A much needed update...................

So I signed up for a very necessary 3 x a week personal trainer at the gym. He's kicking my tooshy and I'm loving it!! He told me to stop obsessing about my intake and weight. He said I can't weigh for a month. He's talking to the wrong girl! We'll see how that goes................
So every time I leave the gym I'm soaking wet and thrilled at the progress. This poor guy doesn't know what he's got himself into. There is a large amount of whining and a moderate amount of cussing but he continues to stay positive and motivate me.
I'm currently committed to 3 days of cardio a week and 3 days of weight training. I'll keep you posted!

Yesterday.................

I don't think I can remember everything I ate yesterday but I can remember that it included 5 Mothers brand toffee cookies. Someone brought them to work so they wouldn't eat them. I can say that I am definitely a team player! I really helped her out. Needless to say I was 180 this morning. It gave me the drive I needed to get it together.
Noon - a cup of tomato soup and an apple
1615 - half a chicken enchilada with corn tortilla (Nellie size portion) and 4 Andes mints
1900 - a bowl of multi-grain Cheerios
I also had an appointment with my trainer at the gym at 1500. It was obvious I didn't eat enough prior to the gym as I got light headed and shaky. I'm pretty sure that I worked off quite a bit of calories as I was dripping when I left. This guy means business! It's super hard work but I know it will pay off in the end. Tomorrow is cardio day....................... lots of running.

HHHMMM Not so good so far today..........

0545- For breakfast I had golden grams
0930- peanut butter and honey on wheat
1230- cheese burger and half an order of fries (oooooppssss)
1420- a cookie (I think I'd better ride the indoor bike this evening for an hour)

Friday December 11th

I woke up and went to the gym for my 3rd training session. I was pretty sore but knew I had to go. It hurt even more but I always feel better after I go.
1120- tuna melt w/pickles and half a twix
1435- 2 farm house cookies (those of you who know what these are should be impressed that I only ate 2)
1730-.5 cup of clam chowder (minus the nasty clams)
1900- bowl of multigrain Cheerios and 2 Andes mints and an apple

I'm not too sore!

I woke up this morning expecting to be sore from my torturous work out yesterday with the trainer. I'm not too sore. Not too sore at all. Because I rate eveything on the 0-10 scale I'd say I'm a 2/10. Totally ok. I'm off to the gym in about 20 minutes for my second session. Today is the day we measure. AAAHHH! I'm not looking forward to this but I know it's necessary. Tonight is our work Christmas party and there is always tons of yummy foods to try. I'm hoping that the hour I spend at the gym will encourage me to stay away of the bad stuff so my time at the gym isn't wasted.
0630- 177.5 lbs
0700- protein shake and an apple
1030- 2 chocolate mint cookies (they're all gone now thankfully)
1120- a chocolate/peanut butter protein shake
It's 1130 I'm off to the gym!
1300- a bowl of white chicken chili/a bowl of taco salad w/o meat
1930- pumpkin mouse dessert and a kahlua w/cream

Such a better day!

So yesterday was a complete disappointment. I was determined to keep on track today.
0639-large bowl of raisin bran crunch
1230-a skinny venti frapachino w/o coffee
1530-half a cup of tomato soup and a mint chocolate chip cookie
1830-finished the tomato soup and added about 20 gold fish crackers
2100-2 chocolate mint cookies

I 'm done for the day. I'd say there is not a single nutritional item in there. HHmmmm .......... well at least there is significantly fewer calories then yesterday.
Today I made a HUGE commitment. I had my first appointment with a personal trainer at the gym. Holy crap that's scary!! They basically tell you how fat and out of shape you are then say that they can make you all better with just a few simple exercises. RRIIIGGHHHTTT! If that's all it took I wouldn't look like this. He asked me my hobbies and I think he was quite surprised by my response............. "EATING" I said. You can't tell? I wasn't kidding. I love to eat. So he took my weight and calculated my BMI (body mass index) then told me what it should be. OUCH. I have to drop my BMI in half. Is that even possible? Well I'll give it a whirl. He then took me to the exercise machine and kicked my hiney. I may not be able to walk tomorrow which is good because then I can't get to the kitchen for food! I signed up for 3 private sessions a week FOR A YEAR. Yes, you read that correct. A YEAR! I need the help. I need the drive. I'm super excited. We'll see how long that lasts. Tomorrow he's taking my measurements. Won't that be fun!

2200-Because I'm honest.................... I just ate 2 Andes mints and 1 oz. of chili cheese freetos :(

Sometimes things just go bad....................

So yesterday morning we had a potluck at work. I took scrambled eggs and sausage and orange juice. Other things at the potluck were
*cheesy potatoes
*scones
*fruit salad
*glazed doughnut holes
*cinnamon rolls
*french toast casserole
I mention this because I completely fell off the deep end. I started with a positive attitude telling myself that I would stick to the scrambled eggs and fruit salad. The truth is the scrambled eggs and fruit salad never even his my plate. I started out with 2 doughnut holes, a large scoop of cheesy potatoes and some sausage. The meeting went on for 2.5 hours and in that time I consumed enough calories for 3 days. I actually lost track of how much I ate.
Later that day things got worse. I think I gave up by the afternoon. I can't possibly name everything but I would like to mention a few ........................ a twix, a bite of snickers and a piece of lasagna.
Super frustrating. Super gross. Super chubby that evening. I seriously didn't want to get on the scale this morning but I did because I said I would. 180 lbs. What a disappointment. At least it gave me the drive to do better the next day. Something good had to come out of it.

Day 2 So far so good!

12/08/2009-177 lbs

0610-bowl of raisen bran crunch with 1% milk

0830-apple with caramel dip/2 mini pb cups

1120-1/3 of a breakfast burrito

1320-hand full of cashews

1640-turkey wrap w/veggies 1/2 cup soup

Heres where things get bad.................

1845-I had about 1-1.5 cups of peanut m and m's and 2 mini cinnabons

1945-a piece of lasagna

A bit excessive I know!

So I went to the gym and did 7 miles to counteract my pathetic intake.

Looking forward to my morning weigh-in.

OK Heidi! Here it goes........................

I was explaining to Heidi a couple of nights ago that if I'm accountable to others is seems to motivate me. I signed up for the Hood to Coast relay in August of 2008. I knew that I would have to train and do well because I couldn't let my team down. I ran the Hood to Coast in Aug of 2009 and had a blast. As most of you know, I have lost a bit of weight. I'm struggling to lose the last 15 lbs. My addiction to food seems to somehow over ride my desire to lose weight. With that said; I've learned that the most important part of my weight loss is exercise. I already know I'm not strong enough to say no to my favorite foods. I can only counteract the food with exercise. I'm going to follow this 10K training program. I will personalize it and make a few modifications to fit my schedule but ultimately I am training for a 10k. Go to http://www.halhigdon.com/10ktraining/10knovice.htm to follow along. I'm going to be accountable! I'm going to be accountable to everyone who reads this blog. Every day (with the exception of fruits and veggies because I count them as free), I will post what I ate for the day, how much exercise I did, and my weight. AAAHHHHH! If this doesn't motivate me I don't know what will. I weigh first thing every morning. I'll record my intake for the day then post it on the blog in the evening. Please feel free to send out MMOOOO sounds if I eat an entire box of cereal or 3 pounds of moms Christmas candy. I'm going to trial this for 2 weeks. Best case scenario, it keeps me on track. Worst case scenario, my food addiction takes over and I am embarrassed to post my intake!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN !!

My work days can be difficult because they are 12.5 hrs long and I often only get a 30 minute break which can lead to a lot of snacking. I'm going to focus on making sure I'm hungry before I reach for a snack. We'll see how it goes.........

12/07/2009-178 lbs

0610-bowl of multi-grain cheerios w/1% milk

0845-protein bar with 30g protein

1050-hand full of cashews

1330-turkey wrap with lots of veggies and a hard boiled egg

1630-1 mini peanut butter cup/3 Swedish fish/chocolate chip cookie

1845-3 miles at the gym 300 cals burned

1945-1/2 turkey wrap with veggies

2105-3 Andes mints

I will say that knowing that I have to be accountable for everything I eat certainly makes me think twice. I wanted to come home from work and eat a Costco size bag of Cheetos but I didn't because I didn't want to admit it.

Nelson's first day of preschool

Today was Nelson's first day of school. She was very excited all morning. When we got to the school she was a bit nervous. The room was filled with lots of parents and kids and a little loud. She instantly spotted the paints and her teacher helped her put on a smock so she could paint a picture.

Logan is or favorite neighbor. He's in the 4 year old class that is right next to Nellie's class. She felt better knowing that Logan was there. I wasn't sure what to do with myself for 2.5 hours. It was the most productive 2.5 hours I've had in a long time. I did find it hard to leave her but I knew she was in good hands!

Nelson is 2!

We had a party yesterday to celebrate Nellie's second birthday! She's growing too fast. Nelson loves horses, so my friend Rachelle made this awesome cake. We had nachos too.

Nellie opened her presents.

Then, we headed outside for a surprise. Queeny the horse came! As you might know, Nelson loves horses. She always asks to see them or to ride them. First, she fed Queeny.

And, she petted Queeny.

Then, she got to ride Queeny.

Check out that smile!

Shayne took a short ride too. Well, kind of.

Drew loved Queeny almost as much as Nelson did.

For more pics and details, visit my sister's blog.

There's a lot of nakedness in our house...........

This evening I said to Nellie "let's go upstairs and take a bath." She took off towards the stairs and I got side tracked loading the dishes. When she came back to the living room she had taken everything off, had my purse in one hand, keys in the other and my flip-flops on and said "let's go bye bye!" She cracks me up.

The next picture is from a couple of days ago. She was wearing her swimsuit and said she was going to go wash her hands in the bathroom. When I went to check on her this is what I found. She really likes to be naked. If I didn't think she'd pee on the floor I'd let her run around that way.

Nelson's first dental visit

Today Nelson had her fist visit to the dentist. She went to a place called Adventure Dental. Its really cute and made Nelson comfortable. She sat in the chair like a big girl and had her teeth cleaned and then even had x-rays taken. We are so proud of her. She got a report card at the end o her visit. She got an "A". They said Nelson had beautiful teeth and great oral hygiene! Yeah mommy and daddy! Next we are going to start potty training!

Ra Ra Shish Boom Ba!

Cutest darn cheerleader you ever did see!

Lookin' good!

Today we went with our friend Mindy to her friend Phaedra's house to get Nellie's hair done. It took about an hour and a half. Nellie sat pretty well for some of it and cried for parts too. We had to have several breaks in between sections. The little guy in the picture is Phaedra's 7 year old son. Nelson immediately liked him. After her hair was done we went out to a great Thai restaurant for some super yummy food. What a great day.

Mommy and Nelson this morning

This was taken first thing this morning. Were still in our pajamas! We got up at 0605. One of us wanted to go back to bed. Can you guess which one?

Something has happened at our house

Last Tuesday Nelson started asking "why, why, why"? Yesterday she started saying "NO"! Oh my goodness this is challenging. She's also started to try to form sentences. On Mothers Day we went to Grandma Goni's house for lunch. I laid down with her on moms bed to try to get her to take a rest. Nelson said "Momma no night night Nay Nay, Papa night night Nay Nay". So I went out and told Papa that Nelson was requesting that he nap with her. Of course he was happy to. Here is her new camera smile!

A broken toe.........

A few days ago I hit my toe on Nelsons baby gate in the middle of the night and I'm pretty sure I broke it. It's been very purple and now turning a lovely shade of bluish green. It has been painful but when I tape it to its neighbor I am still able to run on it. Nelson saw me taping my toe and wanted hers taped too!

Play date

As many of you know my 2 best friends Nikki and Rachelle along with their kids and Nelson and I get together every Thursday. I always forget to take pictures but today I remembered! The kids are so cute and I love watching them grow up together.

On the stairs

We have been trying to tell Nelson not to go up or down the stairs with out help. Today I found her on the stairs and when I asked what she was doing she smiled very proudly.

A BIG problem

I came home to find this in our bedroom. I have been telling Shayne for months that the t.v. was going to fall off the wall. It just didn't look stable to me. I hate to say it but once again I was right!!! There is sheet rock chunks everywhere and the wall has ripped off.

Catching up!

Our computer got the April fools day virus. Thanks to my good friend Natalie we are now up and running! I wasn't unable to document the binks withdrawal period but I am happy to say that there are no more binks in our house and Nelson is doing GREAT! It was not nearly as bad as I had thought. I have confirmation that she was ready because I was easily able to explain to her that her binks was "broken" and she understood.

Sadly she's quickly growing out of her 2T jeans. She's growing so fast and is speaking all sorts of words. Today she wanted a "smoovy" (smoothie) so here are a couple of pictures of her enjoying it. She prefers hers in a bowl with a spoon instead of a cup.

Saying goodbye to BINKS!

We are officially saying goodbye to our old friend "Binks" on next Wednesday. We have started our goodbyes by cutting the ends off of several of them and telling Nellie that they are broken. She then throws them away. Today we cut the tips off of 2 binks and she was not too happy. Ill continue to submit pictures of the de-binks process. I have next Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off work and I'm hoping to get us through these difficult times in those 4 days. We'll keep you posted!!

A big girl bed for a big girl!

Last night I put Nelson to bed in her big girl bed. We got the foam bumpers that go under her sheets and they seem to work pretty good. I did learn that you have to have them all the way up on the mattress. At 2am I heard a thud and sure enough she had squirmed out the top where her pillow was. Luckily she landed on the pillow that had fallen on the floor. She said "momma" and I put her back to bed without any further complaints. She also took her nap in the bed today. She was most proud to call Elise and tell her about her big girl experience. The crib is going away this weekend!!

I found some boots!

Nelson thinks its pretty funny that she can put Daddy's new boots on. They go up past her knees and she can't walk in them but she certainly tries. She thinks it's funny when I say "oh my goodness......... what are you wearing". That's why you see the big smile!

A couple of visitors this week

We had a couple of visitors this week. The first one was sighted in the green space in the back yard. We watched him eat frogs and hang out for quite a while. The second one was our favorite new cousin Rowan. She came to visit for a few hours while her mom went to see a play. We enjoyed having her.

18 month pictures

Today we went to Patrick and Laurel's house to have Nelson's 18 month pictures taken. Here is a sneak peak at the pictures we selected. The bonus was that Laurel made tortilla soup for dinner and brownies with icecream for dessert. It was yummy!