Operation: Hot Mom

I don't think I've mentioned this over the past week, but on Monday, I started the South Beach diet. I didn't have enough time to make ONLY working out work for me. I was getting into Curves three times a week and still eating whatever the heck I wanted. Not very effective! I'm able to work out more now that I switched gyms and it helps that I'm getting more cardio, but the diet has been amazing.

I've never been a diet person. I don't think I've ever been successful with one, besides that one time out of like 50 that I did Weight Watchers. But this one? This has been great so far.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with South Beach, but just in case you're not, basically you are cutting out carbs and sugar. It's broken down into different phases (phase 1 being the more strict of the two where you can have NO carbs or sugar. Phase 2 is where you start gradually adding GOOD carbs back in).
I was terrified to start this! I live for bread, pastas, potatoes... all that good stuff! But I knew I had to do something, so I just made up my mind. I was doing it. I literally had to mentally prep myself. Tell myself over and over that food is for nourishment, not fun.
The first day was super easy. The second day was the worst. I was starving and grouchy. Every day since has been great.

If you put a bowl of mashed potatoes in my face right now, I could easily turn it down. I'm never, ever starving. I feel healthier. Annddd....
I've lost somewhere between 5-7 pounds. In a week. (scale fluctuates.)

I'm being realistic about this. I know that it's impossible to say that I will never have a potato or a slice of pizza again. Ha! My goal is to make this a lifestyle change. Once I get to my goal weight, I plan to keep this up for the most part, but if I really want a good bad carb, I'll eat it and not beat myself up over it. It just won't be an every day thing. If I slip up, I'll jump right back on.
Of course, I want to feel good about myself and how I look, but mainly, I want to be healthy for my family. I want to run around with my son. I want to go on hikes with my husband and not have to quit halfway through. I want to live a long, healthy life and not worry about any preventable, weight related diseases.

Soooo.. wish me luck on this journey! I plan to do regular posts about this. I'll update with my progress and list some ideas for different foods to eat and ways to eat them.. ahem.. in the first two weeks eating eggs everyday gets old. You have to get creative! Stay tuned...

A New Journey

I'm completely fed up with this baby weight. But I can't complain too much if I'm not doing anything about it.

Something clicked in me about two weeks ago. I'd had enough. I drove my chubster self to Curves and signed up on the spot. Not for the year commitment though.. I know myself better than that! *SN: I'm already coming into conflict with this. Trey is part of a new BN now and they are much more strict with his hours. He actually has to be present during formations now (gasp) which means they only time I had to go to the gym (6:30 am when they open) won't work anymore. I can't go after he gets off work or else we won't eat until 8pm and we all know that isn't good. Time to reassess I guess! Anywho.. where was I... After two and some odd weeks of working out and not really changing my eating habits (re: eating whatever the hell I want), I've finally come to terms with the fact that I needed to change said eating habits.

I've started South Beach. I was going to do one of those detox things for 17 days. .you know.. because everyone is doing it. But I had no clue as to what I was supposed to do after those 17 days. I mean.. once those days are over there are no guidelines. I need guidelines or I'll consume 5 pounds of potatoes in a day and top it off with a gallon of ice cream.

When we picked Andrew up from our friends house Sunday morning, I noticed her South Beach book on the table, started asking questions, read a few pages in the book, and made up my mind.

I went to the grocery store and had a mini panic attack as I saw the cashier load up all of those veggies. No bread. No crackers. No noodles or potatoes. I just knew I was going to starve!!

But day one is gone and over with and I have to say... I did pretty well. I never really went hungry.

I'm pretty excited about this.. especially since Trey is doing it with me. I plan to be very strict with the first two phases. After that.. I know I'll have some of those delicious carbs.. just once and a while. Not every night.

Sadly, you know what the hardest part of this all is? No No.. silly.. not the part about going without wine for 2 weeks.. too easy. It's trying to get all of my water in!

Wish me luck.. I'm very motivated today, but it's just day one.

7 Weeks

Our little alien in 7 weeks today! I feel like everyday that goes by is a huge accomplishment, but I really love these weekly updates. I get so excited to read what's going on in there! So what's happening in my belly this week?

• You are growing so fast! You are 10,000 times bigger today then you were at conception. You're now about the size of a blueberry :)
• New brain cells are being generated at the rate of 100 cells per minute.
• You're mouth and tongue will be forming this week.
• So will your arm and leg buds, that look like paddle-like appendages and they will start dividing into hand, arm, shoulder, leg, knee and foot segments.
• You're kidneys are now in place and are beginning to start working. As What To Expect When You're Expecting pointed out, at least I'm not having to change the diapers yet!

Busy week! Honestly, I have not been to the gym even ONCE. I go to bed so determined that I'll go in the morning and it didn't happen at all last week. It's extremely important to me to continue exercising during my pregnancy, but I'm just SOOOOOO exhausted. I feel like a walking zombie almost constantly. I know my body is busy and I have reason to be tired, but a lot of girls exercise the whole time, so I know I can do it!! I'm going to set short goals and I plan to go 3 times this week. IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. I don't care if I fall asleep on the treadmill :)

As a couple side notes: 1) Can I get an Amen for that Alabama win on Thursday?? 2) The Patriots are playing in the playoffs right now against The Ravens. It hasn't been looking so good so far (we're almost in the 4th quarter), but I did pray for a win in church this morning. God, were you listening? 3) I don't know what is going on, but I'm getting daily Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese (sorry.. don't know how to tell the difference) comments on just one of my older blogs. I find this so strange. Clearly, I have no clue what in the world they are saying. Has this happened to anyone else?

I quit!

No more 5K training for me. I'm sitting here laughing at myself thinking about all these "great" ideas I come up with in my head and never follow through with. I always have the best of intentions, but what can I say, I'm a dreamer I guess.

I get so inspired by all of you runners out there. I admire all the dedication you put in to training for marathons. I celebrate each and every met goal with you. My heart bursts with happiness for you when you finally reach your target goal. I get completely sucked in to the whole process and think to myself how great I would feel if I did something like that. So I try. I get all amped up. I print out a training program. Set my little running clothes out. I go to the gym extremely motivated on Day 1. And that's about as far as it goes.

I've tried to enjoy running, but I JUST PLAIN HATE IT. So, I then find myself making up any reason what-so-ever to avoid the gym for the rest of the week. Not good. I let myself off the hook this weekend and realized I don't have to be a runner. It's better for my health and the 5lbs I've gained since moving out here if I just focus on doing the things I love to do. I miss looking forward to going to the gym. Hello elliptical! Get me on that thing and I'm good to go for miles.

So keep up all that running ladies! I'm living vicariously through you, so keep up the hard work!

My first day

3 hours and 45 minutes just about did me in. I'm exhausted. My head is killing me. My feet and back hurt. And I was starving. But don't let all that bitchen fool you. I really enjoy it. Basically all I did today was learn things like what size families get how much food, what to put in certain bags, make sure you are giving the cart of food to the right person because that family of 1will sure enough will take a family of 5's cart if you let them (I made a 1 family women very happy today.. grrr). So yeah.. day number one I found out that people are extremely greedy and aren't always appreciative of what they get... even when they have nothing. They will seriously tell you that they don't like brown rice can they please have mac and cheese instead.. seriously?? I also learned that I better eat a good lunch before I go. Staring at food all day does a number on my appetite! Can't wait to see what Day 2 holds for me...

We had a pretty low key weekend. Friday night's dinner was Steak, potato casserole* and a salad. And possibly peach cobbler for dessert :) We watched a movie and for the life of me I can't remember now what it was called or even what it was about! It wasn't that bad either... that's pretty sad!
Saturday we got up early and went on a horrendously long, puke inducing delightful jog to work off all those calories from the night before. Went to a friends house early afternoon. Celebrated Jimmy's 1-year birthday. Wish I had some pictures.. he's the cutest thing ever... but I failed to bring my camera once again... and watched the Alabama football game. I was reminded once again of why I DO NOT start drinking at noon when I was asleep by 8:30. Nice.
Sunday involved a pointless trip to Wichita Falls where we got NOTHING accomplished.
Now it's back to the grind for Trey. It's his last week of real training for BOLC II. We don't have much - or any - contact with each other this week, but I'm thankful it's a short one. He has Friday off to celebrate Veteran's Day :) Yay for 3-days!!!

* Potato Caserole
1-2lb bag of hashbrowns
6oz sour cream
1 can of cream of celery soup (I think I'll try cream of chicken next time)
5oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated (hell yes this wifey freshly grated that cheese!)
1/2 cup margarine, melted
Topping:
2 cups crushed ritz crackers
1/2 cup margarine, melted

combine all casserole ingrediants and spoon into lightly greased casserole dish.
combine cracker crumbs and melted margarine and sprinkle over the top
Bake at 350 till bubble, about 40 minutes

Busy Busy Busy

Whewwwwww...

We've been home since Thursday night, but it's been non-stop, go go go! In fact, we have to go go go again in about 20 minutes so this is just a quick little update to let you guys know I'm still alive and we're doing really well.

1. graduation went really well. Except for the fact that during the whole ceremony people were creeping politely on their knees to take pictures of their graduate except for when it was time for Trey to go up. Then they decided to not so politely stand in my way so I got a crap picture. More pictures to come later.
2. It took about a day and 1/2 to get readjusted to living with each other again. It was hard for him coming into a mostly packed house. Even harder to learn that you can no longer leave your shit laying around at any time. You never know when someone might want to come and take a gander at the house!
3. But it's good now and i'm loving every.single.second we have together.
4. We got family pictures taken with his family yesterday and i'm prettttty sure they will end up coming out amazingly and i'll have a really hard time picking out just a few.
5. My grandmother finally passed away yesterday. Last night around 7:30 actually. We knew it was coming. She's been suffering really badly all week and she was down to 7 breaths a minute yesterday. I had a hard time with it last night, but I really know that she's much much better off. I can just imagine her running around with my grandfather not even losing a breath. Actually I can't imagine them frolicking around together. More like playing poker or rummy with one of her "damn ice coffees" in hand.
6. Trey is about to kill me with these damn Army workouts. Thank God that tomorrow is a day of rest. Literally, I'm thanking Him. My legs can barely hold themselves up and are in a constant state of wobble, my abs hurt so much I can barely breath in and out.
7. Tonight we're going to hang out with a couple of our good friends. I've seen them countless times since Trey's left but I'm excited for him to see everyone again. These are the two guys that Trey's been close with since 9th grade. *and their beautiful wives*
8. Tomorrow we're going to church in the morning. Again, I've gone here and there since he's been again, but I'm AGAIN, so excited for him to see everyone.

That is all for now. Preparing to go back into work on Monday and am dreading it will enjoy every day since it's my last week.
Here's to hoping the rest of the week crawls by at a snails pace!

So Far Today...

I have done absolutely NOTHING. But that sho is about to change.

First of all I slept in!!! I think being out of town for the last three weekends and getting up at 5:30 every morning this week finally caught up to me, although Trey had minimal sympathy for me when I told him this. I went to be at 11 last night after watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall *hilarious* and didn't wake up until 9 only bc Trey called. 10 hours of sleep.. are you kidding me?? I haven't done that in years if feels like.
I caught up on some of yalls blogs before even getting out of bed bc I love you much :) Had a disappointing breakfast (my fruit and yogurt special K didn't have so much fruit and yogurt in it) but my raspberry cheesecake yoplait light was delish. I watched the season finale of SVU from like 2 weeks ago, which kept me on my toes. Loved it.
And now the intense cleaning of our house begins. I mean SERIOUS cleaning. I'm getting ready to open up all the blinds so I'm not too too depressed about spending the day inside, hook up the Ipod, and get to work! I went to Walmart last night after a very successful workout *a full 30 min on the elliptical ~ first time for that ~ which got me 2.3 miles* and got new cleaning supplies. A new scrubber to scrub the tub (my most hated chore) and refills for my swiffer mop. I'm going to clean the living hell out of every room in this house and may even start boxing up some unnecessary crap we have laying around. Because I might want to come to the realization that we're I'm going to have to put the house up for sale in the near future. Just the thought causes so many mini panic attacks in me, so lets not go there.
After all this, you better believe I'll be enjoying some of that Bud Light Lime later tonight that I may have also picked up from Walmart.

Few Random Tidbits

First off and the most reoccurring thing that's been in my head today... I DESPERATELY want a blog makeover. I know there are a couple of you girls out there who can do this type of thing but I'm not quite ready. I really want a new name for my blog first. One that more so identifies with my life right now. But I need help. I don't have a creative bone in my body. Seriously... I have nothing. Please please please throw out any cutesy suggestion you may have. ANYTHING. Even if you've never commented before.. clearly I'm not above begging. You never know what might spark an idea in my head. After I find a new name I'll then start begging for the makeover ;)

Second.. I had a pretty kick ass workout today at the gym! Man, it really helps when you take someone with you! I did a mile and 1/2 on the elliptical. A mile on the treadmill. Leg machines, arm machines, and free weights to work on the ever-so-flabby obliques. I feel GREAT! I've put any running goals I had on the back burner. I wasn't so much enjoying it to be honest. What I LOVE though is the elliptical. We get along great and my short little legs are starting to say "thank you" when I look in the mirror. Your welcome babies.

Third and lastly... I'm watching my favorite show tonight and I'm so excited that it's this time of year for it. Is anyone else in love with So You Think You Can Dance??? (from now on referred to as SYTYCD so I don't have to type that all out) I'm pretty obsessive with this show. I thoroughly enjoy watching people dance and really really wish I had the talent myself. My favorites are the Contemporary and the Hip-Hop styles. The way they can make their bodies move... it blows my mind.. beautiful! I like it all though ~ can't wait until they actually start competing each week.

That's all for now. Happy hump day :)

*after thought: Thank God for spell check*

~Last post of 2008~

I waited until the last minute huh? Almost! We have plans to go hang out with about 10 or 12ish of our closest friends and ring in the new year right. Lots of food and lots of booze! *we'll be safe.. I promise* We'll have a fried turkey, green bean casserole, potatoe salad, bufallo chicken dip (my dish) and I'm sure lots of other random good eats. Here's some few tidbits I have to catch yall up on:

The best deal of the year:
My mum gave me the cutest "nice" winter jacket for Christmas. Unforunately it was a tad too big and when I went back to Penneys they didn't have anymore. So I start looking around, head to the $50 sale rack, and find an amazing black and white houndstoothish jacket. Nice! I march my happy rear end on up to customer service to make my exchange. Get up to the counter and cashier girl does her thing, takes a second look at the register, and asks me how much I think the jacket is. I tell her proudly, $50. She feels the need to go on and check on that. She heads back complaining to cashier girl #2 about co-workers putting sale signs up in not so much sale areas and does her thang on the cash register. I steel a glance at her computer, wondering what all the fuss is about.. heck yes! I just got a $250 jacket and all I had to come out of pocket with was $8!! Holler!

My NOT a New Years Resolution:
I'm going to run a mini-marathon this year!! Mum.. quit laughing!!
I started this week so we could be clear that this is NOT a resolution. I never stick with my NY's resolutions! I'm not by any means and never have been a runner so this whole thing is starting off very very slow. I went to the website "from couch to 5K" for my training guidelines. It's a 9 week program and it tells you to do certain things 3 times a week. I think I'll be aiming for 4 times a week though, just because I also need to lose a few (28) lbs!! This week involves a 5-minute warm up walk, then 60-seconds jogging followed by 90-seconds walking. I do that for a total of 20-minutes. Next week I think those numbers are switched, but I'm not sure. The first day wasn't so so bad. The second day I thought I might die by the end of it! When I got home I could barely put any of my weight on my legs. I'm determined though and I know it will get easier. I'll do my other two on Friday and Saturday. Wish me luck!!

Also, Trey took the pre-test for the ASVAB again this morning. This time the recruiter came to our house, which I thought was very nice! I was still at work by the time he was finished. He calls me and says, "Well, looks like I won't be joining the Army any time soon". WHAT?! I didn't know how to respond. I felt horrible for him. I'm not quit sure what I said, but his response was, "Sike, your husbands a genious!!!" AWWwwwww!! I'm so proud of him and happy for him. He feels great about himself right now. Last time he scored a 40-something. This time he got a 70-something. *sorry for the inaccuracy* The recruiter told him that was more than enough to pass the test :) He takes the real thing next Wednesday. Prey, hold your breath, cross your fingers, wish on a lucky star... Let's do whatever it takes!!

I hope everyone has a safe, happy, and most of all fun New Years Eve!!!