On The Right Track
Week 3, day 20 (weight 140.5, down 4.5)

I am very proud of myself, I have done 30 minutes of cardio every night for the past three nights and (get this) I actually seem to be enjoying it. My new routine is to get the kids to bed by 8:45 and be on the recumbent bike by 9:00. Seems to work out well. Though it takes away time with my DH (which is usually spent on the couch in from of the TV eating a snack while he is on the computer chatting with people or working on a story), I think it has been good for me to do it at that time. I work out, stretch, take a water break (on the couch with hubby) and then hit the shower. I feel really good when I slip into bed and I am sleeping better. Plus when I workout at night I am less likely to give-in to the snack craving (usually oreos, or cookies, or ice cream). I think taking that time for just myself has been really good for me. I used to give all my time to the kids and then when DH got home and the kids were in bed I felt I had to sit on the couch with him to get in some time, but I am starting to feel that by doing my workout this way DH and I can spend better quality time together at other times. The only problem with the cardio is that I have to do it on the recumbent bike right now (the treadmill track has slipped) and for some reason the bike kills my knees. I know it is supposed to be low impact but since I started my workout on the bike I have been practicality living on advil. It will do for now though.

I have been doing pretty well food-wise too. I bumped my calories up a bit (I lowered them way to much the first two days and started to feel shakey and a bit faint) since I am breastfeeding and need some extra calories to produce the milk. I slipped up a bit on Wednesday, DH wanted ice cream so I had a small shake (it was sooooo good too :o). But other than that I have been pretty good.

All of the above has brought forth positive results on the weight front, which means I must be doing something right. Since I started 3 weeks ago I am down 4.5 pounds. It is a nice steady weight loss, not to fast, not to slow. Now I just need to keep it up. I need to keep doing cardio every day and watch what I eat. It will be especially hard this coming holiday weekend while I am away and at the bbq we are having at our house on Tuesday, but I am going to try my hardest and I will have my sister there to help me. :o)

Quick Write

Just wanted to post that I actually did do my cardio today. I had both of my kids fed, bathed, and in bed by 8:30 and I was on the bike by 8:45. I did half an hour of a mix of resistance and speed. I didn't eat as well as I did yesterday but still not too bad and I got all my water in for the day. Hope I can continue on with some momentum. I weighed myself this morning even though I should not have and I weighed in at 140.5 wich is down 2.5 pounds from Sunday. But I am not counting as an official weigh-in. I will do that on Friday ( I am going away for the weekend until Monday afternoon).

Inspiration Close to Home

My sister, Julie, had an awesome week last week! Go Julie!! She is awesome :o)! She is an inspiration for me. I was about to go and grab a cookie or a piece of chocolate or something bad for me, then I read Julie's blog and I decided not too. A real inspiration.

I had a bad Sunday, or at least a bad lunch on Sunday. We went to Red Robin and I didn't have the will power to pass up the best burger and fries. On top of all that I had a chocolate milk shake too. Chocolate milk shakes, and chocolate in general seems to be my undoing. Every Since Nolan was born I have been unable to resist them and sometimes crave them so much it hurts. Funny, I didn't have any particular cravings while I was pregnant, this must be pay back. Ok- so every time I go to pick up chocolate I need to ask myself is it really worth it? And go drink some water instead.

On the stay-at-home mom front, DH left this morning for a business trip and won't be back until Wednesday night. So... Wish me luck and pray that all three of us plus the 5 animals make it through alive!

Oreo's be my downfall

Well, I haven't posted in a while. A reminder of that from my sister who called me yesterday wondering if all was alright (it is really nice to have someone lookin' out for ya :o). Everything is OK. I did succumb to the scale this morning and have maintained my 142.5. Now I have to really force myself to NOT get on the scale until next Friday morning. I know that it is not good to weight yourself every day and I usually end up doing it at least twice a day. I need to gauge how I am doing more on how I feel then what I weigh.

I am doing OK in the eating department except for in the evening. Those damn Oreo's call my name every night. Ugh. I just have to have the willpower to say no. Back in high school when I wanted to get rid of a hunger craving at home I would go brush my teeth (who wants to eat after they brush there teeth?) so maybe I will try that. Every evening just go and brush my teeth before I lose it and down 4 Oreo's and a glass of milk.

Well, I intended to write a little more but I have to go get my little one and take my other one outside to play in our new wading pool for a bit. Maybe more later.

Good Start
week 2, day 9 - weight 142.5 (down 2.5)

Well, in looking at my weight loss it doesn't seem have made a whole lot of progress, however, I did slip up quite a bit this weekend and end of the week last week so I am just glad I didn't gain weight. I have done great in the eating department today. I had Cheerios for breakfast and yogurt and low fat Wheat Thins for lunch. I have had two small chocolate chip cookies. Zachary and I made cookies together this morning, which was a lot of fun and tempting, but I was good. Normally I would have had at least 3 cookies while making them and at least 3 or4 more by now. I am making hamburger Helper and green beans for dinner (my husbands favorite). I just need to remember to fill half my plate with the green beans and only take one small portion of the hamburger helper. I know I can do it! I also have to remember to drink lots of water every day.

I have met part of the goal I set for myself for the week as far as household things go. This morning I put all of my maternity clothes in boxes, emptied out and put away all my regular clothes and even got a box and half to give to goodwill. I also have started the laundry and expect to have that finished by tomorrow evening. Our dryer is on the fritz, meaning it takes like 3 hours to dry one load of clothes, so it gets really frustrating and takes a long time to do the laundry. I just have to keep going until it is all done and put away.

The baby is awaking. I will post again later hopefully!

Another day goes by

The last two days have been ok. Good on the emotional, stay-at-home mom front but just ok on the eating healthy and exercising front. I really don't eat all that much during the day but it usually ends up that what I do eat is crap. Yesterday I went to the in-laws for dinner and they had fried chicken. I had barely eaten the rest of the day and I had to eat what was provided so I had fried chicken, cole slaw, and steak fries for dinner. Not great. I also only exercised a little yesterday, barely enough o break a sweat and today I haven't at all, I have been quite busy preparing to go visit my sister in Virginia, which I am excited about.

I did manage to give both boys a bath, clean the living room and kitchen and pack for our trip all this morning though. I feel like that in itself is an accomplishment. I really wanted to work on some laundry but that didn't happen. Next week I must focus on laundry and especially putting all of my maternity clothes away and putting all my regular clothes back in the closet and drawers. I think as I do that I would really like to weed out and get rid of a bunch of clothes too.

Well, I guess that would be my goal for next week. I won't be posting again until at least Saturday night probably not really until Sunday. Hope all have a great weekend. I plan too!

A good start and a revelation
More fun and less fuss needed

Just wanted to report that I did the recommended exercises on my new Total Gym tonight. I am doing the "starter" reps and moving on to the "basics" reps after about two weeks. I thought I would be able to just go straight to the "basics" but apparently I am more out of shape then I had originally thought. The "starter" reps consist of two major exercises (one for arms and one for legs/abs are worked into both) which use 80% of the major muscle groups. I will do them again tomorrow and Thursday but then will be going away until Saturday night. So I will be taking Friday and Saturday off this week.

I also ate fairly well today. I ate too much at dinner (it was really yummy) but I don't think I went to wild. Since I am breastfeeding I am giving myself some liberties, though maybe I shouldn't be.

On the "stay-at-home" mommy front, today went fairly well. We walked down to the park and had a picnic lunch which was really nice, then Zachary got to play with a bunch of neighborhood kids for a while. We also played in the backyard quite a bit. I only got frustrated with Zachary a couple times.

One thing that I have decided I need to do if I am going to survive staying at home is to lighten up and not be such a control freak. I wig out at the littlest things. For example, today we were eating crackers and cheese for snack in the living room and I got upset with Zachary for getting crumbs on the carpet. Geez, it's not like it is going to be the end of the world. I really need to have more fun and worry less about the little things. I think I will work on making that a personal goal over the next couple of weeks. Every time I start to get upset and/or angry about something little, I need to stop count to five, take a deep breath and either drop it orlaugh about it. My household would be a much happier place if I would just chill out. I am sure the husband would say "amen sister" to that statement. :o)

Tomorrow Zachary goes to Grandma's so it will just be Nolan and I. I should be able to get some much needed house work done and take an overdue long, hot shower.

Here's to more fun and less fuss!

Quick Write
Week 1, Day 3 Weight 143 (down 2)

Just wanted to do a quick post before my youngest wakes up and wants to eat. Somehow I managed to lose 2 pounds between Sunday and this morning. I did eat fairly well yesterday. No pans of brownies, no half a dozen cookies. I actually ate a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner with a healthy snack in between. Though I did splurge on some oreo's in the evening. No too bad though.

We got a new fitness machine delivered yesterday. The Total Gym. I set it up and started using it yesterday. Now I just have to work using it into the schedule. I must use it today. I must! If I don't start in a good routine now I know I am less likely to use it on a daily basis.

The first day of stay-at-home life went well. I had a doctor's appointment for my youngest. All is well. And I kept the TV to a minimum. No outings scheduled today so we will see how it goes. It is so nice out, we will probably all walk to the park later.

Well, Nolan is now crying so I must sign off. More later hopefully!

The junk ends here!
Week 1 Day 1, Weight 145

Ok - so this weekend was BAD as far as food goes. I can't believe I am about to admit this but I ate almost an entire 13x9 pan of chocolate chunk brownies by myself. I knew when I made them that I would probably end up doing that but that somehow didn't stop me. Of course that is about all I ate this weekend with the exception of a six inch sub and half a chicken sandwich. That is not good. All crap and no decent nutrition will lead to a bad Mary both inside and out.

Oh where, oh where has the self discipline gone? My sister once told me that she admired me for how self-disciplined I was. She probably doesn't remember telling me that but I remember and it has always stuck with me and made me feel proud. You see, I have always looked up to her as what I aspire to be someday and the fact that she admired that about me filled my soul with an awesome feeling. I need to remember her words every time I go into the kitchen in search of food when I am not really hungry.

As you can see I have posted my weight at the top and hope to post it at least every other day. I also hope to post whether or not I exercised and stuck to my meal plan. Plus any other things that are on my mind. Hopefully by putting it all down I will be more inclined to living a healthy life.

I have not yet come up with a schedule for my stay-at-home mom days, but I hope to have some down time tonight to do that and to come up with some sort of realistic meal plan for the week. Monday starts a whole new week, a whole new job (stay-at-home mom), and a whole new attitude. All of which will hopefully lead to a whole new me!

EXPOSURE
what is to come

Upon the suggestion of my sister Julie, I have decided to try the blog thing. I am not sure about exposing my feelings, faults, and shortcomings to everyone out there in cyberspace to read but I suppose it is the in thing to do these days. Ahead you will find my first attempt at blogging. Don't expect too much, it is what it is.

As of Monday I will be a stay-at-home mom with two kids. This will only be full time until the fall and then I will be a part-time stay-at-home mom. I have been home for the last four weeks with my newborn son Nolan but I have been doing a lot of recovering and sleeping when he does. It's been great! Starting Monday though I will also have my 3 1/2 year old home with me and I am afraid we will get into the tv or computer game rut or that I won't be able to give Zachary enough attention because Nolan requires so much right now.

My goal for the weekend (besides the usual cleaning, yard work, and home projects) is to come up with some sort of plan and schedule for our days this summer. I would like to include play time, academic sort of stuff time, outings (maybe to the library or local amusements), rest time, lunch and snacks of course, among other things. In my own schedule I would also like to have time for working out, reading, and daily chores. I will try to work something out this weekend and post it. Maybe if I put it out there for others to see I will stick to it better.

Just an fyi and so I may be held more accountable, I really need to not succumb to the part of me that wants to eat crap and snack all day because I am home. I have access to food 24/7 now that I am home and I need to have more self-discipline and not pig out all day. I am hoping to exercise every day and eat well so that I may lose about 15 pounds before the end of summer. I know I can do it I just have to do it.