Quickie and last weekend for FlipBelt code!!

Quickie post today for 3 things:

1)      I’m feeling SOOO much better today.  Wednesday was truly hump day for me, and yesterday I felt a little better, but today I’m feeling amazing! High energy, slept well, and NO HEADACHE! Oh and the scale keeps going down, so I’m a happy camper! J

2)      I’m really excited to be taking part in a HUGE giveaway that starts on Monday, check back then for more details!

3)      This is the last weekend to use the FlipBelt coupon code, so if you’ve been thinking about getting one, now’s the time!  Check out my review here.  Coupon code is “BBB”

 

Happy Easter Weekend!!

Breaking the Sugar addiction

Hello, my name is Karri, and I’m addicted to sugar.  The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, right? Savannah has thrown my diet WAAAYYY off track.  I’m actually recognizing the pattern though, which is similar to what I experienced after the Christmas month-long indulgence.  I eat just one bad thing…then 2, then before you know it, I’m not keeping track of what I’m eating at all, and it’s all junk.  I wake up exhausted, I have a headache, and I’m just plain ol’ cranky, and I know that my diet is to blame.  It took me months to get out of my Christmas funk, and I’m not going to let that happen to me again.

I had originally made a pact to try 21 days of strict calorie counting and logging in order to form better habits, and my little trip to Savannah blew that all out of the water.  The worst part is, now that I’m home, I’m craving bad shit like it’s my job.  I want chocolate like you wouldn’t believe…this is NOT normal people! (It doesn’t help that I got my period this morning, but still!).

So here’s my plan.  I’m going to clean up my eating.  Starting Sunday (because I don’t want to set myself up for failure before going grocery shopping and meal prepping), I’m going to go on a clean eating “cleanse”.  I’m going to aim for 10 days, but with Easter falling on day 8, I’m not going to beat myself up for going only 7 days straight.

I’m going to eliminate white flour, refined/processed sugars (including corn sugars and starches), wheat products, dairy, alcohol, coffee, fried foods, etc.

I’m going to eat more vegetables, fresh fruit, healthy fats, lean meat, eggs, beans, and clean carbohydrates (like brown rice products).

Essentially, this is very similar to the 10 day cleanse that the Advocare system does, but I’m doing the diet component only, no products at all.  I’m hopeful that this will be enough to flush the cravings out of my system and jump start me onto a healthier/more balanced way of eating. 

Who’s with me!?

Switching to Bloglovin like Errebody Else!

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Progress, not Perfection

Poor Brandi has been dealing with a lot of sickness in her house lately, so I thought I’d take a week off from our Tuesday Link-up to give her a much needed break.  Besides, after last night’s episode of the Biggest loser, I thought it would be better to take some time today to talk about this journey a little bit.  If you don’t watch the BL, the short of it is that they showed each contestant a quick compilation of how far they’ve come in their 12 weeks on the show.  I needed to see that last night. Because, well, honestly, I had a few days last week where I really struggled.  I was hungry.  I was tired.  I was sore.  And really, I was just MAD.

Mad because weight loss just sucks sometimes.

Mad because my body just doesn’t lose weight as fast as some others do.
Mad because I want to eat an effin’ cheeseburger and not gain weight.
Mad because I’m sick of counting calories.
Mad because I’d like to sleep in instead of getting up to exercise EVERY. DAMN. DAY.
Mad because after all that, I still have flabby arms, stomach rolls and lumpy thighs.
Mad because I still have a long way to go.

It’s so easy to focus on these things, and to lose sight of the bigger picture, the bigger journey taking place.  Sometimes you just need to take a step back to see the forest through the trees. 

I used to be a size 18.

I used to be in the “Morbidly Obese” BMI category.
I used to struggle just to run a quarter mile.
I used to make excuses to skip going out with friends because I had nothing to wear that fit me right or that I felt good in.

I’m none of those things anymore.  I’m making better choices on a daily basis, not because I’m on a “diet”, but because my goal is to be as healthy as possible before getting pregnant so I can continue that lifestyle through my pregnancy and parenthood. 

There’s been a lot of hype lately about herbal cleanses and shakes to help with weight loss, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of the huge losses some people are seeing in just a weeks’ time.  But I know better; I’ve been there, done that with just about every weight loss system there is.  It’s temporary, not a permanent fix.  Even a super sticky band aid falls off eventually, and the weight will creep back on as soon as the meal replacement shakes go away (at least that’s how it’s happened for me).

I’m not perfect.  I have days where I want to give up, where I want to just stuff my face with fatty foods and sit on the couch and do nothing.  Before this journey, I would let a day like that derail me.  Not anymore.  It’s about Progress, not Perfection.  I’m moving forward, the scale is moving down, even if it is painfully slow, and I will continue this journey that I’m on.  Because I’m worth it. Because I’ve NEVER in my life been thin or had a healthy BMI.  Because I NEED to know what it feels like to not be obsessed with pulling at my shirt to hide my rolls or wearing pants in the middle of the summer to hide my thighs.

I will get there.  It might take me longer than some because I’m trying to figure out how to do this and still do the things I love (like going out to dinner and drinks with friends).  But this is not a race.  There’s no time cutoff for reaching that finish line.  Sure, we all want to get there as fast as possible, but sprinting and burning myself out before I get there will be more disappointing than just taking my time and doing it right.  I will see this thing through to the end, as hard as it may be. 

 

Strive for progress, not perfection.

Never give up.

Weekend Recap and Rewards

I have to start with the obvious.  I EFFING HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS. ‘Nuff said.

Good thing Monday’s are a planned rest day for me, because my ass was not getting out of bed this morning!

Let’s get to a quick weekend recap shall we? If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you saw the picture I posted this weekend of my old jeans; I did a little closet purging of larger sizes that don’t fit anymore and decided to do a little comparison.

 

18s on the bottom where I started, layered with 16s, 14s, and now 12s on top where I am today.  I can’t wait to get 10s and 8s on that pile too!

Saturday was dinner out with friends.  I worked extra hard at Bootcamp Saturday morning knowing we were going out for Italian food.

I was REALLY good with my diet all day, and I vowed not to eat the bread they put on the table before the meal comes.  Our reservations were for 7:45, but we sat down early at about 7:40…but by 8:15 we were just ordering drinks! (The service was a little slow!).  After a giant glass of wine and an uncomfortably hungry stomach, I succumbed to the bread trap…our meals didn’t arrive until after 9pm and I was starving people! I had penne alla’ vodka, one of my all-time favorite Italian dishes, and probably about a loaf of bread.  Oops.

 

I won’t bore you with the rest of the details of my weekend, except to tell you that I did much better Sunday and got in a 3 mile run outside since it was so beautiful.  Oh and I tried out a recipie for an icecream/fro-yo free Skinny Shamrock Shake that my pal Liz shared, it wasn't too bad!

 

So on to this morning, and my REWARD for hitting the 180s….

 

My new coat! It’s from Target.  I love it.  I may or may not have bought it a few weeks ago in anticipation of this milestone J(I also may or may not have bought the dress that I’m wearing today too… J)

My DietBet ends this Wednesday, and I’m feeling pretty good about hitting my 4%, so here’s to a good week!!

Tone Em' Up Tuesday Link Up!

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It's time for Tone Em' Up Tuesdays! I'll be linking up with Brandi every week to talk about what I'm doing to help my Short Shorts Initiative.  Link up with us and share your fitness posts! How are you gettting ready for summer? Do you have a goal outfit you want to wear? Share your stories with us! Copy and paste the code above to add the button to your posts as well.


Over the past few weeks I've posted some great moves to tone up your leg muscles so you can look hot in those short shorts.  Today, I'm actually going to focus on my overall exercise routine, because now that I'm training for a 1/2 marathon (EEK!!), I'm hoping the increased running/cardio will help burn that layer of fat down so those toned muscles show through.

I made myself a schedule through June, but today I'll share with you my March workout Calender.  It includes running 4 days a week, with cross training 2 days a week and specific leg/arm work outs 2 days a week.  I've always planned at least 1 rest day, but sometimes the cross training day will be a rest day too, depending on my schedule.  I've highlighted in yellow the road races that I might do this month, and the green numbers at the bottom of each day are for my 21 day challenge to clean up my diet.

My diet is the biggest challenge I face right now; I've only screwed up 1 of the 9 days I've made it through so far (Saturday's Chinese food debacle), but I figure I'm still doing much better than I was, so I'll take it! 

What does your workout schedule look like? Only 80 more days until Memorial Day weekend (the "unofficial" start to summer!!)


What are you doing to reach your goals this summer? Link up with me and Brandi every Tuesday and share your story too! (You must be a follower of both Babe Before Baby and Thin After Twins to participate!) Be sure to link the actual post, not your whole blog, so we can all get inspired!

  

Cheers to the Freakin’ Weekend

These damn weekends go by WAY to fast, so here’s a quick recap. 

Friday night I left work early to get my emissions testing done, and while I was there, a quick Oil Change on my car.  They only do emissions testing at certain locations in the state, so I ended up going to Firestone since it was a national chain (so I had a certain comfort level with the familiarity) and it was on my way to my sister’s where I was babysitting later that night.  Well…this minor event turned into Firestone telling me that my front tires were worn so bad on the inner ring they could pop at any moment, and that I had a loose/broken ball bearing that literally made my car UNDRIVEABLE.  WHAT!? They basically told me I couldn’t drive my car off the lot, and handed over a $900 estimate to fix the problem.  WHOA.  After a minor panic attack, I called my (awesome) regular mechanic Russ, who proceeded to tell me to get the hell out of there and not pay them a dime more than I had to.  I took my car to Russ first thing on Saturday morning, and I watched while him and another guy inspected my car up on the lift.  Not only was there not $900 worth of repairs necessary for my car, THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY CAR AT ALL.  No broken ball bearing.  No bald tires.  Heed this message ladies! Don’t let Firestone screw you out of your hard earned doll hairs!

Anywho, Russ got me out of there quickly enough on Saturday morning for me to make my regular Bootcamp class, which I have to say I rocked this week!   The rest of the day was low key: breakfast out with the hubs, cleaning up the house, quick trip to the grocery store, and then we had our friends over for dinner.  We ended up hanging out/munching on chips/drinking our faces off and never made it out to dinner, so around 9ish we decided to order Chinese food….$60 effing dollars worth of it!! Holy crap!

That's Seltzer with Vodka and a splash of fruit punch in that big ass cup :)

 

So even though I was good all day on Saturday, that Chinese event on Saturday night set me back like crazy….I can’t believe how hard it is to lose a few pounds and how easy it is to put it back in one night! 

Sunday morning I worked at the Diner as usual (Update: I gave them my notice yesterday, I’m done at the end of March!!), and when I got home around 3, even though I was exhausted and already over my 10k steps for the day, I decided to keep to my schedule and get in my virtual 5k (5 by the Fifth Series).  Not only did I get it done..I KILLED IT!!

 

Before my run

Steps after my run

 

33:04 minutes!!

 

I’ve never run a 5k in this time.  EVER.  I guess all the Insanity/Bootcamp/Interval Runs are making a difference, who’da thunk it!? I’m really freakin’ proud of this, I really never thought I’d break through the 35 minute mark! Maybe hitting that elusive 30 minute mark is within my reach after all! 

This leads me to some exciting/scary/nervewracking news….I’m going to sign up to run a ½ Marathon! June 2^nd, 13 weeks from yesterday.  I have a training plan in place, which I’ll post soon, but I’m feeling a million emotions about this one.  Writing it down here makes it real, so there’s no turning back now!

How did your weekend go? Did you have any exciting things happen for you?

And the Winner is....

And the winner of the FlipBelt Giveaway is....

Holly K!

 

Holly I'm going to email you with your prize information, congratulations on your win!!

 

Are you sad and grumpy that your name wasn't chosen? Don't worry, FlipBelt has offered my awesome readers a coupon code good towards 10% off your entire order at FlipBelt.com!

 

Just enter code "BBB" at checkout to receive your discount, and let them know I sent you by liking them on their Facebook page!

 

Don't know what the heck a FlipBelt is still? Check out my review here: FlipBelt Review

 

Thanks for playing, hope you all have a great weekend!!