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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Last Day of Challenge #1

So I never posted last week. I was at 200 even with 18.8 more miles logged. That was up two pounds from the week before. This week I am at 199 with 19.4miles logged. For a total of 106 miles and a 5 pound loss. I am happy with that. I got my period last week and had a cold on top of that so I did not work out on Friday, Saturday or Sunday or Monday. I finally worked out yesterday and I worked out this morning, finishing workout #12 on the wii more workouts and then I did a customized workout with squash and boxing. I got 30 for a rally in Squash. My best so far.
So after my workout this morning I took my shower and I noticed that my belly fat is smaller. Yeah. So even if I have only lost 5 pounds since we started this I have gotten healthier and I am seeing results. We all have our bad days and it is hard to make good choices with it being Christmas time but we are really trying. We usually make some different candies at this time of year and we decided we don't need it around so we aren't making them. We have done some Christmas cookies and will do more but we are doing exchanges and we brought our cookies to a family party last weekend so we would have help eating them. We are trying to remove temptation.
I got my bacon package last week. I have tried the bacconnaise once so far and thought it was good. We have tried the bacon salt on a few things and I had the bacon pop last night, bacon popcorn that is. It was good. I am so thankful for the sisterhood and the support I get. You ladies rock. I love to read the posts and see that others are having a hard time too or struggling just like me. I am so happy to have the wii challenge too because it makes me workout and be active.

Weigh In Thursday

Good morning. I didn't weigh in yesterday as I just never found the time. But I weighted in this morning and I have lost 6 pounds since last week. Yeah. I am at 198, I am below 200. I have lost a total of 6 pounds for the challenge. Yeah. I am soo happy. I really tried to make good choices with the holiday. I have really tried to stay away from soda and to make better snack choices. Yesterday we had dentist apts in the afternoon and after we went to the mall and did some shopping and ate at the mall. I got Rocky Rococo's pizza and split the breadsticks with the family. I haven't had them in sooo long. They weren't as good as I remembered, I wish I had gotten the subway sub I was going to get instead. Soo...my thinking is really starting to change too. I also bought those skinny cow ice cream sandwiches that April talked about last week on the hood and they are pretty good. So I am down 6 and have logged another 20.2 miles since last week. I am off to workout before my first daycare family gets here.