The Great Cereal Debate

Years ago (ok like, 3) when I first started trying to lose weight I had a huge turning point one night. Otherwise known as a meltdown of epic proportions that would put my 2 toddlers and preschooler to shame. I think I was maybe 1 week in to my weight loss journey, it was about 10pm, dinner was long over, and I was still hungry. All I could think about was cereal, a big bowl full of corn flakes and milk.

Yum.

I remember wanting it so badly that I was grumpy and depressed, trying to justify to my Husband why I should eat it. I talked the subject to death for over an hour, then came the meltdown. I was literally in the floor, crying like my 3 year old, because I wanted something to eat and knew I shouldn't have it.

"It's just a bowl of cereal"

"Milk is good for me"

"I don't go to bed until 2am anyways"

"I will workout longer tonight"

Those are all valid points that I remember making to myself. What I wasn't saying though was more important.

"Am I really hungry?"

"Why do I want to eat?"

"Am I thirsty?"

"Why do I want cereal?"

"Am I just bored?"

I wasn't thinking about those things, I was just thinking about how I really wanted something else to eat, even though I had already eaten a more than adequate dinner. I was however, in tears, because I knew that if I could say no to that, I could say no to anything and maybe I would be able to succeed in weight loss this time. It was only a bowl of cereal, but it was a lot more to me, it was a symbol of all my hopes and dreams for my future body.

I chose an apple, and a bottle of water, and I worked out. Then i went to bed, happy, that I had said no and would survive to see another day of weight loss.

I still have those days. Unfortunately I let them win out sometimes lately, because I have gotten comfortable where I am. I'm trying to say no more often, because I am so close to winning this race. Today i'm trying to say no over some yummy leftovers from dinner last night. I had completely forgotten about them, until I opened up the fridge to make my munchkins some lunch, and there they were, just staring me in the face, begging me to eat them for lunch. I have lunch planned already, yet now those leftovers are haunting me, and i'm having another inner battle, just like that night with the cereal. I even went so far as to lay my leftovers out on the counter, getting ready for me to eat.

I was strong enough to say no that night, with the cereal. I'm strong enough to say no today.

What can you say no to today?

It's Fall Already?

We moved near the end of August. Moving is tough. It's been hard on the kids, adjusting to the new place, it's been tough on the husband, farther commute to work, and it's been tough on me, mostly on my waistline. My weight has been yo-yoing all summer within a 10lb range, nothing too drastic in the gain department but nothing fantastic in the loss department either. When we moved, i think i just kind of gave up for a while, i was beginning to wonder if i would ever get my motivation back.

It seems to have finally found me again. 2 full months later. Better late than never right? I've been working out with Turbo Fire videos this week and wow have they been kicking my butt. I've also kicked all sweet food and soda out of our house and started having much healthier lunches. My results are down over 3.5lbs this week. I'm pretty happy about that! My goal is to lose 7 more over the next 3 weeks. I definitely have my work cut out for me. Here's to hoping that next week, the yo-yoing cycle doesn't continue, and instead the scales moves in my favor again.

Wearing My Mommy War Wounds Proudly

Holy cow am i behind on here! Thankfully that is only in the blogging world because in the weight loss world i am still rocking and rolling. Only a little over 3 weeks to go until my big vacation, can you feel the excitement?!

Let's start with the boring stats. At my last weigh in i was down 3lbs, Yep 3!!! I was shooting for 2 so i was ecstatic with those results. That brought me down to 172lbs, only 2lbs away from 110lbs total lost, that's my next goal, and hopefully will see that one within the week!

I also hit an amazing milestone...

I went bikini shopping... *Insert dramatic music here*

For the first time in my entire life, i went in the fitting room with an arm full of two-piece suits. The next hour was filled with jumping up and down, wiggling, a lot of sucking it in, and a little bit of wishing and praying, and it all paid off because i walked out with 5 suits!

Now I'm nowhere near having washboard abs, but when you go from a size 24/26 to a 10, you can get away with a bikini any day and feel confident. As women we are way too harsh on ourselves, picking at every little flaw. We only live once!!! I for one, am proud of how far i have come and i am ready to feel sexy and girly for the first time in my life. No more hiding behind a fat suit for me. My poor sun virgin belly is going to be soooo burnt...

This is a before/after photo i posted for a weight loss challenge i just completed. There is no touching up or staging at all, just a cell phone camera and a mirror. 

Five weeks, that's it! Can you believe what is possible in five weeks? Crazy proof that you can do anything you set your mind to.  I can't wait to see what it's like when i leave for vacation, hopefully a good 5lbs lighter and a heck of a lot more toned.

Operation: beach body 2012 is in full swing! 

Workout of the Week: Abs & Arms

This is another one of the workouts i have been doing lately. It's pretty killer on the abs. Just once doing it and i was feeling the burn for days. This is definitely going to be on the top of my list as a workout to do to get beach ready. This workout doesn't include a lot of cardio so i suggest doing in along with some added cardio of your choice, i do it with aerobic step or Just Dance 3, and the whole workout can take me around 45-60 minutes or if i only do the Abs & Arms, 20 minutes. Youtube any moves you don't know and give it a try!

Weigh in - 3/19/12

What a week! I have been so busy that i have pretty much passed out by the time 10pm rolls around, and that is my prime internet time since all my kids are in bed. It's been nice to catch up on a little sleep but i have been severely neglecting my internet duties.

Let's start with this weeks weigh in...175! Yep, i am officially down to the lowest weight i have ever been. And when i say that, i don't mean that i was skinny as a teenager and then put on weight. Nope, i probably haven't been this weight since puberty or before. I am smaller now than i was at 13 years old and much much healthier. For that i can say that i am so proud of myself!

This also brings me to 20lbs lost with Weight Watchers, and 105lbs lost total. I am a whole new person and i love it.

I have 5 (ish) weeks left before my tropical vacation. I'm hoping to really push and lose 2lbs a week between now and then. To do so i have done a complete overhaul of my routine. I have been eating much cleaner. Cutting back on processed foods, trying to eat fruits and veggies as my snack and lunch, cutting out sugar, not bringing diet soda or juices into my home (although i will still have a soda out occasionally), avoiding cheese (this use to be an every day snack for me, now cutting back to a couple times a week), aaaand revamping my workouts! That's the exciting one!

So as part of a challenge i am doing with friends, i have posted a new workout every week for all of us to do. I posted one here and that was the "Sexy Legs" workout, and i have others that i will be posting. This is the last week of our current challenge and we are all working really hard to put up the best number possible for the week and end of the challenge. This weeks workout is called "The Savage" and it's pretty awesome, it's an exhaustion workout instead of reps, which means you can make it as difficult as you want. So this week my workouts have been "The Savage" in the mornings, Walking in the afternoons, and another workout in the evenings, either with my Wii or one of my dvd's. I'm hoping that this will really help boost my weight loss and build some of the muscle back that i lost when i was pregnant with my twins.

Another part of my new routine is something i already touched on, i'm getting more sleep! Which is incredibly important to weight loss. My friends and i have discovered that you can "gain" 2-3lbs just by getting a crappy night of sleep. That's motivation to get a really good nights sleep, especially right before weigh in day!

Hopefully this changing up of the routine helps. I'm happy with 1lb a week but i want to make sure i am doing everything possible to look and feel fantastic for my vacation. No Regrets!

Workout of the Week: Legs

Recently, along with everyone else, I have discovered Pinterest. I really really REALLY didn't want to fall into it, and for the most part I have stayed away. Because let's be honest, the last thing we need is yet another thing on the internet to get addicted to, and time is precious as it is! However a friend of mine posted a workout she found on Pinterest and it was a pretty slammin' workout so I decided to go check it out a little better and to my surprise I started finding some awesome inspiration for workouts. The only problem was that I was getting sick and tired of "stealing" everyone elses workouts or modifying them for myself. The simple solution? Come up with my own of course!


So I've been working on them slowly and every week I plan a new one and a group of my best friends do them right along with me. To date, my favorite has to be my lower body workout. I was unable to walk for a good two days after doing it, and I did it 5x in that first week! It killed! But it also blasted through some of that lower body flab that all of us hate and I've been losing some pretty good inches off of that part of my body finally.

Here's my lower body workout. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

PS. Youtube the moves that you don't know.

Supermom VS. Skinny Diva

It's no secret that i'm a mom. A big part of where i got my motivation was after Loralei was born, i wanted to be healthy for her, to show her a good example, and things just took off from there. Well right about now i am pulling my hair out, trying to find a healthy middle ground between Supermom and Skinny Diva.

It's hard.

Like this week. It's pretty much a complete wash on the Skinny Diva front. My kids - all 3 of them - have decided that this seems like a good week to give up sleeping. Because really, who needs it anyways?

Apparently not mommy!

I just spent 4.5 long hours attempting to get Jasper to sleep, 2.5 of those with him screaming and Loralei crying that she is scared of everything from ghosts to her fuzzy pink blanket. It's now 1am, and my kids JUST fell asleep. Unfortunately that leaves no time for my normal evening workout, and a lot of stress that makes me want to eat my feelings away. This is not a rare occurrence, unfortunately this is almost the nightly "norm" around here. I've come to accept it... my kids don't sleep.

But despite it all, all the stress, all the lack of sleep, all the lack of workouts. I refuse to give up. Sure a supersized Mcdonald's value meal sounds REALLY good right about now, because who doesn't feel better after throwing back 1350 artery clogging calories??? But, i said no. I refuse to stress eat my weight back. Because one day, my babies will sleep through the night (eventually...right?!) and i would prefer to already be skinny, so that i don't have to work 2x as hard when that time comes.

Through it all, i do have an amazing piece of news for myself this week. I'm officially back at my lowest reached weight ever, 176lbs, and ecstatic about it! Now i can move on and see some new numbers that  i've never seen on the scale before. Just have to keep soldiering on.

Nobody said it was easy...