Weigh In Wednesday - 2 days late, sue me!

Weigh-In Wednesday

So like anything else, you can not know with your weight if you are improving or not if you don't know where you start. And even though it is not a number that I envision myself at, nor ever thought I would see - right now I'm proud to say that I weighed in at 203 lbs. at my doctor's appointment on 9/11. That is pre-baby #2 (yes, #2, not #1 - that's the goal here folks!) weight...meaning I was just a couple pounds over that when I got pregnant with my son. Now like I said, that is not at number I ever thought I would see and I'm not what I envision for 203 lbs., but never-the-less that is where I'm starting.

Where I would like to be - first of all, my desire to lose weight is not necessarily for aesthetic reasons (don't get me wrong - I want to look as good as the next person, but if you know me...you know I'm more comfortable and happy in baggy sweats and a pony tail than I ever would be in a slinky, little sexy number. I think the human form looks sooooo much better with a lot of clothes on!), but more so that I used to be very active when I was younger and we had the nursery and I was a lot more fit. That is where I want to be...I want to run around in the yard with my daughter and not feel like I'm going to pass out, I want to chase my kids thru the house when they get older, I want to be able to go and do whatever they want and not have to stop because I'm out of shape and can't keep up. So if getting fit (which yes I understand means that there has to be a component of exercise there too!) means that I will lose some weight then that is great - but just losing weight is not my only objective. I'm keeping track of my weight for pure statistical means, I'm thinking I will pay more attention to the way my clothes are feeling - which by the way I have been able to use my belt for the time in 2 years wooo hooo! - and my activity level.

Things I'm trying to do:

1) I've cut soda pretty much completely out of my diet. Occasionally I will drink a Dr. Pepper or a Coke - once every couple weeks of something, but not on a regular basis. I usually have 1-2 cups of coffee in the morning to get going (remember we get up around 4:30 or 5 during the week) and then rely mainly on ice water the rest of the day along with a glass of milk at night. I will occasionally make a gallon of sweet tea, especially if we are having company, but mainly there is just water in my cup. **Budget benefits too!**

2) I'm also cutting back on my portion sizes, both at meals and snacking. With snacks I've gone thru and divided them up in to single snack size bags so I don't sit down and eat a whole bag of chips when I should only be eating a handful. This is going to be one of the biggest adjustments, b/c I'm very used to eating until I'm stuffed and can't anymore - but I think within a couple of weeks my body will adjust. "Mind over matter, mind over matter". **Budget benefits too!!**

3) I'm going to start getting more active. A friend of mine is also interested in losing weight so we are going to meet 2-3 days a week to walk at the university's track for 30 mins - 1 hour. Then the other 2-3 days of the week I have workout videos at the house to do, or I have a membership to the gym on the base where I work. So my goal is to work out in some way, shape or fashion at least 3 days a week. One day a week I'm going to be going to gymnastics class with my daughter where parent participation is required so that should help too!

That's it - seems to simple but eating less and working out more shouldn't be brain surgery! So we will see how this goes and I will try to update weekly - encouragement is appreciated!