I have come to the conclusion it will be a while before I am posting every day and probably longer before I can keep up with all the blogs that I love.

I weighed in on Saturday and lost 4.2 pounds.  It’s amazing what happens when you actually pay some attention to detail.

This week’s food

Tuesday

Breakfast-Greek Yogurt, non fat latte

Lunch-Sausage, Bulgur and Kale

Dinner–Penne and Zucchini Carbonara

Wednesday

Breakfast-Greek Yogurt, non fat latte

Lunch-Sausage, Bulgur and Kale

Dinner–Biz’s Chicken Tikka Masala and Roasted Cauliflower

Thursday

Breakfast-Greek Yogurt, non fat latte

Lunch-Thai Food

Dinner–Chicken Rollups, Quinoa Pilaf with Spinach

Friday

Breakfast-Greek Yogurt, non fat latte

Lunch-Sausage, Bulgur and Kale

Dinner–leftover Four Cheese Baked Penne

I went to stroller strides and burned 363 calories and earned 4 Activity Points

I planned to get back to blogging and already so many challenges.  Today one dog had surgery and the other had X-rays that found massive arthritis in her spine and several nearly collapsed disks She has been in alot of pain the last week and in to see the emergency vet and the regular vet to try to figure it out.  So now she is on a ton of meds to try to get it under control.  Drake’s surgery was to remove a lypoma and probably nothing in the long run but for now he is mopey and needs a ton of attention.

So although I ate pretty well yesterday and today I didn’t journal so I do not have exact numbers.

I have been doing Stroller Strides for my workouts and I plan to skip Wednesday, I just don’t feel I can leave the dogs yet that soon, Friday Ben will be home with them so I’ll be back in the swing on Friday.

Sunday

Breakfast Oatmeal with appples and cinnamon, glass of orange juice

Lunch–Cheese and Beer Soup

Dinner–Four Cheese Baked Penne

Snack– nonfat latte

Monday

Breakfast–non fat caramel macchiato, bacon breakfast sandwich

Lunch–Sausage, Bulgar and Kale

Dinner–Biz’s Chicken Tikka Masala, such a good easy recipe, and brown rice

Okay, I have been absent way, way, way too long but I’m back and ready to recommit.

So it’s the final day of 2011 and it’s been a pretty wild year.  I had a baby and she kind of changed my life, rather a lot really.  She is not a fan of napping so time to myself is few and far between, so blogging is one of the casualties.  I have decided that I will find time to blog again as I really do feel it was a key to my weight loss success and I need some of that success again.

I stopped into a weightwatchers meeting this morning  and picked up the new PointsPlus 2012 material, I haven’t had a chance to go through it yet, but plan to right after I finish this post.

Breakfast–Tully’s sausage breakfast sandwich, non-fat vanilla latte

Lunch–Greek Yogurt, rice krispies and maple syrup, banana

Dinner–Four Cheese Baked Penne

I’ll get points values up soon.  One thing that I find hard with Ashley is cooking, she does not like to sit and play quietly in the evening so if I don’t prep dinner in advance she is a nightmare.  She is however an awesome eater and LOVED the baked penne.

Okay now for the confession my weight is way up, today I weighed in at 215.6 but not for long!

Ashley is one month today, wow feels like maybe 2 weeks.  I got no activity in, I was lazy with the rain and I have a baby who screams bloody murder if I put her down at all, I have to make sure she is completely asleep, UGH!  The baby was in melt down mode most of the day and it led to brownies for mommy.  Ben and I went to teriyaki for lunch, it’s nice to have lunch together once a week or so especially when I’m home with the baby and he’s on 40% mandatory overtime, the timing of which totally sucks.  For dinner I made a cooking light beef stroganoff, turned out good, forgot to get a picture, I’m sure that will happen alot…

February 22nd

Ate 45 of 43 points.  Earned 0 activity points.

• Breakfast (9) –nonfat caramel macchiato (5) 1/2 cup Raisin Bran (3), milk (1), banana (0)
• Lunch (17) – Chicken Teriyaki with rice (17)
• Dinner (13) – Beef Stroganoff with noodles (12), green beans with butter (1)
• Snack (6) – Brownie

Earned 3 weekly activity points.

When I’m eating healthy, it’s actually hard to eat all of my extra points, I didn’t come close today (until I added a soy vanilla latte, and then a brownie).  My sweet tooth since the baby was born is insane.

I finally got out and got some exercise I walked 2 miles with Ashley and had no idea how hard pushing a stroller would be on my arms.  It was cold today so I had to bundle Ashley up and she looked so cute in  her little bear suit!

February 21st

Ate 41 of 43 points.  Earned 3 activity points.

• Breakfast (15) –Nonfat Caramel Macchiato(5), Breakfast Sandwich (10)
• Lunch (7) – Sloppy Joes (7), Mandarin Oranges (0), Kiwi (0)
• Snack (6) – Soy Vanilla Latte
• Dinner (7) – Chicken Roll ups (6), Spinach sautéed in olive oil (1)
• Snack (6) – Brownie

Earned 3 weekly activity points.

I have recommitted!  Pretty easy with 14 extra points plus for nursing! I didn’t get any activity in because Ashley wanted to nurse ALL DAY, she spent over 8 hours nursing and didn’t go very long without a snack, it was exhausting!  I admit the nursing points are nice for full fat cheeses!

Despite being mostly fussy and needy for the day Ashley was also super smiley! And I finally caught some of it with a camera.

February 20th

Ate 44 of 43 points.  Earned 0 activity points.

• Breakfast (16) –Nonfat Caramel Macchiato(5), Scrambled eggs with cheese (7), English muffin with Brummel and Brown (4), Grapefruit (0)
• Lunch (17) – Tomato Bisque (9), Grilled Cheese (8)
• Dinner (9) – Chicken Roll ups (6), Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter (3)
• Snack (2)– Chocolate Milk (low fat 1/2 cup)

Earned 0 weekly activity points.

So a week ago I wrote about planning to get back to walking and go to a WeightWatchers meeting.  So about that….

I did hit a WeightWatchers meeting where I discovered that I am up 24.4 pounds from my last official WW weigh in on July 10th and 28 from my lowest weight pre-pregnancy.  No big deal I was expecting that.  They offered to reset my start weight to my current weight but I declined as I really want to hit that 100 pound mark and I can deal without stars as I rid myself of baby weight gain.

But I swear I am eating worse now than when I was pregnant, cookies and candy and other bad stuff, OH MY!!!! Walking what walking????  I stopped walking about week 38 due to extreme pain any time I took anything longer than a 3 minute stroll so now it has been 5 weeks and it seems daunting, what happened to exercise as my stress relief?  What happened to my time (oh yeah, I know what happened there, a baby who hates to be put down, laundry, laundry, cooking, laundry). But seriously I found no time to hop on the treadmill this week or even take a stroll around the block, although that is daunting, bundling up the baby, getting out the stroller etc.  I am getting walking in with the baby going places and weight training carrying that damn car seat, which currently weighs more than she does!  So my plans to walk this week didn’t really happen, but I aspire to do better this week, 3 times a week I will get in a mile. (Starting small!)

So now on to the eating portion of our program, it sucked!!!! I munched on various cookies and crackers, the dog finished them off for which I am grateful.  I have had a crazy sweet tooth and no fruit is not satisfying it.  Some of the meals I froze at the end of last year are a bit heavier on calories and fat than I would normally make but I do have 14 extra points a day for breast feeding, so if it weren’t for the empty calories I would probably be doing okay, so aspiration number 2, no junk food in the house.  Well Ben’s junk can stay I am not a fan of cheese crackers and the like so it doesn’t tempt me like sweets (at least for now).

Note I called them aspirations not resolutions, probably dooming myself but right now I’m still getting my bearings with a new baby and don’t want to beat myself up if I fail to meet goals, although they really are small…

Ugh many baby interruptions later I have lost my train of thought.  But she’s so cute, I can’t help but forgive her.

Ashley Nolan finally arrived on January 22, 2011.  She was 8 pounds and 2 ounces and 20.3 inches long!

She preferred sleeping to eating (so not like her mother or father!) and lost more than they wanted her to.  She is almost back to her birth weight at 3 weeks and I’m finally ready to get back into healthy living.

I gained 40 pounds over the pregnancy and have already dropped 20,  I hope to drop the remainder bt the end of March.

I’m not sure I’m ready for running but I will be getting back into walking this week!

Right now we are working through a months worth of meals I froze in November and December (not all of them super healthy) but I hope to get back to cooking soon.

So I haven’t posted much, what can I say I haven’t been motivated much.

I have been cooking up a storm.  I spent most of November cooking double batches, finishing one to eat that night and freezing the other to eat after the baby arrives, by the way I might be 38 weeks and 4 days but she shows NO signs of being ready to move out.

I have gained 36 pounds which sucks but I’ll survive, I think all women pregnant over Thanksgiving and Christmas deserve a few extra pounds to play with!!!

I am reallllllllly unmotivated to cook this week but Thanks to Sarah’s comment on the 4th I plan to make some of that soup tomorrow, nice to have homemade soup around.

So all yes, I’m alive, no, there is no baby but I’m thinking about goals post baby so expect to see more posts here then.  Thanks to everyone who has emailed wondering if I’m alive, I am, just not so focused on the blog.

I am mostly doing well but there are times when I am struggling, my eating is not as good as it could be, I find myself snacking much more than I used to or really want to.  So this week NO ADDED SUGAR.  So snacks will be fruit, better for me anyways and since I have to cut it up I have to really want it, far to easy to grab something that is packaged. I am trying to be less lazy.

I have not stepped on the scale in a couple of weeks, last time I was at the midwife I had gained 10 pounds, the downside 7 of them were since my last visit 6 weeks earlier so I’m hoping to not hit 7 again next week.  I tried to run a couple of times, it sucked. Between the sore hips and the bladder issues it is just out, the breasts finally stopped hurting but too late to get the running groove back on.  I did manage to run 2 miles a couple of weeks ago but it sucked so it’s out.  What really stinks is that now walking is really killing my hips too, I have decided it is probably because of all of the hills.  I have signed up for a pre-natal water aerobics class that I hope I like, I need more activity that is is fun, walking is no longer fun it is boring and I hate having to do it twice once for me and once for the dogs, the hills just make me scream.

I still feel like I look fat not pregnant, my loving husband agreed today, isn’t he nice??? In fairness I asked but yeah it sucks.  At least I feel the baby move now and know it’s real.  We still cannot agree on a name she has her middle names and last name but still no first name, why oh why was a boy’s name so easy????

I haven’t felt much like blogging, this blog is my weight loss journey not my day to day life and the intersections between weight loss and my life right now strike me as mostly whiny. I’m happy to be pregnant I wish I didn’t have to lose my body in the process.  But I do have a few things to share.  My garden sucked this year, we got a handful of good stuff but mostly it was a disappointment.  Half of it drowned with the constant rainfall and anything that really needed any kind of heat to grow didn’t.  That would be our tomatoes, peppers, eggplants etc.  We had some great green beans and zucchini and an awesome crop of potatoes but everything else was a wash and a massive waste of money which pisses me off.  I decided to put in a new bed this year since we had such explosions last year but this year nothing but suckage, oh well.

Super Easy Chicken Chili

I tried a great new mostly healthy chicken chili recipe that was totally easy and practically no cook since it started with a rotisserie chicken.  It turned out great check it out and was super simple which is awesome at the moment because my motivation to cook is not what it was.  I have planned a ton of meals that I plan to make in November and freeze for once the baby is born so we don’t have to live on take out or packaged crap.  So I have all the meals planned and the grocery shopping list.  I plan to spend a couple of days cooking and freezing, wish me luck and motivation

Okay I have rambled enough, I will try to update more often, I’m sure you are all dying to get my updates LOL