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Easter 2013 Easter 2014 I'm mainly looking at my face here, but seeing the difference of about a year is making me feel pretty good! I actually think we're all feeling a lot better about more than our appearances this year. We love our life here and it clearly shows. Hope y'all had as great an Easter as we did! More pictures (of Canon) to come.

Look at me, actually posting on a Friday! This week wasn't terrible, but I unfortunately didn't see any change on the scale, so I'm going to focus on what many others refer to as Non-Scale Victories. I ran my 5k! Saturday afternoon was such a pleasant day that as I set out for my run I decided to just do it. I am so glad that I did! Running a 5k has been a goal of mine for quite some time and I am especially proud that I did it all by myself.  Another great Kazaxe workout. Literally dripping sweat.  I registered for a race! A group of women in my mommy meet-up group decided to sign-up, so I jumped on with them. The last, and only, actual race I've done was the Crescent City Classic 10k in New Orleans in April 2010. It was definitely time.  The weather was once again ridiculous this week. We got snow all day Monday and it stayed in the 30's until Thursday. My only workouts this week were the run on Saturday and Kazaxe on Monday night. I wil...

*written last night I wanted to write to remember this feeling. I feel awesome, motivated and exhausted! I ate well today and I worked out. Kazaxe is the best workout!! I'm so proud for going tonight, after putting Canon to sleep, by myself!  It was exactly the motivation I needed to decide what to spend my birthday gift cards on. I follow LivyLovesToRun on IG and she swears by this heart rate monitor. Sold! Can't wait to see how much I'm actually burning during each workout!  I love this feeling and I hope to have many more!! 

Week 2 was terrible. I started out with a Snow Day, which meant we were at home all day and all I craved were carbs and sugar. Thus, my week started not awesome. I did relatively well when I was at work Tuesday and Wednesday, but then back home Thursday - Sunday was up and down. The good news is, I've learned some things. I know that it is much easier to control my eating when I am at work. I pack my lunch, usually leftovers, and bring the correct portion sizes. The food I pack is the only food that is an option. I've also learned that when I get home on work days though, my initial instinct is to walk in and put something in my mouth - usually not planned or portioned out. Another trigger is about 8:00pm at night when I want something sweet. Becoming aware of these habits and craving will help me curb them. Emotionally, after having such an off week 2, I wanted to just avoid this space. That is my default - to avoid situations that make me uncomfortable or that I don't w...

Follow Through Friday Week 1 Food: I think I did pretty well this week. I entered most things into my phone and came in mostly at my calorie goal for the day. By yesterday afternoon, I was definitely craving something sweet. Luckily, we were going to friend's house for dinner, and I did eat homemade pizza and one cookie. So, I'm not going cold-turkey on everything and I do think having a cheat meal a week is fine. Working Out: Ideally I'd like to get 3-4 workouts in a week. Last Saturday I went to a dance party group-workout called Kazaxe . From the website "Kazaxe is a high-intensity dance party workout that will have you twerkin and workin to international dance beats." Um, yes. It was so fun and I was SO SORE. I'm definitely going back today. Thursday I did a little 10 minute arm workout video, so I'm feeling okay. Weight-Loss: I am SUPER happy about this! This week's loss - 2.5lbs Total weight lost - 2.5lbs YAY! I'm feeling really goo...

Thank y'all so much for all the encouraging words about my post-baby weight post . I am hopeful that this is the beginning of a real change for me, one where I not only look better, but most importantly, feel better about myself. I want to make real, lasting changes and I know that is going to mean taking small steps and sticking with them. These are my small goals for now: 1 - track ALL my food. I'm using MyFitnessPal and I want to really use it. Not cheat, not skip out or forget to enter anything. Actually track what I'm eating and begin to get a sense of where the changes need to come. 2 - exercise. For now, 3-4 days a week and it can be anything. 3 - check in. Admit when I am doing really well, and admit when it is hard. I have a feeling this will be more of an emotional ride than a physical one.  My first weight-loss goal is 13 lbs. That will get me to an even number that is just below my pre-pregnancy weight and one that I know I will feel good about. I don...

Let's be honest, this is going to be about pre-baby weight too. See, even back in my high school rowing glory days, when I was working out 5 hours/day, I was still over weight. And it's not like I was sitting around eating a pint of ice cream each night after practice. Or a bag of potato chips, or anything extremely excessive. I still don't eat that way, yet it never seems to come off. When I found out I was pregnant, I was at my heaviest. In fact, I was having conversations with my mom about financially helping me go to a weight loss clinic in Denver. With Canon I gained probably about 40lbs. And the first two weeks post partum were awesome! I was nursing, my mom was there to make sure I had healthy snacks, and soon I only had about 10-15 more lbs to go. But, they never went. Slowly, I started putting them back on and eventually once I stopped nursing in Jan 2013, it was a lost cause. From October 2012 to February 2013, I gained 15 pounds. I stayed at that weight, about ...

  I am very proud of myself that I have completed half of the couch-to-5k program I am doing!! Yahoo. It might sound crazy, but I'm going to try and do the next 4 weeks in less than that time, hoping to do 5 days/week instead of 3. I'm ready to have some endurance and just be able to run 3 miles straight (and then hopefully more!) Also, as we've been trying to eat Paleo for dinners, I thought I'd post some recipes that we have been trying and enjoying. Hope you enjoy them, too!  Salmon with Chery Tomato Salsa and Asparagus    Olive, Garlic and Lemon Chicken   Bacon and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Pineapple Stuffed Burgers   Garlic Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes" We've also been making a lot of "Garlic Chicken". I just coat boneless-skinless chicken breast in generous portions of salt, pepper and garlic powder, then saute in a little bit of butter. We probably have eaten this at least 5 times in ...

My wonderful, loving, older sister convinced me to join a Fitness Challenge group. Its 45 days and here are the requirements:   1) Commitment to working out 5-6 times a week, either with a program of your choice (preferred - there is no wondering what to do with one of those!) or your own gym program. If you choose the gym program, I will ask you to state clearly what you are doing for the entire 45 days.   2) Commitment to better nutrition. Ideally this is partly in the form of Shakeology, a super high-quality protein shake - if you are drinking these daily, then I know you are getting one really amazing-for-you meal that you don't have to think about. But there will be other goals too!   3) Commitment to cheering on your fellow participants. We usually meet on Facebook, but if you are not on Facebook we can do it via email. Facebook is fun because of the sheer variety of motivation! The group on Facebook is SECRET, which means only the people in t...

1. read some amount of scripture every day 2. keep up with Canon's weekly photos 3. get outside every day 4. stop asking Aaron (or others) to get up and get things I can get myself 5. no eating out until our hospital bills are paid off 6. gym 3x/week 7. pre-pregnancy jeans by Canon's 9 month birthday (9 months up, 9 months down)