June 21

Breakfast: no time...I took Bentley to his doctor first thing in the morning (yup...another ear infection).

Lunch: watermelon

Dinner: stuffed shells, garlic bread

Snack: sliver of cake (we celebrated Bentley's half-birthday today).

Oh, and a lime-rickey.

Exercise: housecleaning and packing for a trip tomorrow.

Let's Try this Again

Food today:

Breakfast: homemade roll, chocolate skim milk

Lunch: a handful of cinnamon bears on my way out the door

Dinner: ravioli with spaghetti sauce, corn, watermelon

Snack: more watermelon (I can't get enough this time of year. Watermelon is my all time favorite fruit. Yum)!

Exercise: running errands while carrying a sleeping toddler...that's it today. My weight is officially 3 pounds above my initial starting point. Yikes! I'd gotten back to ground zero and then decided to REALLY watch my food and exercise. I've cut out soda altogether and started eating lots of fresh fruit and veggies, etc. I feel like I'm eating very healthfully. AND started exercising, sometimes twice a day! Two weeks later, I'm 3 pounds heavier. What the heck! Talk about discouraging!

I've Slacked Off

Yeah, I know. I'm so bad. I took a week "off"...which is kind of an oxy-moron because I don't feel like I've really been "on" since I joined this blog. I'm kind of ambivalent about changing my eating habits! I KNOW I need to get myself committed to this.

Anyways, yesterday I can't remember well but I did eat fairly healthy and did my 'Shred' exercise video.

Today I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike. Not great exercise but some is better than none. I have an easier time motivating myself to do the bike because then I can read at the same time. I get bored with exercise otherwise, plus reading takes my mind off the fact that I'm tired and well, that I HATE exercising!

Breakfast: kashi granola and skim milk

Lunch: bowl of soup, two Ritz crackers

Dinner: cheesy chicken (awesome recipe...yum), green beans, some cucumber and red pepper slices, and cauliflower.

Snacks throughout day: approximately 10 cinnamon bears, strawberries, an orange

I still have the evening ahead of me but I'm planning to only eat some more raw veggies if anything.

The Day Before Mother's Day

We always go out for Mother's Day lunch on the Saturday before. So it was a very BAD day for me!

Breakfast: leftover pizza

Lunch: Vermont Cheddar bacon burger (mmmm), fries, a few bites of Bentley's sundae

Dinner: leftover fries from lunch

Exercise: jumped on the trampoline with the kids for a while. As good as it got today!

May 9

Exercise: housecleaning. Lots of serious housecleaning.

oatmeal, chocolate milk

Italian wedding soup

two slices pizza

BAD DAY!!!!

Any progress I managed to make all week I'm sure I negated today.

Did I exercise? NOT AT ALL!

Did I eat right? OH NO. Not even close. I ate fruit loops for breakfast and it was all downhill from there. I went to a Stake Women's conference and they fed us taco salad, rolls, and rich chocolatey desserts. I ate all of the above. I could have called it quits then but somewhere in the twisted logic of my brain I told myself that since today was already shot I may as well blow it big-time and then I proceeded to eat two pieces of pizza for dinner. Followed by an ice cream cone. What the heck!? WHY would I do this to myself? I do not know. But I know I am feeling miserably guilty about it right now.

April 25

A few days ago I slipped on a toy on the stairs while carrying a laundry basket down (obstructing my vision) and hurt my back. It was just a kind of nagging pain but a little tylenol and no big deal. But I must have aggravated it when I did my "Shred" video yesterday because it kept hurting worse all day after that and this morning I woke up and it is agony! The tylenol isn't working at all. So I'm going to take it easy for the weekend and hope to start exercising again on Monday.



Breakfast: Honey Bunches of Oats/skim milk



Snack: another piece of O'Henry. I put the rest on a plate for bringing to the conference and wrapped it thoroughly so it won't tempt me anymore!



Lunch: minestrone soup, the crusts from Cecily's grilled cheese sandwich (typical mom meal, right? Cleaning up our kids meals so they don't get wasted)!

Dinner: burrito, grapes

Snack: popcorn (movie night!)

April 23 report

I need to start writing down the food as I eat it, I'm probably snitching "tastes" here and there and then oh so conveniently forgetting about it! But here is the day as I try to recall it right now!

Breakfast: toast, chocolate skim milk

Lunch: whole wheat bread, pickle, string cheese

Snack: apple slices, a few honey wheat pretzel sticks

Dinner: meat loaf, steamed veggies

Snack: grapes, string cheese

Exercise: I brought my kids to the park and we ran around there, but that was as good as it got today. I ran from one activity to the next literally all day until 10 pm and by then I'd lost the will to exercise.

This is so Fun!

I had so much fun tracking what I ate today. It was nice to feel accountable and know that before I ate something that I would be writing it down so to choose wisely.

Breakfast: oatmeal and chocolate skim milk (yeah, I don't do plain milk. Yuck.)

Lunch: yogurt, two slices whole wheat toast

Snack: string cheese and banana

Dinner: small portion of steak, potatoes, steamed mixed veggies, salad

Snack: one orange, one grapefruit

It seems like a lot all written out but I don't really want to feel like I'm "dieting". I just want to make healthy food choices and watch portion sizes. Oh, I was sure to drink a lot of water, too.

Exercise: Here is where I failed. I truly had good intentions to exercise. But the day got away from me. I'll do better tomorrow.

Introduction (Alie)

My name is Alison but since I see two of those on this blog already and I often go by Alie anyways, that is what I'll post here!

Thanks, Kirsten, for inviting me to join in the fun here. This is a great idea for a blog site! I am excited to have something to keep me on track. For people who don't know me, my name is Alison Potter Bramhall. My family was dear friends with the Wall family for years while they lived in Duchesne and for years after, until my family moved to Texas and then we all sort of lost touch. I was thrilled to come across Kirsten again on my friend Amanda's blog.

I don't have a big story or any medical issues contributing to weight gain. Mine is just a basic combination of three kids, a love of food, and not a love of exercise! Not a good combination, I guess! After I got married, we both worked and ate out a lot that first year. That is when the pounds started going on, and then we had our first daughter. I joined Weight Watchers with my sister in law and had great success there. I lost the baby weight plus 15 pounds more and got in the best shape of my adult life. Then we had our second child. I joined Weight Watchers again but it wasn't as successful. I wasn't doing it with my sister in law anymore (she'd gone on to college) so it wasn't as motivating. Plus I was so busy with the two little ones. I got close to pre-baby weight but not quite. THEN we had our third child and he has been a challenging boy. He just has one of those high-maintenance personalities! There is just nothing placid or laid-back about him! He is two now and it seems like all I've done the past two years is try to survive it. I have hardly thought about my weight at all, although as I reflect I am not even close to weighing what I did before getting pregnant with him. However, he is definitely calming down a lot now and I have more time to focus on me a little bit. And I'm not liking what I see. The picture above was taken while in Florida very recently and I was discouraged looking at the pictures of me on the trip. Summer is coming and I don't want to look like this all summer! I am anxious to get fit and get healthy once again. So I'll be contributing regularly and I'm excited for the motivation. Thanks again, Kirsten!