Whew! What a GREAT time! Look what I did!

What an awesomely wonderful super duper weekend we had! It was so much fun and we had such a good time. I have to say that I was not perfect with the diet, especially on Monday. But, overall I did OK. I did some exercise each day. We swam a lot and we had a really great visit with our friends.

Saturday we decided to do a little shopping. We went out in the afternoon and hit a few stores with the girls. We stopped at chick-fil-a for lunch where I had a salad and the girls got to play for a while. That night, I cooked a pork tenderloin and a great salad with roasted green beans. It was very good and very healthy. For dessert we had watermelon and the kids had some low fat ice cream. We swam for about 2 hours after dinner and played with the new pool volleyball net which was tons of fun.

Sunday we were more lazy. I cooked breakfast for everyone, eggs and bacon (I ate one piece). That stuff is just too greasy for me these days. I had some fresh tomato slices on the side which is one of my favorite summer breakfasts.  For lunch we had left overs. We stayed in most of the day, watched movies and played cards with the kids. That night we grilled steak on the grill and corn on the cob. It was the first beef I've had in a long time. It was heavenly. With that we served a salad with fresh strawberries, walnuts and bell peppers with balsamic vinaigrette. It was soooooo good! Again that night we swam for a long time and played in the pool.

Monday morning we got up super early. We had to be at the parade rally point by 8am. The kids and I along with our friend and his son who takes TKD class with us rode over there together. It was hot. Especially in our long sleeves and pants!  I was surprised to find out that we wouldn't just be smiling and waving as we walked through the parade route. No. Actually we did kicking drills along the way about 10-12 times. After we'd have to run to catch up with the rest of the parade! It was quite a workout and can I say how freaking proud I am that I was able to do that?!?  The parade route was about 2.5 miles in total. I never ever in a million years could have done all that a year ago!
Here's a few pics of me in the parade

Our group

That's me in the last row. Green belt and sunglasses!

BACK KICK! During our Kicking drills.

Reverse punch! HO!

It was a lot of fun. Our kiddos all marched. The girls had a blast in the very front of the group with the smaller kids waving at the crowd!  After we were so hot! I took the kids to Wendy's for ice cream. I had light lemonade and a couple of bites of ice cream. During the parade I burned 1200 calories!

After the parade we headed home for a shower! We grilled hot dogs and sausages for lunch. I had a chicken sausage, no bun with kraut and salad on the side. Fruit salad for dessert. Then we watched a movie and swam for HOURS! We took a break at dinner and grilled burgers. I had mine without a bun and it tasted so awesome. We had ice cold watermelon for dessert. The kids had cookies our friends brought over. I splurged and had margaritas by the pool. I'll admit I didn't track calories that day, but I have a good idea of how many I ate. Too many, but between the parade and all the swimming I know I burned a TON of calories that day.

Yesterday my BFF, her kids and my Aunt left to go back to Oklahoma. It's good to have the house back, but I miss them anyway. I was sooOOOoooOOOoooooo tired yesterday. We didn't get to bed until 11pm and I had to work yesterday of course!  I missed my regular TKD class since I went home to say good bye. I really wanted to skip the exercise, but I made myself go to a later class last night. Today I am dying. My legs are so sore from the parade and the swimming AND from the new crescent kick I learned in class yesterday.  Last night I went home and I was in bed by 9:30pm.

Today I'm way too sore to workout so I decided to rest today.  I forgot to weigh on Monday. I forgot to weigh yesterday. I weighed last night and was up a few pounds, but considering I usually weigh in the morning naked, I didn't feel too bad about it. I know I'm up a little just form water retention because I'm puffy, but I'm overall happy with how I'm doing. My clothes aren't tight, in fact I'm wearing a new XL dress today which is likely going to be too big very soon. I think I'll quit buying clothes. At least it was on sale for under $20.

I know I have a long way to go. I still have a lot of weight to lose. I realize I splurged more than I should have this weekend, but I'm pleased that I got right back on track after the holiday. This is what "real life" is going to be like forever for me. Living a healthy lifestyle. Staying active. Eating well most of the time. Occasionally having a splurge, those will be few and far between. After them I'll be getting right back on track. Even my idea of a splurge has changed.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this weekend was that I know overall I was healthy with my choices and I had a great time. I did something by marching in the parade that I never dreamed I'd do and I was able to do it without much difficulty. That makes me really proud of myself. I wasn't perfect this weekend, but I did my best. I love my life now! I'm never going back.

Yeah it's FRIDAY!

Happy Friday!

Nothing better than a 3 day weekend staring you in the face, eh?  I am so looking forward to the weekend. It's going to be so much fun. My BFF and her kids are coming along with my Aunt and cousin's daughter. I alway enjoy these weekends and they don't have nearly often enough. My BFF and I usually regress to high-school like giggles about all kinds of stuff. We get to catch up with each other and relax. Can. Not. Wait.

We don't really have anything on the agenda. That's the fun part. Just hanging out, swimming, grilling, movies and games with the kids. It will be a fun relaxing time and it's just what the doctor ordered for me. Ha ha!  And you know what? I'm not even nervous about weekend binging or holiday food or any of that old baggage. I'm really doing well as far as food goes. It no longer scares me that I'll completely lose control. I have plenty of healthy options and I will be fine. I really have come a long way.

The only real planned event is that the kids and I are marching in the July 4th parade with our TKD gym. They are having a float and we are supposed to walk/ride with them. The only downside is we have to wear our uniforms, long sleeves! But it's early in the morning and at least it is white. We'll be taking a lot of water. Pics to follow next week!

So the scale remains uncooperative. I think I've identified a couple of issues. One, I had changed my birth control pill a while back. Two, I'm taking a new iron supplement which is playing havoc with my ability to go #2. I'm still exercising and watching my calories. But I haven't lost any weight. I had some labs done yesterday and I'm waiting on the results. Until then, I'm going to stay the course and find positives outside the scale.

One of those is evident in my new size. I got this dress at Target the other day for $12. It's a size Large.  I love a bargain. I bought it thinking I could wear it "soon" but I tried it on at home for fun and it fits! So I'm wearing it today. I'm wondering if it's too short, but I don't care. It's freaking Texas hell hot people.

I do not like my arms right now. I hate that my muscles are firmer and my arms look worse! BUT, it's mostly skin hanging not fat, so I guess that's better.


I got cracked up at Shelley's post today when she was talking about fighting with her husband over watermelon. It really brought a chuckle for me as this is an issue at my house also. I've taken to hiding some chopped up melon in a corner of the fridge so I can get some. I have 3 kids ages 13, 6, 5 who LOVE watermelon. They can eat an entire melon in ONE DAY. There are much worse things for them to eat, so it's OK with me. But, it results in unhappy menu surprises for mom sometimes. So annoying when you plan a snack and your mouth is watering for it and it's gone!

Looking forward to our garden producing some soon. We have several little tiny baby watermelons showing up! And speaking of watermelon, I saw this recipe for Watermelon martinis and I think that must be on the agenda for weekend BBQ party by the pool.

I'll watch the amount of alcohol of course and hydrate, but it's a very rare thing for me to relax and have a drink, so it's in my plans this weekend. Calories counted, of course.

I recently bought one of these

The kids love it because it makes Popsicles while they watch. It takes about 7 min to freeze. We made some the other day with fresh strawberries and crystal lite lemonade. YUMMY!  No  more, "are they done yet?" questions. We also made them with watermelon juice and it was fabulous.

Tami over at Nutmeg Notebook has a cool giveaway going on. Head over and check it out. I love that blog as she has some awesome healthy recipes. If you don't read her, you should!

That's all for me for today. I wish you all a happy holiday weekend. Remember to drink your water and count your calories, ALL of them! What are you planning this weekend? Are you enjoying summer's bounty of fresh fruit? I sure am!