Thursday, September 15, 2011

Lowered Expectations

I've been really good so far with weight loss but I think this Sunday I won't be recording a weight loss. I don't think I've been eating horribly or anything. I don't know. I just think I'm starting to plateau already. I don't know that I'll really begin to loose much more weight without a serious exercise regime. I've never been able to loose much weight when nursing. I'll loose a bit from the get-go but then I'll go stagnant until I'm done nursing. So, I'm feeling like I'm due for that to happen to me.
I exercised twice this week. I don't know if I'll get another day in. Honestly, I'm just really tired this week.
And you could tell if you saw my house.
Right now I'm sitting on my bed with my squirmy baby and my adorable 3 yr old, just ignoring the mess. I'm so tired. Samantha did wake up twice last night instead of once, so that doesn't help. But I don't know. I don't think I'm getting sick. I think my busy week is catching up with me and it's getting really hard to keep active.
That's one of the hard things about being a Stay at home Mom, SAHM. Who's going to make you get your work done? A lot of the time I'm motivated by guilt. I'll feel guilty that Randall's worked hard all day. I'll feel guilty if my living room at least doesn't look presentable for my piano students. Sometimes I'm motivated by desire. I just want to see a clean house. Sometimes I'm motivated by love. I enjoy showing my family I love them by them coming home to a beautiful home. But, most of the time: guilt.
Yet, right now, though I feel awful about the state of my home, I don't feel like doing anything about it. Is that truly because I'm just too tired? If I were at a job it wouldn't matter if I were tired. I would do it anyway.
But I'm not. And this is the way it is. And I had to be a Mom today and this never got finished. Now it's a good 8 hours later. My stream of thought is gone. I'm sitting with my hubby. I ate a lot of food today. I took a nap. And I'll see ya'll later.

Monday, September 12, 2011

One more down

Consistency. Consistency. I'm down a couple more pounds. I never posted my last weeks measurements so I'll post last weeks and this weeks. I'll just post my hips and waist measurement with my weight.
Week 3:
weight 167 lbs
waist 34"
hips 42"
Week 4:
weight 164 lbs
waist 33.5"
hips: 41.5"
Total weight lost -6
Total inches lost -6"
Pretty cool, huh?
Tracking my weight loss is really motivational. I'm hating the scale a little less. But I was quite terrified to stand on it this Sunday. Now I know how the constants of Biggest Loser feel. Kinda. A bit.
This week I really want to step up my physical activity. Today I played basketball for an hour. It wasn't the most aggressive basketball playing, but it definitely counts. :)
So, now I'm drinking my second shake (a little before noon) hoping that it will help keep me from an energy crash.
I've got piles of laundry calling my name.
Not terribly chatty today. Peace out!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

In the mood

I woke up this morning in the mood to scrap this whole diet thing, eat everything in the house, gain back all my weight, sit on the couch, and revel in my chunkiness.
LOL.
I guess it started last night when I had crazy insane munchies. I gave in to the munchies and had a bunch of different foods. Not large portions, but many things. Oh well, right?
Well, I guess one bad turn deserves another and this morning I just wanted to give up.
I think it mostly stems from being stressed out. I've got so many things on my plate right now that I have no control over that food tends to be that outlet that I do have complete control over. So, when things feel out of control I want to look at food and say, "You can't control me. If I want to eat all of you, dag nab it, I'm going to do it. Who's going to stop me?" And well, no one would stop me.
Aren't we all such emotional eaters? Food is one thing that we can really manipulate and control.
A few random thoughts about this. As a Mom, have you ever noticed how when your kid is hurt or mad or frustrated or happy we tend to turn to food to solve the problem? Oh, you won? Let's eat. Oh, you lost? Let's eat. Did you hurt your knee? Have an ice cream cone and you'll feel all better. Bored? Grab a snack and think of what you can do.
Do you think as a fat society (as in wealthy) we perpetuate and even possibly create the connection between food and emotions?
My baby eats every two to three hours. My kids when they're little are the same way. They go through periods when they're growing where they eat a lot, and they go through periods when they eat like birds. They have no problem leaving the table with food left on their plate. They have no problem declaring, "I'm full."
Do we totally mess up our natural ability to eat wisely?
Do you think we'd go to food to comfort us, do you think we'd use food to gain a sense of control in our lives, if we weren't given food as children in conjunction to events and emotions?
I have a theory that we have created this problem. I think we've all been taught to use food to solve problems. But all food is empty calories and solves nothing.
So, when I get "in the mood" to destroy my diet, to give up on caring about my health and well being, I try to say to myself, "Why? What is the root cause of my discomfort? Am I eating out of boredom? Am I eating because of stress? Am I depressed? Am I frustrated?"
I think this morning I think I feel like giving up not on my diet, but on my life. And no no no I'm not talking suicide or anything. I'm talking about wanting to crawl back in bed, eat a tub of ice cream, pretend I have no children and no husband, and just waste away for a while.
So then, why do I feel that way? What's going on?
Well, this is actually a really easy thing to solve. I am so busy and my schedule is so crazy, and I keep forgetting things because I have so many new things being added to my life right now that I can't keep them together.
Here's my list of things I am responsible for. And no I won't do a full list, but you'll get the gist.
The house: cooking, cleaning, laundry, reorganizing, consolidating, vacuuming, disinfecting, etc etc etc
My baby: dressing, changing, feeding, walking, burping, napping, etc
Three other children
My husband
Food on a budget
Clothes
Two kids in karate
Teaching piano lessons to thirteen people plus my two kids
School
Preschool
Young Womens
Church
Scouts
Family Home Evening
Nightly Family scripture and prayer
Feeding aforementioned baby every two hours.

You try feeding a baby between all that other stuff. It's fun! No wonder I forget to pick up one kid from preschool. No wonder I forget that someone is picking up my kid from scouts even though I just talked to that person an hour before. No wonder I feel like pounding down a bag of popcorn, eating all my piano students reward chocolate, etc.
My husband made a comment that when he looks at my schedule it gives him a headache. Well, hubby, try living my schedule and see what that does for you.
No wonder.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Weigh in

Well, weightloss is slow but consistent: just how I like it. I've lost three pounds in three weeks with Herbalife. I've lost an inch in my hips, which is my "problem area". I went on a quick paced walk this week and painted for about two and a half hours (going up and down a ladder much of the time). I know that if I could begin a regular exercise program I could be loosing faster, but for now I'm pleased with my level of activity.
I'd really like to be doing some sort of kickboxing for exercise. Well, to be 100% truthful I'd love to start Karate for exercise. I now have two of my sons doing Karate and I grow more and more envious of them as time passes.When they do drills in class I think, "That would be an awesome drill for my abs." It is a lot easier to loose weight if you are participating in something that is active instead of just going on a treadmill. I, personally, would like to have an active lifestyle. One thing I will be doing, starting next Monday, is playing basketball. That'll be really great for me, even being just one day a week. Then I'd also like to go for daily walks that'll turn into daily jogs. But what I think I'll do that will give me that extra boost of weightloss is kickboxing from my house.
I used to teach various aerobic classes through LA Fitness. And I've found that I miss kickboxing the most out of all the classes and equipment offered there.
The only thing that is holding me back is the mess that is my bedroom.
We have a very large TV in our bedroom and enough space between that and the bed that it'll be plenty of space to kickbox. Unfortunately, our room is the room where everything gets thrown into when it doesn't have a place. I think that is very common for families that the parents room becomes the dumping ground.
Right now I have stacks of books in front of my bed with no boxes to put them in and no place to put those boxes after the books are placed in them. Our closet is overflowing with matter unorganized.
The solution is actually a very long project. Yes, I could find a temporary solution so I can get going on my exercise, but I don't want to. If I do something temporary then it'll become permanent. This is how our closet mess came to be in the first place.
Another problem is that I have a couple other big projects that need to get done before I can get to my closet fiasco. (Isn't this the way it is Moms?!)
I switched my kids around in their bedrooms. I moved them, their pillows, and their clothes. I had them grab things from their drawers and walls and they are sitting in laundry baskets waiting to be taken care of.
Man! I'm glad that at least I can clean my living room in a relatively short period of time because I'd be so embarrassed if my living area was like the bedrooms right now.
So, my goal today is to take care of the kids bedrooms. Once they are done, I can get to my bedroom. Once my bedroom is done I can start exercising in my room.
And that is the way it works in a Mom's world.
So, like I said, I'm in no hurry because I try to live in the world of reality. Taking care of five other people besides yourself can drive you crazy if you expect too much of yourself at one time.
Mini-goals help me feel accomplishment and get me closer to being able to do what I really want without distraction. Because, once I start exercising, I don't want anything to get in my way.
And for me, a pound a week is such a great accomplishment.
I'm just slowly melting away.
Weight 167