The Biggest Loser Season 12: NO EXCUSES!

I usually only post recipes or ideas for activities with kids, but this time I want to post about how the new season of the NBC show "The Biggest Loser" has resonated with me. I am a newbie as far as this television show goes. I only started watching during season 11, but it has quickly become my favorite television show and I was excited when season 12 started this week.

The theme of the new season is NO EXCUSES. I love this! A little over a year ago, when I was still in denial about being overweight, I was the queen of excuses! Some of the excuses that were mentioned in the first episode this week were mine too: time, money, and physical ailments. I thought I'd share my thoughts on these three excuses, because I am pretty sure that they are the big three for everyone!

1) Time- I am a full-time teacher, a mother of two young children, a wife, and I have a house to maintain. Making time an excuse was pretty easy, because really who could argue with that? Yet even with this crazy lifestyle, I was honestly spending hours a day after the kids went to bed watching television and playing on the ultimate time waster, facebook (has any one else gotten on there to check a message and an hour later you realize that you never checked that original message?). I simply cut this time in half and magically I had an extra hour or more in my day. An hour that I wasn't losing with my children (my number one priority), but an hour after they went to bed. I now spend this hour at Planet Fitness, a Zumba class, or in my living room working it. I now think of the years I have hopefully added to my life and it seems like time well spent to me. Do you literally not have an extra 20 minutes a day you could squeeze in if you cut something else? (Even reading this blog!)

2) Money- Buying healthy food does indeed cost money. I am finding this to be the case especially during this winter season as fresh produce is hard to come by and expensive. However, I think eating in an unhealthy manner ultimately costs more! While my grocery bill is higher, my fast food bill is significantly lower. We used to grab fast food several times a week at $20 to $25 a visit for our family. Eating at home costs less! Another cost is exercise. However, Planet Fitness is literally $10 a month. Some people spend more than this on coffee in a day! It's also possible to find Zumba classes that are $5 a piece! Come on now!

3) Physical Ailments- This is the trickiest one I think. I had the beginnings of arthritis in my knees. There were some days that I would hobble around to walk and concerts that I had to sit down during because they hurt me so badly. Even with this limitation, I was still able to do it. I met with an orthopedist that suggested I use an elliptical as it does not put as much impact on my knees as walking or a treadmill would. I'm not going to lie, it was painful at the beginning of this journey and I had to take a lot of naproxen to push through it. Flash forward 81 pounds later and I am nearly pain free! It was a tough road to travel, but worth it. I think God sent me a wink last January at the gym. I wanted to give up that particular workout because my knees hurt (wah!). In comes a man in a wheel chair with no legs! He went from strength machine to strength machine working his butt off! The point is to focus on what you can do and not on what you can't do.

While I still want to make excuses (I am human), I love how this new season of "The Biggest Loser" has made me aware of this problem. I think excuses hold us back from every challenge we have in our lives (not just weight loss). Get rid of the excuses and get your life back!

Vegan Banana Bread

My cousin Diane gave me "The Happy Herbivore" cookbook by Lindsay Nixon for my birthday. Now that I am on winter break I actually have time to explore and try some of the recipes. While I am not thinking about becoming a vegan, I think it's just a healthier way of cooking and baking and I am always up for something new. Now that I have been working on losing weight for officially one year, I need to shake things up. The first thing I tried (pictured above) was banana bread. It filled my house with a sweet aroma and tasted delicious! The next recipe from this cookbook is sweet cinnamon rolls. Here is the recipe for the banana bread...

Ingredients:
1/4 cup non dairy milk (I bought light, vanilla silk soymilk)
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice (the kind in the plastic lemon bottle will do)
4 or 5 spotted or browning bananas (our bananas go bad often, now I won't have to throw them away!)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup raw sugar (I recommend adding a little extra sugar for a sweeter taste)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (go easy on this ingredient)
2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon pure maple syrup (expensive... but I figure it will last a long time)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. Whisk the non-dairy milk and lemon juice together until bubbly and set aside.
3. Cream bananas with brown sugar and raw sugar using a spatula or food processor until smooth and creamy, set aside (I left some little chunks and thought this was a good thing).
4. In a large bowl (I got to use my new kitchen aid, yahoo), whisk spices, flour, baking soda, and baking powder together.
5. Add milk-lemon juice and banana mixture, as well as vanilla extract and maple syrup (I also added coconut extract for a little extra zing... you could add other extracts like cherry or almond to kick it up a notch).
6. Pour into loaf pan, using a spatula to evenly distribute and smooth out the top.
7. Lay a large piece of foil on top (do not wrap tightly).
8. Bake 45-60 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (it does take a long time for this to bake).

Let me know if you make this and how it goes! :) Also, what are your favorite healthy recipes? I need some new ideas!

Our Version of a Gingerbread House!

At 5 and 2 years old we are not quite ready to enter the realm of gingerbread house making, so our compromise for the last 2 years has been to make a Rice Krispie Treats "Holiday House" the last two years. It comes with everything you need except for 2 tablespoons of butter and I found it at 5 and Below (though I have seen it at other stores such as Target).


Daddy, Caleb, and Blake enjoyed decorating their houses with red/green icing, gum drops, and candy balls.


The final products were two masterpieces!


As fun as they were to make, the best part was eating the final product!

Wise Avenue Train Garden in Dundalk

Tonight we visited the Wise Avenue Train Garden in Dundalk. It's been a solid family tradition since I was an infant and I am excited to pass it on to my boys. This year was the most fun we've ever had as both boys were both into it and excited! Above is a picture of Blake with his Mom Mom Ament. She was a much appreciated pair of extra hands.


Caleb couldn't stop pointing at the different displays. His favorite of the evening (not shocking for a 5 year old boy) was the detailed model of the Dundalk Poop Plant. He couldn't control his giggling.


I know my Mom has similar pictures of me that I would love to pull out.



The display alternates between day and night and both are just as beautiful. There are so many tiny details that it would be impossible to find them all. If you haven't been you really should go! Located at 214 Wise Avenue at Dundalk the train garden will be open through January 8th. Admission is a very affordable $1 with children under 7 free. Visit their website www.wavfc.com for detailed information!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

My friend Stacey posted a recipe for "skinny" pumpkin cupcakes recently and I decided to surprise her with them. The recipe and the website (www.skinnytaste.com) they came from have instantly become favorites! Here is the recipe with some slight tweaking from me, I have made 3 batches in the last week! :)

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

Cupcakes-

18.25 ounce vanilla cake mix (look carefully for this, some cake mixes are only 15 ounces)

1 cup pumpkin puree (I used canned)

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (expensive... ouch)

1 cup water

Cream Cheese Icing-

8 oz. cream cheese frosting

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon (I only did 1/2 tsp as I did not like how strong the taste was in the first batch)

1 tsp vanilla (be careful not to go overboard)

6 tbsp brown sugar (I added more to take bitterness out)

Mix cake ingredients until well blended, pour into 24 cupcake liners. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Usually our oven bakes things quickly, but these cupcakes truly need the 25 minutes or they will be undercooked.

Mix cream cheese icing ingredients at highest speed until well incorporated (on the second batch I didn't blend well enough and ended up clogging my piping gun with a chunk of cream cheese). I believe if you simply use a knife to spread a small amount of icing it would make it to 24 cupcakes, however I like mine to be pretty with a piping gun and needed to double the icing recipe.

These cupcakes are absolutely delicious and much healthier than a regular cupcake since there are no eggs or oil. According to www.skinnytaste.com they are 121 calories a piece, but because of the extra icing I used they may have been a smidgen more. These have been a total hit!

Weight Loss Journey

On December 26th 2010 at 267 pounds I was unhappy. I was also unhealthy. My blood pressure was through the roof. It was only a matter of time before I was put on medication. It was so high that I had to get renal artery testing. I had also been diagnosed with arthritis in my knees and it was an almost daily struggle just to walk. I actually was taking two naproxen pills a day just to get by.

I was looking for some before shots and honestly there really aren't many. I didn't like my picture being taken! Here are a few any way:

This was the winter of 2009-2010 at a concert.

This was late in September of 2010. I had the once in lifetime opportunity to go backstage to meet Mercyme. I believe my jeans were a size 26 or 28 in this picture.

This was October of 2010. My shirt was a 2x.

Here is my after picture! 199 pounds (though I'm down to 197 at this moment). I am wearing size 14 pants and an XL top. However the XL tops are getting baggy and I think it's time to go down to an L. My blood pressure had dropped dramatically, in fact I had to giggle at my last check up when they said it was a "tad on the low side." My knees don't bother me 99% of the time. The only time they do bother me is after an intense workout.

I've gotten a lot of emails and facebook messages asking me how I have done this. Here are some ideas! First and foremost and I had to work on the inside before I worked on the outside. My Christian faith delivered me from a lot of my insecurities. For the first 6 months I did everything entirely on my own. In hindsight this was most likely not the best approach, but I needed to build some confidence before I was ready to ask for help. I did lose the first 50 pounds this way.

There are two important components to losing weight, exercise and what you eat. I enjoy listening to Jimmy Page on Shine FM. He summed it up well when he said "Losing weight is simple, but it's not easy." A great tool in balancing both of these aspects has been the website www.myfitnesspal.com. If you are one of my facebook friends you probably see my daily posts about being under my calorie goal/exercising. This website is completely FREE and it is amazing! Not only does it help you lay out the calories you eat but other important aspects such as sodium, carbs, and fats. It is also set up like facebook in that you have friends. You and your friends get to see what each other is eating, provide each other pats on the back for a job well done, encouragement when things aren't going well, and you get to share what is working/not working. I can't recommend this site enough! If you decide to join, my screename is mrsament and I would LOVE for you to add me as a friend!

As for exercise Planet Fitness has been a God send for me. Seeing as we are on a limited budget with two small children I could not afford other pricey gyms. It is truly $10 a month with no catches. They also provide free personal training which has been valuable for a person like me that has no clue what they are doing. When I started last December I could only do about 10 minutes on a treadmill and 10 minutes on a bike before almost passing out. I couldn't even handle an eliptical. I now do 45 minutes on the eliptical or the 30 minute circuit several times a week.

Another recent exercise that I have started to LOVE is Zumba! I had heard about it for months but felt too self conscious about dancing in front of other people! I heard the singer Mandisa talk about how it had helped her lose 100 pounds and at the same time classes began to be offered at my church. I stepped way out of my comfort zone and went! Now I can say that I "live it, love it!" (What the front of my Zumba shirt says!) It's a faced paced 60 minute cardio challenge. I have an absolute blast and the time goes by so quickly! For my current weight I burn anywhere from 700 to 1,000 calories in an hour all while having a great time! See the website www.zumbacalories.com to see how many calories you would burn. If you are one of my Baltimore friends and you would like to join me, I would love it! I go every Saturday at 10 a.m. to Di Bobrow's class at Community Christian Church. I also go occasionally (it's harder to fit into our schedule) to Mary Ellen Fromm's classes. Send me an email if you'd like to come! You won't regret it!

Finally, I would be wrong not to shout out my husband Jason. Through his new Christian faith he has completely transformed himself and our marriage in the last year. As a result he has been extremely supportive of my weight loss journey. Exercising does take time and has taken me away from home (on top of my full time job). I don't like losing any more time with my two little boys than I lose from working, so I tend to go early in the morning before they get up or at night when they are asleep. This means I haven't had as much time to take care of household chores and Jason has stepped in a major way to fill in this gap. For example this week he took care of all cleaning and laundry. Amazing!

My biggest fear right now is gaining weight back, hold me accountable people! For those of you who are messaging me, keep them coming. You can do it too and you are worth it!

Crockpot Applesauce

Last weekend we went to Baugher's Farm in Westminster for our annual apple picking trip. In our excitement to pick apples we picked way too many! Not wanting to be wasteful we had to come up with something to do with all of these apples and decided to make crock pot applesauce. It was FABULOUSLY WONDERFUL! I could seriously eat it all day! Below is roughly the recipe, we took ideas from several resources.

Just a few of the nearly 50 apples we brought home!

Crock pot Applesauce

8 apples, peeled, cored, chopped into small chunks

Juice from 2 lemons

3/4 t cinnamon (we made 3 batches and the first one was too strong on the cinnamon with 1 tsp cinnamon... go easy on this ingredient!)

1 t vanilla (what really makes this applesauce magical)

1 T brown sugar

A little dash of honey

1/2 cup water

Place apples in crock pot. Add the lemon juice, water, vanilla, and honey. Stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours (or if you're impatient like us do it on high for about an hour).

Stir rapidly with a whisk and VOILA! I recommend not using a blender if you like chunky applesauce like I do. However, if you don't like it chunky (or plump, inside joke, HA) blend away! ENJOY!

P.s. I must give credit where it is due... my job was to eat the applesauce, Jason's job was to make it! Shout out to my husband!