The Spike Diet - It's Already Working!

Before I got pregnant with Sweet Pea I weighed a certain amount.  Pretty quickly after she was born I lost the weight and was back down to that certain amount.  I stayed there until we started having trouble having another baby, and gradually put on 30 pounds.  I've lost weight before but my body keeps settling in at the 25 lb weight gain point. 

While doing The Sound of Music last summer I got to know Russ Branjord.  He has developed a diet called The Spike Diet, which allowed him to lose 50 lb in about 6 months, and go on to lose over 100 lb!  Check out his blog here.  A while back he had a giveaway on his blog and I won a copy of The Spike Diet book.

Winning that book was the push I needed to get motivated to lose these pesky 25 pounds.  The very basic idea of it is 6 days of specific to your weight/height/age calorie restriction, followed by 1 day of calorie surplus - or your spike day.  You watch what you eat for 6 days, and then so that your metabolism doesn't tank, you eat whatever you want on the 7th day.  The details of the diet are best found on his websites, along with testimonials, but it's about burning fat and boosting your metabolism.

I've been doing it for 2 weeks now, and I think this could really work for me.  It helps that Spencer is doing it too, though he actually goes and works out, I'm just dieting at this point - hopefully the workouts will start soon.  In two weeks I've already lost 5 pounds, and am wearing jeans that I haven't been able to button up for years!  And my belt is too big!

It's easiest for me to count calories at this point by eating prepackaged protein/fiber snacks and shakes, and eating dinner based on how many calories I have left at that point (always leaving room for a snack in the evening!).  Once I get used to counting calories I'll start branching out with my snacks and meals.

The best part? SPIKE DAY!!  Throughout the week I'm surrounded by a lot of bad food choices - foods that would ordinarily cause me to throw my hands up in the air and say, "It's not worth it to give up all these foods I love!  It's too hard!"  But now I see them and just tell myself I can have as much as I want of it on Saturday.  Saturday's are my spike day (at least until Thanksgiving and Christmas) and this past Saturday I ate the following:

candy
pb and j sandwich
piece of cheese pizza
little bag of Fritos
handful of fruit
little cheese and meat
handful of Combos
can of pop
more candy
2 enchiladas
small white pumpkin mocha
and more:o)

Doesn't look like dieting food does it?  If my weight loss keeps going like it is, I'll be down to my goal weight in just 10 weeks!  By Christmas!

The Spike Diet blog was helpful in getting to know the concepts of the diet, but the book has been great for getting a more in depth understanding of the diet, and lots of yummy, and easy snack and meal ideas.

My favorite part, other than the losing weight part? Spike day!

Spencer's favorite part?  Center cut bacon is encouraged throughout the week!

Now that you've read my blog post, check Russ's out with the link above!  I'll keep you updated on my progress!

When I was a (dumb) curious kid

The temp is dropping here in the icy state of Minnesota, this morning it was well below freezing.  The mid-sized kids just went outside and the compact-sized kids have to stay in this morning.  While I was sending the mid-sized kids out, I warned them not to lick anything or their tongues would stick to it and it would hurt really bad. 

Why do I know this?  Because I was warned as a child not to lick metal in the winter or my tongue would stick. 

Did I listen? Not really.

Generally speaking I was an obedient child, but I also have a curious nature - and you know what they say about curiosity. 

Curiosity led me to learn about lots of different and wonderful things throughout my life, but it wasn't so helpful one cold day when I was little.

I'm not sure how old I was, I was no older than eight though because it was at my "old" house.  My neighbor friend and her 74 big brothers were over in our yard sledding down the hill, through the open gate, and onto the frozen creek. 

After sledding for a while, I looked at the metal chain-link fence that I'm pretty sure I had just ridden my sled into and wondered, does your tongue really stick to frozen metal, or is that just something grown ups say to you so you don't lick stuff?

And so I nonchalantly stood up to the fence, and put my tongue on it. 

And I was stuck.

Not wanting to panic or ask for help (I've never been good at asking for help) I thought I could pull my tongue off. 

So I put my lips on the bar for leverage.

And they got stuck too.

I don't know how many seconds or minutes I stood like that, not sure what to do, but I would have been mortified if my neighbor friend and her 74 brothers knew what had happened.  The fear of being laughed at was too great.  In fact my friend saw me and asked if I was ok.

I responded with , "lm lhm" in a very "yep, I'm just hanging out by the fence" kind of way.

It was time to free myself, so I did the only thing I could think of to do...

I braced myself, and yanked my face back away from the fence pole.

holy frankfurters did that hurt!!

I looked at the fence in front of me and there, staring at me, was the outer layer of skin from my tongue and lips!

I don't remember sledding anymore that day, but I do remember trying to figure out how to explain my mangled appearance to my parents without looking like a total idiot.  I thought I had told them that I was sledding and crashed into the fence in such a way that my mouth got stuck to the top bar on the fence, but my parents tell me I fessed up at dinner when they asked what was wrong with my mouth.

So now, every year, I warn the kids not to put their mouths on anything outside or they'll get stuck, and it will hurt, and that I know this because I did it when I was a kid.

And then I shake my head at myself for being such a dumb curious kid.

Wishful Wednesday

Wishful Wednesday came and I forgot about it?? It's the easiest post and I forgot about it??  Whatevs. Here it is, a little late on Wednesday night, but probably makes more sense than posting it tuesday night. 


I wish I didn't have to lift 20-something lb children.... can't they just learn to leap into their highchairs/boosterseats/cribs/the car/shopping carts?  I mean, it would really help my back out!

I wish I had fully realized the wonderment that is Once Upon A Child sooner!  I'd been in one of these stores WAYYYY back when Sweet Pea was a baby, and it was really junky and chaotic.  I went into one tonight and wanted to stay for hours!  Clean, organized, fantastic stuff, great prices!   Ok, commercial over.

I wish it was Saturday cuz there's stuff I wanna eat.  I'll tell you more about what I'm talking about next week, if when I weigh myself on friday I have indeed lost the weight I think I've lost.

I wish we had a second car.  Most of the time having one vehicle is fine for us, but it's getting tougher.

That's all I have tonight!  What are you wishing for? Come on, speak up!  You don't have to have a google account to comment :o)

Little Man Hamming it Up

Little Man was hamming it up for the camera the other night, and I can't help but put up cute pictures of my baby boy. 

This was his after-the-flash face that he enjoyed doing and kept it up long after the flash was over :o)

Getting that Christmas card picture = pain in the butt

It's the time of year when I start thinking about Christmas, not seriously yet, but I'm thinking about it.  I start thinking about gift ideas, decorations, if we'll get lights on the house this year, how I'm going to deal with Christmas cookies on my new diet (remember, I have an illness when it comes to cookies... might as well be crack), and Christmas cards.

Then I start to worry because everytime I try to get a picture of my 3 kids together, someone looks weird, mad, or doesn't look at the camera at all.  I started sifting through pics throughout the year of my kids together... here's what I found:

Babydoll looks adorable, Little Man looks fine, Sweet Pea... not ready

These two shots were cute, but there's a big bright spot from the window, and blurry spots from a smudge on my lense.

LM looks ok, BD looking at the Easter bunny, and SP not excited to be having her pic taken with the Easter bunny

Apparently 7 was too old for that.

Near success, but though Christmas and Easter are most certainly related, sending a Christmas card with the Easter bunny on it is not quite my style... close, but not quite.  Funny, but not the pretty picture I want.

great picture of my kids dressed up at the Rennaisance Festival, but for some reason, SP with her belly showing is just not Christmas card material.

This is an option, not sure though.

I love this picture of me with the kids, but we can't send out a Christmas card with me and the kids and not Spence or people will get the wrong idea.

I love these pictures we took the other night of the kids in their new pj's.  In this one LM's smiling but his thumb is in his mouth, and when we had BD hold his hand he'd just lunge for it

This is one of my favorites of my kids together.. I love it.  Christmas card? maybe?

I'm sure this would be Spencer's pick for the card, but I don't like how mad LM is here, he has such a bright smile, I didn't want to lose it for the card.

So you can see I've had a bit of trouble getting that "perfect" Christmas card picture (not that I'm under any delusions that my family is perfect and should be represented as such, I just want my kids to look like themselves - cute, happy, and beautiful.

I think I've figured it out, and I have a card design done but not yet ordered, I may just get the "perfect picture" yet!

Once I get them finalized, and eventually sent out, I'll post it here for anyone who wants to see what I ended up with!



I'm Still Here

I'm still here.

I'm just busy:o)

This blog will return to it's regular scheduled programming soon.

Thank you!

Movie Trivia Time!

edited: answers are now at the bottom.

I put this up on Facebook for fun, and because I didn't blog on thursday or friday last week, I'm putting it here too for fun. 

Now if this blog made any money, and I had spare cash to give away, there would be a prize for the winner.  But Babydoll's birthday is tomorrow and the little dear wants a present, and a cake.  She's so demanding that way. 

So the prize is praise, aknowledgement, and your name next to "And The Winner Is..."

Name the movie quotes, without looking them up online.


‎1. Well I may be an outlaw, darlin', but you're the one stealing my heart.


‎2. As your leader, I encourage you from time to time, and always in a respectful manner, to question my logic. If you're unconvinced that a particular plan of action I've decided is the wisest, tell me so, but allow me to convince you and I promise you right here and now, no subject will ever be taboo.

‎3. Now let's cut the stupid cake because I know the fat guy's gonna have a heart attack if we don't eat again soon...

‎4. George: This is Jack. Second in line to the throne. And that one's Michael. He's only five.
Michael: And I'm in prison for it.

5. Please excuse my father. It makes him feel young and powerful to treat us like idiot children.

6. You know how they say we only use 10 percent of our brains? I think we only use 10 percent of our hearts.

‎7. So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day.

8. What's his type? Wilting flower? Bright and bubbly? Or smoldering temptress?

‎9. --- Do you know if the hotel is pager friendly?
--- What do you mean?
--- I'm not getting a sig' on my beeper.

10. There's a lot of people out there, and they ain't just gonna go away. They got voices now and they're goin' to be listened to. Putting them in jail is not going to stop them. That's the power of the press, Joe. So thanks for teaching me about it.


****Nobody played on the blog post, but I got people guessing on Facebook, many of the quotes were figured out!  Here are the answers!****

1. Thelma and Louise


2. Kill Bill

3. The Wedding Singer

4. Finding Neverland

...5. Legends of the Fall

6. Wedding Crashers

7. The Notebook

8. Moulin Rouge

9. The hangover

10. Newsies