photo credit: PicturePurrfect685

In moderation of course. My favorite is movie theater popcorn or my Uncle’s popcorn. Or caramel. Or cheese. Okay, I just like popcorn! You can image that the 100 calorie packs are my friend! I just found a free sample of cheese popcorn – you can grab your own sample of Orville Redenbacher’s® Cheddar Cheese Popcorn to taste test before purchasing. I’ll let you know what I think.

1. Get sick. Preferably by taking care of your sick kiddo for a few days in a row.

2. While taking care of your sick kiddo, have him bounce back as though he has fully recovered and it’s okay to go to the soccer game. Where it downpours rain and sleet. And then his sickness comes raging back.

3. Have the sickness overrun your family, they are too sick to eat so little food is cooked, everyone just snacks, if they can even swallow.

4. Drink lots of water because you are nursing your baby and have to at least attempt to keep the breastmilk supply up.

5. Eat at least one meal a day, however small it is.

6. Jump on the scale on the morning of day 4 – BAM 5 pounds gone!

7. In the afternoon of day 4 realize you are almost recovered. What adds to this realization is your stomach growling LOUDLY multiple times in an hour. Eat whatever is around because hey, you just lost five pounds!

*Obviously none of this is recommended – however, it is what I went through this past week!

photo credit: teachingsagittarian

A disappointing thing to report – over the past two weeks I’ve gained three and a half pounds. But I’m not letting that get me down!

I’m back to working out and I’ve set some new goals:

* work out every day for the month of April (so far, so good!)

* no snacking after 8PM – not really that hard for me actually, but I’ve slipped up more then I like lately

* pay closer attention to my water intake – usually I do great at drinking enough water, and with nursing as well this is important for me to get back on track with

I look forward to checking in next week with a weight LOSS!

How did you do for the week?

I’ll take that as a win.

Mom and I restarted south beach, stage one, on Monday. I just felt off since going to stage two. I’m not sure if it was the reintroduction of bread or that I had more sugar or what, but I didn’t feel right. I felt fat (probably more like bloated) and uncomfortable.

After just one day, basically by Monday evening, I felt fine! Maybe it was eating different food for that day, maybe it was drinking a lot of water, maybe it was just psychological. Whatever it was, I’ll take it!

Adding to the mix of not being able to exercise nearly as much as I want, my allergies have kicked in. By late afternoon my voice is starting to be gone, my throat hurts and I’m coughing more. I started taking my medicine but it’s still bothering me. It feels like I’m losing my voice – which I’m sure my kids are slightly happy about (ha!) – but by morning I’m fine again.

I’m looking forward to a weight loss next week!

Because I’m not getting on the scale.

Stage one of South Beach was awesome! Mom and I both did great. And then stage two started and after just one day it felt crazy and out of control. And even though I was adding more food, or rather a wider variety not a greater quantity, I felt like I was starving. I just kept eating and eating! It was not fun for me.

Sunday we had an Oscars party and invited friends over. We made some really great tasting foods:

~ figs stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped with prosciutto – this may sound odd, but seriously – SO good! I wasn’t sure how a fig would taste – until Mom said “you like fig newtons right?” and yep, I do. We have leftovers and will probably make more this weekend.

photo credit: professor evil
(this pic shows bacon, which looks just as good!)

~ baby pigs in a blanket – which were smokies wrapped with crescent bread. Super easy to do, fantastic to eat.

~ stuffed mushrooms – simply cheese mixed with the mushroom stems chopped up

~ beans and sausage in the crockpot – this was the main dish we found in a “Casseroles, Slow Cooker & Soups” magazine.

~ cornbread – followed the recipe on the back of the box!

We also had no-fat brownies (bought at Trader Joe’s!) – and if these were the only brownies I would be allowed for the rest of my life, I would be completely okay with that. They were gooey and delicious and really, it’s amazing they are non-fat – and chocolate covered strawberries.

Mom and I went for a quick walk so we wouldn’t feel bad eating a few of the snacks that evening, but Monday I still felt like I had been out of control. I felt like I ate too much, didn’t drink enough water, it just wasn’t fun. I blamed the food I ate, the types of food I ate considering I hadn’t been eating anything like it for so long.

So we sort of started over with stage one. Sort of because we did lose weight, but for whatever reason, going to stage two was crazy for us, but not eating any bread at all probably would have drove us just as crazy.

Thus I’m not sure of my weight and I’m not getting on the scale until next Wednesday. Then it will be two weeks from my last scale check. The new clothes I bought are not tight, my jeans are still fitting (or actually, they are kinda loose!) and I’m still drinking lots of water. It was the out of control feeling that brought me to being okay not jumping on the scale. Sure I care about the number, but I care more about how clothes fit. I still have a gift card my Dad gave me for Christmas to buy new clothes with!

I really don’t think I gained anything, so I’m going to say I stayed the same. Next week I’ll have a number to report. How’s your weight loss going?

I lost 7 pounds!

photo credit: jaysalikin

Today started stage 2. And today I was starving! Tonight we are having a cookout on the beach, bonfire and all. Maybe being outside with everyone will help curb whatever pretend starving I have going on. I’m not hungry, I eat enough to be full, so I think it’s the whole now I can have some carbs subconsciously getting to me! That has to be it.

photo credit: theloushe

It is the seemingly little things that I’ve noticed since I’ve lost weight. It’s easier to cross my legs now – what an odd thing to realize! My Mom said I look taller – hey I’ll take that, I’m pretty short! I am getting my hourglass curve back – okay that’s definitely not a little thing, that was the first thing I noticed.

My face is skinnier, my cheekbones are definied again! You can see my dimples when I smile. I don’t have a double chin anymore!

According to the Wii Fit – from January 09 until now I’ve lost 23 pounds. I know I was heavier, probably 7-8 pounds heavier, so wow, 30 pounds gone! AND a baby.

That’s the best part to point out – I’ve lost weight *and* I have a baby. How cool.

Tonight ends mine and Mom’s stage one of South Beach – we can add carbs! Whole wheat carbs, but I’m okay with that. I am kind of amazed that I’m not craving anything. A milky way sounds really good right now, but I don’t feel like I have to have it. A bun with a cheese burger would be good too, but again, I don’t need to have it.

From having the baby to last week I lost four pounds – I know I’ve lost two more, but I’m not weighing myself until tomorrow morning.

and I have him ~

so I’m back to needing to lose that baby weight!

Being pregnant with him was very different because I didn’t gain much weight and now, five weeks later, I’m about 20 pounds lighter then before I was pregnant. Kind of amazing I think!

I am doing a couple of things to jumpstart the weight loss – I started South Beach a week ago and also started back on the Wii Fit at the same time. Since then I’ve lost two pounds – of course weight fluctuates daily – and I feel good. I don’t miss bread the way I thought I would, though I’ve had bread here at there – a half a piece with hamd and bean soup, a bite of a biscuit with a stea we had – because I am nursing so need to maintain enough calories for that. I feel full each day though so I am sure I’ve just replaced the junk calories with good calories.

I’m also joining in on the Plus Size Bloggers! They are running a contest from March to May, so head on over and check it out!

A quick search and I found a super easy baked ribs recipe:

• beef ribs – I used one slab that Chris bought, I’m not sure how many pounds they were
• seasoning rub
• bbq sauce
• water

I cut the slab in half so it would fit in the pan I used – you can use a cookie sheet if you are careful to not spill the water but I used a cake pan because that made me feel better. I shook seasoning rub over both sides of the ribs but I’m not sure what good that did because I think I tasted more bbq sauce then the seasoning. Maybe I just can’t taste the differences! Pour about a half a cup of water in the cake pan.

Cook at 200 degrees for an hour, turn ribs over, cook another hour. After the two hours drain water and put the bbq sauce on them. I poured a little and spread it with a fork because I couldn’t find our bbq brush. Bake another thirty minutes at 400 degrees.

Wow.

No pictures because after soccer practice we were all very hungry and ate them all up! I was shocked the kids ate that much but then again ribs don’t have that much meat on them.

Very good recipe and I love that it was just a few ingredients. We have another slab to cook and I am going to use this same recipe on them. Try the recipe and let me know what you think!

As you can see I didn’t stick to my wanting to workout every day on the Wii Fit. I did great for 10 days! Then I started skipping here and there. I also started out following the Body for Life program and then stopped. Then I went with South Beach for about ten days then stopped that too.

But I’m back to working out every day! It’s about not giving up and at least doing something. My workout schdule is

• 10 minutes free walking
• 3-4 balance games
• 3-4 yoga
• 2-3 strength

This is just the minimum of what I do. If I feel like I want to keep going, I do – but I don’t stop until I’m done with at least these. It has made it easier to keep going – I’ll jump on intending to get the exercises out of the way then finish with the walk but end up adding extra workouts or doing 20 minutes of walking instead of 10.

And I am back to loving the Wii Fit! Yesterday (when I took the screen shot) it told me I was 20 years old. How awesome is that! The youngest I’d been til that point was 27 so I was shocked. (Yes, I have been telling everyone I know or see about this wonderful number.)

Both of my kids put their mii’s into the Wii Fit recently. They did the initial test and laughed at being told they were in their 20s, then have had fun playing the balance games. They love that all the mii’s on our Wii are included in the games. When I start the soccer ball game they always name off who is in the line up – and are very excited if they are the coach that time.

This week my husband finally joined in on the fun. He’s only done his initial test so far but that’s something. I can’t remember how old it told him he is but I question the Wii Fit standards because it told him he was overweight – and sure he’s softer then when he graduated Officer Candidate School last spring, but overweight? Then he showed me how to really do a push up.

Even if I’m only down a pound and a half since I got on the Wii, I know that number is going to change. The number has gone down and up and down and down and up again. I am loving the Wii Fit Mommies forum and blog. Everyone is excited to lose weight this way and if I am having a blah day I can read and get some encouragement.