Bouncin Around

I am so happy to say that I have reached my pre-baby weight... uh somewhat. My weights bounces above and right at it... so I say that's good enough for me! 70 pounds lighter! Whew it feels so nice! Nursing, watching what I eat, and exercising have been the key for me. Glad I am back to square one.

But I have worried, how can I avoid doing this again next pregnancy? I think I may have one solution. A few weeks ago at the library while I was browsing the shelves, Landon pulled a book down as he sat in his stroller. "Fed Up! Free yourself from the diet trap" It looked interesting so I checked it out. It is written by a doctor/former bulemic. Dr. Wendy Oliver-Pyatt. I have done many different diets over my lifetime and all but weight watchers really seemed to work for me (please don't waste your time with atkins, suzanne somers, or the grapefruit/heart surgery lose weight quick diet- or the cabbage soup one- I have never tried it but I heard it was NASTY!) Anyways as I read this book and this woman's experience with diet and body image, and those of her patients, she helped me realize that despite my thought that the diet was right and I was the one with the problem- it was in fact the other way around. Maybe it's not that I'm weak- but that these diets are not sustainable or healthy, and that they do set you up for failure (so the diet industry can continue making money on you!).

I really enjoyed this book. It addressed mind-less eating and relearning to listen to your body's hunger cues. I feel like this aspect alone will help me a lot throughout my lifetime. She spoke about a variety of topics (loving yourself with the body you currently have, body image in children and society, exercise, etc) and I really suggest it to anyone who wants to read it- it was a great book! I might actually buy a copy of it!

6.6 in 3 weeks?

I would like to lose all of my baby weight before I head out on my big trip at the end of this month... yes, yes that was the plan all along, but now I am exactly 3 weeks away from departure and I realize that to achieve my goal, I had better dig up some willpower!

So to accomplish this weightloss, I need to loose 2.2 pounds each week starting now. I think what will really help me is writing down every morsel I eat. For some reason I will really avoid something if I don't want to have to write it down (and acknowledge what and how much I ate of it). So with that, I need to take a trip to marshalls to find a chic notebook that will fulfill this need.

Battle

I was thinking this week... a dangerous thing, I know. Anyways I was thinking about when I get pregnant again, will I gain a bunch of weight again? I know that you are supposed to gain 25-35 pounds for a avergage size person, but I gained double that. What if I do it again? I really don't want to gain that much weight, but when I was pregnant I was truly very hungry and had very strong cravings! So I am worried, because I do not want to be in the same place again where I was at just a few months ago. I am 8 pounds away from my goal and it has taken over 10 months to get to where I am today... and it will probably take another 2 months to get rid of this last 8- a whole year to process all of this extra weight off of me... and then to have it happen again worries me.

Which leads me to what I was really thinking about. Cravings, self discipline, awareness, exercise, knowledge and accountability are all components of this battle. The battle to stay at a healthy weight. The battle is very hard. Sometimes it really exhausts me and I think, why not throw in the towel!?!?! Eat whatever I want and just deal with the consequences. Why not give in, enjoy myself and not worry about what the scale says. Well I can't give up. I feel the BEST when I am at a healthy weight. I have more ENERGY, my body is HEALTHIER and I feel more CONFIDENT in myself when I am slim.

So the battle rages on. And probably will continue until I go to Heaven. Then, I will eat whatever I want, because you can't get fat there :)

Hair

At the gym last night I witnessed quite a phenomenom... 2 different ladies exercising with their long hair down... did you catch that? Long hair down, not up, down. To add to it, their hair was beautiful - looked like it just got done being primped at a salon. So maybe they are trying to not to dent their hair by pulling it up... but we are at a gym- aren't you going to shower after you work out anyways? You'll have to pull it up then? Also where else do you have to go tonight? On a date? To a meeting? We are at a gym right? Everyone looks sweaty and gross, what right do you have to look beautiful?!?!?!

Also how do you exercise with all that HAIR in your way? One lady I saw was riding a bike, so I could somehow fathom not needing to pull it back... but won't your back get sweaty? And in turn your hair that's resting on your back? The other lady was lifting weights- how can she see when she bends over? (That actually reminds me of when I was little. I would play basketball at recess and if I didn't have a rubberband I hated it because I could hardly see the ball with all of my hair in the way when I was trying to dribble down the court)

Anyways I say to all you glamorous gym ladies... if you need to borrow a hairband, I usually have an extra one, so just ask. I am happy to help.

Look- even zach wears a ponytail to keep his hair out of his face!

1/2 an inch here...

I have been going to the gym for 5 weeks now so I met with my trainer this week to see where I was at weight and measurement-wise. I pretty much lost a 1/2 inch everywhere, 6 pounds and a 1% of my body fat. I had hoped to do better but with my birthday, valetines day and having family in town I totally ate whatever I wanted and now I am paying the price. But progress is good and I am really excited to be so close to my pre-prego weight.

After the measuring my trainer had me do a fitness test on a bicycle and my score had improved a lot since the first time I did it! Afterwards he proceeded to have me do many weight machines and exercises (sumo squats and burpees- image above) that pushed me to capacity... and afterwards I felt soooo nauseous! I told him that, and he said my sugar is probably low. So when I meet with him again in a month I think I will just down a little Kool-Aid before and maybe that will help :)

I did get a free t-shirt from my trainer that night, probably becuase I'm such a tough girl... now Anthony wants one :)

Jeans

Well, one pair of pre-pregancy jeans fits me now... hurray! I was getting really sick of wearing elastic waist pants (since it's now probably been over a year of me using them daily). I feel so thin being able to wear my old pants now, and there are others I would like to wear, but they are still too tight, so I will continue to work towards that.

Part if my victory can be attributed to Anthony and I joining a new gym that offers free personal training sessions. Meeting with a trainer helped both of us re-focus and after getting over the super sore muscles the first week, we are now lifting weights and sweating 3 times a week. I also try and do a little cardio... but weight lifting is much more fun and it helps the time fly by!

My trainer wants me to count calories....but I really don't want to! So right now I am just avoiding excess sweets and carbs and hope that the exercise and nursing will take care of the rest :) I know I probably should count calories, but for some reason I have no motivation to do so. Thats the update.... just chugging along :)

EEA?

Is there such a thing? An Emotional Eaters Annonomous Group? Becuase I probably should join... If I am stressed, sad, sick, unhappy, etc... my favorite cure is to eat. So what to do? Landon has been sick, meaning I am drained physically and mentally, so naturally my cure is to eat junk food. Any good suggestions? I know that life will continue to be draining at times, so I want to kick my habit but I'm not sure how.

In other news I am still losing weight (Landon nurses 10-12 times a day right now so that is the main reason). I have 12.6 pounds to go!