Follow Up

I know there are long gaps in between posts sometimes. I mostly use this blog as a health & fitness journal of sorts to keep myself motivated. I have a friend I vent my struggles to and I have myfitnesspal where I record the good, bad and ugly of my day to day eating – so sometimes this blog falls through the cracks. 

However, you should know, I barely lasted 36 hours on the juice fast. 

It was tough. Not that I was hungry, which I surprisingly wasn’t. I just couldn’t seem to concoct palatable beverages. I had success with one drink that I could actually drink all the way. My next attempts were either too gingery or too orange peel zesty. 

I was bummed that it didin’t work out more, because I really felt good, my bloat immediately went away and I lost a pound in 36 hours!

But, juicing is not for the faint of tongue. Maybe if I had my own juice chef to make sure I got the flavors right.

In other TMI news, I think Aunt Flo is coming. I am like constantly wanting to eat these last couple of days, which isn’t good for weight loss! 

On Tuesday I did get on the scale to face the “cold hard facts.” But those facts weren’t too bad. I was actually down .8 pounds and that was after I’d eaten breakfast. 

I’m three pounds away from a new set of numbers (the 150s!). Slow and steady right? 

This weekend we’re headed out of town, and then all of next week my husbo doesn’t have work or school. For some reason, when he’s home – like on the weekends – it is way harder for me to eat right. Hmmmm…..

Anyway, help me out guys, keep me motivated. I would love to get to 1-5-0 in the next 12 weeks, like by my birthday, June 14th. 

Blah, blah, blah. 

Oh, still doing the C25K. I’m doing week six over, just cause I didn’t feel ready to move onto week seven, but I think I’ll be ready for week seven on Monday! Woot! 

And now for a recen family photo: 

 

Fast & Furious

I’ve elected to do at least a 48 hour juice fast where I’ll be using my blender to juice mostly veggies and some fruits. I’m mainly just wanting to kind of cleanse my inner self. 

This morning I had a delicious concoction of apples, carrots and ginger. 

I’m wondering how a juice fast will affect my energy levels, especially when it comes to my workouts and recovery. 

I’ll keep you posted! 

Two Miles in Heaven

Today was my sixth work out with the C25K program. I am actually in the “week 5” workouts so today was 20 minutes or two miles of running without any stopping. I had some trepidation about it. The last two work outs I had felt exhausted during them and like my legs were logs of wood – so heavy!

But, after my warm up, things went great. I definitely got that “runner’s high” and am still floating off it’s energy. I went the initial 20 minutes and was still feeling so good, so I decided to go til I had ran the two full miles. Yes, that means my pace is slower than  a ten minute mile, but don’t be a killjoy! Anyway, so I did! And felt so great. I haven’t done two straight miles in probably almost four years! I continued walking on an incline for another 14 minutes and have felt great all day.

Afterward I did a whole lot of grocery shopping (more on that in a minute), set up a hair appointment, picked up a Redbox movie (Wreck-It Ralph) and went to the Post Office. When I got home from all my running around my new running shoes had arrived!

They are Asics Gel Exalt. They feel so much lighter than my old Nikes!

Don’t mind my glaringly pastey legs!

Any tips for wearing in new shoes??

So back to the grocery shopping….

In an effort to keep myself motivated and fitness/health minded I’ve been watching food documentaries on Netflix and HuluPlus (we don’t have cable). I’ve watched ‘Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead‘ as well as “Forks Over Knives.” They’ve really got me being more conscious of what I’m putting into my body.

I’m trying to cut back on highly-processed foods and animal based foods and working toward a diet of more plant-based, macro nutrient foods. So, at the store today it was pretty exciting to have a bunch of frozen veggies as well as fresh produce bags in my cart. I’ve also been pinning recipes for simple veggie based side dishes for dinner (gots to get my hubby some veggies!).

I am even planning on doing a juice fast for a couple of days next week. The goal is three days, but I’m not sure I bought quite enough produce!

Anyway, just thought I’d let you know.

Mountains to Climb

Wow.

Been gone awhile, haven’t I?

I had one of those weeks where I felt like I was doing way more right than I was doing wrong and then i got on the scale and it hadn’t budged. My enthusiasm immediately deteriorated. I didn’t give up, but I definitely noticed a drop in my energy level and excitement for fitness.

I kept tracking calories and kept working out, but I had a few days where I was over my calorie goal and I only went to the gym four days out of the week. I plugged along knowing that something had to give and I would be much more depressed if I just gave up.

Well, ten days later I finally got back on the scale. And it was down 2.4 pounds. Whew!

Even before I got on the scale, i’d been feeling better, I knew my body was changing. I was starting to gain my enthusiasm back. I bought some new work out clothes – funny how they motivate me to get to the gym!

I ordered my new shoes! I opted for Asics. See them here.

Also, I finally finished my “30 Days to a 30 Minute Running Habit” program and have started doing the Couch to 5K program. I started last week at week 4 and am almost done with week 5. I’ll admit, I’m a bit intimidated by the next work out – 20 minutes without any walking! Ahhh! Don’t laugh, I’m serious. It’s amazing just how out of shape I had let myself get. I remember a few years back I had been working out, mainly cycling and stuff and decided to work into running 5 miles. I ran 5 miles once and then never did it again, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t take so long to get running 20 minutes altogether back then. Gosh.

Last night I dreamt I was leading a group of hikers up a mountain. It felt amazing. Can’t wait to go hiking this spring/summer and ENJOY it!

Baby, Baby

So last night something significant happened. 

The hubs and I were just kind of chatting, I was working on making my salad in the kitchen, he was on his ipad in the living room. I’m not even sure how we started talking about it, but he said he was ready to try for another baby asap/as soon as I was ready. He even said, “I’m serious.” I had two main emotions, surprise and then relief. Surprise because I thought he wouldn’t be ready for awhile and relief because I’ve been thinking about it for a couple months now. 

We’d both talked a little bit, mostly very casually, about how we want baby E to have a sibling in the fairly near future, but we hadn’t actually had an honest conversation about it. I’d been feeling more and more like I needed to be preparing for another baby soon, but I wanted the hubs to be on the same page. Now it seems he’s more ready than me! One thing he said that he had been hesitant about was my perception of my body. He said he’d seen a lot of improvement in the way I talk about my body since I started working out and that made him feel better about getting pregnant. 

Here’s the deal – I wish I was ready, physically, but I’m not. 

Last time we got pregnant I was using our bathroom scale and I was jolted to the realization that it was 8 pounds wrong when I went to my first doctor’s appointment while pregnant! I knew I was a little bit overweight, but I didn’t know I was 14 pounds over a healthy weight! Luckily, the pregnancy went pretty smooth, and we were both healthy post-delivery. I did have a slight scare with the potential for gestational diabetes, but everything turned out normal and towards the end my blood pressure was edging higher and higher (Doctor T would just have me lay on my side and it would go back down). Not to mention the struggle of losing baby weight plus the extra weight once baby was born. 

And just today I learned about risks associated with being overweight/obese when you get pregnant (Thanks Oprah!). 

Bottom line? I would really prefer to be at or very, very near a “healthy” BMI when I get pregnant the next time – that means I need to lose approximately 16 pounds. It seems a bit daunting considering all the time, effort and self-control it took to lose 8ish pounds (I haven’t really lost anything in about nine days – but that’s cause I haven’t been super diligent.  But I’m going to do it, for the benefit of me and my family. 

Wish me luck and follow me a long as I will desperately need your encouragement! 

 

Confession: I’m an Emotional Eater

Confession time, once again. 

My name is Alexa and I’m an emotional eater. 

I’ve heard of people saying they were emotional eaters before, but I didn’t think I could relate. Denial, anyone? 

I always thought I just chose to eat because it was easier to make bad food choices. 

However, this last week or so has really proven to me that I do often turn to food when I find it hard to manage my emotions – especially those deep, festering ones. 

My husband and I have been tossing around the idea of moving out of our home off and on for a while now (granted, we’ve only been here since August). Last week, the tossing around became more of a fast pitch from Roger Clemens. For the benefit of our family’s future over the next year and a half, we needed to make a move. I’m not sure why this has been so hard and stressful on me, but by the way I’m eating it certainly has. Now, granted, I’m not out downing two angus burgers and a large fry, but I’m definitely not keeping to my calorie goals. Then, of course, come the guilt of over eating…. It’s a cycle, and on I’m sure many of you are familiar with. 

Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there to the wordrpess wind. 

Let me know your thoughts! 

Easy….like Sunday morning?

So, without going into a lot information as to why I was looking this up, I just wanted to share a site I found with natural laxative ideas: 15 Foods That Act Like Natural Laxatives. Bananas? Who knew?

Yesterday I actually got to spend some time at the gym where I wasn’t pressed for time and felt like I was rushing just to get in a run and stretches. I was supposed to be doing four 5/1 intervals, but after the first five I was feeling pretty good. So I challenged myself to keep going through to the second five. After the second five with no stops I challenged myself to just keep going – and I did! In fact, the last two minutes I upped my pace, too. Felt great.

After stretching and bicycle crunches I did squats and lunges, this time upping my weight to the 15 pound bar. I did 40 lunges and 60 squats and my legs aren’t very forgiving today. Glad it was a rest day!

I also threw in some tricep work, and lat pulldown – working my biceps and back.

It was a great work out.

Also yesterday, I kind of blew through my calories halfway through the day, so my sweet husby sensing my guilt and frustration planned a nice dinner with corn tortillas, chicken, corn and black beans – keeping me full and within my calorie goal.

Today, however, I decided to give myself a free day. I didn’t go crazy, but I didn’t stay in my calories at. all. I’m trying not to feel guilty and just trying to relish in the homemade cherry pie, banana bread and cheetos I ate today.

Back at it tomorrow, though!

Victory!

Happy Love Day everybody!

Just wanted to report that I got on the scale today, on a whim (I usually weigh myself on Wednesdays and Saturdays) and had a happy surprise! I was slightly below my pre-pregnancy weight. I was totally surprised because that last few days I’ve been eating between 100-300 calories more than My Fitness Pal has my “calorie goal” set at. I was even prepared to see my number up slightly, but nay!

I had to weigh myself twice to believe it. It feels so good to see a number I haven’t seen in two years! Thank goodness.

Now it’s onto my next goal – my wedding day weight!

More later, gator.

~Lo

What I Do

So, I thought I would share a little of what I’ve been doing since January 9th (the day I really started to crack down on what I was eating and began exercising).

I’ve been going to the gym 5-6 times a week. I’ve been trying to follow this “3 Weeks to a 30 Minute Running Habit” program, but have had to alter some things due to overuse injuries. I’m almost through the program though, and can tell me body is ready for something harder. When I first began I was sweating like a hog. Literally dripping with sweat, and I loved it! It made me feel like I was really working hard. The last few workouts however, my hog-sweating had dropped considerably and while I’m still burning calories, I almost get down on myself because I didn’t feel like I sweat enough! Silly.

So, three to four of those days I run on the treadmill in intervals. The other days I either cycle or elliptical or both. I’ve been strength training about four days a week, too. Nothing crazy, but enough to feel like I’m getting stronger. I usually alternate doing one day of arms and core and another day of legs. However, due to a recent slowing down of weight loss, I’m trying to cut back on the strength training. It’s really hard though, because it is what I most enjoy. And I know that everyone says that numbers on the scale aren’t reflective of the progress you’re making, but I still hate seeing the same number for the last two weeks. I have a goal weight and I’m determined to reach it!

I’ve also been watching calories. I try not to over complicate my diet, because that can be overwhelming somedays. I try to make good, healthy decisions, but I don’t beat myself up about everything as long as I’m right around my calorie goal. However, again with the slowed weight loss, I feel compelled to better measure my proportions to make sure my calories are what I think they are. My calorie goal has been around 1200 calories (that doesn’t include calorie deficits created from exercise).

So, that’s what I’m doing. What are you doing? Any suggestions for me?

My Journey with Weight Part I

August ’05

On Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 I began a record of my journey to weight loss, health and fitness. The heaviest I remember weighing in at was 205 pounds around the beginning of January 2005. Over the next few months I tried a program ran by Liz Meyer called Weight, Mind and Body Management, with my cousin Morgan and aunt Stephanie. While they had significant progress in losing weight, I struggled. Within five months I had only lost about 10 pounds. I blame it on the many distractions I had. It was the last semester of my senior year of highschool, nuff said.

February ’06

I stayed at that weight throughout the summer and my freshman year of college. The summer after my freshman year I got a job working Litter Patrol for the Oregon Department of Transportation. From the start of work in June to a friend’s wedding in August I lost about seven pounds and was down to 188 pounds. I didn’t really do so much different, just walking out in the hot sun and not snacking so often. I ate whatever I wanted at night and wasn’t really trying to lose weight.

As I entered my sophomore year of college I dropped four pounds in about three weeks. This “sudden” drop in weight excited me. I realized I was in control of what I ate because I made my food purchases and would eat what I bought. I remembered the Weight Mind and Body Management Program. It was a sensible calorie limiting/counting program. You ate what you wanted, but you had to pay attention to calories and grams of fat. When I started the program at 205 pounds my daily calorie limit was 1500 calories, and we were supposed to eat foods with under 15 grams of fat. Vegetables were free foods. Typically breakfast was 200 calories, lunch 300 calories and dinner was 400 calories with the remainder of the calories divided up into 100 calorie snacks.

I decided to try this program again, it being the easiest program I could follow and still allowing me to eat what I wanted, just limited. Being that I was about 20 pounds lighter than my first shot at this lifestyle change I took my daily calorie count down a bit. I also decided to integrate exercise a couple times a week to help speed up my metabolism.

On that September day I made a few lists. First, I made a list of reasons why I wanted to lose weight.

Second, I printed a picture of somebody I didn’t want to be and taped it in my “journal.” It was a fat lady, sitting in her chair, a cat at her side and an oxygen tank. Under it I wrote, “Don’t want to be her: Fat, Cat Lady; Lonely; Stuck in my chair.” Poor cat lady….

Third, I then wrote a list of possible consequences for if I didn’t change. There were six of those, but I am not ready to share those quite yet. Then I printed out a scale showing my BMI (Body Mass Index). I got it from ‘The Biggest Loser Club’ on NBC.com. My BMI was 29.7, overweight. My ideal BMI for my height was 24, and ideal weight was 114.6-154.3. It also suggested a healthy daily calorie goal to lose weight, at 1,288.

Finally, I took measurements of my body, which I have shared with no one, but I am going to now, on the internet, for the whole frickin’ world to see if they want:

Hips: 43 1/2 inches Waist: 41 1/2 inches Bustline: 37 inches Bust: 41 inches

Arms: 12 inches Shoulders: 44 inches Pantsize: 16-18 Weight: 184 lbs.

I set ultimate goals which were:

Pant Size: 10

Weight: 145

I then took pictures of myself in just my bra and underwear, printed them out and taped them in my “journal.” To serve as a reminder and motivated.

Then I set weekly, and bi-weekly goals as well as a first weight loss benchmark. I found that setting smaller goals made things seem much less overwhelming. Then, also I was able to feel good about myself sooner because I had reached these goals and that motivated me to set new goals and work towards them. It helped for the first while to write down what I was eating, just as a way to keep track.

By January 4th of 2007 I was at 170 pounds. That semester I was signed up for a morning weight training class with all girls. I lost weight, gained muscle and toned up. By the end of that semester I was 160 lbs. It was exciting to reach that weight because that had been my goal weight when I started the WM&B program my senior year.

The first month I was back home for the summer was hard. Food, bad food, was so accessible! I wasn’t in control of the groceries, though Mom was pretty good about getting me healthier options. I finally had to get back to the basics and write down what I was eating for a couple weeks to keep track of calories. My new job at the particleboard plant allowed me to get plenty of exercise and definitely helped me tone my upperbody, especially my arms. I continued to set goals for myself.

Towards the middle of August I reached my first ultimate goal weight of 145 pounds! It was really exciting! But, now that I had reached that goal, I saw more progress to be made and set new goals for myself. I now jog 2-4 times per week, hit up the gym to do the bike and some weights 1-2 times per week. I try to work on flattening my abs, because as much weight as I have lost, I still feel like my trunk is thick and my boobs small ;-). I walk a lot. Drink lots of water and take my daily vitamin.

Here are my stats as of October 3, 2007:

Hips/Thighs: 38 inches Bustline: 32 inches Bust: 37 1/4 Arms: 10 1/2

Shoulders: 39 inches Waist: 35 1/2 inches Pant Size: 10/11 Weight: 143 lbs.

That puts my total weight loss from January 05 to now at 62lbs, or from when I started a record of all this at 41 lbs. Total inches lost since last September is 27 1/4.

August 2006

August 2007