Mother Nature

I hate, loathe, despise, etc. Mother Nature! Oh boy do men have it so easy! They are able to lose weight so quickly and they don't have to deal with our once a month bloating. I mean seriously, do we have to go up 1 pant size just because of Mother Nature? I feel so fat and nasty, like I just ate a REALLY HUGE meal... but all I had was a bowl of oatmeal. This always happens, one week I am bloated and feeling all fat and nasty, then the next week I start and I go back to normal pant size and feeling normal. This just happens to be the week of horrible bloating-ness, I am really not looking forward to weigh in this weekend.

However, I still plan on going to the gym everyday on lunch and I have all my meals planned out for this week... so if I don't lose, I am really going to try and not be upset because I know its just Mother Nature being a you know what. I really hope though that Mother Nature decides to be nice and leave ASAP so that I can kick Casey's booty at weigh in (I cant let him win 2 weeks in a row)!

I hope y'all have a great week and when you think about it, say a prayer for me (or for Casey and Caleb, they are the ones that have to deal with my mood this week, haha)!

Ding ding ding, we have a winner y'all...

If you read my blog yesterday, you know that we had to weigh in this morning due to Casey's (awful, horrible, stupid, etc.) work schedule. Last night before we went to bed we decided to take measurements and log them so that next week we can start going off Body Fat %* instead of weight lost. So we measured our waist (at the belly button), our hips (according to Shakira, they dont lie), wrist and our forearms. I will give you these measurements next week when we retake them, so that you can see a difference. Our Body Fat % this week is as follows: Me - 29.01% and Casey - 31.70%

So this morning we woke up, went potty (yes I am a Mother, I say potty), and then jumped in line to weigh. Casey decided this week he wanted to go 1st, well actually I was brushing my teeth and he just jumped on. Last week he only lost 1 pound and ended up weighing 262.2... well this week I am proud to say that he has lost another 2.0 pounds!!! He is now 260.2!!! Its been hard because I am so use to knowing what a girl is suppose to do as far as workouts and what a girl is suppose to eat as far as meal plans, so learning how to cater to Casey's weight loss goals has been different. But, we are learning together and he has had a loss every week so far. I cheered him on and reminded him that he has lost 10 pounds so far... He plugged the loss into his phone (My Fitness Pal app) and gave out a little laugh and said "Actually I have only lost 9.8 pounds"... That dang 0.2 pounds. So next week, we WILL be celebrating his 10 pound mark and him being in the 250 mark FO SHO!!

Okay, on to my turn to weigh in. So, what I didn't tell you yesterday is that I had a bridal shower at work and I had to have a friend promise to kick me in my bad knee so that I wouldnt cheat. Haha I have the best of friends ever! I ended up not have a single bite and I stuck to my food plan all day. Actually all week I stuck to my food plan, I worked out every day and I only cheated (badly) last Saturday. My clothes are fitting looser and I just feel so much better... so I stepped on the scale (remember last week I was 189.0).... and.... 189.0.... DANG IT!!!!! I was so mad. But I had to stop and remind myself that inches are what matters. The scale will play catch up, just got to keep with it.

So after all is said and done, Casey won (I hate losing, lol). He was so cute about it too... He saw how bummed out I was that I didn't lose and he was trying to console me. It hit me, I am taking this moment away from him... he won, he should be celebrating! I told him I was fine (most common lie told daily) and watched has he did his little victory dance. I am ever so proud of him and I know he is going to do good. He hasn't chosen his date for this week yet, but he won fair and square and I guess its time for me to pay up!

Body Fat % - (based on a formula developed by our US Navy) It is simply the % of fat your body contains.

The purple people eater

I am going to let you in on a little secret of mine: I am addicted to the scale. Ha! If you have been reading my blog, you are probably laughing right now because that aint no secret at all… Why are we so fixed on a number?? I mean seriously, unless you wear that number around you neck or painted on your clothes, NO ONE knows what it is. What matters more then the number of pounds you lose is the number of inches you lose. Well on with my story…

Last night I was getting frustrated because the scale is pissing me off (go figure) so I decided to try on my purple shorts that I plan on wearing onto the cruise boat in 65 days. Last week when I put them on, they were really snug and could barley button. This week when I put them on, I was able to button them with ease and they were snug but not as much as last week. I took a picture and compared it to the one I took last week and oh my cheese, I could really tell a difference. I had to send it to Jamie to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Instantly, the number on the scale went out the window and I was amazed about how many inches I have lost in just 1 week.

I shouldn’t be so amazed, I know hard work and dedication pays off… its just been so long since I have had one of those moments that I guess the memory was faded. Well, after last night, the fire inside me grew just a little more. I have decided each Wednesday night I will try those shorts on and each time I will take a picture. In 65 days (9 weeks) I will post each picture as a flip book so you are able to see my transformation. I am so excited; it will be like my bikini photos all over again.

Oh and side note - due to Casey's work schedule this weekend, we will be weighing in tomorrow morning instead of Saturday morning. So come back tomorrow to read who won this week's weigh in. I hope he does, I mean I have dominated that scale 2 weeks now the poor boy needs a win. Ha! Next week it will be changed to BMI loss instead of weight loss, it would have been changed this week but we forgot to measure last week so...

A little thing called Motivation

When I 1st lost my weight, people always wondered how I stayed motivated. I think I blogged about it... Well now this time around, I had to really dig deep and find new things to keep me going. Our lives are always changing and goals are met, well after the goal is met, then what? You set a new goal. I think that is where I got caught up the 1st time. I set a goal of losing 100 pounds... and then nothing. I didn't set another goal for myself and by the time I realized it, I had lost all my umph that kept me going. So, I have dug down deep and found the top 10 things that are keeping me going now. I am going to try and remember each month to evaluate these goals and if any are met to replace them with something new, so that I always have 10 things pushing me. I am a very goal oriented person and I think this will really help me. Here goes nothing...

Top 10 things that are keeping me motivated this time around:

10. Never wanting to see 200lbs again

9. All my jeans for the fall are size 10's and 12's and I aint buying more pants!

8. 164.5 lbs (smallest weight so far) I am coming for you

7. I wanna wear my mini skirt to Casey's birthday dinner

6. 2 words - Purple shorts

5. Seeing Jamie & Justin in September (who have also lost a bunch a weight)

4. Mine and Casey's cruise!!!

3. One day buying a wedding dress that is a size 10 or smaller

2. I will never tell this one but one person (Jamie Anderson) knows so that is all that matters!

1. The love of my life, Mr. Caleb Scott Lassiter

I would LOVE to hear what keeps you going!!!

The $43 meal plan

I wrote on FB the other day that I went grocery shopping and spent only $43 on one weeks meal plan (6 days worth of foods)... the response to that was "How?" So here I am to tell you how I did it and what I bought exactly.

1st off, this is for one person (Casey). After I prepared all the meals I had enough left overs for another person, but we froze them so that next weeks grocery bill will be even less. And also remember I had coupons. I am not a coupon cutter, but when Target sends out the weekly ads I will go ahead and keep the ones I know I can or will use. And when Target hands me the coupons with my receipt, I keep those too. Most of the time those coupons they hand you are coupons for $5.00 off $50 or more. $5.00 doesnt sound like a lot, but to this broke Momma it is!

*For this shopping trip, I shopped at Target*

Here is the grocery list I used (I use the off brand to almost EVERYTHING):

2 boxes of oatmeal (2 a day for 6 days, each box contains 10 that is why I needed 2 boxes)

1 package of sausage links (2 a day, box contains 12)

Fiber Bars (extra big box that had 12, cheaper then buying 2 boxes that would've had 10)

2 packages of Turkey meat (on sell 2 for $7)

2 Steamed veggies (coupon for 1 package $0.99)

1 bag of red potatoes

Yogurt (off brand is only $0.57 - Albertsons is 10 for $10 but I was at Target so...)

Eggs (coupon for $0.99)

1 bag of apples

Frozen chicken breast (bag for $5.47 coupon)

1 box of brown rice ready to boil

2 cans of pinto beans

1 loaf of bread (free coupon)

2 packets of Taco Seasoning (off brand is 2 of $1.00)

I also bought (out of the $1 section):

Lint Roller

Magnets

Sandwich holder

Gum

Meal Plans:

Breakfast - Oatmeal and sausage links

Snack - Fiber bar

Lunch - Meat loaf, steamed veggies, red potatoes

Snack - Yogurt & apple

Dinner - Taco Chicken, brown rice and beans

When I got home, I went to work and cooked and prepared everything for the week. Now instead of the fridge being full of food, it is full of grocery bags that are all prepared with that days meal plan. It is broken down and easy to just grab and go. Being prepared is key!

Grand Total $43.42 for 6 days worth of 5 meals/snacks... that is about $1.45 a meal/snack!

And the winner is....

It is Saturday again and that means that it is the only morning that I don't feel guilty for waking Casey up "early"... I seriously was like a child on Christmas morning about an hour ago. We finally got out of bed and went to weigh in. Ladies first this week. Before I tell you what my weight was, I need to tell you how hard this week was. You have already read about all my temptations (that I overcome, yay me). I worked out more then I have since having my knee surgery (giving up time with friends to work out, not always fun for this social butterfly). But I had a goal and I wanted to make sure I met it. I so desperately wanted to be back into the 180's. That would mean I would need to lose 2.2 pounds or more. Ok, back to my story of my weigh in. I stepped on the scale and beep, beep, beep... (remember I was 192.0 last week)... 189.0!!!! That is a 3 pound loss on week 2 (the hardest week of weight loss, mostly when people give up because they don't lose as much as the 1st week).

Before I could celebrate my awesome weight loss, I had to let Casey weigh in. He stepped on and beep, beep, beep...(remember he was 263.2 last week)... 262.2. He lost only 1 pound and was kind of disappointed (even though he wont admit it to my face). I made him promise he wouldn't give up and stay with the program. Week 2 is ALWAYS the hardest... I am SO proud of him. He has been eating so well, been giving up stupid boy time (video games, lol) to get workouts in, hasn't drank in so long and much more. I am excited about my weight loss but I am even more excited to see the next couple weeks for his weight loss. Proud is an understatement. Go Casey Go!

Long story short, I WON AGAIN!!!! So this week we will most likely be going to the circus with my sweet baby boy Caleb (it will be his 1st time)...

Funny side note: Last night one of my best friends had a birthday dinner and I ate really good (temptation blog to come later in the week with pictures) and I gave up pizza and cake. Well kind of, I brought Casey and I a piece of cake home. After weigh in this morning, we had that cake for breakfast. Haha! YOLO (You only live once)!

The human garbage disposal

Lets take a quick poll... how many of you Mom's eat the left over food off your childs plate? Now now, don't be shy, we all do it. I am the worlds worst, but since weighing in at 200 a couple weeks ago, I haven't touched any of it. Instead of me cleaning up after Caleb, I have been making him do it. This is not only helping me stay away from all those extra calories, but it is also teaching him a life lesson. However, last night we were running behind schedule (we follow a very tight schedule every night, yes I am OCD) and so in order to speed up the cleaning up process I took over. On my way to the sink with his plate I caught myself picking up some of his leftovers. As soon as I realized what I was doing, I spit them out and washed the rest down the garbage disposal. I mean, we have garbage disposal so why not use them instead of thinking we are the garbage disposal?

As soon as clean up was done and Caleb was in the bath, I went to my room, pulled out my favorite pair of shorts (my purple ones that are size 11/13) and tried those suckers on. May 2011 I was able to pull them on and off with no problem... last night was a different story. They buttoned (barley) but with the size of my muffin top, I could have opened a whole bakery... not to even mention the bad case of camel toe they gave me. These shorts (right now) are not very flattering. I have 73 more days til the cruise (oh yeah, Casey and I are going on a cruise September 29 - October 4) and I am going to work my butt off (literally) so that when I step on that boat, I will be stepping on wearing those purple shorts.

I have a picture BUT my button on my blog to post pictures is missing, guess you will have to just wait to see it another day! Y'all have a happy healthy day today and when times get tough just remember I am giving up FREE Los Vaqueros... If I can do that, you can do overcome whatever obstacle is in your way!

I feel skinny!

I love mornings when you wake up and feel skinny. I woke up this morning and put on a dress that I wore 2 weeks ago (and it was tight) and today it wasn't tight at all. 2 weeks ago, I had to have Casey zip me up while I sucked in as much as I could... this morning, I was able to zip it with ease. Mornings like that are a great reminder that what I am doing is working and what I am giving up is oh so worth it.

Speaking of giving things up, man this has been a week of temptations! Yesterday we had an ALTA Luncheon with work. They had an amazing spread of food and a even better spread of dessert. I stuck to some pork tenderloin, a small salad and roasted red potatoes. Another temptation this week will happen tomorrow. XTO has what they call Down Home every other Thursday, it is where they cater in lunch for all 5000+ employees. This week, it is mexican food.... I plan on bringing my lunch and going to the gym while everyone else is down stairs eating yummy Los VaQueros! If you thought that was enough temptation for one week, you are wrong...one word, FRIDAY! Friday will start early for me, at 12:01 am Casey is taking me to see Dark Knight Rises (eek) and so I will have to say no to the temptations of movie food (popcorn and slurpees). Then Friday during the day I am taking a vaca day and heading to the pool with my sweet friend Julie, hello snack bar (I will be packing my lunch). AND THEN (no more and then, lol) Friday night I am celebrating one of my dear friends (BB) birthdays with pizza, wine and goodies... I will be sticking to something very healthy and water. The good thing about BB is that she understand 110% where I have been and where I want to be, so she wont give me greif about wanting to be healthy.

I can't wait to see the scale on Saturday morning. Even if its a small loss, I will know that I lost because I didn't cave all week. Then Saturday afternoon I will be able to enjoy my Fat Girl meal without any guilt and I will love every bit of it.

Oh side note: Casey has been doing GREAT with food. His roommate went to the store and bought $200 worth of junk food and he hasn't cheated once! I am super proud of him. He has been slacking on the gym though, the boy loves his naps! I really hope he beats me Saturday, but dont tell him I said that... Haha!

My weakness

My weakness... dessert. Most people can tell you one exact thing that brings them to their knees, but not me. When it comes to desserts, I don't care what it is... I will try it. Chocolate pie, s'mores, confetti cake, brownies (my sisters are the best, shout out Val), ice cream (all kinds, hello Rocky Road), banana puddin, mmm bread puddin, ohh how about cake balls... okay I am torturing myself and probably you so I will get on with my blog. The bottom line is that I have a HUGE sweet tooth, wish there was a dentist that could pull that sucker out (mmm...suckers...haha)!

Now the reason I am telling you this is because tomorrow I have a luncheon at work and they have one amazing buffet. The salad bar is amazing. The main course is amazing. AND THE DESSERT BAR IS AMAZING! I was sitting here tonight on the phone with Casey and after telling him this and telling him my fear of relapsing, he laughed and said "yep, I got this weeks weigh in already won because you will cave!" Wow butthead, thanks for the support. Seriously though, he knows me all to well... but I am turning over a new leaf and I promise you I will not cave! Knowing I have people behind me waiting to hear my results, gives me that boost I need...

Why are desserts are tempting to us women and men can pass them up like its no big deal? Why do we let desserts (and other foods) comfort us and make us weak at the knees? I really do think it goes back to Adam and Eve, I mean it was Eve who ate the apple... not Adam. Dang Eve not only got us kicked out of that perfect garden but also left us with this emotional tie to food. That might not even be the case, but you bet your sweet bottom I will be asking God these questions when we have our "Jordan meets God" talk one day.

Okay, I am stepping off my soap box now... how did ya like them apples (they probably would be better dipped in caramel and then rolled in nuts, haha)!

Planning is fun for all (well maybe not all)...

I am a planner. I love to plan my day, my meals, my clothes, Caleb's life, Casey's life, our dates... you name it, I love to plan it. Casey on the other hand, he is a fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy. I think this really makes our relationship "fun". When talking about weight loss, I told him that if he really was serious he needed to start having more of a plan. To my surprise, he listened and agreed. They talked at church about listening and responding, it made me think of this.

We planned out his meals for the whole week and today we went shopping. When we got home we went ahead and made breakfast, snacks, lunch, more snacks and dinners to last him a total of 6 days! The total of his grocery bill was $65.03 that is a total of $2.17 a meal. His meal plan is listed below...

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs & 2 pieces of turkey sausage
Snack: Nuts and Yogurt
Lunch: Pork Chop, Brown rice, Black Beans, and steamed veggies
Snack: Fruit (varies every day)
Dinner: Baked Fish, steamed veggies and beans (if he wants them)

I have to say, it was pretty fun being able to shop with him and even more fun being able to come home and cook with him. Everything is all ready and bagged out for each day so he can just take it and go. Cant wait to see how much weight he loses next week... Gotta go, he is ready to head out to the gym! Man I love having him on board with me, makes my life easier!

Winner winner chicken dinner

Casey and I had our 1st weigh in this morning!!! He woke up and had to pee so I followed him in there so we can weigh. After he was done, he said "Okay, lets do this. You are going down!" (them are fightin words). I snapped back that it wasnt fair that he got to pee and I didnt (that could cost me the weigh in, haha hey a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do). So we both finished up and then got out the scale. Casey was anxious to step on and show me what he had lost, so I let him go 1st. To be honest I thought maybe 2 pounds at the most for him... I mean he cheated like 4 times, drank tons of DP, Red Bulls, and never worked out. Well, he stepped on and it was 263.2! That is a 7.6lb loss for him. I instantly got scared. I knew I had lost a big number but I didnt think it was that big.

It is now my turn to weigh in and like I said, I was nervous. But, the scale beeped, beeped and beeped and then BAM 192.0!!! EIGHT FREAKIN POUNDS!!! Take that Casey Joe, in yo face!!! I know I know I only beat him by 0.4 lbs BUT I beat him and that is all that matters. Plus if you really wanna get into it, I am a girl and he has more weight to lose. I think in the coming weeks, we will do it by body % instead of actual weight lost.

With me winning, that means I get to pick our date for next week and my oh so wonderful boyfriend (the loser) gets to pay for it. So I have chosen that we go to Chiluly Nights out in Dallas on Thursday night. It is a blown glass art show that is lite up and then there is also a concert in the gardens. Oh and on Tuesday and Thursdays they have dress up contest, for our night it is Best 80's Costumes! We are about to walk out the door and head to Goodwill and Thrift town to buy furniture and I am going to keep an eye out for 80's things while we are there. Cant wait to have my victory date on Thursday...

Oh and Casey has asked me to write him out a food plan and workout plan. This is so exciting, having him on board with this all. I sat down last night and we wrote him out a food plan (like mine but more calories, stupid men) and we are going to the store tomorrow and then going to prepare everything so he can just grab it and go daily.

Y'all have a great weekend, I know we will...

A girl and a row machine

Monday when I started back at the gym (for my 100th do over), I was told to try the row machine. It would be easier on my knee and give me a good upper body workout as well as a cardio and core workout. I went over there Monday, the machine was occupied. Tuesday, it was the same story. Wednesday, oh my word the same old man is on the machine again. Yesterday I was bound and determined to beat him to the machine... guess what, I did! I got on and told myself I was going to go for 20 minutes (since it was my 1st time). I was about 16 minutes in and that same old man came walking over and had a confused look on his face, probably because I had the machine and he didnt. He stood near by with that look in his eye, you know that gym look of saying "Omg when are they are going to get off? Maybe if I stand here long enough they will move." Dont act like you dont know what I am talking about, we have all done it... or atleast I have! Haha. What this man didnt know is that look triggered my awesome personality and just cost him another 10 minutes of me hogging the machine. I decided since he hogged it Monday through Wednesday I was going to finish my 20 minutes and then add another 10 on top of it. I would have gone to 45 but I knew I had some other machines calling my name. He may not have found it funny, but it gave me that push I needed to go above and beyond.

Oh and this morning, OMG I am SORE!!! I heart the row machine, now if only I can beat that guy EVERY day... mission accepted!

The Casey & Jordan Project

I know I have slacked the past couple of weeks... I could give you an excuse but we both will know its lame so I will spare you the pain of reading it. Bottom line, that fire inside me hasn't fully been started and it keeps dying out way to quickly. But boy oh boy it became lite fully on last Saturday morning... Sit back and relax as I tell you a story that brought me to tears!

Last Saturday I was in the bathroom getting ready for our busy busy BUSY day... Casey and Caleb come walking in there and Casey gets on the scale. He weighs in at 270.0 and says "Man I really need to get this under 250". Now a number is just a number and it doesnt define you, but it can play mean and nasty tricks with you mind. Also, if you know that number you also need to know this number, his height (which is 6'3). Someone who is 5'10 can weigh 270 and look (and feel) way worse then someone who is 6'3 and weighs that. I am 5'10 and I should be weighing about 150-175... which for the past couple of weeks I have been playing around in the 180's. I haven't stepped on the scale in awhile and so after he stepped off, I decided to step on. Something I have never done in front of him... I stepped on thinking the worse will be about low 190's. Ha! I was wrong. I weighed in at exactly 200.0 lbs. I instantly felt defeated. I asked Casey to take Caleb to the living room and I laid in the fetal position on my bed and cried. How can I have let myself get this out of hand? I can say it was because my knee, but what does that have to do with how bad I have been eating? As I laid there and cried, I talked to myself and tried to wrap my head around it. Something just clicked (I think it was the fire inside of me burning at its full potential). I got up, went to the kitchen, threw away ALL of the junk food in the house and then sat next to Casey on the couch. I went into detail how my weight loss is either black (hardcore losing) or white (hardcore not caring), that there is no inbetween and that he is about to see a side of me that he has never seen before. Since that morning, I have been doing very well... The girls at work are even amazed at my ability to shut out the world of crappy foods. I am in this to win this now, I promise you and even more importantly I promise myself.

Casey and I decided that we would make a game out of the weight loss journey the next couple of months. We have a date night once a week and so we decided on Saturday mornings we will weigh in and whoever loses the most weight can pick the date for the next week and the other person has to pay for it (with in reason). You all know how badly I like to win, so let the games begin! Since Saturday, I have been active every day. Sunday I got the boys up and made them take a walk with me. Monday-Thursday I will be going to the gym on my lunch and doing atleast 45 minutes of cardio and then some strength training and core work (as much as my knee allows me to do). Friday-Sunday will be my "off" days from the gym, but I will try and get in some kind of walking on the weekends. I have joined My Fitness Pal and have been hardcore tracking my foods and well as my work outs and I even sat down last night and planned out 2 weeks of meals and prepared grocery list to make it "easier". I will not let this fire burn out, I will NOT let my Mother win... She was the one who said "Never say Never" to me losing my weight and telling her I was not going to gain it all back. (Crappy thing for a Mom to say, right?!)

I do want you to know that I really struggled with posting this blog because I was ashamed of telling everyone I hit 200.0lbs again. But then I realized, its a part of my story, its a part of my life... Someone out there is struggling with exactly what I am and me sharing this could help them out. Saturday is mine and Casey's 1st weigh in to see who wins, lets just say I think our next date night will be picked my yours truly! I'll keep ya posted!

Oh and favor... You are all my friends and my loved ones, please help me! Please dont pressure me into doing something I will regret. Please ask me to do things that will get me active instead of being a bump on a log. Please help remind me of how happy I was when I hit my 100lb loss. Please remind me that 160's are calling my name! I will get there and you can beat your sweet bottom on it... It might not be before my 27th birthday in August, but I will get there. I am hoping by my birthday I am back to the low 180's or lower. Here goes nothing!