What routine?

This week was full of birthdays, house guests and road trips! All of which have a way of coming hand in hand with eating out of the norm. This could have been a massive set back for me but I think I made mostly good choices and still allowed myself some splurges.

Last Saturday I hosted a Wildtree tasting. I'm in love with their all natural seasonings and flavored grapeseed oil and my pantry was getting pretty bare. The party was great! Everyone loved it as usual and I earned over $100 in free groceries! Can't beat free. :) After the tasting it was time for birthday party #1. Ms. Daisy is my best friend's mom, and one of the most intoxicatingly happy and energetic people I know. The celebration was at The Max, which has been one of my favorite places to eat in the past. I splurged on a couple glasses of wine and only had small nibbles of the appetizers which I felt ok about but I still needed to order my dinner. What seemed to be the healthiest option was way out of my budget. In fact most things were either deep fried or pretty spendy. Crap! Now what? I thought about ordering the affordable hamburger but knew I wouldn't be happy with the plain burger. It would have to be the one with the blu cheese, fried onions, bacon and sauteed mushrooms. (NOM!) But I REALLY didn't want to do that to myself. So, instead I ordered a spinach salad with some goodies on it and because I wasn't sure if that would leave me feeling satisfied I ordered some butternut squash soup. The salad was super delicious! And filling. I ended up taking the soup home and I skipped on having a piece of cake.

Happy Birthday Daisy!

 The next day was my awesome mom's birthday. We started the by going for a walk on the Centennial Trail for a couple miles with the family. I love doing anything on the trail! It's so beautiful and really puts me in a great mood. After our walk we went out to brunch, again at The Max. This time I was a little more prepared. I passed on drinks and ordered a grilled fish sandwich that was A-MAZ-ING! And splurged on some sweet potato fries. I was proud of myself for not even considering ordering the chicken fried steak with hash browns, eggs and extra gravy. And since I was so satisfied by my fish sandwich I didn't even have any nagging cravings.

Walking the trail with the family. Happy Birthday Mom!

Monday was Maddie's birthday and she turned 2! Josh, Katie, Maddie, Lody, Zues and I went on a walk/jog/jump rope around the neighborhood. I love the trickle down effect of getting active, others around you start getting active too. SO awesome! Yay for all of us! :D

Josh and Maddie walking Zues

Josh and Maddie spent the day together playing and shopping while Lody, Katie and I took a road trip to pick up Alyssa from school.

The birthday girl playing in the tubes with her dad.

I love a good road trip! However road trips can easily mean lots of extra calories and junk food so I was a little nervous. When we stopped for gas and a snack I sought out the healthiest granola bar I could find but also got a Starbucks energy drink. Not sure what happened there, should have gotten a regular drip coffee if I wanted the caffeine. When we got there we opted to get Subway for lunch, with lots of veggies and water. Not too bad for not planning ahead. Then on the way home we stopped at Starbucks for coffees and I wasn't thinking so I ordered what I've always ordered. I don't get fancy coffee often so I haven't had to consider my low-fat and sugar free options. It could have been worse, but it could have been better. Bringing my own snack, lunch and drinks would have saved me money and calories.

Lody, Katie and I on our way.

Alyssa was in town for the week for her spring break and I was pretty excited to have a new motivated workout buddy in the house. On Tuesday we worked out for and hour in the morning. I did some Tabata intervals, some weights, and a little running.

After the first workout, feeling good.

Later we worked out more while watching the Biggest Looser finale. Then we walked two miles round trip to pick up Katie from school/ jump rope club. I felt great and was ready to do it again!

Walking home from school.

Then Wednesday I was pretty sore. My legs were killing me so I stretched a lot and decided to go with a shorter low impact ride on the stationary bike. Thursday I was STILL sore and really bummed. I wanted to work out hard all week but my body seemed to have other plans. I ended up taking the day off because I knew I needed to have plenty of energy and happy muscles so I could enjoy our Friday plans.

Friday we went to Sky High for some trampoline fun! We had brought the girls here before and they had a great time, but Josh and I just sat and watched from the side. This time we were all in! I had been looking forward to it for a month and couldn't have been more excited.

Here I go!

This is exactly the reason I finally decided to get healthy. I wanted and needed to feel able to participate; to be able to participate! Well I am now, so we stayed and jumped for two hours. It was exhausting and used muscles I hadn't used in years. We had an absolutely fantastic time!

Having fun at Sky High!

Even when I tried to run/ jump across the trampolines and biffed it over a yellow mat, thus landing entirely on my face, I kept jumping. Obviously I took a minute to laugh at myself and check out the trampoline burn on my forehead, nose and cheek but I didn't throw in the towel over it.

Ouch!

Saturday was Maddie's birthday party! The party was fun and Maddie seemed to really enjoy herself all day. However, it was a complete day off from exercise and food tracking. I'm pretending it didn't happen.  ; )

Waiting for a cupcake.

Sunday, before taking Alyssa home, we got in one last workout. We did a bunch of the 10 minute work outs from FITSUGAR. I have really liked most of the videos on there and totally recommend them to anyone looking for free workout ideas. You can do 1 or do 10 depending on how much time you have or how you feel.

Taking Alyssa and Scout home, it was a 90's dance party in the car!

You would think I would have learned from the first trip this week and brought my own food along, but no. That would have required me to plan ahead, and I didn't do a good job of that this week. Even so, this time when I bought a snack it was a super tasty and filling Clif Bar. (I will definitely get this again. It would be great for taking along on a hike or long bike ride. )

Sooo good!

This time when we stopped for coffee it was of the non-fat/ sugar-free variety. This time when I stopped on the way home, I was still full enough from the Clif Bar, that I just bought some pineapple chunks and a refill for my water bottle. I big improvement from the last trip.

Heading home, feeling at peace. :)

Here we are at Monday again. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and both of their dogs have gone home and it's back to the routine again. I wanted to start the week out on a good note, so, this morning I ran most of 2.3 miles. I hadn't ran in almost a week and I can't believe I'm going to say that I had missed it, but I really did. It feels good to get super sweaty and imagine the fat melting off, then be sore and imagine my muscles growing. After my run I weighed in and I was 208.6, down 1.6 pounds from last Friday! Here I come 100's!!!

After my run, love those endorphins!!

No more "later"

I realized this week that I had gotten so focused on working out that I forgot to do the little things that make all the difference to my overall happiness. Like turning up the music and dancing like a total lunatic while I do pretty much anything. I underestimated the power of good music and dancing. Having added that back into my day, my spirits are higher and I'm much less vulnerable to cranky outbursts. Another lapse on my part was nurturing my creative spirit. This is really important to me so it was time to get crafty!

My need for better fitting clothes continues to increase; as does my need to hone in on my inner seamstress. Inspired by the ReFashionista, my plan is to attempt to refashion, refit, reuse and recycle the things I have in my closet and a thrift store score every now and then. I said I was going to practice my sewin' skills and I have been. I started when we were sorting through a clutter pile and I came across some Holly Hobbie patterns my Mother-in-Law had given me. Instead of finding some other place to store them until I was ready to make them, thus crating a new pile somewhere, I decided this was the perfect time for the project. No time is better than the present so.... get to practicing. Maddie was super into it and kept saying, " Make it! Make it!"

Holly Hobbie pillows

I had to reteach myself how to use my sewing machine. This has always been the type of thing that makes me get frustrated really fast, decide it isn't worth it, and give up (or whine to my mom for help). I usually say that I'll do it "later". I even have shelves full of projects started but postponed till "later". That was the next thing I started to tackle this week. I got a little braver and did most of the mending that has been waiting, in some cases, for years. I salvaged some yoga pants for myself, a dress for Katie and a few things that will get passed down to Maddie eventually since they don't fit Katie anymore. The yoga pants are even a size smaller than the ones I have been wearing and fit sooo much better! Score!!

Maddie and I then looked through my stash of patterns and she picked out a dress she liked. In my fabric drawer I found an old Life is good shirt that I had been hoping to salvage somehow. (It had a small hole and has always fit me funny.) I was feeling confident so decided it would be perfect for my first refashion! And it was! Everything went pretty smoothly. I taught myself a lot and I didn't throw any temper tantrums or give up when it was tricky! I am not a quitter. Woohoo! And I have to say I'm pretty proud of the end result. Even Maddie loved it! Katie is also a fan and is requesting to get the next outfit. After that I think I will be confident enough to dismember my own clothes. ;)

Before, during and after! :)

As for my workouts and food tracking this week.... I kicked ass!! I lost the 2 pounds I gained last week plus another 3 bringing me down to 210.2!!!! That is 40 pounds from my top weight. Yay!! I'm starting to plan a mini makeover for when I get under 200. It's so close I can hardly stand it! :)

Laying on the floor after a fun workout.

 
* After reading this to myself I am realizing how so much of my life had been placed into a "later" pile. Exercise? Maybe tomorrow. Eat right? I'll start Monday. Organize the clutter? Let's do it this weekend. Balance the budget? I will in the morning...... Then never follow through. I am sick of not following through. And even worse of setting my goals so low it would be impossible to fail, that is if I set them at all. I know that every day I follow through, is one day further along than I would have been if I hadn't. A year ago if I hadn't started getting on that bike and moving I would still be 250 pounds and wishing I was where I am now or where I will be a year from now as I keep going. No more waiting for later for me. It's spring cleaning time for my "later" piles.*

There is hope!

Well at Friday weigh in I'm afraid it wasn't good news. I gained two pounds. Damn. Ok well I can't say I'm surprised. This wasn't my best week. I didn't track my food for the first three days and my workouts early on in the week were not as intense as they should have been. And if I'm being honest there was an incident where I was spoon deep in some Nutella when I caved to my late night binge habit. I made Josh take it to work and get rid of it the next day. Some day I hope to have more self control but obviously I wasn't ready.

Bear and I going for our first jog together.

By mid week I was tracking again and was pushing harder in my workouts. But more importantly to me, I had noticed quickly what what I was doing wrong and adjusted my behavior and my environment to to get me back on track. I wish I could say that this was easy for me. But it's not. Every day I have to make conscious decisions to work out, to eat healthy food and track it, to drink enough water, and to have a positive attitude. And even though the scale didn't show it this week, I know that on far more days than not I'm making the right choices. So instead of dwelling on this small set back and beating myself up with negative self talk, I've decided to look at how far I've come at this point and be proud.

Maddie stretching with me before our workout.

Another exciting first for me was yesterday. My brother, Steven, agreed to go for a jog with me! He is a cross country style runner whose abilities FAR exceed my own. Even so, I really wanted to share this experience of something that has been important to him and is now becoming important to me. I think I was over eager and tried to show off a little in the beginning, setting the pace a tad too fast for myself. Damn it! I ended up burning out way faster than usual and I didn't go as far as I had hoped. Oh well, that just means I need to keep at it so I can keep up some day. Hopefully that was just the first of many jogs together. :)

Sometimes she insists on being held while I ride the stationary bike.

I've noticed that my clothes are starting to look especially bad as I lose weight and they get baggy and loose. I went through my box of too small clothes that I've had stashed. I was stoked to find that I have dropped two pant sizes!! Since I can't afford to go buy a new wardrobe every time I drop a size I'm gonna need to get creative. My plan is to take some tips from the ReFashionista and attempt to refashion, refit, reuse, and recycle the things I already have occasionally supplemented with an addition from the thrift shop. Cue Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.....! Anyway, I pulled my sewing machine out of its hiding place and thought I would practice with making a couple things for Maddie. And the verdict is....I'm going to need more practice before I do anything drastic to my ill fitting clothes. But there is hope!

Small Victories

This week has been full of struggles and successes. At my weigh in last Friday I was 217 pounds, so my goal for the week was to loose at least 2 pounds to get below 215. On Saturday I went to a 45 minute "Butts and Guts" workout class followed by an hour long boot camp class at Health Yeah! with a couple of my workout buddies. It think one or the other would have been a better choice for me at this stage of the game. I was SUPER sore and pretty useless after that. I normally give myself one day a week to rest my muscles and this week I allowed for Sunday to be that day of recovery.

Then Monday rolls around and I was still a hot mess. I was having a hard time sitting to go to the bathroom, squatting down to do laundry, bending to load the dishwasher, getting down to change diapers and back up again; all the things things being a stay at home mom requires me to do constantly. I could barely stretch without pain so I decided not to work out. At this point I was really whining a lot and pretty grumpy. I then snacked on too many crackers then felt really guilty and mad at myself. Unfazed by my whimpering, my super awesome hubby decided to kick it up a notch and ran a mile for the first time ever! Then set the goal for himself to run a mile every day this week. Go Babe!

He has been waking up at 5 am so he can fit his workout in before he goes to work. So on Tuesday at 7 when I wake up he has already ran his second mile+, taken a shower and is getting ready for work especially bubbly talking about how much he is loving the post running endorphin rush. I'm trying not to be annoyed because I'm STILL sore and don't really want to work out.....but I know I need to.....I have to......so I did. 20 minutes on the bike, 20 minutes strength training and then 20 minutes on the treadmill running a mile and a half in intervals! I was so proud of myself for not falling back into my cycle of excuses I cried a little as I did my cool down. WOOHOOO to small victories!

Source: backonpointe.tumblr.com via Tamara on Pinterest

Wednesday workout was the same as Tuesday. But then we found out the treadmill was going to need some work done and we had to stop using it for the time being. Great! Now what are we gonna do? It was time to take our running to the streets. We drove around the neighborhood and clocked how far a mile was. We had a plan and it seemed like it was going to work fine.

Then, on Thursday, it was raining. Josh was a beast and got through his run without a problem. I debated not going for my run. I mean I did have the two kiddos with me and it was cold and wet, as rain has a tendency of being. But in the end, I decided I couldn't let the weather get in the way of my goals this week and hey, a little rain never hurt anyone, right? I loaded Maddie up in the covered jogging stroller and Katie thought jumping rope in the rain would be fun so she grabbed her favorite jump rope and off we went. In my opinion it is MUCH harder running on the actual road than on a treadmill and the extra weight of pushing the stroller was an added challenge. WHEW! We did intervals of 3 min jogging to 1 minute walking and felt good about it when we returned home soaked. 

The weather was nicer today and I'm jamming out to Immortal as my anthem. Before my morning run I decided to weigh in.....213.8! Sah-weet! -3.2 pounds this week, I'll take that! Goal accomplished. *happy dance* It then continued to be a great day. I was super productive, paid bills, cleaned house, had a dance party with some really rad little kiddos AND registered for Blomsday, The Dirty Dash and Color Me Rad! I can't wait!! :)

I am grateful this week for my husband. He was motivated and focused when I wasn't and kept me on track. He ran a mile+ every day this week! Goal accomplished. <3

Six weeks ago this tie on my pants was tight. :)