Tasty Tuesday...

I have to say one of my very favorite sites to get healthy recipes is from this lovely lady here.  On Wednesday I tried one of her recipes called Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken.  It was so good!  Here is her description of it...

"Slow cooked shredded chicken with corn, tomatoes and black beans. Prep this the night before and turn your crock pot on in the morning for an easy weeknight meal."

 

Here is the photo from her website... Doesn't it look amazing?!?
 

All of her recipes include what a serving size is along with calorie counts and also the Weight Watcher's old and new points.  Check her out I'm sure you love her site!

Motivation Monday

Time Management...

If there is one thing that I will openly admit that I really suck at, it's time management!  If you will take a look at the definition of the word 'procrastinate' in the dictionary...

"Procrastinate:
transitive verb: to put off intentionally and habitually.
intransitive verb: to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done."

...And then you'll find a picture of me.  Okay, so maybe my picture isn't in the dictionary next to the word, but it should be!  And I also think this is why I continue to go up, and down, and up, and down with my weight!  I like to wait until the last possible second to get something done, and then I'm running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to do it!  So what does this have to do with my weight loss you might ask... Well let me explain!

When losing weight, or trying to lose weight, the formula is easy...

Calories In < Calories Out

Don't you just love my math skills!  So in order to lose weight, not only do you need to be working out, but you need to be eating right as well.  This means that grabbing a pop tart for breakfast on the way out the door to work is probably not the best option!  It also means that eating vending machine lunches because you didn't have time to pack one are out as well.  That leaves no other option than to plan and prepare for the day.

This is where I struggle, and I'll be a lot of you struggle as well!  As I mentioned I'm a procrastinator to the 'T'!  I mean why do today what you could put off until tomorrow... Right?!?  Yeah? No!  Even though it's only been the first week I've made sure to plan and prepare.  When I make the kids lunches for school I make sure to make mine as well.  I've also printed a calendar so I can plan out our dinners too.  It usually works like this for the first few months and then.... well you know... and that is why I gained all my weight back!  It wasn't the lack of working out because really I still did that (kind of), it was the diet (or maybe I should say the eating!) 

So another goal for me this year is to continue the meal planning and preparation!  We'll see how it goes!

Three Things Thursday...

1. On Monday morning when Trainer Jeremy and I got into the car to go to the gym he said to me, and I quote, "Remember now, when we step into the gym we're no longer friends!"  Gee Dear... I love you too!  He was, however, correct!  Ever since Monday every time we step into the gym I hate him... and I make sure to tell him that too!  I don't actually really hate him... but I sure don't like him sometimes!  I'm glad he's back to pushing me to push myself harder, and I'm sure come summer time when I'm rockin' my bikini I'll love him even more for it!  Just don't tell him I said that!

2. Speaking of bikini's... Last night when I got home from work I made Jeremy do some before pictures of me in one of them... Let me tell you friends it was not good!  We also did measurements so I can not only track my weight loss but also the inches lost as well!  Oh and if you're looking for the before pictures I'm not posting them... at least not yet!

3.  I have a new favorite workout song...



P!nk's Try... Love it!  My favorite lyrics from the song are...

 

"But just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die...

You gotta get up and try try try!"

2013 Same Stuff... New Year...

Here I am again a new year and I'm right back in the same position I was in last year (and the year before... and the year before).... Fat and Unhappy! Maybe I should re-name my blog "Confessions of a Relapsing Couch Potato!"  Well, I wouldn't say I've relapsed into the couch potato I once was, but I am nowhere near the physical shape I was in as of my last post on April, 2 2012! I've struggled with whether or not I should even post anything on here or not since it feels as if I keep saying the same things over and over!  In the end I do like being able to go back and read my past posts so I've decided it can't hurt!

So what has been going on since the last time we talked?  Well... a lot!  Trainer Jeremy and I were able to keep rocking it in the gym up until about the end of May when his shift for work changed back to midnights, and I was left to get myself up and to the gym on my own.  That's where it started to go down hill for me. Not having Jeremy there to help keep me going means I simply didn't go!  Poor excuse but it is what it is!  I was, however, able to join my Lady K as her running buddy for her second Girls On The Run 5K!  Here we are getting close to the finish line... 

This has got to be my favorite picture of us!

In May we were also able to get out for our first camping trip of the season!  Camping is my little family's favorite way to vacation!  It's also mine and Jeremy's favorite way to put on pounds by drinking like fish and eating whatever we want!  Here's me with my two K's on a Mother's Day hike at Devils Lake State Park...

June brought more gymless mornings, a few outdoor runs, a Dirty Girl Mud Run with some of my favorite girls...

And more camping, eating, and drinking...

Don't you just love our beach bodies?!?

With July came un-godly temperatures, which lead to no outdoor runs, very rare visits to the gym, and more camping, eating, and drinking...



Our awesome golf cart for the 4th of July golf cart parade.

August was still hot, there were gymless mornings, and football & cheerleading started bringing our camping season to halt... you would think that would have stopped the eating but it didn't...

My Star Quarterback!



My Cheer Captain!

At the end of August Jeremy went back to day shift bringing September early morning gym visits again!  However, the intensity of these workouts were no where near the intensity of our workouts before his shift change!  We weren't watching what we were eating and at the end of September we were able to get the camper out with some friends who just purchased a camper of their own... So you know what that means!  Camping (especially with friends) leads to eating & drinking!  It was a blast though! 

October we were winding down the football & Cheerleading season, and Little Man's team won the Super Bowl!  We were so proud of the boys on the team we celebrated by doing... what else... eating & drinking...



The Super Bowl Champs!

My Two Favorite Super Bowl Winners!



And finally we come to November & December... Do I really need to explain what happens during these months?!? 

Lady K & I finishing up the lights on the tree.
For some reason Jeremy didn't think we were doing a good job! 
Can you tell where he stopped and we started?

All in all I really only missed about a total of 2 months in the gym this past year but the damage is done!  I think the biggest problem is that I've let my eating get out of control.  I'm angry with myself because I'm stuck here again but once again I'm commited to getting the weight off and I have no doubt I will be able to do it!  To KEEP it off... that's going to be my goal for the year!  Here we go...



Well...

I had this great elaborate post about all the happenings since I've last blogged and for whatever reason stupid Blogger isn't letting me upload any pictures and the post just won't be the same without pictures... Boo Blogger!  So until I can get the Blogger picture uploader to work you'll just have to wait for that post... But just know this...

"I'm Baaaacck!"

Monday Fun Day... Not!

I hate Monday's... Like with a passion!  I think my workouts hate Monday's as well!  It was extremely hard for me to get going this morning and I don't think I really ever did!  Here is what today's work out looked like...

• Elliptical - 30 minutes at level 10 resistance... For a total of 4 miles. *Usually I can get 5 miles in the 30 minutes I'm on there but like I said I was lagging this morning.*
• Weights-  This switches from day to day hitting different muscle groups.  Today we did a series of ab work and what Trainer Jeremy likes to call "Iron Mike's" (there's a meaning behind that name but I'll spare you the back story!) For the ab workout we used the bench ...

 Seat yourself on the edge of the bench and bring your legs up so that you're balanced on the bench.

Like this guy...

Now kick your legs in and out (count to 15)... feel the burn... oh yeah!  But we're not done!  Next, keeping our legs out we would raise them high, middle, and the very worst, low (don't touch the ground), then back to the middle.  Now open, close, open, close, one leg up and one leg down (like scissors), switch, switch again, switch again, and kick outs... 5 more. 

That's one set... we did 3 sets of these.

In between the ab sets we did what Trainer Jeremy calls "Iron Mike's."  Basically they're lunges with weights... and they really suck!  Today I used 10lb weights and Trainer Jeremy used 20's and we did 10 "Iron Mike's," took a quick rest (like grab a sip of water and get your butt back here) and hit the abs again.  We did 3 sets of these also.

•  Cardio Hell- I call it this because, really, there is no other way to describe this next portion of our workout!  Since one of the jump ropes went missing we've been using the medicine balls and doing my very favorite *said in a very sarcastic voice* Jump Squats... Yea!  For these I use the 10lb ball and Trainer Jeremy uses the 12lb one.  Here's how they go... Start down low with the ball at your chest like this chick here...

 Next... do as the name says and JUMP lifting the ball up over your head

kind of like she is here... just don't throw the ball, keep holding it!

Today we started with 8... then did 9 in the next set... and for the last set we did 10.  We have been known to get up to 20 of these bad boys at a time but like I said...

It's Monday and neither of us was really feeling it! 

In between our jump squat sets we did more sit-ups (20 holding the medicine balls) and went right into a push up set.  5 push ups, then hold at the top lifting one hand up to the ceiling and keeping one hand on the ground... then switch so the hand on the ground is up and the one that was up is on the ground.  Back to push up position and get ready for mountain climbers... counted off like this... 1, 2, 3..1.  1, 2, 3...2 all the way up to 10.  Back to push up position and 3 more push ups....

We did 2 sets of these between each set of jump squats.

•  Treadmill - This brings us to the end of the work out... Treadmill time.  Today I did just 10 minutes and an easy-for-me pace of 6.0 (or a 10 minute mile) finishing up today's mileage at 5 total.  Most days I get about 15 minutes on here and will change up the work out so that I don't get board... adding sprints, or bringing up the pace a little, or going at a really slow pace and bumping the incline up to a 15... If you think running is hard, try this... It's killer!

So there you have it... My Monday in the gym... We spend about an hour there... maybe more, depending on how many times the snooze button is hit!  I hope this helps give you all a glimpse into what my mornings are like and maybe helps give some ideas for you to change up your routine.  There are other things we do in there as well... Like the step ups onto the bench mentioned above with a 25lb weight plate held over my head... yeah, that's one of my favorites too!  I'll try and keep updating everyone on what my workouts are looking like... and maybe even be brave enough to bring my camera to get pictures of me actually doing the exercises (if I can get Trainer Jeremy to take the pictures, he's usually all business when it comes to gym time)!

On the weight loss front I'm still doing really well!  This morning I very cautiously stepped on the scale and was shocked to see that I was down another 3 lbs.  I'm not going to change my weight thing until I've held there for a few days... my body is crazy and will be down one day and up the next and after the week I've had with the kids on spring break I'm really having a hard time believing that I actually lost weight!  I was expecting a weight gain!  So keep tuning in to see if my little ticker over there actually goes down!