Mariah's Weds

Another not so hot night. I think there will be some really rough nights ahead with these small monkeys!!

At 5am I had a swig of carrot juice and the last piece of banana bread

9am - four bites of yogurt with strawberries & blueberries and then Ryenne stole it so I took a bite of her cinammon toast for revenge (she got mad)

snack - 6 mini puffed rice cakes (caramel!)

noon - picked a few bites of Kai's stew that my mom in law made - 4 chunks of beef and several little carrots

snack - 6 triscuits with laughing cow cheese and a big helping of grapes

dinner - whole wheat pasta with pesto and a dinner roll

treat - 2 squares of dark chocolate

Note: It had been a few years since I tried whole wheat pasta. Last I tried it was very chewy and not so hot. I tried it again for tonights dinner and it was REALLY good. So I'll be making the switch permanently now!

Katie: I've always wanted to try Red Lobster! And Olive Garden too. And since we've moved here I got to try Macaroni Grill (LOVE), Mimi's Cafe (LOVE), and the most recent indulgence... Cheesecake Factory (LOVE LOVE). I'll have to save those for cheat days.

Speaking of cheat day... my cheat day is TUESDAY. The kids go to school and it's Peter's day off. So maybe every now and then we'll be able to sneak in a lunch date with Cruz.

Wednesday

Morning - two donuts (I know!)

Afternoon - nothing

Dinner - Subway sandwhich

So I caved into the donuts at Jackson's speech stars but I think I made up for it the rest of the day.

Red Lobster, Ugh!

We went to see Nana and Grandpa tonight because Daddy was at a meeting and they took us to Red Lobster. In general, seafood can be a pretty healthy choice but I did a lot of dipping into my lemon butter sauce and I had two fabulous dinner rolls. I wish I had looked up the nutrition info online first because I think I could have made a tweak or two to my order and saved me lots of calories while still have a scrumptious meal.

I had a good day otherwise so hopefully my indulgent dinner won't ruin my whole week.

M- I've been thinking just how hard it must be for your body to lose weight when it's not getting much sleep and you are already losing weight! Be easy on yourself. You are working so hard!

As for last night's dinner (parmesan chicken with prosciutto) it was quite yummy. I would probably only do two slices of prosciutto per chicken breast or use a little less parmesan to make it even healthier but all in all a big hit. Super moist and lots of flavors. We had pasta with pesto and spinach instead of the brown rice.

Mariah's Tuesday

Katie I forgot to ask you how that recipe came out!!! I can't wait to try it out.

This morning was a little rough. Kai didn't sleep well cause he has a cold and Cruz caught it and didn't sleep well either. Plus, Grandma and Papa left this morning at 6am so I got a grand total of 3 hours of sleep. When Peter took them to the airport, I told him, "PLEASE bring me back breakfast! McDonalds is OK"

So he brought back a sausage mcmuffin and hash brown. I took a bite and I dont know... maybe the oil was weird but it just didn't taste good. I ate a few bites and then just couldn't finish. I really WANTED to finish it but the taste was off. So I drank some carrot juice instead.

Snack: 10 Macadamia Nuts & banana bread

Lunch: bowl of raisin bran with a cut up banana

Snack: toast with cinammon and butter (yeah not a good choice!)

Dinner: Meatless spaghetti with spinach and zucchini

Exercise: DVD Walking away the pounds 2 mile walk

Monday

I got sleep this morning! This is Marissa & Eugene's last day with us. I am going to miss being able to hand off kids and take a rest.

I had raisin bran with a banana and coffee as my "brunch" (it was 11am)

at 3pm I had a teeny tiny bowl of rice with pork and peas

dinner was a bit of rice and pot roast with a glass of kefir.

I don't feel that I did really well today. I also had a large piece of banana bread with butter on it. tsk tsk.

No exercise today aside from cleaning in the backyard and chasing Kai and going on a walk with him. I think the sun drained me of all my energy.

Yesterday I tried to be really good and avoid carbs. Major backfire. I had a huge garden salad with some steak. Cruz got really gassy and I was starving at 11pm and needed to have toast!

Dinner Tonight

I'm embarking on a new recipe tonight. Parmesan chicken with prosciutto. I think I'll serve with brown rice and it's always a big hit in my house. I realize that prosciutto may not be the healthiest thing in the world but I still think this recipe is much healthier than what we would normally eat for dinner. Click here for the recipe.

One thing I love about the two of us doing this together is that our goals are very similar. We want to be healthy and our families to be healthy. Of course we want to lose lots of weight but we aren't interested in starving ourselves to be a size four.

I also had a great moment this morning at HEB. We were in the produce aisle and Jackson spotted raw broccoli and ranch dip. He got all excited so I bought some immediately of course. We've only been home for thirty minutes and he's already eaten all the broccoli! I never would have thought to buy that for him but he eats it at school. Just another reason I love MUMC CDC.

And I finally bought a digital scale. My weight according to it is 215.6 lbs. so I'll be using those numbers for weigh in on Friday.

Weigh In and In Laws

Well I forgot that Fridays were our weigh in day. The good news is I weighed in this morning and I've lost two pounds!!!

All this after my visit to the in-laws which was not very good diet wise. It was a great visit other than that. I tried to do my best but it was hard eating on the road and then my father-in-law is quite the cook. Some things I ate this weekend: mashed potatoes, pork ribs, chicken wings, ice cream, bacon, biscuits. How I managed to not pack on two more pounds I don't know. Maybe it just shows how poorly I've been eating!

But now we're back home. The only obstacle I have this week is Easter on Sunday. It's going to be tough but if I'm good all week I should be able to enjoy Easter and still lose weight.

Weigh In: 215 lbs. (lost 2 lbs.)

Next weigh in on Friday.

P.S. Our blog design is awesome!

Mariah Friday & Saturday

Friday:

Breakfast: Veggie & Egg Scramble with Coffee

Lunch: skipped (I took a nap)

Dinner: Veggie Tempura with a piece of leftover brisket (ate too much!)

Treat: Skinny Cow ice cream bar

Exercise: 20 push ups, 15 sprints up the stairs

Saturday:

Breakfast: 2 Kashi whole grain blueberry waffles, handful of fresh blueberries, splash of syrup

Lunch: 2 pieces of whole grain cheese pizza with basil on top, glass of blueberry kefir

Snack: handful of low fat wheat thins

Dinner: Veggie stir fry with 2 pieces of leftover Salt Lick sausage, glass of blueberry kefir

Treat: chocolate covered pretzels

Exercise: 20 push ups.

Thursday (Yesterday)

Ah Katie don't worry about the McD's!!! I had bbq last night!!!

Thursday menu:

Breakfast: fruit protein shake

Lunch: peanut butter sandwhich on wheat bread

Dinner: BBQ plate at the Salt Lick (didn't finish it!)

Treat: bite of pecan pie, peach cobbler, and blackberry cobbler (just bites!)

Exercise: None :(

Friday weigh in: 227 (2 pounds lost!)

Goal for next week: 1-2 pounds

I got mastitis yesterday. My boob is ON FIRE. Got some antibiotics and hoping to feel better. I've started off my Friday with a zucchini and spinach egg scramble with turkey bacon and a little bit of cheese (along with my coffee). My challenge for tonight will be shrimp and veggie tempura and all it's fried goodness. Maybe I'll steam some veggies to go with it and not eat so much of the fried stuff.

I also found a really awesome calculator at Dietitian.com that let me input my heigh/weight/gender and also that I'm nursing and it gave me the proper caloric intake that I'm supposed to have. I was WAY off with what I thought I was supposed to have. I thought I should be taking in around 2,000 calories per day and I'm supposed to be taking in 1650-1700. So I think I'm going to do an experiment and buy some of the Eating Right or Lean Cuisine meals next week and see if that helps to lose more weight and also if I can keep my energy up at the same time.

Here's to a wonderful week #2 for me and Katie!

Recovery

I recovered from my McDonalds binge with a turkey sandwich last night. Now I'm eating some Wheat Thins. Real challenge is going to be travel food this weekend . . .

HELP!!!

I just had McDonalds. Please schedule my intervention immediately.

Katie's Wednesday

Yesterday was odd. Off schedule or something.

I had two breakfast tacos for breakfast and one for lunch. Then leftover spaghetti with wheat pasta for dinner. My after dinner snack was strawberry yogurt Graham picked up for me at the store. He's so thoughtful that he bought the Lite kind but I think it tastes really yucky! It's like when you've been drinking regular coke all your life and then you switch to diet. Hopefully I'll get used to it because he bought 10 of them!

My yummy lentil and bacon salad is from the chef Jaime Oliver also known as the Naked Chef. I have his app on my iPhone and the recipe is there. I'll post it when I get a free second.

Mariah's Wednesday

Breakfast: Raisin bran with banana and 2% milk

Lunch: toast with avocado, salmon, and parm cheese on top

Snack: 15 wheat thins

Dinner: Ground turkey spaghetti with spinach and zuchinni

Treat: Dark Chocolate Square

Exercise: Brisk walk half way around the block, 15 sprints up the stairs

my wagon hit a speed bump

I must have been in a brain fog when I started this lifestyle change while my in-laws are here. Seriously... tempting food EVERYWHERE.

I started the day yesterday with raisin bran, banana, and coffee. Then things got bad. A trip down to the outlets made everyone say, "Hey! How about Cracker Barrel for lunch?" and off we went. Somehow my mouth uttered the words, "Chicken fried chicken" to the waitress instead of GREEN SALAD. How did that happen? Did I eat it all? NO. But I did eat all my okra and green beans like a good girl.

Then off to Pop's house where there was.... wait for it.... BRISKET and SAUSAGE and POTATO SALAD. Did I eat it? Yes. But then I made myself go running around in the pasture chasing the kids for 15 minutes. Got all winded and sweaty. Today will be much better. Tomorrow the Salt Lick is on the agenda so no promises for tomorrow!

~ Mariah ~

Katie's Tuesday

Breakfast - goldfish

Lunch - leftover chicken marsala and pasta

Snack - some of Hogan's shells and cheese

Dinner - warm lentil and bacon salad

Snack - applesauce

I'm proud of skipping the spaghetti I made for Graham at dinner and just ate the salad. The spaghetti is pretty healthy so I will eat the leftovers today but I didn't just stuff myself silly last night which is what I would have normally done. Not too proud of sharing Hogan's shells and cheese.

Decided I need to buy a good stockpile of strawberry yogurt. It really hits my sweet tooth.

Katie's First Day

Well Mariah totally kicked my butt with her first day. Way to go!

I skipped breakfast because we didn't have food but I went to HEB to stock up so I'm prepared for breakie all week.

Lunch - philadelphia sushi rolls

Snack - popcorn

Dinner - chicken marsala over pasta

Snack - low-cal strawberry yogurt

No exercise :(

Mariah's Day #1

Breakfast: 2 small pancakes, no butter, tiny squirt of syrup, handful of blueberries

Lunch: Protein Shake with fruit

Snack: 10 low fat wheat thins

Dinner: Small filet of salmon tossed with half a zuchinni, handful of spinach, garlic, olive oil, and pasta with one tsp of parm cheese

Treat: one chocolate square

Exercise: 30 times up/down stairs and half hour walk around the neighborhood

Mariah's Day of Reckoning

Beginning weight: 229 pounds

First goal I'm setting for myself: 5 pounds

Reward: pedicure when I lose 5 pounds

Long term goals:

- get below 200 pounds and never, ever see the scale get that high again

- fit into my husbands jeans

- ultimate dress size goal is a size 10 or 12 but I'll settle for a 14 :)

- inspire my husband to get healthy with me

My weaknesses:

- SUGAR

- BREAD & BUTTER/OLIVE OIL

- PASTA

My strategy:

- exercise portion control and eat more often

- make healthy food choices that I can maintain throughout my life

- set a good example for Ryenne, Kai, and Cruz

- simple exercise that I can do throughout the day (chasing the kids, running the stairs, ect)

My next weigh in will be on Friday morning.

Day of Reckoning

Well the day of reckoning has come. After a scrumptious feast last night, it's time to get healthy.

Last night I saw some pictures taken of me this weekend and it was quite the eye opener. I can't believe how this has happened to me so quickly. I weigh almost the same as I did when I was nine months pregnant with Hogan!

So I started off today with a trip to HEB. We bought lots of fruit to snack on and I bought myself some sushi for lunch. Tonight we will be having a warm lentil and bacon salad and spaghetti with whole wheat pasta. Personally I could just eat the salad but Graham says he needs more. Frankly I think he just can't get past the idea of salad as a main course.

Beginning weigh in: 217 lbs.

Never again!

The last of my eat fest

So we got together for our last big eat fest meal. It was fabulous. Steak, fried rice, lumpia, asparagus... and COOKIES!

Tomorrow I'll be weighing in and blogging my meal.

XO,

Mariah

YEAH!!!!

Super excited to join this with my very dear friend. Katie, you and I are going to rock this!!

Our Challenge

After five children and many stretch marks two mamas in Austin have decided it's time to get skinny. We will be posting our healthy food choices and progress on this blog so keep checking in. Soon we will be as hot as Heidi Klum!