boobs, babies, birth control

Hello everyone!

I had a wonderfully active day yesterday and I think I'm going to take a rest day today. I ran two miles in the morning, than played tennis with a friend in the evening and did some free weight lifting while catching up on Biggest Loser! My muscles are sore today but it feels great and I'm hoping I'm getting closer to tackling that 2.5lbs left to the new weight decade!

So I think I am kind of a bad formspringer- if a "good" one exists. I logged into my account last night and realized I had FOUR questions waiting for me! So I will tackle those today!

warning to men: boobs, babies, and birth control will be discussed.

"Do you plan to have a garden and do some canning to help you with eating unprocessed foods? ~Laura @ Life Happens"

Yes! I am starting my own garden. The only thing is, I am REALLY REALLY bad at growing/taking care of plants. If any of you were following me back in February, I did some starters. Well...those died! Haha! So now I just planted all the seeds directly in the ground and hope that nature will just take it's course! As far as canning...I will have to look into this! Never thought about it! Thanks for the great question, Laura!

"Have your boobs shrunk as you've lost weight?"

...hehe. This is a funny one. Yes, they have. In fact, I went to get fitted for a new bra the other day and was actually quite embarrassed because apparently my current bra is way to big! I just didn't want to "downsize" until I got to my goal weight. Plus, I HATE bra shopping. But yes, they've probably gone down a cup size I'd say.

"Considering the risks that come with it, and your admirable endeavors to become healthy in all aspects of your life, I present a girly question: Do you take birth control? If not, was that decision related to your health?"

Yes, I use the NuvaRing for birth control. To be honest with you, I actually haven't even given a second thought to the health risks of BC until I read this question. It's funny how we can take care of ourselves and worry about our bodies in one aspect of our lives, but then completley ignore the others? Yes, it is important to do the research and understand what you are putting into your body. This is what my doctor recommended for me, but putting full faith in that without doing a little research myself is well...ignorant. Anyway, thanks for shining a light on that area and I will be doing some more research into this in the near future. Anyone else have thoughts?

And, kind of ironic, but the next question is:

"When are you going to have babies? :)"

NEVER!! Ok, not really. To be honest, I REALLY REALLY REALLY can't wait to have kids. Kellen and I have been talking about having babies since we started dating (at 16 and 17, scary, I know!). Anyway. It's funny, I really thought I would have kids when I was married for two years. July will be our third anniversary, so I'm a little late! LOL. Really, my ideas of having kids has really changed over the past couple of years. I know that you can never be totally financially "ready"- but this factor is still really impacting my decision. I want to be a stay at home mom for the first couple of years, and we just couldn't afford for me not to work right now with the bills we have. Also, the fact that I am really excited about finishing my degree at this point has helped get rid of that "baby fever" a bit! Honestly, in my opinion, I feel that God will tell us when it's time- either with a happy surprise or a conviction in our hearts to start trying.

Thanks for the questions everyone! If you have any more, shoot them into my formspring box on my sidebar!

Mosyin' On Outta a Two Day Funk

Ello Loves.

I have been a TAD mia from blogworld the last two days. Although I do have most of this week off from work, I've busied myself with some other tasks that are on my to do list (ie finishing painting the hallway I started back in December!). Anyway, I am not sure of what time of the month it is, but my body is telling me it's feasting week. This comes about 10 days before the blessed you know what and makes me want to eat everything in site- including scavenging for chocolate at any cost!

Needless to say, I have not been on track. No exercise and binge eating. Eh. Tomorrow I am going hiking with a friend and I'm hoping for some serious calorie burnage!!

I also have no lovely pictures for you all today :(
Can you blame me for not wanting to share my binge meals? Boy would that be entertaining!

I DO however have some formspring questions I will tackle today:

(This one is a couple of weeks old so I apologize for the delay!)

How did you get the 'who am i' 'whats up with the lettuce' and 'before.during.after.' tabs on your blog?? Thanks!!

This is actually quite simple. When you are on your blogger "dashboard" select "new post." Once you are at the posting screen, look at the top underneath the tabs. There should be an option called "edit pages." This will take you to a screen where you should be able to then add different pages to your blog! Good luck!

And another:

How do you cook your vegetables?

Realistically, I don't have to much variety at how I prepare my veggies. What I usually do is slice them to however I desire (asparagus in half, broccoli in florets, etc) and then I toss them in a ziploc bag. I add some olive oil and shake to properly coat them. Then I do one of two things:

1. Sautee them in a pan, usually on medium heat with a lid, watching closely (the key is to take them out almost before they looked "cooked"-then they will be soft but still have a bit of a "crunch")
or!
2. I roast them in the oven. I have no specific temp or length of time- it's really random. I just keep a close eye on them and take them out when they look ready! I always use some kind of seasoning (usually Johnny's) on them while I'm cooking them as well.

This method works for what I usually make: asparagus, zuchinni, yellow squash, broccoli, brussel sprouts, even carrots. Other veggies I just eat fresh (like tomatoes and spinach) That was a great question, thank you!

I do have one last thing to say to you all AND a picture (I lied!) hehe. You know how I posted that pic of my dog licking the PB jar last week? Well she took that thing with her wherever she went afterwards....it was kind of hilarious! Here she is at her favorite spot by the window with her beat up PB jar:
Tommorow I will be wrapping up and reviewing the month of March, as well as setting some new goals for the month of April! Stay tuned!

The Boy :0)

Oh my love- the hubby. I could probably write an entire book on the aspects of our relationship, our story, and every other little detail. But alas, I do have a life.

It seems that many of you are little relationship prodders...haha! Totally kidding-- that is what my little formspring box is there for, so ask away! (I may regret that challenge...)

"Do you and your husband eat the same things for meals?"

As I am writing this post, my love is consuming a bowl of cheerios as a post dinner snack. So there ya have it.

Yes, we really do. There are not TOO many things I have ventured into eating that he is opposed to. However, he does eat about 3X the amount I do. (no exaggeration)

The only thing he is really not to into is my "lower cal replacement" items- things like egg whites, turkey bacon, etc. So for those kinds of things I usually have the regular items on hand for him. I have heard minimal complaining about switching to ground turkey, but he HAS brought up that he thinks ground beef has more flavor, and prefers it.

The funny thing is, he eats a LOT of food- but he's not unhealthy. He is in construction and God really only knows how many calories that man burns a day (it's got to be A LOT). So he eats a lot to make up for that. I don't buy junk food, so he doesn't eat it!

And actually...he's losing weight. If you followed me last month you would know that he has lost about 15 pounds since I started my healthy journey. I was excited that I finally passed him and weighed in less than him in February....the scary thing is...he's starting to catch up to me again! AH!

"do you feel sexier now that you weigh less"

Not really. I know it's strange to say, but I never let being overweight affect the way I felt in that "arena" of my life. And the hubby definitely helps. Let's just say....he likes me a lot....at any weight!

I haven't gotten to the point where I really, truly FEEL much skinnier. I know that I look different, but I still feel very similar to what I weighed at the beginning. This is just me, and what 27.5lbs lost feels on MY body- on someone else it might be extremely different.

"how does your boy toy feel about this weight loss journey of yours"

In order to answer this question you must first understand my husband's personality. And sadly, I really don't think I can do a very good job of communicating that with you all (minus my two readers that actually know him!).

Kellen is a goofy guy. He just doesn't take a whole lot seriously. He's definitely the typical jock, "class clown" of every group, football-loving, beer drinking, manly man.

That being said, he is supportive...in his own way. At first I am pretty sure he didn't really know what to think. I have attempted to "lose weight" several times while we've been together, and failed...a lot. So I think in a way he's almost been "scared" to say anything on the subject...possibly because I've bitten his head off in the past for voicing his opinion on it (whoops!).

That being said, he stayed fairly quiet, for a long time. In the past two months he's talked about it a lot more. He's expressed how proud he is of me several times and tells me that I look great. But I still think he sometimes feels he's walking that "thin line" and therefore avoids the subject altogether for the most part!

Hope that answers those questions for the most part. I love him so very much and thank you all for providing the opportunity for me to blab about my favorite person :)

Let's Talk

Warning: this post is going to be a bunch of random jabber. If you attempt to read all of it, I applaud and thank you for being such a loyal follower.

Hello all! Today I ran another 3 miles with Chloe. I have a couple of random things to spout about on this subject:

1. I am finding that eating 1 hour before I run is working wonders. I no longer feel nauseous and I also feel it is giving me a bit more energy than I had before.

2. I have been having a major side ache on my right side. I think this may be because I hold Chloe's leash on this side, and she likes to pull on it everytime she sees another dog, person, small animal, etc. I'm hoping this side ache will not pop up for my race on Sunday seeing as she will not be with me.

3. I am REALLY NERVOUS for Sunday (race day), because 3 miles feels like such a struggle for me at this point- and the race is 3.75. I want to be able to say I ran the whole thing- that has been my goal this whole time I've been training. But I am really nervous that I might not make it. :(

Happy thought: I no longer have things in my closet that don't fit. You know how amazing it is to reach into my closet, pull something out, and to just KNOW it won't be too small? It feels so rewarding.

I have now sent in an initial application to a school to become a Registered Dietitian. However, I have almost no science credits so I will have to start looking into taking some more courses through my local community college to get caught up so I can fulfill the program prerequisites.

If you are reading this and know of someone, or you yourself are, involved in the nutrition field and may be willing to talk to me more about it via e-mail, I would love to talk to someone!

I did receive several more formspring questions that I will be answering in the next couple of days. Oddly enough, a lot of them had to do with mine and my hubby's relationship! haha. I think I will be devoting a whole post to this aspect of my life and what his thoughts are on this whole "lifestyle change" I've adopted the last four months.

I will however, target one "non relationship" question I got yesterday:

"how do you deal with the PMS-related cravings? (for me, chocolate, salt, and general sluggishness..."

If I am going to be truthfully and brutally honest hear.... not very well! I am definitely still learning how to cope with these things. For the last four months if my body was craving something, PMS related or not, I've just given it what it wants. The only thing I've changed is trying to find a lower calorie replacement. So instead of eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream, I might have a cup of sugar free hot coco instead.

This technique has definitely helped me "coast through" my first 25 pounds- and will probably be my technique until I reach my first weight goal of 40 pounds lost. However, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I am thinking about adapting and changing some of these things (and probably kicking aspertame to the curb is going to be one of my first orders of business...which means saying goodbye to a lot of my "lower calorie" replacements).

So there ya go. That's been my technique...but we are all forever changing and adapting on this journey, and so will I!

As far as "sluggishness"- I exercise when I feel like it. I know, you are probably thinking when does anyone ever "feel" like it? Basically to me that means if there is nothing drastically wrong with me (i.e. I feel nauseous/crampy, exhausted, or really ill) I just kick my butt out the door.

Oh yeah, and having a Siberian husky helps A LOT! No joke.
You just can't say no to this face.

That's it for today!

The Spaghetti Squash Murderer....

Last night was my first attempt at making spaghetti squash.
At first I was very angry with the squash for being so difficult. I had to get my anger out....

Next I told it that we would need to scrape it's guts out. It was a bit hesitant but I threatened it with more yelling and it obliged.The guts were kinda gross. But I got over it.Plus, the seeds were rather friendly.Into the oven it goes:And soon to be into the tummy...
Review: Umm...I think maybe I didn't bake it long enough? It was kinda crunchy. But still good! And A healthier option to pasta! I may have possibly made up for those carbs with a couple more slices of bread... :)

and btw...i burnt the seeds...oddly the smiley face came out as a sad one....

On to a more "serious" topic....

Not sure if you all noticed my little formspring box on the right here>>>
You can ask me anonymous questions here and I just might answer on my blog!

Well apparently two people have asked me a question...WAHOO!

First Question:

"how do you stay motivated? i find myself so lazy at times"

Wow. Motivation. I honestly sat in bed thinking about this question for a couple of hours last night. I hate to sound cliche to the "weight loss blog world" and I'm sure you've heard this before, but here is my full and honest truthful answer:

I stay motivated because I know this is not a short term thing. This is an entire lifestyle change that I intend to use for the rest of my life. When I think of it that way, I don't beat myself up for splurging on anything. In fact, I rarely feel guilty for indulging in "non diet" food. (If you have been a follower of mine for let's say...longer than 2 days... you will know that!). In the past when I tried to lose weight, I would fall "off the wagon" as soon as I made one mistake.

My motivation is the fact that I want to be able to say to myself, my family, and my friends that I truly do lead a "healthy life." Weight loss is just an advantage of that.

I don't eat "healthy" things 100% percent of the time. But I do recognize that each snack or meal is a NEW chance to make a healthy decision.

There are a lot of other things that keep me "motivated"- to look hot in a bikini, to have a healthy pregnancy (when that time comes), to feel confident in my own skin. But to me, these are all results of a decision to live a healthy and active lifestyle.

Hope that makes sense to someone?!?!

Second Question:

Why are you so cute?

Aw. That was a nice one. I think my cuteness comes from the ability to completely and utterly embarrass myself (hence the previous squash pictures). Seriously, you should try it sometime!

Ask me more questions through my formspring box and I may answer in a future post!

Also, thank you so much to everyone who helped with my "what to eat pre-run" inquiry. The resolution was so very simple that I even embarrassed to admit it: don't eat right before your run!! (or not at all) So I am now making more of an effort to eat about 1-1.5 hours before I head out. It has worked thus far! :)