I've been good on my diet...well, for the last 36 hours!

My life seems to be exceptionally busy right now, and I am having to prioritize my tasks...unfortunately this blog is LOW on the priority list...sorry my peeps!

Not a huge CHUBBY shocker, but I did not go back on my diet until yesterday. However, I am giving kudos to myself for being good yesterday (baby steps), and all of today...so far! ;0)

However, I must say, the one new chubby treat I was introduced to on Monday, and so THOROUGHLY enjoyed, is Peanut Butter OREOS! Oh My Word! I'm not a big fan of OREOS, but these little babies were AMAZING! It's the standard chocolate cookie, but the filling tastes exactly like the peanut butter filling in a Nutter Butter...SOOOO good! (Shout out to my sister Anna in L.A. for letting me raid her cupboards!)

I stepped on the scale this morning and I am down 2 lbs since the beginning of this blog...which today actually marks the 4 week point. Needless to say, 2 lbs is nothing to get excited about in 1 month, and I really need to get serious if I'm going to make my goal...a loss of 68 more pounds in just 9-1/2 months.

Unfortunately, the future isn't looking too promising. I need to be excellent on my diet the next 2 days, becuase Friday night starts a 3-day-celebration-food-fest. I am going to a fully catered/open bar 40th Birthday Party at the San Diego Yacht Club on Friday night, and then Saturday is my mom's all day "Easter LalaPalooza", followed by Sunday's Easter Brunch. Hopefully I can come out on Monday at least breaking even in my starting weight. WE SHALL SEE!

No BIG FAT CHUBBY surprise here...

...I've fallen off the wagon! While I have continued to exercise daily, I have also continued to eat poorly since Saturday night. The ironic thing is, is that one of the reasons that I turned down an invitation to go out to dinner with my family on Saturday night, was "becuase I didn't think I would be strong enough to resist all of the yummy food at a restaurant." But as it turns out, I'm not even strong enough to be invited out to eat! After I hung up the phone with my Step-mom, I couldn't stop thinking about all of the wonderful things I could be eating at a restaurant. Needless to say, the chubby bird landed on my head, and I let it build a chubby nest...isn't that how the saying goes!?!? Somehow the advertisement of "A Family of 4 Eats for $20 at Fuddruckers!" popped into my head, and The Brumbaugh's were out the door!

Since then, I have begun each morning with the best of intentions...I eat my healthy/diet breakfast, go for my walk/jog, and then in about a 30 minutes after that, my cravings go for a RUN!

In the past 5 days, I have enjoyed a Fuddruckers' hamburger meal, donuts on Sunday, a sundae on Monday, DELICIOUS homemade Oreo-like cupcakes on Tuesday, MOPS breakfast "buffet" today, and a few other things along the way. I know what you're thinking...and "YIKES!" is right!

But seriously, I'm back on my diet tomorrow...LOL!

P.S. I haven't had the guts to step on the scale, but I will report the CHUBBY details when I do!

Day 16- Just becuase I eat it...

Doesn't mean I have to like it. It's probably becuase I have been fighting a cold for the last week, but NOTHING sounds appealing...especially vegetables & my protein shakes. However, the good news is, bad food doesn't sound good either. But whatever, I'm still plugging along and eatimg what I'm supposed to be eating.

My food choices were the same, and for dinner I did the "hot dog meal".

Exercise: NONE!

Weight Loss: 1/2 pound

Day 15- The JOY of a low Carb diet...BACON!

Unfortunately today was the first day on this diet that I woke up and weighed myself, and there was no change on the scale! :0/ I'm quickly reminded of why it's not recommended that you weigh yourself daily. Despite that, I continued with my mini tantrum in my head, spouting things like, "WHY BOTHER!?!?" And wouldn't you know it, in my morning Bible reading, the first verse I read was the theme verse to this blog!

"Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." -Romans 12:1

Alright, alright God, I get the message! This isn't ONLY about me, it should be more about YOU! :0)

And of course during my moment of bratiness, I did NOT mention the fact that I DID eat a 1/2 of a cupcake AND an extra piece of bacon yesterday! (But seriously, 1/2 of a cupcake!?!? COME ON! Can you tell I'm still not over the scale!?!? LOL)

Food: My breakfast & lunch were the same as always. The only changes to my food/meals is that I did eat a 1/2 of a cupcake, and for dinner we had crumbled bacon over our salads...and again, as I mentioned above, I did snack on an extra piece of bacon while I was prepping dinner.

Exercise: I power walked 3 miles and then did 20 minutes of resistance training.

Weight: SAME (booooo! lol)

Day 14- "Eat Me. I'm Irish."- Cupcakes

I think this is the first time in the history of "Elizabeth" that I did not even taste the cake batter OR the homemade butter cream frosting while making these sweet little cakes!

Food- Same breakfast & lunch & protein drinks as described in previous posts. For dinner we had a 4-oz steak, salad w/RF ranch dressing, and a ton of broccoli.

Exercise- While pushing Beatrice in her pool floatie, I swam lap after lap in the pool which only increased the soreness in my thighs after yesterday's workout. :0/

Weight Loss- 1/2 pound. For a 2 week total of: 7.5 lbs.

Day 13- Sore.

So yesterday was the first day I did the resistance training exercises, and OH MY! It only took like 20 minutes to complete them...but that was the most intense 20 minutes of exercise I have experienced since I a gave birth to my littles...at least that's what my thighs are screamin' this morning!

Nothing really exciting to report in the food arena...I ate EXACTLY the same thing I ate over the weekend, except for dinner, we had 4-oz of grilled chicken over our salad. Just to simplify things, and to not spend a TON of money on groceries, I plan to eat the same breakfast & lunch everyday for a week, and then switch things up the following week. Dinner, however, I will rotate a few ideas every night.

Exercise- 20 minute resistance training...and "that's all folks!"

Weight Loss- 1/2 pound, for a total of 7 pounds.

Don't eat the candy...Don't eat the candy...Don't eat the candy...

Well, it's that time of year again...for the last 12 years I have stuffed 1,200 Easter eggs for my boss's annual Easter Egg Hunt. And how is a chubby girl like me NOT eating the candy!?!?! God-breathed will power, that's all!

Well, I started the "Jorge Cruise" diet/exercise plan over the weekend, and you wouldn't believe it, but my new FAVORITE thing to eat (well, actually drink) are PROTEIN SHAKES!!! After getting all worked up about drinking them, God showed me favor, and they are DELICIOUS (at least this particular brand is...magnum Quattro, chocolate love)! However, unsweetened Green Tea!?!?!...GAG GAG GAG!!! I am not a tea person to begin with, and oh my, it is just GROSS!

I haven't actually started the exercises that they have mapped out for you, becuase they say to do them on Mon/Wed/Fri. And although, I am sure it doesn't really matter what days you do it, as long as you have a day/break in between each workout, I thought I would just roll with it...so today will be the first day I do their exercises...I'm sure I will make a complete fool of myself!

OK, so here is what I ate over the weekend:

Breakfast- 1 serving of oatmeal, 1 light yogurt, 1 banana, 1 hard boiled egg & flax seed oil.

Morning Snack: 1 Protein shake...by the time I blend it with a bunch of ice, it takes up almost the whole blender!

Lunch- 1/2 of a tuna sandwich with 1-oz of cheese on it, 2 pickles, 1 cup of carrots & a glass of barf...oh, I mean green tea. :0)

Afternoon Snack: Another protein shake

Dinner- OK, this picture is a bit deceiving becuase once I sat down to eat, I remembered that I was not allowed to eat the hot dog bun...no carbs after lunch. So I removed the bun, and enjoyed- 2 hot dogs, 1-oz of cheese, a bunch green beans, 2 cups of salad with light ranch dressing, and flax seed oil.

Night time snack: Yet another protein shake...it's a good thing I like them, right!?!?

As you can see, this is a TON of food, so I am completely full, and the yummy protein shakes completely take a hold over my cravings for sweets!

Exercise- Although the program doesn't require you to do any cardio, or even exercise at all other than those 3 days of resistance training, I do really enjoy going for my walks (and hopefully "jogs", soon) so I plan to walk my 3 miles on the days I am not doing the other workouts. So over the weekend, I did the 3 mile walk on both days.

Weight Loss- Oh Yeah Baby...I lost 5.5 lbs over the weekend! :0)

Nothing Exciting...

Yesterday's food-

Breakfast: Chocolate Delight Special K, dry

Morning Snack: Goldfish Crackers

Lunch: 1/2 Tuna Sandwich, an orange, chips & salsa

Afternoon snack: (2) 100-cal packs

Dinner: Costco- a little pizza, 1/3 of a hot dog, and 1/3 of the FF frozen yogurt

Exercise- 30 minute aerobic DVD using hand weights & 3 mile walk in the afternoon.

Weight Loss: 1 lb (hmmm...can't help but imagine what it would have been if I didn't eat at Costco, and actually ate the leftover orphan soup...but why would I do that to myself!?!?! LOL!)

I Don't Usually Eat Breakfast Twice

But yesterday was a MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) meeting, and as usual, my intentions to eat a normal breakfast before I go to the meeting, so I won't be hungry, go completely out the window when I see all of the DELICIOUS breakfast casseroles & BEAUTIFUL pastries that these women slaved over!

And speaking of MOPS, one of the other MOPS moms (Shout out to Julie!) has been trying to get me to do this diet for the longest time and she just gave me the 100+ page binder (seriously!) about it yesterday...whew, this is intense! It's basically a high protein / low carb diet, with very specific times you can eat, and very specific exercises that you need to do only 3x a week. I'm not one to waste the food we already have in the house (which is on the low fat side of things, not low carb), so I think I will give this diet a whirl starting Saturday, when I do the grocery shopping for the week. The scariest part: I need to drink a protein shake not only once, but 3X a day!!! I've never tried a protein shake, and my gag reflex is activating itself at just the thought!

Breakfast: Chocolate Delight Special K, dry, with a glass of water

2nd Breakfast, LOL: MOPS!...that's all I'm gonna say about that. :0)

Late Lunch: Left Overs from Pat & Oscars

Snack: Mother's Frosted Circus Cookies

Dinner: Italian Sausage Soup...I was hoping the title of my post would be "Olive Garden Eat Your Heart Out!" but seriously this no where near compared to the vibrant flavor of Olive Garden's Italian Sausage Soup...in fact, despite all of the ingredients in this soup, it was actually quite flavorless! But if you wake up one morning and feel like serving your family a dish right out of the kitchen of Little Annie's Orphanage, here you go: http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/healthified/italian-sausage-soup.aspx

Exercise: 30 minute aerobic exercise DVD. I did want to do our 3 mile walk, but it was raining yesterday afternoon.

Weight GAIN: 1.5 lbs...LOSER! :0(

Praying for a successful day today!

Day 7- I thought about pleading the 5th.

But that just would have been wrong! NOTE TO SELF: Don't celebrate an occasion before it actually happens, because on the actual occasion you will want to celebrate then also. But let's really be honest, since when did I need an excuse to eat pizza & chocolate? I went to the movies yesterday, and I was able to escape the concession stand...but that's only because I had just stopped at "Panera" and I had a chocolate chip bagel, and a blondie in my purse. ;0)

CHUBBY Diary-

Breakfast: Chocolate Delight Special K, dry.

Morning Snack: Goldfish crackers

Lunch: Chocolate Chip Bagel & a blondie

Afternoon Snack: BBQ Baked Lays

Dinner: (Pat & Oscars)- 1 Breadstick, Salad, 1 slice of Pizza & a bit of pasta.

Dessert: A Symphony candy bar & a small handful of Mother's Frosted Circus Cookies.

EXERCISE- I walked 4 miles at the lake with my dad.

WEIGHT GAIN- 1 lb

1st week total weight loss: 2.5 lbs

Day 6- Praying for Self Control

The obvious thought would be asking for self control for the things that go IN to my mouth, but actually, what is just as harmful, and possibly even worse, is controlling the things that come OUT of my mouth! I love food, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I think about food often. However, when I am trying to be "good" and I start thinking about all of the chubby foods that I'm not ALLOWED to eat, I begin to throw a tantrum of sorts by pouting, feeling sorry for myself, and even walking around the house whining about how I want chocolate. I cuddle up next to my husband on the couch, and in a sad voice I pitifully lay out my case as to why it's not fair that I can't eat a cupcake...as if he is the one that controls whether the donuts will literally go straight to my rear! If we entertain the thoughts in our head, they produce words...and if we talk about it long enough, our words speak action. Yesterday I was in tune to my thoughts, and didn't let them go further than that. It was RIDICULOUSLY hard to not fall into my pitty-pattern, but I did make good food choices ALL day! :0)

Breakfast: Chocolaty Delight Special K, dry, with a glass of water (How great is it that there is now actually an acceptable way to eat CHOCOLATE for breakfast!?!? And I'm not talking about chocolate powdered puffs & krispies...there are real pieces of chocolate (or something that tastes EXACTLY like it) amongst sweetened flakes of cereal...SOOO GOOD!)

Morning Snack: A combination of a small portion of both pretzels & fishy crackers.

Lunch: (a HUGE lunch)- A whole tuna sandwich, a banana, some grapes & BBQ baked lays.

Afternoon Snack: A pack of Scooby Doo fruit snacks & a small handful of fishy crackers.

Dinner: 1/2 of a grilled cheese sandwich, more chips, lots of corn, and for dessert, a 100-cal pack of ho-ho's.

Exercise- 30 minute aerobic workout video using hand-weights in the morning, and then as a family we went for our 3 mile power-walk in the late afternoon. We jogged a bit, but nothing serious.

Weight-loss: 1.5 lbs for a total of 3.5 lbs.

Days 4 & 5- A Walk Down Chubby Memory Lane

Well, I didn't blog over the weekend, and I didn't always make good food choices either :0/ However, I did have a wonderful time at my sister's baby shower on Saturday, and I enjoyed an amazing "8th Wedding Anniversary" brunch with my hunny and our littles at the Cheesecake Factory yesterday :0) I did workout each morning, and I did manage to not gain back ALL of the weight I lost last week! I am down a total of 2 lbs since Wednesday. I definitely won't be breaking any personal weight loss records in 1 week, but hey, I had 3 "parties" this week and I am on track to actually lose weight this week, and not gain...that's a personal record of it's own in recent months! ;0)

Just a funny tid-bit: Was my chubbiness my destiny??? It turns out I have been a VERY social eater from the time I was a toddler! At my sister's baby shower, I was reminded by a dear friend of the family (shout out to Barb!) that when I was a little girl I would often come up missing at the beach and the park. No, I had not been kidnapped, and no I had not wandered off to the bathroom alone...I could always be found at the next picnic site over chatting it up with strangers and mooching out of their coolers! My mom was always told, "She is SO cute, and she really wanted our food...we just couldn't say no!" Good Grief, LOL! :0)

Day 3- It's All Good.

Today I'm just gonna get straight to the point:

Breakfast: Kix, dry, with a glass of water

Morning Snack: A serving of pretzel sticks

Lunch: Tuna Sandwich & (2) 100-cal packs

Afternoon Snack: A banana & another 100 cal pack

Dinner: "Thai Chicken with Basil", over brown rice & green beans. Recipe: http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/recipes/dinner/thai-chicken-with-basil.aspx

Exercise-

I walked 4 miles @ Lake Murray with Deana (SHOUT OUT!!!) LOL!

Weight Loss-

Another 2 lbs yesterday, for a total of 6 lbs since Wednesday.

Day 2- Wow, He was GRACIOUS!

I think I might be discovering a piece of my chubby puzzle! When you have a husband, 2 kids, 3 siblings, 5 nephews, a lot of friends, standard holidays, and made up holidays (my grand Olympic meal) LOL, it seems like there is ALWAYS something to celebrate. The real problem I have discovered is that now my family tends to have a party to celebrate an upcoming party!!! And, what's a party without good tasting food!?!? Yesterday we were celebrating the fact that my sister Jenni is having a baby shower on Saturday, LOL! It seems so silly now, but totally appropriate yesterday! :0) It shouldn't be a shock, that I was NOT perfect in my food choices yesterday....

Breakfast: Bowl of Special K with a glass of water (no milk)

(Let the party begin)

Morning Snack: Grande "Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte" & a Cinnamon Roll from Starbucks

Lunch: I split a "Big Boy Combo" with my sister and had a chubby side salad with ranch dressing. I also had some onion rings, I shared a strawberry shake, and 4 of us shared that delicious dessert pictured above.

Dinner: Leftover soup from last night.

A couple things I am proud of: My entire meal at lunch was shared...I was totally full with 1/2 of the food, but should I have not split the food with others, I would have had no problem eating it all on my own. Also, I had to eat dinner at 4:30 because I had to be at a meeting at 5:30, and I did ZERO snacking after dinner! It took everything I had not to snack during Survivor and the office, but I stayed up until 10pm and didn't eat anything else.

OK exercise: I did a 30 minute aerobic exercise video in the morning...however that 30 minute video was interrupted by 1 time-out each for the kids, 2 false potty breaks for Beatrice, 1 real potty accident for Beatrice, and 1 phone call from my husband. Everything is always calm before and after I exercise, but it never fails that the 30 minute video brings out the devil! LOL!

Weight loss (YES!!! WEIGHT LOSS!!!): I lost another 1/2 lb for a total of 4 lbs. That was COMPLETELY unexpected as I thought for sure last night that I would be waking up to see my original weight on the scale.

Day 1- Don't Judge Me.

Well, after retracing what I ate yesterday, particularly my "lunch", I can't help but to ask myself, "Why did I decide to make my food journal public information!?!?!" Oh well, here goes...

Breakfast: A bowl of Rice Krispies using 1% milk.

Snack: A handful of pretzels

Another snack: Another handful of pretzels

"Lunch" (This "meal" was spread out over a 2 hour period while the kids were napping, and while I was creating my blog, doing some work, chores, etc. OK, deep breath...): 4 Oreo cookies & (3) 100-cal packs of snacks.

Dinner: 2 servings of "Healthified" Cheesy Potato Chowder. The recipe was AMAZING... http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/recipes/featured-brands/healthified-cheesy-potato-chowder.aspx

So that's it on the food-in take. My pattern is that as I lose weight I will start to incorporate healthier foods....hence, fruit! For the first few days, it's just survival baby! The real miracle is that I did not stop at Carl's Jr., Coldstone, or even Target's Food Avenue today!

Now for the not-so-embarrassing part of my day...exercise:

I did a 30 minute kick boxing video in the morning after breakfast, and then I walked 3 miles in 46 minutes in the afternoon.

My total weight loss for yesterday: 3.5 lbs.

You will find that I tend to lose weight at a fast pace (especially in the first week of a diet), but it doesn't take much for it ALL to come piling back on when I'm not on my game!

Hmmmm...to post my actual weight or not???

My Stepmom & I are starting our 6 month weight loss challenge today. Last year I smoked her, and took the $50 prize easily. I lost 35 lbs in 3 months. That challenge ended just in time for me to look not-too-bad for the holidays. However, between the MANY Christmas parties and my birthday celebrations, I have returned to my poor eating habits, and have gained back a good portion of the weight I had lost. In the beginning of December I was totally comfortable in my size 14's. At that time, I sold all of my chubby clothes (ranging in sizes from 16 - 24), except for ONE lonely pair of jeans in a size 18. I still haven't decided if me selling all of those clothes was a good thing or not. :0/ One thing is for sure though...I am SOOO glad that I did NOT sell that single pair of Chubby jeans! Unfortunately though, even THESE pants are becoming quite snug!

I plan to post daily what I ate, what exercise I did, any struggles that I had, and my weight loss for the day...yes, I break the cardinal rule of weighing myself everyday.

So, in this quest (I REFUSE to call it a "journey"...so cliche!) to lose 70 lbs by my 30th birthday, I am starting in a size 18.

(All typed while eating an Oreo cookie...OKAY, 3)