New Training Program AND My Baby Niece turns ONE!!!

So, since my first official run... I am addicted!!! I'm starting a training program for a half marathon! I will start tonight... I tried to start last week, but it was cut short after our trip to Tennessee and the SNOW! Anyway... I'm going to run my short 4 mile run tonight.

On another note, we went out of town this weekend to celebrate my nieces first birthday. I know there are a lot of 1st birthdays, but this one was VERY SPECIAL! My sister's water broke when she was only 22 weeks pregnant, she delivered MaKenzie at 29 weeks, she weighed 3lbs. 4oz. Today... she is one year old and a CHUNK!!! God is so good and we are so thankful to him for letting us have her in our family! Also, she has NO problems at all that you might expect with such an early birth! A MIRACLE BABY!!!

Completed my first 5K!!!

Wow, it's been forever since I've been on here! I'm sorry, I will try to post more often. Life sometimes just gets busy. Last week was 3 birthdays in my house, so I've been in party planning mode for some time! My husband and I had a birthday on Wednesday and our daughter turned 6 on Saturday. I'm not 28 years old, woohoo! Anyway, back to the post. I ran my first 5K on Saturday morning. I was joined by my husband, brother in law and my cousin. It was sooo cold and raining. Everything was frozen over, brrr. It was 33 degrees when we ran! My time was 28min. 44sec. I was very happy with this time. I usually run it much faster, but I'm usually not running outside in that weather! I was very proud considering that only 6 months ago I was 155 pounds and could barely walk 3.1miles without huffing and puffing! My husband finished in 32min. 14sec., this was an awesome victory for him as well. I was so proud of all of them out there with me that morning! We had a blast!!! Can't wait for the next run. We are doing another run in March, I'm going to train for the 10K this time!!! Set goals!!!

Quick Reflection

Disney World Pictures from Thanksgiving 2009 Trip!

So my mom posted something on her facebook last night and it made me start thinking. She was talking about how much she loves life and how your life can be as GREAT as you make it! She has a point here. She also mentioned that you are the one to decide how your life will be. This is very true. So, as I was running last night on the treadmill, I was thinking about what she said. Here is what I took from it...

Your happiness is not measured by how much weight you lose or how much debt you pay off, how much money you make or the size house you live in. It doesn't make you happier if you drive a fancy new car or have top notch decorations in your home... happiness is so much deeper and simpler than all that! I didn't lose weight and all of a sudden realize I was happy... it was a process. I had to look at all the things that made me happy and work from there. For example... I have a wonderful family, 3 healthy children and an awesome husband! I started there and worked around that. I want to be healthy so I can teach my children how to be healthy too, I want to live as long as I can so I can watch my children grow up and become adults! I want to have a life with my husband AFTER he retires like I do now! I don't want to get the kids off to college and realize we can't do all the things we planned because we are too out of shape or have too much debt and not enough income! So, I MADE A CHANGE! I am a very happy person, my life rocks, however, that doesn't mean that everything goes perfect all the time... because it doesn't! Life is a roller coaster, you have to learn to take the bad with the good. The journey is way more fun than the end result!

I hope that all of you will take the plunge too, it's sooo much fun! JUST LIVE!!!

Weight Check after Christmas!

A picture of Carson and I on Christmas Eve... he was so tired!!!

Well... I weighed in and after Christmas and New Years and 10 days away from home... I'm now 120 pounds!!!

I'm so excited, because I haven't been this small since I started college! The best thing is I'm losing weight now by being athletic, which is totally different! I feel GREAT and my tummy is shrinking! YAY!

I'm going to put some before and afters on here of my husband too... his transformation is amazing! Stay tuned... kids go back to school tomorrow so I'll have a little more free time to write on here!

Out of town for 10 DAYS!!! HOME!

Well, I did it... I survived Christmas and New Years without eating everything in sight!!! Usually the holidays are pretty rough, because all the goodies just sitting out asking for you to eat them, but I resisted! I stopped myself from eating a hundred smores, but I did have ONE last night and it was sooo yummy! Probably better since I held off so long! Anyway, I have not weighed myself yet to see what change I have in 10 days! I've been eating well and running so we will see find out...

On the financial front... everything is looking well. We have been paying off our debt with the Dave Ramsey snow ball. We made a payment on the 31st to put our current credit card balance under $2000! It may not sound like a big deal, but we have managed to pay off more than $14,000 just like this since March 1st. I need to get busy listing some more things on ebay now that the holiday are past and life is slowing back to normal.

My food and New Running Shoes!

What do I Eat?

This is the question that I have been asked the MOST!!!

I've decided to sit down and right down what I personally eat every day. This does not mean that it will be the perfect thing for you, but it has worked well for me! I will also let you know what my husband eats, because we have different schedules that allow for different meals for breakfast and lunch.

BREAKFAST:

My typical breakfast is a Zone Bar. I know it sounds like not much, but it really keeps me full!

Total Fat per bar: 6grams

Calories: 190

You can also add a small glass of skim milk if you would like.

My husband has a little more time than I do in the morning so he makes oatmeal or steal cut oats. NOT the instant oatmeal... that stuff has way too much sugar. He adds cinnamon and bananas or raisons. Decide what works better for you and pick something that you will stick with! For me, I do not have time to cook anything in the morning because I'm busy running to the bus stop and carpool!

LUNCH:

My typical lunch is a black bean burger by Morning star and a serving of BAKED chips.

Total Fat: 10grams... 7 grams (burger), 3grams (chips)

I also look around for good veggie burgers and salmon burgers to use to change it up.

My husband is out of the house during lunch time, so he either takes his lunch to work or eats at Subway.

If he takes his lunch, he takes a wrap. That is a whole wheat wrap with a sliced turkey and FAT FREE cheese, with a side of baked chips.

At Subway you have tons of options. He usually picks a turkey sub, 6 inch, flatbread or whole wheat bread. Load on the veggies, NO CHEESE!!! ABSOLUTELY NO MAYO!!!

My personal Subway order is...Veggie sub on flat bread. I load it up with all the veggies that I like and add sweet onion sauce! It's so yummy, I can't believe I didn't eat it years ago! Subway always has BAKED chips too! Yay for Subway, they are great!

SNACK:

Around 3:00pm I eat a snack. Usually I will have half of a zone bar.

Total Fat: 3grams

If you are exercising before this, you may to have the entire bar!

My husband has yogurt. Probiotic yogurt, NOT sugar flavored! PLAIN YOGURT! Check the fat, make sure it's low. He adds blueberries or any fruit on it. This is totally up to you, however DO NOT SKIP THIS!! It will help keep you full until dinner and it will keep you from stuffing your face at 6pm!!!

DINNER:

We do a lot of fresh veggies on the stove, very little oil! We will put it on whole wheat tortillas. Another typical dinner for us is the black bean burgers cooked and smashed up, add fat free cheese (melt it on your burger in a bowl) put on a whole wheat tortilla and add salsa. If you eat meat, stick to lean meat! Chicken can me baked or grilled, just cut off all the fat before you cook it! Eat lots of veggies and even fruit if you like it! The more good stuff you eat the less bad stuff you will crave!

NIGHT SNACK:

I run at night because that's the only time I can with my kids! After I run I have a zone bar for energy and carbs! It's also a great idea to have half of a banana before you exercise because it gives you energy for your workout.

DO NOT MUNCH ON SNACKS LATE AT NIGHT!!!

stick to a healthy low fat night snack, but that's it! I have mine around 8, because thats when I'm done running. I would recomend eating a snack around 7 or 7:30!

Remember I'm not a nutritionist, so please don't think that I am!!! I'm simply a mom who was tired of being FAT!!! I hope this helps! If you feel like you need more, don't starve your body, it knows what it needs!!! Please feel free to ask any questions!

Alright, so I bought a new pair of running shoes... woohoo!!! I did run in the ones I had, but once I started running 3 miles a day, I thought it was worthy of buying new ones! I picked a pair of Nike Vomero 4's. I read so many reviews online that I thought I was going to go crazy. I narrowed it down between the Nike Vomero 4s and the Nike LunarGlides. Both were awesome, but these happened to be the ones I found in my size in the better color. You really can't go wrong with either!

Transformation... Part 2!

So here is a current picture, I am sorry it's not that great! I will add a better one soon! I am out of town and I didn't want to make you wait until I got home for an update!

I am wearing a size 2/4 jeans and weighing in at 122 pounds!

I am thrilled to say the least! I love my newly found body and I'm still working to tone the areas that need it. I have had 3 c-sections so I have a way to go to rebuild the muscle in my tummy.

This picture was taken a few days ago. I put on my size 10 shorts that I was wearing on our beach trip this summer (pics on Part 1 post).

I am still eating the same amount of fat in my diet. I maintain less than 15grams per meal. There is NO REASON to eat more than that!

Recently I have added running to my daily routine. I never thought I would enjoy running, but it is very relaxing and peaceful to me. I would like to eventually run a marathon (hence the blog site name). For now, I'm focusing on a 5K run at the end of January. I just started running a few weeks ago, so I will continue to update you on the progress of that.

I will say, the first run I did was NOT GOOD! After about 2 minutes of running I thought I was going to DIE! Seriously, I had to tell myself that it will get better... and it has. The first time I ran one mile I was so excited I could almost cry. I never thought I would be able to do that. I am currently running 3.1 miles about 5-6 times a week. I do see changes in my body from running. I see my belly shrinking above my scar. This is exciting for me!!! I hope you are inspired my story and start your own. It is the BEST thing you can do for yourself and your family! Please leave comments and let me know if you are also in your own journey. Together we can help others and encourage ourselves to continue when the tough times come!

Thanks everyone, hope you all had a great Christmas!!!