The Story

Today I weigh in early due to being a girl! Basically when its that special time my body will not show the weight loss.. It hoards my water weight so I weigh in before this happens! 2lbs lost this week! I only have 38lbs to go ! Started out at 83lbs to lose and 15weeks later I am at 38lbs.
  So Why is this girl so fat? Why does she get thin and get fat? ( Go ask Oprah) hee hee Just kidding. Well as a child I had an awful life. My dad did drugs and my mom was just too young to have me and my brother. The things I had to see, the fact that my mother used treats as rewards just really gave me the wrong impression of food. If she was depressed we went to get donuts or cupcakes. I was also on prednisone because my parents were not very cleanly, and I had really bad asthma and so I was on the machine and taking medicine quite a bit. My poor knees could not even take the weight when I hit 8th grade and I was at 200lbs I ended up in knee braces for a while. Anywho you know you get older and get the big picture and I learned how to take care of myself, and get that weight off. Then married into the military and MANY times just ate my problems away! Although right now I am doing great I could relapse after losing it.. I hate that. Food really is an addiction. Especially for people who have just a wide range of issues. Right now I am super strong and I feel like I need to get healthy and I hope that I can keep that up. I need to be healthy for my kids, I need to be a great example for them, no treats like cupcakes we have treats like homemade fruit roll ups, or I hand make things and can omit a lot of sugar and crap. Treats are not given for good behavior, treats are just a treat when we want a little treat! Basically I have to trick my brain and get it out of that old way of thinking. Now it has gotten a bit sick, I almost hate myself for eating anything. When I eat something I think about how many calories is this, should I be eating right now, I usually just eat half or less than half of everything. I realize this could be a problem too, but I am eating, I do hit my calorie goals and lets face it I have a ton of weight to lose. I am tired of being fat. I am still fat when I look in the mirror. I loathe the fat stomach that I see, and nothing looks good on me. There will always be a life long battle of this thinking. When I Was fat I never looked in the mirror and I NEVER took pictures of myself. Now I can look at my face and I see changes its just not how I want to look.

Another Day!

After my 3lbs weight loss last week my weekend was a little on the BAD side! Although I got some good exercise in I did partake in some not so good food! Like Yates Cider mill Donuts and cider! I only had one donut and about 4oz of the cider but I had a few other pit falls like Wine (I love a good red wine) and french fries! I thought I could just eat 6 fries and that was it but they were homemade they were sooo good! So Bad weekend but Monday I started fresh and new and that's how the cookie crumbles! If I ate good all the time this would just not work. This does account for my wide range of weight loss from 1-3lbs if I am REALLY good I can get a 3lbs weight loss if I am not so good I can expect to lose 1 lbs probably meaning I gained back 2 lbs and then lost 1 lbs later in the week LOL. I have always battled with my weight, 10 years old I was fat and it just sort of escalated from there I was probably about 215lbs in high school when I decided to do something and although I never weighed myself I went from a size 18 to a size 10 so I lost some serious weight I looked awesome and kept it off until I got pregnant, even after pregnancy I dropped a ton of weight and then I must have been like 260lbs when she hit a year old. I had to buy Men's XXL sweatpants... I dropped down to 230 and got pregnant with my son about a year later and then I dropped a TON of weight after I had him and put it all back on until he hit 2 and I got serious. I lost 50lbs and was in a size 14 no not skinny but I looked great! I kept that off for a year and gained it all back, got pregnant again and put on another 33lbs.. So this time around I have 83lbs just to get to that size 14 weight, although this time once I hit my goal I will not just stop! I will continue doing everything I do now except I will knock down my work out to 3x a week instead of 5. That way I hopefully can maintain and maybe lose a few lbs here and there over the months. My goal is probably unlike most, everyone wants to be skinny, lots of people get to that point but I like a little weight on myself, I just want to be healthy. Curvy yet healthy. Eating should be healthy AND tasty!

Weigh In

Fridays are generally my weigh in days except if I go to the Dr. and get weighed by her. I only weigh in 1x a week though. This is a MUST! Seriously I have weighed myself more and my weight fluctuates up to 5lbs! That's quite a bit of difference. Anyway today brought my weight loss to 43lbs! So if you do the math I have lost a total of 3lbs this week!  WOO HOO! I am going to say this is probably due to my added strength training this week. I thought I would bring a quick little recipe over here it is a Treat because everyone has a sugar tooth and you need treats.. You will FAIL if you take all treats away.


Faux Ice Cream Sandwich

2 Vanilla pizzelles
2 Tablespoons Reddi whip

Put Reddi Whip on one cookie and then sandwich the other one on top (don't squish) place in freezer for 20 minutes and pull it out and enjoy! This little treat is about 65 calories and less than 3 grams of sugar!

Not a diet a Lifestyle change

So I was going to make this into my MI eats everywhere blog, but shortly after I started this I started my lifestyle change! Last week I hit my 40lbs mark. Tomorrow will be week 14. So Daily I am going to come on share my strengths and falls (We all have them) and share my progress! It seems like everywhere I go when I tell people I have lost weight they want to know how I do it! All I can say is I wish I could tell them I sit on my behind and eat chocolate cookies everyday and the weight just melted off! Lets face it everyone wants the miracle diet and there just is not one. I work my behind off everyday, I focus on what goes into my  body and I am always thinking of new ways to make the next day better. I still have 43lbs to go do not get me wrong. I am a big girl, I have a lot of weight to lose but I think I have a lot to offer! Especially since I have a thyroid disorder and it makes life that much harder! The week I step on the scale and I lost nothing it was heart breaking, but you go in and visit your Dr. and learn your numbers are off! I changed my meds and lost 4lbs the next week! All I can say is go in, get a physical and talk with your Dr. What is a good weight loss for you? My Dr. said at my age I can lose 3lbs a week safely! That does not mean I will lose that amount of weight, in fact most weeks its 1-2lbs which is normal, especially for a lifestyle change! This week I added extensive strength training as I looked at myself really well in the mirror and seen some sag in the arms and the belly! GREAT weight loss, boo for saggy skin! Heavy weights, and push ups, sit ups, and leg ups! I have to work all parts of my body. Although after having 2 children one 10lbs and one 11lbs and then a 3rd oddball at 7 lbs sad to say my stomach will never be the same as it was before babies came! But my fat has a story and everyone's does! I do not want to be skinny, I want to be healthy. I love my curves, I am not ugly but too much of anything is never a good thing.

Mackinac Island

After 11 years my husband and I took a vacation without our children. It was so nice, I always just feel so high strung when I have all 3 kids around, always worrying about something! It felt nice to just be carefree for 4 whole days! So I am here to blog about places we ate and things we did! We took the 75N and stopped in at the birch run outlets, they are just stores nothing really exciting but I got some shopping done and it was so peaceful not telling my children not to touch things! Frankenmuth is less than 10 minutes up the road from the outlets so we headed there for lunch and a quick look at the cuckoo cuckoo clock shop! We ate at Zehnders, they have great food and the atmosphere is awesome! Being German myself it brought me back to when my grandma used to cook for me! The spatzle was amazing and the german pickles were sooo good! I have to say they are known for their chicken and I thought it was mediocre to say the least, but my husband got the sausage and it was fantastic!
      We lodged at the Bridgeview Hotel, it was great! Although we just slept there it was very clean and comfortable, and the breakfast was really good and there was a nice selection of foods. Our first night in Mackinaw City we ate at Nona Lisa's, they have great food and the prices are decent. I would have to recommend the fried ravioli! Yummy and total diet breaker! We also ate at Dixie Saloon, service was super crappy but I had the fish and chips and it was amazing! So light and tasty! My husband had the roasted chicken and red potatoes and it was great! The portions are huge! When our food came we realized we should have just shared because we wasted a lot of food! The last night there we ate at Cunninghams Family Restaurant and the service was great and the atmosphere was so wonderful it was like being home for christmas! I just had a sandwich while my husband had their perch and it was amazing! Seriously if you like fish get the perch! Then we shared a slice of Lemon Meringue pie and that was also fantastic! They have a ton of pies so if lemon is not your thing they had well over 10 varieties.
    We ventured over the Mackinac bridge and into the UP, it was a beautiful drive. We headed to the tahquamenon falls. I wanted to bring this up because we got a flyer from the Mackinaw city website that had some confusing information on it. It said it was 55miles from the city. It was about 72 miles total. Also it talks about it taking 2 hours to get to the falls but what  it fails to tell you is that you can just park at the park pay 10$ for parking and walk just a short distance to the falls.. LOTS of stairs though so be prepared! But do the stairs because the view is amazing! There is also a microbrewery there and it has GREAT food! I also had their Blueberry Ale and it was sooo good! It was like drinking a blueberry pie. The pasties are amazing, and so are the nachos.
   It really was a fabulous trip. The Island was beautiful. It was very expensive so we did not eat on the island but we bought our weight in fudge :) I can't wait to go back and the alone time with my husband was amazing! We brought no electronics and we probably watched TV for a total of 1 hour the whole time we were there.

The 24lbs Present

I have had a picture of a tattoo I wanted for quite a while. Well I had some things happen and lets just say I needed some real pain to mask the heartache! So Off I went to American Pride Tattoo's, I seen an artist named Austin and he took my Tattoo virginity away so to speak. It really does look awesome. It hurt like HELL, no way will I get another but it's symbolism is my everyday life,my children asked how long it will be there and I said until I die and go to hell.. LOL. I will post a picture and I will be posting a link to American Pride Tattoo's  facebook page, in case anyone out here in MI has a hankering for some pain and beautiful art!

https://www.facebook.com/americanpridetattoos

Losing weight

I promised myself once we got settled here in Michigan I would be losing this weight and eating right. Not a diet but a lifestyle change! I have taken most the crap out of our cupboards, but this did not mean I could not over eat. I feel like I just woke up 5 weeks ago and it snapped! I had no clue what that felt like, I have read it in books, and blogs on line, but never experienced this for myself. Well it happened! I am no longer hungry everyday, I am working out and feeling great! 21lbs down. I thought I would share some of my foods and exercise plan. Most people seem to be interested in this. I do not deny myself treats, I will say that I have had small portions of ice cream and I make small cookies so I can eat 3-4 and feel satisfied without breaking my calories.

First step was joining Myfitnesspal.com I track EVERY calorie. Now that I am on week 5 I pretty much just log it all in at the end of the day and I am usually well within my range. I know what to eat and how much of it I can eat.

Second Step: Removing ALL colored sodas, I drink sprite 1x a week as a treat to myself, all other drinks are water and I drink a glass between meals and with every meal.

Third Step: Removing half the carbs your allowed everyday. I make sure at the end of the day I have only eaten 1/2 of what I am supposed to eat, according to Myfitnesspal.com.

Fourth step: Add tons of fruits and veggies!

Okay so these steps I added slowly, not all at once, I just became more conscience of what I was eating and then came the last step! 

Step # 5 EXERCISE, yes I added this LAST! I hate exercising, being a big girl its not fun, boobs flying everywhere, butt jiggling, sweat rolling within 5 minutes, yeah it is not cute! So I got a good sports bra, compression shorts to tuck that jiggle booty, and I started doing Zumba Rush with the kinect 5 days a week! At first I could barely make it through 4 songs week number 5 and I am doing 8 songs! On the weekend I lift hand weights and do  sit ups. 

 This is my routine! I have learned to love it and its just another day. Just to let you know I tried to eat a hamburger the other day and I got very sick because my body was not used to that fat, lesson learned, I can not eat like that anymore! Anyhow I have my own recipe that I tried today and it is very yummy! 

Black Bean and Cheese Quesadillas

2 corn tortillas (Small)

1/4 cup black beans

2 Tblsp cheese

Just put them in a frying pan with nothing spread the beans and the cheese between the two when it gets soft fold it over like a taco! I put a little cholula on mine I like it spicy! They are yummy and filling and you will only cost yourself about 300 calories!