Blog Award

This picture was taken on our 10 year anniversary. I'll be posting a new one soon!

So it is that time again...time for July's blog award! This month the blog award goes to the man that I have spent the last 12 years being married to. In celebration of our anniversary and in appreciation of all his support the blog award goes to my wonderful husband Travis.

I really don't even know where to begin. Seems like we have been together forever. We have been through a lot. Our life has been a fun adventure. He has never failed me and never will. He is smart, determined, funny, kind, hard working and hard headed. My husband has never let me fall, and when I have tried he has carried me and held me up. I have watched him grow from a boy to a man, from an amazing husband to a wonderful father.

Travis loves our little growing family with all he has. The strength he brings to this family, his biggest success is his presence as a father and husband. The love my children have for their father, the joy and wonderment in their eyes- that is success. It is such a wonderful sound to listen to the laughter in our home. He has never been too busy to feed a baby, to run through the sprinklers, to put a bandaid on a boo boo. We are his priority. He always makes time to play hide and seek, to get up and dance, to read a book, to jump on the bed or to change a diaper. Yes he changes diapers! He is very helpful and this only reinforces how much he loves me.

Travis respects me as a women, as mother and as a wife. He has always been my biggest fan and shown me much admiration. Even through all my weight struggles; he never once acted like it mattered. His love was unconditional whether I weighed 117 (the amount I weighed when we met) or 252 (the amount I weighed when I delivered Reese). He has always made me feel beautiful no matter what size I was. I don't think a day has gone by that he hasn't given me some compliment.

I love him so much! He has my heart and I can't wait to grow old with him.

Trivia

So I am watching the new season of Biggest Loser (well new to me...it is actually season 4) and they have had a little trivia on the show. Thought I would ask my followers to see how savvy you all are. I am also going to try and start making my blog more interactive. I am trying to figure out how to incorporate polls and trivia. Anyway, please put your guesses to the questions in the comments. I will be posting the answers in a week.

1) How many jumping jacks would it take to burn offa pint of chocolate ice cream?

a-2000

b-5000

c-8000

d-12000

2) How many spoonfuls of sugar are in a single can of coke?

a-1

b-3

c-5

d-7

3) Which food has the most calories?

a-double bacon cheeseburger

b-22 oz chocolate milkshake

c-medium order of french fries

d-medium order of onion rings

4) On average how many food related decisions does a person make in a single day?

a-12

b-50

c-100

d-200

Lets see who can answer all the questions correctly..first...

A day at the office

So today I went to work prepared. I had some go lean kashi for breakfast with skim milk. At lunch I had packed a dry salmon pack (similar to tuna) and a deli thin slice of bread. I got condiments from the cafeteria (light mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and pickles) and made myself a yummy salmon sandwich and enjoyed a glass of unsweet tea and some snack size carmel rice cakes. This afternoon around 3PM I was a little hungry but I had packed some oven roasted almonds which I had roasted a few weeks ago and had about a dozen. They held me over till I got home. At lunch I asked my friends if they would do the stairs with me twice a day and two of them agreed. So I will pack some comfy shoes in order to start this.

Tonight I went to Walmart and bought more produce, cheese, yogurts, and two boxes of cereal for my fridge at work. I have really been trying to shop the outside isle and skip all the processed food. There are still a few things I pick up but getting better at eating fresh. I noticed the the farmers market across the street has cucumbers, squash, corn and peppers. I am off tomorrow so going to go by early in the morning before it is picked over and get us some! Well, that is all for now....nighty-night!

Why choose failure when success is an option?

So today was my first day back to work. It was good to be back and I must say that many people noticed my weight loss. I didn't think they would but they did. I have so far still to go so I have to come up with a plan of attack. I know that it will be hard to pack lunches so I am investing in a mini fridge that will fit under my desk! I am going to buy a box of cereal each weekend, 3 yogurts, diet cokes, 3 pieces of fruit and snacks to keep. I want to buy everything on the weekend and prep it and take it to work on Monday and have enough for the whole week. While I can't eat the same things every day with out going crazy I know that 3 days a week I can eat cereal for breakfast, yogurt & sandwich for lunch, a piece of fruit for a snack and some other little snack like a snack pack of crackers or something. The good news is that the hospital always has condiments, beverages, and sandwich fixings (lettuce, tomato, pickle) available to me everyday so I dont have to take all that stuff. I am really leaning toward tuna sandwich as I can bring those small dry packs of tuna and slap it on some bread and make something real easy. I hate packing a sandwich ahead of time because the bread always gets soggy. So, I just want to stock my little fridge with some essentials (lunch meat, carrot stix, etc) that way I will always have a plan.

Now, this will not always work! For example today my boss came up to me and asked if I could go to lunch with her (her treat) so we could get caught up on some things. What I am I supposed to say? I told her yes but said to please pick somewhere with some healthy options. Luckily she picked Olive Garden and I knew exactly what I could have. I had the capellini pomodoro with salad. I only ate about half of it though and neglected to eat the bread. I am really going to try and avoid eating lunch out though. The good news is that my best buds at work eat at work almost every day so I can pack my lunch and still meet them upstairs in the atrium and eat. I have told them to hold me accountable.

Not sure what my slump has been in regard to exercise. It might be that I am sick. I have the worst chest congestion and runny nose and I have been coughing my lungs out. The idea of running makes me wanna die. Tomorrow it is my goal to do the stairs G-S-1-2-3-4-5 (7 floors)...I think I can do it at least twice. Hoping to get back into my routine on the treadmill. I have an entire season of Biggest Loser waiting for me. I know once I start, I'll be hooked again! Hopefully, I'll get feeling better too. Being sick is the pits!

What a Week

So, I don't really even know where to get started. I guess I will start with that I lost NO weight this week...I also did not gain any weight this week and I am proud of that. We ate out at least once a day and weren't home hardly at all for the past week. Here is a recap of my week.

Tuesday:
My mom flew in that night and we barbecued lean pork chops and corn. My mom took Hudson shopping to buy some new cars! He was so excited. He got some new ones to add to his collection and a new pair of Lightning McQueen jammies!

Wednesday:
My mom, Hudson, Reese and I all met up with my grandparents and enjoyed a day on the lake. I packed all of us a healthy lunch and snacks (tuna sandwiches, nectarines, crackers/hummus). My cousins were all flying in that night and we met this at Puelo's Grill for dinner. I had the salmon with double order of steamed veggies (dry with no sauce)

Thursday:
The entire family spent the entire day at Dollywood. I am really wishing I would of wore a pedometer because I can guarantee I walked at least 3 miles that day. For lunch I had a half of a chicken sandwich, pickle and nectarine. That night we came home exhausted but I had pulled out a batch of my homeade spaghetti sauce out of the freezer and quickly made up some rigatoni and we had some yummy noodles.

Friday:
Another day out on the lake. All of the family met around 10:30 and we had 4 boats out on the lake for majority of the day. We went to the golf course for lunch and I had a Hawaiian salad. That day we did lots of swimming. I went for two long swims and challenged all of my very in-shape cousins to a water treading workout. You should try it. You start by treading water for 10 seconds, then you put your palms out of the water for the next 10 seconds and then you put your hands on your forehead for the last 10 seconds. They all practically drowned. haha! That is one workout I am really great at!

Saturday:
Trav and I headed up to Pigeon Forge again to see the family. We stopped by taco bell and I had a bean burrito. For the record..Taco Bell is my favorite fast food and I hadn't ate it once in 12 weeks). We did a little shopping at the outlet mall then we met up with my family in their beautiful cabin. My uncle Russ bought everything for a barbecue. Chicken Breast, Potato Salad, Corn, Green salad, chips, etc. Travis grilled up all the chicken. It was so yummy. I had a half of a chicken breast that night and one ear of corn. I did have one small piece of strawberry shortcake that night. We did fireworks and enjoyed an evening playing games and talking.

Sunday:
We headed to Pigeon Forge one last time to meet up with family before they left. We met them at the Nascar Speedpark and took Hudson on some little rides. It was so hot that day. Then we went to the 3:30 show of the Dixie Stampede. They serve a lot of food but I was so busy with the baby and Hudson that I barely ate. I had a biscuit and some creamy vegetable soup and took the rest home. We went back to the cabin. I had made home-made raspberry icecream the night before but it wasn't quite frozen enough, so we all went back and had a bowl..said our goodbyes and went home. I didn't feel very good that night so skipped dinner.

Monday:
We just stayed home and Hudson played in the sprinklers and on the slip and slide. I haven't been feeling well so I haven't had much of an appetite. I kind of carb loaded though and had a couple bowls of cereal through out the day and a bowl of popcorn last night.

That was pretty much my week. I tried to make really good choices but still just all the time away from home makes it hard. Didn't make it on the treadmill but did do lots and lots of walking and swimming. Not sure why I didn't lose; I honestly thought I would lose 1 pound. I stayed exactly the same to the decimal point! I tried to take on my friend's challenge of logging everything but it was so hard because a lot of the food that we ate was out.

Weight Watcher results: Week 11

No gain, no loss. See my post "What a Week" for the synopsis. I'm still hanging in there! It was motivating to spend some time with my cousins. They are all in such good shape. People always tell me that my cousin Brooke and I look so much a like. I kept telling her that she was a blonde, skinny version of me. I also told her that the next time she saw me that we were going to look even more alike! I told the family about my blog and they were all supportive. I didn't give them the actually address but told them what I was doing. I head back to work on Wednesday the 7th, looking forward to getting into a new routine of eating, working and spending time with the treadmill.