"Rivers & Roads"

If you dont know who Head and the Heart are you should watch and listen to the above video. Going to see them in June. Oh and their harmonies are amazing.

Anyways, I am down another 2.6 down for a total of 27.2 since January 23. I was pretty damn excited to see that on the scale this morning. I got to the gym 5 times this week which included another great kickboxing class last night. My lower back is still bothering me though. I am okay when I wake up but then during the day at work it tightens up and kills me. So by the time I get to the gym I am in pain. I thought losing weight would help but I dont feel it is so any advice other than going to see a chiropractor is greatly appreciated.

Last week Karyn Kim and I went to see Pink at the Q. This was my third time seeing her and she did not disappoint. I can not stress enough how great she is. What I love the most about Pink---is she really is a great role model. And not just for young girls but for women in general. I appreciate how honest she is and I appreciate her confidence. We all need to be more confident. I see women in their 30's, 40s and sometimes 50s with none. Women in bad relationships. You shouldnt be defined by a boyfriend, husband, girlfriend or wife. That goes for the guys too. You have to take care of yourself first. Love yourself and be at peace with yourself and then you can have a healthy relationship. That is one thing I love about Pink----she wont take anybody's bullshit.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

XOXO
B-

"Try"

Happy Friday everybody! I am down another 2 pounds this morning. I am officially down 22.2 pounds in 8 weeks. I was a little nervous getting on that scale this morning with going out on St Paddy's Day(even though I was watching points). However, I will take a two pound loss any day. We did another round of kickboxing last night at the Gemini Center and had even a bigger group. I altered my workout a bit since I have a janky lower back so some of the kicking motions really trigger it. That is one nice thing about the class is you can do at your own pace and change things up. I feel great this morning and not in pain which is nice

This coming week is a big one for us as one of my favorite singers is in town, Pink! We saw her twice on her last tour and were just blown away(this was my first time ever seeing her live). If you havent ever seen her, I am sorry. That's all I can say. She puts on amazing show. I am sure we will be snapping photos and taking video so be sure to keep an eye out on my Facebook for updates.

I wanted to share another great recipe with everyone: Baked Spaghetti Squash & Cheese. This is from Skinnytaste. I love her recipes. I did a Chicken Enchiladas recipe too from her and it was amazing as well. One thing I did add to the squash recipe was chicken sausage. It was VERY good. This could be served as an entree or a side. We did both. One night I served it as an entree and the next as a side with chicken.

Also this past weekend I decided to purchase season tickets from my beloved Cleveland Browns. Everyone has their team. I always root for my Cleveland teams but anyone who knows me knows I love my Browns(but hated them the past 20 years for the most part). With the recent moves they made by getting Jarvis Landry and Tyrod Taylor, I finally felt they have the right decision makers in place. I decided last Sunday to bit the bullet and buy them. And clearly those moves have changed others views as I heard this morning that Las Vegas has moved the Browns up in the odds of winning the Super Bowl. We are no longer at the bottom!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay safe and warm!

XOXO-
B

"Eye of the Tiger"

Another week and another 2.8 pounds lost. I am now officially over the 20 pound mark at 20.2 pounds lost in 7 weeks. I will have to say I was a little worried because we had a team happy hour this week an due to work travel I didnt get to the gym 5 days. However, I still kept on my plan and didnt go over my points. I am finding that is the key for me: DON'T GO OVER YOUR POINTS

Last night, Lisa, Kim and I did a kickboxing class at the Gemini Center which is our rec center in Fairview Park. I had done a class before years ago so I was somewhat familiar in what to expect. It is an hour class on Thursdays for anybody who is interested you can look at the program here: Kickboxing Classes

I will say it was a great workout. So much so I wanted to puke halfway through. I am pretty sure this was due to me not being in shape plus not having too many calories consumed for the day. We did everything from punching to kicking to squats to using bands(feel the burn!). I do have to be careful because I have a tricky lower right back which has a tendency to give out on me and when it does I am like a turtle on my back. However, what is nice about the class is its at your own pace and you can kind of adjust. Jessica, who runs the class, is super nice and works with you. What is extra nice about the class is you can get a little aggression out on the punch bag. One thing I do want to mention is if you would like to do the class, bring your own gloves. You can buy weight lifting gloves and they are very inexpensive. Otherwise, we were just wrapping towels around our hands.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and an awesome St Paddy's Day!

XOXO
B-

"Another One..or almost three... Bites the Dust"

Another week down another 2.8 pounds lost. I am now down 17.4 pounds since January 23.

So I have been asked how I am doing this and if I had some tips. The main two things I can tell you if you are going to take this challenge on is to meal plan and get your ass moving. If you don't do these two things, you will not last long. For example, on Wednesday or Thursday I start meal planning for the next week. We do most of our grocery shopping on Saturday and/or Sunday. I make my menu for dinners and then I buy from that list. And make sure you HAVE a list. Do not go into the store all willy nilly. You will buy crap you do not need or should not eat.

That being said Pinterest should be your go to for meal planning. If you dont have the app, get it. Make a board for Weight Watchers or Healthy Eating. Pin those recipes to your boards. I can tell you almost all of the stuff I have made is from there. Two other great resources for recipes which tell you the point totals for Weight Watchers are Hungry Girl and Skinny Taste

What I have found in my journey thus far is you have to find substitutes for the food you love. If you like rice, make cauliflower rice. I know it sounds weird but its fantastic. If you like tortilla chips, get the baked Tostitos. They no longer taste like wallpaper paste and are a great option. With so many fantastic salsas out there you can have a crunchy snack for low points. If you love a great hamburger, get the Butterball frozen turkey burgers. They are really good and only 3 points.

Hope every has a great weekend! Stay warm!
-B

"One Day At A Time"

Today was weigh in day. Well every Friday is. I got on the dreaded scale and what did my eyes see? A 4.4 pound weight loss since last Friday. I am officially down 14.6 pounds since January 23rd! I have a long ways to go, however, I will very excited to see those results. So what did I do differently this week? The only thing I really changed was I went to the gym one extra day. Did it pay off? Maybe. However, the notion that I am going to get to the gym 6 days a week isn't very realistic.

I am not making excuses here but its just sometimes my schedule wont allow it. I WILL get to the gym no less than 4 days. I love that now my mentality is feeling guilty about taking one day off at the gym. You have to have that mentality or you will fall off of the wagon. It is so easy to do that: "Well I am tired and I just dont feel like it" or "I will skip today and go tomorrow". Look--30-40 minutes out of your entire day is, in the grand scheme of things, not a big deal. Granted I dont have kids so I do have the luxury of having that extra time. One of the activities I am super excited about is kickboxing classes. Lisa and I will be taking those starting March 15th at our local rec center every Thursday. It will be a nice change of pace from walking around a track.

One of the things I also wanted to share on this blog is some of the recipes I have come across and wanted to post the ones we have tried and really enjoyed. I also wanted to post products both good and bad so if you are out there looking for some options you have them. The first one we both really enjoyed is below:



Curry Asaparagus and Caulifower Rice

This was super easy and very low on points. I added grilled chicken to ours but it would be fantastic with shrimp as well. One thing I have found out is Pinterest should be your best friend if you are trying to lose weight. There are so many great options out there. Yes you will spend more money. Yes it will take more time but trust me in the long run it is way worth it.

I will post more and more of these recipes as I get them. Also, another way to follow my journey is via Instagram . You will have to request to follow me because I dont want any creepers looking at my stuff. You know who you are :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay warm!

XOXO-B-

"Barra's Got a Big 'Ol Butt"

Do you guys remember that song?




Anyways, the blog is back baby. I found a new challenge to deal with that is not cancer related. Speaking of which, can you guys believe it will be 10 years in April since my first diagnosis? Time flies when you are having fun. Back to the topic at hand--my blog now will focus on my weight loss journey which began on January 23, 2018. And the title is staying: The Sun Will Rise. I got that from a Kelly Clarkson song which motivated me through my second cancer diagnosis.



So why did I decide to take better care of myself and go on this journey? It all started back in August of 2017 when I went to see my oncologist and my blood pressure was running high. I wasnt suprised. It always runs higher there as I am pretty sure I have PTSD from that place. There is a smell in there that most people wouldnt even recognize but I do. My doctor wanted me to go see a primary care physician to get it looked at. Being the stubborn fool I am, flash forward to December 2017 and I went to get a filling. Again blood pressure was running high. Of course I passed this off as it was high due to being at the dentist. About 2-3 weeks later it was a weekend and we were supposed to go out with Kim for the day. I felt really weird. Heart was beating fast, nauseous, kind of dizzy. Just did not feel right. We cancelled our plans with Kim and I basically took it easy rest of the weekend. That Monday I made an appointment to see Dr Tully from the Cleveland Clinic who was a recommendation from Maggie.

Form that point on I knew I had to do something. I was eating like crap and not exercising for awhile. Anyone who knows me knows I am active. I played sports my entire life as a kid. I simply got lazy. My friend Anne posted how she joined Weight Watchers that weekend on so I asked her some questions. There is one thing I know about me is when I am on a plan I will stick with it almost to a fault. So I joined weight watchers that weekend, got my food for the week and started actively counting everything starting on January 23. I went to my appointment about a week later and yes my blood pressure was high: 152/102.

No bueno. I explained I literally just went on Weight Watchers and was already down a few pounds that week. They put me on Lisinopril and wanted me to come back in 2 weeks to get it checked again. They figured with the medication and lifestyle change I should see a difference. I went back 2 weeks later and my last blood pressure reading was 126/87. Much improvement! I felt 100000000000% better. It was like night and day difference. I was sleeping better also. Everything I was doing was/is working and to date I am down 10.4 pounds. My weigh in days are Fridays so hopefully this Friday I will see some more loss.

So what will this blog be about? It will be about my journey. My struggles, tips, recipes and my wins. I think this not only helps me out but it might help one of you out if you are struggling. Look, lets face it, being a woman is never easy. And it's even harder when you are in your 40's and trying to lose weight. But I will be literally taking this one day at a time. It is all about the choices you make and I need to make better ones

XOXO
B-

Tubthumping

I know. You are probably like Tubthumping? What the hell is that? These lyrics just keep going through my brain since Sunday night:

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down


You may have heard the Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA Championship. I am still in shock over it. Down 3-1 to the Golden State Warriors, the Cavs made history. They came back and won it all. THEY WON IT ALL. I can not believe I am writing those words. I sit here staring at my screen because I still do not know how to process all of this. I am almost 43 years old. In 43 years, I have never seen a Cleveland championship. FORTY THREE YEARS! I am not going to go into details about all of the heartache we have endured as Cleveland sports fans. You know it like the back of your hand. However, when you really think about it, it is just so sad that it took this long.

This is why anyone under the age of 30 will never understand. They will never truly GET it. I look at all of the people celebrating downtown Sunday night, many of them young, and I think:

"Do you appreciate what just happened?"

A life long Clevelander, I love my city. I love my sports teams. This girl is no bandwagoner. Browns. Indians. Cavs. That's in my blood. I was always taught that's who you root for. Rooting for another city's team, I am looking at you STEELER "fan", is a no no. There is one thing that Cleveland sports has taught me: It's never easy, but it's what makes us tough. Look, I get it. It's not easy rooting for the Browns. Basically 16+ years of junk football. That doesn't mean I go and root for Pittsburgh. It doesn't mean you root for Green Bay. That's the easy thing to do. That's the cowardly way out. What are you teaching your kids? You should be teaching them: Life is never easy. You dont just give up. You stick with your team. You root for the Cavs, Browns and Indians. Or you don't root at all.

Going into Game 7 I was a ball of nerves. All day. I could not focus. I had this part of me that wanted to be downtown. I had this other part of me that kept thinking, "Remember in 1997 when you were at your brothers apartment and you watched the Indians lose the World Series?". To this day, that was the toughest Cleveland loss ever. It was painful. It took me weeks to get over. So I didnt want to have to go through the disappointment again. That's the Cleveland fan in you. Always thinking the worst. I couldn't fathom being downtown and going through that let down. Even with a 4 point lead with 10 seconds to go Sunday night, I kept thinking , "How are we going to screw this up?".

When the clock hit zero, I didn't know what to do with myself. It's like I blacked out for a moment. I started crying. Brian started crying. Is this real? Is this a dream? Did that just happen? Oh it happened.

Enjoy this Cleveland. Relish in the moment. Do not take this for granted. To every person out there, I truly mean this. Drink every drop of that champagne. You never know when it will happen again.

I love you Cleveland-
-B