Weight Loss Success

I haven't written about my weight loss in a while and so I thought I would put in a little update. According to my book I have been doing this for 11 weeks. And I have lost (drum roll please) 17.8 pounds. I will post a picture with every 20 pound loss, so stay tuned. This past week was awesome. Last Sunday I turned 35. And just because I am on Weight Watchers doesn't mean that I can't have birthday cake. I had two pieces on my birthday, some the next day and pie on Tuesday. The best part was I lost 2.6 pounds this week! I have been mall walking three or four days a week at work. I have also have been doing what I can at night. Which sometimes isn't a lot because if I am too tired I don't work out. I do a Weight Watchers kickboxing video at home, when Brian is working, or I still go to the gym for a run. I am really behind on my training, but my parents are coming in a couple of weeks and I know I will get in some good working out that week!

I Am Failing as a Mom

Today I had to take my three and a half month old to physical therapy. You heard right, physical therapy. My child has a torticollis, which means he leans his neck to one side. Plus he has a flat head. I feel like I have failed my child already. Right now I have a whole list of things I need to do with him (along with the daycare provider) so we will see how it goes. This weekend should be interesting because we need to stop having him laying down and it is hard when I am by myself. I am praying that he improves in the next month and we don't have to go as often.

Trying to Lose the Weight

It has been 9 weeks since Logan was born, which means I am cleared to lose the weight. I already know that there are challenges. First, it will be more difficult to work out since I have the little one at home and Brian isn't always home to watch him when I want to work out. Second, food is still my weakness. I know what foods to avoid and which ones I should eat, but it is still difficult for me to be good. And lastly, I am always tired these days. I know that losing weight will give me more energy, but I have to fight the urge just to rest instead of going to the gym.

I have decided to share my experience in hopes that someone will read this and give me the encouragement I need. Let's face it, my husband doesn't remember that I am trying to lose weight. So here are the facts:

Plan following: Weight Watchers

Start weight: 248.2 (only 7 pounds heavier than when I got pregnant, but more than 25 pounds heavier since the miscarriage)

Goal weight: 165 (I can't remember the last time I was there)

Date started: June 3, 2012

I took measurements, but I don't know if they are correct. So I am not posting them. I will just let you know monthly how they went down.

Here I am on June 3rd:

I am going to weigh in every Saturday and attend meetings when I can. It is hard with the baby. I did weight in on June 9th. I now weigh 243 (lost 5.2 pounds). My next weigh in was June 16th and I was only down .4 pounds. It isn't the number you want to hear, but it is still a loss. I will take any number as long as it is a loss! This week (June 23rd) I lost 1.4 pounds. So I am down a total of 7 pounds! Not bad for not even being on the plan a month. All of the baby weight is off. So it is time to tackle the big weight.

I have been meaning to post this for a couple weeks now, but I am just getting to it. So now I need to put a weekly report on here!

I am trying to work out as much as I can. This past week I went back to work. By the time I get home I am so tired and busy with the baby that by the time he is down it is time for me to go to sleep! But this week Brian is working days and I told him that once he gets home at 8:30 that I am going to the gym to do my half hour walk/run. Or I am going to start using my yoga DVDs. The reason I am worried about getting some activity in is not for the weight loss, but I am training for a half marathon! You heard me right folks, a half marathon. I am doing the Walt Disney World half marathon on January 12, 2013. Keep checking back on my progress!

I'm a Mommy Now

The word mommy just seems weird to me still. It has been a month today since my little man was born. He came into this world almost a month to the day early. Scared the crap out of me. I just wanted to be the best mom in the world and I felt like a failure that I couldn't carry him until the due date. You should have nine months to prepare and I didn't even get to nest. But I was lucky, he was born healthy for being so early. And he has brought joy into my heart and in our house. He makes me want to be the best person that I can.

I sit here at 3:30 in the morning wide awake while he fell back asleep after his feeding. I have great hopes and wishes for the little guy. I want him to grow up being happy and healthy. I want him to know that he has a family that loves and supports him in whatever he wants to do in the future. I am already exposing him to some of our likes. We watch Detroit Tigers games together. I read him Disney stories and tell him about all the great movies and theme parks that Disney has.

He is getting bigger by the day and I am going to enjoy watching him grow up! I look forward to writing more about being a mommy. And hopefully you will join my journey.

Giving it Another Go Around!

I have done it before. Heck, I have done it a hundred times in the last 6 years. I am trying to lose weight again. Yes, you heard me right, again. I am hoping to use my blog to get readers and encouragement that way. I will try to blog a couple times a week to let you know my thoughts and feelings, and also to let you know about the progress. We are leaving to go on a cruise in less than 2 weeks. I am crazy for starting this now, but why not?

Baby steps is the way I am going to achieve this, this time. Of course I am going to use Weight Watchers, that is my plan of choice. And I am going to include some exercise in there.

Goal One: Lose 15 pounds by December 17th

I have my cousin's wedding that day and I want to be comfortable in my own skin. I should be a dress size lower (right now I am a 18/20) and plan on looking pretty for the occasion. I am going to first focus on losing 15 pounds before I decide on my next goal.

As of today, I am starting. I am going to the gym tonight to do weight and 30-minutes on the elliptical machine. My biggest obstacles are motivation and writing down my food. Wish me luck!

Healing

I have noticed that after moving away from Michigan that I am a little less negative in my daily life. I have had people in the past make comments about the negativity that pours out of me at times. Recently I have had a friend make a comment that I have become less negative. Interestingly enough, last week I had lunch with a friend who lives in Michigan, but happens to live down here in Virginia Beach in the summers. We had a wonderful conversation about how negative people are in the Midwest (calling out Michigan for obvious reasons). This could explain how I have become a different person since I moved down here. Why? I really don’t know. I just have a more positive outcome on life. I think that one reason could be the fact we see the sun all year round and not just in the summer like in dreary, cold Michigan. Plus down here we are not surrounded by news stories that will make one cry. I watch the news every morning and they start out each segment with the weather, not who got murdered the night before. In fact, there are not that many deaths around here, with the exception of the female eagle who was hit by an incoming plane at the botanical gardens this week (and it was a top story).



I am bringing all of this up because I just want to talk a little bit about the horrible month I have just experienced. On February 25 Brian and I were surprised to find out that I was expecting a baby. We were really excited and shocked since we were not “trying”. Unfortunately on March 23 I had to go to the emergency room for bleeding. After five hours in the ER I was told that I had lost the baby. This was devastating to say the least, especially since I was the ER all by myself.


Less than a week before the ER visit I was in Urgent Care for a sprained ankle. On a trip to the bathroom at 2:30 in the morning down I went (taking a small table down with me). I am still recovering from this and my ankle is still swollen. I am just hoping that it gets better soon. I have resumed working out, but I still have some pain and discomfort.


Shortly after the ER visit it was time for my bi-annual dentist appointment. No surprise, and the reason I why I have dual coverage, I need a crown. Sounds like it wouldn’t be a problem, right? Wrong. I needed to go to a periodontist because my gums have receded so much around the tooth that they wouldn’t touch the tooth until I had a consultation. I was shocked when I called to make an appointment that I got in right that week. Even more shocking is that I found out that I need gum grafting on 5 teeth. Of course I can’t afford all of that at once, so I opted to get the tooth done that I needed to get the crown on. On April 15th I went in for my procedure. Two weeks later, I still have swelling and am considering not having the other four teeth done. I have had 3 oral surgeries, including the wisdom teeth, and I will gladly go through that over having a gum grafting procedure done!


So that is end of my rant. My ankle is slowly getting better, and so is my mouth. Brian and I decided on my follow-up visit to the doctor that we are going to try right away again for a baby. I am still healing, but I can get through anything!

New Year's Day

It is that time of year, well I guess New Year. Are you going to make some resolutions? I don't know if I am going to make any or not. I know that I want to do one. And that is to be able to run an 8k. I am pretty sure that I am going to sign up for the Shamrock marathon weekend in Virginia Beach. I know I won't be doing a marathon or half for that fact. But they do have an 8k. I think that last year I had too many "resolutions" and didn't even complete one of them. But if I make this one and let people know about it than others can hold me accountable. I am going to start training after the 1st. Right now I am just working the elliptical since I hurt a hip muscle in my first 10k and aggravated it during the last 8k it acted up. Plus I didn't run the entire race. I want to be able to run and entire race.

Starting Monday January 3rd I am starting a new routine to get me in shape in the less than three months I have to do this race. Wish me luck!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year! Brian and I are headed to DC for the weekend. So make sure you check out our blog for trip details.

Update!

A lot has happened since August. I started a job in October at a local health insurance company. I really like it! It is a lot less stress than the last one and it pays better than unemployment. Brian and I also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in Walt Disney World. I have even started a trip report on my favorite Disney site. If you want to follow please click the link.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2600886

I decided to try something different and ran/walked two races. One was called the Wicked in October and this past weekend I ran a race in Busch Gardens. I will have some pics up later. And lets see who reads this blog. After 5 years of marriage Brian and I are going to start a family in 2011, so wish us luck!

I am now getting ready for Christmas. Our decorations are up, and this weekend I am making my Christmas cards and cookies. So happy holidays and thanks for stopping by.

A

Disney Excitement!

For those who really know me, they know that I am a Disney freak! In fact I am listening to a DIS Unplugged pod cast right now as I write this post. I went to Disney World a couple times as a kid and then a couple of times before I met Brian. When we got married (in 2005) we went to WDW (Walt Disney World) for our honeymoon. That is when it really kicked into gear. We decided to go back the next year for Christmas, then again for Christmas in 2007. In 2008 we went to WDW and did an Adventure by Disney to Disneyland! Since we were both unemployed for a little bit we haven't taken a trip in a while.

We decided for our 5 year anniversary to go back to WDW. This week the excitement really set in. I FINALLY made my dinning reservations. I also bought tickets to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. I really like that extra party since we get to go trick-or-treating as adults! I think we might even dress up this year for it. Unfortunately we are not staying on property. My in-laws have a time share and we got a good deal on a week. But here is a listing of our dinning reservations!

Day 1 - Coral Reef (dinner); this is going to be our official anniversary dinner since Brian has to work on our actual anniversary (this is at Epcot).

Day 2 - Nine Dragons (lunch); this is also at Epcot in China. Brian has decided that we need to try every restaurant in every country. I chose lunch because they are supposed to have dim sum which we haven't had in a long time. Our first time was in San Fransisco. We are also visiting Epcot during the Food and Wine festival. This is a time where all of the countries, plus some countries without a pavilion, have food and alcohol samplings for a small cost. So we will be spending a lot of time trying different foods for dinner.

Day 3 - Liberty Tree Tavern (late lunch); this is at the Magic Kingdom and the first time we are trying this place. This also the day we are doing MNSSHP.

Day 4 - 50s Prime Time Cafe (lunch); this is my favorite place to eat at Hollywood Studios! Brian gets the pot roast and I get the fried chicken and we share.

Day 5 - Yak & Yeti (lunch); this is the first time eating here as well and the first time eating at a sit down at the Animal Kingdom.

Day 6 - Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano (lunch); Brian loves this place, I am indifferent. It is in Hollywood Studios.

Day 7 - Kona Cafe (lunch); this is at the Polynesian Resort and we love this place. It has the best food and we always try to eat there.

As you can tell we are doing mostly lunches since it is cheaper. For dinner we will just do counter service or head over to Epcot.

There is less than 2 months before we go and I can't wait! Plus we are driving this year since we live closer to Florida. It will be nice to have our own car down there!

Birthday Resolutions!

If anyone was following my blogs from earlier this year I deleted the ones that had anything to do with my New Year's resolutions. I decided that New Year's resolutions suck and to do birthday ones. And since my birthday was yesterday I decided to create some "new" resolutions for myself. Here they are and I will update my progress periodically.

1. Practice yoga 3 times a week
2. Find a job, and one that I love
3. Run as many races (10k max) that I can
4. Pay off my car in 2 years instead of 5 (this will have to be on my resolution list next year as well!)
5. Get back into hiking and trying other outdoor activities such as camping and kayaking

The camping bit we are going to do this weekend and I should let everyone know how it goes next week! If I don't post again until then, have a great weekend!

Cooking Away

About a week or two ago I said that I received some new cookbooks. Well, one of them is called Now Eat This! by Rocco DiSpirito. Everything in this cookbook is comfort food under 350 calories! I am going to be bad and post a recipe that turned out pretty good.

Cheesy Turkey Enchiladas

Ingredients:
12oz ground turkey breast
Flour 9-inch low-carb tortillas
2/3 cup fat-free spicy black bean dip
Salt & finely ground black pepper
1 12oz jar tomatillo salsa (now I used this and thought it was gross and will be using regular salsa next time)
1 cup reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (I didn't use)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees
• Cook ground turkey in a large non-stick saute pan over medium-high heat. Breaking up pieces until it is cooked through (4 min)
• (I didn't do this step) Char tortillas over open flame (using flame-proof tongs) or toast them under a preheated boiler. Then keep them warm
• Stir black bean dip into turkey and season with salt and pepper
• Lay tortillas on work surface. Divide turkey mixture between the 4 tortillas. Roll up the tortillas and place into a 9x13 baking dish
• Spoon the salsa over the tortillas, then sprinkle with cheese
• Bake until the cheese is bubbly, 10-12 minutes
• Add fresh cilantro on the top

If anyone tries it let me know what you think!

314 cal

9.9g of fat

Running Toward October!

Well there are a lot of reasons I love October and I can't wait to get there. First of all Brian and I got married in October (5 years this year!). This year we are going to have a great October. First of all I found out last week that Stampin' Up is have a Regional in Baltimore the first weekend in October. I was planning on being up there that weekend any ways for a Tigers vs. Orioles game. So we really need to go to that game. I guess I should buy tickets and reserve a room soon! I am going to register next week for the regional and I can't wait! I also get a stamp set that I really want as well so it is worth it in my eyes.

Next we head off the day after our anniversary to a week in Disney World! That is where we honeymooned and I can't wait to go back during that time. There is the Epcot Food and Wine Festival and Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party (better buy those tickets soon as well). It will our first real vacation in 2 years! It will be good to get away for a little bit.

Next big item happening in October is the 10k (6.2 miles) I signed up to complete on October 30th! Right now I can't even run a mile. I have been training only for 2 weeks using the Couch Potato to 5k program. It has me only running 3 times a week, but I am upping it to 4, on top of 2 days of kick boxing and 2 days of 45min spin class. I am even trying to fit in 3 days of yoga to help out as well. My goal is to run at least 4 miles of the race and walk when I get too tired. It is a sign I should do it since I love Halloween and I get to dress up for the run. It should be a good time. I have been working with a trainer for 3 weeks on weights. Once I can run a mile we might start running together as well.

Check back tomorrow where I will talk about a recipe I made last week!

Stampin' Up

I think it was 2005 when I first became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Well, I signed up again in March. I have decided to start posting some of my work. Here is a card front I did for our convention in Salt Lake City, UT. I am obviously not there. I gave my upline, Gina, a couple dozen of these bad boys with her to trade for other card fronts. Let me know what you think.

Back to Blogging

I am back! I took too much time off. I have been enjoying summer, I would have to say for the first time in my life. Usually I hibernate indoors during the summer. But I have been going to the beach, Busch Gardens and Water Country. Now back to business.

Here are some new things. I just signed up (again) for The Good Cook, a cookbook club. Today my new books showed up. One of them is by Rocco Despirito called Now Eat This. It is a cookbook where all of the recipes are under 350 calories. I have watched him on The Biggest Loser so I decided to buy the book. My goal is try to try the recipes that look good. I also got Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. After watching that program I had to try some of his recipes. I may even post the good ones!

In honor of the last Harry Potter movie(s) being released I decided to read the books. I already read the first two, but I decided that I will reread those plus the other five. I am hoping to get through four of them by the end of August. I will keep you posted on the progress.

I will also start posting some of my cards that I have been making. Stay tuned....

Hello out there!

That is if anyone actually reads this thing. I have been living in Virginia for 3 months and here is what has been happening. I have interviewed at two different companies. One I had a second interview for, but I still haven't heard if I got the job or not. The second one I was rejected like the day after. I think I had too much experience. Now is the time of year NOT to find a job. But I still submit my three searches a week to the State of Michigan. Hopefully I get something soon.

I joined a local YMCA where I have met some nice people who I take classes with. I usually work out about 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. But I haven't worked out since Friday because Brian came home from Wisconsin (work trip) with a cough he thought I should have as well!

It feels good to have health insurance! I am trying to get all of my appointments in. I am so excited to be going to the dentist next week! Strange I know, but I love a good teeth cleaning. On Wednesday I go to an endocrinologist because my thyroid antibodies are high (my thyroid is attacking itself). So I am pretty sure it isn't cancer, but something I was diagnosed with in college. I never went to see an endocrinologist after the diagnosis, I just had my internist give me my meds. Well, since I wasn't taking my meds my results look bad. Don't worry I am sure that I am fine.

Brian and I also got season passes to Busch Gardens. We started going in October for their Halloscream weekends. We went about three times so far and cannot wait until the park opens up again in March. In May we get to try the water park. I think (and hope) there is a lazy river because I love just sitting in a tube doing nothing.

I have been cooking a lot more and cut out the eating out. I have been playing with recipes and am going to attempt to make a dessert bread from scratch. Keep reading and maybe I will take pictures and let you know how things turn out.

I promise to write more, so keep visiting. Also leave comments!

Andrea

One week!

There is one week until the movers come! And there is still a ton to do. So starting today I have to tackle projects harder. We got the lease on Tuesday on a great (we still hope it is) condo. It has three bedrooms and a fourth room for storing all of my crap. Now if we can just sell one more dining table I would be happy. We had four tables (including our outdoor one) and sold one this week.

Wish me luck as I adventure into the unknown this week!

A New Adventure Awaits

After living in Michigan for 32 years of my life, I am moving to Virginia. It is a little scary for me since my entire life has been here. There is no mom to sew a button on my shirt, or friends to hang out with. No, it is time to start over.

You are probably wondering why I would want to move? Well, I will tell you. After the last 2 years being very difficult for my husband and I, we are making a fresh start. After both of us losing our jobs last year, and not being able to find anything in our beloved Michigan, we had to make the decision to relocate for new opportunities. My husband was very lucky to have landed a job in North Carolina (but we will live in Virginia). Unlike me who has done countless phone interviews, been flown to three different states for face-to-face interviews, and received countless rejection letters. I am hoping that this move to will be successful for me.

My husband starts his new job in about three weeks. The only problem is that we do not have a place to stay yet. We have put in an application for a condo in Suffolk, and have been keeping our fingers crosses the entire time. I am hoping that it would be ready on the 5th of September and we could be down there that day to move in. But if doesn't work out, then I will continue to live in Michigan while my husband looks for a place to live. We know the area we would like to live in, let's just hope that everything works out for us!

Now the fun begins. We have started to pack up the condo that we are currently renting. We should be finished with all of the big stuff in the next week. I have been making appointments with friends to say final goodbyes. And now I have to look for full-time employment down in Virginia.

While working full-time I have had a part-time job for the past 9 years. I am currently doing some part-time work (or really working for free since it comes out of the unemployment) at a Williams-Sonoma across the street from our condo. I was a little heartbroken that I was not able to get a transfer to the store closest to us in Virginia. But the fall is coming up and I guess I will work there as seasonal associate. That has its downside since the corporation has not allowed stores to hire seasonal associates in the last two years. Which means this will probably be last holiday season there.

So if anyone out there in the blog world is listening, wish us luck and I will keep everyone updated on my new life.