Weigh-In Wednesday

Linking up with Erin and Alex again this week for Weigh-In Wednesday! Go check out everyone else's progress through the links on their blogs! :)

I had an awesome weigh-in this week! I was only down 6 ounces, but I got below 155! 154.8 lbs :) I am beyond happy! I cannot remember the last time I saw a number; it was at least a year ago... probably more.

Ignore the toes! They will be painted next week, I promise!

I credit the loss to Paleo eating and ditching the calorie-counting. Now, I am definitely not 100% Paleo but it does seem to be helping with my weight loss, which is an added bonus to the health benefits.

Next week, I'm shooting for somewhere in the 153s. :)

How did your week go?

Weigh-In Wednesday

It's that time again: weigh-in Wednesday! :) I'm linking up with Erin and Alex; go check out their blogs and the others that have linked up!

Now, let's get to it! My weigh-in this week: 155.4 lbs. I saw 155 this week! :) FINALLY! I was down 1.8 lbs from last week, so that's pretty awesome too.

Next week, I'd like to see any number that is at or below 155.0!

I've been doing great with getting my workouts in this past week, per my goals for March. I plan to continue with that trend in the coming weeks, obviously. I love the energy I have on the days I workout and I love how much better I sleep. It's definitely worth 30-60 minutes of my time each day.

At the beginning of the week, I decided to stop counting calories. No, I haven't lost my mind! Since I've started eating Paleo, my appetite is more satisfied than before, when I was eating more carbs and more processed foods. Imagine that... being more satisfied with more protein, fruits, and veggies instead of processed junk that's full of fillers and preservatives! I'm going to start listening to my body when it comes to food. When my body tells me I'm hungry, I'll eat. When it signals that I'm full, I'll stop eating. I'll still watch my portions and watch my fruit intake so that I don't hinder my weight loss, but I won't be counting calories on MFP for the time being. Now, on the occasional day that I do stray from a Paleo diet, I will be logging; carbs and sweets are easy to overeat, plain and simple.

How did your weigh-in go this week? What do you want to see next week? What's your plan to get there?

Weigh-In Wednesday

Linking up with Erin & Alex this week for weigh-in Wednesday! Go check out all the other blogs! :)

This week, I weighed in at 157.2 lbs. So I am down a few ounces, but not as much as I would have liked to have seen.

I've been failing miserably at following the Whole 30, but I am still following a Paleo diet. Over the past few days, I've been paying attention to the macronutrients of the foods I'm eating on MFP. I've been OVER on carbs every. single. day. So I'm working on that! It's one of my goals for the coming week(s).

I've been doing great with my workouts though! I even started with added cardio today! While the hubs was at Crossfit tonight, I did my first day of Couch to 5K... that's in addition to the Body Revolution workout I did this morning. I'm gonna keep doing that on hubs' Crossfit days (MWF)!

Starting next week, I'm going to start doing my weigh-ins on Sundays or Mondays. I'll still post my results on Wednesdays, but I'll be doing the actual weigh-in earlier in the week. The reason for this change is that I've noticed a trend with my Wednesday weigh-ins: my weight is always higher because, by Wednesday, I'm already sore from the workouts earlier the week. Sore muscles = water retention.

How did your week go, ladies?

Homemade Cranberry Larabars

I had to try one! :)

Now that the hubs and I are eating a mostly Paleo diet, I've been looking for quick and easy breakfast and snack ideas. Things that I can prep over the weekend, that we can both just grab on-the-go in the mornings during the week.

Last week, I made these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Larabars. They were delicious! Since they were such a success, I decided to experiment with swapping ingredients a little.

I wanted to make them without the chocolate and I knew I already had some dried cranberries in my pantry. I think they turned out pretty yummy! :)

mmmmm!

Homemade Cranberry Larabars

Loosely adapted from Oh She Glows

Makes 10 bars (12 if you cut them smaller)

Ingredients:

1 cup cashews
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup tightly packed pitted dates
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
splash of lemon juice

Directions:

1. If the dates are stiff or dry, soak them in water for 30-60 minutes. Drain well and pat dry.

2. Add all ingredients to food processor and process until it looks crumbly and gooey and well-combined.

3. Line a 8" square pan with parchment paper. Add the mixture to the pan and spread evenly to the corners. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.

5. Slice into 10 evenly-sized bars. Store as you wish; I like to put them in snack-size ziploc bags or wrap them individually in cut-to-size parchment paper.

stored individually in snack bags

If you make them, let me know what you think! :)

I'm back from Disney World

... and I ate too much food. Too much of the foods that I know I need to avoid (i.e. carbs and sugar). I still logged it all in MFP though, and I was over my calorie limit by quite a lot one of those days.

And this morning, I was up almost two pounds on the scale! I have two days until my official weigh-in so I'm hoping it will be back down by then? That's a lot of hoping but we'll see. :)

One thing I did do right was bringing my Body Revolution DVDs with me! I'm on Week 2 of Phase 2 now and I did not want to get behind on my workout schedule. I brought my laptop to play the workouts, my resistance cable, and I used water bottles as my weights (something that Jillian has recommended before in her podcasts). :)

Hubby and I had a great time celebrating Valentine's Day together at WDW. I mean, we don't always have that opportunity to celebrate special occasions or holidays together since he is in the Navy.

Now that I'm back home, I'm mostly back on track and I've started the Whole30 challenge. I think my body is kinda in detox mode from all the foods I'd been avoiding up until this past weekend. After the pasta dinners and sweets, my body was just kinda like "what are you doing to me?"And I am sooo ready to feel back to normal again...

Weigh-In Wednesday

Well I decided to join in with Weigh-In Wednesday this week! I mean, I already do my official weigh-in on Wednesdays, so it only made sense! :)

I was down from last week to 157.4 lbs, but it still wasn't what I was hoping for. I sneaked a peek at the scale yesterday and it showed 157.0 lbs, and I think that may be a little more accurate, but yesterday wasn't weigh-in day! My weight has just been hovering between 156 and 158 for the past month (longer actually) and it has been really frustrating.

MFP Progress Screenshot for the past 30 days.

What I really want to see on that screenshot is 155 or lower! I'm hoping that once I start the Whole30 Challenge next week, I will be able to see that number on the scale and eventually see less than that.

I already suspect that my body doesn't like carbs (and sugar too) and that they are not my friend... no matter how yummy they are. It is reflected in the way my skin looks and the scale and the muffin top. With the Whole30, I'm hoping that I'll be able to confirm my suspicion.

Body Revolution Update and more...

Okay, so I haven't been very consistent with my postings on this blog as of late. But I am going to get better with that. Here's my goal: at least one new post per week. At the very least, I will update ya on how my workouts and eating are going and the direction my weight is headed in; after all, weight loss is the goal right now!

I have quite a few updates for you ladies:

First up: Body Revolution. On Saturday, I finished Phase 1!!! :) I started Phase 2 off yesterday with Workout 5, and let me tell you, my triceps are hurtin' today! But I want me some skinny(er) and toned up arms, so it's all good. No pain, no gain, right? I love that sore feeling I have the next day or two after a workout; it means they're working, even if the scale doesn't reflect that! Plus, I can do the advanced version of some of the moves now! :) It's so awesome!

I'm part of the MLFC Biggest Loser Challenge. Shout out to Jennifer for putting it together and receiving tons of emails each week with pictures of feet for weigh-in Wednesday! :) I haven't been super-successful on the scale lately, but I can tell that I'm getting so much stronger. I'm able to do more push-ups than I was before (and not those girl push-ups either!) and I can use more weight with the Body Revolution workouts. But I'm still really enjoying it; it keeps me focused on my goals and keeps me away from the bad stuff. I don't care about the prizes or being biggest loser of the week; I just want to get this weight off, keep it off, and be strong and healthy... and this challenge is helping keep me accountable with achieving those goals.

In my last post, I talked about the hubs considering starting Crossfit, and he did! Last week, he finished the "on-ramp" class and he went to his first official class last night. He's loving it and the atmosphere; he says everyone is very welcoming and friendly. He likes working out with a group; I on the other hand, would much rather workout at home!

Lastly, the hubs and I have been discussing the idea of going Paleo (no dairy, no grains), and have officially decided to give it a try. I have some health issues that I think will be lessened with this type of diet and the hubs is on board, so why not try it? I bought the book, "It Starts with Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig and I'm almost done reading it. It's filled with information about the goodness of eating   real, whole foods and the effects that today's processed foods have on your body.

Later this week, hubs and I will be spending Valentine's Day weekend at Walt Disney World! :) We have annual passes, so why not take advantage? After all, we both love it there! I'll try my best not to indulge in too much pasta or sweets...

After Valentine's Day weekend, I will begin the Whole30 Challenge, which is covered in "It Starts with Food" and is basically a stricter version of the Paleo diet. For 30 days (possibly longer), I will have NO grains, dairy, added sugar, or legumes. After the 30 days, I will slowly begin to add in some of the foods and see how they affect my body.

So that's what's going on with me; what's up with you?

Body Revolution: Update

I finished my first week of Body Revolution and have begun my second week. I have to say, I'm missing the extra cardio that I was getting in with two videos a day in the first week! But I also don't want to get burnt out on the cardio videos from Body Revolution because I do have to stick with those for a month! Therefore, I plan on supplementing with other cardio videos I have on hand, and maybe jogging... that's a BIG maybe, though. I kind of despise running! lol It's just not my thing!

The workouts that I have and plan to supplement with Body Revolution, include:

Nike+ Kinect Training | Insanity | Nike Training Club | Turbo Fire

I got a little behind on my workouts this past weekend because hubs and I went up to Charleston so that he could run his first marathon! He did it in under 5 hours; he's already planning to run another one because he wants to improve his time! haha Anyway, I will be caught up on my workouts soon!

So, now that hubs has completed his marathon, he is considering joining a Crossfit gym! Oh boy, he hasn't begun yet, but I'm just waiting for the day that he comes home talking about going Paleo. If you follow me on Pinterest, then you may have noticed my Paleo recipe pins and boards! I'm just preparing! :) Although, I do believe it would be beneficial to me as well, as far as cutting out some carbs and sugar from my diet.

One thing I did get right this weekend was staying under or near my calorie goal each day! It payed off because I lost weight. :) I'm getting closer and closer to my next mini-goal (see sidebar) of 155 lbs! Can't wait to see that number on the scale, and then it will be on to my next mini-goal of 150.

It's a New Year

Happy 2013 ladies! So the last time I weighed in before Christmas vacation, I was 159.0. Today, I was 157.0! :) That's two away from my first mini-goal of 155.0! I'm so excited that I'm starting this new year off right.

The original plan was to workout while I was away with the Nike Training Club app, but that did not happen. I didn't have any room to pack my workout clothes in my bag! And I got a really bad chest cold Christmas night, which I still. have. blah!

I had planned on being well enough to get back to working out New Year's Day, but now, the plan is to start on Monday, as long as I'm better then. I certainly hope so! So, whenever I am well enough to workout, I will begin Jillian Michaels' Body Revolution, as long as I don't find out I'm preggo by then, ya know, obviously.

One thing I did get right, and will continue to do so is log my food intake on MFP. It helped me lose that two pounds. :)

Moving on...

New Year's Goals 2013

Money

-Pay off car loan 

-Stick to our budget (use cash) 

-Pay off credit card 

 Health & Fitness

-Reach my ultimate goal weight of 115

-If I don't reach that goal, at the very least I want to get down to 130 lbs 

-Exercise 5-6 days per week 

-Continue to log on MFP 

-Get pregnant!

Spontaneity While Staying On Track

Yesterday morning, I wanted to sleep in; hubs was ready for us to start our day (he's on leave for Christmas right now). To get me out of bed, he asked if I wanted to go to Disney for the day. :) That certainly woke me up, and of course, I said YES!

So we both got ready super fast, grabbed a couple bananas for breakfast, and hit the road to Orlando! We stopped for lunch at Wendy's on the way, and I was good and ordered a salad and water. BTW, if you haven't had their apple pecan chicken salad with pomegranate vinaigrette dressing is really good! I was determined to stay under my calorie goal for the day.

Wendy's Apple Pecan Chicken Salad

After a short break for lunch, we got back on the road and shortly arrived at Disney! Yay! We went to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, then back to Magic Kingdom before we came back home. Oh, and we also went and checked out the new Art of Animation Resort! It was so awesome and I definitely want to stay there sometime.

at half-staff for Sandy Hook victims

We got an early dinner at the Magic Kingdom; I stuck with water the whole day, and even brought my pink Camelbak water bottle with me (and yes, I got all my water in for the day, too! :). I got a BBQ pork sandwich with a cucumber salad and ate a few of the hubs' fries. lol

Once it got dark, we got a snack because we were hungry again; the candied pecans are one of my favorites, so I got that and hubs got gingerbread hot chocolate... and later, he also got a GIANT cinnamon roll and an apple cider-type drink in the new Beauty and the Beast/The Little Mermaid section called LeFou's Brew. Yes, he's skinny and can eat whatever he wants. LOL

So, below is (most of) the summary from yesterday on MFP. I had to guesstimate on the BBQ sandwich, but I'm pretty proud of myself for not just saying, "screw it, I'm not logging and I'm having a 'cheat' day!" That's what I would have done before when put in this situation. I'm learning how to stay on track with this new healthy lifestyle even when I'm around delicious Disney food. :) And I'm super proud of that!

New Plan

Weigh-In: 157.8 lbs (total 10P/10D loss: 3.8 lbs)

You may have noticed that I didn't post yesterday about 10 Pounds in 10 Days, and that's because I'm not doing it anymore. I'm not big on "diets" to begin with, and eating the same foods at every meal, every day, was getting old. I prefer to eat what I want, when I want, but not eat so much that I begin to gain weight. The main reason I even wanted to do it was because my weight was stuck around 160. And the five (almost six) days that I did the diet, I did get past that. And that's exactly what I wanted. So, back to my normal eating... yay food! ha

I'm back to logging on MFP (add me!), and my plan is to stay under my calories and get back to my normal workouts. Tomorrow, I will start doing my Nike Training Club workouts from my phone again.  And I plan to do these workouts while out of town for Christmas too! There's no sense in starting back to my Nike+ Kinect workout plan if I'm going to be out of town so soon, with no access to a Kinect. 

Today, I cleaned my oven. It was looking pretty horrible! But, it looks pretty good now, if I do say so myself! :) I'm counting it as my workout for the day; I'm sure my arms will be feeling it tomorrow!

After I cleaned the oven, I baked some cookies, but I only ate a few! :) I could eat them all, honestly. I l.o.v.e. cookies, especially when they're fun, like a ninja and Darth Vader! lol But I practiced self-control.

I created a new goal for myself this week. I want to drink 24 oz of water at every meal, including snacks throughout the week. And I hope to continue doing so through my Christmas vacation and into the new year. When I get out of my usual routine, like going out of town to visit family, I tend to get off track with the amount of water I drink. That is something I will definitely be focusing on during that time. 

What are your goals for the week?

Weighing In & Jackie Warner's 10 Pounds in 10 Days

I tend to step on the scale on an almost-daily basis, and I usually record it on MFP the same amount too. I like to keep up with my weight fluctuations. I think it keeps me more accountable on a day-to-day basis with my food and workouts.

Anyway, when I weighed in this morning, I was finally below 160 lbs again, even if just barely (159.8). As you can see in the photo below, I was doing really well until Thanksgiving came around! :) But I am getting back on track, and the scale is starting to show it!

I finished reading Jackie Warner's 10 Pounds in 10 Days, and I will be starting the first phase of the diet next week; I will also be doing the workouts included in the book. I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about the first 10 days. It's only 950 calories a day, but the workouts don't seem too intense so I'm hoping I won't feel like I'm starving. Another thing is that the meals are the exact same thing for 10 days straight; now, I'm all for leftovers, but 10 days in a row of the same food? We'll see how that goes. Lastly, there are a few foods that I don't even like on the menu, including sprouts, broccoli, and grapefruit, but I really want to give this diet a chance, so I'm going to give them all a shot.

Now, I'm not expecting to actually lose 10 pounds in 10 days, so I'd be happy with even a small loss. I'll keep ya posted on how it goes! I'm thinking that I will post daily while I am on the diet with an update on how the diet is going for me: if I'm feeling hungry or satisfied, what I think of the workouts, and a daily weigh-in.

PS I added my goals in the far right sidebar, so you can keep up with them there! :)  -------->

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below!

Introductions

Hey MLFC ladies! I just want to say that I love you all and I love our group!

I'm still working on prettying this blog up, but here we go.

Here's a little about me and why I decided to start this blog:

I'm Lara, and I'm 25 years old. I currently live in Jacksonville, FL with my husband, Jason; he's a Navy man. I'm originally from a very small town outside of Charleston, SC.

Jason and I have three kitties: Max, Kody, and Levi. They're our babies for now, since we don't have babies of our own yet.

I'm still kinda trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I graduated in December of last year with a degree in Elementary Education but I haven't found a job yet. So, I started an Etsy shop in March of this year, selling printables. I'm a dabbler and have phases of being interested in one thing or another for a period of time until I get bored and find something else I'm interested in.

One thing I'm definitely dedicated to, though, is being healthy! I don't always eat the right things or workout as much as I should, but I try my best. I'm working on losing 40 lbs that worked their way onto my body while I was on birth control for the past six years. (grrrr) I tried and tried and could not lose more than a few pounds total while I was on it. I've been off of it since May and my body is finally starting to let go of the weight.

I track my calories on MFP; if you're on there, feel free to add me if you haven't already! I'm not a gym kinda person, so I workout at home. It's just more convenient to me. I have a lot of workout DVDs, a treadmill, weights, and workout apps (namely, Nike Training Club!) on my phone so I don't get bored.

But now that my body is finally starting to get rid of the weight, hubs and I are trying to start a family! Ideally, I would have liked to have been around my goal weight at the beginning of my pregnancy, but that ain't happenin' with this one! If you saw my post yesterday on the MLFC wall, you know that I might already be preggo! :)

So, pregnant or not, this blog will be a way for me to stay accountable with my eating and exercise. I'd love it if you joined me!