3 weeks, 7 weeks

3 weeks exactly until we leave for East Idaho to see my husband's family and enjoy a vacation. We are planning to take the kids to Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole, WY which are both close to his parents house. Then after we get home I will have 4 weeks until I will fly back to Idaho to sing in my cousin's wedding and to see my mom and lots of fun friends. Only I will be going to Boise with the kids. Trav doesn't have enough vacation time to take two trips to Idaho within a month. I am a little scared to have both kids on the plane with just me but I will just pray that it goes alright.

I am kind of freaking out cause it has been a long time since I have seen a lot of these people. I really want to be able to wear a cute dress to my cousins wedding. Her colors are watermelon & orange! Orange is seriously my best color :)

I don't want to set a bunch of unrealistic goals either. I am just shooting for 2 pounds a week. Every week! Even during vacation. I am at 170 on the dot....right now. I talked to my trainer last night and we are trying to come up with a game plan. She gave me 5 compound movements that I can do in my home gym 2-3 days a week and then I will workout with her and the girls 1-2 times per week. I am also trying to convince her to call me while I do my 20 minutes of cardio intervals, 2 mornings a week and then I will continue to take my high intensity zufu class on Tuesday days.

I wish I could be with her more. It is just hard with the kids. Travis watches them a lot at night and I don't have a ton of options in the day. Wish I could find someone that lived by the gym that could just watch them for an hour or so while I went. I'll post a weigh in next Thursday...please hold me accountable to this!

Crab Cakes

I made crab cakes for the first time and they were pretty easy. They were a little juicy and didn't want to stay in perfect patties real good but they held up pretty good. This is another high protein meal. They were really tasty too. I served them with steamed artichokes.

Crab Cakes

1-1.5 pounds crab meat

1/3 C panko bread crumbs

1 Lg egg

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tsp lemon

1.5 TBSP mayonaise

2 TBSP chopped chives

1 TBSP chopped flat parsley

salt/pepper

olive oil spray

I just put all of the ingredients in my kitchen aid and mixed it up good. Then put the mixture in a 1/3 C measuring cup and packed it in. Heat skillet and spray with olive oil spray. Empty packed measuring cup into skillet and smash with a spatula. Cover and cook for a few minutes, then flip and cook the other side until brown.

Spinach Cheese Chicken Roll Ups

I made the best recipe last week. It looked like a chef made it but it was actually really easy and delicious. It is low calorie and low carbohydrate. I served it with a side of whole wheat spaghetti and marinara.

Spinach Cheese Chicken Roll-Ups

Chicken Cutlets (very thin chicken breasts)

6 TBSP Part Skim Ricotta Cheese

6 oz Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese

1/2 C Parmesan Cheese reduced fat

Box of Frozen Spinach

3 Eggs (split)

Italian Bread Crumbs

Marinara Sauce (I used my spaghetti sauce with no meat)

Fresh Mozzarella

Olive oil spray

Mix the Ricotta cheese, mozzarella, spinach and one egg in a bowl. Put mixture inside chicken breast and roll up. Dip entire chicken roll up in 2 beaten eggs and then roll in breadcrumbs. Cook at 400 for 25 minutes. Cover Chicken with marinara sauce on each roll up. Add thin slice of fresh mozzarella on each and put back in oven till sauce is warm and cheese is melted.

This recipe is 5 WW Points, approx 200 calories, 7 gr fat, 24 gr protein, 7 gr carbs. Makes approx 8 servings.

Original recipe found here

Size 8

I am contemplating going to my cousin Brooke's wedding in Oct. It will be in Boise. While we will just be getting back from East Idaho in September to celebrate Travis's parents 50th anniversary; it might be a little hard to make it. I would like to though because it has been a long time since I have been to Boise and I have lots of friends and family there. The hardest part would be how to take my kids with me. 2 kids on a plane with one adult sounds pretty scary.

My mom lives in Boise though and it has been about a year since she has seen them. I also have tons of friends that have never seen my kids. I haven't visited since I had Hudson. We have made several trips to Idaho Falls but not to Boise. So..I feel like I need to take them and also for the reason that they could see all their DeLuca cousins. To add to it, my cousin Brooke has asked me to sing at her wedding and my cousin Kelsey is having her baby shower (for her twins) a couple days before the wedding.

(Here is Brooke and I; July 2010...I have lost a lot since then but still have a ways to go)

We all know that I have not made my goal of being 150 in time for our Labor Day trip. Could I do it in time for the wedding? I have a little extra motivation. Have you seen my family? They all look like a bunch of super models. All of my cousin's wives are beautiful, Brooke and Kelsey are beautiful, even their moms are beautiful. It is hard being the only chubby one! Maybe I can do it. It would be hard. Maybe I don't deserve to go unless I weight that much?

My friend Liz came and visited a year ago and gave me a pair of size 8 capris. I am dying to fit into them. I am going to hang them up and look at them every day! Is it possible. My hips and butt are the biggest problem. That is where I will have to lose if I am going to fit into them.

Getting the fire again

So I would be lying if I said that everything diet wise has been great the last month. It just hasn't. I have just been caught in a funk and not motivated by anything. I would look at foods and tell myself, "don't eat that", "you will feel guilty if you eat that", "that isn't even real food" and then still eat the stupid fruit snacks. Why? I don't have an answer. I wish that I did.

Last night I was talking to Travis about all of this. As many of you know he struggles with chronic tendonitis in his hands which was caused by years of computer programming. He still hates to click a mouse. If we went to a doctor and they told me that we could cure this forever if for 3 months we would eat certain foods, do specific stretches and do special massages.... then I would do it all for him. I asked for his help last night. I feel like I have a disease that can be cured in 3-6 months and I need help. I am so close yet so far away.

My kids love snacks and I find myself eating their fun foods. I don't want to deprive them of everything they eat. They can easily burn off a popsicle or cookie. BUT I CAN'T. My trainer Tammye says that I should buy them snacks that I don't really crave & love. Allow myself a cheat but get the cheat somewhere and eat it there. Order a portion, eat it and leave. Don't bring tons of goodies and gallons of ice cream home. I think it's a good idea.

This week I hung out with one of my friends. She has a very good figure and after hanging out with her I can see why. Through out the day she snacked. She had some deli lunch meat and a cheese stick, a little later she had a handful of almonds, then a clementine orange. In the afternoon she had a cracker with a little peanut butter but for the most part she just grazed and ate pretty healthy. All the foods that she ate I love. That is the funny thing. I love healthy food! So why do I still crave the unhealthy stuff too.

This week my goal is to find balance and to get the fire burning again. I have asked Trav for help and I am getting motivated. I know that I can do this. I know that slow and steady wins the race but I have to at least be slow and steady! I have to get the needle moving in the right direction even if it is a slow process.

I also talked with several of my workout partners. They all pack a lunch daily and eat the same breakfast every day. I think I'll get myself a lunchbox (they are all on sale right now for back to school) and try this!

Making my Goals

I am not one to usually set goals and not make them. Especially when I tell people about them. It is embarrassing to tell people that you are going to do something and then have them watch you fail. That is the entire reason that I set up this blog; to hold me accountable to my goals. I have been pretty good about my goals so far but wow have I messed up recently.

I have 32 days until our Labor Day trip to Idaho. I really, really want to lose 12 pounds. A pound is 3500 calories. In order to do this, I will have to have a deficit of 1400 calories per day. This should be obtainable. I have the tools to do this. I know how to do this! My bodybugg tells me exactly how many calories I burn through out the day. I should be able to eat about 1300 calories a day (staying out of starvation mode) and burn 2700 per day.

I think I need to get back to being committed to shredding it with Jillian on the days I don't make it to the gym. I can't go carb free. It is just too hard and then I fail but I can watch my carbs a lot closer and commit to eating protein at each meal. My upcoming weeks are really busy with CPR and stuff so I will have to do some planning.

More details to come...

Not sure where to start

So about that 17 day diet? Or should I say 8 days? I just haven't wanted to blog because I am so mad at myself. I mean seriously...anyone should be able to do something for 17 damn days. Think of people that endure torture or who are sick and taking chemo, etc and I can't even give up carbs!

It was a downward spiral. I had two social events, I had a packed weekend where I hadn't prepared and planned exactly everything for the next week, Travis was harassing me about having no carbs and my energy was depleted. I almost felt like I got depression for a couple of days. Everyday at 2:00 I would get so tired that I just wanted to go to bed and cry. The good thing is that my kids both take naps around this time so somedays it was doable. Hudson hates taking naps so he kept telling me "get out of bed mom, its a beautiful day". It gave me sad memories of asking my own mom to get out of bed on the weekends when I would visit. My mom is a sleeper and when she doesn't feel well a little sleep can do her a lot of good. I hated it as a kid though. I felt bad telling Hudson that he just needed to watch a movie and let mommy sleep. We have also been doing tons of home improvement projects. We have spent countless hours in the hot sun; staining our deck, power washing, pruning, removing plants, washing windows, etc. It is so hard to come in from outside and want to eat a hot chicken breast!

So, now after a week of eating delicious carbs, what to do now? Try again? I am pretty sure that I gained a pound last week. Pretty upsetting. The clock is ticking! The family reunion is coming soon. I know that everyone will be surprised and happy for me just due to the amount that I have lost but I really wanted to be in the 150s. Well actually I wanted to be 150. Now I would settle for 159.

The rest of this week is pretty crazy too! We are in the middle of refinancing our house and the appraiser will be here tomorrow. The good part is that we are getting a 15 year loan and 3.7% interest! Woo hoo. It really pays to have good credit. I have to brag for just a quick minute that both Travis and I entered into the over 800 FICO score. This feels good to start getting our house paid off sooner. Anywho..this means that today and tomorrow I will be picking up the house (extra good). I also have my hip hop aerobics class today and the kids to tend to. Wednesday evening I also have a CPR class to teach since my employee is on a cruise this week. Boo. Thursday the kids and I are headed to splash country with our neighbor. Hudson loves it! He is such a dare devil and there are so many fun things to do there. Friday I have to get us all packed for a camping trip to Cumberland State Falls in Kentucky. Travis is getting off early on Friday and we plan to spend the weekend there.

While most of these activities are fun; they still all take a lot of work and planning. It just makes strict dieting very hard. I am not sure what to do. As I said before, I know my exercise is not really the problem. I work out more now than I have since I was in high school. It is just the little things that get to me. I swear that eat pretty healthy 90% of the time. You would think that I could correct that last 10% right? Why is it so hard?? Will I ever see my goal?