Blessed, Spoiled, Selfish, Lucky

This is my latest purchase. It's a totally luxury but it will help my laziness when it comes to watching TV. Even if I'm only walking it's better than planting my butt in front of the TV for hours without moving. And I'm a fan of two a days without having to go back to the gym for a second time.

Blessed: I'm blessed to have a husband who works very hard so I can stay home and take care of the house and my two boys. We do a lot of bantering about me needing to make money but he truly knows what a hard job staying at home and taking care of the kids can be. I'm blessed to have this opportunity.

Spoiled: I'm not usually the spoiled one, I'm usually the one who spoils the others. However, this past fall my husband did a side job in which he gave me a nice chunk of his spoils.

Selfish: When my husband gave me this money he said I could do whatever I wanted with it. He was buying bike stuff with his portion. He suggested using it to pay for Christmas or a vacation. I kind of laughed at this because that would mean I was spending my money on others too...this is what I usually do. This time I decided to purchase a treadmill for me. Because I wanted it, it was for me, it benefits me, me, me, me...and of course anyone else that wants to come over and use it.

Lucky: I'm lucky to have a husband that supports my desire to be healthy and fit. He loves me for who I am but is very supportive in my journey to improve myself and many ways. I'm lucky that when I spent "my" money he thought it was great!

I watched the entire BYU game on this treadmill already. I could have sat and watched it and probably eaten something I shouldn't have...it's already working its mojo!

Eating Healthy is Fun...I mean Yum!

Does this look yummy?  We had snow and rain this morning, but dinner time it was sunny and nice...so chicken on the Barbi!  I guess I should have arranged it a little better for a post, but it looked so pretty and colorful!  The yellow stuff is some left over fresh pineapple I cut up for the Jimmer Show last night (sorry BYU)!  Yesterday, we had the fabulous Talapia recipe that's in the recipe section (I put very little butter, 1/2 light Mir. Whip and drench it in fresh lemon juice)!  We had the same fruit and veggies.  I wish I had some left overs for lunch, but it all got eaten up!  I think my family is slowly converting to healthy food!

A little something about me...

I haven't been posting on here in quite some time but I just wanted to update you all. I had been doing the 5 week challenge, but for me this is a hard time of year. My mom even tried to get me to start a new diet with her this week and I told her I was too sad to diet, and food was my comfort. I invite you all to check out my blog and take a small look at a very private part of my life. I hope to be back on here in full swing in the next month or so. I love reading all of your posts, I still stay updated.

lovinmycrazyfamily.blogspot.com

Running Buddy (take 5)

(If only I really looked like this when I run.)

I feel like I have been through so many running buddies over the last year. In actuality it has only been four but considering my past workout buddies usually lasted well over a year that is a lot.

Tomorrow I start with another one. I am so excited, and the best part is she lives just down the street and neither one of us has to drive to meet up.

Can I just say, it will be so nice to go running without the stroller and two fighting kids.

Now I just need to quell my excitement so I can go to sleep.

Keeping track is easy to do...

...if you have the stomach flu! So far today I have consumed 6 oz ginger ale and half a piece of dry toast. Eating like a celebrity, I tell ya.
I'm down for the count and I've taken my newly 3 year old, Tessa, and my 9 year old, Whitney, with me. Praying that my middle child, Olivia, and my husband are spared.
Also praying that we're magically all better by tomorrow morning so we don't have to cancel our spring break trip to Mt. Rushmore.

Wish me luck!

I hate keeping track

Seriously, I hate it! Mostly because I forget about it, and I'm compelled to be scrupulously honest so I don't want to give myself more than I actually earned, but I don't want to cheat myself either, and UGH! Can I just start over? I'm supposed to be writing down everything I eat (which is not making me eat any less, mind you) and I haven't done it since last Tuesday. I haven't even picked a new goal for this week. I better pick vitamins because it's easy, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment.

Exercising went really well for me last week. I did the 30 Day Shred twice on level one and COULD NOT believe I ever did level three and level one in the same workout. Running made me all achy and I barely had any stamina. But I'm A+ in the water department, so I guess that's one thing to feel good about. Getting back in the swing of things has proven MUCH harder than I anticipated.

PS- I can't even find my vitamins.

Calling Myself Out

YEP! I'm a slacker. Well not actually but when I get busy the blog is the first thing to go. I don't like spending time on the computer. I'm sorry that I've neglected my support of all of you for the past few days.

After having a rocking few weeks I got in a slump. Partial days of writing down what I ate. Only getting four days of exercise and a big whopping zero so far this week. The big bummer is being inconsistent on not eating late.

Here is a big key to not eating late. You have to go to bed. One of the reasons it becomes such a problem and a desire to eat late is because your body needs fuel every three to four hours. If you eat dinner and then don't have a PROPER evening snack of course you're going to want to shove something in your face at 10 or 11pm if you're not headed to bed. GO TO BED LADIES!!!

This week I'm working on two things in conjunction. Drinking 3L of water and taking my vitamin. I chose these because if I don't exercise I have a harder time getting my water intake in. And sometimes I forget to take my vitamins. I think doing this for a couple of weeks will get me solid to where I won't even have to think about it again.

So I'm calling myself out. Pull it together. You can do this. Make it happen. Find a way. Set a small goal, stick to it and do it again!

Biggest Loser update

Well, we met with our trainer for the first time last night.  She is training for a body building competition, so 6:00 a.m. is not working for her until the end of April, so we are meeting Monday night at 8.  She took our measurements and clued us in to what she was expecting.  She told us that one of her team members won last time, and lost over 100 lbs in 12 weeks!  She said that she wasn't as interested in helping us to win, as she was getting us healthy.  80% of weight loss is what you eat.  Vicki (trainer) is writing a book and has been in fitness training for 20 years.  Normally we would meet with our trainer once a week, but she feels it is not enough.  She will be keeping in contact with us 2-3 times a week.

Our first challenge is to burn 500 calories a day!  I didn't think it would be a problem today, but my leg hurt so bad last night, I didn't get to sleep until after 2 this morning.  I finally took a sleeping pill and moved to the "quiet" room.  Long chemo today, so no sleeping in.  I feel so wasted this morning! bleh!

We are also suppose to turn in a 3 day meal log and try to eat more lean protien.

Nutrition will be our next meeting.  She seems like an awesome trainer!  I need to be a little more organized with eating away from home (on chemo days)  I was going to get up and fix a salad to take with me, but ran out of time. 

My goal today is to find the energy to go burn those 500 calories!  No excuses!

Becky I Think This Post Is For You

Becky I don't know if you follow Trainer Momma; I think you might find her latest post helpful. Actually I think all of us could but I thought of Becky because she specifically asked for help in this area. Check it out at:

http://www.trainermomma.com/2011/03/spring-cleaning-our-eating/

Change it up for Inner Peace

Hey it's the first day of spring, do you need a change in your exercise routine, consider doing Snake Yoga. Yeah baby, that's where it is happening. I'm passing on this one because without a doubt it would NOT bring me inner peace. Indiana Jones and I are in total agreement about snakes, "I hate snakes Jock, hate 'em!"

You can read more about this latest and oddest keep fit fad at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1368200/Snake-yoga-Get-fit-latest-exercise-fad.html

Don't hesitate, it's time to SPRING into action.

I lost over 10 inches!

I wish this post was referring to my waist, thighs, etc. but I haven't taken my measurements in a while so I honestly don't know. I have been feeling lately that I needed a change and a haircut and color I think did the trick. There is something about a new haircut that gives me a new energy even if I haven't lost weight. I just feel better about myself. Thinking about it, I may have actually lost weight because that was a lot of hair and my head sure feels a lot lighter:)

So here is the before and after pictures. Sorry they aren't great. I had my hubby take them and well, they are what they are.

My goal for this week is to stay within my calorie range. I didn't do so great last week on really anything so this week I feel like I am starting anew and recommitting to be better. The vertigo went away for about three days but I noticed it this afternoon after church. Ibuprofen and Sudafed seem to have cleared it up and I am positive it is sinusitis so I will probably call my doctor tomorrow. At least I didn't have it at church because I had to speak in sacrament meeting and boy would that have been a challenge.

Well I hope everyone has a fantastic week. Love Ya'll!

The Green Mile

1. The mile was really brown, not green.
2. The mile involved much burning, inside and out.
3. It really wasn't a mile.
4. It was more like 1/3rd of a mile.
5. I never want to do it again.
6. I did it the next day...*sigh*

First off, apologies up front for this post being an hour read. I would have posted this sooner, but two days after my very first run, I noticed a lavender colored thing in my 3 month old son's ear. Our best friend is an ENT, so I took Wyatt over to his house that night so he could check it out. At first he thought it was a hematoma because I had stuck my finger in Wyatt's ear to get out some ear wax. So after taking a bunch of pictures with his phone, he went and got his syringe and all the stuff you'd need to drain a hematoma and went to work. It wasn't a hematoma. It started spurting out blood, a lot of blood. It went through 3 cotton balls before it stopped. The Doc suggested taking him to a pediatric ENT (the closest one is 2 hours away), but to start with my pediatrician so that there is documentation (he didn't have any records, obviously, because it was in his house on his couch). So I made an appointment for the next day and my pediatrician sent me to an ENT in Tulsa that works on children. So a week and a half later, I saw him. In the meantime our friend had conferred with his associates and come to the conclusion that it is a stage I AVM (arteriovenous malformation). Now this is a big deal. A potentially fatal condition.

It's that purplish thing above his giant earlobe (he has his daddy's ears)

Now I have come to the conclusion that when I am faced with challenges involving my children, my coping mechanism is to immediately work on the challenge, and do EVERYTHING I can to help fix it (my middle son has "moderately severe" cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and a few other conditions, so this isn't my first rodeo). That week and a half wait for the "2nd opinion" was torture, because there was nothing I could do but look at the dang thing and read up on AVMs. Torture, I tell you! Anyway, I'm making this a much longer story than it needs to be since we're supposed to be talking about a mile run. So long story short, the other ENT thinks it's a hemangioma. My ENT guy vehemently disagrees (as do I, since it looks nothing like a hemagioma)! Therefore, I'm going to make the trip out to OKC and get a 3rd opinion. Because if it is an AVM, it needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

Anyway...

So I bought that awesome corset so I could try running. Girls, that thing WORKS!! Absolutely NO bouncing, just jiggling. And unfortunately, when I didn't have the bouncing to be aware of, I found that the jiggling was not confined to my bosom. It showed up in places I didn't even know existed. Oh, there was the usual, behind, boobs (obviously), my stretched out pregnancy tummy, upper thighs. But this time, I noticed it in my arms, calves, (possibly my face) and...(and this is depressing for me) back fat. Apparently my corset of a bra just displaced my back fat. UGH. Oh well, it'll go away eventually.

So, I donned my mammoth of a sports bra and, feeling INCREDIBLY intimidated and scared to death of my "coach" (my best friend, ENT's wife, runs 5 miles a day, and has been running since middle school...yeah) started out. Now she is typically the pacesetter and so I just fell into step with her. And that lasted...oh...ten steps. Okay, that was an exaggeration, it was more like 5. At least I'm sure that's what it felt like to her. In reality it was probably a 1/4-1/3 of a mile. But to me, it felt like 5 miles. I made it though, and perhaps I didn't run an entire mile, I ran at least half of it (maybe not all at once, but still) and speed-walked the rest (and she ran the whole time, I didn't know that you could run slower than someone could walk, but she did it for me). It was a 10 minute mile. By the time I made it back to her house (she just lives a few blocks from me), my face was BURNING! My lungs were burning, my thighs were burning, somehow my arms were burning, and my feet were burning. It was horrible. I hated it and never wanted to ever put on sneakers (or whatever you runners call them) again. My face felt like I had a severe sunburn (which is normal for me, I don't really sweat much and my face gets red as a fire engine). But, I went ahead and ran the next day, running just as little further than I did the previous day (then I walked, then ran, etc.). It felt good (not physically, just mentally).



I've decided that I'm going to work up to running a full mile (with no walking). Then 2, 3, 4, and 5. I can do it. And I'm gonna hate every minute of it. BUT, I'll also feel good. And I know that if it wasn't for my scary, intimidating friend, I wouldn't have continued, even when she couldn't run with me. So there you go, I hated it, and loved it at the same time.

Salad anyone?

Sunday!  Time for a new challenge (as if life weren't challenging enough!)  My last weeks challenge was to add weights to my routine at least twice a week (Wed. and Sat.)  Success!!!

I tried Jill's spinach shake, and I'm not sure what it was, but it made me kind of jittery.  It had a nice taste, but...I tried one at Costco...I really liked that one!  I'm thinking I don't like it enough to pay more than $150 for a blender.
I'm just saying...!

I'll stick with eating my spinach in my salad.  I discovered Almond Accents at Costco also! (I wasn't a fan of almonds until I tried these!)  Loving it on salads and whole grain/wild rice!  Quick 3 min meal:  Warm up Uncle Ben's (cheapest at Walmart) whole grain brown and wild rice (90 sec.), cut up a fresh roma tomato and add it (uncooked) to the warmed rice...sprinkled with Almond Accents.  Yummy!  You can add lettuce and other veggies if you want, but it's probably enough calories as it is.  It also goes really good with the Talapia recipe on this site!  Fabulous!

Had an emotional break down today...too much sad news I suppose...Sad blog link  .  I feel better, now.  I promise not to eat my way out of this!  Enough about sadness.  There are plenty of tender mercies to help me through this!

I am excited to start my Biggest Loser training tomorrow at 6 AM!  Are you guys excited to start a new challenge?!!  I'm excited to hear what you guys are going to do!  You guys are awesome!  I know you're there for me!

I'm here for you!  Let's do this!