Curve Containage Challenge

I'm curvy. 

That's right, I said it. 

I'm curvy. 

Other people rather say "fat", but whatever...I know I'm not as aerodynamic as I could be. I know I'm not some little pin thin thing. I'm OK with that. In fact, I'm actually happy that I have curves (albeit, they could be smaller) and I actually get compliments on my appearance, even at my current size. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, that's for sure.

As I've been unpacking things for our bedroom, I stumbled upon all my old jeans from ...hmmmm...six years ago. I know I've put on some weight here and there due to moving, stress, depression..ya know, all the fun shit in life. When I held them up, my heart broke a little bits.

My ass has gotten HUGE.

 UGH.

I started making an effort towards changing my eating habits in addition to working out more since I have my  handy dandy membership to Planet Fitness. Plus, now that I'm not working, I don't have any excuse as to WHY I can't make it in to burn some calories off. I don't know what my current weight is, nor is that really my main concern. As long as I start feeling better and my clothes start getting looser, that's all I really care about. Since I started watching my intake, I can tell I've lost something thus far since my jeans are already getting "roomy" around my waist and they don't feel like they're painted on. So, that's a good thing...right?? lol. My extra motivation to get this under control is the fact that the weather here is killing me. Who wants to be all layered when it's 100* outside?! Not I! I've been wearing more and more dresses so it'll relieve some of the heat, but I don't wanna look like I'm rocking a moo-moo. 

Luckily for me, I have a very good support group when it comes to friends and family...even Grimm got in on the encouragement when I told him, "Bubba, Momma's gonna get a little more aerodynamic"....he got all sorts of happy and thumped his tail like crazy. I'll take that as support from him, lol. If anything, he can always use my old jeans as stuffing for a doggy bed. 

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Couponing...Bah Humbug!

I'm sure at some point, you've heard about TLC's "Extreme Couponing". If you haven't heard about it..lemme explain how it works: It's a show where people spend ridiculous amounts of time hunting for coupons to maximize their savings when it comes to grocery shopping. In most cases, they get hundreds of dollars worth of food for a fraction of the price. That's fantastic, right? Yeahhhhh....'bout that...

The new year is right around the corner and, of course, it's time to start eating healthy all over again. We're about a year out from potentially moving, so we're tightening our purse strings even tighter so we can save more money just in case we move back to the States, although, I'd really prefer to stay in Belgium. That's to be seen, though. Anyway, eating healthy isn't exactly cheap. And by that, I mean it's usually expensive. So I got a wild hair up my tail and decided to see if I could save some money via coupons..YAY!

After several mind numbing hours, dozens of websites, registering with fake emails for "exclusive" deals, fiddling with my fussy printer...and an Excederine Migraine pill.. I ended up with this: 

 I already had the Dryel coupon, the Benefuls "Snackin  Slices" coupon, Challenge Butter coupons and "Finish" dishwasher coupon from previous purchases...the majority of the headache clearly came from finding coupons online. I don't have the luxury of having coupons readily available just down the street in the newspaper stand since, well, I'm not in America. So, I can't just gather up a bundle of those lil buggers and clip clip away..instead, I gotta click click click...click...click...sigh...click.......click.... 

I think the frustrating thing is that I really couldn't find any coupons for "healthy" things...if I was wanting a killer deal on Poptarts, soda (lots of soda), anything Pillsbury, Spam (really??), cookies, candy, blah blah blah, I would've hit the jackpot. I felt like I was on a hunt for the great Dodo bird since I wanted coupons for stuff like Birds Eye for frozen veggies, or even Libby's for canned veggies, and various other things that weren't slathered in fatty happiness. I'm not on a mission to build up any sort of treasure trove of all my killer deals (also known as "stockpiles") like some of the people you see on the Extreme Couponing show. Shit, we have weight limits when it comes to moving and I CERTAINLY don't want to waste my limit on food! I rather put that towards kick ass European antiques:

So, after my purchase of sixty six items and with all the effort of twenty five coupons, I managed to knock $22.50 off of the final total (a saving of 12%). Not too shabby, but honestly, not worth all the headache it took to find the coupons. It's no wonder the people who are featured on that show dedicate 8 HOURS a day to couponing..anywhere from forty to sixty hours a week! Great googly moogly!

At least I stayed under my budget, but I can thank my grocery list for that since I ONLY bought what I wrote down what we needed verses "window shopping"..which is what really racks up the cost for most people when they have their adventure in the grocery store. 

Meh, oh well. At least I gave it a shot. 

 

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Week 2 (again)

I forgot to post yesterdays weigh in! Sorry! Sorry! I have a really bad thing called "Shiny Syndrome". When I get up on the weekends, I go right into the kitchen and start making breakfast for the guys, then from there we go on with the rest of our day..by the time it dawns on me to weigh in, it's too late. Sounds silly, but if Eric doesn't remind me right when I get up to weigh in, I forget (seriously).

So, I'm just a tid bit over what my lowest weight has been. Hopefully I can make some progress this week since we're heading out to Italy a week from today :D I'm a little apprehensive about the flight because of the damn seats. I love traveling, but not fond of flying since those damn airline seats are narrow. If you know me, you know I don't have narrow hips...momma's got some junk in the trunk, so those seats are usually my mortal enemy. I guess this trip will help me gauge what to expect with my upcoming flight in September (aye aye aye).....eighteen hours in a tiny chair. Shoot me.

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Blauwe Bessen

I have a whole new respect for people who work on farms that pick produce by hand. I truly do. 

There's a fabulous blueberry farm called Blauwe Bessen in a town called Meeuwen-Gruitrode, which is about twenty minutes from here:

 Lekker & Gezond means "Tasty & Healthy" :)

 You have the chance to go pick your own berries..as much as your little heart desires! They supply the buckets and you supply the energy. For one kilo of berries (roughly two pounds), it costs four euro (about $5.60)...honestly, that's fantastic! For a little package of blueberries that barely weighs anything at the commissary, it's about $3! I remember going to that farm back in 2009..I thought I wrote a blog on it but apparently not, lol. So, here ya go! 

The weather this week has been less than impressive. In fact, it's been cold and rather soggy. I have no idea what's up with summer this year, but whenever a sunny day graces us with it's presence, we take advantage of it! Well, today was that day, so I decided to get John out of the house and we headed over to Blauwe Bessen since some recipes I wanna make require blueberries, they're a fabulous source of antioxidants and John really likes them as a snack.

We got there, grabbed our buckets and made our way over to the designated picking area. On our way over there, we saw several older couples walking out with two buckets (each) filled to the brim with berries! YEAH! We were gonna get some good sized berries if that's what they were leaving with! Haaa..psssych! About thirty minutes into picking, it became VERY clear to us that those people must've been picking right when the farm opened (which is 9am) and we showed up around noon. The berries on the bushes were very small, nothing along the lines of what we got the last time we went picking. After an hour of walking, picking, squatting, and reaching, we managed to get only one kilo. Le sigh.

From there, we walked over to the area where they empty out your bucket, weigh it and let ya know what the total damage is. In addition to the berries you pick, you can also buy other goodies they sell there like blueberry wine, syrup, jam, juice, etc.

They even have some FABULOUS blueberry pie! Oh man, I really had to refrain from buying some because I'm watching what I eat..but it's SO good! 

Of course, I snagged some blueberry juice because I like making myself some "blueberry soda" with it. You take some of the juice, add soda water and about two tablespoons of splenda and you're good to go! It's AWESOME! 

My fabulous blueberry soda:

In addition to the juice, I also picked up some blueberry wine. Oh, I know..I'm not much of a wine person, but theirs is the only stuff I actually like!

And, I scored some blueberry tea :)

Oh, and then there's the blueberries. The bowl in the middle is what we actually picked..the rest, I bought from the farm. You can clearly see a difference in the size of the berries from what we picked verses what they were selling. Quite frankly, I was totally ok with buying the rest of the berries since I'll be making muffins and other various items over the next few weeks and it was still cheaper buying 'em from the farm verses dealing with the commissary.

Don't judge me!

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Week 1 (again)

So, I'm starting over.

I still have two more months till I fly back to the States, so I'm *hoping* I can get down another ten or so pounds by then. Of course I want to keep up my progress while I'm home, but I'm being realistic about it considering I'll be traveling via car the majority of the time from California, to Oregon, then Washington, back to California in addition to the other trips I have planned. LOTS of road time for me!

Anyway, I weighed in yesterday. Sorry I didn't post then, but Eric and I dove in head first to our "PURGE PURGE PURGE" house project. We're about a year and a half out from moving (no, I have no idea where we're going yet) so we wanna start getting rid of junk we don't need or want anymore. Speaking of getting rid of junk, I managed to lose some weight from my last weigh in:

At this point, I'm a little over a pound and a half shy of my lowest weight since I originally started, so I'm lucky my body decided to be kind & get rid of the additional weight I had gained last weekend.

Here's to hoping for a progressive upcoming week!

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Week 16

I didn't lose anything this week. No point in posting a picture since I stayed the same, despite changing up my workout routine, tracked my calories and stuck with my eating plan. Thanks, Plateau.

I'm extremely frustrated right now. Yes, I feel better since I've lost weight in general..but..to feel like my effort, especially after three months of watching everything I eat & working out ...it's a constant uphill battle in molasses. I know, it takes time. I know I know I know... 

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Week 15

Aye aye aye..week 15! Time feels like it's flying by!

I did my weigh in this morning and I'm down only 2 ounces since my last weigh in. As much as I wanna say ,"That totally sucks" since I busted my ass all week long....I'm also taking into consideration that I'm gaining muscle. So, I'm not kicking myself for not losing more.

When I first started back in March, my Body Fat percentage was about 53%...!!! That's a little daunting to think that over half of my body is pure jiggly fat. Now it's at 46.6%..not too shabby. My thighs and legs are really starting to tone up..Eric even commented on 'em when he was helping me stretch out my hamstrings this morning, lol. Now if my mid-section would co-operate and start to slim down, that'd be fabulous!  

Remember when I said I ordered a kettlebell? Well..the merchant I ordered it from on Amazon fell through and ended up cancelling my order. LOL. Thanks for that! So, I ended up searching all over again for another one since it seems like no one over here sell's em.  After reading various reviews and checking multiple sites, I wound up getting an adjustable kettle bell by Jillian Michaels for a VERY reasonable price ( I saved $39!!):

 It adjusts up to 20lbs (without any weights, it weighs 3lbs)..so that'll give me the option to add more weight as time goes on. The DVD's I ordered already showed up, so I've been working out with my Gaiam 8lb ball in the mean time:

Jillians DVD " "Shred it with weights" is no joke. It kicks my ass! Luckily, it comes with two different sessions..level 1 and level 2. Needless to say, I'll be on level 1 for a while, atleast till I can do a Turkish Get Up correctly and without struggling, lol

In other news, I've officially hit 100 miles!! Lots of walking and elliptical work!! 

My handy dandy DailyMile widget tells me I've burned 32 donuts (or 12 hamburgers) since I started tracking my distance since March. For my peeps that are still in California, 100 miles would be like going from Salinas (south side near Blanco & Davis) to Paso Robles (whoa!)..or for my local peeps in  Belgium, that'd be like me walking from Peer to Bastogne. Woot!

I think that deserves a nice tall glass of water!

On that note, I'm off to enjoy the remainder of my Saturday!

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Week 14

"Slow and steady wins the race." - Tortoise

It's officially Week 14 and I'm down another 1.2lbs! I think my metabolism is finally starting to "wake up" and get with the program. In all honesty, I'm surprised (really) that I lost anything since Mother Nature decided to visit and made this week rather hell-ish for me.

I think by upping my cardio like I have been, it's really helping to push things along. My shirts are starting to feel looser and my pants are definitely getting larger. In fact, I gotta dig around and find my size 20 jeans (it's been a while since they've seen the outside world) and see how those fit me. 

Remember how I talked about Kettlebells in my last weigh in? WELL..it feels like it's been a wild goose hunt to find 'em! I've been to several large sports stores around here in addition to calling around the larger BX's in Germany. NO ONE has them! AGH! After much debate, I finally broke down and ordered one off of Amazon.com. YES, shipping was FREE! I definitely made sure that the shipping was free, lol. Sure, it might take a little longer to get here, but it's better than paying $30 in handling fee's! 

After reading a ton of various forums and articles, I ended up getting a "contoured" kettlebell because it'll minimize the bruises I'll get on my forearms. I bruise VERY easily..it's pretty sad, despite all the vitamins I take. Eric will give me foot & leg massages (yes, I'm spoiled!) and you can clearly see where his fingers were when they squeezed my muscles, lol. Half the time, my legs look like they have polka dots on 'em. So, I'd rather not have bruises all up and down my arms from a 15lb weight! 

In addition to the kettlebell, I also ordered two workout DVD's. Of course my "trainers" are going to be Bob & Jillian from The Biggest Loser! 

They're both known for busting your butt, but being motivational at the same time. So, from what I read from the reviews, these look like they'd work pretty well for me..might as well give 'em a shot, right? While I'm waiting for my kettlebell to show up, I can use my dumb bells with the videos in the mean time (yay!) as I'm 100% positive it'll take a month (or longer) for the kettlebell to grace me with it's presence! 

So yup! That's my weigh in for the week! I spoke to Stef and it sounds like she's getting back on track with her Weight Watchers plan. From my understanding, her official weigh in days are now on Saturdays, so I'm sure she'll have a very productive weigh in later on today (California time, of course!).

Best of luck & motivation to anyone else out there who is wanting to live a healthier life :)

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Week 12

Maybe it's a good thing that Eric was gone this week? lol. I managed to lose 1.8lbs!

Hopefully my plateau was short lived *fingers crossed* so maybe I'll start making some additional progress. I'm just SHY of being 20lbs lighter and I can definitely tell since my pants are literally getting too lose for my hips! When I was doing some errands yesterday, I was in the midst of checking out at a grocery store in The Netherlands and I forgot something I was supposed to get. So, while the cashier was doing her thing, I jogged over to the aisle I needed to go to and my pants started sagging! A LOT! It felt like they were gonna fall off! I guess it's time to drop down a pant size (score!!!) to see how those feel. 

This weekend is going to be a bit of a challenge for me since I'm going out of town to Germany for the three day weekend. For one, I love German food. Two, we're going to our favorite restaurant, which is "The Big Emmas"..they have huge serving portions. I know Eric is chomping at the bit to eat there, but I still need to behave while enjoying myself. 

Before, I really wanted to have pork Cordon Bleu with their fantastic potato medallions, but now I'll stick with their awesome chicken salad (even that's gonna be too much for me to eat!):

I hope everyone has a fantastic Memorial Day weekend! Tah!

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Week 10?!

Holy gawd..it's already week 10!?! Where has time gone?! 

I did my weigh in this morning before Eric and I headed out to Germany to pick up a deep freezer. So, sorry this is getting posted later in the evening (my time). I've been on the hunt for a freezer for a while since we've been on a waiting list for one for A LONG ASS TIME..literally since we've been in Belgium, so, we finally broke down and bought one for a very reasonable price. Some places around here are asking anywhere between 300-600 euros for one (NO THANKS!), I did my magic and we found one at Spangdahlem. So, now it's chillin' (ha) in my office.

At this point, I'm down 17lbs since March 5th. Not too bad, right? I think I just need to accept that my body is only going to lose 1lb a week, despite my best efforts. This past week, I put in about ten miles around my neighborhood and on my elliptical, so, it's not like I'm not doing anything. Although, I think I'm going to add in some yoga to my routine this coming week and possibly some light strength training, so I guess we'll see how that goes. 

Hopefully everyone else is making some progress on their weight loss journeys! And, maybe I'll see a post from Stefanie in regards to her weight loss / working out routine.

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Week 9

Well, hey..look at that. I actually lost something! I feel ridiculously bloated right now thanks to Mother Nature and it's making me so cranky. Last week, my pants were literally sagging off my hips and now they feel like they're painted on. VERY annoying!! Today is our earned "cheat day" and Eric's ready to cut loose since we'll be attending a friends "Post Cinco De Mayo" party..so lots of Mexican food and fabulous drinks. Then after that, I have a girls night event I'm going to at another friends house...from the sounds of it, it's gonna be one hell of a time. Soooo I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing my fat(ter) pants tomorrow!

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Exercise Fairy Strikes Again

The weather has been getting nicer and nicer over here in Belgie,  but the bugs seem to be getting bigger and bigger. And, more annoying. I love taking Izzy, Macie or Cole on walks..but the bugs are REALLY annoying me! I feel like I'm constantly being bombed while walking near the fields (which are EVERYWHERE), or the horse flies are strategically attacking me so I'll walk into the road and get smacked by a car. Even Izzy looks annoyed halfway through our route cause they go after her as well!

Before we even had orders to come here, Eric and I invested in a nice elliptical that I LOVED to use! Since it runs off of 110v, we decided to leave it in California with my Dad since we weren't wanting to have it shipped all the way over here and run off of a transformer. At least when I go back later this year to visit, I'll be re-united with it for a short while and get to use it. 

About a month ago, a gal here posted that she had an elliptical she was wanting to get rid of FOR FREEEEEEEE! By posting it on the community board that our base uses, people instantly pounced on it (as did I), although I was a few minutes too late. Sad, was I. Well, I guess the gal who ended up wanting it (1st come, 1st serve) wasn't able to find a way to get it to her house, so, she deferred it to whoever else wanted it after her, which was me! Yippy! I was informed about it last night, so Eric and I went over there today to pick it up! Go figure cause I was looking around last night at other bases "yard sale" sites to see if anyone was selling any ellipticals for a reasonable price. Free is ALWAYS appreciated!

It's actually REALLY sturdy and fits perfectly in the living room. Once my office is completely overhauled and cleared out, I'll probably move it in there...but I kinda like it in the living room since we have two ceiling fans in there & it's gonna start really warming up here soon. 

The digital readout on it is perfect, especially since it has pulse sensors and even a heart rate monitor you can clip to yourself. Distance is tracked in kilometers, but that's not a problem since I can just convert it over to miles for my tracking. 

You can adjust the stride resistance with a knob that's in the middle of the stand. When I first hopped on and started peddling, it felt like I was running in mud that was up to my knees! I finally noticed the resistance knob and dialed it down (quite a bit) and I was able to do a decent stride..yay!

Best part of all? Aside from it being free, that is. It's battery operated!! YAY! You're probably thinking, "Ok, it's battery operated. What's so special about that?". Well, electricity in Belgium is ridiculously expensive and if we could run one less thing off of power, it'd be fabulous in the long run. Luckily, this doesn't require to be plugged in to operate! 

I'm a very very grateful and very happy camper! Looks like the Exercise Fairy was watchin' out for me!

Don't worry, I'll go outside from time to time to get my daily dose of Vitamin D, but now I won't have to get my daily exercise with a fly swatter.

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Week 8

Good grief..it's week 8 already!?!

At this point, I've lost 15lbs since the beginning of March. Not too shabby! Although, I still have another 40lbs to go before I head back to California later this year (17 more weeks!).

Hopefully I'll be able to kick into high gear with my workouts since my knee is feeling LOADS better!

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End of Week 7

Ohhhh my goshhhh... my weight loss is dragging! A pound a week is starting to drive me nuts, especially since I'm eating healthy! I know...I know..some weight loss is better than no weight loss, but still. I've been stuck in the 240's for a while now and I'd definitely appreciate it once I hit the 230's.

 

Oh...and it's driving me nuts that I always land on .4!!! Seriously, wtf! lol... I'm just shy of losing 15lbs since I started, so not too shabby. Hopefully I can make additional progress this coming week since I really do want to slim down, especially before I go home! 

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Week 6!

Here's my weigh in for Week 6 :) 

My weight loss is obviously slowing down to a crawl, but it's ok. Something is better than nothing! Now that my knee is doing a lot better, I should be able to pump out some walks this week :)

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End of Week 5

Well, I knew it was bound to happen.

I gained a little over a pound this week, but I'm not really torn up about it. In all honesty, I was expecting it to happen since I wasn't able to walk all that much since my knee has been rather problematic. In addition to that, I haven't been feeling all that well. Excuses excuses ...blah blah blah.. I'll get my shit together this week and suck up the knee discomfort and do more walking. 

I will say, though, that I'm kinda worried about this upcoming week since I'll be leaving for Poland on Thursday and will be returning on Sunday. Why am I worried? How well have you eaten while you've been on a road trip / vacation ? Given, I plan on eating as well as I can while I'm away, but there's only so much I can do. Myself and a few of the gals I'll be traveling with will be packing water, fruits and other healthy food for the ride there...but a lot depends on what we eat WHILE in Poland, lol. I'm a sucker for Perogies, which are like potato dumplings...but they're not my friend in terms of weight loss. So, hopefully I'll behave. 

Is it sad that I'm debating on taking my scale with me so I can weigh in while on vacation???

Fingers crossed that Stef did well this week with her weight loss! I know she's been kicking ass in the gym!!

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Guiltless Meringues

I swear, my dreams as of late have had meteor sized cupcakes smashing into my house, or it's raining cookies and white chocolate.

One of my favorite things on the planet is lemon meringue. Mainly the meringue part. SO, I poked around online and found a recipe that's diet friendly, and quite delicious.

• 2 egg whites
  
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar 
• 1/3 cup Splenda
  
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
  
• ¼ teaspoon coconut extract (or change it up a bit, a cap full of lemon juice OR perhaps peppermint)

Preheat oven to 350º

( Note: Allow the oven about 10 minutes of preheating time before use. )  

Beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar.

Beat well and gradually add Splenda. Beat until very stiff. 

Add vanilla extract and coconut extract. 

Make sure it's stiff!! *snicker*

Drop by teaspoonfuls on cookie sheet. 

Place in oven that has been set to 350. Bake for 10 minutes then TURN OFF THE OVEN and leave it in there. No peeking allowed!Check back within an hour and your "cookies" should be done!

 

Tasty little treats without the guilt! AWESOME! 

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