Who'd a thunk?

Who would have thought several days of eating whatever I want and as much of it as I want and pretty much slacking on all things cardio would result in weight loss? Well, it did. See, that's proof that rules are made to be broken! I'm pretty much burned out on long cardio sessions right now, so I've been hitting the weights. I don't really have a sophisticated lifting routine, just upper (arms, chest, back) or lower body (legs and abs). I don't lift the same muscles two days in a row. I guess I'm doing a 4 day split routine

I started tanning this week. It is soooo relaxing! I don't know how I made it 29 years without ever setting foot inside a tanning bed...

This week, I am going to mainly focus on lifting with 30-45 minutes of moderate cardio. I'm not going to stress out about the scale. I want that stupid number to get smaller, but I think if I ignore it for another week or so, it will start moving quickly again.

My 30th birthday is in 18 weeks, so I am hoping to be in the 160s by then. If I really push it, I think I could be in the 150s and that would be awesome. But if I'm not, that's ok, too, because I will definitely be less than I am now, and that's all that matters!

Goals:
-Scale, what scale? I don't care about you, you stupid scale!
-Weights, weights, and more weights!
-Throw in a little cardio, too.
-Restart couch to 5k program on John's metroplex days!

The scale hates me

Or at least doesn't really like me. It's been stuck for the last two weeks. I think I've hit my first plateau. The first 35 pounds came off relatively easy. Now I just have to work through this plateau and get back to being a loser! I think if I tweak my diet a bit that should help. I've been slacking on cardio this last little while as well, so if I kick that back up a notch that should help, too. It seems like when I'm doing cardio, I'm not going all out, just going through the motions to get the time in. Maybe if I throw in some higher intensity intervals that will help. I've gotta shock this poor little body of mine! Also, I think if I vary my intake a little more throughout the week that will help, too.

This week I splurged and bought myself new workout clothes. I got a new shirt, shorts and shoes. I love 'em!

On Wednesday morning, John was working from home, so I was able to go work out during the day. I ran into a lady I hadn't seen since my first week at the gym. I was in my own little world in the freeweight area, and when I walked over to the cardio machines, she turned and said, "I thought that was you! You look amazing! How much have you lost?!" I told her and we compared notes a bit. It felt good that someone noticed a difference!

I think while losing this next 30-35 pounds, more people will notice a difference in my appearance. Losing this first 35 pounds has been great, but I'm still fat/obese (stating a fact, not saying it in a negative way!), so while I've made a difference in my appearance, it's not going to be as dramatic as the change that will come from this next 30-35 pound loss. I'm hoping to get the next 30-35 pounds off by my 30th birthday in December. After that, I really want to lose another 20-25 pounds, but I am going to really focus in on the weights. I did a body composition calculator online, and it estimated that I have about 140 pounds of lean tissue. I know it probably isn't totally accurate, but it's close enough for my purposes (and budget! Or lack thereof!). I want to lose as little of that tissue as possible, so I think pulling up short in a couple of months on the weight loss aspect and refocusing my efforts on lifting will be the best way to do that.

This week's goals:
-Get the scale to MOVE (even just 1 pound!!!!)
-Tweak the diet a bit (clean it up and track it)
-Tweak the cardio routine (Add a little HIIT)

Changing it up a bit

This past couple of weeks, my husband has been unable to come home every night, so I have not been able to go to the gym nearly as much as I want. This week, my weight loss was stagnant, so I decided to add an additional "out of gym" training program, the couch to 5k program. For some reason, I have a hard time "working out" outside of the gym. I guess because I can't push a button and see an approximation of the calories I've burned. I don't know, I'm weird. I like quantifiable results. Numbers. Even if they are approximate. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the sciences so much during undergrad.

I ran around our block last night after the kids were in bed. I miss road running. The treadmill is nice, but there's just something about pounding the pavement that just rocks! I "ran" about 2 miles last night and it took about 30 minutes- not great, but I didn't completely stop, or puke, so that's the main thing I was going for.

This week, I need to focus on keeping my diet clean- cutting out the sugar and white crap. That stuff sticks to your insides, so you carry around the pounds for days after you indulge. Yuck. The kids are funny. When we go to Wally World to get groceries, they hold their hands up in front of the chocolate and junk food and tell me, "Mom, don't look at this, it isn't healthy! It's not your splurge day!" I always say, "Oh man, I saw it! I think I just gained five pounds just from looking!" Then we all laugh about it and they beg me for candy at the checkout stand.

My children have really embraced this lifestyle change. I tell them they don't need to lose any weight, but that we all need to eat better foods to be healthy. They are making better food choices just because we have better choices available. I really want to get my husband on board with this, but it has to be up to him. He's got a lot of weight to lose, but nagging him won't help. He just has to decide he's sick of being fat, just like I had to.

This week's goals:

See 195 on the scale (by Friday 07/23)
Start first week of Couch to 5k
Keep diet clean/ keep food journal

Blah....

Holy cow, this weekend was such an "off" weekend. I did good on my eating/ exercise routine throughout the week, but this weekend was just a big mess. John had his 15 year high school reunion, so we went out to eat for that. I ate the greasiest, cheesiest chicken quesedillas ever and washed them down with tons of coke. I also "splurged" at Sonic with a medium order of onion rings. I honestly don't know why I was craving them so bad. Talk about grease! On Saturday night, the coke kept me up all night because of the caffeine. I kept telling myself that I should just go ahead and head to the gym and get a workout in, but my body was exhausted. But as soon as I'd lay down, my thoughts would be racing and my heart would thump, and try as I might, sleep just would not come! It was so frustrating. Needless to say, today I felt like crap. No sleep plus a "caffeine hangover" makes me one crabby woman! Today we Celebrated Cameron and Caleigh's birthdays with hot dogs and lots of cake. Um, yeah, to say I feel like crapola is a total understatement...

Oh well, I guess I needed a weekend like this to remind myself why I am making this change. I can't believe I used to eat like this regularly. No wonder I never had any energy!

This week I am going to focus on getting back on track- eat lots of fresh fruit and TRY to eat some veggies.

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Goals (By Friday, July 16, 2010)
-"Run" a 5k in less than 40 minutes (didn't even attempt last week)
-Weight train 3x (heavy weights!)
-See 198 on the scale

Allow me to introduce myself...

I don't know if anyone will actually read this thing or not, but just in case, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jolyn, and I started on my weight loss journey on March 10, 2010. I have four children, two boys 8 and (almost!) 7 and two girls 5 and 2. The first three are very close in age, and our baby is about 3.5 years younger than her big sister. Between children, I didn't really care to lose my baby weight because, quite frankly, I knew we would be having at least one more, so I didn't see the point in trying to lose weight. After our baby was born, I struggled a bit trying to decide if we were "done", and finally I decided we were. Well...if we were done having children, then I should be done being fat, right? Right!

So in March, I decided that I needed to start my weigh loss. I got up early, sent the older three kids to school, then set off on a walk. I ended up at the local college's track, but by my second lap a gentleman from the athletic department stopped me and informed me that they did not allow the public access to the track, so I needed to leave. Did I mention I live in Texas? Also known as the fat-ass capitol of the world? Yeah, at 232 pounds, there were sorority girls who were fatter than me. Seriously!

Basically, I was really upset. I went home and rested up a bit, then went to check out some sales at our local Goodwill. While I was there, I noticed that an Anytime Fitness was opening up next door. Nobody was inside yet, but I vowed to return the next day to check it out.

The next day, I stopped by and spoke with James, the owner. Basically, I fell in love with the place. The equipment is awesome- exactly like the equipment on the NBC show "The Biggest Loser". Even though we couldn't necessarily "afford" it, I felt that we couldn't afford NOT to join, so my husband and I signed up. When I went in for my first workout, I tipped the scales at 232 pounds- about 20 pounds heavier than I was when I checked into the hospital to have my youngest child. Geez, I had my work cut out for me....

Fast forward 4 months, and due to some diet changes and adding regular exercise to my routine, I have lost 32 pounds. This morning I weighed in at 200 pounds. Still not where I want to be, but definitely heading in the right direction.

Basically, I am starting this blog to keep myself accountable. My family is probably sick of hearing all my weight-loss gobble-dee-goop, so I'll just talk to myself here ;-)

Welcome to my Blog!

I decided to start a separate weight loss blog because my family blog was being overrun with all my weight loss nonsense. I will hopefully update this thing regularly, and my family blog can once again be all about my beautiful familia.

This week's goal (by next Friday- 07/09/2010):
See 201 on the scale
Bike a marathon in less than 95 minutes
"Run" a 5k in less than 40 minutes

Here's to a great week!

******edited on 07/02/2010 to add:

-07/02/2010 biked a marathon in 93.59

******edited on 07/08/2010 to add:

-07/08/2010 saw 200 (!) on the scale