Check In (Almost one month down)

As most weight loss programs can tend to go I have lost a drastic amount in the first little bit. Yes I have had some days were I haven't lost or I have actually gained weight. I have reached my first 10 lbs lost about a week and a half ahead of schedule. My first goal was to be down 10 lbs by August 3rd.

A few set backs I have run into have been purely medical. I ended up having two kidney stones and that kind of wore me out dealing with those. I still have been doing meal replacement shakes for 2 meals a day and for the third meal I try to have something that is low carb. My non shake meal is of course the meal I share with my husband. We like to have burgers, brats, and other types of fun summertime grilling food, but rather than having a carb loaded bun we eat it with lettuce wrapped around it. Sugar and carbs are hard to burn off. The saying fat makes you fat is largely false. Its the carbs and sugars that we find so much of in our American diets that are making use fat. I had a surgeon tell me once that your body can burn off fat a lot easier if you don't have to work off the carbs first.

So far I would say I am doing well. Is it a long journey? Yes!!!!! Is it worth it? Yes!!!!! Do I enjoy feeling good? Yes!!!!!! I look at our daughter and I am motivated and want to make changes so that we are motivated to give her healthy foods and keep her from high sugar, high carb, highly processed food.

Keep checking in! Only 70 more pounds to go!

Making it work

My story when it comes to weight looks like a yo yo. Lose the weight, gain the weight, lose the weight and so on and so forth. Back in 2012 and 2013 I was able to lose a large amount of weight but 3 to 4 years later I ended up putting it back on. 

I just had our first child 9 months ago come Friday. I weighed 270 something at the time of my pregnancy and was able to maintain and lose weight while being pregnant. However I did suffer a gallbladder attack and had another attack when my daughter was 3 months old causing me to have my gallbladder removed. My husband and I want more children and I want to go into my next pregnancy at a much healthier weight. I didn't really love the fact that my pregnancy was labeled high risk when the only thing causing it was my weight. I had good blood pressure and pulse through out and did not have gestational diabetes. However I was not able to be as active as I wanted to be while I was pregnant. Lord willing my next pregnancy I would like to be 100 lbs or more less.

Since my pregnancy I did have a bit of a yo yo weight journey until I said enough is enough. I need to be healthy. Not just for future pregnancies, but to create a healthy lifestyle for my family. I started off my current journey by getting 310 Nutrition's meal replacement shakes. They are really good, but for our family it is just slightly expensive. My next step will be to finish up the 310 shakes I have and switch to Ideal Shape's shakes. They are about half the cost with not too many more calories. The nice thing about 310 is their shakes are only 90 calories per scoop. I believe Ideal Shape's shakes are about 120. I typically add almond milk to the shakes to get my calcium intake. I do two shakes a day and then enjoy one meal with my husband. We try to keep this meal low carb!

Our family has also cut out having soda at home. If we are out and about we indulge in a soda every once and a while, but at home we do not keep soda around. My husband drink a wild strawberry drink mix in that has caffeine and I typically have a mocha shake in the morning to get my caffeine fix. We have probably almost made it a month or more of no soda at home!

Finding time to work out with a little one has proven a little difficult, but I find ways to get my activity time. On Tuesdays and Fridays I got for an hour walk with two of my friends. We typically go about 3 to 3.6 miles in just under an hour. Then I find times to either do cardio on the Wii using Wii Fit Plus. I typically do the free ride bicycle, Free steps, or Free run. All of the activities can last up to 30 minutes. Then my husband and I typically get out for an evening walk to the local high school to walk up to two miles on the track with our daughter. My goal is to get over 10,000 steps a day. I also work out on Saturdays and Sundays. I typically go on the treadmill these days while my husband plays with our daughter.

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Example of a weekly page

I also have gotten back into logging. I use My Fitness Pal to log what I eat, my recorded exercises, and my weigh ins. I created a notebook where I keep track of my weigh ins on each day and how many steps I walk each day/week. I wear a Samsung Gear watch and it keeps track of my step count during the day. It also syncs with S Health where my husband and I have started doing step challenges. The above pictures show how I have set up my notebook for tracking. 

Weight Loss Chart where I can cross off how many pounds lost each week

Keep checking back to hear how my weight loss journey is going. My goal is 80 lbs in 9 months! Just as long as a typical pregnancy!