Check-In Time!

Hola!

I haven’t written in a while. Things have been crazy at home and at work, but I have LOTS to share!

First, my weigh-in:

Weight: 247.4 (Old: 248.0. I was down to 237 for my Diet Bet..but that was without breakfast or liquids 12 hours before.)

Hips: 55.5 (55)

Waist: 38 (39.5)

Thigh: 13.5 

Arms: 27.5

I decided to add my arms and thigh measurements in and remove my bust. I couldn’t care if I lost at the bust. I happen to like it where it is. 

I had lost quite a bit for the Diet Bet but I have been a bad bad girl since then. I have been eating out for lunch and dinner and haven’t been running. Of course I also wasn’t blogging because then I would have to own up to the fact I was being bad. Now I’m back on track. Last Friday I ran my 4^th 5K! It was a glow run put on by a small town here in Iowa. I hadn’t planned on it, but a few days before it my aunt asked me if I wanted to do it, so I thought why not?

It was pretty clear by my time that I hadn’t been running (during a race I'm usually at around 16.30/17.00 per mile, but this time it was 18.00...it's slow I know but I have super short legs and I'm fat). I didn’t walk though, so I still call it a success. I also spent the entire next day at an amusement park, and I didn’t feel too sore afterwards. 

That’s also a victory!

Ready to Run!

This coming Saturday I’m doing the “official” Glow Run 5K in South Dakota. I am running today at lunch and Wednesday to make sure I’m ready to go. I do prefer the larger 5K’s because 1) I usually push myself harder since I have runners next to me, and 2) If I’m slow, no one notices.

I have decided that I too often reward myself with food. I’ll think, you did well at work, you should get a snickers. Or, you didn’t fall asleep watching tv, you should get some ice cream. (Yes…not sleeping during family time is often a victory for me).

Now I’m going to focus on different more productive rewards. I got some new running shorts on Friday. Mostly because I have no idea where my other pair went and I was on my way to a race. I really appreciate that Scheel’s carries the Nike Extended Sizes. It’s hard to find a store that has them, and you just have no idea of the sizing unless you’re there to try them on. They had some DryFit long sleeve shirts I really liked, but I couldn’t justify the cost especially when it’s still 90 degrees outside. I’ll have to use that as my next reward. I also like their zip down jackets.

Happy Monday and good luck this week on all your goals!

Diet Bet!

I won my Diet Bet! 

I started out at 248. I lost over 10 pounds and now am 237. That weight loss gave me $42.00 bucks in my pocket! It was amazing. I am so glad that I tried to lose the weight before my reunion. Although I'm substantially heavier than I was in high school, I'm working hard to lose the weight after my second kid. I think the dress looked nice. I might try the DietBet in August as well. 

Monday Weigh-In & Goals.

So, I decided to finally weight myself. I'm going to try to do it at a consistant time and at a consistant place. Last time I weighted myself, I was at home and it was a random time at night. Today, is more reflective of what I want to do. There's a scale here at work. So I want to use that scale and weigh myself every Monday morning.

On a side note, I started using MyFitnessPal and have pretty much stuck within my diet over the past three/four days! I love the fact I can scan a barcode with my iPad and it pulls up the information. It makes it so much easier to record my food intake!

Today my weight was 248.2. My weight last week (on a different scale, after a meal) was also in the 248 range. So not much change, but I did just start watching my food.

I have to say my goal to watch my portions went really well! I actually went out to eat with my family and made two smart decisions. 1) I got a side salad instead of fries and 2) I only ate half my burger. I saved the rest for the next day at lunch. That's huge for me. My husband also went to Dairy Queen, and I didn't get any ice cream. I instead got the Light Smoothie Mango/Pineapple. I do have to say I felt as satisifed as I would have with ice cream.

I also went grocery shopping and came home with only healthy options. That will make my snacking urges SO much easier to handle. My hubby was a bit peeved I didn't have anything sweet...he's an ice cream addict! I got some whipped yogurt and put them in the freezer as a ice cream substitute. (I heard that it's pretty good.)

Week two of C25K starts today. I'm not so excited about being sore, but I can't wait to see some progress on the scale!

The jiggle in my step is revolting!

Today was day two of C25K. Whew. I woke up yesterday a bit sore, but manageable. Today I woke up a little more sore. After today’s run, I’m feeling hella sore, but I made it! That’s what really matters. I just keep telling myself that I just am one day closer to the day I won’t feel sore.

I have discovered two things while running with our work running group, 1) I’m short and 2) I’m slow. I can’t manage to keep up during the walking periods let alone the running period. I’m a bit surprised I haven’t gotten bruises up and down me from all my different bits slamming against each other. Is it possible that is adding to my soreness? My extra baggage is resisting my weight loss journey by physically assaulting me every time I jiggle. 

During my run today, I witnessed a miracle. Yes, a miracle actually occurred on my run today. How many people get to witness one in front of their eyes? This miracle is that a hill magically appeared while I was running. The hill was not there yesterday. However, today when I hit that hill (during my running period nonetheless) I felt like someone had lit my legs on fire! My poor abusive bum was also feeling the wrath of the new magical hill. Argh. Note to self, try to avoid hill during running period on Friday.

I have new goals this week as well. Giving up sweets last week wasn’t stellar…but I did say no a couple of times, so that’s a move in the right direction. I’m going to continue last week’s goal of sweet moderation and portion control. Although, I find the later more difficult after running and breastfeeding. My body is like EAT AN ENTIRE PIZZA NOW!!!! Don’t worry. I’m not starving myself or anything. I just attempt to curb it with some protein. Although, I really just want to carb load. Probably not a good idea to eat 3.5 pounds of pasta prior to running. It was just add more stuff to jiggle around in my body.

New goal this week is more of a healthy lifestyle choice. I’m going to floss. I know. Crazy me! How will I ever do it!?!? 

Okay. I’ll admit that when the dental hygienist asks me how often I floss, I *may* say I do it regularly. Then she calls my bluff and I leave the office with monster inflamed gums. (Oh, did I say regular? I mean I did my annual flossing about 5 minutes before I walked in the door.)

So goal summary. Stop stuffing my face with sugar. Stop eating enough food to feed a family of three. Start flossing so I don’t have to tell white lies to my dentist. Check!

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?