It's almost the New Year...bring on the diet craze

Have I told anyone lately that I hate the word DIET...well I do.

Diet

/dīət/

noun

a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.

Why is it that we feel that we need to restrict ourselves in order to lose weight. It turns out that when you restrict yourself from foods, you WILL find yourself wanting it more. This typically only leads to failure. You can only resist your cravings for a certain amount of time, which is why Diets never work.

Instead of restrictions,,,,why not give yourself more??? I am not telling you to go and eat ice cream! But what I am telling you is give yourself something that makes you feel like you are eating ice cream. I was a HUGE ice cream eater...I loved the stuff right before bed. Yummmmmm! When I began living healthier, I froze bananas, added some cocoa powder and then food processed it. It became an ice cream like consistency and gave me the feeling like I was eating ice cream. I never felt restricted. I felt satisfied. You will find success when you give yourself foods that your body is wanting instead of fighting the cravings. I do believe in cutting down on bad things for you like saturated fats, refined carbs, sugar, and salt...but to eliminate all together will never generate success.

I know that New Year's is coming up...and there are so many people out there wanting to lose weight. My challenge to you is to  live healthier. Focus on health, focus on movement, focus on water, focus on strength, focus on freshness, focus on sleep, focus on less stress. Be aware of what you are doing good for your body. When you are aware and focused on health....the weight will come off! But I challenge you to start today...why wait until Jan 1. Start today! Do something good for your body today!

Helping others...need your help!

I love looking at pictures of before and now. You tend to forget where you started. I know for me, seeing comparisons remind me how far I have come. When I look at this and I think back to almost 4 years ago, I am so proud of my accomplishments. This makes me want to really help others with their health and life goals. I want so badly to help other people feel this way and have pictures like this. I am putting together a plan to make this happen! Now is the time! Set goals and go for it! If you have health goals, would you pay for someone with experiences like mine to help you lose weight, maintain weight, or make healthier food choices through the holiday season?? I am wanting feedback on what you would pay? I am looking into helping one or two people locally during the holiday season who are ready to make changes. Then in January, looking into a bigger group setting. I need feedback friends! What do you think?? 

Lunch happiness

Let me tell you about this pretty lunch! Well today was a restart from the weekend that was full of snacking on my kids' Halloween Candy! Holy smokes I am a sucker for an Almond Joy! So I needed to get back on track today! We got a case if blackberries from bountiful baskets and I had some spinach so I decided to make this delicious salad for lunch. I drizzled about 1- 2 teaspoons of poppyseed dressing in top. I also added 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese. I love a salad with cottage cheese! A lot of the time I don't use a dressing and just use cottage cheese! I added some almonds and cucumbers. This salad was packed with protein, fiber and tons of vitamins! No guilt here! 

Body Blast

I got signed up for a workout class by Pauline, my mother in law. She told me it was a fantastic class aimed at cardio and strength training. It is put on by Sheridan Physical Therapy and Fitness Center. Basically this class has 15 circuits and it is filled with cardio and lots of full body strength training exercises.  Some of the activities are burpees, mountain climbers, dips, lunges, squats, push ups, and planks. Sounds horrible right? I know that it sounds miserable but it is so much fun! This group of people are so fun! They are encouraging and and will push you to do one more set. It's fast paced! You do one rotation through all of the stations for 45 seconds. Then you break for about 5 minutes and then do another rotation through for 30 seconds. I have enjoyed seeing results as well. I guess my words of wisdom would be to change it up, try something new! You might find something you love, or hate, but at least you've tried it. I still hate burpees but I know I only have to do them for  90 seconds!  ;)

Staying on track and staying at home

I can't lie that when I began staying at home, I was petrified on how I would continue to stay on track. I had the worries of slipping into my old habits of mindless eating and not very much activity. I knew I had to set my life up in a way that I wouldn't let this happen. I can't let myself slip because I have come so far. So here is what I have been doing to keep up with my progress.

We are staying at an extended stay hotel and luckily it has a kitchen (microwave, full fridge, stove, and sink) So I can cook! It's also my job to not spend money now that we are on a single income, so eating out is NOT an option. Luckily we have lots of family here in Sheridan and they are feeding us well! We joke that we are riding the "meal train" and we are owning it. Shhh don't tell them that we don't really feel bad for it! :)

I snack throughout the day and rarely sit down for a meal until dinner. My snacking consists of a handful of almonds, a couple grapes, a bowl of cucumbers and tomatoes, some hummus and crackers, and a couple pieces of turkey. When you snack on healthy foods you don't feel bad for snacking! I feel satisfied and I rarely feel hungry.

I have been working out almost every morning. After I go and drop Avon off at school, Kenley, Leah and I hit the pathways or the parks for a work out. They also have a free gym here at the hotel, so I really have NO excuses.

Here are some pics of our excursions.

We love picking produce at grandmas house

It snowed but we still play outside!

We go to the library and we got our new cards. 

We play at the park with cousins

Kenley and Leah are my workout buddies while Av is at school! 

This hill is a doozie!

We love running and riding up by the elk and buffalo! This is how we get from our new house to the park! Pretty awesome! 

We love Fridays because Av gets to join us! He goes to school Monday-Thursday. We love this time together! 

So 2 weeks into living here and I am proud to say that I am at my lowest weight on record. 159 pounds. That is a total weight loss at 114 pounds! Wowza! What I love is the feeling of looking great and feeling great!

Posting from our new town

Wow! I said in my last post that changes were coming my way. The big changes are that my husband has accepted a new job in Sheridan Wyoming. We have always talked about coming back here...the last week in June we had a great discussion on a quick road trip to Rapid City about where we were going with careers, life, dreams, etc. We kind of threw it out there....I remember his words, "I want to move back to Sheridan" I sat in the passenger seat and looked at him and said "me too." When I was dating Reo, I came to Sheridan every weekend to visit him the summer after we met in Casper. I fell in love with Reo that summer and knew there was something about this man that I couldn't live without. I fell in love with Sheridan that summer as well. The beauty of the mountains, the valleys, and the feeling of this small town had me smitten.

When you open the doors, it is amazing what happens. It wasn't a week later that Reo's friend let him know that there was an engineering position coming open at a coal mine. And within 2 months we are now "living" in Sheridan. I say "living" because I am staying in an extended stay hotel with 2 kids, and the dog.                          

We are searching for a house and hoping that our house in Gillette sells quickly. Here it is...I love our home so much but I am excited for this new adventure.


So where do all of these changes leave me??? Well, I am officially employed as a stay at home mom. I left my job as an Early Intervention Instructor where I provided children ages 3-5 with special education. I worked there for over 6 years. There were so many aspects about my job that I loved! But there were things that I didn't always love. What I did love was those kids and my co-workers. It's funny how you really realize how much you were loved until it's time to say good bye.

This past year was tough on me. I can't explain what happened but I felt this longing to be home with my kids more. The school where I worked is a year round facility so summer was tough on me. I wanted so badly to have some time off to be with my kids. I felt myself slipping into a place of complacency at work. I wasn't the same employee that I prided myself on being. There wasn't enough time in the day to get done what I needed to at work the way that I liked it to be done(I am a bit of a perfectionist and super tough on myself...a true virgo and first born qualities) and also go home to be a good wife and mother. When I say this past year was tough on me....it might have been tougher on my husband and kids. I took home every ounce of stress, deadlines coming closer, time crunches, paperwork, situations with families, ideas that I wanted to implement, and the feeling of not being able to get to it all. I was rarely present at home because my mind was on work.  I didn't like the path, I was headed on through no fault of my own. I took on new committees, more kids, more challenges, and I never said it was too much. Through this weight loss journey, I have prided my self on a transformation of mind, body and spirit, but I was struggling in the spiritual part. My emotional health was not ok, and I needed to make changes.

When we sat down to discuss jobs for me in Sheridan. Reo looked at me and said, "let's set our lives up there so you don't have to work" I remember this feeling of pure relief and like a weight had been lifted off my chest. Reo has been so incredibility supportive to me finding what I want to do and to not settle for a job that I don't love. This has me so excited. I have an idea of what I want to do, but now I need to figure out how to make it happen.

What I am excited about is to spend some time with my kids. Time that is strictly devoted to them without my mind being on work. I am excited to make our home and life here in Sheridan. We are so blessed to have so many family members here and I love that my kids are going to be close to cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents, 2nd cousins, and new friends. I am excited to take time to take my dad to Denver for appointments without worrying about what I am missing at work. I am excited to live near the mountains. I plan on doing something every month in the mountains. I am excited to be out at Reo's dad's ranch. Kenley loves horse riding, so hopefully we can get her some riding time. I am excited for the possibilities that I have to do exactly what I want to do.

Here are a few pics of our life so far in Sheridan...


Avon playing flag football. He made the paper with this run!



Kenley drew this house of what she wants our new house to look like in Sheridan.


Av on his first day of school at Big Horn Elementary!

Summer hiadus

Wow, is it possible that summer is coming to an end... I feel so bad that I haven't kept up with this! I know that there are those that are wondering what has been going on this summer, so here's the skinny! Haha

My husband and I have continued with our life style. We have had a great summer and just returned from an AWESOME vacation with our friends to Palisades Reservoir in Idaho. Oh man do we miss them. It was great re-connecting our families. We took a picture 2 years ago in Jackson and re-created it on our trip. I love it! It's such a great reminder to where we came from and how to keep going.


Can you believe the difference! I just love the way we look now! We feel so much better about ourselves!



I love this pic of us and our buddies! I love that time and distance haven't changed our relationship! Love the Ripkos!

We have been very busy. It seems that every weekend, we have something planned. We spent two weekends in Sheridan in July, where we got to see so many family members. Several of our family members haven't seen Reo since his big transformation. It's still crazy to hear the reactions of our weight loss from those who haven't seen us. Here are some fun pics from our summer


I got a hammock last year for my birthday for camping, but I never got to use it! This camping trip, I used it! I drank morning coffee in it and took a glorious afternoon nap in it! LOVE IT!


We ate ice cream! YUMMMM!

We took awesome pics of the kids camping in this old Model A car! The kids loved it!



My husband ran in his first 5K! Yeah babe! We ran it together and we finished in 29:00 min! Not too shabby!


With all of the craziness that is going on, the truth is we haven't let it impact our lifestyle. We still eat a ton of fruits and veggies and try to nix most processed foods. Hope this is a little glimpse of what we have been up to! Look forward to more blogs coming from me as changes are coming my way!

Busy mornings!

Why is it that summer feels busier than most seasons. We are on the go. Mornings are tough because we are running around making sure that we have all of our stuff for day. Bikes and supplies for summer camp for my son, dogs taken care of and food for work. I am finding that my breakfast dictates my day. A good breakfast seems to start me off right. My go to breakfasts are high protein and high fiber. I do go through food jags where I eat the same thing everyday (sometimes for multiple meals) for about a month and then I can't stand the thought of it. The last couple of months I have been in love with oatmeal. I don't buy pre-packaged oatmeal because I am trying to eat less processed foods. What I do is eat either steel cut oats or rolled oats. I put about a 1/4 cup into a Tupperware container. I dice up apples or whatever fruit we get from our bountiful basket. I also add walnuts or almonds. Then I sprinkle with cinnamon and about 1/2 teaspoon of dark brown sugar or honey. When I am ready to eat at work I add water and heat in the microwave. This breakfast is easily made in advance for the entire week. 

My new kick is egg whites. I am more of a savory breakfast kind of gal. So egg whites gives me that satisfaction. This meal can be made in bulk and then separated into individual servings. First I grab veggies. Once again this is what is on hand from bountiful baskets. I sautée in olive oil. My fave combo of veggies is fresh green chilies, kale, tomato, and onions. Right now we have a lot of squash and zucchini. Then I add my egg whites. I add a little pepper and top with a piece of pepper jack cheese. Yummmm! Topped with salsa and avacado and this dish is ready to be devoured! 

Tough work noticed but still the negative

Today I had a meeting at work with someone who hasn't seen me in over a year. When she saw me, she was in awe over the transformation. When I walked in the room she didn't recognize me. She asked me what I did to lose the weight. I told her the hard way, that we had changed our eating and work out. I explained to her that my husband had also lost a ton of weight and this was a complete lifestyle transformation. We are changing the way we look at fueling our body and taking care of our health. She is a very fit person and she was so proud of the way that we have accomplished our goals. At the end of our conversation, she told me we should write an article to health magazine. 

I love the way that my husband and I have done this. We know the work and dedication that it has taken to change our lives. There hasn't always been positivity towards us. There are always people thinking something different, but only we know what we have done and how hard it has been. My favorite comments are, "what kind of diet are you doing" "did you go low carb" "you must have to spend all your free time at the gym" and the most recent and probably most comical are,  "they must be on diet pills" "you are starving yourself"  I am seriously amazed by the close people in our life who believe such things and can't be supportive! This is so hurtful because of amount of work that we have put into changing our life to be better for ourselves, our marriage and our children. I just don't understand how people can be so hurtful. These comments have reminded me to watch what I say, to be less judgmental, and more supportive. Support doesn't mean I have to agree, but to give praise to lift someone up. There is no reason to tear others down with comments or judgmental thoughts. 

I just have to remind myself of the people that give us praise, lift us up and who have nothing but positives for us. Plus I love the fact that we are inspiring others. Hearing from others that Reo and I have inspired them to lose weight or change their eating is the best feeling ever! The biggest thing is to continue to love ourselves! We love what we are doing for our family and leaving a healthy legacy for our children and living the best life we can. 

Delicious dinner

I love it when I make awesome dinners. Here is one of my latest creations. 

Wilted Kale Salad with Honey Glazed Salmon. 

Chopped kale sautéed with olive oil and minced garlic. Toast walnuts in a separate pan. Dice apples and toss into your sautéed kale. Toss in the toasted walnuts. I defrost frozen berries and mash. Then add balsalmic vinegar to the berries. When all is finished cooking add berry balsalmic dressing and crumbed goat or feta cheese. 

I used my broiler for the salmon because it was too windy to grill. I brushed each salmon filet with honey and salt and pepper. Cook for 7-10 minutes flip half way through and coat the other side. 

I had some endive that I also broiled up with my salad. This dinner was so yummy and had awesome ingredients. 

Tri- it again

I posted earlier about whether or not to complete the triathlon here in Gillette. I didn't really train for it and I was nervous because I hadn't even gotten in the pool. I finally decided to do it, 8 days ago! So it was today and I wanted to share this experience. This one for some reason meant more. I don't know why it meant so much but I was euphoric when I completed it! So here is the skinny on my journey this far with triathlons

2010- November: I began training for my first triathlon. This was the one that started my weight loss journey. We trained from November to May. 6 months of training to get ready. Remember that when I first started, I couldn't even run 1/4 of the way around the track because I was that out of shape. In May 2011 when I competed in the first triathlon I was about 234 pounds. I finished in 2 hours 17 min. It was a big deal! I was exhausted! 

Here are some pics of my first tri

Ok, now fast forward to 2012. I did the triathlon as a relay, so the only portion that I was responsible for was biking. My weight here was about 215. 

I wasn't able to do the race in 2013 because I was doing the Diva Dash in Boulder. So I skipped last year. Plus I was also training for the 150 mile bike race that was in August. 

I have continually worked on my fitness. I love bikng so I have kept going with that. All winter long I have been working on running and biking. I found some awesome interval treadmill workouts that I used to work on my endurance and strength in running. I had been looking for a new road bike and decided that if I was able to get one before the triathlon, I would do it. Well, I got my new bike the weekend of Easter. So I kind of was toying with the idea then that I would do it. I made up my mind on April 24th, that I would do it! I got into the pool then and was able to swim the 1/2 mile in about 21 minutes. I biked and ran on and off the week leading up to it. 

The scariest part is that this time I was alone. I usually had a crew of gals that had decided to do the crazy races with me. In fact they were usually the ones that talked me into them! But this year it was me. I decided to do the recruiting and talked in a good friend into doing this with me. I was proud of her because she decided 2 days before to join me! I just kept thinking about the regrets that I would feel if I didn't do it. So here is was. I knew that I had it in me, and I was awkwardly calm and confident. I knew once the swim was over, I would be ok. The swim was....crappy! I hate it! I was about 6 laps in and thought about giving up because I was having issues breathing and getting into a rhythm. I got past the 1/2 way mark and decided to start side stroking on one length of the pool. I was actually faster side stroking than freestyle, so I stuck with it. I got out of the pool at 19:07 which was 2 minutes faster than my only test run. I transitioned nicely to the bike with the assistance of my fantastic crew. Once on the bike, I got into my groove. I LOVE my new bike! Oh Wow, what a difference. It seems like the biking was a split second. It took me 40 minutes to bike the 12 miles with 2 extremely hard hills! Those were horrible hills! I transitioned to the run and that first little bit, everything is soooo jiggly! You feel like your legs are literally noodles. But I had a great pace and I stuck with it. I was nervous for the run, because running for the longest time has been my most difficult task. This was when I needed to remember what I had worked on all winter. I remember passing people on my run and loving it! There was incredibly fit people walking, and I was passing them! I just kept my pace and continued to run. The last 1/2 mile I remember feeling almost euphoric. This was it. I was doing it and without my dearest friends begging me to. I was the one that convinced someone else to push their body and try something they thought they couldn't. I had come full circle. I no longer needed them to push me, I had it in me to push myself and to help someone else. I am so happy that the ones that had began this journey with me in 2011 were the ones cheering us on and documenting our accomplishments. So here I am, my time was 1:33:57. I weighed in on May 3rd at 163 pounds. I had officially trained for 8 days. I am so proud of myself! I am in the best shape of my life at 30 years old! Here are some pics of this awesome experience.  

I love this picture that the local newspaper took of me hugging one of my best friends! It was awesome!

Fear or regret

There have been so many things in life that I fear. I fear not being the best mom I can be, the best wife to my husband, the best employee at work, the best friend, the best sister, and the best daughter. I live my life trying to be the best at everything I do. Unfortunately this leads to a lot of heart ache and disappointment as I am usually comparing what I think is being the best to unrealistic expectations of perfectionism. So what does this have to do with fitness and health???? Fear of perfection is literally making me sick and it's time to let go of the fear of not being perfect. This week, I realized that the sprint triathlon is 8 days away here in Gillette. I wanted to compete in it again, and this week was trying to decide if I should do it or not. Here are the thoughts that were going through my head of why not to do it..."you haven't trained enough" "you haven't even been swimming" "what if you don't beat your time from 3 years ago" "none of your friends are doing it with you" "what if it is too hard and you have to give up" I am that girl that plays out fake scenarios of what could possibly happen in my head, so you can probably imagine what those looked like...me gasping for air out of the pool, not being able to get out of the pool, walking on the running portion, and giving up( in dramatic fashion of course). Luckily for me a little piece of reality stepped into these thoughts and told myself to shut up. I have two options..fear it or regret it. I have pondered over what I would think about myself if I didn't do it, regret! Regret is what I would feel if I didn't compete, if I didn't push.

I would never have imagined that in my 30's that I would  be in the best shape of my life. I have biked 150 miles in 2 days, I have been running just slightly under 5 miles under a 10 min mile pace. I have gone to hot yoga twice! I want to feel what I can push my body to do while I am in the best shape I have ever been in. I want to cross the finish line weighing over 75 pounds less than I did 3 years ago when I first finished the triathlon. I will not let fear win, I will not regret this. I have to remember that I am only in competition with  myself. I am the one that I have to compete against. I have to compete against the fear of imperfection and accept my imperfect self. So here it goes...I am going to do the triathlon. I started swimming today and I didn't die gasping for air. I feel that I can bike and run confidently. I am excited to try out my new bike! I have dreamed of the day racing on a road bike. I know it is going to be hard. I know that I will not have the support of my friends who will not be doing it with me, I know that my family won't be able to be there cheering me on, but this is my race. This is me and this is me relinquishing my fear and living life without regret and without fear.
  

Inspirational clothing success

So I have some pieces of clothing that has either been given to me or I have purchased that are my "I am going to rock this when I lose 10 more pounds" I have a couple dresses in my closet that I can't wait to rock, just working on my mommy pooch before I do. So I was given some jeans from my sister in law about 2 months ago, she gave me all size 30 in waist and one 29 in waist. The 30's fit perfect and I was sure that on the first time trying on the 29's it was going to be a while before I fit into those. I put them on my shelf  and forgot about them. I remember thinking this waist is tiny and I might never be this tiny!  This weekend I was cleaning out my closet and found them. I thought, what the hell. Go for it, try them on. THEY FIT! And not like I look like a sausage stuffed into meat casing, but fit nicely! Yeah! The waist is tiny and I guess mine is getting tiny as well.  I love buying a couple things that don't quite fit because it truly is one of the best feelings to try it in a month and see the progress. Then you have a new outfit to flaunt your hard work around in!!

Here is the inspiration....

Vacation

Surviving vacation while being aware of healthy eating habits is difficult! My family and I recently went to Arizona and San Diego. I love eating new foods and trying local favorite places to eat. So of course eating becomes a big make up of vacation. I wasn't perfect on vacation and I definitely endulged in things I normally stay away from. Here are some tips I tried while on vacation...

1. Breakfast-we had a continental breakfast at the hotel where we stayed. This breakfast was typical waffles, pastries, carbs carbs carbs carbs. How I tried to make my breakfasts healthier was eating oatmeal with fresh apple slices and a hard boiled egg. I got fiber and protein and stayed away from sugar loaded muffins and Danishes. 

2. Share- my husband is so good because he often shares with me. I love this because then you can't over eat. If we didn't share I immediately asked for a box and boxed up half. I loved not feeling full and overly stuffed! 

3. Walk- we planned lots of active things to do and we walked a lot. We walked up and down the beach, we played volleyball on the beach. We walked at the zoo. 

4. Water- stay hydrated!! Drink drink drink drink. Keep the water going! 

5. Have fun and allow yourself to endulge- We had a meal where we ate what we wanted and one night I have Ben and Jerry's ice cream! It was glorious and I don't feel guilty. 

I came home and I did weigh 5 pounds heavier then when I left but I got right back on track.  

Here are some pictures of our trip...

In the airport ready to go!

Grandmas backyard in Arizona

Driving to San Diego

Down on the pier

Me and my honey near the USS Midway

She loves ice cream as much as mom does

At the zoo

Poolside 

Mission beach