Turkey Pancakes!

Two Thanksgivings ago I had to get thru my first holiday without my boy with me.  It worked out that he was going to be with his father that year, so I just had him for the morning.  I knew it would be just as hard for him, with all the changes he had recently been thru, so I wanted to try to make our morning special.  I made a big breakfast with all his favorite things and surprised him with this little guy!

It's pretty simple to make.  I use an electric skillet and found that it cooks pancakes so evenly that you can make shapes pretty easily.  The body has cocoa powder mixed in to make a chocolate pancake. The feathers are a mixture of multi colored mini pancakes (just added food coloring to the batter) and cut strawberries.  The legs are bacon pieces and the eyes are chocolate chips.  Easy!

This was a HUGE hit, even for a 9 year old boy.  He still talks about it to this day and, at 11,  is super excited to see what kind of pancakes he'll be getting tomorrow.  I have some ideas... :)

Update - this year was pretty good too! Cornucopia pancakes:

long time no post!

I may have forgotten all about this little blog for the last few months! I just work and make plans,  work and make plans.  I'd have so much more free time if I didn't love to make plans! So anyways, I'm back and here's a few things worth mentioning before I change the primary direction of this little blog that only myself and 2 others see! My life in a nutshell:

1) Starting over is a part of life and is necessary - this includes diets and workout plans.  Basically, I'm not beating myself up anymore for starting over all the time.  It's not such a bad thing. (side note - new plan starts 11/26)

2) I am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for.

3) I really believe that when you start doing things you love and make yourself happy,  everything falls right into place.

OK - so quickly, new plan goals are to work out everyday (doing something,  anything) and run at least 2 times a week.  I'm pretty proud that I've been running the last few weeks with a friend. Outside, at 6am,  in the cold.  That's a pretty huge deal for me.  We take it a  little at a time, but I don't stop and I'm pretty happy about that. Also,  I feel really good afterwards.  I like that too. I'm all signed up for my first 5 k next year - plenty of time to get better and reach that goal.  

Next  - I freakin LOVE Pinterest.  But aside from that,  I love all these people who blog and have awesome ideas.  So I'm going to write some of mine down too.  Here goes... :)

Here we go again!

I know, I know...restarting AGAIN! Typical me.  I do think it will work this time. Also,  my Accountabili-Buddy updated her blog, so I must as well...it's been way too long. Although the best of intentions were had,  the goal a day, check in with my buddy didn't quite work out as planned! It's ok though,  we're still doing our thing (and when we stop planning/worrying - then there is a problem). In my mind, we're still on it!

SO, now I have almost 20 people I feel I need to stay accountable for! I alerted most of my Facebook peoples that I'm doing a 6 week challenge and invited them to do the same.  I basically forced myself to keep going as the host of this group of people also interested in working out. The idea being - I CAN"T quit now, right? There are actually people paying attention. So far so good.  Day 2 of my program which consists of Slim in 6 as the primary program and rotating other videos in the mornings, 6 days a week. Sundays set for rest/makeups. I have a good feeling about this one....

Looking back,  i started all this in March. March. I know it's been a busy few months,  but I could have amazing results right now if I just stuck to the plan. I can't keep doing this.  I WILL stick to something.

So there you have it. Measurements to follow.

Busy, busy, busy...

OK, so I haven't been checking back here like I originally planned.  Lots going on...

Almost 3 weeks ago I started a new job. I had been working from home for a little over 4 years. Last month I took the leap and decided to accept a new position that is 8:30-5 in an office downtown. The jump may sound nuts to some people, but pretty much everyone I used to work with totally gets it. The job itself: so far,  so good.  Less stress, less work. The adjustment to waking up earlier, getting ready for work and leaving all day: working on it. I know it sounds easy - everyone does this, but I've been working in my PJs for a long time and it's a pretty big change.

Day 3 of my new job, I get sick.  It figures. It's a cold or something,  but it's taking FOREVER to get rid of. I suspect it's from shaking a gazillion new hands.  My immune system was probably like WHAT?! Too many germs. It's getting better,  but still not gone.

Then some other stuff happened, so this last week, in particular, has been nuts.  Between work, getting the boy to baseball, hospital visits and trying to coordinate some family stuff, it's been nonstop. So any slight noise my phone makes will wake me up and here I am at 3 am blogging instead of sleeping. I need to be up in about 3 hours.

I'm tired. Overwhelmed. It will get better though.  It's just a lot all at once right now

Working out has not happened.  I'm going to start going to the gym during lunch next week in case I don't get to Slim in 6 (which I think I may switch to my primary program). I'm going to reevaluate my goals this weekend.  Until then...

Week 2/REDO

OK I know I said I wasn't going to start over (again) BUT the last 2 weeks have been just...meh. The best thing about starting over tomorrow (Monday!) and what makes it different from the other times is my new accountability buddy! After reconnecting with an old friend thru facebook and this blog,  we've agreed that we're going to follow up with each other regularly and use a point system to track our goals!

My 5 daily goals:

My Oscar

1) Walk Oscar
2) Work out in the morning (I need to get used to this since there are big changes happening soon and I won't have as much time as I have now)
3) Drink shakeology
4) Stay within my chosen calorie level
5) Drink at least 2 bottles of water (I'm not sure how many ounces that is  - I have to check.  But it's a big sports bottle)

As for the big changes... I have been working from home for over 4 years now. I've decided to take a new job that will put me back into an office 8:30-5.  It's going to be a huge adjustment for me,  the boy and Oscar!

Oscar is very used to someone being home and he didn't quite adjust as well as I hoped to the divorce.  He has been acting out off and on this past year. He really is not going to be happy about the new job.  That's why goal number one is pretty important.

So we begin again on Monday - but this time we will be helping each other make sure this is the last time we have to start over!!

Adventures in Juicing

So I watched this documentary (love my Netflix!) called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  I highly recommend this to whomever hasn't yet seen it.  It basically follows an overweight Aussie who decides to spend 60 days touring America without eating anything - only drinking juice.  He mostly drinks this green juice made from apples,  kale, cucumber,  celery, ginger and lemon. Long story short, he loses a ton of weight, becomes kind of a hottie,  no longer needs all the medicine he was on and inspires others throughout the way (making way for an even better story).  It's good.  It made me want to juice!  Now I'm hooked on these nutrition vs.  medicine documentaries,  which i find very interesting since I'm not a big medicine person myself. Let me just say, I'm very aware that there is need for it and I'm not against medicine, but I very much like the ideas outlined in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and Food Matters (both streaming on Netflix right now.)


So enough about all that - now is the fun part.  I first had to find a juicer.  A quick Facebook request is all it took and a friend of mine let me borrow his that he hadn't even used yet! I picked up the juicer the next day and even though it was nearly 9pm,  I couldn't wait to start! I got the boy involved and we made the mean green juice that Joe Cross drank in the film.


The juicer we used was very easy to use and the boy had fun with it! You can see below where the back bin fills with the juice and the front bin fills with the waste.  Tip for first timers - DO NOT leave the waste overnight in your garbage can! Take it right outside. The next morning the entire house smelled terrible just from that little canister of vegetable waste!

I'll say that the juice itself is very pretty and it even smells nice!
                    

 So here goes my little test subject!

thinking about it...

going for it...

wait a minute...

NOOOOOO!!! 

one more try!

too much! lol

I'm not so sure we will be making that one again.  I think it may have been heavy on the cucumber and lemon anyway. We both drank about a half a glass and that's all we could handle!  We did juice only apples the next day and that was really good.  I also tried this apple,  kale,  carrot and ginger recipe that wasn't nearly as pretty,  but i could actually finish a whole glass.

I love the idea of getting all these nutrients out of one glass of juice and I also found that the days I had the juice,  I could use it as sort of a meal replacement in that I wasn't as hungry after I drank it. After researching online I found out that the juicer I'm borrowing is a really good one (like $350!) and I'm not quite ready to invest just yet.  I've read that the quality of juicer is important and I don't know if I can go to something cheap after using the good one! I might just borrow for a little bit longer! :)

Jelly Beans and Beauty Queens

Being late to the party on the blog front means that all the easy blog addresses are taken.  I’m not very clever with naming these type of things, so if I can’t use “Jul”, “Julia”, or “Julia Jean” I’m lost.

Julia

 One of the many things I’ve learned in the last few years – last names change.  A few years ago I started painting.  It’s not something I do often and I’m not that particularly good at it,  but on the occasion that I see something I like that costs more than I can afford,  I think “I can make that.” So it was at this time, when I made my first little painting that now proudly hangs at my mother’s house, when I was torn as to how I should sign it.  As if it was such a big deal! I suppose, looking back, it was kind of a big deal.  I knew then that my last name might not always be my last name. That’s when I fully embraced Julia Jean.  My mom’s side of the family has called me this for years, as to distinguish me from my namesake. I’m named after both of my grandmothers.  I kinda love that. Plus, it’s a great name combo, in my opinion.

Jean

When I was little my mom made up this song that she sang to me. It goes something like this:

Julia Jean, Julia Jean

Sweetest kid I’ve ever seen

Mommy’s little jelly bean

Daddy’s little beauty queen…

 Cute, right?!  So “JuliaJean” may have been taken,  but “jellybeansandbeautyqueens” was available. Imagine that. Why is it this name is now so important to me?  For me, it represents who I am and where I come from. It’s mine. It’s only mine.  It will never change.  I can’t say the same for my last name! :)

Week 1 in Review

Not great.  Started out strong (per usual) and the typical things came up. I was actually going down last week and I pretty much just gained it back.  I feel like the whole week is wasted.  I am resisting the urge to start over with today is day one.  I HAVE to stop doing that.  My life is full of week ones! So today is start of week 2.  I AM going to do better. 


side note...The jeans are no further up then they were last week. This weekend I was a little sad that I have a closet full of clothes and literally only 2 options for jeans.  I have so many pairs and most are too tight right now.  I can get them on,  but that whole muffin top thing is not cute.  


Mini goal for week 2 - drop 2 lbs. That should be motivation enough to get me to week 3.  

Food schedule

Morning Routine

I’m feeling a little like Regis with all these drinks in front of me on my desk. I have chocolate (or strawberry) shakeology for breakfast, green tea and water.  I’m trying to stick with eating 6 times a day, much like I did on Body for Life.  Three snacks and three meals, but not restricting the foods I eat as much,  just watching calories.  It’s very difficult for me to only eat certain types of foods.  Holding back on anything makes me crave the most bizarre things.  (I recall trying atkins and wanting to eat applesauce like crazy, just because I wasn’t supposed to.  Weird) I’ll try to eat what I want and stay within the calorie level using myfitnesspal.  Right now the schedule goes like this: 8am breakfast (shake), 10:30 am snack (orange – I’ve obsessed with oranges ever since I was sick at the beginning of this year,  not sure why.  Maybe I’m lacking vitamin c?), 1:00 pm lunch, 3:30 pm snack, 6:00 pm dinner, 8:00 pm snack.  I may have to adjust this and make the times a little earlier because from what I can remember from BFL, it was really hard to fit in 6 meals a day. Although I’ve timed alarms on my phone to remind me, sometimes you’re in the middle of something and you just miss one.  Planning is key – I need to plan my meals in advance. 

The Plan

- Shakeology every day – it has to replace breakfast.  As much as that breaks my heart and as much as I will miss bacon egg and cheese sandwiches,   I know from previous experience that I will not replace any other meal with a shake. I just won’t. More on shakeology later – it’s good stuff.

- Limiting my calories.  I was thinking 1500 but that may be adjusted.  I don’t want to count points – been there and done that.  Rather, I’ll use my awesome myfitnesspal app (a great website and and even better mobile app) to journal my food and keep track of my weight and inches. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

- Work out every day. More specifically I’ll be doing beachbody workouts.  Not just one,  but a few mixed together because I get serious workout ADD.  My primary will be Brazil Butt Lift (my fav).  I also have a Pilates DVD that has 10 minute workouts.  I plan on doing one of those every day when I wake up. It’s only 10 minutes after all. I was going to do 6 days a week, but some of the videos are only 20-30 minutes, so I figure I can do a little something every day. If I end up only getting in 6,  I still win.

- Cheat day.  This is essential to me.  The only diet in the past I every stuck to for an extended period of time allowed for one cheat day.  I don’t have to work out if I don’t want,  I can drink and I can eat whatever. This is super important for this to work – I’m sure of it.

-weigh ins.  Every week, but who am I kidding.  I weigh myself every single morning.  I know people say not to do that,  but it’s kind of a compulsive thing now.  I’ll only update here once a week,  but my fitness app gets the daily weigh in.

I’m open for any suggestions after the first 30 days.  I already have my schedule set up so I’m sticking with that for now.

Goals

I know I’m supposed to say I want to “get fit”, but let’s be honest. Don’t we all want to lose a few…or 20 pounds? So what I would very much like to do is to lose that 20 but still keep my curves.  I’m pretty sure it’s possible.  I’ve done it before, when I was younger and not even really trying. Let me just say that I am a fan of my curves.  I do not want to look like a boy, no matter what the world tells me is supposed to be beautiful.  I know what a woman is supposed to look like and I love my hips.   Target areas – arms (ugh…) and belly (it hasn’t quite been flat since I had the boy.  Now that he is 10, I don’t suppose I can use the baby weight excuse!)  Of course I would like to be a little smaller all around and toned, but those areas are what bug me the most. My biggest fear is that all my weight will be lost in my boobs! lol It isn’t really fair; that is usually the first thing to go.  I’ve become rather fond of them.   At any rate, I think if I can stick to a routine that helps me lose weight, I’ll ultimately be getting fit, as well.  So here are the starting inches.  (Not quite ready to give up the scale number or before pics just yet.)

Waist: 33

Hips: 43 (yikes!)

Chest: 38

Arms: 12

Thighs: 23

Short term: jeans.  I will say that they are a size 8.  Yes, my goal is an 8.  I will never ever have a size 2 or 4 goal because I do not want to be that small. I’m not knocking the girls who are that small – one of my best friends is petite and adorable at this size.  I just don’t think it’s realistic for me.  If I have to have a goal size, 6 would be the lowest I would go. I wore these 2 falls ago when I was at a size I was pretty happy with. I really love these jeans and I miss them.

Long term: bikini. I have not worn a bikini since before I had the boy – so 19.  I did a trial run once at a family function (not quite public, in my opinion) and was just not feeling it.  There are plenty of bigger girls who have the confidence to do this – I’m not one. I have a “goal bikini” almost every year.  The “this is what I am wearing this summer” suit.  Often they end up getting returned midsummer because I know it’s not going to happen. So I have a couple options to choose from, but my most favorite one that I really want to wear this summer (that I’ve had for several months already) comes from my most favorite website for curvy girls… and here it is    http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/

The Cycle

Diet

Here’s what I do – what I’ve always done.  I decide to start on a MONDAY! Why that is so important to me,  I’m not sure,  but it always starts on a Monday for me. (side note  - I already screwed up my Monday this week,  so I am actually starting Tuesday.  It bothers me…but I’m trying to push thru. Full disclosure – I was supposed to start 2 weeks ago. I hate starting over all the time.)

Starting on Monday leaves the prior weekend open for anything and everything – drinking,  eating.  And not JUST eating whatever I want, but eating even more than I need to because I’m thinking “as of tomorrow I can’t eat any of this…” So that’s the normal pre-diet binge.  If that happened on a rare occasion, I suppose it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but here is what ultimately happens: I’m good for about 3 days.  I stick to the program a little and something comes up – happy hour, dinner with the girls, Easter candy has hit the stores… whatever.  So I cheat.  And once I cheat I’m pretty much done.  “Well I already messed up today, so let me just eat whatever.” Eventually what happens is I veer off path completely until the following MONDAY when I swear I will start over. And we already covered what happens the weekends before Monday comes. So there you have it.  As I type it out I can clearly see how self destructive this behavior is.

Evilness

Exercise

This is fairly similar to the diet cycle.   I have tried many many many workouts and seen on tv stuff (will go into detail later).   I start many things and stick to none. (I’m hoping this public display helps me stick with my current plan.  If it ends up like the rest, maybe nobody will know anyway! We’ll see how it goes.) The past year or so I have been printing out blank calendars each month and filling in each day with the workout I need to do.  This idea is that the visual reminder will keep me on track. So what happens when I miss a day? Well, I don’t quit completely…yet. What I do is carry on to the next day, but in my head I still need to make up that work out.  So I either do that workout the next day or plan to combine with another day’s workout,  so nothing is missed. And then if I miss two, the extra workouts just keep piling up until I’m overwhelmed with “make-up work” that I just stop everything completely. “I’ll start over on Monday.” I understand that the more reasonable thing to do would be to just let it go and carry on with the schedule, buy my brain doesn’t work that way.  I will continue with my calendar printouts, but the goal this time is to just print it out ONCE a month! No restarting in the middle.  I may spend more time planning a workout schedule than actually working out. No, I do – I actually do spend more time planning.

Color coded and organized!

hello interwebs :)

In my attempt to actually finish a workout plan that I have started, this is me trying to hold myself accountable to world and anyone (or no one) reading.  I’m a little hesitant, but inspired by some friends who have very impressive blogs and other friends who have had very inspiring weight loss transformations.

Let me begin by saying that I realize I’m rambling a bit.  I’m not so much worried about the correct placement of a comma, so my grammar may not be up to par throughout my posts! (If I don’t say that now, I will obsess over mistakes later.)

To my close friends and family: I hope you will follow along for the support.   To anyone else: if you go thru anything similar and can relate, let me know!  I often feel on an island in this office where I sit every day, thinking about what I should be doing instead.