I survived Thanksgiving

Well I survived Thanksgiving! Yippee!!!!

I only had one plate and I could barely eat that. I got on the scale the day after just to see if there was any change and luckily there wasn't. Actually the scale showed a pound and a half lighter! I was amazed, but we'll see later this week at the weigh in.

Thanksgiving day itself wasn't a problem. It's the days after Thanksgiving that proved to be a challenge. I noticed I have been snacking a lot lately and I don't mean on carrots and celery sticks. LEFTOVERS - are the culprit in my home. There were plenty of them. I found myself nibbling even when I wasn't hungry.

I need to nip that in the bud before it gets out of hand but it's so hard around this time of the year with with so many sweets and baked goods just lying around. Christmas is going to be really hard because I am hosting this year at my home which means I will be cooking and my son's 1st birthday is a few days after Christmas in which we plan to do something also and then there's New Years.

I have a weakness for eggnog around this time of the year and that's a little more than a few calories to worry about especially when there's alcohol added to the mix. But I am going to limit my accessibility to this drink because I am not trying to go overboard. You see last year I couldn't drink because I was pregnant and so I have been looking forward to this time of year to roll around again so that I could indulge in that frothy drink.

The next couple of weeks I plan to work out extra hard during my visits to the gym so that I can reap the benefits of weight loss and still be able to have my eggnog. Yesterday, I was at the gym for my normal length of time but I increased the intensity of my workout and boy am I feeling it today. I feel it with every step I take. I basically ran harder, walked faster, and increased the weights and the speed for my cardio. If only I could do that every time!

Related Topics:

• Naughty and Nice Holiday Foods
• Add Joy, Not Pounds, With Holiday Spirits

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Where have my breasts gone?

Help! Where have my breasts gone? Between breast feeding and working out I have like very little breast tissue left. I need to talk to the trainer about this because I have a feeling they are gone forever. You take the good with the bad I suppose. While I am happy that I am losing weight and people are starting to notice I really hate that my breast have depleted over the last couple of months. I was hoping my husband wouldn't notice between the push up bras, etc. but yikes he did just the other day. If there is a remedy short of plastic surgery, please send it my way!

Four days to Thanksgiving...


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Responding to my readers

I just wanted to respond to some of my readers. I appreciate you all's comments and following my progress. It's been so hectic I haven't had the chance to respond but please know that I definitely appreciate the comments and it keeps me motivated.

One of the questions pertained to my workout routine and eating habits: As far as nutrition goes - moderation is the key! I am not following any strict diet but just eating healthier and being conscious of what I put in my mouth. Cut back on the quantity and change the quality. For example, I used to eat ice cream all the time. I mean a couple times a week at the beginning of the challenge, then I cut back to once a week and then after a couple of months, I only ate it occasionally to reward myself if I had a good week. I haven't had ice cream probably in about a month now just because I haven't had the urge. Also, and I have only done this recently, I cut back on my calories by limiting what I drank to water, or water with lemon and tea. I noticed a change in my weight when I did that for like two weeks straight. I still have a soft drink now and then and juice because I drink orange juice in the morning. I rather eat my calories than drink them. It's a struggle at first but in the long run it becomes easier. Another thing I noticed while on this fitness challenge is that when I try to go without food for a long period I would end up overeating by the next time I ate. To avoid this I try to make sure I eat every three to four hours. For dinner, I did best when I stick to veggies and meat. For example, I eat broccoli and baked chicken, stir fried vegetables with chicken over brown rice and chili. All of those items contain a good amount of protein and vegetables. I actually felt good and satisfied after I would eat these type of meals without feeling sluggish. These are a few things that I have learned that have helped me along the way. I'll try to include more information like that in my future blogs.

My exercise routine is a little more structured, I workout at least 3 times a week. The trainers had me start out slow at first. I believe in the beginning that I was only doing like 20 minutes of cardio in addition to weight training and that killed me. During that time, I was replacing fat with muscle and increasing my endurance. I saw very little change on the scale and that was for the first couple of months. It took a little while before I started to see a change. Therefore, if you are going through this, stick with it, change will come. Now I am doing anywhere between 40 and 60 minutes of cardio and weight lifting. My cardio consists of the treadmill, the Elliptical machine or stationary bike or a combination. I tend to get more out of my workout when the cardio machine that I am working on is constantly changing pace. This helps bring your heart rate up and down. So instead of walking at a steady pace for 20 minutes try upping the antics by doing an interval program where you are walking slowly for a couple of minutes and then running or briskly walking for the next few minutes and then back down again. This really gives you a workout more so than doing the same thing for 20 minutes. The weight training varies depending on the week and if I have any injuries. My neck and knees are weak points for me. Occasionally, I'll go over board not paying attention to my form and end up injuring something. Every other work out consists of working my upper body and then my lower body.

I'm afraid I may have made this blog a little too long but I hope I have helped. Please keep commenting and I will try to respond in future blogs.

Take care!


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Up the Antics

It's been a very long and draining week. Between my son being sick and taking him back and forth to the doctor's and me not feeling well this week I have had little time for anything. But thankfully I did lose 2 pounds last week. I started eating oranges and grapefruits on the regular and I also drank a lot of water with lemon. I believe that help me lose a little over 2 pounds. I also changed up my cardio portion of my workout by adding a few minutes to my routine and headed back to the treadmill with a little running without instruction. I think that really speeded up my metabolism or something. At least that's how I felt the first day I tried it and walked out of the gym. I felt like I had just ran a marathon or something and I was sweating like a pig. I hadn't done that in a while. So I was very excited about that. Also, not to bore you, but a pair of pants I tried on just a month ago that were snug are now fitting. It's like I am starting to run out of things to wear. Either I am still working on items to fit in my closet or because I have lost some weight the clothes that did fit are now starting to look sloppy on me. I guess you can't win everything!

Up Next: Thanksgiving! With Thanksgiving approaching I am really trying to shed as many pounds as I can before that day approaches. I will probably workout overtime to make sure I don't go backwards on the scale. And the count down begins...

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On the right track

This week, so far so good. I have been on track with my eating and exercising. It's been hard but I have been eating more veggies, fruit and protein and less junk, carbs and fruit juices. I actually feel lighter but I won't know if that's true until I weigh-in on Thursday.

My husband has actually been good at pushing me lately because some nights it is very hard to get motivated to go workout after a long day at work, picking up my son, cooking dinner (if I cook) and trying to maintain the house.

I hate to say this, but it doesn't seem to get any easier. There's always a challenge lurking around the corner in trying to balance work, life and the gym. Something's always coming up between celebrating birthdays to my son being sick.

Every week it's a balancing act trying to get the workouts in but somehow I manage. I try to set the days I will be going to the gym at the beginning of the week so that my husband can at least be prepared to take over on those evenings if nothing comes up, of course.

Well, it's pretty late and I have two more days until weigh-in and I feel myself getting hungry while I am typing so I think I will retire so that the hunger will subside until the morning.

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