I am very happy to say I have lost six pounds!

I had lost four, then went off the diet plan, then went back on it and a week after being on it I’m down six. Six from the start, not six plus four. That’s okay though, I am happy to have lost at all. I have been doing great following the meal plan though I did get a spring cold and plan on eating a few oranges to get some vitamin C in me.

Still no Y workout but that’s where I weighed myself and I really can’t want until I get back there. I miss it and would love to be able to get back every day.

I feel great.

After being back on the south beach plan for the past week, I am doing so good. I had a plan and have stuck to it. Sure I may have given in here or there, but it’s like a half a bagel vs the entire thing so I forgive myself. Or I don’t hold it against myself, whichever.

I still haven’t made it to the Y but I’ve been active with the kids – I made up a fun run for them last week. We ran around a section of the yard and did funny things like pick up a big leaf and then drop it and watch it fall, or stopped at the gate and counted the bars on it, and when we ran by the truck we had to touch the mirror – my short three year old nephew couldn’t do it though so he was frustrated. But it was fun! The weather goes from cold one day to really nice the next so we are just taking advantage when we can.

I am going to the Y tomorrow and will have a scale check. It’s been a while for that! But my clothes are fitting awesome. Nothing is tight and a couple pairs of jeans are loose/baggy. It really annoys me to have baggy clothes, not that I want them super tight, but they need to fit right! I’m not going shopping for at least another week or so – I doubt I’ll lose a size or such by then, but I don’t want to continue losing weight and have whatever I wear to Chris’ graduation be too big or not look right.

So yay! I’m doing awesome – I feel great – I’m getting exercise even if it isn’t at the Y. I am interested in seeing the scale because I know the number has moved but really, I’m excited to go shopping later. I love trying on clothes after having lost weight.

How are you doing?

I am back on track. I took time last week to feel sorry for myself that I gained the weight back – but of course I was going to if I wasn’t exercising every day and also not eating that great. And I did give up trying to follow the diet plan I started.

Well today is a new week and I have a new plan. I am back on South Beach starting today. Even if I can’t get to the Y every day, I am going to exercise at home. I found a few exercises to do and I realize that if I don’t train to run, I won’t be able to do the graduation run. I meant to keep that a surprise for Chris but ended up telling him las week. He said if I run, cool, if not no biggie. I really wanted to run to surprise him so I know I should have not said anything.

Really my long term goal is not to become a runner. It is to lose weight. I know I eat healthy already so I am back to using my spark people page to keep track of calories – not to keep myself limited, but to ensure I am getting enough! I need to exercise to be able to lose weight and build muscle. It snowed yesterday and is supposed to until Wednesday so I don’t see us going for a walk – but maybe we will, the cold will give us incentive to move!

We don’t have a scale at home and I haven’t been to the Y since last week – I talked to my cousin who works at the Y and was told lots of kids are still being sent home sick, I really want to avoid that for my kids. I know I have not gained any more weight, but I haven’t lost anything either. I’m going to try to get to the Y so I can at least weigh myself and find out the number so that update will come later.

I have felt discouraged since last week. I have no idea why since I have lost a few pounds and I was doing great working out every day. But I ended up skipping the Y three of five days last week – effectively only working out twice. Well three times if you count walking a mile here at Dad’s place. I made great time on that one because I was upset so I walked as fast as I could without running and burned that energy rather then acting out.

I weighed in today to find I have gained three pounds. I was very disappointed – for a few minutes. My pants are still loose (if not looser then last Monday) and maybe it’s muscle I’m gaining and fat I’m losing. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

I had to force myself to go to the Y today. I just did not want to go at all and did not have any interest in working out, getting sweaty, none of it. Once there I did twenty minutes on the treadmill – a good, slow warm up, and then running for six minutes (yay one more then last time I ran!) and a good cool down. Today was also a strength training day and I had a good workout on the machines. Even though I stretched afterward, I feel a little bit sore this evening. That may be because I did two reps rather then just one after a long time since last doing any or because I didn’t play basketball like I was. After I was done I just wanted to get out of there so I skipped the sauna/steam room though I wanted to sit in one of them today.

Starting tomorrow I am cutting out bread from my diet. I had a hard time following South Beach simply because I was restricted and for some reason when I am told no you can’t have that – all of a sudden that’s what I want! I know I will lose weight following the plan but making up meals or a menu plan was too much for me to handle while thinking about working out and running and taking care of kids.

At least I am going back to workout out every day. I’m going to reevaluate next Monday because I know I am not eating poorly.

After a week of doing what I thought would work with running on the treadmill, I finally realized maybe this isn’t the way to do it. Sometimes it’s trial and error right?

Well I did what anyone with a track coach for a college roommate would do – emailed her, then bugged her on IM until she said she’d call me. After catching up on the latest gossip in each others lives she gave me a workout routine to follow.

I was supposed to start yesterday, but I skipped the Y, so I started today instead. I figure I’ll make up for skipping over the weekend. I’m running on the treadmill and I figure I’ll work my way up to running on the indoor track they have, but the family run I am shooting for is outside.

So my routine is to warm up for a few minutes, three to four, and then run at whatever pace I can do for five minutes. I am just starting out so today I ran for five minutes at a 4 mph – which I think is a 15 minute mile. I did great the first 3 – 3:30 minutes – then I started thinking I am not giving up, I am doing five minutes because I will run that family run.

After the five minutes was up I did a four minute cool down then moved on to strength training. I’m not sure when I am going to up my minutes running or the mph but I’m set to email her tonight so I’ll keep you posted.

I do need a new pair of shoes – I’ve been running/working out with the shoes I wear every day and I know that’s not smart. I’m going looking this week for cross trainers – I’d like to be able to run/walk and play basketball and I don’t want a specific shoe for any of those activities.

I am still so happy over losing four pounds!

I also have been

doing cardio every day
strength training three times a week
drinking plenty of water
only having one portion at meals (no seconds)
only weighing myself once a week
more active with my kids
telling others what I am doing and having them motivate me

And I gave my college roommate a call to ask about how to train to make that mile and a half in fifteen minutes. She’s a track coach now and ran track since at least high school (if not before) through college. She had some great tips for me and I’m emailing her every day to let her know my progress, how I feel, etc. I will run that mile and a half!

Okay I have quit following South Beach. I do think it’s a good plan – it’s basically eat less carbs? Alright what do I know, I don’t care about carbs or fats or startches or anything like that. I eat well, I only eat one portion, I drink lots of water every day, and I am going to have real butter! I’m just not going to eat the entire stick of real butter.

Friday I felt like hhmm, an orange would taste good – so I had one. Diets all seem to say different things – with LA Weight Loss I read that eating citrus was encouraged by one center because citrus helped you burn fat faster. But with South Beach they say no fruit for the first two weeks so you can stop having cravings.

I’m going to stick with eating good. I did stumble Sunday night and had Doritos and french onion dip (sure it sounds odd but it tastes good – I blame my brother for that just like I blame my friend Julie for introducing me to ranch dressing and pizza). Considering how much I am working out I know I will still lose weight.

I did lose four pounds (yay!) and of course I can’t tell if that is from working out or from South Beach. I don’t have any cravings, but I don’t like being restricted. I know what to eat or not to eat so I think I can do okay on my own. Plus I am working out five days a week and that is doing something.

Of course I will have to stop making banana bread every other week! It is just so good it is hard to stay away from. Yesterday we were gone all afternoon but rather then eating out (which was very tempting) we came home and had soup. My treat was a small slice of the banana bread, but I don’t want to do that every day.

Time for week two check in for Spring Operation Weight off for Moms. I had already decided to only weigh in on Mondays and today was the day!

I have lost four pounds!

I am so happy! I knew I lost weight because my pants fit different – but this time it’s not just they fit different in the waist. This time my pants fit different all over. I also had my daughter take pictures today – from the side and the front – and I’m going to do so every Monday. I didn’t last week but that’s okay with me. But I decided not to share for a month, then I’m going to show a months worth to show the difference.

I did quit following South Beach (more on that later) but after finding I lost weight I think I will go back to a modified version.

Do you have a SparkPeople page? Check out my page here and add me as a friend! I’m not really updating the actual page – there is a spot for a blog and such, but since I’m here I didn’t want to also do that there.

I had a weekend filled with kids. Saturday we didn’t get to the Y because they don’t have childcare and my brother had to help my Dad with something, thus no sitter. No biggie, we managed to get a few crafts done that were a long time coming!

But yesterday I grabbed a few of my nephews (okay, I had them dropped off) and had them hanging out here. My husband suggested we buy the kids a new video game because he is missing them so much and figures thats a good contribution he can make. So we buy Mario & Sonic at the Olympics.

I have always thought the Wii was a good workout tool – you do have to get up and move around and
that makes kids (and adults) tired. My kids rarely want to read how to play a game, they just want to jump in and get started. But this game takes a bit of reading – which each new game you play has the specific instruction when you start, if you select to read them.

So the kids are playing and getting frustrated here and there so I grabbed the controls and did one of the track events – wow hello biceps! Or triceps? Upper arms anyway. And I only did two races. It did feel good and I am going to jump on and play again soon.

After the Wii we all went outside and play basketball – oh what I learned there!

• Blocking an 8 year old will be fun for you and annoying for him
• If a basketball goal is set at about 6 feet, I can make it from way back there
• Seriously, I hit some awesome shots! It felt great.
• Teaching little kids (4 and 6 years old – my two) to play basketball can be fun
• If you hear someone say “your Mom is base” and you start running, everyone will join in the chase even if they declined to play before.

We had a great day. A little video game fun, a little outdoor fun, a little cooking fun. It’s just like I imagined living here would be – and I am going to make sure it happens again. Kids prove that working out and/or getting exercise is fun!

We are heading to the Y today and I will check in for the Spring OSW later.

I am feeling great! The past few days I have had awesome workouts.

On Tuesday I thought wow I can really do this. On Wednesday I pushed myself and ran a minute more then on Tuesday. On Thursday I did skip the Y because I cooked a family dinner for my brothers birthday party. And yesterday, Friday, I had my best workout so far.

I accidentally pulled the emergency stop on the treadmill and it stopped on me after ten minutes. That lost everything – the distance I walked/ran and the calories I burned. I started the machine back up and did another 20 or so minutes, but I just don’t remember. I pushed myself and did an extra thirty seconds (compared to Wednesday) of running. Afterward I did the weight machines and stretched.

My Dad was at the Y at the same time and the kids love playing basketball with him. So I grabbed the kids from the childcare and we all went to play basketball. Of course the kiddos are pretty short people so they couldn’t make a shot but they sure tried. We played for about twenty minutes and left.

I think adding playing basketball was a great idea because last night was the first time I was not exhausted and also sore. I felt great! I am excited that after just one week of working out every day I am really making progress.