winning at losing -- the friendly weight-loss competition

If you've been following me on Facebook you know that I just wrapped up Week 3 of an 8-week weight-loss competition* I have going with 10 mom friends. And {drum roll}-- for the second week in a row-- I am in the lead, based upon % of weight lost.

So what's working?

First and foremost, for me, it's my fitbit.

Far from deprivation, my eating has been some combination of what I learned during the 10-day detox {though I no longer need to follow it to a "t"}, Bittman's VB6 {though I didn't realize I was eating this way until a friend mentioned it… more veggies = always a good goal} and Eating Rules' October Unprocessed Challenge. Food-wise, I took the pressure off myself to be perfect. Instead, I make an effort to crowd out the bad with good. I allow myself treats, and have enjoyed several meals out {with delicious beverages}... but I also log everything I eat-- both the good and the bad-- into the food journal on my fitbit dashboard. It is powerful for me to understand where I stand, and what exercise would have to happen to balance out that next glass of wine, or dessert, so I can make choices.

While I am by no means perfect, generally speaking, I feed my family well. But for me, exercise was the piece that was apparently missing. I always assumed that whatever walk I took, tennis I played, or time I spent on the elliptical was enough. But I had no way of really knowing how much I was doing. Did it matter?

Plus, I felt like the last thing I needed was another reason to be online. But then I trusted a few friends who swore their fitbits were helping them get where they wanted to be.

Worth a shot.

So, I strapped a fitbit on, committed to taking at least 10,000 steps/day, and from Week 1 it had me swooning {and losing weight}. I began to understand-- in concrete terms-- how much I needed to move if I was going to eat x, y, or z. I'm never going to give up on real, delicious food. I enjoy eating, and I have a family that needs to be nourished each day. But now that I better understand the role movement plays, I am encouraged and empowered to move more. It's simple math, not rocket science.

And I am surrounded by friends doing the same. We see the steps each other is taking and challenge each other to garner more.

My kids know that badgering me to use the iPad will now, more often than not, be met with an idea to get outside and go someplace on foot.

I still love a good book by the fire, a lunch date within a friend, and the laundry isn't going to fold itself… but these days, all that happens after I meet my daily Fitbit goal. I'm hooked.

See the small product that made a huge difference in my fitness journey.

*Since many of you have asked, here are the details on our friendly weight-loss competition:

• We have 11 moms participating, all friends and friends of friends;
• We each put $100 into the pot, making our 1st place prize $600 and our 2nd place prize $500;
• Since everyone came into the competition with a different amount they'd like to lose, you win based upon your % of weight-lost compared to your starting weight {vs absolute lbs, inches, etc};
• We chose to do the competition for 8 weeks in hopes that real, lasting change could occur;
• On day 1, we all went to one participant's house and got on her scale, which became each person's starting weight;
• Each Monday, participants weigh themselves at home {using their own scales} and email their weight to the spreadsheet keeper before 10am. Once all weights are tallied, the spreadsheet keeper emails current rankings out to the group {just %, weights are kept private} so everyone has an idea of how they're doing relative to the group;
• After 8 weeks, we'll regroup live at the original scale we used, and there will undoubtedly be a lot of hooting and hollering as the winners are announced!!!

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Holiday Feast in a Snap - A Simple Make Ahead Plan is here!

It's here! Let the "bonus hours" rack up!! After many, many requests, I finally found enough time to sit down and write-up my annual plan for a {sane} Thanksgiving feast. {Because it didn't do you any good if it was all in my head, now did it?} I know that you're thinking: "A calm, planned-for-me Thanksgiving cooking plan?! Sign me up!"

I love Thanksgiving. And part of the reason is because I get a lot of my shopping and cooking done ahead of time. No one wants a stressed out mom or hostess. 

So, if the thought of hosting the feast overwhelms you, or you're picturing a Thanksgiving spent captive in your kitchen, then my instantly downloadable booklet is for you. 

Or maybe you're wondering what delicious sides you can make ahead of time and bring to Aunt Melba's as your offering? Pick one from my plan that is sure to please! I've got you covered with  plenty of simple recipe ideas, each with its own done-for-you shopping list. 

This instantly downloadable program will take you through everything from brining your turkey to making {the best} homemade gravy...

simple cranberry sauce to

more unique, but equally easy {and crowd pleasing}, side dishes like savory roasted apples and

a super-healthy, cranberry-pecan quinoa salad with orange vinaigrette.

And since someone always wants decadent potatoes, I teach you how to make my favorite potato and root veggie gratin

alongside my healthier maple mashed sweet potatoes.

And, of course, a nice green veggie to round the meal out-- your choice of two of my favorites that are simple to make-- shredded Brussels sprouts or green beans in a mustard vinaigrette.

The booklet {which will come to you as an instant download from SendOwl} includes:

• done-for-you shopping lists for the entire feast, as well as individual shopping lists for each recipe {which people say is probably the most valuable part of this program... talk about a time-saver!}
• a done-for-you list of pantry items {so you can stock up ahead of time... like now, before the holiday grocery marketing rush!}
• a done-for-you list of my go-to cooking equipment {plus each recipe details the cooking equipment and baking dishes you'll need, so you're totally organized}
• a step-by-step, day-by-day, cooking plan leading up to the feast {to keep overwhelm in check! repeat after me: "I will be a guest at the feast too this year"}
• a simple cooking/reheating plan for the day of the feast {so you get to relax and enjoy the holiday too-- remember, no frazzled mom/hostess this go round!}
• and, a set of my all-time favorite holiday recipes {culled down from binders and binders of ideas to a doable # of family favorites: dry turkey brine, homemade gravy, simple stuffing, port-apricot cranberry sauce, maple mashed sweet potatoes, potato and root vegetable gratin, cranberry-pecan quinoa salad, savory roasted apples, and shaved Brussels sprouts or green beans with mustard vinaigrette}

 

P.S. Once Thanksgiving is so stress-free, you might also like to check out the "Stock Your Freezer in a Snap" program, which helps you feed your family well on the busiest of {non-holiday} days. Cheers to "bonus hours"... even around the holidays!

taking a little break...

I'm taking a little blogging break. For how long, you ask? Maybe just a few days, maybe the month of July, maybe the whole summer... We'll see. This magazine excerpt from Dr. Harley Rotbart's book pretty much sums up the way I feel right now: wiped out. I told a friend that "I need more summer in my summer", and she replied, "If you feel frazzled you need to cut. You can't be full on every day. Summer is when u recharge for the coming school year...Could u take a pause... without losing ground? I guess another way to look at it is, at the end of the summer, what kind of memories do u want to have? Driving frantically around in the car or relaxing... What r your actions teaching your kids? Always be busy?" 

Ouch. So, baby steps. Last week, I did a clean eating week. (More on that when I get back to blogging.) And I decluttered the house some while I decluttered my eating. There's still work to do on both those fronts, but it's good enough for now. I feel more in order, more like I'm ready for a clean start...

And this coming week I'm setting aside time just to read. I'm delving into two books that have been on my can't-wait-to-read list for a few months now. {If you'd like a peek, click here for the books I look forward to reading, or here for the ones I've recently read and enjoyed.}

In my case, it took a dear friend sending me a zinger of an email to make me step back and regroup, then this excerpt from Dr. Rotbart's book drove it home.  

So, until the next post, hopefully you'll find me with my kids, putting more "summer" into our summer.

p.s. Have no fear, you can still use this blog as a fabulous resource. Simply scroll down the right side here and perform a search for something specific, or peruse the categories. Cheers.

simple homemade gift + rainy day activity: lemon sugar scrub

School's out for us... and last week was a very rainy week. Normally I would just have my kids bundle up and go play in the rain, but my older son is in South America on an adventure with my parents for 10 days, and, well, call me a scrooge, but I'm not a huge fan of playing in the rain. Two days into summer break, I'd had my fill of Sorry and Totally Gross board games, and was feeling pangs of guilt that the last weeks of school had seemed so busy, and we hadn't done an end of year gift for all of the 'extra' (non-lead) teachers that play such an amazing role in my children's school lives. My 6-year-old overheard me mention this to a friend and excitedly announced that we should "make something!" So, we spent Friday morning making enough Lemon Sugar Scrub to pop in the school mailboxes of his Extended Day teachers, the Head of Early Childhood, her right-hand-gal assistant, his science, art, Spanish, and music teachers, the Head of School and his speech therapist (my child's... not the Head of School's). Because we now have our go-to Lemon Sugar Scrub down to a science, I am jotting the latest and greatest recipe down (with exactly what to buy, using brands and sizes readily available at your local market) here for you all looking for  a simple rainy day activity, or easy teacher/hostess gift, that your children can help make. Order the jars now (while you're thinking of it), and have the other ingredients in your pantry, and you too can the win mom-of-the-day award...

Lemon Sugar Scrub

(makes a dozen 8.5 oz jars)

twelve 8.5 oz jars (I get them at Container Store)

two 2lb boxes Sugar in the Raw

25.3 oz bottle olive oil (we used Filippo Berio Extra Light)

15 oz bottle pure lemon juice

zest of 3-4 lemons

{If you are making this with little ones, I highly recommend putting a towel down.} Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or pot. Divide evenly among jars and seal tightly. Let gift recipients know it's a beauty products, not an ice cream topping...

Here are action photos, since I know some of you like to follow along this way:

measuring sugar

now we know a box is 4 cups, so dumping sugar...

olive oil (yes, this makes me nervous on our brand new kitchen floors...)

lemon juice (yep, even more nervous about those kitchen floors...)

zesting lemons (I let him do one side of each lemon, then I did the other sides since they get slippery)

mixing

scooping (and I'm not going to lie: I was thrilled when he tired of scooping... at that point I had the remains of several jars worth of lemon sugar scrub running down my arm)

this photo's a little out of order, but I'm going to keep it here just to remind you to put a towel down... you can thank me later

voila! i wish i'd thought to take a photo with the ribbons and tags, but I didn't. you get the gist though!

the full plate blog picked as a favorite!

No, that's not me. That's my dear friend, Elissa. I wish I were half as fashionable as she is, on a daily basis. You know how some people just 'get' fashion? I get cooking, but I most certainly will not be asked to help someone curate their closet, let alone have people clamoring for what I wore last weekend. And so, I was super flattered when Elissa named the full plate blog as one of her two favorite blogs alongside Hotel Chic. Want to see what else makes her swoon?  If you're not already a member, I think you can use this code to get in: https://www.vaunte.com/vipchristian 

rock-climbing birthday party

I survived my son's first sleepover. Barely. It was deja vu of having a newborn, where I slept so lightly, wondering if every sound I heard throughout the night was a sign that I should go check on the kids. Gosh, I had forgotten that feeling. This momentous first sleepover kicked-off my older son's 9th birthday. (Never mind that his actually birthday was months ago... mom faux pas.) The eventual party? Awesome. In the grand scheme of things, what is one night of no sleep and a few month delay on having your party?

In past years, we have joyfully had the whole class over to our house. This was a small party-- just two friends. Not because he didn't want the entire 3rd grade... more because I decided I just wasn't up for an enormous soiree this year. Tag-teaming off an auction item we bid on at the children's school, the theme was rock-climbing. (Conveniently) that auction item was just for a few kids. Now, if I had my act together, I would have gotten all creative with the foods-- gorp, dehydrated camping foods, etc. Thankfully, I was saved from myself. Because really, the kids don't care... I'd be a little embarrassed if this were a Martha-type entertaining blog. But no, it's a real life, get-it-all-done blog for busy moms. So, here's the scoop:  

After playing in a ladies tennis tournament 9:00-1:30 (totally decadent, I know!), then having a health coach call 2:00-2:50, the school bus rumbled home at 3:00. The guests were due to arrive at 4:30, so I suggested a good snack and some downtime for my boys, and quickly whipped up (or poured out as the case may be with one of them) three snacks to have out in case the party people got hungry: ants on a log + Terra chips + mini fruit skewers. (The time-saving trick being to splurge on the "value-added" cut-up fruit this go round...)  

My husband said he'd try be home around 5:30... but I know Friday traffic, and I know my husband. So, I dashed up to my computer and banged out a 35-item scavenger hunt list, figuring it would take the kids, oh, at least 2 hours to hunt down all of the items inside and outside. I had visions of sitting outside with a glass of wine while they excitedly dashed around trying to find some of the more obscure items on the list.

Right. It took them exactly 35 minutes... and my husband got home sometime around 6:30. I doled out prizes of adhesive mustaches, glow sticks and whoopee cushions. But, the rest of the afternoon, they needed no direction or fancy games. I'd forgotten that just having two extra bodies around creates a party. Board games were hauled out, balls were kicked around, then I ordered pizza and salad from the local pizzeria.

The evening was capped off by a homemade-ish (note the "ish") cake. Yes, that is store-bought decorators frosting from a tube globbed on top of my delicious cream cheese frosting and lemon cake. I have no idea what was in it to turn in that bright blue. I don't really want to know.

What I do know, is that my son loved the cake. At bedtime, I read Everest to the kids.

The next morning, I fortified the crew with scrambled eggs + Alexia waffle cut potatoes + fruit salad + Alexia sweet potato puffs + Applegate chicken-apple breakfast sausage...

and then they met up with one of their teachers for a rock-climbing adventure! Talk about cool: this place was over-the-top neat... and they had one of their beloved teachers showing them the ropes.

Best part of all? My younger son was included in everything... the big kids let him act nine all night, and the next morning he, too, scampered up every wall.

It was a party to remember. Oh, and the goodie bags. Can't forget the goodie bags: copies of Hatchet and The Sign of the Beaver (for the big kids, My Side of the Mountain and My Father's Dragon for our 5-year-old) + a compass/thermometer + caribeener + a solar flashlight + a Lego mini figure + retro candies.