Milestones

YES! I broke 150 this weekend! Hallelujah! Goodbye to the 50's. Hopefully I can get the 40's over within a few weeks too. My goal for Thursday is 148, which is exciting because before I was pregnant (a year before) I was 148, so after I hit that I can no longer say I'm the biggest I've ever been! Then 2 weeks from Thursday, I'll be back to pre-pregnancy weight (144) so that's exciting too.
Also, I wore a fitted pre-pregnancy dress this weekend! It was very exciting as it is really fitted around my torso, and I remember trying it on fairly early in my pregnancy and it didn't fit. Now it does!! Woo hoo. I also ran a mile today and have been increasing the levels on my cardio machines. I'm feelin' good!!

Goin for a record...

Tomorrow is weigh in day... and I am just hoping that I break 150. I've GOTTA do it. I'm sick of being in the 150's and ready to get the 140's out of my way too. :) I just checked my calories burned and I've already exceeded my target, so I'm going to go for a record and try and burn 400 more cals before midnight to make today the most calories burned in a day thus far (the most I've burned is 3100). I've already done BodyCombat, 1/2 mile run, 1.5 mile walk, and a 20 minute workout video today. I bought 2 new workout videos since Boyd has been working a lot and getting to the gym in the evenings for my second workout is tough, so I'm going to try out The Firm and see how it goes.
Those of you that have known me for a while know that while I am a decent cook, I don't do it much (now baking, I love...but I've had to say bye-bye to that for a while). I'm not sure why this is...well actually I guess it's because in the past I've looked at cooking as more of a chore than anything--too time consuming. I like doing it for parties or for company but cooking for two everynight? Way too much work. Well being on a strict calorie limitation and making a vow to get healthier, I have developed a new found love of cooking!! I'm discovering new recipes, modifying them to be low calorie, and mixing up different things for creative concoctions-- in addition I've found a few tricks to make it go faster and not be so time consuming. I've found inspiration in my friends Jayme and Loni, they seem to always be making yummy and healthy food and I get a lot of good ideas from them. It is a little challenging as Boyd is still a little weary of home cooking (he thinks it is "too much work" for me) and is also kinda picky, but he's doing good. I tell him that I'll make enough for him and if he doesn't want it, he can have a Lean Cuisine and I'll eat his for lunch the next day--- but he's eaten everything I've made thus far. Tonight I made these AMAZING coconut chicken fingers. I found a recipe online and modified it to make it lower cals, it was fantastic, I got an A+ from Boyd! Woo hoo! Here's the recipe:

Sarah's Fantastic Coconut Chicken Fingers
Cut 1 chicken breast into chunks (or strips, however you like it)
Mix together in a bowl: 1/4 C. coconut, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper, 1/8 tsp garlic powder
Beat 1 egg in a bowl
Dip chicken in egg, then coconut mixture, place in baking dish
Drizzle 1 Tbs. melted Smart Balance (or butter if you don't care about low cal) over chicken
Bake in oven at 350 for 25 mins

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce:
Mix 2 Tbs honey with 1 Tbs. dijon mustard

So yummy!!
Well I gotta get my groove on and break my highest calories burned record!

WOAH! Half-way point pics!

So I decided to do half-way pictures tonight, and HOLY COW. I'm super amazed at how far I've come. Now I still do have a lot more to go but it was nice to see the comparison and see that I'm getting my booty back and I no longer look pregnant! Lol. I can't believe how I still look preggers in my side view start pic! Here they are... (this is why I braved posting my start pic, because I knew there would be progress pics!!)

What a difference 10 pounds makes! It's exciting to me to think about what the end pics will look like... in 20 more pounds!!

I cannot even believe how I still look pregnant in this start pic! I'm so glad I took it because I would have never thought that I looked like that! And look at me now! I'm getting a booty again! lol!

Here is a fun pic, testing out the self timer on my camera, yep it works! Next time you see pics of me, I'm gonna have a rockin' bod! (And maybe I'll brush my hair next time too, hahaha)

This Is What It Takes...

So today was kind of a bummer, I weighed myself and I was a pound more than I was Saturday (even though I didn't have ANY sweets or dessert on Valentines day), but my weight does tend to flucuate throughout the week, so I'll get it back. I'm determined to work my booty off this week (literally!) in order to break 150,I've gotta do it.

This is what it takes to reach my goal...

I elevated my heart rate FOUR times today in order to reach my calories burned goal (and exceed it by a little bit). Normally you would think that doing an hour of cardio and working with a trainer for half an hour would be PLENTY in order to lose 2.5 pounds per work. Nu uh. I basically did 4 workouts today and I BARELY made it. I guess most days I am fairley sedentary, working on my computer and just hangin out with Eli, so I really have to make a consious effort to move throughout the day. Whether that's a walk (thats what I did for my 2nd peak today) or cleaning the house (hey two bird with one stone!) or whatever, moving is really key.

I'm training for the Salt Lake City Marathon 5k. lol I know that sounds funny "marathon 5 K" but they do a marathon, half-marathon, and a 5k. I am NO WHERE near being able to do a half marathon, so my mom and I (and any one else that's wants to join, Laci?) are going to run it. WHen I was working out with Laci, I ran 1.5 miles in about 13 mins (correct me if I'm wrong Laci), so if I can do the 5k in 25mins, I'll be excited.

Day 44 (halfway)

Whew! I haven't done my Saturday workout in a while! I was out of town, and then before that I was sick, so today was a big shocker. I did NOT want to work out this morning (as usual) and was even kind of hoping that my hubby would ask me to stay because he was too tired to watch Eli. But being the wonderful supporter he is, he didn't. So I had to go to the gym. Pump was great and I pushed myself harder than I ever had with more weights, so I really got a good workout (even though my legs were killing me from all those lunges Mike made me do yesterday). Then Combat started. It's so funny to me that I love Combat so much when I'm not doing it. When I'm doing it I think to myself, "what are you DOING?!?!" Every combat class without fail, I think "Ok I give up, after this song, I'm leaving." But then I tell myself that I've never left a class early, and I've even done it while I was sick, so I can't give up. Then of course the next song comes on and I'm like "okay this one is a little easier, I can handle it." Then the cycle continues until the class is finally over. lol. I guess whatever gets you through right? But it is definitely a GREAT feeling leaving the gym feeling AWESOME! Anyway that's my day today...
I was pretty frustrated at my training session on Thursday. I didn't lose ANY weight over vacation, which may sound like a good thing, as I didn't gain any weight. But I tried really hard to workout and eat good. Oh well. Today I weighed myself and I was 151, it would be awesome to break 150 before next Thursday!

So sorry!

Hi All
Okay so I'm a terrible blogger. Sorry! I hope you all haven't given up on me...
A quick update: last week totally STUNK, I only lost 0.8 pounds, and I was sick. I had a cold for almost two weeks and then it ended up turning into a sinus infection. Loads of fun.
Right now I am on vacation in California. But I'm staying strong and have been eating good, as well as squeezing in a workout everyday. It hasn't been as rigourous as my at home routine, but at least it's something. Loni will kick my butt at the gym tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that!
I got on Jayme's scale--which she says is pretty accurate, and it said I was 150! Now I'm hoping that is true, that will help catch me up and get back on track. We will see!!

A conscious effort

A big "sorry" goin' out to all of you faithful blog followers who keep checking my fitness blog only to find out I've been slacking in the "posting area." Sorry! I will tell you that I most definitely have NOT been slacking in the weight loss area! After my big "victory" last week, I actually got even sicker and had a pretty crummy weekend--I even missed my beloved double-duty Saturday workout! Thank goodness for my bodybugg, I was able to see how far off from my deficit goal I was and divide that by the remaining days I had left in the week, which turned out to be 260 calories each day. So yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I have to have an additional defecit of 260 cals. I did it yesterday, I did it today, and I'll do it tomorrow! Woo whoo. Let's just hope my good pal Mr. Scale agrees.
2.5lbs per week doesn't seem like that much to me--or at least it didn't in the past, but I am working my BUTT off to get there! Holy cow, it is NOt easy! I am putting in anywhere from 1.5-3 hours in the gym EACH DAY (except Sundays), and then on top of that extra movement throughout the day. It really is important to move A LOT during the day. Especially since at home I'm usually just working on my computer = NOT a whole lot of calorie burnin' goin on. I have to make a conscious effort to move move move all the time. Which can be pretty tiring, thus the extra workouts. It is a decision though. Each and every day I decide to eat good, I decide to workout, I decide to be healthy. And you know what? I LOVE IT! :) Night night.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

Weigh-in day today. And the result? I lost 3.4 pounds!!!! YEAAA!! I'm so excited. I think a lot if it is attributed to the fact that I really cut back on my sodium intake. It can really sneak up on you. For lunches I was eating just plain deli turkey and carrots. What I didn't realize was that the deli turkey has A TON of sodium in it (I knew there was a reason it tasted so good!). So after not meeting my 2.5lb goal for the last 2 weeks, I switched my lunches to eating turkey tacos. They're super yummy. All I do is brown some lean ground turkey in a pan, then add 1/4 c green chile enchalada sauce and a little bit of cheese. Then put those into 2 corn taco size tortillas. A yummy lunch for only 330 calories. Not to mention much less sodium.
I still feel kinda yucky, but that doesn't stop me from getting my workouts in. I actully think working out helps me to get better faster. I didn't go to BodyCombat yesterday morning for sake of "taking it easy." But I did still meet my calories burned goal. I also purchased a Billy Blanks Tae Bo video to do at home at night when I still need to burn more calories. This is great since sometimes getting to the gym is hard for the SECOND time during the day. So I can just pull out the video and burn those last 400 calories. I'd like to get a couple more videos so that I don't get bored with them.
Small victory: I can put on my pre-pregnancy jeans! These aren't my "skinny skinny" jeans, but they're the ones I was wearing before I was pregnant. I can't zip them up yet, but it was exciting to see that I can at least put them on! lol. It was not too long ago that I couldn't even put my legs into them. I will keep trying them on, I'm thinking another 6 pounds and I'll be able to wear them again. I'm only 8.8 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight! Then 15 more to go after that for my pre-wedding weight!!! :)
So Boyd and I are watching The Biggest Loser. It's a really great show, and it keeps us going. If those people can do it, so can we!!