I did it!

Talked with the hubs yesterday. He set his alarm a little early (I didn't know he'd do that) because he wasn't sure how long it would take to wake me. :)  I woke up easy enough, so we cuddled for 10 minutes. Then I went and worked out! Haha! By the time I finished my baby was already waking up in her crib (although that can last for 20-30 minutes.) I don't know how long the honeymoon phase will last, but I'm hoping it'll get easier in time. I'm crazy proud of myself. I'm NOT a morning person. But it feels good. :)

What's been happening lately...

So I did real great through my first 4 weeks. Although I don't think I really lost any weight, I felt good, was sleeping amazing, and pretty happy. Then my birthday hit, we had a few crazy days, a few family members got sick, and lo and behold, I hadn't worked out in over 2 weeks. At first, I was ignoring it, and possibly eating awfully. Then I knew I wanted to get back to my work-outs, but had to climb out of these old, bad habits. Once I got into that phase, I was able to stop and think about how to create better habits. The first things I realized was that working out during naptime was not sustainable. However, I'm not a morning person. But I miss working out. I've been trying to get up before my kids the last few days, but I'm lousy at it. I finally realized what I need to do. I asked my husband to talk with me when he gets out of bed. If we talk and engage, then I think I can do it. I just told him I didn't have the will power to do it on my own and I needed his help. I think it'll work. So I did get a work out in this morning (since my bigger girl was at preschool group) although it was interrupted perhaps 3 or 4 times by my little girl, and my third extreme push-up might've been done with her laying underneath me. But it felt good to get it done. I had a much better lunch today, and I've just about nixed all evil temptation from the house.

One thing I learned from this was that even though I reverted to some bad habits for a few weeks, I don't feel like it was the way it used to be. I missed working out, I missed eating my healthier foods even. My sweets didn't make me feel good. Not the way I was doing things. I knew I was eating them to rebel against all my good work, and I didn't like it in the end. I'm ready to keep going, and keep progressing in healthy habits. I'm actually kind of excited for tomorrow morning, to see if I can handle it. It'll be like sleeping the night before the first day of school. I just want to make a habit that I know I can keep for the long-term. I don't think I ever wanted it enough before, but I do now. I felt better, slept better, and was more confident with my body when I was working out. Even though I hand't lost any weight. But I'm sure if I keep fine tuning my health and fitness, I'll make progress. :)

Just so it's out there, my goal is to lose 13.5 lbs. (from the last time I weighed in) It's official. I've got a goal. Let's do this. :)

Changes

After studying this month's recipes for my program, I've made some changes to my daily food intake. I'm going to lower my carbs (I'm totally guilty of loving carbs too much) and increasing my protein. As well as continuing to eat more healthy veggies and fruits, an eternal quest. But I think the first 2 might be my biggest problem the last 2 weeks with my lack of weight change. Too many carbs and not enough protein would have been working against the strength-training I've been doing the last 2 weeks. I'm also tracking my calories, because I don't doubt that I've also not been quite where my calories ought to be, seeing as I never keep track. So here we go. I can do this. I will take control over my food intake and the fuel I put in my body. Food does not control me. I do. Now I'm going to live like it.

Week 3

Okay. I just started week 3 today. I'm so proud that I've stuck with the program for 2 weeks. However, I weighed in this morning to no change. Not an ounce. Needless to say, I was a bit frustrated. But I've decided to take it and make more changes so I can see the results I really want to see. I've started a food journal to document what I'm eating and how many calories it has. I'm also going over the cookbook I got with my program. I'm not crazy about the recipes, but I'm going to study them and see what balance of protein/veggies/carbs, etc. it has that makes it effective. The current program I'm doing has 3 phases, each one has a slightly different eating program, as far as the balance of protein/carbs, etc. So I'm going to study it over and adjust what I'm eating to the type of program she's made. There aren't enough recipes in there to eat something different each day if I'm only eating her recipes anyway. I've got to figure it out and make it work for me. Which I think I can do. I can be a whizz in the kitchen. I just need to watch my calories, and make sure I'm getting the right balance of nutrients to enhance my work-outs. I'm also going to take measurements again later before I work-out. I will not give up, darn it. I am determined to make this work. I know I have it in me. I am so tired of not being where I want to be physically. I am tired of not liking what I've done to my body. I'm going to make it work. Say it again. I'm going to make it work.

Day 9

So I had my rest day Sunday. Last week's work-outs were great. My momentum was high, I was using heavier weights and I was feeling awesome. Then on Monday, I didn't work-out during naptime. Which is what I should've done. But I figured I'd do it at night. I did night work-outs a few times last week and rather enjoyed doing it at night. But right before I put the kids to bed (the hubs was at a late night work function. Mandatory.) I was playing with my not quite 2 year old. She LOVES to spin. I had a fun song on for us to dance to, which for her means spinning. I thought I'd be a fun mommy and spin her around. However, upon doing so for a short period of time, I felt like I was going to vomit and proceeded to have a headache until this morning. It was awful. This happened once or twice before, but at the time of those I was sick and assumed it was associated with that. Apparently I have some vertigo issues or something. Man oh man. So with the hubs gone, a massive headache, and a screaming-herself-to-sleep-almost-2-year-old-because-papa's-not-here-to-put-her-to-sleep (long one, I know), my work-out was cancelled. But I decided to make it my rest day instead of just skipping my Monday work-out altogether. So instead of resting today, I rested yesterday. I did my work-out today, during naptime even. So proud of me.

So I weighed in yesterday, it having been one week, but lost nothing. I finally did my measurements today. My waist gained 3 inches. But I think that's because I must've measured the wrong spot last time. My hips lost 1/2 inch. Yay! I didn't bother measuring my chest. Really, no point. My right arm got 1/4 in bigger, left stayed the same. My thighs are both bigger too. I wasn't feeling really chipper at this point. Then I took my body-fat percentage. It went down 3 points! Yay! Progress! It felt so good to have that happen! I know as I keep challenging myself and pushing myself to do my work-outs and do then well, that I'll see more changing. And perhaps that's just the motivation I need to not eat any of my mother-in-law's birthday cake that's sitting on the kitchen counter. Feeling glad. :)

Day 3 and 4

Okay, so I've still been working out. Day 3 (my second work-out) was much more intense than the first day. I attribute some of that to having my heavier 8 lb. weights. It was a really great work-out. I had a really hard day. The kind of parenting day that is better than birth control. I was just trying to get through it. I wasn't able to work-out during naptime like I usually plan to. So I kept telling myself I'd work-out when the hubs was home and kids were out of the way. But a plan like that can so easily disappear. But I stuck with it and still did it at like 8 pm. I was so glad I worked out. I felt so much better, and my day yesterday started out better too.

Yesterday I did Day 4. It was a burn intervals work-out. Intense cardio, then light-weight/high-rep strength training. Holy cow! It was so intense. I was sweating like a beast, and constantly out of breath. It was awesome! And my goodness, I'm so sore! Sitting down hurts! But I'm going to keep going. Eventually it's got to get better! But instead of letting my muscles rest and stop hurting that way, I'm going to keep pushing them until they feel better because they're stronger. :) Gotta keep going!

Today is Day 5, burn circuit 3. So more strength, I think. Hopefully, naptime should work-out great today and I'll get it done then. I like that each day I'm looking forward to my work-outs more and more. It was easier to get out of bed the last 2 days too. (Sleeping straight through the night doesn't hurt either. Thanks to my girls for not getting me out of bed!) But I just feel like my energy has come up a little. Not a huge difference, but a difference. Enough for me to notice and be slightly excited about. Enough to keep me going forward, motivated to keep trying to see greater changes.

Getting Started

So I finally got well enough to get started on my new beachbody program. Yesterday I took all of my measurements, and I did my fitness test. It's just an assortment of exercises, and I'll do them again after my program is done to see how much progress I've made.  I also took 10 photos of myself to compare every 30 days. I really wasn't looking forward to that part. But I decided I needed to do it. It's necessary and will be helpful in seeing my physical transformation as I work harder to take care of myself. At the same time, the photos were hard to see. It's not anything I don't see everyday, but for some reason when you see a picture, it's a little bit different.

 I've also started my work-outs. Only one day so far. I did my first day yesterday. I wasn't going to rest today, but save my rest day for later this week, however I ended up changing my mind. I have been quite sore today. I also needed to get a heavier set of weights. I currently have 3 lb weights and 5 lb weights. I now own 8 lb weights. I figure in the near future, I'll get 10 lb weights too. Gotta push myself and believe that I can handle it!

 

 

I'm eager to keep going, to keep pushing myself. I feel really positive about this and optimistic. I know that my body will respond. It always does when I push it. I also want to make sure that the changes I'm making to my diet and daily exercise are lasting. Baby steps. I'm not drastically changing my diet. I'm making changes to the foods we eat regularly, always adding new things that are good for us, and watching my portions. I think that eating too many calories, not necessarily of bad things, but just too much, is my biggest fault. That and watching my desserts. I'm a sucker for a bowl of popcorn. Granted, we air pop. :)  Oh, I also got a pedometer. I want to make sure I'm physically active enough just in general, throughout the day. I don't want my work-out to be the only physically active thing I do on a day. So I'm going to track my steps. I hear one should walk 10,000 steps a day to live a healthy lifestyle. I didn't put mine on til noonish, but I'm curious to see. Sometimes I can be really sedentary. Especially when my kiddos are napping. It's my down-time. But I need to take that time to get things done. We have a treadmill now, so I think I might jog on it from time to time. Or even just walk. Like on rest days, like today. Just to make sure I'm still getting a good amount of physical movement in each day. Small changes. Baby steps. Life-long changes. :)