Slow Down

No, the title of my blog is not indicative of what I've been doing. It is, however, indicative of what my weight loss has been doing. In the past two weeks, I've only lost 1 lb. I know any weight loss is good weight loss for me, but I have been working REALLY hard! So seeing those number creep down can lead to disappointment when you step on the scales. I've done a couple of things to help this.

One: My first instinct is to yet again cut how many calories I am taking in...but we all know of my obsession with calorie counting and as I am already trying to keep it at 1200-1250 right now, I don't think I could safely take it down much. My next thought was to increase the number of calories I am burning each day. This works to a certain extent, but I was already putting in a lot of time doing cardio in the gym and didn't feel I could add much more time to that. So I have changed up my routine a little in an effort to keep my body guessing. I realized I had fallen in to a bit of a rut workout-wise and needed something wake my body up. I got a jump rope to use at home (thanks for the suggestion Emily!) got a great work out video to up my strength training and have been changing it up on the machines in the gym. The last week or so I have been doing some crosstraining on the elliptical machine. This gives you a variety of inclines, resistances and even varies between pedaling forward and backward. I even started doing parts of it on my toes to work my calves and thigh muscles even more.

I do have to say that I may not be losing weight, but my clothes are fitting much, much looser. I finally broke down and got a couple more pairs of pants as now some of my pants (especially anything lower rise) are falling down...literally. It got embarrasing to have to continually pull my pants up over my bum, so those pants were officially retired. I also got some new tops. I CANNOT wear a large anymore...they swallow me up. Mediums are perfect. This is particularly exciting because I HAD to wear larges after G was born to be long enough to cover my belly. Mediums cut me wrong across the pooch. So being able to wear a medium and wear it well indicates to me that my pooch is deflating :)

I also found my dress. I will get a picture up soon. I went to several stores but everything was either super casual or super dressy (think pool-side dress vs. prom dress). I finally made a stop at Kohl's and grabbed a few dresses to try on. One in particular I liked on the hanger but once I got it on it just looked all wrong. I couldn't pin my finger on what it was, but it just didn't look good on my body. As I was walking out with my head hung, I thought "You know...that was a large...I wonder..." I grabbed a medium (which as an aside...who in the WORLD makes dresses in small, medium and large? Like there aren't in between sizes???) and headed back to the dressing room, fully expecting the results to be worse than before. What do you know....they weren't. Actually, I LIKED what I saw!!! I left the dressing room and immediately bought the dress!

Two (back to my weight loss plan): I am changing up what kinds of foods I eat. I am taking in more protein and cutting back on starches and carbs. I found a program that encourages you to do this for a week or two to wake your body up. I am still keeping my calories down, just distributing them differently. I can still have my fruit, veggies and even dairy. And of course the occasional carb/starch, but for the most part I am trying to take in more protein. Awesome breakfast idea: 2 tbs of peanut butter spread across apple slices. About 250 calories and super yummy. I wasn't hungry until lunch time! This gives you your protein, fiber and fat to help you feel full and have energy to burn!

So we'll see if any of these things help kick my weight loss back into gear. I cannot wait for it to get a smidge warmer (no more snow storms please!) so I can be outside more. G is anxious to get out and so am I. I am much more active in the spring/summer.

Stay tuned...soon I'll be swimming suit shopping. THAT will be a HILARIOUS post you won't want to miss!

Later, gators!