Christmas and other updates.

Christmas was wonderful. I didn't do as much decorating as usual since I now have a walking toddler but we did put up a real tree. We put it in the dining room so we could gate it off and Lily couldn't get to it. She was really good at unwrapping presents. I probably should have just wrapped empty boxes since that was her favorite part anyway.

My brother and his family are in town this week and Lily just loves my 4 year old niece, Dixie. Dixie just has to look at her and she'll laugh. It's so much fun seeing them together. We're taking them to the aquarium tomorrow so that should be fun.

I finally took the last test for my INS designation at work. I got an excellent on all three exams. Now it's time to start CPCU courses and I'm a little nervous but I'm sure it will be ok. If I can get excellents on the INS courses, I figure I should at least be able to pull out some goods on the CPCU's.

Anyway, that's about all that's going on now. Here's some pictures from Christmas.

Finally

The house is on the market! Last night after the realtor left felt so weird because I didn't have a project to do. I took Friday off work and finished painting the deck and patio. We had extra deck paint so I painted the front of the shed too. I would have done the sides but there were way too many bugs over there for me. Saturday was spent getting the house cleaned and Sunday was spent putting a new fan in the living room. The old one broke at the last minute. I think it's going to be nice for a few days to relax but then it will probably start to drive me crazy to not have anything to do.

I really hope the house sells quickly. We're excited to move but I think we'll be sad too. We've put a lot into this house and now that all the work is done, it really looks great. I don't think it would be sad if we were upgrading to a better house, but knowing we're going into an apartment for a couple of years kind of sucks. I know it's for the better in the long run though. I would rather sacrifice now than struggle for the rest of our lives. We have debt but it's all old debt. We make enough money that we're not having to charge things, but we can't pay off our debt either which means money is always tight and it will be a long time before we get a second car. Not having a car is driving me crazy and we should be able to pay off the credit cards and our car in two years in an apartment. After that, we should be able to buy a new house and be comfortable.

Somehow, I actually lost 1.2 lbs. last week. I weighed in at 185 even on Friday. I ate pizza like 6 times with all the projects we had going on so I'm not sure how it happened, but I'll take it. Hopefully, now that I'll have more time to prepare my meals, it'll pick up again to the 2 lb. range. Of course, I'm happy with anything below 0 but the faster the better.

I think Lily's teething pain has subsided for now. We had a rough couple of weeks while her top two teeth popped through but she seems to be less fussy and sleeping a lot better now. Pete's family all have this hereditary gap in their two front teeth that they all hate and they were all hoping Lily wouldn't get but I think she's getting it. There's definitely some gum with no teeth in between the two top teeth. I said she'll have to get braces and Pete said no that'll just keep the boys away.

Best week so far!

I lost 2.2 lbs. this week bringing me down to 186.2. That's my biggest week so far and I'm not quite sure how I did it. Pete and I went to Outback last weekend for our anniversary and I definitely didn't watch what I ate and yesterday I had a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's with fries. I try to balance it out when I eat something bad though. I'll eat a lot of veggies or something for dinner. Plus, I'm sure all this work around the house is helping. I power washed the deck for 6 hours straight yesterday and I still have to do the other half. The house is really starting to look good though so hopefully it will sell quick.

I'm back.

I haven't posted in a really really long time. Someone asked me about it so I figured I'd give it a go again. I quit writing after I started the shred because I was gaining weight. I did the shred 7 out of 9 days and gained 5 lbs. I know I was building muscle but that just isn't my goal right now. I'll worry about muscle after I lose the weight. So I started doing weight watchers again. I've been on it for three weeks and have lost 5.8lbs. I weighed in at 188.4 last Friday.

I was doing a biggest loser workout dvd. It's the cardio max one. I highly recommend it for someone who's wanting to lose weight, not necessarily build muscle. It's a great dvd and there are three different workouts you can customize. I "was" doing it because we've decided we're going to try and sell our house and we've been working really hard on getting it ready so I haven't had time to do the dvd. I've literally been working from the time I get home until the time I go to bed. The house is really starting to look good though so hopefully it will sell quick.

We're going to get an apartment and I know to most people that sounds like a step backwards and maybe it is but I really think it's the best thing for us right now. Our house is a nice house for a young family just starting out but it's not what we want in the long run so it isn't worth it to me to keep sinking money into it. I will never be able to put a big bath tub in the master bath and there's not even a yard Lily can play in. At least most apartments have a playground or at least a section of flat grass she can run around in. Being in an apartment will let us pay off our credit cards and hopefully our car. Then we can get a second car again and start house shopping, maybe even build our forever house. These are our goals with downsizing to an apartment so hopefully people will understand that and we won't take too much flak for it. There are sacrifices to be made when you decide to have one parent stay home and this is one of them.

Lily still only has the two teeth and she's crawling around like crazy and pulling herself up. No walking yet though. We had to take her out of her bath seat because she stood up in it and fell. She didn't hurt herself since I was right there but she could have. Now she hates the bath again. I don't know if it just scared her when she fell or if she just doesn't like for her butt to actually be on the tub but it's not fun. She tries to get out and I'm terrified she's gonna slip out of my hands and hit her head. So needless to say, she doesn't get daily baths anymore. I went back to every other day. It's less stressful for both of us. It's hard to believe she's almost 10 months old!

Anyway, that's pretty much the update on us. I'll try to post at least once a week. Probably on Fridays after I weigh in.

Woo hoo!

I finished C25k last night. After taking 3 lazy days off, I decided to just go ahead and go for the 30 minute run and I did it. I even kicked the speed up a notch for the last 5 minutes. Technically, I skipped about 4 runs but that's ok. The point is to get you where you can run 30 minutes or 3 miles and I ran for 30 minutes. I ran really slow though. Right now I'm running about a 14:15 mile. I'm going to kick the speed up a notch every run now until I get a 9:30 - 10 min. mile. If I have an exceptionally hard run, I'll just repeat it instead of speeding up but I think I should be able to move up pretty quickly. Each notch only shaves off about 20 seconds from your mile. If I do that and run at least 3 times a week, I should be at a 10 min. mile in 7 weeks, well, 8 since I'm going on vacation next week.

Last night I was sitting out on the deck cooling down after my run, and I looked down at my knees and realized I can see my knee caps now. That was exciting. I can see a lot of difference in my legs and arms already, I just wish some of the weight would come from this baby belly now. I've always heard it's harder to lose weight after you have a baby and I didn't understand until now. I've been dropping lots of weight but the belly is just hanging in there. I know it will come off in time though. Lily's not even 6 months old yet. I think we might try for baby #2 in about a year and I'd like to be done by then. My pregnancy was so hard and I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I was so big before I got pregnant so I want to be in better shape for the next one. I think a year to lose 40 lbs. is a realistic goal.

Food

I was getting really frustrated with not losing weight the last couple of weeks so I started looking around for other diet options. There's a site called sparkpeople.com where you can put in all your information and it will give you a calorie range to eat in if you want to lose weight. So I punched in what I would normaly eat on a weight watchers day and it was only between 1000-1200 calories. I'm pretty sure 1200 is starvation mode. Sparkpeople says I should be eating between 1330 and 1660. So I've upped my food intake. I've never been one to starve herself in order to lose weight. I want to do it the healthy way. It's really kind of hard to increase the calories. I haven't been hungry but everything I've been eating has been healthy so I'm just adding in things like an extra tablespoon of peanut butter or some butter on my veggies. I've been doing it for 3 days now and I got on the scale and it said 188.8 lbs. Progress! It doesn't really count because I only count what I weigh on Saturday but at least it shows a move in the right direction.

Now a confession... I've been lazy and haven't run in two days. I got really bummed about the no weight loss thing and was just really struggling to find my motivation. Now that I've seen the scale move again though, it's back. I'm gonna go for a 28 min. run tonight. I did get dressed in my work out clothes last night but Lily had a tough time going to sleep so it was 9 before I could run. I've done it that late before but I used it as an excuse last night.

Weekend

The weekend was frustrating to say the least. Friday night I didn't run because I was just in a funk. Saturday we weigh in and I lost..... drum roll please..... nothing. So frustrating. Pete lost 1.4. It was his smallest week so far but I'm so proud of him. He's doing great. So after we weighed in, I sat on the couch and sulked in a tub of fat free cool whip. It's a good thing there wasn't any ice cream in our house. I sulked for about an hour and then I finally decided there's only a slim chance I could do all this running and stay fat, there's 100% chance I'll gain it all back plus some if I quit now. So on to the treadmill I went. I ran Saturday and Sunday so I only have one more 25 minute run left before it goes up to 28 minutes. We took pictures this time so every month or so I can take new ones and hopefully be able to tell a difference in those even if the scale doesn't move. I'm going to do my last 25 minute run tonight and then I might take tomorrow off before I do the 28 minute run. Just depends on how my legs feel during my run tonight. Either way, I should be able to get in at least 1 30 minute run before I go on vacation.

Other than the weight stuff, the weekend was nice. I bought Lily a new bathing suit since her chunky butt won't fit into the one I bought on clearance last year. I got her some white sandals too. This week, I need to go through her closet and make sure she has enough summer clothes that fit her for the trip. I started to do that this weekend but after we struggled through the bathing suit, she was pretty cranky.

End of week 6

Finished week 6 of c25k last night with a 25 minute run. I didn't want to do it at all. That's why I hate taking week days off, it makes it so much easier to skip the next night. But I did it after a little encouragement from a friend of mine. I wish I could say it was easy but I can't. It felt good though. Once I got to that 15 min mark and knew I was more than halfway through, I knew I could finish. I was pouring sweat when I was done. I also did the second day of the pushups, crunches and squats. There are 3 more 25 min runs before they go up to 28 min. Tomorrow is weigh in day. I really hope it pays off this week. I need a good number. I've been struggling with my motivation this week. It seems like I'm working so hard and even though I can see my legs and arms getting smaller, until I see that scale move, I feel like I haven't gotten anywhere.

C25K Week 6 day 2

Yesterday I was looking around for something more like I was looking for when I found the shred. I found 3 programs that I think are going to be perfect. They are 100 pushups, 200 crunches and 200 squats. They're all 6 weeks long and you work up to doing that many of each thing. I started day 1 yesterday and it was 5 sets of each and each set was only 8 reps or less. Then after that I did my run. I think the shred would be a great program for someone that wasn't doing anything else and I may use it to change things up once I get to my goal weight, but for me it concentrated too much on cardio and it was going to interfere with my running. I enjoy the running. I know it works and I don't want to get distracted from it. The pushups, crunches and squats are exactly what I need to go with it. It only takes about 15 min. (I'm sure it will take longer as I do more reps), and I can still run afterwards.

All that being said, my run was so hard last night. It was a 5 min. walk, 10 min. run, 3 min. walk, 10 min run. I know I know, I did a 20 min run last week so that should have been cake but it so wasn't. It was hard from the beginning and I think it was because I ran two days in a row. I was only doing every other day before. I'm going to take tonight off from the running even though I don't want to because I think my legs need a rest before the big 25 min. run. All of the interval runs are over now. There are 4 25 min. runs, then 3 28 min. runs and then 3 30 min. runs. Then I get to work on my speed. I'm really excited about getting to that point. Right now, walking 5 mins. and running 20 mins. only gives me 1.75 miles. I really want to be able to do 3 miles in 30 minutes. Once I can do that, I might actually attempt a 5k.

On the diet side, I'm struggling with drinking my water. I just don't like it. I'm drinking it but it's just not fun. I do really bad on the weekends cause it's just so much easier to grab a diet coke. I know it seems like a silly thing to struggle with but it's my weakness. I'd much rather run for 20 mins. than drink a bottle of water. And it's that time of the month so sweets are sounding so good right now. I'm getting through it though. I just keep thinking about what I want that scale to say on Saturday every time I get one of those cravings and it's working.

Week 6 c25k

Ugh, It's a food day at work. Oh well, I've already toasted my bagel and today's a study day so I shouldn't have to walk past the food table again.

I ran week 6 day 1 last night and it was fine. I really enjoy my running. I'm thinking about ditching the 30 day shred and concentrating on my running. If I do that, I will start doing some ab exercises and push ups before my runs because I do need that strength training. I have 3 weeks left on the program and I'm going on vacation in 2 1/2. I'd like to finish it before I go. A week on the program is only 3 runs and I can do at least 5 in a week if I'm not doing the 30 day shred. The program is designed to have you running 5k or 30 minutes by the end. I'll be running 30 minutes but only about 2 miles. I have a 14:30 mile right now. Once I get the 30 minutes down, I'm going to start increasing my speed until I get down to a 9:30/10 minute mile, then I'll probably start adding distance again.

I think I enjoy the running more than the 30 day shred because I can already see results. The weight on the scale keeps going down. It might be slow but I don't care as long as it's going down. I can look at my legs and tell they are getting smaller, especially my inner thighs. Plus, the running is what worked for me before. My smallest ever was 169lb and I got there from running my butt off. I really want to get down to 150lb which means I'm about halfway there.

Easter

So I didn't work out yesterday. We just had so much to do. We went to church in the morning and then went to my parents house for Easter dinner. It was 5 by the time we left there and then I still had to go to the grocery store and do laundry. By the time that was done, I was just tired. Could I have done it? sure, but I don't feel bad about not doing it. I usually don't work out on the weekends at all and I did my first 20 min run on Saturday so I'm definitely making progress. Now I just don't know if I should do 30ds tonight or run. I like having my running days on Mon, Wed & Fri but 30ds is technically next in the rotation. Maybe I'll do both tonight. I don't know.

Here's some pictures from Easter.

End of week 5 c25k

So yesterday wasn't a good day for me. I HATE drinking water, I mean I really hate it. So I always take 3 bottles to work with me and every few hours I chug one, then I drink a bottle after I work out. Well, yesterday was a short day at work and I didn't drink any water all day. I've definitely got a full on cold now so I didn't run. I just went to bed early. Pete went and played poker with some of his buddies. Since he didn't come home for dinner and he was starving and was going to be up late, he ate 3 double cheeseburgers. We both weighed in this morning and he lost 3 lbs. and I lost .8 lbs. He left a decade, I didn't. I'm very excited for him and I'm ok with not making it out of the 190s. I was 190.4 this morning so I'm sure it will happen next week.

So the last run of week 5 is a 20 min. run. I was so nervous about it because the longest run without taking a break before that is 8 min. I did it this morning and it wasn't so bad. I just turned on a tv show and tried not to pay attention to the minutes ticking by. I'm really proud of myself so I really don't care that I only lost .8. I know if I keep this up, it'll happen. I also started some weight training this week so I know the weight loss might slow down for a couple of weeks before that. On to day 3 of the 30 day shred tomorrow and week 6 of c25k on Monday.

Now we have 2 Easter dinners to get through this weekend. I made a really low fat desert for one with a recipe I got from my Mom.

Day 2 30 day shred

Last night was a rough night. I think Lily isn't napping as much during the day. She's been getting really sleepy around 6:30 when she usually doesn't go to bed until 8. Of course, she doesn't go to bed at 6:30, she just gets cranky. I tried to get her to take a nap but she just wasn't having it. She finally sat on my lap watching tv while I rocked for a little while and then she fell asleep around 7:45. I put her to bed and then my cousin called so I talked to her until about 8:30. After that, I went to do the 30 day shred and couldn't get either of our dvd players to work. So by the time I got done trying to mess with that and got it set up in the laptop, Lily started crying again. I hate when she cries like that. She doesn't even wake up but just cries. It makes me feel so bad for her. So I gave her another bottle and she fell back asleep. So it's 9 o'clock and I'm tired.

I still did the work out and I pushed really hard during the strength and ab sections but I know I slacked off during the cardio. I don't feel that bad though because the program is designed to just do that dvd every day and I do much more cardio on my own with my runs. I really just wanted the dvd to help with the toning and this baby belly I have. The dvd does 3 cycles of 3 minutes of strenght 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs. So it's only 6 minutes of cardio and I did do it, I just didn't work as hard as I normally would. Obviously the point is to keep your heart rate up the whole time so that you burn more calories while you do the strength training and I definitely did enough to keep my heart rate up. My legs didn't feel as jello-y this time so that's good. I'm supposed to run tonight but I'm getting a cold so I'm just going to see how things go. If Lily has a good night and goes to bed on time, I'll probably do it. If it's another rough night though, I just don't know if I have it in me to run when I'm tired and sick. Even if I don't run tonight, I worked out 4 days in a row this week. That's an accomplishment for me.

And heres a few pictures of my Lily bell just because they're fun.

C25K week 5 day 2

Wow this one was really tough. I think it would have been much easier if I hadn't just done day 1 of the 30 day shred the day before. My legs were killing me and every step was tough. I got through it though. I have no idea how I'm going to do a 20 minute run tomorrow. I may repeat day 2 if my legs are still sore. Tonight is day 2 of the 30 day shred.

I'm so motivated because I just might leave a decade this week that I haven't been out of in years. Every 10 lbs. is such a big deal to me. My hubby might leave a decade this week too so we're both hoping for good numbers on the scale Saturday.

Day 1 30 day shred

So I finally got my dvd in the mail and I was so pumped. After I fed the baby, I rearranged the workout room so that I would have space. That in itself seemed like a work out. Moving that treadmill is not easy. Put the baby to bed around 8 and decided to get started. It totally kicked my butt. Everything I expected and more. There were times I had to stop because my legs just wouldn't move anymore. When I got done, they felt like jello. I don't even feel like that after I run. I'm a litle sore today but I'm still going to try to get my run in.

I was going to try to do 30ds every day but I just don't think it's practical for me if I want to keep running too. The hubby and I work opposite shifts so it's not like I can just say here watch the baby while I work out. I just don't have the kind of time to do both. Maybe as she gets older and learns to entertain herself some, I'll be able to add more, but for now, I wait until she's in bed and if I work out too long, I never get to sleep. I know I could get up early and do it before work but that's just never going to happen. It's hard enough to get out of bed at 6, I'm not getting up at 5:30. :)

Written 4/7/09

So I've never written a blog but decided it might be fun. My husband has joined in on the weight loss effort and I couldn't be happier. It is making it so much easier doing it together. Not so much junk all over the house and I don't have to cook as much because we don't eat as much and we have leftovers. Yay for leftovers! I've done weight watchers a million times so we're following that diet. We aren't going to meetings but the two of us are keeping each other accountable.

I'm really getting in to working out and I love it. I'm doing the couch to 5k and I'm on week 5. I used to run a lot a few years ago but I got burnt out and that's when the weight shot back up. I'm also going to start the 30 day shred as soon as my DVD gets here. I'd like to do some 5k's this summer but I don't know if I ever will. I'm still very self concious and I don't think I'd ever do it alone and I don't know anyone else that likes to run.

We weigh in every Saturday. I was 231 lbs. when I left the hospital in November after having my daughter and this Saturday, I was 191.2. I'm really hoping to be out of the 190's this week. I haven't been out of the 190's in years.