30th Birthday Girl's Night

The day is closing in faster and faster.  I only have 8 days left in my 20's and while the thought of being 30 is exciting, it is also the end of a really great decade in my life.  So much has happened in my 20's like graduating college, starting my career, getting married, and having babies.  It is a little sad to see it end, but I know there are many incredible things ahead.

I was able to celebrate with a girl's night out with my friends.  My BFF planned a nice dinner at Whiskey Cake.  If you have not been there, then you should definitely check it out.  So yummy!   I had a blast celebrating with my girls!

Saturday afternoon my mom planned a little cookie decorating party for the kiddos.  It was a blast and the girls did an awesome job decorating.  Their attention spans definitely surprised me.  Little cuties!

After all the sweets and dinner out I had a few too many calories, so first thing this morning I had a date with the gym.  A little running, weights, abs, and the good ole' treadmill definitely did my body good and I'm feeling much better.

Dun Dun Dun....

I took the plunge and recorded my official "starting again" measurements and snapped a few pics.  You know how your brain tells you how bad you look one day and then someone comments on how good you look?  Don't get me wrong, I have only heard a comment like that a few times, but the point is we typically tell ourselves how bad we look and we are very negative about ourselves.  Well, I have to laugh at the fact that I was feeling pretty confident in some areas of my body since I have been eating clean and working out the past few weeks(like a few weeks makes such a big difference LOL). Oh man, as soon as I looked at the pics I was instantly snapped out of the dream I had playing in my head and put back into reality. Let's just say these pics don't look like what I was swirling around in my head...I will not let these pics bring me down and make me quit, but I will use them as motivation instead.  

Oh and did I mention that I am going on a 7 day cruise in March, without kids, and it will be our first real vacation since our honeymoon?  If anything will help with the motivation this is it.  I WILL be in a bikini, I will NOT have too much jiggle, and I WILL be confident in myself knowing I put in lots of effort beforehand!

Measurements:

Waist- 29

Hips-36

Chest-34.5

Arms- 10.5

Thighs-22.25

Let me end on a positive note...my babies!

I am alive!

Wow, has it really been since August that I blogged?  Life has me running around like a crazy person, but I am loving all of the fun activities lately.  December is always my favorite month since it is my birthday and Christmas, but this December is even better because I am turning 30.  Oh, how I love December!!!

Since this is my first blog that I am going to post for everyone, I figured I should give a little background for the new readers.  I am married with 2 children who are almost 4 and 2.  Their birthdays are in January and February.  Dang, they are growing up too fast.  I am a high school math teacher and currently working on my masters in school counseling.  I stay pretty busy, but after Thursday I will have a month off from school.  Oh yeah!

 I started blogging to document my weight loss after having both of my kiddos, but have never posted it for lots of people to possibly read.   My heaviest was after my daughter, but I cannot find any of those pics...probably because I did not take very many.  When I started my journey after my youngest was born I was about 215ish, but didn't start this blog until I got really serious about my weight loss at 170ish.  The picture below with both of my kiddos shows a little bit of how heavy I was after having both of my kids.  The other pic is where I want to be again...those were my good ole' days in college where all I had to do was run 3 miles everyday, go to school, and party to have a thin figure.  Before college, I struggled with weight.  In high school, I would not eat...a little anorexic huh?...or if I did eat something, which was necessary due to playing sports, it would consist of carrots and plain tuna fish.  I gained massive amounts of weight during both of my pregnancies because I thought "oh well, I'm pregnant and I can eat what I want."  I have lost a decent amount since having my kiddos, but have been stuck at a plateau for the past year.  I am so tired of seeing 150-153 on the scale everyday.  And yes, I weigh myself everyday.   It has become very disheartening that I eat clean and work out, but the weight will not move.

I am lucky to be around others that motivate me to keep it up and do better.  For those of you that read Megan's blog you know just how motivating she is and if you don't read it....you should.  She is my real life BFF so it doesn't get much better than that!  She has amazed me with her body transformation and I strive to have a tiny amount of her dedication!

So I'm sure some are thinking, why the new beginning and blogging again?  Well, today I have decided to get rid of something that I have thought could be causing me to not lose weight....my Mirena birth control.  Honestly, weight loss is not the number one issue, but it is a big factor in this decision.  I have very little tolerance for anything, mainly my husband and kids and they really don't deserve an irritable me.  I thought maybe it was just all of the stress of life and especially going back to school, but this all really started after having my son, so at that time I chalked it up to a new baby, but now I'm not so sure.  Anyways, I want to document all of the changes in my body as well as my mental health and would love to inspire others on my journey.  

Stay tuned for some new beginning pics!  It will be interesting to see if getting rid of this Mirena really will make a difference.  Do any of you have Mirena?  Do you like it or have you had issues?

Cheat days

I have been contemplating having 1 cheat day a week.  I go back and forth on the subject because there are pros and cons to it.  I think I am set on one cheat day per week, but it is not an all out eat everything in sight type of cheat day.  That will just make me gain back whatever I lose during the rest of the week.  It is going to be one meal and I am not going to eat until I am sick and full.  Therefore, I will be clean eating about 90% of the time, but still get to indulge on the bad, processed foods a little.  It really isn't the indulging that I care about...it is the non preparing for 1 meal that I will get to do.  So really it is just me being lazy.

Sundays are usually spent at my parents house after church and they have some sort of lunch planned out.  Other people come over to enjoy lunch as well, so they have not been clean meals because I am the only one eating this way.  This will take some planning on my part because I need to make sure I think through my 1 cheat meal according to what I have going on to ensure it is only one per week.  I have a birthday party next Saturday night so that will be it for this week.

Just some random thoughts about cheat days with my eating clean.  On another note...I ran 8 miles yesterday and my legs were so tired the second half of the run.  I had a good pace for the first 4 and then quickly slowed after that.  It took everything out of me to keep my legs going.  I think it is because all of my running this summer has been 4 miles or less on any given day.  It was hard, but felt good to accomplish it.  Today, my whole body is sore so I am going to try and get a workout in if it doesn't kill me.

Work starts again tomorrow...UGH!

Same Shit different day...

So, I have not really been posting any blogs lately because it is still the same ole' shit, different day.  Who wants to hear about the same thing everyday?  So I won't put you through the same whining and blah blah blah.  

I will tell you that I'm back on track and have gone back to "clean" eating.  Last time I was clean eating, I had the greatest amount of change with my body so why not do what works, right?  The biggest challenge for me with clean eating is being prepared.  If I don't have all of the ingredients or stuff to snack on then I just eat whatever.  I cleaned out some old stuff from my pantry and frig, but not everything...that would be way too much money wasted.  Plus, I know my kids and hubs will eat them.  

Since I must go back to work this week, womp womp womp, I have to start meal planning ahead of time and prepare some recipes early to make the weeknights a little less hectic.  My little one wants to eat right when we get home and if I give him snacks, then he refuses to eat dinner.  

When I find good recipes, I will post them for ya and spare you from the bad ones.  Sometimes "clean" is not too tasty.

 

Already over?!?!

It seems like just yesterday summer was beginning and now I only have 4 weeks left of my little vaca before school officially begins again.  I'm excited for the upcoming year since I will be at a new school, but nervous because I don't know anyone.  I hope there  are other teachers my age that I can easily talk to and maybe make some new friends.  It will be a new beginning.  
One of the things I wanted to accomplish this summer was getting into really good shape....and well obviously that shape has turned out to be of a more round shape. LOL  I have gained 10 lbs this summer!  Not good when I got rid of most of my work clothes at the end of the year because they were too big.  Like I said it will be a new start and I want to begin with new clothes.
Therefore, I have 4 weeks to get this 10 lbs off and maybe a few more so that I can buy some new clothes that aren't in the same size I got rid of.
I have been watching my calories and working out for the past week and have only lost 1 pound...ugh!!! It really sucks, but I don't really care about the scale as much as wanting to buy smaller clothes so I'm not going to let the scale number get me down.  I'm going to continue to work out everyday and keep focusing on toning and getting rid of the flab.
Any ideas on where to get some cute, professional, young, cheap, and good quality work clothes?  I've been looking online and can't find too much.  I am not going shopping until the beginning of August when the kids will be in school. That is not a trip I want to take with them...it would be more frustrating than productive.
I have pinned some outfits on pinterest and it seems like I just need some staple articles of clothing and then mix and match them to make lots of different outfits.  I would love some suggestions of places to go if you have any!    

Running with kids sucks!

Yesterday I decided to be brave and take my kiddos on a little jog.  I needed exercise and out of the house or they were going to drive me nuts. 

I always forget why I don't just put them in the stroller and take off, until I get out there and it all comes back to me.  It is sort of like having a child...you are all excited and ready for the pain to see your beautiful baby, then once it starts you are asking yourself why you chose to do it again.  Then you take one look at their precious face and you forget all over again. 

That would describe my love hate relationship with putting the 60+lbs of kid in the stroller and running.  First, it is so much harder to run pushing them. Second, I have K asking me a bazillion questions and if I don't answer she just gets louder and louder.  Third, L only lasts about 20 minutes and then he screams and yells forever.

With all of that, I get totally frustrated during my run, but for some reason I still feel pretty good after so I'm sure I will forget how bad it was and do it all over again.  

Although, it may be a while because I was frustrated and thinking what the hell when BAM I rolled my foot all weird.  It isn't my ankle, it is like my inner foot.  I have done it before and couldn't run for a couple of weeks and I'm pretty sure it is going to be the same this time because for 2 days I have barely been able to walk. 

This sucks!