BEFORE photos...

Soooooooo...I think I'm serious about this now, because I'm about to show you something that I'm not exactly proud of...

THE BEFORE

Feel free to weep. I know I do. This is what 60 pounds of unhappiness looks like.

You know what this means, right? I have to show progress in pictures now, if I don't want to feel like a sloppy fool. You've seen the worst...now, get ready for the best! Or at least the better.

And THIS is how I'm going to get there:

6 peaches

4 stalks celery

4 carrots

2 big leaves kale

2 cups spinach

That's a 52-ounce container, and it was almost full.

Conclusion: heavy on the celery, but good!

(photo's blurry, but it was orange in color)

4 cucumbers

3 apples

2 stalks celery

1 cup spinach

And this is only half - a 24 ounce container, nearly full - Hubsy took the other half to work with him.

Conclusion: heavy on the cucumber (one day I'll get my proportions right), but refreshing! Tastes like cucumber water, but sweet because of the apples.

This is the pulp left over from the last batch (amazingly, it only made a handful of pulp!), plus half of the pulp from a strawberry/peach/apple juice we did this morning. I'm going to make it into a soup!

The other half of the strawberry pulp mixture I stirred into some plain yogurt and ate with a handful of walnuts for breakfast. It was DELICIOUS! The fruit pulp tastes almost like jam.

The craziest part about the veggie pulp is that it is completely dry - almost like a sandy veggie paste. The machine really spins out ALL of the juice and just leaves the dry pulp! Sounds unappetizing, but add some onions, garlic, and broth, and you've got a tasty veggie soup, and you get to use up the roughage of the veggies after you've drunk the juice. That way, you don't waste anything, and you get to eat the insoluble fiber (the soluble fiber all ends up in the juice). It's a pretty efficient way to eat your veggies - you get 90% of the nutrients by drinking the juice, which is way more than you'd get by cooking them, and then you still get all the fiber, both soluble and insoluble.

The most amazing part is, we get such a burst of energy after drinking the juice - Hubsy and I were literally jumping around the kitchen after we drank ours this morning! I don't want to sound like some nutty health freak, but if this is how we're going to get in our daily fresh fruit and veggie quota, I could totally see us doing this for the rest of our lives. Think about it - let's just list all the fruits and veggies we've already consumed in the last 24 hours alone:

7 peaches

6 stalks celery

4 carrots

2 big leaves kale

3 cups spinach

4 cucumbers

4 apples

10 strawberries

Plus, with lunch yesterday we had squash and onion casserole, and stuffed zucchini (both leftover from when my parents were here - they have a hard time consuming veggies without some sort of cream or cheese involved). Amazingly, I think we may have actually gotten in our 4-5 servings veggies (or is the recommendation 6-7 now?) and 2-3 servings fruit! We've each had about 48 ounces of juice, which is 8 servings fruits/veggies. I find that incredible.

Anyway, enough about my new obsession - off to Zumba now! (Which, seeing as today is the first day since my parents left that I've had the energy for it, it's about time!)

Juicing for Joy

Really, Tanner? "Aunt Flo"? Please never use that euphemism again. Ever.

My excuse is that I had REAL company in town - my parents. While we ate most of our meals at home, and used a lot of fresh veggies from our CSA farm share, we also ate a lot of ice cream. What? It was super hot and I don't have air conditioning. I think ice cream was appropriate.

Anyway, I did do Zumba once while they were here, in the hopes that they would see how fun it is and do it with me, but instead they just laughed at me. We did make them walk around a lot downtown, until Mom almost pooped herself once (combo of too much food and wine and unusual physical activity), so that put an end to general movement of any kind. Now that the heat wave has broken, the Hubs and I can get back out on our bikes and for walks (as long as my still-healing ankle can take it). However, we are only going to be doing light exercise for the next couple of weeks, because we are juicing.

Yes, people, juicing. No, not like taking steroids. Like turning all of the fresh veggies and fruits in Vermont into delicious, unfiltered juice! And using the pulp in soups! It's going to be fantastic!

Don't share my enthusiasm? Before you make a decision, watch the Joe Cross documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", about his struggle to find a cure for a rare immune disease for which conventional medicine was not working. Turns out, the cure was hidden in increasing his fresh veggie and fruit intake, which in turn helped him lose over 100 pounds.

I do not have a rare immune disease. I'm not 100 pounds overweight (although 60 is close enough). I am, however, at high risk for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, and no matter how many veggies I seem to cook, we're still not eating enough. Therefore, we are going to drink them! And then use the pulp in other recipes. It's an experiment - we're going out on a limb here - but I can't see how it will hurt. We may even try an actual "juice fast" (kind of a misnomer, because you're not really fasting - you still get plenty of calories, protein, fiber, and nutrients) to break our current eating habits, which, while not horrible, are not ideal.

I thought this would be a good time to talk about stats, since I'll want to compare the before and after.

Weight: 235 (I've gained back 2 of the 5 lbs. I lost during our Jillian Michaels challenge)

Waist: 42 inches

Hips: 49 inches

Thigh: 30 inches

Upper Arm: 17 inches

My plan is to incorporate 1-2 juices a day for the first few days, to get our systems used to it, before beginning to replace any meals with juicing. We'll be using kale, cabbage, celery, carrots, cucumbers, radishes, beets, and any other veggies we get from our CSA, along with apples, plums, and citrus fruits. We're still eating dairy, eggs, and meat right now, but the goal is to eventually reduce the dairy and only eat meat once a week (just the organic, free-range pork and chicken we get from the CSA).

Off to make my first juice now!

I'm Baaaaa-aaaaack!

Hello, loyal followers - er, I mean Sissy and sometimes Funny Nurse. :-/

It's been a busy week. I kept forgetting to post and it snowballed to the point that I was gone basically a whole week, yikes! Anyway, I'm still down 2.5 pounds from doing Paleo for the past couple of weeks - BUT, I did majorly cheat a few times and also my "Aunt Flo" was in town SO I didn't lose weight last week. Boooooo.

This week is a BRAND NEW week and I am starting over on Paleo! My goal is to eat ALL of the veggies in our crisper drawer:

-4 summer squash

-1 bag of hearts of Romaine lettuce (enough for 3 decent sized salads)

-3 onions (although I don't think I can eat all of those, maybe 2 of them?)

-2 green bell peppers

-1 bag of carrots - it's freakin huge, I think I can roast half the bag this week

-1 small bag of sugar snap peas ( i don't really want to eat these because they are NOT Paleo approved BUT the Hubbie bought them for me because he thought I would like them, so I should eat them)

I also have a pack of chicken tenders and some 93% ground beef that I will need to eat, along with 5 boiled eggs that I made this morning.

Let the veggie challenge begin!!

Paleo, Day 3 and Supreme 90 Day

Paleo Day 3 was a pretty good one. I felt MUCH better today! More energy, no headaches and my cravings for sugar are slowly going away. Today I was really craving peanut butter and luckily that is "sort of" Paleo (but definitely no carb, which is what will help me lose weight.

Foods:

-Egg and 1/2 ZBar

-HUGE salad with romaine, sauteed chicken, feta, tomatoes and cucumbers with Light Italian dressing

-several spoonfuls of peanut butter

-my homemade pasta sauce with grated cheddar cheese on top

-6 gingersnaps (small)

-Chocolate Brownie LARA bar (ummm AMAZING!!! definitely going to stock up on these next time I'm at the store!!)

Workout:

-walked 3.5 miles

Today was a pretty good day overall. Those gingersnaps probably weren't the best idea but they aren't that high in sugar/carbs. Hopefully it won't affect my weigh in tomorrow.

I was SUPER excited to discover my Supreme 90 Day fitness order had arrived in the mail today, YAAAAYYYY!!!!! I have been waiting a couple of weeks for this. I'm pretty addicted to exercise DVDs - I've done a lot of the Jillian Michaels ones and now I'm ready for something more challenging. Supreme 90 Day is basically the same as P90X but 1/4 of the price; I read several reviews of them (comparisons of the two) and all of the reviews say that they are the same.

I can't wait to start the program on Monday. I'm going to give each of the 11 DVDs a try, but I'm sure there will be certain ones that I DON'T like, especially the Cardio one. I prefer to get my cardio in by running. Their "schedule" for the program has you doing a workout every day for 6 days and then having a day off. I would like to do a workout every day M-F and then spend the weekend running and maybe doing the abs DVD. Plus I will be walking every morning with Mr Cuteness in his stroller - our "usual" now is 3.5 miles.

YAAAAYYYYY fun times ahead!

Paleo, Day 2

I love it when shit works out the way I want it to!!!! HOOORRRAAAAYYYY!! So today is actually Day 3 of Paleo, but I forgot to post yesterday.

There HAS to be something to this Paleo thing - I am down 2 pounds in just 2 days!! I have eaten "Paleo Perfect" with the exception of a couple small servings of dairy. I am hoping to stick to this for at least a couple weeks and see how much I can lose. Last time, I lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks and I wasn't even following the diet perfectly!

Not gonna lie, I felt like SHIZ yesterday - headaches and fatigue. But, today I feel much better!! I am sure that some of the weight loss is water, but I don't give a shit! It is so motivating to be down a couple pounds - it's really going to carry me through the weekend. I even went to the store yesterday and managed to NOT buy any candy! Woot. Major accomplishment.

Foods yesterday:

-Banana

-Hard boiled egg

-Homemade pasta sauce with small serving of reduced fat Cheddar

-Pistachios and Walnuts

-Peanut butter

-1/2 of a Zbar (my only carbs of the day)

-HUGE salad with romaine, sauteed chicken, feta, cucumber and tomatoes with a serving of light italian dressing

Workout:

-walked 3.5 miles

Paleo, Day 1

Today was Day 1 of Paleo, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. However, I know that in a couple days I will start CRAVING sugar and carbs like a mo-fo and will need lots of willpower to resist.

Foods:

-boiled egg

-nectarine

-walnuts

-bunch of asparagus and one summer squash, sauteed, with some of my homemade pasta sauce on the side

-dinner was one cup of pasta sauce with a sprinkle of cheese (not Paleo approved but I am trying to ease into it)

Workout:

-walked 3.5 miles

I just had SUCH a relaxing bubble bath, ahhhhh!! I need to take more of those!

Back to Paleo I Go!

I just threw away the remainder of my M&Ms and chocolate chips. After a HORRENDOUS day of eating (nutrition wise), I felt I just had to purge my house of sweet things that have been tempting me.

I have decided to try a couple weeks of Paleo again. I need to give up sweets, period, and this is the only way I can think of to go cold turkey with a legitimate reason. The last time I did Paleo, I lost 3 pounds in the first week of following it 95%. Then I lost another 1.5 pounds in the second week by following it about 80%. I definitely cheated by eating some sweets and a few carbs in the form of LUNA bars.

This time, I'm going to REALLY try to follow it at least 98% - I might have some milk in my coffee or something, and I may have a LUNA bar on occasion (they are mostly soy anyway and have a very low glycemic index). I just need some fast results and I need to re-incorporate LOTS of veggies into my diet.

Foods:

-Huge bowl of rolled oats with mashed banana

-Ground beef, cooked from a couple nights ago

-SHITLOADS of M&Ms and a bag of Skittles

-A couple handfuls of potato chips

-A few spoonfuls of peanut butter

-A small cup of homemade pasta sauce with a pinch of cheese on it

Workouts:

-Walked 2 miles

-Ripped in 30, Level 2

On the bright side, I made a SUPER healthy homemade pasta sauce tonight:

-1 pound 93% lean ground beef

-1 red bell pepper

-1 large sweet onion

-2 (15oz) cans crushed tomatoes

-1 (15oz) can petite diced tomatoes

-small amount of olive oil to brown meat and veggies

-sage or other herbs to taste

I just cooked the ground beef in my Le Creuset dutch oven and set it aside. Then I diced and sauteed my onion and pepper in the same pot. I then added the ground beef back to the mix, along with the cans of tomatoes. I added some sage and then let simmer for about 20 minutes. I don't know the exact calories per 1 cup serving, but I would estimate that it's around 150-200 per cup. It made a TON, and when I divided the calorie total by 6, I got 220. I think it actually made 8+ cups at least. The ENTIRE pot was only 1500 calories, INCLUDING the beef! I think next time I would actually add a green bell pepper too, maybe another red bell pepper to have 2-3 bell peppers total. They are only 35 calories each and are packed with antioxidants and full of fiber.

Time for bed now! Looking forward to a fresh PALEO start tomorrow morning!!! :-)

Oatmeal, yum!

Today I ate oatmeal for 2 out of 3 meals. It was delicious. I'm really tired so I'm not going to write much tonight, but I will tomorrow, promise!

Foods:

-Rolled Oats with 1/2 banana, cinnamon, allspice and TEENY bit of honey

-Progresso High Fiber Vegetable Minestrone Soup and Veggie Burger

-M&Ms and Skittles, one serving of each (and it was DAMN GOOD, too!)

-Oats again but without banana this time and with one tablespoon brown sugar

-A couple bites turkey pepperoni and a few bites cooked ground beef

-Boiled Egg

Workout:

-Ran 3 miles

Super tired, so I'm off to bed now!!!

Today was a pretty good day I guess. More Turrrrrget, some furniture shopping - we need a new coffee table and end tables BEFORE Mr. Cuteness starts crawling - and grilling out some delicious ka-bobs!

Foods:

-Decaf coffee

-Avocado and WASA

-Muscle Milk

-Boiled Egg and some nibbles of Ground Beef that I cooked the night before

-M&Ms

-Chicken Kabobs - with onions, red peppers and pineapple

-small serving of brown rice

-Snickers Ice Cream cone

DAMN that Snickers Ice Cream cone!!! 250 calories and it wasn't even that good!!!!!! Never again.

Workout:

-3 mile walk with Mr Cuteness in jogging stroller

BLAHHHHH!!! I've been doing a pretty decent job of weaning myself off of candy and sticking to my calorie goals. I must have been eating WAAAYYYY more calories than I thought I was lately! How I've actually lost more weight is beyond me!

I also bought a dry erase board today so I can plan my meals the night before and stick to them like a little schedule, complete with calorie count and everything. This way I can try to avoid impulsive eating. Plus, I just love being organized like a SUPER NERD!!!

Ok, time for bed! Night!

Munchies

Today I had the munchies like a MotherF*$ker!! However, I stayed strong and somehow managed to still hit my NET calorie goal. Writing down everything right after/before I eat it is really helping me stay on track.

Food

-White Chocolate Macadamia Nut LUNA bar

-Avocado on WASA crackers

-small servings of Skittles and M&Ms

-Nectarine

-High Fiber Oatmeal

-Small nibbles of deli chicken and some hamburger meat that I'd prepared the night before

-Boiled Egg

Workouts

-Ran 3 miles

-Ripped in 30, Level 1

Thoughts/Observations

Previously while losing weight, I've had the "work hard during M-F and relax on the weekends" mentality. Not in terms of exercise, but in terms of keeping track of what I eat. I've rarely logged calories on the weekends. This needs to stop!! Obviously you can do a lot of damage on the weekends...frankly, it takes almost no time at all to start racking up RIDICULOUS calories by munching and making poor choices "just because it's the weekend". If I had just logged my calories on the weekends, I might not even be having to lose this extra 10 lbs!! Six months worth of not logging calories on the weekends and indulging is probably worth at least 5 lbs.

So, I'm going to make a concerted effort to log every single thing that I put into my mouth until I've lost this 10 lbs. REALLY, if I stick to my NET calorie goal each day, it should only take me two months total to lose this weight, but by the end of September at the very latest. That is my goal. I've actually been losing 4-5 lbs per month with about 50-75% effort. Frankly, in June I was eating whatever the heck I wanted to and still lost 4 lbs! And I even exercised much less because the summer heat had started and I was taking a break from my fitness DVDs at the time.

The point of this rant is: NO MORE HALF-ASSING! I don't want to be trying to lose this damn "last 10 pounds" forever!! I just want to get it over with so LET'S GOOOOO!!!!!!!!! :-)

Buying Things is Fun

Today was a pretty good day! I got to go buy some shit at Turrrrget, I bought some shit online (my favorite perfume, shower gel, and lotion was on sale on QVC...Philosophy's Amazing Grace!) and I also purchased a two-year subscription to Women's Health.

I am a longtime Women's Health reader, but last year when it was time for me to renew, I was pregnant and decided "Hey, I'm just going to be a fatass for the next 9 months anyway and won't be able to really do these workouts, so what's the point?" So I didn't renew my subscription. I'm SO glad I did now, though! I miss reading it!

Today's eats

-Chocolate Raspberry LUNA Bar

-Salad with Yogurt Ranch Dressing on Side

-One piece of cheese toast with tiny sliver of monterrey jack cheese and drizzle of olive oil to brown the toast

-Burger Patty with another small sliver of monterrey jack cheese (I wasn't going to have any cheese but husband put it on there before I could tell him not to

-1/4 cup dark chocolate M&Ms

-1/2 cookie

-Medium avocado on Wasa Light crackers

-4 cups of tea with NO HONEY!

Workouts

-Ran 3 miles with Mr Cuteness in the jogging stroller - it was hot as fuck outside and a little old lady stopped me to ask for directions. After I told her exactly where to go (ummm, literally two driveways down the road!), I then saw her pass her destination and go through two more stoplights... REALLY?!

-Came back home from run and did Ripped in 30, Level 1 while also trying to keep Mr Cuteness busy in his exersaucer and tummy time mat. Aaaaahhh the life of a stay at home mom! :-)

Observations

I've decided that I really just need to get my workouts OVER WITH early in the morning - or, by 11am at the latest like today. It's so much better to be able to enjoy my day without having to worry about fitting in my workout. I am really hoping to get an earlier start tomorrow and run a few miles with Mr Cuteness and then walk 2-3 more. I have a BOB stroller and LURRRRVE it, but am still getting the hang of steering it when it is in "jog mode"...it's a little tricky, but I am improving.

Avocado with Baked Lays is by far one of my most favorite combinations - I frequently make meals out of it. Today I had run out of Baked Lays and found some WASA Light crackers in my pantry that need to be eaten. I remember my SISSY saying that this was a good combo, so I gave it a try. I used a medium avocado and 5 WASA crackers and then added a little bit of salt on top. It was A-MAAAAAAZZZZIINNNNNG!!!!!!! Why haven't I listened to her and tried this before? Makes me mad at myself that I wasted a shitload of calories on stupid ass Baked Lays when I could have probably saved myself a few POUNDS by using this combo instead. Oh well, live and learn.

I drank 4 cups of tea today with NO HONEY, yaaayyy!!! It tasted almost the same, and I probably saved myself 200-300 calories! Once again, makes me mad at myself that I've wasted so many calories on shit I can't taste! Dammit!

I allowed myself some dark chocolate M&Ms and half a cookie when my sweet tooth started nagging me today, hehehe! I pre-portioned some dark chocolate M&Ms into little tupperwares, 1/4 cup each, for later snacking. My goal is to gradually wean myself down to 1/8 cup or less of sweets each day...baby steps. I'm willing to forgo 100-200 calories of "real food" in exchange for my sweet tooth - otherwise, I will just crave sweets and then binge on them to the EXTREME!!!

Hotness Tools

So today I decided that I needed some "Hotness Tools" to help me achieve my goals. I went on a quick trip to Turrrrrget (Target) and picked up some things that I am hoping will be effective for keeping track of my food, workouts and overall progress.

I channeled my inner nerd and went to the school supplies aisle. YAY!!! I love fresh school supplies in July!!!. The little girl down the aisle from me put it best when she exclaimed "I want new EVERYTHING!!!" The first thing I picked up for only $9.99 is this handy calendar/journal:

The colors aren't really that flourescent, I'm just using my shitty iPhone camera. Anyway, it's basically a super deluxe calendar from August 2011 - July 2012 with:

-Monthly view - to keep track of events/appointments, etc; I think I'm also going to log my weight, net calories and workouts on this each day so I can look at the whole month and see a snapshot of how I did.

-Week by week view - plenty of space to log my food and workouts daily, plus room for some notes

-Handy Notes page for each month - I'm going to use this to take my measurements at the beginning of each month and include losses

-Graph page for each month - I'm going to use this to create a weight-loss graph for each month. As I lose each pound, I can keep track of it and hopefully make a nice little line graph going down and down and DOWN each month until I hit my goal!

The other thing I bought is this cute binder with some blank sleeves. My plan is to cut out the exercise pages/excerpts from the fitness magazines I subscribe to and store them in this binder. That way, if I'm getting bored with my workout (which is SURE to happen!) I can flip through the binder and find something fun to do!

I've also decided that I'm going to subscribe to Oxygen magazine. I bought a copy today and I really like it a lot, so I think it's worth the $20/year to stay motivated! I might even subscribe to SELF and Cooking Light, can't decide...

So those are my fitness tools that I bought today. The only crappy thing is that the calendar doesn't start until August, so I'll have to keep using my other journal for the next 3 weeks! I'll be sure to do a post on my "system" for logging everything once I get started in August!

It's ON!!!

*in my best Cartman voice*

"Well well weeeelllll, loooook who it iiiissss...what a pleeeaaasant surpriiiiiiiisse"

Finally, damn! I mean, I've only been texting you for the past two days with "Hey sissy, I posted on the blog, go read it!" and "Hey sissy, have you read my blogs yet?????!!"

* CRICKETS ... CHIRP! CHIRP! *

Anyways, it's ON LIKE DONKEY KONG now, hooker!! In terms of a "contest", I guess we could have one although I think I'm motivated enough not to have one. Still, the thought of WINNING something is enticing....perhaps winner gets a magazine subscription of their choosing? Must be health/fitness related, though - it would make no sense whatsoever to win this bitch and celebrate with my new issues of Paula Deen (Paula Dang) magazine, now would it?? I will think about the "terms" and get back to you.

Sissy, would it help you if I sent you some non-weightbearing exercise videos like Pilates and Abs? You should also try biking if it doesn't hurt your ankle. I think we should both log our food intakes each day - it will keep us honest!!

Foods for today:

-Avocado with Baked Lays

-HUGE Salad with 2 Morningstar Black Bean Burgers and Bolthouse Yogurt Ranch dressing on side

-Nectarine and Apple

-Cheese Toast with 2% reduced fat cheddar cheese and lightly brushed with olive oil rather than butter

-FIVE cups of hot tea with just a smidge of honey in the first few cups

Workout:

-Ran 30 minutes (about 3 miles) on treadmill

After guzzling several cups of hot tea and not even being able to taste the honey that I put in it, I've decided to avoid using honey in my beverages (ie, decaf coffee and tea) for awhile. If I can't even taste the extra sweetness, then what is the point of wasting 60+ calories per serving on it? That shit adds up FAST.

Also, I think I'm going to suck it up and just start jogging with the jogging stroller in the mornings. Mr Cuteness (I don't want to use his name on the blog for privacy reasons) hasn't really been taking naps in the mornings consistently, so I'd rather spend 30-60 minutes jogging in the early morning and get it OVER WITH! Then I can do my DVD workout for 20-30 minutes afterwards when he plays in his exersaucer - he likes to watch me anyway!

I took a nice bubble bath tonight and it was just what my sore muscles needed - I should do that more often, but it's hard to find time sometimes! I'm super tired so I'm outtie! Night night!!

Stop making me look bad, Biatch!

TANTAN! GAH! I see you are hard at work already, trying to best us! Well, here's what I have to say about THAT: you are succeeding. :(

But only for the time being! Just until my sprained ankle, which as you know, I sustained while running with YOU, is better. However, I am s-l-o-w-l-y lobbing my fat self back on track. Today, I cleaned the house for 4 hours (the Hubs was really batching it up while I was on "vacation" - you would not believe some of the places I found his dirty socks)! Surprisingly, I gained NOTHING in the month that I was away (this was in part because I cooked most of the meals, but also because I wouldn't let Grammy bake any cakes or goodies, which resulted in a rash of cake-baking and pie-fixing the day before I left, supposedly because Uncle Walter was coming to visit, but really so she could send half a pound cake home with me!).

It wasn't until we got back to VT, and had company for a week who wanted to sample all of VT's culinary offerings (read: beer, Ben&Jerry's, cheese, and more beer), that I started "puffing" up. Yes, I said "puffing" - imagine a startled blowfish, without the spikes. It's more than just general bloating...it's like my arms, legs (especially my ankles), and middle all just swell up - and it usually happens when I drink a lot of beer, sadly. Is it water retention? Is it air? It remains to be seen whether real pounds were gained, but I definitely puffed up a pants size.

Luckily, our farm share has started and is providing us with bountiful produce - the perfect excuse to increase the proportion of veggies to meat and starch on our plates, which should reduce the puff effect. We've been having fantastic salads with butter lettuce and micro-greens, and last night I cooked up a pot of turnip and beet greens with a new recipe I found that uses no salty meat for flavoring, but instead uses garlic and onions. I even threw the peeled turnips in there and the Hubs loved them. I also roasted our first farm chicken and it was the leanest, most chicken-y chicken I've ever tasted. I am surreptitiously pushing us toward a lower-carb diet...shhhh, don't tell Hubsy!

So, how are we running this new challenge? Are we counting days? Percentage lost? Should we have rewards or incentives?

Snickers Ice Cream cone, you don't own me!!

Today was a pretty good day. I'm getting back on track with my workouts and healthy eating - I just need to keep this up for 1-2 weeks minimum so I can re-establish my habits.

Workouts:

-3 mile run; up North and back 2 times

-JM Ripped in 30 Level 1; my legs and butt were KILLING me today!!! I can tell it's going to take a few more days to get all of the soreness out.

Eats:

-ZONE Mint Chocolate bar and coffee

-HUGE salad with two black bean veggie burgers, feta, and yogurt Ranch dressing

-one meatball for a snack

-two gummy worms

-4 (YES, FOUR!!) ears of corn with a little butter and salt/pepper

-pineapple fruit popsicle

I would just like to point out that I had the pineapple popsicle INSTEAD of a Snickers Ice Cream cone!! Dear Husband brought home a box of Snickers Ice Cream Cones from the store today, thinking he would be treating both of us. Normally I would have jumped all over that shiz, BUT I am really making an effort to reduce my sugar intake, SOOOOO I made a HEALTHY decision and decided to pass (THIS TIME!). I'm secretly hoping he will eat them all himself this week and take these decisions out of my hands, muahahahhaha!!! (my evil laugh)

TanTan in the Hizz-ouse!!

What up, loyal followers!! And by "loyal followers", I mean Hempa and Funny Nurse (although I think Funny Nurse quit this bitch a long time ago, hehehe) My name is Tanner and I am Hempa's big sis. Like the aforementioned crazy trinas, I am also in the quest to lose some weight - those last 10 annoying-as-f*$k pounds that are preventing me from being as hot as possible.

I recently had a baby - if "recently" means last November - and have lost all my baby weight plus an additional 15 pounds. I want to lose 10 more because I was kinda chunky for my body type before getting preggo, soooooo I'm hoping blogging every day will hold me accountable for what I eat and how much I exercise...which will in turn help the pounds melt off faster than that dude's face in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

My food for today:

-Baked Lays and avocado

-Gummi Worms

-4 small meatballs

-the remainder of a bag of Hershey's Nuggets (about 8?)

-a few bites of a WhichWich sandwich

-a few spoon fulls of White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter

Yeah, so I ate a lot of shit today - don't judge! I have almost run out of candy in my house (just a few gummi worms left and some Lifesavers, but clearly the Lifesavers are for bigtime emergencies because REALLY, who is satisfied by those? How dare they call themselves "candy"!) and I'm going to TRY not to buy any more. Candy/refined sugars is what makes me hold onto weight, so if I can just avoid that stuff for a month or so I can lose some pounds fast.

My workout today was Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30 DVD, Level 1 - that shit was HARD. A couple months ago I did the 30 Day Shred with Hempa and I saw good results, so I'm hoping this gets me even more toned. I can tell already that it will be much harder than Shred. It has 4 Levels, which you do for a week at the time. I'm going to do it Monday-Friday and save my weekends for long runs and possibly going back to ballet class? I want to lose 5 pounds before I DARE go into the ballet studio in a leotard with mirrors all around!!

Ok, so that was my first day. I should probably take some before and after photos but I don't have time right now...maybe later?!!

Tan