Weigh In Wednesday

So this week I really needed to focus and buckle down since last week I lost a big fat zero pounds.  I made a menu ahead of time and tried to stick to it.  Although, I made Pad Thai one night (which wasn't as great as I had hoped it was going to be) and the recipe said it made 4 servings, but if that was true, these servings were HUGE.  I couldn't even imagine eating that many rice noodles in one sitting!  So needless to say, I had a lot of Pad Thai left over, so instead of throwing it away and wasting it, I replaced some lunches with the leftovers.  I ate Pad Thai about 4 of the 7 days this week.  I also cheated on Sunday because we spent the day down in Charlotte.  My friend Stephanie was in town from Dallas for business, so we drove down to see her and some other friends.  My lunch wasn't too bad (and by bad, I obviously mean delicious, but full of calories and fat), but I'm sure the beer and fried pickles I ate later weren't on the list of things I can eat :/  Oh by the way, did you happen to catch Sundays episode of Undercover Boss?  See if you can spot Steve in the crowd in the last 10 minutes of the show.

I did pretty good exercising this week too.  I did skip one day this week because I just wasn't feeling up to it, but I think getting 5 out of the 7 days is good.  I'm still following my 10 pound Slimdown schedule (I had to push back a week since I wasn't able to exercise last week while we had visitors in town), so I have another week left of it.  I'm glad it's almost over because I'm getting kind of bored doing the same exercises over and over.  It does alternate between 5 of them, but still, I'm getting sick of seeing the same woman with her crazy smile and chisled abs.

So all in all, it wasn't a bad week.  I lost 2 1/2 pounds. 

Now I'm only 1/2 pound away from where I was when I got pregnant : )  I said I would post before and after pictures once I reached my pre-pregnancy weight, so hopefully next week I'll be able to put that up.  Then I will be on to tackle the next 15 pounds :/ 

I did make a couple things this week that I enjoyed.  I didn't get any pictures, but you can trust me...it was good.

Chipotle Steak Sandwiches
makes 4 servings

1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. chipotle chili powder
1 lb. flat iron steak
salt and pepper
1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
2 ciabatta rolls, halved and toasted

In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and chili powser.  Set aside.
Heat a skillet or grill.  Season steak with 1/8 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper; cook steak 15 minutes for medium or until desired doneness, turning once.  Transfer to cutting board; let stand.
To same skillet, add sliced onion, 1 tbsp. water and 1/8 tsp. salt.  Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 5-7 minutes until tender; stirring.
Slice steak across the grain.  Spread chili mayonnaise on rolls, top with sliced steak with onion. 

per servings: 315 calories, 14g Fat, 4g Sat Fat, 65mg Chol, 615mg Sod, 24g Carb, 2g Fib, 25g Prot
recipe from The Supermarket Diet Cookbook

Webcam Fun

I decided to have some fun with the webcam effects today at Ryleigh and Lucy's expense.  I'm sure she will thank me when she's older : )

Ryleigh is Four Months!!!!

Ryleigh at 4 months (February 15, 2011)

Technically, she was four months yesterday...but we didn't go to the Doctor until today, so I figured I would wait so that we could have all the stats.  Not so little Ryleigh now weighs 16 pounds and is 27 inches long!!  She is in the 95th percentile for weight and is off the charts for height.  The doctor says she is very healthy and looking good : )  So now on to the pictures....

Month four has been nice and relaxing after a very busy month three.  It has also been a VERY vocal month.  Ryleigh is starting to voice her opinion a lot more lately and it is adorable...loud...but adorable.  She has also discovered her feet and loves to put her toes in her mouth.  We haven't really hit any more milestones this month, but that's ok, we're growing and absorbing everything we see. 

voicing her opinions about breakfast

trying to eat her feet while eating breakfast

 

This month Ryleigh started physical therapy with Miss Flavia for her neck.  Ryleigh has a mild case of Torticollis, which is a tightness in her left sternocleidomastoid muscle (the muscle that stretches from behind the ear to the clavicle bone).  So to loosen the muscle and to help get her neck rotation and head alignment corrected, we go see Miss Flavia every other week for a work out.  Between visits Mommy and Daddy do stretches at home to help move the process along as well.  Miss Flavia says Ryleigh is looking really good and moving along great!  She should hopefully only need a few more sessions.  Miss Flavia also says that Ryleigh is the longest baby she has ever worked with...so maybe we have a future supermodel on our hands : )

Also this month, after spending a week with just Mommy while Daddy was in Allentown, PA for work, Gammy and Grandad came to visit for a long weekend.  Ryleigh hasn't seen them since Christmastime, so it was nice to be able to spend some time with them.  They were very excited to see her and couldn't believe how much she has grown in such a short time.

 with Grandad

 Mommy, Ryleigh and Grandad

 Gammy feeding me breakfast

chillin' with my Gammy on our last night

Well that is pretty much all the exciting things from this past month.  Now enjoy some of our favorite pictures and videos from this month.

Ryleigh steals the spoon and tries to feed herself

bonding with Daddy

Ryleigh spews during tummy time...Mommy tries to catch it with her hand

Ryleigh gets ahold of Mommys phone & tries to eat it for breakfast

funny tummy time laughs

Weigh In Wednesday

Booooo...this past week was kind of a bust.  We had visitors in town from Friday to Monday so needless to say, I didn't get to stick to my menu as planned or exercise at all.  I didn't lose any weight.

I had planned a menu and allowed for dinners out and I was able to stick to my planned breakfasts, but unfortunately, lunch one day consisted of sushi, the other day of PF Changs and another day of a quick sandwich.  Also for the dinners out I allowed myself, our restaurant choices didn't neccessarily offer "healthy options", so I'm sure there was plenty of calorie intake there.  I'm not going to lie though, it was nice to splurge for a couple of days.  I've missed taste : )

I wasn't able to exercise either this week.  Per my exercise schedule, I was required to take the first 2 days off, which was nice since Steve was out of town, so I had been taking care of Ryleigh all by myself.  But then visitors came and had every intention of sticking to the schedule, but by day 2 of their visit, I knew it wouldn't be possible.  So I sucked it up and accepted the fact that I'd need to restart when they left.  And that's just what I did.

So while it is frustrating to not lose any weight in a week, it's not like I put in some great effort that ended with no results.  I put in very minimal effort and got minimal results, so I can deal with that.  It could have been worse...I could have gained weight.  I'll do better next week, I promise : )

Happy Valentines Day

wishing everyone a wonderful Valentines Day with the people you love most : )

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Weigh In Wednesday

Curse you delicious Superbowl foods!!!  I'm pretty sure that is the culprit for my lack of weight loss this week. 

I lost 1 whole pound. 

I did the second (and final) week of Boot Camp for The Supermarket Diet and in all fairness, I didn't quite follow the diet to a Tee.  There were a lot of meals on it this week that just really didn't sound appealing to me, but I tried to supplement with something equal in calories and nutrtional value.  Maybe they weren't as close nutriontally as I thought.  They say that if you don't eat enough calories it can have reverse effects and you won't end up losing weight...I'm just going to say that is what happened ; )  But seriously, mixed with the Superbowl binge, I'm sure it would have been a more successful week had I stuck to the actual menu.  C'est la vie.

I also fell a little short on my exercising this week.  I had 2 days off (according to the schedule), but then on Saturday I got caught up in housework and errands that I totally missed my work out for the day, then on Sunday morning I woke up a little later than I had wanted leaving me time to only complete 20 of my 40 minute work out before heading off to church.  But I tried to get back on schedule and make up for missed work outs these past couple of days.  And as much as I hate to admit it...I guess those endorphins really are releasing, because exercising has actually made me feel good and I kind of, sort of, look forward to my work outs : /  I'm about half way through the scheduled work outs, so I'll keep following that for the next week as well.

Now that my week 2 of Boot Camp is over with, I have made up a menu for next week that I'm hoping works out.  The Supermarket Diet gives strict nutritional values for its "Keep On Losing" plan (like per day you get 1500 calories, 50g fat, under 15g saturate fat, about 190g of carbs, under 24g added sugar, etc.), but honestly, that is super hard to figure out when you're planning a menu.  I did it for one day and it took me about 5 hours to find food that added up to the values.  So I planned a healthier looking menu than I had been planning before I started the diet, and hopefully it will work out.  We shall see. 

We have visitors coming this weekend, so wish me luck that I don't stray (too far) off my diet.  I did allow for some dinners out this coming week, but lets hope I can make healthy decisions and stay strong. 

And just because I don't have any pictures or recipes to put up for this week, here's a picture of Ryleigh and I.  Mommy got a new sling to wear since Ryleigh is getting to be a little heavy when carried for long periods of time.  She seems to enjoy it...Daddy's not so sure.

Superbowl XLV

Instead of having small groups on Sunday, we hosted a Superbowl party at our house, with all the fixin's.  Since we weren't partial to any team, I decided the best thing to do would be to show support for both sides.  We had a nice little spread of chicken wings, ribs, veggie pizza (brought over by Sarah), and other finger foods, as well as cupcakes, cookies and rice krispie treats.   We had a small little gathering (about 8 of us), but not too bad for our first Superbowl party.  Wanted to share some pictures of it : )

 The delicious food...and my festive decor : )

Steve's yummy chicken wings & famous ribs with homemade BBQ sauce

My team color cupcakes (more Steelers color cupcakes were eaten)

My football shaped rice krispie treats

Weigh In Wednesday

"When is your baby due?"  A question I thought I was done hearing 3 months ago. 

I thought wrong >:/

Can you believe it?!  Twice in one day I got that question!!  Now, I know I'm no skinny minnie, but c'mon!!  I was willing to forgive people when they asked me one month after having Ryleigh, because let's face it, I still looked pregnant...but now?  There is no way I look pregnant.  Chubby, maybe.  But not pregnant...and definitely not pregnant enough to ask! 

Sigh....so needless to say week 4 started off rocky.  BUT, to hopefully make myself feel better I decided I would try on a pair of pre-pregnancy pants to see if they fit.  I figured if they didn't, I was already feeling down, so it wouldn't matter, but if they fit, well maybe it would give me the uplifting boost of confidence I needed to get myself motivated this week.  So what was the verdict?  THEY FIT!  Just barely (I think I heard the zipper crying), but a step in the right direction.  And I thought right...a great boost of confidence : )

So what did I do this week?  As I said in last weeks blog, I started week 1 of boot camp of The Supermarket Diet from Good Housekeeping.  It gives me a fully planned menu of 1,200 calories a day to follow for 2 weeks.  It really wasn't as hard to go down to 1,200 calories as I thought it would be.  What has been the most hard is not snacking at night...oooo I miss my 10pm nibbles!!  I won't be posting any recipes today, because while The Supermarket Diet has some ok food on it, none of my meals really blew me away, so it's a good thing I only do this part of the diet for 2 weeks.  I posted the menu below, but since I doubt anyone will be able to read it, here is the link to the menu on their website.

The menu was easy to follow and stick to this week.  Dieting is actually getting easier and easier.  I have much less cravings now.  What I am most proud of this week is my exercising.  I worked out 6 days in a row!!  Nothing too intense, a couple days for 20 mintues and a couples days for 40.  I found this exercise plan on my OnDemand, so I went to the website, downloaded it, and now I'm following it.  It's called the 10 lbs Slimdown, and while I am not looking to lose 10lbs. in 1 month (although it would be nice), I liked that it had a month worth of work outs all planned out for me.  It's a lot easier for me to stay motivated when I have something planned out, ya know?  I posted the schedule below, but you can download your own here.  All you need is Exercise TV OnDemand and the 10 lbs. Slimdown has it's own category.  The nice thing is that I can actually start seeing results from working out.  My lovehandles don't seem as big and I can actually start to feel muscles again in my stomach!!  Who knows, maybe I'll get a six-pack out of this ; )

So.  How did I do this week?  3 pounds down.  HOORAY!  I've lost a total of 11pounds in One month!  And on top of that, I'm only 4 pounds away from having lost all my baby weight!  At this rate, my goal of being back to my normal weight by the time we go to California in April can totally be accomplished!  So next week the plan is to to do Week 2 of Boot Camp for The Supermarket Diet and continue following the workout schedule above.  Let's hope I see the same results...and less people asking me when my baby is due!!

Also, I just want to say thank you to everyone who is following my weight loss and being supportive of it.  It's hard to stay on track  and stay motivated, but knowing that I have so many people rooting for me, really helps me stay focused : )  Thanks everyone!!