Feed Me!

Hey guys! How goes it? Things are good here, same old same old.

I've been finding lately (basically since I got pregnant) that I am starving ALL the time! I know it's because I'm pregnant but jeez I'm really getting sick of it. They say when you're pregnant to only eat 200 extra calories a day but I'm sorry I think I need more than that. I don't know maybe I'm not eating enough? Here's what my current eating looks like:

6am-1 piece of toast with Smart Balance spray "butter"
9am-1/2 PB & Apple Butter sandwich, Clementine
11:15am-Turkey, Boca Burger or Chicken Breast, grapes, V8, Clementine, small salad with just lettuce and tomatoes topped with low fat bleu cheese dressing
1:30pm-1/2 PB & Apple Butter sandwich, apple sauce
2:30 pm-1/2 PB & Apple Butter sandwich
After 3:30 when I get home I snack and snack and snack until I feel full. Usually on cheese and ice cream :-) Then at about 6 I eat dinner.

I think I'm going to try to get heartier snacks for the afternoon and start eating more often. I'm also making a breakfast casserole for the morning. Here's what I'm going to try to make my eating plan look like.

6am-toast, hard boiled egg white
8:30am-breakfast casserole, fruit
11am-lunch
1pm-snack
3pm-snack
6pm-dinner

I'm trying unsalted pretzels dipped in low sodium refried beans, mashed potatoes and a brown rice/corn/salsa/avocado concoction for afternoon snacks. Do you guys have any other suggestions for some snacks that might work? I looked online for ideas and a lot of people said popcorn (doesn't keep me full, too much salt), carrots in hummus (yuck and yuck), fruit and pb (I have a lot of fruit already, sick of pb), yogurt (doesn't keep me full), cottage cheese with fruit (LOVE this but holy moly does it have a lot of salt in it.) Can you guys think of anything else that might work? Sorry I know I'm being picky!


Have a wonderful Thursday!

Alive!

I'm alive!! No, really I am! Sorry I haven't been blogging regularly or even semi-regularly. I am still reading your blogs via the wonderful Google reader everyday but of course I haven't been commenting much. Again, sorry! This will get better I promise!

Things have been kind of nutty in my life. I'm still pregnant (woo hoo!) As of today I am 16 weeks along. I have another appointment in 2 weeks and then another 2 weeks after that I have my 20wk ultrasound and I'll find out what I'm having!! Crazy! I can't believe the time is flying by so quickly. I am still pretty sick. It seems to be easing up a bit, I'm not throwing up everyday more like every other ;-) I still have lots of food aversions like Subway. Oh how I miss you Subway! But currently even looking at the sign makes me gag. TMI? Sorry! Also many vegetables and pasta look pretty gross, so needless to say I am currently getting most of my veggie servings from the lovely V8 and salad. Basically lettuce and tomatoes are the only veggies I can stand the sight of. Oh and corn but umm is corn a vegetable? I heard it was a "starch". Anywho I'm trying to keep my eating just as good as it was before I got pregnant mostly for the health of the baby but also because I'm concerned about my blood pressure. It was slightly elevated before I got pregnant and I know if it gets too high it can be dangerous to both me and the baby. Right now it's pretty good. This week I'm finally finding enough energy to start exercising so I will either be walking or biking 1hr everyday starting tonight! Fun fun :-) Too bad I couldn't just use this pregnancy to vedge out and be lazy huh? Such is life..

School is going okay. Pretty crazy but I'm hanging in there. The end :-)

A new reader of mine (hey new reader!!) posted a question asking how I feel about being pregnant and gaining back some of the weight I lost. Do I feel discouraged? Well, that's a very good question. Luckily enough I have only gained about 3 pounds so far but we'll see what the scale says at my next doctor's appointment ;-) At first I was a little discouraged because I've only lost 40 pounds so far and some women have been known to gain that much during pregnancy so honestly I knew it would be possible for me to as well. Aaand ironically enough my due date is only 4 days after what would have been my 1 year anniversary on this healthiness journey. But after thinking about it and getting used to the idea of being pregnant, my outlook on it has changed. I know many people who aren't able to have children of their own so honestly I feel blessed that I am. Am I going to gain some of my weight back? Yes, I am. But just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'll revert back to how I used to eat and how lazy I used to be; if anything I'm eating healthier than I did before. To me this journey has been about getting healthy and yes, losing weight has been nice but my health is more important than what the scale says. If me and my baby are healthy come August then that's all that matters to me. I also look at this as kind of a challenge. I can't wait to knock people's socks off when I get into the best shape of my life AFTER my baby is born. Everyone knows the dreaded "have a baby, ruin your body" issue but for me it'll be the exact opposite. I can't wait to get down to my goal wait within the first year of my baby's life. I can't wait to take walks with my baby in it's stroller and attach a carrier to the back of a bike. I can't wait to join walking clubs with other mom's in the area and take that opportunity to meet new people. And most of all I can't wait to teach my child how to be healthy so that they don't have to go through a "healthiness journey". It will just be part of their life.

Sorry it was so lengthy but I hope it answered your question :-)

It's About Time

So. I suppose I start informing you guys about what's going on in my life huh? Well, first I'd like to apologize for being on hiatus for so long. How long has it been? Like 2 months? I don't know but to all my loyal readers I apologize.



Anyways. Around the last time I posted I was feeling blah and tired. I had no energy to go to the gym and when I did I could barely make it through a workout. My eating was getting a little off balance as well. I had no desire to eat anything. I felt bloated and gross and absolutely nothing, healthy or unhealthy, seemed appealing. I ended up gaining about 2 pounds back and I knew that I had to get back on track but I was feeling so shitty I really didn't care about going to the gym or eating healthy.



Christmas was great, very busy but absolutely wonderful. I ate okay, probably more than I should have but I didn't overstuff myself. The day after Christmas I was putting some Christmas presents together and rearranging my room. My friend Tyler, Erin, my brother and I were going to go to the mall so I decided after an hour of procrastinating that I should probably start getting ready. I headed to the bathroom, got my makeup out and suddenly felt sick. I threw up everything I had eaten that morning. (Luckily it wasn't much) That night I decided to take a pregnancy test and found out that I was 7 weeks pregnant!


Honestly, I was speechless. I still kind of am. My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years but a pregnancy was the furthest thing from our minds. Luckily he is very excited and very supportive. I am now finishing up my 10th week and I had my first doctor's appointment last Tuesday. Everything went well, I've actually lost about 3 pounds since I last weighed myself which surprised me considering the way I've been eating. They tried to hear the heartbeat but they were unable to. My doctor didn't seem too concerned as she said most people don't hear it at 10 weeks but they try anyways. We have another appointment this coming up Tuesday to try again. If they still can't hear it they will schedule an ultrasound.


This pregnancy has basically kicked the shit out of me. I'm nauseous 24/7, I throw up every morning and come 6 o'clock I'm ready for bed. I've been eating horribly as you can imagine but I'm trying to slowly reel it in. I also have not been working out at all, basically because I'm so tired I have no energy to do anything.


I was hesitant to tell you all the big news which is why I waited so long. Basically I wanted to wait until I was out of the first trimester before I said anything just incase I had a miscarriage but I decided that I would rather have a support system than not if something like that were to happen. Positive thoughts :-)


Aaaand just so you all know I have been keeping up with you guys and I'm sorry I haven't been commenting!! Can I use being exhausted as an excuse again?! Please? Anyways you guys are doing wonderfully, all of you! Keep up the great work :-)

Medium Me

So I feel the need to inform you all that as I'm writing this I'm sitting at my kitchen table in a sweatshirt, pj pants and a blanket. Why am I not at work you ask? Oh, ya know because we got 18 inches of snow last night! We were under a blizzard watch and the governor called a state of emergency for the entire state of Wisconsin. Holy guacamole you should see the snow! I work for a company that is contracted with the State of Wisconsin so the only way we get snow days is if the state closes down. Well, in 30 years they've only closed once and today makes it twice. Maybe that'll give you a better idea of how crazy it is out there!

My mom, my brother and I went out earlier to clear out the end of our driveway from what the snowplow lovingly pushed there. It took us 1hr 30min and boy oh boy was it quite the workout.

We also went outside last night in our tshirts, pants and socks as it was beginning to snow and made snow angels. We do it every year in honor of our "snow angels": my mom's friend Dave that died from cancer about 4 years ago in January and my mom's cousin Terry that also died from cancer about 3 years ago in November. It's so much fun to just run out there, make a snow angel and then run inside quick before we catch pneumonia haha. It's a great tradition we started to make sure that we remember them always and to let them know that they're always in our hearts. RIP DH, TG we miss you both!!

A picture from last year that we did.

So back track to Saturday (I know it was quite awhile ago!!) my step-mom, my dad, my brother and I went out to dinner at Qdoba and then to see "The Blind Side".  I decided that I wanted to look nice so I tried on a dress shirt that my grandma got me last year for my birthday that I could only (barely) wear once because I was too big for it. And guess what? It fit! Not only did it fit but it fit really well! It felt so amazing :-)


And now if you rewind a little, not as far back, to Monday, I went shopping for Christmas with my Grandma. It's a tradition every year for her to take us shopping for Christmas since she wants to know that we will like what she gets us. We almost always go to Kohl's to get some clothes. I picked out two tops that are absolutely gorgeous. Here are pictures from the Kohl's website of them:

I decided that I wanted to buy the shirts a little on the small side so that by the time January/February comes around they will fit perfectly. Well, I decided to grab mediums in both and try them on just to make sure that I liked how they would look once I could fit into them. I was very suprised that they were both only "slightly" too small. Me fit into a medium shirt? Serious? How crazy is that?! I'm so excited to be able to slip these on and wear them out knowing that I, formerly weighing in at 270 pounds am wearing a medium shirt. :-) My sweet Grandma, bless her heart, asked me probably 3 or 4 times if I was sure that a medium would fit. I just smiled and nodded knowing that she must think I'm absolutely nuts.

I hope you all are staying warm!! I know I am :-)

Snow! Pizza!

Happy happy Friday!! Gosh I am sooo happy to finally see Friday, especially since we got our first official snowfall yesterday. It makes me want to go curl up on the couch and laze around but I am here at work instead. Poo.

I am the type of person that HATES snow, with a passion. Not because of the actual snow per se, more because of how it affects roads and driving. I'm a big driver. I'm always driving and quite frankly I love driving. My gym is 20 minutes away, my boyfriend is an hour away the mall is 15 minutes away etc etc. (luckily work is only 5 minutes away!) Hopefully this winter won't be as horrible as last winter but I guess we'll see. Since I live in Wisconsin and I'm stuck here for at least another year (then hopefully California!) I decided that maybe this year should be the year I try to kinda sorta enjoy the snow. Crazy I know! That is why I'm going to try to get into snowshoeing. I figure that maybe if I can get in some good exercise outside during the winter it'll be more enjoyable to have snow around. We shall see, we shall see.

Last night I made a pizza! Now don't freak out, this was a healthy pizza! Yes, there is such a thing :-) Let me walk you through the wonderful steps.

I used a Flatout Flatbread Light Italian Herb crust. These things are sooo good, if you haven't tried them please do you will not be disappointed!

Here are my toppings. A nice Hunt's all natural pizza sauce with no salt added which is great because I believe that one serving of the sauce only about 20mg of sodium. Score! Some Pennsylvania Dutchman canned mushrooms. Also with low sodium! And some Black Pearls canned black olives. Once again, low sodium. I'm a big low sodium person. If I can get the same item with half or more less sodium, why not? I don't need all that extra salt especially since I still have slightly elevated blood pressure.

On top of everything else I put on half Sargento reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese and half Crystal Farms reduced fat mozzarella cheese.

Here I started to add the sauce. I was making one for my mom too and decided to have a little fun.

Here are the pizzas all cooked up! The "meat" on there is a cut up vegan Boca patty. I used one patty for both of our pizzas and it added great flavor. I cooked these on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes at 325*.

If I calculated correctly, this whole pizza came out to about 350 calories. Sweet! Aaand it was delicious! Like honestly I don't have to eat regular pizza again now that I've done this. I was very happy that I made the last minute decision to do that last night. This will definitely be a regular on the menu!

I'm going to try to push myself to do the Pilates classes tomorrow morning and Sunday morning at the gym. I'm still a little nervous but I just need to suck it up and do it and everything will be a-ok.

I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend! And stay warm to everyone running the 5k tomorrow!!

Apparently My Body Could Care Less...

...that I haven't worked out for a week because I lost 4.6 pounds this week. The scale read 229.2 pounds. That's great, that’s wonderful, I met my goal for Christmas (I'll be re-doing that goal shortly) and I have officially lost 40 pounds in 4 months but I have mixed feelings about it. Call me crazy but I do. I am the type of person that over thinks EVERYTHING. So I will share my thought process with you. Ready?

 

Here goes nothing, hope I don't gain too much.

Wait that says 229.2. The scale is obviously broken, let's try that again.

Nope still says 229.2. Hmm.

Well now I have to redo my Christmas goal.

Woo hoo!

Wait, I didn't do anything this past week.

Can I really lose 4.6 pounds by doing nothing?

Maybe my body just needed to be caught off guard.

Caught off guard? You're not an athlete, you work out 4 times a week, it wouldn't shake it up that much. Would it?

I hope that was all fat and not muscle.

Do I even have 4.6 pounds of muscle on my body?

I should probably start reading more.

 

There is a glimpse into the wonderful head of mine. Fun isn't it? That was all within about a minute of seeing that number. I'm obviously new to this whole weight loss thing so some of you more experienced peeps can chime in if you want. Is it possible that by only working out twice in two weeks that I lost some muscle? Is it possible that I lost 4.6 pounds of muscle or do you think some of that was fat? Could it be that my body is just responding well to the food I'm eating and the fact that even though I didn't work out much I did work out? I have at least 70 more pounds to lose so I know that maybe it's just fat that was ready to come off? Ahh, I hate when I do this to myself haha.

 

Anyways any advice would be greatly appreciated :-)

And I hope you all are well on your way to healthy happy lifestyles.

 

 

P.S - Does anyone know anything about snowshoeing? I would love to try it and know nearly nothing about it.

Maybe I Should Gain...

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was great. My family traveled about 1hr 45 minutes south of here to Elgin, IL for my mom's side of the family's celebration. I ate pretty darn well. I had a little bit of turkey, a lot of salad and fruit, a little bit of this amazing corn casserole thingy and a small piece of pumpkin pie. When we got home I snacked on a cookie and 2 pieces of this taco roll up thingy my mom makes. I made sure to fill up on lots of water (about 3L) and overall I think I did pretty darn good.

 

Food has always been the easy part for me. If I try hard enough I can easily eat healthy, eat less and stay away from junk. It's the exercise that kicks my butt and boy oh boy has it been whopping me lately.

 

The last time I worked out was exactly a week ago today. And I'm angry. Absolutely infuriated with myself. I had the chance to go Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night and last night but did I? No, I didn't. Why didn't I go? I don't know, throw out an excuse I'm sure I've used it. The worst part is that I know better than that. I know that I will not get results even close to what I want by exercising once a week or even twice or three times a week. My body needs exercise 4-6 times a week for me to make any progress.

 

Maybe I will gain this week. Maybe I should gain. Maybe it would do me some good. Snap me back into reality. Maybe it's about time I did what I need to do. Exercise is not an option, so why do I act like it is?

 

I know we all struggle and that I will have many more struggles before I've even made a dent in my journey. I guess I need to just get up, brush myself off and move forward. That's the only way I can go, right?