Helpful Hints (cuz I'm an expert)

Or not.  I'm just learning a few things along the way and thought I'd share.  So take this advice with a grain of salt or something...

1.  Exercise.  Please.  Just do it, but there's a catch.  Don't do it solely for the sake of smaller pants or less flabby arms.  Do it for your sanity.  There's something about exercise that makes life better.  After the birth of my 4th child I suffered from some pretty serious postpartum depression.  It got ugly but it could have been much worse.  Going to the gym most days kept my marriage intact, kept my children alive and made it so I could survive.

2.  Small portions.  I've been eating healthy foods for the last several years but I noticed that my portions were slowly getting bigger.  It's different for everyone but if I keep the between the size of my fist and the size of my hand I seem to do okay.  It's enough to give my body what it needs without overeating. 

3.  Eat often.  I eat breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner and occasionally an evening snack.  I don't let myself get too hungry.  That's when I binge and start the "eating too much and feeling bad about myself" cycle.

4.  Be accountable.  I track my calories using an app on my phone.  It's a bit frightening to see the calorie count of the peanut butter sandwich you just snarfed off your kid's plate.  It's also a nice way to see what you're really eating and how you could do better.  I also text my daily total to a kind and non-judgmental friend.  She knows what my goals are and she knows what I need to do to reach them.

5.  Be patient.  This is the one I struggle with the very most.  It takes time for your body to change.  It takes time for your mind to change.  I know that it took more than a week to put the weight on (duh) but when I see little tiny losses or even worse, gains, I want to just give up.  I'm learning that it's a process, a long process but I also know that time is going to go by no matter what so I might as well spend my time making my life better instead of just wishing it were better.

So those are my wise and totally (not) new ideas.  Now check out the outfit I put together yesterday.  I was seriously impressed with my skills.  All that blog stalking is finally paying off!

That picture is pretty decent but I think my face looks better in this one.

My husband is a lucky, lucky man. 

Happy Monday!

Kristen

Mondays of the swearing variety.

I may or may not of/ have (someone please explain that rule to me) muttered words of the four- letter persuasion when the following things did or did not happen.  Possibly, maybe, almost certainly.

One of my children came home from school with head lice.

I stepped on the scale last Monday morning and found that all of my sweat, spinach and sit-ups produced a loss of one HALF pound.

I stepped on the scale again this am and found that a diligent repeat of the three S's produced a loss of NOTHING!  That makes me want to swear again.

I walked away from my computer for approximately 3 seconds and found that one of my children had "edited" my paper.  The paper due that evening and that I had already poured the majority of my working brain cells.

Yesterday morning my daughter stepped on my bare toe with her church shoes.  That made me feel nice and spiritual.

Smelling dog poop in the middle of the grocery store and realizing that it came from my son's shoe.  The same son's shoe that was wrapped around my waist as I carried him into the store.  The same son's shoe that was so nicely tucked between my jacket and my jeans.

Hearing my son dumping domino's all over my laundry room floor.  All one hundred and ninety million of them.  In case you were wondering they make a very distinctive sound that says "you'll never find all of us, sucker!"

My youngest son got us suspended from the gym for 30 days.  That means 30 days without the gym and their 90 (per day) minutes of childcare.  I may go insane.

Happy blankety blank Monday!

Kristen

Week 6 or a chronicle of my action filled life.

This weekend I:

• lost my debit card (it's been cancelled so if you find it don't get any ideas)
• did not go grocery shopping, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel around here but I just can't find my gumption
• went to an excellent yoga class, if you're in the Salt Lake valley let me know and I'll get you the info, the teacher was AMAZING, no really she was
• took a Sunday nap, it was beautiful
• ate multiple Tootsie Roll pops, they're not even that good, I don't know what my problem was/ is
• did not give my sons or my husband haircuts, the husband is starting to get what he calls Alabama hair, poor guy
• went for a walk in the rain with my family, it was surprisingly cold
• lost 1 1/2 pounds, okay so I didn't lose that all over the weekend, it took a whole week but still!

Those are just the highlights, we live an exciting life.  Can you tell? 

Happy Monday!

Kristen

Oh and this contest, it's interesting.  So far I haven't made it into the top 5 but I'm hoping to be one of the slow and steady losers and eventually come out on top!  That's the plan anyway, so I should probably stop eating Tootsie Rolls...

Week 5, how time flies when you're not doing anything productive!

I try to take my pictures on Sunday mornings for a couple of reasons: one, the husband is around to provide photo guidance and two, because I usually look pretty decent. 

Another bonus is that you get to see the lovely ensembles my boys put together.

That's my oldest boy.  He is wearing, get this, 2 shirts, a sweater vest, 2 pairs of pants and suspenders.  Pretty awesome is what I think.  That's in direct contrast to my other boy and his stellar style.

Let's move on and get to the real meat of this post, are you ready for the week's total... I, get ready for it, gained!  Yep, one whole pound.  In case you were wondering the opposite is supposed to happen.  So I'm trying not to freak out and eat the contents of my fridge but I've gotta say that I'm getting a little perturbed. 

I've been talking to some successful losers (oxymoron anyone?) and the one thing they all have in common is portion size.  I'm eating healthy but I'm obviously eating too much so I'm going to watch that this week.  I'm also chewing more gum and drinking more water.  Again, any suggestions are welcome.

One last picture, this is what the husband gets to come home to late at night.

Do you like my circa 1999 pants?  Go SHS!

Lucky, lucky guy.

Kristen

Week 4, or is it 3? I'm confused.

The picture I took yesterday was the fourth picture but today is the beginning of the fourth week in the contest so should this picture be titled "week 3" because it shows the results of the third week or because it's the fourth picture am I correct in calling it "week 4" or maybe the first picture (which you will probably never see) should be called "the beginning" and then the last picture will be "the end" (original, I know) or maybe I should just relabel all the pictures with simply the date or maybe no one actually cares and I am the only one who lays awake at night worrying about these things?

I'm going to go with the last one.

So are you ready?  Brace yourself, it's impressive.  This past week with all of my exercising and eating healthy and making better choices I lost, drum roll please... NOTHING!  Yep, that's right.  Zero.  Yay me.

You do get to see my baby's bear and his high water pants.  I wanted to show you the ensemble he chose for church.  Seriously, he chose his shirt and bow tie all on his own.

I'm passing my knack for throwing random colors together on to the next generation.

If you guys have any diet, exercise, matching, photography advice, I'm open to suggestions.

Happy Monday!


Kristen


PS- Half marathon training started today for the Thanksgiving Point race, I'm doing this training plan again.  It doesn't suck, well the hills do but hills always suck.

Dear week 3, you suck. Love, Kristen

When you eat cookies, go on a mini vacation, eat too much food and miss your workout you don't lose as much weight as you were hoping.  Down half a pound.  I know, I know half a pound is great.  It's down, that's what matters.  But still that number...

The husband was giving me photo advice.  Then he decided that words weren't sufficient. 

He's pretty hot.

When I win the pot o' money I've decided that I can't spend it on anything practical.  No bills, groceries or shoes for the kids.  I'm thinking a weekend getaway sans children or maybe some killer jeans or shoes or a day at the spa or maybe I'll go to the bank, cash it out in ones and just hold all that money.  That would be cool.  Last time the pot was around $300 something, that would be a lot of dollar bills.

I'm off to eat some 94% fat free kettle corn and an apple.

Happy Monday!

Kristen

Totally vain and superficial me (I am what I am).

What I'm about to show you is sorta scary, well it is for me. I'm scared to be photographed in such an unflattering way.  I'm looking at the picture and wishing for a few cute kids to cover up the pooch.

I'm doing a weight loss contest with a few friends of mine and besides the obvious benefits of a smaller, healthier body, there's also a big ol' pot of money at the end.  If I were a better person just the health benefits would motivate me but I'm not.  Me likey the money.

My picture from Week One is frightening (I'm never wearing those clothes in public again) and I'm not brave enough to share that bad boy with you.  So you get the one from yesterday.

Deep breath now.  I'm going to share the Week Two picture.  Wait, one more deep breath.  Okay, I'm as ready as I'm going to be (be kind please).

Yep, there's some work that needs to be done.  I also need to get a full length mirror to make these pictures more effective.

Yesterday I was down 2.5 pounds.  Pretty nice is what I'm thinking.

Happy Monday!

Kristen