Tuesday, August 27, 2013

5 Tips for Maintaining (continuing to lose) after Rapid Weightloss

So here I am at 84.8lbs down with 10.2 to go to hit Lifetime at Weight Watchers and 15.2 to go to lose 100 (because let's face, who doesn't want to say, "I lost 100lbs!"... It just sounds better than "I lost 95!")  As most of you know I lost my first 25lbs fairly slowly through over a year at Weight Watchers.  Then, over the course of 14 weeks I lost about 55lbs doing a rapid weightloss/healthy eating program with a Nutritionist.  And now I'm back at Weight Watchers and down 5 more pounds from the last 10 weeks (boy did everything slow back down!).

When you lose a lot of weight quickly it's mental.  When you lose ANY weight it's mental because it goes a little something like this:  At one point, I was 250lb woman.  I ate like a 250lb woman.  I thought like a 250lb woman.  Now I'm a 165lb woman.  But I can still eat like a 250lb woman.  Just stick a bowl of queso in front of me and watch me put the food away.  I'll ALWAYS be able to eat like that.  It's just the sad reality because my mind has been there, my stomach has been stretched that far... it's possible!  And a lot of people - wether they do rapid weightloss or not - gain weight back at some point.  It happens.  Christmas rolls around and it's no longer appealing to eat like the weight you are or want to be, you want to eat like you used to be because hello! Fudge! Cookies! Rich, salty food galore!  I completely, completely, completely understand!  



And so today, I'm sharing with you my tips for maintaining your loss and still losing when you transition out of a program (or just switch to a program that's more of "what real life looks like now") and into learning to eat like you want to eat the rest of your life to look how you want to look the rest of your life!


Plan Ahead
The last two weeks I've posted on Instagram my plunder of fruits (and one time) veggies after I had chopped everything up for the week.  This is something I started doing recently, but oh it is so vital!

A typical week in produce for my family of four (a man, a woman, and two toddler boys who want to eat every hour) looks like this: 1 watermelon, 1-2 canteloupes, 1-2lbs strawberries, 8 apples, about 20 bananas (purchased throughout the week), 2-3lbs of grapes, 2-4 oranges, 2 bunches of romaine lettuce or 1 2-3lb bag of salad, 1 head of cauliflower, 1lb fresh green beans, 1lb bag baby carrots, 2 cloves of garlic, red onion, pickles, 4-6 tomatoes, 2 sweet potatoes, 2-5lb bag of potatoes (lasts 2-3 weeks).  We eat a LOT of produce.  Produce, milk, and meat is where we spend the bulk of our grocery budget.


Anyway, usually the day after I shop or the night I shop after I've recovered, I go on a chopping frenzy.  It always starts with the strawberries and ends with the watermelon.  Typically my kids are awake when I do this and are watching TV or playing and my baby E (who's not a baby -- he's almost 2) figures out what I'm doing and gets about 4 bowls of the various fruit as it's chopped.  He's my fruit loving kid!  I chop, bag or box the cold stuff, put the room temperature fruit in the fruit bowl and walk away.  

The BEAUTY in this is that is now easier to go get watermelon than it is to make a bowl of popcorn.  It takes me as much effort to give my kids a bowl of strawberries pieces as it does to pour them a bowl of goldfish.  It makes choosing to throw together cauliflower chips almost as easy as eating potato chips.  It makes salad so easy.  It's just a good decision.  My "stock pile" usually lasts 5-6 days and by the end of it I'm ready to do it all again.



Keep Moving

Most people fall in love with exercising.  I did!  It's addictive now.  And no, it's not addictive like I need to train hours a day.  I still max out around an hour and spend an hour of my day working out only 1-2 days a week, but when I'm in my rhythm, I need that 20-30 minute run or that 25 minute workout video every day.  And right now, that's what my body expects!  It needs that to feel better and healthier.  And it pays off!  Even in weeks I'm up in my weight, I'm down or the same in my measurements.  And even though I've only lost 5lbs in the last 10 weeks, I've seen my stomach develop definition and 10 weeks ago it was still quite flabby!  Moving also continues to motivate you to eat well.  I make better choices because I've already chosen to put all this effort in work in so reaching for popcorn is less appealing.  And if you're a Mom, it's SUCH a great break!  I love starting my day running because it's doing something for me.  It makes the demands of the rest of the day easier to take.



Don't Buy What You Can't Deny Yourself

Chips! Cookies!  Popcorn!  About 2 weeks after my big results diet, I had free reign and so I bought rice cake chips.  They were delicious.  So delicious in fact I waited until my husband and kids were in bed one night and ate the WHOLE BAG.  It felt terrible and I felt again like I was just a 250lb person living in a 165lb body waiting to become a 250lb person again.  So I don't buy those anymore!  Recently my grocery store had Pop Chips for 99 cents and people love those things so I bought a bag!  Same problem.  I know I need to buy chips.  My husband who has weight management down loves them in his lunches and my kids get them a couple times a week so I buy chips I don't like they do.  IE salt & vinegar or dill pickle flavor (ew!).  I also try not to buy goldfish for the kids and instead get pretzels because I don't like pretzels very much.  And as far as desserts, it's strictly graham crackers, marshmallows, vanilla wafers, and animal cookies - nothing I like much so I'm not tempted to dive in!  Popcorn I bought again lately and while I've controlled myself with it, I see it as a problem.  I'm trying to decide now if it's a treat or a bad influence.  I'm tracking it and controlling myself but those 7 points of buttery goodness are not good for me at all!



Be Consistent 
I've said this before.  Eat the same things.  This is what skinny people do.  My best friend Reagan literally eats a half of sandwich with a few chips or a cup of soup for lunch every single day.  Even at a lunch out she'll order this.  It's her thing.  And she loves it!  I see this in a lot of slimmer friends and I've tried to adopt the habit.  Today my Mom brought us McDonalds to the park.  She and I always get the Southwestern Grilled Chicken salad.  While I was tempted to stray and enjoy a burger, I knew I'd have a better burger later this week at home and I needed to stick to my guns.  I also eat a turkey sandwich for lunch most days.  I eat an apple every day.  I eat eggs or Special K for breakfast.  I drink the same creamer.  My family eats most of the same dinners and when I am low in points those dinners always become a salad for me.  Being consistent is SO key to me because I know what I'm doing.  The days Josh makes waffles and we order pizza for dinner and I decided to get a burger for lunch are the worst days on me and I always, always, always go over in points, drink less water, feel unmotivated to work out, and feel awful!




Reward Yourself
This looks different for everyone!  Josh and I have "allowances" we get in our budget every pay check.  It's not much to most people, but it's something!  It's enough for me to buy a new top at Forever 21 or a pair of jeans during a great sale at Kohls.  Now that I've lost weight shopping is a really enjoyable experience and getting a size 10 and a medium or a small and consistently fitting in those sizes is very motivating!  But sometimes there isn't much money and I still need a reward.  Those days a reward can come in some time to myself.  I skip cleaning or working out at naptime and take a nap or watch TV or read.  We go to my Mom's house and I lay by the pool while my kids sleep.  I take a solo trip and walk around Target.... whatever makes you feel reconnected to yourself and motivated, do it!  And do it wether you're succeeding or not because sometimes your lack of success is because you feel so overwhelmed and want to EAT ALL THE THINGS! (Or maybe that's just me?)



.........

And just another note... surround yourself with positive people!  My best friends are so supportive!  My girls know I'm dieting and struggling to overcome this weight problem and they care!  Friends have made me Weight Watcher friendly meals they found on Pinterest for me during play dates, they've let me pick where we eat lunch, they text encouragement, they ask about the heart of the issues, and they listen when I say I'm failing and offer support and tough love!  My husband is encouraging and he is the best at helping me take the time to work out!  Morning work outs are my favorite and I appreciate so much how he watches the kids and takes care of breakfast so I can do that.  My family is supportive!  My Mom is also on Weight Watchers and so instead of us saying, "Let's be bad and eat Mexican food and queso today!" we buy salads and take the kids to the park.  I hope you have people in your life who can encourage you too!

And if you're failing... if you're gaining or struggling, don't lose heart!  Tomorrow is a new day and you can find new resolve!  Sometimes I get off 1-3 days.  I don't exercise and I don't track and I stop caring because all the work!  But then I think about how I want to be THIS person not who I was before and I think about how far I've come and it helps motivate me all over again!


Monday, August 26, 2013

10 Point Weight Watcher Pasta

Saturday night was a rare one in our house.  Both of our kids were asleep by 6:05pm and Josh and I had not yet eaten dinner.  The realization hit us we could get crazy in the kitchen and cook ourselves whatever we wanted to eat, take our time, and eat our food while it was hot.  WHAT?  Parents of toddlers understand.

So naturally, Josh chose to make fried chicken nuggets and homemade french fries.  Toddler food.  ;)

I decided I wanted a treat to but to be more conscientious.  So I whipped up so delicious pasta and pretended I was Giada and said "mozzarella" the right way while walking around the kitchen.  I posted the below pic on Instagram and my friends wanted the recipe so I thought I'd put it here for everyone!  Enjoy!

10 point Delicious Pasta


Ingredients
1 chicken breast tenderloin (mine was 2oz) (2 points)
2 slices of bacon (2 points)
1 cup of pasta (5 points for 1 cup cooked)
1 tsp EVOO (1 points)
1 cup brocoli florets
kosher salt
pepper
crushed red pepper
garlic powder
lemon juice (optional)
mozzarella (optional - adds points)

First up, get your pasta boiling.  I NEVER cook pasta al dente because, well, toddlers.  This time I did and it was delicious!  I also had frozen broccoli florets on hand so I got those boiling too.

Cut chicken & bacon into small pieces while raw.  Toss with garlic powder to taste (I used about 1/2tsp), black pepper (I used about 1/4tsp), crushed red pepper (about 1/4-1/2 tsp depending on how spicy you like it), and salt (about 1/4tsp).  Spray a pan with PAM and cook meat until done stirring frequently and breaking into smaller pieces.  Set aside.

When pasta is done, drain and toss with 1tsp EVOO. Add a little kosher salt, a little more of the black and red pepper and a squirt of two of lemon juice.  Toss in meats and then broccoli.  Stir well and let everything sit together and absorb flavor for a minute or so.  Add salt or pepper or garlic to taste and enjoy!

Simple, filling, satisfying, fairly guilt free and 10 points!  This pasta is such a win for me when I'm having a craving!  Hope you enjoy!

P.S. You can sprinkle the top with mozzarella if you want to add the points.  I found the flavor was fine without the mozzarella and it didn't enhance the flavor enough to spend the points.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Infinite Summer

My feeds are full of photos.  Photos of kids with their smiles and their shiny new back packs and their Mothers squatting beside them all smiles (or red-eyed as they hold back the tears).  The shoes are scuff free and the clothes are still bright and unfaded.  It's the first day of school.

The captions of the photos fill me in on the grade the kid is entering and how the Mom feels about school.  Some are really excited.  They have their days back.  Some are really, really sad.  They'll miss their little ones.  Especially the Moms who's littlest ones are going to Kindergarten for the first time and they're alone for the first time in years.


And I have no judgement here.  No judgement because I look at the photos of the kids who's Mom is, "FINNNNALLLLY! We're all so excited and ready!" and I think about how nice it must be for your house to be clean for 8 hours.  Or how nice it must be to work out as long as you want or read a book or deep clean something or have lunch with a friend or go to the grocery store alone.  And I get a little jealous because that sounds so nice when you're in the thick of the little years and you have to choose between a good workout and maybe a shower, a nap, cleaning, or time to decompress in the one hour of down time you have in the day...

But then I look at the photos of the sad Moms.  I see their kids equally excited about school and friends and the adventure they're headed into but I read the words of their caption and feel the dread and the loneliness and the ache of missing their babies.  And I see tweets where people say, "I miss them being 2."  When I read those captions I wonder how does it really feel to sit in a clean house for 8 hours?  And when you're done with your work out and your shower and your chores and your groceries, what does it feel like to sit alone for 3 hours just waiting for the chaos and the smiles and the fighting to all come home so your house feels like home once again?


And as much as I'd like a day of quiet sometimes, I can't help but be grateful.  Photos in my feed are not of shiny new back packs, new unscuffed shoes, fresh hair cuts or a teary-eyed Mom sending her babies off to school... my photos are of an infinite summer we're stretching out because we can.  My boys and I are picnicking at the park and seeing movies and playing in the hose and going swimming and doing whatever we want whenever we want because these days are ours.  These moments are ours.  We have no resposibilities likes school.  Sure there's housework and there's working out and theirs some educating their minds here and there, but mostly there's time.  And while some days time feels like the enemy because it moves soooo slow, one day I'll be sending them away and time will still move slow while similtaneously moving way too fast.  Because the bridge between Kindergarten and senior year is quickly crossed.  I'm told by many they accidently blinked and their babies were gone and they wish they could come back here.  To the fights and the chaos and the time outs and the peeing in the pants because you were so excited to get in the pool you forgot to tell Mommy you had to go stuff of life.


So for now, I'm reminded to be thankful they're here with me.  We're at home eating cereal at 2pm and watching cartoons as we please and discussing the alphabet in between wrestling matches and doing chores only to watch them undone and laughing and playing and swimming and talking and soaking in these infinite days of summer before they expire and I send them off to school.

Lord, make time slow down.

Preparing Yourself to Take Toddlers to Disney World

With our next Disney trip less than a month away, I'm busy making preparations.  These kinds of preparations are always my favorites.  Lists, lists, lists!  I wrote last week about how to prepare toddlers for Disney World, but equally important is preparing yourself for taking toddlers to Disney World!  It's an undertaking, but it's so worth it!


Safety

In the past I've had at least one baby on the hip, in a stroller or in my Moby for each trip.  Now that I'm taking an-almost-two-year-old and a 3 year old, I know my kids will be walking more and in strollers less.  I know when they're walking they'll want independence and will sometimes run ahead of us a bit. I know in the airport we're actually planning on taking no strollers.  While I'm confident my husband and I can keep up with our kids just fine and that they will obey us and come back if they start running off, you can never be too careful!  I've noticed in our past trips kids wearing bracelets with their parent's phone numbers or even tattoos with this kind of information.  This year I knew our kids needed something JUST IN CASE.  I doubt anything will happen but what if it does?  I want to know if they wonder off out of our line of site they have something to identify a way to get them back to us.  I knew they wouldn't wear bracelets or necklaces (which is a great, cheap idea I'd recommend for sure), so I took to the Disney Mom's Forum and found out about safetytats.com.  I just ordered their stick on tattoos that come with a marker for the first time.  I ordered 18 for our 2 boys.  They say they last up to 2 weeks, but I wanted to be sure to have one for each of them including our travel days.  I ordered the stick ons because they sounded like they were the most water proof, most easily (and quickly) applied, and easiest to take off.

In addition to plastering our phone numbers to their arms, I've also started talking with my 3 year old about "strangers."  I know there's a lot of suggestions now to talk about "bad guys" instead of "strangers" but I'm trying to keep it so simply with him.  We just talk about how he needs to always stick by Mommy and Daddy and if he ever gets lost from Mommy and Daddy he needs to tell another Mommy and Daddy he's lost.  We also have a lot of talks about not letting people touch him and yelling, "Hey! You're not my Mom/Dad!"  Who knows how much he retains, but I hope having this information in his head helps him.

Fitness

It sounds funny to say you need to prepare for your WDW trip by getting fit, but in my opinion you really do!  You'll be walking hours a day and can also end up carrying around a cranky toddler.  We also carry backpacks all day and our SLR camera.  Even in our before kid trips my husband and I would make sure we started walking every day before our trip to build up our stamina, but now with kids it's even more important especially when you think about safety and "what if they run off?"  This trip I'll be in the best shape of my life but I'm still trying to prepare.  Before we go I'll be trying to go to the zoo or a museum every week just so I get practice chasing them, wearing a backpack, pushing the stroller, carrying cranky tots, etc.  Even though I'm a runner and fairly fit, I still get sore after carrying a kid around for awhile because I'm working different muscles.  You might think, "I won't do that," but you never know.  Walking around a park for 6 hours effects everyone differently and your kids who love their stroller might get over stimulated and really want to be held.  It never hurts to practice!

Study

Sounds lame, right?  Well I LOVE studying up for our trip because I'm a nerd like that.  But really, it is exciting and fun to think it all through, get tips, and have a better knowledge of things!  Especially when you have tots and your brain often feels broken because you're tired or frazzled.

There are so many great bloggers who write tips like this and you can find so much on Pinterest now about Disney World.

You can also look up information and ask questions on the Disney Moms Forum.

We love the Birnbaum's Walt Disney World books, but they are "sponsored" by Disney.  If you want more cut and dry, non-biased information I can't recommend "The Unofficial Guide to WDW" enough!  It's a HUGE read but it's so informative and you can always look up what you need to!

Get familiar with the "fast pass" concept.  Fast passes and "rider swap" are your key to having a successful trip especially with little ones! (I should post about these things some time, for sure!)

Plan

Just like studying, it helps to make a plan!  You want to make any kind of reservations in advance, especially character dining reservations (the only sit down dining we do right now is the kind with characters).  Before we book dining we consult the Internet for what parks are and aren't recommended each day of our trip and any other kind of "perks" that are in that park that day (like extra magic hours for people staying on Disney property).

So, for example, on the Tuesday of our trip Epcot is the recommended park.  They also have early magic hours so they open at 8 instead of 9.  We are headed there for the 8am opening and will ride rides through lunch and then head back to Bay Lake Tower for naps.  That evening we have a very early reservation (4ish) for Garden Grille back in Epcot we'll head back up for after our kids nap.  Garden Grille is delicious and scenic.  The food is endless and family style and you meet farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale during this dining experience.  After dinner we'll have the evening to hang out of head back to the hotel if the kids are grumpy but it's nice knowing crowds will be low if they're up for sticking around long enough for fireworks!

It also helps to look at quick service menus before you go.  Most have menu items your kids will love but some might not.  When we went when J was 17 months we were in World Showcase when he woke up from a nap and he was hungry!  Our options nearby were Mexico, China, Norway & Germany quick service.  We didn't know what each had and ended up at Norway thinking he might eat an Uncrustable PB&J (their only kids option) but he didn't.  If we had known better what each place had we would have known to just pick him up and carry him to America and get him chicken nuggets and grapes which we knew he'd eat.  It was a waste of money and time trying to get him to eat that sandwich (which he'd gladly eat now!).

BATHROOMS!

Grab maps at your resort for each park so you know where bathrooms are the second you get to the park.  You never know... the second you get to the park you might have a little one begging to go!  This knowledge is something you will not regret memorizing!  ;)

So there you have it!  My tips for preparing yourself to take toddlers to Disney World!  Wondering what my check list looks like now that we're several weeks out?  Well, I'll show you!

Order safety tats
Start buying treats for backpacks for the plane ride (Disney pez, coloring books, small new toy...)
Assess clothing combos & ensure kiddos have enough clothes
Buy snacks for the parks
Buy Camelback water bottles for everyone
Buy Take n Toss cups (or bring your own, but I hate having to do dishes on vacation!)
Ensure E is a lap baby on our plane tickets
Get shot records from Pediatrician for flying

...And so much more! :)

Friday, August 16, 2013

5 years!

When we met I was 18 and you were 26.  We became great friends and I could talk to you about anything.  I thought you were just the kind of guy I wanted to marry, but we each assumed the other would never been interested because I was younger and you were older.  But then we realized age didn't really matter so much and it wasn't that you were LIKE the guy I wanted to marry; you were the guy I wanted to marry.


So we dated for 8 months and called every night an "adventure night."  And we did it all.  We went to concerts and walked at the parks and there was the night we drove around almost the whole night just talking and laughing and eating donuts because when you're young and in love, those are the kinds of things you do.  And you told me you loved me right after you kissed me for the first time and we both knew that meant forever.


You asked me to marry you at our spot at the park on a perfect night in April.  And then right after celebrating with tears and kisses you took me to Barnes and Noble to buy a wedding planner because you knew just who you were marrying.  You knew me through and through but hardly at all compared to how you know me know.


And we flew to California with your family to meet your Grandparents and have a little ceremony on the beach where we would talk about how much we loved each other.  And seeing that ocean for the first time with you on my arm was romance and bliss.  And we talked about how one day we'd live near an ocean and how we'd be warm all year 'round.


And then you married me.  Me and my crazy.  Me and my problems.  We were two imperfect people coming together to be one and create a life and a family and to be supported through it all.  Marrying you was committing to being your best friend forever and being the person who'd carry you through your storms just like you'd carry me through mine.  We agreed I am yours, you are mine, and now we each have a person for the through thick and thin who we love.

And you have always felt like home.


You took me to Disney World for our honeymoon.  You loved it but I wasn't so sure going in.  But I became a believer.  We cultivated dreams there for our family and bringing little people there year after year.  It was a dream then and reality now.  Sometimes I still pinch myself because none of this seems real...


And that first year of marriage was so good like the first year is supposed to be.  I had some bad hair styles and gained too much weight, but you still loved me.  I went through three jobs, we bought a house, and we had fun.  There were stressful times, but it was good times.




And we got our friends together and we started a house Church when we couldn't find a Church that fit us and when we felt so frustrated by the whole thing.  And that was so fun.  Even the cleaning before and after.  And we had an Oscar party and you dressed like Steve Carrel's character in Anchorman and I tried to dress like Juno, but that didn't work out so well.  And we had fun.





And then we past our first year marker and after lots of talking and praying we decided, "BABIES!" and it happened so quickly.  We were blessed.  And terrified.  And excited!


We saw James Taylor and Carole King which was basically the best thing ever.


You pushed me around Walt Disney World in a wheelchair because of my pregnancy sciatica and I wished a million blessings upon you for being such a good man.


And then in the middle of the night on a hot August evening, everything changed.  PARENTHOOD.  It was hard.  Those first few months when J had colic and we couldn't sleep and I cried and you felt stressed... it was hard.  As prepared as we were, we weren't prepared at all, really.  It was a hard season, but we made it through.  We found ways to reconnect and build a stronger foundation going forward in our marriage.  And we figured out how to be parents by figuring out there was no right or wrong, but really just instincts and constant communication.


And then, 5 months later, we got pregnant again!  People thought we were nuts.  We weren't.  E is the best little guy and what would our lives be without him?







The first year of 2 under 2 was the hardest.  We were tired and frazzled, but then we turned a corner.  E became a toddler and J was well into toddlerhood and we felt less like survivalists and more like a little family who could do things and have fun.  And in our photos, we started looking less tired.


And in our 5 years, there have been hard seasons.  Death, cancer, weight battles, financial stress... We've had our seasons of plenty and of want.  We've had our seasons of frustration and of triumph.  We've had our seasons of distance and closeness.  We've had our seasons of hurt and love.  We've had our seasons of no sleep and sleeping in.  We've had our seasons of "how can we get through this?" and "we made it!"  We've had our seasons of happy and sad.  And in every season, we've had each other.


And just like we promised we would 5 years ago today, in every season we've held the other's hands no matter what we've faced and we've been each other's rock.  We've helped the other through.  We've prayed, we've cried, we've fought, we've kissed, we've danced, we've laughed, we've overcome.  And I wouldn't have wanted to do any of this with anyone in the world besides you.

Thank you, Josh, for loving me.  Thank you for choosing me.  Thank you for supporting me through thick and thin.  Thank you for praying for me.  Thank you for creating a beautiful family with me.  Thank you for working hard so I can stay home.  Thank you for listening to my dreams.  Thank you for holding me when I cry.  Thank you for the highs and especially the lows.  Thank you for holding me up.

Happy anniversary!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Gains, goals & giving in.

Just doing a little diet/weightloss/mental wellness check in.  How have y'all been doing with your weightloss?  I had two weeks of gains at Weight Watchers.  They were both small gains (half a pound), but it sucked none the less.  The first week I earned the gain.  I was sick and ate a burrito the size of my face and couldn't exercise for 5 days.  The second week I got back on track and worked really hard in my work outs and to control my eating, but I still gained!  

Five weeks ago I started T25 in addition to or instead of running.  That first week I was SORE but it felt good!  The second week I felt better doing it but missed running.  The third week is when I was sick too so I missed some days.  Week 4 I tried to do running and T25 which was just a hard work!  The thing I noticed that week is that my weight was up every day despite working hard and eating well.  Everything I read made me believe my muscles were just retaining water so I thought maybe that's why I gained last week.

This week for week 5 I've abondoned the official plan and routine of T25 to do my own thing.  Every other day I'm running at least 2 miles and then on the days I'm not running I'm doing T25 ab work and if I'm up to it I'm also doing the total body circuit or cardio routine.  And then Sunday and maybe Thursday I'm doing nothing and letting my body rest and recover and rebuild.


I took this photo of my abs last week.  I know they're not all that but for me to see lines and the faintest amount of definition blows me away!  Especially when I know all that was there before was just a big 'ole gut!   It makes me feel good.

For me with working out I had to stop and think what's more important to me right now: toning or hitting Lifetime at Weight Watchers?  Hitting Lifetime is the goal now and upping my exercise game even if that means putting on a little weight initially can be the next goal.  But that doesn't mean I stop working out!


At Weight Watchers last week I finally lost and my leader worked with my to do my official setting of my Lifetime weight!  I've been a "Weight Watcher" 3 times and have NEVER done this.  It felt amazing.  If this is your first, second, or tenth time on Weight Watchers just know this can be your time!  Even if you failed before and didn't make it, you can this time!  I'm 11lbs from this goal and although I know it'll be hard, I'd love to see myself make it by the time my baby turns 2 in the middle of October.


Also lately I broke a 10 minute mile!  That felt awesome!  Remember when I ran my first mile and it was in 16 minutes?  That was HARD but I was so proud!  If you had told me then I'd be under 10 5 months later I'd be like "Whhhhhaaat?!" But here I am!  Feels so good!

And lately there have been failings.  Yes, yes, yes.  We received bad news about my Father-in-law's cancer this week and how it's back and maybe something different.  That same day was full of a lot of other hard moments like getting locked out of my house while my toddlers were in it... and y'all, I ate some feelings.  They came in the form of sugary cereal and it wasn't worth it.  It didn't help.  It just made me feel like "all this hard work in exchange for a bowl of stupid cereal?!" But overcoming that addiction and bad habit takes time.  So if you're there and failing, don't fret because you will overcome!  As always I'm still just trying to find other, better coping mechanisms.

So that's a little update on me and my weightloss journey.  How are you doing?  Have you succeeded? Have you overcome a gaining holding pattern?  Have you sought comfort in food and felt so much regret?  Have you met a work out goal?  I hope you're doing great and if you're not doing great, I hope you're remembering positive self talk and treating tomorrow like a new day and and a new chance to do better!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Preparing Toddlers for Disney World

With our next trip to Walt Disney World right around the corner, I thought I'd share with you guys a few ways we've been preparing our kids (3 and 22 months) for their upcoming trip.



Movie Nights


I saw a great idea on Pinterest to do movie nights prior to a Disney trip.  I thought this was such a great idea.  My husband and I in the past have tried to play significant movies prior to vacation so things will be more recognizable, but we've never made a big hoopla about it.  This year we decided every Saturday night we'd have a picnic dinner on our living room floor (oftentimes making or buying food on theme with the movie we were watching) and we'd watch a movie.  We started 14 weeks out and our list included the following movies (with the rides/attractions we'd hope it familiarize in parenthesis):


  • Lion King (Festival of the Lion King live show, Animal Kingdom & Philharmagic, Magic Kingdom)
  • Aladdin (Aladdin's Magic Carpet, MK & Philharmagic, MK)
  • Beauty & the Beast (Be Our Guest restaurant and the new Belle addition to Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom & Beauty & the Beast live show, Hollywood Studios & Philharmagic, MK)
  • Tinkerbelle (Meeting the fairies in Pixie Hollow, MK)
  • Peter Pan (Peter Pan's Flight, MK & Philharmagic, MK)
  • Mulan (Meeting Mulan and general China, Epcot... and my husband wanted Chinese food ;) )
  • Finding Nemo (Finding Nemo live show, Animal Kingdom & Finding Nemo ride, Epcot)
  • Little Mermaid (Little Mermaid ride, new Fantasyland expansion, MK & Little Mermaid show, HS & Philharmagic, MK)
  • Winnie the Pooh (Winnie the Pooh ride, MK & Crystal Palace character dining breakfast)
  • Toy Story (Toy Story Mania, HS & meeting the characters (HS & MK) & Pizza Planet, HS & Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, MK)
  • Monsters Inc (Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, MK & meeting characters, HS)
  • Sword & the Stone (Sword and the Stone outside the carousel in MK)
  • Pocahontas (Fantasmic firework show, HS)

Our boys are young, so they didn't always make it through a full movie, but now they find all these characters more recognizable -- especially our 3 year old.  And because they're boys, we've watched plenty of Toy Story and Monsters Inc, but Little Mermaid, Mulan and Pocahontas are not in our usual repertoire.

Ride Videos


On YouTube, "undercovertourist" posts fantastic quality videos of rides.  Not long after our last trip we would rewatch some of our favorites (Peter Pan's Flight & Winnie the Pooh) every once in awhile, but now that we're getting closer to our trip, every few weeks when I'm at the computer, I pull up some rides and watch with the kids.  Lately, our oldest, J, asked if we could please watch ride videos and sat at the table watching some time.  This helps kids know what to expect and also shows them/reminds them how exciting rides are!

Photo Albums

circa 9/2012

(the book shown in this pic is one about Mickey Mouse & his bear exploring Magic Kingdom we read a lot too.  It's no longer in print.)

After each of our trips, I've managed to somehow get a coupon for a free 8x8 Shutterfly book.  So, I've used those to make books of our trip.  The boys love looking through those books with all our family pictures and seeing themselves with Donald Duck, Jake, Goofy, on rides, in the pool... they get so excited and ask to go to Disney World right then.  Sometimes I'll also pull up the old albums on Facebook and we'll srcoll through images on my phone.  If you haven't been before, you could always find a friend on FB with an album of WDW pics and show them to your kids.  We have several family friends who go and when I look through their pics the boys always want to look with me.

Testing Freedom/Fostering 
Independence and Obeying


I intend to right another post called "Preparing Yourself for Taking Toddlers to WDW" later this week because even though it's magical and wonderful, it's also an undertaking!  This tip I'd lump into both posts.  Before your trip, let your toddlers practice independence.  If they normally stay in strollers or shopping carts get them out and start working on good behavior like: obeying your saying to come to you, staying close to Mom &/or Dad in public, not running away, not picking up toys off the shelves or being sure to put them back, sitting at tables without a highchair, etc.  It's so good to do this because at WDW you can't take a stroller through lines with you or even into some areas.  There's whole "lots" of parked strollers.  In Fantasyland, for example, I know we'll be mostly parked and the boys will be walking.  Practicing this pre-trip teaches them to obey and that we have limits and it also teaches me how to curb bad habbits ahead of time.

Countdown


I made a paper chain countdown for our family around 100 days out.  They've loved pulling off chains and watching the chain shrink as our day to leave approaches.

These are just a few tips for getting your little ones ready to meet characters, ride rides, recognize things, and be good listeners before your trip.  If you have any more, please share!  And enjoy!  WDW is so fun and great even for little ones.  Even if they don't recognize everything or know who's who in rides, they're still going to have a blast being with you nonstop and being in such a generally fun place!

If you haven't read these posts and need more tips check out:

Preparing yourself to take toddlers to Disney World
Tips for taking toddlers to Disney World
Tips for taking babies to Disney World
Tips for introducing toddlers to characters

Thursday, August 8, 2013

When my heart is overwhelmed...

This summer has been busy and full and good and hard and all of the things.  There's been so much accomplished and so much overcome, but there's also been hard moments and set backs for me and for my family.

As always, I'm learning to cope with being overwhelmed or disheartened or scared in new ways instead of turning to food.  I'm learning to over come my binge eating disorder and replace a craving for food with a longing for peace.

via

Today especially I am feeling a little overwhelmed, a little discouraged, and a little like, "Can this thing I'm praying for so desperately happen for me now, please?"  It's hard not to be discouraged sometimes with life hands you lemons.  But just as the verse above says, I'm learning to turn to God when I feel overwhelmed and not turn to food.  Because really, how can food help me anyway?  Is this piece of toast followed by this handful of cereal followed by this string cheese going to make my problem any better?  No.  Can turning to God make it better?  Yes.  Can turning to other coping mechanisms like exercise or cleaning make it better?  No, but it can make me feel better.

via

I don't know how you are today.  I don't know what problems you're facing (be they big or small) and I don't know if you're disheartened or discouraged or sad or whatever!  But I hope that no matter where you are you can try to find the positive things around you filling your life with joy and focus on those things.  I hope you can find peace.