Hello, and good evening to my faithful blog-reading friends :) I had a friend over today to play on my Kinect with me, it was a lot of fun, I burned some calories :) still need to get a bit more done this evening....not feeling super motivated to do much...but I will try to get some motivation going :) I think next week I am going to look into finding a nutritionist, I would really like some legit help with my diet :( I know that I am doing all the right things, but I need to know if some of the things I am doing are wrong, and I might not know it...didn't even come close to getting enough water yesterday, and when I looked on the fridge this morning, I realized that I didn't even have an entry for yesterday, so that explains why I go behind....I had no record of my efforts, so I couldn't tell at a glance where I was....today has been better, I only need to drink a little more to make my goal!!! Still sitting right around the same number on the scale....I know weighing everyday doesn't accomplish much, but after losing 3 lbs 2 days in a row, I think I got my hopes up that I had finally gotten the hang of this losing thing, but it turns out it is still gonna be a daily struggle....but I know that even though I am not seeing numbers drop on the scale, I AM getting healthier and THAT is the most important thing :) So, I am not going to get down about the numbers, just gonna keep plugging along doing what I know is good :)

Alright, this is the first time I have even opened my blog since....Thursday??? It was nice to see a peak in pageviews yesterday, some of you missing me, and checking in....makes a girl feel LOVED!!! :) Sorry, friends.....it has been a very nice weekend spend with my Hubby, who injured himself working on the house, and I spent the weekend making sure he had no reason to get off the couch....it was nice being his personal nurse, and helper :) Then he ended up coming home early on Monday night cause of his leg, so I have kind of lost track of the days :( Anyway, I am back....I really don't have a lot of anything new, I am stuck (weight wise), it is important that even when you have a week that is more difficult (feeling bloated, and such) don't give up!!!! Next week will be better.....I have been trying to keep up with the water drinking, and getting all my different teas in....getting the tea drank....I still have quite a bit of water to drink today, I should probably be drinking one right now!!! Anyway, I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day.....did you make any changes to your usual picnic foods to make them a healthier choice? Did you take a day off??? OR did you prove to yourself that even during special days you can still stick to healthier eating....give you a chance to re-evaluate what is stuff we "have to have" for holidays....usually it is something that isn't going to benefit us, but what will you give up for a little taste of nostalgia??? Is it worth it??? Are you robbing your kids of their own nostalgia, just so that you can keep enjoying the unhealthy "traditions" from your childhood? Anyway, enough about that.....I am set to finish my week off GREAT!!! How about you??

AMAZING!!!!!

As you know from my last two posts, I have had a goal to increase my water, I DID drink all that I was suppose to drink, and it really didn't seem like a lot, basically anytime I wasn't drinking anything, I would go get one....ha ha...I am finishing my last required drink of the day right now, and then when I exercise I will certainly drink probably another 32 ounces :) So, just doing 1 1/2 days of drinking the correct amount of water and I am SIX POUNDS LIGHTER!!!! That is right, 3 yesterday and another 3 today, I am OFFICIALLY lighter than I have been in YEARS!!!! I am sitting at 265, and can't wait to see what the scale says tomorrow :) I started the Dr. Oz tea regimen today, and overall it wasn't bad, I combined the Pu-erh Tea and the White Tea (which I accidentally bought White Tea with MINT....YUMMY) and drank 16 oz at breakfast and another 16 oz at lunch, I didn't add any sweetener or anything, it tasted fine on its own (could it be that I am beginning to LIKE tea???? Too strange to consider) Then I had 8 oz of Dandelion Root in the afternoon and it didn't taste very good, glad it was only 8 oz, that's like 3 swallows :) But I did add some sugar-free mint syrup, and that made it decent....then the best one of the day, 8 oz of Cinnamon Tea (Bigalow's Cinnamon Stick) I started to make 8 oz, and it smelled so delicious, that I added another bag and made a full 16 oz glass of it, I added one packet of Splenda and it is like drinking dessert, it is so soothing and relaxing (I iced it by the way), I think I will enjoy finishing off my dinner with this!!! Also, if your thinking about doing this tea thing, I will give you all the details, just leave me a comment, on here of on facebook :) or I will look around on the internet and send you a link :) If this tea thing does what it is suppose to, I should be under 250 very SOON :) Something I learned recently about tea (maybe the reason I never use to like it) your suppose to bring the water to a boil, then pour it, wait a minute or 2 THEN put the bag in, let it steep for only 4 minutes, there is this stuff called Tannin that is bitter, and the longer you steep the tea, the more is released, so since I started setting a timer and taking the bag out promptly at 4 minutes I haven't had bitter tea :) I think I am going to take the Memorial Weekend off from blogging, I am sure the hubby will be challenging me on the Kinect, and he has the whole weekend off, so I am going to enjoy a much looked forward, to weekend with the family :) Tune in Monday for the results on how much more I have lost this weekend from drinking.....ha ha....water and tea that is :) Hope you all have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!!

Ok, guys....I know we have heard it A MILLION times, but I have to tell you, yesterday I started trying to drink more water, I didn't even burn as many calories as usual, I did around 450 active calories yesterday, the only thing I did different was increase water, and not even to the amount I am suppose to be drinking (over a gallon a day!!!) So, I stepped on the scale this morning, and I was 3 pounds lighter than yesterday!!!! I have actually drank EVERYTHING today that I was suppose to, so I am curious to see what the scale says tomorrow, I worked out today, and I think I have been pretty active...I am downloading my Slim Coach right now :) So, I will probably know the results before I am done with my blog :) So, as you may know, I have been fairly frustrated with my lack of progress, my goal has been 3 lbs a week, but since I finished my cleanse, I haven't lost anything.....there are some people that only need to make a small effort to lose weight, apparently I am NOT one of those people, I have been doing everything, at least I thought I was doing everything, I had diet (check) exercise (check), but somehow not drinking enough water has been slowing my progress, who knew....and let me be clear, I was drinking A LOT of water, I thought (8) eight ounce glasses a day was plenty, but not so.....I have heard that you can overdue it with water, but I would say if you stay somewhere around the formula of half your body weight in ounces of water you should be right on track :) Just looked at my data for today, and YES, I burned 850 calories and I had 55 minutes of heart activity :) I only did one of my water classes today, cause I looked at the data, and it seems that the second class isn't really benefiting me, cause I am not getting my heartrate up enough during it :) I mean, I am still burning SOME calories, but not anymore than I would be if I was doing pretty much anything else :) Also, I wanted to tell you about the meal I had tonight for dinner, I told Josh I felt like indulging, we went to Taco Bell, and I had the Cheesy Gordita Crunch Box (1 Gordita, 1 Supreme Burrito, and 1 Crunchy taco) Let me tell you, I should have stopped before I ate the Burrito, but I didn't, and it made me feel SO GROSS!!! I definitely overate, :( However, I checked my blood sugar 2 hours after, and it was in range!!! That is awesome, that means that I have done a great job of keeping my blood sugar in check, and the more I exercise, and watch my food intake, the better my overall health will get :) I got my tea in the mail today :) I am going to start my tea routine tomorrow....the White Tea has mint, so of  course, it smelled DELISH!!! The Pu-erh Tea didn't have much of a smell, but I mixed it with the White Tea, so if it does taste yucky, the mint will help :) I feel like this week is going to end much better than it started, although I am kind of feeling like there are so many things that I have to remember to do, I hope as I continue to do it, it will become a routine that I don't have to think much about :)

I am posting my  blog a little bit early, so, if you haven't read yesterday's blog, be sure to scroll down to catch them both :) Alright, so the word for the day is WATER.....I went to see my Chiropractor, Dr. Holmes today, and he told me that a person should drink half their weight in ounces of water.....so, I weigh 270, so that means I need to be drinking 135 ounces in water.....135?!?!?!?!? I am certain I haven't been drinking that much, I have been drinking maybe, MAYBE half that amount :( Then I got a wonderful blog comment from a friend of a friend and she said the same thing.....so I take this as a sign that it is something I need to focus on :) So far, today.....I still need to drink around 100 oz to get my liquid in for the day....so, I guess I should grab another water when I am done here :) I have already met my calorie burn goal for the day, but I intend to do more....I have some beautiful plants I got from a friend of a friend today, that I need to get in the ground, so that will be a good workout :) It is a beautiful day here in MO, it is days like this that it is easy to find things to do to get active, but what about when the weather starts getting hot??? We are suppose to have a high of 97 on Saturday, so I need to start thinking of how I will get active when it is too hot outside :) Having my Kinect really helps, and the air conditioner blows right in the prime Kinect spot :) Also, I haven't said anything yet (at least I don't remember it) but I ordered some teas from Amazon, I have been reading some stuff from Dr. Oz about drinking specific teas during specific times of the day to help with overall health and weight loss :) So, I will be getting them in the mail tomorrow, so I am going to start drinking more tea, and we will see how that works (I am not a fan of tea, but if it will help I am willing to give it a try) I will update you on how the tea is working, and I will also tell you how it tastes and how easy it is to work multiple teas into my day....I am sure I will be drinking it iced cause I really don't care for hot tea :) 

I have something else on my mind today.....I was reminded today how hurtful people can be....Why is it that the people we love the most are the ones we are the least careful with??? We would never talk to a stranger or our co-worker the way we talk to the people we claim to love, and also......why do we allow the hurtful, negative feelings in our lives to affect us??? I know that being healthy includes not only physical health, but also mental, and spiritual....and mental health and spiritual health go hand in hand....I know that with all that I have been through in this last year, it is my relationship with my family and more importantly my relationship with God that has gotten me through it :) I am not going to spout any kind of nonsense about meditating or being at one with yourself, or getting in touch with your "own" spirituallity, cause the truth is, that it is a personal relationship with Christ that is the spiritual well being I am referring to.....I know plenty of people will tell you, that you can do things your own way, but there are some concrete truths in this world, and saying that gravity only exists if you want it too, will not keep you from falling on the ground....Accepting not only that God exists but that He wants to have a personal relationship with you is an absolute truth, to have perfect balance with body, mind and soul you need to come to this acknowledgement :) I said all that to say this....the only way you can treat people right, and also be able to handle being treated wrong is by living a life that would please Christ, by showing His love to others, our ability to love on our own is nothing compared to the unselfish love that we are capable of through Christ :) So, in my journey to better overall health, I need to put equal focus on the health of my body, mind and soul.....:)

I had 119 page views yesterday!!!! That is crazy!!!! I got some feedback from my blog yesterday, most of it was positive and affirming....I especially liked the information my friend Rachel King posted on my link, I remember how healthy her family ate and they were all very healthy strong people, and their table always looked like a Sunday dinner, but it was healthy, whole food :) I also want to say that even though I make extra effort on many areas of my kids life, such as, when I drank pop, I didn't give it to them cause I wanted better for them, and honestly, I think we gauge our success by whether or not we did better than our parents....even though I am very strict about sugar, and I insist that my kids try veggies, I don't make them eat them all, but I make them try them at every meal, but Caroline's go-to dish is Macaroni and Cheese....she loves it, on any given day for any meal, if you ask her what she wants to eat, she will tell you, Mac n Cheese.....Do I let her eat it, yes, I do....I have tried making homemade, I have tried healthier versions, I have tried adding protein, or veggies, but the truth is, she loves just the generic, plain variety....do I let her have it every day? NO....she may get it once a week, and the is the compromise I have made....kinda wish I hadn't started her on it, but it use to be one of my weaknesses, too....since the cleanse, I really don't enjoy it, but I do include a protein with the mac n cheese, and I give her a proper portion size, if she asks for more, she gets a piece of fruit or something healthy instead of seconds, I say this to say that I don't think you have to turn your kids world upside down, just set some boundaries and include healthy choices daily, and also get rid of some of the bad choices....I had a dear friend make some comments about the choices she has made/allowed for her kids, and one of the things she mentioned was that everyday her kids get a "fun" snack and a "healthy" one.....what confuses me, is what makes the one that's bad, "fun", and why can't the "healthy" one be a fun snack, too??? My kids love to eat applesauce, and string cheese, I also let them have graham crackers (half of one sheet) they like to eat nuts, and raisins....also, she mentioned how "expensive" it was to cook a healthy meal for her family of 8, but I got to thinking about this awful myth that goes around, and in one area it is true, if your buying specialty foods that mimic the unhealthy ones.  I am not in favor of going into debt for "healthy" food that really isn't any better for you than the unhealthy variety......the truth is, even a "healthy" cookie still has more sugar in it that a person needs, and your life would be better without it :) Back to the MYTH....on the other hand, it is not true that eating healthy is more expensive, for instance, you could eat a pound of potato chips, and it would leave you wanting more, and you would spend what, $3-4 on it, or you could eat a pound of green beans, and you would feel full and satisfied and you would spend 1/2 that amount....healthy food fills you up and keeps you going, so you need less of it, but junk food will leave you with sugar spikes that will only increase your cravings for more, it is a vicious cycle....I remember when I have tried in the past to eat healthy, I would buy enough food for the week, but I always bought too much, and I ended up wasting it....I still struggle with it, I will go to buy zucchini, and instead of buying 2 smallish ones, I will buy 4, and 2 is more than enough, it is pretty deceptive how far veggies will go....My friend, Rachel King, has a great mom,(she is also my sister's mother-in-law) who works hard to provide healthy meals for her family, and my sister told me today, that she adds veggies to meals in place of all those extra carbs....so I encourage you friends, to go to the store or the farmer's market and try to makes something that has more veggies than anything else, and see how much it cost, and how filling it was :) I made a delicious meal tonight that had about 2 lbs of chicken thigh, 2 1/2 lbs of asparagus, and 1 lb of a frozen veggie blend of green beans, wax beans, and baby carrots....I cooked it all together and added the lemon pepper Philadelphia Cooking Cream....it was delish, and it will feed my family of 4 for 2 meals :) and my kids ate all of theirs (Josiah with some coaxing)....so my point is that if you want to make healthy changes, then do it, and if you are happy with the choices you make, then don't make excuses for why you don't change....I think you will be surprised at how much your kids will adapt to the changes, if they realize that it is not optional :) I am still trying to tweak my diet and exercise to get optimal results, so hopefully we will start seeing some number changes, SOON!!!! Also, for the last 2 days, I have been a "dolphin" in my fitness routine :) I am only 3 animals from the top spot...the Cheetah....I don't know that I will ever make it there, but it feels really good to see that my fitness level is increasing, and that my desire to workout is also increasing....but I have to say, when I am sitting on the couch all comfy and cozy, it takes A LOT of will power to get up and start working out :) To each of my friends out there, whatever your fitness level or eating habits are, I love you, and I want to inspire people to make important changes in their lives, because it is good for you, and the ones you love....change can be hard but there is always a pay out for those who stick with their good choices :) Thanks for reading my blog :)

Up on my soapbox!!! :)

Today, as I was walking into Target, I passed a mother with a small child in her shopping cart....the thing that got my attention was that the small child (probably around 2 or younger) was drinking an ICEE!!!!! I can't think of any reason why a small child needs to drink a sugar coated sugar drink....my kids always ask for one when we go to Target (or any other store that has them), but the answer is always irrefutably NO.....I certainly don't want to step on anyone's toes here, but could someone please give me a GOOD reason why we reward our children for being good by giving them something that has no benefit to them, and ACTUALLY is harmful to them, why do we give in??? Why are children allowed to decide what they get to eat???  If your child wanted to drink Drano, you would never just "give in"....or if they were asking for a beer or cigarette....why do we think that giving your child more sugar in one sitting than they should be eating in a week is a good idea??? Where did we get the idea that sugar = love??? Or is it that giving your child whatever they want = love???? I know it is hard as an adult to walk away from foods that we love, but maybe it would have been easier to do, if we weren't bad eating habits as kids....I allow my kids to have some sugar, but I keep a very close eye on the amount......for instance, we go to the bank on Monday, and we are given 2 dum dum lollipops....when we go to the store, they are given said suckers, and that is pretty much the extent of their sugar for the week, maybe they will get a cookie (a small one), we went to a birthday party on Saturday, and I gave the kids cake and ice cream.....they ate a little of it, but didn't clean their plate, it is because they hardly get any sugar, that even if I gave them free reign to eat a whole piece of cake, they just take a little and then they don't want any more....to me, it is evidence of good parenting :) I don't just give my kids what they want, and I don't reward them with food.....I think that a lot of my struggles with eating are a result of bad examples from my childhood, on the one hand we were taught that at places like buffets that we need to "eat our money's worth", and when we had holiday get togethers, we would gorge all day, we weren't really given a lot of sugar, but every Sunday night after church, our dinner was cookies, or ice cream or some other dessert and that is all we ate because we ate so much for Sunday lunch, no one was hungry for dinner before Sunday night church....Not very many people know this, but when I was in high school I struggled with an eating disorder, I finally got to the point where I felt that I needed to tell my parents about it, so their answer was to make me eat yogurt and drink juice, and then they just told me to NEVER do it again....that was it, so I continued to struggle with it until I met Josh....I told him about it, and he was so concerned and worried about the damage I was doing to my body, and he made me PROMISE that I would never do it again, and I didn't want to let him down, so I kept my word.....I don't want to make my parents sound bad, cause I really have GREAT parents, they just weren't raised with proper food perspective either....one was taught to eat too much, and the other was taught to eat too little and that junk food was ok....After getting married, I realized that Josh was also raised with poor eating habits, too....I think if I polled most of my friends they would say the same thing, cause the truth is, no one knew as much about food and proper eating back then, as they do now, but now that we have all this knowledge why aren't we using our better judgement....WHY are people still buying their kids bug juice??? Why are people still giving their kids cup after cup of full strength juice everyday, juice has the same amount of sugar as pop, it is just as bad for their teeth and bodies if they are given too much, I let my kids have 1 8oz glass of half juice half water, and other than milk, that is the only juice they get for the day, anything else is water.....I DO NOT want anyone to think I am criticizing their parenting, I just want to encourage each of you to re-evaluate what you think is right for you and most importantly you children, don't you want to give them a better chance at having a healthy outlook on food than you have??? I want to give my kids every opportunity to have the best, and to make the best choices.....kids are not capable of making the right choices on their own....that is what parents are for.....if your not taking an active role in choosing for them what to eat, and what they watch on TV, or where they go and who the hang out with, then your just being their babysitter, your not PARENTING......I know it is a lot to change at once, I have encouraged you to look at your own life and make at least one change to a better life, now I would like to encourage you to do the same for your kids....show them that you love them enough to teach them what is right :) Look at the labels on the things you give your kids to eat, how much sugar is in it....and while we are on labels, if there is a label to read than it is pre-packaged food....of course, frozen fruit and veggies have labels, and of course that is ok, but really think about what your putting in your kids, and what you are teaching them by the choices you either make for them, or allow them to make for themselves :)