State of the Weight Wednesday: Weight. Lost.

by Miranda on May 22, 2013

You guys. Look at the new State of the Weight banner. Please. And thank you.

State of the Weight Wednesday, Not Super Just Mom

THREE POUNDS. Three pounds.

I’ve officially hit my first weight loss-related goal of 10 total pounds! Officially, in about 6 weeks, maybe 7?, I’ve lost 12.5 pounds.

I’m pretty pumped right now and I don’t care who knows it.

I tracked nearly everything I put in my mouth for the second week in a row and really focused on how I disbursed my calories throughout the day. My goal is roughly 350-375 calories per meal with about the same amount for snacks throughout the day. If I work out, I do eat back some of my calories, but not all. Never all.

It’s been difficult some days to stay under the daily calorie allotment. Some days I feel like I’m starving from the minute I wake up until the minute I go to sleep. But then other days I eat three meals and snacks and get to the end of the day and find I’m still under goal. I’m trying to look at it as a whole week instead of individual days.

Saturday I pulled my Gap Skinnies out of the dryer and put them on to run some errands. THEY WERE LOOSE. Normally when I first put them on, they’re a little snug and they loosen up over the course of me wearing them. But not this time. This time they just zipped right up with no weird sucking in or resistance at all.

And my shorts are looser too. The ones I bought last summer in a size larger than I was/had ever been because my mom-belly took up so much room I had to buy bigger clothes to squish it in. They’re looser now.

The mom-belly, “mother’s apron,” extra skin and flab that stretched beyond its limits while housing children on two occasions? It’s smaller. I can feel that it’s smaller.

I never thought I would feel that.

Ahhhhh!! 12.5 pounds! It’s time to buy a bra, I guess!

As for working out and adding weights, which is still something that plagues me, here’s what I decided to do.

My gym gives one free personal training session, but having worked out with a personal trainer in the past, I know that once isn’t really enough for me to feel comfortable on the weight floor. I would just do the same thing every time and that wouldn’t really be helpful in the long term.

Thanks to some great links and helpful comments last week, I’m going to do some weight/resistance exercises at home to start. I have some 3 lb weights and some walls and chairs for resistance. There’s a small step on our back patio I can use if I need to and a higher one on the back deck. All the tools I need for muscle building and toning I have at home already.

To figure out what to do, I turned to Pinterest and created a State of the Weight board to keep various arm, back, core, butt, and leg exercises in one place. This way, I can try out new routines and exercises in my living room where the only people who will laugh at me are those I birthed or the one who swore to love me for better or for worse.

Once I’ve got a system down and exercises I’m comfortable with, and perhaps start to see some improvements, I’ll move to the weight floor at the gym where there is advanced equipment. I feel like that makes sense for where I am right now.

State of the Weight is about small, sustainable changes. 

I’m making changes and I’m seeing the results of those changes. It feels good. I like it.

Weekly goal: Do 5 at-home exercise routines
Weight goal: Lose another 10 total pounds, bringing the total to 22.5 pounds lost.

My reward when I lose another 10 pounds will either be a heartrate monitor or new shoes. My current ones are probably 5 years old, minimum, and while they’re not worn out (because, Hi, I didn’t work out for 5 years) they probably aren’t as supportive as they should be or supportive in the right places. Heartrate monitor or shoes? What would you choose?

Are you joining in on State of the Weight? What was your success this week? What’s your goal for next?

If you’re blogging this journey, link up below so we can support each other!

State of the Weight Wednesday, Not Super Just Mom

{ 14 comments }

Grilled Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Dressing

by Miranda on May 21, 2013

It gets so hot in our house in the summer, even with the air conditioning running full-blast, that the thought of turning on my stove makes me break into a sweat. (Thank you, older home with poor insulation.)

Suffice it to say, we’re big fans of grilling once the temperature starts to climb. And now that we’re both on this State of the Weight wagon, we’re also fans of finding healthier alternatives to our usual fare.

Enter one of our new favorites: Grilled Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Dressing.

Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Dressing, Not Super Just Mom

Growing up, I didn’t eat a lot of fish. It just wasn’t something we bought and prepared. But I like it, and it’s good for me, so over our years together, I’ve slowly incorporated fish dishes into our menu. (Okay, total honesty: Dan has incorporated more fish dishes into our menu because I was scared to prepare it for a long time.)

A few weeks ago, I bought tilapia at Trader Joe’s and decided to make fish tacos. Dan gets them when we go to Barberito’s on Fridays, so I knew I had a decent chance of having a hit on my hands.

I had no idea what I was doing since I had never eaten fish tacos before much less cooked them. I just looked at what I had and what I thought would go well together and threw things into the Ninja and crossed my fingers.

Dan was floored. I basically knocked these out of the park. (Winning!)

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 flaky, white fish filets (tilapia and swai are both good choices)
fajita or taco-sized flour tortillas
coleslaw mix
1 avocado
1 lime
1 bunch cilantro
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 oz. plain Greek yogurt (about half the container)
2 to 3 cloves fresh garlic, depending on size
onion powder
garlic powder
chili powder
cumin
dried dill
kosher salt
pepper

To prepare the dressing:

Grilled Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Dressing, Not Super Just Mom

1. Halve your avocado and score it so it’s easy to remove from the shell.

2. Put avocado in food processor with (roughly) 1 tsp. kosher salt, 1 tsp. black pepper. Liberally sprinkle in the dill. Peel and slice the garlic cloves and toss those in, too.

3. Add the juice from half of the lime, reserving the other half of the lime for the fish. Add your yogurt and mayonnaise to the food processor. (Note: To make this low or no-fat, use low-fat mayo or skip the mayonnaise altogether and use double the amount of Greek yogurt. Your sauce might be slightly more tart, but it will still work well with the dish.)

4. Add the cilantro. This is more or less to taste. I use about 3/4 of the bunch in the container. If you want a mild cilantro flavor, add only the leaves. If you want a heavier cilantro flavor, add some of the stem pieces, too.

5. Process. The consistency will be a little more like mayo/yogurt than a pourable dressing. Taste it. If you want more of a particular flavor, add it and process it in. Put it in the fridge so the flavors can “marry” and then prep the fish.

For the fish:

1. Preheat your grill.

2. Season both sides of your fish with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and cumin. Easy on the cumin. A little goes a long way. (If you add paprika, this is basically the seasoning mix used when blackening fish or chicken.) You can play with this mixture a bit. If you like chiptle seasoning, add it. Cayenne? Fair game. Have fun.

3. Grill your fish, flipping your grill basket at around the 7 minute mark. (A grill basket isn’t required, but it definitely makes grilling fish, which tends to stick, much easier.)

4. After the fish is cooked, flake it. Squeeze the juice from the other half of the lime over the flaked fish.

Grilled Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Dressing, Not Super Just Mom

Warm your tortillas. Layer the flaked fish and coleslaw in the tortilla and top with the dressing. Devour. Go back for seconds.

We serve this with corn on the cob and black beans, or sometimes no sides at all. Rice would also work nicely. With a main dish as good as this one, sides become really unimportant.

This dressing is really a multi-purpose condiment and is what makes the dish. Last night I used it to top blackened chicken and quinoa. You could mix it into the coleslaw and serve the slaw as a side for carne asada or fajitas. It would also make an excellent veggie dip.

To use a cliche’, the possibilities are endless.

Welcome to summer!

Grilled Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Dressing, Not Super Just Mom

If you give this recipe a shot, let me know what you thought! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

{ 2 comments }

A moment like this

by Miranda on May 17, 2013

So, I opened ye olde dashboard at something crazy like, I dunno, 8:00 a.m. and here it is a full 14 and a half hours later and I’m finally coming here to write something, weary from a day that has quite honestly just kicked my ass. We had one of the most challenging days we’ve had in a while around here today and, well, it just sucked.

I had every intention of coming here to write all about the awesome afternoon Joshua and I had yesterday and I feel like today has sort of sucked the wind out of my sails. I find that I can’t really be open right now about the way the day went because I don’t want to be seen as ungrateful or uncaring or whatever. I kind of feel like my safe space has been torn away a little bit.

And then there’s the fact that the conversation I had yesterday with Alena is still ringing in the my ears. And I wonder how much of today was because of me. We talked about the act of parenting our children. Of doing more than just surviving. Of getting by. We shared our frustration with feeling like we’re not entirely sure what we’re doing with this age right now. But we walked away knowing that what we’re doing isn’t necessarily what we thought we would be doing.

After our conversation, I knew I needed to make a change in the way we do things around here, so after Emma’s nap yesterday, I asked Joshua if he wanted to go swimming.

“With Miss Becca?”

“No, just with Mama.”

“With my baby Emma?”

“No, we’ll take Emma to childcare and you and I will go swimming.”

“OKAY!”

A little light twinkled in his eyes when he realized it would just be the two of us. It’s so rarely just the two of us. And then a wave of guilt washes over me because for three years, it was just us. And now it’s us plus Emma.

I know that this has taken an enormous toll on him. I see the way he is with her and I can’t help but think that he feels slighted sometimes because I’m changing her diapers or nursing her or directing her away from trying to scale the coffee table.

So yesterday we went swimming. Just the two of us. We got changed and we left and we dropped Emma off and we hurried out the door.

We played and we laughed. I chased him. He chased me. We splashed. We curled up in a lounge chair and I held him and we talked. He snuggled into me and we sat there and we waited until we could go back in the water. My heart was so full.

I want that moment to be the way we are all the time.

The conversation she and I had made me realize that while I love my son, I could be doing more for him. I’m tell myself that I’m doing my best to raise him but deep down I think I’m just lying to myself.

Given his behavior sometimes, like yesterday after it wasn’t just us anymore or today, I wonder if I’m failing him. Is this the kind of person he’s going to grow up and be? Is this just a by-product of the fact that he’s a very, very sensitive 4 year old? Is this because he won’t nap but desperately needs more sleep? Is his behavior strictly attention seeking?

I don’t know.

And I’m not sure I can know definitively.

All I know is that I can do better as his mother.

He deserves better.

He deserves my best.

Not Super Just Mom

Contrary to his face in this picture, he was actually quite happy.
He just did the opposite of smile because I dared to interrupt his snack time.
Silly mama.

{ 12 comments }

State of the Weight Wednesday: Dear Diary

by Miranda on May 15, 2013

Welcome back to State of the Weight Wednesday! This week we’re adding a link-up to the bottom so if you’re following along on your own and want to add a link to your post, please do so that we can all offer support. We’re all in this together. Whatever this is for you.

State of the Weight Wednesday, Not Super Just Mom

This week I’m…whatever…to report absolutely no changes at all. Not in the number on the scale and not in measurements that I took last week and this week to compare.

To be honest, it’s kind of discouraging. And this has been the hardest week so far so I’m kind of struggling mentally with where I am and how the week went and seeing no change.

I started tracking my food, water, and exercise on the MyPlate app last Wednesday. I actually didn’t find that to be the hard part at all. Tracking, that is. It was pretty easy to just go in at each meal and find out how much I was putting into my body in order to know where I was for the day. It was also revealing.

I’ve got to do something about my coffee but I’m not ready to switch to drinking it black nor am I a fan of artificial sweeteners. Agave has more calories than sugar and I’m not sure about the flavor of honey in coffee. I don’t know what the answer is.

I didn’t stick to the daily recommended intake allowance on Saturday and Sunday since it was Mother’s Day, but I didn’t blow everything out of the water either. And if you subscribe to the notion that the entire week’s intake is more important than a single day, which I do, I really did a great job for my first week of tracking and being responsible about what I ate and I’m proud of that.

I measured portions with a scale or scoop when I was unsure instead of just eyeballing. I planned healthy meals with lean meats and lots of veggies. I ate more fruits instead of crackers or pretzels. Small changes that make differences.

Through the Livestrong community, I also discovered that I might be overestimating my activity level, so I changed that in my profile yesterday morning and lost some daily calories. That made me grumpy.

Dieting is making me grumpy. Sluggish. Short-fused. I don’t like it. I know that part of this is the adjustment process. That my body has to find its new “normal.” But guys, this? This is hard.

I’m not giving up even though I really want to drown my sorrows in a bowl of ice cream with a side of Pinot right now, but this is hard.

Exercise continues to plague me because I can’t be as consistent as I’d like to be. Inevitably, one of the kids has an issue and I’m called away. Last Wednesday Joshua got physical with another kid and I had to “escort him out” after only 12 minutes. Saturday was short because I didn’t know what time childcare closed and we walked in at 5:15 when they close at 6:00. Monday Emma pooped after 30 minutes. It’s always something.

The number of calories I’m burning each time I exercise is all over the place depending on what I consult. The machine says one thing and the app says another. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but I have no idea how to actually measure that and don’t know if I should even worry about it. I mean, is it important that I know how “productive” my workouts are?

I know I have to add weights into my routine. It’s just daunting to think about. Probably as daunting as anything I’ve done so far. Cardio on the elliptical is safe. I can zone out while watching Claire have a baby and Boone die after Jack gives him a blood transfusion with a sea urchin (RIP, BOONE!) and before I know it, 45 minutes is gone.

I can’t do that with the weights. I have to pay attention to what I’m doing but what it feels like is that everyone else is paying attention to me. I know that’s irrational and that no one is likely to even notice the fact that I’m there, but there’s something about that side of the gym that feels like a spotlight is shining on me going “LOOK! LOOK AT THIS GIRL WHO HAS NO IDEA WHAT SHE’S DOING! LOOK AT HER MUFFIN TOP AND FLABBY ARMS!”

Gah. Sorry to sound so discouraging right now. I know that I’m doing something good for us so that keeps me going but there are just some weeks on this journey that are going to be harder than others. And since this is about being real, I guess I’m okay with that. I hope you are too.

Weekly Goal: Continue to track food and plan healthy, filling meals and snacks so I’m not so freaking grumpy
Weight Goal: 10 pounds total. A pesky .5 pound to go.

Remember we’ve got a link-up now, so, uh, link up. (Share the badge if you want! It’s okay. I don’t mind!) :)

State of the Weight Wednesday, Not Super Just Mom

{ 18 comments }

Dear New Mama

by Miranda on May 14, 2013

Dear New Mama,

Congratulations! You just had a baby. Now fasten your seatbelt. That tiny little bundle of lungs and poop is about to rock your world.

I don’t know everything there is to know about mothering, and just as soon as I eliminate some options and figure out the correct answer to whatever seems to be the problem of the moment, the answers change.

Parenting is the world’s most complicated multiple choice test.

But I’ve picked up a thing or two since Joshua was born and since they might be helpful to someone, somewhere, here goes.

Let people help you.

No matter how your baby entered this world, your body has just done what seems impossible. It grew a small human and then delivered it into the world. Your job for now, for the next however long, is to take care of yourself and your baby. And that’s it.

If someone is coming over and you need milk and bread from the store, ask them to swing by on their way. If someone calls up to see about stopping by and you need the laundry flipped from washer to dryer, ask them to do it. Now is not the time to worry about whether or not they’ll see your knickers.

Or, if you need to feel more like you, let them hold the baby while you flip the laundry. Or take a shower. Or a nap.

But don’t let the tendency that many of us have to feel compelled to do everything lest the world fall in around us swallow you up. It’s okay to delegate. It’s okay to let some things go.

You don’t have to love every minute of motherhood.

It’s okay to hate the days where it feels like all you’ve done is feed or change or burp or bounce or walk or rock this baby while your hair (and probably body) have gone unwashed since you can’t even remember and you smell faintly of spit-up but you can’t exactly find out the origin point of the smell.

No one loves that. It’s okay not to love that.

You will second-guess yourself.

Don’t second guess yourself.

Listen to your Mama Heart. Trust it. Trust yourself.

You can do this.

Be kind to yourself.

The road to figuring one another out isn’t always an easy one, but remember that it’s a journey you’re on together. There will be bad days. For both of you.

As Emerson said, “Tomorrow is a new day. Begin it well and serenely.” Let go of whatever you perceive to have been mistakes and start over. Find your reset button and don’t be afraid to push it.

Change is inevitable.

Babies change. Quickly. While you are staring at them even. One minute they are just looking at you and then you blink and when you open your eyes, they’re smiling. Then laughing. Then they’re running and soon after that having real conversations with you about clouds or trees or Angry Birds.

Your heart will ache for time to slow down while it simultaneously bursts with excitement over all that is new. Get ready for your heart to feel a million things at once for the rest of your life.

There will be less.

Less sleep. Less time. And maybe a little less sanity.

Sleep when you can. If that means you’re up all night because your baby is up all night and then you’re sleeping all day because your baby is sleeping all day, well, in the early days that’s just what you do.

If it means snuggling into a comfy place and sleeping with a baby on your chest, do it. You can fix “bad” habits later. And remember that if it works for you, it’s not a bad habit, no matter what your mother, or neighbor, or random grocery checkout person says.

Right now you need rest. Get it however and whenever you can.

You might never be on time again. That’s just kind of a thing that babies do to us even when they’re too small to DO much of anything.

Not sleeping or being on time will not last forever. I think.

There will be more.

The amount of laundry created by something so small is truly amazing. Prepare to do more laundry. There will be more trash. More dishes. More more more.

But there will also be more love.

Already there is probably more love in your heart than you ever dreamed possible. (But if it’s not there yet, that’s okay. It will come.)

You will experience more joy and wonder than you could ever imagine as you watch this tiny human learn and grow.

You’ve done it, Mama. Now go snuggle that baby and enjoy it.

Dear New Mama, 7 Things I Want You To Know, Not Super Just Mom

Congratulations Jackie and Daniel on the birth of baby Charlie.
He’s more beautiful than words and so lucky to have the two of you as his parents.
All my love to your little family of three. And Poco and Howell, too.

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Where The Wild Things Are, Take 2: Zoo Atlanta

May 13, 2013

It’s nice, this weather we’re having around here. Like real Spring instead of just a week of nice temperatures before everything skyrockets to sun-hot. And because it’s nice, that means we’re doing things out-of-doors. Things like picnics. And Zoo Atlanta. And picnics at Zoo Atlanta. And taking lots of pictures. I’m not sure what exactly is [...]

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Mother’s Day Rally at Postpartum Progress

May 12, 2013

Another Mother’s Day is upon us. And that means another Mother’s Day Rally for Moms’ Mental Health is here. What’s that, you ask? Sunday, May 12th, is the 5th annual Mother’s Day Rally for Moms’ Mental Health, featuring 24 letters from survivors of PPD, postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, depression after weaning and/or postpartum psychosis. Their purpose is to inform [...]

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Just a little ranty rant about clothes

May 9, 2013

Okay, so I’m on this fitness quest or whatever, right? Right. And when I lose 10 total pounds, I’m going to buy myself a new bra, right? Right. I’ve been bra shopping online for two full weeks now. I’ve measured myself and re-measured myself to make sure I’ve got the size right. I’ve researched fit [...]

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State of the Weight Wednesday: Snack Attack

May 8, 2013

It’s Wednesday again! Time for another State of the Weight! I’m not calling this half pound loss all the way to my goal of 10 pounds lost, but I’m changing the pic because I think something is wrong with my scale. Or my bathroom floor. Yep. That sounds ridiculous. I noticed that the scale was [...]

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Day Out With Thomas

May 6, 2013

Joshua discovered Thomas the Tank Engine when he was 18 months old. ”Ta Ta!” he’d shout, as he monstered around the house. We have no idea where he first learned about Thomas the Tank Engine, only that he did. It has been a love affair that, over the years, hasn’t died. His favorite varies from time [...]

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