Day 26: 4 Weeks Already?

Yes! It's already been 4 weeks!  Craziness! I have been on my weight-loss journey for 4 weeks.  And the results? Well, that is hard to tell.

Weight Lost: 3 lbs
Inches Lost: 1.5 waist, 1 hips

So, not that great.  Sustainable, but not impressive.  I am not even going to look at how I was doing at this time on my last "journey". Ok, I did.  Ugh.

What am I doing differently?
1 - My calories are set a little higher  - not 1200 per day
2 - I'm working out at home, not the gym
3 - I haven't been logging my weekend food for most of the time [started last weekend]
4 - I'm 35, not 32  [wow what a difference 3 years makes]
5 - I have gone through 2 pregnancies, not just 1

These seem like a LOT of excuses.  And if I am honest with myself, i have been using these excuses as a crutch.  NO MORE!

I was so sad this Thursday when I weighed myself, it said I had gained back the 1.5ish I had lost last week. And I had been working out and burning at least 2500 cals each day.  So I started looking into weight fluctuations.  Did you know your weight can fluctuate from 1-15 lbs during the day and week depending on water intake, food intake, water retention, muscle soarness, and a bunch of other factors!  I had no idea.  

This has made me start thinking, what if my weight is not what I should be worried about? BINGO! Measurements!

Thank you Muffins vs. Muffintop

How totally awesome is this!  Yes, I would like to compare myself to Wonder Woman and collect my super awesome measurements on this chart!  Thank you!

In addition to measurements of my bod, I went to a gym my friend Michele goes to and got a body assessment done.  Let me tell you, it was so cool!  They give you a print out of what your bones weigh, what your fat weighs, and what your muscles weigh!  And it tells me where I should be, and even tells you how everything is distributed throughout your body.  Like I have more muscle mass in my right leg than my left, and most of my fat is located in my "trunk" which makes me feel kinda like an elephant. [Trunk is your midsection...not to be confused with junk in the trunk] But the nutritionist lady said that was normal.

So, here are my new goals.
-Reduce fat mass
-Increase muscle mass
-Lose inches

If I do all of that, my weight will naturally go down.  More to come on how to actually do that!

I'm coming for your month 2!  You are doing down!!!!

Had to, just so cute...and true

Day 23 - Cheat Days

It's been 23 days [3.2 weeks], and I am happy to say that I have lost 3.3 lbs!  Now if you read through any of my blog from 2013, that seems like nothing.  Back then I was focused on losing 2 lbs per week. I was on a 1200 calorie diet. I came really close to making my goal weight for that time in my life and I am very proud of what I accomplished back then. [Check out my blog from 2013 by clicking on the blogs on the right of this page :)]

Now, I am trying for 1.5 lbs per week.  3.3 lbs is not 1.5 lbs lost per week for 3 weeks...that should be around 4.5 lbs.  So, I was thinking, what the heck am I doing different? I have a confession to make.  I've cheated.... There, I said it.  I cheated on my healthy decisions! [Sobs] ...and I liked it...[Noooooooooooo!] Here's the kicker, I cheated basically every weekend...and didn't log it into www.myfitnesspal.com... I know, I know, I am the scum of the earth!  [Ok, a little drama never REALLY hurt anyone did it?]



Back to reality. [I'll leave the drama to my sweet 3.5 year old Ellis - she is the master.] Are cheat days really bad?  No!  I did some research and it is ok to cheat!  Let the collective cries of happiness ring out in every gym in the country!  But wait, you have to be smart about it. Here is a good article I found in Shape magazine written by Dr. Mike Roussell [nutrition PHD].

Here are the main points:

You can still lose weight while having a "cheat" meal once [yes only once] a week. Just keep the following in mind:

1 - Hit your targets 90% of the time. If you are making good food/exercise decisions 90% of the time, you will stay on track or relatively close to on track. 

2 - Stop calling it cheating, you earned it!  So he is suggesting that if you try hard all week, exercise, make healthy eating choices, you deserve a little splurge maybe on Saturday night.  Have that margarita [not 4] or burger or slice of pizza [again, not 4].

3 - Plan your splurge. If you plan it then you can look forward to it and savor it! If you just mindlessly shove potato chips into your face hole, you will not enjoy it and you will want another splurge.

That is where Dr. Roussell stops, but I will add one more...

4 - LOG IT! Log EVERYTHING into your meal tracking app.  I use myfitnesspal.com, friend me [leahmontgomery11] on there and you can see everything I eat...including my "cheats"! So I figure if I log every single morsel of splurginess, I will get a true picture of what my splurge does to my goals. Then [maybe] I will think twice about drinking those [4] margaritas. 

Be accountable for your actions my friends!

Yes 3.3 lbs is good, but to get to where I want to be, I need to step it up. So, from here on out, I am going to log each and every thing I put into my face hole. I'm going to challenge you to do the same!!  

Day 15 - You Spin Me Round

Somebody hand me a gold flag to twirl around and some gold nail extensions thingers.... 

Oh yes, this is needed on a Monday morning at 5:50 am.  Yep, that is what time I woke up to Spin myself right round, baby, right round.

Although sadly I didn't have the rockin' purple kimono and fabulous 80's frizz hair...ok a little frizz, but it was not on purpose.  My spin, was actually on my spin bike.  Yes, I have a spin bike!  You may ask, "Leah, why on earth are you excited about having a spin bike in your hot humid garage?" Well, it is because I love spin [and because I have no room in our little house for the spin bike to live, so it is in the garage]! Don't worry, I have a fan pointed on me when I work out...no fainting in 90 degree heat for me!  Oh, and I ride it really freakin' early in the morning.  [5:50 is more like 4:30 on a Monday morning] 

Anywho, this is what my "gym" actually looks like.

Forgive me because my home gym, aka garage, was a mess due to my hubs and his bro brewing some beer this weekend. So, if you ignore that, you will see my fan, water bottle, towel, ipad, and baby monitor. You may ask, what kind of work outs do you do on your bike? Do you make them up? Nope, not that creative and, well, I am probably too lazy to do that.

My secret weapon, YOUTUBE!  It's even more useful than to just look up crazy 80's music videos! [which are now playing on loop in another browser window, love me some Safety Dance] Go to Youtube, type in spin class, and tons of FREE classes show up!  I love it.  Here is the one I did this am:

Perfect for Monday morning, no jumping, no running, just working hard on the bike.  And it is only 25 min.  PERFECT!

Here are my stats from it:

Calories burned: 257
Avg heart rate: 132 bpm
Time: 27 minutes

I'll take that for a Monday morning!

What is your favorite Monday workout?

Day 11 - Jury Duty...ugh

A few weeks ago I got the dreaded summons in the mail.  Jury Duty. I've only been summoned once before and never stepped foot in the court room.  This time I was part of the original 12 that they wanted, and they got me. For 3 whole days, I was stuck in either a courtroom chair or the jury assembly area in a chair, or the jury room...you guessed it...in a chair.

Should have tried this one...

Don't get me wrong, it was fascinating and I am happy to do my civic duty, but REALLY!  Now? Being confined to chairs and rooms for 3 days! Not a very good mix for trying to lose weight! So here was my plan [similar to my plan from my day of meetings]. 

1 - Try to eat as healthfully as possible.

2 - Get up and move as much as allowed.

3 - Try to exercise before or after at home.

I did ok at this. I ate at the court cafeteria each day, and luckily they did have some healthier options...as well as burgers and fries. The people that worked in the courthouse in other offices probably thought i was crazy though. "Who is this woman walking around the offices all the time?" I'm sure this was thought or said. I walked around and around the main areas in the building to try to get some steps in! I did get in 2 days with exercise at home on these days - 2 out of 3 isn't terrible I guess. 

All in all, it could have been worse. I weighed yesterday and looks like I have lost about .4 lbs so far this week. Not great, but it definitely could have been worse!

Where am I now?

I've lost 1.5 lbs in 2 weeks. 

Not really on the pace that I wanted.  So, I guess I need to step up my game!

I've been eating my exercise calories. I'm some sure some of you are like, "How can you eat exercise?"  HA! Well, if you read any of my blog from before when I lost weight after having Ellis, you will know that I use My Fitness Pal [www.myfitnesspal.com]. It is a diet and fitness tracker...and I LOVE it!  You basically log everything, and I mean EVERYTHING you eat into it. Yep, even that half a spoonful of Nutella you just swiped from the pantry. That delicious little morsel of chocolate hazelnut goodness probably had 100 to 200 calories [depending on the size of the spoon and blob of deliciousness on it]. THEN, when you exercise, you enter how many calories you burned and the type and duration of the exercise. In MFP, those calories are added to your core calories that you set up to determine what you need to eat to lose the amount of weight you want to lose at the rate you want to lose it.

For me, I get 1,386 calories per day. I did yoga for about 25 minutes yesterday and burned an extra 165 calories. My fitbit recorded that I burned an extra 340 calories in addition just by walking around and chasing my crazy kids. So, that is 1,386 + 505 that I could eat yesterday.  So I went a little crazy and actually ate 59 over that yesterday ... ugh. Stupid nutella.

Anyways, what I'm thinking is that I need to stop letting myself eat all of those exercise calories. Maybe cap myself at 1,500 calories each day that I exercise. Maybe that will make the scale move a bit more. I'll let you know how that goes!

I'm going to go hide the nutella now.  

Day 3: Meetings!

My life consists of running after 2 sweet babies, trying to spend time with my hubs, and working at a job that I love.  I work in marketing, and it is something I had invisioned my self doing since I took my first marketing class. It took me a round about way to get here, but I'm here now [yay!]. My work days when I don't travel are pretty predictable...MEETINGS!

Yes meetings. some of which are like this...



and like this...



but thankfully NONE are like this...[thank you Jesus!]



Mostly my meetings include lots of sitting and going out for lunch or dinner or both.  Both of these can TOTALLY derail my weightloss train.

So, I'm going to try a few things today:
1 - Each time we take a break, I am going to make a lap around the office [and it's a BIG office]
2 - Lunch will be something protien heavy and carb light.  Maybe a salad with chicken. Maybe Chinese without the fried part or the rice.
3 - Drink a LOT of water.  Restaurant food has a crazy amount of sodium in it, so gotta counter act that!

I'm going to try to do these, but I won't beat myself up if I don't do all of them.  Wish me luck!!

Day 1...Again

Good Morning!

It's the Monday after our vacation. I stepped on the scale this morning and saw that I had gained 1.2 lbs since the last time I weighed about a week and a half ago. So now I am only about 2.2 lbs away from where I was when I got pregnant with Cap.

No bad. But, I still have about 30 lbs to go to be where I want to be. I would like to be there by November 21, my beautiful friend, Michele's wedding day! I'm so excited for her! 

That gives me about 20 weeks to take off the weight. That's 140 days. That's about 1.5 lbs per week.

So, I'm putting this out there.  I will be 30 lbs lighter in 20 weeks by eating healthy and exercising. I will not do any fad dieting. I will not starve myself. I will be a good example to my family. 

Oh, and I will be an awesome Maid of Honor!

More on this to come....