1 month weigh in!!!

I am a few days early but I decided today would be my one month post. I weighed in this morning at 187 even. That brings me to a total of 16 pounds lost this month and a grand total of 39 pounds since August. Not to bad I must say.
I still feel great. I am getting a little tired of salads every day but this week I am going to look into ways to mix up my meals to keep it from getting boring.
We have been a little busy playing catch up this week from Vegas last weekend and getting ready for Shawn to be out of town for the weekend this weekend for us to get in much exercise. When I know we won't be bike riding I really keep track of my eating to make sure I am still eating enough but enough to still lose without the exercise. I do feel better when we get out and ride so we are going to make sure to fit it in a few times this week.
This week Garrett will graduate from 8th grade and Cody from 5th. We took the boys shopping for special outfits for tbe big day and boy was that fun. Garrett has to wear dress pants and a tie. He wants to wear jeans and a t-shirt so I left him home and went shopping without him since he didn't seem to care what he wore. I ended up with a pin stripe black pair of slacks and matching vest, a beautiful blue dress shirt and matching tie. He put it on and got a whole new attitude. I think he really likes looking snazzy!

Cody is out fashion savy son. He had a big opinion on what he wore. We took him to Jc Penney and I got tired before he was ready to be done. The boy can shop! He wanted to wear electric blue skinny jeans with a kelly green plaid shirt. He loved the outfit but I had to veto it. It was soooo bright. I would have definitely been able to pick him out of the crowd but holy cow he was bright. I had to give in a little since he wanted to be different and we ended up with kelly green skinny jeans with a black polo shirt. He was very unhappy because his idea of matching it the shirt and pants have to be the same color. No kidding! He wanted to wear a green shirt with green pants. It was a 2 hour adventure. Anyways he ended up with both outfits but one will be for graduation and one for his last real day of school. Here are pics of the jeans he got. I can't believe these are popular but hey if he like them.
Well off to get ready for the hubby to come home. Have a great week.
Ali

Week 3 check in

Hey everyone,
Happy Monday! I am back again which means one thing....I am still on track:)
We went to Las Vegas for the weekend and I was so worried about eating off track and coming back and not wanting to restart the diet. I decided to eat on track or close as I could in Vegas except alcohol. I did pretty darn good. I ate eggs, fruit, meat, veggies, etc. I stayed on track except for a few cocktails. I had martinis and margaritas with a ton of sugar and I woke up feeling terrible. I am not sure if it was to much alcohol or sugar but either way Sat. I had like 1 margarita and was on track the whole day. We had a great time and it was so mice to get away without the kids. We don't do it very often but it was nice.
We came home and as a thank you for watching the boys took my brother, sister in law and niece to sushi. I once again stayed on track except for some green tea ice cream and I didn't even eat it all. I woke up this morning and weighed in at 191. That is only .8 up from Friday morning. Not bad at all for a vacation weekend.
Anyways that's the scoop for this week.
Ali

2 week check in

Hey,
Can you believe it has been two weeks already? Crazy how time flies. With life being crazy hectic I may be checking in once a week instead of every few days like I planned to do. Anyways I am doing great. I made it through the Renaissance faire and Mother's day on track. I ate sushi once last week but like my dietitian says "if rice and raw fish are the worst you are ghing to do you have no worries."
Anyways I weighed in at 193 which is below the weight I was in Dec. before my very long Christmas break. I am officially losing new weight and it feels awesome. I woke up for the first time today and I felt thinner. At least I feel like I am starting to get a waist again. Shawn and I have been riding out bikes like crazy and have been getting in between 20 and 24 miles a week. We love to ride and Pj and Cody always go with us.
Life is busy as the kids wind down the school year in less than 2 weeks. We get out in May but head back in the first week of August. Lots of field trips and graduations heading our way.
The block business is doing better than I ever could have imagined. I just hit 325 sales in 4 months. Not to bad. I work all the time but I am still loving it. I love the interaction with people and the design element it takes to make each block to match whatever theme or color they are doing. April was our highest amount of sales and each month grows from the month before. Hopefully someday it will become a full time job but for now I am still being a Nanny for my niece and nephew.
Well that's it for now, off to eat dinner and hang out with my family. Oh ya I forgot to mention that this weekend the Hubby and Iare heading to Vegas and buffets galore. Should be a fun weigh in next week:)
Ali

Made it through a week

Well I made it through the first week. Yay me. How do I feel? Actually sometimes this is the point where I say (excuse my language) screw this. It is better to eat whatever I want and be fat! Not this time. I know it has only been a week but I feel fantastic. I have more energy and already feel the difference. Even Shawn said this morning "Babe, I can already tell." To me my feel look skinnier which is odd but I will take it. Maybe if I have the best looking feet I can be a foot model! Haha, so kidding.
Last week Shawn and I started riding out bikes again. I must say I love bike riding. I feel pumped when we get back. Except by rear which feels not so good for a few days. We were hoping to make our long ride on Saturday morning but woke up in the middle of the night to incredible winds. So the Saturday ride was out. We ended up riding almost 16 miles last week. No to shabby. Hopefully this week we get in even more.
As far as eating I am eating protein and unlimited fruits and veggies. I hit the local farmers market last week and went strawberry crazy. They are perfect this time of year and got me through my sweet issues. I was very proud of myself yesterday. My nephew Caleb was baptized. It was so neat to be a part of it. We actually bought him a star as his gift. So fun. Anyways we went to this fun restaurant called T. Phillips. This place has beers galore and the best creme brulee. I was so good. I had an apple and chicken salad, water, 1 hard cider, and 1 single small bit of the creme brulee. I came out full and happy that I had made it.
My official weigh in is tomorrow but as of today I am at 195. something. I think that is around 7 pounds. Even cooler because I am 2 pounds away from my Christmas weight and when I stopped dieting.
Thanks so much for all your support and see ya soon,
Ali

Day 2

Hey!!!!
Can you believe it I actually followed my word and I am back.
I started again yesterday and I did fantastic. I ate on plan and felt great.I weighed in at 203. Ouch! which is 10 pounds higher then Christmas. Not happy about that but it will be off again soon.
  Shawn got the ok from his doctor after his knee injury to get back on his bike. Last night when her got home from work the whole family got on our bikes and went for a ride. It felt really good to get out. I was really surprised because the very first time I went riding I thought I was going to die after a very short stretch. By the time we were getting pretty far we were rising about 12 miles a day. We made it to the park that I thought I was going to pass out at the first time we went riding and I really could have kept going. Shawn knew the kids were tired so we turned around and rode home. We tracked our ride mileage once we got home and we rode just over 7 miles. Awesome right? The best part is I wasn't dying.
I am feeling the bike ride today for sure. My booty and legs are like jello. We take today off and we are back on the bikes tomorrow. Wed. is Shawn's night to go to Bible study at out old church and my night to catch up on block sets. I would love to go to Bible study with him because it is all the juicy stuff about woman in the Bible and not all the nice story board versions we hear. Unfortunately with the kids and school it would just be way to long of a night. It is great that it gives me a night off to catch up on the business.
I have to admit why I was so thankful that I have been writing this blog. I went to start my right eating and couldn't find my food list of yes's and no's anywhere. I didn't really keep a food journal and was bummed that I wouldn't remember all the details. Well I remembered that after my first trip to the nutritionist I posted the whole list on here. I was able to go back to that post and print it. Now no need to freak out. What a relief.
Well I am off to take care of the daycare kids and if they happen to nap at the same time get a block set or two done.
Have a wonderful day,
Ali

It's me....Ali! Rememeber me?

Hey guys,
Here I am again apologizing that it has been 2 months since my last post.  Holy cow time flies.
So what has life been like in the Brenner house over the last 2 months you may ask well I will tell you.....
Blocks, blocks and more blocks. I hit 300 block sets sold. I am basically a full time business now and I am still loving it.
I am officially closing Ali Bee my purse company to eventually do the blocks full time.
But enough about blocks. What else?
I was walking through the mall the other day and saw a bathing suit I looked away horrified at the thought only to be looking at moo moo dresses. Hmm, is that a hint or what?  So Monday the 25th (of course it is a Monday) I am going to be back on track. My Christmas vacation is over:) I have been terrible and it is time to get back on my bike and get eating healthy again.
The kids are all great. Pj is almost done with kindergarten! Time flies. Cody wrote a play for class that a play company is learning the lines for, making costumes, and is going to perform for his whole school in a few weeks. Exciting! Garrett is a pain in my butt teenage, I love him but ahhh most days I think he is the sole reason for all my gray hair. Just kidding. Garrett is doing great too. He will be starting high school in a few months which is plain old scary. He makes me feel old. Shawn is doing pretty good too. He fell at a soccer game almost 6 months ago and we learned this week that he tore his ACL in his knee. He has gone for an MRi and we will be getting the results in a few days. He may need surgery over the summer to repair it. No fun but at least it is an easy surgery.
That is life in a nutshell. SO for now I am off to do more blocks and re read all my diet info. So much fun. Can't wait for Monday to see if I am 300 pounds yet:)
Ali

I haven't forgotten about you

I have been even busier than normal. Pj got really sick and was home and didn't move from the couch for over a week. He had this flu that is going around with a 103 plus fever the whole time. The awesome part was we only had one night that was rough but the rest of the time he slept normal. I swear if he hadn't slept normal I would have lost my mind. Sick kid means no babysitting kids bit it also meant it was really hard to keep up on my blocks. Combine this with my 33rd bday and it made for a long week of falling behind. What a rough 2 weeks.
Today was our first day back to normal. It was also the calm after the storm in which I started to rethink about starting back to dieting. Not my favorite thing but I need to get back on that horse.
Let see what else is going on. my business is booming. I hit 6 weeks tomorrow and 98 sales. I have been a working fool but I love it. I get a rush with each order. Planning themes, colors, ideas, it takes a ton of thought but I really enjoy it. Good thing because with the average name being 5 blocks I have made over 500 blocks.
I must admit that I have been terrible at my New Years resolutions. I have only packed the boys lunches like 10 times since January and the rest of the time I hand them money. It has been crazy.
Ok, well enough for tonight.
Talk to ya soon,
Ali