5/11/09 Re-Introduction and thoughts on where I'm headed

I honestly don't remember if I ever posted an introduction to who I am so here it goes.

On here for those who are reading me from all over the world I will go by B. I am on a weight loss journey that I feel I have been on for most of my adult life. My goal is to get to a happy and healthy status where I am able to go and do and be a role model for my daughter and to be an amazing partner to my husband. I am a wife to the most amazingly supportive man who I will be calling D on here. He is on this journey with me and maybe someday soon I can convince him to let me share his story on here because it is always an inspiration to me. I am Mommy to an amazing little girl whose nickname is Roo and has been since before she was born. I am also a work out of the home mom who faces the challenge daily of how to find a balance of family, health, and work.

I was married in July of 05 at Walt Disney World specifically Sunset Pointe for those that know the world. :) I was at my most recent lightest weight then. After the wedding I did manage to lose about 5 more pounds and got to 145 where I plateaued before the gain. Life got stressful with D having to find a new job, a new house, deaths in the family, and then of course the biggest life change finding out we were having Roo. I vowed to stay healthy through my pregnancy and in the first trimester I gained sooooooo much weight it wasn't funny. I was in the doctors office in tears with my food journal of everything I was eating and I was like LOOK it's salad, and veggies, and correct portion sizes, and and and I found out that some women just gain weight when they're pregnant no matter what. *sigh*

In July of 07 our little Roo was born and the journey to lose was on except for the fact that I was not one of the women who lost weight while breastfeeding ok I actually exclusively pumped but I held onto my weight. I knew I was a slow loser but man that was ridiculous. As soon as I finished pumping when Roo was 13 months old I was like all right here we go and the journey began in August of 08. I was focused, dedicated, and ready to see the scale move.

I was still waiting in December when I went to see the doctor because I was having serious intestinal issues. I was in massive pain, I wasn't losing weight, and something was not right. I was tested for gallbladder and thyroid and the results for both came back normal. I was happy but not because something was not right. It was at that point that I 100% focused on making our lifestyle change and sticking to it. I knew I was going to switch doctors and I wanted to be able to tell my new one everything I had tried in hopes of finding the solution. So D and I began our Body for Life eating again which is the eating plan we still follow. We also started working out at least 5 times a week instead of 3 which is what we had been doing. We also got Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and in January we made it 25 days before I got sick. That was 25 days straight..........

I lost 6 lbs from January to late March which was great but aggravating because I was pushing myself. During this time I was also trying to find a new doctor and was reading up on all sorts of possible reasons I was having so much trouble and I found the answer. I chewed sugarless gum whenever I was bored, wanted to snack, or had just eaten so I could clean my mouth out and I am apparently allergic or have an intolerance to sorbitol or xyrithol. I stopped and went WHOA as I thought back to all the times I had been in so much pain and had trouble and compared it to when I wasn't and every single time it was because I had started chewing gum again. And the most recent time I started having trouble was when I switched brands and flavors. So you will never see me suggest that you chew sugarless gum for that quick sugary fix because I have found that's not a solution it's trouble!

So also around the time I figured out what my stomach issues were I was hearing about new workout programs that I wanted to try and new gadgets that I had to have. April started a new me plan when I got my Go Wear Fit (www.gowearfit.com) I was able to see the numbers of calories I was burning and ummm at first I was in shock. It became a challenege to meet my daily goals and it is a challenge that has really seen me through so far because in April I lost 6.8 lbs! I was also doing Power 90 and starting the p90x (www.beachbody.com) workout systems. Yes I am working through both programs although more focus is given to p90x as it challenges me more and is longer and has more variety.

So that brings me to today and the reason I am making changes to what I do. I have found so much inspiration in so many different people that I wanted to find a way to give back and try to be inspirational to those who might stumble across this blog. I have been brainstorming different directions to take because at the end of the day this is still my weight loss blog and it is my journal of where I was to where I am going but I want to fill it with more information and more ideas of what I do and hope that maybe somehow and in some way somebody else can use that as they are on their own journey whatever type of journey that might be.

My main idea is that each day I will have a different topic and each week will cycle through them.

Mondays will be working out with the family. How I get my workouts in and get time with the family. I will talk about different games and activities that we do and I will be searching for more!
Tuesdays will be finding a fitness article and reviewing it (as well as sharing the link to the source)
Wednesday will be a review of a weight loss article.
Thursdays will be finding a new workout video or exercise on the internet and trying it out and reviewing it.
Fridays will be a family recipe as in a recipe that kids can help you fix that is healthy and yummy!
Saturdays will be trying a new recipe and my review.
Sundays will be a reflection of the week and if any big news is out there or a review on a workout video, etc.....Essentially Sundays will be a grab bag LOL!

I will still have my daily journal and my personal reflections as I go through this journey because I am not at goal yet and even when I get to my goal I want to push forward and excel.

I am on this journey to get healthy and to stay healthy and I want to share how I got there with everyone.

January Goals

My goals for January are:

25 hours of cardio
7 hours of weight lifting

I plan on doing Jillians Shred video daily. I want to incorporate other videos such as my biggest loser workout series videos in on a rotating basis but the Shred video will be my do it daily for the month of January no matter what and no excuses.

I would love to get 209 workouts in 2009 but we'll see how life happens with that one.

My diet goals are:

To plan a menu that we stick with each week. There might be substitutions made in case an ingredient goes bad or something like that but overall the menu that we set on Saturday will be the menu we stick with for the week.

Ok so I have fitness goals set, and diet goals set what about weight goals?

I am not going to set any weight goals because I know my body and I know that I don't lose normally and I do not want to get frustated this early in the game. I know that weight will come off and I will be weighing in weekly but I will not get frustrated when the numbers do not move.

A little about me to start

Weight has always been an issue in my life. In High School I fought to lose the pounds and was successful on slim fast and strict diet. It all went kaput in college when I gained the Freshman 50. I wised up real fast and got back on the bandwagon again and started losing.

During a bad relationship I was told that I was fat even though I was at the smallest size I had ever been (a size 6) and when the relationship ended I gained weight again.

When I met my husband I was working on losing weight, actually not really I was working on changing my lifestyle. I tried Jenny Craig, Weightwatchers, Slim Fast again, and when I was home sick one day I heard someone on the news talking about Body for Life. I really bought into what was being said and went out that day to buy the book. When my husband got home I showed him and after he read it he said let's do it. Life changed at that point and the weight came off.

When I got married I was happy at the size I was although I was still losing. Body for life does not focus on just diet but rather incorporates fitness and diet and shows how the combination of the two brings about a healthier life style. I was so beyond happy with how I was eating, working out, and feeling that I vowed to stick with the program.

Then the year came that I got pregnant. I followed the general principles of the program while I was pregnant and vowed to get back into it 100% as soon as the baby was here. Yeah that didn't exactly happen. I was no longer able to go to the gym for an hour after work as I wanted to get home to spend time with the family.

This year we bought a home gym and although I have been using it I have not been focusing on using it like it was intended to be.

2009 is my year and I am going to make some serious changes in life.

Each month I am going to challenge myself fitness wise to a certain number of hours per month of cardio and weights. I am going to do cardio everyday because I know it's what works, I know it's what helps, and I know it's what is going to get my body back to where I am happy with it and don't mind looking in the mirror or trying on clothes again.

Diet wise I am back on the body for life bandwagon. 6 small meals a day sound like HEAVEN right now. My food scaled has been ordered and I am ready to focus on this again. My husband is back on the wagon as well. We are both going to make 2009 our year.

I am not going to set a weight goal because I don't lose weight fast. It is a very long tedious process to see the numbers on the scale start to move down. I usually see inches fall off much sooner and I am so ready for that!

We're not starting in 2009 though, we're starting today as today is the first day of the rest of our lives.