No more excuses

I started this post last week and I got distracted so here I am back at the blog. I really need to keep this up mainly I think to help me keep on track. I've lost 10lbs so far, but I think if I got moving more then I'd be losing more a little bit faster. Just wish that warmer weather would get here so I could walk more, having a little one makes walking in the cold not so easy. Living in tiny town America (where we don't even have a 4 way stop downtown), with only one car can make it hard to get somewhere indoors to work out, not to mention trying to find someone to watch Lil'Man.

Today, though I was supposed to go to Zumba with a friend, and my mom, aunt, and cousin. Of course I wasn't able to make it due to ride issues at the last minute, but instead of just making the excuse and taking my anger out on food I decided that I would take Lil'Man (who was being a grouch all day), bundle him up, and go for a walk ourselves. And while it was a little cold it wasn't too aweful, and Lil'Man loved our evening walk. I even decided to change it from a regular short walk (it was 6:45p so it was getting dark even though we had a bright light I didn't want to be out too long) I did a small circut of walk, lunge, walk, run, walk, lunge, walk... Lets just say after 30min of that in the cold I was a bit out of breath and my thighs felt like jello... Which oddly enough made me feel good. :)

Now my next goal is to push myself out the door everyday for at least a 30min walk. As long as it's not too cold or wet Lil'Man and I will start taking walks, I know it will be good for both of us. :) Every day and every new thing I do to help gets me one step closer to my goal.

So far, So good...

Wow! I'm on to week 3 of The Biggest Loser Competition at the gym. My first week I lost 3lbs... My thought, ok well it could have just been a really good day for me, every one has those up and down days. Plus the day before I had participated in a pretty intense spin/pump class. (A class which combines spinning on a bike, hand weights, barbell, and other strength exercises) That first week I started out my "healthy lifestyle" by using simple portion control. But after that I thought, heck I keep finding all these delicious recipes on Pintrest why don't I just start trying them. So, last week along with portion control, I started cooking healthier meals, and getting my but moving more, I put in one more day at the gym, and did some Wii Fit. I went in yesterday to do my weigh in (same time every Monday to help with consistency) and I lost another 4lbs! I couldn't believe it!

My biggest push has been my son. It's amazing what a little guy can do to your life. It was easy for me when he was an infant to just sit around with him, to eat easy junk food, and to just feed him his baby food or give him his bottle (or breastfeed him while sitting on my butt lol), but now that he's been eating real food I've realized I have to choose the right things to feed him so he will grow right, and so that he will always eat right. The only way anyone learns how to eat and move right is by example and I want to set a good example for Lil'Man.

My biggest help has been Pintrest. I keep finding some great sites like....



Lets you know how many ingredients
and how long it takes to prep and cook



Tells many of the recipes nutritional information (though not all) and has easy categories to search



Has a lot of really good Weight Watchers and
other healthy recipes along with a nice blog

Along with some great random recipes. Last week and this week I've only made the healthy recipes I've found, and have yet to find anything we don't like.I've actually found ways to make some of the recipes even healthier by using low sodium, low fat, or low calorie items vs the traditional items. I've been buying a lot more fresh produce or frozen depending on the need, I try to get items that are low in sodium, fat, or calories, and of course I try to stay out of the aisles.

My biggest motivation in figuring out how to eat and how to exercise self control has been a girl Taralynn McNitt and her blog Undressed Skeleton. Taralynn's blog has so much! It has her own personal story, food ideas, motivation, tips... Everything I have needed to help me started with this new change she has easy to find. She has so many great suggestions, ideas, and tips!!! I really do recommend checking out her blog if you are looking into starting a healthier lifestyle, even if you don't follow everything she does (which I'm not specifically) she can still help you feel like you can do it!

Over the years I've come up with so many excuses to put off changing my lifestyle, buy no more. I've had a great start to a healthier me, and I'm excited to see where this new lifestyle takes me. It's going to be a long, hard, and at time slow going road, but I'm going to push through it and keep going. If not for me for Lil' Man... And so far, so good. :)

Oh and while I really not sure how much I want to I think I'm going to try and track my weight loss visually by posting a picture of myself each week.... I'm a very visual person and I think this will help me to see my progress.

Let's try this again... With a Healthier Me

Ok so I have decided that while life in general can actually be a boring concept for a blog, if you pick a specific thing to blog about, life, can in fact, be interesting enough for others to read. With this in mind I have decided to narrow down this blog a bit better. Actually I'm going with a whole new concept, and instead of giving it a new title I think the old one still fits.

While most people have New Years Resolutions I tend to be a little more "eh" about them. When I would make them I'd forget about them, or just give up before January was over. This year I have decided while not necessarily making any resolutions I have planned to change somethings, these changes just happen to coincide with the beginning of a new year. I have decided that I'm going to start living a healthier lifestyle. Which means eating better, getting my butt moving more often, and losing the almost 60lbs I put on since being pregnant.

It was brought on by 3 things:

1. Wanting to show my son how to eat right and set a good example for him so that he doesn't fall into the same habits I did as a kid.

2. My mom signing me up with her to do her fitness clubs Biggest Loser Contest

3. Me getting an account on Pintrest

Ok so the first two are obvious. I want my son to be happy and healthy in life and the only way he's going to know how is if I set an example and show him how to do that. The Biggest Loser Contest offers a moderate cash prize at the end if you lose the most weight. When you sign up you get a discount on using the facilities for the 10 weeks the contest is running. And then part of the money goes to charity, so why the heck not. [especially when Mom offers to pay ;)]

By now I'm sure you're thinking, "How did getting a Pintrest account help you with your decision to live healthier?!" For anyone who knows me I am a junk food nut, I have a large sweet tooth, and I grew up on red meat and potatoes and not too much else in my diet, thus I tend to be a picky eater.  When I got on Pintrest I started to see some really healthy and delicious looking recipes. I had realized I was in a rut cooking out of boxes, and only cooking what I know, so, it was all loaded with sodium, carbs, and tons and tons of calories. And while I can cook when given a recipe, I felt it too taxing to try search for recipes that I didn't even know how or what to look for. With Pintrest they were right there in front of me, I could see what they looked like, click the link, and go right to the recipe. It was so easy! I've also found a lot of motivational tools, and workouts I can easily do at home. Ok, I'll admit it's not the only thing I use Pintrest for, and once I get on it I could sit and pin things for hours, but really it's been helping me with my choice to be healthier.

I'm halfway through my second week for the BLC (weigh-ins are on Monday's) and last weigh-in I had lost 3lbs. This week I had started my healthy eating and I'll let you know Monday how much it may have helped.

I'm keeping my past posts on here for sentimental reasons, but this blog will now be about my progress in trying to commit to a healthier lifestyle, all my trials, errors, success, and everything in between.

Edit: Have decided to be visual about my new change to see how it is working out... So for this post here is a before and after, and a hopeful incentive to losing weight

Last Day

Tomorrow is my last day of work, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that.
I'm not a very motivated person and postpartum depression on top of cronic depression just doesn't help my days at home. I think the only thing that gets me up and out of bed in the morning is Wrigley.

I'm home all the time now and my house still looks like a mess, I still can't get laundry or dishes done, and I'm gaining weight like crazy.. I'm just ready for some better weather and that good ol' Vitamin D :)

I should probably at least make some kind of attempt to sleep. Have to be at work by 9, in-laws will be here no later than 8, and Wrigley will probably wake up around 7/7:30 (only because we put him to bed early tonight so he'd be up for me in the morning)....then of course there's working 7hrs, coming home, and a Euchre tournament with some friends :) Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day... long, but good :)

Being a Mommy...

Means I'm a caregiver, I'm a teacher, I'm a healer, I'm a soother, I'm an entertainer, I'm a baby mind reader (at least I try to be lol)... I'm loved

So for those who don't know, Wrigley Clark was born on September 17th at 8:59pm. He was 8lbs 11oz and 21in long. And he is perfect!

At now 4 1/2 months he has acomplished so much! He smiles, giggles, "talks", rolls over, cut his first tooth, grabs his toes, puts anything he can get a hold of in his mouth, he's eating baby food... I can tell he is taking everything in. He loves to watch tv (mostly I think because of the colors) and he talks to the tv too. He's almost got how to sit up he just needs to get his lower back a bit stronger. He's such a big baby, but he wears it well lol. He looks so much like my husband, but there's a lot of me in there too.

I just can't believe how much he's growing already. Before I know it one year will have passed and he will be putting real words together, walking, and wanting to do everything himself.... Being a Mommy, is undescribable and so amazing!!! I just love it!

OMG! YOUR SO HUGE!!

31 WEEKS... And I hear that at least once a day... I don't usually mind when people I know say things like "Oh you're getting so big" but when complete strangers remark on my size and tell me I'm big for 31 weeks or ask if I'm having twins I was to tell them how rude that is of them. Though a lot of my family has remarked on how good I look for as far along as I am... And as I can still paint my own toe nails and I can still bend over or down to pick things up I think I am doing pretty well lol

In 7 1/2 months I've gained only 15lbs, which according to my Dr I'm just fine. He didn't say I was big... though he did make the comment that the baby "wasn't lacking in the growth dept" lol. So I'm hoping that he really isn't too big, that wouldn't be cool. Also hoping he doesn't have my husbands large head, wouldn't be good... lol

Had my first of three baby showers yesterday, got a lot of clothes for Wrigley, I'm so excited to dress him all up now lol. Speaking of I have had customers also ask me if we know what we are having when I tell them a boy some people act disapointed as if I am disapointed then of course I remark that that's what I was wanting they then act suprized. What's so wrong about a woman wanting a boy? I even had at least one boy doll when I was a kid because I wanted to have a little boy. Of course I do eventually want a girl, but for now I think a boy is great! I've had people ask me why I would want a boy... True you don't have as many cute little clothes, but I've seen soo many cute little boy outfits that I'm good with that, and then I always wanted a big brother so I wanted a boy first for that reason.

The further along I get the more I feel him move and although it's pretty cool at the same time its definitely not comfortable... I've had little body parts in vital organs.. I've had what I'm assuming is his back/butt pressed really hard against my belly while he beats at my back... Everytime I stand up and start to go for a walk I have to pee... I swear my kidneys, bladder, spleen, ect in that area are his personal punching bags/pillows to lay on... He also likes to push back. If I'm reading a book and its sitting on my stomach he's pushing on it, or the dog is on my lap while I pet him he kicks him... Though he does like when I rub my belly or when Sam taps on my belly he'll move for us then, I like to give a light pressure with my fingertips on the body parts he likes to push on my stomach with and he'll move and then move back kinda makes me think of when you're on two different sides of a window and I put my hand on the window and he puts his right on the other side... though that may be just me being crazy lol Who knows.

I'm just ready to meet him, see who he looks like most, figure out his personality, get to actually watch him grow, and play with him as he figures out the world...This is going to be a long 9 weeks...

Been a While...

So I haven't updated on here in quite some time but with everything going on I haven't really found time to do it. But I'm going to start trying to find time and updating more.

Well lets see what's being going on... I got married April 24th, 2010! What an amazing day!

Mostly the day went really well for Sam and me so I was happy. Of course the day can't always be perfect but minus a few mishaps, later remembered things, and of course missed loved ones the day was probably as close as it could get.

Now with all the wedding planning done, and all that stress/fun out of the way we are just waiting... Waiting for our little man to get here sometime in the middle of September. We are both extremely excited to meet our little boy at the end of this summer.

His name is Wrigley Clark and right now his favorite thing to do is beat the crap out of Mommy's organs. The Dr said everything is going good Wrigley is healthy, and seems very happy everytime we listen to his heart (and judging by all the moving he does). Either he doesn't like when things are are on my belly or he finds it fun to push at things on my belly but either way if I cross my arms over my belly or have the computer or a book or something (even a chinchilla) on my belly he kicks at it. He also must know when Daddy has his hand on my belly because he only seems to want to move a whole lot under Sam's hand.  Though a few of my cousins and my mom have gotten a chance to feel him just not as much. I find it fun to watch my belly while he moves I think that's pretty neat and am excited for him to get bigger so I can really see some crazy things lol.

Work hasn't been too bad. Working my way to Assistant Manager and the boss is really proud of me and happy with my progress. As someone who takes pride in their work and tries my hardest to do my best it's been really nice to have my manager tell me how well I'm doing lately expecially since I've been pregnant. I just hope that my maternity leave doesn't hurt my job. Only time will tell.

There's a small update for you. Hope everyone is doing well, and enjoying their summer... I'll keep ya a little more up to date on things here...