I'm On My Way!

Happy dance! In the last five weeks I have lost 15 pounds and over 2 inches on my hips! You probably can't even tell it yet by looking at me, but my loose pants sure feel good.  I am so excited and plan to keep going until I reach my goal. Here’s what I have been doing to make it happen.

The first Monday in January I started attending the gym 5 days a week. I walk on the treadmill for 45- 60 minutes. Each week I have been able to go a bit faster speed for longer stretches of time. After two weeks I also started using the weight machines twice a week so I can maintain muscle as I lose fat. I am a weakling for sure! 25 pounds on my arms is all I can take right now, but it is better than nothing. In a couple of weeks I will add a third day to my weight training. The best part is that I always feel good when get done exercising. I am starting to feel that exercise is my stress reliever now instead of food.

I admit that some days when I go to the gym I feel self-conscious because the other people on the treadmills are running and I am just walking. But then I give myself a reminder that those people are much more fit than I am and it doesn’t matter what they are doing. What matters are the changes that I have made in my fitness level.

As mentioned last week I have made some significant changes to what I am eating and trying to eat healthier overall. I am eating about 1400-1800 calories a day, making sure to eat all of the nutrients needed to still be healthy. I eat 3 meals a day and usually a couple of snacks. And I drink tons of water. No fad diets or HCG here! I still eat carbs, protein and fat. Just the healthier kinds in reasonable portions.

I know I would not have been able to keep my calories in control if I had not been tracking what I ate. Before I started trying to lose fat most days I ate over the recommended calorie intake (obviously!) and regularly indulged in favorite treats like brownies and chocolate bars. My idea of a portion was not reality. And I never exercised. Bad combination! After the first week of changing my diet I stopped feeling hungry so often and my strong cravings for treats has greatly diminished. Isabelle has tried to tempt me numerous times with donuts, brownies, etc and I have been able to walk away. I never thought I would be able to turn down chocolate!

(Cue music) “I'm on my way from misery to happiness today. A huh, a huh, a huh, a huh. I'm on my way to what I want from this world…I’ll do my best to do the best I can.”  (I’m On My Way- The Proclaimers)

Wow! This actually tastes good!

I am happy to report that I am making progress on my weight goal. But you will have to wait until next week when I have my weigh in with my sisters to hear the result. So this week I will share some of the changes I've made in my diet to accomplish my goal (besides eating less calories and not eating junk food). I have never been a health food nut so these little things are big for our family.

·         Fruits & Veggies- Low calorie and nutritious! Out of my family I have always eaten more fruits and veggies than the rest of them, but still not the recommended amount so I have increased my quantities of these things. I have never been a spinach eater, especially cooked spinach- yuck! But I have started adding spinach to my salads and my sandwiches and it is very good. I've also added sprouts. And I have cut out the veggie dip too. (Which I never used to eat until a couple of years ago. Hmmm, maybe that has something to do with the weight gain.)

·         Ground Turkey- I have heard people recommend it, but it never sounded appetizing. I have now tried it in a couple of dishes and it tastes good and is lower fat than ground beef. (I still eat some ground beef, but now we get the extra lean). The only drawback is that ground turkey is pretty pricey. I will need to shop around and see if I can find it for a lower price at other stores.

·         Greek Yogurt- I have been eating more yogurt in general (good source of protein), but lately I have been seeing a lot about Greek yogurt. Last week it was on sale at the store so I decided to give it a try. Greek yogurt is thicker, tangier, has half the sugar and twice the protein of regular yogurt. Because of the thicker texture and less sugar it was hard to adjust to it. I tried it with some Grape Nuts cereal mixed in and then I was able to eat it ok. I did stay quite full after eating it because of all the protein in it. So, it will be an adjustment, but I think I will try to eat it a couple of times a week. I will try a couple of other brands to see if there is one I like best. I also read that plain Greek yogurt can be used as a substitute in baking and as a substitute for sour cream on top of potatoes or for a veggie dip. We may try some of those ideas soon.

·         Whole Grains- The white bread is gone. Now we are eating whole wheat bread, tortillas and pitas. The wheat bread actually adds a lot of flavor to the sandwiches. The younger kids are having a harder time adjusting to it though. A new favorite dish is homemade pizzas with wheat pitas, marinara sauce, low fat mozzarella cheese and veggies. Low calories, healthy and yummy!

·         Special K chocolate granola bars. Not so great. I bought a box in case I had a chocolate craving (which I used to have daily, but now rarely have). If you are really craving chocolate it would probably be better to just eat 1-2 Hershey kisses and actually have the craving satisfied. That said, some of the other Special K cereal bars are pretty good.

  Do you have any favorite healthy foods I should know about? Tell me!


 

A New Way of Living

January always brings new resolutions that last about a month. Not this year!

My big goal this year is to lose weight and become healthier. So cliche, I know. But I have hit my highest weight and do not want to see it go any higher. After each baby I kept a little more weight on and gradually I got to where I am today. The last year and a half I put on quite a bit of weight that I attribute to stress and some depression.

I have never been a dieter. Or an exerciser. Here and there I would start walking routines that lasted a few months and then slowly faded away. I am hoping that my lack of previous fad diets will help me reach my goal a little easier since I haven't messed up my metabolism too much. I have simply been eating more calories than I was expending.

Here are the reasons this is the year to succeed.

~The biggest reason is my sisters and I devised a plan to work together to support and motivate one another. We all have weight goals to meet. When we reach certain milestones we get set rewards. Our reward at the end- a big vacation to an as yet undetermined location. And no one gets the reward until we all reach our goal. Support and guilt are great motivators!

 ~I am tracking my caloric intake and activity levels on Fitday.com. Because of this I am learning portion control. It is amazing that many times what I think is a serving is 2 or 3 servings according to the food labels. I really recommend using a program to track your food, exercise, weight, etc. It really is eye opening.

~We have gotten in a bad habit of buying treats. I'm not going to buy the things that tempt me like, cookies, brownies and chocolate. If it's not here I won't eat it.

~I have begun exercising. I have been attending a gym and look forward to continuing and trying new things.

To start this all off, I had Zoe take a couple of hideous "before" pictures. When I have made some progress I will post some before and after pictures every so often. And maybe even divulge my actual weight. :)

Catching Up

So I haven’t written on my blog in 3 months. This has been due to being very busy and then very lazy. :) Also, not having a camera has been a downer. Every now and then I use one of the kids, but it just isn't the same. Maybe a camera is in order for Christmas...

Here’s a not so brief update on life since mid-August.

August-mid-October was the busyness of getting everything ready for a new year at the studio and starting school with the kids. 

The days just blur together during this time.

Zachary is preparing to take the GED. In Utah you now receive a diploma when you have passed the GED so we decided that was the best route for him to go. He is also working on his Eagle Scout Project (with plenty of encouragement and help from mom and dad). 

Isabelle is attending Open High School of Utah, which is an online charter school. She just completed the first quarter and did very well.

All of the kids (except for Zach) are participating in a homeschool co-op this year. We have a group of families who get together once a week for a couple of hours. The kids are divided up into age groups and the moms teach whatever subjects they choose to the kids. The girls love this and look forward to it every week. It is one more thing for me to prepare, but the benefits are worth it.

The end of October- early November was super busy with Zach’s birthday, Halloween, Claire’s birthday and preparing to go to Oklahoma to visit family. Between these activities I also had a lot of other obligations to get through before heading out of town and of course those all kept us running.

November has been a break month in many ways. I got a couple of trips out of town, plus Thanksgiving break. I’m finding it hard to motivate myself to get back to work 

(and start preparing for Christmas!).

We spent a wonderful 10 days in Oklahoma during November. Visiting, playing, relaxing, eating good food and shopping. It was a very nice break. We had some family pictures taken while in Oklahoma and hopefully I will be able to post some of those soon. We also got to experience our first earthquakes. Who would have thought we'd have to go to Oklahoma for that! Justine also came to Oklahoma to see us. It was great to see her (it had been over a year) and we have missed her greatly and wish she would come back home to stay. Emma was super sad that Justine wasn’t coming home with us and it 

broke our hearts. 

The week after I returned from Oklahoma I went on a sister’s trip with Toni and Cindy. We stayed in St. George and had a nice break. We stayed up late and slept in, had yummy food and went to Las Vegas. We saw the Hoover Dam and then we attended the show Ka by Cirque Du Soleil. It was amazing and hard to put into words what was involved in this show. 

During our sister’s trip we also went and saw Breaking Dawn. I admit it. (If you didn’t already know). I am a Twilight fan. Love the books and the movies too. Yes, all of the movies definitely have their cheesy parts, but I can overlook those because I like the story (and Robert Pattinson). :)  Breaking Dawn the book was my least favorite of the books, but after seeing the movie I have a new appreciation for it and would like to read it again soon. 

Speaking of books, the last couple of months I have been on a reading binge and have greatly enjoyed it. If you are curious about what I have been reading you can check out my Goodreads page (see the link on the sidebar). Last year I found that I could note when I read each book. I have found it interesting to go back and look at what I’ve read this past year. Some months have no books (these are the very busy months) and then I will plow through 4-5 books to make up for it. 

I can only stay away from books for so long!

In the last couple of months I have also started watching several TV shows. We have not had TV reception since the change in reception 2-3 years ago and for the most part it is pretty nice. We don’t have to worry about what the kids are watching because they just watch shows that we own or get from the library. But I recently found some shows I can watch online and have spent too much time doing so. Here is what I have been viewing lately and why I am wasting my time doing so:

The Biggest Loser- This is the first season I have watched this show. I love seeing the hard work these people are putting into changing themselves. As I am trying to motivate myself to start making similar changes in exercise and eating habits it is a good reminder of the positive effects of making those choices or the negative effects of not doing it.

The Amazing Race- (First season of viewing this also). I love seeing the places they visit and the challenges that they have to do. 

Good entertainment and a bit educational too.

Survivor- (Also my first season of viewing). I really don’t have a good reason to watch this, except that 2 Mormons from Utah are on it this season and I wanted to see how they handled it and of course I need to see it to the end.

Once Upon a Time- A cool new fantasy story. 

So far so good.

Bones- Over the summer I got hooked on this series. It has been on for 6 seasons, but I had not watched it until this year. I can't believe what I was missing! 

Love the mysteries and love the characters.

The Office- The new season minus Michael Scott is certainly different. The shows are hits and misses. I have loved some and others not so much. It will be interesting to see if it lasts past this season without Steve Carrell.

That is life up to now. Time to get started on Christmas!