April 2011 and April 2012

Wow, I really dislike the picture on the left! It was one of those embarrassing tagged pictures from facebook. I must have been really sleep deprived to go out in public with my hair looking so yucky and my face doesn't do well with extra weight! But I did just walk a 5k pushing Zander in the stroller. I was so happy-in-love with my new baby I didn't care how I looked.

The current photo is from Easter last week posing with my daughter Violet. I am getting close to my goal weight. 12 pounds to go! Then I might try to lose another 5 to keep me in my "safe zone". I've been at the same weight for about a month now. Planning to work harder to see the scale move down before May!

Workouts From Last Week

Last week was so much fun! We have been enjoying sunny days here in Texas. We visited the park and the Zoo. So glad my husband could be a part of our zoo day!

WED- at least 1.5 of fast paced walking at the zoo. Then I ran 2 miles in 28 min.

FRI- walked & played tag at the park for about 25 min.

SAT- ran 2 miles in 24 min. and walked for 30 min.

I've been at the same weight for a few weeks now. Have a feeling I will see a new number tomorrow morning!

Workouts From Last Week

Last weekend I ran a 5k! Here's a pic of me before the run.

I went with my Mom. She's in the middle. Her and her friends usually sport tutus for their 5k's. This time however, my mom wasn't in the mood. I think I need to put that on my to-do list...run in a tutu! Karin looks pretty cute in it.
After the 5k there was a parade. Best Maid Pickles are made in my hometown. This was their first year to host a parade. It was on St. Paddy's day. My little ones enjoyed it!
What I did last week:

TUES- 20 minutes of walking & carrying my baby boy...my mind is blank. I don't remember where I went that day.

WED- 23 min run & 8 min walk. 80 sit-ups.

FRI- 3 miles in 38 min at the park.

SAT- 5k in 37 min. at least 15 min of walking around with the stroller at the parade.

It was a good week! Still weigh the same as the week before. Gotta keep on chugging along!

Workouts From Last Week & Avocado Pasta

Have you seen this recipe yet by Oh She Glows? I've made it twice now. My sister Jordan found it before me. We both love it. I like to eat it for lunch with toast. I think it has about 345 calories a serving. You should try it sometime!



Last week my husband was out of town for work. That made it very hard to get workouts in. Sometimes my family will watch the kids so I can run & that helps.

WED- 15 min yoga dvd & 2 'song workouts' that I found on Pinterest

FRI- 2 miles in 23 min at the track. It was so cold. I wore 2 layers of pants & shirts!

Wow, I didn't do much! But it was cold & rainy saturday. Then saturday night my baby was up most the night with a fever. Sunday was spent taking care of him since he was still sick. Will try harder this week!

Lost 2 pounds this week & my measurements

Lost another 2 pounds this week! I'm close to 6o pounds down since having Zander 15 months ago. Weekends are so hard for me. I usually want to go out to eat and indulge in too much chocolate. But seeing that number on the scale this morning was very motivating. Tonight I'm going to make pizza from scratch. That should be fun for the little ones since my niece is spending the night. I'm thinking chicken pizza sounds good!

I'm going to share my measurements today. I have been tracking my measurements since January 2011 on sparkpeople. When I say natural waist I mean the smallest part and my low waist means my pregnant belly pooch :)

Measurements~ from 1.24.11 to now 3.10.12
neck- 13.5" 13"
arms- 12.5" 11"
chest- 36" 35"
bust- 40" 37"
nat. waist- 33.5" 30.5"
low waist- 39.5" 35"
hips- 42.5" 37"
butt- 43" 39"
thigh- 26.5" 24"
knees- 15.5" 14"
calf- 15" 14.5"

=27.5 inches lost since having my second baby!

I've surpassed my pre-Zander weight by 9 pounds. It feels good to be sticking to my goals and fitting into my skinny clothes!

Have a good weekend !

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?

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 :)

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?

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.)

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.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Recap of last week-

I started working out again. I lost 4 pounds. Planning healthy meals in advance and going to the grocery store with a list is key!

What's on the menu this week.........

1. Zesty Barbecue Chicken (300 cal) over a baked potato.
2. Salsa Cube Steaks. (250 cal) I've never made cubed steaks. They were on sale.
3. Baked Orzo with Shrimp from Eat Clean book. Looks delicious. It's topped off with a yogurt cheese. You drain all the liquid off plain yogurt and end up with a cream cheese texture.
4. More of these for lunches! I heart hummus.

Also sandwich stuff and I made another batch of small breakfast burritos. I just love eating a warm breakfast more than anything! It's so satisfying.

Eat Clean

That is Tosca Reno up there on her cookbook. She was a frumpy and overweight housewife and now is a famous fitness model and cookbook author. I recently got two of her books off amazon. My goal is to try at least one of her recipes a week.

The scale gave me a really ugly number this morning and was a great wake-up call for me. Back to counting calories for me and menu planning. I want to be at a healthy weight before baby #2. I had toxemia with my first and don't want to up my risk for that again. My calorie goal is 1200-1500.

Meal Plans for this week-

Monday- Turkey Meatballs with Broccoli, Cauliflower and pasta

Tuesday- Chinese Chicken with Brown rice from Eat Clean Cookbook

Wednesday- Maui Black Bean Soup with tortillas from Eat Clean Cookbook

Thursday- Chicken salad with crackers

Friday- Hummus Wraps (flat out bread or pita with hummus, strips of carrots & red onion, black olives, tomatoes and feta cheese)---super good! Jordan made it a while back and it's very healthy.

Breakfast options will be fruit smoothies or a small, homemade breakfast burrito.

I gotta get to bed! This list is making me hungry. No late night snacking for me :)

How the Tummy Changes

These pictures chronicle the extremes my tummy has gone through since October 2006. It's amazing how big and round you can get while pregnant! I couldn't wait to look pregnant, I was one of the "lucky" ones and looked pregnant at 12 weeks.

So, here we go on the journey!

Halloween 2006- I got pregnant soon after this...
Here I am, with the "cute" pregnant look.

Here I am lookin' BIG!

July 07- About to POP! (Ignore my bra, focus on tummy!)

Feb. 08-After baby...This pic kinda embarrasses me but I had to show it or it would look like I NEVER had a weight problem. This was the pic I took so I could start checking my progress. I started working out in March 08. I couldn't use the baby as an excuse for the weight anymore!

August 08- I'm almost to where I wanna be! So exciting! I may not ever look exactly like I used to but I think I'm doing pretty well! I look forward to having another healthy baby again someday and would gain the weight in a heartbeat! But for now I'm focusing on my fitness goals!