Hey all, sorry I wasn't on much this past week. I wanted to be such a good coach but alas, life got in the way. Yesterday we got a call from my daughters child care that she had a 104 degree fever! DH went and got her and took her home since the doctor couldn't see her till later in the day. Luckily her fever broke and they found she had an ear infection, again, so they have her on antibiotic. My mom stayed home from work today to take care of her. So between work, my father in laws car wreck, my daughters illness and trying to get back in the grove from being on vacation it has been a crazy week! Hope you all have a good one!
SarahMay
No worries!

We appreciate ANY time you can spend here with us. Glad they were able to diagnose DD quickly and get her started on the road to recovery. Nice that your Mom is close enough to help out.
Pamela, what wonderful memories you will make. Just michael and I went last january, and it was so nice to just do whatever he wanted, and not to have to meet up with anyone, or compromose on what we did when. I am going to surprise michael with a trip the last week of summer. I'm watching the flights too and hoping for free dining. When are you two going?
We are going for a long weekend May 7-10. We will arrive early on Friday and be non-stop park commandos until we have to head to the airport Monday afternoon. Sure, I would have LOVED a longer trip, but it wasn't in the budget.... plus I don't want him to miss any more than 2 days of school.
When I started taking my kids away for Mother/child weekends, I thought it would be a bit more "exciting" if it involved at least one day out of school. Plus our summers are a busy, so it is hard to fit it in then. So I try to take them in May or June. Doesn't always work out that way, but it is nice when it does. Plus May is a (somewhat) slower time for Disney, so hopefully we won't be battling many lines.
I KNOW I will have some pangs of missing DD while I am there... she loves it as much as I do and I'm sure I will keep thinking..."DD would LOVE this"... but she had her trip to WDW with school this past January so I am trying hard to not feel any guilt about this.
Good morning! I'm Corinna and I will be your coach this week!
I'm a SAHM to two great boys, I volunteer in several local theater organizations and I just completed my 4th Half Marathon last weekend. I've been participating in the Biggest Loser challenges since last January and have found it to be a huge part of my ongoing success. I am so glad to be a part of the maintainer's team so I can keep on going with my healthy habits as I continue to manage my food addiction.
I will be back later with some shout-outs, but before I take the kids to school:
This week on The Biggest Loser, we saw Koli nearly get into trouble because he didn't bring along his lunch. Fortunately he was rescued by a product placement spot for Subway!
3/12 Friday QOTD - What are some of your favorite portable snacks and/or meals? Do you have any "brown bag" success stories to share?
Laughing out loud at your "rescue" comment. If they want to continue doing product placements like that, they need to get more BL contestants that are BETTER ACTORS!! Before I realized it was an "ad", I thought that it was kind of rude that no one offered to share their lunch with him!!
Brown bag success stories.... hmmmm.... well, since I am the queen of cheap, especially when we travel, we tend to brown bag it a LOT. We took an 8 day trip to Washington, DC a few years ago with the kids and managed to eat only 3 dinners out the entire week. For the rest of our dinners we ate from a cooler and other foods we brought along (bagels, crackers, cheese, hard boiled eggs, fruit, veggies, juice, pretzels, cream cheese, peanut butter, granola bars, etc)
We went to NYC a few years ago for a 5 day trip (actually, ended up being a 3 day trip because DD ended up with appendicitis and we had to rush home for surgery!!). I planned and packed meals to make in the apartment kitchen for every night! (Although I suppose that isn't so much brown bagging, as I had a kitchen available.)
Some of my brown bag meals vary, depending on how long they will be without refrigeration.
For around town and busy weekends at swim events, I am fond of things like "kits" that you can buy... tuna kits, hummus kits, etc. You know... those things that have a can of something plus some condiments and crackers. They can be a bit pricey and aren't always the healthiest, but they are GREAT for having in the cupboard for emergencies and they don't need refrigeration.
You can buy a cup of hot water at most coffee shops so I will often grab a packet of instant hot cereal (oatmeal, Go-Lean, grits, etc) and throw it in my bag, just in case. Some places will give you the water for free. If I am just making oatmeal I ask for just a half a small cup and then I mix the cereal right in the cup. I prefer a small cup, especially at Dunkins, because they are paper and not styrofoam. ICKY styrofoam.
I like to pack a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, some melba toast rounds, and a small container of mango salsa. I top the toast with the cheese and put a dollop of salsa on top. So delicious and easy to pack.
Dried fruit (without added sugar) is an easy to bring along snack... but be careful because it can be addictive and it has a high calorie to portion size ratio. Same with nuts... quick and easy but high calories so measure out your portions before you pack them up to bring along.
Low fat cheese sticks are quick and easy and seem to do okay out of the fridge for a few hours.
There are THOUSANDS of snack bars/nutrition bars/granola bars available out there of varying nutritional content. Finding a brand/type/flavor you like and keeping a few on hand is always a good idea. I like the Luna bars, but didn't like the fact that most of them were 3 points. So I buy the mini bars. One point each and a great snack and easy to keep in the purse, glove box, gym bag, etc.
Okay... did I beat that QOTD to death enough???
Good Friday morning everyone! From the posts I have read so far it looks like many, many people liked what they saw on the scale this morning! I am excited for everyone. I had a good loss, but honestly, I was hoping for more. I think I need to double check my points because I am starting to think I haven't been eating enough... especially considering my exercise schedule.
***NSV REPORT*** Gotta share this with you all. Sorry if it sounds like bragging, but I KNOW you all can appreciate this story.
I've been taking a circuit training class at the Y for about two weeks now.... just twice a week. I don't know the other 3 women in the class, although they all seem to know each other. It is only about a 30 minute class but the workout is really good. I've kept up with the exercise pretty well. I've noticed I'm the only one who does real push-ups (as opposed to the girlie kind... no offense meant). And our trainer had us do a 1.5 mi "sprint" before class started last night to get a good idea of our cardio condition. I think I finished with the fastest time... and I am the oldest in the class by 5 years.
ANYHOW.... after class the ladies were chatting amongst themselves as I was stretching and one of them asked me how many years I had been working out. I replied "off and on for two years, but pretty steadily for the past year or so". She made a comment about me being
(get this..... are you ready for this??)..... "one of those naturally skinny people"!! 


When I told her that a little over two years ago I weighed almost 220 pounds, they were all FLOORED. She thought I was just naturally "small and skinny"! I FLOATED out of that gym on

She will probably never realize how that comment MADE MY DAY!!

I might bring in a "before" picture to show them next week... would that be too "proudy pants"?? I don't really mean to brag, but I know that they are all trying to lose weight and I am hoping to inspire them.
Anyhow... that moment at the Y last night helped balance out my slight disappointment on the scale this morning... but I shouldn't complain... it moved and in the right direction, just not as much as I was hoping for.
I've already done most of my housework for the day, plus my 60 minutes of exercise and had a shower and breakfast, so I am going to update my WISH journal and then hit the scrapbooking table!!
I hope you all have a Fabulous Friday!............P