Living a Healthy Life - Oops...Get right back to it

Weigh in: 235lbs That is a GAIN of 2.5lbs from last week!


You might ask me if I’m disappointed in myself. The answer would be yes. You might ask if I was surprised by this weeks weigh in. The answer would be no.

You see several things played into this. The first of which is lots of junk food! Let’s see I ate a whole bag of fun size babe Ruth bars, many several Pillsbury Cookies, and then the past few days I’ve been eating double chocolate chip muffins.

I blame this all on the husband. Yes that’s right I blame you my love! See he has the biggest sweet tooth around, and I’m not joking. I made about 92 cookies on this past Saturday. I wanted to be sure that I didn’t’ need to use the oven and heat our apartment up during the week because it was supposed to get so hot and humid, and I like to make our own snacks that way it doesn’t cost as much (though actually making them homemade like I used to would have been even less expensive then the Pillsbury refrigerated dough). But by Tuesday they were completely gone! I might have had a maximum of 24 cookies…though I don’t think I even had that much.

(Our cookie jar...empty!  Who took the cookie?  Dustin took the cookie from the cookie jar!)

After these were gone He says to me “You should go make some brownies or cookies or something.” Because I love him and want to see him happy I obliged and made double chocolate muffins. Only thing is, I ate most of these! I love muffins!

A few other things that I believe played a roll in this week’s unfortunate gain is that I haven’t been eating breakfast, haven’t had veggies in my lunch, and haven’t been eating well at home. You see one of the best things for weight loss is to eat breakfast. Eating breakfast will actually speed your metabolism, skipping it will slow it down. Veggies are SO good for you. And you must eat properly and not skip meals. Actually you should add ‘meals’ to your day. It’s better to eat less more often, instead of more less often. This as well will speed your metabolism.

It’s all part of living healthy, everyone needs to make mistakes and get back on the ‘band wagon’ at some point. Well I’m getting back to it right away! I will NOT let this discourage me.

Wish me luck for this next week and I wish you luck as well on your journey to living a healthy life too!



On a side note: I said that I would get back to you about how the Chicken Soft Taco’s turned out. They were so good! It was hard for me to stop at just having two. I stopped at a local Mexican restaurant and got some guacamole to go and spread about a tablespoon on the tortilla then topped with the chicken mixture from the crock pot and sprinkled with a bit of cheddar cheese. It was splendid. I even had some last night too as leftovers! I strongly recommend trying it for yourself.

Recipe Friday - Chicken Soft Taco's

I'm so sorry this was actually supposed to be posed last Friday but it never went out....Probably because I never actually got the chance to make it last week.


So today I called home to the hub's and asked him to make this real quick. I knew that it was something that he could do very fast and really not mess up at all. And if he does, well, then he is banished from the kitchen for all times.

Crock Pot Recipe from Fix it and Forget it Lightly -

1 - 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless Chicken breast
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with chilies
1 packet of taco seasoning
Tortillas
Fixings

1. Place chicken in the bottom of slow cooker
2. Mix diced tomatoes and taco seasoning together and pour over chicken
3. Cook on high for 6 - 8 hours.
5. Pull chicken apart or cut, whichever is necessary
4. Serve on Tortilla's with your favorite taco fixings. For us it will be cheese, lettuce, salsa, and I might even pick up some guacamole from Chipolte down stairs (the perk of working in downtown) on my way home.

I'll let you know tomorrow if Dustin is allowed back in the kitchen again. Also, of course, I will let you know how the meal turned out

Living a Healthy Life - Home Cooking vs Eating Out

Today's weigh in: 232.5lbs



One area that Logan has changed Dustin's and my life is forcing us to spend less on the frivolous things in life. This includes eating out. We now have to choose wisely as to when and where and even if we should could or will eat out. Normally the answer to this is No, but instead we should try to eat at home. And I don't mean get something at a restaurant and then bring it home to eat. By this I mean doing the grocery shopping and cooking and eating at home.

So I have started cooking much more now then what I used to. But what full time working mom of a newborn - oh sorry, 3 month old - has the time to cook every night? The one that prepares the menu over the weekend (or at work) does the shopping on the weekend and then uses the crock pot or slow cooker. That would be me! It's just Dustin and me eating so most meals are enough for a few days. So all that I do is serve up for tonight’s meal. Split the left over’s into two batches, one for the freezer for another week, and the other for left over’s during the week.

I try to do different recipes every week and most a really good. This leads me to let you know of my next regular installment of 'Recipe Friday'. This will start tomorrow and I hope to be able to share a new recipe with you every week. Also, I will TRY to remember to take a picture or two and put it up for you to see. These recipes might now all be for a meal, might not all be for the slow cooker or crock pot, but they might be desserts or sides, for the stove or oven or even the grill. So keep your eyes open for 'Recipe Friday' starting tomorrow.

Now back to the topic at hand...

Another way that I try to make sure that we are eating out less is to make and pack for us. This is just for the work week, but also for outings too. For example, we went on a family outing to Como Zoo this past weekend and Dustin asked me if we should pack a lunch. HECK YES! Woo Hoo hubby for thinking ahead!

So how does this fit in to living a healthy life? Well for one, it is saving us money, which then will cut down on us stressing over our finances and trying to figure out where all of our money is going. Also think about the food itself. I'm actually making our food, I don't really use the processed foods that you get in the bags that have all of those ingredients in them that you can't even pronounce, though I do on occasion, I'm only human. So this means that we know what it is that is going into our food. Also I'm able to really do some portion control with our food and what we eat. That is one thing that we as Americans are REALLY bad about, is portion control.

Until next week... Park in the back and walk, we all need the exercise no matter how much you protest; you know it's true!

Baby Names - Logan

So...back here I talked about naming 'Baby S' now known as our wonderful little Logan. 

Appearently I did what I didn't want to do...I named our litle boy with the most popular name in Minnesota (where we live).  I didn't want Logan to have to go by Logan S. or Logan (Last Name), but it looks like he just might have to. 

My dear little boy, I'm so sorry for the heck that you are going to get when you are in school with 5 or more different little boys with the same first name as you...Logan.  Just remember, even though you might have the same first name as other little boys, you are still an individual and the most special little boy to me!  I love you my dear little Logan!

Other Top Boy Names from 2009 in the state of Minnesota:

So the other names that we had picked out for Logan were Nathan (#40) and Cole (#60) and Tristan (didn't make the list).  But really, I couldn't imagine Logan being named anything else other than Logan.  I knew that would be his name about a week before he was born.  I just started calling him Logan, it just seemed to fit.  I didn't do this around anyone else, just myself.  Then it was Dustin that was insistant upon Logan when we were in the hospital.  So I just knew that it was right!

3 months

Logan is not a newborn anymore! He is now 3 months old! I can't believe how big my little boy is getting.  Here are a few pictures from the past couple weeks to share with you...

The closest to Logan's 3 month picture that I could get.

May 11th, 2010

May 7th, 2010

Logan and Ollie

May 7th, 2010

Logan and Ducky at Bath time!

April 30th, 2010

Tummy Time on the boppy

Immunizations update

Well, Logan did great yesterday with his immunizations!  Yes, I did break down and give him Baby Tylenol before and after the shots. 

I picked him up from Grandma's and gave him half a dose of Tylenol.  Then I brought this extremely happy baby to the doctors office.  He was so talkative and smiley and just laughing at everything.  I felt so bad knowing that I was going to allow the nurse to break this happiness and instead give him pain.  I unstrapped him fromt he car seat but left him there.  He got an injection in each leg and started screaming nearly right after the first was put in. 

After the shots were given I picked him up, had the nurse turn on the water (he loves the noise of water), held him close and then brought him over to the vanity area.  I've realized that Logan will calm down pretty quickly if he is able to hear water running and be able to see the 'baby in the mirror'.  After about 5 minutes he was much better and able to smile at mommy and then take his second half of the Tylenol.

I brought him home and he was just all smiles.  All he wanted after eating was to talk and laugh and play with mommy.  I thought for sure he would sleep, but nope, just play.  Around 6:30pm he fell asleep and stayed sleeping until 1:30am when he wanted to have his middle of the night meal.  I also decided to give Logan once more dose of Tylenol at this point too since he seemed to have woken up in pain and an empty belly.  He was great the rest of the night...got up and pooed once, then slept until it was his next feeding. 

I just talked to Dustin, who has Logan right now before he goes to work, and he said that he seems like he's in pain again.  So I gave him the go ahead to give him a half dose before bringing him to Grandma's.

Can't wait until I can pick him up and see him for myself after 5:30pm tonight.  I miss him so much when I'm away from him, but it's a necessary evil.  I know that he will understand someday. 

Immunizations

So, I'm officially back to working full time as of today. I kind of cheated on today though. I'm leaving at 2:00pm today because Logan has his 3 month Immunization shots today.

No that's not a typo; Logan has his 3 month shots today. I have Logan on a modified immunization schedule. I know that the studies say that there is no link between autism and immunizations, but I don't really want to take my chances. Logan is already predisposed to getting Autism because there is a genetic link to the disease and it runs on my side of the family.

I didn't make my decision souly on the element of Autism, but also from some other elements as well. The doctors, or more so the government, want to have BABIES get 6 immunizations at once. Think of all the CHEMICALS that are being put into that LITTLE BODY. Then if there are any adverse affects, how are you to tell which chemicals gave it to him?

So I decided to have Logan on the modified immunization schedule from Dr. Sears. Sure this means that Logan needs to go in and get his immunizations monthly for months. But this just makes me feel much safer then with the FDA approved schedule. Logan will still be immunized for everything, it will just take longer. Also, I won’t allow them to be combined and for those that are combined, well I've already given Logan's Pediatrician the direction to separate them out. So this means he wont have the MMR injection, but instead the measles, later the Mumps, and another time Rubella (not necessarily in that order either).

So I'm hoping that Logan will do better today then he did last month. Last month it took over an hour to get him calmed down after the injection. Yes that means that we stayed at the pediatricians’ office for that long. Then he hardly slept all night because of the pain that he was still in. Today, I think I might actually break down and give him Tylenol before hand...and I guess after.

I know, you probably think I'm a bad mommy because I didn't give it last time. But you have to know me and my views. I'm not one that likes to take medications. I believe that the body is a natural healer. So as you can imagine, it's already hard enough for me to Logan the immunizations. But, mommy and daddy need to sleep tonight. Also, I hate seeing my wonderful, happy, bright little boy so unhappy and miserable. So we will try the Tylenol today and see how it goes.

Until next time....love the ones your with and remember those that are gone!

Living a Healthy Life - Weighty issues

Weighing In:
So I decided long ago that I didn't want a scale in my house. I used to have one but I would then step on it everyday, multiple times a day. I would see what I would weigh morning, noon, and night. I would see what I weighed after eating, peeing, and yes even pooing. I was obsessed! I needed to know when I weighed my least and stay at that point.

This would also discourage me in loosing weight. You see if you weigh yourself everyday, you’re not going to see results. You're just going to see the same weight everyday and only see little changes, if any. So needless to say, when I got discouraged, I'd give up. This would obviously make no point to me trying to change myself at all, because guess what...I WASN'T! I'd give up then start back a couple days later, give up and start back up a couple days later, and so on.

Finally I decided that it just wasn't healthy for me to have a scale in my house, so I got rid of it. I just was obsessing over my weight and making myself sicker then I already was. You see to me, when your living an unhealthy life on a regular basis it means that you are sick in some way. You're overweight or even obese, you don't get all the nutrients you need, your not exercising, not sleeping right, not eating right, I mean this list could go on for days. By having all of these unhealthy habits we make ourselves more susceptible to illnesses (colds, flu, bronchitis, pneumonia, etc.) and just plain crabbiness. Well, I was adding even more stress into the mix and would obsess over my weight and what I weighed now, how about now, and now. So it's gone, and gone for good.

So how am I weighing myself in every week? Lucky for me my work has a workout room in the basement and with it a scale. So every Thursday morning, before going up to my desk, I instead go down to the basement and face my weight.

Today I weighed in at 234 pounds. I lost 3 pounds since last week! I'm very proud of myself, especially because I didn't get any actual workouts in. YEAH FOR ME!! I walked out of there with a smile on my face.

Healthy Weight:
So what is a healthy weight for me? Well to me I believe that I need to be in the range of 140lbs and 170lbs.  From the medical world, they believe that I should be anywhere from 135lbs and 169lbs.  So I see myself in that range, just in the higher end of it. 

See I've always been larger boned.  I don't mean this in the way of people saying that they are large boned when they are trying to cover for being overweight.  I actually mean it in the way it is said.  Let me explain a little of my past:

When I was in elementry school I was diagnoised with scoliosis (a curve in the spine).  In middle school, 6th grade, I had surgery to fix leg length discrepency.  I had one leg that was a little over 2 inches longer then the other.  To correct this meant that my back should also be corrected as well.  In order to do this they drilled holes into the growth plates of my left leg, my longer leg, so my right leg would catch up.  A few years later, after I had stopped growing, we were able to find out just how tall I would have been on my left side.  They measured my 'wing span' also known as your arm span, and it was just over 5ft 10in.  So that means that I would have been just over 5ft 10in on my left side and then 5ft 8in on my right (what it is now).  After this the doctors said that my body was actually built to be 5ft 10in.  So honestly, I am big boned!  This is just the way my body is. Oh, and I still have a little bit of discrempency with my leg length, but much less than an inch!

So when I think of what I should weigh I think of what I last felt comfortable at and at the height I am now.  That was back in High School, in 10th grade, I was right around 164lbs and I felt nearly comfortable.  I felt like I could still loose a little bit of weight, but I didn't feel like I was unhealthy.  So this is the neighborhood of weight that I have choosen, 164lbs, or there about.

Weight Loss Goals:
So I think that I need to set some goals here for weight loss:

Goal 1: Loose 30 lbs by my wedding anniversary. That means...be down to 204lbs by August 28th, 2010.
Goal 2: Loose 50 lbs by Thanksgiving. That means....be down to 184lbs by November 25th, 2010.
Goal 3: Loose 70 lbs by Logan's Birthday. That means...be down to 164lbs by February 15th, 2011.

So this means I have set an ultimate goal of loosing an average of 1.75 lbs each week until Logan's Birthday.



Until next week, try to live a healthy life...be sure not to weigh yourself too often and think about what YOU think is a healthy weight for you and your body type!

Living a Healthy Life

So when I got pregnant I was in the process of loosing weight.  I was going to Weight Watchers meetings with my sister Carlynn.  I believe that I made it to about 2 or 3 and then I was pregnant.  I was planning of continueing to go to them but my midwives told me not to.  No pregnant woman should even think about dieting during a pregnancy.  So I stopped.  Well, Logan is here so I can start dieting again.

The thing is though, I don't want to diet!  It's true I don't.  I mean even the word diet is such a dirty word now a days.  So I'n not going to diet.  Instead I'm going to LIVE HEALTHY!

I am going to make myself accountable to all of you out there.  I will post weekly about my weight and monthly about clothes sizes.  In my monthly post I will also post a picture of myself from side view and front view.  I will let you know of recipes I've tried and liked, and even those I didn't.  I will tell you about what I've done in the previous week to live a healthy life style.  Basically you will be able to read a weekly post about me living a healthy life.

"How do you plan to live a healthy life?", you might ask me.  Well, by eating healthy, snacking during the day, walking more, eating breakfast everyday, drinking lots of water, and exercising, and sleeping.

So here are the things you need to know right now:
I am 5' 9" and 237LBS.  (That's right I just posted that for the world to see!  The way I see it is that we shouldn't be ashamed of our weight.  It's that shame that makes us live unhealthy and do crash diets instead of living healthy and just changing the way we live.)
I wear:
Shirt: 18 or XXL
Pants: I don't know.  I love my maternity pants so much I haven't bought pants yet, but given that I weigh less then I did when I got pregnant I'm sure my jeans will fit again...I'll have to try them on soon.  Well, when I have time that is.
Bra: 44DDD or F (I'm also breastfeeding, remember)

(Before my pregnancy I was 265LBS and in Shirt XXL and size 21 pants (which were getting pretty tight), bra size 46DD)

So Check back next Thursday for my weekly installment of "Living a Healthy Life"!

Cute Baby Contest

So I entered Logan in a cute baby contest and guess what, HE GOT IN!  Woo Hoo!

Now it's just up to everyone to vote on him.  So please click here and vote on my little cutie pie Logan.

The picture is titled "Logan going after a Toy"

You can vote daily for him from now until 5/9/10...so until midnight this Sunday. 

Here's the picture that you will be voting on:

Thanks a bunch from myself and from Logan!