Day 2! 2 Pounds Down

7am
Very happy to see the scale proudly displaying 123 this morning! I know that my "normal" weight is 120 - I have hovered around, up, and under that number for about a year now. So the fact that I have been up to 125 lately is HORRORS because it means that I am gaining.

So - I figured I'd lose water weight pretty quickly, which is fine with me, it is motivating to see the scale move regardless!

No difference on the waist measurement - that's the one I really REALLY want to move, since my weight is really not the big issue. I mean seriously, who cares what the NUMBER actually says on the scale? I want measurements to move!!!

I'm looking forward to the cravings disappearing a bit - green smoothies has that effect on me, or maybe it's just that when I obstain from sugar/addictive foods for a few days, it's no longer in my system and doesn't have as much of an allure.

11am
My, it is a challenge making lunch for the kids and not eating any!! I don't eat meat as a general rule, but for some reason sandwiches have been my downfall lately. Or wraps. I love a good wrap with lunchmeat, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and bell pepper. I made DD4 a meat/lettuce/cheese sandwich today and my mouth was watering...sooo yummy looking! The Cheetos looked good too. =)

But my flat stomach feels so wonderful this morning - I love how my shirt feels loose in the tummy area after I have eaten a very low calorie day the previous day. I have one day under my belt, and I am not stopping now!

I drank almost all of one 32oz cup of green smoothie this morning, I just had to. Normally I like waiting until later in the day because then I have more allotted calories to work with, but this morning I could tell that I was starting to get that itch to scrounge in the kitchen for something. Most likely something high calorie! So I grabbed one of those and it did the trick. I think I'll probably finish it in a few, and then save the last one for tonight.

As soon as I finish the last one, I'll be making up another big 90oz green smoothie to fill up the cups again.

I just realized that on Saturday, I signed up to cook at our church as a volunteer because they are making Chicken Marsala! (Ok, not BECAUSE of that, but I was excited to see that on the menu, lol!) They make the sauce and then pour it over the chicken...the sauce is D-I-V-I-N-E. Wow. So good. I think what I'll do, is take some home and freeze it so that I can warm it up and have it when my green smoothie feast is over.

I'm also going to a friend's house with some girls for snacks & fellowship on Monday night. I think what I'll do there, is bring over a tray of veggies such as broccoli, carrot sticks, etc - and munch ONLY on that. Otherwise, and I know this from experience, it feels kind of alienating to sit there with just my green drink (or nothing!) and not touch the snacks that have been set out. At least this way I can fill my plate and not feel/look like I am being a food snob. Yet still stay raw, and hey, the veggies could very well have been blended up in a green smoothie anyways, lol!

***Edited to add - I am now pregnant, and decided to stop doing the green smoothie challenge. You can read my current pregnancy blog by going to my profile. =)

Here I go! Day 1

10am
Last night DS3 woke up several times and kept calling me from his door in the hallway. So I didn't get much sleep and woke up feeling really grumpy as a result. I didn't WANT to do green smoothies today, I didn't WANT to do my workout....gah!

But I told myself that no matter what my feelings are today, I am pressing on and I PROMISE that I am going to do that. So I got everyone out the door early to school, and started my workout early - it was a hard one today! Started out with 3 sets of 10 pushups with 60s rest in between. And kept on going that way! It felt great though, and I'm done a whole 15 minutes early.

I'm off to take a shower and then make my first green smoothie of the day. I am going to be weighing everything so I can be 100% accurate on the calorie count. Looking forward to a successful day!

10pm
Today went REALLY really well!!! My challenge *is* to get in 1 pound of greens via green smoothies per day but MOST of all, it is to stick to low calorie within the green smoothie guidelines. My goal is to create as bit of a calorie deficit in a short amount of time (10 days) that I can - while at the same time, not going crazy eating lots of food when I get hungry, thus, the green smoothies available in the fridge all the time.

In other words, eat as few calories as possible but if I do want to eat, only green smoothies.

So I made a big green smoothie that came to approx. 750 calories and it was divided up into 3 big cups. I only drank one cup! I'm very happy with that. So basically I had a fast day yesterday, up until about 4pm when the raisin bran muffins I made started looking obsenely GOOD.

That is pretty much when I always sabotage myself, when the kids come home from school and there is a delicious homemade snack I made for them and THEY DON'T EAT IT ALL! Then they're all happily playing and I'm so so tempted....! So the green smoothie saved the day.

The only reason I didn't drink more though, is because my tummy felt full and satisfied at 4pm, and then it was busy busy getting dinner ready, cleanup, dealing with lots of little problems within the siblings/kiddos - and then at 6:30 I scooted out the door to bring DD6 to a friend's house and I went to the youth meeting. I got home at 9:45 and just went to bed, wasn't really that hungry actually.

Looking forward to weigh in tomorrow!

10-day Green Smoothie Feast Tomorrow - Goals:

Funny how life comes around full circle, huh? I've been off of raw foods now for almost a year - I wish it wasn't so, but I just do NOT have the willpower to stick to it! I'm hoping summertime gets easier....ugh. Mostly I've been able to stay vegetarian, at least.

Anyway, my plan is to do a 10-day green smoothie only feast. Except, this time around I am going to stick to 1100 calories or less AND I am going to do my VI workouts 3x a week, and hopefully do some type of cardio 2x per week (optional, as it fits). I think that is why I didn't lose much weight last time....even though I was SO convinced that all you have to do is just eat raw food and not count calories, I am not so sure anymore. I'm pretty sure that staying under 1100 calories AND working out to build muscle/burn fat should put me right through this plateau of 120-125 pounds that I've been at for like, ever.

At least, for ME - with approx. 15 pounds left to lose - I think it's going to take a little more work to get these extra rolls of fat off.

My starting weight is going to be 125 - that's what I weighed this morning, anyway. My goal is 110 pounds....it used to be 120 pounds, but now that I'm there (or was there, I'm hoping the extra 5 pounds are mostly water weight) I can clearly see there is more to lose. I never thought I'd want to weigh that little, but I think you just don't know how much you have to lose until you reach that so called "magic" number and realize that it isn't really so magice after all.

It's not that I'm anal and just am never going to be happy with my body. It IS getting there, there are things I do like now that I used to hate. But I just know when I look in the mirror it's not the picture of what I have in my head, that I want to look like. The idea weight for someone my height of 5'2" is 108-121. So you see, I'm actually hovering above the highest weight that someone of my height should be at.

HOWEVER the biggest factor to me that I am at my ideal body weight/size will be my waist/hips/shoulder ratio. Mostly my waist, since my hips & shoulders are almost there. My goal for the next 10 days is to reach a 27.5" waist. I am currently sitting at a 30" waist. I measured a 27" waist on myself ONCE after fasting for 3 days, and then it never happened again.

I refuse to give up! I know I can do this - so starting tomorrow morning after a good night long fast, I'll be measuring out the fruit carefully to reach my 1200 or less calories per day. I will consume nothing but smoothies - otherwise it's too easy to just put other things in my mouth.

Goals:Reach a 27.5" waist (currently 30")
Fit into my size 1 jeans again (currently in size 3)
Weigh 115 (currently 125)
Maintain a 1100 calorie per day average (currently..uh..2500?? LOL)
LOTS and LOTS of greens!! (currently...none)

I'm not going to kid myself, this is going to be kick.butt.hard. Like, seriously head banging on the wall hard. Now that R is old enough to babysit, it's way too easy to just run to the store for a donut or chocolate with the promise of corn nuts for her as payment (lol).

I'm going to focus on looking forward to things OTHER than food, such as going shopping, watching my fave show, hanging with friends & DH, reading a good book.

I just have to separate myself completely from my feelings and wanting to just forget the whole thing. I know I can do this - !!! Wish me success...! And, get ready for a LOT of posts because that is what motivates me, posting everything I observe, think, experience, etc on my journey. =)

Day 1 - 2 Workouts Today!

(No, this TacFit girl is not me - but someday it will be!!)

2:00 PM
I am SO STOKED about how today has gone so far!!! I briefly toyed with the idea of not working out today, but I REALLY want to do this - especially since others are doing it with me. You readers make me accountable, and for that I love blogging!!

The other thing is that ONE WEEK FROM NOW I will be painting the town red with DH!! I cannot wait, and it makes it really doable to be super strict and 100% just for the next 7 days. I can totally do that!!

This morning was activity day for my oldest 4 at our church, so DH left with them at 9:15, and I had my "usual" weekday crew of the three kiddos ages 4, 2, and 1. My baby sleeps in until 10:00 no problem - just plays in her crib happily - so that allows me to do my workouts every day without her trying to climb on top of me. =)

You know how it is --- oooooooh loooky! Mommy's on the floor! She's going to play with me!! LOL.

I started like I do every day, with 5 minutes of warmup from TacFit Commando. But...didn't really feel like doing my normal workout. In fact, the music in TacFit made me want to do the full workout!

It is HARD. Like, really hard. It follows Tabata's which are the ultimate in interval circuit training. Basically 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest, for 25 minutes. Yikes! But it is SO TRUE that I feel absolutely WONDERFUL afterwards, especially when I wind down with 5 minutes of the cool down from TacFit. Love it!

So I did that, was totally stoked since I haven't had the "umph" to do TacFit in eons. Then I turned on some fun, funky dance music and proceeded to clean my house for about 1 1/2 hours.

Yesterday I didn't do my workout, and I ate a bunch of crap. So I decided that today I would just double up workouts - and since I knew I was going to go running soon, I didn't have any green smoothie cuz running on an empty stomach is optimal for me.

When DH came home, I did my normal 5-minute warmup powerwalk, then 16 min. of HIIT, rest for 5 minutes, then 25 minutes of powerwalk/jogging. Felt awesome. My whole body is still tingling from the rejuvenation of running in the light rain and taking a shower afterwards - I feel SO, so refreshed.

And actually, not hungry. So I'm going to ride it out - possibly fast until the late afternoon/evening, possibly even until tomorrow morning. That is actually optimal for fat loss and for what I'm trying to accomplish. Fasting the entire day after eating high calories the day before in addition to TWO workouts - is huge for fat loss.

But we'll see. I'm 100% going to reach for my green smoothie (gonna' be peach/banana, yum!) if I get too starving because there is STILL ice cream and hard shell chocolate in my house and that is dangerous to hungry Mamas like me. LOL.

I'll be back to report later on tonight how the rest of the day went!

8-Day Green Smoothie Challenge!

Anyone want to do this with me again?

I can't believe it's been a whole YEAR since I did this! And in truth, I was actually surprised to see when I made a point to glance at the date, that it has been almost EXACTLY a year. The picture on the right of this blog is me a year ago...this is me now:

Anyways, I think losing my delicious meal of watermelon has me in a downward spiral this time of year. I mean, starting as SOON as the stores carry them I eat no less than half a big watermelon per day, from about May all the way through the end of September.

Waaaah!!!! 7 months without it??! Aaack!

So just in case you're curious, here's where I am at now.

I currently eat NO meat. My goal every day is to eat plant based only, no dairy-sugar-meat-processed foods.

Lately it's been a BEAST trying to stick to this! Aaack!

Who ever said maintaining is easy? It's hard, I'm telling you!

I've maintained 118-120 lbs since I reached my goal of 120 in early spring, with summer being my MAJOR motivator. It helped all the way through summer, being at the pool and such - but now that my body is covered up, I'm having a hard time.

I need to get back to the basics of being fit for my HEALTH, not for appearance. You know?

So here's the scoop. Today I made chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and that is basically all I ate today.

All. Day. Long.

See? I told you this food thing is kicking my fanny!

I have a big date planned with DH in exactly 8 days from tomorrow that I am really looking forward to. We've been pinching pennies for eons now it seems, and this one day we are going to splurge for a babysitter, splurge for a cheap-o movie, splurge for a restaurant.com eat-out, and then splurge on some drinks afterwards.

I am BEYOND excited - I can't wait!!!!!!! Being with DH is like the bomb. Okay, rephrase - without the seven kiddos. LOL. Being together as a family is the bomb too, but a different kind of bomb I'd say. Hee hee!

However, I am currently feeling lumpy, lardy, and my bra is getting too tight and there is a muffin top occuring AND the dreaded back muffin top is coming BACK! Urgh!!!!

So tomorrow I am fasting until dinnertime, as is my usual custom on Fridays. I plan to go shopping for some serious GREENS and stock up on some basic, in-season-cheap fruit in the afternoon while I have a sitter.

Come dinnertime? I am starting with a BANG!!! Green smoothies ONLY, baby!

Oh yeah, I am also working out 6 days a week - haven't been so great with that for the past month, but have done pretty well this week. I'm excited to see how my stomach goes DOWN on green smoothies - especially cutting out wheat. The bloat thing is so annoying with wheat. (or maybe it's the donuts? Ha ha I don't know, probably BOTH!)

My goals:

Weight - 115-120 (weight doesn't really matter to me right now, I am currently at 120)
Muffin top - GONE in front, barely visible in back (like it was during the summer)
Upper abs - visible again 24-7 like they were here:

Bloat - GONE, especially the 2nd half of the day
Glow - I want it back!!! Especially for date day!!
Waist - back to 28" like it was here:

. Currently I am at 31" BUT that is at the end of the day of eating crap for the past 24 hours.
11pm Bedtime. That means lights out at 11, no exceptions unless the reason is out of my control because of my family. Sleep is a HUGE factor in feeling good, and will also help my glow + my body to recover from the hard workouts I've been putting it through on my new exercise regime.
Skin Brush - every day! Currently I do it 2-3x per week. Let's up the ante!

I *think* that's it. Anyone want to join me? GREEN SMOOTHIES ONLY from Saturday the 9th - Saturday the 16th.

I can't wait!!!!!!!!!! Wooooot!

Day 30 - Final Day

The end....the end...the end....! I decided that day 30 would be my last day. And in truth, I am barely hanging on to a thread and basically botched it today anyway. I had only green smoothies until 2pm (well, I guess that's not so bad!) and then ate pretty much junk the rest of the day. It's now 7:30pm and my body is begging me to stop eating, period, so I'm going to fast for the rest of the night with lots of water.

End of the green smoothie experiment results!

Weight: 137 yesterday morning. So, a loss of 9 pounds altogether. Which is about 2.25 pounds per week. A little slower than I expected, BUT it is progress so I won't complain.

Start Weight: 146
End Weight: 137

Measurements:
Biceps: Same
Chest: - .25"
Waist: - 1.25"
Under Tummy Pooch: - 1.25"
Butt: - 1.25"
Thighs: - - .25"
Calves: Same
Total Inches Lost: 4.25"

Worth It? Oh yes, definitely YES. The progress was super slow when I looked at it day by day, but over all I am happy. My clothes are definitely fitting me MUCH better so it made a big difference that way!

Week 1: 4-lbs Lost
Week 2: 3-lbs Lost
Week 3: 1-lb Lost
Week 4: 1-lb Lost

What did I learn? That 30 days is TOO LONG for me to do only green smoothies. I basically had a very hard time sticking to it for the last 8 days especially. Reading back, I loved it SO MUCH for the first 22 days! Apparently, even though I wish it was different and I did try very hard to make it not happen, as soon as I introduced SAD food into my diet, I could not maintain the same level of control.

So as soon as I went on a date with DH and had some cooked (although pretty good choices, no dairy/meat/sugar) - I could not stay away from little bits here & there. It snowballed from there.

I don't plan on giving up until I reach my goal weight of 125 - but I wnt to make more realistic goals for myself. If I ever do green smoothies only again, it will most likely be just 10 days at a time.

I estimate that I exercised about 2x per week. Mostly it was interval running for 20 minutes at a time - other times it was an exercise DVD I have, T-Tapp for 20 minutes. I wasn't very consistent with this. I tended to go ALL OUT and do it for like 5 times one week, and then nothing for 10 days in a row. NEXT TIME I will be sure to stick with something more routine and consistent so that I can get consistent results.

Day 29 - 137 + more inch loss than ever!

No, this is not a picture of me. =) I just thought it looked kind of cool, and is what I'm going to be doing in a few minutes.

I'm going to write more later, but wanted to jump on here really quick to say that I am going to do my 28-minute T-Tapp workout in a few minutes (Primary Back Stretch and Step Away the Inches). Mostly because I reallllly don't want to. All three of the little ones (3m, 1, 3) are napping (finally!) and all the bigger kids (5, 7, 8, 10) are outside playing. It is a nice, quiet Saturday afternoon (um...okay, afternoon MINUTE - we'll see how long it lasts!) and I don't really want to exercise...much rather be blogging.

Which means, ahem, that I need to stop blogging and GO exercise. But just real quick - measurements were EXCITING today!!! I am down 2 1/4" which is the MOST I've lost this entire challenge. I lost a whole inch around my waist, and over an inch around my "under tummy pooch" line. Some jeans that I wore on Friday to my sister's house and had a borderline-too-much-to-wear-in-public muffin top, had a noticeably less muffin top this morning. So weird because......I did eat some cheat things yesterday: some chocolate, some peanut butter, and some popcorn and chips. Not a ton, but enough that I was holding my breath and afraid I'd be UP today. Instead, I was at 137 which is so so cool!

Off to exercise! =)

9PM
My workout went awesome!! It felt really good once I was done, to hit that "open" button on the DVD remote and know that for today, it's finished. I'm challenging myself to do just 3 workouts each week, and so far I have done 2 in 3 days. I feel proud of myself for getting that done! Now if I can just stick to eating clean.

Today I had every intention on running to my sister's house and then coming back within 2 hours, so I piled all the kids in the car and took my one bottle of green smoothie. Uh, yeah, need to plan better. We ended up staying there for 4 hours! Oops!

But I was anal about it and did not put one bite of food in my mouth (kids had pizza and cookies, super healthy, lol!) except for 2 raw crispy yummy apples. I came home to my green smoothies all cold and freshly made in the fridge and it felt good to know that at least for today, I made those good choices.