Body After Baby: Week Four

I almost feel bad saying this.

I lost weight over xmas.
Yep. I've lost two-ish pounds.
This morning I almost had a heart attack when I saw 146.6. I weighed myself twice.
The body fat according to the scale was 24.5% I don't think that's to shabby. My legs are still chunky, and I did start out somewhere in the neighborhood of 45%. I happen to like this site, it says my body fat is 20.32% -- and that's with measurements at the end of the day and over my jeans.

I planned on starting P90X on the first.
I ordered my weights with my xmas bonus, but thanks to the winter storm on the East Coast, they've been delayed. I could always start off with resistance bands I suppose.

I've also been kicking around the idea of becoming a certified nutritionist.

Want to see how everyone else is doing? Offer them some words of encouragement?
Head over to MamaNotes.com to catch up with everyone.

Hope everyone has a good New Years!

Body After Baby ... and Christmas

I feel a huge fail going on here!
Especially considering I am just now writing this on Christmas Day -- maybe that will hold me accountable --

To combat the Christmas feast, I was going to eat really good leading up to today.
Wednesday: Mother in Law made hamburgers. Pro: Used 7 Grain Deli Flats as a bun. Con: 73% fat meat.
Thursday : Late grocery and last minute present shopping = Pizza. I was so hungry I ate too much.
Friday : Sugar cookies. Darn Santa. Why can't he like veggies and protein bars?

The plan for today?
Load up on turkey!!
Then start back tomorrow on KettleWorx.

I have been working crazy hours and have not had the energy to work out the way I should.
It kind of worries me with wanting to start P90X.  How in the world will I find the energy to work out for an hour when the 15 minutes is killing me?!?

I got a Christmas "bonus" from my boss. A $50 gift card to Wal-Mart.
I am torn.

Do I buy the dumbells or find a heart rate monitor?

Merry Christmas!!
Hope everyone has a great time with their families and if you're dieting, don't feel guilty about enjoying all the goodies today.

Merry Christmas!

You may need to click on the photo to see it full size.

Body After Baby : Week 3

Quick run down.
Christmas dinner, crazy hours and not tracking calories. I did work in a veggie or fruit each day.
I also managed to fit in a hot chocolate and frosty with M&M's.

I weighed 149 this morning.
We went shopping this weekend, and I was able to buy a size 9/10 skirt and pants. Brandon also bought me a pair of Dr Martens! Not related to weight loss, but they are awesome.

I have started back on KettleWorx this week.
After much contemplating, I decided to restart with my poor little 10 pound kettle bell.  January 1st I plan to start P90X -- once I get Brandon to put up my pull up bar.

I need to

• Drink more water, less diet coke
• Keep eating more veggies
• Stop eating so much meat
• Install the pull up bar
• Buy some weights
• Get more sleep
• Try not to go over 150 pounds

I'm still trying to figure out how many cups are in a head of romaine lettuce.

Baby it's C-O-L-D Outside!

It's cold.
Very cold.
But I am sure you knew that.

We're under a Severe Weather Warning. We may get wind gusts up to 50 mph. It was the same last night.
This morning, I saw where the road sign to our neighbors drive was blown down.

Our very old house was not built for this kind of weather. We made the decision to move in with Brandon's parents for the winter.  It's mutually beneficial. Also, a good chance to practice communal living.

I gained a kittie out of the deal!
They have the sweetest cat, who loves to sit on our computer d es k. And walk on the key board.

I think I just head on the news that it may be -5 degrees tonight. 

That's Fahrenheit!

brrr

Hope everyone stays warm!

Body After Baby: December 8th - 14th

A week down, 7 left to go.

How did it go?
Pretty well weight wise.  I reached my goal weight of 150 lbs this morning, close to three weeks early.  It was probably a fluke, but heck, I'll take it! Since I started trying to lose weight, I have lost 115 pounds.

So a loss of 4.2 pounds in a week.
I blame it on being bloated to do my impending period last week.

Samantha at MamaNotes.com (who is running the Body After Baby Challenge) mentioned using MyFitnessPal.com.  That site is awesome. I've been on there a while and have to say it's really a great resource. You may even be lucky enough to have a phone with which you can use their mobile app.  I use it to track my calories, exercise and water consumption.  I even venture into the forums. If you want to be my friend, check out my profile.  I love new friends!

I also like Traineo.com.  I have been using it since the first challenge that I participated in.  I like the graphs and the more intimate forums on there. I really feel like I've grown to know these people. Very supportive! Check me out there too.

Our challenges for this week?

Write down everything you eat and drink.

Cut out one unhealthy habit.

No problem with the first one.  I've been doing it for the last year. I have to say that it the only thing that really helps.  I tend to get anal retentive about it. If you want to know how to lose weight, I say track your calories... and be honest about it. If you have a huge bowl of cereal then know how many cups/servings it is!

Now for an unhealthy habit.
I need to eat a vegetable and/or fruit everyday. So can I use "I will stop not eating fuits and veggies"?  I have been working crazy hours and once again relying on protein bars and shakes as meals and snacks.  My thinking is that if I make it a point to eat at least ONE fruit and ONE vegetable each day for seven days it will become a good habit.
Oh, and I need to remember to take my vitamins. and eat more. It's been killing me to hit 1000 calories a day. One reason I need to make sure I take those multi's.
You would assume working at GNC I could remember.

Still working out my fitness plan.
I've been doing The Biggest Loser Challenge on my Wii.  I really want to do KettleWorx again, but am trying to find a cheaper heavier kettlebell. I used the 10 pound one I bought at Walmart. My sister offered to sell me her "1 pood" kettlebell. Apparently a pood is a Russian unit of measurement and is about 36.1 pounds. (I learned that today) I seriously don't think I can jump from 10 to 36 pounds. Some of the exercises were hard enough with a 10 pounder. I can imagine what it would be like holding my 2.5 year old daughter over my head, one handed and made of cast iron.
I did however purchase a pull up bar.
Now I need weights and I will be set to start P90X January first. I really want my husband to do it too.

hmmm ... maybe after 90 days I could handle a pood

I took a picture this weekend.

Please excuse the too big saggy work out pants.

Can anyone recommend a brand that doesn't resemble pajama bottoms?

Since I am feeling picture happy

A huge change from last year!!

Family Dynamics -- According to a 5 Year Old

Brye was worried this morning that his teddy bear, Gus, would be all alone while he was at school.
He wasn't thrilled when I said that he could babysit the house while I was at work.  He decided that Elmo, who is bigger than Gus, was his father and would sit with him.

Okay, that worked for me.

Then he comes up with:

You want to how to tell who the daddy is?   He's the biggest one.

And the medium-est one is the good kid.

Then the smallest one is always a bad kid... and a baby. You know, like Freedom.

But there is always a mommy to make sure they're all okay.

We Had Snow!

Once again, we have more snow than my family does in Canada!

But, just as soon as it started -- it's melting!

Which is kind of nice after last winter. We had snow in some places through March!

When Brye woke up December 1st, he proclaimed that is was NOT December because there was no snow. Well Brye -- December is officially here!

I apologize for the crappy BlackBerry pictures. When a 2+ year old Curve 8330 has been dropped hundreds, possibly thousands of times the quality starts to diminish.  Safe to say I need a new phone.

Body After Baby

I participated in the challenge last time, and it really got the ball moving.
Samantha ,over at MamaNotes.com, is hosting another eight week round.

I started off weighing 241 pounds. 

All I wanted to lose during that eight weeks was 15 pounds.
I ended up losing 26 pounds! 

The journey has continued and I currently weigh 154.2 pounds.
My current goal is to be 150 pounds by New Year.

I've been stuck though.
Yeah, I've lost a bunch of weight, but my body is ... well ... blech!

There has been minimal change (in my opinion) in my body composition over the last few months. I am starting to think that it's either skin that is still waiting to "spring" back or if there is a possibility of diastasis recti. You know, where there is separation of the abdominal muscles.  It seems to lean more towards the saggy, empty skin.  I did weight at least 265 pounds during my time without a baby, and I've weighed that much with two babies.  Safe to say there's not as much elasticity left!

Last week I finished a 6 week run of KettleWorx.
I was doing it 5 days a week. I was bummed that there wasn't more of an improvement.
I still can't do a real push up.
So right now, I am torn on which way to go. I planned on playing The Biggest Loser on the Wii, but I have been working some crazy hours the past couple of weeks. P90X has crossed my mind. I might give it a start in January.

Eating wise?
Well, I plan on sticking to the same eating plan that has helped me lose this weight.
I do want to "clean" it up more and add more vegetables. I tend to rely on protein bars when I am working. When I reach my goal, I want to phase out meat. 

So for the goal run down

• Get to 150 pounds -- and stay there.
• Work out 5 days a week, 6 if I feel froggy.
• Only eat out once a week.  Weekends are killer.
• Eat less meat and more veggies.
• Go to bed at 10 during the week.
• Make sure I take my vitamins.

One would think that spending all day selling vitamins to people and helping them get healthy I could remember to take mine.

I have pictures, but my husband doesn't want me post them.

I might try to take some this weekend in my workout clothes.

I ramble. 

You have been warned. 

Wordless Wednesday!