Another good week

AS of this morning my weight is 206.   Almost there to ONEderland!!  I had the goal of being below 200 when we went to California and I still think that's obtainable.   Its 6 in a half weeks away,, I should be able to accomplish that.    Then my next goal is getting into a 12 pants size.  I've hit a size 14 now but apparently theres a pretty big jump between the two.  My mom had a size juniors 13 shorts at her house that I tried on and I couldn't believe how much smaller they are compared to my 14's.  

Everything has been going pretty well.  I've been keeping up with my exercise and after 3 weeks our elliptical is finally fixed so I can use that again.  As far as food I'm doing pretty well, staying within my calories and if I want something really bad then I just have it.  I just make sure I have the calories for it.  Overall though I try to keep it pretty healthy.  Lots of lean protein and veggies and fruits. 

I also hit my 100 days on my fitness pal.  Logging my food has become second nature.  I don't even think about it anymore.  Just do it.  Everyone that has a smart phone should download the myfitnesspal app.  Its so helpful!!

3 more pounds gone forever!

I had a 3 pound loss this week!! Very happy with that! I changed up my exersize this week. I dont know if maybe that had something to do with it. I also tried to try and stay a little closer to my calorie goal. I was being under by a few hundred calories.
That means I only have 14 more pounds til I hit ONEderland! I hate having a 2 at the begining of my weight and it will be great to have a one there! Heres hoping for another great week.

Real numbers

Lordy,,,, I dont know whats overcome me but I'm going to post my weight and measurments.. Yikes,, there is a knot in my stomach as I type this!  But I'm hoping it will help keep me accountable and after all its just a number,, It doesnt define who I am.  Here goes nothing.  I will list my starting numbers and my current ones

Jan 2012  weight-246
May 2 2012  weight 215.2

I would also like to add that at my very biggest I was 300 pounds!!!  This was a few years back before I lost weight the first time around.  I lost 118 then.   My lowest weight I have ever been in my adult life is 183 pounds.  Then I got pregnant with Emma and let myself have all the foods I had deprived myself of while I was dieting and gained way to much weight with my pregnancy and just never got it back off. :(
I didnt exercise that time around either.  This time is different,, my whole outlook on losing the weight is diffrent and I'm exercising at least 5 days a week so I think my outcome will be different... at least the way my body looks.. I should be more toned with the working out.   My original goal this time was 175 which is still at the high end of my "healthy weight range" according to the charts.   I've changed that and would really like to get down to 160 if I can.. Actually 150 but I just dont see that happening.  Honestly we will just see what I look like and feel like at that time.   I want to be able to maintain my weight without starving myself so I guess time will tell.   160 still sounds heavy to me but looking at pic of me at 183 I really didnt look bad!   I am 5'10 so take that into consideration too.

Now for some measurements  I wish we would have done these at the beginning but we didnt take them until a few weeks ago  so the numbers I'm posting are only a 2 week progress

           4-18-12          4-27-12
Neck    14................13.5
Waist    40.5 ...........38
Hips     44................43
Rt arm   12.5...........12
Lt arm   12.5            12
Rt leg     26 ............25
Lt leg      27.............26

Yes I realize that my legs are a inch different..lol,,, No clue whats up with that!

So there you have it.. Now if I can get the courage to click post you will all see these numbers. The only reason I'm doing this is because I know they will go down.





And just for fun Here is a pic of me and the family at Christmas time

 And this was taken a couple weeks ago.. Not full body shots but if you look close at my face I think you can tell a diffrence! 

Working hard just to get back to where I was

Its day before weigh in day... This day is alway rough for me.  I literaly worry myself to death about if I will have a good loss Friday morning.  So dumb I know, in the long run its only one day in this long journey to health but I like to be able to log in a good number.  Last week I had a 4 pound loss which is amazing this far in the journey for me.  Then I went and screwed it up on Sunday afternoon and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Who would have thought that my favorite boneless wings were over 800 calories?????  Ridiculous!  Its just chicken!!!  It must be the sauce and the way they prepare it.  Anyways the next morning I was back up 3 pounds!!!  In my head I knew I couldnt have gained 3 pounds in one day.  According to my fitness pal I had only went over my calories by 399 for the day.  One pound isnt even that much.   And here comes the crappiest part of all,,, it took me up until this morning to get that 3 pounds back down!!  Actually I'm still up 4 ounces.   I have did good all week and stayed within my calories, not going over and I've exercised like I'm supposed to plus yesterday I actually did a extra 30 minutes of cardio.   I dont know what is up but Im hoping the hard work will show up on the scale tomorrow morning!  Ben has already has a good loss this week so I know his numbers will be good.  I'm seriously thinking of posting my actual weight on here.  After all its just a number.  I just dont want anyone to judge me. :(    I hate what I weigh!

Kind of a downer post but still going strong

I'm having a down kinda day today.   I shouldn't be, I got up this morning and did my workout, sometimes I let my feelings get in the way of knowing whats right.  I just wish I could be where I want to be now.. I know that's not possible and I didn't pack on the pounds overnight so they wont be coming off in one night.  I know in my head that I am doing the right thing, eating right, working out, not resorting to diet pills.  I'm doing it the healthy way and its working.  I really have nothing to complain about.  
One thing that worries me though is that maybe I'm not doing enough.  I heard over the weekend that to really burn off the fat I should be doing at least a hour of cardio?????  I don't have time for that,,, I suppose I could get up even earlier but I DON'T want to!  I'm still waiting to get to the point that I look forward to and enjoy exercise.   I hope I get there one day.  I'm always happy I did it but I wouldn't say I enjoy it yet.   I just know its what I need to do. 

I wonder what I'm going to look like when I get to my goal.  I'm pretty sure I wont look like the women I see in the fitness magazines.  I want to look like that, but I have stretch marks, I've had 3 kids,  I have a scar on my stomach from a surgery I had as a baby that makes my stomach look deformed.   I worry about my skin not bouncing back and it being saggy.     I know in my head that all of this doesn't really matter and health is the main goal,  I just can't help having these thoughts run through my head.  I just have to push them to the back of my brain and keep pushing on.. I can't look any worse right?  

Rest day

Today is Friday! Friday and Monday are our rest days and I get to sleep in an extra hour! Love them. I dont mind the Saturday and Sunday workouts cuz I dont have to get up at 5:30 to do them. Yesterday I bought us a new set of dumbell bars. The kind u add your own weights to. We only had one and it made it harder for us to do the same exersices at the same time. The other thing I would love to get for our workout area is a big mirror so I can watch my muscles work as Im working out and make sure Im keeping the correct form.

Today is also weigh-in day. I was down another 2 pounds this week!! Ben lost 2.2 lbs. That stinker always has to show me up. Honestly though Im just glad he is working hard to get healthier. He was a heartattack waiting to happen!

Sore

Thats what I am,, sore sore sore! That's ok though,, that means what I am doing is working!  I've been staying on track with my workouts and food!  On Sunday Ben and I went to Spiece gym and I got to work out with my sister and Ben worked out with Jason who is training for a bodybuilding contest!  Ben defiantly got his workout in!  As did I.  Dawn and I worked out pretty much our entire body all in one day.  She showed me what she does throughout the week and gave me some new ideas that I can do here at home.  It was really nice to be able to use the equipment there but overall most of the stuff we can still do at home with our free weights.  Maybe one day when life slows down and Emma gets a little older we will be able to get a gym membership but for now I think we are making the most of what we have.   '

I took some of the stuff she showed me and reworked my fitness plan adding some things here and there on different days.  As of last Friday I've lost 19 pounds!  And Ben has lost 40!!!!  It feels so amazing to be working so hard towards our health.  I just feel like a better person.  Its hard to explain... Oh and last week I had my first person outside of my family notice my weight loss.  A person I babysit for occasionally was picking up her child and said I was looking great and she could defiantly tell a difference!!!  That made my day!  I've been waiting for someone to say something. I'm not fishing for compliments but I can tell and was wondering when others would be able to start noticing.  Its very obvious when you look at Ben but mine has been a little slower going.   I'm sure also whenever I  buy some new clothes that fit a little tighter,,,(mine are all getting loose) it will be more obvious.  

My fitness pal

Just wanted to say that if anyone reading this uses my fitness pal. Feel free to add me as a friend. Then you can view my food diary. My username is everydaymom

I workout!

Ilove being able to say that! 5 outta 7 days a week is what we are doing right now! I no longer feel like a lazy bum. We have been getting up at 5:30 am and getting our exersice in before the kids get up and Ive got babysitting kids showing up. If you know me personaly you know what a big deal it is for me to get up that early. I am NOT a morning person! But, it is great to get up and get it outta the way because by the end of the day which would be my next timeframe i can workout I am wiped out! Its worth it to see and feel these changes in my body.
Pictured is what we have been doing everyday. I start with the cardio and then move on to the weights. You should see how much I sweat on the elliptical! Its crazy! I actually dispise the elliptical and hate sweating and getting so out of breath but its what I have to do to make this happen. I have tried loaing weight again since I gained without working out and it just didnt work. I dont know if its cuz Im older or what but Ive got to exersize. Plus I want my body to be toned and tight. Not jiggely. :) This is only the 2nd week of this workout plan. Before that I was just doing random things. And let me tell you, when we first got the elliptical I could barley do 5 minutes. Now I can go as long as I need to and at a much faster pace. But it definatly is hard! And seems like time goes so slow when Im on there!
Amyways that is what we are doing and I feel great about it!

Calories

One of the things I love most right now about this journey is that my husband, Ben, is taking it with me.  It is so much easier when you have a partner.   When I dont feel like working out he encourages me to do it.  He has lost over 30  pounds so far and as of last Friday I have lost 16.  I actually think its more than that because a few weeks ago our other scale broke and we had to get a new one and it weighed us a little heavier than the other one.... but honestly the numbers dont matter to me that much.   I am seeing changes in my body and all my clothes are fitting looser!  I am positive I've went down a size in jeans but I want to wait until I go down another size before I buy any new ones,  It can get expensive buying clothes while you are in the process of loosing weight. 

I mentioned using myfitnesspal and the calorie goal it set me for to lose 2lb per week is 1490.  When I do cardio and add that in the calories go up but I dont usually eat them.   When I first started the calories it gave me was 1550 so it has went down.. I guess the more you loose the less you get to eat.  LOL   Overall though I'm just trying to make good healthy choices.   I just recently over the weekend got some good vitamins for Active women.   So I am taking 2 of those each morning and we also got some protein powder to help build our lean muscles and replenish our bodies after workouts.  

Tomorrow I will talk about how we are exercising and how much I've improved in that aspect already!!

Welcome

I've decided to start a little online journal to help me keep track of my healthier me journey.  My name is Jill and I'm 31 years old.  I have struggled with my weight most all of my life.. I've always been big.  I'm fairly tall 5'10 and have always been "well proportioned according to my mom",  I just call it big all over.. :)   About 5 or 6 years ago I did do weight watchers online and lost 118 pounds!  That was great and I felt good about myself but I didn't exercise hardly at all.   It was all about restricting what I ate and for some reason it was fairly easy for me to lose.   The problem was I looked at it as a diet,, I rarely allowed myself any treat and guess I assumed that I could go back to normal once I had lost the weight.    Long story short we decided to add another child to our family and I got pregnant, put on 60-70 pounds.  After giving birth I lost about 20 to 30 pounds and didn't lose anymore.  Over the next few years somehow I managed to gain another 15-20 more pounds so overall from my lowest weight when losing I had gained 66 pounds :(    I was constantly tired and felt big all the time!   This year I decided NO MORE!   I couldn't just let myself creep back up to where I was before,, no way no how I had to do something about it...

Some where around the end of January my husband and I decided to get serious about this.   Although I didn't want it to be like it was last time.  I wanted a lifestyle change and knew that I couldn't totally cut out everything I enjoyed this time unless I was never going to eat those foods again.   I am not on a diet,, although I am counting my calories using myfitnesspal.com.   The reason for that is just to keep me in check and see how much I'm eating and have a better idea about which food are better than others and know what I'm putting into my body.   I also decided that I needed to exercise and make that a part of my everyday life.  I want to look toned and I want to be fit.  We bought a elliptical to use here at home and dragged out my husbands weight bench that I had bought him years ago and he never used.  Now we work out 5 days a week.  A mixture of cardio and strength training.  

I will post here and write about some of the things I am doing and some of my thoughts during my journey.   Like I said this is not a diet it is my new way of life!