Greetings from Nowhere, NM

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In: Starting of Week 12

2012-02-29T10:15:00.002-07:00

I can feel myself getting lazy, I don't know why, I just don't have the energy to go to the gym like I would want to. I am still losing weight by just watching my diet and using MFP (Name: shesshells). I had a hard workout on Sunday and was sore for 2 days, talk about lack of motivation after that. I am excited to see a number that is closer to my goal weight, we're getting awfully close to summer and I really want to be at my goal weight by then.

I really feel that this weightloss is bringing me closer to my BFP, it allows me to feel as though I'm actually doing something on a daily basis rather than just sitting around waiting for appointments.

Side note: I've been counting my weight on here in whole pounds, for example, I saw 136.8 on the scale this morning, but I will count it as 136 here, however MFP doesn't count it as a while pound at that point, so I say I've lost 9 lbs, but MFP says I've only lost 8 as I haven't lost the whole lb. Whatever, 9 feels better than 8.

Another Side note: I'm apparently an idiot and have been putting in to the BMI calculator that I am 5'2" but at my most recent Doctor's appointments (of which there have been many) I've been consistently measured at 5'3". I will switch to that measurement, but it makes it look like my BMI went down more than it actually did.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 145
Last Week's Weight: 137

Current Weight: 136 (-9 lbs total, 11 lbs to goal)
Goal Weight : 125

Starting BMI: 26.5
Last Week's BMI: 25.1

Current BMI: 24.1 (In the normal range!!)
Goal BMI: 18.5-24.9 or exactly 22.1 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

1. Time my mile and run it at a pace of 5.2 miles an hour: didn't run this week, just walked

2. Continue with no soda for a week and see if I can also do no beer for a week: I had one soda all week and no beer, but two margaritas (do they count if they were prickly pear margaritas?)

3. Go to yoga class: I can only make it to the class on Saturday, but we had to drive to Las Cruces on Saturday so I didn't make it this week

4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app: done, everyday!

Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Time my mile and run it at a pace of 5.2 miles an hour

2. Continue with no soda or beer

3. Go to yoga class

4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app

5. No eating out this week

3. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing.

-The organic produce that I've ordered from my yoga group is great! We've tried so many new things this week and new recipes.

-Rather than buying ingredients specifically for recipes and then only using half and throwing what goes bad away, I have been cooking based on what I can find in the fridge, what ever I run out of gets put back on the grocery list and then I am trying to incorporate that bag of organic food surprises into what I am able to make.

-We have been saving so much money by not going out to eat. We are using this money to pay down our credit card bill, not eating out = closer to baby. It's amazing how we can easily spend $30-$50 on just the two of us when we go out to eat. Especially because we don't eat fast food. It has been forever since I had Micky D's, Burker K, or T Bell. Once you stop eating that junk, it feels like a major setback to go back and eat there again.

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This weight loss thing is really getting around, I read on so many blogs during this past ICLW that lots of people are thinking about joining. If you read that someone wants to join, please encourage them.

I copied Josie's list from her page as it is more comprehensive, if you are not on this list, please let me know and I will be sure to add you so that other people can follow along!

I've also added in people's MFP names (at least the ones that I know)

Michele @ Nowhere in NM (TTCer) MFP: shesshells

Gee @ Gee Baby (TTCer)
Mag @ Witty Infertility (TTCer)
Shannon @ Arkansas Runner (TTCer)
Donor Diva @ Motherhood via Egg Donation (TTC#2) MFP: horn5378

The Cornfed Feminist (Pregnant) MFP: katie112007

Nico @ Phred, Fwed, and Schweffel (pregnant)

Josie @ My Cheap Version of Therapy (postpartum) MFP: _Josey_

Kristy @ Relaxing Doesn't Get You Pregnant (postpartum)

One Day @ Are We There Yet? (postpartum - twins)

Laura @ Legos and Jets (postpartum)
ks @ Inconceivable!?!?! (postpartum)
jenn @ Adventures of a Nomadic Housewife (postpartum)
Holly @ Holly G. and Co. (postpartum)
Julia @ 3 bed 2 bath 1 baby (postpartum)
Meghan @ Maybe Baby, It's You...Two! (postpartum - twins)
Just Us & A Miracle Baby too! (postpartum)

New friends, and how to find them

2012-02-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

I'm not one who makes new friends easily, at least not outside of work.

I think I am a reasonably good friend to those friends I have already made. With the exception of long distance friendships, which I just suck at. If I can't see you on a regular basis, chances are that after about a year, you probably won't hear from me again.

My friend Mary, who lives locally, and I can go a few weeks without seeing each other and then pick up where we left off by going to a movie, going to the farmer's market, working on knitting projects in front of the TV together, or just sitting around talking. She has two kids, lots of other friends and is working a crazy shift on the air force base right now. She's not a needy friend nor am I, so we get along great. However, I did panic a little when I found out that she was getting out of the air force and moving home to Connecticut. She insists that we will still be friends from afar, but I hope she realizes that she will likely have to put in more than 50% of the work.

So I decided that I better work on making new friends. Don't get me wrong, my husband and I are friends and I love to spend time with him, he's a good friend and he's good for other things too, but a girl needs girlfriends.

I, like many of you, spend the vast majority of my waking hours at work. I get home between 6 and 7 PM each night. I go to they gym, make dinner for my husband and I, clean an area in the house, and all of this is done just in time to fall into bed around 9:30-10 PM. Then I get up and do it all again the next day. I bet my day sounds like many of yours.

So how does a girl go about finding new friends?

I'll tell you. She recruits them...well...sort of.

Were any of you in sororities? Did you participate in recruitment (rush)?

Well I was and I did. I was recruited into a sorority my freshman year. I loved it. A great way to find a whole group of built-in, live-in friends. For the next 3 years I participated in the recruitment of new classes. Let me tell you, I sucked at it. I got very few girls to join my sorority. I didn't know what questions to ask, how to find commonalities and how to get someone to open up to you and like you. I even remember asking "if you were a character on friends, who would you be?", how cliche, right? I think the girl looked at me cross-eyed, put her brain on auto-pilot and, afterwards, pretended like the last 15 minutes or so didn't happen.

Anyway, now that I am in a medical profession that includes quite a bit of sales, my skills have improved. I am quite adept at getting people to open up and to like me, for...get this...who I am!!!!

I'm honest, I'm worldly (sort of), I have varied interests, and I am honestly interested in them.

When I'm not talking to people, or doing work, my brain dwells on infertility, finances and how to get a baby, and if I'm not careful this information leaks out my mouth and pours onto other people, including my male co-workers. I'm not subtle about my infertilty, in fact, I'm as far across the library from a closed book as you can get.

Therefore, I must work harder to find commonalities with ~~regular~~ other people. Find a topic that you have in common and get the other person talking. People love to talk about themselves, the more they talk about themselves, the more they like you! It's weird but true, everyone loves a good listener.

So, I talked about her before, but we didn't become friend's back then. A patient of mine, an infertile like us, and I became friends. She came back in to see me and we talked about the fact that we should hang out. We found each other on facebo.ok and she and her husband had us over to dinner. Our husbands even get along. AND infertility was a topic of conversation over dinner. She had me over again to bake together. We just have so much in common, she knits!!! and paints!!! and has 5 dogs too!!! Also, she's now pregnant with twins from ART after 4 years or so of infertility, and she's one pregnant person that I couldn't be happier for.

She has this blog address and might be reading, I don't know. How could I not tell her about you guys?!?

The end of this post has taken a different turn than I planned as I just found out yesterday that she went into pre-term labor at 28 weeks. She'll be in the hospital for the next 5+ weeks or until she delivers. She could use your support, thoughts, prayers and hope. I was thinking of asking her do a guest post, but I'm not sure she'd be up for it (and we've only been friends for 2 weeks or so). Given that I've known her for such a short period of time, I'm not sure how to support her, ideas?

No Lupus!!!

2012-02-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

I had my Rheumatologist appointment this morning.

He told me that I don't have lupus.

He said something about mathematical odds like 1 in 20 people who don't have lupus will test positive for it and that only 1 in 2000 people in the general population have it. Some how that adds up to the fact that my thyroid problems and hormone modification due to clom.id probably triggered the test to be positive. He did some more bloodwork (these vampires these days, I tell ya) and some x-rays of my hands and feet (not sure about this one, something about early changes from lupus) and told me if these things said different from his original assumptions he will let me know.

I swear I was trying to pay attention to all the details, but once the words "not lupus" came out, my brain kind of shut off from the relief.

So let's all have a little party now, shall we? I'll be bringing the spinach artichoke dip. This is the first good news I've had in a while!

Side Note: I have my first official RE appointment scheduled for April, 30th.

Second Side Note: I'm thinking about squeezing in an IUI or two in the meantime, just for good measure. Opinions?

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In: Starting Week 11

2012-02-22T16:00:00.001-07:00

I was all over the place this week. While I constantly thought about what I ate and where it would put me on MFP (btw, my name is shesshells on MFP) I didn't do much to change what I was eating. I was also pretty bad about working out this week. I did go, but I was lazy in my workouts...you know, watching TV instead of paying attention to my pace and whatnot. At least I managed to stay the same weight instead of gaining.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 145
Last Week's Weight: 137

Current Weight: 137 (-8 lbs total, 12 lbs to goal)
Goal Weight : 125

Starting BMI: 26.5
Last Week's BMI: 25.1

Current BMI: 25.1 (still "overweight" dangit)
Goal BMI: 18.5-24.9 or exactly 22.9 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

1. Time my mile and run it at a pace of 5.2 miles an hour: didn't run this week, just walked

2. Continue with no soda for a week and see if I can also do no beer for a week: too much beer and some soda, I'll do better next time, I promise!

3. Go to yoga class: I was ovulating this weekend, and in the off chance that I may actually get pregnant the natural way, I didn't want to mess it up

4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app: done

Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Time my mile and run it at a pace of 5.2 miles an hour

2. Continue with no soda for a week and see if I can also do no beer for a week

3. Go to yoga class

4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app

3. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing.

I am participating in a new thing through my yoga group where I pay to get fresh organic vegetables delivered. This will hopefully liven up my taste buds. However, I did notice some portabella mushrooms when I picked through the bag for a minute after it was delivered today. Those will not be consumed by this girl...I hate mushrooms.

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Bloggers I follow that are participating (visit their sites to see who else is participating):

Josey (of course) @ My Cheap Version of Therapy who is postpartum
Gee @ GeeBaby who is relatively new to blogging
Donor Diva @ Donor Diva: Mother via Egg Donation who is trying for #2
Holly G @ Holly G and Co. who is postpartum after #2

Jenn @ Adventures of The Nomadic Housewife who is postpartum
Mag @ Witty Infertility who is TTC
The Cornfed Feminist @ The Cornfed Feminist who is TTC

ICLW

2012-02-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome all ICLWer's to February's International Comment Leaving Week. I hope you find my little corner of the internet comfy and welcoming. Stick around whilst I spin a tale about a young couple who lives in the middle of nowhere who are just trying to start a family...

Actually...I'm not that clever or creative in my writing. I'm not that funny and I don't do jokes. My metaphors are lame and I couldn't tell a story in a concise way to save my life. If anything, I'm pissed off and frustrated with life right now.

We've been TTC for 2 year as of this month, and we're not a whole lot further along than we were when we started. No pregnancies thus far. I'm 3 IUIs into this. My husband has been diagnosed with varicocele which has been repaired (a lot of help that was). I have been diagnosed as hypothyroid which is now more precisely diagnosed as Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. A recent blood test showed possible lupus, so I'm in the throes of trying to meet with a rheumatologist to look into this. Also, I'm finally going to get in to see a RE who will hopefully be able to manage all of this for me as I have been seeing different doctor's for each thing, I pick up the RE referral this week. (See my timeline page above if you really want the nitty-gritty details, probably too much detail actually, maybe I'll get around to further organizing that some day)

I'm not actively cycling, although I ovulate every month on my own. So I've been posting on other topics, to include: knitting, weight loss, cooking, and an upcoming post on making new friends.

Follow along with me and give me your opinions on these things, there is nothing I love more than the comments people leave on my posts, except maybe the real friendships that come from the blogging world.

What's up next?

2012-02-16T11:22:00.001-07:00

These types of post have been labeled TVT, the leftovers, and bullet point posts by others, but in general, here is the junk that doesn't all fit into one cohesive post.

Not that anybody cares about the play by play when you're not cycling, but here's what's on my plate in the near future:

Had 2 month (after my initial endocrinologist appt) blood draw for thyroid. TSH came up at 3.11, I want it lower, the endocrinologist wants it lower, so he will be upping my dose from 75 micrograms to 88 micrograms. Who ever heard of a dose of 88 micrograms?

I have my rheumatologist appointment next week on the 23rd to see what's up and if I have lupus or not and what we can do, hopefully there is something he can do. Can they do something for lupus if your only symptom is infertility?

In the meantime, I've asked my GP doctor if he can have me checked for NK cell activation, he put the order on paper, but I'm having trouble getting it. I can't get there when they are open. They haven't been able to successfully fax it to me, so Nate is going to pick it up today and I'm going to have it drawn tonight so that I can hopefully have the results before the 23rd. Everything else is f'd up with my auto-immune system, who wants to take bets on NK cell activation?

I saw my gyno for my routine pap, it was normal. YAY! As it has been abnormal in the past, I feel great when it does come back normal now, I know most people don't really worry about this, but I do now. I asked him if it was worth going to an RE yet, but he said that he wanted to wait until after my next endocrinologist appt and my rheumatologist appointment. I was ok with this at the time of the appointment, but I called him on Monday and asked for a referral so that I can get a second opinion. I should be able to pick up the referral form next week and it is for a doctor in El Paso, TX who is an RE. I'll make an appointment for the soonest time available after I finally get the referral. This may not be the RE we go with but it feels nice that I'll finally be able to see one. Can we all say f'n finally????

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In: Starting Week 10

2012-02-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

OK, so I did OK this week. I got to the gym some, I cleaned the house some, and I at mostly at home.

I found out that my TSH is down to 3.11, but doc is upping my dose slightly to bring it down more. I think this is why I'm actually able to lose some weight.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 145
Last Week's Weight: 139
Current Weight: 137 (-8 lbs total, 12 lbs to goal)
Goal Weight : 125

Starting BMI: 26.5
Last Week's BMI: 25.4

Current BMI: 25.1 (still "overweight", maybe I'll cross this threshold next week)
Goal BMI: 18.5-24.9 or exactly 22.9 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

1. Time my mile and run it at a pace of 5.2 miles an hour: did it, it's hard though

2. Continue with no soda for a week and see if I can also do no beer for a week: ummm...*crickets*...

3. Go to yoga class: I've gone 4-5 times now

4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app: done

Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Time my mile and run it at a pace of 5.2 miles an hour, I don't think I can speed this up yet

2. Continue with no soda for a week and see if I can also do no beer for a week, I can do this

3. Go to yoga class, this will be easy-peasy

4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app, I like it and it seems to work

3. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing.

I know I talked about My Fit.ness Pal last time, but I've found one more thing I love about it.

It allows me to not work out, if I don't have time or want to. What I mean is that it gives me a calorie goal so that I will lose about 1 pound a week. If I can't work out that day, I simply need to eat less than my calorie goal, if I am going to go over, then I know exactly how many calories I have to go burn at the gym that night. For example: if I have a huge lunch because my boss took me out and it was more than I planned to eat that day, and I then look at my calories left and I only have 300 left for dinner (which is not nearly enough) I know I need to go and burn like 200-300 calories so that I can eat a real meal for dinner. Unfortunately, I don't have a baby to distract me from the fact that I need to eat at regular intervals.

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Bloggers I follow that are participating (visit their sites to see who else is participating):

Jenn @ Adventures of The Nomadic Housewife who is postpartum
Mag @ Witty Infertility who is TTC

Dinner by candle light

2012-02-14T19:58:00.001-07:00

That's about as romantic as I can muster.

The School of Infertility

2012-02-13T17:55:00.002-07:00

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to be patient while waiting to cycle. It gives me a lot of time to think (and even more so now that we turned off our dire.ct TV) and to come up with a metaphor for infertility.

I've never tried so hard for something and failed so miserably. That is not part of my personality. I want something, I work for it, I get it...that's how it is supposed to go.

My life functions well in 4 year increments:

4 years of high school: check
4 years of college: check
4 years of graduate school: check
4 years of infertility: hell no!!!

I am currently starting my junior year in the school of infertility or at least while earning my minor in reproductive endocrinology. I'm pretty sure I flunked my freshman and sophomore year, but the fertility gods don't seem to care, they passed me through to my junior year anyway. Meanwhile, everyone else around me gets to graduate early.

Maybe my metaphor isn't exactly accurate, but it really does feel like school, right?

Your freshman year you're just learning the ropes, you know? Just getting used to it. Learning the lingo and just trying to sneak by without being noticed. You know the road ahead might be long, but essentially you're still excited by the prospects.

By your sophomore year, you're an old pro. You tease the Freshman because they don't really know what it's like, you know your smarter than them, you've even made a few friends on the way.

By your junior year, just just want to graduate already, you're done. You've looked at ~~cribs~~ colleges and you know what you want.

Good god help me if I don't graduate before my senior year, I don't even want to know what that will be like.

God bless those of you who had to take graduate level classes in infertility, you're my hero.

If you graduated already, how's the real world treating you? If not, what year are you at?

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in: Starting Week 9

2012-02-08T15:27:00.002-07:00

So I did great this week. I downloaded the My Fit.ness Pal app to my phone and have been using it since last Wednesday. My only question is, How come you girls who are using it never told the rest of us how great it is and that you were essentially cheating!?!?!?!

For the rest of you who don't know:

MFP allows you to enter your age, height, weight and how many pounds you would like to lose each week. Then it give you a recommendation for a net calorie maximum you can't exceed to be able to lose the weight at the pace you select. When you eat food and enter it it adds calories, when you exercise you subtract calories. It takes the guesswork out of eating healthy and exercising and gives me exact numbers to deal with. You can scan the barcodes on foods to enter them and choose how much of the package you actually ate. You can create recipes and know how many calories are in homemade food. You can enter the calories you burned from screen on the exercise equipment or you can choose from averages based on what you did. It just makes it SOOOOO easy!

And you know what? It works!!!! After using it for one week, I lost 2 pounds after not losing any weight for like 4 weeks in a row. It also show you that if you keep up your current routine (meaning being under your calorie goal) how much weight you will have lost projected out by 5 weeks.

You freakin' stinkin' cheaters! I'm exposing you here and now...so ha!

Anyway, I also found out that my TSH has returned to the normal range. After I see another Dr. on the 23rd for my newly diagnosed lupus, I'll be back in the monthly cycling business...hopefully.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 145
Last Week's Weight: 141
Current Weight: 139 (-6 lbs total, 14 lbs to goal)
Goal Weight : 125

Starting BMI: 26.5
Last Week's BMI: 25.8
Current BMI: 25.4 (still "overweight")
Goal BMI: 18.5-24.9 or exactly 22.9 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

1. Time my mile and try to beat my previous time of 11:45: I did it!

2. Run/walk for an hour and see if I can do 4 miles in an hour again: I did this this week too, but I think I'm going to drop this goal, walk/running for an hour to reach 4.0 miles an hour just sucks

3. Continue with no soda for a week and see if I can also do no beer for a week: I had one soda this week and that was it, and I still was under my calorie goal for the day

4. Yoga this week: Saturday, yup

5. Start using the My fitness pal app: I did and it was fantastic

6. Allow Nate to train me 2x this week: I got to the gym and trained myself.

Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Time my mile and run it at a pace of 5.2 miles an hour

2. Continue with no soda for a week and see if I can also do no beer for a week

3. Go to yoga class

4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app

3. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing.

Seriously, I want everyone to either download the My Fitne.ss Pal app or just go online and get the free account. Try it for just one day and see what you think.

Then I want you to come back and tell me about it. If you already use it, please tell me what you think about it.

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Bloggers I follow that are participating (visit their sites to see who else is participating):

Jenn @ Adventures of The Nomadic Housewife who is postpartum

WW(Thursday...oops)W: Starting week 8

2012-02-02T09:24:00.001-07:00

So I still did pretty good this week, but I do feel lazy as I'm not losing weight. I'm supposed to have my TSH checked this week, what do you want to bet it's above 5.0 and that's why I'm not losing.

I'm downloading the "My fitness pal" app as we speak to assist in meeting my goals

1. Time my mile and run it at 12:00 that means a pace of 5.0 miles an hour: Ran my mile in 11:45 a pace of right around 5.1 mph

2. See if I can go 3.75 miles in an hour with a combo of walking/running: following the mile I run for #1: I ran 4 miles in an hour, go me

3. No soda for an entire week: Finally!!!! only drank diet lipton green tea and water! (and maybe a few beers over the course of the week)
4. Try a new vegan recipe: I did cook this week, but was lazy, just went with my usual meals
5. Allow Nate to train me for 2 days at the gym: only got one day in and he trained me that day on just the treadmill (I know it sounds crazy, but man it was a workout)

In addition to the goals I previously set, I also walked the dogs 4 days out of the week and have been doing yoga in a class on Saturday Mornings for the last 2 weeks.

Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Time my mile and try to beat my previous time of 11:45

2. Run/walk for an hour and see if I can do 4 miles in an hour again

3. Continue with no soda for a week and see if I can also do no beer for a week

4. Yoga this week: Saturday

5. Start using the My fitness pal app

6. Allow Nate to train me 2x this week

3. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing.

I've made this recipe before and we ate it this week, but I just love it and it is so easy I thought I'd share.

My version of Shepherd's Pie: Chipotle Sweet Potato Turkey Pie (It needs some type of barnyard name but I haven't come up with one yet)

Ingredients:

Ground Turkey

1 small onion

1/2 Green pepper

1/2 Red Pepper

2 large Sweet Potatoes

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Butter

Brown Sugar

Chipotle Seasoning

Pam

Chop Onion and saute in 2 TBSPs of olive oil, when onion is very soft, chop and add green and red pepper. Spray a small casserole dish (9x9 or so) with pam and add this mixture to the bottom of the dish.

Brown ground turkey in the same pan and season with salt, pepper and a little bit of chipotle seasoning.

While you are doing the above, in a separate pot, peel, slice and boil sweet potatoes. When potatoes are fully cooked and break apart easily in the pot, drain and mash them. Before you mash, add a few TBSPs of butter (or butter substitute of some sort) and 2 TBSPs of brown sugar and a little bit of chipotle seasoning.

Put Ground Turkey on top of veggies and mix together slightly. Top with mashed sweet potatoes without mixing the sweet potatoes in. Top with a few TBSP's of butter.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes to allow flavors to mingle (everything is already cooked so no worries)

Scoop and serve. Reheats well too.

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Bloggers I follow that are participating (visit their sites to see who else is participating):

Josey (of course) @ My Cheap Version of Therapy who is post partum
Gee @ GeeBaby who is relatively new to blogging
Bridget @ The Lost Stork who is post partum
Donor Diva @ Donor Diva: Mother via Egg Donation who is trying for #2
Holly G @ Holly G and Co. who is post partum after #2

Jenn @ Adventures of The Nomadic Housewife who is post partum

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In: Starting Week 7

2012-01-25T09:12:00.002-07:00

Idea borrowed from Josey. Layout by, ...well...me!

OK, I'm a little frustrated that my weight isn't shifting. I've actually done very good this week. I worked out 4 times. I let my husband train me twice, I took a yoga class, and I ran my mile in the time I shot for. I also had the runs all day yesterday which didn't help at all with weight loss. I guess I could have done more, but we also at at home all week except for lunch on Friday when I had a salad.

I guess I just need to keep it up and create more of a deficit to actually lose the weight. On a high note though, my weight did stay pretty stable as I weighed myself throughout the week (rather than swinging wildly each day making my WWW totally unpredictable). I hope to see 140 by next Wednesday so that I actually have something to show for all my work.

We are also shutting off our cable TV this week. They are raising our rates and we only watch a few shows regularly anyway. I figure that at $75 a month, we could buy all the shows we want to watch on itunes if we can't get them on the network's website. This will save us the $90 a month they are raising our rate to, the $15 a month we pay for tivo and also motivate me to go to the gym, walk the dogs and work on my fish system.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 145
Last Week's Weight: 141
Current Weight: 141 (no change from last week and -4 overall, 16 lbs to goal)
Goal Weight : 125

Starting BMI: 26.5
Last Week's BMI: 25.8
Current BMI: 25.8 (still "overweight")
Goal BMI: 18.5-24.9 or exactly 22.9 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

1. Time my mile and get it down to 12:00 that means a pace of 5.0 miles an hour: I did this, Yay!
2. See if I can go 3.75 miles in an hour with a combo of walking/running: probably could have kept going after my mile run to see where I got to on this one
3. Find an alternative for drinking soda at work: I have been taking a bottle of Lip.ton Diet green tea with citrus to work each day and after the tea is gone, I fill it with water and drink that. Since last Wednesday I have only had 2 sodas, time to make that none for this week.
4. Try a new vegan recipe: I want to try Donor Diva's Lentilleekie soup, it sounded so good!
5. Allow Nate to train me for 2 days at the gym: Yay, Accomplished!

Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Time my mile and run it at 12:00 that means a pace of 5.0 miles an hour

2. See if I can go 3.75 miles in an hour with a combo of walking/running: following the mile I run for #1

3. No soda for an entire week
4. Try a new vegan recipe
5. Allow Nate to train me for 2 days at the gym.

3. Try to motivate others to join in on trying to lose weight

We got a new one!!!!!

Jenn @ Adventures of The Nomadic Housewife who is post partum

Bloggers I follow that are participating:
Josey (of course) @ My Cheap Version of Therapy who is post partum
Gee @ GeeBaby who is relatively new to blogging
Bridget @ The Lost Stork who is post partum
Donor Diva @ Donor Diva: Mother via Egg Donation who is trying for #2
Holly G @ Holly G and Co. who is post partum after #2

4. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing.

OK, I found this recipe on Pin.terest and it was soo good, in fact I'm making it again tonight.

In a crockpot, mix one can of Ro.tel, one can of drained and rinsed black beans, one can of corn (or the equivelant in frozen corn) one block of cream cheese (low fat), 4 chicken breasts (can be frozen but will take longer to cook), cook in crockpot for 4-5 hours if chicken was thawed, more like 6 hours if chicken was frozen. Stir occasionally, or add cream cheese later if you can't stir it occasionally.

When done cooking, pull out chicken and use 2 forks to pull it apart, in essence shredding it. Add it back to the mixure, add the cream cheese (if you didn't before). You can melt the cheese a bit in the microwave or simply cover the crock put and it will melt in slowly, make sure it is combined with all of the ingredients.

I find that frozen chicken makes the mix more soupy, so I like to use thawed chicken if possible.

Serve over brown rice, or with brown rice in a wheat tortilla as a burrito.

I think I might be in love!

The diet that bites back

2012-01-24T08:18:00.001-07:00

I wouldn't say that I'm dieting right now, persay. I'm simply watching what I eat, portion controlling and whatnot.

However, last night I decided that I wanted to break rank and have a treat. It was probably too late at night to really be snacking, but for some reason I had a craving for a banana with chocolate.

You heard me right, a banana with chocolate syrup on it.

No, I'm not pregnant.

So, I slice up a banana into a bowl and cover it with chocolate syrup and proceed to eat it with a fork. It tastes a little funny, like sour or something. As I continue eating, I realize that it is the chocolate syrup that is sour.

With one bite left, I get up and go look at the bottle of chocolate syrup and realize it expired in August!...August, 2010!!!!!! two thousand and TEN!!!!! Shit :(

I guess this is the universe's way of telling me to stay on my "diet".

BTW, I've had the runs all morning and have to go to the gyno today for a pap smear.

PS: If you haven't already, now would be the time to look through your condiments in your fridge and dump the stuff that's expired. Especially things that have been expired for more than a year!