Another Pound Bites the Dust!

Yesterday was weigh in day! I was super nervous because:

 1.) My monthly auntie was visiting (TMI sorry...)
 2.) Sunday night I had a pig out sesh. It included TWO glasses of Pinot Grigio , 2 mini baby bell cheeses, and a big handful of chocolate chips (pathetic I know)!

But besides both of those things I ended up losing ONE POUND. And you know what? I was  am HAPPY. First of all your body retains water weight during your monthly cycle so I may have really lost a little more! Second of all, I am wanting to lose this weight steadily. The faster you lose weight the faster you can gain it back. I do not want that to happen to me. THIRDLY, check out how one pound of FAT looks....

SICKKKK! So pumped!!

I am really trying to stay positive through my whole journey. Yes, I get "jealous" when I see my friends eating cupcakes and sweet things that I really want but I feel much better ten minutes after I don't eat it. Honestly, why is a cupcake so important? It is nothing, it is BAD for you. But why do I want it so much? My cravings are getting much more manageable but it is still hard. Now will I never have a cupcake or a piece of pie or cake again? HELL YES I will! But only once in a while. Weddings, birthday parties and other special events I can treat myself.

Anyway, my goals before next weigh in are:

1) 72 ounces of water per day

2.) Do not eat past 6:30 pm

3.) Keep up my AMAZING work out sessions! :)

I will end with some uberly adorable family pics that we took a week and a half ago:

My two boys are my inspiration for losing weight! 

In total I have lost 8.4 lbs in FOUR weeks. My goal for my first 60 days is 15 pounds. Slow and steady right? 

Healthy Strawberry Banana Muffins

I really should be folding laundry BUT I much rather share a wonderful recipe with you. The past few mornings I have noticed these bananas sitting on my counter getting riper and riper and browner and FINALLY today I thought I would do something about it. I did not want to make my usual chocolate chip banana bread (super delicious) because it has mucho calories that I don't have room for. So why not some cute little healthy muffins. Then I noticed I was out of flour...womp womp womp. Who needs white flour though? It's not so good for you anyway....AND these muffins clock in at only 99 calories each!

What you'll Need:

• 2 cups Old fashioned Oats (not quick cooking)
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 cup (single serving container) light n fit strawberry greek yogurt (or plain, blue berry any flavor your little heart desires)
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbs xylitol (natural sweetener)
• 1 1/2 tbs sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

1. First place oats in a blender or food processor (I did one cup at a time in a magic bullet) then put in a medium sized mixing bowl. 
2. Then place bananas and yogurt in blender/food processor and blend. Pour over oats in bowl. 
3. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Should look similar to this:

4. Then mix everything together with spatula or spoon:

5. GREASE your muffin pan with spray. Don't use liners just grease heavily. Then try to pour batter equally into 12 muffin spots:

6. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Once toothpick comes out clean they're done!

Now, they aren't the prettiest muffins in the world but they are pretty yummy. Next time I am going to add a scoop or two of my vanilla whey protein powder. That should add a few calories to each one but make them much more filling!

By the way...if you're wondering what Xylitol is here is a picture. I get mine on amazon but you can use truvia or splenda as well. I just think xylitol tastes the best.

Well that's it...I hope everyone is having an AMAZING weekend.

Baby Weight...

Well here goes nothing...I started this blog about 6 months ago with the intention on keeping it about life updates and other fun stuff. Well a big part of my life lately has been weight loss....mainly after baby weight loss. BUT I don't really have a baby anymore...he is DEFINITELY a toddler. I don't have any excuses anymore to say this extra weight is "baby weight."

 I really don't know what happened. Actually...I guess it is because I got preggers and started eating pretty much ANYTHING I wanted. The first 16 weeks I was nauseous all the time. The only thing that made me feel better was eating CARBS. Very. Bad. CARBS. I would have Cup O Noodles twice a day, crackers, bread, and then in the evening ice cream and milk shakes. Yeah...that's super embarrassing, but its the truth. I probably gained 10 pounds the first 12 weeks when you really shouldn't gain anything.

In addition to eating whatever I wanted I didn't work out. I was so tired all the time I just lounged around whenever I wasn't working. Pretty dumb.

I feel like a horrible person for not taking better care of myself during my pregnancy. Why couldn't I be like those other prego's at the gym pounding it out on the treadmill or lifting weights? I honestly don't know, but I can tell you I'm pissed at myself. I wasn't fat before I got pregnant but I here I am still fat...my son is going to be 20 months and I'm still fat.

Right now I'm 33 pounds heavier then my before pregnancy weight. That is my first goal weight. Then after that we will see how much more I need to lose. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to lose more because having a baby really screws up your body.

I'm too scared to post my weight for everyone to see...but maybe when I get to my goal weight. I have lost 7.4 pounds the past three weeks by just calorie counting using the My Fitness Pal app on my iPhone. It is so far amazing and I am very proud of myself.

I also got a gym membership and have been working my ass off both there and at home doing DVDs like Turbo Kick and Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.

Why did I get started now on losing weight? Well, I went to the doctor 3 weeks ago and had my blood tested. My cholesterol looked fine, no Diabetes, no thyroid problem BUT my triglycerides were a little high. WTF is that??? Well it means the level of FAT in your blood. Pretty dang gross. Actually REALLY REALLY gross. So the only way to change that is diet and exercise and taking Omega 3 fish oil daily. Well I am doing all of that! 

A high level of triglycerides can cause heart disease or heart attacks and much more. I. do. not. want. to. die. young. I have too much to do with my life...I have a husband, a baby toddler (and in the future more babies on the way!)

Another reason I got started losing weight was because of this AMAZING blog I started reading about a month ago: Mama Laughlin. Check her out, she is amazing with losing baby weight! She is a true inspiration to me. 

Well this post has been LONG enough. Anyway, join me in my journey I will try to post about it regularly and let you know about my weekly weight loss.

I'll end with some cute pictures of my baby:

 Three weeks old.

19 Months old

One dinner THREE different meals

I never knew how hard Mommy's worked until I had a child of my own...I think most of us Mama's feel that way. So Mom if you're reading this...THANK YOU for all you do and have done for me! Anyway, I think my son is the pickiest eater on the PLANET! I can count everything he will eat on two hands...for real! It can be so frustrating but I have to remember things will change he will someday be eating a whole large pizza to himself and wanting more food. With that in mind, every night I try to get him to eat what we eat but it usually doesn't fly so I make him something else. Now, in addition to that I am eating much healthier but my husband isn't so some nights I prepare a different meal for him after so many nights of him "HAVING" to eat healthier with me. This doesn't mean I'm going to blow my weight loss and eat something "unhealthy" so I am making THREE different meals on nights like this. Let me tell you it SUCKS balls big time. But I do it for my family because I'm a mom and we just LOVE to please our families....right??? :)

So here is how it goes in my house...this may help you a little bit when you are planning meals out (different post I will do a different time).  When I did this it was Saturday the night before on Friday we had chicken, rice and veggies. I made extra chicken so I would have some to eat for dinner the next night, which was super easy. Next I bought these really convenient whole grain brown rice microwaveable cups. That would be one of my sides for my dinner the next night. My hubby wanted some comfort food so we "made up" a recipe together (see recipe below.) I had to make his dinner all the way through, I didn't short cut anything. My hubby's recipes had mashed potatoes in it which SOMETIMES my son will eat so I thought that could be his side. I then made him a turkey hot dog because basically that is one of the only meats he likes. So his dinner is done.

Here are all three of our dinners. It only took about 45 minutes from start to finish (including baking time) to get these all together. Please don't judge on my son and hubby not eating veggies they do a lot!

Now, onto my hubby's dinner. We made this up off of a recipe we make called "beef cups." Last night Ian said why don't you make beef cups but make them like little shepherds pies? I thought good idea babe...but not very healthy. Here is how I put them together:

You will need:

• refrigerated biscuits
• lean ground beef
• frozen peas
• BBQ sauce (I used sweet baby rays)
• mashed potatoes
• shredded cheese

1. Take a roll of refrigerated biscuits and press them into a muffin tin. 

2. Brown lean ground beef, once cooked add frozen peas and some BBQ sauce about 3/4 cup. 

3. Put beef/peas mixture into biscuit cups. Then place in oven on 350 for about 10-12 minutes. While baking make up some instant mashed potatoes (or make real ones but start them earlier). After they have baked 10-12 minutes pull out of oven and put mashed potatoes on top and shredded cheese. Place back in oven and bake another 3-6 minutes. 

4. So here is the final product. You want the biscuits fully cooked and golden brown around the edges. 

These looked so good to me! I did try a bite of my husbands to make sure they were good! Classic comfort food changed up a little! Plus, he has left overs for lunch for a day or two!

Lastly, here is a picture of my son eating pudding since he didn't like his dinner and decided to eat Mommy's brown rice for his meal! Too cute and TOO spoiled!