Workouts From Last Week

My workouts from last week. This is my second week of posting. I'm now running 2.25 miles without stopping!

MON- pushed my daughter Violet in the jogger while I ran for 21 min & walked for 9. I went down some new streets that had a lot of hills.

TUES- warmed up with a few minutes of jumping jacks, then the Tone Up Girls Lean Legs Pyramid (this workout hurts afterwards every time, love!) 5 sets of 20 situps & walked pushing the stroller for 20 min.

WED- 27 min run & 20 min walk

THURS- took an easy walk with the kids. 11 min walk & 4 min run

FRI & SAT- out of town for a wedding

SUN- went to run at the school track. It was hot! Surprised I didn't get sunburned. 25 min run & 10 min walk. I ran 9 laps & walked 1. Hoping to run the full 2.5 miles without stopping next time!

Amen!

Workouts From Last Week

Sunday morning I stepped on the scale and did a little squeal!! I was down another pound putting me at a weight I haven't seen since 2009. Think that's about 57 pounds gone now since having my baby boy! Just 14 pounds away from my goal weight.

I'm going to start sharing my workouts on my blog. I think it will be nice to look back and see all that I've accomplished.

Monday- 3 min warm up walk, 24 min run, 3 min walk. I ran all the way to my parent's house this day! I have no idea how far it was...it's only a 3-4 min drive. It felt awesome to do that!

Tuesday- rest

Wednesday- 12 min walk & 18 min run

Thursday- 25 min walk pushing the jogging stroller
3 sets of 20 situps
3 sets of 12 push ups
2 sets of 10 tricep push downs

Friday- 8 min walk & 7 min run. It was freezing outside that day and I wanted to go home as soon as I walked out the front door. I also had a cold & sore throat. It was one of those days but glad I got out and ran for a little while.

Saturday- We took a little road trip to Ikea. I started feeling terrible and could barely talk my throat hurt so bad. Did not work out.

Sunday- church & lunch with my family. Then we ate dinner at my mom-in-law's. Busy weekend!

I'm ready to get some great work-out's in this week! I signed up for a 5k that is coming up next month. I'm hoping to run the whole thing.

How have your work-out's been?

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Last week I was craving pizza but I did not want to get take away! Too many slices and too many calories. So, I made a bbq chicken pizza using what sounded good. I cut it to make 8 large slices at 248 calories a slice. It was delicious and very filling! 1.5 slices and a salad makes a great lunch.

Healthy BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 box of Jiffy pizza crust mix (follow box directions)
1 package of John Soules fully cooked grilled chicken strips
Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ Sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella & parmesan blend
1 cup shredded monterey jack
1/4 cup sliced red onions
1 tsp. olive oil

First prepare your pizza crust.
Then saute the red onions in the olive oil on medium high heat. Then add the chicken and cook for a few more minutes.
Pre-bake your crust for a few minutes. Then spread 4 T. of BBQ sauce on the crust. Then add cheese, chicken & onions. Sprinkle a few more tablespoons of sauce on top. Then bake for about 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. I added some sea salt & pepper before serving.

Hope you try it sometime!

New Running Shoes

My new kicks! Since my husband was out of town for VDay I decided to treat myself with new pink running shoes. Today was my first day to run in them. The goal today was to run for at least 20 minutes without walking. Since I did that last saturday I wanted to go even longer than that if I could. So, I warmed up with a 3 minute walk and then ran 2 miles in 22 minutes! I must admit that was challenging for me. But I'm so happy I did it. Then I walked a half mile before heading home. I'm going to try to fit in another run this weekend and attempt to do 25 minutes without walking. Woo Hoo! I'm gonna do it :D

Weight Loss Update

My baby boy is almost 15 months old and I'm still losing weight! I gained over 50 pounds with both of my pregnancies. And hopefully I don't do that with my third! If God should bless me with another one :)

It really does get harder to lose the weight with each pregnancy and getting older. Or maybe you just get more tired because you have more things to do! Not sure! So, you can choose to spend your precious "me" time eating a Snickers bar and watching Teen Mom reruns or do something nice for yourself. Like go to the store & buy healthy foods or workout. You'll feel so much better if you choose to workout! This is something I tell myself often.

I've surpassed my prepregnancy weight by 6 pounds this time. I think I've lost around 56 pounds since the day I had Zander. I'm not sure what I weighed on delivery day, didn't look!

This progress photo shows a 42 pound difference. The picture on the left was taken on Christmas and one month after baby. This picture made me sad at the time but now I realize most people still look pregnant one month after having a baby.

I decided to take some pictures after my run yesterday because I was feeling fabulous! Yes, I really did try to flex for a picture. Trying to get those arms thinner!

When we moved into our new house I stopped working out for a while and then the holidays came. I gained a few pounds. But since the New Year I've been back at it and have lost 4 pounds in the past month. I'm now running over 20 minutes without stopping to walk! That's amazing to me. Running does not come easy for me. I pretty much force myself to like it. I like that it gives me fast results in a short amount of time. But really I'm a class girl at heart. I love Zumba, Turbo kick & Step! I'm ready to join the gym in our new area. Because once it gets hot I won't want to run as much.

My goal is to lose another 15 by summer. I'd love that!

I'm linking up with these linky parties...

Feature Friday over at Five Days..5 Ways

How I lost 52 pounds after my second baby

Now that my baby is 13 months I guess it's time to do a post-baby blog! With both of my babies I gained 50 pounds. I'm praying I have more self control over food and laziness if I get to have a third one! I lost the weight by breastfeeding, counting my calories & running. Now that a new year has started I'm counting my calories again to reach my next goal weight. I still need to lose about 20 pounds to be at a my happy weight. For some reason I'm not sure if I want to list my weight in pounds or not. I'd like to because I always find that interesting information on weight loss blogs. But I'm nervous because of the numbers. Maybe I will after I lose more. For now you can know I'm 5'4 and my bmi tells me I'm still a few pounds overweight.

Here I am 37 weeks pregnant. I delivered one week later on November 23, 2010. You can read more about my precious boy here.

One month after having Zander with the husband. I had probably lost around 15 pounds by then.

June 2010- met my pre-pregnancy weight. Down 50 pounds! I was running 2 miles a few times a week and counting my calories most days. My calorie range was 1500-1800 since I was breastfeeding often still.

We got family portraits done in June. Scheduling these portraits in advance helped encourage me to keep trying!

And here I am now.

Check out the toys all over the living room! Just keepin' it real :D

So, now I'm down 52 pounds. But I want to lose a little more. I'm eating around 1500 calories a day and the goal is to work out at least 3 times a week. I'm still breastfeeding but I don't think that is burning very many calories now. That was another challenge because your always hungry when your also feeding your baby! Click here if you'd like the see my progress after I had my first baby. It was easier to lose back then! But I'm confident I will be at my happy weight in no time :)

Dried Strawberries

Simple & yummy for a snack or eat on a salad like I did!

1. Rinse Strawberries.

2. Slice them up.

3.Heat oven to 210 degrees. Spread out on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt & pepper. Dry in oven for 3 hours. Some of my strawberries stuck to the foil. Might use some cooking spray next time.

4. Sprinkle on salad! My salad has pesto jack cheese, cucumbers & pumpkin seeds on it.

(original recipe can be found here)

My Little Man is 4 Months

Eeeeeeeeeee, he is just too cute to me! Every month I take a picture of him laying down in a white onesie. Yes, I got the idea from younghouselove. (great blog!) It's so neat to see him change & grow. This month Zander gave me a huge grin during picture time.

4 Month Stats-
26.25" and 16lbs. 90th% for height. Looks like he's gonna be tall like his sister & daddy. They sure don't get their height from me. (I'm 5'4.)

Zander loves to sit in his bouncy chair and just run his little legs. That seems to be his favorite thing to do besides eat! He also enjoys smiling and laughing at sister Violet. He looks so much like her. Except I'm pretty sure his eyes are turning brown like his daddy.

My happy boy grinning at the lake last weekend.

Mama & Baby

Zander Paul & Violet Soleil

Feels like forever since I've blogged! Lately I've just been taking care of the kids, house chores, playdates and working out when I can. I've lost 41 of the 50lbs I gained while pregnant. It feels awesome and I hope I can lose a little more.

Hope all is well with you!!

Foods I'm Liking

Some of you know that I've been watching what I eat and trying to lose baby weight. I've lost 14 pounds since January 23! 34 pounds lost since giving birth. I have more to lose to get to my happy weight. Somehow I've been able to take care of my 3 month old and 3 year old, cook healthy meals and workout. Anyone can lose weight if they want to!

Stuff I've been eating-

JELL-O Sugar Free Mousse Temptations-60 calories. I've tried the milk chocolate, dark chocolate and chocolate mint sensation. The last is my favorite! I usually eat one of these if I'm still hungry after dinner.

Chip'ins! These chips are gluten free and 100% natural. Found them at WalMart. You can eat 20 chips for 120 calories and only 2.5grams of fat. I like the Sea Salt flavor the most.

I'm trying to eat a small salad every night before dinner. Loving this Asian Sesame dressing. It's spicy! I only use 1 T. and that is 35 calories.

These small packs of cheese are a good choice for an afternoon snack.

Is anyone else trying to eat better?

Eating Better

For the past 3 weeks I've been eating better. I'm trying to cook wholesome dinners every night of the week. There have been some hiccups like a birthday dinner and the Super Bowl. But other than that I've stuck to my plan of eating 1500-1800 calories a day. Eating more calories on the days I work out.

Here's some pictures of dinners I've recently made with links to the recipes. All of them are very low in calories.

"Chipotle Style Bowl with Cilantro Lime Rice" from skinnytaste.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps from Allrecipes. I used craisins instead of cherries and added a can of chopped water chestnuts.

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp with Jasmine Rice from Skinnytaste.

Creamy Tuscan Bean and Chicken Soup served with mini buttermilk biscuits.

I've been having fun finding new & healthy recipes. What sites do you visit to find recipes?

Body Ramblings

FIT. Healthy! Toned. STRONG. Energetic Mama!
That's what I want to be.
I have quite a challenge ahead of me but I will do it. I had to work out consistently and eat well to lose the weight after Violet. (I gained 55 with her and 50 this time!) My little boy is 7 weeks old today. I started working out last week. My goal for now is to do at least 3 days of simple cardio like a workout dvd and lift my 8 lb. dumbbells. It's going to be hard for me to lower my calories. Since my baby is exclusively breastfed I will have to eat around 2000 calories a day but I'm not going to let that discourage me. I've got 4 workouts behind me and many more to go!

(This was me 10 months after having my first baby. Summer '08. I felt very happy and healthy at this size. Would love to get back to this or smaller.)

Taco Tot Salad and Baby Bump

Even though this salad has baked tator tots in it. I thought it still tasted fresh and healthy. Try to think of it as swapping croutons for tator tots. I followed this recipe from allrecipes but used ground turkey instead of beef and added some cilantro.

Pretty good! Even my picky little girl ate it.

22 weeks with baby Zander!

I have 2 appointments coming up this week. I really like going and getting the stats on my baby boy.

Lemon Chicken Pasta with Squash

My dad went through a phase of making this all the time when I was in highschool. One of my favorites from home.

My parents and Jordan came over for dinner last week. Here's my version of Dad's pasta-

Lemon Chicken Pasta with Squash

2 large boneless chicken breast, cubed

lemon pepper

dill weed or try oregano

1 yellow squash chopped

1 zucchini chopped

1/2 small onion, diced

1 tsp. minced garlic

3 T. olive oil

1 box whole wheat angel hair pasta

1 large lemon

1.Start by seasoning the chicken with lemon pepper and dill weed. Heat 1 T. olive oil over med.high heat. Add chicken and garlic. Cook until white then add onion. Brown the chicken then remove from the pan.

2.Boil water and get pasta ready in another pot.

3.Pour more olive oil in the pan if it needs it. Add the squash and zucchini. Cover with a lid to cook faster. When the veggies get tender add back the chicken and heat through.

4.Once the pasta is done add the chicken & veggies to the pasta. Squeeze lemon juice all over the mixture and add a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with some Parmesan cheese on top!

As you can see, this makes a lot. This served 5 adults and one child.

Easy Chicken Tacos

Now that the temp is usually 90 or higher I'm using the slow cooker more. Here's what I made yesterday-

Shredded Chicken for Tacos

4 frozen or unfrozen chicken breast (I used frozen)
1 cup sliced banana peppers with the juice from the jar included
3 T. taco seasoning

Mix the banana peppers and taco seasoning together in the slow cooker. Add the chicken breast and cook on low heat for about 4 hours. Then shred the chicken with 2 forks and add back to the slow cooker until ready to serve.

This was on the mild side. Just add more peppers if you like it hot.
Recipe adapted from recipezaar.

Matt and I would eat this again. Our tacos consisted of refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream and hot sauce.

Mexican Pizza

Do not run to Taco Bell! Were making this from scratch. Well, sort of...I can not make good tortillas from scratch. So, I got the uncooked tortillas that taste really good after toasting up. I made the taco sauce using this recipe. I got the Mexican Pizza recipe from Good Eats n Sweet Treats blog. Delicious! Kinda time consuming but you could save yourself some trouble buy using already made tortillas and taco sauce. Cut some calories by using ground turkey like I did!

No, this is not really health food but I tried to lower the calories. Around 470 calories & 22 grams fat for my version and 540 calories & 31 grams of fat for Taco Bell version. Not bad.

Week 8 Meal Plan

Now on Week 8 of cooking almost all meals at home and working out. This way of eating is starting to be a habit for me. On my most recent cheat day I felt so sick I had to take Tums to fall asleep. I think my body is used to going without fried food and junk. I also don't have to look at every label before putting food on my plate because I can usually guess how many calories are in it and how much would be a serving.

The menu for this week-

Spanish Rice Bake with ground turkey (350 cal)
Curried Coconut Chicken (375 cal)
Zippy Summer Shrimp (238 cal) and Roasted Potatoes with Greens (339)
Grilled Fajita Chicken with Calabacitas (148 cal)

and Irish Ploughman's Lunch for St. Patricks Day which will consist of Chicken Apple Sausage, Salad, Cheese and Brown Soda Bread! I got the idea from Prudence Pennywise. I have only made bread from scratch once before. It was french bread. I could not get it to rise. But anything is good hot with butter on it so we ate it anyway! I'm thinking the soda bread might be easier since it does not call for yeast.

On to week 8! Weigh in is on tuesday.

Losing

This is Week 8 for me. Since my first weigh in on January 20,2010. I have lost 11.5 pounds and 10.5 inches! I'm still cooking almost all my meals at home and working out as much as I can. Today Matt surprised me with a jogger stroller. I have been wanting one forever. Violet climbed into it right after he put it together. Looks like were going for a run tomorrow!

Healthy Lunch

It's Week 7 for me of eating well and working out. I usually eat a turkey wrap with red grapes for lunch. Here's one I made up and it turned out so pretty!

Jill's Turkey Wrap-
1 tortilla
a few roasted red bell pepper strips from the jar (found at Dollar Tree), sliced thin
fresh spinach leaves
light sour cream
2 tsp. of feta cheese
2 slices of thin turkey breast

Warm up tortilla. Spread about 1 T. of sour cream on tortilla, add fresh spinach, turkey slices, red pepper strips and feta. Roll up and slice in half. Should be around 230 calories.

Cheat Day

On Cheat Day I bought a bag of my favorite Easter candy, Cadbury mini eggs. The bag was empty by the end of the day. Not sure who helped me eat them all!
Then for dinner I made Green Chili-Cheese Flour Flautas (vegetarian for Jaley), Chicken Corn Tortilla Flautas and Mexican Rice. I was at my mom's house hanging out with Jordan, Justine and Priscilla. The Mattie was out of town for work. So, we declared a Fiesta Feast! The vegetarian flautas were surprisingly good and reminded us all of Southwest Eggrolls from Chili's. So, you KNOW those were good! Justine whipped up a queso using velveeta and jalapeno ranch dip,mmmm yum.
It was fun and delicious. I'd say I did well on making flautas for the first time. Great way to end a Cheat Day! The rice I made is the only recipe I ever use for mexican rice. I change it up but always put cumin, cilantro, onion and lime juice in it.

My little Vk and I, she loves rice like her mamma!

As most of you know I'm on a Diet and Cheat Day is part of it. HUH?! I know it's crazy, right. I eat well (1200-1500 cal) for 5-6 days before I have a cheat day. It makes life simple and I've already lost 9 pounds in 4 weeks. I think that's flippety, flip, flip awesome! I'm loosely following the Body For Life diet plan. But I make up my own healthy food menus (I especially like taking old family comfort food recipes and making it healthy) and workouts. More info about Cheat Day here. This plan is good for those weeks when you know your gonna have a birthday to attend or holiday and you can just plan to cheat that day and no guilt!

Happy Sunday! Today is the day after my cheat and it's after noon and I'm still full from last night! Back to healthy eating today. The sun is out and I'm ready to get outside with the family.

Week 5 Meal Planning

It's almost week 5! The weight is coming off slowly but surely. Last week I did not work out. Well, lets say playing in the snow and rolling a huge snowball was a workout. But other than those two days, I got nothing!

I got a new cookbook that I'm really pumped to start using. It's by the same girl who does the Biggest Loser cookbooks. Everything in her book looks rich, savory and delicious! Very different from the pictures in the Eat Clean cookbook, lol. I think I will use recipes from The Most Decadent Diet Ever for week 6.



1. Italian Sausage Soup with bread (378 cal)

2. 15 min. Turkey Chili over Baked Potatoes.

3.Stuffed Chicken Breast with Citrus Marinade (172 cal) with Onion Rice (147 cal) and green beans. I'm most excited about this dish this week, yeeHAW!

4. Tator Tot Casserole with ground turkey (400 cal) I'm ashamed to admit I like this cheap-kid food. But it's good and healthy if done right.

5. Pan-Glazed Chicken and couscous with Tosca's EC Sesame Roasted Broccoli and Green Beans (111 cal)


Breakfast options will be granola bars or homemade egg mcmuffins. We are burnt out on breakfast burritos! For lunch I've been eating wraps made with low carb tortillas.

I'm down 7 pounds. My fourth weigh- in is this coming Tuesday. 9 pounds down on 4th weigh in. You can do this! Do cardio this week, no excuses :)