But I don’t want to give up blogging all together.  I find it very useful in my weightloss efforts, and it allows me to be accountable to both myself and my readers.  I want to remain in the blog world, but I feel like this particular blog is too time consuming. I want something I can post to quickly, something more than Twitter; 140 characters just isn’t enough; but something less than THIS.  Something that I can update on the go (I ♥ my iPhone); something that would be easy to keep up with.   Dilemmas.

Then, my ever-so-clever and fabulous girlfriend (waves to MommysitaBonita!) started microblogging with Tumblr and I thought, what a brilliant idea!  I would still be blogging, and keeping my peeps abreast of my daily goings-on (because you know, I am oh-so-important) but I wasn’t having to write a novel about what went on during my day.  I mean, really, how often can I write about what I did at the gym on a particular day and make it sound interesting AND write more than one paragraph about it?  Hence, my lack of blogging lately.

So, there you have it my friends…I’m giving up my little blog here and moving onto smaller bigger and better things…check me out at Tumblr from now on…it should be easy since it’ll post directly to my Facebook and Twitter.   See you there!!

Anyway, after a leisurely morning, the fam bam and I hit up the gym, where Hubs and I did 30 minutes of running and 45 minutes of weight lifting.  I burned 641 calories and was shocked when Hubs told me he burned 1126 calories!  I think I need to push myself a little harder in the weight lifting department because my numbers just aren’t high enough. 

After the gym, we came home and lollygagged a bit; played outside with the kids, ate lunch, put K-Bob down for a nap, lounged in bed…then we decided it was too beautiful a day to waste indoors, so we headed out to look for the Amish markets we’d heard so much about.

We found a Farmers Market and Auction first…

It had your typical flea market, with vendors selling their wares: knock-off sunglasses/purses, incense & oils,  rugs, etc.

It kind of reminded me of a flea market we’d visited in the French Quarter of New Orleans years ago, but on a much smaller scale. 

It also had a small produce stand…

with lots of locally grown, inexpensive fruits and veggies…we ended up leaving with some plums and peaches.

On the way back home, we came across the “famous” Amish Market in Charlotte Hall.

They had lots of fruits and veggies too, but what I came for were the baked goods!!

They had breads, pies, and cookies galore!!!  We picked up several packages of cookies: chocolate chip, honey spice (think ginger snap) and the ever popular snickerdoodles.  My personal favorite were the honey spice cookies…I may or may not have had 3 2.

All in all, it was a pleasant Saturday!  There’s something about this area that is just relaxing…I didn’t feel this way about Florida at all…those who know me, knows that I LOATHED Florida…with a passion.  But here…its just got a great smalltown, everybody knows your name kinda vibe, but with big city influences; Baltimore and DC is only about an hour and a 1/2 way, so the culture from those cities spills out into our little town.  I LOVE IT!  I feel like the quality of life is better out here than it was in Florida…I just want to bottle this place up and take it with me wherever I go!

Ok…enough of my nonsense…gotte get the house ready…my parents called this afternoon to tell me they’ll be here tomorrow.  The “perks” of living only 3.5 hours away from family.   Good night!

I went about my normal morning routine before he decided to grace us with his presence, and that involved feeding and dressing the kids, and getting them out the door so I could go to the gym.  There was a 9:30 Bodypump class and I wanted to get my cardio beforehand (I notice this helps keep my heart rate up, and I burn more calories, as opposed to doing cardio AFTER Bodypump), so we left the house around 8:30ish.  I got about 30 minutes of cardio and kicked some arse in the Pump class and burned a lovely 783 calories.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the more I burn, the more I can eat.   I like to aim to burn around 800 calories a day per workout so I can eat around 1600 calories, as opposed to my daily budget of 1300 (without working out).  I read somewhere (I believe it was Shape Magazine) that if your daily calorie budget is 1300 calories, and you burn 500 calories in a workout, you can add half of your burned calories to your calorie budget, making your calorie budget 1550, rather than 1300.  Get it?? 

Anyway, a new obsession has hit the Phillips Ohana…its called coupon clippin’!  I’ve noticed recently that a lot of my friends have gotten into this “trend” and have been saving a TON on their grocery bills.  One friend of mine actually saved $104 dollars on ONE grocery trip.  So of course, I was like, “I gotta try this!”  Aside from the payment for our home and car payments, groceries takes a huge chunk of our moola.  I can spend anywhere from $100-$250 a WEEK on groceries, depending on where I go and what kind of mood I’m in. :p  My previous method for shopping didn’t help either…I did what I like to call the “grab and go” method, which consists of running down aisles and grabbing whatever we needed without checking for bargains and prices and heading out as quickly as possible.  9 times out of 10 with K-Bob in tow.  We also never really took advantage of our military privilages as often as we could have because in FL, our commissary was VERY small and VERY limited.  And the bigger one in Pensacola was 45 minutes away.  So we did a lot of Publix shopping, which was significantly pricier.

Well, this time, I have equipped myself with some knowledge, and a plan…

I got me a coupon binder, got me some scissors and got to clippin!

I’m also going to utilize the commissary a lot more here in Maryland because it is a mere 3-4 miles down the street…love that!  Its not as big as the commissaries in VA, but it has everything we need…it kinda reminds me of the Little Creek commissary pre-renovation.

Anyway, I got my coupons, I got my commissary, and I got my iPod Touch for K-Bob…and today we got to shoppin. K-Bob was completely content the entire trip watching Toy Story & Backyardigans on the iPod and gave me enough time to get what I needed, while comparing prices and bargain shopping.  I left the commissary only $108 poorer, which is awesome considering what I got (it was a meat-replenishing trip), and how much I got.  My bill would have been less had I not succumbed to the lure of the sushi bar and spent $12 there. :p  My goal is to keep our weekly grocery bill under a $100; which is a feat because I could never leave the commissary without spending close to $300. :p

Anyway, enough chit chat for now…Jersey Shore’s coming on!!   Good night!

Today for example, I’ve had to chase both boys on 3 different occasions.  Once, through the gym…yes, THROUGH the gym, like from one end to the other, and twice around the side of our house.  Oh, and of course having Mommy chase them is just HILARIOUS, so all you hear while I’m chasing them down is giggles and shrieks of delight.  SIGH.  I’m sure I served as comic relief for at least a couple folks. :p

These 2 definitely give me a workout…

…in addition to the ones I’m getting at the gym. :p

Thankfully, Daddy will be home tomorrow.

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that we have had a topsy-turvy spring/summer.  You also know that we left Florida in April due to a lovely military move and were on our way up to Maryland to begin our new lives there.  Well, that plan got sidetracked.  Because we decided to wait on military housing, we had to wait until a house became available, and just our luck, one wasn’t available until August.  Yes, that meant we had to find other living accomodations until our house was available to us…in AUGUST.  Thankfully, our families live only 3.5 hours south of where we were to be stationed, and thankfully our wonderful families were willing to take me and our 2 boys in for the time being.  We split up the time between our parents: 2 months and my parents’ house, and 2 months at my in-laws’ house.  It was nice having the extra help; I went out on a lot of solo Target excursions, as well as several overnight and week long trips without the kidlets, but it was still VERY nice when we finally moved into our house last week.

Although we would NOT wait that long on housing again, I can say that it was well worth the wait…

We love our new house and our new neighborhood!!

Suburbia at its finest.   Because we’re living in a military community, its been easy talking to people and making friends.  Everyone just asks the question, “So, where are you all coming from?”  And there are TONS of little boys Noah’s age, so he’s loving it.  He’s also loving the fact that this is just over our front sidewalk:

I love the sense of community we have here…neighbors talk to one another, kids play together, etc.  I didn’t have this in FL, or even VB, and I grew up there!

Anyway, now that we’re pretty much all settled in (I just need to work on the guest room and organize my closet), I’ve started to un-do 4-5 months of gluttony by going back to calorie counting.  Although I remained consistent with my workouts, my diet has been awful.  So awful that I gained a lovely 7 lbs while on “hiatus.”   But thanks to calorie counting (I feel so much more comfortable counting calories…I’m a numbers girl), I’ve managed to narrow that number down to 4 lbs gained.

In January, when I first started my weightloss journey, I used the Livestrong My Plate website.  I loved it and it worked for me.  This time around, I’m tracking all my food and exercise using the Lose It app on my iPhone.  Love, love, love it!!  Its extremely user friendly, automatically adjusts my calorie intake according to my weightloss, and is just absolutely fantastic.  I used to have to lug around a notebook with me to jot down what I ate if I ate out when I was using Livestrong, but now that my tracker is right on my phone, its as easy as 1-2-3.   Best of all, its free.

Prior to moving in, Hubs & I joined a gym.   Because this area is so great, they gave us a military discount (when we asked Onelife in VB for a military discount, the rep said, “Um no.  Everyone here is military, so everyone would get a discount.” Hmph.), Hubs & I are spending less for the 2 of us, plus 2 kids than I was paying for just me and the kids in VB.  Yay for savings!   Don’t get me wrong, its not as grandiose as Onelife, but it gets the job done and the people make up for it.   My Bodypump instructor yesterday, for example, was such a great motivator! Loved him!

So now that we’re FINALLY in our home, I am hoping to post daily on the blog.  Be on the lookout.

The plan for this morning’s gym sesh was cardio, cardio, cardio…and definitely something that would make me DRIP in sweat, so I decided to do a longer (3.3 miles), steady paced run and follow that with 20 minutes on the stairmill.  The result was phenomenal!  I felt fantastic afterwards and I was very much dripping in sweat.

735 calories burned.  Woot woot!

My tunes definitely played a part in my motivation this morning, especially that GLEE soundtrack!

(Source)

“Don’t Stop Believin” and “Gold Digger” got me moving this morning; I was that crazy lady dancing on the treadmill today.

The rest of my day has turned out to be a relaxing one.  I got laundry done, and even took a nap with my little K-Bob…maybe I’ll get some reading done too.   Have a great day everyone!

It was just what I needed to get going this morning.  Well, that and a big ol’ unpictured cup of coffee.

I was thankful that my MIL got the kids dressed and ready this morning before she left for the gym; that shaved about 15 minutes off my morning routine and I was able to stop by Target before the gym daycare opened to pick up some “necessities.”  I needed a more functional camera bag for my DSLR and after looking around all weekend, I decided to pick up the one I initially had my eye on:

I personally don’t like to spend too much on things like camera bags (and “too much” to me on a camera bag is $50+) but after seeing what other stores were charging for plain, ugly black bags, I decided to bite the bullet and get my Golla bag.  I’ve been eyeing it for months now.  I like that it has enough room for all my camera accessories, and even my little point and shoot.   Yay.

I also needed some new to read so I picked up The Memory Keeper’s Daughter on a whim…

Looks interesting and I’ve heard good things…

After my Target run, I hit up the good ol’ gym, which I hadn’t been too in awhile!  I missed my gym.   The gyms in our area of MD just don’t compare.

I had a haphazard workout…I started off running at a steady pace, then decided to try my tempo intervals, got tired after 2 intervals, ran for a steady pace again, then walked, all for about 30 minutes.  Then I decided to do the elliptical for 25 minutes, got off, and saw that I hadn’t even burned 600 calories, so decided to hop back on the treadmill for 10 more minutes.  All together my workout burned 754 calories.

Not too shabby.  I usually go into the gym with a plan, but Aunt Flo was making me feel loopy today.

Lunch was a fabulous salmon burger with all the fixins…

I am stuffed!

My ILs took Noah to visit a friend of their’s and K-Bob’s sleeping…I’m about to end this post so I can sneak in a few ZzZzs too!  See ya’ll later!

My fashion style has changed and evolved over the years, especially in the years since I’ve become a mom.  While I used to LIVE in heels (even when I was teaching, I wore heeled shoes everyday…on some days, even stilettos! RAWR), I honestly cannot remember the last time I wore heels.  Actually, scratch that…I can: it was in December 2009.

Nowadays I spend my days in my beloved Asics running shoes…

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And as of late, my favoritest flip flops ever, Rainbows.

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I love, love, love my Rainbows.  I even got some for The Hubs & both boys.

On the clothing front, I’ve been loving kimono dresses!

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I’ve acquired 4 just in the past couple weeks and they’re my go-to clothing items.  Comfy and cool, and perfect paired with my Rainbows, they are the perfect outfit for this frumpy mama.

People, I have gained 5 lbs.

Its a shame and I feel like a sham.  I mean, how embarassing is it to GAIN 5 lbs while writing a weightloss blog?!  I’m not surprised its happened, but I am so so so frustrated and disappointed it did.  I do know what attributed to the weight gain and I know its time to buckle down again and jumpstart the second phase of my journey.

I can’t continue to backslide! My main issue has been my diet…as is always my main issue. :p  The past month has been especially bad because I’ve been up to MD with Mike twice, which means A LOT of eating out and A LOT of not working out.  I find it hard to calorie count when I’m not the one preparing my food and I find it even harder to watch my portions when the food is SO good! :p  BUT no more.  The scale is scarily climbing up and I am not happy about it.  Back to 5-6 days a week of exercise and portion control; calorie counting will have to wait until we move into our own house. 

This week’s challenges:

• Strength train 2x
• Complete 2 tempo interval workouts
• Only take 1 serving at mealtimes
• Drink 3 Camelbaks (72 oz) of water daily
• Aim to burn at least 600 calories per workout

Hopefully this will get me back on track to healthy!

Anyway, the last I left you, I was getting prepared to run my first ever 8K…that’s 4.97 miles, people.  The run was to benefit the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters, or CHKD.  Being from the VB/Norfolk area, I’ve always envisioned CHKD to be our local version of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, and there is nothing I am more passionate about then children; the education of, the welfare of, the safety of, & the health of. In my mind, kids make the world go ’round.

So where was I? Oh, yes, the 8K…it took place on June 19th, 2010 at Town Point Park in downtown Norfolk.  The course had us running around Harbor Park (yuckiest part of the run…it smelled like garbage and there was a lack of interesting scenery; we were essentially running around a parking lot.), up St. Paul’s Blvd (in front of the mall and Scope), down Granby Street (in front of all the bars…wootwoot!) and ending on the waterfront.  I ran it in 1:03:53 and while I would have loved to run it in sub-1 hour, I was really proud of myself.  Considering my first two 5Ks I ran last year, I ran in 40 minutes (hey, I was 30 lbs heavier and S L O W, plus I walked most of those races), 1:03:53 for nearly 5 miles isn’t bad.  I ran 90% of it (I walked most of the 3rd mile…bleh) and I didn’t feel like I was going to die…success in my eyes!

Here are some pics from that day…

Fun times!   I ran it with my “sister in sweat” JLB…well, we started off the race together, but her butt was too fast for me and she left me in her dust.   She finished the race in sub-1 hour.

Anyway, onto the point of this post.  I’ve been running for awhile now, but my times haven’t been improving.  I run a 36 minute 5K and I’d like to work on doing a 30-31 minute 5K, so I’ve decided to incorporate tempo intervals into my workouts.

What is a Tempo Run?

A tempo run consists of a 10-15 minute easy warm-up jog, followed by a 3-6 mile run at about your 10k pace. At the very least, make sure that you are running hard during these workouts; you should not be able to carry on a conversation with someone next to you. After the tempo run, make sure to include a 10-15 minute jog to cool down your muscles. If you are just starting to run tempos, make sure that you don’t exceed 20 minutes of hard running or you’ll be beating up your body too much. After the workout, it is also very important to refuel your body by drinking water and eating protein-rich foods to get the most benefit from tempo run. (taken from Runner’s Resource) 

Because I am not yet running a 10K, I’ve decided to incorporate this particular workout into my weekly routine:

My current goal is to consistently run a 10 minute mile, or 6.0 on the treadmill.  We shall see how it goes…