Sheep Shearing in New Zealand

Hi, you've reached the voice mail of Slacker Fattie Katie. I'm sorry she can't get to the phone right now, she's on a hiatus to New Zealand for the running of the sheep. Please leave a message at the beep. If she is Sexy by Summer or has a hot Watched Waist she will return your call after spring.....beeeeeeeeeeeep.

Ok, now that I've gotten rid of Slacker Fattie Katie, it's time to get down to business. At a play date today, Sexy by Summer organizer, Liz, gave me a set of 4 Latin dance exercise DVD's. I took the TV/DVD player out of the little kids room and put it in the kitchen so I can use them. I'm sticking to The Dreaded Meal Plan which, from here on out, will now be known as the Blessed Meal Plan. Or the Necessary Meal Plan. Hmmmmm, let me know what you think.

Gone are Fattie's excuses for not getting in 3 cardio sessions a day. Gone are Slacker's cheating habits. I've sent her away. Who am I? Oh, honey, let me tell you. I am the skinny bitch. I'm the thin chick living deep inside Fattie's body dying to get out. I've been cooped up in this hell hole long enough and I'm out and ready to get nasty.

While Chub-o Unhealthy Katie is busy shearing sheep in her platform's (thank you for the trip, Beth!), I will be in her place. Working this gigantic ass off. Getting rid of the swelled, post-preggo looking belly. Slimming those thunder thighs. Tightening the jiggly waving arms. She's going to be one proud sexy mamma when she gets home. Hubby is going to have to pick his jaw off the floor. Douglas is going to be a proud trainer. Our friends are going to Woot Woot! till the sun goes down.

By the time Lent is over, Slacker Fattie Katie and I are going to blow everyone away. And Melissa is going to survive her no caffeine world (you can do it, sweetie!! I have faith in you!). Sorry, had to plug another hard worker.

In a few weeks, this inner skinny bitch will be ready to post an updated bikini picture. It won't be the final product. That doesn't come for another couple of months. You'll have to stay tuned for those. The first focus is on getting Fattie's fat percentage down to 17% by May 6th. That outta help win the Waist Watchers contest. Next we will be toning up and getting ultra sexy for Sexy by Summer which ends June 15th.

The skinny bitch is in town and is here to stay. Let's do this sh@#!!

5 Guys Hamburger, Heaven or Hell?

Heaven, definitely. Mmmm. For about 5 minutes. That would be the 5 minutes that I was eating it. Then hell hit. That would be the cramps I got when my newly healthy (ummm, getting there) body decided to reject the bacon cheeseburger with grilled onions. I knew, even while driving to Five Guys, that I would be headed to AnyTime Fitness later. I guess it was a good thing that I only had 2 egg whites for breakfast. I burned those 17 calories driving to and from the restaurant hauling 2 small kidlets.

Of course I ran into Douglas at the gym, later. And, yes, I was honest and told on myself. He asked if it was worth it. Mostly no, it was not. But it was somewhat worth it, in a tiny way. I definitely won't be splurging like that again. It's kind of like when your parents tell you not to stick you finger in the light socket. You have to do it just to see what REALLY happens. Well, Douglas was right. It made my body feel gross inside. There is no way I'm cheating like that again. I don't care if I'm starving and there's only a bowl of cheesy pasta, or a greasy hamburger, or giant piece of cheesy pizza. At least until June 15th when the Sexy by Summer contest is over. Even then, I really don't think I'll go back to eating as bad as I did before I was introduced to The Dreaded Meal Plan. Who knew it would actually feel good to eat healthier?

To work off my 640 (ACK!) calorie lunch, I spent 10 minutes on the stair master burning 66 calories (I think that may have taken care of the bacon, or not.) I moved to the ellipticals which I love oh so much (NOT!) for all of 3 minutes taking care of the piece of cheese and onions (28 calories, maybe). I spent 40 minutes on the bike and burned half (209) of the calories from the hamburger and bun. Ok, not really. All of that took care of less than half of my splurge. Even with my two 20 minute jogs before and after lunch, I was unable to burn more calories than I ate. Seriously? Seriously. After the gym, thankfully Carson talked me into playing Wii tennis and boxing, baseball, and golf. I think that helped me break even for the day.

Nope, not worth it at all. Sorry to me, because that's who it hurt. I let myself down. I let my wonderful trainer down. It really sucks seeing the disappointment in someone's eyes when you've done something you shouldn't have. I felt like I needed to go in time-out.

Lesson learned, time to move on. Remember- tomorrow's a new day (I'll spare you the sunny "Tomorrow" song again).

It's working! It's working!

It's taken a while (I'm NOT a patient person) but I'm finally feeling a difference. To me, I don't look any thinner, but I FEEL thinner and healthier. At the beginning of the Sexy by Summer contest, I weighed 140 pounds and at the beginning of the Waist Watchers contest (a month later) I weighed 136.6 pounds. Today… (where's that awesome drum roll???).....127.0 LBS!!!

Since January 15th I've lost 13 pounds and 9 inches!

I guess eating all those egg whites, veggies and oatmeal is finally paying off! Of course the hours I've spent walking, jogging, rebounding, stair mastering, ellipticalling and exercise biking have played a titanic (pun intended) role. Not to mention the torture chamber I frequent with Douglas – walking lunges (right, left, right, left); sliding lunges with the ball (out, slide, together); plank (butt up, hips tucked, shoulder blades down, abs in, hold......); Y/T/Cobra on the ball (thumbs up, higher Y, lower Cobra!). My poor body has never hurt so much! Not even in the 17 years it spent dancing. But, it's all for a good cause. Healthy on the inside, sexy on the outside (well, not yet, but we're getting there).

I learned an important lesson on Monday – always double check your gym appointment time BEFORE you leave the house. I was an hour early which I discovered after I pulled into the parking lot and checked my calendar. This resulted in me having to do an hour of cardio which resulted in me having rubber legs by 1 o'clock. It made my session a bit more difficult. But, I'm a determined little bugger and trudged through it saying, "Look at me go!" as I struggled through 30 seconds in the plank position (I hate that one, too many darn things to remember).

So, I'm on my way to winning Waist Watchers and being Sexy by Summer!

The story behind RMS Snowdrop...

Well, here is the official story of how this blog came to be known as RMS Snowdrop. It's actually 2 stories combined into one.

It's a cat. What's a cat, you ask? Snowdrop is a cat (or Snowbop depending on which of my kids you ask). During the 2004 hurricanes our one cat became 7. The cute little stray, Princess, that we adopted blessed us with 6 cute scrawny kittens in the middle of one of the worst hurricane seasons in history. We kept 3 and gave 3 away to good homes. Reyna named hers, Francis (yes, after the hurricane), I named mine Screech (because that was the God awful sound he made right after he was born), and Kelly named hers Snowdrop (though we have no idea where she got the name). Snowdrop is fat. Not Garfield fat, but fat nonetheless.

I'm a HUGE Titanic fan. I will spend hours on the computer or curled on the couch reading about the ship, the passengers, the food, whatever I can find. Don't ask me any questions about it though, because my kids have zapped any memory cells that used to float around in my brain making it really hard to retain information about a topic I love. Anyway, about a year ago I checked out every book our local library had on the Titanic. Feeling the need for more information, I turned to the World Wide Web. I was reading somewhere about the Carpathia (the ship that finally came to Titanic's rescue). Apparently, several years later, RMS Carpathia needed to be saved itself after being torpedoed by U-55, a German submarine. What does this have to do with Snowdrop? The ship that rescued the survivors from the Carpathia was named, you guessed it, Snowdrop. And before you torpedo me with comments about how I got my information wrong, yes it’s really HMS Snowdrop not RMS. Remember that little tid bit above about not retaining information? Well, I was wrong by one letter. Deal with it.

Soooo, after discovering that something else in the world was also named Snowdrop, and because it was a giant ship, we started calling Fat Cat, RMS Snowdrop.

No, she's not my favorite cat or pet (that would be Max my German Rottweiler). I sat at the computer for 10 minutes trying to come up with a witty name for my blog. Several ideas floated through my head (they had lots of room to float) and I was about to give up. Along came Snowdrop, plopping herself right in front of me. Not in my lap, on my desk. Between me and the monitor. So all I see is a fat, hairy cat butt. She likes to do this often for attention, I think. I kept kicking her off but she kept hopping back on. So I took it as a sign. I typed in RMSSnowdrop and looked at it for a few moments. I shrugged and hit the button!

This concludes today’s story. Come back next week to hear another amazing story! Just kidding. You can come back tomorrow, though, and see what new and wonderful things happened in my oh-so-interesting life.

Busch Gardens=weight loss

This must have been the week for reconnecting with old friends. On Thursday, I had lunch with Kristen and Becky and on Saturday, I went to Busch Gardens with Hubby and his old college roommate, and his family. We hadn't seen them in 13 years! They came with their other 2 brothers and family members. It was so good to see them again and catch-up. Carson and Maisie had an awesome time playing with all the kids in the Land of Dragons. We agreed to get together soon and not wait another 13 years!

The 6 hours I spent walking around the park paid off for me. I was pleasantly surprised on Sunday morning when I got on the scale and saw 128.0! Another pound and a half gone! Yay me! That's a total of 8.5 pounds in 3 weeks. Wooooohooooo!

I walked those gator bites and meatballs right off! Now if I can just get the other 18 pounds off I'll be in good shape!

Dreaded Meal Plan meets Fish Camp

I hit a plateau. This sucks. I've been stuck at 129.6 for 4 days now. Something has to change. The little kids are just going to have to scream when I turn their cartoons off and turn my exercise stuff on. That's my main reason for not getting in my 3 cardios. My exercise stuff is on their TV. They are the only ones with a VCR (yes, I still have my Crunch Fitness Tae Bo Billy Blanks tape from 10 years ago) and the playroom is the main room we are always in, so I record my FitTV stuff on their DVR.

I finally managed to get in 30 minutes of Tae Bo AND, dunt du na na....... two 30 minute walk/jog cardios! Yes, in one day!

This turned out to be the perfect day to finally get in all 3 cardios. My nephew planned a surprise 25th anniversary party for my sister-in-law, and her husband. It was out at a fish camp which means fattening fried foods. My plan was to stick to the fruits and veggies my mother-in-law was bringing but it wasn't out yet when we got there. Soooooo, I had 1/2 of a mozzarella stick and 2 gator bites. This was out of necessity as I was starving for the first time since I started The Dreaded Meal Plan.

I'm hypoglycemic and if I don't eat regularly I get cold sweats, I shake and just get a feeling that you don't know unless you've had an "episode." I forgot I had it since it's been over 2 years since I've had an episode. I felt it coming on while Hubby and the kids were waiting for their artery clogging snacks of gator bites, French fries, mozzarella sticks, and hush puppies. No, deep fried food is not the best option but I didn't see chocolate or orange juice anywhere.

Aside from that, I stuck to the veggies and a little bit of fruit until Kelly, aka The Food Nazi, as my sister-in-law dubbed her, caught me eating ONE meatball as I was helping cover the food at the end of the night.
Both of my sisters-in-law told me how proud they were of me for doing so well on my diet. They were however both very shocked at my Thing 1 and Thing 2 pictures. They are used to the "after" pictures I'm so anxiously awaiting to post in May. In the 16 years that they've known me, they've never seen me weigh as much as I do now. Their reaction gave me another motivation boost. I want to make them proud. I want to make Hubby proud. I want to make Douglas proud. Most of all, I want to make myself proud.

All in all, I thought I did pretty well considering how much I love chicken wings, meatballs and cocktail franks (wrapped in bacon and smothered in sauce, mmmmm). It was so good to spend time with Hubby's side of the family as we don't see them often. I will see them again soon though, as this big city girl has a date with an airboat. YeeeeeHaaaaw!

Cardio Workouts Still Relatively Nonexistent

I'm eating an onion as I write this. That's correct. An onion. I am still depressed over yesterday's birthday celebration at Long John's Silvers. My son, for whatever reason, wanted fish. He hasn't had fish in over 2 years but that's what he wanted and LJS was the cheapest place to get it (Kelly campaigned for Red Lobster but was outvoted).

I didn't want to go because I knew there was nothing there I could eat. I was pleasantly surprised to see grilled tilapia on their menu! I ordered it without the rice but kept the vegetable medley, corn and breadstick. Hubby placed my order in front of me and I stared at it. Missing was my favorite fried fish, hush puppies, french fries and crumbs (the little pieces of fried batter that fall off the fish, mmmmm). Instead, I was looking at a white piece of something that resembled fish with some type of seasoning that I was sure I wasn't supposed to have but this was the best option. I took a bite. Blech. I took 3 more bites. Blech. Blech. Blech. I tried the veggies but they were just as bad.

Hubby saw me slipping into what I'll refer to as food depression. Being the good hubby that he is, he offered me a shrimp. And another. And one more. They tasted so good but I was left feeling so guilty. I have to be the judge and the jury when I cheat. It's really not worth it in the end. Yes, the food tasted good for the few meager seconds it was in my mouth but then it was on its happy way to clog my arteries and fuel the fat cells.

At least I resisted the chocolate cake. Douglas gave me a "D" for my food journal. It would have been an "F" but I got credit for only having a tiny bite of the cake. After all, it's not every day your only son turns 5.

(Off to lunch.....)

Tears, tears and more tears! I had lunch with my best friend from 9th grade. We hadn't seen each other in 20 years! It was so good to see Kristen. As I did back in 9th grade, I had to stand on my toes to give her a good hug. When we finally let go, we were both teary eyed. It was great to catch up and laugh with her and our other friend Becky (who acted as a TV for Maisie's entertainment). They both ordered the Chicken Quesadilla salad, mmmmmm. I ordered a plain hamburger. No bun. No seasoning. Just plain. And steamed broccoli and carrots. Determined to be a good girl, the first thing I did was cut the hamburger in half. I ate half and the other half is sitting in my refrigerator with the broccoli and carrots I didn't eat.

Lunch was over too soon and I had to go back to my real life as a Mommy. I had to go to Reyna's school and write a note getting her out of the scoliosis check and then pick up Kelly who called me to tell me she was dying (teen code for "I really don't feel good enough to stay at school”).

Then it was back to the "me" time that seems to have consumed 97.3% of my life – working out and The Dreaded Meal Plan. At least the muscle in my butt quit hurting from yesterday's torture chamber. I mean that in a positive way. After admitting to my Fried Shrimp Cheat to Douglas, I was able to semi-redeem myself by proudly stating that I got up off my lazy ass at 8:30pm and went onto the trampoline. I was aiming for 40 minutes but a cute 2 year old had a bad dream and cut my workout short.

My balance seems to be getting a little better which is a good thing. My knee didn't buckle when I stepped off the last step which shows I'm getting stronger as well. Yay! I brought along the 3rd Twilight book for my cardio time. I figured if I was immersed in the book I wouldn't notice how long I was on each piece of equipment. It worked pretty well for the stair master. I looked down just after 5 minutes. The elliptical…not so much. My Jell-O legs just weren't in the mood for that one. So it was off to the bike. I've taken to choosing the one with the seat closest to the pedals so I don't have to attempt to move it thus embarrassing myself even more as an obvious gym "newbie." I settled in, started pedaling and stayed there for an astonishing 15 minutes! Go me!

Oh, I really should have asked for help out of the store with the 40 pound bag of dog food I had to pick up tonight. It was a struggle to get it out the door and into The Bus with my sore and very tired arms. But I did it and now I have 2 happy-not-hungry-anymore dogs.

Thing 1 & Thing 2

These are my before pictures. I wouldn't want anyone to think these were after! No, I'm not poking my belly out. That's just how it looks right now. Please excuse the oh-so-attractive bruise on my thigh. I'm not as graceful as I was in my dancing days. Add to that the many baby gates that adorn my house and a recipe for disaster awaits my every move.

Oh how I hate these pictures! I'm so looking forward to May when I will once again put this bikini on and NOT look like that. Stay tuned.....

Another February Birthday

Another blah day. I followed my meal plan and didn't cheat one time, though!! Also, I ALMOST did all three of my 30 minute cardios. I walked for 15 minutes, rebounded for 40 (that's exercise code for screwing around on a mini-trampoline until you sweat profusely), walked a little more and jogged for about 20 minutes I really wanted to do Tae Bo but couldn't get Carson and Maisie away from the TV long enough to do it. Maybe one day I'll pull my brand new step out and actually use it!

I had to go birthday shopping for Carson since it was his birthday. I don't think Wal-Mart ever restocked their shelves after Christmas. Either that, or Santa stole all of the toys for next year all ready. It was slim pickin's! I found a couple of toys – Hi-Ho Cherry-O's, books and new Cars shoes. He's 5. All he wants to do is eat cake and rip open the wrapping paper. If Wal-Mart sold Webkins, I'd have done much better but being the not-always-the-best-mom that I am, I was too lazy to fight the Tuesday night (haha) mall crowd. He'll be happy because they're from mommy.

Maybe I'll let him play with my squishy fat!

Cheaters, cheaters never win

I'm eating healthy foods but I am not sure if it's healthy to eat so little. It's hard to tell. I'm not starving myself which I'd like to point out again. I eat when I'm hungry and only the portion sizes I'm supposed to eat. At the end of the day, when I add up my consumed calories, I'm shocked at how little I took in but I am also shocked that I was never starving.

I didn't cheat a single time yesterday! Go me! Woot Woot! (as my personal cheerleader, Kris would say). I have a great support group. My friend's, Kris & Melissa and I spend our weekdays emailing back and forth about weight loss (well, MY weight loss!), food (how sad mine is and how delicious theirs is!) and all about everyday life. They cheer for me when I lose yet another pound and pick me up when I have a bad day and cheat.

Beth is my text support. I text my updates and she texts me positive support as well as funny tidbits that make me laugh hard enough that I burn a lot of extra calories. I've already told you about my live-in supporters who help with name calling ("Fatty" and "Chub-o") and my wonderful son who enjoys playing with mommy's "squishy fat."

Another great support system is the women in the Sexy by Summer contest – although we still have no idea what the grand prize is. We get on a website several times a week to update our progress and cheer each other on. We all want to win, but we all want to see each other win as well. We're such nice mommies!!!

After my workout with Douglas yesterday, we chatted with another guy from AnyTime Fitness who knew about the Waist Watchers contest. He pointed out that I had to work harder than everyone else because I had the least amount of weight to lose. With me, every pound counts. Every ounce counts. Cheating is no longer an option. Not doing my 3 cardio workouts in a day is no longer acceptable. That one statement totally put things into perspective for me. Douglas is helping me get in shape and be healthier. I am helping me win. And I want to win, dammit! I've never been to New York City. I want to go and I want to turn thousands of heads while I'm there.

I'll say this more than once so get used to hearing it – I don't want to be "You look great for having 5 kids." I want to be "There's no way you've had 5 kids!"

Bestest support system a woman could have

Whew! I finally went to the grocery store today. Now I can eat!!

I'm so glad it's strawberry and blueberry season, yummy!!! I also got asparagus and brussel sprouts, though I don't know how they are going to taste without butter and seasonings.

Since, somehow I made more hamburgers than my family could eat I was able to fit more protein in today. I miss ketchup. I had to have a big glass of water to swallow my plain, dried, grilled, grease-squeezed-out-into-a-paper-towel hamburger. I tried to steal a single penne Pasta-Roni noodle but was caught red-handed by my eldest daughter who swiftly swatted my hand. She's no fun.

I'm glad I have such a supportive family and I mean this in the most un-sarcastic way. Carson plays with my love handles, Kelly calls me "fatty" and Hubby calls me "Chub-o". Reyna says I'm not fat but that I am lazy and Maisie tells me she loves me. These may sound mean (well except for the "I love you part"), but it is actually helping me. Plus, well, this is just how our silly family is.

I decided to include what I ate Sunday so you can see what I'm going through. Normally, I have a bowl of some kind of sugar cereal with whole milk. Lunch is primarily whatever leftovers are in the fridge and dinner is a well-seasoned meat, veggies and some boxed product like stuffing, Rice-a-Roni or Pasta-Roni (unless I get an amazing recipe from my wonderful cyber cookbook, Kris). Now? Well, read for yourself.

1 egg white 17 cal
½ cup strawberries 25 cal
½ c blueberries 42 cal
¼ c steamed collard greens 12 cal
½ c steamed asparagus 20 cal
Sprinkle of Tarragon vinegar which I DO NOT like but ate it anyway
3 4 oz hamburger patties (not at the same time) George Foreman grill 570 cal total
Drinks- 1.5 oz OJ 21 cal, Water
Exercise- 30 min kickboxing (309 cal), 10 min walk (50 cal), 20 min jog (130 cal) x2
Calories consumed- 707 cal
Calories burned by cardio- 609

Somehow, I'm not starving. Hmmmmm. I'm realizing we don't actually need the humongous amounts of food we devour each day! Who knew?!

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ugh. Just plain, ugh. It's Valentine's Day. I hate Valentine's Day. Hubby and I don't celebrate it. I know he loves me. He knows I love him. Why do we need a special day to express it? Actually we do have a special day to express it. It's called our anniversary.

It's good we don't celebrate Valentine's Day because it would have been ruined anyway. Everyone in the house was grumpy. There was a huge child drama blow up, nuf said.

The withdrawals were getting to be too much on top of all the stress from trying to raise 4 happy kids. One of which was very UNhappy. This prompted my first, and hopefully last, fall off the wagon. I felt like Sandra Bullock in 28 Days. I don't have a problem. I don't have an addiction. I don't clean. I don't carry my own luggage. I can have oh-so-yummy food in front of me and not eat it. Riiiiight! Ok, so maybe I do have a food addiction, but I don't clean (unless someone is coming over and gives me a weeks notice) and I don't carry my own luggage – that's what cute bell boys are for.

Reyna did what she always does when she gets money... she ordered pizza. At least it was the Natural pizza again. Close your eyes, Douglas; this is going to get ugly. I ate a slice. That's right. I ate a slice of 92 calorie Natural cheese pizza. An hour later I ate another one. I also didn't exercise. Not one bit. My Sony Ericsson W580i has a built in pedometer which is one of the reasons I bought it. My steps for the day – drum roll please – 4,284. That’s 2.0 miles. Deal with it Fat Chick staring at me in the mirror! After my nightly bubble bath "me time," I showed that Fat Chick I meant business. I had Tostitos with salsa and my favorite over the top extremely high in calories cocktail.

I will get up tomorrow and have a better day.
A Follow-The-Dreaded-Meal-Plan Day.
A You-Will-Do-Your-Three-Thirty-Minute-Cardio Day.

Tomorrow.

This is where I randomly break into song.....

When I'm stuck a day… That's gray… And lonely,
I just stick out my chin… And Grin… And Say…
Oh!
The sun'll come out… Tomorrow…
So ya gotta hang on… 'Til tomorrow
Come what may….
Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always A day….
A way!

Pppppplllllbbbb!

Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin (errr, pizza) Eater

Friday the 13th. Every superstitious person's nightmare. And because she was born on the 13th, every once in a while it's also Reyna's birthday. She hated it until I told her 13 is my lucky number and billions of people consider Friday their favorite day. I'd been looking forward to Friday because it was my first training session with Douglas. I'd also been dreading Friday because 5 giggling 11, 12, and 13 year old girls were coming over. All night. Until Saturday morning.

The first thing Douglas said to me was "I heard you cheated." Brittney ratted me out! I ate spaghetti and meatballs before going to her Boot Camp. If I hadn't, my friends and family would have been planning my funeral since Douglas started me on the Dreaded Meal Plan that afternoon, and the only thing I had on my list was one egg white. He looked over my food/activity journal and I got a "C." Well, it was better than the "F" I got the first time. I got in trouble for salad dressing, orange juice and chocolate chip cookies. Later, I added up my calories without my little cheats. 299. Um, I don't think 299 calories is enough to live off of. I know, I'm supposed to eat the foods on my plan but I hadn’t been to the store yet so cookies and OJ just had to do.

After being praised for my egg whites (I don't think I'll ever eat eggs again after these contests), plain grilled meats and plain steamed veggies we went upstairs to stretch and do core exercises. I realized I have a balance issue and really need to take my ADD meds before my next training session. Having to remember to keep my abs in, ass squeezed and body balanced was just too much for my little wandering mind to remember. It's a good thing Douglas knows how to count because that would have pushed me over the edge! Next I was sent to the stair climber. The longer I climbed, the higher my heart rate went. Douglas kept watching it saying, "Wow, that's really high." As long as I stayed under 200, 911 didn't need to be called. After 5 minutes I moved to the ellipticals. I've only been on this contraption once and that was 5 years ago. It wasn't a pleasant experience. This time I was stuck between two people who were obviously fond of this device and were really moving. Me? I tried to keep up with them but after 30 seconds I slowed to a crawl for the remaining 4 minutes and 30 seconds. On to the bike! Apparently, you can move the seat forward and backward which I didn't discover until I was almost finished. I'm sure those around me got a good laugh watching me pedal my short little legs with my butt positioned at the very edge of the seat. After 5 minutes, I put my rubber legs on solid, non-moving ground and headed for The Bus.

Slumber party time!

One by one, little giggling girls invaded my clean home (which was only clean to make me appear to be a good mom). I did all that work and not one parent came in the house! They did all RSVP, however, restoring my faith in humanity. About an hour later I ordered Pizza Hut's new Natural pizza, a thin crust, a double order of cheese breadsticks, 2 Dr. Pepper's, a Pepsi and a Diet Pepsi (for the little girl with diabetes). I tried, I really did. But not only is pizza my favorite food, Pizza Hut is my favorite pizza place. I ate one, ONE slice of the Natural cheese which turned out to be only 92 calories. I watched Diabetes Girl scarf down slice after slice after slice. I was glad my family was on its way to eating healthier, well, after the party.

I spent the next several hours saying "Shhhhh" "Keep it down" and viewing text pictures from my friends, Kris and Beth who were out having drinks and fun. So not cool but I love them anyways. In 2 1/2 months, they're going to look fat next to my skinny, healthy hot body! Ha!

Withdrawls....ugh!

Thursday was going well until I decided to look on the back of the cookie dough container to see how many calories were in one cookie. I wish I hadn't looked. 130 calories. In ONE little cookie! So not worth it. But I ate one anyway and being the good trainee, I logged it in my journal (which I was later praised...then criticized for).

I did my morning walk/jog to CVS and home this time carrying 1 1/2 gallons of water. CVS needs to be just a tad further away, or I suppose I could walk up and down our street a couple of times before making the journey.

This wasn't a real exciting day. I started to feel better from Brittney's Boot Camp and was able to move some without making odd groaning noises. I tried harder to follow the Dreaded Meal Plan. Maybe in a few days I'll give it a new name and try to be more optimistic!

Of course I cheated...again. I ate another cookie (only 1 1/2 tubs left) and drank 16 oz of orange juice. Oh, and I used Vidalia Onion salad dressing on my Romaine leaves topped with 1/2 a can of PLAIN wild caught tuna.

I went to Club Clean for 120 minutes but 120 minutes later, you couldn't tell (but Maisie and Carson had fun playing). Later I put my iPod on and walked/jogged/ran/and goofed around for 40 minutes on the mini trampoline, twice. I smelled really good by the time I ran my nightly bubble bath!

The food and alcohol withdrawals are starting to kick in, I think. I don't like being grumpy and depressed but I know it won't last much longer. Soon, I'll be healthy, skinny and hot!

Oh, and I lost another pound!! The numbers on my scale this morning were 132.6! Yay!

I have a new motivator. My wonderful son, Carson. He came up to me and gave me a hug, then grabbed my belly fat and said, "Squishy fat! Squishy fat!" I told him to enjoy it while it lasted because it wouldn't be there for long.

Behind again.....and grumpy

Wednesday was a difficult day. It was the first day on my Dreaded Meal Plan. I was grumpy, depressed, and hungry. I got up at 6 AM and walked/jogged to CVS and back. Do you know how difficult it is to jog carrying a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs? Unfortunately, this only took 20 minutes so I knew I'd have to make it up in a later workout.

After an hour nap, I fixed my oh-so-delicious egg whites then went to what I now call "Club Clean." Club Clean is me, my iPod, cleaning and booty dancing. I only go to Club Clean when Hubby and the older 2 kids are not around. The little kids don't care how crazy or dorky Mommy looks dancing while doing dishes or folding laundry. I work up a serious sweat at Club Clean so you better bet I included those calories in my food/exercise journal!

I took Reyna the Birthday Girl (well, not really until Friday) to see the movie Twilight. We both read the first book in less than 48 hours and were anxious to see the movie. We were late because the only theater still showing it was not in our neighborhood, therefore, I got lost. It wasn't really my fault. The mall should label itself better. I drove around the entire mall and never saw a single sign for the theater. We had to “book it” for about 15 minutes to get to the movie on time, we were still late. As the movie was ending, I started receiving texts from Hubby and Kelly asking when it ended as in-laws were due at our house at 4:30. Movie ended and the in-laws were at our house so we had to “book it” 15 minutes back to The Bus. Yes, I counted this as my 2nd workout.

Reyna decided to torture us for dinner and made us eat at her favorite restaurant, Applebee's. I got Douglas's approval ahead of time for my dinner choice: grilled chicken breast, plain with steamed veggies. The waiter kept trying to get me to order some healthy chicken breast with cheese stuff and some kind of sauce, clearly NOT understanding I wanted EXACTLY what I'd originally ordered. Kelly sat across from me and decided to order the appetizer sampler – all of my favorites (minus pizza). As I enjoyed my plain chicken, plain broccoli and plain asparagus with water, I had to watch Kelly overly enjoy her chicken quesadillas, wings, mozzarella sticks, and (sigh) spinach artichoke dip with a Dr. Pepper. I glared at her so much that by the end of the meal she was apologizing for eating it and snuck me a tiny bite of a mozzarella stick, shhhhhh. I remembered the chocolate chip cookie I stole while no one was watching earlier in the day and was glad I'd been good and ordered my plain meal.

My last exercise for the day was jump roping for one minute. That was as long as I felt like doing it. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

The Dreaded Meal Plan

Yesterday, I met with Douglas, my trainer at AnyTime Fitness. We talked about my goals and eating habits. Things went well until I showed him my food journal for the past 3 weeks. I pretty much got an "F." Those darn Fruity Pebbles and Frosted Flakes! When I asked him if I could at least eat the 1/4 Firehouse chicken salad sub on whole wheat that I had in the car, he said, "NO, throw it out."

Poor sub, it was all tucked in a lunch box with 2 coolie packs around it to keep it cold, patiently awaiting my return. I gave it to Kelly when I got home, she and the sub were very happy.

One of the best things Douglas talked to me about was not only getting myself healthy, but my kids as well (Hubby refuses to participate and he's a bit too old to be put in time out for not eating his veggies). I told my 11 year old daughter, Reyna, that Douglas said we all needed to eat healthier. Her response, "He's not my dad and can't tell me what to eat." Welcome to the world of raising a tween. The full blown teen’s response was, "Yeah, ok, whatever. So, anyway, blah blah blah, blah blah blah."

So, I not so anxiously awaited my meal plan last night. In the meantime, Douglas sent me to his girlfriend Brittany's Boot Camp. First, I got lost, which is typical of me whenever I venture into downtown Tampa. Then, I quickly fell to the back of our small group of 5 while jogging to our stretch point. Trying to step onto the 3 foot high benches… well, let's just say that after one set Brittany said, "If you need to, you can tap your other foot on the bench instead of lifting your knee all the way up."

The stairs killed me, especially when we bunny hopped up them...Three Times! Well, not me, the rest of the group did. I walked around at the bottom waiting for them to finish.

I didn't do too badly with the push-ups and pull-ups but by this time my forehead was on fire! I decided to try her class again in a month. Maybe by then, the stairs won't scare me so much. I have to say, Brittany did an excellent job of keeping everyone motivated and not drawing too much attention to this Couch Potato Mom.

When we finished, I got into my bus, rolled the windows down, spent 5 minutes making 200 turns to find South 275 (I think someone was having fun when they placed the signs), and made my way home. As soon as I walked through the door, Hubby sent me back out to get him a Firehouse sub – not cool! But, being the good wife I am, I did it. Then I took a well deserved bubble bath and crashed instantly into a deep sleep.

Until midnight.

Carson, my 4 year old son, woke me up for a reason I really don't remember. Since I was up, I decided to check my email although I should have just gone back to sleep. This is what I'm supposed to eat for the next 3 months as well as completing 3 hard core 30 minute cardio sessions every day:

Group A- Proteins
egg whites (2), 4 oz hormone free turkey breast, 4 oz wild caught white fish, 1 medium free-range chicken breast, 4oz hormone free round steak, 1/2 can wild caught tuna, 1/2 scoop natural whey isolate protein powder, 4 oz hormone free London broil, 4 oz hormone free lean ground beef (4%), 4 oz ostrich (where the hell am I supposed to find ostrich?)
Group B Complex Carbs (organic)
plain old-fashioned oat meal 1/2 c cooked, 1/2 large sweet potato, 1/2 c cooked brown rice, 1/2 c cooked white rice (post workout only)
Group c- Simple Carbs (organic)
1/2 serving size
small apple, strawberries, black berries, blueberries, cherries, cantaloupe, oranges, raspberries
Group D- fibrous Carbs (organic)
serving size 1 cup
asparagus, brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, squash, mushroom, peppers, okra, onions, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, collards, zucchini, wheat grass

Meal 1 choose 1 each from group A,B,C
Meal 2 group A
Meal 3 groups A,B,D
Meal 4 group A
Meal five groups A,D
Meal 6 group A
Total Caloric intake
Protein-250
Carbs-500
Fat- 90
Total-840

Douglas wants my fat percentage down from 28% to 17%. My original weight loss goal was 115 pounds but he took it down to around 105 pounds. So, just for fun I made myself a new goal. For some odd reason, I kept the dress I wore to my high school graduation (I found it recently while scavenging in our shed). My goal is to fit back into it! How cool will that be? Right now, I can only button the middle button. We will see how many I can button in 3 months!

Official weigh in and kick off party!!

Friday, February 6th I went to AnyTime Fitness to do my "official" weigh in. The result? (drum roll please)............136.6 pounds.....ACK! Wow. Aside from the 5 times that I was preggo, I've NEVER weighed that much! Two and a half years ago, 6 weeks after I had my two year old, Maisie, I weighed 133. I worked hard (um, haha) and eventually was down to 120-125. Anyway, I got a tour of the gym, got my picture taken for my key, got my key and was on the road to skinnyness!

The next day, Saturday February 7th, was Gasparilla (Tampa's version of Mardi Gras....pirate style, ARRRRRRRRR!!! I'll spare you the pirate jokes). I had to carry Maisie about 2 miles to and from our bleacher seats (we started 20 minutes away from section 1 and I was excited to see bleachers....until Hubby told me we were in section 84!). Boy was that a workout! I was so sore all day Sunday, my poor hips and arms. My pedometer on my Sony Ericsson told me I'd stepped the equivalent of 8.8 miles! Ugh!

I'm going to take this opportunity to pat myself on the back for a minute. February 6th, 1996, I gave birth to Jacob. He had Trisomy 18 and lived for a short 6 hours. We found out two weeks before he was born that he had T18. Some years are good, some are bad, and some are ok. This year was a bad one as I cried a LOT. The past two years I ate my way through this time of year. This year, I joined 2 weight loss challenges!!! I refused to allow myself to get bigger just because I was grieving. I think Jacob would be proud of his mommy. :)

Sunday, February 8th became my Official official Weight Loss Kick Off Party (no more official kick off parties!). A friend of mine came over with pepperoni pizza, movie theater butter popcorn, and Twizlers. Add to that some Screwdrivers, and we had a good old time chowing down! The best part was waking up this morning, Monday February 9th (whew! Finally caught up!), getting on the scale and seeing the numbers 133.0 pop up! Who knew a strenuous 4 hour work out plus a night of chowing down would equal a 3.6 pound weight loss!?! Wahhhooooooo! Tomorrow, the real work begins... bring it on Fitness Trainer!

Waist Watchers The Musical

After fighting traffic to get home from the Channel 10 news station, I hurried to fix dinner so my oldest daughter, Kelly, and I could go see the Waist Watchers Musical (I got 2 free tickets). Surprisingly, I didn't get us lost on the way to the theater, a major accomplishment for me. It was a good thing I left my money in the car because there were lots of yummy snacks to buy (seemed kind of ironic to have popcorn, soda, and pretzels at a show about losing weight).

I had met Alison Burns at the news station earlier that day and was excited to see her in the show. She not only starred in it, but also did the choreography as well as wrote the music (along with Stan Collins) and the lyrics. The show itself was written and conceived by Judy Lisi. Judy came up with the concept while at a weight loss support group and it is a must see if you are trying lose weight!! It was a great way for me to start my own weight loss journey.

I thought the show was amazing. The songs were well written and beautifully sung. It was funny, sad, so true, and even had a little romance included. The rest of the cast, Heather Krueger, Michael Indelglio, Nadeen Holloway, Melissa Nay, and Kathi Osborne were equally fantastic and entertaining. I was able to meet Alison again after the show as well as the show's stage manager, Scott Belowsky who both wished me luck in the contest!!!!

Two thumbs up from this fan!!! The show runs until May 10th at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.... just in case you're planning on visiting the area and want something entertaining to do.

Waist Watchers Contest

Tuesday, February 3rd I received a call from Channel 10 News at 4 letting me know I'd been chosen as one of the 25 contestants for the Waist Watchers Contest. The reason was to kick of the premier of WaistWatchers The Calorie-Free Musical, a comedy about losing weight. The contest is simple - the person who loses the most weight by May 6th, 2009 wins.

We each receive 3 months free at AnyTime Fitness in South Tampa to help us out (which, to me, was a prize in itself). The Grand Prize is a one year membership to AnyTime Fitness, weekend trip to NYC, tickets to a show and a gift basket.

There were 6 of us that showed up to the station on Thursday, February 5th. We went on live with Marty Matthews (and yes, with 3 TV's in the house, I forgot to set ONE to tape the news...not happy). I was nervous at first, but pretty much all we had to do was stand there and listen to Marty explain the contest. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing but I stood out. Not just because I was in pink (my signature color) and everyone else in black, but because I weighed the least of everyone. I found this embarrassing because everyone weighed 200 or more and me...? 136. This kind of puts me in the position of the underdog, I think. I'm at a disadvantage because I CAN'T lose a lot of weight. If I lose more than 15-20 pounds, I think I'll look unhealthy or sickly and that is soooo NOT my goal.

Oh! You may be wondering what a 136 pound 5'5" 35 year old (nope, not afraid of my age) woman is doing in a weight loss challenge. Because 136 is BIG....for me. I feel fat, I feel lazy, I have no energy and my poor danced-on-for-17-years knees are not happy at all with the extra weight. My goal is to weigh 110-115 pounds and to be one hot mamma (like I was 2 kids ago).

So, if you choose, join me on my journey to be thin again.......lets do this!