Week 4

WEIGH-IN
Current weight: 182 lbs.
Week's weight loss/gain: - 0 lbs.
Total weight loss: -8 lbs.

No loss, but no gain. I'm ok with that, especially with it being Christmas and all. (And I got sick again this week with a cold/sore throat.)

GOAL REPORT  
I'll report on my goals next week, since I had a 2-week window.

NEW GOAL(s)
Have fun and relax and enjoy Christmas with my two cutie pies!

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Treats

It's that time of year...the season of giving. When all the neighbors and co-workers give you treats. Not to mention holiday parties and family dinners with lots of goodies. How do you get through the holidays without over-indulging but still feeling like you can enjoy the festivities?

Here are a few things I've been doing this year to help me not to get too out of control.

• Eat one or two of the treats and then get them out of the house! I sent a batch of cookies from the neighbors to Matt's work and I took a box of cookies from some other neighbors to a family party and left them there. I have learned that I cannot have treats in the house or I will eat them.
• Freeze some of the treats to eat later when there's not so many other treats around. Someone brought over a loaf of cinnamon bread and someone else brought some pumpkin chocolate chip bread. I stuck them in the freezer and I'll pull them out later when all the treats are gone.
• Don't eat stuff I don't love. There are lots of holiday treats that I really love and that if I don't have, it doesn't feel like Christmas. Like my family's cranberry bread and hot chocolate. But there are a lot of other things around that are just ok. Like pumpkin pie. Matt's family always has it. It's just ok, but I don't necessarily love it. So, just because it's there doesn't mean it's worth it. I've tried to save my treat eating for the stuff I really love.
• If I bake something, try to find a way to "healthify" it. I love this website. It has lots of recipes for yummy stuff that has been revamped to be a little more healthy. You can even send in your own recipes and they choose some to make over into a more healthy version of the recipe. 
• Also, if I make something, only make 1/2 a batch or give most of the treat away after I've had some.
• Don't put candy in our stockings. Matt and I decided to skip the candy this year and just get one or two of our favorite treats (a small version) for the stockings instead of a bunch of candy. I got Matt a small bottle of egg nog and some cookie dough. I'm hoping for a caramel apple in mine!

Any other ideas for enjoying the holiday goodies without going overboard? My friend Audrey said that she decided she was not going to eat any treats that came from a wrapper during the month of December. She was going to save her treats for only the homemade ones.

Healthy weight ranges

I've been doing some research on what is a healthy weight range for me to be in. For my age (32), and height (5'5"), my healthy range falls around 120-150 lbs. I'm aiming to be at the top of that range because I've been there before and it felt good, and I didn't feel deprived. With my first weight-loss attempt, I tried to get closer to the bottom of that range, and it just wasn't working. I'd rather have a lifestyle I can really live with and be closer to the top.

Here's an example of one chart I was looking at:

I've also been researching how much is a healthy weight loss, and from what I've read, it seems 1-3 pounds per week is a healthy amount to lose. BUT...not for nursing moms. Nursing moms should be losing more like 1 pound per week. I'm ok with that. I definitely want to make sure Zach is getting what he needs.

Week 3

Even though I was sick for the majority of the week, I feel like I had a good week.


WEIGH-IN
Current weight: 182 lbs.
Week's weight loss/gain: - 4 lbs.
Total weight loss: -8 lbs.

Yay! I'm sure that my 2 days of eating nothing but soup and toast contributed to this week's weight loss. Not necessarily the best method to lose weight, but I did make fairly good eating choices throughout the week. And today I started back up with The Shred and my food journal.

GOAL REPORT  
Get out of the house for a couple of hours without the kids and do something fun!
I went with Matt to see The Hobbit. It was SO NICE to get out. I really think that doing something fun and relaxing every once in awhile is really important to good health. It gives you something to look forward to and recharge.

NEW GOAL(s)
I'm giving myself 2 weeks for these (until New Year's).

1. Put away the maternity clothes. It's time. Even though my pre-pregnancy pants still don't fit, I cannot keep wearing maternity clothes. I feel like a frump and a fatty in them. I'll just have to get some bigger pants to wear until I can fit back into the other ones, and get over the fact that I will be buying a bigger size than I want.

2. Finish my organization chart. I am making a checklist of all the healthy/organization/cleaning habits I want to have. It's divided into daily/weekly/monthly/etc tasks. I'm putting it in a big picture frame so I can use a dry-erase marker to check things off. It has things like daily exercise, scripture study, time with my kids, weekly cleaning chores, monthly deep cleaning chores, etc. I think that I feel better about myself when I try to be on top of things, and when I feel better about myself I am better able to make healthy choices. I want to start using it as one of my New Year's resolutions, so I need to finish it.

Sick

I have been sick since Tuesday. Ugh! I'm finally feeling better today (Saturday). My food journal, water drinking goal and exercise have pretty much gone out the window this week.

What do you do when you're sick? Do you still try to keep up the healthy habits or just put everything on hold?

Week 2 report & new goal

This was a really rough week. I feel like Zach has been the fussiest baby on the face of the planet, and so I have gotten a minimal amount of sleep and had a minimal amount of time to do a lot of the things I would have liked to do this week. I didn't lose any weight this week, but I didn't gain any either. And I'm totally ok with that. Sometimes you just have to survive.

WEIGH-IN
Current weight: 186 lbs.
Week's weight loss/gain: +/- 0 lbs.
Total weight loss: -4 lbs.

GOAL REPORT

1. No eating after dinner. I realized that this wasn't a very realistic goal for me to have right now. I am constantly getting interrupted during dinner and don't always finish it before having to go feed Zach or put Emily to bed or wipe up spills or whatever. So my "dinner" sometimes lasts a couple of hours before I'm actually done. Maybe I'll try this one again when dinner time is a little more stable.

2. Continue with the 30-Day Shred and try Level 2 by the end of the week.Yes! I worked out with Jillian 5 days this week, and did 2 days of Level 2. It kicked my butt, but I did it!

I also continued with my water-drinking goal and my food journal.

This week's goal is to get out of the house for a couple of hours without the kids and do something fun! Like go shopping or to a movie or get a pedicure or something. It's been over 2 months since I have done something like that, and I really think I need it right now. I think it's important (and contributes to good health) to treat yourself to some "me" time every now and then, and I'm long overdue. It's hard getting out when you have a new baby (especially if you're nursing), but I'm going to do it.

What do you do to make time for yourself?

When your exercise plan doesn't work out

On Friday I had big plans to work out with Jillian again, and do Level 2 of the 30-Day Shred, but it never happened. Zach was crying & fussing all morning and poor Emily (my 2-year-old) got neglected. So when Zach FINALLY calmed down and went to sleep, I decided that it was more important to play with Emily than to do the workout DVD.

So instead I used Emily as my weights and did my own strength workout. I put her on my shins like this and did leg lifts and sit ups.

We pretended she was flying like an airplane. I also put her on my tummy (while lying flat on my back) and did butt lifts and I also did bench presses using her as the barbell.

It actually was a pretty good workout and she had a BLAST! She asked me to do it again later.

I found a couple of articles on incorporating kids into your workout that I liked. You can read them here and here.

If you have kids, how do you work out with them around? Or do you just work out when they're not around? (I prefer to do it when they're not around, but sometimes that doesn't happen, so these are some good ideas.)

The drive-thru dilemma

Last night we were out doing some errands before dinner and it took longer than we had planned. I had planned to make some chicken with whole wheat fettuccine and light alfredo sauce and broccoli and carrots for dinner. It was a great plan. However, as we were out, everyone was getting hungry (and Emily was being really whiny) and getting tired.

My hubby, Matt, suggested we just stop and get something for dinner on the way home so that we could just put Emily to bed sooner. If we would have gone home, made the dinner, and ate it, it would have taken 3 times as long as just stopping to get food on the way home. It was already past Emily's bedtime and she was tired, and we were all hungry, and I was frustrated and stressed so I gave in and we went to the nearest drive-thru and got some food.

Now, I have two dilemmas here.

1. What to do when you're on the go and need a quick meal. This is a problem for me because I get stressed taking 2 small children anywhere, and I get frustrated when they misbehave or it takes longer than planned. So then I don't want to cook. And I end up grabbing something on the way home.

2. What to do when your spouse wants to go out to eat. Matt loves to go out to eat. Before we got married, he actually ate out for every meal. When I'm already tired and frustrated, it's hard for me to resist his suggestions of just going to get some food. (And let's face it, I would rather go out than have to cook and clean up anyway.)

I don't think it's bad to eat out, I just want to do it less and have it be more of a planned occasion rather than a last-minute thing.

Anyone have any suggestions of how I can overcome either of these dilemmas?

Making Time

This week's goals are...

1. No eating after dinner. I usually want a treat or something a couple of hours after dinner, but I've got to curb that habit. If I really am hungry, I can have a fruit or vegetable. And I can drink lots of water! Anyone else have this problem of wanting a snack before bed? How do you curb nighttime snacking? I think I'm going to try brushing my teeth right after dinner...that might help.

2. Continue with the 30-Day Shred and try Level 2 by the end of the week. Level 1 is getting easier! I don't feel like I'm going to die by the end! It's still not a cake walk, but definately easier than Day 1.

I also love that it's only a 20-minute workout. I hope to increase my exercise time soon, but honestly that's all I can really handle right now. Sometimes I can't even get through the whole workout without being interrupted by a crying baby (or a busy toddler). Most of the time though, they'll give me my 20 minutes.

I used to get up early and exercise in the morning, but right now since I'm up with Zach 2-3 times during the night, that is just not going to happen.

How do you make time for exercise?

First Week Successes

Time for my first week's report.

WEIGH-IN
Current weight: 186 lbs.
Week's weight loss: 2 lbs.
Total weight loss: 4 lbs.

Woo-hoo!

GOAL REPORT
Food journal: Every bite, every day. Yay for me!

Drinking 90 oz of water: Every day except Sunday (I only got in about 60 oz. on Sunday, and about 24 oz. of other drinks). This actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I have a 32 oz. water bottle, and my goal is to drink 3 of them per 24 hours. Now, I am nursing and so I am thirstier than normal, and I'm up 3-4 times in the night and I drink some water each time, so that has definately helped.

Some form of exercise daily: Every day except Sunday! I'm doing Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred. I did it 5 times (Level 1), and did 1 day on the eliptical for 30 minutes.

I felt good about this week. I could have made some better eating choices, but for the most part, I feel I did pretty well. And I wrote everything down (even if it wasn't the best choice). The hardest part for me was Sunday, when we had a family dinner and everyone brought delicious food. (We were celebrating the blessing of my baby in our church.)

Me with my Baby Zach, December 2, 2012.

Anyone else ever done the 30-Day Shred? How was it? Or anything similar? (Like Ripped in 30 or P90X or whatever?)

Material Motivation

Call me materialistic, but sometimes buying something new is really motivating to me. A new workout outfit, a new fitness gadget, new shoes, or whatever is sometimes just the thing to get me out of a rut.

I just bought myself a "get back in shape" present that I'm really excited about. A Garmin GPS running watch. They just came out with a new one, the Garmin Forerunner 10.

It tracks my mileage, pace, calories burned, and I can set goals of how fast/slow I want to go, and it will tell me if I'm on target or not. I haven't really had a chance to play with it yet, but I'm excited to get running again! I'll post a better review once I get a chance to test it out more.

What about you? Do you use material motivation? Do you think it works to get you going? What are some of your favorites? What about using it as a reward for reaching certain milestones?

Back in the Saddle

I went to my 6-week, post-baby checkup yesterday and got cleared to start exercising again. This is it, no more excuses. I need to start sometime, even if it's with small things. So yesterday I started keeping a food journal, having a 90 oz. water drinking goal, and today I started exercising. Those are the goals for this week. I gotta start with baby steps...journaling, drinking water, and doing some form of exercise.

I'm not gonna lie, yesterday was hard. I struggled with not eating junk. My 6-week-old baby has been SUPER fussy so I finally took him into the doctor to see if anything can be done to help him. Between that appointment, and my own doctor's appointment, I was on the go for a lot of the day.

I gave in and went to the drive-thru at Wendy's for lunch. But I got a small chili and a grilled chicken wrap. I dub that as a pretty decent choice. And I threw something in the crockpot for dinner, so when I got home from the doctor, I had something ready to go. I could have done better, but I could have done worse. And I wrote everything down in my food journal. I'm counting it as a good first day.

Today I got up early and did my first post-baby workout. Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, Level 1. Honestly, I felt kind of lame because I was struggling to do this workout, and remembering that back in my fitter days, this was an easy one. But I can't compare myself to then. So I'm considering it a good workout.

So all in all, I'd say....so far, so good. And I'm back in the saddle again.

And as much as I hate to do this, and as ugly as it is, I'm going to post my "BEFORE" weight and measurements. It'll keep me accountable, right?

Starting weight: 190 lbs
Waist: 36"
Hips: 44"
Bust: 42"

GOAL WEIGHT = 150 lbs. That means I've got 40 to lose.

And here's the "BEFORE" picture. It's not pretty, I'm warning you, but it'll be something to start from, and a good way to see my progress.)

Halloween, October 31, 2012. (2 weeks post-baby)

Third time's the charm

This is not my first time trying to get in shape and get healthy. I've been at it twice before.

The first time I lost about 50 lbs. I felt great! I learned how to eat healthy, how to exercise...I even ran a marathon.

Weight Loss Attempt #1

Then I got pregnant with my first child and gained most of it back. I did ok at exercising throughout the pregnancy, but once my little girl was born, it was SO HARD to get back on track.

Weight Loss Attempt #2

But I did ok, lost most of the baby weight and even completed a 100-mile bike race and got back up to running a 10K distance. But I never got back to where I wanted to be before I got pregnant again.

But throughout this most recent pregnancy, I felt so miserable throughout the entire 9 months that I was not able to exercise much and was too tired, sick and lazy to cook very well.

Which brings me to now. The third go-around of this whole weight loss thing. Only this time, I want to focus more on just being healthy. Yes, I want to lose weight, but the more important thing is to become healthy again. Both physically and mentally. No more laziness. I'm not quite sure exactly how I'm going to do it, but I NEED to, which is why I started this blog. So, here's for hoping the third time's the charm.

Operation: Get Healthy (Again)

So, what is this all about anyway? The Wellness Revolution is my effort to get myself healthy again--physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I believe that physical health is really only part of the key to being healthy. It's got to be driven by the other aspects in order to be effective and lasting.

I used to be healthy. And then life took over, and my wellness fell by the wayside. I can pretty much pinpoint this to having my first child. Becoming a mother was such a huge change in my life, and it was a big challenge. I didn't quite know how to deal with all the new responsibilities and struggles of being a mother, yet leave room for taking care of myself. And to be honest, I still don't. But it's time to figure it out.

Motherhood is hard for me. To some, it comes natural, but for me, it's a challenge. Don't get me wrong, I love my children to death, and wouldn't trade them for anything. And it's partly for them that I want to get healthy again. I don't want them to have a lazy, dragging, tired mom. I want to have more energy to play and run with them. I want them to see a confident, beautiful, vibrant, healthy mom who loves life (and her body), teaches them healthy habits, and encourages them not to be lazy (like I have been lately), but to live up to their potential.

I'm tired of being lazy. I'm tired of my health taking a backseat in my life. It's time to make it a priority again. I just gave birth to my second child. I gained a lot of weight and developed a lot of unhealthy habits during my pregnancy. Sometimes I feel like when I had kids, my body was not my own anymore. It's time to regain control and start developing those healthy habits again. I know it's going to be hard, but I believe it will be worth it.

And so The Wellness Revolution is born. I'm going to document my journey--the good, the bad, and probably even the ugly at times. And I hope it will give me the support, accountability, and motivation I need to do this.