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Browsing category archives: weight loss

Low Carb Chocolate Pecan Mousse Cake

Yesterday was my birthday. I won’t tell you how old I am, but all I will say is I am closer to 40 then I am to 20! With that being said, I feel like this year, so far, has been a bunch of non-stop trips away from home for our family. Now I am not complaining about this, but I have a big problem with controlling my food intake while not at home! Our next getaway is scheduled 3 weeks from now and I am determined to shed the baby weight before that trip, so I have resorted to something I have never done….follow a diet plan! Without going into too much detail (and maybe I will at a later date if I have success with this diet) I am trying one of those crazy ‘low carb’ diets. 

And now back to my birthday and the whole reason for this blog –every year for my birthday I have the same thing. A chocolate box cake with a chocolate can of icing. My husband tried for many years to go all out and make me some sort of fancy cake, but I kept telling him that all I wanted was “a box cake and can of frosting”. 

Since I am trying to stay low carb’d (under 40 grams a day) I told him to go crazy with making me a “low carb” cake and this is what we came up with. He made the base and I made the topping (because I wanted more chocolate….it’s my birthday after all!) This cake to some people would not be the lowest carb cake out there, but you know what…it’s good! 
The nutty pecans give a great flavor to the cake part and the semi-sweet dark chocolate mousse topping add extra decadence without going over on the sweetness. I find with many Splenda desserts I can only taste the Splenda and adding the mousse topping really balanced out the sweetness to feel like you are eating a full fattening cake! I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

For the cake base you will need: 
2 cups pecans 
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup splenda
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup water

For the mousse topping you will need:
3.5 oz 70% dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1.5 oz butter
1 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs

To Begin,
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 8-inch spring form pan. 
2. Process pecans in food processor until they are a powdery consistency without turning into pecan butter. 
3. Add cocoa, baking powder, salt, and splenda to the processed pecans. Stir until well combined. 
4. Add the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and water to the dry ingredients and stir well. 
5. Pour into buttered spring form pan and bake for 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Let cake base cool. 

Once your cake has cooled, begin the process for the mousse.
1. In the microwave or double boiler, melt the chocolate with the butter.
2.  Separate the egg yolks from the whites.  Add the yolks to the chocolate mix and 
combine well. Put whites in a cool glass mixing bowl.
3. Add a pinch of salt to the whites and beat them with a mixer until the whites are form soft peaks. (They almost will look like whipping cream.)
4. Fold them in the chocolate mix and then pour mousse mixture over the top of the cake.
5. Store the cake in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours until the mousse is set. 
6. Slice and serve with a dollop of whipping cream or some sliced strawberries.

The Skinny: 16 pieces (you don’t need huge ones for this cake) at 238 calories each






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Why I Run

I recently read a little comic by the guy who runs TheOatmeal.com about why he runs long distances and it got me thinking on my run this morning. Why do I run….

 (Me post 5 mile run   —please don’t judge my for my fanny pack….I love my water!)

1. To Lose Weight- I am 13 pounds away from my pre-baby weight and I have found that running burns a ton of calories in the shortest amount of time. I run to lose that 13 pounds –and I will lose it.
2. To Exercise Without Kids- I love my kids, but because that I stay home with them I am around them ALL THE TIME running allows me to run away.  –Run far, far away from my responsibilities of being a mother/wife and have some good alone time.

3. To Create Memories With My Kids- I know, this totally contradicts the statement above, but I cannot always run without my kids. My husband works a strange schedule, so it is very rare when I get to run alone (without waking up at dawn while the family sleeps.) Luckily I purchased this awesome double jogging stroller that I can ACTUALLY run with!
I love this stroller and use (and talk) about it all the time. I load the kids up and I do “running park tours”. We run to the first park and I set my timer for 10 minutes for them to play. Then we run to the next par, etc. The little breaks allow me to recover and I can usually get a good 5 mile run in, they get to play, and we have lots of fun going to a ton of parks in a few hours. In the evenings we end our runs with a stop at the frozen yogurt shop in town and everyone enjoys that!
4. Vanity– I run for defined legs, smaller rear, and tighter abs. It is VERY rare that you see someone who is a regular runner and they don’t look good. Running works so many muscles in your body that it’s almost impossible not to see the side effects. And like I said above, I still have some baby weight to lose!
5. My husband- My husband is a runner and without him I would still be that girl that runs a 15 minute mile. (Really I would be that girl who walks a few blocks and feels winded.) He likes to run, I like to try to run with him, we like to run races together, and it’s nice we have in running in common. We constantly ask each other how far we ran, where we ran, how fast we ran and it’s a normal topic of conversation we both have. (Secretly I am trying to run faster and father with him, but he is a 15 mile type of guy so I have some ways to go!)

6. Nature- I run to enjoy the beauty of the outside. I live barely outside of city limits and my runs are always scenic. Most of my neighbors have horses, there are acres of forest, acres of fields, deer galore, and bunnies that hop out of my way when I run by. Every once in a while I have to stop and take a picture of something that reminds me how much I love this area we live in.

7. For Myself- The final reason I run is for “ME” time. I can say that 75% of the days I go running I don’t want to do it. It’s hard. I feel every muscle in my legs working, my chest is tight from breathing hard (or maybe my asthma?), my abs start hurting after a while, and I am usually pretty tired after my first mile. However, the feeling I get when I am finished is AWESOME and keeps me going. Not only do you experience the phenomenon known as runner’s high, but you also have the chance to really think while running. It is sort of my therapy to mull over thoughts in my mind, hatch out problems, make plans, or even sometimes it’s my time to just have nothing in my mind.

That’s my reasons for why I run. I may not be a marathon runner, the fastest runner, or the best looking runner, but then again I am really just running for myself and that is really all that matters.

Do you run? If so, I would love to hear the reasons why you run!


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Losing The Baby Weight With The Second Child

This has been the post I have been dreading the most about writing. I have not had any time over the last few months to really post as much as I would like, but this post has been weighing on my mind  —literally. It’s the dreaded “losing the baby weight” post.

If you follow our blog regularly, you know that I was SOOOO good about documenting this baby weight battle with my first child. (Read previous posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8). At the time I wrote the final post of this series Aiden was 9 months old and I weighed 124 pounds. I had lost 46 pounds in 9 months!

Here’s a nice before and after pic:

As of right now, my daughter Remy is 9 months old and can’t be any cuter!

However, being that this is now my second child I wanted to confirm the rumors that are true….losing the weight with the second child is harder! At least it seems that way!

There are a number of reasons I think it seems harder…sleep deprivation, chasing around two kids, lack of time, lack of energy, and honestly I love my nightly glass of red wine with chocolate! Whatever excuses I want to give you, the honest truth is I just decided not to put the pressure on myself the way I did with my first child. My mother always told me that it takes you 10 months to put the weight on and it will take at least 10 months to take it off. I decided to take it easy this time around, spend more time with my kids instead of time with my treadmill, and try to eat healthy most days.

I started out this pregnancy weighing 8 pounds more than my ideal weight and ended the pregnancy at a whopping 181 pounds. With the help of myfitnesspal, endomondo, total insanity, p90x (parts of it), and a few other workout videos I can say I am getting there! I may not be as far as I was the first time around, but at least I am working at it and focusing on not putting too much pressure on myself. I currently weigh 133 pounds. And for those math majors out there, that’s a lost of 48 pounds which is surprisingly more then I lost with my first at this time. (BTW, this was a surprise to me as I wrote this post!)  I still have a good 13 pounds to lose to be back at my pre-baby weight, but I am not sweating it (except when I workout!)

The moral of this story for all you second time moms out there is:

You will lose the weight.

Focus on eating healthy, take your kids for walks to parks (far away), and reward yourself periodically so you don’t deprive yourself and binge. You will lose the weight!


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Unhealthy Eating/Drinking Habit Confession


With Spring and Summer quickly approaching, I (along with many other women across the country) am thinking more about eating right and focusing on healthier habits.

One of my favorite ways to gain inspiration for this (and basically anything else) is to peruse Pinterest for healthy eating tips and exercises. Pinterest is chock-full of great motivation and tips for keeping your cravings at bay. However, as I go through all of these great tips and ideas I can’t help but feel complete mortification when I realize how badly I eat sometimes. Actually, I seem to have the biggest problem in what I choose to drink.
Here is the very real but very embarrassing truth: my typical day consists of coffee in the morning (1-3 cups), caffeine in the afternoon (sugar-free Red Bull or Diet Coke) and to end my day, a glass of wine. This is as I said, a typical day for me. How HORRIBLE is that?! To sum it up I am totally addicted to caffeine and then top off my day with sugary wine.


I realize this is so not good for me. It just isn’t healthy. But here is my issue: I love drinking it so much, and since it all fits into my daily calorie goal, I have no motivation to stop. I suppose it’s like smoking or any other bad habit; if you don’t really, TRULY want to quit then you don’t. And I just don’t want to 🙁 I love coffee, diet pop and wine. As long as I’m within my calorie goal, how do I feel motivated to stop? The scary info about ingredients in these items doesn’t even deter me. I should say that I think a lot of my bad food/drink habits are the factor of emotional eating or drinking. I work and attend graduate school FULL TIME. Sometimes I feel like coffee is this happy, little victory in my morning… and the same with the other drinks. Again, what a horrible habit. Clearly I have to learn to channel my emotions into different outlets. Some of you may think, “I’ve never done that!” but can you honestly say you’ve never had a time when you looked forward to relishing a special meal? Particularly after a stressful week at works or after studying for hours on end? I think it’s an easy trap to fall into. Unfortunately if I’m honest with myself, until I’m finished with grad school all I can realistically do is cut back on the bad stuff instead of eliminating it all together.


Do you have a shameful food or drink habit that you can’t seem to give up and frankly don’t want to?




~Christi

335 Calorie Mug Brownie!

My husband I were craving brownies the other night, but the problem is that when I make brownies we end up eating the whole pan. Now this may not sound like that bad of an idea (in fact, some people would say it sounds delicious!) but did you know that the average brownie mix baked is 3400 calories per pan! That’s an extra 3400 calories a week or almost a pound. (3500 calories = 1 pound)

Lately I have been seeing several versions of Mug Brownies pop up on Pinterest. In an effort to satisfy our sweet tooth and have brownies I thought I would give it a try. I changed ingredients (I always seem to when I cook) and made the calories as low calorie as I could without compromising taste.
This Mug Brownie is now 335 calories, which I know sounds like a lot, but compared to the alternative it’s really not that bad. This Mug Brownie gives you a nice sized portion, it’s super fast, and best of all there is no tempting leftovers hanging around! I hope you enjoy!
You will need:
2 tablespoons light butter
2 Tablespoons Splenda

4 Tablespoons Flour
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons Water

And these directions can’t be easier! First, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a mug.
Pour in 2 tablespoons of Splenda,
4 tablespoons flour,
2 tablespoons of sugar,
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder,
and 2 tablespoons of cold water.
Now stir until somewhat smooth.
Pop into microwave for 50 seconds.
Remove from microwave and enjoy your chocolatey bliss!
And for those of you wanting the nutrition information:



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Losing The Baby Weight Part 8

Well, it’s official, my little guy is almost 9 months can you believe it?! He has grown up so fast! Since he was born, I have been working on losing the baby weight and I can officially say I have done it, well for now anyways! (Read previous posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7). I now weigh 124 pounds, that is a weight loss of 46 pounds and I couldn’t be happier! My real goal is 120 pounds, but I am fitting in all of my pre-baby pants and shorts just fine. My guess is that my little extra weight is coming from the fact that I am still nursing. I am a little larger in a certain (uh-um!) area, to say the least.

Here’s a nice before and after pic:

Losing the weight has been a constant yo-yo for me the last few months. Mostly because I have moved twice within the last six months and it makes it tough to stick to a diet plan. However, I lost the last few pounds with this last move because I barely had time to eat! I worked on cleaning the new house, painting the kitchen, and chasing around an almost 9 month old who is crawling faster and faster ever day! But when I did find time to eat, it mostly consisted of fast food and wine, which is so not healthy for me!

This week I decided to start eating healthy and exercising on a daily basis again. I feel that when I eat junk, I feel like junk and when I don’t exercise I feel irritable, tired, and moody. It’s amazing the difference in my confidence level and attitude when I workout regularly and eat healthy. So even though I am not really back to my pre-baby weight of 120, this will be my last post on the subject of losing the baby weight until I am finished nursing. Right now I plan to focus on eating right, exercising regularly, enjoying life, and doing it all while enjoying the little extra curves on my body!

~Beth

Losing The Baby Weight Part 7

A few days ago, my little guy officially turned 6 months old. That means, I have had 6 months to work on losing this baby weight. I have been stuck with 10 pounds remaining for the last couple months. (Read previous posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6) Of course, I have been slacking off a little and not really been eating as healthy as I should. Since my last post on this subject of slacking off (see post 6), I have been trying to eat only healthy meals and work out regularly. I stepped on the scale today to see that I am now down to 128. That means I have eight pounds to go before my goal! YAAHHH!!

I think I have lost the two pounds because I have really stepped up my fitness routine as of late. My husband and I joined the local YMCA a couple of months ago and it has allowed us to work out together while the baby is in the daycare. In fact, I would say that joining the gym was one of the best decisions we have made. The gym we joined focuses on working out as a family. Our little guy might be in daycare right now, but we like to take him swimming in the pool (he loves the water) and as he gets older he can attend gym classes specifically designed for kids.

In addition to the family aspect, I love the mental break the gym gives me. You see, after the baby was born I went from working outside the home to working in the home. I am basically a stay at home mom now, which I LOVE and wouldn’t trade for the world. I work part time from home, but my number one job has been to raise this little guy. I am lucky to be in a situation that allows me to stay home with him. However, being at home all day with a child can get a little overwhelming. I mean, I do have the world’s easiest baby, but there are times where I need a little “me” time. The gym has really given that to me. They have a daycare that will watch him while I work out. It’s great “me” time that is healthy for not only my body, but my mind too!

Since we have joined the gym I started to attend some of the classes offered and I really love going to them. It gives me time to interact with other adults and usually have some trainer beat me into shape. The classes vary, but I usually attend some type of boot camp or circuit training. The instructors have been very good about keeping the classes updated, so the workout doesn’t get boring. Just last Friday, Good Friday, I attended a class and the instructor said that she had an Easter present for us. She had planned an Easter scavenger hunt. Now, I know this sounds crazy, but it was a really good idea. Each of us were handed two full sheets of paper. One paper had cardio workouts and the other was weight workouts. The scavenger hunt was to mark off as many as you could from both sheets. I thought I would share this with the blog world because it was really a creative way to mix up your workout routine. Here are all of the items I accomplished from the scavenger hunt:
Weights
25 Chest Presses
25 Squat Jumps
25 Rows
25 Hamstring Curls
25 Triceps Extensions
25 Bicep Curls
25 Knee Tucks
25 Reverse Crunch
25 Pushups
25 Bench Dips
25 Pull Ups
25 Kettle Ball Swings
25 Band Bicep Curls
25 Lunges
25 Sit-ups
25 V-Tucks
25 DB Shoulder Presses

Cardio
200 Jump Ropes
50 Mountain Climbers
20 Burpees
2 Laps On Track
50 Jumping Jacks
10 Globe Jumps
1 Ladder (gym floor)
2 Laps On Track
30 Box Toe Taps
10 Elbow to Knee Jumps
1 Min Ride on Bike
1 Floor Cleaner (gym floor)
30 Line Jumps
200 Jump Ropes
10 Box Jumps
20 Burpees

I woke up the next day totally sore, but it felt great to have such a fun way to work out. Yesterday, I was looking in the mirror and noticed how ripped my arms were getting. I attribute my new tone to all the classes I have been taking.

I guess the moral of this post is, join a gym. I know the economy is tough right now, but for a pretty reasonable fee the YMCA provides a number of healthy activities for the family. It’s a great way to build a foundation for you and your children to have a healthy and active lifestyle. So what are you waiting for? Have you been thinking about joining a gym? Do you currently belong to one? Why not give it a shot. The only thing to lose is some extra weight and maybe you will gain some mental health and muscle in the process!

~Beth

Losing The Baby Weight Part 6


I am not going to lie, I have been procrastinating writing this post. If you haven’t been keeping up, I have been writing these blogs about losing the 50 pounds of baby weight I gained during pregnancy. (To read the previous posts see 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5) My goal to lose all the weight was my birthday, which was last week, but I successfully failed. It’s depressing, to say the least. I have remained at 130 pounds now for over a month and the scale has not moved. That means I still have 10 more pound to go till my pre-baby weight size.

Now, I know many of you out there are probably sick of hearing me complain that I am 130 pounds. There are some women out there that would punch me in the face for saying I wanted to get below 130, but I think 120 pounds is a great weight and well within my healthy weight range. I am 5’4″ and have a small frame and my healthy weight range is 120 to 132 pounds. Most importantly, I was 120 pounds before the baby and I really don’t want to let myself justify continual weight gain because of my little man.

Well, back to the subject at hand…this stubborn 10 pounds. I guess I shouldn’t say it is depressing that I haven’t lost the 10 pounds, but it’s a little heartbreaking. The big question we should ask is why haven’t I lost that last 10 pounds in a month?
Well, I have a few theories on that and here they are:

1. Nursing– I am still nursing my now 6 month old. I am sure that since my body is still producing milk and that I am a little larger on top then I was prior to the baby this add some pounds to the weight component. I am guessing 2-3 pounds at the most.

2. Laziness– I have had a lot of things going on in the last month that have prevented me from working out like I usually do. I have been super busy, so busy in fact that this is my first blog for the month of April. I will unveil the reason for this craziness in the coming months, but for now I will simply say… it’s stressful; especially since I have an infant in the midst of this.

3. Laziness x2– Yep, saying it again. I have been super lazy. MyFitnessPal has sure been missing me and lately I have been eating like I was pregnant. For example this week I ate- Pizza, Jimmy Johns (twice), 1/3 of a sheet cake from Coldstone (my birthday cake), 1/2 of a 9″x13″ pan of Taco Dip, Chinese buffet and that’s just what I can remember without making myself feel even more guilty.

I guess the moral of my baby weight loss dilemma and really any weight loss is that losing the weight really takes some good old fashioned hard work. I need to focus again on eating healthy and working out regularly. I am too stubborn to let myself keep this 10 pounds, so hopefully by the next post I will have lost a few a more. Wish me luck!

PS- My husband just walked in and said we need to go to the gym and have a marathon workout…guess that means 2 hours of working out to combat the recent laziness!

~Beth