I've been trying to lose about 30 pounds for well over a year now.
I bought Jonathon Roche's No Excuses Workout System and have been logging my weight and workouts online. He sends daily emails encouraging us to be consistent with our workouts and drinking our water and eating right. All the stuff you know you need to do, but sometimes just don't do. He's really great!
I joined the Y thinking that would help ... and it did. I really enjoy exercising (yes, I'm strange). I actually miss it when I don't go (like today ... and tomorrow) because I have other things going on. I won't exercise at home. There are a gazillion other things to do here and I will have children and a dog under my feet, so I go to the Y. And it gets done.
I had lost 10 pounds almost immediately after joining and was very excited about that.
But since then, I have gained some back. My clothes still fit different - better - but I'm not consistently losing pounds as I would like to. I'm not happy when I look into the mirror. This is not the body I remember having 13 years ago when Doug and I committed our lives to each other.
Now it is no big mystery as to why. I eat crappy food. I love sweets. Chocolate. Cookies. Cake. The 3 C's. :)
I love pizza. We order pizza probably twice a month. It used to be more often than that (like, um, every Friday), but we're trying to stick to a budget now and get some more work done on the house, so we've cut back.
I love to bake, but I try not to because if it is in the house, it will somehow find its way into my mouth ... and onto my hips ... and waist ... and butt. Well, you get the idea.
My daughter also enjoys baking. She used to bake with me, but she is old enough now that she can whip up a batch of cookies and doesn't even need my help - except maybe to look to see if they are done. But I find myself telling her she can't make chocolate chip cookies (or whatever) because I know I will eat them. And that hurts her.
I'm sabotaging my weight loss. I know that. So the question is ... how do I stop?
Oh sure, it is easy to say "stop eating junk". But how do you actually do that?
I could clean all the junk out of my house. Get rid of the kids' Halloween candy (which will be going to work with Doug tomorrow anyway). Tell Doug to stop buying junky food (yes, my husband does the grocery shopping - go on, be jealous). But how do I reprogram my body to stop craving that kind of stuff? Do I need to detox from sugar? Would that do the trick?
We had a naturopathic doctor speak at our preschoolers group today. (The moms meet in one room, the kids in another - a little mom time.) Anyway, she really got me thinking about what I'm putting into my body. How the junk that I call food is hurting not only my waistline, but also my health.
So I think I will keep a food journal. Maybe if it is on paper (or computer screen) and I can see what I've eaten, it will make me more aware.
I also need someone to be accountable to. Laura, can you help me out here? Laura and her sister have this thing where if one of them eats sugar, they have to pay the other $1.00 for each offense. I don't want to do that because, well, I just don't.
But I do want someone to check up on me once in a while to see how I'm doing. Someone to read my boring food journal and make suggestions on where I can improve. Someone who will get on my case about sneaking a Snickers bar before dinner (but it was just a bite size one!). Someone to be accountable to ... besides myself. Someone that's not going to charge me $150 for a consult to tell me what I already know ... quit eating junk.
I could, realistically, lose 4 to 16 pounds (.5 to 2 pounds per week) by the end of 2009.
So I'm putting that out there. I will lose between 4 to 16 pounds before 2010 begins. That would give me a great start to the new year. That would be awesome!
And, Laura, if you'll accept this challenge, I'm expecting you to kick my caboose if I don't. :) Thanks, friend!
Well, I'm off to bed. Going to bed earlier is another challenge I need to overcome. I've read that it will also help with weight loss - to get enough sleep.
So good night all!
~Kimberly
4 comments:
Going to be early probably helps with weightloss because you can't stay up snacking haha.
I found that when I quite sugar I lost a TON of cravings along with it. I just eat better. I still don't eat anywhere near perfect... but it's WAY better than it was.
As for your daughter baking... instead of telling her no you could always tell her that she has to have a plan for the cookies or whatever once they are done. She gets to have a few, share a few with her brother and then she has to pack up the rest, put a bow on them and bless someone. She gets to bake. You don't get tempted to eat them all. :)
Weight loss is always a tough thing! One thing that has worked better for me this time than in the past is being realistic. I love junk as much as I love vegies, so I have to allow myself at least a little piece of chocolate everyday or a serving of some other goodie at least once a day. Nothing ridiculous, but enough to satisfy the craving. By doing that, I am not depriving myself and am also training my body to eat in moderation. (p.s. those chocolate quaker rice cakes (not the big patties but the smaller ones that come in big bags) are surprisingly REALLY good).
I have been drinking those slim fast shakes since grace was born (the cappachino(sp?) kind is the best if you like coffee)as well, and they help. I try not to eat after a certain time every night, which also helps because sometimes that can trigger mindless eating. I try and plan out my meals the night before for the whole day, because that prevents me from settling for something quick and bad for me when I am starving. For dinner, I usually have a little bit of whatever I made for the family and couple it with a salad or some of those steam bag vegies. For me, by eating a lot of vegies plus a little of whatever they are having allows me to still eat alot but without alot of calories, and also prevents that sad diet deprivation feeling that results into me eating an entire bag of chips a couple days later.
Sorry, got a little carried away! Anyway, good luck! It isn't easy but neither is getting on my pants these days :/
I stopped drinking soda. Immediately I felt better AND lost 3 pounds. Just from soda! Then I cut out coffee. Because I used that French Vanilla stuff. When I measured it out, I was drinking about 200 calories per day with that. Wow.
But best of all is just to keep that positive mindset that you CAN do this! When you are straightening up and that Halloween candy bar is there, before unwrapping it, think about how many minutes on the treadmill it will take to erase it. That makes the choice...for me.
Good luck!
:-)
Laura,
I don't know anyone who eats perfectly. If they say they do, they are lying. Late night snacking isn't usually a problem. Unless it is chocolate. Then anything could happen. :)
Jenna,
My goal for November (through FlyLady) is to begin menu planning for a week or two at a time. It is something we just need to do. And you looked fabulous at bowling, by the way! I wish I looked that good 6 weeks after having a baby!
Nancy,
Pop (sorry, soda - pop is western PA talk) and coffee aren't a problem. I have a soda every once in a great while. I hate coffee. Never drank it, don't plan to start. I burned 300 calories on the eliptical today. When I got home, I was going to have a blueberry bagel until I read that each one has 280 calories. No thank you. I think just making a conscious effort to eat better will make a huge difference.
Thanks for all your support, ladies!
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