The Start of the Last 20!

Its been awhile since I've blogged about me losing weight and I apologize...its been really crazy! So I hit 30 pounds lost at the end of the school year (June) and it felt really good to see. People have noticed and so have I. I have had to buy new shirts, capri's, long pants and swimming suit! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE to wear a bathing suit now! 30 pounds is GREAT and I started this journey with the hopes of losing 50 pounds (weighing 130 pounds). I don't remember the last time I weighed 130...it had to have been some time in Middle School, but 150 is still really good. According to my BMI I am on the lower end of being "Overweight." No where near Obese!!

I said I had lost 30 pounds at the end of the School year which was the beginning of June. I thought with the kids being out of school that I would have more time to exercise...boy was I mistaken!! I had hardly any time to get that in. I know, it sounds crazy, but its true! My days and mornings were full of making sure the kids did their chores, a lot of yard work (garden and lawn), weeding and having fun! Over the course of the Summer, I was able to maintain my weight...which makes me feel really good. I got on the scale on Tuesday and noticed I had only gained back 2 pounds. I have been eating what I want, but still keeping it in control. I still feel really good and am starting to exercise again. 30 minutes usually does me good, but with trying to lose 20 more pounds, I may need to increase my time again. I will wait a couple weeks to see what happens.

More than anything in the world that makes me happy, is that my husband told me he is going to start exercising too. It makes me sooooo happy! It might be the Hawaii trip we want to take next spring or it could be that he is really afraid of leaving this world so young and overweight. Whatever it is, I am glad that he is willing to make small changes to make his life better!

20 Pounds in 10 Weeks

I have been exercising and dieting for 10 weeks now. I have lost 20 pounds!! I am way excited. I was looking at some old vacation photos from 6 months ago and wow! I can't believe what I looked like. It makes me happy to see that I am making a change. I feel better and look better. I have been getting compliments from people so I know it is showing.
I went to go buy me some new crop pants. I bought a size 12. So nice to see that number again. They fit good, they just make my muffin top show more. Does anyone have any tricks for muffin tops?
I guess I need to start doing some sit-ups. My backs of my arms are flabby too. Looks like I will be lifting some weights or soup cans.
My hair is getting long and I have glasses now. I love them, although I am still getting use to them. They have a little diamond bling on the sides of my frames and that is what I am still getting use to. I need to get a cut and color...I will look like a new woman!! I am so excited.
I know this post makes no sense, but the kids are running around and distracting me. Its a day off today...they have way too much energy!!

Down 5 more!!

I am down 5 more pounds. I have to admit, I was a little sad. After a WHOLE month and only 5 pounds lost. I do think it is good. An average of a pound per week is good...I was just hoping for more because of all the exercising I have been doing. I do a mile a day on the elliptical. I guess I need to make it more a cardio workout. There are some preset programs that make you run faster with less tension. I started to do that this week.
I think I am going to start weighing myself every week. My diet is still going really good, but I have given in to a lot of things. A bite here, a bite there of chocolate or candy. My kids have leftover french fries and I have a few. At least I am not eating the WHOLE lot of fries or candy. I should be proud of my weight loss. Its less weight I am carrying around. If I start weighing myself every week I can look back to see what I did different and fix it NOW instead of LATER. I think it will help out a lot.
I went shopping and picked out an XL, tried it on and it totally did not look good. It was too big and long. Being a L was quite a surprise. Now if I can get rid of the flabby stomach that still is lurking things will be looking really good come summer.

The Weigh In

Its been 5 1/2 weeks since I started my small changes. It's paying off big time. I weighed my self in 1 1/2 weeks ago and I lost 11 pounds!! I was so excited. My pants don't even stay up. My shirts look better (because of a smaller gut/muffin top). It's coming off slowly and that is the way it should be. I would love to melt it off but it takes time. I hear that when you first start to exercise you build muscle first then the fat goes away. I sure hope that is the case.

My mom started to count points and in her first week she lost 6 pounds!! I wonder how much I really lost in that first week. I would think that if I am exercising that the weight would come off faster. Then that brings me back to the building muscle first. I must be building muscle, because muscle weighs more than fat, right? My mom is just losing the fat, right? I hope my thinking is correct! She does weigh more than me so that could be why it is coming off faster for her too. Making small changes for big rewards...they are coming!

It Worked!

The 30 minute program change worked. I wasn't in pain, but it made me sweat and work muscles. After Zumba last night, I had some minor muscle pain (not pain killer worthy). I know I am working those muscles if they are a little achy, right?

Working on the elliptical is working my butt and thighs really good. Zumba gets my calves and torso. I am loving that my so called "fat" jeans fall right off and I don't even wear them anymore. I dug through my closet and found my size 14's and they fit perfect. They're not even tight! They say to lose a pants size you need to lose about 20 pounds. That sounds about right. When I got married I weighed 155 and wore a size 10-12. Well, that sounds good to me!

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that my new church calling is Young Woman's Camp Director. I am a little excited now, I wasn't before. I was nervous! It will be lots of fun, and by losing some weight, I will be able to keep up with those girls!

Changing Again!

I got on my elliptical today. I have been doing a 20 minute pre-programmed program and then going for an additional 5 minutes. Sometimes I hit a mile or just under (.90-.95). I think that I have been doing really good with it. Then, today, I got on it and before I knew it, I was done with my normal workout and hardly even broke a sweat! I thought I was crazy. Did I really just do that? I wasn't even huffing and puffing.

I am changing my program again. I decided I was going to do a 30 minuted pre-programmed program and see where I get. If your not sweating, your not burning or working as hard as you need to (in my opinion). Also, there might be a plus to it...a "last chance workout" as they call it on the Biggest Loser. I weigh myself on Monday, so I have 2 more days plus zumba tonight to get off some more weight!

A LONG Weekend

It started Friday night. We have been having family movie nights on Friday. It is a lot of fun now that the kids are getting older and they actually watch "normal" movies instead of cartoon ones. The kids wanted a treat and I pulled out the candy from the food storage (good rotation move). There were so many of my favorite candies staring at me I couldn't resist eating a few...and I mean a few! I thought I did pretty well.  I was proud of myself and my self control

Saturday was the WORST! This kids earned some free kids meal for The Brick Oven. I am in trouble...PIZZA! If anyone has ever been on a diet they already know that pizza is the worst thing ever. It is one of those foods you can just eat and eat when 1 slice of pizza is a serving. I ordered a sandwich. It was very good and I will get it again. I split it into 2 meals (it was that big) and they also gave me chips and a giant chocolate chip cookie. I didn't eat the chips and I had 2 bites of the cookie. I succeeded again. I hope I can keep this up!

Later that night the candy came out again and I only ate a few. I am learning self control and I am very proud of myself.

Sundays are hard as well. Church is over by noon and then I have all day to relax. I made it once again, this time with no candy. I pulled out my yogurt delights instead. It gave me the sugar rush I was looking for and was very satisfying.

It has been the LONGEST weekend ever. I know that if I made it through this weekend I should be able to make it through the rest of the weekends.

I have one more week before I weigh myself. I am very excited. If you care to make a guess, just leave a comment. There is no prize, but it will let you know how much work really goes into losing weight. My first goal is 10 pounds. I hope I made it!

Fight the Stress

I have had a lot of things on my mind this week. I was given a new calling at church (not sustained yet so I can't tell you what it is) and also asked to help put a musical number together. My husband thinks I put too much thought into things. I was seriously thinking about it all. Who am I going to ask to sing? What am I going to do with this calling (because I stared at the Bishop for 15 minutes telling him I didn't think I could do it)? Too many things running through my head because I am so afraid of people telling me no. Not that I would care, it just makes me have to think of another person. I know Heavenly Father would give me direction of who to ask if I asked first, but sometimes that is too hard. I know, I am a faithful person but sometimes its just easier for me to just do it on my own. Maybe it is time to pray because I still need 2 more people.
As far as the new calling goes, yeah, I am still overwhelmed. I seriously think that I can't do it. I can't tell you much, yet, but I know anyone who knows me well will tell me I will be great! If I only had that much positive-ness in my life.
Why does all this have to do with my "Small Changes"? It has made me work harder on the elliptical! I go faster, I make the pain harder and suffer through it. It makes me really believe in myself that I can do all these things on top of everything else I do in a day (if you are a mom, you know). It also gets my mind on thinking about things and sometimes I don't remember that I am even on the elliptical. I AM LOVING IT! Time goes faster, my kids know not to come and talk to me while I am exercising (I don't know if that is bad), it makes more thinking time for me...in peace!
Fighting through stress really is the key. Usually when I am faced with stress I tend to moap, eat or make myself sit in my misery. I tell myself I'm not good and why would I every be good at that? Now, I am actually making it through with none of this crap on my mind like it was before. I go to the ward list to ask people to sing and I am not scared to call them or what they might say to me. I think about the new calling and actually think I can do it with help from everyone. I am not the only one who will be in charge and by delegating some things it will make my life easier. Life is good and I'm happy.

Small Changes

My small changes thus far have proven to be successful the past 2 weeks. No, I have not weighed myself because I was never a faithful weigh-er to begin with so why should I now? I have decided to eat more whole grains and choosing better snacks to eat. I am counting points (hint, hint) but I did not join the program. I still am able to eat my chocolate fixes but my favorite treat is EXTRA gum. Strawberry Shortcake to be exact. It gives me that sugar rush that I crave and satisfies my urge to eat something else not so good.

My husband and I bought and elliptical from a local classified ad. It was only $75 and 2 years old. GOOD DEAL! The first week was horrible! I only made it 3 miles that whole week! I guess 3 miles is better than none. I would get on it for 20 minutes Monday-Saturday. By Thursday I thought I was going to die! I knew this wasn't going to be and easy task. I kept going. I just got done with week 2 and I am noticing things changing. My size 16 pants don't stay up anymore. I am constantly pulling them up. I don't get tired in the afternoons, I feel better and I don't have an excuse not to exercise.

As soon as my kids are off to school I jump on our elliptical for 25 minutes. I get .90 miles each day, six days a week. A big improvement from the 1st week! Our stake started doing Zumba for our women's sports nights. It has been a huge success! Every Thursday night I go Zumba . Let's just say on Friday and Saturday its hard for me to get on the elliptical. Zumba kicks my butt!!

I made a homemade honey wheat bread. It is soooo good. The best part about it is that it has no preservatives like the store brands do and its a lot cheaper. The recipe is really easy too. From start to finish it takes about 3 hours. I get 2 large loaves and 1 small loaf. Mmmmm...and its healthy too!

I know, to some people these may not be considered small changes. Lets think about it for a minute. If you sit around and are bored, eating and reading the latest celebrity gossip your not going to lose weight. Exercising: Its a small sacrifice. Taking 25 minutes out of my day is nothing! Just remember I am getting 5 miles in a week and your getting nothing.
Eating better foods and watching portions: Its a big deal! If you are filling your gut with potato chips, chocolate, ice cream and hamburgers then you will be fat FOREVER! These foods are high in fat and calories. The saying "you are what you eat" is true. Think of how light whole grains are in weight compared to a potato. If you eat heavy food you will be heavy! For me, watching portions is key. I am starting to feel myself being satisfied more quickly. My cravings have gone away. I am feeling better because I don't have the heavy food.
These changes are small, but my rewards will be big! You have to give up something to make a change.

Confessions

Ok...Confession time! I don't like to confess, but its needed. I am a 33 year old stay at home Mom, married for 8 years with 3 adorable children. I eat horribly, never exercise and get lazy, tired, ornery and bored. Between dropping kids off at school, making breakfast, lunch and dinner, doing household chores, yard work (during the warm months), helping with homework and church callings there is still time to be bored. I find myself waiting for the dryer to finish so I can hurry and get the next load in. I wait for the dishwasher to finish so I can unload it and start loading it with the dirty dishes. I wait for the clock to tick 5 more minutes so I can get in front of the line at the school to get the kids on time. I then wait in the car for 20 minutes for the school bell to ring. I wait for my husband to get home so we can eat dinner together as a family. Between all the waiting I get bored. I grab a cookie, a chocolate bar, ice cream...whatever it is it gives me something to do.

When I was single, I worked a high stress job at a mortgage company. Mountain Dew was my water. It was the only thing that kept me going. There were days that I got into work by 6 am. Didn't get breakfast. Someone would pickup fast food and drop it off at my desk. I would snack on it for 2 hours then throw it away because I needed more room on my desk. When 5 pm rolled around I kept working cause I didn't have to answer anymore phone calls. All this work with non stop Mountain Dew to make it through the day. Finally I would leave the office at 9 pm. By the time I got home I would eat dinner and go to bed knowing the next day would be the same.

One day it hit me...I was FAT! I was wearing a size 16 in Levi's!! In High School, I never thought I was skinny, but I didn't think I was fat either. I wore a size 12 in Levi's all through High School. At my high school a size 12 was average. I fit in with everyone else. Sure there were the skinny size 0 or 2 girls at the school, but to me they were anorexic. Looked WAY too skinny. I never was self conscious of myself because everyone else was like me!

So the size 16 pant scared me. No wonder I wasn't dating...I was working non stop and gaining weight. The only social life I had was Sunday meetings in a singles ward with Thursday night activities that I never got to go to because I was working ALL THE TIME. Occasionally I would go to a weekend movie with friends from work or church, but that was it.

I decided to do something about it. I started going to a gym right after work when it FINALLY slowed down. I had to be dedicated to go! I was paying a monthly fee to get the fat off, I better use it! I also started to diet with the program you count points on (hint, hint). Well, I never weighed myself and if I did I don't remember what I weighed when i started. Pretty soon the 16's were in the bottom of the drawer and 12's were on top. I felt good about myself. I started dating and I think there was a month where I had a date every weekend and it seemed like all their names were Dave...pretty weird. Good thing I didn't marry a Dave.

Soon my significant other came along and I fell head over heals for that man! It was love at first sight. We were married 2 1/2 months after we first met. I weighed 155 pounds and my size 12 pants were loose. I bought a size 10 wedding dress and looked darn cute in it! I was happy and in love. Everything I wanted out of life at that moment was right in front of me.

4 months after being married, I got pregnant. I was severely dehydrated and was sick, sick, sick. My doctor weighed me in at 169 pounds. I guess when you get married you put on some weight? You have your man so you just let loose. Not a good start to a marriage for me. I was hoping to stay fit for my gorgeous husband. By the end of the pregnancy (39 weeks) I had reached 200 pounds. WHOA!! Not only was this kid sucking the life out of me, he was making me eat food...and lots of it! At my 6 week checkup after having the baby I weighed 172. So the weight went away quickly. I was happy!

Lets just fast forward now. I had 2 more kids. Did the same yo-yo effect. 200 pounds at 39 week check-up and back to 172. So, 172 must be my new number. There I have stayed. Always 5 pounds within that number for the last 3 1/2 years.

I weighed myself on the Monday after New Year's (2011) just to see where I was. I am not a faithful weigh-er! I saw the number 180!! Oh my...all that holiday crap is true..."you gain weight during the holidays." 180...what do I do about 180? Well, its time for a change. I'm done being grumpy, moody, tired, bored and ornery. I'm done carrying around extra weight. I'm done not being able to keep up with my kids. I'M DONE!! It's time to face reality.

Reality to me is I need to be here for my kids and my husband. Everything else will follow. Granted, according to my BMI, I am still considered overweight, but knowing that I am only 20 pounds away from being considered obese makes me sick! I watch The Biggest Loser on TV and see these morbidly obese people and think "what have these people done with their lives?" I tell my husband to never let me get that big! I see the changes that take place in these peoples lives and think "if they can do it weighing 260 pounds, then I certainly can weighing at 180." Most of the contestants at the end of the 12 weeks weigh as much as I do now.

I am "making small changes for big rewards." I am going to watch what I eat. I am going to start exercising again. I am going to set an example for my kids. I am going to lose weight!