really hydrated - it was 95 yesterday and is currently 92 right now.  We are supposed to have our first 100+ day of the year by the end of this week.  The heat of summer ratches up my ice cream cravings and today I had something that was SO SO good.  I have a bunch of frozen bananas in my freezer (the best place to keep frozen bananas. ha!ha!) and I took one out today, sliced it up (note to self: next time slice bananas before freezing), put it in a bowl and drizzled a tablespoon of chocolate magic shell and a small bit of whipped cream on top.  It was delicious and totally felt like a treat - which is pretty much was with the chocolate. 

I am looking forward to the rest of the week.  The twins will have their first official summer break as of tomorrow at 9:55 and I am pretty excited to have them at home for the next 3 months.  My little Livy bug will be turning 2 tomorrow - I can't believe how fast time goes and how much she has changed this past year.  Have a great rest of the day!

this is me now.