I'm so FREAKING EXCITED!!!

As you know, we are allowed to weigh ourselves once every 4 weeks. I have been weighing in at my doctor's office since I don't have a scale and that is the scale I had used when I started BBC. I really had it in my mind that I wanted to reach 15 pounds in the first month. I wasn't able to go at the end of last week due to my scheduling conflicts. So I sauntered in today greeted by my favorite receptionist Yvonne (shout out!), and she was happy to help as always! At first, I was a little disappointed, because in my head the miserable math skills that I have put me at 14 pounds. Ah, man... Not that 14 pounds is a failure by any stretch of the imagination, but I really wanted it to be 15! Then I got home, and I got thinking.... hmm... maybe you should check your calculations Christine... so I did. The calculator knows better than me. I have lost FIFTEEN pounds!!!!! WHAT?? I am really proud of myself today. Really very proud! I am on cloud nine!

A couple of recipes to try...

I received a Kraft food and family magazine in the mail the other day full of recipes. Some are not very supportive for the MOOsers needs, however, I found 2 that seem to be pretty decent (and sound yummmmmmy). I will definitely put the ingredients on my shopping list and try something new this week! I will look for a fat free dressing that is high fructose corn syrup free in place of the light ceaser that is recommended. Adding some chicken to the Spinach Pasta Toss will make it a complete meal!

Spinach Pasta Toss

Prep Time:

5 min

Total Time:

25 min

Makes:

6 servings, 1 cup each

What you need:

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cups multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked

1 cup water

1 pkg. (9 oz.) baby spinach leaves (7 cups)

1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Italian* Three Cheese Blend

Make It!

BRING tomatoes, pasta and water to boil in large saucepan; stir. Cover; simmer on medium-low heat 10 min. or just until pasta is tender.

ADD 1/2 of spinach; simmer, covered, 2 min. or until wilted. Stir. Repeat with remaining spinach.

SERVE topped with cheese.

Special Extra

For a spicier dish, add 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes or hot pepper sauce along with the tomatoes.

Nutrition Information

Calories 210

Total fat 3.5 g

Saturated fat 2 g

Cholesterol 10 mg

Sodium 520 mg

Carbohydrate 34 g

Dietary fiber 3 g

Sugars 5 g

Protein 11 g

Vitamin A 70 %DV

Vitamin C 20 %DV

Calcium 30 %DV

Iron 15 %DV

Healthy Living Information

Good source of calcium

Good source of vitamin A or C

Diet Exchange

2 Starch + 1 Vegetable + 1/2 Fat

Chicken with Twenty Cloves of Garlic

Prep Time:

5 min

Total Time:

20 min

Makes:

4 servings

What you need:
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

20 cloves garlic, peeled

3/4 cup fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup KRAFT Light Classic Caesar Dressing

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Make It!

HEAT large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken and garlic; cook 4 min., turning chicken after 2 min.

STIR in broth and dressing; cover skillet with lid. Cook chicken 3 to 5 min. on each side or until done (165ºF).

SPRINKLE with Parmesan; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 1 min.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Serving Suggestion

Serve with roasted vegetables and whole grain rolls.

Purchasing and Storing Garlic

Look for heads of garlic that are both large and plump with dry skins. Store in a cool dark place, such as on a pantry shelf, for up to 8 weeks.

Nutrition Information

Calories 220

Total fat 7 g

Saturated fat 2.5 g

Cholesterol 80 mg

Sodium 470 mg

Carbohydrate 7 g

Dietary fiber 0 g

Sugars 1 g

Protein 30 g

Vitamin A 0 %DV

Vitamin C 8 %DV

Calcium 15 %DV

Iron 6 %DV

Healthy Living Information

Good source of calcium

Diet Exchange

1/2 Starch + 4 Meat (L)

Nutrition Bonus

The Parmesan cheese provides calcium in this flavorful and fragrant chicken.

Number Five Alive

Today was actually quite a lot of fun at BBC. First we did some push presses (I think is what it's called.) Four sets of 8 reps each. We started out with no weight and added weights each set. Lisa and I ended up pressing 80 lbs and Erica did 85! We are such strong broads! (Missy wasn't here because she is gone on a business trip, we miss you Missy!) Then we did 'roll the dice' or something like that. Basically, Ben gave us each a die and we had to roll it to see which form of torture was in our future. Each number 1-6 represented a different exercise that we had to do 15 reps of. We also had to do 50 jumping jacks in between every 2 sets. I rolled freaking burpees 3 times!!! The last time I even kicked the die to change the number and it still went back to number 5, burpees! So I kicked it once more and it was still 5! And even though it sucked really badly, poor Erica got burpees what seemed like all but 3 times! I felt for her, I really did! It was a lot of fun though, it was cool to not know what was coming next.

Ben rounded out our morning beating by having us do wall sits and plank poses for SIXTY seconds! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!???! When did we transistion to 60 seconds? I think he had us do 4 or 5 sets of those. But whatever, we did 'em. We got there, kicked ass and looked good doing it!

PSA: Just for the record, Ben isn't really torturing or beating us! His workouts are intense but not abusive. We are seeing results! Plus, we all asked for this ass kicking!

Ahhhhhhh-maaaaaaaa-zing!

The title describes just how I have been feeling this week. It's craziness! I feel like I went to bed Sunday night, went to BBC on Monday morning and a switch was turned on. I have been feeling more energized since starting boot camp, but this week has been different. Monday I felt like I woke up... and started this whole new side of my life. I played and played with my daughter on Monday & Tuesday. To the point that she was getting annoyed with me. I think I had even had more energy than my 2 year old could handle! Every thing that came out of my mouth was a song. (Think: "Let's eat your lunch and then we'll take a naaaap!") Yes annoying, but lucky for you, you weren't with me unless your name is Aunt Karen (or Libby, but she doens't care)! Sorry AK! I had to warn my poor sweet Alex when he got home from work that I was in a terribly annoyingly good mood (and not to mess it up) and I think he saw a side of me that he has missed for a very long time! Although he most likely won't admit it! He must have called me a dork at least 15 times on Monday night. I remember I used to be this way. I was like this in high school. Rambunctious and silly and bubbly and full of life. What a feeling! I don't ever want to go back to the way I felt a month ago- EVER! The rest of this week so far has been a lot of the same, and man, am I loving it!?

I have really started seeing some results. So let me share some of these results with you:

Obviously my energy is crazy through the roof!
My moods have been great. I haven't even felt the need to lash out at Alex lately, and he's loving it!
I am playing with my daughter like mad.
My endurance and strength is up (quite a lot, I think) at BBC
My clothes are starting to fit a bit better
My posture has improved
When I sing, I can hold a note a lot longer (even when singing about lunch)
I can RUN up the stairs without getting winded
I don't feel as exhausted when I get home from a party
My shoulders are taking on a whole new shape
My side boobs are disappearing as well as my front boobs! Alex is not liking this one so much


And of course we are supposed to stay off of the scale, but I am naughty. Oh yes, that's right, I am naughty! (Who would have ever guessed that?!) I was actually busted by Mr. Ben Warstler himself as he has all of our log in information to fit day. I had innocently weighed myself last week and logged the number into my fit day account just to see how it looked on the weight goal graph, and then I removed it... Apparently while it was in there, Ben must have logged in and I was busted! So okay fine- I weighed myself. And I have lost 12 pounds so far. This week will end week 4 and I think we have permission to weigh ourselves, so of course, I will! When Ben and I were chatting about this today I told him that it doesn't even matter what the scale said because the way that I feel is and always will be more important than the number. I want to give Liberty a better Mom, that is the biggest goal. She's getting one!

Oh and by the way- I did 66 fire hose slams in 30 seconds today. That's freaking nuts! I'm still doing crappy on the burpees, but they're burpees. I'll get there... someday. The planks and I were even agreeing a little bit yesterday! Progress is being made!

Just one more thing...

I have been having a difficult time getting all of the calories that I need in a day. I am supposed to consume 1620 calories per day and I have been getting about 1500 or so. I just got done entering all of my food into fit day for the day and I am at exactly 1620 calories!

I love kettle bells! (Just ask the MOOsers!)

Hello to all of my groupies! Let's catch up on the past few days...

This past weekend at my husband's grandparent's house went fine. All of the usual goodies were there, but I packed a cooler and it was all good. I planned out Saturday and Sunday's meals on fit day before I left, so I just packed everything I needed. Right down to the Smart Balance spread for Sunday morning's toast. While the birthday cake was being eaten, I was proudly showing videos of our workouts from Ben's blog. I wasn't there for the worst part though, Saturday night playing cards and eating junk. I was out having a good time doing my thing at a party. So that ended up working out pretty good.

This week started out with Monday off since Ben was sick. Man, everyone is coming down with the bug that is flying around. As I type, my brother is even home sick right now. Even though we didn't have to go in I ran up and down my stairs 15 times to at least get my heart rate up. Tuesday was a cardio day and a little later in the morning Liberty and I went to Kindermusik. It was a lot of fun, but of course it's always fun! I was full of energy and it felt great. Wednesday we finally had Tonia join us for a workout! That was great. Due to her schedule, she is unable to be with us everyday. Ben did a great job making us work. We had 4 different stations, alternating between 2 exercises at each station with a one minute break after 6 minutes! One of them that we had to do were step ups. This is the one that I injured my knee on. My knee has been making a lot of progress, not doing too much modifications this week, but Ben did modify it for me by taking the step ups down a few inches. (Thanks Ben!) My favorite one of the day though had to be the kettle bell swings. My twisted sisters know which one I'm talking about! Today, well today was just fine and dandy. We were all chatting & joking around during warm ups. Ben was quick to shut us up since we could barely breathe (or at least I couldn't!) once we started the cardio he had planned for us! There wasn't much talking in between stations today, only heavy breathing and water drinking! We had 4 stations again, this time being the bike, fire hose slams, suicide sprints and burpees. Ben assigned us each a minimum number of reps he expected us to do within the 30 seconds. I managed to exceed the fire hose slams several times and the suicide sprints once. Let me tell you- that sprinting crap, that is not fun at all!

Today I had my kitchen makeover. Ben hauled his cookies waaaaayyyy over here and went through my cabinets, refrigerator and freezer. My to do list when he was done is this: get out tupperware and spices and put them away, (they're still packed from moving 6 months ago, eek!), rearrange my plate cupboard so that I have easy access to the smaller plates, plus maybe add some since Alex takes his breakfast to work with him on one everyday and they seem to disappear. In the cabinets, I need to rearrange my food so that it is in different places, like items grouped together and place the supportive foods where they are easy to spot and be grabbed first. He pushed Liberty's goldfish to the back of the high shelf so I guess no more fish for Lib until I take out the step stool! The babe will be getting some fruit for snack time instead. Which is great! In the fridge, it's a lot of the same. Grouping together proteins, fruits and veggies. Plus, he would like to see me doing something that Lisa has been doing right from the beginning. Lisa gets her food home from the grocery store and washes, cuts and portions her food so that it is all ready to go. She actually goes a step further and labels her tupperware! Everyone who knows me knows that I am way too unorganized to take it that far. So, it's all pretty basic stuff. Things that are easy to help anyone make easier choices in the kitchen. Keep the good stuff close at hand and shove your goldfish crackers to the back!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! Our last workout for the week. Three weeks down, only 11 more to go!

I'm back!

I haven't written since the beginning of last week, and here it is already the end of this week! There was some things going on in the home life, so I decided to take a little break from my blog. But here I am! So what have you missed?

Luckily, Ben is great about keeping up with his blog. So you can read about all of the great workouts he has been having us do. Along with some pictures and video. Things have been going really well if you don't count the fact that I sprained my knee last Thursday. I didn't even know you could sprain a knee. Go figure. Something to do with my lateral collateral ligament, or something like that. I have been taking good care of it and it is healing up pretty good. Ben has modified the lower body exercises to accommodate healing. I feel like I have been missing out a little, but it needs to heal up and that's the way it goes. Since I injured my knee, I ended up back at the doctor's office and you know what that means.... the scale. It's been really good to me so far. I have lost 7 pounds!

This week we finished up our 2nd full week of having boot camp. I was disappointed to have to miss out on Tuesday because Liberty was sick. Being a mom is always first priority, so I took the day to take care of my baby. Now she is all better and back to being the naughty little toddler that I love so much :)

Today we had our first check in at Moo92. I was late, as usual, but still made it in time to be broadcast over the Northeast Kingdom. I don't think anyone heard us as it was quite early. We all had a little chat with Tod & Deveney about how things are going for us. I told them that it is actually starting to be FUN. Can you believe that? Me, thinking working out is fun... That's just funny! But it really is. I actually kind of like it. (Don't tell Ben!) Now, that doesn't mean for one second that it's easy. It is not easy at all. Everyday I struggle. Everyday is tough. But, everyday at 8 am when the workout is done and I am on my way to pick up my daughter from my mother in law, I feel great. I think about what I was actually just able to accomplish. It's an amazing feeling. And when I look in the mirror I am seeing the results of it. Maybe not a lot yet, but a little in my face. I am also noticing it in the way I feel when I move and in my energy level. I can see it in my fellow MOOsers as well. We are doing awesome! (Way to go girls!)

Tomorrow we have our weekly metabolism makeover meeting. I have lots to learn about eating still! The eating part is difficult. I have a hard time meeting my 1620 calories a day. It is, of course, because the foods that I am now consuming are very low calorie. 3 weeks ago 1600 calories could have been consumed in no time! I eat here and there throughout the day, working on an eating schedule. Then at 6 pm I realize that I still need to eat 700 calories after dinner! I have had some temptations, but nothing too serious. I pack food to take with me everywhere I go so I am ready if a craving tries to distract me. This weekend will be quite a trial of my will power. I am going to Alex's grandmother's house. I think we might even be spending the night. At Grammy's house there is always junk food redily available. Scotcheroos and golden nugget bars fill the freezer. Homemade cookies, bars & breads are just a tupperware container away. My mother in law comes from a family of cooks and bakers. Everyone looks the other way when it comes to what is in the food. As long as it tastes good, that's all that matters! And it all tastes good! I'm going to plan and prepare. I will have my food with me. My mother in law has been doing really great with the diet and exercise plan that she has been doing, so she and I will recreate the menu to suit our needs. It is Grammy's birthday- so there will be cake, and ice cream. I think I will slip away when it is served! I will check back in with you and let you know how it goes.

All MOOsers have their own blogs now, so please check them out! It's fun to read what we all have to say! Links are posted here on the right!

Oh yeah- I almost forgot: please check out Ben's blog later tonight or tomorrow. I was unable to participate because of my knee injury, but I recorded Ben getting his ass dragged around by Missy, Lisa and Erica! It was priceless!