We did it!

We did our running around yesterday; we are now proud owners of a 1-year gym membership to Apple Swim and Fitness (can't wait for the pool!) and also signed up for Tyler Kung Fu and Fitness, where the kids will be in Kung Fu, Jon can do KungFu and/or TaiChi, and I can do kickboxing! I am most looking forward to the yoga at the gym. We may go tomorrow! And then, this week is the last week Jon has off from work. So after this week, we will have to readjust our schedules AGAIN, and we will all have to get used to him being gone all day long. Hopefully, we can figure something out with the vehicular transport in such a way that I can do yoga on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We can do yoga together on Saturday and Sunday. KungFu will be Monday through Thursday afternoons, and kickboxing is Tuesday and Wednesday nights; but one of those nights it overlaps with KungFu so not sure what we will do with the little ones on that one day. we will figure it out I'm sure.

On a side note, I find it interesting how after eating great for such a long time, when you are feeling lazy or off, and you slip, you regret it just for the simple fact that your body is not used to the sludge and crap it was before! A few days ago, Jon and I went to the Ghenghis Grill, and brought the kids burger king for dinner. Kathryn was in such pain for the rest of the night! But, she didn't really attribute it to Burger King, cause when we asked her "you won't ever eat there again, huh" she said "why?" LOL. but I'm regretting the cheese from the other night. Ugh.

I'm in such a mood to sew something; I want to sew a new diaper bag and a carrier, but I can't find the JUST RIGHT fabric to do it with. so I've been scouring over fabrics, trying to decide what I want to be stuck with for the next at least 6 months.

Wow.

I knew it had been a while since I posted, but I hadn't realized it was a week. I tend to slack off on the updated when I slack off on doing good. I don't like posting about my failures. I guess that's why it surprises me that I haven't posted since last monday; I did good till Wednesday. Then it all went downhill.

Wednesday night, we went out shopping late, so we ended up going out to eat. I didn't do too bad, I had salmon, broccoli, and rice. but then I stole some of Jon's dessert. No workout.

Thursday, I went with a friend to a nutrition class, and ended up signing up for a weight loss challenge there. I didn't do any workouts on this day, either.

As of right now, I can only say that I have lost my drive, or motivation. I just partly don't care. For now, we'll blame it on AF, and see how I feel by the end of the week. Sunday was Lauryn's birthday party, and we made ourselves sick on chocolate cake. It was so good.

About 30 minutes ago, I actually thought i was going to get up and do a workout. I think I'm going to abandon Jillian; not because she's kicking my ass, but because I don't really think she is. I guess I can't respect her if I can actually get all the way through the tape. Which, it makes me feel good to get through the tape, but knowing how long it has been since I've done any kind of workouts, and knowing that in the past when I start I can't get through 14 mins of whatever the tape is (and sometimes not even the warmup) Jillian is probably *perfect* right now, and I want something that will push me, and a challenge.

I need to get on a schedule. I feel like I need a stopwatch that goes off every 3 hours, so I remember to eat. and goes off at 4, so I will do a workout then, and then have time to take a shower. and then make Lauryn take a nap. and 8, so I can start work. and whatever time bedtime is. I should make a list of things I want to get done, and then see how much I can get done in 3 hours. When I get stuck on a knitting project, that's pretty much all I do all day, and then it feels like I didn't accomplish anything, even though I'm more than halfway through the project.

So, after all that rambling, if your still with me, the plan for this week is to get off AF and get some semblance of care back in my attitude. I have a one on one appointment tomorrow with the nutrition guy, and we need to make a run to the library for the kids books. I may or may not do a workout tomorrow. it all depends on AF. By the end of the week, we should have a bit of money in, and we are planning on renewing our membership at the gym and maybe going to the kung fu place and signing up for a family membership there. If we sign up on Friday, I'm hoping to go to a yoga class, maybe saturday and sunday, but we will see. I can't make plans too far in advance right now. Just got to get through this week in a holding pattern as far as everything goes.

Day 2

Of the shred down. I don't appreciate the jiggling in some areas as I jump around. I don't appreciate that Jillian can jump up and down and TALK at the same freaking time. I'd like for her to shut up now. also, my 2-year-old really really enjoyed it, and I wasn't able to quite focus on my workout this time (she was asleep the first time). Is it sad that I'm envious of her energy to jump up and down, laugh as she's doing, and then run and jump up and down the hallway back and forth? she was really sad when the jumping stopped. and she got on to me every time I took a jumping break and Jillian was still jumping. She may be worse than Jillian.

I wasn't able to focus on the workout as much, like I said, due to the 2-year-old being awake, and worrying about the baby in Jonathan's room (who was supposed to be watching him, and he swears he was, but I had to stop like 3 times to get woolie fuzz out of the baby's mouth). Kathryn is doing the workouts with me. And Jon is still banned from the room. as much as he tries to peek. (yeah, I saw that).

My goal for this week

Is to focus on my water intake. There have been several days I've woken (or been woken) in the middle of the night with severe cotton mouth. Like, dying of thirst. I've noticed on the days that I really pay attention to my water consumption, and make sure I drink adequate amounts, my weight loss doesn't stall. I need to make sure to keep it up, especially since I plan on upping my workouts starting this week. I plan on drinking one before and after each meal, and of course during/after a workout. Other than my morning coffee and my evening almond milk, its the only fluid intake I make, so I should really be able to do it. And soon, hopefully it will be second nature, as the eating is.

I survived.

The workout, that is. I didn't wake up this morning near as stiff and sore as I have in the past. I feel ok. But, I am having an urge to move, so I may actually do some yoga today, instead of taking a rest day, just to help ease and stretch some of the soreness out.

The sad/funny thing is, I got caught up in looking up workouts on video, and I saw mention of the Insanity workout, and then the Turbo Fire, and then the Chalean extreme, and of course, the Brazil Butt Lift.

I actually seriously considered forgoing Jillian's "20 minute workout" for one of these. I mean, they had more to them, right? I could probably get better results. I honestly thought I could do it.

I guess as long as Jillian's *dinky* 20-minute workout kicks my ass, there's no way in hell I can do any of the above workouts! LOL. I'll keep them in my backpocket for when I'm done with Jillian. They could be something I aspire to.

Well, I did it.

I let Jillian Michaels kick my ass.

or, more accurately, I let her convince me to kick my own ass. (true story; butt kicks anyone?)

I can't jump. Too many kids. I am so weak, I had to take breaks before the end of each circuit. At the end of circuit 2, I was seriously going to quit; if she hadn't started circuit 3 on the floor, I would have been done. I'm all jelly-armed and legged, and completely useless for the remainder of the evening. Nathan will have to crawl into my lap to nurse, there's no way I'll be picking him up. And the sad thing is, she expects me to do it again tomorrow!! Not likely lady.

Even if I wasn't completely jellified, I still don't know that doing the same workout every day for 10 days is a good idea. I can see doing SOMETHING every day, but not the same workout. I think I'll alternate the 30-day shred with Jillian's yoga workout, and take Sunday's off. That's the plan, anyway. we will see how it goes.

Weekly check in.

So, today marks the end of week 2. I can see some stalling; I can tell I'm going to have to really get serious about working out at this point, now that my eating is "second nature".

I weighed myself yesterday, just for fun, and I had hit the 10 lb mark in my loss; then last night I had a big ol steak for dinner, LOL. so, my results this morning don't show that 10 lb loss. but it was there!

weight - down 9
waist - same (at bellybutton)
waist - same (below bellybutton)
hips - same
bust - same
thighs - down 1
arms - down 0.5

I've joined a group of girls who are all doing Jillian Michaels 30-day shred. I still haven't done my first workout, but I pulled out my weights yesterday, so should be able to do it today. I'm anxious to get started; anxious to see where i will be in a month.

Ugh.

That's it. I can't stand it! This family needs to be on a routine. its driving me nuts. and I guess I'm going to have to do it one child at a time, starting with the toddler. :(

Check in

I did yoga yesterday! That's 2 days this week. my goal was 3. Go me!

I think tomorrow, instead of yoga, I'm going to allow Jillian Michaels to kick my ass for a while. I'm going to start her "30 day shred" at the same time as a few other friends, so we can all bitch and moan together about how Jillian has no soul. (most likely). I also have her yoga tape, which is excellent cardio yoga, and I look forward to that. I may or may not have time for that while she's kicking my ass in 30 day shred.

Also, strawberry-banana-blueberry smoothies are THE BEST!

Hmmm.

I'm feeling the need to reiterate what we are doing here. We are not on a "diet" in the typical sense of that 4-letter word. We are changing our eating habits, for good. Instead of restricting ourselves temporarily until we meet "some goal", only to stop the restriction, and possibly regain everything we've worked to lose, we are changing our pantry, our meals, and the way we feel about food. The only "restrictions" we have put on ourselves is, NO PROCESSED FOODS. If it comes in a box, is wrapped in a package, or has an ingredients list, we aren't likely to eat it. That's not to say never ever ever again will I ever have a snickers bar (HA! won't that be a cold day in hell). but now we are thinking more about what we put into our bodies. What's the point of eating crap food if you feel like crap? Its not hard to skip the boxes of sugar cereal in the morning, and the bread with processed lunch meat and fake cheese for lunch with a bag of chips with all the excessive fake flavors and chemicals on it. Its not hard to skip that drive thru window for dinner, when you know that 30 minutes after you eat that, you're going to be bloated and miserable feeling for the rest of the night.

No, its easy to make oatmeal, or cream of wheat (as long as its sprouted wheat flour) or cream of rice, or eggs with bacon and sprouted toast, or an egg omlette with mushrooms, spinach, and green and red bell peppers for breakfast with a cup of coffee. Its easy to have chicken salad for lunch, with homemade vingear and olive oil dressing, or to have leftovers from dinner. Dinner is easy with fish and veggies, or chicken and veggies; we even make homemade stock now with the bones from the whole chickens we buy. We'll have stir fry, and we could have hamburgers if we wanted (and when we get our sprouted wheat flour and can make our own bread, things will get even better. I'm looking forward to trying out a few muffin recipes with fresh fruits, sprouted wheat flour, and honey as the ingriendents instead of the crap in a box).

The point is, we are changing how we eat now, because we don't want to be 50 and so fat and decrepit, we can't keep up with our grandkids. We are changing how we eat now because we don't want our kids to be a statistic of "obese Americans". we want to teach them how good real food is, and how fun growing a garden is, and where food REALLY comes from! Its doesn't come from the golden arches or from the man with a little goatee, it comes from the ground. Its grown in our backyard, we put time and effort into it, and it tastes so much better that way.

We can "cheat" any time we like. Its not a race to get to "50 pounds down" and then I can shove brownies in my mouth. Its an honest to god change of living, and after being on it for so long, and feeling good on it, we may not ever want to "cheat" with the fast food and the processed candy and sweets.

Monday…

I tend to have difficult coming up with cutsie titles for all my posts, so forgive the boring start. Not much to report, but I felt the need to continue to post daily, so I don't fall off this wagon. I am feeling an odd mixture of contentment and restlessness; I'm happy, I'm full, the chocolate almond milk does wonders for my chocolate cravings without all the excessive sugar actual chocolate candy would give me.

No workout today. I spent the majority of the day planning out our homeschooling for the month of January. That has been a rollercoaster ride, to say the least. but, I have my own homeschooling blog to talk about that on, which I haven't updated since probably october.

Goal is yoga tomorrow. Jon and I were talking about stuff… we aren't sure if we want to sign the kids up for baseball/softball for spring/summer play, or if we want to hold out.. there's only so many things we can do. what if we prefer to put them in a kung fu class? there are several places we can look into. we are mostly drawn to Tyler KungFU and Fitness, we've looked into him before, he gives us a good vibe of no bullshitting classes, and he has a family package, so I can do kickboxing twice weekly and jon can do Kungfu as well. I also mentioned we could put Kathryn in swim team over the summer, which her nosy body expressed interest in as I was saying (no private conversations around here).

Anyway, not much else to report on the dieting/exercising front. Food: Good. Exercise: not today, must make myself do it tomorrow. I really would love to have the babies on a schedule of going to sleep the same time as the kiddos.

Sunday, sunday...

The beginning of a new week. The eating seems to be "second nature" at this point; I've done this before, so its an easy habit to fall back into, especially when we stop buying all the processed, boxed foods. My body is finally "empty" of the junk, I guess, so cravings aren't so bad. Its nice getting full off of dinner, and knowing I'm not restricted if I choose to go back for seconds. I like being able to have a glass of organic chocolate almond milk after dinner to help with the "creamy, chocolate" cravings, and when things slow down, I know that I can cut back on that, eat more veggies to help with the stalling.

I managed to do some yoga this morning; didn't quite finish it because the babies woke up, but its a great start to this week. Hoping to keep that momentum going throughout the week; that's my goal this week, now that the eating is "down pat"; we will see how it goes, but I will DEFINITELY do yoga 3x this week; may or may not do my Turbulence Training workouts. If not this week, they will be incorporated next week for sure. Adding things slowly, instead of all at once, will help with keeping it more of a habit and less likely something I will give up on.

Also, on my "Goal/resolution" list was "spa sunday" which I didn't get to do last week, mostly because I forgot it was sunday for most of the day. But I managed it today; at least partly. I did an at home pedicure, and while its not the cute french tips I prefer, its nice to have silky soft feet. My poor feet... I tend to neglect them more than I should. I hope for a time when I can do a minimum of monthly pedicures.

Looking forward to next month, we file our taxes, and with the money we will renew our gym membership. They have cardio machines, which I don't have, so my intervals always suffer due to that. They have weight machines, and my favorite, YOGA CLASS! Also, in the summer, we will be able to use the pool. Can't wait!

In other news, Lauryn's birthday is coming up. I managed to dye the yarn for her birthday longies, so I need to wind that up and get it started. I can't believe she's going to be 2 in 11 days!!

Week 1...

Here are my results from week 1. (only the results, no "real" numbers… yet)

Weight - down 7
waist - down 3 inches (at bellybutton)
waist - down 1 inch (below bellybutton)
hips - down 3 inches
bust - down 3 inches
thighs - no change
arms - no change

Not too shabby for one week! Obviously, I know this is mostly due to me being "carbed up" or whatever you want to call it from the holidays and the, well, entire year+ of not eating right before. So I know not to expect these results again next week. However, if make this same progress over the next 2 weeks, I could be pretty happy about being down 15 pounds in 3 weeks.

Also, lets hope the boobs decide not to continue the equal downward trend as the rexercise stress test of my body LOL.

So, my goals for this week:
Stick to my eating. I'm obviously doing something right, to have consistent loss all week.
MOVE MORE. I am pretty unhappy with myself about only doing one thing this week, BUT, I realize that if I want this to be a permanent change, then I have to make changes slowly, and not all at once, so they will be more likely to stick. I would be happy if I could do my yoga 3 times a week, and ecstatic if I did my workouts everyday. we will see; I have a tendency to avoid cardio/intervals.

That's about it. I want to slowly incorporate more organic into my life, but right now, I'll have to sit on that until we get back on track as far as jobs/money goes.

I need to get my butt in gear.

Im not doing so well on the workout front. I did yoga on sunday. and that was it. (facepalm) totally ashamed, but this is always where I fall short. I don't make myself get up at a specific time, eat at a specific time, or go to bed at a specific time. It happens eventually. So I guess I expect my workouts to be the same way? I don't know. I wanted to do yoga 3x a week, and my TT workouts 3x a week. I did yoga on sunday, but my headaches from the caffeine withdrawal were in full force, so I ended up telling myself "I can skip it for as long as I'm feeling bad". well, 2 or 3 day ago I decided the withdrawal headaches weren't worth going through, since I didn't plan on keeping caffeine out of my diet forever. So.... what's my excuse now? I was thinking, huh, I guess I'll do yoga on Thursday to get myself back in the groove. (you know, tomorrow). Only, today is Thursday. So, now what's my excuse?

Fell off the wagon.

Well, the Elimination Diet wagon. Tired of the headaches, I made myself a cup of coffee last night. and It was A-mazing. (and the sad thing is, if I could have toughed it out about one more day, the headaches probably would have been done). but, I told myself, I had no intention of KEEPING off the coffee and the tea, so I didn't see the point of detoxing, LOL, so I am no longer "ED compliant". So, I've been looking around for another eating plan that I feel comfortable following, and I think I've found what I'm looking for. I got this link to the Diet Solution Program in my inbox from one of my many email groups; I've been eyeballing this for almost a month now. Yesterday, after lots of research, and looking into it, I actually found a link for a "$1 21-day trial" where I pay $1 now, I download everything, and use it for 21 days. if I don't like it, won't use it, or it doesn't work for me, I can cancel the order for the remainder payment. So far, I'm happy. I can have caffeine, minimal amounts of sweetener with honey or stevia if I'm brave enough to try that for the price; still no bread in the traditional sense, but I can try sprouted breads and see how that does for me. I've actually looked into sprouting my own wheat berries and making bread from that; its supposed to be way more healthy for you (sprouted) and we got a breadmaker for christmas from Jon's mom because we were talking about making our own bread anyway.

Another thing I'm currently looking into is Kefir. Jon and I looked into this months ago, but we never did anything about it. I'm now learning more about it. there are 2 types, milk and water, and the milk kefir is great for a yogurt substitute (and especially those so called "probiotic" yogurts) and can be used in smoothies, (which I'm looking into green smoothie recipes) can be used in place of sour cream, and I've even run across suggestions for cheese and ice cream recipes. Awesome.

Another

Guess what?

I'm totally drinking some coffee right now. and it is GOOOOOD. MMMM. Bliss.

Feeling down.

I hate the beginning. Saying it outloud "30 days of eating clean". that's not hard, right? but days go by slow as the weeks go by fast. And I'm hungry. And I'm afraid that this "diet" won't really last, because we can't go to the store every 3 days for the fresh veggies and fruit that we are eating. Mostly because of money. Maybe next month will be better when Jon goes back to work but I hate feeling like we are going to have to get off of it for reasons sort of beyond our control. we didn't cheat, we didn't give up, its just cheaper to buy baking staples and live on carbs.

Here we go...

…The bargaining has started. Or, the justifying. "why am I cutting out caffeine? I know that it SAYS to go 30 days with no caffeine, dairy, wheat, sugar, or processed foods, but why am I TORTURING myself with the caffeine withdrawal if I plan on reinstating it after the 30 days it up?"

It's only day 2. Sigh.

Day 2 food

B - Egg scramble; added chicken. spinach, mushrooms, and bell peppers to eggs. also had half an apple with PB with Jon.

I am almost (but not quite) ashamed to admit that we only ate twice yesterday; "breakfast" was at 2 o'clock. Jon is getting over a sinus/cough thing, and I still had that major caffeine withdrawal headache going, so we just didn't bother to get up for a while.

Dinner: Chicken "chili" over rice. A handful of grapes and an apple with PB for a snack after dinner, cause I need my sweets lol

Yesterday...

B - Eggs
L - Chicken salad
S - Apple with PB
D - Salmon with rice and peas.
S - Grapes

Did a 30-minute yoga work out with K, and Jon went to the store so we have more of a variety for veggies ;)

Day 1 update.

I think I've figured out why dieting doesn't work. Why, every year, millions of people "promise to lose weight" and are all gung-ho about actually getting it done, and then within a week, or a month, they fall back into old habits.

Because IT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE CRAP! I was expecting headaches. But TOMORROW, or the next day, not today already! I didn't think I was that jazzed on caffeine. and its not like I drank it every day anyway, but damn, this headache can go somewhere else now. Also, how am I supposed to actually do a physically challenging activity when I feel like just the small movement of turning my head is going to make it explode? And don't even get me started on the nursling who likes to pull hair, okay?

Plus, the longer you "eat right", the more your body starts to burn the fat stored, which is where the body stores toxins that can't be dealt with properly; this is why everyone gets sick with flu-like symptoms after a few weeks. I remember, a few years ago, a friend of mine and I went on the "Metabolic Research" diet together; she dropped out after like 4 or 6 weeks, because she was ALWAYS SICK, and she blamed it on the diet. Its not the diet, its your body! this is crap in your body that has been stored and not metabolized, and now that your body is finally metabolizing it, your feeling it! So rather than go through the pain and suffering of being sick constantly the whole time, people give up and start eating bad yummy disgusting food again.

Then, you get to moving around, and exercising, and your so. freaking. sore. for, like, EVER. Seriously, in the beginning, about all I can handle is a day a week. if I try to go for more than that, I can't. sit. down. properly. I have to fall into a chair, and hope it will hold my weight. also, getting up is no fun. and add 4 kids to that. Blech.

Okay, that's my rant for the day. I didn't expect it so soon. I'm almost a pro at this; I know what to eat, I know what my body can handle, and I know that I get headaches when I don't have caffeine, and after 3 days on a diet, my body goes, "Okay, this isn't funny anymore, where the hell is the chocolate!?!?" and I have to spend all of day 3 eating celery sticks and carrots to prevent myself from snacking on other, more harmful substances. Like chocolate. or cake. or ice cream. yeah, you get the idea.

Day 1. again.

Its the start of a new year, and a new promise to "lose weight". My baby is 7 months old; I can no longer use "I just had a baby" as an excuse to look this way. I plan to take it fairly slow, and not put too much stress and expectation on myself. I know if I eat clean, and I start working out/moving/exercising, I will feel better, and the excess will come off. I plan on following Dax Moy's Elimination Diet as closely as possible to level 2 (since I'm still breastfeeding, I won't be level 3). We will see how it goes. I'm anticipating headaches within the next 3 days, since its no caffeine. and I'm not one of those that believes caffeine is evil, so if I can't last 30 days without it, so be it. I will add my coffee and tea back in; I don't add sugar to them anyway.

I will also be following Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training workout. In fact, I'll be joining the Turbulence Training Transformation Contest to give myself some accountability. HOpefully, I'll be able to keep up with this blog and at least post daily my activity and my food, and weekly my stats. For the most part. I'm always ashamed to share my "before"; I always think "I'll share the before when there's an after". so we will see. I still need to get today's newspaper for today's pics anyway, and then measure and weigh and all that. I plan for yoga today, rest tomorrow, then Monday start in with the TT beginner workout. That will be for 4 weeks, 3x a week TT and 3x a week yoga, then after 4 weeks, go to one of the TT female bodyshape workouts. (I have a million of them. I bought them years ago, before my third child. back when I managed to lose 30 lbs).

Right now, my goal is 40 lbs. I hope to get this accomplished by my son's first birthday, which is May 26th. That gives me nearly 6 months to do it. PLENTY of time. I anticipate it being done sooner; the TT Transformation Contest is 12 weeks, so I think April 9th is the end date for that. My 6-week point in the contest is actually the day before my anniversary, so we will see how hot he thinks I am then ;)