My New Venture

A little over three months ago I ran out of eye cream.  Instead of running out and buying another bottle of what I had been using (which didn’t seem to be making a difference anyway), I decided to take it as an opportunity to seek out other options.   My dark circles had started to become embarrassing and I was determined to find a solution.

The following week during casual conversation at work, a co-worker (and friend) of mine told me about this amazing new product that she had been using and recently became a consultant for.  It only took me one look at her results pictures and I just had to try it.  After 2 weeks of use I was already seeing (and feeling) a difference.  After 25 days I did a comparison to my before pictures and was stunned at just how much my dark circles had been reduced.  I was floored.  It was also at that time that I decided I wanted to share this product with everyone I know and become a consultant for Nerium.

If you’re worried about getting older (and let’s face it, we ALL are) and are sick of having to use multiple products to get results, then I strongly suggest you try Nerium.  NeriumAD is the only product to contain the patented NAE-8 antioxidant extract and was formulated to improve the appearance of:

·         fine lines

·         uneven skin texture

·         enlarged pores

·         wrinkles

·         sun damaged skin

·         hyperpigmentation

·         aging

If you've heard of Nerium but didn’t know where to get it, you can order directly from my site which can be found at the top right hand corner of my blog.  If you’re not quite ready to buy yet, Nerium offers a 30 day money back guarantee.  So you can have a 30 day trial for FREE!  But if you don’t want to commit to 30 days, I can provide you with a free 5 day trial.  Just email me for more details.

Becoming an independent brand parter with Nerium is a bit of new territory for me. While I have worked retail in the past, this is completely different.  I’m not a pushy person by nature so I was hesitant to sign up.  I've come to realize, however, that I don’t need to be pushy and “sell” Nerium.  As corny as it sounds, it can sell itself.  I am just here to provide samples and information to anyone who is interested in trying it.   I would love to one day be earning a big enough paycheck from Nerium that I can start working less at my full time job and spend more time with my family  (and a free Lexus wouldn’t be too shappy either).  But for now I’m happy enough with my dark circle free eyes and glowing skin :)

Weeks 37 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -1.8 lbs
Pounds Lost to Date:  -38.6 lbs

GGGGOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!

I finally made it! WOHOOOOO!!!!!  I’ve reached my goal weight (plus a teensy bit).  After almost 9 months of weight watchers I can say that I am the lightest I have been since graduating college 13 years ago!  While it’s true that I probably could have gotten here a month or two earlier if I had stuck to the plan a bit better, truth is that life sometimes happens (and it did).  But when it does you can’t let it completely derail you.  I kept working at it and continued to remind myself that if the pounds didn’t come off as fast as they did in the beginning then that was OK.  When I look back at a summary of my loss it’s quite obvious that I had a strong start with my first 4 months being great loss months and then I tapered off in the summer which was when I was searching to try and get

my momentum back.
 
January:  - 9 lbs
February:  - 8.2 lbs
March:  -4.8 lbs
April:  -6 lbs
May:  -2.4 lbs
June:  -0 lbs
July:  -3.8 lbs
August:  -2.6 lbs
September:  -1.8 lbs

Half of me wants to go for another 1.4 lbs to make it an even 40 but I don’t know if I should push my luck.  Ha, ha!  I’m pretty psyched to be down 4 pants sizes and 2 shirt sizes.  At this point, I’m just going to let nature take its course; continue to eat healthy, exercise & monitor my weight weekly.  I won’t be posting weekly updates anymore though since I reached my goal.   This whole experience has changed my eating habits (for the better) as a lifestyle change and I need to keep it that way if I want to maintain the body I’ve worked so hard to achieve.

 

Weeks 36 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -0.0 lbs

Pounds Lost to Date:  -36.8 lbs

Zero is okay with me this week.  It was a tough stress week and I’m putting it behind me.  It’s a new week and I’m going back to meal planning and drinking more water.  I’m also gearing up for the start of my volleyball season so I’m excited to get back on the court one night a week.

Here’s this week’s dinner menu. 

Sunday 9/15:  Grilled Chicken Thighs with Grilled Polenta & Grilled Corn on the Cob (10 pts+)

Monday 9/16:  Leftovers (no meal plan)

Tuesday 9/17:  no meal plan (volleyball night)

Wednesday 9/18:  Crock Pot Sesame Honey Chicken with ½ cup brown rice (8 pts+) 

Thursday 9/19:  Autumn Penne Pasta with Sautéed Brussels Sprouts in a Light Ragu (8 pts+)  

Friday 9/20:  Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili (5 pts+) 

Saturday 9/21:  Leftovers (no meal plan)

Week 32 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -2.2 lbs

Pounds Lost to Date:  -36.4 lbs

 

I’m very happy to see the scale go down this week.  Yay!  Hopefully this isn’t just another yo-yo week and the trend only continues.  I sort of feel like I’m already in maintenance mode already, but I still have another 1.8lbs left to go until I hit the goal weight set for me by weight watchers.  I’m determined to hit that number before I mentally switch into maintenance. 

 

Here’s this week’s dinner menu. 

 

Sunday 8/18:  Italian-StyleBraised Rabbit with roasted onion potatoes (10 pts+ total) 

 

Monday 8/19:  (a repost from last week since we ended up going out last Wednesday.)  Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops (5 pts+) with Cilantro Lime Rice (5 pts+)

 

Tuesday 8/20:  Chicken sausage with broccoli and provolone. (6 pts+)  Served with side salad. (1 pt+ for dressing)

 

Wednesday 8/21:  Naked turkey bruschetta burger (7 pts+) 

 

Thursday 8/22:  Bangin' Grilled Shrimp Skewers with ½ cup brown rice and sautéed zucchini (7 pts+ total)

 

Friday 8/23:  leftovers

 

Saturday 8/24:  leftovers or takeout

Weeks 30 & 31 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  +1.8 lbs
Pounds Lost to Date:  -34.2 lbs

In the midst of my craziness last week I completely forgot to post an update.  It wasn’t very exciting…  there was no change.  Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I had mentioned in my week 28 post that I had hoped to be hitting my goal weight at week 30.  Oops! 

This past week felt like a bit of a fail.  Those pesky 1.8 lbs from week 29 showed back up.  I didn’t have a meal plan last week because we were so incredibly busy so I’m sure that had something to do with it.  We ate a lot of quick foods and I tried to do my best to watch but I was having one of those “hunger” weeks and nothing was satisfying me. 

It’s really starting to get frustrating though that I can’t seem to get the momentum to get these last few pounds off.  I’ll just have to try harder this week and continue to try and stay focused and not stress out about it.

Here’s this week’s dinner menu. 

Sunday 8/11:   Mango & Jalapeño chicken sausage with mixed bell peppers (8 pts+)

Monday 8/12:   Greek Style Chicken and Roasted Potatoes (7 pts+)

Tuesday 8/13:  Penne & Chicken Tenderloins with Spiced Tomato Sauce (6 pts+)

Wednesday 8/14:  Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops (5 pts+) with Cilantro Lime Rice (5 pts+) and green beans (0 pts+)

Thursday 8/15:  Leftovers

Friday 8/16:  Super Skinny Sweet & Sour Chicken (7 pts+)

Saturday 8/17:  Leftovers (attending a birthday party)

Week 28 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -3.8 lbs
Pounds Lost to Date:  -36.0 lbs

Only one week back on the plan and what a difference!  I had to do a double take (and triple weight check) yesterday morning just to make sure the scale wasn’t lying.  I wasn’t expecting this much of a loss this week so I’m ecstatic and highly motivated to keep it up!  I’ve surpassed the 35 lbs mark and only have 2.2 lbs to go to hit the “goal” weight I had set for myself on Weight Watchers.  Even though I haven’t been obsessing about hitting a certain weight, at this point I really want to hit that number since I’m so close I can taste it (no pun intended).  I’m hoping that by week 30 I can report back that I’ve hit my goal and have switched into maintenance mode. 

Here’s this week’s dinner menu. 

Sunday 7/21:   Lobster Rolls (6 pts+)

Monday 7/22:   (I moved this from Saturday b/c we ended up going out with our friends instead of BBQ’ing at home)
Asian Grilled Chicken Thighs (6 pts+)  I used skinless boneless thighs instead of breasts with Asian Cabbage Mango Slaw (2 pts+)

Tuesday 7/23:  Grilled hot dog (no bun) with baked beans & grilled corn on the cob (8 pts+ total for everything)

Wednesday 7/24:  Skinny Lemon Glazed Chicken (6 pts+) with ½ cup brown rice (4 pts+)

Thursday 7/25:   Grilled chicken sausage (5 pts+) with grilled zucchini (0 pts+)

Friday 7/26:  Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice (8 pts+)

Saturday 7/27:    no cooking (attending a party)

I am a Spartan!

I did it!!  On June 8, 2013 I completed my first Spartan Sprint in Tuxedo, NY and became a

Spartan!   As I had mentioned before, I wasn’t competing for a time (which was good because mine stunk. lol) but only to complete the course as an accomplishment of my strength.  I did exactly that and was extremely proud to cross that finish line. 

 

Call me crazy, but the race itself I found to be kind of fun.  Mastering the different obstacles was my favorite part (except for one obstacle).  However, all the hill mountain climbing I could have done without. Thankfully we had a perfect temperature that day so it was perfect running weather.  I started off the race with a clear head and high expectations.  That mindset was crushed not even 5 minutes into the race when we were hit with our first obstacle - running through 3 trenches of waist high muddy water while you got sprayed with more water.  Well, that certainly woke us up!  It also made for some nice sloshy sneakers to climb the steep hill of rocks that was up next.

 

It POURED the entire day before I was scheduled to run the race.  All this extra rain made the race site an (even bigger) mud pit and also made all of the rocky trails we were running on dangerously slippery.  I watched as other racers slipped and slided past me twisting their ankles as they ran the course.  It wasn’t worth breaking an ankle so we walked a lot of the trails where it was extremely slippery and ran in the places where we could.  This of course slowed our team down quite a bit.

 

Some of the other obstacles that we had to overcome over the 4 miles included: 

-  Monkey Bars

-  Lots and lots of walls (5, 6, 7 & 8 feet tall)

- Herculean Pull (using a pulley lift a concrete block 10 ft off the ground & back down)

-  Tractor Pull (drag a concrete block connected to a chain up a hill & back)

-  Tire Pull (drag a huge tire down a hill then using a rope pull it back up)

-  40 lb Sandbag carry (up & down a hill)

-  Hurdle jumps

-  Cargo net climb

-  Tire Drill (running through tires like the old football drill)

-  Log carry (up & down a hill)

-  Spear Throw

-  Rope Climb

-  Transverse Wall

-  Muddy “slip & slide” under ropes & into a trench of water

-  Barbed Wire Crawl

-  Fire pit jump

 

For any obstacle that you are unable to complete the penalty is 30 burpees.  If you don’t know what a burpee is check out HERE for an explanation.  Luckily I only failed 3 obstacles (rope climb, spear throw & transverse wall).  The barbed wire crawl was by far the worst obstacle in the entire race.  I was dreading it the entire day and couldn’t wait to get across it and put it behind me.  You can see the “oh s**t” look on my face in the pictures.  That’s pretty much exactly what I was thinking. It hurt like a mother crawling over the rocks and I have the bruises and scratches to prove it.

Crossing that finish line was one of the most satisfying moments I’ve experienced in a long time.  My hard work training certainly paid off and I couldn’t imagine having done this at my previous weight.  Although I was sore and a bit bruised and scratched up afterwards, it was completely worth it. 

The scratches will heal.  The bruises will fade.  My muscles will loosen.  But the experience will stay with me forever.

I can’t wait until next year.  Aroooo!!!!

Week 24 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  +1.0 lbs

Pounds Lost to Date:  -30.4 lbs

This past week was my own fault.  I know what I did wrong. Nothing to blame other than bad choices and very little exercise.  Ever since I hit the 30 lb mark I’ve hit a plateau.  I teeter back & forth on a pound or two, but haven’t made any real progress in weeks.  I need to find my motivation again.  I need something…anything…to get me out of this rut and back into the groove that I was in for so many weeks.  It’s that motivation that is going to get me past these last few pesky pounds and over the finish line.  I know I said that I didn’t have a number goal I was trying to hit, but when I first joined WW they make you put in a number.  I’m only 7 8 pounds away from that number now and it would be a huge sense of accomplishment to hit the number that I set for myself so long ago.

This week’s dinner menu is not all that fantastic.  I’m working from a freezer stash of meat so it’s a hodge-podge of whatever I’ve got on hand.  I had to deal with a medical issue over the weekend (I’m ok) so didn’t get a chance to go food shopping.

Sunday 6/23:   no cooking (attending a graduation party for our niece)

Monday 6/24:   little man requested Chinese (I ordered steamed shrimp & veggies with brown rice to stay light)

Tuesday 6/25:  Skinny Baked Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard Sauce (7 pts+) and side salad (1 pts+, for dressing)  - didn’t get to make this last week

Wednesday 6/26:  leftovers or something quick (have a client meeting in Philly and am getting home late)

Thursday 6/27:  Baked (orgrilled) chicken thighs with dijon & lime (5 pts+), garlic brussel sprouts (0 pts+) & side salad (1 pts+, for dressing) - another one that I didn't get to make last week

Friday 6/28:  baked sole (lightly breaded) with sautéed zucchini  (approx. 8 pts+)

Saturday 6/29:   leftovers (have birthday party & play date during the day)

Race to the Finish

As I had mentioned in an earlier post a few weeks back, I signed up for a couple races in the coming weeks/months.  My first one is in less than 3 days (!!)  This coming weekend I will be running the Reebok Spartan Sprint in Tuxedo, NY.  If you’ve never heard of the Spartan Sprint, it’s a 5K muddy obstacle race.  Think wall climbing, rope climbs and crawling through mud underneath barbed wire.  Why would I want to do this you may be asking?  I’m asking myself that same question this week ;-)  It's going to be an adventure to say the least.  I’m not competing for a particular finish time.  I’m doing the race simply as a personal accomplishment.  I’ll be sure to report back at some point next week with pictures & an update on how it went.

 

Race #2 in September is The Color Run.  This is a 5k race being held in Brooklyn, NY.  It’s similar to other races such as Color me Rad where you get doused in various colors (colored corn starch) as you run the course.  You start off in a clean white t-shirt and finish plastered in color!  It’s more of a fun race than a competitive race so I’m looking forward to it.  I’m running this with a bunch of friends in a team as well.  Not competing for a finish time, but doing it just to have fun and as something different. 

 

I haven’t done a ton of serious training for this coming weekend other than running, my weekly volleyball, some push ups plus a boot camp class that I started taking about a month ago.  But I feel that I’m in good enough shape to get me through the 4 miles.   We’ll see though.  I may have something different to say come next week.  LOL  Wish me luck….I think I need it!
 

Week 20 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -3.0 lbs

Pounds Lost to Date:  -30.4 lbs

Not only did I make up for last week’s bad choices, but I finally hit the 30 pound mark!!   I had hovered so close to it at week 18 that I was thinking I was never going to get there after last week’s minor setback.  I put in some major workout time this week between running & a boot camp class I started and I ran my farthest distance to date – 4.14 miles!  I wasn’t planning on running this far, it just kind of happened.  I signed up for a 5k run at work but when I clocked it with my running GPS app, it clocked in at just a little over 4 miles.  It’s possible that my GPS could be slightly off, but my body could tell that it was certainly longer than 5k.  I also improved saw an improvement on my time per mile. 

While it’s great to see the numbers on the scale moving, even if they weren't I can definitely see a change in my body and am seeing more definition and toning coming out.  According to weight watchers, I’m almost to my goal.  And from looking in the mirror I’d have to agree with them.

Here’s this week’s dinner menu (a couple things fell off the menu last week due to some switches so am trying them for this week):

Sunday 5/26:   Nothing fancy.  We BBQ’d on our own.  Veggie burger (no bun) for me and hot dogs for the boys.

Monday 5/27:  Nothing.  Attending a Memorial Day BBQ.

Tuesday 5/28:  Leftovers (going to subway series baseball game)

Wednesday 5/29:  15 Minute Ginger Shrimp Stir Fry with ½ cup brown rice (10 pts+)  

Thursday 5/30:  Taco Thursday! (using ground turkey & whole grain shells 6 pts+) with fat free spicy refried beans (2 pts+)

Friday 5/31:  Spicy Sweet & Sour Chicken with ½ cup brown rice (8 pts+) 

Saturday 6/1:   Nothing.  (Having a girl’s night out)

Week 18 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -0.4 lbs
Pounds Lost to Date:  -29.4 lbs

It may not be much this week, but I’ll take it!  Any loss (or even no loss) is considered a win in my book.  I wasn’t exactly the epitome of weight watchers standards this week and followed my points only about 75% of the time.  I allowed myself freebies on Friday, Saturday AND Sunday when I normally only allow myself some freebies on one day of the week.   I did work myself out much harder than I normally do, but maybe that just helped me from having a gain. 

Sunday morning instead of sleeping in for Mother’s Day I decided to give a new workout a try.  One of my fellow preschool moms told me about an outdoor bootcamp that was being taught 5 minutes from my house.  No sign up required and for $15/class you get an hour long butt kicking workout with a gorgeous view of the Hudson River.  Figuring I needed to do something different to mix up my training I decided to give it a try.  Talk about butt kicking!  lol  My arms were so sore all day Monday.  It definitely was just what the dr. ordered but boy was I not expecting to feel that sore afterwards.  Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I’ll be going back for more this weekend ;)

I’m taking this week off from meal planning because our refrigerator died suddenly late last week.  The new one is being delivered later this week but that means we will have to do take out for a majority of the week.  Hopefully that means I’m not reporting back this time next week with a gain but I am going to try and be as good as I can be – and also go back for more butt kicking to burn off the extra calories!! 

p.s. look how pretty our new fridge is!!  I can’t wait for it to arrive and fill it back up with yummy healthy food!!!
 

Week 17 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -1.0 lbs
Pounds Lost to Date:  -29.0 lbs

A slightly bittersweet week for me.  While I may have just missed the 30 lb mark, I did achieve a few other milestones that I’m pretty psyched about:  (1)  I’m now within 10 lbs of the goal number I was forced to put into WW (2)  I tried on my “skinny” pants (which are 4 sizes smaller than where I started) and got them to button (not all that comfortably but they went on!!) (3) I’ve lost 15% of my body weight

I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished over the last 4 months.  Hard to believe that it’s only taken 4 months for me to get this far but at the same time it feels longer than 4 months that I’ve been cooking and eating this way.  Maybe that’s a good sign that my brain is catching on that this is a lifestyle change and that in order maintain what I’ve worked so hard for I’m going to need to continue to eat like this (or close to it).

Here’s this week’s dinner menu:

Sunday 5/5:   nada.  I stuffed myself with a late lunch at a baby shower I attended so no cooking (and no dinner really) tonight

Monday 5/6:  Cilantro Thai Grilled Chicken Thighs (7 pts+) with Garlic Roasted Cauliflower (0 pts+) (this again fell off the menu again last week and we ended up eating out Friday. Oops ;)  Definitely making it tonight)

Tuesday 5/7:  Leftovers (volleyball night)

Wednesday 5/8:  Skinny Chicken Pesto Bake (6 pts+) with Miracle Noodles (0 pts+)

Thursday 5/9:  Spicy Korean Tacos (8 pts+ for 2 tacos) I substituted ½ cup of pre-cooked chicken breast strips for the tofu

Friday 5/3:  Tuscan White Beans with Spinach, Shrimp & Feta (7 pts+)

Saturday 5/4:   Leftovers or take out (Saturdays are crazy between tee ball & birthday parties we have every weekend)

The Money Motivator

Now that A is turning 5 we thought it was about time that he could start earning an allowance and do consistently do more chores around the house.  Money has proven to be a big motivator for him (it helped with potty training!) so why not use an allowance to help motivate him to get his chores done around the house. 

We decided on using a punch card system for him to earn his allowance rather than giving him just a weekly rate.  For every chore he completes he earns a punch in his card.  Once the card is full he can turn it in for his allowance ($5).  He can also earn extra punches for extra good behavior or for doing something extra special.  My thinking was that it would motivate him even more (to get the punches) and if he decided to skip a chore or behaved poorly that day, then he doesn’t earn a punch for his chore.  He will (hopefully) feel the consequences being it will only take longer to fill the punch card and earn his allowance. 

The punch card itself looked pretty easy to make and I had started to try my hand at it on the computer.  But I got frustrated after about an hour and decided to chuck it and purchase them (cheap) from this seller on Etsy.

A is pretty excited to get started and to start earning his own money.  I told him that he needs to save half of it and the other half he can spend on whatever he wants.  Here’s a brief list of the chores that he will be responsible for and the frequency.  Not every chore will be every day.

• cleaning his room (daily or as needed)
• feeding the dog (daily)
• clearing his dirty dishes after meal times (daily)
• cleaning up toys in the playroom (daily)
• putting away wii remotes when done playing (as needed)
• helping to empty the dishwasher (couple times a week)
• helping load the laundry in washer/dryer (couple times a week)