Still trucking along......

I did not weigh in with Beth this Friday because I only worked a half day. I did, however, go to the doctor and they weighed me there. I am back to 203 which means I have lost the weight I gained for no apparent reason over the two previous weeks. I had blood work and a urine analysis done and will recieve the results this week. I'm not sure if they will show anything but I am looking for answers to the fatigue, unexplained swelling, and extreme difficulty losing weight!!! I am also scheduled for a hormone panel on May 9th at the gynocologist.

I am starting a 5 week weight loss challenge with some people on face book. You pay 25 dollars to join and keep track of your weight and there is also a point system to determine the winner. Maybe it will help motivate me. I could definitely use the money!!!

I have not done a very good job with planning for this next week which does not help set me up for success!! Between the wedding shower and allergies it's been a crazy weekend. I have tomorrow planned and then tomorrow night I will wash veggies and plan out the rest of the week! I am looking forward to using the fruits and veggies I got in my bountiful basket that I picked up on Saturday morning.

I will post some meals this week and also log my work out! I have got to get up to an hour a day! Hopefully this will be the week I see the 100's again!!!!!!



More to me than just weight loss :0)

I have posted about different things over the time I have been a blogger. Dating, parenting, dieting to name a few. I thought maybe once a week or so I would talk about some things NOT food and exercise related. Just to get a better picture of who I am.

I was raised by my Mom and Step-Dad and have two brothers that I am VERY close too. They are four and six years younger than me.

This picture was taken at my brother Ryan's (in the middle between my Mom and I) wedding last October. Ryan is an elementary PE teacher and his wife Megan owns a hair salon. I love my brother's so much however I had a very different childhood then they did. My step-dad (their father) and I did not get along at all so that made things very difficult growing up. My biological Dad recently moved here to Texas and I am working to develop a relationship with him. It is slow going but I believe it is important to continue to work on.

This past weekend Ryan, Megan, and I threw a couples wedding shower at our parents house for Nick (brother on far left in above picture) He is marrying Melody who we all love so much. They have been dating for over three years and they live together with Melody's four year old daughter, Rylea, who we are all smitten with. It was a huge success and I was so happy to be able to do this for them. This is an exciting year for Nick. He is graduating from college, getting married and expecting a baby in December. Check out some of the cool pics from the shower.

I found this invitation on Etsy in the simplesimondesign shop. Love love loved it! The mustache and lips theme grew from there.



I wanted several dessert options so we had cupcakes (red velvet, chocolate, and vanilla) cake balls (chocolate with with chocolate icing and vanilla with milk chocolate icing), and chocolate cake (it was called black out) So yummy!!!

The kids, Mom and I made these chocolate favors with molding trays purchased on amazon. The tags were from weddingchicks.com. It was a free template. (I love free)

Dessert counter

We put chips and veggies on this food table.

Gift table and favors.

We played games in the living room.

We had burger and hot dogs. All of the hot food was in the kitchen.







My sister in law, Megan, did an absolutely amazing job with the decorations!

The happy couple!!

The kids and I!

The kids, Mom, and I made these cut out mustaches and lips. We had all the couples pose for a picture as soon as they came in. We also played a game that went something like this: I read a statement and the guests had to hold up a mustache or lips depending on if they thought it was Nick or Melody I was referring to. For example: Their Mom had to hide their favorite outfit at age 6 to keep them from wearing it every day. (Nick!!!)

It was a successful shower and so much fun to be able to do for them. I love love love my family and although things are far from perfect and rarely easy they are still my family and I am so thankful to God for each of them!





Treadmill vs Sarah: Sarah 2, Treadmill 0

After the last post I definitely needed something positive to write about.

The book I am reading "Run Like a Mother" is encouraging me so much to keep up with my physical activity. Yesterday I walked five miles in the March of Dimes Walk. My work is a sponsor so I walked with my coworkers, volunteers and my awesome bff Jenny.

It felt great to get up and walk first thing Saturday morning.

Today I got on the treadmill for my daily run. I decided I was definitely going to beat my distance from the other day. I walked the first five minutes ran the middle twenty and walked the last five. Uh yeah I did just say I ran twenty minutes straight!!!!

Heck yes that's 1.733 miles!!! Next stop two miles!!!!!

Kristen asked me if I was working up a sweat during my workouts. I took this picture for proof. Hot right?

So what's up for this week. (other than the scale hopefully moving in the right direction) I'm going to keep the food journal for Kristen to go over with me. I'm going to up my exercise. My goal is 30 minute run in the morning and something else in the evening. I am setting my alarm for 5:30 am. What makes me think I'll actually get up this time you ask? Crazy Kristen is calling me from the gym to make sure I'm up!!!!!

I'm closing with this awesome quote I found on pinterest.

(told ya it was awesome!)

Sarah vs Scale: Scale 2, Sarah 0

Weigh day was bad. Really bad! I was up three pounds which means I am up a total of seven pounds in two weeks. To say I was frustrated Friday is a huge understatement. I was more like furious. Beth thinks it's time to call and make a doctors appointment. Something is not right here so I'm going to call the doctor Monday and schedule a check up to see if there is something physically wrong the is causing me to gain weight.

The only other possible explanation is that I am completely fooling myself in regards to how much I am eating and exercising. I could see this being a viable explanation if I was staying at the same weight but gaining this much seems so super crazy and unexplainable. I talked to my friend Kristen, who is a dietitian, and I am going to write down everything I eat in a notebook and she is going to go over it with me to look for hidden sources of calories. I'm also going to log how much I work out. Thirty minutes a day just isn't cutting it I am going to shoot for one hour.

On the bright side I am super blessed to have such an amazing support system. They are really keeping me from giving up. Also, I just keep telling myself that if the goal is to lose weight, and it is, eating like crap and not exercising isn't going to get me where I want to be. Of course, the frustrating part is that at this moment neither is what I am doing now. I won't give up. I can't.

My sad sad marbles all back in the weight to lose vase!

I haven't lose hope! I know I will figure this out. 

I feel like I just ran a marathon!!!!!

In a good way, not in the out of breath, my feet are killing me, I feel like I'm going to die way. Tonight I did something that I have never in my 34 (ok 35 but who's counting) years of life been able to do before!!!! I ran a mile straight.

A big part of me wants to say I know a mile is not a big deal to some people blah blah blah.... I'm not going to though because I am stinkin excited!!!! Every marathon runner ran their first mile sometime and tonight was mine!!!!

I'm reading a really good book called "Run Like a Mother. How to get moving and not lose your family, job or sanity" Great book! I'm working on thinking like a runner (thank you Beth) so I figured I would read what runners read. Anyway one of the authors was describing how she felt when she met her goal of running a marathon in under four hours and I said that's it. I'm going to put aside couch to 5k for tonight and go run a mile straight. AND I DID! I feel like I'm in the same club with the under four hour marathon lady!!!

My self talk went a little something like this. "I can do this because I am a runner" "I'm going to do this because I AM a runner" and my personal favorite, "Runners run a mile straight all the time so since I AM a runner I'm going to run a mile straight!"

So originally this was not what I was going to post about tonight. I was going to post about not FEELING like I'm losing any weight. I mean obviously last week I didn't. Since I don't weigh myself at home anymore I have no idea how I'm doing until I get on the scale on Friday's. I counted my calories today and came in at 1314. Not terrible but I really want to stay around 1200,. I'm ready to not only lose some weight but to FEEL like I'm losing weight. You know at the very least it would be nice to feel some baggy pants or something!

I decided to think worst case scenario. Or at least what feels like it to me. I step on the scale on Friday and I haven't lost ANY weight. What do I do? After much thought (I wonder if anybody else thinks about losing weight as much as I do?) I decided I will just keep at it. Beth (she's could probably sue me for copyright infringement at this point cuz I quote her so much!) said that weight loss follows behavior. Not always as fast as we want it to but it does. So if I just keep exercising and counting my calories eventually the weight loss will follow. This is what I am choosing to believe.

So tomorrow I will shoot for 1200 calories. The other thing I really want to do is wake up at 5:30 and get my run done in the mornings. I'm not even trying for that tomorrow because it's already 11:00 and I'm WIDE awake from the run. I'll go to sleep earlier and then attempt (for the 8 millionth time) to get up at 5:30 on Friday!

On the run......

It's 11:39 and I'm still trying to get everything I need to accomplished before tomorrow and the week officially starts!

I ran SIX minutes in a row today. My new record! Someday that's going to say I ran six MILES in a row. When I got done with the couch to 5k for today I felt so pumped up! Lots of positive self talk going on. I really reminded myself that someday I will be able to have a piece of pumpkin pie or pepperoni pizza but that time is not right now. I have to stay focused and get this weight off! When I am at my goal weight and maintaining I will treat myself from time to time but not now. Did I mention I lost the receipt to that dang bridesmaids dress and so now I REALLY have to get down a size before June 23!

Here's what I'm eating tomorrow.
Breakfast oatmeal and blueberries
Lunch ww tv dinner cut up veggies and protein ranch
Dinner veggie burger and fruit
Snacks string cheese and almonds

I'm about to make this protein ranch it is:

1 cup Dannon Oikos plain nonfat greek yogurt
1 packet hidden valley ranch (dressing, not dip)
1/2 cup 1% milk

I hope it tastes good!

Goals for the week:
Count calories
Couch to 5k
Start Jillian Shred!

Ok. I gotta get this stuff done so I can go to sleep! Night!

Losing weight and getting healthy is HARD!

Actually so is life! At least today anyway!

Yesterday was weigh in day and guess what? I was up FOUR pounds. I didn't beat myself up but I'm not gonna lie I was sad, very sad. Go back to my office and cry sad. I wish this was quick and easy. It's not. Does this mean I'm going to quit, no. Are there things I can do better? Definitely. This week I will count my calories. I know I snacked too much last week. Also, thank the Lord, I won't be on my period anymore. That should help with the water retention. (this is sexy stuff, I know) I have to plan, I'm am just not the kind of person who can succeed with out a written out eating plan for the week. If left to what i FEEL like eating it's not gonna be pretty. Like this mornings dessert pizza for breakfast!

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself because I don't get to work on just myself and losing weight and getting healthy. Today is absolutely CRAZY. I have a baby shower, double header baseball games, a filthy house that needs to be cleaned, oil change, pick up new license plates, meal plan, grocery shop, pay bills, balance check book, and work on some work I brought home with me! Add to that eat healthy and excercise. Then I remember these beauties:

I love my life. Sure it's hard. Being a single Mom is not easy. But really what worth having is ever easy? So I'm going to put on my baseball Mom t-shirt and head out to the field. Make my grocery list and hopefully even pay some bills while sitting in the stands with my girl and cheering for my boy.

I put on my facebook status this morning "life doesn't get easier, we just get better".  I'm working on it one decision at a time.

Weigh day!!!

Tomorrow I weigh in! I get soooo freaked out before weigh in! I used to weigh in EVERY day. I then let that determine what kind of day I was going to have. Good mood bad mood completely decided on by what the scale read. I made the decision to only weigh once a week and asked Tyson to hide the scale so I wouldn't be tempted. It was crazy hard at first. I couldn't stand not knowing how much I weighed. It has taken a while to get used to but I was determined not to let a number dictate how I felt everyday!

I did a lot of things good this week. I can think of a lot of things I want to do better next week. Looking back I think I definitely snacked too much in the evenings. Even though they were healthy snacks they still have calories. I am going to fix this next week by logging my calories. I KNOW I sound like a broken record but seriously I'm really gonna this time! It goes without saying I could have done without the six cookies yesterday!!!!

I've done what I can do. With that said, I'm headed to bed. Well couch, its one of those nights ;0)

It's just a cookie Sarah, not love!

Cookies, cookies cookies!!!!

I went to a meeting this afternoon and there was a huge tray of cookies sitting on the counter. I very confidentally passed those calorie laden devils and headed to the table for the meeting. Fast forward an hour and a half, I was the last one to leave the meeting and was asked if I wanted to take the cookies to my office. "No way" I replied. With the same amount of disgust I would have used had he asked me to take a bowl of fresh poop, thank you very much. With a hurt look he said "You don't think the volunteers would want some cookies". OH GREAT!!! Now I'm depriving sweet old people of a little afternoon happy! How could I say no???

The second I walked in to the office with the cookies I made the decision to have one. Just one. SIX cookies later........DON'T JUDGE ME!!! I seriously ate six cookies! What the heck? SIX COOKIES!!! I'm surprised there were even enough cookies left for the volunteers! So what's a former complusive binge eater on the mend to do when she has a slip up like this?

Normally this is the way it would go down! I would beat myself up for several hours. Mentally not physically of course, although a punch to the grill may be less painful than the things I have been known to say to myself. After a good verbal assault I would usually decide since I have already blown it for the day the only thing to do is obviously go to Buffalo Wild Wings, Pizza Inn, Fill in fast food joint here, and PIG OUT! Then it makes perfect sense to have some Dairy Queen for dessert. Here's what I did instead:

I thought about what went wrong. Here's the first thing I realized. My brain was telling me not to eat the cookies. I made a conscious decision to turn my brain off and ignore it! Not the best decision. I still haven't figured out why I did it. I don't exactly know what my self talk should have looked like because I definitely don't think I should have been praising myself for the great cookie gorge of 2012, however, I wasn't mean to myself and that is a step in the right direction. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have even brought the cookies down to my office. Next time someone wants to send something for the "volunteers" I'm going to tell them I don't want to be responsible for all those oldies getting diabetes!!!!

I know you are wondering if I pigged out for dinner and it might make a for a more exciting story but I didn't. I had a grilled chicken wrap from chic-fil-a and I even did week 4 day 2 of my couch to 5k. I'm allowing myself to feel satisfied with the decisions I made after the binge although I am still somewhat disgusted with the binge itself. Tomorrow I weigh in with Beth. We will see if those stinkin crack cookies show up on the scale.

Last thing! Speaking of the scale. Since I started meeting with Beth I have never lost more than two weeks in a row. On the third week weigh in I usually gain which then starts my downward spiral. Tomorrow will be three weeks in a row. I am soooo wanting to break that pattern but I am putting in writing that if I don't I will carry on and not run naked screaming to the nearest taco bell!!!!

Confessions of a wanna be runner....I MEAN A RUNNER

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a runner. I don't know why but it sounds so cool to me! As much as I loved teaching my hip hop classes I am not much of a group fitness kind of gal. I love the thought of waking up each morning and going for a run before I start my day or coming home and running before starting my evening with the kids. Unfortunately it has been the thought of running that I have been in love with not the actual running!!! I have started and stopped couch to 5k three times. Regardless of how much I want to run deep down I have never thought I would be able to be a runner.

Last week during my weekly session with Beth, our fabulous employee health coach at work, I said something about wanting to be a runner. Beth said :you are a runner, you run don't you"? I said "you can hardly call what I am doing running". We have been working a lot on my negative self talk. I'm a work in progress. Beth said "do you run"? "Have you ran steps in your life"? I said "yes". She said "then you are a runner". "Say it". I mumbled, "I'm a runner". She wasn't convinced. "I'm a runne"r! It felt akward but good.

Tonight as I was doing week 4 day 1 of couch to 5k I started to doubt myself. For the first time I had to run 5 minutes straight. Probably doesn't sound like a lot to most people but to me it felt huge! During the warm-up I text my son. I don't think I can do this! TIME OUT! Have I told you how awesome my son is???

This is a picture of Tyson after he completed his first triathalon. His dedicaiton amazes and inspires me. When he makes up his mind to do something he does it. No matter what.

TIME IN! His response to me was "I believe in you" What a cool feeling. To be believed in. As I ran (hee hee, I ran) I kept saying to myself. "I can do this", "I AM a runner" What the heck??? Whose self talk is this? Surely not mine! But yes it was and guess what? I did do it!!!! Tyson came out for a run and lapped me twice but both times he threw his fist up in the air and gave me a huge smile. He was proud of me and I was proud of me! It's a new feeling. I think I could get used to it!

I can't wait to see Beth on Friday and tell her I'm a runner :0)

Here is a list of some of the songs that were pumping me up on my run tonight.

1. I look Good by Chalie Boy

2. My Chick Bad by Ludacris & Nicki Minaj

3. 6 foor 7 foot by Lil Wayne feat. Cory Gunz

4. Badonkadonk by Liquidsilva

I always down load the clean version! 

Last Week

Last week was pretty exciting! I didn't blog but I thought about it a lot does that count?

 I started out the week at 207 and had to get down to 204 by Thursday to meet my weight loss goal for the quarter. REWIND! I am part of a pilot program at work for people who need to make health changes. I quailfy because of my BMI. It is a one year program and my insurance premiums are being paid by my company as long as I stay in the program and meet my 3 goals each quarter. I also recieve 250 dollars for reaching the quarterly goals. At first I was SUPER embarresed to be a part of the program  but I've decided to take advantage of it and enjoy the rewards! Sooooo.... I had already met my 5 lb weight loss goal but fell off the wagon and gained it back! The pressure was on!

 I played close attention to what I was eating. I started off the week by making salads to take to lunch each day. I am one of those weirdos that can eat the same thing over and over!

This salad has romaine lettuce, baby spinach, grilled chicken, red bell peppers, strawberries, goat cheese crumbles and slivered almonds! YUMMY!!!!

The dressing that I use is from Walden Farms. I love the rasberry it's calorie and fat free but definitely not taste free!

I bought healthy snacks including grapes, string cheese, almonds and hard boiled eggs.

I really think the key to me eating well is preparation!!!! Making a plan and sticking to it!!! I love a plan!!!!

As far as excercise I did couch to 5k three times. I have given up on boot camp. It's just not something I can fit in to my daily schedule and I'm trying to be realistic!

Soooo.......Weigh in day and I was 203.5!!!! I met my goal for the quarter, I get to continue with the program, and I got to drop some more marbles in the loss jar!!!!! Woohoo!