Wednesday Weigh-In

Can you believe that January is half-way over?  That is just crazy!  I cannot believe that I’ve been doing this healthier me for 3 weeks (don’t remind me of the brownies)…I am so proud of myself!

Speaking of being proud of myself, did you notice that I hit the 130s on Monday???  I did!  And today I weighed in at 138.8!!!  That’s two more pounds since last week!!  (Can you tell that I LOVE exclamation points? Lol)

Valentine’s Day Challenge

SW 144.0

CW 138.8

GW 134

I have lost 5.2 pounds and I only have 4.8 pounds to lose to meet my Valentine’s Day goal!  I’m over half way there!  Woohoo!

I had another little mini goal.  I wanted to be at 140 by January 26^th (next Wednesday).  And I’ve surpassed that!  Go me!

I have not worked out at all in the past week.  I’ve been dealing with this cold, but today I am going to Turbo Jam for 20 minutes.  We shall see how I feel after that, but I may get in a little 30 Day Shred, but I don’t want to overdo it.

I’ve also slacked tremendously on the water intake.  I have got to get back up to 8 glasses a day.  So, that’s my goal today, drink 8 glasses and work out!

I’m getting a little nervous.  We leave next Thursday for Disney.  I pray I can make good choices while I’m there and not gain everything back.  I know I will be walking a lot there, but the food will be my hard part.  I do not want to gain everything back!

Crockpot Chicken Pineapple

One of my resolutions for the New Year is to try at least two recipes a month and to blog about the results of those recipes.  Last night I tried a crockpot chicken recipe that I found on MyFitnessPal. 

Crockpot Chicken Pineapple

4 chicken breasts

1- 20 ounce can of pineapples drained

¼ cup soy sauce

1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

Put all the ingredients into your crockpot and cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high for 2 hours.

What I did…

I doubled the recipe and left out the red pepper since I didn’t think the kids would eat it.  I cooked it on low for 3 ½ hours and then turned the temp to warm for about thirty minutes.

Results…

The chicken just completely fell apart, but it was also dry.  Three of 4 kids loved it (including the picky child).  Husband thought it was dry (I agreed).

Verdict…

Try again.  Cook for 2 ½ to 3 hours and serve immediately.  Also, maybe keep a little of

the pineapple juice.

According to MyFitnessPal, 80 calories per chicken breast.

Menu Planning Monday January 17, 2011

Another edition of Menu Planning Monday!  I've still been sick with this nasty cold so I'm happy that I did a little planning last week for this week.  Here is what I have planned...

Monday - Chicken Pineapple in the crockpot with brown rice and steamed broccoli.  Making mac & cheese for the kids!  (The chicken recipe is new...so look for a review)

Tuesday - Black bean quesadillas and sandwiches

Wednesday - Spaghetti and garlic bread

Thursday - Date night with my kiddos!

Friday - Ordering pizza

Saturday night, my husband and I have an event to attend so I'm not sure that I will be cooking that night. 

I hope all of you are well and don't get this nasty crud that is going around.  The past two days I have literally went from couch to bed.  So thankful that I have a husband that makes me rest and waits on me and takes care of my babies. 

Oh...and I know it isn't Weigh-in Wednesday...but I just had to let you all know that I hit the 130s today!  139.8!  Woohoo!

Frugal Friday - Olay Professional Pro-X Advanced Cleaning System

I have been sick for the past two days.  Went to the doctor yesterday and I have an upper respiratory infection.  :(  My fabulous doctor gave me two shots, plus a Z pack.  Yay!  I’m feeling so much better this morning.  We shall see how I feel this afternoon considering I’ve been up since 1:30 this morning.  Just could not sleep!!

After leaving the doctor, I went on to Walgreens to get my prescription filled.  While I was waiting I decided to do a little retail therapy…because that always make a girl feel so much better.  I was looking for the new Olay Profession Pro-X Advanced Cleaning system, but they had sold out.  I was so disappointed, but decided to go ahead and buy an EOS lip balm in the flavor summer fruit.  They are SO cute.  They are regular price $2.99, but if you bought one, you received a $2 register reward to use on a future purchase.

I was still waiting on my prescription and was still upset over not getting the Olay system, when I realized, hey, there is another Walgreens about a mile down the road.  I could go check there and then come back and pick up my prescription on my way back home.  So, that’s what I did.  And I am so glad I did...they had them!  Walgreens is having a special this week on them also.  If you buy the system for $29.99, you get a free full-size of Olay Profession Exfoliating Renewal Cleanser…which retailed for $19.99.  I’m all over FREE!  Here is how it broke down!

Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System  $29.99

Olay Exfoliation Cleanser                        19.99

Olay Cleanser Gift                                (19.99)

Register Reward from EOS purchase          (2.00)

Final Total                                           $27.99

I saved a total of $21.99!  I think that is awesome!  Especially since I have been lusting over the Clarisonic Mia for about a year, but could never bring myself to spend that much money ($149).  When you compare the price of the Mia to this Olay one….I actually saved myself $121.  And THAT my friends, my husband is THRILLED about!

Oh and a little shout out to the lady at the Walgreens!  She was ringing up my purchase and said, hold on, let me see if I have a coupon for that.  She pulled out a small binder of coupons and looked but didn't find one.  I was so impressed!  I was also mad at myself for not thinking about looking for a coupon.  Which I did at 1:30 this morning since I was wide awake and I'm happy to report there were no coupons in my coupon binder.  :)

Wednesday Weigh-In

I cannot believe that another week has gone by.  But it has and it is time for Weigh In Wednesday!  I was actually a little nervous this morning.  I’ve been slacking people!  It all started with Sunday evening.  My parents invited the whole crew over for dinner.  My mom had meatloaf, green beans and potatoes, fried corn, and mac and cheese.  Total yumminess!

My mom had asked me to bring some brownies for dessert.  So, I did, no biggie.  But THEN after we had eaten dinner and had dessert, she made me take the brownies back home with me.  And I thought, ok the kids will eat them.  Well, they didn’t…because I got to them first.  I am happy to say that the brownies are G-O-N-E!!!  Unfortunately I got all the yummy goodness and the calories that went along with it.  So, see why I was a little nervous about stepping on those scales this morning??

Imagine my surprise when I got on the scale and I STILL lost!  I weighed in at 140.8!!!  Woohoo!!!  1.8 pounds less than last Wednesday.  I wish that it was another 2 pounds, but I will take it.  In total I have lost 3.8 pounds…not too shabby!

Valentines Day Challenge Stats

CW – 140.8

GW – 134

I need to lose 6.8 pounds more in 4 ½ weeks…so 1.4 pounds a week.  Definitely doable!

I find that I do really well at work.  I don’t have a problem drinking my water and eating healthy.  But when I get home, it is HARD!  My hubby isn’t really watching what he eats and when he eats something yummy, then of course I want to join in. 

I have been working out this week.  Actually I worked out 5 days in a row which is amazing.  I’m addicted to the Turbo Jam videos and Sunday I did Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred.  I am STILL feeling that shredding!  Monday was a rest day and so was yesterday, but I went sledding with the kids.  Those hills were hard work!  But oh SO MUCH FUN!

Today, my goal is to get those 8 cups of water in (I have slacked the past few days), eat healthy, and get a good workout this afternoon.  Not going to beat myself up about some of my bad choices, but just move on! 

Pray that this cold goes away…it just started coming up this morning…

Menu Planning Monday - January 10, 2011

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!  It sure was a cold one here in Tennessee!  Brrr…and this morning we woke up to snow on the ground.  I’m so thankful for a wonderful husband that can drive me in to work!!!

It is Menu Planning Monday, which means I am going to tell you what we are having for dinner this week!  But first I want to tell you a little bit about our family so that you can understand a little about why I plan the way I do. 

Our family is unique.  We are a blended family.  My husband has 2 children that he has custody of and I have 2 children that I have custody of.  Every Thursday, his children go to their mom’s.  And every other weekend, his kids and my kids go to their other parents.  Also, on Thursdays my husband goes to the lodge, which means it is just me and my two kiddos at the house.  So, we normally have Mommy and kiddo night where we do something special just us.

This week I only have to plan for Monday thru Wednesday since this weekend the kids will be with their other parents.  So, with that short explanation, here is what we are having….

Monday – Lasagna with whole wheat noodles and ground turkey.

Tuesday – Kids will have pizza.  Hubby and I will have black bean quesadillas.

Wednesday – Leftover Lasagna with salad.  The kids will more than likely have sandwiches.

Thursday – Mommy/kiddo night

Friday – Double Date night at the Depot

Well, there you have it!  Yumminess!

Oh, and if you want to know more about Menu Planning Monday, check out OrgJunkie.

Frugal Friday - Heart Rate Monitor

Welcome to my first edition of Frugal Friday!  I am so excited to share what I got!  It is something that I’ve wanted for probably over a year, but didn't really start researching until October.  It is a heart rate monitor!!  And let me tell you, I STALKED the UPS tracker online until it arrived yesterday.  That’s how excited I am about this thing!

I had pretty much decided on a Polar F6 when I was researching it back in October.  Then someone on MyFitnessPal mentioned that there were lots of people raving about the Polar FT7.  I had pretty much decided on it, but then another person told me about the Polar FT40 special they received.  Needless to say, I was going in circles with reading all the reviews on Amazon, comparing the prices, trying to figure out what was different and what each one did.  I stumbled across a nifty chart (here scroll to the bottom) which described the aspects of each watch.  The main thing I wanted was to be able to know how many calories I had burned in a workout so that I could accurately put those calories into MFP (myfitnesspal).  All three of these do this, but the plus with the Polar FT40 was that I could change out my own battery and not have to send it to a polar authorized battery changer.  Haha!

So, I settled on the Polar FT40 in lime green.  I love the color green and it just helped that Heart Rate Monitors USA had it at a closeout price!  Not sure if they still have them but they have free shipping and I used a code that I found at RetailMeNot to save 5% off.

Here is the breakdown:

Retail price:                    159.95 

Close-out price:              109.95

Coupon code savings:         5.50

Final total                      104.45

I saved a total of $55.50!  And that my friends….makes for a happy woman!

I'm in LOVE with this thing!  It is amazing!

Bloggity Blog Blog

Since I posted my New Year’s Resolutions yesterday, I thought today I would post my blog goals.  If I don’t have a goal in mind, I’m scared I will fail at this whole blogging thing for the fifth (or is it sixth?) time.  So, here we go!

Mondays will be Menu Monday! I will tell you all what we are having for dinner for the week.  OrgJunkie started this.  I think it will be fun and a way for me to keep my New Year’s Resolution on menu planning. 

Wednesdays will be Weigh-in Wednesday!  Not sure if anyone else does this, but hey “weigh-in” starts with a “w” and it works!  Ha!  Well, it appears that there are other bloggers who do this.  I’m thinking BlogToFit started this.  (If I’m wrong, please let me know!)

Fridays will be Frugal Friday!  I hope to tell of something that I purchased during the week that I got a great deal on.  It could be the results of my grocery shopping or any item that I got a deal on.  LifeAsMom started this. 

Other goals are:

1. Twice a month – Report on a new recipe that I’ve tried.  Since one of my resolutions is to try out a new recipe twice a month, it just makes sense to let you all know what I thought of it!
2. Monthly – Report on how I am doing with the New Year’s Resolutions.  I’m hoping this will keep me accountable!

Well, there you go.  Let’s see how I do.  I’m excited to have it all planned out!  Until next time…

New Year's Resolutions (yeah I'm a little late)

Am I too late to post my resolutions for the new year?  Of course, my main one is losing this weight, but I need something more than that.  So...here it goes...

Personal Resolutions (Eat)
(That sort of sounds like I'm also going to be setting resolutions for my kids and husband.  Haha!  No, I mean, for my health.)
*Make better food choices (and don't beat myself up over the bad ones).
*Drink more water (and less diet coke).  Strive for at least 8 cups a day.
*Exercise at least 3 days a week.
*Try a new recipe twice a month
*Meet my Valentine weight goal of 134.
*Meet my goal weight at 3/31/11 of 125.

Spiritual Resolutions (Pray)
*Spend more time reading my Bible.
*Pray more.
*Stop making excuses not to go to church.

Family Resolutions (Love)
*Be a better wife (not that I'm not already awesome...but ya know, try to be Wonder Wife lol)
*Be a better mother and stepmother.  Try to get more one on one time with each of them (hard when there is 4 rugrats).
*Menu plan and save money with coupons.
*Declutter.  Would love to pick one room a week and spend an hour there...organizing and decluttering. 

Ok, so I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, but after I typed out my resolutions, that's what I thought.  Haha!  Which gets me to my last resolution.  Read more.  I did really good last year (compared to the previous seven years when I had my son), but then my husband bought me my Ipad for my birthday and now I'm addicted to the different apps.  Haha!

I think these are pretty doable.  Just need to work on them little by little and not beat myself up if I lose focus.  I'm just going to pick myself up and move on!

Did you make resolutions?? 

Seeing a little progress!

On Saturday, I started the Flat Belly Diet!  I completed all of two of the four days on the jumpstart portion of the diet.  I've already quit.  Am I disappointed?  Not one bit!  The reason being is I didn't throw in the towel and start eating bad again.  And that my friends, is what we call progress! 

I don't really have any complaints on the diet itself.  The only thing that I did not like was the Sassy Water.  They may as well call it cucumber water because that's what it tasted like.  I love cucumbers and I love water...but I don't like my water tasting like cucumbers.  I found myself not drinking enough during the day, so I just switched to regular water.  The diet is very doable, but with my hectic schedule (working outside the home, 4 kids, laundry for 6 people) it was just too much.  I would rather just plan out simple easy healthy meals and not stress it! 

I have continued counting my calories and logging those into My Fitness Pal.  I'm doing pretty good if I do say so myself.  So good, in fact, that I've lost 2 pounds in five days!!  Woohoo!

On Saturday 1/1/11 I weighed in at 144.6
This morning 1/5/11 I weighed in at 142.6

I'm sure it is water weight, but that wonderful time of the month (TOM) is here too.  I figure that sort of balances each other out.  Ha!  Either way...I'm proud of those two pounds GONE!  I really haven't exercised like I should have, but this afternoon I AM doing the Turbo Jam Learn & Burn.  Kids started back to school today, so my routine needs to get back with it.  Once I get kids snacks and started on their homework, I'm to get in my 20 minutes of workout!  I can't wait!

Valentine's Challenge Stats...
CW 142.6
GW 134
Need to lose 8.6 pounds in 5 1/2 weeks.  I think that is definitely doable, only 1.5 pounds a weeks!