A North Dakota Thanksgiving

First off I am so angry I stink at taking pictures! I had the table set up all cute and a beautiful pie and food and I didn't get one stinking picture. I wish there was a way I could go back on my face time chats and get a pic from them but I can't as far as I know. 

Anyways, this was my first Thanksgiving away from my parents. Ben has had 2 while he was serving his mission in England. I was a little sad and bummed and so was Ben. Last week I was talking to my friend who works at the daycare and is also in our ward. She is married with one little one and one on the way. I asked her about her plans for Thanksgiving and she said they really didn't have any so I invited her and her family over. She agreed and we were both really excited! Wednesday night I made the pumpkin pie and a special cranberry with feta cheese tossed salad. On Thursday morning after the 5K I started putting everything else together and we started picking up around the house. I put the turkey in (it was boneless and just a small lil' 3lb thing) I also cut up regular potatoes and put them in the crock pot, and cut, cooked and mashed sweet potatoes. We went to Walmart to get some rockstars and other drinks for dinner (I have never seen Walmart so dead it was actually kind of nice.) We felt bad so we made sure we went through the self checkout as our way of trying to protest for making nice people work on Thanksgiving. Around 330pm I took the turkey out and covered it with tinfoil then I put the sweet potato casserole in the oven and called my mom to wish her Happy Thanksgiving! Her and my dad were up in Washington visiting my brother and his family so I was able to facetime with everyone! It was so fun to see them I'm so thankful for technology! Around 430pm our guests arrived. My friend Carolyn made home made stuffing (it was amazing) and an apple pie. Her husband is from Ethiopia so this whole Thanksgiving thing is still pretty new to him. We had 2 bottles of sparkling cider and we couldn't find our bottle opener. My friends husband did a special trick and opened them both up it was really cool! Ben turned on a movie for their son and we enjoyed our dinner. We just sat around and visited and watched some kid movies (Planes and Monsters University). It was very relaxing and chill and it was nice to have some company. We enjoyed pie both turned out delicious. After they left I went into the kitchen and noticed my crock pot was still on and then a lightbulb in my head went off... Whoops! I completely forget about the mashed potatoes! LOL all in all I think I did pretty good for the first Thanksgiving I was in charge of. 

I feel so blessed in my life. I have more than I will ever need and I have amazing people and relationships in my life. I am so grateful for all that I have.

Hope y'all had a fantastic Thanksgiving or maybe first day of Hanukkah!

Weapons of Mass Reduction Week 4

This week has really been a struggle for me. Just over a week ago on Sunday we went to an open house for a home for sale. The stairs were really narrow and I fell down the stairs and hit my head pretty good on a hard wall. My head was killing me and my neck hurt and I had a bad headache. I probably should have gone and got checked out but I'm kind of weird like that. Monday I still had a bad headache. I was trying to be "tough" and not think too much of it. On Tuesday I asked one of the Dr.'s at the Chiropractor office I work at to look at my neck. She said it was really swollen on my right side and I showed signs of scoliosis. Even after all that I did an Insanity workout on Tuesday. Wednesday I had a terrible headache and my neck was killing me. Thursday I went back to the Dr. they said I was still in bad shape and they didn't want me turning, lifting, etc and said they didn't want me to work my CNA job the next day and gave me a work notice. Went back on Friday Dr. said not to even do light cleaning around the house and to keep ice on my neck as much as possible so exercising was out of the question. So I only got in 1 exercise day this week. I'm feeling frustrated. When I don't exercise eating healthy doesn't sound as appealing. Also, I've been a little bored lately as well not being able to do much so then I start eating because I'm bored. I still logged everything in MFP. I go back to the Dr. today and I'm hoping to be cleared for exercise. I've been icing my neck and taking aleve faithfully. Our Turkey Trot is on Thursday and I want it to be fun! I'm a little worried about the cold but we will be fine! I really really did not want to weigh in this morning like not at all but I did! I knew if I didn't that that would start a habit of not caring as much again and if I didn't see how I had done during the week that I might just give up.

So I wrote all of that last night obviously not to hopeful about the number on the scale this morning...
I'm down 1.8 lbs. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! Don't know if the scale is broke or what lol but I'm taking it. Honestly, the more I think about it the more it makes sense. Even though it wasn't my best week I'm still eating less calories than I was before, drinking lots of water, and just being aware of what I'm eating. Like when we go out to eat I think twice before ordering. I try and choose the healthier option even though it still might be higher in calories. I'm really happy. I had such a frustrating week without being able to exercise so for that to work out really motivates me. 

Weapons of Mass Reduction Week 3

Monday: T25 Full Body Circuit

Tuesday: 30 min run on the treadmill 2.17 miles
Wednesday: T25 Full Body Circuit
Thursday and Friday no workout :(
Saturday: Insanity Plyo Cardio

We had a weekend challenge in the group and it was to write a "breakup" letter to an unhealthy habit or food item. Here is my breakup letter. Its going to be really hard for me but I think it is in my healths best interest. Sometimes I would have 1-2 monsters/rockstars a day.

When I feel like I'm doing well or have found things that seem to have helped me in my journey I like to share them. In no way am I being paid by the companies to say these things and they are my complete and honest opinion.

Progresso Light Soups- They are only about 80-90 calories for half a can or for the whole can maybe 180. They are super filling and they have lots of fun flavors. My favorites so far are their cheesy chicken enchilada and the italian meatball. 

Sara Lee 45 calorie whole wheat bread- 45 calories for one slice 90 calories for two slices! I love bread but it always took such a chunk out of my calories for the day. I put a little butter on it in the morning or some jam or honey and peanut butter! So yummy!

Yoplait light yogurts: lots of flavors 90 calories each

I love frozen microwavable pre-cooked sausage- so easy and yummy and great to start out my day with some good protein.

So my weigh in this morning I am down 3.2 lbs!!! YAY! Feeling great! This makes my total weight loss so far 7.2lbs! 

Weapons of Mass Reduction Week 2

Monday: Bodypump 60 min, ran 1.5 miles outside 11:40 min/mile

Tuesday: T25 Cardio Workout (Alpha Phase)
Wednesday: Jillian Michaels Shred it with Weights (wasn't impressed), jog/ran 1.5 miles outside with Duke (not the fastest time Duke struggles running in a straight line!)
Thursday: Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit (Intense!)
Friday: 1.5 mile run with Duke 12:05 min/mile
Saturday: 2.06 mile run with Duke 12:39 min/mile


I'm tempted to put the scale away for the next few weeks. This week I noticed myself obsessing over the scale. I weighed myself 3 days in a row and the scale wasn't budging besides going up a little! Then I would get frustrated because I felt good and I felt like I was getting in shape. It de-motivated me. I started doing some research and I found that its actually not a good idea to weigh yourself for the first few weeks when starting a new exercise/diet program. Your body is going through a lot of changes and its just not fair to you to have the scale tell you its working that quick. A lot of it is water weight and also the scale doesn't know the difference between water,fat and muscle.

It's been a bad eating week so I'm not even planning on weighing in tomorrow morning so I'm just posting this tonight. Friday night we went to Red Lobster...so good! Oh my goodness but their dang biscuits I should have just told them to not even bring them. If it hadn't have been for them I would have been fine. Oh and today... made a bad decision to start the day with pop tarts. Did you know a serving size is only 1 pop tart?! What a scam. Then package them as signals! Geez! Anywhoo that was 1/4 of my daily calorie allowance right there...dang!



(Ok I weighed in...I'm down .8 lbs. Making my total weight loss so far 4lbs! pretty happy if I keep this up I will be down 20lbs by the end of the year/challenge!)

Mom P's B-day, Lindsey's B-day and Halloween!

My (Lindsey) parents came and visited us in ND for a few days over mine and my mom's b-day. They got here on Friday Oct. 25 which is my mom's b-day. I picked them up from the airport, pretty sure its one of the smallest airports ever. We went back to the house and hung out while we waited for Ben to get off of work. My parents were being so silly they had their ipad and their phones and were Facebooking and making me laugh so hard. They said they never have time to do that because they are always so busy. We had a great "life" talk. I love my parents they are some of my best friends. I am so lucky I am literally able to talk to them about everything and anything I love it.

When Ben got home we went to dinner at Famous Dave's It was delicious. When we got home we watched TV and a movie and sang happy birthday to my mom and had cake. 

Saturday morning we all slept in. Then we went to the only doughnut shop (that I can find) in Bismarck. We bought 1 of every doughnut! It was 3 boxes of doughnuts!!! 

Went back home ate doughnuts and the guys tried to figure out how to work a clay pigeon shooter we bought. Then it was off to shoot the shotgun. We only had to drive about 20 min and it was a nice/safe outdoor range. The clay pigeon thrower worked once and then we lost a screw so we just threw them with the handheld one for the rest of the time. Oh my goodness I love shooting!!! The shotgun is a blast! (no pun intended). My mom was a little worried but she did great! And guess who shot the clay pigeon on her very first shot of the day...Thats right me! I am a redneck woman :D 

My mom shooting the gun.

Then we drove down the road a little more and went to a lake to go fishing. We only had one fishing pole. We didn't end up catching anything but it was a gorgeous day and it was just us there. Duke was extremely happy to be there. We let him off his leash and he went crazy! He was playing in the sand and running around he absolutely loved it! And then we heard a splash...poor Duke had fallen in the lake. Ben went running down and was able to pull him out. He was fine. We weren't sure whether to laugh or feel sorry for Duke. It was hilarious but Duke was also so scared when he was in the water. He dried off on the sand and stayed a little bit further away from the lake from then on. That night we went to Olive Garden for dinner! Yum! I threw up in the parking lot after because my GERD was bugging me so bad! Lame! Then we went and saw a movie and got milk to have doughnuts with in the morning.

Me fishing. Like my new hair color?!

Sunday, Oct. 27 My b-day! My cute nieces in Ohio called me in the morning. They wanted to know if I had a computer and if I would like to talk on the computer (Skype). So cute! They sang happy birthday to me and told me stories. Loved it! We all took showers and got ready for the day. We wanted to go shop and look around at the mall but since we live in such a small town the mall doesn't open till noon! At the mall I got a really warm hoodie and a super warm coat that I got a great deal on! Went back home took a nap, ordered pizza and watched a movie! My parents left early the next morning! We had such a fun weekend!

My mom modeling my new coat.

Me in my new hoodie with the tag still on.

For Halloween we didn't do anything special. We did dress up and we looked Awesome! We only got one trick or treater and it was a lady from the ward with her son. We stayed warm inside and watched scary movies.

Weapons of Mass Reduction Week 1

Last year around this time my sis in law Karlie invited me to do a Holiday Fitness Challenge with her. A friend of hers started a Facebook page and we all contributed $3 to the pot and were paired up with someone in the group. Everyone would post during the fitness challenge motivating quotes what there workouts were looking like that day/week what they were struggling with etc. There were 3 categories that you could win: Biggest Loser (based on % lost) Best fitted Jeans and Mr/Mrs. Energy. I stayed involved in the discussion but really did not put a lot of effort into it and I don't think I really changed my workout habits. So anyways I chose to do the challenge again this year. I invited some of my friends and family to also join this year. Ben is doing it with me and is in my group. This year instead of $3 we each did $10. I believe our Biggest loser pot is at $350 and then the best fitted jeans is $150 and then Mr/Mrs. Energy is some gift cards and fun stuff. This week was the first week of the challenge. Between my plantar fasciitis GERD and just not feeling as healthy I'm really excited to get back to my healthy self. The group is amazing. I was worried about not working out on Tuesday so I posted on the group page to give me crap if I didn't work out and I had multiple comments encouraging me to get my work out in! It was great! We are all trying to better ourselves and stay healthy through the crazy holidays. This week went really well for me. I have started using myfitnesspal again I have it set at 2lbs per week which puts me at about 1200 calories a day. When I exercise I get extra calories for what I have burned. Some days I use them some days I don't. Here is what my workouts looked like this week:

Tuesday: Went for a run outside. Got a 12:20 mile time which is awesome for me! I went 1.5 miles

Love my new headband for cold running days.

I took this pic and posted it on the groups page so they knew I was out and running.

Wednesday: Same as Tuesday and then also did Jillian Michaels : 6 week 6 pack Abs level 1. It was intense but I liked it! Excited to see how much I can progress. The entire workout is on Youtube!!! Awesome! So give it a try if you want a free good workout!

Thursday: I did T25 lower body focus! Wow! Awesome!

Friday: Insanity's Recovery. I thought it was going to be a little bit more "relaxed". Silly me. It was yoga and stretching mixed with pushups and planks! Whoo good workout though and I finished.

Saturday: Insanity's Fit Test. Ben did it with me. Whoo it was rough but another awesome workout! We also took Duke for about 1.5 mile walk that evening.

As of this morning I am down 3.2 lbs. I'm going to try and weigh in once a week but sometimes its hard not to do more.

My goals for this challenge are:

Lose 15lbs
For the 5K on Thanksgiving morning run it in 35 min or less
Be able to do 5 real pushups. I'm really going to focus on cutting down on sugars and carbs ahh! So rough! I want to up my protein at least 50 grams a day of good protein.