Ugh... oh yeah... it's that day again... Here's goes Wednesday

Well, we all have good weeks and bad weeks. At least that is what I'm telling myself. My body, or maybe it's just my mind, can't seem to get back on track since my loss. Today, I'm up from last week AND the week before. Everything in me wants to scrap the idea of blogging about such a tender subject. I intend to follow this through to the end though, no matter what the journey feels like.

Ideas of the Week-  
     1.) Eliminating foods that irritate your digestive system, making you feel bloated and sluggish. A few weeks back I eliminated gluten and dairy, because of knowing how they effect my sons health. My skin cleared up. I felt lighter and more alert. I've eliminated those things before with the same result, so I wasn't all that surprised but it really does make a difference and my tummy flattens out a lot. The problem is, it's hard, really hard. For the first 3 days all I can think about is doughnuts and ice cream and crusty Italian bread with thick pats of butter. Mmmm... After those three days, I feel so much better. What foods you may need to eliminate for optimum health will vary from person to person.

     2.) Preparing food ahead. Let's face it, whole foods often need preparation to eat. As a mom of a very busy 15 month old, there are moments when I am already way to hungry by the time I have a chance to find something to eat. If I walk into the kitchen and I'm faced with a choice of whole bunches of celery that need to be washed and then plated with hummus or a box of rice crackers, I am more likely to grab the crackers and eat too many. And, half a box of crackers is the caloric equivalent to like umm... a dump truck full of celery? All kidding aside though, it is far easy to make healthy choices if the healthiest foods are just as easy to grab as the less healthy options. Each weekday morning, I prepare my partner a healthy lunch to take to work. I make sure it is balanced and has lots of yummy options to eat throughout the day. As of yet, I have not put together a similar lunch and snack kit for my son and I to pick at during our day. Next week it is my goal to do this for us as well.

Food-
     I really struggled with my eating this week. I ate too many tortillas, with either hummus or salsa. I didn't eat as many of the lovely veggies and fruits that we had on hand. I ate granola bars and cereals. I found myself eating the way some people drink alcohol this week. The ugly, sad, angry feelings would start to bubble up and before I even really made the connection in my head, I would have eaten a bunch of food. Sometimes healthy sometimes not. I hate saying this "out loud" but I am a compulsive eater. I've started reading Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth. I'm really hoping that it will help me let go of compulsive eating. 

Exercise-
     I only managed to get one regular strength training work out in and on one of my walks I carried a 40 pound pack and pushed about 50 pounds of stuff and kid in our jogging stroller. I am going to call that one strength training because it was really hard and left me with sore muscles (and probably a stress fracture in my foot). I did make it on four walks. So, over all I made 2 strength training work outs and 4 walks, compared to my goal of 4 and 4. For next week I am going to shoot for 4 strength training workouts again. I am pretty sure I suffered a stress fracture in my right foot, so I won't be going on walks this week. I'm going to shoot for 4 floor work outs (pilates and yoga) this week, in an attempt to avoid irritating my swollen and bruised foot. 

Weigh In-
So, I was pretty disappointed to get on the scale this morning and see 281.6. That is a 2.2 pound gain in the last week. Yikes. It did make me glad that this is the week to report my measurements. I saw some losses there.

Measurements-
                3/4/13     4/3/13   Lost
Neck             14.75      14.5    0.5
Bust             51.75       51     0.75
Chest            41.75      41.5    0.25
Waist            44.25       44     0.25
Midway           56.5        55     1.5
Hips(under pooch)50.5        51    +0.5
Upper Thigh      29.5       29.5    ---
Above Knee       24.5       24.5    ---
Calf             18.5       18.5    ---
Upper Arm         20         20     ---
Forearm          11.75      11.75   ---

I'm still in the same clothing size clothing. I also forgot to have my partner take my picture this morning. I will come back and add the photo later.    

Wednesday... Er... Friday Weigh In

I haven't posted in 16 days. I found out I was pregnant. Not long after I found out though, my pregnancy hormone began decreasing. Within a few days, I was getting negative pregnancy tests. With everything going on last week, I didn't even step so much as a toe onto the scale. Then there was the wait for my body to complete the process of the miscarriage.

I did weigh on Wednesday this week, as promised but waited to know for certain that I am in fact experiencing a miscarriage before mentioning the pregnancy.

Idea of the Week-
Take it one step at a time and focus on what you are doing in that moment. Don't think about how much needs to be done between now and your end goal, it can be overwhelming. Don't worry about the missteps you already made because you can't remake them and it can be discouraging to focus on our mistakes. For example, if it's lunch time don't think about being on a diet for the next 3 years. Don't even focus on how this is a life change and how you are making these new choices for the rest of your life. Focus on lunch. Find the foods that will fill your body with nutrients and fuel you, then enjoy them fully.




Food-
During that time I tried to make sure that I was eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I do find that food close to it's natural state (raw, lightly steamed or otherwise barely altered) as possible leaves me more deeply satiated without leaving me feeling heavy. I also have noticed that I feel much more full and nourished when I switch out conventionally grown green salad for a salad of organic baby greens. Thank goodness that we finally got a Costco membership. With the amount of fresh fruit, veggies and salad that we have been eating lately we could easily spend well over what we have budgeted for food.

Exercise-
As you may imagine my activity level has been less than ideal. I have taken C-man out in the stroller for walks a few times, but over all I have stayed home. Inside the home, I have been pretty sedentary. The one thing I have been working on is being conscious of my posture and my movements when I am out walking. I practice standing tall with my shoulders back, chin up, abs pulled in tight to pull my belly button in toward my back bone and then I squeeze my buttocks with each stride. During this next week I would like to complete 4 light resistance work outs and 4 walks with my son.

Weigh in-
This week on Wednesday my weight was 279.4. This is a one pound loss over the two weeks. Added to two the two pound loss from the previous 11 days, that is 3 pounds lost. While 3 pounds over nearly 4 weeks is a little slower than ideal, it is still progress so I'm going to call it a success.

Next week is going to be my monthly progress photo and my measurements. I'm hoping to make at least some noticeable progress by then. 

Welcome to the Wednesday Weigh In

Once a week I am going to weigh in on the things I have learned about bettering my (and my family's) health, how well I am adhering to any new changes, my activity level for the week, how it made me feel and lastly I will weigh in with actual pounds. Once a month I will be posting progression photos and my measurements.


Something that has been coming up in several of my circles, lately, is the discussion on fat shaming. I won't get into that issue here but after reading all sorts of articles from all sorts of perspectives, I decided it was time for me to lose the shame. I think that every person out there deserves to be happy with themselves, regardless of the shape of their body or the number on the scale.

Another thing I've started hearing about is the concept of "fed and fit" as a great way to maintain optimum health and weight loss. Our bodies need good foods to function properly. When in starvation mode, so much of our system shuts down or reduces to absolutely minimal functions. Also, lots of "foods" readily available to us are more aptly described as "food like products." So, we are keeping it real (did it grow from the earth or eat things that grew from the earth) and listening to our bodies to help us make better choices. 

My son is unable to eat gluten or dairy. As a nursing mother, that means that I can no longer eat gluten or dairy. I had to choose between weaning my son and significantly altering my diet. For our family, the answer was easy and we quickly implemented the dietary changes.

I started making changes 9 days ago and took my starting measurements then.

As of March 4th when I started-

My weight was 282.4

My measurements (in inches) were:
Neck-14.75
Bust: 51.75
Chest: 41.75
Waist: 44.25
Midway (read: Mama Pooch): 56.5
Hips: 50.5
Upper Thigh: 29.5
Above Knee: 24.5
Calf: 18.5
Upper Arm: 20
Forearm: 11.75

My dress size was a 22/24 and most of my clothes are xxl and my one pair of jeans is a 24 and snug across my mama belly.

As of this morning my weight was 280.4... so 2 pounds lost. At first that seems like a tiny number, but it falls in the 1-2 pound a week range that is recommended and even a tiny bit of progress is still progress.

Sorry about the stained shirt, it's just an old shirt that I have that is tight enough to fully show my body shape... so this is where I started, now lets just see where I can go and how strong and healthy I can get to feeling.

Finding the new "Me"

It happens to a lot of people and it happened to me. I lost myself in motherhood.

It hurt when I realized that I didn't like the person I had become. I was a good mom but my life had become very one dimensional. It was time to take back a part of my heart, a part of my time and a part of my energy for myself.

I knew I didn't like where I was at but the more I thought about that the less happy and more stuck I felt. I needed a shift in my life and I didn't know where to find it. 

A few friends of mine mentioned that they had recently re-watched "The Secret" and were working on their new vision boards. I dismissed it but over the next few days more people, from different circles of my friends made similar comments. I realized these were some of the people that I looked up to the most.I decided to watch the movie and give it a chance. It really helped me to make a shift in my thinking, right away. 

I am starting to apply the concept in my life and even within a few days things have started to shift so distinctly. I am already happy to be myself again. I have goals again... instead of just dreams that I don't feel I can achieve. 

I am taking time to meditate again, if only for a few minutes of time. Meditating is changing my life.

I'm not writing much about this now but will be updating as changes start taking place.