**Ignore any soft sobbing you think you may hear during this post... 

I'm up almost 20 lbs.  Ew, gross.  Not the weight on my body, but that fact that I let it come back.  I welcomed it like an old friend.  "Oh hey Sugar Cookie and Third Second Helping!  How've you been? It's been so long, why don't you stay a while and we'll catch up!"  They stayed alright, and then they invited Dr. Pepper and Homemade Bread.  They've been here since about April.  I like to keep telling myself that having ankle surgery made me gain weight.  At first I lost weight, but then I gained back even more. 

I'm doing exactly what I hate.  I'm complaining and not doing ANYTHING!  I despise people who complain but refuse to take action.  I put together a little floor routine to do everyday. Once I tweak it, I'll post it.  The Hubby and I were talking about getting an eliptical or stationary bike because they are low impact for my still stiff ankle.  Right now the weather is nice enough to be walking outside, but I'm thinking into winter and what the weather will be like.  Lotta talk, little action. 

I did start charting my weight on a calendar.  I think that since numbers have such an impact on me, it's good to keep them somewhere I can be reminded of how much weight I want to lose.  Let me throw down some really fun math for you all...

210 starting weight
-35 inital loss
175
-10 surgery loss
165
+5 little post surgery gain
170
+20 major post surgery gain
190

Soooo...still trying to get to my goal

155=190-x
x+155=190
x=190-155
x=35

That was totally uneccesary, but I wanted to show off my mad Algebra skills.  You're welcome.

35, bring it baby!

Chugging along!

     Welcome to my first and last post for January 2011.  Things are going pretty well, considering how much we have going on.  The only things is that we went on vacation on Jan 13th and I have not been back to the Y since.   Yeesh, I know!  Over 2 fulls weeks of sleeping in (as much as a 2 year old will allow) and I'm finding it so hard to get back into my groove.  I'm going tomorrow and I'm going to weigh myself.
     Also I'm doing SlimFast again, and I figured if all I did this last summer was SlimFast and I lost 10 lbs, then what could I lose if I actually coupled it with good diet and exercise?  I know what you're thinking, "Thats crazy person talk!  You can't diet and exercise!!!"  Oh yes I can, and I am going to.
     Waaaay back in December (or November), I got back on the coffee.  I can't kick it for the life of me!  I'm even going so far as to making decaf in the afternoon.  I think its because I feel so cold all the time (fat kept me warm!) So now I constantly find myself drinking coffee, hot chocolate, hot chai, tea, whatever! I can get my hands on to warm my bones.  That's also now a running joke in our family.  I told my husband and my mom that I'm cold all the time now because I'm so super skinny.  Just being obnoxious, but now that's kind of a thing we'll say if one of us is cold.  Lame and true, but a fun inside joke.  I had a client once who had gastric bypass and lost something over 100 lbs and she was telling me how she used to sweat constantly and now she could never get warm and her feet hurt.  I thought that was really interesting, because now I can relate to the being cold thing, but I never thought about the feet.  We have fat pads on the soles of our feet, isn't it funny to think that if you lose enough weight, your feet will get skinnier?  But in losing that padding, she began to have foot pain.  Just an interesting tidbit!
     I'm weighing in tomorrow and I'm expecting a huge gain, but we shall see!

Milk Does the Belly Good

This is from about a month ago, but I'm maintaining which is frustrating and gratifying all at once.


Have you ever noticed how filling milk is? I think thats why SlimFast works for some people. Its a big glass of milk. Babies keep themselves full with milk for at least the first 6 months of their lives. Where am I going with this, you might wonder? I'm going to add a couple glasses of milk to my fluid intake. I love milk, what I really love is Vitamin D Milk, which Ryan thinks is disgusting. Lets face it though, I'm not going to loose weight by drinking Vitamin D. No, I'm talking about Skim, which is still filling. So this morning, we were low on cereal. So I grab a Nature Valley granola bar and a nice glass of milk. Granted we didn't get up till 10am, but I wasn't even thinking about food till almost 12:30pm. I thought that was pretty good. Then Danny and I had grilled cheese with turkey. I must say I am pretty proud of myself. I only had one...whereas when I was pregnant I'd have 3 (maybe 4).
I'm done with my part time temporary Census job, which means the vending machines are no longer calling my name from down the hall. Hopefully by being home all day again I won't tailspin into snacking and junk food. Fingers crossed...Also, its 10 more days till my friend's wedding that I want to look adorable at. Conceited, I know, but I'm allowed to be excited about weight loss!

Here I sit at the computer drinking a delicious fruit smoothie. My little man rifles through my purse...future pick pocket? What a glorious morning! Okay, I used up my pep for the day writing that.
Fruit smoothie is super simple and halfway cheap...
In the frozen food section they not only have frozen vegetables, they have frozen fruit. Go figure! I thought the only frozen fruit even made or sold were the pack of strawberries smothered in sugary, carb loaded, delicious goodness. My smoothie for this morning consisted of...
Frozen - peaches, raspberries, and blueberries
a splash of skim milk and apple juice.
Easy right?!
Actually I assembled everything last night (frozen) and put it in the fridge so that everyone could get to know eachother and it thaws out just enough so that you're not trying to drink big frozen chunks of peaches. Then this morning I just whipped it up and voila!
The raspberries might have been a mistake though, because they are kind of seedy. Not it a creepy way, in a literal way.
As soon as Ryan gets paid, I am buying a scale at Costco (I have a coupon). I used to think that it was not healthy to have a scale but now I am sure it only applies to Jr High girls. Once said scale is purchased, I will post my current weight...yipes. I'm praying its down (Is it ok to pray for weight loss? Another question for the Big Man when I get there), but I'm not getting my hopes too high. Hopefully by trying to live healthier, coupled with my good intenetions, I will start to lose weight.

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.

New Years New Goals

Yes, I am going to lose weight because of the ever so cliche New Years Resolution. To start, a little about me!

I am 22, married to my high school sweetheart and we have one amazing son. I have always been bigger. Not nessecarily obese, but not an ideal weight either. It doesn't help when the girls you run around with in high school wore size 00 and XXS. I wouldn't say that I have poor self esteem, but I do tend to remember when people make comments...

This one was courtesy of my older brother: "Yeah I heard you coming down the stairs and thought someone let a linebacker in the house."
You can always count on brothers to make you feel good about yourself.

One of my moms friends trying to relate to me when I was enormously pregnant: "Oh, Annie, I'm not even kidding you I was up to 185 lbs, I mean I was a house!"
Now granted, she was trying to be relatable, but this woman runs marathons, bike rides across the state, and didn't know that I was 185lbs before I got pregnant.

Even my loving, adorable, mother is not immune to the off the hand remark that leaves it's sting: "Well yeah but you just had a baby!"
This one may seem like she is trying to be helpful, but then I have to remind her. Remember that party we hada few weeks ago? Cake, presents, a bunch of people? That was Danny's 1st Birthday.

Or gestures: Like when my mother in law buys me Mediums and 12 Longs for clothes at Christmas and Birthdays. My rational side knows that this is not a hint, merely an oversight or underestimate on my actual weight and size. But my emotional side is hurt.

I was down to a respectable size 10 for my wedding in 2007. But as most of us know, those lbs started creeping up soon after the nuptuals. I found out I was pregnant and due in November. I was over the moon and overlooking all calories. On my second visit to my OBGYN he mentioned that he would like to see me gain more weight by our next appt in a month. 5lbs was all he was asking, but that was my free pass. I ate anything I wanted and as much as I wanted. I started my pregnancy at 175 and slowly but surely tipped the scales to 232. I understand that you are supposed to gain weight, but already being overweight to start and then gaining 50+ lbs...this did not bode well for my figure. Now 15 months after our wonderful son as entered this world, I am left with stretchmarks, saggy belly, droopy boobs, and 35 lbs of baby weight.

Heres the deal. I wanted to be down to 160 before Danny, and that was when I was 175. 15lbs no big deal right? Well I never got around to it then, but I have to get around to it now. The big downside is that now instead of 15lbs, I have 50+! So, here are the current stats...
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 210

Here is my result from the CDC website for my Body Mass Index
Height: 5 feet, 7 inches
Weight: 210 pounds
Your BMI is 32.9, indicating your weight is in the Obese category for adults of your height.
People who are overweight or obese are at higher risk for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. According to http://www.healthstatus.com/ my ideal weight is 143 lbs

So lets do some math here...

210 - 143 = 67lbs.

What the WHAT?!

So if I lose 2-3 lbs a week it should (ideally) take me...roughly 24 weeks (6 months) to lose this weight in a healthy fashion. Lets talk game plan...

NO MORE:

• Fast Food
• Soda

MORE:

• Oily Fish
• Yogurt
• Avocado

WAY MORE:

• Fruit
• Whole Grain
• Leafy Green
• Nuts
• Veggies
• Water
• Green Tea

NOT SO MUCH:

• Red Meat
• Sweets
• Pasta
• Alcohol

This will become a loose outline of my weekly diet. Also, I have a couple work out videos that are just collecting dust. Hopefully I'll be posting every few days so...here.we.go!