My "Skinny" Jeans Fit

With one week left of T-25 Beta, I mustered the courage to try them on.  They've been put into and pulled out of the donation bags at least three times, and worn one time since my son was born.  He was three months old and I was taking him to the zoo with a girlfriend.  I was rocking a muffin top but I blamed most of that on skin that was still recovering from 9 months of stretching.  My mom saw me getting changed and commented about how much flatter my stomach looked.  Filled with new found bravery, I reached into the back of my closet and pulled them out, carefully inserted one leg at a time, pulled them up, did a quick squat, and grabbed that zipper.  And it went up. And the buttons buttoned. While they were still tight--to be fair they are A&E stretch jeans--they were looser than they were when I squeezed into them to go to the zoo, when I was the lightest I've been since J was born.  I'm pretty sure that's how it feels to make it to the top of Mount Everest.

All of this makes me very curious about what the scale will say next week.  I know that my lightest postpartum weight was about 20 lbs lighter than what I was at the beginning of this journey, but  I really don't think that I have lost that much.  I guess we'll see.  A few other pairs were tried on, and while they don't quite fit, I now have hope that they will.

I've talked about T-25 here but not too much about the diet changes I've made.  Since my beachbody coach made us take some pictures of the food we ate sometime for our challenge, I figured I'd share some.  I'm not the most committed dieter, and I allow myself to cheat on the weekends, but this challenge has definitely cleansed my palate.  Mainly I've been swapping processed foods for more whole food options, eating more small meals, eating more veggies, and I started to eat nuts as a snack--who knew!

My favorite mid-morning snack, craisins and almonds.  I put 1/4 cup of each in a container almost everyday and snack when hunger strikes.  If I eat it all, that's about 300 calories.  

 This I do as lunch or a snack.  Snap peas and hummus.  I like to have carrots with them too.  Carrots and Snap peas, practically no calories.  I measure out a serving of hummus which is about 130 calories.  If I pack that for lunch I usually add a Greek yogurt and an apple.  Both of these snacks take a long time to eat for a relatively small amount of calories, which is what really helps me, because I can house like 10 cookies in them amount of time it would take me to eat either of these and possibly not even feel full.

 Finally here's a dinner I cooked.  What's missing?  That's right, carbs.  I have tried to minimize the amount of carbs I eat after my workout.  Can you believe as a kid I refused to try things like asparagus!?!?  I'm so ashamed of myself.  I really just started to cook it this year thanks to pinterest, and I'm sort of obsessed.  Mix 1.5 TBSP of olive oil with one clove of grated garlic, some salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes.  SO GOOD!!  Soon we will be grilling it! I can't wait

If I'm hungry after a workout I'll often have a rice cake with peanut butter and a small cup of milk  to hold me over until dinner.  Finally, I take this drink to get some apple cider vinegar goodness in which, among other things, helps your body break down fat and get it off your belly.




See ya in one week  with my T-25 10 week results!

Summer of Pinterest--the abbreviated version

Well this summer did not exactly turn out the way I'd planned.  I did want to share the few things I did get to try along with a brief review.  

This was delicious!  It was the perfect way to use our abundance of tomatoes and basil from our garden. 


This has done great things for me.  Originally I started doing this to help boost my metabolism, however I have discovered that ACV has many other health benefits.  After about 4 days you get used to the taste.  I mixed up enough for 4 days at a time.  I've been taking it for 10 days and I've seen significant weight loss.  I'm not sure if it was bloat or fat but my mother, sister, and husband all made comments before they knew what I'd been doing.  I haven't changed anything else.  Specifically the area of my lower stomach that was left somewhat pouchy has flattened out.  I wish I had taken pictures or stepped on the scale (I have a bad relationship with scales, I try to avoid them).  I've also noticed a boost in energy and generally feeling better.  If you're trying to lose a bit of weight, struggling with depression, or would like to lower your blood pressure, this is worth a try.  


This was yummy. The mint was from our garden :) 


This was ok.  I think our homegrown zucchini was too big.  I should have made it into smaller pieces.


This sort of worked.  There was improvement but my husband is a very messy cook so maybe if I do it a few more times, it will be as good as I want it.


This was as fantastic as all the pins claim!  I really wish I'd taken a before and after shot, but I don't want the internet to judge how disgusting my tub and shower were.


That's all for now.  Have you tried anything new from Pinterest lately?  How did it turn out?

The First Six Weeks

I wish I had an Erma-ism to use for a title here, however, the best I can do right now is that she always encourages us to make positive changes in our lives. 

The Back Story

If I were a superhero, cookies would be my kryptonite. 

I did an awesome job of not gaining too much weight while pregnant.  When I came home from the hospital I was already 18 lbs down.  By 3 weeks post partum, I had 4 more pounds to go and I'd be back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  And then I started grocery shopping. 

I did a horrible job of feeding myself during the 6 months I stayed home with my son.  It was survival.  Meals consisted of anything I could prepare and eat with one hand.

I ate a lot of cookies.  When exhaustion set in I'd drink a soda to keep going. 

The weight just crept back on.  I was ashamed and embarassed.  I've always had body image issues, heck what American woman doesn't (stupid anorexic models and photshop).  Then there was a picture of me with my son in a bathsuit.  Tears were shed.

I fear the scale.  It's been over 9 months since I've weighed myself because I just don't want to know.  I'm a size bigger than I was before J was born.  Some of the size bigger clothes were getting tight. 


My Problem

Dieting--I suck at it.  I hate the thought of never having another (fill in the blank) again,  I don't stick to diets.  I love baking and consuming baked goods. 

My Solution

I had an epiphany.  Though I'm not very good with long term goal diets, I definitely could manage short term diets (I guess I have commitment issues).  Six week spans were definitley doable.  A bonus is that it takes about 3 weeks to make or break a habit. 

This was the strategy, give up two bad eating habits, and pick up one good new eating habit. Soda and store bought cookies were given up (I only had one or two of grandma's homemade cookies, because it's just insulting not to eat what she makes).  A green and a bright colored veggie or fruit were added to my lunch each day. 

The Results

Let's be honest I wouldn't be writing this post if I hadn't succeeded.  I've gone 6 weeks without OD'ing on refined sugary goodness.   I don't miss it.  I feel healthier.  I won't go into details but my body has been much more predictable cooperative. 

Soon I will have to choose another mission for the next 6 weeks. 

Although I feel heathier, the scale still strikes fear in my heart like a Friday the 13th movie.  Soon I will overcome it though. 

For six weeks I have not eaten a cookie or drank a soda. Little by little, I will get back to healthy!