Happy Thanksgiving from Us to You!

Happy Thanksgiving to every one of you! Which, okay, is only like two people who read this...but Happy Thanksgiving to you anyway! We're thankful for so many things and are truly blessed. 

Now...let's have some FOOD!

Post 8 Months: Month 2

I decided that since I've reached my first goal, I really don't need to post every single week. I think it'll be much slower going from here on out, so I'll post every few weeks. I'm not going to do huge posts, just little recaps about my workouts and anything that I've either had a hard time with or something that has really motivated me. For example: watching The Amazing Race while working out on the tread climber is insanely good motivation and makes the time go very fast. Too bad it's only on once a week :-)

The last several weeks I've been getting back into 'tread climber mode'. It's been much easier and more fun than I thought it would be. Last time, I had to literally make myself do it, and a lot of times, even housework made a good excuse not to do it all the time. Well now, I have good headphones, it's right by our open window in the computer room, and I watch some show that I like. I've been doing the workout for the duration of the show: whether that's a 42 minute show on Netflix without commercials or a 45 minute show on The CW with commercials that seem to take forever. My workouts have been between 42 and 55 minutes. I start out at 1.5 mph and gradually increase it to 2ish mph by the time I hit the 5 minute mark. Then, I up it to 2.5 and gradually have been increasing it to 3.2mph around the 20 minute mark. Once I hit 35 or 40 minutes, I start decreasing it again. I've been burning about 400 calories and walking 2 - 2.5 miles in the time frame. It feels so good and I'm getting lots of energy. Not always good since now instead of wanting to go to bed at exactly 10:00, I'm finding myself staying up until 11 or 11:30.

A week ago when I stepped on the scale and it read 124 I literally screamed! I told Derek I had no idea what happened, so he reminded me that I'm drinking more water now and we hadn't been jogging for quite a few weeks so probably was water weight and new muscle weight. Today I was 119.5, whew! Working out along with getting my Camelbak water bottle back out have made a huge difference in my water intake. Instead of drinking around 16oz a day, I'm back up to 32-48 a day. I usually have a splash of Mio in my water once a day too and that really helps. Their new Thunderbolt flavor is pretty dang good.

This last weekend I helped put together a baby shower for my friend and it was about 90% sugary foods. I indulged on yogurt with chocolate chips and granola, white chocolate covered strawberries, cake pops, oreo balls, cake, punch, white chocolate dipped rice crispy treats...yeah...not good! And all were either made by those of us helping with the party or by the Crazy Cake Lady, so everything was incredible...and very very sinful in the calorie department haha! We also bought $40 worth of chocolate from Derek's cousin's little girl for her fundraiser. We sort of have a lot of chocolate around here. But, I try to only have a little.

Anyway, that's the update. Till next time.

Post 8 Months: First few weeks

It has been so hard to get back into tracking my food!! The last few days are the first I've been better at it. My water intake has also been really bad, so I bought some new Mio water flavoring and it's helping. I'll just do a quick update since there's not much recorded to report.

I did a 10:30 mile, my fastest time yet, so was very excited about that! It's starting to get really chilly here, so we haven't been going on walks lately or jogging. Hopefully we can start back up again once we get used to the cold. Of course today is gorgeous and I'm babysitting, so...maybe a jog tonight if Derek doesn't have to work late.

We went hunting/camping over the weekend and I ended up losing two pounds, so on Monday, I weighed in at 118!! Though I was very excited (and shocked) I really wish it wasn't from throwing up all Saturday night. Really greasy food did not agree with me. But the next morning I felt great and we continued our quest for elk, even if in vain. (I did annihilate a clay pigeon though. Talk about a huge adrenalin rush!! This girl is hunting for real next year!)

One of the hidden away spots we found

This week I really hope to do much better. Coffee hasn't been tasting nearly so good to me, so hoping to have that increase my actual liquid intake. Not sure if it's the new brand I got or if it's just because you can't beat a pumpkin spice latte. Good thing I have a recipe for that, so I'm going to try it at home in the next few days.

Anyway, there's my weeks in review.

Post 8 Months: 8 Months in Review

Week 1: 143.6 pounds (July 2011)

I gave myself about a week and a half off from tracking and caring about what I ate and exercising. I needed to just breathe and enjoy not caring. That was nice, but now I want to get back to work and start really toning and see if I can drop a few more pounds. My goal this year is 115 pounds, however, I'm not setting a date and am not overly concerned about getting there, I just really want to get my stomach toned up. Here is my promised full review...only 2 weeks late.

Week 10: 139 pounds (August 2011 - before gaining a few back)

I guess going back to right before having Lexi, I was 165. I gained exactly 35 pounds with her. Of course, I dropped 20 within two weeks of having her, but the rest didn't come off quite as fast. Thanksgiving last year, I was 142 pounds and had started doing the tread climber, but wasn't as dedicated and wasn't doing very well with eating habits, though I was tracking on and off. January 13 I started really tracking when the Beautiful Babes forum was created. Then, I was 138 pounds. A few days before or after Lexi turned 9 months old, I weighed 130 again. Then I really started working hard to get lower than that. It took 3.5 months, but I dropped those other 10 pounds to hit my goal of 120 pounds by September 15. I was very proud of myself for keeping it all up. I walked 2 miles nearly every day and jogged 1 mile a few times a week. I also limited my food intake and was very careful about bad drinks and sweets. I have a lot more energy and feel good. All in all, I lost 45 pounds! However, counting from November, I lost 22 and counting from doing really well in January, I lost 18 pounds in 8 months! That's pretty good!

126 Pounds: May 11, 2012

I'm ready to take it to the next level and get rid of the remaining stomach fat and really tone up. I was quite excited when the capris I've been wearing ended up not being size 7 like I've been thinking they were, but instead are size 5s!! That made me really happy.

Goal weight! September 11, 2012

On Monday, I weighed in at 120 pounds still. Very happy about that since I wasn't sure I had stayed there. Now on to 119 :-) Next week, I'll start back up with weekly recaps.

Goal Weight! Taken after the wedding on September 15, 2012

8 Months to a Better Me: The Final Week!

Look, I'm on time this week! So, even though I'll be doing my final update on Wednesday, I wanted to do a final weekly recap of what's been going on. This morning, I weighed in at...120!! I was so excited! I tried to take a picture, but it was super blurry and my toenails are all gross so I'll take one when I take the old polish off and they look a little nicer. I reached my goal 5 days before my goal date and I feel pretty good about that. I haven't been this weight in about three or four years. So, last week:

Monday: 2 mile walk
Tuesday: 2 mile walk
Wednesday: No exercise
Thursday: 2 mile walk
Friday: 1 mile jog (12 minutes - that's what I get for not jogging for three weeks!) and 1 mile walk
Saturday: 2 mile walk
Sunday: 2 mile walk
100 squats 2x during week
Drank average of 31.5oz liquid each day

From now until the wedding I fully plan on eating very light, trying to drink a lot more water and not nearly as much coffee, which hasn't been much of a problem since having the flu, so that I can maintain this weight and possibly even be down to 119.5 by the weekend too. I know we'll be eating quite a bit during all the wedding parties, dinners, and the reception, but hopefully I'll still be able to have a low calorie intake and not over eat on anything. Except maybe wedding cake :-)

"See" you in a few days.

8 Months to a Better Me: Week 35

Wish I could do that!

I know this is almost an entire week late, but I didn't want to combine two weeks again. I'll post this one, one tomorrow, and then do my final "official" weigh-in on Wednesday since we'll be out of town on the 15th, my goal date. This journey has gone so well for me and I'm happy and proud that I'm so close to my goal. Last Monday, I weighed in at 121. I was happy with that and am hoping it'll be 120 by the wedding. Here's the recap:

Monday: No exercise
Tuesday: Two 2 mile walks
Wednesday: No exercise
Thursday: No exercise
Friday: 2 mile walk
Saturday: 2 mile walk
Sunday: 2 mile walk
No squats, was trying to get over a cold at the beginning of the week and the flu at the middle.
Drank average of 30oz liquid each day

Finally got back into jogging this week and that's so rough after three weeks of nothing. We'll see what tomorrow brings and then I'll try to post a full 8-month recap on Wednesday about how much I've lost since starting to track my weight.

8 Months to a Better Me: Weeks 32-34

I've been slacking in this department lately! And, my 8 months will be up in 2 weeks and 5 days!! That, is a crazy thought. It's gone really fast and I can't believe I'm so close to my goal. I'm not going to report the full three weeks worth of stuff I did and didn't do because I don't feel like taking the time. The last few days I've been really bad about recording and we've been really busy so haven't jogged as often as we'd like. Week 32 I weighed 122, week 33 I weighed 124 (I was really mad about this since I'd been really good. Think it was my lack of water intake that week), and today I weighed 121. Hoping I can get this last pound off and kept off very soon.

I found my dress for the wedding along with amazing boots and some incredible jewelry and accessories for both me and Lexi. Awesome part is that I only spent $48 on ALL my stuff! I'm excited to wear them and get nice pictures done by Derek's dad, who just bought an incredibly amazing new Canon for this event. Family pictures here we come!

I feel like I was going to report more, but can't think of anything. Back to good recording, drinking and running this week.

8 Months to a Better Me: Week 31

I couldn't think of a picture today, but Gabby is so inspiring and
it's definitely a workout she's doing! GO USA!

These Mondays seriously come around too fast! Well I'm now at the very beginning of the 8th month, though I still have 6 weeks till my goal date. I was originally going to call this week so-so. I don't feel like I ate a whole lot, but we only were able to jog once because of Derek's busy work week. However, I was really excited when I stepped on the scale this morning and I got the results!! 120.5!!! Not quite sure how that happened, but I was jumping up and down. I'm thinking it'll probably fluxuate between 123 and this number for a few weeks before deciding to stay down, but I'm going to work hard on keeping it down. Maybe I'll get below 120 for the wedding! Here's the weekly recap:

Monday: No exercise
Tuesday: 2 mile walk
Wednesday: No exercise (but I did chase two one-year olds around all day...)
Thursday: 2 mile walk
Friday: 1.5 mile walk
Saturday: 1 mile jog (11 minutes) and 1 mile walk
Sunday: 2 mile walk
100 squats 6x during week
Drank average of 40oz liquid each day

The fat on my stomach is finally, but slowly, starting to disappear. I think the jogging is really helping with that, so just need to keep that up. I'm hoping that by sometime in September, I'll be up for starting to jog the 2nd mile back instead of walking it.

8 Months to a Better Me: Week 30

Well, I don't know where Monday and Tuesday went, but hello Wednesday. It's been a crazy week here and will just keep going till Friday, so I better do this while I have a minute. On Monday, I weighed in at 122.5 again! Happy I stayed the same and am really hoping to get rid of these few pounds quickly. Here's the week in review:

Monday: No exercise

Tuesday: No exercise

Wednesday: 2 mile walk, 1 mile jog (11 minutes, 8 seconds) and 1 mile walk

Thursday: 2 mile walk

Friday: 1 mile jog (10 minutes, 40 seconds) and 1 mile walk

Saturday: No exercise

Sunday: 2 mile walk

100 squats 6x during week

Drank average of 41.5oz liquid each day

We bought some new running shoes for me when we were in Cheyenne two weekends ago and they rock!! I'm having a much easier time running in them and it doesn't even feel like I have shoes on. I'm also putting fruit in my water to give it a nice flavor and that's helped increase my water intake, as you can see. Last week it was raspberries and this week, I've tried strawberries. Both are great. I'd like to try blackberry, but they didn't have any of those at the store yesterday. I think all this heat has been good for the fruit crops because there is an abundance of strawberries, cherries and raspberries that are on super sale each week. And it's good quality, not like the normal nasty stuff.

I have 6 weeks to lose 2.5 pounds in. Which means, I only have to lose a little under half a pound per week. When I finally get there, it'll finally be time to upload the before, during and after pictures.

Till next week.

8 Months to a Better Me: Week 29

It seems like last week was incredibly busy and I'm pretty sure this week will be the same way! Maybe that's why the scale was so much in my favor this morning, who knows. I think I did a little better on my eating last week. I did have a few cookies during the week, but only one a day if I did. I had quite a lot of coffee, but have started to fill only half the mug with coffee and the rest with milk so that it's at least a little healthier. I've had more energy lately and I think that's thanks to both the coffee and the jogging. This morning the scale said 122.5. I am very excited, but also pretty skeptical because that means I lost 3.5 over the week and I really don't think I have. We jogged and walked a lot, but we also ate at Red Lobster and had a few fast food meals thrown in the mix as well. I won't really count it as my true weight until I see it saying the same thing next week. So, here's the run down:

Monday: 2 mile walk
Tuesday: 1 mile jog (11 minutes, 40 seconds), 1 mile walk
Wednesday: 2 mile walk
Thursday: 1 mile jog (11 minutes, 30 seconds), 1 mile walk
Friday: No exercise
Saturday: 2 mile walk and 3 mile walk
Sunday: No exercise
100 squats 6x during week
Drank average of 39oz liquid each day

I've discovered that putting fresh raspberries in my water helps me drink a lot more. Two of those days I drank 52 and then 64oz of water!

We bought some new running shoes for me yesterday, so I'm very excited to try them out tonight. They feel really good, so hoping they help improve my jogging times. And with the new jogging stroller we bought on Friday, we'll be all set for this week!

8 Months to a Better Me: Week 28

The dress I'll get if I don't end up liking the Penny's one

Wow, already week 28! I swear I was just doing week 8. It's going really fast and I only have 2 more months to go! On Monday I stepped on the scale and weighed 126. Ummm I was not happy to say the least! I stepped on like 5 times and again yesterday, same thing. I almost cried! I haven't been over 124 for weeks. I thought it must have been the little bit more food I consumed, but then realized I walked 18 miles last week! I was all depressed and cried to Derek about it. He reminded me that I started jogging last week and jogged full miles without stopping, so my legs are just packing on muscle to make up for their shock of running lol. He said to give it about two weeks and I should then start to really lose it again. If I lose 3 pounds every 4 weeks, I'll still make my goal. Here's the rundown:

Monday: 2 mile walk
Tuesday: 1 mile jog (11 minutes, 11 seconds) and 1 mile walk
Wednesday: 2 mile walk
Thursday: 1 mile jog (11 minutes, 30 seconds) and 1 mile walk
Friday: Two 2 mile walks
Saturday: 2 mile walk
Sunday: Two 2 mile walks
100 squats 6x during week
Drank average of 31oz liquid each day

Starting this week, I'm kicking this into high gear! I'm only drinking 1/2 a cup of coffee each day. It'll technically be a full cup, but I'm filling half with milk. It'll save on calories and coffee beans :-) I'm also going to get very serious about my sweet intake. I can count the coffee as dessert each day so that I don't want sugary things, however, I did make cookies yesterday, so I'm allowing myself one a day. I can either have half at lunch and half at dinner or one at one meal.

I also found my motivation for losing this weight by the wedding: I found the dress I really want. It's not the Victoria's Secret dress I originally found, but it's $50 cheaper and not quite as fancy, so I can wear it around town, but it'll also look awesome for the wedding. And I found some adorable shirts I want. So, when I lose the weight I can buy the shirts. We're going to get the dress this week, assuming I like it on me, just so it doesn't disappear, but I'm not allowed to wear it until the scale says 120.

8 Months to a Better Me: Week 27

Too funny!

Well, it's a little late, but here's my post about last week. Monday I weighed in at 123.5 again, so not bad, but not quite good either. However, considering last week was birthday week, I'd say that's probably more good than bad :) Well, here's the recap:

Monday: 2 mile walk
Tuesday: No exercise (my birthday)
Wednesday: No exercise (in Evanston visiting a friend and her new baby)
Thursday: 2 mile walk
Friday: 2 mile walk
Saturday: 2 mile walk
Sunday: 2 mile walk
100 squats 5x during week
Drank average of 27oz water each day

I drank way too much coffee, my new coffee maker is the bomb and I really need to stop drinking coffee every morning now and get back to only on the weekends. I also ate a lot of awesome birthday cake! Derek bought me a chocolate silk cake and my mom made the traditional Black Forrest cake. Guess I better be pretty thrilled I didn't gain weight lol.

8 Months to a Better Me: Weeks 25 and 26

Very quick update: I didn't track while on vacation, what's the fun in that?! We were so-so on food. We ate about half our meals that we brought: yogurt, granola bars, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then we ate out the rest of the time. We weren't going to in order to save some money, but decided we won't be taking another vacation for at least 7 more months and this one was pretty big, so we splurged a bit. Even though we indulged in some awesome food, desserts, and the best freaking cappuccino I've ever had in my entire life, we also walked a lot. Took a lot of hikes, walked around little bay towns, and walked all over the Seattle zoo.

I stepped on the scale this morning and: dun dun dun...123.5!! Being out of town helped me (and Derek) feel so good and rejuvenated. It was nice to be in lush country with lower elevation. I'm really going to try hard to limit my sweets to only the weekends. However, if this is too hard, I will limit to only one small item a day. I don't want it to be so hard that I gorge myself when I am allowed to have them. We'll see how it goes. I am bound and determined to be 120 in 2 months and 13 days :) Hopefully, we'll be able to keep up the jogging, but it's so smoky we're not sure if we'll be able to breath as we run.

Next week, I'll have a full report again.

8 Months to a Better Me: Weeks 23 and 24

With everything going on last week and being sick over last week's weekend, I decided just to combine the weeks. So, here's last week's recap:

Weighed in at : 126

Monday: 2 mile walk

Tuesday: No exercise

Wednesday: Two 2 mile walks

Thursday: Two 2 mile walks

Friday: 2 mile walk

Saturday: No exercise

Sunday: No exercise

100 squats 4x during week

Drank average of 30oz liquid each day

Last week:

Weighed in today at: 124

Monday: 2 mile walk

Tuesday: 2 mile walk

Wednesday: 1.75 mile walk

Thursday: Jogged .5 miles, walked 1.75 miles

Friday: 3/4 mile walk and 2 mile walk

Saturday: Walked/jogged 2 miles

Sunday: No exercise

100 squats 7x during week

Drank average of 35.5oz liquid each day

I'm expecting to gain a little with jogging until my body makes more muscle, but then think this will really help lose these last 4 pesky pounds to get to 120. 

This weekend we're leaving for Oregon and Washington, so I won't be posting for a few weeks. Still plan on eating well and exercising while gone though.

Lexi's Photo Shoot

A friend of mine takes amazing pictures! I decided that I really wanted to get nice pictures taken for Lexi's 1st birthday since it's a really big deal, more so than really any other birthday until she's like 16 (okay, so I know I'll probably go too overboard each year, but I won't intend to).

We were going to do Mother's Day/1st Birthday pictures at Walmart since they had a free 16x10 picture that didn't require a purchase. However, we wanted more than just one picture to take home, so thought we would just get a package deal. Their lowest package, with a CD, was $178!! I think I'd be willing to pay that for a real professional, but NOT for Walmart, even if they've come a very long way since my family used to get pictures taken. So, I cancelled the appointment.

I looked into one of the local professional photographers that does my friend's annual family pictures, but even that was $80 for the lowest package and Derek wasn't keen on that.

Then my friend Miranda said she'd love to take them for us. So, that's what we did. We got the amazing pictures we wanted and she got a little bit of extra money. We went to Centennial Park in Green River and then took 'walking' pictures on the bridge at Expedition Island. All the settings were perfect and Lexi was so good and sat or stood everywhere we placed her. She didn't want to smile much, but that's okay. We are so glad we went this route. Plus, you just can't beat a Cannon camera, they pretty much are the bomb!

My first attempt at editing with Picasa3, I'm hooked!

Our family

Lexi's 1-year stats

My favorite!

Lexi and the lamp post

Walking on the bridge

Walking back

Having fun

Me and my baby

She loved looking at the water

One of my favorite family pictures

Lexi and her Daddy

They had fun by the water

8 Months to a Better Me: Week 22

This picture cracks me up!

Here we are again, starting a new week. Last week went pretty good and then we decided to have some Chinese food last night and it kind of did me in. Schezuan chicken, egg roll, crab rangoon, hot stickers, hot mustard and cream soda...YUM! I've been craving Chinese like crazy so it was a nice treat. I did manage to take one of the pounds off from last week that I'd gained and weighed in at 124 this morning. Next week, I hope to make that 123. I was good last week, only had Pepsi and half the cream soda during the weekend. I didn't eat nearly as much cake, and when I did, I only had half pieces (and it's almost gone now). I had mini cupcakes most of the time instead though or made banana milkshakes. So, here's the rundown:

Monday: 2 mile walk
Tuesday: 2 mile walk
Wednesday: 2 mile walk
Thursday: Two 2 mile walks
Friday: 2 mile walk
Saturday: 2 mile walk
Sunday: no exercise
100 squats 5x during the week
Drank average of 30oz liquid each day

I didn't do Zumba this week since Derek was off Monday and Lexi had a playdate on Wednesday. Not really much more to report.

Till next week!

Lexi's Play Date Party

On Wednesday, May 30, we had a little play date for Lexi's birthday with all her little friends that were born in May as well, along with some of my other friends I know through these friends. We had a great time at Veteran's Park and had quite the turnout! Five of my friends came and we had 8 kids total. She loved her chocolate cupcake too and dove right into it, no hesitating this time. They were all so sweet and gave Lexi great presents too.

Some of Lexi's friends

Lilly and Kama, cute cousins!

She was not wanting her picture taken

My pretty girl in her matching outfit and shoes

Kenzley

Mmmm cupcakes!

Kezlee

The whole crew! And they're all looking! What good kids.

Her new shoes!

She loves her new piggy bank toy!

Lexi is ONE!

Happy Birthday to our baby girl! Can't believe that a year ago we were just welcoming her into this world. It has been by far the fastest year of my life. I still remember every detail of my labor and delivery, in a good way. I seriously loved every minute of it. All the horror stories I'd been told were tossed out the window and all I kept thinking was "If this is all there is to it, what's the big deal?" The recovery was the worst part of the entire pregnancy to labor experience and even though I vividly remember being in a lot of pain, it was never bad enough to fill my pain prescriptions and I didn't even have to take advil.

On Lexi's birthday; Sunday, May 27, we had a great celebration with family and two of our closest friends and their families. In all, there were 15 people who came: my parents, Derek's parents, grandparents and uncle, Ty and his girlfriend, Diana and Dave, Angela, Bella and Serena. We had a packed house, but it was fun and we pulled it off. Lexi's theme was pink hippos and I'm so glad we decided to go with that, they were just too cute!

Party hats

Personalized banner

The table

A friend made Lexi's cake and personal cupcake. She is so talented, I just can't get over it! She has her own business now all because she made a cake for her son's boy scout party and decided she liked doing it.

Lexi's 'smash cake' cupcake

This cake just couldn't be cuter

Complete with candle

Complete with candle

She had a special outfit just for her birthday and she looked so cute!

She had fun opening her gifts, thought she got bored after the first one and then just wanted to play with her gifts, so we opened them and Serena helped open them too. She got so many adorable outfits, shoes, jammies, and toys along with more college fund money.

Lexi with some of her presents from Mommy and Daddy

She had fun trying cake for the first time. Other than the Gerber desserts (that are healthy), this was the first sugar/sweet item she'd ever had. She wasn't too sure about it and had more fun squishing frosting between her fingers, but she got the hang of it.

She liked the gooey frosting

She was not impressed with the taste

But the frosting was good

Now she's having lots of fun (she kept laughing)

Here, I'll share

Sleepy baby girl

All in all, I think she had a wonderful day! And she so enjoyed seeing everyone. We also got some wonderful family pictures thanks to Dave!

Lexi and Serena

Lexi and Gramma Willa

Lexi and Angela

Lexi with her grandparents

The whole gang

Lexi and her Daddy

Lexi and Diana

Our family

The family clown