Today was my first weigh in at Weight Watchers. I lost 5.4 lbs in a week! Now, I will have to say that I was sick for a couple days and had no appetite, plus last week I weighed in wearing sweatpants and shoes and this week I wore shorts and no shoes (I was wearing a shirt, in case you were wondering!)
5 lbs is a lot to lose in a week, usually 1-2 lbs is a healthier way to go.
I'm just happy the numbers are going down! Yay!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
My Story
Every time I sign into Blogger I see that I have another blog to contribute to. A sense of dread fills my heart. It’s not that I dread writing for another blog. I love writing and think this will be a fun project to do with an awesome bloggy friend. The dread comes from the topic of the blog: weight loss. It’s something I’ve struggled with for years.
I remember thinking I was fat in high school. I look back at old photos and want to strangle the 16 year-old-Maggie. ARGH- I was skinny! I was not fat! However, I still looked in the mirror with disdain. I must have lacked over-all confidence in myself- not just in the weight department.
During my senior year I ate right and exercised a lot. That was the first time I ever really felt confident about my body. And I was happier, too. I firmly believe that by taking care of my body it helped me overcome some of the obstacles I faced with battling depression.
After high school I added a few pounds. Of course I lamented that I was getting fat but looking back… I was being stupid, again. I was still within a healthy weight range for my height.
It was when I met my future husband that my weight really started to balloon. I can’t say that it was because I wasn’t trying to look my best to land a guy, because I was never doing that when I was maintaining my weight. I’m not sure what it was that made me gain so fast. It may not be related to Ryan at all- perhaps it was the stress of school.
When I got engaged I decided to do something about my weight. My mom was in Weight Watchers and since I was living with her at the time I decided to go with her. She had previously lost about 50 lbs with the program, so I knew it worked. And even though I complained about counting points and measuring stuff out, it worked for me as well. I lost about 10 lbs. I was truly happy with my body at my wedding.
But then things REALLY went down-hill from there. I gradually added the weight back on. Then 3 months after I got married I had a miscarriage. I felt my body had betrayed me by making me lose my baby so I just didn’t care anymore how I treated my body. I was depressed and when I get depressed I eat like crazy. I was also stressed due to money problems and not being able to find a job so I ate even more. Pretty soon my wedding ring was getting a little snug.
Before I had a chance to start my 12359827351293598719th attempt to lose weight I found out I was pregnant in January. I gained weight slowly until my 3rd trimester and then thanks to pre-eclampsia I blew up to resemble the freakin’ Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. But that’s a whole different story!
After Joe was born I lost about 40 lbs in 5 days. I lost another 20 lbs over the next few weeks thanks to breastfeeding. It was all the breastfeeding because I was eating everything in sight.
But now things have gotten out of control again. Joe isn’t nursing as often but I’m still eating as much food as I did when he was nursing every 2 hours. So now I’m gaining weight again but this time it’s more depressing.
I see myself in pictures and am simply disgusted with myself. I’m actually shying away from cameras and I used to be a ham in front of the camera. I just feel gross.
I feel like I can’t properly take care of Joe. I huff and puff when he is in my arms and I’m going up or down stairs. When I’m crawling around with him I get very worn out. I feel tired and blah alllllllll the time. I’m only 26 freaking years old! I shouldn’t be like this! I want to have more kids… how can I keep up with them if I feel like a blobby blob of blubber?
Both my mom and dad have had heart troubles and have been overweight most of their lives. That doesn’t paint too pretty a picture for me. Better to do something now instead of in 30 years if I have a heart attack and it’s even harder to lose the weight.
After a lot of hemming and hawing I decided to join Weight Watchers. I’m just going for it. I know it works. I’ve personally witnessed numerous success stories. Tonight was my first meeting and I’m very excited to start this journey!
A lot of women have weight loss goals to fit into a bikini or a wedding dress. My goal- to have my original wedding ring fit my finger. I haven’t worn it in over a year and I’m tired of wearing $12 fake rings from JC Penney.
So here I go again- trying to lose weight!
Weight Loss Journey:
High school: 98 lbs.
Party days: 111 lbs.
Pre-engagement: 125 lbs
Wedding: 115 lbs
After wedding: 130 lbs
Pre-pregnancy (Joe): 140 lbs
Joe’s birth: 199 lbs (I know… HOLY CRAP!)
After Joe’s birth: 135
Now (after tonight’s WW meeting): 146.6
Healthy weight for my height of 5’00”: 103-128 lbs
GOAL: 120 lbs
I remember thinking I was fat in high school. I look back at old photos and want to strangle the 16 year-old-Maggie. ARGH- I was skinny! I was not fat! However, I still looked in the mirror with disdain. I must have lacked over-all confidence in myself- not just in the weight department.
During my senior year I ate right and exercised a lot. That was the first time I ever really felt confident about my body. And I was happier, too. I firmly believe that by taking care of my body it helped me overcome some of the obstacles I faced with battling depression.
After high school I added a few pounds. Of course I lamented that I was getting fat but looking back… I was being stupid, again. I was still within a healthy weight range for my height.
It was when I met my future husband that my weight really started to balloon. I can’t say that it was because I wasn’t trying to look my best to land a guy, because I was never doing that when I was maintaining my weight. I’m not sure what it was that made me gain so fast. It may not be related to Ryan at all- perhaps it was the stress of school.
When I got engaged I decided to do something about my weight. My mom was in Weight Watchers and since I was living with her at the time I decided to go with her. She had previously lost about 50 lbs with the program, so I knew it worked. And even though I complained about counting points and measuring stuff out, it worked for me as well. I lost about 10 lbs. I was truly happy with my body at my wedding.
But then things REALLY went down-hill from there. I gradually added the weight back on. Then 3 months after I got married I had a miscarriage. I felt my body had betrayed me by making me lose my baby so I just didn’t care anymore how I treated my body. I was depressed and when I get depressed I eat like crazy. I was also stressed due to money problems and not being able to find a job so I ate even more. Pretty soon my wedding ring was getting a little snug.
Before I had a chance to start my 12359827351293598719th attempt to lose weight I found out I was pregnant in January. I gained weight slowly until my 3rd trimester and then thanks to pre-eclampsia I blew up to resemble the freakin’ Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. But that’s a whole different story!
After Joe was born I lost about 40 lbs in 5 days. I lost another 20 lbs over the next few weeks thanks to breastfeeding. It was all the breastfeeding because I was eating everything in sight.
But now things have gotten out of control again. Joe isn’t nursing as often but I’m still eating as much food as I did when he was nursing every 2 hours. So now I’m gaining weight again but this time it’s more depressing.
I see myself in pictures and am simply disgusted with myself. I’m actually shying away from cameras and I used to be a ham in front of the camera. I just feel gross.
I feel like I can’t properly take care of Joe. I huff and puff when he is in my arms and I’m going up or down stairs. When I’m crawling around with him I get very worn out. I feel tired and blah alllllllll the time. I’m only 26 freaking years old! I shouldn’t be like this! I want to have more kids… how can I keep up with them if I feel like a blobby blob of blubber?
Both my mom and dad have had heart troubles and have been overweight most of their lives. That doesn’t paint too pretty a picture for me. Better to do something now instead of in 30 years if I have a heart attack and it’s even harder to lose the weight.
After a lot of hemming and hawing I decided to join Weight Watchers. I’m just going for it. I know it works. I’ve personally witnessed numerous success stories. Tonight was my first meeting and I’m very excited to start this journey!
A lot of women have weight loss goals to fit into a bikini or a wedding dress. My goal- to have my original wedding ring fit my finger. I haven’t worn it in over a year and I’m tired of wearing $12 fake rings from JC Penney.
So here I go again- trying to lose weight!
Weight Loss Journey:
High school: 98 lbs.
Party days: 111 lbs.
Pre-engagement: 125 lbs
Wedding: 115 lbs
After wedding: 130 lbs
Pre-pregnancy (Joe): 140 lbs
Joe’s birth: 199 lbs (I know… HOLY CRAP!)
After Joe’s birth: 135
Now (after tonight’s WW meeting): 146.6
Healthy weight for my height of 5’00”: 103-128 lbs
GOAL: 120 lbs
Curves, Cereal, and Motivation
I love cereal. I mean, l-o-v-e it. There are usually no less than five or six varieties on top of my fridge at any given time. It's healthy cereal, for the most part. Right now, there's:
Cinnamon Cheerios
Multigrain Cheerios
Kashi Go-Lean Crunch
Shredded Mini-Wheats
Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters
Granted, all of that cereal does not belong to me. The Kashi and Cheerios are mine; the mini-wheats and fiber one are my husbands.
Even though I love cereal, it does not love me. Cereal is one of my comfort foods, in a major way. However, since I am diabetic, I can only eat it rarely, as it usually wreaks havoc on my blood sugar levels. I almost never eat it for breakfast, as that is when my sugar is the highest. Often, I'll eat it for a snack in the evening.
I used to eat cereal every morning. "A bowl" of cereal. Oh, that's not too bad, you might be thinking. Except this is my "bowl" of cereal:
1. Dump a large amount of cereal into a huge bowl.
2. Add a lot of milk.
3. Eat it. There is milk left in the bowl.
4. Add more cereal, to soak up the extra milk.
5. Ooops, I added too much cereal. Add more milk.
6. Eat it all.
That's a bowl of cereal. At least, it used to be. Now, I eat my cereal for a evening snack, and I measure it out. Into a mug. That way, it looks like more than what it is. I don't have seconds. It stinks. But it's better than nothing.
Anyway, I have given up cereal for breakfast. Now I eat one or more of the following in the morning:
2 eggs
greek yogurt
fruit
peanut butter
My breakfast of choice lately has been two scrambled eggs, a banana, and some peanut butter. It keeps me full for a long time, whereas a bowl of cereal would find me hungry again in an hour or so.
Also, I joined Curves gym again. The one I belong to now has a class with Zumba two nights a week. It is a lot of fun, but I'm struggling with the motivation to go. I have gone three times in the last two weeks (you are supposed to go three times each week!). But you can't bring babies, so I have to go in the evening when DH is home from work, and then there's dinner and so much to do, it ends up getting pushed to the back-burner.
Why is it always to hard to take care of ourselves?
As moms and wives, we know how important it is to take care of the people in our lives, and really, we know we need to take care of ourselves. But when it comes time to actually do it, there's always an excuse for why now is not the right time.
Now is the only time there is. Being healthy is an everyday battle. I keep forgetting this, even though I know better.
Then I feel guilty, and eat more chocolate, and then the whole day goes to hell. This is bad. My emotional eating, as a way of dealing with the stress of new motherhood, is keeping me in this place of hating how I look and feel. More on this later. But know for now that I need motivation to keep my butt at the gym, and my hand out of the chip bag.
Cinnamon Cheerios
Multigrain Cheerios
Kashi Go-Lean Crunch
Shredded Mini-Wheats
Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters
Granted, all of that cereal does not belong to me. The Kashi and Cheerios are mine; the mini-wheats and fiber one are my husbands.
Even though I love cereal, it does not love me. Cereal is one of my comfort foods, in a major way. However, since I am diabetic, I can only eat it rarely, as it usually wreaks havoc on my blood sugar levels. I almost never eat it for breakfast, as that is when my sugar is the highest. Often, I'll eat it for a snack in the evening.
I used to eat cereal every morning. "A bowl" of cereal. Oh, that's not too bad, you might be thinking. Except this is my "bowl" of cereal:
1. Dump a large amount of cereal into a huge bowl.
2. Add a lot of milk.
3. Eat it. There is milk left in the bowl.
4. Add more cereal, to soak up the extra milk.
5. Ooops, I added too much cereal. Add more milk.
6. Eat it all.
That's a bowl of cereal. At least, it used to be. Now, I eat my cereal for a evening snack, and I measure it out. Into a mug. That way, it looks like more than what it is. I don't have seconds. It stinks. But it's better than nothing.
Anyway, I have given up cereal for breakfast. Now I eat one or more of the following in the morning:
2 eggs
greek yogurt
fruit
peanut butter
My breakfast of choice lately has been two scrambled eggs, a banana, and some peanut butter. It keeps me full for a long time, whereas a bowl of cereal would find me hungry again in an hour or so.
Also, I joined Curves gym again. The one I belong to now has a class with Zumba two nights a week. It is a lot of fun, but I'm struggling with the motivation to go. I have gone three times in the last two weeks (you are supposed to go three times each week!). But you can't bring babies, so I have to go in the evening when DH is home from work, and then there's dinner and so much to do, it ends up getting pushed to the back-burner.
Why is it always to hard to take care of ourselves?
As moms and wives, we know how important it is to take care of the people in our lives, and really, we know we need to take care of ourselves. But when it comes time to actually do it, there's always an excuse for why now is not the right time.
Now is the only time there is. Being healthy is an everyday battle. I keep forgetting this, even though I know better.
Then I feel guilty, and eat more chocolate, and then the whole day goes to hell. This is bad. My emotional eating, as a way of dealing with the stress of new motherhood, is keeping me in this place of hating how I look and feel. More on this later. But know for now that I need motivation to keep my butt at the gym, and my hand out of the chip bag.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
By Way of Introduction
Well, I suppose I should just dive in. I had a baby 4 months ago, but I am still ten pounds over what I was when I got pregnant, and about 15 pounds from my goal weight.
Let's get down to the nitty-gritty:
Starting weight: 162 pounds
Initial-goal: 154 pounds
Final goal: 145 pounds
Initial fitness goal: train for and walk 5k race
Final goal: train for and run 5k race
Tomorrow I am going to Curves to check it out and hopefully sign up. I belonged to Curves in Chicago before I got married and it helped me lose 15 pounds. I really love Curves because it is all women, and because I like having a set workout. I'm excited to start working out regularly.
I feel somewhat selfish for going three times a week, but at the same time, I know it is important to be healthy and fit for my family. It's an investment.
What have you done to help you meet your goal this week? Do you have a favorite place or type of workout?
Let's get down to the nitty-gritty:
Starting weight: 162 pounds
Initial-goal: 154 pounds
Final goal: 145 pounds
Initial fitness goal: train for and walk 5k race
Final goal: train for and run 5k race
Tomorrow I am going to Curves to check it out and hopefully sign up. I belonged to Curves in Chicago before I got married and it helped me lose 15 pounds. I really love Curves because it is all women, and because I like having a set workout. I'm excited to start working out regularly.
I feel somewhat selfish for going three times a week, but at the same time, I know it is important to be healthy and fit for my family. It's an investment.
What have you done to help you meet your goal this week? Do you have a favorite place or type of workout?
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