Back to Work I Go

Well, today is my last day at home with the kids.  I go back to work tomorrow, and they start school on Monday.  Just have to ask where did the summer go?  Seriously.  June went by in the blink of an eye with their baseball and softball schedules being so hectic. I thought for sure our schedules would slow down for July but no luck there either.  Now it is August and  time to get back on my work schedule. 

When it comes to weight loss, there are pros and cons to being back at work.

Pros: 
I have a better sleep pattern.
Snacking during the day is out of the question.
I do salad boot camp for lunch every day.

Cons:
I have a hard time fitting in exercise sessions after work.
When I get home from work I am starving, this can lead to bad food choices before dinner is ready.
Planning ahead for healthy dinners.

I'm going to have to challenge myself to find time to walk and exercise during the first two weeks back to work.  I'm a teacher and those first couple of weeks back are tough!  There are many late evenings throughout the year, but  those first few weeks we return in August make each day lengthy and challenging.  It will all settle down right around the Labor day holiday. 

Veggies and VBS

I am enjoying the abundance of local farmers' gardens.  We have been eating so many fresh veggies every night with our dinner.  The kids absolutely love sweet corn and can not get enough of it.  They've been asking each night if it is being served.  I was told that there is a new variety in our area of sweet corn called "peaches and cream" that doesn't need any butter or salt because of its sweet flavor.  I've never tried it but would like to find a farmers' market that sells it.  I have to be careful about no salt and just a tiny dab of butter on my corn on the cob.  I could overdo it easily.  I stayed up really late one night after church snapping green beans so I could make a big crock of green beans and new potatoes for dinner.  They were so good.  Fresh food is really the best.  It just takes extra time and more work for the preparation, but it is so worth it. 

Bad news on the front is that I haven't made my workouts this week.  I am helped my sister teach a VBS class with her junior high youth group at church and it  kept us busy day and night.  We spent all day planning and running errands and then the class was from 6-9 p.m.  However, last night was commencement, so I'm ready to get back to exercising.  I'm feeling very sluggish from the lack of exercise. 

My sister and I at the church's pavilion for an outing.  She is wearing the bunny ears ;)  I just love her and she does such a great job leading the kids in her youth group.  It was a pleasure teaching vacation bible school with her this year. 

To Run or Not to Run

To run or not to run that is the question. I'm still struggling with the last 15 or so pounds that I want to lose, so I thought  I should add some more jogging into my walks. Who knows it might help speed up the weight loss. 

Well, a month ago I managed to sprain my right ankle which took a long time to heal.  I have no patience.  I couldn't stand just sitting around with my leg up and iced.  I finally thought it was completely healed.  However, after a long day at the zoo and climbing way too many hills, it started to swell and throb.  I wore my brace and propped it up for a day and the pain went away. 

Last week was when I decided to start jogging more and dang it my ankle started to act up again.  I've about had it with this pain in the rear ankle.  I think next time I might try wearing my brace when I leave for my walk and then try some light jogging.  If the brace is on, I might not have the swelling and/or pain afterwards. 

I'm staying in my calorie range of 1200-1500 per day and I think I need to up my exercise routine.  I average around 1500 per day on the weekends and get closer to 1200-1400 during the week.  But I'm just stuck - for a really, really, really long time.  In fact, I think I'm going to go down in the record book for the person that took the longest time to get to her goal weight. 

Any opinions out there about sticking to the same meal for too long?

 I eat the same thing for breakfast every morning during the week: Special K with skim milk.  Think I need to change it up more often?  It is just easier for me to know immediately what I am going to eat. 

NSV: Active Summer

One of the many benefits of losing weight is being able to stay active with my kids.  This summer we have done so much as a family.  In my previous post I discussed our jammed packed summer vacation.  This past week we have stayed just as busy at home.

Last weekend my son's baseball team had their end of the year party.  Someone had the idea to do a mother/son baseball game to celebrate the end of the season.  This very idea would have struck fear into my heart when I was extremely overweight.  I'm positive that I wouldn't have gone.  However, even though I have more weight I want to lose and don't have the "perfect" body, I was up for running the bases in front of everyone.  I'm so happy that I didn't miss out on this experience with my son.  It was so much fun!  I did hit the ball and make a run home :)  On the flip side, I screamed and jumped OVER a ball that was hit towards me at short-stop.  

I also went fishing with my kids on a 100+ degree day with our church youth group.  Again, this is something I wouldn't have done when I was at my heaviest.  I wouldn't have even wanted to go outside at that temperature let alone go fishing all day with 50 kids.

This is a picture of my son's catfish he caught that morning.

We are now enjoying really nice weather.  Today it was only 79 degrees, so I headed out early for a three mile walk.  I'm thinking that I will take the kids on a bike ride after dinner tonight. 

I had already written this post today when I saw this NSV link up on another blog: http://ktjweighingin.com/  I linked up with her page so go check out some other non scale victories :)

Need Another Vacation

Whew! We are back from a hectic week of vacationing and now I need a week of a relaxing vacation to feel relaxed.  You know how some families go on relaxing vacations and just soak up the sun?  Well, not us - not ever.  Even when I was young, my mom always had our vacations jam packed with activities and we always came home exhausted.  I always said when I get to be an adult, my vacations would be relaxing but you know the old saying, "we all eventually turn into our mothers."  Love you mom :) 

My husband was off work for a week and we ended up being at home for one day.  That one day was spent pulling weeds, doing yard work, and washing the cars.  I know just too much fun. 

We went to St. Louis with the kids and caught a Cardinals game.  The kids were able to get autographs of a few of the pitchers, so they thought that was really cool.  Not cool was the weather.  It was 90+ degrees with high humidity that night and I think I sweated off the naughty ballpark nachos that were my dinner.  We also went to the Science Center and enjoyed the latest exhibit with the kids.  Our son loves anything science and so does my husband.

By chance, we ended up at  a local restaurant that has its own TV show.  We didn't know anything about the show when we decided to try it out.  I had searched on my phone for restaurants near the science center with positive reviews and found Sweetie Pie's.  Do not visit their page or check it out  unless you have saved up around a million extra calories!  Seriously.  The soul food is out of this world and so are the calories.  After we left the restaurant, we saw a sign that by entering you agree to be taped for filming purposes.  We then did some research and found out the restaurant has a reality show on OWN.  I had the fried chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes which I split with my husband with plenty left over.  I thought this meal would do me in for weigh-in day. 

We also managed to fit in a trip to the zoo, a party, and a trip to a state park where we live before the week was all over.  We are all exhausted and needing a vacation from our vacation :)  I did manage to get in a lot of walking.  One good thing about a city vacation is all of the walking.  When I weighed on Saturday I was up 4 ounces from the previous week.  Bad news but not terrible news considering all the restaurant meals consumed for the week.  The only thing that saved me was all the walking in the city. 

What To Do With The Candy Bowl

I had never noticed how many candy bowls we had sitting around our house until recently.  We had one in our living room, dining room, and two in our kitchen. Wow!  No one needs that many candy bowls.  As I have been on my weight loss journey, the number of bowls have gone down. First, I got rid of the bowl in the living room.  I made an early rule of no mindless snacking at night while watching television.  That was a major problem of mine early on in my journey.

Next, went the second bowl in the kitchen.  Really, two candy bowls in the kitchen!  I have no words for this or how this even came about in my life.  We do still have a bowl in the kitchen that my kids and husband use for their treats; however, I avoid eye contact with that bowl when I walk by it :)

Just recently, I was wondering what to do with the empty candy bowl from the dining room, so my mom offered to take it to her work.  Then this weekend as we were making fruit salad for a swimming party, we had this idea:

 

The candy bowl was converted into a bowl for a healthy dessert. The fruit salad was a big hit at the swimming party, and the bowl made an excellent presentation.   Kids and adults alike both enjoyed the dessert.

A Week of Celebrations and Healing

I took a week off  from walking to let my ankle heal completely.  It just wasn't getting any better and the pain was slowing me down too much.  The decision to take it easy was difficult to make but necessary.  I did some arm workouts and crunches but that was it.  I'm happy to report this morning that my ankle is feeling 100% better.  Last night, I took a fast, short two mile walk.  It felt amazing to get back at it.  I would have walked farther but the rain was right on my tail :)  We have been getting afternoon rain and storms every day for the last several days and the next few days look to be the same.  The one good thing about the cloudy, rainy weather is the temperatures.  It has been around the high 70s which is very unusual for our area in late June/ early July.  It makes exercising outdoors so much easier. I'm looking forward to hitting the dusty trails out here :) 

I did a bit too much celebrating with friends and family this week.  I traveled with some friends from work to another state for shopping and eating out to our favorite restaurant.  It is a bit too girly for our husbands, so we always eat there when we travel.  I had a salad but it had too many treats in it to be considered healthy. Then I ate out with my sister and caught up with her. She had been in Savannah, GA for nine days,  and we needed to do some visiting.  Yes, I know food doesn't have to be involved in visiting but it was this time.  We had a great time and I loved hearing about her missionary trip with her junior high youth group she directs. 

With a week off from walking and too many meals out at restaurants, I went up .6 of a pound.  I did try to make some healthy choices to balance the meals out.  On the days I had a meal out, my other meal was a healthy salad at home.  I also passed on several baked goods at home and desserts offered at the restaurants.  My friends on the trip ordered double doozy cookies at the mall and I passed on that eating experience.  I did order an ice from dippin' dots instead at the end of the day for a treat.  So I did splurge some last week but tried hard to do some balancing as well. 

A Story of Two Butterflies

You know the old saying that a picture can say a 1,000 words?  Well, here is a story of two butterflies, actually it is the same butterfly, it just looks different in each picture.  In one picture it is hard to even see the bench.  It was hard for me to look back at this picture to be honest.  However, I must be honest with myself and not forget how much work it has taken to get to this point in life. 

The location of this bench is at Patti's in KY.  It is a favorite restaurant of ours with quaint shops and antique stores dotting the street and grounds where the restaurant is located.  It is an 1880's settlement with several tourist attractions that keep us returning each year along with their delicious food.

I always order the same item: Southwestern grilled chicken salad.  It sounds healthy enough, right?  But as many of us know, restaurant salads can be sneaky by packing on the calories and being three times too big!  When I first ordered the salad there, I would smother it with their homemade dressing: avocado ranch with guacamole.  Then I would first eat the homemade tortilla chips surrounding the salad.   Finally, I would start on the healthiest part.  As the years went by I changed the way I ate the salad, dressing on the side please and I would just eat a bit.  I would just eat one or two of the homemade tortilla chips and focus on the greens and grilled chicken for my meal.  As my weight loss continued, I sharpened my skills at being able to eat out and not completely blow my hard work from all my other good choices.  I still flub from time to time (like the DQ basket in my last post) when it comes to ordering and eating out. 

Deep breath...

 

This year:

 



S

Sprained but not Drained

Well, I have managed to sprain my right ankle.  Early this week I was watering my flowers on the front porch and ran smack into a rocking chair.  I felt immediate pain in my right ankle and the swelling and bruising started.  I tried the old fashion walk it off approach but to no avail.  I took some Tylenol and went to bed that night with a throbbing ankle. 

Last week I had a three pound loss so I wanted to keep up my momentum.  I did some light walking just around the house on Wednesday and played with the kids outside.  On Thursday morning my ankle was feeling better after I had iced it down, so I decided to go for a walk.  I walked about three miles - not too fast.  My ankle was sore that night but not unbearable. 

I was being really strict with my eating since exercising wasn't working out for me this week.  Lunch was just a vegetable salad with some deli turkey on top with fat free raspberry poppy seed dressing.  I tried to do light dinners for most evenings.  Just one night was a bad choice: Dairy Queen grilled chicken quesadilla.  The DQ site states there are 1160 calories in the quesadilla basket!  I only ate 1 onion ring in the basket and left two quesadilla pieces behind but that it still a ridiculous amount of calories!  Yikes!!  I was just too exhausted after a day of shopping and my ankle was throbbing so no cooking for me. 

The final weigh in result:  minus a half of a pound.  Not great but I will take it after my injury.  I didn't let my injury drain me of my good intentions this week.  In the past, I would have allowed it to derail me and be an excuse to also eat however I liked.  If I couldn't exercise why not overeat was an old habit.  I'm hoping the swelling goes down this weekend and I can get back to exercising this Monday.  I realize now that I pushed myself too fast and didn't allow time for healing.  I want to get better as soon as possible. 

Run It Out!

"Run it out," is something I often yell to my kids after they hit the ball and try to make it on first base.  Well, on Friday night the phrase was switched on me.  My daughter's softball team has been struggling with tagging the bases when there are runners headed their way, so the assistant coach asked for some volunteers to run bases. My son and I volunteered to run the bases after an adult would hit the ball: over and over and over.  We ended up running the bases for about 20-30 minutes!  My daughter loved trying to get her momma out :)  I think she got a little too much enjoyment out of it.  This ended up being an excellent workout. 



There is a walking track at the ball pavilion and I had walked almost a mile when the coach asked me to run bases for the practice.  When we got home that evening my son kept talking about how much fun it was to keep running the bases over and over.  What!?!  I just wanted to find the liquid Advil in the cabinet.  I walk a lot but I am not a runner.  I've done some light jogging from time to time but nothing intense and lengthy like Friday night.  Let me tell you about how sore I was Saturday morning.  Parts of my legs hurt that I hadn't even felt in years!  It was  a good hurt though.  I hadn't challenged my body that way in a very long time.

I did get in several good workouts throughout the week.  My weigh in on Saturday was much better than last week's pound gain. This week I was down three pounds!  That is a  big loss for me.  I hope to keep up the exercising and healthy eating this week too. 

Baseball, Softball, Repeat

Last week was so busy that we only came home to crash around 11:00 p.m. each night.  Between our two kids, they ended up playing nine baseball/softball  games in five days!  I hang my head in shame to say this lead to a lot of late night dinners and bad ballpark eating.  One night we ended up having those big, salty pretzels for our dinner.  The concession stand was sold out of sandwiches and hot dogs so our choices were limited.  
This week the ball schedule isn't quite so demanding and I'm determined to get out ahead of it and prepare some meals in advance.  It was hard with early and late games in the evening to get in any dinner until very late.  I've already planned to do a healthy crock pot chicken meal for dinner tomorrow night.  Both of the games are at 8:00 p.m., so I am going to fit in an early dinner before we have to be at the ballparks. 

I think I have mentioned before that I tend to eat more when I am exhausted.  Fatigue makes me feel like I have "earned" a treat.  I'm not as bad about rewarding myself with food for a busy schedule, but I still fall once in awhile.  I found myself one night, the pretzel night, allowing myself to have another small meal around midnight.  I never eat that late at night.  However, I was exhausted and still had a lot to do.  I had to wash ball uniforms for the next day and get ready for a yard sale the next day too!  Whew!  I think if I eat I will find some more get up and go but I usually just end up feeling disappointed in myself if I eat something "bad" which I did that night. I had a small bowl of homemade chicken and dumplings.  My choice could have been better: some almonds, Greek yogurt, or a small piece of fruit and then I wouldn't have felt so guilty. 

When I weighed in on Saturday morning I was up one pound.  I am resolved to make this week much better by planning around our busy, tight schedules and finding more time for working out. 

Summer break

 Life has been so busy that I have neglected my blog.  As far as my weight goes, it has really stayed the same.  I'm working at changing that as soon as possible.   My last day of work until August was yesterday, so I can now spend more time on me.  I'm guilty of always putting myself last on the "to-do" list like all other moms/women out there. 

Summer means more cooking and trying out new, healthy recipes.  I've been saving new recipes to try out for the family.  I'm so lucky that my kids love almost all vegetables and fruits.  They are great about trying new recipes. 

We have been experiencing some severe weather in our area the last few days, and I'm so ready for it to clear up.  I did manage to get in some walking but not enough.  I am determined to make time for walking plenty of miles outdoors.

My family stays very busy during the summer with baseball, softball, gymnastics, dance, and other activities, but I'm glad the kids enjoy so many physical activities.  I wish I would have done more physical sports as a child. 

I Think We Have Survived

Well, I think my family and I have survived the flu/sinus season.  It hit each one of us...one by one.  It has been going on for over a month at our house.  First, my son went down with fever and congestion and then my daughter.  I'm not sure what I had either the flu or a wicked sinus infection.  My cough and congestion lingered for nearly three weeks!  Then, disaster struck...my husband got the flu.  Let me tell you that this was the worst!  He is a terrible patient, and it was harder on me than any of the other illnesses.  He is finally on the mend and back to work.

Today, the kids and I had a surprise day off from school and work due to the weather.  I have spent the morning cleaning house and catching up on chores.   It is nice to spend some extra time with the kids.  It is sleeting now but some freezing rain is headed our way this afternoon. We are not headed out anytime soon.

 I put my workout clothes on today, so I could clean and then exercise. I'm thinking I will do some step aerobics and yoga this afternoon.  I may even do The Biggest Loser exercise DVD this evening.  I'm finally feeling healthy and ready to get active! 

Life didn't slow down any during the illnesses but I sure did in the evenings.  Here is a picture from a charity event that I co-sponsored.  I sponsor  a club at work that does volunteer/community service.  We raised money by selling tickets to allow students to wear a hat to school.  The money goes to our local Hospice office.  I can't say enough good things about our local Hospice services.

Glenda the Good Witch Is Right

I have several friends and family members that are trying to lose weight as their New Year's resolution, and I'm so proud of them.   For some of us, it takes awhile to find that strength that is within us all.  My message to anyone trying to lose weight is to find that inner strength and willpower  because it is a tough battle.  There are temptations and just the stress of everyday life at every turn. 

I've mentioned on my blog before that I'm not real sure about what was so different at my attempt to lose weight this time, but I know it worked  because I stayed strong.  Now, I have had plenty of setbacks and failures when I've been tempted; however, I never threw my hands up in the air to quit. 

Don't beat yourself up for slip-ups or failures.  Just listen to Glenda, the good witch, and find that strength within you. 

I'm Rolling

Just wanted to do a check-in on my exercise this week.  I had lost my groove when it came to workouts this month.  After much reflection about my chaotic life, I decided that no matter what I would make at least three workouts.  Well...it is Thursday and I already have three in for the week. 

I'm not doing my favorite form of exercise but that's ok.  At least I'm moving and burning some calories.  I've done step aerobics and yoga this week.  One night I was feeling exhausted and thought I can skip tonight and still make three workouts, but my daughter said, "Is it time to exercise yet?"  Yes. Yes,  it was time to exercise!  I finished up a chore and got busy with step aerobics. 

On a side note, my eating has been great this week.  I'm staying under calorie and keeping my night snack to a piece of fruit.  Evening snacks are my biggest enemy especially during the winter.  During the warmer months, we stay outside for several hours during the evening, so there is little downtime before bed.  That equals less grazing for a snack(s) before bed.  When it gets dark so early, that means there is a lot more time in the house.  For me that means more time to be tempted to make my way to the kitchen. 

I hope to stay rolling and moving toward my goals.  Still haven't decided about a gym just yet...

Challenge needed for Change

I know I've been too lax in my eating and exercising.  There are a myriad of reasons for both lately.  Umm... should I say reasons or excuses?  Some are real reasons: e.g. wicked sinus infection that won't go away.  Some are excuses: too tired to workout after a crazy work and family schedule.  I need to find a new way to challenge myself.  I'm up a pound, down a pound, stay the same, and the cycle goes on for my weight loss. 

I just mentioned to my mom that I should join a gym until Spring.  Around March, I will be able to fit in a walk/jog before sunset.  I don't get home from work until evening time, so right now there isn't enough daylight for working out outside.  My mom's response was when are you going to go?  Good question Mom, good question.  It would probably be around 7:30 p.m. or 8:00 before I could get out the door to go to the gym.  To be honest, I'm usually wiped out by then. 

I guess I need to set a new challenge for myself with both food and exercise. More to come on those new challenges and hopefully goals. I'll need to think of a fun exercise gadget or other "prize" for meeting my challenges.

Satisfaction

I had a late night conference at work last night.  My supervisor bought pizza for everyone.  By the time I had a chance to eat, the pizza was cold and overcooked to top it off.  As I ate a few square of it, I already knew that it wasn't satisfying.  It didn't really taste good and I knew that it wasn't going to satisfy my brain for my dinner.

My question is this: why did I continue to eat it when I knew it wasn't satisfying or enjoyable to eat?  Do you ever find yourself eating something that isn't even good or what you want to eat?  I had this conversation with a co-worker today and she said the same thing. The pizza was cold and didn't taste good so she went home to eat some more. Me too!  I found myself eating Hickory Farms sausage and cheese with my husband.  Normally, I wouldn't eat  a high fat snack at night.  However,  I felt "cheated" at dinner.  I was looking for something to satisfy my brain.  I wasn't real hungry but felt like I needed a snack before bed.  I ended up overeating and surpassing my calories for sure.

Lesson learned: if it doesn't taste good or it isn't want I want to eat, just say no.

Finally a pound down

 

Why is it that it takes very little time to gain a pound but forever to take it off!!!  I went up a pound about two weeks ago and finally at today's weigh in it was gone.  Good riddance.  I sometimes feel like I am running in circles on the scale.  It was nice when I had a lot of weight to lose and those numbers kept right on rolling by but now it is much slower. 

So I've just been working and not getting too worked up about that pound.  I want to use the scale to stay accountable but not obsessive about my weight.  Been there done that, not going back.  I could easily let myself get wrapped up in that number and not be healthy about it. 

I did make an awesome weight watchers chicken stroganoff this week.  I sent the leftovers with my mom to work for her to share with a friend.  They both really enjoyed it as well.  It is real simple and I just left it all day in the crock pot.  I am all about the crock.  I leave around 7am for work and don't get back home until late in the evening. I love recipes that can be left all day and require little prep to get to the table.

Recipe:
1 lb boneless chicken breasts
1 or 2 cans of 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix
16oz container of fat free sour cream
Leave it all in the crock pot on low for 6 hours
I then shredded the chicken mixture and poured it over No Yolk noodles.



 

 

Weather Won't Cooperate

Yesterday, it felt like a warm Spring morning.  It was 60 plus degrees outside.  Keep in mind that we just had a blizzard a few weeks ago and that snow had just melted two days ago.  That meant I had to take advantage of the clear roads and warm weather.  I wasn't feeling too good when I woke up but nothing was stopping me from a long walk. 

My husband and kids even joined in on the action.  It was so enjoyable spending time with them and getting a good workout at the same time.  I love that both of my kids enjoy being outside and realize the importance of exercise. 

I soon found out why I wasn't feeling good.  Just a few hours later I had a wicked temperature with full blown chills and body aches.  Even though I felt terrible, I was still happy that I made it through my walk.  My  walks aren't just about exercise but a way to clear my mind.

How's the weather today?  Today it is sleeting with frozen precipation on the ground.  Totally bi-polar weather where we live.  To top it off, I have included a picture of what we found by our house today.  I think the poor guy froze to death. I had never seen a snake out in January!!!

I Have Resolved to Work Harder

When I weighed in Saturday morning, I was pretty disappointed.  I had done better with my eating and working out.  To be honest, I didn't hit my 5 workouts that I had planned for the week.  I only did 3 out of 5.  There are plenty of excuses but the main one was returning back to work kicked my butt!  The kids and I had been staying up late and sleeping in (8:00 a.m. at our house) over Christmas break. 

However, last week was a big improvement over the past two weeks.  I was hoping my body would be shocked into a substantial weight loss.  No such luck.  It seems that this last chunk of weight is refusing to go!  From time to time, I let myself get discouraged at the amount of time it has taken.  I jokingly told a co-worker that I could go down in the Guinness's Book of World Records for the longest amount of time to lose weight. 

I will just resolve to do better and work harder this week.  Best of luck to everyone for a healthy week. 

Lunch Portions

I went with some work friends out to eat for our first day back to work after Christmas break.  I had eaten at the restaurant for lunch many years ago.  My recollection was that it was a cheap place to eat but not enough food.  The lunch plate is "small" (aka right size) and not flowing over like a lot of other Chinese restaurants. 

So after we ordered our food, I discussed how at lunch a person doesn't get a lot to eat here like other Chinese restaurants.  When the lunch plates were served, I looked at mine and said, "Wow, that is a lot of food."  My friends agreed with me that we had plenty to eat for lunch.  I said that the restaurant had closed to remodel and had possibly revamped their portions. 

Then, after I was reflecting on that experience last night, I thought maybe it was just me.  When I was extremely obese, did that lunch plate not seem or feel like enough? I was used to shoveling food in without enjoying or thinking about the experience.  The portions may still be the same as they were years ago.  I didn't eat even half of my main entree.  The waitress kept trying to convince me to take my lunch leftovers home with me.  I only indulge in Chinese food once every few months, so I told her no thank you.