**UPDATED** Just saying Hello

I just wanted to say good morning and let you know I am not on hiatus. In 15 minutes I leave to work out with my sister-in-law at a real live gym. This body has never worked out at a REAL gym (apartment gyms do not count) - it is used to DVDs and walking so pray it can handle this foreign environment. Ha, Ha! I will be back later today.


Update: 10 minutes into the elliptical machine (which sadly I was already dying) I received a page from the kids club, so I went down and the 20 month old had been crying the whole time - we had to leave. Tomorrow I am going to put him with his 3 year old brother to see if that helps. Thanks everyone for asking.

Weigh In 9 & 10

I feel like a broken record - I am still only at 12 pounds. Monday June 2nd I gained 1 pound, but today I lost a pound. I am not complaining because I am not doing much to loose the weight.

In the Texas summer heat, ice cream is a must for me. Skinny Cow's products have helped me not gain all my weight back! :o) In my opionion, they are just as good as the real thing. Now if they could figure out how to make Blizzards I would be set! My two favorites are

Only 1 point! One bar hits the spot.

2 points - worth every bite - yum!

My prayers for finding exercise accountability have been answered. My sister-in-law offered to work out with me - so I am going to take her up on it. I also have two girlfriends who walk together so I am going to start joining them next week.

How is everyone else doing with their weight loss?

Weigh In #8

I weighed in this week and lost one pound (12 pounds total lost). Once you see my next post, you may wonder if I will gain 5 pounds at my next weigh in. I am tired this week - I am not doing as well on my diet as I should be. Wondering where my motivation has gone?

As I said last week, Turbo Jam came out of the package. Due to the boys and Jeremy being sick last week that is all it did. Boy satan knows where to hit me and it makes me angry that I can not win this battle. I need to re-focus - I am thinking some sort of reward system for myself. Like if I exercise each day I get a prize at the end of the week. Any suggestions?
I ate one thing that was low fat on Memorial Day. Have you tried Oscar Mayer 98% ff Hot Dogs (made w/ turkey)? If not I highly recommend them - they are really good.

Maybe I need to find a neighbor to walk with - someone who holds me accountable on a daily basis? Something to pray about...
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Weigh In #7

Yesterday was my weigh in, but I put it off a day to see if the bloating would go down some (enough said). This morning I weighed in and well, I did not gain any weight so I guess that is good (still at 11 pounds total lost). I am hoping to see better results next week.

I finally did it - the wrapper came off the Turbo Jam DVDs this morning! I went through the intro and it looks like a great workout. Please pray for me as I am so UNCOORDINATED! That being said I am not giving up - but since I am a little challenged in this area I am going to have to watch the intro a few times to get the moves down (so sad). I am going to do a full workout tonight. I am hoping to report by Wednesday that my body is aching from all my workouts. Wish me luck. :o)

I mentioned that I ordered the Hungry Girl's book of recipes and strategies for guilt free eating. It is a good book, but I think her newsletter is much more informative (and it is free!). I would recommend this book only if you want some great recipes that are low cal/low fat (with WW points calculated) in addition to what you can find on the Hungry Girl site. I love getting the newsletter (M-F) so I highly recommend that you subscribe - then you will start getting emails with lots of great tips and recipes.

Thanks to everyone who left comments! I hope you all have a great week with your weight loss.

Bible Study Girls

Tuesday was our last meeting with my Bible study group until September. Eight of the twelve of us met at Corner Bakery for an end of the semester social. Kim (1st pic - white shirt) and I co -lead together and we had never met before we began serving together. We were both a little reserved at first, but we have become great friends. I am looking forward to leading with her again next year. As a matter of fact most of our group were new to our church (including myself) and had never met before. These girls have become very special to me and I am so happy that our small group will be together for two more semesters (y'all, I almost wrote 'nother - as in "a whole 'nother year". I have been sitting here thinking "I say that - how country am I"? Oh my goodness). In the Fall we will be studying The Patriarchs by Beth Moore. My first study of Beth's was Jesus the One and Only that I did with Karen and some other friends from our previous church (waves to Lisa C). Of all her studies it is still probably my favorite. I love the in depth study that you get with a Beth study - God always teaches me so much.

For the girls end of the year sussy (Jeremy *hates* that word so I just had to use it) we copied this gift that I received from His Girl (she said it was okay). The Scripture books turned out much better than we could have imagined. I did the cards (Jeremy helped) and Kim added the ribbons and ring. The girls really liked them- thanks so much A. for the idea!

Speaking of Corner Bakery...

I decided the night before to pick what I was going to eat so I could stay in my points for the day - I was shocked what I found. I do not want to rain on anyone's parade if you love Corner Bakery but have you ever looked at their nutritional guide? If you want to keep eating there - then definitely DO NOT LOOK. I did not want to ruin it for the girls, so I bit my tongue and enjoyed my Fresh Berry Parfait. ;o)

PS - For helpful nutritional value for your favorite foods or restaurants check out Calorie Counter.

Weigh In #5 & #6

Before I talk about my weigh ins you must see what is happening while I have been working this morning on the computer.

As you can see my desk is pretty small so I have had to be really creative to use my mouse this morning. But no complaining here - I love these little boogers.

Okay I weighed in on May 5th - lost 2 pounds. May 12th - I lost 1 pound. I was thrilled that I lost anything because I did not do so well with my food last week. It is amazing to me how food is related to emotions. It is not that I went crazy, I just was not good at counting points. I did indulge at one of my favorite places for my Mother's day lunch. Since we had the girls and our boys we decided not to try to take them all out for lunch. We picked something up for them and then Jeremy picked up Zea's to go for us. YUMMY! Here is what I had (click on the links to go to my recipe blog for the recipes). I enjoyed every bite. Mmmm!

Spinach Salad w/ Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette
Roasted Corn Grits
Thai Pork Ribs

If you are counting I have lost 11 pounds. It was very encouraging to weigh this week and it gave me that boost I needed to get focused again. Since I am using this blog for accountability - I have to admit something. I have not exercised with Turbo Jam - not even once! I am very embarrassed to admit it because for how many weeks have I said that I was going to start that workout? I keep telling myself that if I would start the workouts how much further I would be in my weight loss. But at 5:30 AM when the alarm goes off, I would much rather sleep than lose weight. So here I am admitting failure and my goal is to start my workouts on May 19th (my quirk - must start on Monday). Do me a favor and ask me how my workouts are going next week. Thanks. :o)

I would love to hear how those who have joined me are doing with your weight loss. What tricks are you doing to make yourself workout? Where have you been successful and where have you failed? Even if you are not a regular commenter - leave me a message!

Weigh In #4 and the Weekend

I weighed this morning, the good news is that I did not gain anything - the bad news I did not lose any either. That's okay because I ate three meals during the weekend that probably equaled my points for the entire week. My goals this week - start Turbo Jam and do it at least six days this week, drink more water and stick to my points - no more yummy BBQ, Mexican food or Pei Wei. Hee Hee!

If you are not getting the daily newsletter from Hungry Girl, you should really subscribe, it is full of great information! She has written a book that will be available for purchase on Tuesday (29th). I ordered it a couple of weeks ago and I should receive it tomorrow. I will let you know what I think.
Our poor baby is still sick. I had to take him back to the doctor on Friday. The pneumonia is gone, but he now has a double ear infection and they diagnosed him with bronchial spasms. For the next two weeks we are doing breathing treatments three times a day. He is such a trooper and does not complain too much about his treatments.
We went to our friends' Jeff and Lisa's crawfish boil Saturday evening. This was our sixth year at their annual boil and most of the people we know had conflicts but we enjoyed meeting new people and seeing those that we see only at the boil. I love crawfish! They are low-cal, but it was the two chocolate chip cookies that were probably not the best way to go. Maybe it is the lack of sugar I have had these past few weeks, but those were the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had! The best news is they were out of a tub from Sam's. Here is what they look like.As a blogger, I so wanted to take my camera. I really debated it and decided I did not want to be the freak with the camera and finally decided not to take it. But if I would have not cared what people thought of me, you would have seen this. Yum!
Someone on a diet should not be passing on ice cream information, but I thought someone should enjoy it. I saw this at the Serious Eats blog that Ben & Jerry's is giving away free ice cream cones Tuesday (29th). So go have an ice cream for me tomorrow. :o)

Trip Decision

First, thank you all for your thoughts on our trip. I agree with those that chose Seattle, but it was not on Jeremy's list so it would not be fair to ask him to go there. We have decided on San Diego.

Deciding factors...
~Something very enticing about driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible.
~Jeremy wants me to go somewhere I have never been. Yeah- I get to add California to my state count.
~Excited about seeing the Pacific Ocean and real "sandy" beaches. Texas beaches are rocky and full of jelly fish. The one I went to on the Atlantic Ocean was very rocky. I want to have an OC or 90210 beach experience!
~Exploring San Diego and Coronado Island.
~Eating fresh seafood and Mexican food. Meredith says the food is really good. I too, travel through food!
~Maybe the chance to go into LA for the day?
Bonus~ Maybe get to meet His Girl in real life?

So let the planning begin! :o)

Side notes: The realtor's office delivered the brochures and "take ones" yesterday. We are praying for lots of showings this weekend! My weigh in is on Monday. I have to admit I did not get to Turbo Jam this week - way too exhausted with all the house stuff. But I have done great on the diet! We are going to some friend's annual Crawfish Boil on Saturday. Along with the boil they always have an amazing dessert buffet. I am going to have to show great restraint and stay away. Or maybe one small bite won't hurt? ;o)
Have a great weekend!

PS- I just got a call from the showing company. Someone is looking at our house at 11 on Saturday. Who-hoo!!

A to Z Tips

I should be doing stuff around my house, but instead I am on the computer. I wanted to share with you a blog I have been reading for a few weeks Real World Martha.

Debbie is doing a series where she is giving tips from A-Z. Today's tip is the letter M for Meal Planning. The timing was very appropriate because Jeremy and I were just talking about this last night. I was telling him that now that I have found all these blogs and websites with recipes that are low calorie or contain WW points, I really need to start planning our meals a week in advance. I do so much better about cooking if I have food in the house on Sunday before the week starts. How about you, do you plan your meals in advance or do you just decide the day of what you are cooking?

She is also having her first contest, go here to see what she is giving away. I have learned a lot through her tips - check it out when you get a chance.

Weigh In #3

The weigh in went better this morning than last week. I lost 3 pounds (8.5 pounds so far)! Before the end of the day (after all the cleaning and getting ready for the Realtor) I will do my first Turbo Jam workout. They guarantee you to lose 10 pounds and 10 inches in 10 days. I am kinda skeptical but we will see. In the box they sent a tape measure, so I am going to measure and take my before (for the eventual after) pictures as well.

Here are some diet related things I found last week.

Two Novice Chefs, One Tiny Kitchen - Here Tyler and Julia share recipes on their blog. In most of their current recipes they are including the WW points.

Sister Skinny - Two sisters working together to reach their goal weight. On April 18th they reached their goal, so they will not be updating the blog anymore. I am posting this link so that you (and I ) can read their posts over the last year and gain inspiration.

Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger - She is a nutritionist who takes recipes and makes them healthier (her show is on the Food Network). All recipes include nutritional facts. You can also go to her personal website and sign up to receive an email newsletter with recipes and nutritional information. Or you can go a step further and for a monthly cost she will customize a diet plan for you.

If you are on this journey with me I hope you have a great week with getting healthier! Have a great day!

This and That

My oldest convinced me to send him to school today. He said he was feeling much better, but I wonder if he is or if it is because there is a kids party tonight at our church?! The other two are doing a little better too. I slept so good last and have a bit more energy today - not sure if it is the sleep or the caffeine (yummy coffee). Whatever it is I will take it.

We had another Spring storm last night. In our town we had a lot of rain and a little hail. I know the meteorologists have to do their job, but why did they have to preempt Lost and The Office? And The Office was new!! Where my friend Tamora lives they had some serious hail - the ground was covered - they received 4 inches of hail!!! You HAVE to go here to see the pictures - I have never seen anything like it!

One of my blog friends, His Girl is having a birthday today. This is the first post I read on her blog back in November. I was hooked immediately, because I could have written that post myself (the cleaning part anyway). In the past 5 months, I have learned more about my new friend and I realize we have more in common than our aversion to house cleaning. Jeremy jokes that we might have been separated at birth. You should check out her blog, she has such a gift of taking the everyday and bringing spiritual relevance out of the situation. I think she should write a devotional book for women, because God really speaks through her. Happy birthday Amber!! I hope you have a very special day. :o)

Monday is weigh in day! Since I have been sick this week I have not worked out, so I am anxious to see how much weight I have lost. My new work out Turbo Jam is in route to my house via UPS as I type. For those of you on this weight loss journey with me, I will leave you a little Turbo Jam inspiration. I know I will be watching this video over and over to motivate myself for my first workout on Monday!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Catching up and Weigh In #2

Friday I had lunch with Karen at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe. It was so nice to have kid-free time, we sat there without any worries and talked for almost 2 1/2 hours - very relaxing. :o) Friday evening Jeremy came home from his trip to New York - we were all so happy to see him. Once he was home I ran to the new Hobby Lobby (it opened Friday) to buy some paper to make cards. I am so excited to have this store so close to our home (only about 2 minutes away) - my wallet may not be though.

Saturday we went Letterboxing. We were a little unprepared for the terrain and we were really not dressed for the adventure, but we still had a great time. This trail was definitely not made for a stroller but Jeremy was a trooper and maneuvered it the best he could. The boys had a great time exploring the woods (felt a little Blair Witch to me) and hunting for the clues.

Today our 8 year old had a holiday from school. I am not feeling good today so we stayed around the house. Tonight Jeremy took him to GattiTown, that is their special place and I am so happy that they have this place to spend time together. They have traditions that always happen on their GattiTown outings, they are very important to our 8 year old and I think to Jeremy as well.

This morning my friend Leah called me and we had a long conversation - it was so fun chatting. Yesterday they started their month long sabbatical - what an amazing opportunity for them to make memories with their kids. She is going to post pictures and updates on her blog - so go there to read about their trip.

Well today was my weigh in - I only lost one pound (5 1/2 pounds in two weeks). I was incredibly frustrated and baffled because I do not know what else I can do. I met my goal, I exercised five days and stayed within my points. I did not use my weekly bonus points or exercise points. I am hoping to chalk up the lack of weight loss to girl issues (enough said). Hopefully I will make up for it next week.

My goals stay about the same for this week: Work out six days and only use my daily points. I ordered Turbo Jam to do at home - it should be here at the end of the week. It is going to kick my booty but I am hoping it will boost my weight (and inches) loss.

Here are some weight related blogs and websites that I found last week...

The Pink Shoe Cookbook - a blog that contains a lot of recipes that are healthier choices. On the second page you will find several recipes with the WW points.

Devin Alexander's personal web page she lost 55 pounds and has kept it off for 15 years. Her message: "You don't have to deprive yourself to be fit and healthy." She has written several cookbooks reworking popular recipes or fast food items to make them healthier. Devin has a show on The Discovery Health Channel called Health Decadence which airs on Thursdays at 4:00pm and 4:30pm Eastern time.

The Hungry Girl website (not blog) - her tag line is "Tips and Tricks for Hungry Chicks". She tries out all the latest low fat foods and diet products. She recently wrote a cookbook that comes out April 29th.

Just a little inspiration for those on this weight loss journey but also for anyone who just wants to make healthier recipes for their family.

I'm off to bed so I can feel better tomorrow. I did fine on my food today but skipped the workout. I want to get back on track Tuesday!

Spring - Love/Hate Relationship

Thanks everyone for your encouraging comments on my exercise and diet. I am also glad to have a few friends joining me in this journey (Julie, Amy & Tamora). Tuesday's walk went much better than Monday's - leaving earlier was the key. Today I decided to walk at home with Leslie Sansone because I was not sure what the weather was going to do this afternoon. Speaking of weather...

I have said before that Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons. If you asked me to choose just one, I do not think I could because I love them both for so many reasons. But there is one thing that may give Fall an edge over Spring - Tornadoes.

April 10, 1979 - I was a six year old living in a little town (Iowa Park) eleven miles north of Wichita Falls. On that day a F4 tornado that was nearly a mile and a half wide hit Wichita Falls (see video here and here) killing 42 people and causing $400 million in damage. Even though our town was not hit, I have vivid memories of that day and night that have stayed with me - some who know me would say even scarred me for life (okay most would say).

My parents were so good to help me get through tornado season every year. We always had a weather radio (something I should have in my home). Every time we moved my dad would get me a map or a list of all the surrounding counties so I could follow where the storms were. I always knew the best room in the house to go to if I ever had to take cover. I knew so much about tornadoes that you would think I would have become a meteorologist! :o)

As an adult my fears and anxiety have subsided somewhat, I think I learned to finally give them to God. Monday (3/31) was the first time I had to calm someone's fears other than mine. We had bad weather all around us and our city's tornado sirens went off. The dreaded sirens means one thing - take cover. A funny side note - our three year old kept saying that day and for the rest of the week - "Mom are the tomatoes coming" - cracked me up! The oldest two were freaking out! I realized right there that I did not want to pass on my fears to them. We went into my closet and we prayed together. I did not want the closet to be a scary experience, so they had snacks and played with Uncle Bruce's guitar. The funnel clouds did not touch the ground and yet again God protected us. It was such a reversal for me to be the one doing the calming. Growing up feels really good.

Full Steam Ahead - Weigh In #1

Let me start by saying that this blog is not turning into a weight loss blog! I know that is all I have talked about in the last couple of posts, but I am planning to make my Monday posts about diet/exercise/healthy lifestyle since that is when I will be reporting my weigh ins.

I weighed this morning and I lost 4 1/2 pounds (you bet I am counting that half pound!) since last week. I was excited and that helped motivate me to exercise today. My exercise plan for the week is to walk to pick up my 8 year old from school every day.

Today I think I pushed this out of shape body too far for its first day of real exercise in 7 months! I was running a little behind so I walked really fast so I would not be late picking up our oldest from school. Jeremy also told me (after the fact) that I took the longest way possible to his school (I actually thought I was taking a shortcut - oops). I was trucking along feeling good until about half way to the school. I had ten minutes to get to the school before the bell rang and my energy was gone. As I am pushing my 70 plus pound double-stroller up a hill I was praying to both God and Jesus (yes - both of them - as I needed all the help I could get) to get me there because I had no idea how in the heck I was going to make it to the school. I finally got a street away from the school and I was huffing and puffing like I had just climbed Mt. Everest (so sad that I admitted that). I took a couple of deep breaths and sucked it up because there was no way I was going to let these other moms walking to get their kiddos know how out of shape I was!

I made it to the school and I looked at my two younger kids in the stroller and they are beet red, sweating and squinting. I made a mental note to buy sunglasses for them and to put sunscreen and hats on them tomorrow. I am sure everyone must have thought I was bad mom when they saw those pitiful little faces (vanity - anyone see a pattern here). We picked up the 8 year old, I passed out snacks and water and we started our trek back. I decided to take a different way home because I thought it was shorter. I ended up making it longer because I took a wrong turn. You know something is not right if your 8 and 3 year old's are encouraging you that "you can do it mom"! Of course the oldest kept telling me OVER and OVER that he was not tired at all. He could not get the concept that I had already been walking for 25 minutes plus I had now added his backpack to my load. I did not argue with him as it would take too much energy - something that had left me long ago. The audible prayers continued on the way home along with strange looks from the 8 year old (later he told me that he thought I was going to faint so he was keeping an eye on me!). 50 minutes later I was back where I started - HOME! I have never been so happy in my life. (Only half joking)

Now that I know there is a better (shorter) route for me to take tomorrow hopefully it will be a little easier. I will save today's route for when I am in better shape. One day down, four to go! Wish me luck (a few prayer would not hurt either). ;o)

On a side note: I posted a healthy Chicken Caesar Salad and a friend's Chinese Chicken Salad that we had last night at Life Group on my recipe blog. They were both very good!!

Victory over the Diet Detox!

Six days down and the detox headache only lasted three days!! Believe it or not I actually thought about exercising this morning. I didn't do it of course, but I thought about getting up early to go for a walk - hey it's a start! Can I say I love We*ght Wa*chers? I love being able to eat from all the food groups! All I have to do is concentrate on staying within my points each day and all is good. Tonight I actually had Taco B*ll (classy I know), their Fresco Crunchy Tacos are really, really tasty.

Since my mind has been thinking about all things lower in fat this week; I started researching on the web and here are two blogs I thought I would share.

~Roni's Weight Watchen Page - Roni has struggled with her weight on and off her whole life. In 2005 she started a blog to track her weight loss. After losing 70 pounds, the blog now follows her maintenance progress. She has a Daily food journal table generator where you can enter your food for the day and then generate a HTML code for your blog. There is much much more but I have not had time to check it all out yet. I enjoy reading her daily posts through my blog reader - very encouraging.

~GreenLiteBites - This is Roni's food/recipe blog. The recipes would be great even if you are not on a diet, everyone likes low fat versions of all our favorite foods. She does a weekly video post where she either cooks a recipe or does a how to. Karen, this might interest you - go here.

I have found some other great resources and I will share them at a later date. Tomorrow I am making a variation of the WW Caesar Salad for our life group meeting. I will post my version on my recipe blog on Monday (adding grilled chicken and fat free croutons).

So Monday is my official weigh in day and it is also when my exercise regiment begins (ugh!). I have been trying to get myself psyched to start but it is not working. I guess the prayer needs to start. :o)

Trying Again...

Okay - before I write my post I am going to refer you to a similar post that Karla @ Looking Towards Heaven wrote a few weeks ago. I am not even going to attempt to try to make this funny - I will let Karla do it for me - go HERE.

Now to my thoughts...

I have mentioned before that I have been "collecting" weight for the last nine years. It all started while I was pregnant with my oldest. I thought it was a good idea to gain almost 50 pounds during my pregnancy. I was pregnant so I was allowed to eat what I want - right? WRONG!! That is the first thing I tell first time mom's - watch what you eat - it may not be that easy to get off!!

So over the past 8 years, in between pregnancies, I have gone on tons of diets. I loose 15 -20 pounds and then either get pregnant again or start slowly gaining it back. I decided in December that 2008 was the year, so on January 7th I started what was supposed to be my last diet and a new lifestyle. It lasted a total of 5 days! Since that time I have tried for a couple of days to only give up again and again.

Yesterday was a new day in our house. No more excuses - it is time! I started We*ght Wa*chers and have had two successful days. Okay, successful may not be the right word - I have survived the last two days might be a more accurate way to put it. Can anyone tell me why your body has to go through this kind of detox every time you start a diet? It is almost like you need to go to a diet rehab center for the first week so you can be alone with the massive headaches and body shakes - that way you are not responsible for the hunger mood swings that make you yell at your children (sorry, but it is true)!!

I usually give myself a week for my body to get used to the change before I introduce it to exercise. I hate to exercise - even in my skinny days I did not enjoy it. But my attitude is going to have to change because if I am going to have a new body by the end of 2008 I will have to exercise a lot. Any exercises you can recommend that you enjoy?

Why am I telling you this? A-C-C-O-U-N-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y! I thought if my confession was out in the blog world then it would help me stick to this lifestyle change. I will be posting every Monday how much weight I have lost and I will be sharing lighter recipes on my recipe blog as well. So ask me how it is going from time to time (especially once I add the exercise in). Anyone want to join me in the weight loss adventure? The more the merrier!