Exercise success!

Good job to Aubrey for her weight loss. I can't imagine trying to exercise with 8 children, including a new baby. Anything negative is worth celebrating since it's all on the path of making us feel better.

I had a moment last week to be proud of, so I took a picture to prove it. (Unfortunately Blogger isn't letting me upload it! :( I'll have to try again later.)

In any case, I had quite the excuse not to exercise (house in more chaos than ever), but I did anyway! I wasn't able to do tons, but you don't need much space to get moving. I have a workout video that has intervals, so I did it. And I felt great for overcoming difficult circumstances.

This morning I was soooo tempted to call Gwen to cancel (just so darn tired!), but I went anyway. I love how I feel after I exercise, especially when I push myself to do it when I REALLY don't want to or push myself farther than I really am comfortable.

Needless to say, last week I am -2 from my start weight, but with my stress I'm a yo-yo these days ... but negative is good (for now)!

I'll post the picture of my poor, pathetic family room space (or lack thereof) later when blogger is working correctly ...

it's a start

I lost two pounds. I am happy with that. I am trying not to think about how much I have to lose. It is so much and I don't want to become overwhelmed. That is why I liked Gwen's focus for this blog. Let's just get under 200. It's a good place to start.

I am having a hard time with my cheat meal. It is turning into a cheat weekend. I don't think I can go long term without having a yummy meal to look forward to, but can I control it? Something for me to keep working on.

I am still really sore and dealing with aches. It makes it hard to want to work out. Walking is where I am at and I have to be patient. I don't think I will be able to do a more vigorous workout until I can get some more sleep.

I am going to focus on matenance this week with all the travel and holiday stuff. Portion sizes will be a good focus.

Good luck to all of us and Happy 4th!

-1

This week was hard. I found myself grabbing a handful of bar b que chips her and there, snacking on some sugar cookies that I made for Jarrett for fathers day, and the worst I kept picking at a cake that my grandma forced me to bring home on Sunday. The cake was my major downfall. I find it very difficult to resist a pan of any kind of goodies when it is in the house. So far I have avoided this temptation by simply not making any treats. This is not a realistic approach because I know that through the years we will have treats in the house. I never really have an entire peice at a time, just a sliver here and a sliver there until I realize I probably would of been better of just eating a peice in the first place. It is my goal to learn how to get over this particular obstacle.

Exercise was also harder this week than it has been. My knees are starting to hurt, and I felt all together more tired than usual. I figure my body is past the point of loving the attention I have been giving it, and like most things that get too much attention it is backing off. (Sounds like some of my post mission dating.) I tried a core workout that I DVR'd on TV. I only lasted about ten minutes because it involved a lot of sit ups on the floor. The girl even sat indian style and then held her enitre body up with the palms of her hands, obviously she weighs like nothing to be able to do that. Does any body have a favorite workout video to get me started with the strenght training? I tried one once at my moms that used an exercise ball and I loved it, maybe I will go buy one for myself.

I'm happy with my one pound. It keeps me motivated to re focus myself this coming week. My current weight is 233, and I have lost one percent in body fat over the last three weeks. I wasn't so great at keeping the food journal, it's hard to know how many calories a fork full of cake has. I'm glad to see Jenn has rejoined, I was about to call her and see what is up.

On a personal note. I am taking Kylee to the pool tomorrow for her Birthday party. Being in a swimsuit is a personal trial. I hate it, but I do love the water and making my little girl happy. Next year I plan on looking great in my swimsuit, oh yeah!!! I will not pick at the birthday cake, I will not pick at the birthday cake, I will not pick at the birthday cake.
Happy lifestyle changing this week!!!

I'm baaack

Sorry I've not been posting. Gwen, you're doing awesome. Aubrey and Denise I feel your pain. My mother in law was in town 2 weekends ago and even though she is a raw vegan (eats sprouts and stuff that I can't consider nourishment) she brings bad eating with her every time she comes. For 3 days we ate out every meal except breakfast. And even though we tried to go places with healthy choices-like Zupas- she ordered one of every dessert they had, including the fondue! This was not good for any of us, especially my parents who are both diabetic! I felt like crap after she left, luckily before she came I got in 3 days of exercise. And last week after she left I got on the treadmill 3 days. I feel pretty good to just have maintained through all this. Last Friday was my last day of work, so now I should be able to get up at a decent hour and exercise. I did my treadmill yesterday and have been eating better. (Protein shake for breakfast, sugar-free smoothie as an after work-out snack, salad for lunch and veges, lean protein and brown rice for dinner. Sounds boring, but this is the menu that worked for me before.) Hopefully I can lose a couple pounds this week. I've only got 2 months to get weight off before I try and get pregnant again. Hope this works! Good luck to you all-keep working hard. It's not easy but you'll feel so much better because of it.

What is it with stress?

I'm going to blame stress on my lack of results thus far.

Last year I helped a friend with a vigorous project for several days and lost 5 pounds. Awesome! Then I started cutting out after-dinner snacks and lost another 5 pounds. Then I started exercising and lost another 5 pounds. I was doing great.

And then I got lazy. I stopped exercising, I slowly went back into eating nighttime snacks, and I gained back all 15 pounds in just a couple of months. What's up with that?

So, I've started to do some of these things again, but my weight just isn't budging. I'll lose a pound here and there, just to regain it back. No, I haven't honed in my eating, and I'm not sure I really can until I get my kitchen back in 2-3 weeks. (In the meantime we're ordering pizza at least 1x per week and doing what we can with as little effort as possible, which usually = unhealthy.) I have cut out anything after dinner. I have been exercising more and more vigorously. Yet I'll lose a pound or two only to gain it right back. What's up with that?

All I can figure is that the stress is holding onto my body fat. That and the whole ketones thing I mentioned earlier since it's hard to eat regularly without a kitchen. Who knew one little room in your house affected so much?!? We've just finished an adoption, have had more drama with MIL, and are doing an addition. Stress, stress, and more stress ...

But I'll enjoy Gwen's success and stick with my efforts in hopes that when I have my kitchen back and can hone in on the eating the pounds will fall off ... I like positive reinforcement and encouragement, and that's exactly what I'm getting from Gwen, so thank you!

Am I ready?

Gwen,

Respectively, if social pressure worked we would all be thin after going to the pool and seeing the cute moms in bikinis. Or going to high school prom, or being married in a plus size dress. :)

I am not trying to be negative, I am just trying to figure this out for the long term. Look at Oprah. The queen of yo-yo dieting. With all the money and support she still hasn't got this down for good. Which, by the way, I just saw that they have come out and said that yo-yo dieting isn't bad for you. This was backed by solid research. I always thought that getting thin at times was better than just staying big.

I know how easy it is to have some success and look around and want everyone right there with you. I remember when I lost 50 pounds and was under 200, I was shopping and looking at people's butts and thinking how gross they were. Oh the cockiness!

I am now at a place where I know that this is all about personal readiness. No one can make you do it. I have tried to put my husband in charge of me. About the time I growled at him for telling me that I shouldn't eat something, he said never again. Everytime I get together with my thin sisters and my thin mother and thin aunt, my weight and happiness comes up. I just cannot be happy with all this weight on me. Life would be so much better and it really is about my health. They love me and only say somegthing because they want me here for a long time. My kids need me (no one in my family wants to raise 8 kids!). Tell me something I don't know. We all have all the best reasons in the world to lose the weight.

That being said, it will always be the very biggest struggle of my life. I have a strong sense of self. I think it is something I came with. I am able to love myself with all the weight. I KNOW I am a good person.

I am going to start my food journal on Monday. I will post the truth about my + or - the following Monday. I will try to have something great to report. Good luck to everyone else. And Gwen, keep on posting the GREAT results. You should love every minute of your success and celebrate yourself.

Ketones

So, now that Gwen pointed out how bad it is to eat too few calories, I thought I'd mention a little something here about ketones. I honestly think the way I got overweight in the first place is that I messed up my metabolism by skipping lunch in middle school. I wanted to keep my lunch money, so I either ate nothing, or bought a candy bar to spend only half as much. Brilliant, huh?

This slowed my metabolism to the point that I gained weight very easily. In fact, my mom wondered if I had thyroid problems since I didn't eat any more than any of the other kids and gained more weight than they did. She even took me to the doctor to check it out, but of course found nothing wrong.

Anyway, I don't know how many of you are familiar with ketones, but I learned about them when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes. Ketones are substances that are made when the body breaks down fat for energy. Normally, your body gets the energy it needs from carbohydrates in your diet. However, stored fat is broken down and ketones are made if your diet does not contain enough carbohydrates to supply the body with sugar (glucose) for energy or if your body cannot use blood sugar (glucose) properly. This is the whole "your body thinks it's starving" idea -- your body uses the fat that's there. Sounds great, right? Not so. It slows down your metabolism.

In any case, I was SHOCKED to find out how quickly ketones are present in your body -- at least how quickly they were in my body during pregnancy. I had to pee on ketosticks every morning (which you can buy from any pharmacy without a prescription), and it would turn to whatever color based on the amount of ketones in my urine. If I had none, it was the color on the left. If I had minor amounts, it was still to the left. To the right were the darker, more dangerous colors meaning there were more ketones in my urine.

So, if I was an hour late eating a meal during pregnancy, I had ketones in my urine the next day. ONE HOUR!!! I'm still really bad at eating at regular intervals, and I think that's why I continue to struggle in losing weight. I know once I get in the habit of eating my meals and snacks regularly, my fat will fall off more quickly. Just a thought I hope is useful to all of you.

-3

Drum roll please... if you have been keeping track that is 15lbs. total that I have lost. O K girls I am so excited to be able to say that, but my celebration is bitter sweet. I want everyone to be having success, and so far, well let's just say I'm speechless. I want to be able to give wonderful words of encouragement to inspire everyone, but I sort of feel like I'm on a bragging spree when I post, which is so not me. It's hard to lose weight, I am so painfully aware of that, but that is what we have all expressed the desire to do. I don't want to sound like I am chastising any one, because if you know me I am all about the sweet(personality, that is). This week I encourage all of you to look into your life and pick one thing that is going to help you this week be able to post some sort of negative loss. My goal is to keep a food journal. I have been looking at labels recently when I am about to eat, and trying to count calories in a very broad sense, trying to make sure my measurements are equal to a serving. I've decided to start writing it down so I can see exactly how many calories I am consuming. Some days I worry that I have gone overboard on limiting myself to too few calories, and I am curious to find out by keeping track. In the long run I know that limiting yourself, and consuming not enough to fuel your body can have it's bad side. Here's the thing, I think people in general, myself included start losing a few pounds and then they are like "Wow maybe if I eat a little less then I will lose even more, faster" If any one watches the Biggest Loser like I do then you will know that the players always get into trouble when they start feeling this way. I've heard that keeping a food journal greatly increases your odds of succeeding. This same trick is used in budgeting. When you have a visual of how much you eat then you can look back and adjust where needed. It's going to be a lifestyle change, and it's a hard one to make. Aubrey and I have had the discussion of whether or not it's possible to be that women who orders the healthy meal instead of the gooey cheesy dish. How much we currently love the way we eat. I was watching Valerie Bertanelli on The Doctors this week, and she said that her best suggestion is to ask your self "Is my body worth it, is my health worth it" whenever she is faced with a temptation. Really is that chocolate cake going to do me the good I need in the long run. They also looked at common snacks and what their calorie and nutritional value is. How many of us grab a handful of potato chips a few times during the day, or a big helping at lunch. For Valerie it was jalapeno poppers. They showed in comparison that you could eat almost an entire table worth of fresh fruits and veggies for the same calories as a plate full of chips. I don't have to tell you about the nutritional differences, I'm sure you all get the picture. So in answer to the discussion Aubrey and I had about whether or not it is possible to be that women and change our eating habits, I say yes it is, and ask myself" Is my body worth it, is my health worth it?" It will be hard, and we will allow ourselves cheats here and there, lets just make sure they are few and far between. Having said that I cheated yesterday at my Aunts funeral and ate some yummy potatoes and the most delicious piece of chocolate cake. Maybe they tasted extra good because I knew it was only for that day, and I wouldn't cheat again for awhile. And I still lost weight. I had originally thought about naming this blog "I can do it, and you can do it, lets lose the weight together". There you are, I have been doing it, please be inspired to do it too. Leave a comment on what your goal will be this week, a goal that you know should help you to take off at least one pound this week.
(Gwen steps off her high horse) Good luck in the coming week, I love all of you for helping me make it this far, you really do make it possible for me to want this as much as I do.
New gym shoes $60.00
Workout video $20.00
Treadmill $700.00
Your support Priceless

Okay, I just found out another friend had gastric bypass and she looks amazing. Skinny-minnie. She said she knows that it is just a tool and that she has to change for good or gain the weight back. She also said she feels great and is less tired. I wonder again, is this what I need? I honestly don't know the answer. Can I take the risk when I have eight kids? Will I die much younger if I don't get the weight off? Life is hard sometimes.

I am not doing so good with eating. I want fast food. I want quick and easy and warm and yummy. I am tired. I am achy. Whine, whine, whine. :)

To be positive, I did go walking tonight. But another setback. I have had many times over the years times when I am walking or running and my legs start itching like crazy. I have to stop and get in the bath immediately. It is not just a little itch from sweat. I found out it is an allergic reaction. More research has been done and they have found it is an allergy that manifests when working out. I did take ibuprofen and all my vitamins, including cranberry pills, right before I went running. The article I read said ibuprofen is a common problem. It can cause you to pass out and can be very serious. But when it is itching that bad, you can't keep going. Anyway, I am going to pay attention to what I eat and meds and time it right and see if that works.

I won't give up, even if I have to slow down right now. Change is always possible and hope is always there.

Vitamin update ...

I have had a crazy busy week, so my exercise and healthy eating haven't been the best. I remain at my starting weight, which is up 2 pounds from two weeks ago. Sigh. My celebratory dinner at Olive Garden and brownies afterward just weren't a great idea the day before weigh-in day. (However, completing our adoption was sure reason to celebrate! :)

In any case, I did do a LOT better at taking my vitamins.



The result? I am AMAZED at the difference they make. I didn't even remember to take them every day, and yet I started waking up 10-15 minutes before my alarm went off. This from a person who HATES mornings. I have NEVER been a morning person, and yet I have been awake every morning before my alarm went off feeling ready for the day. Here I am before 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning posting this. Seriously, go to Costco and get these vitamins!!!

My goal for this week is to eat healthier. I started last night by passing on a shake ... I lose my kitchen this week to our remodel, so hopefully that won't hinder my healthy eating TOO much!

I am trying so hard to stay positive and motivated. We have all had a stomach bug. Luckily it hasn't turned into vomiting yet, just the other fun stuff. The baby is spitting up/vomiting though. I am feeling so weak and tired. I have an autoimmune disease and I either get sick more often than everyone else or it hits me harder. It is so hard to tackle life when I feel like this. I have just been playing catch up whenever I start feeling good, but I have had to slow down in so many areas of my life. Hard for me to do, because I love getting things done. I have also not eaten so well this week. I have been thinking about gastric bypass. It is so tempting. A woman in my ward had it done and went from a 26/28 to a size 10 in a year. She is now doing triathalons. It makes me wonder, is that what would work for me. Money is tight and that has held me back so far. But maybe we could finance it if is the answer. Then I think of all the stories I have heard of people dying. I would rather do this on my own, I just get scared that I can't sometimes. I am trying to focus on small steps. Let's hope next week is better.

-2

This week I lost 2lbs. How do I feel about this? Great!! It doesn't compare to my 5 lb. week, but I knew that I would slow down a bit after that first initial loss, but I am happy with 2 lbs. This week the temptations came flying at me from all sides. My sister Danielle was here from Cedar City from Thursday to Monday. There is something about my mom's house and my family that can get me eating. This is so unfair because the rest of my family somehow manages to stay thin. On Friday night we decided to have a girls night in and late night for our daughters. Danielle's idea was to have a dessert night and have all types of yummy delicious tempting foods. I talked her out of that one. Her next suggestion was a make your own pizza dinner, this I could work with. I remember a great little suggestion from Biggest Loser I think, you make your pizza on a whole wheat pita or flat bread wrap. I will share my recipe at the end. Danielle still managed to sneak in some treats by playing the candy bar game, I'm proud to say I did not have a candy bar. My mom made cake, and as good as it smelled I went to the freezer and had a Skinny Cow truffle bar instead. The next night was a BBQ for my grandma's 75 birthday. I did eat a hamburger, but filled the rest of my plate with veggies. There was a wonderful salad called a cookie salad with pudding and cool whip and all sorts of fattening things. Funny thing is I didn't even see it until my sister asked me if I had tried it. I will admit to eating one tiny little piece of birthday cake. Family get togethers have always been a weakness for me. All the wonderful foods in one place just waiting to be tried, and usually a table devoted just for desserts. Things have got to change and I think I started in the right direction this weekend. One last note, I slacked a little on my sprints this week, I just wasn't feeling it, but I promise to repent and get back on track this week. I think they really do help. Oh and one more last thing, C.J. and I went to lunch on Monday and we shared nachos, probably not the best food choice, but we did have fun.
Good Luck to everyone this week. I'm glad Aubrey found the time to join us in posting, she amazes me with what a great mom (eight children WOW) she is. I'm happy for Jenn that Paul got a new job that is benefiting her in more than one way, and for the support she receives from her husband. I promise Denise that we will work harder on being able to make it 3 times a week for sure, even if it means going a little earlier before our husbands leave to work!?!?
P.S. if you know of anyone else who would like to join us have them send me an email at gwenmauldin@yahoo.com

Pizza
1 FlatOut bread (I've tried the whole wheat and sundried tomato, I prefer the whole wheat)
Small amount of pizza sauce
Sprinkling of cheese
Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Peppers, Onions, Spinach (pretty much any veggie you want)
Minced Garlic (optional)

Bake in over at 425 for 7 minutes

Starting Over AGAIN...

Okay ladies, I am headed to get on my treadmill this morning. I always find Mondays good days to start over. With my husband starting his new job today, and my being able to give my notice now, I feel energized and motivated. I'm going to walk MWF this week (with the intervals) and get out the P90X (best kick your butt workout on DVD)and do the beginner version TR. Wish me luck. I'm glad I'll be home and not working until midnight anymore and hopefully can get back at least to my pre-work body. FYI-I'm currently at 188:(. Also, my hubby is on board with me as he has gained back some weight and the DR wants to put him back on diabetes meds. (He was previously diabetic, but lost a lot of weight and reversed it). Wish us both luck.

Okay, I am making myself stop and write this. I just had my eighth (yes, I said eighth) baby a month ago. I have all eight children home for the summer. I am nursing every two to three hours. I am also in the middle of a major whole house organization. On top of that I have to cook from scratch to be able to afford to feed all eight children. Things are a bit crazy right now. I was at my heaviest weight when I got pregnant. I gained 55 pounds. The good news is that 15-20 of that was water. (It was not a fun pregnancy.) I have lost 45 pounds in 4 weeks. So that leaves me 10 pounds heavier than my old highest weight. It is time to get serious. I went to Costco and stocked up on wonderful fruits and veggies. I am walking for one hour with a friend. I am going to work up to doing 45 minutes on the eliptical. I can do this. After being basically immoble for months during this pregnancy, I am ready to gain my body back. I want a body that moves and works. I will do this!

Weekly goal

WOO-HOO with an extra hoo for good measure! (Sorry, an old co-worker said that all the time. :) Way to go Gwen!!! I am so excited for you to be down 10 pounds.

Me, on the other hand ... not so exciting. Between last week and this week no change. I'm thinking Gwen's sprints are a great idea. Too bad I don't have a treadmill, don't want to go to the gym for 10 minutes, and would feel too silly to go running around my neighborhood (although I'm sure it'd give my neighbors a kick).

As for fruits and veggies, I think what Gwen mentioned is why I eat less veggies as well -- most fruits you can eat fresh, but you have prep time with veggies. Back in my single years I ate more veggies because I prepared them all at once -- my roommate and I would get home from the grocery store and prepare all the veggies right then -- wash them off, split them into single-serving bags, etc. Then we could either grab a bag to take for a snack or throw them quickly into a steamer. I've also heard the Steamers bags of veggies are great for lunch -- at least my mom likes 'em. Other than that, I'll take any other suggestions people have to eat more veggies. I sure don't think I'm giving my kids enough ... and it doesn't help that our kitchen is a mess since it will be torn out next week to make way for our new kitchen. (Although I plan to have a fruit bowl on the counter in the new kitchen that will hopefully make me want to snack healthier.)

Anyway, I thought I'd post a weekly goal on this quest for living more healthy. My goal for this week is to start taking my daily multi-vitamins again. I started taking a premium-performance vitamin (from Costco) with fish oil everyday a while ago, and I was amazed by the results. When my hubby told me he could feel a difference when he took them, I actually made fun of him ... until I tried them. No, they don't make me want to jump up and exercise; but they do make me okay getting out of bed. When I don't take them I HATE mornings. When I take them mornings don't seem so bad. That's a good enough reason for me.

And as for fish oil, I don't eat fish (don't like it) and therefore don't get the nutritional benefits from it. I read in prevention years ago that fish oil helps thwart off depression, so I have my hubby take it as well since he has a history of depression. I have gotten about 5 or 6 other people taking these vitamins and fish oil, and all of them also see great results with their energy. Although I think they're great, somehow I have gotten out of the habit of taking them, so that is my goal for this week. That and catching up with Gwen ... :)

-10

I'm down ten pounds!!!! The coolest thing is that my mom's scale was actually correct. I guess I just figured there was no way I had already taken off five pounds since Denise and I started walking, but I had. So the magic number today is 241. That means I lost 5lbs just in the last week since I bought my new scale. It has been a real motivator to see the numbers coming down. Take last night for instance, I couldn't sleep so I was up watching T.V. , disastrous snacking time. Jarrett had some Little Debbie snack brownies, I looked at them and when I saw the calorie count and the small size I put them back in the cupboard. Yeah me!!! I decided it was not worth all the work I put in this week.

This may shock some of you but I have to admit I love veggies and fruits. No, really I do. I guess I should also admit that I pretty much like all food, except for red meats. Eating healthy for me can be easy because I like to eat the healthy stuff. It's the preparation of these said healthy foods that can put me off. Washing,cutting, peeling, if any one has a great idea let me know. It's so much easier to grab a bag of chips and frozen pizza or taquitos. I have also stopped drinking soda. For some people this may not be a great accomplishment, but I have the temptation here every day because it is something my husband is not willing to give up. It comes down to making good daily decisions, which I know is so much easier said than done. I am proud of my self for beginning to do so.

Exercise... the hardest part for me. This week I have been pushing myself a little further each day, and I have found myself smiling as I do it. What??? I don't know what is happening to me. Where is that girl that sat on the couch most of the day? When I first bought my treadmill I was shocked at how out of shape I have allowed myself to become. Going 3 miles an hour was torture. I had a friend (Aubrey) tell me about a short workout that a trainer she had worked with recommended. I had also read about this workout in Prevention magazine. The idea is to walk for 2 minutes at a brisk pace, and then run as fast as you can for 1 minute, then cool down for 2, then start running again. You repeat this as many times as you can or want to. I started out doing only two cycles because I was dying by the end of the second run. Last night I did four cycles and it felt great, difficult but great. I've been doing this in addition to my daily walks in the morning. The great thing about it is it can take less than ten minutes.

I wish you luck in the coming week. I know amazing things have happened for me so far. Maybe my body has been screaming from the inside just waiting for me to help it out, and in return it is saying thank you by giving me some success. I'm scared for that week that it decides to rebel. So I am telling you now body, I will succeed, both for you and me.

P.S. My oldest C.J. told me this week I don't need to be on Biggest Loser because she knows I can do it at home. Awwwh!!!