Week 9 - By the skin

...of my teeth, I eked out a 1 lb loss. I ate with reckless abandon (okay, restrained abandon haha) this weekend, using 56 pts on Saturday and nearly as many on Sunday. Yeowza! I got on the scale yesterday morning and saw 172.8. Not good! So I drank 12 cups of water and did a kicking cardio workout last night around 8:30 pm after the kids were in bed. I also ate well, focusing on cutting back on salt. It worked! 169.2 this morning, all that salt flushed out. Lesson learned, salt is not my friend, at least not without a lot of water at the same time. :)

So I think I'm about 5-10 lbs from where I was when we moved to camp just about 1 yr ago. It's good to know that I've almost undone all the damage of last year in just about 2.5 months. I'm feeling a lot stronger and more fit than a year ago, so that is also a bonus. Plus, I'm sure that while my weight is similar, my body composition is not. Really looking forward to seeing how my body transforms as I get closer to goal and see how it compares to 2006 before I got pregnant. I know it won't be the same, but I'm hopeful that I'll be stronger and more muscular. I have a long way to go, and I'm under no illusions that this is going to be either quick or easy, but definitely enjoying the journey this time around.

Meh

Having a rough emotional weekend. I was hoping to get something productive done this morning - either help out with the Raindrop Preschool garage sale or paint Em's room. I was under the impression someone was going to help out with my kids. Guess what I did this morning? I hung out with the kids while they went to workshops because Noah was being a whiny, clinger today. Lucky me. I'm really frustrated, so I've been stress eating today. Not good that at 3:20pm, I have 2 daily points left, but I do have 27 activity points still and all 49 of my weekly bonus points. Still...I don't care. I have eaten chips, a couple of Hostess snack cakes, might have had a bit of bourbon in my diet dr pepper. I'm just grouchy and annoyed and motivated to do nada.

A large part of this issue is my left hip and that because my back & pelvis are slightly out of alignment, I can't run without a lot of pain and discomfort for a significant period - I'm still limping! I have my first chiropractor appointment on 7/6 and cannot wait. I've come to love running when I'm frustrated because I can just turn my attention to the music I'm listening to, zone out and stare at the trees outside and run (or walk). The miles seemingly fly by (well, all 3-5 of them) and then I feel more centered. I need to find where I packed most of my workouts so I can have some variety until I can get back on the treadmill. Of course, I'm sure I'll be packing stuff back up in a couple of weeks, so it's kind of obnoxious (mostly that I packed them 1.5 months ago!)

I'm sure that I'll be back on track after the group leaves tomorrow, or at least by Monday. Honestly though, I'm trying to give myself a bit of leeway, I'm not doing that badly by any stretch of the imagination. I am just having a rough day and despite sunshine and one napping kid and the other playing with her cousin, I didn't want to work out, just wanted to sit and sulk, so that's what I'm doing. It's quiet, so that's a bonus. I know I'm only human and I can't expect to be doing fabulously on WW every single day, so today is my "human day". I can go back to being a machine tomorrow. :)

Nap time!

Week 8 - Settling in

So at the end of month #2 on Weight Watchers, I am down a total of 15.2 lbs and 17.75". I have a follow up at the dr on Friday, so I'll be curious to see how much I'm down at my appt. I was down about 10 lbs according to their scale when I went about 3.5 weeks ago. I'm down another 6.6 lbs during my at home weigh-ins, so I'm curious. Either way, she'll be happy to see me still moving down. I do plan to ask about my hip/thigh pain if it's still bothering me at the end of the week. I'm sure it's over-training, as I've been pushing myself hard. I want to keep pushing for 5 mile run/walks, but don't want to do so at the detriment of my tendons & muscles.

The good news is that by staying consistent (great lesson for the kids!), I'm starting to pull away from the trending curve by my last weight loss attempt. It's very gratifying as I'm slogging through this journey that it's only MY hard work and MY dedication that is contributing to this loss (well, and being on meds LOL). No short-cuts, no gimmicks, no "miracle" pills. Just sweat, water, fruits, vegetables and eating appropriately for my size. I've cut back on treats (mostly), but when I have them, I keep track of them and move on.

My jeans are super loose now, they actually fit well right out of the dryer, and I have a decent waist-line back. I have a ways to go to be in good shape and look good, but every bit helps! I'm definitely stronger and my endurance is improving greatly. On my 5 mile run last week, I ran 31 mins and walked quickly another 30 mins and a 10 min cool down walk. The reason for running 31 mins? I was .2 short, so I sprinted 1 min at 6mph. :) Plus, I'd been doing weight training DVD workouts after run/walking 5Ks during the week. I'm scaling back a bit and doing one or the other.

I need to remember that I'm 31, have had 2 babies and my body is not the same as when I was 26. I need to think about the growing and stretching my body did to bring two beautiful kids into the world and be forgiving of the stretch marks, the saggy baby bulge, the droopy breasts, and weaker joints. I find something new to love about my body every day - my collar bones are starting to come back, my shoulders are getting more definition from my upper arms, my ankle/calves are becoming more toned, my legs are strong, my abs are getting firm and I can do good sit-ups, better than pre-babies even!

So as I go through this journey on a somewhat competitive level against myself at 25-26 yrs old, I am keeping in mind that I have a different body, I am doing this to be truly healthy, not just to have babies, and I have two little sets of eyes watching what I do and asking questions. They are curious about my workouts, about my diet. They try the veggies (granted they usually say yuck), they like to eat fruits, they drink water, they run around, ride their bike/trike, dance, play and emulate the healthy lifestyle I'm trying to create for this family. How can you not be happy to see hard work coming to fruition?!? :)

Week 7 - Smoking

I am down another 2.6 lbs this week, totally 13.6 in 7 wks on WW. Not too shabby! I've also gotten up to 24 mins/2 miles at 5 mph (12 min mile) on the treadmill. My 5K time yesterday was 43:03 and I'm looking forward to getting some running socks to my instep blisters are a thing of the past. It will take a while to save for the Mizuno Wave Nirvana 7 running shoes I would like to purchase. I definitely have my work cut out for me, but I am hopeful that perhaps I can join my friends Heather & Lori running a half-marathon next year. I know I'm not close right now, but I just need to keep working on endurance and losing weight.

I take measurements again next week, it will be interesting to see if there are many losses or if I maintain and just keep losing weight. Either way, I'm shrinking away and just feel like I'm on fire with WW & exercise. It's amusing me that I'm starting my 8th week, but it feels like I'm still just getting started. I think it helps that I jumped in head first and am not hesitant. I know how the program works and I know where my strengths & weaknesses are. Plus, I really enjoy working out. I love how strong and fit it makes me feel, I like having time to work off my stress and to focus on me. I really want to get more DVDs, but I'm still on an imposed buy-ban. Truly, it's a good thing though. I added over 20 workouts to my Christmas list. :)

Week 6 - Double Digits!

Well, that's slightly misleading. I didn't lose double digits this week, but as of today, my total weight loss is in double digits. 11.0 lbs to be exact. :) My unofficial loss is closer to 15 lbs, but since I'm just talking WW loss, I'm down 11.0 lbs. I lost 2.2 lbs this week and another 3" in the last 2 weeks. I'm thrilled because the inches came off my thighs, hips & arms. Those are the harder areas for me to get losses on.

Kyle was telling me this morning that I'm looking great. I'm trying to so hard to focus on accepting compliments as they come and not focusing on all the work I have yet to do. I had a discussion on my mom's board about body image and projecting onto our children and it's all something we struggle with - finding a balance between what we feel about ourselves and what we let our kids hear about it. I did realize this morning as I stripped down to weigh in that I'm less grossed out by my reflection in the mirror. I'm getting more comfortable with the ripples and stretch marks and accepting that having kids changes things a lot. Granted, I am overjoyed that my saggy belly is slowly getting smaller, but I'm trying to focus on the fact I'm getting stronger and my endurance is increasing.

I tried putting 5 miles on the treadmill on Sunday and it went so-so. I finished, but the time was a lot slower than I had hoped and I could only run 7 mins. I finished in 87:37 while listening to an audio book. I honestly think that had a large part to do with why my time was so slow. I couldn't get into a good grove because I was listening to the story. Granted, the whole point for doing 5 miles was just to do it and not focus on speed, but I was averaging 3.4 mph instead of 4.2 mph that I have been hitting. I have to keep reminding myself that I've only been at this for 6 weeks. Plus, as the pounds come off, it will get easier to run longer and faster.