Parties, Pools, and Arm Fat

Happy Monday!  Kind of a contradiction in terms, isn't it?  Oh well.  For me, this Monday follows a very busy, yet fun weekend.  This weekend, we took the 3 hour drive up to northern Indiana to visit Tim's family.  Our nephew, Kaleb, recently graduated from high school and we went up for his graduation party.  I am not even gonna talk about how old this makes me feel.  He is one of the little ring bearers in one of the wedding pictures I posted last week.  Now he is all tall and an adult and stuff.  Time sure does fly.

All in all, I had a really good week.  I was active -- I did my morning runs and some Zumba.  I kept myself accountable as far as my food went.  Everything was going fine, until the weekend hit. I have been doing pretty well when my weekends are spent at home.  It is when I travel for the weekend that I really unravel.  It is literally like I have the little angel Courtney on one shoulder supporting good food decisions and the little devil Courtney on the other doing the opposite.  Devil Courtney tends to win the battle.  It ticks me off, but I have no one to blame but myself.  I went to the party and ate cake.  I went to dinner that night and told myself I would only eat salad, but ended up eating 2 pieces of pan pizza with extra cheese along with it.  Thank God, no one decided to go to Dairy Queen, because I know I would have eaten that too if given the chance.

I am going to make a conscious effort to enjoy the people in social situations and make the food an afterthought.  It is, in fact, the people at these gatherings that are most important.  I have 2 BBQs to go to over 4th of July, and I am already looking up some recipes for things to bring along that I can eat and not feel guilty about.  It is time to give myself the tools I need to be successful.  I am denying myself that, so it really is much harder than necessary.

Besides the food issues, everything was great!  We went to my brother and sister-in-law's house to take a swim in their pool.  It felt awesome on such a hot day.  I have been getting better about just putting on my suit and enjoying pool time.  I used to sit on the side, sweating to death, and watching everyone have fun -- all the while wishing I could join them.  I could have joined them.  I was just too uptight about being seen in a bathing suit.  The reality is that I look more conspicuous sitting on the side not taking part in the fun.  I still have several moments of insecurity, but I am getting better at it.

Saturday evening, my mother-in-law took me shopping to get my birthday gift (my birthday is this coming Thursday).  She works at Meijer and has a employee discount.  There was also a mPerks coupon deal going on. I asked her if, for my birthday, she could take me there and use her discount to buy me new clothes to exercise in.

I was able to get all this stuff for only about $30!!  Nothing gets me more excited than a good deal. I also made the move to tank tops.  I HATE MY ARMS.  They are horrible.  I have arms that define bat wings.  They are almost hypnotizing.  I bought tank tops though because I am outside running and it is freaking hot!  If I lose all the weight I want to, I can honestly say that I would consider surgery on my arms to get rid of this issue.  I am a big girl and it isn't my butt or stomach that make me insecure.  It is my damn arms.   You know in the old cartoons where a character would flex and get the big muscle only to have it fall and dangle under his arm instead?  Yeah, that would be me.  We all have our body issues that we struggle with...this one just happens to be the most dominate one with me.

Me.  I cannot wait to watch this body shrink.  Hopefully this hard work will start to show soon.  :)

Let's follow that up with a sweet picture...

Darcy and her grandma having story time.  She loves her grandmothers so much.  It really is so sweet.  I love capturing these little moments.  

Now, it is time for....

1. I started my week off right with a run! It is getting so hard...not gonna lie.  I know running is supposed to be a mind over matter sort of thing, but I am not sure how to get that under control.  A shirtless Ryan Gosling could be at the finish line waiting for me with magic calorie-free peanut butter cups, and I STILL would be in agony as I tried to get through it.  The reality is that it HURTS.  Me thinking happy thoughts isn't going to keep it from hurting.  I just have to get to the point where I push through the hurt.  I did pretty well this morning.  I kid of pooped out during my last running interval though.  I am not going to let it get to me though.  Tomorrow is another day, and I shall try again.
   
   
   
   
   
2. We went to the movies today.  I brought our own snacks because I am not going to take out a 2nd mortgage on our house to buy snacks and drinks for a family of 4.   This was my snack --- even though I REALLY wanted chocolate. 
   
   I know that dry fruit is not as healthy as the real deal, but it was still a sweet treat with a fraction of the calories.
   
   
3. I have a good meal plan for this week.  I even plan to make a knock off of the Chipotle burrito bowl -- one that is lighter on calories and with more veggies than carbs.  I will update with how that turned out later.  I plan to make it tomorrow night. 

To end today's post, a picture of my cute children awaiting their screening of Monsters University. Darcy was so excited to see Mike "Kowsky".

My Random Weekend Re-cap

I had a lot going on this weekend.  I actually had plans from Friday night on, which never happens!  EVER! So, there is a lot to recap albeit random "adventures."  Don't get too excited though.  My definition of an adventure is pretty loose these days.

On Friday night, I went out on the town in downtown Cincinnati, with my aunt (who was in town for work).  I never get to go downtown, so this was a treat.  We ate at Nada -- a sort of trendy Mexican restaurant and walked around Fountain Square.  There was live music and everyone was dressed up, out and about. I had a great time!

I was trying to plan ahead for my meal, so I made smart decisions.  Of course, I ventured to the "drinks" menu, because I am going out without kids.  I am havin a drank!  Anyway, I go to click on the drink section of the menu, and this little My Fitness Pal window kept popping up.  WTH??!!  Was this an omen? Does my fitness pal know when I am clicking on naughty parts of the food internet?  

I chose a very sensible meal that also happened to be delicious!  It was roasted chicken with a chili rub.  It was served with roasted vegetables and a habenero salsa.  The salsa also had a sweetness to it.  I could not tell what kind of fruit was in there, but it was so good!

I did also have a couple sangrias.  They were FANTASTIC.  Hey, there was fruit juice and floating fruit pieces in there! TOTALLY healthy!  They were a treat and worth the calories.  I barely ever drink and I had it in my calorie budget after all the exercise I had done that day.  Also, the My Fitness Pal spies did not come and cart me away in some unmarked van because I ordered this...

Saturday, I went to visit family for our Father's Day barbecue.  I saw a lot of people that I don't get to see often enough, so it was great.  My mother gave me the task of bringing a food that people could snack on before dinner was served.  Instead of bringing some kind of sour cream/cream cheese concoction, I opted to  make my own fruit tray -- which I was proud of.  I thought It looked so pretty, I decided to take a picture.  Little did I know that the crass Father's Day card that my sister bought my dad (featuring a near-bare hairy man ass) was strategically placed in the background.

Hey, this is how my family rolls.  Usually a prerequisite for a card for my dad has to involve some kind of fart joke.  I couldn't find any good Father's Day cards featuring flatulence, but I did find a good one featuring a chimp wearing a suit and tie.  I was actually pissed that my sister found the hairy man ass card and I didn't.  Keepin' it classy, as always! God, I love my family...

This is actually just a picture that someone else took of me at the party and it was actually a picture of myself that didn't make me want to to toss my cookies.  So, I thought I would throw that in there.  

Sunday we went to Kings Island with Tim's mom and dad.  We have season passes and were able to hook them up with $10 tickets for Father's Day.  We had a really nice time, but I was exhausted when it was said and done.  I love going to Kings Island, but it drains every last ounce of my energy.  Maybe it is waiting in line for 30 minutes to ride a 30 second ride.  Maybe it is the hillbillies abusing their children in public, barefoot kids on leashes, or the classy folk wearing tiny clothes on their not so tiny bodies.  Whatever it is, it wears me the heck out.  

We went to the dinosaur exhibit this time. Most of the dinosaurs are animatronic.  This one was awesome and supposedly true to size.  That little speck by its leg is Aidan.

I really wanted a picture of the kids with their grandparents, but we made the mistake of taking this at the end when the kids were in foul moods.  Aidan is ticked because we told him we would not take him to the pizza place of his choice for lunch, and Darcy is just being an over-tired 3 year old.  Oh well.  We tried...

Tim and I.  Right before his mom took the picture, I told him to pretend that he loves me and this was the best he could do.  Fail!  hahaha

So, as you can see I had an eventful weekend!  Since it is Monday, I am going to go ahead and throw in...

1. This week I was very active.  Not only did I get outside and do my Couch to 5K program multiple days this week, but I kept active with the kids.  I don't think I was lazy one single day.
2. I ate very well.  I kept close tabs on my food and was very much in control of my intake and I had incredible control over my cravings.  I was very pleased.
3. I maintained a positive attitude and am committed to keeping it up this week
4. This really isn't something I did right, but something I should mention.  I did not weigh in this morning, just cause I forgot.  I like to weigh in at the same time of day in order to be consistent, so I will weigh in tomorrow morning and see how I did!

That's it for now!  Until next time...

It's time foooooor...

This is a new "feature" where I highlight some of the things that I did well this week as I work towards change.  I am not gonna lie.  This past week was a challenge.  It wasn't because I lacked motivation, but was because life happened.  To make a long story short, our child care fell through last week and neither Tim or I could take off work.  Sooooo, I had haul butt to Indiana, so that my mother could help me with the kids for the week.  I work about 50 minutes from my mom and dad's place in Dayton, so I just stayed the week with the kids.  The problem?  All of my lovely produce and prepared-ahead-of-time meals were in Cincinnati.

So, back to the topic at hand.  What did I do right?

Thing I Did Right #1:
I did not use the stress for the week as an excuse to throw in the towel.  I didn't throw caution to the wind and eat a Nachos Bell Grande.  I can't say that delicious nacho cheese didn't cross my mind, but I did not give in.  I could not eat as cleanly as I had planned, but I was in control and that is a great feeling.

Thing I Did Right #2:
I RAN!  I ran Monday through Thursday before I left work in the school gym.  I was really proud of myself and I had a partner which was even better.  I took a break this weekend, but I got outside and ran this evening.  It was going great until it started raining! I kept going until the rain got annoying, but I did well!

Me with my post running in the rain glow!

Thing I Did Right #3:

I lost 2.4 pounds.  'Nuff Said!! 

Thing I Did Right #4:

I started watching The Killing!  Sure, I started watching that a couple seasons ago, but damn it is a good show!  AMC just can't lose.  They are responsible for all my favorite shows....well, except for True Blood and the Newsroom...but that is another entry.  Keep up the good work, AMC!

Thing I Did Right #5:

As a rule, I will always end these entries with something about my kids, because they are always the thing that I take the most pride in always.  (Cue the "awwwwww".)   Anyway, here they are playing with the Kinect.  They are now getting to the point where they have a lot of fun playing with one another.  They spent an hour jumping around in front of the TV tonight, which I am fine with because activity is activity