The Cursed Bandwagon

I need to be honest… I may have fallen off the band wagon this long weekend.  Friday I counted my calories and went for my walk and finished just slightly above my goal in calories if you don’t count my exercise into that equation.  Saturday we had a meeting for VBS and went yard sale-ing at a large community yard sale, while I didn’t do my mapped walked I did get a good bit of walking in.  My calorie intake on Saturday was a little above my goal again. Sunday I did not get any exercise in at all but I ate well and stayed under my calorie goal.  Today was a bad bad day for the whole let’s be healthy thing.  We had great day with friends though.  We had a cook out with our closest friends from church and enjoyed some time hanging out and talking. Everyone brought something delish to share and we had a feast.  I ate some of everything and more of some things.  I couldn’t even tell you really how much I ate of anything.  Yeah that’s bad I know.  But I did exercise.  I went for a quick family bike ride and enjoyed the finish of our day.  Here are a few pictures of our day!!

Weigh in Week Two

I have been at this for a whole week now; I have walked every single day and counted every calorie that has entered my mouth.  My Nikes have logged 15.29 miles since 5/17/1013.  I have been doing my best to drink enough water and I have also introduced probiotics to my diet. 

 

Bust: 51 in

Waist 51 in

Hips: 54 in.

Arm: 15in.

Thigh: 31in (-2 in.)

Weight: 256.8

 

There have been no major changes to my body yet but I am feeling so much better.  I have more energy and a much better attitude (hooray for endorphins).  My muscles are no longer protesting nearly as much.  I am finding I am really enjoying my time out walking the trail and watching how excited Alivia gets to go out with me.    I am getting more endurance every day and walking farther.  I am going to give it another week at my new calorie levels (2,000 for those who missed my “Let’s do the Math” post) and if nothing changes then my calorie intake will change.  I am slightly discouraged, not gonna lie. Here are my pictures for this week in my awesome new workout gear!

And here a few fun pics of me and Liv from our walk today... The faces were her idea

What are you Wearing?

Alright friends let’s talk about what we wear when we work out.  I never thought much about the clothes I wore to get sweaty and gross in other than I wanted them to light weight and easy to move in and usually big and baggy simply because if I feel crappy enough about the way I look to work out then I definitely don’t want anything I am going to have feel skinny in!!!  I never put much stock in the clothes that were supposed to wick away moisture, I figured you were going to sweat either way and by the end of a good work out you would be gross. 

Well….I WAS WRONG!!! 

What you wear has everything to do with your workout.  The clothes that are designed for working out are amazing for working out!!   It was a lovely 80 degrees yesterday and I walked 3 and ½ miles without feeling disgusting, I didn’t feel the need to stop and take a breather or the overwhelming feeling that my clothes were weighing me down.  I felt cool and comfortable.  to top it off it makes me feel a little more athletic and kind of cute!! 

You should truly consider investing in some proper clothes if you plan on sticking it out with the exercise. My husband I am are always working on a tight budget and I know that these extras are expensive but you don’t have to go and buy under armor I got my stuff from Wal-Mart and couldn’t be happier with how well it worked!   I got three shirts for $3.00 each (thank you clearance rack) and two pairs of capris for about $12.00 apiece.  I know I am probably the only person who didn’t know this already but just in case there are any fellow fatties out there I thought I would share my amazing revelation about work clothes!!

Green

Green is my favorite color (just about any shade).  Green is another name for money.  Green is a way of life the helps keep the earth clean.  Green is the color of food I should be eating!  I am going to talk about two of those things today. 

Being a Christian I believe we called to be good swards of the earth.  It was gift God created for us to live in and we should treat it with respect and love.  Now I am not a crazy tree hugging, burlap wearing, all organic eating, earth loving person but I do try to do things that are earth friendly.  We buy the compact florescent bulbs that use less energy, and try to buy natural and organic food when our budget allows, we reuse and repurpose everything we can, and we also try to use things until they are literally worn out.  We donate things instead of throwing them out.  One of the benefits of being green  is that you find a little more green in your wallet at the end of the day… always a plus right!?!?  Well today I tried out a few new “green” cleaners with amazing result!! 

The first thing on my list was a use anywhere on anything around the kids type of cleaner.  Let me tell you it cleaned up peanut butter smeared all over my dinning room table without a greasy residue, after that I was sold.  Would you like to know how to make it?  Yeah I thought so so here is my recipe:

1/2 tsp dish soap

1 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp white vinegar

2 cups water

3 drops essential oil

Gently mix it up in a spray bottle  spray the surface, wipe down, with a cloth and go on your marry way.  (to be really green you could rescue an empty bottle of cleaner and properly relabel it)

Second was a toilet cleaner, those are some of my least favorite chemicals to use because they are so harsh and terrible smelling!  I loved the results with my greener cleaner and it did not require copious amounts of ventilation.  Here is the recipe:

¼ c white vinegar with 10 drops of essential oils added

 (the oil simply helps the vinegar to smell fresh and less vinegary if the small doesn’t bother you then by all mean skip the oils!!)

 

½ c baking soda

Sprinkle the baking soda in the toilet add the vinegar mixture and scrub with a toilet brush!! Great, quick, clean results!

The third one I tried out was a floor cleaner!!  This recipe is for a bucket of water but I made up two batches of, it store it in a container and just put a tablespoon into my libman spray mop with warm water. 

1/4 cup dish soap

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup lemon juice

10 drops essential oil

{add to bucket of hot water}

 

Leave a comment and let me know what you do in your house to be a little greener and be a good steward of the gift God gave us. 

Let's Do Some Math

This whole weight loss thing isn’t just about being skinnier.  I want to be a healthier person.  I have been doing some research after looking at the scale and doing some reading.  I was curious to see just how many calories my body would burn if I did nothing but lay around all day.  I found out some interesting information.  Every pound of fat is worth about 3,500 calories.   Everyone has a BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which is how many calories your body burns simply by keeping your heart pumping, digesting the food you eat, and filling your lungs with air.  My BMR is somewhere around 2,100 calories.  Depending on the site you go to you will get different answers so I did a few and averaged it.  Everyone all has a TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) which is how many calories your body burns by keeping you alive and helping you with your daily activities such as walking around ect…   My TDEE is about 3,000 calories when you add in my daily walks. 

 

Now that I know this information I think I will be upping my daily calorie intake just a bit.  If my body burns 2,100 calories by living then eating only 1,500 calories is not enough fuel to keep my body breathing which means that it will not be likely to let go of any extra fat I have hanging around.  My body will become just like one of those people on hoarders.  It’s not a pretty sight!! 

 

Let’s do some math… If one pound of fat is 3,500 calories then I need to eat that many calories less a week to lose one pound a week.  If I eat only my BMR (2,100 calories) each day and I know that my TDEE is 3,000 calories then I am eating 900 calories less than my body burns each day.  That makes my grand total of burned calories each week (7days) 6,300.  That should be a 2 pound weight loss each week.  That is what I’m talking about!!  Now add in some exercise and I should see real results!!

DUH! And a Day of Rest

 

Today Michael, Alivia and I went to Butler Springs Christian Camp for their annual open house.  I ate terrible.  I ate like a normal person.  I had Special K cereal with skim milk for breakfast, lunch was on the run and I had a quarter pounder meal with a large sweet tea from McDonald's, dinner was a hotdog with bun chips and a two scoops of blue moo cookie dough ice cream from UDF (I figured if I was being bad why not just be bad all way).  Oh and I can't forget I didn't take a walk today.  I did walk at a leisurely pace around the camp but nothing like what I normally would do.  I have come to the conclusion that it is no wonder I'm a fatty.  I had one of those oh duh moments!!! I ate like that on a semi regular basis taking in that many calories.   They add up really fast when you aren't thinking about it.  Here is a screen shot of my completed entry in my fitness pal for today.... Uhg!!! 

Tomorrow will better... It has to be. Here are a few shots of our family fun!! 

New Workout Clothes and Motivation

We took a 3 mile family walk this morning. Michael tried to kill me with a crazy huge death hill first thing off but the rest of the walk was very enjoyable.  There is this really great bike/walking trail that runs right next to my house and I love love love to walk there.  I have seen all kinds of local  wild life.  Alivia more often than not walks rides along with me on walks, when we walk along the trail if she decides she wants to get out she run, walk, skip and explore without me having to worry about her getting hit by a car.  I hope that by walking on the trail where she has the opportunity do these things she will love coming with me and I will be able to instill in her the importance of exercise and being healthy, it will become a part of daily life and she will never find herself where I have found myself.  She is my motivation. 

 

My sweet husband also decided that some new workout clothes would help me stay motivated.  I think mostly he didn’t want to see me running around in baggy old t-shirts and more though.  Whatever the reason I really appreciate his support. 

 

Who is your support, and motivation?  What makes you get off the couch or track everything that goes into your mouth?

Weigh in Week One

So today is the day that I get down and dirty and share with you my measurements.  Yeah, not so excited about that at all, my husband doesn’t even know how much I weigh.   Yet I find myself sharing with you these tid bits of information.  Deep breath…. And…. AHHHHHHHHHH.  Okay here I  go.

 

Bust: 49 in.

Waist: 51 in.

Hips: 54 in.

Arm: 15 in.

Thigh: 33 in.

Weight: 256.4

 

Okay so these are the last time you are going to see those numbers on this screen…EVER!   (as long as I don’t go on a starving binge like today and eat half of my days allowance of calories in one meal…. uhg new habits are hard to make)

 

I guess I will give you the 411 on what I am doing and not doing as far as weight loss.  I am using the My Fitness Pal app to track my calories, water and exercise.  I am using the Map My Walk app to track my speed, distance, and calories burned.  I am trying to eat somewhere around 1,500 calories a day give or take.  I eat more on days that I burn more.  I am trying to walk daily increasing my distance each day and my pace.  Oh yeah and I guess as promised here is my official before shot. 

A Flaire for the Dramatic

Now that Alivia is old enough to play pretend I really enjoy listening to the things that she comes up with.    Today she was playing with Luc in the house area of our play room.  The baby they were playing with was apparently being very very naughty.   They kept tell her no, and not nice, and placing her in time out.  It then escalated to spanking the baby I sat and watched and listened for a while.  Eventually I asked them to please use kind words and be nice to the baby.  But soon enough everything went back to the way of the dramatic.  I know at their age much of what they see they mirror in play.   I wonder how Alivia sees her relationship with me?  Does she see me as only the person who disciplines and fusses at her?  I know that cannot be completely true because I am the first person she calls for when she has fallen down and hurt herself.  I also am the preferred person to snuggle up with on the couch.  My thoughts then wonder if maybe we as humans just run towards the dramatic.  Is it part of our sin nature?  Is a story still a great story if there is only happy?  Would the three little pigs be a frequently told story if there was no big bad wolf?  What about Goldie Locks?  What if she woke up and left house before the bears ever got home?  Just some thoughts.

I seem to be doing battle with myself daily.  Some things are worth the fight some are not and I usually end up loosing the battle any way so why fight?  I am naturally proned to be bigger than anyone else.  I always have been.  I was 5’5” in the fifth grade and wearing ladies clothing.  I have always had a poor self-image and felt like I stuck out no matter what I did so why even bother trying to be like everyone else?  Well now it has nothing to do with fitting in or being like everyone else it now has to do with my family.  Michael and I want to have another kid when we have insurance.  While I was pregnant with Alivia I always had borderline high blood pressure and was watched very very closely my entire pregnancy with two overnight stays to be monitored.  I was eventually induced on my due date because my doctor thought it would be better to safe than sorry.  Well my induction led to almost 24 hours of labor and a C section afterwards.  Which lead to postpartum complications, which lead to a longer hospital stay, which lead to a whole slew of problems which lead to difficulties being a mom. I WANT TO AVOID ALL OF THAT!  I am starting my journey to become a better mom. I want to be the kind of mom that is able to chase my kids and play at the park with them and walk around the zoo all day.  I will be doing a weekly weigh in and picture, talking about my journey and just sharing my life.  As of right now I am watching my calorie intake and trying to exercise daily.  My ultimate goal is lose 100 pounds total.   But right now I am just looking to get my body healthy and happy.