Drum Roll Please!

And the self induced plateau has ended!!!!  I am down 2lbs this week to land at 195.  I am so thrilled.  Amazing isn't it?  Go to the gym, plan out healthy meals and you lose weight?  Who would have thought?  :o)

I decided that this week I was going to start throwing in an extra day at the gym.  My mom is retired so I asked her to come by Monday morning and I went to a 9:30am Pump class.  I came home feeling invigorated and positive.  It is amazing how just an hour of exercise can start of your day.  As long as my mom is available, I am definitely going to continue going Monday mornings. I'm looking forward to seeing how this extra day at the gym will in turn affect my weight loss.

I definitely have to give some props to Body pump at Goodlife Gym.  I love, love that class.  It's a great class for a fat, lazy person because there is no jumping around.  Horrible thought isn't it?  But that is definitely what my thoughts were when I started doing this class.  Now, I love how strong it makes me feel.  I notice differences in my body much faster than if I was just doing aerobics.  I also have a great instructor who makes me laugh and makes me push further when I think I can't go on.

2 month update
Since it has been just over 2 months since I started this new lifestyle I thought I would update a bit.  I've gone from 212 to 195, size 20 to a size 16.  I am no longer out of breath running up the stairs.  In fact I could probably run up and down more than once and still be fine!  Most importantly, I am no longer a lump on the couch when my kids are sleeping.  I get stuff done during afternoon nap and still have energy when they go to bed.  You would think losing weight is just that:  losing weight.  In return, my house has been tidier than previously and I've organized much of my house that was in desperate need of organization.  Losing weight has snow balled into all aspects of my life.  And I apologize if this is TMI, but even my sex life has improved.  When you look in the mirror and are disgusted by what you see it definitely affects what takes place in the bedroom.  Losing this weight, being active and watching my body change makes me a happier and more confident person.  I can't wait to see what the next 2 months will bring!

Victory!

Not about my weight loss - or weight maintain.  But I went the night without after dinner snacking.  Huge, huge victory for me.  Not only that, but when I was about to walk over and crack open a bottle of wine for an evening glass, I chose a Diet pepsi and water instead!  When I went to bed, I actually felt good about my day for the first time in a really LONG time. 

And it doesn't end there.  I made split pea soup out of my Weight Watcher cookbook yesterday for my lunches this week.  I finally picked up some steel cut oats which everyone seems to rave about.  Made that yesterday too for my breakfasts for the rest of the week.  I had it this morning with some cut up strawberries.  Yummy!  I also cut up all my veggies so they are easy to grab and munch throughout the day. 

I think my goal of hitting 185 by Christmas is still possible.  That would be 2 lbs a week from now until Xmas.  Totally doable but I really am not going to punish myself if I don't reach it since it is a tight time frame.  I just feel that if you set goals (especially in small increments) it gives you something to work towards and they feel more possible to reach.  If I sit here and think, ugh I have 25-40 pounds left to lose then it gets discouraging.  A 12 pound loss seems much more attainable.

You know what?  After the planning I did and the eating healthy yesterday, I am in a great mood today!  I really think that I am back on track after veering off slightly for a bit.  Off to go have my soup!

Self Induced Plateau

OK.  My weight is the same.  197.  A bit frustrating but I will not use that as an excuse to give up.  Because this is a way of life, not a diet, right?  I had a great week last week.  I only went once to the gym because hubby needed to work late on my other gym night.  I ate yummy salads and healthy breakfasts.  Then came the weekend.  My mother bought McDonalds for me and Ava on Friday for lunch.  I know I could have ordered some healthy thing but the smell of french fries got the best of me.  Saturday night some friends came over for a girls night and chips were involved (on a side note, I have serious issues with chips.  I HAVE to eat the whole bag.  They are like my drug of choice.  This is the FIRST time I have eaten them since I started this journey on Sept 21st so I feel like it was justified).  Sunday morning we met friends at Broadwayy for breakfast.  Who on earth can deny themselves Broadway homefries?????  As you can probably guess, not me. 

So I shouldn't have been overly surprised when I jumped on the scale and it still said 197.  When I did poorly, I over ate with things loaded in sodium.  I guess I just thought my week went well enough that I might even have a 1lb loss.  Don't worry though, I'm over it and have been eating well so far this week.  No more giving up when a day (or weekend) gets the best of me.

I did not go to the gym last night.  Apparently there was some sort of instructors conference and all classes were cancelled.  So instead, I pulled out the Wii Fit.  It had been 18 days since I last used it!  I pushed myself on it and did the long distance run instead of the short run like I usually do.  I did the 6 minute rhythm boxing instead of the 3 min (boy did my arms feel it).  I also got in 32oz of water in the 3 hours after my kids went to bed (plus a glass of wine :o) which I put into my daily calculations).

Today:
Brekkie:
coffee with cream and sweetner
fat free strawberry yogurt with cut up banana and flax sprinkled on top

Lunch
Salad with chickpeas, green peppers, tomatoes and a fat free or low fat dressing
3 clementines

Dinner
Unknown - we are headed to the Trans Siberian Orchestra and are meeting friends for dinner beforehand.  I'm keeping my daily food light to make up for that.

Another day, Another post

Here I am again.  I'm letting you know, I did go to the gym last night.  I also did indulge in those 3 mini chocolate bars! 

I have input my food for today, including dinner.  I even plan on doing the Wii Fit for 30 minutes tonight. 

Brekkie - 3 clementines (I know, not a great breakfast but after Ava left for nursery school I got very busy doing some cleaning and much needed organizing), 2 coffees with sweetner and cream
Lunch - turkey soup with 6 unsalted saltine crackers, source yogurt
Dinner - meat lasagna with as much garden salad as I like
Snacks - I've added in for an evening snack of hummus and one pita

As promised

Here I am today like I said I would.  I've already recorded my foods for today.  I even have a couple hundred left over since I am headed to the gym tonight as well.  I almost never eat the extra calories earned by exercising.  I'd rather eat within my appointed calorie range and then be able to splurge every so often.  According to my calorie counter program, if I eat like today every day, I will be at 182 in 5 weeks!  If that's not motivation, I don't know what is!

Well, I'm off to eat my toasted tomato sandwich for lunch!  I will be taking my water bottle out of the fridge as well.

*side note:  I did count 3 mini chocolate bars in my daily calorie count JUST in case I happen to want to indulge!*

Darn

My weight stayed the same this week.  I thought for SURE it would go down since I made it back to the gym twice this week after a 2 week sickness hiatus.  Then I recalled all the leftovers from the baptism last weekend that I ate over the week.  Meatballs, chicken and rice, little sandwiches (yum yum).  Hmmmm....think that had anything to do with it?????  Lesson learned.  Next time I host something, send people home with leftovers and keep only a small amount for hubby. 

Second reason for the weight stall would be my lack of journaling.  My thoughts and food journaling.  My best weeks were when I checked in here regularily.  I also tracked all morsels of food.  I got a lovely email from myfitnesspal letting me know it had been over a week since I had logged in.  I need to make this time for myself in order to be successful and reach my goal of 185 by Christmas. 

Starting tomorrow my goals for the week are:
-drink water ( my water bottle sat in the fridge for 4 DAYS without being touched)
-go to the gym 2x
-squeeze in Wii Fit 2x
-eat salads for lunch since I bought a whack of salad ingredients today
-track my foods DAILY on myfitnesspal.com

Weigh In

I cheated a bit.  I weighed in yesterday at 202.  That's 2 pounds up from last weigh in.  That was after Ella's christening weekend where we had guests all weekend (meaning breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast for three mornings in a row).  I think the only thing I drank all weekend was coffee, diet pop and wine!  So I wasn't surprised at all when I was up yesterday.  High sodium foods and no water = bloat.  So I jump on the scale this morning after drinking a ton of water yesterday and eating lots of fruits and veggies and I was at 197!  So I think I am going to count Tuesday's weigh in instead of Monday's since it is more of a true respresentation of my weight.  And it makes me feel better than 202 :o)

My next goal I want to reach is 189 and it is only 8 lbs away!  I am so happy that this maternity leave weight loss strategy is going so much better that the last time around.  It took me over a year to lose 30lbs after Ava.  I'm already at half of that and it has only been 5 weeks.  Better late than never, right?

I just spent an hour walking around the pumpkin patch with a 15lb baby strapped to my chest.  I'm hoping I burned a bunch of calories since I indulged in a pumpkin cookie made by a friend. 

Breakfast - Source yogurt and slice of WW toast, pumpkin cookie
Lunch - Ava's leftover meatballs (the pumpkin patch was a last minute idea so i didn't have time to make a salad)
Dinner - a nice salad full of cucumber, green peppers, avacado and I'm going to throw in some cottage cheese and leftover ham from the weekend.

Too Long!

It's been a while since I've posted.  We've all been sick here in our household and I just haven't had the energy to sit here at the computer.  I did weigh in on Monday and was another 2 lbs down.  That is a grand total of 12 pounds since I started this journey one month ago.  I have to say that I peeked at the scale this morning and it is looking good for my next weigh in too. 

I've made a mini goal of reaching 25lbs lost by Christmas.  That's another 13 pounds in about 10 weeks.  Completely achievable.  I kind of hate normally setting goals like that.  My typical goals are "get out of the 200's", then "get out of the 190's" and so on.  But I have faith in myself this time that I CAN stick to this healthy eating for another 10 weeks.  After all, I plan to stick to it for the rest of my life, right?

I'm going to try out these steel-cut oats that another blogger friend of mine recently tried.  I've heard that they are SUPER healthy and fabulous but have not tried them to date since it is a breakfast I have to cook.  Not so easy when you need to get yourself and two kids ready each morning.  My friend cooks up a batch each Sunday and then has brekkie on hand for the whole week.  I'll let you know what I think of them :o)

OH!  Baby crying , gotta run!  I'll try to update a little more this week!

Surprise, Surprise!

Since I was out of town this weekend I did my weigh in Tuesday morning.  I stayed the same!  So what, no weight loss.  Don't care.  All I care about is that I actually made it through a weekend away from home and gained nothing!  I will admit I had a cookie dough, crispy crunch blizzard (and damn was it worth it) but I ate my oatmeal every morning that I brough from home.  I also limited myself to one plate of food (I had 2 thanksgiving dinners this weekend).  If I went back for seconds, it was for more veggies or bean salad.  All in all, pretty successful.

I can see my body changing.  It is by no means a pleasant sight, but it is encouraging.  It has been a long, long, time since I have really dedicated myself to losing weight and exercising and it feels good.  I have a birthday party and baptism to attend this weekend so I'm really going to focus on being good this week to make up for the probability of cake and buffet food  :o)

The Evil Weekend

Just a quick update since I'm super busy.  Anyone who is trying to lose weight is dreading this weekend.  I am so nervous since we will be out of town and I will be unable to control what food I eat.  BUT, I can control the amount and that will be my main goal.

Have a great long weekend everyone!

Much to my surprise.....

.....I am down another 4 pounds!!!

Must do better, Must do better

That's my mantra.  I admit, I've let things slide this week.  It started with only being able to go to the gym once this week due to commitments.  Then, the lack of healthy food in my house.  This largely in part to the weather.  Hubby has 2 outdoors jobs on the go which he hasn't been able to finish due to all the rain.  No paycheque from the breadwinner in 3 weeks makes for a strapped for cash Casey household.  So, I've been snacking on not so great things instead of fresh veggies. 

Tomorrow is a new day.  Now that we'll have some cash, I'm going grocery shopping and picking up carrots and cucumbers and all sorts of wonderful nourishment for my body.  As I'm sitting here writing this, I'm vowing to get straight on the wii fit after my kids go to bed tonight.  It may not be an hour at the gym, but any sort of activity is calories burned, right?

Truthfully (because if I can't be truthful here - where can I be?), I've been a bit down about weight loss the past couple of days.  You spend 7 straight days of eating well and incorporating exercise into your life and you lose such a small amount at the end of that week.  It just seems like the journey will take forever.  Yes, yes, I know rationally that weight loss/maintenance is a lifelong thing for me but that small part of your brain that causes you to eat emotionally puts all sorts of doubts in your head.

It brought me back to 7th grade.  A boy in my class repeatedly called me fat that year.  There were 2 girls in my class that, no lie, were 2-3 times bigger than me.  Never a comment to them.  One even sat right beside me.  God, I look back at the pictures of me in grades 7,8,9 and I think I looked perfect.  I'd LOVE to be that size again.  Was it those comments in Gr. 7 that led me to believe that I was fat, so why not emotionally eat and actually be fat? 

I don't think I'll actually ever know but I am determined to become the beautiful, sexy woman that my husband has always proclaimed me to be.  I have another 1.5 days until my official weigh in and I am not going to waste that time. Even if I only lose .5 lbs this week I WILL celebrate it.

....and thanks to this blog, I suddenly feel so much better about this journey.

Who knew I'd be happy about that?

So last night, Ava wanted to do "races".  It basically involved running around the main floor of our house after Ava since she always has to win.  I totally looked at it as unexpected cardio so when my husband collapsed on the couch I continued to race with her.  And you know what?  My pants were falling down!  The jeans that when I put them on a month ago made me have huge muffin tops!  I was so happy my pants were falling down!  lol

My evening wasn't stellar last night.  We had a last minute overnight guest and we ended up eating really late since he was late coming in from New Brunswick.  I was so ravenous, I scarfed down a ton of food.  But this morning, I entered everything in myfitnesspal.com and surprisingly, I didn't go over my daily intake. 

I'm not sure what it is that is making me so determined and motivated to lose weight.  Maybe it has to do with my network of friends who are also going through the same things as me.  It is so reassuring to hear someone else's story and know that there are others that feel exactly the same as you.  Or maybe it is the fact that I'm getting older and I know the weight will only be harder to get off in time.  Or perhaps, it is my 2 girls who mean the world to me and I would hate to see them have this life long struggle.  Maybe I can change their perception of food, themselves and their body by being a living example.

I'm off to the Gym tonight to do my FAVOURITE class ever - Body Jam.  I'm also going to try to squeeze in some Wii Fit this week. 

Terrible Weekend

I know I lost 5 lbs over the past week but boy, was my weekend terrible.  I have come down with a cold so eating a salad did not interest me at all.  Kraft dinner did.  And tortellini.  With not only Parmesan cheese but Asiago cheese.  Way to go.  But my motto is, there is always tomorrow.  My slate is clean today and I will make the most of it.

We have some out of town guests for the evening.  Lasagna, caesar salad and garlic bread are on the menu.  As well as a few beverages I'm sure.  I don't know about anyone else but I hate to make guests eat diet food along with me.  Unless it is a really fabulous recipe.  The visit is last minute and with 2 young kids, I didn't have the time to scout one out.  I'm going to try and eat pretty light today to combat my high cal dinner.  No gym this evening for me either but I'm totally counting the 45 minutes of vaccuming I did this morning.  Sweat was pouring down my face so I'd say I burned some calories.

On another note, I finally opened my Wii Fit.  Really scary.  I am obese and my Wii Fit age is 46!!!!  My BMI is way off the charts too.  So I think my overall goal will to be at a healthy BMI and not focus on the number on the scale as much.

Check In

5lbs down!  YAY!

Change of Plans

OK, I've decided to sort of change the idea for this blog. Following an old friend, I have been inspired to start blogging my weight loss. I officially started my journey on September 21st (weird enough my wedding anniversary) and have been pretty consistant all week except for lunch today which was Kraft Dinner. But after my one bowl, I immediately put the leftovers in the fridge so i wouldn't be tempted into having any more.

I'm a little disappointed about my weight. I lost weight after having Ava and was down to 180 lbs. I then quit smoking (yet again) and my weight slowly creeped up. A year after I quit smoking and got pregnant, I was at 210lbs. I am proud of my eating throughout my pregnancy though. A month before I had Ella, I had only gained 22lbs. My last month I gained 25lbs but it was due to pre-eclympsia (sp?) so I like to not count that. Within 2.5 weeks after Ella's birth, I was only 2lbs above that pre-pregnancy weight. So at least I am starting this journey no higher than I was almost 2 years ago.

Here's what I have done so far:

-joined Goodlife Gym, my fav gym if I were to love the gym :o) and go at least 2x per week
-joined myfitnesspal.com to track my caloric intake and exercise
-drinking 32oz a day of water (after having a baby, it seems like coffee is the main source of drink so this water is a big deal in my life)
-switch from double double in my coffee to sweetner and double cream (hey, I have to have some vice)
-eat salads for lunch with some sort of protein in it
-cut out the rice or potatoes at dinner, limit it to once per week for each item
-switch from regular beer to light beer. Maybe a weird thing to note but we do get together with our neighbours often for a beer or two so any way to lighten the calorie load is a good thing.
-got a haircut and some new clothes to make me feel pretty even at this weight and start me off on the journey

I'll be sure to update on a regular basis. My weigh in is on Monday and I'm feeling pretty hopeful that the scale will reflect that.

It's been a while

OK. So I've been away from this for a while. I just had my second beautiful daughter, Ella, on May 29th. It is so weird saying "kids" now. The transition has pretty smooth but I can't lie, it hurts every morning dragging my butt out of bed in order to get up with Ava. I keep telling myself that this too shall pass. One day Ella will sleep more at night and I may feel refreshed in the morning.

Tomorrow is the first official day that i am at home with both kids by myself. Well, if the weather is nice in the morning my parents are taking Ava strawberry picking. heehee. So I guess I can't really count tomorrow. I really need to sit down and figure out a daily schedule for us. I want to try to do as much as I can with her in the mornings so she has great naps every afternoon. Not to mention, I feel kind of guilty about taking her out of daycare where she had a ton of friends and did tons of things every day. Luckily, I do have a friend who just had a baby and her eldest daughter and Ava are buddies. Hopefully we will be able to squeeze in lots of paydates

Oh my god. I can finally get into my blog again! I am on my parents computer so i wonder if the problem was my own computer for some reason. I am now mortgage free! And house free I might add too. We moved out of our house April 28th. It was sad. This was the house where Ava was born and where all of our hopes and dreams started. I think I wouoldn't have been so sad if I had been moving right into my new house. But here we are, in limbo at my parents for a month. I can't really complain to much. Or at all. It is great having my parents around. They are overjoyed to feed her and play with her.

I feel so out of touch being here at my parents. I am checking my email online but for whatever reason I can't access my address book. So unless you email me, I have no way of reaching you!

We took Ava to Cosmic Adventures the other week. So much fun! I highly recommend it. She got to interact with so many kids. Also took Ava on the canal. She hated it!!! Needless to say, it was not a good time when your baby is screaming for 45 minutes. Very stressful. A woman at my work (who also has a 1 year old) told me her baby hates to be bundled up. I think that may be the issue. We took her out to play in the snow and she cried then too! oh well. Hopefully winter will be over sooner rather than later.

Our house has officially sold! YAY! No more showings, no more keeping it spotless! Now, we are so excited for the new house. I'll post a picture on the progress. I'll be going to check it out this weekend sometime so hopefully there is even more progress. We have until Feb. 19th to be informed if they are going to be delayed so keep your fingers crossed until then!

Ava is getting baptized on Feb. 25th. We have to go to church tomorrow for the welcoming mass and then a parents information night on Tuesday. I'm really dreading it. I know that sounds horrible but I can't imagine keeping her still for that long!

Oh, and I wanted to update on my kitty cat Chloe. We almost had to put her down in September because she had fatty liver disease. She is perfect now! All she needed was some TLC and some force feeding! I call her my little miracle kitty since the vet told us that our chances were slim. I am so thankful that we didn't fork out the $1200 for the operation or put her down. Sometimes positive thinking really does help I guess.