Two Steps Forward and One Step back

     Sorry for the hiatus everybody, I was away for a few days visiting family over Easter weekend.  Before I reveal the results of one week of diet and "exercise", let me first tell you what my week was like.  Over the course of a week, I made sure to eat three meals a day with healthy snacks in between if I was feeling hungry, which I usually was.  Three meals a day is a first for me as I usually skip breakfast.  I'm just never hungry in the morning and find that if I'm visiting relatives and they serve breakfast, I usually have to force myself to eat it so as not to be rude.  I also reduced portion sizes at suppertime and added a lot more veggies.

     This week was challenging for a few reasons.  First, it was Easter and I'm expected to provide treats for my children.  In the past I may have treated myself as well, but this year only two or three small chocolate eggs passed my lips.  Secondly, it is a lot easier to stay on track with a diet when you are in control of what you are going to be eating.  As we were staying with relatives for three days, I couldn't very well ask them to make me  a salad.  I ate what was prepared for the lot of us, and again tried to just watch portions.  I cheated with the scale a little bit.  Curiosity got the better of me and I weighed myself at my mother in law's.  I wasn't sure if I could trust the numbers before me however as my starting weight was on my own scale, so I was anxious to wake up this morning and see the results of my first week.


      Now I wasn't expecting any huge numbers like on the "Biggest Loser" but I was hopeful.  If you can recall from my previous post, my starting weight was 183lbs and I had a BMI of 26.3 which puts me in the overweight category.  After 7 days, and three days of "cheating" while away from home, I now weight 177lbs and my BMI is now 25.4!  WooHoo!  6 pounds gone and I am fitting into pants I haven't worn in a year and a half!  I'm so glad to see results!  Now I know that the first week is usually when you lose the most weight, water weight etc, so I'm interested to see what this week will bring.

     The following week will be interesting as well since I am starting a new job and my hours will be fairly long.  I am on for 7 days and then off for 7.  I will have to pack to meals to take to work unless I want to have a late European style dinner.  It is going to be difficult to get some running in during the weeks I am working but this is an ongoing process and hopefully the kinks will work themselves out.  That's all for now, I'll keep you posted on my progress!  Thanks for reading and again your comments/suggestions are always welcome!

Hunger Games (and I don't mean the movie!)

    Greetings!  So my journey has officially begun!  On Saturday I enjoyed a nice lunch and movie with my Hubby.   It was to be my last day of indulgence before I begin to evict my pregnancy pounds.  So I ordered a large bag of popcorn at the theatre and even brought home the leftovers, but guess what,  in the morning I actually threw them out!  And no, I didn't pull them out of the trash after!  I woke up on Sunday and felt ready for my first challenge;  the grocery store run.  I actually did fairly well.  I skipped the pop and chip aisle completely and stuck to my list.  I also saved some money by buying healthier, fresher options.  Our family enjoyed a nice stir fry that evening and I even squeezed in a run.  Well, a run/walk.  My four year older daughter, L,  insisted on coming with me so it was a lot of walking with the occasional run and rest break to pick up rocks and throw them off a bridge.  But at least we were moving and it doesn't hurt to show my daughter the importance of being active, especially since it is probably easier to split the atom than to get her to eat a vegetable.  Who knows. maybe this mother/daughter run will turn into something that becomes "our" thing.  Maybe she will become really good at it and will represent our country at the Olympics someday and I will have the privilege of saying that I was her first trainer!  But I digress.

     Oh I should probably mention that I weighed myself on Sunday as well.  I think I will do this every Sunday to track my progress.  I have also decided to reveal my weight because chances are, you don't know me and we will probably never meet.  For those of you who do know me, please know that I added  10 pounds for shock value.  Okay I didn't,  what you are about to see is in fact the real number.  Ready? 183 pounds.  There it is, my weight.  Out there now for the world to see.  Well, out there for me to see because I haven't published this post yet.  But I guess if you are reading this, then it has been published.  Cool, it's like I'm writing in the future!  Anyway, I'm going to add my BMI as well....just wait I have to calculate it....26.3  which puts me in the overweight category.  But I'm not in the  Obese category so I'll take it!  I'm also 5'10 so I think that I am able to hide most of it pretty well.  Well just a short blog today, H is awake and I need to hang the laundry.   Wish me luck the rest of the week, especially since Easter and all the chocolate that goes with it is quickly approaching!  Oh and to those of you who left comments, thank you so much,  I knew there were others out there who would be able to relate.  Your feedback, good or bad is always appreciated!

J

Introduction

       I'm sitting here wondering what I should type.  This is my first ever blog and I'm not sure how to begin.  I wanted to write about my journey to lose the pregnancy pounds I racked up with my two kids, L and H.  As I'm sitting here not exercising, my youngest, H, is getting his sweat on in his Jolly Jumper.  Surprisingly I don't feel guilty about that.  I also don't feel guilty that I took H for a walk in his stroller this morning just so we could hit up the local bake sale before all the cupcakes were gone.  Why, you ask?   I've decided that this is my last "fat" weekend.  Tomorrow I have a date with my hubby, and on Sunday I will finally start, for the hundredth time, my pregnancy pound eviction.  This time it WILL be different.  Okay, okay, I know I've said that before but I really mean it this time!  Stop laughing, I can hear you.  Actually I thought that starting this blog might be a good way for my to stay on track.  Maybe I will find others who can relate and we can all support one another.  I didn't want this to sound so Kumbaya but I really can't do this on my own, I've tried and I'm too weak.  Oh and I love food as well.  I love to cook, I love to bake, I love to watch other people cook and bake.  And of course there's the fact that if we don't eat, we die!  If that isn't motivation enough to keep eating I don't know what is!  So tomorrow I'm going to have a nice lunch, eat popcorn while I watch the Hunger Games (ironic) and mentally prepare myself to begin my own personal version of the Hunger Games.

      But I'm sure my weight loss won't hold your interest forever so, I'm going to touch on other topics of interest as well, I just haven't decided what yet....hmmm.   More on that later.  I'm not quite brave enough to post my beginning weight but I will say that I would like to lose about 28-30 pounds.  Besides altering my diet, I would like to become more consistent with my running program.  That's another thing I love to start and then stop.  It seems like to only time I have to be able to exercise is in the evening which is when I'm usually wiped out from eating and child rearing.  Oh and all my favourite television shows come on then too.  Okay that'a all for now....I need to keep you coming back for more.  So tell your friends, your neighbours, the lady who gets you your coffee everyday at Tim Hortons to come and read this blog.  Really, do it.....I need all the help I can get!

J