November 2012

It's been 10 months since I posted last. Geez! The time has flown by. I have been married for 6 and a half years now. I cannot believe that. Every time our anniversary comes, it's like "What? Again?!" Time really is going way too fast. I just turned 27 a few months ago. Hubby turns 29 next month. We are getting old..

So we have been hoping to get pregnant. No such luck. I have tried charting and it didn't help. I have gone to a radiologist and did pelvic ultrasounds. Next up is a fertility specialist. We have put visiting the specialist on hold for awhile. We have looked into Clomid and decided that is what we wanted to try now. (Clomid helps with getting pregnant by making your cycle regular and making ovulation occur.)

I am doing my first cycle on Clomid. Today is my last day of medication. It is the grossest tasting thing to take so let's hope it works :) We will try this for a few months and see what happens. If it doesn't work, we will then go to the fertility specialist and find out what's next.

*Baby dust and fingers crossed*

Motivated

Today is day 1 towards my weight loss goal.

To get to my goal, I am going to:

- Track my calories, exercise, and weight/measurements.

- Stay around 1300 calories a day.

- Work out for 1 hour, 3 times a week.

- Do the Ab Circle Pro machine 3 times a day (total 15 mins).

By following this, I can lose about 2 lbs/per week. This would get me to my goal weight at the end of April. So in a little under 3 months, I can be at my goal. Then I will work on maintaining my weight so weight gain won't happen again.

I will be positive! I won't let things distract me from what I want! I can do this :)

2012 Resolutions

New year. It has gone by so fast. 2011 was good, not great. I want to make 2012 even better!

Resolutions for 2012 are:

1. Get to my goal weight. In 2011, I lost weight and gained a few lbs back. I kept off 20 lbs. I want to lose about 20/25 more lbs. My goal for this is to lose it by the end of April.

2. Go see the fertility specialist.

3. Make a plan for meals and cook more.

4. Drink more water.

5. Get pregnant with baby Baxter.

Saturday Night Fights

On Saturday night, my husband and I went to my parents' house to celebrate my mom's 50th bday. We played Wii and had a poker game (which I won first place). Everything was good and dandy until a sour subject was brought up.

We were talking about shows and the show Modern Family came up. My mom commented that they (her, my dad, and 22 year old brother) would never watch that show. The reason they will not watch the show is because there is a gay couple on it. My mom and brother especially do not believe in being born gay, they believe that it is a choice. A "choice" they do not agree with.

Well...I do not see it that way. I believe in love, no matter what gender or color of your skin. (They also do not believe in people of different races dating/marrying.) My husband agrees with me.

My mother and husband were both drinking that night and are both more likely to be bolder with their words. And they were. They got into a fight, yelling at each other their beliefs.

I was embarrassed by both of them. I asked them to stop. I said that we have our own opinions and it is obvious that neither of our opinions are going to be changed.

I feel like I come from such a close minded family. My mom told me in high school to only date white guys and that if I ever dated a black guy, that I would be disowned. If I would have fallen in love with a black guy, then I guess I would no longer have parents or a younger brother. If I would have fallen in love with another girl, oh my oh my, I would have been such a disgusting sight to them. They would have freaked out so badly.

The things they say hurt my feelings. Make me feel ashamed to have them as my family. I have so much gay pride for those that are gay and I support them 100%. It makes me want to go out and start educating people on love. Because the thing is, there have been studies to show that your body reacts chemically to certain people. You cannot control or choose who your body chemically reacts to. It is the way you are born, and it isn't something that people should dislike you for.

So, I wonder how I came out differently than the rest of my family? Why am I so open to this idea of love and they are so close minded to what love is?

11.4 lbs lighter

Lost 11.4 lbs in the last 2 weeks. I lost most of it in the 1st week.

I did my measurements last week and I did them today.

I lost:

.5 inch from my waist

1.5 inch from my hips

.5 inch from my thighs

My clothes are fitting pretty much the same, maybe a tad less tight, but not much of a change.

Today starts week 3 of Atkins. I am going to do a few more days up to a week of induction and then I will be starting phase two aka OWL. I will then up my carbs from 20 to 25.

I worked out 3 times last week. 25 mins on the elliptical and two 25 min sessions of Zumba on the Wii. The Zumba fitness is fun, it is dancing! I like it.

Goals this week:

1. Eat more veggies. I am supposed to be eating a ton of them, but I have not been eating enough!

2. Drink more water. I have been drinking a glass or two a day, which is actually good for me haha...but I need to be drinking 6-8 glasses a day!

3. Clean house.

I worked out!?

Yes yes I did :)

I have not worked out in a few months now and today I hopped on my elliptical! I plan on doing about 20-30 mins on the elliptical at least 3 times a week to help with my weight loss and toning.

I am so excited to get down to my goal weight. I want to tone up and look great by this summer. I will look better on my 26th birthday than I have in the past few years. I am ready for it!

I really would like to get a swimming pool too. Ian's job may be transferred to a location only 5 miles from us! Which means we will not have to move in a year or two, which is great! An in-ground pool is about $26,000 if you want the self cleaning system included. A nice above ground pool would be about $2,000 and then I would have to find a small deck to go with it.

I made a muffin in a minute today! It was super easy and it tasted good too. It only takes 1 minute to cook in the microwave!

http://www.atkins.com/Recipes/ShowRecipe905/Muffin-in-a-Minute-(MIM).aspx

Flax Pancakes

I have gotten so tired of eating eggs for breakfast so I searched for a recipe for pancakes. I found a great recipe which is made from flax. They came out really well. This was my first attempt and they were great!The recipe calls for cinnamon and it makes the pancakes taste yummy. They are very low carb and we also bought sugar free maple syrup that we can put on the pancakes. The hubby enjoyed them as well.

So far the recipes I have found have been great!

Week One Over!

Week one of Atkins is over, yay! I survived it :)

I weighed in this morning and I have lost 9 lbs!! Very very very excited! It was the first week so some of the weight was water weight. I won't lose as much now but I should still lose about 4 lbs this week and then hopefully 2 to 3 lbs per week from then on. I am very optimist that I will be at my goal around April.

Once I get down to my goal, I am going to throughly go through my clothing and get rid of anything that is big on me. I do not want larger sizes in my closet that I can wear if I gain weight back. It will be a motivation to know that none of my clothing will fit me anymore if I gain it back!

I found a lot of recipes on the Atkins website to try out. They are very low carb and they sound tasty.

Tonight: Pork loin with stuffed mushrooms. I will be stuffing the mushrooms with onions, peppers, garlic, cheese, and seasoning. Yum!

UPDATE! Made the pork loin with mushroom dinner. (Pic below) The mushrooms were a lot of work but they were really good. The pork loin has onions and peppers on it and was also yummy. A great low carb dinner!

2011 Already?!

Day 5 of Atkins almost over. Doing great :) I should be at my goal weight by the end of March / beginning of April. Very excited about that!

Now time for New Years Resolutions!

1. Stay on my diet and lose the weight. Get to my goal and stay there. Be healthy. Work out!

2. Take vitamins. I never take them every day and I need to.

3. Keep the house clean and organized.

4. Train Lucky better. Take Lucy for walks!

That is all I can think of for now :)

Atkins

Yesterday was day 1 of my new Atkins diet. Ian and I are both doing the same diet, which will make it much easier for both of us to stick with it. We are going to stay on this diet for about 2-3 months.

My goal: lose about 30-35 lbs. I will also be doing Power 90 (the beginning videos before going to P90X), the elliptical, and hiking. I will be weighing myself and taking measurements once a week to measure my progress. I hope to lose this weight by mid March.

We made a trip to Las Vegas and it was a lot of fun. We stayed at Paris and it was very nice! Usually it is a more expensive hotel, but we found a great deal for the days that we went. The view was awesome! Ian had off 11 days before starting his new job, which he started today!

It's been 7 months!

It has been a long time since my last post! Time to update. My life Sept to now.

1. I started school back in Sept, two online classes: Math and Com. My math final was 2 weeks ago, so yeah that class is already over. Got an A. Com ends in Jan.

2. My company transferred me to another location so I can change my schedule. Last month the property I was working at was sold and they brought in their own management company. I was laid off! ;-)

3. Hubby received a new job and will be starting in Jan! Very excited and proud of him. Only downside is that it is about a 45 min drive.

4. Everyone is having babies! Except us. And that's okay. I know our time will come when we find out the good news that we are pregnant. I will continue enjoying life the way it is, because it is a great life. When the news come that we will be having a baby, that will enhance our life.

5. Hubby has off starting on Dec 30th (his bday!) until he starts his new job on Jan 10th. So we will be going on a little vacation. Not sure exactly where yet, maybe Vegas, stay in the Paris hotel like I have been wanting to. I love that hotel!

6. It is Christmas Eve. I love holidays. Christmas is my favorite time of year. I had wonderful Christmas' growing up, my parents always made it a great holiday for us. Only bad thing about Christmas now, my Grandmother isn't here to celebrate with us like she used to. I love you Grandmom Cooley now and always, I know you are with the angels that you always loved. I remember all the holidays we celebrated together and how amazing you were.

7. We have been in our new house now for a year and three months. I really do like it and the set-up. Since I got laid off, doing things here and there. Did "tile" in the laundry room and got a new washer/dryer set. Thinking of doing real tile in the kitchen, dining room, and the 2 bathrooms. Still looking into that, would be a big project.

8. I have become addicted to Victoria's Secret. Especially the PINK clothing line. I have gotten tons of tshirts, sweats, pjs, undies, perfume/lotion from there. Merry Christmas to me! :)

9. 2011 will be the get in shape year! I will lose weight and become healthier.

That is all for now. Merry Christmas!!

Oops..I forgot to update!

So it has been a while. Sorry! Major update time I suppose.

We have been debating about getting an in-ground pool put in our backyard. We had a pool builder come out who made up a design and gave us a quote. Pools are expensive. With the built in cleaning system it comes to $25,000. We started to look into financing to see what interest rate we would be able to get. Ian's brother in law works for a company that might be able to hire Ian in a little while, and it is located in Tempe. (For my readers who do not know this area, that would be about a 40 min drive from us, even more if there is traffic.) So we are holding off for now until we find out if he would be able to get this new job. We are going to get an above ground pool for this summer. Under a grand. Then we will see what happens.

Work has been....work. Not too sure what is going to happen there. I am optimistic, but I am also a realist. So yeah we will wait and see where this goes.

The house is great. Looking at getting new tile in the near future. For the entry way, kitchen, and bathrooms. I would like to also get it in the dining room. But Ian doesn't want that. Why would you not want tile in your dining room?

Been working out still. 3 or 4 times a week. I have been doing the Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. I did level 1 for 2 weeks and now I am on level 2. I have not lost any more weight or any inches. So that is depressing.

We are going to Lake Havasu in 2 weeks. YAY! Vaca very very soon!! I will have 9 days off. Ian has 10 days off. We are so lucky. I need it, that's for sure.

Oh and I wanna get lasik eye surgery. I am tried of contacts, they get dry and make my vision blurry. My eyes sting sometimes when I take them out. I am just tired of it. So I want to start looking into that.

That is all for now. Nothing too exciting.

It's been a week..

..since my last post. Oops! Been busy with work, working out, and life in general.

I was sick at the beginning of last week. I got one day behind in my P90X routine. Not too bad! Did legs and back and ab ripper x today. Tomorrow is Kenpo! Yay! I will be sweatin' that's for sure.

Had a yardsale yesterday. Sold almost everything, woot! Made $250! Was very happy with this. Then I went shopping, haha. Found a cute top at Aeropostale, cami pj set at Victoria's Secret, and went on a spree at Sephora (ut ohs!). And why is it that little things like a soft cami pj set from VS makes you feel so good inside? Hmm.

I have gone to Sephora before, looked around, bought a few small things here or there. But nothing major. Well, now I started using a $32 foaming facewash, a $39 mattifier/moisturizer, and $30 hair moisture spray. EEK. They better make me super gorgeous for these prices. HA. I am trying them out and see what kind of difference they make and how long these bottles last for. I have been oily lately and anything I try makes my face too dry. So I asked the very helpful Sephora employee and she helped me find what I needed.

Working out 6 days a week is hard but I am trying my best. I am at the end of week two tomorrow. YAY. Not noticing too much of a difference, but haven't been eating the best lately. But on ab ripper x, where they do 25 reps of all the workouts, I can do at least 20 of each. Before I could do maybe 10-15 each. I have done ab ripped x twice a week the last two weeks. So yeah, that's good :) OH and the superman/banana has gotten a little better. Still a pain, but I am doing better.

We went out to eat at the Mellow Mushroom today. This restaurant just opened a mile away from us. I got a calzone and Ian got a pizza. SO good. Brownie sundae for dessert. yum :-p

Work tomorrow. Weekend already over..wah :(

Weekend is here!

Yesterday was good. I broke my diet a little, which is to be expected time to time. I did the legs/back and ab ripper videos. I did much better with the ab ripper video than I did two days prior. So yay. Legs/back was tough at time, I didn't do all the reps, but I tried my best and I felt the burn.

It's the weekend!!!!!! WOOOO! I am going to yard sales with my mom and brother this morning, then I will go tanning, clean/organize when I get back home, and then when my love gets home we need to go grocery shopping. Tomorrow will be a relaxing lounge around day. I need to go through our stuff, because next week is our community yard sale so I am going to setup and get rid of stuff we don't want anymore.

Kenpo video today. I am excited for it.

YOGA?!

Okay so I thought yoga was going to be relaxing. It was far from it. I play up the dvd, and I find out it is an hour and a half. I did half an hour, my legs and arms are hurting from the days before...so I decided to stop. I jumped on the elliptical for 20 mins to make up for stopping the video early.

Today is day 5. I need to get through this week...hopefully next week will be a little better.

Shoulders/Arms and Abs, oh man!

Day 3 of P90X. It was brutal for me. Shoulders/arms had some rough workouts in it. Some I did great! Others not so much. Argh. And then ABS???? Oh my. By the time I got to the abs video, I was tired and did not do so well. My arms feel like jello. My legs are so sore. I am laying down in bed and watching CSI: NY while I type this. I will be weighing myself Sunday mornings. I need to do measurements, I forgot! Waist, hips, thighs, and biceps. So I will do that soon.

I burnt my toast this morning. Twice. Wheat toast for breakfast. Had a cookie for a snack, oops. Salad again for lunch. Turkey burger with onions and thousand island dressing, along with zucchini and broccoli for dinner. I had two small PB cups. Not too bad for the day! Still trying to work this all out, a big life change for me. I will start keeping a food/exercise journal soon. That way I can count my calories and track how many reps I do of each workout so I can see my improvement each week.

I am sore. And I do not like superman/banana. Stupid Tony! (P90X trainer)

First day of Cardio

Okay so I get home from work, change clothes and started my first day of cardio. Day 2 of P90X.

I worked up a sweat. Yes I did. ha. It was challenging. I admit I cannot do everything that they can do and I sometimes call the trainer a crackhead. But it's okay. I know in a few weeks when my body is stronger I will be able to do all the things they do. I enjoyed the punching, uppercuts, ect. I used to take American Kempo Karate and I loved it. So when it comes to the kempo video, which I think is in a couple days, I will be loving it.

Oh and my legs hurt already. I am such a wimp! :)

Week 1 - Day 1

I started the P90X workout plan yesterday. 12 weeks worth of workouts. Day 1 over. It was the Core workout, and it was okay for me. I cannot do pushups, so some of the workouts I had to tweek a little bit. I will be working out 6 days a week, 1 day of rest (or maybe something light).

I have also changed my eating habits, which is hard for me. I am going to give it a shot and see what happens. Starting today. I had cereal for breakfast. Breakfast is still in the works, deciding on what they will be. I am going to make up my own meal plan this week and then start sticking to it! For lunch I had a salad with crutons and light italian dressing. With a snack pack pudding for dessert. I do not know what dinner will be tonight. Once my meal plan is made and I go grocery shopping, I will be set. I want to do 3 smaller meals, along with two snacks between meals. I will do low calorie.

My goal: lose at least 2 lbs a week!

My Introduction

Hello World.

My name is Kelly. For blogging purposes, my nickname is Stargirl. More about this name a little later. I am 24 and I live in a big flame named Phoenix, Arizona. I was born and raised near Hershey, Pennsylvania. I moved to Phoenix back in July 2005. I think I was tricked into moving here. My parents moved here first and said what a great place it was, so I ended up moving here 6 months after they did. Why Arizona? I do not have any idea. My parents moved here sight unseen. I visited them once in a non-hot month prior to moving here. I ended up meeting the love of my life two weeks after moving to Phoenix. So that was good luck at least. I mean, what are the chances?

I work as an apartment leasing director. My husband works in computer support. We bought our second home back in Sept 2009. We have two Jack Russell Terriers: Lucky and Lucy. They are very energetic to say the least.

Okay so the whole Stargirl name...you would have to read the books: Stargirl and Love, Stargirl to understand. So go read them and then you will know.

So that's my introduction for now. You will find out more about me as we go along. I am going to start a new fitness/weight loss plan next week so I will post that soon.

Goodbye for now.