Friday, March 29, 2013

Wellness Big Dream Event

I'm extremely lucky to work for a company that cares so much for the health of its employees. We have a gym on site (and it's fully stocked...not just one machine and a few free weights.) We have a locker room. There are on-site exercise classes and an on-site coordinator of everything. I have absolutely no excuse not to exercise except my laziness!

Recently they had a event called the "Wellness BIG Dream Event" where you would go into a conference room, fill out a sheet with your Wellness Dream and put it on the board (it was anonymous). You could look at other people's dreams and leave encouraging comments or advice. After the event, the fitness coordinator sent everyone their sheets back.

I had the dream of losing 40 pounds (which would be my weight when I got married...and its my 5 year anniversary this year). In all actuality, I'd like to be the weight I was in college, but hey, small steps! I also want to keep up with this blog and connect with other people. I have already "met" fellow bloggers that are in the exact situation (in fact, so many are just like my situation it's a bit eery).

Here is the sheet I did and the responses I got (click to enlarge). What a great program!



Thursday, March 28, 2013

Eat by your blood type?

I ran across this pin today (don't forget to follow me on Pinterest!)

It's kinda like a horoscope that's blood based and tells you what to eat. I wish it would tell me what blood type was compatible with mine like horoscopes do....make my vampire-isc match making easier. Talk about a new pick up line. What's your blood type? Not creepy at all.

I am B Postitive. According to this article I am:

"TYPE B 3 Character Traits: Individualistic, relaxed, unconventional Your Diet: Type Bs emerged when type Os moved to the Himalayas as nomads, domesticating animals and living on meat and dairy. Modern Bs should rely on lean red meat (like lamb, venison and beef) and fish, and choose turkey over chicken. Because of a sugar present in milk, Bs should work dairy like yogurt, cheese and milk into their diet each day. Your Personality: You throw yourself into projects you love, always sticking to your goal, even when it’s against the odds. Since you follow your own rules, you’re not the most cooperative of the blood types. And because you pay attention to your thoughts more than your feelings, you can sometimes come off as cold. What to Eat: Fill up on leafy greens and vegetables, and fruits like bananas, grapes, plums and pineapple. What to Avoid: Take it easy on grains and avoid corn, buckwheat, rye and wheat since they can alter your ability to metabolize. (Same goes for nuts and seeds, so avoid peanuts, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.) Dinner Tonight: Broiled fish with roasted yams and rosemary, steamed vegetables and mixed fresh fruit. Your Workout: Maintaining the mind/body balance is essential, so go for exercises that challenges both, like tennis, martial arts, cycling, hiking or golf. "

Well let's hope some of it's true. I sure like the part about "sticking to your goal, even when it's against the odds."

What do you think of this idea? Think there's anything to it?


Photographic Evidence

What is a good transformation without a "before" picture?

I had a little fun with this... maybe not too helpful. We'll need to take a serious one I suppose.


Getting my groove on.


Ballerina

Okay..A little more serious one.


Love it or Leave it: Nutrisystem Review

I know I said I haven't really tried to lose weight before. I have tried different things hoping for a quick fix, and when they didn't work, I just quit. So, while I tried different products, I never really had my heart into it. I did get some knowledge of different products and services, and I hope to share my experiences via these new posts: Love it or Leave it.

My first review is of the Nutrisystem program.

Product or Service: Nutrisystem

When I tried it: About a year and half ago

How long I tried it for: A month and a half.

How much weight did I lose: 0

Positives: It was really easy to pick food to take for lunch. I started eating breakfast for the first time in a long time. I found I wasn't as hungry while between meals at work.

Negatives: The food was TERRIBLE. And when I say terrible, I actually threw up after just smelling one of the meals! (the BBQ wrap). The pizza and some of the breakfast items were the only ones I could bare to eat. The soups were pretty watery (suppose that's where the lack of calories are coming from), and the snacks had a very unusual taste to them..I imagine it's what food tastes like when you're slowly being poisoned by a homicidal spouse. The price was pretty steep and it's not exactly easy to cancel. It was hard to make meals for my family and then eat one of these quasi-foods

Love it or Leave it: Leave it.

Weigh-In Wednesday

I will probably move to weighing myself once a week on a Monday or Sunday, but I did it this week on Wednesday. I'll try to measure myself once a month.

Weight: 248 (Down from 291 in December at my last pre-birth weigh-in. Down from pre-pregnancy weight of 265-ish)

Bust: 44
Waist: 41.5
Hips: 57 (eek!)

I have terrible terrible hip genes (as well as jeans...bata BOOM. I'll be here all week people.)

My goals this week are going moderately well. If I'm by myself, I'm doing just fine. No vending machine trips or extras at the store. However, I have slipped twice because my husband offered to get me something (both times promising to be healthy "starting tomorrow") and another time when I took a sweet at work and didn't even realize it until after I paid. I did try to eat a salad today, but there was so much dressing, it couldn't have been *that* healthy.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Life Change


The "Spouse Temptation"

My goal this week was to avoid sweets. I actually was doing pretty good yesterday. I didn't get a candy bar at the gas station (I got some nuts instead). I got my daughter a treat without getting one for myself and even resisted finishing it when she decided she didn't like it anymore. Then, after dinner my husband declared "I'm going to get ice cream, you want anything?"

Well. Geez. How can you say no to that? Someone is offering to hand deliver ice cream to your hand. I can quite literally sit on my butt without exerting a single muscle and get ice cream.

I thought about my promise on this blog and my goal and some how managed to reply, "I'm trying to give up sweets, so I think I'll pass." Yeah. Mental high five!

My husband responded, "Oh come on. You can start tomorrow. We'll start together. What do you want?"

That was the point my already shaky resolve crumbled. I got ice cream and felt quite guilty eating it. Okay. I felt a little bit guilty. Mostly I was thinking "Mmmm this is good ice cream."

The "spouse temptation" is part of the reason I'm where I am. We took our bad habits and shared them with each other. I like to eat out and have carbs. He likes sweets. Now we eat out eating carbs and sweets. It's a recipe for disaster.

Early in our marriage we didn't share the same physical activities we did individually. I ran, but he never joined me and eventually I gave up running to spend time with him. He would play sports with friends, but soon he spent those weekends with me. We did play raquetball as a couple for a while, but that fell away as well.

Now we have both realized that we need a change, but that means we have to change what we do as a couple. Instead of movie night, we need to go on a family walk. Instead of coloring with our daughter, we play tag or hide-in-seek. Okay. There is still a very healthy amount of coloring going on for those of you that are concerned about her artistic talents.

It's been difficult to change what we do as couple because we have always done this. We adapted our hobbies to include each other, but we didn't bring the healthy active hobbies with us. I suppose it was way more fun to watch movies with a new love interest than go for a jog with each other. But that's been years and years ago, so it's time for a change. And who doesn't like new ideas for dates? Weight room anybody?

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Couch to 5K: Ready to Rock this City!

I used to run pretty frequently. If you met me, you'd think that isn't possible. In fact I told one of my friends from professional school that I used to run a couple of miles a week, and she looked at me like I was telling her I used to be a judge on American Idol.

I tried the Couch to 5K program about a year ago. I didn't get very far because my attention span is about as long as a goldfish's and I kept losing track of the time. (Did I run for 2 or 6 minutes? Is it time to walk? Where am I?)

So, when my work said they were starting running groups featuring the program, I was sold. I can follow someone who is better at time management than me?

I know there are apps out there that will tell you when to run/walk etc. I don't have a smart phone. I know. I may as well be driving a Yugo with a pet Dodo. My father-in-law can't even check his voicemail, and he has a smart phone.

We start the plan next week. Wish me luck! If you see a group running, I'll be the one with the Walkman in my fanny pack with Velcro shoes on.



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Week 1: Introduction & Goals


Here goes my first post! I am a 28 year old female living in the Midwest. I have a pretty great life with my husband and two kids. I am a professional, and I like my job (most days). The one thing that is missing is a healthy lifestyle. Growing up, I was never over weight. I did tons of activities outside and participated in all different types of sports (softball, volleyball, cross country, track and cheerleading to name a few). When I went to college, I was even lucky enough to lose weight my freshman year by running several times a week. It all sounds pretty dandy and great. 

Then I met my husband and our unhealthy habits were amplified and shared. He loved sweets, and I usually avoided them. He got me hooked on all sorts of treats. He didn’t drink and I started going to the bars with him, and we both started packing on the pounds. Eating out on dates didn’t help us either. I went to professional school and had late nights of studying and snacks. Just 5 years after my husband and I had met, I had gained a hundred pounds (!). 

I halfheartedly tried to lose the weight. To be honest, I have never tried too hard. Life was busy with graduation, new jobs, moves and two pregnancies.  Now I have realized that my weight has started to affect my quality of life. I don’t get to shop at the stores I used to love, I’m uncomfortable, and I have little energy to run after my toddlers. It’s time for a change. I see the big 3-0 looming ahead of me, and I’m not too excited about leaving my 20’s. I definitely don’t want to leave my 20’s a hundred pounds heavier than when I entered them!

I’m blogging, tweeting, posting and pinning about my journey for two reasons: 1) accountability. It seems backwards to do it anomalously for accountability. You’re thinking it would be easier to fail if no one around me knows, maybe it would be easier to give up. I beg to differ. I think while my friends and family would be supportive, they would also be indifferent, too afraid to hurt feelings. I need some honesty and active encouragement. 2) honesty. I want to give all the dirty details of weight loss and exercise and it’s easier to be honest if I don’t have to worry about someone thinking about it when they look at me.

I have been doing pretty good. I gave birth a couple of months ago. The week of my child’s birth, I weighed in at 290. My baby was only 7 lbs to give you an idea. A couple of months after the birth, I’m now around 248. (I’ll weight myself tonight to make it “official.”) Actually a month after the birth I was already to 250, so really I need to kick it up if you look at the rate I’ve lost at.

My goals this week:

1) Diet. I’m not going to succeed if I just go right in and start depriving myself. I’ll obsess about all the “can’t have” foods and it would be terrible, because I would most definitely obsess until I binged (Snickers anyone?) I need and have found success in the past by focusing on one thing to change. This week it’s sweets. As I mentioned, I used to care less about them. Ever since I met my husband and especially since my last pregnancy, I have, to be honest, found myself bingeing on them.
Everything is good in moderation, so the first thing to moderate is all the sweets I eat. I will try to replace them with better alternatives like fruit (also in moderation).

2) Portions. I am eating super-sized portions of everything! One frozen meal is never enough, and I want to eat two “meals” when we go out to eat. We add on appetizers and desserts. So, now I need to just cut down what I eat. I’m going to do that by 1) cutting out the extras like appetizers, soups (especially cream based), desserts (sweets are out anyways), and 2) eating meals at home on a smaller “lunch” plate rather than a large dinner plate.

Those are my two goals this week! Do you have a fitness or food goal?



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