Weight Tracker

Start size: bust 41 1/2 in., waist 38, hips 48
Current size: (*needs to be updated*)
Height: 5'6"

Start Weight: 206 10/06/05
1st WI: 204.6 10/13/05
2nd WI: 197.4 10/20/05
3rd WI: 194.2 10/27/05
4th WI: 191.6 11/10/05
5th WI: 187.6 11/16/05
6th WI: 186.0 11/22/05
RESTART AFTER BABY
186.0 7/14/06
181.8 8/11/06
180.0 12/25/06
176.4 1/02/07 Woohoo! 30 lbs gone!
174.6 1/04/07
170.6 1/20/07
RESTART AFTER MOVING
167.8 5/12/07
165.8 5/17/07 Yippee! 40 lbs gone!
162.0 6/7/07
159.8 8/17/07
158.2 9/8/07
156.0 9/22/07 Yes!! 50 lbs gone!

Total Weight Loss: -50 lbs
Goal Weight: 140
(150 is within normal range)

The date is set wrong to keep this post at the top of my blog so I can keep it updated as I go.

Finally 155

It seems like every time I get close to a goal I suddenly lose all motivation and my weight either stays completely still or I gain a pound or two. Some times I think it's that I can't focus on two goals at once. If all my thoughts and energy are directed at the adoption process, weight loss falls by the way side. Or if I'm focused on exercising, eating right, and working the plan, I start to neglect the kids' homeschooling for a few days. It's strange how multi-tasking works for me on small things if they are all part of the same goal, but not for multiple goals.

Then there are those times when I'm not even really trying to lose weight, but my activity level and stress level are both so high that I lose weight as an unintended consequence. This is one of those times.

I had packed on the pounds back up to 159 and now it's steadily dropped back down until today I reached my lowest weight yet. 155 lbs! This is despite the fact that I did eat some Halloween candy and even a giant chocolate bar. Apparently, lifting a 28 lb one year old and a 43 lb three year old daily is a good workout. Chasing them from one end of the house to the other, up and downstairs, is even better. Oh well. I'll take the weight loss any way I can get it.

What 50 lbs looks like

Today I reached the 50 lb weight loss mark. That sounds like such a big number, but what does it mean really? That's more than my 7 year old daughter weighs. She currently weighs 47 lbs. My husband, Daniel, has lost exactly 50 lbs and currently weighs 146 lbs. If I lose one more pound I'll have lost more than he has even though I'll still weigh more than he does. As of today I weigh 156 lbs. Six more to go and I will officially (according to body mass index "BMI") no longer be over weight.

My ultimate goal is still 140, but it will be a victory in itself to no longer be over weight, just like it was a major victory to no longer be classified as 'obese'. I know I feel differently. I don't walk around with my arms over my belly trying to hide it anymore. I don't worry about standing behind someone in photos. I do still think about that little tummy roll when I sit down and try to remember to sit up straight. At least when I suck in my stomach something moves now, lol.

It makes me wonder, how different will it feel when I'm at my goal weight? For now I'll rejoice in the fact that my clothes fit better and that I can say I've lost just as much weight as Daniel.

Huswifery

I read a poem once called "Huswifery" a word which means, basically, being a housewife. It's always seemed unfair to me that doing housework and taking care of my kids doesn't count as exercise. It wears me out, sometimes even causes me to break a sweat, but unfortunately doesn't seem to make the pounds fall off.

However, the five mile super-fast walk that I took with Daniel yesterday did count as exercise. We went on a date to a nearby movie theatre about 2.5 miles from our house. We only had 45 minutes to get there so we went fast. My legs felt like they were going to fall off! This morning I weighed 157.8 pounds! Here's my log for today:

Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Homemade tuna pita pockets
Dinner: Homemade pizza & a Coke Zero
Dessert: homemade M&M cookies (made with Splenda!)

Exercise: None, just a lot of housework

150's

Today the scale said 158.4 with my p.j.'s on, so of course I had to immediately check it minus the p.j.'s and it went down a whopping two tenths of a pound, lol. It's probably due to the fact that I've been sick for about a week. Miserably, horribly, ill.

I'm feeling better now, so today I celebrated my weight loss by whipping out 80 situps. I'm going to do some more tonight. It always seems like the minute I try to exercise is when the baby decides he NEEDS me and cannot wait. So far today I'm at 16 points and planning to do a frozen WW meal for dinner. I'll finish updating later but here's my log so far:

Breakfast: a bit of a banana...Kevin stole the rest
Lunch: half a burger and a few fries (not good, but at least I only ate half)
Dinner: planning on having a WW meal (6 points)

Exercise: 80 situps
planning to take a walk and do more situps later

And to answer Glenda's previous comment: I can't stop thinking, praying, and worrying about Tuesday which is silly, of course, since there is nothing I can do to affect the outcome. So yeah, stress is high.

Don't Give Up!

Romans 15:13
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (KJV)

A tiny seed has every reason to feel hopeless. It falls to the ground and cannot move anyplace else. It gets trampled. It gets cold and wet. It gets buried.

And yet, in spite of all that, it does what it can. It sends out tiny, frail stems toward the warm sunlight. It cannot move around to find food, so it takes what it has where it is, and makes optimum use of it. It sends roots into the ground to anchor itself.

Growing just a little bit each day, it becomes a seedling and then a small tree. The wind blows, the droughts come, the seasons change, and through it all the young tree perseveres. It does what it can where it is. And in time, that adds up to quite an accomplishment. It becomes a tall, sturdy, beautiful tree, producing more seeds which can eventually add up to an entire forest.

Though the tiny seed may appear hopeless and insignificant, it is not. It does what it must, when it can, and manifests its grand possibilities.

When you are tempted to feel hopeless, think of the tiny seed. It is far less capable, far less flexible, far less resourceful than you, and yet it perseveres until it has transformed into a magnificent creation. Always, there is always hope for anyone who has the courage to accept it.

Here is the website where I found this Inspiration.

New Situp Record

I'm doing fairly well with the exercise lately, but still struggling with the "just say no" part of the diet. For instance, yesterday I busted out a whole lot of situps, but over ate at Pizza Hut. They have a new kind of pizza called "Dippin' Sticks" or something like that. Next time I'm faced with that temptation I'm going to carefully set my alloted amount of food on my plate and not go back for more instead of just grabbing one at a time. I think part of the problem right now is that I'm sort of anxious about whether or not we'll get chosen/matched with a certain group of kids from our county. It's heart breaking getting your hopes up and then finding out that you weren't chosen and have to wait again. I need to focus on cleaning instead of eating. That's my usual, more healthy, stress buster. Here's my log for yesterday:

Tuesday August 28th:

Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: mac n' cheese, green beans, baked chicken
Dinner: Pizza Hut - 10 sticks (equals about 5 slices)

Exercise:
120 situps!
30 standing wall pushups
played tennis twice

Where My Focus Belongs

I've realized that when I focus on what foods I'm denying myself or what I'm missing, the pounds stop coming off and even exercise that I know I can do feels harder. So many struggles in my life seem to boil down to a heart issue. I'm reading some new books that are written as devotions for homeschooling moms, but a lot of it applies to my whole life, not just that one area. Today I also picked up a book about how important praising God is because it forces you to take the focus off of yourself and put it on God. He is so wonderful and amazing that He designed praise so that when we worship him, we are blessed ourselves.

My hardest times always come when I'm being self-centered. I snap at Daniel because he's interrupting me while I'm using the computer. I have to rush to get dinner ready with a fussy baby underfoot because instead of getting things prepared and planning ahead I got sucked into a science fiction book or watching a movie. Or I'm frustrated with the girls for not getting their school work done fast enough because I got everyone started late by not managing my time better. With my weight loss, I get irritated that I'm not losing the weight faster, when I know full well that it's my fault because I have not been making exercise a priority, instead staying up late typing away on message boards online which means I'm too tired in the morning to work out.

My prayer this week: "Lord help me to put you first. I know that my days always go better when I take my focus off of me and put it where it belongs."

Breakfast: muffin and a WW yogurt (2pts)
Lunch: pizza (16pts)
Dinner: home made burritos
Snack: half a cookie (1pt)

Exercise: walked 3 miles
100 situps

Not bad, not good

My log for August 24th:

Breakfast: 2 muffins (2pts)
bacon/egg/cheese bagel (bad girl 7pts)
Lunch: homemade pizza (8pts)
Dinner: 2 chicken strips & fruit (7pts)

Exercise: walking (grocery shopping)

I need to kick it into high gear. I hate when I miss my situps for the day!

Another Mat in the Family

In our family we have two "Matts". One is married to each of my sisters-in-law. This week Daniel gave me my very own mat. It's a blue high density foam exercise mat and I love it. It's the perfect length. It protects my back and tailbone, and it stays put on the floor. It's also just the perfect balance between soft and firm.

On my mat today I did one hundred and TEN situps with Daniel holding my ankles. I'm very proud of that extra ten! I'm inching my way toward that goal of hitting 200 situps per day. Here's my log for today:

Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Subway sandwich and half a bag of baked chips
Dinner: two chicken wraps and a handful of fries (my Kryptonite)
Dessert: a small icecream cone

Exercise: walked approx. 4 miles
110 situps
30 squats
20 standing wall pushups

Quick Update

Doing good! Here's my log:

Breakfast: banana
Lunch: 2 eggs, toast, 10 grapes
Dinner: 4 home made tacos
Desert: 2 point "Skinny Cow" icecream

Exercise: Cleaning and decluttering the whole house for the inspection tomorrow! We've been getting everything child-proofed and making sure that there aren't any cluttered areas that could be considered a fire hazzard. Also I scrubbed my bathrooms and kitchen today.

Progress Report: 206 to 160!

Okay, technically, the scale says I am 159.8, but I'm rounding it to 160 lbs. This is a victory for me in multiple ways. I've lost 46 lbs! I've made it to the 150's (just barely). And I'm officially smaller than I was when I got pregnant with my first child, Danya, back in the fall of 1999!

When I lose 10 more pounds I will no longer be classified as overweight! When I lose 15 more pounds I will be back to the size that I was at all through high school. Today I celebrated all my mini-victories by buying some fitness magazines for motivation and inspiration.



Here's my food and exercise log for today.

Breakfast: half a banana (Kevin ate my other half, the stinker!)
Lunch: baked chips and cheese with hamburger and tomatos in it.
Snack: two small homemade cookies (made with Splenda!)
Dinner: 2 point sandwich and 10 small pretzel sticks

Exercise: 100 sit ups

Chasing Jennie

Jennie is my beautiful sister in law and friend who is approximately 3 months younger than me. Ever since I've known her I've thought she was beautiful, the ideal of what I'd like to look like. We are the same height and (she says) the same weight right now. But seriously. The comparison ends there. Jennie is the bomb.

She's smart, her current job makes her a step shy of being a doctor. She's stylish. When she was a teen ager she designed and made her own clothes and since then she is the one that shows up for family events looking like she just stepped out of the latest fashion trends magazine. Then to top it all off she has an amazing personality. She's funny, outgoing, compassionate, always thinking of others (like she remembers EVERYONE's birthday and anniversary), and she just makes you glad to be around her.

So here's my goal. I want to be Jennie when I grow up! She's taught me everything about looking like a grown up after all. She showed me what kind of shirts to wear (when I was stuck in t-shirts for fear of picking the wrong clothing), encouraged me to wear more skirts, and even taught me how to use mousse in my hair. Jennie, you are my ideal woman.

Working Hard

Yesterday was a good day. Shannon, our babysitter, was visiting us overnight, so Daniel and I were able to take Kevin for a walk while Shannon and the girls played at the house. We walked about 2 1/2 miles! Then we walked some more while running errands and getting some grocery shopping done. Walmart is a mad house since school is starting! Then last night Daniel and I got into a little sit-up contest, lol. Here's my log:

Breakfast: cereal (4 points)
Lunch: homemade pizza (about 15 points)
Dinner: sandwich (3 points)

Exercise:
2.5 mile walk
80 sit ups
20 standing wall push ups

Light and Heavy

I guess you could say I ate too lightly in the morning and too heavily in the evening today. Here's my food log:

Breakfast: none
Snack: handful of popcorn
Lunch: eggs and toast
Dinner: (date night!) 9 oz steak and a sweet potato, small salad, dinner roll

A New Low (that's good)

I haven't been keeping up very well the last couple of days with logging my food and exercise. I do have good news, though. I reached a new low weight of 161.8! O.K., so it's not Earth shattering, but I'm excited. I've been working hard to get back down since I had shot up to 170.

I've been doing lots of sit ups and crunches and staying within my points. Sometimes it's hard because I eat all my points before dinner gets here, so I skip dinner. That's not a good way to do it because then I'm starving by bedtime. Luckily, I'm not one of those people who wake up hungry at 2 a.m. and raid the fridge. Anyway, I'm not feeling well today, so I haven't exercised. Here's my food log though:

Breakfast: a muffin
Lunch: pizza
Snack: Daniel brought me M&Ms for my once a month "I must have chocolate" day.
Dinner: small bowl of Hamburger Helper

The upside of doing well with points, exercise, and weight loss is that my pants are all fitting better again. I keep wondering what size I'll be when I hit my weight loss goal. I got a few new shirts and skirts the other day and one of the shirts was a size 4/6! It's probably just a brand that has weird sizes, but it was still a fun little surprise. It's a really good feeling going into the dressing room and finding that everything you wanted to try on actually fits!

Lifting Living Weights

How to truly get a workout:

1. Pick up three kids weighing about 125 lbs all together and carry them around the room.
2. Do 20 leg lifts with each child riding on your legs.
3. Bench press your 27 pound son until your arms wear out.

Then wrestle with them on the floor until you collapse in exhausted laughter. This is a very effective way to get your exercise for the day. Especially considering that no matter what exercise you try to do the kids will attempt to tackle you and crawl on you anyway. So you might as well make it fun.

Breakfast: Bacon, egg, cheese, bagel (8 points)
Lunch: Homemade pizza (approx. 10 points)
Dinner: handful of pretzel sticks because the main meal was gross.
Dessert: strawberries and light whip cream (4 points)
Exercise: 2 mile walk pushing Kevin in the stroller
60 leg lifts with kids on my legs (20 lifts w/Kevin = 27 lbs., 40 w/girls = 47 lbs.)

Work and Play

Today I had a good exercise day and part of it was walking around the mall for a few hours with my family. It was Danya's suggestion to go, but it sounded good to me. Here's my log for today:

Breakfast: 3 muffins (3 points, I love these muffins)
Lunch: 3 grilled cheese sandwiches (9 points)
Dinner: chinese food (I have no idea how many points, it was mostly just chicken and a tiny bit of fried rice)

Exercise: 100 Crunches!
25 standing wall push ups
20 squats
walking for about 4 hours at the mall

Sit Ups

Today was a good on-point day. I went for a jog/walk around the park with the kids while they drove their little car and tonight Daniel and I challenged each other to see how many situps we could do. Here's my log:

Breakfast: strawberries and whip cream (only 2 points!)
Lunch: cheeseburger and pretzels (14 points)
Dinner: crock pot chicken w/mushroom soup (6 points)
Dessert: pretzel w/cheese (used exercise points)

Exercise: jog/walk around park and 75 situps! (my goal is to eventually reach 100 situps or crunches a day for now, working my way up to 200) I want a belly like the lady in this photo!

On Point

Now that I only get 22 weight watchers points a day, it's a lot harder to stay on point. Yesterday we were driving home from church trying to think where we could eat out with our friends Shannon and Sara, while still staying within our points.

We ended up going to subway. It's nice to be able to get full on a 6 or 7 point sandwich. If I ate a little regular cheeseburger at McDonald's it would be 8 points and I'd still be starving. Subway really fills me up and I can choose my own toppings. Here's my log for today:

Breakfast: homemade pancakes and light syrup
Lunch: 6 inch Subway chicken sandwich
Dinner: Salad, breadsticks, cheese at Olive Garden

Exercise: Tennis

Sticking To It

Today was fairly good. I went for a very long walk with the kids. It was too hot and we were all red faced and sweaty by the time we got home. Kevin drank his entire sippy cup of water during the trip, which is unusual for him. This morning I woke up with a bad crick in my neck. I couldn't move it to the left at all. I tried to stretch it and I even played tennis with Daniel despite my stiff neck. It's a little better now. I know that if I buckled down even more on my food intake I'll lose the weight faster. I'm going to increase my effort this week. Here's my log:

Breakfast: banana
Lunch: nachos
Snack: a little bit of strawberries and grapes
Dinner: 2 slices of pizza (for the girl who used to eat half a large pizza all by herself!) and one breadstick.

Exercise: Long walk!
Tennis with Daniel

Doing good

Did you know that you can have a cup and a half of strawberries for just one point? AND you can add about 5 tablespoons of light whip cream for another point. It feels like dessert, tastes wonderful, and only uses two points all together!

The downside is if you forget to tell your husband that you bought those strawberries just for you, he'll give them to your kids for breakfast, so there goes the low point dessert. Oh well.

Breakfast: banana
Lunch: strawberries and Ramen
Dinner: Weight Watchers frozen dinner

Exercise: walking

Effort

Today I did good until after dinner. So we went for a walk to exercise off the M&M's we had for dessert. Unfortunately, we went for a walk to an ice cream social. Oh well. Here's my log:

Breakfast: Muffins (2 points)
Lunch: chicken wrap (3 points)
Snack: half a cookie (1 point)
Dinner: pizza (12 points) plus cheese bread
Dessert: M&M's (shared a bag) and ice cream

Exercise: Family walk (maybe a mile)
50 situps/crunches
10 push ups
pushed Kevin in stroller around park

Help, Lord!

Somedays I feel like I'm on a roller coaster with my weight. I'll be doing so well, and then crash. The biggest issue is food, as usual. I've been getting lots of exercise. I think having Daniel's parents visit felt like being on vacation. We decided to take a few days break from homeschooling the girls while they were here and we went out to eat with them a few times. Now that they are on their way home, hopefully I'll be able to jump back into healthy eating habits tomorrow and hit the ground running. Anyway, here's my food/exercise log for today.

Breakfast: two muffins and a cookie (6 points all together)
Snack: popcorn
Lunch: personal pan pizza (yup, blew the points right there)
Snack: two cookies (cuz hey, I already went over on points)
Dinner: a few french fries, half a cold chicken nugget, and two pretzels (dinner was botched tonight, enough said)

Exercise: None, really

Doubles Tennis

Today was a good day. I got the appointment with the audiologist out of the way, so a little stress relief. Also, Daniel and I got to have a low point lunch together at Subway after running errands. Then tonight we played doubles tennis, first with Grandpa Wayne and Danya, then with some teenage neighbor boys. Wayne ran me ragged around the tennis courts hitting the ball from one corner to the other and front to back. I definitely got a workout! Here's my food/exercise log for today:

Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Subway chicken sandwich and half a bag of baked chips with diet Coke
Dinner: homemade pizza and one banana creme Reese's cup with diet Pepsi
Lots and Lots of water!

Exercise: Tennis for about an hour and a half

Exercise Good, Food not-so-good

Today's food and exercise log:

Breakfast: strawberries on toast w/yogurt
Sunday School: half a donut
Lunch with friends after church: 3 slices pizza and mini cinnamon rolls
snack: icecream
Dinner: Baked tortilla scoops with cheese
Dessert: pretzel

Bad day for food. I'll do better tomorrow.

Exercise: Played tennis for 30 minutes
Walked 2 miles

I think today was sort of nervousness eating because I'm worried about my appointment with the audiologist tomorrow to see if I need hearing aids. At least after tomorrow I'll know one way or another, so the worry/anxiety will be gone.

Getting There

Although I'm annoyed to admit that I let my weight creep back up almost to 170 recently, today I did a little happy dance when the scale said that I was back down to 163.6 lbs! I'm getting closer to my goal and working hard. Today I exercised like crazy, probably from sheer excitement at seeing the numbers on the scale go down. And I've discovered that it's harder to stick to the whole "write down what you eat every day" thing than I thought it would be.

So today I had...

Breakfast: bacon, egg, & cheese bagel
Lunch: Hamburger Helper
Dinner: 3 slices of pizza

So, I went over my points a little, but the exercise points should cover it. For exercise today...

Walk: 2 miles
Tennis: 35 minutes
Crunches: 25
Leg lifts with Kevin on my legs (ow!): 30
Arm raises holding Kevin: 10

Kevin helped me lift weights today. He weighs about 37 pounds. He laughed the whole time and then got to do it all again when it was Daniel's turn. Plus I also did alot of grocery shopping today, so I got even more walking in.

Hot Days, Long Walks

Yesterday Daniel and I played tennis for about 20 minutes in the morning before the real heat of the day set in. Then in the afternoon we had our babysitter, Shannon, come over. We went for a 45 minute walk before calling it quits. It was about 98 degrees outside and we were melting in our sneakers. Daniel took this picture of me along the way.

Breakfast: small danish
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
Dinner: salad, bread, cheese
Desert: 7 M&M mini cookies

Exercise: tennis and a 45 minute walk

July 23rd Food & Exercise Log

Breakfast: scrambled egg and half a danish
Lunch: 2 slices homemade pepperoni pizza
Snack: part of a pretzel and some popcorn
Dinner: scoops with cheese and beef

Exercise: Played tennis

The muscles in the backs of my legs are killing me from the walk yesterday. Pushing Kevin and the girls up all those hills must have pulled something in my legs. I can't even stretch properly. Oh well, I'll just keep exercising and it will work itself out.

Fresh Start

My weight has been fluctuating for the past two months. So starting today Daniel and I are making a fresh start. Following my friend, Christina's lead I'm going to start posting my food and exercise each day. Hopefully it will help me to stay on track.

Today July 22nd:

Exercise: Cleaned the local park, played tennis, walked 3 miles

Breakfast: One small apple Danish and water
Lunch: Baked chicken and green beans with diet pop
Snack: 10 cheese-it crackers
Dinner: Spaghetti and a piece of french bread

Quick Weight Loss

This week I decided to do a more drastic weight loss plan so that I could drop 5 more pounds before my high school reunion on Saturday. So last Sunday I started the Kimkins diet. It's like the Adkin's diet in that you only eat meat and eggs. I figured I could survive it for a few days.

It was not fun at all. But I did lose exactly 5 pounds in less than 3 days. So now I'm down to 162 lbs! I'm looking forward to putting on my dress on Saturday night. I know it will fit better because the new size 8 jeans I bought fit me better already.

This picture is of me at Frontier City with Daniel and Kevin. I decided to wear my new tank top so that I could try to improve on my strange t-shirt tan before the reunion. I don't think it really worked. Oh well, at least I didn't burn.

Thanks, Danya

In an effort to contribute to healthy eating, Danya helped by making breakfast this morning. She poured in the milk and stirred it the whole time until it was done. She's one impressive 6 year old!

It was very good! We've been trying hard to eat right, and Daniel has been helping me stay on point by not giving in to my longings for McDonald's food. (Thanks, Sweetie.) Another thing that helps us to eat at home is being broke. We're saving all our money for our trip to Oklahoma next week. I'm guessing staying on point won't be too hard then, either, because we won't have extra funds for eating out. Although, we will get to eat out the night of my reunion, because that dinner is catered. Does that actually count as eating out?

It's Not the Baby's Fault

Someone asked me recently what caused my weight gain. One thing I know for sure is that it was not pregnancy. I've been hideously sick with all my pregnancies. In fact, I tend to lose close to 20 lbs every time I get pregnant.

When I married Daniel I was 18, just graduated from high shool, and weighed between 140 and 145 lbs. I was a size 8. I know this because the day we decided to elope I bought some new jeans to get married in, lol, and they were size 8. A month later, being young and not having health insurance, the health department gave me Depo Provera shots for birth control. They said I might gain a few pounds. I gained about 40 lbs that first year. I also bled profusely every day for a year during which they kept giving me the shots every 3 months promising that the problem would stop "this time".

To be honest, part of the problem was that I was actually eating regularly for the first time ever. Growing up we frequently had no food in the house or maybe something odd like peanut butter and a jar of pickles. Once we were married Daniel took me out to eat alot and I was also learning to cook real food.

When I got pregnant with Danya in 1999 I was so sick that I lost 20 lbs. By the time she was born I was down to weighing 160 lbs. When I had my second child, Gloria, I weighed 180 lbs. (that was 17 months later) I attribute that to my doctor trying out 6 or 7 different kinds of birth control pills for me. I think my body reacts badly to birth control.

Between Gloria and my third child, Kevin, there were 4 years and 3 miscarriages. I tried to lose weight during that time. I joined Jazzercise and worked out 3 to 5 days a week for about 6 months. I didn't lose a single pound. I realize now that I was overeating so I was only managing to maintain my weight with all that exercise. I started Weight Watchers in October of 2005 just a couple of weeks before learning that I was pregnant again. But the information about portion control and reading labels to look for the amount of fat and calories food has really taught me alot. So I lost about 20 lbs and didn't gain any extra during the pregnancy. I think I can at least say that Daniel and I are committed to never falling back into that old pattern of overeating and eating the wrong foods again.

I hope that answers the question of where all the weight came from. It's hard to admit you caused your own problem, but it's really the only way to deal with it and stick to the changes you make.

Photo Progression from 206 to 165

Back There

I hate it when people take pictures of me from behind. I'm guessing most women do, except those in a size 3 or smaller pants size. Fortunately, I'm starting to hate it a litte less. Maybe by this time next year it won't bother me (much) at all. The photo on the left is me in 2005. The other photo is me this month, May of 2007. Just more encouragement to keep going!

Over Half Way

Here's a little self motivation, a before and current picture of me. The first one was taken when Daniel and I had just started Weight Watchers in October of 2005, the other was taken on Mother's Day a week or so ago, May of 2007. I'd like to think that's not too bad if you take into consideration that I had a baby between then and now.

Hopefully, these photos will help motivate me to reach my goal! I'm determined to be at my ultimate weight loss goal of 140 before my 30th birthday this November!

40 lbs gone, 25 to go!

The Big 4-0!

As of this morning I have officially lost 40 lbs!! I started at 206 and I'm finally down to 165.8! Woohoo! (You can't see it, but I'm doing a happy dance)

My wonderful husband, Daniel, has been tortur...I mean helping me by suggesting I exercise each day. He even force..I mean encouraged me to continue through a grueling Tae Bo workout. It's all been worth it because the scale is finally starting to show some results. I'm going to keep pushing hard to try and reach my mini-goal of weighing 160 by my high school reunion on June 9th!

Losing Again!

Daniel and I have been exercising using our "Ab Attack" video and taking walks together. I've been doing my best to watch what I eat, although I admit I still need to quit eating little things, like trying the samples at Sam's Club on the weekends.

Great news! As of this morning when I weighed after breakfast I am down to 167.8! I've lost two pounds in the last week and I feel like I'm finally back on track again. This is giving me hope that I can reach my mini-goal of 160 before my high school reunion on June 9th. I took this photo this morning to celebrate. I'm wearing my size 10 jeans!

I've been keeping up with having a daily quiet time with God every morning for a few weeks now, and it really does make a difference in my attitude and how my day goes. I know He is helping me get where I need to be with my weight. I could not do this alone!

Technically Ten

My size 12 jeans have been slipping down on me alot lately, so I tried on some size 10 jeans at Walmart the other day. Technically, I can wear them. I went ahead and bought them as inspiration and motivation. They aren't comfortable but I can get them on. My goal is for them to fit comfortably by the reunion in 4 weeks. Here's hoping!

Stuck

I seem to be currently stuck at 169 lbs. It fluctuates a few ounces here and there, but doesn't really change. I walked and jogged everyday sometimes twice a day for a week and a half without missing a single day...and got nothing to show for it.

There's a new book out that claims that cardio excercise isn't doing me much good. The author says I need to do strength training. So I'm going to look into that. Meanwhile, I need to be more diligent about watching my points. Eating too much of a low point meal just doesn't cut it.

I've got my high school reunion coming up on June 9th, so I really need to kick this thing into high gear. My sister in law says she is close to my same weight, so maybe we could be long distance weight loss buddies. I know having Daniel "help" me isn't working. Mostly because it's so irritating seeing him already at his weight loss goal and knowing that I still have 30-35 pounds to go. I just thought I'd add this post so that anyone reading this will know I have frustrations with this process as well as successes. (Hopefully more of the latter in the future!)

$20 Bucks at a Time

Daniel started out by betting me $20 to see who could lose 5 pounds first. I was at 182 at the time and I won. So then I was at 177 and we discussed the $20 incentive and decided that it really helped.

We are going to keep that $20 carrot dangling in front of me as I go along. He has set my next mark at getting under 170 pounds. As soon as the scale says anything less than 170 I get the money. As of this morning I weigh 170.6, so I've only got 7 ounces to lose! Then after that he said we might do it every 5 pounds. Also, when I get under 170 I get to try on some size 12 jeans. My 14's are getting loose!

I noticed today that my face is starting to look thin again. It's almost strange because I've lived with the chubbier version of me in the mirror for so long now. I'm excited to see what I will look like when I reach my goal weight!

Before and During Photos

These are Daniel's before and after pictures. My wonderful amazing husband started last October weighing 197 lbs and currently (January 2nd, 2007) weighs 146 lbs. I'm so proud of him! It's like seeing the boy I married all over again. He's able to do Tae Bo workouts with me now and even have snow shoveling races with me! He's now fitting in size small shirts and size 30 jeans are getting a bit loose on him. He's hoping to lose just a few more pounds or possibly just strengthen and tighten his stomach muscles. Luckily, he's only 30 years old, so his skin still has enough elasticity to snap back into shape after such a massive weight loss!

These are my photos, but they are really just "before and during" pics. I've lost 30 lbs so far and am at 176 lbs right now. I still have at least 36 to go. I didn't post a true "before" picture of me until now because I wanted to wait until I had a good "after" photo to show. I can really see a difference between what I use to look like and now. The biggest change seems to be my seriously reduced tush. I think my bust size would be smaller, too, except that I am still nursing my 6 month old son. I'm hoping to lose the last of the weight before the end of June when we go home to Oklahoma to see our family again. So my New Year's resolution is to stay on point and keep exercising like crazy!

14 Again!

I'm saying hello to an old friend; my size 14 body that I haven't seen in years. I've known that my size 16 jeans were a little loose on me for a while now, but it was still thrilling to fit comfortably into size 14 pants last week.

An even bigger success for me was that I managed to survive the Christmas holidays without gaining any weight. We drove down to Oklahoma to visit family last week. While we were there we had a big Christmas dinner one day, and a pot luck the next, not to mention all the times we ate out. Despite all that, I stayed within my points, splurging only one day using up all my weekly points on one meal.

We also bought some Billy Blanks' Tae Bo videos while we were there and exercised several days, sometimes twice a day. I'm really proud of both of us. When we got back home to Colorado we saw the results of the blizzard that had hit while we were gone. No problem! We've taken advantage of it by spending almost two hours shoveling snow two different times this week. We're expecting more snow this Thursday and Friday. Shoveling snow is heavy duty exercise, so we're burning lots of calories. Daniel's health magazine says that 127 minutes of shoveling snow burns 1,397 calories! I'm expecting to see some good numbers on the scale by next week!

Ups and Downs

Since my last post my weight has fluctuated a bit, getting as high as 186 and now back down to 181.6 as of today. I've been trying to stick to my points, but I wonder if maybe the extra 10 I get for nursing is a little too much. Daniel says I should just ignore the WW recommendation and cut 5 points off of that, giving me only 5 points extra for nursing. It's difficult trying to eat all of those points worth of food every day, so I'm okay with that idea. (at least theoretically) My goal is to reach 175 pounds by Thanksgiving. I think it's very reachable if I can just get enough exercise every day. So far I've tried taking long walks and running up and down the stairs 10 times. I found out that any more than 8 times up and down causes me to collapse with a racing heart afterwards, so I think I'll stick to just 8.

Friday Feels Fine!

I've been weighing myself on Fridays. No particular reason why. Since I'm not attending the weight watchers meetings currently, I don't have to have a certain day, but Fridays are as good a day as any. This picture was taken four days ago, just one day after my most recent visit to the dreaded scale.

I've lost weight again! I'm down to just under 182 pounds. I'm still struggling with the food issue. Everything is so out of whack around here lately. With selling our house, moving to my in-laws temporarily, and nursing a newborn, we are having trouble sticking to a schedule and meal times are very irregular. We finally got a few groceries in the house now that we have a contract pending and don't have to keep the cabinets freakishly empty.

I'm not doing well with tracking points. Instead I'm just trying to eat somewhat sensibly, but that's hard to do when we are almost never home. I tried eating a WW meal the other day, but it was only a 4 point meal and I was starving afterwards.

For exercise today I went for a 30 minute walk. I didn't mean to walk that long, but I got lost trying to take a "short cut". Daniel and I also took Gloria's exercise class, lol. She's been begging us to for a week now. She loved pretending to be the instructor. She had us doing stretches and jumping jacks and marching around the room. She's the best four year old exercise instructor ever! I actually felt like I'd had a workout when we finished...because the younger half of the class needed a potty break.

Back on the Scales Again

Since the arrival of my beautiful bouncing baby boy, I've gotten back on the scales again. What a good surprise! Within a week of leaving the hospital I weighed myself and discovered that I was 186 pounds. Yes, that's right. The same weight I was as of the last post on this blog before calling it quits for the duration of my pregnancy. The 15 pounds I put on while pregnant was entirely baby weight!

If you're curious, I account it to three things.
1. Extreme vomiting for the first 4 months
2. Many many long walks and occasional swimming
3. Not over eating, just eating until I was comfortably full

I thought I'd be able to jump right back into the swing of weight watchers as soon as the baby arrived, but it's been a month now and I'm not on track yet. However, in spite of eating alot of double cheeseburgers and even one Chick-fila shake (BIG mistake, that thing is 16 points!), I've still managed to lose another pound. I'm currently at 185. It must be the nursing. My current goal is to eliminate caffeinated beverages. Starting today. I think that will help alot. When we move to Colorado in a month or so, my new apartment will have a weight room. That should help with the exercise. In the meantime it's just too darn hot to walk outside!

First 10% Achieved!

As of two days ago my scale has been registering me at 186 lbs!! That means I've reached my first goal of losing 10% of my total body weight. It is amazing to me that I've actually lost 20 lbs! When I saw the numbers on the scale I almost fell off in my excitement! I was hoping to reach this goal by Christmas, so I'm a month ahead of schedule! And looking at my weight tracker I realized that I've lost these last 15 lbs in about a month.

I think being pregnant is helping me out a little in that I'm too sick to overeat and some of the time it all comes right back out anyways. But I'll take the weight loss anyway it happens. My doctor says that I may even lose more during pregnancy and that after the baby is born and after nursing for a while, I'll probably be down to around 160 or less. That would be excellent! That's what I weighed when my first daughter, Danya, was born 5 years ago. That's a very encouraging thought!

My Menu

Okay, so I'm not a food planner. I'm not good at knowing on Monday what foods will sound good to me by Friday. I plan day by day, though. I conciously decide to eat a small breakfast so that I'll have more points left for lunch and dinner. If I'm going out to eat for one of those two meals, I'm careful to make sure the other is smaller. I'll list my typical food first, then occasional foods. This is a little embarrassing, but here goes.

A typical daily menu:

Breakfast: banana - 2 points
crystal light or water - 0 points
sometimes breakfast:
2 large eggs= 4 points
1 slice toast= 2 points
1 honey wheat bagel= 4 points
1 tbsp fat free cream cheese= 1 point

Lunch: WW Frozen meal - 4 or 5 points
water - 0 points
sometimes lunch:
McDonald's dbl cheese burger - 12 points
chicken nuggets - 1 point each

Snack: varies depending on day, sometimes none
medium soft pretzel - 3 points
popcorn - 1 cup equals 1 point
melted cheese - 1 tblsp - 1 point
carrots - 0 points
cherry tomatos - 0 points

Dinner: grilled chicken - 4 or 5 oz, 1 point per oz
large salad - 0 points
fat free ranch or 1000 Island dressing - 1 pt for 2 tblsp
diet pop - 0 points
sometimes dinner:
thin crust cheese pizza 4 slices - 16 points
broccoli cheddar soup and bread - 12 points
Subway turkey sandwich - 6 points

Desert: ww frozen treats - 1 point each (only occasionally)


Wow. Now that I typed this up and Daniel and I reviewed our journals for the last 3 weeks we realized that we eat out almost every day for one meal. It will be interesting to see how we will use up all those points if we don't eat out. I'll post again if we get it figured out, lol.

Thursday Thursday

Thursday's are my WI days. This morning I weighed on my home scale in the 192 range. Then I got to my meeting and weighed in at 194.2, go figure. Anyways the good news is that I've lost another 3.2 lbs!! I've also passed the 10 lb loss point in just 3 weeks! It's really exciting to have so much more weight loss than I could have hoped for when I started this program. Exercise is important, but I really think the key change was learning portion control. Last night Daniel and I went out to eat at the Delta Cafe with the girls. I was able to have my favorite appetizer, some delicious grilled chicken, a salad, and even a roll and keep it within my daily points. It feels good to walk away from the table not feeling like someone needs to hire a forklift to get you out of there. I'm learning what "full" feels like as opposed to "stuffed". Unless I plan to spend my days mounted as a trophy on some hunter's wall, I'd like to avoid the "stuffed" feeling, you know?

So happy weight loss day for me!

Weighty Matters

So, it's been an interesting week. Last Friday night I pulled the muscles in my thighs trying to do squats like Daniel. Important Tip: Don't try 30 squats when you aren't used to doing even one! So I've been hobbling around all week and trying to get in a tiny amount of exercise. The first two days all I could do was some light stretches and some necessary walking at church and elsewhere.

The last few days I've been steadily improving and increasing my exercise. I've worked my way up from a 10 minute bike ride to 30 minutes. Also I've been doing about half my normal walking on the treadmill. Today I feel basically recovered. Tomorrow is WI and I'm not expecting miracles. I've managed to stay OP all week at least, but with only light exercise and expecting my TOM to start any time now, I'd be surprised by a loss on the scales.

I had one rough night this week where I had no daily points left and really wanted to eat. So I downed a glass of water and had some popcorn. In the end I only used a couple of my weekly points. I was really proud of myself for staying on point. I read this great quote from Joyce Meyer this week that I'm applying to my new eating habits:

"Don't grieve over what has to go; rejoice over what is coming!"

Beautiful Days

Thank God for beautiful days! Today's weather was cooler, but I still managed to get in a bike ride. I circled the block on my bike 3 times this evening and also walked fast for 20 minutes on my treadmill this morning. I'm determined to keep up the weight loss. Even when it feels like I'm being sabotaged.

Tonight Daniel and I both had enough points left (16) at dinnertime to have 4 slices of thin crust cheese pizza. We only get this treat about once every other week because it's alot of points, and points are hard to give up. Tonight we were being good, about to eat our pizza, when the store manager gave us a complimentary free medium hand tossed cheese pizza. I almost said no. Instead I thanked him and let our girls eat from that pizza while Daniel and I stuck to our thin crust. It feels good to be virtuous.

Super Weight Loss!!!

I lost 7.2 lbs!!! God is good!!! I have been praying and working to increase my weight loss this week. It worked! Actually I was desperately hoping for a 2 lb loss, but got this instead. That brings me up to a total of 8.6 lbs lost since I started WW two weeks ago. So if 4 sticks of butter equal 1 lb., then I have lost 34 sticks of butter off of my body! I can hardly even imagine it! This is such an encouragement. I'm going to keep working hard and asking God for strength and the comittment to keep going. This is just the program I needed. Woo hoo!!!!

Bikes, Playgrounds, and Soup

Today we took a 2 1/2 hour bike ride as a family. We rode through the neighborhood, stopped and had soup for lunch, and then rode back home with another stop to play on the playground behind the local elementary school. It's the school that Danya would be stuck in for several hours a day every day if she wasn't homeschooling. Have I mentioned how much I love having her home with us?

I'm really looking forward to next week when they will explain activity points (AP) to me. I'm getting a LOT more activity/exercise than I ever have before, and I'd like to know how that affects my weight loss efforts. Daniel and I have always been active, and I've always thought of myself as being strong. It will be so nice when my body can sustain the level of activity I'd like it to. Here's a list of some of the things we like to do in our family.

1. Bike riding
2. Walking around home or on nature trails
3. Tennis
4. Dancing around the house
5. Playing on playgrounds (yes, the grownups too, lol)
6. Swimming in lakes, rivers, and pools
7. Rollerblading (just Daniel)
8. Racquetball (mostly Daniel) and ping pong too
9. Silly games like tag in the yard or racing to the car

I can't think of a #10 right now, but maybe when I lose the weight we can add to the list!

Point Planning

Dh and I had carefully managed our points all day yesterday so that we could have a drink and a popcorn at the movie theatre last night. The WW book says that a 12oz diet drink is 0 points. I hope that still counts if I'm having a gigantic size diet drink? Anyways, we ate less popcorn than we thought we would, because we'd filled up on dinner. So at the end of the night when I was writing my last few points down, I realized that I still had 4 of my daily points left. I just went to bed because I couldn't think of what to eat.

I'm hoping to go on a bike ride today again with my family. My friends last night offered me their treadmill that is bigger and better than mine. I don't know if I have room in my house for it, though. My dh is working an extra shift this afternoon and church is cancelled for Fall break. So I have to plan an extra meal since we normally eat at the church on Wednesday nights. Fun. I've been doing really good this week staying within my points and exercising. Yesterday I counted spending a few hours cleaning my entire house as my exercise for the day. I was sweating and exhausted and my legs felt rubbery, so I think it was a good workout. I swept and mopped my floor which is an entire workout in itself! I'm expecting a loss at weigh in on Thursday.

Step by Step

On Monday Daniel bought me a pedometer from Target. It's interesting to find out just how many steps you walk in a day. I'm still trying to figure out how to use some of the features. For instance, I have to measure my step length and enter it into the pedometer so that it can tell me accurately the distance I've walked throughout the day.

I clipped it on right after going through checkout at Target. By the end of the day I had walked 2, 276 steps! Wow! I've heard some people set a goal of walking 10,000 steps, but I don't know if that's a day, a week, or what. I'm going to try wearing it while riding my bike to see what that does and also while walking on the treadmill. My treadmill is pretty old and only tracks mileage, time, and calories.

Biking My Way to Health

Daniel, the girls, and I all rode our bikes over to the nearby drop-in childcare center. (This picture isn't from today) The girls stayed there while Daniel and I took an hour and a half bike ride around town and then had lunch before riding back to pick them up and ride home together. We had the best time! The weather was a perfect 82 degrees with barely any wind.

Daniel and I explored some of the newer neighborhoods and rode around a beautiful pond with a tall fountain in the center. We saw a couple of young boys fishing and passed by just as one of them caught a fish! We teased each other and encouraged one another to pick up the pace. We zoomed down little hills laughing at the roller coaster sensation. It was so much fun to just spend time together and enjoy the sunshine and the exercise.

We had to be back home just after lunch so that Daniel could get some sleep since he works tonight. I stayed on point today only using my 26 daily points and 5 of my WPA. I figure I earned some activity points, but I won't learn how to use those until my third week of WW. I'm so hoping to see a bigger weight loss next week when I weigh in. The weather should be nice the next few days so I intend to get out there and ride bikes as much as possible!

1st Weigh In 10-13-05

Today I had my first weigh in (WI) since starting Weight Watchers last Thursday. I lost 1.4 lbs. That's the equivalent of about 6 sticks of butter, or so the lady at the desk told me. By the end of this month, as I add together all the little weekly victories, I should have a number to be happy about. I would really like to lose about 2 lbs a week, so I'm going to kick it up a notch this week. This first week I've been focusing on figuring out how the program works, counting points and getting my body accustomed to the idea that I'll be exercising regularly now.

Today I walked a mile on my treadmill in 23 minutes. By next week maybe I'll be able to do it in only 20 minutes. I also went for a nice long bike ride around our neighborhood with Daniel and the girls. I'm going to stay on point (OP) this week using my 26 points daily and trying to use only a few of my weekly points (WP).

Here's my food log for today:
Breakfast: 3 medium fried eggs, 1 piece of toast = 5 points
Lunch: WW Lemon Herb Chicken Piccata = 4 points

My Goal

This is me about 65 pounds ago. I remember having a pretty good self image at the time. I felt like my thighs were a tiny bit in need of toning, but that was all. I liked to wear sleeveless shirts because I knew my arms were pretty and I liked to show off my interesting birth mark on my right upper arm. I remember riding in the passenger side of the car and purposely laying the seat back and resting my arms above my head to distract Daniel with my cute flat little belly. I weighed 140-145 lbs and was a size 8/10.

Flash forward 9 years and I'm a whole different person. Heck, I'm practically a whole EXTRA person. The only time I'm sleeveless is when I'm in a swimsuit (rarely), or when I'm exercising at home (also rarely). I don't buy anything that clings to my belly or lifts up to show it because I don't want to horrify small children or blind passersby. As of last Thursday, my first day of weight watchers (WW), I weighed 206 lbs and am a size 18 in pants and an XL in shirts.

That's all about to change. I'm staying within my 26 points, exercising every day, and drinking lots of water. I refuse to continue to be apathetic about my weight. I will change my eating habits so that my girls can have a fun mommy. I will no longer mindlessly consume endless amounts of food. Last year when Daniel and I took an honest look at our spending problem, we made a change. We started the Dave Ramsey program and are now almost completely debt free. We've only got $3,000 left of credit card debt and we no longer live outside our means. I'm going to take the same, if not stronger, approach to my weight. I will no longer eat outside my needs. My goal is 140 lbs. I plan to be there by this time next year. With God's help I can do anything!

Starting Weight Watchers

I joined Weight Watchers last Thursday, October 6th. I've been talking about doing it for a long time, but I was afraid of the cost and the committment. This week I just decided to JUST DO IT like the Nike commercial says. So I looked up a local group online and went. It was so much cheaper than I thought it would be. I'm eating the frozen WW meals that I bought at Walmart Thursday night, and they are really good! Cheap, too. Feeding all 4 of us on them costs under $10 and that's less than we've been spending on take out. Today I found a really great message board for people seriously committed to losing weight via WW. This particular post really hit home for me, so I'd like to share it with you. The author's user name is Mudpies.

"The thing I learned 8 years ago was: "No is a complete sentence." I used to say yes to everyone. I over committed myself. The reason of course was that I wanted to please everyone and have everyone like me. What would then happen is that I would get resentful of the person who had asked me to do something. I then would either lie to get out of it or I would do it and feel angry about it. I was so good at being the victim/martyr. I would then feel bad about myself and angry at myself that I couldn't stand up for myself. This lead into a vicious cycle of eating to push down the anger. Which then made me feel even worse about myself and then I would eat again.Then a very special person in my life told me: "Linda, no is a complete sentence." I have learned that when someone asks me to do something I don't have the time or the need to do, I just say no. I don't have to give elaborate excuses or explain why. I can simply say no. I then have time for me. If someone liked me because I said yes all the time, they didn't like the real me. They liked the phony me. I didn't used to have relationships, I took hostages. If I said yes, I expected something in return. Today that is no longer the case. The people who like me today like me for who I am. I like me today because I finally know who I am.When someone offers me food that isn't part of my program, I simply say "no thanks". No other explaination is needed. I have learned that when I say no to someone else,I am saying yes to me. Yes to being healthy. Yes to taking care of me."

Here's a link to the post and the site: http://www.healthdiscovery.net/forums/showthread.php?t=41901Wish me luck. My starting weight (SW) is 206. My goal weight (GW) is 140. I'll post updates as I go along.