Sickness Sucks!

I was super sick last weekend which is why I have been away from the blogging world. It was miserable. I then started to get better and now I am starting to get sick again. I do not like it at all! I have luckily been doing good on the eating side of things BUT the workout is not going well at all. I just have had no strength or motivation since sick. I hate that feeling. I wish I wouldn't of gotten sick so I could of kept up the work out motivation. I am sure it will come back once I feel better completely.

Also, add into the mixture of being sick I started my period. Great mixture to have with being sick. *haha* kidding! I don't know about anyone else, but I know they say working out is a great thing during your time of the month but I am not one of those people. It isn't because of cramps and such, I just don't feel like it. It makes me lazy. *HAHA*

How are you guys during sickness and your time of the month with the weight loss adventure you are on?

Liebster Award

I was so kindly awarded this by Kim @ Less of Me, More to Life. THANK YOU!

According to what I have read: the Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  “Liebster” is German for sweetest, valued, welcome and/or favourite.

Here are the Rules:

Each nominee must share 11 things about themselves.  

Answer the 11 questions set for you and create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

Nominate promising new bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

11 Things About Myself: 

1. I have twin 5 month old boys.

2. My favorite movie is The Little Mermaid.

3. I lived in New Zealand for 5 years when I was younger.

4. I have a double major in Graphic Design and Art History, along with an associates degree in Art. So yeah, you could say I have a thing for art.

5. I have a guilty pleasure for 80s music.

6. I am not going to lie, I enjoy watching teen based movies and tv shows. They are things you can watch and you can just let your mind relax because they are no thinkers.

7. I used to have a guinea pig named Bubble Guinea. 

8. I love going to hands-on science museums.

9. I love dinosaurs.

10. I could drink coconut Italian cream sodas every day, all day.

11. I love making up songs to everyday things. My kids love it.

 

 

11 Questions I had to answer:

1. Favorite Movie? - *haha* I just answered that above. Little Mermaid

2. What made you start blogging? - I thought it would be a good way to get encouragement from people who were going through the same thing as me. Also, it would help me stay accountable for my actions.

3. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be and why? - I would love to live in Italy somewhere because of all the art and architecture you could experience everyday. However, I would probably pick as an overall place - Ireland. It would be so beautiful and relaxing.

4. Walk or run? - I would love to be able to run longer and be into it more. Maybe one day.

5. Favorite time of year? - Fall. I love the leaves changing color but also the temperature. That perfect time when you can wear jeans and a hoodie and be comfortable.

6. What is your favorite song right now? - I am not quite sure. The majority of my songs these days involve Disney. *haha*

7. What is your goal for the year? - Be a great mom and continue to lose weight for my boys.

8. What is Hockey, Basketball or football? - I'm not sure sure what that is asking but I am guessing what is my favorite..... I would have to say that Hockey is pretty amazing to watch live. I have done that one time and it was a pretty cool experience.

9. How do you capture your memories? - I use my phone and a camera to take pictures and video. 

10. iPhone, Android or Blackberry? - Android. Love it!

11. Glass half full or half empty? - Sometimes it goes back and forth depending on my mood. 

My Questions to my nominees:

1. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 5 things would you bring with you (if you already had the bare basics of food, water, shelter and clothing)?
2. What is your favorite movie?
3. Which would you rather experience firsthand - space exploration or underwater exporation?
4. What is a huge fear of yours?
5. Do you have something you love but are embrassed to say you enjoy it? (For example, you love Justin Beiber, you enjoy eating baby food because it tastes good to you, you like to collect your toenails, etc)
6. What is something you love about yourself, non physical?
7. What is something you love about yourself, physically?
8. Pet-peeves about people?
9. If you could go anywhere in the world, money and time wasn't an issue, where would you go?
10. If you could eat only one type of food (mexican, italian, thai, etc) dfor the rest of your life, what would it be?
11. Favorite dessert?

My Nominees are:

Little Mrs. Married Get's Healthy

Those Last 75 Pounds

Tales of a tired mommy...

Amanda's Life as a mommy and wife

Escovedo Escapades

I'm sailing aweight...  

Kismet and Kilograms

Progress not Perfection  

Transitioning to 143

View from the 512 


Deliciously Healthy

Food Review x3

LEAN CUISINE - CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES

Let me start off by saying I am not affiliated with anyone when I make these reviews. I am just giving my honest opinion about the meal. Maybe my review will help you decide if you want to try it for yourself or not.

The description from the box: roasted chicken tenderloins, garden vegetables and parmesan cheese with vermicelli. This wasn't too shabby. I loved the noodles. DELICIOUS! The chicken was a little rubbery but wasn't horrible. The garden veggies included - broccoli, carrots, tomato and squash. All was good except for the squash. It was a little weird textured.

This is something that I may not get again but if it was in front of me I wouldn't turn it down. I give this 3/5 stars. If you have tried this, let me know what you think. Or, if you have any others to suggest, let me know.

 

 

LEAN CUISINE - FAJITA-STYLE CHICKEN SPRING ROLLS

The description from the box: White meat chipotle chicken,corn,black beans,bell peppers and onions. In the box come 2 packages of 3 rolls. So you can get 2 meals for the price of one, which is nice. However, I did not enjoy them. I felt for the size and taste was not worth the calories. I had to add tortilla chips because I wasn't satisfied with just the rolls. I would of been happy just making something on my own.

This is not really something that I would try again. I give this 2/5 stars. If you have tried this, let me know what you think. Or, if you have any others to suggest, let me know.

MICHAELINA'S LEAN GOURMET - BROCCOLI CHEESE CHICKEN

The description from the box: rice and cheese sauce with broccoli and white chicken. This was only $0.88 and let me tell you, I got what I paid for. It was not very good at all. The chicken tasted gross, all 2 pieces that were in there. The rice wasn't soft and delicious, it was a little undercooked tasting. It was not worth all the calories that were involved - 290. UGH!

This was the worst so far. The calories were a waste! I give this 1/5 stars. If you have tried this, let me know what you think. Or, if you have any others to suggest, let me know.

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Sorry for the 3 reviews in one but I have been sick the past several days and needed to catch up on missed items.

Week 4 - Weigh In

Week 4 - weigh in

Total week loss: 6.6
Current weight: 313
Total loss to date: 17 pounds

Passed the 15 pound mark. Making my way toward my goal. Woohoo!

Another major milestone with this week - I am now below my pre-pregnancy weight. DOUBLE WOOHOOO!

Sickness is NO BUENO!

I have been missing due to having a major stomach bug that is going around. It luckily only lasted 24 hours. I will say as miserable as it was, it did help me not eat for a day and helped contribute to a good weight loss this week. However, this is NOT something I would like to have be a constant help in weight loss. It was NO BUENO!

I will be catching up on my blog posts very soon.

Food Review

LEAN CUISINE - PEPPERONI PIZZA 

Let me start off by saying I am not affiliated with anyone when I make these reviews. I am just giving my honest opinion about the meal. Maybe my review will help you decide if you want to try it for yourself or not.

The description from the box: A traditional pizza crust with pepperoni & basil with a four cheese blend. I love pizza and this is not the worst I have ever had but it was also not near super delicious quality either. I was not a fan of the basil flavor. It was a little over powering for the pizza. Then, the pizza seemed really doughy tasting. I ate all of the pizza and paired it with some baked lays. My hunger is satisfied after eating this meal.

This is one of those things that if you are craving pizza and really need it, give it a try. See what you think. I give this 3/5 stars. If you have tried this, let me know what you think. Or, if you have any others to suggest, let me know.

Stay-at-home mom workouts and new recipe

So as my previous post says, yesterday was my first day at the Couch to 5k program. I had forgotten how good it is to work out and run. I remember years ago going to the gym routinely and using the treadmill for 60-90 minutes a day. I would actually skip college classes sometime just so I could do this. It felt so good. 

Just this one day on this program brought back those old memories. The only problem I face now is that I have twin 5month olds that take a lot of my attention and finding sometimes 15 minutes is hard.

Does anyone have any suggestions for stay-at-home mom workouts?

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I tried a new recipe last night and let me tell you - it was SUPER delicious. I couldn't think of what to cook and I found a box of stuffing mix in the pantry. A light bulb went off and I came up with making a little "Faux Thanksgiving in a Cup." I decided to skip adding butter to the stuffing mix and you couldn't even tell. They were SO GOOD.

I have learned why I love cooking in wonton wrapper cups. It helps me control portion size. I cannot add too much because it wont fit. It helps me stay on track instead of over eating, which is a problem of mine.

Couch to 5k - W1D1

I just completed Week 1, Day 1 of the Couch to 5k program. I am doing this because I signed up for the Color Me Rad 5K with my sister and nieces. You can read my post about it HERE.

It wasn't so bad. I used to jog/walk on the treadmill for an hour at a time a few years ago, so this wasn't too horrible to start with. The only problem I have noticed is that my back is killing me during it. I know what the problem is related too - labor/delivery of my twins. I was in labor for 24hours (before they decided just to do a c-section) and the only main pain I had was HORRIBLE back pain. It was excruciating! If it wasn't for that, I could of held out for days, okay, maybe not days. *hahah*

Anyways, back to first day, I will just need to stretch better before I do these workouts and hopefully over time the back pain will subside.

I downloaded the Couch to 5K app and it was AWESOME! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who might use this program. You can listen to your music through the app so the voice over will come in over the music. It is also nice because I wasn't constantly looking at the time left since it was on my phone and not easy to access during the process. So the time actually went by pretty fast. I wish I had an apple phone (even though I hate apple), just because they have a zombie trainer mode and that would be AWESOME! I will just still with what I have, the lady trainers do a good job.

Any suggestions for this issue?

Food Review

Weight Watchers - Smart Ones - Chicken Enchiladas Suiza

Let me start off by saying I am not affiliated with anyone when I make these reviews. I am just giving my honest opinion about the meal. Maybe my review will help you decide if you want to try it for yourself or not.

I love Mexican so I am always excited to try new meals in this category. Let me start off with the description from the box: Chicken enchiladas topped with a zesty sour cream and green chile sauce with Spanish rice, zucchini, corn, and bell peppers. Now, I actually hate sour cream and bell peppers but this was not a problem with this meal. I actually found it quite enjoyable. Now, it looks nothing like the picture on the box obviously. It actually looks like a big pile of mush with side of rice (have to love marketing and their false depictions of food on packages). If you can get past the look of it, then I think you will find it quite tasty. Like I said, I don't like sour cream sauce but I couldn't even tell it was sour cream. It just tasted like a yummy sauce on top. There was almost too much of it for me so I ended up scraping some of it off (saved me some calories I'm sure).

Now, I paired this with some tortilla chips ( because as my previous blog says - I am addicted to chips). This didn't add to many extra calories because I had only a few of them. I walked away from this meal feeling very satisfied and full. There was plenty of food in this meal unlike others I have tried. I had originally tried the Lean Cuisine Chicken Enchilada Suiza and there was only 1 enchilada compared to 2 in this one. The calories were actually not dramatically different so I would go with Weight Watchers because it left me more full and satisfied. I hate walking away from a meal still hungry.

I give this 5/5 stars. If you have tried this, let me know what you think. Or, if you have any others to suggest, let me know.

Food Weakness

Food weaknesses. They are no fun at all. Everyone has them. They are something that we just love to eat and have a hard time saying no to them. Our brain and body know we shouldn't eat this food but there is that little part inside, that little voice that says - Eat it! Do it!

For me, that weakness item used to be sweets. Oh boy, I LOVED chocolate so much. However, when I got pregnant, chocolate made me have horrible heartburn. So it was goodbye chocolate. It actually wasn't hard because being in massive pain just wasn't worth it, I think most could agree.

So out the door went chocolate but sadly was replaced with another bad item - French fries. Of my gosh, now I couldn't get enough of them. They were so delicious. They made all the pregnancy issues I might of been having just fade away.

Luckily, after delivery the big craving for French fries faded away (actually a lot of fast food cravings in general faded away - a great thing!) BUT again was sadly replaced with another item - chips. I believe this stemmed from my stay in the hospital after my c-section. I hasn't eaten in almost 2 days. I was in labor for 24hrs and by the time I could eat it was pushing 2 days. It was late at night and all they had to eat were baked lays potato chips and a turkey sandwiches. I fell in love with baked lays and haven't looked back.

Now I crave them all the time. Any chips really but mostly regular baked lays, tortilla chips and veggie straws. I think I crave salt now which is hilarious because I hate salt in most cases. Was never a fan but now who knows.

So now I struggle against resisting my food weakness. It isn't too bad but sometimes it sucks. I just keep doing my best and focus on each day and the little victories.

Do you have a food weaknesses? 
How do you fight them? 
Anyone else have the same as me, and if so any suggestions to fight it?

CHALLENGE - Java Mama's Biggest Loser

I just came across this challenge and decided to enter it. I am exited to read everyone's profiles that are participating and make new friends. This goes from January 7th-March 25th so wish me luck! (Click image above to learn more about this challenge)

 Time to catch up on all the information. Starting weight - 330
1.7.13 - week 1- 4 pound loss - 226 (4 total loss for challenge)
1.14.13 - week 2 - 5 pound loss - 221 (9 total loss for challenge)
1.21.13 - week 3 - 1.4 pound loss - 219.6 (10.4 total loss for challenge)

WEEK 3 - weigh in

Week 3 - weigh in

Total week loss: 1.4
Current weight: 319.6
Total loss to date: 10.4 pounds

I made it past the 10 pound mark!!! WOHOOO!

Surprise workout today!

I hadn't planned on working out today but I happily got some in. My plan is to start with 3 days during the week and have weekends off so that I can spend my time with the husband and kids. We had put the kids to bed and decided to play a video game. I suggested some Wii Fit multi-player games and he was down. So not only did I have fun playing games with the husband, but I also burned calories and worked out! WOHOOOO for fun workout sessions.

I also tried a new recipe - Sweet Potato & Chicken Cups. It wasn't too shabby. I definitely need to expieriment with it more but it was a good start. I also made a FAVORITE of mine - Pepperoni Pizza Balls. I could eat those things ALL the time. Sooooooooooo delicious!

I would write more but I hear one of the boys stirring so I will wrap this up. Tomorrow is weigh-in day and I'm feeling confident that I lost some this week. Fingers crossed! Hope everyone is doing well. Night!

1st day of exercise in FOREVER!

Oh goodness. Today was the first day of exercise I have done in a really long time. Since it is cold outside and I don't want to take my boys outside, I decided to whip out the good ole' Wii Fit. It made me sad to see how long it had been since I had been on - oh and it did tell me! AH! So I decided to delete that profile and start from scratch. New everything is my new motto.

I set myself a goal of 30 minutes. This morning I got both boys calm and off I went. Well, they must not of been too keen on this plan because about 15 minutes into it they decided to both start fussing. PAUSE! I took care of them, did some stuff around the house and started right back up this afternoon to finish the other 15 minutes.

The boys worked with me this time. I had turned on the music and was singing along. This got them laughing and smiling. This made me happy and pushed me to keep going. I will say, they are the best motivation this girl could ever have!

For my first day back I finished with 33 minutes, 242 calories burned. Not too bad considering It has been so long since I last exercised.

First 5k and a new recipe

Today I signed up for my first 5K and I'm SUPER excited. I will be participating in COLOR ME RAD in May. This gives me plenty of time to prepare for it since it is my first one. I am happy to be doing this with my sister and 2 nieces. I shared with my sister about my new adventure and she is so supportive. I hope to continue after this and participate in more runs with them. They do these all the time and are used to the, but my nieces have already informed me that they will stick by my side and cheer me on. LOVE THESE GIRLS! I will share more once I start working toward this.

In edition to this blog I have also started a recipes blog. I will be posting new recipes I try (along with nutritional values and pictures). You can find this by clicking on the yummy recipes tab above. I won't be writing too detailed of accounts of my recipes in this blog since I have one set up specifically for it but I will be mentioning them to help catch peoples attention to go check them out.

My new recipes for tonight was - Tiny Taco Salads. Let me tell you, it was so delicious. I will definitely be trying this one again and doing different varieties of it in the future. Recipe 1 - SUCCESS!

WELCOME BACK.... to myself!

Hello again!
I am back after a long break. So much has happened in the past 2 years since I last updated my previous blog (CBGBlog). Let me catch everyone up.....
When I stopped updating the site (fall 2010), I am not going to lie, it is because I fell off the healthy wagon. I was getting depressed at work and things in general and I went back to my unhealthy ways. Then in spring 2011 my husband and I started working toward starting a family. Complications happened and due to this, depression kicked in more and more weight came back on. So from September 2010 - December 2011 I went from 255 pounds back to my starting weight of 315 pounds.
Then at the end of December it happened - we got pregnant! Not only that, but with twins! So I delivered 2 amazing and healthy baby boys at the end of August. The highest weight I became was 380 pounds.
At the beginning of January (4 months since their birth), I decided to start my adventure toward being healthy again. I did it before and I can do it again. I have even more motivation this time - my 2 sons. I want to be there for them as they grow up and be active in their life. Being my weight does slow me down in ways and I want to be able to play outside with them, get up and down off the floor comfortably when they want to play. I just want to be a healthier mom for not only myself but for them.
So here I am! I started my adventure at 330 pounds. I feel happy to know that I have already lost almost all of my pregnancy weight before I start this adventure and now it is time for me to keep going. I have come back on here because tihis helped me so much last time. To be accountable for my action and to have the encouragement/support from others is amazing!
I will discuss more about my boys and pregnancy as times goes on and if you have any questions about a plus-sized pregnancy or c-section delivery/recovery - feel free to ask!
I hope to catch back up with those I was friends with before and make new friends along the way of this new adventure.
So grab your bags because we are about to begin... THE NEW ADVENTURE OF JESSICA!