Easter Last Year

Now that Lakelyn has started to have 2nds of each holiday I love to look back to see how she compared from the year before.  

Here is a look on how last Easter went.

We went to my mom’s house as usual.  We didn’t go down until Saturday night because at this point Lakelyn wasn’t sleeping very well at night and I didn’t want everyone else in the house to have to listen to her.  I remember Saturday was such a LONG night.  She was hot and would NOT sleep!

We woke up on Sunday and Grandma Vicky had an Easter basket hunt for Lakelyn.  Each clue directed to another place in the house until we found the basket!!

First family Easter Picture

Easter Outfit

Bunny Ears!!

I can’t wait to see what this year has to bring!!

Weigh In Week 23-24

Ill keep this short.

Last week the scale

162

This week the scale

162

Insert-- > 4 letter words here!

I am so done with this number!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That puts me back up from the 2lbs I lost the previous week.  

Total weight loss still 18lbs. (whomp, whomp)

Today was the last day for my two month Title Boxing Weight loss challenge.  This started on Feb 1^st and last through today.  

Here are my results:

Weight Loss- 10lbs

Arms- 1 inches lost on each arm

Hips- 3 inches lost

Legs- 2 inches lost on each leg

So although the pounds are not impressive the inches lost is a good feeling.

Next weekend I have my first wedding dress fitting.  I am going to ask the lady to measure me again to see what my inches lost are compared to when I bought my dress in December.

ANYONE who has had a plateau and broke though PLEASE PLEASE give me some tips!! I feel like I have tried everything.  Worked out more, worked out less, ate more, ate less, changed my routine and NOTHING!!!

Next week its back to the basics in the gym.

Luke's Ring

A couple weeks ago we went and bought Luke’s wedding ring.

He originally liked this ring with black carbon fiber but after trying on the silver he liked it best.  I couldn’t have agreed more.

While he was trying on rings I had to remind him that it goes on his left hand not his right!  He is so funny!

We bought this ring from my dad (he owns a local jewelry store).  This ring in most retail stores like Zale’s and Helzberg’s was running $220 to $250 dollars. We paid $10 dollars.  Yes, you read that right $10 dollars!  We bought this ring at cost from my dad.  It’s amazing how much jewelry stores mark up their merchandise.

It was a successful and surprising inexpensive day!

One more item checked off the list…only 9 thousand more to go!

51 days until the big day!

FAT Memory Lane

A trip down FAT memory lane…

Here I am at my heaviest pre pregnancy….200lbs.

Dec 2008

Dec 2008

NYE 2008 going into 2009





Then I lost 20lbs from March 2009 to May 2009….180lbs.

I maintained this weight until I got pregnant and then had Lakelyn in Nov 2011.

217lbs pregnant

 After 6 weeks I was back down to 180lbs.

September 2012 I got engaged and in October started my weight loss journey.

180 lbs

Progess so far! 

Currently still trying to lose the weight before the big day in May!

162 lbs

Rainbow Cheesecake Dip

Last week for St Patrick’s Day my work had a food day the Friday before.  I love food days because that means I get to bake and others get to eat.

I.LOVE.TO.BAKE

If I won the lottery I would open my own bakery or restaurant because my best friend Sara likes to cook everything but dessert.  We make a good combo.

Last week I couldn’t decide on anything green so I went with Rainbow.  I found a cheesecake dip recipe and decided to go with it.

 

<<Ingredients>>

8oz light cream cheese

1 small box fat free cheesecake pudding mix

½ cup skim milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ 8oz containers of cool whip

Food Coloring

1 tube sugar cookie dough

Sprinkles 

<<Instructions>>

Heat oven to 350 degrees for cookies

Beat cream cheese with mixer until all lumps are gone.  Add in pudding mix and milk and mix until harldy any lumps.  Stir in extracts and fold in one container cool whip.

Separate into as many dishes as you want colors.  Add food coloring and mix well.

 

Using a clear dish layer the colors of your rainbow.  Start on the outside and work your way in.  Nobody seeing the inside of the dish just the outside.

Top the layers with half container of second cool whip.  Refrigerate.  Top with sprinkles before serving.

 

Pinch dough off of tube of sugar cookie to roll into nickel size individual balls.  Flatten slightly with spoon, sprinkle on sprinkles and flatten in sprinkles with spoon. 

Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. 

 

Cool completely.

Serve cookies with dip.

Enjoy!

 

This was a huge hit at the work St Patrick’s day party!!

Weigh In- Week 22

It was another slow week for me.  Luke left on Sunday for a business trip and did not return until late Wednesday night.

I did however go to Title Boxing on Saturday and get in a good workout.

Then once Luke returned I hit the gym yesterday morning.  5K in 36 min plus arm weights = 593 calories burned.  I think my time was faster then that on the 5K because the treadmill shut off half way into running and I had to guess how far I thought I had gone.  I wanted to get the 5K in so I under guesstimated I am sure.

In the last 2 weeks I have only worked out 4 times, twice last week and twice this week.

The scale this morning read….

160!!!

About freaking time!!! And to have proof, I took a picture of that damn scale that I thought for sure was broken and stuck on 162.

 

 

Finally broke through that nasty plateau!!!  I can only think it had to do with giving my body a break.  Anyways, this next week is back to going hard core.  I would like to lose another 10lbs by the wedding day (5/18) but secretly another 15 pounds would be great!

Another 10lbs down so updated progress pictures next week!

 

TGIF!!

Baby Brother

My baby brother turns 21 today!!!!  I can’t believe it!

I remember my grandparents taking me to the hospital to see Gibson for the first time, I also remember getting ice cream after!

 

I am a middle child and the only girl so I grew up with one older brother and one younger.  My oldest brother, Nick, is 31, I am 28 and Gibson is now 21!  Gosh, how time flies!  I loved having brothers and since I didn’t have sisters this is why I wanted my first born to be a boy.

I loved having an older brother to pick on me, to make me tough and to have him pick on other people when they picked on me!  I felt like every girl needed an older brother to protect her!

I was blessed to have Lakelyn, a healthy beautiful baby and wouldn’t change anything even if I could.  I look at my relationship with Gibson having an older sister.  I would do anything for him and I am so protective of both my brothers.  When Gibson finally brings home a girl you better believe I will be nice to her face but the moment I get in the car I am sure I will start picking her apart to Luke.  I am just like that, always have been and always will be.

Speaking of picking my brothers women apart, this is a picture of Gibson and I at my older brother’s wedding.  This was in 2003, I was 18 and Gibson was 10.  I cried before the wedding and barley made it through the wedding.  I am surprised when the preacher asked, “does anyone here object to this marriage,”  I didn’t jump out of the bridesmaid line to say, “I do, I do!”  To say I wasn’t a fan of my brother’s future wife would be an understatement.  She was not nice and a few years later they did get divorced.

 

Anyways, back to the picture.  I was single at the time, the wedding was in the middle of BFE, I had a few drinks and Gibson was my dance partner the whole night.  I had so much fun that night and I truly believe the only reason was because of Gibson.  Although, I am sure he doesn’t remember the night as well as I do it will always be one of my best memories with him.

Gibson truly is a good catch and anyone that meets him is lucky to have him in there life.  He is sweet, kind, honest and grounded.  He was never the wild child, never pressed his luck, never got out of line, he was the easy kid

(and I am sure my parents were grateful for that after raising Nick and I).

Happy Birthday to my baby all grown up brother!!

Can’t wait to sit down and have many legal beers together!

 

 

Lakelyn Update

I decided not to do monthly updates after 1 year but felt the need to update because Lakelyn has changed so much in the last 4 months.

She finally started walking at 14 ½ months and now cruises everywhere!

At 13 months she got in her first set of molars on her top row.

Her vocabulary is really starting to take off. She can say: 

Mama

Dada

Papa

Cheese

Please

Thank you (doesn’t say this as much anymore)

Up

Cracker

Moo Moo (short for Molly, our dog)

Help

Yellow

Purple

Milk

More

She can tell you what the following animals say: 

Owl- who who

Monkey- ooh ooh aww aww

Bee- buzzzz

Horse- Nay

Dinosauer- Rawr

Cow- Moo Moo

Duck- quack quack 

Dog- She pants like a dog by sticking her tongue out and breathing hard

Lakelyn still LOVES to dance. If she hears a jingle on the TV she starts to dance. (She gets that from her mama)

Luke continues to make up songs to sing to her:

“Stinker bell, Stinker bell, Stinker bell Stew, I love my Lakelyn Olivia Lou, she’s pretty and fun and she dances too.  Stinker bell, Stinker bell, I love you!”

Luke likes to call her cheeseburger (I have no idea why).

Here is a video I took the other night.  Quite surprised she did all these on the spot and then my mind went blank under the pressure of the video being on!

FAQ- Part 2

How do you track your calories burned?

I use a women’s Polor FT4.  I bought it at Best Buy for $89. It is the most user friendly watch.  I love it!

 

Your daughter is absolutely gorgeous but I want to see more pics of you!

You got it, I will work on that. 

Do you meal plan?

I wish I did but I don’t.  I buy the same ingredients each week to have on hand for the easy quick meals like spaghetti, baked chicken, chicken quesadilla, tacos and sloppy joes.

 

Do you really only weigh yourself once a week?

No, I do every morning before my shower.  I know you shouldn’t but I do and it’s a habit!

 

When is Baby #2?  Do you want a boy since you have a girl?

Baby #2 is definitely going to be after the wedding (5/18/13).  I want to drink and party at my wedding and honeymoon.  As far as when after the wedding I go back and forth a lot.  Just last night I told Luke we could try on the honeymoon but if it didn’t happened then I wanted to wait until after the summer was over or towards the end.  I kind of want to enjoy this thinner body I am working on.  But then I read a lot of blogs where people struggle having baby #2 and personally know some people who have.  So do I really want to prolong that process?  I am also not getting any younger.  Luke and I also think about how far we wants are kids apart; we both are 3 years younger than our older sibling.

Yes, I want a boy next.  I won’t be disappointed if I have another girl but would love the chance to raise one of each.  Healthy is of course the most important.

 

Do you enjoy running?  I hate it.

No. No. and No.  But I know running burns calories and burnt calories equal weight loss.  Running for me is ALL mental.  If I am not mentally ready to run then it’s not going to happen.  I try and set myself mini goals, run for 5 min, then 10 min without walking, run for .25 miles, then .50.  Before you know it you will have reached your goal.  My favorite is interval running/walking but I find that’s hard to do on a treadmill so I can’t wait till it gets warmer outside!

I am convinced I was not born to be a runner.  People say you get a runner high…yay, I am still waiting for that!  I have no desire to ever complete anything longer then a 5K.  Running for 2 hours does NOT sound like fun to me.  Now getting my workout done in an hour and then going drinking for an hour sounds like more fun ;)

 

Does your fiancé support your weight loss journey?

Absolutely.  I recently did a post on this.

FAQ

When I started this blog I never thought I would be doing this, a FAQ.  I never thought anyone would email me or really even care what I had to say.  I write this blog more for me and one day Lakelyn.  But as my blog continues to grow so do the emails.  Here are some questions I get asked frequently that I thought I would share.

 

How old are you?

 

I just turned 28 last Novemeber.  Funny story about that here.

 

What do you do at the Gym?

 

I go to the gym for an hour in the morning.  First thing I do is get on the treadmill.  I use to walk at an incline of 10 for as long as I could or until I reached 500 calories.  If I got tired I would drop the incline down to 5 or 0 for a few minutes and then right back up to 10.  I did this the first 3-4 months I started working out.  I didn’t have my watch back then so I had to go off the treadmill.  Now that I am a little lighter I have been working on my running.  I started out running for 5 min and then walking for 5 min and alternating until I hit 500 calories.  Recently I have been trying to improve my 5K time.  I always walk a warm up and then run at a 6.2 for as long as I can go.  Then walk to catch my breath and then run again, alternating until I reach my 5K.

After the treadmill I use the weight machines.  I mostly do arms since I just worked legs on the treadmill but sometimes I do both.  I normally only have time for 3 or 4 machines with 3 sets of 12 on each, weight is normally 20lbs.

Where does your motivation come from?

The best motivation for me is seeing the pounds on the scale disappear.  Another current motivation is my upcoming wedding and honeymoon.  I always told myself (and Luke) I would try and get in the best shape of my life when we got married.  And lastly but equally important, Lakelyn, she truly is my world.  I want to set a good example for her and live a long healthy life for her.

 

What is your favorite unhealthy food item(s)?

 

I love eating out and I enjoy drinking, I love to be social.  So anything high calories and not vegetables I probably love!

How do you find the energy to work out every day?

 

It’s hard but when I do it I feel so much better.  Trust me, I still to this day hate getting up at 4:30am, getting out of my warm bed and driving to the gym.

I was wondering what kind of running shoes you use?
 

Brooks!  I love them.  I am not sure if it’s because the previous pair I had were really old or because of the brand but they really are comfortable.  When I decided this was it, this was going to be the time I got on a diet, worked out and stuck with it, I went to a shoe store and got fitted for the right pair.  The old me would have went into any store and bought the brightest cutest colored pair but this time I went for comfort.  Don’t get me wrong when I knew the kind I needed I still picked out the cutest color!

 

 

Do you take any supplements or vitamins?
 

No supplements.  I did a post on starting Raspberry Ketone but after 30 days I quit.  I couldn’t tell a difference taking them so I decided I needed to stop taking them to see if I could tell any difference.  There was no difference so I decided to stop taking something that was not working for me.  I TRY and take my daily vitamins which consist of calcium (I hate milk), prenatal (good overall), biotin (to try and make my hair grow) and fish oil (helps my bad knees).  If you have bad knees I highly suggest fish oil, I can tell when I don’t take it and a big difference when I do (I take mine before bed because a lot of people complain about burping them).

 

I'm having a hard time getting started, any pointers?

 

Set small goals-  Don’t look at the big picture of wanting to lose 50lbs and thinking there is no way so why try.  Set your goal at 10lbs and when you meet that goal set it for another 10lbs, before you know it you will be half way to goal.

 

Calorie count- You have to burn more calories than you consume to lose weight.  It’s all about plus and minus.  Keep track of every little piece of candy that goes in your mouth.  You’ll be surprised how they add up!  I use the My Fitness Pal app on my phone and online.  You can follow me, ashley1st, its good to have supporters and motivators!

Tell everyone- Tell everyone and there dog you are on a diet.  The more people you tell the more people to hold you accountable.  You might find some of these people as your biggest cheerleaders!

If you have any questions you would like to see answered please email me at firstcamethebaby(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Weigh In- Week 21

Since I have been on a weight loss plateau I decided to give myself a week off to re motivate myself.  I did a lot of reading on how to break through a plateau and came to the conclusion I need to eat more and change up my routine.

Not only did I not work out as much but I didn’t eat the best either.  I had McDonalds twice and a donut.  I will say that I ate McDonalds but still didn’t buy the biggest meal and shove it down my face.  I had a cheeseburger kids meal, I tried to portion control a little.

Thursday afternoon I started to feel like a turd.  I hadn’t worked out, I was eating like crap and I felt so GUILTY!!!  I felt like I was a drug addict who just relapsed and let myself down.  I seriously wanted to cry.  So when I got home on Thursday it was so nice outside I went for a quick run.

Here is how the week went….

Saturday- Title Boxing- 710 calories

Thursday- Quick 2 mile outside run- 315 calories

The scale this morning read……

162

First of all, I am so glad it didn’t go up BUT how can this make sense?  I work out 3-4 days a week and the scale says 162, I don’t work out and eat like crap and the scale says 162.  So FRUSTRATING!!

With that said I need to stay motivated and understand it’s not all about the number on the scale.  I know that even if the scale isn’t moving my body is changing and looking better.  I know I am losing inches and toning and that is most important.

Fighting about Weight Struggles

Losing weight has always been a sore topic for Luke and I in our relationship.

When we first met I was 19 and weighed around 140. I was active all through high school. I played volleyball and ran track. I ate whatever I wanted and never had to go on a diet. After I got out of high school the sports and exercise quit and the drinking and fast food late nights began.

We were both young and living the life of working just to pay the bills and beer tab.

But years went on, time flew by and pounds started pilling on slowly but surely.

I remember a time walking into Aeropostal and not being able to find a pair of pants to fit me because the largest size they carried was a 16.

That’s when the battle began.

I always complained about being fat and wanting to lose weight. Luke had to listen to me every 3 or 4 months talk about how I was going to start this diet and then see me fall off the wagon 30 days later.

This went on for several years. Then before I got pregnant I swore to Luke this would be the time I got skinny. A few weeks later I found out I was pregnant. Then Lakelyn was born and all I wanted to do other then take care of her was sleep. I lost all my baby weight and a couple pounds more 6 weeks after she was born (thanks to breastfeeding). Then time really started to fly and before I knew it we were a few months from signing Happy Birthday to Lakelyn. When Luke proposed in September I knew it was now or never. You only get married once (well you hope) and pictures last a life time. I knew it was time to get in the best shape I could before walking down that aisle.

Luke has a high metabolism so his need to work out is once a month to maintain. Or more than a month to tighten up. He is not fat and will probably never have a problem with weight. See how this can be frustrating, he poops and loses 5lbs, I look at McDonalds and gain 10lbs!

His idea of motivating me was making suggestions of what he thought I needed to do. “Why don’t you go to the gym and workout” (as I am sitting in the driveway with a beer in my hand). “I think we should only eat soup for a week” (not all of us are happy eating the same thing over and over again). “It’s really nice out, why don’t you go for a run” (umm its 90 degrees out and the birds are sweating and there sitting in the trees!).

My point is that his way of trying to motivate me was making suggestions. And the easiest way for him to piss me off was to make these suggestions. So Aunt Flow would come around and I would get back on my soap box of pitty me I am fat. He would start talking and I would get mad and world war 9,999 would start. He would try to explain that he only wants me to be happy and I would take it in the wrong way and get mad and more emotional. Luke hated hearing, “I think we should talk.” Because that meant I am being overly emotional and you’re going to suffer for it!

Fast forward to now. I know what I have to do to lose weight. Get my butt off the couch and move! Only I can change my body.

I asked Luke the other day, “do you care that you have to get up a little earlier now to take Lakelyn to daycare so I can work out in the morning?” His response was, “no because it’s the one way I can support you and you not get mad at me.” That’s when it clicked for me. He is absolutely right. By him helping out around the house and with Lakelyn he has allowed me the time to get my workout in and not feel guilty.

I am truly blessed to have him in my life. He has stuck through all 5,000 of my diets and 9 million emotional “I am fat” meltdowns.

I am proving to him and most importantly to myself each day that I can lose this weight and keep it off!