New Year new me!

This 2009 was a good one for me. The best part of the year was my new gorgeous baby girl.



I can not believe she already 6 months old, she is such a roley poley happy baby.

The second thing I am most proud of is my new self. Six weeks after I had Sophie I weighed 252 pounds. I felt like crap, I had to go to a plus size store to buy clothes, and I wasn't the smallest size there even. I had to take a shirt back because 18/20 was too small. I bought a size 20 pants! I hit rock bottom the day I looked around at my family and saw I weighed more than everyone in it, including my 6'3 brother.

So thanks to my parents I joined WW, the first week I cried, pouted, and complained. I did so much I also anounced my weight not just to blog land, but to EVERYONE. I started this blog, joined a gym. Started cooking new and exciting things. In the almost 5 months since I started this journey I lost 60 pounds. I have just 40 left! I also am not longer obese, according to the BMI calculator I am now overweight. I also took what is your real age and I came up as 30.9, I just turned 31 on Christmas so I am even doing well with that.

There is one other thing about 2009 I am very proud of I speent 2009 smoke free! I quit smoking when I found out I was pregnant with Riley, but I am ashamed to admit I started up after I had Riley. When I found out I was pregnant with Sophie I quit again. This time with new determination, that I will never start again, and I haven't. Now with all the excersise I seriously can't ever again because there is no way I could run a half marathon and be a smoker, but I can not be 252 pound half marathon runner either!

Weigh In day....

5.2 pounds!!!

Seriously, I know it is for 2 weeks. So I don't know what to think or how it happened. But yes 5.2 pounds I must really focus the next few weeks because if i can LOSE 5.2 pounds the week of Christmas and my birthday....well then I can do anything!


WOOOHOOO 5.2 pounds lost=))))))))

The week! and 39 points earned!

Okay so to begin, why I didn't have a weigh in last week.

Last week my husband called me after work and said he HAD to go shopping on Tuesday(my WW weigh in day), and no other day would work. At first I was okay with that, I will just bring the kiddo's. Then I realized all my WW stuff was in his car. So then it was a big ole fight, that he didn't care and why did he have to go on Tuesday when he knows its the one day I do something, well you will soon find out why I had to eat those words...So anyways I didn't get to weigh in.

Wednesday was a crazy day Riley and her friend went to Chuck-e-cheese, and had a ton of fun, then we finished off last minute Christmas shopping.

Thursday was Christmas eve. The entire day I spent doing laundry, and packing and last minute wrapping. Following with Christmas eve dinner at My in laws, with the traditional Polish Wigilia. It is a meal with no meat, the fish my Mother in law usually makes is fried. My wonderful sweetheart of a husband brought my favorite Cajun seasoning, and broiled my fish. He also made me my perogi's a healthy way not fried in sticks of butter like everyone elses. Then Santa came early and surprised my both me and Riley with Bikes!!! Yay!! I have my very own bike now=)) The reason I am eating my words from the fight on Tuesday, he went to his union vacation savings plan to take money out and pay cash for them, they were only open on Tuesday, hence the reason he couldn't be home in time for me to go to WW. Wow I am a bitch for saying he doesn't care=((

So then after that party we left Buffalo at midnight drove all night to my parents house in Michigan. Got there had a happy WW friendly breakfast opened presents, then Ryan and I crashed for a few hours. We woke up had a few more presents ate out Turducken(AMAZING!!), drank to much wine(my favorite kind!), had a great ww dessert, and a couple not so weight watcher friendly cookies.

Next day went out with my brother his girl friend and a few others, ate out and I was not so good, then went to one of the friends houses not so good again, but it wasn't my fault they had home made popcorn!!!

So I stayed on track I think pretty well I did not track, but I did exercise in all this. My dad introduced me to Snow shoeing! This is not easy and I was able to keep up and not embarrass myself. The first day it was easy in the sense there was only 3 inches of snow, but the walk we did was difficult. Then next 2 days there was a ton more snow, I sweat so much the inside of my jacket was soaking wet. Total amount of snow showing I did for the past 3 days was 2 hours and 40 minutes! That is 39 activity points I earned...in 3 days!

So all in all I consider this wee a success, I will know for sure tomorrow!

I missed you all and hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Happy birthday to me

and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, and happy Christmas. I will be gone for a bit but will be back to explain why I did not have a weigh in day this week.

Staying on track even today and tomorrow.

This is hard!

It is hard to choose the fish and not a giant hamburger with french fries.

It is hard to go to work on Saturday and not eat cream of chicken with artichoke soup.

It is hard to wake up in the morning get both girls ready and go to the gym.

It is hard to eat apple instead of chips.

It is hard to find good for you recipes that taste great too.

It is hard run when you feel like sitting on the couch.

It is hard to go grochery shopping and not buy some delicious baked good.

It is hard to not partake in the Sunday donut ritual.

There is so much that is still hard I still fight daily and will always. Somethings get easier with time, but the urge to binge eat is always there. There are times I still over eat, but atleast my house is filled with good otions so yes I can over eat but it is on apples with peanut butter, left over dinners, it is not ideal but it is better than oreos, donuts, and chips.

So everyday is a struggle, and somedays I win, and every week of this journey I have started I feel I won because I lost weight. I still beat myself up because I know I could do better, I did not track every day, and I have not worked out yet today.

I will continue on, but I am not always happy. I want to make Christmas cookies with Riley and have her decorate them, but I know if I do that I will eat half of them....so we don't=(

All these things are hard, but not as hard as it is to be fat!

Nope never going to eat like that again!

I would like to thank another one of my really good friends for this blog idea. I was talking to my favorite mommy friend, if your a mommy I am sure you have one, the other mommy who has little ones at home and knows what it is like to not have adult conversation for hours, so you talk pretty much every single day. Well this friend was talking to me about my weight loss, asking me if when I lose all the weight will I eat certain things again.

I had to tell her no never again will I ever eat like I used to! We were discussing eating out, and how with my new healthy life style it is no longer fun. There are 2 main reasons, eating out with a 2 almost 3 year old is a fight, keeping her entertained and happy is nearly impossible. The second reason is the biggest, I always know what I will eat before I walk in the restaurant door. What I get is usually one of the 3 healthy items, all which I could make better.

So talking about this my friend totally understood the first reason, but the second confused her, she wanted to know why I could not just sometimes cheat. I told her sure there will be times I go out and enjoy myself but I will never eat bacon cheese fries, or awesome blossom for appetizers, then some cheesy creamy sauce over pasta, and finish it off with a dessert topped with ice cream, caramel, and chocolate. And that was a normal meal for me, and I would eat every bite.

So the answer is no I will never cheat, I will always order food that is on the healtier side, I do not ever see myself ordering anything fried, cheesey, creamy, or breaded ever again. And to be honest I am okay with that, I have learned to enjoy new falvors, and new tastes.

My best friend is home!!

My best friend lives in France, and she is home for 6 weeks. I am so thrilled she is one of those rare people you meet and instantly and forever are best friends with. I have three of those in my life, my sister, husband and Julia. I met Julia when I was applying to work at the Cheesecake Factory, and we hit it off, and have been the closest of friends since. Even when she moved to Spain, and then France we still talk all the time. So you get is she is the best I could talk about how wonderful she is, just like I could tell you about my amazing husband and the best sister I have, but I will not bore you with the details...you get she is awesome.

So she is home, and her dad signed her up to join the gym I work out at, I am so excited because meeting up with someone is the motivation I need still. But her dad is buying it for her in hopes she will learn to like exercise. I hate to inform her I do it now it is habit but I still hate the actual act of working out. What I am addicted to is the feeling I get after I work out. That feeling of accomplishment that I pushed my body to do something I couldn't do 19 weeks ago.

I had that feeling when I completed the turkey trot, I felt a high. I learned from my sister this is normal, its called a runners high. It is the reason I signed up for the half marathon. I figure if I felt that great after 5 miles, I can only imagine the feeling I will get when I finish 13 miles.

SO that keeps me working out, I hope that she feels something. I had worked out before, and never stuck with it because to just work out for the sake of working out is not fun for me. As long as I keep finding goals to try for I will keep going to the gym. Everyone has a different motivation, and I can encourage her and meet up and for this six weeks she probably will do it because it is fun to have me around (because I am awesome like that). When she goes back home to Cannes France(lucky girl!), she will have to find her own motivation to keep going.

But that is beside the point, my best friend is home for 6 weeks I am going to horde every possible moment with her till she goes back.

What keeps you working out?

Stuffed Peppers and salsa chicken!

Oh I have had 2 amazing dinners the past couple of days, one my husband swears is the best thing ever, and other I made and ate for the first time and can not wait to make again!

The First is salsa chicken with my additions...

So easy,
chicken breasts 3-4 depending on size roughly 1 pound
1 cup of salsa
Taco seasoning
cream of mushroom soup 98% fat free
Light sour cream
(next ones are my additions)1/2 cup brown rice
1 can black beans
few Jalapenos

Throw the chicken seasoning, salsa, soup, and jalapenos in the crock pot for 4-6 hours.

When 3-5 hours into the cooking add the rice and black beans and cook for one more hour. When done in the crock pot add the sour cream mix well and the shred the chicken. Then put over tortilla I like corn because they are healthier, my husband prefers flour.

It is so easy and my husbands favorite thing, he ate them for the next 3 days as well.

Next I had my first experience with stuffed green peppers, I do not know how I went my entire life without ever trying them, I love green peppers.

I kinda winged it and it turned out great.

1/2 95% lean ground beef
Uncle Ben's original rice prepared (I only added half the rice)
8 oz tomato sauce
Italian seasoning, add as much or as little as you like, I added roughly 1 tablespoon.
small onion
4 oz (it was what I had in the fridge) mushrooms cut up small.
Salt and pepper to taste
1/8 cup parm cheese
3 medium green peppers

I prepared the uncle Ben's rice, then brown the onions added the beef and mushrooms and cooked till brown, added the mushrooms tomato sauce, seasoning, salt pepper, rice, then the parm cheese. I cooked till the parm was all integrated in. then turned on low, cut the tops out of the peppers and stuffed them full of the mixture. Sprinkle with a Small amount of parm and Italian seasoning on each one, cook in the oven for 45 minutes at 375.

Both I highly recommend, neither tasted like "diet food."

Today I have been doing well. Yesterday I did awesome, had 10 points to eat at night, and I ate my normal ice cream bar (2 points) half the target Popcorn(5 points), then discovered a new love of animal crackers and ate half the bag(8 points).

Seriously what is wrong with me I can not go one entire day, I did so well, even gave myself a ton of night snacking points...and I still went over my daily points.

Well today is a new day...I will do it right! I even worked out, which is easiers said than done knowing I am working tonight.

What to eat?

I was reading a blog about what to eat when you do not have enough time. She ended up eating a smart ones and not enjoying it. I did that often when I first started my journey. Now it I do not do it so much. I have learned to pre plan and one days dinner of chili made double in size gives me a much better frozen food option for the future.

I just started once a week making soup in the crock pot....a HUGE amount of soup. We eat that for dinner then freezing the rest in pre portioned containers. Now 4 weeks into it I have a freezer full of chili, black bean soup, chicken noodle, and beef and vegetable. When I need to just grab something quick for dinner or lunch I make a salad and eat on of my soups.

I also started making extra chicken breasts. When I cook I make 4 chicken breast, Riley eats only 1/2 or less of hers so I have 1 and half chicken breast, that I use to throw on a salad. I have become creative with my salads, I can make apple walnut ones, Mexican ones, one full of veggies (usually eaten before weigh in day), I have my own version of an Asian one, all takes me less than 5 minutes to put together.

I find these things and easy fix for hunger and much better tasting than the Smart ones or lean cuisines, even though I always have a couple in my freezer I get the pizza ones, not the greatest, but better than eating pizza out if that is what I am craving.

I do not pretend to know all the answers I am still early on this life long change, but I have slowly been turning away from processed foods, someday I hope to be a food snob and turn my nose up at any and all of them, but I am not there yet. I still have my fiber bars, and WW ice cream treats.

Oh and it is Wed. day after weight in day the day I usually over eat, today I have stayed on track, I ran and did the elliptical, signed up for tomorrows, Monday and Tuesdays workouts. I really am going to focus this week to stay 100% on track, like I did the first 10 weeks of my journey. The last 8 weeks I refuse to say I have been bad but I have been about 75% on track, that is why I have been having okay losses. So goals this week....

1. Go to the gym 4 days I have 3 days set up with childcare, the forth will have to be Saturday or Sunday.

2. Do not over eat, stay away from the M&M's, and stay within my daily points, no flex points are allowed this week.

3. Stay positive not look at the pictures of me in my sports bra and get depressed by how fat I still am, but instead focus on how far I have come. In a sense do what Katie J is doing...fake it!

Weigh in and new Pictures!

Okay so I have been avoiding taking these pictures. I said I would start to take them in a sports bra, this is the first time since I was 15 I am showing my stomach. This would honestly be easier if everyone that read this blog were strangers, but I opened up and told everyone about my blog. So here they are pictures of me in a sports bra. I am doing this so I can really see the progress.




So weigh in went well it seems I am evening out on weight loss I lost 1.6 this week so I am now 198. I really really want to focus this week I want a nice loss, because the next week is Christmas, and my 31st birthday(yes my birthday is on Christmas!), I want to enjoy the Turducken my dad is making.

Editing to add, if you need any sort of motivation, visit Laura's blog and see her before and right now pictures.

Running is going well

Now that I know I completely trained for my 8k wrong, I am doing great at this new one. I have gotten in my three days of running and 2 days of elliptical in this week. I earned 25 activity points this week, sad thing my dad earned 19 points in one day snow shoeing....I think I need to take up snow shoes!

Food wise I did okay I tracked 5 out of 7 days. I am using my "extra" points more now. Also soon Sophie will start food so all those calories I burn from nursing will be gone. It is a little sad this is the only time in my life I can burn 500 calories a day from sitting.

I haven't been able to blog as much as I used to. My baby is getting older and doesn't allow me blog time when Riley naps anymore. But I am still plugging away. I am looking forward to this half marathon so much.

The biggest new I have is...I have a pair of size 10 jeans and they fit!!! I know I am not a size 10, and the ones I have are big(in fact the waist is the same as a size 14 skirt I have, I held them up to it), but just to be in a 10 means in a month or 3 I will start fitting in single digit pant sizes....HOLY CRAP!

Marathon support

I want to thank everyone who commented on my previous post. I appreciat all the support you are giving me.

Now my plan I kinda went over it but in more detail. I am doing a 10k training program, I am starting from the beginning. I have completed 2 days, it has 3 sessions a week, I am going to do that 3 days, then eliptical and spinning 2 days a week. The 10k training is pretty basic, but I need want to be able to run in 3-5 mile incraments, something I can't do yet. So I figure starting slow with this, starting from scratch as well will help in the long run(no pun intended). It really involves, this first week running 1 minute walking 2, repeat. The next week it jumps up to running 2 minutes walking 2 minutes...and so on, until I will be running 10, 20, and 30 minute stretches.

Then after the 12 weeks of that is done...I will start the 12 week marathon training program. From reading about this program it assumes you can run 3 miles, well I can run 3 miles with out stopping so that is why I am doing 10k trainging, then this one .

So that is my plan for the half marathon. I am 2 days into it and still totally motivated!

Second wind! Marathon traing!

So since the turkey trot, I have been kinda not with it.

People have been telling me how great I look, how proud they are, and all positive things about my weight loss. Well its great, BUT it almost made me feel like I was done...but I am not. Just 2 more pounds lost I will no longer be obese!! According to BMI I will be overweight. So this is motivating me, when I started this journey, I was considered morbidly obese, soon I will be just overweight. So now I can stop calling myself fat, I will be fluffy, not fat=) So all the compliments, all the joys of being under 200 almost made me forget that this is now just a new turn, now is the time I can go from fluffy to HOT!

So to jump start this new start...I signed up for half a marathon. May 30Th I will be running 13.1 miles. I have roughly 5 and half months till this day. I will do the 12 week 10k training program Laura gave me. And still have time to do the 10 week half marathon training program I found. So I think this will be entirely possible...I also plan on being 40 pounds less! I just have no time to "take a break" I have to keep going strong and not miss even a week of training.

2 hours and 36 minutes is my goal exactly 12 minute miles...I can do that, right??

EXCITING WEIGH IN! onderland!

Jan is the winner of my very first give away! Random generator #5 came up.


Now the best news for me I weighed in today at 199.6!!!!!!!!

Now my dad and I are doing a challenge if I win he is going to pay a month of weight watchers. I am not sure what I will have to do if i lose, but that will not happen so its pointless to even think about what I will have to do.

One last day for Give away.

Just a quick post to let everyone know there is 1 day left to enter for my first giveaway.

GIVE AWAY!! Free stuff !

So since no one responded to my question in my last post I am going to bribe blog world! You get one jar of Better'n Peanut butter, All you have to do is share....

Share a "diet" food you love, or recipe you can't live without. Leave it as a comment. If you want to double your chance just let your blog friends know with a link back to my blog. Post the link under comments.

Contest will end after my weigh in, on Tuesday. And unfortunately US residents only (sorry Laura!!)

Swap day at WW

Yesterday was Swap day at Weight watchers, most of the the stuff brought I knew about or wasn't really interested in. I did get a new recipe, I love crockpot recipes and this is a chicken and salsa crockpot recipe, I plan on making it tomorrow so I will tell you all how it goes and if I love it I will post the recipe.

But during the swap 1 item caught my eye, it is Better'n Peanut butter. If you live in the buffalo area I got mine at Dash's, but looking into it I see that you can also get it at Trader Joe's.

I tried it and it is good, not your Jiffy or Peter Pan, but is great(little more sweet not as peanutty)! Just wanted to pass it on to my fellow weight loss friends.

Does anyone else have an item that the found is amazing that you can't believe is "diet" food? I need more things like this I am getting tired of Fiber bars...please share.

A loss is a loss

That is my story and I am sticking to it! I only lost .4 pounds. I am not happy with that but I would rather lose even if it is only .4.

Now I really want to focus back on getting under 200. No more 3 musketeer cand bars(yes I ate one before weigh in day!), no more 3 helpings of dinner, and no more mindless snacking.

2 small goals this week.

1. Go to the gym 4 times this week
2. Stay within my daily points.


I will do these, and I will be under 200.