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.....

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!