Liebster Award...

I was nominated for a Liebster Award by the awesome and hilarious Jennifer of FatChick2FitChick

 It is a fun little blogging chain letter of sorts that prompts a little Q&A between bloggers and a chance to share some of your favorite blogs.

 

HERE ARE THE RULES FOR RECEIVING THIS AWARD:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!

Here are the questions I was asked along with my answers:

1. Who is your embarrassing celeb crush? If you only love the pretty publicly acceptable celebs who is your crush in general?   Hm. I guess I would have to say Matt Damon. Ya I'm weird...but he's always been my crush.
2. Who is your favorite musician/artist/autotuned aficionado?  Right now that would be Colton Dixon. Can't get enough of his "You Are"
3. What is your favorite book either of all time or book de jour?  I love love love "The Shack" great book for perspective if you haven't read it I encourage you to give it a go.
4. What is the funniest memory you have?  Well...if I have to narrow it down to one. Lol. The funniest memory I have that makes me laugh years later is when my oldest son was about 2 1/2. He was still young enough for me to bathe with him...or so I thought until this happened. Anyway. He was sitting on the potty and I was getting undressed to get in the tub and he asked me "Mommy why don't you have a peepee?" I told him "mommy does have a peepee it's just different than yours and Daddy's because I'm a girl" He looked at me long and hard trying to figure out what I had just said...then he pipes up and says "you need to go to WalMart and get one!" I laughed so hard I almost peed on the floor. Haha. Two years old and already knew you could get anything at WalMart. Lol
5. What is the most important trait in a significant other?   A sense of humor for sure. Mine is still making me laugh 13 1/2 years later :)
6. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  Tahiti, Jamaica, I don't know some warm beach with sunshine...Sunshine being the key word. Lol.
7. What did you want to be when you grew up?  I thought I wanted to be a nurse in high school, but I decided that really wasn't what I wanted after highschool, and thought I wanted to be a teacher (music) but I am 31 and still don't know what the heck I want to do when I grow up...I am a hairstylist (turned stay at home mom since we moved a few years ago) but I will get back in the salon someday. Although it would still be pretty awesome to own my own coffee shop. Someday maybe.
8. If you could meet one person living or dead, who would it be and why?  Hm, tough one...I really would love to meet so many...but  I will have to say my sister whom I've never met in person.
9. What talent do you wish you possessed?  Well, I can play a couple instruments...and that is for the better because I can't sing to save my life. Lol. I wish I could! That or I wish I had any sort or coordination and could dance.
10. What song would you blare at full volume and sing at the top of your lungs?  All songs! Lol. Seriously though I like pretty much all music...but the one I blare and sing along with right now is Colton Dixon's You Are
11. If you could travel back in time, which decade would you visit and why?   The late 1800's. I have always had a fascination with Little House on the Prarie and I think it would be interesting to see how much harder their "simpler" life is than ours are now with the abundance of technology we have. I know it wouldn't be easy but I think it would be an awesome experience in every aspect.

 

Here are my Nominees:

1. Rene at Adventures In Running
2. Christina at Once Upon A Time
3. Allie at Counting Our Cupcakes
4. Ashleigh at Life In Bloom
5. Emily at Life's Little Moments
6. Anika at anikalee.com
7. Ashlie at The Souder's Saga
8. B at Unexpectedly Expecting
9. Birdy at The Ladybird Cafe
10. Jacy at Back On Track
11. Kristi at The Staheli's

Be Sure to check out their blogs for their answers and to get to know some great new blogs!

Okay, Here are my 11 questions for my nominees!

1. Did you have any funny nicknames growing up? Do your parents or anyone else still call you by that nickname...or do you have a nickname that you gained as an adult?
2. If you could live somewhere other than where you currently live (In the U.S.) Where would that place be? Why?
3. Were you an only child or one of many? If you were an only did you hate it? If you had siblings, did you ever wish you were an only?
4. If you could do college all over again (or go for the first time) What would your major be?
5. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
6. If you could go on a dream honeymoon, money not being an object, where would you and your honey go?
7. Do you have any weird phobias?
8. What is your favorite kind of music? Do you have a favorite song right now?
9. What is one thing that you do makes you feel pretty?
10. Do you have anything special from your childhood that your parents saved for you and gave you as an adult? Have you or will you save something special for your child(ren)/future child(ren) one day? If yes, what?
11. What is your favorite book?

11 Things About Me....

 

1. I am one of 10 kids! Yep, big family and I loved it growing up and still do. Wish we all lived closer though. It's hard growing up, and moving away.

 

This was way back and before the youngest 2 siblings came along

 

2. I am short tempered...always have been since I was little, It's something I have to work on daily.

 

3. I love to rearrange my house and would do it every couple months if I could. I love the feeling of a "new" room and rearranging is like therapy to me. Haha.

 

4. I love the color yellow. It is bright and cheery....and living in the land of gloom...I need to add more yellow to my house, I need to get on that ;)

 

5. I am 31 and have a child going into middle school next year! Huh?! Crazy! I feel old! Lol.

 

6. I was a young when I first became a mother and a wife. 19 for both!

 

7. I have been with my husband for 13 1/2 years and married for almost 12!

 

8. I was born and raised in southern California. I lived in the desert all my life until we moved when I was 27! I miss the HOT sunny weather.

 

9. I used to love the rain, and I thought I would love to live somewhere that I could wear rain boots. HA! Guess I should have been warned I might never wear flip flops again!

 

10. I drive a minivan, ya, I'm a mom...with a minivan....I guess that makes me grown up?! Haha.

 

11. If I didn't have to worry about medical issues I would love a bunch more babies...oh and if money grew on trees I would adopt a bunch too. :)

Thanks for getting to know me...now go check out all the other bloggers to get to know them too!

 

Throwback Thursday!

I have had a lot going on and forcing myself to sit down and blog here and on my family blog just hasn't hit the top of my priority list. I need to get better about keeping up both, for myself.

 

I thought I'd jump back in here with a fun post.

 

Without Further Ado...
a few Throwback pictures.

 

This was from our vacation last June. Um...Who was I kidding trying to hide and just get my face in the picture. There was no hiding that gut....and those capris? Maternity capris! Yep. 8 months post partum. Who am I kidding though...I wore them the summer before I got pregnant with Baby Little too...and I wasn't pregnant...in fact I was about the same amount post partum that summer from Middle Little.. The problem is I only gained 6lbs pregnant with baby little. I was really sick the ENTIRE pregnancy...and 2 weeks post partum I was down 20lbs! Awesome. Too bad I gained about 10 back. Blah. Oh well...here's to not wearing maternity anything when I'm not pregnant this summer! Here's to fitting into at least 4 jeans sizes smaller this summer(that's what I'm down now) but maybe even 5! :)

This one is from July of last year. My sweet bald baby sure has grown since then! Whoa.....and my face was SO round...and all my chins were super noticeable. I look so tired here...and not only because I was because Baby Little didn't (and still doesn't) like to sleep. I was so heavy and slow it was hard for me to follow the kids around and play at the park. I am so glad that I decided to make a change and that is no longer the case. It's 8 months later and I can now run pushing both kids in the stroller and not get so winded and my lungs burn so bad I feel like I'm going to die. In fact as soon as I get them both strapped in Middle Little likes to ask if I'm going to run to the school to get his brother...and I often do now...but the other day made me feel so good he said "Run like the wind mommy, I like it when you go fast". Now I know I'm not fast, especially pushing that stroller...but It's WAY faster than I used to be!!! When I started it took me 15 minutes to walk to the school...now? I can run it in 4 pushing the stroller. How awesome is that for judging how much better I'm feeling. I can only imagine how much better it will feel as I continue to get stronger and more fit.

 

Enough for this Thursday....I have another post to get caught up on here since I was tagged with an award. Post on that coming soon.

 

Stay tuned!

 

Weight Loss Challenge!!!

            Okay. I have been in a rut. A huge plateau. Lack of sleep, and a lull in motivation. I was talking to a good friend and she mentioned she wished there was a "Biggest Loser" weight loss challenge we could join and then she said we should start one. Well, I took the initiative and asked around on my personal facebook and my Mommy's Losing Rolls Facebook page gaging interest and there seemed to be a ton. Sooo...here it is!

The details of the challenge!

There are a few questions I need you all to answer.

           

-We need to decide on buy in amount...I was thinking $20???

-Decide on length of challenge...10-12weeks? I was planning on starting on Monday Feb. 4th and ending either April 15th(10 weeks) or April 29th(12 weeks).

-Money to me no later than the end of the first week! (Paypal transfers would be easiest for those I don't know personally) No money by end of first week...you are out of the challenge.

-No weight loss supplements or weight loss pills of any kind allowed !!!!

-Vitamins (multi, magnesium, Calcium, etc.) protein, etc. Okay... but this challenge is for those interested in a LIFESTYLE change. Healthy eating and exercise is all that is needed for all of us to be competitive and get healthy and fit together in the process!!!

-Winner will be based on percentage of weight lost so everyone has the same chance of winning.

-Weigh In's are mandatory once a week and there will be a deadline to get that to me.  If you miss that deadline 2 times you forfeit your money and are no longer in the running to win no matter what place you were in. 

-We will be posting weight and percentages just like in the real biggest loser. There's no shame in whatever your number is because we are all doing this for a reason and that is to get healthy and although this is a competition we are still here to support each other in that goal.  If everyone prefers I can make a private group that is just for the weight loss challenge members so it is a little more private since my page is public. 

-Once we are sure who is in fully, we will decide if we want to do a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize or just one big prize. 

-It is not part of the challenge but I encourage you all to take all your measurements before we start. Over 10-12 weeks you will be surprised by the changes you can make...I guarantee it. It will be a good bonus to look back and see how many inches you lost as well as the weight. (Before pictures are a great idea too!)

 Most of all, I would like you all to keep in mind that like I said before yes, this is a competition...but we are all participating for the same or similar reasons. Motivation and encouragement from others in the same boat can take you a long way in your journey to get healthy. I have benefited tremendously from the support I have received up to this point and I hope that we can all keep each other motivated and encouraged along the way during the competition.

Let's Do This!

Happy New Year!

 

I hope you all had a great new year's eve. I partied it up hard core with my youngest kiddos in bed and my hubby not home. My 11 year old and I watched the pretty boring New Years Rockin Eve, and then toasted with some sparkling cider at midnight. I think this means I'm boring...or I'm old...or both. Either way, New years eve has never been a big night for me other than ringing in the new year with my family at home. If that makes me boring and old...I'm fine with that. Then immediately following midnight both my little ones woke up screaming because they got woken up by the barrage of really loud big fireworks pretty much right outside our windows. My poor sweet 12 month old was screaming and shaking she was so scared. Poor thing was hyperventilating. Luckily my 3 year old went right back to sleep after I shushed and covered him back up. The dang fireworks continued until about 12:45. UGH! I love fireworks, don't get me wrong. I love that the big ones are all legal here. I love them on 4th of July....NOT at midnight on new years. At least not while I have little babies that wake up when it sounds like our house is being bombed. Ha!

 

 

Well, as you know I was doing the plank challenge from FatChick2FitChick on Instagram. The #merryplanksmas challenge was a good motivator for me. I couldn't seem to push past that 03:17 mark with my plank and frankly hadn't been doing them much. This challenge was just what I needed to challenge myself! I made my goal to be able to do 04:00 by the end of December. Guess what??! I totally did it!!! Barely...but I did! I am going to keep on planking for January and try to hit 5 minutes. I really don't know if it's possible...because 4 minutes was extremely hard. We'll see! FatChick2FitChick posted another challenge for the month of January and it's a great one. Check out the details on her blog (linked above). It's Wall Sits!!! Check it out on Instagram, #HappyGluteYear and join in on the fun! I did my first one today...and I don't know what my goal will be time wise yet. I did a minute today...I think I will just try to improve my time every day and go as long as I can stand (Or sit, I guess...haha)!

 

 

How are you all doing today? Are you starting anything new in this new year?

 

My goal is to continue this journey to health.

There are a few specific things I need to refocus on though, and I guess I can consider those my "resolutions".

 

Here's to a happier and HEALTHIER New Year!

Welcome 2013!

After Christmas Update and New Goals.

Well the holiday season is slowly coming to a close. How have you all done during this season of sweets treats shared with company and traditional breakfasts and feasts? I managed to make it through without a gain! I actually had a .6lb loss Christmas morning and didn't lose anything the next day, but didn't gain either. Pretty sweet!

 

I have had a hard time since December 1st. I lost 18.9 lbs in the 10 weeks before during my biggest loser challenge and then not a dang ounce in 17 days! I finally lost another lb taking me down to 182 around the 18th. I guess 31 lbs was a plateau point for me? I have to admit though that if I had got my fat butt moving a little more I might not have been having issues. I have hardly gotten any cardio in the last few weeks. I need to quit making excuses...but it's hard! My husbands schedule SUCKS! Seriously. I feel like I never have a second to myself...and when I do it's because I lock myself in the bathroom to go pee in peace for a minute. Literally. Lol. I try to get up before my kids to hop on my elliptical...but inevitably they wake up within minutes of me getting on. Even at 5 am. The past few morning my son has woken up at 4:30. That makes for a really long day. To do anything later in the day I wait for naptime or I wait for hubby to be able to watch the kids. Ha. Then it is already dark out and I don't feel safe running outside in the dark. Plus it's rainy. Lol. EXCUSES need to stop. I need to just figure something out. My kids habits will always continually change and I need to be able to change my routine when they change theirs. I need to suck it up and workout even if it ends up being 10pm before I can. Flip on my DVR and push the elliptical in front of the TV and go at it. Biggst loser starts again Jan. 6th...this season I told myself I would workout while watching it! :) That is my goal. 

 

I have been getting some strength exercise in however. I have been doing the Pilate's workout I posted a few weeks ago and still working on my planks. There is a challenge on Instagram called #merryplanksmas and I am going to try and hit 4 minutes by the end of the month. I am finally getting close! I have a few more days to make it. It's going to be tough though!  I have also been using my Sworkit app for short circuit training/strength stuff. I love that app because you choose what body part you want to work and how long you have and it gives you a workout even if it's only 5 minutes. It's great. Check it out. It's free too!

 

I weighed myself this morning and I weigh 180! 34lbs down! I am so close to being in the 170's! YAY! I haven't been in the 170's in at least 7 years...maybe 8! Once I hit 179 I will be at my half way point for my goal weight. Awesome. I also have 3 lbs to go until my next mini goal of 177. Which I wanted to be at by my birthday because calculating 1.5 lb a week loss when I started put me close. If I lose 1.5 the next 2 weeks I can do it! 177 is what I weighed the day I deliver my oldest. 11 years ago. Crazy. It's kinda sad that I had to lose 37lbs to get to a weight I had to gain 35lbs to get to! Oh well. It's progress for me to get to that weight and I am excited to pass it by!

 

I have been trying to think of what my next mini goal should be. I think the lightest I have been in the past 11 years is 163....which was literally probably 11 years ago because I never got past that post partum after my first pregnancy and that was probably at about 6 weeks post partum. I am going to make 162 my next mini goal which will put me at my lightest since having my first baby 11 years ago! I am very excited to get to this mini goal. It will put me at 52lbs lost and will put me 18lbs from my goal weight of 144 which is what I weighed when I got pregnant with my oldest/married.

 

I have some pictures I am going to post of me at different weights and I will do that soon. Probably in the next few days. Stay tuned!

 This was my plank the other day! I am SO close to my 4 minutes!

 

 Another pants size down. These are Juniors 15's (and they aren't even stretchy ones!)

 

I was in 18's when I started...stretchy 18's at that...and they were super tight! Pretty soon I will have to do some pants shopping. Not my favorite activity...shopping for clothes in general I loathe. Can anyone else relate?

 

30 Pounds G.O.N.E!!!

I haven't updated for a bit. It's busy around my house this time of year! All 3 of my munchkins have birthday's between Thanksgiving and Christmas! Yep...not planned that way, just the way God blessed us :)

 

Despite not blogging I have still been "working on my fitness" Lol. That's a line in a song right? I have no clue. It reminds me of that song "Bringing sexy back" that my sister used to sing NON stop when my oldest was about 5, so then he sang it non stop. Lol. Well...I am determined to do just that :) I have been training for a 5k. My very first one! I have been using the C25k app (couch to 5k program) and so far I like it. I am about a week behind right now because I was really busy last week...but even if I don't finish the 8 weeks of the app I am still going to do the 5k and use it as training for the next one. I am planning on my 1st 5K on January 6th and another in March. I figure as long as I finish this one in January that will be a win for me!

 

I mentioned a while ago that I was doing a "Biggest Loser" challenge. We all paid $20 and whoever lost the highest percentage of weight in 10 weeks won. There were 12 of us participating and we decided on 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. After 10 weeks, on December 1st, I finished in 2nd place with a total weight loss of 18.9lbs and a total percentage loss of 9.36%!!! It would have been awesome to have been in first...but hey...I was actually afraid I wouldn't do well since I was heavier starting out (so my percentage would have to be higher to win) and I lost almost 19lbs in 10 weeks!!! That is amazing! So not only did I win my money back...I made $50 and I lost weight, and I feel amazing, and I'm even more motivated to keep up my hard work and get to my goal! Basically even if I ended up in 4th place...I would still be happy since I really just wanted to use the challenge as motivation...so anything above and beyond losing the weight was a bonus :)

 

Ending the challenge brought me to my 30lb lost mark. 31 actually! I now weigh 183. 6lbs away from my next mini goal of 177, which I am still hoping to meet or pass by my birthday in a month. 39lbs from my total loss goal! Almost halfway there! Wow.

 

I took my measurements again and I have lost a surprising amount of inches! It's awesome and crazy and amazing to me how many inches I have lost! 50.5" down!!! You can really tell in this set of comparison pictures.

 

 

 

Last week as we were decorating our tree my hubby was taking pictures of the boys and I putting ornaments on the tree. After we were done he said "hey, you didn't know I took this one but look". I looked at the picture he took and said "Wow". He said "you didn't know how great you looked and how much a difference there really is huh". Well, no not really. I know I look different...and most importantly I FEEL different! It is great to look at pictures and see how much of a difference the work I am doing is making. It motivates me right along with how great I feel. I walk faster, I can run (well lets not get carried away...it's really a slow jog haha) but I can do so much more without getting winded and I love how energized I feel after a nice cardio burn or a short pilates workout.

 

I am so excited to see how much more I can change my body in the next few months. How much stronger will I get?! I love how things I was doing in the beginning of this journey that were a struggle are now easy...or getting easier. I love that I can hold an elbow plank for 03:18 now! My goal is 4 minutes by the end of December!  I will keep this updated on how that is going. If you don't plank...you should! It is such a great exercise. It works so many muscles and it is so versatile. You can change it up and work different parts of your body. Give it a try and let me know how you do!

 

Thank you SO MUCH for all the support and encouragement!!!!! It means a lot to me and I appreciate all the kind words. If you are just finding my blog, please read my first 2 entries for my background story and don't forget to add me on Myfitnesspal...user name is mommie_Tay!

 

Wordless Wednesday {Favorite ab workout besides planking}