I stepped on the scale last week

I have blogged a little about my goals to become more fit and healthy.  I began my journey last November (almost 1 year ago).  I couldn't believe it when I stepped on the scale last week, and saw that I officially have lost 20 pounds since I began working out.  I've posted about how much work I put into being more active and the commitment level.  I am very proud of myself.  I weigh what I weighed in college (and that was,ahem, more than 10 years ago).  After having our daughter I thought I would get back to pre-baby weight, but never anticipated losing so much.  I still have goals to stay active, but now it's more for staying active than losing weight.  Changing what I was eating was the key component, especially the soda drinking.  I'll admit in the last month I've been drinking more soda in a week, maybe three or four cans.  But I was drinking two a day, which was a lot of empty calories a day.

My advice for anyone trying to lose weight is to start small, stay committed and change what you eat.

It's official -- I've lost 10 pounds

I first and foremost want to say that this was a lot of work and by no means an easy task.  I recently read an article from a celebrity mom who lost all her baby weight in the first four months and is posing in a bikini with a flat stomach.  Um, that's just not realistic.  I want to share a little of my journey and give some real insight on what worked for me.

August 2006 
I weighed 129 pounds at our wedding. I had gained some "love" weight during the year my husband and I met.

August 2007
I gave birth to my 8 pound 2 3/4 ounce daughter.  I had gained about 42 pounds (that's what I weighed the week before I gave birth).

2007-2008
I was 100 percent focused on being mom, but did lose the bulk of the baby weight in about 4 months.  But my shape was not back to normal, at all.  I tried to exercise, but my husband's busy job didn't give much extra time.

2009
I had a couple of back injuries that laid me up.  We moved for the fourth time since our daughter was born.  I realized that as active as I was it was a slow active.  A lot of my day was watching and overseeing my daughter's play or standing still pushing her on the swing.  I was active but actually was gaining weight.

November - December 2009
We joined a health club that has drop-in child care.  Best thing we ever did.  We got rid of cable to pay for the monthly fee.  I weighed over 135 pounds.  I still didn't fall into the overweight category, but I wasn't too happy that I had lost so much stamina in the last couple years.  My goal was to be active and feel better, not necessarily lose weight.   During these first months of working out, I worked hard to do even 5 minutes on the elliptical machine.  I worked hard to make it around the track enough times to actually feel my heart rate pick up.  I worked hard to do one weight machine (at 20 pounds) to strengthen my still sore back.  I didn't lose any weight these first two months and we worked out at least three nights a week for close to an hour.  It didn't help that it was "eat lots of goodies" season, either.  But I did gain back some stamina.

January 2010
I'm not normally one to use a new year to be the time to set weight loss goals, but that's just the way it worked out.  I gave myself a goal of getting to 125 pounds.  I figured it would probably take about six months to get there.  I've never had to lose weight before so I didn't know how to do it.  During the month of January, I was at the health club at least three times a week and often twice a day.  I was up to 20 minutes on the elliptical mid-way through and was able to add some free weights to my routine.  I also bumped up the weight on the machine I used for my back.

Feb-March 2010
I approached working out as a part-time job.  I often worked out in the morning while my daughter did a class or just played in the child care center.  I started to add new machines and bumping up weights.  It was a very slow process because my body was so out of workout mode.  I was able to do 30 minutes or more on the elliptical machine and even found myself running a mile here and there on the track.  I still was working out at least three times a week for more than an hour.  It seems as soon as I got to one level of ability  that if I added something new that it helped keep my body to lose more. It was in March that I found out some interesting information about my health.  I eliminated peanuts, which I found I was allergic to and along the way eliminate soda (I actually eliminate caffeine a couple years ago).  Two foods that have changed my stamina, also.

April 2010
I'm still working out at least three times a week.  I weighed myself this week and I officially lost 10 pounds.  I don't feel like I lost that much because my shape isn't what it used to be (just yet).  But I am happy because I am waiting until June to buy new clothes and I think by then (if I keep at this pace) that I might lose a little more.

Lessons learned

• It takes time.  These shows with people losing mass amounts of weight in weeks is just not realistic.  We have lives and other priorities.  
• Make it a priority.  You have to stick with it.  It's hard to do.  It's very hard to do.  But if you want to lose weight or even just gain back some energy, you have to focus on it.
• Adding something new helps.  I slowly added weights to my routine.  I change up my stretches, too. 
• You have to change your diet.  That was really hard for me, but in hindsight it was no big deal.  
• Celebrate the milestones.  If your goal is five pounds give yourself a reward.
• BMI is bogus!

Father's Day Weekend

Saturday it finally felt like summer. The air was warm and we did "summer" things. In the morning, we went to the farmer's market on a mission to find strawberries. I realized that strawberries are one of the few fruits that I don't get a big allergic reaction from making them very highly wanted when they are in season. We grabbed some other vegetables and listened to a live children's band, which my daughter loved. She was dancing all around and for some reason had to do it in the hot sun.

After my daughter's nap we got the bikes ready and took a bike ride. In the four plus years that my husband and I have been together, we have yet to take a bike ride. I used to bike all the time before I met him. He bought a bike last year with a trailer for our daughter to ride in, but last year my body wasn't up for bike riding. On Saturday, we biked 12 miles around a local lake. It was a little more than I expected to do for the first time riding for so many years, but we did it. And with nothing more than tired muscles the next day -- no soreness. This makes me happy that we can do a fun activity (mostly free) as a family and that I am back to my normal activity level. It really seemed to take almost two years for me.

For Father's Day we hung around the house. I made these tasty muffins. I think my husband didn't realize how much he need to just take a day off. And yesterday was a good excuse to do it.

Gotta Headache..

Drink water if you have a headache.  I recently read that drinking water helped 60 percent of people get rid of their headaches in a study.  Makes sense to me.  If you are dehydrated, one of the symptoms is a headache.  Drinking water will hydrate you and make the heachache go away.  

Fast Food ...

When my husband I were first dating we went to see Morgan Spurlock speak at the university I was attending. And it has changed our lives forever. It was the third date for us and the first "real" date. The other two were those get-to-know you lunches.


They first showed us Morgan Spurlock's movie "Supersize Me." We both had seen it before, so we knew what we were watching. He then talked about his journey to eat 30 days of McDonalds and the behind the scenes action of creating the movie. He was well-versed and it was more like listening to comedian than a "lecture," which is how it was presented. He said many things that changed my opinion about fast food. I think what it did to his body was the biggest factor. It took him six months to go back to his pre-McDonalds weight. Six months to recover from a month seems like a real reason not to eat fast food. He also talked about the chicken and how processed it is. I now think, how hard is it to make chicken nuggets from scratch? Not that tough or time consuming even. The most influential comment he made was about the beef -- they grind up as many as 100 (maybe it was 1000) different cows at the same time and you could have any number of cows in one patty. Ugh, that just makes me feel sick. Another reason we buy a large sum of our meat from a meat market.


So, the outcome of that "date" is that I haven't eaten McDonald's since (about 3 1/2 years). I used to eat it weekly. The only exceptions we make to our non-fast food diet is Subway, Cousins, Quiznos, Culvers and my husband goes to Qdoba and Chipotle. About a year ago, I was with people who ordered KFC. Out of politeness and hunger I ate it. My stomach hurt so bad all night and it didn't even taste good. Occasionally, even at regular restaurants I get a "fast food" item, and my body just can't handle it anymore. I used to eat fast food a minimum of three times a week when I was single.

I think the hardest part about not eating fast food is that it made traveling so much harder. I used to drive through on my way to my parents -- a three hour drive. It was so much a part of my routine that I had no idea what to do. Of course, now we make sandwiches and bring our own drinks and snacks. But the truth is that fast food is convenient, but it is not healthy. We quickly realized that there really are no healthy fast food stops when we travel. And we wonder why the country has a weight problem.

If you haven't seen the movie, you must watch it. It will change your opinion of fast food forever.

Back at it Finally

Two Septembers ago, my husband and I joined a community center so we could workout during the winter months. Well, about one month into it, I had lost about 5 pounds. Not that I was overweight, but I was looking to tone up. Then a month later I gained those 5 pounds back, which was very unusual for me. Turned out I was pregnant. And that was the end of my old shape. I still exercised throughout the pregnancy. I would just walk the track instead of using machines. And my job at the end of the pregnancy was working with a special needs child and walking all around the school with him every day.

I've always been a fairly active person. I spent two summers at a camp in California that was in a rugged redwood forest. We walked everywhere on camp. I would hike the kids down the mountain to the ocean. Took less than an hour to hike down and almost 3 hours to hike back up. Not exactly an easy job with 24 kids. Before that I had worked out three times a week. I danced from the age of 4 through college.

Now 14 months post baby, I am finally getting on the move again. I have worked out 3 times now and am committed to getting back in shape. It sure would be nice to have a pair of pants fit again. I am really only about half a size bigger than I was before, but my shape is a little different. And half a size means I either wear half a size too big (which I've been doing) or half a size too small.

Wednesday -- 25 minutes on the elliptical machine, 10-15 minutes stretching
Saturday -- same
Sunday -- same

Pump up the iPod and go! No excuses. I've had a stiff neck for more than a week. I'm actually hoping that it will help loosen it up.

My goal: To workout as often as I can. Three or more times a week. Now that the baby goes to sleep at 7 p.m. and I am getting so much more sleep than the past two years, I have the stamina to do it. We walked a lot this summer, and I am go, go, go all day long. So my endurance is being built up!