Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

My son's room has an entire wall of mirrored closet doors... so for the last 6 months I have watched myself in those mirrors as I have rocked my son to sleep, played with him, etc. The person I saw was foreign to me for a long time... but just recently I have started to recognize myself more and more. I don't yet have the body I used to have, but I am getting there! I have 17.8 pounds to go... that means I have reached my half way point! Now my husband has to take me horseback riding! Woohoo!

Within Reach

I finally feel like my weightloss goal is in reach- it is a great feeling! This saturday's weigh-in showed a loss of 1.8 pounds (much better than last week's .2!). So I now have 22.6 pounds more to lose. And I feel very excited that I will be able to accomplish this feat in hopefully a few months. I know the closer I get to my goal weight, the harder it will be, but I know that if I persist I can achieve my goal.

I am 6 months postpartum and I have already lost 47.4 pounds. I just calculated that amount... that is almost hard to believe! 20 of those pounds probably came off once I delivered my baby and left the hospital... but still 47.4 pounds I don't have to lug around anymore- whew!

I feel so energized about the changes I am making, which in turn are helping me be healthier. I just heard on the news that if childhood obesity continues the way it is going 1 in 3 children will have type II diabetes as adults. That really scares me. I hope to continue leading a healthy and active lifestyle so my family can avoid this scary statistic.

Lesson Learned

My weigh-in last saturday went as well as I expected it. I lost .2 pounds. Really I wasn't too upset by it because I really ate a ton of candy Halloween Weekend, so even though I ate better the rest of the week and exercised a ton... a loss of .2 pounds was my outcome.

But this has taught me a lesson, what I eat really effects my weightloss. So I now realize that this diet that I am on right now is not only helping me lose weight now, but helping me maintain a healthier relationship with food that will affect me, my husband and my son. How am I supposed to get my son to snack on fruits and veggies if I am not doing the same? With childhood obesity on the rise I am thankful that I am going through this now, so that I can maybe be a posivite influence on my family's eating habits.

So here I go. I've got a lot of exercising to do, and a lot of big breaths to take (a big breath of fresh air to remind me of why I am working hard- to be a healthier wife and mom)

Woot Woot!

Last week I lost 4.2 pounds! As you can tell I am very excited about this! Saturday, Oct 31 was weigh-in day... and it also happened to be Halloween... so later that day I ate a TON of candy, so I am a little worried about this coming Saturday's weigh-in. To stay on track, I am trying to eat better now and exercise more. Just doing my exercise video today I felt was a little more difficult because i had taken in so much extra sugar and fat in me. So here we go! I am stoked that I'm finally losing so weight!

Thank goodness for nursing

I am thankful that I can nurse my baby for many reasons, but the reason I am thankful for it today is because it is helping me lose weight!


I'm not on any specific diet right now, just reducing the amount of certain foods (carbs, fats, sugars) and upping my intake of vegetables. Mainly what I am doing is eating healthy meals, and then if I'm hungry in between I only eat vegetables, fruit or something low fat (like 94% fat free popcorn). I'm also not eating dessert every day. I got into a bad habit of having sweets daily when I was pregnant, but I am avoiding them now and you know what, I am fine. It gets easier every day. It's really just a mindset, not a physical need.

Because I am currently nursing, this shift in eating (and daily exercise I've been doing) is finally starting to pay off- whew! I am feeling really good right now. I am back on track with being more aware of what and how much I consume. My first weigh in with my husband went well (I lost 1.2 pounds in a week). We'll see where I'm at this saturday!

Back on Track?

Sometimes I have the best of intentions but that feeling only lasts a week, a few days, or just a few hours... so right now I think I am back on track with my weightloss goals and efforts... but to be totally honest I'm not sure if I am. All I know is that I have my eyes on the prize now and if I don't think positively and stay focused I will just keep spinning my wheels and wishing that somehow I will magically lose weight without putting forth any real effort.

I recently returned from visiting my family and put on 2 pounds in the process- and that was a big motivator for me to get back on track. So I have returned to the gym every other day and have committed to going on walks and doing an exercise video on the days I'm not at the gym. I've also started dieting. Nothing to crazy- just eating more vegtables and fruits and avoiding sweets and carbs. I love cold cereal and would usually eat 1-2 large bowls a day. Now I only have a serving size for breakfast and don't allow myself anymore during the day. And you know what? I feel great! Denying myself sweets and carbs has not killed me! I have a huge sweet tooth so it has been difficult but I know that it will be worth it. My grandma said a phrase I had not heard before while I was visiting, it goes "Those who indulge, bulge" I really liked that! That phrase to me says: If you indulge in everything this you want- you will get chubby (indulging once in a while is fine). It's better than the "once on the lips, forever on the hips" because everything in moderation is ok.

My Aunt also told me a cute little story about herself while I was visiting. She had been walking and lifting weights but was not able to lose any weight. She was praying one night to Heavenly Father telling Him how hard she was working and how frustrated she was that she was not losing... and then the spirit told her "Stop eating sweets". She said she was really shocked, becuase it was something really obvious and simple. So even though she likes sweets and wanted to continue eating them, she stopped and she lost weight!

I loved this story because for me, weightloss really does not happen unless I diet. And that's what I have been avoiding.... until now! For about the past week I have reduced the amount of carbs, fats and sweets from my diet and I can already tell a difference. Now I just need to stay on track and be diligent. So something that I have decided to do is have my husband weigh me every week (I realize that this may be a bad idea... but I really need someone to be accountable to and I'm sure this will do it! ) Plus I don't have to spend $12 a week at weight watchers- he'll do it for free!

So there you have it... I'm back and on track (there's that positive thinking again! Hopefully it will help me :))

Am I the only one who does this?

So you're not supposed to keep bad food in your house (bad food as is delicious food (chocolate, ice cream etc)). And I know that when its not at your house your much less likely eat bad food because that would entail getting up, getting dressed, lugging your baby to the car and then searching for something available at a drive-thru so you don't have to continue the lugging process until you go home.

Most times I keep the rule of not having bad food in my house. We rarely have chips or candy in our home but sometimes you just gotta buy some! So when I do, I just tell myself that after eating a portion, I will HIDE IT from myself... and for some reason I think that it will actually work... well it doesn't. If you hide something and try to forget where you put it, you will indefinitley find it and eat it. I have even asked my husband to hide things from me, but that has yet to work as well. I am too good at finding things- especially delicious things!

There are other choices
1.) not buy junk in the first place
2.) or throw it away!

Unfortunately these are not realistic in my book...

So here I am still sitting her trying to forget where I hid the candied peanuts... second shelf above the dishwasher Darn

Free Weights

A Baby = free weight (aka weight that you already have at home that you do not have to purchase and gives you the same benefit as a dumbell but comes in a much cuter packaging)

I just was researching exercises you can do with your baby and found some cool ones- especially good core workouts. Click here to view a fun 3 minute workout with your baby. I just did this workout with Landon and he LOVED it! He was smiling and laughing the whole time! I just found another activity for us to do during his awake time!

Here are 2 other workouts that I thought looked good:

#1
Side Step Squat Holding BabyHold your baby across your arms and close to your chest. Stand with feet hip width apart, shoulders back, and abs tucked in. Take a big step to the right, push your butt back, and keep your upper body upright as you bend your knees until your legs are almost parallel with the floor. Rock your upper body and baby to the right while contracting your abs. Push through your right heel and raise back up to starting position. Repeat on the left side. Do 1 set of 20 alternating reps.

Pushup Plank Leg Raises Place your baby on the floor then come into a pushup plank making sure to align your face with your baby's face. Keep your head and face relaxed. Keep abs contracted, hips up and the butt down and slowly raise the right foot off the ground a few inches. Lower then repeat on the other side. Do 1 set of 10-20 total alternating reps.

Decline Crunch With Twist Sit down on the floor with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold your baby across your chest. Sit up as tall as you can then lean back until you feel your abs engage. Keep the head and shoulders relaxed and twist your upper body slightly to the right and left contracting the abs to come back to center. Do 1 set of 10-15 alternating reps. If this is too difficult for you just eliminate the twist and hold for 15 seconds.

Good Mornings Hold your baby upright across your chest and stand with feet hip width apart in front of your bed. Keeping your legs straight (don't lock your knees) start pushing your butt back and bend forward so your baby and upper body hover over the bed. Contract the abs and glutes to return to standing position. Do 1 set of 10-15 reps.

#2
Tickle ups- crunch up and tickle the tummy 2 sets of 12
Chest Press- lift and lower your baby from my chest to the air 2 sets of 12
Ball Bounce- bounce on the exercise ball for 30 seconds, rest, repeat
Planks-hold the plank position over baby and make a few silly faces for 30 seconds, rest, repeat Pushups-from plank position lower down and kiss baby's tummy 2 sets of 12

A funny pic I found online when I googled "exercise with baby" - I love the internet!

Hiccups

I get them all the time, and my baby gets them even more! But that's not really the hiccup I am referring to... I am talking about the hiccups that happen to our goals and dreams- little bumps in the road that throw us off.

I started the week off great with traking everything I ate and actually staying within my points allotment. But by day three I could tell that my milk supply was being compromised. I really want to lose weight but I would rather loose it slowly than lose my milk supply. So I stopped traking for the rest of the week. That was my hiccup... I shouldn't have stopped.

The plan for this week is to trak, stay within my points allotment and eat more if I feel that my milk supply is decreasing. If I can do this I believe I can achieve both of my goals. Wish me luck!

Baby Steps

So I am now going to report on how it went doing the one minute workout daily last week: it went ok for the 2 days I did it...and then I stopped. I have a few excuses, but excuses are lame so that's that. I did not do the work out daily... but I bet it would've been good for me.

But I am not giving up- I still believe I need to set small goals for myself. So this week's goal is to trak (aka write down everything I eat) all week- starting today! I will report back next Monday and I will not fail! I will also be going to the gym 3 times this week- which I did do last week as well (just patting myself on the back a bit:))

So here we go- I know traking will be a bit of a challenge- but I will be happier if I do it! So wish me luck!

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail

I think that's what my weightloss plan is missing... an actual plan. I need to plan when I will work out and what I will eat each week. Currently I already have a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday date with the gym, but right now I am just doing 30-45 minutes of cardio and I think I need to throw in some strength training. I have a biggest loser book with some good workouts in it, so I am going to do one next trip to the gym. If that doesnt work I may buy a few sessions with a trainer... but I want to avoid spending money on that right now.

The next part of the plan, the meal plan. I am still struggling to be "together" enough to plan what I will eat each day. The hurdles I must tackle to accomplish this are 1.) Planning meals (I never know what to make for dinner!) 2.) Making a shopping list 3.) Getting to the store 4.) Prepping, cooking and consuming the food each day (and avoiding broccoli, onions cauliflower, cucumbers, peppers, etc - lowfat foods I love, that make my son sick when he nurses). It doesn't seem like it should be hard, but it is for me. To implement a better eating plan, I believe I need to research a couple good WW friendly recipes (Online or buy a cookbook). I already have one WW cookbook, but the recipes are tricky and involve tons of ingredients and time...so I need a 5 ingredient or less WW cookbook (I am going to the bookstore to find one!)

Finally the last thing I need to do it get a little more resolve! Resolve to exercise 3 times a week and eat within my WW points each day. I can do it, and deep down I want to do it...but day to day, for some reason its not so easy.

So the last part of my plan is my reward. I actually get 2! When I have lost half of my weight (17.5 lbs) I get to go horseback riding! Yay! I have not done it in years so I am really excited. The next reward will come when I have lost all 35 lbs: I am flying somewhere! Yep- I get to take a fun trip! Becoming trim and feeling healthier are good rewards too, but I think these will be a lot of fun to achieve and will help me with my resolve to stick with my plan!

Providence?

Yesterday I met my sister in law for lunch at McDonalds (so her son could play in the play place). Becuase I was hungry earlier and to avoid eating the bad fried food, I ate my lunch at home and planned to get a small soft serve cone there... but providence was in the way. The ice cream machine at McDonalds was... BROKEN! I know, it should be illegal for one of those to break in the summer in Arizona but alas it was. I was seriously so bummed! Maybe it was meant to be... do I really NEED a icecream cone? No... but did I really want one? YES! But I did not get one, and I actually did survive. Maybe those machines actually need to break more often... but please not the Frozen Yogurt machines- spare them! They provide frozen treats that are much healthier than the ones ice cream machines provide.

Cool Workout

Sometimes I really want to steal...magazines from the gym! Occasionally there are great fitness magazine with cool workouts and recipes and I just want to take them home. But I would feel very guilty stealing from the YMCA, so I leave the tattered magazine behind for others to read. The cool thing that I ran across yesterday at the gym was in Health Magazine- June 09 issue. It had a one minute total body workout. I have yet to do this workout, but I am going to do it every day this next week and see how it feels! I will report back.

So here it is, the one minue total body work out. Click here to see a slideshow of the moves.

• Power push-up plank
  Stand with feet a little wider than shoulders (top left) ; squat down and place hands on floor in front of feet.
  Jump or walk feet back into plank position (middle), keeping body lengthened by tightening abs; hold for a count of 8.
  Do 2 push-ups (on your toes, if possible, or on your knees; bottom right); jump or walk feet toward hands, return to a low-squat position on feet, and stand up. Repeat entire move 4 more times.
• Superman
  Lie on your stomach with arms stretched overhead and legs straight. Lengthen body, tuck tailbone to protect your lower back, and lift arms and legs at the same time. Hold for 10 seconds.
• Bicycle abs
  Lie on back with hands behind head, legs and feet lifted, knees bent to 90-degree angle. Lift head and shoulders slightly off mat. Rotate torso so left shoulder is moving toward right knee. At the same time, extend and lower left leg. Alternate sides for a total of 10 reps per side.

An Apple a Day

So also from reading a copy of Readers Digest at the gym, I learned more reasons why we all need to eat apples daily.

Apples:
1.) Reduce the risk of Alzheimers
2.) Reduce the risk of colon cancer
3.) Help keep a healthy blood pressure

So go out and buy some apples and be sure you eat one once a day! Or at least every other day if possible

Sometimes I cry at the Gym

Sometimes I cry at the gym, but not for the reason that you'd think. While I do my cardio I often read the magazines at the gym- and it seems that whenever I pick up a Readers Digest, I end up reading a a very touching story that brings me to tears. You'd think I'd stop reading since I am in public and running on a treadmill, but I can't stop reading and the tears continue to flow. I hope that people just think that I'm just sweating! Just on Tuesday night I read about two conjoined twin girls that were successfully separated. It was such a sweet story!

Back in the saddle...

Its always so hard to start dieting after a long absence from it. Its easy to eat whatever and wherever you want, but after time, you come to realize that you must chose between squeezing into your pants everyday or reducing the amount and type of food that you consume. Honestly it always feels so much better to slip into your clothes easier, but at the time when you are staring at a carton of icecream- you forget that feeling and just want to eat a whole bowl and pretend that it will not affect your waistline.

So here I am back in the saddle. My first experience with true weightloss was in 2005, when I lost 22 pounds with weight watchers. Before WW I had done the atkins diet, slimfast and the strange heart surgery diet (where you eat bacon and drink grapefruit juice). None of these diets had lasting effects, until I tried Weight Watchers. I lost weight and learned how to eat better. After my weightloss I kept my weight off (through working out and watching what I ate)until I got pregnant. I was blessed to have a great pregnancy, but I gained way more weight than I should have. Flashforward to now- I have a beautiful baby and 35 extra pounds! So now I am back in the saddle. Ready to fight the battle of the bulge and hopefully win!

ROBUST!

Why Robust Robyn?

Main Entry:
robust
Part of Speech:
adjective
Definition:
healthy, strong
Synonyms:
able-bodied, athletic, boisterous, booming, brawny, built, concentrated, fit, fit as fiddle, flourishing, full-bodied, hale, hardy, hearty, hefty, husky, in fine fettle, in good health, in good shape, in the pink, live, lusty, muscular, peppy, potent, powerful, powerhouse, prospering, prosperous, roaring, robustious, robustuous, rough, rugged, sinewy, snappy, sound, stout, strapping, sturdy, thriving, tiger, tough, vigorous, vital, well, wicked*, zappy, zippy
Antonyms:
flabby, infirm, soft, unhealthy, weak

Becuase lately I am feeling most like the antonyms of Robust... and I want to feel ROBUST! So I have started this blog to give myself some accountability so I can stay focused and become fit again. I am looking forward to getting my body back, but know that it is a long road ahead of me!