It seems 5 was too young to introduce pocket pets to the kiddos. They enjoy the ratties, as long as they don't have to touch them, the kids can not handle the rats nails...and they don't really like it when the boys crawl on them either. Which means the rats are not getting the daily hands on attention they deserve. So we have decided, reluctantly, to give the boys to a friend of mine who has two of their sisters. She had the girls spayed and has a huge cage that they all can live in together, she has the time to play with them every day and will take amazing care of the boys. The triplets, especially Hayden and Lily, are really sad...but I am trying to help them understand that in life you try to do what is best...even when it is not what is easy. I have also told them when they are older and more ready to take on a small pet of their own we will try again...I'm thinking when they are 9 LOL.
Hiccup, Remy, Star and Bumblebee down below...they will be leaving us on Saturday.
Star...Haddie's rat, I think I will miss him the most...he is the sweetest of the bunch.
Hiccup, Xan picked out for Jericho...he has become the biggest...and a little bit of a Bully to his brothers. Xander's boy, Bumblebee, is still the shyest of the group.
And then there is Lily's boy, Remy, he is another sweet one. I think we will all miss Star and Remy the most. They have gotten so big over the last 5 months that we have had them.
Photo challenge today...Day 17. Tree.
Yesterday...Day 16. Makes you feel merry. Yes, yes they ALL do LOL.
Part of the reason I am NOT getting any Merry on lately. I am 4-5 lbs from where I think I am going to stop my weight loss journey...and wouldn't you know that last little bit is being a stubborn bitch LOL. This has been a fun little work out to add to my "skinny" eating.
I realise I do not even know your first name...I stumbled on your blog quite a few years ago and have followed it on and off so far...you have the most lovely family!
The reason I am commenting is really to ask you a q? I have been struggling to lose weight (mostly because I have no self control..haha...anyways, I have been seeing your weight loss..I have honestly never believed that it is possible to lose weight by eating the same food in a skinny way!!! I am planning to give your recipes a try...But, I would like to know what your full day eating looks like...like, what do you usually eat for breakfast...snacks...etc...is it just dinner that you make skinny or all meals? and how much exercise you do? I am sure you have an active lifestyle running behind 4 adorable munchkins...
Thanks so much for reading and if its not too much to ask, pls reply...
Happy holidays! Hope you reach your goal weight soon!
Hi, thanks so much for stopping by the blog and commenting. My name is Katrina BTW!
I am happy to share what I have done...but I am not a Doctor, or professional...and everyone takes weight off differently.
I started out at about 155 lbs, I am 5'8" tall...and generally have a pretty slender build. I am now 129lbs, it took me about 3 months to drop the 25 or so pounds, I am hoping to hit my goal of 125 eventually.
I rely heavily on MyFitnessPal. I enter in every single thing I eat, often times I enter in my whole day in the morning, forecasting my cals for the day...kind of helps keep me honest and on track LOL.
Another thing that really helped was to eat on smaller dessert size plates instead of big dinner plates, helped keep portion sizes in check, we also use measuring cups often to make sure we were giving ourselves the correct amounts.
We cut out both soda and fast food...though we do have 1 "cheat" meal once every week or two. Sometimes when I hit a little lull in my weight loss a cheat meal will get things going...it is crazy but has worked for me a few times.
I will admit I cut back my food intake big time...this may not work, or be a good idea, for everyone. The first month I was eating about 900-1,000 calories a day....MFP tells me to eat 1,200 but that just was too slow for me.
Month 2 and 3 I have cut back to about 700-800 cals a day. This is too few to keep up for too long, I will be bumping back up to the 1,000-1,200 range once I hit my goal...then I will ride it there to maintain.
Carbs I keep under 100 a day. Sugar I try to keep under 30-40 a day. I keep fat under 30 a day most of the time.
I really don't work out much...didn't do any until this last month, and now it is just 10-20 min a day 3 or so times a week walk/run on the treadmill (except when I am doing these other challenges like I am right now...wrote about it in today's blog post.)
I usually skip breakfast...I have NEVER been a breakfast person, honestly I usually sleep in past breakfast time then just hold out until lunch. Lunch and dinner are both "skinny" recipes. If I do eat breakfast...it is a "skinny" meal too. I try to keep my meals between 300-350 calories each.
My go to snacks have been FiberPlus bars (love the peanut butter and chocolate chip ones) I find the extra fiber helpful to keep things going when I am eating such small meals and few calories, Skinny Cow...I love ice cream, and of course veggies and fruit. If I need to have a meal on the go I also like Slim Fast in a pinch.
I don't usually snack between meals...I usually get snacky/hungry at night, so I save my snack calories for when that time hits. Or I just go to bed early LOL...which I did have to do a few times in the beginning while my body got used to less food. The first month was hard...I was pretty hungry. Now I feel great, my energy is good, everything feels good.
We don't really buy chips, cookies or junk food...if it is not in the house it is not a temptation. We will get something once in a while for the kids...but they honestly love fruit or frozen yogurt as treats, so they are eating healthier too.
Hope this helps a little...feel free to email a_hirst@email.com if you want to chat more. My MyFitnessPal diary (what I eat every day) is open to my "friends" if you want to friend me on there you would be able to look over my daily meals. Tripmomma78.
Good luck! Sometimes you just start with one or two things at a time. Give up fast food and start eating the "skinny" meals. Or give up soda and start eating on smaller plates. Just make a couple changes then grow from there.
Thank you so much for the reply!!! So good to know all this!
I am not a morning person either, but I have a kindergartner and a toddler (who insists on doing everything the kindergartner does) who are up by 6 am or so...I start out my day pretty good, but end up snacking this and that...and then feel like I have ruined my eat-good day and then give up...my excuse is I will start tmw...and then night time hits, which is my quiet time...me time...I browse or watch TV and that's when it all goes down the drain...I binge eat...and that's my demon (how many cals have I packed in a single night!! and it shows too)...anyways, I really need to make a change...besides, I am an emotional eater...so that doesn't help either...would have been great if someone could just brainwash/hypnotise me to forget this emotional eating/binge eating personality...lol
I love going thru the before-after stories on myfitnesspal, though I am yet to register on it...as soon as I get to it, I will request you to be my friend...
thanks once again for the reply...you are a great mom and I love it that your blog is all about celebrating your kids...I mean, I have only two, and I really get whiny sometimes...So I know your life is not any easier, but you kind of choose to see the good and make those memories stand out! kudos to that! and for a person who updates a blog so regularly, that cannot be easy...and that's why I love your blog...makes me happy :)
Okay, I did not plan on writing a blog here, I swear...haha...Before I sign off, my name is Priya (pr-ee-ya...I am Indian (Asian)) and I live close to Bellevue, WA
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI realise I do not even know your first name...I stumbled on your blog quite a few years ago and have followed it on and off so far...you have the most lovely family!
The reason I am commenting is really to ask you a q? I have been struggling to lose weight (mostly because I have no self control..haha...anyways, I have been seeing your weight loss..I have honestly never believed that it is possible to lose weight by eating the same food in a skinny way!!! I am planning to give your recipes a try...But, I would like to know what your full day eating looks like...like, what do you usually eat for breakfast...snacks...etc...is it just dinner that you make skinny or all meals? and how much exercise you do? I am sure you have an active lifestyle running behind 4 adorable munchkins...
Thanks so much for reading and if its not too much to ask, pls reply...
Happy holidays!
Hope you reach your goal weight soon!
Hi, thanks so much for stopping by the blog and commenting. My name is Katrina BTW!
ReplyDeleteI am happy to share what I have done...but I am not a Doctor, or professional...and everyone takes weight off differently.
I started out at about 155 lbs, I am 5'8" tall...and generally have a pretty slender build. I am now 129lbs, it took me about 3 months to drop the 25 or so pounds, I am hoping to hit my goal of 125 eventually.
I rely heavily on MyFitnessPal. I enter in every single thing I eat, often times I enter in my whole day in the morning, forecasting my cals for the day...kind of helps keep me honest and on track LOL.
Another thing that really helped was to eat on smaller dessert size plates instead of big dinner plates, helped keep portion sizes in check, we also use measuring cups often to make sure we were giving ourselves the correct amounts.
We cut out both soda and fast food...though we do have 1 "cheat" meal once every week or two. Sometimes when I hit a little lull in my weight loss a cheat meal will get things going...it is crazy but has worked for me a few times.
I will admit I cut back my food intake big time...this may not work, or be a good idea, for everyone. The first month I was eating about 900-1,000 calories a day....MFP tells me to eat 1,200 but that just was too slow for me.
Month 2 and 3 I have cut back to about 700-800 cals a day. This is too few to keep up for too long, I will be bumping back up to the 1,000-1,200 range once I hit my goal...then I will ride it there to maintain.
Carbs I keep under 100 a day. Sugar I try to keep under 30-40 a day. I keep fat under 30 a day most of the time.
I really don't work out much...didn't do any until this last month, and now it is just 10-20 min a day 3 or so times a week walk/run on the treadmill (except when I am doing these other challenges like I am right now...wrote about it in today's blog post.)
I usually skip breakfast...I have NEVER been a breakfast person, honestly I usually sleep in past breakfast time then just hold out until lunch. Lunch and dinner are both "skinny" recipes. If I do eat breakfast...it is a "skinny" meal too. I try to keep my meals between 300-350 calories each.
My go to snacks have been FiberPlus bars (love the peanut butter and chocolate chip ones) I find the extra fiber helpful to keep things going when I am eating such small meals and few calories, Skinny Cow...I love ice cream, and of course veggies and fruit. If I need to have a meal on the go I also like Slim Fast in a pinch.
I don't usually snack between meals...I usually get snacky/hungry at night, so I save my snack calories for when that time hits. Or I just go to bed early LOL...which I did have to do a few times in the beginning while my body got used to less food. The first month was hard...I was pretty hungry. Now I feel great, my energy is good, everything feels good.
We don't really buy chips, cookies or junk food...if it is not in the house it is not a temptation. We will get something once in a while for the kids...but they honestly love fruit or frozen yogurt as treats, so they are eating healthier too.
Hope this helps a little...feel free to email a_hirst@email.com if you want to chat more. My MyFitnessPal diary (what I eat every day) is open to my "friends" if you want to friend me on there you would be able to look over my daily meals. Tripmomma78.
Good luck! Sometimes you just start with one or two things at a time. Give up fast food and start eating the "skinny" meals. Or give up soda and start eating on smaller plates. Just make a couple changes then grow from there.
Hi Katrina,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the reply!!! So good to know all this!
I am not a morning person either, but I have a kindergartner and a toddler (who insists on doing everything the kindergartner does) who are up by 6 am or so...I start out my day pretty good, but end up snacking this and that...and then feel like I have ruined my eat-good day and then give up...my excuse is I will start tmw...and then night time hits, which is my quiet time...me time...I browse or watch TV and that's when it all goes down the drain...I binge eat...and that's my demon (how many cals have I packed in a single night!! and it shows too)...anyways, I really need to make a change...besides, I am an emotional eater...so that doesn't help either...would have been great if someone could just brainwash/hypnotise me to forget this emotional eating/binge eating personality...lol
I love going thru the before-after stories on myfitnesspal, though I am yet to register on it...as soon as I get to it, I will request you to be my friend...
thanks once again for the reply...you are a great mom and I love it that your blog is all about celebrating your kids...I mean, I have only two, and I really get whiny sometimes...So I know your life is not any easier, but you kind of choose to see the good and make those memories stand out! kudos to that! and for a person who updates a blog so regularly, that cannot be easy...and that's why I love your blog...makes me happy :)
Okay, I did not plan on writing a blog here, I swear...haha...Before I sign off, my name is Priya (pr-ee-ya...I am Indian (Asian)) and I live close to Bellevue, WA
Take care and have a wonderful holiday!
Cheers,
Priya!