Losing the Pregnancy Pounds: When the Results Surprise You

I had a great experience stepping on the scale this morning ... one, two, and three times, just to make sure that number was correct.  Another three pounds lost since last Wednesday.  These are the kind of results that are super motivating and encouraging.  I know it won't be like this all the time (probably not even next week), so I'm going to revel in this feeling of success while I can.

I was especially surprised this morning because when I weighed in for the weight loss challenge at my Zumba class last night, I hadn't lost any weight compared to last Tuesday night.  I was pretty bummed because I felt like I've been working pretty hard.  I know weighing in on two different scales can be tricky (and at two different times of day), and I usually trust my home scale most of all because I've always been consistent on it and use it most often.

Pleasant surprises like this can really make your day!

Top 5 Reasons Why I Love My Husband

I'm kind of stealing this idea from Ali's blog because I think it's a great post.  Another of my 2013 goals is to be more intentional in all my relationships, including my marriage.  I think a lot of times when you have a baby, even though it's the best ever, it can cause the focus to shift from your relationship with your spouse to how both of you relate to your new bundle of joy.  This year, we are trying to take the time to focus on each other just a little bit more.

So, here we are with My Top 5 Reasons I Love My Husband.

1. He's my best friend.  I can talk about anything with him, and I like spending time with him most of all.  And he can always make me laugh, even if I really really really don't want to.

2. He supports me in whatever I decide to do, even if I don't stick with it (which is usually) and no matter how many times I change my mind.  Making my own baby food - sure!  Starting a blog - sounds good, honey!  Eating healthy - no complaints!

3. He's an amazing Dad.  He loves Liam so much and takes such good care of him.  He spends as much time playing with him as he can when he's home.  He was the first one that could make Liam giggle.  And he can always keep a level head in a scary situation (i.e. the other day when Liam had an unknown something in his mouth and was kind of gagging/choking on it and I was fah-reaking out).

4. He's looks great in uniform.  And he's pretty good looking all the other times, too.  And he's really good at his job.

5. He loves me for me.  Always.  No matter what I look like or act like, and whether or not I'm having a complete breakdown over a can opener (ahem, this morning), he's always there to tell me I look beautiful, to give me a hug, and to try and solve my problem.

Seriously, I love being married to this guy.  How did I get so lucky?

Meal Planning

I used to be really good at meal planning, and I even tried my hand at freezer cooking a while back and got really good at it and LOVED how much it simplified my life.  But through moving in with our in-laws for two months and then having an absolutely crazy holiday season, I have gotten far away from it.  I think last week I made at least 4 trips to the store for one thing or another, shopped without a list, spent way too much money, and made multiple last minute decisions to eat out instead of making something at home.  And since one of my 2013 goals is to reduce our grocery budget while still feeding my family real, healthy food, I've decided to take on Shanna's Feed 2 for $50 Challenge (I seriously love Shanna's blog - check her out!).

This challenge is going to take some creative shopping and some serious planning, but I've been thinking about it for a while now, and I think I'm ready to try it.  The $50 budget will be ONLY for food for Korey and me - baby supplies/formula/other household items will come out of a different budget (so will date nights, which we tend to do once every two weeks).  I also don't have to cook dinner every night of the week - since my husband works overnight shift starting at 6pm, I usually don't cook a big dinner on the nights he's gone.  And we definitely need to get better at utilizing leftovers around here - last time I cleaned out our fridge I threw away so much food, and I hate doing that!

So, I'll be starting this challenge next week, but for this week I'm going to get my feet wet by at least posting my plan.

Sunday - Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Monday - Breakfast for Dinner!  French toast, bacon, and eggs.

Tuesday - Chicken Taco Soup

Wednesday - Leftovers (Korey works)

Thursday - Soup & Sandwiches (Korey works)

Friday & Saturday - We will be out of town visiting my parents!

My Sunday To-Do List

This morning was chilly and rainy, and my husband worked 12am-6am so he was catching up on his sleep this morning.  And I still haven't gotten the hang of handling Liam at church by myself since he's become so mobile and talkative.  And since he's developed a little separation anxiety, I don't like the thought of dropping him off in the church nursery.  So I just decided that we would stay in today.

My Sunday to-do list inevitably consists of laundry and cooking/prepping food for the week.  Today I made Baked Oatmeal Muffins with chocolate chips (only 120 calories each!).  Also on the list today: lots of time playing on the floor with my boyo and getting all our Christmas decorations taken down and put away (so glad that's finally done!).

Since we moved into this house at the beginning of December and pretty much decorated for Christmas as soon as the boxes were out of the living room, it's kind of nice to see what our house will look like in it's normal state now.  I'm working on a more organized play area for Liam in our living room - not gonna lie, right now we just pile all of his toys in the middle of a blanket, pull the corners up, and stuff the whole thing underneath a side table after he goes to bed at night (and yeah, it's not really working out that well).  So I can't wait to get things organized!

We also just received a baker's rack for our kitchen as a housewarming gift from my parents - I'm so excited that our microwave won't have to be on our kitchen table anymore!  Can't wait to start getting things set up around here!

Losing the Pregnancy Pounds Part Three: Results

A series of posts about losing the weight I gained with my pregnancy.  I didn't start this blog to be a weight loss blog, but it is a big part of my life right now so I can't help writing about it. 

Part One: My Backstory
Part Two: My Plan

I am happy to report that I lost 3.5 pounds in my first week!!  I know that the majority of that weight loss is probably the water I retained from eating ALL THE THINGS over the holidays, but I was happy with the number I saw on the scale yesterday morning nonetheless!

I think the hardest part of starting any weight loss plan is having patience with your results.  It's hard for me to not will the time away so I can just get to my goal weight.  I signed up for TWO weight loss challenges this week.  And looking at my starting weight on both of those charts and seeing the spaces for the weigh-ins for each week or month with the dates through March or June, just really makes me want the time to pass so I can see my weigh go down and down.  So I'm trying really hard NOT to do that.  I'm also trying really hard to not expect unrealistic results from myself.  Even 3.5 pounds is a pretty big loss for one week, and I definitely will not expect that all the time.  I really don't think it's healthy or realistic to lose more than 2 pounds per week (I'm no weight loss expert, just talking from my own past experiences), but I know that changing your diet drastically like I've done can jump-start your results at the beginning.

One day at a time, one pound at a time.  Eventually, it really will be June and I'll be able to see all the hard work pay off.

And speaking of hard work, it has been hard.  I did have some slip-ups Friday and Saturday last week (weekends are always my weight-loss nemesis), and again on Monday when the BCS bowl game was on.  I've been pretty good about sticking with the 30 Day Shred, but I'll admit that I haven't done it everyday.  I thought I could do both that workout and Zumba in one day, but I am just pooped out most of the time, so I've skipped it a couple times.  I'm getting ready to move onto level 2 tomorrow night anyway though, so we'll see how tough that is!

What I've Been Cooking Up Lately

Skinnytaste's Stuffed Pepper Soup:

• This recipe was amazing!!  I made it New Years Day, and it was the perfect snowy day comfort food.  And it made a HUGE pot - fed the two of us for dinner and leftovers for 3 days!  
• Very low cal - the calories listed included 1/2 cup rice per serving!  Also low in fat and high in protein.  I love that.  Can't beat a recipe that is low cal AND filling.
• Definitely putting this one into my rotation of healthy recipes.

Skillet Lasagna I found on Pinterest:

• I grew up on hearty Italian food, and lasagna might be one of my favorites.  I mean, who can say no to that pile of noodley-cheesey-carby goodness??
• Using part skim ricotta and part skim mozzarella cheese keeps this recipe reasonably low in calories, which is amazing.  And it still tastes great!  I thought there was NO WAY 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese would be enough, so I added more (oops), and it was almost TOO cheesy (what?!).  Half a cup definitely would have been enough.

Banana Bread Muffins

• I've used Skinnytaste's banana bread recipe before and loved it.  Bananas were reduced at the grocery store last week, so I bought a whole bunch (haha see what I did there?), but I also wanted something grab & go for breakfasts in the morning - so I decided to convert this recipe into muffins!
• They turned out great - made about 21 big muffins that freeze great - I just take a couple out of the freezer each night and let them thaw on the counter for breakfast the next morning.  And only about 140 calories each.  Love it!

Twice "Baked" Cauliflower

• SO GOOD.  This was my first time using cauliflower as a stand in for potatoes, and I will definitely do it again.  I mean, you can tell it's cauliflower, but this dish is so creamy and cheesy and good that I didn't even mind that it wasn't potatoey.  
• And since it calls for reduced fat cream cheese, low fat sour cream, and reduced fat cheddar cheese, it's not quite the caloric bomb that twice baked potatoes are.  AND it still has bacon in it!  WIN.

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Cups

• I tried this recipe out as a grab-and-go breakfast option, too.  They were good, but didn't turn out exactly as I had expected.  I think it was because I didn't follow the directions quite right - I just patted the biscuit dough out with my hands and then smooshed it into the muffin tin, then I put the crumbled bacon in the bottom, then egg, then cheese.  Well, when I opened the oven to take them out, there was egg and cheese EVERYWHERE - well at least, all over the muffin pan.  I managed to salvage it by just cutting them apart after they cooled, and they still tasted good.  But I wonder if there's a trick to putting the bacon on the top, if it somehow keeps the egg mixture in the biscuit?  
• I also thought that using a whole biscuit for each cup as a little much - too much bread for me.  I think next time I try something like this, I might cut each biscuit in half and hopefully they won't puff up as much and not push so much of the egg mixture out too.
• A great breakfast option for less than 150 calories.

What have you been cooking up lately?

Losing the Pregnancy Pounds Part Two: My Plan for January 2013

A series of posts about losing the weight I gained with my pregnancy.  I didn't start this blog to be a weight loss blog, but it is a big part of my life right now so I can't help writing about it. 

Losing the Pregnancy Pounds Part One: My Backstory

My Plan for Kicking off the New Year

My first goal for 2013 is to lose 30 pounds.  I'm normally not one to flaunt it about that I'm going to try to lose 30 pounds because what if I fail and then everyone knows and that makes me feel awful?  But I NEED the accountability and the pressure right now to make myself do this.  And, for me, at least right now, it's not about getting skinny, it's about being healthy.   I'm carrying around a lot of weight from my pregnancy and it makes me feel awful all the time - not just in self esteem (though certainly that too), but physically not like myself - no energy, tired all the time, back aches, headaches, etc.  I want and need to start feeling better so I can be my best self!  Who wants to live life NOT being their best self?

So how am I going to reach this goal of mine?  Here's my plan for January:

1. Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred: Every. Day. For this whole month.  The best part about this workout is that it's only about 20 minutes long, so there is very little excuse to not get it done.  Even if it's 10 or 11pm and I haven't worked out yet, I am able to just DO IT quickly, and then get a shower and head to bed.  (Working out in the evening works for me - if I tried to work out in the morning I would NEVER do it - I know this from experience.)  I also love this workout because it combines strength training (with 3 lb hand weights) and cardio.
2. My Fitness Pal:  Add me as a friend if you have one too (my username is lizflinn)!  This is a great site for tracking your calories and exercise.  You can put in how much weight you want to lose per week and it tells you how many calories you should net per day (net calories is calories eaten minus calories burned).  I also love that you can add friends and encourage each other!  It really helps me stay on track!
3. One cheat day per week:  I've always done this while dieting/losing weight, and it helps me stay with it.  If I'm super strict with what I can/can't eat and never let myself indulge, I will inevitably give up.  If I can look forward to a meal I've been craving all week for a date night on Friday night, then it helps me stay on track for the week.  Then I can eat what I want, and get back to tracking calories the next day.  It works for me.  
4. Weighing in once a week: It's important to me to not become obsessed with the number on the scale (it's so easy!), so I try to weigh myself just once a week - every Wednesday morning.  I picked up the "Weigh In Wednesday" idea from blogging on Tumblr, and I think Wednesday works well because it's opposite the weekend (when I usually eat more calories and/or have a cheat day).  It's hard for me to not want to jump on the scale and see results the second day, but it's important to be patient.

And so far so good (yes, I know I'm only through three days so far).  I've been under my calorie goal for the past three days, and I've done level one of the 30 day shred every day.  I also wanted to go to Zumba today, but it was cancelled - but next week I'm going to try and add in Zumba.  

This Friday night is date night, so I am looking forward to indulging a little bit in a nice dinner and possibly a movie out with my man.  Then it'll be back to the calorie tracking on Saturday.  I'm really hoping to see good results on Wednesday!