En Espanol

Well, I'm in Mexico and I cannot even pretend that I've been eating good...at all.  Breakfast may be my only saving grace but Pina Colodas, Margaritas and snacks all day have been my reality.  E has played tennis, golf and been all kind of physical while I've sat at the beach and relaxed - must admit its been SO NICE to just "b" for a bit.  I am ready for home, we leave at like 7a tomorrow morning and that means we are up and out around 5a - that also means I should try and stay sober today and this evening...note to self "trying is the first step".  Everything is in Spanish and though I cannot speak only very little I am navigating this site pretty well.  Proud of myself.
Also, disturbing but I had an AWFUL dream last night that "b" was kidnapped - I woke up at like 6a totally freaking out and didn't want to tell E because I didn't want to upset him too.  I hate when dreams feel so real that you cannot shake them, probably also why I'm a little ready to be home as silly as that sounds.
OK, A OUT - must get back to the beach and that amazing blue water - ahhhhhhhh.
   

30 Day Shred - Week 1

Well I did 30 Day Shred, 3 times this week. I already notice some more definition in my arms. So periodically, I will post a lovely armpit shot, so you can see the progress. But I'm loving the workout so far. I did level 3 today and seriously almost died. They have these plies jumps... holy cow, I could only do a couple. (And yes, I know what you are thinking. I truly am that flat chested after nursing 2 children...)

I leave for Florida tomorrow. PLEASE send positive thoughts my way because I am a bit scared my kids are going to have a freak out on the plane and then we'll be "those" people whom I've rolled my eyes at so many times in the past, before I had kids. Man if that isn't karma, I don't know what is.

I'll try to post in Florida, if I get the chance. I'm really hoping to take advantage of the workout facility there, and 2 grandparents who would be more than happy to babysit. I plan on doing laps everyday, since I don't have access too a pool here and that sprint triathlon is getting closer and closer. My plan is to run the mile to the gym, swim 1/2 mile, then run the mile back to the 5th Wheel.

Bye!
-V

Food Log 2/8/12:

Breakfast:
Protein Shake

Snack:
Almonds
1/2 of J's grilled cheese (bad, bad V!)

Lunch:
1 1/2 turkey burgers, no bun (hey, I'm going to be in a bathing suit the next few days)

Dinner:
Wine (bad, bad, bad V!)


Workout:
30 Day Shred - Level 3

8-Legged Little Bastards....

So I'm packing for Florida today (we leave on Friday) and I tried on a pair of capri jeans that I haven't fit into for about 2 years. And they fit! Whooo! I mean, they are a tad tight, but they fit! I've been doing walking lunges and squats around the house like crazy to stretch them out so I can wear them there. So yay me, I feel good!

On an even shittier better note, J's daycare called and said someone in his classroom has been diagnosed with Scabies. Pretty frickin cool, right? I mean it's not like we leave for vacation in 2 days or anything. Sooooo, I'm going to keep both J and S home from school tomorrow and pray those disgusting little (8-legged... I looked it up on Web MD) mites don't get to my kids. GROSSSSSSSSSSSS!

-V

Food Log 2/8/12:

Breakfast:
Protein bar

Lunch:
Cheese quesadilla on whole wheat tortilla, with tomatoes and black olives

Dinner:
2 of J's chicken tenders (bad V!)
Shrimp, black olives, artichoke hearts, tomato, reduced fat feta

Snacks:
4 mini peppermint patties
2 Glasses of white wine

Workout:
None... too busy packing for FL. Boo!

Leavin...On A Jet Plane

On the flight to Mexico and I cannot quit working - why can't I let it go?  Oh well, no choice once we leave the US and I dont have connection....@ least until I get to the hotel.
Eating today has been super great and I even avoided my urge to grab a McDonalds McMuffin at the airport.  Yeah me....it really is the little things.
Sunday E put on his pants, they were tight.  Sadly, it made me happy - hes always been super fit and in great shape and now he has a little belly.  What a jerk I am for being happy, but its true.  I will help him get fit again because we are better when we are both healthy together. 
-a

Random Facts About A...

Because I'm not original I need to copy V.  Just thought that was a cool idea - so here is a little about me too.

-For as outgoing as I appear, I'm always afraid people hate me and are simply tolerating me.

-No matter the situation, skinny, slightly chubby, full on fat or normal - I always think I'm fat.  WHY IS THAT.  Thanks society, you rock.

-It's true, you never know how much your parents love you until you have a child of your own.

-I have a single parent, my dad was murdered one month before I was born.  As a result (I'm sure) my mother is an alcoholic and my childhood was eventful to say the least.  I will attribute my eating habits to this as it was about the only thing that I could control.

-I lost over 65 lbs after B was born.  LAWD I was heavy.

-When someone asks me how tall I am without fault I say every time 5' 1 1/2".  Why the 1/2?  Why not just 5' 2".

-I LOVE to read, I can get lost in a book in 5 min and not pick my head up for hours.  This is extremely hard with B and I miss reading more than you can imagine.  One day...

-I will try just about anything once, I don't fear too many things - V you can attest to that since we've tried a few too many together!

-Hands down, V is the one person I've taken the most risks with.  MAN did we have fun in our 20's...thank goodness we are even alive to do this post (oh, and your car accident too :) ).

-B is now playing with the stuffed puppy "ruffy dog" that I grew up with.  He loves it.  It both warms my heart and annoys me - I feel like hes going to destroy him and the only child in me gets uber protective and wants to steal it from him.  Thank G-d for anonymity on the web, what a sh*t-bag parenting thing to think!

-Speaking of, I will share anything and everything I have - then I want it right back.

That's it for today...
a

Random Facts About V...

• I was a child model for Ford Models in New York City. I grew up in Stamford, CT (about 30 min's from NYC). I paid for my entire college tuition from the money I made while modeling as a child. I even was in an Oscar de la Renta fashion show and had my photo taken with him, which they published on the front page of the New York Times style section. (ah, if he could see me now....)

• I have lived all over the country. I was born in New York, and then lived in Delaware, Connecticut, Arizona and Michigan. No, I wasn't a military brat, my dad just moved a lot for his job.

• My sister was severely anorexic, back when we were in college (I'm talking 5ft 10, 85lbs). The way I dealt with this was to eat everything in sight. It was the first time I got heavy. I'd been relatively thin up until that point. And I've struggled with my weight ever since.

• I'm very shy from having to change schools so much as a child. I struggle every time I go into a new situation (new job, new playgroup, etc.). I have to make myself talk to other people. Some might laugh at this statement from me, (looking at you A!) since I'm SO loud once you get to know me.

• I use parenthesis wayyyyyy too much in my posts.

• I have mad Photoshop skills and I Photoshop the hell out of me in all the photos I post to facebook. I look at least 10lbs lighter in them.

• My mother has Multiple Sclerosis. She was diagnosed when I was only 13 years old. She's been in a motorized wheel chair since I was about 20 years old.

• I sometimes wonder if the reason why I'm so messed up about food, is from modeling as a child. Not that anyone ever told me to lose weight (I was a super skinny kid) but just the constant rejection that you get in the modeling world, at any age.

• When I was 18, I was riding in the backseat of my friend's Jeep. We were driving about 75mph on the highway to get to the airport to catch my flight back home to Michigan (I was visiting with friends in Arizona). The driver went to switch the radio station and veered off the road a bit. Trying to get back on the road, she over corrected and lost control of the car. Our Jeep flipped over and over several times, rolling out into the desert. I did not have my seatbelt on (STUPID) and I was thrown from the car. I woke up, on the ground, laying in the broken-off roof of the car, with random people standing over me. I had to get over 50 stictches in my left leg from all the desert rocks and stuff. I broke my left collar bone and sprained my left ankle. But, hot damn, I am lucky to be alive!

• I despise Valentine's Day. I think any holiday that makes you feel bad about yourself if you are single, is a lousy one. And even though I have a wonderful husband now, I still can't stand the "Hallmark Holiday." 

•  I actually went to college to be a news anchor woman. But my first and only job offer was for a job in Marquette, Michigan for only $13,000 a year. Shortly after, I changed my mind and went back to school to be a graphic designer.

• 'A' and I once passed out (drunk) waiting for our train at Penn Station in New York City... how we didn't get mugged, or worse, is beyond me. We definitely have an angel looking out for us.

-V


Food Log 2/7/12:

Breakfast:
Protein Shake


Lunch:
Egg whites mixed with spinach and turkey sausage
Strawberry Greek Yogurt

Snack:
Almonds
Cheese Stick
1 mini peppermint pattie


Workout:
30 Day Shred - Level 2

Shred!

I ordered Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred last week. Amazon had it for only $6 and my sister has the premium account, that you don't have to pay for shipping, so it was a win/win for me. I have been hearing soooooo much lately about what an awesome workout it is. It's got 3 levels AND its only 20 minutes. Which, on a lot of days, is about all I have. And if I do happen to have more time, I can do 2 of the workouts in a row (a lot of my friends will do level 1 and 2 back to back). Anyway, so I tried it out, before work this morning. HOLY COW. That is a hard workout and I was only on level 1. It combines weight training with cardio, which truly is the best way to lose weight, and get that toned look. So I loved it! I definitely think I'm already ready for level 2. I'm in enough shape that I can move up. And again, if I've got time I can easily see me doing Level 2 and then maybe Level 1 back to back. So I'm VERY happy with my purchase.

I'm sitting here at work right now trying to eat my tuna fish... for breakfast. Yuck. My husband made it up for me this weekend (mixed with mustard) and I never got around to eating it. So here I am, 9am, and eating tuna fish. I've never been a big fan of tuna fish, but it's so good for you, high in protein, low in calories and carbs. The smell sicks me out though. And I usually breath through my mouth when I eat it so I can't smell it. But I don't want to waste it... ahhh, the life of V, always something....

Had a great weekend up north. The only bust was our hike we did on Saturday. We do a lot of hiking with our kids. My husband and I both love to hike, and with little S in the backpack and J being old enough now to walk on his own, we usually have a pretty good time. J, definitely slows us down a bit, but hey, he's only 3. Anyway, we've never actually hiked in snow with the kids before.... yeah, not so fun. J kept tripping and falling over everything, because it's hard to see sticks and tree roots under the snow. Poor guy, I practically ripped his arm out of the socket, holding him up every time he almost fell. And S was grumpy because she wanted to walk, and not be in the hiker backpack. So by the time we got done, I was ready to shoot a shot of vodka, directly into my veins. Good times.

We were invited to 2 Super Bowl parties this weekend. Two weeks ago our neighbors (directly next door) invited us to theirs. We don't know them really well... and to be honest, they are kind of like the nerd neighbors of the neighborhood. I know, I know, that's soooooo high school to say it like that. But it's true, they are a bit strange and I swear, they might be able to be on an episode of Hoarders. They have SO much crap. But my husband was all like "we need to be neighborly" bla bla, so I RSVP'd that we'd "stop by" but wouldn't be able to stay long since we were just going to be coming back from up north.

Then on Friday, my newest friend Allison (the one with the HUGE house) invited us and my friend Jamie's family to her house for the Super Bowl. Now I'd 10 billion times rather have gone to her house, over our neighbors. But my husband let me know how rude it would have been to ditch the neighbors and go to our other friends. Especially since they invited us first. And yes, he is correct, it would have been rude (though I would have done it in a very polite way). But I really like my newest friend Allison and I think it's important to build friendships with people who have children the same age as yours. We've only lived in Grand Rapids for about 5 years now, and while we have lots of friends, we don't have a ton with children our kids ages. She, Jamie and I all have 2 kids each. We all have 3-year-old boys and then each one younger child between 6 months and 1. So I've been happy that we've been able to connect with a new family AND they are super fun and cool.

But none-the-less, we went to the neighbors last night. And it was weird, because they are weird. They are nice people, but socially awkward. But I guess I'm glad we went, because we were the only people there besides one other couple. And of course my kids were total spaz's because they were over tired from being up north all weekend, so basically I spent the entire time chasing them around as they got into EVERYTHING. And I didn't even get to watch any of the commercials. We were home before halftime, if that tells you anything. Oh well, it was the not fun right thing to do.... I guess.

We leave for Florida on Friday, so I've got ALOT going on this week with trying to pack and get everything ready. Of course my husband would be put on a 3-day trip, and doesn't return until Thursday night. And we have a 6am flight out on Friday morning. So it's pretty much all on my shoulders to get us ready for the trip. Super.

-V

Food Log 2/6/12:

Breakfast:
Tuna mixed with mustard and black olives (YUCK!)

Snack:
Almonds
2 mini peppermint patties

Lunch:
Egg whites with spinach and turkey sausage

Dinner:
Shrimp, sauteed in TONS of garlic, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Added, black olives, artichoke hearts and reduced fat feta cheese.... mmmmmmm. My new fav low cal/low carb dinner.

Workout:
30 Day Shred - Level 1

Serenity Now....

And I mean that literally. We came up north today to the lake house my husband's parents live at in the summer (they live in Florida in the winters). It's so pretty and peaceful up here. It's fun to just sit and watch all the ice fishermen and wild life. Both kids are down for a nap and husband is off trying to get his snowmobile started... peace and quiet.

Hoping to get a run in, when he gets back.

I had a great time at the Denim Party I went to last night. I didn't end up buying any jeans. They were definitely "junior" type fitting jeans. And they were either skin tight on me or so big I could pull them off without even unzipping. But I was ok with not buying any. I really don't want or need to get jeans right now. I don't plan on being this size for long. But I had fun seeing my friends and drinking one two glasses of wine while I was there.

Have a great weekend!

-V

Food Log 2/3/12:

Breakfast:
Protein Bar

Snack:
-Protein Shake
-2 pieces of cheese
-2 whole grain crackers
-2 Choc Chip cookies (damn you mother-in-law for having these in your house!)

Lunch:
Grilled cheese on whole grain bread

Dinner:
(suppose to have) Chicken Tacos
Big fat glass of wine

Workout:
Hoping to get a run in, but it depends on what time husband comes back

( hungry )

So I picked up this book called Hungry by Allen Zadoff, months and months ago somewhere. I can’t even remember where, but at the time it just sounded interesting to me. It was just a little memoir written by a man who lost about 100lbs and has kept it off for about 10 years now. It seemed like his struggles were similar to mine, where he just lost control when it came to certain foods. Anyway, so as I was at my doctor’s appointment and then my hair appointment yesterday I got about ¾ of it read. And he’s got some interesting stuff to say. By no means is this a “diet” book. And he stresses numerous times that this was something that worked for him and he was not suggesting for other people to try it.

Anyway, he mapped out his food patterns similar to a traffic light. He had food put into 3 categories. Red, Yellow and Green.

The Red foods were any food that caused a sort of “trigger” in him where once he started eating it, he found it nearly impossible to stop. Boy, could I relate to this. Um.. hello pizza!

Then he had the Yellow category. These were foods that sometimes caused the Red Food reaction, but not always. He could keep it in control most of the time.

Then the Green category were all the foods he had no problems with at all.

Also in the Red category, was not just his trigger foods, but his trigger places. Like for him it was eating in the car.

So as I was sitting around waiting for my doctor to come in, I got out my pen and made my list. Red. Oh, silly little Red foods. How I love and hate you at the same time. Obviously pizza and tortilla chips were on the top of that list. I also added any and all fast food. I am aware that they have healthy fast food, but I am not sure I’ve ever actually chosen that when I’ve gone. As far as my trigger places, it was basically all those foods listed above, but eating them while I'm alone. I can have a piece of pizza when I’m around other people and not over eat. But if I’m alone? I’ll eat the whole damned pizza. So 'Eating Alone' was on that Red list. Late night eating, was also on my Red list.

Yellow list was more of pasta’s, cheese, baked goods like cake, brownies, cookies. Any chocolate. I’m sort of half and half on these. Sometimes I’m ok with them, sometimes not.

I won’t list my Green foods, because I think you can guess what they are.

So after I did this, I continued reading. He basically put it like this. An alcoholic will abstain from any triggers that would cause him/her to drink. Going to a bar, being at a party, etc. Well, he has put the foods on his Red list, on a banned list of foods. Since he cannot control his actions once he gets a taste of it in his mouth, he’s got to do without it. He then makes up his daily meals with foods on his Green and Yellow lists. Obviously using just a few of the Yellows as to not get into trouble.

 I found this very interesting. I can relate sooooo much to his descriptions of his Red foods. I am the same way, through and through. The thought of banning something completely, scares me. I am afraid that it may cause a backlash of sorts. And the author was the first to say, he’s had setbacks throughout the years, as anyone would.

So this is what I’m thinking. I think I should ban those Red foods too, when I’m alone. Since I don’t seem to have too much of a problem with them when I’m with people. So Red foods, GONE if I’m alone. And I’m alone a lot, since my husband is a pilot and travels a ton. But I think that this will be a scary fun experiment. I’d like to see if this helps with my binging. Because as always, I’m either great or binging. And that is just NOT healthy.

Also, late night eating? Gone! I’ve gotten into a bad habit lately of doing this. Even if it’s healthy food, I don’t need to be eating at 9pm at night. So I think my cut-off will be 8:30pm (and that is only because sometimes I don’t even get a chance to eat dinner until then). But basically after dinner, no food for me. It’s not needed.

One last thing. He also said that he sent a list of all the foods he ate during the course of a day, to his nutritionist. Every day. They didn’t discuss it or anything, but it was just something he did, no matter what. I do track my calories on MyFitness.Pal.com. But I cheat sometimes and don't always put that quick "handful" of M&M's I shoved into my mouth. So I think that I am going to start doing that too. I think that at the end of each post, I am going to write what I had that day (or the previous day, if it was a non-work/non-blog day). I don’t expect you to read this, I can only imagine how boring it would be to read every single thing I’ve put into my mouth. So I’ll put it wayyyyy at the end of my posts. But I like knowing it’s there and that maybe, someone will read it. I'll also throw my workout on there, just for good measure.

So there you go. I thought this would be an scary fun thing to try. It’s still such a daily struggle for me with this food thing. And unfortunately, I think it always will be. But I’m just really trying to bring myself to a healthy place. As my kids get older I do not need them seeing and experiencing all my food issues. I don’t need S growing up seeing her mommy binge and starve herself. I want her to be healthy with her eating, so I’m going to try this.

-V

Foods I’ve eaten today:

Breakfast:

Protein Shake

Lunch:

Weight Watchers Smart Ones Frozen Meal: Slow Roasted Turkey Breast w/Gravy
1 cup cottage cheese

Dinner:
Didn't have dinner b/c I went to a 'Denim Party'
2 glasses of wine

Snack:

Almonds
4 pieces of cheese
1 mini peppermint patty

Workout:

Spinning - 30 minutes

Bye Bye Hair

Well I did it! I cut 5 inches off my hair!

It was a bit scary seeing it all on the floor like that, but it feels sooooo much lighter. And it's still quite long, considering its 5 inches shorter. Here's my before photo. My hair is looking ROUGH in this photo, because I had just gone for a run, so I was all sweaty and gross and my hair had been in a ponytail.

And here's the after!

Hey Life. Gee, Thanks.

Ever feel like life is just continuing to kick you in the face?  Like, life is personally laughing at you saying - "Ha, check this guys - let's see if she can take this one too!"...Thats how I'm feeling...right now.
-a

Later 5 lbs!

I cannot believe I am even typing this - I've been really good, I've not been SUPER GREAT but I've been really good - SO - yesterday when I put my pants on and they were not 2nd Skin I got kind of excited.  Fast Forward to today, I took a giant leap of faith and got on the scale - I'M DOWN 5 LBS!  HOLLA! 2 lbs to get to where I was in October and 5 to get to where I'm comfortable.  PLEASE G-D PLEASE let the trend continue...-a