And The Number Is .... Week 73

It has been such a great week. I spent many hours sitting in the sun watching my girls and my niece and nephew play in the sprinkler. It was way to hot to sit in my house without air conditioning. The last two days have been in the 90's. It was wonderful!

The girls pretending to sun bathe

Playing with the crazy octopus sprinkler!

My sister gracefully jumping over the sprinkler! :)

Me taking pictures of it all!

Also, I haven't been very hungry from the heat so that is always a bonus. :) I had a great week focusing on my eating. I think a lot of my incentive came from the fact that my sister can now fit into a size ten. Of course it makes me want to try even harder.

Unfortunately the week was so crazy busy that I didn't get in enough exercise. I will be happy when my daughter's preschool is done because then I will have time to go to the gym again. My plan is to go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It seemed to work well for me last summer so I am hoping it will again this summer. My Rheumatologist also thinks it will be very good for my Fibromyalgia.

My other incentive to go back to the gym is because I had my sister take some pictures of me in my bathing suit. I will post them for you in a later post. :) They aren't horrible but of course I think going back to the gym would make a big difference.

When I weighed in this morning I was pleased to be back in the 160's. I am down to 169.6!!!! I am thrilled. A few days at the gym and I think I will be able to officially announce that I have lost 50 pounds. I can't wait! I really can't wait to post my 50 pounds lost picture. I am going to have to come up with something creative for the big one.




My Week In Review:

1. Exercise: Not much. A little bit on my treadmill and chasing my kids around in 90 degree heat.

2. Water: I drank a lot of water. It was so hot.

3. Late night eating: No late night eating. My husband bought a huge cheesecake for us for our 8th Anniversary this week and I haven't even thought about eating it in the middle of the night. I had a 1/2 of a piece when he bought it and now I am done with it.

4. Snacking: I haven't snacked much this week. I think I have been to busy. I did have a few Weight Watchers Fudge Pops at my sister's house. They are excellent and a great way to cool off.

5. Eating more fruits and veggies: I think I could have done better in this area.




What do I need to work on for next week: Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!!!!

Winner Makeovers

A Big Thank You to Joy at All About You Hair Salon, in Bloomsburg, PA,

for providing Makeovers to the top two winners of the Pudget 30 Day Challenge.

Grand Prize Winner:

Heather's Before Hair

Heather's After Hair (New cut and color)




Runner Up:


Sabrina's Before Hair

Sabrina's After Hair (new cut and color)

As you can see, Joy did an amazing job on both of our winners. They both look beautiful! I love the new cuts and color. I really can't say enough good about Joy. She has a beautiful salon, a vibrant personality and always makes you feel welcome and comfortable. She really is the best hair stylist I have ever met. If you are in need of a hair stylist, give Joy a call. You will love her!!!

All About You Hair Salon
94 Hidlay Church Road
Bloomsburg, PA 17815
570-387-1990

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I Found The Picture!

I found a picture of myself in the dress that I posted last night. I'm sorry about the way the picture looks below. For some reason my scanner won't put my pictures on the computer screen so I had to take a picture of a picture.

This is actually a picture from my Church's graduation banquet. I look so young!

May 1998

May 2010

Unexpected Accomplishment

Ok, I have to say this is kind of a silly accomplishment but an accomplishment just the same. This morning as I was getting dressed for church I pulled out an old dress and put it on. My selection of clothing is lacking at the time being because I am now down to a 12 but want to be in a 10 soon. So I really have been putting off buying 12's and hoping that I can get by for a few more weeks.

When I was walking out of the house I realized that I was wearing the same dress that I wore to my High School graduation almost exactly 12 years ago. It was so funny!

Sorry about the look on my face. I was in the middle of talking when my

husband snapped the picture. :)

In some ways I was excited because it fit and in others embarrassed that I kept a dress for that long. It definitely made me think about what size I am. I didn't realize that I am wearing the exact same size that I wore my Senior year of High School. It is kind of weird to think about.



I also realized that I may wear the same size that I wore in High School but I am definitely not built the same as I was 12 years ago. I can't wait to go through my old pictures and find one of me wearing this dress. It will be fun (and maybe slightly depressing) to compare. :)


Have you ever had an unexpected accomplishment?

And The Number Is ... Week 72

What a weak! I feel like it just flew by. It was definitely a fun week. The highlight of my week was going out with some friends for Sushi. It was my first time eating sushi and I am officially hooked. I ate it all. Raw and cooked. I definitely preferred the raw. The B52 was my absolute favorite. It was just so nice to go out with friends and have a good time. Here are some pics from our night out.

Those pictures make me so hungry! :) I can't wait to go back and have more Sushi!

Luckily I weighed in before we went out. When I weighed in on Friday morning I weighed 170 pounds. I was very disappointed. I only lost .4 pounds. I felt like I did really well all week so I was shocked to not be back into the 160's. I really just want to hit my 50 pounds list.

My Week In Review:

1. Exercise: Cardio Max dvd, Dance exercise dvd (netflix) and running and walking on treadmill.

2. Water: I drank lots and lots of water this week.

3. Late night eating: No. I have been way to tired to eat late at night.

4. Snacking: Snacking on Weight Watchers String Cheese, SF Pudding cups with peanut butter and fat free pringles

5. Eating more fruits and veggies: I need to eat more fruit which means I need to buy more fruit.




What do I need to work on for next week: I really need to exercise more. I have been having migraines so often that I just feel to tired to exercise. I really hope it is just allergies and that they stop soon.

New Exercise Find!

I'm so excited to share this with all of you! As you all know I have been having trouble the last few weeks getting exercise back into my routine. I think I may have found the solution.

Netflix! My sister bought my husband a 6 month subscription for his birthday this past year. So my family and I have really been enjoying watching tons of movies. It is really great for us because we don't have cable. The best part is that you can order a free dvd from Netflix that allows you to watch all of their "Watch Instantly" selection right on your TV. It is so easy to use and convenient. Anyway, back to the exercise thing. I just realized that Netflix offers exercise DVD's. They actually have a pretty nice selection and many of them can be watched instantly.

This means that I can choose any of these videos and do them from my computer or my tv. I am so excited. I tried it out for the first time today. My girls were watching a Thomas The Train movie on the tv so I decided to do the exercise dvd on the laptop. It was wonderful!


The dvd I used was Dance Off the Inches: Tummy Tone Party Zone. It was great! I am so not coordinated but I was still able to do most of the steps to the dance. I loved it. It was really fun to dance while exercising. Then at the end of the dvd their was a special abs on the mat section. I really felt that I got a great workout from the dvd. I will definitely do it again. The best part was that when I was done I thought I had done the video for about 15 minutes but when I checked it was actually 38 minutes. Pretty cool!

If anyone is interested in trying out different exercise dvds Netflix just may be the way to go. I think it costs about $8.00 a month and you receive unlimited dvd's (one at a time) through the mail plus anything they have listed as watch instantly. It is such a great buy and I can't wait to try out the other videos.

Change

Me, Sabrina and Heather

This past Saturday we celebrated my nephews Birthday at a local amusement park. It was the perfect day to be outside for a party. We all had a great time riding rides and walking around the park. And after 3 Excedrin Migraine I was headache free for the day.

Enjoying the rides!

After nine hours at the park I realized how much I have changed over the past year. Not just physically but mentally. I realized that while we walked around the park for nine hours I didn't crave every food item I smelled. I didn't feel that need to eat everything in site. Last year I remember how hard it was not to eat all of the wonderful food that I normally ate. This year it didn't even cross my mind. I ate one and a half pieces of pizza, half of a tri tater and a third of a banana split that I split with my hubby.

May 2009



May 2010

Honestly I had so much fun with my girls, family and friends that I didn't even think about the food until it was dinner time. I watched my girls ride rides and also rode some with them. It was so much fun! It felt really great to not fight the urge to eat all day. I hope this is a permanent change and I will be able to visit parks all of the time without binging.

This picture I love for several reasons. The first reason is because the kids had so much fun riding together in the car. They loved beeping the horn. The second reason I love this picture is because the woman standing off to the side of the ride in the blue shirt is ME! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this picture. I didn't even recognize myself. It is funny how my mind still hasn't adjusted to my size. I was so excited to see that this is what I look like. Now I just need to get my brain to catch up with things. I want to feel like I look like that. I hope that makes sense. :)

Here's to Change!!!

Migraines Have Been Taking Over My Life

For the past two weeks I feel like the migraines just haven't given me a break. I have been having migraines almost every day and I just can't seem to get rid of them. I think it is from the Fibromyalgia and lack of sleep. I have tried Tylenol, Tylenol PM at night, Midol, Excedrin migraine, IB Profin and Imetrex. I hate taking all of this medicine (not at the same time of course). The Excedrin migraine works well if I catch it right away and the Imetrex takes the edge off when I wait to long to take it.

I am just so sick of my life being ruled by migraines. I can't seem to function when my head hurts that bad. I don't want to talk, cook, clean, or anything else when I feel like this.

Today I woke up migraine free and had a great day. I caught up on all of my house cleaning, laundry and spent some time playing with my girls. It was a nice relaxing day. I am praying that I have many more days like this and no more migraine days.

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Does anyone have any advice for migraines? Secret remedies?


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It Was Horrible!

I just got done doing The Biggest Loser Cardio Max and it was awful! I thought the 30 Day Shred was bad but this was so much worse.



I really did not like this workout video. I found it boring. I know that no workout dvd's are fun or easy but I just did not like this one at all. It was hard and it was a good workout but I found it so boring that I never want to do it again. I never thought I would say this but compared to this workout the 30 Day Shred is awesome!


Has anyone else tried this one and felt the same way? Does it get better the more you do it?



On an up note I am in the 160's this morning! I am really excited to be back down in the 160's. 150's here I come! I also had a wonderful breakfast this morning. Here is a picture in case you didn't see it on my facebook page this morning.





I made a huge omelet with egg beaters, a Weight Watchers Pepper Jack cheese slice, and sauteed mushrooms and onions and a bagel thin with ICBINB spray and of course a cup of coffee. The WW Pepper Jack cheese game it a wonderful taste. I think I will use it every time from now on.

Weight Watchers Foods actually sent me a coupon for free cheese to review on my blog. I am so glad I chose the Pepper Jack cheese slices. They are awesome and I think they are going to be a food that I always keep in my fridge. These cheese slices are perfect on anything. Yesterday for lunch I even put a slice on a tuna melt. It was wonderful. I highly recommend trying it. If you love Pepper Jack cheese or any cheese for that matter, you will love it!

I Can Do It!

Tonight I made the most delicious dinner. I had some cooked shrimp in the freezer that I picked up at Wal-mart on Tuesday so I decided to cook it up. My whole family loved it. My husband actually told me that I should make it again. This is what I came up with.

Garlic Shrimp Pasta:

Ingredients:

1 box of Ronzoni Smart Taste Angel Hair Pasta

1 lb medium cooked shrimp (Wal-mart sells it for $5 a bag)

1 pint of grape tomatoes halved

1 - 2 tbsp olive oil

Brummel and Brown Butter - enough to cover pasta - I used about 1/3-1/2 Cup.

2-3 tbsp of minced garlic in oil

Directions:

Boil pasta according to directions on package. While water is starting to boil heat oil in fry pan with minced garlic. Add shrimp and cook until shrimp is heated and garlic is cooked. When Shrimp starts to stick add butter and simmer for a few minutes. Then add tomatoes and simmer for 1-2 minutes. After pasta is cooked and drained place in bowl and pour shrimp and butter over top and salt to taste.

7 Servings

Look what I bought today!

A new workout DVD. I bought the Biggest Loser Cardio Max workout. I heard it was really good. I can't wait to try it. I would have done it today but I have had a headache all afternoon. Excedrin Migraine didn't take care of it and neither did Midol. Unfortunately I am out of my migraine medicine so I am just going to have to sleep it off tonight.

Tomorrow I will officially start exercising again. I can do it! I am actually kind of excited about it. I hope the excitement stays until tomorrow. :)

And The Number Is ... Week 71

I finally feel like I am getting myself back on track. I feel like I am ready to move forward with my weight loss. I really want it now. Maybe because my sister officially weighs less then me. I told you that I love a challenge. :)

I still haven't gotten back to exercising but I do have plans. I will tell you about them in a later post. I am definitely ready to get back into the groove of exercising again. Not only do I feel better mentally when I exercise but also my Fibromyalgia pain gets a little better.

I was very excited when I stepped on the scale this morning. I almost lost all of the weight that I gained last week. I am down to 170.4. That's a 2.2 pound loss for the week. Not bad! This brings me to a total loss of 46.2 pounds.



My Week In Review:

1. Exercise: No

2. Water: I drank lots and lots of water this week.

3. Late night eating: Last night I ate about 3 cups of light ice cream with some raw almonds. It wasn't that late but I really shouldn't have eaten it. I should have just gone to bed.

4. Snacking: I did great this week. I picked up some raw almonds and I have really been enjoying them as a snack.

5. Eating more fruits and veggies: Lovin' my Lucky Leaf Salad!

Lucky Four-Leaf Salad with feta and apples
Hungry Girl 1-2-3 Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 Fuji Apple
3 cups 3-lettuce blend bagged lettuce
1 cup spinach leaves
1/4 cup crumbled reduced fat feta cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 TBSP thinly sliced dry-roasted almonds
Optional: Freshly ground black pepper, light vinaigrette dressing or another low-calorie dressing

Directions:
Cut apple into quarters and remove the core, seeds, and stem. Thinly slice and then cut the slices in half width wise.

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl. Add some pepper and dressing if you like, but this salad's so flavorful you may not need 'em. Enjoy!!!

Makes 1 serving - 213 calories, 8 grams of fat, 6.5 g fiber


What do I need to work on for next week:Start exercising! That is my main concern for the week.

Why Do I Hate Exercise?

I didn't exercise for yet another day. I really had planned to but around 10am I realized that I promised a friend that I would attend her Discovery Toys party. I rushed around and headed over to her house and really enjoyed checking out all of the great educational toys. I got home around 2:30pm and spent the rest of the day, cleaning, doing laundry and getting my daughter ready for her soccer game. Now I am completely exhausted and the last thing I want to do is exercise. It always seems like something. Maybe I am just really good at making excuses to why I couldn't exercise.

I decided that since the lack of motivation to exercise is my biggest problem that I would look back over all of my posts labeled exercise to see if I could find anything helpful. Click here to view the posts. What I have found is that last year at this time I was riding my bike a lot for exercise. I forgot how much I love to ride my bike. If only I could convince my 5 year old to get into the bike trailer after the "spider incident" last summer while we were camping. I might have to use bribery. :) I really would like to ride my bike again.

Another plan that I have is to go to Walmart tomorrow and buy a new exercise video. Something fun! Any Suggestions? The only one that I own is Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I need something to get me excited about exercising.

I also noticed that last summer I was a lot more active in general. Instead of sitting around the house I was out taking walks or hiking. I really enjoy that type of exercise. I think my problem is that I think I need burn 500 calories every time I exercise and the thought of that overwhelms me so I just don't do it. I need to remind myself that any exercise is better then none. If I don't have time to do a form of structured exercise then I should at least try to get a little walk in.


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What is your favorite exercise video?

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Please Join Me!

I am so excited! A few weeks ago I received a coupon, from Weight Watchers Foods, for a free box of the new Weight Watcher's Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream bars to review. I tried them a few nights ago and they are so good! They are actually my new favorite. For 2 Points it is a must try! I am actually eating one as I type. :)



Great News:

Tonight I opened a Pudget facebook account. It is going to be so exciting to talk to all of my readers on facebook. :) Please join my page by clicking here and sending me a friend request!

Back To The Basics!

I decided to take some advice from some of my very sweet readers. I got several comments in the past few weeks telling me that the way to go is to get back to the basics. So I decided to give it a try.

I just said to my sister today that I know what I need to do to lose the next 10 pounds. It is just making myself do it. I need to exercise and be strict with what I allow myself to eat. It sounds so easy. So why is it so hard?

The next week or so I am going to be going back threw some of my past posts and finding some of the things that I did in the past that really helped me with my weight loss. I will be sure to share them with you when I find them.


Today at Wal-mart I picked up a few things that used to help me in the past. I bought a big bag of raw almonds, salad mix, a huge watermelon, 2 apples, SF choc. pudding mix for breakfast smoothies, frozen shrimp and salmon. These are all things that I enjoy and that I know will help with the weight loss. Now onto how I am going to make myself exercise regularly. I haven't figured this one out yet but it is definitely my next big challenge. I really hope that once I figure this one out there will be no stopping me!

Any suggestions on how to get myself motivated to exercise regularly again?

Why Don't I Recognize Myself???

Yesterday when I posted this picture I didn't like it. I didn't like the way I looked. Then the more I looked at my face the more I realized that I didn't look ugly. It just didn't look like me. I know that sounds crazy but for some reason when I look at pictures of myself lately I don't see me. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing. It's just weird!

I don't know if any of you have ever experienced something like this with your weight loss journey but it is the strangest feeling. I'm not sure if I like the way I look or not. When I think of it as me in the picture I think I look bad (not pretty) but when I look at it as if it is someone else I think that someone else looks very pretty.

I haven't figured out why I feel this way yet but I can't seem to get it off my mind. If you have any ideas please let me know because it is driving me crazy!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mothers out there! I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating your Mother and/or celebrating being a Mother.

This is how I celebrated.

1st I took my girls to get pictures taken with my niece and nephews. After 3 1/2 hours we were finally done. Note to self - 5 kids and 3 1/2 hours of pictures is not a good idea. :) It was nice because we were able to buy a big package and split it. It cost me $59 for tons of photos for my Mom, Mother-in-law and myself and everything on a CD to take home. This is what we ended up with.

My Girls

Me and My Girls

Yesterday my husband decided to turn Mother's Day into Mother's Day weekend. He helped my daughters cook me breakfast in bed. They made me oatmeal, turkey sausage and toast. He said he couldn't find the eggs. He's too funny. :) Later in the day he took the girls out for lunch to give me some time to myself and then came home with an amazingly beautiful hanging flower.

Then our Sunday School class had Fiesta Night. We had tons of wonderful Authentic Mexican food. It was so, so good! I wish I could eat like that every night. It was also wonderful to fellowship with other couples from our Church. It was a wonderful night.


Today after Church I cooked lunch for my wonderful Mom. We had Sweet and Sour Pork with white rice and broccoli. It was a new recipe that I tried and it was so good! I will definitely make it again. Although I'm sure I will change it up a bit to make it a little healthier. Maybe less oil and Splenda instead of sugar. Then it will be perfect. Healthy and great tasting.




Then Dessert!!! I made chocolate fondue. Homemade chocolate fondue! It was awesome! Ok, it was more then awesome. I actually ate until I felt sick. We ate it with Strawberries, Bananas and Pound Cake. I'm sure you can guess which one was my favorite. :) Here are some pics of us enjoying our dessert.





Here's to the end of a wonderful Mother's Day. I hope you all enjoyed today as much as I did.

Happy Mother's Day!

And The Number Is ... Week 70

What an awful week for weight loss. The low carb thing did not work well for me and I ended up binging the last few days. I ate everything in site. Including lots of cake and other unhealthy foods.

I'm very upset with myself because this morning when I got on the scale it said 172.6. That is a gain of 2.6 pounds. Yikes!

I really need to get past this plateau. I need some help. If any of you have any suggestions please let me know. This is the hardest plateau I have hit so far. It seem like every 10 pounds I hit another plateau. I really want to be in a size 10 for the summer. I just need to keep reminding myself of that.


My Week In Review:

1. Exercise: No- That a big problem. I know that if I exercise it will come off so much faster. Actually now that I think about it I think that is how I got past the last plateau. I guess it is worth a try. :) Know I just need the energy to do it.

2. Water: I drank plenty of water this week!

3. Late night eating: I think I did get up and binge on chocolate on or two nights this week. That stupid Easter Candy. It's not even stuff that I like. :(

4. Snacking: I did good snacking when I was doing low carb but once I stopped I started snacking on chocolate and everything else I could find.

5. Eating more fruits and veggies: I ate lots of veggies this week and really enjoyed it. I haven't eaten fruit in a while because I haven't had the extra money to spend on it. Hopefully I can afford it next week.


What do I need to work on for next week:
I need to beat this plateau! I know I can do this. I just need to refocus and really concentrate on my eating, exercise and sleeping schedule. I also need to make time to exercise. It seems so hard to do right now because I seem to always be on play dates, the park, shopping, cocking or cleaning. How do I find time for me? I need to figure this one out.

Swiffer Sweeper Vac - Review

A few weeks ago I received a really great product to review. I received the Swiffer Sweeper Vac, refills, information and a Walmart gift all provided by P&G through MyBlogSpark.

All I have to say is "Wow"! This thing is awesome! I loved it from the minute I got it out of the box. Not only is it adorable but it works really well. I love that you just charge the battery and then you use it with no cords attached. It makes things so much easier for me. I usually get three good vacuums with each charge.

I use it on my kitchen floor which is Pergo flooring. I was shocked at how much this little vacuum can pick up in such a short amount of time. It takes me less then two minutes to clean the entire floor. It even gets dog fur from my Border Collie, Jake.

I love the fact that the Swiffer even gets all of the little particles that a normal vacuum can't get. The best part is that my floor looks beautiful after each use. I usually use it every day just because it is so simple. I figure it only takes me 2 minutes and no plug in time so why not.

I have been using the Swiffer Sweeper Vac for about 6 weeks and I am absolutely satisfied with it. The kit cost about $40 at Walmart and I feel it would definitely be money well spent. It has made my life so much easier and my house much cleaner. It doesn't get much better then that!

I Can't Stop Eating!

This is seriously ridiculous. I haven't stopped eating like a pig in days. I don't know if the low carb messed me up or if it is just that time of the month. Either way I need it to stop.





Maybe I have just been to busy to properly plan my meals. Yesterday was my daughter's 2nd birthday. We had a small party for her at the house. It was so nice!

Mimi brought candy!

Unfortunately I was able to relax so much that I ate way to much food. I made this wonderful dip with 2% Velveeta cheese, salsa and lean hamburger. You microwave, stir and then eat it with Tostitoes. It was so, so good. I think I ate half of the bowl myself. I wish my body would just tell me when to stop or should I say that I would listen to my body when it tells me when to stop.

It gets worse. I then had cake and ice cream. My friend made Makayla this absolutely adorable cake. I love how bright it is and it tasted as good as it looked. It tasted so good that I woke up this morning and ate it for breakfast. :( I think I am just sabotaging myself. I think some good sleep would really help this binge. As soon as I am done typing this post I am going right up to bed. I am exhausted from this week.

The cake that Nyky made.

Grandpa, Makayla, Mommy and Madelyn

I did do well part of today. My daughter's school had a Mother's Tea and of course they had tons of cookies and muffins. I ate one mini lemon poppy seed muffin and one very small peanut butter cookie. I probably didn't eat them much because I'm sure I was still full from breakfast (cake). I did have a wonderful time watching my daughter act like a big girl with the rest of her Pre-Kindergarten class. She did a great job and had so much fun showing me everything she has learned.

Maddie and her Pre-K friends

Maddie and Luke

We then spent the afternoon at a friends house having a little cookout/play date. It was so much fun but I got a little sun burned. At least I remembered to put sunscreen on the kids.

My friend made me the best burgers for lunch. They were Don Lee Farms Veggie Patties that she found at Costco. They were huge and only 3 or 4 WW P's. The best part was that they tasted like a giant potato pancake. So, so good. I wish I had a Cosco around here. If you have one near you I would highly recommend trying them out.

After the play date we went to my daughter's soccer game and then home for leftovers. I had a veggie burger, a hot dog, broccoli salad, pasta salad, and macaroni salad. I need to stay away from that stuff. I know it is all way to fattening.

Tomorrow I am going to make the effort to watch what I eat, drink a lot of water and even get in some exercise. No more excuses!

Do you ever have busy weeks when you just can't get your act together and eat healthy? How do you get yourself back on track?