The Story on Morning Glory

When I say Jillian, what do you think about?  I think about 2 things. 

One, a student I once had who was an only child, too smart for her britches, and frankly quite annoying.  Yes, I loved all of my students, including her, she was just a little tougher to love!  But really, aren't we all?

Two, I think of Jillian from Biggest Loser.  Jeff and I went through a Biggest Loser phase and watched it religiously.  I mean, really, it's amazing.  I loved Bob, he's so nice, encouraging...but Jillian?  She's so mean!  Yelling all the time, getting in people's faces...I always told Jeff if she was my trainer, I'd punch her in the face.

It's hard to eat healthy when your kitchen consists of a microwave on the living room floor.  Needless to say, last week wasn't a good one...eating out every night is not good for the new lifestyle!  I usually do ok when I can plan what to order ahead of time, but chips and salsa are my eternal downfall.  I could eat them all day every day.  No joke.  So, lots of chips and salsa, too many dinners out, and not enough time at the gym.  That summarizes my week. 

I need to get back on the wagon...

Even though my kitchen is still in crazy disarray, tonight I dug out everything I needed to cook a healthy dinner, so hopefully this will be the start to a better week! 

Oh, gym, why do you elude me so?

I made it once last week.  It was a good workout, filled with old people in showercaps and speedos!  Hoping for more this week...we'll see. 

Eating was really good!  I told Jeff, Monday I'm great!  Tuesday and Wednesday, still really good.  Thursday...willing to fudge a little bit.  Friday?  I still have somewhat of a conscience on Friday during the day, but it's dinner out!  So there's that!  Saturday and Sunday are pretty much "Oh well"  days with a touch of "Oh, I better not eat that" here and there.  Monday, it's back on track big time! 

But...it seems like it's working!  7lb lost!  Woo hoo!!! 

That just truly lets me know how much crap I was eating prior to January 1...

Last week was not my best week...by any means. 

To start off with, I was sick and I hate working out when I'm sick.  I mean, who likes it?  So my working out was limited to a walk on Tuesday and a swim on Friday.  Not the best, I know. 

Speaking of my swim on Friday, let me tell you a little more about swimming at the YMCA.  Each time I've been lately, there has been a water aerobics class going on.  The class is called the Silver Swimmers...so basically it's a bunch of old ladies splashing around, wearing their shower caps and absolutely loving it!  Last week, I got there while the Aqua Fit class was going on.  All of the Silver Swimmers were there waiting...and the class didn't start for a good 45 minutes!  They were just hanging out around the pool, chatting it up!  It was funny.  On Friday there was one other person below the age of 65 and as I rested for my 12 breaths at the end of the pool, he commented on how remarkable it is that they are able to make the Y look exactally like a retirement home in Florida!  Classic.

Eating wasn't too good this week either.  The afore mentioned cooking class kicked off my trash days.  Yes, trash days, plural.  Unfortunately, trash day lasted from about Thursday night until Sunday night.  Not too good for the healthy lifestyle I'm trying to create!! 

Oh well, a new week, a new start!  I'm off on a walk this afternoon and to the Y tomorrow!  Wish me luck!

Time to report in!

Ok, last week was a good one, a little harder, but that's to be expected. The newness is gone, it's not quite as fun to not eat the whole bag of Cheeto's. I did buy baked ones...and the Flamin' Hot ones, which truly do help with portion control. See, once you're done with one serving of the Flamin' Hot Cheeto's, your mouth is on fire and there's no possible way you'd want to eat more. See how that works?

So, I went to the gym twice...once to swim and I have to admit, I forgot how much energy it takes to swim! I was TIRED half way through my planned workout! So, I didn't quite make it to the end. Oh well, better than nothing, right? And at the Y, it's a little awkward to get from the locker room to the pool. At my other gym, the locker room was attached to the pool so it was easy! Here, you put on your bathing suit and walk down the hall into the basketball gym to get on an elevator and it takes you down to the pool. A little awkward when there is a big ole' basketball game going on.

My second day at the gym was the elliptical and treadmill. Not too bad! My goal this week is to go a little further on both. Only problem is that I'm tracking the "how much time I have left" pretty much constantly at this point. We'll see how that goal goes.

Eating was super good. I found this amazing app for my iphone that I can count my calories on (I'm so far from OCD but I LOVE this amazing way to track my food) and it's just the best thing ever. It's called myfittnesspal and it has a database of a ton of food, like it even has I Can't Believe it's Not Butter in it! Yes, I know I Can't Believe it's Not Butter is not butter because it's full of chemicals, but a girl's got to do what a girls got to do when she's trying to loose a small child worth of weight! You can also track your work outs and it gives you a few extra calories for the ones you burn for the day. I heart it. So, eating was great, loved my trash day, which consisted of a grilled cheese from Mimi's (oh-em-gee, they are amazing) and Pei Wei for dinner. Yum!

I will say, getting to the gym with a small child to work around is not easy. It's not easy and I even have a husband who is home from work around 11am! So, I'm learning I'll have to be flexible on the whole 3 times to the gym for the week.

Over all, great week! Woohoo!

And PS, I will not be weighing myself for a month or so...it's too painful to deny myself gorging on the whole bag of Cheeto's only to see that it only lost me a half a pound this week. I like big results...and that means waiting quite a while to weigh in! Jus in case you were wondering...

Well, one week down, many many more to go!

Work out report:

I braved the freezing cold and went walking with some girlfriends on Tuesday, which was nice! Jack went along and was relatively happy...I took off the top shade last time we took the stroller to the mall and forgot to snap it back on before we left for our walk. I think he would have been happy the whole time if the sun wasn't blazing in his poor little eyes for half of the walk!!

Skipped the gym on Wednesday for some fellowship with other moms from my church, which was well worth it. I invited over 6 moms with babies between the age of 2 weeks and 8 months! It was so fun and such a blessing to be surrounded by ladies who are right where I am. And such a blessing to talk freely about poop and which diapers catch it best, breastfeeding successes and failures, excitement about the next baby milestones and what it's like to learn to be a daughter, sister, wife and mother all at the same time. Anyways, didn't make it to the gym, but oh well! Priorities, people!

I did spend some quality time with the elliptical and treadmill on Thursday and actually kinda enjoyed it! I'm writing this down so I can remember saying "I had a good time at the gym!" I seriously did. It felt really good to work out!!! I do remember this feeling from being a gym rat before. The build up and actually getting dressed and driving to they gym is TORTURE but once I'm there, it feels really good! Go figure.

I did a great job on my eating, too! I scaled back to a 1350 calorie goal and did quite well! Whenever Jeff and I are really making an effort to eat well, we designate one day to be a "trash" day where there are no calories counted and you can basically eat anything and everything you want! It's wonderful. And by the end of the day, you want to puke and remember why you need to eat healthy! So, Saturday was trash day which was very yummy...

And, I started off this week well with my first swim!

Watch out, world! I'm getting in shape!

What would a new year be with out a resolution or two! And that's what I've got. Two.

First off, sweet little Jack wasn't kind to my aging figure. See, the weigh-ins when you're pregnant are deceiving. It's the first time in your life where you're supposed to have gained weight when you step on the scale! And then you start thinking, "Oh, good! I gained a pound!" Well, when you say that for 40 consecutive weeks, that's a problem! A big fat problem!! And I might have to say that I have a little (ok, a lot of) hate for the woman who has a baby and 3 days later looks like she's just won a beauty pageant. Um, not me. No, my body doesn't work like that. Lucky me.

Maybe it was Jack or maybe it was the wild obsession with hamburgers that piled on the pounds! Either way, I'm looking to take off 30-40 lbs this year. Lofty? Yes. But I've done it before. Not easily, but I've done it before.



Today started my new "lifestyle". Can't call it a diet and work out plan...those never last. But the plan is that this will! So I'm going to the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I am really going to stick to it! As much as this hamburgers are sticking to my thighs! So, 1600 calorie diet (sans hamburgers) and 3 days a week at the gym. That's the plan.



We joined the YMCA last week and today was my first visit. First off, I was given a tour by a 400 lb man. I'm not joking. We took the elevator from one level to the next. And I was nervous we wouldn't make it. I'm not sure if I would want to work at the Y and see people working out all around me if I were that man! Anyways, I got busy on the elliptical (my legs already feel like noodles!) and the treadmill, working off those hamburgers one by one. Good times.



You should know that I really despise working out. I know, most people don't like it, but I truly despise it. But I've decided I don't despise it as much as I despise trying to button my pants these days!! The one thing that I don't mind doing is swimming. I think it's because I trick myself into thinking that since sweat is not dripping down my face, I'm not working out! Whatever psychological trick works...yes squeezing into a bathing suit will not be fun, but remember I get to walk past the 400 lb man on the way to the locker room, and that gives me a little motivation! Take care of these hamburgers NOW!



Day one of the "eating plan" was good...until we had friends over to watch the TCU bowl game (sad story) and ordered pizza. Ok, I'll admit. I had two too many pieces, but tomorrow is a new day and the pizza will be no more!! It wasn't fair to have so much temptation in the form of left over pizza on the first day!!



I said I had two resolutions (working off the hamburgers and not eating so many hamburgers) but really I have three. The last and ultimately most important is to sit down and spend time with the Lord each day. Seems like the easiest of the three...I don't have to avoid pizza or sweat, but I am so lacking in discipline that it, too, will be a struggle!! I have so many things to be thankful for and it's completely sinful that I don't take the time to sit before the One who has blessed me so.



So, wish me luck!! I'll try to update you each Monday on how it's going...Heir to Blair is calling it "McFatty Monday" so prepare for me to overshare on my quest to loose the hamburgers!