Right Wing Mom

Well the “Year of Alicia” started off with a bang and well… came to a screeching halt somewhere in March. After battling with being sick for what seemed like the entire month of February it was just so hard to get myself fully back in gear.

While I was sick I really tired to maintain my diet and I did well, for a while. As I started feeling better, but was still not able to workout due to the cough that would not go away (and don’t get my started with the “drippage”!) the diet started getting pushed back a little further each day. I think the culmination of the lack of diet came a few weeks ago where I realized that all I ate all week was Carmel Frappachinos, Carmel Macciatos and “ho-ho’s” (snacks) from Starbucks. Yep - there some solid nutrition right there.

I wanted to get back on the wagon fully… but I just didn’t seem to have it in me. I couldn’t get motivated. I would start off going to the gym Monday morning, eating so-so during the day and then sleeping in on Tuesday and well… that week was shot!

Last week, something interesting happened though. My fabulous husband got some kind of crazy with the program! He tightened up his eating, went to the gym every day and ended up losing 8lbs! WOO-HOO!!!! So proud

Another interesting thing happened last week. A friend of mine, Brenda, who coincidentally is doing “The Year of Brenda” (and no! We did not plan that!) noted that the year in 1/3 of the way over. YIKES!!!!! That put some things in perspective. Mainly, if I hadn’t quit, where would I be now. Answer: a whole lot skinnier… darn it!

Ok, that got me going!!!! I am back in the game. I WILL NOT let the second third of the year pass me by while I watch my butt get bigger. NO way!

Who’s with me?

(btw - thanks for all the welcome backs I missed you guys too!)

I hope my absence yesterday didn’t lead to thoughts that I had quit. Oh no! No quitting here although I am having a slight problem getting all the way back on the wagon!

I didn’t post anything yesterday because my “female” friend stopped by for her visit and I was feeling slightly crabby and blah all day. Not a very productive day in the least, although this whole stupid month has kind of turned out that way. Blah and unproductive.

So - here’s the breakdown: Water - still not enough. Food - still not clean enough (pms does not help this!) Exercise - better! AT least I am back to going to the gym again! but I skipped it yesterday(shame on me!)

Weight? I am up 2.2 Not exactly happy with that, but as I had said before - I didn’t think my weight loss when I was sick was exactly accurate. I’m not really upset though. I know what needs to be done and hopefully I can get in in gear soon and get back on track.

Down 11.6 59.2 to go!

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!