Crock Pot Meal Test:

Of the five crock pot meals I made up and shared a few weeks ago, we have eaten 4.  I should have taken pictures but of course, I'm not that prepared :/  I gave each a rating out of five as to how much my family liked it.

• Scalloped Potatoes & Ham - 4/5
  
   
  This meal was very good...minus the fact that my house STANK like broccoli.  I didn't think it was that bad...until a 7 year old walked in and said, "Your house stinks."  Why yes, yes it does.  So note to self - slow cooker broccoli makes your house smell.  I made this up for the freezer again but tried green beans. We'll see how that goes.

• Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki - 4/5

I made this one and served it over cous cous.  It was very good.  Again, it contained broccoli, so it was not quite as fragrant. :/

• Ravioli - 5/5

This was a serious score.  Ravioli has always been one of my favorite foods and Charlie even ate it, too.

• Crock Pot Pasta - F.A.I.L

I threw this one in before we went to church and by the time we got home it was FRIED.  Apparently it needs to cook completely frozen on low for 3-4 hours, not thawed for 6-8.  It was so bad we walked into the house and Charlie said, "Ew, Daddy, something smells gross."  Yep, he was right.  Sandwiches for lunch that day.  I still have another bag of this, so next time I will try less time in the crock pot.

Overall, though, this has been great!  It's so easy and convenient.  And I have read about crock pot liners that make clean up a cinch.  Not sure the pocketbook can handle those (I'm sure they are expensive) but I might look into it!

Book: Rose Under Fire

Rose Under Fire

by Elizabeth Wein

Length: 384 pages

Format: Hardback
Price: Free, checked out from the school library

How I heard about it: my awesome YAL conference

Basic Premise: Civilian pilot Rose Justice is proud to assist the Allies in the war effort by ferrying aircraft to and from the European mainland. But when she is intercepted by unfriendly Germans, who don't care in the least that she is shipped off to Ravensbruck, a concentration camp.

My Take: 7 out of 10 (scale here)
This book was very good...eventually.  It was extremely slow to start, and the beginning was full of "wartime talk" - lots of military vernacular that had me slightly lost...not a good sign for YAL books.  That, coupled with the fact that it was pretty action-less had me having to put it down for a bit and then restart later.  It was so bad that I considered abandoning it, but three people had told me specifically that it was an excellent read.  And these weren't any ordinary three people either - they were readers I trust.  And it had been highly recommended at the conference.  So I pushed through.

SO glad I did.  Once it got going, it was WORTH IT.  I have read many, many books about concentration camps, and every time, I put the book down, look at the world today and wonder, "How is it possible that this happened? And within the last century?"  I was trying to think of a word accurate enough to describe the indescribable atrocities that occurred and came up way short.  A large portion of the book focuses on the "rabbits" as they were known to the prisoners.  These were women who became medical experiments.  Doctors would simulate wartime injuries by, for example, cutting open a woman's leg, filling it with gangrene, and then seeing what happens.  I remember hearing about this, and I have seen the movie The Debt so I was pretty familiar with the practice.  But ohmygoodness.  How DARE they.  When you are a nonviolent person but want to reach through the pages of a book and personally tear the flesh of the faces of people, you know you are reading something powerful.  And truly, other than the liberal use of the exclamation point (a personal pet peeve...and a totally snobbish one, I admit) I enjoyed the writing style. It really did feel like Rose was speaking the story.  It was a great book and one I would recommend.  Just beware the slow start.

The Path of Resistance

In our moms group at church, we have spent two weeks talking about discipline. I don't think any mom sets out saying, "I'm going to let my child get away with whatever they want," but, having been a teacher for eight years, I know that often, that's the technique.  And I understand why.  Humans, like rivers, are drawn to the path of least resistance.  It's easier to let them do it than to put up a fight.  However, unlike rivers, we have the power to force ourselves uphill, over the rough and steep terrain, further up and further in.  And not only do we have the power - as parents, we have the responsibility.

The difficulty comes in figuring out HOW.  Here is a perfect example of what I mean:

Yesterday, my family enjoyed a day at the pool celebrating our niece's birthday.  My four-year-old does fine in the pool with his puddle jumper and had a great time jumping off the diving board.

He did great...until he had to pee.

This might not be an issue for a normal kid, but my kid is afraid of toilets.  Like...deathly afraid.  I think it all started when Daddy took him to the bathroom at the mall or somewhere where they have automatic toilets.  It was loud and it scared the pants off that kid.  As a result, he is terrified of public toilets.  I have to take him in, flush it once so he can hear it, and then I usually have to stand there with my hand on his shoulder or somewhere to reassure him, and then we flush the potty TOGETHER.  (It used to be that I flushed, so we are making progress.)

Obviously, this arrangement cannot continue.  The kid is four-and-a-half years old.  He's been peeing on his own for a year now.  He should be able to do this.  We have talked endlessly about how there is no reason to be afraid - it's just a loud noise that signals the flushing of the toilet.  That's it.

Knowing this, I take Charlie to the bathroom for the 2nd time (Daddy had already taken him twice, and the kid peed EVERY SINGLE STINKING TIME).  As we are walking to the locker room, I calmly explain to him that he is a big boy and he needs to go by himself.  He begins to panic.  I stop right where we are, take him in my arms, and pray with him.  (We always do this when he is scared.)  We go into the bathroom.

And all hell breaks loose.

I tell him I will hold the bathroom door.
He wants me in the stall with him.
I say no.
He cries.
And now I am no longer CALM. 
He screams when I try to push him into the stall.  I pull him back out.
I talk to him again.
He screams.
We pray again.
I try to get him into the stall again.
He screams again, and now there are big tears rolling down his face
And now I am FRUSTRATED.
I speak directly into his face, explaining that he is a big boy, nothing is going to hurt him, and he is FINE.
He doesn't believe me and runs out, saying he no longer has to go.
I force him back into the bathroom, at which point he is SCREAMING (please note that we are not at a public pool - we are at the freaking Country Club, where people are having fancy dinners just down the hall).
And now I am ANGRY.
So I yell at him to get into the stall and pee.
I push him in there, pull down his pants, and make him go.
He cries and screams throughout the whole ordeal.
He flushes the toilet and we leave. 
He continues to throw a fit.
And now I am OH NO YOU DIDN'T.
I tell him to calm down and stop throwing a fit or we are leaving.
He continues.
I say, "Okay - grab your stuff. We are leaving."
He screams louder.
I tell him to get his shoes on, which he does while scream crying.
I tell him to calm down and go say goodbye to everyone.
He doesn't.
I tell him to do it or he's going straight to bed.
He doesn't.

By this point, I am HOT.  I am NOT speaking kindly, I am NOT being patient, and I am ready to BLOW.  I give my husband the I'm-so-going-to-kill-your-son-and-don't-you-dare-try-to-stop-me look, which he wisely heeds with a wave, and Charlie and I leave the pool.  Once out of the gate, I say to him "I am going to give you the walk from here to the car to calm down.  By the time we get to the car, I want you silent.  Do you understand?" More screaming.  We walk to the car.  I say, "I don't want to hear a peep out of you on the way home."  He gets in the car, fastens his seat belt, and continues to cry.  I start the car and then stop it and say, "Do I need to come back there?" "NO!" he yells and calms down.  Quiet.

By the time we get home, he is completely subdued.  He watches me in the rear view mirror and tiptoes into the house.  I tell him to go straight to his room and get ready for bed, which he does with no complaint.  I go to the kitchen and empty the dishwasher as a means of calming myself.  Then I proceed into his room, where he is curled up in bed with his blanket and his monkey, his eyes wide.

"Charlie, why are you going straight to bed?"
"Because I threw a fit."
"Yes. Because you threw a fit.  A big one."
"Mommy, I'm sorry about that."

And he hugs me.

We pray.  I ask Jesus to help Charlie with his fear of the toilet and help him remember that he can't throw fits.  Charlie thanks Jesus for the toilet...but Jesus knows what he meant. That boy does not say a word of complaint about going to bed.  He rolls over and is asleep within minutes.  Throwing a fit like that must really take it out of you.

I go back to cleaning the kitchen.  I am still deescalating, but as I always do after I exert some major discipline, I start to feel like a failure.  Rick comes home and puts Lucy to bed and I tell him the whole thing.  We discuss the fact that the boy is not being willfully defiant.  He is not saying "I don't want to use the toilet so I'm not gonna."  He is genuinely scared of it.  But he HAS to learn how to flush the toilet.  It's a life skill.  I am thinking about losing my cool.  I lose my cool occasionally and I WAY lost it today.  And when I lost my cool, I yelled, pushed, forced, and shoved.  Should I have done that?  Rick, bless him, says yes.  The kid was clearly freaking out and needed you to take over.  But...did he?  Did I do the right thing?  And (and this bothers me way more than it should) what did the people around us think? It's not like you can not notice someone's kid throwing a fit like that.  The people out on the FREAKING GOLF COURSE noticed.

This morning, after I've had some time to think and pray, I think there were some very good things about the ordeal:
1) Charlie did (eventually) do what he was supposed to do.
2) He did get his shoes on, leave the pool, get into the car, and keep his mouth shut on the way home without any "forcing" on my part.
3) He did seem to realize what he had done wrong.
4) He apologized without any prompting.
5) He may have even understood the consequence because he didn't complain one bit about it.

And there were some bad things:
1) I shouldn't have yelled
2) I'm still not sure if I should have forced.  Maybe we should have gone outside, sat for a little while for him to calm down, and then tried again.
3) I shouldn't have lost it. I'm not sure how I could have kept it, but I should have.
4) I realized later I sent the kid to bed without dinner.  Probably shouldn't have done that, but he won't starve.

Moving ahead: I plan to make a trip to the pool this week for the sole purpose of practicing the potty.  I am going to talk about it all week and then we are going to go do it.  I think I will also try to take him more when we are in public (which gets tricky with Lucy, but what can you do?).

The path of resistance is, well, crappy.  It's full rough rocks.  It's full of battles.  It's full of unknowns and second-guesses.  But the path of least resistance is what makes people and rivers crooked, as my dad always says.  I don't want to be crooked, and I don't want my son to be either.

So we will just keep at it.

Audiobook: The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave

by Rick Yancey

Length: 12 hrs, 41 minutes

Format: Audibook via audible.com
Price: $14

How I heard about it: my awesome YAL conference

Basic Premise: Aliens have invaded unseen, taking out the human population in waves - the first was knocking out all power, the second was activating earthquakes, the third was releasing a plague, and the fourth was sending Silencers out to kill.  Now, for the few who remain, there is no way to know who is human and who is the enemy. There is no one to trust, and the 5th is coming.

My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here)

This book was a page-turner...though I wasn't turning any pages.  I drove to Tulsa and back this week, and since I forgot to cancel my 30 day free trial of audible.com, I ended up with a free audiobook download.  I chose this one.

 

I'm not a sci-fi girl.  Never have been and probably never will be.  I hate Star Trek and Star Wars and all of that garbage, but as I told my husband (who listens to audiobooks on his commute every day), it's not like that.  It's...real.  It could happen. It was fast-paced and action-packed - just the way I like these types of books to be.  I'm not a huge fan of listening to audiobooks as first-time reads - I prefer to read the book and listen to the audio again later because I find it more difficult to concentrate if my eyes aren't trained on words.  As a result, I used the back-30-seconds button quite a lot, and there were a few times when I wasn't really sure what was going on, probably because I pulled my brain for a second or two and then missed it.  There was some language and some sexual references, but otherwise I thought it was really good and one my students would really enjoy.  You really never know who is human and who isn't, and Yancey did a nice job of keeping that tension interesting.

June Money Challenge

We have bats above the ceiling in our attic.  I don't even want to begin to explain the lengths to which we have gone to try to rid ourselves of these RIDICULOUSLY RESILIENT pests, so I will just tell you that they are slowly but surely sucking every. last. dime.  We have already shelled out $800 to have all their entrance areas sealed, but we have to get additional roof work done, and we have to rip out the ceiling and walls in our attic (until recently Lucy's room) so everything can be removed and sterilized.  And THEN, Rick has to rebuild it all.

Awesome.

Upon realizing the situation, we've had to take some rather drastic measures, because, as you know if you've been reading for very long, we are working our tail-ends off to get out of debt, and as we do with everything, we will be paying cash for this venture.  We have cancelled our family vacation (which nearly killed me), we have brought all non-essential outings to a screeching halt, and in short, we have quit spending money that we don't absolutely have to spend.

So last week, I gave myself $89 (because I had $9 leftover from the previous week).  Our regular grocery budget is $80, so that meant I had $9 to spend...period.  I tried to be as conservative as I could with the grocery, but we had Freezer Cooking Night (another post) on Thursday, so I had to spend just about every dime.  So I put the $9 in a jar in the kitchen and set to work making more.  I started listing things around my house that I didn't need anymore on Facebook and slowly started making some money.  By the end of the week, I had enough to take my son, nephew, and self to the movies and to ice cream afterward (with a coupon).  I also had enough to buy a very small Father's Day present for daddy, and thanks to a gift card we saved and drinking water, we were able to eat Father's Day lunch at Red Robin for $1, including tax :)

Lesson?  I CAN DO THIS.  I used to live like this all the time, and then somewhere along the line I got used to spending money.  Not an exorbitant amount, but some.  Now I pretty much have to bring it back to nothing.  I went through my closet (a chore I needed to do anyway) and listed enough clothes and things to bring in $40 yesterday - AWESOME!  Of course I can't do that every week, but Rick is going to go through his closet and I'm going to repeat the process with his stuff.  And he has nice clothes, so I'm hoping those sell as well.

The bat guy comes on the 1st to tear stuff out...

Crockpot Freezer Cooking

I have mentioned before that I am a recovering pessimist, and as such, I am already dreading August.  Life just gets so much harder in the fall.  So I've been thinking of things I can do now to help make my life easier then.

And one of them is crock pot freezer cooking.

I am going to start small - 5 meals.  I will prepare, freeze, and cook each meal in the coming weeks and see how I like it.  I have tried to choose meals that my son will eat and meals where I can easily pick something off or out of if need be.  Right now, I've narrowed my recipes down to the following:

• Scalloped Potatoes & Ham - my son is obsessed with ham - ham sandwiches, ham pizza, plain ham - and after the last year of him not eating FOOD, we are overjoyed.  I'm sure he will eat this.
  
  
  
• Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki - my husband LOVES teriyaki so this one looked good.

• Vegetable Beef Soup - this is my mother-in-law's recipe.  Mmmmmmmmm good.

• Ravioli - I love ravioli, and I've had a bag of it in my freezer for a while now. It needs eaten.

• Crock Pot Pasta - this is a totally new recipe, but it uses beef, which we have an abundance of, so I figured I'd try it.

I made all of these over the course of a few days, chopped, diced, cooked, and froze.  All but the ravioli made two meals, which means that these recipes yielded NINE meals for my family, and all they require is placing the bag in the refrigerator the night before and then throwing them in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.  I tried to pick recipes where I didn't have to go to the store for much and that used lots of vegetables.  And I made some modifications...like the teriyaki chicken called for canned pineapples with the syrup, but since we always have fresh pineapple around here (my kids are obsessed), I used fresh pineapple and reserved the actual pineapple juice (which normally I pour into a juice glass and drink).  I also threw in some broccoli and mini peppers since I had them on hand.  I'm looking forward to that recipe!

If this works as well as I'm hoping it will, that means I can slowly stock my freezer this summer and have ready-made meals for the fall, and as the fall is our busiest time of year, I can use all the help I can get. :)

Book: If You Find Me

If You Find Me

by Emily Murdoch

Length: 245 pages

Format: Hardback
Price: Checked out from the public library

How I heard about it: my awesome YAL conference

Basic Premise: Carey doesn't remember much before her meth-addict mother dragged her and her baby sister into the woods to live in a camper, completely cut off from civilization.  When she and her sister are found, after nearly a decade of living on their own in the woods, Carey is returned to her father, who she always believed had run out on them.  But no matter what he and his new wife do to prove to Carey that they love her, there is no way they would if they knew The Secret.

My Take: 6.5 out of 10 (scale here)

I thought this was one of those books with great potential.  It dealt with some pretty heavy stuff - this girl's mother was PSYCHO.  She would leave for months at a time, and in the winter when it was bitter cold, she would only ocassionally remember to bring them food, so they had to learn to hunt squirrel and rabbit to eat, and she would do just about anything for money or meth, including selling her daughters to the highest bidder.  So by the time this girl was found, she had been exposed to more than most adults.  That was serious.  But there were parts, like the exaggerated and immature step-sister and the hunkiest boy in school who happened to be attracted to her INSTEAD of the step-sister, which made the novel feel like a superficial teenage drama.  I didn't feel like those moments meshed well.  I also was not a huge fan of the writing style.  The language and word usage are similar to Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, but without the poetic momentum.  I found myself skimming instead of reading - which I NEVER do.  I am a read-every-single-word-on-the-page reader.

Like nearly all the books I've read this summer, it is not a book to recommend to my kids at school.

Summer Week 1: Goal Review

So Week 1 of summer is officially done! (I never count the last week in May because I'm usually recovering. This year was no different.)  Here are the notable things I began or fully accomplished:

Health Goals:

• watch the diet very carefully, focusing on fresh, plant-based foods - I did GREAT at the beginning of the week, but with the wedding this weekend I allowed myself a little wiggle-room - not a lot, but a little
• weight down to 140 - down to 148.4 (from 151...yikes!)

Reading Goals:

• finish my list - only 5 more to go! - 4 more to go!

Relational Goals:

• take at least one trip down to OK to visit my brother and his family - on the books for the week after next!
• coordinate a freezer cooking night at church- this Thursday!

Spiritual Goals:

• continue to be discipled - we are meeting EVERY WEEK during the summers! 
• lead a Moms Connect Group- ongoing
• participate in our movies/13 Coffees Connect Group both by going and doing the prep beforehand - ongoing

Family Goals:

• make a summer "do" list with my son...and do all the stuff!

I had plans to make it super cute, but as frequently happens, super cute got replaced by super practical:

Personal Goals:

• make a "to do" list every week and post it in my bedroom

This is my one from this last week:

I loved seeing it every day before I got up and when I went to bed. It was great to have the reminder daily of all the things I wanted to accomplish

Reading List Update

In the last week, I have knocked three books off my list (and read another one that wasn't on it).  I'm feeling pretty good about this.  I just got an email that the one I requested at the library is now available, so as soon as I can get there, I'm snatching it up.  AND, since I forgot to cancel my free subscription to Audible.com, I accidentally bought myself an audio book.  I opted for The 5th Wave, which I will be having a good time with on my trip to Tulsa in a week and a half.  Until then, here is my progress:

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer done, review here
• Vote by Gary Paulsen
• The Compound by S.A. Bodeen done, review here
• Just One Day by Gayle Forman done, review here
• Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger I tried...I really did...couldn't get past page 82...crossing it off.
• Island of Thieves by Josh Lacey done, review here
• The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau done, review here
• Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner done, review here
• The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
• Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
• Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys done, review here
• Imprisoned by Martin W. Sandler done, review here
• The President Has Been Shot by James Swanson done, review here
• March by John Lewis done, review here
• The Vine Basket by Josanne La Valley done, review here
• The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan done, review here
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowel done, review here
• If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
• Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan done, review here
• This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith I didn't read this one, but I read another by the same author (review here) and didn't like it enough to bother with this one

If I couldn't start summer off with a BANG! of activity, I suppose a reading BANG! is probably the next best kind.

Book: Counting by 7s

Counting by 7s

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Length: 378 pages

Format: Hardback
Price: Checked out from my school library

How I heard about it: my awesome YAL conference

Basic Premise: Twelve-year-old Willow Chance is more than an odd name - she's an odd duck (which she would readily tell you).  An undisputed GENIUS, and a bit of a lone wolf, she loves anything to do with growing things and medical ailments.  She never quite found her niche at school, but when tragedy strikes her family, a strange little niche seems to find her.

My Take: 8 out of 10 (scale here)

I adored this book.  Willow is a force - a rigid, complex character who takes all things seriously and leaves all adults staring after her with their mouths hanging open.  I liked that particular quality about her.  I loved the writing style - it was quick, witty, and the perfect mix of both funny and thought-provoking.  The author told the bulk of the story through Willow's eyes in a first-person narrative, but she forayed into the minds of other characters with 3rd person, which was a bit confusing in the beginning.  The writer also often started a new paragraph rather than simply a new sentence, and while I can see how that might be irritating to another reader, 

I liked it.

It worked.  

It's definitely a good one for students.  It deals with feeling like an outcast, dealing with loss, the meshing of cultures, and learning how to be yourself.  It was an excellent read an one I'd like to get for my classroom.

Goals: Summer 2014

I have been putting off the writing of this post, mainly because I am injured.  I've been holding out, hoping the pain would miraculously stop or that the doctor would give me magic beans or something. So far, neither has occurred.  So, with a heavy heart, I am forced to conclude that summer will not start out with a bang in terms of my fitness goals.  And, to be perfectly honest, living with constant pain is exhausting.  The pain is bad enough now that it doesn't matter what position I'm in - it hurts.  Transitions are when it hurts the worst - getting into or out of the car, lying down, getting up, lifting Lucy, shifting positions during the night (which also wakes me up), etc.

So, for the last week, I've basically thrown myself a pity party.  I've lamented the fact that I  have 0 miles since my run three weeks ago.  I have cried about not being able to go to yoga for at least two weeks (and honestly, the thought of going makes me cringe - my back hurts that bad), which means my goal to attend "30 Days of Sweat" is out the window.  So I am having to revamp my fitness goals for this summer.

And, while I was at it, I did my other summer goals too. I read somewhere that it helps to categorize your goals, so I'm trying it out.  They are as follows:

Health Goals:

• watch the diet very carefully, focusing on fresh, plant-based foods
• once my back has recovered, continue with yoga and frequent walking
• continue oil pulling (not sure this is necessarily a "health" goal, but it makes my mouth feel clean and I do believe my teeth are a bit whiter)
• drink only water, but allow myself one tea per week
• weight down to 140

Reading Goals:

• finish my list - only 5 more to go!
• read Catcher in the Rye (for you, Lara!)
• read my two parenting books (one of my unreached 30 Before 30 goals)
• reread Mockingjay

Relational Goals:

• take at least one trip down to OK to visit my brother and his family
• go on no less than FOUR non-kid outings with my super-hot husband of nearly 10 years
• oh yeah...and celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary
• try to connect with the women in my moms class at least once a week OUTSIDE of Sunday
• coordinate a freezer cooking night at church

Spiritual Goals:

• continue to be discipled
• lead a Moms Connect Group
• participate in our movies/13 Coffees Connect Group both by going and doing the prep beforehand
• focus on prayer
• increase Bible study

Family Goals:

• take a (small) trip
• make a summer "do" list with my son...and do all the stuff!
• throw him a 4.5 birthday party (his birthday is right after Christmas so we party on his half birthday)
• attend the Sports Center family reunion
• enjoy time with Rick's extended family when they come in July 

Personal Goals:

• make a "to do" list every week and post it in my bedroom (like the one above)
• keep my house in a constant state of cleanness - this helps my stress level stay down
• prepare home-cooked meals for the family every weekday
• finish Lucy's baby book (another of my unmet 30 Before 30 goals)
• make videos from the kids' early years of life (again, another unmet 30 goal)

And...go!

Get Fit: Chelsea

This week, I am proud to feature Chelsea! She is a great friend and fellow teacher, and her dedication to getting fit was one of the biggest contributing factors and motivators to my own success story.  Now, before you read this, understand that Chelsea is serious.  She is hardcore. She is tough. She is disciplined. She even calls herself "harsh" - and the truth is, that's the approach you have to take if you are going to be successful.  She tells it like it is - one of the qualities that makes her a phenomenal teacher, and certainly why she has gotten such great results.  Thanks for sharing, Chelsea!

 _____________________________________

Let’s start with the facts and a nice, solid before/after pic.  I’m 5’8”.  I started losing weight when I hit 175 on the scale (Size 12). I was 28.  As a New Year’s resolution, I committed to a diet and lost 33 pounds in 18 weeks which put me at 142 (Size 4).

Before: Taken July 2012

After: Taken September of 2013...after 4 months of successful maintenance

Look at the arms. You can tell everything from the arms no matter what your body type is (in my opinion).  I took this particular “after” picture because I could see my oblique for the first time. That shit in the after picture is good. I’m so proud of it.

I’ll try to summarize my experience, although my blog records all of it from the perspective of “after.”  I didn’t know I would be so successful, so it didn’t occur to me to blog beforehand.  Here is the full story on why I was DONE BEING FAT here.

Basically, I’ve been in the 150s my entire teen and early 20s life. I was an athlete. I had no problem being a strong size 8/10.  I never felt like one of those thin little fairy girls that could wear string bikinis and joke about how fat they were while enjoying a pair of size 2 shorts, but I felt good about myself. Good enough. On my wedding day I weighed 153. I normal number for me.  I was in the transitional year of post-college life.  I didn’t have the lifestyle of an athlete anymore. I was married.  I was VERY busy teaching, coaching 2 sports, and falling in love with The One.  I gained about 5 pounds per year. When I hit 175 and saw a few pictures of my ass and thighs, I realized I was losing myself.  And I didn’t even have the excuse that I had popped a kid out.  After Christmas Break of 2012, I was just beside myself. I couldn’t believe that I had a hard time wearing any of my clothes. I didn’t want to go out and buy Size 12 pants or Large tops because I was horrified that my body was that size. So, all of my clothes were way too small and I was very uncomfortable.  I knew I needed a black and white plan.

Eat this. Do this workout.

So I signed up for FitOrbit because I saw the program advertised on Twitter. I did it and NEVER cheated.  You see the results above.  FitOrbit gave me 6 months of an online trainer and meal plan for $300.  I think paying the money helped me stick with it at first.  There is an app with detailed workouts and recipes. You enter your goals and it makes a plan made for you.  So, no radical plan that cut out food groups or had me drinking juice only. Just good, solid clean eating.  Who knew?

Keys to My Success (in no particular order):

*NOTE: Some of this will sound harsh. I am delivering the same matter-of-fact attitude that I delivered to myself on January 1, 2013. Maybe it will work for you too.

1.     Commit to a meal plan and don’t play around.  I didn’t put one morsel of food into my mouth that wasn’t supposed to go there.  I know most people don’t have that discipline, but I’m fit and you aren’t.  Try it.

2.     Pack all meals. Prep all meals. No rash decisions.

3.     The family needs to be on their own.  Separate meals unless you have a fittie family that won’t fight it.  Don’t set yourself up for guilt or too much work. It takes a lot of time to plan and pack meals for yourself.

4.     Tell a few close (honest) friends what your goal is. They will keep you on track in times of weakness. (Thank you, Jen & Christa!)

5.     Make working out a priority. If you think you are too busy, you are lying to yourself. You aren’t. You just choose to make it an excuse.

6.     EAT CLEAN, UNPROCESSED FOODS.  Learn about it.

7.     Water only.

8.     Find a fit person and pick their brain.

9.     Don’t feel the pressure to eat socially. Go to weddings. Go to baby showers. Go to birthday parties. You eat beforehand.

10.  Be open about it socially if it becomes awkward. Tell people you are on a diet and you aren’t “cheating” today.  My opinion: if you do this regularly and people don’t see results, they won’t respect it. They will think you are a yo-yo dieter who is skipping out on their party food, but will binge on brownies at home. If you say you’ve lost 13 pounds by being disciplined and don’t plan to quit now, you will gain instant respect and they will leave you alone.

11.  Measure everything. Don’t eyeball it.

Please feel free to explore my blog if you want more of my perspective on losing weight.