Shoes

I think my feet grew with this last pregnancy because most of my shoes don't fit anymore. I've heard that your feet can grow with pregnancy, but does anyone know if they can shrink back, or is it a permanent change? Has anyone ever had this happen?

I've read some stuff on it and some say that yes, it's permanent, and others say no, it's not. I have lots of shoes that I love and I don't want to get rid of them if there's hope that my feet will shrink back into them. But at the same time, if they never will, I might as well make more room in my closet and get some shoes that fit! And learn to let go of my cute shoes. (Although that is going to be really hard!)

Sometimes I can be really quick to get rid of stuff, and then I regret it. Like when I got rid of all my "too-big" clothes the first time I lost a bunch of weight. Well, they really would come in handy now! But other times I hold on to stuff for way too long. Like the box of jeans I found when I moved that I'd been saving for like 10 years!

How do you decide when it's time to purge stuff? 

Week 13

WEIGH-IN
Current weight: 179 lbs.
Week's weight loss/gain: +1 lb.
Total weight loss: -11 lbs.

I gained a pound this week. :( It was a rough, stressful week. I was stuck inside all week with sick, whiney, needy kids. And I didn't handle it very well. What do you do to avoid cabin fever? Especially with sick kids? I am dying for winter to be over!

GOAL REPORT 
Go for a run. Preferably outside. I went for a 1-mile run on the treadmill. It was hard. But hey, it was better than nothing! But I did go to a Strike class and a Zumba class.

NEW GOAL
Go for a run. Yep, I'm going to try this one again.

Camera phobia

Remember my picture-taking post a few weeks ago? How I didn't want to take family pics because I wasn't skinny yet? I just got done reading this, and I'm glad I got those pics done. I want my family to remember me as someone who loved being with them instead of someone always trying to avoid the camera. So I resolve to let myself be in more pictures.

I almost didn't take this picture a week before Zach was born because I was bemoaning my fatness.

But now I'm glad I did, and I put it in Zach's baby book yesterday. And I hope he will look at it later and know that his mommy carried him with love.

Sleep

I strongly believe that sleep has a lot to do with our health and our weight loss.

Researchers at the University of Warwick and University College London have found that lack of sleep can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and has been shown to be a risk factor for weight gain, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes, sometimes leading to mortality. You can read the whole article here.

Even the scriptures talk about the importance of sleep. In D&C Section 88:124 the Lord instructs:

"Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated"

Adults should be getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night, according to The U.S. National Sleep Foundation.

I read a book a few months ago called The Happiness Project, and the VERY FIRST THING the author talked about was getting enough sleep in order to have a happier and healthier life.

So why then, does God send us little babies who disrupt our sleep?

I do believe that God has a reason for the things He does, even if I don't understand them. So I'm trying to make the best of it.

My little Zach is 4 months old. He is still really struggling with sleeping, and thus I am still struggling with sleeping. He is old enough and big enough to go for longer stretches at night without eating. So I actually started putting him in the basement for part of the night so the rest of us could actually get some sleep and so he could learn to go back to sleep on his own.

And can I say....it's been GREAT! I feel so much better! Sometimes I feel guilty for doing it, and sometimes I can even hear him from the basement, but a speck of sanity has been restored! He's slowly learning, and I am slowly regaining my energy. Maybe there is a light at the end of this sleepless tunnel!

How do you try to get enough sleep when you have a newborn? (or any other valid issue that interferes with your sleep?) Or how do you try to make the best of it if you really can't get enough sleep?

Week 12

WEIGH-IN
Current weight: 178 lbs.
Week's weight loss/gain: -1 lb.
Total weight loss: -12 lbs.

Slowly but surely. Sometimes I get so frustrated that these pounds are not coming off any quicker! But a loss is a loss, and I have to be grateful for that, and remember that I am still nursing and so I shouldn't be dropping much more than 1 pound a week anyway.

GOAL REPORT 
Give up seconds for Lent. It's going pretty well so far. There really was only one time I wanted seconds, and it was on Valentine's Day. My honey made me a yummy steak dinner with pasta salad, and I really wanted more pasta salad. But 20 minutes after leaving the table, I was just fine.


NEW GOAL
Go for a run. Preferably outside. If I want to be able to run a 1/2 marathon this year, I need to get cracking and get back in running shape. And it's starting to get somewhat tolerable outside again.

Strike! and daycares

So I've been trying a new class at the gym. It's called Strike! It's kickboxing based, but has some cardio intervals and then there's some strength intervals with weighted gloves and a weighted bar. It's pretty intense, but I liked it.

However, I took Emmy and Zach to the daycare at the gym for the first time, and when I came back, Emmy's face was all red and scratched up and her hair was a mess, as if her pigtails had been pulled. Now, honestly I don't know if someone else scratched her face and pulled her hair or if she did it to herself. (If she was crying and really upset, she could have done it herself.) She is really shy and has a hard time with new people and places.

Anyway, I'm pretty upset about it. I wish I knew if someone else did it to her. I WAS NOT impressed by the daycare at all. Actually, the baby room was amazing....Zach was perfectly content and happy and well-attended to. The toddler room was a joke...too many kids, not enough workers, it was loud, and I don't know if some mean kid hurt my Emmy! I wish they'd let her go in the baby room with Zach. Maybe I need to ask.

Anyway, I'm not sure what to do about this. If I should give it another try, check out a different gym's daycare, or bag the whole idea. Do you take your kids to a gym daycare?

Week 11

WEIGH-IN
Current weight: 179 lbs.
Week's weight loss/gain: -1 lb.
Total weight loss: -11 lbs.

Hey, one pound is one pound! Woot woot! Now I'm in the 170's! Good riddance forever 180's!!!

GOAL REPORT  
Recognize the good things I'm doing. I really tried to acknowledge the good choices I was making this week. Like....going to a new class at the gym even though I was tired, reading my scriptures almost every day, eating only one piece of pie at Allison's wedding, taking dinner to the neighbors, actually resting when I was sick instead of trying to plow through, cleaning the house...

Oh, and speaking of Allison's wedding, even though I wasn't where I wanted to be on this journey, I had fun at the wedding, tried to look my best, and didn't worry about what other people thought.

Matt and I without our kids! We actually paid for a babysitter so we could go and enjoy the reception (and not get spit-up on our nice clothes!)

Me and my sisters and sisters-in-law.

Anyway, recognizing the positive was a really good thing, and something I really should do on a regular basis. While we're on this subject, I was really inspired by this blog post by an awesome former student of mine. She basically talked about recognizing and appreciating yourself for the great person you are. It was a great reminder! I was also really inspired by another blog post by another former BYUSA student. She talked about how if we are talking negatively about ourselves and our body image, we're only teaching our beautiful children to do the same. And that is the last thing I want! She talked about how while she was frowning at herself in the mirror because of the "extras" she had from having a baby, her baby was smiling at herself in the mirror. Oh the things we learn from our children! Anyway, go read these posts, they are really eye-opening!


NEW GOAL(s) 
Give up seconds for Lent. Lent starts this week. On Wednesday. No, I'm not Catholic, but I do try to give something up each year for the 40 days of Lent, just for kicks. Last year, I gave up sugar. This year, I decided to give up seconds. So, starting Wednesday, I will not be having more than one plate of food. Now, there is an exception to this rule. If I am really still hungry, I can have more fruits or veggies or a piece of bread. But only one serving of the main dish. Or the dessert or whatever else. I REALLY need to work on portion control.


Are you going to give up something for Lent?

Week 10

WEIGH-IN
Current weight: 180 lbs.
Week's weight loss/gain: 0 lbs.
Total weight loss: -10 lbs.

I'm actually kind of surprised that I didn't gain anything this week with my little breakdown and the Superbowl party. Even though I made some healthy stuff, there was plenty of unhealthy stuff there that was oh-so tempting.

But...I went for my first post-baby run this weekend! I did 3 minutes running, 2 minutes walking for 30 minutes. It was hard, but it felt good to run again! And...I went to the gym for the first time since before Zach. We are in the process of testing out new gyms since our Gold's contracts expired right before Zach was born and we don't want to go back to Golds. I got a one-month free membership at Lifetime Fitness, so I'm trying it out to see if it's worth the $$$$ (It's slightly expensive, but really nice, and the other choices are the community rec centers, which are not so nice, but cheaper.)

And..it's time for my monthly measurements:

Bust: 39 in. (-2 in.)
Waist: 35 in. (-1 in.)
Hips: 41.5 in. (-1.5 in.)

Total inches lost: -6.5

Yipeee! At least I'm losing inches if I'm not losing pounds. :)

GOAL REPORT  
Make a new healthy recipe. I made those baked mozzarella sticks. They were ok. The breading stuff had trouble sticking to the cheese sticks, so that was kind of a problem. I couldn't figure out how to make it stick! I also brought veggies and hummus to the Superbowl party.


NEW GOAL(s) 
Recognize the good things I'm doing. A lot of the time I get really down on myself for the mistakes I make or the bad days/choices or whatever and I forget that even though I mess up, I am really doing a lot of things well and making some good choices. I need to recognize that more. I was really inspired by this article about how this lady was failing to recognize her 'drops of awesome'. So, this week, at the end of the day, I'm going to take a minute and recognize the good things I did that day and the good choices I made.