So the results of the first week of the war....5-1/2 pounds lost. Who-hoo! But as anyone who watches the Biggest Loser knows that the first week always has the most loss. So with week two the proof will have to be in the pudding as they say. I would like to lose at least 20 pounds over the course of this war. I don't even care about the money though it would be nice to win it. I am all about the fed up with being at my heaviest weight and being uncomfortable in my own skin so I am SO GLAD that my friends decided to do this, it's exactly the kick in the pants I needed.
I have been really going full force with my workouts, measuring and calculating every bite and ensuring that I am getting 7 hours of sleep each night. I won't jinx the sleep club Gods but will say that it's been okay in that department lately. So I am hoping that my over the top exercising will pay off and really it should because...it sucks.
There I said it. Exercising sucks. I know I am supposed to get a high from it and feel all endorphins rush etc. and by the end of the workout I do, I am pumped and it feels great to shower off and know that I am feeling good. But the amount of back and forth arguing I do in my head about whether to go, should I go, can I skip today, I will only do 10 minutes...blah blah. It's awful. The first 10 minutes really do suck. So I make a deal with myself every single time to do at least 10 minutes and re-evaluate and thus far by the time I hit those 10 minutes I am so deep into my ipod that I just keep going. It really is all about taking the first step. Once I step in the right direction towards the gym, I can get the workout done. But getting there, man it's tough sometimes.
It's only been two weeks and I hope I can keep it up and who knows maybe by week 12 I will tell you that I LOVE to exercise. Or at least that I love it because it is a means to my ends to fit my ass back into a size 14 for crissakes. I also think I need to find a nice used double jogger to help with the warm weather that is finally coming back so that the girls and I can get out and about and maybe meet some new neighbors. Stay tuned for week 3.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Weight Loss War - Week One
It hurts everywhere. I am very literally kicking my own ass. I have not missed my daily gym appointment yet this week and while I know that I can't keep it up for an eternity I am loving the deep hurt feeling while I lie in bed knowing that I did good at working those muscles.
Getting up however, is another story entirely. Once I step out of bed I am reminded that I am not 25 any more. Hell, I am not even 30 anymore and there are probably more aches and pains then there should be since I have these extra pounds pushing down on all my joints.
But it feels good and I am pressing on. I have even found some recipes I can't wait to try in my new healthy eating lifestyle. And poor Gary, whether he knows it or not he is in this with me too because I refuse to buy the soda, chips, ice cream etc. that I know he and I love. So I may just be doing this as a two-fer.
I had Gary take a picture and suffice to say I was not happy with the results. Thus far I have taken pictures with the girls conveniently positioned in front of me or cropped out the roll or belly fat in others. But this was a full on head to toe, no one in front of me picture and it was really a wake up to me. I have been reading Bob Harper's Book about "Are you Ready?" and in there it mentions that one woman he worked with only took pictures or looked in mirrors from the neck up. And that is what I have been doing. Or when I did look in a full length mirror it was with squared shoulders and stomach sucked in . But with this picture, it was all out there. So that picture is now is hanging on my refrigerator (though I am sure I will whip it into the drawer these first few weeks so others don't see it) as a little reminder of why I don't need the extra what have you from inside the fridge. I will post it in a month when I hopefully have another, better, slimmer one beside it.
Getting up however, is another story entirely. Once I step out of bed I am reminded that I am not 25 any more. Hell, I am not even 30 anymore and there are probably more aches and pains then there should be since I have these extra pounds pushing down on all my joints.
But it feels good and I am pressing on. I have even found some recipes I can't wait to try in my new healthy eating lifestyle. And poor Gary, whether he knows it or not he is in this with me too because I refuse to buy the soda, chips, ice cream etc. that I know he and I love. So I may just be doing this as a two-fer.
I had Gary take a picture and suffice to say I was not happy with the results. Thus far I have taken pictures with the girls conveniently positioned in front of me or cropped out the roll or belly fat in others. But this was a full on head to toe, no one in front of me picture and it was really a wake up to me. I have been reading Bob Harper's Book about "Are you Ready?" and in there it mentions that one woman he worked with only took pictures or looked in mirrors from the neck up. And that is what I have been doing. Or when I did look in a full length mirror it was with squared shoulders and stomach sucked in . But with this picture, it was all out there. So that picture is now is hanging on my refrigerator (though I am sure I will whip it into the drawer these first few weeks so others don't see it) as a little reminder of why I don't need the extra what have you from inside the fridge. I will post it in a month when I hopefully have another, better, slimmer one beside it.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Still here....
I know, I know, I go off and live my life but leave you all hanging here. I left off to conquer the world of weightloss. I didn't do badly but I definately didn't see the results that I wanted. But I realized a few things about myself and where my diet goes down the drain so I am working on that. I didn't step on the scale for about 6 weeks and when I finally did I had lost 3 pounds. At first I was ticked off and wanted to heave the scale out the window but I finally realized that 1/2 pound a week while it isn't the lightning speeds that I want, it's something.
I have also figured out that I need to be consistent in my workouts and eating because it isn't a diet it's going to be a new lifestyle. So to help me on my journey I have joined up with a few great lady friends for a weight loss war. It's very motivating to have a competition and while the prize money would be great, far greater will be the rewards of actually losing the weight. So here I go again....reminds me of that 80s hairband song. Many more posts about this to come, I assure you. The preliminary news is that day one went AWESOME right down to the last calorie and the trip to the gym. Though I had to go to bed at 8PM last night and read just so I wouldn't be tempted to eat anything else. So feel free to leave me any inspirational comments as well as tips that you may have. I will say that going upstairs last night at 8PM allowed me to do a ton of reading in my latest book but that this morning I woke up famished and with my thyroid meds I can't eat for a whole hour after taking them so it's been torture waiting this morning and my stomach is doing something it hasn't done in a while....growling.
In other news that isn't all consuming as my weightloss attempts, the girls and I made a trip to Florida at the end of March. Gary couldn't come because work has been unpredictable and he didn't want to miss out on a big job because he was away. So the girls and I went to visit my parents without him. It was sad not to go with him, definately but I think a small part of me was just as happy to have my parents share in the girls with me for that week. Since my they are my parents and I am an extension of them it's fun to see the youngest generation of "Santoros" (my maiden name) with the older one. My father has waited for grandkids forever and my girls did not disappoint. I even see a bit of the kid in my father as he is down on his hands and knees doing driveway chalk with them.
The girls did awesome on the plane. It was definately a lot of work to get on the plane with them and to have to organize all of our stuff to take as minimally as possible but still be able to entertain them for the 3 hour plane ride. They each had their own backpack with wheels that they could wear or drag through the airport and I took Nicole's car seat on a little dolly made specifically for carseats and we dumped everything into it and hauled it through the airport. I was also able to get gate passes so that Gary could take us to the gate in Boston and my mom could meet us at the gate in Sarasota. Worked perfectly.
The winter thus far in Florida has been nothing great, better than New England definately but still not typical Florida in postcards weather. But when we arrived, my father said it was like a switch, the weather was warmer, we took him to the beach for the first time this winter and we had time to play outside and enjoy the summer-like conditions.
We even came home on Easter and didn't blink an eye because it was just as beautiful in Boston as it had been getting on the plane in Florida. It held for a few days even and my girls were tickled thinking that this was it, summer arrived. Though being the seasoned New Englander that I am I know it was only a tease and the flip flops and painted toes would again make their retreat beneath socks. But my girls have still not given up on their skirts sans tights and short sleeve shirts.
So come on Spring/Summer. Please don't leave us in the cold and wet like last year and show some sun to us that warms us up!
I have also figured out that I need to be consistent in my workouts and eating because it isn't a diet it's going to be a new lifestyle. So to help me on my journey I have joined up with a few great lady friends for a weight loss war. It's very motivating to have a competition and while the prize money would be great, far greater will be the rewards of actually losing the weight. So here I go again....reminds me of that 80s hairband song. Many more posts about this to come, I assure you. The preliminary news is that day one went AWESOME right down to the last calorie and the trip to the gym. Though I had to go to bed at 8PM last night and read just so I wouldn't be tempted to eat anything else. So feel free to leave me any inspirational comments as well as tips that you may have. I will say that going upstairs last night at 8PM allowed me to do a ton of reading in my latest book but that this morning I woke up famished and with my thyroid meds I can't eat for a whole hour after taking them so it's been torture waiting this morning and my stomach is doing something it hasn't done in a while....growling.
In other news that isn't all consuming as my weightloss attempts, the girls and I made a trip to Florida at the end of March. Gary couldn't come because work has been unpredictable and he didn't want to miss out on a big job because he was away. So the girls and I went to visit my parents without him. It was sad not to go with him, definately but I think a small part of me was just as happy to have my parents share in the girls with me for that week. Since my they are my parents and I am an extension of them it's fun to see the youngest generation of "Santoros" (my maiden name) with the older one. My father has waited for grandkids forever and my girls did not disappoint. I even see a bit of the kid in my father as he is down on his hands and knees doing driveway chalk with them.
The girls did awesome on the plane. It was definately a lot of work to get on the plane with them and to have to organize all of our stuff to take as minimally as possible but still be able to entertain them for the 3 hour plane ride. They each had their own backpack with wheels that they could wear or drag through the airport and I took Nicole's car seat on a little dolly made specifically for carseats and we dumped everything into it and hauled it through the airport. I was also able to get gate passes so that Gary could take us to the gate in Boston and my mom could meet us at the gate in Sarasota. Worked perfectly.
The winter thus far in Florida has been nothing great, better than New England definately but still not typical Florida in postcards weather. But when we arrived, my father said it was like a switch, the weather was warmer, we took him to the beach for the first time this winter and we had time to play outside and enjoy the summer-like conditions.
We even came home on Easter and didn't blink an eye because it was just as beautiful in Boston as it had been getting on the plane in Florida. It held for a few days even and my girls were tickled thinking that this was it, summer arrived. Though being the seasoned New Englander that I am I know it was only a tease and the flip flops and painted toes would again make their retreat beneath socks. But my girls have still not given up on their skirts sans tights and short sleeve shirts.
So come on Spring/Summer. Please don't leave us in the cold and wet like last year and show some sun to us that warms us up!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Choices
An Internet chat group that I am proud to be a part of had an interesting discussion a week or so back. Basically there were a few posts that said if you do these things you will make your life healthier. There was also a post in response to it where the poster said that they just could not understand why someone would continue to live at an unhealthy weight knowing all the health risks it poses.
As someone who has struggled with weight my entire life, I of course got hot under the collar when I read this statement. I wanted to shout "Do you think it's easy to desperately want to lose weight and fail over and over?" But I didn't. Then I began to think about it more and more and realized that despite that I didn't want to hear it....she was right. Why am I doing this to myself? Why do I continue to struggle with weight and not able to lose it? How close am I to making this a problem for my children to face as well? Of course it isn't easy to lose the weight. If it were, would there be a popular reality TV show with overweight people stepping on the scale scantily clad in front of America if it was easy?
It made me take a good hard look at myself and realized that I need to make some important choices. I can't change it all in one day. But I know that when things start to get hard or when I am not seeing the progress like the contestants on the Biggest Loser are seeing that I get discouraged and just say I will try it again tomorrow, or Monday or whenever the next easiest deadline I want to give myself arrives.
Well it's here. I have hit it. So instead of making a New Year's resolution I am making a mid-February promise. I am going to get healthy. I am not entirely sure how I am going to do it. I know that Weight Watchers while a great program and one I have succeeded on in the past isn't doing it for me. I also know that the ones like Jenny Craig or Nutrisystems where you get all of your food in ready to eat containers will give you portion control but I like to cook. I want to know that I don't have to depend on cellophane wrapped meals for the rest of my life to maintain a healthy weight. And kudos to those who have undergone the gastric bypass and have been successful, but I don't want to do it that way either.
So far my approach has been to eat less, move more. I stepped on the scale and when I have enough courage I will post the starting weight. Needless to say it isn't pretty and it starts with a "2". But, it's all downhill from here. I have my sparkpeople profile set up. I have my exercise regime started with 5 days per week of doing something whether it's a DVD in my bedroom or actually going to the gym.
So send some encouragement my way. It's going to be a long road. I know that people with thyroid issues that I have can encounter a tougher weight loss but it can be done I am told. So here it goes. I will check in at least once per week and let you know how it is going. Thus far I have run 6.2 miles this week and I have stayed below my 1500 calorie per day intake.
Onward and downward!
As someone who has struggled with weight my entire life, I of course got hot under the collar when I read this statement. I wanted to shout "Do you think it's easy to desperately want to lose weight and fail over and over?" But I didn't. Then I began to think about it more and more and realized that despite that I didn't want to hear it....she was right. Why am I doing this to myself? Why do I continue to struggle with weight and not able to lose it? How close am I to making this a problem for my children to face as well? Of course it isn't easy to lose the weight. If it were, would there be a popular reality TV show with overweight people stepping on the scale scantily clad in front of America if it was easy?
It made me take a good hard look at myself and realized that I need to make some important choices. I can't change it all in one day. But I know that when things start to get hard or when I am not seeing the progress like the contestants on the Biggest Loser are seeing that I get discouraged and just say I will try it again tomorrow, or Monday or whenever the next easiest deadline I want to give myself arrives.
Well it's here. I have hit it. So instead of making a New Year's resolution I am making a mid-February promise. I am going to get healthy. I am not entirely sure how I am going to do it. I know that Weight Watchers while a great program and one I have succeeded on in the past isn't doing it for me. I also know that the ones like Jenny Craig or Nutrisystems where you get all of your food in ready to eat containers will give you portion control but I like to cook. I want to know that I don't have to depend on cellophane wrapped meals for the rest of my life to maintain a healthy weight. And kudos to those who have undergone the gastric bypass and have been successful, but I don't want to do it that way either.
So far my approach has been to eat less, move more. I stepped on the scale and when I have enough courage I will post the starting weight. Needless to say it isn't pretty and it starts with a "2". But, it's all downhill from here. I have my sparkpeople profile set up. I have my exercise regime started with 5 days per week of doing something whether it's a DVD in my bedroom or actually going to the gym.
So send some encouragement my way. It's going to be a long road. I know that people with thyroid issues that I have can encounter a tougher weight loss but it can be done I am told. So here it goes. I will check in at least once per week and let you know how it is going. Thus far I have run 6.2 miles this week and I have stayed below my 1500 calorie per day intake.
Onward and downward!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Too Much Stuff
As evidenced by my blog title, I work part time. I am lucky enough to have a position that allows me to work 24 hours per week. It's a great gig and I love my position. You would think that having kids, I would have grown a thick skin because almost every request I make of them is instantly met with the word "no". Apparently this is not so because inevitably I still come across the occasional person who in one little sentence can send my day into a downward spiral.
This instance was last week when I was on my way into the office building from the garage underneath. I was walking in with my laptop, jacket over my arm and my pocketbook. We have a key card that grants us access to the building and typically just a quick wave in front of the device will open the door. Knowing that the card was somewhere in my bag and that just a simple wave of my pocketbook in the correct place would open the door, I did a little dance and tried to open the door on the wrong side of my pocketbook apparently. I did eventually get the door to open and managed to get myself inside the building to the elevator where a man was holding the door open for me. I rushed in with all of my items over my arms, etc. and the man inside looked at me in disgust and told me I had too much stuff. If it had been said in jest or with a smile I might have come up with an equally funny retort. Instead I was left to seeth about how he didn't know what I had in my bags and why I had that stuff and thank God I wasn't nursing anymore so that there were no pumps of any sort because I would have gladly explained that to him.
This instance was last week when I was on my way into the office building from the garage underneath. I was walking in with my laptop, jacket over my arm and my pocketbook. We have a key card that grants us access to the building and typically just a quick wave in front of the device will open the door. Knowing that the card was somewhere in my bag and that just a simple wave of my pocketbook in the correct place would open the door, I did a little dance and tried to open the door on the wrong side of my pocketbook apparently. I did eventually get the door to open and managed to get myself inside the building to the elevator where a man was holding the door open for me. I rushed in with all of my items over my arms, etc. and the man inside looked at me in disgust and told me I had too much stuff. If it had been said in jest or with a smile I might have come up with an equally funny retort. Instead I was left to seeth about how he didn't know what I had in my bags and why I had that stuff and thank God I wasn't nursing anymore so that there were no pumps of any sort because I would have gladly explained that to him.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Third Year
While I was on hiatus, we had another birthday here. Nicole turned three on January 9th. In typical me fashion I hadn't quite recovered from the holidays when I realized I should probably get off my duff and arrange for some celebration for her. Good thing she is young. I hope she doesn't think that I jipped her in any way. We are still in the family birthday celebration mode where no outside friends have really been invited yet to our celebrations. Last year for Aimee's birthday we did invite a few of her friends to a paint your own plaster place that was great. But she turned 4 and I think it was warranted. So any readers I have left, be sure that you remind me at Christmas time to prepare something for Nicole's 4th. At least by that time she will be in preschool and have a few friends of her own.
And then, from her actual birthday day...please note trying to still wear the holiday sweaters....
I can't believe that Nicole is 3. Seems like it went by all really fast. It's a good thing that most of my pictures are dated because some I think were taken last year were really taken almost 2 years ago. You would think that I would realize it but my kids are the slowest with getting their teeth and Nicole is so slim I haven't noticed any difference in her facial shape from 2-3, even in pictures. Strange for sure.
We had her 3 year check up and she tips the scales at 27 pounds and is 35-1/4 inch tall. So she is still on the small side but at least she is proportionate.
Happy Birthday little girl....just minutes old...
And then, from her actual birthday day...please note trying to still wear the holiday sweaters....Jack of All Trades...
And master of none. The least of which is updating my blog. Bad, bad blogger....
To say that we have been busy would be an understatement. I left off back in October I believe. Since then we have hosted Thanksgiving, an open house and Christmas. Not to mention various birthday gatherings in between.
Thanksgiving was awesome. I think it's my favorite holiday of the year. As a child of course nothing compared to Christmas but now that I am older I can appreciate Thanksgiving more. No shopping besides for the meal. The house smells great all day long from Turkey cooking and overall it's just a great time of year.
Then Christmas rolls around. This year we hosted an open house here and I invited about 75 people thinking they would waltz in at all times during the day. Not so. They all stopped by probably at about 2PM. The open house went from 12-5 and everyone came smack dab in the middle. One dear friend of mine from NJ who I was maid of honor for her in her wedding surprised me and came up with her daughter who is about 8 months younger than Aimee. That was the best Christmas present I got this year. It was early but it was just so heartwarming to see her and know that she thought enough to come. I also had a lot of other people I had not seen in a long time show up to visit and overall it was a great day. I think that giving people an outlet to get together is awesome. At one point I looked around my new house and saw no less than about 50 people in my house. Some were in our living room, some gathered around the kitchen and others just mingling about the family room. We have decided to make it an annual event.
Then Christmas itself actually rolls around. We decorated for the open house so we were done early this year. It was also the year where the girls were at the best age. They got it all this year. Santa, the elf on the shelf, writing lists, getting their picture taken, etc. etc. I hope that it lasts like this for a few more years.
Now we are onto January and the new year. So again my resolution is back to what I typically do. Lose weight. It has been on my list forever, even higher up since having kids since the pounds packed on during pregnancy seem to linger still.
To say that we have been busy would be an understatement. I left off back in October I believe. Since then we have hosted Thanksgiving, an open house and Christmas. Not to mention various birthday gatherings in between.
Thanksgiving was awesome. I think it's my favorite holiday of the year. As a child of course nothing compared to Christmas but now that I am older I can appreciate Thanksgiving more. No shopping besides for the meal. The house smells great all day long from Turkey cooking and overall it's just a great time of year.
Then Christmas rolls around. This year we hosted an open house here and I invited about 75 people thinking they would waltz in at all times during the day. Not so. They all stopped by probably at about 2PM. The open house went from 12-5 and everyone came smack dab in the middle. One dear friend of mine from NJ who I was maid of honor for her in her wedding surprised me and came up with her daughter who is about 8 months younger than Aimee. That was the best Christmas present I got this year. It was early but it was just so heartwarming to see her and know that she thought enough to come. I also had a lot of other people I had not seen in a long time show up to visit and overall it was a great day. I think that giving people an outlet to get together is awesome. At one point I looked around my new house and saw no less than about 50 people in my house. Some were in our living room, some gathered around the kitchen and others just mingling about the family room. We have decided to make it an annual event.
Then Christmas itself actually rolls around. We decorated for the open house so we were done early this year. It was also the year where the girls were at the best age. They got it all this year. Santa, the elf on the shelf, writing lists, getting their picture taken, etc. etc. I hope that it lasts like this for a few more years.
Now we are onto January and the new year. So again my resolution is back to what I typically do. Lose weight. It has been on my list forever, even higher up since having kids since the pounds packed on during pregnancy seem to linger still.
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