Our Paleo Journey Begins

Ok I'm a little late on this. BUT we did it. We have gone Paleo. We cleaned out the pantry, freezer and fridge. We probably gave away about (cringe) $200 worth of food! But at least we gave it away and didn't throw it away. So besides from a few packages of crackers and a little whole wheat pasta (For the baby). We are Paleo friendly! We have completed day 3! It's been super yummy so far! And it totally amazes me that we are almost out of veggies! We were always throwing out veggies before because they just didn't get eaten. Now we are always munching on snap peas, grapes, carrots, and olives! We are both feeling great. It has been a very positive experience for our marriage as well. Not fighting as much, doing things for each other, cooking together, and really bonding over this new lifestyle we've created.

Personally I have my inner battles. But I've won them all so far! It's more like thinking about having a treat after dinner. I miss it. But I recognize I miss it and then dismiss it because I DO NOT NEED IT! It feels powerful to overcome these feelings. Although I have to admit I'm not sure I'd be as strong without my husband by my side.

Originally I wasn't going to include fruit in my diet because the main reason I started this was to loose weight (with becoming healthy being a close 2nd!) But I have been eating fruit. But I figure that everything I'm doing is great so far and maybe if I don't start loosing or I hit a plateau then I will consider cutting it out. But I'm happy for now with what I'm doing. I've gotten a couple emails from fellow facebookers interested in learning more! It's so encouraging! People being interested and following my journey just makes it that much harder for me to fail! So to future followers -Thank you!

Ok... For real.

I'm back... not that I have any followers at this point (Except you Emily!) But I am going to need this. I am going Paleo! In about 5 days! I'm excited... but also totally not excited. I'm preparing! I've been writing down recipes and snack ideas so I have no excuses. I love cheese. Oh how I will miss cheese! But I am ready to loose weight! And get healthy! I'm hoping this is the change that I really need. It will be hard if I continue with making cakes. But I'm ready. Kevin said that is going to commit to the first 30 days with me! I know that will make it easier. I'm off to do some more research!

Weight Loss update #5

Not really and update...more of like a downdate... I haven't weighed myself and I don't want to. I haven't been excersizing. And I've been eating eh... ok I guess. Not great and not horrible. I have just been in a huge slump.. I look in the mirror and really don't like what I see... That should make me want to do something but it doesn't. I just want to sit and cry. It's so hard! There are so many encouraging people around me and it just doesn't matter. I keep making excuses to myself too. Like that I'm still breastfeeding so I can't cut calories. I've been napping a lot lately too. I've just been tired. And unmotivated.
I've been thinking of putting up visual aids in my life. Like pictures of what I want to look like. And eating reminders. ugh... that's it for now.

Weight Loss update #4

Weight today 200.0! Woo... I really want to get under 200... I'm sooo close! For breakfast I had a bagel and cream cheese and hot chocolate at the Arctic Playgrounds. Not my usual, but yummy. Super healthy lunch! I made tuna salad with crackers, a few peices of cheese, tomato, and cucumbers. I actually enjoyed the tuna on cucumbers way better then crackers! Good to know for next time! It's a super nice day out today so when Cooper wakes up from him nap we just might have to go walking!

Stupid mean scale.

I'm not just being a baby either... It was a very stupid, mean scale today. I weigh myself often. I know you are not supposed to, but I do. I just like to know where I am. I know my weight fluxuates. So the way I weigh myself is in the morning before I eat, after I use the potty, and naked. TMI-Too bad. Anyway. Sometimes I just weigh myself with my clothes on to see if there is a chance there is any progress. Today I stepped on the scale and it said 195!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited but really too good to be true. So I tried again. Same thing. I started getting really excited and got undressed so I could see my "offical" weight. I got on again and it said 201. Boo... Not horrible. But nothing better then usual. Stupid, mean scale!

Rant on people and rude money habits

I would be SO embarrassed to owe someone money for a long period of time. I don't like owing people money at all. I am an adult and should be able to take care of myself. I have working arms and working legs and I am fully capable of getting a job. And if I had to get a job that "wasn't me" or wasn't my dream I would do it because I am an adult, and I have responsibilities to myself and other people. I grew up with my family doing the Dave Ramsey plan. We didn't get allowance... we got salary... If we did our chores, we got paid. If we didn't do our chores, we did not get paid. Sounds a little like real life doesn't it?
My husband and I are married young and we are just getting on our feet in the financial world. We have already run into the problem of not having enough credit to get cell phones under our own names... despite him being in the military and having a guaranteed job! We bought our first car together in cash. And when looking to finally buy a second instead of saving up for a car we decided to try and get a loan so that we could actually start building our credit. We were only approved for $500. That was very discouraging. Luckily there was another option. We took out a loan against our own money we had in the bank. So we will be unlocking increments of it as we pay off the "loan". We are finally building some credit.. and doing it in a very responsible way.
Back to other people... to be frank.. they piss me off! Is it just me or is it common sense that if you owe someone money you DO NOT buy yourself expensive unnecessary things. Like for instance when you owe someone $900 DO NOT go buy yourself a brand new HD Video Camera. And when someone takes you into their home for a month, giving you shelter and food and eventually a plane ticket home you DO NOT go buy yourself a tattoo.
So what bothers me the most about this is seeing posts about these things on facebook. I don't need the money. And I really don't expect to ever see any of it. I've excepted that. But the fact is... that it is so rude! I'm honestly embarrassed for these people. Even as a preteen I have felt the embarrassment that they should be feeling, though I am sure they are not considering their excited status'. Within the first week of starting the Dave Ramsey plan with my family I got my salary and spent it. I had also borrowed money from my Nana and she really needed it back. I asked my mom if I could have next months salary early and she said no. My Nana really needed that money and I messed up. So even then I knew how bad it was to owe someone money. I can't imagine being an adult and not even having the knowledge that it is so rude and irresponsible to owe someone money and not do everything in your power to make it right.

My Parenting Passions: Cloth Diapers!

I LOVE cloth diapers. I never thought I would use cloth diapers. I thought they were gross! But a few frieds of mine use them and I got interested and started researching when Cooper was about 3 months old. A friend hooked me up with 21 fitted prefolds and that's what started my cloth diaper journey/addiction! I now have several GoodMama diapers and they are all I will buy!

My Parenting Passions: Rocking my baby

I LOVE rocking my baby to sleep. Sometimes I wonder how people could skip out on this moment when they are their cuddliest. As Cooper is growing more and more each day and moving farther away from being my little baby these are the moments I treasure most. We went back and forth with the idea that we needed to "sleep train" Cooper. There have been some nights that he is just so fidgety that he needed to be put down awake and sometimes whine or cry a little. But the idea of leaving him to cry and cry hysterically until he thinks Mommy is never coming back and falls asleep is not ok with me. I'm not judging those who do... I'm just sharing my opinion and love for rocking my boy to sleep.

Cake! (Pic Heavy)

Cakes That I have made...

Baby Shower Mini Cake and Cupcakes




German Chocolate Welcome Home Cake



Luau Birthday/Going Away Party Cake



Guitar Birthday Cake



Princess Birthday Cake


Baby Gender Cake -It's Pink inside!

Yummy Birthday Cake

Wedding Cake

Baby Shower Cake

My Wedding Cake

Weight Loss Post #3

So I weight myself a few times this past week and nothing to really report... Just up and down as what seems to be usual for me. I had a busy weekend making a baby shower cake and cupcakes for a friend. But I was back in the gym today. I was trying to keep it under an hour so I only did the Eliptical. But I burned 408 calories! I went about 2.5 miles in 45 mins. I'm happy with myself. I read a little bit about The 3 hour diet. Nothing new to me really. It makes sense. I might try to be a little more aware of my eating habits by eating more often. Other then that I'm not really doing anything to "diet". I did realize the other day that my cooking habits have changed a lot. I went from easy, cheap, ok and delicious creamy pasta type casseroles, to more crock pot veggie filled meals. I also use a differnt kind of bread. Instead of whole wheat/grain, I use sprouted grain bread from the organic section. It's actually reall yummy! But I don't have bread very often anyway. Not on purpose.. it just doesn't grab my attention. I've also been using Quinoa in place of rice for a few meals. I really like it. It might take Kevin a while to get used to it though.

Weight Loss Post #2

I haven't weighed myself yet but wanted to give an update on the last few days. Today was the 3rd day in a row that I've gone to the gym. The first day I went I burned 200 calories on the Eliptical. And used weight machines. The second day I wanted to push a little harder so I went for 250. Also used the weight machines. And today I burned 300! Woo! Used the weight machines and use the row machine too. After every work out I've had a protein shake. I will probably weigh myself tomorrow morning and update then with some hopefully under 200 news?

Weight Loss Post #1

So before I update I need to give a little weight history.

Highest weight ever (at 38 weeks pregnant): 240lbs

Weight After Baby was born: 216lbs

Weight Before Pregnancy: 200lbs

Right before I got pregnant I was on a diet plan and was trying to loose weight. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I stopped dieting and the about 5lbs I had lost came back immediatly. So I consider my prepregnancy weight 200lbs and I was determined to never go beyond that. But life happens and I became a Momma instead! I tried to work out while pregnant but it just got the best of me and I honestly didn't really do anything.

I lost a nice 24lbs just having my son! That was encouraging. Unfortunatly a very hard recovery (ok and I'm sure a lack of motivation) kept me from even attempting to loose weight. As far as I know I didn't gain any.

Ok now fast forward 9months later and I am about 208. So yeah only 8 lbs lost in 9 months. But I decided to make a bigger effort and really try to get excersize into my schedule. For about 6 days straight I did hardcore Jillian's 30 day shred and went on about a mile walk every nice day. Then I ended up hurting my knee's doing that. So I stopped for a week. Of course stopping for a week got me off my groove and I didn't jump back in or anything. But I still try to go for a walk everyday. And on days I'm motivated I do other things as well. I'm working on getting myself onto a schedule but with a baby and a husband to coordinate with... it's not really happening.

So the big thing for me is that I'm not hard on myself. 2 weeks ago I got down to 201.4! Woo! But then it went up and down for the last 2 weeks.... But! Today I woke up and weight myself and I am ....(drumroll please!).... 200.4! YEAH! Back to prepregnancy weight!!! I guess what they say is true, 9 months up... 9 months down. But I am sooo not done yet.

Weight today: 200.4lbs

Goal Weight: 150lbs

Just a whatever update on today

Today was pretty great. I got up with Cooper and his recent high temp was back to normal. When he went down for his nap Kevin woke up, so I decided I would head to the gym. I forgot my water bottle so I'm sure I didn't work as hard as I should have. I did go for about 2 miles on the eliptical. Not sure exactly of the distance because I went by calories. I burned 200. Then I did some weight lifting machines and headed home. It was a great work out. I was proud. I later decided I would go for a walk as well. A friend wanted to go too. Little did I know she had planned a 4mile walk! So yeah, I got a great workout today!

So wow... this isn't really what I wanted my blog to be... but it's my first day. Give me a break. I promise to be more amusing.

A Little Bit of Me

I'm Brooklyn. I'm 22 years old. I am a wife to Kevin, my husband of almost 2 years. Mother to my sweet 9 month old baby boy, Cooper. I am a military wife. My husband is in the United States Air Force. We live in Alaska on Elmendorf AFB. I love to cook. Don't really love to bake, but like to decorate cakes and make yummy desserts. I'm trying to loose weight. I do enjoy excersizing... some of the time. I love to eat healthy and truely enjoy watching my son try new exciting things. I love that I get to take him all brand new and start him off right. My house is a mess, I'm working on it. I love, love, love being a mom. I'm a breastfeeding, cloth diapering momma and I love it. I love and have a true addiction to Goodmama diapers. I'm working on turning my home "green" little by little. I love my friends and I love my family. I love to talk. And I love to write.