Right Wing Mom

Starting over. YET again. I hate that I am always starting over.

Sometimes the thought creeps into my head: “Why bother? It’s not like you are going to stick with it… you always quit”

I hate that voice.

The “voice” of defeat.

SHUT UP!

Cliche as it sounds… I’ll never know unless I try.

So….. here I am again. Not really trying anything new on the workout front, Jillian is still kicking my butt.

The nutrition front will be a RADICAL change.

The last month or so, my diet has been so bad. Just nutritionally void and icky.

I stumbled across the Paleo diet and it looked PERFECT for me.

I have some major , major issues with starches and sugar and I’ve realized in the last 2 months or so, that I also am having some issues with milk - major cravings

So… I did some digging and some research and Marc and I have decided to jump right on in.

The Paleo diet, also called the Caveman diet is supposed to take you back to the way our “caveman” ancestors ate. Well, let’s start off by changing the name…. considering I’m not really in the evolution group - Marc and I have decided to call it the “Post-Flood” diet

Here are the basics. First off the No’s - No bread, grains, sugar, dairy, legums and tubers

Thats a lot of no foods. Bread, rice, pasta, sugar, corn, potatoes, beans, peanuts, milk, yogurt and cheese.

Yikes.

But - plenty of protein, veggies, fruits and nuts!

Breaking it down… its eating as clean and natural as you can.

There are a few reasons for going to what some may consider, extreme.

First, of course…. is weight loss. I want to lose weight. Plain and simple.

Secondly and more importantly, is health. Following this diet will allow my body to detox and heal its self. Let’s face it… I’m 37 and as much as I want to say “I don’t fell 37″ the truth is… I kind of do. I’m tired. I’m achy. I’m bloated. I’m sore.

My body is just not working optimally. That is pretty darn pathetic.

Marc and I have committed to doing this for 3 months. We will be traveling in October and want to be at our best.

It will be interesting and challenging.

I will keep updating here and let you know how it’s going and what, if any changes I am experiencing.

Please feel free to ask any questions!

Its Monday and believe it or not I am semi-happy about that. Why? Its all about getting back on track. We have been kind of fumbling around in the dark here the last few weeks and I am ready to get back on track and get some stuff done!

Lots to talk about this morning - nothing too in depth or really even interesting, just a bunch of stuff floating around in my head.

Watching my dogs “do their outside thing” can be very interesting. (Great topic to start off with right?) So, I am waiting for them to finish to let them back in when I see Buster walk over to a tree and pee on it. Kaya comes running over and pees over Busters “area” then Buster circles around the tree behind where Kaya is and pees over where he just went - kind of remarking. It was funny - they obviously have issues (as do I … talking about my dogs peeing)

Ok.. moving on.

Hitting the gym this morning was quite the chore. After not going for almost 3 weeks it was so hard to drag myself out the door! I got up in time and puttered around for almost an hour. I was trying so hard to justify not going. I am so glad that I ignore myself! It was a great workout and I was so happy to be back!!! I took it a little easier today than normal, doing only 2 sets per circuit verses my normal 3. Getting my food back under control will be my main focus the rest o the week. I have been getting progressively sloppier as I have been getting over being sick. The scale will probably reflect that this week which makes me a little sad - but its all about accountability… I know what I did and should not be surprised at the results.

Have I mentioned before how weird my kids can be sometimes? Kaitie and Mandy have been cracking me up with their choice of entertainment. First off - they begged me to put Bon Jovi - “Living on a Prayer” on their iPod. I think thats funny. Secondly they watched a movie this week that really made me laugh, just because they enjoyed it so much! It was “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” starring Myrna Loy, Carry Grant and a teenaged Shirley Temple. And dont get me started on their obsession with Animal Planet.

Oscars - did you watch? What did you think? I loved it! It was very well put together and I really liked how they had some past winners present the acting awards. I could have done without Sean Penn. But then again… I don’t think I have ever liked that butt head. Didn’t really care for the musical montage either… little weird. But I LOVED the opening! Who new Anne Hathaway could belt it out like that?

Jake lost his first tooth Saturday night. Kind of early don’t you think? I forget when the girls lost their first tooth, but I really thought it was much later. He was so happy about it! Sadly the tooth fairy forgot to come - and now that I am thinking about it… I hope he She remembered last night.

Last thing for now. Emma has (finally) started walking. She had been taking a few steps here and there and then last week she decided to get mobile! She is so proud of herself too! Sometimes after she takes 5 or so steps, she gets this big smile and her face and starts laughing - then she loses her balance… it pretty funny. Her favorite thing to do right now is to go across the room and pick something up and bring it to you. What a little helper!

I will (hopefully) be back on a little later to get my Monday Meal Plan up

Part 7? Wow, a part of me is a little surprised that I am still hanging in there. But, every week I feel like I am becoming more and more dedicated to seeing this through!

Sadly, I am still trying to get over being sick. I had a little relapse yesterday, but feel so much better today! My nose is starting to clear up which makes me very happy. Now all I have to do is get my lungs un-gunked and I’ll be back in business!

Needless to say with my attempting to hack up a lung (or at least sounding like it) 20 times a day, my gym time has been non existent. I am so very bummed about this. I really miss the gym. I want nothing more than to work up a really good sweat! Hopefully If I continue to improve tonight, I am going to give it a shot tomorrow. Nothing to strenuous yet, but just getting back to the gym and moving a bit would feel really nice!

Food? Still nothing wonderful. My calories have been semi-sporadic. Some days I know I am not getting any more than 900-1000 calories, which isn’t good. Other days I know I am closer to my calorie range. My choices haven’t been great either, I need to clean it up some.

Water? Oh goodness… don’t ask. I am trying to get my intake back up again. Its been rather pathetic.

I did get on the scale today and it was (drumroll…..) 202. Which gives me a loss this past week of 2.6 lbs! Woo-Hoo!

My total weight loss is now 13.8 lbs! Yeah! I have 56.2 more to go

Sorry this seems to have turned into a weight loss blog. I will try to get something non-weight related up soon!

Remember to check out 2 Moms 20 Pounds over at Happy to be at Home for some more weight loss encouragement!

What a roller coaster of a week! I was really hoping for a great vacation with my family and instead got a week filled with germs, snot, coughing, aches, fevers and sitting/laying around doing a whole bunch of nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I loved visiting with my parents and brothers - but I hated having to rely on them to take care of us. Thankfully they did though and we survived!

Jake, Emma and I seem to be still dealing with it the most right now. I am most bummed about the fact that the sickness has moved to my chest which means cardio has to be out on hold for me.

So - here is my overview of the week:

Food - could have done much better. The past few days I haven’t been eating very well. Not sure where my calories are going. Not eating enough, maybe.

Water - have really slacked off here too. Its had to drink lots of water when you are sick, even though that’s one of the best things for you

Exercise - Oh I tried… I really did. I am glad I took it easy though. My body needs to fix itself not overstress itself right now.

Weight - this one is a little funny! I was not looking forward today, weigh-in day. I was thinking about skipping it. But for the sake of total accountability I weighed in. I was chanting “Under 210, under 210, anything as long as its not over 210.” I was 204.6 which really freaks me out. This would be a loss of 3.4lbs for the week. I should be excited, but I’m not sure how accurate this is. I’m not sure if I want to claim this. But, not having anything else to count - I will use this number. I just hope I dont freak out next week if I go up.

I am hopefully going to get a little Wii Fit in today. I need to get moving a bit. I am SOOOO looking forward to getting back to the gym! I miss it!

11.2 down - 58.8 to go!

Check out Happy to be at Home for more 2 Moms 20 Pounds weigh-ins

Being on vacation and trying to stay with my program has been a little challenging. Preparing for the road trip I packed some food so we wouldnt have to hit the gas station and such for snacks. Of course, I obviously didnt put that much through into it. Snack? Lots of those! Meals - you know, actual food? Not so much. But, I survived.

My newest challenge has been working out while being sick and dealing with sick kids. Mandy got sick on Monday as we were finsihing up our drive. Kaite got it on Tuesday. Emma Wednesday morning and I followed up by Wednesday afternoon. Not sure what is going on with Jake. He hasnt been running a fever and he hasnt had the runny nose/congestion like the rest of us. But, he took a 5 hour nap yesterday (put himself to bed!) and has been uber grouchy!

Anyway, I got up yesterday to get my workout in and just coudlnt do it. I did about 20 minutes and then blah! Hit a wall and just couldnt push through it. This morning was kind of the same. I got up determined to workout. Jake woke up around the same time and a feeling of dread washed over me. I hoped that I could get through my workout… but no such luck. I was really having to push myself as it was. Now add in a grouchy 5 year old coming in every 30 seconds and yelling at me that he was hungry or cold or tired or bored or whatever!

Sigh

I now know why I get up at 5:30 in the morning to go to the gym. Totally worth it.

Oh - I wanted to clarify a little something. I totally messed up my weight loss from last week! I posted that I was down a pound, not sure where that came from. But I was actaully down 2 lbs! Big duh on my part.

Time to scoot! We have a big day today - as long as everyone is still breathing this morning

My Dad and I are taking the kids up to the mountains for a bit. My poor little Jake has never seen snow and wants more than anything to through a snowball. I am hoping to get some great pictures! Then we are heading off to Knoxville this afternoon. My Mom wants to spend some money on the kids and I am taking my parents out for a little early Anniversary present. Lucnh at PF Changs. They have never eaten there and we love it! They are celebrating their 40th Anniversary on February 15!

Well, I was doing a little better getting posts up last week that did not involve my weigh loss and excercise. But, life got in the way as it so often does.

Sunday the kids and I took off on a 900 mile journey to Tennessee. My paretns moved here about 2 years ago from Ohio. I kind of miss to being able to go back to where I grew up. But, looking at how much snow I am missing… I can live with Tennessee!

I am not able to weigh myself this week, but I jumped on the scale Sunday morning before leaving. I had lost another pound!! I was very excited!!! Woo-Hoo!

Driving up I was pretty good. Lots and lots of water. Stayed on plan Sunday and mostly Monday. I had a PB and J in the car. But, although I did not count my calories that day, I know, given what I ate the rest of the day, I wasnt that far off.

Exercise has been great! I have been getting my workouts in no problem. As a matter of fact, knowing that I was not going to be able to workout on Monday. I got up early Sunday and dragged my booty to the gym and got in a great workout before leaving on our road trip!

While here I have been working out in the garage. I brought an exercise band with me and have been usuing that for my strength training.

Today was cardio and I had brought a DVD to do. But, of course, I couldnt get the DVD player to work. I had a slight panic. But, instead of quitting or cheesing out, I ploppled my iPod on and went out into the garage. I did a little old school aerobics, step, dancing and calisthenics. I felt a little foolish at times. But, I go the heart pumping! I kept my heart rate up and burned alomst 400 calories in 30 min. I wished I did more time, but I got a late start and had to get the troops fed.

I am excited that I am doing well and sticking to it!

Of course, Kaitie and Mandy have been sicker than dogs! Fever, sore throats, caughing, runny nose. And guess what I feel sneaking up? I hate being sick. I am going to go slam some C and eat some homemade chicken soup. Sometimes its nice to be at “Mom’s house” even if you have never lived there before.

Check out 2 Moms 20 Lbs for some more weight loss motivation they can be found at Happy to be at Home

A little late getting this up today, but it has been a little crazy around here today.

I wish I had “bigger” but it just wasn’t meant to be this week. The biggest factor contributing to this was that wonderful visit from “our” little friend this week. Somedays I love being a woman… other days, not so much.

I was down .6lbs. I was hoping for at least one pound and am still al little upset that I didn’t make that, but I am getting over it

One thing I did notice this week was that I was getting a little sloppy with my food choices. I stayed within my calorie range ever day, but some of my food choices could have been better. Stuff like chips and chips and well, chips should not be in my diet on a regular basis. So a main goal this week will be cleaning up the diet and getting back to more natural and whole foods.

The next week or so is shaping up to be a big challenge for me. The kids and I are heading out on a road trip this weekend to go visit my family. My plan is to stick with food as best I can and find time and ways to workout while I am at my parents.

We plan on not eating at any restaurants during our travel and trip. Its hard to find food that is within Jake’s diet and it will be a lot healthier for me too!

I did great with my workouts this week. But, I am looking forward to the change up this trip offers. I’d love to do a little hiking or if all else fails, I’ll be bringing some exercise DVDs with us.

down .6 only 64.4 lbs to go !

Head on over to Happy to be at Home to see some other Mom’s losing weight this year in 2 Moms 20 Pounds

I swear I will get back to “regular” blogging soon… totally promise!

I was able to get my external hard drive this week and have gotten a couple of photo files transferred over. However, I am having some major anxiety over deleting these files from my main hard drive. What happens if the external drive crashes? AACK! Crud, I hate being anal sometimes.

Ok - on to the weight loss.This past week was a rollercoaster. I guess I will get right to the “low point” and go on from there.

Sunday afternoon we finally had a little birthday thing for Emma. (48 days late… but who’s counting, right?) We had a couple of friends over (HI Nancy!) and enjoyed some pizza and carrot cake. My plan was to chow on some salad, skipping the pizza altogether and “indulging” in one cupcake. ONE.The salad went fine, and so did the whole cupcake thing. But then, our friends left and I was left with leftover pizza and carrot cake. Did I mention I make a mean carrot cake and that it happens to be like, my favorite thing? I do… and it is.

I started adding up my calories and talked my way into being able to partake in “just one more” cupcake. Of course that one more piece turned into one more, plus extra frosting and half of Emma’s cake that was leftover… and 4 pieces of pizza.

I felt like a fat beached whale. I was sick to my stomach and felt a hint of failure. Praise God it was only fleeting. I had felt these “issues” of mine that I struggle with creeping up over the past week and had been praying about it. I felt like Sunday evening, God just scooped me up, gave me a whack on the rear and said “Get back in the game girl!” And so I did.I realized that if I wanted to make my weight loss goal for the week, I was going to need to step it up for my workout Monday and Tuesday. I knew it would stink - but that was what needed to be done. My goal was to burn 1000 calories on both days. I got to about 875 Monday. Tuesday my watch battery died! But, I worked about the same as I did on Monday.

The result?

Down 3lbs this morning! WOO-HOO!

Still not happy about bingeing. But I took responsibility for it and got the work done.5 down - 65 more to go

Check out Happy To Be At Home for more Weigh-In Wednesday!

I am now going to update on Wednesdays because I am joining in with the Ladies over at Happy to be at Home. They have started a “Weigh-In Wednesday” to go with their series of 2 Moms - 20lbs. So weather you looking to lose 20lbs like Kate and Joy or 70 like me you should take a look - its a great site!

Ok I am sure your big question is how is it going? In a word - Fan-Flippin-Tastic! Seriously!

I have weighed in a have lost a grand total of 2lbs! I am am excited about those 2lbs. I worked hard to get rid of them!

Its a little funny, I got on the scale and was really preparing myself for a 5lb loss, I figured it would be close. I will admit that my heart sank when I saw it was “only” 2. But then I realized… I LOST 2 LBS! Hello? Thats awesome! My goal is to lose 1.5lbs a week… I DID IT! Once I realized that I got super excited and happy!

The week went excellent with eating. Although, Saturday and Sunday were a little challenging. Kaitie and Mandy had a their last meet of the season and we spent the entire weekend their, either working, cheering or competing (well, they competed I did some more cheering!) I had to do some planning and packing of food, but I did ok. Went a little long between a few meals, but I stuck to it!

Workouts have been great too. The soreness is getting more manageable. Now its just enough to let me know that I worked hard enough. I missed my cardio session on Saturday, but got up extra early Sunday to get it in!

I have also been experimenting with some different food choices. If you know me, I’ll eat just about anything, but there are a few things I have never prepared at home that I whipped up last week. I cooked up both salmon and mussels - and they were YUMMY! Believe it or not I cooked both of the meals in the microwave with the Ziplock steamer bags. So quick and awesome.

Like I said yesterday - I have so much to blog about. I have not been doing it because there are a lot of pictures I want to show off with those posts and my hard drive is now home to over 9000 pictures. Yes I know I have a problem. I will be getting an external hard drive (if all goes well) this week(end) and will try to get things organized a bit Then I will inundate you with post after post with all kinds of pictures and you will all be sick of me. I know, you can’t wait!

Today is day 5 for me on this journey of weight loss and getting fit. Want to know how its going? I hope so! But if you don’t want to know you can quit reading now… cause I’m going to tell you!

First, let me tell you what I am doing.

I signed up with Jillian Michaels online. I had tried her program once before with really good results, but got some kind of nasty sickness that just wouldn’t go away and had a lot of trouble getting back on program once I was better. I love her program! Its a little tough - just like her - but it rocks! She follows a basic “calorie in - calorie out” school of thought. You know, the more you eat the more you need to burn. No gimmicks, no forbidden food just hard work. I like it. It works.

The workouts are based on a circuit course with an upper body exercise, a lower body or abs exercise then 1 minute of cardio to keep your heart rate in that fat burning mode. You will break a sweat.

Let me tell you a little about that first day.

I was nervous walking to the gym. I am not a gym “newbie” by any means. But looking at me now, you wouldn’t know it. I go to a very small gym thats right around the corner of my house and it is not uncommon for the place to be deserted. I was hoping for deserted that first day. But, on the first Monday after the start of the New Year - deserted is not what I got. There were 5 other people there plus a trainer and for a place that small - it was crowded!

No problem - I can do this. Deep breath, pick a weight and do something.

I started my workout and sometimes during my second set I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and felt a wave of horror wash over me. Who was I kidding? I didn’t belong here. Look at me - I look ridiculous. I thought to myself “If I saw myself across the room I would wonder what that fat chick was doing.” But then, I took a second look and something dawned on me. Fat? Yep. Ridiculous looking? A little. But I DO belong here. I need to be here. I deserve to be here. I realized that if I really did see myself across the room I would think “OK, she is out of shape, but she obviously knows what she is doing.” OK, deep breath - just like riding a bike.

Days 2, 3, and 4 went fantastic! This morning was a little tough though. My body just did not want to get up and get moving. I hit a wall. I wanted to quit. I bummed around the house for 30 minutes and finally threw my hands up in the air and went. You know what? I’m glad I did. I didn’t quit on myself and it was my best workout all week.

My eating has been going quite well too. I have been staying within my calorie range and really haven’t had any cravings, except for a tiny lingering craving for some super dark chocolate.

Another big accomplishment for me this week has been staying off the scale. I am a daily weigher. I try not to be, but its like an addiction… I can’t help it! But this week I have successfully stayed off. I have come close; very, very close. But I have not succumbed! I will let you know, in the spirit of full discloser that I weighed in on Monday at 215.6 Another deep breath! Not my heaviest (praise God!) but nowhere near where I want nor need to be - obviously.

I am going to keep trucking and will let you know on Monday where I am! Good luck to anyone else who is tackling weight and fitness this year!