Butt Kickin' Workouts

So my latest foray into the wonderful world of workouts has been EA Active 2 for the xBox 360 with Kinect. I figured I managed pretty well with the original EA Active for the Wii, this shouldn't be too much more intensive. I WAS WRONG!!!

I am fully appreciative of the increased workout I'm getting, don't get me wrong. This game is kickin' my butt!!! I'm on day two of the workouts, and both days I've downed 2 bottles of water just during the course of the 20-23 minutes of the exercising routines. I'm hopeful that this game will also motivate my posterior to lose a few inches as well. Ha!

I've been watching what I'm eating much better lately as well. This year for lent I was originally going to give up Cokes, but my husband pointed out to me last night that I don't drink that many of them to begin with. So I think instead I will be giving up drive-thru fast food. This will be pretty difficult to accomplish, but with good planning I think I can pull it off even with several small trips coming up.

Be well, friends!

Out of town, but not out of touch

So this weekend I found out that my grandmother's health was looking less than pleasant. So I decided (hubby and I decided) that I'd take a little road trip down South to visit with her. I've been keeping up with a food journal with the help of the Lose It app on my iTouch.

I don't have my Wii or xBox Kinect with me down here, so today after I had lunch in the park I decided to take a nice long walk around the park. It was wonderfully relaxing and the weather couldn't have been better!! The only downside is I completely forgot about the fact that I had a tank top on and NO SUNSCREEN. Ugh! So I'm a little sunburned, but I'm not going to sweat it, guess it just means I'm starting to get some color on my shoulders a little earlier this year. hehehe

I'm planning on going back over and visiting with my grandmother, aunts, and uncle tomorrow and probably Friday. I'm so happy that I took the opportunity to make this trip! It's truly been a wonderful experience so far!

The Year of Me

This year I have decided that honesty is the ONLY policy! And in that spirit,  here goes...

I have been a slacker! I have not worked out with any consistency for the better part of a year. I have not watched what I ate. I have touched my feet to the scales maybe all of 3 times in the last 6 months (each time cringing at the numbers that flashed before me).

I have to be honest with myself! I have been bad. I'm not helping myself or my health with this largely apathetic attitude.

Yesterday I had a WONDERFUL workout! I did EA Active (Wii), Dance Central (xBox Kinect), Kickboxing (xBox Kinect), and Dance Dance Revolution (Wii). It felt great! I need to find a way to remind myself that though I might struggle to get through some of the workouts while they're happening (namely EA Active), I always feel fantastic after having completed them.

I've recently enlisted the help of my Red/Pink Hat Society ladies to better motivate me to keep in a regular workout schedule. We have planned workouts 2-3 days a week, held at my house. I'm hopeful that this added accountability to someone local will help to boost my will power and put thinner days well within my grasp.

Be well friends!

Oh the drama....

So my son is 15 years old and has recently been seeing a girl that is 17. This past weekend he went to her Halloween party. While only there a short while he texted me and told me "not to get too comfortable" as he wasn't having the best time there. Apparently this girl sees my son as mainly in the "friend zone." One of his good friends is who she's really interested in, but the dude is a real stand up guy and went with the "bro code" and laid off as he knows my son is really into her.

The night eventually got better and I picked him up several hours after that first text. Upon picking him up we talked about what happened at the party. Let me preface this by saying, you should all know that NOTHING is off limits with my kids. We talk about EVERYTHING and are quite proud of our open-door policy. So he goes on to tell me that he believes "kids" shouldn't be having sex in high school(specifically until after they're 18 yrs old), "there's enough crap to deal with without having to do that!" I almost cried in the car!! I love that he is thinking about this in a very mature manner!!! I had "the talk" with him when he was 10 yrs old when we caught him looking up "girls having sex" on the Internet. I pulled no punches and told him all that I could. I told him it is not a horrible thing, his curiosity was a normal part of life, and that it can be a great thing shared between two people. I also told him how it can be very superficial and dangerous both physically and emotionally. We've had more "talks" through the years and recently my husband and I bought him a box of condoms. I've told my children that I do not expect them to wait until they are married to have sex, but I DO expect them to wait until they are married to have UNPROTECTED sex!

I'm sure most all parents will agree with me that I hate to see my children struggle with relationships, be they platonic or romantic. I'm just very happy to see that all those talks did good and my son listened and took it all in, instead of rolling his eyes and thinking about what else he could be doing instead of listening to his mom prattle on.

Measuring up

Tomorrow I'm going to start an all new 30-day challenge on EA Active on the Wii. I think before I begin though, I'll start by taking my measurements. They might not be the most attractive numbers in the world, after its done, but they're a starting point. Then at the end of the time I'll measure again and see what, if any changes have come about.

I hope to see several inches having been dropped! I have been making some clothing lately, as part of my being a member of the Red Hat Society means wearing lavender. I don't own a lot of lavender clothing, and that color is a little difficult to find in the Fall/Winter. So I've taken to sewing up some proper shirts, dresses, PJs, and such for myself!! And I must say, I've liked the way they've all turned out and I know they're at a fraction of the cost that I would have paid for something comparable at any department store or the like.

Spoiled?

For today I'm going to take a little aside from talk of dieting and exercise and write about something that has been heavy on my mind and REALLY having doing a number on my moods as of late.

So when you grew up never having heard the word budget how to you become a frugal adult? I wouldn't say I was an overindulged youngster. (Hmmm...is that what all spoiled kids say? Ha!) I wasn't really into labels growing up. In my household I don't ever remember seeing the 'rents balancing a checkbook or making a grocery list from a store circular. I went to college right out of high school (OK, Jr college) and towards the end of my freshman year I met the man that would become my husband the next fall. This man had been on his own for 6 years (out of his parents' home, with student loans, a job, and a weekend warrior with the Army Reserves. Man, talk about grown up!!

During our first few years I thought I was Superwoman and could do the whole budget, keeping house, keeping up with the bills, and be the best wife and mother EVER thing. We wound up in the red in the bank and having the biggest fight we'd had up to that point. I couldn't do it and that crushed me. Sadly, with my husband's growing salary I thought we could live high on the hog and soon learned that this was not the case. We still needed to budget and I needed to NOT spend so much of our money!

But how do you learn to budget when you've never been taught and seems like every inch of your fiber is fighting against it?!?! I know things would be much better between the Hubby and I if I could master this task. And I know that I would be a happier person and likely feel more like I am contributing in a tangible way to this household.

I feel like a small child when I want to grab a bite to eat for lunch away from the house when I'm on my own during the day. I feel like I should go home and sit in a time out chair or do some other penance for my misdeeds. I sold several bags of books to Half Price Books and find myself having to explain myself for buying my son dinner before he heads off to do chains for a JV football game instead of making him wait until he gets home 4-5 hours later to eat something. How do I change my way of thinking about money and budgets without feeling like I'm changing who I am? How do I stop crying and alienating my husband every couple of days because I feel like I can't measure up to his idea of a good manager of our money?

You're getting sleepy...sleeepyyyy....

So the other day I was wandering around Half Price Books waiting for my couple of dollars for the boxes of books I'd brought in when I found myself in the "Audiobooks" section. One of the CDs I perused was on hypnotism to help you stay on your diet. I didn't buy it, mostly because I'm somewhat of a skeptic when it comes to all things hypnotic. Supposedly this thing was supposed to help teach you how to go into a "trance," overcome cravings, keep yourself motivated to stick with your diet, encourage rethinking about exercise, and more. Something along the lines of this.


I won't lie to you...I almost DID grab it up to see if it'd do anything to help. I've stuck with my weight loss path pretty well recently. Through migraines, sickness, etc...I've managed to workout on a regular basis and say NO to many tempting food stuffs! Yay me!!

OK, anyway, back to what I was saying...in the past I've gotten CDs that you're supposed to listen to at night that help you subliminally be excited to exercise and motivate you in general. But my problem is that I don't sleep alone. There's that pesky Hubby in bed next to me most nights. And because of this cohabitant I would have to use ear buds/earphones to listen to anything "in my sleep," as he wants it silent and as dark as we can get it in the room for an optimal sleeping environment. I'd use ear buds, but I have to tell you I have a somewhat irrational fear that I'm going to get the cord wrapped around my neck and be strangled to death. For the record, I do NOT want to kick the bucket before I get laser hair removal on my chin/neck...Hubby's threatened to "let it grow" postmortem. I DO NOT want THAT look at my funeral!!! ICK!!

So I'm curious if there's any of you out there in the blogosphere that have any opinions concerning hypnotism for more than just embarrassing yourself at a stage show or laughing at your friends when they start clucking like a chicken every time the dryer bell dings.

Pink hats

This past week I joined a new group! A friend of mine asked me if I'd like to come over to her house for some fun and friendship. I jumped at the opportunity (as getting out of the house and being more social has kinda been a thing of mine these days) and headed over. I soon found out this was no ordinary group. These were some WONDERFUL gals!! The group is called "Disorganized Divas" and actually a chapter of the Red Hat Society!

For those who might have heard of the Red Hats but don't know anything about them, I'll let you know a little something. From my understanding its a social group of ladies. The ladies over 50 wear royal purple and red hats. Anyone joining who is younger than 50 wears lavender and a pink hat. So that makes me a Pink Hat. They get together for meals, shopping, vacations, and just to be together. So far they have been LOADS of fun!! I went over to our Queen's house for pizza, companionship, and karaoke that first night. Then yesterday I met with some of the ladies from our group and another group for lunch downtown.


We laughed SO much and had a fabulous time!! They gave me a little ribbing for ordering a salad at lunch, but ah well...all in good fun.

The Red Hats are a worldwide organization and such a great group of women! If you have the opportunity I would suggest finding one for yourself in your area. I can say with all confidence that I believe I've made some life long friends (and possibly even a workout buddy! Yay!!).

Move It! Move It!

One thing I've discovered over the years I've been searching for that tricky little thing I call skinny is that I LOVE to dance!! The great thing is that dancing is a GREAT work-out when you really get in to it. Usually I'll just work on Dance, Dance Revolution, which has their own song list. but sometimes I like to do step aerobics to my own songs on Wii Fit. Here's my workout song list, its pretty varied (don't judge..ha!) and includes current songs as well as some older tunes.

3 - Britney Spears
4 Minutes - Madonna & Justin Timberlake
1985 - Bowling for Soup
Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera
Alejandro - Lady Gaga
All Star - Smashmouth
Anywhere USA - PYT
Baby Don't Forget My Number - Milli Vanilli
Back in Time - Huey Lewis & The News
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
Beat It - Michael Jackson
Black or White - Michael Jackson
Blah Blah Blah - Ke$ha
Break the Ice - Britney Spears
Bulletproof - La Roux
Bye Bye Bye - N*Sync
California Gurls - Katy Perry
Can't Hold Us Down - Christina Aguilera
Candyman - Christina Aguilera
Celebration - Kool & The Gang
Check On It - Beyonce
Circus - Britney Spears
Cold Hearted Snake - Paula Abdul
Cruel Summer - BLESTeNATION
Dance Dance - Fall Out Boy
Dirrty - Christina Aguilera
Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects
Disturbia - Rihanna
Down - Jay Sean
Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
For Your Entertainment - Adam Lambert
Gimme More - Britney spears
Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
Gonna Make You Sweat - C&C Music Factory
Gotta Get Through This - Daniel Bedingfield
Hangin' Tough - New Kids On The Block
Hey Ya! - Outkast
Hips Don't Lie - Shakira
Hurts so Good - John Cougar Mellencamp
I Can See Clearly Now - Jimmy Cliff
I Like It - Enrique Iglesias
If You Seek Amy - Britney Spears
Imma Be - Black Eyed Peas
Jump - Van Halen
Just Dance - Lady Gaga
Let's Get Loud - Jennifer Lopez
Let's Get Rocked - Def Leppard
Locomotion - Kylie Minogue
Love Game - Lady Gaga
Low - Flo-Rida
Magic - Selena Gomez
Me Against The Music - Britney Spears
Music - Madonna
My First Kiss - 3OH!3
OMG - Usher
Party For Two - Shania Twain
Please Don't Stop The Music - Rihanna
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
Push It - Salt-N-Pepa
Rise above It - Lock, Stock, & Barrel
Rock That Body - Black Eyed Peas
See You Again - Miley Cyrus
Secy Back - Justin Timberlake
Shake That - Eminem
Smack That - Akon
Step By Step - New Kids On The Block
Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
This Ain't A Scene - Fall Out boy
Tik Tok - Ke$ha
U + Ur Hand - Pink
Up! - Shania Twain
Walking on sunshine - Katrina & The Waves
We Got The Beat - The Gogo's
Yeah! - Usher
You Can Leave Your Hat On - Tom Jones
You shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
Your Love Is My Drug - Ke$ha

That's the total 79 songs, which is WAY more than I'd probably need in any one workout session. Although, if I REALLY get into it, you never know! Ha! Do you have a song list that pumps you up and keeps you going? Is music even a motivator for you while you're "in the zone" of calorie burning?

Mixing It Up

Recently I have to say I've been doing pretty well with my weight loss. I got on the Wii Fit this morning and had lost 0.4 lbs since last week. No, its not exactly anything to write home about. Yet, I feel considering the fact that I've been sick over the past week, its a success nonetheless!

One of the things I've been trying to do is to mix it up with my food choices. Money is SUPER tight around our house right now, so eating out has definitely been cut from the budget!! I'm eating at home every day!! And in order to keep myself from getting bored with the same things every day, I have to search out new recipes that are tasty, filling, and still healthy for my personal goals.

I have MANY cookbooks around the house, but also get the magazine Cooking Light delivered to the house. So monthly, I thumb through my periodical in search of something yummy. Here's some examples of recipes I've discovered and found to be SUPER delicious.

Chicken stuffed with spinach and feta

(above is the dish cooking)

Chicken stuffed with spinach & feta cheese
served with brown rice and green beans

Tuna Salad in a Pita
ingredients:
Tuna (canned in water)
Craisins
Celery
Green Grapes
Dill Pickle Relish
Light Mayo
Ranch Dressing
Hard Boiled Eggs

Another treat that just doesn't photograph as well, is Sugar Free Jell-O mixed with Fat-Free Cool Whip. I just combine the two in a bowl and stir together gently. I usually cube the Jell-O and add it to a bowl then add in the Cool Whip. This is a delicious light afternoon snack or great somewhat impromptu dessert.

All of these things have been super tasty and very filling!! Do you have any recipes that work for you that are budget, taste, and weight loss friendly?