Counting Calories

Counting calories gets a bad rap, but I like it. Now, I could be crazy; I like to weigh myself daily too. But it's not just random. I have my reasons for liking these things.

I like to count calories because it makes me take a close look at what I'm eating. I have to think about each thing I put in my mouth, and that means that I can use it to reeducate myself about food. I like breads. I like to bake them, and I like to eat them. But they're pretty calorie-dense, so I need to balance them with fruits and veggies. Happily those are tasty too. To me, it's all about balance, and learning to get my portion sizes right so that I can eat good food and not be hungry. Counting calories helps me figure out what that's going to look like on my plate. It makes me realize how much of a difference it makes to have an apple for a snack, instead of half a bagel with some tasty spread on it. My counting is teaching me to make better choices.

As for the scale, I know that conventional wisdom says to do it only once a week. But if I do it daily or near-daily then I see the small progress, which is very motivating, and if I'm eating poorly then the scale will wake me up. But only if I stand on it. When I weigh daily, I notice and correct quickly. If I wait a whole week i may gain a pound or two, which I find very frustrating, and that just kills my motivation.

And, because I weigh frequently I know that I'm already down a pound. I like that.

New Beginnings. Again.

I bought the SparkPeople app for my phone to help me track my calories. I am planning to leave a mixed review, because they don't want nursing mothers to use it, but don't say so until after the purchase. I'm also using the software anyway, and I am really liking it so far.

I'm hopeful that I can use the stuff to help keep the weight loss thing going. I lost quickly and easily after giving birth, and stabilized about 5 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight. I like that! The extra baby jiggle, not so much. The pathetic muscle tone, particularly in my abs? The fact that I'm still just over 200 pounds? Eww... I have plenty of work to do now that the easy stuff is off. But I knew that was going to be the case, so it's ok. And I'm hopeful that the new tools will help me return to a place where I'm eating better, cooking better, and working out more. Last time I got all those things in place some very exciting things started to happen! So here's to new beginnings, again!

Ready... Set...

So, seeing you girls post here again has me all anxious to see what my body does post-partum too. All I need now is to get there! Actually, it's not just your posts that have me anxious: I was loosing in the month prior to getting pregnant, and had a great thing going. I'd dealt with some emotional things that were holding me back and leading me to sabotage myself, I had a *great* workout routine (sadly, it's too intense to do in a pregnancy, since it hinges on high heart rates & the Dr. said no more than 150bpm), and was doing well with my food choices, and dealing with some of the estrogen dominance. There was exciting stuff going on! (And a baby is exciting too- just exciting different.) There's some exciting things still: I've gained very little in this pregnancy, even though I took forever to figure out a workable exercise routine. I actually think that a lot of it is dealing with the self-sabotage: I am maintaining healthy food choices much more often, and that is hugely healthy for both the baby and me. So I'm excited to join the two of you in the whole post-partum weight loss thing in a few weeks!

Happy Friday

I have made it to my goal! As of this morning I am down 11 pounds! :D I think I get to go shopping. Kind of have to anyway - Dave has a work Christmas party coming up and it is fancy enough I need a cocktail dress! I'm a little nervous. Nursing has made the girls bigger again and last night I tried on my dress from Kate's wedding and it was nice and loose in the belly and too small up top. I hope I can find a good looking dress without breaking the bank. If I'm lucky, I can find one that is inexpensive enough I can get a new pair of shoes! I have been wishing for red shoes...

Working up the Motivation

Awesome Emma!! Your posts are really very inspiring. I need to get better about consciously making wise choices about weight loss. I mean, I *am* back in my real, non-maternity pants, but that's more from lack of eating (while being occupied with feeding little Townshend) than from wise food choices and working out.

It's been a rougher transition into motherhood than I really expected.. Lack of sleep and the learning curve of breastfeeding has me feeling like my days (and nights) are a cycle of me moving from my bed to the rocking chair and back again. However, he's been sleeping in his bassinet more often (which means I sleep in my bed vs the rocking chair) so I've been feeling more rested myself. This week we took a walk with the stroller 3 times.. so that's something!

My dr said to take it easy 'til 6wks, but we're coming up on that pretty soon. Until then, my goal is to go for walks with the stroller at least 3 times a week, and with all the vertical rocking I do to keep Townshend from snoozing through his feedings, I'm sure my arms will be more toned before too long.

"Hello!"

So as I am going along in my weekly meetings with the scale, I always get excited when one of the numbers goes down. Particularly if it is the middle, or even better!, the first number. Today my middle number went down! "HELLO to a new middle number!" Oh, if only you could have seen my happy dance! But then again no... I weigh with nothing on. Awkwaaard....
So I am down a total of 7 pounds today. Is anyone else playing along with me? Rits, I know you can't yet, but anyone else? I'm wishing for buddies today. Good luck to you all!

New Record

Dave was recently called to Deacons' Assistant at church and basically is helping with the Duty to God award and so is going to be attending Wednesday night activities. This week was the first time he went, and they happened to be doing a physical fitness test. So he ran a mile. For the first time in years. And still had a time *way* better than my personal best. Well I couldn't just sit there and do nothing about that... so this morning I went down to the gym, hopped on the treadmill and started running. Darn that competitive streak in me.
I actually almost jumped off after about 3 minutes because, for whatever reason, today it was torturous to be on the treadmill. But I soon discovered that if I cranked the volume on my mp3 player so loud that I couldn't hear my feet hitting the ground it was much more tolerable. And thank goodness I didn't jump off because I got a new personal best for my mile! 12:27. Still more than 2 1/2 minutes slower than Dave's, but better than anything I have ever done before by about 20 seconds and I was proud.
Update on my goal to lose 10 lbs before my doctor appointment: I didn't make it. But it was a lofty goal anyway. I did manage to be 4 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight though. I'll take it. And keep working. :)

4 Weeks Post-Baby... 2 Weeks To Go

Another official weigh in for me today. Down 5 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, which means I have 2 weeks to lose 5 pounds to meet my goal. Totally doable. :D I've also decided that I need to find my sewing measuring tape so I can take measurements and make goals that way as well because the fact that I am nursing makes it difficult to get a fair comparison on the scale. First thing in the morning - preferably this means getting up at 6:30 - after I have peed and fed Zach entirely on both sides so I'm not measuring milk weight is the best way for me to measure, but hard to achieve consistently.
I also braved the treadmill last night for 24 minutes, 3 of which I was able to do a full run and the rest was a brisk walk. I was supposed to be there for 30 minutes, but at 24 minutes I decided that my hip flexors hurt bad enough that I was being stupid and should not continue. But it was all good. I am feeling like, even though I'm not able to do any thing close to how I used to be able to, I am doing really well considering where I'm at right now.
Dave and I have started doing pushups together every night as well. He is buff enough to do traditional pushups, but I have to do the girly pushups on my knees. But with each of us doing our own flavor, we can both do about 50 pushups. It's nice to have found something that we can do together and push and support each other.