Monday, December 31, 2012

So long 2012!

Well, the month of December has been a total diet flop.  I believe I worked out a grand total of three days this month (yikes!) and lost 3 lbs solely due to anxiety (which I gained back thanks to this freaking cold). It ended up being a heck of a month over here! Mom had knee replacement surgery and on that same day my husband started at his new job so there were a few adjustments that needed to take place! And once I got into a comfy groove Christmas and all its madness was upon us! Now sick with the mother of all sinus infections/colds I am out for the count.  Screw this month and all its difficulties! But I am still just fine with where I am as far as my weight loss.  I've not gone so far backwards that I can't fix it!

At the beginning of 2012, I made a set of resolutions, nothing super crazy as I have done in years past, but just some pretty general goals for this year that I am proud to say were for the large part all accomplished! And it feels good to say that I can check those things off my list! This new year will be no different, and one of my big goals for the year is to lose a grand total of 47 (it was supposed to be 40!) pounds this year, putting no specific amount on any month as in the past, because somehow setting an amount to lose each month hasn't worked for me. Maybe I'll decide to lose more once that 40 is gone but I feel for my body that I'd be comfy at 160, and that I'd probably look pretty good and not too skinny per husband's request! Also on the table is to run my first half marathon, either the Disney half in Sept or the Las Vegas rock n roll in Dec.  With a few 5k's peppered in here and there.

In high school I was a mediocre student, just skating by with minimal effort and getting mostly B's and the occasional A or C and I always wondered what my life would have been like had I put forth the effort in school and worked hard.  I could have gone to a really good college (and would have been stuck in some crazy job that would pay well but make me crazy I'm sure) but the mediocrity is carried over to my dieting life as well.  As an "average" dieter I have managed to lose 25 lbs this year with a pretty moderate effort and I can imagine what I would have lost giving 110% all the time.  So one of my soft goals this year is to try a little bit harder each month, and to not dwell on my failures but thrive on the small successes.

And so, with that,  I wish you and yours a blessed new year! May you set some goals and go out and achieve them! Now get out there and get moving!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Progress Report

Try this on for size, watching the Victoria's Secret fashion show, having taco bell for lunch and writing about my weight loss for the month. Things that just don't sound like they fit together! But this is my life! I say, forget the idea of "normalcy" when it comes to dieting and getting healthy! I will probably never look like a VS model and I'm ok with that.  And I'm going to eat what I want (within limits) and not tell myself I can never eat something again.  I am getting healthy my way, and it's working!

Did I meet my goal of 10 lbs this month? No, just half. Did I lose tons of inches? No, just one. And I am proud of what I've done this far.  Here are some accomplishments that I did make this month:

I stopped nursing Lucas the beginning of the month and had a ton of trouble losing anything for the first two weeks, even with Jillian four days a week! So I quit Jill for a minuet and spent the next 2.5 weeks running. Ah! My old fling running, we quickly became reacquainted and the pounds started to come off. And I hit some major milestones with my running, my fastest mile time, 13:13!! The last time I saw a mile like this was my freshman year...of high school! I cried, I felt like a million bucks the whole rest of the day.  A couple of days later I ran the entire two miles with out walking, and I cried that day too! I squeezed my butt into a pair of jeans two sizes smaller than I have been wearing for years and I have to wear all my bras on the last hook (that's probably mostly due to nursing!  Good thing the hubby is working now so I can buy some smaller bras!) and I have hit my lowest weight since before I had kids! This was a monumental month for me! It may have not been my biggest loss, but it was by far my most rewarding!

This coming month I am changing my routine a bit.  I can't expect to lose more than 5 lbs a month by only working out for 20-30 minuets 5 times a day! So 3 days a week I'll be doing 45-50 mins of cardio and strength training and the other 2-3 days just 20-30 of cardio.  I will also be adding a mile to my run on Saturdays until it gets comfy, then I'll be running 3 miles 3-4 days a week.  If you want big results, you need to go big! I am also sticking really close to my calorie intake of 1200-1550 per day, as I am not nursing anymore it's very important to stay within those limits so that I will be able to hit my goal for this month.  I originally wanted to set a small goal of only 5 lbs for this month as it has been difficult to hit my goals the last 2 months, but I am a mere 8 lbs form being 199.  I haven't been out of my 200's since before E was born! And now I am only 8 lbs away!!!  You have no idea how thrilled I am, and I am sure that this will be enough to motivate me to bust my butt this month and meet that goal!

I wanted to ask you a question though...what do you think about starting a group of us that are trying to get healthy to chat, give advice, maybe meet up and work out once a week?? Anyone interested?

Ugh! Now that this baby is mobile I have to chase him around the un-baby proofed house! I'd better get running!

I'll have some posts about how to keep the holidays from ruining your diet and next month, before during and after pictures as I hopefully hit my first goal!!