I Feel Like Dancing!

So it's been a pretty decent day so far! I did a good 30 minute workout on the Wii Fit and after Sesame Street, we turned off the tv and had our own little dance party. As I was dancing around, Harliegh looked at me very strangely but before long she was dancing around with me. We danced around for about 20 minutes and I was EXHAUSTED! I was sweating and my muscles were sore...but it felt great! I also found an "exercise" for us mommies. We all like to toss our babies in the air, right. Well, next time, as your holding your baby bend your knees and flex your ab muscles, then as your tossing baby, extend your knees. As you catch baby go back to bending your knees. After about 5 reps of this, you really feel it in your thighs, abs and lower back muscles...not to mention your arms. Take a break adn then do another 5...you can really feel it, and your baby will love it! Ok...so it's not new or innovative or anything...but it does work!

So I felt pretty confident that I got a great workout today and decided to take a little nap. WOOHOO!

I decided I am not going to track my food calories anymore, I have been meeting my goal everydayand I am pretty smart about portion size...so...it's just a big hassle. I might every once in awhile to make sure I am on the right track, but I think for the most part I do a pretty good job.

My weight is still decreasing by 0.4 lbs a day, not bad! It is so nice to see that dotted red line on my Wii Fit graph moving slowly, gradually DOWN! I feel much healthier in general. I amstarting to LOVE Yoga and find myself wanting to do it several times a day. I can really feel my core muscles gradually strengthening, also...it might be my imagination...but I am not fighting it.

Well...I am off to go to the library. I wish it were warm enough to walk there again! That was my favorite summer activity last year! But...it is only -25 with the windchill, so probably NOT a good idea...even without taking Harliegh! I can't wait for Spring, can you?
Which reminds me...In April I have to take a P.E. class! I am hoping Iwill learn a lot about fitness and the best ways to stay healthy,lose weight and maintain weight once you get to a good weight. I will be sure to pass on this info to you lucky readers!

Motivation

Good Morning!

I don't usually blog this early, but I was felling like it so, why not?
Once again, I didn't sleep well. Somedays I wish I would just go in for a sleep study so they can tell me why. When I got my eyes checked, the optometrist told me that he didn't think I closed my eyes all the way when I sleep. Could this be part of the problem? I don't know. I should start going to bed early, but those few hours after Harliegh goes to bed are my only "me" time. It's the time I get caught up on reading, homework, writing and ...to be honest...just wasting time on the internet. So every day I intend on going to bed early, I don't. It would be okay if Harliegh hasn't been waking up nearly two hours early the past few days!
In about 30 minutes I am going to force my butt off the couch and do a 30 minute workout. I still plan on dancing with Harliegh, but depending on how energized I feel at naptime. I may once again decide to nap again. I know you are probably thinking that if I didn't nap I might sleep better at night, but I know from experience that this is not true. Plus, my naps the past two days have been the best sleep I have gotten! Sooooo....we'll see how it goes.
I am having a delicious smoothie right now.
here is the recipe:

1 cup Peaches
1 cup Strawberries
1/2 cup yogurt
1 cup milk

Calories: 312

This makes two good sized smoothies and it is delicious! I even shared some with Harliegh!

Here is to a great day (raises smoothie in a toast) to Sarah and Nathalie. I order both of you to have a great food/workout day and that you both feel incredible about yourselves. We can do it, you guys!

Stay Motivated! Stay Positive!

Dance, Dance

Hello loyal blog readers!

I know there are at least two of ya! How are you doing today? I did not sleep well last night, I have never been a great sleeper anyway, but then the baby got up an hour and a half earlier than usual...ugh! So right away I was already tired and planning to be lazy all day. I ate a half a banana, a small bowl of life cereal and a half a glass of oj. Then sat on the couch :(
After about an hour I felt guilty so as Harliegh colored a picture in her highchair I got off my butt and did a vigorous 30 min workout and I even got a shower in before my dear husband got up to go to work. (Note: My daughter was playing in the hallway and I had the bathroom door open...in case you were wondering how I managed that, lol). So....because I got my workoutin, I rationalized that I could take a nap when Harliegh took her nap. It was a great nap, too!

So, I weigh myself everyday on the wii and my weight has been decreasing a tiny bit everyday. The Wii Fit ever so nicely informed me that I need to up my game if I want to reach my goal in 6 weeks. Sigh....oh well....I am satisfied that I have decreased in weight for the past 4 days or so, it's a start right?

I have come up with a new crazy idea to add some extra workout and fun into my life. I got the idea from this video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvljD0toJmU
When I watched this I just wanted to get up and dance. I love dancing...okay, I love jumping around crazily and calling it "dance". So I think I am going to spend a while each morning dancing to some happy, energetic music. Have you ever managed to dance and stay angry, sad or down? It's not possible. Dancing makes you happy! I figured I could fit this in between 11 and 12:30. It will be a fun thing for me and Harliegh to do, maybe we will only dance for 10 min or 15 min...but I am hoping it will help motivate me and brighten my mood for the day. I just looked it up...did you know in 15 minutes you can burn 75 calories dancing? Awesome.

Here is my food for the day:

Banana: 52 cal
Life Cereal (1 cup):149
2% Milk: 138
Orange Juice:55

Fat-Free Vanilla Pudding: 80

Goulash: 300

Fun-size Butterfinger: 83
Fun size 100 Grand:98

salad: 100
mac and cheese (1 cup) 100
mini corndogs: 250 (WHAT?!?!)

fat-Free Popcorn: 40

TOTAL: 1445

I am still hitting my calorie goal, or getting close but I need to work on making healthier choices to reach that goal! UGH!!

So....overall,not a bad day! I am going to try to get to bed earlier ...maybe I will have more energy tomorrow!

Light Day

Well, hello everyone!
Today I declared it "light exercise day" I woke up this morning and had a delicious smoothie. Then I did my weight and 30 minutes of yoga. I have been cleaning a lot today, so that will make up for more calories burnt. I am about a pound and a half less than two days ag0, I know weight can fluctuate but I hope this is a sign I am moving in the right direction.
Sometimes I think "Why am I doing this??" But then I think about spring and summer and how I will feel more comfortable in skirts, dresses, shorts, tanks and a swimsuit than I did last year. Also, I promised myself that if I lost the weight I would buy myself some new Spring/Summer clothes.

I haven't really been talking about my other goals this year. I am slowly working on de-cluttering my house and cleaning, I was up all night last night thinking about how messy certain areas of my house are and I almost got up to clean in the middle of the night. It's just really hard to organize/clean with a 16 month old!

I have been doing pretty good with keeping the tv off...unless dad's home. He likes to have it on all day.

I really wanted towork on my story during my break from school, but school starts in a week and I haven't gotten to it! :(

I have done pretty good with the calories today, but I am not going to post them right now...but really its just a bunch of repeats from the day before, So I will post later.

That is all for now. Stay positive!

OOOPS!

I have been bad today :( First, today was my day to sleep in so I stayed in bed until 10:30 which means no morning workout for me. But I got up and had a smoothie. Today's smoothie was a delicious Peach Blueberry! Then I hada turkey sandwich fro lunch with lettuce, tomato and alfala sprouts(yum). I had all intentions of working out after I put the baby down for a nap....but...instead I spontaneously decided to go and get my hair cut. I haven't had a cut since last February so I say it was about time. While I was at the mall I decided it would be a good time to get my eyes checked, too, why not? So after my cut I headed to get my eyes checked. I found out I still have 20/20 vision but a lot of my eye strain and blurry/shaky vision comes from chronic dry eye, so I have to put eye drops in. The doc also suggested getting reading glasses to help with the strain since he noticed my left eye was slightly blurry. So I started looking for soem glasses...and the lady who was helping me came out and informed me that my they did not accept my insurance plan. UGH! I politely informed them just in August my husband was here with the exact same plan and got the whole exam plus glasses for FREE! Long story short....nearly two hours later I walk out of the office and was told they would call me on Monday after they cleared things up.
So by the time I was heading home it was about 6:30, my husband called and said he want McDonald's (sigh) and since I was starving and it was getting late I got some for myself too. Shame on me.
So....not a good day in the weightloss department. Tomorrow WILL be better.

I might try to get a short workout in tonight, but I don't like working out too much before bed.

Here is the damage for today:

Smoothie= 306
Turkey Sandwich=300
McDonald's Cheeseburger=580 (yikes)
French Fries=230 (ugh)
Sugar-free Lemonade=10 (woohoo!)

Total=1420

So, I am still under my goal of 1500...even though some of that was definitely NOT good calories!
I can still "afford" to have another small snack if I get hungry later!

So......I can't seem to find my tape measure, where did I put that darn thing? So I cannot post measurements for now...oh well!

For lunch today I had a salad with lettuce, tomato, cucmber, green pepper, mushrooms and ranch dressing (fat-free) and a glass of orange juice. Adding that up on the webmd counter it was just over 300. So my total for the day so far is roughly 750...which considering it's only half over, is right on track. I just finished my work out today and I don't know why, but I feel extra stiff and I seemed to get tired a lot quicker. Maybe I didn't sleep so well last night?

So here are my times/measurements for the day

Weight:149 (which means I have gained 5 lbs since the first time I weighed myself on the 22 of December...damn Christmas goodies!)

Total time working out: slightly over one hour

Calories burnt while working out (according to the Wii): 201

Calories consumed so far: 750

Tonight I am making goulash for dinner with broccoli on the side, which I am estimating to be about 400 calories. Which leaves me about 450 calories for two snacks...which is good, because right now...I am hungry! :)

Talk to you tomorrow!

HERE WE GOOOOOOO!

Here We Go!

Today is the first official day of my 6 week challenge. The other days were just practice. I woke up this morning with my daughter at 8:30. Put her in her high chair with her breakfast and then I started working out. I have been told that exercising first thing in the morning before you eat will help jump start your metabolism for the day. So after drinking a tall glass of water I stepped on the Wii balance board and did 15 minutes of Yoga followed by a 5 minute jog and some stretches. Then I made a smoothie. I love smoothies and I love making my own recipes, so whenever i make one I will post the recipe on here so you can try it if you want. I am also tracking my calories on the nifty calorie tracker on www.webmd.com.

So here is my recipe for my Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie:

1/2 cup Vanilla Yogurt (next time I will switch to plain yogurt for less calories)
1 medium banana
2 tbsp Peanut Butter, creamy
1/4 cup 1%milk (just add until you reach the consistency you want)

Yogurt is great for digestion, bananas give you energy and peanut butter helps to keep you full longer.

This recipe was a total of 446 calories, but it makes enough for two small smoothies. One for breakfast and one for a morning snack!

I hope you all are doing great on the first day of the 6-week challenge. Later today I will be posting measurements and maybe a picture or two.