If you like greek salad flavors you'll like this; I make a big bacth of this and have it in the fridge for quick meals or snacks.
Greek Orzo Salad
Ingredients:
Orzo pasta, cooked following directions. Cool.
Diced tomato
Diced cucumber
Sliced black olives
Crumbled feta cheese
Wish Bone Spray Salad Dressing in Balsamic Vinaigrette
Combine cooked, cooled orzo with above ingredients. Stir together and store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Up to some Old Tricks...
For some of you trying to recover from the brith of your fist child, i do have a few old tricks that are tried and true... they don't necessarily translate to super quick weight loss but they do help in the long run...
1) Get moving... but not too soon. if you're like I am, before the baby even arrives I have great plans for how fit and healthy I will be as soon as I give birth. No more milkshakes everytime I pass our local Krystal (that's like White Castle to you Yankees)! I will be up and walking vigorously within days, or at least getting out those hand weights! I will eat only fresh veggies and lean protein (until that first Cookie Bouquet arrives... then all bets are off!). Here's the deal, take it slowly. give yourself some serious slack that first 6 weeks... eat what makes you happiest, only move when you have to, do not forgo a nap because there is laundry to do. You will be so tired you will be seeing stars, the last thing you need to be doing is hauling baskets of tiny socks and onesies up and down the stairs. DO keep taking your prenatal vitamin (I still take mine and when I don't I can tell a difference in my energy level). DO eat regulalry, but try and keep the sugar to a minimum because it will mess with your mood. DO sleep whenever possible, but DO expect a big fat bawling-like-a-baby meltdown after about 5 weeks postpartum. DO get help from your doctor if you feel like that every day. DO keep caffeine to a minimum, even when you are dragging. My last baby NEVER slept and if I was jacked up on diet coke it made things even worse. DO try getting out with the baby for fresh air every day. If it's hot go early in the am or in the evening. If it's cold go at noon, even if it's chilly. Fresh air is good for babies (at reasonable temps) and good for you too. DO get some comfy post partum clothes, even if it's in a size that will curl your hair. Well fitting clothes are better than ill-fitting ones, or worse, your old maternity stuff. It's all mental. Well, that's my older mother wisom for the day!
1) Get moving... but not too soon. if you're like I am, before the baby even arrives I have great plans for how fit and healthy I will be as soon as I give birth. No more milkshakes everytime I pass our local Krystal (that's like White Castle to you Yankees)! I will be up and walking vigorously within days, or at least getting out those hand weights! I will eat only fresh veggies and lean protein (until that first Cookie Bouquet arrives... then all bets are off!). Here's the deal, take it slowly. give yourself some serious slack that first 6 weeks... eat what makes you happiest, only move when you have to, do not forgo a nap because there is laundry to do. You will be so tired you will be seeing stars, the last thing you need to be doing is hauling baskets of tiny socks and onesies up and down the stairs. DO keep taking your prenatal vitamin (I still take mine and when I don't I can tell a difference in my energy level). DO eat regulalry, but try and keep the sugar to a minimum because it will mess with your mood. DO sleep whenever possible, but DO expect a big fat bawling-like-a-baby meltdown after about 5 weeks postpartum. DO get help from your doctor if you feel like that every day. DO keep caffeine to a minimum, even when you are dragging. My last baby NEVER slept and if I was jacked up on diet coke it made things even worse. DO try getting out with the baby for fresh air every day. If it's hot go early in the am or in the evening. If it's cold go at noon, even if it's chilly. Fresh air is good for babies (at reasonable temps) and good for you too. DO get some comfy post partum clothes, even if it's in a size that will curl your hair. Well fitting clothes are better than ill-fitting ones, or worse, your old maternity stuff. It's all mental. Well, that's my older mother wisom for the day!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
I am a beginner blogger... but a pro at the baby weight thing.
Hi and welcome to my new blog, Losing It! Getting off the baby weight. I decided to do a blog to keep myself accountable for staying on task (easy to get distracted wih 4 kids, etc...) and I am hoping it will keep me motivated and maybe help other moms out there who are on the same journey. And maybe you all can help me too.
First of all i have to tell you that I have done this before... after 4 children and a couple of miscarriages (4), I have never ceased to be amazed at how quickly my body put on weight when i was pregnant. I never gained an outrageous amount of weight (40 lbs. was the max.), and to be honest even i get annoyed at my younger self when I think back on how easily it came off after the first three kids (or "Phase 1" as they are known). But I am 41 now, was 40 when my last little bambino arrived, and I'll be darned if that weight isn't just hanging on for dear life!
And I am not one of those lucky ladies who can breastfeed and watch the weight evaporate before their very eyes. Heck no! If my body so much as senses a nursing baby within 10 yards I put on weight and my appetite goes through the roof. If it were up to me, peanut M & Ms would be a food group. And seeing as Bambino is now nearly 18 months and I am just now starting to wean him, well, that muffin top looks like it's here to stay.
Please god, no! Not another summer of praying for rain so I don't have to show up at the pool in a turtleneck scuba suit! Not another Christmas season feeling like Mrs. Claus! I won't have it, no sir! So if you feel like I do, if this is your first or your fifth child, if you are frustrated like I am, even if your "baby" is now applying to college and you still haven't gotten the weight off, then join me, and let's start losing it!
First of all i am going to come clean with my stats... you may say that they're not so bad... and it isn't tragic, but after spending many years in a size 4-6, stuffing myself into my 8s is a pain! I am pretty tall, a little over 5 foot 9, and as of today I am 150 lbs. Not too bad, really, huh? If you're looking at the MetLife weight/height chart well by golly I am doing just fine! But I compare myself to myself. And seeing as I am 25 lbs heavier now than on my wedding day, well, it's a bummer! Do I expect to be Heidi Klum when all this is over? Sadly, no matter how much weight I lose I am afraid my bank account and cheekbones will remain smaller than hers... but I do want to feel good again... you know, cute, not frumpy. sassy, not Sasquatch. I would like to go into a dressing room and not have my blood pressure skyrocket. I would like to go to the doctor and not break out in a sweat before the weigh-in (I know I am not the only one). Do I sound like a total whining brat? You betcha! But you know what? When i am slim I am also a whole lot happier, it's like I can focus on the other things in my life a lot better when I am not worrying about eery little thing that goes in my mouth or whether or not my lunch lady arms are flappin' in the breeze. I do not aspire to my bachelorette weight of 125... back then i had irregular periods and my hair was falling out... but how about 139? That sounds about right. And a size 6? Considering that the women's clothing industry seems to be catering to women with the same measurements as my 10 year old daughter, i won't get too hung up on sizes.
So exactly how are we to do this without going through sugar withdrawl migraines, mood swings and late-night binge fests? Heck if I know, but I am willing to try!
First: up the workouts. Right now i do two awesome hardcore buttkicking classes at my local gym. I also walk Bambino every day, sometimes 2 times a day, for 30 minutes. And I am trying to add a day of Tabata http://tabataprotocol.com/. It's cool and I just learned about it. I need to sweat or forget about it. i have tried to love yoga, but just don't.
I need to add one more non-wimpy day. Can I afford my trainer an extra day? I'll have to talk to my hubby about that one. TBD.
Second: Clean up my diet. If I had my way I would fall asleep with a large back of peanut M&Ms on my chest every night. I would eat Dove chocolate for breakfast. I would put cheese on everything. I am trying to cut out the sugar this week. I have done it before and it works. (I did it one year for Lent, lost 8 lbs! But that was the year Passion of the Christ came out and I was so consumed with Catholic guilt about Jesus dying on the cross for my sins i didn't so much as look at a brownie for 40 days!)
Third: Wean Bambino. I am crying inside because he might be my last one (seriously, not sleeping for three months post partum was easier than the pregnancy... even with 8 weeks of bedrest at the end I was exhausted to the point of tears every day. It ain't easy being old). Bambino is a particularly good nurser (not so much the first two, and the third came so soon after 1 and 2 that he never even saw my breasts until he walked in on me getting in the shower when he was 4.) and with all the action in this house the time we spend nursing has been so sweet, quiet and special. But I am leaving him in a few weeks for a girls' weekend with my BFF (first time we will be together without children in EIGHTEEN YEARS!!!) and as fabulous as my TBH (tall blond and handsome) husband is, he can't nurse.
Fourth: After the nursing is over I am going to try and do a cleanse regime... I haven't done it before and i will probably go psychotic and start seeing frogs leaping from the shower curtains, but I am willing to try one of these new fangled weight loss supplements... Quick Slim or the Jillian Michaels thing... haven't decided but will let you know. I just don't want to take anything that will stop my heart in the middle of the grocery store. And would love some suggestions.
So if you're joining me on this thing... good luck and stay focused and I'll try to do the same. I'll keep ya posted...
First of all i have to tell you that I have done this before... after 4 children and a couple of miscarriages (4), I have never ceased to be amazed at how quickly my body put on weight when i was pregnant. I never gained an outrageous amount of weight (40 lbs. was the max.), and to be honest even i get annoyed at my younger self when I think back on how easily it came off after the first three kids (or "Phase 1" as they are known). But I am 41 now, was 40 when my last little bambino arrived, and I'll be darned if that weight isn't just hanging on for dear life!
And I am not one of those lucky ladies who can breastfeed and watch the weight evaporate before their very eyes. Heck no! If my body so much as senses a nursing baby within 10 yards I put on weight and my appetite goes through the roof. If it were up to me, peanut M & Ms would be a food group. And seeing as Bambino is now nearly 18 months and I am just now starting to wean him, well, that muffin top looks like it's here to stay.
Please god, no! Not another summer of praying for rain so I don't have to show up at the pool in a turtleneck scuba suit! Not another Christmas season feeling like Mrs. Claus! I won't have it, no sir! So if you feel like I do, if this is your first or your fifth child, if you are frustrated like I am, even if your "baby" is now applying to college and you still haven't gotten the weight off, then join me, and let's start losing it!
First of all i am going to come clean with my stats... you may say that they're not so bad... and it isn't tragic, but after spending many years in a size 4-6, stuffing myself into my 8s is a pain! I am pretty tall, a little over 5 foot 9, and as of today I am 150 lbs. Not too bad, really, huh? If you're looking at the MetLife weight/height chart well by golly I am doing just fine! But I compare myself to myself. And seeing as I am 25 lbs heavier now than on my wedding day, well, it's a bummer! Do I expect to be Heidi Klum when all this is over? Sadly, no matter how much weight I lose I am afraid my bank account and cheekbones will remain smaller than hers... but I do want to feel good again... you know, cute, not frumpy. sassy, not Sasquatch. I would like to go into a dressing room and not have my blood pressure skyrocket. I would like to go to the doctor and not break out in a sweat before the weigh-in (I know I am not the only one). Do I sound like a total whining brat? You betcha! But you know what? When i am slim I am also a whole lot happier, it's like I can focus on the other things in my life a lot better when I am not worrying about eery little thing that goes in my mouth or whether or not my lunch lady arms are flappin' in the breeze. I do not aspire to my bachelorette weight of 125... back then i had irregular periods and my hair was falling out... but how about 139? That sounds about right. And a size 6? Considering that the women's clothing industry seems to be catering to women with the same measurements as my 10 year old daughter, i won't get too hung up on sizes.
So exactly how are we to do this without going through sugar withdrawl migraines, mood swings and late-night binge fests? Heck if I know, but I am willing to try!
First: up the workouts. Right now i do two awesome hardcore buttkicking classes at my local gym. I also walk Bambino every day, sometimes 2 times a day, for 30 minutes. And I am trying to add a day of Tabata http://tabataprotocol.com/. It's cool and I just learned about it. I need to sweat or forget about it. i have tried to love yoga, but just don't.
I need to add one more non-wimpy day. Can I afford my trainer an extra day? I'll have to talk to my hubby about that one. TBD.
Second: Clean up my diet. If I had my way I would fall asleep with a large back of peanut M&Ms on my chest every night. I would eat Dove chocolate for breakfast. I would put cheese on everything. I am trying to cut out the sugar this week. I have done it before and it works. (I did it one year for Lent, lost 8 lbs! But that was the year Passion of the Christ came out and I was so consumed with Catholic guilt about Jesus dying on the cross for my sins i didn't so much as look at a brownie for 40 days!)
Third: Wean Bambino. I am crying inside because he might be my last one (seriously, not sleeping for three months post partum was easier than the pregnancy... even with 8 weeks of bedrest at the end I was exhausted to the point of tears every day. It ain't easy being old). Bambino is a particularly good nurser (not so much the first two, and the third came so soon after 1 and 2 that he never even saw my breasts until he walked in on me getting in the shower when he was 4.) and with all the action in this house the time we spend nursing has been so sweet, quiet and special. But I am leaving him in a few weeks for a girls' weekend with my BFF (first time we will be together without children in EIGHTEEN YEARS!!!) and as fabulous as my TBH (tall blond and handsome) husband is, he can't nurse.
Fourth: After the nursing is over I am going to try and do a cleanse regime... I haven't done it before and i will probably go psychotic and start seeing frogs leaping from the shower curtains, but I am willing to try one of these new fangled weight loss supplements... Quick Slim or the Jillian Michaels thing... haven't decided but will let you know. I just don't want to take anything that will stop my heart in the middle of the grocery store. And would love some suggestions.
So if you're joining me on this thing... good luck and stay focused and I'll try to do the same. I'll keep ya posted...
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