Crunch Time

Starting in January, I got serious about getting back to my happy pre-pregnancy weight. By happy, I mean the 5-pounds-less-than-what-I-weighed-right-before-I-first-got-pregnant-weight. I signed up for the South Beach Diet online, ate very deliciously healthy, and was working out 3-5 times a week through the beginning of March. I lost nearly 8 pounds, and got only 5 pounds away from my goal (which if you do the math means that I was right at my pre-pregnancy weight, just not the happy one). I was feeling great!

In March, my social life got crazy (and fun!), which meant the diet and exercise routine got way too loose, and my clothes started to get way too tight again. April, I just managed to maintain, and here we are in May, and I’d really like to lose those last 5 pounds and tone up some more. Especially with our Las Vegas trip coming up in just two months, as hot as that weather is going to be, I’d like to feel great in a swim suit and cute little summer tops/dresses.

So I am writing it all down again, hoping it will help keep me motivated to get back on track. It’s time to cook up some of the yummy but healthy recipes from South Beach, and restart my workouts at lunchtime with my coworkers and also hit the gym on the weekends. I know it will work. If I just do it! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…as soon as Ronnie gets home from his motorcycle ride, I think I’ll head out for a run!

Random updates

- Skyler is repeating so many words lately! If she knows what something is and I point to it and say it, she tries to say the word also. It’s so cute because her versions are vary toddlerific – diaper is “biper,” up is “Puh,” Bruno is “Bobo,” pasta is “papa,” and so on. It’s pretty adorable.

- We are thinking hard about getting rid of our diesel Jetta and getting something bigger (and something that starts up easily on cold mornings!). Ronnie has had the pleasure on recent weekends of getting Skyler in and out of the backseat of that car, and commented “Sure glad I don’t have to do this everyday” at which time I gave him my “square-eyed” look of death. I am very at odds with that car and would love the chance to drive something different. That car and I just don’t mesh. Since I took over driving it, the battery went out on the key fob so I have to manually lock/unlock the doors (not easy when I have a child and purse in my hands already), the wiper fluid pump broke, the brake lights went out, the stereo shorted out, and the passenger side door will only open from the outside. And this is the nicer of our two cars (unless you count the Harley!).

- Since starting the South Beach Diet and working out about five times a week for the last three weeks, I have lost six pounds and even up to an inch in certain places on my body! This is the most progress I’ve had in any efforts to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. And I feel great! The diet itself has not been hard and I’ve learned some great new recipes. I’m also eating so many more veggies than I have in the past and that just makes me feel healthier. A couple girlfriends at work have committed to working out with me on our lunch hour three times a week and we haven’t missed a beat. We’ve mostly been doing the Power90X cardio videos, and I can feel myself getting stronger and more toned. It is like a new high to finally feel stronger, healthier, and leaner than I have in a long, long time! I’m almost halfway to my goal, and my motivation has not yet faltered!

Resolution

Last year, I didn’t make any. I was already on the quest to lose the baby weight, so I didn’t really feel like it counted, and that was enough of a project that I didn’t want to add any new goals to last year.

But now I’m here another year later and still haven’t lost the last of the baby weight. I’ll admit that my motivation went in phases last year, and once my beach vacation had come and gone, I think the weight loss motivation for 2008 had been spent! I pretty much gave up the last couple months of the year, thinking hey its winter, I’ll enjoy the break, and soon enough I’ll feel disgusted enough with my self and start having to wear my immediatly post-pregnancy pants again and realize its time to get back in the fitness groove.

And that time has come soon enough, as I just pulled out a pair of jeans that I’d purchased a few months after Skyler was born that had gotten too big for me over the summer, and now they fit just fine again. Yuck!

So today I finally did two things:

1) I enrolled in the online South Beach Diet program. It’s free for the first 7 days so I can figure out if this is going to be doable. It requires a lot more food prep than I’m used to, but overall the menu looks tasty!

2) I picked up Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred workout video from Target. I’ve heard great things about this one, and since each workout is only about 20 minutes, I have ZERO excuses to not find time for it. I did the beginner workout tonight and thought I was going to die. Sad.

So, I’m back on track, officially starting Monday. Hopefully I do better this time around than I did last time I posted fitness goals on here! And this time, my goal is fifteen pounds, since I’m a few up from where I was last time I made the goal of ten.

Is progress impossible?

I swear my scale is broken. It must have been the kind that has only one weight programmed into it, and it only fluctuates a couple pounds above or below that weight (usually above, though). I have been 135 since I bought this scale back in February or March. I’ve had various phases involving consistent, intense workout and good nutrition, but no matter what, it will not change! I’ve even had times when I’ve been lazy and not worked out for a couple weeks, and my weight doesn’t change (i know, that’s a good thing, but get my point here!). I’ve always been one to lose a quick five pounds at the start of a new fitness kick, but then struggle with anything after five as I plateau. Maybe now I’m stuck on one giant plateau? It’s so frustrating! I even change my workout up all the time. Every week I do something different. I might run a few times one week and mix in some weight training, and then the next week do cardio workout videos, and then the next week a combination of all three. I try to keep things interesting and challenging enough that no one workout ever gets “easy.” But I still see no progress.

It’s been three weeks since I started this trek to lose ten pounds in 7 – 10 weeks, and my weight is still 135. Sure, I’ve had a couple misteps along the way due to various birthdays or other celebrations where there was cake involved, but I’ve made conscious choices to attempt to counterbalance those few bad treats with other very low calorie, healthy meals in the same day. It is so frustrating.

At least I know that I’m healthier. Even if the weight doesn’t change and I can’t see any visible progress, I know my body is stronger. I do feel better, naturally. I love that feeling of soreness you get when you know you worked your muscles hard! I’ve had that quite often lately, along with increased sustained energy throughout the day. I just wish these good feelings would translate into visible weight loss either on the scale or in my clothing!

Catching up – Part I

Thank you, Amy, for the reminder to publicize my weight loss progress! Overall, my nutrition has been pretty darn good. I will admit to two meals over the weekend that were far from healthy, though. One happened at a couple’s wedding shower we attended on Saturday, involving bbq, cole slaw, breads and chips and dip, and one rich piece of chocolate cake. On the bright side, I made a conscious effort to eat one serving of fresh veggies, hoping they’d help fill me up and at least get some good vitamins in there. It didn’t, however, keep me from overeating that meal! Then the next day was Skyler’s birthday, which we had all kinds of yummy food, actually very similar to the prior night! I attempted the same strategy with veggies but again, it didn’t work. I still ate way too much of the bad stuff!

However, two bad meals out of a week and a half since my last post, I think is not too shabby. I’ve also been fitting in more workouts. Sunday I actually ran seven miles! It was a gorgeous evening and had it not gotten dark, I could have gone further, but seven was my goal and I fit it in just before sunset. I ran and did push-ups yesterday on my lunch hour as well, and tonight I did a workout video targeting lower body. I don’t remember last week’s workouts but I know I fit in a couple, but could’ve done better.

I’m now down 1 pounds, to 134. It doesn’t seem like much but after Saturday and Sunday I was up to 137 for a couple days, so at least I’m headed back in the right direction.

I also have several friends at work who are working on weight loss goals as well, so we’ve been trying to keep each other accountable. Some of us try to workout at lunch a few times a week, and another friend and I exchange daily emails with each other listing what we ate the day before, as well as our weight. She calls it being “accountabili-buddies,” which I think is hilarious. It does help planning my meals knowing that I’ll have to owe up to them on paper the next day.

Oh, and before I move on from this topic, I must post a review of what I think is a very interesting food product: Amy’s California Veggie Burger. I’ve been trying to get more veggies in my diet, so I thought this might be an easy lunch option. Believe me, I was skeptical. It’s made of mushrooms, grains, veggies, and nuts. I don’t even like mushrooms! But I tried it, and while it tastes NOTHING like a beef burger, it actually is quite tasty. It’s also nothing like other veggie burgers I’ve tried that have a heavy soy flavor (i.e. – elementary school burgers). I can’t even really describe the flavor but it was very wholesome and good, and I will definitely purchase these again!

Ten.

That’s my goal, ten pounds. Ten pounds lighter gets me comfortably into all my old clothes. And it is not an unreasonable number, because at my thinnest (a little over two years ago) I was even twenty pounds lighter than I am now. So ten seems like a healthy, attainable goal. I’m blogging about this personal matter because I must get it in writing and get my goal in front of others’ eyes so that I have a reason to stick to it. When it’s my own personal goal, I am the worst slacker! So, I’m putting it down here, and I’m also going to report on my quantity and quality of exercise in at least one blog post per week, and grade myself on nutrition (not diet because I’m really just trying to eat in a healthy way that I can sustain for life).

I’d like to say ten pounds in ten weeks, but my vacation is only seven weeks away, so if I could lose ten in seven, that would be even better! It’s definitely doable, if I can actually stick to it. Really any progress would be grand, because I’ve been stuck in the same 5 pound area of the scale since only a couple months after I had Skyler, so somethings got to give!

So at my starting point, I’m going to brave it and post those dreaded numbers I see on the scale: 135.

Since Tuesday I’ve been eating mostly wholesome foods, and tonight I did a 40 minute workout video.

Hopefully I can stick it through and actually reach my goal in the next couple months. In the meantime, if a week goes by and I haven’t mentioned anything regarding this goal, PLEASE SOMEONE, leave me a comment and ask me how it’s going so I have to fess up!

Brag Time

Most of this blog is filled with stories of Skyler and the joys and challenges of our life with her, along with a few random thoughts of my own. But today, I’m going to carve a post out for both my husband and myself, because in all honesty, for all of our hard work, we deserve a little blogtime!

First up, Ronnie: His energy and ambition have finally paid off!

About a year and a half ago, shortly after we found out I was pregnant with Skyler, Ronnie threw in the towel at his state job – case worker for Division of Social Services. Everything you’ve ever heard about how much that job sucks, is 200% true. But when Ronnie quit, he didn’t quite already have another job lined up (which I was thrilled about). He had recently obtained his real estate license, and was going through the interview process to become a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness. His plan was to do both, and see which one took off (assuming it would be real estate – haha, yeah, funny now with the market how it is).

Both jobs required the building of clientele. Both jobs involved commission, and neither job had a base salary. Both jobs involved non-traditional business hours. And both jobs lead to us basically living on a single income (yep, mine!) for a good part of a year. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t make bad money, but when you are a young couple, in a fixer-upper house, with two car payments, student loans, some credit card debt, and a baby on the way that you weren’t “trying for,” living on my income alone was less than ideal! And then, the real estate thing just wasn’t working out. Ronnie was working his butt off, showing houses to lots of apparently non-buyers. While the broker he was working for was providing him with leads, he was basically giving him the “bad” leads, and keeping all the good leads that would be easy closes for himself. Obviously, that didn’t last.

Ronnie went full-time personal trainer. Each month had been better than the one before, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. Fitness is Ronnie’s hobby, so being able to work in that environment (at the same gym he’d been working out at for years), was extremely enjoyable for him. However, it was still a financial struggle for us, and while things were improving, his paychecks were inconsistent so we had no good way to budget. Finally in January, things picked up as they do in that business b/c people have New Year’s Resolutions to get in shape. From there on out, Ronnie’s business has exploded. Besides the season picking up and Ronnie getting experience under his belt and a good clientele base, he is truly an excellent trainer. He is one that believes in what he teaches, and practices what he preaches (and I’m a poet and don’t know it!).

Earlier this year, he was asked to be the Assistant Fitness Manager. His club had no actual Fitness Manager position at the time, so he would assist the Club Manager but also take a a more active role in leading the personal trainers. That lasted all of a few months until the Club Manager and District Manager asked him to be the actual Fitness Manager of their club. They recognized a drive and energy level in him that they felt their club needed. Of course he took it. He was officially in that role at the start of July. He gets to continue personal training, but has to cut back his hours so that he can spend time working with the other trainers to develop their skills, as well as spend more time doing sales. It’s on him now to motivate the team to meet certain sales goals. It’s much more challenging, but he’s up to the task, and as a reward, he can earn some fantastic bonuses!

Needless to say, while it was a rocky career start, Ronnie’s found his niche and excelled at it. And I couldn’t be more proud!

Luckily, my story is much shorter! I’ve been at my current employer for just under two years now, and was hired into a newly created position. There was one other in this position, hired about six weeks before me. Now, our team consists of ten people! It’s been an incredibly fun job, I’ve learned so much, and I can honestly say that most days, I look forward to going to work! Well on Friday, I got called by my “original” teammate (who is now our team manager) to go with her to our Chief Interactive Officer’s office. Basically, he’s one of the company Board Members who is the head of our entire department. He’s really not usually an intimidating person. I mean, he’s in his early 30’s, is a diehard KU fan, likes beer, and is generally just a cool guy. I could totally see him as one of my brother’s friends. But still, the reality of getting called to his office, based on his position in the company, is ALWAYS nerve-racking. We walked in to find him, as well as my other main boss who is the Vice President of Interactive (so like, maybe a notch below the CIO in the company totem pole). Luckily, no one seemed particularly grumpy on this Friday morning, so I was hoping it was just an impromptu meeting about the websites I manage, as they had been showing some promising growth as of late.

While they teased me for the first little bit, my uncertainty didn’t last long before they told me that they wanted to promote me to Senior Site Manager! This is a title that I’ve been working toward for over a year now, when my first manager mentioned it to me in my 6 month review as a likely possibilty due to my attitude and quality of work. But other circumstances, like several changes in management and maternity leave kept prolonging this, thus leading me to believe that maybe it was just a carrot being dangled in front of me, the hungry rabbit. So now, it’s real, I earned my promotion. I think it’s actually better this way, because I truly feel I’ve earned it. I’ve overcome a few challenges along the way, and since my “new” position in the department is now more established, I feel like it means more now than if it had been given to me over a year ago. The promotion doesn’t mean much change in my day-to-day job. I’ll have a couple more meetings to attend, in October I’ll see a pay-raise, and overall there will be a higher level of expectations. They said this promotion is mostly a recognition of my work and knowledge at the company. I gotta say, it makes it easy when I work with such great people doing something I truly enjoy!

Well, I thought mine would be short, but then I got all rambly. So, that’s our brag time, both for Ronnie and me. We’ve had a roller coaster of a year, and it seems like we’ve got Someone lookin’ out for us!

Springtime changes

Today wasn’t even very warm, but April is Spring to me. At least it was sunny! I love Spring – it inspires me in so many ways. Right now, it’s inspiring me to be healthy! As if my few clothing items that barely fit isn’t enough inspiration, the sunshine that whispers to me that tank top season is around the corner definitely motivates me! Notice I didn’t even say “swimsuit season,” because that is just taking things too far at this point.

So, I have a new agenda. I’m doing a home workout video program that involves a 45 minute to one hour workout on six days a week. It sounds harsh, but I know I can do it. I’ve been “practicing,” so I know it’s possible. I tried it two evenings last week, and I did it yesterday evening and tonight. I did this workout program when I was preparing for our wedding, so I know it works! It’s hard though. I’m already feeling yesterday’s workout through my whole body. But if I ever want to be comfortable in a tank top again, this is what I must do! I have to remind myself that besides vanity, being active and healthy is so good for me! I have to remember two times in my life when I wasn’t able to be active – post surgery and late pregnancy. Both of those times I vowed to be fit anytime I was physically able, because being physically able to exercise is a privilege – not everyone is healthy enough to do it! And, exercise will keep me healthy enough to continue exercising! Wow, vicious cycle, huh?

Skyler has also been changing this Spring. A few people have asked, and I keep forgetting to mention, but YES, her hair is turning into a light reddish brown. It’s crazy! I would never picture us with a redhead, but who knows? Ronnie’s Granny has reddish hair, so we’ll see how it turns out. The verdict is still out on her eye color, too. Sometimes they are brown, and sometimes more green. It depends on the light and the room.

She’s also learned to pout and whine, and it’s so fake it cracks me up! She will do this pitiful “he he he” cry, and as soon as you look at her, she smiles! She found her feet the other day, and is now in a nearly constant “sailboat” as she rolls around on her back holding her feet. Today she even propelled herself around her playmat by hooking a leg around the toy bar and pushing to bring her other leg around on the other side too. It was quite the acrobatics!