Aye Aye Aye, FITBLOGGIN! WHAT A WEEKEND!

Fitbloggin' 11 photo courtesy of official Fitbloggin photographer, Carrie D. Photography

There was running in tutus.

There was one-armed pushups in the hotel lobby. Which I missed. (No picture of this because there was also -- if you can believe this -- me, turning in early that night. I know. I mean, who have I become?!)

This is Thea.

Thea is doing Zumba.

Because there was ZUMBA taught by this hotness. And it made me take my shirt off halfway through, toss it and yell into the air whilst on a "Zumba High," which does indeed exist, I can attest.

(Totally blew that last Zumba experience with the elderly ladies right outta the water by the way..)

(There was a firefighter convention going on at our hotel. No pics of this either.I know you're disappointed. So am I.)

There was trampoline in a dress.

You're welcome.

As you can see, we did a lot of fitness-y stuff.
But then of course there was the educational stuff which was finding out that I was doing SEO ALL WRONG for the past 5 years. Bummer.

There was a suitcase and a half of FREE SWAG to take home, including New Balance sneakers, running pants, a wicking headband that has headphones BUILT INSIDE OF IT from IBeanie, so much cereal that the airport limo guy asked me if I worked for a cereal company, coupons for more free stuff and dvds, water bottles, an Eat Smart SCALE, sheesh! (Hint: Keep an eye out for swag bag giveaways here.)

Then of course there were these girls, my girlfriends and fellow hookers writers behind the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, I mean, how is it that we met online and love each other SO.MUCH in real life??

(That, by the way, is the night I did NOT go in early. Just for the record.)

Let's just say I was resting up the night before.

More sisters from Shrinking Jeans (Bari, Kirsten and writer April).

It was just so unbelievably fun.

I have so much more to write about, including the actual educational stuff like SEO and valuable vlogging tips I learned and Mantra Monday will be back next week as things return to normal around here.

But right now I'm struggling trying to get back to life as usual, it's the last week of school and the fridge stopped working so holy moly am I swamped! But what an unbelieveable trip. Can't wait for next year!!

You must build this into your plans, never in my life have I been a part of something so awesome. Thanks Roni, for throwing such an amazing event!

Weigh In Work Out Wednesday! My First Open Water Swim of the Season

There were lots of people at the beach last week when we went for our first open water swim of the season but only two of them were in the water.

I don't know why though because even though the water felt sortof cold, it was certainly no where near the unbearable I felt last winter when my friend Melanie and I literally ran in and ran out of the water. That was freezing.

It was a great 1/2 mile swim and with my good buddy Leona pictured up top! Hooray!! Tri season is almost officially here!



It's that time of week again, time to check in! And guess who checked in with me? A 1.5 pound loss checked in with me! Woot! The loss showed up this week! I'm so happy to see you, 1.5 pound loss! I was just hoping for 1 but you brought extra!

Lots of exclamation marks this week because it was sort of a struggle with eating.

First, there was St. Patty's Day, which was completely under control; I worked out and burned extra, I measured my corned beef much to the chagrin of a family member who called my measuring "ridiculous" but that doesn't bother me. Really. No it doesn't.

Then, came Friday. I was all out of calories for the day when we were headed out for date night, but I went ahead with the beer and the Veggie Patch Pizza at Applebees (oh, you say that 1 entire Veggie Patch Pizza is not a single serving? Oh, just 1/8th of it is? Or 1/6th? Well why didn't you mention that BEFORE I ate the whole thing!? But it can't be that bad, it has VEGGIE in the name! There's spinach! Oh, there are 900 CALORIES IN THE WHOLE THING?)

I went back to a voice I once heard that said, "One meal won't break you."

It won't. It just wont.

I worked out the next day, came under my calories, worked out hard on Sunday and came under calories again and ya know what?

It all equalled out.

Calorie counting is hard.

The choices are hard. Especially when food is everywhere.

Birthday parties are the hardest because everyone in my family equates celebrating with food.

So on Sunday, I ate before I left for a birthday party, said no to the hamburgershotdogsandbeans, said yes to the birthday brownie and went home and ate my own dinner. I came under calories, enjoyed the birthday party (does "celebrating" have to mean eating? No, "celebrating" is when my presents are a HIT and they scramble to open up the boxes of MY presents because MY PRESENTS ROCK! And all they do for the rest of the party is play with MY PRESENTS while their friends OGLE!! Now, that's celebrating.)

In the end of my weekly eating wrap up that this turned out to be, yes I enjoyed that pizza and that one brownie. No more saying "I'm bad" for eating. No more judging myself. Just choices.

Now, the hardest part about calorie counting is when I'm spent on calories and I'm STARVING still. The choice about what's the lowest in calories but the most filling is HARD when I'm blinded by hunger! But then I have a Chobani or a bowl of corn flakes and maybe I go over a few calories, but if I'm STARVING, I'm listening to my body about it.

Alright, enough about eating. (Can you tell I'm still trying to figure this thing out?)

The victories are everywhere in my week: conscious eating decisions, a reversal of an unconscious eating decision, all my workouts plus a great 6 mile run in the HEAT! Standing strong when people think I'm crazy for calorie counting, and in the end, 1.5 pounds closer to in shape for tri season!

Oh, wait! Have I mentioned I'm selling Bondi Bands? It's Bondis for Babies! If you buy one, the money goes to fight prematurity!!! Please check out my Bondi Bands here, they're great! (There's 26.2, "Looks like Walking, Feels Like Running," "FOCUS," SHUT UP AND RUN," and many many more!) Thanks to Deb for being my first supporter!!!! Love you!

How did you do this week?

Weigh-in - Work Out Wednesday

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, my favorite place in the world for free online weight-loss challenges and support is hosting a brand new challenge and it starts today! It's not too late to join! We're pairing up in teams of two so go grab a buddy and sign up here!

We are also doing the 100 pushup challenge! I started it a while back and it quickly fizzled but not this time! I'm at it again! So you might even see some more vlogs from me.

I paired up with my good online buddy Beki, from Wild Child Gone Good and our team name is Sass and Fury.

We're going to kick some butt this challenge. We are in the exact same boat, have the same amount to lose and both need a swift kick in the rear for some motivation, so I am hoping we can provide that support for each other.

My tri training is fully under way again and I am counting calories at My Fitness Pal. It says I should be eating just under 1300 calories a day. I get hungry just typing that.

You can see my handy dandy little helper at the top, I want to lose 12 pounds (10 would be good) in time for St. Anthony's on May 1st. 8 pounds would be fine too. Into the new decade is really what I'd like, the last few will come off as the season gets underway.

I'm also about to embark on spreadsheetorama so I can check off my workouts in an organized manner. I am already meal planning so that's a plus. And because all of this will be a matter of choices and making choices and all of the circumstances surrounding those choices can change moment by moment, we're also playing a little support game over at the Sisterhood through Twitter for the month of March. Go read about it here and play along!

Have a great day! Good luck to everyone on this challenge! Moment by Moment!

Team Shut Your Pumpkin Pie Hole

Welcome to the new challenge at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and it's a group thing, A HOLIDAY HOEDOWN!

To mix it up a little bit, I'm bringing in people from INSIDE MY REAL LIFE!! Worlds are colliding!! My team's made up mostly of my family and friends and we call ourselves, "TEAM Shut Your Pumpkin Pie Hole."

YEEEHAWW!

We were encouraged to form our own teams and my fellow shrinkers this go round are as follows: my maw, my paw, my husband, my friend Meghan, my cousin Rachel, her husband and Rachel's friend. I'm so excited!

Now, Mom, I saw that Pepperidge Farms Chocolate Cake in your fridge and I'm totally publicly calling you out on it. (That's the good and bad thing about having your family on a team! Just sayin.)

If you get a chance to say hello to anyone in the TEAM CHICKEN WING team on the 'Hood or on the site, that team is made up of members from my triathlon group! Shrinking Jeans is new to them so show them around and say Hi if you get a chance! Hooray for everyone being involved, it's a big hometown hoedown party for me!

Lucky for me, our first weigh-in was post-race which meant I was UP last week, which means I AM DOWN this week. (Didja get that?) Yep! All the weight I was up last week because I gain weight after every race is gone, so for me that's a 2.5 pound loss. Which is great for the team! But technically speaking it would have been my starting weight had it not been a race week last week.

Last week, our non-fitness challenge was to create goals for the challenge and mine are:

• Drink lots of water. Have you met my new water bottle yet?  It's bigger than my face. 

  
• Strength and core train. A few people from my tri group and I are doing a few group personal training sessions together starting next Thursday (it's cheaper that way) and I so need this. Strength training has been severely lacking in my life and as a personal rule, I should do cardio 5-6 days a week and strength training at least 2. That's what works for me.
• Pay attention to nutrition for long Disney Marathon training runs and log it.
• Pay attention to nutrition in general and stop eating FAST FOOD (DAMMIT!)
• Also SHUT MY PUMPKIN PIE HOLE.
• Lose 5 (more) pounds. (Because the first 2.5 didn't really count).

Yes, I'm staring right down the barrel of the holidays and expecting to LOSE weight, NOT gain weight. I'm that brazen. But now that I have people in my real life keeping me in check, I can't go wrong, right? (RIGHT, TEAM SHUT YOUR PUMPKIN PIE HOLE???)

Also, I'm running the Turkey Trot in the morning with my husband and my dad and every year I've made a new pr. The first year, it was 1:12, the second year it was 1 hour exactly and this year I'M CROSSING UNDER AN HOUR! YES I AM! That's my goal. And then I will eat my Thanksgiving feast in moderation. Are you turkey trotting? There's still time to find one and sign up! DO IT!

Now to what I am thankful for. I have a special project for you. Today I will interview my children about what they are thankful for. Will you? The answers are always surprising depending on the day and the mood but tomorrow's post will be about Thankfulness and if you get a chance to ask your own family what they're thankful for and post it, share the link here tomorrow! And if you post about what YOU are thankful for, please share that too!!

I love taking a time out to reflect on the good things in life. There are so many more than we think.

Hope you shrunk today and  hope your to-do list shrinks today too! I'm about to get started on mine....

Workout Wednesday: Barf, Shrinkvivor, Triathlon, and the Road to Disney

Well you already know I barfed after my long workout on Sunday. That was a first.

Promptly after that I got goiters the size of softballs in my throat.

We call them goiters but really they're swollen glands and by "we" I mean me and my sister who say, "I got goiters," and we know what we mean.

So now I got goiters. (Boy isn't this a lovely blog post. Who leads off with barf? I do. Twice.)

Apparently after long runs or workouts, your immune system gets really low and you should avoid everyone and everything for up to 72 hours or use hand sanitizer like it's going out of style. Somewhere in that 72 hour window, I got goiters.

So with the goiters, I have an ear infection and it all wants to be bronchitis but I have my antibiotics and I'm taking it easy to nip it before this weekend when I have a sprint triathlon and an 18 mile run. Followed by a kiddie Halloween party at my house and I'm going to be Princess Leia with the cinnamon bun hairdo. Busy weekend. No time for goiters. Definitely no time for bronchitis.

Real quick here, I'll do a quick update on Shrinkvivor (the weight-loss challenge going on over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans).
Dom dom dommmmmmm. (Price Is Right "loser" music played here.)

My team was banished last week to Exhile Island for being the lowest percentage of shrinkers.

Wah wahhhhh.

And if it wasn't last week, it would've been this week for me anyway because I am up an unGodly amount this week from 131 last week to 133 which is just crazy because yesterday I was down to 130 and was actually looking at a loss for this week! So how would it be that 3 pounds showed up for me this morning?

I'll give you a guess who showed up bringing those 3 pounds in her backpack. You're welcome. I still don't know why it was 3 POUNDS. She apparently doesn't travel light. I'm not worried. The three pounds will be gone by tomorrow. Ish.

Beyond that, I'd like to give my husband a huge shout out for kicking some serious butt at his first Olympic distance triathlon in a murky lake on Sunday!

Although it does look sort of pretty.

Until the swimmers kick and the splashes are all green and brownish then it's not pretty no more. And just know that there's alligators in there too. Yuck. Better all of them than me!

But he did great! Congratulations honey!

And then my camera failed as he crossed the finish line because I'm that awesome.

Next week, I'll be starting my newest feature called "Road to Disney (with a Pit Stop in Miami)" where I will be writing specifically about my Disney Marathon training each week (and my half-iron training which is really all just more preparation for Disney), from nutrition to hydration and the experimentation heretowith. So if you're ever interested in running a half or a whole marathon, stick around so you can learn from my mistakes!

Have a great day!

ps. I reviewed my favorite people ever, Girlz N Gear, over at the Sisterhood this week, so go to there and enter into the giveaway, mkay?

Workout Wednesday: A Last Minute Shrinkvivor Post

I'm taking a much needed break at 9:48 at night to post about my current state of workouts and my current state of weight because I am in the middle of a bathroom remodel, I've been painting and sanding and texturing all day (yes I'm Handy Manny and yes the color I chose is somewhat of a highlighter color but I swear it looks good with the shower curtain and I swear you won't need sunglasses to see it once it's all done.)

(Ps. Does all of this count as calorie burning? I sure hope so.)

I wrote about my crazy 16 mile run on Sunday (in which there was crying) and of which just so happened to coincide with the challenge of racking up the miles at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, so coupled with my 6 mile run on Thursday, I ran 22.5 miles last week (.5 of warmup). Hurrah!

Also I weighed in this morning at exactly the same as last week, 131.5.

I know. I'm not making much progress on this challenge.

But I'm literally just focused on getting through the workouts, the next long one is a 50 mile bike/10 mile run on Sunday and it has me scared.

Scared because I haven't a clue how I will fit it in with all the stuff going on this weekend and scared because UM, IT'S A 50 MILE RIDE AND A 10 MILE RUN. (Remind me again, who does this?!)

But I've gotten through these crazy things before. It ain't pretty usually. But it gets done. I am sure it will be my Mantra Monday focus next week and I'm sure I won't be able to refrain from posting about it.

I hope everyone has an awesome week! Off to finish painting! By this time tomorrow, I'll even have a working toilet in there!

Workout Wednesday: Race Recap + Shrinkvivor

It feels pretty good to have finally had a great half-marathon I am still riding that high. My official time was 2:22, beating out San Diego's half marathon which was 2:36.

SQUEE!

I went with two girls from my tri group and we just had so much fun. There were so many people at the Disney Wine & Dine Half-Marathon, it was like Woodstock. Only without the mud and the drugs. So I guess not at all like Woodstock, but still.

We had our tutus, our stripey socks and our blinking tiaras.

It was a little weird doing a race at 10 at night because what on earth do you eat all day?!

I tried my best to pair protein with carbs and then around 5, we stumbled upon a Sweet Tomatoes which was magically delicious! A little salad, a little pasta... perfection!

We had to take a bus from the hotel to the start of the race where we got warmed up (and tutu met porta-potty) and then it was race time.

I don't have much to say about the race because I feel like I danced through the whole thing. I had my music on and I sang and at the mile markers I threw my hands in the air (and got tangled in my tiara once) and around mile 9 when it started to hurt, I ate a gel and put on some hardcore music and then at mile 11 when it got hard again, we were going through Hollywood Studios and we were passing all the stops and attractions I had made earlier in the year with my family and best friend's family and so my family and friends kept me going through mile 11 in my head.

The last mile I sprinted as hard as I could and got choked up because I knew I had beaten my other times by far (no porta potty stops during the race will do that) and I cried at the finish.

Hurrah!

And that picture, by the way is not at all how I felt inside.

After I crossed the finish, they lost my bag that I checked and my stomach was really angry with me and I couldn't take part in the wine or the dine part of the race. My insides were wrecked (you're welcome). But those things don't matter! I was still on some sort of a high no matter what.

They eventually found my bag (Dear Disney, better organization system for next year for 12,000 bags, m'kay? Bags laying all over the floor does not work.) And we hit the sack by 4:30 a.m.

The next day (or the same day, rather) there was a late checkout and a Shoney's breakfast buffet involved.

The end.

Which ironically brings me to the Shrinkvivor challenge. I'm up a pound. I won't blame the race, I'll blame the bacon.

My bad.

Looks like I'm staring at a trip to Exile Island.

But I'm ok with that. I have just over 4 weeks to go to Miami-Man and soon after that I'll be finished training for the Disney Marathon so things are just getting started for me, really. Onward down the road to Disney!

I LOVE ME. (DAMMIT.)

I wholeheartedly believe that weight-loss is about 90% mind, 10% body. I might even go as far as saying 99% mind, 1% body but I'm pretty sure my body puts more than 1% work into whatever's going on at the moment. Either way, the mind is 90-something percent of it, says me.

I believe this because I've proved my body wrong a lot of times but only because my mind was in the game. Had my mind not been in the game, it would have told my body to stop. Which it has done plenty of times too.

My mind is the final answer when it comes to making the decision to give up.

Sure, things hurt and my body says so. But it's never my body that gives out (except for maybe when I'm doing the plank.) It's my mind that gives out. It's my mind saying there's pain. It's my mind freaking out about what's lurking in the water beneath me. It's my mind saying I can't breathe. It's my mind responding to my body when my body whines and my mind placates it.

We have a new "Monthly Project" over at the The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans which is a, well, monthly project that usually has something to do with your mind through the weight-loss journey as opposed to the physical aspect of weight-loss. Because, of course, I believe so much of weight-loss has to do with your mind. It also has so much to do with how important you believe yourself to be and when you begin to fall out of love with yourself, you diminish your own importance (and that's usually when you fall off the wagon.) You begin to believe that what's on the outside is a reflection of what's on the inside and if you're unhappy with what's on the outside, you don't believe that what's on the inside is worthy of anything, especially love.

Sometimes when you don't love yourself, you find someone who loves you anyway, but eventually you begin to question why they love you because you don't even love yourself and then you do things like project your insecurities on other people and you sabatoge your relationships, not on purpose but because of your own unhappiness and lack of self-worth.

Eventually you will have to change your mind about yourself because if you don't, then you will continue not to love yourself but even worse, you will make it difficult for other people to love you and it's not because they don't love you but because you will be accidentally on purpose pushing them away because you believe you don't deserve it.

And it is all because you're unhappy somewhere, with the outside, with the inside, or with both. And especially when it comes to weight-loss there is always a moment when people begin to change their lives but it doesn't happen until they decide wholeheartedly and fully to put themselves first and to love themselves. Or at least to try. Because nothing can begin until you do. I know because I did this. All of it.

And then you learn that nothing in the world will be as sweet as when you believe you deserve to be loved because then and only then will you be able to give everything of yourself to other people and most of all, to yourself.

And as part of the monthly project, I wrote a pledge. And I think you should take it.
This is the pledge to stop talking bad about ourselves, to allow ourselves to be happy and to allow ourselves to feel worthy of love and priority and time and all of those things that we deny ourselves because we don't love ourselves enough. Simply put, it is to say, "I LOVE ME."

Here is the pledge and I beg of you to join me in taking it, even if you have never ever heard of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans (which is just crazytalk), because this isn't about anything other than taking time to stop and reach down and see everything you are and love yourself FINALLY. So print it out, write "I LOVE ME" on your mirror, on a thousand little post-its, blog the pledge, whatever you want, but I beg you, just take the pledge.

The Pledge to Love Myself.

I pledge allegiance, TO MYSELF.
Today I will proclaim it
out loud,
TALL AND PROUD
I LOVE MYSELF.
From this day forward,
I promise to be nice.
TO myself and ABOUT myself.
I will accept my quirks and I will love my faults.
I will love my shape, whatever it is
My bones, my muscles, my hair and my face.
My body, all of it, inside and out.
Because that is what makes me, ME.
And there is only one of me.
I will finally allow myself
to see what others see.
My kindness, my spirit, my love.
And starting today, I will share some of it,
with ME.
Because I deserve it.
I will fight for myself, because I’m important.
And I deserve to be everything I am capable of in my life.
I deserve to find my greatness and live my life fully and completely.
With no regrets.
There is so much I want to do in my life,
but first, it begins with “me.”
I LOVE MYSELF.
Today, tomorrow, and every day after that.
I LOVE MYSELF, DAMMIT!
And no one can stop me.

Shrinkvivor: Don't Look at My Grout

Hi, yes, can I have a 64 ounce bottle of water, actually, make that two 64 ounce bottles of water, and some Gas-X please?

Thankssomuch.

I worked out like a fiend since last Wednesday, ran, biked, swam, biked, ran, swam, biked, ran, ran and ran again, I have managed to do minimal birthday party celebration damage and have only managed to lose 1/2 a pound although if you handed me a Sam's Club box of GasX and a couple a jugs of water, I might all of a sudden become less bloated and it would miraculously be more.

You're welcome.

I know what's coming. And I don't have to tell you what it is. But it's why I've only managed to lose 1/2 a pound this week and my midsection is screaming.

(Don't look at my grout, I said!)

So, in sum, minus 1/2 pound for the Shrinkvivor Challenge at the Sisterhood and it didn't matter how many times I stepped on the scale, stepped off and tried again later, this is what it was. There was no changing that scale's mind. I'm ok with this.

So I'm just hanging out over here staying the course and hoping not to get voted off to Exile Island! How did you do?

Workout Wednesday: Shrinkvivor!

I'm really excited about this! I'm participating in the new weight-loss challenge at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and it's going to be like a virtual "Survivor!"

But not.

Because it's called, "SHRINKvivor." OOOh. Clever. The brains behind the Sisterhood really came up with some good stuff this time!

All the participants are divided up into tribes and I'm on Tribe Turquoise. Each week we weigh-in and someone gets voted off for whatever reason and sent to "Exile Island" (well not really since we all have jobs and families and things to attend to, this is just a fake Exile Island) to finish out the remainder of the competition. Someone can also win from Exile Island too! But mainly, we're going to have fun with this. There are cool prizes up for grabs, we'll be vlogging in our Shrinkvivor-wear and we'll be doing fitness challenges for immunity and everything. (You can read more about it here.)

I'll be posting my updates on Wednesdays and if you care, you can track my progress and whether or not I make it through each torch ceremony or whatever it will be called to continue the competition. Or if I get sent away. (Please don't vote me off, please????) I am thinking it's time to revive my pathetic attempt at the 100 Pushup Challenge, too.

I will be taking pictures of my weight each week. Yes. Fine. Fine. I'll publish it here *she says while looking through her fingers*.

So now you know.

Starting weight: 131.5.

In all of it's desperate-need-of-a-pedicure glory.

And if you must know, I've been scaling back on "services" which include mani-pedi's because I can't justify the $50 lately when I can do it myself and besides I tear up my feet with all the running and biking and well, as you can see, doing it myself is really working out for me.

I'm going to own it, people.

My goals for the challenge:

-At least 6.5 pounds in 8 weeks (or less than 125).

-Check off each workout on calendar (after doing it! I can't just check it off whenever I want to!)

-Add strength and core training (including 100 Pushup Challenge)

-Minimize restaurant eating and alcohol intake

-Drink lots and lots of water.

So that's it. Wish me luck! 

Workout Wednesday: Setbacks and Celebrations and Sisterhood

I contribute over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans (which you might already know) and it's a wonderful, awesome place to find support for weight-loss or fitness, whichever you're focused on and we have fitness and weight-loss challenges over there and I love this awesome group so much.

Today one of our challenges is coming to an end.

I have lost a grand total of 2 pounds, but don't get too excited, it's the same 2 pounds I gain and lose almost weekly. I am very close to maintenance, I have lost most of my post-partum weight (which took about 2 years) but I still have some ruffles and ridges left possibly in the tumular area or the guttal region or whatever you want to call that little piece of flab where a baby once resided. In about 5-10 pounds more, I will call it a day and maintain and I'm hoping that training for my half-iron and my marathon will help me get there if only I could stop eating like a cow!

Last week, I missed the entire week's worth of training because all sorts of things going on and plus the cold I had I passed down to my entire family and then there were shots and school orientations and teacher meetings and life got way in the way.

The most training I did was my 12 mile run in Vegas (which I can't wait to write about by the way.)

I'm back at it this week, the kids are in school, I've gone food shopping (which is key to no restaurants!) and I'm getting in my workouts.

This week I can breathe a little. Everyone is on the mend, I can workout when the kids are in school and I'm caught up on errands.

You know, sometimes life just happens and that's just the way it is, no matter how focused on training you are or can be, it just happens. My first reaction is to beat myself up over how I've eaten and how much training I've missed, but then a post like this comes along from our lovely girl, April, over at Shrinking Jeans and it brings me back down to earth a little.If you have ever struggled during the weight-loss journey ever, even for just a second, go read it. It is inspiring and uplifting and something everyone needs to hear. I'm going to move on from my pause in training and trudge on.

We are about to start a new challenge at the Sisterhood and it's going to be a lot of fun, it's called "Shrinkvivor" and I don't know, judging by the graphics it looks a little like Survivor! Hmmmmmm! This could get interesting! I may or may not know some secret details but I'm not talkin'!

But you should keep your eyes peeled for it, it's going to be a blast! Meantime, it's September and we have a new Monthly Project going on over there and you should read about it and join us. The way we treat ourselves physically and mentally along with the way we view ourselves has a lot to do with the success of the journey to living healthy, and this project is meant to help all of us figure out how to iron that all out. The project is all about looking deep within ourselves and finding out what our biggest struggles are mentally and trying to fix them.

I hope everyone did well for this challenge and I hope you'll join us for the next one! Head on over to the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans to explore!

Great News! I Will Use OMG in This Instance (Even if I'm too old for it!)

Do you remember myBFF Tara Costa? And how she didn't mind when I called her a badass?

She has decided to workout with us. Virtually. Via Twitter. Here's all the info right here, complete with giveaways from our sponsor, SUBWAY!

If you're not Twitterlicious, you may be wondering what on earth I'm talking about. Basically, we go onto Twitter with the girls of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and someone from Shrinking Jeans shouts out workouts on Twitter and we do them during commercial breaks and report back on Twitter. It all began when a bunch of us would Tweet during The Biggest Loser and somehow it inspired us to stop just sitting there and move around a bit while we watched them move around a bit.

Well, obviously, the Biggest Loser ain't on right now, but we still do it every Tuesday night to whatever it is that anyone wants to watch!

This week, mybff Tara Costa is going to LEAD our Twitter workout. RIGHT NOW she is coming up with a plan for us to workout to and we're going to follow it and our thighs are going to burn.

Also, SUBWAY is getting in on it! They're giving us a bunch of stuff to give away! So it's going to be a big ol' Tworkout Party! (Twitter + Workout = Tworkout).

Can you come? Cause you're invited. Here are the details:

• Pre-party and giveaways start at 8:30 ET Tuesday night. That's TONIGHT! 
• Tara joins us at 9pm to work out!
• 10-10:30 Tara accepts YOUR QUESTIONS! Just tweet your questions to @Tara_Costa!

I'll be there. Tara Costa will be there! And The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans will be there! Will you?? Follow us on Twitter! @momswearcapes, @Tara_Costa, @shrinkingjeans!

Healthy Recipes: A Pantry Purge (AKA Stuff in my Freezer)

I'm in the middle of a full-on stage 10 pantry and freezer purge and for the past two weeks I've targeted the frozens. It's part of the "Monthly Project" over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans where we are taking the whole month to tackle something and this month it's using up what we actually have and trying to minimize what we buy. This has been really great for me, you should join us, it's never too late! (Read about it here!) 

The first project I tackled was eating all that FROZEN CHICKEN. And there was A LOT of it. So we grilled, I made chicken and yellow rice, it was a pretty yummy week.

The next tackle was the ridiculous overflow of frozen square boxes of vegetables I got into by purchasing more when I wasn't sure if we had any which of course we did and that turned into at least 10 boxes of spinach and/or broccoli stacked up on top of each other.

As it happened, I also had a couple of containers of eggbeaters, a couple of them half full, a couple of them full and all of them still well within their usage date (again, I keep buying items that I'm not sure I have and it always turns out I have two already).

So I made a lot of eggs and veggies. I found a fantastic recipe from Weight Watchers for a Broccoli Cheese Quiche and that's what you see way up top! And everyone loved it. It was 5 points! Here's the recipe:

Healthy Broccoli Cheese Quiche

Ingredients:
6 oz pie crust, 9-inch, refrigerated
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup(s) red onion(s), chopped
1 1/4 cup(s) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup(s) low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 large egg(s)
2 large egg white(s)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp table salt, or more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or more to taste
10 oz frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and well-drained
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Press pie crust into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch, removable-bottom tart pan or a 9-inch pie pan; refrigerate until ready to use. To make filling, heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Transfer onion to a large bowl and add ricotta cheese, cheddar cheese, egg, egg whites, mustard, oregano, salt and pepper; mix well and fold in broccoli. Spoon mixture into prepared crust and level surface with a wooden spoon; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake until a knife inserted near center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing into 8 pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving.

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Yum!

The next thing I did was make yummy muffin pan crustless mini-quiches, which are great for making ahead of time, putting in a ziploc bag and in the fridge and popping one or two for breakfast every morning! I didn't take a picture, but we ate them all up, they were great for recovery meals for my runs and my husband was able to take them to work with him. I made them using a recipe I tweaked off the food network (to make it healthier):

Crustless Mini-Quiches!

Ingredients:
2 cups egg substitute
1/2 cup nonfat milk
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 box frozen spinach or chopped broccoli, cooked
1/3 cup grated parmesan
nonstick cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray the muffin pans with nonstick spray. Whisk eggs, milk, pepper and salt in large bowl. Stir in spinach and parmesan. Fill muffin cups almost to the top with egg mixture. Bake until the egg mixture puffs and is set in the center, about 8-10 minutes. Pop em out and serve immediately, or let them cool, put them in a Ziploc and refrigerate! You can also use a mini-muffin pan if you want teeny tiny ones.

My next project this week is going through the pantry and fridge, cleaning out all the crapola, taking a walk with the kids to go get a newspaper, clipping coupons, making a list of things WE HAVE and what I'm going to make with it, and then going shopping for the week buying just the few things I need to make them. I'm going to mostly USE WHAT WE HAVE. No more wasting!

I've got a recipe for something not so healthy but we totally cleaned out the pantry with it, it's a 4 INGREDIENT cookie and it's amazing and I'm posting that next week. Yum.
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psst. This week's giveaway is HERE.