The Results are In!

After 8 weeks of challenging myself to be a little healthier and do things a little different, here are my results:

In 8 weeks I:

~Racked up 1861 points

~Went a total of 41 days without sugar

~Drank approximately 2944 oz of water

~Exercised for at least 1800 minutes

~Lost a total of 13 pounds

~Am 7 pounds from prepregnancy weight, 13 pounds from lowest weight post Autumn, and 18 pounds from my ultimate goal weight.

~I officially weigh less than Brian does!!!

~AND....guess what I've been wearing all week!?!?

Yup, those size 6 jeans are now at the front of my closet (they're a little snug, but they zip up and everything!)

Limping Painfully Toward the Finish Line

I've never been a runner.  Never.  I've tried to pretend, but generally I look good and feel good for all of 1 city block and then I'm a horrid mess for the rest of whatever distance I choose to torture myself with. 

I have once run an official organized 5K race...ok, well saying that I ran it is giving myself far more credit than I deserve.  I ran and jogged and walked and limped a bit through it.  I was the second to last person to cross the finish line....ah, the pride! 

Why am I telling you this? 

Here's why...

This challenge that I've been doing has felt a bit like a race, a good long marathon, you know what I mean?  And since I've never REALLY competed in a big race, I've never really had the chance to come face to face with the finish line after running miles and miles and miles.  I assume for those of you who have had this experience, seeing that finish line gives you a huge burst of energy, you feel like you're flying down the road for the last 1/4 mile or so.  There is usually excitement and a sense of accomplishment you feel as you realize that this whole race will be finished quite quickly.  You just have a little while left to push and you do it with pride... 

At least, this is how I ASSUME people feel when they're about to finish a race.

I, on the other hand, find myself at the end of my race, but instead of a sense of pride and desire to finish strong, I find myself crawling pathetically toward the finish line.  I'm still doing the things I should, but not with the same vigor that I have all along.  I actually almost even feel like I'm on the raceway, I can see the finish line and I choose to walk off the path and quit without crossing the finish line. 

PATHETIC!!!

It maybe isn't quite as bad as all that, but I've definitely become lax this week.  I just want to be done and go back to my self decided weight loss program.

But, here's to 1 more day of this challenge!  Hope I get back on the path and finish my day strong.

I love the Biggest Loser

I've found myself thoroughly enthralled in this season's Biggest Loser.  What appeals to me so much is that they are attacking all the excuses we come up for ourselves and showing you that really, when it comes to taking care of yourself and your life, there are no excuses.

They've taken on everything from, "I'll wait to start exercising and dieting until after the holidays" to "I can't excercise without a gym" and even "I can't do this alone."

I just really like this idea as I know that I can come up with no less than 20 excuses on the spot for why I don't want to exercise or why I really NEED another handful of M&Ms.

Let's face it, weight loss takes work.  It's not a quick thing that requires only minimal effort...at least not for me and it's a battle.

But it's worth fighting and so the fight goes on!

p.s. Only 3 days left of this challenge!!!

Giving Up...

Me? 

No, no, no.  I'm not giving up.  I have less than 2 weeks left of this madness, so no, not me.

I'm hanging tough for these last few days.

But, I've been thinking about what makes a person give up on things.  What makes us give up on good things for us?  And what qualifies as really giving up?

Is giving up waking up one day and realizing you've ballooned to 500 lbs?  Is giving up something that happens before you reach that point? 

What's does the line look like between saying, "I'm perfect just the way I am" and "I just don't care to do anything more, so this will have to do"?  Is it so black and white?  Does it have to be so black and white?

Why do we push or not push ourselves to be better?  What qualifies as better?  Where does giving up fit in to that?

I don't have the answers to these questions.  I'd actually be surprised if anyone does.  But feel free to share your thoughts.  These are just some questions that I ponder for myself, but if you have an answer, I'd love to hear it!

Life is what happens when you're out making plans...

Or something like that.

I like making plans.  I like having a schedule.  I like knowing what my day is going to look like before I go to bed the night before. 

I do not like waking up and feeling terrible.  I do not like being up all night with sick children and rushing them to the doctor first thing in the morning.  It wasn't part of the plan, it wasn't part of my day.

But, being flexible with yourself, especially when it comes to weight loss and any program of diet and nutrition that you undertake is essential to your success.  

Recognizing that on most days you can make time for yourself and do what you need to do to be healthy, exercise, eat right, so on...

BUT...

There are days when little ones need mom or dad and no one else will do.  There are days when you need to take care of yourself by NOT getting on the bike, not going for the run, not doing that one video.  There are days like these in all of our lives and it's important to find a balance.  You can run tomorrow.  You can sweat and burn and push another day, but you're needed elsewhere today and that is what is supposed to be. 

There are bigger things in life than your program, so give them their time and then get right back to doing what you're working so hard to do!

Doing it YOUR way

As I've had the blessed opportunity to drop a significant amount of weight twice now, I seem to get the question a lot, "So, what are you doing to lose weight so fast?"

Maybe it should be, but isn't, an easy question to answer. 

You see, here's the thing that I'm realizing: 

Different things work for different people.

Ground-breaking, right?

But seriously, the biggest obstacle to weight loss is doing the wrong thing for yourself and hoping that it works.  For many people, dropping all carbs (Atkins, South Beach) works magic.  For others, no red meat and only complex carbs works wonders.  Neither of those options work for me.  I LOVE bread and well, Texas Roadhouse is my favorite restaurant of all time, so not gonna work to give up red meat. 

For many, 3 square and balanced meals a day works magic, but for me, breakfast makes me physically ill and I do much better without it.

I once tried the popular 5 small meals a day.  My biggest issue, 5 small meals turned into 5 large meals and I gained a whole lot of weight, learning from that that I do better if I can eat to full and then be done rather than graze a little at a time.

For me, giving up anything totally makes me so focused on the "can't have" that I become obsessed and set myself up for failure, hence this whole sugar struggle.

So, I find myself at odds with most of the popular advice out there for weight loss. 

But it doesn't matter cause I've taken the time to figure out what works for me.

Have you?

Perfection is a Pain

I'm a point nazi..

I really like to have perfect scores on the things that I do.  I blame college for this.  Though not the easiest level of schooling by far, generally speaking, if you put in the time and effort on your work, it is possible to receive full points on at least the assignments you're given. 

So, I've become a perfectionist as much as I possibly can. 

It puts me in an interesting place with this whole point system program.  I fight everyday to do everything on the list to get full points for the day.  Unfortunately, some days it's just not possible to get all my points because of things that come up and throw my schedule off. 

So with this in mind, I'm making a conscious decision today to not worry about perfect points...at least for today. 

See, on Monday, my family got together for dinner and I made dessert.  According to "Ask Heloise" it is rude for a hostess to serve a dessert and not eat some herself, so because I care so much to be perfect in etiquette, I reluctantly had dessert on Monday.  This put me in an awkward situation.  Remember when I said that the no sugar thing was getting easier, yeah, I spoke too soon.  It's been rough again.  So, I wondered to myself if I had it in me to hang on tight for almost two full weeks with zero sugar since I usually save my sugar day for saturdays.  Well, disappointing and uninspirational as I may be, I've decided to have sugar today.  Why?  Because I've had a hard week and I'm rewarding myself, that's why.  No, it's not the greatest reason for giving myself and extra sugar day, but hey, sometimes you just don't have it in you to be perfect and I just don't have it in me today. 

And that's perfectly ok.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I don't know about you, but my weight loss pattern is extremely annoying.  It's been this way everytime I undergo a weight loss regimen.  It looks something like this: 

Lose 1 pound, gain 1 pound.

Lose 2 pounds, gain 1 pound.

Lose 3 pounds, gain 1 pound.

and so on...

Yes, I know overall I am still on the negative side of weight loss.  I do know that of the six potential pounds lost, I do permanently lose 3 pounds, but man it's annoying!  I just wish that I could lose six pounds and not gain any back, you know?  But, like I said.  This is how it's always been so I've been trying really hard not to get to discouraged when that 1 pesky pound keeps coming back.  I'll get there.

Slowly.

Two steps forward, one step back.

A VERY Pleasant Surprise

So, to say I'm shocked is an understatement... I've already explained in my first post about how problematic my sugar addiction has become.  I was not so happy the first week of this program because I couldn't run to my friend (chocolate) when I was feeling stressed or frustrated or tired or overwhelmed or whatever one of a thousand feelings I have on a typical day that makes me want sweets.  But a really funny thing has happened to me...I've been at this for 17 whole days and guess what!?! 

I'm feeling fine without sugar!

I seriously assumed that I'd be just hanging on with white knuckles for the full 8 weeks, not so patiently counting down the days when I could bring my friend back into my life.  But, the other day I watched Brian reach into our candy jar (yeah, I know, not the best thing to have around when trying to be disciplined...) but he grabbed himself a treat and I didn't feel the need to kick him in the shin!  I was so happy (so was Brian)!

It's amazing that habits really can be broken.  What a relief!

What Works For Me

I've had people ask me what's my secret for losing weight so quickly.  I've generally told them that I eat nothing and exercise all the time!  Well, that's only partially true.  I do moderate my food intake quite a bit and I do make sure I'm moving quite a bit too, but obviously I can't be exercising always.  It's a trick, this little weight loss game! 

But, my good friend Alicia asked me what I did for exercise, so I'm gonna tell ya!  I exercise Mon-Fri. after work in the mornings.  On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I get on my elliptical for about 45 minutes.  I run at a moderate pace and moderate tension until the calorie counter reads 450 calories.  Then I spend about another 15 minutes on the floor doing various toning exercises for my arms, abs, butt, and legs.

On Tuesday and Thursday, I spend about 30 minutes on the elliptical (I finish when the calorie counter says 350) and then I do the World's Fastest Workout that I have pinned on my Pinterest account.  It's another 4 minutes long and it's a butt kicker!  Then I spend 15 minutes doing more toning exercises.

So, that's my routine for now.  I try to mix other things in to the workout so to encourage my body to have to adapt to new things.  I'll workout this way for probably another month and then I'll add something.  I make the elliptical my main aerobic workout and then add other stuff to supplement.  I'm especially looking forward to warmer weather, because I will then add a 2-3 mile walk per day onto my routine. 

VICTORY!!!

Today marks the first day of week 3 of this eight week challenge.  I'm please to report that I am down 4 pounds and am wearing my tight size 10 jeans (these jeans I couldn't even get over my thighs 3 weeks ago).  I'm feeling pretty pleased.  It's small victories like these that give me motivation to keep plugging along! 

Hope you're having success too in all you do!

Danger Zone

Fighting the fight is hard enough without putting myself in the danger zone, yet I seem to do that daily.  What's the danger zone, you ask?  It's when my resolve to stick with this plan is at its rock bottom lowest level it can possibly be.  For me, this time is usually when I'm tired.  Now, I have a 10 week old, so I'm always tired, but I'm talking about that time when you are bone achingly, can't concentrate on words people are saying, cry over nothing tired.  Thanks to a power outage 2 nights ago, Brian and I spent most of the night awake and checking the kids to ensure they didn't become kid-sicles through the night, so I'm TIRED and not feeling the will to fight.  Let's add to that that my dear sister-in-law asked me to help her out by making some cookies for a shower she is throwing.  I love to make cookies.  I love to EAT cookies.  I do not like to make cookies and not get to sample the dough...  But, nonetheless, I did it for her.  She better appreciate me!  Here's the problem, those dumb cookies are still in my house...and I want one, or two, or three, or 12.  I was doing rather well at the beginning of the week, but now I'm tired and I'm sick of drinking so much water and I just want a cookie when I want a cookie!

This is the battle and unfortunately it's not a small one for me.  But I will fight on.

It's just food, it's not...

This whole process (for the whole ONE week I've been at it...) has been kinda rough already.  I was so excited about finally getting to have sugar yesterday and guess what?  It didn't taste as good as it usually does.  I'm a little annoyed by that to be completely truthful. 

I have, though, realized this week just how much of a stress eater I am.  Anytime things got a little crazy around the house, I would have to literally not even look at the kitchen because my first response was always to go get something to eat.  When did I become like this?  I'm not sure, but I'll have to think about it.

This whole unconscious eating thing makes me remember an episode of "Friends" where Pheobe starts dating a psychiatrist.  He goes around analyzing people and as he leaves he says something to Monica about the food she's eating and to remember, "It's just food, not love."  I've actually been saying this to myself.  "It's just food, it's not peace."  "It's just food, it's not space."  "It's just food, it's not happiness."  Kinda funny. 

Life isn't really bad at all though, I'm just realizing how fast I blow up little things into very large things and then turn to food for comfort. 

I didn't really think I'd learn all this about myself from this silly little 8 week adventure!  Nonetheless, here's to week 2!

Ah, a day off!

Every good workout plan has a day off.  Today, I'm not exercising and today I get to eat something sweet!  And this is what I'm making!

It's all part of a balanced plan!

Happy Saturday!

Stick-to-it-iveness....

Yeah, I seem to struggle with this concept.  Roughly 4-5 times a day, when I'm really tired or super stressed, I think, "That's it!  I need chocolate.  This isn't worth it!"  Very tempting...I haven't caved yet, came super close tonight, but holding strong.  It's got to be worth it in the end!  That's the hope...

Welcome!

Thanks for stopping by!  This is a brand new adventure for me and I'm hoping that it will be all that I imagine it to be. 

You might be wondering why I'm even writing this blog...well, the answer is that I'm really doing this mostly for me (I'm not even sure anyone will be reading this!).  I find myself on a new journey and I thought that it would be helpful to blog about it.  Plus, if I'm accountable to my blog friends (again if you're even reading...!) then I might have more success than I would on my own.

Here's the deal:  I found this fitness challenge on Facebook.  A friend of mine posted it and as I read it I realized that maybe this was something I should try.  I'm currently finishing up day 4 of this 8 week challenge.  To sum up, here are the requirements:

~Have contact with a Teammate daily-Not a problem thanks to my dear friend Rosie who is embarking on this challenge with me.  She gets a text message everyday from me and hopefully she's still wanting to speak to me after just 4 days.

~Drink 64 ounces of water daily-Only a slight problem.  I usually drink maybe 20 ounces at best on any given day, so 64 is quite the jump.  Needless to say, my dear John and I have become the best of friends!

~Stop eating before 9 pm-Not a problem!

~Eat 2 servings of fruit a day-Again not a problem.

~Eat 3 serving of vegetables a day-I've discovered I can drink veggies much easier than eat them, so it's V8 all the way!

~Keep a food journal-Check.

~Exercise at least 30 minutes or 45 minutes (they have different point values)-Already doing that so not a problem.

~No sweets/sugary treats-BIG PROBLEM!  I LOVE sugar.  I love sugar a little too much as in, "Hi, I'm Kimber and I'm a sugarholic."  I think about sugar, I have even dreamed about sugar.  I live my day knowing that right at the end comes a sweet reward for not killing myself or my kiddos.  I'm more than a little embarrassed to admit that last night, as I was somewhere between awake and asleep, where I usually am imagining standing in a lecture hall in front of 600 students and giving a brilliant lecture on the use of chemoradiation, excisional biopsies, and radical lobectomies for the treatment of small cell lung cancer (what-that's not what you think about?), I found myself in a room with piles of Tootsie Rolls all around me.  I'm not kidding, true story.  I was seeing Tootsie Rolls everywhere and let me tell you something, if I'm going to eat sugar, it's not going to be Tootsie Rolls!  Anyway, the harsh reality is that I have to give up this sweet friend of mine for most days of the week (I can have sugar 1 day a week).  I truly think it's necessary at this point.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...Pray for me...

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So, that's basically the program.  It may not be the toughest challenge in the world, but it's going to stretch me, which is what I think we all should be doing with ourselves anyway.

I'm using this motto to help with this journey:

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Switching gears, I'd like to talk about the why for minute.  

You see, I have the FP, also known as the "fat potential" and it terrifies me.  Meaning, quite frankly that I'm only a Cinnabon or two away from becoming obese.  I must watch myself like a hawk (I have my mom to thank for this gene, my dad is a beanpole!).  I truly get fat just by smelling any baked goods. 

If you were to look at me right this very minute, however, you probably wouldn't think of me as morbidly obese, slightly obese, hefty or huge.  I am, however, a little chunky and a little thick.  This is my gift for giving birth! 

I pain-stakingly carry a child around for nine months and as my reward, I get to gain weight...A LOT of weight.  When I was pregnant with Autumn, I did no exercising.  I ate whatever, whenever and put on roughly 15 pounds my first trimester.  This scared me, so I started walking in the afternoons and being a little (little not a lot) more careful with food.  In the end, it was a little too little and I put on roughly 60 pounds.  I'm not a tall person, so that's a lot.  After delivery, I dropped almost 20 pounds in the hospital...delivery-best lose weight quick scheme around!  I enjoyed myself for months after she was born because everyone told me that it took 9 months to put it on so I should give myself 9 months to take it off.  Here's the problem with that:  I didn't think I would have to do anything to get the weight off.  So, I ate and I waited.  Needless to say, Autumn was almost 7 months old (and I was actually gaining weight) before I realized that this weight is going nowhere until I get off my fanny and do something.  So, I worked. 

HARD. 

Agonizingly hard. 

I counted calories, I exercised until I could no longer stand, I even cheated (we'll get to that another day) and eventually I lost all that weight and then some.  I felt I was in great shape.

Then we decided to have another child.  I was thrilled, I was excited!  I was not prepared for the weight gain game again.  So, this time, I watched what I ate.  I exercised daily.  I drank water and I tried, I really tried.  My reward for all this? 

I gained 63 pounds this time...grrr! 

But, hallejuah! I discovered a miracle.  If you exercise while pregnant, things look better after and you heal much faster!  However, I was still left with some 40 pounds to lose after the initial weight loss of delivery. 

Let's see, Josh is now 10 weeks old and I've been exercising for 8 weeks now (I went slow at first).  I'm happy to report I'm down another 15 pounds.  But, that means I still have 25+ (depending on how ambitious I am) pounds to lose before I'm where I want to be.  Sure, I look fine now, but here's the problem:

I have a closet full of size 6 jeans that are calling out to me!  If I don't eat too much the night before and I'm not the least bit bloated, I can squeeze myself into size 10s, but, seriously, tons of size 6s!  I don't want to look like a super model, I don't want to be 100 pounds, I just want to wear those pants.  I want to have the energy and confidence to play with my kids.  I don't want to hide behind oversized coats and sweaters, too afraid to get up and run with the kids cause something might jiggle. 

So, gosh darn it, I'm doing it for those pants...and the kids....and my confidence....and my self esteem...and my...WHATEVER!  And there's no shame in that!