Weigh in Wednesday: Not too Happy...

I have to admit I am feeling quite defeated. My first weigh in and I gained a pound. :( I am sure I can crack this up to muscle since I've been running at least every other day this week. I am still struggling with the eating thing. I know what worked for me before-counting calories. But the thought of counting calories on top of everything else in my life right now REALLY overwhelms me. It's frustrating because I am not eating BAD stuff- I am a generally healthy eater. So the only thing I can think is that I am still consuming too many calories in general. Ugh. Hoping to have some better news next week from Carrie (my scale!). If all else fails, I am still continuing to run even though that's only half the equation.

Hanging Out in Your Workout Gear: Does it count?!

Well the run thing has been going pretty well, for the most part.

Yesterday, I woke up and decided I would wait a little while to go on my daily run (it's tough to fit around all these stinkin naps my one year old is still taking!). It was a little bit drizzly outside, but not too bad. I decided that when Haden got up from his first nap we would head out. I got all my workout gear on, got Haden dressed and was about to walk out the door when, lo and behold, it was pouring :(.

This exact same scenario happened in the afternoon too. No rain, we get ready, and it pours. Poo.

Does it count as a workout if I just stay in my work out gear all day?!

We never got the chance to go out because of the rain. Guess it's time to purchase that weather shield.

Hubby normally would have helped me out when he got home, but he was off to have a "man weekend" up at his friends cabin in the mountains. He told me it was to celebrate cinco de mayo so all he knew was that there would be sombreros and margaritas involved. Haha! It's good for us to have our own things going on so I wished him well on his way and decided to go to a friends grad party.

The skies are clear today so I finally got  that run in! Again, I say run, but it is more like a really slow jog combined with some fast walking. Ah well...it's exercise, that's all that matters.

On Thursday I made the mistake of telling a "runner" that I would run with her. LOL. I tried warning her that I was still really out of shape. We ran through a wooded trail which was mostly upways. I thought I would die at first, but I am happy to say I survived and hope to return to it sometime when I am a little more prepared to keep up :).

I'm off to visit the farmers market! Hope you have a great weekend.

Accomplishments:Hopes:Goals:Dreams

I feel it is SO vitally important in life to have a "post" like this every once in a while. A time to reflect on the things you've accomplished as well as the things you hope for.

It's funny because I am 24 years old, but I seriously think I have been going through a bit of a quarter life crisis. It's such an odd thing to admit, but this past 6 months things have just kinda hit me: what the heck am I doing HERE?! What am I doing with my life?

I guess I don't want to dive into all the mental thoughts that those kind of questions have arisen in me, but being able to just write out exactly what I'm doing in my life helps me for some reason. I have concluded I am definitely some part A personality in that I really do love lists. Lists are my friend. The other part of me is so not "A"- I think that's kind of funny.

Anyway, enough of that rambling. Here it is!

Accomplishments in the last year (no matter how small!)

-Had conversation with my mother in which she asked me "if you could do anything with your life, what would it be?" my answer: "own my own photography business." Proceeded to file for a business license two months later. It's been quite the journey so far. (www.inspiredjoyphotography.com)

-Successfully baked delicious homemade bread

-Started and (so far) maintained a raised veggie garden

-Ventured down the cloth diaper road and found myself enjoying it!

-Replaced all chemical cleaners with homemade, environmentally and baby safe cleaners

-Started my photo hallway decor

-Finally started couponing again! (haven't done any since Haden was born)

Goals for the next year

-Continue couponing and build a significant stockpile in order to reduce our monthly grocery budget

-Run a couple 5k's

-Finish a half marathon (jogging/walking/crawling...just finish!)

-Harvest my vegetables and plant a fall crop

-Continue to build my photo business and define my unique style

-Lose 20lbs and get in shape!

-Pay off 17,500 in debt. Yes, I just said that. Lord help us!

Goals for the next 5 years

-Have another kiddo

-Rent our current home and find a home in a neighborhood that suits our needs (might take some convincing on kellen's part!)

-Run my own business as my main source of income

-Maybe do another half marathon....

-Stay in shape!

10 years

-Start to build our dream custom home

Ultimate Goal:

BE A SNOWBIRD, travel the world, and have some grandkids :)

*Crawls Out From Under Rock*

Oh, hello, bright and shiny world! It's me- Nicole- remember me? I was that one who was so desperately attempting to lose the baby weight six months ago? In case you hadn't noticed...I went into hibernation for winter. Only problem was, hibernation somehow included ceasing all exercising and also somehow consuming massive amount of calories. Thus, I wake up in Spring weighing just as much as I did when I re-started this journey back in summer.

Ah. Such is life I guess. A big, long, and somewhat unfair journey.

Here's to a re-start of the re-start, and probably not the last!!

It's May 1st and of course I have lots of fun goals in mind for this summer, which include laying on a beach in a bikini and running a half marathon (HA and HA).

A girl's gotta dream, right? ;)

More importantly, I am determined to be semi-prepared for when I actually will be tromping around in a bathing suit, come October, when my mumsy, baby boy, and I head to Maui. It's great motivation to start getting my butt in gear!

I've started running again! (and when I say running, just in the future assume I mean really extremely slow jogging, but I say running to sound more bad a** than I really am, FYI...). It's been a good week of easing back into it and I am happy to report I have not yet thought I was going to pop a lung. I'm trying to take it pretty slow as not to traumatize myself! Mission accomplished so far.

Eating has been a bit of a different story, but it's late and that I will have to save for a later post...

goodnight my friends...

Less.

I have been on this new "healthy eating" journey for three weeks now and I have come to a major favorite milestone of mine that happens whenever you start to downsize your portions. What is that you say? It's so simple but I love it: I get full faster.

I can't tell you how exciting it is that, after a pregnancy of eating for "two" and carrying on the tradition well into my non pregnant state, I finally have begun to feel satisfied on a normal size portion!

This is a big step my friends. It means this whole calorie thing will become much easier. Eating in moderation is a term I associate with long term weight loss. Yay!


This has absolutely nothing to do with this...but here's my baby with his daddy and across his friend Elijah!

Post Baby Weigh in Week 3: whoop whoop!

Hallelujah, thank ya Jesus, I saw a great number on that scale last night...a 4 pound loss!


I'm super excited. This brings my total weight loss down to around 9lbs! Nine pounds in three weeks is something to be proud of...really proud of!

I'm going camping this weekend so there may be some s'mores and possibly a bit of junk involved, but I'm hoping to be fairly good :)

Wrapping up another week!

Weigh in tonight! I'm stoked. I am not going to try to guess whether I will be up or down or how much, we will just have to see! I've had a farely good week. I may or may not have eaten a cookie AND chocolate ice cream last night...hmmm....but I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off yesterday and forgot to eat mostly. So I thought I'd make up those calories. Healthy right? Haha. Oh well.

Kellen and I watched thi documentary called "Fat, Sick, and nearly dead" this weekend. It's about two "large" guys who go on a mission to get healthy. They start by doing a juice only cleanse for 60 days (intense!) and use that as their detox as well as a kick off to a healthy lifestyle. Pretty eye opening! Kellen even enjoyed it and is now begging me to get a juicer...lol! My husband is the most paranoid skinny guy I know. He is self conscious and honestly has no reason to be. But I guess it's cool because he really embraces healthy eating and that makes it easy for me to make better choices.

I will leave you with a pic of little bubba. He is seriously the most animated, happy baby I know...but stick him in a car seat and this is what you get!