The First 43: My Life Now

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!  Last time I blogged, I talked about hoping to lose 15lbs by Christmas. Despite my best efforts, I only lost 5lbs.  Not awful, not great.  A much bigger challenge with a toddler! I will just keep forging ahead and hoping to drop the next 10 in the year year. With that in mind, my friend Krystale and I decided we wanted to do a January Fitness and Healthy Eating Challenge and we would love for you to join us. This isn't about a new years resolution or making this last every month, it's just to kick start a healthy lifestyle in one of the hardest months of the year to keep yourself on track.  We can do different challenges each month but, this is where we are starting. The challenge includes: - Calorie Counting (strictly!) for 31 days (MyFitnessPal, WeightWatchers, whichever method/app you use is fine. Whatever will make it easier for you to stick to it.) - No alcohol - No desserts/sweets - Squat and Push Up challenge (...

It's been awhile friends.  I wasn't sure if I'd pick up my blog again for my weight loss victory lap this time. I tried to pick this up (blog.. weight loss... all of it) a couple of times over the last few months but ending up falling off the wagon for one reason or another. But now I've decided why not blog, I enjoyed it the first time around and it's always good to get it out there.  Where do I even start? How did this happen? Can I blame pregnancy? Did I just get lazy? Did I stop caring about the number on the scale? Really what it comes down to for me was that getting pregnant, carrying the baby, delivering, breastfeeding, and weaning. It takes a toll on your body, it took a major toll on mine. 16 months postpartum and I'm still not at 100%.  This is something I significantly underestimated before getting pregnant. I'm sure many women do, and I know that I'm not alone with where I am in this. Full disclosure, by the time I got pregnant I w...

The last time I blogged was June 8, 2015.  Funny thing? I gave birth this year on June 8, 2016. I realized this a few weeks ago and wow, how much changes in a year! What I didn't blog about at that time was that emotionally I wasn't in a great place. I wasn't thrilled about turning 30, I really wanted to be pregnant, and I wasn't about to admit that I knew I was starting to eat my feelings again (old habits die hard!)  Exercise was at the bottom of my list of things I wanted to do, so it became less and less.  I stopped blogging because that summer was really hard on me. I wasn't myself. I let exercise go, I stopped looking so closely at the calories I was consuming. I put on a few pounds. Nothing dramatic but 5lbs in a few months, after losing so much, was a big deal in my mind which just made me feel worse. Rinse and repeat. One of my primary goals when I lost weight years ago was to try and limit complications due to my weight/size when I became pregnant. To...

Another year of my life has passed, this time, I started a brand spanking new decade. I hit the big 3-0.  I have to be totally honest, the number was freaking me out for months before it arrived. I could barely mentally and emotionally handle the idea of turning 30. What exactly happened to my 20s and what in the world did I do with them?  It's been just over a week now since my birthday and I had the time to think about things, why I was freaked out, what is to come in this next decade and just to take a moment to reflect. I'm still not feeling great about the number but I am feeling great about the things I did achieve, the friendships that I've maintained and made in my 20s. The family that's grown around me over the last decade, and how much more I appreciate them now than I did 10 years ago. Everyone kept asking me if I enjoyed my birthday and honestly, I had a really fabulous time celebrating my 30th. Then it hit me. Only a couple years a...

It's been awhile since I've blogged.  There hasn't been much to update on. I lost some of the motivation that I've had over the last couple of years over the last couple of months.  Even I have to admit, I'm surprised that my motivation to keep at it lasted as long as it did.  The problem with weight loss is that you really can't get lazy, ever, but I need(ed) to find a balance between the two extremes.  I got lucky that I didn't put weight back on but, that's something short of a miracle.  I'm going to start up using my blog again, sharing workouts, recipes, and general thoughts on life post weight loss. Now, my confession. I was trying to live my life without MyFitnessPal and just try to keep at it without all the tech motivating me to keep at it.  What I've learned about myself over the last few months is that I do need it to keep me motivated.  Being accountable to myself isn't enough, I thought it would be.  I need to keep myself in c...

Caesar Chicken Fingers. So good. Highly recommend it! This is another Epicure recipe but can be easily adapted! Ingredients: 2 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese 2 Cups Italian breadcrumbs 500g package of fresh chicken strips or chicken breasts cut into strips 1/4 Cup prepared Epicure Caesar Dressing or 1/4 Cup store bought light Caesar Dressing.  Directions: Preheat the oven to 375*F. While the oven is heating, mix 1/2 the Caesar dressing and Parmesan cheese in a bowl.  Coat the chicken in this mixture. Once coated, dip in the breadcrumbs.  Place the strips on a baking sheet or in a Pyrex dish. Cook for 20 minutes.  Set aside the extra dressing for dipping. **I served it with a side of cherry tomato and feta salad! I used the Epicure Bruchetta mix, balsamic vinegrette, cherry tomatoes (about 20, halved) and light feta. Calories: 116 calories per finger (this includes the dipping additional dipping sauce) Original recipe can be found ...

BBQ Chicken Chili A friend of mine recommended this recipe so, I decided to give it a shot. I adjusted it ever so slightly from the original skinnytaste recipe only because I can only handle so much spice and well, I was warned it was spicy. I was really impressed with this. I always make chili with extra lean ground beef so, using lean ground chicken was new to me but, worked just as well and was just as tasty. I did change it substantially enough that I am going to write out what I used. For example, I didn't buy chicken breasts and shred them, I used ground chicken. I used more beans, I roasted my own peppers, etc. Ingredients: 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 cup white onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, pressed 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika 2 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 500g lean ground chicken, cooked 2 red peppers, roasted and chopped (not from the jar, it avoids the extra oil.) 1 can of c...