Woo Hoo

Hey ladies! Just had to stop in really quick and give an update. I weighed yesterday, 2/7/2009 and I have good news:

Total weight loss - 11 lbs!!!

This marks two things.

1. I am officially UNDER my pre-pregnancy weight (well my weight at 6 weeks pregnant). My body is no where near what it was then or where I want it to be, but I am still excited about this!

2. I finally feel a little better about sharing my actual weight. This is difficult for me, but I feel like that is part of the acountability.

My start weight: 177 (1/5/2009)
Weight as of 2/7/2009: 166

Ugh, just writing those numbers makes me cringe. My heaviest ever before this was 172, so this is by far the worst I've seen. I weight after getting married was 147. I am very comfortable with right around 150 for my body type...and this puts me in the healthy BMI range.

So as you can see, I have a ways to go. I would like to lose at least 16 more pounds, and wouldn't mind another 20. I am by no means going to rest when I hit the 150 goal!

This next part is pretty long and boring, but Teniah asked for details. Read at your own risk. Remember this is what I've found to work for me. Just my opinions...

I had a few questions about my diet and exercise. I am not doing a specific diet (i.e. South Beach). I have tried those in the past and beat myself up when I diverge from them. I have friends that are doing Weight Watchers, and while I've used some of their prepackaged foods (frozen lunches, 1 point ice cream bars, etc), I am not following that either. Before I started my diet/exercise routine, I did some research. I found that 3500 calories = 1 lb of weight. I was also able to calculate, based on my weight how many calories I would need to take in each day to MAINTAIN my current weight. The number was somewhere around 2050 calories each day. So, I am attempting to maintain my caloric intake at 1500 per day. This means I am immediately cutting out 3850 calories from my weekly diet. I keep track of my calories as the days go by. This is hard sometimes, especially if you eat out or eat at friends house (I find it puts them off if I ask them how many calories are in the meal they just prepared for me), so it doesn't always work. But that is what I generally do. As far as the types of things I eat:

What works:
Pre-prepared low cal/low fat lunches (Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisines)
Sugar Free Jell-o and Pudding cups (kills the sweet tooth with minimal calories)
Lots of fruit and veggies (my faves - corn, green beans, carrots, apples and grapes that I keep in the fridge...yum!)
Lean meats - this cost more, but it is worth it if you look up the difference in calories and fat grams
String Cheese (good source of calicum and protien)
Items with high dietary fiber (these items are prone to fill you up better)
Water....lots and lots of water!

What doesn't work:
Meals with creamed soups in them
Lots of cheese (boo)
Cookies and baked treats - this is hard for me since I love to bake
Chips (two fold - you eat a ton and don't feel full and they are HIGH in fat/calories
Soda (empty calories)

Here is my typical daily diet:
Breakfast (every morning): Bowl of cereal. I measure out the cereal and milk to count the calories.
Mid Morning snack: Apple, grapes or oranges. If I have grapes I measure those as well (1 cup = 65 calories)
Lunch: Lean Cuisine or Weight Watcher's lunch
Afternoon snack (not always): Sugar-free Jell-o snack
Dinner: Whatever I make for Ben and G...just use major portion control. The beauty of this is I eat tons of veggies at dinner and cut back on the meat, pasta and potatoes. I never walk away feeling hungry.
Evening snack (maybe): 1/2 cup of sherbet, 1 weight watchers ice cream bar, fruit, etc.

Another trick before you eat out or go to other's homes to eat...eat an apple or drink a bottle of water before you go. You are less likely to overeat!

My exercise is another thing asked about. I have recently upped my routine, so it is fairly new to me.

I work out 4-5 days each week for an hour each time. This means my heart rate is up for an hour and I typically burn about 700-750 calories during that time. So in one week I am burning approximately 2800 calories with exercise. I spend 30 minutes on the treadmill at a 13 incline. I am not running but doing about a 16 minute mile, so it is a quick pace. During those 30 minutes I burn close to 400 calories so I figure running is stress on my knees that I don't need (I have a history of bad knees). I then move to the elliptical for 3o minutes where I do a cross training routine. This includes backward and forward motion. THAT uses muscles I never even knew I had!!! By the time that is done I am pretty beat, but sometimes I'll do 10-15 minutes on the bike. I personally HATE the bike. It hurts my rear end and is just in general no fun. BUT, it is brutal on the booty and legs, so it is worth it.

I am also doing strength training workouts at home. I do lunges, along with working out my biceps, triceps, shoulders and chest with my 8 lb weight. I also do abdominal excercises. I DO NOT DO CRUNCHES. I don't like them and they don't like me. I do a couple of work outs for abs that I learned from a video that strengthen the core more than the up and down motion of a crunch. Ugh...I hate those things.

Bottom line, I do what feels good and what I enjoy. I figure if I love to work out, I do it more often and look forward to it instead of dreading it. All in all, I "burn" or eliminate about 6,650 calories each week. This works out to about a pound and a half each week of weight loss. I lost more a the beginning and I am sure my body will go through resistance stages, but so far I am loving feeling stronger, a little leaner, and my size 10 jeans ;)

Amber