bitterbuffalo

So my buddy Don wrote about picking something, anything, and committing to it for 4 weeks.  I wanted some time to gather my thoughts on exactly what I would commit to and really make it meaningful, and things that I could realistically commit to.  After a not-so-great 4 days of eating, and beating myself up about not just COMMITTING already, I started to think last night.  I have had my heart set on running a 4 mile race at the zoo on September 20th.  I’m still only avging about 2.5 miles when I go out walk/jogging.  I didn’t get much time in this week because I have bruised my leg bone near my knee when I fell off the waverunner last weekend.  Anyway, I was thinking about how I wanted to look and perform at that race.  Now, I have no illusion of winning the race.  But I want to be able to say I did it and finished it.  So if I have to start going twice a day to make that happen, then I’m going to.  I would like to lose the rest of my pregnancy weight at least before the race.  That is going to take some SERIOUS commitment though.  I’m not even sure if it’s possible, but I’m going to try!

So here we go- the commitments:

1. I will drink at least 100 oz of water a day.

2. I will eat no more than 1500 calories a day.

3. I will get at least 28 Miles a week in exercise.

It might not seem like much, but it’s a good start. Or restart rather.  I have to keep reminding myself that this weight loss journey started with me weighing 381 pounds, and o not get discouraged because this is a rough time in my journey.  The sailing will become soon once more, this is just some choppy water.

So last week wasn’t too terrible I suppose. I lost my PMS weight gain (somehow the scale got all the way back up to 247 over the week) for the most part, and the scale is currently flashing back, you guessed it, 240. GRRR!

Exercise wise, I didn’t do too bad at all. I ended up walk/jog/running 4 mornings or evenings last week, taking Wed, Thur, and yesterday off. Yesterday we took the kids out to the lake and I went out on the waverunner. We took a turn too fast and tipped over, and come to find out, I had the digital camera in my pocket! Another GRRR! Hubby is going to try to salvage it, but who knows if that’s even possible. He did say that the memory card should be okay, so that is good at least.

So I went out this morning, and the weather was just PERFECT, much as it was at the lake yesterday. Strapped on the iPod and started beating feet. Since it is Sunday and no one has to work today, I got in a great walk/jog/run because I didn’t have to only do what time allowed me to do. So I got in and extra mile, and that felt great. So surely if I keep up on the exercise some of this weight has to come off, right? I really need to keep myself motivated in that department. The 4 mile run for the frogs at the KC Zoo is coming up next month, and I am determined to do it. It’d sure be nice to have lost all my pregnancy weight before then though. I’ll keep dreaming there though. I just needto be persistent, and consistant, and I will get there! Right? Right!

So I did pretty well food-wise yesterday, and exercise wise too.  I was excited to check the scale this morning.  I was happy to see 239 flash back.  Another pound!  In my excitement to weigh (how ironic), I forgot to go to the bathroom first.  So I peed, and went back to the scale, and it flashed back 246. Um… I did not eat 7 pounds of bricks while I peed, so how is that possible?  My scale has been saying conflicting things like that lately.  The other day my brother just reweighed and instantly lost three pounds (how come I couldn’t do that? How come I had do GAIN 7?)

I’m also wondering how my Mirena implant is affecting my weight.  I’ve had it in a little over a week now.  It’s hard to say if I’m just spotting from the implant or actually having a period since I just had a baby 11 weeks ago, and I’m breastfeeding.  I started to have a period I’d say roughly a month ago.  Cramping and the just general ickyness feeling that accompanies that time.  But I don’t ever had two spots of bleeding.  I figured that was normal due to the breastfeeding.  Not sure what was up with my weight then, because I was too depressed to look.  So who knows?

My thighs are still pretty sore from the increase in intensity my workouts have undergone.  I didn’t get up in time to go walk before hubby had to leave for work today, so I will go out and about walk/jogging after he gets home I think.   I think maybe I’ll do some cleaning in the basement and more in the kitchen today.  I scrubbed out the fridge yesterday and bleached my sink and counters.  Today I think I’ll mop and wax the kitchen floor, straighten up the back room, and sweep the basement.  That should burn some calories if nothing else, at least more than sitting at the PC would.  I’m not sure how many oz of water I got in yesterday, because I kept refilling my water bottles.  I did, however, make it through the day without a soda again.  Three days of soda sobriety.  It doesn’t seem like such an achievement now as it did before.  Ah well.

So I went on a walk/jog last night, about a mile and a half, hoping to have burned some calories.  Only I got on the scale this morning to find that there was no change.  Actually the first time I got on it said I had GAINED two pounds.  But upon reverification, the same old 240 flashed back at me.  Sighs.  I got up this morning at about 645 and went on another walk/jog through the park.  This time I got about two miles in.  My thighs are on fire.  Kansas City is built on a giant hill, and boy does it make for a little more intense workout than I’m accustomed to on the eliptical!   I’ve been walking around the parks and stuff here by the house lately, because out of my two gym buddies, no one ever wants to go to the gym but me.  But I have decided to take responsibility for my OWN fitness.  No more using the “no one will ever go to the gym with me” excuse.  My fitness is up to me, and so I’ve been doing what I can.  In fact, upon discovering I had forgotten to buy an ingredient for tonight’s dinner, I walked to the store again.  That prolly got me another .75 miles in.  So the increase in activity is a definite improvement. I felt fantastic this morning afterwards, too.  I love the way working out in the morning makes me feel.  I was so full of energy, I pulled out all the contents of my fridge and scrubbed it out, and tossed a lot of jars that just had a few bites of something in them.  Husband won’t be happy about that, he’s a pack rat, even in the fridge.

I’ve now been soda free for two days.  It feels like what I imagine begin in AA or something similar would be like.  Two days of soda sobriety.   I got about 80 oz of water in yesterday, which is still short of my 100 oz a day goal, but certainly progress.  So today instead of worrying about the things I DIDN’T do thatI should have, I’m going to celebrate the progress that I AM making.

Well, hopped on the scale this morning to find I lost a pound over the weekend. Yesterday I walked to the art museum and around the museum and back home. I felt kind of guilty when I was eating, but I need to keep in mind that when I exercise, I eat more. I know this from all the weight loss before. Also, I’m still breastfeeding, so I need to keep in mind that consumes an extra 500 calories a day as well. So yesterday I ate:

1 fruit and yogurt parfait ( i resisted the sausage mc muffin with egg temptation) no granola

18 oz low fat yogurt

5 (!) Kashi whole grain cookies (with the yogurt)

A tuna sandwich

Chicken tortilla soup

1 chocolate muffin (okay, THAT was a poor choice, but at least I’m honest)

Approx 80 oz water

So, I still haven’t made it back to my goal of 100 oz of water a day. However I DID go all of yesterday with no soda. So I’m pretty proud of that, and going for day 2. I can do it! I’ve no idea what I’m going to make for dinner yet. Prolly something involving chicken. I prolly SHOULD do stir fry, but I really don’t feel like it. Maybe I’ll do italian chicken tonight, I can’t decide. I should prolly get through lunch before I worry about dinner. I had a slim fast for breakfast, so that was pretty good. Ah well, we will see where the day takes us. Maybe it would be nice to try to get through a day without overly planning. I’m a planner though, and I find I tend to do better when I plan. We shall see!

So far I’m off to a good start.  It really helps that the peanut butter crackers and fruit snacks are now out of the house, and I’ve forbidden them to come back. Fed Gwyn her breakfast of mandarin oranges, dry Cheerios, and milk.  Then I fed Nathan his breastmilk breakfast, and I’m now sitting down for a few precious moments of sanity with my yogurt before the real fun of the day starts.  I got Gwyn her first of box crayons (jumbo washables, for sure!) and we are going to color today!

I’ve still yet to get either Michael or Tom to go to the gym this week.  Of course, last night was my fault because I needed to go to the store and get some stuff done. I’m planning on going tonight though, or at the very least loading up on bug spray and hitting the trails by the house here. By 6pm its supposed to be down to about 82, and thats a big improvement over where it has been.  I’m trying to bargain for the gym tonight, but we’ll see what happens.  If I promise to play video games after we get home, it might happen.  Either way, I’m getting some miles in tonight.

I made a FIRM decision to get off soda again.  How did I even start drinking it again?  I’m pretty sure that I did when we moved back here last summer.  I could only have diet grapefruit Shasta and diet limeade from Sonic when we were back here on vacations, so when in Rome, I did as Romans did.  Now that I LIVE in the proverbial Rome, I started drinking them all the time, which lead to my casual consumption of any other diet soda I wanted.  So no more soda, starting today.  I also am determined to get my 100oz of water in a day (minimum) again.  Why did I ever stop doing these things?

Well, I did lose two pounds so far this week, but I ate horribly yesterday.  My meals weren’t the problem, but I inhaled another pack of peanut butter crackers and a couple mini bags of fruit snacks. We’re only (”only”) talking about 400 extra calories, but still.  We ended up having tacos for dinner, and I filled mine with mostly lettuce and salsa and kept the meat and cheese portions very reasonable, so “yea” for me there.  I was supposed to go to the gym with my brother last night, but we ended up not going because the kids were super fussy last night.  As soon as I could get Nathan to fall back asleep in his crib, Gwyn would start crying for attention, so I’d go to her room and we’d play, until Nathan started to cry, and then I’d have to leave, and the cycle would start all over again.  Hubby usually helps with the kids in the evenings, but he has a big interview for a promotion today (fingers crossed!) so he was making sure all the creases on his shirt were perfect, got a haircut, thought about answers to interview questions, that sort of thing.  So maybe we’ll be able to go to the gym tonight, who knows?  So tonight I have no idea what we’re doing for dinner.  Maybe the tilapia tonight since we didn’t have it last night.  So far today I haven’t eaten anything, and I know that’s going to have to change.  I’ll prolly attempt some cereal after the kids go down for a nap.  Pouring a bowl of cereal while they are awake is pretty futile.

Well, I’ve been searching for somewhere I can blog about my weight loss adventure amongst other adventurers. I’m hoping this site is it! I got up this morning determined that this was going to be a good food day. What do I stick in my mouth while feeding the kids and changing them? A bag of fruit snacks and peanut butter crackers. Not exactly the start I was looking for, but no sense in dwelling on what can’t be changed. I’m having a chicken salad sammich for lunch, so that is a not too bad food item I suppose. I put a piece of cheese on it for some extra protein and threw some extra lettuce on it to make it more filling. I’m hoping I can talk Tom (my brother) into going to the gym tonight. It’s been exactly 10 weeks since I had Nathan, and I’ve only lost 22 pounds- 8 of them being him. That’s gotta change. I’d like to be down to 220 by the xzoo race I’d like to do comes around. Every year the zoo has a benefit run for an animal, and this year we are getting 9 different species of endangered frogs, so the run is thus called Run For the Frogs. It’s a 4 mile run through the zoo and should be loads of fun. It’s at the end of September, so SURELY I can lose 23 pounds by then.

I did go to the gym last week, and got in a mile on the bike for a warm up, followed by 2.5 miles on the eliptical and some upper body weights. Iswam a couple of laps, plopped into the hottub and called it a day. I’d like ot do it again, but my main obstacle there is GAS. We’re on a pretty tight budget so we can’t afford for me to go driving to the gym several times a week. Hopefully in a paycheck or two this will get better. I think for dinner tonight we’ll be having parmesean crusted tilapia. Maybe I can sneak a salad in with it.