Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Week 4 Weigh In

Yippee!!! I am down to 191 from 196.5 last week. I lost 5.5 pounds in a week. Yeah. I was 196 when we started this challenge so I have lost 5 pounds for the challenge and I have lost 13 Pounds since I joined the Sisterhood in October.
I think the biggest difference between last week and this week is that I have been drinking a lot more water. I have been keeping up with the ea sports active 6 week challenge. I have been working out on Mon, Tues, Thurs and Friday. I would like to do some more workouts on the weekends but life has been crazy busy lately that there just isn't time.
I made Christy's recipe for the Creamy Swiss Steak this week and everyone liked it. I also made the Caramel Cookies from Christmas time yesterday and other than the first pan burning (oops)they were great. The kids loved them.
I ate out a few times over the weekend too but I tried to make good choices. I ate out at our local diner on Friday with Zander (I had no daycare kids)for lunch. I got a yummy strawberry salad with nuts and grilled chicken breast and a lemon dressing. It was sooo good. Then on Saturday Zander and I had tickets to go and see The Very Hungry Caterpillar, live. After that we ate at the mall. I had chinese from the mall but instead of getting the noodles or fried rice I got the steamed veggies but with Bourbon Chicken. Who knows how many calories, fat, etc it had but I tried to make a good choice. =)

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Why I rock!

Well I have to admit this was hard to do. 5 Reasons why I rock.

1-I have three beautiful children who drive me crazy sometimes but that I love to pieces and wouldn't trade (usually)=).

2- I am determined to lose weight and be a good and healthy example to my kids. I have already lost 10 pounds since October.

3- I volunteer at church through teaching Sunday School, making food for diff. events. I also am involved at the Elementary School with PTO and helping teachers in any way I can.

4- I learned to knit this year and I have made 4 children hats so far that I have given to others. I am still learning how to do it, but I like it.

5- Finally I rock because I operate a family daycare out of our home and have been managing to fit in exercise at least 4 days a week, make meals, do dishes, do laundry, play with the kids, keep the house clean , blog on here and have some downtime for knitting, tv, reading, etc.

Thanks for making me think of things I am good at too instead of just focusing on the things I want to change.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Wednesday Weigh In

So I weighed myself this morning and I am up 1.5 pounds. 196.5 pounds. Not sure why. I know I have not been drinking enough water as I have been busy and running around crazy all day long lately. I have been exercising 4 days out of the week. I have been eating more fresh veggies and fruits. I don't think I have been eating badly but I got a bunch of compliments last week from people telling me how great I looked and that it looked like I lost weight, etc. That was great but maybe without realizing it I let myself relax and not watch my eating as much. I really don't know but it is only a little gain so I will try to add an extra day of workouts in and watch my food intake and drink up lots of water.
I was really late posting last weeks Monday Homework, the motivation wall as Zander ended up at the doctors last friday with Strep throat, which would explain his complaint of his head hurting for the week prior. We thought he had a virus cause his fever only topped out at 100.2 the Saturday before. Last Friday morning he woke up complaining he had something in his ear so we took him in thinking it would be a ear infection and his ears were perfect, thank goodness. We didn't really want to start those again. But he had a yucky throat and it is strep. So anyways him being sick made my whole schedule on Friday go out the door and I didn't get my homework done and didn't get to it till sunday night. Soo... if you haven't looked at it yet your are welcome to. Thanks.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Motivation Wall Project




Well I am a little behind schedule since this homework was due on Friday and it is now Sunday but I did it. We have had a little sickness at our house and lots to do. So here it is. I am a scrapbooker so I decided I was going to do a 2 page layout for my motivation wall. I titled it, "My Journey". I am going to hang it here by the computer where I can see it everyday.
I have a before picture on top left of me in December 2006 when I was about 6 months pregnant with my third son. I was very big in the chest. Then I have a picture of me from May of 2009 about a month after my surgery. Big difference, right? I have my goals listed as well of a picture of my reward. I defined what motivation is and what motivates me. On the other side I have no picture yet as that is going to be my after. I have a listing of the first 5K we are planning on doing in a few weeks. We will just be walking it but we are doing one. Then I have a picture for the Bellin Run that is June 12, 2010. We are planning on doing that one. Maybe running? Don't know yet. We even have our 10 year old and 7 year old thinking about doing the kids run.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Rethink Your Shrink: Weigh In #2

Well here it is week 2 of the newest challenge. I am down to 195 pounds. I lost one pound this week. Not much but it is something. I finished the EA Sports Active 6 week challenge last Friday. I rested on the weekend. Then on Monday I did the Biggest Loser for the Wii. It was okay. Yesterday I started a new 6 week challenge on the highest intensity for the EA Sports. Today I did the Biggest Loser again. So I have already worked out my three days for the week that I set for my goal. We are eating less processed foods. I have been trying to buy more fresh produce or frozen. I have been making better snack choices like oranges and apples. My other goal was to lose 10 pounds. I am on my way.
We even looked up the Bellin Run today to see when it was for sure in June. It is June 12, 2010. They don't have the information out there yet to sign up but we printed out last years information. We are also looking at doing a 5k in February, but we are just going to walk that one. We are still unsure because the weather could be really bad since it will be the first week of February in Wisconsin. My parents might come up that weekend and if they do we might do it since they'd be available to watch the boys. The only bad part is that it is sponsored by Seroogy's, a local chocolate/candy store that is awesome. The actor Tony Shaloub is part of the family that runs the store. They are giving away chocolates after the race. Well time for bed. Loving the sisterhood and feeling healthier.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Project "Me"




(Okay so this is the first time I have added photos to a blog. I wanted the photos flip flopped but, the top one is me this summer at the Zoo after my surgery. We have this picture with some others on our computer slideshow and looking at that belly was part of my aha moment. I never had a noticeable belly until after my breast reduction and they no longer overshadowed it. =) The second picture is of me with my family at my nieces baptism last February about a week before I fist met the surgeon. I know you can't really see how chesty I was but I didn't let pictures be taken of me that often and I always tried to hide somehow.)

So first lets say how awesome the Sisterhood is and how I love all the support and encouragement I get. Thanks Jess for telling me about the sisterhood. Second I finished the EA Sports Active 6 week challenge and I am so happy that I followed through and finished it. Yeah!! I have worked out every day this week since Sunday. I think I am going to take a break for a few days. Okay now for the homework.

What didn't work in 2009 or beyond?
Well how about the fact that exercise was not part of our routine. We( my husband and I) talked about it but didn't really do anything to change our habits. Our eating habits are not that bad. It is more of the lack of exercise. The biggest obstacle was finding/making time to do it. We both tried here and there but never at the same time. I think the difference this time is the sisterhood and the outside support and my husband and I are both working out and changing our eating habits.

My rock bottom moment?
Well I have always been a very large chested person. I always said that when we were done having kids I was going to go see a dr about a breast reduction. I don't think anyone really believed me, but once my husband had his "procedure" done and we knew we weren't having anymore kids I saw a dr to see what he thought. He told me I was one of the biggest chested women he had ever seen. Nice!!! So they took pictures, sent them to the insurance company for approval and it came back as approved because of being medically necessary. I had constant back pain, grooves in my shoulders from the weight of my breasts and bra straps. Now I asked if I lost weight first would that make me lose enough of my breasts and he said, "No" I was just too big. So I had the surgery the Wednesday before Easter in 2009. They took 6 pounds away. Yep, 6 pounds. I was like a 44K, now I am a 42 D. So my issue with trying to lose weight had always been my breasts and what was the point because even if I lost some weight you'd never notice because I was so big on top, etc. So it takes 6months to a year for everything to be normal after that surgery and it took awhile but I knew that once I had smaller breasts that I wanted/needed to work on the rest of me. So I don't know if it was actually just one moment or if it was more that it took me about 4 months to mentally get myself ready to make that commitment.
Bad Habits? Triggers?
Snacking and chocolate. Stress is a major trigger. How to solve? Try to resolve the stress so I don't want to eat and find a different release like exercise/blogging, etc.

Good habits
I gave up soda about 6 months ago and only have it occasionally. I take a water bottle with me everywhere. I try to bring healthy snacks with me if I think I will be hungry while out and about. Trying to get rid of the convenience foods and processed foods but that is much harder. Making little changes here and there like we switched to whole wheat tortillas from flour and we now add a can of black beans and corn to our taco meat to bulk it up. Now as long as I continue to exercise and find some new healthier meals that the kids will eat too we are headed in the right direction. I already did my goals for the challenge but I will add that we are talking about doing the Bellin Run in Green Bay, I think it is in June. They even have a kids run on the Friday and the adult and family on Saturday so it might be a family affair. Even if I just walk it this year or walk/run I want to do it.
One of the best benefits of exercising regularly is that my kids are doing it with me, even the 2 year old wanted to exercise with me the other night. He was so cute trying to do the stretches and exercises. Thank you Sisterhood for pointing me in the right direction.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

New Year, New Me

Well I haven't blogged in like 3 weeks. It was just too busy with Christmas and getting ready. We were also having computer issues so that didn't help either. So here we are on another Weigh In Wednesday, I am at 196. I finally did my homework for last weeks Thursday assignment on the Sisterhood.
My goals are: to exercise at least 3 times a week.
: to lose 10 pounds
: to eat less processed foods.
Reward: Buy the riser for the wii fit balance board for step aerobics
Track: Will mark on the calendar how often I exercise, how many pounds lost, not sure how to track eating less processed foods. Just have to stop buying them. =)

I also need to work on Friday's homework. I have worked out Sunday, monday, tuesday so far this week. I plan on working out the next three days so I can be done with the 6 week challenge for the EA Sports Active, I got a little behind with Christmas, New Years and sickness. I am looking forward to this challenge and making changes in 2010.