R4:D23

Current Weight: 258.2
Weight Lost: 28.5

So last week started off awesome!

4/16 - 260.3
4/17 - 258.3
4/18 - 257.1
4/19 - 254.6
4/20 - 254.0
and then bad things happened....
4/21 - 256.5
4/22 - 257.7
4/23 - 258.2

I can tell you what those bad things are.....
4/20 - I threw caution to the wind and had Chinese chicken and broccoli...with white rice and an egg roll.
4/21 - Busch Gardens happened. Ice Cream and Funnel Cakes Y'all. I'm not even mad!
4/22 - Trip to VA to see my Aunt. Ate all the wrong things. Stopped at 10:30 that night and got munchies so I didn't crash the car and kill myself and my kid. Kit Kat's and Chips for everyone!

See. I know what I did. You know what else happened? I didn't get to the store this weekend. So I didn't have breakfast for this morning or lunch for today. McDonald's happened for breakfast. Mocha Frappe anyone??? And I am sure something equally as bad for me will happen for lunch. Don't Care. I will tomorrow, but today? Today I don't care. I am exhausted. Mentally, Physically and Emotionally. I really just want to sleep to be honest.

Enough Boo-Hooing. Let me tell you all about my weekend! Cause honestly last week was emotionally draining and I have no want or need to relive any of that right now.

Saturday morning I was up at 5:30 am. Will was up by 3 for work. I got the girls up around 6:30 am. Everyone was showered and dressed by 7:30 am. The girls wanted the same hairstyle. Wish granted.

We were in the car and on our way by 8:30 am! The girls...they were sleeping in the backseat!

Slackers

By the time we got to the park they were ready to go!

The first ride was the new Battle for Eire. Very cool ride...although Will and I felt they could have done so much more with it! You are wearing a VR headset for crying out loud! The seats moved and wind was blown at you, but it really could have gone a step above that. We get why they didn't, but still. Great ride tho.

A trip to BG isn't complete without stopping to see the Wolves. Gwen is obsessed with wolves. I'm pretty sure she believes she is one at times!

We stopped in at the aviary as well. I was hoping the birds were feeling frisky and would jump on the girls heads, but it was still pretty chilly and they were all pretty sleepy.

The girls went to ride The InVadr, so Will and I got to sit and have some us time. We met a very nice lady from Northern VA who sat with us and chit chatted while she drank her beer. She was shocked to find out we were from Maryland because, wait for it, we were actually nice! Ha! I have heard that before...that Marylanders are assholes. I'm not disputing that. I know plenty of them! And I can certainly be one of those guys too! LOL. I was feeling pretty Saturday and my husband was definitely helping me out there as well. All compliments and smiles. It was a day for selfies!

This is probably the most favorite picture I have of us to date! 

While the girls rode the swings I got my first Henna Tattoo!

Gwen was super jealous! Here it is today! It will get darker over the next few days and then go away.

We ventured on through Italy and into Fiesta Italia. The girls got to ride rides and Will and I got to relax. We headed to Apollo's Chariot. The girls wanted to ride the front row. Deal!

Then we hopped the train back to France for Ice Cream!

From there, we ventured back through Ireland and Scotland for the girls to ride Loch Ness. At one point, we thought maybe Nessie ate them! The lines were super long!

Then, before leaving the park, Funnel Cake!

It was later then we had planned on staying and the temperature had dropped considerably. It was time to head home. Maybe 20 minutes out from the park they were out. And they stayed that way until we woke them up in the driveway.

The girls decided to sleep in the tent in the living room that night. I honestly didn't care where they slept...I just wanted to go to bed. :)

Sunday morning I was up around 6:30 am. I had laundry to try to get done before leaving to drop Chrissy at home and heading to VA with Gwen at 9 am. We had a nice visit with my Aunt. Lots of talking and laughing. The smile on her face, and Gwen's face, when they saw each other was excellent. They love each other so much.

We didn't leave there until after 8 pm. We got home around 11:30 pm. To say I am exhausted is probably an understatement, but its all worth it. The fun memories, the time spent, the laughter, the joy, the tears. All worth it.

So for today, I still don't care about anything but sleep. I will eat whatever terrible food I want and pay for it later. The grocery will happen tonight and then I will go home and sleep. Its only 9:48 am and I am already ready for bed.

I hope you all have a fantastic week!! I may or may not check in more then once a week for a while. It all depends on whats going on.

C-ya! :)

R4:D17

Current Weight: 258.3 lbs
Total Lost: 28.4 lbs

Along with blogging, I am not very good at this whole losing weight thing. See, I like food. I like food a lot. I like warm food, cold food, dry food, soft food, crunchy food, sweet food, anything food. Except, I watch a lot of Delicious Destinations and Bizarre Foods and because of this I have realized that even though I like food, I am most certainly a food snob. I acknowledge it and accept it.

For me, its mostly a texture thing. I tolerate jello but its a fine line. I can't stand the texture of fat or gristle. I can only eat chicken skin if its deep fried and CRUNCHY! Grits? No. Oatmeal? No. Beans? No. Mashed Cauliflower? No. Asparagus? It has to be cooked right.

Its also the fact that eating the eyeball of a once living thing makes me want to throw up. Eyeballs? Out. Tongue? Out. Brain? Solid Maybe. Liver? Out. Heart? Out. Stomach? Out. I have watched Andrew Zimmern bring a fish out of the water, cook it whole over the fire and then drop the whole thing in his mouth, just removing the tail and spine after wards. Just...No.

But do you know what else I am? Inquisitive. To a point. Some of the things I see that man eat on those shows actually makes me want to visit those places and try their cuisine. There are tons of fruits, veggies, meats and sauces that I have never tried out of fear. What will the texture be like? Will it taste like feet? Why would someone eat something that tastes like feet anyway? I can't know.

I would like to think that by watching some of these shows and other cooking shows in general that I will have this huge epiphany that "hey! I can totally make that AND I can make it compliant!" And you know what...I have! There have been quite a few things that I have seen on the shows I watch that I have said out loud "I can totally make that!". My husband smiles and we go on about watching another episode. He swears the reason he has stalled out is because I am always watching cooking shows and his body is going through with drawls. I told him to suck it up.

I haven't actually tried to make anything from these shows yet. But I will someday. Until then, google, my Mom, and my other W30 friends are my lifeline for delicious recipes.

One of the recipes I made last week is def a new favorite. My husband isn't much on soups, but he LOVED this one! Even Lisa liked it! I wish you guys could have seen the look on her face when I told her I was making Potato Soup for dinner. The first thing she said, "how are you going to make that?". Cause you know, potato soup in order to be good has to have creams and starches in them! And cheese! You cant forget the cheese! This recipe is super easy and super yummy! The only thing I couldn't find, I guess I will have to order it from Amazon, was the Nutritional Yeast. Supposedly, that is what will give the soup a cheesy taste. Honestly, I don't think it needed it!

I did use an entire pound of bacon, but I'm not mad! It was delicious! Here is the Recipe! Believe me when I say the prep work is totally worth it! We all pretty much licked our bowls clean! And we had enough for lunch the next day! Score!

I am trying some new recipes this week! Tonight is Roasted Lemon Chicken and Green Beans! This recipe is one from my Mama! She raved about it, so we shall try it! There are two other meals this week that are new to us. Almond Crusted Turkey Cutlet - I am using Chicken cause the store didn't have turkey. Whole 30 Ribs with a BBQ sauce. Baked Pork Chops with Apples, Onions and Bacon. All of the new recipes are from my Mama! Hopefully I will remember to take pictures so I can share them with you guys!

In all honesty, I feel really good! I haven't lost any more weight and I am currently OK with that. I feel good. My stamina is up! I'm pretty consistently walking 2.25 miles each day I can! Blisters on my toes made that pretty painful last week and I only made it 1 mile before limping in the front door on Friday.

Will took me to Bike Doctor on Sunday and we spent a stupid amount of money for a bike for me. We also got a bike rack for his car so that the three of us can go out to some of the different trails and ride together! I called Hitch Man this morning to see about getting a hitch installed on my truck so we can get a nice hitch rack to take our bikes with us to NC this summer!

We are in the process of redoing the front room in our house. This room has kind of been a pain in the butt since we moved it. Its a weird room that really has no purpose. Except to catch all our crap! Until now! We are converting the room into our exercise room! We bought a Roku TV to go on the wall. The bikes will hang in there. The treadmill, power bar thing, weights and weight bench will go in there. We are also going to hook up the 360 and WII in there. Its going to be fantastic!

This weekend we are stealing Chrissy and heading to BG for a fun filled Saturday! I am so excited! The weather looks like its going to be beautiful! Lots of fun and sun and laughter! Just what we need! We are hoping that Gwen will be able to spend next weekend with a friend of hers so Will and I can get the storage unit cleaned out and organized. I will be so glad when we can finally buy something of our own with storage space! But that's a whole other blog post.

I'm still shooting for 256.7 lbs. I have been making some stupid choices here lately. I know a lot of them are from stress, but I need to get a hold of myself here. I have goals and plans. Its 18 weeks until NC. I have got to get my crap together.

That being said, if everyone could just take a minute and send a prayer up for my Aunt I would really appreciate it. My heart hurts and I'm not really sure how to help at this point. The most I can do at the moment is pray. And if you think about it, send one up for Mom too. She has a lot on her shoulders and could really use the help.

Thanks guys! See you all next week!

R4:D9

Current Weight: 257.6 lbs
Total Lost: 29.1 lbs

We ate HORRIBLY this weekend. I planned on being good, but that apparently doesn't seem to want to happen on weekends. I did really well all last week. I even got up Saturday morning and put Lemon Thyme Chicken in the Crock Pot for dinner. I had my sausage and hard boiled eggs for breakfast! And then....lunch at Subway with the small child. Sigh. Its my own fault. I know that. She had been begging for Subway for a good week at that point, and we were out running around anyway. So, I had a chicken bacon ranch 6 inch sub with lettuce, onions, pickles and ranch dressing. I'm not even mad. That thing was DELICIOUS!

After that we headed to BAM! to get Gwen a book light and then over to Sally's for a new hair color for her as well. She picked Wildfire Red this time!

She is loving the red! I am too! Its bright and funky! Just like her!

When we got back in the car it was snowing...in April...we are all over it. So...we headed to Coldstone for ice cream! I told you we ate horribly this weekend! By the time we got home, none of us were hungry. I packed up the chicken for lunch for Sunday.

Sunday morning I got up and cooked for the majority of the morning. I got Will's egg bake and sweet potato/ground beef made for breakfast all this week. I got my sausage made as well. So breakfast for the whole rest of the week is done! Yay!

We did NOT have that left over chicken for lunch...or even dinner on Sunday. A commercial came on for pizza and both Gwen and Will were entranced. It was no use saying no. We had the points for a free large pizza and had totally screwed up the day before. So, Pizza it was. We finished it off for dinner last night too. My tummy was NOT pleased with me. AT ALL!

I made Loaded Sweet Potato Sliders, along with lots of other food, for dinner last week. They were wonderful!

Will asked to have them again this week, but instead of them being sliders they will just be taco flavored ground beef over sweet potatoes. I ended up chopping up mine anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

Will introduced me to a program called Trello and I might be in love with it.

I can keep all of my recipe ingredients on here and make a sort of menu for the week. Will and I both have access so he can see what his options are if I ask him what he wants for dinner that night. Or, he can see what I have planned for dinner that night. The main bank has all of my recipes for dinners. The next row over is what I have planned for this particular week. Basically, these are the dinners I grocery shopped for on Saturday. The next row is what is for dinner that night and after that is the row that cards go into after being used. Each meal is color coded by meat and whether it is a crock pot meal or a soup. I'm pretty excited about this program. Its especially helpful if I am at the store and they don't have something I had planned to buy which means I have to pick another dinner for the week. Boom! All my recipes right there! LOVE!!

You can use Trello for anything really. Its a great tool for any type of list!!!

I talked Will into doing a jump rope challenge with me starting today. I don't think he is super excited about it, but he has kind of hit a plateau and he is NOT happy about it. I'm just hoping I don't die.

I think that's all for this week! I am .9 lbs away from my goal of 256.7 and 30 lbs by the end of the month. I'm pretty sure I've got this one in the bag!

Have a great week everyone!!

R4:D4

Current Weight: 262.6 lbs
Total Lost:  24.1 lbs

I missed Monday....I missed the end of the month....I just missed.

So lets see if I cant recap a little...

Cayennade = Fireball without the actual alcohol

Bath Time!

I had to bribe him with celery leaves. He was NOT pleased with me! 

But he is so nice and clean and soft now! Sorry Pig! 

One of my favorite 'I don't feel like cooking' lunches! 

Green leaf lettuce, salami, pepperoni, roasted chicken, roasted turkey, mustard and chipotle lime mayo! YUM! 

I was so super excited about this shirt! My parents got it for me for Christmas but it didn't fit. It was super tight on my stomach! NOT ANY MORE!!!! 

My heart was super happy on Saturday! Taylor's first trail ride, Quincy's second time out on the trail and I got in a nice 2.5 mile walk behind them! Win Win! 

Easter Happened

We spent Easter Sunday at my Mom and Dad's. After we had lunch we went on a nice 1.5 mile walk. Mom is doing so good! I am so incredibly proud of her! 

January 1, 2018                              March 31, 2018

January 1, 2018                          March 31, 2018

January 1, 2018                         March 31, 2018

January 1, 2018                      March 31, 2018

You will have to excuse the difference in camera angle. I normally get Gwen to take my pictures for me. This time, Gwen was off with friends, so I had Will do them. Slight height difference!

I'm not sure about anyone else, but what a difference between the beginning of this journey and 3 months later! Most of the time I can't really see the difference. I see myself everyday in the mirror. Today...today I am thankful for these pictures. I have gotten pretty lax lately about this whole thing. Cheat days turned into cheat weekends. Little bites of things here and there turned into complete binges. I weighed in on April 1st at 259.7 lbs. I have struggled most of the week since then. Easter put a hurting on me, but I'm not to terribly upset. I just need to pick myself back up and move on.

April is going to be a month of no cheat days. We are planning on going back to BG on the 21st and we will make the best food decisions we can while at the park. Seeing these pictures reminds me of what I am working towards. What my goals are. WHY I HAVE GOALS!

I need to get back to walking everyday. The weather tried to be Spring like...and then it April fooled us and we are back to winter most days. Today is supposed to be 68 degrees. Tomorrow is 55 degrees. Friday is 66 degrees. Then we go back to the 40's for a few days. I felt so much better when I was getting my walk in. It gave me time to relax and let my mind breath after work and normal daily life.

I am going to try out some new recipes this week. Last night I made Salisbury Steak. Holy wow that was good! That is def a keeper! I am going to try Loaded Taco Sweet Potato Sliders this week too! Gwen wants chicken nuggets for tonight, which none of us have a problem with. They are delicious!

We think we figured out what was going on with my stomach. I had started drinking Naked Juices. They are delicious! However, they apparently have ingredients in them that aren't listed on the labels. There was a huge lawsuit against Pepsi for this very reason. I stupidly assumed that wasn't the case anymore after reading about the lawsuit. Apparently not. I stopped drinking them. The stomach issues went away. I had one the other day just to test it. Def the drinks. I'm really quite sad about it. They really are tasty and full of good vitamins and fruits and veggies. But they have other things in them that don't agree with me....or many others from the looks of some of the forums I have read. If you are able to drink these, please drink one for me! I love them, they just don't love me!

My goal is to hit 256.7 lbs by the end of this month. That will put me at 30 lbs down total. Anything over and above that is a bonus! I need to get my act together. We have vacation in North Carolina in 20 weeks! My goal is to be at 220 lbs by then. I have a lot of work to do!