Snowmaggedon

I haven’t worked in 9 days! 9 DAYS!!!!

We got some snow last weekend and then we had some frigid temps, so school was cancelled all week. And it was amazing! We did not leave the house for 5 days and it was glorious.

Here is a glimpse of what we did…

Days 1 and 2 were a bunch of fun. The snow is pretty and we have enough m&ms to last a few days so we love the snow.

 

   

Then it gets old and we get a little stir crazy. We visit across the street and do some home staging. Ha!

I even made Kendall practice writing because she was watching too much TV and missing school all week.

And Friday we HAD to get out of the house! So we did. And we bought a treadmill. Thank you tax refund! 

And this weekend has been fun too!

The girls and I hit up SAMS club solo today and they were so good!

Like our Mommy & Me Frozen scarves? My sister makes them. Message me if you’re interested!

Tomorrow I am prepared to go back to work. I really am over the snow days. I wouldn’t hate having more family time though, they are pretty fabulous!

 

And to justify being a teacher and getting snow days, I did some teacher work too. Lesson planning, report carding, and some optimistic pinteresting… Ha!

Miss Fashionable, Mourning and 20 minute run

Happy Weekend! Kendall and I are living it up and enjoying this beautiful weather at home. My other half, Chris, is in a deer stand somewhere since it is opening weekend of gun season in KY.
Yesterday I dressed Kendall in this cute sweater my mom bought for her. Every woman at Kroger complimented her on her choice of clothing. After nap time, I managed to snap a few pictures of Miss Fashionable playing on her swing set.


So Felicity is over. :( I feel like I’ve just broken up with Ben and Noel. The last season was kind of slow and the ending was odd, but I miss it. I guess it’s probably for the best. I need to get back to my dvr and family. Ha!
Running:
So I waited a whole 10 days in between C25K Week5 run 2 and 3. Run 2 had you run 2 8 minutes runs with a 5 minute break. Week 3 has you run for a straight 20 minutes. Ouch. I was hurting. I ran the first 8 minutes, walked for 2, ran a few more minutes, walked a few more minutes and then made myself run the last 5 minutes.
I have GOT to be more disciplined about getting my runs in during the week. I feel so much better when I am consistent. I’m going to move forward with the program but I feel like in order for it to work I can’t take 10 days off. Sorry Shelli, get off the couch… I mean Netflix. I blame my 10 day hiatus on Ben & Felicity.

BEFORE Pictures Eeek

I can’t believe I’m about to do this but we are all friends, right? RIGHT?

These were taken 2 weeks ago. I wouldn’t be posting them if I wasn’t on week 3 of C25K. I wouldn’t be posting these if I was going to start the Ripped in 30 program with my husband per his request that he wants to do “one of those crazy” workouts. Isn’t that cute? He wants to do it after Kendall goes to bed. Ha! Date Night!

Anyways, every one else and their mom has posted their BEFORE pictures on the internet and it seems to hold them accountable. I mean I will DELETE this blog before I post pictures where I haven’t lost any weight. Seriously.

So here it goes…

  

(excuse the hair flip motion shot)

Here are my stats as of today.

Weight 163 (-4 loss from August holla!)

Goal 145

Size 10 pants (Goal size 6-8)

Arms – 12"

Chest – 36.5 (D’s please holla!)

Waist – 31

Hips – 37.5

Thighs 23.5

These are my measurements after I did 3 weeks of the 30 day Shred. I have lost 8.5 inches and KEPT them off. I’ve also kept off 4 pounds.

I need to KEEP working. Starting with Week 3 Run 2 tonight… Laters!

Almost 30 days!

I've been doing the 30 Day Shred on and off since 8/20. I had initally started it wanting to do it every day but quickly realized that I didn't want to just do a workout for 30 days. I want to start a routine of working out on a regular basis and make it be a routine I can live with. For me that means working our 4-5 times a week. So that it what I have been doing.
I am starting to see some definition in my body which really motivates me. I have lost a total of 8.5 inches in my arms, chest, waist, hips and thighs. That motivates me too.

The scale... I'm not seeing a lot of movement there. I know I am gaining muscle and I have lost 3 pounds so that is better than 0.

In the scale's defense... I haven't been doing great with my diet. I stopped tracking last week and need to get better about that. I have skipped meals and then ate bigger, fattening meals to make up for it. And until this morning when I weighed and worked out, I hadn't worked out since Thursday morning.

So I need to step it up if I want to get those other 23 pounds off before my 27th birthday (December 22).
Here's what I'm planning to do...

• Drink MORE water... I need to drink more water. I have been only drinking a glass or two at work and then it's not until bedtime that I realize I want some more water.
• More cardio. I plan on keeping up with the Shred 4-5 times a week. I love the workout and I can really see it working. It's quick and something I can do in the mornings. BUT I think I need a little more so I downloaded the Get Running app (C25K) on my phone last night. It's 3 days a week so I can do this and the Shred.
• Eat better. I need to stay focused and not just eat what's in my calories, but what is good for me.

How are your weight loss goals going? Have you done the C25K?

Discouraged

Strike 1

I weighed myself this morning and it was 1.5 lbs higher than I was on Monday. I’ve done everything right. 1200 calories, exercised every single day and I’ve gained????

Strike 2

Fruit and cheerios for breakfast, subway for lunch… but why can’t I have a cherry coke and cookie from subway? Will I even be able to enjoy the sweet things in life again???

Strike 3

I came home in a bad mood, discouraged that I am doing everything right (I think?) and I can’t even tell a difference in my body. I fixed dinner and told Chris I wanted to take a nap.

Take another Swing!

As I was laying in bed trying to sleep while holding Kendall’s hand as she watched Little Einstein’s, it dawned on me that I was doing the exact thing I didn’t want to do anymore.  Give up.

Yes, I’m mad I’ve been doing this for over two weeks and I’m not seeing a big difference, but I have to believe I am doing the best I can and the results will come.

So I got out of bed and exercised.

I will get there.

Bollywood Dance

Tonight I just did NOT want to deal with Jillian. She makes my body hurt and I wanted to do a workout that would be fun!

Back in my glory days (just kidding – I hated high school) I was a musical theater major. I can belt out a Gershwin melody, while tapping a time step and recite a monologue if you need me to prove it. ;) My point is… I loved to dance and do all that fun stuff. It also kept me in great shape.

Our cable company has an “on demand” feature and there are TONS of free workout videos. One of them being BOLLYWOOD. I did one a few years ago you can read about that experience here.

It’s sexy and so much fun! I just love it! It made a 30 minute workout fly by!

Do you Bollywood?

What is your favorite type of workout?

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Happy Labor Day! I hope you have the pleasure of sitting at home today thanks to paid holidays!
I am living it up in my sweat pants and doing school and house work. :)

I woke up this morning and did Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred ( I love/hate you Jillian) and took my weekly stats all before breakfast. I try to only weigh myself once a week but let's be honest, I step on the scale every morning "just to see".

2 weeks ago when I started exercising/counting calories I had a goal weight loss of 27 pounds. For more information, you can click on the "Weight Loss" tab at the top of the blog.

Here are my two weeks stats.
-3.2 pounds
-5 inches

Clearly, exercise is helping! I haven't noticed a big difference in the way my clothes are fitting but the proof is in the pudding and/or measuring tape! I think this is where I will see the biggest difference in my body because I have gone from no exercise to exercising almost daily.

 Now I wish I could sit here and say I'm okay with losing more inches than pounds, but I'm not. I had really hoped the weight would be melting off. To be honest, I know it's my diet. I am still eating a lot of crap! It's ok if it's in my daily calories, right? MyFitnessPal does not judge me if I had a 210 calorie Kit Kat bar for breakfast! I feel my best when I plan my meals ahead of time and stay away from temptation.

So... I think I might try and make sure I'm consuming calories that count. Instead of a candy bar for breakfast or a small fry at lunch because I have the calories to spare, I should eat more nutritional and "better for me" meals. I think these food decisions will help the pounds melt away.

My first goal is 10 pounds and I plan on taking progress pictures at that point to share with my blog friends!
Are you trying to lose weight?
What has helped you?

30 Day Shred

On Monday I started doing the 30 Day Shred. With the exception of Wednesday, I have done it every night this week. I can already feel myself getting stronger. I took some BEFORE pictures and I’m too embarrassed to show them right now. I have a weight loss goal I want to reach by my 27th birthday. I have been eating better and it really feels different this time.

I am very proud that I lost all of my baby weight after I had Kendall, however, it’s not enough. I weigh exactly what I weighed when I got pregnant but my body is so different now. I’m even wearing a size 10 and mediums which is what I wore when I got married and was 15 pounds lighter. More than any weight loss, I want to tone my body and have more energy.

Also…I made sure to look extra awful in my BEFORE picture because when I do show them my AFTER pictures are going to be HOT, HOT, HOT!

So until you get to see my pasty, flabby body and all my inches information… here is a glimpse of what it is like to work out with a toddler. :)

I was working out in a sports bra and shorts ( which is why I am blacked out) and Kendall wanted to be like me so she raised her shirt. LOL Love this kid!

Getting Fit!

We have been getting fit in our household! Obviously Kendall is perfect, however, mommy and daddy could lose a few pounds. We have been walking in the evenings as a family and eating at home more this week. I love it. I really hope this sticks and I will be a size 6 in a few months. :) Ha!

This post is really just an excuse to post pictures of Kendall in her cute new Nikes running around our yard.

Look at her form!

 

Yoga.

Isn’t she cute? :)

In all seriousness, I have been moving more and counting calories. More details to come!

Thursday Weigh Day & January Expenses

Thursday is not going to be a "weigh" day today. I have done bad this week! Instead of focusing on that I'm going to make February my b**ch. Sorry for the foul language but I mean it - I'm really going to push myself.

I just highlighted all the possible evenings I can work out for the month of February in my day planner. My hope is by March I will start seeing fantastic results so I will be motivated to wake up and workout 30 minutes Mon-Fri before I get ready for work. I have yet to pull myself out of bed thus far.

I cannot have a Skinny Jeans blog if I don't ever fit into my skinny jeans!!!

January Monthly Expenses

Sorry it took a few days but as promised here are my monthly expenses for January 2010.

Things we did not need: $80.15
Eating Out (Together & Separate): $201.40
Groceries: $327.27
Necessities (haircuts, dog, home/school supplies): $342.88

Gas: $418.8

Pathetic! Now I get to explain...

Things we did not need - I can handle this amount.

Eating out - Awful! That's $200 that is not necessary and could've been an extra credit card payment! However we deserve to eat out sometimes! The problem about this is we only ate out together like twice - the rest of the purchases were us eating out individually!!!

Groceries - This is kind of high - there is only 2 of us and we ate out a lot this month! I am going to start clipping & organizing coupons this weekend! I can save so much more!

Necessities - This is high because we bought like $300 worth of books for Chris's school!

Gas - I never dreamed we spent this much on gas in one month! Chris goes to school 45 minutes from our house and I have a good 30 minute commute both ways. That's how you spent $400+ on gas!! Scary!

4 Days into February

Things we do not need - $25.85

Eating out - $2.96

Groceries - $73.49

Necessities - $57.27

Gas - $0

I'm so over this SNOW!

Sunday it was 60 degrees and today it is snowing. My allergies and I hate this Ohio valley weather! But it did not stop me from working out last night, prepacking my lunch and preplanning my meals for today! Pat on the back for me! I think the best way for me to be disciplined with eating better is to plan accordingly. If I pack my lunch the night before I don't have to fool with it in the morning or go out to eat for lunch and eat way too much. The same applies for preplanning dinner.


I did another FREE mag rack workout on Insight last night. This time - LATIN GROOVE DANCE!


It was lots of fun and this time around I was home alone so I could really get into it. Workouts like this one and bollywood don't even feel like much of a workout. They get your heartrate up and are alot more fun than lunges and squats.



Isn't Wilson's new coat from his grandma (my mom haha) so cute? It's a little big but he just loves it. It's lined with that sherpa (?) stuff I believe.

I may do a Jillian Micheal's tonight. The dance workouts have been fun but I need to do some strength exercises with weights. I am broiling steak for dinner! Yum! I will also make these yummy potatoe chip thingies. I slice 2 potatoes in small flat pieces (like potatoe chips), lay them flat on a baking sheet, drizzle them with a little olive oil, grated parmesean cheese and paprika. Bake for about 30-40 minutes (depending on how crispy you want them to be) and viola potatoe chip thingies. Lol - I don't know what else to call them - I got the idea from my mom.

Boolywood Booty, Lowes and Weekend Plans

Bollywood:

I had the most fun last night doing a new workout. We have Insight OnDemand - I'm sure this is similar to other cable companies. There are 2 places (that I know of) to find free workouts under the "Free Spot" button. The first one is under Sportschool - it has some really outdated workout programs. I have tried some of them and I just can't get past the instructor. One time it was some really bulky italian guy in spandex and I really can't handle that.

The second place to find free work outs is under the Mag Rack button. Then go to Fitness & Yoga. They have more upbeat and modern workout videos. Plus they are FREE! Most of them are about thirty minutes so it's a great way to get in some cardio. I chose to do the Bollywood Booty last night. The title reeled me in and I really like the workout. I danced all throughout my high school years so I love any kind of routine workouts.

It was a very flirty video. She kept saying " make a sexy smile", "flip your hair" and "bounce your hips". My husband walked in a few times and laughed. I really liked it! There was another one called Bollywood Burn I'm going to try this weekend!

Lowes:

We went to Lowe's like 30 minutes before closing. We looked at different tile for backsplash and bathroom ideas. We went home and made a list of all the projects we would like to do on our house. We will probably try to do a few little projects throughout the year. My house was built in 2007 so everything is brand new - we would just like to upgrade alot of exisiting things (tile bathroom floor, switch out bath & kitchen fixtures, hardwood the living room) and add some things (crown molding in master bdrm, backsplash in kitchen, cabinets in laundry room). Like I said one day I will post the whole list!

The one on the left is what Chris likes and I like the one on the right.

I'm looking forward to this weekend! I have an MK retreat tonight and then Saturday night my husband is going to a poker night. I will have the house to myself :) I may invite the other wives to come over to my place if they want. If not, another date with my DVR & Wilson.

I hired a trainer... my husband!

So... although we did not join a gym this year... we did something better!.

My hubby set up his old weight set in one of our spare bedrooms. I put my exercise ball in there too! Aside from a cardio machine we now have a home gym. A couples gym! I think this will be our new thing.

Chris is a high school baseball coach so he leads workouts with all these players every week. Why not train your wife? Although you can't spot reduce he asked me what I would like to work on - I then pointed to various problem areas on my body. We did some arm & legs, squats and lunges with weights. I'm not that sore but I can definetly feel different parts of my body that were worked today. I'm going to do some cardio tonight - I might to Cardio X from P90x - and workout with Chris tomm. afternoon.

What a perfect, convenient and budget friendly soultion! On top of that - it's something we can do together. My husband and I don't have alot of the same hobbies - except the obvious - wink!wink!
Me - shopping, reading, cooking, blogging, tv shows, movies
Chris - UK sports, sportcenter, hunting, golf

We get along great and do couple stuff together but when it comes to hobbies we go our separate ways! Working out is something we did together when we were dating. Maybe that's how I kept my figure trying to impress my (then) boyfriend. It worked!