Adding exercise

So 1.5 weeks down and I have not lost any weight. This could be due to a few factors:

1) I did not track my calories over the weekend
2) I did not exercise and my 1600-1700 calorie limit is not low enough to be a calorie deficit without exercise
3) I made up for any lost calories during my weekend. I did not overeat too much, but I definitely drank a bit and ate desserts.

So I have added back in some workouts. I ran Saturday morning, and did yoga Sunday morning. I am going to try to run again tonight- even if it is a short run. Two days on, one day rest.

I am also shopping around for a new gym. Two new gyms are opening pretty close to where I live and I am excited about the promise of ASHTANGA yoga at one of them! I really miss it and all the local studios have switched to entirely Mysore style, which is not going to work for me.... I also like the option to have a place to do spin classes, try out a Zumba workout, and other group exercise.

5 year anniversary diet

And we are back.

At the 5 year anniversary of starting my CR diet I am back to the weight I was when I started and I am motivated to GET.IT.OFF! This is what must be my breaking point. My clothes don't fit, I feel uncomfortable and I am ready to take back my body!

TE and I are doing this in two ways. First is Intermittent Fasting. Nothing crazy, but I am not eating after 9pm and before 11am. 14 hours of no food-- coffee is okay (even with milk), diet sodas (I don't really drink these anyway) are okay, and so is sugarfree gum during the fasted time. This is another way to get at the benefits of CR as well as a good way to cut down on the "feeding" time to help reduce intake.

Next is simply counting calories. I am aiming for 1700. Yesterday was close, 1772 and today is 1829- but my fiber has been low so I think that is why I am feeling hungry. So it is a work in progress- we will see what it looks like after week 1.

I will also start posting some of my recipes. We have been making some cool things lately!

Motivation and Gains

I am so not in this weight loss game. 

I wish I was, I wish I could just not think about eating and lose weight but alas I am not 23 years old and not as active as I once was..... Though carrying around a 19lb baby should count for something?!!? :-D

Weight watchers online did not work for me, I am back to counting calories, something that makes sense to me. I am using My.Fitness.Pal on my smartphone and so far so good, though I may have to drop below 1600 calories or start exercising more because I am not losing (in one week).

I was thinking about how I worked really hard at CALERIE and how whenever I work hard at something, it feels really good once it is over or once you see the results of what you worked so hard for. Last week I prepared a talk for my friend's college level class inherited genetic diseases that cause psychological impairments and I worked for 2 days on the talk (it took some time dusting off those power point wheels!) and once it was over I felt SO great, mostly for having accomplished it and and also for preparing a good talk (and not just winging it). 

I wish weight loss was not such a slow process and that food was not so much a part of life enjoyment! Weekdays tend to be easier and I know what I need to do but my motivation is lacking and my attention to myself is almost non-existent. I really do not care as much as I used to about how I look. I am trying to shift that mindset though to health. I want to be a good role model of health and self-value to my daughter so she can be careful and mindful of her health and appearance without being vain. I also want to get sick less, and live a long healthy life for her (not to mention look good in all the upcoming wedding photos!)- so let the calorie counting resume! 

I also want to implement a few realistic goals:

1) Drink 64oz (2 nalgene bottles) of water per day (not including my decaf coffee, and seltzer)- my water intake has dropped drastically since I stopped pumping

2) Go to bed/be in bed at 10pm

3) Stretch/do 10min of core exercises before bed (my diastasis is still not healed and when I went to a bootcamp class last week I pulled my back out making it impossible to work out for the rest of the week. This NEEDS to heal!!)

And with that I leave you with a happy baby photo!

Mom- get your butt in gear!

Stuck

4lbs lost. Total. Still.

I admit I am not trying as hard as I could.. and it has been rough lately-- fitting time in to work out and not snacking.

I need some new motivation.

One day last week I ran with the King Pup the 1.25mi to pick up the Little Miss and I am planning to do that again today. I started a "restore the core" class to fix my diastasis (separation of my ab muscles from the pregnancy) and build up my core strength so I can get as much as I can out of my yoga classes.

So these are all moves in the right direction, but the amount of food/lack of exercise is the issue.

Last night, TE and I were reading in a magazine about some new, hokey, gimmick diet. Basically they say they will sequence a few (80) genes to find out if you should be on a low-fat, low-carb, Mediterranean or balanced diet. It costs $400 and I think is a bunch of crap. :)

In the CR study we tried the low fat, Mediterranean and what was probably the balanced equivalent to see how satisfied we felt with each. I am a volume eater so I did better when I stuck with low fat, but usually kept it pretty balanced with a 50% Carb, 25% Fat/Protein ratio.

TE does not like to be controlled as to portion sizes, so he does better on an elimination diet (low carb) and he has been having good success with that. I am doing as well as I am simply because he has been making my food for the most part every day.

Breakfast is typically egg whites and kale with mozzarella cheese and sometimes sausage. Lunch is a salad with chicken, cottage cheese and hard boiled egg. Dinner is a meat and veg combo (unless we get take out- which we are trying to minimize). Not bad, but I need about 5 meals per day and have been filling in the gaps with nuts, fiber one brownies/granola bars, yogurt, and chocolate. And usually we have dessert at night. So my calories are not near where they should be for weight loss. So I need to bump up my exercise since I am not going to change our eating habits too much....

Minus 4

I have lost 4lbs in 6 weeks. Not great, but not terrible either. At least it is a loss.

And sadly it took me getting sick to really drop a chunk of weight. Whatever helps though...

I am still plugging along. Slowly but surely this weight will come off!

Motivation

So in my first week doing weight watchers, I gained 0.5lbs. I feel kinda bad about it, and kinda not. I know I "overgained" with my pregnancy but when I see how perfect the Little Miss is, it is hard to feel negatively about my body. I mean, it made this little, happy human- who I love more than I thought was possible-- how can I have any negative thoughts about my body image?! But I know come wedding and bathing suit season, I will feel much better back at my "fighting" weight. So I persevere! One minor setback/slow start will not stop me!

Thanks Mel for the photo! And for the onesie (it says "nice genes!")

And to help motivate me to want to lose weight even more -- I have added in a bonus for myself. Once I hit the 10lb weight loss point I will buy myself a pair of these snazzy crops. I love lulu. It can motivate me to do anything-- and the best part is that they are calorie free!!

Weight Watchers

Diet starts today!! I am doing the diet with my dear friend KBW- I need the accountability! Also my coworker is going to recount the meeting topics to me after she attends the meeting each week! I like all this support I am getting :)

Reading through their method of how they calculate points- I am not sure I am in complete agreement (since I did spend 2yrs just counting calories) with their logic- they explain that a 270 calorie croissant is higher in points than an egg/ham breakfast plate of equal calories since it takes your body more work to break down the proteins in the egg/ham (is that not how a calorie is counted the scientist in me wants to know?!?!?! Foods of equivalent calories should expend the same energy to be broken down...?). But alas, I am putting my diet into their hands, for the next 4 months.

My goal is to lose 10-15lbs- here we go!!!