Monday

Today was our Greeley trip. I had peanut butter honey toast with banana slices on it for breakfast. We ate at Burger King for lunch. I had the grilled chicken salad. Side note: Burger King does NOT have great salads. I also had 3 of Sarah's chicken flavored, crown shaped sponge nuggets and some of her fries, too. Sarah did not eat much of her lunch and I found out why when we were leaving. She threw up allllll over the bathroom floor. Stupid "green" movement meant there were no paper towels, just an air drier. I had to push the puke into a puddle with wet wipes and go tell the worker that there was a tidy little puddle of puke under the sink. Lovely. Anyway, I should not have eaten her food. We had turkey burger patties wrapped in whole wheat tortillas with spinach and tomatoes for dinner. AAAAND, my personal favorite, sweet potato fries! Yum. I made them with olive oil, agave nectar, salt and pepper. I try not to use that agave nectar too much, but this is one of my favorite ways to prepare sweet potatoes. I usually use brown sugar, so it is an improvement. :) I had some grapes and cheese and crackers for snack today, so I definitely hit my fruit and veggie quota for the day. And it was not even hard.

Sunday

I skipped breakfast today. We were going to be late and I taught the lesson in RS so we had to be there on time. When we got home I just ate both breakfast and lunch for lunch. :) We had Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner. Delicious! I was not that hungry today. Full on sickness has hit. Yesterday I could barely talk. Today my voice is better, but a cough has set in. It is crappy. I am going to see how I feel tomorrow before I decide if I am going to exercise. I have to drive to Greeley tomorrow to drop off the check for our new car. It is three hours round trip. With two children, maybe more. Still no sugar! It is getting easier to stay away from, too. I almost ate some out of habit the other day, but caught myself before I made a mistake. I bought Sarah some yogurt covered raisins. I was looking for a healthy snack and saw those. I almost reached for them, but then I remembered they are loaded with sugar! It will be easier to have those things around when I get into the habit of NOT reaching for them! I am tired and want to go to bed now, so goodnight!

First skip

I skipped my Power 90 today. I am going to skip tomorrow, too. I am sick and would very much like to get better. I am taking it easy and trying to get plenty of rest so I will be able to fight this off quickly. My personal goal this week is to take my vitamins every night, so I am hoping that will contribute to a speedy recovery. My eating was ok. I got in my fruits and vegetables. Still no sugar. Mucho tired. Need sleepy. Good night.

Grrrr

I managed to eat mostly healthy today. Peanut butter English muffin with banana slices for breakfast, ham and cheese wrap on a whole wheat tortilla with spinach for lunch, and a chicken wrap on whole wheat tortilla with spinach, tomatoes and a little bit of ranch for dinner. I did break down and have a peanut butter and honey English muffin with pumpkin seeds after the girls were in bed, and I ate some Fiber Selects Veggie Wheat Thins this afternoon. I woke up with a headache and kept trying to work at the knot in my neck. Did not seem to help. Thought maybe it was food related. Eating did not seem to help. I finally caved and took some Tylenol. This afternoon I started feeling not well. Sore throat, fatigue, cough. Not fun. I hate exercising when I feel like crap. I am glad tomorrow is just strength training. I would not want to do cardio feeling like this!

Shopping Day

Wednesdays are my shopping days. We used to always stop at Burger King, or Sonic, or Taco Bell, or, well, you get the point. Since we have to drive so long it seems like we are always out during lunch time. I made a special effort to get going early this morning so we could be home in time for lunch. We were hungry on the way home so I got the grapes out of the grocery bags and we ate those on the trip. I got whole grain tortillas and when we got home I had a ham and cheese wrap with spinach. Some days I seem to really get it, and some days I struggle to find something healthy that I want to eat. I am realizing that my eating is stalling out my weight loss. If I want to get my pounds down, I really need to crack down and change those things that are STILL holding me back. I only ate peanut butter honey once today. :) That is quite an improvement from yesterday! I make peanut butter and honey on multi-grain English muffins topped with sliced bananas or pumpkin seeds. I may try the bananas on it without honey. That will be fewer calories anyway. I am beginning to learn how to adjust recipes to be healthier and making healthy choices out of habit. It is pretty exciting!

PMS

Ate p.b. and honey on bread for 3 meals today. I sprinkled pumpkin seeds on it to help beef up the nutrition. I am approaching the p-word. I am sure that has a lot to do with it.

And I'm Back!

It has been a few days since I last posted. My girls and Tyler are all sick. I have had a lot of late nights and tired days and blogging has been low on my list of priorities! I woke up with a splitting headache this morning and missed my morning workout. I did get it in after I put Jane to bed, though. I was really thinking I might miss it today, but Tyler gave me a little encouragement and instead of snapping at him like I would normally, I got my butt in gear and did Power 90! I am glad I did even though my headache is back and it really was a little late in the day for me. I think I am definitely a morning exerciser. Lesson learned. I will not put it off this late again!

I am getting pretty excited about starting running. I still have 30 pounds to lose before I want to start running, but I am feeling a second wind in my eating efforts. If I want to run a half-marathon, losing weight is not one option, it is the only option!

I got rid of a bunch of "skinny clothes" today. I was going through old boxes looking for clothes I can wear while I am losing weight so I do not have to waste money on clothes I do not plan to wear for long. I found all these clothes that I loved and had not wanted to get rid of, but a lot of them were dated or not age appropriate. I found it quite liberating to get rid of all these clothes I was waiting to fit in!

Friday!

Another week almost over, thank goodness. Still have not missed a day of Power 90. I may not be physically ready for running, but we are starting to have crisp, cool autumn mornings and it makes me want to get out and run in it. Maybe I will be able to start my running after I am done with Power 90 and my healthy challenge. It is too bad that soon winter and snow will be here and then no more running outside. I will have a good three months, though! And some surprise days in winter, too, if it is going to be anything like last year.

My eating today was ok. I ate a lot of fruit, but haven't had my second serving of vegetables. I am still going to count it because I ate sooooo much fruit. I have been in a snacky mood today, but I managed to keep my snacks healthy (whole grain crackers and Laughing Cow light cheese, grapes, an apple).

I am starting to make healthy choices out of habit and I must say, it is really nice not to have to struggle about whether to eat brownies or an apple for snack. This is one of my big motivations for getting healthy. I am so tired of always having to think about being fat and if what I am doing is contributing to my health or my obesity. I can hardly wait until living healthily is second nature. :)

Blah

I am feeling pretty miserable and have been indulging in some comfort food. I ate two rolls with my lunchtime lentil soup. And I had two servings of eggplant parmesan for dinner. I baked it instead of frying it, though. Our neighbor brought us an eggplant from the farmer's market and it was about to go bad. We had all the ingredients for eggplant parmesan and it seemed fairly simple. I had never cooked eggplant before, so I was looking for simple! It turned out very well. And fairly healthy with whole wheat pasta and baking the eggplant instead of frying.

I really kicked it up a notch in my Power 90 workout today, really trying not to do too many of the modifications. I want to get the most out of my workouts and that means increasing my effort as my stamina and strength increase. I am feeling it tonight, though! My obliques are pretty sore.

I was trying to figure the date that my 10-week Healthy Challenge and my Power 90 would be up. They are only a week apart! My Power 90 ends Oct. 30th and my healthy challenge extends to a week after that. I am going to start recording my weight and maybe my measurements on my healthy challenge point sheet every week. I cannot believe that my weight is dropping just from cutting out sugar! I feel like I have not cut back in any other area, but the proof is in the scale!

Yay!

Today was a busy day. I feel like I was on the phone all day and we had to go to Sterling to do our grocery shopping. We are not stopping at fast food places for lunch anymore, so I had to plan ahead and prepare a lunch for Sarah and I. We got a late start so we ended up picnicking at the park before shopping instead of just eating it in the car on the way home. We left at 11:30am and did not get home until 2:30pm. This morning as I was getting ready to start my workout, Ali called and we have been texting back and forth so I knew I needed to talk to her. I ended up having to skip my workout. I have been afraid of this happening from the beginning. Afraid that if I missed one workout I would never get back on track. Well, booyah to myself because I totally did my workout when we got home! I just need to remember that I can do it!! AND today is my half-way mark! Forty-five days of Power 90 and going strong. My eating could have been better today, but still no sugar. :) I am watching a movie with my hubby, so I am going to consider this done!

Still Truckin'

I am still going. No sugar since last Monday. Still doing Power 90, although I really did not want to this morning. I have been feeling exhausted lately. I fell asleep putting Sarah to bed last night around 8 o'clock. Ridiculous. And frustrating because I lost a bunch of points. I usually do my blogging and my fifteen minutes of spiritual reading after the kids are in bed, but there was no "after" for me yesterday. Then this morning I could barely make it through my workout. I seem to have shaken it off for the most part because I totally kicked booty tonight! I made dinner, washed my dishes, did a bunch of laundry, folded and put away all my towels. I am afraid I cannot mark my point for healthy eating today because I made Cheddar Cabbage Casserole which has cheese (as the title implies), butter coated cornflakes, cream of chicken soup and mayo. Our next door neighbor brought us over a cabbage from the farmer's market and this is the only recipe I have for cabbage. And I do not really like cabbage. This recipe makes it palatable. Even Sarah ate it! But I imagine almost anything would taste good if you smother it in cheese and mayo and top it with butter coated cornflakes.

Sunday

I like Sundays because we are at church, or traveling to church, for 4 to 6 hours, depending on whether Tyler has meetings after the block. That means there are 4 to 6 hours I do not have to worry about eating! I had leftover wheat crust veggie pizza for breakfast and a salad for lunch with grapes on the side. I feel pretty good. Still tired, but my sugar headaches get less and less intense everyday! I am not sure what I am making for dinner tonight. I hope it is something healthy!

So Sad

This morning I realized how much my sugar addiction has effected my family. Sarah asked for a popsicle for breakfast. We compromised and she had half a popsicle after breakfast. Twenty minutes later she was asking for candy. This is no way to raise children. I am going to try extra hard to change the way I eat, and the way I talk about what I eat and will not eat. I want my family to be healthy. I do not want my daughters to have the same struggles I do. Instead of giving Sarah candy when she asked for it, I offered a banana. She was perfectly happy with that compromise. We even put some sugar-free peanut butter on it and she liked that too! I just want to be a good mom. I always knew that what I feed my family is a huge part of that. I just had not realized how short I was falling in my responsibility. You may have noticed a new name in my Million Dollar Bloggers section. My friend referred me to her sister-in-law's website. She's a personal trainer with four children. She has a lot of recipes on her blog that are healthy and kid-friendly. If she can do it with four children AND a job, I figure I can make a good go at it.

Almost Over

I am so glad this week is almost over. It has seemed grueling to me. No sugar since Monday, though. And no missed days of exercise. :) I was just talking to Kyla about how you get ready to run THIRTEEN miles. I really have to crack down on the eating. I cannot start running until I lose 35 more pounds. I am exercising, but to lose weight I really need to watch how much I am eating. Today was horrible. To compensate for not being able to eat what I really wanted (sugar) I ate like 30,000 calories. At least it felt like it! Sarah's first dance class was today. Adorable, by the way. I rushed out the door without eating breakfast. Jane and I went to the grocery store to get something, and instead of getting junk, I got bananas and high fiber crackers and Laughing Cow cheese spread. I was also proud because I did not spend a lot of money and only got what I needed. That is important because we are buying a new car and our budget is going to be what it was when we were living on our savings. Time to start remembering how to be frugal again!

Still Holding Up

Today I was having some MAJOR sugar withdrawal. My head aches constantly, I am mucho irritable, and my brain is not seeming to function correctly. We were in Sterling again today and had to eat. We went to Burger King, but I stayed strong. I got the Tendergrill chicken sandwich on a wheat roll. I should have asked for no mayo, but live and learn. There were some kids in the play area that had these delicious looking ice cream drinks. I was very tempted to get some and relieve my pounding head, which, as you can imagine, is not helped by sitting in the play area at Burger King. BUT, I just busied myself with taking care of Jane and tried not to think about it. So YAY for day 3 of being sugar-free! Still going strong with Power 90. Next week will be my halfway point. I am in awe of my perseverance. I know it is through the Atonement that I am able to finally make these changes. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for lending me the strength to do this. I just hope it extends to my eating!

Eh

I went to McDonald's with Sarah to have a playdate with her friend. I did get a salad. Not a great salad, but a salad. I did not eat any major sugar today, just what was in the salad dressing. I got my two servings of fruit and vegetables. For dinner we had spaghetti. I have been buying the whole wheat noodles for quite a while now. We also had garlic bread and a delicious salad. I realized that one of my biggest problems last week was just not having enough vegetables to eat two servings everyday. When I went shopping today I made sure to load up on veggies and fruit so that we wouldn't run out. I also got sweet potatoes because they keep a little better than other vegetables. If I plan my meals and snacks the day before I am a lot less likely to eat poorly. I am finding that I can plan ahead for my eating just like I plan ahead for my exercise. Speaking of, I got some eight pound weights today to replace my five pound ones. I am getting stronger! Well, the baby is crying so I will consider this as filling my positive writing point for the day.

Week two of Healthy Challenge

Monday was a bad start to this week. We were traveling home from Pueblo so I ate horribly and did not get to do the other assignments for the challenge. I did get up and exercise before we went home. I still haven't missed a day of Power 90. Day 38 tomorrow and still going strong! I bought most of the stuff to make Kyla's granola that will help me get through without sugar. I did very well today, I thought. No sugar, 2 servings of fruit and vegetables, minimal snacking between meals. I did good. I am hoping not to miss any points this week. That is why I am up writing this at 11:27pm. :) I hope everyone else is doing well!

Huge Embarrassing Failure

This is the end of my 4th day of the Healthy Challenge. I hate it. I do not have time to shower recently, I am on my period and I am exhausted because Jane is not sleeping AGAIN. Add to that all the requirements of the Healthy Challenge and you get, as the name of this post implies, a huge embarrassing failure. I am still doing Power 90 and I am sure I burned a ton of calories today trying to get all my housework done. I had to add that. The Healthy Challenge point is for positive writing. :) I talked to Kyla today and she said to start with eliminating sugar. I think I may have to do that, dogonnit. I have been feeling like crap lately and I have been completely exhausted after exercising. I know it is because I have not been putting the correct fuel in my body. I was talking to a woman in our ward who has a daughter in gymnastics. The doctor told her that when people work their bodies that hard, eating sugar will leach calcium from their bones. She has to be on a strict non-sugar diet as long as she competes in gymnastics. I was thinking that sugar is not a good idea if I hope to train for a half-marathon! And it is probably better to start now! I am going to do some shopping while we are back in Pueblo this weekend and see if I can find some naturally sweet stuff at Vitamin Cottage.