All posts in category Shopping

What’s Your Motivation

Today is my 6-week postpartum visit with my midwife, and I am hoping to get an “all clear” to start exercising again.  I don’t have a lot to say today, but I wanted to pop in and pose a question.

What’s your motivation?

I feel that motivation is so different from day to day.  There are many different things that keep me going and results is one of them.  I am on day 8 of my Whole Foods Plant Based diet and the results are wonderful.  Not only do I have more energy throughout the day, but I am seeing results on the scales almost daily (I will be posting a weigh in on Tuesday since that is my weigh in day with Weight Watchers).

The thing is that I know I won’t continue to see results like this on a daily basis (in the long run), so how do I keep up the momentum?

In the beginning my main motivator was my 1st daughter.  All I could think about was being a good example for her and teaching her healthy habits (and that is still, and will always be one of my top motivators).  I’ll be honest and say my main motivator right now is…… clothes.

I don’t remember the last time I went shopping for clothes other than pure necessity.  I’m actually pretty proud to say that I only bought 3 items of maternity wear to get me through my entire pregnancy.  And I don’t remember the last time I went shopping before that!  Not that I couldn’t go shopping.  My hub’s told me all the time when I would complain about my clothes to go buy some new ones.  I just didn’t want to buy any at the size I was/am.

The idea that I can go spend some money on new summer clothes gets me through the day, and I’ve given myself a goal of hitting 240 pounds and then I can go do some clothes shopping!

Sometimes it’s the little things.

What’s your motivation?

 

 

1 Comment
by Shrinking Carrie on May 20, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Motivation, Shopping

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 20, 2013

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2013/05/20/whats-your-motivation/

Small Victories

I’m back!  It was a whirlwind of a trip, but it felt like the right amount of time, and we had so much fun spending time with family.

Hail to the conquering Graduate!

My Brother Tyler and his wife Master Angela (you’re suppose to call them Master after they receive their Master’s degree right? hehe)

Graduation day was 12 hours of craziness.  Here’s the short version: Left the house at 10 for a two hour drive to Logan, UT.  Baby threw up halfway through the drive.  Stopped at Target to get new outfit since I forgot to bring extra’s.  Got to Logan around 1:30 pm.  Sat through a THREE HOUR graduation, which they called Angela’s name about fifteen minutes in.  Tried to entertain the baby by walking around the school grounds for two hours.  Drove back to Salt Lake and ate at the Cheesecake factory (after not having ANY food for almost 9 hours).

Ate a few buffalo wings, some calamari, and then I ordered the herb crusted salmon salad.  Halfway through Dustin and I switched plates and I got to have some of his Bang Bang shrimp, which was AH-MAZING.

We got home exactly 12 hours from when we left that morning.  To say we were tired would be an understatement.

On Saturday we got to do some totally unnecessary shopping where I got these babies as an early birthday present:

I have been dying to try these shoes out for weight lifting because I think the statement about a lower center of gravity is really important for keeping good form when lifting heavy weights.

When I started working out I wore Asics because they felt like you were walking on a cloud.  Then I started having some pain on the top of my foot. I started wearing my Nike Free’s and the pain started to go away.  I’m hoping that with even less under my feet they will feel even better.  Here’s hoping!  I plan on taking a walk with them outside today and seeing how they feel.  I might even use my new Garmin just for funsies.

I didn’t eat terribly bad…..until the second half of Saturday.  I failed on no creamy dressing the second day.  We went to Brick Oven (a pizza and pasta restaurant).  They have famous green Ranch dressing and I just couldn’t get a vinaigrette after seeing it’s creamy goodness.  And then to top it off we went to Goodwood that night.

Yay, for blurry photo’s! And it was so cold that day that I had to wear my super awesome Statefarm sweatshirt.

Dustin and I decided that this meal put us over the tipping point.  I had the worst heartburn that night, and I haven’t experienced that feeling in a LONG time.  Then I got a HORRIBLE nights sleep when my child woke up and wouldn’t go back to sleep for 3 hours. I was ready to go home on Sunday, and so was my baby girl who slept for 2 1/2 hours on the way home:

I may or may not have taken the advice of my pediatrician and gave her 1/2 a teaspoon of Benadryl for the ride home, which BTW works wonders and I will NEVER travel without it. Yes, I am that mom.

Although it wasn’t an ideal healthy weekend I did have a few small victories.  I followed my restriction plan to a T on Friday, which is HUGE for me.  I also did a lot of walking.  I didn’t go nuts when I ate out and I stuck to my no soda which is usually the first rule out the window.

Now I am just working on detoxing from all of the meat I consumed.  My body is not use to eating like that anymore and so I’ve been doing a fast since 3:00pm yesterday and I will break it at dinner tonight.  I can feel a lot of the food just sitting in my stomach like a rock.  How many more times will I have to learn this lesson?

Back to the daily grind!  Happy Monday!

3 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on May 7, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Challenges, Events, Family, Indulgence, Shopping, vacation

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 7, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/05/07/small-victories/

Turn That Frown Upside Down

It is no secret that I have been experiencing a funk the last couple of months.  With moving and basically getting my world turned upside down there has been a lot to get use to.

The last week my attitude has changed and it wasn’t from a mental perspective.  It was from a materialistic perspective.  There are some things that inner beauty just can’t take care of and sometimes it’s the vanity that helps pull me out of a funk.  I am not a vain person by any means, but I do appreciate some of the little things in life, and here are three of them:

I finally got my hair done. 

It has been a year and a half since I last got my hair did, and man was it time.  In fact, I had no idea how bad it looked until after a cut and a highlight:

Please disregard the weird expression on my face.  This is why I don’t take a lot of self-portraits, I feel like a goober.

When I was young my hair was so blonde it was white, and now I just don’t feel myself unless my hair is highlighted.  I’ve been every color in the book and this is the one that is me.  It is also the only color that softens the personality of my face.  If you catch me in concentration mode I have a very mean expression on my face, and I have been told several times that people were scared of me until they got to know me.  I really have to work on keeping a happy expression on my face, since people’s first impressions of me can be muddled.  I also had about 5 inches of dead hair cut off, and it feels so good.

I gave myself a pedicure.

I don’t know about you, but I only get ONE pedicure a year, and it is in the middle of the spring when I am absolutely certain that it won’t snow again.  This year I decided to save some money for the long run and by my own tools to give me a makeshift pedicure at home.  I painted my nails a bright pinky/purple to get pumped for warm weather (even though it’s been overcast all week):

I said it on twitter and I’ll say it again, my toes are like fingers, and they are the thorn in my side when it comes to shoe shopping.   But my mom says that if anybody needs someone to play the piano with their toes, they know who to call!

My hub’s thriftiness paid off. 

While perusing the clearance section at Target on Saturday (which we have to do EVERY time we go to the mall), we came across this gem:

A Garmin Forerunner 405.  Originally $219, and we paid….wait for it….$109.98!!!

I know that I don’t run yet, and have no need for this right this second, but my future goal is to start running (when I hit 220 pounds, I will start a C25K program) and eventually run a marathon.  How often do you find such a steal of a deal?!  Plus, it is helping to motivate me for my future goals and my hub’s won’t let me open it up until mother’s day.  Happy Mother’s Day to me!

These things have seem to put a spring in my step and a smile on my face!

What is something that brightens your mood?  And it most definitely DOES NOT have to be something of monetary worth, it just happens that this last week was an exception!

21 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on May 1, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Awesomeness, Hair Styles, Indulgence, Shopping, Smile

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 1, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/05/01/turn-that-frown-upside-down/

Weekend Catch-up

We had a great, relaxing Easter weekend, and I am happy to say that I stayed pretty good the entire time!  I saw a 5 pound loss on Saturday (on monday I weighed in at 260, up almost THREE POUNDS from the day before, and by Saturday I was down to 255).

On Friday we went to an authentic passover dinner.  I was nervous about how this would affect my plant-based diet, but then I thought that I’m sure in Jesus’ time there were not a lot of processed foods so it might work out okay.  I was right!  Check out this spread:

There were a lot of olives (all types), tahini, bitter greens with olive oil,  vegetable based dishes, grapes, and leven bread (?).  I passed on the lamb, and the lamb stew of some sort.  I had no issues with eating plant-based, and I didn’t embarrass my hub’s in front of all his meat-eating co-workers!  Win for me!

On Saturday we went shopping and I made the best choice possible for lunch.  We went to Mccallister’s Deli (I thought they would have some sort of vegetarian option) and got a veggie club with no cheese and subbed out the parmesan cheese spread with balsamic vinaigrette, and a side salad with no cheese and no croutons with BV.  I was satisfied and felt tons of energy for keeping it clean.

I finally got to see Hunger Games on Saturday, and I totally messed up by not having dinner beforehand, doh!  I couldnt’ resist the popcorn (which is a HUGE obstacle for me, I freaking LOVE movie theatre popcorn).  We were in a hurry and I didn’t plan well enough, lesson learned.  I liked the movie, but I hate that it’s been out for a couple of weeks and had heard too many amazing things about it.  It makes it kind of disappointing when you finally get to see it expecting something crazy good, and it is a bit of a let down.  Next time I won’t listen to all the hype, and I will enjoy it more.

On Sunday, Hanna and I got to dress up in out new Easter dresses to attend church:

Even though Hanna hadn’t slept very well the night before and was being a pill.  And my hub’s sucks at taking pictures.

We had a low-key night, and enjoyed some outside time with Hanna:

I am loving how quiet our neighborhood is.  I love not having to stress as much that Hanna is going to get hit by a car.  We also have a huge grassy area behind our house that she can run and play on.  I took some pictures of the gorgeous views that surround our house:

I truly do live in a beautiful place!

Lots of fun things coming up this week regarding blog topic’s.  A book review and a new 30 day program I am trying out!  Fun stuff!  I was going to do a Meal Plan Monday post today, but after looking through my calendar of eats I decided that they are kind of boring this week!

How was your weekend?

2 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on April 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, Challenges, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet, Shopping

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on April 9, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/04/09/weekend-catch-up/

Made in the Kitchen, Indeed.

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 60 Minutes
Foam Rolling & Stretching 20 Minutes

I love Pinterest!  It is no secret that the struggling part of my weight loss journey is diet.  FItness is in the bag and I could improve on it immensely if I could just get my food intake under control.

Yesterday I had some noteworthy food and a few non-scale victories, if that is what you want to call them.

I do all of my grocery shopping for the week on Monday.  In the recent past I have gotten into a NASTY habit of rewarding myself (for going to the grocery store?) with a candy of my choice.  Ok, you got me.  A KING SIZE candy bar of my choice, which I scarf down in the car.  Ya, that puppy doesn’t even make it home before it is in my stomach.  I kept rationalizing that if it was only once a week it was no big deal.  But then there are the times that I have to run to the store because we are out of diapers, or some other small thing, and those delicious candy bar’s are staring you in the face at the check out counter where they have been strategically placed.

I actually haven’t “rewarded” myself with a candy bar for a few weeks, but it’s probably because I have been “rewarding” myself with all kinds of foods for the last 3 weeks for something or another.

I went to the store at 2:00 just after Hanna’s nap and I could tell on my way down there that the carrots, hummus, pineapple chobani, and apple that I had for lunch were not going to hold through the entire shopping trip.

I started getting a hankering.  For something sweet.  The thought would not leave my mind.

“No, Carrie.  You have done so good today and if you are hungry it only means that you body needs something, and that something is NOT a candy bar.  It will only leave you feeling sick and guilty”  

I love when I can have an inner monologue with myself, and it helps even more if I can actually say it out loud so I can hear it (yes, I talk to myself.  I am SO NOT crazy.  Try it when you have a moment of weakness, it helps).

After talking to myself down about 5 aisles (remember that I have a small child with me so everyone thinks I’m talking to her), I had an idea.  Protein bar.  Duh!  Why have I never thought about this before?  They sell them individually and at this point in the day I had only taken in less than 1000 calories, burned 700 calories at the gym, and I could totally afford a delicious protein bar.  The only problem is that I wanted a bar that had a LOT of protein in it so it would tide me over until dinner at 5:00.  A Luna or Larabar just wasn’t going to cut it.  I needed some calories people!

After staring at the protein bars for what seemed like forever I decided on this beauty:

Chocolate Peanut Butter= Pure Heaven.  It totally did the trick for curbing my sweet tooth and had a whopping 30 GRAMS of PROTEIN.  It was a weight lifting day yesterday and so I was trying to pack a protein punch.  It had 280 calories (that’s actually way more than I would normally eat with a bar, but at this point I was using it as a meal replacement) and 7 grams of fat.  Not bad at all.

Fabulous discovery #2:

I FINALLY made this amazing recipe:

Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta from Oh She Glows.  BEST. VEGAN. PASTA. EVER.  I could have eaten an ENTIRE pan full of this stuff, it was that good.  I give it 5 out 5 stars.

Go try this recipe, now.  It was fast and EASY, and even the hub’s was into it.  I still have a little of the sauce in my fridge and I am saving it like its liquid gold.

Fabulous discovery #3

I’m trying to incorporate more salads into my diet and have decided that I am going to be eating them for lunch, but since I don’t want to run to the store several times a week I discovered a great way to store your lettuce so it lasts longer:

This is 3 bags of lettuce stored in glass mason jars.  I had heard previously that if you store lettuce in glass it will stay good longer, but I never even thought (until pinterest of course) that you could store them in jars!  What a great idea!  I’m trying it out this week to see if my lettuce will stay good all the way until my next grocery day.

Now I just need to make sure that the salad stays different and interesting.

What are your favorite salad toppings? Favorite dressing?

Protein Bars: love or hate?

Are you like me and feel like you have to reward yourself for doing everyday tasks, such as grocery shopping?

5 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on February 28, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Meal Planning, Planning, Protein, Rewards, Shopping

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 28, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/28/made-in-the-kitchen-indeed/

Shopping Conundrum

I totally admit that this week has been an “off the wagon” week.  Not that I have eaten horribly (I did lose 2 pounds, so I must be doing SOMETHING right?), but I only made it to the gym once this week.  ONCE.  I don’t think I’ve had a gym week that bad since July of last year.  So I’m not going to beat myself up, I’m just going to do better next week.

I have also been pretty busy this last week.  We put an offer on home (that was accepted), and had to get a bunch of contract work done.  I had to do insurance quotes for current home and new home, and I just feel like I have been running all week-long.  A lack of working out, but definitely not a lack of workout.

Moving is different for me this time around.  I’m not working a 40+ hour a week job.  Yes, being a stay at home mom puts me on-call 24/7, but it is a little easier to get things done, moving wise.  I am trying to take this opportunity to de-clutter the house big time.  I feel like I just keep moving the same crap over and over, and I’m tired of it.

There is a point to this post I promise, stay with me.

I donated SIX TRASH BAGS full of clothes and shoes that we no longer wear!  I should have taken before and after shots of my master closet because it looks insanely clean.

While going through a huge stack of my pants I tried on a few of the smaller pairs hoping to fit into them.  Most of my clothing is from Lane Bryant.  Not by choice, but the fact is that I haven’t been able to fit into anything else until recently.  Their clothing never seems to fit me just right.  Whenever I buy a pair of pants from them they always have a super tight waist and baggy legs.  It’s really annoying.

I went shopping at LB just a few days ago and it seems that everything they have seems to be a mark off from being in fashion.  I feel like they make a really good effort, but it never looks the way I envision it.  I also think it is deceiving that they “pin” all of the clothing on the mannequins so it fits the way they want it too.  Once again, very annoying.

I have always been a shopper, but post-baby shopping has become no fun and I was always right on the cusp of being able to fit into a cute outfit, and then I would just walk away frustrated.

Anyway, back to my point.  I tried on a pair of size 20 khaki pants (that still have the tags on them BTW), and they still had a tight waist and baggy legs.  This is kind of the style that these pants are working towards, but they are still a little to tight for comfort.  I decided that today was the day I would go to Old Navy and see what was up with their size 20′s.

I’m not really an Old Navy fan either.  I am a huge advocate for quality over quantity.  I would rather have a stellar pair of $230 boots, than 5 pairs of sub-par boots that cost $50 each.  The thing is that I am planning on losing a lot more weight, but what do I wear in the mean time?  Cheap Old Navy specials.  And then when I hit my goal weight I buy some quality clothing that will last for years.

I digress.

I found 3 pairs a cute jeans each no more than $30 and took them to the dressing room.  Two pairs of boot cut, and one pair of skinny jeans (such a big deal for me).  Every single pair fit, and fit well.  They fit so good that I could see them not fitting after about 10 more pounds.  And I found a red button down shirt that fit as well.

Did I buy anything?  No.  It’s almost that I wanted to prove to myself that I could fit into their clothes once again.  Now that I know, I would almost rather wait until I fit into the size 18′s than buy the 20′s now.

Final thoughts:  I can’t decided whether Lane Bryant labels their clothing big because they want big girls to keep shopping there, or if Old Navy sizes their clothes big to make big girls feel good.  Either way, I’m glad that I can now start moving away from LB.  I feel like a spend a lot of money on clothes that don’t fit right, and don’t last long.  I can’t wait until I can start shopping at Nordstrom again.

Thoughts? 

 

6 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on February 11, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Shopping

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 11, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/11/shopping-conundrum/

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