Week 2 (or Lookin' Good, Feelin' Good)

Day 1, Sunday: I woke up weighing less than yesterday so I quick jumped on the Wii Fit to make it official - .7 lbs lost. Vindication! Spent just shy of 2 hours doing yard work -- ahh the joys of homeownership! However, this doozy of a structureless workout burned over 500 calories (and probably about $45 at Home Depot...), and I followed it up with a fabulous treadmill stint that hit 2.5 miles running at a 12 minute pace. I sped it up for the last .2 miles and still felt good. I just may be able to pull this off!

Day 2, Labor Day Monday: I thought about doing core conditioning exercises today. Thought. This was immediately followed by a tilapia & avocado taco, crab legs, and lots of cookies. I do, however, decide to run the upcoming 5K Frank and I signed up to walk. It will be the longest distance I've run since Broad Street... oh, and it's Saturday.

Day 3, Tuesday: First day back to work. Frank helps me drop a hysterical Olivia off at daycare. I tear up because she screams "Mommy," while reaching out for me. I spend 2 hours coaxing two 2nd graders into their classroom but am glad to be back at work. After work, I hit the gym for a fantastic workout. I spend 30 minutes on the eliptical at high intensity and top it off with a 2.25 mile run. Wanting a challenge, I warm up for a mile then run 2 quarter mile interval sprints with quarter mile recovery in between. I extend the 2nd recovery and cool down for another .25 miles. I feel like a runner again.

Day 4, Wednesday: Frank has class so I do core conditioning exercises while watching Man v. Food. Nothing says work that flab off like watching a grown man stuff his mouth with fried food in order to win a prize.

Day 5, Thursday: I don't want to run too hard before the 5K on Saturday so I again warm up with the eliptical at a high intensity before running 1.65 miles (odd, yes, but my weekly total will be even) on the treadmill. I am happy to say that my easy pace was bumped up to 5.2 mph. I'm completely unstoppable (cue Rocky music).

Day 6, Friday: After experiencing multiple mishaps which include leaving the house with tea-spotted pants... I give myself a pass. Plus, I'm so exhausted from waking up at 5:30am for work that I fall asleep by 10:30pm.

Day 7, Saturday: I'm down 1.5 pounds according to my official Wii Fit weigh-in which puts me about 2 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight and about 13 pounds from my pre-pre-pregnancy weight (aka, my goal). I am so psyched for the morning's run that I secretly hope I will be the only person in my age bracket, thus, winning a medal. My dream seems plausible when all of about 50 people line up at the starting line. It is, unfortunately, quickly dashed when my unhurried pace lands me at the back of the pack... of one. I keep pace with the kids running the fun run, something I enjoy. Overheard:

Kid 1: This is hard!

Kid 2: I know! I'm pooped!

The little boy in first for the fun run passes me and finishes (but I wasn't far behind him!). The course winds through a residential area here in town, which means it had plenty of slopes and a good hill here and there. I run fast enough to know that I couldn't talk except to thank the volunteers along the course. I keep a good pace and finish right where I want to be [for training purposes, of course]. I'm not sure what my official time was, but I crossed the finish line in about 33:20 - much slower than my PR but about a 10:40 pace. I'm very happy with myself because 3.1 miles, as I said above, is the longest distance I've run since Broad St. My knee felt good, and my body felt better. Because we walked to the race, I ended up running/walking about 5 miles before 9:30am.

Weekly running total: 9.5

Self-Esteem: Wonder Woman has nothing on me!

Skinny News

Oh and by the way, did I mention that I'm down to a 27.14% BMI??? That's right, Wii Fit, eat your heart out. Yesterday morning it actually told me my posture had improved. Is it healthy to be completely satisfied about putting a cartoon, video game character in it's proverbial place? Didn't think so.

I would also like to brag that I finished The Narberth Run - a hilly, 5 mile course - last weekend in 54:43, chip, and 55:23, clock, with an 11:04 (clock-time) pace AND sprinted the last bit, passing 3 people. In fact, my last mile was in 9:46! I even got a high-five from a race volunteer with a "You did awesome!" Because I DID! I'm gonna rock Broad Street tomorrow. Or die of heat exhaustion due to high temps and a headwind but where does pessimism get you? Certainly not 10 miles!

So, be sure to keep an eye out for running photos. Once I find the energy to download them from mine or Frank's phone and then edit and upload. Given my recent track record, this could take some time. Stay patient, friends, stay patient.

Reality Check

Friday marks the start of 2010. Resolutions abound this time of year -- losing weight, stop smoking, eat this not that, work less, blah blah. Years ago I stopped making resolutions to not do things and started thinking of things that I could do that would enrich my life and the lives of those around me. Oh, wait, that was Lent. Nevermind.

My Christmas present from Frank was twofold: a trip to Vegas to see Garth Brooks (half of which I paid for) and a gym membership (which I've been desperately missing since we moved two Julys ago). So, my "New Year's Resolution" is to make weight loss a priority - a little generic and unoriginal but a big deal for me. However, there is strength in bandwagon numbers: the area gyms are all running promotions. I've been researching a few, and we ultimately decided to get a YMCA membership. Some friends have it which means that we can all take classes together or have pool playdates over the summer. Also, it was the best bang for our proverbial buck. The whole family has access to Y programs (Olivia will be starting swim lessons in 2 Saturdays!), and the monthly fee is still less than some other gyms. Ultimately, though, the number 1 reason we sought out the YMCA: they are running a special right now, waiving the application fee ($150). SOLD to the family on the left with the 9 month old! Oh, alright, we'll take the 1 week free trial membership just to make sure.

Today I decided to check-in with my current bad-ass self... turns out I'm more flabby-ass than bad-ass. Still, I woke up this morning and said, you are going to evaluate what's going on with your body. This was, truth be told, a tad depressing. Once upon a time I was a size 4/6 wearing a cute string bikini and heels (not at the same time -- I'm not a porn star). I had muscles and abs of steel. Now I have the knowledge that I have abs underneath the stretched skin surrounding my navel area. Overshare? My bad.

The silver-lining? I've lost 36 pounds since giving birth to Olivia. My shape still wears clothes well... as long as they have no waistband whatsoever. I eat much better than I did before... except chocolate and Chick-fil-A. In fact, I've only gained 0.4 pounds since my last Wii weigh-in one month ago. (To be fair, though, I had lost 2 pounds before the holidays and gained 3 over the holidays.) And I've always felt like cardio-workouts were the missing link. The necessary chute in my Chutes and Ladders Game of Life. The Gabba Gabba! to my Yo.

So, today I stood on the Wii and saw that I had 30 more pounds to go and a BMI of 28.43%. I looked at myself in the mirror and watched in horror as parts shook even though I stood motionless. I felt the pain radiating from my thigh- and butt-muscles due to the mere 35 mins on the eliptical machine yesterday. I realized that in signing Olivia up for swim lessons, not only would she need a swimsuit, but so would I. Then, I went to the Y and made the temporary membership a permanent full one. Angels sang. Wait, I'm sorry, that was the pain resonating in my bum still. So sorry for the confusion.

So here we go, friends. Off on a mission to lose the rest of this weight. Join me. Or at the very least, support me.

Week 5: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back ... or One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

Hmmm, so week 5 is Dinner: 1 starch, 1 protein, unlimited veggies. Very straightforward. Aim for about 450 calories. According to the book, if you are a part of the Change One 1600 Club, you can double either the protein or the starch here. I decided that I need to repeat Week 5 due to starting it on a Friday, leaving Sunday for a 3 day mini-vacation, and because I haven't actually re-read the chapter yet. This was so much easier to do the first go-round when I didn't have a baby.

On a positive note, there has been some success! My biggest goal was to come back from the 3 day outing weighing the same. Either the cookies that I feasted on whilest away were superfoods in disguise or the weight hasn't caught up with the Wii balance board yet. Why? I've lost 1.5 pounds since my last "official" weigh-in on Saturday. Either way, I'm down almost 10 pounds since I first started weighing myself on June 11th. Personally, I think the SOB who designed the comments that the Wii Fit Balance Board Cartoon makes should be shot. OR the next version should be interactive. If the darn thing is going to harass me, I should at least be allowed to comment back. Here's how it would go:

Wii Fit Cartoon: Feeling lazy these days? It's been 4 days since your last body test, Baby Mama. For best results, you should check in everyday.
Me: I was away, a**h@!#. What did you do? Oh, that's right, nothing because you sat on my living room floor. And start telling me how awesome I'm doing; I've lost almost 10 pounds in just over 2 months. Lazy?! Plastic POS. I hope they recycle you someday and turn you into a fast food countertop.

Publish Post

I digress. Back to being positive. Due to all the eating out that occurred over the vacation (ironically, week 6 is Dining Out), I took some advice from "Eat This, Not That" and ordered as much as I could grilled or sauce on the side. When the hummus I had added to my salad turned out to be a baseball size serving of hummus, I actually scooped 80% of it off. Difficult because I love hummus but certainly not the correct portion. I didn't order dessert once (the aforementioned cookies were a snack), and I mostly drank water. The other thing that I'm adding to my repetition of Week 5 is exercising more. The Livster and I are walking with Rebekah and Avery in the style of 70 year old power walking retirees at the mall. We get about 3 miles in on a good day. And finally (this one is my favorite), I've determined that the only way my waist is going to shrink back to the adorable size 6 that it once was is to do ab exercises. Since I don't have time to pull out the yoga mat and crunch it up, I'm adding "core moves" to my teeth brushing regiment. What is that, you may ask? Well, this means that while I brush away, I am doing some sort of movement that will tone up either my abs or my backside. Believe it. It's pretty hot. Me, in my glasses and often pjs, shaking what the good Lord gave me. It's like the mommy version of Carmen Electra's workout DVDs. It's part of my Make-Every-Moment-Count mentality (aka: my attempt to lose as much weight before the first day of work and I'm running out of time mentality). The way I see it is even though this accounts for only 2 minutes per day or so, it's more than I was doing before. As time goes on, hopefully I can get more creative (read, as Liv becomes less bulky and cast-free or we finally buck up and get me the gym membership) with how I do this but for now, it is what it is.

Lastly, as I re-do Week 5, I'll be trying out recipes from the Change One book for dinner. I'll pass along the good ones.

Celebration & Week 3... Snacks

Friday marked the start of Week 3 in Change One: Snacks. It also marked the 3rd consecutive day of something huge in my weight loss journey. My BMI went below 30! This means that I am no longer classified as "obese," just "overweight." I will say this -- the Wii still has that tiny Ralph Wiggam voice that yells out "That's overweight!" after measuring your weight & making the calculations. Still, it was a huge victory for me. Of course, we concluded the week with some Famous Dave's for dinner, so this morning my BMI went back up over 30. Two steps forward, one step back but it's still an overall downward trend. We were at a Phillies game tonight that included a BBQ competition beforehand so I'm dreading tomorrow's weigh-in. On a different note, is it weird that I love how the Wii graphs your progress and data? I love graphs.

So I'm working on eating better snacks as well as maintaining breakfast and lunch as of yesterday. I've been doing really well maintaining breakfast and lunch. Snacks are tough, not because I want to eat poorly but more because I need to eat more than what this plan suggests due to breastfeeding Olivia. This plan recommends 2 snacks that are no more than 100 calories each. Unfortunately, I need to get an extra 500 calories in my diet to ensure that Olivia gets enough milk. So, instead of limiting myself to two snacks, I'm paying attention to when I'm hungry and eating a healthy snack that is between 100 and 200 calories. I try really hard to make sure the snack contains protein and fiber and more often than not has a dairy/calcium component. It's going well... except today. I do love pulled pork and other BBQ eats. Of course I was rewarded with a stomachache.

Monday is Olivia's 4 month birthday!! We will definitely be having a photo shoot so be on the lookout. I also will be posting some other pictures of her and some of the babies from the prenatal yoga class I took in my first and second trimesters. It's fun to see all the ladies again and the babies that we only knew as "bumps." Stay tuned!

Change One

In early July I did my usual weigh-in with the Wii Fit followed by the balance tests and an amazing thing happened. The "Wii Age" that the thing gives you was LESS than my real age. All along the damn thing had been issuing snide comments about how my "Wii Age" was x number of years more than my real age and wasn't I feeling weaker. Well, when the number it spewed forth was 22, I wanted to scream, "In your face, Wii!" I didn't but mostly because Frank was sitting on the couch watching. I have to vent my frustration in that there were no positive comments from the cartoon balance board on the screen - nothing along the lines of "Way to go!" or "Don't you feel amazing!" All the stinking remarks about how out of shape I am, and when I do something incredible, it's just another day.

I digress. The point I am making is that shortly after that milestone, I fell off the proverbial wagon. I stopped doing my daily weigh-ins and weekly training sessions. I no longer wrote down what I ate or how much water I consumed. I naively coasted by on the afterglow of success.

Then 4 days ago, I stepped on the Wii balance board for a random weigh-in. Not bad but not great. Nothing to fear. The next day I did the same... hmmm, it's gone up. Alright, no biggie; nothing to panic about. On the third day, it rose again. My weight, my BMI, my Wii age. I was now almost 40 in Wii years. Time to take action.

So, I broke out my book called Change One and started reading. This is the book that helped me lose the 50 pounds before. The idea is that making one small change a week for 12 weeks will help you lead a healthier lifestyle. It recommends 1300 calories for everyone, but if you are heavy or active (30 mins of movement most days), it suggests 1600 calories. However, it isn't about counting calories; you use guidelines for portion control and meal planning. It's about lifestyle changes, not "dieting." My fellow behavior analysts will agree that changing in steps will lead to great results, so here I go [again].

The first week is Breakfast, which everyone should be eating! Research shows a healthy breakfast makes you feel full and tends to result in healthy eating throughout the day. Anyway, on this plan, they suggest eating 1 starch, 1 dairy and 1 fruit. So yesterday and today I enjoyed hot oatmeal with soy milk and a banana. I'm on the 1600 calorie plan so I double my starch and have all the oatmeal in the packet, not just half.

I feel good about this. Yesterday we took a 40 minute walk to the Acme; today I ran 25 minutes; later, we walked to the Bryn Mawr Farmer's Market. When I got home I ate a peach. The mindset is helping already; I made cupcakes for IFHN which they ended up not needing so I decided not to ice them and have been enjoying just one at a time.

Now, I just need to keep at it. Stay tuned for updates.

That's obese!

So this is day 7 of my new sched ule. I've been waking up at 5am, pumping and then exercising before showering and eating. Before Olivia, I would have stared in amazement at those people up in the pre-dawn hours, working out or just getting things done. Now I get it; I get the desire to accomplish things at the pace that existed before life with kids. I try to be "mommy ready" by 7am even if I still have to eat or shower. Olivia wakes up anytime between 7am and 9am -- but I usually wake her by 8am so that our schedule remains somewhat the same. We are blessed that she sleeps about 10 hours through the night without waking. I guess that is God's gift to us given everything else. Thank heavens for small miracles, right?

I completed my first week in the couch to 5K program. I'm so happy to be running again. The program is designed to ease the body into running for 30 minutes or 5 kilometers straight. I missed running a great deal during the pregnancy... and I may have gained a little bit of extra baby weight with the sharp decrease in workouts. My goal is to run a half-marathon again. I plan on being able to run the 5 mile Narberth Run (late April) and the 10 mile Broad Street Run (early Mary) in 2010, but I'd also like to do another half. My lofty goal is to be 13.1 miles ready by the Philadelphia Marathon [and Half-Marathon] (November) but my second and more realistic goal is to get to the Disney Princess Half-Marathon in March 2010. I think I've convinced my husband that going to Florida during Spring Training so that I can run 13.1 miles and get a tiara is feasible with an 11 month old. Cross your fingers.

Anyway, most days I also do the Wii fit -- either with more aerobics work or some sort of core/balance programs. The makers created a pretty neat "game" that charts your weight, BMI and general progress all while working on strengthening your core to give you better balance and posture. It's fun, but as a "player" you need to take it in stride. Obviously I'm not at my best weight right now. Once upon a pre-pregnant time, I weighed 137 pounds... now, not so much. And it's quite lovely stepping on the Wii balance board for my daily body test (to note my current weight, BMI and "Wii fit age") and hearing: Too busy to find time to work out yesterday? I kind of wish it was cyborg in nature and could hear my comment back. Ever hear of a day off, jackass? Or the day that -- gasp -- my weight fluctuated up 1.5 pounds. After flashing the reminder that weight fluctuates about 2 pounds in a 24 hour period in one screen, the damn thing had the audacity to ask me what I felt was the reason for my awful weight gain. Then it reminded me that I needed to work hardER to reach my designated goal. But my favorite part of the body test is the point when it shows you what your BMI (body mass index) is and how it's classified in body types. For example, a healthy BMI is 20 - 25 (ish). Other categories include overweight and obese. Considering that I gained more the recommended 20 - 25 pounds during the pregnancy, it isn't surprising that my BMI falls into the obese category. When the Wii reveals this information to me, a tiny voice in the background yells That's obese! Fantastic. Thank you. I now have the self-esteem of a 12 year old in co-ed gym class. Great.

But it takes 10 months to gain the weight so I can't expect overnight miracles. Not for weight anyway. Off to chisel away at that label!