Survival Mode

June is apparently a very bad month for blogging for me!  How is the month already half over?  More importantly, how is the year almost half over??  I pointed out to Dan last night that 2013 is halfway done because it was blowing my mind--I feel like it was just last week that we were setting up the boys' train table for Christmas.  Where has this year gone?  June is always the craziest month for us, with two June birthdays 11 days apart, and with the crushing end-of-the-school year ridiculousness.  Here's just a peak at part of my calendar this month, and this doesn't even include everything!

Oh, June--such a fun, exhausting month

There's always lots of fun to be had in June, and this month is no exception.  We had Alex's 3rd birthday fun this past weekend (not to be confused with his party, which I always try to have the week before his real birthday, just to give myself some separation and sanity between Alex and Abby's birthdays!), along with Father's Day, which we spent down at my in-laws' house enjoying their pool.  This week includes both my mom and my sister's birthdays, as well as Abby's last day of school, Dan's last day of work at his current job, and the arrival of my grandmother from New Mexico--she just turned 90 years old, and hasn't met my boys yet!  We are all getting together for a big family dinner the middle of this week, and then my little family of 5 is relocating to my sister's house for 4 days so that we can enjoy time with my grandmother and get the kids swim lessons with my sister's daughter.  Phew.  After those 4 days are up, we've got to scurry back home so that Dan and I can have a rare date night (my favorite band in concert! woohoo!!!), and prep for Abby's birthday celebration(s)--cupcakes in the park for our neighborhood and her school friends, and then her big birthday party for family out at my parents' house.  As soon as I'm done with those festivities, my best friend Kerry arrives for a 4-day visit!  Super excited for her trip...more to come on that later.  :)  Then I have 2 days to prep for our week-long beach vacation...and we will probably do something festive for the 4th of July as well.  This schedule might do me in--I'm already exhausted, and it doesn't slow down for another month!

Now that you know what I'm up against this month (and you'll know where I've gone if I drop off the face of the earth for a few days--I'm going to try not to, but I'm having a hard time keeping up!), I'll give you the Challenge #2 update:  I weighed in at 133.2 pounds yesterday, for a loss of 0.8 pounds last week.  Last week was a challenge all by itself, simply because it was my first week without my aerobics classes scheduled.  I combated that issue by schedule two nights last week with friends to get my workout on.  I didn't really plan to be gone for two dinner/bedtimes in one week, but it just worked out that way--and Dan was surprisingly gracious about allowing me that time (thank you, honey!).  The first was Monday night--my sweet friend Brynne and I tried out a new place for Zumba, about 20 minutes from my house.  We had so much fun, it totally rocked, and it's not that expensive--they also have a kids' area, of which I'm slightly skeptical (it's literally an empty corner of the room, demarcated by a line on the floor which the children can't cross...hmmmm), so I'm going to try bringing the kids with me sometime soon to see if I can make those classes work on a regular basis.  Then Wednesday night, I attended my friend Ana's Zumba class at her gym where she teaches--her class was the very first exercise class I attended when I started this Challenge back in January, so I was curious to see if I would keep up better after 22 weeks of whipping myself into shape.  My first class with her in January almost killed me--my face was beat red, I was huffing and puffing, and I was scrambling to try to keep up...but it was my introduction to Zumba, and I was totally hooked.  Ana is an amazing instructor--she is fast, energetic, and her choreography is demanding and fun.  I stood in the front row for her class on Wednesday, and I kept up pretty well--I was still red-faced at the end, but I didn't feel shell-shocked like in my first class with her.  She worked us really hard, and I was sore on Thursday, but I was impressed at my competence with a really good instructor.  We stayed after her class to do 20 minutes of the next aerobic class, so I got even more of a workout than I usually get on Wednesday--and that evening's effort is probably the only reason I lost any weight last week!  Not bad for my first week of no classes--I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out ways to still get my exercise in, although this week, I'm totally flying blind without a plan.

I will get a blog up this week about Alex's 3rd birthday party, to include his Thomas cake!  I just got my mom's pictures from her last night--I took a few pictures with my camera, but she's always good at documenting the process for me.  :)  Wish me luck in surviving this crazy week!

20 Weeks

This is the beginning of Week 20 of Challenge #2...and it sure feels like it.  I weighed in Sunday morning at 136.2, for a loss of 0.6 pounds.  I must be slightly dyslexic, because the 136 is really bugging me--I just keep thinking about 163 when I see it.  I started at 163, and when I see 136, for some reason it just feels like I haven't gotten very far because the numbers flip flop around in my head...  Obviously, that's not true--through 19 weeks, I've lost 26.8 pounds for an average of 1.4 pounds per week.  That's a pretty healthy pace, but at this point, it just feels like a slow pace...and it feels like things are getting slower.  I just want to get away from any number with a 3 or a 6 in it!  These last 8.2 pounds are going to be really hard to lose (doesn't everyone always say the last 10 pounds are the hardest?), and I'm trying to keep my spirits up for these last painful weeks.  If I keep up the 1.4-pounds-per-week pace, it's going to take me another 6 weeks to lose that weight...and right now, that feels like an eternity!  Plus, I've got some pretty large stumbling blocks ahead of me in the next 6 weeks, which will make weight loss more difficult--both Alex's and Abby's birthdays fall within those 6 weeks, and you know I'm going to be making some cakes for my kiddos!  That also means I'm going to be eating some birthday cake...  Things tend to get pretty stressful this time of the year as well, with the last few weeks of school for Abby and the activities that entails, Abby's dance recital, her end-of-year gymnastics show, and then the two June birthdays.  My grandmother is also going to be visiting the week after school gets out, so that will mean a few big family meals (lots of delicious, irresistible stuff!).  I looked at the calendar this past week, and figured out that we don't have a free Saturday from now until mid-July!  That's pretty crazy.

I get it...but a little faster, please?

Another stumbling block, besides our busy schedule filled with opportunities to overindulge in less-than-healthy stuff, is that I may not be continuing my aerobics classes after the first week of June after all.  Originally my plan was to go ahead and pay for the next 10-week session and just attend what I could until Dan's new job starts in July--and then switch to the morning spin class for the rest of the session.  That plan is less certain now--I haven't officially chickened out of the spin class, but maybe I've unofficially chickened out...I'm just not sure it's my thing at all, and it's very early in the morning.  We also just scheduled 2 vacations for the summer, so I would miss 2 weeks out of those 10 weeks altogether just by virtue of being out of town.  Dan is taking 3 weeks off work before he starts his new job, so I know I will just want to be doing fun family stuff, and not worrying about trying to get to the aerobics classes...  Summertime just makes everything more difficult--it's harder to stay focused, harder to stay motivated, and really hard to stay on a schedule with a ton of stuff going on.  Another reason I'm considering not signing up for the aerobics classes is that I'm really enjoying swimming laps--I've gone to the pool on the weekends 4 or 5 times now, and it really feels comfortable for me.  I've been thinking that I will try to swing going to the pool in the mornings at least 3 days a week after Dan starts his new job--and there's no reason I can't start as soon as this current aerobics session ends.  I swam a whole mile yesterday during the kids' naptime in about 65 minutes (that's 72 lengths of the 25-yard pool), and it felt awesome!  I won't be able to swim for that long on work days (I'll probably be able to get 30 minutes in the water), but even shorter swims are a great workout.

My name is Jill, and I'm a Zumba addict

The only thing that makes me sad about losing these aerobics classes is the idea of not doing Zumba anymore--I really do feel like I found my exercise niche with those classes!  I'm so surprised at how much I love Zumba--I never anticipated enjoying it so much when I first started these classes, but it's just tons of fun and it doesn't feel like I'm working out even though I'm sweating like crazy.  I happened to run into my favorite Wednesday-evening Zumba instructor at the playground last week, and she told me that she thinks I should become a Zumba instructor because I keep right up with her--she had said something to that effect to Abby when Abby sat in on her class a few weeks ago, but I thought she was just being nice then.  I don't think she would have said it again if she didn't mean it, though, so I thought that was sweet of her--and I think that it must really show that I love the class.  Obviously it's not the right time in my life to be teaching an exercise class--I can't even figure out how to work in my own exercise to my schedule, much less how to fit in teaching classes!  Maybe it's something to consider for the future, though, and that makes me even more sad about the idea of no longer taking Zumba classes--I will get really rusty!  So I've been on the hunt again, desperately trying to figure out how I can keep up with Zumba--because it makes me happy, and it's helping me be healthy.  I discovered a possible class somewhat nearby that I am going to try out at the beginning of June--if I like it and it seems like their Kids Zone will work for my kids (it's free, and in the same room as the class...I definitely need to see it to see how that works!), I'm going to start doing that in lieu of signing up for the classes here again.  I'll be able to do it during the day while Dan is at work, and the kids can come with me--so that's a huge perk.  The classes aren't that much more expensive than the classes I've been taking, and from what I have seen of their routines on YouTube, it looks like a ton of fun!  I'm going to try out the first class without bringing the kids with me, just to get a feel for everything, so I'm just crossing my fingers that it will work for me.

So I'm still slogging along, trying to stay focused on my goals even though life is ready to distract me.  128 is such an arbitrary number--I picked it at the start of this Challenge mostly to give myself something crazy for which to strive, and now it's within reach.  I just need to keep my head down and keep working hard...I'm impatient, but the results will be worth the long haul!

Fifteen Weeks Down

Yesterday was weigh-in day!  I stepped on the scale, and felt really great because I lost 2 pounds!  I weighed 138.4 this past week.  I can't really pinpoint what I did differently (if anything!), other than I tried hard not to binge on M&Ms.  I still ate them, but I tried to keep it in moderation!  We ate our typical dinners last week--leftover Cheesecake Factory on Monday night, Subway on Tuesday night (it was a crazy day), BLTs on Wednesday night, pancakes on Thursday night, and a Contessa Orange Chicken frozen bag meal on Friday night.  I stuck to my normal lunch (my chicken salad with grapes, almonds, cranberries) on most days, although I had half of my Subway sandwich on Wednesday for lunch.  Nothing crazy or out of the ordinary...or even overly healthy!  I had my regular exercise classes this past week as well--I added another riser to my step in step class two or three classes ago, and that first night with 2 risers felt like the very first step class back in January all over again...I was winded, breathing hard, and my face was bright red.  What a difference one little riser makes!  So hopefully I've been burning more calories in step class the last few weeks.  Wednesday's Zumba class had a substitute instructor, and I was very nervous after previous sub experiences--thankfully, she was an instructor we've never had before, not the terrible sub!  She started off the class with a lot of hooting and hollering, and I couldn't figure out if she was making those sounds to indicate a change in moves, or if she was just excited...  Turns out, she was just excited--that girl had tons of energy!  She also used super upbeat music, and a lot of songs we'd never done before with our regular instructors, so it was a lot of fun, and great to change it up a bit.  I really liked her routine to Jai Ho! from Slumdog Millionaire--I don't know how you can not smile when you hear that song!  It was a really good class--I love my regular instructors, but I wouldn't mind having that sub again sometime.  For those of you unfamiliar with Zumba or who want to see choreography almost exactly like I did in class on Wednesday, here's a good video:

Saturday probably burned all my calories for the whole week--it was a busy day!  I woke up and got to the commissary early for my weekly shopping trip, because we were out of fruit for lunch.  I got home in time to unload and get lunch fixed for the kiddos, and then after they were down for naps/quiet time, I changed into my swimsuit and headed over to the indoor pool for more lap swimming.  After my first swim last week, I'd been devising ways to get back to the pool all week--I even asked Dan if I could go when he got home from work one evening last week, but he wasn't keen on that idea.  I just loved it last weekend, so I wanted to work it in this weekend if I could.  I had about an hour, and I decided I would try to get to a mile in laps...but I didn't decide that until I was already in the pool swimming, so I hadn't checked the handy chart inside the locker room letting me know how many laps I needed for a mile.  I spent most of the swim trying to keep lap count while also doing math in my head--not exactly my strongest suit.  I used to run track in high school, so I knew the measurements of a track, and I knew the pool wasn't a 50m pool, so I figured it was a 25m--I was extrapolating from that to come up with how many laps I needed to swim.  It took me a really long time to figure out that I needed to swim 64 laps to get to 1600 meters, or 1 mile.  I kept getting confused trying to multiply and divide AND keep count of what lap I was on--that is hard!  I was swimming mostly breaststroke with a few freestyle laps mixed in, and I was keeping a pretty steady pace--it felt good, but I was also really concentrating on the numbers to make sure I got to that mile, so it wasn't as relaxing as my previous swim.  After a little less than an hour, I got to my 64th lap, and I felt pretty triumphant!  I wasn't horribly tired, and I was proud that I went for it and got it done...until I walked into the locker room and saw this chart:

what was I missing??

I am not a dumb girl, and I spent a lot of time and energy figuring out how many laps I needed--I could not for the life of me figure out how I got it wrong and was short of a mile by 8 laps!  It wasn't until I got home that Dan studied the chart with me and helpfully pointed out that the pool is not a 25m pool...but a 25 YARD pool.  Duh.  I even blogged about it last week and wrote that it was a 25-yard pool, but for some reason, I was convinced this week that it was meters--because that's what makes sense in my head for measuring stuff like this (probably back to my track days), but it's not.  It's yards.  8 laps short!  Oh well--I was proud of myself for trying, and I still almost swam a mile!  That's pretty impressive, right?  And I burned a lot of calories for my effort--my arms felt like noodles afterward.

I came home, took a shower, and then all five of us headed out shopping--this is something that very rarely ever happens, so I was nervous about how it was going to go down.  We were setting up Abby's new bed on Sunday with help from Dan's parents, and we needed some things crucial to the project--like a mattress and sheets to fit the new bed!  We spent 2 hours wandering around IKEA, searching for needles in a very Swedish haystack--the boys were not happy hanging out in a cart that whole time, Abby was in heaven since we were picking out stuff for her room, Dan was super grumpy, and I was focused and on a mission.  We treated ourselves to Red Robin for dinner after the painful shopping experience--it was deserved!  I even had time to make a really quick trip to Bed Bath and Beyond while we waited for a table at the restaurant, so I hoped I had everything I needed to make Abby's room perfect.  I was exhausted Saturday night--I burned a ton of calories with my entire day's activities!  Yesterday was totally nuts working like crazy in Abby's room--I'm going to devote a whole blog entry to her room transformation later this week.  Fifteen weeks and 24.6 pounds down on Challenge #2!

Challenge #2: Entering Week 7

I think last week, my body just really wanted me to get that 10-pound weight loss in 5 weeks and miraculously hit the 2-pound-a-week goal I had set for myself...because this week, it's back to my usual 1.6 pound loss!  I weighed in at 151.4 yesterday, and I'm excited about being so close to going under 150!  If I keep up the 1.6 average, I'll be under 150 next week...

This weight loss stuff is hard--not just physically, but mentally as well.  I oscillate between wanting to be proud of my progress, and utter fear that pride will make me complacent.  I'm nowhere near where I want to be, so I feel like I can't slow down to enjoy my success so far.  I have to keep my head down.  10 pounds does seem like a lot, but truthfully, I don't really see a difference in myself yet--a few people have said my face looks thinner...but having a thinner face doesn't make my clothes fit any better.  We went to Dan's parents' house over the weekend, and despite feeling decent about my weight loss, I still had a rude awakening while trying to find something nice to wear--most of my clothes in my closet still don't fit me.  10 pounds isn't enough (and neither is 11.6 pounds), so I have to keep on trucking for the long haul--however long that is.  I want to be able to reach into my closet with confidence that whatever I pull out will look good on me!

closet full of ill-fitting horrors

I did get a nice compliment at Zumba class on Friday.  I rushed in like I always do, expecting the class to be getting ready to start, only to discover that the instructor wasn't there yet.  There were only 5 other women waiting for the class, which was kind of funny considering the Wednesday class had at least 40 people in it--I guess most people have better things to do with their Friday evenings...but not me!  The other women and I made small talk about how our shoes were slippery from the rain outside, and how we hoped the instructor would show up soon.  A woman standing behind me walked around and looked at my face and said, "You were here on Wednesday, right?  You were up at the front?"  I said yes, that I stand at the front when I can because I don't wear my glasses to exercise and can't see well if I'm too far back!  She said, "If the instructor doesn't show up, you should just teach the class--you know what you're doing and kept up with the Wednesday instructor with no problem!"  That made me laugh--I have no idea what I'm doing, and couldn't replicate a single Zumba song, much less an entire class!  But it was nice to hear that at least to the other participants, I don't look like a total idiot.  :)  Since there are no mirrors in our class, I can't tell if the folks behind me are struggling or rocking it (or if I'm struggling or rocking it, for that matter)--and I kind of like that I can't see anyone else, because then I can just focus on me and doing what I need to do to get a good workout.

Back to the grind again this week, and it's going to be a crazy week at that...I'm just hoping I can keep up with everything.  On top of our normal activities, Jake has a dentist appointment on Tuesday, Dan's mom is spending the night one night so that she can go with Dan to a work thing early the next morning, and then my mom is spending the night another night so that she can help me make a cake and a million cupcakes for Dan's promotion ceremony.  (Yes, I am making a cake...no grocery store cake!)  I think we have also come to a compromise about the ceremony as well--the boys will stay home with my mom, and Abby will attend with us.  Dan had a change of heart when we realized that we have to be at the ceremony for more than an hour, not the half-hour in-and-out that we originally envisioned.  30 minutes might have been doable for the boys, but an hour had meltdown written all over it!  So hopefully the cake will turn out well and I'll get to enjoy the ceremony with my husband...I just need to get through this week!

Not-So-Miso Steak

Sunday was weigh-in day with my new scale, and I weighed in at 159.6.  From my previous weigh-in last week, that's almost 3 pounds down--but I'm using a new scale, so who knows what the actual loss is (but at least I can be pretty confident that it was a loss!).  159.6 is going to be my new baseline--the first time I weighed myself on my new scale.  Next week will be the true test.  The weekend again proved really hard for my calorie intake--we visited Dan's parents on Saturday, and his mom made us blueberry muffins, which I love, and brownies and ice cream for dessert!  I had no idea how bad blueberry muffins are calorie-wise until I went to put it into my log...no wonder I have a terrible time losing weight!  I also got my hair cut this week, and while Dan thinks that wouldn't count toward weight loss, if you've seen how much hair I have, you would understand--I think it contributed at least a few ounces lost!

I took the time before heading grocery shopping on Sunday to look up some new recipes--I've been saying I'm going to add new meals to the food rotation, but then I am always rushing around like crazy trying to get my grocery list together and run out to the store every weekend that I never remember to actually add to my usual list.  I googled "easy, healthy dinners," since dinner has become even more of a dilemma for me now that I'm working out three nights a week, right at dinnertime.  I need some fast, healthy stuff that I can make after or before class.  I found two recipes I thought sounded enticing, and Dan agreed to try them--so I wrote down all the ingredients for Miso Steak with Green Beans and Baby Potatoes, as well as the ingredients for Lemon-Thyme Chicken.

I still don't really know what edamame is

 
I headed off to the commissary with my list in hand--a list that included a lot of unfamiliar items, like frozen edamame, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and of course, the miso.  I know the commissary like the back of my hand (after all, I live there one hour every week!), so I figured the new items wouldn't be too hard to find.  Little did I know (although I probably should have guessed), the commissary is not really a place to find adventurous foods--and I didn't even think the recipes I chose were very adventurous!  My first major fail was the baby potatoes I needed for the Miso Steak meal--the commissary doesn't carry them...???  I picked up red potatoes instead, because they are smaller than Russet potatoes, and I thought they were more in the spirit of the recipe.  See, I can adapt!  Next, I found the rice wine vinegar and the sesame oil fairly easily, but miso didn't jump out at me.  It didn't help that I had no idea what miso looks like--is it a sauce?  Is it a type of noodle?  I was totally clueless.  After attempting to read every label in the aisle, I still hadn't found it...so I took my smartphone out of the commissary (I get no service inside) and googled miso.  Ah, it's a seasoning--that gave me a better idea of what to look for.  Again, I read every label, and again, I had no luck...  After what felt like an hour standing in front of that section, I decided to move on without the miso--maybe I'd find it with the other seasonings?  (Nope, no miso there.)  I kept going, picking up my normal foods as well as some other new items from the recipes (like the skirt steak for the Miso Steak recipe), and the last thing to get was the frozen, shelled edamame.  I've never had edamame before, but I have read about it a lot and know that it's a good, healthy snack--I was eager to find it and give it a try.  Of course, the commissary doesn't carry it, either--at least, not that I could find after repeated attempts down multiple aisles.  Urgh.  I headed home with everything I could find, which unfortunately was missing one crucial item from each recipe (the edamame for the Lemon-Thyme Chicken, and the miso from the Miso Steak).

I got home right at dinnertime, because the commissary took me two hours instead of one with all my wandering and searching.  Dan had wanted to make the Miso Steak for dinner, but since I couldn't find the miso, I didn't think it was an option.  I googled miso again, and discovered that some people think it has no taste--others think it has a salty or nutty taste.  The recipe only called for one tablespoon of it, so in our hunger and time-crunch, Dan and I decided to make the recipe without it.  Dan prepped the steak while I peeled and heated the potatoes, threw the steamed green beans into the microwave, and made the no-miso sauce--it really was a pretty easy meal to do, and would have been great if we weren't both frantically racing around the kitchen totally winging it since we had never made it before!  We both enjoyed the meal, as did Abby...but Jake only ate the steak and Alex ate nothing--he took one bite of green beans, declared that he loved them, and then proceeded to play with them for the rest of the evening.  Great.  We didn't feed him anything else, so hopefully with persistence, we will win this dinnertime battle and he'll learn to widen his palate a little.

Not-So-Miso Steak with Green Beans and Red Potatoes

At least I did well with my calories on Sunday!  We're looking forward to trying out the Lemon-Thyme chicken one of these days, too.

Update on the workout classes:  Friday night was my 2nd Zumba class, and it was with a different instructor than the Wednesday class--and by a stroke of luck, I discovered that a woman from my street has also signed up for these classes, so we carpooled over there together.  It was really great to not only get a workout in, but also to be social--I'm way too stuck in the house these days.  The class was fun, but this instructor's technique and moves are a lot different from the Wednesday class.  Friday's was more Latin and lots of hips, so I had a harder time keeping up with the steps, but I still enjoyed it.  Then last night was my first step class--I was very nervous about it (and more so after I told my best friend that I was doing a step class, and her response was "Uh oh..."), and let me just say, it kicked my rear end.  I wore my glasses, which I don't usually do while I work out, and my glasses were all foggy from all the heat and sweat on my face.  Gross!  It was definitely a good workout, and a lot more intense than I expected.  I'm convinced I'm going to end up missing the darn step and sprawl out on the floor, or accidentally push the step out from under myself--it could happen, because I'm just that uncoordinated.  Thankfully, that class is only once a week--I don't think I could handle it otherwise!  Bring on the Wednesday Zumba fun!

Out of My Comfort Zone

Zumba is on the docket again for tonight--I went to the first class on Wednesday evening, and felt pretty good about it.  It was definitely a more basic class than my friend's class I attended last week, but in a way, that was good because I got the hang of everything really quickly and didn't feel like such an awkward dork!  :)  The instructor of the class on Wednesday was enthusiastic and the class was pretty fun--the best part about it for me was the lanky guy who came in late, stood near me, and shook everything he had to shake like he didn't have a care in the world!  It was pretty funny, and he really made it fun--I sure hope he comes back every week.  The other students (and there weren't many--maybe 15 of us?) ran the gamut from skinny girls just looking to stay active and who clearly had taken Zumba classes before, to folks like me who are there to try to get healthier and lose some weight...and have very little clue what we are doing!  There was a lot of laughing from some of the ladies when they just couldn't figure out what the heck the instructor was doing.  I don't really know how the classes here will work--will I have the same instructor tonight?  Will it be the same songs and moves over and over again?  If it is the same every class, will I get bored or will I relish the routine?  I guess time will tell, but I'm pretty happy that I've taken this step toward a more regular exercise schedule.  Special mention goes to my husband, who is cutting his work day shorter to get home and hang out with the kids (so close to dinner, no less) so that I can make these classes work--thank you, honey!

In order to help me keep track of this Challenge, I finally bought a new scale for our house--after years of resisting buying a good scale.  Our old one is not digital--it's one of the ones with the dial on the bottom that you move a little to the right or left to get the arrow pointing at the zero before you step on.  I never have owned my own scale--our old one is a leftover from Dan's bachelor days, and I honestly don't really know why he had a scale...but it's mostly been collecting dust in our bathroom for the last 8 years.  I hate it--I don't think it's very accurate, and I think that dial gives me too much power.  Instead of zeroing it out, I once turned that little dial until the arrow pointed 40 pounds lighter than 0 and stepped on, just to see what weighing in at 120 pounds feels like...yeah, it didn't give me the excitement I was hoping for, since obviously I knew I was making the scale lie to me!  After faking out that old scale, I always had trouble believing what it told me, because I knew I could manipulate it so easily.  When I started this Challenge, I decided I needed to bite the bullet and ordered a new digital scale--weighing myself at my parents' house isn't exactly feasible in the long-term.  Part of my reticence with having a good scale in the house is that I don't want to become obsessed with every ounce and weigh myself constantly--I don't think that's healthy (or accurate--weight fluctuates throughout the day for various reasons, so weighing at a consistent time and not getting sucked into the ups and downs of each day is important), and that's not who I want to be.  I'm going to try to keep to once-a-week weight checks and not get crazy about it...we'll see how it goes.  I got the new scale set up in our bathroom last night, and will resist the temptation to step on it again until Sunday!

this is pretty much how I feel about scales!

 
I wanted to talk a little bit about the TV workout I did this past Sunday--I have Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred DVD and obviously my treadmill and elliptical in the garage, but I was looking for something different to change things up a bit.  I discovered that our cable offers a few OnDemand workout shows, so I looked through them for a few days before I decided on Sunday to just try one out.  The one I chose was called "Sweat Sexy Workout" (thank you for that, Verizon FIOS...)--there weren't many options available unless you're a senior or working with an ankle injury (so randomly specific!), so I thought that one offered the most promise for a good workout for me despite the horrendous name.  I invited Dan to work out with me, and he was laughing so hard just during the warm up that I told him to take a hike--how am I supposed to be able to concentrate on working out and sweating in a sexy manner when my husband can't stop laughing?  It was okay with me for him to go work out on his own, though--the girl teaching the workout was admittedly sexy and ridiculously fit, so I was regretting asking him to watch her shake her stuff for an hour anyway.  Dan went for a run, and I kept trying to sweat sexy--such a darn oxymoron!  Apparently I'm not sexy in my every day life, because I was terribly awkward just trying to copy that skinny girl rolling her hips all over the place (not my forte!), and I hobbled around extremely sore for three days afterward.  I was pretty surprised I was able to move at all during Zumba on Wednesday night, because I was still hurting from that silly workout!

I was me, and it wasn't sexy

I think changing things up has been good for me--I'm getting out of my comfort zone with a lot of things lately, and that's exactly what The Good Housewife Project is all about.  I just need to figure out how to fire on all cylinders better than I have been--sure, I've been getting done what needs to get done, but sometimes just barely, and cooking has pretty much gone to the back burner (or no burner at all, I should say) again.  I just can't figure out how to cram it all in, but I'm hopeful that I'll get the hang of this new attempt at life sooner or later.  I'll never be one of those housewives who seemingly does it all and still has time to whip up a 4-course meal every night, but I'm not sure those ladies exist anyway.  I'm not aiming for perfect--I'm aiming for perfect for me and my family, and there's a pretty big difference.

Challenge Temptations and Tests

Zumba on Wednesday night was awesome!  I got to the class after they had started warming up, and my friend told me to get to the front so that I could see the moves better, so I did--not front row, but second row.  I was very self-conscious--I've never done a group fitness class before, excepting an aerobics class my college roommate and I took together (for credit!) our first year of school.  I'm not one to make a fool out of myself in front of other people...and I'm SO out of shape.  My friend is a really amazing instructor--I was in awe watching her up there, and just so impressed!  She was rocking it, and having a lot of fun--it rubbed off, because even though I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to be doing, I was having fun watching her and trying my best.  About 30 minutes into the class, I looked at the clock and thought that she might possibly be trying to kill me, but I survived--I didn't go as all-out as some of the folks there because I was awkward and definitely exhausted as the class neared the end, but I was pretty proud of myself for the effort.  Now I want to get some Zumba DVDs to do at home--if working out can be fun like that, I want to keep doing it that way!  I wish I could make her class all the time, but it took me almost an hour in traffic to get there, and I would have to join the gym--it wouldn't be feasible on a regular basis.  But it was a great time, and I'm really glad I went.  I thought I would be super sore, but so far, no major aches and pains...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, though.  Maybe it will hit me tomorrow--I promise, I really was working hard and sweating like crazy!  Dan and I were supposed to get up early this morning to work out, but that didn't happen (it's really hard to start the early-morning workout habit, especially when our garage is so cold in the mornings!)...so we'll have to fit in some fitness this weekend.

I broke my no-eating-after-the-kids-go-to-bed rule last night...not because I was hungry, but because I was really low on my calorie count.  I underestimated the amount of calories I burned folding and putting away laundry for an hour, and I also underestimated how many calories were in those pieces of cake I was eating on previous days!  The cake is now gone, so I don't have that as a temptation anymore.  I didn't have any dessert after dinner last night, so after we got the kids down, I made myself a large bowl of fresh fruit!  I sliced a whole banana, and then had half a cup each of sliced strawberries, blueberries, honeydew, and cantaloupe.  It was a huge bowl, and it was only 232 calories!  I always knew fruit was good for me, but I thought a big bowl like that would be way more calories.  We always have a lot of fruit in the house because I'm determined to make sure my kids eat healthily, but sometimes that means that I don't eat the fruit...because I want to save it for the kids.  This philosophy of putting my kids' needs above my own is part of how I got myself into this mess--I don't make time (or fruit salad, apparently) for myself, to focus on what I need to do and what is good for me.  I love fruit salad, so I need to be better about making sure I get to have some, too!  I didn't feel great about eating after my 8pm deadline, but I thought it was necessary to bump my calorie intake to a healthier level.  That's something I'll have to investigate--do I hurt myself more by eating later in the evening, or by not taking in enough calories?  I was mostly just proud of myself for the big bowl of fruit instead of a big bowl of ice cream!

delicious fruit salad!

As some sort of cruel trick of nature, my kids are really into chocolate-covered pretzels right now.  In case you couldn't guess, chocolate-covered pretzels are one of my very most favorite treats in the world--such a wonderful combination of salty and sweet!  My parents gave me two bags of chocolate-covered pretzels in my stocking at Christmas, and the kids all wanted some...but this was my pre-Challenge gluttony, so I ate them all after they went to bed...seriously.  Where was that putting-my-kids-before-myself philosophy when I needed it?  Apparently it doesn't apply to chocolate!  Jake saw the bags in the trash can the next day and was a bit distraught that I didn't share with him--I was talking to my mom on the phone at the time, so she heard him getting upset about it, and she felt bad.  So, like a good Grandma, when we got to her house this past weekend for Jake's birthday party, she had 4 bags of chocolate-covered pretzels waiting for him to take home!  Now those bags are in my pantry, screaming at me to eat them.  The kids asked for chocolate-covered pretzels for dessert after dinner every night, so I have to dole them out and try not to eat a few in the process.  This is a MASSIVE temptation, and even saying that is an understatement.  I almost sneaked one last night (I mean, c'mon--it's just one little chocolate-covered pretzel...), but I managed to hold myself off, because I knew one would lead to twenty in a heartbeat.  I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with my willpower this past week--I haven't been perfect (ahem, cake), but I've been way better than I was pre-Challenge.

the dangerous treat spread at Jake's party

I'm really going to put myself to the test tomorrow, though--we're going to a birthday party.  Should I have cake?  Will I stand by the table and eat a whole bowl of chips like I did at Jake's party?  I just don't know how I'm going to be able to handle all the ready-made temptation in bowls out in front of me.  I have a habit of not being able to stop myself, so this will be a true test of my newfound willpower.  It's also going to be hard because I'm a little addicted to my WebMD food log--I've been typing in food before I eat it to see how many calories, and I check my log all the time to see how many calories I have left for the day.  Without that, I'll be flying blind on the calorie count...who knows what my daily log will look like when it's all done.  That's a little scary for me, but I'm going to do my best--this is the real world, and I can't stay cooped up in the safety of my own house and my WebMD food log all the time.  I also can't cut out every treat from my diet, because that's setting myself up for failure--it's not possible to live my life without the fun stuff every once in a while.  I just need to figure out how to treat myself in moderation.  We are going out to dinner tonight as well, so I get a little practice eating notoriously huge restaurant portions without the help of my trusty food log telling me what's good!  Maybe I'll be better at portion control now that I know what I'm looking at?  And this will be my first weekend on the Challenge--we are a big restaurant eating family on the weekends, to include stops at our favorite ice cream places after dinner...stay tuned next week to see how this all pans out for me, and send some willpower, healthy-food vibes my way!