P90X

P90X, yes folks that is the secret word of the day. Extreme exercise with extreme results. It's all about muscle confusion! During the workout I definitely experience some confusion! Like why the hell am I doing this? How am I supposed to do that move when my gut is in the way? Would my husband notice if I stopped in the middle of the DVD? Ah yes these are extreme workouts I gave gotten myself into. But I am going to stick with it. We decided to do the "lean" version because it includes more cardio which is what I am used to. I am still continuing with my lunch time cardio sessions as well. Weight loss total so far is 17 lbs. I have been weighing in on Fridays so I fully expect to have that number increase this week. Everything else is status quo.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone is having a nice Easter. I decided to visit a church I had never been to before. There were a ton of people there but I still enjoyed the service and time of reflection. After church we decided we would get a little exercise in for the day so we packed up the kids and went for a bike ride on the Alcoa greenway. It was such a beautiful day out I barely even noticed that I was exercising. Friday's weigh in was exciting. I lost another 2.5 lbs. That makes my total so far at 14 lbs. We are thinking of investing in a P90x program to help with our efforts. I'm just not sure if we are physically fit enough to get through the whole program. I hear it's pretty tough. Although anything worth having is worth a little work right? Or so they say. Well it's Sunday afternoon and I think a short nap is in order.

Just pluggin' along

Not much happening in the last few days. Still keeping up with the diet and exercise plan. Had a nice walk at the park with the family last night. I love it when the weather gets nice and stays nice. Loving my new phone, never new how much I could do with a smart phone. It's like going from a double bed to a king... There's no turning back! Have a Mexican food themed party on Saturday. So glad Saturday is my free day cuz otherwise that would really suck. I'm assigned the guacamole and salsa for my contributions. So if nothing else I can eat enough chips, salsa and guacamole to fill my belly. Well gotta run for now.

Where the hell were you?

After farting around for a spell, I have decided to get busy. Since the end of March I started using a web site called Lose it. It's pretty user friendly and keeps me on top of my calorie intake. Today I upgraded to a smart phone. We got the iPhone 4. Lose it is available as an app which makes it even easier to access. Anyway I'm down 11.5 lbs and feeling great. I've been exercising about 5-6 days a week and I do feel better and more energy since starting with regular exercise. I still do not enjoy sweating, but I enjoy being fat even less.I'm gonna try and start posting again cuz I think it helps too.

Wow has it been that long?

I was just looking back to my last post. Nov. 11th. Geeze time flies. We celebrated Thanksgiving last week and now here it is going on the first of December. Life has been pretty much status quo. Thanksgiving was a free for all for my diet. I ate what I wanted when I wanted and as much as I wanted. Thankfully I came through the other side pretty much unscathed. This Monday's weigh in was a wash. I just stayed the same. Wooo Hooo. It could have been alot worse.  Back to the point counting and making better choices. One choice I need to make is doing some cardio. Why is it so hard to be consistent with exercise? Oh wait, that's right I don't enjoy sweating! I know it would jump start my weight loss again and it would only take 15-30 minutes a day but most of the time when I get home I am tired, ready for dinner, oh and then there's the whole homework and bath/bedtime situation. I just don't feel like exercising at 9pm at night. That's ME time for mommy. I guess I could get up 30 minutes earlier than I already do, but 4:30am comes realllllly earlier. By the way did I mention I am soooo not a morning person? I just need to suck it up and decide if I am going to be important enough and make myself a priority. That's what it boils down to. Am I worth the effort? I think I am. Well speaking of 4:30am, it is rapidly approaching so I must be on my way.  Goodnight and eat well!

Everything is better as a panini

A couple of days ago I got a panini maker as a free gift from a program through my work. Why does everything taste better as a panini? I think I am addicted and it's only been a few days. If you pay attention what you are putting in there you can pull off a panini for a measly 4 points. Last night I had a rye bread(1 pt a piece), tomatoes marinated in a smidgen of balsamic vinegar (0 points), a slice of mozzarella cheese(2 points) and some basil. Count it up....4 points total. So I had two! YUMMMMM! And I still stayed well within my points budgeted for the day. So well in fact I wanted to try a new recipe I found for lower fat pumpkin pie. I found the recipe on Snackgirl.com. It's a fabulous website and if you are looking for some creative, tasty alternatives you should check it out. Ok back to important stuff...the lower fat pumpkin pie. Well technically I guess you can't call it pie, it has no crust. It's basically for people who love the middle of pumpkin pie and don't care about the crust. That would be me! According to the website a regular piece of pumpkin pie packs around 320 calories per slice! I know, I know I was shocked too! This version still gives you that pumpkin pie feel but only for around 180 calories per serving. AWESOME! Here's the recipe if you don't have time to check out her site:

2 cups of pureed pumpkin
1 8 oz package of Neufchatel cheese (it's just like cream cheese with 1/3 less fat) you will find it right in the same section where the cream cheese is.
1/4 cup of sugar (start with that and add more to your desired sweetness) 1/4 cup was good for me
1 and 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring Neufchatel cheese to room temp either by leaving it out on the counter or unwrap and microwave for 30 seconds. Use a mixer and blend cheese in a bowl till fluffy. Add pumpkin, sugar and spice and taste. Add more sugar at this point if you desire. Mix in eggs and spoons into ramekins. I used the 7oz size and was able to make 7 servings. Bake for 40 minutes or until the center of the pie is firm.

I tried this last night and it was fantastic. All the taste of pumpkin pie without all of the calories. The only thing I will add the next time is a little dollop of cool whip. It will definitely make an appearance on this years Thanksgiving menu.

A Minor Setback

It was bound to happen at some point in this journey I'm on. Yes, I had a plus at my weigh in this week instead of a minus. Really I was not all that surprised. Last weekend I had a stomach bug so I was probably a little light at weigh in time. Plus that in combination with some Halloween candy and less exercise I mean really what did I expect? It's ok though I am not discouraged. It was a measly 1/2 a pound. Whoopie. I will get back on track this week and reset my focus.Life is hectic, family is good. Work is calling. Eat well!