I Did It!!

So, I DID IT!! I reached my goal of losing 10 pounds in a month. My next goal is to, ofcourse, lose another 10 pounds & to complete the June Burpee Challenge that I have joined on FaceBook. I can't wait to see how I do.

I hope everyone is reaching their goals and surpassing them as well. Have a great Tuesday everyone.


Ciressa

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Weight Loss

Every Monday I 'weigh in' to see my weeks progress. I think I'll start doing a monthly weigh in rather than weekly, come next month, but for this month I'll continue the weekly weigh ins.
Since April 26 I've lost 7.5lbs. On May 26th will be one month since working out and eating healthy. I am shooting to make it 10 lbs lost. That gives me 4 days to lose 2.5 lbs. I can totally do this! :)


So far this past month, the hardest part for me is to NOT give in to food I know is going to make me gain weight, not to mention, aren't good for me. I am glad my guilt sets in BEFORE consuming said delicious treats, so I don't give in everytime. But I'd really like to get to the point where it doesn't even cross my mind, and I'd like to get to that point quick style! I know I'll get there.

My ultimate goal is much more than 10 lbs, but I'm going to take it 1 month at a time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday. 

MOTiVATiON MONDAY

Over the past week or so I've really been thinking about this. So many people say "Oh, you want to lose 10 pounds fast? Do this CRASH diet and you'll lose it no problem." Well, that's true. Losing the weight may be easy, but keeping it off....not so much. As soon as said crash diet is over, you're back to eating the way you were before and here comes back the pounds ready to reunite with  your ass, belly & thighs. I'm guilty of doing these diets as well, and yea, they worked for me. I even lost 15lbs in 3 days on one of them! But it's not healthy and most definitely NOT long term. You have to actually WORK for what you want. That goes for many things in life. A good job, money, weight loss. Fit does not come in a bottle. Fit comes in the form of motivation, determination & knowledge.

You have to be MOTIVATED to get fit. Just like an alcoholic or drug addict, you sometimes have to hit rock bottom before you find the motivation. For me, my motivation is to live a healthy life with my husband and children. I'm done being the fat girl. I'm sick of being too embarassed of my body to go out to certain places. My motivation is to LIVE!

DETERMINATION is a huge step for me. I had to finally find the determination I needed to do this. To get off the couch and workout. To chose carrots over cookies at the grocery store. To NOT eat the chips while Emily was down for a nap, even though I was all alone and no one would ever know. I was determined to make healthy food choices. I am determined to be the healthiest me as possible.

I was so ignorant when it came to eating healthy. (& I still have A LOT to learn) I needed the KNOWLEDGE of eating healthy. This was one of the biggest reasons I didn't eat the right foods. I didn't know what the right foods were. To me there was salad, veggies & fruits, that was it. NOT true! I learned about great alternatives to things I use in my everyday meals, snacks, drinks. Get educated on eating healthy. You wouldn't go into a job before you were educated on what they heck you'd be doing, right? So don't go into a healthy lifestyle blind, because you might end up with a bunch of veggies and fruits....and that's it. It is SO much more than that! And if you think it's all about fruit & salads & veggies, then it's going to seem boring, and quite bland after a while, and you'll quit and go back to what you were doing before.

Stay motivated. Stay determined. Get educated.

Remember, if fit came in a bottle, EVERYONE would be fit.

Right?!

GET UP AND DO SOMETHING TODAY! YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID.

NO ONE HAS EVER SAID "I REALLY REGRET THAT WORKOUT, TODAY"

"...LOOK @ THAT BODY, I WORK OUT!"

I've had a couple of people ask me what workout routines I'm doing, or just in general, what I'm doing for my work outs, so I thought I'd share.
I do these EVERYDAY. Starting at 7:30 in the morning I get my girls ready for the day, breakfast, dressed, teeth brushed, blah blah blah and as soon as Mackenzie is on the bus, I'm preparing to work out, here is a play by play of my morning workout:

First I do some stretches. Just the usual, nothing fancy. Just enough to get my muscles losened & ready for my workout. I owe my knowledge of stretches to my high school dance teacher. :)

Now comes the fun part!

50 jumping jacks

20 body weight squats

20 lunges-alternate

3 sets of 10 second plank to mountain climbers

30 body crunches

10 pushups

5 modified pushups with a 10 second hold at the end

10 squat thrusts

(repeat 2xs)

For my afternoon workout I begin the same was as the morning workout, by doing stretches.

10 pushups

20 sit ups

25 squats

20 lunges-alternate

80 jumping jacks

60 second wall sit

Now, at the beginning when I first started my morning workout I had to seperate the 50 jumping jacks. I would do 25 at the beginning and 25 at the end. I think this is okay, as long as they get done. Today was the first day I was able to do all 50 at once and I am so PROUD of myself! As for the 80 jumping jacks in the afternoon workout, well, I still seperate those, 40 & 40. But that's okay, because soon, I'll be able to do all 80 at once. Also, my first attempt to do the 60 second wall sit, only got to 13 seconds. I'm able to do a little more each day. Also, when I started these workouts, I was only able to do 2 pushups (no, I'm not kidding, sad, I know, but everyone has to start somewhere!) at a time, now, I'm able to do 10 at a time. Eventually, I'll be able to do 15, 20...who knows! I don't have a number set that I'd like to be at, I just want to get through any workout I have infront of me, without dying. And so far, I've succeeded.

There is one more workout that I have on my wall. I'll admit, it scares the crap out of me. I've only half way attempted it and that was just to see what it would be like. Next week, I will start it. By next Saturday, I will have finished it, because I know I can! Until then, I refer to it as The Scary WorkOut. :/

Here it is:

30 jumping jacks

5 pushups

25 high knees

7 burpees

10 crunches

7 squats

5 push ups

10 crunches

5 pushups

7 squats

30 jumping jacks

60 second wall sit

5 push ups

25 high knees

(repeat 3-5 xs for MAX results)

I have yet to repeat my morning work out at all. I do it mixed with some arm weights.

Also I found my morning workout on http://www.youtube.com/ . I just searched workouts for women. It's called The Morning Workout. The other two workouts I found on http://www.pinterest.com/  I have all these workouts printed up and on my wall. They are a constant reminder of what I do and where I want to be. I haven't skipped a workout in 14 days. As I get my girls ready for the day in the mornings, ofcourse, sometimes the thought crosses my mind, "Oh maybe I'll take a break today and pick back up tomorrow", and I immediately start feeling guilt. For me, this is not an option. Because 1 break, leads to another break, which leads to a week break, then a month break....and then, well, I'm back to where I was! I refuse to be back where I was. It's only forward from here, for me!

If you aren't sure what one of the workouts is, like a BURPEE, just youtube it and all kinds of videos will show up. Just watch it a couple of times and you'll have it memorized in no time. There are even videos that will show you a modified version of some workouts for beginners, or people who just aren't able to do the full version for whatever reason. I love my workouts and am really looking forward to starting 'The Scary WorkOut'. :)

Everyone Have A Fabulous Friday! 

Dinner Is Served....

For dinner tonight I tried a Paleo recipe, Cilantro chicken nuggets, except I used Turkey :) They were seriously UHMAZING!! Everyone ate them ALL!  Both my girls (who are both VERY picky eaters) ate all their dinner tonight. I was so excited that they loved them. It made my heart happy. lol Mackenzie couldn't stop saying how great they nuggets were. She even asked if we could have them again tomorrow. Seriously though, they were so good. I'll post the recipe at the bottom of this entry for those of you who would like to try them.



Tonight for dinner we also had sweet potato fries. This is something I have yet to perfect. I can never get them crunchy, they always turn out mushy. Good, but mushy. One day I will perfect these little things and dance with joy. My family loves them despite the mushiness, and I suppose thats all that really matters, eh? They were good if I do say so myself. Along with the Turkey nuggets and sweet potato fries we had steamed veggies. It was a very good dinner indeed.




For dessert I snuck in some delicious Greek frozen yogurt. This was my first time trying the Banana Peanut Butter and it was super yummy. A bit sweet for my taste, but very good. I let Matt try some and he was not a fan of it at all, but I think it was pretty good :)



Over all dinner (& dessert) were fantastic! I can't wait to try out other Paleo recipes. If they are even half as good as these Cilantro nuggets turned out, I'll be in heaven the rest of this week. I hope your dinner was a delicious & healthy one as well.

Good night Loves.



Here is the recipe for the Cilantro Chicken Nuggets:

Ingredients :

- 1 pound ground chicken or turkey
- 1 egg whisked                                   
- 1 bundle of cilantro, chopped (the
more, the better) *seriously!!*
- 3 scallions, chopped                        
- 2 teaspoons seasame oil                 
- 1/2 cup coconut flour                      
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger                        
- 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil          

Instructions :


1.Mix all of your nugget ingredients together: ground chicken, egg, cilantro, scallions, sesame oil, ginger, and salt and pepper.
2.Now heat up a large skillet under medium heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil.
3.Place your coconut flour in bowl.
4.Make small balls from your nugget mixture, “nugget sized” and place each nugget in the coconut flour (being sure to only lightly dust the nuggets) then place in your skillet.
5.Use a spatula to slightly flatten out each nugget. It only needs just a little press down.
6.Cook on both sides for 5-7 minutes or until cooked through.



Rabbit Food!

So this morning Emily and I went to the grocery store as we do EVERY Thursday after Mackenzie gets on the bus. And as I was waiting ever so patiently in the, what seemed like, 100 degree grocery store check out line, I look down at my buggie and all that is in there and notice, once again, it looks like all I feed my family is veggies and fruit. Last week I was telling my mom after one of my grocery shopping expeditions, that it looked like I was going to go feed a bunch of rabbits. Well, as I'm (finally) putting my groceries on the checkout conveyer, the lady at the checkout says, "My God, are you going to feed rabbits with all these veggies?!" I looked up at her (thinking about how I JUST said this to my mom a week ago) and just grinned. I would much rather someone think I'm going to feed my imaginary rabbits, than to take a look in my basket and think "Whoa, I bet her family is FAT!"
One thing I never really got a grasp on while trying to be healthy and lose weight, was healthy eating. Like, REALLY, eating healthy. I've realized lately  I have to be all or nothing with this. I can't give myself "cheat days", I can't just cut out chips, or sodas, I have to do it ALL! Thats just me, I'm not saying it has to be that way for everyone. You have to start somewhere, after all. So, when I finally put my foot down and said, "This is what I'm doing, I'm changing how we eat, and what we eat, NOW!", I really finally meant it! We traded in our hamburger meat for Turkey, our potato french fries for Sweet Potato fries, and when chips are eaten, they are organic, baked. Not only have we changed  what we eat, but how we eat it..........

Which brings me to this snazzy little bottle. THIS, my friends, is something, I kid you not, I had never heard of before I started looking into the Paleo diet. This is coconut oil. I'm actually going to be using this tonight to make cilantro chicken nuggets. It is SO much better for you to use than the alternative. Told you I was serious about this! I have also learned about Coconut Flour, which I'll be buying soon as well. I bought some Coconut Milk a few weeks ago and I love it in my fruit smoothies. I highly suggest looking into the different Coconut products out there.



**A huge part of why I am blogging about this stuff is because I want to inform people. I want the information to be easy for you to find out about. Seriously if it weren't for a friend of mine on FB who posts tons of helpful tips and such I wouldn't know about any of these cocount products, or what a Burpee is or what Crossfit is or half the stuff I know now, that I didn't know a month ago! Being educated about this stuff has motivated me to get myself in gear, and I hope it does the same for whoever reads this! It doesn't matter if you aren't overweight, or you already work out a lot, it's still so important to eat healthy. And to teach your children to do the same! I'll admit, we used to be that McDonald's happy meal family when the kids were cranky and hungry and we didn't want to have to worry about them waiting for dinner once we got home, and I so regret it now. Everyday I try to teach Mackenzie something new about healthy foods and why it is better to eat one thing over another.


Here are a couple of links to great sites for delicious food(that are healthy too!!)
ENJOY!

http://www.paleomg.com/
http://www.skinnytaste.com/

I absolutely love both of these sites! You can also find some of these recipes (& more) on Pinterest as well as great workout ideas. I actually got 2 of my workout routines from Pinterest, the other came from  YouTube, which is a great place to search for awesome workouts for everyone, along with inspiring videos of people who NEVER imagined they'd lose weight, or even be able to walk again without a cane!
See, the resources are there, you just have to look a little. :)

I am done here for today, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!

Updates & Changes

  It has been a while since I was last on here and a lot has changed. I'll start with quitting my job. I made the decision to become a SAHM again. I miss going to work and earning a paycheck, but wouldn't trade being home with my babes for any amount of money.
  We recently moved into a bigger house. We were planning on expanding our family, so we needed the extra room. This has been put on hold at the moment. We are undecided as to if we still want to add to the Sweitzer Clan. The option is still on the table, but we are not sure if we will take it or leave it just yet. I know we'll make the right choice for our family, no matter what the final decision is.
  In the meantime I have been getting serious about getting healthy and losing weight. But not only healthy for myself, but my family as well. I am finding it more and more important to show my girls how to eat healthy and make wise food decisions. Especially with my 6 year old who is a food lover (who isn't), her philosophy is if it tastes good, she's eating it, hungry or not. I am torn with how to handle this because I have been there, I am still struggling with that. My desire is to show her she can still have this good, tastey food, in moderation. I know it will be hard and trying with this, but we will do it, together. My husband, God bless his soul, is one of those people who thinks if they aren't overweight, they must be healthy. This may be true for some, but this man lives on vending machine food from his job, this is not healthy, for a rat, let alone a grown man in his 30's. I have to hand it to him, he didn't like salads much, but after looking up some tastey recipes, I have won him over. (yay me!)
  I have started working out DAILY and honestly, never thought I'd see the day that would happen, but I'm here and it feels wonderful. I'll admit, this choice of how to go about weightloss didn't come easy. I had to do a lot of soul searching before I got here, to this place of determination. I had made an appointment for a consultation to look into the Lap Band procedure to help me lose weight. I have heard great things & was very interested. But when it came down to it, I cancelled my appointment (for the 3rd time) because in the back of my head, I continued to be unsure if this was right for me. In the end I decided I would not go with the surgery. I have decdided to change my life. Eating healthy, working out daily and living a more active lifestyle for me and my family. . I know I made the right choice for me. And thats all that matters.
  My girls are growing like freaking weeds!! Mackenzie will be graduating from Kindergarten on the 31st and she is so excited, as are we. Emily is 17 months and has such a personality. She is a precious gift. The girls are so inseperable, I absolutely love it.
  We are looking forward to our Summer this year. We are planning a trip to Pennsylvania to see Matt's parents and brother and sister, in July. They have not met Emily yet, and the last time they saw Mackenzie was in 2010, when I was pregnant with Emily. I am very excited about them meeting Emily for the first time and seeing Mackenzie again. She misses them all the time. Other than going to PA., our summer will consist of Mackenzie going to Church Camp in June, a beach trip here and there, and a Zoo trip somewhere in the mix of things. I know Summer is going to fly by so we will enjoy every bit of it until the 2012-2013 school year starts up.

Other than the normal family updates in my blog, I will post random tidbits and encouraging messages/pictures for those of you who care to read them. If it weren't for some of the things I see posted on facebook from friends about working out, eating healthy and staying focused, I honestly don't think I'd be as motivated as I am at 6a.m.

  Until next time..............