Stay-At-Home Mom?

There are many days I ask myself if I really am a stay-at-home mom. My oldest is on the verge of graduating from high school and heading to the U.S. Navy early this next Fall. My youngest is going to be a junior in high school and merely TWO YEARS from graduating herself. Hubby works from home most days, but obviously I'm not his mom. hehe

This transition has been perplexing, at best. I'm not sure I am a stay-at-home mom. I guess technically I am a mom, and I do stay at home (not working outside of the house). But when I envision stay-at-home moms, I see powerful women with a kiddo or two running about the house, running errands to and fro with the kids, various craft and educational activities with their children's young budding minds. My days of that are long past. I have young adults, not children. I do stay very active with the high school's Air Force Jr. ROTC program (as both children have been very active within it throughout their high school careers). But that's not all that time consuming MOST days.

Keeping on a schedule is also tough when a lot of the time you're the only one at the house, and you have no vehicle (beyond a bicycle) to run around town. Today was one of those tough days. I woke up later than I wanted. I ate some pineapple and checked email/Facebook/etc...then I watched the news for a while. a couple of hours later I prepared some lunch (leftovers) and worked on some med trans. I found myself suddenly VERY TIRED. So I decided to take a nap. A short 45 minute nap turned into 2.5 hours!! It looked like my day was all but dashed away when I decided to go upstairs and workout with the Kinect. I kept at it for 50 minutes and burned 140 calories between the warm-up, cardio boxing, and Latin dancing.

I truly felt proud of myself for walking up that small flight of stairs and sticking with my commitment to work out. Although I have "plan b" still in place, I want desperately for this to work!! I AM feeling better overall, even if the numbers on the scale aren't moving quickly. The ladies on Facebook in my Six Week Challenge group have been wonderful, also!! But I'm still not sure I qualify as a true "stay-at-home mom." =)

The Little Things

Well, I've had one week of a small gain and one week of a loss. I'm not at even, so I'm quite pleased. I can probably trace back why I had both the success and the moderate "failure," which doesn't make it a failure at all, I suppose.

Yesterday, I worked out twice. Once at home with the xBox 360 Kinect (Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012) and then again at the local rec center. I woke up this morning and was incredibly sore!! I guess usually I would have let that stop me from doing any more activity today, but I sucked it up and went upstairs for another Kinect session this morning. I DO feel slightly better having done so, and I know the soreness will work its way out in time.

 So I sat here, writing my workout and foods down, as hubby jotted off to lunch with a co-worker and thought I'd paint my nails. I chose a bright "hot pink" color as it is indicative of my mood today. I'm happy!

I'm making progress and taking stock of the little things that lift my spirits. The paint on my nails will also help serve as a reminder. When I'm  at the gym, or contemplating skipping my workout altogether, I can look at my hands with their jovial color and remember how I felt today. I like this feeling and I KNOW I'll want to repeat it. 

Isn't it interesting how something so minor as lacquer on fingernails can inspire and keep motivation humming?  Here's to the little things!!

Rewards

Who doesn't love getting rewards? There are so many things we do for ourselves and others, just because. But every now and then, rewarding ourselves for magnificent efforts is a GREAT motivator!!

I've told you about my FitBook, but today I want to go into more detail. This thing has been GREAT!!!! 

 
This is the page where I first addressed rewards in my FitBook. You can make as many goals as you want. The first week I made FAR TOO MANY goals. The next week I scaled it down to a much more reasonable amount. I've yet to cash in on a reward, but this week is looking promising! =) 

When thinking about rewards, you have to be careful. Initially I thought I'd put my reward as a Slurpee from 7-11. Then I thought about the health benefits of that...which of course, are NONE. So I chose instead to interject a little pampering. This week's reward? A facial at a local spa/salon. I got one in January and it was.....FANTASTIC!!!! 

I'm thinking of continuing this trend with my rewards. Each new reward will be a little bit of self-pampering. Maybe a movie, trip to Ulta (my FAVORITE makeup/perfume stop), spa trip, massage, maybe a new PC or xBox game, etc.... Any suggestions?

This is what the wrap up looks like:

I have chosen to go ahead and write down little notes in the margins of the daily pages. Some of them pertain to my mood that day, others are frustrations, etc. I think it will help me overall. 

I've also joined a group on Facebook lately that has a monetary incentive. The reward there is cold hard cash!! You put in $10 and then have a weekly weight in. The person with the most weight lost (percentages) wins the pot! Yay!! 

Do you have a reward that works best for you? Good luck friends!

Plan B

For 2 weeks now I have been working out a lot more (at least 5 days a week) and writing down what I eat in a fitbook. I'm going to give this plan 3 solid months. If I don't see significant results in that time period then I'm going to a bariatric surgeon for a consultation. 

So far I'm actually doing better than I thought I would. The fitbook allows you to make weekly goals and rewards. Week One: walk 2 miles, workout 1 hr minimum, no more than 4 :( during the week. Reward: Professional Manicure. Week Two: Lose 5 lbs, go to the gym in the mornings (missing no more than 3 mornings), no diet drinks or Cokes, water or tea only. Reward: Professional Manicure. Week Three (Current): Lose 5 lbs, miss no more than 2 gym days, no fried foods all week. Reward: Facial at the Spa. I didn't quite make it during weeks 1 and 2 (only missed the 1 hr week one, missed 3 days of gym totally week two). I was THRILLED with my weight loss during week two, though! Yay!! I was down 7.5 LBS!!! I had to look at the scale twice to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

I think my success this go around, I know its still early, is the fact that I don't feel alone. My hubby has been going to the gym with me. I think another added benefit is that I feel as though there is a "plan B" this time. There never was a backup plan in the past, it was just "do this and succeed!" I'm still going to give this my all, regardless of any other plans. 

Looking forward to continued success and enjoying that Spa Facial this next week. 

Step into my office....

So I've "struggled" with my weight for years, I know you've all heard this before. I've watched the scales creep up pound by pound. I've recommitted myself to the cause of losing the excess so many times, I've begun to lose count.


Today my husband and I sat on the back porch and he suggested that perhaps it was time to look into surgical options. So now I begin my research. I'm thinking I'll make an appointment at a local surgical center this week. At least I can see what they have to say. I know in the past I've considered surgery to be "cheating" to lose the pounds, but I'm starting to rethink that.



I still believe that exercise is the key to my weight loss overall. But late night "sneaks" to Burger King or Taco Bell aren't helping my case either. Its a matter of will power, and my will is not what it once was... I'm not sure what to expect, really. I just know that I'm tired of feeling this way all the time. I'm tired of crying and feeling hurt every time my loving husband tries to sincerely help me with these struggles, or even bring the subject of weight up.


I want a healthy alternative that I can accomplish. I think now may be the time. Over the years I have developed sensitivities to various items. Milk and dairy products make me cough and tear up my stomach something fierce. I thoroughly enjoy all things dairy, but they certainly don't enjoy me. Most foods that give some people mild cases of gastric distress (i.e. broccoli, beans, etc...) seem to send me into a tailspin. I also ADORE steak!! But if I eat more than about 3oz. then all my plans for the evening will include a porcelain throne. Ugh! I've taken Bean-o and Imodium so much, I should own stock in the companies. I am not totally sure if this is all due to aging physiological bodies or a sign of a greater issue.  Checking into this surgery will be my first step to getting my life back. Wish me luck, friends.

P90x Dance?

No worries, there isn't a new P90x out there that everyone needs to rush out and buy. I'd just completed my workout that I missed yesterday (because I wasn't feeling well yesterday), which was Shoulders and Back, and Ab Ripper. But I wanted to stick with my alternate workouts as well. I wasn't really feeling the Wii today, so I took to the Kinect. I put in Dance Central 2 and tried out something I had failed to attempt before.

 

There is a fitness setting within the game. It includes several levels, and I started with "Warm-Up" (having never tried this before, I thought it best to start easy). This consists of 8 songs one right after the other. You don't have to pick a new song, it automatically progresses through the songs for you. This was a GREAT workout!! I think I might try and do the warm-up combined with other selections next week. I noticed quite a bit of moves that were similar to P90x moves (Plyometrics, Kenpo, etc...). It WAS hard to fully extend my arms, as I'd just finished working out my shoulders, but I did my best.

This was FAR more entertaining and the time passed quickly, as opposed to regular aerobics. I still worked up a sweat and got my heartbeat up, but without having to worry about someone annoyingly guiding me through everything. =)

Be well friends!

P90x and more....

So for just over a week, I've been doing P90x with my husband.

 

This has NOT been easy!!! Most of the time I do about 50% of the workout, at best, and HIGHLY modified. That said, this time working out has actually been easier overall.  The actual workout itself is mega-tough, but something is changed this time around. My husband! In years past I've been supported in any menu/diet endeavors I've chosen to take on.  He's readily opted to go along with me and eat the same foods. The only thing I was doing by myself was the exercising. This in and of itself had me quitting pretty early on. I felt like there was little point to it, and had no real accountability to my efforts. My brother-in-law suggested we take on the challenge of doing the P90x workout, and even lent us his copy of the DVDs. So we began! We also started out following the diet outlined in the Abs Diet book. The diet seemed very carb-heavy and had me a bit concerned. After a week and a half I weighed myself and found I'd lost 2 lbs. Though I was thrilled that it was stepping in the right direction, I was less than impressed with the low number. I'd been working REALLY hard (harder than any time in the past), stuck with the diet VERY strictly, and had seen less results than in the past when I'd done less in the past. So I opted to switch to a more diabetic diet for myself. Being that I have 100+ lbs to lose I thought this would be better than all the carbs one usually takes in when working on bulking up/building muscle tone. And its paid off! Yay!! 

I'm still taking in some carbs, but I'm limiting them to within an hour of when I'm going to be working out for the bulk of them, for the energy. I'm less bogged down/lethargic overall. I'm able to work out consistently now in large part due to the efforts of my husband. Neither of us is in the greatest of shape, but having someone in my own house to be accountable to and workout with me helps tremendously!!!

Given that this workout seems to be less centered around cardio, I've also decided to supplement my workouts with daily trips to the gameroom to exercise utilizing the Wii.

 

I'm doing some of the Wii Fit Plus workout for warm-up/cool-down as well as various cardio workouts specialized within the program itself. I'm looking forward to success and being bathing suit ready next year (and less shopping for cute cover-ups)!

Be well friends! I DO have a P90x/Beachbody Coach, a few friends of mine are coaches and are helping me on this journey. If anyone can suggest a program where I can chart my weight loss on a graph I'd LOVE to know about it. I look forward to sharing my progress with everyone who stops by here. I'm currently using MyFitnessPal (on Android) to track my diet and exercise diary. =)

Lost count...

So I've lost count now of how many "fresh starts" I've made over the years of my struggle with weight loss. And it IS a struggle! Every day I struggle with my own mind. In reality, the only time it bothers me is when I go out with my friends or family. When I'm home every day, it doesn't really cross my mind.  My every-increasing waistline keeps me off the scales. I fear that little electronic device that takes up residence in the corner of my bathroom.  Nowadays the most attention it gets, is when I hit my toe on it while I stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night. But when I have something to attend with family or friends and I need to get dressed up, I fight back tears. I go through the clothes in my closet and the pool of things that fit me and look half-way decent diminishes every day.

I want to look in the mirror, a full length mirror, and like what I see. I don't want to see numerous rolls of skin urging to burst from behind the threads in my shirt or top because what I'm wearing is not at all the right size. I want to put on a pair of high heels and know that inside of an hour I won't be begging for mercy, as my ankles just can't sustain the weight being put upon them.

I must find the determination within myself to do this the right way and stay with it! I know I can reach my goals. I have seem so many around me reach their goals and succeed. I often wonder if I put off working in the professional world, because I'm self-sabotaging my efforts.  If I am simply a "stay at home mom" (which I know is anything but simple) then I won't have to worry about dressing up and going out. I stay at home.

Our neighborhood pool is open again this summer. I'm wondering if I can get back into the routine I was in last year. Go to the pool around 8am and do laps, while supplementing that with working out at home on the xBox Kinect. Tonight I will step on the scale. Tonight I will write down in a small journal that I carry with me what that weight is when I step on the scale. Tonight I will write in that journal everything I ate or  drank today. Tonight I will start fresh.

Forcing a change!

Lately a lot of my friends have been sharing their journey through weight loss on Facebook. They're doing a weekly weigh-in and posting their gains/losses. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that step yet. But I NEED to do something to get this excess weight of mine under control!

Yesterday, I mowed the front and back yards. This was no small task, and I felt like I sweated off several pounds. I also went on a field trip with the kids' ROTC group and walked several miles throughout the day on Friday. Neither of these tasks resulted in a large drop in pounds, that I could see on my scale. Even though this was the case, I will remain optimistic and continue on my journey.



Recently I've been watching The Celebrity Apprentice. Last night they had an episode promoting Walgreens' new walking program. I'm thinking of signing up and using it as another tool. I'm also back to tracking my food intakes. I'm using the Lose It! app on my iTouch. I understand its also available through the Google App Market, so I might be downloading it on my phone also. I HAVE had more success when I keep track of my food in a diary of sorts.

I'm trying to cut down on my carbs, not totally eliminating them, but just monitoring them better. Since my father suffers from diabetes, and given my current weight, I worry that I might also be diagnosed if I don't treat this with the urgency and seriousness it rightly deserves. This morning I had 3 eggs (scrambled, I don't add milk..just plain scrambled), 2 oz of sausage (diced and cooked with the eggs), topped with some shredded cheddar cheese, and served on 3 small flour tortillas.

Be well friends!

Lights, Camera, Action?

Today was a rough day. I didn't eat like I should have. I've had 4 biscuits with margarine & strawberry low-fat jam. I've also been sipping at a Trop-A-Rocka Diet Snapple. I had a migraine headache last night that kept me up all night. I slept this morning, after taking a cpl Advil, and got a couple of the things done that I needed to do for the day.

I'm considering turning this blog into a video blog. I saved up my money from Christmas and selling some items around the house that I no longer need to keep around. With that money, I got a shiny new laptop! Yay, me!! This laptop is not top of the line, but it IS new and has a webcam built-in. This would make it VERY easy to record videos for posting.

Right now, I'm concentrating a lot on my medical transcription studies. I'm inside of a month of finishing (I believe). So I'm really trying hard to knock out at least a dozen transcriptions every day.

I did see a video over the holiday/winter break that was quite uplifting and inspiring! A gal compared the calories burned by running/jogging against those burned by playing games on the xBox Kinect (Dance Central & Kinect Adventures). I LOVE playing these games on the xBox! I especially enjoy Dance Central! I haven't tried the workout mode on the game, as of yet. So I'm hoping to get started on that soon. The video I watched showed that you could get the same cardio workout (or close) by running/jogging and by playing these games on the xBox. Yay!! I'm NOT a runner, never have been really. Even when I was much younger and in great shape, I was a great sprinter, at best. So I don't believe marathons are in my future, but a night of dancing could be! *grin*

By video blogging, I hope to be able to see on film (of sorts) my complete transformation! I've watched others on this wonderful world web change their bodies and lives and share this journey with anyone willing to watch and/or read about their trek.

Be well friends! I believe I'm going to rest for a bit and try to get rid of the remainder of my headache.