Liebstered

I've been "Liebstered" by the equally amazing Lady Luck and Erica Dee. Thank you so much ladies! 

I'm pretty new to the blogging world and still getting the hang of things. It's been so much fun finding new blogs and motivation.

So, here's the deal. The Liebster Award is for blogs with less than 200 followers. 

AWARD RULES:

1. Acknowledge the blog that nominated you via post.

2. Tell 11 awesome, embarrassing facts about yourself.

3.Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger created.

4. List 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers that you believe deserve some recognition. 5.Post 11 questions for them to answer. 

6. Notify all the bloggers you've selected that they've been nominated.

7. You CANNOT nominate the blog who nominated you.

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11 Facts About Me, Myself and I

1.    Born and raised in Wyoming

2.    I love camping and the "great outdoors." I could live in a cave in the mountains and be               perfectly happy.

3.   I am absolutely terrified of jellyfish. Even the jellyfish scene in Finding Nemo gives me chills.

4.   I love anything in a shade of green.

5.   Mama to an amazing two-year-old little boy, Wyatt, who is my whole world.

6.   I'm the only girl in my family. I have an older brother (29) and younger brother (18)

Myself, Dylan, Steven, Destiny (sister-in-law)

7.   I love to craft, sew and crochet. Finding time for it lately is a completely different story. 

8.    I loooove hot air balloons. Bucket List #1: Ride in a hot air balloon.

9.   My entire body is double-jointed. Weird, right?

10.  I've broken both of my feet multiple times.

There you go. 11 things you didn't know about me, and probably didn't care to! 

Lady Luck's Questions

1. What your dream Vacation? Italy and Rhome
2. What is your dream date? I have no idea! I'm not picky. Anything where you can interact and talk.
3. Who is your best friend? Honestly, Wyatt's dad is my best friend.
4. What would you do if you won the lottery? Pay off any remaining debt, build a home, save, and charity work. (That's what everyone SAYS they'll do, right? I'd like to think I wouldn't change just because of money)
5. Describe a typical day for you Wyatt wakes me up at 4:30am, we play, sometimes I do a workout in the am, do breakfast, get ready for work/daycare. Leave the house by 7:10 to drop Wyatt off and work until 4:30, pick up the boy, make dinner, work out if I didn't that morning, play lots with Wyatt. Then it's time for bath, stories, and bedtime for him. I then clean up and get ready for the next day.
6. Why do you blog? I started blogging as a way to hold myself accountable and to have a place to keep track of Wyatt's adventures
7. How do you stay fit? I'm still trying to GET fit! Right now I'm doing Jillian Michael's Body Revolution and LOVE it. I have most of her DVDs, and this program is definitely my favorite.
8. What are some short term goals you have? I'm still working on some short term goals. 
9. tell me about your kids if you have any He's the cutest little boy there ever was. Seriously. Wyatt just turned two on Wednesday. He is so sweet, loving and smart. But also very adventurous and stubborn.
10. What is your hobby? other then blogging Crafting, sewing, crochet. Cooking. I guess you could say fitness is becoming a hobby.
11. How did your man propose or how do you dream it to be? I don't have any dreams about how I want it to be. A simple, "hey lets get married." would make me happy. As long as we love each other, nothing else matters. 

Erica Dee's Questions

1. What is your current long term goal? For now, it's to be 140lbs and/or a size 6. That might change as I get closer, we will see.

2. What is your favorite food to eat? mmm food... Anything Mexican.

3. Where do you spend most of your money? groceries! blah

4. Do you like Bloglovin'? So far

5. What keeps you interested in blogging? All the amazing people you "meet" and the motivation they give me.

6. What is your favorite outdoor activity? camping

7. Do you workout? If so, what is your current routine? Right now I'm doing JMBR

8. Do you have a big family or a small family? Small family. Older and younger brother and a handful of cousins.

9. What is your favorite HEALTHY snack? Fruit of any kind. 

10. What is your favorite online shopping site? Amazon

11. Are looks really that important? Honestly. They play a role, yes. I'm a firm believer that as you get to know someone better, they either become extremely attractive, or unattractive. 

What I Want to Know...

1. What was your first date like?

2. What's your favorite movie?

3. What's your favorite book?
4. Why did you originally start blogging?

5. What is your most embarrassing moment?

6. Favorite family recipe?

7. What is the #1 item on your bucket list?

8. Do you have a favorite quote/saying? If so, what is it?

9. What is something you cannot live without?

10. If you had one day to do anything you wanted, and money wasn't an issue, what would you do?

I Nominate...

Ashley @ Downsizing Ashley

Dani @ That Fitness Chic

Amy @ The Diary of a Fat Mommy

Losing My Gut While Gaining my Insanity

Mamy Tay LeMay

CeCe

MaddMeggie

Kathy @ Vodka and Soda

Phew... this was a long post. I can't wait to read about everyone else!

Happy Friday!

It's Not Always Rainbows and Unicorns

I have not been in a good place the past week. One thing I have learned about myself though, I'm an emotional eater. When I've lost weight previously, I've just concentrated on my outside appearance and number on the scale. I never stopped to ask myself WHY I am the way I am. I never worked on the inner me. Which is probably why I put all the weight back on and then some. This time, I am trying to do it right. Did it ever cross my mind that I eat emotionally? Nope. Never. Strangely, I had never even thought about it.

I mentioned some of what has been going on in an earlier post this week. Add on a vacation and it hasn't been pretty. I went into our trip last week feeling great. Being confident that I would get my workouts in, and while I planned to let myself indulge a bit, I was sure I'd be able to stay in control. I forced myself to go for one run and that was it. I sat around and drowned my sorrows in junk; and a lot of it.

It hasn't gotten any better since we got home. We got back to town Monday evening and our schedule has been non-stop go go go. My house is a disaster. There's clean laundry still sitting in a pile needing to be folded and put away. I haven't worked out once since my run last week. There has been no opportunities to go grocery shopping, so we've been ordering in. Not to mention the left  over birthday cake still sitting on the kitchen table waiting for me to get home tonight.

My body is not used to junk anymore and has been letting me know it doesn't appreciate my downward spiral. My mind does not appreciate a week off from workouts. I'm exhausted from doing a whole lot of nothing! I'm irritable and not very pleasant to be around. I'm angry at myself and am trying to remember that this is a process. It's not always going to be rainbows and unicorns, but it's hard to keep that mindset.

I didn't have a scale in order to weigh-in on Sunday, and I'm grateful for that. I am fully aware that the number would not have made me happy, nor would it have encouraged me to do better this time. It would have brought me further down. So I'm take a two week break from the scale. Two weeks to get myself back on track and my mindset back to where I need it to be. I want to concentrate on my workouts and what I'm putting in my body, rather than what that number would tell me.

My house is going to be messy one more day. My laundry might sit there waiting to be put away one more day. Because, no matter what, I'm getting my workout in first thing tonight. Well, the cake might go in the garbage first...

Wyatt Turns Two and NSV

My baby turned two yesterday. It's hard to believe it has been two years since this amazing, sweet, loving, stubborn, smart little came into our lives. I can't imagine what we ever did without him!! (Prepare for photo bomb...)

Because of everyone's schedules, and us being out of town right before the big day, we were unable to arrange a party. For months I had planned a big construction themed party, and even though it was going to be just the three of us, I knew I had to incorporate it somehow.

I made rice krispy treat "paint brushes" for daycare treats

And a construction scene birthday cake which Wyatt loved! We tried to help him blow out the candle, but he pinched it out with his hand. Crazy kid! About gave Mama a heart attack.

I woke up to a handful of chocolate cake being shoved in my mouth this morning and a little guy saying "Yummy, Mama!". Thanks buddy... thanks.

We needed outdoor toys for the summer, so I got him a slide/sandbox fort. It rained non-stop all day and I was beginning to worry that he wouldn't get to enjoy it on his birthday. As I was leaving work to pick him up, the sun came out (just in time).

At Christmas he was completely terrified of presents and wanted nothing to do with them. That is no longer the case... he loved it.

Mom never gets to be in the pictures. Some one has to be behind the camera..

Overall I think he really enjoyed his birthday, even if it was small. It's always a plus when you get to beat Daddy with a stick.

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Moving onto Non Scale Victories for the week. 

I have one NSV, ONE. Lets just say I've been eating my emotions for a week and it hasn't been pretty... I'll touch on that in a later post. But here is the one positive moment I had ... 

I went for a run on our mini vacation. This was my second run in 3 years and I couldn't be happier with the results! The first run took place roughly a month ago, and while I have been working out like a crazy person, the run was ugly - like an extra 8 minutes ugly. 

I had to force myself to go out there. I was on vacation, and wanted to sit around and do a whole lot of nothing. However, I put it out there to the blogging world that I would get one in, so run I did. 

The first half mile was torture, and always is for me. I struggle to get into the mindset - in the zone. I think about how I sound like a dying elephant, how my shorts are riding up. OMG, here comes a car, I look pathetic, how embarrassing. My lungs are burning, I should probably walk. No Tiffany, keep running. 

You get the picture... 

Around .5 miles, something happens and I let all that go. It changes to "I can do this. You're doing awesome. Don't stop." Some days I can get to that point, and some days the debbie downer gets the best of me and I'm unable to push myself to 'uncomfortable.' 

I didn't stop to walk on this run, not once; including two big hills. Every time I started to feel pain, I'd find a landmark in the distance and convince myself to run to that point and then walk for a bit. Each time I'd reach my walking point, I re-evaluated. Somehow, I suddenly wasn't hurting and decided to make it to the next landmark... I did this throughout the two miles and learned something about myself.

My mind gives up on me far too soon. I don't have faith in myself. My body is so much stronger and can do so much more than I allow it to. This is something I need to consciously work on. This journey is about so much more than my appearance and fitting into some skinny jeans. I want to repair and find myself again, and I feel this run was a step in the right direction.

Never Forgotten...

I had originally planned on writing about our trip to see family, and my little brother's graduation today; however, my heart is just not in it. I will get around to it later in the week, but today is about something different entirely. As a warning, this post is not cheerful, or motivational. It's not about fitness or weightloss. In fact, it's sad, and difficult to put into writing.  If you are only looking for something upbeat to read today, here's your warning not to continue on...

You see, I lost someone very dear to me last week. It was very sudden and unexpected and I've been left with a whirlwind of emotions, memories, thoughts and regrets as I've gone about my daily activities.

I'm the only girl in my family. I was raised with brothers and all boy cousins. But I had a sister throughout my childhood. We may not have been related through blood. We may have lived under separate roofs and called different people Mom and Dad. But we were sisters none the less.

Her name was Kynstyl and she was my best friend. We were outsiders when we started school, a bit different than the other girls. We liked dirt, bugs, and playing flag football with the boys at recess. The only use for Polly Pockets was to hold the caterpillars we found and kept as pets.

We had many failed attempts of switching places. I'd take her Suns coat, she my 49ers, and our parents would take a different daughter home playing along. Oh, how we thought we were so sneaky.

An entire weekend was spent making hundreds of those paper frogs out of index cards, complete with a habitat for them to live.

As we grew older, there were countless swims in the canal, viewings of Monty Python, bonefires, camping trips and pointless drives around town. Talking, laughing, crying, playing The Remedy by Jason Mraz  over and over until we could sing every word with perfection. Several sporting trips and bus rides.

"Well, if you you've got the poison, I've got the remedyThe remedy is the experience, this is a dangerous liaisonI says the comedy is that it's seriousThis is a strange enough new play on words

I said, the tragedy is that you're going to spendThe rest of your nights with the light onSo shine the light on all of your friendsWell, it all amounts to nothing in the end

I won't worry my life awaySay, I won't worry my life away"

---

She was loud and spirited. Feared nothing. Loved life and lived it to the fullest.

I was more quiet, reserved, grounded.

 The perfect balance between us.

---

A day came when we came to an unfortunate fork in the road. We each chose a different path and unfortunately never looked back. I can't speak for her, but I know that through the several years that followed, there was never a day that I didn't think of her and wish to reach out to her.

But I never did. Always finding an excuse and thinking there was plenty of time to make amends.

I was wrong. There wasn't time and I'm left with regret and pain.

She is gone too soon. 26 is too young to die. Her children too young to be left without a mother and my heart is broken as I type this.

Kynstyl played such a vital role in my life. Nearly all of my school year memories are full of her - her laugh, abundant energy and even her evil glare that could give you chills. I am who I am, in part, because of her. As I have cried, and mourned her in the past week, I know that is the last thing she would want from any of us. So, life will go on, but she will never be forgotten.

I will get back to sharing my fitness successes (and failures) soon enough. But for today, I remember a lost sister, who will never be forgotten. Until we meet again, Kynst...

Road Trip Time!

We head out on our mini vaca today, so I will be away from the blogging world until next week. I can't believe this little guy is all grown up and graduating...

I'm so proud of him and can't wait to have him here in town come August when he starts at the 

University of Wyoming! 

I worked out hard the past 3 days in order to fit a week worth of JMBR in. I'm sore, but love the feeling. My abs ache with every step and movement which makes me beyond happy today. (Phase 2 - Discs 7 & 8 are brutal on the abs!) Just because I got all my workouts in already this week, doesn't mean I'm taking it easy the next 5 days! I plan to get some runs in while we are away. Gotta take advantage of having Grandma around, of course. 

Until next week,

Zucchini, Black Bean and Rice Skillet

We have a new favorite recipe in our house. I've been trying to do at least one meatless dinner a week. I found this zucchini, black bean and rice skillet on Pinterest, of course, and we've had it a couple of times now. This weekend I swapped out white rice with brown, and used low sodium black beans to make it a bit healthier. Wyatt even eats it, which is shocking since it's full of veggies. This kid would live on sugar if I let him.

Zucchini, Black Bean and Rice Skillet

1 T Canola Oil

1 1/2 c quartered zucchini 

1/2 c diced green pepper

1 c black beans, drained and rinsed (I used low sodium)

1 can fire roasted tomato with garlic- not rinsed 

3/4 c water

1 c instant white rice - uncooked (I used brown rice)

1/2 c shredded cheese

Heat zucchini and green pepper with the oil for about 5 minutes. 

Add beans, tomatoes and water and bring to boil.

Add rice and stir well.Cover and remove from heat until water is absorbed. (It took about 10 minutes with the brown rice). Sprinkle cheese on top and enjoy!

It makes 4 servings at 276 calories if you follow the original recipe. I didn't calculate the calories for the changes I made, but it's slightly less. 

Let me leave you with this friendly warning:

Watch out, Wyatt the lion is on the loose! (He's super scary)

Weekly Weigh-In and Goals

Yesterday was my weigh-in and the scale loved me this week! I'm down 3 more pounds for a total of 18 since I started JMBR. Yesterday also marked the start of week 7. Holy cow does Jillian step things up every two weeks! That is my favorite thing about the program though. Every time you start to get bored with it, or they start to get easier, you progress to bigger and better things.

Wyatt loves it too. So if you don't believe me about how great it is, believe him. He says he is "stong."

He "works out" with me nearly every day. I try to get my workouts in first thing in the morning, although sometimes it doesn't happen until we get home from work/daycare. One of my excuses for not getting my health under control was that I didn't want to lose precious time with him. He gets up for the day by 5am at the latest. I'm too exhausted to work out after he goes to bed, and there is no way this girl is getting up at 3:30 am by choice. Once I made my work-outs a priority, my only option was to include him. They may not be as effective doing it this way, but it's better than nothing at all. We make it fun and Wyatt even throws a fit when it's over. Mama gets her work out in, Wyatt is learning a healthy lifestyle early on, and we both enjoy it (well, I think he enjoys it a bit more than me). Win-win-win.

Moving on to our busy week ahead ... My little brother graduates from high school on Thursday! Which means a road trip. We leave Wednesday afternoon for our 7 hour drive. Oh goody. There's nothing like having a toddler cooped up in a car for 7 hours. However, it will be nice to see lots of friends and family! 

I'm a bit nervous for the trip. Not cooking for myself, and a hectic schedule will be challenging in the weight-loss department. I'm not setting my sights too high this week. My goal is to not gain. I will be happy with that. Which brings me to...

As I mentioned earlier, this week is going to be a bit different since we're going on a little trip. Mom's home cookin', and graduation celebrations that are sure to consist of amazingly delicious not-so-good for you barbecue and desserts is going to make it a challenging one. 

#1 Don't Gain: Normally I shoot for 2 pounds a week. This week I will be perfectly happy if that scale stays the same. I'm going to work for a loss, but I'm staying realistic here.

#2 Run: I love running, or I used to. However, there aren't many opportunities for that these days with the little man around. So, I want to go for at least a 3 mile run while we are staying with family. That is what Grandma's are for. 

#3 Drink Water: I do great with this during the work week. I have a desk job, so my water bottle is right in front of me. It's a different story on the weekends though. I just don't think about it. Since I have an extra long "weekend", but goal is to still drink my water. 

Happy Monday! (Riiiight)

Body Type VS BMI

I am a firm believer that BMI is a load of crap. At my smallest (size 4 or 6 depending on brand.. someday I will get there again!) I was still considered "overweight" by the BMI chart.

At that time, I was not overweight and yet according to this stupid chart I was. I based my worth and confidence off of that number, and I shouldn't have. I have an athletic build with broad shoulders and am naturally muscular. I build muscle easily, which also means my body packs on fat easily. 

 (I fall under Mesomorph, an overweight mesomorph, but one none the less). You can find a calculator to determine where you fall HERE Side note: No matter my weight (I've been everywhere between 145-220), I never have hips. I can't keep pants up for the life of me. What the heck? 

No matter how much I lose or how small I am, I will never look like an ectomorph. Think Kate Moss, Audrey Hepburn. Ectomorphs are naturally skinny with little muscle definition, narrow shoulders, small chested. That is not me, at least without some major surgery. I would make myself sick trying to look like them. 

I also cannot be an endomorph. I don't gain weight the same, and I don't have a hard time losing pounds. (Which means I have even less of an excuse to be the weight I am). Think Oprah here.

There are healthy variations of all these body types. We have no control over where we fall, it's all genetically pre-determined and yet BMI does not take this into account. It's pounds vs height only. I know all this, I believe all this, and yet I can't get that pesky number out of my mind. I still want to fall within the "healthy" BMI range. 

When I started all this just over 2 months ago, my BMI was 33.5. As of my weigh-in this past Sunday, I am at 31.8. By their definition, this makes me obese. It's hard to type those words and see it in black and white. But it's the truth. Anything over 30 is obese. To be at a "normal" weight, I need a BMI under 25 which is roughly 144 lbs for my height. 

I have decided to track my BMI throughout this process again. Not to necessarily define my health or my worth by this number, but rather as a guideline for myself. Mainly out of plain curiosity. 

What are everyone's thoughts on BMI? Like it or no?

Non-Scale Victories

Today, I'm linking up with Katie and Lex for Non-Scale Victories.

NSV 1: I've been doing really well at eating clean this week and making sure I get enough water blah blah. That in itself could be considered a NSV I suppose, but it's not the big one. Somehow I ended up way under on calories yesterday. (I wish that was a problem more often) So, I made up my mind before even leaving work that I was going to grab a big, mouth watering, butterfinger milkshake from our local ice cream place after dinner.

mmmmm my mouth is watering again!

I knew in the back of my mind that I should fill those calories with something that had some nutritional value, but I had made up my mind and nothing was going to get in the way of me having this darn shake. 

I went about my evening as normal. Dinner, cleaning, playing, daydreaming of my soontobeinmybelly milkshake. Then time came to head out and pick one up, and I had a big "should I-shouldn't I" debate. Chubby Tiff kept saying, "You have been working sooo hard. You deserve this." While Wannabe Fit Tiff was trying to convince me that it wouldn't be worth it. That I would regret it the second it was gone. 

Wannabe Fit Tiff managed to win and I did not pick up my 1000 + calorie milkshake last night. Sigh. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit pissed at her.

NSV2:  After a week off from the never-ending-illness of May 2013, I am finally back at it with JMBR! I'm amazed at how much one little week off from working out affects things. I'm struggling to get through them this week, but I've yet to pass out so that's a plus. 

NSV3: I got more than 6 hours of sleep last night and feel amazing! I have no idea how I did it, but somehow I managed to convince Wyatt to sleep past 4am!! We slept in until 6am this morning and it was AMAZING! (Yes, sadly 6am is sleeping in at our house).

Good thing he's cute because Mama is not a happy camper at 4am every morning.

The "Gym" - Workout Wednesday Link-up

Believe it or not, it is possible to lose weight without a pricey gym membership. I did have a gym membership the first time I lost weight (you can find that story HERE), mainly just to use a treadmill. (Running in Wyoming year round is nearly impossible. Unless you're crazy and enjoy running in -30 degree weather on ice a good 6 months a year). But I still preferred my at home workouts.

So, here it is in all its glory... Dun Dun Dun... my "gym".

Yup, that's my bedroom. Being a single mama, going to the gym is not an option this time around - at all. So I make do with what I have. As my bff Jillian often says, "You don't need fancy gym equipment. All you need is your own body weight." Believe it - girl knows what she is talkin' 'bout.

My resistance bands came with my JM - Body Revolution order. Everything else I've picked up at my all time favorite store (enter sarcasm here), Walmart. 

A. I'm cheap

B. That's all we got

And yup, I shop at Walmart in my sweats. Sue me. Moving on...

Currently I am doing strictly Jillian Michaels Body Revolution with some added cardio from time to time. I highly recommend it if you have the money to spend. I am on week 6 and have lost 15 pounds (although I did peek at the scale every morning, afternoon and evening this morning and it showed a 2 lb loss so far this week. 15+2=17 in case anyone hates math as much as me... fingers crossed it looks that good on Sunday) and 7 inches in just my waist and hips.

I've also used all of these for variety in the past, and will again after JMBR. None of them cost more than $10 a piece and all can be done without special equipment. Win! 

That "it's too expensive" excuse? Yeah... doesn't work. You can do it!