Out of town

Just wanted to let you know that I have not given up on the weight loss and blog.  We have been out of town since Saturday morning and we won't be back until Thursday night.  I will miss my Weight Watchers weigh in this week since we won't be back in time, but I'm still trying to make good food choices.

It's hard when every single meal is at a restaurant or fast food- so I'm not sure how successful I will be this week.  Hopefully I can just maintain, and not gain anything, and then get back on the weight loss band wagon next week.

So, you won't see anything else from me on the blog until Friday morning.  But, I do plan on getting back on track when we get home!  See you then.

What's in a name?

It seems that naming a blog is a lot like naming a child.  You want it to be unique, but not too far out there.  You want it to give an indication of what your blog is about.  You want it to be memorable and differenciated.  You want it to be able to grow with time, meaning it needs to make sense now and later on down the road.  For example, I wouldn't want to call it "Im so fat" (which I would never say that anyway, but lets go with it for the example), because hopefully I won't be one day. 

Anyway, I've been thinking about a new title for about a week now.  I think that I think I am more cleaver than I actually am (did that make sense?)  I kept coming up with ideas that I thought were so cleaver, then I'd do a google search to make sure I'm not copy catting someone else (AGAIN), only to find that someone else was already cleaver enough to get it.  Some of my squashed ideas have been: Chew on That, Can't Hardly Weight, Weigh Down South, and Tales from the Scale (my personal favorite).

So, here's what I'm chewing on now - Apple Bottom Mom.  With a tagline of "An apple a day keeps the weight away".  What do you think?  Surely everyone is singing in their head right now, "Apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur..."  I know I am.  In fact, here's how it came to me. 

I was working with the kids on the cutest Father's Day craft project ever (see picture below).  I used my 3 month old daughter's butt print to make an apple and my 2 year old son's fingerprints to make a cataplillar.  The whole time I was doing it and for several days after, I had that song stuck in my head.  Now, you can't walk around your house for 3 whole days singing "Get Low" by Flo Rida and not start shaking the bootie a little!  Am I right? 

So, Brady and I are shakin' our bootie together and I start thinking how embarrasing this would be if anyone had any clue what we were doing, so this pops out of my mouth: "Brady, don't you go tellin' anyone about your silly apple bottom mom".  And the rest is history! 

As promised, here is the craft project that started it all:

What do you think?  Should I go with it?  Or should I keep thinking?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

Week 11: Weigh In Results

Thursday is my weigh in day at Weight Watchers.  I had my best week yet this week - I was down 3.0 pounds!  In Weight Watchers, you get to celebrate little milestones along the way and this week I got two of them: 1) another 5 lbs lost and 2) 5% of my starting weight lost. 

Each week I will update the ticker at the top of the blog.  This shows my goal as 50 pounds to lose (of which I've already lost 12).  I struggled with what number to ues as my starting point.  Should I use the highest I've ever been (which was right before I had Brady)?  Should I use how much I weighed right before Laney was born? 

I ended up using my starting weight from when I started at Weight Watchers this time around.  I started on April 8, 2010 and Laney was 3 weeks old at the time.  I had already lost 15 pounds by then, but honestly, I don't think that should count as true weight loss.  Laney was 7 pounds of that and the other 8 pounds was probably all that other stuff (you know, placenta, extra fluids, etc). 

So, if you take my 50 pound goal, and add the 15 pounds that I had already lost before starting weight watchers, you'll see that is a total of 65 pounds from Laney's pregnancy weight!  I know the numbers are all confusing - espically when all I do is talk about how much I have to lose, instead of putting my actual weight on there.  So, here is how my weight has progressed over the last 2-3 years:

Goal Weight                    0
Weight gained before Brady     +13 lbs (13 from goal)
Weight gained with Brady       +63 lbs (76 from goal)
Weight lost after Brady        -56 lbs (20 from goal)
Weight gained with Laney       +45 lbs (65 from goal)
Weight lost before starting WW -15 lbs (50 from goal)
Weight lost since starting WW  -12 lbs (38 from goal)

So, you can see how I struggled with what number to use as my starting weight.  It has gone up and down so much over the last 2-3 years.  Hopefully all of that kind of makes sense.  I'm working on a "About Me" page that will show all the different weights that I have been since I entered adulthood.  That should be interesting!

C25K - Week 1 Day 2

So, I completed the second day of C25K yesterday and it felt great.  Let me clarify: my endurance felt great and I had alot of energy, but my feet are KILLING me!  This happened when I started running after I had Brady too. 

I even went to an Orthopedic Surgeon back then because it hurt so bad.  He took some x-rays and came to the conclusion that I must have some hairline fractures in my heels.  He didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the x-rays, and since hairline fractures don't show up on x-rays, that is why he concluded that must be the problem.

Now I'm not so sure he was correct, since I know there has been plenty of time for the fractures to heal, if there ever were any.  The pain eventually went away, but that is because I stopped working out.  I'm wondering if I have Achilles Tendonitis?  This picture shows where it hurts:

I am going to assume Achilles Tendonitis for right now (unless any of you know what else it might be) and try the things they recommend on the About.com page I linked to above.  This includes a) stretching the Achilles Tendon, b) getting a heel wedge for my shoes and c) icing my heels. 

New Blog Title

When I decided to start this blog, I thought long and hard about the blog title.  I was excited when it finally came to me and it seemed to fit perfectly for this blog.  UNTIL....I found this site - Roni's Weigh.  It's another weight loss/maintainence blog site (and a pretty good one too) by a girl named Roni.

This is just too weird.  I have met only 1 other girl named Ronni in my entire life!  And now I find this one, not only do we share the same name, but apparently, we think alot alike too.  So, I don't want to be a copy-cat and she has had her blog alot longer than me, so I think I need a new title. 

I'm taking suggestions and I'll pool together my favorites and then I can do a poll on here to see what most people like the best.  So, to all my creative friends out there - send me your suggestions!!

Yogurt Parfait

This is one of my absolute favorite recipes.  It has so many nutritional benefits and it is so yummy!!!  Plus it can be breakfast, a side item, a snack or even dessert...how many recipes do you know that do that??

Below is the "recipe" for the way I make it.  I put recipe in quotes because there really is nothing to it.  Sometimes I add in or substitute black berries or raspberries. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup light or fat-free Vanilla yogurt

1 oz Blueberries (about 20)

4 oz Strawberries (about 4)

1/8 cup Granola (I like the Bear Naked kind, but any kind will work)

Optional: 1 Tbsp Flaxseed Oil

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Serve.

Weight Watcher Points:

2 without the Flaxseed Oil

4 with the Flaxseed Oil

All mixed up and ready to enjoy!

The importance of health

At my weight watchers meeting this week the leader said, "Do you think that if we were raised leading a healthly lifestyle, that any of us would be sitting here every Thursday?"  She went on to talk about the fact that our eating habits are just that - habits! They are things we've learned or trained ourselves to do along the way.  We learn these habits around 3 or 4 years old (maybe even earlier than that), which means I am trying to undo 25 years of bad eating habits.

As I thought about that, it suddenly became even more important to follow through on this lifestyle change.  I am proud to say that Brady leads a very healthy lifestyle.  He gets lots of fruits, vegetables, milk, lean protien and whole grains.  His sugar intake is limited and he is very active every day. 

But, if Lance and I aren't doing the same thing, then Brady is eventually going to start doing as we do (well, he already does, but I know it will just get worse as time goes on).  We need to be good examples for Brady and Laney and that is why it is important to be conisistent in how we eat.  We need to eat good all the time, with only the occaisional special treat, instead of 1/2 the time being good and 1/2 the time eating junk.  Then maybe when Brady and Laney are adults, they won't be spending their Thursday evenings at a weight watcher meeting :)

The best laid plans

of weight loss often prove successful!

OK, so I know that isn't the real quote, but I like my version better.  It seems that when I plan my weekly meals, I do so much better.  So, without further ado, here is my plan for the week:

I don't expect you to be able to read it, but just know that I did it.  This board hangs inside of my pantry door and my intentions are to update it every Sunday and then go to the grocery store.  But half the time it ends up hanging there completly blank or a week out of date.  Not now though!

Also, my plans for exercising are to do the Couch to 5K (C25K) program 3 days a week and weight training twice a week.  I finished C25K - Day 1 today (for the third time) and I'll continue to post updates on how C25K is going.  Maybe I can find a Labor Day 5K to run?  Anyone want to do it with me?

Accountability...

I can't count the number of times I've started to eat right or started to exercise.  Yes folks, I'm a good starter, but I hardly ever stick with it.  Sometimes I make it a few months and other times I only make it a couple of days.

I've thought many times about why I have such a hard time sticking with it.  Is it lack of discipline? motivation?  commitment?  confidence? inspiration? support?  time?  energy?  The answer is all of the above.  But each time I fall off the band wagon, I only disappoint and hurt myself.  So, a thought popped into my head that maybe, just maybe, the thing that will help me stay disciplined, motivated, commited, etc is if I have some accountability.

So, I have a favor to ask of you.  Will you please check my blog and hold me accountable for following through this time?  My goal is to make eating right and exercising my way of life (hence the title of the blog).

Right now, my normal lifestyle habits include eating out way too much, exercising only when it fits in my schedule and choosing processed food over fresh fruits and vegetables.  Then I get little bursts of motiviation and that's when I cook healthy and well balanced meals, make smart food choices and exercise consistently. 

I want that to completely flip flop.  I want my "normal" lifestyle to be a healthy one.  I want days that I don't work out to be out of the ordinary.  I want going out to eat to be a rare treat.  I want to crave fresh fruits and vegetables over processed and convience foods.

As of today, I am commiting to keep up with this blog, at the very least.  Even if I fall off the band wagon, I will at least come on here to talk about it.  I plan on posting about my weight loss progress, things that motivate me, things that hinder me, exciting new receipes and other random things that somehow relate to my strive for a healthy lifestyle.

I hope you'll join me in my journey and become a regular reader.  Post comments and let me know there are poeple out there who are holding me accountable.  If I go MIA for a while, call me out!  Who knows, maybe throughout this journey of mine, I'll inspire some of you to do the same thing?