Archive for March, 2008

It is the first week of the Operation Spring Weight Off – and here is my story.

I started this because I wanted to lose the weight I had gained since my kids were born. At the time my son was three years old and I figured I couldn’t blame all my weight on baby weight anymore! With my daughter, I think I gained 40 lbs and after having her, I did go up one pants size. I stayed that size, eating okay and not exercising all that much and then my son came along. If I remember right I gained around the same amount of weight, but honestly I don’t remember exactly.

After having him, I went back to my pre-pregnant size. I stayed there for a few years and then we had to move to the south because of Chris’ job. And for some reason, I gained a lot of weight there. Maybe we changed our eating plans, maybe I was depressed, maybe I started snacking more, I’m not sure.

At any rate, I joined LA Weight Loss and lost over 15 lbs in two and a half months. I think I lost 17 lbs? You would think I would remember losing weight! But honestly, I’m not obsessed with a number, I go by how my clothes fit and how I feel overall. I stopped following LA in May once we found out we were pregnant again – but I probably didn’t need to because it was just changing how I was eating, I wasn’t taking supplements or anything. And I had been doing LA since right around getting pregnant anyway!

But I quit – and then I gained 14 pounds over the next months. Looking back I shouldn’t have stopped. I needed to lose weight and like I said, I wasn’t doing anything to harm the baby. I had already gained another size!

And so now I am stable. I have lost ten pounds in the past few months but I wasn’t following a new diet or exercising more/differently. I joined the Y and have been regularly working out for the past couple of weeks. I am also going to start South Beach (if I can ever sit and figure a meal plan!) and continue to work out.

My goal is to lose 15 pounds. I’ll work on more later, but for now it’s losing fifteen. Chris is graduating at the end of May and that is my goal date.

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I did my Y orientation today – the orientation is when they go over all the machines, teaching you how to use them, figuring out what works for you. We also went over heart rates and what I should shoot for in working out. We did a workout with all the machines, one rep per machine, after I did a very short warm up on the treadmill.

So far my plan is to go on Monday-Wednesday-Friday to do the treadmill warm up (cardio) and then all the machines – working upper and lower body. On Tuesday and Thursday I will do the treadmill warm up and then swim – or not swim, depending on … whatever, my mood, time, etc. On the weekends I am going to be sure to be active with my kids – I’d like us to go for walks or even just play, like playing soccer in the yard.

My goal is to lose 15 pounds in two months. I also plan on running a 20 minute mile and a half – sure that sounds easy for some people, but I haven’t worked out since last spring, seriously worked out I mean. The mile and a half is something being done before Chris graduates in May – its a family run the morning of graduation. Sure it is a military run, but I’ve heard it is a slow pace (thus my wanting to do it in 20 minutes). I know I can do a 20 minute mile already, that’s not hard, but just add “run” to that and I shudder. I really don’t like running.

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I had another great workout today at the Y. I did a mile and a half walk/run – I tried the cardio and the fat burn settings but ended up finishing on manual. Afterward I got ready to leave but ran into my Dad at the child care and we all played basketball for about a half hour. The kids were frustrated they couldn’t make a shot but of course they are short and the hoop is far up there. Dad has a hoop at the house and it is much lower so we will probably play basketball this weekend.

I’m meeting with a personal trainer – or at least he works for the Y, I just assume he’s a trainer – tomorrow afternoon. He is going to do an assessment and an orientation with me that shouldn’t take longer then a couple of hours. I had no idea what the assessment was – I figured I’d have to jump on a scale and … well, that’s all I could think of! But I talked to a friend and she said they will most likely figure body fat and weigh me and a few more things. I am definitely not looking forward to that!

The workouts make me tired, normal I’m sure, and I am going to start doing South Beach in the next couple of days. I plan on making weekly menus and the only bad part of that is taking into account feeding my kids. I’m sure they will  eat whatever I make though.

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We went back to the Y again yesterday! I walked and ran just over a mile and then swam for about twenty minutes. I felt so tired after that! I’m trying to push myself on the treadmill – I grabbed a magazine but after a few minutes couldn’t read it. Then I read an article that said if you can read while you are working out, you aren’t pushing yourself. And I need to push myself.

On Monday I mostly walked a mile and also did the elliptical for a bit and I was tired afterward. I felt like I had a good workout. Yesterday I felt like I had a better workout. I’ve never followed a specific thing while working out, just working on machines here or there and walking or swimming. I am meeting with a trainer on Friday to go over the machines and do an assessment. I’m not exactly sure what we are going to do but I’d like for the trainer to give me a routine to follow.

We are going back today and I plan on doing the same thing as yesterday. Once I get a routine down I’ll switch the workout up. But for now, I just need to get moving.

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I spent all of Sunday morning cooking and making desserts. I wanted to make a carrot cake, a cherry cheesecake and Dad requested a strawberry pie. First up is the carrot cake – I used the one most recently featured on the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog (love her writing and pictures!). Here are my ingredients – I did use wheat flour and organic sugar, as well as olive oil, and none of those seemed to alter the taste or cooking time.  Don’t mind the phone and computer – I had to look up the recipe and call my Grandma.

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It was very easy to make and the only hold up was Dad having to run out and buy a cake pan. Yep, he had no cake pan! The mix ended up sitting in the bowl for a little while because of that. I didn’t mind that I had to wait to cook it because I forgot to get the butter out for the frosting. I haven’t made homemade frosting in a long time and wow, the frosting tasted delicious.

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I had all of that left after frosting the cake. I used a regular cake pan and maybe I was supposed to use a bigger size?

Few people ate though we had ton of food and I ended up sending a large chunk of the cake home with one of my brothers and then had a piece. It was awesome. I love carrot cake!

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We still have a lot left over and I’m not sure what we are doing with it. I may send it to work with my brothers, but other then that no ideas.

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Yesterday I found out I have lost 11lbs! I was both surprised and excited when I saw that. I haven’t been trying to lose weight though I have been watching what I’m eating. I haven’t been getting seconds at any meal and making sure I’m drinking plenty of water. I have been eating better now then I had at my Aunt and Uncle’s house.

So…11 lbs!!! Yay! My jeans are looser and my watch fits farther down my wrist, but I didn’t think anything of it. My goal is to lose 15lbs in the next two months – a high goal but something to strive for.

Photo credit to Wader

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