:: Amp Camp Final Stats ::

I finished Amp Camp about a month ago, our last workout was August 28th. It was a really great experience, and was very effective considering during the duration of the eight weeks I went to California, Vegas, on a float trip, and took the Kansas bar (btw, I passed! :)

Here are my final stats I copied off of Fusion's blog. (Please don't judge my "before" pic...BLECH!!!)

Molly lost a total of 10 pounds, 2.5 inches from her hips, 3.5 inches from her waist, and 3 inches from her chest. Her situps, pushups and speed all improved, and she took control of her eating and fitness in the midst of a wild schedule, all because she was committed and taking charge of her self! Way to go Molly!

Since then I've lost three more pounds, so I'm down 16 total. My new goal is to be down 20 total by the end of the month, and to my goal weight by Thanksgiving! I'm running a 5K that day!

As embarassing as weight-loss posting is, this blog has been so great in keeping me accountable, especially at the beginning. So please bear with me while I keep writing about all this. I'm sure it's getting old, so I promise to write about something else once in awhile too!!

new eats.

I love food, and I always will. Obviously, it's not as easy to naturally love oatmeal and protein shakes as much as I just love egg's benedict, but I do my best by mixing it up a LOT by trying new recipes and ingredients. I have to keep it fun, interesting, and tasting great or I'll lose motivation.

Here are a couple of my new favorites in my adventures in healthy eating:

Steel Cut Oats for breakfast. On Sunday or Monday night, I'll cook a batch that will last Taylor and I the whole week. I originally just followed the recipe on the bag (bob's red mill steel cut oats) which called for 3 cups water, oats, and a pinch of salt. Then I'd add in my mix-ins in the morning. This week, I tried a new recipe for the base oatmeal from Oh She Glows, which is as follows:

1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 cups water
1 tbsp. ground flaxseed
1 tbsp. chia seeds
2 bananas, mashed
2-3 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon

1. In a medium-sized pot, bring the water and almond milk to a boil. Add in steel-cut oats and a pinch of salt and reduce heat to low.
2. Stir in the mashed banana (mashing it helps disperse the sweetness throughout), ground flax, and chia seeds. Simmer on low, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes, stirring every 5 mins or so.
3. When the oats are creamy and tender, remove from heat and stir in cinnamon to taste and pure vanilla extract. Serve immediately or allow to cool before transferring into air tight containers in the fridge. In the morning, add a splash of milk and reheat in the micro or on the stove-top.

To this base oatmeal my favorite add-ins are a splash of milk, and a tbsp of peanut butter, then either raisins or sliced bananas. I also have done pumpkin vanilla, where I'll add some canned pumpkin, a little vanilla or vanilla protein powder, pumpkin pie spice (love that stuff) and some raisins.

This is such a good breakfast and so filling!!

I also do a lot of smoothies/protein shakes, whatever you want to call them, for breakfast. My new favorite is this pumpkin pie smoothie I found on pinterest!

(gorgeous photography by Molly Hartley, please call 913-375-0807 to book an appointment. I will come to your house and take stunning pictures of messy looking ingredients after you've already used them)

1/2 banana, 1/3 cup pumpkin puree, 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt , 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk, few shakes of pumpkin pie spice, 4-5 ice cubes, and a scoop of vanilla protein powder. Blend. Eat the other half of the banana while you wait.

It was awesome!

We also tried spaghetti squash for the first time last night and loved it! I decided to go with the microwave method and it worked great. Taylor made turkey spaghetti sauce to serve on the squash, because he is the king of doctoring up food with his incredibly heavy hand with the spice jars. (It's better if I don't observe him doing it, and just enjoy it after the fact.)

Here are the instructions I used:

1. Set the whole spaghetti squash in your microwave oven and cook it on HIGH power for 3 minutes to make it easier to cut it in half. Use a chef's knife to cut the spaghetti squash in half, lengthwise, as soon as you remove it from your microwave.

2. Spoon out and discard the seeds from the center of each spaghetti squash half.

3. Set the cut squash halves on a microwave safe baking dish with the cut side down and add 1/4 cup of water to the dish.

4. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and microwave on HIGH power for about 6 minutes per pound.

5. Scrape the cooked spaghetti squash with a fork to loosen and remove the meat from the shell and transfer to a serving dish.

I was shocked at how easy it was, and how good it really did taste! It heated up nicely today for lunch as well.

Hope you enjoy if you try any of these crazy concoctions!

giving clean eating a go...

I have been at a weight loss plateau for basically a month, and I knew I needed something major to start losing again. So I created my own "30 day challenge", if you will. (It conveniently began exactly thirty days prior to my upcoming trip to Mexico!) Yes, I know I sound like a health-nut freak show, but I'm a changed woman for God's sakes!! So each week I work out 6-7 days, adding running twice a week on top of my fusion-ing. I still count my calories, and generally maintain what I had going on before this month. However, each week I'm trying something a little more drastic to see how it goes.

Week one was a "no-sweets" week. Typically I'll have a couple chocolate chips after dinner, or a sugar free fudgesicle, or a little bite of a cookie at work if it's there...because no matter what, I always crave sweets after I eat. So that week I denied myself any kind of sweet, and had no added sugar at all. (sugar in fruit was allowed) And it went great! The first two or three days were rough, but after that I stopped craving it and also didn't want to cave in since I knew it was only a week. So far, so good.

Last week's challenge was "Eating Clean". After my sugar-free week one, it was a relatively easy transition, since white sugar isn't a part of the clean eating diet either. I bought "Just the Rules", by Tosca Reno to see what all the clean eating hype was. Basically, it's just eating whole foods, no processed stuff, no added sugar, yada yada. Common sense. The book cost 99 cents online so it's all good. Most everything I've already been eating for the last three months qualifies as "clean", I just have to be more restrictive with little side snacks here and there, and read my ingredients lists more intently.

Anyways, it went really well, and I kept it interesting by going to the farmer's market and buying things that looked good, then meal/recipe planning around them. This week I got butternut squash, kale, apples, and bell peppers. Out of this I'm doing stuffed peppers, kale salads, kale chips, roasted squash, and just downing those apples because they are delicious. 

This past weekend I also read Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. Her theory is basically the same as the clean eating lifestyle, but she is very adamant about eating all organic, and spacing meals out by 4 hours rather than 2-3. She's also a crazy lady about toxins in plastic, our drinking water, make-up, cleaning supplies etc. Sorry Jilly girl, I've gotta draw the line somewhere. My tupperware is just fine. Overall, I preferred Tosca's clean eating diet over Jillian's "remove all toxins, refuel with superfoods,

rebalance" mantra.

I think the positives of these types of diets/lifestyles are that certain food groups aren't eliminated, (i.e. carbs) and they make sense. Fruits and veggies = healthy eating. The negatives are high costs associated with eating super healthy and the demonization of all processed food. I really feel silly turning my nose up at string cheese, regular deli meat, and triscuits...and I catch myself doing that. Those things aren't bad. They just have some ingredients that are not "clean" per some lady named Tosca. (AHH!! NITRATES and NITRITES in our turkey!! We're gonna die!!!) Obsessing is ridiculous. Anything in moderation is fine. The thing with me though is that I am not good at "moderation". I'm getting better, but at this point it's best when I just cut things out. Sometimes I suffer for it, and I binge, but if I allow myself chocolate every day, I'm gonna eat A LOT of chocolate every day. If I eat Chipotle one week, I have to have it the next week, and the next week. Oh, and might as well throw in some greek food too. It's better just to say no.

Once I'm at my goal weight, I think I will be able to enjoy practicing moderation, since I'll be able to eat more calories for weight maintenance. But for now, being strict is good for me. And clean eating is pretty darn strict.

catch up ::september::

September. I hit the "15 pounds lost" mark, but I have stayed there...and haven't budged. More details on that later. It's pretty obvious that all the events in this post and my August post are a good indication as to why I haven't lost any more weight but guess what? Everything was so completely worth it and the good news is that with all this fun stuff I haven't gained anything, so I'm still truckin.

So here we go with another great month!

First up : Chicago.

Labor day weekend Jessica, Monica, Jamie, Laura and I went up to Chi Town to visit Liz and Meredith in the new city they get to call home!

We were so lucky to be able to stay at Amy and Robert Landers' awesome apartment while they were out of town and dog-sit Finley, their adorable chocolate lab. Friday night we stayed in and had cocktails and snacks on their huge private rooftop deck, overlooking Wrigley Field ... which was as horrible as it sounds...
:)

Saturday morning we went to the Bongo Room for brunch, and I'll just let the pics do the talking here.

Happy dieting, Molly. 

my loves.

We walked it off a bit on Southport Avenue, and then got to go enjoy Caroline's (liz's niece) 1st birthday party at a ballet studio located in the same building as Liz's school.

a little unsure about this cake thing....

That night we went to a bar on top of the Lincoln hotel and then Cafe Ba-ba-reeba for tapas and sangria. Delish and such a blast. Fun fun friends I tell ya.

Sunday was our day of  tourism...we went to another cute area of town and got ice cream and lunch, in that order, then took the train to Millenium Park to see the bean and walk along Lake Michigan.

back bends. the instinctive pose.

We ended the trip with a stop to see Maggie and Duane and their new condo. It was so great to see them and Maggie was such an adorable pregnant lady! (Lady, woman, girl, chick? Please tell me how to properly refer to my adorable pregnant friends!)

Dinner at Caro Mio followed, a BYOB italian restaurant with the best gnocchi I think I've ever had. I spilled wine on Liz's new anthropologie shirt I begged to borrow. We closed the place down.

Can't wait for our next girls trip, there really isn't anything better. :)

The rest of September has been full of two trips to Manhattan for football games, a late anniversary celebration, the plaza art fair, and Taylor's busy soccer coaching season. This weekend we have nothing planned and I am so excited to relax and enjoy this beautiful weather! The farmer's market and dog/people parks are calling my name. Wish it was the weekend already. Fall 2012 is turning out to be quite a spectacular one! Maybe I'll get festive and carve a pumpkin this year or decorate my house. Maybe.

catching up :: august ::

Well, the last time I posted was in the middle of summer and now summer is over!! Ahhh!! It was very busy and absolutely wonderful. Here are some August highlights and of course the illustrative instagrams....

The weekend of August 4th we went on a float trip with some friends down to the Elk River in Noel, Missouri. It was a blast, even with an extremely low water level, equalling a lotta paddling and not so much floating.

The following weekend we went out to California to visit my family. It was action packed and SO wonderful. Two trips to the beach, one to the horse races, drinks on the beach, great food, hiking, an 80s cover band concert, Liam's friend's birthday party, working out (at the club all the real housewives of the oc work out at, nbd)  :) ...and more and more and more. It was a great trip and we can't wait to do it again soon!

Fiona's new wetsuit!

Pat, Cindy, Sam, Jennifer, Taylor and I at this amazing bar on the beach in Laguna.

sunset view.

First day at Laguna beach. Fiona is really shy, we just can't break her out of her shell. :)

Liam and Fiona on the train ride to Del Mar.

The races!

Can't complain!!!

The following weekend was Laura's wedding weekend! The rehearsal dinner was at Carmen's Cafe in Brookside, and of course beautiful! Rehearsal dinners are my favorite, they are always just so special.

the soon-to-be LaHues!

....and the married Lahues!!!

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and so were the bride and groom! Here you can see a little bit of the alter that her dad made out of barn wood, it was mega awesome sweet cool.

Bridesmaids. :)

It was so awesome to be a part of this wedding, the day was so relaxing - we even went to brunch at the Farmhouse in the river market after we got our hair done. Laura was such a perfect bride and the day couldn't have gone better! She and Pat are such a wonderful couple, I'm so thrilled for them!

And that is August is a nutshell! Pretty great month I'd say...

Weeks Ten and Eleven. Vegas and the KS Bar in the same post?!

So Week TEN. I worked out and ate great Sunday, July 15th-Friday July 20th. Then that Friday, July 20th at 3:05 PM I got on a plane, and arrived shortly thereafter in Las-Wonderful-Vegas. First stop: The Paris Hotel. Oh wait...I take that back. First stop: Forever 21. Huh???!!

Well, my dear reader, I have this friend named Jessica Edwards who has this cat named Mona who didn't want her sweet owner to leave her. So she peed in her suitcase. All over her meticulously-planned out Vegas apparel. For Jess to discover after she had already left and had to be to the airport in fifteen minutes. So Carly, Jess and I started our crazy trip rolling around luggage in the Vegas Forever 21 so Jessica could replace her now cat-urine filled suitcase of clothes.

Mission accomplished. New dresses in hand, we arrived at our second stop - The Paris Hotel!! We got ready, and took a couple cabs off the strip to a delicious tapas and sangria dinner to kick off Laura Beth Bjerg's Bachelorette Party of the Century. It was perfect. Then we rode this big ol limo with unlimited beer back to the strip. It had a sunroof you could stand up through, so yeah, that happened.
The rest of our weekend was filled with free drinks, tables, and service everywhere, lots of dancing, even more laughs, and honestly just the best time ever. We love you Laura and can't wait for the wedding in just three short weeks!!!

The whole group.

Cheers!

The bachelorette and I. Best friends for 20 years!

After getting home late Sunday night, I woke up bright and early to start studying for the Kansas Bar, which I was taking on Tuesday. Yes, I went to Vegas the weekend before a bar exam. And I don't regret it for a second!! I drove to Topeka that night and took the test the next day, then was back to work on Wednesday.

So week eleven equalled no work outs for five days and not  paying that much attention to my diet either. But I ended the week with workouts Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and still weigh the same. I'm completely back on track now which is great. I am only down ten-eleven pounds, but I am hoping to work really hard and lose two this week!

Week Nine - 10 pounds have left the premises.

Week nine has probably been the best I've done so far on this "journey". (Hahahaha....I HATE when they use the word journey on the bachelorette, that was a joke.) I have worked out every day except Friday, eaten almost close to perfect, and lost two L-B's, ba-by!! Last night I asked Taylor if it was weird to go from having a lazy wife always in pajamas to a wife always in workout clothes and he told me it was bizarre. He came home from Denver and California and was married to literally a different person. He told me since I pulled such a huge one-eighty, he was worried I would just quit one day and erase all my hard work. I totally understood what he meant, but it hurt my feelings too that he thought I wouldn't stay on track. He wasn't trying to discourage me or be mean at all...(not trying to put him on blast here), but I told him that the reason I won't do that and the reason I've changed so much is that this is the first time the "switch" went off in my head that allowed me to truly commit and change my lifestyle. And that's why I'm here to stay. I will slip up, but I won't just gain all my weight back in a couple weeks like I used to always do. In the past, I was never fully ready to commit. I didn't want to let go of the 3000 calorie Mi Ranchito meals, eating whenever, whatever, and the comfort of sweet, fluffy, yummy food. I didn't want to practice any restraint in my social life, and I didn't want to tell myself no. I wanted so, so badly to lose weight and be healthy but not bad enough to give up the things I loved. This time around, I finally became ready to let go of my fear of not having that comfort in food and the couch. And there's nothing wrong at all with ice cream, and beer, and french fries, and mexican food, I just (at this point) don't know how to have a healthy relationship with them. So we had to break up. They were so comforting and distracting but our relationship was just making me unhealthy and unhappy. This is all so mental, and I finally got to the place I needed to be. So I think that I will stay on this path, and will maintain my goal weight once I get there.

Weigh In: Down two pounds, so down TEN pounds now!

High: Amp Camp has been really motivating. We have gotten three emails this week from Shawna, our instructor, with tips, recipes, motivation, etc. It's really fun to get that in my inbox!


Low: Knee Pain. I go from my back, to my shoulders, and now my knees. Sheesh. I think I'm going to head to the chiropractor this week to get things checked out. Those suckers are feeling bizarre. I know they are overworked, but I hope it's nothing serious and they'll loosen up over time...


Exercise Update: Worked out every day except Friday, and while I was a little stressed out since Amp Camp instructs me to work out seven days a week, I know my knees needed that break and I think they are thanking me.


Goals for Next Week: Well ladies and gentlemen, in six short days I will be in Vegas for Laura's Bachelorette Party!!! Sooo...that requires me to be absolutely perfect in my eating and working out Sunday-Thursday since Friday and Saturday I will be sinning in Sin City. This is my first trip to Vegas and it's for the best occasion ever, so I'm going to live it up, but my goal is to jump right back on track immediately afterwards and keep on truckin.


And since I feel bad for never posting pics or fun things anymore, here is a picture of Maeby doing her "Quick, act like a human!" trick.

Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?!!

Amp Camp and Week 8

Wow...so, lots to report! Last week, the week of the fourth of July, was my eighth week of this big old get- not-so-big shindig. Other than the holiday splurging, it was a great week!! I lost another pound, went to Fusion Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday, and signed up for Amp Camp. I think it's safe to say that Fusion has really changed my life. I've gone 20 freakin times in a month. It feels great and I'm seeing crazy results.

So...Amp Camp. What is it? Well, it's through Fusion, and it's an eight week hardcore fat camp :). (They would never call it that, really skinny girls are in it too, it's just to "amp up" your fitness and find the "healthiest you".) We met for the first time Sunday. I had "before" pics taken, measurements taken, my push-ups and sit-ups per minute timed, and given a very strict diet and exercise plan. I also had to go run a mile on my own and time it. I was so scared and dreaded it so badly. I haven't ran a mile since eighth grade and really didn't think I could run the whole thing. But I went to the gym on Monday, ran on the track, and ran the whole time. And it wasn't hard! My time was super slow, but it was honestly the BEST feeling. I could not believe I didn't hate it and actually could do it easily!

After the intro on Sunday, we met for our first workout Tuesday morning at 5:30 AM at the Shawnee Mission East track. I really don't remember the first ten minutes. I was asleep. All I know is that it was one of the hardest hours of my life, it was dark out when we started, and there was A.LOT.OF.RUNNING. And sprinting. And STAIRS. So maybe I don't like this running thing after all. :) I was a zombie at work yesterday, but guess what? I got up again this morning and went to Fusion at 5:30. I feel much better today.

In addition to our 5:30 Tuesday morning group workouts, we have two mandatory take home workouts per week on a treadmill or elliptical. The other four days of the week we are supposed to work out on our own for an hour. So Fusion class for me. We stick to a 1200 calorie diet, which is fine with me because that's what I was already doing, but there are some more restrictions - no more than 30 carbs per meal, no more than 25 added grams a sugar per day, and at least 10 grams of protein per meal. Those guidelines are really helpful for me and I've been eating really well. I'm starting to love shopping for healthy stuff and looking for healthy recipes. Trader Joe's is absolute heaven for eating healthy on a budget. I've switched from regular whole wheat bread to Ezekial bread, which is much cheaper there than anywhere else, and regular skim milk to almond milk, which is also very affordable at good old Trader Joe's. Sorry for no fun pics or flair, I'll write more at the end of this week, week nine!!

Week 7 and Taylor's Trip to CA

Weigh In : Yesterday I was down another pound, so down seven pounds total, but that crappy lb. crept back in this morning. So looks like I'm again at the same weight as last week. I need to stop obsessing over one pound. But on my goal sheet I'm supposed to be down ten right now, so I'm again frustrated.

High: My work pants are falling off of me! (I guess this is also a low...I mean, no one wants pants literally falling down at work) but I'm so excited about how different my clothes fit! It's a huge change.

Low: Not having Taylor around to make me wake up in the morning to go on a walk!! Speaking of not having Taylor around, look what he's been doing while I sit at home. :(

Learning to surf....

hanging out with my brother Sam, sister-in-law Jennifer, niece Fiona, and nephew Liam...

checkin out tide pools...

bar-hopping on the beach...

and having a GREAT time!

He got really lucky and was sent to Irvine, CA for work training, which is super close to where my brother and his family live so he's gotten to spend a ton of time with them. I'm so sad I'm not with him to hang out with our family but we are planning a trip in August to go out there together!

Anyways...back to week seven...

Exercise Update: Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday(tomorrow) Fusion. I didn't get as many workouts in this week because of Taylor being gone and our division being in trial, so after work I have had to run home to let the dogs out and couldn't make it to any 6:00 classes. And it's too hot outside to think about going on a walk instead.

Goals for Next Week: Measure Food. When I think about my food scale, I feel ....dread. I generally think that I have the tools to eyeball my portions on my own and don't need to be so obsessive, but I think I'm kidding myself. I think my portions are too big and I'm sad about it. I like them, and I don't want to see them go, but this is just something I have to do. So measuring cups and the food scale are coming out.

Try to stay cool this weekend! Apparently if it's over 100 degrees the Mission Municipal Pool is free, so yeah. I'm all over that. Will report back with any funny tales concerning hordes of gross people cramming into a free public pool.

Week Six - couple days late

Here are my boring stats. This is the first week with no weight loss, which is a huge bummer, but I knew this would happen because I did not diet at all last weekend while I was in Denver. I was hoping for at least one pound gone, but it's ok, I know I will do better this week.

Weigh In: SAME. no weight loss this week. :(

High: Barre Intensity. It's a different class I tried at Fusion that I loved. Yes, I said it, I loved it! I was actually able to do everything and still felt really challenged. And I felt like a ballerina. It was very fun. (SHOCKER! It was FUN?! Working out?! Didn't ever think that was possible.)

Low: I ate too much on Wednesday and Friday, and I know it's not a big deal since I'm doing so well overall, but when I go over my calorie count, I get really depressed and grouchy. Probably not the best road to start going down when it's not a binge or anything like I used to do. So I found this on another blog and need to remember these words:
"When I overeat one day, it’s easy to jump right back on track the next day.  The key is to not miss a beat.  If you fall, get up and start again quickly without looking back.  No guilt and no remorse over past eating whether it’s one day or one week.  Permit yourself only forward thinking, positive healthy thoughts."

Exercise Update: Monday Fusion, Tuesday Treadmill Walk/Run, Thursday Fusion, Saturday Fusion. Four days!

Goals for Next Week: Don't eat out at all and wake up in the mornings to walk the dogs at least twice!

Denver

Last week, Taylor was training in Denver for his (somewhat) new job, and pretty last-minute I was able to join him Thursday night -Sunday morning and visit some of our very best friends. Adam and Jamie opened their home to us and we had the most amazing time.

After a great breakfast Friday morning, Adam, Jamie, Monica, Taylor, and I (and of course Luna) headed up to Evergreen for a hike. It was INCREDIBLE! Picture above is from the start of the trail.

So happy!!

After our hike got cut a little short due to some lightning, we got some pizza and beer in downtown Evergreen, then headed up to Jamie's grandparents' cabin to hang out and see Jamie's family. Poor Luna was so worn out from bouncing around in the wilderness. She just needed a hat for some shade and a nice lap to veg out on :)

Later that night, we went back down to Denver and had a delicious dinner at Izakaya Den on Pearl Street, then went home and to bed!!

Saturday was full of walking around the world's coolest park, checking out REI, eating, eating some more, and topped off with the cutest patio table at Stella, an Italian restaurant where all dieting hang-ups were tossed to the wind and tasting a bit of every plate on the table, every last one, became the goal. Woops! But Monica had to carb-up for her century ride the next day...yes, a 100 MILE BIKE RIDE THE NEXT DAY, so we had to follow suit in the carb department. SO worth it. After dinner we tried to get a spot on a roof top patio with an awesome view but were shut down, so we just headed next door to get huge ice cream cones and watch an old movie on an outdoor screen. Pretty perfect day I'd say! (Oh, besides the point when I very awkwardly ruined Taylor and Adam's efforts to be smooth at the bar....I walked up just as they were introducing themselves to some cougars. It was so weird. I totally caught them hitting on some chicks for free drinks!!! Hi-larious.)

Taylor and I really fell in love with Denver this trip. There is just so much to do and everyone is so active. I was really feeling the mountains too...there were some very hippie "in touch with nature" moments. :) We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends that live in awesome places we can visit! Can't wait for another Denver trip hopefully sooner than later!