Life After I "Dew"

Today I reached my goal weight.  Actually I am 2 pounds under my goal weight!  I got off and on the scale 3 times before I could believe my eyes!  You guys, I did it!  I feel like singing the Dora "We Did It" song.  I mean it seems like just yesterday I started this weight loss journey and in reality it was just 7 months ago {that I actually started to do something about it}.

For those of you who missed the beginning, I started using My Fitness Pal in March.  I got an iPhone for my birthday and it was one of the first aps I downloaded.  We went on vacation with my in-laws that January and while we were there and when we got back I felt miserable, about myself and about my body.  It was so bad that I didn't even take a bathing suit on our first family vacation so I didn't get to swim with my baby on her first pool experience.  It was that bad.

So with My Fitness Pal I have been "allowed" 1200 calories a day.  I ate just that.  Sometimes I'd go over and on those days I'd try to work out to cancel out the extra calories.  That's the only time I exercise though.  Shoot me.  It worked for me and that's what matters.

I told you in SO WHAT! Wednesday that I changed my goal weight.  Originally I had set it to 130 {for the record I was 180 when I started this ::gasp::}.  When I reached about 137 I started to feel pretty good about my size.  Notice I said "size".  My body still looks flabby, belly is still stretched out, but my clothes look good and my pants that used to be snug before KP are loose now.  So I decided maybe 135 would be a more suitable goal and I reached 133 today. 

Here's a little before and afer for you.

I wish I had a better one but when I'm home alone with a toddler a mirror self portrait is the best I can do.  So that's me about 67 pounds lighter.  I had lost about 20 pounds from August to February by doing nothing {so for you math experts that means I weighed 200 at one point, I know}. 

So happy to be here now.  Honestly looking back it's happened so quickly.  At the time I thought "geez is this ever going to happen?" and now I can't believe where I came from.  I am truly touched by how many emails I have gotten from girls who have been inspired by my journey.  You girls make me feel like a rockstar.  I am just happy to share this with you. 

Happy Friday!

Honestly I have been feeling a little "the grass is greener" lately.  I feel like I have been doing a lot of comparing and a lot of "I wish" lately.  It's ugly and I'm embarrassed by it but it's the truth.  

I see stay at home moms and I am jealous.  I want to be a stay at home mom, hell I'd settle for part time stay at home mom. I see people with new things, clothes, shoes, cars, and I want those things.  I read husbands doing romantic things for their wives and I want Jimmy to come home with a dozen roses, rub my feet and make me dinner too.

But, truth be told, I have a pretty good life too.

I have a very nice house that we love.  I have clothes on my back.  I have a husband who only wants for me to be happy.  I have the most precious baby girl I could have imagined. And I have two fur babies that always know how to turn a frown upside down.
Isn't that enough? I mean, is the grass always greener?
Sure we see people that have things {material or not} that we envy, we are human after all.  But we don't know the sacrifices that had to be made to get these things.  It could have meant that they went days,weeks, months without seeing their husband who works so they can stay home.  It may be that they have racked up hundreds or thousands of dollars in credit card debt to afford it.  Maybe they've been saving for a LONG time to get something they've desired for so long.  The point is, you just don't know.

So I don't have the newest car.  I don't live in a mansion.  I have to work full time.  I don't have designer shoes.  I don't go out to fancy dinners.  Kendall doesn't have Tiny Toms.  I can't stay home with Kendall like I want to.  But you know what I do have?  Life.  This one life that I would not trade for anything in this world.  This one life that has been pretty damn good to me.  We all have one life and instead of living it green with envy let's enjoy what we do have.
We may never have all that we want but as long as we have what we need, well that's a good life to me.  At the end of the day, all that matters is family, friends, love, health and happiness and I have all of those things.

This week I have been introduced to some ugly, ugly behavior and I'm not happy about it.

I'm not talking about the internet judgies that have been talked about on several of my favorite blogs {they suck too} but I'm talking about real life judgies.  Ones I have to see every day.  Ones that make my skin crawl.  They are my coworkers.

You may or may not know that I work for a very religious company.  This usually means acceptance.  This usually means caring.  This usually means welcoming.  But it here it doesn't and it irks me beyond belief.  I'm not one to usually talk about religion, and I'm not going to start now, but I would just like to say that their behavior is not very Christian like.

Case and point.

***

We are currently hiring lots of people for our Christmas season. We just got a new coworker in our little pod, if you will.  He's got longer hair, tattoos up and down his arms and dresses sort of "rocker".  His FIRST day on the job people are giving him the side eye.  "Is he gay?" and "He's weird" were some of the nicer things that were said and get this, no one had even talked to him.  

***

We had a potluck last week and one of our IT guys had brought in a knockoff of Max & Erma's Tortilla Soup and it was DE-LICIOUS.  Everyone was raving about it and when he came into the lunch room he proceeded to tell us that he made it and even shared the recipe.  At this point one guy got up and LEFT the break room.  This is the guy who, just minutes ago, said how amazing this soup was.  You know why he got up?  Because the IT guy is gay.  Gasp.  Shock.  Horror.  A gay guy made a dish you actually like.  Believe it.

***  

There is a guy at work who's wife recently chose to have an abortion.  They have 2 children, are in their 40s and she had her tubes tied after their second child was born because they knew they were done.  She found out she was pregnant and that didn't change the fact that they don't want anymore children and the doctor had told her that there may be complications due to the one tube being tied and the other one had a hole in it {how she got pregnant is still beyond me}.  He shared this story with a few people and a few people turned into the whole office. Obviously this wasn't something he was proud of but it was THEIR decision to be made, and there's alone.  I'm sure it wasn't easy for them.

***

One day we were talking about children being born gay or straight and someone said that they wouldn't accept if their child was gay. They said they would still love them but they wouldn't be a part of his life.  I raised the question that, if given the choice, would you rather have your child be happy and homosexual or unhappy and heterosexual and I just got blank stares.  Guess that was my answer. 

***

My point is, these are people.  They bleed just like you and me.  Whether they are "weird", gay, straight, pro-choice or pro-life.  They are human beings and deserve to be treated with respect just like you would like to be treated. I think the thing that kills me the most is that a lot of these opinions were formed before anyone had even talked to or met some of these people.

The thing is, you don't know what is going on in these peoples lives.  You probably don't even know them personally.  I find it completely appalling is that people won't even get to know someone once they have this mind set.  The "weird" guy?  He's really nice.  He is going through a divorce and works a second job doing direct sales.  But I bet I'm the only one that knows that because I'm the only one that's given him the time of day.  And why?  Because he has long hair?  Because he has tattoos?  Well guess what?  I have a tattoo, actually I have two of them. SO WHAT!?

Differences are what make the world go round, if you ask me.  

Now that I have a child I think these things are more apparent to me.  I don't want Kendall growing up in a wold that sees color, sexual orientation, gender, heck even style.  I want her to know that just because someone looks different from you or thinks different than you doesn't mean it's wrong.  Differences don't make one person better than the other or one person right and one person wrong.  In my honest opinion I think differences need to be embraced and celebrated.   

So rather than say "ew he's weird" say "Hi!".  Instead of judging someones decisions, ask them "why?"  Get to know people!  I'm not saying you have to agree with everything but at least hear people out because with out differences this world would be a pretty boring place.

It's Friday, Friday!  Gotta get down on Friday!

Does anyone else sing that song every Friday?  No?  Just me?  That's ok.

So I'm linking up with Paw Prints & Pastry Bags for Pinnable Me Friday again.

I'm doing recipes again because I have yet to venture out and try any of the crafts.  Well and I'm lazy.  And not very crafty.

So last week I had a jewelry party and when I needed to make snacks I headed straight to Pinterest for some fun, new recipes.

I wanted something savory, something salty, and something sweet.  I knew right away which recipes to make because I had been eyeing them for a while, just had no reason to make them really.

Up first was the peanut butter cheeseball.  I love love love a good cheeseball so I instantly knew this was up my alley.

Served with cinnamon grahm crackers and granny smith apple slices.  This rocked my socks right off.  It will be added to my list of party recipe staples from now on.  Even Jimmy, my nonsweets loving husband, loved this one.

I wanted to make this fall snack mix for my two besties that LOVE the Brach's mellowcreme pumpkins.  And this was super easy to make, so why not?  I mean throw it all in a bowl and done!

And lastly, for my savory item, I made this artichoke garlic bread.  Anyone that knows me knows that spinach and artichoke dip is like crack to me.  I have to have it in my life.  Any time we go out to eat we order it.  I've had it EVERYWHERE {Brio has the best BTW} so this recipe had a lot to live up to.

And live up to it did!  I think I ate 3-4 pieces this deliciousness.  Pretty easy to make and a total crowd pleaser. 

Now go try all of these this weekend and report back.  Please and thank you.

You know what will give you The Fever?  Seeing a squishy, pink, snugly, new baby.  Especially one that doesn't make a peep, sleeps on your chest, and sucks his thumb.  Cuteness overload, right?  

Well we had the pleasure of going to see one of my friends 4 week old baby boy this weekend and he.was.precious.  He was sweet, bright-eyed, and so so tiny.  I walked in their house thinking I'd leave with Baby Fever x100.  Yeah me, the girl who said she wants ONE child, hey anythings possible.  But?  We left there and I didn't even have a low grade fever.  Zilch, nada, nothing.  It only further convinced me that having one child is what's best for us and our family.

 Sure the idea of being pregnant, minus getting fat again, sounds lovely seeing as I had the best pregnancy, minus the hormones.  The feeling of your baby moving for the first time is THE BEST feeling a woman will ever experience.  I'd love to hold a tiny baby and take naps with him or her on my chest.  The teeny tiny clothes alone are enough to make your ovaries ache.  But the sleepless nights, losing weight all over again, and time it would take away from Kendall, quite frankly, scares the shit out of me.

I love my girl with all of my heart and then some.  To the moon and back.  To infinity and beyond.  The thought of taking my attention away from her and redirecting it to an oh so dependent on me newborn breaks my heart for her.  Obviously people do it every day and their children grow up to be well adjusted, sibling loving adults {J is living proof of that} but I just can't imagine that for me, for us.  Oh and the work part?  Cannot imagine working with two babies at home.  Again, people do it every day, I know, but I just can't even fathom the thought.  The only way I'd want another baby is if I could be a stay at home mom.  And let's face it, if we can't afford for me to stay home with one there is no way we'd afford me to stay home with two.  Plus I think my mother-in-law would keel over if we asked her to watch an newborn AND a toddler.

There's nothing more sweet and innocent than a brand new, squishy baby.  But for us, Kendall is enough.  One and done as we like to call it.  

But don't worry, she's not going to grow up to be a spoiled, bratty only child.  She will have what she needs and some things she wants.  She will know how to share.  She will know the value of a dollar.  She will be well adjusted.  She will be independent.  I think there's something to be said about an only child, after all, I'm one.

This week I'm saying SO WHAT if...

*First things first, I am no dietician, trainer, health & fitness extraordinaire.  These are simply things that worked for me and kept me going.*

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I want to share some of my weight loss journey with you.  I've  updated you on my progress but now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel I thought I'd share the secret to my success thus far.

I've gotten lots of questions about what, exactly, I eat.  How do I stay under my calories? And do I exercise?  So I wanted to let you in on some of my tips and tricks.

First of all what I eat on a daily basis will most likely bore you.  It's like rinse and repeat, minus dinner.  I'm using MyFitnessPal and right now I am allotted 1200 calories a day until I get to my goal weight.

For breakfast I usually have my cream and coffee coffee with cream {45 calories} and a Dannon Light & Fit yogurt {50-60 calories}.  Now this week I have been enjoying some yummy pumpkin butter on a 100 calorie sandwich thin so that's about 145 calories but oh so worth it. 

Lunch is a Weight Watchers string cheese {50 calories}, Jell-O pudding {60 calories} or Jell-O {10 calories} and a Healthy Choice frozen meal {between 210-270 calories}.  Sometimes I'll throw in a snack like a pear or pluot but usually that's it till dinner. 

Dinner is homemade throughout the week, this is the only time I get variety in my meals.  I usually make something from Kraft.  You can search their site and find low calorie recipes and all that we've tried are really good.  Now that Pinterest has entered my life we have been trying a lot of the recipes on there, most are not low calorie though.  If we do something like tacos I'll still eat everything in a bowl instead of in a shell to save calories.  Jimmy has school two nights a week and those nights I ALWAYS eat pizza.  I found Digorno sells 200 calorie portion pizza and there's 2 in a box so I'll eat both of them and still only be at 400 calories for dinner.  Oh and I always measure everything out, everything.  Some nights I'll have enough calories left for some wine or a Punkin beer even!

As far as working out goes, unless I go over my calories I don't work out.  That's probably bad and I really should work out more but the truth of the matter is I don't if I'm under or at my calories for the day.  So far it seems to be working for me so why mess with a good thing, right?  When I do work out it's either walking on the treadmill or doing Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga.  I don't like running, I really don't like getting sweaty so these exercises work for me.  I can tell that my body needs a little push right now so I'll probably up the workouts to a few times a week to "shock" it and get off these last 10 pounds.

Now that I'm starting to get near my goal I can feel myself giving in a little here and there.  I was sticking to my 1200 calorie diet 7 days a week but now I'm starting to relax a bit on the weekends and indulge a little more.  I really need to get back to the strict schedule until I'm at my goal, I'm not there YET. 

So far I've lost about 60 lbs since Kendall was born with 40 of it being since I started using MyFitnessPal in March.  At the time it felt like there was no end in sight but looking back it has happened pretty quickly.  I know these last 10 are going to be the hardest, they always are, but I'm determined to get there.

 If you need something to say "if she can do it, I can do it" it's this picture from last September.

Yep, that's me.  Awful, right?  Like I don't even remember that girl.  The funny thing is, when we left the house that day, I felt good.  I remember asking J if I looked alright and he told me I looked "GREAT".  Bless his heart.  I had no idea how big I was until that weight left.  Good riddance!

There is no after or in progress picture this time.  I'm just going to save that "WOW" factor for the end, when I reach my goal. So wish me luck. 

If you have any additional questions PLEASE email me.  If you need me to go into more detail about any of this I'd be glad to. 

If you know me, you know I'm pretty cheap.  Like I want to quit my job yesterday so I only spend money on necessities now cheap.  I buy generic groceries {except peanut butter or mac & cheese} and started selling Avon to make a lil extra moolah. 

But there are some things we splurge on, sometimes.  It's not often but these things are worth it, to me.

So those are some things that I can't  don't want to live without.  I may wear Target's knock off version of the Tory Burch Selma Riding Boot but it's so I can splurge on Starbucks every once in a while. 

What things are worth the money to you?  Anything you cheap out on so you can splurge on something else?

I was watching Dr. Phil last night and it was an episode about restaurants and airlines banning children. It was a {somewhat} healthy debate for and against companies having the right to refuse to allow children in their place of business.

The story developed because a restaurant was tired of screaming children disrupting their guests and therefore posted a sign saying they would no longer accept children under the age of 6. Also a woman was kicked off of a flight due to her child "happily screaming" over his excitement from being on an airplane.

At first my mom brain was all "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!?!?" I mean I didn't even think it was an option to BAN children from anywhere, they are humans too for crying out loud!

And then my normal brain turned on.

Now I'm not saying I agree, because I 100% do NOT. If a restaurant, or anywhere for that matter, asked me to leave due to my child well...words would be said and they would not be pleasant ones.

HOWEVER, how many times have you been on a plane, at a restaurant, out to a movie and heard a screaming baby and thought "Oh Hell"? Been there done that and you have to, admit it. That is until I had a child.

When we took Kendall on her first plane ride at 5 months old I got the looks. I got the "Oh great a BABY" eye roll and "I hope they don't sit next to me" body language. And I felt this big walking to my seat. Well my angel child proved them wrong and barely made a peep for 2.5 hours, so there!

But on the flip-side, I know my boundaries. I would NEVER take her to a high scale restaurant, one that appeals to a more sophisticated crowd. Hell I even feel weird in those types of restaurants. I would also NEVER take her to a movie unless or until she could sit still. And the minute she made a peep? We'd leave.

We have been out to dinner, as recently as this past weekend, where Kendall hasn't been on her best behavior. We try to be prepared. We bring the Cheerios, the binky, the sippy cup, Blankie, and baby flash cards on the iPhone, but sometimes even that doesn't work and she just doesn't want to be there. In those situations, as hard as it is, we take turns. J will eat while I tend to her, keep her calm, take her out of the situation if necessary and then it's my turn. Sure it's not ideal but it's life. I'm not going to let my child disrupt another persons meal and experience because I wan to eat a hot meal with my husband that I don't have to clean up after. Thankfully that doesn't happen often but it has and in that moment I feel like the worst mother award should just be handed over to me.

But if someone ever came up to me during one of those moments and told me I had to leave, oh you bet your bottom dollar that'd be IT. We'd never step foot in that place again. Mark my word.

So now, instead of giving tot-toting parents the side eye, I pray that they seat them next to us. Because as long as there's another child for Kendall to watch we can eat, at the same time, and even enjoy dessert.

Well since I love you and you love makeup I'm hosting and online party! Shop the party and use code LIFEAFTERIDEW. If you shop now you can get free shipping on orders of $30 or more with FS30REP!

So what's stopping you? Need some recommendations? I LOVE the Glimmer Sticks eyeliner.  They have a tiny bit of shimmer without making you look like you're 12 and it stays on all day!  Also as a former Bare Minerals girl I can say that Smooth Minerals foundation is just as good for a fraction of the cost!  There is even a Smooth Minerals Radient Veil powder that rivals the mineral veil and I never thought I'd say that! 

Not in the mood for make up?  Well how bout some jewelry?  Handbags?  Gifts for Halloween or even Christmas?  You have till next Wednesday to take advantage so shop now!

This week I'm saying SO WHAT if...

But guess who's back to blogger!?  Yep!  I am back to my roots and it feels so good.  I couldn't take WordPress and their constant spam comments {plus I couldn't do any cool blog layouts either} so I came back to my original blog home.  

So now I'll show up in your reader again!  Woohoo!  So please follow me again, and this time it's easy!  No more stupid RSS feed or subscribe button, just the good ole fashion "follow".  

In the mean time Katie is working on a fabulous new layout and I can't wait to see!  

Good to be back.

xo.