Good-Bye Obesity!

As I write this, I am sitting here wearing my pair of current "mini-goal" jeans. They are a size 14. Just 14, not 14W (ok, they are stretch). I can't remember the last time I wore size 14 jeans. Seriously, I'm thinking maybe 10 years ago...I'm pretty sure I was wearing a 16 when I got married in 2000. So these jeans are still too tight to wear out of the house. They are as tight as pants that I have worn out of the house, but I was only wearing those because I had nothing else to wear and I was probably on my way to the store to buy the next size up. But hopefully in another 10-14 days I will be proudly wearing my size 14 stretch jeans and I will be on my way to the store to buy a pair of new size 12 "mini-goal" jeans.

I am proud to say that I have been able to keep up with the 3 goals I set for myself 2 weeks ago (hmmm....could there be a connection between keeping my food & exercise goals and fitting into smaller clothes?? Maybe I'm onto something here....) To recap...

1) Protein shakes....everyday, mostly breakfast and a couple times for lunch instead. For me, the shakes have been about consistently eating breakfast and helping with getting at least 128g of protein a day.

2) Increase elliptical and stairmaster times....With one exception, I have increased my times every time I've done cardio. So elliptical is at 18 mins and stairmaster is at 6 mins. Will continue until I reach 30 mins elliptical and at least 12 mins stairmaster.

3) Keep a food diary....everyday since Feb 16th. And that includes 4 birthday parties. I've been pleasantly surprised that I have been able to keep my various totals within goal range about 80% of the time...calories under 1700, carbs at or under 200, protein at least 128, fiber at least 30...I really like using The Daily Plate to track my food intake and exercise.

I've done pretty good with these steps, so I'm going to add 2 more to my list...

4) Drink more water....It's not that I'm drinking too much of something else, but that I'm not drinking enough fluids at all. When I kept Coke in the fridge, I would drink it all day long. My current fluid intake is 1 Caffeine Free Diet Dr. Pepper, 16-32 oz water when exercising (which is not everyday), maybe 12 oz water at dinner.

5) Add abdominal exercises to every workout. I think I have been avoiding the abs because I am ok with keeping them covered in public for the rest of my life...so, let's focus on the arms and legs first (I'm referring to muscle tone, not pin pointing fat loss). But I know that I need to "strengthen my core" and so I will work on including at least one set of abs into every workout.

Good-Bye Obese! The scale is down 26 pounds and that means my BMI is now 29.3, which means that I am officially Overweight. There are 28 pounds between overweight me and normal weight me (based on BMI alone).

I'm making my first trip to Whole Foods on Tuesday. I've been working on my grocery list for days now. I can't believe I am this excited about going to the grocery store.

That's all for now...my legs are going numb from my "can't quite stretch that much" size 14 jeans.

Woo-Hoo!

Today was weigh-in day and the scale was 24.8 pounds down. I'm going to round that up and call it 25 pounds!

I started on Monday working on the 3 goals I re-made for myself, and I've done pretty good at all 3 so far this week.

1) Protein shake for breakfast every day....So far everyday, one day I had it for lunch to off-set the Chick-fil-A biscuit I was craving, but that's 5 days in a row.

2) Increase elliptical and stairmaster times....I've worked out 3 times so far, added 2 minutes twice to the elliptical so that's up to 14 mins, and added 1 min to stairmaster once so that's up to 6 mins.

3) Keep a food log...everyday at The Daily Plate, it is so interesting to watch the nutritional information add up for the day.

May try to add a new goal next week.

Ok, I'm trying to write with all 3 kids running around. I usually do this after they go to bed, but I just had to write about the 25 lbs! Yay for me!

Time to Walk the Walk

The scale has been stuck at 23 pounds lost for about a week and half. Yes, I am happy to have lost every single one of those pounds, but I had been hoping for 25 when I weighed in on Friday. Could it be the dreaded plateau? Or could it be too much talkin' and not enough walkin'? I am so very good at talking the talk, but frequently fall short when it's time to walk the walk.


Here's a list of the promises and plans that I have made for myself in the past 6-8 weeks...


~~go to 1 RPM (spin) class per week...made it 2 weeks and haven't been at all in about 3 weeks


~~track calories burned and determine a daily goal, approx. 1500 for off days and 2000 for workout days....I do continue to wear my HRM when I workout, but I never did track it beyond that first day when I thought it was such a great idea


~~increase my time on the elliptical and stairmaster....I still gravitate toward the treadmill for cardio, and even though my speed and incline are better and I can even run a little, my elliptical and stairmaster times are still unchanged, barely 5 mins on stairs and 10 mins on elliptical


~~drink a protein shake for breakfast every day....kept up the first 5 out of 6 days, then off and on for the next 6-7 days, found some great recipes to try so hopefully I'll be back on track this next week


~~keep a food log....my trainer has asked me so many times to do this and I have read in numerous articles that doing so is one of the most important indicators of weight loss success, so why can't I do it? I have accounts at 2 different, free online services that are both user friendly, and I certainly spend plenty of time on the computer.

~~Try to eat 128 grams of protein per day....I do not count and track protein every day, but I have been making a conscious effort to switch or add items that are high in protein

Ok, so here's the 3 things that I am going to work on starting tomorrow...
1) Protein shake for breakfast
2) Must increase stairmaster by 1 min OR elliptical by 2 mins at each workout. Do this BEFORE stepping onto the treadmill.
3) Keep a food log...the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I can now fit into all of my original motivational clothing, so this weekend I purchased a new pair of jeans (size 14, no W, woohoo!) and several new workout pieces on clearance. I can technically put on the jeans and button them, but I would never leave the house in them and probably can't sit down!

I also need all new makeup, so I thought I would treat myself when I hit the 25 pounds lost mark. Which will hopefully be by the end of this week.

I have a 1 hour massage at a local spa that is already paid for, it's just a matter of scheduling the visit (i.e. requesting and getting time off approval from the "boss"!), so I was thinking that would make a great reward for hitting the 30 pounds lost mark.

Alright, enough talking, time to start walking...

Where Does the Time Go?

Oh, where does the time go? I ask myself this just about everyday. I am convinced that all the clocks in my house have the ability to skip entire blocks of time simultaneously. There are several times a day that just seem to disappear....from 7am to 8am....and 11am to 12pm...then 3pm to 4pm.....and again at 8pm to 10pm. I'll think I have everything on schedule and right on track and then whamo!...we're running late! I used to be very punctual, that was before kids. I was actually still pretty good about being on time with one kid. But now it seems like we are always rushing, always racing the clock, always speeding in on two wheels. I know it is all about the planning...yeah, yeah, yeah.

But today this question is especially on my mind...my baby, McQueen, is one year old today. Oh, where did the time go? With my first, I was always pushing him to do more...roll over, sit up, crawl, walk. Typical first child expectations, I think. Then with the second, I slowed down a little, partly because of experience and partly because now my time and attention were divided by two. I always knew I wanted more than one child (I'm an only child), but I definitely had my hands full with two. So maybe two was enough? Husband and I had not yet come to a firm answer for that question when I found out I was pregnant with McQueen. That day, I was surprised and I cried, a lot. But wow, what a blessing he is. He is so incredibly sweet and happy and beautiful. (I have a dear friend who has one child, and I always thought she was crazy for still referring to her 3 year old as "the baby." Now, I have a feeling I'll be sending "the baby" of to college when the time comes.) The only pushing I've done with McQueen was in the delivery room! I have not pushed him to hurry up and crawl, hurry up and walk, hurry up and grow up. And I certainly did not ask him to hurry up and turn One. Oh, where did the time go?

I'm still working on more cottage cheese recipes and I'm also working on a list of goals and non-food rewards for myself. I weighed in last Friday and was very pleased with the results, so I'm hoping this Friday I'll hit the 25 pounds lost mark. Oldest son started T-ball this week for the first time and I am still trying to figure out how his schedule is going to impact my gym time and our dinner options. I need to sit down with a calendar and make a menu. We also have 3 birthday parties between Thur & Sun, not counting McQueen. Who knew Memorial Day was such a sexy holiday?

Oops, gotta run, I just saw the clock skip ahead....