Fitness Friday....yeah I know I'm late!

I have finally found my mojo again!  I was beginning to worry that I had lost it and would never find it ever again!  I have regained my desire and excitement for exercise.  Guys, I know what you are thinking, "Wish I could."  You can!  It is hidden somewhere deep inside you.  I promise it is there!  Have you looked at my before weight loss picture??  That girl never wanted to even put her pinkie toe on a treadmill or even hear the word exercise.  I dreaded it every day!  Actually I just chose not to do it.  I've been there, right there, where you may be.  The television looked more fun than getting on that treadmill or lacing up those shoes.  But somewhere, I promise your mojo is hidden.  You just have to look for it.  Once you get started it becomes addicting. 

One sure fire way to find it, is to find a favorite high powered CD to listen to.  Make a goal to work out the entire CD and not stop until the last song is played.  I am ashamed to admit this but my workout CD is Madonna:  Confessions on the Dance Floor.  I don't even like Madonna but this particular CD has all upbeat high power songs that help me really get my groove on.  I make an effort to walk to the beat.  The songs are arranged in a perfect order, starting off somewhat fast which allows me to warm up.  Then after a couple of songs, there are about 4 or 5 really upbeat songs that I can speed up to, which really gets my heart pumping. 

When you set a goal to work out to the entire CD, your time flies by and before you know it, you've walked 3 miles!  When you realize you can do it, then you want to see if you can do it again.  Then you find yourself pushing your body even more saying, "maybe today, I can go just a tad faster."  Your mojo is there hiding.....just look for her!

Now, if you are anything like me, work keeps you from working out in the morning.  I usually don't hit the treadmill till around 4:00 pm which is a great opportunity for me to refuel with a good exercise worthy snack as soon as I get home from work.  I found a great article on good energizing foods that are great pre-workout.  You can find the article here:

http://www.fullcircle.com/goodfoodlife/2013/01/09/5-great-foods-to-make-the-most-of-your-workout/#s.aeafx3ldybaaa

Have an awesome week.......you and your mojo!  Happy walking! 

Weight Loss Wednesday: Peanut Butter Power Sticks

Here we are again!  It's Weight Loss Wednesday!  I thought tonight I would share some major food changes I have made.  I am really working hard at incorporating more whole grains into my diet as well as more fruits.  I also have been eating a lot more peanut butter.  I love to put 1 Tablespoon of creamy peanut butter on a mini bagel for a breakfast worth 6 points.  It is very filling and hold me over till lunch.  I also love to spread 1/2 tablespoon of peanut butter onto a banana for a light snack after a good power walk.  For some reason, I have it in my head, peanut butter and exercise go together.  So when I stumbled across the following recipe on the Weight Watcher's website, I was very excited because not only does it say "power" in the name itself, it does indeed, include my favorite.....Peanut Butter!  I have not tried these yet, but am very anxious to do so!  I think they would make a great breakfast!  I am not sure who posted this recipe but it was found on the message boards and I can't take credit for it!  Enjoy!  I give you.......


 

Peanut Butter Power Sticks

Prepare these in triple batches and keep them in the freezer for up to eight weeks. They make power-packed breakfasts in a flash.

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
3 tbsp honey
2/3 cup corn flakes -- crushed
1/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder

Knead ingredients together. Form into 6 sticks and wrap individually in wax paper. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe yields 6 servings.

Per Serving: 184 Calories; 11g Fat (49.5% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 1mg Cholesterol; 159mg Sodium.

Well, It's Fitness Friday!

This is the first post for Fitness Friday and I have been doing a little research on exercise and metabolism.  When I hurt my knee back in October, I slipped off the bandwagon.  Back in the summer I was running/walking 4 miles.  I prepared for The Color Run in October.  Just before the race, I decided to get down in the floor and do push ups.  As I was getting up, I heard both knees pop and I had trouble putting weight on them.  The left was worse than the right.  I slowly worked into a walk but was lacking flexibility in my left knee.  I threw on some "Flexall" and did the 5K anyway.  Afterall, this was a celebration for losing 100 pounds and I wasn't about to pass up that opportunity.  I did it and beat my own record time for 3 miles.  However; it has taken me 3 months to get back to normal and I know my knee will never be back to 100% normal.  The bad part is that I got into the habit of not walking and now my motivation is just not where I want it.

So, with all that being said, I decided to do this post to help myself get motivated again.  I figure if I research it and read about some tips, that I might get motivated to get back into the groove.  I will admit that it is not easy to convince myself to get up off the couch and walk.  Hopefully, this blog will help motivate both me and you to do so.  I keep repeating a quote over and over in my head....."You have to sweat like a pig to look like a fox."  Seems it is the only thing that gives me a little drive.  LOL!

In my research I stumbled across a pinned article from Prevention.  I want to share with you the article that has intrigued me.  This article points out that it isn't about how much you exercise but the timing of your exercise.  Exercising in the first 30 minutes after waking and before breakfast revs your metabolism.  To set this idea in stone for me, I then heard it mentioned on The Today Show the other morning, that you should exercise at least 8 minutes before doing anything else in the mornings.  So, twice I heard the same information from two different resources.  I am planning on trying this.  I woke up early yesterday and got in a mile before getting ready for work.  I did have a lot of energy all day and it felt good to be able to just come home and lounge without having to worry about convincing myself to get on that treadmill.  I encourage you to read the article from Prevention.  You can read it here.  I wish you luck in finding your motivation!  Good luck!  Oh and BTW, I lost 4 pounds this week!

Here's that article:
http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-tips/weight-loss-tips-reset-your-body-clock-belly-melt-diet

Hello Again and Happy New Year!

Wow!  Before you dismiss this post, due to a lack in my posting lately, know that I have a new and faster computer!  My old computer got to where I couldn't use the blogger tools so it became difficult to post anything.....but here I am! 

I want to start by telling about all the things I accomplished in 2012!  First, my husband and I finally took our daughter on her first vacation to Myrtle Beach.  She absolutely loved the beach.  In September, I finally reached my goal of losing 100 pounds!  I, of course, did it through the online
Weight Watcher's program.  In October, to celebrate my weight loss, I decided to walk/run my first ever 5K called the Color Run!  It was so much fun!  It has been a wonderful year!

That's me 2nd from right after completing my first 5K.  Very proud moment in 2012!

 

Me and my daughter at the beach!

 

A before weight loss picture of me and.............

 

.....after losing 100 pounds!

 

For 2013, I have a few goals.  1.)  Sadly over Christmas, I gained about 20 pounds back so I WILL begin losing it immediately!

2.)  I want to lose an additional 30 pounds or more.

3.)  I plan to blog more often and keep you up to date on things.  I have a plan....thinking Weight Loss Wednesdays and Fitness Fridays where I will post something for weight loss each Wednesday and something about fitness each Friday.  I am hoping this helps to keep me accountable and can help you out at the same time.  Postings between Wednesdays and Fridays will be crafts and family.

(My daughter's 4th birthday is coming up soon and I have already begun making things for the LaLa Loopsy themed shindig!.....Please check back to see what I am up to!)

 

But for now......Here is an early Weight Loss Wednesday post!

 

Some things I have done to deter cravings (this could really come in handy right now since most resolutions are fresh and you have a higher risk of falling off the wagon.....remember it takes 40 days to develop a habit or break one....eating right and making good choices is a habit you have to develop)!  I recently saw an inspirational quote on Weight Watcher's facebook page....it said, "Success with weight loss requires backbone, not wishbone!"

 

When a craving hits:

 

*chew a piece of gum and walk away

*drink water

*drink a cup of coffee

*go for a walk

*ask yourself if it is worth it

*go try on a pair of pants you know are too tight

*brush your teeth

*take a nap

*eat fruit or veggies and wait 30 minutes

*journal how you are feeling

*read your bible for inspiration

*If you are still craving it, eat 1/2 the portion size with fruit or veggies and sip water between bites

 

 

Hope these tips help you out.  You may need to only do one or a combination of some to get through it.  The wonderful thing about Weight Watcher's is that you can still enjoy the foods you love and crave in moderation.  Nothing is off limits.  That is why it is the perfect plan for me.  Good luck in meeting your goals for 2013!

 

 

 

 

Been WAY Too Long!!!

It has been way too long since I posted on here but I am back baby!  This actually is a test post.  I had installed Google Chrome on my computer which resulted in Blogger not letting me update posts.  I uninstalled it and here I am.  I will return to catch you up on my life and how it has changed in the last year!  TTFN!

My Favorite Time of the Year

Here it is my favorite time of the year....time for pumpkins of course!  And of course, the reason I love this time of year is simply because it leads us right into Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I have already started dreaming of sugarplums and my crafty heart has already taken over.  I have been making ornaments and planning my annual cookie exchange!  I am going to share with you today my recipe for my ornaments and the instructions for hosting your own cookie exchange! 

But first....news....I am down 64 pounds and hopefully still losing.  For the past couple weeks I have been stuck on another plateau, but this morning I finally got the scales to drop 1 pound from last week...so hopefully that plateau is broke!  Fingers crossed!

My daughter is just about potty trained.  She practically has done it herself though she tends to be a little on the stubborn side and wants to do it on her own time.  If she doesn't feel like dealing with it, then she won't.  I have learned not to push it.  She knows what she is doing.  She completely understands what is going on with her body but refuses to do it the way I want her to, so I figure eventually she will do it.  I just need to let her make her mind up to do it.  It is in times like these, I say she takes after her daddy.  Stubborness always comes from the daddy's side doesn't it ladies?  :)

Ok, so I told you that my annual cookie exchange is just around the corner.  This will be my 7th year and every year it seems to grow and get better.  I have learned a lot in the past 6 years I have done it.  So here is how it works.  You invite approximately 20 friends.  Always invite more than you expect to come that way you can get close to a dozen.  This year my party may be closer to 15 people.  If this happens you just ask them to bring more cookies.  Each person gives me 2 unique cookie or candy recipes by a certain date prior to the party.  (I type them all into a cookbook with pictures to hand out to the guests so I need enough time to type them and print them.)  I ask the guests to pick out Christmas PJ's and crazy Christmas socks to wear to the party.  I find that a morning party from about 9 to 12ish works best.  The ladies love to come decked out in PJ's and enjoy brunch together. 

Each guest brings with them 2 dozen of each recipe.  (I always have them prebag 2 of each recipe in baggies so each guest can just go around and pick up baggies of each cookie.  This is more santitary and keeps the cookies fresher longer.)  They also bring a tray on which to collect their cookies.  As guests arrive we arrange all the cookies on a huge table (sometimes 2 or 3 tables) and we mingle till everyone arrives.  Guests are given the cookbook of all the cookie recipes.  Once everyone arrives we eat brunch and play a few games.  I prepare prizes ahead of time for the games (though I always make sure everyone leaves with a prize/present from under my tree).  As the party begins to wind down, each guest grabs their tray and begins to go around the tables to collect 2 cookies/candies of each recipe brought to the party.  Everyone usually has a full tray of cookies and candy to take home.  Oh, and we pick the person wearing the craziest socks to win a prize too! 

It is a lot of fun and if you have never done it, I recommend doing one.  It is a great time for gals without the hubbies or the kids.  We all need that girl time and this is the perfect way to do it!

Now as favors/prizes I have made some super easy salt dough ornaments.  Do you remember making salt dough ornaments as a kid?  I do.  These are so much cuter than the ones we used to make. 

You will need:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup warm water
Whole Peppercorns
Clear Spray Enamel
Red food coloring (Optional)
Gingerbread man cookie cutters (or any other design you wish to do)
A straw

Directions:
Mix together the flour, salt, and water with your hands in a bowl till a stiff dough forms.  Sprinkle counter or surface with flour and roll out dough.  I cut my ornaments about 1/2 inch thick maybe slightly less.  Heat your oven to 325 degrees.  Spray baking sheets with cooking spray.  Cut gingerbread men out and lay on sprayed pan.  Press peppercorns in for eyes and buttons to decorate.  (Optional: I saved a little bit of dough, about golf ball size, to tint pink for hearts.  Squeeze red food coloring onto the dough and work in by kneading and pressing till dough is colored pink or red.  Take a pea size amount of the red dough and roll it till it is a snake shape.  Take ends and wrap into the center of the strand to form a heart shape.  Work and press your fingers to fill in gaps of the heart to make a solid heart shape.  Attach heart by rubbing on a bit of water to the back of the heart and apply to the gingerbread man....pressing slightly).  Poke holes for ornament string using a straw.  I like to put a hole on each hand of the gingerbread man for evenly weighted hanging.  Bake in the 325 degree oven for 50 - 60 minutes.  Keep an eye on them after about 40 minutes as thinner ornaments can brown too fast.  If they brown, I still keep them because I think it adds a bit of character.  After they have cooled you can remove them from the pan and allow to sit out overnight.  The next day you can spray them front and back with clear spray to seal and protect them.  Attach your ornament sring or wire for hanging. 

These little guys turned out so stinking cute.  I decided to do 2 big ones with a little one in the middle for our family ornament this year. 

Hopefully you have your Christmas thoughts dancing in your heads.  Plan a cookie party and make some ornaments.....you will be glad you did!

Have a great one!

Yes, I'm Still Alive!

I know, you are wondering where in the world I have been!  Life has happened and has taken me from my beloved pumpkin patch!  I ended up having a very busy summer and have now been back in school for almost 3 weeks.  I happily am down 58 pounds total and continue to go down each week! 

I have already begun thinking about fall!  My husband and I put out our fall stuff.  No it isn't too early!  We tend to do things about a month before everyone else does and Christmas stuff will be going up in about 2 1/2 months so in order to enjoy our fall decor it has to go out now!  I love this time of year!  I begin thinking about harvesting my pears from the pear tree, visiting pumpkin patches and festivals, and enjoying all those goodies covered with pecans, caramel, pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon!  I begin my hunt for the perfect smelling fall plug in to scent my house.  I do love this time of year!  Seems once school starts back, I am ready for fall.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on us.  I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day.  I had just started my 3rd year of teaching.  I had walked up to the front office to get my mail when I was told that the World Trade Center Towers had both been hit.  My 1st graders were at specials so I walked back to my classroom and watched the television in disbelief.  I remember wondering what in the world was happening.  I remember being scared and sad.  I remember asking, "Do we tell our class what has happened or go about our business and let the parents tell them when the time was right?"  With them being only 1st graders, I believe the decision was made not to say anything but to carry on with business as usual.  That was very difficult.  I wanted to be glued to the television.  I remember it being very difficult to turn it off and conduct regular business.  I was in disbelief as was everyone else.  The 10th anniversary has been made public and when I see the pictures and videos it all still seems like it happened yesterday.  It is hard to believe how far America has come since that day.  I am STILL proud to be an American and I will never forget that day and how it made me feel, even in my little county in Kentucky.

I have some nice recipes for dishes I have tried since we last talked.  I have an awesome dessert recipe I am definately going to share with you today!  I made them for my church's 130th homecoming celebration.  They are called cake balls and they are sooooo simple and easy to make.  I had so many people asking me for the recipe and when I told them the recipe they were shocked.  BTW...these are not Weight Watcher friendly so beware!  So here goes.....

CAKE BALLS
*1 cooled cake (you can use a cooled cake made from a mix or I just bought a bakery bundt cake from my local grocery store)
*liquid coffee creamer (enough to make a small pool of liquid and depends on how much cake you have)
*chocolate chips (can be any flavor...white, chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, mint, etc..)

Buy a cake, liquid coffee creamer and chocolate chips that go together...for example if you are using a chocolate cake you might use a hazelnut creamer and dark chocolate chips or a peppermint creamer and mint chocolate chips, or a chocolate mocha creamer and white chocolate chips.  Be creative.  You may want to do a white cake with coconut creamer and white chocolate or a pumpkin cake with a pumpkin spice creamer and white chocolate...or a strawberry, lemon, or orange cake with french vanilla creamer and white chocolate chips.....the possibilities are endless.

Crumble your dry cake with a fork.  Use your hands to complete the crumbling process.  Using your hands, push the crumbled cake to the sides of the bowl making a small well in the center.  Pour enough coffee creamer to make a small puddle.  You are just using the creamer as a binding agent so don't get too heavy but need enough that the cake crumbs will bind together.  Using your hands mix the creamer and cake crumbs together till you are able to make small balls of cake.  If the mix is too dry add more creamer.

Roll the cake into small balls about quarter size and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Place the balls into the freezer for about 30 minutes.  Melt your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.  Pull the cake balls out of the freezer and roll in the chocolate.  The cake bals will begin to crumble as they begin to warm so it takes a lot of the chocolate to cover them.  Set up on the same cold baking sheet so that they set up quickly.  Store in the fridge.  Number of balls you make varies on the cake size. 

I made lemon cake with white chocolate and a chocolate cake with peanut butter chips.  They went over very well....like I said, a lot of people asked me how to make them.  I have plans to make a strawberry version of these for my daughter's next birthday since it will be Strawberry Shortcake themed.  Have a wonderful weekend and hopefully I won't stay a stranger in the pink pumpkin patch anymore!  Ta!  Ta!