Slacker

I am such a slacker, well when it comes to blogging lately.

In all other sense of the word, I am completely opposite of a slacker. I have been so swamped with school, the kids, observation hours for school, I just taught a coupon class, and on top of all that, my hubby lost his job a couple weeks ago. So he has recently started working away from home and has been gone for a week already. Hopefully he will only be gone another week.

So my juggling of duties has increased ten fold. I'm not really even sure what "ten fold" means, but I'm pretty sure it fits in the context of what I'm talking about :) But even with the setback of a layoff in our house, it has been a pretty productive fall. I have done TONS of canning this season! Pictures to come soon! I will try to be more updated!

Diet update!

Hello all, it's been a while and I have been super busy with school and "other" stuff. But I wanted to let you all know that I hit my goal of losing 30lbs by August! I was so excited when I stepped on the scale August 3rd and saw that glorious number! (Not that I'm ready to tell you what that number was). Yes I said WAS. Since I hit my 30 pound weight loss target, I have lost another 5 pounds! I am completely thrilled and want to lose another 20 by December. Ouch those Holidays are gonna be rough. Wish me luck. And I will try to be more on top of updating!

Why having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party

Saw this on a friend's blog and had to re-post. It's so true (Even if I don't have a girl, boys work for #9 too!)

Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party

10. There are half-full, brightly-colored plastic cups on the floor in every room. Three are in the bathtub.
9. There’s always that one girl, bawling her eyes out in a corner.
8. It’s best not to assume that the person closest to you has any control over their digestive function.
7. You sneak off to the bathroom knowing that as soon as you sit down, someone’s going to start banging on the door.
6. Probably 80% of the stains on the furniture contain DNA.
5. You’ve got someone in your face at 3 a.m. looking for a drink.
4. There’s definitely going to be a fight.
3. You’re not sure whether anything you’re doing is right, you just hope it won’t get you arrested.
2. There are crumpled-up underpants everywhere.
1. You wake up wondering exactly how and when the person in bed with you got there.

Bandwagon blues...

Oh I have a bit of the bandwagon blues this week. After a great streak with my new diet/exercise plan of losing about 2-3 plans per week, we took a weekend trip to Sun Valley to watch Ben run in the Sawtooth Relay and I kind of fell off the diet bandwagon :(

Now it wasn't completely horrible, I gained 4 pounds over the weekend. Which I contribute mostly to eating out A LOT! And probably some empty calories due to some "adult" beverages :)

So this week is some serious work getting it off, which I have to say I am pretty confident I can do it! Everything else in the diet is going well, still no soda, lots of water, not as much time at the gym as I would like (but I try to make up for it at home). I have even found some really great recipes that give me the ratio of more protein than carbs in my meals! I am still really excited about the changes that have been happening!

I am feeling better, not nearly as tired as I use to be! I think the no soda is a huge part of that. The fact that it's summer and I can be out and about with my boys makes a big difference too, summer camping and being outdoors here we come!

So I am hopping back on the bandwagon and working my booty off (literally hopefully!) Wish me luck!

Deals and Steals!

So first things first...
The diet is going well. Still a challenge to hit 1200 calories every day but I am managing. I was able to lose 3 pounds last week! Wahoo! This puts me right on schedule to lose 30 lbs by August! As long as I keep up with losing 2-3 lbs a week, I will hit my goal and be healthier too!

Now onto the Deals!

I am sure most of you have seen TLC's "Extreme Couponing". If you haven't then you should! It's totally addicting and I get a rush off of just watching them save hundred's of dollars every shopping trip! Not that I am even going to be close to that level, the people featured on that show seem to be like professional hoarders to me. Clearing the shelves every time and buying upwards of 40 of the same item at a time. Why would you ever need 200 deodorant sticks?

Anyway, for my first trip I was pretty excited! Here's how it went...
First stop Walgreens.
I was able to buy 2 Suave naturals body lotion
2 Vaseline men's extra strength body lotion

Walgreen's had a sale for these 4 for $12.00, with a $4.00 register rewards. I also combined 2 $1/1 Suave body lotion manufacture coupons and 2 $1/1 Vaseline products to make the total to $8 with $4.00 register rewards! I was pretty psyched about this, but what came next was even better!

Second stop: Fred Meyer

I bought: 5 Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce
2 Suave Shampoos
2 Suave Conditioners

For the BBQ sauce I combined 3 coupons. One Fred Meyer coupon for 5 BBQ sauces for $5. Then I had a $1/3 manufacture coupon. Then I used my register rewards that I had just earned at Walgreens and put it towards my purchase at Fred Meyer.

Making all the BBQ sauces completely FREE!

For the Suave products, I had a Fred Meyer coupon for them each at .79 cents, then I had 2 manufacture coupons for .50/2 suave shampoo or conditioner products.

Total including tax (coupons don't deduct tax) for Fred Meyer was $2.65!
Check it out!

1200 Calories? No biggie?

Starting this new diet/exercise regiment is harder than I thought it would be, but not for the reason that I thought would be difficult!

Does that even make sense?

I am able to calculate all of my carbs/fiber/sugar/calories easily with the help of my handy dandy "Complete Food Counter" I got from Barnes & Noble. And I'm able to jot it all down in my food/exercise journal along with my exercise stuff and how many calories I burn and all that jazz.

That's not the hard part.

I am supposed to be at at least 1200 calories each day. No less than 1200 calories. I never thought that it would be hard to reach that, but geez!

The past two days (since that's the time I've spent on this diet) I haven't hit 1200 calories. I got close yesterday. Here's what I had...

Breakfast:
2 scrambled eggs (199 cal., 2 carbs, 0 fiber) = 0.4 tsp sugar
1/2 C. strawberries (23 cal., 5.5 carbs, 1.5 fiber) = 0.8 tsp sugar
Bottled water

Lunch at Olive Garden (I was a little worried about this, but thanks to their online site, they give all nutrition facts and serving sizes for every meal!)
Soup: Zuppa Toscana (170 cal., 24 carbs, 2 fiber) = 4.4 tsp sugar
Chicken Spledini (460 cal., 26 carbs, 7 fiber) = 3.8 tsp sugar
4 glasses of water (I was really thirsty I guess)

I at lunch so late that I didn't really eat dinner, but I had a light snack around 8 pm, plus a couple snacks throughout the day which add up to:

3 cheese sticks (240 cal., 3 carb, 0 fiber) = 0.6 tsp. sugar
40 pretzel sticks (90 cal., 20 carb, 1 fiber) = 3.8 tsp sugar

So putting it all together for the day:
Calories: 1182
Carb: 80.5
Fiber: 11.5
Tsp Sugar: 13.8

So remember how I am figuring out my sugar intake?

Carbs - Fiber= answer divided by 5

That will give me the number of tsp of sugar I am taking in.
And I need to have between 10-14 per day.

I know I was close on the calories yesterday, but man is it hard! Plus I went to the gym for the first time in...well...a long time, let's just say that, a long time! And I burned more calories there.

Needless to say, I am feeling great but frustrated about hitting 1200 calories. I have tons of energy and am really excited about the changes to come. I'm sure after I get the hang of things it will be easier to figure out things and I wont have to harp over every meal of the day, but until then, I am carrying my little book and journal with me everywhere I go.

Big Changes!

If you have seen me lately, you probably would have noticed something, or a few things. Like the extra pound(s) I have put on. :(

I realized a few months ago that I need to start taking better care of myself. I have been putting school, the kids, housework, and my hubby first. While I love all of these things (well minus the school and housework) I really need to put myself first.

I'm not one of those people that can immediately make life/diet/routine changes drastically. I sort of have to ease my way into it to get the full affects.

So in February, I quit drinking soda! I was drinking about 4 cans of Dr. Pepper almost daily! I know some people get a beer gut, mine has turned into a DP gut. Quitting was hard for about the first 2 weeks, but since then it hasn't been bad.


Water has become one of my best friends! I have replaced my DP with water, which I end up drinking between 4-5 bottles/day! I even bought a soda the other day (not DP because I didn't want to get back on the wagon) a Cherry Coke, which is a close second to DP. I drank maybe a quarter of it and almost immediately felt the effects.

BLOATING
BATHROOM BREAKS EVERY 10 MINUTES
STOMACH ACHES

I realized after this little experiment that I was in the right for quitting soda. I feel so much better without it!

Once I mastered my Soda addiction, it was time to make some smart food changes. I have started slowly incorporating whole wheat into my diet (and my family's) along with switching from white to brown rice. I never thought that I would like brown, only growing up on white. But surprisingly, I like it better, and it's healthier for me. So that also makes me like it a little more.

I found this amazing website/blog that I am in LOVE with!

SkinnyTaste.com

This website is full of low fat recipes that are easy to make with step by step instructions. Every recipe comes with a breakdown of carbs, fat, sugar, calories, serving sizes, and more! I have already started to incorporate many of the dishes into our family dinners, and they are a hit!

Since quitting soda and changing up my eating habits (mostly with dinner) I have lost 15 pounds since February.

I'm really excited about the changes that have been happening so far, but I have a lot of work that I need to do, I would like to lose around 50 pounds more! 50! I know it sounds like a lot, but it is definitely needed!

My Aunt has been a huge inspirations to me. In the last year and couple months she has made a huge lifestyle change and has lost nearly 100 pounds! She looks incredible and says that she feels so much healthier!

My next change I am going to work on is my daily sugar intake, and getting to the gym. I have a gym membership, I just need to use it. I think I am going to try to start out going about 3 days a week at first and work my way up to 6. It's not the working out that is hard, it's just getting my butt over there!

With the sugar, my Aunt taught me a way for figure out how much sugar I am taking in. Find out how many carbs there are. Then find out the fiber. Then use this equation:

CARBS - FIBER= ?
THEN TAKE THAT ANSWER AND DIVIDE BY 5.
THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE NUMBER OF TSP OF SUGAR

If I remember correctly it is Tsp and not TBSP. And the limit of sugar to have in a day is 12 tsp. That sounds like a lot, but really it's not, and it's going to be a tough challenge but I am up for it!

I will be posting results probably once a month with my progress, challenges, and successes. Hopefully there will be more of the latter!

Here we go!