Yesterday, the number on the scale reflected that I have lost 60 lbs.
Holy moly, guacamole.
29% of my body weight.
I am not depriving myself, and I think that is key. I am still eating those two squares of dark chocolate every night, enjoying Wine Wednesdays and a pee wee ice cream cone on occasion. It was just last week that I was pleasantly surprised to learn one s'more was about 190 calories, so I splurged on one a couple days in a row (there's the change- before I would have eaten 2-3 in one night).
Another key to my success has been eating many, many more fruits and veggies. I have fruit every day as my mid-morning snack (peaches are my current favorite). I've never been a salad-as-a-meal kind of person, so I usually have a sandwich for lunch- tuna, ham & cheese or turkey. Onto that plate I pile steamed veggies, and maybe a slice of watermelon on the side. My current favorite afternoon snack is Chobani Bite greek yogurt... yum! They make a few flavors but my favorite is the coffee one with dark chocolate chips. It's 100 calories and tides me over until dinner.
Dinner always has a veggie on the side, if not part of the main course itself. When I grew up, I didn't think I liked vegetables. Turns out, I just didn't like boiled vegetables, which is pretty much the only kind my Mom made. Roasting veggies is the way to go. It has changed my life. It sounds fancier than it is. Pretty much you just take any veggie, put it into a ziplock bag, add olive oil, salt, pepper and any other seasonings you would like (we use garlic powder a lot). Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, spread the veggies out on the sheet and roast them about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. It really is as simple as that, and it makes every vegetable taste outstanding.
It's hard for me to believe how small changes have made this big of an impact. I used to diet in the worst way ever- eating salads that didn't fill me at all, cutting off sweets entirely. Turns out I needed to eat more- more veggies, more fruit. They're filling and they keep my body regulated.
I am very happy to have come this far. This experience has made me believe that I can, in fact, do just about anything I set my mind to.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Friday, May 31, 2013
Challenge Completed!
Just this morning, I finished the 30 Day Squat Challenge!
250 squats. On day one, I almost died after doing 50. Much to my surprise, it seemed to get easier as I went along. I really liked the accountability that came from printing out the challenge, sticking it on the fridge and highlighting each day I completed. It kept me in line and wanting to do it more than any other exercise regimen I had ever tried.
The results? I went down one size in pants and shorts! I lost approximately 3 lbs during it, which is probably a combination of doing this challenge and my continued healthy lifestyle change.
It was the most consecutive days I've ever exercised in my entire life (there were a few rest days, though, which made it bearable). It's kind of made me not able to imagine not having a challenge each day to take on... which is why I'm going to start the 30 Day Crunch Challenge... tomorrow!
Want to join in?
http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/originals/10/0d/ae/100dae06170c17522efb4a55aeebc65c.jpg
250 squats. On day one, I almost died after doing 50. Much to my surprise, it seemed to get easier as I went along. I really liked the accountability that came from printing out the challenge, sticking it on the fridge and highlighting each day I completed. It kept me in line and wanting to do it more than any other exercise regimen I had ever tried.
The results? I went down one size in pants and shorts! I lost approximately 3 lbs during it, which is probably a combination of doing this challenge and my continued healthy lifestyle change.
It was the most consecutive days I've ever exercised in my entire life (there were a few rest days, though, which made it bearable). It's kind of made me not able to imagine not having a challenge each day to take on... which is why I'm going to start the 30 Day Crunch Challenge... tomorrow!
Want to join in?
http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/originals/10/0d/ae/100dae06170c17522efb4a55aeebc65c.jpg
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Truth is...
We ended up not going camping this past weekend down on the Cape.
What was going to be a three night trip, turned into a two nighter, and then turned into... nothing.
I am a little embarrassed to say that this change in heart came way too late- I had already fully packed, Steve had already gotten the truck from his parents, and we had already gotten camping equipment from numerous friends and relatives.
Steve was about to load the truck, in the cold rain, when he asked me:
"We really want to do this, right?" That man senses my hesitation like no one else can.
For the life of me, I could not answer "Yes". Every inch of my intuition screamed: "Don't do it! It doesn't make sense!"
What didn't make sense was to take our entire family on a 3 hour trip one way (it would have been our longest), to go tent camping for the first time, with constant rain in the forecast, and temperatures at night dipping into the low 40's. If it was just Steve and I? Sure! We would play games with everyone else, drink, eat and be merry. But with two kids aged 2 1/2 and under? It just didn't make sense.
What I learned from this experience is that there is a difference between stepping outside of your comfort zone, and doing something that makes little sense with your gut telling you definitely not to do it. The couples and families that did go? My hat is off to them. I think they were brave and I bet they had a good time. I was very emotional in making this decision because I didn't want to let everyone else down. What I learned is, not wanting to let other people down is not a good enough reason to go through with something that your intuition tells you not to do.
Instead, we made s'mores in the microwave and rented a movie. We ended up having a spontaneous day off from the kids when Nana offered to take them. I got time to plant flowers in the cemeteries, instead of trying to squeeze it in during the week. We went to Look Park, rode the train and went on the playground. In short, it was a weekend that was so good, I never second guessed our decision not to go camping.
Next year we are more than willing to give it another go!
What was going to be a three night trip, turned into a two nighter, and then turned into... nothing.
I am a little embarrassed to say that this change in heart came way too late- I had already fully packed, Steve had already gotten the truck from his parents, and we had already gotten camping equipment from numerous friends and relatives.
Steve was about to load the truck, in the cold rain, when he asked me:
"We really want to do this, right?" That man senses my hesitation like no one else can.
For the life of me, I could not answer "Yes". Every inch of my intuition screamed: "Don't do it! It doesn't make sense!"
What didn't make sense was to take our entire family on a 3 hour trip one way (it would have been our longest), to go tent camping for the first time, with constant rain in the forecast, and temperatures at night dipping into the low 40's. If it was just Steve and I? Sure! We would play games with everyone else, drink, eat and be merry. But with two kids aged 2 1/2 and under? It just didn't make sense.
What I learned from this experience is that there is a difference between stepping outside of your comfort zone, and doing something that makes little sense with your gut telling you definitely not to do it. The couples and families that did go? My hat is off to them. I think they were brave and I bet they had a good time. I was very emotional in making this decision because I didn't want to let everyone else down. What I learned is, not wanting to let other people down is not a good enough reason to go through with something that your intuition tells you not to do.
Instead, we made s'mores in the microwave and rented a movie. We ended up having a spontaneous day off from the kids when Nana offered to take them. I got time to plant flowers in the cemeteries, instead of trying to squeeze it in during the week. We went to Look Park, rode the train and went on the playground. In short, it was a weekend that was so good, I never second guessed our decision not to go camping.
Next year we are more than willing to give it another go!
Monday, May 27, 2013
The Planting of the Flowers
Many families do fun and exciting things on Memorial Day weekend.
When I was growing up, we planted flowers at relatives' graves.
I really thought this was the strangest thing. I didn't know anyone else who did it, and I felt like a freak anytime someone asked me: "So, what did you do?" Truth is, we did also go on a picnic that weekend, but it always felt like the main activity was the planting of the flowers.
We drove as far as Bennington, VT and as close by as the cemetery in our hometown of Goshen. We stopped at four cemeteries total, and planted flowers at numerous graves. As I got older, I weaved between being embarrassed that was how we spent our weekend, to being a little bit curious.
Cemeteries are very interesting. They hold a lot of history and information. It may have been because of our visits to the cemeteries, and looking at the names and dates of the people on the headstones, that I started to become interested in family history.
By the time I was a teenager, I knew we were planting flowers to commemorate our loved ones, literally memorializing them on Memorial Day weekend. I began to see it as something I would do with my own family someday.
This year is the eighth year that I have planted flowers at the graves of our loved ones. This year I did it by myself for the first time because Nana had taken the kids for the day and Steve had to get a few other things done. It was therapeutic. I sat by my grandmother's grave, planting beautiful flowers at her headstone. I included a lot of purple ones as that was her favorite color. I talked to her about the kids, and how much she'd get a kick out of them. Then I told her I realized she already was smiling down at them because I know she looks over us.
I save my Mom's grave for last. She gets all the flowers that are left, and every year it seems like I magically have more than enough, because I love to fill the entire area in front of her stone with as many flowers as I can fit. Every year that I visit her grave, my heart bursts at the seams even more, because I am one more year into Motherhood and I can fully feel and understand the undying love, sacrifices and patience that much more.
I have every intention of involving the kids in this yearly tradition and explaining to them why we do it. I will tell them stories about their grandma and their great grandmothers, and show them it is important to take a few hours to stop and remember our loved ones who have gone before us, even if it seems the rest of the world is off doing fun things while we do it.
We'll do those fun things, too, but this is important.
When I was growing up, we planted flowers at relatives' graves.
I really thought this was the strangest thing. I didn't know anyone else who did it, and I felt like a freak anytime someone asked me: "So, what did you do?" Truth is, we did also go on a picnic that weekend, but it always felt like the main activity was the planting of the flowers.
We drove as far as Bennington, VT and as close by as the cemetery in our hometown of Goshen. We stopped at four cemeteries total, and planted flowers at numerous graves. As I got older, I weaved between being embarrassed that was how we spent our weekend, to being a little bit curious.
Cemeteries are very interesting. They hold a lot of history and information. It may have been because of our visits to the cemeteries, and looking at the names and dates of the people on the headstones, that I started to become interested in family history.
By the time I was a teenager, I knew we were planting flowers to commemorate our loved ones, literally memorializing them on Memorial Day weekend. I began to see it as something I would do with my own family someday.
This year is the eighth year that I have planted flowers at the graves of our loved ones. This year I did it by myself for the first time because Nana had taken the kids for the day and Steve had to get a few other things done. It was therapeutic. I sat by my grandmother's grave, planting beautiful flowers at her headstone. I included a lot of purple ones as that was her favorite color. I talked to her about the kids, and how much she'd get a kick out of them. Then I told her I realized she already was smiling down at them because I know she looks over us.
I save my Mom's grave for last. She gets all the flowers that are left, and every year it seems like I magically have more than enough, because I love to fill the entire area in front of her stone with as many flowers as I can fit. Every year that I visit her grave, my heart bursts at the seams even more, because I am one more year into Motherhood and I can fully feel and understand the undying love, sacrifices and patience that much more.
I have every intention of involving the kids in this yearly tradition and explaining to them why we do it. I will tell them stories about their grandma and their great grandmothers, and show them it is important to take a few hours to stop and remember our loved ones who have gone before us, even if it seems the rest of the world is off doing fun things while we do it.
We'll do those fun things, too, but this is important.
Friday, May 24, 2013
We Might be Crazy
Memorial Day weekend is here- the unofficial start of summer!
I always get excited thinking about the beginning of one of my favorite seasons- the BBQs, the trips to the beach, the wearing of flip flops and swimsuits constantly, the ice cream, the lobsters, cold summer ale, the seemingly endless nights of fun and laughter.
For this year's unofficial start of summer, we're doing two things we generally never do:
1. Getting on the Mass Pike and heading toward the Cape. This is what crazy people do on a holiday weekend. Apparently we are the crazies now.
2. Going on a 2 night camping trip... tent camping, that is. Not the cozy VT cabins. They have spoiled me. I have only gone tent camping a handful of times, and definitely never as a family of four.
After looking at both 1 and 2, I conclude that we are, indeed, crazy. But, if I stopped myself from doing things because I thought it might get a little crazy with the kiddos, I would never leave my house. Thus, I will step outside of my comfort zone again and give this a go.
Our good friends, who have two kids about the same ages as Rosie & Buddy, invited us and a few other couples and families. Each couple/family will be in charge of a meal to make things a little easier. I hear there will be s'mores, and that there is a beach only two miles away. Excellent. As long as we don't forget the summer ale I mentioned before, I'll be ready to take on anything.
Now that I'm 30, I'm going to join the old timers in saying: "It'll be Labor Day before you know it!" You know it's true, though. So let's make the most of this first weekend, and every weekend after this, no matter how crazy they might be.
I always get excited thinking about the beginning of one of my favorite seasons- the BBQs, the trips to the beach, the wearing of flip flops and swimsuits constantly, the ice cream, the lobsters, cold summer ale, the seemingly endless nights of fun and laughter.
For this year's unofficial start of summer, we're doing two things we generally never do:
1. Getting on the Mass Pike and heading toward the Cape. This is what crazy people do on a holiday weekend. Apparently we are the crazies now.
2. Going on a 2 night camping trip... tent camping, that is. Not the cozy VT cabins. They have spoiled me. I have only gone tent camping a handful of times, and definitely never as a family of four.
After looking at both 1 and 2, I conclude that we are, indeed, crazy. But, if I stopped myself from doing things because I thought it might get a little crazy with the kiddos, I would never leave my house. Thus, I will step outside of my comfort zone again and give this a go.
Our good friends, who have two kids about the same ages as Rosie & Buddy, invited us and a few other couples and families. Each couple/family will be in charge of a meal to make things a little easier. I hear there will be s'mores, and that there is a beach only two miles away. Excellent. As long as we don't forget the summer ale I mentioned before, I'll be ready to take on anything.
Now that I'm 30, I'm going to join the old timers in saying: "It'll be Labor Day before you know it!" You know it's true, though. So let's make the most of this first weekend, and every weekend after this, no matter how crazy they might be.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
This Remains Constant
Chapstick and hair ties used to scatter the top of my nightstand five, ten, even fifteen years ago but now it often has board books, Little People and Rosie's bows piled high. One thing that hasn't changed in all of these years? A book tucked under the first drawer.
If I have a good book that I'm in the middle of, I have something to look forward to every day. I know that for a half hour to an hour before I go to bed, I can disappear into a world entirely different from my own. I always have a book- literally the only times I haven't were right after my babies were born and I was in survival mode. As soon as I felt rested enough to pick up a book again at the end of my day, I knew that we as a family had gotten to a better, easier place in the newborn phase.
Growing up, I read anything I could get my hands on, including old copies of the Reader's Digest that my grandmother had lying around. I'm certain I read the night before high school graduation, the night before my first day at my first job, the night before I had my first ultrasound, the night before I gave birth. What ties all of these together is that I submerged myself into a book and any worries I had about the upcoming day vanished.
I try to convey my love of reading to my kids by reading to them often and having them see me read. I figure if they read voraciously, the world is forever theirs and they will always be learning.
If I have a good book that I'm in the middle of, I have something to look forward to every day. I know that for a half hour to an hour before I go to bed, I can disappear into a world entirely different from my own. I always have a book- literally the only times I haven't were right after my babies were born and I was in survival mode. As soon as I felt rested enough to pick up a book again at the end of my day, I knew that we as a family had gotten to a better, easier place in the newborn phase.
Growing up, I read anything I could get my hands on, including old copies of the Reader's Digest that my grandmother had lying around. I'm certain I read the night before high school graduation, the night before my first day at my first job, the night before I had my first ultrasound, the night before I gave birth. What ties all of these together is that I submerged myself into a book and any worries I had about the upcoming day vanished.
I try to convey my love of reading to my kids by reading to them often and having them see me read. I figure if they read voraciously, the world is forever theirs and they will always be learning.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Clothesline Musings
I'll be spending a lot of time alongside my clothesline from now until October.
We don't have a dryer. My two methods for drying all clothes, towels, sheets and blankets for a family of four is on wooden dryer racks placed near the wood stove or hanging them out to dry in the sun.
I've been known to grumble about this. It's all good, actually, until Scout decides to randomly pee on our bed. Let me tell you how long it takes to wash and dry a comforter, blanket, sheets and mattress cover when you use the aforementioned methods. It takes a while. It's also all good until one of the kids get sick and I'm trying to wash everything in sight.
I digress.
The clothesline does have its benefits. I throw a load of laundry in the washer as soon as I get up, and hang it up, often barefoot, in the morning dew before the kids gets up. I love watching the sheets billow in the wind, making sails. I especially enjoy making the bed with these freshly line-dried sheets, slipping between the coolness of them and inhaling the sweet smell of the outdoors as I drift off to sleep.
Anything and everything flows through my mind as I hang the day's wash: What's on the agenda for school committee tonight? Where are the kids and I going to go explore today? Did I defrost chicken for dinner?
I'd like to think that if I did have a dryer, I'd still hang the laundry out as much as possible. I would miss the time to think, the time that can only come from a chore you could do with your eyes closed. Even though laundry is an endless, often thankless task, there is the satisfaction of seeing a neat row of clothes on the line, waving its beautiful colors.
We don't have a dryer. My two methods for drying all clothes, towels, sheets and blankets for a family of four is on wooden dryer racks placed near the wood stove or hanging them out to dry in the sun.
I've been known to grumble about this. It's all good, actually, until Scout decides to randomly pee on our bed. Let me tell you how long it takes to wash and dry a comforter, blanket, sheets and mattress cover when you use the aforementioned methods. It takes a while. It's also all good until one of the kids get sick and I'm trying to wash everything in sight.
I digress.
The clothesline does have its benefits. I throw a load of laundry in the washer as soon as I get up, and hang it up, often barefoot, in the morning dew before the kids gets up. I love watching the sheets billow in the wind, making sails. I especially enjoy making the bed with these freshly line-dried sheets, slipping between the coolness of them and inhaling the sweet smell of the outdoors as I drift off to sleep.
Anything and everything flows through my mind as I hang the day's wash: What's on the agenda for school committee tonight? Where are the kids and I going to go explore today? Did I defrost chicken for dinner?
I'd like to think that if I did have a dryer, I'd still hang the laundry out as much as possible. I would miss the time to think, the time that can only come from a chore you could do with your eyes closed. Even though laundry is an endless, often thankless task, there is the satisfaction of seeing a neat row of clothes on the line, waving its beautiful colors.
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