She's on FIRE!

Well... it has been a long time since I last blogged. A REALLY long time! SOMEONE got stuck in a bad rut for a while... lost focus... had some health issues... but I'm not saying any names cuz she's back in full effect!

Recently, I decided that it's time to start planning our wedding. And I've decided that I DO NOT want to be a chubby bride. A wedding dress with short sleeves? Uh, not with thick arms. Not gonna do it. Nope! Having a chub lump here and there poking out, having to adjust my dress because the jiggles from the chub are making it shift? PLEASE! This is not how I want my big day to be.

At that moment, my inspiration was born.

I've nixed soda and found a new love for water. I'm trying different activities to burn the chub and have fun with it! Less computer, more movement is my mantra. As soon as my work day comes to an end, I get off the computer and get going! Hubby and I have gone a couple times this week to shoot some hoops and chase our toddler around the courts. Then we take a lap around the whole rec center. It gives us a chance to enjoy conversation, fresh air, and dandelion hunting with our little girl. This brings me much more enjoyment than the computer does!

Another thing that has lit my fire is dayzeroproject.com. My sister told me about it one day about a week ago, so I looked into it a little more. You set 101 goals for yourself that you want to achieve in 1001 days. It took me almost a week to come up with all 101 things, but it's so much fun to find things that you'd like to experience in the next 1001 days. It's given me a new outlook on life and I can't wait to check one thing off the list at a time. A lot of them are chub-loss goals, so I'm especially excited to work on those! My first two goals are to take body measurements of myself now and lose the first 10 pounds. So far, I have lost 7.1 in the last couple weeks! If you want to follow my list, it's here: http://dayzeroproject.com/user/bajamama/list/50221. I hope you'll be inspired to create a list of your own!

Trading junk food for fruits and veggies and eating healthy meals at home instead of getting chubby take out meals has actually been fun and not as hard as I expected it to be. I realize now that there is so much more to life than the computer and being lazy. I am not going to become the person that I want to be by doing the things that I was doing. This new lifestyle is getting easier by the day and I feel good about the choices that I'm making.

I'm gonna be a sexy b*tch next year!!! :)

Take a Deep Breath In... and Out. In... and Out.

Wow, did I really just get winded carrying my almost 2 year old upstairs to bed? You've got to be kidding. Our nightly ritual consists of a diaper and jammie change, followed by singing a few songs and lots of hugs and kisses. But tonight I noticed something. Maybe it's been happening every night and I just never noticed. But, I was seriously out of breath when we started our first song. Then I started to have a mini panic attack. It happens sometimes when I feel like I can't catch my breath. It's really scary. I almost had to put my daughter down for a second so I could catch my breath and calm down.

What the heck is this all about? I'm 30 years old and I lose my breath after 15 or so steps? Sheesh! This is not good! Talk about a freaking wake up call!

I feel like I've been so busy lately I haven't really taken much me time. My eating hasn't really been too bad. Sure I've gone off the plan for a couple of meals... but for the most part I've tried to make better choices at each meal. I have recently found a new love for Trader Joes. It's a healthier foods market... and I love the new foods that I'm trying. I don't think I've tried one thing yet that I didn't like. My latest addiction is the Organic Tomato Soup. It's TO DIE FOR. I add in a handful of crackers and my meal is satisfying.

To me, this transition period... going from eating out every single day... the worst imaginable foods... to trying to figure out what healthy alternatives are... what are the better choices? A green salad with ranch or bleu cheese dressing?? or is the turkey burger a better bang for my calorie buck? It's a whole new world. Tonight I made one of my favorite foods for dinner. BUT, substitution is what it's all about. I made meatloaf... but this time I used a lower fat variety of beef (and maybe next time I'll get the courage to try ground turkey!?) and instead of mashed potatoes that are loaded with milk, butter, etc... I baked potatoes with olive oil... put a teeny tiny bit of low-cal butter on each (otherwise they'd be seriously dry lol) and sprinkled some mexican crumbly white cheese over the top. It was all so heavenly. I stopped just short of licking my plate clean. I'm looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.

Hubby and I have Xbox Kinect, so we rented the Your Shape Fitness Evolved game from Gamefly & tried it out a couple of days ago. It's definitely something that I want to do again... but next time, do it WITHOUT a toddler or couch getting in my way. It was fun and the little bit that I did really wore me out. It also tracks your weight and calories burned. You also get to see yourself in chubby blob form on TV doing the moves. Talk about unflattering. I think I was paying more attention to my thickness than I was to the actual game. Oh and, thank you, video game, for showing me just how hard it is to burn calories. Good grief! It made me start to consider how much time would be needed to burn off the different things I eat. If that's not a good deterrent to eating crappy food... I don't know what is! I look forward to seeing that blob shape a little skinnier in the weeks to come!

On a side note... I just read that Mariah Carey lost 70lbs in 6 months after having her twins. Granted a huge chunk of that was water loss (edema). But, seriously... she must have worked her butt off. I know she's also a rep for Jenny (formerly Jenny Craig)... and diet and exercise were both taken very seriously.

Get with it Chub Loss Diva... IT'S YOUR TURN!!!

Hubby on Board

Well, last week's weigh in was just whatever. But IT WAS A LOSS! Another half pound out of my way! I have since caught a cold so I haven't wanted to do anything but sit on my couch with a blanket and pillow. My appetite comes and goes. One minute I'm starving and the next just the thought of food makes me want to hurl. I've had a lot of yogurt and granola & nutrigrain (style) bars. Other than that, veggies and meat... and soup.

Last week hubby decided he is ready to lose some chub too! This is great news because I would love to have a chub loss buddy! So we've been good this week. I hope it sticks. I mean... IT WILL STICK!

It's always interesting to find food for hubby and I to eat AND that the baby will like. There are some things that I don't blame her for turning her nose up to! hehe. I just keep telling myself that this will get easier. I just need to get more creative!

Once this illness goes away, I will focus on walking this week.

Tomorrow is Halloween and today I will be baking some brownies to make ghost brownies to take to tomorrow's work potluck. I have a HUGE weakness for brownies. Hubby is questioning my strength. Do I have what it takes to avoid the all too tempting brownie creation?? Stay tuned!

Oopsie!!

Well, in all honesty... last week's chub loss effort was TERRIBLE. I did weigh in .3 lbs lighter... so it's still moving in the right direction. And, considering how bad I did with my "goals"... I guess I'm not that surprised. I didn't walk. I didn't do well with water. It was just bad. Bad bad girl. Time to step up my game! WTH is my problem?! Why am I being so lazy??

I weigh in in 3 days... what can I do in 3 days to work my butt off? Let's see... I'm going to clean this house like crazy. I'm organizing, getting rid of stuff, etc. etc. I will drink a lot of water if it kills me... and I will take the baby for a walk tonight, walk on my lunch break tomorrow, walk tomorrow night and Tuesday. While the weather is still super nice, I'd like to get down to the beach and do some walking there.

Time to get off this computer and off my butt. Sitting here won't get my heart pumping!! My next blogpost WILL bring happy news. I promise it. :)

Week 1 - Feelin' a Little Lighter...

This chub loss mission is off to a great start! Down 3.1lbs! WEEEEEEEE!! I'm very excited about this. I was actually kinda shocked because I definitely got off the program a few times. But it's a new week and I'm going to try even harder! This week's focus is going to be water and walking. My goal is to walk 4 times this week. This won't be such an easy task with the hills in this neighborhood! But if my super awesomely brave chub loss sister can do Insanity every frickin day... I can handle hills. I want to try Insanity... ONE DAY. But that's in the future. Haha. Let's focus on the task at hand first! :)

A couple of things to do this week: Invest in a pedometer. Find a couple new HEALTHY recipes to try (chicken soup anyone? ;-)). Up my water intake. Clean up the spare bedroom to make room for exercising (and uncover my dumbbells... I know they're in there somewhere)! Time to get some work in on my arms.

My new insecurity is my arms. Way too much chub there if you ask me. Oh how I miss the days of feeling good about my body! I can't wait to be there again! One step, one day, one ounce of water, one healthy "Point", and one dumbbell lift at a time... I will get there!

Here we go!

I did it! I signed up for Weight Watchers Online! Whew! Now to come up with a game plan.

Next plan of action: sign up at a local gym. :) In the meantime, we'll squeeze in some family walks.

Today's main focus: Drinking lots of water. This has always been an issue with me. I've never liked drinking much water unless it was ice cold. Even then, I'd prefer to drink a diet soda. My goal is to cut out soda completely. Hubby and I have been working on that for a while. Now to just make it a priority!

I'm so sick of all this chub! Since giving birth to the princess, I've gained too much chub. I don't want to get winded walking upstairs anymore. I don't want to struggle with getting dressed. I don't want to see this pooch at my waistline anymore. I want to look good in pictures. I want to be proud of myself for taking care of my body. I want to feel like I've accomplished something... for once!

On to the NEXT step!

the skinny!

It's really been a long time coming. I've always wanted to be "skinny". I have always hated the struggle I have every single morning when attempting to get dressed for the day. Having thick legs means sliding your jeans up inch by inch until they finally go over your big butt... and then the fight to get them button begins. And then there's a day full of feeling like the button is going to pop off at any given second or if you bend down to pick something up, your pants are going to rip and reveal all your goodies to unsuspecting bystanders. Sure, I could wear dresses. But even those make me feel like an oompa loompa... plus I don't have ankles, so it's embarrassing as you know what. I have seriously become obsessed with ankles. Why can't I have normal ones like other people? I'm determined to find out if I have real ankles under all of this "chub". I want to trade my pants and jeans for dresses, skirts, and shorts. I've always wanted this. Have I just spent years upon years expecting them to magically take shape? Apparently so. I'm 30 now. It's time to make it happen.

With the motivation from one of my best friends, KiMbErLy StRiPPed aNd FiErCe, I'm, FINALLY, ready to start this chub loss mission. Inside of me there's a Tigress. Ready to pounce & RoArRRrRrrR! Let's do this!!