Friday Weigh In: Week ??? (Okay fine, it's week 11, I guess I skipped a few)

Alright y'all.... let's get back in this!!!

Now, I don't have to say I completely fell off the dieting band wagon, I just stopped blogging about it. Last I checked in I had lost 7.6 pounds after 3 weeks of changing my diet. I wasn't really working out at all, I just changed what I was eating!

Then I stopped tracking my food... I never gained weight, but it was coming off much much much slower.

BREAKING NEWS: Last Wednesday I got on the scale and I was BELOW my pre-pregnancy weight!!!!!   But my weight loss goals do not stop there. Let me explain....

My pre-baby weight was not really my goal weight. During the months that we were trying to get pregnant, I gained 6 pounds. 6 pounds is an entire pant size for me, people! I did this thing where every month during the two-week weight (You Mama's or people trying to conceive know what I'm talking about!) I would be like, "Oh my gosh, I'm soooo hungry! Maybe I'm pregnant!" And then I wasn't. I did this cycle 6 times and gained about a pound each time. Ha! Needless to say, my pre-pregnancy weight is not really where I want to be....

NEXT GOAL: Lose 6 pounds. This will put me at my REAL pre-pregnancy weight

So to recap, after 10 weeks (3 of REALLY watching what I ate and 7 of just making slightly better choices) I lost 11 pounds.  Not too shabby :)

Weight Loss

Start- X lbs (BMI: 25)

Week 1: -4.6 lbs

Week 2: -1.4 lbs

Week 3: -1.6 lbs

Week 4-10: -5 lbs (BMI: 23.1)

Week 11: NOTHING (HA! I worked sooooo hard!!)

Total Weight Loss: 11 lbs!

Current Weight- 143

Current Goal- 138

I'm 5'6''

Can everyone please note how much I exercised this week!!! And I didn't loose any weight! Grrrrr

I have stopped eating flex points and started eating activity points (points you earn from working out). I don't eat them the same day, I just try to be close at the end of the week. This week I was at exactly 29 for both which is great! 29 is a lot of activity points! I've been busting my butt at the gym! I would be there longer but I don't really like leaving Elisabeth there for too long :)

I'm just going to try to do the same thing this week! My plan for Thanksgiving is to totally enjoy all the food, eat just a little more than I normally would, and not count any points. I'm going to a two-hour special Thanksgiving class at the gym in the morning, so I'm not too concerned.


In my opinion though, this is where the real work is going to come in! I think loosing baby weight might be easier than loosing the same weight that has been on me for a few years, so we will find out!

So, this is going to be harder... so I needed some extra motivation!  Let me share with you my two motivators right now (okay, maybe 3... actually 4. lol! I'm just making this up as I go!!)

1. Transformations- Fitness for Women

This gym is amazing!! I have been going for about a week and a half and I LOVE it! I think what I like about it so much are the classes. Before I would (maybe) go to the gym and get on the elliptical for 20-30 minutes. I might lift a few weights, but eventually I didn't have time to lift weights, and then I didn't have time for the elliptical. I think I was a little bored. Transformations has classes most of the day and its an all womens gym, so its a little less embarrassing to go the classes and look a FOOL! Speaking of looking like a fool.... that brings me to my next motivator....

2. Shasta Patel- my amazing friend that is mildly addicted to the gym.

Seriously, this girl loves the gym. She only goes three times a week now, but she has been consistently going for 5 years. Anyone that consistently goes for more than a few months is like, my hero. She also goes to transformations. You should have seen us on the Zumba floor two nights ago looking like fools!!! Oh my goodness. If Shasta can get to the gym 3 times a week with 3 kids, surely I can get there with just my one little baby, right??? Thanks for the motivation, girl!!

3. The Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas

I've got exactly 3 WEEKS before we are in Atlantis!! I mean, enough said right? Who doesn't want to loose weight before they go to the Bahamas?

And last, but certainly not least....

4. My amazing husband

Ummm... oh my gosh. My man looks GOOD ;-) He can't be showing me up like that!! My husband is so supportive of any decision I make to live a healthier lifestyle. We encourage one another to make healthy choices about what we eat and he is so supportive in helping me find time to get to the gym! It is so much easier when your spouse is along for the ride with you!!!




Good luck to anyone else trying to loose weight this week!

Elisabeth Grace: 10 Months Old

Ummm... Whoops!! What happened to the 9 months old blog post?? Elisabeth, please forgive me :) You have been sick and I have been tired. But I love you and will just write all about it here.

**Get ready people, I think this is going to be a long post! Elisabeth has done SO MUCH this past month!!! **

Oh my heavens, why are you so big? Only one more month birthday before it is your REAL birthday!!! You are the cutest little boo boo bear ever.

You sleep like an angel. When you were sick this month you were not sleeping through the night, but we're back on track with that!! If we are home you take an hr long nap at 9:30 and I wake you up at 10:30. I do that so that you take a long nap in the afternoon, usually from 1:30/2 - 4/4:30. If we're not home in the morning, that is fine too! You will just take a 20 minute nap in the car and then you will usually sleep a full 3 hours that afternoon. That is my preferred schedule right now because we can be out and about and do more things!

You are currently wearing size 12-18 month clothes. How did that happen??? You still sort of fit in 9-12, but honestly, some of your 12-18 are a little small!  You are busting out of your size 3 diaper, too! We are almost out of them and then we'll move on to size 4. At your 9 month check-up you were 28 inches long (I think you were really 28.5 in) which is the 66th percentile. You also weighed 19.6 lbs which was the 70th percentile. And your head is still in the 98th percentile ;-)

You. Eat. Everything.

For breakfast you usually eat baby oatmeal with mixed in banana or a strawberry, blueberry, banana mix I make for you. For lunch you typically have Greek yogurt and a little of what I'm having. For dinner you are getting to the point where you just eat whatever we're eating. and then we also make you some chopped veggies that you can feed yourself. You like, fish, chicken, pork, rice, beans, corn, tomatoes, quinoa, and basically anything else I have ever given you. Let's all hope that you stay like this :)

You love music and dancing!

You LOVE to dance. I don't even know how it started! We never taught you to move back and forth, you just started doing it! And you do it to everything! Music on your toys, in the car, in the grocery store, or on TV. If there is music, you are dancing! You like to wobble side to side and now you also shake your head up and down and throw your arms in the air (cutest thing ever!)

You also have recently learned to imitate "arms up" and "clap." You don't always do it when we ask, but I
think that is your little personality showing through. Because of my job I am always asking kids to do something and then giving them a reward, but if I'm holding something in my hand that you want and I ask you to do something first, you scream at me and lunge for the reward. I would never let\ the kids I work for get away with that, but I totally let you do it ;-)

You also just learned to sign "more" the other day. It all really started when Auntie Kathy gave you pumpkin pie.....

She worked hard to get you to sign "more" but you wern't having it!! You still are very hit or miss with it, but the other day you did it for food like, 8 times in a row! 

signing "more"

You also learned how to stand on your own this month! Actually, it was almost an entire month ago, RIGHT after you turned 9 months old. And to be honest, you haven't really done it since! Just 2 or 3 times. But I don't really encourage it. I really want you to crawl before you walk so I put you on your belly to play most of the time and almost never let you stand on your feet :) Who knows if that even matters... probably not! Ha!

First time standing on your own! We're at the little park in our neighborhood  :)

Earlier this month you got your very first tooth!! October 18th to be exact. And two days later, the bottom left popped through too! This also marks the beginning of a 3 week sickness for you :( It was SO sad. I thought it was just teething... but apparently it wasn't. It started with a two day fever and turned in to a 3 week cold with several fevers. You were SO congested and just sleeping terribly. Dad and I got the cold as well and we were all just a mess.

Elisabeth, you are so cute with your toys! You are in a stage where you just LOVE to play with your toys! You will play with them for as long as I let you and you're really not demanding of my time. I have to purposefully stop myself from what I'm trying to get done and sit down and play with you (which I constantly do because I LOVE to play with you!!!) Sometimes you just make life to easy. Watch it girl or you won't be an only child that long ;-)

And last, but definitely not least, while you were 9 months old we went and voted for our President!! I know this may not sound like a big deal, but it really really is. When I found out I was pregnant with you and that your due date was 1/12/12 I actually thought, "Oh wow, that's an election year, I can't wait to take my baby to go vote with me!" I'm not joking. 

Well, I was so excited about the election that I obviously needed to set aside a special outfit and make you a special bow just for the day!!! :) One day you are going to look back at these pictures and think about how crazy I am. But just know that I am CRAZY in love with YOU!!! :)

You are the sweetest most precious little angel baby in the entire world. I literaly want to eat you up! Your dad and I love you so much. You bring us so much JOY! Every morning I feed you and he changes you and we just marvel at how precious you are. I hope you grow up knowing how much each one of us loves you and that we would do anything for you.

Note to self: write a separate post about Elisabeth's first sleepover, Halloween, our trip to the pumpkin patch, and Dad's birthday :)

* I did not proof read this post because I'm in a hurry. How embarrassing....  but I will do it later!

Friday Weigh In: Week 3

I feel like I didn't have the best week.... I still lost weight, but I definitely could have done better. Maybe it was all the birthday cake? And then Kathryn made dozens of cookies while I was at her house. Not cool.

My plan to motivate myself to workout did not work :(  But I will try again this week!!! I will stick with the same 10 points for free and anything else I have to earn.

Weight Loss

Start- X lbs

Week 1: -4.6 lbs
Week 2: -1.4 lbs

Week 3: -1.6 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 7.6 lbs
Average: 2.5 lbs/week 

Monday and Tuesday are not accurate :) I swear, I ate. I just wasn't great at keeping track on those days. It is hard with a baby!! I just do the best that I can do!!! I think I just need to be making better decisions about the points that I'm eating. And I need to work out!!!!!! 

I don't really feel like I've lost 8ish pounds, but I saw a picture of myself the other day and I didn't feel fat! So that's an improvement ;) 

What I've been eating this week......

The Santa Fe Salad with Chili Lime Dressing!! Oh it is soooo good!! And I'm adding some chicken with a tequila lime marinade from Webber

Hubby and I eat these marinades all week long. Webber has the BEST selection :) You should especially try the "Just Add Juice" marinades... oh so good :)

Happy Dieting!!

Friday Weigh In: Week 2

Y'all!! It is still working!!!! Whoop whoop!!

Weight Loss

Start- X lbs

Week 1: -4.6 lbs
Week 2: -1.4 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 6 lbs
Average: 3 lbs/week 

Yay! I'm just excited that I didn't gain this week! My goal is to loose 1-2 lbs a week, so 1.4 is perfect. I ate every single one of my flex points because I went to a Raven's game and yesterday was MOPS... which meant a big buffet of yummy food. I indulged a litttttttle too much. {read: 2am cheese tortellini)

Mon, Tues, and Wed calories are wrong!!

So, this week was just a little crazy across the board. The first three days were very consistent. I used flex points on Sunday for a small treat, but my calories were super consistent. Then on Monday I went to the Raven's game. I had planned out what I would eat and then it wasn't available. I ate a crab cake sandwich because it was all they had left. And it was really bad :-/ What a waste of my points!!!!!!!

Now, some of my calories are wrong because my computer died and I had forgotten to save the spread sheet this is all in. Remind me to set up the autosave this week.... I remembered how many points I ate but I was too lazy to recalculate calories :)

New Plan: So, I'm loving weight watchers, but I need to tweak it a little! WW gives you 49 flex points every week and then activity points that you can earn for doing exercise. I have been using my flex points but trying not to use my activity points. This has obviously worked, but I need something to motivate me to exercise!! So, this week I'm going to start with only 10 flex points (instead of 49) and any other extra points I want I'm going to have to earn through exercise. Has anyone else ever played around with there points like this??? If I still feel like it is too easy for me to indulge then I will just get rid of flex points completely, but I'm going to start with 10. We shall see!!! 

Even though I've lost 6 pounds, I really don't feel it because I haven't been exercising. I think that makes all the difference. Hopefully this week will be better!!!! Either way, I'm still excited about the weight loss :)

Hopefully I get good results this week and I am encouraged to exercise!!!!! :)

** Just a reminder- if you're comparing my weight loss plan to yours, remember that I'm nursing. 1700 calories to me is like, 1300 calories to a non-nursing women. My goal is 31 points but would be 26 without nursing **

Elisabeth Grace: 8 Months

Happy 8 month birthday my sweet baby girl!!!

 Elisabeth, you have been getting so big this past month! I think you've gone through a major growth spurt for your height. You're still wearing a size 3 diaper and 6-12 dresses, but 6-9 month clothes are starting to get snug! Dress season is about to be over and I'm devistated! But I'm really excited for all your fall clothes, too :)

One of my favorite Fall outfits for you!! I love these jeggings :)

and OH how I love these shoes!!

Baby girl.... You want to crawl!! This past week you started crawling backwards which is cute, but you get so frustrated because you're trying to crawl forwards!  When we put you on the ground sitting, you start to lean off to the side with both arms out like you want to crawl, but of you actually go through with it, you face plant into the floor... Whoops!!

You are also loving the park right now! You just start squesling when we get there and you see the swing! You are so cute! When we were there the other day a bunch of kids surrounded you and they all wanted to push you. It was so sweet. One of them said, "She is just the cutest baby I have ever seen! Like, she is scuter than any baby in my family!" LOL! I'm biased, but I have to agree ;)

You don't really have a favorite food right now. You're not a picky eater at all! I don't think you have ever denied anything I've given you! These past 2 or 3 wee ks you've been eating Gerber food because I've been busy {lazy} but I'm planning on making a new batch of food today!! You eat butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peas, and pears. And we're also gonna try spinache today.

You're still nursing 6 times a day. You eat around 7:30/8, 11, 2, 4:30/5, 7:30, and you get a dream feed around 10 pm. After all of our vacations you weren't
sleeping that well, but you are back on track now. You sleep like a log from 8pm-7:30am. Recently you start screaming when I pick you up in the morning though!! You are such a demanding eater!!!

Elisabeth, you have become such a big girl this month! You like to play with friends now {aka- Isaiah} and it is so cute to watch you two interact!! 

Oh sweet girl, you bring so much JOY to our lives! You are the most precious gift God could have ever entrusted to your daddy and I and we are so thankful for you!!!

Ravens Season Opener

If you didn't know, I AM A HUGE RAVENS FAN!!! Like, for real. I don't miss games. The one game I remember missing in recent years was because we went to Jesse Mathhew's and Virginia Vu's wedding and I still remember being upset about it. I remember we were playing the Colts that day. I didn't know Jesse and Virginia that well at the time (they're Josh's high school friends) and I wasn't happy!!! Although now I know and love them and I'm glad I went, lol!!

My Dad has season tickets and he is so sweet and he always takes either Carrie or I. This was the first game that I had to leave my little munchkin at home though!!! I missed her so much. I think I said, "I miss my baby!" 10 times while at the game. I also texted Josh maybe 5 times about how much I missed them. lol! I rarely leave Elisabeth for more than 2 hours, but I'm sure I'll get better. I only go to 4 games a year :)

Here we are at the game!!

My sweet Ravens fan!

I LOVE watching the players come out of the tunnel! This was Ray Rice who had the privilege of coming out last tonight. They also had fireworks all around the stadium which was awesome. And a military flyover which is always over the top {in an awesome way}.

These are the girls that sit behind us! I will have to take more pictures of my section next time! We have all been together for 12 years so it's like watching the game with friends!

This is the {drunk}guy that kept walking around the stadium. Ugh. The guy sitting next to me kept offering me $50 to take a picture with him. No thanks. And this is one of the many reasons Elisabeth will not go to a game for a long long LONG time :)

I WAS ON THE RAVENS TV!! I'm basically famous now. If you want my autograph, I should be home until about 3pm today.... Seriously though, in the 12 years I've been going to games this was the first time we had camera guys in our section! It was awesome. Two different people at the game said they saw me on the screen!

And this is the view from our seats. I love sitting behind the end zone, it feels like home.

I LOVE GOING TO RAVENS GAMES! Ugh! I have so many great memories going with my dad, sister, and husband.

Here's a picture from last year at the game with Josh! 

So, this was another great game for the books! We dominated on MNF {which it feels like we never do...} and it was a great way to start the season! I still remember crying when we lost the AFC championship last year thanks to a dropped pass in the end zone {thanks Lee Evans} and a HORRIBLE missed field goal from like, maybe 30 yards out {oh Cundiff}. So, needless to say, I really needed this to be a great game, and it was!!! I'm ready to move on from last year and go forward. It's about time I guess. :)

GO RAVENS!!!!

Friday Weigh In: Week 1

If you came here because you thought I was going to tell you how much I weigh, you were WRONG. I'm just not that brave!! I wish I could do it but I just can't. But I can still track my weight loss journey on here!

This was my first official week of doing free Weight Watchers. WW for free is easy. I did a google search to figure out how many points I should be eating. Then, if you look online there are point values for everything! I bought a very cheap iPhone app, too and that tells me point values at a lot of restaurants.

So, the point value that most women should target is 26
I am nursing part time {because Elisabeth eats solids} so I should add 7 to that number
I don't think I actually burn that much from nursing {it is different for everyone!} so I added 5 pts

So my target number is 31 points. Then you also get 49 flex points every week. You can use these to splurge at a restaurant or for me, drink a pumpkin spice latte :)

So here's how I did for the week!

I thought that was pretty good for the first week!! I will almost always use some of my flex points on Sunday because we go out to eat after church. This week I used them on fajita's :) The two blank days were when I had a stomach bug so I didn't count points then, I just ate what I could. Wednesday and Thursday I still wasn't at 100%, but I'm trying. I forced myself to eat Thursday and it was hard. I'm hoping things will be better today. {better = increased appetite}

And the final weight in was.....................

Weight Loss

Start- X lbs

Week 1: -4.6 lbs

I lost 4.6 pounds!!!

My goal for this next week is just to maintain that. I lost too much this week, probably because I was sick and then didn't eat enough after. So if I could just not gain this week that would be great :) But hey, I'll take 4 pounds any week. But seriously though, I want to stress that loosing that much was NOT my goal. I don't think that is a healthy number for someone my size to loose. Especially since I'm nursing. I'm sure my appetite will be better this week!! :)

Now, a question to anyone who does Weight Watchers.....

What's up with the flex points? Should I use them or not? When I drink a Pumpkin Spice Latte, if I can just take that out of my regular 31 points, can I just do that? I'm a little confused. Maybe someone can enlighten me?

Thanks! And happy dieting!! ;)

** I feel like I should say that WW is a great program and I bet they have a lot to offer at their meetings!! If you are interested, you should totally go to an actual meeting and check it out. Unfortunately, WW is just not in my family's budget right now. I do think I'm missing out by not actually going to the meetings and I hope to do that another time. Maybe after the next baby?  But for now, I'm just going to use some of their free principles that are available online and hope for the best.