What's that funny smell?

Sniff, sniff...can you smell that?  Um, I'm not entirely sure, but I think it just might be victory!  That's right, the chicks are taking the Richards down!  I've got a fantastic feeling about tomorrow's weigh-in and am being pretty careful today to ensure that tomorrow is another good one!

This has been a crazy week in our house.  We had my birthday, there were a couple of nights of baseball and then of course the standard hockey weekend-palooza!  Through it all, I've made sure that I was tracking my food, getting my water in and most importantly, getting my exercise in!  There were a few days that I didn't feel like doing anything, but then I looked at that big ole 0 starring back at me from MFP for my exercise and it bugged me.  It bugged me to know that even though I never spend the day just sitting around that I hadn't actually done anything to help get myself closer to my goal.  So, I walked, I shredded, I ran, and I danced a couple of times!  Yup, that's right!  When no one was in my house, I cranked the tunes and I danced around!  It was great fun AND it got my heart rate up!

This week, I've got a double hot yoga date (and by double I mean two days of zen sweating) and a lot of running!  For the first time in a long, long, time I've got a whole in my running schedule.  I didn't get one of my runs in last week so I have to get it in this week somewhere on top of doing JM and my regular runs!  I'm totally going to kick ass next week on my weigh-in for sure!  At least that's my current plan!

I want to make some different things for dinner around here this week.  We've been getting pretty boring in our food choices.  Guess I'll go stalk my favourite skinny food blogs and pinterest and see what I can find.  Any and all suggestions for picky eaters are totally welcome!

Until tomorrow amigos!

Ready or not...

Here it comes!  Oh man, I cannot believe I'm about to do this.  I'm actually debating back and forth in my head right now as to whether or not I should.  I want to, I promised I would, but then I thought about it.  I thought about, what if my kids google me and all of a sudden this horrifying image of me shows up on their screen.  Can I live with that?

I'm going to digress for a moment, you know, so that I can mull it all over and avoid committing for a bit longer!

So, truly, I have the BEST bestie that there ever was!  She, for my birthday, got me the gift of lulu!  So, guess who waltzed in there last night and came out rockin' the studio pant?  Oh, that's right...ME!  So, not only do I look a-mah-zing in them, but I got the lined ones (this is important because, wait for it...) I GOT THEM IN A SIZE 8! I haven't purchased anything in a size 8 for, well, probably almost 9 years!  I cannot even tell you how freaking excited I was when those puppies fit!  Here, check it out for yourself!

I should probably buy myself a full length mirror and stop standing on my kids' chair in the bathroom if I'm going to keep taking pics and posting them publicly, shouldn't I?  Ya, that's what I thought!

OK, so there's that one.  The one that I'm excited and happy with (oh, plus, did I mention that the top is ALSO a size 8?)  But then, there's the really bad one.  The one where you can see the giggly bits.  The one that I probably made worse because after my 3.5 miler this afternoon, I actually rolled the top of my running pants down a bit to show MORE of my pooch.  Don't ask me why I did it, there's no real explanation other than I am clinically, absolutely, 1,000,000% insane.  Well, that and, I wanted it to be a true picture and I really want to see the difference that 30 days of doing JM religiously can do to my giggly middle bits.

So, because I promised and because the whole point of this blog is to keep me honest (and well, it's not like my kids aren't going to be scarred for other reasons) here it is.

In my defense, these pictures and the one above are taken at different angles.  I'm not standing on the ridiculous kiddie chair in my giggly pictures.  It's just me, standing in front of the mirror and snapping.

                                               

So, 31 days as of Monday.  31 days to NOT LOOK LIKE...........................THAT!  Giggly bits, go home!  I don't want you no more!

Well, now that I've just done that, it should be a lot easier to post my middle of the challenge pics!

I am currently working out what my incentive gift is going to be at the end of this.  I think that some new clothes might be in order at the end of this, but I'm still working on it.  Any suggestions?

 

Take this flab and SHRED it!

So, I think I've mentioned a couple of times my new girl-crush, Mama Laughlin go check her out right here, go on, you know you wanna She is this super-amazing-completely-motivating-totally-hot-mama that I aspire to be like!  She's had two adorable babies and lost really significant amounts of weight after both of them and been totally honest about her entire journey!  She's funny and crude and well, AWESOME!

The best part about her?  I'm not the only one who is in total awe of her!  Her blog following has gotten pretty freaking huge and I believe there is even talk about a Mama Laughlin lovefest next June in Dallas - I SO wanna go!

As a result of so many women sharing the love of all things Mama Laughlin, there's a couple of chicks who have organized a couple of super amazing, Mama inspired challenges to help keep us wanna-be's on target and working towards our weight-loss goals.  The most recent challenge is 31 Days of being Jillian Michael's Biotch!  The goal is to do a JM workout every day for the month of October.

I'm actually really looking forward to this, not because I love JM, but because I've been feeling really complacent in my workouts/weight loss for the last couple of weeks.  I was looking for something to get me going again that wasn't going to be a HUGE deal.  You know, something that I couldn't find excuses out the waaaazooooo for why I couldn't do it consistently for the foreseeable future.  Throwing a DVD into my computer and getting my butt downstairs?  That I can handle!  I'm also looking forward to seeing what doing the JM videos for a period of time consistently will do to my body.  I've already started to notice that my arms are getting smaller and the lines are finally starting to re-appear on my tummy (eeeeek!) but I want more!

I'm gonna take some before pictures today and I will actually post them here tomorrow.  I REALLY need to keep myself accountable and on track.  I'm pretty sure that putting my flabby belly out there is a good way to do that!  Mostly because it will make me work even harder so that on Nov 1 I can post some super AMAZEBALLS photos of my after 31-days of being JM Biotch pictures!

You and me JM, we're gonna get it on - in a totally I hate to workout but LOVE to look awesome way!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, here it is, the big 3-6.  And I'm ok with it.  Really I am!  I love that I'm 36, have two adorable kids, a husband who loves me and well, am now getting the opportunity to work on myself.  I love even more that for my birthday present to myself today, I got THIS!

Yup, that's right, welcome to 160 town.  Population, ME!  Can you believe how horrendous my toes look in this picture?  Honestly!  I really should do something about that, but well, I was just so excited to see that number there that I could have cared less if you could see lady parts in the picture, I was totally posting this one!

Here's another little shot I thought I'd share.  This one is just as great as the one above as far as I'm concerned!  I have had these jeans for over a year now.  They are from London and are size 14 UK which equates to about a 10 here.  I've been trying to literally shove my ass into them since getting them - with NO SUCCESS.  A couple of weeks ago, I put them on, but knew I couldn't wear them out in public, but felt happy that I could at least get them on.  Well, guess what!  This is what!

Yup, that's me rockin' the London jeans!  Yipppppppeeeeee!  Plus I got my hair done finally on Thursday night so I had to re-do it for my picture.  I love a good, good hair pic!

Yesterday, I got my 7-miler in while the husband took the boys shopping for my presies.  They did not disappoint and perhaps he's been creeping my blog because I got a couple of totally awesome Lulu short sleeved tops, one a-maze-balls long sleeved top AND the Garmin 410!  I'm gonna be the cutest, best equipped runner out there now!  Thanks husband!  I love you!

Now, it's off to Greek town for some excellent birthday fare!  I'm going to try and make some good choices, but well, it's my birthday!  I think I'm allowed to indulge just a little bit, right?

Happy Birthday to me y'all!

Oh hey there weekend! How YOU doin'?

Put your hands up in the air and scream like a girl if it's your birthday weekend?  Wooooooooooot!  That's right, it's mine!  And this is kind of a funny one for me.  Every other year, my birthday has been about going out for dinner and doing really extravagant and indulgent things.  This year though?  I am absolutely, 100,00% committed to seeing a number that starts with a 1-6-? on Monday morning so I'm not interested in doing those regular things.  Soooooo, the question remains, what the heck are we gonna do?  Especially because it's supposed to rain here this weekend.

I've got a 2-miler planed for tomorrow and a 7-miler for Sunday.  I'm pretty confident that those two things and keeping honest with my new bff, MyFitnessPal will definitely get me to where I want to be come Monday morning!  I'm gonna need a fantastic movie to watch on Sunday to get me through that run, let me tell you!

So let's get back to my birthday for a minute or two or maybe for the rest of the weekend?  The husband asked me today what I wanted for my birthday.  I told him I really didn't know.  I really like new pretty things.  I like new clothes.  I need new shoes.  I want LuLu stuffs.  He hates buying me those things.  He thinks I should neeeeeeed electronics and gadgets and unnecessary stuff.  I don't know about you, but I don't really feel the same way about a camera as I do about, oh, I don't know, these LuLu pants that I've wanted forever!

Or how about this a-maze-balls bag?  My collection of lovely bags is small - although my husband would argue this point until we were both frothing at the mouth, but truly, I have 2 nice bags right now.  I don't have ANY large bags though that are nice.  I NEEEEEEEEED this bag!

And I suppose if I HAVE to have a 'thing' that I want/need, this would be it.  If I'm going to continue running outside, I have to stop depending on my Bestie for her garmin.  So, I suppose this can get added to the list too!

Sooooo, I think that's a pretty good list, isn't it?  I mean there are some fun things (ahem, gorgeous bag), some practical things (amazing, comfy LuLus) and then the thing thing that the husband insists I have on my list.  All bases are covered!  Does that mean I get all of them?

So, running in the rain.  It's happening AND it's my birthday weekend.  It's gonna be AWESOME!

Feel, feel, FEEL the frustration!

I'm a day late posting this week for weigh-in Monday - seems it's becoming a trend.  Not good.  Besides, Weigh-in Tuesday doesn't sound very good.  At. All.  Weigh-in Wednesday though, now that has a nice ring to it!

So I stepped on the scale yesterday morning and I was down, but not where I'd wanted to be.  The hope was to get to at least 170 if not 169.  I worked hard last week and even got the worst 6 mile run of  my life in!  73 f'ing minutes it took me to complete that run.  That's 1 hour and 13 minutes - to do 10 k! Craptastical, that's what that is!  I blame it on the treadmill dude for upping the torque on my treadmill last week.  I'm finding it tricky to get used to the new speed and basically have to re-work my brain to not feel like every run is taking twice as long.

I should probably also admit at this moment in time, that although my weight did still go down to 171, that I should be pretty damn happy since the evening before was dinner at the head Richard's house to celebrate his entrance into my life, aka his birthday.  I ate cake.  WOW!  That feels like a weight has suddenly lifted...oh wait!  Nope, it hasn't!  It's still on my ass!  I have a superstition though that I blame my mom for.  She always told us that it was bad luck to not eat cake on someone's birthday.  I didn't have a big piece - it was like a 30th of the cake, but man it was good and I ate every last bite.  I actually contemplated licking the icing from the plate for about a second, but thought that was a tad drastic - and probably pretty uncool!

So, what am I doing this week to make sure that my birthday weigh-in is super-fantastical-amaze-balls? Well!  First of all, I'm absolutely addicted to the Mama Laughlin Fit Camp FB group!  I'm going there for motivation on a daily basis.  Secondly, I finally downloaded a food tracking app onto my phone - Myfitnesspal.  If you are looking for one, but haven't decided what works for you, check it out!  It's the best one I've EVER downloaded, and let me tell you, I've downloaded quite a few!

Second, I'm getting all of my runs in this week and then some.  I think I'm going to take the boys on a couple of bike rides this week too just to keep everybody moving AND I'm going to go and do a hot yoga class (or two) before Thursday night when I get my hair did!

Birthday weigh-in, I'm gonna fist pump you into next week!!

Bittersweet victory

Ok, so yesterday was the dreaded physical. I mean, who doesn't dread a physical anyway, right?  But yesterday was the day I was going to step on the scale in my Dr's office and go on record for the year.  The rest of it, meh, whatevs!  It was the stepping on the scale that had me biting my nails and trying to pee even when I didn't have too!

Have you ever tried to make yourself pee when you haven't had anything to drink since about 8:00 the night before and refuse to put anything more than the tiniest drop of water in your mouth to swish out the toothpaste that you unfortunately have to use if you don't want to actually kill your Dr with your disgusting morning halitosis! It's not easy and clearly not all that effective!

Soooooo, what you're all waiting for is what the scale said, I know!  I'm trying to keep you hanging a bit.  Is it working?  Probably not since I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who reads these rambles!  When I stepped on my scale yesterday morning, the scale said........172.4!  Not the 169 I was hoping for (hence the bittersweet part) BUT pretty f'ing close!  My Dr was happy with the number considering it was down 13 lbs from where I was last June (and I'm down a total of 22 lbs since this crazy Dicks vs Chicks thing got instigated!)  He's totally on board with my game plan of losing another 15 - 20 lbs but says that anything under 160 is a-ok with him!

I ran the numbers this morning, so far I'm at 11% body mass gone - that's not bad for 2 1/2 months, huh?  The husband is down 12 lbs which isn't even 10% for him.  I'm pretty sure the chicks have this one, but I'm not counting any eggs yet - these puppies still gotta hatch!  And by that I mean I still gotta lose more weight and the boys still have some time to kick it into high gear and do something dumb and boy-like, like lose 30 lbs by sneezing and farting at the same time!  Not likely, I know, but I think I read something like that once on the internets, so it's gotta be true, right? :0 )

Now for the weekend.  I've got a 2 miler today and a 6 miler tomorrow.  My treadmill is kind of fixed, but I think it still needs a part replaced.  I'm going to try and do my run tomorrow on it and see how it goes.  I cannot, CANNOT wait to see a 1 and a 6 on that scale.  There will definitely be photos for that one!

This week is going to be great!  It's the week leading up to my birthday weekend - how could it not be great!

T.G.I.M.!

That's right, Thank Gaaaaaaaawd It's Monday!  What a c.r.a.z.y. weekend we had!  Baseball clinics, birthday shopping, birthday party number 1, baseball trophy day, baseball team lunch and then, because we hadn't done enough yet, we had birthday party number 2!  I know, I'm certifiably crazy.  I'm absolutely, 100% convinced of it!

That being said, I'm pretty sure it was all worth it considering how absolutely over-the-moon happy my little dude was this weekend!  He had his friend party at Chuck E Cheese (the depths of hell for parents as we know it) and I'm pretty sure that even if he hadn't gotten a single present would have been thrilled with just that party.  I mean, with a cake like this one, how could he not be ecstatic about his birthday?

It was such a cool cake!  I've found the best cake artist and I love her!  She's never disappointed me yet and has made quite a few cakes for me over the last two years!  Stephanie Tennant at Cakes By Stephanie honestly is a cake genius, check her out the next time you need a cake!

So, with the coolest cake ever, we had to let him have it at the coolest place on earth (see above for my thoughts on the place), Chuck E Cheese.  But seriously, look how cute he was in the windy ticket booth!

I love how the goggles barely fit his face!  AND, I totally sent him in there with a couple of extra buttons undone, hoping that a few tickets would actually get trapped in there since I knew he was going to be too busy holding the goggles in place to actually grab anything.  Yeah, that didn't really work. Luckily, the girl doing it took pity on him and dropped some of the big tickets on the ground for him!  He was thrilled!

So, with my nightmare and his dream-come-true over with, we whirled through the rest of the events of the weekend with family, friends and eating fairly well!  I didn't, for the record, eat anything at CEC EXCEPT for the veggies from the veggie tray.  Oh wait!  I guess I did since I HAD to have a piece of cake!  It's bad luck to not have cake on someone's birthday!

I weighed myself on Saturday morning and was 173.8 (I think that's what it was!)  I did another little happy dance since I was pretty that that same number wouldn't be there come Monday morning!  Aaaaaaand I was right!  I ate really well this weekend, but didn't get my run in yesterday because of everything going on and because my treadmill is still sick so this morning the scale said 175.4 (I think?)  Still down from last Monday by a few points so I'll take it, but definitely not where I wanted to be.

I need my treadmill back!  I hate doing my long runs outside by myself!  However, if it's not fixed after dinner tonight, I guess I'm gonna have to suck it up and just go because I'm not going to miss a run!

Here's a few more cute birthday pics, just for fun!

The birthday King on his throne with all of his bounty!

Definitely one of the favourite gifts from the weekend!  Green is his favourite colour after all!

Later this week, countdown to my doctor induced weigh-in on Friday!  Gotta keep up the momentum!!

Quick! Somebody call 9-1-1!

This is an emergency of the worst kind - my treadmill is sick!  Like really sick.  Like I had to actually haul my ass outside today to run because I couldn't run last night on my poor, sick, treadmill.  Ugh!

I haven't missed a run in weeks!  I'm really not interested in starting now - especially now that we're 5, wait maybe 4?  Whatever, a few weeks away from the big weigh in day!  Not to mention, the husband has been eating well all week.  I'm sure he's going to be down a few pounds on Monday which will give him the motivation to continue into next week, but who knows what will happen after that.  This could actually be a real competition after all!

I officially hit the 20lb mark today - yippee!  Now I just have to bust my ass even harder to get to that 165 mark by October 8th.  It's going to be a huge challenge, I'm not gonna candy coat this one.  I'm thinking there's probably going to be some tears and there's probably going to be A LOT of swearing, but hopefully at the end of the day, there's a skinnier me and a healthier husband!  I mean, quite honestly, that's the real prize for me!

And now, just in case you thought I wasn't going to mention it in this one, my baby boy survived his first week at kindergarten!  He hoped off that bus tonight like he owned the thing, which I'm sure in his head he absolutely thinks that!  Just like that, he's a big boy!  Cue the waterworks aaaaaaannnnnd the panic attack about his 4th birthday this weekend!

There's gonna be some strolling later this weekend and it's definitely taking me down a little lane I like to call Memory!

Laters!

I'm not sure I'm ready for this...

Tonight I asked my little man how old he was.  He very quickly threw three adorable fingers in my face and shouted 'three!' at me.  Then I asked how old he would be on Sunday, to which he very deliberately added one more little finger into the mix and giggled "four, Mommy!'  He looked so grown up with his fingers in the air and smiling from ear to ear, but I couldn't help but search his face for hints of my wee little dude.

I'm not sure if it's him starting school this week or if it's the fact that he just all of a sudden seems to be so grown up that's making this so tough on me.  I do know one thing for sure though, I'm going to find the answer to the age old question of how can we keep our little dudes little and I'm going to bottle it and make a fortune!

I'm not ready for him to grow up yet!

Eeeeeeek! My baby's all grows up!

How did that happen?  Where the f did the last 4 years go?  This is a picture of me with my boys 4 years ago when my 'big' boy started JK.

Holy shmolie, how young do I look?  How teeny-tiny is my little man?  He was just starting to walk there and the big guy could still easily sit on my lap and not make me feel like I was going to lose a limb due to blood flow stoppage!

This is a pic of my boys from this morning as they were walking out the door, both heading to their first days at school.  The big man started grade 2...whaaaaaat?   Yup, grade freaking 2 and the little guy started his very first day of JK.  Sniff, sniff.

See what 4 years can do?  It definitely gets you a new paint colour on your front door and perhaps even a few hundred inches on a big boy!  And, just so you can see how much their adorable faces have changed, here's one more from this weekend!

We had such an amazing time this weekend, I have to tell you a little bit about it.  We spent the weekend at Blue Mountain where we explored the mountain (see those little 'gondolas' in the background of the above picture?  Those are the husband's worst nightmare!)  We went down the mountain on these amazing little bobsled-like contraptions that brought horrible images to my brain as we whipped around corners going full speed down the hill on a flimsy metal track with nothing but a little netting to catch us if we happened to become a worst case scenario!  It was fun though - like A LOT of fun!  We went swimming and hiking and had more fun together as a family than we have probably all summer.  All in all, it was the perfect ending to a very busy summer!

It was so nice, that I even relented and let my big boy take a picture of the husband and I.  I probably should have consulted with a mirror before agreeing, but oh well!  Here's what nature does to me!

I stepped on the scale Friday morning before going away and was 176 - which made my heart sing!  I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 177.6.  Most of that is just because I wasn't drinking water this weekend the way that I normally do.  I'm not too worried, I know I'll be down to 175 by the end of this week, perhaps even lower.  The immediate goal is to be 170 by next Friday.  169 would be even better, but not sure if that's realistic.  Fingers crossed...

I think what I'm most pleased with about this weekend (well, aside from the fact that we had such a great time and can't wait to go back!) is the fact that I didn't give in to all of the sweets and treats that I was surrounded by!  I made smart food choices all weekend and we were active the whole time!  It was fun and I didn't feel depressed when I stepped on the scale this morning.  As a matter of fact, those jeans that I'm wearing in the picture from 4 years ago?  Those are the same jeans that I pulled on this morning and am currently comfortably wearing while typing this!  Now that, is a victory!

Later this week?  The husband is creating our meal plan - he's apparently decided that it's time to get his game on too!  Yeeeeeeeesssssssss!