Get it RIght... Get it Tight

My before 1/1/14

I am back on track with my weight loss journey. 

I started back into it on January 1 

and have been keeping pretty steady at eating healthy 

and working out on a regular basis.

gym workout

As you know I've been doing a few fitness related giveaways to help kickstart me into 

really working my booty off in the gym.

family walk to the park

James and I joined a gym at the beginning of this month

and I have been to a couple of Xtend Barre classes which are so much fun.

We've also been on a few family walks when it's been warm/nice enough outside.

I plan on continuing to go to the gym regularly 

and going to Barre classes occasionally.

Barre class

I am also still on Weight Watchers 

and I have been sticking to it pretty well. 

Which has always been difficult for me in the past...

so I am pretty proud of myself right now. 

I also went and got a bunch of brand new adorable workout gear.

I wanted cute clothes to keep me motivated in going to work out in.

I knew that if I had some cute gear I'd be more likely to go so I could wear them

and they wouldn't be a waste of money. 

Wish me luck and I hope you'll stick around to see as I make progress

and change and lose weight!

Ruffles with love giveaway

I found Ruffles with Love right before the new year and fell in love instantly! 

Her tank tops are so awesome.

She has so many cute and motivating sayings on her tanks.

I knew I had to have one immediately...

so I contacted her 

and asked her if she would like to do a giveaway for my amazing readers

and she said yes!

I mean seriously how cute are these tank tops?!

She has everything you can think of!

She even has a few men's tanks 

One of my awesome readers is going to win a tank top of THEIR choice!

Yes you heard me right...

YOU get to choose which one you want 

and trust me it's going to be super hard because there are so many cute ones.

All you have to do is::

Comment on this post with your email for me to contact you if you win.

Additional entry::

Follow my Facebook or Twitter

Follow Ruffles with love Facebook

{please leave a separate comment for each entry}
Contest will end on 1/15/14 one week from today

Biggest Loser

Well this last week has been awful! 

Absolutely, positively awful. 

Zane has been sick since Thursday evening,

with a 101 almost 102 temperature, runny {like a leaky faucet} nose and a horrendous cough.

So I have been spending a whole lotta time cuddling him 

and keeping him away from Lilah 

because all he wants to do is kiss her and touch her constantly.

I did NOT want her to get sick...

well that was completely unsuccessful! :(

As of late yesterday afternoon she has a horrible cough,

every time she tries to giggle or talk she just starts hacking and then cries.

It's definitely the worst feeling in the world when you can't make your babies feel better!

You just feel so helpless.

And of course as of yesterday I am sick now too...

it totally sucks,

my throat hurts, my head is throbbing and I feel like death.

I am downing tons of airborne & zicam to try to kick it in the butt...

AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

I am just so glad that James is not sick because he really can't take the time off of work.

So we are trying to stay away from him as much as possible. 

As you can see none of us feel very well at all.

So to say that I haven't been focused on losing weight this week is an understatement.

But I probably have since I have hardly had anytime to eat or do anything other than take care of my babies. 

Blogger biggest loser challenge :: week #3

I thought this week I'd share my story of how I got to the weight I am at now.

I was really tiny in elementary school and I was a size 4 all throughout high school.

It really began in college...

I gained the cliche freshman fifteen but it was actually more like twenty to twenty-five

and my weight fluctuated for the next 5 years. 

I met my husband in 2007 and a few months later was engaged. 

I vowed to lose weight for the wedding to look amazing on my wedding day in my dress...

well I worked my a$$ off!

I got myself down to 130 pounds for the wedding and I was so proud of myself.

I was down to the lowest weight I'd been, in years!

Well then I was married & well I gained all that weight back and more.

Then I got pregnant with Zane and I gained 30 pounds and was 199 when I had him.

I lost all 30 pounds after I had him and then I did the HCG diet

and I lost 25 more pounds on that diet. 

Then I got pregnant with Lilah... 

I gained about 35 pounds with her and I have lost all the weight that I gained with her

and that's where I am at today.

158.4.

I am still on Weight Watchers and I am going to continue it but I need to now get off my big ole booty and start working out on top of that. 

So starting on Monday I am going to start the 30 day shred again. 

I am officially cleared by all my doctors to start working out.

I am so looking forward to not being mistaken for a pregnant lady anymore.

Fall Wardrobe Inspiration

I have been dreaming of fall for a couple weeks now 

and us here in the PNW {Pacific Northwest} 

are having some very cool, 

fall like weather right now in the mornings then it gets hot in the afternoon. 

So it is making me want it even more badly now, 

so I thought I'd do a post of some of my Pinterest pins that I am going to be using for inspiration to put together an very warm, cozy, and comfy wardrobe with some very cute accessories 

and brown knee high boots {I have a bit of an obsession with them right now!} 

to just pull it all together.

{The things I write under the pictures are things I already have...}

SOURCE all from pinterest

gray sweater, orange scarf, jeans, glasses, black vest, earrings, black boots 

jeans, glasses

jean jacket

everything! I made this outfit for inspiration last year and then bought what I needed

jeans, bag, scarf, earrings

jeans, flats, necklace

shirt, jeans

sweatshirt, jeans, bag, tank, earrings

jeans, sweater, sunglasses

jeans, earrings, bag

tank, jeans, boots

jeans, shirt, sunglasses, bag

And hopefully in my new diet that I am going to be starting works the way it is supposed to...

I will then be looking CUTE in these clothes and not just wearing them.

My dream {& goal} is to finally look cute in clothes again someday in the near future.

30 day shred - week three

This week was a complete and utter FAIL on my part! I did the workout ONE day out of seven... that is completely unacceptable! So I am going to have to step it up this week and then extend my 30 days into July so that I am actually doing the 30 days. I feel so guilty and I should because I also ate disgustingly.

So anyways wish me luck this next week. I have no goals because I can't think of anything other than to get my butt back into gear or totally fail at this 30 day shred thing just like I always have with losing weight and that is something that I DO NOT want at all!

30 day shred - measurements

30 Day Shred::

So yesterday I told you that I was going to join some beautiful ladies in the 30 day shred. I am very excited to have these women to make me accountable each week and know that I have to write in my blog each week to tell about my progress because this is going to force me to continue the workout every.single.day for the next 30 days.

Anyone can join us and I hope you will. If you do you will love the end results. I am so excited to see the results. They say you can lose around 10lbs and a dress size. Want to know what to do?

We are all doing before pictures and measurements. For your measurements take a soft measuring tape or some yarn and cut to the sizes then you can use a flat ruler to measure the yarn.

Where to measure?
Each arm (thickest part)
Each thigh (thickest part)
Upper waist (smallest)
Lower waist (at your belly button)
Your hips (biggest part)

Write this info down, or put it in Excel so you can come back to it after 30 days. After we complete the whole 30 days we are going to remeasure and take after photos.

Before Pictures::

 

My Measurements:: 

Left Arm:: 13"

Right Arm:: 12 3/4"

Left Thigh:: 21"

Right Thigh:: 22"

Upper Waist:: 39"

Lower Waist:: 41 1/2"

Hips:: 42 1/2"

My starting weight:: 157.2
Height:: 5'3"

(I started my diet in January and I have lost 10 pounds just eating better, 

but now I need to continue it by working out and lose more so I can love myself again!)

My Goals:: 

My main goal is to lose weight so that I feel better about the way I look. I am constantly being asked by people when I am due because my main problem area is my stomach. But I DO NOT look pregnant I look overweight, it doesn't have the preggers belly look at all. And it drives me absolutely nuts having people ask me that. (and by the way unless you are 100% positive that someone is pregnant DO NOT say anything. It's not appropriate at all!) I am ready to have that gone and not be able to put on cute clothes again. I can't wait to look at myself in the mirror and love myself again... that is probably the most important thing about this whole thing. I need to love myself again badly! My hubs tells me I am beautiful all the time but I just need to feel that way about myself... he tells me that he loves me the way I am but I just need to feel that way about myself... he tells me all the time that no matter what I look like or what I do he will always love me but I just need to feel that way about myself. So to have this opportunity to be held accountable by many different people each week should definitely help me. (at least I am hoping that it will) I also need to strengthen my arms and lower back because carrying around a 31 pound 6 ounce child all the time is killing me! I have had back problems for quite a few years now because of all the car accidents that I have been in. (which is a story for another day!) So those are my main goals for this next 30 days of my life and I seriously hope that I can do it.

30 day shred

So in my last post about an hour ago I talked about losing weight. Well I found a solution I think to help me out. I am going to do the 30 day shred with Jillian Michaels this month with a bunch of great blogger ladies. So maybe this will make me totally accountable because I will have to be accountable to all these other ladies each week. So I am off to buy the DVD and get my measurements and pictures up on here for tomorrow. 

Just click on the pic above and it will take you to all the details. Good luck ladies!


Anyone can join us and I hope you will. If you do you will love the end results. I am so excited to see the results. They say you can lose around 10lbs and a dress size. Want to know what to do?

We are all doing before pictures and measurements. For your measurements take a soft measuring tape or some yarn and cut to the sizes then you can use a flat ruler to measure the yarn.

Where to measure?
Each arm (thickest part)
Each thigh (thickest part)
Upper waist (smallest)
Lower waist (at your belly button)
Your hips (biggest part)

Write this info down, or put it in Excel so you can come back to it after 30 days. After we complete the whole 30 days we are going to remeasure and take after photos.

Strugglin'

So I have been struggling with a few things these past few weeks:

#1} My sex life. My hubs is home and I am so excited about that but our sex life is pretty much NON-exsistent. We both always seem to have excuses for not being intimate with each other (i.e. too tired, don't feel good, the little man, etc.) We just can't seem to sync when we are both "in the mood". It is really weighing heavily on me and I am sure it is weighing on my hubs, too. It's so darn frustrating for me and I can pretty much guess it's frustrating for him too. What can we do? I mean I feel like it's just never going to happen unless we are trying to have another baby like it's a job or something. I hate this feeling and I really don't know what to do about it. Anyone have any suggestions?! I don't know if it's TMI for you guys but I am really just stuck between a rock and a hard place it feels like. If you could just find it in your hearts to help me out that would be completely amazing.

#2} My weight. I just can't seem to lose weight. I am so unhappy with myself but I can't force myself to get up off my big booty and work out. I have the opportunity now that the hubs is back from Academy to work out when he gets home from work in the evening but I just can't get myself up off the couch to actually do it. I have to get my act together or I am going to be completely miserable with myself for the rest of my life and I just can't imagine living my life like that. So what can I do to force myself to get up off my fat booty and work out? I have NO idea... I am just not motivated to lose the weight it seems like. I need someone to push me or something. I am still eating like I have been with smaller portions and healthier but the workout part of my weight loss is completely non-exsistent... wow that just sounds lazy! I hope I am not a lazy person but sometimes I feel like I am. Oh man I have GOT to get my act together or I am going to go crazy.

#3} My Susie-Homemaker(ness). I can tell you that I am not the greatest housewife ever, I don't cook well. So my hubs does most of it and I hate that fact. I feel like I am failing him when I don't have dinner ready for him when he gets home. I am also not a very good housekeeper, my house always seems to be a complete disaster, I know one reason for that is because we have no extra storage space and we have a baby who has mounds and mounds of toys that have completely taken over our living room/den areas of our home, because we have no other place to have him play. His room is the size of a cracker box so he can't have the majority of his toys in there so we are left with the living room/den. But I swear the kitchen table is always piled with CRAP! almost every time when we are sitting down to a dinner, that my hubs has cooked, we are pushing the piles out of the way to eat at our table. We only have an eating area in the kitchen no dining room so that doesn't help with the amount of clutter that piles up on the table. We just don't have places to put things anymore and we seem to accumulate things like crazy. It is driving me mad! I need HELP! I am desperate to have a clean home. I don't like the way my house looks most of the time but I don't know what else to do!

So those are my three major struggles at this point. I just really need some advice from my wonderful blogger friends. So if anyone out there can find it in their hearts to message or e-mail me with some help that would be so sweet and amazing of you! You can e-mail me at libbywilson21 {at} mac {dot} com or you can comment here on my blog. Either way I would appreciate the help. Thank you my loves!

Goals

So my weight loss journey isn't going the way I had hoped it would and there a few things that have gotten in the way. 1) James leaving and being gone for 4 months 2) Zane deciding that naps are for sissies and he doesn't need them anymore 3) the fact that we are basically still in the middle of winter here in good old Portland, Oregon 4) I have just had the motivation to get myself up and start really working out. So this past week I decided that I was going to give myself an ultimatum: either lose the weight or be completely unhappy for the rest of my life. After I did that I decided it would be much more motivation for myself to get into the workout part of my weight loss journey if I gave myself smaller goals then to just look at it as losing 30 - 40 pounds! So I am breaking it up into 10 pound increments and when I reach that next 10 pound loss I will reward myself with something that I want each time. I know it sounds a little selfish but I really need this extra little push because I have a hard time making myself workout on a regular basis so I think if I have a small goal to reach I will work harder to get there so I can get whatever I choose it is I want after that 10 pounds is gone.for.good! (well until I get preggers again that is.) So for my first 10 pound weight loss goal I am thinking when I get there which I will be down to 147 pounds because I am at 157 now and I started at 167. I am think I will give/get myself a few new clothes items seeing as I will be down 20 pounds from where I began and I will need it. I think that is a good little incentive for myself to get there. It will probably end up being a really cute new dress and skirt and maybe a top or two. I am really going to do it this time because I need to be happy with myself again. I haven't liked the way I looked for a VERY, VERY long time and I don't want to feel that way anymore. So wish me luck on my new adventure into my weight loss journey!


Maybe a couple dresses like these:

Jessica Simpson

Banana Republic

Or a skirt like this:

Old Navy

Or some cute shirts like these:

GAP

Old Navy

Weight loss and Zane

So as of this morning I am officially down TEN pounds! I am so excited. I started my weight loss journey at 167 and I am down to 157. 4! I am very proud of myself. It has taken me a few months to get here but I finally made it and I am overjoyed with my progress. It definitely gives me motivation to keep going and work harder to get those last 15 pounds off! 


Tomorrow we are taking my little man to get his first haircut! I can't believe I have to cut his hair before he is even a year old but it is so shaggy that it is always falling into his eyes and he gets upset because of it and I want it to look good for his Birthday in a couple weeks so I think this is the perfect time to cut it so it will be grown out just a little bit. I am very curious to see how he reacts when we take him in. Some kids cry and some kids do just fine. My mom said that I was fine but my brother cried his eyes out. We are taking him to this place in my area called Pigtails and Crewcuts for little kids and it has cars for them to sit in and TVs to watch while they cut their hair so we will see how he does and I will definitely have pictures before, during, & after for you tomorrow!

Weight loss

So I have chosen to start eating completely different. I am going to significantly cut out bread & pasta and only eat it once and awhile. I am also going to start eating a lot more fruit & veggies and protein. This should greatly help me with my weight loss. Oh and don't forget cutting out soda except for one or two a week. Water... water will be my new best friend now. I will be drinking that all the time. I will sure miss my soda because I have a slight obsession with Dr. Pepper. I don't have to worry about cutting out sugar except for the soda because I don't eat a whole lot of it, I am just not a fan.

It is going to be tough but I think I can do it so therefore I will because if you just continue to believe you can achieve something then you will be able too. I need to lose weight for the wedding I am in, in September. I look awful and I cannot look like that for my friends wedding. I would feel hideous up there in front of all those people. I am still at my heaviest I have ever been and every single time I look at myself in the mirror I am disgusted by what I see. My husband has just lost 37 pounds and looks amazing and now I need to lose weight so that I look as good as him. Plus I just want to be happy... I am going to start working out as soon as I can. I really want to take kickboxing classes but I need James to be home so that he can watch the boy while I am in class. I must start working out hard I will be much happier once I have lost those 30 pounds that I am looking to lose. So wish me luck!

Changes

There are going to be a ton of changes coming up in our lives this year. We are going to start going to church every week again, we are both on a journey to lose weight, so we are both eating better and working out every day, our boy is going to be turning one year old, we are making new friends to hang out with all the time, James is starting a new position at work, and I am going to be not working anymore so I can be home with Zane all the time. It's going to be a year for changes and they're all great changes and are going to make our life better!

First time going to church

We went to church today for the first time since Easter of last year and it felt SO good! I always feel so refreshed spiritually and it's a wonderful feeling. We have decided that we are going to be going to go every single week now and I am so excited! We went to Beaverton Foursquare church and it was a great church. Zane loved his class and was busy playing when we came to pick him up after the service. It's a huge church but the people are all so welcoming and nice that you feel right at home when you first walk in. My life is going to get better and better now from going to church because my faith is going to grow stronger and stronger again in the Lord and I cannot wait for the day that I can say I have become a member of a church again.

Mommy & Zane

Daddy & Zane

So begins our journey for having a healthier and more spiritually full life. I can't wait to see what our future has in store for us!