Mission baby fat loss - day three

DAY THREE
Weight this morning:
152 (after workout and drinking one large glass of water)

Exercise:
I woke up at 5 am today and I did the 20 minute turbo jam AGAIN. Woohoo! Am dragging some because I actually woke up around 4:30 and couldn't fall back asleep.

Ate/drank:
1 bagel thin with 1.5 tbsp cream cheese
1 small apple
8 oz Coke
1 Fiber One oats and chocolate bar
1 small apple
1 mean cuisine chicken, artichoke and spinach panini (worth every one of the 310 calories!)
12 oz Coke
1 dove chocolate
1 tbsp peanuts
100 calorie bag of popcorn
Chicken taco salad (minus the taco!) with lime dressing and sour cream
1 serving of everything crackers
3 glasses of Chianti (had to finish the bottle!)

Yahoos:
I'm proud of myself for only 1 glass of wine last night. Usually it's a 2 glass minimum :) Woohoo the scale budged! I'm sure it's because I drank less water though. I guess we'll see!

Yikes:
3 glasses of wine *shakes head*. Well it seemed like a great idea at the time. At least wine is good for you, right?

Mission baby fat loss - day two

Thanks to everyone for your support yesterday. I definitely want to lose more then the 6 pounds. I was up about 8 pounds prior to pregnancy so my ultimate goal is somewhere between 135-140. I've been able to maintain that weight before so I know it's realistic (even though I'd love to weigh 125).

DAY TWO
Weight this morning:
153 (after workout and drinking two large glasses of water)

Exercise:
I woke up at 5 am today and I did the 20 minute turbo jam AGAIN. Woohoo! I wasn't as exhausted after the workout today as I was yesterday either.

Ate/drank:
Bowl of oatmeal
8 oz Coke
1 small apple
1 tbsp peanuts
1 mean cuisine roasted veggie pizza (totally tasteless BTW and not worth the 340 calories. It was all crust).
1 chocolate pudding cup
6 mini-carrots
1 tbsp peanut butter + 1 serving of whole wheat pretzels (6 mini rods)
cheese (about 8 oz each muenster and sharp cheddar) & crackers (about 2 servings of wheat thins)
1 glass chianti

Yahoos:
Despite my arms being sore and my bed being comfy, I still rolled out of it and laced up my sneakers. 2nd night with ice cream in the house and I didn't touch it! Go me!

Yikes:
I really could have chosen a wiser dinner then wine, cheese and crackers, but oh well :)

Mission baby fat loss - day one

So it's been a year and the baby weight isn't gone. A year and 2 weeks actually. I lost all but 6 pounds within a week or two of delivery and have basically maintained that weight. I did get sick and got as close to 2 pounds away from pre-pregnancy weight, but now I'm back up. I am terribly out of shape. I have gotten used to this enormous appetite that pregnancy and breastfeeding has given me and now that I stopped breastfeeding, the pounds are actually going up.

So starting today, I will watch what I eat and I am committed to trying to exercise during the week. I know this is probably of no interest to anyone, but I'm going to journal it here because I think I will make wiser choices and not opt for that doughnut or slice of cake in the breakroom if I have to record it somewhere. And I do not want to start a separate blog for this. So I'll record stuff here throughout the day and hopefully hold myself accountable and hopefully not bore any readers I have to tears.

DAY ONE
Weight this morning:
153 (after workout and drinking two large glasses of water)

Exercise:
I woke up at 5 am today and I actually did the 20 minute turbo jam. I'm patting myself on the back for that one.

Eaten/drank:
1 whole grapefruit
8 oz Coke
1 Bagel Thin with about 1.5 tbsp cream cheese
1 Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar
12 oz Coke
2 cups veggie rice casserole (see below)
5 mini carrots
handful of peanuts
2 smallish bean and cheese burritos with green sauce and sour cream

Yahoos:
I declined the crueller offered by my coworker and have resisted the bowl of candy outside of my cubicle all morning. Did I mention I woke up at 5 AM to work out? Oh and I stretched TOO!

Yikes:
2 glasses of coke? Totally unnecessary.

Impromptu Veggie Rice Casserole
While cooking 1 cup of dry wild rice in a separate pot. I sauteed some celery, onions and carrots in a little canola oil until soft in a medium saucepan. I added 2 tbsp of oil to that and 2 tbsp of flour and cooked over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Next I added in about a cup and a half of milk (any variety of milk works) and cooked another 10 minutes to make a basic white sauce. I added in a frozen bag of corn and stirred and removed from heat. I seasoned to taste with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Once cooled, I cracked and mixed in 2 eggs. I microwaved fresh cauliflower and broccoli (about 4-5 cups) for 2.5 minutes to soften a little and mixed into the pot of veggies. When the rice was done, I mixed that in too. I preheated the oven to 400. I poured my soupy mixture of veggies and rice in a 2 quart casserole dish and baked it until the eggs were set (about 35 minutes). I topped with about a cup of shredded sharp cheddar and returned to oven. I turned the broiler on and cooked until cheese was melted and bubbly. All in all, not too bad on the calorie intake. A cup of cheese to 5-6 entree servings and minimal oil used.

You know you're a parent when...

You don't honk or yell when you get cut off by another driver so badly, that you have to slam on your brakes. Why? Because you don't dare wake the newly sleeping child in the backseat.

Talk about feeling conflicted.

My favorite Irish Soda Bread recipe

Make this tonight and devour it tomorrow with some corned beef and cabbage. This is the easiest bread ever. If you don't have buttermilk, you can sub regular milk. Just measure out the 2 cups and add 2 tbsp of vinegar to the measuring cup. Allow to sit 5 minutes. It will curdle. Then add it to the recipe as specified! It's soooo good.

Irish Soda Bread (adapted from allrecipes.com)
Makes one loaf
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup of raisins

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Blend egg and buttermilk together, and add all at once to the flour mixture. Add raisins. Mix just until moistened. Stir in butter. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Wrap in foil for several hours, or overnight, for best flavor.

Yellow cupcakes with raspberry buttercream and cream cheese icing

I made cupcakes for my daughter's first birthday. It was important to me for her first bite of dessert to be not only homemade, but from scratch. I used Martha Stewart's, "Yellow Butter Cupcakes" recipe with a modification. I couldn't find cake flour so I used all all-purpose flour. The cupcakes, while being very good, weren't what I had in mind. They were somewhat dense and didn't resemble yellow cake. They were closer to white cake. Oh and I should have trusted my intuition when I read in her recipe to fill muffin cups. I know better then to go over 2/3 full...I ended up with less then 36 but that's okay.

I made two icings for these cupcakes and the combination of the two was DIVINE. First I made a raspberry buttercream and a basic cream cheese icing. The cupcakes were a hit and I had lots of fun decorating them. I did have to refrigerate them both to harden slightly before piping them. It was a little warm in the kitchen. I also had quite a bit of the raspberry buttercream leftover. After taking "frosting shots", I ended up throwing out about 1.5 cups. This cupcake was devoured by the birthday girl. Well worth the effort :)

Chocolate chip cheesecake dip

I made this for my daughter's first birthday party this weekend. Yes it's really been a year already! Hard to believe! If you're a cheesecake lover, you must try this recipe. It's incredibly easy and delicious. Her party was the perfect excuse to whip it up.

Chocolate chip cheesecake dip (frome recipezaar)
Makes 12 servings
Ingredients:
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
1.5 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.5 cups semisweet mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in sugars and vanilla.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Cover and store in refrigerator. Serve with graham crackers, vanilla wafers or graham cracker sticks.

Random

This morning, after dropping my daughter off at daycare (a process which takes no less then 20 minutes), I sat in my car in my work parking lot. As I reached into the passenger seat to gather my slew of bags for the day, I inadvertently looked down at my lap and noticed something strange.

I saw a seam. I actually looked closer with disbelief, that not only did I not notice I was wearing my skirt INSIDE OUT, but my husband didn't notice either. I had encountered I don't know how many people at daycare looking a fool. However, being parents, I'm sure they understood.

So there I sat in the work parking lot, now knowing I HAD to go inside wearing my skirt inside out. I even debated for a millisecond whether or not it was possible to correct my wrong in my car. Not possible. Hahahaha!