Good morning, friends!

If you are here to listen to all my juicy confessions from the past week, you are going to be sorely disappointed. We are changing things up on Tuesdays from here on out. We are ONLY going to be focusing on the positives! No more negative Nilly. If you have nothing nice to write, don’t write anything at all.

What have you been doing RIGHT? What have you done that makes you FEEL GOOD?

My week has been full of new adventures! You know, the kind that you are excited about, but they still twist your stomach into knots right before you take the leap? Yeah. I love, LOVE change, but I always have that freak-out moment right before things start happening.

I totally stepped out of my comfort zone this weekend and took photos for a new clothing store opening soon. I was completely nervous that I would suck and not get any decent shots, and that the whole shoot would be an epic fail. Which would be totally tragic because there were beautiful models, stunning clothes, and all that jazz. Guess what? I *think* I rocked it.

Yesterday, I was holed up on my couch, sick as a dog. But then a magical thing happened. My Alka-Seltzer and coffee worked wonders. I opened my laptop to converse with the other half of my brain {Christy} and YO Girl was born. I don’t think I’ve stopped giggling since.

I started dabbling in plant-based nutrition a few weeks ago, and all is going well. Other than this crud that’s got me down, I have been feeling awesome. The transition from meat-eater to plant-eater is going better than could be expected!

That’s all I’ve got for today, ladies and gents. Tell me, what are you proud of this week?

Also? We need a name. Leave your suggestions below!

Ah, confessions. How I’ve missed you!

Let’s start off with the baking, shall we? I’m not that big of a baker, but when I do manage to make something that’s edible, I tend to go through it really fast. These chocolate chip cupcake things made with ricotta cheese? Yeah. They’re good. And not lasting very long.

And the kids Christmas candy that’s still sitting around. It’s amazing that I’ve made it this long, and they seem to have forgotten that it’s there. A Candy Cane Kiss here, and Almond Kiss there. Surely they won’t miss it! Until both of their bags are emptied, of course.

Then there’s my all time love…

I’ve tried breaking up with them. I have. But I have to confess, I still maintain an elicit affair with Doritos. Cool Ranch Doritos, to be exact. I cleared another bag, pretty much by myself, this Thursday. And it was a full size bag, not some crazy snack size bag. Full. Size. Cool. Ranch. Doritos.

But you know what? It was goooooooood, LOL!

The other thing is that I pretty much took last week off from any kind of exercise. I’ve been dealing with some issues with my knee and one day of rest turned into two which turned into 6.

Not surprisingly, I felt like a very firmly planted bump on a log last week. The knowledge that I’m going to feel like crap never really does anything to get me off the couch, though.

I’m not alone, right? (Please tell me I’m not alone.)

Good Morning!!!

I forgot (okay, I really didn’t even know to remember!) that I had True Confessions today!!

I forgot a lot of things this past week. Like:

1. How to drink water
2. How to keep my butt off the couch
3. How to count Weight Watchers Points

Yeah, it has been that kind of week! But, but, but…….

I’ve also done a lot of great things like:

1. Work on our awesome new site, Shrinking Kitchen (and keep it from crashing the server because it’s so awesome!)
2. Make homemade meals for my kids
3. Work in my garden – yes, it’s almost time to plant seeds here in Texas!

So tell me three things you’ve done this week you wish you hadn’t, and three things your are really glad you did. GO!

Ahhhh, it’s Tuesday once again and time to air my dirty (or not so dirty) laundry.  Also, it’s your turn too- woot woot!

Here are my confessions- short and sweet style.

1.  Girl Scout cookies are the devil recreated in a cookie form.  I find it nearly impossible to just eat a few at a time. Or, I will eat a few at a time several times throughout the day.  This is not conducive to my wanting to lose a few pounds.  I find the best way to control myself around Girl Scout cookies is just not to buy them in the first place. I will try and remember this next year.

2.  For Valentine’s Day, my husband has hooked us up with tickets to a comedy show, complete with champagne and cheesecake.  While I am so appreciative of his thoughtfulness, I am secretly wishing for a few hours of quiet, *let’s watch a romantic comedy at home* instead.  However, we have three kids and live with my MIL so that ain’t happening for a while- ha!

3.  My bras aren’t fitting the way they should be fitting.  I’m not sure what the deal is- did I lose some weight in my ta-ta’s but not anywhere else?! I think I need a new bra fitting and soon because the ones I have are driving me crazy.  I bet ya’ll were dying to know that, weren’t you?!

4.  My weight non-loss has been stagnating for a long while now. I know that I need to change something in order to kick start it again.  I even know what I need to change- my diet and less of it- ha!.  Am I ready to DO IT? I realize I am the only one who can answer this question.  I guess that would make it a rhetorical question, huh?

5.  I’m tired.  Period, the end.

OK, it’s your turn.  Blog your confessions or share in the comments below.  Happy VD! : )

Confession is good for the soul, folks, so I’m confessing. My failures this week have been with food. They haven’t been awful. They have been a big lack of self control. Three nights this week, I have had a bowl of ice cream. Twice it was in the middle of the night. How stupid is that?!?! I was pretty good during the Super Bowl. I didn’t have one food snack during the game. I did have three Bacardi and diets though. Saturday I was on the computer and I ate a half a sleeve of Ritz crackers. Like I said..stupid!

That all chances this week. I have made up my mind that I am going to stop this mindless eating. There is no reason for it. If I must snack, there are much better options. I have a fridge full of fruits and veggies all washed and cut up and ready to eat. I just have to reach in there and grab them and that is just what I plan to do.

I have been doing an excellent job on exercise. I’m not missing any classes. In fact, my Thursday class has gone to a 90 minute kettle bell/zumba extravaganza. I love it. Piyo continues to be my hardest class, but I still enjoy it. It’s just really hard on my wrists and ankles.

I have started the Fab Ab February workout with Ann. We are keeping each other honest with texts and Facebook check ins each day. We started a few days late, so we had to catch up by doing two workouts a day for two days. Now we are on track with the daily workouts. I put the chart below if you’d like to join us. I got the chart from Bari. Thanks girlfriend. I’m loving it. I’m a little scared about the end of the month though.

Now it’s your turn. Tell us all about your week. Link your blog post or your confessions in the comments. You’ll feel better when you do and you can start over again with a fresh slate.

Good morning, friends! Welcome to this week’s installment of True Confessions, the post where you can confess all of your unhealthy sins from the previous week. Once you confess it, you forget about it, and start fresh.

I’ll get us started….

We’ll do this list style:

1. I had two desserts in one meal on Saturday. Two. I didn’t really need two. I really didn’t need one, but oh how I love dessert. I did make up for it by having a bowl of Special K for dinner since I really wasn’t that hungry from the TWO desserts.

2. I headed to the cafeteria last week with every intention of buying a chocolate muffin. (Hey. It was that TOM last week. Don’t judge.) I bought Cheerios instead.

3. I’m addicted to Sheetz coffee but it’s not my fault. Do you have Sheetz? Sheetz is a gas station here and they have the best coffee in the world. And! Not only that, they’re just awesome. On Saturday, they were out of Colombian coffee (because let’s face it, Colombian coffee is the best), and we had to wait for them to brew more. So, since we waited, they gave us our coffee for free! Free! So, we went back Sunday.

4. Confession: We usually go to Sheetz on Sunday anyway. I know.

5. I had a chance to try tripe for the first time on Sunday. I couldn’t get my stomach to do it. I feel so bad. I pride myself on trying anything once, but I couldn’t bring myself to try the tripe. Maybe another day.

Ok, now it’s your turn! Let’s hear it… what do you have to confess? Tell us in the comments below or blog all about it and leave us the link to your post below! Go! Why are you still sitting there? Confess already…are you there?

Good morning! It’s time to step into the Sisterhood Confessional and own up to everything you did this week!

Today, I’m going to change things up a bit though. We’re into the 4th week of our New YEar, and if I’m being honest, this is when my drive to accomplish my new goals starts to wane. Yeah, I may be a little ADD!

So this week, tell me on,y the GOOD things you did this week. And not necessarily just with food, drink and exercise. Did you ace a test, get a raise, finally potty train your kid, cook something new? Give yourself a shout out! Tell the world how awesome you’ve been doing! Spare no details please!

Not only is this a great exercise for YOU, but it also helps get every other Sister and Brother (we know you’re out there) motivated!

So do it now! Tell us how awesome you were this past week!

I’ll get us started:

I am ROCKING the 52 Small Changes project over in the ‘Hood! My water intake is consistent, I’m sleeping more than I have since college (ahem), I’m getting my butt off the couch so much more everyday day, AND now I have no excuse not to journal my food and exercise! To top it off, I am so thoroughly enjoying the new Sisters I’ve met and all the amazing support we’re giving and getting during this challenge! WE ROCK!

So fess up! Leave in the comments below (we love long comments!) or blog about it and leave your link.

Have a great Tuesday!

(Cough  cough hack hack *sniff* cough cough)

Be so happy you can’t get sick through reading this because I’ve got spores everywhere!

I’ve been sick since Friday, literally I slept 17 hours yesterday, I haven’t done that since college, and apparently the only thing I can stomach is soup and chocolate chip cookies.

So here is my confession: I’ve either been wayyy good (soup! the brothy kind even, not the creamy kind!) And lots of V8 and water (mostly water).

Or wayyyyyy not-so-good (chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps some ice cream.)

I’m going to make this one short today because I can’t put coherent thoughts together very well. But I do hope you have had a great week! Feel free to share your disgressions, concessions, miscalculations and mishaps in the comments below.

Here’s to good choices for all of us in the coming week! Cheers!

My confessions are many. And they are ugly. I honestly don’t even know where to start.

This new year, it was supposed to be a fresh start. Exercise, clean eating…reclaiming my body. Well, honestly, it hasn’t been happening. At all.

I could recount all my transgressions, but truthfully, it will just make me feel bad. And I kind of want to concentrate less on what I’ve done wrong and more on what I’m GOING TO DO RIGHT. Starting immediately.

So here I am. Starting my new years resolution a week or so late. But better late than never. Right?

I feel like I am FINALLY in the right mind frame to tackle this extra weight. I am tired of actually HURTING from the surplus pounds and aching from being out of shape. It sucks. Plain and simple. I’m tired to squeezing into the largest pair of jeans I own, sucking in my stomach and still barely being able to fasten the button. I’m tired of looking at my closet full of clothes and knowing I can’t wear but about five pieces comfortably. Most of all, I’m tired of looking in the mirror and not recognizing myself.

So, my confession this week is that I’m putting my foot down and taking charge.

What’s your confession? Lay it all out in the comments. We’re here for you!

It’s been a while since I had the write-up for True Confessions.  For those of you who are new around here, Tuesday is the day where we put IT all out on the table, where we share the previous week’s transgressions, struggles, and good stuff too.  You write up a post, leave the link in the comments below and then go read what everyone else has to say and leave them shouts of encouragement or a swift kick in the ass.

I’ll go first yeah me.

True Confession #1

We took an 11 day road trip for the Christmas holidays.

• The good- I survived the 18+ hour car drive there and back without harming anyone mainly my husband.
• The bad- I didn’t drink nearly enough water I replaced it with alcohol and that’s never good- he he.
• The ugly- I threw caution to the wind and ate way too much junk, junk and more junk.

True Confession #2

I am back to my normally scheduled programmed workout as of today!

• The good- I am registered for the Zooma Half Marathon in Austin, TX on March 31st.  This will be my fourth half marathon.  This year, I have been chosen to participate in the Zooma/HEB Texas Girlfriends Program, where they pair up seasoned runners with newbie runners.  I am mentoring a new runner (Hi Carmen!  She’s new to the Sisterhood as well.) and together, we will train together and cross the finish line together.  It feels so strange to be on the *other side*, imparting my running knowledge as little as it may be, with someone new to it.  It feels really really really good and positive to help someone else out, to focus on someone other than myself.
• The bad- After a two week haitus, I returned to the Body Pump class at the YMCA.  Lunges can still suck it.  Period, the end.
• The ugly- All that junk and drink from the holidays have packed on a few pounds to my 5’6″ frame and I feel like a clunky tank when I run wog= walk+jog.

True Confession #3

This has nothing to do with health and fitness but it does have to do with life and family stuff.  My kids watch too much TV.  There, I said it.  It’s true and I think it’s affecting their behavior.

• The ugly- my 8 yr old daughter had a TV in her room, not by our own choosing but because it was already in *her* room when we moved in with my MIL.  (Long story short- we’re building a house and sold our house quicker than we thought we would. We’ve moved in with my MIL, all five of us- ha!, while we wait to start and finish the building of our new home.  Tight quarters- ugh.  No mortgage payment- yippee!!!!).  Anyhoo, I noticed that my daughter was basically addicted to the TV in her room, shutting out the rest of us and getting quite ugly when we told her to *turn it off*.  In our old house, we never had TV’s in the kids’ rooms.  We (the adults) got lazy and used the TV to *babysit* her in the MIL’s house.   I know, bad mom.  No judgement here, right?
• The bad- My 5 yr old son was following in her footsteps.  The television was beginning to rule our house and I felt like I was losing touch with my kids.
• The good- we removed the TV from her room today.  She wasn’t even upset when we removed it- she seemed relieved, of all things.  We put in place a 30 minute rule for each kid for *after school TV watching*.  I explained to the kids that playing outside and with each other was way more important than any TV show.  We talked about all the things we could do instead.  I stayed off the computer and truly focused on them.  I am here to tell you that it is amazing how much I can get done when I don’t have my face stuck in my laptop.  Also, my kids talked to me non-stop right up until bedtime.  We played, we cleaned, we made dinner and my daughter- the one who is so sassy and can have such an attitude at times- was beautiful and sweet and hanging all over me with hugs.  In addition, when she wasn’t playing with her brothers, she went to her room and chose to read a book- twice.  I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN RID OF THE TV MONTHS AGO.

So talk to me peeps!  Let me know how your previous week went- health, fitness or otherwise.  Confess it all- you’ll feel so much better.  Leave the link down below and don’t forget to visit every else’s blog to see what they’ve been up to.