Eating Willy-Nilly? Nope...not me

It's working! I have no idea why I feel kinda shocked that eating well and tracking calories is working. Silly right? I've had a great week with my eating. Actually, I had a difficult time even hitting 1800 calories most days (while eating good foods). If I were eating crap it'd be no problem I'm sure :) Next week I'll be hopping on the tm in the morning to boost my fat burn. Hopefully I can still hit my 185 goal by Jan 1st. I'm not sure if it'll happen or not. Either way, if I do or don't, I'm on the right track. Monday morning I'll weigh and give you all an update...gives me more incentive to behave myself today. We have a family dinner out tonight and then an "after party" without the kids (except my new pumpkin...she gets to tag along with momma and daddy). I'm going to eat light this morning and adjust my calories for the 2 or 3 beers I plan on consuming this evening.
Hubby cracked me up yesterday by telling me that he was going to research how many calories I needed while breastfeeding. He told me I couldn't just eat "willy-nilly" and if I wanted to lose weight we'd switch to formula since Lia is the the most important. I had to explain that I'd done several days of research and figuring to come up with my current "plan" and that I can do both...lose weight and nurse. Last week and the week before I was all "willy-nilly" and my milk suffered. This week has been great... yay :) His response "Oh, okay, I didn't know you'd done that already." Ahhh, gotta love 'em!
For my own curiosity I'm going to get on the scale this morning. We reset the scale yesterday (I had it adjusted a couple pounds lighter. I know, I know... cheating!) Hopefully it'll motivate me not to overindulge. Next week I'm ordering a new digital scale that measures body fat and water, and keeps me honest. Merry Christmas to me LOL.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Have a great weekend everyone!

I AM a tortoise...

I wanted to give everyone a quick update on how things are going. I'm having a difficult time finding the time to blog these days. My brain isn't quite functioning at full capacity lol. Right now I'm battling off the cold my 6 yr old brought home from school & dealing with a sick 2 yr old and keeping a newborn healthy(along with the everyday life of a mom and upcoming holidays). Last week was bad eating-wise. I cut back my calories too far for a couple days and my milk supply was starting to suffer...so I went the opposite direction with calories and overdid it. I also made the decision not to continue running again for a couple reasons: 1) It was very uncomfortable (and painful at times) with my chest being as large as it is right now, 2) After running I noticed a significant decrease in my milk. Running is just not the right exercise for me at this point. So I've decided that power walking is the way to go at first. I sat down this weekend and made a new daily schedule for myself (which I'll implement after the cold is gone and I feel better). I also did some research and figuring on how many calories I need to be consuming. The verdict...2050 with no exercise, 2300 with 3x/week exercise. These are my maintenance numbers. So I'm shooting for 1800-2200 a day and I'll be calorie cycling like I've done in the past. I also went back to using Sparkpeople.com to help me track my caloric intake. I need to do this slow and steady. I'll evaluate in a week if this is working and make adjustments as needed. Yesterday was on point with food and today has been good as well. Lia turns 1 month old tomorrow and I feel like I'm on the right track. Slow and steady wins the race...

Not so brilliant...

Sunday morning I got up, ran 2 miles, did some chores and then decided I needed to go shopping. What did I need? A pair of jeans. Seriously, it's December and I'm running around in capris because I don't have any pants that fit. So off to the thrift store I went...cause I really don't want to pay $30+ for a pair of jeans that I'm not going to wear for very long (because I AM going to lose this extra weight). This was probably not the most brilliant plan I've ever had. Why you ask? It was a bit more of a "reality check" than I was prepared for. I ended up walking out with nothing, barely keeping it together. On the way home I was practically in tears a couple times. By the time I made it home I thought I had it together. Unfortunately, I didn't. I ended up standing in the kitchen just bawling. Part of it I'm sure was hormones and a little sleep deprivation (hey, 3 week old baby in the house). The other part was pure frustration, disgust and any other emotional upheaval you want to throw in there.
My poor husband. He's being so supportive. That's almost part of the problem. Hearing that he'll love me either way & that I didn't gain it overnight and won't lose it overnight...not really helpful when you're in angst. But I know he's trying. He's trying to help me and for that I'm grateful.
I've avoided blogging about the shopping trip for the past few days because I was wallowing... and eating. Like that's gonna do anything but make it worse. Time to pull it back together. Rome wasn't built in a day right? I need to accept the way my body looks right now and make the changes necessary to fix the things that are bothering me. The fact is, I've had 3 kids and gained large amounts of weight each time. But I lost it after the last two, I can do it again. I just need to give myself the time to do it though. And right now my priority is nursing by little pumpkin. I need to give myself the time to figure out the right formula so I don't lose my milk (I had a couple days of low supply due to not eating quite enough).
So I've made peace with the fact that my body looks the way it does right now and I'm going to go buy a pair of jeans that works for me. Hopefully I won't have to wear them for long! :)

December Goals...

As promised I took a new "before" picture. It's posted in the sidebar. That's all I'm gonna say about that.
On a more pleasant note, I managed to run 2 miles today....woo! Go me. It was slow, but I did it. I'm working on getting my endurance back first. I know the speed will come with time.
I decided to take on a challenge for the month of December...running 26.1 miles.
It was time for some concrete goals and this one seemed doable. The plan is to go back to running 4 days a week (Sun, Tu, Th, Fri) but I'm going to keep the miles light...1-2 mi at first. I'm hoping by the end of the month I can run a 3 miler. Pilates or Yoga I'll be doing 3 days a week along with pushups (M,W,F). That's it for the fitness aspect for now. My weight goal is 185 by 1/1/11. I'm trying not to get obsessive and ease back into the "weight loss" mode so I don't make myself crazy. My main focus is going to be making good food choices and eating when I'm hungry, not just because something sounds good.
Here's to great December! For all of us...

Did you miss me?

Hello again bloggy world! So yeah, it's been a while (insert sheepish smile here). To be perfectly honest, I hit a point in my pregnancy that I just gave up. I said "SCREW IT, I'll deal with it after this is done". So now the day of reckoning has come. Lia made her grand entrance via c-section 2 weeks ago on Nov 15th. She was 8 lbs 3 oz and 19.75" long (for any of you interested). And now, momma's ready to get down to business. I'll admit there were a few days of wallowing and regret over the amount of weight I let myself gain but it's over and done. Now I have to fix it...again. Thankfully I've done it before which gives me the confidence to do it again.
If you're curious, my final weight while pregnant...217 lbs. A little scary since I started out at 145 lbs. It's less than where I ended my first two pregnancies, but still, not good. This morning at two weeks post partum I weighed in at 195 lbs. So, that's where I'm at. I'll be posting new "before" pictures soon. Hopefully there are still a few of you out there who'll be reading and commenting.
I haven't really set any concrete goals yet. I'm working on that. I'm also nursing so I've got to be careful to get the right amount of calories...it's a fine line. I started exercising today but I'm starting out slow. Can't wait to get back to my former fitness level, it was a little humbling today. Carrying an extra 50 lbs really slows you down! Anyway, that's the update. Time to move forward...and watch the scale numbers drop!

Birds, Worms....you know

So here's the deal. I'm really not a morning person. But I started thinking, if I want to get any type of exercise done before the piglets wake up in the morning, I gotta get up EARLY. You know, the early bird...blah, blah, blah. My husband has to get up at 3:15 a.m. for work (yucky huh?) so he has learned to be a morning person. Now I'm trying. I "slept in" till 4:15 this morning but yesterday I was up and at 'em at 3:45. It actually works really well. By the time my kids wake up between 6 and 6:30, Momma is ready to go. The exercise is done and I am ready to tackle my chores for the day. I'm going to test it out and see how it goes, but so far so good. Next week is probably going to throw me off a bit since I'm going to visit my parents for a couple days but I'll deal with that when it comes. I'm making the effort to stay fit. I really don't want to have to start at square one again after the baby. I am going to be recovering from a C-section and that's a big enough hurdle. I've picked out the first half marathon I want to do post-partum (I know, I'm crazy) ☺ It's at the end of March so that should give me time to get trained since that will make my little girl about 5 months old. We'll see. (I gotta have a plan and a goal or I go crazy!!!)
Anyway, here's to getting the biggest worm ☺

Back to it again...

Once again I've been MIA for a while. I'm such a bad blogger sometimes. I've actually been trying to stay off the computer which means that the blogging suffers. I've also been busy. Family visiting and hey, it's summer! I missed my updated bump picture on the 1st too. I do have news to share though....the ultrasound was last week. It's a girl!! Looking at this picture, I feel like I've gotten as big as a house. I actually didn't gain any weight between the last 2 appointments, but then 4th of July hit. And things have been off eating wise for about 10 days. I have discovered, bread and I are a really bad combo. The sweets and fattening food cravings are back. *Scream and pull out hair*
I ate Sour cream and Cheddar Ruffles for breakfast this morning...why?? Because they were there! But then, I went to the local Farmer's Market....and look what I gotLook at all that yumminess! All for like $20. I didn't even stick all the fruit in the picture either. (P.S. the KettleCorn is not for me, but I HAVE to get it for the kids first thing. They are popcorn addicts). I figure a little isn't going to hurt them every once in a while.
Now, for me to get back on track with the eating. No more ice cream & bread 'n butter. Back to the whole foods, the yummy stuff that makes me feel good when I eat it...