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The Biggest Loser workouts...my 2 cents

At present, I am in a battle of wills. Me vs. the leftover cupcakes from Sophia's class treat day yesterday. I got into Adam's car to drive the girl to a birthday party this afternoon when what did I spy sitting beside me on the passenger seat?

Yeah.

See, now YOU'RE in a battle of wills. Sorry 'bout that. I just wanted to make this post pretty. And that's one pretty cupcake. (Not my photo, by the way - I found that on Flickr.)

Anyway. There are many cupcakes in a box taunting me from on top of the refrigerator. I sequestered them there after dinner. (My dinner, incidentally was only three points. Chicken breast, broccoli and red and yellow peppers. YUM.)

I've decided I need to weigh in on Sunday instead of Monday and then Sunday is the day I will use my bonus points on one delicious treat. I save my bonus points and don't use any activity points during the week. I am hoping to see some progress tomorrow.

I've gotten a few questions about the Biggest Loser DVDs, and I really wish I could hear from people what they think of these sorts of things before I buy them, so let me do a little mini-review of them here. Just in case you're looking for something to spice up your workout a little or you have a sort of tv crush on Bob Harper (you know in a strictly platonic, 'gosh, I wish he were MY trainer so I could lose 24 pounds in one week' kind of way.)

This is the first one I tried:

I sort of screamed through it on fast forward just to see what kind of workout it was going to be. I must admit, after seeing Billy, I really thought this would be easy. It's not. At least not if you're just resuming exercise after nine months of being infiltrated by a growing human being in your stomach.

I will say this - it's not a 'polished' as like, Tae bo in that there's no exact beats or counts. For instance, Billy Blanks works on the standard 8-count - so all your moves and your pace are set by the man himself. Not so with Tae bo. There's no counting - and when they do count it out for you, it's not always on the beat. That's weird to me. At the same time, my heart rate is cranking and it incorporates both cardio and strength training moves (attention haters of squats and lunges: do not get this dvd unless you know that in hating squats and lunges you are only doing yourself a disservice. You need the lunges and the squats because you know, it's all about the legs!)

So. That said, now that I've been doing it for a week, I'm going to add on the second workout. See, it's broken down into intervals - levels according to your fitness level. So you start out with the warm-up, 20 min. of cardio and the cool down. Then after doing that for two weeks, you do the warm-up, 20 min. of cardio with Bob, 10 minutes of cardio with Jillian and the cool down. After two more weeks of that, you add Kim in the mix with 10 additional minutes. So, you're working up to it - and I can already tell it's getting a little easier.

I also bought this one:

(I got these both on sale at Kmart for $7.)

Now, I am loving this because I really believe in strength training, but I lack sufficient knowledge to effectively use free weights in my house. So, this way, I am getting a good workout (heart rate is up even with this one) and building muscle. Same thing for this one with the levels you add on.

So, all in all, I would definitely recommend both of these dvds. I think they are excellent - and I like to have some variety so I'm not bored. I have to mix it up because the elliptical is still in the garage and it's below zero outside. No chance I"m getting on that thing til we find a way to move it to our basement.

SO... that's my review of those. Get 'em!

I also want to say that I am a big believer in having music on your Ipod that makes you happy. I've read that some people want music that makes them angry for when they are working out - and while I can understand (I guess) - for me, it's all about the joy. So, I want to share my new favorite song of 2008, which is really from like, the 80's or something. This song makes me smile and dance around the house with my kids. Makes me giggle almost as much as THIS SONG which brings back SOOO many high school memories and pom routine moves I can't even begin to tell you. I'm not typically a music person. I really only listen to music at church - not even CDs of the music from church - but I realize I've been missing out! So. Enjoy and be thankful I didn't link "Ice, Ice Baby."

Listen. Turn them up. Go dance around your living room with your kids.

You'll thank me later!

Weighing in tomorrow! How are you all doing? 

My Thursday morning.

I'm sitting in my makeshift scrapbook room, drinking my giant cup of coffee, waiting for Sam to doze off so I can do my workout. I did the Biggest Loser Power Sculpt yesterday, and I really liked it. I've always liked incorporating strength training into my workout, and I know it kind of kicks everything up a notch, so it was good to have someone really leading me through those kinds of unfamiliar exercises.

I still feel pretty motivated to keep it up. I've discovered over the course of the week when my Mother in law was here cooking that there are ways to prepare food that I had never thought of. Healthy food that's low in points. It's a good discovery!

One of the most important aspects of Weight Watchers is portion control. I've found that sometimes it's easy to get lazy and say, "Oh, I think that's about a cup of cereal..." or "That looks like around five points of pasta." And I think we would be amazed if we knew just how much bigger our portions are than what the back of the package says they should be. Usually, I would just dump salad dressing on my salad, but yesterday I checked the points. The Casesar dressing is 4 points for 2 tbs. I thought that would never be enough for my salad, but when I measured it and tossed it, it was more than plenty. I guess that was just further reminder that I need to keep measuring!

This week has been abnormally hectic. I've felt sort of disorganized with all that's going on - it seems like everything I work on is due all at the same time. How does that happen? I am anxiously awaiting my February issue of Memory Makers... which my mom got about two weeks ago. I'm worried something went wrong with the forwarding order. ugh. I hate moving.

I am also getting close to my second deadline for my new book, which means I pretty much need to lock myself indoors and do nothing but scrapbook for about a week. I am a little behind thanks to the move - having a temporary living room is one thing, but having a temporary scrapbook room is something else entirely.

Tomorrow, Adam and I are hiking up to Wisconsin to check out a kids' camp that we're thinking of renting for the summer camp this year. We've never done summer camp (Side note: Fed Ex just pulled into my driveway. Yay! I love FedEx. HOpefully the man doesn't see me in here, in my workout garb with no makeup on... I'm PURTY)... anyway, summer camp scares me, but I'm excited at the idea. :) I'm really hoping this place is just what we want!

That's my exciting life. OH! And for any new moms out there... when your baby gets a diaper rash that is literally BLEEDING (yeah, you can imagine how fun that was)... slather A&D ointment all over and then add Desitin on top of that. You will be amazed how quickly the rash disappears. (And thank God. I was so sad changing Sam this past week or so.)

SO. That's all for today! I'm off to exercise! How are you doing today??

Yum

Okay - first things first: I'm down one more pound. That's a whopping TWO so far. Ha. Not bad in terms of hamburger. I'm focusing on that.

My mother-in-law is here cooking ridiculously GOOD food for us. She's stocking our fridge with dinners for the week and she even brought some healthy (and delicious) stuff with her which I am sooo thankful for. Last night we had Pork Tenderloin (very lean), risotto and broccoli (all incredibly good.) Today, I'm struggling with the pile of chocolate chip cookies on the counter, but I think I'm going to budget one into my points for the day. (I just realized I've been so busy today all I've eaten is a banana - I know this is NOT good for my weight loss, but I haven't had time to think!)

Anyway - I'll be eating good tonight - flank steak and whatever else she makes! Adam's mom just recently graduated from culinary school - and so I'm asking LOTS of questions about cooking. Last night, we watched Food Network shows together, which was a lot of fun.

I just wanted to post because I'm quite sure everyone is waiting with bated breath to find out how my weigh-in went. ha. Yeah right. :) I am doing good. I've drank tons of water and worked out yesterday... I'll work out again the rest of the week (just not today because of a meeting this morning.)

It's going well. In other news... Sophia chopped her hair off. This makes Mommy VERY happy. Mommy is BAAD with hair. So, I'm really excited and it's SOOO cute. Yay for short hair!

Ok, I have to run - I have stuff to finish up tonight! Happy Tuesday!

what not to eat...

...when you have 12.5 points left and it's 7 p.m.

It sounded like a good idea. I finally found the turkey bacon at the store. (this whole change of eating habits has brought me to the many nooks and crannies of my grocery store that I never knew existed)... so, I thought I would cook up three pieces of that (3 points) and have a sandwich (toasted.) My whole grain bread is 2 points per slice, so that was 7. Then I thought I couldn't eat dry toast with turkey bacon... I'll put a piece of cheese on it (2 points) because THAT will make it taste good.

Boy, was I wrong.

This was not a satisfying meal. I overcooked the bacon and there was so much bread. It was just icky.

Anyway, I never said I was GOOD at this stuff. lol

I've gotten a lot of emails and comments about not being obsessive about my weight loss. I maybe should've prefaced all this weight-loss talk with the revelation that hit me in the shower on New Year's Eve. I decided that by sharing what I was going through - this struggle and the education I've gained in having done it once before (and many times the WRONG way)... maybe I'd connect with a few people who were a lot like me.

I think there's power in numbers. I think we can all encourage one another. I think if there's someone else saying "You can do this" then it's easier to stick with it. And if I can be that person for someone else going through it, then all the better. I decided my blog was a good way to hold myself accountable. I haven't attended WW meetings yet because I haven't veered off the path. I don't intend to, but if I need that extra kick in the pants, I'll be back there in a heartbeat. In the meantime, knowing I'm going to have to fess up to a bad week to this online web log has made a huge difference. It's accountability. I've put it out there and it helps keep me on track.

I have a little bit of a compulsive personality when it comes to my weight loss. I'll admit that. It's always been the thorn in my side. I mean, I feel like if I set my mind to something I can get it done... and for whatever reason, this is the one that keeps coming back to haunt me.

I absolutely believe that God loves me just as I am right at this second. In spite of my imperfections - and there are many. I know that He's there to help get me through this, but for me, losing weight is about dying to myself... it's about getting my own self out of the way (because I tend to rely too much on food for comfort.) There. I said it. I eat when I'm sad or having a bad day. It's like I feel entitled to it out of self pity. You wouldn't believe how hard it was not to open Adam's cookies last night after just an awful day... but I didn't. (I win!)

In those moments in the kitchen - when no one is watching... I was thinking of this blog. Was I going to be able to come on here today and say I passed up the fudge sticks? OR was I going to have to confess that I'd given in. And what a dumb thing to give into. It's food, for pete's sake. But we've all got something, don't we? We've all got that vice that pulls on us, tugging like a small child wanting attention. Unlike that child, however, I don't want to give this vice the time of day.

I so appreciate the comments and the concerns - the worries - especially from those who know my sordid past with food... I have such good friends watching out for me. So, while I may seem a little obsessive because I'm pretty much only blogging about losing weight, it's not because it's all I'm thinking about. It's because it keeps me focused so I can go about my day... enjoying my kids and my husband and my new house and my assignments. So, thank you for letting me drone on and for being my support system. Even without knowing it.

That said, I found a couple of new workouts for $7 each. I got a yoga dvd (Yoga is HARD. Seriously - who knew stretching and posing was this hard?) for the days when I can't jump around and then I got two Biggest Loser DVDs. I got the Cardio Max and the Power Sculpt DVDs. I did the cardio workout this morning and I've decided I don't really like Bob Harper anymore so much. One word: LUNGES. I HATE, no loathe... lunges. And there were sooooo many lunges. But it was a fun workout. So different from Billy.

Non-weight related stuff going on:

• Sam is giving me full-fledged smiles now, which makes every bad thing in the world sort of disappear for awhile.
• My house is horribly disorganized and my mother-in-law is coming Monday to meet Sam.
• I want to watch Hairspray, which came via Netflix a couple of days ago.
• I am anxiously awaiting my February issue of Memory Makers which my mom got a week ago. I've still got a forwarding order on mine, so it takes longer. UGH.
• Ethan's decided what he wants to be when he grows up: "A basketball player... or a football player... or a baseball player... or a soccer player..." and then a pause........ "OR a COW RIDER!" (said with much enthusiasm)

That's about all. I've got to feed the clan. What in the world, I'm not sure. I hope you have a happy weekend!

FRUSTRATION.

It was a really frustrating night for me last night. I've gotten into a good routine. Adam goes to bed early (around 9) and I stay up til midnight to feed Sam. If I sleep and then wake up, it's so much harder for me, so I've decided I'll just stay up and feed him, then go to bed.

Well, last night, out of curiosity, I decided to let him sleep while I watched Waitress. (Which was written and directed by one of the movies co-stars, Adrienne Shelly. In looking up these two websites, I discovered Shelly was murdered during the making of this movie and now I'm really sad. I love to see screenwriters doing well and directing and getting their dreams to come true - it's just sad to think her life was cut short in such a brutal way.)

Anyway, by 1:30 a.m. I couldn't watch Sam sleep any longer. I woke him up and started changing him which is like a marathon. If you aren't careful, you will get sprayed. I'm always aware of this, so I move quickly, but this was a particularly dirty diaper. Ugh. I turned to get the clean diaper when suddenly I heard that unmistakable sound of urine shooting from this tiny person all over my relatively new couch. Three separate puddles were created (no idea how the one ended up underneath him) before I was able to secure the little bugger.

The worst part was, I could hardly keep my eyes open and Sam was now drenched in his own pee. So, I had to take him upstairs to find another sleeper. (No easy task when you haven't done laundry all week.) Secretly, I think I wanted Adam to come in and save the day, but he was snoring so loudly if that didn't wake him, there was no way my fishing around for baby p.j.'s was going to.

So, needless to say, I'm pretty tired today. I woke up at 6:30 when Sam did, and listened as Adam attempted to run the diaper-changing marathon. Finally drifted off to sleep again and awoke for good at 7ish.

I have been crabby all day.

To make matters worse, I didn't exercise (the headache prevented the desire to bounce around) and I cannot find my Pilates DVDs, which I still plan to hunt down.

To make matters still worse, the pound I was DOWN yesterday was back on today. So, I was happy yesterday thinking I'd lost a whopping TWO pounds and now I'm sitting back at ONE? I'm confused. I've been soooo careful.

I refuse to get on that scale again until Monday.

Stupid scale.

The scale is not my friend today.

But, I'm still religiously counting my points. I am EX.HAUST.ED. and thinking of another cup of coffee (not from Starbucks though - I sadly discovered my nonfat White Chocolate Mocha with no whip cream is SEVEN points.) Seriously? Seven?

Not worth it. I'll stick to regular coffee ... or just a shot of caffeine, perhaps injected in my arm? Do they do such a thing?

Anyway, I have an article to work on for Memory Makers, due next week. I have realized I hardly ever talk about MM on my blog, and I"m not sure why. I guess I'm afraid I'll say something that's supposed to be a secret or something, but I've decided this year I'm going to talk about it. I love this magazine. I feel so lucky to work with these amazing women. And I gotta say, the magazine is really awesome. It makes me happy. So, I'll probably talk a little more about working with them in the future.

Right now I'm going to look into that caffeine... you'd think I'd just take a nap, but that usually doesn't work out in my favor.

I hope your day is less frustrating than mine.

Flexibility

If I had to pick a word to live by at this stage in my life, I think it would be Flexibility. No, I'm not talking about my ability to do the splits, but rather my ability to handle it well when things don't go as I've planned. I think this has always been an area where it's easy for me to get out of whack. Somehow, right now, it's not working.

This morning, I woke up and put on my workout clothes (do that! Forget Flylady - don't shower til after you've done that workout.) I had a few hours before I needed to get to my doctor's appointment. I was good. Of course it was just as I was getting my water bottle filled up that I heard Sam stirring. Shoot. I thought I had longer before he needed to eat.

I fed the boy, which warranted more smiles (instantly happy mommy).

Then, I settled in with Billy.

As I was warming up, I had to retrieve Sam's pacifier at least five times. Then I got into the cardio and he started fussing again. I got him calmed down, looked at the clock. I had about fifteen more minutes before I needed to hit the shower and at least 20 more minutes on my DVD. Sigh. I'd skip the warm up, it would be okay.

I keep on. I'm just getting to the "lower body workout" part of the Cardio Circuit when the phone rings. Frantic husband needs at-home work emailed to him pronto. Given the age of my computer, I knew this would take at least ten minutes. Sigh.

And that was how I started my morning.

But it's okay. I realized I can go back later on today and do the rest of the workout or start over. It's not ideal, but it's better than letting it ruin my whole day.

I love the comments about the pound of hamburger. With that visual in my head, I welcome that one pound loss! :) The whole time I work out, I think about how I felt when I was thinner. How I really want to fit into my clothes again. How happy I'm going to be to step on the scale next Monday and see the progress.

Oh! I almost forgot. I have another recipe. If you've got a wicked sweet tooth like someone else I know (ahem!) then you've got to try these. I think I made mine a little bit bigger than they should've been, so rather than counting one point for two, I'm counting each one as one just to be safe. I don't think they're quite one, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Also, the milk chocolate chips are the same points, so you can use those if you prefer them (like I do.) This is from the Weight Watchers website:

POINTS® Value: 1 Servings: 24 Preparation Time: 10 min Cooking Time: 20 min Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

·                                 2 Tbsp butter, softened

·                                 2 tsp canola oil

·                                 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

·                                 1 tsp vanilla extract

·                                 1/8 tsp table salt

·                                 1 large egg white(s)

·                                 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

·                                 1/4 tsp baking soda

·                                 3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, about 1/2 cup

Instructions

·                                 Preheat oven to 375ºF.

• In a medium bowl, cream together butter, oil and sugar. Add vanilla, salt and egg white; mix thoroughly to combine.
• In a small bowl, mix together flour and baking soda; stir into batter. Add chocolate chips to batter; stir to distribute evenly throughout.

Drop rounded half-teaspoons of dough onto one or two large nonstick baking sheets, leaving a small amount of space between each cookie. Bake cookies until golden around edges, about 4 to 6 minutes; cool on a wire rack. Yields 2 cookies per serving.

These cookies are really, really yummy. Totally easy to make and nice to have around when everyone else is digging into dessert! I hope you'll tell me how it's going for you! I love all the emails I'm getting with progress and tips and hints and help! It's so encouraging to know I'm not all alone in this!

Have a great rest of the day!

One is better than nothin', right?

I was right in my Tae Bo suspicions. I noticed last week the workouts on the Amplifier DVD's were a little easier than I thought they would be - especially after months of not working out and lugging the Samster around in utero... but I wasn't using the Amplifier bar (which weighs three pounds) because I KNEW that would KILL me. I wanted to ease myself into it so I didn't give up too early.

I'm not there yet, so today I revisited an older Tae Bo workout (Cardio Circuit 1) and I've since showered and I'm still shaking. Obviously I needed to kick it up a notch. I love the way it makes me feel - and I know I keep saying that, but I think it's because it's sooo hard to get myself in the mindset to exercise. It's sort of thought of (at least I've always thought of it) as something HARD and laborious. So I'm thinking if I focus on how GOOD it makes me feel then I'll be more likely to stick with it.

Today was my official weigh-day. I was only down ONE lousy pound. I'd be lying if I said this didn't disappoint me, but I'm not willing to quit. One is better than gaining... and they always say slow and steady wins the race. I guess I'll focus on that. I ate the same breakfast I had yesterday and I plan to have vegetable soup this afternoon (do you know how LOW in points this stuff is??)

Today Sophia went back to school. I already miss her, but my sadness was put on hold this morning when, during his morning bottle Sam kind of quit eating. I wasn't sure what was going on because usually he eats like a champ... so I looked at him and he gave me the cheesiest grin. It was amazing. He's seven weeks old today and I knew it would be coming... but to see him actually recognize me and SMILE... made my whole week. :)

Now, though, he's hungry and just started screaming so I'm off...

One pound. grrr... how'd you do?

Pitfalls and dangers

I had it all planned out.

I hate it when my plans go awry.

Friday night, Adam and I went to the movies. We did end up seeing I Am Legend (eh.) The big news was that I made it through the whole movie without my milk duds. Milk duds are relatively low fat compared to other candy (6 points for the whole box) but I knew we were going to eat afterwards... and I had it all planned out. We would use our gift card to the Olive Garden and I would get Chicken Giardino for only 8 points. That way, I could eat a breadstick and I'd still have points left over.

But after the movie we drove by a new restaurant called Texas Roadhouse and we smelled the steak.

Wow. It smelled GOOOOOD.

Adam commented on how good it smelled. Suddenly the Olive Garden didn't seem as appealing.

"No, we'll just go there," Adam said. "We've got a gift card."

Onward.

Passing Lone Star.

Steak. Again.

YUM. That steak smells GOOOOOOD....

I can tell Adam isn't really all that interested in the Olive Garden anymore, and honestly it was wearing me down too. But we kept on towards the Olive Garden. We pulled into the parking lot and Adam passed right by it.

"Where are you going?"

"Outback." It was like it lured him in. Shame all three steak places are within seconds of each other. Outback is our favorite, and I LOVE this steak salad with bleu cheese, but there was one problem:

I had no idea how many points anything in Outback had.

And since it was a salad I loved, I figured I was probably good to get that, right? I mean, it's a SALAD. Forget the bleu cheese and the cinnamon pecans (which I actually DID forget about until the salad arrived...)

I resisted the free dessert (someone from church works there), but yesterday I ran into the same problem. I'm figuring since I had like 18 points left I'm okay both days, but today I was up a pound, so in all I'm only down .5 pounds. ugh.

I figure it has to be the two restaurant salads I ate. A better choice would've been a grilled chicken breast or getting the dressing on the side. I just wasn't thinking til this morning when I got on the scale. So I can do what I felt like doing and just throw it all away and quit for the day and figure 'what difference does it make anyway?"

OR... I can hop back on track right away and forfeit all of my bonus points this week.

ugh. I usually stockpile my bonus points for a treat on my weight in day. (After the weigh-in of course.)

Needless to say, I hopped back on board. I took my Weight Watchers chocolate muffin to church this morning instead of eating something from the cafe. I came home and made an egg white omelet (I do one egg and one egg white) and then I had two pieces of turkey sausage. (It's really good - highly recommend it.)

Then I made vegetable soup. I love vegetable soup, but I always have tons of it. It's so easy to make, you just dump a bunch of veggies in the crock pot with beef broth and a can/bottle of V-8 or tomato juice and then I add round steak to mine. It's sooo good and filling and LOW in points!

Now if I could just get the kids to eat it!

So, tomorrow's my official day to weigh-in, so I'll be back tomorrow with a report. I'm sure you're waiting with baited breath! (or is it bated breath?) lol - I have no idea.

How are you doing?

Try this recipe!

I have a confession.

Since I started staying up late again (to do Sam's midnight feeding) I've gotten totally addicted to America's Next Top Model. Oh my gosh, it's the most ridiculous show. I find myself watching most of it with my mouth agape in disbelief. I mean, some of these girls... it's amazing how cocky they are. Although, I suppose in that industry you'd almost need to be.

I don't quite understand it.

I had to get that off my chest. I feel ridiculous for even watching it, but those reality shows really suck you in.

This morning I went back to my beloved chiropractor to hopefully fix this tweak in my shoulder that's been giving me trouble. It threw off my schedule a little bit and I haven't exercised or read my devotional yet. My mom and dad bought us this book called Sparkling Gems which my whole family has been raving about for a few months now.

I started it on January 2nd (it's been a whopping two days) but I can already tell it's going to be a good book for me. I really like it so far. Short bits of information that I can actually apply to my life. That's a good devotional.

One of the main things I learned while I was agonizing over the sale of our house is that my days go much better if I start them in prayer. It helps me to focus and just saying I'm giving that day over to God - praying for the peace every mom so desperately needs - it makes a world of difference.

I am hoping to exercise when Adam goes in to the church. He's going to go work for a few hours even though it's his day off. He's got a lot to do to catch up from the holidays. I think we might actually try and go see  a movie tonight though. I don't think he's up for Juno, however, so I'll probably get stuck in some guy movie like I am Legend. Sigh. Guess I'll have to save the chick flicks for me and my sister.

Okay, I have another recipe that I tested out. It's a weight watchers recipe (of course) for Warm Pear Cobbler. I didn't have any pears, but I did buy some apples that I was planning to use for these apple dumplings, but sadly, I couldn't find any wonton wrappers at Super Wal-mart, so that idea sort of bit the dust. (Which is too bad, because they looked YUMMY.)

Anyway, I substituted the apples for the pears and I have to say, this was really, really good. It's super sweet, but there's not a lot of sugar in it (just brown sugar) and it's EASY to make. I think I'm going to make it weekly because I ate it for breakfast this morning and dessert last night. Plus, it's LOW in points, so it's a WINNER!

This is the recipe:

POINTS® Value: 2
Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 18 min
Cooking Time: 45 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

• 1 sprays cooking spray
• 3 medium pear(s), peeled and sliced
• 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole-grain wheat flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp unpacked brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp reduced-calorie margarine
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.
  
• Combine pears, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of flour, lemon juice and cinnamon in a large bowl; toss to coat pears and pour mixture into prepared baking dish.
  
• In a medium-size bowl, combine the remaining flours, remaining brown sugar and baking powder; cut in margarine with a pastry blender, or quickly with your fingertips, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and toss with a fork until flour mixture is moist.
  
• Drop four heaping tablespoons of dough onto pear mixture. Bake until crust is lightly browned and fruit is bubbly, about 40 to 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, dust with powdered sugar and cut into 6 pieces.

Tried and true yummy recipe. Go for it!

Friday. The start of a new weekend! Hope yours is happy!

I prefer to win.

Yesterday, I agreed to let Sophia hold Sam while I quickly put some laundry away upstairs. Having a child old enough to hold a baby is new for me - and I'm told when my mom has watched them, Sophia has even fed Sam... something I wouldn't have thought she could handle. Surprisingly, she's a lot more adept than I gave her credit for. I wasn't gone long, and when I returned, this is what I found waiting for me:

She put him to sleep. Just like that. A natural. Having Sophia around has been unbelievably helpful. She is a tad bit annoying with her continuous "Can I hold/feed/kiss him?" but she's been more of a help than an hindrance. What will I do next week when she goes back to school? I hate sending her back to school even though I know how much she loves it. Selfishly, I love having her around. (Keep in mind she and Ethan had a tremendously good day yesterday... if they'd been fighting or I'd been short on patience, I probably would be knocking on the door of the school today asking them to take her back early.)

Thankfully, that's not the case.

I didn't get on the scale today. I don't want to overdo it. I'm hurting again a little in my neck, so I'm going to the chiropractor tomorrow, but I decided I'd try to do a shorter Tae Bo workout thinking it would be a little easier. Ha. It was the hardest one yet. Shorter and harder - it worked. It's the Core Express workout, so I'm really hoping to shed this Sam-belly.

Alright, it's taking some talking myself into... but here's my before photo. It's from yesterday. lol I dressed up... can ya tell? I'm more horrified by my facial expression than my body, I think - ha. But I want to really document this and most likely put it into scrapbook form eventually to help keep me on track. So many times we get this weight off and feel so empowered and so good and then we let ourselves slip and slide right back into where we were. I am avoiding that at all costs.

So... without further ado (ado? a-do? adue? How do you spell that?) Here's me BEFORE:

(and no, I didn't decorate that mantle yet... Adam just threw some Christmas stuff up there to match my thrown-up-there framed pictures, on display while they wait to be hung on the wall.) I cannot bear to post the profile shot. lol It's even more embarrassing. yow. My stomach has never been the big problem area - it's always been the hips and thighs... but having a baby changes all that. Having three of them pretty much destroys it.

So, today I'm thinking about two sort of cheesy things that oddly keep me going. I think so often we really want the weight to just fall off (or we want whatever we're going after to just fall in our laps...) and you know, that doesn't happen. I hear people at church who say things like "I'm just waiting on God to bring me that better job/house/car..." and when you probe them a little bit, you find out they're really just waiting. Just SITTING and waiting. They aren't out looking for a better job or a better house or a better car. They aren't reworking their finances or paying off debt or DOING anything.

Life doesn't work in a stagnant position. Weight loss is no different.

Billy Blanks says "You gotta give some to get some"

In Weight Watchers they say "It works if you work it."

Notice both of those catch phrases have the word YOU in it. In other words... this is up to ME. No one else. I can make excuses all day long or I can conquer it.

I prefer to win.

So, that's where I'm at... dwelling on the good today. Waiting on God, of course, but not in a stagnant position. And I already feel better. Oh, my muscles ache and my flesh is screaming at me to eat cookies and peppermint ice cream, but overall... I feel STRONGER. And I love feeling strong.

Tonight, we're eating chicken and noodles. My mom's awesomest recipe. And so easy. I will measure it all out and make sure I stay on track.

How are YOU doing today?

I'll leave you with this... my cutie. He's six weeks old. Do you believe it?

 

And yes, he always looks that serious. :) Happy Thursday!