Happy Halloween!

Ok so I am including a tip I found yesterday up here because it just wouldnt be relevant tomorrow.

This shows the GMO that is found in our different candy. GMO (if you cant read it) stands for Genetically Modified Organisms or all the different things that have been chemically altered whether it be sugars or soy or starch. And I am guilty because I am handing out just about every single type of this candy. LOL. I dont see anything wrong with a little candy. I give my kids one or two pieces a day after Halloween and Easter times. It is when you go overboard that it just gets out of control and not good.

Anyways back to the task at hand. Yesterday was a good day. For breakfast I had a banana strawberry spinach smoothie. Lunch was veggies and cheese and crackers. Dinner was 2 small bbq ribs, and a HUGE salad with some fresh mozzarella. Delicious. I also had a snack after lunch with some frosted mini wheats, some pretzel rods, a few semi sweet chocolate chips and some pumpkin seeds.

After we got the kids to bed, I went and did zumba. I went thru my ZIN 33 like I usually do then flipped it over for a refresher on some of the moves we learned at training. Then I put in a different dvd that had some routines to the songs. I really didnt like that one much. Some of the songs were "live" and so they didnt continue the moves. It got confusing. Then I switched it back over to the wii zumba. Let me say this. I dont like this game. Not because it isnt fun, but because it just doesnt get my heart rate up. I had a hard time keeping it in the 120's. Usually at a normal zumba class, my heart rate is up in the high 150's, 160's at the top of my range. So I dont know that I will be doing the wii zumba again unless it is just for fun. Not really finding any routines I like for a class on there anyways.

But I got 2 hours in (just over) and burned 1036 calories. Nice.

This morning I was back down to 175.5. So I lost 1.5 lbs yesterday. Like I said, I had a lot of alcohol over the weekend. LOL.

Today the plan is to go downtown trick or treating if it stops raining. Then K and I are going to go have lunch at Dexter pub while we are downtown. My plan is to have a salad. Then Landry and I will head to Xaviers school just before 2 for Xaviers Halloween parade. After that, it is home to do some story time, then a quick dinner and off to trick or treat. Once we get home from trick or treating, we will get the kids to bed for the night and MY plan is to get in at least an hour of zumba. Tonight I plan to do my infomercial dvds to learn more of those routines. At least with those, my heart rate goes up. :)

Also next week after pay day, I think I am going to order some more Healthe Trim. I just feel like since the tornado, my body is stuck in this rut. I go up, I go down quite significantly in a matter of days. I think this will help me out. I will have to cut out my coffee, but that is my only vice that I wont be able to have (well that and alcohol but I can drink red wine with it). I really dont eat or drink artificial sweeteners because I try to eat pretty clean. So stay tuned. I really cant wait to order it again. Hopefully it gives me the boost I need.

That is the news for now folks. Have a Happy Halloween!!!

Tip of the Day:

I made this for breakfast today and HAD to pass on the recipe.

Pumpkin Smoothie-
1/2+ cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling) You should be able to get about 3 smoothies out of one small can of pumpkin. Just put the lid back on and pop it in the fridge til your next smoothie
1/2 frozen banana (I used 3 chunks of banana that I had in my freezer)
ice
a bit of milk (I would have used almond milk if I had some)
honey to taste
vanilla (maybe a tsp)
pumpkin spice (a couple good shakes)

Blend til smoothe. Enjoy!

I drank this pretty quickly for my breakfast. It was delicious. Originally I put in a bit of pure maple syrup and no vanilla and it tasted a bit bland. I found a recipe online that added the honey and vanilla. Once I added that, it was perfection.

Post Parties

It has been a crazy weekend. Lots of food- not all good, lots of fun, and friends and drinks.

I admit I didnt weigh myself yesterday. I was scared to. LOL

Yesterday I was mostly back on plan with my food (I did have some wine, jello shots, and some cookies and other left over goodies yesterday) and I did 2 hours of zumba last night.

I mixed it up a bit and did my Zumba Instructor Network dvd which is just about an hour (songs I am learning) then turned on the Zumba Wii and did that for another hour. I have to admit, I have only done the Wii Zumba one other time. I made a new profile on Hard and had no problem passing the level. It is pretty easy and I didnt really break a sweat. I think I will be trading it in over Christmas for the new Zumba Core game coming out. And I have heard that the Kinect is a lot harder for Zumba because it takes into account your exact move and not just how you move the remote. With the Wii I was worried about making the remote move correctly. All in all though I burned 1094 calories in 2:11.

And this morning I weighed in at 177.0. Up 3 lbs but I thought for sure I would be back in the 180's so it was a pleasant surprise for me.

Today I am back at it again. Back with my fruit and veggie fast and Zumba again tonight.

The weather has been crazy here in Dexter and even though we arent getting the rain that Sandy is putting out, we are getting the wind. We have been having gusts here 50+ mph all day yesterday and today. Lots of post tramatic stress coming out in the neighbors. Crashing, debris flying...its crazy.

I was happy because yesterday we got the trampoline down before it got really bad. I know if we hadnt, I wouldnt have been able to sleep last night. Since we put it up, when we get wind, I freak that that trampoline is going to become air born.

To any of my readers on the east coast, please stay safe. Take cover. I can relate just a bit to what you are going thru.

Tip of the Day: Just to give you an idea of what different body fat looks like. I personally like the 30% one and would be very happy with that.

A quickie!

I have been going, going, going today so I wanted to pop in and give a quick update.

I am down another pound today to 174.0. Woot woot! I did another two hours of zumba last night and burned 1061 calories.

After I dropped Xavier off at school, Landry and I ran to the grocery store to get all of the groceries for the party on Sunday.

Since then I have been boiling eggs and making pudding and jello shots. Yummy!

I just had a salad with some baked chicken breast, a half of pita, some hummus and a cheese stick for lunch. Now it is off to do some zumba for a bit before I leave to get Xavier from school and go to class tonight!

So if I dont check in this weekend, it is because I have a VERY crazy weekend ahead.

Have a  great day and a great weekend!

Tip of the Day:

A bit better

Yesterday was a bit better of a day.

K came over and we got a bit of Zumba done and I showed her some of the other routines. I burned 474 calories in 43 minutes. 

The morning started off rough with the boys but in the end, I got Landry down for a nap and when I was time to get Xaiver from school, Landry wasnt cranky. Woo hoo!

Aarons mom came over that afternoon and was waiting for us by the time we got back from school.

Then the chaos began. LOL. Aarons mom got the boys a ton of Halloween costumes so the boys had fun the rest of the afternoon with that.

After the boys got down for the night, I was able to go downstairs and do some zumba with Andi. She wanted me to be her teacher. So I did the routines with her that I know. She was having some problems with one of the steps that I just learned so I broke it down for her after the first time going thru it. Then we did it again and she did much better. We worked out for about an hour and I burned another 601 calories.

This morning I weighed 175.0. Down 1.5 lbs. Nice!

Today I am going to work some more on my zumba routines. I want to start learning a new song. My mom is also coming for a little visit today while she is down visiting her aunt. Should be a nice visit.

I am also working on my grocery list for my halloween party this weekend. It is going to be a very busy weekend!!

Friday is Zumba and then our zumba halloween party at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Saturday I am going with K to a shelter so we can hand out food and supplies. Then I will come home and go get pumpkins with the kids and carve those. THEN I need to prep food for the party on Sunday. THEN at midnight, I am going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. Woo hoo!
Sunday we are having a halloween party with friends in the neighborhood. That should be a lot of fun. Everyone is bringing some food to pass and dressing up. I cant wait.

On the menu for that day are some healthy things and some not so healthy things :)

1. red eye specials- hollowed out roma tomatoes with pesto, and a mozzerella ball with black olives for the pupils.
2. Deviled egges with black olive spiders on top
3. mummy dogs (for the kids)- hot dogs wrapped with crescent rolls
4. fall dip for apples and nilla wafers- cool whip, vanilla pudding and a can of pumpkin
5. fresh veggies and dip (duh)
6. 7 layer spider dip with refried beans, tomatoes, guac, cheese, sour cream YUMMY!
7. sugar cookie fingers (nails are almond slices)
8. witches brew- orange soda, pineapple juice and orange sherbert
9. shrunken head cider- alcoholic
10. witches brooms- pretzel sticks stuck into peanut butter cups

along with the normal soda to drink.

The above is what I am making. It will be fun to see what others bring. Some are saying cake and cake pops. Maybe some caramel apples? Who knows!

What are you doing for Halloween??

Tip of the Day:

Major meltdowns

Yesterday was a flat out rough day.

Everything was going great until Aaron called and said that we were going to go to a Coney Island with his mom and grandma for dinner.

Normally it wouldnt matter. It would be a fun time. BUT Landry didnt get a nap yesterday and I knew he was exhausted.

Well on the way to the Coney Island, Landry fell asleep. So when we got there he had to get woken up and he is CRANKY when that happens. And the crying started.

Finally he stopped and I got him to figure out what he wanted for dinner.

Xavier acted like he had pure sugar running in his veins and was up and down under the table, blowing straw wrappers and just not listening.

My mother in law took the kids to the bathroom once because they had to go. Later Landry said he had to go so of course Xavier had to go with them. That was when all hell broke loose. Landry started crying. Wait- crying isnt the word for it. Screaming. Shrieking! So much so, I could hear him all the way across the Coney Island from inside the bathroom. So I got up to see what was going on. And I was PISSED.

Come to find out between screams, Landry was mad that he wasnt the leader and that Xavier went into the bathroom first. Really? Seriously?

And the crying really didnt stop after that. Then Xavier got mad because we mentioned getting dessert but we just needed to leave because Landry was acting up. So no dessert- for anyone. Finally, Landry got calmed down and I took him to the car to see the shirt Aarons mom got him.

Aaron ended up having to carry Xavier out because HE started to pitch a fit because he wanted to say good-bye to his Meme. She had gone to get the car so she could pull up for her mom to get in.

We TOLD Xavier if he would just sit in his seat so we could buckle him up that we would drive over to say goodbye. But he wouldnt listen. He thrashed and fought and screamed. It was majorly embarrassing. Then he worked himself up so much that he puked in the car. Seriously?

This is how the night went. Not kidding.

So sue me and call me a bad mom...but I told him this was his fault. He wouldnt listen so he missed out on saying goodbye. If he would have LISTENED we would have been over there and she could have said goodbye while her mom is getting into the car. And besides, Meme would be coming to our house today.

Then on the way home Xavier got mad again because he didnt get a red sucker. He ended up with a bubble gum one and Landry got the tropical punch. Of course Landry wouldnt trade. So it was a lot of growling and huffing from the backseat. I tried to tell him that we have a ton of those fricken dum dum suckers at the house and that we could probably trade it for a red one.

And the tantrums didnt end there.

Xavier had to strip when he got home in the laundry because he had puke on his clothes.

He wouldnt get pj's on. He wouldnt brush his teeth. He was mad he didnt get a story. He was mad Landry brushed his teeth first. Really? Ugh. It went on...and on...and on.

Finally after a lot of crying and screaming we got both the kids to bed.

I went downstairs and worked on Zumba. K was supposed to come over but her work meeting ran late and she still needed to eat dinner. SO she will be coming over today about 11 to get a crash course.

I ended up doing zumba for just under 2 hours and burned 1079 calories.

Now I have to admit I did ok at dinner. I had water. I ordered a greek salad with feta and dressing on the side. BUT I ate both pieces of Landry's toast he didnt want AND I had the pita that came with my salad. LOL. That was before the drama.

After I worked out I went upstairs and took a shower. Thursday night is the night a lot of our shows are on. Sons of Anarchy and Ink Master just to name a couple.

Then I was just so stressed out from earlier that I started snacking. I had clean potato chips and pretzels and some semi sweet chocolate chips. I also made a drink with lime vodka and sierra mist. Its a wonder I didnt start drinking earlier. LOL

Then last night Xavier was up in the middle of the night. He wanted anything and everything. A drink. His night light on. His dinosaur. Then at 4am Landry was up screaming for Meme. He wanted to see her NOW. I said she wasnt here and that she was sleeping. He didnt like that. He wanted to get up. He didnt want his pj's on. He tried to charge the door- multiple times. Oye ve! Seriously? It took over 30 min to calm him back down. We told him he didnt need to go  back to sleep but mom and dad wanted to and that he had to stay in his room til we came and got him. And that little bugger didnt go back to sleep either.

Can you see my eye twitching today? I am seriously beginning to wonder if the Coney Island put crack in their chocolate milk.

I really need a coffee drip right into my veins today because I am seriously dragging ass.  I am SURE Aaron is too.

With all that, you can imagine how happy I was to see the scale remain status quo at 176.5.

Today as I mentioned K is coming over at 11 to do about 20-30 min of zumba with me. Then Aarons mom is coming over this afternoon for dinner. I will be making chicken breast stuffed with mozz and wrapped with bacon. I will be having a large salad and chopping up some of the chicken breast to put in it to remain mostly veggie.

Then my friend Maggie is coming over about 6:45 to work on Zumba stuff. When you look at the training video all at once it gets a bit overwhelming. So I think it is best if we focus on one song at a time. With the songs I have, I know the routines for 3. I "mostly" know the routines for another 8 which gives me 54 minutes of songs without warm ups and cool down. Plus I still need to get the songs from my instructor of other songs I know. So I am doing pretty good.

My plan is to try to work on routines for a couple hours each night. Whew. I am still sore from training on Saturday! LOL.

That is the news for now. Sorry for the long drama post but I had to get it off my chest. LOL. Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Day:

Successful Zumba night

Last night was a successful first night of learning some Zumba routines.

When I say successful, I mean I learned ONE routine. LOL.

I actually did the first warm up routine twice (the squats were killing me and kept me from doing it a third time), the second warm up once, and then from that point on, I did Un Mes. A fantastic Reggaton routine that is so so fun! I did it with the break down multiple times before I finally started getting comfortable. After that, it was just memorizing what part I needed to do when. Finally I started to get comfortable to the point where I could listen to the music and do it with my eyes closed. Then if I would feel lost, I would open to see where they were. Success! This morning I listened to just the music (no dvd) and I remembered the whole routine. So one song down!

Last night I worked on Zumba for 2 hours and I burned 1072 calories. That includes sitting down to preview three other songs.

Not bad.

And this morning I weighed 176.5. Going down- by a couple of pounds.

Tonight I am going to do something a bit different.

K (I think) is coming over tonight and I am going to do the dvd's that I have and I have the music to. It will be a good refresher for me and not so monotonous for her. She has never done zumba before so I want to break her in slowly. LOL.

Then tomorrow, my friend Maggie is coming over and we are going to work on different songs. Should be fun especially when she is at the same spot I am in learning new routines.

Cant wait to see if this helps me lose weight and get toned up too. I know I said it before, but this IS how I lost most of my 100 lbs when I first started. Doing Zumba, I was able to lose about 1-2 lbs a night. BUT that was when I weighed 268 lbs.

Ok...moving on from Zumba. I apologize if that monopolizes my posts for a bit, but it is what I am working on right now.

Anyways.

Yesterday I went back to a mostly fruit and veggie fast. Breakfast was a smoothie. Lunch was fresh veggies, a bit of blue cheese dressing, a bit of bread and some of my left over pasta with steak that I made a few days ago. I wanted to make sure that I got a little bit of carbs to have some energy for that night. Then for dinner was a huge salad with some almonds, some lite blue cheese dressing, and a couple Tyson chicken tenders cut up in it. Delicious.

And I still had plenty of energy to make it thru my two hours of working out.

After work out, I had some water and two saltines with some peanut butter skimmed on. Then I went to bed. I was beat.

Thats about the news for now. I woke up late this morning so I have to rush around to get the kids to school and pick up a snack for Landry's class so off I go! Talk to you all tomorrow!

Tip of the Day:

Zumba!!!!

AHHHHH So excited!

I made it thru Saturday and I am officially licensed to instruct Zumba!!

A couple things I want to mention then I will move on to my recap of training....

You will notice on my website I now have some "ads" for Zumba. If you click on the banner, it will take you to the Zumba store. There you will receive a 10% discount on Zumba Wear!! Who doesnt like a good deal?? I wanted to pass on the discount to my readers.

Also...I am SORE!! As in, I havent been this sore since my half marathon. My calves still ache today BUT I need to get working on my routines. And I think I am the only one that can burn over 4000 calories on Saturday and still GAIN weight. LOL. I am sure it is because of muscle bloat though. That night after training, it was a lose, lose. It hurt to stand up, it hurt to sit down. LOL.

Ok so this is how our day went:

8-8:30am Registration
8:45-9am Introduction
9-10:15 Master Class- full out Zumba class. SOOOO much fun!!
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-12 Lecture- going over the science of Zumba, about Beto and why he made it, the purpose of warm up and cool down, etc.
12-12:15 Warm up with drill- going over the science of warm up and putting it into practice (more Zumba moves)
12:15-12:45 Basic steps for Merengue and putting them into practice
12:45-1:15 Lunch
1:15-1:45 Lecture on ZIN (Zumba Instructor Network) I signed up for this. And I am loving it so far. Plus the lecture gave our food a chance to digest before doing more Zumba.
1:45-2:00 Break to get water
2:00-2:15 Lecture going over the basic steps of Salsa
2:15-2:45 Basic steps for Salsa- More Zumba!!
2:45-3:15 Cueing- how to and working on nonverbal cueing
3:15-4:15 Cumbia- this is the move that I was the worst at prior to training. This helped me SO MUCH!
4:15-4:25 Cumbia combined with cueing
4:25-5:00 Class writing a routine. We broke into 4 groups and each had to write a section of a song. Learned about how a song is put together and how to tell what type of song it is (merengue, salsa, cumbia, reggaeton)
5:00-5:30 Mini Master class (more zumba) and cool down
5:30-6:00 questions, evaluations & certificates!!

By the final mini master, I was beat. I thought that I wasnt going to make it thru. LOL. But I did. And it was so worth it. At the beginning, our ZES (Zumba Education Specialist) asked who was familiar with Zumba, who was a fitness instructor (other than Zumba) and who had never taken a Zumba class before. The shocker? We had two people who had NEVER taken Zumba before. One of which was an older gentleman (think mid-50's). He did great and received his license as well but I couldnt imagine not knowing what Zumba is and enduring a 10 hour class- even with breaks and lunch.

Yesterday was spent recovering and working on my new Zumba website and exploring ZIN (Zumba Instructor Network). ZIN is the place you go to for training, forums, help, music, marketing materials, etc. AND they send you music and routines as long as you are a member :)  If you want to check out my website, it is www.leemitchell.zumba.com.

Tonight (as I mentioned at the beginning of this post), I plan on starting to learn the different routines we were given. I want to get some of them down so I can look for a Zumba Instructor position. PLUS I am asking my instructor at the gym if I could get some of the music we use that I know the routines to. My hope is that she will later let me teach a couple songs during the class to help me gain my confidence.

My friend Maggie (who I met at the gym) went with me to training and got her license as well. We are going to get together on Wed to start working on routines. My hope is that we will teach together for the fun of it. We always joked about starting our own business together- Blonds With Barbells. LOL LOL.

Ok...now for some interesting factoids about Zumba- this is how a Zumba class SHOULD go... the ones you go to may not do this exactly (and they should!!).

Your class should be 70% latin music
Your class should be 30% other types of music (think Rock, Rap, Hip Hop, Pop).

A class should be 70% cardio, 30% fitness
A class should be 70% dance and 30% strength and toning

A class should be NON-Verbal cueing

A class is NOT about getting the steps and movement right-- just moving and having fun. Let the music MOVE you!

Very interesting huh?

And I learned that I am not a certified instructor...I am a licensed instructor BECAUSE I am licensed to use the Zumba logo. :) Happy days huh?

And I got some cool clothes for teaching in. They had a whole selection for us to choose from. I ended up getting one pair of pants and three shirts (one says instructor- hee hee).

On the food front, because of the class, I did go off the fruit/veggie fast for this weekend. Today I start back up again.

So that is the news for now. Sorry for the long post but can you tell I am excited about this new endeavor? If any of you have any questions about my training or ZIN, please let me know. I am very happy to answer questions. And I am already looking for my next Zumba training course. I am thinking Zumba toning or Sentao (which is a chair based Zumba!).

Tip of the Day:

WHY WATER IS IMPORTANT!!

Its Friday! Day 12

Its Friday!

Which means Zumba Certification EVE!! Tomorrow I Zumba my a$$ off and become a zumba instructor. I am SO excited!

Yesterday was a great day as far as food was concerned. Breakfast was a smoothie, lunch was celery, carrots, and a fried green tomato. Dinner was a huge romaine and spinach salad with peppers, sauteed onions and mushrooms, some pieces of beef roast sauteed with garlic, almond slivers and lite blue cheese dressing. Delicious!

For a snack that night I had some dark chocolate chips and some blueberry frosted mini wheats. I did make another skinny margarita too which explains my 1/2 lb weight gain to 176.0 today. BUT not to get gross, but lets just say that this morning I am pretty sure I LOST just over a half pound. ROFL.

Anyways...

Last night Aaron and I watched the Tigers take on the Yankees and sweep them. We live in Michigan and are both big Tiger fans. The place where I got my piercings was having a contest. If the Tigers beat the Yankees be one of the first 10 after the game to put Yankees Suck on their site and  you win a $25 Old English Detroit D. I asked Aaron if he wanted me to enter him into the contest (the night before when it was rained out) and he said sure. Well last night after the game I forgot about it for a couple minutes. When I remembered I ran to the computer. I was number 14 or so to put it so I thought "oh well". WELL in checking back, they extended the number of people who won and I made the cut! So Aaron can get his first tattoo. He isnt sure where because it is probably going to be a small one so he is going to talk to the tattoo guys.

So today I need to call and make his appointment. They might be able to get him in this afternoon but I am going to aim for Monday.

Anyways...
I have a difficult decision to make. Tonight is ladies night at Penni's house. That is the no duh part. The "I dont know" part is do I or do I not go to zumba tonight. Tomorrow training is from 8-6. I plan on wearing my heart rate monitor to see how many calories I burn- morbid curiosity. I am thinking that I will still go to zumba tonight but not sure if I should or not. Part of me doesnt want to risk an injury. The other part of me says- you arent going to injure anything. You havent before.

So what do you think? Do I or do I not go?

Thats the news for now. Have a great Friday everyone!

Tip of the Day:

Ever have a day...Day 11

So have you ever had a day where you wake up in the morning and your body is sore. It feels tighter. Like you have lost weight?

That is how I felt when I got up this morning. My sides were tight. Arms were sore.

Then I stepped onto the scale and it said 175.5.

Now I am not freaking out or anything. I went a bit off my normal yesterday and had some caramel popcorn, some cheese and crackers, some wine and a margarita. I tried to make the margarita a bit skinny by using tequila, lime juice, water and some honey but the honey just went to the bottom and wouldnt dissolve. Next time I know to dissolve it first in some hot water then add it to the mix. Anyways. I was having some fun because my FAVORITE tv show was starting back up last night- American Horror Story!!

I have been waiting for this creepy thriller since last season ended. I just love this series.

I am not normally a "thriller" suspense person. I HATE scary movies unless there is some comedy there (think Scream and Zombieland), but for whatever reason I am drawn to this show.

And just as an FYI...if you like the funny horror movies, one you must see is Dale and Tucker vs Evil. It is a funny take on the evil country bumpkin vs the college kids. Except in this movie, the rolls are reversed. It is currently on Netflix and was a throwaway movie we turned on one night that ended up being high on my must watch again movie list.

Fast forward back to today.

I am still keeping with the mostly fruits and veggies diet.

Tonight I want to work out a bit. I havent really since last week and I need to start doing it again. I keep saying that I am, but by the time night comes, I dont. So, time to get back at it.

Tonight for dinner, I plan on having the rest of the salad that I have. I have just been on this salad kick lately. Now to figure out what I am making for the rest of the family. LOL.

Thats the news for now folks. Have a great day!

Tip of the Day:

Lets see...day 10 or 11?

I no longer think of this "fast" in terms of days anymore.

I am doing well with it.

I dont really feel deprived anymore.

I do have "cheat" things here and there but fact remains that 80-90% of my diet is veggies and fruit.

Yesterday was just about a repeat of the day befores menu. A smoothie for breakfast made with some almond milk, carrots, celery, scallions and an apple with peanut butter for lunch, a big salad with avocado, almond slivers, bacon crumbles, scallions and lite blue cheese for dinner. I did have a piece of pizza later that night though. And some wine. And just a few pretzels and dark chocolate chips for a snack. But I think I did great.

And today I woke up to 174.0. Another 1.5 lbs down from yesterday.

Today I am going to keep the same breakfast, lunch, and I am not sure about dinner. K and I want to walk tonight- depending on how she is feeling. She had a dentist appt yesterday because she had a bad cavity below a filling. And while she escaped having a root canal, she has a funny mouth that many times does not get fully numb. Thank goodness gas works for her. But she was in a lot of pain come last night.

Then we chatted while watching the debates. Making fun of them (in a way) but really we were just frustrated. Why wont these guys answers the questions they were asked? Seriously. I am not a political person but even I was getting mad.

Anyways....off the politcal thing. This is not the forum for that.

So we made fun of them and let off steam til about 11. Aarons flight was getting in about midnight and I tried really hard to stay up for him to get home. But he didnt get home until 1:30am so it was a fail for me.

This morning because I fell asleep about 12:30-1am, I am dragging bootie.

I am going to need a quick pick me with some coffee and hopefully my smoothie will help today too.

Then I am going to my friend J's house this morning about 10:30 to help her with her newly reclaimed basement (from the kids). She has no idea what to do with it. So Landry and I are going over there to have a look-see. Should be fun.

Thats about it folks. Have a great Wednesday everyone.

Tip of the Day:

A good day.

Yesterday was a great day.

For breakfast I had a smoothie with bananas, strawberries and some almond milk.

Lunch was a raw lunch with scallions, celery and carrots. I also had an apple with some natural peanut butter. And I may or may not of had a small breadstick. LOL.

For dinner I had a large Romaine salad with red cabbage, carrots, scallions, avocado, almond slivers, some crumbled pieces of bacon and some lite blue cheese dressing. And I may or may not of had another breadstick, a piece of chocolate and some white wine. LOL.

I woke up this morning weighing 175.5. Yup. I would say a good day! *Yesterday I was 178.0.

Yesterday a weird thing happened. My boys and I were sitting watching tv and they decided they wanted to watch Power Rangers on Netflix. I turned on the dvd and waited for the tv to respond and take me to the proper screen. Nothing happened. So I thought Netflix was having issues and flicked it back to cable. Again- nothing. Just a blue screen with the input jack listed at the top of the screen and a no signal warning at the bottom of the screen. At this point I thought that the cable was out and proceeded to call and chew out Comcast. ROFL. If you remember all the issues we had with them, you would know why I jumped to that conclusion. Well while I was still on the phone with them, I tried to put in a dvd. It wasnt until the dvd wouldnt register that I realized that it wasnt a Comcast issue, that it was a tv issue. Damn. So I made up an excuse of my kids trying to kill each other to get off the phone- which they were by the way so it wasnt too much of an excuse. I then called up the Geek Squad. Thankfully we have the extended warranty thru them for the television. Warranties are the way to go. Last time our DLP took a dump, we ended up with our brand new flat screen Sony Bravia for free because of the warranty. So please, get them. Anyways, after explaining my predicament and wondering if I was having a REALLY blond moment, the Geek Squad told me that I wasnt crazy and that these tv's are known for software issues. They are an excellent tv but it just needs a software upgrade. The guy was surprised that we didnt have the issue before. He said usually it happens within the first year and I think we have had this tv for 3 years now. Secretly I was hoping that we would have to upgrade our tv. LOL. SOOOO..Geek Squad is set up to come out today between 8-12. They said that it should take 5 minutes or so to upgrade.

Whew. Kids and no tv is not a great combo. They did good last night but I dont think they could take too much of that. And I dont know that my sanity could make it.

Plus last night I was REALLY bored. Thank goodness K came over for a late dinner. It worked out perfectly that yesterday was the night she was coming over and the tv just happened to go out.

So hopefully by the time that Landry gets home from pre-k today the tv will be fixed. It is just way too quiet in the house without some background noise.

Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Day:

Carbs got me again Day 8

Ahhhh...well...

I caved Saturday night. Had too much wine, mojitos and carbs. I had cheese and crackers a TON of salad and veggies. Just way overdid it with the breadsticks.

Apparently I know my kryptonite.

By Sunday my weight was back up to 180.0.

But after a good healthy eating plan yesterday and sticking with MOSTLY fruits and veggies (I had a bit of PB in my apple and a 1/4 piece of pork) this morning I am back down to 178.0. We even went for ice cream with my in laws last night and I didnt have any. I was very proud of myself. Now had the ice cream been a loaf of bread- well watch out. LOL.

Today I am single mom until Wednesday. Aaron had a business trip out to Oklahoma.

So tonight K is coming over for dinner to help keep me sane.

I think I am going to pick up stuff for a nice healthy salad. I am in need of a ton of things - more fruits, veggies, cereal, milk, orange juice- well you know how it goes. So I want to make sure I stay on plan.

So today will once again be mostly fruits and veggies. Tonight I think I will fry up some bacon so we can top our salads with it and then Xavier has bacon for sandwiches for school.

So not much news today everyone. Going into my second week of mostly fruits and veggies. I can see this becoming a lifestyle. It isnt so hard now.

Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Day:

A fun night

I had a great night last night but felt like a complete wuss at the gym.

I got a mile run in at 5.0 mph before taking me back down to a 4.3 mph walk. I just couldnt do it. With doing the mostly veggie/fruit diet, I just didnt have the stamina.

But I got 2.25 miles in before zumba.

Zumba was great as usual and I am starting to really look forward to my certification next weekend.

In total, I burned 1010 calories at the gym.

Then we went to Aubrees for dinner. I did really good and had a greek salad with the feta and dressing on the side. It came with two breadsticks that I ate, and I had 3 feta bread sticks. I also had 2 Octoberfest beers. I know, I know. I said I would have wine but beer just sounded SO good.

Fast forward to today and there was no weight gain. Still at 176.0.

Ok so today I am having a smoothie. Lunch will be fruits and veggies with my apple/peanut butter combo.

Tonight I am going to my aunts house and will be bringing a salad for dinner. I think the plan is for them to pick up some chinese too. I am REALLY picky with my chinese so I dont know that that will be too much of a challenge for me to avoid. Bread is THE killer for me.

We shall see how it goes. Really I am happy with how well I have done so far even though I went off a bit yesterday. I plan on continuing next week but will stop the diet Friday to bulk up on carbs that day- much the way a runner bulks up on carbs before a race. I want to make sure I have enough energy for Zumba ALL DAY on Saturday.

Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Day: 

Day 5 and still at it.

Yesterday was a good day as far as the fast goes.

Breakfast was a smoothie, lunch was sauteed onions with garlic zucchini and yellow squash. Then I had an apple with a bit of peanut butter in it.

Dinner I grilled some pork chops and heated up my left over sweet potato and did some red cabbage in foil with salt, pepper and a bit of olive oil. Wrapped the packets up and grilled them with the pork chops. I also heated up my left over onions, peppers and the avocado from the night before.

Aaron had a lunch and learn yesterday for work and brought home the left over salad and bread. Yum. Bread.

I ended up having half of my sweet potato, the peppers, onions and avocado, some red cabbage, a little bit of pork chop and then when Aaron got home I had some salad and yes I had some bread. The carbs kept me full just enough so I wasnt starving after an hour.

This morning I am down another pound to 176.0. Woo hoo!

Tonight is zumba and girls night. This is the first time I will have been to the gym in two weeks. And I am scared. LOL. But I will make it thru.

I have already checked out Aubree's menu for tonight. I am going to have a Greek Salad with the feta on the side and the dressing on the side. I will also allow myself some feta bread and a glass of wine. This should help keep me on track during the day knowing what dinner is tonight. I LOVE Greek Salad! And I still have a ton of salad left over for lunch today. Now just to stay away from the bread. LOL. And I will still have an apple with peanut butter for some protein for my system for my workout tonight.

So that is the news for now. Aaron leaves on Sunday for a business trip until Tuesday so I will be playing single mom for a couple days. LOL. So this weekend is my chance to get out while I can. Tonight is gals night and tomorrow night is gals night with my two Aunts. Should be fun!

Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Day: I think I may try this smoothie tomorrow with canned pumpkin. Sounds delicious!

Day 4 and some interesting findings

So yesterday was going great.

I had my smoothie for breakfast, for lunch I had carrots, celery, a scallion, and some peapods. Then I started to feel a bit sick after a while and decided it was my body saying it needed some protein.

So I cored an apple and put some natural peanut butter in it.

After that I felt much better.

For dinner I sauteed a red pepper, yellow pepper, garlic, onion and some diced tomatoes together with some chili lime rub that I have. I sliced some avocado and pulled out lettuce leafs and ate them like a wrap with the avocado and veggies. Then Aaron came home. And what did he bring home?

You guessed it.

Frickin chili cheese fries.

This was not my doing people. This was all him. After I said it yesterday, HE started craving them. LOL.

SOOO...

We shared. They were HEAVENLY!!

And Xavier even had some.

Ugh. Oh well.

That night for a snack (because I was starving again) I had some dried fruit, some almonds (no salt added) and a few pretzels.

I am trying to stick with a MOSTLY fruit and veggie diet. I really am. I would say 3/4 of the food I did have yesterday was just fruits and veggies. Not horrible for a gal who LOVES meat and carbs.

And the biggest shocker with having the chili cheese fries?

I lost 3 lbs!

3 lbs! 

Can you believe it???

I am down to 177.0 today.

I am totally doing the happy dance over here.

And I texted Aaron telling him those chili cheese fries are magic. He laughed. I was serious. LOL.

I dont think I will be having those everyday. Nope. But it is tempting to recreate my meal EVERY DAY! Could you imagine that? Losing 3 lbs every day? LOL. But alas, I know it wouldnt happen.

So here is to today and seeing what I can accomplish.

Tonight I am hoping to make it to the gym for Body Pump and RPM. We will see if I make it (depending on when Aaron gets home). Plus we will have to see how I am feeling. I might go and do pump and skip RPM. Ugh. Decisions.

I do have to say as a quick side note....this morning I am very tired. I even went to bed early after starting to fall asleep at 9:30. Just exhausted. Not sure if the detox (sort of) is helping me catch up on sleep or if my body is telling me I need to add in different things. So this morning I definitely need coffee.

Stay posted folks. The experiment continues!

Tip of the Day:

Day 3 and finding I am human

Yesterday I did really good- until dinner.

I had a smoothie for breakfast, a ton of carrots, potatoes, and a scallion for lunch.

I had some dried fruit and grapes for a snack.

Then dinner came.

I decided to make healthy chicken tenders for the kids using corn flakes, flax seed, parmesan cheese and egg for them for dinner. They loved them! And because it was my first time making them I had one too. Just a small piece though. Think smaller than a nugget.

I also experimented with an old kid cookbook of mine and made something called Yummers. It is cheese, flour, butter, and supposed to be rice krispies but it said you could use other cereal so I used corn flakes again. I THOUGHT it was going to be like a cheese biscuit type thing but they really didnt turn out right. They fell apart as soon as you put a fork into one. The cheese didnt melt the way it was supposed to either. I used a shredded cheese we had in fridge with a bit of parm. They tasted fine I had one or two too but I ended up tossing them.

I also made ants on a log for the kids (celery, PB and raisins) and small tomatoes hollowed out with cottage cheese and sprinkles on the top. It was truly a kids meal last night.

I make a chicken breast for Aaron that I slit down the middle and put ham and mozzarella cheese in. A take on a cordon blue.

For me, I had celery, an orange, and part of a sweet potato.

The cravings were horrific yesterday. All day I craved chili cheese fries! WTF! Is this meat withdrawals? Crazy!

I didnt give in even though Aaron tried to get me to. LOL. "You sure you dont want me to get you some chili cheese fries? I will split them with you!" But alas, both the Coney Islands by the house were closed by the time I was about to slit my wrists to get some.

I had some grapes last night, the rest of my V8 juice which I added hot sauce and a celery stick to to make a virgin bloody mary.

Then I gave in and had a graham cracker with some almond butter and marshmellow fluff. GAHHH what am I doing? It is like I have lost all willpower! I ended up having two or three of those...

Shockingly- I lost another pound. Down to 180.0.

Hoping today I can stay on track a bit better. We have plenty of left overs for the kids for dinner- so no temptations there.

Tonight if I get a craving, I am going to go downstairs and work out or go on the elliptical or a run (if it isnt raining).

This "fast" is harder than I thought it would be. It is way harder than being vegan. Vegan you can have cheese substitute or beans or peanuts...whatever. At first I thought that this wouldnt be a problem but it seems that my body has a point to prove with these stupid cravings.

On the other hand, I feel great though. Full of energy- to the point I went to bed at about midnight last night and was up at 6:30 this morning. We shall see how I complete the rest of the week. I am thinking about breaking fast Friday night for Aubreys. Special circumstance going out with the gals. I think I am going to have a salad BUT I will allow myself a glass of wine and some feta bread.

I am human...and this is hard. But I will continue on. Every day is a new day and I want to stick to as many fruits and veggies a day as I can manage- with the intention of adding nothing else.

Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Day:

Into Day 2

Ok.

So I did OKAY on day one. I did have some coffee. I will admit it.

And I also had a couple small pieces of the kids chicken strips before I could even think about what I did. LOL. But other than that, I had a smoothie for breakfast, an orange, carrots, scallions, and potatoes for lunch and then for dinner I sauteed my veggies with chili powder and cumin. They were delicious!

I am down a pound today to 181.0. Not too bad.

One thing that I had forgotten was how hungry I am ALL. THE. TIME!

Probably because the body can digest the food so much easier rather than having all the processed food and chemicals.

I had a couple bowls of grapes yesterday and I small bowl of applesauce last night in between all the food. It is crazy!

I did realize yesterday that the food I bought will be lucky to last me the week. LOL. I already have gone thru half a head of broccoli, most of my scallions, a bunch of carrots, a good chunk of strawberries, some grapes and most of my bag of spinach. Thankfully I have a bunch of frozen fruit so I can supplement with smoothies.

That is the news for now folks. Have a great day! Stay tuned tomorrow to see how I survived today!

Tip of the Day: I know I have posted this before, but it is relevant to what I am doing right now.

Day 1 of fruit and veggie fast

Hey everyone! So I am back at it with a fire under my ass.

Today my new starting weight is 182.0. And I am pissed I let myself get into a slump and let the weight come back on.

REGARDLESS...

Just got back from shopping- grocery shopping. Everything I bought with the exception of some whole wheat saltine crackers for Aaron and some Gummi Bears (incentive) for Landry were fruits and veggies.

Garlic, green tomatoes, bananas, navel oranges, kiwi, broccoli, green onions, gala apples, sweet onions, avocado, brussel sprouts, red cabbage, holiday red seedless grapes, butternut squash, spinach, celery, baby carrots, campari tomatoes, strawberries, zucchini, squash, mixed baby bell peppers and sugar snap peas.

I still have some sweet potatoes at home to mix in with everything too.

My plan is to eat the food that spoils faster first. Save the squash, sweet potatoes etc for later in the week.

Tonight I will be sauteing:

Spinach, Broccoli, baby carrots, celery, onion, chili powder, garlic and cumin together. Maybe with some red pepper flakes. Yummy right??


And I am hoping to walk tonight too.


So stay posted all with how I am doing.


This is not a juicing fast.


This is a fruit and veggie fast. I can eat them steamed, sauteed (with water, or just a touch of oil), raw...whatever. I just want to try to do a reset as pure as I can get. And by doing it this way, I shouldnt be missing the chewing sensation.


I do have some boca burgers that I may have later in the week as a splurge but we shall see. That wouldnt be adhering to the rules. LOL. But if I did, it wouldnt be on a bun. It would be in a lettuce wrap with some avocado on it.


Ok all. Have a great day. Check back to see if I kill myself or if I can make it thru this week. Aiming for a week but hopefully I can do it for two weeks.


Tip of the Day:

Quick Update

Ok so I know I havent been around much.

I have been majorly stressing.

And not exercising.

And not watching what I eat.

Causing my weight to get up and into the 180's again.

SO....

Here is the new plan.

Tomorrow I will be starting a fruit and veggie fast again.

Remember that I originally started this way back when the tornado hit.

I need to detox the body.

So beverages include water, water, more water, and some orange juice (but not much).

Beverages DONT include...alcohol. LOL.

Going to try to even cut out coffee and tea. TRY.

Detox. Detox. Detox.

And I can finally get back to the gym this week too. Should be good. And I will be starting back up with the P90X again.

SOOOOO....

Tomorrow starts my personal boot camp. Kicking the butt back into gear. I want to wear my bridesmaid dress from my sisters wedding for the wedding in November and that means getting down again.

Ready.

Set.

GO!!!

A bit of self wallowing

I am not going to say that I have been on track lately.

I havent.

I have fallen into a self pity pit and I am having trouble getting out.

During my P90X recovery week, I really didnt keep on the program like I should have. It was a really busy week and I just didnt make time for exercise like I should have.

And this week?

Nope. Not so much.

My time has been consumed with house hunting. Looking at homes, locations, schools. It is exhausting.

Part of me has developed an "f-it" attitude.

Is it really worth counting every calorie?

Depriving myself?

Then I think...

Really, my body doesnt need or want that crap food.

But I am having a hard time crawling out of the cavern.

Even seeing my before picture doesnt help like it used to.

Dont get me wrong...

I wont go back there.

But I am just tired. And frustrated. And exhausted. And frankly I am tired of fighting my way thru life.

It seems like every time we as a family recover, something knocks us back down. It is very exhausting. And really I am not a pity party person.

But a gal can only take so much.

So I need to rekick my butt back into gear.

I NEED to believe that everything will work itself out and that everything happens for a reason.

I wont be at the gym until Friday night for zumba, so I am going to have to take the bull by the horns and work out at home.

Sorry for the downer of a blog post, but that is where I have been the past few days...down in the dumps.

No more though. I will work through it.

Tonight will be fun.

UFO night because last weeks was delayed due to illness.

The plan is to have a glass of wine and then keep myself busy with my craft so I dont snack. Snacking at night has been really bad since I have been surfing the web for homes A LOT.

But I am hoping that I can get the final coats of paint on these chairs today so I can attach the seats tomorrow and get rid of these awful folding chairs. I will be sure to take a picture once they are done.

Ok all. Have a great Wednesday!

Tip of the Day: