Cake Happens

Today, my oldest son turns 13.  I am the mother of a teenager!  A teenager?  How did this happen?  He was just a baby.  I'm excited for him.  I'm scared for me!

At first he said he wanted brownies for his birthday cake.  This pleased me because it gave me an excuse to try out a recipe I have been dying to try.  I told him to check it out and see if the recipe sounded good.  Well...the name of the brownies is "Knock You Naked Brownies."  I should have known better and just showed him a picture because the name changed his mind, and he asked me to make a strawberry shortcake cake instead.  Dang!  I really wanted those brownies.  But this cake is in my top three for favorite cakes, so I wasn't too disappointed.

I debated about whether or not I wanted to calculate the calories for this cake.  In the end, I decided I would, and now I wished I hadn't.  8,415 calories for the whole cake.  Thankfully, I can say I have never eaten a whole cake by myself before.  Now, I am not saying I couldn't, just that I haven't.  If I divide the cake into 12 slices 701 calories, into 16 slices 526 calories.  That is ALOT for a tiny slice of cake.  But I will eat a slice anyway because my baby only becomes a teenager once, and this is life, and cake happens.

You were probably wondering how something so virtuous as a strawberry shortcake could be so many calories.  This is no ordinary strawberry shortcake.  This is strawberry shortcake covered in a buttercream/cream cheese frosting, and it is amazingly delicious.  He was a 9 lbs, 12 oz when he was born; I deserve a piece of cake on his birthday every year for the rest of his life for giving birth to that giant!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/strawberry-shortcakecake/

American Beauty

I came across this ad for Body Shop on Facebook today.  It is a pretty powerful statement about the standard American beauty ideal.  Eight women have the genetics to look like supermodels.  Eight.  Yet we measure ourselves up to them.  WE do it, us women.  The men, sure they appreciate their beauty, but I think they see and love the beauty in all of the everyday women around them too.  Why are we so hard on ourselves?  This measuring stick, always comparing ourselves to other women.  My boyfriend told me I was beautiful twice last week.  He isn't overly flattering, so I remember.  But when he told me, I thought, "Ya right."  Maybe I should start believing the man who loves me; maybe I should start believing in myself; maybe we women need to start owning our beauty with grace.  I am 5 foot, 5 inches, 134 pounds, and sometimes I still feel FAT.  Ridiculous.

Ice Cream For Breakfast? Yes!

I celebrated Memorial Day with a patriotic red, white, and blue breakfast.  A waffle topped with blackberries, strawberries, ice cream, and a drizzle of chocolate!  Icecream for breakfast???  Yes!  I was about to top it with yogurt, then I thought hmmmmmm....the icecream has about the same number of calories, why not?  And then I did.  YUM!

I stayed on plan all weekend.  Every other weekend is a real challenge for me.  I stay at my boyfriend's house and he is not health conscious.  He makes us big breakfasts, likes to eat dinners out, and does not keep much food in the house.  So, I bring my own food.  I bring fruits, yogurt, string cheese, almonds, KIND bars, etc.  I am not totally lame.  I will eat Sunday breakfast, just not much of it, a waffle and two pieces of bacon.  We went to dinner with his family.  Restaurants are my weakness.  I cannot muster up the willpower to order healthy, so I don't.  I just don't eat much of it.  I had fish and chips.  My diner food standard weakness, but I ate one-third of the meal.

Holiday weekends are tough, but holiday weekends away from home are especially challenging to my willpower, but I did it.  It is just not much fun.  There is no room for a margarita in a 1165 calorie budget.

Bonus Points:  I woke up early on Sunday and Monday and went running.  Do I get a prize?  Oh, I guess my prize was maintaining my exact weight from Friday through Tuesday.  I have this unrealistic expectation for my efforts to be matched with equal results.  It is 10x harder for me to stay on plan every other weekend, so when I do, I expect that I should lose at least 10x as much as I normally would and come home to a 2 lb loss.  Too bad it doesn't work that way :0)

Boom! Boom! Pow!

I set out running on Friday morning knowing it was going to be a strong running day for me, or rather telling myself "I feel great!  Gonna run strong today!  Get it!"  This running thing is just as much a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge.

I ran around the city, then at about mile 3.5, I had a choice-turn the corner and go home, or turn the corner and run a 1.5 mile loop around the park.  I assessed how I was feeling and borrowed a phrase from my son's football coach "Want some?  Get some!"  Then I ran 5.29 miles, beating my farthest distance by a mile.  Once I hit mile 5, I thought about walking the rest of the way home, but I figured running would get me there faster.  BOOM!

I stopped into Marshall's yesterday and tried on some shorts just for kicks.  I tried on a bunch of size 8s and they were comfortably loose, so I tried on a 6.  It fit perfectly!  BOOM!

Have I mentioned I hit my original goal weight?  POW!   (I want to lose a few more vanity pounds.  No certain number.)

Another Check for the Bucket List

No.  I haven't done one-hundred push-ups, but I have done ONE push-up.  By time I have gotten around to writing this, I am actually up to two push-ups.  After I completed my first fitness goal of being able to run a 5K, I decided my new fitness goal would be to do one single, solitary, loney push-up.  My 6-year-old gave me a slight shove in this direction when he started playing with what he calls my "flappers."  So, for the last six to eight weeks, I would get on the floor several days a week, and attempt to do a push-up, and fall flat on my face while my kids laughed, then I would get on my knees and do some girl push-ups to strengthen up my "flappers."  Last week, I hit the floor, assumed the position, went down, and shocked myself by pushing myself back up.  No face plant!!!  Ya!  I am up to a whole two real push-ups, and three sets of 11 girl push-ups.  Progress!

Now for my next goal, I have been playing around with the idea of running a 10K and will just keep trying to tack on another push-up or two.  I have never been able to do ONE in my entire life!

Now.....I would like to take this opportunity to sexualize men for a moment.  When I Googled push-up images, it came up with many women wearing hardly anything at all in compromising positions, at strange angles, or just in a push-up bra.  So I would like to flip this for a moment for MY viewing pleasure.

Make It Worth It

I took my youngest son to Mom and Me Boy Scout Camp for an overnight stay this weekend.  First off, I will say we had so much fun.  I am a very novice camper and wasn't expecting to have much fun with a couple hundred boys, but we really did have a great time.  BONUS:  Rare one-on-one time with my baby!

I was concerned about being tempted by camp food, but was going to put an effort into just enjoying this time and not worrying too much about calories.  Even so, just in case, I brought my own breakfast, a Lara Bar and an orange, and for lunch I brought crackers, cheese, peanut butter, an apple, and an orange.  Turns out camp food isn't at all tempting, NOVICE camper.  I enjoyed my own breakfast.  I mindlessly ate way too much Chex mix before I asked myself what I was doing.  I was long past the point of the snack being enjoyable, and was just eating it because I had an open bag in my hand.  I guiltlessly enjoyed a smore.  But the real problem wasn't camp food at all, but stopping for dinner both on the way to camp and on the way home.  It was my son's choice, a rare treat to be able to pick and so it was Big Boy and McD.  Both restaurants are at the absolute bottom of my list if it were my choice.  I didn't make healthy choices at either restaurant.  I am so bad when faced with a menu full of high calorie food.  In fact, I even ordered a piece of chocolate silk pie.  To my credit, I left some of the pie on the plate.  Then I said to hell with it when I got home and added a PB egg, one serving of chips, one cheese stick, and 4 thin mints.

Ugghhh.  That all or nothing attitude gets me every time.  But when I thought about the foods that I ate, the fried fish and onion rings, fried chicken sandwich and fries, the pie, cookies, chips, PB egg, Chex mix......none of those foods were "worth it".  None of them tasted better than the healthy foods I make myself at home.  Not a single one of the foods were delicious.  If they were irresistibly yummy, I would feel better about it.  But truth is, they were just okay.  Lesson learned, I hope.  I will think of this moment next time I feel the urge to eat too much of something that is mediocre in taste but high in calories.  If I am going to eat something high in calories, okay, but for goodness sake I better make it worth it and order something devine!

It was back on track today.  When asked if I wanted to go to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, I said no thanks.  When asked if I wanted a grilled burger or a ribeye steak, I said no thanks.  I made myself BBQ chicken breast, brown rice, and broccoli, and it was delicious.  Then I went for a run.  This was the first warm weekend and I wasn't sure if I could run in 80+ degree heat, but of course I can and I did.  Getting back on track is what matters.

You know what food was worth it this weekend???  That S'more my little Boy Scout made me. 

Restitution

I received a package via Fed-Ex today.  Look what was inside.

My boyfriend purchased me Thin Mints from a seller on E-Bay.  I was surprised and laughed aloud when I opened the box. I guess my son can now be officially un-grounded for life now that restitution has been made.   Noooo, he wasn't really grounded.

Side note:  At the age of 34, I find the word "boyfriend" to be ridiculous.