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?

It's been a little bit..

I'ts been a couple of weeks since I have weighed in. That's because I was in Vegas from the 5th to the 9th (just missing weigh-in by one day) and then I didn't have a weigh-in again at Weight Watchers until the 15th. When I went in I was expecting the scales to be up quite a bit, but to my surprise, I was only up 1.6lbs. The receptionist asked if I had a really hard week and I explained I had been in Vegas but I started right back up the day after we came home and she cheered me on!
I've been sticking to my guns with my points (not in Vegas, of course) and I got a couple workouts in as well as my 3 - C25K runs in and even a couple of family walks. So I've gotten my fitness in. I'm now happy to say I am actually .6lbs lighter than I was the day we left for Vegas! Woooooo-hooooo! I weighed in at 201.1lbs - sooo close to getting out of the two hundreds FOR GOOD! I don't think it will happen by Thursday, but I sure will try!

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!

So jealous

Last night I accompanied Steph to LA Fitness to use her personal trainer for a workout. Man, did I get a workout! Yesterday was her day to work on legs. I happily did everything right along with her. The last workout that he had us do was holding 5lb weights in each of our hands, putting one leg in front of us and the other with our foot up on the weight bench behind us, keeping our body straight, dip down and come back up - all while leaving the foot behind us on the bench. To give you an idea, it looked something like this but with the weight bench behind us and our foot up on it:

After we were done with that, he put us up on the stationary bikes *which I have found I really enjoy!* for 30 minutes. By the end of my workout, I had biked 7 miles. Isn't that crazy?!

Well, when we were done, we had to walk down the stairs to be able to get out the door. That was a challenge. I seriously could only take the steps like 2 or 3 at a time. It was horrible. I had spaghetti legs. This morning when I went to M's house to watch the kids, I had to walk up 2 flights of stairs with each kid - yeah, talk about a major burn!

Last night gave me a taste of how nice it would be to have a personal trainer. Anyone care to be mine? For free!!??

Weekly Weigh-In: Week 6

Another week gone, another two pounds lost. I am thrilled to say I have reached a 10 pound loss!! I am so excited about this!! I know this week could have produced better results if I would have done two things differently:
1) Actually participated in one workout this week. I didn't do any working out this week and I can feel it.
2) Not eaten fair food. I wouldn't be a true Minnesota State Fair lover if I went and didn't eat the roasted corn on the cob or Sweet Martha's Cookies. I only ate those two things and a bite of David's turkey sandwich. That's it. The catch - I ate about 10 cookies. I know, bad, bad me! I also drank a lot of pop and I shouldn't have done that either.
So, I am hoping this next week is an even better one. I went with Steph tonight to try out LA Fitness. She has a membership there and was able to get a 3 day pass for a guest. Tonight we did arms, back and 30 mins on the bike. Tomorrow we are meeting with her personal trainer. Should be interesting. I am super excited about it though!
I must say, I am pretty darn proud of myself for reaching 10 pounds.

Let the outdoor walking begin!

I can now go on walks out in the real world because tonight I was the lucky recipient of a new double stroller from my dear friend, Steph!
Thanks again, Steph!! Just think, when I lose weight, I will get to be partially thankful to you! LOL!

Product Review:: Leslie Sansone's 4 Fast Miles

So, I used my DVD for the first time today. Yes, I know I was supposed to do it yesterday but we went to the Farmer's Market and had I had to stop into Best Buy and also had to make a stop at the grocery store so it really left like no time to do it after David came home (and believe me, I couldn't get it done while he was at work because the kids were crabby ones yesterday)
Well, I didn't do the whole 4 miles today. I figured I should only start out with 1 or 2 at first. I mean, I am just getting back in to working out and don't want to over do it, you know? So, I did miles 1 and 2. Let me tell you, it was a workout. I felt great afterwards though! I was doing it for about 28 minutes and I worked up quite a sweat. It was awesome! Even though I haven't done the last 2 miles of this DVD, I know I am going to like it and I know it's going to produce some results! I am all for it!

Time for a confession

So this weekend we went up north for our annual family reunion on David's side of the family. Well, I ate horribly. I didn't watch what I ate or how much I ate, unfortunately. I enjoyed the food I ate a little too much. Oh well, today's a new day, right?
I bought Leslie Sansone's 4 Fast Miles today while Graycen and I were out. I am excited to use it tomorrow!

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!