Well, I haven't run in weeks. Or any exercise for that matter. I intend to. Hasn't happened. Definitely not on course for running a 5K this fall, but hoping to get into the swing of things now that the cool air is back.

In keeping with my "not working out phase" I made some horribly fantastic gluten free cheesecake brownie bites the other day. I made them a few weeks ago, but tweaked the recipe this time and they came out so much better. I really should have taken a photo, I will next time I make them, which will be soon I'm sure.

Recipe: Use the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie Mix, prepare as directed,

In a separate bowl, mix by hand softened cream cheese (I took mine out of the fridge about 30 minutes earlier), one egg and 1/4 cup of sugar. Mix until it is liquidy, the cream cheese may still be a little chunky. The first time I made it I used confectionery sugar and beat it....they came out good but the cream cheese didn't come out as much. Mixing by hand left the cream cheese a little chunky but it melts so it's fine and made the cream cheese standout.

 I use a mini muffin tin, spray with cooking spray. Fill each with brownie about 2/3 then a little dollop of cream cheese mix on top. If I don't have enough brownie I add a little on top of the cream cheese on some. I baked for 17 1/2 minutes. Let cool and they pop right out.

Yum! Might try them with Strawberry cream cheese next time....

Deja Vu All Over Again

I really dislike that phrase. It makes no sense. Are you having deja vu again? No, not that's not what you mean. You mean history repeating itself. Not that you are seeing the future again. Anywhoooo....I'm back :). And in reviewing my posts from 2 years ago, not much has changed. What I am hoping for is different results. I started the Couch to 5K again. In the winter/spring I was very serious about working out. I did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, LOVED it. Tabata at the gym, LOVED it. Interval training is such an amazing workout. Makes you feel strong and it makes you lose weight. This summer I have tried doing some Aqua Tabata in the pool. Actually was a good workout, maybe not quite as much as the shred, but great for a hot day. I look forward to getting back into interval training in the fall once the hot is over. I bring up the interval training because it definitely made me stronger, particularly my legs which gave me the confidence to try running again. Since part of the problem I had before was I didn't have the muscles strong enough to hold my knee in place, I think I am in a better position to start. I am also doing the plan very slowly, only running 2-3 time per week as time allows and my body is comfortable with. Tonight I finished Week 3, Day 2. 5 Minute warm up walk 90 second run 90 second walk 3 minute run 3 minute walk repeat. So far so good. I haven't felt too much pulling in my knee when running or after. I am trying to make sure I stretch really well after, and do some of the physical therapy exercises they gave me for it. I probably will run again Tuesday or Wednesday.

Still Gluten Free

I am quite impressed that I have more posts to my blog in 2010 than I did in all of 2009. Not bad :).

I am almost 3 weeks in to the Gluten Free diet. It is going well....it isn't terribly hard, it just requires some preparation. There are a ton of gluten free products now, Betty Crocker makes a great cupcake mix and their frosting is naturally gluten free. So are snicker bars and milky ways, Lays Potato Chips.....:) Needless to say the diet isn't going so well...I've actually thought that if I end up havign to do this forever, I might need to count some points while being gluten free. It's too easy to say well I can't have bread or baked goods, so I deserve to be able to a few treats...well a a few are fine, it's everything in moderation.

I actually lost 4 lbs the first week, but have been the same since. So gluten free is a lot of meat, cheese (as long as it doesn't have gluten...some cheaper varieties might actually have additives, ewww), fruit, veggies, potatoes, rice....oh and salad. Which has also proved to be troublesome. I'm limiting the amount of lettuce and raw veggies.

Overall, I think it is making a difference. So hard to tell. Doctor appointment next week so we'll see what happens.

The New Not-by-Choice Diet

Not sure if it's going to help me lose weight, but it might.

I have been battling stomach issues for a while now....seems like forever, but I've defintely noticed a difference since Jack was born. By that I mean, I eat and I have to use the bathroom very shortly after....I won't go into details. This past week I've been not right and I finally thought I should go to the doctor. Which was a hard decision because as much as I love the doctor, sometimes we avoid them so we can't find out what we might already suspect. But I am sick of feeling sick, so off I went.

And she did what I expected....limit the diet and sent me for blood tests, one of which is for Celiac Disease, which means going gluten free. I also am going to see a GI Specialist in October. Obviously I just had the test done, but for now she suggested I go either gluten or dairy free for two weeks, and then switch if the first didn't make a difference. Since Celiac runs in the family, I'm going with the gluten first. And I'm not giving up cheese yet unless I have to :).

So we'll see what happens.....I'm already craving a cookie. I think because I can't have one. I'm going to need to find some gluten free goodies. My uncle lost a bunch of weight having to follow the diet though...that's a positive, right?

Weekend Disaster

I need to get out of the mindset that a few allowances here and there will be ok...at least not now. It's one thing to splurge when you are at your goal weight, or even on your way there. But I'm barely out of the starting blocks and I sabotage myself. I just don't like having to deprive myself of what I want foodwise, I feel like I should be able to eat whatever I want. But do I want to be able to eat what I want, or lose 20 lbs? What's more important? I wish I knew. This weekend it was eating whatever I wanted. And now the guilt has set in.

There are a few good things that came from this weekend. John and I had a great dinner out, it was nice to be back at the Playwright again. We don't get to spend nearly enough time with just the two of us. And we get a night away this weekend...cousin Dee's wedding woohoo!

The other good thing was I re-joined the gym. I've been thinking about it for a while and finally did it. I have at least 4 friends who go to the same gym I used to go to and they go on a regular basis so I'm hoping we can set dates and I will get there. It feels so good to be back there and working out. I plan to go at least twice, hopefully 3 or 4 times a week. I'm starting sort of slow, I still haven't done a whole lot with the knee since getting out of physical therapy. I was able to walk a little over 1.5 miles yesterday, although going faster than 2.8 on the treadmill makes the knee start to hurt...so I'm not going super fast but at least I'm going. I figure building up slowly and eventually I'll be back up to a regular speed. The elliptical seems to be the best option. Virtually no pain at all and able to go a regular pace.

I also need to figure out how to get rid of this neck pain from sleeping. Ouch! Every morning I wake up with pain in my right neck/shoulder. Getting old.

Happy 5th Anniversary!

Five years ago today John and I got married....I can't believe 5 years have gone by so fast! It's been a great time though and can't wait for some many more.

I've been doing pretty well on SB...yesterday was by far my best day. Today so far so good. It's 3:16 pm right now and we're heading into the the serious witching hours. Hunger/boredom sets in....and staying away from those lovely carbs gets more and more difficult. But I'm trying. I just ate a half of a zucchini with some ranch dressing. Hopefully John will be home soon so we can go out to the pool for a bit, staying busy prevents eating. Then we're off to another anniversary dinner. I think we'll just head to the Playwright. Wednesday we celebrated too but had a fancier dinner so tonight we'll go to our favorite location. Going to do my best to stay on the plan....

SB Day 3

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs and two slices of ham
Snack: 2 mozzarella sticks
Lunch: slices of turkey and ham, cucumbers & zuccini dipped in some lite ranch dressing.

So far so good.

SB Day 2

Day 1 didn't go so well. I take that back, it wasn't horrible, but I didn't follow all the rules. I couldn't resist the group trip to the Agave Taco cart in the park. The pulled chicken burrito was quite tasty though, and very filling. Kept me full until my salad with chicken for dinner, followed by a sugar free jello for dessert. I've done a bit more research on it, I just love ivillage.com message boards. The book I have is quite old and apparently they have made some changes, including a dairy requirement of 2 cups of 1% or skim a day or some plain yogurt (blech). Trying my best....wish I had some veggies to munch on right now though. I am going to need to slice stuff up and bring it with me. Hopefully I'm also able to stick with it at home....the junk food is so hard to resist on a long day with the kidlets. But it needs to be done.

I stink at weight loss

Yup, I do. I have no will power at all. I am good for a week or two and then we go away for the weekend, have a party or heck, just the weekend rolls around and everything goes out the window.

Today I am going to start the South Beach Diet. We'll see how it goes. The first 2 weeks is supposed to be Zero carbs, including no alcohol. Really? Let's see, I have an event tomorrow night at J. Tim's and I will be eating dirt wings and beer....and Friday is our anniversary and I will most defintely be drinking wine. I figure I can work the menu into my diet somehow.....but I'm giving it a go.

Follow up weigh in...

Next week I will actually count my Wednesday weigh in because I'm going to stay ON PROGRAM and actually lose some of this weight! Good news, is that I am down 1 lb. Still 7 lbs to go before the wedding. Eek. Need to get serious.

I think I am going to join a gym this week. Just trying to decide between two of them. The one I used to go to is $19 a month for the basis membership (no classes) but is charging a $49 registration fee which is crap as far as I'm concerned. There is another one in town that is only $20, no registration fee and that includes all the classes. Sounds like a no brainer, but most of my friends go to the other one. I'm going to see if they will give me the same deal. Can't hurt to ask.

I also just had someone give me a quote for house cleaning. I am sick of this place being a disaster, and I just don't have the time or energy to get to the real deep down cleaning. It takes so long to just get the clutter up and not enough time to get to everything else. Just have to convince John, but I think it will be worth it.

Going out tonight to the beach club for our first adult event there...we've never been to any of the dinner & dancing parties. We are going with a friends who are also members and part of my playgroup. Hoping for a fun night out.

Ok, so that's it from here....see you on Wednesday unless I need to blog to stop eating before then.

Wednesday Weigh In

I had my knee appointment Monday, no more rehab for me. Doctor didn't think it was necessary, said I just need to build up slowly, ice after exercise if I feel anything at all so it doesn't get super inflammed again. But since it appears that one of my "bursa" is not a happy one, I think I will stay away from running. Which makes me a little sad. I see all of these other people who are able to do it and I wish I could too. The doctor said some people are just good at somethings, and not so good at others. He compared it to runners in Africa, saying people from West Africa have never run a marathon because that is no what their body type is good for, they are the sprinters whereas people from East Africa are shorter and thinner and can handle the marathons. So I'm back to walking, although not sure how far I can go yet.

And then there is the diet. I am sort of bummed today. No loss. No gain. I really thought I would have a loss today. I think I will weigh in again Friday to see if I can get myself a loss for the week. Does this mean I'm changing my weigh in to Friday? No it's more of an accountability gain I'm playing with myself. If nothing else it makes me stay on track for another two days. I have an awful habit of chowing down on weigh in day since I have a week to be good....which is probably really hampering my weight loss.

I almost have another reason to lose weight, other than my own personal health and satisfaction. This is our 5th Year Wedding Anniversary...where has the time gone? Wouldn't it be nice to be the same weight as when I got married? Ok, well that isn't going to quite happen by our anniversary but I can be on the way. But we are also seriously considering a trip to the caribbean for December. There are some great prices. Do you think if I tell John I promise to lose 25 lbs if we book the trip he'd do it :)?

My minigoal is 8 more lbs by August 13th, and total loss of 25 by December. Which is more than doable.

So still 8 lbs to lose to my mini goal....can I say only 6 lbs to lose on Friday? Keeping fingers crossed and my mouth duct taped shut!

Friday check in

Aren't I being so accountable? Maybe this means I'm actually serious about this. Oh wait, if I was actually serious about losing weight I wouldn't eat this many cookies.

A few other updates...I had my last "rehab" session yesterday. Yes, John calls it rehab. I told him I really don't think I need to go to rehab, there are two of my favorite bottles of wine sitting on the counter that I haven't even touched...yet! But it is Friday, so one of those will be going into the fridge soon. :).

Back to rehab....the knee is doing well. But definitely not 100%. I admit I don't do my exercises quite as often as I should, but it's hard. Combine this miserable heat with 2 little monsters who crawl all over me when I try to do them....and who wants to do leg exercises at 9:30 at night? But I'm getting there. I go see the doc on Monday, but the physical therapist thinks it would be good for me to come once a week for a few more weeks, and I don't disagree. She had me do some leg raises with the machine and I could barely lift the 1 lb weight....but I did make it all the way around the block last night without feeling any twinges of pain so that is a very good sign.

Well, my kids are playing in the back by themselves so I should probably go check on them. But there is no screaming and no fighting so sometimes I think it's better to just let them play. They fight more when we are around. And Molly will report in if Jack is doing something dangerous, or has done something to him.

John: Molly why is Jack crying?
Molly: Daddy, I didn't even bite him!
Jack: (pointing to his arm) Boo Boo. boo boo.
John: Jack, did Molly bite you?
Molly: I didn't bite his arm. I bit his face.

And good news on the diet front...I am back to the same weight I was last week so I am happy about that. Just means I need to buckle down and hope for a 2+ loss this week. 5 weeks to my cousins wedding and 8 lbs to lose. It would really help if I could workout.

Weigh In Week 2

Let's just say the long holiday weekend was disasterous for a diet.

Trying to regroup and stay away from the cookies, which I was not successful at yesterday. And is it bad to blame the heat for my eating? It's all about convenience and what is available right now....I'll report in on Friday with an update.

Weigh In

Weigh in will be every Wednesday morning. When I first started WW on my own it was February 2001, just after my mother's wedding and before Vicky and Rich's wedding. The pictures came back from my mom's and it was a big wake up call....didn't want to ruin Vicky's wedding pictures so I lost 30 lbs before her big day....

I mention this now because the teacher I went to Chicago with for my conference in May sent me the pictures. I don't think I need to elaborate....

For some reason I just haven't been able to committ to WW. Which is tough for me because I know it does work if you follow the program. I was a monthly member for over a year and woudl go for a few weeks, life would get busy and I'd stop going....start again, etc. In May I finally stopped my membership. It was a waste of money and if being a member isn't holding me accountable like I thought it would, why belong?

Last Wednesday, after the Chicago photo trauma, I found a few excel sheets that keep track of weight. I have a few weight trackers left over from my meetings I did attend and I am going to go it alone again. If I could lose 45 lbs on my own once, I should be able to lose 15? Right?

Today was Weigh In #1.............

Down 2 lbs! Woohoo! Nothing like a good loss to get me motivated to eat right and stay away from the cookies.

Maybe I will try blogging instead of eating.

On the sidelines

Bummer. Running didn't seem to work out so well for me. After my last post, which sounds so incredibly positive, the pain in my knee increased to the point that John wanted to take me to the emergency room. I was crying, I could barely walk...in fact I could barely sit. It was Sunday, so I took some paid meds left over from one of my surgeries coupled with more ibuprofen and was finally able to get some rest. I called the Orthopedic in the morning for some xrays. Good news: no break or torn ligaments. Bad news: Bursitis/Tendonitis and 4-6 weeks of PT.

I have one week left of PT now and my knee feels good. Everyday tasks are easy, I can get up and down the stairs with no pain. Next task is to start walking long distance again....

And what to do about running? Honestly I'm not sure. I LOVED the feeling of running. I loved the way it made me feel, I love the sense of accomplishment. But I don't have time to be injured. With two little ones to take care of, an injured Mommy is not part of the plan. So I think I'm going to stick to walking. Now to to get out there and actually do the walking....

That being said, I'm actually trying to diet again. I am always saying that I am, but for a little while I pretty much gave it up. I haven't really gained, but I certainly haven't lost. 7 weeks until my cousin's wedding and 8 weeks until vacation at the Cape. I WILL weigh 10 lbs less, maybe more. I know I can do it if I focus on not eating like a pig and sneaking in a little bit of exercise. Which reminds me why I loved running, training for the 5K gave me a reason to get out there...now I just have to do it for my own health...which isn't nearly as glamorous :).

Tomorrow is my first weigh in.

Couch to 5K: Week 3

Woke up this morning and immediately was ready to get out for my run. Today was the start of week three and after two days off and I was ready to get back out there. Knee felt good and off went.

Week 3 consists of:

5 minute brisk walk warm up
90 seconds run
90 seconds walk
3 minute run
3 minute walk
Repeat

I got through the full workout other than cutting the second 3 minute run down to 2 minutes...I was very happy. Then I met up with a neighbor and walked another 20-25 minutes which was nice. Overall a great work out.

Now, I am sitting on the couch with Boo Boo Kitty on my knee. The pain is really bad. I mean, really bad to the point where I almost feel like crying. The ice is making it feel better though. Advil doesn't seem to be doing anything since I was basically pain free after popping a few last time.

So now what? I obviously need to rest. This doesn't seem like normal aches and pains and I'm hoping I didn't hurt myself because I am actually enjoying running, which is something I never thought I would say. I emailed my friend who is a trainer and has a degree in exercise science...he might know an answer, right? I just don't want to go to the doctor to have them tell me "you're out of shape", "strengthen you legs so your knees won't hurt"...which I've heard before.

I have an elliptical downstairs so maybe I can move to that for a week or two. It just isn't the same as running outside. I guess the good thing is that I'm not completely discouraged by this since I'm trying to figure out how I can still exercise.

Remember Me?

Let's see if any of my friends still have me in their feeds....if I were you I would have deleted me long ago :). Has it really been almost a year since I last posted?

So what has happened since then? Molly started preschool...I started working 3 days a week, Jack went to daycare 3 days a week....had yet another hernia repair surgery...weaned Jack since he seemed to love the formula...Molly turned 3....went to Disney for Thanksgiving...Christmas...Jack turned 1...I worked full-time for session...and yesterday marked my first day back to part-time!

Wow, how sad that I can recap my year in one paragraph or less ;).

So I'll try to start blogging again. My latest adventure is I have started to become a runner. The last time I tried to become a runner I lived in Willington. I ran a few times before I was injured playing volleyball by the beach at the lake. I took that as a sign I shouldn't run :). But here I am again. I am doing the Couch to 5K. Tonight will be my third training of week 2. It's a 9 week training that claims I'll be able to run 3 miles in 30 minutes after 9-10 weeks......that puts us at about the second week of August so my goal is to run the New Haven 5K on Labor Day. So far I've been doing well. I feel good running, although my left knee is not so happy with me afterwards. Hoping the new sneakers will help with that since I was wearing ones that were about 4 years old.

I'll try to do an update after each run....

Sneaking in a quick blog

What did I say, one per week? Ok...here it is :). Sitting inside on this super hot day. Even with no central air it is better inside than outside today. Took the kids for a super short drive around town so that Molly would nap, worked! She was out in about 5 minutes. So she's been asleep for about an hour and forty five...pretty good these days. Wish Jack would nap that well but the little man is very busy right now. I think he picked the hottest week of the year to learn to crawl and maybe even get a tooth or two. His crawling is getting better, getting up on all fours, rocking. And lots of spinning on his belly. He spins one way, then the other...then back again and manages to get all of the rug. The worst part is because it is so sticky out he is getting all the little rug fibers stuck to him. Ick. And I'm looking around at all of the things that need to be put away before he is all over the place....makes me tired.

Went to the doctor this morning and he isn't sure if I have a hernia or not. He read his operation report and said it should have stayed, even with pregnancy, and by feeling it there wasn't an obvious bulge. So I have to go get a Cat Scan Thursday afternoon. Fun fun fun. I don't think they are as bad as the MRI's though.

Well Jack says he is done paying on the ground....will update again. I promise :).

Almost 7 months....not possible...

I feel like a slacker, and a bad mommy. My blog was my baby book for Molly. I know I didn't update it nearly as frequently as some, but it still gave a pretty good record of what was going on and where and when she reached milestones. Poor Jack....the second child syndrome. So as of today, I am making a promise to myself, Jack and Molly that I will blog. At least once a week. If I can update my Mafia Wars daily I can do my blog too, right?

So where are we.....well the little man is almost 7 months. Next week...time goes by so fast. And the reason I came here is because I wanted to see when Molly crawled, pulled up and all that good stuff. Jack is getting closer to crawling every day and it seems like he on a similar track as she was. He desperately wants to move. Right now he mostly spins around the rug, but he manages to get places. He has a blast playing with all sorts of toys. I'll give myself a few more weeks before we are in full blown child proofing mode. Sigh.

What else is going on? We just got back from a lovely week on the Cape. Brought the kids camping and had so much fun. I was very nervous about bringing them camping, and the first night there I thought I was going to cry. I was so tempted to call a hotel. Both of them were still awake at 10:45 pm, with Molly jumping on the air mattress and Jack laughing at her. Finally I brought Jack back out of the tent and tried to nurse him yet again to go to sleep but he wouldn't do it. So into the car we went and he fell asleep almost instantly. Thank goodness for the magic movement of the car. The rest of the night wasn't so bad. Second night he went to sleep ok but woke up screaming at about midnight and wouldn't settle down inside the tent. I was finally able to get him to relax again by 1 am. The rest of the week was pretty much normal....Jack rarely sleeps through the night anyway, he is always wanting to snack. So he would do that and fall back to sleep. Molly was a dream...went to sleep by 9 pm and slept until 7 am every day. She doesn't sleep that good at home!

Here are a few photos of the trip:

We are still here....

Hello there....long time no blog! We are still here. And doing very well. This will just be a short post since I need to get in the shower so we can head to Grammy's house and the XMas Tree Shop (and maybe DSW too!)

Things here are great. Jack is a blast. Already 3.5 months, we had his baptism yesterday. He is a big man. So much bigger than his sister. Happy little guy, always smiling and laughing. Only fusses when he is hungry and tired for the most part. Still not sleeping through every night but only gets up once, eats and back to bed. Sometimes I wonder if he really needs to eat, he doesn't take a pacifier and I know with Molly we probably would have tried just giving her the bink to see if she would fall back to sleep but that isn't option so we just assume he is hungry.

I've been very busy lately. I am working between 20-25 hours a week back at my old office, but we have a new client and I am the Membership & Grassroots Coordinator for the Connecticut Restaurant Association. I'm really enjoying it. I work most of my hours from home, and go to Hartford once or twice a week. The next few weeks I will be going up a lot since it is the end of session. Molly and Jack will be staying with a friend of mine who was a nanny, but now has a 3 year old boy and a 7 month old boy. We did a trial run last Thursday and everything went well, Molly didn't even want to leave.

What else? Signing Molly up for pre-K for the fall. She will go full day Tuesday and Thursday (8:30 to 3 pm.) I will work or just enjoy sometime with just Jack. I think she will enjoy it, she is so social and would much rather be out with her friends.

Well, off to the shower.