Well, hello there!

I don't even remember the last time I set foot onto my blog... yikes! Things have changed quite a bit and I guess it's time for me to find my way again - and in more ways than one.
I'm pretty sure the last time I was around here I was creeping around the weight that I weighed in at last week. I did balloon up to 225 and kind of had an "a-ha" moment. Sadly, that lasted for all of like 10lbs of weight loss when I got back down to my prior highest weight.
Well, the short recap is this:
I'm back. I recommitted to Weight Watchers last week at a whopping 214.8 pounds. :-( I joined Planet Fitness with my cousin and weight-loss/workout partner, Nelle. I got 2 gym workouts in last week as well as 1 at home.

Week 1: I weighed in at 211.2 pounds - so that's a 3.6 pound loss. YAY!

I belong to a WW group on Facebook and my goal that I wanted to commit to for the month of January was to utilize my journal 100%. This means tracking all food, water, goals, etc.. So far (8 days in) I've tracked everything. I'd say that's a pretty good accomplishment for me for my first week.
I have many goals, but am starting with just this monthly one for right now. I'll expand a little more with my goals next month. I use my journal to create a new goal each week and my goal for the week is to make it to the gym 4 times this week. Considering I have a date with Nelle 3 days, I only have to go one extra day. Doable? Yes!

Until next time...

Where's the wagon I keep falling off of?

I really feel like a broken record here. I start writing on the blog, watching how I eat & exercising, keep it up for a little while, and then I quit. I've fallen off this wagon so many times that I think I may have a broken butt. Ha ha.

I've never felt so unmotivated before. I will feel inspiration to get my act together to get healthy and lose this weight and then I snap my fingers and its gone before I've even started. I'm an expert with the delay excuses and it's time I call myself out on them.
I know when I blog and journal with WW I actually stick to it - or at least I have in the past. I have to give it another go around, but instead of this only being my weight loss journey, I plan on making it my regular blog - kind of like I had before. I figured if I'm only writing about food and exercise then I may never face the reasons I keep setting myself back and by doing this... I'm keeping it honest and real. 

My weight is back up after not tracking my points or working out. I'm at 222.0. I checked back on my weight tracker and when I weighed myself in July 2008 (after Parker was born) I was 225. I only weigh 3 pounds less than I was 1 month post-partum .. 4 YEARS AGO! I'm going to be honest and tell you I definitely had tears in my eyes when I realized that. I'm mad at myself over the fact that I also gained 9lbs since January. What am I doing to myself?!

Last night I took the time to make my week's meal plan. I've started the WW Points Plus this time so it's harder for me to just whip up a meal plan really quick. You see, I used to know my point values so well that it was very rare that I actually had to look up the values of food so it took me all of like 20 mins to make a week's meal plan. Last night was different - it took me just over an hour, but I made the time for myself to get it done. I'm important enough to spend that time on if it helps better my self. 

So, with all of that said... feel like taking the journey with me again?

This is when it becomes not okay.

This morning I took a necessary step that I've been dreading - I weighed myself. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad. I weighed 213 on the nose. The last time I was this heavy was when I was pregnant with Parker. When I started my healthiness journey last time I weighed in at 212.8. Now, that means I gained all 30 pounds back PLUS 0.2. I know that 0.2 might not seem bad to you, but when it means I gained more than what I lost back - it becomes a problem.

The scale doesn't lie. (p.s. why can't I turn this picture around?)

I'm back on Weight Watchers as of today and plan on hitting up a meeting some time soon so I can get the new materials. I use the program from like 6 years ago (when I joined before we had Graycen) and am sort of interested in seeing what the Points Plus is all about - even though I hear it is changing again. 

I considered starting my membership at Snap Fitness up again, but decided it's not cost effective for me (read: I never go) I decided to buy an exercise bike instead. I am a person that loves using the gym machines and if I had one at home then I have no excuse not to use it. I plan on following the workout program that David is doing but would like this for some added cardio. I'm a cardio girl.

Alright, I better go. Time for me to start getting in my water so I can get this dang workout done for the day. 

And I'm back...

So, I'm back on the weight loss journey. I fell off the wagon a little while ago and have since restarted (with lack of serious commitment) a few times. It's now time to FINISH the journey I have already started.

These are all things I have done in preparation of finishing this:

• I rejoined Weight Watchers today.
• I purchased the EA Sports Active for the Wii.
• I upgraded my heart rate monitor to a Polar F6 - with recommendation of my niece, Katie.
• I bought a new pair of workout capris and a pair of workout shorts.
• I took my measurements (blech!)
• I had David take some before pictures of me (yuck!)

I've already done Weight Watchers and I know it works. I just need to keep my commitment and motivation and we should be just fine!

I weighed in at 212.8 pounds this morning. I've gained 10 pounds back from what I'd already lost, but that's to be expected without watching what I eat and not exercising. I have 62.8 pounds to lose. I CAN DO THIS! It's very feasible to say I can do this by the end of the year. If I were to lose an average of 1.5# per week that means I can lose it in 43 weeks. That takes me to December 31st. I will surely welcome it before then, but this is my goal date!
I'm going to continue using my ticker at the top, but I'm keeping it at what my starting weight was initially since it is important for me to know that's where I originally started.

 I CAN DO THIS!

A new year, an improved me

I realize I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Life has been a carousel of events both up and down. I haven't tracked one thing I have put into my mouth nor have I had a workout since the last post. I didn't care. Well, now I do. Because of my (roughly) 3 weeks of careless eating habits in combination with the holidays, I have gained 6 pounds back. Ick. I guess I can't be too upset since I really didn't work that hard to get them off, I just followed the Weight Watchers way of eating. I didn't have lots of strenuous exercising going on or anything crazy like that. Don't get me wrong, it was difficult to change the way I was eating but it was nothing I would call hard (for myself) It's my own fault this happened.

Since today is the first day of a new year I have decided it's time to get myself back in order - but doing more than I was before. I am going to go back to following WW. I have decided I am going to hold myself accountable to attending one WW meeting per month (or every 4 weeks) This does two things for me: It keeps me accountable and having to go weigh-in once per month and it also will keep my membership current so I don't have to pay the registration fee every time. I'm also going to start the exercise routine in The Biggest Loser Fitness Program book. I will also throw in some workout DVDs each week.

I got some birthday presents that were much wanted and I am so excited about them! One thing I received was a set of 3 resistance tubes which came with an instructional DVD. I also got a heart rate monitor watch. I have wanted one of these so bad!!!

The Biggest Loser starts up again on Tuesday and that makes me SO EXCITED!! Which means I am going to go back to Tuesday weigh-ins. It's fun to have your weigh-in on the same day as they weigh-in as well as watch your episode and workout. Usually, my Tuesday night routine looks like this: dinner, clean-up, workout, The Biggest Loser, shower. From about 5:00pm or so until around 9:40, it's a packed night for me. ;-) But it works and I love it!

I want to thank everyone for their ongoing support. It really does mean a lot to me to have people backing me. I know I need to be my number one cheerleader, but unfortunately, I'm just not there yet.

Here's to a new year and an improved me. Notice I didn't say a new me? Because I will still be the same old me, just better!

This is neat!

Just this morning I figured out how to determine what your weight loss percentage is. I am so excited - my percentage of weight lost is 6.67% To me, that is awesome!! To be able put that kind of a number on it just gives it a whole new look! With WW your first big goal is 10% so I am more than half way there!

If you want to be able to figure out your percentage of weight lost, do the following:

Divide the weight loss by the starting weight and multiply the answer by 100.
Ex: Starting weight = 200, pounds lost = 5
5/200 = .025
.025*100 = 2.5% weight lost

You can do this from week to week or keep a running total. I think I am going to do both and track them on my side bar.

Step One!

So this is my very first post here. I have another blog, my personal, blog over here.

I had a baby boy, Parker, 4 weeks and 2 days ago (1 month ago - today!) and I am feeling ready to start losing some weight. I have two rounds of baby weight - plus some - to lose! I topped the scales at 242 pounds. That's how much I weighed when I went in to deliver Parker. I am currently sitting at (yes, I am actually going to post my REAL weight on here!) 225 pounds.

• The goal I am setting for myself is 65 pounds, which will drop the scale down to 160 pounds. This is a very healthy, realistic goal that I know I can meet! If I lose more, that's wonderful, but I'm not setting a goal of losing more...yet! The ideal weight for my height (5'7") is 145. I weighed that much in high school. I am not one of those people that has to be at my high school weight to feel like I have finally done it, thankfully.
• I was going to use Weight Watchers but with making lots of home cooked meals from scratch, I don't know how to calculate the points. So I will just watch my intake of foods and track in other ways.
• I will do a weekly weigh in here.
• I plan on exercising at home. No joining a gym for me. It's too expensive and I can do it right here at home for free! First off I am starting with the Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds series. What you do with these videos is walk..at home! The first dvd is 1 mile, the second is 2 miles and so on up to 5 miles. I am very excited to do this. I would walk out in the real world but I don't have a double stroller. Maybe when I buy one I can start walking outside. (That could be a while though - when you are unpaid maternity leave it leaves your pocket a little low on change!) I will add some more workout dvds into this too. I will probably walk daily and do a workout dvd every other day or so. We'll see how I feel, but for now, it's just the walking.

You know, I had this motivation to lose weight before Parker was even born, it got stronger after he was born and this morning, I got the HUGE push on the back that I needed. I was looking at my friend, Whitney's pictures on Facebook last night. She uploaded some pics of her and her husband, Justin (which both had worked at Best Buy with me a few years back) Justin was a husky guy when I met him in the summer of 2004 (I met him when I was going to David's Best Buy softball games). After I started working there, it seemed he had gained more weight. By the time I left in August 2006 he was up quite a few pounds. The pictures Whitney uploaded showed a slimmer, healthier, happier looking Justin. I commented on the pictures talking about how great Justin looked. She commented back stating he had lost 85 pounds since January. I couldn't help but to be amazed and so happy for him! I sent him a message congratulating him and telling him how good he looked! He said he started off with a goal of 35-40 pounds and thought to himself 'Go big or go home!' (spoken like a TRUE Best Buy employee if I ever knew one - LOL!) and he's glad he did because he feels great! After reading that, I felt different. I can't explain it, but it's almost like it was me feeling like it was my turn, it's my time. I deserve to feel healthy and happy. My children and husband deserve it, too! I feel like it's for real this time. If he can do it, I can do it!
I was so gung-ho about this, I actually got breakfast together for Graycen and then fed and changed Parker. I put my workout clothes and tennis shoes on! I felt great. I started and finished mile one of the series. Sure, it's only 18 minutes, but hey, can you say you walked a mile today? I can!