Week One Results

This past week has been an amazing first week in my re commitment to healthy living!

I am doing a happy dance this morning!

I decided I needed to track calories and exercise so I signed up for MyFitnessPal and I must say that it is the best online tool that I personally have used, ever. I love it; you can customize it, they have a community forum and it is just plain easy to navigate. If any of you readers are a member of MyFitnessPal I would love to friend you on there, send me your user name if you are.

I did struggle through the weekend but like I said previously, I did make it out without much damage.

My husband is a GREAT support for me, he seems to say just the right thing and just when I need to hear it too.

My eating has been at or below my calorie range, which is 1470, if I do not exercise. If I do exercise I try to eat those calories because I am still nursing my little one and do not want my milk supply to drop for her.

I also have exercised everyday since Sunday. Here is the break down.....

Sunday~ 7.4km run/walk....this was hard for me because it has been so long since I have run at all and last fall since I ran that distance, but I made it.

Monday~ Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout dvd

Tuesday~ 6 Week Six Pack Level 1

Wednesday~ 4 Mile Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds

Total of 1640 calories burned with exercise since my last weigh in.

Today will probably be a rest day because I will have extra children here all day, possible I will go for a bike ride after my husband gets home (if it is still light out).

Today's weight..........................................................

165.5lbs!!!!!

Down 4.5lbs this week.................here is the happy dance!

I know the first week is always a bigger loss because the body is riding itself of waste that it has accumulated but I am determined to stay on this roll of healthy living again!!!!

I have had so much energy and I love that feeling, I do not want to give that up for anything.

Staying Positive

In the recent months I have had a very negative focus about myself.

I fed the little evil thought life so well and now I am determined to starve it out and instead fill my thoughts and mind with positive food!

The 'food' I am consuming lately is scripture, inspiring blogs and positive self affirmation!

The battle can be so strong some days, that negative place became very strong. Some days or times of the day, it can still be overwhelming but I am so glad to God and for my husband..between the two of them they have kept me a float more than once this weekend!

I must go now but want to leave you with a powerful quote form Made to Crave....

Whether we're on the path toward victory or defeat is determined by the very next choice we make. Not the choices from yesterday. Not the choices five minutes ago. The next choice. Our very next choice. May it be that of an overcomer.

by Lysa Terkeurst

Facing Facts

I am so glad that my mental space is in a good place right now because if it had not been than this morning would have been devastating to me.

Praise God for His focus!

I have thought that I needed to do my 'new before' measurements and weight and put it out there for the 'world' to see.

Here is my starting place.......August 25th, 2011

Weight 170lbs

Waist 37.75

Hips 40.5

Rib Cage 37

Bust 44.5

Upper Leg Left 23.5 Right 23.25

Upper Arm Left 13.75 Right 13.5

I am totally good with these measurements and weight even though all are much higher than where I was at.

It is actually a relief to have written these down as a starting point as of today!

No secrets!!!

My eating has been right on and I know the scale will go down steadily as I continue to focus on good, life giving choices regarding food.

More important to me right now is not the number on the scale or the size of my clothes (although seeing a smaller number will be great) but having my focus on the right things.

Following the Lead

What's up with Blogger??

Some how my background and things were all messed up! Oh, well I like to change the look from time to time anyway.

The new blog depicts how I am feeling about living life and feeling healthy!

Alive, free and full of hope!!!

A rainbow represents a promise from God.

He has promised me that He will always be with me and hold me up...be my strength when I think I can't do this anymore.

God has been speaking to my heart about so many things regarding my eating habits, body weight and the tendency to revert back to over eating.

Heart issues have been revealed to me but there is just no way to describe it to anyone because I am still trying to process it all.

The one thing that I can share and that I know and understand is that freedom is a choice...daily, hourly I have to choose to walk in the freedom from addiction or I can allow myself to be controlled by my impulses, lusts and the father of lies.

My freedom has been given to me, I received it years ago!

"Victory is possible, not by figuring out how to make this an easy process, but by choosing~ over and over again~ the absolute power available through God's truth." By Lysa Terkeurst

I am just finishing reading 'Made to Crave' by Lysa Terkeurst.

This is an awesome book, I have learned a lot from it.

Until next time, some of the freedom choices I have made since my last post;

• To eat healthy, clean foods for many days in a row.
• To move my body on a regular basis again.
• To offer my day to the Lord and allow Him to minister to me.
• To test my thoughts about myself and believe the ones that bring life and speaks truth.
• Take a Pro-biotic, Digestive Enzyme and daily vitamin.
• Read God's word and allow it to change me.

Update

I wanted to let you all know that I am back!!!!!

That dark cloud has lifted and I feel in control, Praise be to God!

After my last post I have been doing some deep self examining...I have had to really look hard at why I need to be healthy.

The top reasons.....

• I am a temple of the Holy Spirit!
• I am made for more than the crazy cycles that I have went through for years....I am WORTH it!
• My children deserve to have a happy, healthy mom.

I have come to realize that living a healthy lifestyle, truly is a battle both physically and spiritually and it is not going away so I might as well stand strong and face the battle daily.

For some their battle is with alcohol, drugs, and/or sex...whatever their weakness is...mine is food, so until I am strong enough to be able to eat just one piece of cake (if that day ever comes!) than I am going to choose to not have ANY! What life is there in cake? There is done for me!

Can you imagine an alcoholic saying that they will just go to this one party and have a few drinks!?!?!?! and then tomorrow will stop again...would that be easy???? I do not think it would, in fact I know it is impossible!!!!

It has been a week of making the choice to live life fully!

To take my thoughts captive and test them to see if they are life giving!

I still have hurdles to face but I am ready!

Missing In Action

If you see this woman, please tell her to come home!

I MISS her....................

Doesn't she look happy, healthy and fit?!?!?!?

Seriously, this photo was taken in November 2010...I was at my lowest weight of 146lbs.

Now, I am scared to step on the scale.............the last time I was brave enough I was weighing in at 171lbs..............yuck!!!

I do not know what it is going to take to get back my gusto!!

I am working my way through a great book that is helping me to gain back my positive thoughts, truthfully I have been so sad and negative about myself the last 2-3 months.

I worked hard to get into shape and felt so great about what I had accomplished and to see now how EASY it is to fall into the old me patterns....that is sad!

I am dealing with a few health issues and hopefully they will be straightened out soon so that there can be one less reason to be on this bad road.

Why the Cycles?

For the last few months I have been struggling with losing weight...the last couple of weeks have been mostly on track but still a mental struggle.

I want to be at goal, like NOW!!!

The daily fight goes something like this.....

I have a number of bad eating days in a row even though my day typically started out awesome, with a healthy breakfast and lunch but sometime between lunch and supper the old bad habits would take over!

I would consume a ridiculous amount of calories until bedtime at which point I would go to bed feeling shameful and begin planning in my head how I would correct this detrimental behaviour.

The modes of correction that I would commonly come up with are extreme and thankfully by morning I would have rid those thoughts from my plan and sensibility would set back in...but the cycles continue.

I know how to lose weight for me!!!!

It involves eating clean, whole and mostly raw foods...

So my question to my self and you all today is why is it that when I/we deviate from what we know works why do we think the plan has failed and go looking for quick fixes??? When obviously it is us who has failed the plan and not vice versa!

I hope someone has an answer to this scenario because I have yet to figure it out!

I look forward to hearing some peoples ideas on this.

My eating has been mostly on track since my weigh in on Friday but I must admit that some SAD, sad food I have also eaten....boo!!!

So much for 84 days of clean eating in a row!!!

I have also got 3 good workouts in since Friday and I am hoping for another run and strength training later this week.

Week 2 Day 1

The humidity has finally broke and even though the temperature is still high (28 degrees) I feel like I am alive again. Hooray!

This morning I starting cleaning at 7am to make up for the week of just doing what I had to to get by. On the list was sweeping and mopping the floors on the main level, dusting in the living room and main floor bedroom, organized the toy/book shelves and then cut the grass.

It was a busy morning but it felt good to get it all done before lunch.

This past week had a few challenging days of eating but on the whole it has been wonderful.

My weight this morning was 159lbs....down 4lbs this week!!!

So happy about that!!! I feel like I am on a roll for weight loss again.

Food for today;

Breakfast~ 1 cup Corn Flakes, 1/2 cup All Bran, 1 cup 2% milk and 1 cup Cantaloupe.

Snack~ Ezekiel English Muffin with 1 tbsp. Natural Peanut Butter and 1 cup Red Grapes.

Lunch~ Smoothie (120ml Coconut Milk, 15g Shredded Coconut, 1 cup pineapple and 1 tbsp. frozen Orange Juice)

Snack~ Apple

Supper~ Raw Vegetables and a slice of Pizza

Total Calories~ 1,382

Week 1 Day 7 SWSC

Today is a killer hot one!

My plan today was to take the children to Espanola so my eldest daughter could pick out new eye glasses frames because her youngest brother broke her current pair.

So I packed a picnic lunch and off we went!

This turned out to be a great way to spend a VERY hot day...an hour drive both ways and then air conditioning in the doctors office and mall. Lunch on the beach sitting in the shade with a lovely breeze. NICE!!!

We returned home to unpack groceries and then pack the cooler again for another picnic at the local beach for supper and swimming lessons.

I hate to cook when it is hot out so the children have been eating a lot of cold sandwiches and cereal this week. Oh well, they will survive!

My eats for today have been;

Breakfast~ Banana, peanut butter, spinach and milk smoothie.

Snack~ Apple and almonds.

Lunch~ Ezekiel Wrap with Natural Selections Honey Ham, lettuce, onions, red pepper, cucumber and mustard. Cantaloupe for dessert!

Supper~ Smoothie made of Coconut milk, shredded coconut, pineapple and orange juice. Yummy and refreshing!!!

Total Calories~1,244

If I am hungry after our time at the beach I will have a some grapes and Greek yogurt.

I weigh-in in the morning....excited to see what the scale says....I really have no idea what it is going to be because I have not had a sneak peek but I do know that I feel great and that is most important!

Week 1 Day 6 Summer Weight Shedding Challenge

The weather here in Ontario, Canada has been so hot and humid.

I DO NOT like hot and humid...it makes me grumpy! and really who wants to exercise in the heat??? Not me! I sweat just sitting!

We have been spending hours in the afternoon and evening at the beach cooling off. There is one advantage of living on the largest fresh water island in the world....I can see the water from my deck!

I spite of feeling grumpy, sweaty and sticky I had another great day of eating!!!

Breakfast~ 4 cups Watermelon & 1 oz. Raw Almonds

Snack~ Spinach, Banana, 1/2 cup 2% milk and 2 tbsp. Natural Peanut Butter Smoothie

Lunch~ 3 Wasa Bread with 2 tbsp. Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese, stalk of celery and 1 cup Baby Carrots

Snack~ Apple

Supper~ 1 oz. Marble Cheese and a Ezekiel Wrap with Hummus, spinach, lettuce, zucchini, cucumber, red pepper, onions and carrot.

Total Calories~ 1,398

Week 1 Day 5 of Summer Weight Shedding Challenge

It is so awesome when my eating and attitude fall into place at the same time! and I never want these days to end...when you feel on top of it all!

I long for more easy days in a row....I know it takes one day at a time but I want to look back and see a big long streak of good eating days in a row....it

makes it easier to get through a tough day!

I love reading blogs that encourage and inspire me, the ones that push me to be a better person.

I have 'meet' so many amazing people over the last year and half...I treasure you all so much!

I have been tracking my food on My Fitness Pal since Friday, this tool is so easy to use...I have used many different online tools before but this one has by far been the easiest I have found to date.

Just for Fun!!!

This is Amanda, she is 20 months old now!

Summer Weight Shedding Challenge

Today is the beginning of the Summer Weight Shedding Challenge that is being hosted on The Homeschool Lounge.

For this challenge we will weigh in on Friday mornings until October 7th, which is 12 weeks!

My weight this morning was 163lbs and my goal is to lose 1-2 pounds per week...hopefully closer to the 139 mark.

I also did my measurements today....Bust 43.5, rib cage 37, waist 36 and hips 39.

Those numbers spoke loudly to me about being an apple shape and I know so well the dangers associated with being an apple shape. I lost both my Grandmother and Dad to heart attacks when they were only in their early 5o's.

My focus has been on track for the last week and a bit, except for yesterday when I did the "oh, my I am going to eat lots today because starting tomorrow I will not be allowing myself the treats!" attitude and ate a whole, yes a whole bag of chips, bagel with strawberry cream cheese and banana bread with Nutella. YUCK! and I felt it all night long.

My goals for the next 12 weeks are............

• Exercise at least 3 times per week.
• No snacking after supper.
• Journal my food intake for the first 3 weeks to make sure my calories are on track.
• Eat clean, whole foods 100% of the time. (That will be 84 days of no treats!)

I have went 100 days before with no treats and felt so good while doing that. This is what made me want to add this goal to my list.

I am ready for this challenge.

Got My Groove On

Life is so very busy but so very good!

I have found my groove again...it took a couple of weeks and a few more pounds but I am back at it and feeling GREAT!!!!

At the beginning of last week I weighed myself, even though I did NOT want to.

I had been pigging out and just not caring enough.

My roll was hanging over my pants like it has not for a long while so I knew the number was going to be not good.

170! Yikes!!!

The short of it all is I, at that moment decided that I was SO worth this fight with food that I was not going to bow before its control any longer!!!! I have the strength and victory but I need to remember that and walk in it...I am the boss not the addiction!

The scale yesterday morning had me back to the 161lb I had been back on the 24th of June.

I am happy with that....9lbs of junk gone from my body in just a few short days, the roll is disappearing again and my mind is in the fight. Prayer is key to keeping this stride going.

With the exception of having a ooey, gooey dessert with my husband while on a date last night, I have been eating wonderful, healthy and whole foods! and my body loves it!

There is nothing like the feeling when your body is fuelled with the best food possible. I have so much more energy, I think clearer, my patience with the children is great and I find so much more time to do all I need to get done in a day.

Everything just seems to fall into place when I keep my eating in check! Go figure!!!

I will weigh in on Friday because I joined a 12 Week Challenge over on a home school forum and our weigh in day will be Fridays. My goal is to lose 1-2 lbs per week.

So by October 7th I will be down 12 - 24 lbs...woohoo!

To see a number between 149 and 137 on October 7th will be cause for a celebration.

Hmm, what should I do to celebrate?

Weekly Weigh In

This past week has been good and bad for eating...a few good days followed by a couple of bad days and then finally another good day! Hopefully my streaks of good will start to out weigh the bad...no pun intended!!!

I got in two workouts (Tuesday and Thursday) only but I am good with that...two is better then none!

I only lost 1 pound this week...down anything is good at this point!

Give Away

Check out this give away from Home Educating Families.

I use and love the Well Planned Day, it keeps me organized and it has a place for EVERYTHING you need to put on paper!

I would recommend it to any homeschooling parent.

Smoothie Challenge Revisited

After careful consideration, and some deeper self examination I have to share with you that I will not be eliminating whole foods from my diet.

I know better then to go to extremes with my eating but it still happens. At least it is usually momentary and I recognize it...like I did after posting yesterday. I need to have balance in this area of my life, it is coming...slow but sure!

It is so easy for me to indulge in a piece of sweet whatever and then be overwhelmed with those feelings of failure which then leads to a full blown binge by eating a truck load of useless calories.

Or going to the exact opposite extreme of fasting from all food to lose weight.

I have used fasting in the past and even calling it a spiritual fast to lose weight....and it is something I struggle with almost daily, when I have had a bad eating day even now!

I have finally admitted it. What a relief!

My plan to get back on track and break these nasty cravings......

I am going to still enjoy a BIG green smoothie each morning for breakfast, eat unlimited amounts of fruit and vegetables throughout the day.

Lunch will be an Ezekiel English Muffin with natural peanut butter.

Supper will be a normal size serving of whatever I am making for the family and a large salad.

If I am having a lazy day and the children are having something like nuggets & fries or frozen pizza then I will resort to a homemade Whole Wheat Pita Vegetable Pizza for my supper.

That is my plan and I will stick with it!

Sorry if I have sounded wishy, washy the last two posts....

just trying to get my feet rooted again!

Onto other news, I have been getting up with my husband early in the morning (5:40am) and after he leaves for work (6:30am) I have about 45 - 60 minutes before any of the children begin to wake up.

I have been taking that time for devotions and a quiet coffee followed by checking in on the computer; blogs, Facebook, emails and other such things. Today after he left I thought, "Why not do the 30 Day Shred while the children are sleeping?"...I had no good reason to not so I popped in the dvd and got in my workout clothes at 6:45am and met with Jillian for a kick butt session.

Man, did it ever feel good to have that accomplished this morning!!!

New School Year

Today was the beginning of our new school year.

I am trying a year round school year for the first time.

With my husband working seasonally right now it makes sense to me. So for the summer we will school for 2 weeks on and then 2 weeks off using a new curriculum to us from My Father's World.

In this study we will 'travel' around the world exploring different countries and cultures.

Today the children had to fill out passport applications and have their pictures taken for the 'passport' they will need to go on this adventure.

I am excited about this all!

On the eating front...well some days are still better then others.

Tomorrow I am going to begin a green smoothie challenge for an undetermined amount of time.

I will drink green smoothies that will be of all different mixtures of any kind of fruit or vegetables as much as I want, whenever I want.

This is for many different reasons...

1. I need to cleanse my body of toxins. It has been years since I have done this, I guess it was before I was pregnant with my first child...so over 13 years ago. I think it is time!!!

2. I hope to break the cravings that are killing my will power.

3. I want to focus on my relationship with the Lord.

4. I hope to diminish the belly fat that hangs over the top of my shorts.

Spring Update & Where I am At Now

WOW!!! Has it really been well over 3 months...crazy!

I have had a busy and uneventful last three month.

Just living every day life...teaching, cleaning, supervising, exercising and eating.

My husband is back at work now so my workload is doubled but I am SO thankful for his employment.

For the where I am at right now part..............I hate to say it but I must admit that my eating has not been all that great on a consistent basis since like Christmas time.

I have spurts of eating healthy, good for you, clean food but then I have more days of eating really bad for you, calorie and fat dense food.

I weighed myself this morning for the first time in a long time and I am up by 15 pounds from my lowest weight of 147.

So my official recommitment weight is 162lbs!!!

I know what I need to do and plan on doing it CONSISTENTLY!!!!!

Workouts are a wee bit tough to get in but right now with my husband gone from 6:30am until 7:30pm but on days that the baby naps twice I will get one in.

The eating part has got to be where I focus because I can totally control it.

Clean mostly vegetarian diet is what I will be eating....and I am going to try to blog again with at least an update or two a week and a weekly Thursday weigh in.

I am going to add a ticker and watch it go down to my goal 142lbs, so how long will it take to lose 20 pounds?!?!?!? I don't know but I know it is doable!

Scary Situation

For the last couple of weeks the flu has been going through our house.

First it was a stomach flu that everyone but my husband got hit with.

This time it is a fever and sore throat flu and since Friday 4 out of the 6 children has come down with it. It seems easier on the body because there is no vomiting but it is just the opposite. These poor little ones have not an ounce of life in them and it is lasting 3-4 days.

Last night was the scariest thing I think as a parent I have ever had to deal with....a little background information...I spent many years working with people with developmental and psychological disabilities. Here is what happened....

I was sleeping in the bedroom with my son (7) and daughter (5) who were both sick. At 2:30 am they were up, went to the bathroom, I got them each a drink of water and gave them a dose of Tylenol. They both fell asleep quickly again.

From a sound sleep at 4am, I was awoke with my daughter screaming and crying uncontrollably. She sat up and started scratching at the wall while still screaming. I tried to get her to stop by calling her name and shaking her shoulder, thinking she was sleeping, . She did not respond to this so I turned on the light and again called her name, at this point I realized she had her eyes open. Her brother tried calling her and told her to stop....still no response. Then suddenly she stopped, looked straight into my eyes with a glazed over look, almost like she was starring through me and said "I want you Mommy!" I took her in my arms and cuddled her but again she started crying and scrambled out of my arms...she went face to face with her brother and grabbed him by the shoulders and looked at him.

Again she turned to me and said, "I want you Mommy!". By now I was scared, I sent my son to get their Dad, when my husband came into the room my daughter just starred at him again, like she had to me. Then he reached for her and she climbed into his arms. I thought , Oh good it is over! but then she started asking us silly questions like, "Is the wood in the bathroom yet?". After a few minutes of the questions and her speech trailing off in mid sentence, she stopped acting strange and she asked to go back to sleep...I slept with her and before allowing her to go to sleep I spent a good long time praying for her and then conversing with her about events that are coming up for us and she was totally fine and coherent.

That is a very long story and I don't know if it came across as terrifying as it was to me as a Mom to see a child of mine obviously in some kind of hallucinogenic state but this experience has left me a different kind of woman.

I have cried today just thinking about how precious my children really are and being truly thankful for there overall good health.

Today she does not remember all the events that happen last night but also does not seem to be effected by what happen....for this I am thankful but fearful for tonight!!!

If this is jumbled and not making much sense, I apologize, I am still trying to process it all myself!

Mmm Muffins!!!

This week we will be eating up all of the leftover meals that I have been stock piling in the freezer and since my prep time for supper will be eliminated I plan to use that time to do some baking to put in the freezer for snacks.

I am doing the muffin route again because I find that I am always buying snacks that are full of yucky ingredients and I do not like to feed my children that...so back to having muffins and fruit or yogurt and fruit for snacks....we have all been eating too much sugar lately and in order for me to succeed in losing my last 10 pounds I need to get the processed 'stuff' out of my house.....again!!! After today all of the boxed snacks except for a bag of Goldfish Crackers will have been eaten and we can start the week with fresh, healthy snacks!!!

I have posted our menu for this week in the tab at the top

and here are recipes for the muffins I plan to bake.

Corn Bread Muffins

• 1/2 cup Cornmeal
• 1/2 Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
• 1/2 cup Applesauce
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/4 cup Honey

1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Lightly grease pan.

3. Combine dry ingredients then stir in wet ingredients.

4. Bake 15 -20 minutes

This recipe only makes 6 muffins but can easily be doubled , tripled or quadrupled.

Zucchini Muffins

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Agave Nectar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup sour milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup Sucanat

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a muffin pan, or use paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sucanat and agave nectar. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in milk, eggs, zucchini, oil and vanilla. Fold in walnuts. Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full. Sprinkle tops with brown sugar.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Red River Oat Bran Muffins

1 1/3 cups	boiling water
3/4 cup	Red River Cereal
3/4 cup	natural bran
2 1/2 cups	Spelt Flour
2 1/2 tsp	baking soda
1/2 tsp	salt
1/3 cup	Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Apple Sauce
1 cup	Agave Nectar
2	eggs
2 cups	buttermilk
2 cups	Oats
1-1 1/2 cups	raisins, chopped dates or dried cranberries

1.	POUR boiling water over Red River Cereal and bran; let stand.
2.	COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
3.	CREAM oil, agave nectar, eggs and buttermilk together in large bowl until blended. Add flour mixture with bran mixture, oats and raisins. Mix thoroughly. Spoon into greased muffin cups,filling almost full.
4.	BAKE at 375°F (190°C) for 18 to 23 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly touched.
	MAKES about 2 dozen muffins

Planners???

Today I ordered a day planner that is geared for Homeschooling parents called

The Well Planned Day.

Over the years I have tried many different ways of organizing myself in school, home and life but have not found one that I can say has been the one!!!!

I would consider myself a fairly well organized person on the whole but I have a desire to find a great place that I can write it all down.

I am hoping that this one will work for me!!

I have read many positive reviews about it from other homeschooling families and I hope it lives up to its name.

What do you use to keep yourself organized?!?!?!?!

Oh Mister Sun

Today was a beautiful day here on Manitoulin Island!

It was still cold but the sun was shining!

After school work was done this morning I made Cabbage Rolls for supper....I love cabbage rolls but have only ever made them one other time, they are very time consuming but the wonderful smell that filled the house for the rest of the day was so wonderful and worth the time to make them.

After my Day Care child went home I laced up my running shoes and headed outside for a run.

I so enjoyed being out it the sunshine, feeling the warmth of it as I ran ....it felt more like a retreat than an exercise session!!

Family Day

Here in Ontario it was a holiday. Known as Family Day...how did we spend it?

This is how the day started out for us....Mom and Dad were enjoying a second cup of coffee at 8:40am.

Then we made our way to the kitchen and I prepared the family a favorite breakfast!

For the rest of the morning and into the early part of the afternoon we did this......

It ended with eating some yummy cookies,watching a movie and then it was outside for a COLD, WINDY walk!!!

What a great day with family and friends!

Under Construction

As I told you a few weeks ago...I planned on changing this space up a bit!

While I have started and will continue over the next couple of days to get it to the place I want it to become, a place where a document the happenings in my life as far as being a wife, mom, home educator and woman!!!

Most of my followers started out with me when this space was a weight loss journal and I totally understand if you stop following me now that my theme has changed to a family focus.

That being said though I have come to love and appreciate you and do hope you continue to tag along on this journey of My Life!!!!

Homemade Pizza

Today we are celebrating both my husband and sons birthday!

My husband turned 43 on Tuesday but with me being sick nothing happen for him and my son will be 3 tomorrow!

On the menu...by request....fried crunchy chicken wings, honey garlic wings, pizza, chocolate cake, ice cream and cheese cake.

CRAZY!!!

I will be making a vegetable platter and fruit tray...this is my touch and not requested!!! HA!!

To make the pizza a bit healthier I am making a clean crust.

Here is the recipe I love!!!!

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp.warm water

2 1/4 tsp. Active Yeast

1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

Mix together in a large bowl and set aside for 5 minutes.

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

2 tbsp. Cornmeal

Stir in the dry ingredients to the wet mixture just until it sticks together.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured counter and knead for 10 minutes until the ball is smooth and elastic.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turn the dough over, cover with a clean kitchen towel.

Place the bowl in a warm spot and let rise until double. Approximately 1 hour.

Roll the dough out on a floured counter and place the rolled dough on a pizza tray, top with your favorite toppings and bake in a 450 degree oven for approximately 12-15 minutes or until bottom is brown and cheese is bubbling.

Yummy!!!!

This Week

The flu bug hit our house last Friday and has slowly made its way through all the children and myself!

My eldest daughter is today just feeling better, so it has been a quiet but messy seven days around here.

Last year we managed to not get any flu in the house so we were do for something to hit and to hit hard like it did!

I think it has been since I was pregnant with my oldest son (who is 7) that I have been as sick as I was this week! It was yucky!!!

Enough about that though!!!

My husband left yesterday to go to Southern Ontario to celebrate his Dad's 80th Birthday with the family!!!! WOW!!! 80 years, that is incredible!!!

For those that have known me for very long know that I tend to struggle with eating healthy while he is away but not this time, I feel focused and determined!

It helps that the scale is still moving in the downward direction so my motivation is to see it continue, my little peak yesterday at the scale has me down another pound so far this week.

It is much harder to stay focused when no matter what you do the scale stays the same so this scale movement is GREAT timing!

Yesterday I spent the entire day cleaning...DEEP cleaning! Washing floors, walls, corners, windows, getting rid of dust and webs, then dusting built in cabinets and organizing shelves.

It started out that I was just going to clean out the germ infested areas!!! Like the bathroom and commonly touch surfaces but because my husband is gone I had the opportunity to do it good!

Today I will hit the second level, mop and pail in hand!!!

A clean house makes me happy!

I consider my house clean...mind you it was always cleaner before I became a Mom but some the jobs I did yesterday are more of the kind that get done only a couple of times a year so this feels awesome!

Busted Through

It has been 4 days of tracking my calories and trying to eat close too 1,800 calories.

I have had awesome workouts all week long, 3 days of over 60 minutes and 3 days of over 45 minutes.

My reward????!!!!

Seeing 145.5lbs on the scale this morning!!!

That is the lowest I have been in over 10 years!!!!

I am pumped about it!!!

So that puts me at 2.5 pounds gone out of 10 for my contest with my husband....my hubby is at 3.5lbs down so we are neck and neck heading for the half way mark!!!!

Bonus Buy

Last weekend, I went to Sudbury which is the city that is closest to where I live for some shopping!

In Walmart, I came across a display of workout DVD's.....they had all different kinds but the ones that stood out to me were....can you guess???

If you guessed Jillian Michaels than you were right!

I bought her Yoga Meltdown, Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout. They were each $6.83, what a steal!

I have done 2 of the 3 so far this week and I am looking forward to trying out the last one later today!

My eating has NOT been that great this week but I have been working out like a mad woman so hopefully it will even out!

I called a dietitian service yesterday that is offered through the Government of Ontario to see what they would say my calorie intake should be daily.

I have been tracking my intake on SparkPeople and everywhere I read on the Internet gives me a different number to aim for so I thought a real live person may be most helpful .....but get this, Eat Right Ontario dietitian say because I am breastfeeding and working out regularly I should be eating 2,000 calories a day!!!

I asked if I should lose weight with that amount of calories and she said with a firm tone "YES!"

I find this hard to believe.....

mentally that seems like a huge number to me and physically to consume 2,000 calories a day...that is a whack of food when I want to eat only healthy food.

I could easily get that with high calorie, rich, garbage for me kind of food, but I am not going there.

So I will stick with trying to eat 1,800 calories daily or close to that!

Free Trial

When I bought my new DVD this week, 6 Pack Six Weeks, I received a 30 day free trial for Jillian Michaels Diet and Weight Loss Support Program!!! I went for it and signed up for the No obligation trial!! after the 30 days I will decide if I like the tool enough to pay $52 for 13 weeks or not.

You journal your food and it tracks the calories, input your activity and in tracks the calories burned....there is lots of other tools too and I plan on playing around on the site a bit later today to see what all there is on it!

I love the way Jillian pushes me to do more and better with my exercise!!

She is kind of a mentor to me...like YOU guys are...it still amazes me how people I have never meet can influence and motivate me!!!

THANKS LADIES!!!!

Counting Calories Just to be Sure

The days go by so quickly!!!

I have been having some easy days of eating! I love those kind of days!!!!

As of this week I am keeping track of the amount of calories I am eating in a day while eating clean food becasue I want to make sure that I am not eating too many calories.

It is easy to consume a lot of calories in the yummy variety of clean food I eat...I know it is all life giving foods but I am thinking that this is why I hav

e been at a stand still for the last couple of months, my weight fluctuates between 149-146 weekly!

So I am again experimenting and trying to figure out this weight loss puzzle!

I am trying to keep by calories between 1600 - 1800 calories daily.

The other new thing for me is I bought a new workout DVD.

6 Pack in Six Weeks by Jillian Micheals.

Its a good one!!! It targets the core...which is a weak spot for me....but not after this program is done!

I would love to have abs like that!!!

UPDATE!!!!!

I just finished Day 2 of this DVD......I feel it in my legs, abs, back and obliques!!!

Totally Awesome Feeling!!

I love this feeling, I can't explain it but I love it! (laughs at self!)

Game On

My husband and I are in a nice friendly competition!!!!

We both want to lose 10 pounds and so to push each other along a little harder we have placed a reward for the first person to achieve this goal!!!

The winner will have $200 to use in what ever way they want and of course the best part is that said winner will have big bragging rights too!!!

Of course, I am going to win....we all know that!!!!

My husband tells me, the worst part about me saying what I just said is "I am going to have to eat humble pie in the end!"....we will see how eats pie!!! lol

Running in the Snow

Today was day two of going for a run!

Yesterday I headed out for a walk but it was so cold out that part way through I decided that I had to either run or freeze into an ice block and never return to my family!

I ended up running/ walking 3km in total!

Today I dressed differently and headed out....I did my 5km route!

It has been a couple of months since I have done any running so my lungs are feeling the pressure of increased exercise...I love the feeling!

I think running in snow covered shoulders of the highway must be like running in the sand...as in a harder workout and burning more calories...what do you think????

Tonight is Zumba!!!!

I love this form of working out...the kind when you are having so much fun that you do not realize this is REALLY exercise! Bonus!!!

Busy Days

Life is super busy for me right now!!!

I want to post an tell you all that I am still reading when I can and I try to comment but do not always have time to both read and comment...I love you ladies and miss the interaction with you all but this is just My Life right now!!!

Eating has been great and I am getting in lots of exercise to...the scale is SLOWLY making its way down. Today's weigh in was 147lbs!!!!

I am thinking of changing this blog place to a more life in general spot because my focus has changed a lot in the last month..if I do change my focus on this blog I will totally understand if some of you stop following!! I will keep you posted though!!

Happy Hump Day

What a great day it has been!!

I have had one of those days when it just feels easy and so normal to eat healthy and exercise!

I so LOVE these kind of days!

Like Dawne said in yesterday's post on her blog .... easy days are a part of the journey and we should look forward to them!

Wednesday Food

Breakfast- Red River Cereal topped with applesauce, walnuts, maple flakes, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Post Workout Snack- Ultimate Smoothie from the Eat Clean Recharged book. (cooled green tea, milk, cottage cheese and strawberries)

Lunch- Chicken Breast, lettuce, green pepper and cucumber on a brown rice wrap.

Snack- Royal Gala Apple and a handful of almonds.

Supper- Roast beef, Lentil & Rice casserole, beets and green peas.

Evening Snack- 2 Clementines and Chia tea.

Exercise was strength training circuit for arms, abs and upper legs.

Good News

Thank you to all who left encouraging comments on my last post!

Much love was felt from you all!

It was a tough day but I made it through and hopefully I am stronger for it!

Actually I know I am stronger!

I have one great thing that has already come from yesterday!!!

I have an accountability partner...we have decided to set individual goals, share them with each other and then hold each other to those goals!

We basically are going to be open books to each other!!!

This is something I have needed for a bit now and I am pumped to now have it in place.

My goals for this week are; (Tuesday thru Saturday)

1. Exercise 4 days out of 5. (2 strength training and 2 cardio)

2. Focus on eating QUALITY food.

3. Journal my food daily and send my partner a copy of the journal.

4. Weigh in on Sunday. (this will be my first weigh in for this New Year!)

Since I am going to be typing up the journal for her I decided to post it here too, along with my exercise for the day!

Food for Tuesday

Breakfast- Green Monster Smoothie (spinach, frozen banana, peanut butter and milk)

Lunch- Raw Vegetables, Hummus, Turkey Breast on Ezekiel Bread with honey mustard.

Snack- Honey crisp Apple and Almond Butter

Supper- Parchment Paper Baked Chicken Breast, Lentil Rice Casserole, steamed Green Beans.

Evening Snack- Mini-bag of microwave Popcorn and Tea (this will be while I watch Biggest Loser)

Exercise- 20 minute Pilate's Workout Video

Feelings!

I feel like crap today...mentally to start off with, then it led to overeating and now finally the self loathing has kicked into full gear!

I want to see myself as my Heavenly Father does....I think this is a area that needs to be worked on for me RIGHT at this moment.

I have an ideal image in my head of what I need to look like, how I need to act and what I need to weigh! but I have never surrendered these areas to the Lord so He can speak into them!

Climbing my way up...yes I will!

Not going to focus on the land in which I need to cover still but rather I am going to focus on the freedom I have already obtained!

I see the horizon even though I am still climbing out of the valley...it feels like such a dark and lonely place...

I need to reach for Father's hand and allow Him to lead me up and out of this darkness!

More freedom at the top!

Comparison Shots

Me at Christmas 2008!

and now this year!!!

I love the difference!

Now I just need to figure out how to bust through this place of 145-150 and get to the 120's!

Suggestions welcome!

LEAH @ My New Ending: If you are reading this....I am not able to post any comments on your blog....I can't figure out why! Help!!! I have been reading but can not communicate! AHHH!!!

Happy New Year!

This past year has been a life changing year for me and I think 2011 can be just as momentous!

I have spent the last few days looking at what I want to accomplish in this new year as far as health related goals go.

Here they are;

I want to continue to lose weight until I get to my 'happy' weight.

I am thinking at this point that I am going to aim for 129lbs...so that is almost 20 pounds to shed!

I will be taking a break from running for the winter because there is no safe place to run for me here on the Island (injury wise)but in the spring I will begin running again and I want to increase my speed, I would like to build up to a time of under 35 minutes for a 5k run...my last timed run for 5k was close to 38 minutes. I think shaving 3 minutes off is doable!

I will continue to weight train ...this is my new found passion! I love that feeling of muscle definition on my arms, legs and abs!

And lastly, I will be leading some ladies in a weight loss support group starting on January 10th..I am super excited about this and my goal for me in this group is to be a positive role model for women just starting out on their weight loss journey!

Happy New Year my blogging friends!!!