Injury and Illness!! What a drag!! : (

This has been a ridiculous week for me. I haven't posted since last Tuesday because I have been either SUPER busy with work or not feeling well still!!

I feel like such a cry baby whiner but Im going to share this with you anyways because I want to be able to look back and see what happened when I think to myself why I haven't lost any weight the past week!!

Well after my chicken nugget issue last week I still tried to keep to my diet as much as possible!! I had a shoot on Wednesday that I supplied lunch, donuts, coffee, soda, etc. for everyone. I didn't eat any of the junk, drank mostly water, and only ate half of a sandwich with no condiments.

Little did I know that the next day I would wake up in EXTREME pain from my shoulder hurting. Yes, I am stupid because I lifted over a 100lb lighting kit by myself!! I should have known better but when Im in work mode no one can tell me otherwise!! UGH!!!!

Well I ended up layed up in bed pretty much until yesterday!! But, yesterday I ended up with some weird stomach bug. That on its own was not pleasant at all!!

So here I am today!! Hoping to start things back up!! Any advice will be HIGHLY appreciated as to how I can jump start this weight loss thing back up!!! LoL

Couldn't wait!

Well I couldn't wait the full month to post pics because I'm pumped! I never thought I would have progress like this! My husband is at work, so I couldn't get the full body pics, but my belly is really what I'm most proud of so far :0) Still have a ways to go, but I like where I'm headed!!!! For those of you who didn't see my before pics, they are in the first post on the blog!

Addicted!!

I'm completely addicted to being healthy lol. I'm dropping weight like crazy now, and every day I notice a difference :0) I never thought it would be this fun or easy. The fun is coming up with new food ideas (healthy ones), and the easy is just because I'm use to doing it now. Plus being a vegetarian is easier than I ever though for me. I still eat fish, so last night I made the best dinner!!!! A curry rainbow trout, roasted brussel sprouts, and rice. So yummmmy! I'm eating breakfast EVERY morning right when I get up, eating a sensible lunch (sometimes just a protein shake), and then dinner is a normal dinner with my hubby eaten before 6pm, with no snacks after. Well I've still been drinking my wine so that's like a snack lol. Ive had more energy, and been happier! Other changes I made, were switching from 2% milk to Low fat milk, and not letting myself get to the belly rumbling hungry. I drink at least 2 18oz cups of water a day. Usually 4 though. I'm really enjoying this!!

I went to lunch with my Mom on Friday, and there were NO vegetarian meals. I decided to eat the only thing without meat (well land meat) and got this shrimp over pasta. I ate most of the shrimp, and only a few bites of pasta. It was way to heavy for me! I was so proud, because before it would have been gone!!!

My husband is also sticking to healthy foods! He loves what I cook, but I still bought meat for him. So far hes not asking for it though! Last night sitting on the couch,  he was grabbing what belly fat rolls I still have left, and saying "I'm just enjoying them before there gone" lol. Hes nuts, but it made me feel good knowing he knows they are outta here!!!!!

Here's to another healthy day :0)
(Alaina)

Calories!

Well I never really thought about calories before, but now that I found out how many I'm supposed to have a day, and I'm really trying to stay around that, I realize how many I was probably eating before. (OMG) Even the healthiest things are calories, and I was eating some junk! No more "oh I only ate 10 pringles today", or "I just had a hand full of Mrs. Fields popcorn". And then when I find out that the wine I drink at night counts as 200 calories a glass for me, another (OMG) came out of my mouth. Well 3 glasses of wine a night is being counted as 600 calories. that's almost half of my daily amount. Good thing I'm eating REALLY well during the day lol. Ive also decided on a very small dinner every night. I'm going to eat bigger, earlier meals instead of eating a lot at night! Hopefully another small change in the right direction!!

(Alaina)

We all need to know were not alone :0)

First off I want to say thank you to Missy for being there to talk to this morning!!! Its really nice to know that another woman goes through the same stuff I do! It had nothing to do with weight loss, just family (husband) stuff lol. I was thinking of starting another blog just for the stay at home Mommy and Wife, but we decided to stick to just this one, and incorporate our daily Mommy/Wife challenges too! So here goes my post for yesterday :0)

My husband and I barely slept the night before last because my daughter was up screaming for over an hour straight at times. Teething sucks!!!!! Its hard enough when I don't get sleep, but add my husband (who sleeps in another room) to the mix, and he is miserable the next day at work. I feel so bad, but sometimes there's nothing I can do to quiet her. I had started to sleep train her right before Christmas, and she did great for 2 nights!! 8 hours of sleep Woohoooo! Well then she started teething lol. Its worse than waking up for feedings every 3 hours :0( Now not only are we both tired, but when he punches out from work, and gets home he wants to unwind and play some computer games with his friends. Ive never had a problem with that, but when I'm just as tired, and my job doesn't end with the punch of a time card I may get a bit attitudy (if that's a word lol). Well yesterday was just like that. I felt bad for him, but after a day of Rowan fussing in my ear, I got snippy. I just wish I had a happy medium, because my husband is a hard worker, and just an all around great guy, so I cant really complain, but of course I get overwhelmed sometimes, I'm only human right?!? We had to talk and come up with a plan of action. We have been GREAT at communicating through our 5 year relationship, so fighting about stuff doesn't happen often, and when it does it usually ends up in laughter!! He decided that right after work, he showers, and then its Rowan and Daddy time for a bit. Mommy can run to the store, take a shower if I haven't, or maybe just sit and stare at a wall if I want haha. I LOVE THIS IDEA :0)

Even though I was exhausted all day, I still ate right, and drank lots of water! I was proud of that! I started with 2 eggs, and a piece of toast, and then I had a protein shake for lunch. Around 3 I got a little hungry so I ate a few pringles BOOOOO lol. Probably only 10 of them. For dinner I had leftover pasta with the spinach wine sauce. I was craving chocolate for some reason last night though. Thank god I had none in the house or it would have been bad lol. No exercise, but like I said exhausted!

Well here's to a new day, and so far its going good!!

“It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
― Marilyn Monroe

(Alaina)

My husband the dinner time vegetarian LOL

Well last night my husband told me that he is going to be a vegetarian too. He loves everything I'm making so much that he wants in, "until he wants ribs on the grill" in his own words hahaha. Then he said, he will be a dinner time, or night time vegetarian lol. I guess its his way of saying hes cool with eating healthy :0) That works for me!!

Yesterday was a great day for eating and exercising! Cereal in the morning, tuna fish sandwich for lunch, and a nice pasta with spinach and wine sauce! Oh and roasted asparagus on the side! Then I snacked on spinach chips, and only a handful of my Mrs. Fields popcorn :0) Couldn't help myself! Around 330 I took Ms. Row Row for a walk around the neighborhood, and if I haven't said it before, my neighborhood is all steep hills. My legs were burning, and I went further than I usually do. Then after that we did some yoga, and some squats! Gotta love squats NOT lol. It feels good to be doing all this though. Before I would eat whatever, sit on my butt most of the day, and I didn't feel like I was giving my all to Rowan. If you don't feel your best, I feel like your kids don't get your best either.

I still want to learn how to make things with tofu, but I'm really scared lol. Ive never tried it, and can only picture it tasting gross. I'm willing to try it though!!

I'm off to hang with my little angel, and I'm already feeling great about today!!! Lets see how it goes :0)

“Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”
― Marilyn Monroe
(Alaina)

Cheating on your diet will come back to haunt you........somehow!! HAHAHAHAHA

Some days can be challenging to stick with a diet and the bad foods can be super tempting to eat. Sometimes we give in. I think I was being told somehow that giving in is a bad idea.

I was having a pretty successful day today even though I wasn't feeling very well all day. I drank my juices made with 100% veggies and fruit and made sure to stay kind of busy today. Cleaned a little, worked in my office, chatted with Alaina!! Nice calm day.

Once I picked my son up from school after my daughter got off the bus I decided to go to the store and try out Alainas roasted brussel sprout recipe. I had never even TRIED a brussel sprout in my life so I didn't know what to expect. I made them and maybe burned them a little but still edible. LoL I ate almost all of them because I was super hungry and craving FOOD not juice. They weren't bad at all. I wasnt a fan of the after taste but that may have been because I burned them. LOL

Anyways, after eating them I had to clean up from the kids dinner. I put all the left overs in a tupperware container. (Rice, corn, and chicken nuggets). It was making me want to eat it even though I was full from the brussel sprouts and corn. I am trying so hard not to eat anything to unhealthy for me and chicken nuggets are not good for you at all. But they looked so tasty!! I couldn't resist.

I grabbed one out of the container. Not like normal people eat them but with a fork. They are finger foods so why with a fork you ask?? Well, I thought stupidly to myself, "Well if I eat it with a fork I can't just shove a bunch of them in my mouth. That first bite is always so good I'll ending up grabbing them all and eating the rest of them. Its more effort to eat with a fork then your hands. Ill go with the fork." I know, what an idiot I am. And it makes it even worse that I am sharing these stupid thoughts!! hahahahaha

Well that's when it happened. I took a bite. While that bite was worth every ounce of taste on my tounge, it hurt like a son of a bitch. So now your probably asking yourself why it would hurt. Well I will tell you. I stabbed the shit out of myself on the inside of my cheek with that stupid fork!!! Once again, I'm an idiot! hahahahahahahahaha

After chewing the up that chicken, with it coated in that blood taste, I stood there feeling like the idiot that you are all probably thinking I was. I had just realized that Karma EXISTS!!!!! I was trying to cheat and lie to myself by letting myself eat the crap I was attempting and some what successfully eating. There fore karma gave me a nasty little punch in the, um, errrr.......cheek!!!

I felt horrible because I just cheated myself and now back to square one!! Maybe I sound like an addict trying to kick a habit. But I am trying so hard to eat healthy after years of doing nothing. And changing those habits are just as hard!! I guess the moral of this story is, if you are going to be on a diet and make the right choices DO IT ALL or don't do it at all. Or something bad will happen. It may be weight gain, health problems, or getting stabbed in the cheek with a fork. But whatever it is you won't be happy with the end result!!

(Melissa)

Not feeling so good : (

Today has been rough so far. And its only 1:45 (central time). I do not feel good at all!! I woke up with a stuffy nose and sore throat. And I have NO energy at all.

Thank god for my juicer today because I also have no appetite with this cold. I made sure to at least make myself something to drink. 3 apples, 2 oranges and about 8 large strawberries. I need all the vitamin C I can get right now. I normally would crack open a package of Emergen-C right about now but I am trying so hard to stay away from anything of the sort!!

Today was ALSO supposed to be the day I started walking with a friend every day. And of course........that didn't happen either. I probably could have made it if I really wanted to and it would have been good to sweat out some of this funk. But NOPE. I didn't do it. And I don't think its going to happen at all today either.

I hate colds. I hate feeling sick. I hate feeling like I can't do anything because of it. But, I will try to get better asap so I can make sure that this cold doesn't drag me down. I do not want my motivation for a healthier life to be taken away by some viral cold that makes me lazy!! IT WILL NOT HAPPEN THIS TIME!!! Thank goodness for this blog. I can be held accountable for everything. Including days like today.

(Melissa)

So far so good :0)

I'm excited to say that so far being a vegetarian has been fun, and delicious! The only reason I second guessed my thoughts about it years ago was thinking I wouldn't enjoy things I had to eat, or thought it would be more difficult. Its not (for me anyway). I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like veggies lol.

For breakfast I had cereal as usual, then for lunch I made us a tasty tuna fish sandwich!! I toasted the bread, melted some cheese on it, and added some lettuce! I snacked on almonds, and gave myself a little treat. A handful of Mrs. Fields Milk Chocolate toffee crunch popcorn :0) Last night we had a delicious dinner, and watching my hubby eat pork chops I had no desire what so ever for them. I made rice pilaf, roasted brussel sprouts (YUMMY), and had a salad with some added spinach! Over the weekend we went shopping for some protein rich foods for me! When we got home I made some spinach chips. My husband loved them lol. Never would have thought, spinach chips, and brussel sprouts would be something he would eat!! Its nice to know that me getting healthy is helping him to be more healthy too! Hes even taking vitamins with me! I spoke with a pharmacist yesterday to make sure I was taking the right multi vitamin and she assured me I was. I'm getting everything I would be lacking without meat, and probably more protein than I was getting eating the small amount of meat that I was.

Well going the whole weekend eating healthy, no meat, and drinking a ton of water, I have so much more energy!!!!! I love the way I'm feeling, and its making me even more motivated to lose this weight, and stay healthy!! I will put the recipes below for the spinach chips, and roasted brussel sprouts! You wouldn't think brussel sprouts could be this yummy! I would eat them for a snack if I had some more, but we polished off the whole batch last night :0)

ROASTED BRUSSEL SPROUTS:
*Preheat oven to 400deg
*One container of brussel sprouts
*Cut off the brown bottom
*Cut them in half
*In a bowl, cover them with olive oil
*One clove of fresh crushed garlic
*Salt and Pepper to taste
*Toss them until completely covered
*Bake in roasting pan one layer for 40 mins turning them once halfway through
They should come out soft, but dark, almost burnt looking.

SPINACH CHIPS:
*Preheat oven to 250
*Baby spinach
*Cover baking sheet with wax paper
*Spray with olive oil
*Put a single layer of spinach on paper
*Spray top with olive oil
*Season to taste (I used Cajun powder, salt and pepper)
*Bake until dehydrated (about a half hour to an hour)

I also wanted to say that weekends are tough for me to post, so if I get time I will, but sometimes its just not easy to get on here.

Stay healthy :0)
(Alaina)

Restaurant Gift Cards...........Good or bad gift???

As I've mentioned in a past post my husband is out of town helping his family Monday through Friday right now. It stinks but when the weekend hits we are like teenagers again and get all excited to see each other.

This weekend, the kids (yes both) slept over my parents house!! It was amazing. I think we only get one night every 3 months with no kids. For some parents that wouldn't be an issue. But for me, I need a break and some alone time with the hubby a little more than that. I love my children dearly. I would do anything for them. But time away every now and then is fine with me. LoL

Anyways, getting back on track here. So without the kids being at home, we decided we didn't want to just sit at home and do nothing. We debated on what we wanted for dinner. We went back and forth from Subway to Burger King (yes I said it LoL because Im craving protein and carbs so bad). I then remembered that we were given a gift card to Chili's for Christmas from my husbands aunt. So that is where we went!!

We got there and the smells were overwhelming. I wanted EVERYTHING on the menu. But I took a good look at it and realized how BAD everything was for my diet. Until I noticed the LAST page of the menu. It had all of the low calorie items on there. Looking at it at first glance I didn't care for anything that I saw. So I started flipping the pages back to the yummy looking stuff. Steaks, chicken, ribs, quesadillias. The options seemed endless.

Now, as much as I wanted a huge juicy burger, I ended up flipping back to that last page again. I ACTUALLY read the ingredients and looked at the calories per meal. I decided to take a shot. I ended up ordering a chicken and veggie taco platter at 375 calories. The taco's were whole wheat and there were no cheeses. It was delicious. I didn't even end up using sour cream (which I love). Just the pico de gallo (dont think I spelled that right LoL). SOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!!

Im proud to say that I made a good decision. Was going to a restaurant and having to chose between delicious and healthy a good idea when first starting a diet?? Probably not. Did I struggle to make the right decision?? Yes. But I did it. And that tells me that I can do it again if I just remember why I am choosing healthy over delicious!!

If you receive a gift card from someone and think you can not use it because you are on a diet, think again. Just find it within yourself to make that right choice!!! : )

(Melissa)

Juice is good (As long as you add fruit LoL)

I got really distracted by my family yesterday (which is never a bad thing to spend time with your family) and ended up "forgetting to post. So today I will probably post a few times.

We started juicing yesterday! (We as in myself and my husband) It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The only thing that stinks is cleaning the stupid machine!! LoL!! We made a great apple strawberry juice for breakfast (about 6 apples and 40 or so strawberries split in half between the 2 of us). It was delicious. And for lunch.........oh the lunch. It was Parsley, Spinach, Celery, Tomato, and Carrots (NOT GOOD AT ALL). I ended up adding some Franks Red Hot Sauce to it just for some flavor and it wasn't that bad.

I had to choke down the lunch juice but after I was done with it, I realized that it wasn't that bad. It was a little chunky (because I didn't buy a top of the line juicer, just a kind of inexpensive one), but I think once I do it every day it won't be that bad. Maybe today I will add an apple to the mix of veggies just to add a little extra flavor!!

I didn't exercise yesterday but I did, in fact clean out the garage, which as most of you know can be a grueling task.

I have a friend that lives a couple of miles away that said she would walk with me every day that I don't have a shoot in the morning or have a deadline with an edit!! We are starting on Monday and I can't wait. It will help me be motivated to do it all the time with or without her. Just that extra push of having someone with you and someone that you "can't disappoint" to keep you going!

I CAN'T WAIT until February 1st to get on the scale and see my progress. Im not too concerned with the number so much as the inches but think if I keep up this progress then that number will start to drop!! Or at least I hope!! LoL

(Melissa)

Ive made up my mind!!!! No more meat!!

Well this New Year, New Me thing just got a whole lot more serious!!! I'm going to 'try' to become a vegetarian! Ive thought about it before, and I'm not a huge fan of meat anyway, but was scared about getting he nutrients another way. I was told it can be difficult so I just continued eating the way I always did. Well come to find out, its not as hard as I thought. I love eggs, peanut butter, nuts, and especially love veggies!!!! The main thing I'm taking out of my diet is protein, and I like all kinds of protein rich foods!

The #1 reason I'm seriously considering this now, is that last night I had dinner with my hubby as usual. We had pork, and pork is the meat I enjoy the most (which isn't saying all that much). I took one bite, and didn't really want it. Then it dawned on me. Every single dinner I make, I eat a couple bites of meat, and finish everything else. I CAN DO THIS!!!! I may miss a juicy burger at a cookout, but that's about it. I love fish, so I may throw that in the mix every now and then, but tonight I'm headed to the grocery store to shop for my new lifestyle!! I'm really excited! More excited about this healthy decision than Ive been about anything since quitting smoking 7 years ago!!!

I will definitely be posting about how easy or difficult this is for me, and my progress along the way with possibly some added weight losss!!! Woohooo

(Alaina)

Its freeeeezing in MA! Lucky Missy in FL lol

So yesterday I didn't go for a walk AGAIN lol. Its so cold, and to bundle Rowan up, and take her out in that just seems wrong. I know babies can stand the cold when bundled up, but I don't want to go out in it so why would she lol. I did some squats, and sit ups with weights instead, and played with my little angel!! I cant wait for Spring already!!!

Food was the same, and I did do better than I thought I would being so exhausted! I cant wait to go grocery shopping again to get the ingredients for some new stuff I looked up! I'm going to try to make spinach chips, and roasted brussel sprouts!! Doing this for almost a week has given me many more ideas for yummy stuff!!

Its been tough on my husband getting dinners cooked earlier, but hes being a good sport. We used to eat around 7-730 sometimes even 8 everyday, and I'm trying to eat dinner before 630. There has been a couple days Ive eaten without him because hes not hungry yet, but its gotta be done :0)

And last, to finish up my day, I tried on my size 9 (favorite pair) of jeans, and they are so tight that it gives me the biggest muffin top I think Ive ever seen haha. I need to stop torturing myself with these jeans all the time. I put them high up in the closet after! Out of sight out of mind right?!?

(Alaina)

Falling down............but I WILL get right back up!!

So yesterday was an AWFUL day!! My husband works out of town and is gone most of the time M-F. He just came home yesterday from a longer 7 day stint. When he got home he was super hungry and the only thing in the house to eat was salad or hot dogs. He didn't want to eat that so he asked me what I wanted for take out. I told him I was fine and I would eat a salad. He said he was ordering Chinese Food.

I had every intention on still eating a salad. Until........he brought home Chicken Lo Mein, Crab Rangoons, Egg Rolls, and Steamed Dumplings. It was an awesome spread if I WASN'T trying to lose weight and eat right. That is when I broke. Hahahahaha!! I could't take it sitting there seeing and smelling all of this delicious food. I dove right in and said to myself that I would just be better the next day. I at soooooo much it wasn't even funny.

I felt so bad this morning when I thought about how much I ate but that didn't stop me from going to Waffle House for breakfast, just for the opportunity to have a meal with my husband WITHOUT the kids. And of course I still ate the deliciously bad for you crap they serve.

After eating like crap for a good portion of 12-14 hours I had to tell myself to stop and think. So I did. Then I made my husband watch something I watched the other day. "Fat, Sick, and nearly Dead". It was awesome. All about a man who did a juice detox diet for 60 days and lost about 90lbs AND changed the way his autoimmune disease was affecting him (for the positive). It definitely inspired up to make a change and quick!! (Even though I already had decided this for the new year, I still had to get him on board or things would never be successful for me!)

We bought a juicer tonight and a TON of fruits and veggie!! I have decided NOT to do what this man did in his documentary, but to have juice for breakfast and lunch, and then have a SENSIBLE dinner. Watch my portion sizes, and try so hard to break away from the snacking. Also continue on with trying to walk every day (while adding other things when my body starts to get acclimated to the exercise).

I think if I can get him on board and start making juices for my kids as well it will be way easier for me to be able to stick with it and make sure I eat healthy and lose this weight and those inches that I want to lose!!!

(Melissa)

Uhggg!

Well I did pretty good yesterday again, with a little Mommy and Me Yoga too! Ate the same 1 cup of Special K for breakfast, lunch was a healthy choice, and for dinner I was cooking shake n bake chicken.. I was good and made shake n bake for my hubby, and mine was just seasoned and baked with some olive oil!! I also had bought Turmeric the other day and seasoned with that last night.. I really liked it! I just found out what it was recently, and if its a good for you seasoning, I'm gonna try it!! Here's a little bit about it!  http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=78

 Found out I was drinking PLENTY of water from someone elses post who also thought 8 ounces was more than a measured cup lol. I drink 4 or more cups of water a day from the 'party cups' plastic cups. Like the ones you use for beer pong lol. That's 16 ounces of water per cup, so I'm doing good :0)

I may have a problem with motivation today :0( Cranky, teething baby at night = Cranky, sleepy Mommy in the morning. I cant wait until these teeth pop out!!!!! I'm already just staring, and zoning out and its only 9am. I'm drinking my coffee (1 sug, and 2% milk) and hoping that will help a bit.

Well I'm off to start my day! I'm hoping to do just as well today, even if I'm struggling to keep my eyes open :0)

(Alaina)

Salads, Soda, and more Soda Ugh!!!!

I was so good yesterday!! Had a nice bowl of oatmeal and some fruit for lunch, ate a small salad for lunch, and had a nice HUGE salad for dinner!! It was so good!! I also went for a 2 mile walk!! Way to go me. BUT, and this is a HUGE BUT (hahahahaha), I drank 2 cans of soda yesterday!!

I am addicted to soda. Its a horrible thing to drink and has so many calories. It bloats you and makes you feel like crap. And gives you GAS!! (I burp like a man every time I drink it). It it is just so dang good. I can't help it. If I don't drink at least one soda a day, i literally have withdrawal symptoms. I get headaches, shaky, too tired, and most of all grumpy.

So I am trying slowly but surly to ween myself off of it. I used to drink at least a 6 pack of Coke a day. Now I am trying to only drink one until I don't even need that. I know I need to go all out if I am going to diet. I need to make sure I eat AND drink right. But (once again with the excuses LoL) I don't want to give it up cold turkey. I don't want my kids and husband to hate me because I don't have soda. You would think I am talking about a drug or alcohol. I have researched it tough, and soda addiction is a real thing. Crazy, right??

Well I will beat it!! Hahahaha...........Seriously, I will make sure my the end of January that Soda is no longer in my body!! That is a promise!!!

(Melissa)

Did I get hotter or do I just feel that way ;0)

Good Morning!!!! Yesterday was a great day!!!! I just felt good! I put on my new VS yoga pants, cleaned with Rowan, ate great, drank water alllll day, and didn't drink wine until 6pm! Just because of feeling like I did good, I felt better about myself in general! The only thing I didn't do yesterday was exercise :0(  Booooo

The meals were about the same as the other day, but for dinner I had a healthy choice meal. Is it me, or do those thing leave you staring in the fridge for more after haha. I was good and only ate a couple olives! I'm sure eventually my stomach will get used to smaller portions.

Last but definitely not least, lately feeling the way I have been about myself, my husband and I have been a little distant if ya know what I mean. Well he definitely noticed a difference in me yesterday ;0)

Moral of today's post is, your only going to feel like crap about yourself if your not doing anything about it! Once you kick yourself in the butt, your self esteem gets a jump start too!!!

(Alaina)

Lunch Proud!!

Just wanted to post real quick about my yummy, but pretty good for you lunch!! Instead of a sandwich that I realllly wanted, I at two pieces of swiss cheese, each rolled up with a piece of roasted turkey breast, and a side of 3 huge olives stuffed with garlic, and a BIG glass of water!!!!! Im just full enough, and no bread or mayo Woohooo! I watched the Dr. Oz show last week, and saw how good for you olives are, and I know garlic is, so put them together and you have a delicious healthy snack :0) So that is why im Lunch Proud today!!

Good Morning :0)

 I'm sorry for not posting yesterday, but it was a busyyy day! I got this crazy burst of energy, and cleaned my whole house, did tons of laundry, cooked dinner, it was my husbands birthday, and not to mention, my daughter is cutting a tooth :0( I had a pretty good day, except for trying to calm Rowan down when the ibuprofen wore off.
My meals yesterday were pretty good! We had done a really good grocery shopping on Sunday, so I had lots of healthy options in the house! I started with a coffee, and a bowl (well one measured cup in a bowl) of cereal, had a banana in between, and a turkey sandwich for lunch! I drank nothing but water all day, and for dinner, we had baked chicken, potatoes, and green beans! Pretty good I think :0) I did eat some pringles around 3 Oooops, but I only ate the recommended serving amount. Before it would have been half the container :0/

For exercise, like I said I cleaned the whole house, and the laundry is 3 floors up! I also tried out some Mommy and Me Yoga moves with Rowan! It made it easy because she giggled the whole time!!! Needless to say, I was sweating for most of the day lol.

One of the big changes I've wanted to make was my wine intake everyday. I love to have my wine while I'm making dinner, and hanging out at night with my hubby, but I cant just have one. I end up drinking until bedtime. Its not a lot. I sit with a glass of wine for a couple hours, but from what I've heard, your body burns off the alcohol first, so your food just sits and turns to fat. Yuckkk. I used to have a glass around 4, and now I've pushed it back to 6 or 7. At least I've eaten first, and it will cut down how many glasses I've had before bed. My goal is to have 1 glass a night if that. I do enjoy it alot though!! It may be the toughest thing to change for me, but I'm willing to try haha.

Well that was my day yesterday!! I think Missy is planning to post at night, but I think the morning is going to be the best time for me! At night, my husband likes to play his online games, and I'm trying to get Row ready for bed. Then of course if I don't go to bed with her, or around the same time, I lose that sleep, because shes up at the same time regardless :0) Thanks for listening, and I'm wishing all of us a healthy, productive day!!!!!!!

Being real!!

I (Melissa) wish I could have posted this yesterday but of course my kids were still home and needed my attention!! After 2 LONG LONG weeks of Christmas vacation they are finally back at school and ready to involve myself fully in my quest to a new me!!

Yesterday wasn't the greatest day for me as far as diet and exercise go!! I went to the grocery store and bought myself a really good salad to eat for dinner. But instead of making sure that I ate right and exercised, I ended up hanging around with my kids all day and had a work meeting at my home later on in the evening.

I didn't eat until 7:00 last night. NOTHING!! I finally sat down after a long busy day of playing super heros, watching movies, and my work meeting, and had my salad. STUPID ME FOR NOT EATING all day long. I ended up getting really hungry after I ate my salad and starting snacking on pretzels. Then chocolate. Then a hot pocket. UGH!!!! NO SELF CONTROL!!!

I know that this is a HORRIBLE habit!! But I am determined to change this TODAY!! I already had a serving of Weight Control Oatmeal and a cup of coffee with only 1 tsp of sugar and unsweetened cream. It was hard but I did it!!

I don't want to blog about what I'm going to do. I need to blog about what I have or have not done. So I'm not going to fill your heads with all this crap about how I am going to go for a walk today and try to eat better. If I do that you all will think that I am doing it. I want to let you know when I have actually done it or if I did not!! I won't be true to myself on this quest if I just say "I'm going to....." or "I plan on doing.....". I want to be able to look back at the months of working on this when it feels like I'm stagnant and see what I did or didn't do to make things work again!!

I am just like most people (unless you have that freakishly weird motivation to follow a strict routine every day) where I need to walk into something and not just dive in head first!! It will be a long slow process but I feel as though I CAN do this!! I will make this happen!!!!

New Year, New Me!

My name is Alaina, and I'm 29 years old. I'm married, and have a beautiful baby girl who's 5 months old. We tried for years to have her with a lot of disapointments along the way. We were finally blessed with Rowan on July 21st 2011! I have never been a vain person or worried to much about weight, but I just dont feel like me anymore. I was 157lbs, and a size 9 when I got pregnant, and happy with that. I always worked retail, so being on your feet all day 7 days a week was like my workout. Today I am a stay at home Mom weighting 173lbs, and a sized 13. With an infant its hard to find time for a shower let alone excersize, and a healthy diet. Besides winter is here, and I know im not the only one who goes into hibernation :0)  Im a wine drinker at night,  a snacker, and havent been very motivated lately. Its these little habbits that are keeping me chunky. Its time to leave the excuses behind!! Im taking back my body, and setting a goal of 150lbs This blog is to document my progress, struggles, and time management to help myself, and others who are on the same path to a better way of life! Im so happy to have reconnected with my friend Missy of 18 years, and am even more happy to have the support of another Mother/Woman just trying to keep it together. When she asked me to be a part of this I jumped at this chance to combine forces, and reach our goals! This is the new year, and so many people jump on the bandwagon with the weightloss thing, but one of the great things about a blog, is it can be used to hold yourself accountable! So heres to the New Year, New Me, and I hope I can help others to know it is possible, and your not alone! Im posting my starting pics below!

January 1, 2012, Day 1 to the New Me!!!

This is my first time Blogging. So if Im not good at it you are SOOOOO allowed to laugh at me!! :)

My name is Melissa and I am 29 years old. I am a wife and mother of 2 awesome children. Delanie, age 9, and Blake, age 4. They are my world. My life. My everything. I work from home operating a small photography business that I hope in the next year or so it blossoms to be something a lot larger!! My life is very crazy all the time. Taking care of my kids (who

m are in school most of the day while I work but still hard to do while working from home), operating my business, housework, and taking care of and loving my husband. Sounds like almost every other mother out there.

I have always been pretty thin. Never too thick, but have always had "curves". Even after having both of my children it wasn't too much of a challenge for me to lose weight. But I never did it in a healthy way. I always just NEVER ate and stayed really busy.

In May of 2009 I had to have surgery on my shoulder that put me out of com

ission for even the simplist tasks. I was always having to take pain medication to ease my pain. 3 surgeries later and 8 months of taking pain meds I finally said that was enough. So I stopped taking them and BLEW UP LIKE A WOOD TICK ATTACHED TO A DOG!!!!

I really feel like I went from 135-170 overnight!! It was awful. None of my clothing fit me, my face was so fat, my butt expanded to an ungodly width, and my thighs were huge. I couldn't stand looking at myself in the mirror. And my poor husband was SOL in the sack. LoL And I was really depressed with my physical state!! (Pain and looks)

Finally after about 6 months I was able to move again and could use my arm. I found out that I was really good at photography and loved every aspect of it. So I got busy!! Taking classes, learning, moving, being BUSY!!!

I started getting on the scare once a week and noticed a small drop in weight each week. I finally hit a point where I was at 150 and it wouldn't go down!! And that is where I am at today!! Not to mention my nice big muffin top, love handles, and arms the size of Alaska!! I still have some bad stretchy skin on my belly that looks all wrinkly and NOT FLATTERING AT ALL!!

Recently I reconnected with a GREAT friend from the past!! We have been friends for 18 years now after a few years of not a lot of communication (besides social networking). And of course, we picked up right where we left off!! Alaina is also a mommy of a 5 month old little girl. She was always the "SUPER

SKINNY ONE" of our group and has been bitching with me about our newly found "chunk"!! We decided to take on the challenge together (as it is always easier if you have someone doing it with you even though we are 1,100+ miles away from each other).

We collectively decided to write blog posts every day posting how we are doing with our weight loss as inspiration to ourselves, each other, and whoever else out there would like to hear about our challenges, successes, and struggles on this path to a new body!!

I currently weigh 150 standing at 5'6", as I previously stated, and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be back to the wonderful 135 that I was!! But fit this time!! LoL I know some of you out there are probably thinking that Im crazy for thinking Im chunky at that weight. But when you are used to something its hard to be something else!!

So today is the first day to a new me!! And hopefully with my help, a new Alaina as well!! And yes, we are being SUPER BRAVE and posting before pictures for everyone to see!!!

Dont mind the photo quality!! My 9 year old braved it and took them for me!! LoL I am hoping to look like I did when I was 21 again by the time I am done!! (Hey a girl can dream!!!)