Come Sail Away!

Last week, the hubs and I went on a 4 day cruise.

Sans two little boys.

Among other things, we

Lived on a ship for 4 days!

Spent some quality time together, just the 2 of us!

Kissed (and swam with and hugged) DOLPHINS!

Celebrated a dear friend's wedding! Congratulations Jeff and Karyn!!

Wore napkins on our heads at dinner!

Got up at 5:30am to try and see Atlantis landing in Cape Canaveral!

It was a wonderful trip, full of great times and we made some amazing memories (DOLPHINS anyone?!). We were happy to get home to our little men, but glad we were able to experience this time away together.

Lasagna - It's What's For Dinner

So, my friend, Krista, of Thar She Sews requested that I do some blog posts about the meals I am making.

Well, Krista, ask and you shall receive.

Tonight I made The Best Vegetable Lasagna from Kath Eats Real Food. And the verdict is ...

Delicious!

For those of you who know me well, you know that mine is a love-hate relationship with vegetables --- in that I can't stand most of the vegetables that are good for me, but I want to eat them because I know they are needed in my diet. And thus, I am always looking for different ways to get vegetables into my diet. Let's be honest here, I bought "Deceptively Delicious" as much for myself as my kids. And still, there are some things (like broccoli) that I will not touch.

I digress. Back to the recipe.

You will see the suggested vegetables are spinach, carrots, sun dried tomatoes and zucchini. Since I like all of these, I stuck with her recommendation. I did change up the sauce, however, as I've been on a Ragu kick as of late. Why? Because there are 2 servings of vegetables in each 1/2 cup, so I like to think I am being all healthy eating this sauce in my once weekly pasta meal. (Yes, I'm a terrible Italian eating Ragu, but I haven't had time to make my own sauce in awhile. *shame*) It also calls for cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese, which made me skeptical, but I really enjoyed it. Anyway, back to the vegetables - I recommend grating the zucchini and carrots. I found I could get more of each into the lasagna by doing this. I also put 2 cups of spinach in, instead of one. The only thing I didn't do, because I didn't think it would be an issue, was cut up the sun dried tomatoes. I would definitely recommend that! They were hard to eat, and Drew nearly gagged on them. So, that was a bit of a fail.

All in all, this is definitely something I would make again. If you make it, be sure to post and tell me what you think!

Bon Appetite!

How I'm Doing It -- Diet

You've read about the exercise component of my journey to healthy living, so now it's time to talk about the nutritional side of things. What am I doing to ensure I am eating properly? After all, a proper diet (ie: staying within one's correct caloric intake, balancing protein/carbs/etc correctly, eating smaller meals more frequently) is even more essential to losing weight and being healthy than proper exercise. You can workout all you want, but if you eat like crap, you're going to feel (and look) like crap.

For my weight, height and BMR (basal metabolic rate), I am afforded a certain number of calories, grams of fat, protein/carb intake each day and I am encouraged to drink at least 64 oz of water every day. How do I ensure I am staying within my limits? As I mentioned, I track it - using My Fitness Pal. Haven't used this? Try it - it's fabulous! It's super easy to use, a lot of what I am cooking/eating is already in their system, and it really helps me stay on track!

I am also reading. A lot. Websites, blogs, Facebook pages. And getting some of my recipes from the following publications -

I totally plan to get a subscription to Clean Eating!

In addition, I make meals from this cookbook -

And, my all time favorite recipe website - Skinny Taste. Love me some Gina's recipes! Everything I have made tastes like it's loaded with calories and fat - but it's NOT! It's absolutely amazing, and the best of both worlds for this girl who looooves to eat - tasty foods and guilt free eating! Even my husband told me that the chicken enchiladas were better than anything he'd ever eaten in a Mexican restaurants. We live fairly close to some pretty authentic Mexican restaurants, so this is a huge compliment. I am so happy my friend, Mandy, let me in on this site last year!

Some other good sites for recipes and nutritional information are - Kath Eats Real Food and The Daily Garnish. A good blog to read is Weighing In and Moving On - Kristen is chronicling her journey to a healthy body and she has lost about 150 lbs so far! She is truly inspiring!

I hope you find something tasty (and healthy!) to eat from this post. I plan to update on nutrition (and exercise) as I continue on my journey. So, stay tuned ... and HAPPY EATING!

**special thanks to fellow heart mom, Jenny Lincoln, from Aly Jean's Special Heart for teaching me how to hot link!! **

Progress

It occurred to me that I never posted a "before" picture, so I could document my transformation as I go through boot camp and learn to eat properly. I have yet to do the full body picture that you see a lot of women and men doing when they're documenting weight loss. I have not been comfortable with seeing myself full on in a picture, much less posting it-- but I am getting there. Maybe by the end of my next session of boot camp, you will be able to see a full shot of me in all my workout gear or fun new clothing glory.

I decided I would start the picture journey for this blog with a picture from Mother's Day, which was approximately 2 weeks before my first session of boot camp -

Now this picture is from Karyn's birthday in early June, so halfway through my first session of boot camp. Honestly, I don't notice much of a difference. I didn't start feeling a difference until the following week, so I guess that makes sense. In fact, I think I look worse than I do above in this picture because of how I am sitting. Oh well, here you go -

And finally, here I am in between the first two sessions of boot camp. I think you can finally start to see the difference in my face -

So, there you have it. Some pictures to serve as an example of how I am beginning to change. And I am starting to change as I navigate my way through my new life of working out consistently and eating properly. What do you think? Do you think it shows?

Oh, and I have to take a head shot of myself for my work publication, as I recently promoted to Senior Director (*squeeeeeeee*!!!!!), so I will put that in a subsequent blog post. Along with some better shots of my body. I bet you can hardly wait! ;)

"Encouragement"

Have you seen the movie, "Couples Retreat?" If so, you know the character Salvadore the Yoga Instructor. That scene is, by far, one of the funniest in the entire film. For whatever reason, I've had him saying "encouragement!" in my head all day. Seriously. It started in boot camp and won't get out of my head.

Maybe it's because I need to be a little more encouraging with myself, instead of so damn hard on myself all the time. We're talking 30+ years of being hard on myself, however. It isn't going anywhere overnight. And what I beat myself up about varies - these days, it mainly centers around my health and fitness goals.

Boot camp is actually going really well. I am in my second session and have plans to "join" for one year. That is how much I am enjoying it. I am also seeing results - though, of course, not as quickly as I would like to see them. In the first session, I lost 4.5 inches and 2.6 lbs working out 3x/week for 4 weeks. I also shaved 2 minutes off my timed mile from the first week to the last week. Good, right? Absolutely. To top if off, I have currently lost at least another 2 lbs and I am sure a few more inches. I can (mostly) run up the giant hill at the place we work out at.

So, what's my deal? Why am I getting frustrated?

Because I hate the number I am still seeing on the scale.

This is about SO much more than a number on a scale, I know that. Which is why it makes it doubly sad that I am getting "stuck" on what the scale says. I should just throw it out - honestly, I only just bought it last year because I was always afraid of becoming obsessed with weighing myself. And I bought it because I realized my weight was getting out of control. In the least, I need to limit my weigh ins to once/week. I won't see the fluctuations so clearly if I do. And they won't piss me off if I don't know they're happening.

So, "regard me" for a bit. I will get past this and focus on what is important - that I have made lifestyle changes and am eating far more healthfully (word??) than I ever have. That I have made a commitment to getting healthy and am sticking with it. That my kids will look to me as a role model and will be healthy themselves as a result. That I will rock some sweet, expensive WAY SMALLER jeans by mid-fall/early-winter.

"Encouragement!"

One Lovely Blog

My friend in real life and fellow blogger, Krista (http://tharshesews.blogspot.com - no, I still can't hot link and no, I don't know what my problem is with it *grumble*), gave me the One Lovely Blog award! Thanks girl! So sweet of you!

Unfortunately, for all of you, that means I am supposed to wow you with 7 amazing facts about myself that you don't know. Honestly, I am probably the most boring person in the whole world, but here goes -

1) I wasn't exactly, um, planned. If my Mom were alive today, she'd be turning 74 and my Dad, he'll be 72 in August.

2) I am probably the only person you'll ever meet who was threatened with going to public high school if I didn't get it together academically in the 8th grade. Since I was afraid of the high school I would be going to due to it's size, this tactic worked. I loved my little school and knowing everybody. And, I was an honors student all through high school...and college...and grad school. ;P

3) My friend, Meg, and I used to visit the overnight DJ for a local radio station in college. I don't even remember how this started, but we would go hang out with him in the studio. We thought we were hot sh*t, I am sure. ;)

4) I can write pretty well with my left hand. For whatever reason, I used to practice writing with my left hand and I got pretty good at it. My hand tires easily from it, so I can't write for long, but I have this amazingly useless talent. I can't do anything else left handed, however, so teaching Drew to use scissors or throw a ball is all right handed.

5) Meg and I also nearly got abducted and/or killed going to the Hoe-Down when we were in college. We didn't really know much about Detroit at the time, so we decided to park at the Joe Louis Arena and walk along the Detroit River. We were walking and not paying attention when these ladies in front of us motioned for us to join them. We did, and thank God they were there, because they told us we were being followed. Sure enough, when we turned around, 2 guys ducked behind a wall. One of the scariest experiences of my life.

6) I was originally a physical therapy major in college. When the science and math classes sucked big time, and I found my niche in psychology, I switched. I think if I had told my father I was pregnant it would've gone over better. Then again, maybe not. But he acted like I had killed a puppy or something.

7) I used to want to have 4 children - 2 boys and 2 girls. Got my two boys and I am perfectly happy and content. I will get my girl fix buying pretty outfits for my friends' daughters and hanging out with my nieces. I now think "wow, you had no idea" when I remember wanting 4. It just would not work. I am not meant to have 4 kids. (God does have a sense of humor, however, so watch this come back to bite me!)

So, I don't know how interesting those were, but there you have it. 7 facts that I think most of you were unaware of. I hope you enjoyed reading this post! Thank you, again, Krista!

Balance

I have been wondering something lately - is balance in life an enigma? Or, is it something that can truly be achieved? I wonder this as I am still learning to navigate my new "normal" since having Emmett. Through trial and error, I am trying to come up with a "system" that works for my family so that all the things that need to get done, do and I am still able to spend the time with my boys that I want to spend.

Yeah, it's not really working out that well.

Most days I am lucky if I feel like I got one or two things on my to-do list done, outside of caring for the boys. A lot of the time, I am still trying to figure out how to get Drew outside to play, Emmett down for a nap and Maggie out for a walk. Emmett doesn't like to sleep anywhere but his crib (rarrrr), Drew NEEDS to play outside (seriously. like you need air, this kid needs the outdoors) and Maggie is insane most days - walking her daily would really help this problem. So, while I sit and try to figure out my daily plan of attack to make sure all my kids' needs are met, I feel stressed that nothing else seems to get done during the day.

So, when does it get done you ask? That answer is at night. When the boys are in bed. And I should be having down time. My "down" time now is cleaning my house, doing laundry, catching up on work, etc, etc. And it ends with me falling into bed exhausted at 11pm, only to be up at least once during the night with one or both kids. Bill and I rarely have an evening to just hang out and relax. I am in desperate need of a girls' night out (anyone??). A day of outlet shopping with a good friend? Um, yes please! My friend's wedding cruise? I am counting the days. I really think I need some down time to get the balance back in my world. To clear my head. And then, there it is.

Guilt.

I am a firm believer in replenishing one's own well. I routinely tell others to be sure they are kind to themselves and care for their needs too. After all, if you fall apart, who is going to be there to care for your family? No one. So, take a bath. Go for a walk. Curl up with a good book. Enjoy a night or day out with friends. Do whatever it is that makes YOU happy. A happy mom makes a happy family. So, why can I dish out this advice, but not take it. At least not without feeling guilty?

I don't know.

And so here I am. Wondering if I will ever feel balanced again. I have re-dedicated myself to working out and taking care of my health, and that feels good. Now, everything else just needs to fall in place and maybe I won't end every day feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Or, maybe that's impossible and I just need to learn to be content with it being what it is. Prioritize my day, my week, my month and focus in on what is most important - my kids, my family, my health - and let the other items fall into place where they will. Realizing I am not perfect and don't need to have it all together all the time. Maybe that's when I will feel balanced again.

Hmmmm....