Progress!

Progress on my weight!

New weight related double digits are like a gentle breeze on a warm day – welcome and much appreciated.  Praise the lord….I have entered the 180s.  The 180s are “home sweet home”.  Ok, so not so sweet – but comfortable like an old, ugly shoe.    The 180s have been my frenemy for the last 8-9 years.   Specifically, my body gets stuck at 185.   It loves this number and never wants to leave.  After almost a year of running, prior to my pregnancy, I didn’t get below 183.  I did see (a mirage really) 173-176 on the scale 3 years ago for 4 months when I got sick with mono and pneumonia (at the same time).  When I was better my weight rebounded to, yup, you guessed it 185.     160-170+ was my weight for the first two years of graduate school (until things got much more stressful) and the last three years in graduate school it zoomed to 185 where it has been for eternity.  115 (so not healthy) -150 is a distant memory from high school and the beginning of college. 

In sum – I have been overweight/borderline obese for nearly ten years – age 25 on…..wow, that is a long time to be a big girl.

A new month!

I love new months – to me it symbolizes a new beginning, a fresh clean slate.  The perfectionist in me likes this – which is why at the start of every new work cycle I do things like purchase a new workbook/office supplies – hoping that their newness will somehow transfer over to my work ethic.   

Ode to a fresh start….I guess right now, I really want to vent about my frustrations with working out, my lack of weight loss, etc. – however, I get so tired of complaining.  And who really wants to be around a complainer?  I want to be a Tigger – not an Eeyore (fyi- check out the last lecture).  The last two weeks have been crazy – my parents were here, vacation, now my in-laws are here.  I guess it is unrealistic for me for expect to adhere to my training program/weight loss hopes under these circumstances.  Hence, my progress somewhat diminishing  – I am weighing myself less and processed foods have been sneaking in.  I need to turn this ship around.  

New course:  Need to closely follow training program.  I also need to write down my foods and then contact a dietitian – I sincerely feel like I should be losing more weight given then I am working out 4-5 times a week and breastfeeding everyday.    I am also going to start the flylady program tomorrow (a day late – sorry Danielle – darn in-laws).  Hopefully having control in my home will help out.   And I hope to write more meaningful blogs that are jammed packed with value:)

Check out Flylady.net

Personal note first: Thank you! So many of you gave me motivating ideas – In the end, social shame (my parents walking into a dirty home) and public humiliation (the thought of me walking around naked because NONE of my prepreggers clothes fit) was enough to get me in the computer typing, folding clothes, dusting kinda mood.   Sadly, my attempts to get a babysitter (so I could work out) the last two days have failed.  Seriously, $12 dollars an hour isn’t enough?  My kids are pretty well behaved….come on!  Maybe I need to get premium channels or better snack food (shoot – that is it, no snack food in the house!)  Anyway….

In the process of reflecting, thinking about organizational methods and materials (Goodness, I love the Container Store) – I remembered http://www.flylady.net.   How could I forget her?  Years ago, my mother emailed the link and said that I should check out her website and information – it may help me.  And because it was from my mother and I was fresh out of graduate school I didn’t pay attention.  Times have changed. 

In a nutshell, she walks you through creating routines/habits that ultimately will lead you to an uncluttered life and mind.  And, its free information.  After I get back from vacation next week I shall be doing her month challenge/babystep program. And blogging about it.   Join me starting Sept. 1st!   In case you are wondering – I am far, far away from reaching coolio blogger status – where companies send me stuff and court my love.  This is unadultured product/service admiration.

Mental Fitness

Lets face it – we are overweight because of what is going on between our ears (and a slow metabolism – always blame the metabolism:).  In an effort to help our mental fitness, find peace, and happiness I present to you the following random bits of entertainment and information:

7 Thoughts that are bad for your health (see http://www.livescience.com/health/090911-7-bad-thoughts-1.html).  They are – Cynicism, Lack of Meaning, Fretting, Anxiety, Stress, Lack of Control, Gloom and Doom.  Ok, no surprises here….

Work for Happiness (: Challenge yourself to be happy – take the Dr. Oz happiness challenge!  In a nutshell – 1) acknowledge what makes you happy 2) Fake Happiness 3) Divert yourself from bad thoughts 4) perform random acts of kindness. 

If nothing else – perform random acts of kindness (check out: this psychology today article , this wonderful women (Secret Agent L.) and of course, Operation Beautiful) 

Gratitude – complete a gratitude journal.  We all need to appreciate what we have much more.   If you want a good cry – take a look at this video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSMlIM9zLio .  These folks are grateful.

Don’t Compare Yourselves to Others!   Don’t compare yourself to the Joneses – you don’t know what is going on in their house or backyard!  Concentrate on your family and you. 

Exercise –  It does more than just impact our waistline. 

And lastly,

Smile

And no – this cat is not mine:)

What brings you happiness and peace of mind?

Alas… It is time to put up or shut up.

So, my weight took a turn for the worse at the end of the week and so did my eating.  Although I don’t think I ate enough to gain the two pounds that I lost – the digits say otherwise.  This is leading me to rethink my ” no food journal” approach.  Originally, I had planned on having the same thing everyday for breakfast and lunch. Dinner would be meat and veggies. And while I still want to do this – I need to recognize that there is more variety and my snacking needs to get under control.   I need to get under control.  This also includes working out.  I managed to fit in something most days.  However, it is not enough. I need to start brick workouts (two a day – biking and running, swimming and running).  I only have 3 months until the full triathlon.    If I was a betting woman, the odds aren’t good that I am going to make it.    And the overweight man on his mountain bike who passed me (overweight woman on my coolio Giant racing bike)  would agree.   Yea, that was painful.

Looking ahead for the week:   I will..

keep a food journal, not eat processed food, stop eating at 8, limit my carbs, start some brick workouts, and no alcohol.

My weight goal is simply to see the digit 191.  It can be 191.9 and I will be a happy camper.   Ideally, I would love, love, love to see 180 something by the end of the month (please god, please god).     Maternity leave is soon up – and I will be going back to work full time.  I really wanted to be (at least) at my pre-pregnancy weight by then.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen.  Sigh.

It begins.

The first post.  What does one say?  I suppose by now there are some cliches when it comes to starting a blog (Welcome to my first blog post!  How do I begin? I am so happy you are reading this..blah, blah).   Frankly, writing this silly blurb is probably a cliche itself. Anyway, why I am here…

I am a little over a month into the grand ‘ol age of 34.  And by the time I turn 35 I really would like to address some of the “issues” that I have.   Thankfully, I am truly a blessed individual (although I tend to forget this at time).  I am not overcoming a disease (although I swear 33 was the year that wrinkles set into my face), my family is healthy (beyond our normal craziness), my husband and I are employed, and I don’t think we will be facing foreclosure in the near future – I am, admittedly, doing better than most. So, what are my issues?  Why do I need to post?  Well, I am simply doing this to improve myself – it is as simple and as complicated as that.   This will, hopefully, make me more accountable and provide me with a virtual scrapbook of this yearlong journey.  While this will blog will tend to focus on me attempting to lose weight/get fit/train – this is part of the bigger picture. Some of my improvements are small, whereas others are big.  In the end, I simply want to like myself more.

Things I need to work on.

Health:  Lose 45 pounds (just had a baby and graduate school packed on the pounds for me) ; Train for a full Triathlon (November) ; Train for a half marathon (May/June); Stop eating processed food; Stop drinking Diet Coke; Stop eating after 8PM

Consistency (This is perhaps one of the biggest issue I have): Wake-up at 6:30AM; Make bed every day (yes mock me openly), Floss (I know…), wash face, Do Laundry every other day, Write every day, work out 6 days a week, clean kitchen when I go to bed, pick up continuously.

Bad Habits/Special Projects:  Stop reading gossip websites, limit reading news websites to twice a day, learn Spanish, keep up with this blog, sort through/organize pictures, stop complaining (about my job, people, house, etc.).

In a nutshell, I will primarily talk about these thing and other weird and wacky things that come my way.  I will not however discuss my job, specifics about relatives (children are exempt from this rule), friends or my identity.

So… let it begin.