Clean Eating - Not a miracle diet.

I have to say that so far the Clean Eating thing is a mixed bag, some days are awesome and others are not so much.

Friday for example, I ate clean all week, sweat my ass off, then I jumped on the scale. Bad idea. 

I gained a freaking pound, are you serious???? In what universe do you stuff your face with veggies and gain a pound?

In mine.

So what did I do? I did what any former fat girl would do, I skipped my workout and ate a {delicious} burger AND fries for dinner.

Then weighed myself the next day.

WTF is wrong with me?? I gained 5 pounds from that burger. Ok, so it was mostly sodium but still. Old habits sure die hard around here!

I was pissed, at who or what I’m not sure, just the universe in general.

BUT like any former fat girl who lost over a 100 pounds I picked myself up and shoved a zucchini in my mouth.  

And I lost the 5 plus 1 more today, putting me at 149.  
I think I may have to skip the cheat meals on the weekends, I would say Jackie Warner is full of bs about having 2 cheat meals, but my husband {the lucky SOB} ate awful over the weekend {and great during the week} and is the lowest he has ever been. I guess it works for some people. 

I wanted to share some of my favorite new ‘clean’ ish recipes with you, trying out new things has been good for my palate, I think I was a little burned out on my regular go to recipes.

I think I tried goat cheese in the past and didn't like it, but I saw this recipe in the CE book and thought I'd give it a go. Soooo glad I did, I could eat this everyday!

1 zucchini sliced and grilled

Mix basil, parsley, goat cheese, a little lemon juice and salt and pepper .

You are supposed to roll them up, but that seemed like extra work, I just threw it on and gobbled it up.

I think the lemon juice makes the goat cheese better.

This next one is a weekly staple.

I know the picture isn't great, but it sure is yummy!

Sweet Potato Chili { I added ground turkey to it}

I've come around to regular oatmeal, I kinda miss the flavored ones, but I saw this link on Pinerest and I'm going to try some out.

This one is so easy I love it! Just chicken, red potatoes and green beans, throw some Italian seasoning {the packet from the dressing aisle} on it and cover with foil. Bake a 350 for an hour.

I've had a few flops, one being the stuffed bell peppers, so if you've tried one and loved it send it my way! Mine was just too blah.

Race season is coming up, I have a 10k and a half I'm doing and I'm wanting to put little Miss in a 1k so I'm taking her out for her training runs :)

What are your favorite clean recipes? Send them my way!

Happy Hump Day!

Random post about laying eggs and clothes.

Dealing with infertility is frustrating not only because you can't get knocked up, but as I've come to learn, you can't get a definite answer to just about anything.

I blame Google. 

With way too much available information on the web it's easy to self diagnose.

Which makes me frustrated with the Dr. I feel like she's not listening to me or taking into account what I think I know.

She doesn't care that I'm charting, 'It's not reliable.'

I feel like she's taking her sweet time 'seeing what happens' and I'm feeling like 'Let's get this freaking show on the road already.'

Last month we did a regular girly checkup and tested my blood levels, which all came back normal.

This month she wanted to do a Day 21 test, which means that they check your hormone levels on your peak day {which would be 7 days past the day you ovulated}.

Only thing is I never ovulated on day 14 like you 'should', which I told her but she didn't seem to think this was a problem.

So I came in for the test, knowing I hadn't ovulated yet and when I had my sonogram done the tech said I was about to lay an egg. {ok, my words not hers}

Then she wanted to check my kidneys and spleen, more bad news.

She saw some mass {about 5 inches} on my left side between my kidney and stomach and because it's outside their area of expertise I have to go and have a CT scan done.

She did say it didn't look like a tumor, so hopefully that means I'm not dying.

She took MORE blood work because apparently just because the tech said I was about to ovulate didn't mean that I hadn't already.

Ummmmm ok? Let's just waste another month waiting for the same blood work we took last month!

I've been seeing this Dr for years and I really like HER, but this is the first time I've had any type of issue and honestly maybe I just don't know how the process works.

Most likely I'm just impatient. It's been known to happen :)

During this process I've gone from being hopeful, to angry, to indifferent.

I've stopped obsessing over every single sign my body gives and focused on more important things.

Like shopping.

I've been a clothes buying fool lately.

They make me feel better, but I need to learn to take off price tags before my husband starts asking questions.

Him:  'Ummm how much was this dress??'

Me: 'Well it wasn't 84 dollars if that makes you feel better.'

Life is smoother when he doesn't ask questons :) I look cute and that's all that really matters, right honey??

I loooove this pink jacket {Charlotte Russe} It has ruches arms and lace on the side, plus it's my all time favorite color :)

I bought a few pairs of new jeans, but I swear every pair is made for a person who is at least 5'8.

I have to cuff them until I get a chance to go to the tailors and get them hemmed.

I fluffy heart love this top {JLO at Kohls}, even better with the cute necklace I stole from my sister.

Happy Monday!

Shabby Bookshelf

First off, you guys are amazing! Thank you, thank you for sharing all your great ideas for getting Miss M to eat healthier with me!! I'm pumped to try out the Deceptively Delicious Cookbook and some of the other suggestions you guys gave!

Now, I'm changing gears to share something non weight related because I have ADD like that :)


 To the dismay of my husband, I did find room for MORE furniture in our house.

I was driving out of the neighborhood and someone was having a garage sale, I saw furniture and had to stop. 

I never stop unless I see big stuff, too many garage sales around me are full of crap.

My handy man across the street put on a new back and added a new shelf.  The previous owners used it for a tv stand by cutting holes in the back.

I mixed up my own chalk paint after spending weeks deciding what color to use, finally I just thought why not do a few?

I gave her a base coat of white, then my homemade chalk paint, and finished with a good sanding.

She just happened to fit perfectly on a small wall in my dining room.

I just realized that there is Miss M's watercolor paint on the front of the bottom tin.
Ah, so is life with kids.

I'm a sucker for a turned leg.

I bought this for 5 bucks at an antique shop having no clue what to do with it.
Turns out it's a book holder :)

I think I want to change the star and frame above it, but haven't found the perfect thing yet because of the light switch there I have a hard time finding the perfect size picture.

Happy Wednesday!

Miss M and Clean Eating

As a Mother I never want to push my own issues on to my children. 

Lately, with my 3 year old, I'm struggling with that. 

As a child I think I was pretty normal, I was active, I don't remember eating a lot of junk, I was not overweight.

I may even resemble my own child, maybe?? It gets a little old when every one's all like 'ohhhh she looks JUST LIKE Oliver" :)

Over the summer I've noticed that Miss M has gained around 5 pounds. I don't weigh her at home, but occasionally she will step on the scale and weigh herself {and then cheers about it? I don't know where she gets that because I certainly don't cheer afterwards!}

At her 3 year check up she was in the 95% percentile for weight and height, her Dr was slightly concerned but said that kids usually start thinning out around 4 or 5.

That didn't stop me from being concerned. I started this healthily journey after I had Miss M not only for myself, but for her. 

I don't want her to struggle.

I want to be a good example for her.

Things have been slipping, she's getting picky and demanding to only eat what she wants to eat.

I give into her too much. I'm not perfect and I have very little patience especially at the end of a long day of being a Mom.

I dont' know how to MAKE her eat what I want her to eat, she'll just not eat at all. 

*warning another super embarrassing picture!

This is me at 14. We had just moved from Ohio to Texas, I was a bratty teenager and I was very unhappy. I ate my feelings, usually with a pan full of brownies.

I vividly remember being depressed about how I looked, my teenage years were not fun, for me or my family.

I want to spare my daughter this pain, so it needs to start now, which is why I've thrown away not only my junk, but hers too.

No more snacks of Cheez it's.

No more waffles for breakfast.

No more chips.

I tried to get her excited about a smoothie, even letting her run the blender, but she drank like 4 sips.

Patience and persistence.

It takes time to build new habits.

What things do you guys use to keep your kids healthy?

And just because she's adorable.....

Happy Tuesday!

Clean Eating {the beginning}

A shot of my last ice cream treat for the summer!

I finished reading This is Why your Fat on the road trip home and after eating out for 9 days straight I was SOOOO ready to throw away the crap and jump on the clean eating bandwagon.

For the last several months I've been plateaued at 150 pounds. I've tried exercising more, eating within certain calorie ranges {1300-1700}, exercising less, nothing. Stuck.

I've heard good things about eating clean, but honestly it sounded like a freaking ton of work and not something I could work in to my life easily.
Ok, maybe I was just being lazy.

Maybe it was time to change WHAT I put into my body not just how much.

Now, that being said I can't guarantee I will be 100% every single day. This is real life, sometimes things happen, you can't make it to the grocery store right that second, or you are starving and not a home and are forced to make the best choice by eating out.

I would say the most important aspect of this lifestyle is being prepared. School starts in a week and some days I will be gone from 730am until 7 pm, so I need to plan ahead.

In her book she lays out a 2 week 'getting on board' plan where you eat like you were before, but add in a few things each day.

2 eggs

1 cup of {plain} oatmeal

2 cups of detox veggies

   {artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collard greens, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, garlic, green beans, kale, lettuce (all varieties), mushrooms, mustard greens, onions, parsley, peppers (all varieties), radishes, scallions, spinach, summer squash, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnip greens, watercress, yellow wax beans, and zucchini.}

2 servings of fruit

Lots of water with lemon juice

Whey protein shake

Herbal Tea at night {so you don't snack}

After that you start her 5+2 plan, basically you eat clean for 5 days and you can have 2 'treat' meals on the weekends as long as they are not more that 1500 calories each. She claims that by eating clean for those 5 days the treat meals won't cause you to gain weight because your body is processing food more efficiently.

I decided to forgo the 2 week thing and jump right into the good stuff.
I'm telling you, I'm just ready and motivated to feel better and see the scale move somewhere!

Friday I got to work by cleaning out the pantry and fridge of all the 'bad' foods.

Don't judge me on how messy my pantry is :)

No food should have more than 5g of sugar per serving,  which is basically everything processed.

I had lots of decent food that I didn't want to waste, so I packed it all up and 'donated' it to my poor college brother who never has decent food in his house :)

Bye bye to sugar filled protein bars.

I made a list of recipes out of her book, I tried to pick ones that didn't have a long list of ingredients.  I can tell you I spent 200 bucks on groceries for 2.5 people for a week.

I may have to call BS on her claim that it's cheaper to eat clean.

In fact I may have to take out a second mortgage since my grocery bill is higher than our house payment.

I even listed snacks to eat because I will walk in the kitchen, stand in the fridge and think, ugh there is nothing to eat! By having a list I can see my options and make a choice without stressing.

I will probably have to stick with listing out things for a while until it becomes easier and I know which recipes I like and what to buy from the store.

The first 2 days I craved sugar like no one's business, but today I'm craving healthy food and my energy is up.

I'm feeling pretty damn good.

More to come.....

Happy Monday!

Random awesomeness from Michigan.

One of the best side effects of getting healthy {and putting it all over the Internet via blogger and Facebook} is motivating others to do the same.

Both my Aunt, Uncle,  husband, and Dad have all lost weight and taken up running.

We we heard they were having a 5k down the road from where we are staying we were all pumped to run our first family run together.

My main goal was to beat my Uncle T {in the green shirt}, what can I say I'm competitive!

He's got a good 6 inches on me and I know he can run faster than me, but I didn't let that stop me from whooping him by a good 45 seconds :)

In fact I ran a new PR, 26:25!

My husband didn't run the race, he didn't have his running gear, but we did squeeze in an Insanity workout together.

That shit was hard. I was sweating my ass off the entire 40 minutes.

Other than working out, the girls have been shopping. 

I found the cutest mirror in a barn off the side of the road for 10 bucks.

I have no clue where to put it, but it was too darling to pass up :)

We hit the beach yesterday.  The weather was nice, but the water chilly. 

I had to do a little motivating to get my cute cousin in the water.

The men went fishing, my husband caught his dinner.

I hope he knows he has to finish it off here, we will NOT be transporting fish back to Dallas on Wednesday.

Hitting up some more antique stores along the lake today, hoping to find some good deals. 

Like this awesome deer head.

I really wanted her, so I could do this....

I know it's a little freaky right?

Happy Monday!

Road Trippin'

I barely survived the 16 hour road trip from Dallas to Michigan.

The first 5 hours I was denied any type of beverage or potty break.

My husband is a pro car tripper, once driving 24 hours {each way!} instead of flying for work.

I, on the other hand, would rather fly, but the last few times I've flown with Miss M it was a nightmare of delayed flights and a very long day.

Driving sounded like fun, jamming in the car to LMAFO, stopping whenever we wanted....

My husband has a hard time just stopping for no reason.

I had to take over the drivers seat {I'm kinda a control freak.} Plus he drives too slow.

Until I got mad dogged by the cops in a construction zone for pushing the speed limit. 

Miss M was pretty good the first day, about 10 hours of driving.

Probably because she thought we were 'almost there' the entire time.

The second day was not as good, 6 hours of whining almost did me in.

We finally made it to Lake Michigan!

I got up this morning to run and I thought I was in the twilight zone.

It was 67 degrees outside!! 

No, Miss M didn't run the 7 miles with me, she just likes to chase me in :)

Honestly I didn't feel that sweaty, apparently my ass was though!

I plan to fully enjoy this weather before I head back to 100+ temps next week.

Oh and I'm reading the most awesome book, This is why your Fat.

I'm so motivated to try clean eating after reading just half this book, I can't wait to finish the other half and make the switch when I get back!

I've already warned the Hubs, he better just get on board :)

Happy Thursday!

Being the Favorite!

When you grow up in a family of 4 kids, you really have to step up your game to take the 'favorite' spot.

I'm pretty sure I sealed my fate in that position by throwing my Mom a Surprise 50th Birthday Party!

This is my lovely Mother. She is pretty awesome.

I threw her party at Gather in McKinney, TX, which I highly recommend even if your just looking for a cute place to have lunch.

Their decor is stunning, brick walls, chandeliers, the most darling dishes. 

Even the bathrooms were amazing, I made sure everyone used it before they left because they were just fantastic! 

Me, Mom, and my younger sister Katie.

We played birthday girl Bingo, using vintage buttons to mark the spots.

The cake is from Bliss Cupcakes in Allen, TX, is was AH-MAZING.  

You need to stop by and try their cupcakes. OHHHHHHHHH yummmmmm!

I love them so much because their frosting is not too sweet, nothing worse than a toothache when your enjoying a small treat :)

Plus their prices are great!

For food I opted for the tea service, which is a sampling of all their delish food served on cute treys.

One day, when I don't have small children destroying things, I want a set of these Royal Albert dishes. 

So beautiful.

Now, it was SO HARD to keep this party a secret, for one because I talk to my Mom several times a day and tell her everything.

The ruse to get her there and dressed up was that we were taking family pictures as her birthday present.

Well, then she went and started buying new outfits for everyone in the family to wear so I decided I better hire a photographer to actually come do photos after the party.

With such a large family, it's quite a task to get everyone in the same spot at the same time. 

Unfortunately, once my youngest brother showed up my sister had to leave for work.

We still ended up with some great shots.

Photo's by a good friend of mine, Bebe's Photography.

I adore this picture, Miss Madison's true colors are showing!

Oh and did I mention that it was my 5 year wedding anniversary?

Of course I would get married on my Mom's birthday!

My dress is from Dillards {One World Collection} clearances for 23 bucks.

I'm telling ya, there are some good sales going on right now!

Here's a snippet from the big day.

My new husband decided it would be a good idea to chase me around the reception and throw me to the floor while shoving cake in my face.

Good thing he's cute.

Happy Monday!