Day 24

Breakfast

two eggs and applesauce

Lunch

Chicken and a tortilla

Snack

Dinner

Had a black forest ham footlong on wheat with cheese 660 calories. No mayo just mustard. 

Day 23

I have to say today was not a good day at all. I stayed within my calorie limit and walked for about two hours shopping but emotionally its been one stressful day. Usually when Im stressed I eat and eat. Its been hard not to just grab some junk food and chow down. The only reason I haven't is because I have done so good! I have lost so much weight I feel it in my clothes and energy level. I can't let one stressful day mess me up for the week. I spent most of my day running around so no food pictures. For breakfast I had an activa light yogurt, one egg and a tomato, lunch I had leftover chicken and rice with some veggies and snack was the cinna-swirls I love :) Dinner Im not sure what we are eating yet but I can have a nice size meal and not feel guilty. I might just go ahead and eat a fit and active meal. I really hope tomorrow is better then today. Its my off day too so no cardio for me. Taking it easy until Tuesday!

Day 22--feeling lazy

Im not sure why but today I have no energy. I just want to lay around and look at the mess my toddler created. However I know eventually its going to bother me and I will be cleaning it up ha ha Still not sure what work out I want to do today. I need to look into some more cardio workouts. I like to mix them up so my body doesn't get used to it. I really don't want to plateau again. Last time I tried this I was stuck at 135 so Im getting a little worried. I finished my food dairy today because I already know whats for dinner :) I've started meal planning all my meals. Before I would worry about dinner and that it. Now I figure out everything so I don't go over my calories.

Breakfast

Wheat waffle with applesauce 

Lunch

Leftover salsa chicken on a tortilla 

Snack

Had several of these :)

Exercise 

calorie burn

This one kicked my butt! Could only do 25 minutes LOL

Dinner

pork chop, potatoes and mostly veggies

Day 21--Weigh in week 3!

Jan. 28 2011--139.8!

Thigh--22

hip--41.5

waist--29

bust--34.5

arms--11

stomach--39

Breakfast

Egg and half a roma tomato with pepper

Snack

Lunch

Pregresso light Savory Vegetable Barley

Left overs wasnt a fan :/

Snack 

Dinner

Salsa chicken, brown rice and corn 

Exercise for the day

tummy tone

Day 20

Breakfast

whole wheat oatmeal with maple brown sugar 

Lunch

Spinach salad with half a roma tomato and light italian dressing

Snack

quaker chewy bar :) 

Dinner

forgot to take a picture before I ate LOL but I had garlic bread too

Exercise 

fat blast dance 40 minutes 

Day 19

Today I just did some light cleaning and my crunch dance workout. I really wanted to step on the scale but I have been trying not to do that everyday ha ha. Not much to update on I stayed in my calorie goal and worked out like a good girl :) 

Breakfast

Carnation breakfast drink Rish chocolate with 1 cup whole milk (ran out of 2%)

Lunch

Pregresso Light zesty southern veggi style soup

Leftover I couldn't finish

Dinner

Two bowls of chicken and rice soup homemade

Snacks
I just enjoyed some crackers and cinna-swirls today :) 

Day 18--Meals

I get asked frequently what I eat everyday. I'm still learning but sparkpeople has so many great ideas its helped a lot. I try to look for healthy alternatives to ingredients I used to use and healthier snack ideas. Some amazing low calorie snacks I LOVE are quakers mini delights and mini rice cakes. If you have an aldi near you you may be able to find the generic version fit and active. They both taste the same to me. I was supposed to work out today but got very busy. Today a lot was thrown at me unexpectedly. I had to help dig my mother in law's car out, take my dog to the vet, taxes and house hold frustrations. By the time I ate dinner it was to late and I was far too tired to get motivated. Thats why I usually work out in the afternoon before my body is ready to rest. To make up for my lack of exercise today Im going to do a double work out tomorrow. Even though I messed up on my exercise I still stuck to my calorie intake goal. I can tell my jeans are starting to feel bigger and I have to wear a belt! My husband can also see it in my stomach which makes me feel good :) There really isn't much to update on today so I will post my meals below :) If you want more daily meals please let me know in the comments!

Breakfast

Ham and cheese omelette--250 calories

Lunch

fresh spinach salad with a cup of lasagna--407 calories

Dinner 

Progresso low sodium chicken noodle soup-- 1 can 180 calories

Snacks

snickers peanutbutter 

I know bad choice! 250 calories for both squares

and quakers cinnamon strudels rice bites

Day 17--Lasagna!

If most of you follow me on youtube you know I LOVE lazy lasagna. Typically I would make this meal with the regular items. This time I used all light or low fat ingredients with whole wheat noodles and it was AMAZING! Even my husband who is against healthy foods loved it! I have to say I enjoy eating healthy now. Along with my lasagna I had a large raw spinach salad with light Italian dressing. I love spinach salads and they are really good for you too. I managed to stay in my calorie goal even though I grabbed a slice of pizza while I was out. I couldn't help it I was starving! I seemed to be hungrier then usual today. Even water couldn't fix it. I ate past my cut off time because we were running late today but things happen. Today is my last off day so its back to heavy cardio tomorrow!

Day 16--Chip Craving!

Today is an off day for me so no heavy cardio. We went grocery shopping and I bought tons of healthy items. I was a little upset because my fit and active cinna swirls were gone! They don't know if they are coming back or not. I also have a very bad chip craving so I ate some of my fit and active mini rice snacks. I purchased ranch, caramel and cheddar. The Caramel taste like caramel popcorn! So good and only 60 calories for 8 mini cakes! For dinner my husband had pigs in a blanket (hot dogs wrapped in croissants) but I stayed strong and had a 330 calorie meal. It was another fit and active enchilada meal with rice. I added a little sour cream and salsa but that really wasnt needed. You can find these fit and active products at Aldi food store. They're price is really good! Whole wheat noodles only 10 cents more then the white! I can eat right without spending a lot of money. Besides doing some slow walking I really haven't been that active. I can feel I am losing weight now. My jeans don't feel as tight as they used to which is always a plus!

Day 15

Today I did very little. I had office work to do so I sat in front of my computer most of the day. I hate those days because I always feel so tired and drained I don't feel like working out. I barley ate today so thats another down side to the desk work. Its 3:30 PM and I hope to squeeze in a small workout before I relax for the night. Im so ready for tomorrow ha ha its my off day and the hubby is home :) We have some grocery shopping to do. I noticed now that I am eating better I can think of a million healthy dinner ideas but Im still struggling with lunch. Sparkpeople has been a great help for that! I have my own little cookbook where I store all the recipes. Each book I titled breakfast, lunch and dinner. Im still learning but its getting much easier! Snacks are easy for me. I LOVE the fit and active snacks you can get from ALDI food store. Im not a huge fan of their soups though. Very bland and I can't stand bland foods. I think todays work out will be walking. Easy to do and it wont put a lot of pressure on my body. I have a backache from sitting in the chair all day and very little motivation. However blogging about it has made me feel like I have to. I don't want to let myself down again this week. So here is to eating right and finding the motivation to workout after working all day!

Day 14--weigh in week 2!

Jan. 21 2011--142.8

Thigh--22.5

hip--41.5

waist--29.5

bust--35.5

arms--10.5

Stomach--39 (new measurment luvhandles)

Today's netflix workout Crunch cardio dance. I have to say I love Marie Forleo. She makes the moves so much fun to do. I might be buying her dvds because I enjoy them so much! Dancing is the best way for me to have fun and lose weight. Only thing that bothers me is my son ha ha He is notorious for shutting off the TV or xbox when I am in the middle of a workout. I usually workout during his nap time but for some reason he has been skipping naps or taking one when Im cooking dinner. So there are some days I can't workout around his naps. The kid keeps me going though! Breakfast this morning was light yogurt and frozen fruit :) only 125 calories! I try to stick with low calorie meals until dinner. I didn't lose much weight this week but I can blame that on my lack of motivation. I messed up but like I have said in the past Im not going to let that stop me! I did lose 0.4 pounds and a half an inch on a few things. I decided it was time to start measuring my tummy and love handles. Thats the big thing I'd like to see go down! However I'm pretty sure they will be the last to go. 

Day 13

Today was a very productive day. I stayed busy cleaning the house. It was deep cleaning this week so everything got wiped down. It feels good to have the energy to clean the entire house without needing to stop and take a break! After that I shoveled the sidewalk. We got a couple inches of snow maybe 4. I could have stopped there but I also did my favorite 20 minute cardio workout. This dvd is so easy, doesn't take a long time to do and I can feel it working. My heart rate gets up there, I sweat and I can feel in it my stomach and legs. I've also stuck to my "diet" and its getting easier. I don't get that hungry anymore and can handle eating smaller meals without feeling like Im starving myself. I have to admit the first week was hard. I was sore, hungry and that just made me crabby. Bless my poor family for putting up with me ha ha. I hope everyone is doing great. I also want to give a special thank you to Zineb :) Thanks for the inspiration and kind words!!

Day 12

Yes! I am back on track and realized I have a lot more support then I thought! I stopped taking food photos because it got boring ha ha but I still log all my meals on myfitnesspal.com. If you haven't added me over there please do! My username is mom2ahandful. Yesterday I stayed on my feet all day cleaning. That in itself burned tons of calories AND I did my tummy tone dance it off workout. Thank you netflix for having awesome workout videos streaming! I've come to realize if I can have fun when I work out I want to do it longer and more often. Im sticking with dancing for now and see if that gets me anywhere. I've said this before I know I will mess up but as long as I get back up and try again thats all that matters. Im really not looking forward to weigh in on Friday. I know I gained the weight back :( Maybe I didn't but I just feel like I messed up so I probably did. I hope to get better at these blogs so please hang in there well I figure my blogging style out. I got the hang of vlogging and I used to blog all the time before that. Im sure it will come back and these will get better :) Thanks for following me on this journey and good luck to everyone!

Day 9-11

Im really behind on these so Im combining the days I missed. To be honest we got so busy I went back to my old eating habits and only worked out one day. I took off three days instead of two. Im not making any excuses I messed up and thats that. I highly doubt I will see any lost weight or inches this week because I have been slacking. Its hard to totally relearn your lifestyle. Im not sure if anyone else is going through this....Its just hard. I know I want my body back and I know its better for me BUT its sooo easy to just grab a slice of pizza out of the fridge and go or run and grab a doughnut when I pump gas. I need to just remember to take time for myself. That is my battle taking time for me.

Day 8--sick

Today my son had a stomach bug. It was awful so all he wanted to do was lay on me and cuddle. I wasn't able to workout today so Im a little upset but things happen. I was able to eat pretty good until the end of the night when I started to feel sick. Then all I could stomach was crackers, pretzels and ginger ale. All those things made me go over my calorie intake for the day with no activity. Im feeling upset with myself for getting sick and munching on crackers. Silly I know but I worked so hard and now I feel like it was for nothing. Tomorrow is a new day and I only hope I feel better and can workout. 

Day 7-Weigh-in week 1!

Jan. 14 2011--143.2

thigh 22.5

hips--42

waist--29.5

bust--36

arms--11

So I lost 4.2 pounds in a week and a half an inch everywhere but my arms :) Im doing good with watching my calories and exercising more. Its getting easier was the days go by. I really don't have much to update on today. I did a new workout 10 minute solution fat blasting dance mix and it was so much fun! Its an intermediate dance workout but as a beginner I could keep up. I love to dance so if I can have fun and burn calories I will workout more often. I did 50 minutes today PLUS I cleaned for 40 minutes. So I earned some calories back but didn't use them. I have made my food diary viewable to friends on myfitnesspal.com if you would like to add me please feel free! My name there is mom2ahandful. I made sure I ate more veggies and fruit today. Im still doing really bad about my water intake. Only 3 cups today but Im going to finish another cup before I fall asleep. Tomorrow I plan on doing the dance workout again tomorrow :) they have so many on netflix and I think I saw the 10 minutes solutions at walmart and target. Im so excited and proud of myself for getting this far! It feels weird now if I don't workout. Even my son gets into it with me. He will march around the room, jump side to side and run with me :) Nothing better then playing with your baby and getting a good workout ;)

Day 6

Between sparkpeople and myfitnesspal I really like how easy myfitnesspal is to use! You can enter your recipes and it tells you how many calories there are in the dish per serving, helps you calculate the calories you are burning and gives you incentive to keep working out. After you finish your food diary for the day myfitnesspal tells you how much you will weigh in 5 weeks if you continue the way you are! However the plus about sparkpeople there are more forums and groups to join. So a lot more support there and they also have amazing recipes! Today I cleaned up and did my 25 minute cardio so I burned roughly 188-200 calories and only ate 550 so far. I still have dinner and my evening snack but by the time Im done there I will have reached my 1200-1300 goal for the day. Tomorrow I weigh in and I really don't feel like I have lost any weight or inches but Im not going to let that stop me. Im going to keep going until I get the results I want :) The added energy I have is worth it! 

Breakfast: hard boiled egg, wheat toast & colby cheese

snack: 90 calorie chewy bar peanut butter

Lunch: ham and cheese on wheat with mustard

Dinner: creamy cheesy chicken cooking in the crockpot

4 cups of water today plus two flavor packs. 

Day 5

Today was an easy day really. Took two days off and I plan to workout the other five. Im always running around so as long as I stay moving on my off days I should be ok :) Learning how many calories you can eat for you activity level has been fun ha ha. On the days Im just sitting around doing nothing at all I eat 1,200 calories but on the days I workout and run around I can eat more calories depending on my activity level. So today I ate 1385 calories because I cleaned the house (heavy duty cleaning) and then did a 30 minute cardio. I have so much energy and get a lot more done now. Its still hard for me to remember to eat lunch but when I notice I get hungry I make myself stop and eat. I missed my morning snack but made up for it during lunch. I also haven't done the best on my water intake. Only got 4 cups in today but thats better then none! Only a couple more days and its time to step back on the scale. I don't feel like I lots any weight or inches but if I didn't thats ok too. I cant expect a miracle overnight. It took years to put it on and it may take years to take it back off. Im so ready to be able to wear jeans without the evil muffin top!

Day 4

So Im back on track! I had all three meals and two snacks. Learning the right portions is really easy now. We are slowly getting rid of all the junk and unhealthy pasta and switching to low sugar, fat and calorie snacks and whole wheat items. Soon everyone (except LM) will be on 2% milk. We don't need the fat that whole milk has. We had an appointment around my snack time so I packed a small snack and water so I could eat after. Im glad I did because on the way home we got hit by some snow and had to go a lot slower then usual. Took over an hour to get back ha ha. I do have more energy but at the same time I feel sick in the mornings. I feel like I may not be eating enough calories for the activities I do. I set my activity level to lightly active and they suggest I eat 1,300 and I haven't. Plus once you workout or do heavy movement you can eat more calories if you wanted. This is all from myfittnesspal.com. Oh another great thing I like about that site. You can add all your recipes in and see how many calories each serving is! I eat more calories at dinner then any other meal. So I make sure my snacks and two meals are smaller in calories so I dont go over. If I do go over I just do a little extra to work it off :) So far so good! Not sure I lost any weight yet but we will find out day 7!

Breakfast: one egg, half wheat toast, half a banana
snack: 10 ranch rice chips (mini cakes)
Lunch: fit and active clam chowder
snack: 90 calorie quaker peanut butter chewy bar
Dinner: 2oz pork chop in creamy sauce, 1 cup mashed potatoes and 1 cup green beans

Total calories 1,207 (roughly) I know I didnt go over that too much :)

Day 3

I had a lot more energy today even without much sleep :) My son had a doctors appointment and we were running late so I didn't grab breakfast again. I know I know bad! After his appointment we walked around Sams club and target before grabbing something to eat. We decided McDonlads because it has a play area. I was really good bought a 10 piece nugget meal and shared it with LM. Only ate five nuggets and a handful of fries, 300 calories tops! Then after that I ran around the play area and crawled through the tunnels for 20 minutes or so. I have to say before I would have to stop and take a break but this time I was fine! I guess my energy level is picking up which is AWESOME!  I had a small meal to make up for the missed breakfast and then a small dinner around 6:30pm. Its hard when you are out running around to eat every two hours. Below I will add my food diary and "workout" for the day. All in all this working out and watching what I eat is easier then I thought. Forgot to mention I don't eat after 8pm or before 8am. Thats what works best for me and it keeps me from snacking all day :)


5 nuggets and some fries
lean pocket artichoke, spinach chicken on whole grain with a medium banana
Roughly 1.5 cups of lasagna
low fat chocolate chunk chewy bar

Coming to a total of 1,260 calories for the day.

Workout: Spent an hour walking around and 20 minutes playing with my son. Keeping up with a toddler in the play area can make you sweat! Today is an off day for me so no hard cardio :) but I still made sure I was some what active. Oh and I did laundry ; )

Hope you all are doing great!

Day 2

This morning I felt awful! I was sick to my stomach, my body hurt and I didn't even want to look at food. We had to go grocery shopping so I skipped breakfast which I know is really bad. Thats the one meal I shouldn't skip. Im pretty good about eating breakfast and dinner its lunch Im usually bad at. I skip it and snack all day. Its been really hard to change my habits and way of thinking. I have to say Im pretty happy that I didn't stop and grab something at a fast food place when we were out. Thats what I would have done in the past. Im already getting people trying to make me feel bad and hoping I fail. Luckily Aaron is there to support me :) At first he didnt think I would do it but I think he realizes Im serious this time. I never actually stopped eating "bad" just worked out. Sad thing is I NEVER ate this way when I was younger. I always drank 2% milk, lots of fruits and veggies and never had junk unless it was the holidays. I got married and that slowly fell apart. We ate worse and worse and I gained and gained. The stress didn't help but I can't blame it all on that. My motivation is sitting on my lap crying right now LOL he is a handful but he is what keeps me going everyday and he will be the one who makes me do this. Im not just doing this so I feel and look better. Im doing this for my son and future children. I want to be able to keep up with them and not worry about running out of energy.

That brings me to my next topic :) aging well. Today I saw this older women and when I say older I mean 60's 70's maybe. She was walking around in heels probably 2 inches high they were the cute heel boots you see girls wearing. The ones that go around the ankles and are suede or something. She was dressed head to toe in the cutes outfit and looked fit. I looked at Aaron and said thats how I want to be. Not walking around in frumpy cloths but still got that walk that I had in my 20s. Getting old scares me but getting old and being unhealthy scares me more. I don't want to look back and realize I should have done more for my health. So Im taking that older women and keeping her in my motivational tools. This isn't going to be a temporary change this is a lifestyle change.


Lunch: wood fire lean cuisine roasted garlic chicken pizza 330 calories.
Snack: water and fit & active snack 100
Dinner: lasagna and a piece of bread 590 water
snack:oats and peanut butter chewy bar & water


Workout: 4 miles of the leslie sansone walk at home DVD

Tracking the weight

Jan. 7th, 2011--147.4

Thigh 23 inches

Hips 42.5 inches

waist 30.5 inches

Bust 37 inches

Arms 11 inches

Day 1

Today I was really good! Its 7 pm and I only consumed 1,044 calories and plan on getting a small snack when Im done here ; ) So here is my plan. I want to try and stay between 1,200-1,300 calories a day and workout for 30 minutes 5 days a week. Its going to be hard and Im sure I will fail sometimes. However I refuse to beat myself up if I do. I will just dust myself off and move on! Tonight we ordered in because of plumbing. Long story but basically we cant use the water for the night. So everyone else ordered hamburgers, cheesy fries and lots of other junk. It was really hard not to break down and grab some of my husbands fries or sneak a bit of the hamburger. I was even tempted to just order a burger and fries for myself but I was a good girl. I ordered a plain salad no dressing with grilled chicken. Usually I would dump dressing on top of my salads but I didn't! Im so proud of myself and Im not going to lie it was really hard. I felt like I was starving all day and wanted to just eat and eat. So heres to tomorrow! Grocery shopping to do :) and Im actually looking forward to it ha ha


Breakfast: Whole wheat peanut butter toast with a few raisins
Snack: oat and chocolate fiber bar
Lunch: pierogies and veggie mix
Snack: snack pack butterscotch
Dinner: Salad with grilled chicken (medium)
Snack: cashews

4 16 oz bottles of water. I added flavor packs to some because Im not a water fan :) Even adding those I stayed in my goal!

Total calories for today 1,208

Workout: 30 minutes of Denise Austin quick burn cardio DVD