Week 3 = 1 lb lost, 12 lbs total lost. Learning to overcome temptations!

I had a few setbacks this week, including a minor illness for which I'm now taking antibiotics which make me feel yucky.  Normally I would just use these setbacks as a reason to throw in the towel and give up on my weight loss journey - but I am determined to make this happen and even with these setbacks, I'm still proud to have lost 1 pound, even if it is not as much as I had hoped to lose.

I only worked out 4 times this week...that statement alone makes me realize how far I've come in just a few short weeks.  I need to focus on the positive and exercising 4x/week is pretty darn good.  I also have become much more aware of my food choices especially temptations.  We recently went to the county fair and I LOVE all of that delicious fried fair food (I have a weakness for corndogs!).  I felt like I was in one of the Biggest Loser temptation challenges!  But, I stuck with my healthy eating and we were able to find a Greek salad, steamed broccoli salad, and grilled chicken.  It made me realize that I just need to be more aware of temptations and find healthy alternatives.  If I can find healthy choices at a county fair, I can find them pretty much anywhere!

I'm now in Phase 2 of the South Beach Diet which allows you to eat some carbs, but I'm trying my best to limit carbs and stick to Phase 1 as much as possible. 

Here are some of the recipes that I tried this week:

Breakfast Vegetable Frittata was a great dish for Father's Day brunch.  We used soy sausage and broccoli, but you can use pretty much any vegetable.  I topped it with black bean salsa, some fat free sour cream, and a large handful of freshly chopped cilantro. Here's a pic!

One of my longtime favorite lunch dishes is my version of tuna salad.  My mom always made tuna salad like this and that's how I learned to eat tuna salad.  The first time I made this in the dining hall in college, my friends were disgusted by my creation - although I think it is pretty darn good!

Instead of using mayo, I take fat-free cottage cheese and mix it into the tuna.  Add in the chopped celery (I also like chopped carrots too) and add some light Catalina or french dressing.  I eat the tuna salad on top of some lettuce - I LOVE IT!  It may sound gross, but don't knock it until you try it! 

This week wasn't a big "experiment in the kitchen" cooking week.  More next week!

Week 2 of Diet = I lost 3 more pounds! Total of 11 pounds lost!

Thank you all for your outpouring of support and encouragement over the past week after last week's blog about my first week of the new diet/exercise regiment.  You all have really motivated and inspired me to keep pushing even on the challenging days.   This week I lost 3 more pounds which makes for a grand total of 11 pounds lost in 2 weeks!

I'm very proud of my new eating habits and have continued to try new South Beach recipes (see below).  I've exercised 13 days out of the last 14 days.  I took a "day off" on Tuesday when I had been up since 445am with Noah and I was home with both boys all day who were both being as challenging as could be.  It was one of my hardest days home with them - and by the time we got them to bed at 9pm, I was exhausted and went to bed.  But, I did a double workout the next day, so perhaps that counts as working out every day?

Every day I do some cardio plus Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred exercise video - it has literally kicked my butt.  I was so sore after the first couple of days, I could barely sit down or climb the steps.  But, I've gotten stronger very quickly and noticed a big increase in my endurance.  It is very intense and includes 3 different levels of workouts.  For the first 10 days I did the beginner level until I could comfortably do the entire workout (without cheating).  Now I'm onto the intermediate level which I'm struggling with but every day I'm able to do more and more of it - but WOW it is hard!

I'm at the end of Phase 1 of the South Beach diet but I plan to continue Phase 1 as long as possible.  Eliminating carbs from my diet is the fastest way for me to lose weight.  I will begin integrating some fruit back into my diet though - summer fruits are my favorite!

So here are the recipes I've experimented with this week:

Vegetable Quiche Cups To Go - I've made this dish for a long time and it is one of my absolute favorites - especially for busy people who barely have time for breakfast.  I like to have protein with breakfast but never have time to make eggs, etc.  These quiche cups are easy to make and store very well for about a week.   I just pop two in the microwave in the morning and can eat them on the go. Sam eats them for breakfast too, it is a great meal for a toddler! I change the recipe slightly and leave out green pepper and add crumbled Morning Star veggie sausage (which I brown first).  I also add more onion and I use garlic too. For cheese I use cheddar and mozzareella.  Also, I don't use muffin liners, I just put them directly into a greased muffin tray.  I like the silicon muffin trays the best.



Portabello Pizza was a good substitute for pizza. I LOVE pizza and ate way too much of it during my pregnancy.  I changed this recipe a bit and used a low-sugar tomato sauce instead of the tomatoes and I added more seasoning plus turkey or soy pepperoni to give it a bit of a kick.  It is a "fork and knife" kind of pizza - but pretty tasty after I jazzed it up a bit and helped to satisfy my pizza cravings.


Thai Grilled Beef  was ok.  I recommend saving some of the marinade on the side and using it as a sauce to eat with the beef.  I'm not a big beef eater, but Brad loves beef (and would eat it 3x/day if he could!) so this was his dish of the week.  The fresh cilantro made a big difference (we added more than it called for).

Stuffed Baked Tomatoes were pretty decent.  We made this for a brunch with friends.  The fresh basil is critical.  My first batch were a bit bland, so I added feta cheese and lemon juice which brightened up the dish tremendously.  Scooping out the tomatoes took longer than I expected since I was making this dish for a group of people, but it was a great way to take advantage of the gorgeous summer tomatoes in season right now!


Brussel sprouts with turkey bacon - not my favorite.  The sauce made of the balsamic vinegar was terrific and I'd like to find a way to use that sauce on something else.  We used turkey bacon instead of regular bacon and ce cooked the brussel sprouts for 20 minutes because they were nowhere close to being done at 10 minutes.  They were still not really cooked after 20 minutes either.  I think we'll stick with roasting brussel sprouts in the future. 

Chicken curry with eggplant and spinach was so great last week that I made it again this week - it is definitely one of my new favorite recipes!

If anyone has a favorite carb-free recipe that you'd like to share, please let me know!  Thanks again for all of your support!

Noah at 2 months

I'm a bit behind on posting this, but I want to document some of the exciting things Noah is doing during his second month. At his 2 month checkup he was 10 lb, 15.5 oz.

He is a very strong little guy and is completely holding his head up on his own.  I am SO glad to no longer be in the baby "blob" phase when the baby literally cannot do anything on his own.  It is much easier to carry a baby (and deal with a toddler at the same time) if the baby can hold his head up! 

Starting at 8 weeks old, he began sleeping 7-8 hours/night which is TERRIFIC! This makes for a very happy mama and a happy boy. Unfortunately the 7-8 hours/night don't always coincide with the the time I plan to sleep.  When he sleeps from 830pm - 430am, that's not so helpful!  But we're working on trying to get him into a 10pm-6am routine which is working out pretty decently.

We are very fortunate that he is a pretty easy baby.  8-9pm tends to be his bewitching hour and he just fusses during that hour for no real reason.  But other than that hour, he is a VERY happy little guy and love to smile at everyone.

He love to snuggle and cuddle.  One of the best ways to calm him when he's upset for no obvious reason is to walk around with him in the ergo (baby carrier).  Here's a pic of me carrying him in the ergo at the beach:

He has such terrific head and upper body control that we began using the fabulous bumbo chair which he LOVES.  Yes it is pink - and the same one that Sam used - from our best buddy London who kindly shares her pink bumbo with the Geller-Cheney boys.

Tummy time is not his favorite activity, but we work hard to make sure he has tummy time every day.  He has reflux which is not fun and makes it challenging to do tummy time and prevent him from spitting up everything he ate.  This gorgeous Noah blanket seems to make tummy time more bearable for him.

We have also introduced Noah to one of Sam's favorite tummy time toys - the rolling monkey (see below).  My dad gave this to Sam and he loved it.  If the baby hits the monkey, it rolls and plays an incredibly annoying song.  This toy drives me bonkers, but the boys seem to love it.  I'm not posting a video of it, I will save you the annoyance.

Noah recently visited Brad in his office while I had a dentist appointment down the street.  He was a big hit and everyone loved meeting him!  Brad's boss said that Noah should come visit more often!  Noah was very helpful in lobbying Congress.

 

 Sam continues to adore his brother and wants to include him in everything.  Sam loves to cook at the kitchen island and is ecstatic that Noah can now sit on the bumbo on the counter and "help" him cook! 

Noah is warming up to Sam. Sometimes I can feel his body tense when he hears Sam charging in the room.  I can't blame him for feeling nervous when Sam approaches.  We closely monitor Sam's interactions with Noah because he likes to harass Noah and smothers him in hugs and kisses.  Sam is very sweet with him but sometimes a "gentle" hug turns into more of a squeeze and we do our best to encourage Sam's love for his brother while protecting Noah.

Here's a picture of Sam playing with Noah on his playmat.

Noah loves to talk and coo.  Just like Sam (and us), he is very social and communicative.  When I'm nursing him, I cannot even look at his face because once he makes eye contact with me he stops eating and starts smiling and cooing.  It is very sweet and melts my heart, but I have to continually remind him that it is time to EAT and not TALK.  Here is a very sweet video of him talking and cooing away. He loves to say ooooh, gaaah, yaaaa, and aaaah.  If I stick out my tongue at him, he can stick his tongue out in response to me.  He has started laughing, most frequently when he hears Sam laughing (which is pretty much all the time). 

I try hard not to compare Sam and Noah's infancies - but they are so similar and yet so different. Neither one really cares much about a pacifier or being swaddled. Both have reflux and sleep in a swing for the first few months. However, Noah is doing things so much earlier than Sam - because Sam was a premie so we had to correct for his age. But both boys are pretty easygoing babies which is such a blessing. I don't have to pump with Noah, he is a terrific breastfeeder - in fact he loves to eat and could eat for an hour/feeding - but he doesn't self regulate very well and often over-eats which then leads to spitting up and then he is hungry again and it becomes a downward spiral. 

The biggest difference is the pooping.  Sam pooped about 5-10 times/day for the first 18 months of his life.  He still goes at least 3-4x/day!  Noah poops 1-2x PER WEEK!  It is completely freaking me out!  The first time he went 4 days without pooping, I brought him to the pediatrician because I was really worried.  The doctor assured me that he was fine and some breastfed babies only poop 1x/week.  Even still by day 5 of "no pooping" each week I begin to worry and check his diaper constantly.  I'm still not adjusting to this "no pooping" thing very well - although it does make for very easy diaper changes!

Anyway, enough about pooping - back to the more important things - like how incredible sweet he is. My new nickname for Noah is "sweet boy." He has started to play with rattles and enjoys batting at things on his playmat. He loves the bath and splashing in the water.  He recently went into the pool for the first time!

Noah and Mimi

 But his favorite activity is smiling and cooing! 

 After he spits up on me or pees on me, he always has a big goofy grin on his face and seems very pleased with his talents and accomplishment!

Although some days are certainly challenging, I try hard to cherish every day with my sweet boy - because I know that the baby stage goes by so quickly.  He is beginning to outgrow many of the newborn clothes and is mostly in 0-3 or 3 month clothes now and as I pack away the newborn outfits, I feel a wave of sadness at the passage of time and prepare myself for the next chapter in the exciting book of Life with Noah!

Week 1 of Diet - Lost 8 pounds!

I am proud to say that this past week I began a new diet and exercise routine and after 7 days I have have lost ....drum roll please....EIGHT POUNDS! I am VERY excited about this accomplishment and I know that this is just the beginning of my weight loss journey. 

Losing weight is probably the hardest challenge of my life and I've battled it pretty much since I graduated from college.

Friends, I need help with my weight loss journey.  Encouragement and support from my circle of friends and online community mean so much to me.  Sometimes I feel like giving up - and it is very helpful to have people pushing me to keep going. 

**LOCAL FRIENDS*** - any time you are going for a walk or a jog, let me know and I'd love to join you!  I used to meet up with friends to go eat at a restaurant.  Now, I'd much more prefer to do something active and your motivation and support means so much to me.  I have many wonderful friends in my life, but could use some more friends to push me to meet my weight loss goals.  I want to give a big shout out to my friend Alicia who is helping me train for a 5k and 10k race - she truly pushes me in a wonderful way and encourages me to keep going when I'm ready to quit. 

I am determined that this time I'm going to lose the weight and keep it off.  No more yo-yo-ing.  When Brad and I got married in 2004, I lost 35 pounds before our wedding.  Unfortunately I gained all of the weight back during the stresses of law school and then the bar exam (aka summer of hell).  Then after Sam was born in 2009, I was determined to lose the baby weight (which I did)..and then lost another 30 pounds after that!  Here's a picture of me in the summer of 2010 at my lowest weight

Here's one of my favorite pictures of me at the very beginning of my pregnancy with Noah at a pretty healthy weight. 

I had hoped to only gain a minimal amount of weight during my pregnancy with Noah and I did very well exercising and eating healthy during my first 2 trimesters.  However, being put on bedrest for the entire 3rd trimester meant that I wasn't allowed to exercise.  I was home all day long and began to eat badly.  I gained more weight than I wanted and now I am paying the consequences.

HOWEVER - I am back on track and just completed week 1 of my new diet.  I'm doing the South Beach Diet and the first 2 weeks are considered "Phase 1" that allows you to eat lean proteins, low-fat dairy, and tons of veggies - but no fruit or starches.  It's pretty tough, but I've found that the SB Phase 1 is the fastest way for me to lose weight.  I've tried Weight Watchers and find that WW works better for me to maintain at a certain weight - but SB gives me more of the instant gratification of losing weight immediately.  If I'm going to eat crazy healthy and exercise - I want to see the results NOW!

So, I'm super proud to announce that after week 1, I have lost EIGHT pounds!  I feel like I'm on the Biggest Loser!  In fact, part of my exercise routine includes using an exercise video from the Bigest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels.  Her "30 Day Shred" video is awesome and totally kicks my butt!

I've also drastically changed my diet.  Brad has eaten more green leafy vegetables this past week than he has in the past year! :)

Here are some of my favorite new dishes, mostly from the South Beach Diet. If you click on them, it will take you to the link for the recipes.

Baked kale chips are surprisingly good! I was very hesitant about trying this one, but I've been pleasantly surprised!  Brad even eats them (this is quite a feat considering that Brad considers ketchup, a slice of tomato, and a slice of lettuce on his burger to be 3 separate servings of vegetables!).  I changed the recipe slightly and used PAM spray rather than regular olive oil to cut more calories.

Chicken Curry with Eggplant & Spinach was absolutely amazing! This is one of my new favorite dishes - dieting or not!  I used red curry paste instead of green curry and cooked the whole thing longer than it called for.  It was FANTASTIC! I realized that for years, I've cooked curry dishes in the entirely wrong way - this recipe truly taught me to cook curry correctly.  I simmered it for much longer than the recipe calls for (because I had to put the boys to bed in the middle of my cooking extravaganza but I think it actually thickened up the sauce with the extra cooking time).  I also doubled the amount of curry paste because I like spicy food.

Grilled Sesame Salmon was pretty decent, the sauce was thicker than I expected but I would try it again.  Not sure this is my favorite salmon recipe though, I'm still looking for good bold fish recipes.

Ribollita Vegetable Soup has been my main staple this week, I've eaten it about 1x/day.  A wonderful friend made ribollita soup for me after Noah was born and I LOVED it!  I used her recipe but found this recipe from Iron Chef Mario Batali which is pretty similar.  However, the vegetables I used were slightly different - I used zuchini, yellow summer squash, onions, tomatoes, and white navy beans.  This is a great meal to re-heat for meals throughout the week, especially lunch when I get sick of salads.

I will share more of my favorite South Beach Diet recipes and creations as I continue with my weight loss journey.  If any of you have favorite healthy recipes that are chock full of veggies, please share! Thanks in advance for your support and encouragement!

Family Vacation to Kiawah Resort

This past week we had a terrific vacation with my parents, brother, and the kids on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. The resort was gorgeous (check it out here if you're looking for an awesome family friendly vacation spot!), pools, bike baths, and an amazing beach.  It was the widest, flattest beach I've ever been on.  The water was shallow for hundreds of feet out and the waves were pretty small - PERFECT for young children.  Check out this beautiful sunset!

We had a great time and did tons of outdoor activities.  We went to a festival in Charleston and Sam went on his first pony ride:

First bike ride with Mimi & Pa!

We went to a terrific outdoor concert...



met some fun frog statues...



Ice cream sandwich with Mimi at concert

We learned a lot about nature & alligators
  

We saw HUGE alligators everywhere! Scary!



Pa & Sam watching the alligators


LOTS of fun at the pool!

Noah's first time in the pool!



Sam and Pa





Brad & Noah



And of course spent LOTS of time at the beautiful beach!

Every time Sam built sandcastles, he sang Happy Birthday and called them his "happy cakes" - we have no idea why he associates happy birthday with building sandcastles, but he had fun

My little surfer dude

 

 

Flying kites with Pa



Chasing Uncle D!



Uncle D and Sam listening to the ipod music together

Attempting to convince Sam to
nap on the beach.  He tried, but was too
excited to play instead.



He was VERY determined to drag
the boogie boards into the ocean



Noah stretching in his tent, enjoying the
ocean breeze



Mimi & Pa with Sam & Noah

 

Noah learned to laugh at only 2 months old!