Beachbody, Birthdays, and Bicycles, Oh My!

I am pretty sure my body is giving me the middle finger.  I kinda ran it through the ringer this week.  On top of having two get-togethers (which were very fun), staying up way past my bed time multiple nights, a pizza fiasco, and cleaning the house (OK that is a feat when you have small kids), I purposefully "worked out" 3 days this week.  I know that doesn't seem like much, but when you start at nothing then it's a big step.  One of those workout sessions really kicked my butt - I mean really.  It's a little program called Brazil Butt-Lift by Beachbody.  I am still sore today from it.  That's why I am convinced that my body officially hates me.

This week I have a whole lot on my mind, so I am warning you now - this may get random real fast!

Let's start off with the nitty-gritty.  This is week 10.  This week I lost .4 pounds.  Yes, a small number, but after consistently dropping 2-4 pounds a week, I knew it was coming.  My total is 26.8 pounds lost!  Buh-bye!  On to this week's happenings and thoughts:

So...this week was my birthday.  The big 3-0.  I was pretty sure I was just going to go all out - have my cake and eat it (all of it) too.  Not so much.  I found myself thinking about my birthday as one more year of life, not an occasion to go hog wild.  I thought about how this lifestyle change is helping me have many more birthdays, God willing, to share with my family and friends.  I realized that instead of over-eating and over-indulging, it was even more of a reason to stay on track - to eat as healthy as possible and celebrate life!  Here was our menu:  Lemon Chicken (an old "recipe" from my grandpa), roasted asparagus, baked sweet potatoes (really they are yams) drizzled with maple syrup, roasted broccoli and cauliflower, and a fantastic salad.  It was perfect.  I was able to eat my fill and not feel guilty and I think everyone really enjoyed it!  For dessert, I chose a No Pudge Brownie "cake" with CoolWhip Light and blueberries and strawberries.  It was better than any box cake could be.  I tried to take a picture, but my camera batteries were dead, and, well, I didn't want to wait until they were charged.  Can you blame me?

Here is one of my fantastic birthday gifts:

And here are two more:

Yay for cookbooks!  And yay for pink bikes!  ;)

OK, now onto confession and a fairytale (I think it may be one Aesop's lost fables or something?).  This week I did great except for one fateful day.  Once upon a time, there was a kingdom, and in this kingdom, a family, a family who loved pizza.  This family loved pizza so much that they couldn't go an extended period of time without eating it.  (and the King couldn't go a week without eating chips and salsa from El Arrieros)  One day, when they were least expecting it, they got hungry.  *GASP* "Oh whatever should we do," they cried?!  Along came a glorious restaurant named CiCi's who had delicious pizza to-go for a low price ($6.99 for a large).  "Let's just get three large pizzas," they exclaimed, "that way we each can eat exactly what we want and never have to share or compromise!"  So they did.  They were even rewarded for their brilliance with 24 tiny brownies for only one dollar!  Hooray!  And they all ate pizza and brownies until their bellies were full.  The End.  The moral of the story:  who really needs three large pizzas?  I mean, come on!!!  What were we thinking???  I didn't eat a whole pizza by myself, but I did eat more than I had planned (4 pieces - I only wanted to eat 2) and I would have rather spent my points on something with more nutritional value.  I wanted to convince myself that the spinach on my pizza counted as a vegetable, but I'm pretty sure when a veggie is completely surrounded in cheese...well, it kinda defeats the purpose.  ;)  Moving on...

Last item up for grabs today is another rant!  This is directed toward one very compassionate individual on YouTube.  I have been keeping this in for weeks now and it's time to let it go.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Most of you know that I am a singer.  I sing on the worship team at Church and they frequently upload performances onto YouTube.  My children tend to have days where, let's just say, I feel like I am managing a large zoo.  On those days, I do whatever I can to survive.  One thing we like to do is listen to music on the computer.  Sometimes they ask to watch mommy sing.  (really, I'm not THAT vain)  A few weeks ago, we were going through some of my "videos" and I happened to read a comment from someone who had viewed the video.  I was angry and devastated at the same time.  Basically he/she was commenting on how I needed to "look into" a weight loss program.  Now, mind you, I was pregnant, but I did look pretty bad.  I have been carrying that with me ever since I read it.  I have contemplated what I wanted to comment back to them.  I finally decided that saying anything back would just give that person some sort of satisfaction, so I never did.  But here today, I would like to say to mkd1202: Compassion for others - look into it.  You're a jackass.  (sorry if that offended anyone)

Here's to a healthy, happy, active week!