the GRAND finale

I took 4th place in the Muffin Top Weight Loss Challenge and I am very happy with that. I lost 11.56% of my body weight and 21 pounds. I exceeded my goal by 1 pound. Yahoo! The biggest impact it had one me was counting my calories and realizing just how many calories are in a lot of foods. Who wants to waste 410 daily calories on a single serving of mac n' cheese??? I don't. It's kind of like budgeting. Figuring out where you want to spend your calories and getting the most bang for your buck. I wish I was at good at budgeting money as I am calories. Haha!

I used SparkPeople.com to log all my calories as well as exercise. You can also track different nutrients and they will give you a daily recommended range. Some of the ones I tracked other than the carbs, fat, and protein were: sodium, fiber, calcium and iron. You can also connect with and get support from other weight losers on the site.

I am very happy the challenge is over and congratulations to all my fellow muffin toppers who did an amazing job shedding the pounds!

it's the final countdown...

to the LAST weigh-in of the challenge. it's gonna be good!

I'd like to celebrate by eating something that looks like this!

bathroom progress....or...regress???

We (I mean, Justin) decided to change our original plans of "fixing" the sheet rock that was left behind after the wall paper fiasco. So, we're (yes, I helped too) just ripping the stuff out and starting fresh. I mean, why not? (don't you just love a man hard at work? I do.)

ran 7 miles this morning. 76 minutes. not too bad.

muffin top...one week left

It was a good week. Lost 2.1 lbs and only POINT TWO! from making my 20lb goal. One week left and I think I can squeeze out another .2

muffin top challenge week 11

I'm still losing and only 2.3 lbs from my goal of losing 20 lbs in this challenge. Those darn top 3 are unstoppable, so at this point I'd have to lose an unrealistic amount of weight in the next 2 weeks to catch up. So, that's ok. I hope I can make it to the 20 lbs at least. It's been a good experience.

17.7 lbs lost. Let's eat cake!

Delicious London Broil

Very rarely, since having my gall bladder removed do I eat beef anymore, but I read somewhere on line that London Broil would be a lower fat beef to try????, so I picked some up last week. I wasn't really sure what to do with it, so I looked up some recipes. I had about 7 pieces of meat (close to 3 lbs) and here's what I did with it...

Season and sear meat in pan. Transfer to crock pot. Arrange meat on bottom.
Mix one can condensed cream of mushroom soup and one can of stewed tomatoes. Pour over the meat. Sprinkle 1oz package of onion soup mix over the top. Cover and let cook for about 8 hours. The smaller pieces, the more tender and falling apart they are.

So fast, so easy and it was SOOOOOOO good!!!!!! Lots of flavor. I think my body was craving a little red meat.

10K

Gross. I don't like this picture. At all. Oh well. I did the St. Patty's Day 10K today. I was kinda nervous/excited about it. I haven't really loved 6 miles. I just went out nice and easy, set a steady pace for myself and blasted the Black Eyed Peas as loud as I could. Will.I.Am carried me through I tell ya!

I ran the entire way without stopping once, which for me is a major accomplishment. Not that I didn't think about it a few times though.

I was so excited when I came up the hill and saw my time. I thought it would take me around an hour and 15 minutes, but I did it in an hour and 2 minutes. Pretty happy about that.

I wanted to feel good when I was done and I did! It's amazing what training can do for you...instead of just running willy nilly here and there and irregularly. Onto the 1/2 Marathon!

muffin top challenge week 10

I am not going to lie, I am really looking forward to the challenge being over. I am exhausted. I have been working my butt off, literally. The hard work has really paid off and I feel so good physically, but I think the pace I have been going at is catching up to me this week. I have been working out 5 or 6 days out of the week and sometimes doing 2, and occasionally 3 workouts in the same day. The last 2 weeks I tried even harder to be very good with my diet. And suddenly I hit the dreaded plateau. It really stinks to have this happen with only 3 weeks left. I am totally in it to win it. Of course I am. However, being first place isn't what is most important (can you tell I am still trying to convince myself?) and as Justin keeps telling me, I have won no matter what. He's right.

I am very grateful for and proud of my hard work because it has paid off. I only lost .6 this week. I was disappointed for sure (that's the competitive side of me coming out), especially because I worked so hard this past week. I'm up to 16.8 lbs lost. My goal was to lose at least 20. All I can do is my very best and the rest is out of my hands. I actually do not think I will win it, but I can sure try!

I never want to be in another weight loss challenge EVER again! I don't want to have to have the need for it. I don't ever want to go back to where I was. That is NOT who I am.

I was so happy on Sunday when someone who I had attended the singles ward with a LONG time ago happened to be visiting my ward and I didn't feel embarrassed about how much I had let myself go. It felt so good! I actually wanted to go and say hi instead of duck out of sight.

Really, I have been blessed. I am so, so thankful for health and strength. And I am also thankful for the ability to do HARD THINGS! For the hard things I have had to endure, especially in the last year and a half. Every time I do something I didn't think I could do, I grow immensely. If you want to feel good about yourself, challenge yourself to do something you think you could never do. I think you will be amazed at what you actually CAN do! Just go for it!

big girl

This last week Alaina turned 18 months old! She is officially old enough to go to Nursery at church and absolutely loves to go. I really enjoy this age. She is still part baby, but becoming more independent all the time. Sometimes I just don't want them to grow up...

Alaina's all time favorite activity is looking at books and having the stories read to her. She can go through book, after book, after book. The other thing she seems to really love is stuffed animals and is starting to get into dolls. She loves to hold them tight in the crook of her little chubby arm. I think it's adorable.

Her communication and language skills are improving all the time and she is starting to repeat a lot of different things:

Mama (she still mostly calls Justin mama too), water, bottle, boy, baby, love, dog, and lets not forget "MINE!" (everything is hers). The words don't always come out exactly right, but she is making good progress.

She is a pretty happy and easy going toddler, but she can throw a pretty impressive tantrum at times too. I was looking back through some pictures tonight and just love the pictures of our sweet new baby. It was such a special time.

I have recently started watching my neighbor's baby while she and her husband are at work. She is 7 months old. The girls just love her, as you can see by the pictures of them mauling her. Katelyn said, "can we keep her?" No.

Katelyn has also- for the last several months- been putting requests in for a baby brother. I told her I didn't know if that would happen and that you don't get to pick if you have a boy or girl baby. So today she asked again for a baby brother. I told her that she might have to pray and ask Heavenly Father about getting a baby brother. She immediately got down on her knees and said a really great prayer. As soon as she was done, she looked at me with big, wide eyes and asked: "did it work?!" LOL. I told her she might have to keep praying for a while. Oh boy!

No pressure

dAddY love!

I don't know what's up with blogger, or is it just me??? I can't write underneath each picture and it's really annoying. Anyway! We love when Daddy comes home from work, even if it is at 6:30am (yes, my kids were up that early today...ugh!) He was so nice to stay up for an hour with them and let me go back to bed for a little bit.

Alaina got herself stuck in the baby walker. hahaha

Muffin Top Challenge Week 9

Lost 1.4 last week, 1.8 this week for a total loss of 16.2lbs

4 weeks to go and I plan on workin' it all the way to the end baby!