Good news, bad news situation...

I'll go with bad news first, because I like to end on a good note.


     I have high cholesterol.  Not insanely high, but high all the same.  I went in for a physical a couple of weeks ago so that I can make sure all my levels are good, or if any need improvement.  Initially he said, everything looked great!  Then my lab results were mailed to me.  Everything was fine except for one, my cholesterol.  Normal is under 200 and I am at 206.  I'd rather be much much further from 200.  HDL (High-density lipoprotein) was high at 62, but it is referred to as your good cholesterol because it is responsible for transporting your cholesterol back to the liver to be processed.  Then, in true doctor fashion, a barely legible "acceptable" is scribbled across the front of the report and signed by my doctor.  This may be acceptable to him, but I want to be in tip top shape before we have another baby to help prevent any complications on my end.  I was so frustrated, because I felt like I'd been doing everything possible for me to be healthy and this kind of blind sided me.  So now for the good news...
     We joined our local YMCA.  When I first started losing weight I was very anti-gym.  Mostly because I did not want anyone to see me run, jog, walk, or crawl on a public treadmill.  I feel like losing this first 35 pounds has given me more self confidence about working out in public.  Plus, I have been doing my workout videos for like 10 months now and I am getting super bored with them.  I got up this morning, with a little elbowing from hubby, at 6:30 am.  Did you know that in the beginning of November the sun is not even making a effort to come up by 6:30?...I really don't care for winter.  I did a mile run on the elliptical.  I've been having some knee/hip/ankle/back pain, so elliptical was the most comfortable.  It felt really good to run and get my blood pumping, and hopefully it will help with my cholesterol too.  Then I jumped on an ab machine (do not know what its called, but its the one where you support yourself on your elbows and pull your legs up to your chest).  I hate hate hate sit ups or crunches.  I can never do them just right and I always end up straining my neck, so I'm going with the machines from now on.  Then I worked my back a little, hoping to slim down my adorable lipoma.  Plus I loved when I used to have those back dimples, oh, some day I'll see them again.  
     I feel awesome.  Hubby and I are going to take turns every other day with getting up early and working out, but taking Sundays off.  This will mean 3 days of workout a week for each of us, without losing out on family time.  He made a good point the other day.  If I can lose 35 pounds with relatively mild diet and exercise, imagine what my body would do with more intensive exercise.  Food for thought!

Slow but steady...

One week down...23 to go. Things went better than I could have expected this week. At no point did I binge or gorge myself into the inevitable food coma. I did have Swedish Pancakes for dinner one night. I don't know if these are an actual thing, but we grew up on them and Mom always called them Swedish Pancakes. They are probably more like a glorified crepe, delicious, no nutritional value, and cheap.
I work some evenings and Mom (Nana) usally watches Danny. They have a treadmill that occasionally get used by my brother's new girlfriend, but other than that collects dust. I ran/walked a mile on it when I went to pick up Danny and felt really engergized. Then I got right down on the floor with my heart still pumping and did 15 sit ups (pitifully I might add) and 15 girl (modified) push ups. I did my pilates video once this week. Other than that, no formal exercise.
I feel good, so hopefully that will start to show up on the scale...which reminds me that I need to buy a scale. Yes, I know that muscle weighs more than fat, but I do not need to replace 67 lbs of fat with 50 lbs of muscle so right now, yes I am focussed on the number on the scale.
Ryan is on board with the losing weight thing, so that helps. He complains though that we are having salad for dinner and I have to remind him that it comes with a whole chicken breast on top. Yes it is a salad, a chicken ceasar salad, so shut your pie hole. We decided that for our 3rd anniversay we will get eachother weight loss. He has a goal, I have a goal, and so long as we meet them, we aren't getting eachother any presents, except maybe a better sex life.
Yes, I am now a firm beleiver that exercising makes you have better sex. Even if you're not losing weight, you still feel better about your body and that always helps. Ask Ryan, he can't wait to get home on the days I tell him I worked out.
One of my new favorite lunches is 1 cup cottage cheese, a little lemon juice and 1 whole small haas avacado. Its actually really good and fills me up. Other than that, Danny and I have been snacking on fruits, walnuts, steamed veggies, lunch meat, chicken breasts. It is the worst to try to eat healthy on a budget.
I clipped coupons, I bought fruit that is in season, I went to Aldi...its still expensive to eat healthy on a budget and don't let anyone tell you different. I go to Food Network for "healthy" recipes and I can't afford the ingredients! Or they are one time ingredients. Give me something versatile! Give me something easy!! This is my new mission...cheap, easy, healthy recipes. I'm assemling a merciless taskforce.