First and foremost, I want to give a HUGE congratulations to my girl LJ!!! I am so proud of those 3 lbs. We are on our way!!
Last night, weigh in Wednesday was on my mind. I drank a TON of water and considered skipping dinner in hopes that would give me better numbers. I decided to not skip dinner and to really consider this a journey and not a race.
This morning I woke up with total dread. I did not have a good feel for how I did over this last week. I thought there were certain days that I did really well and other days that I did half assed. Yesterday, I split a sandwich with a co-worker rather than having a whole one at two for tuesday and I did not have soda (WAHOO)! But I had bacon and cheese on my burger last night. That has been my week, good here and so-so there.
When LJ texted me of her 3 lb lost, I was SO excited and so proud of her. I know that like myself, her weight loss has been a struggle and a battle and I was so happy to see victory. Then my palms started to get sweaty. What if I lost nothing? Worse what if I gained??!!! I had to sit at a very long meeting at work with the anticipation of going to weigh in when it was over. I do not have a scale at home, so I do my weigh in and my measurements at Curves. I have been a member there since November, but have utilizing their gym sporadically at best.
At Curves, I changed into workout clothes and jumped on the scale. 2 pounds!!! I lost 2 pounds!! WAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I felt so invigorated that I worked out harder than I have in awhile.
I am absolutely thrilled with 2 pounds. I want to be the tortoise and not the hare. Slow and steady will be win this race. Weight Watchers calculations say that someone my height should weigh between 120 and 150. I would like to weigh around 140 so I figure at an average of 2lbs a week I should reach my goal in about 30 weeks (now 29!!). I know that there will be weeks that I do better than 2 lbs and I am sure that there will be weeks that I will do worse, but I am going to keep striving at it and I WILL make it!! By this time next year, I will be celebrating being at a healthy weight and working on maintaining a healthy weight. This is going to be an amazing year!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
LJ Weighs In
So, my lovely baby woke me up this morning at 5:45am. My first thought was one of wishing to go back to sleep. My next thought was of excitement and dread because I remembered that today is Wednesday...weigh in day! I wanted to see if I had lost any weight, but at the same time I was really afraid to look at the scale if in fact I didn't lose any weight. Well, I jumped on and waited for the number to appear. There it was....203! It wasn't much, but it was SOMETHING. Three pounds isn't quite the numbers they would see in the first week of The Biggest Loser, but I'm not in that boot camp style environment either. I'm happy. Very happy with three pounds!
Now, for this next week I am breaking out the 5lb. weights and keeping them in the kitchen. Since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen with cleaning dishes, making meals and cleaning more dishes, I'm going to set the two weights on the counter so I can use them while I'm doing other things. I had done this before and had seen some results so I'm going to start it again. Also, for the past 3 days I've been taking the 4 flights of stairs every time (as long as I don't have my hands filled with groceries AND the baby). I'm going to continue this. My kids are loving that we get to take the stairs and I'm going to keep it that way!
I am so anxious to see your progress, OJ. How are you doing with the lack of soda? Is it so hard? Are you craving it? Can't wait to hear from you!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Starting Over- Lessons Learned
Yesterday, my husband decided to invite over his best friend and his girlfriend for dinner. So, instead of sticking to my guns and walking after work as I planned, I stayed home and started to make dinner while the three of them went to the gun range to shoot. I kept telling myself, "They will leave and I will work out." When they did finally leave, I was exhausted and I skipped my workout. Instead of being on 5 consecutive days of moving, I am starting over at 1. So, this morning, the first thing I did was work out so that there were no excuses or interruptions. I certainly learned my lesson.
The other part of the lesson that I am learning slowly and surely is to take time for me. Being a working Mom, I come straight from work to spending time with two energetic toddlers to cleaning the house and then I fall straight into bed. My Mama reminded me this morning that I should want to be on this journey because my health is important and the way I feel and care about myself is important. Basically, I have not taken time for me and have not shown that I value myself. Along with the weight loss journey, I am going to begin to incorporate other aspects of ME into the equation.
The other part of the lesson that I am learning slowly and surely is to take time for me. Being a working Mom, I come straight from work to spending time with two energetic toddlers to cleaning the house and then I fall straight into bed. My Mama reminded me this morning that I should want to be on this journey because my health is important and the way I feel and care about myself is important. Basically, I have not taken time for me and have not shown that I value myself. Along with the weight loss journey, I am going to begin to incorporate other aspects of ME into the equation.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Keep It Movin' Sister
First the soda update: I survived the weekend without having a drip of soda!!! Because I am not drinking soda, I pounded the water and I feel a hundred times better (and I have been real regular this weekend). And not only that, my husband bought me some "bitch brews" (a.k.a. girly beers a.ka. Mikes Hard Lemonade) as a treat and I only had one the whole weekend. I am keeping the high calorie lemonade in the garage so that I have to walk all the way downstairs and out to the garage if I want one. Not only do I burn 37 calories making the trip, but also out of sight out of mind. Yesterday, my husband and I sat down to lunch and I thought a b.b. would taste delicious right now, but honestly did not want to put on shoes and go out in the rain and get one. Instead, after the kids and the hubby were in bed, I went and got one and enjoyed it with a little quality me time.
Now for the exercise bit. I did walk every day since deciding to make daily exercise a habit. The walks have been great on a lot of levels. I am following through with my exercise goal, I swear my jeans feel bigger (even though really I know they are not the power of that feeling is keeping me totally motivated) and the fresh air is helping my kids sleep like little logs.
For each walk, my daughter pushed her baby in the stroller alongside me pushing my son along, so we traveled at a two year old's pace. Yesterday, we began our walk after a summer rain. Happily running baby through puddles, my daughter realized that she had to go to the bathroom. I hustled her across the road to a business lot so that she would not tinkle in someone's lawn. However, she only made it to the curb where all the rain water was merrily trickling down a drain. She laughingly yelled "Too late!" as her tinkle joined the water's dance to the merry depths below the street. After tinkling, she looked at me so perplexed and asked how she was going to get home. I told her she was going to have to walk and to just keep it movin' sister.
As we continued our walk, she soon forgot her panties were wet and had a grand time showing baby this or that. As I continued to walk, I thought about the blog and some of the poor choices that I had made in eating this weekend. Even though I say want to lose this weight with everything in me, if I were to be honest I would say that I want to lose this weight if it is going to be easy. I do not want to work hard for it. I don't want to make healthy choices and I don't want to give up drinking soda. And when I am so tired at the end of the work day, I DON'T want to push myself in exercise. While the simple get up and get out has been good, I know that I need to workout a little bit harder at least 3 days a week so that I am burning more calories.
So, my motto has become: Keep It Movin' Sister. Even when you don't want to, even when you are tired, even when your panties are wet, KEEP IT MOVIN. Keep it movin' on this journey. I am not sure who the quote is by, but it says: "Success is not a destination, it is a journey." My bestie and I have embarked on this journey of success in weight loss. We will be there to cheer each other on when it is hard, motivate each other when we want to give up and most importantly celebrate each success no matter how small with our end goal in sight.
Now for the exercise bit. I did walk every day since deciding to make daily exercise a habit. The walks have been great on a lot of levels. I am following through with my exercise goal, I swear my jeans feel bigger (even though really I know they are not the power of that feeling is keeping me totally motivated) and the fresh air is helping my kids sleep like little logs.
For each walk, my daughter pushed her baby in the stroller alongside me pushing my son along, so we traveled at a two year old's pace. Yesterday, we began our walk after a summer rain. Happily running baby through puddles, my daughter realized that she had to go to the bathroom. I hustled her across the road to a business lot so that she would not tinkle in someone's lawn. However, she only made it to the curb where all the rain water was merrily trickling down a drain. She laughingly yelled "Too late!" as her tinkle joined the water's dance to the merry depths below the street. After tinkling, she looked at me so perplexed and asked how she was going to get home. I told her she was going to have to walk and to just keep it movin' sister.
As we continued our walk, she soon forgot her panties were wet and had a grand time showing baby this or that. As I continued to walk, I thought about the blog and some of the poor choices that I had made in eating this weekend. Even though I say want to lose this weight with everything in me, if I were to be honest I would say that I want to lose this weight if it is going to be easy. I do not want to work hard for it. I don't want to make healthy choices and I don't want to give up drinking soda. And when I am so tired at the end of the work day, I DON'T want to push myself in exercise. While the simple get up and get out has been good, I know that I need to workout a little bit harder at least 3 days a week so that I am burning more calories.
So, my motto has become: Keep It Movin' Sister. Even when you don't want to, even when you are tired, even when your panties are wet, KEEP IT MOVIN. Keep it movin' on this journey. I am not sure who the quote is by, but it says: "Success is not a destination, it is a journey." My bestie and I have embarked on this journey of success in weight loss. We will be there to cheer each other on when it is hard, motivate each other when we want to give up and most importantly celebrate each success no matter how small with our end goal in sight.
Oh, Monday, how I don't like you... (LJ)
So, I didn't do very well over the weekend. I did learn that weekends are going to be a challenge for me. They are relaxing and so I don't plan ahead. This can be good, but it can also be BAD! I realized this weekend that my kids expect to get something to eat almost every time we leave the house. This is just sad! I explained to them that our habits are changing and that we aren't going to do this anymore. In the past, we tend to go out to eat frequently on the weekends. So, now I know what the challenge is and I'm going to tackle it. I wasn't completely horrible, I just could have done better.
One good thing is that I took the stairs all weekend. We live on the fourth floor, too. I told you that I am writing a food journal, right? Well, I didn't write it, but I logged it. Go to myfitnesspal.com and sign up for an account. You can set up your goal weight and how quickly you want to achieve that goal. Next, go into your account daily, or if you're like me, about 3 times a day and log your food and exercise. It's so easy! They keep track of everything for you and you can see your progress on there. When you put each food into the tracker it logs the nutritional value and then deducts it from your daily intake goal and leaves you with the amount of calories and such that you have left for the rest of the day. I love it. Try it out and see if you like it.
So, I was a little naughty, but I didn't blow the whole thing and today is a new day, right? OJ, how did you do this weekend?
Friday, August 21, 2009
I, LJ, have learned something about myself
I learned yesterday that I eat when I am bored. I told my husband this and he responds, "There's plenty to do around here". Nice, right? Funny thing is, I was cleaning the house from top to bottom yesterday and was bored out of my mind! I took out all the window screens, took them out to the car wash area at our condo and washed all of them, did at least 5 loads of laundry, 3 loads of dishes, vacuumed, mopped the back porch and washed the outside windows. All the while, I kept thinking, "All I ever do with my life is clean!" Now, I know that's not entirely true. That is definitely a dramatization, but that's what I feel at times.
On the flip side, I'm thinking about how my oldest child will be starting kindergarten on Monday, how my middle child will start preschool in a couple of weeks and how I cannot believe how quickly the past almost 6 years has flown by! My babies are not babies anymore. I'm going to miss them terribly!!!!
While I plan on missing them for the few hours they are at school, I am also looking forward to strapping the baby into the stroller and getting my butt down to the workout room by the pool. I'm mentally gearing up for it like you OJ. By they way, girl, I'm really proud of you!! I know how much you love your soda. I'm cheering you on, girl. You can do it!
Anyway, all this to say that maybe I'm not so much bored, but I realized that I think about food a lot! I feel like I use it the same way I used to use cigarettes. When I was bored or wanted something to do with my hands, I would smoke. Well, I think I do the same thing with food. When I wasn't doing anything yesterday in between all the chores, I was thinking about food and what I would eat next. This is why I need to STOP with the over eating! I am starting a food journal today and will post it shortly. Stay tuned.
Day 3 (OJ)- Keeping IT Real
Now that I have the accountability of my bestie and you the readers and the prayers of my Mama, I have decided that I need to keep it real.
Yesterday, I took a long hard look at my patterns of dieting- what has been successful and what has not. First and foremost, I have experienced success when I have exercised faithfully. I hate the thought of exercise and I can come up with every excuse under the sun why I can't incorporate exercise into my life. However, from past experience, I know that I in fact enjoy exercise once I am in the rhythm. They say that it takes 21 days to make something a habit. So, the proposal is this, for 21 days I am going to incorporate some form of exercise into my life. If I can find 20 minutes everyday to play mafia wars on facebook, then I certainly can find the time to exercise. So, dear readers and Miss LJ, please hold me accountable to getting over hating the THOUGHT of exercise and finding my rhythm.
The second area where I need accountability is much harder for me. Even as I am sitting here typing, I do not want to do it. I do not want to write. The little devil on my shoulder is saying "Don't type it, they will never know." But my desire to keep it real in order to see real change is forcing my fingers to type. I do not think that my fingers have ever typed so furiously. It is like the skinny girl in me is panicking because she is afraid those screams for help are once again going to be ignored. So folks, here it is. I commit to not drinking any soda at all until I have dropped 30 pounds. I mean I am not going to ANY soda until I lose 30 pounds. I am not going to say it is date night and I have to drink soda to wash down the popcorn at the movies. I am not going to grab a soda when I do not have time to stop for a coffee. I am not going to drink any soda at all PERIOD until I have lost 30 pounds.
Thank you for all of your support!!
Yesterday, I took a long hard look at my patterns of dieting- what has been successful and what has not. First and foremost, I have experienced success when I have exercised faithfully. I hate the thought of exercise and I can come up with every excuse under the sun why I can't incorporate exercise into my life. However, from past experience, I know that I in fact enjoy exercise once I am in the rhythm. They say that it takes 21 days to make something a habit. So, the proposal is this, for 21 days I am going to incorporate some form of exercise into my life. If I can find 20 minutes everyday to play mafia wars on facebook, then I certainly can find the time to exercise. So, dear readers and Miss LJ, please hold me accountable to getting over hating the THOUGHT of exercise and finding my rhythm.
The second area where I need accountability is much harder for me. Even as I am sitting here typing, I do not want to do it. I do not want to write. The little devil on my shoulder is saying "Don't type it, they will never know." But my desire to keep it real in order to see real change is forcing my fingers to type. I do not think that my fingers have ever typed so furiously. It is like the skinny girl in me is panicking because she is afraid those screams for help are once again going to be ignored. So folks, here it is. I commit to not drinking any soda at all until I have dropped 30 pounds. I mean I am not going to ANY soda until I lose 30 pounds. I am not going to say it is date night and I have to drink soda to wash down the popcorn at the movies. I am not going to grab a soda when I do not have time to stop for a coffee. I am not going to drink any soda at all PERIOD until I have lost 30 pounds.
Thank you for all of your support!!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
A Similar Experience
A similar experience happened to me LJ. A co-worker's son came into the office and he would not say hello to me. When pushed to do so by his dad, he said, "No I don't like fat people." And I wanted to be like, I don't like myself either. Because really that is how I feel. I am not sure that I even really like myself anymore.
Day One for LJ - The Details
This is "The Bestie" here! OJ and I are ready to start gettin' down to business and thought that putting it "on paper" would be a great way to do it. This way we can not only track our progress, but can share our story with others who are in the same boat or just want something to read. Ha!
Let me introduce myself as well. I am a wife and mom of three kids and I am able to stay at home with them. I am tired of wanting to have my picture taken in order to have memories for my kids, but at the same time not wanting the picture to show anything below my head. This is just SAD! This past year, I was at my daughter's preschool and one of the little girls came up to me and gave me a hug. I was thinking, "Oh, what a little sweetie" and then she said something that stuck with me HARD!!! She pulled away from the hug, looks up into my eyes and said, "You're fat". What??? Now, I know that this is just a little preschool girl, but come one! I did not intend to be this person! Ever!!!
I have had an autoimmune disease for 14 years, and high cholesterol for at least 5 years, (that I know of). I'm done being overweight, out of shape, unhealthy, a poor role model and an all around fat ass. This is not who I want to be, who I want my kids to remember me as, and especially who my husband goes to bed with every night. I want to be that spunky, energetic, full of life person he fell in love with again and today is the day that I work my ass off (literally) to get that!
I am going to go through the embarrassment of listing the truth details. My measurements are real, my weight is real and it is all about to change...FOR GOOD!
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 206
Waist: 44 1/2
Bust: 47
Hips: 48
Thighs: 25
Arms: 12 1/2
Body Fat Percentage: I have no idea, but I'm sure its not lookin' good.
I am so mortified right now. So embarrassed! I have NEVER given my measurements to anyone before. It's got to change though. Now!
Day One for O.J.- THE WEIGH IN
So, my bestie and I have decided it is time to take some action and shed the weight we have gained over the last few years. Apparently, somewhere out there someone is losing a ton of weight and WE are finding it.
First let me introduce myself. I am a working Mom with two of the most beautiful children in the world. Pregnancy for me was sweet freedom to eat as I pleased. After the birth of my daughter, I lost the vast majority of weight that I gained during those 9 months of grazing. I got within in nine pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight and was feeling pretty good about life. Then I went back to work. Back in the office, I put back on about eleven pounds. I decided to join weight watchers and within a few weeks was back to losing the weight again only to find out that my sweet little number two was on the way.
After having my handsome son a mere seventeen months after giving birth to my sweet little girl, I was pleasantly surprised to see that again the weight came off fairly quickly. Ten weeks after my son was born, I weighed less than my pre-pregnancy weight with him. I still had weight to lose, but I was well on my way.
HOWEVER, after having been back to work for ten months, I now weigh as much as I did when I was full term with my daughter. I remember coming up with a plan in the delivery room with my mother. I wanted her to distract my husband when it was time for me to admit my weight. I was mortified that he would know how much weight I had put on during that first pregnancy. We had not been married long and I did not want the naturally skinny bastard, I mean the love of my life, to know just how much weight I had put on. And here I am today, NOT nine months pregnant, NOT full of baby and ice cream and cheese cake and all the other yummy treats that I indulged in daily (Ok, maybe full of the treats, but definitely not full of baby), four pounds shy of that number that I was so mortified about. Quite frankly, I could cry. Or eat. I am an emotional eater. But I won't, because today is a new day.
Yes friends, today IS a new day and I have decided to say See Ya to all that extra fat in my life and am turning over a new leaf. I am tired of being self-conscious about my weight. I am tired feeling less than. I am tired of not fitting into my clothes and being too poor to buy very many new ones. I am tired of telling myself "It's just a few pounds."
So, here is the nitty gritty details on day one of this weight loss journey.
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 201 (Horrifying, but what I expected.)
Waste: 41" (At this point, I went into shock and blacked out. I have NO idea what the woman measuring was saying to me. All that was running through my head is "my waist is the size of a heavy man's. My waist is the size of a heavy man's." I have no recollection of what she said from this point. I know she asked me what was I going to do about it and I wanted to blurt out "After I drown my sorrows with my favorite friends Ben and Jerry and a sweet little treat known as Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, I will start starving myself tomorrow." I didn't however. Instead, in a voice that I did not recognize as my own, I vowed to start eating right and exercising on a regular basis.)
Bust: No, idea I was blacked out at this point
Hips: Still no idea
Legs: Started to take a peak at the number, but changed my mind
Arms: I hate my fat arms and could not be bothered
Body Fat Percentage: I do not recall the number, but do remember the woman saying that I was most definitely in the "very poor" category.
All in all, I have a lot of work ahead of me.
First let me introduce myself. I am a working Mom with two of the most beautiful children in the world. Pregnancy for me was sweet freedom to eat as I pleased. After the birth of my daughter, I lost the vast majority of weight that I gained during those 9 months of grazing. I got within in nine pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight and was feeling pretty good about life. Then I went back to work. Back in the office, I put back on about eleven pounds. I decided to join weight watchers and within a few weeks was back to losing the weight again only to find out that my sweet little number two was on the way.
After having my handsome son a mere seventeen months after giving birth to my sweet little girl, I was pleasantly surprised to see that again the weight came off fairly quickly. Ten weeks after my son was born, I weighed less than my pre-pregnancy weight with him. I still had weight to lose, but I was well on my way.
HOWEVER, after having been back to work for ten months, I now weigh as much as I did when I was full term with my daughter. I remember coming up with a plan in the delivery room with my mother. I wanted her to distract my husband when it was time for me to admit my weight. I was mortified that he would know how much weight I had put on during that first pregnancy. We had not been married long and I did not want the naturally skinny bastard, I mean the love of my life, to know just how much weight I had put on. And here I am today, NOT nine months pregnant, NOT full of baby and ice cream and cheese cake and all the other yummy treats that I indulged in daily (Ok, maybe full of the treats, but definitely not full of baby), four pounds shy of that number that I was so mortified about. Quite frankly, I could cry. Or eat. I am an emotional eater. But I won't, because today is a new day.
Yes friends, today IS a new day and I have decided to say See Ya to all that extra fat in my life and am turning over a new leaf. I am tired of being self-conscious about my weight. I am tired feeling less than. I am tired of not fitting into my clothes and being too poor to buy very many new ones. I am tired of telling myself "It's just a few pounds."
So, here is the nitty gritty details on day one of this weight loss journey.
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 201 (Horrifying, but what I expected.)
Waste: 41" (At this point, I went into shock and blacked out. I have NO idea what the woman measuring was saying to me. All that was running through my head is "my waist is the size of a heavy man's. My waist is the size of a heavy man's." I have no recollection of what she said from this point. I know she asked me what was I going to do about it and I wanted to blurt out "After I drown my sorrows with my favorite friends Ben and Jerry and a sweet little treat known as Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, I will start starving myself tomorrow." I didn't however. Instead, in a voice that I did not recognize as my own, I vowed to start eating right and exercising on a regular basis.)
Bust: No, idea I was blacked out at this point
Hips: Still no idea
Legs: Started to take a peak at the number, but changed my mind
Arms: I hate my fat arms and could not be bothered
Body Fat Percentage: I do not recall the number, but do remember the woman saying that I was most definitely in the "very poor" category.
All in all, I have a lot of work ahead of me.
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